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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: Beryl of the Biplane
-       Being the Romance of an Air-Woman of To-Day
-
-Author: William le Queux
-
-Release Date: January 26, 2019 [EBook #58770]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BERYL OF THE BIPLANE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-BERYL OF THE BIPLANE
-
-
-
-
-NOVELS BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX
-
-“_THE MASTER OF MYSTERY._”
-
-
-  THE FOUR FACES            Cloth, 1/- net.
-  DONOVAN OF WHITEHALL      Cloth, 1/- net.
-  THE SPY HUNTER            Paper, 1/- net.
-  THE TICKENCOTE TREASURE   Paper, 6d.
-  THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN     Paper, 6d.
-  THE DEATH DOCTOR          Paper, 6d.
-  LYING LIPS                Paper, 6d.
-  AT THE SIGN OF THE SWORD  Paper, 6d.
-
-
-C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LTD.
-
-
-
-
-  BERYL OF THE
-  BIPLANE
-
-  _Being the Romance of an Air-woman of To-day_
-
-
-  BY
-  WILLIAM LE QUEUX
-
-
-  LONDON
-  C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED
-  HENRIETTA STREET, W.C.
-  1917
-
-
-
-
-[_Copyright in the United States of America by William Le Queux, 1917.
-Cinema rights reserved._]
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-CHAPTER                             PAGE
-
-   I. THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBER SEVEN      1
-
-   II. MR. MARK MARX                  21
-
-  III. THE SHABBY STRANGER            43
-
-   IV. THE THURSDAY RENDEZVOUS        63
-
-    V. CONCERNS THE HIDDEN HAND       82
-
-   VI. THE PRICE OF VICTORY          101
-
-
-
-
-BERYL OF THE BIPLANE
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBER SEVEN.
-
-
-“Are you flying ‘The Hornet’ to-night?”
-
-“I expect so.”
-
-“You were up last night, weren’t you? Mac told me so at Brooklands this
-morning.”
-
-“Yes--Zepp-hunting. I was up three hours, but, alas! had no luck. Two
-came in over Essex but were scared by the anti-aircraft boys, and
-turned tail. Better luck to-night, I hope,” and Ronald Pryor, the tall,
-dark, good-looking young man in grey flannels, laughed merrily as, with
-a quick movement, he flicked the ash from his after-luncheon cigarette.
-
-His companion, George Bellingham, who was in the uniform of the Royal
-Flying Corps, wearing the silver wings of the pilot, was perhaps three
-years his senior, fair-haired, grey-eyed, with a small sandy moustache
-trimmed to the most correct cut.
-
-Passers-by in Pall Mall on that June afternoon no doubt wondered why
-Ronald Pryor was not in khaki. As a matter of fact, the handsome,
-athletic young fellow had already done his bit--and done it with very
-great honour and distinction.
-
-Before the war he had been of little good to society, it is true. He
-had been one of those modern dandies whose accomplishments include an
-elegant taste in socks--with ties to match--and a critical eye for an
-ill-cut pair of trousers. Eldest son of a wealthy bank-director, Ronnie
-Pryor had been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.
-After his career at Oxford, his father, Henry Pryor, who lived mostly
-at his beautiful old place, Urchfont Hall, a few miles out of Norwich,
-had given him an ample allowance. He had lived in a bachelor flat in
-Duke Street, St. James’s, and spent several gay years about town with
-kindred souls of both sexes, becoming a familiar object each night at
-the supper-tables of the Savoy, the Carlton, or the Ritz.
-
-This wild oat sowing had, however, been brought to an abrupt conclusion
-in a rather curious manner.
-
-One Saturday afternoon he had driven in a friend’s car over to the
-Aerodrome at Hendon, and had there witnessed some graceful flying. He
-had instantly become “bitten” by the sport, and from that moment had
-devoted himself assiduously to it.
-
-Four months later he had taken his “ticket” as a pilot, and then,
-assisted by capital from his indulgent father, had entered business
-by establishing the well-known Pryor Aeroplane Factory at Weybridge,
-with a branch at Hendon, a business in which his companion,
-Flight-Lieutenant George Bellingham, of the Royal Flying Corps, had
-been, and was still, financially interested.
-
-That Ronnie Pryor--as everyone called him--was a handsome fellow could
-not be denied. His was a strongly marked personality, clean-limbed,
-with close-cut dark hair, a refined aquiline face, and that slight
-contraction of the eyebrows that every air-pilot so quickly develops.
-On the outbreak of war he had been out with General French, had been
-through the retreat from Mons, and while scouting in the air during the
-first battle of Ypres, had been attacked by a German Taube. A fierce
-and intensely exciting fight in the air ensued, as a result of which he
-brought his enemy down within our own lines, but unfortunately received
-a severe wound in the stomach himself, and, planing down, reached earth
-safely a long distance away and collapsed unconscious.
-
-The condition of his health was such that the Medical Board refused to
-pass him for service abroad again, therefore he was now devoting his
-time to building aeroplanes for the Government, and frequently flying
-them at night, thus assisting in the aerial defence of our coast, and
-of London.
-
-Ronnie Pryor was known as one of the most daring and intrepid
-air-pilots that we possessed. Before his crash he had brought down
-quite a number of his adversaries in the air, for the manner in which
-he could manipulate his machine, “zumming,” diving, rising, and flying
-a zigzag course, avoiding the enemy’s fire, was marvellous. Indeed, it
-was he who one afternoon dropped nine bombs upon the enemy’s aerodrome
-at Oudenarde, being mentioned in despatches for that daring exploit.
-
-His one regret was that the doctor considered him “crocked.” Discarding
-his uniform he, in defiance of everybody, flew constantly in the big
-biplane which he himself had built, and which the boys at Hendon had
-nicknamed “The Hornet.” The machine was a “strafer,” of the most
-formidable type, with an engine of two hundred and fifty horse-power,
-fitted with a Lewis gun and a rack for bombs, while no more daring
-airman ever sat at a joy-stick than its owner.
-
-“They’re running that new Anzani engine on the bench at Hendon,”
-Bellingham remarked presently. “I’m going out to see it. Come with me.”
-
-Ronnie considered for a few seconds, and then accepted the suggestion,
-he driving his partner out to Hendon in his yellow car which had been
-standing in St. James’s Square.
-
-At the busy aerodrome, where all sorts of machines were being assembled
-and tested, they entered the spacious workshops of the Pryor Aeroplane
-Factory where, in one corner, amid whirring machinery, a large
-aeroplane-engine was running at top speed with a hum that was deafening
-in the confined space.
-
-Half-an-hour later both men went forth again into the aerodrome where
-several “school ’buses” were being flown by pupils of the flying
-school. Suddenly Bellingham’s quick airman’s eye caught sight of a
-biplane at a great height coming from the north-west.
-
-“Why, isn’t that Beryl up in your ’bus?” he exclaimed, pointing out the
-machine. “I didn’t know she was out to-day.”
-
-“Yes,” was Ronnie’s reply. “She flew over to Huntingdon this morning to
-see her sister.”
-
-“Was she up with you last night?”
-
-“Yes. She generally goes up daily.”
-
-“She has wonderful nerve for a woman,” declared George. “A pupil who
-has done great credit to her tutor--yourself, Ronnie. How many times
-has she flown the Channel?”
-
-“Seven. Three times alone, and four with me. The last time she crossed
-alone she went up from Bedford and landed close to Berck, beyond
-Paris-Plage. She passed over Folkestone, and then over to Cape Grisnez.”
-
-“Look at her now!” Bellingham exclaimed in admiration. “By Jove! She’s
-doing a good stunt!”
-
-As he spoke the aeroplane which Beryl Gaselee was flying, that great
-battleplane of Ronnie’s invention--“The Hornet,” as they had named it
-on account of a certain politician’s reassurance--circled high in the
-air above the aerodrome, making a high-pitched hum quite different from
-that of the other machines in the air.
-
-“She’s taken the silencer off,” Ronnie remarked. “She’s in a hurry, no
-doubt.”
-
-“That silencer of yours is a marvellous invention,” George declared.
-“Thank goodness Fritz hasn’t got it!”
-
-Ronnie smiled, and selecting a cigarette from his case, tapped it down
-and slowly lit it, his eyes upon the machine now hovering like a great
-hawk above them.
-
-“I can run her so that at a thousand feet up nobody below can hear
-a sound,” he remarked. “That’s where we’ve got the pull for night
-bombing. A touch on the lever and the exhaust is silent, so that the
-enemy can’t hear us come up.”
-
-“Yes. It’s a deuced cute invention,” declared his partner. “It saved me
-that night a month ago when I got over Alost and put a few incendiary
-pills into the German barracks. I got away in the darkness and, though
-half-a-dozen machines went up, they couldn’t find me.”
-
-“The enemy would dearly like to get hold of the secret,” laughed
-Ronnie. “But all of us keep it guarded too carefully.”
-
-“Yes,” said his partner, as they watched with admiring eyes, how
-Beryl Gaselee, the intrepid woman aviator, was manipulating the big
-battleplane in her descent. “Your invention for the keeping of the
-secret, my dear fellow, is quite as clever as the invention itself.”
-
-The new silencer for aeroplane-engines Ronnie Pryor had offered to
-the authorities, and as it was still under consideration, he kept it
-strictly to himself. Only he, his mechanic, Beryl and his partner
-George Bellingham, knew its true mechanism, and so careful was he to
-conceal it from the enemy in our midst, that he had also invented a
-clever contrivance by which, with a turn of a winged nut, the valve
-came apart, so that the chief portion--which was a secret--could be
-placed in one’s pocket, and carried away whenever the machines were
-left.
-
-“I don’t want any frills from you, old man,” laughed the merry,
-easy-going young fellow in flannels. “I’m only trying to do my best for
-my country, just as you have done, and just as Beryl is doing.”
-
-“Beryl is a real brick.”
-
-“You say that because we are pals.”
-
-“No, Ronnie. I say it because it’s the rock-bottom truth; because Miss
-Gaselee, thanks to your tuition, is one of the very few women who have
-come to the front as aviators in the war. She knows how to fly as well
-as any Squadron Commander. Look at her now! Just look at the spiral
-she’s making. Neither of us could do it better. Her engine, too, is
-running like a clock.”
-
-And, as the two aviators watched, the great battleplane swept round and
-round the aerodrome, quickly dropping from twelve thousand feet--the
-height at which they had first noticed its approach--towards the wide
-expanse of grass that was the landing-place.
-
-At last “The Hornet,” humming loudly like a huge bumblebee, touched
-earth and came to a standstill, while Ronnie ran forward to help his
-well-beloved out of the pilot’s seat.
-
-“Hullo, Ronnie!” cried the fresh-faced, athletic girl merrily. “I
-didn’t expect to find you here! I thought you’d gone to Harbury, and I
-intended to fly over and find you there.”
-
-“I ran out here with George to see that new engine running on the
-bench,” he explained. “Come and have some tea. You must want some.”
-
-The girl, in her workmanlike air-woman’s windproof overalls, her
-“grummet”--which in aerodrome-parlance means headgear--her big goggles
-and thick gauntlet-gloves, rose from her seat, whilst her lover took
-her tenderly in his arms and lifted her out upon the ground.
-
-Then, after a glance at the altimeter, he remarked:
-
-“By Jove, Beryl! You’ve been flying pretty high--thirteen thousand four
-hundred feet.”
-
-“Yes,” laughed the girl merrily. “The weather this afternoon is perfect
-for a stunt.”
-
-Then, after the young man had gone to the exhaust, unscrewed the
-silencer and placed the secret part in his pocket, the pair walked
-across to the tea-room and there sat _tête-à-tête_ upon the verandah
-gossiping.
-
-Beryl Gaselee was, perhaps, the best-known flying-woman in the United
-Kingdom. There were others, but none so expert nor so daring. She would
-fly when the pylon pilots--as the ornate gentlemen of the aerodromes
-are called--shook their heads and refused to go up.
-
-Soft-featured, with pretty, fair and rather fluffy hair, and quite
-devoid of that curious hardness of feature which usually distinguishes
-the female athlete, her age was twenty-three, her figure slightly
-_petite_ and quite slim. Indeed, many airmen who knew her were amazed
-that such a frail-looking little person could manage such a big,
-powerful machine as Ronnie Pryor’s “Hornet”--the ’bus which was the
-last word in battleplanes both for rapid rising and for speed.
-
-The way in which she manipulated the joy-stick often, indeed,
-astonished Ronnie himself. But her confidence in herself, and in the
-stability of the machine, was so complete that such a thing as possible
-disaster never occurred to her.
-
-As she sat at the tea-table, her cheeks fresh and reddened by the
-cutting wind at such an altitude, a wisp of fair hair straying across
-her face, and her big, wide-open blue eyes aglow with the pleasure of
-living, she presented a charming figure of that feminine type that
-is so purely English. They were truly an interesting pair, a fact
-which had apparently become impressed upon a middle-aged air-mechanic
-in brown overalls who, in passing the verandah upon which they were
-seated, looked up and cast a furtive glance at them.
-
-Both were far too absorbed in each other to notice the man’s unusual
-interest, or the expression of suppressed excitement upon his grimy
-face, as he watched them with covert glance. Had they seen it, they
-might possibly have been curious as to the real reason. As it was, they
-remained in blissful ignorance, happy in each other’s confidence and
-love.
-
-“Just the weather for another Zepp raid to-night,” Ronnie was
-remarking. “No moon to speak of, wind just right for them, and a high
-barometer.”
-
-“That’s why you’re going to Harbury this evening, in readiness to go
-up, I suppose?” she asked.
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“You’ll let me go with you, won’t you?” she begged, as she poured him
-his second cup of tea with dainty hand.
-
-“You were up last night, and you’ve been for a long joy-ride to-day. I
-think it would really be too great a strain, Beryl, for you to go out
-to-night,” he protested.
-
-“No, it won’t. Do let me go, dear!” she urged.
-
-“Very well,” he replied, always unable to refuse her, as she knew full
-well. “In that case we’ll fly over to Harbury now, and put the ’bus
-away till to-night. I’ve sent Collins out there in readiness.”
-
-Then, half-an-hour later, “The Hornet,” with Ronnie at the joy-stick
-and Beryl in the observer’s seat, rose again from the grass and,
-after a couple of turns around the pylons, ascended rapidly, heading
-north-east.
-
-As it did so, the dark-eyed mechanic in the brown overalls stood
-watching it grow smaller until it passed out of sight.
-
-For some minutes he remained silent and pensive, his heavy brows knit
-as he watched. Then, suddenly turning upon his heel, he muttered
-to himself and walked to one of the flying schools where he, Henry
-Knowles, was employed as a mechanic on the ’buses flown by the men
-training as air-pilots for the Front.
-
-In a little over half-an-hour the big biplane with its loud hum
-travelled nearly forty miles from Hendon, until at last Ronnie,
-descending in search of his landmark, discovered a small river winding
-through the panorama of patchwork fields, small dark patches of woods,
-and little clusters of houses which, in the sundown, denoted villages
-and hamlets. This stream he followed until Beryl suddenly touched his
-arm--speech being impossible amid the roar of the engine--and pointed
-below to where, a little to the left, there showed the thin, grey spire
-of an ivy-clad village church and a circular object close by--the
-village gasometer.
-
-The gasometer was their landmark.
-
-Ronnie nodded, and then he quickly banked and came down upon a low hill
-of pastures and woods about five miles east of the church spire.
-
-The meadow wherein they glided to earth in the golden sunset was some
-distance from a small hamlet which lay down in the valley through which
-ran a stream glistening in the light, and turning an old-fashioned
-water-mill on its course. Then, as Ronnie unstrapped himself from his
-seat and hopped out, he exclaimed:
-
-“Now, dear! You must rest for an hour or two, otherwise I shall not
-allow you to go up with me after Zepps to-night.”
-
-His smart young mechanic, a fellow named Collins, from the aeroplane
-works came running up, while Ronnie assisted Beryl out of the machine.
-
-In a corner of the field not far distant was a long barn of corrugated
-iron, which Ronnie had transformed into a hangar for “The Hornet”--and
-this they termed “The Hornet’s Nest.” To this they at once wheeled the
-great machine, Beryl bearing her part in doing so and being assisted by
-two elderly farm-hands.
-
-Then Collins, the mechanic, having received certain instructions, his
-master and Beryl crossed the meadow and, passing through a small copse,
-found themselves upon the lawn of a large, old-fashioned house called
-Harbury Court. The place, a long, rambling two-storied Georgian one,
-with a wide porch and square, inartistic windows, was partly covered by
-ivy, while its front was gay with geraniums and marguerites.
-
-There came forward to meet the pair Beryl’s married sister Iris, whose
-husband, Charles Remington, a Captain in the Munsters, had been many
-months at the Front, and was now, alas! a prisoner of war in Germany.
-
-“I heard you arrive,” she said cheerily, addressing the pair. And then
-she told them how she had waited tea for them. Neither being averse
-from another cup, the trio passed through the French window into the
-big, cool drawing-room with its bright chintzes, gay flowers, and
-interesting bric-a-brac.
-
-While Beryl went half-an-hour later to her room to rest, and Ronnie
-joined Collins to test various portions of the ’bus and its apparatus
-before the night flight, a curious scene was taking place in the top
-room of a block of new red-brick flats somewhere in a northern suburb
-of London--the exact situation I am not permitted to divulge.
-
-From the window a very extensive view could be obtained over London,
-both south and east, where glowed the red haze of sunset upon the
-giant metropolis, with its landmarks of tall factory chimneys, church
-steeples, and long lines of slate roofs.
-
-The room was a photographic studio. Indeed, the neat brass-plate upon
-the outer door of the flat bore the name “R. Goring, Photographer,”
-and as such, its owner was known to other tenants of the various
-suites, persons of the upper middle-class, men mostly occupying good
-positions in the City.
-
-True, a whole-plate camera stood upon a stand in a corner, and there
-were one or two grey screens for backgrounds placed against the wall,
-but nothing else in the apartment showed that it was used for the
-purpose of photography. On the contrary, it contained a somewhat
-unusual apparatus, which two men present were closely examining.
-
-Upon a strong deal table, set directly beneath the great
-skylight--which had been made to slide back so as to leave that portion
-of the roof open--was a great circular searchlight, such as is used
-upon ships, the glass face of which was turned upward to the sky.
-
-Set in a circle around its face were a number of bright reflectors and
-prisms placed at certain angles, with, above them, a large brass ring
-across which white silk gauze was stretched so that the intense rays
-of the searchlight should be broken up, and not show as a beam in the
-darkness, and thus disclose its existence.
-
-At a glance the cleverness of the arrangement was apparent. It was one
-of the enemy’s guiding lights for Zeppelins!
-
-The owner of the flat, Mr. Goring, a burly, grey-haired man of
-fifty-five, was exhibiting with pride to his visitor a new set of
-glass prisms which he had that day set at the proper angle, while the
-man who was evincing such interest was the person who--only a few
-hours before--had worked in his mechanic’s overalls, at the Hendon
-Aerodrome, the man, Henry Knowles, who was to all intents and purposes
-an Englishman, having been in London since he was three years of age.
-Indeed, so well did he speak his Cockney dialect, that none ever dreamt
-that he was the son of one Heinrich Klitz, or that his Christian name
-was Hermann.
-
-His host, like himself, was typically English, and had long ago paid
-his naturalisation fees and declared himself of the British bulldog
-breed. In public he was a fierce antagonist of Germany. In strongest
-terms he denounced the Kaiser and all his ways. He had even written to
-the newspapers deploring Great Britain’s mistakes, and, by all about
-him, was believed to be a fine, honest, and loyal Englishman. Even
-his wife, who now lived near Bristol, believed him to be British. Yet
-the truth was that he had no right to the name of Richard Goring, his
-baptismal name being Otto Kohler, his brother Hans occupying, at that
-moment, the post of President of the German Imperial Railways, the
-handsome offices of which are numbered 44, Linkstrasse, in Berlin.
-
-The pair were members of the long-prepared secret enemy organisation in
-our midst--men living in London as British subjects, and each having
-his important part allotted to him to play at stated times and in
-pre-arranged places.
-
-Richard Goring’s work for his country was to pose as a photographer--so
-that his undue use of electric-light current should not attract
-attention--and to keep that hidden searchlight burning night after
-night, in case a Zeppelin were fortunate enough to get as far as London.
-
-As “Light-post No. 22” it was known to those cunning Teutons who
-so craftily established in England the most wonderful espionage
-system ever placed upon the world. In England there were a number of
-signallers and “light-posts” for the guidance of enemy aircraft, but
-this--one of the greatest intensity--was as a lighthouse, and marked
-as of first importance upon the aerial chart carried by every Zeppelin
-Commander.
-
-Mr. Goring had shown and explained to his friend the improved mechanism
-of the light, whereupon Knowles--who now wore a smart blue serge
-suit and carried gloves in his hand--laughed merrily, and replied in
-English, for they always talked that language:
-
-“I saw Gortz at Number Three last night. He has news from Berlin that
-the big air raid is to be made on the fourteenth.”
-
-“The fourteenth!” echoed his friend. Then, after a second’s reflection,
-he added: “That will be Friday week.”
-
-“Exactly. There will be one or two small attempts before--probably one
-to-night--a reconnaissance over the Eastern Counties. At least it was
-said so last night at Number Three,” he added, referring to a secret
-meeting place of the Huns in London.
-
-“Well,” laughed the photographic artist. “I always keep the light going
-and, thanks to the plans they sent me from Wilhelmsplatz a month before
-the war, there is no beam of light to betray it.”
-
-“Rather thanks to the information we have when the British scouting
-airships leave their sheds.”
-
-“Ah, yes, my dear friend. Then I at once cut it off, of course,”
-laughed the other. “But it is a weary job--up here alone each night
-killing time by reading their silly newspapers.”
-
-“One of our greatest dangers, in my opinion, is that young fellow
-Ronald Pryor--the aeroplane-builder,” declared Knowles. “The man whom
-our friend Reichardt tried to put out of existence last week, and
-failed--eh?”
-
-“The same. He has a new aeroplane called ‘The Hornet,’ which can be
-rendered quite silent. That is a very great danger to our airships.”
-
-“We must, at all hazards, ascertain its secret,” said his host
-promptly. “What does Reichardt say?”
-
-“They were discussing it last night at Number Three.”
-
-And then the man who called himself Knowles and who, by working as a
-humble mechanic at a flying school at Hendon, was able to pick up so
-many facts concerning our air service, explained how “The Hornet” was
-kept in secret somewhere out in Essex--at some spot which they had not
-yet discovered.
-
-“But surely you’ll get to know,” was the other’s remark, as he leant
-idly against the table whereon lay the complicated apparatus of prisms,
-and reflectors which constituted the lighthouse to guide the enemy
-aircraft.
-
-“That is the service upon which Number Seven has placed me,” was the
-response.
-
-He had referred to the director of that branch of the enemy’s
-operations in England--the person known as “Number Seven”--the cleverly
-concealed secret agent who assisted to guide the invisible hand of
-Germany in our midst. The individual in question lived in strictest
-retirement, unknown even to those puppets of Berlin who so blindly
-obeyed his orders, and who received such lavish payment for so doing.
-Some of the Kaiser’s secret agents said that he lived in London; others
-declared that he lived on a farm in a remote village somewhere in
-Somerset; while others said he had been seen walking in Piccadilly
-with a well-known peeress. Many, on the other hand, declared that he
-lived in a small country town in the guise of a retired shopkeeper,
-interested only in his roses and his cucumber-frames.
-
-“A pity our good friend Reichardt failed the other day,” remarked the
-man who posed as a photographer. “What of that girl Gaselee?”
-
-“The next attempt will not fail, depend upon it,” was Knowles’ reply,
-in tones of confidence. “When Ronald Pryor dies, so will she also. The
-decision at Number Three last night was unanimous.” And he grinned
-evilly.
-
-Then both men went forth, Goring carefully locking the door of the
-secret studio. Then, passing through the well-furnished flat, he closed
-the door behind him, and they descended the stairs.
-
-That night just after eleven o’clock, Beryl in her warm air-woman’s
-kit, with her leather “grummet” with its ear-pieces buttoned beneath
-her chin, climbed into “The Hornet” and strapped herself into the
-observer’s seat.
-
-Collins had been busy on the ’bus all the evening, testing the powerful
-dual engines, the searchlight, the control levers, and a dozen other
-details, including the all-important silencer. Afterwards he had placed
-in the long rack beneath the fusilage four high explosive spherical
-bombs, with three incendiary ones.
-
-Therefore, when Ronnie hopped in, the machine was in complete readiness
-for a night flight.
-
-Arranged at each corner of the big grass-field was a powerful electric
-light sunk into the ground and covered with glass. These could be
-switched on from the house supply and, by means of reflectors, gave
-splendid guidance for descent. At present, however, all was, of course,
-in darkness.
-
-The night was windless and overcast, while the barometer showed the
-atmospheric pressure to be exactly that welcomed by Commanders of enemy
-airships.
-
-Ronnie after switching on his little light over the instruments and
-examining his gauges, shouted to Collins:
-
-“Righto! Let her rip!”
-
-In a moment there was a terrific roar. The wind whistled about their
-ears, and next second they were “zumming,” up climbing at an angle of
-quite thirty degrees, instead of “taxi-running” the machine before
-leaving the ground.
-
-Not a star showed, neither did a light. At that hour the good people of
-Essex were mostly in bed.
-
-On their right, as they rose, Beryl noticed one or two red and green
-lights of railway signals, but these faded away as they still climbed
-ever up and up, travelling in the direction of the coast. The roar of
-the engines was deafening, until they approached a faintly seen cluster
-of lights which, by the map spread before him beneath the tiny light,
-Ronnie knew was the town of B----. Then he suddenly pulled a lever by
-which the noise instantly became so deadened that the whirr of the
-propeller alone was audible, the engines being entirely silenced.
-
-The young man, speaking for the first time, exclaimed:
-
-“We’ll first run along the coast and scout, and then turn back inland.”
-
-Scarcely had he uttered those words when suddenly they became blinded
-by a strong searchlight from below.
-
-“Hullo! Our anti-aircraft boys!” he ejaculated and at the same moment
-he pushed back the lever, causing the engines to roar again.
-
-The men working the searchlight at once distinguished the tri-coloured
-rings upon the planes, and by its sudden silence and as sudden roar
-they knew it to be “The Hornet.” Therefore next second they shut off
-the beam of the light, and once again Ronnie silenced his ’bus.
-
-It was then near midnight, and up there at ten thousand feet the wind
-was bitingly cold. Moreover there were one or two air currents which
-caused the machine to rock violently in a manner that would have
-alarmed any but those experienced in flying.
-
-Beryl buttoned her collar still more snugly, but declared that she was
-not feeling cold. Below, little or nothing could be seen until, of a
-sudden, they ran into a thick cold mist, and then knew that they were
-over the sea.
-
-With a glance at his luminous compass, the cheery young airman quickly
-turned the machine’s nose due south, and a quarter of an hour later
-altered his course south-west, heading towards London.
-
-“Nothing doing to-night, it seems!” he remarked to his companion, as,
-in the darkness, they sped along at about fifty miles an hour, the wind
-whistling weirdly through the stays, the propeller humming musically,
-but the sound seeming no more than that of a bumblebee on a summer’s
-day.
-
-It was certain that such sound could not be heard below.
-
-After nearly an hour they realised by certain unmistakable
-signs--mostly atmospheric--that they were over the outer northern
-suburbs of London.
-
-Then, as Ronnie altered his course, in the inky blackness of the night,
-both saw, deep below, an intense white light burning like a beacon, but
-throwing no ray.
-
-“That’s curious!” remarked Pryor to the girl beside him. “I can’t make
-it out. I’ve seen it several times before. One night a month ago I saw
-it put out, and then, when one of our patrolling airships had gone
-over, it came suddenly up again.”
-
-“An enemy light for the guiding of enemy Zeppelins--eh?” Beryl
-suggested.
-
-“Exactly my opinion!” was her lover’s reply.
-
-As he spoke they passed out of range of vision, all becoming dark
-again. Therefore, Ronnie put down his lever and turned the ’bus quickly
-so that he could again examine the mysterious light which would reveal
-to the enemy the district of London over which they were then flying.
-
-For a full quarter of an hour “The Hornet,” having descended to about
-three thousand feet, manoeuvred backwards and forwards, crossing and
-recrossing exactly over the intense white light below, Ronnie remaining
-silent, and flying the great biplane with most expert skill.
-
-Suddenly, as he passed for the sixth time directly over the light, he
-touched a lever, and a quick swish of air followed.
-
-In a moment the white light was blotted out by a fierce blood-red one.
-
-No sound of any explosion was heard. But a second later bright flames
-leapt up high, and from where they sat aloft they could clearly
-distinguish that the upper story of the house was well alight.
-
-Once again “The Hornet,” which had hovered over the spot, flying very
-slowly in a circle, swooped down in silence, for Pryor was eager to
-ascertain the result of his well-placed incendiary bomb.
-
-As, in the darkness, they rapidly neared the earth, making no sound
-to attract those below, Beryl could see that in the streets, lit by
-the flames, people were running about like a swarm of ants. The alarm
-had already been given to the fire-brigade, for the faint sound of a
-fire-bell now reached their ears.
-
-For five or six minutes Pryor remained in the vicinity watching the
-result of the bomb.
-
-Beryl, strapped in, peered below, and then, placing her eye to the
-powerful night-glasses, she could discern distinctly two fire-engines
-tearing along to the scene of the conflagration.
-
-Then with a laugh Ronnie pulled over the lever and, climbing high
-again, swiftly made off in the direction of Harbury.
-
-“That spy won’t ever show a light again!” he remarked grimly.
-
-Next day the newspapers reported a serious and very mysterious outbreak
-of fire in a photographic studio at the top of a certain block of
-flats, the charred remains of the occupier, Mr. Richard Goring, a
-highly respected resident, being afterwards found, together with a
-mass of mysterious metal apparatus with which he had apparently been
-experimenting, and by which--as the Coroner’s jury eventually decided
-four days later--the fatal fire must have been caused.
-
-One morning Beryl and Ronnie, seated together in the drawing-room at
-Harbury, read the evidence given at the inquest and the verdict.
-
-Both smiled, but neither made remark.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-MR. MARK MARX.
-
-
-“I think we’ll have to give her another dope, Collins,” remarked Ronnie
-Pryor, as early one summer’s morning he stood before “The Hornet,”
-which, after a night-flight to the sea and back, was reposing in its
-“nest.”
-
-“It certainly wouldn’t hurt her, sir, especially if we can get some of
-that new patent stuff that Mr. Henderson was telling us about the other
-day,” the young mechanic replied.
-
-“Ah! That’s a secret,” laughed his master. “It’s no doubt the finest
-dope ever invented, and happily Fritz, with all his scientific
-attainments, is still in the dark regarding it.”
-
-“I’m afraid the enemy will learn the secret before long, sir,” the
-man remarked. “There are far too many strangers knocking about the
-aerodromes, and prying into everyone’s business.”
-
-“I know, Collins, I know,” remarked Ronnie. “They’re very inquisitive
-regarding my new silencer.”
-
-“Yes, that’s quite right, sir. I’m often being pumped about it by
-strangers.”
-
-“Well, I know you never utter a word concerning it.”
-
-“Trust me, sir,” laughed the clean-shaven young man. “I always deny
-any knowledge of it. But the people who make the inquiries seem very
-shrewd indeed. And the funny thing is that they are never foreigners.”
-
-“Yes, I quite realise that. But at all hazards we must keep the secret
-of the silencer to ourselves,” said Pryor. “The silencer enables us to
-make night-flights in secret without the enemy being any the wiser,” he
-added.
-
-Collins grinned. He knew, only too well, how “The Hornet” had, more
-than once, been over to Belgium and returned in safety without its
-presence being spotted by the enemy. He knew, too, that the bomb-rack
-had been full when Ronnie and Beryl Gaselee had ascended, and that it
-had been empty when they had returned.
-
-On the previous night Pryor had been up, accompanied by his mechanic.
-They had come in at daybreak, snatched three hours’ sleep, and were now
-out again overhauling the machine.
-
-As they were speaking, Beryl Gaselee, dainty and fair-haired, in a
-cool, white cotton dress, suddenly came up behind them exclaiming:
-
-“Good-morning, Ronnie! Iris is waiting breakfast patiently for you.”
-
-“Oh, I really forgot, dear!” replied the young airman. “Collins and I
-have been so busy for the last hour.”
-
-Together they crossed the lawn arm-in-arm to the pleasant, old-world
-house.
-
-When ten minutes later the pair sat down to breakfast in the sunlit
-dining-room, the long windows of which led out upon an ancient terrace
-embowered with roses, Mrs. Remington came in, greeting Ronald with the
-protest--
-
-“I wish, when you come in, you’d put your silencer on your boots,
-Ronnie! You woke me up just at four, and Toby started to bark.”
-
-“By Jove! Did I? Lots of apologies! I’ll creep about in my socks in
-future,” declared the culprit, stooping to pat the miniature “pom.”
-
-“Did Sheppard give you the telephone message?” Mrs. Remington asked.
-
-“No. What message?”
-
-“Why, one that came in the middle of the night?”
-
-At that moment Sheppard, the old-fashioned butler who had just entered
-the room, interrupted, saying in his quiet way:
-
-“I haven’t seen Mr. Pryor before, madam.” Then turning to Ronnie, he
-said: “The telephone rang at about a quarter to one. I answered it.
-Somebody--a man’s voice--was speaking from Liverpool. He wanted you,
-sir. But I said you were out. He told me to give you a message,” and he
-handed Ronnie a slip of paper upon which were pencilled the words:
-
-  _“Please tell Mr. Ronald Pryor that Mark Marx has returned. He will
-  be in London at the old place at ten o’clock to-night.”_
-
-As Ronald Pryor’s eyes fell upon that message all the light died from
-his face.
-
-Beryl noticed it, and asked her lover whether he had received bad news.
-He started. Then, recovering himself instantly, he held his breath for
-a second, and replied:
-
-“Not at all, dear. It is only from a friend--a man whom I believed had
-been killed, but who is well and back again in England.”
-
-“There must be many such cases,” the fair-haired girl remarked. “I
-heard of one the other day when a man reported dead a year ago, and for
-whom his widow was mourning, suddenly walked into his own drawing-room.”
-
-“I hope his return was not unwelcome?” said Ronnie with a laugh.
-“It would have been a trifle awkward, for example, if the widow had
-re-married in the meantime.”
-
-“Yes, rather a queer situation--at least, for the second husband,”
-declared Iris, who was some five years Beryl’s senior, and the mother
-of two pretty children.
-
-“Did the person who spoke to you give any name?” asked Pryor of the
-butler.
-
-“No, sir. He would give no name. He simply said that you would quite
-understand, sir.”
-
-Ronald Pryor did understand. Mark Marx was back again in England! It
-seemed incredible. But whose was that voice which in the night had
-warned him from Liverpool?
-
-He ate his breakfast wondering. Should he tell Beryl? Should he reveal
-the whole curious truth to her? No. If he did so, she might become
-nervous and apprehensive. Why shake the nerves of a woman who did such
-fine work in the air? It would be best for him to keep his own counsel.
-Therefore, before he rose from the table, he had resolved to retain the
-secret of Marx’s return.
-
-After breakfast Ronald, having taken from “The Hornet” the essential
-parts of his newly invented silencer, which, by the way, he daily
-expected would be adopted by the Government, carried them back to
-the house and there locked them in the big safe which he kept in his
-bedroom.
-
-Then, later on, Beryl drove him to the station where he took train to
-London, and travelled down to his aeroplane factory, where, in secret,
-several big battleplanes of “The Hornet” type were being constructed.
-
-It was a large, imposing place with many sheds and workshops, occupying
-a considerable area. The whole place was surrounded by a high wall,
-and, beyond, a barbed-wire entanglement, for the secrets of the work in
-progress were well guarded by trusty, armed watchmen night and day.
-
-Pryor was seated in his office chatting with Mr. Woodhouse, the
-wide-awake and active manager, about certain business matters, when he
-suddenly said:
-
-“By the way, it will be best to double all precautions against any
-information leaking out from here, and on no account to admit any
-strangers upon any pretext whatever. Even if any fresh Government
-viewer comes along he is not to enter until you have verified his
-identity-pass.”
-
-“Very well,” was Woodhouse’s reply. “But why are we to be so very
-particular?”
-
-“Well, I have my own reasons. Without doubt, our friend the enemy is
-extremely anxious to obtain the secrets of ‘The Hornet,’ and also the
-silencer. And in these days we must run no risks.”
-
-Then, after a stroll through the sheds where a hundred or so men were
-at work upon the various parts of the new battleplane destined to
-“strafe” the Huns, and clear the air of the Fokkers, the easy-going but
-intrepid airman made his way back to Pall Mall, where he ate an early
-dinner alone in the big upstairs dining-room at the Royal Automobile
-Club.
-
-By half-past seven he had smoked the post-prandial cigarette, swallowed
-a tiny glass of Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, and was strolling back
-along Pall Mall towards Charing Cross.
-
-At the corner of the Haymarket he hailed a passing taxi, and drove out
-to Hammersmith to a small, dingy house situated in a side-turning off
-the busy King Street. There he dismissed the conveyance, and entered
-the house with a latch-key.
-
-“Cranch!” he shouted when in the small, close-smelling hall, having
-closed the door behind him. “Cranch! Are you at home?”
-
-“Hullo! Is that you, Mr. Pryor?” came a cheery answer, when from the
-back room on the ground-floor emerged a burly, close-shaven man in his
-shirt-sleeves, for it was a hot, breathless night.
-
-“Yes. I’m quite a stranger, am I not?” laughed Pryor, following his
-host back into the cheaply furnished sitting-room.
-
-“Look here, Cranch, I’m going out on a funny expedition to-night,” he
-said. “I want you to fit me up with the proper togs for the Walworth
-Road. You know the best rig-out. And I want you to come with me.”
-
-“Certainly, Mr. Pryor,” was his host’s reply. John Cranch had done his
-twenty-five years in the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland
-Yard as sergeant and inspector, and now amplified his pension by doing
-private inquiry work. He was “on the list” at the Yard, and to persons
-who went to the police headquarters to seek unofficial assistance his
-name was frequently given as a very reliable officer.
-
-The pair sat for some time in earnest consultation, after which both
-ascended to a bedroom above, where, in the cupboard, hung many suits of
-clothes, from the rags of a tramp--with broken boots to match--to the
-smart evening clothes of the prosperous middle-aged _roué_ who might
-be seen at supper at the Savoy, or haunting the nightclubs of London.
-Among them were the uniforms of a postman, a railway-porter, with caps
-belonging to the various companies, a fireman, a private soldier, a
-lieutenant, a gas-inspector, a tram-conductor, and other guises which
-ex-detective John Cranch had, from time to time, assumed.
-
-Within half-an-hour the pair again descended, and entering the
-sitting-room they presented quite a different appearance.
-
-Ronnie Pryor’s most intimate friend would certainly not easily have
-recognised him. Even Beryl Gaselee would have passed him by in the
-street without a second glance, for his features were altered; he wore
-a small moustache, and his clothes were those of an East-end Jew. At
-the same time Cranch was dressed as a hard-working costermonger of the
-true Old Kent Road type.
-
-Together they drove in a taxi across South London to the railway-arch
-at Walworth Road station, beneath which they alighted and, turning to
-the right along the Camberwell Road, crossed it and went leisurely
-into the Albany Road--that long, straight thoroughfare of dingy
-old-fashioned houses which were pleasant residences in the “forties”
-when Camberwell was still a rural village--the road which ran direct
-from Camberwell Gate to the Old Kent Road.
-
-Darkness had already fallen as the pair strolled leisurely along until
-they passed a small house on the left, close to the corner of Villa
-Street.
-
-As they went by, their eyes took in every detail. Not a large house,
-but rather superior to its neighbours, it lay back behind a small
-garden and seemed closely shuttered and obscure. Nearly opposite it
-Cranch’s sharp eyes espied a “To Let” board upon a house, and he at
-once suggested that if they hid behind the railing they could watch the
-house of mystery in security.
-
-This they did, and after a little manoeuvring--for there were many
-people passing in the vicinity--they both crouched beneath a soot-laden
-lilac-bush, which commanded full view of all who went from and came to
-the dark house before them.
-
-As Ronnie crouched there in concealment one thought alone kept running
-through his brain. Truth to tell, he was much mystified as to the
-identity of that mysterious person who, from Liverpool, had given him
-warning.
-
-Was it a trap? He had certainly not overlooked such a contingency.
-
-For over an hour and a half the two men remained there, eagerly
-watching the diminishing stream of foot-passengers until at last,
-coming up from the Camberwell Road, Ronnie noticed a man approaching.
-
-For some seconds he kept his eye steadily upon him, for the moon was
-now shining fitfully through the clouds.
-
-“By Jove! How curious!” he whispered to his companion. “Why, that’s
-Knowles, one of the mechanics at Hendon! I wonder what he’s doing over
-here?”
-
-Ronnie was, of course, in ignorance--as was also everyone at the Hendon
-Aerodrome--that Henry Knowles, the hard-working, painstaking mechanic,
-whose expert work it was to test machines, was not really an Englishman
-as he pretended to be, even though he could imitate the Cockney tongue,
-but that his actual baptismal name was Hermann Klitz, and his place of
-birth Coblenz, on the Rhine.
-
-With wondering eyes the airman watched the mechanic pass into the dark,
-silent house.
-
-“Very strange!” he remarked beneath his breath. “Very strange indeed!”
-
-But his curiosity was increased by the arrival, ten minutes later, of a
-rather short, middle-aged man of distinctly burly build. The newcomer
-hesitated for a few minutes, gazing about him furtively, as though he
-feared being followed, and then slipped through the gate up to the
-house, where the door fell open, he being apparently expected.
-
-“Did you see that man, Cranch?” asked Pryor in a whisper. “That’s
-Germany’s great spy--Mark Marx. He’s been in America for the past ten
-months or so, and is now back here upon some secret mission concerning
-our aircraft--upon which he’s an expert.”
-
-“They’re holding a council here--by the look of it,” remarked the
-detective. “Five of them have gone in--and why, look! Here comes
-another--a lame man!”
-
-“Yes,” said Ronnie. “This secret place of meeting is known to the
-spies of Germany as ‘Number Three.’ From here certain of the clever
-activities of the invisible hand of Germany are frequently directed,
-as from other centres; Mark Marx is a clever adventurer who used to
-be the assistant director of the enemy’s operations in this country.
-Apparently he has returned to London to resume his sinister activities
-against us. He acts directly under the control of the head of Germany’s
-secret service in this country, that shrewd, clever, and influential
-person who hides his identity beneath the official description of
-‘Number Seven.’”
-
-“Then ‘Number Three’ is the headquarters of ‘Number Seven’--eh!” asked
-the ex-detective in a whisper.
-
-“Exactly. That some devilish conspiracy is now afoot is quite certain.
-Our duty is to discover and to thwart it. I was secretly warned that
-Mark Marx had returned, and now, knowing that it is so, I must take
-adequate precautions.”
-
-“How shall you act?”
-
-“I have not yet decided.”
-
-“But can’t we endeavour to ascertain what is in progress here to-night,
-Mr. Pryor?” suggested Cranch.
-
-Pryor and his companion kept vigilant watch till far into the night
-when, about two o’clock in the morning, a big closed motor-car suddenly
-came along the road, pulling up a little distance from the house. The
-driver, a tall, thin man, alighted and waited for some moments, when
-the two men, Marx and Klitz, _alias_ Knowles, emerged carrying between
-them a small but heavy leather travelling trunk and, assisted by the
-driver, placed this on top of the car. Then the two men entered and
-drove rapidly away.
-
-“That car may come again to-morrow night,” remarked Pryor. “We must lay
-our plans to follow it.”
-
-Next night, Pryor having ascertained the identity of the friend who had
-warned him of Mark Marx’s return to England, he and Cranch were again
-at the same spot beneath the stunted lilac-bush. Round the corner, in
-Villa Street, at a little distance away stood Ronnie’s closed car with
-Beryl Gaselee in charge, the latter wearing the cap and dust-coat of a
-war-time _chauffeuse_.
-
-Hour after hour they waited until dawn broke. But as no one came to
-that house known as “Number Three,” they were compelled at last to
-relinquish their vigilance.
-
-For four nights in succession they kept the same watch, Cranch having
-revealed his identity and explained to the constable on duty that the
-car was awaiting an expected friend.
-
-On the fifth occasion, just about half-past one in the morning, sure
-enough the big, dark-green car drove up, and from it Marx alighted and
-entered the enemy’s headquarters.
-
-Presently Klitz and another man arrived on foot, and they also entered.
-Subsequently another small but heavy trunk was taken out and placed in
-the car.
-
-By this time Ronnie and his companion had reached their own car, and
-while Cranch and Beryl entered, Ronnie jumped up to the wheel and
-started off. He first took a street that he knew ran parallel with the
-Albany Road in the direction the car had taken before and, after going
-a little distance, he turned back into the thoroughfare just in time to
-see a rear-lamp pass rapidly. Quickly he increased his speed, and soon
-satisfied himself that it was the car he intended following.
-
-They turned at last into the Old Kent Road, and then on as far as a
-dark little place which Ronnie knew as Kingsdown. Then, branching to
-the right, keeping the red rear-light ever in view, they went by the
-byways as far as Meopham and on past Jenkin’s Court, through some woods
-until suddenly the car turned into a gateway and went across some open
-pastures.
-
-Ronnie saw that he had not been noticed by the driver, who was too
-intent upon his speed and quite unsuspicious. Therefore he pulled up
-dead, waited for ten minutes or so, and then flew past the gateway at
-top speed. For nearly a mile he went, and at last came to a standstill
-upon a long, steep slope with a copse on each side, quite dark on
-account of the overhanging trees.
-
-Having run the car to the side of the road they alighted. Ronnie
-switched off the lamps, and they walked noiselessly back on the grass
-by the roadside and at length, having turned in at the gateway, saw, in
-the dim light, a long, low-built farmhouse with haystacks beside it and
-big barns.
-
-The throb of the car’s engine showed that the Germans were probably
-only depositing the trunk, and did not intend to remain.
-
-The watchers, therefore, withdrew again into the shadow of a narrow
-little wood close to the house and there waited in patience. Their
-expectations were realised a quarter of an hour later when the two men
-emerged from the modern-built farmhouse and drove away, evidently on
-their return to London.
-
-By their manoeuvre Pryor became greatly puzzled. He could not see why
-that trunk had been transferred to that lonely farm in the night hours.
-
-After the car had disappeared they waited in motionless silence for
-some time until, after a whispered consultation, they ventured forth
-again.
-
-Cranch’s suggestion was to examine the place, but unfortunately a
-collie was roaming about, and as soon as they came forth from their
-place of concealment the dog gave his alarm note.
-
-“Ben!” cried a gruff, male voice in rebuke, while at the same time a
-light showed in the upper window of the farm.
-
-Meanwhile the trio of watchers remained hidden in the shadow of a wall
-close to the spacious farmyard until the dog had gone back.
-
-Ronnie had resolved to leave the investigation until the following day,
-therefore all three crept back to the car and, after carefully noting
-the exact spot and the silhouette of the trees, they at last started
-off and presently finding a high road, ran down into Wrotham, and on
-into the long town of Tonbridge.
-
-At the hotel their advent at such an early hour was looked upon
-askance, but a well-concocted story of a night journey and unfortunate
-tyre trouble allayed any suspicions, and by seven o’clock the three
-were seated at an ample breakfast with home-cured ham and farmyard
-eggs. Afterwards, for several hours, Beryl rested while the airman and
-the detective wandered about the little Kentish town discussing their
-plans.
-
-When, at eleven o’clock, Ronnie met Beryl again downstairs, the trio
-went into one of the sitting-rooms where they held secret council.
-
-“Now,” exclaimed Ronnie, “my plan is this. I’ll run back alone to the
-farm and stroll around the place to reconnoitre and ascertain who lives
-there. Without a doubt they are agents of Germany, whoever they are,
-because it is a depôt for those mysterious trunks from ‘Number Three.’”
-
-“I wonder what they contain, dear?” Beryl said, her face full of
-keenest interest.
-
-“We shall ascertain, never fear. But we must remain patient, and work
-in strictest secrecy.”
-
-“Well, Mr. Pryor, you can play the police game as well as any of us,”
-declared Cranch, with a light laugh.
-
-Therefore, a quarter of an hour later, Pryor took the car and returning
-to a spot near the farm--which he afterwards found was called
-Chandler’s Farm--and running the car into a meadow, left it while he
-went forward to reconnoitre.
-
-As he approached, he noticed two men working in a field close by,
-therefore he had to exercise great care not to be detected. By a
-circuitous route he at last approached the place, finding it, in
-daylight, to be a very modern up-to-date establishment--evidently the
-dairy farm of some estate, for the outbuildings and barns were all new,
-and of red brick, with corrugated iron roofs.
-
-The farmhouse itself was a big, pleasant place situated on a hill,
-surrounded by a large, well-kept flower-garden, and commanding a wide
-view across Kent towards the Thames Estuary and the coast.
-
-And as Ronnie crept along the belt of trees, his shrewd gaze taking in
-everything, there passed from the house across the farmyard a tall man
-in mechanic’s blue overalls. He walked a trifle lame, and by his gait
-Pryor felt certain that he was one of the men who had been present at
-that mysterious house called “Number Three” a few nights before.
-
-But why should he wear mechanic’s overalls, unless he attended to some
-agricultural machinery at work on the farm?
-
-Only half-satisfied with the result of his observations, Ronnie
-returned at length to his companions, when it was resolved to set
-watch both at Albany Road and at Chandler’s Farm. With that object
-Pryor later that day telegraphed to Collins calling him to London from
-Harbury, and after meeting him introduced him to the ex-detective.
-
-Then that night the two men went to Albany Road, while Ronnie and Beryl
-returned in the car back into Kent, where soon after ten o’clock they
-were hiding on the edge of the little wood whence there was afforded a
-good view of the approach to the lonely farm.
-
-Time passed very slowly; they dared not speak above a whisper. The
-night was dull and overcast, with threatening rain, but all was silent
-save for the howling of a dog at intervals and the striking of a
-distant church clock.
-
-Far across the valley in the darkness of the sky behind the hill could
-be seen the flicker of an anti-aircraft searchlight somewhere in the
-far distance, in readiness for any aerial raid on the part of the Huns.
-
-“I can’t think what can be in progress here, Beryl,” Ronnie was
-whispering. “What, I wonder, do those trunks contain?”
-
-“That’s what we must discover, dear,” was the girl’s soft reply as, in
-the darkness, his strong hand closed over hers and he drew her fondly
-to his breast.
-
-A dim light still showed in one of the lower windows of the farmhouse,
-though it was now long past midnight.
-
-Was the arrival of someone expected? It certainly seemed so, because
-just at two o’clock the door opened and the form of the lame man became
-silhouetted against the light. For a moment he came forth and peered
-into the darkness. Then he re-entered and ten minutes later the light,
-extinguished below, reappeared at one of the bedroom windows, showing
-that the inmate had retired.
-
-For six nights the same ceaseless vigil was kept, but without anything
-abnormal transpiring. The man Marx had not again visited the
-mysterious house in Albany Road, yet the fact that the obscured light
-showed nightly in the window of Chandler’s Farm, made it apparent that
-some midnight visitor was expected. For that reason alone Ronnie did
-not relinquish his vigilance.
-
-One night he was creeping with Beryl towards the spot where they spent
-so many silent hours, and had taken a shorter cut across the corner
-of a big grass-field when, of a sudden, his well-beloved stumbled and
-almost fell. Afterwards, on groping about, he discovered an insulated
-electric wire lying along the ground.
-
-“That’s curious,” he whispered. “Is this a telephone, I wonder?”
-
-Fearing to switch on his torch, he felt by the touch that it was a twin
-wire twisted very much like a telephone-lead.
-
-At the same moment, as they stood together in the corner of the field,
-Beryl sniffed, exclaiming:
-
-“What a very strong smell of petrol!”
-
-Her lover held his nose in the air, and declared that he, too, could
-detect it, the two discoveries puzzling them considerably. Indeed, in
-the succeeding hours as they watched together in silence, both tried to
-account for the existence of that secret twisted wire. Whence did it
-come, and whither did it lead?
-
-“I’ll investigate it as soon as it gets light,” Ronnie declared.
-
-Just before two o’clock the silence was broken by the distant hum of an
-aeroplane. Both detected it at the same instant.
-
-“Hullo! One of our boys doing a night stunt?” remarked Ronnie,
-straining his eyes into the darkness, but failing to see the oncoming
-machine. Away across the hills a long, white beam began to search the
-sky and, having found the machine and revealed the rings upon it, at
-once shut off again.
-
-Meanwhile, as it approached, the door of Chandler’s Farm was opened by
-the tall, lame man, who stood outside until the machine, by its noise,
-was almost over them. Then to the amazement of the watchers, four
-points of light suddenly appeared at the corners of the grass-field on
-their left.
-
-“By Jove! Why, he’s coming down!” cried Ronnie astounded. “There was
-petrol placed at each corner yonder, and it’s simultaneously been
-ignited by means of the electric wire to show him his landing-place!
-It’s an enemy machine got up to look like one of ours! This _is_ a
-discovery!”
-
-“So it is!” gasped Beryl, standing at her lover’s side, listening to
-the aeroplane, unseen in the darkness, as it hovered around the farm
-and slowly descended.
-
-The man at the farm had brought out a blue lamp and was showing it
-upward.
-
-“Look!” exclaimed Pryor. “He’s telling him the direction of the wind--a
-pretty cute arrangement, and no mistake!”
-
-Lower and lower came the mysterious aeroplane until it skimmed the tops
-of the trees in the wood in which they stood, then, making a tour of
-the field, it at last came lightly to earth within the square marked by
-the little cups of burning petrol.
-
-The pilot stopped his engine, the four lights burnt dim and went out
-one after the other, and the lame man, hurrying down, gave a low
-whistle which was immediately answered.
-
-Then, on their way back to the farm, the pair passed close to
-where the watchers were hidden, and in the silence the latter could
-distinctly hear them speaking--eagerly and excitedly in German!
-
-Beryl and Ronnie watched there until dawn, when they saw the two men
-wheel the monoplane, disguised as British with rings upon it, into the
-long shed at the bottom of the meadow, the door of which the lame man
-afterwards securely locked.
-
-An hour later Pryor was speaking on the telephone with Cranch in
-London, telling him what they had discovered. Soon after midday Beryl
-and Ronnie were back at Harbury, where in the library window they stood
-in consultation.
-
-“Look here, Beryl,” the keen-faced young man said, “as that machine has
-crossed from Belgium, it is undoubtedly going back again. If so, it
-will take something with it--something which no doubt the enemy wants
-to send out of the country by secret means.”
-
-“With that I quite agree, dear.”
-
-“Good. Then there’s no time to be lost,” her lover said, poring over
-a map. “We’ll fly over to Chandler’s Farm this afternoon, come down
-near Fawkham, and put the ’bus away till to-night. Then we’ll see what
-happens.”
-
-“He’ll probably fly back to-night,” the girl suggested.
-
-“That’s exactly what I expect. I’ve told Collins and Cranch to meet us
-there.”
-
-An hour later the great battleplane, “The Hornet,” Ronnie at the
-joy-stick, with Beryl in air-woman’s clothes and goggles strapped in
-the observer’s seat, rose with a roar from the big meadow at Harbury
-and, ascending to an altitude of about ten thousand feet, struck away
-due south across the patchwork of brown fields and green meadows, with
-their tiny clusters of houses and white puffs of smoke all blowing
-in the same direction--the usual panorama of rural England, with its
-straight lines of rails and winding roads, as seen from the air.
-
-The roar of the powerful twin engines was such that they found
-conversation impossible, but Beryl, practised pilot that she was, soon
-recognised the town over which they were flying.
-
-Soon afterwards the Thames, half-hidden in mist and winding like a
-ribbon, came into view far below them. This served as guide, for Ronnie
-kept over the river for some time, at the end of which both recognised
-three church spires and knew that the most distant one was that of
-Fawkham, where presently they came down in a field about half-way
-between the station and the village, creating considerable sensation
-among the cottagers in the neighbourhood.
-
-Collins, who was awaiting them near the station, soon arrived on foot
-to render them assistance, the ’bus being eventually put beneath a
-convenient shed used for the shacking of hay.
-
-Ronnie had not used the silencer, fearing to create undue excitement
-among the anti-aircraft boys, many of whom had, of course, watched the
-machine’s flight at various points, examining it through glasses and
-being reassured by its painted rings.
-
-Until night fell the lovers remained at Fawkham, taking their evening
-meal in a small inn there, and wondering what Cranch had seen during
-the daylight vigil he had kept since noon. Collins had left them in
-order to go on ahead.
-
-As dusk deepened into night both Pryor and his well-beloved grew more
-excited. The discovery they had made was certainly an amazing one, but
-the intentions of the enemy were still enveloped in mystery.
-
-That something desperate was to be attempted was, however, quite plain.
-
-In eagerness they remained until night had fallen completely, then,
-leaving the inn, they returned to the farmer’s shed, and, wheeling
-forth the powerful machine, got in and, having bidden the astonished
-farmer good-night, Ronnie put on the silencer, started the engines, and
-next moment, rising almost noiselessly, made a wide circle in the air.
-Taking his bearings with some difficulty, he headed for a small, open
-common, which they both knew well, situated about a quarter of a mile
-from Chandler’s Farm.
-
-There, with hardly any noise, they made a safe descent. Scarcely had
-the pilot switched off the engines, when the faithful Collins appeared
-with the news that Marx and the man Knowles had arrived from London in
-the car at seven o’clock.
-
-Presently, when Collins had been left in charge of the ’bus, and
-Ronnie and Beryl had stolen up to where Cranch was waiting, the latter
-whispered that Marx and Knowles had both accompanied the German pilot
-down to the shed wherein the disguised machine was reposing. “They’re
-all three down there now,” added the ex-detective.
-
-“Did they bring anything in the car?”
-
-“Yes. Half-a-dozen cans of petrol. They’ve just taken them down to the
-shed.”
-
-And even as he replied they could hear the voices of the three
-returning. They were conversing merrily in German.
-
-Another long, watchful hour went by, and the darkness increased.
-
-“If he’s going over to Belgium it will take him about an hour and
-three-quarters to reach Zeebrugge--for that’s where he probably came
-from,” remarked the expert Pryor. “It’s light now at four, so he’ll go
-up before two, or not at all.”
-
-“He would hardly risk being caught at sea in daylight,” declared Beryl.
-
-Then, for a long time, there was silence, the eyes of all three being
-fixed upon the door of the farm until, of a sudden, it opened and the
-lame man and the enemy pilot were seen to emerge carrying between them
-one of the old leather trunks that had been brought from London.
-
-“Hullo! They’re going to take it across by air!” cried Pryor. “It must
-contain something which ought to remain in this country!”
-
-They watched the trunk being carried in silence away into the darkness
-to the shed. Then presently the two men returned and brought out the
-second trunk, which they carried to the same spot as the first.
-
-“H’m!” remarked Ronnie, beneath his breath. “A devilish clever game--no
-doubt!”
-
-Then, instructing Cranch to remain and watch, he led Beryl back to
-where “The Hornet” stood.
-
-Into the observer’s seat he strapped the girl, and, hopping in himself,
-whispered to Collins to get all ready.
-
-The engine was started; but it made no sound greater than a silent
-motor-car when standing.
-
-Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to listen for the sound of the
-engine of the enemy ’plane.
-
-Those moments were full of breathless tension and excitement. “The
-Hornet” was waiting to rise.
-
-Suddenly there was a loud sound of uneven motor explosions in the
-direction of the farm. The engine was firing badly. In a few moments,
-however, it was rectified, and the loud and increasing hum told Ronnie
-that the enemy had risen.
-
-“Stand clear,” he shouted to Collins, and then, as he pulled over the
-lever, “The Hornet” dashed forward and was soon rising rapidly, but in
-silence.
-
-So dark was it that he could not distinguish the enemy. Yet, heading
-for the coast, as he knew that was the direction the German had taken,
-he rose higher and higher until five minutes later Beryl, at his
-orders, suddenly switched on the searchlight and swept around below
-them.
-
-At first they could distinguish nothing, yet from the direction of the
-humming they knew it must be below them.
-
-Two minutes later Ronnie’s quick eyes saw it in front of them, but a
-hundred feet or so nearer the ground.
-
-The enemy pilot, alarmed by the unexpected searchlight in the air,
-suddenly rose, but Ronnie was too quick for him and rose also, at the
-same time rapidly overhauling him.
-
-Beryl, holding her breath, kept the searchlight with difficulty upon
-him as gradually “The Hornet” drew over directly above him.
-
-Quick as lightning Ronnie touched a button.
-
-There was a loud swish of air, followed a second later by a dull, heavy
-explosion in the valley far below.
-
-The bomb had missed!
-
-The enemy was still rising, and from him came the quick rattle of a
-machine-gun, followed by a shower of bullets from below.
-
-Ronnie Pryor set his teeth hard, and as he again touched the button,
-exclaimed:
-
-“Take that, then!”
-
-Next second a bright flash lit up the rural landscape, followed by
-a terrific explosion, the concussion of which caused “The Hornet”
-to stagger, reel, and side-slip, while the enemy aeroplane was seen
-falling to earth a huge mass of blood-red flame.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the following day the evening papers reported the finding of a
-mysterious wrecked and burnt-out aeroplane “somewhere in Kent.”
-
-The pilot had been burnt out of all recognition, but among the wreckage
-there had been discovered, it was said, some metal fittings believed to
-be the principal parts of some unknown machine-gun.
-
-Only Ronald Pryor and Beryl Gaselee knew the actual truth, namely,
-that the enemy’s secret agents, at Marx’s incentive, had stolen, the
-essential parts of a newly-invented machine-gun, and that these were
-being conveyed by air to within the German lines, when the clever plot
-was fortunately frustrated by “The Hornet.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-THE SHABBY STRANGER.
-
-
-“Ronald has wired that he can’t get back here till to-night, so I shall
-fly ‘The Hornet’ over to Sleaford to see Rose,” remarked Beryl to her
-sister Iris, as they sat together at breakfast at Harbury one warm
-August morning.
-
-“Perhaps Ronald might object,” remarked Mrs. Remington, who was always
-averse from her sister making ascents alone upon “The Hornet.”
-
-“Oh, Ronnie won’t object! Besides, he always says that I can fly just
-as well as any man.”
-
-“But do be careful, won’t you, Beryl?” urged her sister. “Is the
-weather really in a condition for making such a flight?”
-
-“Perfect. I’ve just been looking at the barometer. It is quite steady,
-and I shall have an excellent wind back.”
-
-“I thought Ronald intended to go up on patrol-duty to-night. Last night
-was very dark--just the conditions for another Zepp raid.”
-
-“I expect he will,” replied Beryl. “He told me that he intended to
-patrol the coast.”
-
-“Then, if you go, you really will be careful, won’t you?”
-
-Beryl laughed.
-
-“Why, when once up there is not so much danger in the air as there is
-in walking along a London street,” she declared.
-
-“So Ronnie always says, but I rather doubt the statement,” Iris
-replied. “Personally, I prefer _terra firma_.”
-
-Breakfast ended, Beryl brushed her little black pom, one of her daily
-duties, and then, going to her room, changed her dress, putting on
-a warm jersey and a pair of workmanlike trousers, and over them a
-windproof flying suit with leather cap tied beneath her chin, a garb
-which gave her a very masculine appearance.
-
-Very soon she arrived at “The Hornet Nest,” and, at her directions,
-Collins brought out the great biplane and began to run the engine,
-which Beryl watched with critical eye. Then, climbing into the pilot’s
-seat, she began to manipulate the levers to reassure herself that all
-the controls were in order.
-
-“Beautiful morning for a flip, miss!” remarked the mechanic in brown
-overalls. “Are you going up alone?”
-
-“Yes, Collins. I’m going to visit my youngest sister at Sleaford, in
-Lincolnshire.”
-
-“Then I’ll take the bombs out,” he said, and at once removed the
-six powerful bombs from the rack, the projectiles intended for the
-destruction of Zeppelins. He also dismounted the quick-firing gun.
-
-For some time Beryl did not appear entirely satisfied with the throb of
-the engines, but at last Collins adjusted them until they were running
-perfectly.
-
-Within himself Collins was averse from allowing the girl to fly such a
-powerful machine, knowing how easily, with such a big engine-power, the
-biplane might get the upper hand of her. But as she had made ascents
-alone in it several times before, it was not for him to raise any
-objection.
-
-Having consulted her map she arranged it inside its waterproof cover,
-looked around at the instruments set before her, and then strapped
-herself into the seat.
-
-Meanwhile the engines had been humming loudly.
-
-Suddenly she motioned to Collins to stand aside, and then, pulling
-over one of the levers, she ran along the grass for a short distance
-and rose gracefully in a long spiral, round and round over the Harbury
-woods, until the altimeter showed a height of five thousand feet.
-
-Then she studied her map, took her bearings, and, drawing on her ample
-gauntlet gloves, for it became chilly, she followed a straight line of
-railway leading due north through Suffolk and Norfolk.
-
-The sky was cloudless, with a slight head-wind. On her right, away in
-the misty distance, lay the North Sea, whence came a fresh breeze,
-invigorating after the stifling August morning on land. Deep below she
-identified villages and towns. Some of the latter were only indicated
-by palls of smoke, the wind on land being insufficient to disperse
-them. And over all the grey-green landscape was a strange flatness,
-for, viewed from above, the country has no contours. It is just a
-series of grey, green, and brown patchwork with white, snaky lines,
-denoting roads, and long, grey lines, sometimes disappearing and then
-reappearing, marking railways and their tunnels; while here and there
-comes a glint of sunshine upon a river or canal. In the ears there is
-only the deafening roar of petrol-driven machinery.
-
-Once or twice, through the grey haze which always rises from the earth
-on a hot morning, Beryl saw the blue line of the sea--that sea so
-zealously guarded by Britain’s Navy. Then she flew steadily north to
-the flat fens.
-
-From below, her coming was signalled at several points, and at more
-than one air-station glasses were levelled at her. But the tri-coloured
-rings upon the wings reassured our anti-aircraft boys and, though they
-recognised the machine as one of unusual model, they allowed her to
-pass, for it was well-known that there were many experimental machines
-in the air.
-
-Beryl had sought and found upon her map the Great Northern main line,
-and had followed it from Huntingdon to Peterborough. Afterwards, still
-following the railway, she went for many miles until, of a sudden,
-close by a small town which the map told her was called Bourne, in
-Lincolnshire, her engines showed signs of slackening.
-
-Something was amiss. Her quick ear told her so. A number of misfires
-occurred. She pulled over another lever, but the result she expected
-was not apparent. It was annoying that being so near Sleaford she had
-met with engine trouble--for trouble there undoubtedly was.
-
-At that moment she was flying at fully ten thousand feet, the normal
-height for a “non-stop run.” Without being at all flurried she decided
-that it would be judicious to plane down to earth; therefore, putting
-“The Hornet’s” nose to the wind, she turned slightly eastward, and,
-as she came down, decided to land upon a wide expanse of brown-green
-ground--which very soon she distinguished as a piece of flat, rich
-fenland, in which potatoes were growing.
-
-At last she touched the earth and made a dexterous landing.
-
-At that moment, to her great surprise, she became aware of a second
-machine in the vicinity. She heard a low droning like that of a big
-bumblebee, and on looking up saw an Army monoplane coming down swiftly
-in her direction.
-
-Indeed, its pilot brought it to earth within a few hundred yards of
-where she had landed. Then, springing out, he came across to where she
-stood.
-
-On approaching her he appeared to be greatly surprised that the big
-biplane had been flown by a woman.
-
-“I saw you were in trouble,” explained the pilot, a tall, good-looking
-lieutenant of the Royal Flying Corps, who spoke with a slight American
-accent, “so I came down to see if I could give you any assistance.”
-
-“It is most awfully kind of you,” Beryl replied, pulling off her thick
-gloves. “I don’t think it is really very much. I’ve had the same
-trouble before. She’s a new ’bus.”
-
-“So I see,” replied the stranger, examining “The Hornet” with critical
-eye. “And she’s very fast, too.”
-
-“When did you first see me?” she asked with curiosity.
-
-“You were passing over Huntingdon. I had come across to the railway
-from the Great North Road which I had followed up from London. I’m on
-my way to Hull.”
-
-“Well, I had no idea you were behind me!” laughed the girl merrily. The
-air-pilot with the silver wings upon his breast seemed a particularly
-nice man, and it showed a good _esprit de corps_ to have descended in
-order to offer assistance to another man, as he had no doubt believed
-the pilot to be.
-
-Without further parley, he set to work to help her in readjusting
-her engine, and in doing so quickly betrayed his expert knowledge of
-aeroplane-engines.
-
-“I have only a few miles to go--to Sleaford. My sister lives just
-outside the town, and there is a splendid landing-place in her
-husband’s grounds,” Beryl explained, when at last the engine ran
-smoothly again.
-
-It was but natural that the good-looking lieutenant should appear
-inquisitive regarding the new machine. His expert eye showed him the
-unusual power of the twin engines, and he expressed much surprise at
-several new inventions that had been introduced.
-
-He told her that he had been flying for seven months at the Front,
-and had been sent home for a rest. He had flown from Farnborough that
-morning and was making a “non-stop” to the Humber.
-
-Many were the questions he put to Beryl regarding “The Hornet.” So many
-and so pressing were his queries that presently she became seized by
-distrust--why, she could not exactly decide.
-
-The air-pilot naturally inquired as to the biplane’s constructor, but
-all Beryl would say was:
-
-“It is not mine. It belongs to a friend of mine.”
-
-“A gentleman friend, of course?” he remarked, with a mischievous laugh.
-
-“Of course! He himself invented it.”
-
-“A splendid defence against Zeppelins,” he said. “I see she can carry
-ten bombs, a searchlight, and a Lewis gun. All are wanted against the
-Kaiser’s infernal baby-killers,” he added, laughing.
-
-Then, having thoroughly examined “The Hornet,” the courteous lieutenant
-of the Royal Flying Corps stood by until she had again risen in the
-air, waved her gloved hand in farewell, made a circle over the field,
-and then headed away for Sleaford.
-
-“H’m!” grunted the flying-man as he stood watching her disappear.
-“Foiled again! She’s left that new silencer of hers at home! That girl
-is no fool--neither is Ronald Pryor. Though I waited for her in Bury
-St. Edmunds and followed her up here, I am just about as wise regarding
-‘The Hornet’ as I was before I started.”
-
-For a few moments he stood watching the machine as it soared higher and
-higher against the cloudless summer sky.
-
-“Yes! A very pretty girl--but very clever--devilishly clever!” he
-muttered to himself. “Just my luck! If only she had had that silencer
-I would have silenced her, and taken it away with me. However, we are
-not yet defeated.”
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-About a week later Ronald Pryor and Beryl were lunching together in
-the grill-room of a West End hotel, which was one of their favourite
-meeting-places, when suddenly the girl bent over to her lover and
-exclaimed:
-
-“I’m sure that’s the man, Ronnie.”
-
-“What man?”
-
-“The nice Flying Corps officer whom I met near Bourne the other day.
-You’ll see him, sitting in the corner yonder alone--reading the paper,”
-she replied. “Don’t look for a moment.”
-
-“Don’t you think you’ve made a mistake, dear?”
-
-“No, I feel positive I haven’t,” was the girl’s reply.
-
-That morning Ronald Pryor, accompanied by Beryl, had made a flight in
-“The Hornet” from Harbury to the Essex coast and back, and they had
-just arrived in town by train. The renowned Zepp-hunter was in a light
-grey suit, while Beryl, becomingly dressed, was in a coat and skirt of
-navy blue gaberdine trimmed with broad black silk braid.
-
-A few moments after Beryl had spoken, her lover turned suddenly, as
-though to survey the room in search of someone he knew; his gaze met
-that of the solitary man eating his lunch leisurely in the corner and
-apparently, until that moment, absorbed in a newspaper. The stranger
-was good-looking, aged about thirty, thin, rather narrow-faced, with
-a pair of sharp steel-grey eyes, and a small dark moustache. His
-shoulders were square, and his appearance somewhat dandified. In his
-black cravat he wore an unusually fine diamond, and his hands were
-white and well-kept.
-
-Apparently he was a man of leisure, and was entirely uninterested in
-those about him, for, after a sharp glance of inquiry at Ronald, he
-continued reading his paper.
-
-“Are you quite sure you’ve made no mistake?” inquired Pryor of his
-companion.
-
-“Positive, my dear Ronald. That’s the man whom I met in the uniform of
-the Royal Flying Corps, and who was so kind to me. No doubt, he doesn’t
-recognise me in these clothes.”
-
-“Then why isn’t he in uniform now?”
-
-“Perhaps he has leave to wear _civvies_,” she replied. “There are so
-many curious regulations and exemptions nowadays.”
-
-Though the stranger’s eyes had met those of Beryl there had been no
-sign of recognition. Hence she soon began to share Ronald’s doubt as to
-whether he was really the same person who had descended in that potato
-field in Lincolnshire, and had so gallantly assisted her in her trouble.
-
-Ronald and his well-beloved, having finished their luncheon, rose and
-drove together in a taxi over to Waterloo, the former being due to
-visit his works at Weybridge, where he had an appointment with one of
-the Government Inspectors.
-
-As soon as they had passed out of the restaurant the man who sat alone
-tossed his paper aside, paid his bill, and left.
-
-Ten minutes later he entered a suite of chambers in Ryder Street, where
-an elderly, rather staid-looking grey-haired man rose to greet him.
-
-“Well?” he asked. “What news?”
-
-“Nothing much--except that Pryor is flying to-night on patrol work,”
-replied the other in German.
-
-“H’m, that means that he will have the new silencer upon his machine!”
-
-“Exactly,” said the man who had displayed the silver wings of the Royal
-Flying Corps, though he had no right whatever to them. “By day ‘The
-Hornet’ never carries the silencer. I proved that when I assisted the
-girl in Lincolnshire. We can only secure it by night.”
-
-“And that is a little difficult--eh?”
-
-“Yes--a trifle.”
-
-“Then how do you intend to act, my dear Leffner.”
-
-The man addressed shrugged his shoulders.
-
-“I have an idea,” was his reply. “But I do not yet know if it is
-feasible until I make further observations and inquiries.”
-
-“You anticipate success? Good!” the elder man replied in satisfaction.
-“Think of all it means to us. Only to-day I have received another very
-urgent request from our good friend, Mr. J----; a request for the full
-details of the construction of ‘The Hornet.’”
-
-“We have most of them,” replied the man addressed as Leffner.
-
-“But not the secret of the silencer. That seems to be well guarded,
-does it not?”
-
-“It is very well guarded,” Leffner admitted. “But I view the future
-with considerable confidence because the girl flies the machine alone,
-and--well,” he laughed--“strange and unaccountable accidents happen to
-aeroplanes sometimes!”
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-A few days later, soon after noon, a narrow-faced man, with shifty
-eyes, carrying a small, well-worn leather bag, entered the old King’s
-Head Inn in Harbury village and, seating himself in the bar, mopped his
-brow with his handkerchief. The mile walk from the nearest station had
-been a hot one along a dusty, shadeless road, and when Jane Joyce, the
-landlady’s daughter, appeared, the shabby traveller ordered a pint of
-ale, which he drank almost at one draught.
-
-Then, lighting his pipe, he began to chat with Jane, having, as a
-preliminary, ordered some luncheon. By this manoeuvre he had loosened
-the young woman’s tongue, and she was soon gossiping about the village
-and those who lived there.
-
-The wayfarer asked many questions; as excuse, he said:
-
-“The reason I want to know is because I travel in jewellery, and I
-daresay there are a lot of people about here whom I might call upon.
-I come from Birmingham, and I’m usually in this district four times a
-year, though I’ve never been in Harbury before. My name is George Bean.”
-
-“Well, there’s not many people here who buy jewellery,” replied the
-landlady’s daughter. “Farming is so bad just now, and the war has
-affected things a lot here. But why don’t you go up and see Mrs.
-Remington, at Harbury Court? They’ve got lots of money.”
-
-“Ah! Who are they?”
-
-“Well, Captain Remington is a prisoner in Germany, but Mrs. Remington
-is still at home. She has her sister, Miss Beryl Gaselee, staying with
-her. Perhaps you’ve heard of her. She’s a great flying-woman.”
-
-“Oh, yes!” replied the stranger. “I’ve seen things about her in the
-papers. Does she fly much?”
-
-“A good deal. Mr. Ronald Pryor, to whom she’s engaged, invented
-her machine; he calls it ‘The Hornet,’ and he keeps it here--in a
-corrugated iron shed in the park, close to the house!”
-
-“How interesting!”
-
-“Yes. And the pair often go up at nights,” went on the young woman.
-“Mother and I frequently hear them passing over the house in the
-darkness.”
-
-“Do you always hear them go up?” asked the stranger suddenly.
-
-“No, not always. They go over sometimes without making a sound.”
-
-“That is at night, I suppose? In the day you can always hear them.”
-
-“Yes. Always.”
-
-The traveller in Birmingham jewellery remained silent for a few minutes.
-
-“I suppose they have a mechanic there?”
-
-“Yes--a Mr. Collins. He comes in sometimes with Mr. Sheppard, the
-butler. He was butler to the Colonel’s old father, you know.”
-
-“And this Mr. Collins lives at the house, I suppose?”
-
-“No. He sleeps in the place where the new aeroplane is kept.”
-
-Mr. Bean smiled, but made no comment. Knowledge of that fact was, to
-him, important. He lit another pipe, and, while Miss Joyce went away
-to lay the table for his lunch in the adjoining room, he stretched his
-legs and thought deeply.
-
-Hans Leffner, _alias_ George Bean, was the son of a German who, forty
-years before, had emigrated from Hamburg to Boston. Born in America he
-was, nevertheless, a true son of the Fatherland. He had been educated
-in Germany, and returned to Boston about a year before war broke out.
-
-Suddenly he had been called up for confidential service, and within
-a month had found himself despatched to London, the bearer of an
-American passport in the name of Henry Lane, commercial traveller, of
-St. Louis. Upon a dozen different secret matters he had been employed,
-until knowledge of the existence of “The Hornet” having reached the
-spy-bureau in Berlin, he received certain secret instructions which he
-was carrying out to the letter.
-
-Hans Leffner had been taught at his mother’s knee to hate England,
-and he hated it with a most deadly hatred. He was a clever and daring
-spy, as his masquerade in the Royal Flying Corps uniform clearly
-proved; moreover, he was an aviation expert who had once held a post of
-under-director in “Uncle” Zeppelin’s aircraft factory.
-
-For some weeks he had dogged the footsteps of Ronald and Beryl, and
-they, happy in each other’s affection, had been quite ignorant of how
-the wandering American had been unduly attracted towards them.
-
-The landlady of the King’s Head--that long, thatched, old-world house
-over which for fifty years her husband had ruled as landlord--had no
-suspicion that the jeweller’s traveller was anything but an Englishman
-from Birmingham. He spoke English well, and had no appearance of the
-Teuton.
-
-Mr. Bean ate his chop alone, waited on by Jane, who, finding him
-affable, imparted to him all the information she knew regarding Harbury
-Court and its inmates.
-
-At half-past two the traveller, taking his bag, set out on a tour of
-the village in an endeavour to dispose of some of his samples. His
-appearance was much changed, and he bore but little resemblance to
-the pilot of the Royal Flying Corps who had descended near Bourne. He
-looked much older, and walked wearily, with a decided stoop.
-
-At house after house in the long village street he called, disguising
-his intentions most perfectly. At more than one cottage he was allowed
-to exhibit his wares, and at the shop of the village baker the daughter
-in charge purchased a little brooch for five shillings. Its cost price
-was thirty shillings, but Mr. Bean wanted to effect a sale and, by so
-doing, appear to be carrying on a legitimate business.
-
-By six o’clock he was back again at the King’s Head, having called upon
-most of the inhabitants of Harbury. He had, indeed, been up to the
-Court, and not only had he shown his samples to the maids, but he had
-taken two orders for rings to be sent on approval.
-
-Incidentally he had passed “The Hornet’s” nest, and had seen the
-machine in the meadow outside, ready for the night flight. As a simple,
-hard-working, travel-stained dealer in cheap jewellery nobody had
-suspected him of enemy intentions. But he had laid his plans very
-carefully, and his observations round “The Hornet’s” nest had told him
-much.
-
-To Mrs. Joyce he declared that he was very tired and, in consequence,
-had decided to remain the night. So he was shown up stairs that were
-narrow to a low-ceilinged room where the bed-stead was one that had
-been there since the days of Queen Anne. The chintzes were bright and
-clean, but the candle in its brass candlestick was a survival of an age
-long forgotten.
-
-At ten o’clock he retired to bed, declaring himself very fatigued, but
-on going to his room he threw open the old-fashioned, latticed window,
-and listened. The night was very dark, but quite calm--just the night
-for an air raid from the enemy shore.
-
-Having blown out his candle he sat down, alert at any sound. After
-nearly an hour, Mrs. Joyce and her daughter having retired to bed, he
-suddenly detected a slight swish in the air, quite distinct from the
-well-known hum of the usual aeroplane. It was a low sound, rising at
-one moment and lost the next. “The Hornet” had passed over the inn so
-quietly that it would not awaken the lightest sleeper.
-
-“By Jove!” he exclaimed aloud to himself. “That silencer is, indeed
-wonderful!”
-
-With the greatest caution he opened his door and, creeping down on
-tiptoe, was soon outside in the village street; keeping beneath the
-deep shadows, he went forward on the road which led up the hill to the
-long belt of trees near which had been erected the corrugated iron shed.
-
-Meanwhile Ronald, accompanied by Beryl, had ascended higher and higher
-in the darkness. Ronnie had swung the machine into the wind, and they
-were climbing, climbing straight into the dark vault above. Below
-were twinkling shaded lights, some the red and green signal lights of
-railways. Beryl could see dimly the horizon of the world, and used as
-she was to it, she realised how amazing it was to look down upon Mother
-Earth. By day, when one is flying, the sky does not rise and meet in a
-great arch overhead, but, like a huge bowl, the sky seems to pass over
-and incircle the earth.
-
-They were flying due east by the dimly lit compass at five thousand
-feet, heading straight for the Essex coast.
-
-“We may possibly have visitors from Belgium to-night,” laughed Ronnie,
-as he turned to his well-beloved. “But look! Why--we are already over
-the sea!”
-
-Beryl, gazing down, saw below a tiny light twinkling out a message
-in Morse, answered by another light not far distant. Two ships were
-signalling. Then Ronnie made a wide circle in that limitless void which
-obliterated the meeting point of earth and sea.
-
-The long white beam of a searchlight sweeping slowly seaward, turned
-back inland and followed them until it picked up “The Hornet,” Ronnie
-banking suddenly to show the tri-coloured circles upon his wings.
-
-Afterwards he again consulted his compass and struck due south,
-following the coast-line over Harwich and round to the Thames estuary.
-
-“No luck to-night, dearest!” laughed Ronnie. “The barometer is too low
-for our friends.”
-
-“Yes,” said the girl. “Let us get back!” And Ronnie once more circled
-his machine very prettily, showing perfect mastery over it, as he came
-down lower and lower until, when passing over Felixstowe, he was not
-more than three hundred feet in the air.
-
-Meanwhile, the guest at the King’s Head had made the most of his time.
-He had reasoned, and not without truth, that if “The Hornet” had
-ascended, the mechanic, Collins, would no doubt leave the hangar, and,
-if so, that now would be a good opportunity to obtain entrance.
-
-With that in view he had crept along to the shed and, as he had hoped,
-found the doors unlocked. Quickly he entered and, by the aid of his
-flash-lamp, looked round.
-
-At last the long tentacles of the German spy-bureau in the
-“Königgrätzerstrasse” had spread to the little village of Harbury.
-
-Five minutes sufficed for the spy to complete his observations. At an
-engineer’s bench he halted and realised the technical details of a
-certain part of the secret silencer. But only a part, and by it he was
-pretty puzzled.
-
-He held it in his hand in the light of his flash-lamp and, in German
-exclaimed:
-
-“_Ach!_ I wonder how that can be? If we could only obtain the secret
-of that silencer!” the Hun continued to himself. “But we shall--no
-doubt! I and my friends have not come here for nothing. We have work
-before us--and we shall complete it, if not to-day--then in the near
-to-morrow.”
-
-The shabby stranger returned to the King’s Head and, letting himself
-in, retired to his room without a sound. Hardly had he undressed when
-he heard again that low swish of “The Hornet” on her return from her
-scouting circuit of the Thames estuary.
-
-Hans Leffner, _alias_ Bean, had not been trained as a spy for nothing.
-He was a crafty, clever cosmopolitan, whose little eyes and wide ears
-were ever upon the alert for information, and who could pose perfectly
-in half-a-dozen disguises. As the traveller of a Birmingham jewellery
-firm he could entirely deceive the cheap jeweller of any little town.
-He was one of many such men who were passing up and down Great Britain,
-learning all they could of our defences, our newest inventions, and our
-intentions.
-
-Next day Mr. Bean remained indoors at the King’s Head, for it was a
-drenching day. But at last, when the weather cleared at eight o’clock,
-he lit his pipe and strolled out in the fading light.
-
-Before leaving he had taken from the bottom of the bag containing his
-samples of cheap jewellery a small, thick screw-bolt about two inches
-long, and placed it in his pocket with an air of confidence.
-
-Half-an-hour later he crept into the shed which sheltered “The Hornet”
-and, not finding the silencer upon the exhaust, as he had anticipated,
-turned his attention to the fusilage of the biplane. From this he
-quickly, and with expert hand, unscrewed a bolt, swiftly substituting
-in its stead the bolt he had brought, which he screwed in place
-carefully with his pocket wrench.
-
-The bolt he had withdrawn hung heavily in his jacket-pocket, and as he
-stood, alert and eager, there suddenly sounded the musical voice of a
-woman.
-
-Next second he had slipped out of the hangar and gained cover in a
-thicket close by.
-
-Beryl was crossing the grass, laughing gaily in the falling light. With
-her were Pryor, and Collins the mechanic. A few minutes before, Ronald
-and she, having finished dinner, had put on their flying-suits and,
-passing through the long windows out upon the lawn, had bidden farewell
-to Iris, as they were going on their usual patrol flight.
-
-Ronald, leaving her suddenly, struck away to the hangar and, entering
-it, turned up the electric lights. With both hands he tested the steel
-stays of the great biplane, and then, aided by the mechanic, he wheeled
-the machine out ready for an ascent, for the atmospheric conditions
-were exactly suitable for an air raid by the enemy.
-
-“We had better go up and test the engines, dear,” he suggested. “This
-afternoon they were not at all satisfactory.”
-
-Beryl climbed into the observer’s seat, he following as pilot, while
-Collins disappeared round the corner of the hangar to get something.
-
-Then the pair, seated beside each other and tightly strapped in,
-prepared to ascend in the increasing darkness.
-
-The sudden roar of the powerful engines was terrific, and could be
-heard many miles away, for they were testing without the silencer.
-
-Scarcely had they risen a hundred feet from the ground when there was a
-sharp crack and “The Hornet,” swerving, shed her right wing entirely,
-and dived straight with her nose to the earth.
-
-A crash, a heavy thud, and in an instant Ronald and Beryl, happily
-strapped in their seats, were half-stunned by the concussion. Had they
-not been secured in their seats both must have been killed, as the man
-Leffner had intended.
-
-The engine had stopped, for, half the propeller being broken, the other
-half had embedded itself deeply into the ground. Collins came running
-up, half frantic with fear, but was soon reassured by the pair of
-intrepid aviators, who unstrapped themselves and quickly climbed out of
-the wreckage. Ere long a flare was lit and the broken wing carefully
-examined; it was soon discovered that “The Hornet” had been tampered
-with, one of the steel bolts having been replaced by a painted one of
-wood!
-
-“This is the work of the enemy!” remarked Ronnie thoughtfully. “They
-cannot obtain sight of the silencer, therefore there has been a
-dastardly plot to kill both of us. We must be a little more wary in
-future, dear.”
-
-Ronald’s shrewdness did not show itself openly, but having made a good
-many inquiries, both in Harbury village and elsewhere, he, at last, was
-able to identify the man who had made that secret attempt upon their
-lives. Of this, however, he said nothing to Beryl. “The Hornet” was
-repaired, and they made night flights again.
-
-Ronald anticipated that a second attempt would be made to obtain the
-silencer. Taking Collins into his confidence, he made it his habit each
-dawn, when they came home from their patrol of the coast, to leave
-in the little office beside the hangar the box which contained the
-silencer, the secret of which he knew the Germans were so very anxious
-to obtain.
-
-For a fortnight nothing untoward occurred, until one morning soon after
-all three had returned from a flight to London and back, they were
-startled by a terrific explosion from the direction of the hangar.
-
-“Hullo!” exclaimed Ronald. “What’s that?”
-
-“The trap has gone off, sir,” was Collins’s grim reply.
-
-All three ran back to the shed, whereupon they saw that the little
-office had been entirely swept away, and that part of the roof of the
-hangar was off. Amid the wreckage lay the body of a man with his face
-shattered, stone-dead. “He thought the box contained the silencer, and
-when he lifted the lid he received a nasty shock, sir--eh?” Collins
-remarked.
-
-“But who is it, Ronald?” gasped Beryl, horrified.
-
-“The man who made the attempt on our lives a month ago, dearest,” was
-her lover’s reply. “Come away. He has paid the penalty which all spies
-should pay.”
-
-A few hours later Ronald Pryor made a statement to the authorities
-which resulted in the explosion being regarded, to all but those
-immediately concerned, as a complete mystery.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-THE THURSDAY RENDEZVOUS.
-
-
-Beryl Gaselee, in her warm leather motor-coat and close-fitting little
-hat, stood gazing out of the coffee-room window of the Unicorn Hotel in
-the quiet old cathedral town of Ripon, in Yorkshire.
-
-In the falling twilight of the wintry afternoon all looked dull
-and cheerless. The car stood outside with Ronald Pryor and Collins
-attending to some slight engine-trouble--the fast, open car which
-Ronnie sometimes used to such advantage. It was covered with mud, after
-the long run north from Suffolk, for they had started from Harbury long
-before daylight, and, until an hour ago, had been moving swiftly up the
-Great North Road, by way of Stamford, Grantham, and Doncaster to York.
-There they had turned away to Ripon, where, for an hour, they had eaten
-and rested. In a basket the waiter had placed some cold food with some
-bread and a bottle of wine, and this had been duly transferred to the
-car.
-
-All was now ready for a continuance of the journey.
-
-“Well, Beryl!” exclaimed Ronnie, returning to where the pretty young
-air-woman was standing before the fire. “All ready--eh?”
-
-“Quite, dear,” was her reply. “You haven’t forgotten the revolvers,
-have you?” she asked in a low voice.
-
-“No. There’s one for each of us--and one for you if you’d like it,” he
-laughed.
-
-“Yes. I think I’d better have it, dear--one never knows.”
-
-“Not much good against a machine-gun, you know!” he laughed. “But a
-weapon always gives one confidence.”
-
-“I’ve had the flask filled with hot tea,” she said. “We shall, no
-doubt, want it.”
-
-“Yes. It will be a coldish job. Are you quite warm enough--quite sure
-you are?” he asked, as the white-haired old waiter entered the snug,
-warm coffee-room.
-
-“Quite,” she answered, as she drew on her fur-lined gloves.
-
-“Well--good-evening, waiter!” exclaimed Ronnie cheerily.
-
-“Good-evening, sir,” replied the old man pleasantly.
-
-Ten minutes later, with Ronnie driving, Beryl snuggled at his side, and
-Collins seated under the rug in the back of the car, they had passed
-the dark, imposing façade of the grey, old cathedral and were well out
-upon the darkening road, through High Berrys and over Hutton Moor. At
-last they reached Baldersby Gate, where they turned into the long,
-straight Roman road which runs direct north from York, and, though a
-continuation of the old Watling Street, is there known as Leeming Lane.
-
-With nightfall there had arisen a cutting north-east wind, that
-searching breeze which all dwellers in Yorkshire know far too well,
-comes over with the month of February.
-
-From Baldersby Gate, past Sinderby Station, through Hope Town on to
-Leeming village, the ancient road ran straight as an arrow, then, with
-a slight curve to Leeming Station, it ran on to Catterick. By this time
-they had passed the race-course, which lay on the left of the road
-before coming to the cross-roads; it was already dark, and drawing up
-at Catterick Bridge Station, Collins got down and lit the head-lamps,
-Ronald Pryor having a written permission from Whitehall to use them.
-
-Striking across through the town of Richmond they climbed the high
-hills over Hipswell and Barden Moor to Leyburn, and then down into
-Wensley Dale, famed for its cheeses, by the northern road which took
-them through the picturesque village of Redmire on to Askrigg as far as
-a darkened and lonely inn close to Hardraw Force. There they pulled up,
-and, entering, asked for something to eat.
-
-By that time, ten o’clock, all three were chilled to the bone, after
-crossing those wide, open moorlands, where the keen wind cut their
-faces all the time. The landlady, a stout, cheerful person, soon busied
-herself to provide creature comforts for the travellers, and within a
-quarter of an hour all were seated at a substantial meal.
-
-While the good woman was busying herself at table Ronnie suddenly
-became inquisitive, exclaiming:
-
-“There’s a friend of mine, a Mr. Aylesworth, who often comes up to this
-neighbourhood. He lives in Leeds, but he rents a cottage somewhere
-about here. He’s a queer and rather lonely man. Do you happen to know
-him?”
-
-“Oh, yes, sir! Mr. Aylesworth is quite well known in Hardraw. He has
-rented old Tom Dalton’s cottage, up on the hill at Simon Stone, for
-quite eighteen months now.”
-
-“Is that far from here?”
-
-“Only about half-a-mile up Buttertubs Pass.”
-
-“Buttertubs! What a very curious name!” Beryl remarked. “Where does the
-pass lead to?”
-
-“Why, straight up over Abbotside Common, just below Lovely Seat, and it
-comes out on the high road in Swale Dale, close to Thwaite.”
-
-“Who is Dalton?” asked the airman.
-
-“Old Farmer Dalton. He’s got several cottages on his place. He himself
-lives over at Gayle, close to Hawes.”
-
-“Does my friend Aylesworth ever come in here?”
-
-“Oh, very often, sir!” replied the woman. “Everybody knows him. He’s
-such a real cheerful, good-hearted gentleman. He’s always giving
-away something. It’s a sad thing for many about here that there’s no
-treating nowadays.”
-
-“Well,” laughed Beryl, “the order is, I hear from my friends, very
-often broken.”
-
-“You’re right, miss,” the broad, round-faced woman admitted. “You can’t
-always prevent it, you know, though we folk do all we can, because of
-our licenses.”
-
-“So my friend Aylesworth is quite popular? I’m glad to hear that,”
-replied Ronnie. “He lives here constantly nowadays, I suppose?”
-
-“Oh, no, sir! He comes down here just at odd times. Sometimes in the
-beginning of the week; sometimes for the week-end,” was the reply.
-“He’s often up in London--on Government contracts, I’ve heard him say.”
-
-Beryl and her lover exchanged shrewd and meaning glances.
-
-“Yes, I know that Mr. Aylesworth must be very busy,” remarked Pryor. “I
-suppose he comes out here just for quiet and rest?”
-
-“Yes. That’s it, sir,” replied the inn-keeper’s wife. “Only the other
-day he called in here, and was saying that he was so busy that it was a
-complete change to come here to the moors for rest and fresh air.”
-
-“You’ve had Zepps over here lately, I’ve heard. Is that true?” inquired
-Ronnie.
-
-“Well, they’ve passed over once or twice, they say, but I’ve been in
-bed and asleep. My husband was called up last month, and is now in
-training down in Kent. Only a week ago he wrote to me saying he hoped I
-wasn’t frightened by them. Somebody down in Kent had evidently spread
-a report that they had been over here. But I’m thankful to say I heard
-nothing of them.”
-
-“Do you ever get aeroplanes over?” asked Beryl.
-
-“Oh, yes, miss! We get some across in the daytime. They must have an
-aerodrome somewhere on the coast, I think--but I don’t know where it
-is.”
-
-“Do you ever hear anything of them at night?” inquired the girl.
-
-“Well, just now and then. I’ve been awakened sometimes by the humming
-of them passing over at night--our patrols, I suppose they are.”
-
-Ronald Pryor exchanged another meaning glance with his well-beloved.
-
-“Do they sound quite near?” he asked.
-
-“Oh! quite--unusually low. I suppose they manoeuvre across the
-moors?” she said. “Mr. Benton, the farmer who lives over at
-Crosslands, quite close here, was only the other day telling me a
-curious story. He said he was going home late the other night from Jack
-Sneath’s, when he heard an aeroplane above him, and he saw the machine
-making some flashlights--signalling to somebody. It flew round and
-round, hovering and signalling madly. Suddenly, he told me, the aviator
-cut off his engine, as though he had received an answer, and sailing
-over the moor, descended somewhere close by, for the hum of the engine
-was heard no more.”
-
-“Curious!” Pryor remarked, again glancing at his well-beloved.
-
-“Oh, no, sir!” replied the smiling woman. “It was only the night
-manoeuvres of our splendid aircraft boys. Really everyone must admire
-them,” she added, unaware of Ronald Pryor’s qualifications as an
-air-pilot.
-
-Ten minutes later all three were out on the road again, travelling
-along the valley in the direction of Hawes Junction. The night was
-overcast and very dark, therefore Ronnie was compelled to switch on his
-head-lights, the road at that part being particularly dangerous.
-
-The country they were now in was a wild and lonely one, with high
-peaks and wide, desolate moorlands; a sparsely populated district, far
-removed from the busy workaday world.
-
-They had travelled as far as the old inn called the Moor Cock, where
-the road branches off to Kirkby Stephen, when Ronnie pulled up, and,
-turning, ran back again to within a mile of Hardraw. Then finding a
-convenient grass field, he ran the car in behind a low stone wall,
-where it was hidden from any passer-by. Then, each taking a flash-lamp
-and a revolver, they, after shutting off the lights, sought a path
-which at last they took, climbing up the steep hill-side.
-
-A quarter of an hour’s walk brought them to a narrow, stony lane,
-which, after another quarter of an hour, led them to a long, low,
-stone-built cottage, surrounded by a clump of trees.
-
-“That’s Dalton’s cottage,” remarked Ronnie. “It answers exactly to the
-description we have of it. Now, Collins, you get down on the left, so
-as to have a good point of view while we watch for anything stirring
-away on the right.”
-
-It was then half-past ten o’clock. Though cold, the night was very
-still on those lonely moorlands. The house Ronnie and Beryl were
-approaching was in total darkness, a gloomy, remote place in which the
-mystery-man from Leeds, George Aylesworth, came for rest and quiet
-after the business turmoil of the great manufacturing town.
-
-At last Ronald and his companion got up quite close to the house, and
-finding a spot whence they had a good view of the front door, they
-crouched beneath an ivy-clad wall, and there, without speaking, waited,
-knowing that Collins was on watch at the rear of the premises.
-
-Their vigil was a long and weary one until at last the door opened. By
-the light within there was revealed a tall, lean man in overcoat and
-golf-cap. Beneath his left arm he carried something long and round,
-like a cylinder, while in his right hand he had a stout stick.
-
-He came out, closed the door carefully behind him, and then,
-passing close to where the air-woman and her lover were crouched
-in concealment, struck away up a steep, narrow path which led up
-to the summit of the Black Hill. Happily for the watchers the wind
-had now become rather rough, hence they were able to follow the man
-Aylesworth--for Ronald recognised him by the description; keeping at a
-respectful distance, of course, but determinedly dogging his footsteps.
-
-After walking for nearly half-a-mile up a steep ascent, and over a
-stony path, the man Aylesworth halted at a point which gave a view of
-the moor, with its fells and dales, for many miles around. From where
-Ronald halted he could see the man faintly silhouetted against the
-skyline.
-
-“Look!” whispered Beryl. “What is he doing?”
-
-“Watch,” urged her companion.
-
-And as they watched they suddenly saw a beam of intense, white light, a
-miniature searchlight of great brilliance, pierce the darkness skyward.
-The man Aylesworth was manipulating what they now recognised to be
-an acetylene signalling apparatus, a cylinder mounted upon a light
-tripod of aluminium, with a bright reflector behind the gas-jet, and,
-from the manner that the light began to “wink,” three times in quick
-succession--the Morse letter “S.”--there was evidently some shutter
-arrangement upon it.
-
-Slowly the beam turned from north to south, making the Morse “S.” upon
-the clouds time after time.
-
-Suddenly the light was shut off. For five minutes by Ronald’s watch no
-flicker was shown. Then, once again, the series of “S’s.” was repeated
-in a semi-circle from north to south, and back again.
-
-Another five minutes passed in darkness.
-
-Once more the light opened out and commenced to signal the Morse
-flashes and flares “N. F.,” “N. F.,” “N. F.,” followed by a long beam
-of light skyward, slowly sweeping in a circle.
-
-Pryor glanced at his watch. It was then exactly midnight. Aylesworth
-had, no doubt, a rendezvous with someone. His signal could be seen from
-that point over a radius of fully thirty miles, or even more, for
-Ronnie, who understood signalling, was well aware that the portable
-apparatus being used was one of the most intense and reliable type--one
-that was, indeed, being used by the German army in Flanders.
-
-For the next half-hour the signals were repeated, until, of a sudden,
-Beryl’s quick ears caught some unusual sound.
-
-“Hark!” she whispered.
-
-Both, on listening intently, heard the low hum of a distant aeroplane
-in the darkness.
-
-The light was signalling madly, and at the same time the machine, high
-in the vault of the night sky, was fast approaching. The pair watched,
-straining their eyes to discover it, but though the sound betrayed its
-presence, they could not discern its whereabouts until there appeared
-high over them a small, bright light, like a green star, which repeated
-the signal “N. F.,” “N. F.,” half-a-dozen times.
-
-“This is most interesting!” whispered Ronald, “Look! Why, he’s planing
-down.”
-
-Beryl watched, and saw how the aeroplane which had come out of the
-night was now making short spirals, and planing down as quickly as was
-practicable in that rather dangerous wind.
-
-Every moment the low hum of the engine became more and more distinct
-as, time after time, signals were shown in response to those flashed
-by the mysterious man from Leeds. Then ten minutes later the machine,
-which proved to be a Fokker, came to earth only about fifty yards from
-where Beryl and Ronald were standing.
-
-Aylesworth ran up breathlessly the moment the machine touched the
-grass, and with him the watchers crept swiftly up, in order to try to
-overhear the conversation.
-
-It was in German. The aviator and his observer climbed out of the seats
-and stood with Mr. Aylesworth, chatting and laughing.
-
-The pilot calmly lit a cigarette, and drawing something from his
-pocket, gave it to the man who had been awaiting his arrival.
-Thereupon, Aylesworth, on his part, handed the airman a letter, saying
-in English:
-
-“That’s all to-night. Please tell Count von Stumnitz that the reply
-will not be given till Thursday next. By that time we shall have news
-from the North Sea.”
-
-“Excellent,” replied the aviator, who spoke English perfectly, and who,
-if the truth were told, had before the war lived the life of a bachelor
-in Jermyn Street. “I shall be over again on Thursday at midnight
-punctually. I must run up from the south next time. The anti-aircraft
-found me on the coast and fired.”
-
-“Well, if you come on Thursday I’ll have the despatch ready.”
-
-Suddenly the observer, who spoke in German, said:
-
-“I have some letters here from the Wilhelmstrasse. Will you post them
-for me?”
-
-“Certainly.”
-
-“They are all ready. They are written upon English paper, and
-English penny stamps are upon them. Therefore, they can be put into
-any post-box, and will not arouse suspicion. They mostly contain
-instructions to our good friends who are scattered over Great Britain.”
-
-Aylesworth took from the man’s hand a packet of letters tied with
-string--secret despatches from the German General Staff to the Kaiser’s
-spies in Great Britain--and thrust them into the big pocket of his
-overcoat.
-
-The two Huns and the traitor stood there together in cheery
-conversation. Much that they said Ronald and Beryl could not overhear.
-Sometimes there was low whispering, sometimes a burst of hilarious
-laughter. But it was evident that all three were in perfect accord, and
-that the aviator and his observer were well-known to Mr. Aylesworth of
-Leeds.
-
-Far away--many miles off--there showed a faint tremor in the sky, the
-flash of a distant anti-aircraft searchlight. Now and then it trembled,
-then all became dark again. The pair of enemies, who that night had
-landed upon British soil, at last decided that it was high time for
-them to hie back over the North Sea, therefore they climbed again into
-their machine--one of the fastest and newest of the Fokker type--and
-for a few minutes busied themselves in testing their instruments and
-engine.
-
-The pilot descended again to have a final look round, after which
-he once more climbed up to his seat, while Aylesworth, acting as
-mechanic--for, if the truth be told, he had been an aviator’s mechanic
-at Hendon for three years before the outbreak of war--gave the
-propeller a swing over.
-
-There was a loud roar, the machine leapt forward over the withered
-heather, bumping along the uneven surface, until, gaining speed, the
-tail slowly lifted, and after a run of a couple of hundred yards, the
-Fokker skimmed easily away off the ground.
-
-As Ronnie watched in silence he saw that for another fifty yards the
-German pilot held her down, and then, with a rush and that quick swoop
-of which the Fokker is capable, up she went, and away!
-
-She made a circuit of perhaps eight hundred feet and then sped
-somewhere into the darkness upon a straight eastward course to the
-coast, and over the rough North Sea.
-
-As the pair watched, still arm-in-arm, they again saw the faint tremor
-of our searchlights in the far distance.
-
-“Wouff! Wouff! Wouff!” sounded faintly far away.
-
-The Fokker had been picked up by our anti-aircraft boys, and was being
-fired upon!
-
-“Wouff! Wouff!” again sounded afar. But the bark of the shell died
-away, and it seemed plain that the Hun machine had, by a series of
-side-slips, nose-dives, and quick turns, avoided our anti-aircraft
-guns, and was well on its way carrying those secret communications to
-the German General Staff.
-
-The enemy pilot had “streaked off” eastwards, and to sea.
-
-“Now we know this fellow Aylesworth’s game!” whispered Ronnie. “Next
-Thursday he will be sending away some important message. Therefore, we
-must be here to have a finger in the enemy’s pie--eh?”
-
-“Certainly, dearest,” replied the gallant little woman at his side.
-“It certainly is a _coup_ for you that you have discovered this secret
-means of communication between ourselves and the enemy.”
-
-“Not really,” he said in a low voice. “Our people scented the mystery,
-and have handed it on to me to investigate.”
-
-“Well, we know that something is leaving us on Thursday--some important
-information.”
-
-“Just so. And is it up to us to see that Aylesworth does not send it
-across the sea successfully--eh?”
-
-“Let’s get away now,” urged Beryl. “He may discover us.”
-
-Ronald stood, his arm linked in that of his well-beloved. He made
-no remark as he watched the dark silhouette of the man Aylesworth
-disappear over the brow of the hill.
-
-Presently he said:
-
-“Well, dear, he hasn’t discovered us. But if all goes well we shall be
-back here on Thursday.”
-
-Half-an-hour later they met Collins awaiting them near the car. The
-mechanic became greatly interested when his master described briefly
-what they had seen.
-
-Then all three mounted into their seats, the lights were switched on,
-and they turned back to Kirkby Stephen, where they spent the remainder
-of the night at the old “King’s Arms,” giving a fictitious story of a
-breakdown.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Two days later, Pryor having made a long written report to the
-Anti-Aircraft Headquarters, took the train from Liverpool Street
-Station down to Harbury Court, there to await instructions. Beryl,
-who was already down there with Iris, was greatly excited, for only
-she, Ronald, and Collins knew of the intended _coup_ next Thursday.
-Zeppelins had sailed over the East Coast, and had paid the penalty
-for so doing. “Uncle”--the pet name for Count Zeppelin at the Potsdam
-Court--was, it was reported, in tears of rage. He had promised the
-Kaiser that he would appal Great Britain, but the British refused
-even to be alarmed. The Zeppelin menace, thought by the world to be
-so serious, had “fizzled out,” and it now seemed that the more mobile
-aeroplane--often with the British tri-colour rings upon its wings--had
-taken its place. And it was one of those which Ronnie and Beryl knew
-would be due over that Yorkshire moor next Thursday at midnight.
-
-Ronnie spent the night at Harbury, and in the morning received a
-telegram calling him urgently to Whitehall. On his return, he said but
-little, though, from his smile, Beryl knew that he was satisfied.
-
-Wednesday came, and in his brown overalls he spent nearly the whole day
-with Collins in “The Hornet’s Nest.” They were getting the machine in
-trim for a long night flight.
-
-Both pilot and mechanic consumed many cigarettes as they worked, Ronnie
-examining every stay and every instrument. He satisfied himself that
-the Lewis gun, which could fire through the propeller, was in working
-order, and he tested the silencer, which he brought out from the house
-for that purpose, and then returned it to its place of safety from the
-prying eyes of the enemy.
-
-Now and then Beryl came out and watched the preparations.
-
-Thursday dawned grey and overcast, with every indication of rain.
-Indeed, rain fell at ten o’clock, but at eleven, it having cleared,
-Ronnie took Collins, and they went up for a “flip” together in order to
-make a final test.
-
-Beryl and her sister stood in the meadow watching the machine ascend
-higher and higher, until it had gained an altitude of fully twelve
-thousand feet. Then it seemed to hover for a moment, after which, with
-a long, graceful swoop, Ronnie commenced a series of aerial evolutions
-which Beryl, as an accomplished air-woman, knew to be most difficult,
-and showed to her what perfect control Ronald had over the machine. The
-silencer was on, therefore no sound could be heard of the engines.
-
-In about twenty minutes’ time Ronnie came lightly to earth, and pulled
-up close to where Iris and her sister were standing.
-
-“Everything going finely!” he shouted to Beryl, as he unstrapped
-himself, and clambered out of the pilot’s seat.
-
-Then, when he joined her, he said:
-
-“As the crow flies the spot on the moor is about two hundred and thirty
-miles from here. Therefore we ought to leave soon after seven in case
-we lose our way.”
-
-Then, after luncheon, they spent the afternoon studying maps and
-marking directions by which to steer, by the lines of railway mostly.
-Night flying, with the lights of towns extinguished, is always a
-difficult matter, and, as Beryl knew by experience, it is extremely
-easy to lose one’s way by a single mistake.
-
-By seven o’clock darkness had already fallen; but the barometer, at
-which both had glanced many times with anxious eyes, showed a slow,
-steady rise, and with the direction of the wind, combined to create
-excellent conditions for flying at high altitudes.
-
-“The Hornet” had been wheeled out of its “nest,” and Beryl in her
-fur-lined aviation kit, her leather cap and goggles, had strapped
-herself in behind her lover, who, with a flash-lamp, was now busily
-examining the row of instruments before him. Meanwhile Collins, on the
-ground, shouted:
-
-“Best of luck to you, sir, and also to Miss Beryl!”
-
-“Thank you, Collins!” cried the girl. “We ought to be back by five.”
-
-“All ready, Collins?” asked Ronnie at last sharply.
-
-The mechanic sprang to the propeller.
-
-“Contact, sir?” he asked.
-
-Ronnie threw over the switch with a click. The mechanic swung the
-big, four-bladed propeller over, when the engine started with noisy,
-metallic clatter, increasing until it became a deep roar.
-
-Ronnie was testing his engine. Finding it satisfactory, he quickly
-throttled down. Collins took the “chocks” from beneath the wheels, and
-the pilot “taxied” slowly across to the corner of the big field until,
-gaining speed, he opened up suddenly, when the machine skimmed easily
-off the ground, over the belt of trees, and away up into the void.
-
-As they ascended, Beryl, gazing down, saw below a few faint lights to
-the south-east, and knew that there lay the important town of H----,
-blotted out at even that early hour of the evening, for the lights
-visible would have only indicated a village in pre-war days.
-
-In the sky further eastwards toward the sea was a slight tremor of
-light showing that searchlights were already at work testing their
-beams, and making oblong patches of light upon the clouds.
-
-At ten thousand feet up, as the altimeter then showed, it was intensely
-cold, and the girl buttoned up her fur-lined coat and fastened up her
-wind-cuffs. The roar of the engine was too great, of course, to admit
-of conversation. Ronnie had not switched on the silencer, as it impeded
-speed, and after a long flight it might choke just at the very moment
-when its services were most required.
-
-Due north in the increasing darkness went “The Hornet,” skilfully
-handled by the most intrepid of air-pilots, high over town, forest,
-and pasture, hill and dale, as the hours crept slowly on.
-
-Suddenly, however, Ronnie turned the machine, and began to circle over
-a few scattered lights. Then Beryl recognised his uncertainty. Time
-after time he searched for the railway line to York, but though both of
-them strained their eyes they could not pick it up again.
-
-Hence they were compelled, much to Ronnie’s chagrin, to make a descent
-in a big grass-field, where, in the blackness, they made a rather rough
-landing, and presently inquired their whereabouts of some villagers.
-
-To their amazement they found that beneath the hill where they had
-descended the railway line actually ran. And it was on account of the
-long tunnel they had missed it.
-
-So, ascending once more, they struck again due north by the compass,
-and finding the line, flew along it over Doncaster to York. Then, still
-continuing northwards, they reached Thirsk Junction, until five minutes
-later as they were approaching Northallerton, intending to strike
-westward and follow the line to Hawes, “The Hornet” developed serious
-engine trouble, and Ronnie was forced again to descend, planing down
-into an unploughed field.
-
-For half-an-hour, aided actively by Beryl, he was occupied in making
-a repair. It was then past eleven, and the girl expressed a hope that
-they would be at the rendezvous by midnight.
-
-“It will really be too bad if we arrive too late,” she added
-apprehensively.
-
-Ronnie did not reply. He was seriously contemplating giving up the
-expedition. The engine trouble was a very serious one. They might
-last out perhaps another hour, but “The Hornet” could never return to
-Harbury with the engine in that state. This distressing fact, however,
-he did not tell her.
-
-“Hark!” cried Beryl suddenly. “Listen! Why, there’s a machine up--over
-us!”
-
-Ronald hold his breath. Yes, there was the distinct hum of a machine
-coming up from the east, following the railway from the main line over
-towards Hawes.
-
-“Oh! do let’s go up. That may be Aylesworth’s friend,” suggested Beryl.
-
-“I expect it is,” replied Ronnie grimly. “But with this engine there is
-danger--very grave danger--Beryl, dear. Are you quite prepared to risk
-it?”
-
-“I’ll risk anything with you,” was the girl’s prompt reply. “We’ve
-risked our lives in the air before, and we’ll do so again to-night. We
-must not fail now that we’re within an ace of success.”
-
-Her words spurred Ronnie to a supreme effort. With the hum of the
-mysterious machine in his ears, he set his teeth; then with the spanner
-in his hand he screwed the nut tightly, and without many further words
-he told his well-beloved that all was ready. They both got in, and two
-minutes later they were rising in the air, rapidly overhauling the
-mysterious machine.
-
-Those moments seemed hours to Beryl. She scarcely dared to breathe.
-Ronnie had switched on the silencer, and they were now speeding through
-the air without a sound, save for the shrill whistle of the wind
-through the planes.
-
-By the hum of the engine of the machine they were following they kept
-silently in its wake, gradually overhauling it.
-
-Suddenly they saw flashes of white light from it--signals to the
-traitor Aylesworth in waiting below. Then they knew that they were not
-mistaken.
-
-Ronnie put every ounce into his crocked-up engine, knowing that if it
-failed they might make a nose-dive fatal to them both. Like an arrow
-he sped towards the aeroplane which had crept over the North Sea,
-and across Yorkshire to meet the man who had promised those secret
-despatches.
-
-Beryl saw deep below the flashes of a lamp--“N. F.,” “N. F.,” in Morse.
-
-Ronald Pryor saw it also and, suddenly turning the nose of his machine,
-he made a circle in silence around the enemy aeroplane. Again he
-circled much nearer. The German pilot was utterly ignorant of his
-presence, so silently did he pass through the air, until, narrowing
-the circle, he waited for the Fokker to plane down; then, in a flash,
-he flew past, and, with his hand upon the Lewis gun, he showered a
-veritable hail of lead upon it.
-
-The Fokker reeled, and then nose-dived to earth, with--as was
-afterwards found--its pilot shot through the brain, its petrol-tank
-pierced in five places, and one of its wings hanging limp and broken,
-such a terrible shower of lead had Pryor directed against it.
-
-Beryl and Ronald Pryor had perforce to return by train to Harbury, but,
-by previous arrangement, the man Aylesworth had been arrested, and was
-duly tried by court-martial. It is known that he was found guilty and
-condemned, but the exact sentence upon him will probably not be known
-until after the declaration of peace.
-
-And, after all, the doom of a traitor is best left unrecorded.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-CONCERNS THE HIDDEN HAND.
-
-
-One evening--the evening of June 14th, 1916, to be exact--Ronald Pryor
-came forth through one of the long French windows which led out upon
-the sloping lawn at Harbury Court, and gazed out upon the extensive and
-picturesque landscape; the low ridge of hills was soft in the grey and
-crimson of the summer afterglow.
-
-With Beryl, and Iris, he had dined an hour ago, after which Beryl
-had gone for a flight in “The Hornet.” She had been away more than
-half-an-hour when, seated alone, he drained his liqueur, placed his
-cigarette-end in the ash-tray, and glanced anxiously at his wrist-watch.
-
-Then he had gone out into the calm June night.
-
-Passing from the spacious gardens surrounding the Court--ill-kept
-nowadays, for all the men were serving in the Army--he went down to
-“The Hornet’s Nest.”
-
-He opened the sliding door sufficiently to allow himself to enter,
-and for the next hour he was busy within. At last he reappeared with
-an old, wide-mouthed kitbag, similar to those used by hunting men in
-pre-war days.
-
-Carrying it across the field to the opposite corner, he opened it
-beneath the high elm-tree which they were always compelled to avoid in
-their ascents or descents. Then he took out a coil of black-enamelled
-wire, the end of which bore a lead plummet. Carefully examining the
-coil, he held it loosely in his hand and, stepping back a few paces,
-quickly swung the lead around his head half-a-dozen times, and then,
-with a sudden jerk, released it, sending it high up into the branches
-of the tree, where it remained with its wire attached. A few feet down
-the wire, towards the ground, there had been inserted a brown porcelain
-insulator, while, as the airman paid out the wire, receding from the
-tree as he did so, a second insulator came into view.
-
-Having let out sufficient wire, he at last pegged its end to the
-ground. Thus, from the grass to the tree, stretched up a long single
-wire. From his square-mouthed bag he took out a small box of polished
-mahogany and, opening it, there was disclosed within a complete little
-wireless set. A small mat of copper gauze he took also from the bag
-and, spreading it upon the damp grass as an “earth,” he connected up
-his instruments with expert hand.
-
-Presently he glanced at the watch on his wrist; by this time the
-twilight was rapidly falling, the mists were rising, and a few sparks
-of light could be seen twinkling deep down in the grey valley. Then
-he removed his cap and, assuming the double head ’phones, carefully
-adjusted his detector and listened attentively.
-
-From anyone passing along the high road he was entirely hidden from
-view. The possession of wireless was forbidden under heavy penalty by
-the Defence of the Realm Act, but Ronnie Pryor was one of the fortunate
-few whose permits for experiment had been recently renewed by the
-Admiralty.
-
-“H’m!” he exclaimed aloud. “There’s Norddeich going strong, sending
-out the usual German official lies--and also the Eiffel Tower. Two
-budgets of official war news at the same time!”
-
-Again he listened with great patience and attention, as he knelt upon
-the grass. The neat little installation was, of course, for receiving
-only, there being no electrical current for transmission. A small,
-round ebonite handle at the end of the box he turned backwards and
-forwards very slowly, altering his wave-length ever and anon, making
-it longer or shorter in order to “tune” himself to the message he was
-apparently expecting.
-
-Once again he glanced at his watch very anxiously. Then, for the next
-three-quarters of an hour, while the dusk deepened into darkness, he
-remained upon his patient vigil.
-
-“At last!” he gasped aloud, as he switched on a little shaded lamp
-which shone obliquely within the box; then he bent down, and, on a
-small writing-pad, began to take down rapidly the letters he heard in
-Morse code--an unintelligible jumble of the alphabet, each nine letters
-being separated by a space.
-
-Presently there ticked into his ears the three “shorts,” followed by
-“long-short-long,” which signified “end of work.” Still bending to the
-tiny light, he took from his pocket a little book. On consulting it,
-he placed over each code-letter its de-coded equivalent, afterwards
-reading it to his apparent satisfaction.
-
-Then he rose, standing with his face to the north, and gazing over
-the wide valley into the night sky. He lit a cigarette, and remained
-there for a full quarter of an hour. Afterwards he consulted a map
-from his pocket and then, lighting another cigarette, waited somewhat
-impatiently. Now and then he could hear the roar of a car or a
-motor-cycle passing along the high road at the back of him.
-
-About three-quarters of an hour after the reception of the message,
-Pryor connected up four dry batteries he had in his bag to a lamp with
-a wide lens, which he placed on its back upon the ground, so that the
-beams were directed upwards. Then again, after pulling down the wire,
-he seated himself upon a root of the great tree and waited, listening
-very attentively.
-
-At last he heard a faint hum in the darkness--a low sound like the
-distant buzzing of a bee.
-
-It was approaching rapidly--an aeroplane high in the dark sky, for
-neither moon nor stars showed that night. The machine was approaching
-from the direction of London, yet, though he strained his eyes, he
-could not distinguish it in that dark-blue vault above.
-
-On it came rapidly in his direction. Into the electric circuit he had
-put a little tapping-key and, touching it, he tapped out the Morse
-letters: “X X D”--his own wireless call number.
-
-Time after time he repeated the call “X X D--X X D!” at the same time
-straining his eyes into the darkness.
-
-Suddenly, almost exactly above him, he saw, like a tiny star in the
-sky, a light twinkling. He read the message, and knew that his signal
-had been seen and read.
-
-Next second he tapped out upon the key--flashing it to the arriving
-aeroplane--the direction of the light wind, afterwards opening up
-the light to serve as a guide. The aeroplane, humming above in the
-darkness, swept down lower and lower in half-mile spirals until, of a
-sudden, a powerful searchlight beamed out from it, directed upon the
-earth below; its pilot was looking for a safe landing-place.
-
-Slowly it circled round and round until, a few minutes later, it came
-to earth in the opposite corner of the field to that in which Ronnie
-was standing. In an instant, with the cessation of the throbbing of the
-engine, the light was shut off, and Pryor, having long ago packed up
-his wireless, hastened across.
-
-“Hullo!” he shouted into the darkness.
-
-“Hullo, Ronnie!” answered a girl’s voice cheerily, and a few seconds
-later Beryl Gaselee received a warm and fond caress.
-
-“I got your message all right, darling!” the man exclaimed, while the
-girl, in her workmanlike air-woman’s kit, stood before the propeller
-and stretched her arms above her head after her long flight away
-into Hampshire and back. By the light of Ronnie’s flash-lamp she was
-revealed in her leather flying-cap, her hair tucked away beneath it,
-her mackintosh confined at the waist by a wide belt, and, instead of a
-skirt, brown mechanic’s overalls.
-
-“I came across Bedford and St. Albans, but just beyond I had a terrible
-fright. I was flying low in order to pick up a railway-line when, of a
-sudden, a searchlight opened up from somewhere and I was attacked by
-two anti-aircraft guns. One shell whistled within five yards of the
-left plane of ‘The Hornet.’ Indeed, it was quite a miracle that I was
-not winged.”
-
-“But couldn’t the fools see the rings on the planes? Didn’t you bank in
-order to show them?”
-
-“Of course I did, but I was in a cloud, and they could not see me with
-any accuracy. You see, I never gave word to headquarters that I was
-going up. I quite forgot it.”
-
-“Oh, well, in that case it is only natural that they would fire upon
-any stray aircraft at night!” Ronnie replied. “But I got your message
-all right, which proves that our wireless works well. Where were you
-when you sent it?”
-
-“I had flown about ten miles beyond Oxford. I had some trouble with the
-engine, so I was late in starting,” she replied. “You left your kit in
-the machine,” she added, and, climbing again into “The Hornet,” she
-threw out a leather cap and a heavy mackintosh.
-
-“Did you hear anything suspicious?” she asked, as he placed the bag
-containing the wireless in the observer’s seat.
-
-“Yes,” he replied. “It was just as we have guessed--enemy messages on
-a short wave-length. Not very plain, to be sure, but they are being
-transmitted, without a doubt. I heard you perfectly,” he added. “But we
-haven’t much time to waste if we are to keep the appointment.”
-
-“The ’bus is going beautifully,” Beryl said. “I should have had quite a
-pleasant trip if it were not for the ‘Archie-fire.’”
-
-“They may believe that the enemy send aeroplanes over to us at night
-painted to resemble ours. That is the reason you got peppered, no
-doubt,” he said. “We must give that station a wide berth in future.”
-
-Climbing into the pilot’s seat he examined the map set beneath the
-small electric bulb, and afterwards slipped on his airman’s coat and
-cap, and buckled the strap round his waist. Then, after she had swung
-over the propeller, he helped his well-beloved into the observer’s seat
-into which she strapped herself.
-
-With a quick bumpy run they sped over the pasture, and then, on the
-lower ground, they rose with a roar of the engine, turned and, passing
-over the high road, circled over the opposite hill. Higher and higher
-Ronnie went up into the starless darkness, making great circles in
-order to get up five thousand feet.
-
-As the speed increased in the darkness the machine, thrusting its nose
-still upwards and lying over resolutely in its long spiral climb,
-throbbed onward until, at a thousand feet, there came to both a
-delicious sense of relief as they moved along on an even keel.
-
-For over an hour they flew until they were high above the long, steep
-High Street of Guildford, where only a few twinkling lights could be
-seen below, owing to the excellent precautions of its Chief Constable.
-At that altitude, from the number of lights, an enemy airman would
-never have suspected it to be a town at all.
-
-It was not long, however--even while they were circling above the
-town and Ronnie was taking his bearings--before two intense beams
-from searchlights shot out and almost blinded the aviators. For fully
-two minutes the lights followed them. Then the watchers below, having
-satisfied themselves that it was a friendly ’plane, shut off again, and
-all was darkness.
-
-They had flown perhaps nine miles from Guildford when, of a sudden,
-almost directly below them, there sprang up four points of red
-light--lit simultaneously by an electrical wire--which showed them
-their landing-place.
-
-Down they swept until Ronnie, an expert in landing at night, found
-himself in a large grass-field. Collins came running forward eagerly to
-welcome him.
-
-The four lights were at once extinguished, and the engine being shut
-off, all was quiet again.
-
-“Well, sir, I think you’re quite right,” Collins said at last. “I’ve
-been watching these two days, and there’s something mysterious in the
-wind.”
-
-“Have you seen them?” asked Ronnie eagerly.
-
-“Yes. A youngish man and a stout old woman. When I got down I found
-Shawfield to be only a tiny place with one old inn, The Bell, and I
-knew that a stranger’s movements would be well watched. So I went three
-miles farther, and took a room at The George, in Bricklehurst.”
-
-“How far is the farm from here?” asked Beryl.
-
-“Oh, about a mile--not more, miss! Behind that wood yonder,” he
-replied. “They had a visitor this afternoon--a tall, fair, well-dressed
-man. He’s probably spending the night there. I watched him arrive at
-Shawfield Station, and the man who calls himself Cator met him, and
-drove him in the car to the Manor Farm.”
-
-“I wonder who the visitor is?” remarked Pryor.
-
-“He is probably one of the gang,” Beryl suggested. “No doubt he has
-come down from London to see them in secret. The woman poses as Cator’s
-mother, I believe.”
-
-“Yes, miss. I’ve discovered that they bought the Manor Farm in
-1913, and that Cator had an excellent assistant, a Belgian, it was
-supposed--or at least he gave himself out to be that. Cator erected
-new farm-buildings that you will see--nice, red-brick structures with
-corrugated iron roofs, and spent a large sum of money on improvements.”
-
-“New buildings--eh?” sniffed Ronnie in suspicion.
-
-“Yes, that’s just the point, sir. But let’s get over there, and I’ll
-show you one or two things that I regard as suspicious.”
-
-Thereupon the pair, guided by Collins, threw off their air-clothes
-and crossed the field to a gate where a footpath led into a dark wood,
-the air-mechanic switching on a pocket-torch to light their way. They
-conversed only in whispers, lest there should be anyone lurking in the
-vicinity, and on traversing the wood, found themselves out upon a broad
-highway. Then, after going perhaps a quarter of a mile, they turned
-into a second wood and continued through it until, at its farther
-boundary, they saw before them, silhouetted against the night sky, a
-cluster of farm-buildings, with the farmhouse itself close by.
-
-“Hush!” urged Collins. Then, drawing his companions near him, he halted
-and whispered, “See that long building--away from the others? That’s
-where the mystery lies!”
-
-They both strained their eyes, and could see distinctly the long,
-low-built structure straight before them.
-
-“Follow me,” Collins whispered. “Be careful to make no noise. There are
-two dogs in the yard yonder, but they’re chained up.”
-
-“That’s a mercy!” Beryl remarked, as the pair moved slowly after the
-mechanic.
-
-Suddenly, when they came out upon an ill-made track which was evidently
-a byway, Collins stopped and, turning his flash-lamp upon the ground,
-pointed out the recent marks of wheels, the broad, flat-tyred wheels of
-a motor-lorry.
-
-“See what’s been here of late--eh?” he whispered. “Look!” and he slowly
-flashed the light across the road. “It’s been here quite half-a-dozen
-times recently--on different nights or days.”
-
-“Yes,” replied Ronnie. “You are quite right! Do those tracks lead up
-to the building?”
-
-“Yes. Come and see.”
-
-They went, and before the big, heavy doors which were locked so
-securely they saw, by the faint light the man showed, marks of where
-the lorry had backed right into the building.
-
-“Then it must have a concrete floor!” remarked Ronnie as he examined
-the tracks intently. “Several lorries have been here, without a doubt.
-But might they not have been carting grain away?”
-
-“No. Because no threshing has been done here for over two years.”
-
-“Dare we go near the house?” Beryl asked.
-
-“No, miss; it wouldn’t be wise. We’d have to pass through the yard, and
-the dogs would give tongue at once.”
-
-“Oh, we mustn’t alarm them!” Ronnie said. “If we are to be successful
-we must do everything in secret and spring a real surprise. Only,” he
-added, “we must make quite certain that they are guilty.”
-
-“Of course,” Beryl agreed. “But how?”
-
-“Ah, that’s the point!” said Ronnie, taking out his own torch, and
-again examining the tracks of the lorry in the soft ground. With the
-aid of a folding foot-rule he drew forth from his pocket, he took
-measurements at several points in the road, then said:
-
-“It is not always the same lorry that comes here. One is heavier than
-the other. The one which came most recently is the larger of the two,
-and from the depth of the rut it must have been loaded to its capacity.
-See there, where it sank into a soft place!”--and he indicated a spot
-where one wheel had sunk in very deeply.
-
-“Further,” he went on, “I judge, by the recent dry weather, that those
-lorries have been here at intervals of about three days. They came from
-some considerable distance, no doubt. The last was here yesterday, in
-which case the next would be here the day after to-morrow.”
-
-“Then I can stay and see with my own eyes?” suggested Collins.
-
-“Exactly my idea,” his master replied. “You could be an actual witness,
-and make a statement before I dare act.”
-
-At that moment all three were startled by hearing voices. People were
-coming out of the farmhouse. The dogs in the yard barked--showing that
-the voice of one of the persons was that of a stranger--the man from
-London.
-
-“Quick!” cried Collins. “Let’s get into hiding somewhere. I hope they
-won’t let those infernal dogs loose, or they’ll soon scent us out!”
-
-“I hope not!” said Beryl, who, though a lover of dogs, held farm dogs,
-in such circumstances, in distinct suspicion.
-
-All three sped quickly back, crouching behind a wooden fence close by,
-just as the fitful light of a lantern could be seen approaching. Three
-persons were revealed--the man Cator, his guest, and the fat old woman.
-
-Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to catch their conversation, but
-at first they could not distinguish a single word.
-
-Suddenly the woman, with a loud laugh, spoke more distinctly. Yes! She
-spoke in German, the man from London answering in the same language!
-
-They walked to the door of the long, low building which, after some
-difficulty, the man Cator unlocked, leaving his old hurricane-lamp
-outside. The trio went in; therefore it was plain one of them carried
-an electric torch.
-
-“I suppose they are showing him their handiwork--eh?” remarked Beryl in
-a whisper.
-
-“No doubt. He has come down from London to make an inspection, it
-seems.”
-
-They could hear voices speaking in German within the building, but
-dared not emerge from their place of concealment to peer within. Ronnie
-had suggested it, but Beryl urged a judicious course.
-
-“No, let Collins remain and watch,” she said in a whisper. “Every
-moment we remain here means graver peril to our plans. If they scent
-the slightest suspicion, then all our efforts will be in vain. Have you
-noticed over there? I’ve been looking at it for some minutes, and I
-don’t think my eyes deceive me.”
-
-“What?” asked Ronnie.
-
-“Why, look at that chimney-stack upon the farmhouse! Can’t you see
-something--a wire running from it right away to that high tree on the
-left?”
-
-“Yes--by Gad! That’s so, Beryl! Why, they’ve got wireless here! They
-evidently string up an aerial at night!”
-
-“Well, I haven’t noticed that before!” said Collins. “But no doubt
-you’re right, sir. That’s a wireless aerial, without question.”
-
-“Yes. But let’s get away,” Ronnie urged. “They may release those
-horrible dogs for a run, and then it would be all up.”
-
-So the trio, creeping cautiously, receded by the dark path along which
-they had reached the Manor Farm, and were soon back again in the Monk’s
-Wood, as Collins told them it was named.
-
-Back again at the spot where they had left “The Hornet” they held
-council.
-
-“You remain here, Collins,” said Pryor. “Watch the place, and see
-what arrives. The next lorry may come along the day after to-morrow,
-or the day after that. You will see what its load is. Then, having
-made certain, come back straight to Harbury. We’ll wait for you there.
-Telephone me, but not from the locality. You understand?”
-
-“Very well, sir,” replied the air-mechanic, who, in a rather shabby
-blue suit, wore a brass badge as one doing national work.
-
-Ronnie and Beryl climbed back into the machine, fastened the straps
-round themselves, and made all ready for their long flight from Surrey,
-across London, to Harbury Court.
-
-They said good-bye to Collins, who, taking the propeller, pulled it
-over, while Pryor threw over the contact.
-
-There was no response.
-
-“Hullo! What’s up?” asked Ronnie.
-
-“Don’t know, sir,” Collins said. “Try again.”
-
-They both tried again--and again, but no response could be got out of
-the engine. “The Hornet” had lost its sting!
-
-Both pilot and observer descended again to make a minute investigation.
-Both of them were conversant with every point of an aero-engine, but
-neither could discover the fault. “The Hornet” had simply broken down!
-
-For nearly an hour the trio worked hard to get a move on the engine,
-but without success.
-
-At last Ronald declared that it would be best to wait until dawn, so
-they sat down upon the grass beneath the hedge, smoking cigarettes and
-chatting.
-
-“By Jove!” exclaimed Ronnie. “If it is really true what we suspect,
-how we shall surprise them--eh?”
-
-“Yes, dear,” said his well-beloved. “But Collins must have absolute and
-undeniable evidence.”
-
-“Of course. We cannot act without that. See over there--the faint light
-in the sky.”
-
-And he pointed to the pale light, eastward, which heralded the dawn.
-
-Already the birds were twittering, and away somewhere a dog was barking
-furiously. In pre-war times the chimes of village church clocks would
-have struck the hour. But now, in fear of enemy aircraft, all chimes
-were silent.
-
-Slowly the light stole over the hill, and presently all three walked
-over to “The Hornet” for another minute examination. Within ten minutes
-Collins had found the fault--quite a usual but unexpected one--and five
-minutes afterwards the engine was ready for the ascent.
-
-Pryor climbed into the pilot’s seat to test it, and did so half-a-dozen
-times before he pronounced his verdict that the machine was in a fit
-condition to fly back over London.
-
-At last, when Ronnie and Beryl had climbed in and settled themselves,
-the mechanic swung over the propeller, the engine roared, and a few
-moments later they had left the earth, speeding higher and higher in
-the direction of London, on their return to Harbury Court.
-
-Collins, as soon as they had left, wound up the electric wires
-connecting the little tin pans of petrol at each corner of the field,
-and hid the pans themselves in the hedge. Then, having removed all
-traces of the machine’s presence there, he started back on his
-three-mile walk to the obscure little village in which he had taken up
-his quarters.
-
-Next day he relaxed his vigilance on the Manor Farm and, with an
-elderly man, a retired schoolmaster whom he had met in the bar of The
-George, he went for a day’s fishing in the river which ran outside the
-village.
-
-The old man, whose name was Haddon, had a wide knowledge of local
-affairs, and as soon as Collins mentioned Mrs. Cator and her son, he
-exclaimed:
-
-“Ah! They had a very good manager in Mr. Bush, but he went away about
-a month before the war. He was a German, though he called himself
-Belgian.”
-
-“How do you know he was a German?” asked Collins.
-
-“Well, because my daughter’s in the post-office here, and she says that
-once or twice letters came for him bearing a Dutch stamp, and addressed
-to ‘Herr Büch,’ which is a German name.”
-
-“Yes. That’s curious, isn’t it?”
-
-“And there were some other curious facts, too. Before the war two
-foreigners very often came down to the Manor Farm to spend the
-week-end--gentlemen from London. I met them once or twice and heard
-them speaking in German.”
-
-“But Mr. Cator isn’t German, is he?” asked Collins.
-
-“Who knows? Some Germans who’ve lived here for years speak English so
-well that you can’t tell,” declared the ex-schoolmaster.
-
-“Have you any reason for supposing that Cator is a German?” inquired
-Collins. “If he’s German, then what about his mother?”
-
-“Well, it doesn’t follow that his mother is German. She may have been
-an English girl who married a German, you know.”
-
-“If so, she certainly might be pro-German,” Collins remarked, as they
-sat together on the river-bank eating their sandwiches.
-
-“I certainly think she is, because my daughter tells me that old
-Emma Green’s girl, who was housemaid at the Manor Farm when war was
-declared, says that Mrs. Cator, her son, and one of those gentlemen
-from London drank the health of the Kaiser in champagne that night.”
-
-“Did the girl tell your daughter that?”
-
-“Yes, she did. And I believe her.”
-
-Collins was silent. These facts he had learnt were highly important.
-
-“You see,” Mr. Haddon went on, “nowadays you dare not say anything
-about anybody you suspect, for fear of being had up for libel. The law
-somehow seems to protect the Germans in our midst. I feel confident
-that the Cators are a mysterious pair, and I told my suspicions to Mr.
-Rouse, our police-sergeant in the village. But he only shrugged his
-shoulders and said that as far as he knew they were all right. So why,
-after that, should anybody trouble?”
-
-“Is it not an Englishman’s duty to oust the enemy?” Collins queried.
-
-“Yes, it is; but if the enemy can live under laws which protect them,
-what can the average man do?”
-
-“Why, do his best to assist the authorities! The latter are not so
-blind as they lead the public to believe, I assure you,” laughed
-Collins, who, having learnt all he could from the ex-schoolmaster,
-devoted the remainder of the afternoon to angling, and with fair result.
-
-Next day he strolled, at about ten o’clock in the morning, in the
-direction of the Manor Farm, apparently taking a morning walk. When he
-had gone about a quarter of a mile, he met the man Cator in a golf
-suit and cap, accompanied by the stranger who had come from London two
-days previously, and a third man, tall, elderly, with a short, greyish
-beard, and rather shabbily-dressed.
-
-As they passed, Collins felt instinctively that the grey-bearded man,
-having eyed him closely, made some remark to his companions which
-caused them to turn back and look after him. The air-mechanic was,
-however, too discreet to turn himself, but went on and, walking in a
-circle, gave the Manor Farm a wide berth.
-
-That evening, however, as soon as it grew dark, he approached the
-place, taking up his position at the same spot where he had stood with
-his master and Miss Beryl--a point from which he had a good view of the
-long, low farm-building.
-
-He sank down into some undergrowth which concealed him and lit a
-cigarette, there being nobody near to smell the smoke. It was eight
-o’clock when he arrived there, and the time passed very slowly. Now
-and then the dogs in the yard barked furiously, once at hearing
-his footsteps, and again when somebody opened the back door of the
-farmhouse and came outside. Now and then a horse neighed, and once a
-dog barking far away set the two watch-dogs barking in response.
-
-The hours went by, but Collins, lying on his back sometimes smoking,
-sometimes dozing, kept a most patient vigil.
-
-Suddenly, however, just before midnight, as a glance at his watch
-revealed, he heard the sound of a car coming up the hill. He sprang
-up and listened. It was coming up behind him--up the byway which led
-through the wood to the farm!
-
-His heart beat quickly. Pryor had been right. A lorry visited the Manor
-Farm every three days.
-
-Suddenly he caught a glimpse of the oil side-lights, and a few minutes
-later a big motor-lorry, heavily laden, approached and backed towards
-the wide doors of the farm-building. The driver having blown his horn,
-Cator and his visitor came out, and, when the doors were unlocked and
-wheeled open, the lorry was backed right into the building.
-
-At once all three men began unloading the lorry, whereupon Collins
-crept up to ascertain what was being taken out.
-
-Crouching behind the lorry he saw a number of full petrol tins being
-handed out and stored away within, after which came small, square
-wooden cases, which were handled very gingerly, and placed quietly upon
-the concrete floor of the well-filled building. Each case bore a red
-disc, and by the manner in which the driver warned Cator and his friend
-who handled them, Collins learnt that they were high explosives.
-
-The lorry had been practically laden with these cases, save for twenty
-tins of petrol, and all were safely transferred into the store. After
-this the driver went into the house for some refreshment, and in the
-meantime Collins, by the aid of his flash-lamp, was enabled to slip
-inside the building and make a quick examination of its contents.
-
-What he saw showed plainly that within that place was stored a great
-quantity of petrol and explosives--an enemy base for the use of the
-Huns who so vainly hoped one day to reach Britain.
-
-Two minutes later, ere the trio again emerged from the house, the
-air-mechanic was on his way back to the inn at Bricklehurst, well
-satisfied.
-
-On the following Friday, at nine o’clock in the evening, Beryl climbed
-into “The Hornet,” which stood in its meadow behind Harbury Court ready
-for a night flight. It had been a strenuous day getting ready, but the
-machine was now in perfect running order.
-
-Ronnie, in his air-kit with leather cap and big goggles, climbed in and
-buckled the strap round his waist.
-
-“Well, let’s hope for good luck!” cried Beryl standing at the propeller.
-
-“Right, darling!” replied Ronnie. “Let her rip!”
-
-Next moment the girl swung round the propeller. Then she climbed in,
-and a few moments later the ’plane sped over the grass and soon crossed
-the roof of the house, and was away.
-
-An hour later, with the lever of the silencer thrown back, they were
-hovering noiselessly, having passed over Guildford and away south,
-above a fire they saw below them--a hay-rick which belonged to the
-Cators. Collins had ignited it at a given time that night, in order to
-serve as their guide. The rick was in a field fully half-a-mile from
-the farm, and from above Ronnie and his companion could see that the
-local fire brigade were around it.
-
-The light, however, plainly illuminated the Manor Farm, and the
-building containing the secret store. Twice Ronnie passed over it,
-flying high, then once again he crossed directly above the farm. His
-hand was upon one of the little levers controlling his bombs, but,
-seeing that he had passed slightly to the south, he turned her nose,
-and re-passed once again in silence.
-
-Suddenly he touched the three upper levers in swift succession, one
-after the other.
-
-There was a swish of air below in the darkness, and as they watched,
-three blood-red flashes showed far down almost simultaneously.
-
-A noise like an earthquake rent the air, a great column of flame shot
-up, and a huge explosion resulted, lighting the country for miles
-around, and sending _débris_ high into the darkness, while at the same
-time the terrible concussion tilted up “The Hornet” until she very
-nearly had a nasty side-slip.
-
-Ronnie opened up his searchlight, shining it down upon the farm,
-revealing to their gaze only a wrecked and burning mass of ruins. The
-whole place, including the farmhouse, had, by the terrible force of the
-explosives stored there in secret, been swept clean away and levelled
-to the ground.
-
-A few minutes later “The Hornet” turned upon her homeward flight, and
-to this day it is very naturally believed by the public that enemy
-aircraft visited the spot on that memorable night.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE PRICE OF VICTORY.
-
-
-The wintry night was dark and moonless. There was a slight ground
-mist--and consequently no wind.
-
-Ronald Pryor returned to Harbury Court late for dinner, where Beryl and
-her sister awaited him. He had had a fagging day in London, spending
-nearly half his time with officials of the Air Department, who had at
-last become interested in his new engine silencer. Trials of it had
-been made at Farnborough and elsewhere, and proof of its effectiveness
-had been quite adequate.
-
-“The Department have decided to adopt it!” he announced triumphantly to
-Beryl as he entered the long, old-fashioned stone hall, and hung up his
-overcoat.
-
-“I knew they would, dear!” cried the enthusiastic air-woman joyously.
-
-“I only hope the secret won’t leak out to the enemy,” he said, and then
-went along to wash his hands before sitting down to dinner.
-
-Presently, while they were at table, and Ronnie was describing the
-interview he had had with the heads of three Government Departments
-and the reading of the confidential reports upon the tests made with
-aeroplanes to which the silencer had been fitted, the maid entered
-announcing that he was wanted on the telephone.
-
-He left the table, and five minutes later returned with a grave look
-upon his countenance.
-
-“What’s the matter, dear?” asked Beryl anxiously, for she dreaded lest
-something was amiss.
-
-For a few moments he did not answer, busying himself with his plate.
-Then at last, he replied:
-
-“Oh!--well, only that I am flying ‘The Hornet’ again to-night.”
-
-“May I not go with you?” Beryl asked eagerly. “Do let me go. It is over
-a week since I went up.”
-
-He hesitated. Truth to tell, what he had heard on the telephone caused
-him some misgivings. Over the wire a certain disguised message had been
-given to him from headquarters--a request to which he had acceded.
-
-Beryl was in entire ignorance of the affair. He had been asked to
-regard it as strictly confidential, hence, he had not mentioned it,
-even to his well-beloved.
-
-“Look here, dearest,” he said at last, looking across the big bowl of
-flowers in the centre of the table, “I don’t half like you coming with
-me to-night. There may be risk, and it is unfair that you should take
-it.”
-
-“We are engaged, Ronnie; therefore, if there is any danger, why should
-I not share it?” was her prompt reply. “I am not afraid while I am with
-you.”
-
-“That’s quite the right spirit, Beryl,” remarked her sister,
-approvingly.
-
-“I quite appreciate your bravery, little one,” said Ronnie, “but flight
-on this misty night is fraught with more danger than people ever
-imagine. Once you are up you are lost, except for your compass. And to
-descend is, as you know, full of perils.”
-
-“I quite appreciate all that,” said Beryl. “Don’t you recollect when I
-came over from Sandgate to Folkestone, and found a thick fog on this
-side? Well, I went on till I found a break in it on the Surrey Downs,
-and descended quite safely at Ash, near Aldershot.”
-
-“That was in daylight--not on a dark night like this?”
-
-“But where are you going?” she inquired.
-
-To her question he remained silent. His was a mission in strict
-confidence.
-
-Further argument followed between the pair, until at last, by the time
-dinner had ended, Ronald Pryor was compelled to accede to her request.
-
-Then, taking a flash-lamp, he went forth across the big meadow to the
-hangar and found Collins awaiting him.
-
-“All ready, sir,” the latter announced cheerily. “I heard you quite
-well on the ’phone from London, but--well, sir,” he added hesitatingly,
-“it’s a bit risky to fly to-night, isn’t it?”
-
-“Is the machine all in order--everything?” asked his master.
-
-“Everything, sir. She only requires wheeling out,” and as he uttered
-the words the mechanic opened the great sliding-doors of the hangar.
-
-Then, together, the two men wheeled out the aeroplane, and while Ronnie
-mounted into the pilot’s seat Collins swung over the propeller, and his
-master tuned up his engine.
-
-Meanwhile, Beryl having put on her air-woman’s kit, with the leather
-jacket and cap, joined her lover, whom she found in the hangar poring
-over a map showing the East Coast between the Wash and the estuary of
-the Thames.
-
-He was taking measurements and making some pencilled calculations,
-while she stood expectantly beside him.
-
-“Well, dear!” he asked at last, “are you ready?”
-
-“Quite!” was her reply, and a few moments later, after he had put on
-his muffler, his overalls, and leather coat, they both climbed into the
-machine, and strapped themselves in.
-
-“Light the flares about two o’clock, Collins. I’m making a pretty long
-flight, so we can’t be back before then.”
-
-“Very well, sir.”
-
-Then, tuning up again, and having tried the silencer, and found it
-in good working order, he ran the machine swiftly across the frosty
-grass. Soon he rose, and, skimming the trees, soon soared away into the
-darkness.
-
-From where Beryl sat she saw the glow of the little electric bulb set
-over the instruments shining into her lover’s strong clean-shaven face,
-and, by the compass, gathered that they had described a half-circle,
-and, though still rising rapidly, were now heading eastward in the
-direction of the sea. The roar of the engine, of course, rendered
-speech impossible, while the mist was very chilly causing her to draw
-her brown woollen comforter around her cheeks. There was no sign of
-light anywhere below--all was a great black void.
-
-They had flown for nearly half-an-hour when, of a sudden, the long
-beam of a searchlight shot up from somewhere on their left, and began
-slowly to search the sky. Their approach had been heard by one of our
-air-stations.
-
-Ronnie, watching the light made no attempt to evade it. Indeed, he
-switched on his searchlights in order to reveal himself. He had no wish
-to be peppered by our “Archies.”
-
-Next second both of them were blinded by the searchlight full upon
-them. In a moment a second, and then a third, light converged upon
-them, so that the aviator and his well-beloved were compelled to shade
-their eyes with their gloved hands.
-
-For a full three minutes the lights followed them, when the watchers
-below, having examined the tri-coloured rings on “The Hornet’s” planes
-and being satisfied, shut off.
-
-Beryl saw that her lover was anxiously watching his altimeter, as well
-as his compass and clock. It seemed as though he were apprehensive of
-something.
-
-Suddenly he began to descend, and pulled across the lever controlling
-the silencer, thus cutting off the noise of the exhaust.
-
-“We’re over the sea, now,” he remarked; “can’t you feel the difference
-in the atmosphere? Look on the left.”
-
-She did so, peering down into the darkness, and there saw the twinkling
-of a light--a ship was signalling rapidly, being answered by another
-not far away.
-
-“Where are we going, dear?” Beryl inquired.
-
-“On a mission,” was his abrupt response. And, though she pressed him
-for information, he would vouchsafe no further reply.
-
-For a full hour they flew over the North Sea, due east, until suddenly
-they turned south, and with the silencer still on, went along
-noiselessly save for the shrill wind whistling in the struts.
-
-From ten thousand feet they had now descended to a little over two
-thousand, when, all of a sudden, a distant searchlight shot forth.
-
-“That’s the Belgian coast!” Ronnie remarked, and once again he started
-to ascend, flying in a complete circle and undecided as to exactly
-where he might be. The single shaft of light, like a moving line
-in the total darkness, was soon followed by others from the same
-neighbourhood. Circles of light could be seen, showing that the clouds
-were low--a fact which would favour the intrepid pair.
-
-“We’ll give those lights a wide berth for a little,” Ronnie said
-cheerfully, and again he turned northward, and a little later to the
-south-east.
-
-As they flew they watched those slowly-moving searchlights until, one
-by one, they disappeared.
-
-“They’ve finished their sweep of the skies,” he said at last, with
-satisfaction. “If there’s no alarm they won’t open out again for some
-time.”
-
-And then he flew in the direction of where the lights had been,
-descending until he was again only about two thousand feet above the
-sea.
-
-“From the disposition of those lights it seems that we are near our
-objective,” he remarked. “I hope you are not nervous, darling?”
-
-“Why should I be with you, Ronnie?” she asked, placing her gloved hand
-tenderly upon his shoulder.
-
-“Well, because we’re now entering the danger-zone,” he replied, “and I
-think I ought not to conceal it from you. Would you like to turn back?”
-
-“Turn back!” echoed the brave girl. “Never! Where you dare go, I will
-go too. Don’t think I’m in the least nervous. If anything happens, it
-will happen equally to both of us.”
-
-“Well spoken, my darling,” he said, his hand touching her cheek in the
-darkness. “Then we will go forward.”
-
-After that there was a long silence, until below they saw a cluster of
-faint lights, with one light flashing at regular intervals.
-
-“Look!” he said. “That is Zeebrugge. Beyond--that fainter light over
-there--is Ostend.”
-
-He consulted a roughly drawn map which he now produced, and which bore
-certain cryptic marks in red and blue; he directed Beryl’s attention to
-a speck of light to the north, saying: “That surely is Heyst!”
-
-Then he pointed “The Hornet’s” nose upwards, and rose until they were
-enveloped in a cloud of fog in order to evade the inquisitiveness of
-any searchlights, afterwards flying in a circle directly over the port
-of Zeebrugge, which both knew to contain strong defences and long-range
-anti-aircraft guns.
-
-For a full quarter of an hour they hovered over the town, their
-presence entirely unsuspected on account of the roaring exhaust being
-silenced. Then, carefully, he once more descended to mark out his
-objective--the new German submarine base. Between two spots seen far
-below he was undecided. There were many faint lights burning in the
-town, but one, he decided, was in the centre of the submarine base.
-
-Without uttering a word to his companion, who sat strapped in her
-narrow seat cramped, breathless, and half-frozen, he passed and
-re-passed over the German base three or four times.
-
-Suddenly as he went a quick swish sounded below them, and, peering
-down, Beryl saw a big burst of flame, followed by a terrific explosion,
-the concussion of which gave the machine a serious tilt.
-
-Bang!--bang!--_bang!_ sounded so quickly in succession that hardly had
-one ceased before the other reached them.
-
-Below, the bright red flashes, angry points of light in the blackness
-of the night, showed vividly, while at the moment that the searchlights
-shone forth Ronnie, having dropped his bombs, climbed swiftly into the
-bank of cloud.
-
-Higher and higher they went, until below them they only saw the clouds
-aglow with the glare, whether by the incendiary fires they had caused
-among the enemy or the searchlights they knew not.
-
-“‘The Hornet’ has done considerable damage this time!” Ronnie laughed
-hoarsely, as the altimeter showed that they were still ascending. “I
-saw that the second bomb dropped plumb into the fitting-shop! It has,
-no doubt, put an end to Fritz’s activity for a good many days to come.”
-
-“What do you intend doing now?” asked Beryl. “Going home?”
-
-“Home? No. I’ve got four more bombs for them, yet.”
-
-As he spoke, however, they heard the sharp bark of the enemy’s
-anti-aircraft guns. Yet no shell whistled near them.
-
-The Hun is a bully, and hence a coward. Taken unawares, as he was at
-Zeebrugge that night, when he heard nothing and saw nothing, it was but
-natural that he should fire even into the air in order to scare off the
-British raider.
-
-But Ronald Pryor was not the man to be scared off. He had had an
-objective to reach and he had reached it, but he had not yet finished,
-and did not intend to take any bombs back.
-
-He knew that as long as he kept above the low clouds, and as long as
-his machine was silent, as it would remain, it would be impossible for
-the gunners below to hit him. Therefore he drew away seaward again,
-according to his compass, then back to land, and for half-an-hour flew
-round the little town of Heyst.
-
-Now and then, as they passed from one cloud to another, they watched
-the lights of Zeebrugge searching for them, until it seemed that the
-alarm had died down.
-
-At two points, however, they could see great fierce fires
-burning--conflagrations they had caused in the heart of the submarine
-base. One of Ronnie’s bombs had, as was afterwards known, dropped upon
-the oil-tanks, and, the blazing oil having been scattered over a large
-area, had caused devastation throughout the neighbourhood.
-
-“Hark! What’s that?” asked Beryl holding her breath, her quick ears
-having detected a familiar sound.
-
-Ronnie, listening, suddenly said:
-
-“Ah! I quite expected that--their airmen are up, looking for us! Now
-we may have a little excitement. Collins put the gun ready. Is it all
-right?”
-
-“Quite,” said the girl. Long ago Ronnie had taught her how to
-manipulate the Lewis gun. Therefore, she placed her hand upon it and
-drew the shoulder-piece towards her, swinging the machine-gun easily
-upon its pivot.
-
-“Keep cool, darling! Don’t fire till I tell you,” he urged. “We’re
-going over the town again to give them a farewell salute--all
-explosives this time. I want to get those warehouses at the docks! I
-can see them plainly now--the fires show them up. By Jove, they’ll get
-a shock when they find themselves bombed again, won’t they?” and he
-laughed merrily as he turned “The Hornet’s” nose back in the direction
-of Zeebrugge. Flying as low as he dared, he approached the spot where
-the red flames leapt up far below, and the smoke greeted their nostrils
-with increasing intensity.
-
-By this time the searchlights had been switched off, though Hun
-machines could be heard in the air. Those who controlled the
-searchlights knew that their aeroplanes would work best in the
-darkness, being fitted with small searchlights themselves.
-
-Leisurely, Ronnie came over the town, flying high and in silence,
-until, when just over where the darting flames were showing up the
-buildings all around, he suddenly released his remaining bombs--all but
-one.
-
-Terrific explosions sounded in quick succession, and, though so far
-above, they could both feel the concussion. Indeed, “The Hornet” very
-narrowly escaped a serious nose-dive in consequence. Next moment they
-saw that the row of buildings facing the docks was aflame from end
-to end, and beginning to burn almost as fiercely as the submarine
-oil-depôt.
-
-Ronnie, however, did not have it all his own way.
-
-Ten seconds after dropping those bombs, and causing panic in the
-occupied Belgian port, the sky was again ablaze with searchlights. At
-that moment Ronnie was out of one cloud, and travelling very swiftly
-into another.
-
-The searchlights were, however, too quick for him, and picked him up.
-
-“H’m!” he grunted. “They’ve found us at last! Now for home!”
-
-Hardly had he spoken when the anti-aircraft guns from below commenced
-to bark sharply, with now and then a deep boom. They could both hear
-the shells whistling close to them, but so high were they by this time
-that accurate aim by the enemy was well-nigh impossible.
-
-In such a circumstance the wisest course was to fly in a wide circle,
-descending and ascending, a course which Ronnie, expert airman that he
-was, adopted.
-
-Those were highly exciting moments! Beryl held her breath. Her hand
-was upon the Lewis gun, but her lover had given no order. In her
-observer’s seat she sat alert, eager, with every nerve strained to
-its fullest tension. They were in the danger-zone, surrounded by what
-seemed a swarm of aeroplanes, which had ascended in order to prevent
-their returning to sea.
-
-The little bulb in front of Ronnie burnt on, shedding its meagre light
-over instruments and maps. Beryl saw by the altimeter--which she had
-so often watched when flying the machine alone--that they were up five
-thousand six hundred feet.
-
-The dark waters were beneath them. A stray shell from the enemy would
-cast them both down--deep down into the North Sea.
-
-More than once they heard the whirr of an aeroplane-engine quite close
-to them, but going forward, slipping through the air without noise,
-thanks to Pryor’s silencer, which the authorities had now recognised
-as a remarkable and highly useful invention in aerial warfare, they
-managed to evade their adversaries. The strain of it all was, however,
-terrible.
-
-Upon the misty clouds below shone the glow of searchlights from
-land and sea, lighting up the billow mists, until they were quite
-picturesque undulations, like a fairy landscape. Yet through those
-mists they saw the deadly enemy flying to and fro in search of them as
-they went out to sea in silence.
-
-Beryl watched it all from her observer’s seat. She knew that their raid
-had been successful, and that enormous damage had been done to the Hun
-submarine base. On her left showed the faint lights of Ostend, where
-she had spent one summer with her sister Iris and her husband, two
-years before the war. She had walked along the Digue in a smart summer
-gown, and she had gambled at _boule_ and eaten ices in the great
-Casino which, according to report, was now used as a German hospital.
-Ah, how times had changed! She had never dreamt that she would be
-flying as an enemy over that sandy coast.
-
-Ronnie, with all his wits about him, was heading straight for the
-English coast north of the Thames when, of a sudden, there arose from
-the dark void below the rapid throb of an enemy seaplane, which, a few
-seconds later, opened out its searchlight.
-
-A moment afterwards it had fixed “The Hornet.”
-
-Then began a desperate fight for life. The German aviator, having
-marked his prey, rose like a hawk, and then bore down upon him swiftly,
-his searchlight glaring into Beryl’s face like some evil eye.
-
-The girl unstrapped herself and rose in order to be able to handle the
-machine-gun without encumbrance, for they were now flying upon an even
-keel.
-
-“Hold on, dear!” the pilot exclaimed, and then suddenly he banked his
-machine over, swerving away none too soon from the hostile seaplane.
-
-Again he worked up, avoiding the quick swoop of his adversary, who
-suddenly opened fire.
-
-A heavy shower of bullets passed them harmlessly, whistling all around
-them, while from somewhere--possibly from a German warship--a high
-explosive shell burst perilously near them, causing “The Hornet” to
-roll and wallow in a most disconcerting manner.
-
-Again and again Ronnie’s adversary fired full upon him, but all to no
-purpose. Then suddenly a second machine came up from somewhere, and
-that also let loose its machine-gun. Quick spurts of blood-red flame
-showed first upon one side then upon the other, yet Ronnie remained
-quite cool, awaiting his chance of gaining an advantage and to strike.
-
-A piece of the high explosive shell had torn the fabric of one of the
-planes. That was all the damage they had sustained up to the present.
-Surely no woman could ever have a more exciting or so perilous an
-experience, midway between sky and sea!
-
-Suddenly, after climbing and diving, Ronnie saw his opportunity, and,
-making a sudden swerve, cried to Beryl:
-
-“Get ready!”
-
-“I’m ready,” she answered.
-
-Again he climbed, and as he rose past the machine which was pressing
-him so closely, he said:
-
-“Fire!”
-
-In an instant Beryl’s gun spluttered, sending forth its leaden hail
-full into the centre of the German machine. Beryl held her breath,
-and watched the enemy’s searchlight quiver, rise, and then suddenly
-pointing downwards, swiftly become smaller and smaller as it descended
-towards the sea.
-
-“He’s gone!” cried Ronnie with relief. “Pilot and observer both killed,
-I should say.”
-
-“They must have dropped into the sea!” gasped the girl, awe-stricken.
-
-Next second, however, the other machine loomed up to exact vengeance.
-Beryl had swiftly replenished the gun with ammunition, and was again in
-readiness for the word from her lover to fire.
-
-Ronnie, fully alive to the fact that he was being pressed by the second
-machine, dived and banked, then climbed as rapidly as he could, yet,
-alas! he could not shake off his pursuer.
-
-In silence, with the wind whistling through the struts and the piece
-of torn fabric flapping, he pressed on, striving to escape from his
-relentless pursuer, who, no doubt, intended to shoot him down as
-reprisal for the destruction of his Hun comrade.
-
-Again the enemy machine opened out his searchlight, and, holding him as
-a mark, fired rapidly. For a moment Ronnie did not reply. All his nerve
-was concentrated upon obtaining the advantage a second time.
-
-Up and down, to and fro, the two machines banked, rose and fell,
-but Ronald Pryor could handle his machine as though it were part of
-himself. At last he drew up, and, setting his teeth as he pointed “The
-Hornet’s” nose direct at his adversary, he blurted out:
-
-“Fire!”
-
-Beryl laid the gun straight at the aeroplane, touched it, and again
-death rained forth.
-
-Yet almost at that very same moment the Hun also opened fire. The
-spluttering was deafening for a few seconds, when, to the girl’s alarm,
-she suddenly saw her lover fall helpless and inert over his instruments.
-
-“Gad, Beryl,” he managed to gasp, “they’ve got me--the brutes! Phew,
-how it burns!”
-
-The girl, who had not for a second lost her nerve, instantly realised
-the peril, and without a moment’s delay--nay, even without a word--she
-clambered across into the pilot’s seat and took the levers, being
-compelled to crush past her wounded lover as she did so, and not
-knowing the nature of his wound.
-
-“That’s right, Beryl! Fight to the last!” the man gasped. “Bank her,
-then go right down and rise again. You may beat him off by that. Try,
-darling! Do--do your best!” he whispered, and then he sank back in the
-blackness of unconsciousness.
-
-Beryl, as an expert air-woman, knew all the tricks of evasion while
-flying. She knew that her lover’s advice was the best, and she carried
-it out to the very letter.
-
-Just as she banked, the Hun machine sent out another splutter of lead.
-Those angry spurts of red fire seemed to go straight into her face,
-but, though the bullets tore more holes in the fabric of the left plane
-and broke a strut, they whizzed harmlessly past her.
-
-It was truly a flight for life. Flying “The Hornet,” as she was doing,
-she had no means by which to retaliate or to drive off the enemy. Their
-lives now depended upon her skill in manipulating the machine. This
-she did with marvellous judgment and foresight. To the very letter
-she carried out the orders of the man now lying back wounded and
-unconscious.
-
-Beneath her breath she whispered a prayer to Almighty God for
-assistance, and set her teeth. Again the Hun seaplane spurted forth
-a venom of fire upon her, but with a dexterous turn she banked, and
-once more avoided him. He intended to shoot her down into the black
-waters below, but she had her wounded lover at her side, and thought
-only of his welfare. She recollected her own response when Ronnie had
-suggested that she should remain at home, and when she saw that cruel
-eye of bright light following her so steadily she grew more and more
-determined.
-
-At last she decided upon flying by the compass quite straight towards
-the Essex coast, and seeing if her adversary could overtake her. At
-first it seemed a very perilous course, because the Hun coming up
-behind, shot at her continually, and once more the fabric was torn in
-one place near her elbow. But as she flew on in silence she all at once
-made a discovery. She listened. Her pursuer was gradually overtaking
-her. If he did, then she was entirely defenceless, and must share the
-same terrible fate as the machine that Ronnie had sent down into the
-sea.
-
-The tension of those fateful moments was terrible. Yet she summoned all
-her woman’s pluck--the pluck that had come to the female sex in these
-days of war--and kept on flying in the direction of home.
-
-Her ear caught something, for it was trained to the noise of aeroplanes.
-
-Again she listened. That eye of light which was following her so
-ruthlessly was still upon her, yet by the noise, she knew that the
-hostile engine was not firing correctly. The throb was not even and
-incessant.
-
-Had Providence intervened to save her?
-
-She drew a long breath, and opened out so that she put all speed into
-her machine. From the pace she was going she knew that the wind had
-sprung up, and in her favour, too. “The Hornet” was a fast machine, yet
-the Huns had machines quite as mobile, and she had no means of knowing
-the make of aeroplane against which her speed was pitted.
-
-She flew--flew as no woman had ever flown before. Half-crushed beneath
-her in the pilot’s seat lay Ronnie, oblivious to everything. She had
-placed her arm tenderly round his neck, but on withdrawing her hand in
-the darkness she had felt it strangely sticky--sticky with blood!
-
-Ronald Pryor was evidently wounded in the neck. Perhaps he was already
-dead. He might have been, for all the brave girl knew. But that sound
-of the mis-firing of her enemy gave her courage, and she kept on--on
-and on--until, very slowly, she drew away from that bright evil eye
-that was bent upon her destruction.
-
-Again came a splutter of lead upon her. Again she knew that bullets
-had gone through the fabric, but no great damage had been done to the
-machine.
-
-She feared more for the petrol-tank than for herself. A shot in the
-bottom of that tank would mean a certain dive into the sea. Of a sudden
-another spurt of fire showed deep below them, and a shell coming up
-from somewhere, friendly or hostile she could not tell, exploded, and
-nearly wrecked them both. It was from some ship at sea--a British
-ship, no doubt, which, seeing aircraft with a searchlight going in the
-direction of the East coast at that hour of the morning, had naturally
-opened fire upon it.
-
-At last, after nearly half-an-hour, Beryl still with her eye upon the
-compass and sailing again upon an even keel and in an increasing wind,
-glanced over her shoulder and saw the light of the enemy grow dimmer,
-and then gradually disappear. She had entered a thick cloud, and
-sailing on in silence, would, she knew, be at once lost to the view of
-her enemy.
-
-Five minutes later, when Beryl at last realised that she had escaped,
-she again placed her left arm tenderly round her lover and endeavoured
-to raise him, but without avail.
-
-Was he dead? The thought struck her with horror! He had done what had
-been asked of him, but perhaps he, like so many others, had paid the
-toll of war!
-
-Though perhaps her hand trembled a little upon the levers, yet she
-settled herself again as well as she could, and with her eye upon both
-map and compass she sped along over those dark waters, tossed by the
-increasing wind which had arisen behind her.
-
-For nearly two hours she flew on. By dint of great effort she
-managed to move Ronnie into a position which she hoped might be more
-comfortable. She spoke to him, but there was no answer. He lay there
-inert and motionless, strapped in his seat. When she withdrew her
-ungloved hand it was again wet with blood.
-
-She pressed forward, putting “The Hornet” along at the full pace of
-which the machine was capable. The little clock showed the hour to be
-nearly three, therefore she judged that she must be nearing the English
-coast again. Her surmise proved correct, for ten minutes later she
-saw the glimmer of a searchlight on the sky straight ahead--the light
-of one of our air-stations. Therefore, turning slightly to the north,
-she again opened the silencer as a precaution, and, with her engine
-suddenly roaring, made straight for it.
-
-Ere long half-a-dozen beams of intense light were searching the skies
-for the incoming machine, which the watchers below were eager to
-examine, and it was not long before one of the beams caught and held
-“The Hornet” in its blinding rays, lighting up the white, inanimate
-face beside her, and showing the dark stain of wounds.
-
-Then three other beams became concentrated for a few moments upon her,
-and again, one after another, shut off, until she was once more in
-darkness.
-
-The position of the lights, however, told her where she was--over a
-certain town a few miles inland, and taking her bearings, she rose
-higher, and began to describe a wide circle in order to find the four
-bright flares which she knew Collins had lit in the meadow at Harbury.
-
-Another half-hour she spent in vain search, until, of a sudden, she saw
-points of light deep down on her left. Straining her eyes she managed
-at last to make out that there were four, looking close together from
-that height. Therefore she quickly descended, while as she did so she
-saw Morse flashes from a signal-lamp telling her the direction of the
-wind, in order that she might land head on to it.
-
-Ten minutes later she came safely to earth, when Collins ran up, having
-chased the machine across the field.
-
-In a moment Beryl told him with breathless haste what had occurred, and
-with but few words they at once carried Ronald back to the house, and
-laid him upon the sofa in the study. Then Collins rushed to the car,
-and drove away madly to fetch the nearest doctor.
-
-The latter arrived with but little delay, and Beryl, her sister’s arm
-round her, stood outside the door, awaiting his verdict.
-
-The examination occupied some time, but at last the medical man came
-forth.
-
-“He is very severely wounded, Miss Gaselee,” he said, “but there is
-still a spark of life left--a very meagre spark. By careful attention
-and nursing he may possibly pull through. He is not yet conscious, but
-we will put him to bed, and I will remain and see what I can do. We can
-only hope.”
-
-Beryl, thankful that Ronnie still lived, quickly bestirred herself for
-his comfort, and it was not long before the senseless man was carried
-up to his own room, where the doctor remained watching him for many
-hours.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Days passed--days of breathless and terrible anxiety--during which
-the doctor forbade Beryl to see the wounded man. In the papers there
-had been published accounts of the enormous damage done to the enemy
-submarine base at Zeebrugge by a “British aeroplane,” but the name of
-the intrepid aviator was not given. Only the authorities and those
-at Harbury Court knew the truth. The authorities preserved a wise
-reticence, for the publication of facts is not always in the interests
-of the country.
-
-Ronnie’s wounds proved far more serious than were at first believed,
-and even the specialist who came down from Harley Street was not at all
-hopeful of his recovery. Nevertheless, the fine physique of the patient
-proved in his favour, and a fortnight later Beryl was allowed to see
-him for the first time.
-
-From that moment Beryl became his nurse, and slowly he recovered;
-slowly, because both his right arm and his right leg had been so
-injured that they would be entirely useless in future, and he could
-never fly again.
-
-Only the thought of his invention, and the great advantage it would
-give to our aviators for night-flying in the future, comforted him,
-when at last he was able to be wheeled about in his chair by Beryl.
-
-And was it surprising that when, three months later, the pair were
-married in the old, ivy-clad, church, half-a-mile from Harbury Court,
-the illustrated papers published a pathetic picture of the bridal
-couple emerging from the porch, the bridegroom on crutches, and
-described it as “a romantic war-wedding”?
-
-
-THE END.
-
-
-  _Miller, Son, & Compy., Limited, Printers, Fakenham and London._
-
-
-
-
-TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
-
-
-  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
-
-  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
-
-  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: Beryl of the Biplane
+       Being the Romance of an Air-Woman of To-Day
+
+Author: William le Queux
+
+Release Date: January 26, 2019 [EBook #58770]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BERYL OF THE BIPLANE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BERYL OF THE BIPLANE
+
+
+
+
+NOVELS BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+“_THE MASTER OF MYSTERY._”
+
+
+  THE FOUR FACES            Cloth, 1/- net.
+  DONOVAN OF WHITEHALL      Cloth, 1/- net.
+  THE SPY HUNTER            Paper, 1/- net.
+  THE TICKENCOTE TREASURE   Paper, 6d.
+  THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN     Paper, 6d.
+  THE DEATH DOCTOR          Paper, 6d.
+  LYING LIPS                Paper, 6d.
+  AT THE SIGN OF THE SWORD  Paper, 6d.
+
+
+C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LTD.
+
+
+
+
+  BERYL OF THE
+  BIPLANE
+
+  _Being the Romance of an Air-woman of To-day_
+
+
+  BY
+  WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+
+  LONDON
+  C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED
+  HENRIETTA STREET, W.C.
+  1917
+
+
+
+
+[_Copyright in the United States of America by William Le Queux, 1917.
+Cinema rights reserved._]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                             PAGE
+
+   I. THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBER SEVEN      1
+
+   II. MR. MARK MARX                  21
+
+  III. THE SHABBY STRANGER            43
+
+   IV. THE THURSDAY RENDEZVOUS        63
+
+    V. CONCERNS THE HIDDEN HAND       82
+
+   VI. THE PRICE OF VICTORY          101
+
+
+
+
+BERYL OF THE BIPLANE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBER SEVEN.
+
+
+“Are you flying ‘The Hornet’ to-night?”
+
+“I expect so.”
+
+“You were up last night, weren’t you? Mac told me so at Brooklands this
+morning.”
+
+“Yes--Zepp-hunting. I was up three hours, but, alas! had no luck. Two
+came in over Essex but were scared by the anti-aircraft boys, and
+turned tail. Better luck to-night, I hope,” and Ronald Pryor, the tall,
+dark, good-looking young man in grey flannels, laughed merrily as, with
+a quick movement, he flicked the ash from his after-luncheon cigarette.
+
+His companion, George Bellingham, who was in the uniform of the Royal
+Flying Corps, wearing the silver wings of the pilot, was perhaps three
+years his senior, fair-haired, grey-eyed, with a small sandy moustache
+trimmed to the most correct cut.
+
+Passers-by in Pall Mall on that June afternoon no doubt wondered why
+Ronald Pryor was not in khaki. As a matter of fact, the handsome,
+athletic young fellow had already done his bit--and done it with very
+great honour and distinction.
+
+Before the war he had been of little good to society, it is true. He
+had been one of those modern dandies whose accomplishments include an
+elegant taste in socks--with ties to match--and a critical eye for an
+ill-cut pair of trousers. Eldest son of a wealthy bank-director, Ronnie
+Pryor had been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.
+After his career at Oxford, his father, Henry Pryor, who lived mostly
+at his beautiful old place, Urchfont Hall, a few miles out of Norwich,
+had given him an ample allowance. He had lived in a bachelor flat in
+Duke Street, St. James’s, and spent several gay years about town with
+kindred souls of both sexes, becoming a familiar object each night at
+the supper-tables of the Savoy, the Carlton, or the Ritz.
+
+This wild oat sowing had, however, been brought to an abrupt conclusion
+in a rather curious manner.
+
+One Saturday afternoon he had driven in a friend’s car over to the
+Aerodrome at Hendon, and had there witnessed some graceful flying. He
+had instantly become “bitten” by the sport, and from that moment had
+devoted himself assiduously to it.
+
+Four months later he had taken his “ticket” as a pilot, and then,
+assisted by capital from his indulgent father, had entered business
+by establishing the well-known Pryor Aeroplane Factory at Weybridge,
+with a branch at Hendon, a business in which his companion,
+Flight-Lieutenant George Bellingham, of the Royal Flying Corps, had
+been, and was still, financially interested.
+
+That Ronnie Pryor--as everyone called him--was a handsome fellow could
+not be denied. His was a strongly marked personality, clean-limbed,
+with close-cut dark hair, a refined aquiline face, and that slight
+contraction of the eyebrows that every air-pilot so quickly develops.
+On the outbreak of war he had been out with General French, had been
+through the retreat from Mons, and while scouting in the air during the
+first battle of Ypres, had been attacked by a German Taube. A fierce
+and intensely exciting fight in the air ensued, as a result of which he
+brought his enemy down within our own lines, but unfortunately received
+a severe wound in the stomach himself, and, planing down, reached earth
+safely a long distance away and collapsed unconscious.
+
+The condition of his health was such that the Medical Board refused to
+pass him for service abroad again, therefore he was now devoting his
+time to building aeroplanes for the Government, and frequently flying
+them at night, thus assisting in the aerial defence of our coast, and
+of London.
+
+Ronnie Pryor was known as one of the most daring and intrepid
+air-pilots that we possessed. Before his crash he had brought down
+quite a number of his adversaries in the air, for the manner in which
+he could manipulate his machine, “zumming,” diving, rising, and flying
+a zigzag course, avoiding the enemy’s fire, was marvellous. Indeed, it
+was he who one afternoon dropped nine bombs upon the enemy’s aerodrome
+at Oudenarde, being mentioned in despatches for that daring exploit.
+
+His one regret was that the doctor considered him “crocked.” Discarding
+his uniform he, in defiance of everybody, flew constantly in the big
+biplane which he himself had built, and which the boys at Hendon had
+nicknamed “The Hornet.” The machine was a “strafer,” of the most
+formidable type, with an engine of two hundred and fifty horse-power,
+fitted with a Lewis gun and a rack for bombs, while no more daring
+airman ever sat at a joy-stick than its owner.
+
+“They’re running that new Anzani engine on the bench at Hendon,”
+Bellingham remarked presently. “I’m going out to see it. Come with me.”
+
+Ronnie considered for a few seconds, and then accepted the suggestion,
+he driving his partner out to Hendon in his yellow car which had been
+standing in St. James’s Square.
+
+At the busy aerodrome, where all sorts of machines were being assembled
+and tested, they entered the spacious workshops of the Pryor Aeroplane
+Factory where, in one corner, amid whirring machinery, a large
+aeroplane-engine was running at top speed with a hum that was deafening
+in the confined space.
+
+Half-an-hour later both men went forth again into the aerodrome where
+several “school ’buses” were being flown by pupils of the flying
+school. Suddenly Bellingham’s quick airman’s eye caught sight of a
+biplane at a great height coming from the north-west.
+
+“Why, isn’t that Beryl up in your ’bus?” he exclaimed, pointing out the
+machine. “I didn’t know she was out to-day.”
+
+“Yes,” was Ronnie’s reply. “She flew over to Huntingdon this morning to
+see her sister.”
+
+“Was she up with you last night?”
+
+“Yes. She generally goes up daily.”
+
+“She has wonderful nerve for a woman,” declared George. “A pupil who
+has done great credit to her tutor--yourself, Ronnie. How many times
+has she flown the Channel?”
+
+“Seven. Three times alone, and four with me. The last time she crossed
+alone she went up from Bedford and landed close to Berck, beyond
+Paris-Plage. She passed over Folkestone, and then over to Cape Grisnez.”
+
+“Look at her now!” Bellingham exclaimed in admiration. “By Jove! She’s
+doing a good stunt!”
+
+As he spoke the aeroplane which Beryl Gaselee was flying, that great
+battleplane of Ronnie’s invention--“The Hornet,” as they had named it
+on account of a certain politician’s reassurance--circled high in the
+air above the aerodrome, making a high-pitched hum quite different from
+that of the other machines in the air.
+
+“She’s taken the silencer off,” Ronnie remarked. “She’s in a hurry, no
+doubt.”
+
+“That silencer of yours is a marvellous invention,” George declared.
+“Thank goodness Fritz hasn’t got it!”
+
+Ronnie smiled, and selecting a cigarette from his case, tapped it down
+and slowly lit it, his eyes upon the machine now hovering like a great
+hawk above them.
+
+“I can run her so that at a thousand feet up nobody below can hear
+a sound,” he remarked. “That’s where we’ve got the pull for night
+bombing. A touch on the lever and the exhaust is silent, so that the
+enemy can’t hear us come up.”
+
+“Yes. It’s a deuced cute invention,” declared his partner. “It saved me
+that night a month ago when I got over Alost and put a few incendiary
+pills into the German barracks. I got away in the darkness and, though
+half-a-dozen machines went up, they couldn’t find me.”
+
+“The enemy would dearly like to get hold of the secret,” laughed
+Ronnie. “But all of us keep it guarded too carefully.”
+
+“Yes,” said his partner, as they watched with admiring eyes, how
+Beryl Gaselee, the intrepid woman aviator, was manipulating the big
+battleplane in her descent. “Your invention for the keeping of the
+secret, my dear fellow, is quite as clever as the invention itself.”
+
+The new silencer for aeroplane-engines Ronnie Pryor had offered to
+the authorities, and as it was still under consideration, he kept it
+strictly to himself. Only he, his mechanic, Beryl and his partner
+George Bellingham, knew its true mechanism, and so careful was he to
+conceal it from the enemy in our midst, that he had also invented a
+clever contrivance by which, with a turn of a winged nut, the valve
+came apart, so that the chief portion--which was a secret--could be
+placed in one’s pocket, and carried away whenever the machines were
+left.
+
+“I don’t want any frills from you, old man,” laughed the merry,
+easy-going young fellow in flannels. “I’m only trying to do my best for
+my country, just as you have done, and just as Beryl is doing.”
+
+“Beryl is a real brick.”
+
+“You say that because we are pals.”
+
+“No, Ronnie. I say it because it’s the rock-bottom truth; because Miss
+Gaselee, thanks to your tuition, is one of the very few women who have
+come to the front as aviators in the war. She knows how to fly as well
+as any Squadron Commander. Look at her now! Just look at the spiral
+she’s making. Neither of us could do it better. Her engine, too, is
+running like a clock.”
+
+And, as the two aviators watched, the great battleplane swept round and
+round the aerodrome, quickly dropping from twelve thousand feet--the
+height at which they had first noticed its approach--towards the wide
+expanse of grass that was the landing-place.
+
+At last “The Hornet,” humming loudly like a huge bumblebee, touched
+earth and came to a standstill, while Ronnie ran forward to help his
+well-beloved out of the pilot’s seat.
+
+“Hullo, Ronnie!” cried the fresh-faced, athletic girl merrily. “I
+didn’t expect to find you here! I thought you’d gone to Harbury, and I
+intended to fly over and find you there.”
+
+“I ran out here with George to see that new engine running on the
+bench,” he explained. “Come and have some tea. You must want some.”
+
+The girl, in her workmanlike air-woman’s windproof overalls, her
+“grummet”--which in aerodrome-parlance means headgear--her big goggles
+and thick gauntlet-gloves, rose from her seat, whilst her lover took
+her tenderly in his arms and lifted her out upon the ground.
+
+Then, after a glance at the altimeter, he remarked:
+
+“By Jove, Beryl! You’ve been flying pretty high--thirteen thousand four
+hundred feet.”
+
+“Yes,” laughed the girl merrily. “The weather this afternoon is perfect
+for a stunt.”
+
+Then, after the young man had gone to the exhaust, unscrewed the
+silencer and placed the secret part in his pocket, the pair walked
+across to the tea-room and there sat _tête-à-tête_ upon the verandah
+gossiping.
+
+Beryl Gaselee was, perhaps, the best-known flying-woman in the United
+Kingdom. There were others, but none so expert nor so daring. She would
+fly when the pylon pilots--as the ornate gentlemen of the aerodromes
+are called--shook their heads and refused to go up.
+
+Soft-featured, with pretty, fair and rather fluffy hair, and quite
+devoid of that curious hardness of feature which usually distinguishes
+the female athlete, her age was twenty-three, her figure slightly
+_petite_ and quite slim. Indeed, many airmen who knew her were amazed
+that such a frail-looking little person could manage such a big,
+powerful machine as Ronnie Pryor’s “Hornet”--the ’bus which was the
+last word in battleplanes both for rapid rising and for speed.
+
+The way in which she manipulated the joy-stick often, indeed,
+astonished Ronnie himself. But her confidence in herself, and in the
+stability of the machine, was so complete that such a thing as possible
+disaster never occurred to her.
+
+As she sat at the tea-table, her cheeks fresh and reddened by the
+cutting wind at such an altitude, a wisp of fair hair straying across
+her face, and her big, wide-open blue eyes aglow with the pleasure of
+living, she presented a charming figure of that feminine type that
+is so purely English. They were truly an interesting pair, a fact
+which had apparently become impressed upon a middle-aged air-mechanic
+in brown overalls who, in passing the verandah upon which they were
+seated, looked up and cast a furtive glance at them.
+
+Both were far too absorbed in each other to notice the man’s unusual
+interest, or the expression of suppressed excitement upon his grimy
+face, as he watched them with covert glance. Had they seen it, they
+might possibly have been curious as to the real reason. As it was, they
+remained in blissful ignorance, happy in each other’s confidence and
+love.
+
+“Just the weather for another Zepp raid to-night,” Ronnie was
+remarking. “No moon to speak of, wind just right for them, and a high
+barometer.”
+
+“That’s why you’re going to Harbury this evening, in readiness to go
+up, I suppose?” she asked.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“You’ll let me go with you, won’t you?” she begged, as she poured him
+his second cup of tea with dainty hand.
+
+“You were up last night, and you’ve been for a long joy-ride to-day. I
+think it would really be too great a strain, Beryl, for you to go out
+to-night,” he protested.
+
+“No, it won’t. Do let me go, dear!” she urged.
+
+“Very well,” he replied, always unable to refuse her, as she knew full
+well. “In that case we’ll fly over to Harbury now, and put the ’bus
+away till to-night. I’ve sent Collins out there in readiness.”
+
+Then, half-an-hour later, “The Hornet,” with Ronnie at the joy-stick
+and Beryl in the observer’s seat, rose again from the grass and,
+after a couple of turns around the pylons, ascended rapidly, heading
+north-east.
+
+As it did so, the dark-eyed mechanic in the brown overalls stood
+watching it grow smaller until it passed out of sight.
+
+For some minutes he remained silent and pensive, his heavy brows knit
+as he watched. Then, suddenly turning upon his heel, he muttered
+to himself and walked to one of the flying schools where he, Henry
+Knowles, was employed as a mechanic on the ’buses flown by the men
+training as air-pilots for the Front.
+
+In a little over half-an-hour the big biplane with its loud hum
+travelled nearly forty miles from Hendon, until at last Ronnie,
+descending in search of his landmark, discovered a small river winding
+through the panorama of patchwork fields, small dark patches of woods,
+and little clusters of houses which, in the sundown, denoted villages
+and hamlets. This stream he followed until Beryl suddenly touched his
+arm--speech being impossible amid the roar of the engine--and pointed
+below to where, a little to the left, there showed the thin, grey spire
+of an ivy-clad village church and a circular object close by--the
+village gasometer.
+
+The gasometer was their landmark.
+
+Ronnie nodded, and then he quickly banked and came down upon a low hill
+of pastures and woods about five miles east of the church spire.
+
+The meadow wherein they glided to earth in the golden sunset was some
+distance from a small hamlet which lay down in the valley through which
+ran a stream glistening in the light, and turning an old-fashioned
+water-mill on its course. Then, as Ronnie unstrapped himself from his
+seat and hopped out, he exclaimed:
+
+“Now, dear! You must rest for an hour or two, otherwise I shall not
+allow you to go up with me after Zepps to-night.”
+
+His smart young mechanic, a fellow named Collins, from the aeroplane
+works came running up, while Ronnie assisted Beryl out of the machine.
+
+In a corner of the field not far distant was a long barn of corrugated
+iron, which Ronnie had transformed into a hangar for “The Hornet”--and
+this they termed “The Hornet’s Nest.” To this they at once wheeled the
+great machine, Beryl bearing her part in doing so and being assisted by
+two elderly farm-hands.
+
+Then Collins, the mechanic, having received certain instructions, his
+master and Beryl crossed the meadow and, passing through a small copse,
+found themselves upon the lawn of a large, old-fashioned house called
+Harbury Court. The place, a long, rambling two-storied Georgian one,
+with a wide porch and square, inartistic windows, was partly covered by
+ivy, while its front was gay with geraniums and marguerites.
+
+There came forward to meet the pair Beryl’s married sister Iris, whose
+husband, Charles Remington, a Captain in the Munsters, had been many
+months at the Front, and was now, alas! a prisoner of war in Germany.
+
+“I heard you arrive,” she said cheerily, addressing the pair. And then
+she told them how she had waited tea for them. Neither being averse
+from another cup, the trio passed through the French window into the
+big, cool drawing-room with its bright chintzes, gay flowers, and
+interesting bric-a-brac.
+
+While Beryl went half-an-hour later to her room to rest, and Ronnie
+joined Collins to test various portions of the ’bus and its apparatus
+before the night flight, a curious scene was taking place in the top
+room of a block of new red-brick flats somewhere in a northern suburb
+of London--the exact situation I am not permitted to divulge.
+
+From the window a very extensive view could be obtained over London,
+both south and east, where glowed the red haze of sunset upon the
+giant metropolis, with its landmarks of tall factory chimneys, church
+steeples, and long lines of slate roofs.
+
+The room was a photographic studio. Indeed, the neat brass-plate upon
+the outer door of the flat bore the name “R. Goring, Photographer,”
+and as such, its owner was known to other tenants of the various
+suites, persons of the upper middle-class, men mostly occupying good
+positions in the City.
+
+True, a whole-plate camera stood upon a stand in a corner, and there
+were one or two grey screens for backgrounds placed against the wall,
+but nothing else in the apartment showed that it was used for the
+purpose of photography. On the contrary, it contained a somewhat
+unusual apparatus, which two men present were closely examining.
+
+Upon a strong deal table, set directly beneath the great
+skylight--which had been made to slide back so as to leave that portion
+of the roof open--was a great circular searchlight, such as is used
+upon ships, the glass face of which was turned upward to the sky.
+
+Set in a circle around its face were a number of bright reflectors and
+prisms placed at certain angles, with, above them, a large brass ring
+across which white silk gauze was stretched so that the intense rays
+of the searchlight should be broken up, and not show as a beam in the
+darkness, and thus disclose its existence.
+
+At a glance the cleverness of the arrangement was apparent. It was one
+of the enemy’s guiding lights for Zeppelins!
+
+The owner of the flat, Mr. Goring, a burly, grey-haired man of
+fifty-five, was exhibiting with pride to his visitor a new set of
+glass prisms which he had that day set at the proper angle, while the
+man who was evincing such interest was the person who--only a few
+hours before--had worked in his mechanic’s overalls, at the Hendon
+Aerodrome, the man, Henry Knowles, who was to all intents and purposes
+an Englishman, having been in London since he was three years of age.
+Indeed, so well did he speak his Cockney dialect, that none ever dreamt
+that he was the son of one Heinrich Klitz, or that his Christian name
+was Hermann.
+
+His host, like himself, was typically English, and had long ago paid
+his naturalisation fees and declared himself of the British bulldog
+breed. In public he was a fierce antagonist of Germany. In strongest
+terms he denounced the Kaiser and all his ways. He had even written to
+the newspapers deploring Great Britain’s mistakes, and, by all about
+him, was believed to be a fine, honest, and loyal Englishman. Even
+his wife, who now lived near Bristol, believed him to be British. Yet
+the truth was that he had no right to the name of Richard Goring, his
+baptismal name being Otto Kohler, his brother Hans occupying, at that
+moment, the post of President of the German Imperial Railways, the
+handsome offices of which are numbered 44, Linkstrasse, in Berlin.
+
+The pair were members of the long-prepared secret enemy organisation in
+our midst--men living in London as British subjects, and each having
+his important part allotted to him to play at stated times and in
+pre-arranged places.
+
+Richard Goring’s work for his country was to pose as a photographer--so
+that his undue use of electric-light current should not attract
+attention--and to keep that hidden searchlight burning night after
+night, in case a Zeppelin were fortunate enough to get as far as London.
+
+As “Light-post No. 22” it was known to those cunning Teutons who
+so craftily established in England the most wonderful espionage
+system ever placed upon the world. In England there were a number of
+signallers and “light-posts” for the guidance of enemy aircraft, but
+this--one of the greatest intensity--was as a lighthouse, and marked
+as of first importance upon the aerial chart carried by every Zeppelin
+Commander.
+
+Mr. Goring had shown and explained to his friend the improved mechanism
+of the light, whereupon Knowles--who now wore a smart blue serge
+suit and carried gloves in his hand--laughed merrily, and replied in
+English, for they always talked that language:
+
+“I saw Gortz at Number Three last night. He has news from Berlin that
+the big air raid is to be made on the fourteenth.”
+
+“The fourteenth!” echoed his friend. Then, after a second’s reflection,
+he added: “That will be Friday week.”
+
+“Exactly. There will be one or two small attempts before--probably one
+to-night--a reconnaissance over the Eastern Counties. At least it was
+said so last night at Number Three,” he added, referring to a secret
+meeting place of the Huns in London.
+
+“Well,” laughed the photographic artist. “I always keep the light going
+and, thanks to the plans they sent me from Wilhelmsplatz a month before
+the war, there is no beam of light to betray it.”
+
+“Rather thanks to the information we have when the British scouting
+airships leave their sheds.”
+
+“Ah, yes, my dear friend. Then I at once cut it off, of course,”
+laughed the other. “But it is a weary job--up here alone each night
+killing time by reading their silly newspapers.”
+
+“One of our greatest dangers, in my opinion, is that young fellow
+Ronald Pryor--the aeroplane-builder,” declared Knowles. “The man whom
+our friend Reichardt tried to put out of existence last week, and
+failed--eh?”
+
+“The same. He has a new aeroplane called ‘The Hornet,’ which can be
+rendered quite silent. That is a very great danger to our airships.”
+
+“We must, at all hazards, ascertain its secret,” said his host
+promptly. “What does Reichardt say?”
+
+“They were discussing it last night at Number Three.”
+
+And then the man who called himself Knowles and who, by working as a
+humble mechanic at a flying school at Hendon, was able to pick up so
+many facts concerning our air service, explained how “The Hornet” was
+kept in secret somewhere out in Essex--at some spot which they had not
+yet discovered.
+
+“But surely you’ll get to know,” was the other’s remark, as he leant
+idly against the table whereon lay the complicated apparatus of prisms,
+and reflectors which constituted the lighthouse to guide the enemy
+aircraft.
+
+“That is the service upon which Number Seven has placed me,” was the
+response.
+
+He had referred to the director of that branch of the enemy’s
+operations in England--the person known as “Number Seven”--the cleverly
+concealed secret agent who assisted to guide the invisible hand of
+Germany in our midst. The individual in question lived in strictest
+retirement, unknown even to those puppets of Berlin who so blindly
+obeyed his orders, and who received such lavish payment for so doing.
+Some of the Kaiser’s secret agents said that he lived in London; others
+declared that he lived on a farm in a remote village somewhere in
+Somerset; while others said he had been seen walking in Piccadilly
+with a well-known peeress. Many, on the other hand, declared that he
+lived in a small country town in the guise of a retired shopkeeper,
+interested only in his roses and his cucumber-frames.
+
+“A pity our good friend Reichardt failed the other day,” remarked the
+man who posed as a photographer. “What of that girl Gaselee?”
+
+“The next attempt will not fail, depend upon it,” was Knowles’ reply,
+in tones of confidence. “When Ronald Pryor dies, so will she also. The
+decision at Number Three last night was unanimous.” And he grinned
+evilly.
+
+Then both men went forth, Goring carefully locking the door of the
+secret studio. Then, passing through the well-furnished flat, he closed
+the door behind him, and they descended the stairs.
+
+That night just after eleven o’clock, Beryl in her warm air-woman’s
+kit, with her leather “grummet” with its ear-pieces buttoned beneath
+her chin, climbed into “The Hornet” and strapped herself into the
+observer’s seat.
+
+Collins had been busy on the ’bus all the evening, testing the powerful
+dual engines, the searchlight, the control levers, and a dozen other
+details, including the all-important silencer. Afterwards he had placed
+in the long rack beneath the fusilage four high explosive spherical
+bombs, with three incendiary ones.
+
+Therefore, when Ronnie hopped in, the machine was in complete readiness
+for a night flight.
+
+Arranged at each corner of the big grass-field was a powerful electric
+light sunk into the ground and covered with glass. These could be
+switched on from the house supply and, by means of reflectors, gave
+splendid guidance for descent. At present, however, all was, of course,
+in darkness.
+
+The night was windless and overcast, while the barometer showed the
+atmospheric pressure to be exactly that welcomed by Commanders of enemy
+airships.
+
+Ronnie after switching on his little light over the instruments and
+examining his gauges, shouted to Collins:
+
+“Righto! Let her rip!”
+
+In a moment there was a terrific roar. The wind whistled about their
+ears, and next second they were “zumming,” up climbing at an angle of
+quite thirty degrees, instead of “taxi-running” the machine before
+leaving the ground.
+
+Not a star showed, neither did a light. At that hour the good people of
+Essex were mostly in bed.
+
+On their right, as they rose, Beryl noticed one or two red and green
+lights of railway signals, but these faded away as they still climbed
+ever up and up, travelling in the direction of the coast. The roar of
+the engines was deafening, until they approached a faintly seen cluster
+of lights which, by the map spread before him beneath the tiny light,
+Ronnie knew was the town of B----. Then he suddenly pulled a lever by
+which the noise instantly became so deadened that the whirr of the
+propeller alone was audible, the engines being entirely silenced.
+
+The young man, speaking for the first time, exclaimed:
+
+“We’ll first run along the coast and scout, and then turn back inland.”
+
+Scarcely had he uttered those words when suddenly they became blinded
+by a strong searchlight from below.
+
+“Hullo! Our anti-aircraft boys!” he ejaculated and at the same moment
+he pushed back the lever, causing the engines to roar again.
+
+The men working the searchlight at once distinguished the tri-coloured
+rings upon the planes, and by its sudden silence and as sudden roar
+they knew it to be “The Hornet.” Therefore next second they shut off
+the beam of the light, and once again Ronnie silenced his ’bus.
+
+It was then near midnight, and up there at ten thousand feet the wind
+was bitingly cold. Moreover there were one or two air currents which
+caused the machine to rock violently in a manner that would have
+alarmed any but those experienced in flying.
+
+Beryl buttoned her collar still more snugly, but declared that she was
+not feeling cold. Below, little or nothing could be seen until, of a
+sudden, they ran into a thick cold mist, and then knew that they were
+over the sea.
+
+With a glance at his luminous compass, the cheery young airman quickly
+turned the machine’s nose due south, and a quarter of an hour later
+altered his course south-west, heading towards London.
+
+“Nothing doing to-night, it seems!” he remarked to his companion, as,
+in the darkness, they sped along at about fifty miles an hour, the wind
+whistling weirdly through the stays, the propeller humming musically,
+but the sound seeming no more than that of a bumblebee on a summer’s
+day.
+
+It was certain that such sound could not be heard below.
+
+After nearly an hour they realised by certain unmistakable
+signs--mostly atmospheric--that they were over the outer northern
+suburbs of London.
+
+Then, as Ronnie altered his course, in the inky blackness of the night,
+both saw, deep below, an intense white light burning like a beacon, but
+throwing no ray.
+
+“That’s curious!” remarked Pryor to the girl beside him. “I can’t make
+it out. I’ve seen it several times before. One night a month ago I saw
+it put out, and then, when one of our patrolling airships had gone
+over, it came suddenly up again.”
+
+“An enemy light for the guiding of enemy Zeppelins--eh?” Beryl
+suggested.
+
+“Exactly my opinion!” was her lover’s reply.
+
+As he spoke they passed out of range of vision, all becoming dark
+again. Therefore, Ronnie put down his lever and turned the ’bus quickly
+so that he could again examine the mysterious light which would reveal
+to the enemy the district of London over which they were then flying.
+
+For a full quarter of an hour “The Hornet,” having descended to about
+three thousand feet, manoeuvred backwards and forwards, crossing and
+recrossing exactly over the intense white light below, Ronnie remaining
+silent, and flying the great biplane with most expert skill.
+
+Suddenly, as he passed for the sixth time directly over the light, he
+touched a lever, and a quick swish of air followed.
+
+In a moment the white light was blotted out by a fierce blood-red one.
+
+No sound of any explosion was heard. But a second later bright flames
+leapt up high, and from where they sat aloft they could clearly
+distinguish that the upper story of the house was well alight.
+
+Once again “The Hornet,” which had hovered over the spot, flying very
+slowly in a circle, swooped down in silence, for Pryor was eager to
+ascertain the result of his well-placed incendiary bomb.
+
+As, in the darkness, they rapidly neared the earth, making no sound
+to attract those below, Beryl could see that in the streets, lit by
+the flames, people were running about like a swarm of ants. The alarm
+had already been given to the fire-brigade, for the faint sound of a
+fire-bell now reached their ears.
+
+For five or six minutes Pryor remained in the vicinity watching the
+result of the bomb.
+
+Beryl, strapped in, peered below, and then, placing her eye to the
+powerful night-glasses, she could discern distinctly two fire-engines
+tearing along to the scene of the conflagration.
+
+Then with a laugh Ronnie pulled over the lever and, climbing high
+again, swiftly made off in the direction of Harbury.
+
+“That spy won’t ever show a light again!” he remarked grimly.
+
+Next day the newspapers reported a serious and very mysterious outbreak
+of fire in a photographic studio at the top of a certain block of
+flats, the charred remains of the occupier, Mr. Richard Goring, a
+highly respected resident, being afterwards found, together with a
+mass of mysterious metal apparatus with which he had apparently been
+experimenting, and by which--as the Coroner’s jury eventually decided
+four days later--the fatal fire must have been caused.
+
+One morning Beryl and Ronnie, seated together in the drawing-room at
+Harbury, read the evidence given at the inquest and the verdict.
+
+Both smiled, but neither made remark.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MR. MARK MARX.
+
+
+“I think we’ll have to give her another dope, Collins,” remarked Ronnie
+Pryor, as early one summer’s morning he stood before “The Hornet,”
+which, after a night-flight to the sea and back, was reposing in its
+“nest.”
+
+“It certainly wouldn’t hurt her, sir, especially if we can get some of
+that new patent stuff that Mr. Henderson was telling us about the other
+day,” the young mechanic replied.
+
+“Ah! That’s a secret,” laughed his master. “It’s no doubt the finest
+dope ever invented, and happily Fritz, with all his scientific
+attainments, is still in the dark regarding it.”
+
+“I’m afraid the enemy will learn the secret before long, sir,” the
+man remarked. “There are far too many strangers knocking about the
+aerodromes, and prying into everyone’s business.”
+
+“I know, Collins, I know,” remarked Ronnie. “They’re very inquisitive
+regarding my new silencer.”
+
+“Yes, that’s quite right, sir. I’m often being pumped about it by
+strangers.”
+
+“Well, I know you never utter a word concerning it.”
+
+“Trust me, sir,” laughed the clean-shaven young man. “I always deny
+any knowledge of it. But the people who make the inquiries seem very
+shrewd indeed. And the funny thing is that they are never foreigners.”
+
+“Yes, I quite realise that. But at all hazards we must keep the secret
+of the silencer to ourselves,” said Pryor. “The silencer enables us to
+make night-flights in secret without the enemy being any the wiser,” he
+added.
+
+Collins grinned. He knew, only too well, how “The Hornet” had, more
+than once, been over to Belgium and returned in safety without its
+presence being spotted by the enemy. He knew, too, that the bomb-rack
+had been full when Ronnie and Beryl Gaselee had ascended, and that it
+had been empty when they had returned.
+
+On the previous night Pryor had been up, accompanied by his mechanic.
+They had come in at daybreak, snatched three hours’ sleep, and were now
+out again overhauling the machine.
+
+As they were speaking, Beryl Gaselee, dainty and fair-haired, in a
+cool, white cotton dress, suddenly came up behind them exclaiming:
+
+“Good-morning, Ronnie! Iris is waiting breakfast patiently for you.”
+
+“Oh, I really forgot, dear!” replied the young airman. “Collins and I
+have been so busy for the last hour.”
+
+Together they crossed the lawn arm-in-arm to the pleasant, old-world
+house.
+
+When ten minutes later the pair sat down to breakfast in the sunlit
+dining-room, the long windows of which led out upon an ancient terrace
+embowered with roses, Mrs. Remington came in, greeting Ronald with the
+protest--
+
+“I wish, when you come in, you’d put your silencer on your boots,
+Ronnie! You woke me up just at four, and Toby started to bark.”
+
+“By Jove! Did I? Lots of apologies! I’ll creep about in my socks in
+future,” declared the culprit, stooping to pat the miniature “pom.”
+
+“Did Sheppard give you the telephone message?” Mrs. Remington asked.
+
+“No. What message?”
+
+“Why, one that came in the middle of the night?”
+
+At that moment Sheppard, the old-fashioned butler who had just entered
+the room, interrupted, saying in his quiet way:
+
+“I haven’t seen Mr. Pryor before, madam.” Then turning to Ronnie, he
+said: “The telephone rang at about a quarter to one. I answered it.
+Somebody--a man’s voice--was speaking from Liverpool. He wanted you,
+sir. But I said you were out. He told me to give you a message,” and he
+handed Ronnie a slip of paper upon which were pencilled the words:
+
+  _“Please tell Mr. Ronald Pryor that Mark Marx has returned. He will
+  be in London at the old place at ten o’clock to-night.”_
+
+As Ronald Pryor’s eyes fell upon that message all the light died from
+his face.
+
+Beryl noticed it, and asked her lover whether he had received bad news.
+He started. Then, recovering himself instantly, he held his breath for
+a second, and replied:
+
+“Not at all, dear. It is only from a friend--a man whom I believed had
+been killed, but who is well and back again in England.”
+
+“There must be many such cases,” the fair-haired girl remarked. “I
+heard of one the other day when a man reported dead a year ago, and for
+whom his widow was mourning, suddenly walked into his own drawing-room.”
+
+“I hope his return was not unwelcome?” said Ronnie with a laugh.
+“It would have been a trifle awkward, for example, if the widow had
+re-married in the meantime.”
+
+“Yes, rather a queer situation--at least, for the second husband,”
+declared Iris, who was some five years Beryl’s senior, and the mother
+of two pretty children.
+
+“Did the person who spoke to you give any name?” asked Pryor of the
+butler.
+
+“No, sir. He would give no name. He simply said that you would quite
+understand, sir.”
+
+Ronald Pryor did understand. Mark Marx was back again in England! It
+seemed incredible. But whose was that voice which in the night had
+warned him from Liverpool?
+
+He ate his breakfast wondering. Should he tell Beryl? Should he reveal
+the whole curious truth to her? No. If he did so, she might become
+nervous and apprehensive. Why shake the nerves of a woman who did such
+fine work in the air? It would be best for him to keep his own counsel.
+Therefore, before he rose from the table, he had resolved to retain the
+secret of Marx’s return.
+
+After breakfast Ronald, having taken from “The Hornet” the essential
+parts of his newly invented silencer, which, by the way, he daily
+expected would be adopted by the Government, carried them back to
+the house and there locked them in the big safe which he kept in his
+bedroom.
+
+Then, later on, Beryl drove him to the station where he took train to
+London, and travelled down to his aeroplane factory, where, in secret,
+several big battleplanes of “The Hornet” type were being constructed.
+
+It was a large, imposing place with many sheds and workshops, occupying
+a considerable area. The whole place was surrounded by a high wall,
+and, beyond, a barbed-wire entanglement, for the secrets of the work in
+progress were well guarded by trusty, armed watchmen night and day.
+
+Pryor was seated in his office chatting with Mr. Woodhouse, the
+wide-awake and active manager, about certain business matters, when he
+suddenly said:
+
+“By the way, it will be best to double all precautions against any
+information leaking out from here, and on no account to admit any
+strangers upon any pretext whatever. Even if any fresh Government
+viewer comes along he is not to enter until you have verified his
+identity-pass.”
+
+“Very well,” was Woodhouse’s reply. “But why are we to be so very
+particular?”
+
+“Well, I have my own reasons. Without doubt, our friend the enemy is
+extremely anxious to obtain the secrets of ‘The Hornet,’ and also the
+silencer. And in these days we must run no risks.”
+
+Then, after a stroll through the sheds where a hundred or so men were
+at work upon the various parts of the new battleplane destined to
+“strafe” the Huns, and clear the air of the Fokkers, the easy-going but
+intrepid airman made his way back to Pall Mall, where he ate an early
+dinner alone in the big upstairs dining-room at the Royal Automobile
+Club.
+
+By half-past seven he had smoked the post-prandial cigarette, swallowed
+a tiny glass of Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, and was strolling back
+along Pall Mall towards Charing Cross.
+
+At the corner of the Haymarket he hailed a passing taxi, and drove out
+to Hammersmith to a small, dingy house situated in a side-turning off
+the busy King Street. There he dismissed the conveyance, and entered
+the house with a latch-key.
+
+“Cranch!” he shouted when in the small, close-smelling hall, having
+closed the door behind him. “Cranch! Are you at home?”
+
+“Hullo! Is that you, Mr. Pryor?” came a cheery answer, when from the
+back room on the ground-floor emerged a burly, close-shaven man in his
+shirt-sleeves, for it was a hot, breathless night.
+
+“Yes. I’m quite a stranger, am I not?” laughed Pryor, following his
+host back into the cheaply furnished sitting-room.
+
+“Look here, Cranch, I’m going out on a funny expedition to-night,” he
+said. “I want you to fit me up with the proper togs for the Walworth
+Road. You know the best rig-out. And I want you to come with me.”
+
+“Certainly, Mr. Pryor,” was his host’s reply. John Cranch had done his
+twenty-five years in the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland
+Yard as sergeant and inspector, and now amplified his pension by doing
+private inquiry work. He was “on the list” at the Yard, and to persons
+who went to the police headquarters to seek unofficial assistance his
+name was frequently given as a very reliable officer.
+
+The pair sat for some time in earnest consultation, after which both
+ascended to a bedroom above, where, in the cupboard, hung many suits of
+clothes, from the rags of a tramp--with broken boots to match--to the
+smart evening clothes of the prosperous middle-aged _roué_ who might
+be seen at supper at the Savoy, or haunting the nightclubs of London.
+Among them were the uniforms of a postman, a railway-porter, with caps
+belonging to the various companies, a fireman, a private soldier, a
+lieutenant, a gas-inspector, a tram-conductor, and other guises which
+ex-detective John Cranch had, from time to time, assumed.
+
+Within half-an-hour the pair again descended, and entering the
+sitting-room they presented quite a different appearance.
+
+Ronnie Pryor’s most intimate friend would certainly not easily have
+recognised him. Even Beryl Gaselee would have passed him by in the
+street without a second glance, for his features were altered; he wore
+a small moustache, and his clothes were those of an East-end Jew. At
+the same time Cranch was dressed as a hard-working costermonger of the
+true Old Kent Road type.
+
+Together they drove in a taxi across South London to the railway-arch
+at Walworth Road station, beneath which they alighted and, turning to
+the right along the Camberwell Road, crossed it and went leisurely
+into the Albany Road--that long, straight thoroughfare of dingy
+old-fashioned houses which were pleasant residences in the “forties”
+when Camberwell was still a rural village--the road which ran direct
+from Camberwell Gate to the Old Kent Road.
+
+Darkness had already fallen as the pair strolled leisurely along until
+they passed a small house on the left, close to the corner of Villa
+Street.
+
+As they went by, their eyes took in every detail. Not a large house,
+but rather superior to its neighbours, it lay back behind a small
+garden and seemed closely shuttered and obscure. Nearly opposite it
+Cranch’s sharp eyes espied a “To Let” board upon a house, and he at
+once suggested that if they hid behind the railing they could watch the
+house of mystery in security.
+
+This they did, and after a little manoeuvring--for there were many
+people passing in the vicinity--they both crouched beneath a soot-laden
+lilac-bush, which commanded full view of all who went from and came to
+the dark house before them.
+
+As Ronnie crouched there in concealment one thought alone kept running
+through his brain. Truth to tell, he was much mystified as to the
+identity of that mysterious person who, from Liverpool, had given him
+warning.
+
+Was it a trap? He had certainly not overlooked such a contingency.
+
+For over an hour and a half the two men remained there, eagerly
+watching the diminishing stream of foot-passengers until at last,
+coming up from the Camberwell Road, Ronnie noticed a man approaching.
+
+For some seconds he kept his eye steadily upon him, for the moon was
+now shining fitfully through the clouds.
+
+“By Jove! How curious!” he whispered to his companion. “Why, that’s
+Knowles, one of the mechanics at Hendon! I wonder what he’s doing over
+here?”
+
+Ronnie was, of course, in ignorance--as was also everyone at the Hendon
+Aerodrome--that Henry Knowles, the hard-working, painstaking mechanic,
+whose expert work it was to test machines, was not really an Englishman
+as he pretended to be, even though he could imitate the Cockney tongue,
+but that his actual baptismal name was Hermann Klitz, and his place of
+birth Coblenz, on the Rhine.
+
+With wondering eyes the airman watched the mechanic pass into the dark,
+silent house.
+
+“Very strange!” he remarked beneath his breath. “Very strange indeed!”
+
+But his curiosity was increased by the arrival, ten minutes later, of a
+rather short, middle-aged man of distinctly burly build. The newcomer
+hesitated for a few minutes, gazing about him furtively, as though he
+feared being followed, and then slipped through the gate up to the
+house, where the door fell open, he being apparently expected.
+
+“Did you see that man, Cranch?” asked Pryor in a whisper. “That’s
+Germany’s great spy--Mark Marx. He’s been in America for the past ten
+months or so, and is now back here upon some secret mission concerning
+our aircraft--upon which he’s an expert.”
+
+“They’re holding a council here--by the look of it,” remarked the
+detective. “Five of them have gone in--and why, look! Here comes
+another--a lame man!”
+
+“Yes,” said Ronnie. “This secret place of meeting is known to the
+spies of Germany as ‘Number Three.’ From here certain of the clever
+activities of the invisible hand of Germany are frequently directed,
+as from other centres; Mark Marx is a clever adventurer who used to
+be the assistant director of the enemy’s operations in this country.
+Apparently he has returned to London to resume his sinister activities
+against us. He acts directly under the control of the head of Germany’s
+secret service in this country, that shrewd, clever, and influential
+person who hides his identity beneath the official description of
+‘Number Seven.’”
+
+“Then ‘Number Three’ is the headquarters of ‘Number Seven’--eh!” asked
+the ex-detective in a whisper.
+
+“Exactly. That some devilish conspiracy is now afoot is quite certain.
+Our duty is to discover and to thwart it. I was secretly warned that
+Mark Marx had returned, and now, knowing that it is so, I must take
+adequate precautions.”
+
+“How shall you act?”
+
+“I have not yet decided.”
+
+“But can’t we endeavour to ascertain what is in progress here to-night,
+Mr. Pryor?” suggested Cranch.
+
+Pryor and his companion kept vigilant watch till far into the night
+when, about two o’clock in the morning, a big closed motor-car suddenly
+came along the road, pulling up a little distance from the house. The
+driver, a tall, thin man, alighted and waited for some moments, when
+the two men, Marx and Klitz, _alias_ Knowles, emerged carrying between
+them a small but heavy leather travelling trunk and, assisted by the
+driver, placed this on top of the car. Then the two men entered and
+drove rapidly away.
+
+“That car may come again to-morrow night,” remarked Pryor. “We must lay
+our plans to follow it.”
+
+Next night, Pryor having ascertained the identity of the friend who had
+warned him of Mark Marx’s return to England, he and Cranch were again
+at the same spot beneath the stunted lilac-bush. Round the corner, in
+Villa Street, at a little distance away stood Ronnie’s closed car with
+Beryl Gaselee in charge, the latter wearing the cap and dust-coat of a
+war-time _chauffeuse_.
+
+Hour after hour they waited until dawn broke. But as no one came to
+that house known as “Number Three,” they were compelled at last to
+relinquish their vigilance.
+
+For four nights in succession they kept the same watch, Cranch having
+revealed his identity and explained to the constable on duty that the
+car was awaiting an expected friend.
+
+On the fifth occasion, just about half-past one in the morning, sure
+enough the big, dark-green car drove up, and from it Marx alighted and
+entered the enemy’s headquarters.
+
+Presently Klitz and another man arrived on foot, and they also entered.
+Subsequently another small but heavy trunk was taken out and placed in
+the car.
+
+By this time Ronnie and his companion had reached their own car, and
+while Cranch and Beryl entered, Ronnie jumped up to the wheel and
+started off. He first took a street that he knew ran parallel with the
+Albany Road in the direction the car had taken before and, after going
+a little distance, he turned back into the thoroughfare just in time to
+see a rear-lamp pass rapidly. Quickly he increased his speed, and soon
+satisfied himself that it was the car he intended following.
+
+They turned at last into the Old Kent Road, and then on as far as a
+dark little place which Ronnie knew as Kingsdown. Then, branching to
+the right, keeping the red rear-light ever in view, they went by the
+byways as far as Meopham and on past Jenkin’s Court, through some woods
+until suddenly the car turned into a gateway and went across some open
+pastures.
+
+Ronnie saw that he had not been noticed by the driver, who was too
+intent upon his speed and quite unsuspicious. Therefore he pulled up
+dead, waited for ten minutes or so, and then flew past the gateway at
+top speed. For nearly a mile he went, and at last came to a standstill
+upon a long, steep slope with a copse on each side, quite dark on
+account of the overhanging trees.
+
+Having run the car to the side of the road they alighted. Ronnie
+switched off the lamps, and they walked noiselessly back on the grass
+by the roadside and at length, having turned in at the gateway, saw, in
+the dim light, a long, low-built farmhouse with haystacks beside it and
+big barns.
+
+The throb of the car’s engine showed that the Germans were probably
+only depositing the trunk, and did not intend to remain.
+
+The watchers, therefore, withdrew again into the shadow of a narrow
+little wood close to the house and there waited in patience. Their
+expectations were realised a quarter of an hour later when the two men
+emerged from the modern-built farmhouse and drove away, evidently on
+their return to London.
+
+By their manoeuvre Pryor became greatly puzzled. He could not see why
+that trunk had been transferred to that lonely farm in the night hours.
+
+After the car had disappeared they waited in motionless silence for
+some time until, after a whispered consultation, they ventured forth
+again.
+
+Cranch’s suggestion was to examine the place, but unfortunately a
+collie was roaming about, and as soon as they came forth from their
+place of concealment the dog gave his alarm note.
+
+“Ben!” cried a gruff, male voice in rebuke, while at the same time a
+light showed in the upper window of the farm.
+
+Meanwhile the trio of watchers remained hidden in the shadow of a wall
+close to the spacious farmyard until the dog had gone back.
+
+Ronnie had resolved to leave the investigation until the following day,
+therefore all three crept back to the car and, after carefully noting
+the exact spot and the silhouette of the trees, they at last started
+off and presently finding a high road, ran down into Wrotham, and on
+into the long town of Tonbridge.
+
+At the hotel their advent at such an early hour was looked upon
+askance, but a well-concocted story of a night journey and unfortunate
+tyre trouble allayed any suspicions, and by seven o’clock the three
+were seated at an ample breakfast with home-cured ham and farmyard
+eggs. Afterwards, for several hours, Beryl rested while the airman and
+the detective wandered about the little Kentish town discussing their
+plans.
+
+When, at eleven o’clock, Ronnie met Beryl again downstairs, the trio
+went into one of the sitting-rooms where they held secret council.
+
+“Now,” exclaimed Ronnie, “my plan is this. I’ll run back alone to the
+farm and stroll around the place to reconnoitre and ascertain who lives
+there. Without a doubt they are agents of Germany, whoever they are,
+because it is a depôt for those mysterious trunks from ‘Number Three.’”
+
+“I wonder what they contain, dear?” Beryl said, her face full of
+keenest interest.
+
+“We shall ascertain, never fear. But we must remain patient, and work
+in strictest secrecy.”
+
+“Well, Mr. Pryor, you can play the police game as well as any of us,”
+declared Cranch, with a light laugh.
+
+Therefore, a quarter of an hour later, Pryor took the car and returning
+to a spot near the farm--which he afterwards found was called
+Chandler’s Farm--and running the car into a meadow, left it while he
+went forward to reconnoitre.
+
+As he approached, he noticed two men working in a field close by,
+therefore he had to exercise great care not to be detected. By a
+circuitous route he at last approached the place, finding it, in
+daylight, to be a very modern up-to-date establishment--evidently the
+dairy farm of some estate, for the outbuildings and barns were all new,
+and of red brick, with corrugated iron roofs.
+
+The farmhouse itself was a big, pleasant place situated on a hill,
+surrounded by a large, well-kept flower-garden, and commanding a wide
+view across Kent towards the Thames Estuary and the coast.
+
+And as Ronnie crept along the belt of trees, his shrewd gaze taking in
+everything, there passed from the house across the farmyard a tall man
+in mechanic’s blue overalls. He walked a trifle lame, and by his gait
+Pryor felt certain that he was one of the men who had been present at
+that mysterious house called “Number Three” a few nights before.
+
+But why should he wear mechanic’s overalls, unless he attended to some
+agricultural machinery at work on the farm?
+
+Only half-satisfied with the result of his observations, Ronnie
+returned at length to his companions, when it was resolved to set
+watch both at Albany Road and at Chandler’s Farm. With that object
+Pryor later that day telegraphed to Collins calling him to London from
+Harbury, and after meeting him introduced him to the ex-detective.
+
+Then that night the two men went to Albany Road, while Ronnie and Beryl
+returned in the car back into Kent, where soon after ten o’clock they
+were hiding on the edge of the little wood whence there was afforded a
+good view of the approach to the lonely farm.
+
+Time passed very slowly; they dared not speak above a whisper. The
+night was dull and overcast, with threatening rain, but all was silent
+save for the howling of a dog at intervals and the striking of a
+distant church clock.
+
+Far across the valley in the darkness of the sky behind the hill could
+be seen the flicker of an anti-aircraft searchlight somewhere in the
+far distance, in readiness for any aerial raid on the part of the Huns.
+
+“I can’t think what can be in progress here, Beryl,” Ronnie was
+whispering. “What, I wonder, do those trunks contain?”
+
+“That’s what we must discover, dear,” was the girl’s soft reply as, in
+the darkness, his strong hand closed over hers and he drew her fondly
+to his breast.
+
+A dim light still showed in one of the lower windows of the farmhouse,
+though it was now long past midnight.
+
+Was the arrival of someone expected? It certainly seemed so, because
+just at two o’clock the door opened and the form of the lame man became
+silhouetted against the light. For a moment he came forth and peered
+into the darkness. Then he re-entered and ten minutes later the light,
+extinguished below, reappeared at one of the bedroom windows, showing
+that the inmate had retired.
+
+For six nights the same ceaseless vigil was kept, but without anything
+abnormal transpiring. The man Marx had not again visited the
+mysterious house in Albany Road, yet the fact that the obscured light
+showed nightly in the window of Chandler’s Farm, made it apparent that
+some midnight visitor was expected. For that reason alone Ronnie did
+not relinquish his vigilance.
+
+One night he was creeping with Beryl towards the spot where they spent
+so many silent hours, and had taken a shorter cut across the corner
+of a big grass-field when, of a sudden, his well-beloved stumbled and
+almost fell. Afterwards, on groping about, he discovered an insulated
+electric wire lying along the ground.
+
+“That’s curious,” he whispered. “Is this a telephone, I wonder?”
+
+Fearing to switch on his torch, he felt by the touch that it was a twin
+wire twisted very much like a telephone-lead.
+
+At the same moment, as they stood together in the corner of the field,
+Beryl sniffed, exclaiming:
+
+“What a very strong smell of petrol!”
+
+Her lover held his nose in the air, and declared that he, too, could
+detect it, the two discoveries puzzling them considerably. Indeed, in
+the succeeding hours as they watched together in silence, both tried to
+account for the existence of that secret twisted wire. Whence did it
+come, and whither did it lead?
+
+“I’ll investigate it as soon as it gets light,” Ronnie declared.
+
+Just before two o’clock the silence was broken by the distant hum of an
+aeroplane. Both detected it at the same instant.
+
+“Hullo! One of our boys doing a night stunt?” remarked Ronnie,
+straining his eyes into the darkness, but failing to see the oncoming
+machine. Away across the hills a long, white beam began to search the
+sky and, having found the machine and revealed the rings upon it, at
+once shut off again.
+
+Meanwhile, as it approached, the door of Chandler’s Farm was opened by
+the tall, lame man, who stood outside until the machine, by its noise,
+was almost over them. Then to the amazement of the watchers, four
+points of light suddenly appeared at the corners of the grass-field on
+their left.
+
+“By Jove! Why, he’s coming down!” cried Ronnie astounded. “There was
+petrol placed at each corner yonder, and it’s simultaneously been
+ignited by means of the electric wire to show him his landing-place!
+It’s an enemy machine got up to look like one of ours! This _is_ a
+discovery!”
+
+“So it is!” gasped Beryl, standing at her lover’s side, listening to
+the aeroplane, unseen in the darkness, as it hovered around the farm
+and slowly descended.
+
+The man at the farm had brought out a blue lamp and was showing it
+upward.
+
+“Look!” exclaimed Pryor. “He’s telling him the direction of the wind--a
+pretty cute arrangement, and no mistake!”
+
+Lower and lower came the mysterious aeroplane until it skimmed the tops
+of the trees in the wood in which they stood, then, making a tour of
+the field, it at last came lightly to earth within the square marked by
+the little cups of burning petrol.
+
+The pilot stopped his engine, the four lights burnt dim and went out
+one after the other, and the lame man, hurrying down, gave a low
+whistle which was immediately answered.
+
+Then, on their way back to the farm, the pair passed close to
+where the watchers were hidden, and in the silence the latter could
+distinctly hear them speaking--eagerly and excitedly in German!
+
+Beryl and Ronnie watched there until dawn, when they saw the two men
+wheel the monoplane, disguised as British with rings upon it, into the
+long shed at the bottom of the meadow, the door of which the lame man
+afterwards securely locked.
+
+An hour later Pryor was speaking on the telephone with Cranch in
+London, telling him what they had discovered. Soon after midday Beryl
+and Ronnie were back at Harbury, where in the library window they stood
+in consultation.
+
+“Look here, Beryl,” the keen-faced young man said, “as that machine has
+crossed from Belgium, it is undoubtedly going back again. If so, it
+will take something with it--something which no doubt the enemy wants
+to send out of the country by secret means.”
+
+“With that I quite agree, dear.”
+
+“Good. Then there’s no time to be lost,” her lover said, poring over
+a map. “We’ll fly over to Chandler’s Farm this afternoon, come down
+near Fawkham, and put the ’bus away till to-night. Then we’ll see what
+happens.”
+
+“He’ll probably fly back to-night,” the girl suggested.
+
+“That’s exactly what I expect. I’ve told Collins and Cranch to meet us
+there.”
+
+An hour later the great battleplane, “The Hornet,” Ronnie at the
+joy-stick, with Beryl in air-woman’s clothes and goggles strapped in
+the observer’s seat, rose with a roar from the big meadow at Harbury
+and, ascending to an altitude of about ten thousand feet, struck away
+due south across the patchwork of brown fields and green meadows, with
+their tiny clusters of houses and white puffs of smoke all blowing
+in the same direction--the usual panorama of rural England, with its
+straight lines of rails and winding roads, as seen from the air.
+
+The roar of the powerful twin engines was such that they found
+conversation impossible, but Beryl, practised pilot that she was, soon
+recognised the town over which they were flying.
+
+Soon afterwards the Thames, half-hidden in mist and winding like a
+ribbon, came into view far below them. This served as guide, for Ronnie
+kept over the river for some time, at the end of which both recognised
+three church spires and knew that the most distant one was that of
+Fawkham, where presently they came down in a field about half-way
+between the station and the village, creating considerable sensation
+among the cottagers in the neighbourhood.
+
+Collins, who was awaiting them near the station, soon arrived on foot
+to render them assistance, the ’bus being eventually put beneath a
+convenient shed used for the shacking of hay.
+
+Ronnie had not used the silencer, fearing to create undue excitement
+among the anti-aircraft boys, many of whom had, of course, watched the
+machine’s flight at various points, examining it through glasses and
+being reassured by its painted rings.
+
+Until night fell the lovers remained at Fawkham, taking their evening
+meal in a small inn there, and wondering what Cranch had seen during
+the daylight vigil he had kept since noon. Collins had left them in
+order to go on ahead.
+
+As dusk deepened into night both Pryor and his well-beloved grew more
+excited. The discovery they had made was certainly an amazing one, but
+the intentions of the enemy were still enveloped in mystery.
+
+That something desperate was to be attempted was, however, quite plain.
+
+In eagerness they remained until night had fallen completely, then,
+leaving the inn, they returned to the farmer’s shed, and, wheeling
+forth the powerful machine, got in and, having bidden the astonished
+farmer good-night, Ronnie put on the silencer, started the engines, and
+next moment, rising almost noiselessly, made a wide circle in the air.
+Taking his bearings with some difficulty, he headed for a small, open
+common, which they both knew well, situated about a quarter of a mile
+from Chandler’s Farm.
+
+There, with hardly any noise, they made a safe descent. Scarcely had
+the pilot switched off the engines, when the faithful Collins appeared
+with the news that Marx and the man Knowles had arrived from London in
+the car at seven o’clock.
+
+Presently, when Collins had been left in charge of the ’bus, and
+Ronnie and Beryl had stolen up to where Cranch was waiting, the latter
+whispered that Marx and Knowles had both accompanied the German pilot
+down to the shed wherein the disguised machine was reposing. “They’re
+all three down there now,” added the ex-detective.
+
+“Did they bring anything in the car?”
+
+“Yes. Half-a-dozen cans of petrol. They’ve just taken them down to the
+shed.”
+
+And even as he replied they could hear the voices of the three
+returning. They were conversing merrily in German.
+
+Another long, watchful hour went by, and the darkness increased.
+
+“If he’s going over to Belgium it will take him about an hour and
+three-quarters to reach Zeebrugge--for that’s where he probably came
+from,” remarked the expert Pryor. “It’s light now at four, so he’ll go
+up before two, or not at all.”
+
+“He would hardly risk being caught at sea in daylight,” declared Beryl.
+
+Then, for a long time, there was silence, the eyes of all three being
+fixed upon the door of the farm until, of a sudden, it opened and the
+lame man and the enemy pilot were seen to emerge carrying between them
+one of the old leather trunks that had been brought from London.
+
+“Hullo! They’re going to take it across by air!” cried Pryor. “It must
+contain something which ought to remain in this country!”
+
+They watched the trunk being carried in silence away into the darkness
+to the shed. Then presently the two men returned and brought out the
+second trunk, which they carried to the same spot as the first.
+
+“H’m!” remarked Ronnie, beneath his breath. “A devilish clever game--no
+doubt!”
+
+Then, instructing Cranch to remain and watch, he led Beryl back to
+where “The Hornet” stood.
+
+Into the observer’s seat he strapped the girl, and, hopping in himself,
+whispered to Collins to get all ready.
+
+The engine was started; but it made no sound greater than a silent
+motor-car when standing.
+
+Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to listen for the sound of the
+engine of the enemy ’plane.
+
+Those moments were full of breathless tension and excitement. “The
+Hornet” was waiting to rise.
+
+Suddenly there was a loud sound of uneven motor explosions in the
+direction of the farm. The engine was firing badly. In a few moments,
+however, it was rectified, and the loud and increasing hum told Ronnie
+that the enemy had risen.
+
+“Stand clear,” he shouted to Collins, and then, as he pulled over the
+lever, “The Hornet” dashed forward and was soon rising rapidly, but in
+silence.
+
+So dark was it that he could not distinguish the enemy. Yet, heading
+for the coast, as he knew that was the direction the German had taken,
+he rose higher and higher until five minutes later Beryl, at his
+orders, suddenly switched on the searchlight and swept around below
+them.
+
+At first they could distinguish nothing, yet from the direction of the
+humming they knew it must be below them.
+
+Two minutes later Ronnie’s quick eyes saw it in front of them, but a
+hundred feet or so nearer the ground.
+
+The enemy pilot, alarmed by the unexpected searchlight in the air,
+suddenly rose, but Ronnie was too quick for him and rose also, at the
+same time rapidly overhauling him.
+
+Beryl, holding her breath, kept the searchlight with difficulty upon
+him as gradually “The Hornet” drew over directly above him.
+
+Quick as lightning Ronnie touched a button.
+
+There was a loud swish of air, followed a second later by a dull, heavy
+explosion in the valley far below.
+
+The bomb had missed!
+
+The enemy was still rising, and from him came the quick rattle of a
+machine-gun, followed by a shower of bullets from below.
+
+Ronnie Pryor set his teeth hard, and as he again touched the button,
+exclaimed:
+
+“Take that, then!”
+
+Next second a bright flash lit up the rural landscape, followed by
+a terrific explosion, the concussion of which caused “The Hornet”
+to stagger, reel, and side-slip, while the enemy aeroplane was seen
+falling to earth a huge mass of blood-red flame.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the following day the evening papers reported the finding of a
+mysterious wrecked and burnt-out aeroplane “somewhere in Kent.”
+
+The pilot had been burnt out of all recognition, but among the wreckage
+there had been discovered, it was said, some metal fittings believed to
+be the principal parts of some unknown machine-gun.
+
+Only Ronald Pryor and Beryl Gaselee knew the actual truth, namely,
+that the enemy’s secret agents, at Marx’s incentive, had stolen, the
+essential parts of a newly-invented machine-gun, and that these were
+being conveyed by air to within the German lines, when the clever plot
+was fortunately frustrated by “The Hornet.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE SHABBY STRANGER.
+
+
+“Ronald has wired that he can’t get back here till to-night, so I shall
+fly ‘The Hornet’ over to Sleaford to see Rose,” remarked Beryl to her
+sister Iris, as they sat together at breakfast at Harbury one warm
+August morning.
+
+“Perhaps Ronald might object,” remarked Mrs. Remington, who was always
+averse from her sister making ascents alone upon “The Hornet.”
+
+“Oh, Ronnie won’t object! Besides, he always says that I can fly just
+as well as any man.”
+
+“But do be careful, won’t you, Beryl?” urged her sister. “Is the
+weather really in a condition for making such a flight?”
+
+“Perfect. I’ve just been looking at the barometer. It is quite steady,
+and I shall have an excellent wind back.”
+
+“I thought Ronald intended to go up on patrol-duty to-night. Last night
+was very dark--just the conditions for another Zepp raid.”
+
+“I expect he will,” replied Beryl. “He told me that he intended to
+patrol the coast.”
+
+“Then, if you go, you really will be careful, won’t you?”
+
+Beryl laughed.
+
+“Why, when once up there is not so much danger in the air as there is
+in walking along a London street,” she declared.
+
+“So Ronnie always says, but I rather doubt the statement,” Iris
+replied. “Personally, I prefer _terra firma_.”
+
+Breakfast ended, Beryl brushed her little black pom, one of her daily
+duties, and then, going to her room, changed her dress, putting on
+a warm jersey and a pair of workmanlike trousers, and over them a
+windproof flying suit with leather cap tied beneath her chin, a garb
+which gave her a very masculine appearance.
+
+Very soon she arrived at “The Hornet Nest,” and, at her directions,
+Collins brought out the great biplane and began to run the engine,
+which Beryl watched with critical eye. Then, climbing into the pilot’s
+seat, she began to manipulate the levers to reassure herself that all
+the controls were in order.
+
+“Beautiful morning for a flip, miss!” remarked the mechanic in brown
+overalls. “Are you going up alone?”
+
+“Yes, Collins. I’m going to visit my youngest sister at Sleaford, in
+Lincolnshire.”
+
+“Then I’ll take the bombs out,” he said, and at once removed the
+six powerful bombs from the rack, the projectiles intended for the
+destruction of Zeppelins. He also dismounted the quick-firing gun.
+
+For some time Beryl did not appear entirely satisfied with the throb of
+the engines, but at last Collins adjusted them until they were running
+perfectly.
+
+Within himself Collins was averse from allowing the girl to fly such a
+powerful machine, knowing how easily, with such a big engine-power, the
+biplane might get the upper hand of her. But as she had made ascents
+alone in it several times before, it was not for him to raise any
+objection.
+
+Having consulted her map she arranged it inside its waterproof cover,
+looked around at the instruments set before her, and then strapped
+herself into the seat.
+
+Meanwhile the engines had been humming loudly.
+
+Suddenly she motioned to Collins to stand aside, and then, pulling
+over one of the levers, she ran along the grass for a short distance
+and rose gracefully in a long spiral, round and round over the Harbury
+woods, until the altimeter showed a height of five thousand feet.
+
+Then she studied her map, took her bearings, and, drawing on her ample
+gauntlet gloves, for it became chilly, she followed a straight line of
+railway leading due north through Suffolk and Norfolk.
+
+The sky was cloudless, with a slight head-wind. On her right, away in
+the misty distance, lay the North Sea, whence came a fresh breeze,
+invigorating after the stifling August morning on land. Deep below she
+identified villages and towns. Some of the latter were only indicated
+by palls of smoke, the wind on land being insufficient to disperse
+them. And over all the grey-green landscape was a strange flatness,
+for, viewed from above, the country has no contours. It is just a
+series of grey, green, and brown patchwork with white, snaky lines,
+denoting roads, and long, grey lines, sometimes disappearing and then
+reappearing, marking railways and their tunnels; while here and there
+comes a glint of sunshine upon a river or canal. In the ears there is
+only the deafening roar of petrol-driven machinery.
+
+Once or twice, through the grey haze which always rises from the earth
+on a hot morning, Beryl saw the blue line of the sea--that sea so
+zealously guarded by Britain’s Navy. Then she flew steadily north to
+the flat fens.
+
+From below, her coming was signalled at several points, and at more
+than one air-station glasses were levelled at her. But the tri-coloured
+rings upon the wings reassured our anti-aircraft boys and, though they
+recognised the machine as one of unusual model, they allowed her to
+pass, for it was well-known that there were many experimental machines
+in the air.
+
+Beryl had sought and found upon her map the Great Northern main line,
+and had followed it from Huntingdon to Peterborough. Afterwards, still
+following the railway, she went for many miles until, of a sudden,
+close by a small town which the map told her was called Bourne, in
+Lincolnshire, her engines showed signs of slackening.
+
+Something was amiss. Her quick ear told her so. A number of misfires
+occurred. She pulled over another lever, but the result she expected
+was not apparent. It was annoying that being so near Sleaford she had
+met with engine trouble--for trouble there undoubtedly was.
+
+At that moment she was flying at fully ten thousand feet, the normal
+height for a “non-stop run.” Without being at all flurried she decided
+that it would be judicious to plane down to earth; therefore, putting
+“The Hornet’s” nose to the wind, she turned slightly eastward, and,
+as she came down, decided to land upon a wide expanse of brown-green
+ground--which very soon she distinguished as a piece of flat, rich
+fenland, in which potatoes were growing.
+
+At last she touched the earth and made a dexterous landing.
+
+At that moment, to her great surprise, she became aware of a second
+machine in the vicinity. She heard a low droning like that of a big
+bumblebee, and on looking up saw an Army monoplane coming down swiftly
+in her direction.
+
+Indeed, its pilot brought it to earth within a few hundred yards of
+where she had landed. Then, springing out, he came across to where she
+stood.
+
+On approaching her he appeared to be greatly surprised that the big
+biplane had been flown by a woman.
+
+“I saw you were in trouble,” explained the pilot, a tall, good-looking
+lieutenant of the Royal Flying Corps, who spoke with a slight American
+accent, “so I came down to see if I could give you any assistance.”
+
+“It is most awfully kind of you,” Beryl replied, pulling off her thick
+gloves. “I don’t think it is really very much. I’ve had the same
+trouble before. She’s a new ’bus.”
+
+“So I see,” replied the stranger, examining “The Hornet” with critical
+eye. “And she’s very fast, too.”
+
+“When did you first see me?” she asked with curiosity.
+
+“You were passing over Huntingdon. I had come across to the railway
+from the Great North Road which I had followed up from London. I’m on
+my way to Hull.”
+
+“Well, I had no idea you were behind me!” laughed the girl merrily. The
+air-pilot with the silver wings upon his breast seemed a particularly
+nice man, and it showed a good _esprit de corps_ to have descended in
+order to offer assistance to another man, as he had no doubt believed
+the pilot to be.
+
+Without further parley, he set to work to help her in readjusting
+her engine, and in doing so quickly betrayed his expert knowledge of
+aeroplane-engines.
+
+“I have only a few miles to go--to Sleaford. My sister lives just
+outside the town, and there is a splendid landing-place in her
+husband’s grounds,” Beryl explained, when at last the engine ran
+smoothly again.
+
+It was but natural that the good-looking lieutenant should appear
+inquisitive regarding the new machine. His expert eye showed him the
+unusual power of the twin engines, and he expressed much surprise at
+several new inventions that had been introduced.
+
+He told her that he had been flying for seven months at the Front,
+and had been sent home for a rest. He had flown from Farnborough that
+morning and was making a “non-stop” to the Humber.
+
+Many were the questions he put to Beryl regarding “The Hornet.” So many
+and so pressing were his queries that presently she became seized by
+distrust--why, she could not exactly decide.
+
+The air-pilot naturally inquired as to the biplane’s constructor, but
+all Beryl would say was:
+
+“It is not mine. It belongs to a friend of mine.”
+
+“A gentleman friend, of course?” he remarked, with a mischievous laugh.
+
+“Of course! He himself invented it.”
+
+“A splendid defence against Zeppelins,” he said. “I see she can carry
+ten bombs, a searchlight, and a Lewis gun. All are wanted against the
+Kaiser’s infernal baby-killers,” he added, laughing.
+
+Then, having thoroughly examined “The Hornet,” the courteous lieutenant
+of the Royal Flying Corps stood by until she had again risen in the
+air, waved her gloved hand in farewell, made a circle over the field,
+and then headed away for Sleaford.
+
+“H’m!” grunted the flying-man as he stood watching her disappear.
+“Foiled again! She’s left that new silencer of hers at home! That girl
+is no fool--neither is Ronald Pryor. Though I waited for her in Bury
+St. Edmunds and followed her up here, I am just about as wise regarding
+‘The Hornet’ as I was before I started.”
+
+For a few moments he stood watching the machine as it soared higher and
+higher against the cloudless summer sky.
+
+“Yes! A very pretty girl--but very clever--devilishly clever!” he
+muttered to himself. “Just my luck! If only she had had that silencer
+I would have silenced her, and taken it away with me. However, we are
+not yet defeated.”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About a week later Ronald Pryor and Beryl were lunching together in
+the grill-room of a West End hotel, which was one of their favourite
+meeting-places, when suddenly the girl bent over to her lover and
+exclaimed:
+
+“I’m sure that’s the man, Ronnie.”
+
+“What man?”
+
+“The nice Flying Corps officer whom I met near Bourne the other day.
+You’ll see him, sitting in the corner yonder alone--reading the paper,”
+she replied. “Don’t look for a moment.”
+
+“Don’t you think you’ve made a mistake, dear?”
+
+“No, I feel positive I haven’t,” was the girl’s reply.
+
+That morning Ronald Pryor, accompanied by Beryl, had made a flight in
+“The Hornet” from Harbury to the Essex coast and back, and they had
+just arrived in town by train. The renowned Zepp-hunter was in a light
+grey suit, while Beryl, becomingly dressed, was in a coat and skirt of
+navy blue gaberdine trimmed with broad black silk braid.
+
+A few moments after Beryl had spoken, her lover turned suddenly, as
+though to survey the room in search of someone he knew; his gaze met
+that of the solitary man eating his lunch leisurely in the corner and
+apparently, until that moment, absorbed in a newspaper. The stranger
+was good-looking, aged about thirty, thin, rather narrow-faced, with
+a pair of sharp steel-grey eyes, and a small dark moustache. His
+shoulders were square, and his appearance somewhat dandified. In his
+black cravat he wore an unusually fine diamond, and his hands were
+white and well-kept.
+
+Apparently he was a man of leisure, and was entirely uninterested in
+those about him, for, after a sharp glance of inquiry at Ronald, he
+continued reading his paper.
+
+“Are you quite sure you’ve made no mistake?” inquired Pryor of his
+companion.
+
+“Positive, my dear Ronald. That’s the man whom I met in the uniform of
+the Royal Flying Corps, and who was so kind to me. No doubt, he doesn’t
+recognise me in these clothes.”
+
+“Then why isn’t he in uniform now?”
+
+“Perhaps he has leave to wear _civvies_,” she replied. “There are so
+many curious regulations and exemptions nowadays.”
+
+Though the stranger’s eyes had met those of Beryl there had been no
+sign of recognition. Hence she soon began to share Ronald’s doubt as to
+whether he was really the same person who had descended in that potato
+field in Lincolnshire, and had so gallantly assisted her in her trouble.
+
+Ronald and his well-beloved, having finished their luncheon, rose and
+drove together in a taxi over to Waterloo, the former being due to
+visit his works at Weybridge, where he had an appointment with one of
+the Government Inspectors.
+
+As soon as they had passed out of the restaurant the man who sat alone
+tossed his paper aside, paid his bill, and left.
+
+Ten minutes later he entered a suite of chambers in Ryder Street, where
+an elderly, rather staid-looking grey-haired man rose to greet him.
+
+“Well?” he asked. “What news?”
+
+“Nothing much--except that Pryor is flying to-night on patrol work,”
+replied the other in German.
+
+“H’m, that means that he will have the new silencer upon his machine!”
+
+“Exactly,” said the man who had displayed the silver wings of the Royal
+Flying Corps, though he had no right whatever to them. “By day ‘The
+Hornet’ never carries the silencer. I proved that when I assisted the
+girl in Lincolnshire. We can only secure it by night.”
+
+“And that is a little difficult--eh?”
+
+“Yes--a trifle.”
+
+“Then how do you intend to act, my dear Leffner.”
+
+The man addressed shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“I have an idea,” was his reply. “But I do not yet know if it is
+feasible until I make further observations and inquiries.”
+
+“You anticipate success? Good!” the elder man replied in satisfaction.
+“Think of all it means to us. Only to-day I have received another very
+urgent request from our good friend, Mr. J----; a request for the full
+details of the construction of ‘The Hornet.’”
+
+“We have most of them,” replied the man addressed as Leffner.
+
+“But not the secret of the silencer. That seems to be well guarded,
+does it not?”
+
+“It is very well guarded,” Leffner admitted. “But I view the future
+with considerable confidence because the girl flies the machine alone,
+and--well,” he laughed--“strange and unaccountable accidents happen to
+aeroplanes sometimes!”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few days later, soon after noon, a narrow-faced man, with shifty
+eyes, carrying a small, well-worn leather bag, entered the old King’s
+Head Inn in Harbury village and, seating himself in the bar, mopped his
+brow with his handkerchief. The mile walk from the nearest station had
+been a hot one along a dusty, shadeless road, and when Jane Joyce, the
+landlady’s daughter, appeared, the shabby traveller ordered a pint of
+ale, which he drank almost at one draught.
+
+Then, lighting his pipe, he began to chat with Jane, having, as a
+preliminary, ordered some luncheon. By this manoeuvre he had loosened
+the young woman’s tongue, and she was soon gossiping about the village
+and those who lived there.
+
+The wayfarer asked many questions; as excuse, he said:
+
+“The reason I want to know is because I travel in jewellery, and I
+daresay there are a lot of people about here whom I might call upon.
+I come from Birmingham, and I’m usually in this district four times a
+year, though I’ve never been in Harbury before. My name is George Bean.”
+
+“Well, there’s not many people here who buy jewellery,” replied the
+landlady’s daughter. “Farming is so bad just now, and the war has
+affected things a lot here. But why don’t you go up and see Mrs.
+Remington, at Harbury Court? They’ve got lots of money.”
+
+“Ah! Who are they?”
+
+“Well, Captain Remington is a prisoner in Germany, but Mrs. Remington
+is still at home. She has her sister, Miss Beryl Gaselee, staying with
+her. Perhaps you’ve heard of her. She’s a great flying-woman.”
+
+“Oh, yes!” replied the stranger. “I’ve seen things about her in the
+papers. Does she fly much?”
+
+“A good deal. Mr. Ronald Pryor, to whom she’s engaged, invented
+her machine; he calls it ‘The Hornet,’ and he keeps it here--in a
+corrugated iron shed in the park, close to the house!”
+
+“How interesting!”
+
+“Yes. And the pair often go up at nights,” went on the young woman.
+“Mother and I frequently hear them passing over the house in the
+darkness.”
+
+“Do you always hear them go up?” asked the stranger suddenly.
+
+“No, not always. They go over sometimes without making a sound.”
+
+“That is at night, I suppose? In the day you can always hear them.”
+
+“Yes. Always.”
+
+The traveller in Birmingham jewellery remained silent for a few minutes.
+
+“I suppose they have a mechanic there?”
+
+“Yes--a Mr. Collins. He comes in sometimes with Mr. Sheppard, the
+butler. He was butler to the Colonel’s old father, you know.”
+
+“And this Mr. Collins lives at the house, I suppose?”
+
+“No. He sleeps in the place where the new aeroplane is kept.”
+
+Mr. Bean smiled, but made no comment. Knowledge of that fact was, to
+him, important. He lit another pipe, and, while Miss Joyce went away
+to lay the table for his lunch in the adjoining room, he stretched his
+legs and thought deeply.
+
+Hans Leffner, _alias_ George Bean, was the son of a German who, forty
+years before, had emigrated from Hamburg to Boston. Born in America he
+was, nevertheless, a true son of the Fatherland. He had been educated
+in Germany, and returned to Boston about a year before war broke out.
+
+Suddenly he had been called up for confidential service, and within
+a month had found himself despatched to London, the bearer of an
+American passport in the name of Henry Lane, commercial traveller, of
+St. Louis. Upon a dozen different secret matters he had been employed,
+until knowledge of the existence of “The Hornet” having reached the
+spy-bureau in Berlin, he received certain secret instructions which he
+was carrying out to the letter.
+
+Hans Leffner had been taught at his mother’s knee to hate England,
+and he hated it with a most deadly hatred. He was a clever and daring
+spy, as his masquerade in the Royal Flying Corps uniform clearly
+proved; moreover, he was an aviation expert who had once held a post of
+under-director in “Uncle” Zeppelin’s aircraft factory.
+
+For some weeks he had dogged the footsteps of Ronald and Beryl, and
+they, happy in each other’s affection, had been quite ignorant of how
+the wandering American had been unduly attracted towards them.
+
+The landlady of the King’s Head--that long, thatched, old-world house
+over which for fifty years her husband had ruled as landlord--had no
+suspicion that the jeweller’s traveller was anything but an Englishman
+from Birmingham. He spoke English well, and had no appearance of the
+Teuton.
+
+Mr. Bean ate his chop alone, waited on by Jane, who, finding him
+affable, imparted to him all the information she knew regarding Harbury
+Court and its inmates.
+
+At half-past two the traveller, taking his bag, set out on a tour of
+the village in an endeavour to dispose of some of his samples. His
+appearance was much changed, and he bore but little resemblance to
+the pilot of the Royal Flying Corps who had descended near Bourne. He
+looked much older, and walked wearily, with a decided stoop.
+
+At house after house in the long village street he called, disguising
+his intentions most perfectly. At more than one cottage he was allowed
+to exhibit his wares, and at the shop of the village baker the daughter
+in charge purchased a little brooch for five shillings. Its cost price
+was thirty shillings, but Mr. Bean wanted to effect a sale and, by so
+doing, appear to be carrying on a legitimate business.
+
+By six o’clock he was back again at the King’s Head, having called upon
+most of the inhabitants of Harbury. He had, indeed, been up to the
+Court, and not only had he shown his samples to the maids, but he had
+taken two orders for rings to be sent on approval.
+
+Incidentally he had passed “The Hornet’s” nest, and had seen the
+machine in the meadow outside, ready for the night flight. As a simple,
+hard-working, travel-stained dealer in cheap jewellery nobody had
+suspected him of enemy intentions. But he had laid his plans very
+carefully, and his observations round “The Hornet’s” nest had told him
+much.
+
+To Mrs. Joyce he declared that he was very tired and, in consequence,
+had decided to remain the night. So he was shown up stairs that were
+narrow to a low-ceilinged room where the bed-stead was one that had
+been there since the days of Queen Anne. The chintzes were bright and
+clean, but the candle in its brass candlestick was a survival of an age
+long forgotten.
+
+At ten o’clock he retired to bed, declaring himself very fatigued, but
+on going to his room he threw open the old-fashioned, latticed window,
+and listened. The night was very dark, but quite calm--just the night
+for an air raid from the enemy shore.
+
+Having blown out his candle he sat down, alert at any sound. After
+nearly an hour, Mrs. Joyce and her daughter having retired to bed, he
+suddenly detected a slight swish in the air, quite distinct from the
+well-known hum of the usual aeroplane. It was a low sound, rising at
+one moment and lost the next. “The Hornet” had passed over the inn so
+quietly that it would not awaken the lightest sleeper.
+
+“By Jove!” he exclaimed aloud to himself. “That silencer is, indeed
+wonderful!”
+
+With the greatest caution he opened his door and, creeping down on
+tiptoe, was soon outside in the village street; keeping beneath the
+deep shadows, he went forward on the road which led up the hill to the
+long belt of trees near which had been erected the corrugated iron shed.
+
+Meanwhile Ronald, accompanied by Beryl, had ascended higher and higher
+in the darkness. Ronnie had swung the machine into the wind, and they
+were climbing, climbing straight into the dark vault above. Below
+were twinkling shaded lights, some the red and green signal lights of
+railways. Beryl could see dimly the horizon of the world, and used as
+she was to it, she realised how amazing it was to look down upon Mother
+Earth. By day, when one is flying, the sky does not rise and meet in a
+great arch overhead, but, like a huge bowl, the sky seems to pass over
+and incircle the earth.
+
+They were flying due east by the dimly lit compass at five thousand
+feet, heading straight for the Essex coast.
+
+“We may possibly have visitors from Belgium to-night,” laughed Ronnie,
+as he turned to his well-beloved. “But look! Why--we are already over
+the sea!”
+
+Beryl, gazing down, saw below a tiny light twinkling out a message
+in Morse, answered by another light not far distant. Two ships were
+signalling. Then Ronnie made a wide circle in that limitless void which
+obliterated the meeting point of earth and sea.
+
+The long white beam of a searchlight sweeping slowly seaward, turned
+back inland and followed them until it picked up “The Hornet,” Ronnie
+banking suddenly to show the tri-coloured circles upon his wings.
+
+Afterwards he again consulted his compass and struck due south,
+following the coast-line over Harwich and round to the Thames estuary.
+
+“No luck to-night, dearest!” laughed Ronnie. “The barometer is too low
+for our friends.”
+
+“Yes,” said the girl. “Let us get back!” And Ronnie once more circled
+his machine very prettily, showing perfect mastery over it, as he came
+down lower and lower until, when passing over Felixstowe, he was not
+more than three hundred feet in the air.
+
+Meanwhile, the guest at the King’s Head had made the most of his time.
+He had reasoned, and not without truth, that if “The Hornet” had
+ascended, the mechanic, Collins, would no doubt leave the hangar, and,
+if so, that now would be a good opportunity to obtain entrance.
+
+With that in view he had crept along to the shed and, as he had hoped,
+found the doors unlocked. Quickly he entered and, by the aid of his
+flash-lamp, looked round.
+
+At last the long tentacles of the German spy-bureau in the
+“Königgrätzerstrasse” had spread to the little village of Harbury.
+
+Five minutes sufficed for the spy to complete his observations. At an
+engineer’s bench he halted and realised the technical details of a
+certain part of the secret silencer. But only a part, and by it he was
+pretty puzzled.
+
+He held it in his hand in the light of his flash-lamp and, in German
+exclaimed:
+
+“_Ach!_ I wonder how that can be? If we could only obtain the secret
+of that silencer!” the Hun continued to himself. “But we shall--no
+doubt! I and my friends have not come here for nothing. We have work
+before us--and we shall complete it, if not to-day--then in the near
+to-morrow.”
+
+The shabby stranger returned to the King’s Head and, letting himself
+in, retired to his room without a sound. Hardly had he undressed when
+he heard again that low swish of “The Hornet” on her return from her
+scouting circuit of the Thames estuary.
+
+Hans Leffner, _alias_ Bean, had not been trained as a spy for nothing.
+He was a crafty, clever cosmopolitan, whose little eyes and wide ears
+were ever upon the alert for information, and who could pose perfectly
+in half-a-dozen disguises. As the traveller of a Birmingham jewellery
+firm he could entirely deceive the cheap jeweller of any little town.
+He was one of many such men who were passing up and down Great Britain,
+learning all they could of our defences, our newest inventions, and our
+intentions.
+
+Next day Mr. Bean remained indoors at the King’s Head, for it was a
+drenching day. But at last, when the weather cleared at eight o’clock,
+he lit his pipe and strolled out in the fading light.
+
+Before leaving he had taken from the bottom of the bag containing his
+samples of cheap jewellery a small, thick screw-bolt about two inches
+long, and placed it in his pocket with an air of confidence.
+
+Half-an-hour later he crept into the shed which sheltered “The Hornet”
+and, not finding the silencer upon the exhaust, as he had anticipated,
+turned his attention to the fusilage of the biplane. From this he
+quickly, and with expert hand, unscrewed a bolt, swiftly substituting
+in its stead the bolt he had brought, which he screwed in place
+carefully with his pocket wrench.
+
+The bolt he had withdrawn hung heavily in his jacket-pocket, and as he
+stood, alert and eager, there suddenly sounded the musical voice of a
+woman.
+
+Next second he had slipped out of the hangar and gained cover in a
+thicket close by.
+
+Beryl was crossing the grass, laughing gaily in the falling light. With
+her were Pryor, and Collins the mechanic. A few minutes before, Ronald
+and she, having finished dinner, had put on their flying-suits and,
+passing through the long windows out upon the lawn, had bidden farewell
+to Iris, as they were going on their usual patrol flight.
+
+Ronald, leaving her suddenly, struck away to the hangar and, entering
+it, turned up the electric lights. With both hands he tested the steel
+stays of the great biplane, and then, aided by the mechanic, he wheeled
+the machine out ready for an ascent, for the atmospheric conditions
+were exactly suitable for an air raid by the enemy.
+
+“We had better go up and test the engines, dear,” he suggested. “This
+afternoon they were not at all satisfactory.”
+
+Beryl climbed into the observer’s seat, he following as pilot, while
+Collins disappeared round the corner of the hangar to get something.
+
+Then the pair, seated beside each other and tightly strapped in,
+prepared to ascend in the increasing darkness.
+
+The sudden roar of the powerful engines was terrific, and could be
+heard many miles away, for they were testing without the silencer.
+
+Scarcely had they risen a hundred feet from the ground when there was a
+sharp crack and “The Hornet,” swerving, shed her right wing entirely,
+and dived straight with her nose to the earth.
+
+A crash, a heavy thud, and in an instant Ronald and Beryl, happily
+strapped in their seats, were half-stunned by the concussion. Had they
+not been secured in their seats both must have been killed, as the man
+Leffner had intended.
+
+The engine had stopped, for, half the propeller being broken, the other
+half had embedded itself deeply into the ground. Collins came running
+up, half frantic with fear, but was soon reassured by the pair of
+intrepid aviators, who unstrapped themselves and quickly climbed out of
+the wreckage. Ere long a flare was lit and the broken wing carefully
+examined; it was soon discovered that “The Hornet” had been tampered
+with, one of the steel bolts having been replaced by a painted one of
+wood!
+
+“This is the work of the enemy!” remarked Ronnie thoughtfully. “They
+cannot obtain sight of the silencer, therefore there has been a
+dastardly plot to kill both of us. We must be a little more wary in
+future, dear.”
+
+Ronald’s shrewdness did not show itself openly, but having made a good
+many inquiries, both in Harbury village and elsewhere, he, at last, was
+able to identify the man who had made that secret attempt upon their
+lives. Of this, however, he said nothing to Beryl. “The Hornet” was
+repaired, and they made night flights again.
+
+Ronald anticipated that a second attempt would be made to obtain the
+silencer. Taking Collins into his confidence, he made it his habit each
+dawn, when they came home from their patrol of the coast, to leave
+in the little office beside the hangar the box which contained the
+silencer, the secret of which he knew the Germans were so very anxious
+to obtain.
+
+For a fortnight nothing untoward occurred, until one morning soon after
+all three had returned from a flight to London and back, they were
+startled by a terrific explosion from the direction of the hangar.
+
+“Hullo!” exclaimed Ronald. “What’s that?”
+
+“The trap has gone off, sir,” was Collins’s grim reply.
+
+All three ran back to the shed, whereupon they saw that the little
+office had been entirely swept away, and that part of the roof of the
+hangar was off. Amid the wreckage lay the body of a man with his face
+shattered, stone-dead. “He thought the box contained the silencer, and
+when he lifted the lid he received a nasty shock, sir--eh?” Collins
+remarked.
+
+“But who is it, Ronald?” gasped Beryl, horrified.
+
+“The man who made the attempt on our lives a month ago, dearest,” was
+her lover’s reply. “Come away. He has paid the penalty which all spies
+should pay.”
+
+A few hours later Ronald Pryor made a statement to the authorities
+which resulted in the explosion being regarded, to all but those
+immediately concerned, as a complete mystery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE THURSDAY RENDEZVOUS.
+
+
+Beryl Gaselee, in her warm leather motor-coat and close-fitting little
+hat, stood gazing out of the coffee-room window of the Unicorn Hotel in
+the quiet old cathedral town of Ripon, in Yorkshire.
+
+In the falling twilight of the wintry afternoon all looked dull
+and cheerless. The car stood outside with Ronald Pryor and Collins
+attending to some slight engine-trouble--the fast, open car which
+Ronnie sometimes used to such advantage. It was covered with mud, after
+the long run north from Suffolk, for they had started from Harbury long
+before daylight, and, until an hour ago, had been moving swiftly up the
+Great North Road, by way of Stamford, Grantham, and Doncaster to York.
+There they had turned away to Ripon, where, for an hour, they had eaten
+and rested. In a basket the waiter had placed some cold food with some
+bread and a bottle of wine, and this had been duly transferred to the
+car.
+
+All was now ready for a continuance of the journey.
+
+“Well, Beryl!” exclaimed Ronnie, returning to where the pretty young
+air-woman was standing before the fire. “All ready--eh?”
+
+“Quite, dear,” was her reply. “You haven’t forgotten the revolvers,
+have you?” she asked in a low voice.
+
+“No. There’s one for each of us--and one for you if you’d like it,” he
+laughed.
+
+“Yes. I think I’d better have it, dear--one never knows.”
+
+“Not much good against a machine-gun, you know!” he laughed. “But a
+weapon always gives one confidence.”
+
+“I’ve had the flask filled with hot tea,” she said. “We shall, no
+doubt, want it.”
+
+“Yes. It will be a coldish job. Are you quite warm enough--quite sure
+you are?” he asked, as the white-haired old waiter entered the snug,
+warm coffee-room.
+
+“Quite,” she answered, as she drew on her fur-lined gloves.
+
+“Well--good-evening, waiter!” exclaimed Ronnie cheerily.
+
+“Good-evening, sir,” replied the old man pleasantly.
+
+Ten minutes later, with Ronnie driving, Beryl snuggled at his side, and
+Collins seated under the rug in the back of the car, they had passed
+the dark, imposing façade of the grey, old cathedral and were well out
+upon the darkening road, through High Berrys and over Hutton Moor. At
+last they reached Baldersby Gate, where they turned into the long,
+straight Roman road which runs direct north from York, and, though a
+continuation of the old Watling Street, is there known as Leeming Lane.
+
+With nightfall there had arisen a cutting north-east wind, that
+searching breeze which all dwellers in Yorkshire know far too well,
+comes over with the month of February.
+
+From Baldersby Gate, past Sinderby Station, through Hope Town on to
+Leeming village, the ancient road ran straight as an arrow, then, with
+a slight curve to Leeming Station, it ran on to Catterick. By this time
+they had passed the race-course, which lay on the left of the road
+before coming to the cross-roads; it was already dark, and drawing up
+at Catterick Bridge Station, Collins got down and lit the head-lamps,
+Ronald Pryor having a written permission from Whitehall to use them.
+
+Striking across through the town of Richmond they climbed the high
+hills over Hipswell and Barden Moor to Leyburn, and then down into
+Wensley Dale, famed for its cheeses, by the northern road which took
+them through the picturesque village of Redmire on to Askrigg as far as
+a darkened and lonely inn close to Hardraw Force. There they pulled up,
+and, entering, asked for something to eat.
+
+By that time, ten o’clock, all three were chilled to the bone, after
+crossing those wide, open moorlands, where the keen wind cut their
+faces all the time. The landlady, a stout, cheerful person, soon busied
+herself to provide creature comforts for the travellers, and within a
+quarter of an hour all were seated at a substantial meal.
+
+While the good woman was busying herself at table Ronnie suddenly
+became inquisitive, exclaiming:
+
+“There’s a friend of mine, a Mr. Aylesworth, who often comes up to this
+neighbourhood. He lives in Leeds, but he rents a cottage somewhere
+about here. He’s a queer and rather lonely man. Do you happen to know
+him?”
+
+“Oh, yes, sir! Mr. Aylesworth is quite well known in Hardraw. He has
+rented old Tom Dalton’s cottage, up on the hill at Simon Stone, for
+quite eighteen months now.”
+
+“Is that far from here?”
+
+“Only about half-a-mile up Buttertubs Pass.”
+
+“Buttertubs! What a very curious name!” Beryl remarked. “Where does the
+pass lead to?”
+
+“Why, straight up over Abbotside Common, just below Lovely Seat, and it
+comes out on the high road in Swale Dale, close to Thwaite.”
+
+“Who is Dalton?” asked the airman.
+
+“Old Farmer Dalton. He’s got several cottages on his place. He himself
+lives over at Gayle, close to Hawes.”
+
+“Does my friend Aylesworth ever come in here?”
+
+“Oh, very often, sir!” replied the woman. “Everybody knows him. He’s
+such a real cheerful, good-hearted gentleman. He’s always giving
+away something. It’s a sad thing for many about here that there’s no
+treating nowadays.”
+
+“Well,” laughed Beryl, “the order is, I hear from my friends, very
+often broken.”
+
+“You’re right, miss,” the broad, round-faced woman admitted. “You can’t
+always prevent it, you know, though we folk do all we can, because of
+our licenses.”
+
+“So my friend Aylesworth is quite popular? I’m glad to hear that,”
+replied Ronnie. “He lives here constantly nowadays, I suppose?”
+
+“Oh, no, sir! He comes down here just at odd times. Sometimes in the
+beginning of the week; sometimes for the week-end,” was the reply.
+“He’s often up in London--on Government contracts, I’ve heard him say.”
+
+Beryl and her lover exchanged shrewd and meaning glances.
+
+“Yes, I know that Mr. Aylesworth must be very busy,” remarked Pryor. “I
+suppose he comes out here just for quiet and rest?”
+
+“Yes. That’s it, sir,” replied the inn-keeper’s wife. “Only the other
+day he called in here, and was saying that he was so busy that it was a
+complete change to come here to the moors for rest and fresh air.”
+
+“You’ve had Zepps over here lately, I’ve heard. Is that true?” inquired
+Ronnie.
+
+“Well, they’ve passed over once or twice, they say, but I’ve been in
+bed and asleep. My husband was called up last month, and is now in
+training down in Kent. Only a week ago he wrote to me saying he hoped I
+wasn’t frightened by them. Somebody down in Kent had evidently spread
+a report that they had been over here. But I’m thankful to say I heard
+nothing of them.”
+
+“Do you ever get aeroplanes over?” asked Beryl.
+
+“Oh, yes, miss! We get some across in the daytime. They must have an
+aerodrome somewhere on the coast, I think--but I don’t know where it
+is.”
+
+“Do you ever hear anything of them at night?” inquired the girl.
+
+“Well, just now and then. I’ve been awakened sometimes by the humming
+of them passing over at night--our patrols, I suppose they are.”
+
+Ronald Pryor exchanged another meaning glance with his well-beloved.
+
+“Do they sound quite near?” he asked.
+
+“Oh! quite--unusually low. I suppose they manoeuvre across the
+moors?” she said. “Mr. Benton, the farmer who lives over at
+Crosslands, quite close here, was only the other day telling me a
+curious story. He said he was going home late the other night from Jack
+Sneath’s, when he heard an aeroplane above him, and he saw the machine
+making some flashlights--signalling to somebody. It flew round and
+round, hovering and signalling madly. Suddenly, he told me, the aviator
+cut off his engine, as though he had received an answer, and sailing
+over the moor, descended somewhere close by, for the hum of the engine
+was heard no more.”
+
+“Curious!” Pryor remarked, again glancing at his well-beloved.
+
+“Oh, no, sir!” replied the smiling woman. “It was only the night
+manoeuvres of our splendid aircraft boys. Really everyone must admire
+them,” she added, unaware of Ronald Pryor’s qualifications as an
+air-pilot.
+
+Ten minutes later all three were out on the road again, travelling
+along the valley in the direction of Hawes Junction. The night was
+overcast and very dark, therefore Ronnie was compelled to switch on his
+head-lights, the road at that part being particularly dangerous.
+
+The country they were now in was a wild and lonely one, with high
+peaks and wide, desolate moorlands; a sparsely populated district, far
+removed from the busy workaday world.
+
+They had travelled as far as the old inn called the Moor Cock, where
+the road branches off to Kirkby Stephen, when Ronnie pulled up, and,
+turning, ran back again to within a mile of Hardraw. Then finding a
+convenient grass field, he ran the car in behind a low stone wall,
+where it was hidden from any passer-by. Then, each taking a flash-lamp
+and a revolver, they, after shutting off the lights, sought a path
+which at last they took, climbing up the steep hill-side.
+
+A quarter of an hour’s walk brought them to a narrow, stony lane,
+which, after another quarter of an hour, led them to a long, low,
+stone-built cottage, surrounded by a clump of trees.
+
+“That’s Dalton’s cottage,” remarked Ronnie. “It answers exactly to the
+description we have of it. Now, Collins, you get down on the left, so
+as to have a good point of view while we watch for anything stirring
+away on the right.”
+
+It was then half-past ten o’clock. Though cold, the night was very
+still on those lonely moorlands. The house Ronnie and Beryl were
+approaching was in total darkness, a gloomy, remote place in which the
+mystery-man from Leeds, George Aylesworth, came for rest and quiet
+after the business turmoil of the great manufacturing town.
+
+At last Ronald and his companion got up quite close to the house, and
+finding a spot whence they had a good view of the front door, they
+crouched beneath an ivy-clad wall, and there, without speaking, waited,
+knowing that Collins was on watch at the rear of the premises.
+
+Their vigil was a long and weary one until at last the door opened. By
+the light within there was revealed a tall, lean man in overcoat and
+golf-cap. Beneath his left arm he carried something long and round,
+like a cylinder, while in his right hand he had a stout stick.
+
+He came out, closed the door carefully behind him, and then,
+passing close to where the air-woman and her lover were crouched
+in concealment, struck away up a steep, narrow path which led up
+to the summit of the Black Hill. Happily for the watchers the wind
+had now become rather rough, hence they were able to follow the man
+Aylesworth--for Ronald recognised him by the description; keeping at a
+respectful distance, of course, but determinedly dogging his footsteps.
+
+After walking for nearly half-a-mile up a steep ascent, and over a
+stony path, the man Aylesworth halted at a point which gave a view of
+the moor, with its fells and dales, for many miles around. From where
+Ronald halted he could see the man faintly silhouetted against the
+skyline.
+
+“Look!” whispered Beryl. “What is he doing?”
+
+“Watch,” urged her companion.
+
+And as they watched they suddenly saw a beam of intense, white light, a
+miniature searchlight of great brilliance, pierce the darkness skyward.
+The man Aylesworth was manipulating what they now recognised to be
+an acetylene signalling apparatus, a cylinder mounted upon a light
+tripod of aluminium, with a bright reflector behind the gas-jet, and,
+from the manner that the light began to “wink,” three times in quick
+succession--the Morse letter “S.”--there was evidently some shutter
+arrangement upon it.
+
+Slowly the beam turned from north to south, making the Morse “S.” upon
+the clouds time after time.
+
+Suddenly the light was shut off. For five minutes by Ronald’s watch no
+flicker was shown. Then, once again, the series of “S’s.” was repeated
+in a semi-circle from north to south, and back again.
+
+Another five minutes passed in darkness.
+
+Once more the light opened out and commenced to signal the Morse
+flashes and flares “N. F.,” “N. F.,” “N. F.,” followed by a long beam
+of light skyward, slowly sweeping in a circle.
+
+Pryor glanced at his watch. It was then exactly midnight. Aylesworth
+had, no doubt, a rendezvous with someone. His signal could be seen from
+that point over a radius of fully thirty miles, or even more, for
+Ronnie, who understood signalling, was well aware that the portable
+apparatus being used was one of the most intense and reliable type--one
+that was, indeed, being used by the German army in Flanders.
+
+For the next half-hour the signals were repeated, until, of a sudden,
+Beryl’s quick ears caught some unusual sound.
+
+“Hark!” she whispered.
+
+Both, on listening intently, heard the low hum of a distant aeroplane
+in the darkness.
+
+The light was signalling madly, and at the same time the machine, high
+in the vault of the night sky, was fast approaching. The pair watched,
+straining their eyes to discover it, but though the sound betrayed its
+presence, they could not discern its whereabouts until there appeared
+high over them a small, bright light, like a green star, which repeated
+the signal “N. F.,” “N. F.,” half-a-dozen times.
+
+“This is most interesting!” whispered Ronald, “Look! Why, he’s planing
+down.”
+
+Beryl watched, and saw how the aeroplane which had come out of the
+night was now making short spirals, and planing down as quickly as was
+practicable in that rather dangerous wind.
+
+Every moment the low hum of the engine became more and more distinct
+as, time after time, signals were shown in response to those flashed
+by the mysterious man from Leeds. Then ten minutes later the machine,
+which proved to be a Fokker, came to earth only about fifty yards from
+where Beryl and Ronald were standing.
+
+Aylesworth ran up breathlessly the moment the machine touched the
+grass, and with him the watchers crept swiftly up, in order to try to
+overhear the conversation.
+
+It was in German. The aviator and his observer climbed out of the seats
+and stood with Mr. Aylesworth, chatting and laughing.
+
+The pilot calmly lit a cigarette, and drawing something from his
+pocket, gave it to the man who had been awaiting his arrival.
+Thereupon, Aylesworth, on his part, handed the airman a letter, saying
+in English:
+
+“That’s all to-night. Please tell Count von Stumnitz that the reply
+will not be given till Thursday next. By that time we shall have news
+from the North Sea.”
+
+“Excellent,” replied the aviator, who spoke English perfectly, and who,
+if the truth were told, had before the war lived the life of a bachelor
+in Jermyn Street. “I shall be over again on Thursday at midnight
+punctually. I must run up from the south next time. The anti-aircraft
+found me on the coast and fired.”
+
+“Well, if you come on Thursday I’ll have the despatch ready.”
+
+Suddenly the observer, who spoke in German, said:
+
+“I have some letters here from the Wilhelmstrasse. Will you post them
+for me?”
+
+“Certainly.”
+
+“They are all ready. They are written upon English paper, and
+English penny stamps are upon them. Therefore, they can be put into
+any post-box, and will not arouse suspicion. They mostly contain
+instructions to our good friends who are scattered over Great Britain.”
+
+Aylesworth took from the man’s hand a packet of letters tied with
+string--secret despatches from the German General Staff to the Kaiser’s
+spies in Great Britain--and thrust them into the big pocket of his
+overcoat.
+
+The two Huns and the traitor stood there together in cheery
+conversation. Much that they said Ronald and Beryl could not overhear.
+Sometimes there was low whispering, sometimes a burst of hilarious
+laughter. But it was evident that all three were in perfect accord, and
+that the aviator and his observer were well-known to Mr. Aylesworth of
+Leeds.
+
+Far away--many miles off--there showed a faint tremor in the sky, the
+flash of a distant anti-aircraft searchlight. Now and then it trembled,
+then all became dark again. The pair of enemies, who that night had
+landed upon British soil, at last decided that it was high time for
+them to hie back over the North Sea, therefore they climbed again into
+their machine--one of the fastest and newest of the Fokker type--and
+for a few minutes busied themselves in testing their instruments and
+engine.
+
+The pilot descended again to have a final look round, after which
+he once more climbed up to his seat, while Aylesworth, acting as
+mechanic--for, if the truth be told, he had been an aviator’s mechanic
+at Hendon for three years before the outbreak of war--gave the
+propeller a swing over.
+
+There was a loud roar, the machine leapt forward over the withered
+heather, bumping along the uneven surface, until, gaining speed, the
+tail slowly lifted, and after a run of a couple of hundred yards, the
+Fokker skimmed easily away off the ground.
+
+As Ronnie watched in silence he saw that for another fifty yards the
+German pilot held her down, and then, with a rush and that quick swoop
+of which the Fokker is capable, up she went, and away!
+
+She made a circuit of perhaps eight hundred feet and then sped
+somewhere into the darkness upon a straight eastward course to the
+coast, and over the rough North Sea.
+
+As the pair watched, still arm-in-arm, they again saw the faint tremor
+of our searchlights in the far distance.
+
+“Wouff! Wouff! Wouff!” sounded faintly far away.
+
+The Fokker had been picked up by our anti-aircraft boys, and was being
+fired upon!
+
+“Wouff! Wouff!” again sounded afar. But the bark of the shell died
+away, and it seemed plain that the Hun machine had, by a series of
+side-slips, nose-dives, and quick turns, avoided our anti-aircraft
+guns, and was well on its way carrying those secret communications to
+the German General Staff.
+
+The enemy pilot had “streaked off” eastwards, and to sea.
+
+“Now we know this fellow Aylesworth’s game!” whispered Ronnie. “Next
+Thursday he will be sending away some important message. Therefore, we
+must be here to have a finger in the enemy’s pie--eh?”
+
+“Certainly, dearest,” replied the gallant little woman at his side.
+“It certainly is a _coup_ for you that you have discovered this secret
+means of communication between ourselves and the enemy.”
+
+“Not really,” he said in a low voice. “Our people scented the mystery,
+and have handed it on to me to investigate.”
+
+“Well, we know that something is leaving us on Thursday--some important
+information.”
+
+“Just so. And is it up to us to see that Aylesworth does not send it
+across the sea successfully--eh?”
+
+“Let’s get away now,” urged Beryl. “He may discover us.”
+
+Ronald stood, his arm linked in that of his well-beloved. He made
+no remark as he watched the dark silhouette of the man Aylesworth
+disappear over the brow of the hill.
+
+Presently he said:
+
+“Well, dear, he hasn’t discovered us. But if all goes well we shall be
+back here on Thursday.”
+
+Half-an-hour later they met Collins awaiting them near the car. The
+mechanic became greatly interested when his master described briefly
+what they had seen.
+
+Then all three mounted into their seats, the lights were switched on,
+and they turned back to Kirkby Stephen, where they spent the remainder
+of the night at the old “King’s Arms,” giving a fictitious story of a
+breakdown.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two days later, Pryor having made a long written report to the
+Anti-Aircraft Headquarters, took the train from Liverpool Street
+Station down to Harbury Court, there to await instructions. Beryl,
+who was already down there with Iris, was greatly excited, for only
+she, Ronald, and Collins knew of the intended _coup_ next Thursday.
+Zeppelins had sailed over the East Coast, and had paid the penalty
+for so doing. “Uncle”--the pet name for Count Zeppelin at the Potsdam
+Court--was, it was reported, in tears of rage. He had promised the
+Kaiser that he would appal Great Britain, but the British refused
+even to be alarmed. The Zeppelin menace, thought by the world to be
+so serious, had “fizzled out,” and it now seemed that the more mobile
+aeroplane--often with the British tri-colour rings upon its wings--had
+taken its place. And it was one of those which Ronnie and Beryl knew
+would be due over that Yorkshire moor next Thursday at midnight.
+
+Ronnie spent the night at Harbury, and in the morning received a
+telegram calling him urgently to Whitehall. On his return, he said but
+little, though, from his smile, Beryl knew that he was satisfied.
+
+Wednesday came, and in his brown overalls he spent nearly the whole day
+with Collins in “The Hornet’s Nest.” They were getting the machine in
+trim for a long night flight.
+
+Both pilot and mechanic consumed many cigarettes as they worked, Ronnie
+examining every stay and every instrument. He satisfied himself that
+the Lewis gun, which could fire through the propeller, was in working
+order, and he tested the silencer, which he brought out from the house
+for that purpose, and then returned it to its place of safety from the
+prying eyes of the enemy.
+
+Now and then Beryl came out and watched the preparations.
+
+Thursday dawned grey and overcast, with every indication of rain.
+Indeed, rain fell at ten o’clock, but at eleven, it having cleared,
+Ronnie took Collins, and they went up for a “flip” together in order to
+make a final test.
+
+Beryl and her sister stood in the meadow watching the machine ascend
+higher and higher, until it had gained an altitude of fully twelve
+thousand feet. Then it seemed to hover for a moment, after which, with
+a long, graceful swoop, Ronnie commenced a series of aerial evolutions
+which Beryl, as an accomplished air-woman, knew to be most difficult,
+and showed to her what perfect control Ronald had over the machine. The
+silencer was on, therefore no sound could be heard of the engines.
+
+In about twenty minutes’ time Ronnie came lightly to earth, and pulled
+up close to where Iris and her sister were standing.
+
+“Everything going finely!” he shouted to Beryl, as he unstrapped
+himself, and clambered out of the pilot’s seat.
+
+Then, when he joined her, he said:
+
+“As the crow flies the spot on the moor is about two hundred and thirty
+miles from here. Therefore we ought to leave soon after seven in case
+we lose our way.”
+
+Then, after luncheon, they spent the afternoon studying maps and
+marking directions by which to steer, by the lines of railway mostly.
+Night flying, with the lights of towns extinguished, is always a
+difficult matter, and, as Beryl knew by experience, it is extremely
+easy to lose one’s way by a single mistake.
+
+By seven o’clock darkness had already fallen; but the barometer, at
+which both had glanced many times with anxious eyes, showed a slow,
+steady rise, and with the direction of the wind, combined to create
+excellent conditions for flying at high altitudes.
+
+“The Hornet” had been wheeled out of its “nest,” and Beryl in her
+fur-lined aviation kit, her leather cap and goggles, had strapped
+herself in behind her lover, who, with a flash-lamp, was now busily
+examining the row of instruments before him. Meanwhile Collins, on the
+ground, shouted:
+
+“Best of luck to you, sir, and also to Miss Beryl!”
+
+“Thank you, Collins!” cried the girl. “We ought to be back by five.”
+
+“All ready, Collins?” asked Ronnie at last sharply.
+
+The mechanic sprang to the propeller.
+
+“Contact, sir?” he asked.
+
+Ronnie threw over the switch with a click. The mechanic swung the
+big, four-bladed propeller over, when the engine started with noisy,
+metallic clatter, increasing until it became a deep roar.
+
+Ronnie was testing his engine. Finding it satisfactory, he quickly
+throttled down. Collins took the “chocks” from beneath the wheels, and
+the pilot “taxied” slowly across to the corner of the big field until,
+gaining speed, he opened up suddenly, when the machine skimmed easily
+off the ground, over the belt of trees, and away up into the void.
+
+As they ascended, Beryl, gazing down, saw below a few faint lights to
+the south-east, and knew that there lay the important town of H----,
+blotted out at even that early hour of the evening, for the lights
+visible would have only indicated a village in pre-war days.
+
+In the sky further eastwards toward the sea was a slight tremor of
+light showing that searchlights were already at work testing their
+beams, and making oblong patches of light upon the clouds.
+
+At ten thousand feet up, as the altimeter then showed, it was intensely
+cold, and the girl buttoned up her fur-lined coat and fastened up her
+wind-cuffs. The roar of the engine was too great, of course, to admit
+of conversation. Ronnie had not switched on the silencer, as it impeded
+speed, and after a long flight it might choke just at the very moment
+when its services were most required.
+
+Due north in the increasing darkness went “The Hornet,” skilfully
+handled by the most intrepid of air-pilots, high over town, forest,
+and pasture, hill and dale, as the hours crept slowly on.
+
+Suddenly, however, Ronnie turned the machine, and began to circle over
+a few scattered lights. Then Beryl recognised his uncertainty. Time
+after time he searched for the railway line to York, but though both of
+them strained their eyes they could not pick it up again.
+
+Hence they were compelled, much to Ronnie’s chagrin, to make a descent
+in a big grass-field, where, in the blackness, they made a rather rough
+landing, and presently inquired their whereabouts of some villagers.
+
+To their amazement they found that beneath the hill where they had
+descended the railway line actually ran. And it was on account of the
+long tunnel they had missed it.
+
+So, ascending once more, they struck again due north by the compass,
+and finding the line, flew along it over Doncaster to York. Then, still
+continuing northwards, they reached Thirsk Junction, until five minutes
+later as they were approaching Northallerton, intending to strike
+westward and follow the line to Hawes, “The Hornet” developed serious
+engine trouble, and Ronnie was forced again to descend, planing down
+into an unploughed field.
+
+For half-an-hour, aided actively by Beryl, he was occupied in making
+a repair. It was then past eleven, and the girl expressed a hope that
+they would be at the rendezvous by midnight.
+
+“It will really be too bad if we arrive too late,” she added
+apprehensively.
+
+Ronnie did not reply. He was seriously contemplating giving up the
+expedition. The engine trouble was a very serious one. They might
+last out perhaps another hour, but “The Hornet” could never return to
+Harbury with the engine in that state. This distressing fact, however,
+he did not tell her.
+
+“Hark!” cried Beryl suddenly. “Listen! Why, there’s a machine up--over
+us!”
+
+Ronald hold his breath. Yes, there was the distinct hum of a machine
+coming up from the east, following the railway from the main line over
+towards Hawes.
+
+“Oh! do let’s go up. That may be Aylesworth’s friend,” suggested Beryl.
+
+“I expect it is,” replied Ronnie grimly. “But with this engine there is
+danger--very grave danger--Beryl, dear. Are you quite prepared to risk
+it?”
+
+“I’ll risk anything with you,” was the girl’s prompt reply. “We’ve
+risked our lives in the air before, and we’ll do so again to-night. We
+must not fail now that we’re within an ace of success.”
+
+Her words spurred Ronnie to a supreme effort. With the hum of the
+mysterious machine in his ears, he set his teeth; then with the spanner
+in his hand he screwed the nut tightly, and without many further words
+he told his well-beloved that all was ready. They both got in, and two
+minutes later they were rising in the air, rapidly overhauling the
+mysterious machine.
+
+Those moments seemed hours to Beryl. She scarcely dared to breathe.
+Ronnie had switched on the silencer, and they were now speeding through
+the air without a sound, save for the shrill whistle of the wind
+through the planes.
+
+By the hum of the engine of the machine they were following they kept
+silently in its wake, gradually overhauling it.
+
+Suddenly they saw flashes of white light from it--signals to the
+traitor Aylesworth in waiting below. Then they knew that they were not
+mistaken.
+
+Ronnie put every ounce into his crocked-up engine, knowing that if it
+failed they might make a nose-dive fatal to them both. Like an arrow
+he sped towards the aeroplane which had crept over the North Sea,
+and across Yorkshire to meet the man who had promised those secret
+despatches.
+
+Beryl saw deep below the flashes of a lamp--“N. F.,” “N. F.,” in Morse.
+
+Ronald Pryor saw it also and, suddenly turning the nose of his machine,
+he made a circle in silence around the enemy aeroplane. Again he
+circled much nearer. The German pilot was utterly ignorant of his
+presence, so silently did he pass through the air, until, narrowing
+the circle, he waited for the Fokker to plane down; then, in a flash,
+he flew past, and, with his hand upon the Lewis gun, he showered a
+veritable hail of lead upon it.
+
+The Fokker reeled, and then nose-dived to earth, with--as was
+afterwards found--its pilot shot through the brain, its petrol-tank
+pierced in five places, and one of its wings hanging limp and broken,
+such a terrible shower of lead had Pryor directed against it.
+
+Beryl and Ronald Pryor had perforce to return by train to Harbury, but,
+by previous arrangement, the man Aylesworth had been arrested, and was
+duly tried by court-martial. It is known that he was found guilty and
+condemned, but the exact sentence upon him will probably not be known
+until after the declaration of peace.
+
+And, after all, the doom of a traitor is best left unrecorded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CONCERNS THE HIDDEN HAND.
+
+
+One evening--the evening of June 14th, 1916, to be exact--Ronald Pryor
+came forth through one of the long French windows which led out upon
+the sloping lawn at Harbury Court, and gazed out upon the extensive and
+picturesque landscape; the low ridge of hills was soft in the grey and
+crimson of the summer afterglow.
+
+With Beryl, and Iris, he had dined an hour ago, after which Beryl
+had gone for a flight in “The Hornet.” She had been away more than
+half-an-hour when, seated alone, he drained his liqueur, placed his
+cigarette-end in the ash-tray, and glanced anxiously at his wrist-watch.
+
+Then he had gone out into the calm June night.
+
+Passing from the spacious gardens surrounding the Court--ill-kept
+nowadays, for all the men were serving in the Army--he went down to
+“The Hornet’s Nest.”
+
+He opened the sliding door sufficiently to allow himself to enter,
+and for the next hour he was busy within. At last he reappeared with
+an old, wide-mouthed kitbag, similar to those used by hunting men in
+pre-war days.
+
+Carrying it across the field to the opposite corner, he opened it
+beneath the high elm-tree which they were always compelled to avoid in
+their ascents or descents. Then he took out a coil of black-enamelled
+wire, the end of which bore a lead plummet. Carefully examining the
+coil, he held it loosely in his hand and, stepping back a few paces,
+quickly swung the lead around his head half-a-dozen times, and then,
+with a sudden jerk, released it, sending it high up into the branches
+of the tree, where it remained with its wire attached. A few feet down
+the wire, towards the ground, there had been inserted a brown porcelain
+insulator, while, as the airman paid out the wire, receding from the
+tree as he did so, a second insulator came into view.
+
+Having let out sufficient wire, he at last pegged its end to the
+ground. Thus, from the grass to the tree, stretched up a long single
+wire. From his square-mouthed bag he took out a small box of polished
+mahogany and, opening it, there was disclosed within a complete little
+wireless set. A small mat of copper gauze he took also from the bag
+and, spreading it upon the damp grass as an “earth,” he connected up
+his instruments with expert hand.
+
+Presently he glanced at the watch on his wrist; by this time the
+twilight was rapidly falling, the mists were rising, and a few sparks
+of light could be seen twinkling deep down in the grey valley. Then
+he removed his cap and, assuming the double head ’phones, carefully
+adjusted his detector and listened attentively.
+
+From anyone passing along the high road he was entirely hidden from
+view. The possession of wireless was forbidden under heavy penalty by
+the Defence of the Realm Act, but Ronnie Pryor was one of the fortunate
+few whose permits for experiment had been recently renewed by the
+Admiralty.
+
+“H’m!” he exclaimed aloud. “There’s Norddeich going strong, sending
+out the usual German official lies--and also the Eiffel Tower. Two
+budgets of official war news at the same time!”
+
+Again he listened with great patience and attention, as he knelt upon
+the grass. The neat little installation was, of course, for receiving
+only, there being no electrical current for transmission. A small,
+round ebonite handle at the end of the box he turned backwards and
+forwards very slowly, altering his wave-length ever and anon, making
+it longer or shorter in order to “tune” himself to the message he was
+apparently expecting.
+
+Once again he glanced at his watch very anxiously. Then, for the next
+three-quarters of an hour, while the dusk deepened into darkness, he
+remained upon his patient vigil.
+
+“At last!” he gasped aloud, as he switched on a little shaded lamp
+which shone obliquely within the box; then he bent down, and, on a
+small writing-pad, began to take down rapidly the letters he heard in
+Morse code--an unintelligible jumble of the alphabet, each nine letters
+being separated by a space.
+
+Presently there ticked into his ears the three “shorts,” followed by
+“long-short-long,” which signified “end of work.” Still bending to the
+tiny light, he took from his pocket a little book. On consulting it,
+he placed over each code-letter its de-coded equivalent, afterwards
+reading it to his apparent satisfaction.
+
+Then he rose, standing with his face to the north, and gazing over
+the wide valley into the night sky. He lit a cigarette, and remained
+there for a full quarter of an hour. Afterwards he consulted a map
+from his pocket and then, lighting another cigarette, waited somewhat
+impatiently. Now and then he could hear the roar of a car or a
+motor-cycle passing along the high road at the back of him.
+
+About three-quarters of an hour after the reception of the message,
+Pryor connected up four dry batteries he had in his bag to a lamp with
+a wide lens, which he placed on its back upon the ground, so that the
+beams were directed upwards. Then again, after pulling down the wire,
+he seated himself upon a root of the great tree and waited, listening
+very attentively.
+
+At last he heard a faint hum in the darkness--a low sound like the
+distant buzzing of a bee.
+
+It was approaching rapidly--an aeroplane high in the dark sky, for
+neither moon nor stars showed that night. The machine was approaching
+from the direction of London, yet, though he strained his eyes, he
+could not distinguish it in that dark-blue vault above.
+
+On it came rapidly in his direction. Into the electric circuit he had
+put a little tapping-key and, touching it, he tapped out the Morse
+letters: “X X D”--his own wireless call number.
+
+Time after time he repeated the call “X X D--X X D!” at the same time
+straining his eyes into the darkness.
+
+Suddenly, almost exactly above him, he saw, like a tiny star in the
+sky, a light twinkling. He read the message, and knew that his signal
+had been seen and read.
+
+Next second he tapped out upon the key--flashing it to the arriving
+aeroplane--the direction of the light wind, afterwards opening up
+the light to serve as a guide. The aeroplane, humming above in the
+darkness, swept down lower and lower in half-mile spirals until, of a
+sudden, a powerful searchlight beamed out from it, directed upon the
+earth below; its pilot was looking for a safe landing-place.
+
+Slowly it circled round and round until, a few minutes later, it came
+to earth in the opposite corner of the field to that in which Ronnie
+was standing. In an instant, with the cessation of the throbbing of the
+engine, the light was shut off, and Pryor, having long ago packed up
+his wireless, hastened across.
+
+“Hullo!” he shouted into the darkness.
+
+“Hullo, Ronnie!” answered a girl’s voice cheerily, and a few seconds
+later Beryl Gaselee received a warm and fond caress.
+
+“I got your message all right, darling!” the man exclaimed, while the
+girl, in her workmanlike air-woman’s kit, stood before the propeller
+and stretched her arms above her head after her long flight away
+into Hampshire and back. By the light of Ronnie’s flash-lamp she was
+revealed in her leather flying-cap, her hair tucked away beneath it,
+her mackintosh confined at the waist by a wide belt, and, instead of a
+skirt, brown mechanic’s overalls.
+
+“I came across Bedford and St. Albans, but just beyond I had a terrible
+fright. I was flying low in order to pick up a railway-line when, of a
+sudden, a searchlight opened up from somewhere and I was attacked by
+two anti-aircraft guns. One shell whistled within five yards of the
+left plane of ‘The Hornet.’ Indeed, it was quite a miracle that I was
+not winged.”
+
+“But couldn’t the fools see the rings on the planes? Didn’t you bank in
+order to show them?”
+
+“Of course I did, but I was in a cloud, and they could not see me with
+any accuracy. You see, I never gave word to headquarters that I was
+going up. I quite forgot it.”
+
+“Oh, well, in that case it is only natural that they would fire upon
+any stray aircraft at night!” Ronnie replied. “But I got your message
+all right, which proves that our wireless works well. Where were you
+when you sent it?”
+
+“I had flown about ten miles beyond Oxford. I had some trouble with the
+engine, so I was late in starting,” she replied. “You left your kit in
+the machine,” she added, and, climbing again into “The Hornet,” she
+threw out a leather cap and a heavy mackintosh.
+
+“Did you hear anything suspicious?” she asked, as he placed the bag
+containing the wireless in the observer’s seat.
+
+“Yes,” he replied. “It was just as we have guessed--enemy messages on
+a short wave-length. Not very plain, to be sure, but they are being
+transmitted, without a doubt. I heard you perfectly,” he added. “But we
+haven’t much time to waste if we are to keep the appointment.”
+
+“The ’bus is going beautifully,” Beryl said. “I should have had quite a
+pleasant trip if it were not for the ‘Archie-fire.’”
+
+“They may believe that the enemy send aeroplanes over to us at night
+painted to resemble ours. That is the reason you got peppered, no
+doubt,” he said. “We must give that station a wide berth in future.”
+
+Climbing into the pilot’s seat he examined the map set beneath the
+small electric bulb, and afterwards slipped on his airman’s coat and
+cap, and buckled the strap round his waist. Then, after she had swung
+over the propeller, he helped his well-beloved into the observer’s seat
+into which she strapped herself.
+
+With a quick bumpy run they sped over the pasture, and then, on the
+lower ground, they rose with a roar of the engine, turned and, passing
+over the high road, circled over the opposite hill. Higher and higher
+Ronnie went up into the starless darkness, making great circles in
+order to get up five thousand feet.
+
+As the speed increased in the darkness the machine, thrusting its nose
+still upwards and lying over resolutely in its long spiral climb,
+throbbed onward until, at a thousand feet, there came to both a
+delicious sense of relief as they moved along on an even keel.
+
+For over an hour they flew until they were high above the long, steep
+High Street of Guildford, where only a few twinkling lights could be
+seen below, owing to the excellent precautions of its Chief Constable.
+At that altitude, from the number of lights, an enemy airman would
+never have suspected it to be a town at all.
+
+It was not long, however--even while they were circling above the
+town and Ronnie was taking his bearings--before two intense beams
+from searchlights shot out and almost blinded the aviators. For fully
+two minutes the lights followed them. Then the watchers below, having
+satisfied themselves that it was a friendly ’plane, shut off again, and
+all was darkness.
+
+They had flown perhaps nine miles from Guildford when, of a sudden,
+almost directly below them, there sprang up four points of red
+light--lit simultaneously by an electrical wire--which showed them
+their landing-place.
+
+Down they swept until Ronnie, an expert in landing at night, found
+himself in a large grass-field. Collins came running forward eagerly to
+welcome him.
+
+The four lights were at once extinguished, and the engine being shut
+off, all was quiet again.
+
+“Well, sir, I think you’re quite right,” Collins said at last. “I’ve
+been watching these two days, and there’s something mysterious in the
+wind.”
+
+“Have you seen them?” asked Ronnie eagerly.
+
+“Yes. A youngish man and a stout old woman. When I got down I found
+Shawfield to be only a tiny place with one old inn, The Bell, and I
+knew that a stranger’s movements would be well watched. So I went three
+miles farther, and took a room at The George, in Bricklehurst.”
+
+“How far is the farm from here?” asked Beryl.
+
+“Oh, about a mile--not more, miss! Behind that wood yonder,” he
+replied. “They had a visitor this afternoon--a tall, fair, well-dressed
+man. He’s probably spending the night there. I watched him arrive at
+Shawfield Station, and the man who calls himself Cator met him, and
+drove him in the car to the Manor Farm.”
+
+“I wonder who the visitor is?” remarked Pryor.
+
+“He is probably one of the gang,” Beryl suggested. “No doubt he has
+come down from London to see them in secret. The woman poses as Cator’s
+mother, I believe.”
+
+“Yes, miss. I’ve discovered that they bought the Manor Farm in
+1913, and that Cator had an excellent assistant, a Belgian, it was
+supposed--or at least he gave himself out to be that. Cator erected
+new farm-buildings that you will see--nice, red-brick structures with
+corrugated iron roofs, and spent a large sum of money on improvements.”
+
+“New buildings--eh?” sniffed Ronnie in suspicion.
+
+“Yes, that’s just the point, sir. But let’s get over there, and I’ll
+show you one or two things that I regard as suspicious.”
+
+Thereupon the pair, guided by Collins, threw off their air-clothes
+and crossed the field to a gate where a footpath led into a dark wood,
+the air-mechanic switching on a pocket-torch to light their way. They
+conversed only in whispers, lest there should be anyone lurking in the
+vicinity, and on traversing the wood, found themselves out upon a broad
+highway. Then, after going perhaps a quarter of a mile, they turned
+into a second wood and continued through it until, at its farther
+boundary, they saw before them, silhouetted against the night sky, a
+cluster of farm-buildings, with the farmhouse itself close by.
+
+“Hush!” urged Collins. Then, drawing his companions near him, he halted
+and whispered, “See that long building--away from the others? That’s
+where the mystery lies!”
+
+They both strained their eyes, and could see distinctly the long,
+low-built structure straight before them.
+
+“Follow me,” Collins whispered. “Be careful to make no noise. There are
+two dogs in the yard yonder, but they’re chained up.”
+
+“That’s a mercy!” Beryl remarked, as the pair moved slowly after the
+mechanic.
+
+Suddenly, when they came out upon an ill-made track which was evidently
+a byway, Collins stopped and, turning his flash-lamp upon the ground,
+pointed out the recent marks of wheels, the broad, flat-tyred wheels of
+a motor-lorry.
+
+“See what’s been here of late--eh?” he whispered. “Look!” and he slowly
+flashed the light across the road. “It’s been here quite half-a-dozen
+times recently--on different nights or days.”
+
+“Yes,” replied Ronnie. “You are quite right! Do those tracks lead up
+to the building?”
+
+“Yes. Come and see.”
+
+They went, and before the big, heavy doors which were locked so
+securely they saw, by the faint light the man showed, marks of where
+the lorry had backed right into the building.
+
+“Then it must have a concrete floor!” remarked Ronnie as he examined
+the tracks intently. “Several lorries have been here, without a doubt.
+But might they not have been carting grain away?”
+
+“No. Because no threshing has been done here for over two years.”
+
+“Dare we go near the house?” Beryl asked.
+
+“No, miss; it wouldn’t be wise. We’d have to pass through the yard, and
+the dogs would give tongue at once.”
+
+“Oh, we mustn’t alarm them!” Ronnie said. “If we are to be successful
+we must do everything in secret and spring a real surprise. Only,” he
+added, “we must make quite certain that they are guilty.”
+
+“Of course,” Beryl agreed. “But how?”
+
+“Ah, that’s the point!” said Ronnie, taking out his own torch, and
+again examining the tracks of the lorry in the soft ground. With the
+aid of a folding foot-rule he drew forth from his pocket, he took
+measurements at several points in the road, then said:
+
+“It is not always the same lorry that comes here. One is heavier than
+the other. The one which came most recently is the larger of the two,
+and from the depth of the rut it must have been loaded to its capacity.
+See there, where it sank into a soft place!”--and he indicated a spot
+where one wheel had sunk in very deeply.
+
+“Further,” he went on, “I judge, by the recent dry weather, that those
+lorries have been here at intervals of about three days. They came from
+some considerable distance, no doubt. The last was here yesterday, in
+which case the next would be here the day after to-morrow.”
+
+“Then I can stay and see with my own eyes?” suggested Collins.
+
+“Exactly my idea,” his master replied. “You could be an actual witness,
+and make a statement before I dare act.”
+
+At that moment all three were startled by hearing voices. People were
+coming out of the farmhouse. The dogs in the yard barked--showing that
+the voice of one of the persons was that of a stranger--the man from
+London.
+
+“Quick!” cried Collins. “Let’s get into hiding somewhere. I hope they
+won’t let those infernal dogs loose, or they’ll soon scent us out!”
+
+“I hope not!” said Beryl, who, though a lover of dogs, held farm dogs,
+in such circumstances, in distinct suspicion.
+
+All three sped quickly back, crouching behind a wooden fence close by,
+just as the fitful light of a lantern could be seen approaching. Three
+persons were revealed--the man Cator, his guest, and the fat old woman.
+
+Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to catch their conversation, but
+at first they could not distinguish a single word.
+
+Suddenly the woman, with a loud laugh, spoke more distinctly. Yes! She
+spoke in German, the man from London answering in the same language!
+
+They walked to the door of the long, low building which, after some
+difficulty, the man Cator unlocked, leaving his old hurricane-lamp
+outside. The trio went in; therefore it was plain one of them carried
+an electric torch.
+
+“I suppose they are showing him their handiwork--eh?” remarked Beryl in
+a whisper.
+
+“No doubt. He has come down from London to make an inspection, it
+seems.”
+
+They could hear voices speaking in German within the building, but
+dared not emerge from their place of concealment to peer within. Ronnie
+had suggested it, but Beryl urged a judicious course.
+
+“No, let Collins remain and watch,” she said in a whisper. “Every
+moment we remain here means graver peril to our plans. If they scent
+the slightest suspicion, then all our efforts will be in vain. Have you
+noticed over there? I’ve been looking at it for some minutes, and I
+don’t think my eyes deceive me.”
+
+“What?” asked Ronnie.
+
+“Why, look at that chimney-stack upon the farmhouse! Can’t you see
+something--a wire running from it right away to that high tree on the
+left?”
+
+“Yes--by Gad! That’s so, Beryl! Why, they’ve got wireless here! They
+evidently string up an aerial at night!”
+
+“Well, I haven’t noticed that before!” said Collins. “But no doubt
+you’re right, sir. That’s a wireless aerial, without question.”
+
+“Yes. But let’s get away,” Ronnie urged. “They may release those
+horrible dogs for a run, and then it would be all up.”
+
+So the trio, creeping cautiously, receded by the dark path along which
+they had reached the Manor Farm, and were soon back again in the Monk’s
+Wood, as Collins told them it was named.
+
+Back again at the spot where they had left “The Hornet” they held
+council.
+
+“You remain here, Collins,” said Pryor. “Watch the place, and see
+what arrives. The next lorry may come along the day after to-morrow,
+or the day after that. You will see what its load is. Then, having
+made certain, come back straight to Harbury. We’ll wait for you there.
+Telephone me, but not from the locality. You understand?”
+
+“Very well, sir,” replied the air-mechanic, who, in a rather shabby
+blue suit, wore a brass badge as one doing national work.
+
+Ronnie and Beryl climbed back into the machine, fastened the straps
+round themselves, and made all ready for their long flight from Surrey,
+across London, to Harbury Court.
+
+They said good-bye to Collins, who, taking the propeller, pulled it
+over, while Pryor threw over the contact.
+
+There was no response.
+
+“Hullo! What’s up?” asked Ronnie.
+
+“Don’t know, sir,” Collins said. “Try again.”
+
+They both tried again--and again, but no response could be got out of
+the engine. “The Hornet” had lost its sting!
+
+Both pilot and observer descended again to make a minute investigation.
+Both of them were conversant with every point of an aero-engine, but
+neither could discover the fault. “The Hornet” had simply broken down!
+
+For nearly an hour the trio worked hard to get a move on the engine,
+but without success.
+
+At last Ronald declared that it would be best to wait until dawn, so
+they sat down upon the grass beneath the hedge, smoking cigarettes and
+chatting.
+
+“By Jove!” exclaimed Ronnie. “If it is really true what we suspect,
+how we shall surprise them--eh?”
+
+“Yes, dear,” said his well-beloved. “But Collins must have absolute and
+undeniable evidence.”
+
+“Of course. We cannot act without that. See over there--the faint light
+in the sky.”
+
+And he pointed to the pale light, eastward, which heralded the dawn.
+
+Already the birds were twittering, and away somewhere a dog was barking
+furiously. In pre-war times the chimes of village church clocks would
+have struck the hour. But now, in fear of enemy aircraft, all chimes
+were silent.
+
+Slowly the light stole over the hill, and presently all three walked
+over to “The Hornet” for another minute examination. Within ten minutes
+Collins had found the fault--quite a usual but unexpected one--and five
+minutes afterwards the engine was ready for the ascent.
+
+Pryor climbed into the pilot’s seat to test it, and did so half-a-dozen
+times before he pronounced his verdict that the machine was in a fit
+condition to fly back over London.
+
+At last, when Ronnie and Beryl had climbed in and settled themselves,
+the mechanic swung over the propeller, the engine roared, and a few
+moments later they had left the earth, speeding higher and higher in
+the direction of London, on their return to Harbury Court.
+
+Collins, as soon as they had left, wound up the electric wires
+connecting the little tin pans of petrol at each corner of the field,
+and hid the pans themselves in the hedge. Then, having removed all
+traces of the machine’s presence there, he started back on his
+three-mile walk to the obscure little village in which he had taken up
+his quarters.
+
+Next day he relaxed his vigilance on the Manor Farm and, with an
+elderly man, a retired schoolmaster whom he had met in the bar of The
+George, he went for a day’s fishing in the river which ran outside the
+village.
+
+The old man, whose name was Haddon, had a wide knowledge of local
+affairs, and as soon as Collins mentioned Mrs. Cator and her son, he
+exclaimed:
+
+“Ah! They had a very good manager in Mr. Bush, but he went away about
+a month before the war. He was a German, though he called himself
+Belgian.”
+
+“How do you know he was a German?” asked Collins.
+
+“Well, because my daughter’s in the post-office here, and she says that
+once or twice letters came for him bearing a Dutch stamp, and addressed
+to ‘Herr Büch,’ which is a German name.”
+
+“Yes. That’s curious, isn’t it?”
+
+“And there were some other curious facts, too. Before the war two
+foreigners very often came down to the Manor Farm to spend the
+week-end--gentlemen from London. I met them once or twice and heard
+them speaking in German.”
+
+“But Mr. Cator isn’t German, is he?” asked Collins.
+
+“Who knows? Some Germans who’ve lived here for years speak English so
+well that you can’t tell,” declared the ex-schoolmaster.
+
+“Have you any reason for supposing that Cator is a German?” inquired
+Collins. “If he’s German, then what about his mother?”
+
+“Well, it doesn’t follow that his mother is German. She may have been
+an English girl who married a German, you know.”
+
+“If so, she certainly might be pro-German,” Collins remarked, as they
+sat together on the river-bank eating their sandwiches.
+
+“I certainly think she is, because my daughter tells me that old
+Emma Green’s girl, who was housemaid at the Manor Farm when war was
+declared, says that Mrs. Cator, her son, and one of those gentlemen
+from London drank the health of the Kaiser in champagne that night.”
+
+“Did the girl tell your daughter that?”
+
+“Yes, she did. And I believe her.”
+
+Collins was silent. These facts he had learnt were highly important.
+
+“You see,” Mr. Haddon went on, “nowadays you dare not say anything
+about anybody you suspect, for fear of being had up for libel. The law
+somehow seems to protect the Germans in our midst. I feel confident
+that the Cators are a mysterious pair, and I told my suspicions to Mr.
+Rouse, our police-sergeant in the village. But he only shrugged his
+shoulders and said that as far as he knew they were all right. So why,
+after that, should anybody trouble?”
+
+“Is it not an Englishman’s duty to oust the enemy?” Collins queried.
+
+“Yes, it is; but if the enemy can live under laws which protect them,
+what can the average man do?”
+
+“Why, do his best to assist the authorities! The latter are not so
+blind as they lead the public to believe, I assure you,” laughed
+Collins, who, having learnt all he could from the ex-schoolmaster,
+devoted the remainder of the afternoon to angling, and with fair result.
+
+Next day he strolled, at about ten o’clock in the morning, in the
+direction of the Manor Farm, apparently taking a morning walk. When he
+had gone about a quarter of a mile, he met the man Cator in a golf
+suit and cap, accompanied by the stranger who had come from London two
+days previously, and a third man, tall, elderly, with a short, greyish
+beard, and rather shabbily-dressed.
+
+As they passed, Collins felt instinctively that the grey-bearded man,
+having eyed him closely, made some remark to his companions which
+caused them to turn back and look after him. The air-mechanic was,
+however, too discreet to turn himself, but went on and, walking in a
+circle, gave the Manor Farm a wide berth.
+
+That evening, however, as soon as it grew dark, he approached the
+place, taking up his position at the same spot where he had stood with
+his master and Miss Beryl--a point from which he had a good view of the
+long, low farm-building.
+
+He sank down into some undergrowth which concealed him and lit a
+cigarette, there being nobody near to smell the smoke. It was eight
+o’clock when he arrived there, and the time passed very slowly. Now
+and then the dogs in the yard barked furiously, once at hearing
+his footsteps, and again when somebody opened the back door of the
+farmhouse and came outside. Now and then a horse neighed, and once a
+dog barking far away set the two watch-dogs barking in response.
+
+The hours went by, but Collins, lying on his back sometimes smoking,
+sometimes dozing, kept a most patient vigil.
+
+Suddenly, however, just before midnight, as a glance at his watch
+revealed, he heard the sound of a car coming up the hill. He sprang
+up and listened. It was coming up behind him--up the byway which led
+through the wood to the farm!
+
+His heart beat quickly. Pryor had been right. A lorry visited the Manor
+Farm every three days.
+
+Suddenly he caught a glimpse of the oil side-lights, and a few minutes
+later a big motor-lorry, heavily laden, approached and backed towards
+the wide doors of the farm-building. The driver having blown his horn,
+Cator and his visitor came out, and, when the doors were unlocked and
+wheeled open, the lorry was backed right into the building.
+
+At once all three men began unloading the lorry, whereupon Collins
+crept up to ascertain what was being taken out.
+
+Crouching behind the lorry he saw a number of full petrol tins being
+handed out and stored away within, after which came small, square
+wooden cases, which were handled very gingerly, and placed quietly upon
+the concrete floor of the well-filled building. Each case bore a red
+disc, and by the manner in which the driver warned Cator and his friend
+who handled them, Collins learnt that they were high explosives.
+
+The lorry had been practically laden with these cases, save for twenty
+tins of petrol, and all were safely transferred into the store. After
+this the driver went into the house for some refreshment, and in the
+meantime Collins, by the aid of his flash-lamp, was enabled to slip
+inside the building and make a quick examination of its contents.
+
+What he saw showed plainly that within that place was stored a great
+quantity of petrol and explosives--an enemy base for the use of the
+Huns who so vainly hoped one day to reach Britain.
+
+Two minutes later, ere the trio again emerged from the house, the
+air-mechanic was on his way back to the inn at Bricklehurst, well
+satisfied.
+
+On the following Friday, at nine o’clock in the evening, Beryl climbed
+into “The Hornet,” which stood in its meadow behind Harbury Court ready
+for a night flight. It had been a strenuous day getting ready, but the
+machine was now in perfect running order.
+
+Ronnie, in his air-kit with leather cap and big goggles, climbed in and
+buckled the strap round his waist.
+
+“Well, let’s hope for good luck!” cried Beryl standing at the propeller.
+
+“Right, darling!” replied Ronnie. “Let her rip!”
+
+Next moment the girl swung round the propeller. Then she climbed in,
+and a few moments later the ’plane sped over the grass and soon crossed
+the roof of the house, and was away.
+
+An hour later, with the lever of the silencer thrown back, they were
+hovering noiselessly, having passed over Guildford and away south,
+above a fire they saw below them--a hay-rick which belonged to the
+Cators. Collins had ignited it at a given time that night, in order to
+serve as their guide. The rick was in a field fully half-a-mile from
+the farm, and from above Ronnie and his companion could see that the
+local fire brigade were around it.
+
+The light, however, plainly illuminated the Manor Farm, and the
+building containing the secret store. Twice Ronnie passed over it,
+flying high, then once again he crossed directly above the farm. His
+hand was upon one of the little levers controlling his bombs, but,
+seeing that he had passed slightly to the south, he turned her nose,
+and re-passed once again in silence.
+
+Suddenly he touched the three upper levers in swift succession, one
+after the other.
+
+There was a swish of air below in the darkness, and as they watched,
+three blood-red flashes showed far down almost simultaneously.
+
+A noise like an earthquake rent the air, a great column of flame shot
+up, and a huge explosion resulted, lighting the country for miles
+around, and sending _débris_ high into the darkness, while at the same
+time the terrible concussion tilted up “The Hornet” until she very
+nearly had a nasty side-slip.
+
+Ronnie opened up his searchlight, shining it down upon the farm,
+revealing to their gaze only a wrecked and burning mass of ruins. The
+whole place, including the farmhouse, had, by the terrible force of the
+explosives stored there in secret, been swept clean away and levelled
+to the ground.
+
+A few minutes later “The Hornet” turned upon her homeward flight, and
+to this day it is very naturally believed by the public that enemy
+aircraft visited the spot on that memorable night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE PRICE OF VICTORY.
+
+
+The wintry night was dark and moonless. There was a slight ground
+mist--and consequently no wind.
+
+Ronald Pryor returned to Harbury Court late for dinner, where Beryl and
+her sister awaited him. He had had a fagging day in London, spending
+nearly half his time with officials of the Air Department, who had at
+last become interested in his new engine silencer. Trials of it had
+been made at Farnborough and elsewhere, and proof of its effectiveness
+had been quite adequate.
+
+“The Department have decided to adopt it!” he announced triumphantly to
+Beryl as he entered the long, old-fashioned stone hall, and hung up his
+overcoat.
+
+“I knew they would, dear!” cried the enthusiastic air-woman joyously.
+
+“I only hope the secret won’t leak out to the enemy,” he said, and then
+went along to wash his hands before sitting down to dinner.
+
+Presently, while they were at table, and Ronnie was describing the
+interview he had had with the heads of three Government Departments
+and the reading of the confidential reports upon the tests made with
+aeroplanes to which the silencer had been fitted, the maid entered
+announcing that he was wanted on the telephone.
+
+He left the table, and five minutes later returned with a grave look
+upon his countenance.
+
+“What’s the matter, dear?” asked Beryl anxiously, for she dreaded lest
+something was amiss.
+
+For a few moments he did not answer, busying himself with his plate.
+Then at last, he replied:
+
+“Oh!--well, only that I am flying ‘The Hornet’ again to-night.”
+
+“May I not go with you?” Beryl asked eagerly. “Do let me go. It is over
+a week since I went up.”
+
+He hesitated. Truth to tell, what he had heard on the telephone caused
+him some misgivings. Over the wire a certain disguised message had been
+given to him from headquarters--a request to which he had acceded.
+
+Beryl was in entire ignorance of the affair. He had been asked to
+regard it as strictly confidential, hence, he had not mentioned it,
+even to his well-beloved.
+
+“Look here, dearest,” he said at last, looking across the big bowl of
+flowers in the centre of the table, “I don’t half like you coming with
+me to-night. There may be risk, and it is unfair that you should take
+it.”
+
+“We are engaged, Ronnie; therefore, if there is any danger, why should
+I not share it?” was her prompt reply. “I am not afraid while I am with
+you.”
+
+“That’s quite the right spirit, Beryl,” remarked her sister,
+approvingly.
+
+“I quite appreciate your bravery, little one,” said Ronnie, “but flight
+on this misty night is fraught with more danger than people ever
+imagine. Once you are up you are lost, except for your compass. And to
+descend is, as you know, full of perils.”
+
+“I quite appreciate all that,” said Beryl. “Don’t you recollect when I
+came over from Sandgate to Folkestone, and found a thick fog on this
+side? Well, I went on till I found a break in it on the Surrey Downs,
+and descended quite safely at Ash, near Aldershot.”
+
+“That was in daylight--not on a dark night like this?”
+
+“But where are you going?” she inquired.
+
+To her question he remained silent. His was a mission in strict
+confidence.
+
+Further argument followed between the pair, until at last, by the time
+dinner had ended, Ronald Pryor was compelled to accede to her request.
+
+Then, taking a flash-lamp, he went forth across the big meadow to the
+hangar and found Collins awaiting him.
+
+“All ready, sir,” the latter announced cheerily. “I heard you quite
+well on the ’phone from London, but--well, sir,” he added hesitatingly,
+“it’s a bit risky to fly to-night, isn’t it?”
+
+“Is the machine all in order--everything?” asked his master.
+
+“Everything, sir. She only requires wheeling out,” and as he uttered
+the words the mechanic opened the great sliding-doors of the hangar.
+
+Then, together, the two men wheeled out the aeroplane, and while Ronnie
+mounted into the pilot’s seat Collins swung over the propeller, and his
+master tuned up his engine.
+
+Meanwhile, Beryl having put on her air-woman’s kit, with the leather
+jacket and cap, joined her lover, whom she found in the hangar poring
+over a map showing the East Coast between the Wash and the estuary of
+the Thames.
+
+He was taking measurements and making some pencilled calculations,
+while she stood expectantly beside him.
+
+“Well, dear!” he asked at last, “are you ready?”
+
+“Quite!” was her reply, and a few moments later, after he had put on
+his muffler, his overalls, and leather coat, they both climbed into the
+machine, and strapped themselves in.
+
+“Light the flares about two o’clock, Collins. I’m making a pretty long
+flight, so we can’t be back before then.”
+
+“Very well, sir.”
+
+Then, tuning up again, and having tried the silencer, and found it
+in good working order, he ran the machine swiftly across the frosty
+grass. Soon he rose, and, skimming the trees, soon soared away into the
+darkness.
+
+From where Beryl sat she saw the glow of the little electric bulb set
+over the instruments shining into her lover’s strong clean-shaven face,
+and, by the compass, gathered that they had described a half-circle,
+and, though still rising rapidly, were now heading eastward in the
+direction of the sea. The roar of the engine, of course, rendered
+speech impossible, while the mist was very chilly causing her to draw
+her brown woollen comforter around her cheeks. There was no sign of
+light anywhere below--all was a great black void.
+
+They had flown for nearly half-an-hour when, of a sudden, the long
+beam of a searchlight shot up from somewhere on their left, and began
+slowly to search the sky. Their approach had been heard by one of our
+air-stations.
+
+Ronnie, watching the light made no attempt to evade it. Indeed, he
+switched on his searchlights in order to reveal himself. He had no wish
+to be peppered by our “Archies.”
+
+Next second both of them were blinded by the searchlight full upon
+them. In a moment a second, and then a third, light converged upon
+them, so that the aviator and his well-beloved were compelled to shade
+their eyes with their gloved hands.
+
+For a full three minutes the lights followed them, when the watchers
+below, having examined the tri-coloured rings on “The Hornet’s” planes
+and being satisfied, shut off.
+
+Beryl saw that her lover was anxiously watching his altimeter, as well
+as his compass and clock. It seemed as though he were apprehensive of
+something.
+
+Suddenly he began to descend, and pulled across the lever controlling
+the silencer, thus cutting off the noise of the exhaust.
+
+“We’re over the sea, now,” he remarked; “can’t you feel the difference
+in the atmosphere? Look on the left.”
+
+She did so, peering down into the darkness, and there saw the twinkling
+of a light--a ship was signalling rapidly, being answered by another
+not far away.
+
+“Where are we going, dear?” Beryl inquired.
+
+“On a mission,” was his abrupt response. And, though she pressed him
+for information, he would vouchsafe no further reply.
+
+For a full hour they flew over the North Sea, due east, until suddenly
+they turned south, and with the silencer still on, went along
+noiselessly save for the shrill wind whistling in the struts.
+
+From ten thousand feet they had now descended to a little over two
+thousand, when, all of a sudden, a distant searchlight shot forth.
+
+“That’s the Belgian coast!” Ronnie remarked, and once again he started
+to ascend, flying in a complete circle and undecided as to exactly
+where he might be. The single shaft of light, like a moving line
+in the total darkness, was soon followed by others from the same
+neighbourhood. Circles of light could be seen, showing that the clouds
+were low--a fact which would favour the intrepid pair.
+
+“We’ll give those lights a wide berth for a little,” Ronnie said
+cheerfully, and again he turned northward, and a little later to the
+south-east.
+
+As they flew they watched those slowly-moving searchlights until, one
+by one, they disappeared.
+
+“They’ve finished their sweep of the skies,” he said at last, with
+satisfaction. “If there’s no alarm they won’t open out again for some
+time.”
+
+And then he flew in the direction of where the lights had been,
+descending until he was again only about two thousand feet above the
+sea.
+
+“From the disposition of those lights it seems that we are near our
+objective,” he remarked. “I hope you are not nervous, darling?”
+
+“Why should I be with you, Ronnie?” she asked, placing her gloved hand
+tenderly upon his shoulder.
+
+“Well, because we’re now entering the danger-zone,” he replied, “and I
+think I ought not to conceal it from you. Would you like to turn back?”
+
+“Turn back!” echoed the brave girl. “Never! Where you dare go, I will
+go too. Don’t think I’m in the least nervous. If anything happens, it
+will happen equally to both of us.”
+
+“Well spoken, my darling,” he said, his hand touching her cheek in the
+darkness. “Then we will go forward.”
+
+After that there was a long silence, until below they saw a cluster of
+faint lights, with one light flashing at regular intervals.
+
+“Look!” he said. “That is Zeebrugge. Beyond--that fainter light over
+there--is Ostend.”
+
+He consulted a roughly drawn map which he now produced, and which bore
+certain cryptic marks in red and blue; he directed Beryl’s attention to
+a speck of light to the north, saying: “That surely is Heyst!”
+
+Then he pointed “The Hornet’s” nose upwards, and rose until they were
+enveloped in a cloud of fog in order to evade the inquisitiveness of
+any searchlights, afterwards flying in a circle directly over the port
+of Zeebrugge, which both knew to contain strong defences and long-range
+anti-aircraft guns.
+
+For a full quarter of an hour they hovered over the town, their
+presence entirely unsuspected on account of the roaring exhaust being
+silenced. Then, carefully, he once more descended to mark out his
+objective--the new German submarine base. Between two spots seen far
+below he was undecided. There were many faint lights burning in the
+town, but one, he decided, was in the centre of the submarine base.
+
+Without uttering a word to his companion, who sat strapped in her
+narrow seat cramped, breathless, and half-frozen, he passed and
+re-passed over the German base three or four times.
+
+Suddenly as he went a quick swish sounded below them, and, peering
+down, Beryl saw a big burst of flame, followed by a terrific explosion,
+the concussion of which gave the machine a serious tilt.
+
+Bang!--bang!--_bang!_ sounded so quickly in succession that hardly had
+one ceased before the other reached them.
+
+Below, the bright red flashes, angry points of light in the blackness
+of the night, showed vividly, while at the moment that the searchlights
+shone forth Ronnie, having dropped his bombs, climbed swiftly into the
+bank of cloud.
+
+Higher and higher they went, until below them they only saw the clouds
+aglow with the glare, whether by the incendiary fires they had caused
+among the enemy or the searchlights they knew not.
+
+“‘The Hornet’ has done considerable damage this time!” Ronnie laughed
+hoarsely, as the altimeter showed that they were still ascending. “I
+saw that the second bomb dropped plumb into the fitting-shop! It has,
+no doubt, put an end to Fritz’s activity for a good many days to come.”
+
+“What do you intend doing now?” asked Beryl. “Going home?”
+
+“Home? No. I’ve got four more bombs for them, yet.”
+
+As he spoke, however, they heard the sharp bark of the enemy’s
+anti-aircraft guns. Yet no shell whistled near them.
+
+The Hun is a bully, and hence a coward. Taken unawares, as he was at
+Zeebrugge that night, when he heard nothing and saw nothing, it was but
+natural that he should fire even into the air in order to scare off the
+British raider.
+
+But Ronald Pryor was not the man to be scared off. He had had an
+objective to reach and he had reached it, but he had not yet finished,
+and did not intend to take any bombs back.
+
+He knew that as long as he kept above the low clouds, and as long as
+his machine was silent, as it would remain, it would be impossible for
+the gunners below to hit him. Therefore he drew away seaward again,
+according to his compass, then back to land, and for half-an-hour flew
+round the little town of Heyst.
+
+Now and then, as they passed from one cloud to another, they watched
+the lights of Zeebrugge searching for them, until it seemed that the
+alarm had died down.
+
+At two points, however, they could see great fierce fires
+burning--conflagrations they had caused in the heart of the submarine
+base. One of Ronnie’s bombs had, as was afterwards known, dropped upon
+the oil-tanks, and, the blazing oil having been scattered over a large
+area, had caused devastation throughout the neighbourhood.
+
+“Hark! What’s that?” asked Beryl holding her breath, her quick ears
+having detected a familiar sound.
+
+Ronnie, listening, suddenly said:
+
+“Ah! I quite expected that--their airmen are up, looking for us! Now
+we may have a little excitement. Collins put the gun ready. Is it all
+right?”
+
+“Quite,” said the girl. Long ago Ronnie had taught her how to
+manipulate the Lewis gun. Therefore, she placed her hand upon it and
+drew the shoulder-piece towards her, swinging the machine-gun easily
+upon its pivot.
+
+“Keep cool, darling! Don’t fire till I tell you,” he urged. “We’re
+going over the town again to give them a farewell salute--all
+explosives this time. I want to get those warehouses at the docks! I
+can see them plainly now--the fires show them up. By Jove, they’ll get
+a shock when they find themselves bombed again, won’t they?” and he
+laughed merrily as he turned “The Hornet’s” nose back in the direction
+of Zeebrugge. Flying as low as he dared, he approached the spot where
+the red flames leapt up far below, and the smoke greeted their nostrils
+with increasing intensity.
+
+By this time the searchlights had been switched off, though Hun
+machines could be heard in the air. Those who controlled the
+searchlights knew that their aeroplanes would work best in the
+darkness, being fitted with small searchlights themselves.
+
+Leisurely, Ronnie came over the town, flying high and in silence,
+until, when just over where the darting flames were showing up the
+buildings all around, he suddenly released his remaining bombs--all but
+one.
+
+Terrific explosions sounded in quick succession, and, though so far
+above, they could both feel the concussion. Indeed, “The Hornet” very
+narrowly escaped a serious nose-dive in consequence. Next moment they
+saw that the row of buildings facing the docks was aflame from end
+to end, and beginning to burn almost as fiercely as the submarine
+oil-depôt.
+
+Ronnie, however, did not have it all his own way.
+
+Ten seconds after dropping those bombs, and causing panic in the
+occupied Belgian port, the sky was again ablaze with searchlights. At
+that moment Ronnie was out of one cloud, and travelling very swiftly
+into another.
+
+The searchlights were, however, too quick for him, and picked him up.
+
+“H’m!” he grunted. “They’ve found us at last! Now for home!”
+
+Hardly had he spoken when the anti-aircraft guns from below commenced
+to bark sharply, with now and then a deep boom. They could both hear
+the shells whistling close to them, but so high were they by this time
+that accurate aim by the enemy was well-nigh impossible.
+
+In such a circumstance the wisest course was to fly in a wide circle,
+descending and ascending, a course which Ronnie, expert airman that he
+was, adopted.
+
+Those were highly exciting moments! Beryl held her breath. Her hand
+was upon the Lewis gun, but her lover had given no order. In her
+observer’s seat she sat alert, eager, with every nerve strained to
+its fullest tension. They were in the danger-zone, surrounded by what
+seemed a swarm of aeroplanes, which had ascended in order to prevent
+their returning to sea.
+
+The little bulb in front of Ronnie burnt on, shedding its meagre light
+over instruments and maps. Beryl saw by the altimeter--which she had
+so often watched when flying the machine alone--that they were up five
+thousand six hundred feet.
+
+The dark waters were beneath them. A stray shell from the enemy would
+cast them both down--deep down into the North Sea.
+
+More than once they heard the whirr of an aeroplane-engine quite close
+to them, but going forward, slipping through the air without noise,
+thanks to Pryor’s silencer, which the authorities had now recognised
+as a remarkable and highly useful invention in aerial warfare, they
+managed to evade their adversaries. The strain of it all was, however,
+terrible.
+
+Upon the misty clouds below shone the glow of searchlights from
+land and sea, lighting up the billow mists, until they were quite
+picturesque undulations, like a fairy landscape. Yet through those
+mists they saw the deadly enemy flying to and fro in search of them as
+they went out to sea in silence.
+
+Beryl watched it all from her observer’s seat. She knew that their raid
+had been successful, and that enormous damage had been done to the Hun
+submarine base. On her left showed the faint lights of Ostend, where
+she had spent one summer with her sister Iris and her husband, two
+years before the war. She had walked along the Digue in a smart summer
+gown, and she had gambled at _boule_ and eaten ices in the great
+Casino which, according to report, was now used as a German hospital.
+Ah, how times had changed! She had never dreamt that she would be
+flying as an enemy over that sandy coast.
+
+Ronnie, with all his wits about him, was heading straight for the
+English coast north of the Thames when, of a sudden, there arose from
+the dark void below the rapid throb of an enemy seaplane, which, a few
+seconds later, opened out its searchlight.
+
+A moment afterwards it had fixed “The Hornet.”
+
+Then began a desperate fight for life. The German aviator, having
+marked his prey, rose like a hawk, and then bore down upon him swiftly,
+his searchlight glaring into Beryl’s face like some evil eye.
+
+The girl unstrapped herself and rose in order to be able to handle the
+machine-gun without encumbrance, for they were now flying upon an even
+keel.
+
+“Hold on, dear!” the pilot exclaimed, and then suddenly he banked his
+machine over, swerving away none too soon from the hostile seaplane.
+
+Again he worked up, avoiding the quick swoop of his adversary, who
+suddenly opened fire.
+
+A heavy shower of bullets passed them harmlessly, whistling all around
+them, while from somewhere--possibly from a German warship--a high
+explosive shell burst perilously near them, causing “The Hornet” to
+roll and wallow in a most disconcerting manner.
+
+Again and again Ronnie’s adversary fired full upon him, but all to no
+purpose. Then suddenly a second machine came up from somewhere, and
+that also let loose its machine-gun. Quick spurts of blood-red flame
+showed first upon one side then upon the other, yet Ronnie remained
+quite cool, awaiting his chance of gaining an advantage and to strike.
+
+A piece of the high explosive shell had torn the fabric of one of the
+planes. That was all the damage they had sustained up to the present.
+Surely no woman could ever have a more exciting or so perilous an
+experience, midway between sky and sea!
+
+Suddenly, after climbing and diving, Ronnie saw his opportunity, and,
+making a sudden swerve, cried to Beryl:
+
+“Get ready!”
+
+“I’m ready,” she answered.
+
+Again he climbed, and as he rose past the machine which was pressing
+him so closely, he said:
+
+“Fire!”
+
+In an instant Beryl’s gun spluttered, sending forth its leaden hail
+full into the centre of the German machine. Beryl held her breath,
+and watched the enemy’s searchlight quiver, rise, and then suddenly
+pointing downwards, swiftly become smaller and smaller as it descended
+towards the sea.
+
+“He’s gone!” cried Ronnie with relief. “Pilot and observer both killed,
+I should say.”
+
+“They must have dropped into the sea!” gasped the girl, awe-stricken.
+
+Next second, however, the other machine loomed up to exact vengeance.
+Beryl had swiftly replenished the gun with ammunition, and was again in
+readiness for the word from her lover to fire.
+
+Ronnie, fully alive to the fact that he was being pressed by the second
+machine, dived and banked, then climbed as rapidly as he could, yet,
+alas! he could not shake off his pursuer.
+
+In silence, with the wind whistling through the struts and the piece
+of torn fabric flapping, he pressed on, striving to escape from his
+relentless pursuer, who, no doubt, intended to shoot him down as
+reprisal for the destruction of his Hun comrade.
+
+Again the enemy machine opened out his searchlight, and, holding him as
+a mark, fired rapidly. For a moment Ronnie did not reply. All his nerve
+was concentrated upon obtaining the advantage a second time.
+
+Up and down, to and fro, the two machines banked, rose and fell,
+but Ronald Pryor could handle his machine as though it were part of
+himself. At last he drew up, and, setting his teeth as he pointed “The
+Hornet’s” nose direct at his adversary, he blurted out:
+
+“Fire!”
+
+Beryl laid the gun straight at the aeroplane, touched it, and again
+death rained forth.
+
+Yet almost at that very same moment the Hun also opened fire. The
+spluttering was deafening for a few seconds, when, to the girl’s alarm,
+she suddenly saw her lover fall helpless and inert over his instruments.
+
+“Gad, Beryl,” he managed to gasp, “they’ve got me--the brutes! Phew,
+how it burns!”
+
+The girl, who had not for a second lost her nerve, instantly realised
+the peril, and without a moment’s delay--nay, even without a word--she
+clambered across into the pilot’s seat and took the levers, being
+compelled to crush past her wounded lover as she did so, and not
+knowing the nature of his wound.
+
+“That’s right, Beryl! Fight to the last!” the man gasped. “Bank her,
+then go right down and rise again. You may beat him off by that. Try,
+darling! Do--do your best!” he whispered, and then he sank back in the
+blackness of unconsciousness.
+
+Beryl, as an expert air-woman, knew all the tricks of evasion while
+flying. She knew that her lover’s advice was the best, and she carried
+it out to the very letter.
+
+Just as she banked, the Hun machine sent out another splutter of lead.
+Those angry spurts of red fire seemed to go straight into her face,
+but, though the bullets tore more holes in the fabric of the left plane
+and broke a strut, they whizzed harmlessly past her.
+
+It was truly a flight for life. Flying “The Hornet,” as she was doing,
+she had no means by which to retaliate or to drive off the enemy. Their
+lives now depended upon her skill in manipulating the machine. This
+she did with marvellous judgment and foresight. To the very letter
+she carried out the orders of the man now lying back wounded and
+unconscious.
+
+Beneath her breath she whispered a prayer to Almighty God for
+assistance, and set her teeth. Again the Hun seaplane spurted forth
+a venom of fire upon her, but with a dexterous turn she banked, and
+once more avoided him. He intended to shoot her down into the black
+waters below, but she had her wounded lover at her side, and thought
+only of his welfare. She recollected her own response when Ronnie had
+suggested that she should remain at home, and when she saw that cruel
+eye of bright light following her so steadily she grew more and more
+determined.
+
+At last she decided upon flying by the compass quite straight towards
+the Essex coast, and seeing if her adversary could overtake her. At
+first it seemed a very perilous course, because the Hun coming up
+behind, shot at her continually, and once more the fabric was torn in
+one place near her elbow. But as she flew on in silence she all at once
+made a discovery. She listened. Her pursuer was gradually overtaking
+her. If he did, then she was entirely defenceless, and must share the
+same terrible fate as the machine that Ronnie had sent down into the
+sea.
+
+The tension of those fateful moments was terrible. Yet she summoned all
+her woman’s pluck--the pluck that had come to the female sex in these
+days of war--and kept on flying in the direction of home.
+
+Her ear caught something, for it was trained to the noise of aeroplanes.
+
+Again she listened. That eye of light which was following her so
+ruthlessly was still upon her, yet by the noise, she knew that the
+hostile engine was not firing correctly. The throb was not even and
+incessant.
+
+Had Providence intervened to save her?
+
+She drew a long breath, and opened out so that she put all speed into
+her machine. From the pace she was going she knew that the wind had
+sprung up, and in her favour, too. “The Hornet” was a fast machine, yet
+the Huns had machines quite as mobile, and she had no means of knowing
+the make of aeroplane against which her speed was pitted.
+
+She flew--flew as no woman had ever flown before. Half-crushed beneath
+her in the pilot’s seat lay Ronnie, oblivious to everything. She had
+placed her arm tenderly round his neck, but on withdrawing her hand in
+the darkness she had felt it strangely sticky--sticky with blood!
+
+Ronald Pryor was evidently wounded in the neck. Perhaps he was already
+dead. He might have been, for all the brave girl knew. But that sound
+of the mis-firing of her enemy gave her courage, and she kept on--on
+and on--until, very slowly, she drew away from that bright evil eye
+that was bent upon her destruction.
+
+Again came a splutter of lead upon her. Again she knew that bullets
+had gone through the fabric, but no great damage had been done to the
+machine.
+
+She feared more for the petrol-tank than for herself. A shot in the
+bottom of that tank would mean a certain dive into the sea. Of a sudden
+another spurt of fire showed deep below them, and a shell coming up
+from somewhere, friendly or hostile she could not tell, exploded, and
+nearly wrecked them both. It was from some ship at sea--a British
+ship, no doubt, which, seeing aircraft with a searchlight going in the
+direction of the East coast at that hour of the morning, had naturally
+opened fire upon it.
+
+At last, after nearly half-an-hour, Beryl still with her eye upon the
+compass and sailing again upon an even keel and in an increasing wind,
+glanced over her shoulder and saw the light of the enemy grow dimmer,
+and then gradually disappear. She had entered a thick cloud, and
+sailing on in silence, would, she knew, be at once lost to the view of
+her enemy.
+
+Five minutes later, when Beryl at last realised that she had escaped,
+she again placed her left arm tenderly round her lover and endeavoured
+to raise him, but without avail.
+
+Was he dead? The thought struck her with horror! He had done what had
+been asked of him, but perhaps he, like so many others, had paid the
+toll of war!
+
+Though perhaps her hand trembled a little upon the levers, yet she
+settled herself again as well as she could, and with her eye upon both
+map and compass she sped along over those dark waters, tossed by the
+increasing wind which had arisen behind her.
+
+For nearly two hours she flew on. By dint of great effort she
+managed to move Ronnie into a position which she hoped might be more
+comfortable. She spoke to him, but there was no answer. He lay there
+inert and motionless, strapped in his seat. When she withdrew her
+ungloved hand it was again wet with blood.
+
+She pressed forward, putting “The Hornet” along at the full pace of
+which the machine was capable. The little clock showed the hour to be
+nearly three, therefore she judged that she must be nearing the English
+coast again. Her surmise proved correct, for ten minutes later she
+saw the glimmer of a searchlight on the sky straight ahead--the light
+of one of our air-stations. Therefore, turning slightly to the north,
+she again opened the silencer as a precaution, and, with her engine
+suddenly roaring, made straight for it.
+
+Ere long half-a-dozen beams of intense light were searching the skies
+for the incoming machine, which the watchers below were eager to
+examine, and it was not long before one of the beams caught and held
+“The Hornet” in its blinding rays, lighting up the white, inanimate
+face beside her, and showing the dark stain of wounds.
+
+Then three other beams became concentrated for a few moments upon her,
+and again, one after another, shut off, until she was once more in
+darkness.
+
+The position of the lights, however, told her where she was--over a
+certain town a few miles inland, and taking her bearings, she rose
+higher, and began to describe a wide circle in order to find the four
+bright flares which she knew Collins had lit in the meadow at Harbury.
+
+Another half-hour she spent in vain search, until, of a sudden, she saw
+points of light deep down on her left. Straining her eyes she managed
+at last to make out that there were four, looking close together from
+that height. Therefore she quickly descended, while as she did so she
+saw Morse flashes from a signal-lamp telling her the direction of the
+wind, in order that she might land head on to it.
+
+Ten minutes later she came safely to earth, when Collins ran up, having
+chased the machine across the field.
+
+In a moment Beryl told him with breathless haste what had occurred, and
+with but few words they at once carried Ronald back to the house, and
+laid him upon the sofa in the study. Then Collins rushed to the car,
+and drove away madly to fetch the nearest doctor.
+
+The latter arrived with but little delay, and Beryl, her sister’s arm
+round her, stood outside the door, awaiting his verdict.
+
+The examination occupied some time, but at last the medical man came
+forth.
+
+“He is very severely wounded, Miss Gaselee,” he said, “but there is
+still a spark of life left--a very meagre spark. By careful attention
+and nursing he may possibly pull through. He is not yet conscious, but
+we will put him to bed, and I will remain and see what I can do. We can
+only hope.”
+
+Beryl, thankful that Ronnie still lived, quickly bestirred herself for
+his comfort, and it was not long before the senseless man was carried
+up to his own room, where the doctor remained watching him for many
+hours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Days passed--days of breathless and terrible anxiety--during which
+the doctor forbade Beryl to see the wounded man. In the papers there
+had been published accounts of the enormous damage done to the enemy
+submarine base at Zeebrugge by a “British aeroplane,” but the name of
+the intrepid aviator was not given. Only the authorities and those
+at Harbury Court knew the truth. The authorities preserved a wise
+reticence, for the publication of facts is not always in the interests
+of the country.
+
+Ronnie’s wounds proved far more serious than were at first believed,
+and even the specialist who came down from Harley Street was not at all
+hopeful of his recovery. Nevertheless, the fine physique of the patient
+proved in his favour, and a fortnight later Beryl was allowed to see
+him for the first time.
+
+From that moment Beryl became his nurse, and slowly he recovered;
+slowly, because both his right arm and his right leg had been so
+injured that they would be entirely useless in future, and he could
+never fly again.
+
+Only the thought of his invention, and the great advantage it would
+give to our aviators for night-flying in the future, comforted him,
+when at last he was able to be wheeled about in his chair by Beryl.
+
+And was it surprising that when, three months later, the pair were
+married in the old, ivy-clad, church, half-a-mile from Harbury Court,
+the illustrated papers published a pathetic picture of the bridal
+couple emerging from the porch, the bridegroom on crutches, and
+described it as “a romantic war-wedding”?
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+  _Miller, Son, & Compy., Limited, Printers, Fakenham and London._
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
+
+
+  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
+
+  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
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diff --git a/58770-h/58770-h.htm b/58770-h/58770-h.htm
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: Beryl of the Biplane
-       Being the Romance of an Air-Woman of To-Day
-
-Author: William le Queux
-
-Release Date: January 26, 2019 [EBook #58770]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BERYL OF THE BIPLANE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<h1>BERYL OF THE BIPLANE</h1>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="bbox">
-<p class="center"><span class="xlarge">NOVELS BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">&#8220;<i>THE MASTER OF MYSTERY.</i>&#8221;</p>
-
-<hr class="tiny" />
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table">
-
-<tr><td>THE FOUR FACES</td><td>Cloth, 1/- net.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>DONOVAN OF WHITEHALL</td><td>Cloth, 1/- net.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>THE SPY HUNTER</td><td>Paper, 1/- net.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>THE TICKENCOTE TREASURE</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>THE DEATH DOCTOR</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>LYING LIPS</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>AT THE SIGN OF THE SWORD</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class="tiny" />
-
-<p class="center"><b>C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LTD.</b></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="" /></div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="titlepage">
-<p><span class="xxlarge">BERYL OF THE<br />
-BIPLANE</span></p>
-
-<p><i>Being the Romance of an Air-woman of To-day</i></p>
-
-<p>BY<br />
-<span class="xlarge">WILLIAM LE QUEUX</span></p>
-
-
-<p>LONDON<br />
-C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED<br />
-HENRIETTA STREET, W.C.<br />
-1917</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p class="center">[<i>Copyright in the United States of America by William
-Le Queux, 1917. Cinema rights reserved.</i>]</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2></div>
-
-
-
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table">
-
-<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="tdr"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Mysterious Number Seven</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Mr. Mark Marx</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Shabby Stranger</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Thursday Rendezvous</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Concerns the Hidden Hand</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Price of Victory</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>
-
-<p class="ph1">BERYL OF THE BIPLANE</p>
-
-
-
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I.<br />
-
-<small>THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBER SEVEN.</small></h2></div>
-
-
-<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">Are</span> you flying &#8216;The Hornet&#8217; to-night?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I expect so.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You were up last night, weren&#8217;t you? Mac
-told me so at Brooklands this morning.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;Zepp-hunting. I was up three hours,
-but, alas! had no luck. Two came in over
-Essex but were scared by the anti-aircraft boys,
-and turned tail. Better luck to-night, I hope,&#8221;
-and Ronald Pryor, the tall, dark, good-looking
-young man in grey flannels, laughed merrily
-as, with a quick movement, he flicked the ash
-from his after-luncheon cigarette.</p>
-
-<p>His companion, George Bellingham, who was
-in the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps, wearing
-the silver wings of the pilot, was perhaps three
-years his senior, fair-haired, grey-eyed, with
-a small sandy moustache trimmed to the most
-correct cut.</p>
-
-<p>Passers-by in Pall Mall on that June afternoon
-no doubt wondered why Ronald Pryor was not
-in khaki. As a matter of fact, the handsome,
-athletic young fellow had already done his bit&mdash;and
-done it with very great honour and
-distinction.</p>
-
-<p>Before the war he had been of little good to
-society, it is true. He had been one of those
-modern dandies whose accomplishments include<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
-an elegant taste in socks&mdash;with ties to match&mdash;and
-a critical eye for an ill-cut pair of trousers.
-Eldest son of a wealthy bank-director, Ronnie
-Pryor had been born with the proverbial silver
-spoon in his mouth. After his career at Oxford,
-his father, Henry Pryor, who lived mostly at
-his beautiful old place, Urchfont Hall, a few miles
-out of Norwich, had given him an ample
-allowance. He had lived in a bachelor flat in
-Duke Street, St. James&#8217;s, and spent several
-gay years about town with kindred souls of both
-sexes, becoming a familiar object each night at
-the supper-tables of the Savoy, the Carlton,
-or the Ritz.</p>
-
-<p>This wild oat sowing had, however, been
-brought to an abrupt conclusion in a rather
-curious manner.</p>
-
-<p>One Saturday afternoon he had driven in a
-friend&#8217;s car over to the Aerodrome at Hendon,
-and had there witnessed some graceful flying.
-He had instantly become &#8220;bitten&#8221; by the sport,
-and from that moment had devoted himself
-assiduously to it.</p>
-
-<p>Four months later he had taken his &#8220;ticket&#8221;
-as a pilot, and then, assisted by capital from his
-indulgent father, had entered business by establishing
-the well-known Pryor Aeroplane Factory
-at Weybridge, with a branch at Hendon, a
-business in which his companion, Flight-Lieutenant
-George Bellingham, of the Royal
-Flying Corps, had been, and was still, financially
-interested.</p>
-
-<p>That Ronnie Pryor&mdash;as everyone called him&mdash;was
-a handsome fellow could not be denied.
-His was a strongly marked personality, clean-limbed,
-with close-cut dark hair, a refined
-aquiline face, and that slight contraction of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
-eyebrows that every air-pilot so quickly develops.
-On the outbreak of war he had been out with
-General French, had been through the retreat
-from Mons, and while scouting in the air during
-the first battle of Ypres, had been attacked by
-a German Taube. A fierce and intensely exciting
-fight in the air ensued, as a result of which he
-brought his enemy down within our own lines,
-but unfortunately received a severe wound in
-the stomach himself, and, planing down, reached
-earth safely a long distance away and collapsed
-unconscious.</p>
-
-<p>The condition of his health was such that the
-Medical Board refused to pass him for service
-abroad again, therefore he was now devoting
-his time to building aeroplanes for the Government,
-and frequently flying them at night, thus
-assisting in the aerial defence of our coast, and
-of London.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie Pryor was known as one of the most
-daring and intrepid air-pilots that we possessed.
-Before his crash he had brought down quite a
-number of his adversaries in the air, for the
-manner in which he could manipulate his machine,
-&#8220;zumming,&#8221; diving, rising, and flying a zigzag
-course, avoiding the enemy&#8217;s fire, was marvellous.
-Indeed, it was he who one afternoon dropped
-nine bombs upon the enemy&#8217;s aerodrome at
-Oudenarde, being mentioned in despatches for
-that daring exploit.</p>
-
-<p>His one regret was that the doctor considered
-him &#8220;crocked.&#8221; Discarding his uniform he,
-in defiance of everybody, flew constantly in the
-big biplane which he himself had built, and
-which the boys at Hendon had nicknamed &#8220;The
-Hornet.&#8221; The machine was a &#8220;strafer,&#8221; of the
-most formidable type, with an engine of two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
-hundred and fifty horse-power, fitted with a
-Lewis gun and a rack for bombs, while no more
-daring airman ever sat at a joy-stick than its
-owner.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re running that new Anzani engine
-on the bench at Hendon,&#8221; Bellingham remarked
-presently. &#8220;I&#8217;m going out to see it. Come
-with me.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie considered for a few seconds, and
-then accepted the suggestion, he driving his
-partner out to Hendon in his yellow car which
-had been standing in St. James&#8217;s Square.</p>
-
-<p>At the busy aerodrome, where all sorts of
-machines were being assembled and tested, they
-entered the spacious workshops of the Pryor
-Aeroplane Factory where, in one corner, amid
-whirring machinery, a large aeroplane-engine was
-running at top speed with a hum that was deafening
-in the confined space.</p>
-
-<p>Half-an-hour later both men went forth again
-into the aerodrome where several &#8220;school &#8217;buses&#8221;
-were being flown by pupils of the flying school.
-Suddenly Bellingham&#8217;s quick airman&#8217;s eye caught
-sight of a biplane at a great height coming from
-the north-west.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why, isn&#8217;t that Beryl up in your &#8217;bus?&#8221;
-he exclaimed, pointing out the machine. &#8220;I
-didn&#8217;t know she was out to-day.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; was Ronnie&#8217;s reply. &#8220;She flew over
-to Huntingdon this morning to see her sister.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Was she up with you last night?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. She generally goes up daily.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;She has wonderful nerve for a woman,&#8221;
-declared George. &#8220;A pupil who has done great
-credit to her tutor&mdash;yourself, Ronnie. How
-many times has she flown the Channel?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Seven. Three times alone, and four with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
-me. The last time she crossed alone she went
-up from Bedford and landed close to Berck,
-beyond Paris-Plage. She passed over Folkestone,
-and then over to Cape Grisnez.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look at her now!&#8221; Bellingham exclaimed
-in admiration. &#8220;By Jove! She&#8217;s doing a good
-stunt!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>As he spoke the aeroplane which Beryl Gaselee
-was flying, that great battleplane of Ronnie&#8217;s
-invention&mdash;&#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; as they had named
-it on account of a certain politician&#8217;s reassurance&mdash;circled
-high in the air above the aerodrome,
-making a high-pitched hum quite different
-from that of the other machines in the air.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s taken the silencer off,&#8221; Ronnie
-remarked. &#8220;She&#8217;s in a hurry, no doubt.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That silencer of yours is a marvellous invention,&#8221;
-George declared. &#8220;Thank goodness Fritz
-hasn&#8217;t got it!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie smiled, and selecting a cigarette from
-his case, tapped it down and slowly lit it, his
-eyes upon the machine now hovering like a great
-hawk above them.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I can run her so that at a thousand feet up
-nobody below can hear a sound,&#8221; he remarked.
-&#8220;That&#8217;s where we&#8217;ve got the pull for night
-bombing. A touch on the lever and the exhaust
-is silent, so that the enemy can&#8217;t hear us come up.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. It&#8217;s a deuced cute invention,&#8221; declared
-his partner. &#8220;It saved me that night a month
-ago when I got over Alost and put a few incendiary
-pills into the German barracks. I got away in
-the darkness and, though half-a-dozen machines
-went up, they couldn&#8217;t find me.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The enemy would dearly like to get hold of
-the secret,&#8221; laughed Ronnie. &#8220;But all of us keep
-it guarded too carefully.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said his partner, as they watched with
-admiring eyes, how Beryl Gaselee, the intrepid
-woman aviator, was manipulating the big
-battleplane in her descent. &#8220;Your invention
-for the keeping of the secret, my dear fellow, is
-quite as clever as the invention itself.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The new silencer for aeroplane-engines Ronnie
-Pryor had offered to the authorities, and as it
-was still under consideration, he kept it strictly
-to himself. Only he, his mechanic, Beryl and
-his partner George Bellingham, knew its true
-mechanism, and so careful was he to conceal
-it from the enemy in our midst, that he had also
-invented a clever contrivance by which, with
-a turn of a winged nut, the valve came apart,
-so that the chief portion&mdash;which was a secret&mdash;could
-be placed in one&#8217;s pocket, and carried away
-whenever the machines were left.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want any frills from you, old man,&#8221;
-laughed the merry, easy-going young fellow in
-flannels. &#8220;I&#8217;m only trying to do my best for
-my country, just as you have done, and just as
-Beryl is doing.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Beryl is a real brick.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You say that because we are pals.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, Ronnie. I say it because it&#8217;s the rock-bottom
-truth; because Miss Gaselee, thanks to
-your tuition, is one of the very few women who
-have come to the front as aviators in the war.
-She knows how to fly as well as any Squadron
-Commander. Look at her now! Just look at
-the spiral she&#8217;s making. Neither of us could do
-it better. Her engine, too, is running like a
-clock.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>And, as the two aviators watched, the great
-battleplane swept round and round the aerodrome,
-quickly dropping from twelve thousand feet&mdash;the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
-height at which they had first noticed its
-approach&mdash;towards the wide expanse of grass
-that was the landing-place.</p>
-
-<p>At last &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; humming loudly like
-a huge bumblebee, touched earth and came to
-a standstill, while Ronnie ran forward to help
-his well-beloved out of the pilot&#8217;s seat.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo, Ronnie!&#8221; cried the fresh-faced,
-athletic girl merrily. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect to find
-you here! I thought you&#8217;d gone to Harbury,
-and I intended to fly over and find you there.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I ran out here with George to see that new
-engine running on the bench,&#8221; he explained.
-&#8220;Come and have some tea. You must want some.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The girl, in her workmanlike air-woman&#8217;s
-windproof overalls, her &#8220;grummet&#8221;&mdash;which in
-aerodrome-parlance means headgear&mdash;her big
-goggles and thick gauntlet-gloves, rose from her
-seat, whilst her lover took her tenderly in his
-arms and lifted her out upon the ground.</p>
-
-<p>Then, after a glance at the altimeter, he
-remarked:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;By Jove, Beryl! You&#8217;ve been flying pretty
-high&mdash;thirteen thousand four hundred feet.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; laughed the girl merrily. &#8220;The
-weather this afternoon is perfect for a stunt.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then, after the young man had gone to the
-exhaust, unscrewed the silencer and placed the
-secret part in his pocket, the pair walked across
-to the tea-room and there sat <i>t�te-�-t�te</i> upon
-the verandah gossiping.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl Gaselee was, perhaps, the best-known
-flying-woman in the United Kingdom. There
-were others, but none so expert nor so daring.
-She would fly when the pylon pilots&mdash;as the ornate
-gentlemen of the aerodromes are called&mdash;shook
-their heads and refused to go up.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>Soft-featured, with pretty, fair and rather
-fluffy hair, and quite devoid of that curious
-hardness of feature which usually distinguishes
-the female athlete, her age was twenty-three, her
-figure slightly <i>petite</i> and quite slim. Indeed,
-many airmen who knew her were amazed that
-such a frail-looking little person could manage
-such a big, powerful machine as Ronnie Pryor&#8217;s
-&#8220;Hornet&#8221;&mdash;the &#8217;bus which was the last word
-in battleplanes both for rapid rising and for
-speed.</p>
-
-<p>The way in which she manipulated the joy-stick
-often, indeed, astonished Ronnie himself.
-But her confidence in herself, and in the stability
-of the machine, was so complete that such a
-thing as possible disaster never occurred to her.</p>
-
-<p>As she sat at the tea-table, her cheeks fresh
-and reddened by the cutting wind at such an
-altitude, a wisp of fair hair straying across her
-face, and her big, wide-open blue eyes aglow
-with the pleasure of living, she presented a charming
-figure of that feminine type that is so purely
-English. They were truly an interesting pair,
-a fact which had apparently become impressed
-upon a middle-aged air-mechanic in brown overalls
-who, in passing the verandah upon which they
-were seated, looked up and cast a furtive glance
-at them.</p>
-
-<p>Both were far too absorbed in each other to
-notice the man&#8217;s unusual interest, or the expression
-of suppressed excitement upon his grimy
-face, as he watched them with covert glance.
-Had they seen it, they might possibly have been
-curious as to the real reason. As it was, they
-remained in blissful ignorance, happy in each
-other&#8217;s confidence and love.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Just the weather for another Zepp raid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
-to-night,&#8221; Ronnie was remarking. &#8220;No moon
-to speak of, wind just right for them, and a high
-barometer.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s why you&#8217;re going to Harbury this
-evening, in readiness to go up, I suppose?&#8221;
-she asked.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll let me go with you, won&#8217;t you?&#8221;
-she begged, as she poured him his second cup
-of tea with dainty hand.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You were up last night, and you&#8217;ve been
-for a long joy-ride to-day. I think it would
-really be too great a strain, Beryl, for you to go
-out to-night,&#8221; he protested.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, it won&#8217;t. Do let me go, dear!&#8221; she
-urged.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; he replied, always unable to
-refuse her, as she knew full well. &#8220;In that case
-we&#8217;ll fly over to Harbury now, and put the &#8217;bus
-away till to-night. I&#8217;ve sent Collins out there
-in readiness.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then, half-an-hour later, &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; with
-Ronnie at the joy-stick and Beryl in the observer&#8217;s
-seat, rose again from the grass and, after a
-couple of turns around the pylons, ascended
-rapidly, heading north-east.</p>
-
-<p>As it did so, the dark-eyed mechanic in the
-brown overalls stood watching it grow smaller
-until it passed out of sight.</p>
-
-<p>For some minutes he remained silent and
-pensive, his heavy brows knit as he watched.
-Then, suddenly turning upon his heel, he muttered
-to himself and walked to one of the flying schools
-where he, Henry Knowles, was employed as a
-mechanic on the &#8217;buses flown by the men training
-as air-pilots for the Front.</p>
-
-<p>In a little over half-an-hour the big biplane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
-with its loud hum travelled nearly forty miles
-from Hendon, until at last Ronnie, descending
-in search of his landmark, discovered a small
-river winding through the panorama of patchwork
-fields, small dark patches of woods, and little
-clusters of houses which, in the sundown, denoted
-villages and hamlets. This stream he followed
-until Beryl suddenly touched his arm&mdash;speech
-being impossible amid the roar of the engine&mdash;and
-pointed below to where, a little to the left,
-there showed the thin, grey spire of an ivy-clad
-village church and a circular object close by&mdash;the
-village gasometer.</p>
-
-<p>The gasometer was their landmark.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie nodded, and then he quickly banked
-and came down upon a low hill of pastures and
-woods about five miles east of the church spire.</p>
-
-<p>The meadow wherein they glided to earth
-in the golden sunset was some distance from a
-small hamlet which lay down in the valley
-through which ran a stream glistening in the light,
-and turning an old-fashioned water-mill on its
-course. Then, as Ronnie unstrapped himself
-from his seat and hopped out, he exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Now, dear! You must rest for an hour or
-two, otherwise I shall not allow you to go up with
-me after Zepps to-night.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>His smart young mechanic, a fellow named
-Collins, from the aeroplane works came running
-up, while Ronnie assisted Beryl out of the machine.</p>
-
-<p>In a corner of the field not far distant was a
-long barn of corrugated iron, which Ronnie had
-transformed into a hangar for &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;&mdash;and
-this they termed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s Nest.&#8221;
-To this they at once wheeled the great machine,
-Beryl bearing her part in doing so and being
-assisted by two elderly farm-hands.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>Then Collins, the mechanic, having received
-certain instructions, his master and Beryl crossed
-the meadow and, passing through a small copse,
-found themselves upon the lawn of a large, old-fashioned
-house called Harbury Court. The
-place, a long, rambling two-storied Georgian one,
-with a wide porch and square, inartistic windows,
-was partly covered by ivy, while its front was gay
-with geraniums and marguerites.</p>
-
-<p>There came forward to meet the pair Beryl&#8217;s
-married sister Iris, whose husband, Charles
-Remington, a Captain in the Munsters, had been
-many months at the Front, and was now, alas!
-a prisoner of war in Germany.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I heard you arrive,&#8221; she said cheerily, addressing
-the pair. And then she told them how she
-had waited tea for them. Neither being averse
-from another cup, the trio passed through the
-French window into the big, cool drawing-room
-with its bright chintzes, gay flowers, and
-interesting bric-a-brac.</p>
-
-<p>While Beryl went half-an-hour later to her
-room to rest, and Ronnie joined Collins to test
-various portions of the &#8217;bus and its apparatus
-before the night flight, a curious scene was taking
-place in the top room of a block of new red-brick
-flats somewhere in a northern suburb of London&mdash;the
-exact situation I am not permitted to
-divulge.</p>
-
-<p>From the window a very extensive view could
-be obtained over London, both south and east,
-where glowed the red haze of sunset upon the
-giant metropolis, with its landmarks of tall factory
-chimneys, church steeples, and long lines
-of slate roofs.</p>
-
-<p>The room was a photographic studio. Indeed,
-the neat brass-plate upon the outer door of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
-flat bore the name &#8220;R. Goring, Photographer,&#8221;
-and as such, its owner was known to other tenants
-of the various suites, persons of the upper middle-class,
-men mostly occupying good positions in
-the City.</p>
-
-<p>True, a whole-plate camera stood upon a stand
-in a corner, and there were one or two grey screens
-for backgrounds placed against the wall, but
-nothing else in the apartment showed that it
-was used for the purpose of photography. On
-the contrary, it contained a somewhat unusual
-apparatus, which two men present were closely
-examining.</p>
-
-<p>Upon a strong deal table, set directly beneath
-the great skylight&mdash;which had been made to
-slide back so as to leave that portion of the roof
-open&mdash;was a great circular searchlight, such as
-is used upon ships, the glass face of which was
-turned upward to the sky.</p>
-
-<p>Set in a circle around its face were a number
-of bright reflectors and prisms placed at certain
-angles, with, above them, a large brass ring
-across which white silk gauze was stretched so
-that the intense rays of the searchlight should
-be broken up, and not show as a beam in the
-darkness, and thus disclose its existence.</p>
-
-<p>At a glance the cleverness of the arrangement
-was apparent. It was one of the enemy&#8217;s guiding
-lights for Zeppelins!</p>
-
-<p>The owner of the flat, Mr. Goring, a burly,
-grey-haired man of fifty-five, was exhibiting
-with pride to his visitor a new set of glass prisms
-which he had that day set at the proper angle,
-while the man who was evincing such interest
-was the person who&mdash;only a few hours before&mdash;had
-worked in his mechanic&#8217;s overalls, at the
-Hendon Aerodrome, the man, Henry Knowles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
-who was to all intents and purposes an Englishman,
-having been in London since he was three
-years of age. Indeed, so well did he speak his
-Cockney dialect, that none ever dreamt that he
-was the son of one Heinrich Klitz, or that his
-Christian name was Hermann.</p>
-
-<p>His host, like himself, was typically English,
-and had long ago paid his naturalisation fees and
-declared himself of the British bulldog breed. In
-public he was a fierce antagonist of Germany.
-In strongest terms he denounced the Kaiser
-and all his ways. He had even written to the
-newspapers deploring Great Britain&#8217;s mistakes,
-and, by all about him, was believed to be a fine,
-honest, and loyal Englishman. Even his wife,
-who now lived near Bristol, believed him to be
-British. Yet the truth was that he had no right
-to the name of Richard Goring, his baptismal
-name being Otto Kohler, his brother Hans
-occupying, at that moment, the post of President
-of the German Imperial Railways, the handsome
-offices of which are numbered 44, Linkstrasse, in
-Berlin.</p>
-
-<p>The pair were members of the long-prepared
-secret enemy organisation in our midst&mdash;men
-living in London as British subjects, and each
-having his important part allotted to him to play
-at stated times and in pre-arranged places.</p>
-
-<p>Richard Goring&#8217;s work for his country was
-to pose as a photographer&mdash;so that his undue
-use of electric-light current should not attract
-attention&mdash;and to keep that hidden searchlight
-burning night after night, in case a Zeppelin
-were fortunate enough to get as far as London.</p>
-
-<p>As &#8220;Light-post No. 22&#8221; it was known to those
-cunning Teutons who so craftily established in
-England the most wonderful espionage system<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
-ever placed upon the world. In England there
-were a number of signallers and &#8220;light-posts&#8221;
-for the guidance of enemy aircraft, but this&mdash;one
-of the greatest intensity&mdash;was as a lighthouse,
-and marked as of first importance upon the aerial
-chart carried by every Zeppelin Commander.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Goring had shown and explained to his
-friend the improved mechanism of the light,
-whereupon Knowles&mdash;who now wore a smart
-blue serge suit and carried gloves in his hand&mdash;laughed
-merrily, and replied in English, for they
-always talked that language:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I saw Gortz at Number Three last night.
-He has news from Berlin that the big air raid
-is to be made on the fourteenth.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The fourteenth!&#8221; echoed his friend. Then,
-after a second&#8217;s reflection, he added: &#8220;That will
-be Friday week.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Exactly. There will be one or two small
-attempts before&mdash;probably one to-night&mdash;a
-reconnaissance over the Eastern Counties. At
-least it was said so last night at Number Three,&#8221;
-he added, referring to a secret meeting place
-of the Huns in London.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; laughed the photographic artist. &#8220;I
-always keep the light going and, thanks to the
-plans they sent me from Wilhelmsplatz a month
-before the war, there is no beam of light to betray
-it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Rather thanks to the information we have
-when the British scouting airships leave their
-sheds.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ah, yes, my dear friend. Then I at once
-cut it off, of course,&#8221; laughed the other. &#8220;But it
-is a weary job&mdash;up here alone each night killing
-time by reading their silly newspapers.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;One of our greatest dangers, in my opinion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
-is that young fellow Ronald Pryor&mdash;the aeroplane-builder,&#8221;
-declared Knowles. &#8220;The man whom
-our friend Reichardt tried to put out of existence
-last week, and failed&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The same. He has a new aeroplane called
-&#8216;The Hornet,&#8217; which can be rendered quite silent.
-That is a very great danger to our airships.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We must, at all hazards, ascertain its secret,&#8221;
-said his host promptly. &#8220;What does Reichardt
-say?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;They were discussing it last night at Number
-Three.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>And then the man who called himself Knowles
-and who, by working as a humble mechanic
-at a flying school at Hendon, was able to pick
-up so many facts concerning our air service,
-explained how &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; was kept in secret
-somewhere out in Essex&mdash;at some spot which
-they had not yet discovered.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But surely you&#8217;ll get to know,&#8221; was the other&#8217;s
-remark, as he leant idly against the table whereon
-lay the complicated apparatus of prisms, and
-reflectors which constituted the lighthouse to
-guide the enemy aircraft.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That is the service upon which Number
-Seven has placed me,&#8221; was the response.</p>
-
-<p>He had referred to the director of that branch
-of the enemy&#8217;s operations in England&mdash;the person
-known as &#8220;Number Seven&#8221;&mdash;the cleverly
-concealed secret agent who assisted to guide the
-invisible hand of Germany in our midst. The
-individual in question lived in strictest retirement,
-unknown even to those puppets of Berlin
-who so blindly obeyed his orders, and who received
-such lavish payment for so doing. Some of the
-Kaiser&#8217;s secret agents said that he lived in
-London; others declared that he lived on a farm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
-in a remote village somewhere in Somerset;
-while others said he had been seen walking in
-Piccadilly with a well-known peeress. Many, on
-the other hand, declared that he lived in a small
-country town in the guise of a retired shopkeeper,
-interested only in his roses and his cucumber-frames.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;A pity our good friend Reichardt failed the
-other day,&#8221; remarked the man who posed as a
-photographer. &#8220;What of that girl Gaselee?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The next attempt will not fail, depend upon
-it,&#8221; was Knowles&#8217; reply, in tones of confidence.
-&#8220;When Ronald Pryor dies, so will she also.
-The decision at Number Three last night was
-unanimous.&#8221; And he grinned evilly.</p>
-
-<p>Then both men went forth, Goring carefully
-locking the door of the secret studio. Then,
-passing through the well-furnished flat, he closed
-the door behind him, and they descended the
-stairs.</p>
-
-<p>That night just after eleven o&#8217;clock, Beryl
-in her warm air-woman&#8217;s kit, with her leather
-&#8220;grummet&#8221; with its ear-pieces buttoned beneath
-her chin, climbed into &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; and
-strapped herself into the observer&#8217;s seat.</p>
-
-<p>Collins had been busy on the &#8217;bus all the
-evening, testing the powerful dual engines, the
-searchlight, the control levers, and a dozen
-other details, including the all-important silencer.
-Afterwards he had placed in the long rack beneath
-the fusilage four high explosive spherical bombs,
-with three incendiary ones.</p>
-
-<p>Therefore, when Ronnie hopped in, the machine
-was in complete readiness for a night flight.</p>
-
-<p>Arranged at each corner of the big grass-field
-was a powerful electric light sunk into the ground
-and covered with glass. These could be switched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
-on from the house supply and, by means of
-reflectors, gave splendid guidance for descent.
-At present, however, all was, of course,
-in darkness.</p>
-
-<p>The night was windless and overcast, while
-the barometer showed the atmospheric pressure
-to be exactly that welcomed by Commanders
-of enemy airships.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie after switching on his little light over
-the instruments and examining his gauges,
-shouted to Collins:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Righto! Let her rip!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>In a moment there was a terrific roar. The
-wind whistled about their ears, and next second
-they were &#8220;zumming,&#8221; up climbing at an angle
-of quite thirty degrees, instead of &#8220;taxi-running&#8221;
-the machine before leaving the ground.</p>
-
-<p>Not a star showed, neither did a light. At
-that hour the good people of Essex were mostly
-in bed.</p>
-
-<p>On their right, as they rose, Beryl noticed one
-or two red and green lights of railway signals,
-but these faded away as they still climbed ever
-up and up, travelling in the direction of the coast.
-The roar of the engines was deafening, until they
-approached a faintly seen cluster of lights which,
-by the map spread before him beneath the tiny
-light, Ronnie knew was the town of B&mdash;&mdash;. Then
-he suddenly pulled a lever by which the noise
-instantly became so deadened that the whirr
-of the propeller alone was audible, the engines
-being entirely silenced.</p>
-
-<p>The young man, speaking for the first time,
-exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll first run along the coast and scout,
-and then turn back inland.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had he uttered those words when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
-suddenly they became blinded by a strong
-searchlight from below.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo! Our anti-aircraft boys!&#8221; he
-ejaculated and at the same moment he pushed
-back the lever, causing the engines to roar again.</p>
-
-<p>The men working the searchlight at once
-distinguished the tri-coloured rings upon the
-planes, and by its sudden silence and as sudden
-roar they knew it to be &#8220;The Hornet.&#8221; Therefore
-next second they shut off the beam of the
-light, and once again Ronnie silenced his &#8217;bus.</p>
-
-<p>It was then near midnight, and up there at ten
-thousand feet the wind was bitingly cold. Moreover
-there were one or two air currents which
-caused the machine to rock violently in a manner
-that would have alarmed any but those
-experienced in flying.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl buttoned her collar still more snugly,
-but declared that she was not feeling cold.
-Below, little or nothing could be seen until, of
-a sudden, they ran into a thick cold mist, and
-then knew that they were over the sea.</p>
-
-<p>With a glance at his luminous compass, the
-cheery young airman quickly turned the machine&#8217;s
-nose due south, and a quarter of an hour later altered
-his course south-west, heading towards London.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Nothing doing to-night, it seems!&#8221; he
-remarked to his companion, as, in the darkness,
-they sped along at about fifty miles an hour,
-the wind whistling weirdly through the stays,
-the propeller humming musically, but the sound
-seeming no more than that of a bumblebee on
-a summer&#8217;s day.</p>
-
-<p>It was certain that such sound could not be
-heard below.</p>
-
-<p>After nearly an hour they realised by certain
-unmistakable signs&mdash;mostly atmospheric&mdash;that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
-they were over the outer northern suburbs of
-London.</p>
-
-<p>Then, as Ronnie altered his course, in the inky
-blackness of the night, both saw, deep below,
-an intense white light burning like a beacon,
-but throwing no ray.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s curious!&#8221; remarked Pryor to the girl
-beside him. &#8220;I can&#8217;t make it out. I&#8217;ve seen
-it several times before. One night a month
-ago I saw it put out, and then, when one of
-our patrolling airships had gone over, it came
-suddenly up again.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;An enemy light for the guiding of enemy
-Zeppelins&mdash;eh?&#8221; Beryl suggested.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Exactly my opinion!&#8221; was her lover&#8217;s reply.</p>
-
-<p>As he spoke they passed out of range of vision,
-all becoming dark again. Therefore, Ronnie put
-down his lever and turned the &#8217;bus quickly so that
-he could again examine the mysterious light
-which would reveal to the enemy the district
-of London over which they were then flying.</p>
-
-<p>For a full quarter of an hour &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221;
-having descended to about three thousand feet,
-man&oelig;uvred backwards and forwards, crossing
-and recrossing exactly over the intense white
-light below, Ronnie remaining silent, and flying
-the great biplane with most expert skill.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, as he passed for the sixth time
-directly over the light, he touched a lever, and a
-quick swish of air followed.</p>
-
-<p>In a moment the white light was blotted out
-by a fierce blood-red one.</p>
-
-<p>No sound of any explosion was heard. But a
-second later bright flames leapt up high, and from
-where they sat aloft they could clearly distinguish
-that the upper story of the house was well alight.</p>
-
-<p>Once again &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; which had hovered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
-over the spot, flying very slowly in a circle,
-swooped down in silence, for Pryor was eager
-to ascertain the result of his well-placed incendiary
-bomb.</p>
-
-<p>As, in the darkness, they rapidly neared the
-earth, making no sound to attract those below,
-Beryl could see that in the streets, lit by
-the flames, people were running about like a
-swarm of ants. The alarm had already been given
-to the fire-brigade, for the faint sound of a fire-bell
-now reached their ears.</p>
-
-<p>For five or six minutes Pryor remained in the
-vicinity watching the result of the bomb.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl, strapped in, peered below, and then,
-placing her eye to the powerful night-glasses,
-she could discern distinctly two fire-engines
-tearing along to the scene of the conflagration.</p>
-
-<p>Then with a laugh Ronnie pulled over the lever
-and, climbing high again, swiftly made off in
-the direction of Harbury.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That spy won&#8217;t ever show a light again!&#8221;
-he remarked grimly.</p>
-
-<p>Next day the newspapers reported a serious
-and very mysterious outbreak of fire in a photographic
-studio at the top of a certain block of
-flats, the charred remains of the occupier, Mr.
-Richard Goring, a highly respected resident,
-being afterwards found, together with a mass
-of mysterious metal apparatus with which he
-had apparently been experimenting, and by
-which&mdash;as the Coroner&#8217;s jury eventually decided
-four days later&mdash;the fatal fire must have been
-caused.</p>
-
-<p>One morning Beryl and Ronnie, seated together
-in the drawing-room at Harbury, read the
-evidence given at the inquest and the verdict.</p>
-
-<p>Both smiled, but neither made remark.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
-<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II.<br />
-
-<small>MR. MARK MARX.</small></h2></div>
-
-
-<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">I think</span> we&#8217;ll have to give her another dope,
-Collins,&#8221; remarked Ronnie Pryor, as early one
-summer&#8217;s morning he stood before &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221;
-which, after a night-flight to the sea and back,
-was reposing in its &#8220;nest.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;It certainly wouldn&#8217;t hurt her, sir, especially
-if we can get some of that new patent stuff that
-Mr. Henderson was telling us about the other
-day,&#8221; the young mechanic replied.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ah! That&#8217;s a secret,&#8221; laughed his master.
-&#8220;It&#8217;s no doubt the finest dope ever invented,
-and happily Fritz, with all his scientific attainments,
-is still in the dark regarding it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid the enemy will learn the secret
-before long, sir,&#8221; the man remarked. &#8220;There
-are far too many strangers knocking about the
-aerodromes, and prying into everyone&#8217;s business.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I know, Collins, I know,&#8221; remarked Ronnie.
-&#8220;They&#8217;re very inquisitive regarding my new
-silencer.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s quite right, sir. I&#8217;m often being
-pumped about it by strangers.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, I know you never utter a word
-concerning it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Trust me, sir,&#8221; laughed the clean-shaven
-young man. &#8220;I always deny any knowledge
-of it. But the people who make the inquiries
-seem very shrewd indeed. And the funny thing
-is that they are never foreigners.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, I quite realise that. But at all hazards
-we must keep the secret of the silencer to
-ourselves,&#8221; said Pryor. &#8220;The silencer enables
-us to make night-flights in secret without the
-enemy being any the wiser,&#8221; he added.</p>
-
-<p>Collins grinned. He knew, only too well,
-how &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; had, more than once, been
-over to Belgium and returned in safety without
-its presence being spotted by the enemy. He
-knew, too, that the bomb-rack had been full
-when Ronnie and Beryl Gaselee had ascended,
-and that it had been empty when they had
-returned.</p>
-
-<p>On the previous night Pryor had been up,
-accompanied by his mechanic. They had come
-in at daybreak, snatched three hours&#8217; sleep,
-and were now out again overhauling the
-machine.</p>
-
-<p>As they were speaking, Beryl Gaselee, dainty
-and fair-haired, in a cool, white cotton dress,
-suddenly came up behind them exclaiming:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Good-morning, Ronnie! Iris is waiting
-breakfast patiently for you.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, I really forgot, dear!&#8221; replied the young
-airman. &#8220;Collins and I have been so busy
-for the last hour.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Together they crossed the lawn arm-in-arm to
-the pleasant, old-world house.</p>
-
-<p>When ten minutes later the pair sat down to
-breakfast in the sunlit dining-room, the long
-windows of which led out upon an ancient terrace
-embowered with roses, Mrs. Remington came in,
-greeting Ronald with the protest&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I wish, when you come in, you&#8217;d put your
-silencer on your boots, Ronnie! You woke me
-up just at four, and Toby started to bark.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>&#8220;By Jove! Did I? Lots of apologies! I&#8217;ll
-creep about in my socks in future,&#8221; declared
-the culprit, stooping to pat the miniature
-&#8220;pom.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Did Sheppard give you the telephone
-message?&#8221; Mrs. Remington asked.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No. What message?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why, one that came in the middle of the
-night?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>At that moment Sheppard, the old-fashioned
-butler who had just entered the room, interrupted,
-saying in his quiet way:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen Mr. Pryor before, madam.&#8221;
-Then turning to Ronnie, he said: &#8220;The telephone
-rang at about a quarter to one. I answered it.
-Somebody&mdash;a man&#8217;s voice&mdash;was speaking from
-Liverpool. He wanted you, sir. But I said
-you were out. He told me to give you a message,&#8221;
-and he handed Ronnie a slip of paper upon which
-were pencilled the words:</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p><i>&#8220;Please tell Mr. Ronald Pryor that Mark Marx
-has returned. He will be in London at the old
-place at ten o&#8217;clock to-night.&#8221;</i></p></blockquote>
-
-<p>As Ronald Pryor&#8217;s eyes fell upon that message
-all the light died from his face.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl noticed it, and asked her lover whether
-he had received bad news. He started. Then,
-recovering himself instantly, he held his breath
-for a second, and replied:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Not at all, dear. It is only from a friend&mdash;a
-man whom I believed had been killed, but who is
-well and back again in England.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;There must be many such cases,&#8221; the fair-haired
-girl remarked. &#8220;I heard of one the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
-day when a man reported dead a year ago, and for
-whom his widow was mourning, suddenly walked
-into his own drawing-room.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I hope his return was not unwelcome?&#8221; said
-Ronnie with a laugh. &#8220;It would have been a
-trifle awkward, for example, if the widow had
-re-married in the meantime.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, rather a queer situation&mdash;at least, for
-the second husband,&#8221; declared Iris, who was some
-five years Beryl&#8217;s senior, and the mother of two
-pretty children.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Did the person who spoke to you give any
-name?&#8221; asked Pryor of the butler.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, sir. He would give no name. He simply
-said that you would quite understand, sir.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronald Pryor did understand. Mark Marx
-was back again in England! It seemed
-incredible. But whose was that voice which in
-the night had warned him from Liverpool?</p>
-
-<p>He ate his breakfast wondering. Should he tell
-Beryl? Should he reveal the whole curious truth
-to her? No. If he did so, she might become
-nervous and apprehensive. Why shake the
-nerves of a woman who did such fine work in the
-air? It would be best for him to keep his own
-counsel. Therefore, before he rose from the
-table, he had resolved to retain the secret of
-Marx&#8217;s return.</p>
-
-<p>After breakfast Ronald, having taken from
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; the essential parts of his newly
-invented silencer, which, by the way, he daily
-expected would be adopted by the Government,
-carried them back to the house and there locked
-them in the big safe which he kept in his bedroom.</p>
-
-<p>Then, later on, Beryl drove him to the station<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
-where he took train to London, and travelled
-down to his aeroplane factory, where, in secret,
-several big battleplanes of &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; type
-were being constructed.</p>
-
-<p>It was a large, imposing place with many sheds
-and workshops, occupying a considerable area.
-The whole place was surrounded by a high wall,
-and, beyond, a barbed-wire entanglement, for
-the secrets of the work in progress were well
-guarded by trusty, armed watchmen night and day.</p>
-
-<p>Pryor was seated in his office chatting with Mr.
-Woodhouse, the wide-awake and active manager,
-about certain business matters, when he suddenly
-said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;By the way, it will be best to double all precautions
-against any information leaking out from
-here, and on no account to admit any strangers
-upon any pretext whatever. Even if any fresh
-Government viewer comes along he is not to enter
-until you have verified his identity-pass.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; was Woodhouse&#8217;s reply. &#8220;But
-why are we to be so very particular?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, I have my own reasons. Without
-doubt, our friend the enemy is extremely anxious
-to obtain the secrets of &#8216;The Hornet,&#8217; and also
-the silencer. And in these days we must run
-no risks.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then, after a stroll through the sheds where a
-hundred or so men were at work upon the various
-parts of the new battleplane destined to &#8220;strafe&#8221;
-the Huns, and clear the air of the Fokkers, the
-easy-going but intrepid airman made his way
-back to Pall Mall, where he ate an early dinner
-alone in the big upstairs dining-room at the
-Royal Automobile Club.</p>
-
-<p>By half-past seven he had smoked the post-prandial
-cigarette, swallowed a tiny glass of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
-Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, and was strolling
-back along Pall Mall towards Charing Cross.</p>
-
-<p>At the corner of the Haymarket he hailed a
-passing taxi, and drove out to Hammersmith to
-a small, dingy house situated in a side-turning
-off the busy King Street. There he dismissed
-the conveyance, and entered the house with a
-latch-key.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Cranch!&#8221; he shouted when in the small,
-close-smelling hall, having closed the door behind
-him. &#8220;Cranch! Are you at home?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo! Is that you, Mr. Pryor?&#8221; came a
-cheery answer, when from the back room on the
-ground-floor emerged a burly, close-shaven man
-in his shirt-sleeves, for it was a hot, breathless
-night.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. I&#8217;m quite a stranger, am I not?&#8221;
-laughed Pryor, following his host back into the
-cheaply furnished sitting-room.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look here, Cranch, I&#8217;m going out on a funny
-expedition to-night,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I want you to
-fit me up with the proper togs for the Walworth
-Road. You know the best rig-out. And I want
-you to come with me.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Certainly, Mr. Pryor,&#8221; was his host&#8217;s reply.
-John Cranch had done his twenty-five years in
-the Criminal Investigation Department at
-Scotland Yard as sergeant and inspector, and
-now amplified his pension by doing private inquiry
-work. He was &#8220;on the list&#8221; at the Yard, and to
-persons who went to the police headquarters to
-seek unofficial assistance his name was frequently
-given as a very reliable officer.</p>
-
-<p>The pair sat for some time in earnest consultation,
-after which both ascended to a bedroom
-above, where, in the cupboard, hung many suits
-of clothes, from the rags of a tramp&mdash;with broken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
-boots to match&mdash;to the smart evening clothes of
-the prosperous middle-aged <i>rou�</i> who might be
-seen at supper at the Savoy, or haunting the nightclubs
-of London. Among them were the uniforms
-of a postman, a railway-porter, with caps
-belonging to the various companies, a fireman, a
-private soldier, a lieutenant, a gas-inspector, a
-tram-conductor, and other guises which ex-detective
-John Cranch had, from time to time,
-assumed.</p>
-
-<p>Within half-an-hour the pair again descended,
-and entering the sitting-room they presented quite
-a different appearance.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie Pryor&#8217;s most intimate friend would
-certainly not easily have recognised him. Even
-Beryl Gaselee would have passed him by in the
-street without a second glance, for his features
-were altered; he wore a small moustache, and his
-clothes were those of an East-end Jew. At the
-same time Cranch was dressed as a hard-working
-costermonger of the true Old Kent Road type.</p>
-
-<p>Together they drove in a taxi across South
-London to the railway-arch at Walworth Road
-station, beneath which they alighted and, turning
-to the right along the Camberwell Road, crossed
-it and went leisurely into the Albany Road&mdash;that
-long, straight thoroughfare of dingy old-fashioned
-houses which were pleasant residences in the
-&#8220;forties&#8221; when Camberwell was still a rural
-village&mdash;the road which ran direct from Camberwell
-Gate to the Old Kent Road.</p>
-
-<p>Darkness had already fallen as the pair strolled
-leisurely along until they passed a small house on
-the left, close to the corner of Villa Street.</p>
-
-<p>As they went by, their eyes took in every detail.
-Not a large house, but rather superior to its neighbours,
-it lay back behind a small garden and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
-seemed closely shuttered and obscure. Nearly
-opposite it Cranch&#8217;s sharp eyes espied a &#8220;To
-Let&#8221; board upon a house, and he at once suggested
-that if they hid behind the railing they could
-watch the house of mystery in security.</p>
-
-<p>This they did, and after a little man&oelig;uvring&mdash;for
-there were many people passing in the vicinity&mdash;they
-both crouched beneath a soot-laden lilac-bush,
-which commanded full view of all who
-went from and came to the dark house before
-them.</p>
-
-<p>As Ronnie crouched there in concealment one
-thought alone kept running through his brain.
-Truth to tell, he was much mystified as to the
-identity of that mysterious person who, from
-Liverpool, had given him warning.</p>
-
-<p>Was it a trap? He had certainly not
-overlooked such a contingency.</p>
-
-<p>For over an hour and a half the two men
-remained there, eagerly watching the diminishing
-stream of foot-passengers until at last, coming up
-from the Camberwell Road, Ronnie noticed a
-man approaching.</p>
-
-<p>For some seconds he kept his eye steadily upon
-him, for the moon was now shining fitfully through
-the clouds.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;By Jove! How curious!&#8221; he whispered to
-his companion. &#8220;Why, that&#8217;s Knowles, one of
-the mechanics at Hendon! I wonder what he&#8217;s
-doing over here?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie was, of course, in ignorance&mdash;as was
-also everyone at the Hendon Aerodrome&mdash;that
-Henry Knowles, the hard-working, painstaking
-mechanic, whose expert work it was to test
-machines, was not really an Englishman as he
-pretended to be, even though he could imitate
-the Cockney tongue, but that his actual baptismal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
-name was Hermann Klitz, and his place of birth
-Coblenz, on the Rhine.</p>
-
-<p>With wondering eyes the airman watched the
-mechanic pass into the dark, silent house.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Very strange!&#8221; he remarked beneath his
-breath. &#8220;Very strange indeed!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>But his curiosity was increased by the arrival,
-ten minutes later, of a rather short, middle-aged
-man of distinctly burly build. The newcomer
-hesitated for a few minutes, gazing about him
-furtively, as though he feared being followed, and
-then slipped through the gate up to the house, where
-the door fell open, he being apparently expected.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Did you see that man, Cranch?&#8221; asked
-Pryor in a whisper. &#8220;That&#8217;s Germany&#8217;s great
-spy&mdash;Mark Marx. He&#8217;s been in America for the
-past ten months or so, and is now back here upon
-some secret mission concerning our aircraft&mdash;upon
-which he&#8217;s an expert.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re holding a council here&mdash;by the look
-of it,&#8221; remarked the detective. &#8220;Five of them
-have gone in&mdash;and why, look! Here comes
-another&mdash;a lame man!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said Ronnie. &#8220;This secret place of
-meeting is known to the spies of Germany as
-&#8216;Number Three.&#8217; From here certain of the clever
-activities of the invisible hand of Germany are
-frequently directed, as from other centres;
-Mark Marx is a clever adventurer who used to
-be the assistant director of the enemy&#8217;s operations
-in this country. Apparently he has returned
-to London to resume his sinister activities against
-us. He acts directly under the control of the head
-of Germany&#8217;s secret service in this country,
-that shrewd, clever, and influential person who
-hides his identity beneath the official description
-of &#8216;Number Seven.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>&#8220;Then &#8216;Number Three&#8217; is the headquarters
-of &#8216;Number Seven&#8217;&mdash;eh!&#8221; asked the ex-detective
-in a whisper.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Exactly. That some devilish conspiracy is
-now afoot is quite certain. Our duty is to discover
-and to thwart it. I was secretly warned
-that Mark Marx had returned, and now, knowing
-that it is so, I must take adequate precautions.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;How shall you act?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I have not yet decided.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But can&#8217;t we endeavour to ascertain what
-is in progress here to-night, Mr. Pryor?&#8221;
-suggested Cranch.</p>
-
-<p>Pryor and his companion kept vigilant watch
-till far into the night when, about two o&#8217;clock
-in the morning, a big closed motor-car suddenly
-came along the road, pulling up a little distance
-from the house. The driver, a tall, thin man,
-alighted and waited for some moments, when the
-two men, Marx and Klitz, <i>alias</i> Knowles, emerged
-carrying between them a small but heavy leather
-travelling trunk and, assisted by the driver,
-placed this on top of the car. Then the two men
-entered and drove rapidly away.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That car may come again to-morrow night,&#8221;
-remarked Pryor. &#8220;We must lay our plans to
-follow it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Next night, Pryor having ascertained the
-identity of the friend who had warned him of
-Mark Marx&#8217;s return to England, he and Cranch
-were again at the same spot beneath the stunted
-lilac-bush. Round the corner, in Villa Street,
-at a little distance away stood Ronnie&#8217;s closed
-car with Beryl Gaselee in charge, the latter
-wearing the cap and dust-coat of a war-time
-<i>chauffeuse</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Hour after hour they waited until dawn broke.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
-But as no one came to that house known as
-&#8220;Number Three,&#8221; they were compelled at last to
-relinquish their vigilance.</p>
-
-<p>For four nights in succession they kept the same
-watch, Cranch having revealed his identity and
-explained to the constable on duty that the car
-was awaiting an expected friend.</p>
-
-<p>On the fifth occasion, just about half-past one
-in the morning, sure enough the big, dark-green
-car drove up, and from it Marx alighted and
-entered the enemy&#8217;s headquarters.</p>
-
-<p>Presently Klitz and another man arrived on
-foot, and they also entered. Subsequently
-another small but heavy trunk was taken out
-and placed in the car.</p>
-
-<p>By this time Ronnie and his companion had
-reached their own car, and while Cranch and
-Beryl entered, Ronnie jumped up to the wheel
-and started off. He first took a street that he
-knew ran parallel with the Albany Road in the
-direction the car had taken before and, after
-going a little distance, he turned back into the
-thoroughfare just in time to see a rear-lamp pass
-rapidly. Quickly he increased his speed, and soon
-satisfied himself that it was the car he intended
-following.</p>
-
-<p>They turned at last into the Old Kent Road,
-and then on as far as a dark little place which
-Ronnie knew as Kingsdown. Then, branching
-to the right, keeping the red rear-light ever in
-view, they went by the byways as far as
-Meopham and on past Jenkin&#8217;s Court, through
-some woods until suddenly the car turned into
-a gateway and went across some open pastures.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie saw that he had not been noticed by
-the driver, who was too intent upon his speed
-and quite unsuspicious. Therefore he pulled up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
-dead, waited for ten minutes or so, and then
-flew past the gateway at top speed. For nearly
-a mile he went, and at last came to a standstill
-upon a long, steep slope with a copse on each side,
-quite dark on account of the overhanging trees.</p>
-
-<p>Having run the car to the side of the road they
-alighted. Ronnie switched off the lamps, and
-they walked noiselessly back on the grass by
-the roadside and at length, having turned in at
-the gateway, saw, in the dim light, a long, low-built
-farmhouse with haystacks beside it and
-big barns.</p>
-
-<p>The throb of the car&#8217;s engine showed that the
-Germans were probably only depositing the trunk,
-and did not intend to remain.</p>
-
-<p>The watchers, therefore, withdrew again into
-the shadow of a narrow little wood close to the
-house and there waited in patience. Their
-expectations were realised a quarter of an hour
-later when the two men emerged from the
-modern-built farmhouse and drove away,
-evidently on their return to London.</p>
-
-<p>By their man&oelig;uvre Pryor became greatly
-puzzled. He could not see why that trunk
-had been transferred to that lonely farm in the
-night hours.</p>
-
-<p>After the car had disappeared they waited
-in motionless silence for some time until, after
-a whispered consultation, they ventured forth
-again.</p>
-
-<p>Cranch&#8217;s suggestion was to examine the place,
-but unfortunately a collie was roaming about,
-and as soon as they came forth from their place
-of concealment the dog gave his alarm note.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ben!&#8221; cried a gruff, male voice in rebuke,
-while at the same time a light showed in the upper
-window of the farm.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>Meanwhile the trio of watchers remained
-hidden in the shadow of a wall close to the
-spacious farmyard until the dog had gone back.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie had resolved to leave the investigation
-until the following day, therefore all three crept
-back to the car and, after carefully noting the
-exact spot and the silhouette of the trees, they
-at last started off and presently finding a high
-road, ran down into Wrotham, and on into the
-long town of Tonbridge.</p>
-
-<p>At the hotel their advent at such an early
-hour was looked upon askance, but a well-concocted
-story of a night journey and unfortunate
-tyre trouble allayed any suspicions, and by seven
-o&#8217;clock the three were seated at an ample breakfast
-with home-cured ham and farmyard eggs.
-Afterwards, for several hours, Beryl rested
-while the airman and the detective wandered
-about the little Kentish town discussing their
-plans.</p>
-
-<p>When, at eleven o&#8217;clock, Ronnie met Beryl
-again downstairs, the trio went into one of the
-sitting-rooms where they held secret council.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Now,&#8221; exclaimed Ronnie, &#8220;my plan is this.
-I&#8217;ll run back alone to the farm and stroll around
-the place to reconnoitre and ascertain who lives
-there. Without a doubt they are agents of
-Germany, whoever they are, because it is a dep�t
-for those mysterious trunks from &#8216;Number
-Three.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I wonder what they contain, dear?&#8221; Beryl
-said, her face full of keenest interest.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We shall ascertain, never fear. But we must
-remain patient, and work in strictest secrecy.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, Mr. Pryor, you can play the police game
-as well as any of us,&#8221; declared Cranch, with a
-light laugh.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>Therefore, a quarter of an hour later, Pryor
-took the car and returning to a spot near the
-farm&mdash;which he afterwards found was called Chandler&#8217;s
-Farm&mdash;and running the car into a meadow,
-left it while he went forward to reconnoitre.</p>
-
-<p>As he approached, he noticed two men working
-in a field close by, therefore he had to exercise
-great care not to be detected. By a circuitous
-route he at last approached the place, finding it,
-in daylight, to be a very modern up-to-date
-establishment&mdash;evidently the dairy farm of some
-estate, for the outbuildings and barns were all
-new, and of red brick, with corrugated iron roofs.</p>
-
-<p>The farmhouse itself was a big, pleasant place
-situated on a hill, surrounded by a large, well-kept
-flower-garden, and commanding a wide
-view across Kent towards the Thames Estuary
-and the coast.</p>
-
-<p>And as Ronnie crept along the belt of trees,
-his shrewd gaze taking in everything, there
-passed from the house across the farmyard a
-tall man in mechanic&#8217;s blue overalls. He walked
-a trifle lame, and by his gait Pryor felt certain
-that he was one of the men who had been present
-at that mysterious house called &#8220;Number Three&#8221;
-a few nights before.</p>
-
-<p>But why should he wear mechanic&#8217;s overalls,
-unless he attended to some agricultural machinery
-at work on the farm?</p>
-
-<p>Only half-satisfied with the result of his
-observations, Ronnie returned at length to his
-companions, when it was resolved to set watch
-both at Albany Road and at Chandler&#8217;s Farm.
-With that object Pryor later that day telegraphed
-to Collins calling him to London from Harbury,
-and after meeting him introduced him to the
-ex-detective.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>Then that night the two men went to Albany
-Road, while Ronnie and Beryl returned in the
-car back into Kent, where soon after ten o&#8217;clock
-they were hiding on the edge of the little wood
-whence there was afforded a good view of the
-approach to the lonely farm.</p>
-
-<p>Time passed very slowly; they dared not speak
-above a whisper. The night was dull and overcast,
-with threatening rain, but all was silent
-save for the howling of a dog at intervals and
-the striking of a distant church clock.</p>
-
-<p>Far across the valley in the darkness of the
-sky behind the hill could be seen the flicker
-of an anti-aircraft searchlight somewhere in the
-far distance, in readiness for any aerial raid on
-the part of the Huns.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t think what can be in progress here,
-Beryl,&#8221; Ronnie was whispering. &#8220;What, I
-wonder, do those trunks contain?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what we must discover, dear,&#8221; was
-the girl&#8217;s soft reply as, in the darkness, his strong
-hand closed over hers and he drew her fondly
-to his breast.</p>
-
-<p>A dim light still showed in one of the lower
-windows of the farmhouse, though it was now
-long past midnight.</p>
-
-<p>Was the arrival of someone expected? It
-certainly seemed so, because just at two o&#8217;clock
-the door opened and the form of the lame man
-became silhouetted against the light. For a
-moment he came forth and peered into the
-darkness. Then he re-entered and ten minutes
-later the light, extinguished below, reappeared
-at one of the bedroom windows, showing that the
-inmate had retired.</p>
-
-<p>For six nights the same ceaseless vigil was kept,
-but without anything abnormal transpiring. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
-man Marx had not again visited the mysterious
-house in Albany Road, yet the fact that the
-obscured light showed nightly in the window of
-Chandler&#8217;s Farm, made it apparent that some
-midnight visitor was expected. For that reason
-alone Ronnie did not relinquish his vigilance.</p>
-
-<p>One night he was creeping with Beryl towards
-the spot where they spent so many silent hours,
-and had taken a shorter cut across the corner
-of a big grass-field when, of a sudden, his well-beloved
-stumbled and almost fell. Afterwards,
-on groping about, he discovered an insulated
-electric wire lying along the ground.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s curious,&#8221; he whispered. &#8220;Is this a
-telephone, I wonder?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Fearing to switch on his torch, he felt by the
-touch that it was a twin wire twisted very much
-like a telephone-lead.</p>
-
-<p>At the same moment, as they stood together
-in the corner of the field, Beryl sniffed,
-exclaiming:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;What a very strong smell of petrol!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Her lover held his nose in the air, and declared
-that he, too, could detect it, the two discoveries
-puzzling them considerably. Indeed, in the
-succeeding hours as they watched together in
-silence, both tried to account for the existence
-of that secret twisted wire. Whence did it come,
-and whither did it lead?</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll investigate it as soon as it gets light,&#8221;
-Ronnie declared.</p>
-
-<p>Just before two o&#8217;clock the silence was broken
-by the distant hum of an aeroplane. Both
-detected it at the same instant.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo! One of our boys doing a night
-stunt?&#8221; remarked Ronnie, straining his eyes
-into the darkness, but failing to see the oncoming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
-machine. Away across the hills a long, white
-beam began to search the sky and, having found
-the machine and revealed the rings upon it,
-at once shut off again.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, as it approached, the door of
-Chandler&#8217;s Farm was opened by the tall, lame
-man, who stood outside until the machine, by
-its noise, was almost over them. Then to the
-amazement of the watchers, four points of light
-suddenly appeared at the corners of the grass-field
-on their left.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;By Jove! Why, he&#8217;s coming down!&#8221; cried
-Ronnie astounded. &#8220;There was petrol placed
-at each corner yonder, and it&#8217;s simultaneously
-been ignited by means of the electric wire to
-show him his landing-place! It&#8217;s an enemy
-machine got up to look like one of ours! This
-<i>is</i> a discovery!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;So it is!&#8221; gasped Beryl, standing at her
-lover&#8217;s side, listening to the aeroplane, unseen
-in the darkness, as it hovered around the farm
-and slowly descended.</p>
-
-<p>The man at the farm had brought out a blue
-lamp and was showing it upward.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; exclaimed Pryor. &#8220;He&#8217;s telling
-him the direction of the wind&mdash;a pretty cute
-arrangement, and no mistake!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Lower and lower came the mysterious aeroplane
-until it skimmed the tops of the trees in the wood
-in which they stood, then, making a tour of the
-field, it at last came lightly to earth within the
-square marked by the little cups of burning petrol.</p>
-
-<p>The pilot stopped his engine, the four lights
-burnt dim and went out one after the other, and
-the lame man, hurrying down, gave a low whistle
-which was immediately answered.</p>
-
-<p>Then, on their way back to the farm, the pair<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
-passed close to where the watchers were hidden,
-and in the silence the latter could distinctly
-hear them speaking&mdash;eagerly and excitedly in
-German!</p>
-
-<p>Beryl and Ronnie watched there until dawn,
-when they saw the two men wheel the monoplane,
-disguised as British with rings upon it, into the
-long shed at the bottom of the meadow, the door
-of which the lame man afterwards securely locked.</p>
-
-<p>An hour later Pryor was speaking on the telephone
-with Cranch in London, telling him what
-they had discovered. Soon after midday Beryl
-and Ronnie were back at Harbury, where in the
-library window they stood in consultation.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look here, Beryl,&#8221; the keen-faced young man
-said, &#8220;as that machine has crossed from Belgium,
-it is undoubtedly going back again. If so,
-it will take something with it&mdash;something which
-no doubt the enemy wants to send out of the
-country by secret means.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;With that I quite agree, dear.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Good. Then there&#8217;s no time to be lost,&#8221;
-her lover said, poring over a map. &#8220;We&#8217;ll fly
-over to Chandler&#8217;s Farm this afternoon, come
-down near Fawkham, and put the &#8217;bus away
-till to-night. Then we&#8217;ll see what happens.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll probably fly back to-night,&#8221; the girl
-suggested.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s exactly what I expect. I&#8217;ve told
-Collins and Cranch to meet us there.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>An hour later the great battleplane, &#8220;The
-Hornet,&#8221; Ronnie at the joy-stick, with Beryl
-in air-woman&#8217;s clothes and goggles strapped in
-the observer&#8217;s seat, rose with a roar from the big
-meadow at Harbury and, ascending to an altitude
-of about ten thousand feet, struck away due
-south across the patchwork of brown fields and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
-green meadows, with their tiny clusters of houses
-and white puffs of smoke all blowing in the same
-direction&mdash;the usual panorama of rural England,
-with its straight lines of rails and winding roads,
-as seen from the air.</p>
-
-<p>The roar of the powerful twin engines was such
-that they found conversation impossible, but
-Beryl, practised pilot that she was, soon recognised
-the town over which they were flying.</p>
-
-<p>Soon afterwards the Thames, half-hidden in
-mist and winding like a ribbon, came into view
-far below them. This served as guide, for Ronnie
-kept over the river for some time, at the end of
-which both recognised three church spires and
-knew that the most distant one was that of
-Fawkham, where presently they came down in
-a field about half-way between the station and
-the village, creating considerable sensation among
-the cottagers in the neighbourhood.</p>
-
-<p>Collins, who was awaiting them near the station,
-soon arrived on foot to render them assistance,
-the &#8217;bus being eventually put beneath a convenient
-shed used for the shacking of hay.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie had not used the silencer, fearing to
-create undue excitement among the anti-aircraft
-boys, many of whom had, of course, watched
-the machine&#8217;s flight at various points, examining
-it through glasses and being reassured by its
-painted rings.</p>
-
-<p>Until night fell the lovers remained at
-Fawkham, taking their evening meal in a small
-inn there, and wondering what Cranch had seen
-during the daylight vigil he had kept since noon.
-Collins had left them in order to go on ahead.</p>
-
-<p>As dusk deepened into night both Pryor and
-his well-beloved grew more excited. The discovery
-they had made was certainly an amazing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
-one, but the intentions of the enemy were still
-enveloped in mystery.</p>
-
-<p>That something desperate was to be attempted
-was, however, quite plain.</p>
-
-<p>In eagerness they remained until night had
-fallen completely, then, leaving the inn, they
-returned to the farmer&#8217;s shed, and, wheeling
-forth the powerful machine, got in and, having
-bidden the astonished farmer good-night, Ronnie
-put on the silencer, started the engines, and next
-moment, rising almost noiselessly, made a wide
-circle in the air. Taking his bearings with some
-difficulty, he headed for a small, open common,
-which they both knew well, situated about a
-quarter of a mile from Chandler&#8217;s Farm.</p>
-
-<p>There, with hardly any noise, they made
-a safe descent. Scarcely had the pilot switched
-off the engines, when the faithful Collins appeared
-with the news that Marx and the man Knowles
-had arrived from London in the car at seven
-o&#8217;clock.</p>
-
-<p>Presently, when Collins had been left in charge
-of the &#8217;bus, and Ronnie and Beryl had stolen
-up to where Cranch was waiting, the latter whispered
-that Marx and Knowles had both accompanied
-the German pilot down to the shed wherein
-the disguised machine was reposing. &#8220;They&#8217;re
-all three down there now,&#8221; added the ex-detective.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Did they bring anything in the car?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. Half-a-dozen cans of petrol. They&#8217;ve
-just taken them down to the shed.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>And even as he replied they could hear the
-voices of the three returning. They were conversing
-merrily in German.</p>
-
-<p>Another long, watchful hour went by, and the
-darkness increased.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;If he&#8217;s going over to Belgium it will take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
-him about an hour and three-quarters to reach
-Zeebrugge&mdash;for that&#8217;s where he probably came
-from,&#8221; remarked the expert Pryor. &#8220;It&#8217;s light
-now at four, so he&#8217;ll go up before two, or not at
-all.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;He would hardly risk being caught at sea in
-daylight,&#8221; declared Beryl.</p>
-
-<p>Then, for a long time, there was silence, the
-eyes of all three being fixed upon the door of the
-farm until, of a sudden, it opened and the lame
-man and the enemy pilot were seen to emerge
-carrying between them one of the old leather
-trunks that had been brought from London.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo! They&#8217;re going to take it across by
-air!&#8221; cried Pryor. &#8220;It must contain something
-which ought to remain in this country!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>They watched the trunk being carried in silence
-away into the darkness to the shed. Then
-presently the two men returned and brought
-out the second trunk, which they carried to the
-same spot as the first.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; remarked Ronnie, beneath his breath.
-&#8220;A devilish clever game&mdash;no doubt!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then, instructing Cranch to remain and watch,
-he led Beryl back to where &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; stood.</p>
-
-<p>Into the observer&#8217;s seat he strapped the girl,
-and, hopping in himself, whispered to Collins
-to get all ready.</p>
-
-<p>The engine was started; but it made no sound
-greater than a silent motor-car when standing.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to listen
-for the sound of the engine of the enemy &#8217;plane.</p>
-
-<p>Those moments were full of breathless tension
-and excitement. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; was waiting
-to rise.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly there was a loud sound of uneven
-motor explosions in the direction of the farm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
-The engine was firing badly. In a few moments,
-however, it was rectified, and the loud and increasing
-hum told Ronnie that the enemy had risen.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Stand clear,&#8221; he shouted to Collins, and then,
-as he pulled over the lever, &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; dashed
-forward and was soon rising rapidly, but in silence.</p>
-
-<p>So dark was it that he could not distinguish
-the enemy. Yet, heading for the coast, as he
-knew that was the direction the German had
-taken, he rose higher and higher until five minutes
-later Beryl, at his orders, suddenly switched on
-the searchlight and swept around below them.</p>
-
-<p>At first they could distinguish nothing, yet from
-the direction of the humming they knew it must
-be below them.</p>
-
-<p>Two minutes later Ronnie&#8217;s quick eyes saw it
-in front of them, but a hundred feet or so nearer
-the ground.</p>
-
-<p>The enemy pilot, alarmed by the unexpected
-searchlight in the air, suddenly rose, but Ronnie
-was too quick for him and rose also, at the same
-time rapidly overhauling him.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl, holding her breath, kept the searchlight
-with difficulty upon him as gradually &#8220;The
-Hornet&#8221; drew over directly above him.</p>
-
-<p>Quick as lightning Ronnie touched a button.</p>
-
-<p>There was a loud swish of air, followed a second
-later by a dull, heavy explosion in the valley
-far below.</p>
-
-<p>The bomb had missed!</p>
-
-<p>The enemy was still rising, and from him came
-the quick rattle of a machine-gun, followed by
-a shower of bullets from below.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie Pryor set his teeth hard, and as he
-again touched the button, exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Take that, then!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Next second a bright flash lit up the rural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
-landscape, followed by a terrific explosion, the
-concussion of which caused &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; to
-stagger, reel, and side-slip, while the enemy aeroplane
-was seen falling to earth a huge mass of
-blood-red flame.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>On the following day the evening papers
-reported the finding of a mysterious wrecked
-and burnt-out aeroplane &#8220;somewhere in Kent.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The pilot had been burnt out of all recognition,
-but among the wreckage there had been
-discovered, it was said, some metal fittings
-believed to be the principal parts of some unknown
-machine-gun.</p>
-
-<p>Only Ronald Pryor and Beryl Gaselee knew
-the actual truth, namely, that the enemy&#8217;s
-secret agents, at Marx&#8217;s incentive, had stolen,
-the essential parts of a newly-invented machine-gun,
-and that these were being conveyed by air
-to within the German lines, when the clever plot
-was fortunately frustrated by &#8220;The Hornet.&#8221;</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III.<br />
-
-<small>THE SHABBY STRANGER.</small></h2></div>
-
-
-<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">Ronald</span> has wired that he can&#8217;t get back here
-till to-night, so I shall fly &#8216;The Hornet&#8217; over to
-Sleaford to see Rose,&#8221; remarked Beryl to her
-sister Iris, as they sat together at breakfast at
-Harbury one warm August morning.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Perhaps Ronald might object,&#8221; remarked
-Mrs. Remington, who was always averse from
-her sister making ascents alone upon &#8220;The
-Hornet.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, Ronnie won&#8217;t object! Besides, he always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
-says that I can fly just as well as any
-man.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But do be careful, won&#8217;t you, Beryl?&#8221;
-urged her sister. &#8220;Is the weather really in a
-condition for making such a flight?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Perfect. I&#8217;ve just been looking at the
-barometer. It is quite steady, and I shall have
-an excellent wind back.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I thought Ronald intended to go up on
-patrol-duty to-night. Last night was very dark&mdash;just
-the conditions for another Zepp raid.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I expect he will,&#8221; replied Beryl. &#8220;He told
-me that he intended to patrol the coast.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Then, if you go, you really will be careful,
-won&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl laughed.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why, when once up there is not so much
-danger in the air as there is in walking along a
-London street,&#8221; she declared.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;So Ronnie always says, but I rather doubt
-the statement,&#8221; Iris replied. &#8220;Personally, I
-prefer <i>terra firma</i>.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Breakfast ended, Beryl brushed her little black
-pom, one of her daily duties, and then, going
-to her room, changed her dress, putting on a warm
-jersey and a pair of workmanlike trousers, and
-over them a windproof flying suit with leather
-cap tied beneath her chin, a garb which gave her
-a very masculine appearance.</p>
-
-<p>Very soon she arrived at &#8220;The Hornet Nest,&#8221;
-and, at her directions, Collins brought out
-the great biplane and began to run the engine,
-which Beryl watched with critical eye. Then,
-climbing into the pilot&#8217;s seat, she began to
-manipulate the levers to reassure herself that
-all the controls were in order.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>&#8220;Beautiful morning for a flip, miss!&#8221;
-remarked the mechanic in brown overalls. &#8220;Are
-you going up alone?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, Collins. I&#8217;m going to visit my youngest
-sister at Sleaford, in Lincolnshire.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Then I&#8217;ll take the bombs out,&#8221; he said, and
-at once removed the six powerful bombs from the
-rack, the projectiles intended for the destruction
-of Zeppelins. He also dismounted the quick-firing
-gun.</p>
-
-<p>For some time Beryl did not appear entirely
-satisfied with the throb of the engines, but at last
-Collins adjusted them until they were running
-perfectly.</p>
-
-<p>Within himself Collins was averse from allowing
-the girl to fly such a powerful machine, knowing
-how easily, with such a big engine-power, the
-biplane might get the upper hand of her. But
-as she had made ascents alone in it several times
-before, it was not for him to raise any objection.</p>
-
-<p>Having consulted her map she arranged it
-inside its waterproof cover, looked around at the
-instruments set before her, and then strapped
-herself into the seat.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the engines had been humming
-loudly.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly she motioned to Collins to stand aside,
-and then, pulling over one of the levers,
-she ran along the grass for a short distance and
-rose gracefully in a long spiral, round and round
-over the Harbury woods, until the altimeter
-showed a height of five thousand feet.</p>
-
-<p>Then she studied her map, took her bearings,
-and, drawing on her ample gauntlet gloves, for
-it became chilly, she followed a straight line of
-railway leading due north through Suffolk and
-Norfolk.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>The sky was cloudless, with a slight head-wind.
-On her right, away in the misty distance, lay
-the North Sea, whence came a fresh breeze,
-invigorating after the stifling August morning
-on land. Deep below she identified villages
-and towns. Some of the latter were only indicated
-by palls of smoke, the wind on land being
-insufficient to disperse them. And over all the grey-green
-landscape was a strange flatness, for,
-viewed from above, the country has no contours.
-It is just a series of grey, green, and brown patchwork
-with white, snaky lines, denoting roads, and
-long, grey lines, sometimes disappearing and then
-reappearing, marking railways and their tunnels;
-while here and there comes a glint of sunshine
-upon a river or canal. In the ears there is only
-the deafening roar of petrol-driven machinery.</p>
-
-<p>Once or twice, through the grey haze which
-always rises from the earth on a hot morning,
-Beryl saw the blue line of the sea&mdash;that sea so
-zealously guarded by Britain&#8217;s Navy. Then she
-flew steadily north to the flat fens.</p>
-
-<p>From below, her coming was signalled at several
-points, and at more than one air-station glasses
-were levelled at her. But the tri-coloured rings
-upon the wings reassured our anti-aircraft boys
-and, though they recognised the machine as one
-of unusual model, they allowed her to pass, for
-it was well-known that there were many
-experimental machines in the air.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl had sought and found upon her map
-the Great Northern main line, and had followed
-it from Huntingdon to Peterborough. Afterwards,
-still following the railway, she went for
-many miles until, of a sudden, close by a small town
-which the map told her was called Bourne, in Lincolnshire,
-her engines showed signs of slackening.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>Something was amiss. Her quick ear told her
-so. A number of misfires occurred. She pulled
-over another lever, but the result she expected
-was not apparent. It was annoying that being
-so near Sleaford she had met with engine trouble&mdash;for
-trouble there undoubtedly was.</p>
-
-<p>At that moment she was flying at fully ten
-thousand feet, the normal height for a &#8220;non-stop
-run.&#8221; Without being at all flurried she
-decided that it would be judicious to plane down
-to earth; therefore, putting &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221;
-nose to the wind, she turned slightly eastward,
-and, as she came down, decided to land upon a
-wide expanse of brown-green ground&mdash;which
-very soon she distinguished as a piece of flat,
-rich fenland, in which potatoes were growing.</p>
-
-<p>At last she touched the earth and made a
-dexterous landing.</p>
-
-<p>At that moment, to her great surprise, she
-became aware of a second machine in the vicinity.
-She heard a low droning like that of a big bumblebee,
-and on looking up saw an Army monoplane
-coming down swiftly in her direction.</p>
-
-<p>Indeed, its pilot brought it to earth within
-a few hundred yards of where she had landed.
-Then, springing out, he came across to where
-she stood.</p>
-
-<p>On approaching her he appeared to be greatly
-surprised that the big biplane had been flown by
-a woman.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I saw you were in trouble,&#8221; explained the
-pilot, a tall, good-looking lieutenant of the Royal
-Flying Corps, who spoke with a slight American
-accent, &#8220;so I came down to see if I could give you
-any assistance.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;It is most awfully kind of you,&#8221; Beryl replied,
-pulling off her thick gloves. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
-it is really very much. I&#8217;ve had the same trouble
-before. She&#8217;s a new &#8217;bus.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;So I see,&#8221; replied the stranger, examining
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; with critical eye. &#8220;And she&#8217;s
-very fast, too.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;When did you first see me?&#8221; she asked
-with curiosity.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You were passing over Huntingdon. I had
-come across to the railway from the Great North
-Road which I had followed up from London.
-I&#8217;m on my way to Hull.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, I had no idea you were behind me!&#8221;
-laughed the girl merrily. The air-pilot with the
-silver wings upon his breast seemed a particularly
-nice man, and it showed a good <i>esprit de corps</i> to
-have descended in order to offer assistance to
-another man, as he had no doubt believed the
-pilot to be.</p>
-
-<p>Without further parley, he set to work to help
-her in readjusting her engine, and in doing so quickly
-betrayed his expert knowledge of aeroplane-engines.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I have only a few miles to go&mdash;to Sleaford.
-My sister lives just outside the town, and there
-is a splendid landing-place in her husband&#8217;s
-grounds,&#8221; Beryl explained, when at last the
-engine ran smoothly again.</p>
-
-<p>It was but natural that the good-looking
-lieutenant should appear inquisitive regarding
-the new machine. His expert eye showed him
-the unusual power of the twin engines, and he
-expressed much surprise at several new inventions
-that had been introduced.</p>
-
-<p>He told her that he had been flying for seven
-months at the Front, and had been sent home for
-a rest. He had flown from Farnborough that
-morning and was making a &#8220;non-stop&#8221; to the
-Humber.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>Many were the questions he put to Beryl
-regarding &#8220;The Hornet.&#8221; So many and so
-pressing were his queries that presently she
-became seized by distrust&mdash;why, she could not
-exactly decide.</p>
-
-<p>The air-pilot naturally inquired as to the
-biplane&#8217;s constructor, but all Beryl would say
-was:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;It is not mine. It belongs to a friend of
-mine.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;A gentleman friend, of course?&#8221; he remarked,
-with a mischievous laugh.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Of course! He himself invented it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;A splendid defence against Zeppelins,&#8221; he
-said. &#8220;I see she can carry ten bombs, a searchlight,
-and a Lewis gun. All are wanted against
-the Kaiser&#8217;s infernal baby-killers,&#8221; he added,
-laughing.</p>
-
-<p>Then, having thoroughly examined &#8220;The
-Hornet,&#8221; the courteous lieutenant of the Royal
-Flying Corps stood by until she had again risen
-in the air, waved her gloved hand in farewell,
-made a circle over the field, and then headed
-away for Sleaford.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; grunted the flying-man as he stood
-watching her disappear. &#8220;Foiled again! She&#8217;s
-left that new silencer of hers at home! That
-girl is no fool&mdash;neither is Ronald Pryor. Though
-I waited for her in Bury St. Edmunds and followed
-her up here, I am just about as wise regarding
-&#8216;The Hornet&#8217; as I was before I started.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>For a few moments he stood watching the
-machine as it soared higher and higher against
-the cloudless summer sky.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes! A very pretty girl&mdash;but very clever&mdash;devilishly
-clever!&#8221; he muttered to himself.
-&#8220;Just my luck! If only she had had that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
-silencer I would have silenced her, and taken it
-away with me. However, we are not yet defeated.&#8221;</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>About a week later Ronald Pryor and Beryl
-were lunching together in the grill-room of a
-West End hotel, which was one of their favourite
-meeting-places, when suddenly the girl bent over
-to her lover and exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure that&#8217;s the man, Ronnie.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;What man?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The nice Flying Corps officer whom I met
-near Bourne the other day. You&#8217;ll see him, sitting
-in the corner yonder alone&mdash;reading the paper,&#8221;
-she replied. &#8220;Don&#8217;t look for a moment.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you think you&#8217;ve made a mistake,
-dear?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, I feel positive I haven&#8217;t,&#8221; was the girl&#8217;s
-reply.</p>
-
-<p>That morning Ronald Pryor, accompanied
-by Beryl, had made a flight in &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-from Harbury to the Essex coast and back, and
-they had just arrived in town by train. The
-renowned Zepp-hunter was in a light grey suit,
-while Beryl, becomingly dressed, was in a coat
-and skirt of navy blue gaberdine trimmed with
-broad black silk braid.</p>
-
-<p>A few moments after Beryl had spoken, her
-lover turned suddenly, as though to survey
-the room in search of someone he knew; his
-gaze met that of the solitary man eating his
-lunch leisurely in the corner and apparently,
-until that moment, absorbed in a newspaper.
-The stranger was good-looking, aged about
-thirty, thin, rather narrow-faced, with a pair
-of sharp steel-grey eyes, and a small dark moustache.
-His shoulders were square, and his
-appearance somewhat dandified. In his black<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
-cravat he wore an unusually fine diamond, and
-his hands were white and well-kept.</p>
-
-<p>Apparently he was a man of leisure, and was
-entirely uninterested in those about him, for,
-after a sharp glance of inquiry at Ronald, he
-continued reading his paper.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Are you quite sure you&#8217;ve made no
-mistake?&#8221; inquired Pryor of his companion.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Positive, my dear Ronald. That&#8217;s the man
-whom I met in the uniform of the Royal Flying
-Corps, and who was so kind to me. No doubt,
-he doesn&#8217;t recognise me in these clothes.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Then why isn&#8217;t he in uniform now?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Perhaps he has leave to wear <i>civvies</i>,&#8221; she
-replied. &#8220;There are so many curious regulations
-and exemptions nowadays.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Though the stranger&#8217;s eyes had met those of
-Beryl there had been no sign of recognition.
-Hence she soon began to share Ronald&#8217;s doubt
-as to whether he was really the same person
-who had descended in that potato field in Lincolnshire,
-and had so gallantly assisted her in
-her trouble.</p>
-
-<p>Ronald and his well-beloved, having finished
-their luncheon, rose and drove together in a taxi
-over to Waterloo, the former being due to visit
-his works at Weybridge, where he had an
-appointment with one of the Government
-Inspectors.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as they had passed out of the restaurant
-the man who sat alone tossed his paper aside,
-paid his bill, and left.</p>
-
-<p>Ten minutes later he entered a suite of chambers
-in Ryder Street, where an elderly, rather staid-looking
-grey-haired man rose to greet him.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;What news?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Nothing much&mdash;except that Pryor is flying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
-to-night on patrol work,&#8221; replied the other in
-German.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m, that means that he will have the new
-silencer upon his machine!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Exactly,&#8221; said the man who had displayed
-the silver wings of the Royal Flying Corps, though
-he had no right whatever to them. &#8220;By day
-&#8216;The Hornet&#8217; never carries the silencer. I
-proved that when I assisted the girl in Lincolnshire.
-We can only secure it by night.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;And that is a little difficult&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;a trifle.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Then how do you intend to act, my dear
-Leffner.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The man addressed shrugged his shoulders.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I have an idea,&#8221; was his reply. &#8220;But I
-do not yet know if it is feasible until I make
-further observations and inquiries.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You anticipate success? Good!&#8221; the elder
-man replied in satisfaction. &#8220;Think of all it
-means to us. Only to-day I have received another
-very urgent request from our good friend, Mr.
-J&mdash;&mdash;; a request for the full details of the construction
-of &#8216;The Hornet.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We have most of them,&#8221; replied the man
-addressed as Leffner.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But not the secret of the silencer. That seems
-to be well guarded, does it not?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;It is very well guarded,&#8221; Leffner admitted.
-&#8220;But I view the future with considerable confidence
-because the girl flies the machine alone, and&mdash;well,&#8221;
-he laughed&mdash;&#8220;strange and unaccountable
-accidents happen to aeroplanes sometimes!&#8221;</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>A few days later, soon after noon, a narrow-faced
-man, with shifty eyes, carrying a small,
-well-worn leather bag, entered the old King&#8217;s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
-Head Inn in Harbury village and, seating himself
-in the bar, mopped his brow with his handkerchief.
-The mile walk from the nearest station
-had been a hot one along a dusty, shadeless road,
-and when Jane Joyce, the landlady&#8217;s daughter,
-appeared, the shabby traveller ordered a pint
-of ale, which he drank almost at one draught.</p>
-
-<p>Then, lighting his pipe, he began to chat with
-Jane, having, as a preliminary, ordered some
-luncheon. By this man&oelig;uvre he had loosened
-the young woman&#8217;s tongue, and she was soon
-gossiping about the village and those who lived
-there.</p>
-
-<p>The wayfarer asked many questions; as excuse,
-he said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The reason I want to know is because I
-travel in jewellery, and I daresay there are a
-lot of people about here whom I might call upon.
-I come from Birmingham, and I&#8217;m usually in
-this district four times a year, though I&#8217;ve never
-been in Harbury before. My name is George
-Bean.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, there&#8217;s not many people here who buy
-jewellery,&#8221; replied the landlady&#8217;s daughter.
-&#8220;Farming is so bad just now, and the war has
-affected things a lot here. But why don&#8217;t you
-go up and see Mrs. Remington, at Harbury Court?
-They&#8217;ve got lots of money.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ah! Who are they?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, Captain Remington is a prisoner in
-Germany, but Mrs. Remington is still at home.
-She has her sister, Miss Beryl Gaselee, staying
-with her. Perhaps you&#8217;ve heard of her. She&#8217;s a
-great flying-woman.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, yes!&#8221; replied the stranger. &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen
-things about her in the papers. Does she fly
-much?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>&#8220;A good deal. Mr. Ronald Pryor, to whom
-she&#8217;s engaged, invented her machine; he calls
-it &#8216;The Hornet,&#8217; and he keeps it here&mdash;in a
-corrugated iron shed in the park, close to the
-house!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;How interesting!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. And the pair often go up at nights,&#8221;
-went on the young woman. &#8220;Mother and I
-frequently hear them passing over the house in
-the darkness.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Do you always hear them go up?&#8221; asked
-the stranger suddenly.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, not always. They go over sometimes
-without making a sound.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That is at night, I suppose? In the day you
-can always hear them.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. Always.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The traveller in Birmingham jewellery remained
-silent for a few minutes.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I suppose they have a mechanic there?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;a Mr. Collins. He comes in sometimes
-with Mr. Sheppard, the butler. He was butler to
-the Colonel&#8217;s old father, you know.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;And this Mr. Collins lives at the house, I
-suppose?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No. He sleeps in the place where the new
-aeroplane is kept.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Bean smiled, but made no comment.
-Knowledge of that fact was, to him, important.
-He lit another pipe, and, while Miss Joyce went
-away to lay the table for his lunch in the adjoining
-room, he stretched his legs and thought deeply.</p>
-
-<p>Hans Leffner, <i>alias</i> George Bean, was the son
-of a German who, forty years before, had emigrated
-from Hamburg to Boston. Born in
-America he was, nevertheless, a true son of the
-Fatherland. He had been educated in Germany,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
-and returned to Boston about a year before
-war broke out.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly he had been called up for confidential
-service, and within a month had found himself
-despatched to London, the bearer of an American
-passport in the name of Henry Lane, commercial
-traveller, of St. Louis. Upon a dozen different
-secret matters he had been employed, until knowledge
-of the existence of &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; having
-reached the spy-bureau in Berlin, he received
-certain secret instructions which he was carrying
-out to the letter.</p>
-
-<p>Hans Leffner had been taught at his mother&#8217;s
-knee to hate England, and he hated it with a most
-deadly hatred. He was a clever and daring spy,
-as his masquerade in the Royal Flying Corps
-uniform clearly proved; moreover, he was an aviation
-expert who had once held a post of under-director
-in &#8220;Uncle&#8221; Zeppelin&#8217;s aircraft factory.</p>
-
-<p>For some weeks he had dogged the footsteps
-of Ronald and Beryl, and they, happy in each
-other&#8217;s affection, had been quite ignorant of how
-the wandering American had been unduly
-attracted towards them.</p>
-
-<p>The landlady of the King&#8217;s Head&mdash;that long,
-thatched, old-world house over which for fifty
-years her husband had ruled as landlord&mdash;had
-no suspicion that the jeweller&#8217;s traveller was
-anything but an Englishman from Birmingham.
-He spoke English well, and had no appearance
-of the Teuton.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Bean ate his chop alone, waited on by
-Jane, who, finding him affable, imparted to him
-all the information she knew regarding Harbury
-Court and its inmates.</p>
-
-<p>At half-past two the traveller, taking his bag,
-set out on a tour of the village in an endeavour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
-to dispose of some of his samples. His appearance
-was much changed, and he bore but little resemblance
-to the pilot of the Royal Flying Corps
-who had descended near Bourne. He looked
-much older, and walked wearily, with a decided
-stoop.</p>
-
-<p>At house after house in the long village street
-he called, disguising his intentions most perfectly.
-At more than one cottage he was allowed to
-exhibit his wares, and at the shop of the village
-baker the daughter in charge purchased a little
-brooch for five shillings. Its cost price was thirty
-shillings, but Mr. Bean wanted to effect a sale
-and, by so doing, appear to be carrying on a
-legitimate business.</p>
-
-<p>By six o&#8217;clock he was back again at the King&#8217;s
-Head, having called upon most of the inhabitants
-of Harbury. He had, indeed, been up to the
-Court, and not only had he shown his samples
-to the maids, but he had taken two orders for
-rings to be sent on approval.</p>
-
-<p>Incidentally he had passed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221;
-nest, and had seen the machine in the meadow
-outside, ready for the night flight. As a
-simple, hard-working, travel-stained dealer in
-cheap jewellery nobody had suspected him of
-enemy intentions. But he had laid his plans
-very carefully, and his observations round
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; nest had told him much.</p>
-
-<p>To Mrs. Joyce he declared that he was very
-tired and, in consequence, had decided to remain
-the night. So he was shown up stairs that were
-narrow to a low-ceilinged room where the bed-stead
-was one that had been there since the days
-of Queen Anne. The chintzes were bright and
-clean, but the candle in its brass candlestick
-was a survival of an age long forgotten.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>At ten o&#8217;clock he retired to bed, declaring himself
-very fatigued, but on going to his room he threw
-open the old-fashioned, latticed window, and
-listened. The night was very dark, but quite
-calm&mdash;just the night for an air raid from the
-enemy shore.</p>
-
-<p>Having blown out his candle he sat down,
-alert at any sound. After nearly an hour, Mrs.
-Joyce and her daughter having retired to bed,
-he suddenly detected a slight swish in the air,
-quite distinct from the well-known hum of the
-usual aeroplane. It was a low sound, rising at
-one moment and lost the next. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-had passed over the inn so quietly that it would
-not awaken the lightest sleeper.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;By Jove!&#8221; he exclaimed aloud to himself.
-&#8220;That silencer is, indeed wonderful!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>With the greatest caution he opened his door
-and, creeping down on tiptoe, was soon outside
-in the village street; keeping beneath the deep
-shadows, he went forward on the road which led
-up the hill to the long belt of trees near
-which had been erected the corrugated iron
-shed.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile Ronald, accompanied by Beryl, had
-ascended higher and higher in the darkness.
-Ronnie had swung the machine into the wind,
-and they were climbing, climbing straight into
-the dark vault above. Below were twinkling
-shaded lights, some the red and green signal
-lights of railways. Beryl could see dimly the
-horizon of the world, and used as she was to it, she
-realised how amazing it was to look down upon
-Mother Earth. By day, when one is flying, the
-sky does not rise and meet in a great arch overhead,
-but, like a huge bowl, the sky seems to pass
-over and incircle the earth.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>They were flying due east by the dimly lit
-compass at five thousand feet, heading straight
-for the Essex coast.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We may possibly have visitors from Belgium
-to-night,&#8221; laughed Ronnie, as he turned to his
-well-beloved. &#8220;But look! Why&mdash;we are already
-over the sea!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl, gazing down, saw below a tiny light
-twinkling out a message in Morse, answered by
-another light not far distant. Two ships were
-signalling. Then Ronnie made a wide circle in
-that limitless void which obliterated the meeting
-point of earth and sea.</p>
-
-<p>The long white beam of a searchlight sweeping
-slowly seaward, turned back inland and followed
-them until it picked up &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; Ronnie
-banking suddenly to show the tri-coloured circles
-upon his wings.</p>
-
-<p>Afterwards he again consulted his compass and
-struck due south, following the coast-line over
-Harwich and round to the Thames estuary.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No luck to-night, dearest!&#8221; laughed Ronnie.
-&#8220;The barometer is too low for our friends.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said the girl. &#8220;Let us get back!&#8221;
-And Ronnie once more circled his machine very
-prettily, showing perfect mastery over it, as he
-came down lower and lower until, when passing
-over Felixstowe, he was not more than three
-hundred feet in the air.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, the guest at the King&#8217;s Head had
-made the most of his time. He had reasoned,
-and not without truth, that if &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-had ascended, the mechanic, Collins, would no
-doubt leave the hangar, and, if so, that now would
-be a good opportunity to obtain entrance.</p>
-
-<p>With that in view he had crept along to the shed
-and, as he had hoped, found the doors unlocked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
-Quickly he entered and, by the aid of his flash-lamp,
-looked round.</p>
-
-<p>At last the long tentacles of the German spy-bureau
-in the &#8220;K�niggr�tzerstrasse&#8221; had spread
-to the little village of Harbury.</p>
-
-<p>Five minutes sufficed for the spy to complete
-his observations. At an engineer&#8217;s bench he
-halted and realised the technical details of a
-certain part of the secret silencer. But only a
-part, and by it he was pretty puzzled.</p>
-
-<p>He held it in his hand in the light of his flash-lamp
-and, in German exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;<i>Ach!</i> I wonder how that can be? If we
-could only obtain the secret of that silencer!&#8221;
-the Hun continued to himself. &#8220;But we shall&mdash;no
-doubt! I and my friends have not come
-here for nothing. We have work before us&mdash;and
-we shall complete it, if not to-day&mdash;then
-in the near to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The shabby stranger returned to the King&#8217;s
-Head and, letting himself in, retired to his room
-without a sound. Hardly had he undressed when
-he heard again that low swish of &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-on her return from her scouting circuit of the
-Thames estuary.</p>
-
-<p>Hans Leffner, <i>alias</i> Bean, had not been trained
-as a spy for nothing. He was a crafty, clever
-cosmopolitan, whose little eyes and wide ears
-were ever upon the alert for information, and who
-could pose perfectly in half-a-dozen disguises.
-As the traveller of a Birmingham jewellery firm
-he could entirely deceive the cheap jeweller
-of any little town. He was one of many such
-men who were passing up and down Great Britain,
-learning all they could of our defences, our newest
-inventions, and our intentions.</p>
-
-<p>Next day Mr. Bean remained indoors at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
-King&#8217;s Head, for it was a drenching day. But
-at last, when the weather cleared at eight o&#8217;clock,
-he lit his pipe and strolled out in the fading light.</p>
-
-<p>Before leaving he had taken from the bottom
-of the bag containing his samples of cheap
-jewellery a small, thick screw-bolt about two
-inches long, and placed it in his pocket with an
-air of confidence.</p>
-
-<p>Half-an-hour later he crept into the shed which
-sheltered &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; and, not finding the
-silencer upon the exhaust, as he had anticipated,
-turned his attention to the fusilage of the biplane.
-From this he quickly, and with expert hand,
-unscrewed a bolt, swiftly substituting in its stead
-the bolt he had brought, which he screwed in
-place carefully with his pocket wrench.</p>
-
-<p>The bolt he had withdrawn hung heavily in
-his jacket-pocket, and as he stood, alert and eager,
-there suddenly sounded the musical voice of a
-woman.</p>
-
-<p>Next second he had slipped out of the hangar
-and gained cover in a thicket close by.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl was crossing the grass, laughing gaily
-in the falling light. With her were Pryor, and
-Collins the mechanic. A few minutes before,
-Ronald and she, having finished dinner, had put
-on their flying-suits and, passing through the long
-windows out upon the lawn, had bidden farewell
-to Iris, as they were going on their usual patrol flight.</p>
-
-<p>Ronald, leaving her suddenly, struck away
-to the hangar and, entering it, turned up the
-electric lights. With both hands he tested the
-steel stays of the great biplane, and then, aided
-by the mechanic, he wheeled the machine out
-ready for an ascent, for the atmospheric conditions
-were exactly suitable for an air raid by the
-enemy.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>&#8220;We had better go up and test the engines,
-dear,&#8221; he suggested. &#8220;This afternoon they were
-not at all satisfactory.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl climbed into the observer&#8217;s seat, he
-following as pilot, while Collins disappeared round
-the corner of the hangar to get something.</p>
-
-<p>Then the pair, seated beside each other and
-tightly strapped in, prepared to ascend in the
-increasing darkness.</p>
-
-<p>The sudden roar of the powerful engines was
-terrific, and could be heard many miles away,
-for they were testing without the silencer.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had they risen a hundred feet from the
-ground when there was a sharp crack and &#8220;The
-Hornet,&#8221; swerving, shed her right wing entirely,
-and dived straight with her nose to the earth.</p>
-
-<p>A crash, a heavy thud, and in an instant Ronald
-and Beryl, happily strapped in their seats, were
-half-stunned by the concussion. Had they not
-been secured in their seats both must have been
-killed, as the man Leffner had intended.</p>
-
-<p>The engine had stopped, for, half the propeller
-being broken, the other half had embedded
-itself deeply into the ground. Collins came
-running up, half frantic with fear, but was soon
-reassured by the pair of intrepid aviators, who
-unstrapped themselves and quickly climbed out
-of the wreckage. Ere long a flare was lit and the
-broken wing carefully examined; it was soon
-discovered that &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; had been tampered
-with, one of the steel bolts having been
-replaced by a painted one of wood!</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;This is the work of the enemy!&#8221; remarked
-Ronnie thoughtfully. &#8220;They cannot obtain sight
-of the silencer, therefore there has been a dastardly
-plot to kill both of us. We must be a little more
-wary in future, dear.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>Ronald&#8217;s shrewdness did not show itself openly,
-but having made a good many inquiries, both
-in Harbury village and elsewhere, he, at last,
-was able to identify the man who had made that
-secret attempt upon their lives. Of this, however,
-he said nothing to Beryl. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; was
-repaired, and they made night flights again.</p>
-
-<p>Ronald anticipated that a second attempt
-would be made to obtain the silencer. Taking
-Collins into his confidence, he made it his habit
-each dawn, when they came home from their
-patrol of the coast, to leave in the little office
-beside the hangar the box which contained the
-silencer, the secret of which he knew the Germans
-were so very anxious to obtain.</p>
-
-<p>For a fortnight nothing untoward occurred,
-until one morning soon after all three had returned
-from a flight to London and back, they were
-startled by a terrific explosion from the direction
-of the hangar.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo!&#8221; exclaimed Ronald. &#8220;What&#8217;s that?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The trap has gone off, sir,&#8221; was Collins&#8217;s
-grim reply.</p>
-
-<p>All three ran back to the shed, whereupon
-they saw that the little office had been entirely
-swept away, and that part of the roof of the
-hangar was off. Amid the wreckage lay the
-body of a man with his face shattered, stone-dead.
-&#8220;He thought the box contained the silencer,
-and when he lifted the lid he received a nasty
-shock, sir&mdash;eh?&#8221; Collins remarked.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But who is it, Ronald?&#8221; gasped Beryl,
-horrified.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The man who made the attempt on our
-lives a month ago, dearest,&#8221; was her lover&#8217;s
-reply. &#8220;Come away. He has paid the penalty
-which all spies should pay.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>A few hours later Ronald Pryor made a statement
-to the authorities which resulted in the
-explosion being regarded, to all but those immediately
-concerned, as a complete mystery.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV.<br />
-
-<small>THE THURSDAY RENDEZVOUS.</small></h2></div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Beryl Gaselee</span>, in her warm leather motor-coat
-and close-fitting little hat, stood gazing
-out of the coffee-room window of the Unicorn
-Hotel in the quiet old cathedral town of Ripon,
-in Yorkshire.</p>
-
-<p>In the falling twilight of the wintry afternoon
-all looked dull and cheerless. The car stood
-outside with Ronald Pryor and Collins attending
-to some slight engine-trouble&mdash;the fast, open
-car which Ronnie sometimes used to such
-advantage. It was covered with mud, after
-the long run north from Suffolk, for they
-had started from Harbury long before daylight,
-and, until an hour ago, had been moving
-swiftly up the Great North Road, by way of Stamford,
-Grantham, and Doncaster to York. There
-they had turned away to Ripon, where, for an
-hour, they had eaten and rested. In a basket the
-waiter had placed some cold food with some
-bread and a bottle of wine, and this had been
-duly transferred to the car.</p>
-
-<p>All was now ready for a continuance of the
-journey.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, Beryl!&#8221; exclaimed Ronnie, returning
-to where the pretty young air-woman was standing
-before the fire. &#8220;All ready&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Quite, dear,&#8221; was her reply. &#8220;You haven&#8217;t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
-forgotten the revolvers, have you?&#8221; she asked
-in a low voice.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No. There&#8217;s one for each of us&mdash;and one
-for you if you&#8217;d like it,&#8221; he laughed.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. I think I&#8217;d better have it, dear&mdash;one
-never knows.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Not much good against a machine-gun,
-you know!&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;But a weapon always
-gives one confidence.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had the flask filled with hot tea,&#8221; she
-said. &#8220;We shall, no doubt, want it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. It will be a coldish job. Are you
-quite warm enough&mdash;quite sure you are?&#8221; he
-asked, as the white-haired old waiter entered the
-snug, warm coffee-room.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Quite,&#8221; she answered, as she drew on her fur-lined
-gloves.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well&mdash;good-evening, waiter!&#8221; exclaimed
-Ronnie cheerily.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Good-evening, sir,&#8221; replied the old man
-pleasantly.</p>
-
-<p>Ten minutes later, with Ronnie driving, Beryl
-snuggled at his side, and Collins seated under
-the rug in the back of the car, they had passed
-the dark, imposing fa�ade of the grey, old cathedral
-and were well out upon the darkening road,
-through High Berrys and over Hutton Moor.
-At last they reached Baldersby Gate, where they
-turned into the long, straight Roman road which
-runs direct north from York, and, though a
-continuation of the old Watling Street, is there
-known as Leeming Lane.</p>
-
-<p>With nightfall there had arisen a cutting
-north-east wind, that searching breeze which
-all dwellers in Yorkshire know far too well, comes
-over with the month of February.</p>
-
-<p>From Baldersby Gate, past Sinderby Station,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
-through Hope Town on to Leeming village, the
-ancient road ran straight as an arrow, then, with
-a slight curve to Leeming Station, it ran on to
-Catterick. By this time they had passed the
-race-course, which lay on the left of the road
-before coming to the cross-roads; it was already
-dark, and drawing up at Catterick Bridge Station,
-Collins got down and lit the head-lamps, Ronald
-Pryor having a written permission from Whitehall
-to use them.</p>
-
-<p>Striking across through the town of Richmond
-they climbed the high hills over Hipswell and
-Barden Moor to Leyburn, and then down into
-Wensley Dale, famed for its cheeses, by the
-northern road which took them through the
-picturesque village of Redmire on to Askrigg as
-far as a darkened and lonely inn close to Hardraw
-Force. There they pulled up, and, entering,
-asked for something to eat.</p>
-
-<p>By that time, ten o&#8217;clock, all three were chilled
-to the bone, after crossing those wide, open
-moorlands, where the keen wind cut their faces
-all the time. The landlady, a stout, cheerful
-person, soon busied herself to provide creature
-comforts for the travellers, and within a quarter
-of an hour all were seated at a substantial
-meal.</p>
-
-<p>While the good woman was busying herself
-at table Ronnie suddenly became inquisitive,
-exclaiming:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a friend of mine, a Mr. Aylesworth,
-who often comes up to this neighbourhood. He
-lives in Leeds, but he rents a cottage somewhere
-about here. He&#8217;s a queer and rather lonely man.
-Do you happen to know him?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, sir! Mr. Aylesworth is quite well
-known in Hardraw. He has rented old Tom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
-Dalton&#8217;s cottage, up on the hill at Simon Stone,
-for quite eighteen months now.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Is that far from here?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Only about half-a-mile up Buttertubs Pass.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Buttertubs! What a very curious name!&#8221;
-Beryl remarked. &#8220;Where does the pass lead
-to?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why, straight up over Abbotside Common,
-just below Lovely Seat, and it comes out on the
-high road in Swale Dale, close to Thwaite.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Who is Dalton?&#8221; asked the airman.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Old Farmer Dalton. He&#8217;s got several cottages
-on his place. He himself lives over at Gayle,
-close to Hawes.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Does my friend Aylesworth ever come in
-here?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, very often, sir!&#8221; replied the woman.
-&#8220;Everybody knows him. He&#8217;s such a real cheerful,
-good-hearted gentleman. He&#8217;s always giving
-away something. It&#8217;s a sad thing for many
-about here that there&#8217;s no treating nowadays.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; laughed Beryl, &#8220;the order is, I hear
-from my friends, very often broken.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re right, miss,&#8221; the broad, round-faced
-woman admitted. &#8220;You can&#8217;t always prevent
-it, you know, though we folk do all we can,
-because of our licenses.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;So my friend Aylesworth is quite popular?
-I&#8217;m glad to hear that,&#8221; replied Ronnie. &#8220;He
-lives here constantly nowadays, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, no, sir! He comes down here just at
-odd times. Sometimes in the beginning of the
-week; sometimes for the week-end,&#8221; was the
-reply. &#8220;He&#8217;s often up in London&mdash;on Government
-contracts, I&#8217;ve heard him say.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl and her lover exchanged shrewd and
-meaning glances.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, I know that Mr. Aylesworth must be
-very busy,&#8221; remarked Pryor. &#8220;I suppose he
-comes out here just for quiet and rest?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. That&#8217;s it, sir,&#8221; replied the inn-keeper&#8217;s
-wife. &#8220;Only the other day he called in here, and
-was saying that he was so busy that it was a
-complete change to come here to the moors for
-rest and fresh air.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve had Zepps over here lately, I&#8217;ve heard.
-Is that true?&#8221; inquired Ronnie.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, they&#8217;ve passed over once or twice, they
-say, but I&#8217;ve been in bed and asleep. My husband
-was called up last month, and is now in training
-down in Kent. Only a week ago he wrote to me
-saying he hoped I wasn&#8217;t frightened by them.
-Somebody down in Kent had evidently spread
-a report that they had been over here. But I&#8217;m
-thankful to say I heard nothing of them.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Do you ever get aeroplanes over?&#8221; asked
-Beryl.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, miss! We get some across in the
-daytime. They must have an aerodrome somewhere
-on the coast, I think&mdash;but I don&#8217;t know
-where it is.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Do you ever hear anything of them at
-night?&#8221; inquired the girl.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, just now and then. I&#8217;ve been awakened
-sometimes by the humming of them passing over
-at night&mdash;our patrols, I suppose they are.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronald Pryor exchanged another meaning
-glance with his well-beloved.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Do they sound quite near?&#8221; he asked.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh! quite&mdash;unusually low. I suppose they
-man&oelig;uvre across the moors?&#8221; she said. &#8220;Mr.
-Benton, the farmer who lives over at Crosslands,
-quite close here, was only the other day telling
-me a curious story. He said he was going home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
-late the other night from Jack Sneath&#8217;s, when he
-heard an aeroplane above him, and he saw the
-machine making some flashlights&mdash;signalling to
-somebody. It flew round and round, hovering
-and signalling madly. Suddenly, he told me, the
-aviator cut off his engine, as though he had
-received an answer, and sailing over the moor,
-descended somewhere close by, for the hum of
-the engine was heard no more.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Curious!&#8221; Pryor remarked, again glancing
-at his well-beloved.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, no, sir!&#8221; replied the smiling woman.
-&#8220;It was only the night man&oelig;uvres of our splendid
-aircraft boys. Really everyone must admire
-them,&#8221; she added, unaware of Ronald Pryor&#8217;s
-qualifications as an air-pilot.</p>
-
-<p>Ten minutes later all three were out on the road
-again, travelling along the valley in the direction
-of Hawes Junction. The night was overcast and
-very dark, therefore Ronnie was compelled to
-switch on his head-lights, the road at that part
-being particularly dangerous.</p>
-
-<p>The country they were now in was a wild and
-lonely one, with high peaks and wide, desolate
-moorlands; a sparsely populated district, far
-removed from the busy workaday world.</p>
-
-<p>They had travelled as far as the old inn called
-the Moor Cock, where the road branches off to
-Kirkby Stephen, when Ronnie pulled up, and,
-turning, ran back again to within a mile of Hardraw.
-Then finding a convenient grass field, he
-ran the car in behind a low stone wall, where
-it was hidden from any passer-by. Then, each
-taking a flash-lamp and a revolver, they, after
-shutting off the lights, sought a path which at
-last they took, climbing up the steep hill-side.</p>
-
-<p>A quarter of an hour&#8217;s walk brought them to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
-narrow, stony lane, which, after another quarter
-of an hour, led them to a long, low, stone-built
-cottage, surrounded by a clump of trees.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s Dalton&#8217;s cottage,&#8221; remarked Ronnie.
-&#8220;It answers exactly to the description we have
-of it. Now, Collins, you get down on the left,
-so as to have a good point of view while we watch
-for anything stirring away on the right.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>It was then half-past ten o&#8217;clock. Though cold,
-the night was very still on those lonely moorlands.
-The house Ronnie and Beryl were approaching
-was in total darkness, a gloomy, remote place
-in which the mystery-man from Leeds, George
-Aylesworth, came for rest and quiet after the
-business turmoil of the great manufacturing town.</p>
-
-<p>At last Ronald and his companion got up quite
-close to the house, and finding a spot whence
-they had a good view of the front door, they
-crouched beneath an ivy-clad wall, and there,
-without speaking, waited, knowing that Collins
-was on watch at the rear of the premises.</p>
-
-<p>Their vigil was a long and weary one until
-at last the door opened. By the light within
-there was revealed a tall, lean man in overcoat
-and golf-cap. Beneath his left arm he carried
-something long and round, like a cylinder, while
-in his right hand he had a stout stick.</p>
-
-<p>He came out, closed the door carefully behind
-him, and then, passing close to where the air-woman
-and her lover were crouched in concealment,
-struck away up a steep, narrow path which
-led up to the summit of the Black Hill. Happily
-for the watchers the wind had now become rather
-rough, hence they were able to follow the man
-Aylesworth&mdash;for Ronald recognised him by the
-description; keeping at a respectful distance, of
-course, but determinedly dogging his footsteps.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>After walking for nearly half-a-mile up a steep
-ascent, and over a stony path, the man Aylesworth
-halted at a point which gave a view of the
-moor, with its fells and dales, for many miles
-around. From where Ronald halted he could
-see the man faintly silhouetted against the skyline.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; whispered Beryl. &#8220;What is he
-doing?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Watch,&#8221; urged her companion.</p>
-
-<p>And as they watched they suddenly saw a
-beam of intense, white light, a miniature searchlight
-of great brilliance, pierce the darkness skyward.
-The man Aylesworth was manipulating
-what they now recognised to be an acetylene
-signalling apparatus, a cylinder mounted upon a
-light tripod of aluminium, with a bright
-reflector behind the gas-jet, and, from the manner
-that the light began to &#8220;wink,&#8221; three times in
-quick succession&mdash;the Morse letter &#8220;S.&#8221;&mdash;there
-was evidently some shutter arrangement upon it.</p>
-
-<p>Slowly the beam turned from north to south,
-making the Morse &#8220;S.&#8221; upon the clouds time after
-time.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly the light was shut off. For five
-minutes by Ronald&#8217;s watch no flicker was shown.
-Then, once again, the series of &#8220;S&#8217;s.&#8221; was repeated in
-a semi-circle from north to south, and back again.</p>
-
-<p>Another five minutes passed in darkness.</p>
-
-<p>Once more the light opened out and commenced
-to signal the Morse flashes and flares &#8220;N. F.,&#8221;
-&#8220;N. F.,&#8221; &#8220;N. F.,&#8221; followed by a long beam of
-light skyward, slowly sweeping in a circle.</p>
-
-<p>Pryor glanced at his watch. It was then
-exactly midnight. Aylesworth had, no doubt, a
-rendezvous with someone. His signal could be
-seen from that point over a radius of fully thirty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
-miles, or even more, for Ronnie, who understood
-signalling, was well aware that the portable
-apparatus being used was one of the most intense
-and reliable type&mdash;one that was, indeed, being
-used by the German army in Flanders.</p>
-
-<p>For the next half-hour the signals were repeated,
-until, of a sudden, Beryl&#8217;s quick ears caught some
-unusual sound.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hark!&#8221; she whispered.</p>
-
-<p>Both, on listening intently, heard the low hum
-of a distant aeroplane in the darkness.</p>
-
-<p>The light was signalling madly, and at the
-same time the machine, high in the vault of the
-night sky, was fast approaching. The pair
-watched, straining their eyes to discover it, but
-though the sound betrayed its presence, they could
-not discern its whereabouts until there appeared
-high over them a small, bright light, like a green
-star, which repeated the signal &#8220;N. F.,&#8221; &#8220;N. F.,&#8221;
-half-a-dozen times.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;This is most interesting!&#8221; whispered Ronald,
-&#8220;Look! Why, he&#8217;s planing down.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl watched, and saw how the aeroplane
-which had come out of the night was now making
-short spirals, and planing down as quickly as was
-practicable in that rather dangerous wind.</p>
-
-<p>Every moment the low hum of the engine
-became more and more distinct as, time after
-time, signals were shown in response to those
-flashed by the mysterious man from Leeds.
-Then ten minutes later the machine, which proved
-to be a Fokker, came to earth only about fifty
-yards from where Beryl and Ronald were standing.</p>
-
-<p>Aylesworth ran up breathlessly the moment the
-machine touched the grass, and with him the
-watchers crept swiftly up, in order to try to overhear
-the conversation.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>It was in German. The aviator and his
-observer climbed out of the seats and stood
-with Mr. Aylesworth, chatting and laughing.</p>
-
-<p>The pilot calmly lit a cigarette, and drawing
-something from his pocket, gave it to the man
-who had been awaiting his arrival. Thereupon,
-Aylesworth, on his part, handed the airman a
-letter, saying in English:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all to-night. Please tell Count von
-Stumnitz that the reply will not be given till
-Thursday next. By that time we shall have
-news from the North Sea.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Excellent,&#8221; replied the aviator, who spoke
-English perfectly, and who, if the truth were
-told, had before the war lived the life of a bachelor
-in Jermyn Street. &#8220;I shall be over again on
-Thursday at midnight punctually. I must run up
-from the south next time. The anti-aircraft
-found me on the coast and fired.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, if you come on Thursday I&#8217;ll have
-the despatch ready.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly the observer, who spoke in German,
-said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I have some letters here from the Wilhelmstrasse.
-Will you post them for me?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Certainly.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;They are all ready. They are written upon
-English paper, and English penny stamps are
-upon them. Therefore, they can be put into
-any post-box, and will not arouse suspicion.
-They mostly contain instructions to our good
-friends who are scattered over Great Britain.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Aylesworth took from the man&#8217;s hand a packet
-of letters tied with string&mdash;secret despatches from
-the German General Staff to the Kaiser&#8217;s spies
-in Great Britain&mdash;and thrust them into the
-big pocket of his overcoat.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>The two Huns and the traitor stood there
-together in cheery conversation. Much that
-they said Ronald and Beryl could not overhear.
-Sometimes there was low whispering, sometimes
-a burst of hilarious laughter. But it was evident
-that all three were in perfect accord, and that
-the aviator and his observer were well-known
-to Mr. Aylesworth of Leeds.</p>
-
-<p>Far away&mdash;many miles off&mdash;there showed a
-faint tremor in the sky, the flash of a distant
-anti-aircraft searchlight. Now and then it
-trembled, then all became dark again. The pair
-of enemies, who that night had landed upon
-British soil, at last decided that it was high
-time for them to hie back over the North Sea,
-therefore they climbed again into their machine&mdash;one
-of the fastest and newest of the Fokker
-type&mdash;and for a few minutes busied themselves
-in testing their instruments and engine.</p>
-
-<p>The pilot descended again to have a final look
-round, after which he once more climbed up to
-his seat, while Aylesworth, acting as mechanic&mdash;for,
-if the truth be told, he had been an aviator&#8217;s
-mechanic at Hendon for three years before the
-outbreak of war&mdash;gave the propeller a swing over.</p>
-
-<p>There was a loud roar, the machine leapt
-forward over the withered heather, bumping along
-the uneven surface, until, gaining speed, the tail
-slowly lifted, and after a run of a couple of hundred
-yards, the Fokker skimmed easily away off the
-ground.</p>
-
-<p>As Ronnie watched in silence he saw that for
-another fifty yards the German pilot held her
-down, and then, with a rush and that quick swoop
-of which the Fokker is capable, up she went,
-and away!</p>
-
-<p>She made a circuit of perhaps eight hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
-feet and then sped somewhere into the darkness
-upon a straight eastward course to the coast, and
-over the rough North Sea.</p>
-
-<p>As the pair watched, still arm-in-arm, they
-again saw the faint tremor of our searchlights
-in the far distance.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Wouff! Wouff! Wouff!&#8221; sounded faintly
-far away.</p>
-
-<p>The Fokker had been picked up by our anti-aircraft
-boys, and was being fired upon!</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Wouff! Wouff!&#8221; again sounded afar. But
-the bark of the shell died away, and it seemed plain
-that the Hun machine had, by a series of side-slips,
-nose-dives, and quick turns, avoided our
-anti-aircraft guns, and was well on its way carrying
-those secret communications to the German
-General Staff.</p>
-
-<p>The enemy pilot had &#8220;streaked off&#8221; eastwards,
-and to sea.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Now we know this fellow Aylesworth&#8217;s
-game!&#8221; whispered Ronnie. &#8220;Next Thursday
-he will be sending away some important message.
-Therefore, we must be here to have a finger in
-the enemy&#8217;s pie&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Certainly, dearest,&#8221; replied the gallant little
-woman at his side. &#8220;It certainly is a <i>coup</i> for
-you that you have discovered this secret means
-of communication between ourselves and the
-enemy.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Not really,&#8221; he said in a low voice. &#8220;Our
-people scented the mystery, and have handed it
-on to me to investigate.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, we know that something is leaving us
-on Thursday&mdash;some important information.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Just so. And is it up to us to see that Aylesworth
-does not send it across the sea successfully&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>&#8220;Let&#8217;s get away now,&#8221; urged Beryl. &#8220;He
-may discover us.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronald stood, his arm linked in that of his
-well-beloved. He made no remark as he watched
-the dark silhouette of the man Aylesworth
-disappear over the brow of the hill.</p>
-
-<p>Presently he said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, dear, he hasn&#8217;t discovered us. But
-if all goes well we shall be back here on
-Thursday.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Half-an-hour later they met Collins awaiting
-them near the car. The mechanic became
-greatly interested when his master described
-briefly what they had seen.</p>
-
-<p>Then all three mounted into their seats, the
-lights were switched on, and they turned back to
-Kirkby Stephen, where they spent the remainder
-of the night at the old &#8220;King&#8217;s Arms,&#8221; giving
-a fictitious story of a breakdown.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Two days later, Pryor having made a long
-written report to the Anti-Aircraft Headquarters,
-took the train from Liverpool Street Station
-down to Harbury Court, there to await instructions.
-Beryl, who was already down there
-with Iris, was greatly excited, for only she,
-Ronald, and Collins knew of the intended <i>coup</i>
-next Thursday. Zeppelins had sailed over the
-East Coast, and had paid the penalty for so
-doing. &#8220;Uncle&#8221;&mdash;the pet name for Count
-Zeppelin at the Potsdam Court&mdash;was, it was
-reported, in tears of rage. He had promised
-the Kaiser that he would appal Great Britain,
-but the British refused even to be alarmed.
-The Zeppelin menace, thought by the world to
-be so serious, had &#8220;fizzled out,&#8221; and it now seemed
-that the more mobile aeroplane&mdash;often with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
-British tri-colour rings upon its wings&mdash;had taken
-its place. And it was one of those which Ronnie
-and Beryl knew would be due over that Yorkshire
-moor next Thursday at midnight.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie spent the night at Harbury, and in the
-morning received a telegram calling him urgently to
-Whitehall. On his return, he said but little, though,
-from his smile, Beryl knew that he was
-satisfied.</p>
-
-<p>Wednesday came, and in his brown overalls he
-spent nearly the whole day with Collins in
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s Nest.&#8221; They were getting the
-machine in trim for a long night flight.</p>
-
-<p>Both pilot and mechanic consumed many
-cigarettes as they worked, Ronnie examining
-every stay and every instrument. He satisfied
-himself that the Lewis gun, which could fire
-through the propeller, was in working order, and
-he tested the silencer, which he brought out from
-the house for that purpose, and then returned
-it to its place of safety from the prying eyes of
-the enemy.</p>
-
-<p>Now and then Beryl came out and watched
-the preparations.</p>
-
-<p>Thursday dawned grey and overcast, with every
-indication of rain. Indeed, rain fell at ten
-o&#8217;clock, but at eleven, it having cleared, Ronnie
-took Collins, and they went up for a &#8220;flip&#8221;
-together in order to make a final test.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl and her sister stood in the meadow
-watching the machine ascend higher and higher,
-until it had gained an altitude of fully twelve
-thousand feet. Then it seemed to hover for a
-moment, after which, with a long, graceful
-swoop, Ronnie commenced a series of aerial
-evolutions which Beryl, as an accomplished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
-air-woman, knew to be most difficult, and showed
-to her what perfect control Ronald had over the
-machine. The silencer was on, therefore no
-sound could be heard of the engines.</p>
-
-<p>In about twenty minutes&#8217; time Ronnie came
-lightly to earth, and pulled up close to where Iris
-and her sister were standing.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Everything going finely!&#8221; he shouted to
-Beryl, as he unstrapped himself, and clambered
-out of the pilot&#8217;s seat.</p>
-
-<p>Then, when he joined her, he said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;As the crow flies the spot on the moor is
-about two hundred and thirty miles from here.
-Therefore we ought to leave soon after seven
-in case we lose our way.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then, after luncheon, they spent the afternoon
-studying maps and marking directions by which
-to steer, by the lines of railway mostly. Night
-flying, with the lights of towns extinguished, is
-always a difficult matter, and, as Beryl knew by
-experience, it is extremely easy to lose one&#8217;s way
-by a single mistake.</p>
-
-<p>By seven o&#8217;clock darkness had already fallen;
-but the barometer, at which both had glanced
-many times with anxious eyes, showed a slow,
-steady rise, and with the direction of the wind,
-combined to create excellent conditions for flying
-at high altitudes.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; had been wheeled out of its
-&#8220;nest,&#8221; and Beryl in her fur-lined aviation kit,
-her leather cap and goggles, had strapped herself
-in behind her lover, who, with a flash-lamp, was now
-busily examining the row of instruments before
-him. Meanwhile Collins, on the ground, shouted:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Best of luck to you, sir, and also to Miss Beryl!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Thank you, Collins!&#8221; cried the girl. &#8220;We
-ought to be back by five.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>&#8220;All ready, Collins?&#8221; asked Ronnie at last
-sharply.</p>
-
-<p>The mechanic sprang to the propeller.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Contact, sir?&#8221; he asked.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie threw over the switch with a click.
-The mechanic swung the big, four-bladed propeller
-over, when the engine started with noisy, metallic
-clatter, increasing until it became a deep roar.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie was testing his engine. Finding it
-satisfactory, he quickly throttled down. Collins
-took the &#8220;chocks&#8221; from beneath the wheels,
-and the pilot &#8220;taxied&#8221; slowly across to the corner
-of the big field until, gaining speed, he opened
-up suddenly, when the machine skimmed easily
-off the ground, over the belt of trees, and away
-up into the void.</p>
-
-<p>As they ascended, Beryl, gazing down, saw
-below a few faint lights to the south-east, and
-knew that there lay the important town of H&mdash;&mdash;,
-blotted out at even that early hour of the evening,
-for the lights visible would have only indicated
-a village in pre-war days.</p>
-
-<p>In the sky further eastwards toward the sea was
-a slight tremor of light showing that searchlights
-were already at work testing their beams, and
-making oblong patches of light upon the clouds.</p>
-
-<p>At ten thousand feet up, as the altimeter then
-showed, it was intensely cold, and the girl
-buttoned up her fur-lined coat and fastened up
-her wind-cuffs. The roar of the engine was too
-great, of course, to admit of conversation.
-Ronnie had not switched on the silencer, as it
-impeded speed, and after a long flight it might
-choke just at the very moment when its services
-were most required.</p>
-
-<p>Due north in the increasing darkness went
-&#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; skilfully handled by the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
-intrepid of air-pilots, high over town, forest, and
-pasture, hill and dale, as the hours crept slowly
-on.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, however, Ronnie turned the machine,
-and began to circle over a few scattered lights.
-Then Beryl recognised his uncertainty. Time
-after time he searched for the railway line to
-York, but though both of them strained their eyes
-they could not pick it up again.</p>
-
-<p>Hence they were compelled, much to Ronnie&#8217;s
-chagrin, to make a descent in a big grass-field,
-where, in the blackness, they made a rather
-rough landing, and presently inquired their
-whereabouts of some villagers.</p>
-
-<p>To their amazement they found that beneath
-the hill where they had descended the railway
-line actually ran. And it was on account of the
-long tunnel they had missed it.</p>
-
-<p>So, ascending once more, they struck again due
-north by the compass, and finding the line, flew
-along it over Doncaster to York. Then, still
-continuing northwards, they reached Thirsk
-Junction, until five minutes later as they were
-approaching Northallerton, intending to strike
-westward and follow the line to Hawes, &#8220;The
-Hornet&#8221; developed serious engine trouble, and
-Ronnie was forced again to descend, planing
-down into an unploughed field.</p>
-
-<p>For half-an-hour, aided actively by Beryl, he
-was occupied in making a repair. It was then
-past eleven, and the girl expressed a hope that
-they would be at the rendezvous by midnight.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;It will really be too bad if we arrive too
-late,&#8221; she added apprehensively.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie did not reply. He was seriously contemplating
-giving up the expedition. The engine
-trouble was a very serious one. They might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
-last out perhaps another hour, but &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-could never return to Harbury with the engine
-in that state. This distressing fact, however, he
-did not tell her.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hark!&#8221; cried Beryl suddenly. &#8220;Listen!
-Why, there&#8217;s a machine up&mdash;over us!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Ronald hold his breath. Yes, there was the
-distinct hum of a machine coming up from the
-east, following the railway from the main line
-over towards Hawes.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh! do let&#8217;s go up. That may be Aylesworth&#8217;s
-friend,&#8221; suggested Beryl.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I expect it is,&#8221; replied Ronnie grimly. &#8220;But
-with this engine there is danger&mdash;very grave
-danger&mdash;Beryl, dear. Are you quite prepared
-to risk it?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll risk anything with you,&#8221; was the girl&#8217;s
-prompt reply. &#8220;We&#8217;ve risked our lives in the
-air before, and we&#8217;ll do so again to-night. We
-must not fail now that we&#8217;re within an ace of
-success.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Her words spurred Ronnie to a supreme effort.
-With the hum of the mysterious machine in his
-ears, he set his teeth; then with the spanner in
-his hand he screwed the nut tightly, and without
-many further words he told his well-beloved
-that all was ready. They both got in, and two
-minutes later they were rising in the air, rapidly
-overhauling the mysterious machine.</p>
-
-<p>Those moments seemed hours to Beryl. She
-scarcely dared to breathe. Ronnie had switched
-on the silencer, and they were now speeding
-through the air without a sound, save for the
-shrill whistle of the wind through the planes.</p>
-
-<p>By the hum of the engine of the machine they
-were following they kept silently in its wake,
-gradually overhauling it.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>Suddenly they saw flashes of white light from it&mdash;signals
-to the traitor Aylesworth in waiting
-below. Then they knew that they were not
-mistaken.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie put every ounce into his crocked-up
-engine, knowing that if it failed they might make
-a nose-dive fatal to them both. Like an arrow
-he sped towards the aeroplane which had crept
-over the North Sea, and across Yorkshire to meet
-the man who had promised those secret despatches.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl saw deep below the flashes of a lamp&mdash;&#8220;N.
-F.,&#8221; &#8220;N. F.,&#8221; in Morse.</p>
-
-<p>Ronald Pryor saw it also and, suddenly turning
-the nose of his machine, he made a circle in silence
-around the enemy aeroplane. Again he circled
-much nearer. The German pilot was utterly
-ignorant of his presence, so silently did he pass
-through the air, until, narrowing the circle,
-he waited for the Fokker to plane down; then, in
-a flash, he flew past, and, with his hand upon the
-Lewis gun, he showered a veritable hail of lead
-upon it.</p>
-
-<p>The Fokker reeled, and then nose-dived to
-earth, with&mdash;as was afterwards found&mdash;its pilot
-shot through the brain, its petrol-tank pierced
-in five places, and one of its wings hanging limp
-and broken, such a terrible shower of lead had
-Pryor directed against it.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl and Ronald Pryor had perforce to return
-by train to Harbury, but, by previous arrangement,
-the man Aylesworth had been arrested,
-and was duly tried by court-martial. It is known
-that he was found guilty and condemned, but
-the exact sentence upon him will probably not
-be known until after the declaration of peace.</p>
-
-<p>And, after all, the doom of a traitor is best
-left unrecorded.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
-<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V.<br />
-
-<small>CONCERNS THE HIDDEN HAND.</small></h2></div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">One</span> evening&mdash;the evening of June 14th, 1916,
-to be exact&mdash;Ronald Pryor came forth through
-one of the long French windows which led out
-upon the sloping lawn at Harbury Court, and
-gazed out upon the extensive and picturesque
-landscape; the low ridge of hills was soft in the
-grey and crimson of the summer afterglow.</p>
-
-<p>With Beryl, and Iris, he had dined an hour
-ago, after which Beryl had gone for a flight in
-&#8220;The Hornet.&#8221; She had been away more than
-half-an-hour when, seated alone, he drained his
-liqueur, placed his cigarette-end in the ash-tray,
-and glanced anxiously at his wrist-watch.</p>
-
-<p>Then he had gone out into the calm June night.</p>
-
-<p>Passing from the spacious gardens surrounding
-the Court&mdash;ill-kept nowadays, for all the men
-were serving in the Army&mdash;he went down to
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s Nest.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>He opened the sliding door sufficiently to allow
-himself to enter, and for the next hour he was busy
-within. At last he reappeared with an old,
-wide-mouthed kitbag, similar to those used by
-hunting men in pre-war days.</p>
-
-<p>Carrying it across the field to the opposite
-corner, he opened it beneath the high elm-tree
-which they were always compelled to avoid in
-their ascents or descents. Then he took out a
-coil of black-enamelled wire, the end of which
-bore a lead plummet. Carefully examining the
-coil, he held it loosely in his hand and, stepping
-back a few paces, quickly swung the lead around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
-his head half-a-dozen times, and then, with a
-sudden jerk, released it, sending it high up into
-the branches of the tree, where it remained with
-its wire attached. A few feet down the wire,
-towards the ground, there had been inserted a
-brown porcelain insulator, while, as the airman
-paid out the wire, receding from the tree as he
-did so, a second insulator came into view.</p>
-
-<p>Having let out sufficient wire, he at last pegged
-its end to the ground. Thus, from the grass to
-the tree, stretched up a long single wire. From
-his square-mouthed bag he took out a small
-box of polished mahogany and, opening it, there
-was disclosed within a complete little wireless
-set. A small mat of copper gauze he took also
-from the bag and, spreading it upon the damp
-grass as an &#8220;earth,&#8221; he connected up his
-instruments with expert hand.</p>
-
-<p>Presently he glanced at the watch on his wrist;
-by this time the twilight was rapidly falling, the
-mists were rising, and a few sparks of light could
-be seen twinkling deep down in the grey valley.
-Then he removed his cap and, assuming the double
-head &#8217;phones, carefully adjusted his detector and
-listened attentively.</p>
-
-<p>From anyone passing along the high road he
-was entirely hidden from view. The possession
-of wireless was forbidden under heavy penalty
-by the Defence of the Realm Act, but Ronnie
-Pryor was one of the fortunate few whose permits
-for experiment had been recently renewed by the
-Admiralty.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; he exclaimed aloud. &#8220;There&#8217;s
-Norddeich going strong, sending out the usual
-German official lies&mdash;and also the Eiffel Tower.
-Two budgets of official war news at the same
-time!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>Again he listened with great patience and
-attention, as he knelt upon the grass. The neat
-little installation was, of course, for receiving
-only, there being no electrical current for transmission.
-A small, round ebonite handle at the
-end of the box he turned backwards and forwards
-very slowly, altering his wave-length ever and
-anon, making it longer or shorter in order to
-&#8220;tune&#8221; himself to the message he was apparently
-expecting.</p>
-
-<p>Once again he glanced at his watch very
-anxiously. Then, for the next three-quarters
-of an hour, while the dusk deepened into darkness,
-he remained upon his patient vigil.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;At last!&#8221; he gasped aloud, as he switched
-on a little shaded lamp which shone obliquely
-within the box; then he bent down, and, on a
-small writing-pad, began to take down rapidly
-the letters he heard in Morse code&mdash;an unintelligible
-jumble of the alphabet, each nine letters
-being separated by a space.</p>
-
-<p>Presently there ticked into his ears the three
-&#8220;shorts,&#8221; followed by &#8220;long-short-long,&#8221;
-which signified &#8220;end of work.&#8221; Still bending to
-the tiny light, he took from his pocket a little
-book. On consulting it, he placed over each
-code-letter its de-coded equivalent, afterwards
-reading it to his apparent satisfaction.</p>
-
-<p>Then he rose, standing with his face to the
-north, and gazing over the wide valley into the
-night sky. He lit a cigarette, and remained
-there for a full quarter of an hour. Afterwards
-he consulted a map from his pocket and then,
-lighting another cigarette, waited somewhat
-impatiently. Now and then he could hear the
-roar of a car or a motor-cycle passing along the
-high road at the back of him.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>About three-quarters of an hour after the reception
-of the message, Pryor connected up four
-dry batteries he had in his bag to a lamp with
-a wide lens, which he placed on its back upon
-the ground, so that the beams were directed
-upwards. Then again, after pulling down the
-wire, he seated himself upon a root of the great
-tree and waited, listening very attentively.</p>
-
-<p>At last he heard a faint hum in the darkness&mdash;a
-low sound like the distant buzzing of a bee.</p>
-
-<p>It was approaching rapidly&mdash;an aeroplane
-high in the dark sky, for neither moon nor stars
-showed that night. The machine was approaching
-from the direction of London, yet, though he
-strained his eyes, he could not distinguish it in
-that dark-blue vault above.</p>
-
-<p>On it came rapidly in his direction. Into the
-electric circuit he had put a little tapping-key
-and, touching it, he tapped out the Morse letters:
-&#8220;X X D&#8221;&mdash;his own wireless call number.</p>
-
-<p>Time after time he repeated the call &#8220;X X D&mdash;X
-X D!&#8221; at the same time straining his eyes
-into the darkness.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, almost exactly above him, he saw,
-like a tiny star in the sky, a light twinkling. He
-read the message, and knew that his signal
-had been seen and read.</p>
-
-<p>Next second he tapped out upon the key&mdash;flashing
-it to the arriving aeroplane&mdash;the direction
-of the light wind, afterwards opening up the light
-to serve as a guide. The aeroplane, humming
-above in the darkness, swept down lower and lower
-in half-mile spirals until, of a sudden, a powerful
-searchlight beamed out from it, directed upon
-the earth below; its pilot was looking for a safe
-landing-place.</p>
-
-<p>Slowly it circled round and round until, a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
-minutes later, it came to earth in the opposite
-corner of the field to that in which Ronnie was
-standing. In an instant, with the cessation of
-the throbbing of the engine, the light was shut
-off, and Pryor, having long ago packed up his
-wireless, hastened across.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo!&#8221; he shouted into the darkness.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo, Ronnie!&#8221; answered a girl&#8217;s voice
-cheerily, and a few seconds later Beryl Gaselee
-received a warm and fond caress.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I got your message all right, darling!&#8221; the
-man exclaimed, while the girl, in her workmanlike
-air-woman&#8217;s kit, stood before the propeller
-and stretched her arms above her head after her
-long flight away into Hampshire and back. By
-the light of Ronnie&#8217;s flash-lamp she was revealed
-in her leather flying-cap, her hair tucked away
-beneath it, her mackintosh confined at the waist
-by a wide belt, and, instead of a skirt, brown
-mechanic&#8217;s overalls.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I came across Bedford and St. Albans, but
-just beyond I had a terrible fright. I was flying
-low in order to pick up a railway-line when, of
-a sudden, a searchlight opened up from somewhere
-and I was attacked by two anti-aircraft
-guns. One shell whistled within five yards of
-the left plane of &#8216;The Hornet.&#8217; Indeed, it was
-quite a miracle that I was not winged.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But couldn&#8217;t the fools see the rings on the
-planes? Didn&#8217;t you bank in order to show
-them?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Of course I did, but I was in a cloud, and they
-could not see me with any accuracy. You see,
-I never gave word to headquarters that I was
-going up. I quite forgot it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, well, in that case it is only natural that
-they would fire upon any stray aircraft at night!&#8221;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
-Ronnie replied. &#8220;But I got your message all
-right, which proves that our wireless works well.
-Where were you when you sent it?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I had flown about ten miles beyond Oxford.
-I had some trouble with the engine, so I was
-late in starting,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;You left your
-kit in the machine,&#8221; she added, and, climbing
-again into &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; she threw out a leather
-cap and a heavy mackintosh.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Did you hear anything suspicious?&#8221; she
-asked, as he placed the bag containing the wireless
-in the observer&#8217;s seat.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;It was just as we have
-guessed&mdash;enemy messages on a short wave-length.
-Not very plain, to be sure, but they are being
-transmitted, without a doubt. I heard you
-perfectly,&#8221; he added. &#8220;But we haven&#8217;t much
-time to waste if we are to keep the appointment.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The &#8217;bus is going beautifully,&#8221; Beryl said.
-&#8220;I should have had quite a pleasant trip if it
-were not for the &#8216;Archie-fire.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;They may believe that the enemy send
-aeroplanes over to us at night painted to resemble
-ours. That is the reason you got peppered,
-no doubt,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We must give that station
-a wide berth in future.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Climbing into the pilot&#8217;s seat he examined the
-map set beneath the small electric bulb, and afterwards
-slipped on his airman&#8217;s coat and cap, and
-buckled the strap round his waist. Then, after
-she had swung over the propeller, he helped his
-well-beloved into the observer&#8217;s seat into which
-she strapped herself.</p>
-
-<p>With a quick bumpy run they sped over the
-pasture, and then, on the lower ground, they rose
-with a roar of the engine, turned and, passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
-over the high road, circled over the opposite
-hill. Higher and higher Ronnie went up into
-the starless darkness, making great circles in
-order to get up five thousand feet.</p>
-
-<p>As the speed increased in the darkness the
-machine, thrusting its nose still upwards and lying
-over resolutely in its long spiral climb, throbbed
-onward until, at a thousand feet, there came to
-both a delicious sense of relief as they moved
-along on an even keel.</p>
-
-<p>For over an hour they flew until they were
-high above the long, steep High Street of Guildford,
-where only a few twinkling lights could be
-seen below, owing to the excellent precautions
-of its Chief Constable. At that altitude, from
-the number of lights, an enemy airman would
-never have suspected it to be a town at all.</p>
-
-<p>It was not long, however&mdash;even while they
-were circling above the town and Ronnie was
-taking his bearings&mdash;before two intense beams
-from searchlights shot out and almost blinded
-the aviators. For fully two minutes the lights
-followed them. Then the watchers below, having
-satisfied themselves that it was a friendly &#8217;plane,
-shut off again, and all was darkness.</p>
-
-<p>They had flown perhaps nine miles from
-Guildford when, of a sudden, almost directly
-below them, there sprang up four points of red
-light&mdash;lit simultaneously by an electrical wire&mdash;which
-showed them their landing-place.</p>
-
-<p>Down they swept until Ronnie, an expert in
-landing at night, found himself in a large grass-field.
-Collins came running forward eagerly to
-welcome him.</p>
-
-<p>The four lights were at once extinguished, and
-the engine being shut off, all was quiet again.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, sir, I think you&#8217;re quite right,&#8221; Collins<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
-said at last. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been watching these two days,
-and there&#8217;s something mysterious in the wind.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Have you seen them?&#8221; asked Ronnie eagerly.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. A youngish man and a stout old
-woman. When I got down I found Shawfield to
-be only a tiny place with one old inn, The Bell,
-and I knew that a stranger&#8217;s movements would
-be well watched. So I went three miles farther,
-and took a room at The George, in Bricklehurst.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;How far is the farm from here?&#8221; asked Beryl.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, about a mile&mdash;not more, miss! Behind
-that wood yonder,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;They had a
-visitor this afternoon&mdash;a tall, fair, well-dressed
-man. He&#8217;s probably spending the night there.
-I watched him arrive at Shawfield Station, and
-the man who calls himself Cator met him, and
-drove him in the car to the Manor Farm.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I wonder who the visitor is?&#8221; remarked
-Pryor.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;He is probably one of the gang,&#8221; Beryl
-suggested. &#8220;No doubt he has come down from
-London to see them in secret. The woman
-poses as Cator&#8217;s mother, I believe.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, miss. I&#8217;ve discovered that they bought
-the Manor Farm in 1913, and that Cator had an
-excellent assistant, a Belgian, it was supposed&mdash;or
-at least he gave himself out to be that. Cator
-erected new farm-buildings that you will see&mdash;nice,
-red-brick structures with corrugated iron
-roofs, and spent a large sum of money on
-improvements.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;New buildings&mdash;eh?&#8221; sniffed Ronnie in
-suspicion.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s just the point, sir. But let&#8217;s
-get over there, and I&#8217;ll show you one or two things
-that I regard as suspicious.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Thereupon the pair, guided by Collins, threw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
-off their air-clothes and crossed the field to a gate
-where a footpath led into a dark wood, the air-mechanic
-switching on a pocket-torch to light
-their way. They conversed only in whispers,
-lest there should be anyone lurking in the vicinity,
-and on traversing the wood, found themselves out
-upon a broad highway. Then, after going perhaps
-a quarter of a mile, they turned into a second wood
-and continued through it until, at its farther
-boundary, they saw before them, silhouetted
-against the night sky, a cluster of farm-buildings,
-with the farmhouse itself close by.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hush!&#8221; urged Collins. Then, drawing his
-companions near him, he halted and whispered,
-&#8220;See that long building&mdash;away from the others?
-That&#8217;s where the mystery lies!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>They both strained their eyes, and could see
-distinctly the long, low-built structure straight
-before them.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Follow me,&#8221; Collins whispered. &#8220;Be careful
-to make no noise. There are two dogs in the yard
-yonder, but they&#8217;re chained up.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a mercy!&#8221; Beryl remarked, as the
-pair moved slowly after the mechanic.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, when they came out upon an ill-made
-track which was evidently a byway,
-Collins stopped and, turning his flash-lamp upon
-the ground, pointed out the recent marks of
-wheels, the broad, flat-tyred wheels of a motor-lorry.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;See what&#8217;s been here of late&mdash;eh?&#8221; he
-whispered. &#8220;Look!&#8221; and he slowly flashed the
-light across the road. &#8220;It&#8217;s been here quite
-half-a-dozen times recently&mdash;on different nights or
-days.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; replied Ronnie. &#8220;You are quite
-right! Do those tracks lead up to the building?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>&#8220;Yes. Come and see.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>They went, and before the big, heavy doors
-which were locked so securely they saw, by the
-faint light the man showed, marks of where the
-lorry had backed right into the building.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Then it must have a concrete floor!&#8221;
-remarked Ronnie as he examined the tracks
-intently. &#8220;Several lorries have been here, without
-a doubt. But might they not have been
-carting grain away?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No. Because no threshing has been done
-here for over two years.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Dare we go near the house?&#8221; Beryl asked.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, miss; it wouldn&#8217;t be wise. We&#8217;d have
-to pass through the yard, and the dogs would give
-tongue at once.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh, we mustn&#8217;t alarm them!&#8221; Ronnie said.
-&#8220;If we are to be successful we must do everything
-in secret and spring a real surprise. Only,&#8221;
-he added, &#8220;we must make quite certain that they
-are guilty.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; Beryl agreed. &#8220;But how?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ah, that&#8217;s the point!&#8221; said Ronnie, taking
-out his own torch, and again examining the tracks
-of the lorry in the soft ground. With the aid
-of a folding foot-rule he drew forth from his
-pocket, he took measurements at several points
-in the road, then said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;It is not always the same lorry that comes
-here. One is heavier than the other. The one
-which came most recently is the larger of the two,
-and from the depth of the rut it must have been
-loaded to its capacity. See there, where it sank
-into a soft place!&#8221;&mdash;and he indicated a spot
-where one wheel had sunk in very deeply.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Further,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;I judge, by the recent
-dry weather, that those lorries have been here at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
-intervals of about three days. They came from
-some considerable distance, no doubt. The last
-was here yesterday, in which case the next would
-be here the day after to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Then I can stay and see with my own eyes?&#8221;
-suggested Collins.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Exactly my idea,&#8221; his master replied. &#8220;You
-could be an actual witness, and make a statement
-before I dare act.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>At that moment all three were startled by
-hearing voices. People were coming out of the
-farmhouse. The dogs in the yard barked&mdash;showing
-that the voice of one of the persons was
-that of a stranger&mdash;the man from London.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Quick!&#8221; cried Collins. &#8220;Let&#8217;s get into
-hiding somewhere. I hope they won&#8217;t let those
-infernal dogs loose, or they&#8217;ll soon scent us out!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I hope not!&#8221; said Beryl, who, though a lover
-of dogs, held farm dogs, in such circumstances,
-in distinct suspicion.</p>
-
-<p>All three sped quickly back, crouching behind
-a wooden fence close by, just as the fitful light of
-a lantern could be seen approaching. Three
-persons were revealed&mdash;the man Cator, his
-guest, and the fat old woman.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to catch
-their conversation, but at first they could not
-distinguish a single word.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly the woman, with a loud laugh,
-spoke more distinctly. Yes! She spoke in
-German, the man from London answering in the
-same language!</p>
-
-<p>They walked to the door of the long, low
-building which, after some difficulty, the man
-Cator unlocked, leaving his old hurricane-lamp
-outside. The trio went in; therefore it was plain
-one of them carried an electric torch.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>&#8220;I suppose they are showing him their handiwork&mdash;eh?&#8221;
-remarked Beryl in a whisper.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No doubt. He has come down from London
-to make an inspection, it seems.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>They could hear voices speaking in German
-within the building, but dared not emerge from
-their place of concealment to peer within. Ronnie
-had suggested it, but Beryl urged a judicious
-course.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;No, let Collins remain and watch,&#8221; she said
-in a whisper. &#8220;Every moment we remain here
-means graver peril to our plans. If they scent
-the slightest suspicion, then all our efforts will
-be in vain. Have you noticed over there?
-I&#8217;ve been looking at it for some minutes, and I
-don&#8217;t think my eyes deceive me.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; asked Ronnie.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why, look at that chimney-stack upon the
-farmhouse! Can&#8217;t you see something&mdash;a wire
-running from it right away to that high tree on
-the left?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;by Gad! That&#8217;s so, Beryl! Why,
-they&#8217;ve got wireless here! They evidently string
-up an aerial at night!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, I haven&#8217;t noticed that before!&#8221; said
-Collins. &#8220;But no doubt you&#8217;re right, sir. That&#8217;s
-a wireless aerial, without question.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. But let&#8217;s get away,&#8221; Ronnie urged.
-&#8220;They may release those horrible dogs for a run,
-and then it would be all up.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>So the trio, creeping cautiously, receded by
-the dark path along which they had reached the
-Manor Farm, and were soon back again in the
-Monk&#8217;s Wood, as Collins told them it was named.</p>
-
-<p>Back again at the spot where they had left
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; they held council.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You remain here, Collins,&#8221; said Pryor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
-&#8220;Watch the place, and see what arrives. The
-next lorry may come along the day after to-morrow,
-or the day after that. You will see
-what its load is. Then, having made certain,
-come back straight to Harbury. We&#8217;ll wait for
-you there. Telephone me, but not from the
-locality. You understand?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Very well, sir,&#8221; replied the air-mechanic,
-who, in a rather shabby blue suit, wore a brass
-badge as one doing national work.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie and Beryl climbed back into the
-machine, fastened the straps round themselves,
-and made all ready for their long flight from
-Surrey, across London, to Harbury Court.</p>
-
-<p>They said good-bye to Collins, who, taking
-the propeller, pulled it over, while Pryor threw
-over the contact.</p>
-
-<p>There was no response.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hullo! What&#8217;s up?&#8221; asked Ronnie.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t know, sir,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;Try again.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>They both tried again&mdash;and again, but no
-response could be got out of the engine. &#8220;The
-Hornet&#8221; had lost its sting!</p>
-
-<p>Both pilot and observer descended again to
-make a minute investigation. Both of them were
-conversant with every point of an aero-engine, but
-neither could discover the fault. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-had simply broken down!</p>
-
-<p>For nearly an hour the trio worked hard to
-get a move on the engine, but without success.</p>
-
-<p>At last Ronald declared that it would be best
-to wait until dawn, so they sat down upon the
-grass beneath the hedge, smoking cigarettes and
-chatting.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;By Jove!&#8221; exclaimed Ronnie. &#8220;If it is
-really true what we suspect, how we shall surprise
-them&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, dear,&#8221; said his well-beloved. &#8220;But
-Collins must have absolute and undeniable
-evidence.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Of course. We cannot act without that.
-See over there&mdash;the faint light in the sky.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>And he pointed to the pale light, eastward,
-which heralded the dawn.</p>
-
-<p>Already the birds were twittering, and away
-somewhere a dog was barking furiously. In
-pre-war times the chimes of village church clocks
-would have struck the hour. But now, in fear
-of enemy aircraft, all chimes were silent.</p>
-
-<p>Slowly the light stole over the hill, and
-presently all three walked over to &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-for another minute examination. Within ten
-minutes Collins had found the fault&mdash;quite a
-usual but unexpected one&mdash;and five minutes
-afterwards the engine was ready for the ascent.</p>
-
-<p>Pryor climbed into the pilot&#8217;s seat to test it,
-and did so half-a-dozen times before he pronounced
-his verdict that the machine was in a fit
-condition to fly back over London.</p>
-
-<p>At last, when Ronnie and Beryl had climbed in
-and settled themselves, the mechanic swung
-over the propeller, the engine roared, and a few
-moments later they had left the earth, speeding
-higher and higher in the direction of London,
-on their return to Harbury Court.</p>
-
-<p>Collins, as soon as they had left, wound up the
-electric wires connecting the little tin pans of
-petrol at each corner of the field, and hid the
-pans themselves in the hedge. Then, having
-removed all traces of the machine&#8217;s presence
-there, he started back on his three-mile walk to
-the obscure little village in which he had taken
-up his quarters.</p>
-
-<p>Next day he relaxed his vigilance on the Manor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
-Farm and, with an elderly man, a retired schoolmaster
-whom he had met in the bar of The
-George, he went for a day&#8217;s fishing in the river
-which ran outside the village.</p>
-
-<p>The old man, whose name was Haddon, had a
-wide knowledge of local affairs, and as soon as
-Collins mentioned Mrs. Cator and her son, he
-exclaimed:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ah! They had a very good manager in Mr.
-Bush, but he went away about a month before
-the war. He was a German, though he called
-himself Belgian.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;How do you know he was a German?&#8221;
-asked Collins.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, because my daughter&#8217;s in the post-office
-here, and she says that once or twice letters
-came for him bearing a Dutch stamp, and
-addressed to &#8216;Herr B�ch,&#8217; which is a German
-name.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes. That&#8217;s curious, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;And there were some other curious facts, too.
-Before the war two foreigners very often came
-down to the Manor Farm to spend the week-end&mdash;gentlemen
-from London. I met them once
-or twice and heard them speaking in German.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But Mr. Cator isn&#8217;t German, is he?&#8221; asked
-Collins.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Who knows? Some Germans who&#8217;ve lived
-here for years speak English so well that you
-can&#8217;t tell,&#8221; declared the ex-schoolmaster.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Have you any reason for supposing that Cator
-is a German?&#8221; inquired Collins. &#8220;If he&#8217;s
-German, then what about his mother?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, it doesn&#8217;t follow that his mother is
-German. She may have been an English girl
-who married a German, you know.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;If so, she certainly might be pro-German,&#8221;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
-Collins remarked, as they sat together on the
-river-bank eating their sandwiches.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I certainly think she is, because my daughter
-tells me that old Emma Green&#8217;s girl, who was
-housemaid at the Manor Farm when war was
-declared, says that Mrs. Cator, her son, and one
-of those gentlemen from London drank the health
-of the Kaiser in champagne that night.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Did the girl tell your daughter that?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, she did. And I believe her.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Collins was silent. These facts he had learnt
-were highly important.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;You see,&#8221; Mr. Haddon went on, &#8220;nowadays
-you dare not say anything about anybody you
-suspect, for fear of being had up for libel. The
-law somehow seems to protect the Germans in
-our midst. I feel confident that the Cators are
-a mysterious pair, and I told my suspicions to
-Mr. Rouse, our police-sergeant in the village.
-But he only shrugged his shoulders and said that
-as far as he knew they were all right. So why,
-after that, should anybody trouble?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Is it not an Englishman&#8217;s duty to oust the
-enemy?&#8221; Collins queried.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Yes, it is; but if the enemy can live under
-laws which protect them, what can the average
-man do?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why, do his best to assist the authorities!
-The latter are not so blind as they lead the public
-to believe, I assure you,&#8221; laughed Collins, who,
-having learnt all he could from the ex-schoolmaster,
-devoted the remainder of the afternoon
-to angling, and with fair result.</p>
-
-<p>Next day he strolled, at about ten o&#8217;clock in
-the morning, in the direction of the Manor Farm,
-apparently taking a morning walk. When he had
-gone about a quarter of a mile, he met the man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
-Cator in a golf suit and cap, accompanied by the
-stranger who had come from London two days
-previously, and a third man, tall, elderly, with a
-short, greyish beard, and rather shabbily-dressed.</p>
-
-<p>As they passed, Collins felt instinctively that the
-grey-bearded man, having eyed him closely,
-made some remark to his companions which
-caused them to turn back and look after him. The
-air-mechanic was, however, too discreet to turn
-himself, but went on and, walking in a circle,
-gave the Manor Farm a wide berth.</p>
-
-<p>That evening, however, as soon as it grew
-dark, he approached the place, taking up his
-position at the same spot where he had stood
-with his master and Miss Beryl&mdash;a point from
-which he had a good view of the long, low farm-building.</p>
-
-<p>He sank down into some undergrowth which concealed
-him and lit a cigarette, there being nobody
-near to smell the smoke. It was eight o&#8217;clock
-when he arrived there, and the time passed very
-slowly. Now and then the dogs in the yard
-barked furiously, once at hearing his footsteps,
-and again when somebody opened the back
-door of the farmhouse and came outside. Now
-and then a horse neighed, and once a dog barking
-far away set the two watch-dogs barking in
-response.</p>
-
-<p>The hours went by, but Collins, lying on his
-back sometimes smoking, sometimes dozing,
-kept a most patient vigil.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, however, just before midnight, as
-a glance at his watch revealed, he heard the sound
-of a car coming up the hill. He sprang up and
-listened. It was coming up behind him&mdash;up
-the byway which led through the wood to the
-farm!</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>His heart beat quickly. Pryor had been
-right. A lorry visited the Manor Farm every
-three days.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly he caught a glimpse of the oil side-lights,
-and a few minutes later a big motor-lorry,
-heavily laden, approached and backed towards
-the wide doors of the farm-building. The driver
-having blown his horn, Cator and his visitor
-came out, and, when the doors were unlocked and
-wheeled open, the lorry was backed right into
-the building.</p>
-
-<p>At once all three men began unloading the
-lorry, whereupon Collins crept up to ascertain
-what was being taken out.</p>
-
-<p>Crouching behind the lorry he saw a number
-of full petrol tins being handed out and stored
-away within, after which came small, square
-wooden cases, which were handled very gingerly,
-and placed quietly upon the concrete floor of
-the well-filled building. Each case bore a red
-disc, and by the manner in which the driver
-warned Cator and his friend who handled them,
-Collins learnt that they were high explosives.</p>
-
-<p>The lorry had been practically laden with these
-cases, save for twenty tins of petrol, and all
-were safely transferred into the store. After
-this the driver went into the house for some
-refreshment, and in the meantime Collins, by
-the aid of his flash-lamp, was enabled to slip
-inside the building and make a quick examination
-of its contents.</p>
-
-<p>What he saw showed plainly that within that
-place was stored a great quantity of petrol and
-explosives&mdash;an enemy base for the use of the
-Huns who so vainly hoped one day to reach
-Britain.</p>
-
-<p>Two minutes later, ere the trio again emerged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
-from the house, the air-mechanic was on his way
-back to the inn at Bricklehurst, well satisfied.</p>
-
-<p>On the following Friday, at nine o&#8217;clock in
-the evening, Beryl climbed into &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221;
-which stood in its meadow behind Harbury Court
-ready for a night flight. It had been a strenuous
-day getting ready, but the machine was now in
-perfect running order.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie, in his air-kit with leather cap and big
-goggles, climbed in and buckled the strap round
-his waist.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, let&#8217;s hope for good luck!&#8221; cried Beryl
-standing at the propeller.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Right, darling!&#8221; replied Ronnie. &#8220;Let her
-rip!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Next moment the girl swung round the propeller.
-Then she climbed in, and a few moments
-later the &#8217;plane sped over the grass and soon
-crossed the roof of the house, and was away.</p>
-
-<p>An hour later, with the lever of the silencer
-thrown back, they were hovering noiselessly,
-having passed over Guildford and away south,
-above a fire they saw below them&mdash;a hay-rick
-which belonged to the Cators. Collins had
-ignited it at a given time that night, in order to
-serve as their guide. The rick was in a field
-fully half-a-mile from the farm, and from above
-Ronnie and his companion could see that the
-local fire brigade were around it.</p>
-
-<p>The light, however, plainly illuminated the
-Manor Farm, and the building containing the
-secret store. Twice Ronnie passed over it,
-flying high, then once again he crossed directly
-above the farm. His hand was upon one of the
-little levers controlling his bombs, but, seeing
-that he had passed slightly to the south, he turned
-her nose, and re-passed once again in silence.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>Suddenly he touched the three upper levers
-in swift succession, one after the other.</p>
-
-<p>There was a swish of air below in the darkness,
-and as they watched, three blood-red flashes
-showed far down almost simultaneously.</p>
-
-<p>A noise like an earthquake rent the air, a great
-column of flame shot up, and a huge explosion
-resulted, lighting the country for miles around,
-and sending <i>d�bris</i> high into the darkness, while
-at the same time the terrible concussion tilted
-up &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; until she very nearly had a
-nasty side-slip.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie opened up his searchlight, shining it
-down upon the farm, revealing to their gaze only
-a wrecked and burning mass of ruins. The whole
-place, including the farmhouse, had, by the
-terrible force of the explosives stored there in
-secret, been swept clean away and levelled to the
-ground.</p>
-
-<p>A few minutes later &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; turned
-upon her homeward flight, and to this day it is
-very naturally believed by the public that enemy
-aircraft visited the spot on that memorable night.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI.<br />
-
-<small>THE PRICE OF VICTORY.</small></h2></div>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> wintry night was dark and moonless. There
-was a slight ground mist&mdash;and consequently
-no wind.</p>
-
-<p>Ronald Pryor returned to Harbury Court late
-for dinner, where Beryl and her sister awaited
-him. He had had a fagging day in London,
-spending nearly half his time with officials of
-the Air Department, who had at last become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
-interested in his new engine silencer. Trials of it
-had been made at Farnborough and elsewhere, and
-proof of its effectiveness had been quite adequate.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;The Department have decided to adopt it!&#8221;
-he announced triumphantly to Beryl as he
-entered the long, old-fashioned stone hall, and
-hung up his overcoat.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I knew they would, dear!&#8221; cried the
-enthusiastic air-woman joyously.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I only hope the secret won&#8217;t leak out to the
-enemy,&#8221; he said, and then went along to wash
-his hands before sitting down to dinner.</p>
-
-<p>Presently, while they were at table, and Ronnie
-was describing the interview he had had with
-the heads of three Government Departments
-and the reading of the confidential reports upon
-the tests made with aeroplanes to which the
-silencer had been fitted, the maid entered
-announcing that he was wanted on the telephone.</p>
-
-<p>He left the table, and five minutes later returned
-with a grave look upon his countenance.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter, dear?&#8221; asked Beryl
-anxiously, for she dreaded lest something was
-amiss.</p>
-
-<p>For a few moments he did not answer, busying
-himself with his plate. Then at last, he replied:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Oh!&mdash;well, only that I am flying &#8216;The
-Hornet&#8217; again to-night.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;May I not go with you?&#8221; Beryl asked eagerly.
-&#8220;Do let me go. It is over a week since I went
-up.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>He hesitated. Truth to tell, what he had heard
-on the telephone caused him some misgivings.
-Over the wire a certain disguised message had
-been given to him from headquarters&mdash;a request
-to which he had acceded.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl was in entire ignorance of the affair. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
-had been asked to regard it as strictly confidential,
-hence, he had not mentioned it, even to his well-beloved.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look here, dearest,&#8221; he said at last, looking
-across the big bowl of flowers in the centre of
-the table, &#8220;I don&#8217;t half like you coming with me
-to-night. There may be risk, and it is unfair
-that you should take it.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We are engaged, Ronnie; therefore, if there
-is any danger, why should I not share it?&#8221; was
-her prompt reply. &#8220;I am not afraid while I
-am with you.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s quite the right spirit, Beryl,&#8221; remarked
-her sister, approvingly.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I quite appreciate your bravery, little one,&#8221;
-said Ronnie, &#8220;but flight on this misty night
-is fraught with more danger than people ever
-imagine. Once you are up you are lost, except
-for your compass. And to descend is, as you
-know, full of perils.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I quite appreciate all that,&#8221; said Beryl.
-&#8220;Don&#8217;t you recollect when I came over from
-Sandgate to Folkestone, and found a thick fog
-on this side? Well, I went on till I found a
-break in it on the Surrey Downs, and descended
-quite safely at Ash, near Aldershot.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That was in daylight&mdash;not on a dark night
-like this?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;But where are you going?&#8221; she inquired.</p>
-
-<p>To her question he remained silent. His was
-a mission in strict confidence.</p>
-
-<p>Further argument followed between the pair,
-until at last, by the time dinner had ended,
-Ronald Pryor was compelled to accede to her
-request.</p>
-
-<p>Then, taking a flash-lamp, he went forth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
-across the big meadow to the hangar and found
-Collins awaiting him.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;All ready, sir,&#8221; the latter announced
-cheerily. &#8220;I heard you quite well on the &#8217;phone
-from London, but&mdash;well, sir,&#8221; he added
-hesitatingly, &#8220;it&#8217;s a bit risky to fly to-night,
-isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Is the machine all in order&mdash;everything?&#8221;
-asked his master.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Everything, sir. She only requires wheeling
-out,&#8221; and as he uttered the words the mechanic
-opened the great sliding-doors of the hangar.</p>
-
-<p>Then, together, the two men wheeled out the
-aeroplane, and while Ronnie mounted into
-the pilot&#8217;s seat Collins swung over the propeller,
-and his master tuned up his engine.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile, Beryl having put on her air-woman&#8217;s
-kit, with the leather jacket and cap,
-joined her lover, whom she found in the hangar
-poring over a map showing the East Coast between
-the Wash and the estuary of the Thames.</p>
-
-<p>He was taking measurements and making
-some pencilled calculations, while she stood
-expectantly beside him.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, dear!&#8221; he asked at last, &#8220;are you
-ready?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Quite!&#8221; was her reply, and a few moments
-later, after he had put on his muffler, his overalls,
-and leather coat, they both climbed into the
-machine, and strapped themselves in.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Light the flares about two o&#8217;clock, Collins.
-I&#8217;m making a pretty long flight, so we can&#8217;t be
-back before then.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Very well, sir.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then, tuning up again, and having tried the
-silencer, and found it in good working order,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
-he ran the machine swiftly across the frosty grass.
-Soon he rose, and, skimming the trees, soon
-soared away into the darkness.</p>
-
-<p>From where Beryl sat she saw the glow of the
-little electric bulb set over the instruments
-shining into her lover&#8217;s strong clean-shaven
-face, and, by the compass, gathered that they had
-described a half-circle, and, though still rising
-rapidly, were now heading eastward in the direction
-of the sea. The roar of the engine, of course,
-rendered speech impossible, while the mist was
-very chilly causing her to draw her brown woollen
-comforter around her cheeks. There was no
-sign of light anywhere below&mdash;all was a great
-black void.</p>
-
-<p>They had flown for nearly half-an-hour when,
-of a sudden, the long beam of a searchlight shot
-up from somewhere on their left, and began slowly
-to search the sky. Their approach had been
-heard by one of our air-stations.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie, watching the light made no attempt
-to evade it. Indeed, he switched on his searchlights
-in order to reveal himself. He had no
-wish to be peppered by our &#8220;Archies.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Next second both of them were blinded by the
-searchlight full upon them. In a moment a
-second, and then a third, light converged upon
-them, so that the aviator and his well-beloved
-were compelled to shade their eyes with their
-gloved hands.</p>
-
-<p>For a full three minutes the lights followed
-them, when the watchers below, having examined
-the tri-coloured rings on &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; planes
-and being satisfied, shut off.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl saw that her lover was anxiously watching
-his altimeter, as well as his compass and clock.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
-It seemed as though he were apprehensive of
-something.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly he began to descend, and pulled
-across the lever controlling the silencer, thus
-cutting off the noise of the exhaust.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re over the sea, now,&#8221; he remarked;
-&#8220;can&#8217;t you feel the difference in the atmosphere?
-Look on the left.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>She did so, peering down into the darkness,
-and there saw the twinkling of a light&mdash;a ship
-was signalling rapidly, being answered by another
-not far away.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Where are we going, dear?&#8221; Beryl inquired.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;On a mission,&#8221; was his abrupt response.
-And, though she pressed him for information,
-he would vouchsafe no further reply.</p>
-
-<p>For a full hour they flew over the North Sea,
-due east, until suddenly they turned south, and
-with the silencer still on, went along noiselessly
-save for the shrill wind whistling in the struts.</p>
-
-<p>From ten thousand feet they had now descended
-to a little over two thousand, when, all of a
-sudden, a distant searchlight shot forth.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the Belgian coast!&#8221; Ronnie remarked,
-and once again he started to ascend, flying in a
-complete circle and undecided as to exactly
-where he might be. The single shaft of light, like
-a moving line in the total darkness, was soon
-followed by others from the same neighbourhood.
-Circles of light could be seen, showing that the
-clouds were low&mdash;a fact which would favour the
-intrepid pair.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll give those lights a wide berth for a
-little,&#8221; Ronnie said cheerfully, and again he turned
-northward, and a little later to the south-east.</p>
-
-<p>As they flew they watched those slowly-moving
-searchlights until, one by one, they disappeared.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>&#8220;They&#8217;ve finished their sweep of the skies,&#8221;
-he said at last, with satisfaction. &#8220;If there&#8217;s
-no alarm they won&#8217;t open out again for some
-time.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>And then he flew in the direction of where the
-lights had been, descending until he was again
-only about two thousand feet above the sea.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;From the disposition of those lights it seems
-that we are near our objective,&#8221; he remarked. &#8220;I
-hope you are not nervous, darling?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Why should I be with you, Ronnie?&#8221; she
-asked, placing her gloved hand tenderly upon his
-shoulder.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well, because we&#8217;re now entering the danger-zone,&#8221;
-he replied, &#8220;and I think I ought not to
-conceal it from you. Would you like to turn
-back?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Turn back!&#8221; echoed the brave girl.
-&#8220;Never! Where you dare go, I will go too.
-Don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m in the least nervous. If anything
-happens, it will happen equally to both
-of us.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Well spoken, my darling,&#8221; he said, his hand
-touching her cheek in the darkness. &#8220;Then we
-will go forward.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>After that there was a long silence, until below
-they saw a cluster of faint lights, with one light
-flashing at regular intervals.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; he said. &#8220;That is Zeebrugge.
-Beyond&mdash;that fainter light over there&mdash;is
-Ostend.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>He consulted a roughly drawn map which he
-now produced, and which bore certain cryptic
-marks in red and blue; he directed Beryl&#8217;s attention
-to a speck of light to the north, saying:
-&#8220;That surely is Heyst!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then he pointed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; nose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
-upwards, and rose until they were enveloped in a
-cloud of fog in order to evade the inquisitiveness
-of any searchlights, afterwards flying in a
-circle directly over the port of Zeebrugge, which
-both knew to contain strong defences and long-range
-anti-aircraft guns.</p>
-
-<p>For a full quarter of an hour they hovered over
-the town, their presence entirely unsuspected on
-account of the roaring exhaust being silenced.
-Then, carefully, he once more descended to mark
-out his objective&mdash;the new German submarine
-base. Between two spots seen far below he was
-undecided. There were many faint lights burning
-in the town, but one, he decided, was in the centre
-of the submarine base.</p>
-
-<p>Without uttering a word to his companion, who
-sat strapped in her narrow seat cramped, breathless,
-and half-frozen, he passed and re-passed
-over the German base three or four times.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly as he went a quick swish sounded
-below them, and, peering down, Beryl saw a big
-burst of flame, followed by a terrific explosion,
-the concussion of which gave the machine a
-serious tilt.</p>
-
-<p>Bang!&mdash;bang!&mdash;<i>bang!</i> sounded so quickly in
-succession that hardly had one ceased before the
-other reached them.</p>
-
-<p>Below, the bright red flashes, angry points of
-light in the blackness of the night, showed vividly,
-while at the moment that the searchlights shone
-forth Ronnie, having dropped his bombs, climbed
-swiftly into the bank of cloud.</p>
-
-<p>Higher and higher they went, until below them
-they only saw the clouds aglow with the glare,
-whether by the incendiary fires they had caused
-among the enemy or the searchlights they knew
-not.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>&#8220;&#8216;The Hornet&#8217; has done considerable damage
-this time!&#8221; Ronnie laughed hoarsely, as the
-altimeter showed that they were still ascending.
-&#8220;I saw that the second bomb dropped plumb
-into the fitting-shop! It has, no doubt, put an
-end to Fritz&#8217;s activity for a good many days
-to come.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;What do you intend doing now?&#8221; asked
-Beryl. &#8220;Going home?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Home? No. I&#8217;ve got four more bombs
-for them, yet.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>As he spoke, however, they heard the sharp
-bark of the enemy&#8217;s anti-aircraft guns. Yet no
-shell whistled near them.</p>
-
-<p>The Hun is a bully, and hence a coward.
-Taken unawares, as he was at Zeebrugge that
-night, when he heard nothing and saw nothing,
-it was but natural that he should fire even into
-the air in order to scare off the British raider.</p>
-
-<p>But Ronald Pryor was not the man to be
-scared off. He had had an objective to reach and
-he had reached it, but he had not yet finished,
-and did not intend to take any bombs back.</p>
-
-<p>He knew that as long as he kept above the low
-clouds, and as long as his machine was silent, as
-it would remain, it would be impossible for the
-gunners below to hit him. Therefore he drew
-away seaward again, according to his compass,
-then back to land, and for half-an-hour flew round
-the little town of Heyst.</p>
-
-<p>Now and then, as they passed from one cloud
-to another, they watched the lights of Zeebrugge
-searching for them, until it seemed that the alarm
-had died down.</p>
-
-<p>At two points, however, they could see great
-fierce fires burning&mdash;conflagrations they had
-caused in the heart of the submarine base. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
-of Ronnie&#8217;s bombs had, as was afterwards known,
-dropped upon the oil-tanks, and, the blazing oil
-having been scattered over a large area, had
-caused devastation throughout the neighbourhood.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hark! What&#8217;s that?&#8221; asked Beryl holding
-her breath, her quick ears having detected a
-familiar sound.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie, listening, suddenly said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Ah! I quite expected that&mdash;their airmen
-are up, looking for us! Now we may have a
-little excitement. Collins put the gun ready.
-Is it all right?&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Quite,&#8221; said the girl. Long ago Ronnie had
-taught her how to manipulate the Lewis gun.
-Therefore, she placed her hand upon it and
-drew the shoulder-piece towards her, swinging
-the machine-gun easily upon its pivot.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Keep cool, darling! Don&#8217;t fire till I tell you,&#8221;
-he urged. &#8220;We&#8217;re going over the town again
-to give them a farewell salute&mdash;all explosives
-this time. I want to get those warehouses at
-the docks! I can see them plainly now&mdash;the
-fires show them up. By Jove, they&#8217;ll get a shock
-when they find themselves bombed again, won&#8217;t
-they?&#8221; and he laughed merrily as he turned
-&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; nose back in the direction of
-Zeebrugge. Flying as low as he dared, he
-approached the spot where the red flames leapt
-up far below, and the smoke greeted their nostrils
-with increasing intensity.</p>
-
-<p>By this time the searchlights had been switched
-off, though Hun machines could be heard in the
-air. Those who controlled the searchlights knew
-that their aeroplanes would work best in the darkness,
-being fitted with small searchlights themselves.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>Leisurely, Ronnie came over the town, flying
-high and in silence, until, when just over where
-the darting flames were showing up the buildings
-all around, he suddenly released his remaining
-bombs&mdash;all but one.</p>
-
-<p>Terrific explosions sounded in quick succession,
-and, though so far above, they could both feel
-the concussion. Indeed, &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; very
-narrowly escaped a serious nose-dive in consequence.
-Next moment they saw that the row
-of buildings facing the docks was aflame from end
-to end, and beginning to burn almost as fiercely
-as the submarine oil-dep�t.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie, however, did not have it all his own
-way.</p>
-
-<p>Ten seconds after dropping those bombs, and
-causing panic in the occupied Belgian port, the
-sky was again ablaze with searchlights. At that
-moment Ronnie was out of one cloud, and
-travelling very swiftly into another.</p>
-
-<p>The searchlights were, however, too quick for
-him, and picked him up.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; he grunted. &#8220;They&#8217;ve found us at
-last! Now for home!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Hardly had he spoken when the anti-aircraft
-guns from below commenced to bark sharply,
-with now and then a deep boom. They could
-both hear the shells whistling close to them, but
-so high were they by this time that accurate aim
-by the enemy was well-nigh impossible.</p>
-
-<p>In such a circumstance the wisest course was
-to fly in a wide circle, descending and ascending,
-a course which Ronnie, expert airman that he
-was, adopted.</p>
-
-<p>Those were highly exciting moments! Beryl
-held her breath. Her hand was upon the Lewis
-gun, but her lover had given no order. In her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
-observer&#8217;s seat she sat alert, eager, with every
-nerve strained to its fullest tension. They were
-in the danger-zone, surrounded by what seemed
-a swarm of aeroplanes, which had ascended in
-order to prevent their returning to sea.</p>
-
-<p>The little bulb in front of Ronnie burnt on,
-shedding its meagre light over instruments and
-maps. Beryl saw by the altimeter&mdash;which she
-had so often watched when flying the machine
-alone&mdash;that they were up five thousand six
-hundred feet.</p>
-
-<p>The dark waters were beneath them. A stray
-shell from the enemy would cast them both down&mdash;deep
-down into the North Sea.</p>
-
-<p>More than once they heard the whirr of an
-aeroplane-engine quite close to them, but going
-forward, slipping through the air without
-noise, thanks to Pryor&#8217;s silencer, which the
-authorities had now recognised as a remarkable
-and highly useful invention in aerial warfare,
-they managed to evade their adversaries. The
-strain of it all was, however, terrible.</p>
-
-<p>Upon the misty clouds below shone the glow
-of searchlights from land and sea, lighting up
-the billow mists, until they were quite picturesque
-undulations, like a fairy landscape. Yet through
-those mists they saw the deadly enemy flying
-to and fro in search of them as they went out
-to sea in silence.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl watched it all from her observer&#8217;s seat.
-She knew that their raid had been successful,
-and that enormous damage had been done to
-the Hun submarine base. On her left showed
-the faint lights of Ostend, where she had spent
-one summer with her sister Iris and her husband,
-two years before the war. She had walked along
-the Digue in a smart summer gown, and she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
-gambled at <i>boule</i> and eaten ices in the great
-Casino which, according to report, was now used
-as a German hospital. Ah, how times had
-changed! She had never dreamt that she would
-be flying as an enemy over that sandy coast.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie, with all his wits about him, was
-heading straight for the English coast north of
-the Thames when, of a sudden, there arose from
-the dark void below the rapid throb of an enemy
-seaplane, which, a few seconds later, opened out
-its searchlight.</p>
-
-<p>A moment afterwards it had fixed &#8220;The
-Hornet.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Then began a desperate fight for life. The
-German aviator, having marked his prey, rose
-like a hawk, and then bore down upon him
-swiftly, his searchlight glaring into Beryl&#8217;s face
-like some evil eye.</p>
-
-<p>The girl unstrapped herself and rose in order
-to be able to handle the machine-gun without
-encumbrance, for they were now flying upon an
-even keel.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Hold on, dear!&#8221; the pilot exclaimed, and
-then suddenly he banked his machine over,
-swerving away none too soon from the hostile
-seaplane.</p>
-
-<p>Again he worked up, avoiding the quick swoop
-of his adversary, who suddenly opened fire.</p>
-
-<p>A heavy shower of bullets passed them harmlessly,
-whistling all around them, while from
-somewhere&mdash;possibly from a German warship&mdash;a
-high explosive shell burst perilously near them,
-causing &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; to roll and wallow in a
-most disconcerting manner.</p>
-
-<p>Again and again Ronnie&#8217;s adversary fired
-full upon him, but all to no purpose. Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
-suddenly a second machine came up from somewhere,
-and that also let loose its machine-gun.
-Quick spurts of blood-red flame showed first
-upon one side then upon the other, yet Ronnie
-remained quite cool, awaiting his chance of gaining
-an advantage and to strike.</p>
-
-<p>A piece of the high explosive shell had torn
-the fabric of one of the planes. That was all
-the damage they had sustained up to the present.
-Surely no woman could ever have a more exciting
-or so perilous an experience, midway between
-sky and sea!</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, after climbing and diving, Ronnie
-saw his opportunity, and, making a sudden
-swerve, cried to Beryl:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Get ready!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m ready,&#8221; she answered.</p>
-
-<p>Again he climbed, and as he rose past the
-machine which was pressing him so closely,
-he said:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Fire!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>In an instant Beryl&#8217;s gun spluttered, sending
-forth its leaden hail full into the centre of the
-German machine. Beryl held her breath, and
-watched the enemy&#8217;s searchlight quiver, rise, and
-then suddenly pointing downwards, swiftly
-become smaller and smaller as it descended
-towards the sea.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s gone!&#8221; cried Ronnie with relief.
-&#8220;Pilot and observer both killed, I should say.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;They must have dropped into the sea!&#8221;
-gasped the girl, awe-stricken.</p>
-
-<p>Next second, however, the other machine
-loomed up to exact vengeance. Beryl had
-swiftly replenished the gun with ammunition,
-and was again in readiness for the word from her
-lover to fire.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>Ronnie, fully alive to the fact that he was being
-pressed by the second machine, dived and banked,
-then climbed as rapidly as he could, yet,
-alas! he could not shake off his pursuer.</p>
-
-<p>In silence, with the wind whistling through
-the struts and the piece of torn fabric flapping,
-he pressed on, striving to escape from his relentless
-pursuer, who, no doubt, intended to shoot
-him down as reprisal for the destruction of his
-Hun comrade.</p>
-
-<p>Again the enemy machine opened out his
-searchlight, and, holding him as a mark, fired
-rapidly. For a moment Ronnie did not reply.
-All his nerve was concentrated upon obtaining
-the advantage a second time.</p>
-
-<p>Up and down, to and fro, the two machines
-banked, rose and fell, but Ronald Pryor
-could handle his machine as though it were
-part of himself. At last he drew up, and,
-setting his teeth as he pointed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221;
-nose direct at his adversary, he blurted
-out:</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Fire!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl laid the gun straight at the aeroplane,
-touched it, and again death rained forth.</p>
-
-<p>Yet almost at that very same moment the Hun
-also opened fire. The spluttering was deafening
-for a few seconds, when, to the girl&#8217;s alarm, she
-suddenly saw her lover fall helpless and inert
-over his instruments.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;Gad, Beryl,&#8221; he managed to gasp, &#8220;they&#8217;ve
-got me&mdash;the brutes! Phew, how it burns!&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>The girl, who had not for a second lost her
-nerve, instantly realised the peril, and without a
-moment&#8217;s delay&mdash;nay, even without a word&mdash;she
-clambered across into the pilot&#8217;s seat and took
-the levers, being compelled to crush past her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
-wounded lover as she did so, and not knowing
-the nature of his wound.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s right, Beryl! Fight to the last!&#8221;
-the man gasped. &#8220;Bank her, then go right
-down and rise again. You may beat him off by
-that. Try, darling! Do&mdash;do your best!&#8221; he
-whispered, and then he sank back in the blackness
-of unconsciousness.</p>
-
-<p>Beryl, as an expert air-woman, knew all the
-tricks of evasion while flying. She knew that her
-lover&#8217;s advice was the best, and she carried it
-out to the very letter.</p>
-
-<p>Just as she banked, the Hun machine sent out
-another splutter of lead. Those angry spurts
-of red fire seemed to go straight into her face,
-but, though the bullets tore more holes in the
-fabric of the left plane and broke a strut, they
-whizzed harmlessly past her.</p>
-
-<p>It was truly a flight for life. Flying &#8220;The
-Hornet,&#8221; as she was doing, she had no means by
-which to retaliate or to drive off the enemy.
-Their lives now depended upon her skill in manipulating
-the machine. This she did with marvellous
-judgment and foresight. To the very letter
-she carried out the orders of the man now lying
-back wounded and unconscious.</p>
-
-<p>Beneath her breath she whispered a prayer to
-Almighty God for assistance, and set her teeth.
-Again the Hun seaplane spurted forth a venom
-of fire upon her, but with a dexterous turn she
-banked, and once more avoided him. He
-intended to shoot her down into the black waters
-below, but she had her wounded lover at her
-side, and thought only of his welfare. She recollected
-her own response when Ronnie had suggested
-that she should remain at home, and when
-she saw that cruel eye of bright light following<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
-her so steadily she grew more and more
-determined.</p>
-
-<p>At last she decided upon flying by the compass
-quite straight towards the Essex coast, and
-seeing if her adversary could overtake her. At
-first it seemed a very perilous course, because
-the Hun coming up behind, shot at her continually,
-and once more the fabric was torn in
-one place near her elbow. But as she flew on
-in silence she all at once made a discovery. She
-listened. Her pursuer was gradually overtaking
-her. If he did, then she was entirely
-defenceless, and must share the same terrible fate
-as the machine that Ronnie had sent down into
-the sea.</p>
-
-<p>The tension of those fateful moments was
-terrible. Yet she summoned all her woman&#8217;s
-pluck&mdash;the pluck that had come to the female
-sex in these days of war&mdash;and kept on flying
-in the direction of home.</p>
-
-<p>Her ear caught something, for it was trained
-to the noise of aeroplanes.</p>
-
-<p>Again she listened. That eye of light which
-was following her so ruthlessly was still upon her,
-yet by the noise, she knew that the hostile engine
-was not firing correctly. The throb was not
-even and incessant.</p>
-
-<p>Had Providence intervened to save her?</p>
-
-<p>She drew a long breath, and opened out so that
-she put all speed into her machine. From the
-pace she was going she knew that the wind had
-sprung up, and in her favour, too. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-was a fast machine, yet the Huns had machines
-quite as mobile, and she had no means of knowing
-the make of aeroplane against which her speed
-was pitted.</p>
-
-<p>She flew&mdash;flew as no woman had ever flown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
-before. Half-crushed beneath her in the pilot&#8217;s
-seat lay Ronnie, oblivious to everything. She
-had placed her arm tenderly round his neck, but
-on withdrawing her hand in the darkness she
-had felt it strangely sticky&mdash;sticky with blood!</p>
-
-<p>Ronald Pryor was evidently wounded in the
-neck. Perhaps he was already dead. He might
-have been, for all the brave girl knew. But that
-sound of the mis-firing of her enemy gave her
-courage, and she kept on&mdash;on and on&mdash;until,
-very slowly, she drew away from that bright evil
-eye that was bent upon her destruction.</p>
-
-<p>Again came a splutter of lead upon her. Again
-she knew that bullets had gone through the fabric,
-but no great damage had been done to the
-machine.</p>
-
-<p>She feared more for the petrol-tank than for
-herself. A shot in the bottom of that tank
-would mean a certain dive into the sea. Of a
-sudden another spurt of fire showed deep below
-them, and a shell coming up from somewhere,
-friendly or hostile she could not tell, exploded,
-and nearly wrecked them both. It was from some
-ship at sea&mdash;a British ship, no doubt, which,
-seeing aircraft with a searchlight going in the
-direction of the East coast at that hour of the
-morning, had naturally opened fire upon it.</p>
-
-<p>At last, after nearly half-an-hour, Beryl still
-with her eye upon the compass and sailing again
-upon an even keel and in an increasing wind,
-glanced over her shoulder and saw the light of
-the enemy grow dimmer, and then gradually
-disappear. She had entered a thick cloud, and
-sailing on in silence, would, she knew, be at once
-lost to the view of her enemy.</p>
-
-<p>Five minutes later, when Beryl at last realised
-that she had escaped, she again placed her left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
-arm tenderly round her lover and endeavoured
-to raise him, but without avail.</p>
-
-<p>Was he dead? The thought struck her
-with horror! He had done what had been asked
-of him, but perhaps he, like so many others, had
-paid the toll of war!</p>
-
-<p>Though perhaps her hand trembled a little
-upon the levers, yet she settled herself again
-as well as she could, and with her eye upon both
-map and compass she sped along over those
-dark waters, tossed by the increasing wind which
-had arisen behind her.</p>
-
-<p>For nearly two hours she flew on. By dint of
-great effort she managed to move Ronnie into
-a position which she hoped might be more comfortable.
-She spoke to him, but there was no
-answer. He lay there inert and motionless,
-strapped in his seat. When she withdrew her
-ungloved hand it was again wet with blood.</p>
-
-<p>She pressed forward, putting &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
-along at the full pace of which the machine was
-capable. The little clock showed the hour to be
-nearly three, therefore she judged that she must
-be nearing the English coast again. Her surmise
-proved correct, for ten minutes later she saw the
-glimmer of a searchlight on the sky straight ahead&mdash;the
-light of one of our air-stations. Therefore,
-turning slightly to the north, she again opened
-the silencer as a precaution, and, with her
-engine suddenly roaring, made straight for it.</p>
-
-<p>Ere long half-a-dozen beams of intense light
-were searching the skies for the incoming machine,
-which the watchers below were eager to examine,
-and it was not long before one of the beams
-caught and held &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; in its blinding
-rays, lighting up the white, inanimate face beside
-her, and showing the dark stain of wounds.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>Then three other beams became concentrated
-for a few moments upon her, and again, one after
-another, shut off, until she was once more in
-darkness.</p>
-
-<p>The position of the lights, however, told her
-where she was&mdash;over a certain town a few miles
-inland, and taking her bearings, she rose higher,
-and began to describe a wide circle in order to
-find the four bright flares which she knew Collins
-had lit in the meadow at Harbury.</p>
-
-<p>Another half-hour she spent in vain search,
-until, of a sudden, she saw points of light deep
-down on her left. Straining her eyes she managed
-at last to make out that there were four, looking
-close together from that height. Therefore she
-quickly descended, while as she did so she saw
-Morse flashes from a signal-lamp telling her the
-direction of the wind, in order that she might
-land head on to it.</p>
-
-<p>Ten minutes later she came safely to earth,
-when Collins ran up, having chased the machine
-across the field.</p>
-
-<p>In a moment Beryl told him with breathless
-haste what had occurred, and with but few words
-they at once carried Ronald back to the house,
-and laid him upon the sofa in the study. Then
-Collins rushed to the car, and drove away madly
-to fetch the nearest doctor.</p>
-
-<p>The latter arrived with but little delay, and
-Beryl, her sister&#8217;s arm round her, stood outside
-the door, awaiting his verdict.</p>
-
-<p>The examination occupied some time, but at
-last the medical man came forth.</p>
-
-<p>&#8220;He is very severely wounded, Miss Gaselee,&#8221;
-he said, &#8220;but there is still a spark of life left&mdash;a
-very meagre spark. By careful attention and
-nursing he may possibly pull through. He is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
-not yet conscious, but we will put him to bed,
-and I will remain and see what I can do. We
-can only hope.&#8221;</p>
-
-<p>Beryl, thankful that Ronnie still lived, quickly
-bestirred herself for his comfort, and it was not
-long before the senseless man was carried up to
-his own room, where the doctor remained watching
-him for many hours.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Days passed&mdash;days of breathless and terrible
-anxiety&mdash;during which the doctor forbade Beryl
-to see the wounded man. In the papers there
-had been published accounts of the enormous
-damage done to the enemy submarine base at
-Zeebrugge by a &#8220;British aeroplane,&#8221; but the name
-of the intrepid aviator was not given. Only the
-authorities and those at Harbury Court knew the
-truth. The authorities preserved a wise reticence,
-for the publication of facts is not always in the
-interests of the country.</p>
-
-<p>Ronnie&#8217;s wounds proved far more serious than
-were at first believed, and even the specialist
-who came down from Harley Street was not at
-all hopeful of his recovery. Nevertheless, the
-fine physique of the patient proved in his favour,
-and a fortnight later Beryl was allowed to see
-him for the first time.</p>
-
-<p>From that moment Beryl became his nurse,
-and slowly he recovered; slowly, because both
-his right arm and his right leg had been so injured
-that they would be entirely useless in future,
-and he could never fly again.</p>
-
-<p>Only the thought of his invention, and the great
-advantage it would give to our aviators for night-flying
-in the future, comforted him, when at last
-he was able to be wheeled about in his chair by
-Beryl.</p>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>And was it surprising that when, three months
-later, the pair were married in the old, ivy-clad,
-church, half-a-mile from Harbury Court, the
-illustrated papers published a pathetic picture of
-the bridal couple emerging from the porch, the
-bridegroom on crutches, and described it as &#8220;a
-romantic war-wedding&#8221;?</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">THE END.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p class="center"><i>Miller, Son, &amp; Compy., Limited, Printers, Fakenham and London.</i></p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="transnote">
-
-<p class="ph2">TRANSCRIBER&#8217;S NOTES:</p>
-
-
-<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p>
-
-<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: Beryl of the Biplane
+       Being the Romance of an Air-Woman of To-Day
+
+Author: William le Queux
+
+Release Date: January 26, 2019 [EBook #58770]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BERYL OF THE BIPLANE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>BERYL OF THE BIPLANE</h1>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<p class="center"><span class="xlarge">NOVELS BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">&#8220;<i>THE MASTER OF MYSTERY.</i>&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table">
+
+<tr><td>THE FOUR FACES</td><td>Cloth, 1/- net.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>DONOVAN OF WHITEHALL</td><td>Cloth, 1/- net.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>THE SPY HUNTER</td><td>Paper, 1/- net.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>THE TICKENCOTE TREASURE</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>THE DEATH DOCTOR</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>LYING LIPS</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>AT THE SIGN OF THE SWORD</td><td>Paper, 6d.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p class="center"><b>C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LTD.</b></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+<p><span class="xxlarge">BERYL OF THE<br />
+BIPLANE</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Being the Romance of an Air-woman of To-day</i></p>
+
+<p>BY<br />
+<span class="xlarge">WILLIAM LE QUEUX</span></p>
+
+
+<p>LONDON<br />
+C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED<br />
+HENRIETTA STREET, W.C.<br />
+1917</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">[<i>Copyright in the United States of America by William
+Le Queux, 1917. Cinema rights reserved.</i>]</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2></div>
+
+
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table">
+
+<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="tdr"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Mysterious Number Seven</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Mr. Mark Marx</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Shabby Stranger</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Thursday Rendezvous</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Concerns the Hidden Hand</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Price of Victory</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>
+
+<p class="ph1">BERYL OF THE BIPLANE</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I.<br />
+
+<small>THE MYSTERIOUS NUMBER SEVEN.</small></h2></div>
+
+
+<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">Are</span> you flying &#8216;The Hornet&#8217; to-night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You were up last night, weren&#8217;t you? Mac
+told me so at Brooklands this morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;Zepp-hunting. I was up three hours,
+but, alas! had no luck. Two came in over
+Essex but were scared by the anti-aircraft boys,
+and turned tail. Better luck to-night, I hope,&#8221;
+and Ronald Pryor, the tall, dark, good-looking
+young man in grey flannels, laughed merrily
+as, with a quick movement, he flicked the ash
+from his after-luncheon cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>His companion, George Bellingham, who was
+in the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps, wearing
+the silver wings of the pilot, was perhaps three
+years his senior, fair-haired, grey-eyed, with
+a small sandy moustache trimmed to the most
+correct cut.</p>
+
+<p>Passers-by in Pall Mall on that June afternoon
+no doubt wondered why Ronald Pryor was not
+in khaki. As a matter of fact, the handsome,
+athletic young fellow had already done his bit&mdash;and
+done it with very great honour and
+distinction.</p>
+
+<p>Before the war he had been of little good to
+society, it is true. He had been one of those
+modern dandies whose accomplishments include<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+an elegant taste in socks&mdash;with ties to match&mdash;and
+a critical eye for an ill-cut pair of trousers.
+Eldest son of a wealthy bank-director, Ronnie
+Pryor had been born with the proverbial silver
+spoon in his mouth. After his career at Oxford,
+his father, Henry Pryor, who lived mostly at
+his beautiful old place, Urchfont Hall, a few miles
+out of Norwich, had given him an ample
+allowance. He had lived in a bachelor flat in
+Duke Street, St. James&#8217;s, and spent several
+gay years about town with kindred souls of both
+sexes, becoming a familiar object each night at
+the supper-tables of the Savoy, the Carlton,
+or the Ritz.</p>
+
+<p>This wild oat sowing had, however, been
+brought to an abrupt conclusion in a rather
+curious manner.</p>
+
+<p>One Saturday afternoon he had driven in a
+friend&#8217;s car over to the Aerodrome at Hendon,
+and had there witnessed some graceful flying.
+He had instantly become &#8220;bitten&#8221; by the sport,
+and from that moment had devoted himself
+assiduously to it.</p>
+
+<p>Four months later he had taken his &#8220;ticket&#8221;
+as a pilot, and then, assisted by capital from his
+indulgent father, had entered business by establishing
+the well-known Pryor Aeroplane Factory
+at Weybridge, with a branch at Hendon, a
+business in which his companion, Flight-Lieutenant
+George Bellingham, of the Royal
+Flying Corps, had been, and was still, financially
+interested.</p>
+
+<p>That Ronnie Pryor&mdash;as everyone called him&mdash;was
+a handsome fellow could not be denied.
+His was a strongly marked personality, clean-limbed,
+with close-cut dark hair, a refined
+aquiline face, and that slight contraction of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+eyebrows that every air-pilot so quickly develops.
+On the outbreak of war he had been out with
+General French, had been through the retreat
+from Mons, and while scouting in the air during
+the first battle of Ypres, had been attacked by
+a German Taube. A fierce and intensely exciting
+fight in the air ensued, as a result of which he
+brought his enemy down within our own lines,
+but unfortunately received a severe wound in
+the stomach himself, and, planing down, reached
+earth safely a long distance away and collapsed
+unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of his health was such that the
+Medical Board refused to pass him for service
+abroad again, therefore he was now devoting
+his time to building aeroplanes for the Government,
+and frequently flying them at night, thus
+assisting in the aerial defence of our coast, and
+of London.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie Pryor was known as one of the most
+daring and intrepid air-pilots that we possessed.
+Before his crash he had brought down quite a
+number of his adversaries in the air, for the
+manner in which he could manipulate his machine,
+&#8220;zumming,&#8221; diving, rising, and flying a zigzag
+course, avoiding the enemy&#8217;s fire, was marvellous.
+Indeed, it was he who one afternoon dropped
+nine bombs upon the enemy&#8217;s aerodrome at
+Oudenarde, being mentioned in despatches for
+that daring exploit.</p>
+
+<p>His one regret was that the doctor considered
+him &#8220;crocked.&#8221; Discarding his uniform he,
+in defiance of everybody, flew constantly in the
+big biplane which he himself had built, and
+which the boys at Hendon had nicknamed &#8220;The
+Hornet.&#8221; The machine was a &#8220;strafer,&#8221; of the
+most formidable type, with an engine of two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+hundred and fifty horse-power, fitted with a
+Lewis gun and a rack for bombs, while no more
+daring airman ever sat at a joy-stick than its
+owner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re running that new Anzani engine
+on the bench at Hendon,&#8221; Bellingham remarked
+presently. &#8220;I&#8217;m going out to see it. Come
+with me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie considered for a few seconds, and
+then accepted the suggestion, he driving his
+partner out to Hendon in his yellow car which
+had been standing in St. James&#8217;s Square.</p>
+
+<p>At the busy aerodrome, where all sorts of
+machines were being assembled and tested, they
+entered the spacious workshops of the Pryor
+Aeroplane Factory where, in one corner, amid
+whirring machinery, a large aeroplane-engine was
+running at top speed with a hum that was deafening
+in the confined space.</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later both men went forth again
+into the aerodrome where several &#8220;school &#8217;buses&#8221;
+were being flown by pupils of the flying school.
+Suddenly Bellingham&#8217;s quick airman&#8217;s eye caught
+sight of a biplane at a great height coming from
+the north-west.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, isn&#8217;t that Beryl up in your &#8217;bus?&#8221;
+he exclaimed, pointing out the machine. &#8220;I
+didn&#8217;t know she was out to-day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; was Ronnie&#8217;s reply. &#8220;She flew over
+to Huntingdon this morning to see her sister.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Was she up with you last night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. She generally goes up daily.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She has wonderful nerve for a woman,&#8221;
+declared George. &#8220;A pupil who has done great
+credit to her tutor&mdash;yourself, Ronnie. How
+many times has she flown the Channel?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Seven. Three times alone, and four with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+me. The last time she crossed alone she went
+up from Bedford and landed close to Berck,
+beyond Paris-Plage. She passed over Folkestone,
+and then over to Cape Grisnez.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look at her now!&#8221; Bellingham exclaimed
+in admiration. &#8220;By Jove! She&#8217;s doing a good
+stunt!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke the aeroplane which Beryl Gaselee
+was flying, that great battleplane of Ronnie&#8217;s
+invention&mdash;&#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; as they had named
+it on account of a certain politician&#8217;s reassurance&mdash;circled
+high in the air above the aerodrome,
+making a high-pitched hum quite different
+from that of the other machines in the air.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s taken the silencer off,&#8221; Ronnie
+remarked. &#8220;She&#8217;s in a hurry, no doubt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That silencer of yours is a marvellous invention,&#8221;
+George declared. &#8220;Thank goodness Fritz
+hasn&#8217;t got it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie smiled, and selecting a cigarette from
+his case, tapped it down and slowly lit it, his
+eyes upon the machine now hovering like a great
+hawk above them.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can run her so that at a thousand feet up
+nobody below can hear a sound,&#8221; he remarked.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s where we&#8217;ve got the pull for night
+bombing. A touch on the lever and the exhaust
+is silent, so that the enemy can&#8217;t hear us come up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. It&#8217;s a deuced cute invention,&#8221; declared
+his partner. &#8220;It saved me that night a month
+ago when I got over Alost and put a few incendiary
+pills into the German barracks. I got away in
+the darkness and, though half-a-dozen machines
+went up, they couldn&#8217;t find me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The enemy would dearly like to get hold of
+the secret,&#8221; laughed Ronnie. &#8220;But all of us keep
+it guarded too carefully.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said his partner, as they watched with
+admiring eyes, how Beryl Gaselee, the intrepid
+woman aviator, was manipulating the big
+battleplane in her descent. &#8220;Your invention
+for the keeping of the secret, my dear fellow, is
+quite as clever as the invention itself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The new silencer for aeroplane-engines Ronnie
+Pryor had offered to the authorities, and as it
+was still under consideration, he kept it strictly
+to himself. Only he, his mechanic, Beryl and
+his partner George Bellingham, knew its true
+mechanism, and so careful was he to conceal
+it from the enemy in our midst, that he had also
+invented a clever contrivance by which, with
+a turn of a winged nut, the valve came apart,
+so that the chief portion&mdash;which was a secret&mdash;could
+be placed in one&#8217;s pocket, and carried away
+whenever the machines were left.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want any frills from you, old man,&#8221;
+laughed the merry, easy-going young fellow in
+flannels. &#8220;I&#8217;m only trying to do my best for
+my country, just as you have done, and just as
+Beryl is doing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Beryl is a real brick.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You say that because we are pals.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, Ronnie. I say it because it&#8217;s the rock-bottom
+truth; because Miss Gaselee, thanks to
+your tuition, is one of the very few women who
+have come to the front as aviators in the war.
+She knows how to fly as well as any Squadron
+Commander. Look at her now! Just look at
+the spiral she&#8217;s making. Neither of us could do
+it better. Her engine, too, is running like a
+clock.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And, as the two aviators watched, the great
+battleplane swept round and round the aerodrome,
+quickly dropping from twelve thousand feet&mdash;the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+height at which they had first noticed its
+approach&mdash;towards the wide expanse of grass
+that was the landing-place.</p>
+
+<p>At last &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; humming loudly like
+a huge bumblebee, touched earth and came to
+a standstill, while Ronnie ran forward to help
+his well-beloved out of the pilot&#8217;s seat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo, Ronnie!&#8221; cried the fresh-faced,
+athletic girl merrily. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect to find
+you here! I thought you&#8217;d gone to Harbury,
+and I intended to fly over and find you there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I ran out here with George to see that new
+engine running on the bench,&#8221; he explained.
+&#8220;Come and have some tea. You must want some.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl, in her workmanlike air-woman&#8217;s
+windproof overalls, her &#8220;grummet&#8221;&mdash;which in
+aerodrome-parlance means headgear&mdash;her big
+goggles and thick gauntlet-gloves, rose from her
+seat, whilst her lover took her tenderly in his
+arms and lifted her out upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Then, after a glance at the altimeter, he
+remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove, Beryl! You&#8217;ve been flying pretty
+high&mdash;thirteen thousand four hundred feet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; laughed the girl merrily. &#8220;The
+weather this afternoon is perfect for a stunt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, after the young man had gone to the
+exhaust, unscrewed the silencer and placed the
+secret part in his pocket, the pair walked across
+to the tea-room and there sat <i>t�te-�-t�te</i> upon
+the verandah gossiping.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl Gaselee was, perhaps, the best-known
+flying-woman in the United Kingdom. There
+were others, but none so expert nor so daring.
+She would fly when the pylon pilots&mdash;as the ornate
+gentlemen of the aerodromes are called&mdash;shook
+their heads and refused to go up.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>Soft-featured, with pretty, fair and rather
+fluffy hair, and quite devoid of that curious
+hardness of feature which usually distinguishes
+the female athlete, her age was twenty-three, her
+figure slightly <i>petite</i> and quite slim. Indeed,
+many airmen who knew her were amazed that
+such a frail-looking little person could manage
+such a big, powerful machine as Ronnie Pryor&#8217;s
+&#8220;Hornet&#8221;&mdash;the &#8217;bus which was the last word
+in battleplanes both for rapid rising and for
+speed.</p>
+
+<p>The way in which she manipulated the joy-stick
+often, indeed, astonished Ronnie himself.
+But her confidence in herself, and in the stability
+of the machine, was so complete that such a
+thing as possible disaster never occurred to her.</p>
+
+<p>As she sat at the tea-table, her cheeks fresh
+and reddened by the cutting wind at such an
+altitude, a wisp of fair hair straying across her
+face, and her big, wide-open blue eyes aglow
+with the pleasure of living, she presented a charming
+figure of that feminine type that is so purely
+English. They were truly an interesting pair,
+a fact which had apparently become impressed
+upon a middle-aged air-mechanic in brown overalls
+who, in passing the verandah upon which they
+were seated, looked up and cast a furtive glance
+at them.</p>
+
+<p>Both were far too absorbed in each other to
+notice the man&#8217;s unusual interest, or the expression
+of suppressed excitement upon his grimy
+face, as he watched them with covert glance.
+Had they seen it, they might possibly have been
+curious as to the real reason. As it was, they
+remained in blissful ignorance, happy in each
+other&#8217;s confidence and love.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just the weather for another Zepp raid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+to-night,&#8221; Ronnie was remarking. &#8220;No moon
+to speak of, wind just right for them, and a high
+barometer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s why you&#8217;re going to Harbury this
+evening, in readiness to go up, I suppose?&#8221;
+she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ll let me go with you, won&#8217;t you?&#8221;
+she begged, as she poured him his second cup
+of tea with dainty hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You were up last night, and you&#8217;ve been
+for a long joy-ride to-day. I think it would
+really be too great a strain, Beryl, for you to go
+out to-night,&#8221; he protested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, it won&#8217;t. Do let me go, dear!&#8221; she
+urged.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; he replied, always unable to
+refuse her, as she knew full well. &#8220;In that case
+we&#8217;ll fly over to Harbury now, and put the &#8217;bus
+away till to-night. I&#8217;ve sent Collins out there
+in readiness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, half-an-hour later, &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; with
+Ronnie at the joy-stick and Beryl in the observer&#8217;s
+seat, rose again from the grass and, after a
+couple of turns around the pylons, ascended
+rapidly, heading north-east.</p>
+
+<p>As it did so, the dark-eyed mechanic in the
+brown overalls stood watching it grow smaller
+until it passed out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>For some minutes he remained silent and
+pensive, his heavy brows knit as he watched.
+Then, suddenly turning upon his heel, he muttered
+to himself and walked to one of the flying schools
+where he, Henry Knowles, was employed as a
+mechanic on the &#8217;buses flown by the men training
+as air-pilots for the Front.</p>
+
+<p>In a little over half-an-hour the big biplane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+with its loud hum travelled nearly forty miles
+from Hendon, until at last Ronnie, descending
+in search of his landmark, discovered a small
+river winding through the panorama of patchwork
+fields, small dark patches of woods, and little
+clusters of houses which, in the sundown, denoted
+villages and hamlets. This stream he followed
+until Beryl suddenly touched his arm&mdash;speech
+being impossible amid the roar of the engine&mdash;and
+pointed below to where, a little to the left,
+there showed the thin, grey spire of an ivy-clad
+village church and a circular object close by&mdash;the
+village gasometer.</p>
+
+<p>The gasometer was their landmark.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie nodded, and then he quickly banked
+and came down upon a low hill of pastures and
+woods about five miles east of the church spire.</p>
+
+<p>The meadow wherein they glided to earth
+in the golden sunset was some distance from a
+small hamlet which lay down in the valley
+through which ran a stream glistening in the light,
+and turning an old-fashioned water-mill on its
+course. Then, as Ronnie unstrapped himself
+from his seat and hopped out, he exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, dear! You must rest for an hour or
+two, otherwise I shall not allow you to go up with
+me after Zepps to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His smart young mechanic, a fellow named
+Collins, from the aeroplane works came running
+up, while Ronnie assisted Beryl out of the machine.</p>
+
+<p>In a corner of the field not far distant was a
+long barn of corrugated iron, which Ronnie had
+transformed into a hangar for &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;&mdash;and
+this they termed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s Nest.&#8221;
+To this they at once wheeled the great machine,
+Beryl bearing her part in doing so and being
+assisted by two elderly farm-hands.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>Then Collins, the mechanic, having received
+certain instructions, his master and Beryl crossed
+the meadow and, passing through a small copse,
+found themselves upon the lawn of a large, old-fashioned
+house called Harbury Court. The
+place, a long, rambling two-storied Georgian one,
+with a wide porch and square, inartistic windows,
+was partly covered by ivy, while its front was gay
+with geraniums and marguerites.</p>
+
+<p>There came forward to meet the pair Beryl&#8217;s
+married sister Iris, whose husband, Charles
+Remington, a Captain in the Munsters, had been
+many months at the Front, and was now, alas!
+a prisoner of war in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I heard you arrive,&#8221; she said cheerily, addressing
+the pair. And then she told them how she
+had waited tea for them. Neither being averse
+from another cup, the trio passed through the
+French window into the big, cool drawing-room
+with its bright chintzes, gay flowers, and
+interesting bric-a-brac.</p>
+
+<p>While Beryl went half-an-hour later to her
+room to rest, and Ronnie joined Collins to test
+various portions of the &#8217;bus and its apparatus
+before the night flight, a curious scene was taking
+place in the top room of a block of new red-brick
+flats somewhere in a northern suburb of London&mdash;the
+exact situation I am not permitted to
+divulge.</p>
+
+<p>From the window a very extensive view could
+be obtained over London, both south and east,
+where glowed the red haze of sunset upon the
+giant metropolis, with its landmarks of tall factory
+chimneys, church steeples, and long lines
+of slate roofs.</p>
+
+<p>The room was a photographic studio. Indeed,
+the neat brass-plate upon the outer door of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+flat bore the name &#8220;R. Goring, Photographer,&#8221;
+and as such, its owner was known to other tenants
+of the various suites, persons of the upper middle-class,
+men mostly occupying good positions in
+the City.</p>
+
+<p>True, a whole-plate camera stood upon a stand
+in a corner, and there were one or two grey screens
+for backgrounds placed against the wall, but
+nothing else in the apartment showed that it
+was used for the purpose of photography. On
+the contrary, it contained a somewhat unusual
+apparatus, which two men present were closely
+examining.</p>
+
+<p>Upon a strong deal table, set directly beneath
+the great skylight&mdash;which had been made to
+slide back so as to leave that portion of the roof
+open&mdash;was a great circular searchlight, such as
+is used upon ships, the glass face of which was
+turned upward to the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Set in a circle around its face were a number
+of bright reflectors and prisms placed at certain
+angles, with, above them, a large brass ring
+across which white silk gauze was stretched so
+that the intense rays of the searchlight should
+be broken up, and not show as a beam in the
+darkness, and thus disclose its existence.</p>
+
+<p>At a glance the cleverness of the arrangement
+was apparent. It was one of the enemy&#8217;s guiding
+lights for Zeppelins!</p>
+
+<p>The owner of the flat, Mr. Goring, a burly,
+grey-haired man of fifty-five, was exhibiting
+with pride to his visitor a new set of glass prisms
+which he had that day set at the proper angle,
+while the man who was evincing such interest
+was the person who&mdash;only a few hours before&mdash;had
+worked in his mechanic&#8217;s overalls, at the
+Hendon Aerodrome, the man, Henry Knowles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+who was to all intents and purposes an Englishman,
+having been in London since he was three
+years of age. Indeed, so well did he speak his
+Cockney dialect, that none ever dreamt that he
+was the son of one Heinrich Klitz, or that his
+Christian name was Hermann.</p>
+
+<p>His host, like himself, was typically English,
+and had long ago paid his naturalisation fees and
+declared himself of the British bulldog breed. In
+public he was a fierce antagonist of Germany.
+In strongest terms he denounced the Kaiser
+and all his ways. He had even written to the
+newspapers deploring Great Britain&#8217;s mistakes,
+and, by all about him, was believed to be a fine,
+honest, and loyal Englishman. Even his wife,
+who now lived near Bristol, believed him to be
+British. Yet the truth was that he had no right
+to the name of Richard Goring, his baptismal
+name being Otto Kohler, his brother Hans
+occupying, at that moment, the post of President
+of the German Imperial Railways, the handsome
+offices of which are numbered 44, Linkstrasse, in
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>The pair were members of the long-prepared
+secret enemy organisation in our midst&mdash;men
+living in London as British subjects, and each
+having his important part allotted to him to play
+at stated times and in pre-arranged places.</p>
+
+<p>Richard Goring&#8217;s work for his country was
+to pose as a photographer&mdash;so that his undue
+use of electric-light current should not attract
+attention&mdash;and to keep that hidden searchlight
+burning night after night, in case a Zeppelin
+were fortunate enough to get as far as London.</p>
+
+<p>As &#8220;Light-post No. 22&#8221; it was known to those
+cunning Teutons who so craftily established in
+England the most wonderful espionage system<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+ever placed upon the world. In England there
+were a number of signallers and &#8220;light-posts&#8221;
+for the guidance of enemy aircraft, but this&mdash;one
+of the greatest intensity&mdash;was as a lighthouse,
+and marked as of first importance upon the aerial
+chart carried by every Zeppelin Commander.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Goring had shown and explained to his
+friend the improved mechanism of the light,
+whereupon Knowles&mdash;who now wore a smart
+blue serge suit and carried gloves in his hand&mdash;laughed
+merrily, and replied in English, for they
+always talked that language:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I saw Gortz at Number Three last night.
+He has news from Berlin that the big air raid
+is to be made on the fourteenth.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The fourteenth!&#8221; echoed his friend. Then,
+after a second&#8217;s reflection, he added: &#8220;That will
+be Friday week.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. There will be one or two small
+attempts before&mdash;probably one to-night&mdash;a
+reconnaissance over the Eastern Counties. At
+least it was said so last night at Number Three,&#8221;
+he added, referring to a secret meeting place
+of the Huns in London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; laughed the photographic artist. &#8220;I
+always keep the light going and, thanks to the
+plans they sent me from Wilhelmsplatz a month
+before the war, there is no beam of light to betray
+it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Rather thanks to the information we have
+when the British scouting airships leave their
+sheds.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, yes, my dear friend. Then I at once
+cut it off, of course,&#8221; laughed the other. &#8220;But it
+is a weary job&mdash;up here alone each night killing
+time by reading their silly newspapers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One of our greatest dangers, in my opinion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+is that young fellow Ronald Pryor&mdash;the aeroplane-builder,&#8221;
+declared Knowles. &#8220;The man whom
+our friend Reichardt tried to put out of existence
+last week, and failed&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The same. He has a new aeroplane called
+&#8216;The Hornet,&#8217; which can be rendered quite silent.
+That is a very great danger to our airships.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We must, at all hazards, ascertain its secret,&#8221;
+said his host promptly. &#8220;What does Reichardt
+say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They were discussing it last night at Number
+Three.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then the man who called himself Knowles
+and who, by working as a humble mechanic
+at a flying school at Hendon, was able to pick
+up so many facts concerning our air service,
+explained how &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; was kept in secret
+somewhere out in Essex&mdash;at some spot which
+they had not yet discovered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But surely you&#8217;ll get to know,&#8221; was the other&#8217;s
+remark, as he leant idly against the table whereon
+lay the complicated apparatus of prisms, and
+reflectors which constituted the lighthouse to
+guide the enemy aircraft.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is the service upon which Number
+Seven has placed me,&#8221; was the response.</p>
+
+<p>He had referred to the director of that branch
+of the enemy&#8217;s operations in England&mdash;the person
+known as &#8220;Number Seven&#8221;&mdash;the cleverly
+concealed secret agent who assisted to guide the
+invisible hand of Germany in our midst. The
+individual in question lived in strictest retirement,
+unknown even to those puppets of Berlin
+who so blindly obeyed his orders, and who received
+such lavish payment for so doing. Some of the
+Kaiser&#8217;s secret agents said that he lived in
+London; others declared that he lived on a farm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+in a remote village somewhere in Somerset;
+while others said he had been seen walking in
+Piccadilly with a well-known peeress. Many, on
+the other hand, declared that he lived in a small
+country town in the guise of a retired shopkeeper,
+interested only in his roses and his cucumber-frames.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A pity our good friend Reichardt failed the
+other day,&#8221; remarked the man who posed as a
+photographer. &#8220;What of that girl Gaselee?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The next attempt will not fail, depend upon
+it,&#8221; was Knowles&#8217; reply, in tones of confidence.
+&#8220;When Ronald Pryor dies, so will she also.
+The decision at Number Three last night was
+unanimous.&#8221; And he grinned evilly.</p>
+
+<p>Then both men went forth, Goring carefully
+locking the door of the secret studio. Then,
+passing through the well-furnished flat, he closed
+the door behind him, and they descended the
+stairs.</p>
+
+<p>That night just after eleven o&#8217;clock, Beryl
+in her warm air-woman&#8217;s kit, with her leather
+&#8220;grummet&#8221; with its ear-pieces buttoned beneath
+her chin, climbed into &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; and
+strapped herself into the observer&#8217;s seat.</p>
+
+<p>Collins had been busy on the &#8217;bus all the
+evening, testing the powerful dual engines, the
+searchlight, the control levers, and a dozen
+other details, including the all-important silencer.
+Afterwards he had placed in the long rack beneath
+the fusilage four high explosive spherical bombs,
+with three incendiary ones.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when Ronnie hopped in, the machine
+was in complete readiness for a night flight.</p>
+
+<p>Arranged at each corner of the big grass-field
+was a powerful electric light sunk into the ground
+and covered with glass. These could be switched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+on from the house supply and, by means of
+reflectors, gave splendid guidance for descent.
+At present, however, all was, of course,
+in darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The night was windless and overcast, while
+the barometer showed the atmospheric pressure
+to be exactly that welcomed by Commanders
+of enemy airships.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie after switching on his little light over
+the instruments and examining his gauges,
+shouted to Collins:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Righto! Let her rip!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In a moment there was a terrific roar. The
+wind whistled about their ears, and next second
+they were &#8220;zumming,&#8221; up climbing at an angle
+of quite thirty degrees, instead of &#8220;taxi-running&#8221;
+the machine before leaving the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Not a star showed, neither did a light. At
+that hour the good people of Essex were mostly
+in bed.</p>
+
+<p>On their right, as they rose, Beryl noticed one
+or two red and green lights of railway signals,
+but these faded away as they still climbed ever
+up and up, travelling in the direction of the coast.
+The roar of the engines was deafening, until they
+approached a faintly seen cluster of lights which,
+by the map spread before him beneath the tiny
+light, Ronnie knew was the town of B&mdash;&mdash;. Then
+he suddenly pulled a lever by which the noise
+instantly became so deadened that the whirr
+of the propeller alone was audible, the engines
+being entirely silenced.</p>
+
+<p>The young man, speaking for the first time,
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll first run along the coast and scout,
+and then turn back inland.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had he uttered those words when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+suddenly they became blinded by a strong
+searchlight from below.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo! Our anti-aircraft boys!&#8221; he
+ejaculated and at the same moment he pushed
+back the lever, causing the engines to roar again.</p>
+
+<p>The men working the searchlight at once
+distinguished the tri-coloured rings upon the
+planes, and by its sudden silence and as sudden
+roar they knew it to be &#8220;The Hornet.&#8221; Therefore
+next second they shut off the beam of the
+light, and once again Ronnie silenced his &#8217;bus.</p>
+
+<p>It was then near midnight, and up there at ten
+thousand feet the wind was bitingly cold. Moreover
+there were one or two air currents which
+caused the machine to rock violently in a manner
+that would have alarmed any but those
+experienced in flying.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl buttoned her collar still more snugly,
+but declared that she was not feeling cold.
+Below, little or nothing could be seen until, of
+a sudden, they ran into a thick cold mist, and
+then knew that they were over the sea.</p>
+
+<p>With a glance at his luminous compass, the
+cheery young airman quickly turned the machine&#8217;s
+nose due south, and a quarter of an hour later altered
+his course south-west, heading towards London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing doing to-night, it seems!&#8221; he
+remarked to his companion, as, in the darkness,
+they sped along at about fifty miles an hour,
+the wind whistling weirdly through the stays,
+the propeller humming musically, but the sound
+seeming no more than that of a bumblebee on
+a summer&#8217;s day.</p>
+
+<p>It was certain that such sound could not be
+heard below.</p>
+
+<p>After nearly an hour they realised by certain
+unmistakable signs&mdash;mostly atmospheric&mdash;that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+they were over the outer northern suburbs of
+London.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as Ronnie altered his course, in the inky
+blackness of the night, both saw, deep below,
+an intense white light burning like a beacon,
+but throwing no ray.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s curious!&#8221; remarked Pryor to the girl
+beside him. &#8220;I can&#8217;t make it out. I&#8217;ve seen
+it several times before. One night a month
+ago I saw it put out, and then, when one of
+our patrolling airships had gone over, it came
+suddenly up again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;An enemy light for the guiding of enemy
+Zeppelins&mdash;eh?&#8221; Beryl suggested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly my opinion!&#8221; was her lover&#8217;s reply.</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke they passed out of range of vision,
+all becoming dark again. Therefore, Ronnie put
+down his lever and turned the &#8217;bus quickly so that
+he could again examine the mysterious light
+which would reveal to the enemy the district
+of London over which they were then flying.</p>
+
+<p>For a full quarter of an hour &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221;
+having descended to about three thousand feet,
+man&oelig;uvred backwards and forwards, crossing
+and recrossing exactly over the intense white
+light below, Ronnie remaining silent, and flying
+the great biplane with most expert skill.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as he passed for the sixth time
+directly over the light, he touched a lever, and a
+quick swish of air followed.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the white light was blotted out
+by a fierce blood-red one.</p>
+
+<p>No sound of any explosion was heard. But a
+second later bright flames leapt up high, and from
+where they sat aloft they could clearly distinguish
+that the upper story of the house was well alight.</p>
+
+<p>Once again &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; which had hovered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+over the spot, flying very slowly in a circle,
+swooped down in silence, for Pryor was eager
+to ascertain the result of his well-placed incendiary
+bomb.</p>
+
+<p>As, in the darkness, they rapidly neared the
+earth, making no sound to attract those below,
+Beryl could see that in the streets, lit by
+the flames, people were running about like a
+swarm of ants. The alarm had already been given
+to the fire-brigade, for the faint sound of a fire-bell
+now reached their ears.</p>
+
+<p>For five or six minutes Pryor remained in the
+vicinity watching the result of the bomb.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl, strapped in, peered below, and then,
+placing her eye to the powerful night-glasses,
+she could discern distinctly two fire-engines
+tearing along to the scene of the conflagration.</p>
+
+<p>Then with a laugh Ronnie pulled over the lever
+and, climbing high again, swiftly made off in
+the direction of Harbury.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That spy won&#8217;t ever show a light again!&#8221;
+he remarked grimly.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the newspapers reported a serious
+and very mysterious outbreak of fire in a photographic
+studio at the top of a certain block of
+flats, the charred remains of the occupier, Mr.
+Richard Goring, a highly respected resident,
+being afterwards found, together with a mass
+of mysterious metal apparatus with which he
+had apparently been experimenting, and by
+which&mdash;as the Coroner&#8217;s jury eventually decided
+four days later&mdash;the fatal fire must have been
+caused.</p>
+
+<p>One morning Beryl and Ronnie, seated together
+in the drawing-room at Harbury, read the
+evidence given at the inquest and the verdict.</p>
+
+<p>Both smiled, but neither made remark.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II.<br />
+
+<small>MR. MARK MARX.</small></h2></div>
+
+
+<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">I think</span> we&#8217;ll have to give her another dope,
+Collins,&#8221; remarked Ronnie Pryor, as early one
+summer&#8217;s morning he stood before &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221;
+which, after a night-flight to the sea and back,
+was reposing in its &#8220;nest.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly wouldn&#8217;t hurt her, sir, especially
+if we can get some of that new patent stuff that
+Mr. Henderson was telling us about the other
+day,&#8221; the young mechanic replied.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! That&#8217;s a secret,&#8221; laughed his master.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s no doubt the finest dope ever invented,
+and happily Fritz, with all his scientific attainments,
+is still in the dark regarding it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid the enemy will learn the secret
+before long, sir,&#8221; the man remarked. &#8220;There
+are far too many strangers knocking about the
+aerodromes, and prying into everyone&#8217;s business.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know, Collins, I know,&#8221; remarked Ronnie.
+&#8220;They&#8217;re very inquisitive regarding my new
+silencer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s quite right, sir. I&#8217;m often being
+pumped about it by strangers.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I know you never utter a word
+concerning it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Trust me, sir,&#8221; laughed the clean-shaven
+young man. &#8220;I always deny any knowledge
+of it. But the people who make the inquiries
+seem very shrewd indeed. And the funny thing
+is that they are never foreigners.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, I quite realise that. But at all hazards
+we must keep the secret of the silencer to
+ourselves,&#8221; said Pryor. &#8220;The silencer enables
+us to make night-flights in secret without the
+enemy being any the wiser,&#8221; he added.</p>
+
+<p>Collins grinned. He knew, only too well,
+how &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; had, more than once, been
+over to Belgium and returned in safety without
+its presence being spotted by the enemy. He
+knew, too, that the bomb-rack had been full
+when Ronnie and Beryl Gaselee had ascended,
+and that it had been empty when they had
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>On the previous night Pryor had been up,
+accompanied by his mechanic. They had come
+in at daybreak, snatched three hours&#8217; sleep,
+and were now out again overhauling the
+machine.</p>
+
+<p>As they were speaking, Beryl Gaselee, dainty
+and fair-haired, in a cool, white cotton dress,
+suddenly came up behind them exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good-morning, Ronnie! Iris is waiting
+breakfast patiently for you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I really forgot, dear!&#8221; replied the young
+airman. &#8220;Collins and I have been so busy
+for the last hour.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Together they crossed the lawn arm-in-arm to
+the pleasant, old-world house.</p>
+
+<p>When ten minutes later the pair sat down to
+breakfast in the sunlit dining-room, the long
+windows of which led out upon an ancient terrace
+embowered with roses, Mrs. Remington came in,
+greeting Ronald with the protest&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wish, when you come in, you&#8217;d put your
+silencer on your boots, Ronnie! You woke me
+up just at four, and Toby started to bark.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>&#8220;By Jove! Did I? Lots of apologies! I&#8217;ll
+creep about in my socks in future,&#8221; declared
+the culprit, stooping to pat the miniature
+&#8220;pom.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did Sheppard give you the telephone
+message?&#8221; Mrs. Remington asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. What message?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, one that came in the middle of the
+night?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Sheppard, the old-fashioned
+butler who had just entered the room, interrupted,
+saying in his quiet way:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen Mr. Pryor before, madam.&#8221;
+Then turning to Ronnie, he said: &#8220;The telephone
+rang at about a quarter to one. I answered it.
+Somebody&mdash;a man&#8217;s voice&mdash;was speaking from
+Liverpool. He wanted you, sir. But I said
+you were out. He told me to give you a message,&#8221;
+and he handed Ronnie a slip of paper upon which
+were pencilled the words:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><i>&#8220;Please tell Mr. Ronald Pryor that Mark Marx
+has returned. He will be in London at the old
+place at ten o&#8217;clock to-night.&#8221;</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>As Ronald Pryor&#8217;s eyes fell upon that message
+all the light died from his face.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl noticed it, and asked her lover whether
+he had received bad news. He started. Then,
+recovering himself instantly, he held his breath
+for a second, and replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all, dear. It is only from a friend&mdash;a
+man whom I believed had been killed, but who is
+well and back again in England.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There must be many such cases,&#8221; the fair-haired
+girl remarked. &#8220;I heard of one the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+day when a man reported dead a year ago, and for
+whom his widow was mourning, suddenly walked
+into his own drawing-room.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope his return was not unwelcome?&#8221; said
+Ronnie with a laugh. &#8220;It would have been a
+trifle awkward, for example, if the widow had
+re-married in the meantime.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, rather a queer situation&mdash;at least, for
+the second husband,&#8221; declared Iris, who was some
+five years Beryl&#8217;s senior, and the mother of two
+pretty children.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did the person who spoke to you give any
+name?&#8221; asked Pryor of the butler.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, sir. He would give no name. He simply
+said that you would quite understand, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronald Pryor did understand. Mark Marx
+was back again in England! It seemed
+incredible. But whose was that voice which in
+the night had warned him from Liverpool?</p>
+
+<p>He ate his breakfast wondering. Should he tell
+Beryl? Should he reveal the whole curious truth
+to her? No. If he did so, she might become
+nervous and apprehensive. Why shake the
+nerves of a woman who did such fine work in the
+air? It would be best for him to keep his own
+counsel. Therefore, before he rose from the
+table, he had resolved to retain the secret of
+Marx&#8217;s return.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast Ronald, having taken from
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; the essential parts of his newly
+invented silencer, which, by the way, he daily
+expected would be adopted by the Government,
+carried them back to the house and there locked
+them in the big safe which he kept in his bedroom.</p>
+
+<p>Then, later on, Beryl drove him to the station<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+where he took train to London, and travelled
+down to his aeroplane factory, where, in secret,
+several big battleplanes of &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; type
+were being constructed.</p>
+
+<p>It was a large, imposing place with many sheds
+and workshops, occupying a considerable area.
+The whole place was surrounded by a high wall,
+and, beyond, a barbed-wire entanglement, for
+the secrets of the work in progress were well
+guarded by trusty, armed watchmen night and day.</p>
+
+<p>Pryor was seated in his office chatting with Mr.
+Woodhouse, the wide-awake and active manager,
+about certain business matters, when he suddenly
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By the way, it will be best to double all precautions
+against any information leaking out from
+here, and on no account to admit any strangers
+upon any pretext whatever. Even if any fresh
+Government viewer comes along he is not to enter
+until you have verified his identity-pass.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; was Woodhouse&#8217;s reply. &#8220;But
+why are we to be so very particular?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I have my own reasons. Without
+doubt, our friend the enemy is extremely anxious
+to obtain the secrets of &#8216;The Hornet,&#8217; and also
+the silencer. And in these days we must run
+no risks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, after a stroll through the sheds where a
+hundred or so men were at work upon the various
+parts of the new battleplane destined to &#8220;strafe&#8221;
+the Huns, and clear the air of the Fokkers, the
+easy-going but intrepid airman made his way
+back to Pall Mall, where he ate an early dinner
+alone in the big upstairs dining-room at the
+Royal Automobile Club.</p>
+
+<p>By half-past seven he had smoked the post-prandial
+cigarette, swallowed a tiny glass of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, and was strolling
+back along Pall Mall towards Charing Cross.</p>
+
+<p>At the corner of the Haymarket he hailed a
+passing taxi, and drove out to Hammersmith to
+a small, dingy house situated in a side-turning
+off the busy King Street. There he dismissed
+the conveyance, and entered the house with a
+latch-key.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Cranch!&#8221; he shouted when in the small,
+close-smelling hall, having closed the door behind
+him. &#8220;Cranch! Are you at home?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo! Is that you, Mr. Pryor?&#8221; came a
+cheery answer, when from the back room on the
+ground-floor emerged a burly, close-shaven man
+in his shirt-sleeves, for it was a hot, breathless
+night.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. I&#8217;m quite a stranger, am I not?&#8221;
+laughed Pryor, following his host back into the
+cheaply furnished sitting-room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Cranch, I&#8217;m going out on a funny
+expedition to-night,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I want you to
+fit me up with the proper togs for the Walworth
+Road. You know the best rig-out. And I want
+you to come with me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly, Mr. Pryor,&#8221; was his host&#8217;s reply.
+John Cranch had done his twenty-five years in
+the Criminal Investigation Department at
+Scotland Yard as sergeant and inspector, and
+now amplified his pension by doing private inquiry
+work. He was &#8220;on the list&#8221; at the Yard, and to
+persons who went to the police headquarters to
+seek unofficial assistance his name was frequently
+given as a very reliable officer.</p>
+
+<p>The pair sat for some time in earnest consultation,
+after which both ascended to a bedroom
+above, where, in the cupboard, hung many suits
+of clothes, from the rags of a tramp&mdash;with broken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+boots to match&mdash;to the smart evening clothes of
+the prosperous middle-aged <i>rou�</i> who might be
+seen at supper at the Savoy, or haunting the nightclubs
+of London. Among them were the uniforms
+of a postman, a railway-porter, with caps
+belonging to the various companies, a fireman, a
+private soldier, a lieutenant, a gas-inspector, a
+tram-conductor, and other guises which ex-detective
+John Cranch had, from time to time,
+assumed.</p>
+
+<p>Within half-an-hour the pair again descended,
+and entering the sitting-room they presented quite
+a different appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie Pryor&#8217;s most intimate friend would
+certainly not easily have recognised him. Even
+Beryl Gaselee would have passed him by in the
+street without a second glance, for his features
+were altered; he wore a small moustache, and his
+clothes were those of an East-end Jew. At the
+same time Cranch was dressed as a hard-working
+costermonger of the true Old Kent Road type.</p>
+
+<p>Together they drove in a taxi across South
+London to the railway-arch at Walworth Road
+station, beneath which they alighted and, turning
+to the right along the Camberwell Road, crossed
+it and went leisurely into the Albany Road&mdash;that
+long, straight thoroughfare of dingy old-fashioned
+houses which were pleasant residences in the
+&#8220;forties&#8221; when Camberwell was still a rural
+village&mdash;the road which ran direct from Camberwell
+Gate to the Old Kent Road.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness had already fallen as the pair strolled
+leisurely along until they passed a small house on
+the left, close to the corner of Villa Street.</p>
+
+<p>As they went by, their eyes took in every detail.
+Not a large house, but rather superior to its neighbours,
+it lay back behind a small garden and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+seemed closely shuttered and obscure. Nearly
+opposite it Cranch&#8217;s sharp eyes espied a &#8220;To
+Let&#8221; board upon a house, and he at once suggested
+that if they hid behind the railing they could
+watch the house of mystery in security.</p>
+
+<p>This they did, and after a little man&oelig;uvring&mdash;for
+there were many people passing in the vicinity&mdash;they
+both crouched beneath a soot-laden lilac-bush,
+which commanded full view of all who
+went from and came to the dark house before
+them.</p>
+
+<p>As Ronnie crouched there in concealment one
+thought alone kept running through his brain.
+Truth to tell, he was much mystified as to the
+identity of that mysterious person who, from
+Liverpool, had given him warning.</p>
+
+<p>Was it a trap? He had certainly not
+overlooked such a contingency.</p>
+
+<p>For over an hour and a half the two men
+remained there, eagerly watching the diminishing
+stream of foot-passengers until at last, coming up
+from the Camberwell Road, Ronnie noticed a
+man approaching.</p>
+
+<p>For some seconds he kept his eye steadily upon
+him, for the moon was now shining fitfully through
+the clouds.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove! How curious!&#8221; he whispered to
+his companion. &#8220;Why, that&#8217;s Knowles, one of
+the mechanics at Hendon! I wonder what he&#8217;s
+doing over here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie was, of course, in ignorance&mdash;as was
+also everyone at the Hendon Aerodrome&mdash;that
+Henry Knowles, the hard-working, painstaking
+mechanic, whose expert work it was to test
+machines, was not really an Englishman as he
+pretended to be, even though he could imitate
+the Cockney tongue, but that his actual baptismal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+name was Hermann Klitz, and his place of birth
+Coblenz, on the Rhine.</p>
+
+<p>With wondering eyes the airman watched the
+mechanic pass into the dark, silent house.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very strange!&#8221; he remarked beneath his
+breath. &#8220;Very strange indeed!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But his curiosity was increased by the arrival,
+ten minutes later, of a rather short, middle-aged
+man of distinctly burly build. The newcomer
+hesitated for a few minutes, gazing about him
+furtively, as though he feared being followed, and
+then slipped through the gate up to the house, where
+the door fell open, he being apparently expected.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you see that man, Cranch?&#8221; asked
+Pryor in a whisper. &#8220;That&#8217;s Germany&#8217;s great
+spy&mdash;Mark Marx. He&#8217;s been in America for the
+past ten months or so, and is now back here upon
+some secret mission concerning our aircraft&mdash;upon
+which he&#8217;s an expert.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re holding a council here&mdash;by the look
+of it,&#8221; remarked the detective. &#8220;Five of them
+have gone in&mdash;and why, look! Here comes
+another&mdash;a lame man!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said Ronnie. &#8220;This secret place of
+meeting is known to the spies of Germany as
+&#8216;Number Three.&#8217; From here certain of the clever
+activities of the invisible hand of Germany are
+frequently directed, as from other centres;
+Mark Marx is a clever adventurer who used to
+be the assistant director of the enemy&#8217;s operations
+in this country. Apparently he has returned
+to London to resume his sinister activities against
+us. He acts directly under the control of the head
+of Germany&#8217;s secret service in this country,
+that shrewd, clever, and influential person who
+hides his identity beneath the official description
+of &#8216;Number Seven.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>&#8220;Then &#8216;Number Three&#8217; is the headquarters
+of &#8216;Number Seven&#8217;&mdash;eh!&#8221; asked the ex-detective
+in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. That some devilish conspiracy is
+now afoot is quite certain. Our duty is to discover
+and to thwart it. I was secretly warned
+that Mark Marx had returned, and now, knowing
+that it is so, I must take adequate precautions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How shall you act?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have not yet decided.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But can&#8217;t we endeavour to ascertain what
+is in progress here to-night, Mr. Pryor?&#8221;
+suggested Cranch.</p>
+
+<p>Pryor and his companion kept vigilant watch
+till far into the night when, about two o&#8217;clock
+in the morning, a big closed motor-car suddenly
+came along the road, pulling up a little distance
+from the house. The driver, a tall, thin man,
+alighted and waited for some moments, when the
+two men, Marx and Klitz, <i>alias</i> Knowles, emerged
+carrying between them a small but heavy leather
+travelling trunk and, assisted by the driver,
+placed this on top of the car. Then the two men
+entered and drove rapidly away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That car may come again to-morrow night,&#8221;
+remarked Pryor. &#8220;We must lay our plans to
+follow it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Next night, Pryor having ascertained the
+identity of the friend who had warned him of
+Mark Marx&#8217;s return to England, he and Cranch
+were again at the same spot beneath the stunted
+lilac-bush. Round the corner, in Villa Street,
+at a little distance away stood Ronnie&#8217;s closed
+car with Beryl Gaselee in charge, the latter
+wearing the cap and dust-coat of a war-time
+<i>chauffeuse</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Hour after hour they waited until dawn broke.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+But as no one came to that house known as
+&#8220;Number Three,&#8221; they were compelled at last to
+relinquish their vigilance.</p>
+
+<p>For four nights in succession they kept the same
+watch, Cranch having revealed his identity and
+explained to the constable on duty that the car
+was awaiting an expected friend.</p>
+
+<p>On the fifth occasion, just about half-past one
+in the morning, sure enough the big, dark-green
+car drove up, and from it Marx alighted and
+entered the enemy&#8217;s headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Klitz and another man arrived on
+foot, and they also entered. Subsequently
+another small but heavy trunk was taken out
+and placed in the car.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Ronnie and his companion had
+reached their own car, and while Cranch and
+Beryl entered, Ronnie jumped up to the wheel
+and started off. He first took a street that he
+knew ran parallel with the Albany Road in the
+direction the car had taken before and, after
+going a little distance, he turned back into the
+thoroughfare just in time to see a rear-lamp pass
+rapidly. Quickly he increased his speed, and soon
+satisfied himself that it was the car he intended
+following.</p>
+
+<p>They turned at last into the Old Kent Road,
+and then on as far as a dark little place which
+Ronnie knew as Kingsdown. Then, branching
+to the right, keeping the red rear-light ever in
+view, they went by the byways as far as
+Meopham and on past Jenkin&#8217;s Court, through
+some woods until suddenly the car turned into
+a gateway and went across some open pastures.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie saw that he had not been noticed by
+the driver, who was too intent upon his speed
+and quite unsuspicious. Therefore he pulled up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+dead, waited for ten minutes or so, and then
+flew past the gateway at top speed. For nearly
+a mile he went, and at last came to a standstill
+upon a long, steep slope with a copse on each side,
+quite dark on account of the overhanging trees.</p>
+
+<p>Having run the car to the side of the road they
+alighted. Ronnie switched off the lamps, and
+they walked noiselessly back on the grass by
+the roadside and at length, having turned in at
+the gateway, saw, in the dim light, a long, low-built
+farmhouse with haystacks beside it and
+big barns.</p>
+
+<p>The throb of the car&#8217;s engine showed that the
+Germans were probably only depositing the trunk,
+and did not intend to remain.</p>
+
+<p>The watchers, therefore, withdrew again into
+the shadow of a narrow little wood close to the
+house and there waited in patience. Their
+expectations were realised a quarter of an hour
+later when the two men emerged from the
+modern-built farmhouse and drove away,
+evidently on their return to London.</p>
+
+<p>By their man&oelig;uvre Pryor became greatly
+puzzled. He could not see why that trunk
+had been transferred to that lonely farm in the
+night hours.</p>
+
+<p>After the car had disappeared they waited
+in motionless silence for some time until, after
+a whispered consultation, they ventured forth
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Cranch&#8217;s suggestion was to examine the place,
+but unfortunately a collie was roaming about,
+and as soon as they came forth from their place
+of concealment the dog gave his alarm note.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ben!&#8221; cried a gruff, male voice in rebuke,
+while at the same time a light showed in the upper
+window of the farm.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>Meanwhile the trio of watchers remained
+hidden in the shadow of a wall close to the
+spacious farmyard until the dog had gone back.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie had resolved to leave the investigation
+until the following day, therefore all three crept
+back to the car and, after carefully noting the
+exact spot and the silhouette of the trees, they
+at last started off and presently finding a high
+road, ran down into Wrotham, and on into the
+long town of Tonbridge.</p>
+
+<p>At the hotel their advent at such an early
+hour was looked upon askance, but a well-concocted
+story of a night journey and unfortunate
+tyre trouble allayed any suspicions, and by seven
+o&#8217;clock the three were seated at an ample breakfast
+with home-cured ham and farmyard eggs.
+Afterwards, for several hours, Beryl rested
+while the airman and the detective wandered
+about the little Kentish town discussing their
+plans.</p>
+
+<p>When, at eleven o&#8217;clock, Ronnie met Beryl
+again downstairs, the trio went into one of the
+sitting-rooms where they held secret council.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now,&#8221; exclaimed Ronnie, &#8220;my plan is this.
+I&#8217;ll run back alone to the farm and stroll around
+the place to reconnoitre and ascertain who lives
+there. Without a doubt they are agents of
+Germany, whoever they are, because it is a dep�t
+for those mysterious trunks from &#8216;Number
+Three.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder what they contain, dear?&#8221; Beryl
+said, her face full of keenest interest.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We shall ascertain, never fear. But we must
+remain patient, and work in strictest secrecy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Mr. Pryor, you can play the police game
+as well as any of us,&#8221; declared Cranch, with a
+light laugh.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>Therefore, a quarter of an hour later, Pryor
+took the car and returning to a spot near the
+farm&mdash;which he afterwards found was called Chandler&#8217;s
+Farm&mdash;and running the car into a meadow,
+left it while he went forward to reconnoitre.</p>
+
+<p>As he approached, he noticed two men working
+in a field close by, therefore he had to exercise
+great care not to be detected. By a circuitous
+route he at last approached the place, finding it,
+in daylight, to be a very modern up-to-date
+establishment&mdash;evidently the dairy farm of some
+estate, for the outbuildings and barns were all
+new, and of red brick, with corrugated iron roofs.</p>
+
+<p>The farmhouse itself was a big, pleasant place
+situated on a hill, surrounded by a large, well-kept
+flower-garden, and commanding a wide
+view across Kent towards the Thames Estuary
+and the coast.</p>
+
+<p>And as Ronnie crept along the belt of trees,
+his shrewd gaze taking in everything, there
+passed from the house across the farmyard a
+tall man in mechanic&#8217;s blue overalls. He walked
+a trifle lame, and by his gait Pryor felt certain
+that he was one of the men who had been present
+at that mysterious house called &#8220;Number Three&#8221;
+a few nights before.</p>
+
+<p>But why should he wear mechanic&#8217;s overalls,
+unless he attended to some agricultural machinery
+at work on the farm?</p>
+
+<p>Only half-satisfied with the result of his
+observations, Ronnie returned at length to his
+companions, when it was resolved to set watch
+both at Albany Road and at Chandler&#8217;s Farm.
+With that object Pryor later that day telegraphed
+to Collins calling him to London from Harbury,
+and after meeting him introduced him to the
+ex-detective.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>Then that night the two men went to Albany
+Road, while Ronnie and Beryl returned in the
+car back into Kent, where soon after ten o&#8217;clock
+they were hiding on the edge of the little wood
+whence there was afforded a good view of the
+approach to the lonely farm.</p>
+
+<p>Time passed very slowly; they dared not speak
+above a whisper. The night was dull and overcast,
+with threatening rain, but all was silent
+save for the howling of a dog at intervals and
+the striking of a distant church clock.</p>
+
+<p>Far across the valley in the darkness of the
+sky behind the hill could be seen the flicker
+of an anti-aircraft searchlight somewhere in the
+far distance, in readiness for any aerial raid on
+the part of the Huns.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t think what can be in progress here,
+Beryl,&#8221; Ronnie was whispering. &#8220;What, I
+wonder, do those trunks contain?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what we must discover, dear,&#8221; was
+the girl&#8217;s soft reply as, in the darkness, his strong
+hand closed over hers and he drew her fondly
+to his breast.</p>
+
+<p>A dim light still showed in one of the lower
+windows of the farmhouse, though it was now
+long past midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Was the arrival of someone expected? It
+certainly seemed so, because just at two o&#8217;clock
+the door opened and the form of the lame man
+became silhouetted against the light. For a
+moment he came forth and peered into the
+darkness. Then he re-entered and ten minutes
+later the light, extinguished below, reappeared
+at one of the bedroom windows, showing that the
+inmate had retired.</p>
+
+<p>For six nights the same ceaseless vigil was kept,
+but without anything abnormal transpiring. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+man Marx had not again visited the mysterious
+house in Albany Road, yet the fact that the
+obscured light showed nightly in the window of
+Chandler&#8217;s Farm, made it apparent that some
+midnight visitor was expected. For that reason
+alone Ronnie did not relinquish his vigilance.</p>
+
+<p>One night he was creeping with Beryl towards
+the spot where they spent so many silent hours,
+and had taken a shorter cut across the corner
+of a big grass-field when, of a sudden, his well-beloved
+stumbled and almost fell. Afterwards,
+on groping about, he discovered an insulated
+electric wire lying along the ground.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s curious,&#8221; he whispered. &#8220;Is this a
+telephone, I wonder?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Fearing to switch on his torch, he felt by the
+touch that it was a twin wire twisted very much
+like a telephone-lead.</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment, as they stood together
+in the corner of the field, Beryl sniffed,
+exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What a very strong smell of petrol!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her lover held his nose in the air, and declared
+that he, too, could detect it, the two discoveries
+puzzling them considerably. Indeed, in the
+succeeding hours as they watched together in
+silence, both tried to account for the existence
+of that secret twisted wire. Whence did it come,
+and whither did it lead?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll investigate it as soon as it gets light,&#8221;
+Ronnie declared.</p>
+
+<p>Just before two o&#8217;clock the silence was broken
+by the distant hum of an aeroplane. Both
+detected it at the same instant.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo! One of our boys doing a night
+stunt?&#8221; remarked Ronnie, straining his eyes
+into the darkness, but failing to see the oncoming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+machine. Away across the hills a long, white
+beam began to search the sky and, having found
+the machine and revealed the rings upon it,
+at once shut off again.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, as it approached, the door of
+Chandler&#8217;s Farm was opened by the tall, lame
+man, who stood outside until the machine, by
+its noise, was almost over them. Then to the
+amazement of the watchers, four points of light
+suddenly appeared at the corners of the grass-field
+on their left.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove! Why, he&#8217;s coming down!&#8221; cried
+Ronnie astounded. &#8220;There was petrol placed
+at each corner yonder, and it&#8217;s simultaneously
+been ignited by means of the electric wire to
+show him his landing-place! It&#8217;s an enemy
+machine got up to look like one of ours! This
+<i>is</i> a discovery!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So it is!&#8221; gasped Beryl, standing at her
+lover&#8217;s side, listening to the aeroplane, unseen
+in the darkness, as it hovered around the farm
+and slowly descended.</p>
+
+<p>The man at the farm had brought out a blue
+lamp and was showing it upward.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; exclaimed Pryor. &#8220;He&#8217;s telling
+him the direction of the wind&mdash;a pretty cute
+arrangement, and no mistake!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lower and lower came the mysterious aeroplane
+until it skimmed the tops of the trees in the wood
+in which they stood, then, making a tour of the
+field, it at last came lightly to earth within the
+square marked by the little cups of burning petrol.</p>
+
+<p>The pilot stopped his engine, the four lights
+burnt dim and went out one after the other, and
+the lame man, hurrying down, gave a low whistle
+which was immediately answered.</p>
+
+<p>Then, on their way back to the farm, the pair<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+passed close to where the watchers were hidden,
+and in the silence the latter could distinctly
+hear them speaking&mdash;eagerly and excitedly in
+German!</p>
+
+<p>Beryl and Ronnie watched there until dawn,
+when they saw the two men wheel the monoplane,
+disguised as British with rings upon it, into the
+long shed at the bottom of the meadow, the door
+of which the lame man afterwards securely locked.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later Pryor was speaking on the telephone
+with Cranch in London, telling him what
+they had discovered. Soon after midday Beryl
+and Ronnie were back at Harbury, where in the
+library window they stood in consultation.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Beryl,&#8221; the keen-faced young man
+said, &#8220;as that machine has crossed from Belgium,
+it is undoubtedly going back again. If so,
+it will take something with it&mdash;something which
+no doubt the enemy wants to send out of the
+country by secret means.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;With that I quite agree, dear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good. Then there&#8217;s no time to be lost,&#8221;
+her lover said, poring over a map. &#8220;We&#8217;ll fly
+over to Chandler&#8217;s Farm this afternoon, come
+down near Fawkham, and put the &#8217;bus away
+till to-night. Then we&#8217;ll see what happens.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;ll probably fly back to-night,&#8221; the girl
+suggested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s exactly what I expect. I&#8217;ve told
+Collins and Cranch to meet us there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>An hour later the great battleplane, &#8220;The
+Hornet,&#8221; Ronnie at the joy-stick, with Beryl
+in air-woman&#8217;s clothes and goggles strapped in
+the observer&#8217;s seat, rose with a roar from the big
+meadow at Harbury and, ascending to an altitude
+of about ten thousand feet, struck away due
+south across the patchwork of brown fields and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+green meadows, with their tiny clusters of houses
+and white puffs of smoke all blowing in the same
+direction&mdash;the usual panorama of rural England,
+with its straight lines of rails and winding roads,
+as seen from the air.</p>
+
+<p>The roar of the powerful twin engines was such
+that they found conversation impossible, but
+Beryl, practised pilot that she was, soon recognised
+the town over which they were flying.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards the Thames, half-hidden in
+mist and winding like a ribbon, came into view
+far below them. This served as guide, for Ronnie
+kept over the river for some time, at the end of
+which both recognised three church spires and
+knew that the most distant one was that of
+Fawkham, where presently they came down in
+a field about half-way between the station and
+the village, creating considerable sensation among
+the cottagers in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>Collins, who was awaiting them near the station,
+soon arrived on foot to render them assistance,
+the &#8217;bus being eventually put beneath a convenient
+shed used for the shacking of hay.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie had not used the silencer, fearing to
+create undue excitement among the anti-aircraft
+boys, many of whom had, of course, watched
+the machine&#8217;s flight at various points, examining
+it through glasses and being reassured by its
+painted rings.</p>
+
+<p>Until night fell the lovers remained at
+Fawkham, taking their evening meal in a small
+inn there, and wondering what Cranch had seen
+during the daylight vigil he had kept since noon.
+Collins had left them in order to go on ahead.</p>
+
+<p>As dusk deepened into night both Pryor and
+his well-beloved grew more excited. The discovery
+they had made was certainly an amazing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+one, but the intentions of the enemy were still
+enveloped in mystery.</p>
+
+<p>That something desperate was to be attempted
+was, however, quite plain.</p>
+
+<p>In eagerness they remained until night had
+fallen completely, then, leaving the inn, they
+returned to the farmer&#8217;s shed, and, wheeling
+forth the powerful machine, got in and, having
+bidden the astonished farmer good-night, Ronnie
+put on the silencer, started the engines, and next
+moment, rising almost noiselessly, made a wide
+circle in the air. Taking his bearings with some
+difficulty, he headed for a small, open common,
+which they both knew well, situated about a
+quarter of a mile from Chandler&#8217;s Farm.</p>
+
+<p>There, with hardly any noise, they made
+a safe descent. Scarcely had the pilot switched
+off the engines, when the faithful Collins appeared
+with the news that Marx and the man Knowles
+had arrived from London in the car at seven
+o&#8217;clock.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, when Collins had been left in charge
+of the &#8217;bus, and Ronnie and Beryl had stolen
+up to where Cranch was waiting, the latter whispered
+that Marx and Knowles had both accompanied
+the German pilot down to the shed wherein
+the disguised machine was reposing. &#8220;They&#8217;re
+all three down there now,&#8221; added the ex-detective.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did they bring anything in the car?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Half-a-dozen cans of petrol. They&#8217;ve
+just taken them down to the shed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And even as he replied they could hear the
+voices of the three returning. They were conversing
+merrily in German.</p>
+
+<p>Another long, watchful hour went by, and the
+darkness increased.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If he&#8217;s going over to Belgium it will take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+him about an hour and three-quarters to reach
+Zeebrugge&mdash;for that&#8217;s where he probably came
+from,&#8221; remarked the expert Pryor. &#8220;It&#8217;s light
+now at four, so he&#8217;ll go up before two, or not at
+all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He would hardly risk being caught at sea in
+daylight,&#8221; declared Beryl.</p>
+
+<p>Then, for a long time, there was silence, the
+eyes of all three being fixed upon the door of the
+farm until, of a sudden, it opened and the lame
+man and the enemy pilot were seen to emerge
+carrying between them one of the old leather
+trunks that had been brought from London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo! They&#8217;re going to take it across by
+air!&#8221; cried Pryor. &#8220;It must contain something
+which ought to remain in this country!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They watched the trunk being carried in silence
+away into the darkness to the shed. Then
+presently the two men returned and brought
+out the second trunk, which they carried to the
+same spot as the first.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; remarked Ronnie, beneath his breath.
+&#8220;A devilish clever game&mdash;no doubt!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, instructing Cranch to remain and watch,
+he led Beryl back to where &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; stood.</p>
+
+<p>Into the observer&#8217;s seat he strapped the girl,
+and, hopping in himself, whispered to Collins
+to get all ready.</p>
+
+<p>The engine was started; but it made no sound
+greater than a silent motor-car when standing.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to listen
+for the sound of the engine of the enemy &#8217;plane.</p>
+
+<p>Those moments were full of breathless tension
+and excitement. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; was waiting
+to rise.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there was a loud sound of uneven
+motor explosions in the direction of the farm.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+The engine was firing badly. In a few moments,
+however, it was rectified, and the loud and increasing
+hum told Ronnie that the enemy had risen.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Stand clear,&#8221; he shouted to Collins, and then,
+as he pulled over the lever, &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; dashed
+forward and was soon rising rapidly, but in silence.</p>
+
+<p>So dark was it that he could not distinguish
+the enemy. Yet, heading for the coast, as he
+knew that was the direction the German had
+taken, he rose higher and higher until five minutes
+later Beryl, at his orders, suddenly switched on
+the searchlight and swept around below them.</p>
+
+<p>At first they could distinguish nothing, yet from
+the direction of the humming they knew it must
+be below them.</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes later Ronnie&#8217;s quick eyes saw it
+in front of them, but a hundred feet or so nearer
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy pilot, alarmed by the unexpected
+searchlight in the air, suddenly rose, but Ronnie
+was too quick for him and rose also, at the same
+time rapidly overhauling him.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl, holding her breath, kept the searchlight
+with difficulty upon him as gradually &#8220;The
+Hornet&#8221; drew over directly above him.</p>
+
+<p>Quick as lightning Ronnie touched a button.</p>
+
+<p>There was a loud swish of air, followed a second
+later by a dull, heavy explosion in the valley
+far below.</p>
+
+<p>The bomb had missed!</p>
+
+<p>The enemy was still rising, and from him came
+the quick rattle of a machine-gun, followed by
+a shower of bullets from below.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie Pryor set his teeth hard, and as he
+again touched the button, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take that, then!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Next second a bright flash lit up the rural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+landscape, followed by a terrific explosion, the
+concussion of which caused &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; to
+stagger, reel, and side-slip, while the enemy aeroplane
+was seen falling to earth a huge mass of
+blood-red flame.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>On the following day the evening papers
+reported the finding of a mysterious wrecked
+and burnt-out aeroplane &#8220;somewhere in Kent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The pilot had been burnt out of all recognition,
+but among the wreckage there had been
+discovered, it was said, some metal fittings
+believed to be the principal parts of some unknown
+machine-gun.</p>
+
+<p>Only Ronald Pryor and Beryl Gaselee knew
+the actual truth, namely, that the enemy&#8217;s
+secret agents, at Marx&#8217;s incentive, had stolen,
+the essential parts of a newly-invented machine-gun,
+and that these were being conveyed by air
+to within the German lines, when the clever plot
+was fortunately frustrated by &#8220;The Hornet.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III.<br />
+
+<small>THE SHABBY STRANGER.</small></h2></div>
+
+
+<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">Ronald</span> has wired that he can&#8217;t get back here
+till to-night, so I shall fly &#8216;The Hornet&#8217; over to
+Sleaford to see Rose,&#8221; remarked Beryl to her
+sister Iris, as they sat together at breakfast at
+Harbury one warm August morning.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps Ronald might object,&#8221; remarked
+Mrs. Remington, who was always averse from
+her sister making ascents alone upon &#8220;The
+Hornet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, Ronnie won&#8217;t object! Besides, he always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+says that I can fly just as well as any
+man.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But do be careful, won&#8217;t you, Beryl?&#8221;
+urged her sister. &#8220;Is the weather really in a
+condition for making such a flight?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perfect. I&#8217;ve just been looking at the
+barometer. It is quite steady, and I shall have
+an excellent wind back.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought Ronald intended to go up on
+patrol-duty to-night. Last night was very dark&mdash;just
+the conditions for another Zepp raid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect he will,&#8221; replied Beryl. &#8220;He told
+me that he intended to patrol the coast.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then, if you go, you really will be careful,
+won&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, when once up there is not so much
+danger in the air as there is in walking along a
+London street,&#8221; she declared.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So Ronnie always says, but I rather doubt
+the statement,&#8221; Iris replied. &#8220;Personally, I
+prefer <i>terra firma</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast ended, Beryl brushed her little black
+pom, one of her daily duties, and then, going
+to her room, changed her dress, putting on a warm
+jersey and a pair of workmanlike trousers, and
+over them a windproof flying suit with leather
+cap tied beneath her chin, a garb which gave her
+a very masculine appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon she arrived at &#8220;The Hornet Nest,&#8221;
+and, at her directions, Collins brought out
+the great biplane and began to run the engine,
+which Beryl watched with critical eye. Then,
+climbing into the pilot&#8217;s seat, she began to
+manipulate the levers to reassure herself that
+all the controls were in order.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>&#8220;Beautiful morning for a flip, miss!&#8221;
+remarked the mechanic in brown overalls. &#8220;Are
+you going up alone?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Collins. I&#8217;m going to visit my youngest
+sister at Sleaford, in Lincolnshire.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then I&#8217;ll take the bombs out,&#8221; he said, and
+at once removed the six powerful bombs from the
+rack, the projectiles intended for the destruction
+of Zeppelins. He also dismounted the quick-firing
+gun.</p>
+
+<p>For some time Beryl did not appear entirely
+satisfied with the throb of the engines, but at last
+Collins adjusted them until they were running
+perfectly.</p>
+
+<p>Within himself Collins was averse from allowing
+the girl to fly such a powerful machine, knowing
+how easily, with such a big engine-power, the
+biplane might get the upper hand of her. But
+as she had made ascents alone in it several times
+before, it was not for him to raise any objection.</p>
+
+<p>Having consulted her map she arranged it
+inside its waterproof cover, looked around at the
+instruments set before her, and then strapped
+herself into the seat.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the engines had been humming
+loudly.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she motioned to Collins to stand aside,
+and then, pulling over one of the levers,
+she ran along the grass for a short distance and
+rose gracefully in a long spiral, round and round
+over the Harbury woods, until the altimeter
+showed a height of five thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p>Then she studied her map, took her bearings,
+and, drawing on her ample gauntlet gloves, for
+it became chilly, she followed a straight line of
+railway leading due north through Suffolk and
+Norfolk.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>The sky was cloudless, with a slight head-wind.
+On her right, away in the misty distance, lay
+the North Sea, whence came a fresh breeze,
+invigorating after the stifling August morning
+on land. Deep below she identified villages
+and towns. Some of the latter were only indicated
+by palls of smoke, the wind on land being
+insufficient to disperse them. And over all the grey-green
+landscape was a strange flatness, for,
+viewed from above, the country has no contours.
+It is just a series of grey, green, and brown patchwork
+with white, snaky lines, denoting roads, and
+long, grey lines, sometimes disappearing and then
+reappearing, marking railways and their tunnels;
+while here and there comes a glint of sunshine
+upon a river or canal. In the ears there is only
+the deafening roar of petrol-driven machinery.</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice, through the grey haze which
+always rises from the earth on a hot morning,
+Beryl saw the blue line of the sea&mdash;that sea so
+zealously guarded by Britain&#8217;s Navy. Then she
+flew steadily north to the flat fens.</p>
+
+<p>From below, her coming was signalled at several
+points, and at more than one air-station glasses
+were levelled at her. But the tri-coloured rings
+upon the wings reassured our anti-aircraft boys
+and, though they recognised the machine as one
+of unusual model, they allowed her to pass, for
+it was well-known that there were many
+experimental machines in the air.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl had sought and found upon her map
+the Great Northern main line, and had followed
+it from Huntingdon to Peterborough. Afterwards,
+still following the railway, she went for
+many miles until, of a sudden, close by a small town
+which the map told her was called Bourne, in Lincolnshire,
+her engines showed signs of slackening.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>Something was amiss. Her quick ear told her
+so. A number of misfires occurred. She pulled
+over another lever, but the result she expected
+was not apparent. It was annoying that being
+so near Sleaford she had met with engine trouble&mdash;for
+trouble there undoubtedly was.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment she was flying at fully ten
+thousand feet, the normal height for a &#8220;non-stop
+run.&#8221; Without being at all flurried she
+decided that it would be judicious to plane down
+to earth; therefore, putting &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221;
+nose to the wind, she turned slightly eastward,
+and, as she came down, decided to land upon a
+wide expanse of brown-green ground&mdash;which
+very soon she distinguished as a piece of flat,
+rich fenland, in which potatoes were growing.</p>
+
+<p>At last she touched the earth and made a
+dexterous landing.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, to her great surprise, she
+became aware of a second machine in the vicinity.
+She heard a low droning like that of a big bumblebee,
+and on looking up saw an Army monoplane
+coming down swiftly in her direction.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, its pilot brought it to earth within
+a few hundred yards of where she had landed.
+Then, springing out, he came across to where
+she stood.</p>
+
+<p>On approaching her he appeared to be greatly
+surprised that the big biplane had been flown by
+a woman.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I saw you were in trouble,&#8221; explained the
+pilot, a tall, good-looking lieutenant of the Royal
+Flying Corps, who spoke with a slight American
+accent, &#8220;so I came down to see if I could give you
+any assistance.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is most awfully kind of you,&#8221; Beryl replied,
+pulling off her thick gloves. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+it is really very much. I&#8217;ve had the same trouble
+before. She&#8217;s a new &#8217;bus.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So I see,&#8221; replied the stranger, examining
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; with critical eye. &#8220;And she&#8217;s
+very fast, too.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When did you first see me?&#8221; she asked
+with curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You were passing over Huntingdon. I had
+come across to the railway from the Great North
+Road which I had followed up from London.
+I&#8217;m on my way to Hull.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I had no idea you were behind me!&#8221;
+laughed the girl merrily. The air-pilot with the
+silver wings upon his breast seemed a particularly
+nice man, and it showed a good <i>esprit de corps</i> to
+have descended in order to offer assistance to
+another man, as he had no doubt believed the
+pilot to be.</p>
+
+<p>Without further parley, he set to work to help
+her in readjusting her engine, and in doing so quickly
+betrayed his expert knowledge of aeroplane-engines.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have only a few miles to go&mdash;to Sleaford.
+My sister lives just outside the town, and there
+is a splendid landing-place in her husband&#8217;s
+grounds,&#8221; Beryl explained, when at last the
+engine ran smoothly again.</p>
+
+<p>It was but natural that the good-looking
+lieutenant should appear inquisitive regarding
+the new machine. His expert eye showed him
+the unusual power of the twin engines, and he
+expressed much surprise at several new inventions
+that had been introduced.</p>
+
+<p>He told her that he had been flying for seven
+months at the Front, and had been sent home for
+a rest. He had flown from Farnborough that
+morning and was making a &#8220;non-stop&#8221; to the
+Humber.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>Many were the questions he put to Beryl
+regarding &#8220;The Hornet.&#8221; So many and so
+pressing were his queries that presently she
+became seized by distrust&mdash;why, she could not
+exactly decide.</p>
+
+<p>The air-pilot naturally inquired as to the
+biplane&#8217;s constructor, but all Beryl would say
+was:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is not mine. It belongs to a friend of
+mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A gentleman friend, of course?&#8221; he remarked,
+with a mischievous laugh.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course! He himself invented it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A splendid defence against Zeppelins,&#8221; he
+said. &#8220;I see she can carry ten bombs, a searchlight,
+and a Lewis gun. All are wanted against
+the Kaiser&#8217;s infernal baby-killers,&#8221; he added,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having thoroughly examined &#8220;The
+Hornet,&#8221; the courteous lieutenant of the Royal
+Flying Corps stood by until she had again risen
+in the air, waved her gloved hand in farewell,
+made a circle over the field, and then headed
+away for Sleaford.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; grunted the flying-man as he stood
+watching her disappear. &#8220;Foiled again! She&#8217;s
+left that new silencer of hers at home! That
+girl is no fool&mdash;neither is Ronald Pryor. Though
+I waited for her in Bury St. Edmunds and followed
+her up here, I am just about as wise regarding
+&#8216;The Hornet&#8217; as I was before I started.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments he stood watching the
+machine as it soared higher and higher against
+the cloudless summer sky.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes! A very pretty girl&mdash;but very clever&mdash;devilishly
+clever!&#8221; he muttered to himself.
+&#8220;Just my luck! If only she had had that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+silencer I would have silenced her, and taken it
+away with me. However, we are not yet defeated.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>About a week later Ronald Pryor and Beryl
+were lunching together in the grill-room of a
+West End hotel, which was one of their favourite
+meeting-places, when suddenly the girl bent over
+to her lover and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure that&#8217;s the man, Ronnie.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What man?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The nice Flying Corps officer whom I met
+near Bourne the other day. You&#8217;ll see him, sitting
+in the corner yonder alone&mdash;reading the paper,&#8221;
+she replied. &#8220;Don&#8217;t look for a moment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you think you&#8217;ve made a mistake,
+dear?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I feel positive I haven&#8217;t,&#8221; was the girl&#8217;s
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>That morning Ronald Pryor, accompanied
+by Beryl, had made a flight in &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+from Harbury to the Essex coast and back, and
+they had just arrived in town by train. The
+renowned Zepp-hunter was in a light grey suit,
+while Beryl, becomingly dressed, was in a coat
+and skirt of navy blue gaberdine trimmed with
+broad black silk braid.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments after Beryl had spoken, her
+lover turned suddenly, as though to survey
+the room in search of someone he knew; his
+gaze met that of the solitary man eating his
+lunch leisurely in the corner and apparently,
+until that moment, absorbed in a newspaper.
+The stranger was good-looking, aged about
+thirty, thin, rather narrow-faced, with a pair
+of sharp steel-grey eyes, and a small dark moustache.
+His shoulders were square, and his
+appearance somewhat dandified. In his black<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+cravat he wore an unusually fine diamond, and
+his hands were white and well-kept.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently he was a man of leisure, and was
+entirely uninterested in those about him, for,
+after a sharp glance of inquiry at Ronald, he
+continued reading his paper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you quite sure you&#8217;ve made no
+mistake?&#8221; inquired Pryor of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Positive, my dear Ronald. That&#8217;s the man
+whom I met in the uniform of the Royal Flying
+Corps, and who was so kind to me. No doubt,
+he doesn&#8217;t recognise me in these clothes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then why isn&#8217;t he in uniform now?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps he has leave to wear <i>civvies</i>,&#8221; she
+replied. &#8220;There are so many curious regulations
+and exemptions nowadays.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Though the stranger&#8217;s eyes had met those of
+Beryl there had been no sign of recognition.
+Hence she soon began to share Ronald&#8217;s doubt
+as to whether he was really the same person
+who had descended in that potato field in Lincolnshire,
+and had so gallantly assisted her in
+her trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Ronald and his well-beloved, having finished
+their luncheon, rose and drove together in a taxi
+over to Waterloo, the former being due to visit
+his works at Weybridge, where he had an
+appointment with one of the Government
+Inspectors.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they had passed out of the restaurant
+the man who sat alone tossed his paper aside,
+paid his bill, and left.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later he entered a suite of chambers
+in Ryder Street, where an elderly, rather staid-looking
+grey-haired man rose to greet him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;What news?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing much&mdash;except that Pryor is flying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+to-night on patrol work,&#8221; replied the other in
+German.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m, that means that he will have the new
+silencer upon his machine!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly,&#8221; said the man who had displayed
+the silver wings of the Royal Flying Corps, though
+he had no right whatever to them. &#8220;By day
+&#8216;The Hornet&#8217; never carries the silencer. I
+proved that when I assisted the girl in Lincolnshire.
+We can only secure it by night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And that is a little difficult&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;a trifle.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then how do you intend to act, my dear
+Leffner.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The man addressed shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have an idea,&#8221; was his reply. &#8220;But I
+do not yet know if it is feasible until I make
+further observations and inquiries.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You anticipate success? Good!&#8221; the elder
+man replied in satisfaction. &#8220;Think of all it
+means to us. Only to-day I have received another
+very urgent request from our good friend, Mr.
+J&mdash;&mdash;; a request for the full details of the construction
+of &#8216;The Hornet.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We have most of them,&#8221; replied the man
+addressed as Leffner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But not the secret of the silencer. That seems
+to be well guarded, does it not?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is very well guarded,&#8221; Leffner admitted.
+&#8220;But I view the future with considerable confidence
+because the girl flies the machine alone, and&mdash;well,&#8221;
+he laughed&mdash;&#8220;strange and unaccountable
+accidents happen to aeroplanes sometimes!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>A few days later, soon after noon, a narrow-faced
+man, with shifty eyes, carrying a small,
+well-worn leather bag, entered the old King&#8217;s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+Head Inn in Harbury village and, seating himself
+in the bar, mopped his brow with his handkerchief.
+The mile walk from the nearest station
+had been a hot one along a dusty, shadeless road,
+and when Jane Joyce, the landlady&#8217;s daughter,
+appeared, the shabby traveller ordered a pint
+of ale, which he drank almost at one draught.</p>
+
+<p>Then, lighting his pipe, he began to chat with
+Jane, having, as a preliminary, ordered some
+luncheon. By this man&oelig;uvre he had loosened
+the young woman&#8217;s tongue, and she was soon
+gossiping about the village and those who lived
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The wayfarer asked many questions; as excuse,
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The reason I want to know is because I
+travel in jewellery, and I daresay there are a
+lot of people about here whom I might call upon.
+I come from Birmingham, and I&#8217;m usually in
+this district four times a year, though I&#8217;ve never
+been in Harbury before. My name is George
+Bean.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, there&#8217;s not many people here who buy
+jewellery,&#8221; replied the landlady&#8217;s daughter.
+&#8220;Farming is so bad just now, and the war has
+affected things a lot here. But why don&#8217;t you
+go up and see Mrs. Remington, at Harbury Court?
+They&#8217;ve got lots of money.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! Who are they?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Captain Remington is a prisoner in
+Germany, but Mrs. Remington is still at home.
+She has her sister, Miss Beryl Gaselee, staying
+with her. Perhaps you&#8217;ve heard of her. She&#8217;s a
+great flying-woman.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes!&#8221; replied the stranger. &#8220;I&#8217;ve seen
+things about her in the papers. Does she fly
+much?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>&#8220;A good deal. Mr. Ronald Pryor, to whom
+she&#8217;s engaged, invented her machine; he calls
+it &#8216;The Hornet,&#8217; and he keeps it here&mdash;in a
+corrugated iron shed in the park, close to the
+house!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How interesting!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. And the pair often go up at nights,&#8221;
+went on the young woman. &#8220;Mother and I
+frequently hear them passing over the house in
+the darkness.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you always hear them go up?&#8221; asked
+the stranger suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, not always. They go over sometimes
+without making a sound.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is at night, I suppose? In the day you
+can always hear them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Always.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The traveller in Birmingham jewellery remained
+silent for a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose they have a mechanic there?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;a Mr. Collins. He comes in sometimes
+with Mr. Sheppard, the butler. He was butler to
+the Colonel&#8217;s old father, you know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And this Mr. Collins lives at the house, I
+suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. He sleeps in the place where the new
+aeroplane is kept.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bean smiled, but made no comment.
+Knowledge of that fact was, to him, important.
+He lit another pipe, and, while Miss Joyce went
+away to lay the table for his lunch in the adjoining
+room, he stretched his legs and thought deeply.</p>
+
+<p>Hans Leffner, <i>alias</i> George Bean, was the son
+of a German who, forty years before, had emigrated
+from Hamburg to Boston. Born in
+America he was, nevertheless, a true son of the
+Fatherland. He had been educated in Germany,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+and returned to Boston about a year before
+war broke out.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he had been called up for confidential
+service, and within a month had found himself
+despatched to London, the bearer of an American
+passport in the name of Henry Lane, commercial
+traveller, of St. Louis. Upon a dozen different
+secret matters he had been employed, until knowledge
+of the existence of &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; having
+reached the spy-bureau in Berlin, he received
+certain secret instructions which he was carrying
+out to the letter.</p>
+
+<p>Hans Leffner had been taught at his mother&#8217;s
+knee to hate England, and he hated it with a most
+deadly hatred. He was a clever and daring spy,
+as his masquerade in the Royal Flying Corps
+uniform clearly proved; moreover, he was an aviation
+expert who had once held a post of under-director
+in &#8220;Uncle&#8221; Zeppelin&#8217;s aircraft factory.</p>
+
+<p>For some weeks he had dogged the footsteps
+of Ronald and Beryl, and they, happy in each
+other&#8217;s affection, had been quite ignorant of how
+the wandering American had been unduly
+attracted towards them.</p>
+
+<p>The landlady of the King&#8217;s Head&mdash;that long,
+thatched, old-world house over which for fifty
+years her husband had ruled as landlord&mdash;had
+no suspicion that the jeweller&#8217;s traveller was
+anything but an Englishman from Birmingham.
+He spoke English well, and had no appearance
+of the Teuton.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bean ate his chop alone, waited on by
+Jane, who, finding him affable, imparted to him
+all the information she knew regarding Harbury
+Court and its inmates.</p>
+
+<p>At half-past two the traveller, taking his bag,
+set out on a tour of the village in an endeavour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+to dispose of some of his samples. His appearance
+was much changed, and he bore but little resemblance
+to the pilot of the Royal Flying Corps
+who had descended near Bourne. He looked
+much older, and walked wearily, with a decided
+stoop.</p>
+
+<p>At house after house in the long village street
+he called, disguising his intentions most perfectly.
+At more than one cottage he was allowed to
+exhibit his wares, and at the shop of the village
+baker the daughter in charge purchased a little
+brooch for five shillings. Its cost price was thirty
+shillings, but Mr. Bean wanted to effect a sale
+and, by so doing, appear to be carrying on a
+legitimate business.</p>
+
+<p>By six o&#8217;clock he was back again at the King&#8217;s
+Head, having called upon most of the inhabitants
+of Harbury. He had, indeed, been up to the
+Court, and not only had he shown his samples
+to the maids, but he had taken two orders for
+rings to be sent on approval.</p>
+
+<p>Incidentally he had passed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221;
+nest, and had seen the machine in the meadow
+outside, ready for the night flight. As a
+simple, hard-working, travel-stained dealer in
+cheap jewellery nobody had suspected him of
+enemy intentions. But he had laid his plans
+very carefully, and his observations round
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; nest had told him much.</p>
+
+<p>To Mrs. Joyce he declared that he was very
+tired and, in consequence, had decided to remain
+the night. So he was shown up stairs that were
+narrow to a low-ceilinged room where the bed-stead
+was one that had been there since the days
+of Queen Anne. The chintzes were bright and
+clean, but the candle in its brass candlestick
+was a survival of an age long forgotten.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>At ten o&#8217;clock he retired to bed, declaring himself
+very fatigued, but on going to his room he threw
+open the old-fashioned, latticed window, and
+listened. The night was very dark, but quite
+calm&mdash;just the night for an air raid from the
+enemy shore.</p>
+
+<p>Having blown out his candle he sat down,
+alert at any sound. After nearly an hour, Mrs.
+Joyce and her daughter having retired to bed,
+he suddenly detected a slight swish in the air,
+quite distinct from the well-known hum of the
+usual aeroplane. It was a low sound, rising at
+one moment and lost the next. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+had passed over the inn so quietly that it would
+not awaken the lightest sleeper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove!&#8221; he exclaimed aloud to himself.
+&#8220;That silencer is, indeed wonderful!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With the greatest caution he opened his door
+and, creeping down on tiptoe, was soon outside
+in the village street; keeping beneath the deep
+shadows, he went forward on the road which led
+up the hill to the long belt of trees near
+which had been erected the corrugated iron
+shed.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Ronald, accompanied by Beryl, had
+ascended higher and higher in the darkness.
+Ronnie had swung the machine into the wind,
+and they were climbing, climbing straight into
+the dark vault above. Below were twinkling
+shaded lights, some the red and green signal
+lights of railways. Beryl could see dimly the
+horizon of the world, and used as she was to it, she
+realised how amazing it was to look down upon
+Mother Earth. By day, when one is flying, the
+sky does not rise and meet in a great arch overhead,
+but, like a huge bowl, the sky seems to pass
+over and incircle the earth.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>They were flying due east by the dimly lit
+compass at five thousand feet, heading straight
+for the Essex coast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We may possibly have visitors from Belgium
+to-night,&#8221; laughed Ronnie, as he turned to his
+well-beloved. &#8220;But look! Why&mdash;we are already
+over the sea!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl, gazing down, saw below a tiny light
+twinkling out a message in Morse, answered by
+another light not far distant. Two ships were
+signalling. Then Ronnie made a wide circle in
+that limitless void which obliterated the meeting
+point of earth and sea.</p>
+
+<p>The long white beam of a searchlight sweeping
+slowly seaward, turned back inland and followed
+them until it picked up &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; Ronnie
+banking suddenly to show the tri-coloured circles
+upon his wings.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards he again consulted his compass and
+struck due south, following the coast-line over
+Harwich and round to the Thames estuary.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No luck to-night, dearest!&#8221; laughed Ronnie.
+&#8220;The barometer is too low for our friends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said the girl. &#8220;Let us get back!&#8221;
+And Ronnie once more circled his machine very
+prettily, showing perfect mastery over it, as he
+came down lower and lower until, when passing
+over Felixstowe, he was not more than three
+hundred feet in the air.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the guest at the King&#8217;s Head had
+made the most of his time. He had reasoned,
+and not without truth, that if &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+had ascended, the mechanic, Collins, would no
+doubt leave the hangar, and, if so, that now would
+be a good opportunity to obtain entrance.</p>
+
+<p>With that in view he had crept along to the shed
+and, as he had hoped, found the doors unlocked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+Quickly he entered and, by the aid of his flash-lamp,
+looked round.</p>
+
+<p>At last the long tentacles of the German spy-bureau
+in the &#8220;K�niggr�tzerstrasse&#8221; had spread
+to the little village of Harbury.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes sufficed for the spy to complete
+his observations. At an engineer&#8217;s bench he
+halted and realised the technical details of a
+certain part of the secret silencer. But only a
+part, and by it he was pretty puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>He held it in his hand in the light of his flash-lamp
+and, in German exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;<i>Ach!</i> I wonder how that can be? If we
+could only obtain the secret of that silencer!&#8221;
+the Hun continued to himself. &#8220;But we shall&mdash;no
+doubt! I and my friends have not come
+here for nothing. We have work before us&mdash;and
+we shall complete it, if not to-day&mdash;then
+in the near to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The shabby stranger returned to the King&#8217;s
+Head and, letting himself in, retired to his room
+without a sound. Hardly had he undressed when
+he heard again that low swish of &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+on her return from her scouting circuit of the
+Thames estuary.</p>
+
+<p>Hans Leffner, <i>alias</i> Bean, had not been trained
+as a spy for nothing. He was a crafty, clever
+cosmopolitan, whose little eyes and wide ears
+were ever upon the alert for information, and who
+could pose perfectly in half-a-dozen disguises.
+As the traveller of a Birmingham jewellery firm
+he could entirely deceive the cheap jeweller
+of any little town. He was one of many such
+men who were passing up and down Great Britain,
+learning all they could of our defences, our newest
+inventions, and our intentions.</p>
+
+<p>Next day Mr. Bean remained indoors at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+King&#8217;s Head, for it was a drenching day. But
+at last, when the weather cleared at eight o&#8217;clock,
+he lit his pipe and strolled out in the fading light.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving he had taken from the bottom
+of the bag containing his samples of cheap
+jewellery a small, thick screw-bolt about two
+inches long, and placed it in his pocket with an
+air of confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later he crept into the shed which
+sheltered &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; and, not finding the
+silencer upon the exhaust, as he had anticipated,
+turned his attention to the fusilage of the biplane.
+From this he quickly, and with expert hand,
+unscrewed a bolt, swiftly substituting in its stead
+the bolt he had brought, which he screwed in
+place carefully with his pocket wrench.</p>
+
+<p>The bolt he had withdrawn hung heavily in
+his jacket-pocket, and as he stood, alert and eager,
+there suddenly sounded the musical voice of a
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>Next second he had slipped out of the hangar
+and gained cover in a thicket close by.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl was crossing the grass, laughing gaily
+in the falling light. With her were Pryor, and
+Collins the mechanic. A few minutes before,
+Ronald and she, having finished dinner, had put
+on their flying-suits and, passing through the long
+windows out upon the lawn, had bidden farewell
+to Iris, as they were going on their usual patrol flight.</p>
+
+<p>Ronald, leaving her suddenly, struck away
+to the hangar and, entering it, turned up the
+electric lights. With both hands he tested the
+steel stays of the great biplane, and then, aided
+by the mechanic, he wheeled the machine out
+ready for an ascent, for the atmospheric conditions
+were exactly suitable for an air raid by the
+enemy.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>&#8220;We had better go up and test the engines,
+dear,&#8221; he suggested. &#8220;This afternoon they were
+not at all satisfactory.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl climbed into the observer&#8217;s seat, he
+following as pilot, while Collins disappeared round
+the corner of the hangar to get something.</p>
+
+<p>Then the pair, seated beside each other and
+tightly strapped in, prepared to ascend in the
+increasing darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The sudden roar of the powerful engines was
+terrific, and could be heard many miles away,
+for they were testing without the silencer.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had they risen a hundred feet from the
+ground when there was a sharp crack and &#8220;The
+Hornet,&#8221; swerving, shed her right wing entirely,
+and dived straight with her nose to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>A crash, a heavy thud, and in an instant Ronald
+and Beryl, happily strapped in their seats, were
+half-stunned by the concussion. Had they not
+been secured in their seats both must have been
+killed, as the man Leffner had intended.</p>
+
+<p>The engine had stopped, for, half the propeller
+being broken, the other half had embedded
+itself deeply into the ground. Collins came
+running up, half frantic with fear, but was soon
+reassured by the pair of intrepid aviators, who
+unstrapped themselves and quickly climbed out
+of the wreckage. Ere long a flare was lit and the
+broken wing carefully examined; it was soon
+discovered that &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; had been tampered
+with, one of the steel bolts having been
+replaced by a painted one of wood!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This is the work of the enemy!&#8221; remarked
+Ronnie thoughtfully. &#8220;They cannot obtain sight
+of the silencer, therefore there has been a dastardly
+plot to kill both of us. We must be a little more
+wary in future, dear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>Ronald&#8217;s shrewdness did not show itself openly,
+but having made a good many inquiries, both
+in Harbury village and elsewhere, he, at last,
+was able to identify the man who had made that
+secret attempt upon their lives. Of this, however,
+he said nothing to Beryl. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; was
+repaired, and they made night flights again.</p>
+
+<p>Ronald anticipated that a second attempt
+would be made to obtain the silencer. Taking
+Collins into his confidence, he made it his habit
+each dawn, when they came home from their
+patrol of the coast, to leave in the little office
+beside the hangar the box which contained the
+silencer, the secret of which he knew the Germans
+were so very anxious to obtain.</p>
+
+<p>For a fortnight nothing untoward occurred,
+until one morning soon after all three had returned
+from a flight to London and back, they were
+startled by a terrific explosion from the direction
+of the hangar.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo!&#8221; exclaimed Ronald. &#8220;What&#8217;s that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The trap has gone off, sir,&#8221; was Collins&#8217;s
+grim reply.</p>
+
+<p>All three ran back to the shed, whereupon
+they saw that the little office had been entirely
+swept away, and that part of the roof of the
+hangar was off. Amid the wreckage lay the
+body of a man with his face shattered, stone-dead.
+&#8220;He thought the box contained the silencer,
+and when he lifted the lid he received a nasty
+shock, sir&mdash;eh?&#8221; Collins remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But who is it, Ronald?&#8221; gasped Beryl,
+horrified.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The man who made the attempt on our
+lives a month ago, dearest,&#8221; was her lover&#8217;s
+reply. &#8220;Come away. He has paid the penalty
+which all spies should pay.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>A few hours later Ronald Pryor made a statement
+to the authorities which resulted in the
+explosion being regarded, to all but those immediately
+concerned, as a complete mystery.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV.<br />
+
+<small>THE THURSDAY RENDEZVOUS.</small></h2></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Beryl Gaselee</span>, in her warm leather motor-coat
+and close-fitting little hat, stood gazing
+out of the coffee-room window of the Unicorn
+Hotel in the quiet old cathedral town of Ripon,
+in Yorkshire.</p>
+
+<p>In the falling twilight of the wintry afternoon
+all looked dull and cheerless. The car stood
+outside with Ronald Pryor and Collins attending
+to some slight engine-trouble&mdash;the fast, open
+car which Ronnie sometimes used to such
+advantage. It was covered with mud, after
+the long run north from Suffolk, for they
+had started from Harbury long before daylight,
+and, until an hour ago, had been moving
+swiftly up the Great North Road, by way of Stamford,
+Grantham, and Doncaster to York. There
+they had turned away to Ripon, where, for an
+hour, they had eaten and rested. In a basket the
+waiter had placed some cold food with some
+bread and a bottle of wine, and this had been
+duly transferred to the car.</p>
+
+<p>All was now ready for a continuance of the
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Beryl!&#8221; exclaimed Ronnie, returning
+to where the pretty young air-woman was standing
+before the fire. &#8220;All ready&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite, dear,&#8221; was her reply. &#8220;You haven&#8217;t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+forgotten the revolvers, have you?&#8221; she asked
+in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. There&#8217;s one for each of us&mdash;and one
+for you if you&#8217;d like it,&#8221; he laughed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. I think I&#8217;d better have it, dear&mdash;one
+never knows.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not much good against a machine-gun,
+you know!&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;But a weapon always
+gives one confidence.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had the flask filled with hot tea,&#8221; she
+said. &#8220;We shall, no doubt, want it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. It will be a coldish job. Are you
+quite warm enough&mdash;quite sure you are?&#8221; he
+asked, as the white-haired old waiter entered the
+snug, warm coffee-room.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite,&#8221; she answered, as she drew on her fur-lined
+gloves.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well&mdash;good-evening, waiter!&#8221; exclaimed
+Ronnie cheerily.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good-evening, sir,&#8221; replied the old man
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later, with Ronnie driving, Beryl
+snuggled at his side, and Collins seated under
+the rug in the back of the car, they had passed
+the dark, imposing fa�ade of the grey, old cathedral
+and were well out upon the darkening road,
+through High Berrys and over Hutton Moor.
+At last they reached Baldersby Gate, where they
+turned into the long, straight Roman road which
+runs direct north from York, and, though a
+continuation of the old Watling Street, is there
+known as Leeming Lane.</p>
+
+<p>With nightfall there had arisen a cutting
+north-east wind, that searching breeze which
+all dwellers in Yorkshire know far too well, comes
+over with the month of February.</p>
+
+<p>From Baldersby Gate, past Sinderby Station,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+through Hope Town on to Leeming village, the
+ancient road ran straight as an arrow, then, with
+a slight curve to Leeming Station, it ran on to
+Catterick. By this time they had passed the
+race-course, which lay on the left of the road
+before coming to the cross-roads; it was already
+dark, and drawing up at Catterick Bridge Station,
+Collins got down and lit the head-lamps, Ronald
+Pryor having a written permission from Whitehall
+to use them.</p>
+
+<p>Striking across through the town of Richmond
+they climbed the high hills over Hipswell and
+Barden Moor to Leyburn, and then down into
+Wensley Dale, famed for its cheeses, by the
+northern road which took them through the
+picturesque village of Redmire on to Askrigg as
+far as a darkened and lonely inn close to Hardraw
+Force. There they pulled up, and, entering,
+asked for something to eat.</p>
+
+<p>By that time, ten o&#8217;clock, all three were chilled
+to the bone, after crossing those wide, open
+moorlands, where the keen wind cut their faces
+all the time. The landlady, a stout, cheerful
+person, soon busied herself to provide creature
+comforts for the travellers, and within a quarter
+of an hour all were seated at a substantial
+meal.</p>
+
+<p>While the good woman was busying herself
+at table Ronnie suddenly became inquisitive,
+exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a friend of mine, a Mr. Aylesworth,
+who often comes up to this neighbourhood. He
+lives in Leeds, but he rents a cottage somewhere
+about here. He&#8217;s a queer and rather lonely man.
+Do you happen to know him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, sir! Mr. Aylesworth is quite well
+known in Hardraw. He has rented old Tom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+Dalton&#8217;s cottage, up on the hill at Simon Stone,
+for quite eighteen months now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that far from here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Only about half-a-mile up Buttertubs Pass.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Buttertubs! What a very curious name!&#8221;
+Beryl remarked. &#8220;Where does the pass lead
+to?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, straight up over Abbotside Common,
+just below Lovely Seat, and it comes out on the
+high road in Swale Dale, close to Thwaite.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who is Dalton?&#8221; asked the airman.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Old Farmer Dalton. He&#8217;s got several cottages
+on his place. He himself lives over at Gayle,
+close to Hawes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Does my friend Aylesworth ever come in
+here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, very often, sir!&#8221; replied the woman.
+&#8220;Everybody knows him. He&#8217;s such a real cheerful,
+good-hearted gentleman. He&#8217;s always giving
+away something. It&#8217;s a sad thing for many
+about here that there&#8217;s no treating nowadays.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; laughed Beryl, &#8220;the order is, I hear
+from my friends, very often broken.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re right, miss,&#8221; the broad, round-faced
+woman admitted. &#8220;You can&#8217;t always prevent
+it, you know, though we folk do all we can,
+because of our licenses.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So my friend Aylesworth is quite popular?
+I&#8217;m glad to hear that,&#8221; replied Ronnie. &#8220;He
+lives here constantly nowadays, I suppose?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no, sir! He comes down here just at
+odd times. Sometimes in the beginning of the
+week; sometimes for the week-end,&#8221; was the
+reply. &#8220;He&#8217;s often up in London&mdash;on Government
+contracts, I&#8217;ve heard him say.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl and her lover exchanged shrewd and
+meaning glances.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, I know that Mr. Aylesworth must be
+very busy,&#8221; remarked Pryor. &#8220;I suppose he
+comes out here just for quiet and rest?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. That&#8217;s it, sir,&#8221; replied the inn-keeper&#8217;s
+wife. &#8220;Only the other day he called in here, and
+was saying that he was so busy that it was a
+complete change to come here to the moors for
+rest and fresh air.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve had Zepps over here lately, I&#8217;ve heard.
+Is that true?&#8221; inquired Ronnie.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, they&#8217;ve passed over once or twice, they
+say, but I&#8217;ve been in bed and asleep. My husband
+was called up last month, and is now in training
+down in Kent. Only a week ago he wrote to me
+saying he hoped I wasn&#8217;t frightened by them.
+Somebody down in Kent had evidently spread
+a report that they had been over here. But I&#8217;m
+thankful to say I heard nothing of them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you ever get aeroplanes over?&#8221; asked
+Beryl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, miss! We get some across in the
+daytime. They must have an aerodrome somewhere
+on the coast, I think&mdash;but I don&#8217;t know
+where it is.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you ever hear anything of them at
+night?&#8221; inquired the girl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, just now and then. I&#8217;ve been awakened
+sometimes by the humming of them passing over
+at night&mdash;our patrols, I suppose they are.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronald Pryor exchanged another meaning
+glance with his well-beloved.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do they sound quite near?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! quite&mdash;unusually low. I suppose they
+man&oelig;uvre across the moors?&#8221; she said. &#8220;Mr.
+Benton, the farmer who lives over at Crosslands,
+quite close here, was only the other day telling
+me a curious story. He said he was going home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+late the other night from Jack Sneath&#8217;s, when he
+heard an aeroplane above him, and he saw the
+machine making some flashlights&mdash;signalling to
+somebody. It flew round and round, hovering
+and signalling madly. Suddenly, he told me, the
+aviator cut off his engine, as though he had
+received an answer, and sailing over the moor,
+descended somewhere close by, for the hum of
+the engine was heard no more.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Curious!&#8221; Pryor remarked, again glancing
+at his well-beloved.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no, sir!&#8221; replied the smiling woman.
+&#8220;It was only the night man&oelig;uvres of our splendid
+aircraft boys. Really everyone must admire
+them,&#8221; she added, unaware of Ronald Pryor&#8217;s
+qualifications as an air-pilot.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later all three were out on the road
+again, travelling along the valley in the direction
+of Hawes Junction. The night was overcast and
+very dark, therefore Ronnie was compelled to
+switch on his head-lights, the road at that part
+being particularly dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>The country they were now in was a wild and
+lonely one, with high peaks and wide, desolate
+moorlands; a sparsely populated district, far
+removed from the busy workaday world.</p>
+
+<p>They had travelled as far as the old inn called
+the Moor Cock, where the road branches off to
+Kirkby Stephen, when Ronnie pulled up, and,
+turning, ran back again to within a mile of Hardraw.
+Then finding a convenient grass field, he
+ran the car in behind a low stone wall, where
+it was hidden from any passer-by. Then, each
+taking a flash-lamp and a revolver, they, after
+shutting off the lights, sought a path which at
+last they took, climbing up the steep hill-side.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of an hour&#8217;s walk brought them to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+narrow, stony lane, which, after another quarter
+of an hour, led them to a long, low, stone-built
+cottage, surrounded by a clump of trees.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s Dalton&#8217;s cottage,&#8221; remarked Ronnie.
+&#8220;It answers exactly to the description we have
+of it. Now, Collins, you get down on the left,
+so as to have a good point of view while we watch
+for anything stirring away on the right.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was then half-past ten o&#8217;clock. Though cold,
+the night was very still on those lonely moorlands.
+The house Ronnie and Beryl were approaching
+was in total darkness, a gloomy, remote place
+in which the mystery-man from Leeds, George
+Aylesworth, came for rest and quiet after the
+business turmoil of the great manufacturing town.</p>
+
+<p>At last Ronald and his companion got up quite
+close to the house, and finding a spot whence
+they had a good view of the front door, they
+crouched beneath an ivy-clad wall, and there,
+without speaking, waited, knowing that Collins
+was on watch at the rear of the premises.</p>
+
+<p>Their vigil was a long and weary one until
+at last the door opened. By the light within
+there was revealed a tall, lean man in overcoat
+and golf-cap. Beneath his left arm he carried
+something long and round, like a cylinder, while
+in his right hand he had a stout stick.</p>
+
+<p>He came out, closed the door carefully behind
+him, and then, passing close to where the air-woman
+and her lover were crouched in concealment,
+struck away up a steep, narrow path which
+led up to the summit of the Black Hill. Happily
+for the watchers the wind had now become rather
+rough, hence they were able to follow the man
+Aylesworth&mdash;for Ronald recognised him by the
+description; keeping at a respectful distance, of
+course, but determinedly dogging his footsteps.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>After walking for nearly half-a-mile up a steep
+ascent, and over a stony path, the man Aylesworth
+halted at a point which gave a view of the
+moor, with its fells and dales, for many miles
+around. From where Ronald halted he could
+see the man faintly silhouetted against the skyline.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; whispered Beryl. &#8220;What is he
+doing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Watch,&#8221; urged her companion.</p>
+
+<p>And as they watched they suddenly saw a
+beam of intense, white light, a miniature searchlight
+of great brilliance, pierce the darkness skyward.
+The man Aylesworth was manipulating
+what they now recognised to be an acetylene
+signalling apparatus, a cylinder mounted upon a
+light tripod of aluminium, with a bright
+reflector behind the gas-jet, and, from the manner
+that the light began to &#8220;wink,&#8221; three times in
+quick succession&mdash;the Morse letter &#8220;S.&#8221;&mdash;there
+was evidently some shutter arrangement upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the beam turned from north to south,
+making the Morse &#8220;S.&#8221; upon the clouds time after
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the light was shut off. For five
+minutes by Ronald&#8217;s watch no flicker was shown.
+Then, once again, the series of &#8220;S&#8217;s.&#8221; was repeated in
+a semi-circle from north to south, and back again.</p>
+
+<p>Another five minutes passed in darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the light opened out and commenced
+to signal the Morse flashes and flares &#8220;N. F.,&#8221;
+&#8220;N. F.,&#8221; &#8220;N. F.,&#8221; followed by a long beam of
+light skyward, slowly sweeping in a circle.</p>
+
+<p>Pryor glanced at his watch. It was then
+exactly midnight. Aylesworth had, no doubt, a
+rendezvous with someone. His signal could be
+seen from that point over a radius of fully thirty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+miles, or even more, for Ronnie, who understood
+signalling, was well aware that the portable
+apparatus being used was one of the most intense
+and reliable type&mdash;one that was, indeed, being
+used by the German army in Flanders.</p>
+
+<p>For the next half-hour the signals were repeated,
+until, of a sudden, Beryl&#8217;s quick ears caught some
+unusual sound.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hark!&#8221; she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>Both, on listening intently, heard the low hum
+of a distant aeroplane in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The light was signalling madly, and at the
+same time the machine, high in the vault of the
+night sky, was fast approaching. The pair
+watched, straining their eyes to discover it, but
+though the sound betrayed its presence, they could
+not discern its whereabouts until there appeared
+high over them a small, bright light, like a green
+star, which repeated the signal &#8220;N. F.,&#8221; &#8220;N. F.,&#8221;
+half-a-dozen times.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This is most interesting!&#8221; whispered Ronald,
+&#8220;Look! Why, he&#8217;s planing down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl watched, and saw how the aeroplane
+which had come out of the night was now making
+short spirals, and planing down as quickly as was
+practicable in that rather dangerous wind.</p>
+
+<p>Every moment the low hum of the engine
+became more and more distinct as, time after
+time, signals were shown in response to those
+flashed by the mysterious man from Leeds.
+Then ten minutes later the machine, which proved
+to be a Fokker, came to earth only about fifty
+yards from where Beryl and Ronald were standing.</p>
+
+<p>Aylesworth ran up breathlessly the moment the
+machine touched the grass, and with him the
+watchers crept swiftly up, in order to try to overhear
+the conversation.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>It was in German. The aviator and his
+observer climbed out of the seats and stood
+with Mr. Aylesworth, chatting and laughing.</p>
+
+<p>The pilot calmly lit a cigarette, and drawing
+something from his pocket, gave it to the man
+who had been awaiting his arrival. Thereupon,
+Aylesworth, on his part, handed the airman a
+letter, saying in English:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all to-night. Please tell Count von
+Stumnitz that the reply will not be given till
+Thursday next. By that time we shall have
+news from the North Sea.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Excellent,&#8221; replied the aviator, who spoke
+English perfectly, and who, if the truth were
+told, had before the war lived the life of a bachelor
+in Jermyn Street. &#8220;I shall be over again on
+Thursday at midnight punctually. I must run up
+from the south next time. The anti-aircraft
+found me on the coast and fired.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, if you come on Thursday I&#8217;ll have
+the despatch ready.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the observer, who spoke in German,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have some letters here from the Wilhelmstrasse.
+Will you post them for me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They are all ready. They are written upon
+English paper, and English penny stamps are
+upon them. Therefore, they can be put into
+any post-box, and will not arouse suspicion.
+They mostly contain instructions to our good
+friends who are scattered over Great Britain.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Aylesworth took from the man&#8217;s hand a packet
+of letters tied with string&mdash;secret despatches from
+the German General Staff to the Kaiser&#8217;s spies
+in Great Britain&mdash;and thrust them into the
+big pocket of his overcoat.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>The two Huns and the traitor stood there
+together in cheery conversation. Much that
+they said Ronald and Beryl could not overhear.
+Sometimes there was low whispering, sometimes
+a burst of hilarious laughter. But it was evident
+that all three were in perfect accord, and that
+the aviator and his observer were well-known
+to Mr. Aylesworth of Leeds.</p>
+
+<p>Far away&mdash;many miles off&mdash;there showed a
+faint tremor in the sky, the flash of a distant
+anti-aircraft searchlight. Now and then it
+trembled, then all became dark again. The pair
+of enemies, who that night had landed upon
+British soil, at last decided that it was high
+time for them to hie back over the North Sea,
+therefore they climbed again into their machine&mdash;one
+of the fastest and newest of the Fokker
+type&mdash;and for a few minutes busied themselves
+in testing their instruments and engine.</p>
+
+<p>The pilot descended again to have a final look
+round, after which he once more climbed up to
+his seat, while Aylesworth, acting as mechanic&mdash;for,
+if the truth be told, he had been an aviator&#8217;s
+mechanic at Hendon for three years before the
+outbreak of war&mdash;gave the propeller a swing over.</p>
+
+<p>There was a loud roar, the machine leapt
+forward over the withered heather, bumping along
+the uneven surface, until, gaining speed, the tail
+slowly lifted, and after a run of a couple of hundred
+yards, the Fokker skimmed easily away off the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>As Ronnie watched in silence he saw that for
+another fifty yards the German pilot held her
+down, and then, with a rush and that quick swoop
+of which the Fokker is capable, up she went,
+and away!</p>
+
+<p>She made a circuit of perhaps eight hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+feet and then sped somewhere into the darkness
+upon a straight eastward course to the coast, and
+over the rough North Sea.</p>
+
+<p>As the pair watched, still arm-in-arm, they
+again saw the faint tremor of our searchlights
+in the far distance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wouff! Wouff! Wouff!&#8221; sounded faintly
+far away.</p>
+
+<p>The Fokker had been picked up by our anti-aircraft
+boys, and was being fired upon!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wouff! Wouff!&#8221; again sounded afar. But
+the bark of the shell died away, and it seemed plain
+that the Hun machine had, by a series of side-slips,
+nose-dives, and quick turns, avoided our
+anti-aircraft guns, and was well on its way carrying
+those secret communications to the German
+General Staff.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy pilot had &#8220;streaked off&#8221; eastwards,
+and to sea.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now we know this fellow Aylesworth&#8217;s
+game!&#8221; whispered Ronnie. &#8220;Next Thursday
+he will be sending away some important message.
+Therefore, we must be here to have a finger in
+the enemy&#8217;s pie&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly, dearest,&#8221; replied the gallant little
+woman at his side. &#8220;It certainly is a <i>coup</i> for
+you that you have discovered this secret means
+of communication between ourselves and the
+enemy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not really,&#8221; he said in a low voice. &#8220;Our
+people scented the mystery, and have handed it
+on to me to investigate.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, we know that something is leaving us
+on Thursday&mdash;some important information.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just so. And is it up to us to see that Aylesworth
+does not send it across the sea successfully&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>&#8220;Let&#8217;s get away now,&#8221; urged Beryl. &#8220;He
+may discover us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronald stood, his arm linked in that of his
+well-beloved. He made no remark as he watched
+the dark silhouette of the man Aylesworth
+disappear over the brow of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, dear, he hasn&#8217;t discovered us. But
+if all goes well we shall be back here on
+Thursday.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later they met Collins awaiting
+them near the car. The mechanic became
+greatly interested when his master described
+briefly what they had seen.</p>
+
+<p>Then all three mounted into their seats, the
+lights were switched on, and they turned back to
+Kirkby Stephen, where they spent the remainder
+of the night at the old &#8220;King&#8217;s Arms,&#8221; giving
+a fictitious story of a breakdown.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Two days later, Pryor having made a long
+written report to the Anti-Aircraft Headquarters,
+took the train from Liverpool Street Station
+down to Harbury Court, there to await instructions.
+Beryl, who was already down there
+with Iris, was greatly excited, for only she,
+Ronald, and Collins knew of the intended <i>coup</i>
+next Thursday. Zeppelins had sailed over the
+East Coast, and had paid the penalty for so
+doing. &#8220;Uncle&#8221;&mdash;the pet name for Count
+Zeppelin at the Potsdam Court&mdash;was, it was
+reported, in tears of rage. He had promised
+the Kaiser that he would appal Great Britain,
+but the British refused even to be alarmed.
+The Zeppelin menace, thought by the world to
+be so serious, had &#8220;fizzled out,&#8221; and it now seemed
+that the more mobile aeroplane&mdash;often with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+British tri-colour rings upon its wings&mdash;had taken
+its place. And it was one of those which Ronnie
+and Beryl knew would be due over that Yorkshire
+moor next Thursday at midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie spent the night at Harbury, and in the
+morning received a telegram calling him urgently to
+Whitehall. On his return, he said but little, though,
+from his smile, Beryl knew that he was
+satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>Wednesday came, and in his brown overalls he
+spent nearly the whole day with Collins in
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s Nest.&#8221; They were getting the
+machine in trim for a long night flight.</p>
+
+<p>Both pilot and mechanic consumed many
+cigarettes as they worked, Ronnie examining
+every stay and every instrument. He satisfied
+himself that the Lewis gun, which could fire
+through the propeller, was in working order, and
+he tested the silencer, which he brought out from
+the house for that purpose, and then returned
+it to its place of safety from the prying eyes of
+the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then Beryl came out and watched
+the preparations.</p>
+
+<p>Thursday dawned grey and overcast, with every
+indication of rain. Indeed, rain fell at ten
+o&#8217;clock, but at eleven, it having cleared, Ronnie
+took Collins, and they went up for a &#8220;flip&#8221;
+together in order to make a final test.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl and her sister stood in the meadow
+watching the machine ascend higher and higher,
+until it had gained an altitude of fully twelve
+thousand feet. Then it seemed to hover for a
+moment, after which, with a long, graceful
+swoop, Ronnie commenced a series of aerial
+evolutions which Beryl, as an accomplished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+air-woman, knew to be most difficult, and showed
+to her what perfect control Ronald had over the
+machine. The silencer was on, therefore no
+sound could be heard of the engines.</p>
+
+<p>In about twenty minutes&#8217; time Ronnie came
+lightly to earth, and pulled up close to where Iris
+and her sister were standing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Everything going finely!&#8221; he shouted to
+Beryl, as he unstrapped himself, and clambered
+out of the pilot&#8217;s seat.</p>
+
+<p>Then, when he joined her, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;As the crow flies the spot on the moor is
+about two hundred and thirty miles from here.
+Therefore we ought to leave soon after seven
+in case we lose our way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, after luncheon, they spent the afternoon
+studying maps and marking directions by which
+to steer, by the lines of railway mostly. Night
+flying, with the lights of towns extinguished, is
+always a difficult matter, and, as Beryl knew by
+experience, it is extremely easy to lose one&#8217;s way
+by a single mistake.</p>
+
+<p>By seven o&#8217;clock darkness had already fallen;
+but the barometer, at which both had glanced
+many times with anxious eyes, showed a slow,
+steady rise, and with the direction of the wind,
+combined to create excellent conditions for flying
+at high altitudes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; had been wheeled out of its
+&#8220;nest,&#8221; and Beryl in her fur-lined aviation kit,
+her leather cap and goggles, had strapped herself
+in behind her lover, who, with a flash-lamp, was now
+busily examining the row of instruments before
+him. Meanwhile Collins, on the ground, shouted:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Best of luck to you, sir, and also to Miss Beryl!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, Collins!&#8221; cried the girl. &#8220;We
+ought to be back by five.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>&#8220;All ready, Collins?&#8221; asked Ronnie at last
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p>The mechanic sprang to the propeller.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Contact, sir?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie threw over the switch with a click.
+The mechanic swung the big, four-bladed propeller
+over, when the engine started with noisy, metallic
+clatter, increasing until it became a deep roar.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie was testing his engine. Finding it
+satisfactory, he quickly throttled down. Collins
+took the &#8220;chocks&#8221; from beneath the wheels,
+and the pilot &#8220;taxied&#8221; slowly across to the corner
+of the big field until, gaining speed, he opened
+up suddenly, when the machine skimmed easily
+off the ground, over the belt of trees, and away
+up into the void.</p>
+
+<p>As they ascended, Beryl, gazing down, saw
+below a few faint lights to the south-east, and
+knew that there lay the important town of H&mdash;&mdash;,
+blotted out at even that early hour of the evening,
+for the lights visible would have only indicated
+a village in pre-war days.</p>
+
+<p>In the sky further eastwards toward the sea was
+a slight tremor of light showing that searchlights
+were already at work testing their beams, and
+making oblong patches of light upon the clouds.</p>
+
+<p>At ten thousand feet up, as the altimeter then
+showed, it was intensely cold, and the girl
+buttoned up her fur-lined coat and fastened up
+her wind-cuffs. The roar of the engine was too
+great, of course, to admit of conversation.
+Ronnie had not switched on the silencer, as it
+impeded speed, and after a long flight it might
+choke just at the very moment when its services
+were most required.</p>
+
+<p>Due north in the increasing darkness went
+&#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; skilfully handled by the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+intrepid of air-pilots, high over town, forest, and
+pasture, hill and dale, as the hours crept slowly
+on.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, however, Ronnie turned the machine,
+and began to circle over a few scattered lights.
+Then Beryl recognised his uncertainty. Time
+after time he searched for the railway line to
+York, but though both of them strained their eyes
+they could not pick it up again.</p>
+
+<p>Hence they were compelled, much to Ronnie&#8217;s
+chagrin, to make a descent in a big grass-field,
+where, in the blackness, they made a rather
+rough landing, and presently inquired their
+whereabouts of some villagers.</p>
+
+<p>To their amazement they found that beneath
+the hill where they had descended the railway
+line actually ran. And it was on account of the
+long tunnel they had missed it.</p>
+
+<p>So, ascending once more, they struck again due
+north by the compass, and finding the line, flew
+along it over Doncaster to York. Then, still
+continuing northwards, they reached Thirsk
+Junction, until five minutes later as they were
+approaching Northallerton, intending to strike
+westward and follow the line to Hawes, &#8220;The
+Hornet&#8221; developed serious engine trouble, and
+Ronnie was forced again to descend, planing
+down into an unploughed field.</p>
+
+<p>For half-an-hour, aided actively by Beryl, he
+was occupied in making a repair. It was then
+past eleven, and the girl expressed a hope that
+they would be at the rendezvous by midnight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It will really be too bad if we arrive too
+late,&#8221; she added apprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie did not reply. He was seriously contemplating
+giving up the expedition. The engine
+trouble was a very serious one. They might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+last out perhaps another hour, but &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+could never return to Harbury with the engine
+in that state. This distressing fact, however, he
+did not tell her.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hark!&#8221; cried Beryl suddenly. &#8220;Listen!
+Why, there&#8217;s a machine up&mdash;over us!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Ronald hold his breath. Yes, there was the
+distinct hum of a machine coming up from the
+east, following the railway from the main line
+over towards Hawes.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh! do let&#8217;s go up. That may be Aylesworth&#8217;s
+friend,&#8221; suggested Beryl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect it is,&#8221; replied Ronnie grimly. &#8220;But
+with this engine there is danger&mdash;very grave
+danger&mdash;Beryl, dear. Are you quite prepared
+to risk it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll risk anything with you,&#8221; was the girl&#8217;s
+prompt reply. &#8220;We&#8217;ve risked our lives in the
+air before, and we&#8217;ll do so again to-night. We
+must not fail now that we&#8217;re within an ace of
+success.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Her words spurred Ronnie to a supreme effort.
+With the hum of the mysterious machine in his
+ears, he set his teeth; then with the spanner in
+his hand he screwed the nut tightly, and without
+many further words he told his well-beloved
+that all was ready. They both got in, and two
+minutes later they were rising in the air, rapidly
+overhauling the mysterious machine.</p>
+
+<p>Those moments seemed hours to Beryl. She
+scarcely dared to breathe. Ronnie had switched
+on the silencer, and they were now speeding
+through the air without a sound, save for the
+shrill whistle of the wind through the planes.</p>
+
+<p>By the hum of the engine of the machine they
+were following they kept silently in its wake,
+gradually overhauling it.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>Suddenly they saw flashes of white light from it&mdash;signals
+to the traitor Aylesworth in waiting
+below. Then they knew that they were not
+mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie put every ounce into his crocked-up
+engine, knowing that if it failed they might make
+a nose-dive fatal to them both. Like an arrow
+he sped towards the aeroplane which had crept
+over the North Sea, and across Yorkshire to meet
+the man who had promised those secret despatches.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl saw deep below the flashes of a lamp&mdash;&#8220;N.
+F.,&#8221; &#8220;N. F.,&#8221; in Morse.</p>
+
+<p>Ronald Pryor saw it also and, suddenly turning
+the nose of his machine, he made a circle in silence
+around the enemy aeroplane. Again he circled
+much nearer. The German pilot was utterly
+ignorant of his presence, so silently did he pass
+through the air, until, narrowing the circle,
+he waited for the Fokker to plane down; then, in
+a flash, he flew past, and, with his hand upon the
+Lewis gun, he showered a veritable hail of lead
+upon it.</p>
+
+<p>The Fokker reeled, and then nose-dived to
+earth, with&mdash;as was afterwards found&mdash;its pilot
+shot through the brain, its petrol-tank pierced
+in five places, and one of its wings hanging limp
+and broken, such a terrible shower of lead had
+Pryor directed against it.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl and Ronald Pryor had perforce to return
+by train to Harbury, but, by previous arrangement,
+the man Aylesworth had been arrested,
+and was duly tried by court-martial. It is known
+that he was found guilty and condemned, but
+the exact sentence upon him will probably not
+be known until after the declaration of peace.</p>
+
+<p>And, after all, the doom of a traitor is best
+left unrecorded.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V.<br />
+
+<small>CONCERNS THE HIDDEN HAND.</small></h2></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">One</span> evening&mdash;the evening of June 14th, 1916,
+to be exact&mdash;Ronald Pryor came forth through
+one of the long French windows which led out
+upon the sloping lawn at Harbury Court, and
+gazed out upon the extensive and picturesque
+landscape; the low ridge of hills was soft in the
+grey and crimson of the summer afterglow.</p>
+
+<p>With Beryl, and Iris, he had dined an hour
+ago, after which Beryl had gone for a flight in
+&#8220;The Hornet.&#8221; She had been away more than
+half-an-hour when, seated alone, he drained his
+liqueur, placed his cigarette-end in the ash-tray,
+and glanced anxiously at his wrist-watch.</p>
+
+<p>Then he had gone out into the calm June night.</p>
+
+<p>Passing from the spacious gardens surrounding
+the Court&mdash;ill-kept nowadays, for all the men
+were serving in the Army&mdash;he went down to
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s Nest.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He opened the sliding door sufficiently to allow
+himself to enter, and for the next hour he was busy
+within. At last he reappeared with an old,
+wide-mouthed kitbag, similar to those used by
+hunting men in pre-war days.</p>
+
+<p>Carrying it across the field to the opposite
+corner, he opened it beneath the high elm-tree
+which they were always compelled to avoid in
+their ascents or descents. Then he took out a
+coil of black-enamelled wire, the end of which
+bore a lead plummet. Carefully examining the
+coil, he held it loosely in his hand and, stepping
+back a few paces, quickly swung the lead around<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+his head half-a-dozen times, and then, with a
+sudden jerk, released it, sending it high up into
+the branches of the tree, where it remained with
+its wire attached. A few feet down the wire,
+towards the ground, there had been inserted a
+brown porcelain insulator, while, as the airman
+paid out the wire, receding from the tree as he
+did so, a second insulator came into view.</p>
+
+<p>Having let out sufficient wire, he at last pegged
+its end to the ground. Thus, from the grass to
+the tree, stretched up a long single wire. From
+his square-mouthed bag he took out a small
+box of polished mahogany and, opening it, there
+was disclosed within a complete little wireless
+set. A small mat of copper gauze he took also
+from the bag and, spreading it upon the damp
+grass as an &#8220;earth,&#8221; he connected up his
+instruments with expert hand.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he glanced at the watch on his wrist;
+by this time the twilight was rapidly falling, the
+mists were rising, and a few sparks of light could
+be seen twinkling deep down in the grey valley.
+Then he removed his cap and, assuming the double
+head &#8217;phones, carefully adjusted his detector and
+listened attentively.</p>
+
+<p>From anyone passing along the high road he
+was entirely hidden from view. The possession
+of wireless was forbidden under heavy penalty
+by the Defence of the Realm Act, but Ronnie
+Pryor was one of the fortunate few whose permits
+for experiment had been recently renewed by the
+Admiralty.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; he exclaimed aloud. &#8220;There&#8217;s
+Norddeich going strong, sending out the usual
+German official lies&mdash;and also the Eiffel Tower.
+Two budgets of official war news at the same
+time!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>Again he listened with great patience and
+attention, as he knelt upon the grass. The neat
+little installation was, of course, for receiving
+only, there being no electrical current for transmission.
+A small, round ebonite handle at the
+end of the box he turned backwards and forwards
+very slowly, altering his wave-length ever and
+anon, making it longer or shorter in order to
+&#8220;tune&#8221; himself to the message he was apparently
+expecting.</p>
+
+<p>Once again he glanced at his watch very
+anxiously. Then, for the next three-quarters
+of an hour, while the dusk deepened into darkness,
+he remained upon his patient vigil.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At last!&#8221; he gasped aloud, as he switched
+on a little shaded lamp which shone obliquely
+within the box; then he bent down, and, on a
+small writing-pad, began to take down rapidly
+the letters he heard in Morse code&mdash;an unintelligible
+jumble of the alphabet, each nine letters
+being separated by a space.</p>
+
+<p>Presently there ticked into his ears the three
+&#8220;shorts,&#8221; followed by &#8220;long-short-long,&#8221;
+which signified &#8220;end of work.&#8221; Still bending to
+the tiny light, he took from his pocket a little
+book. On consulting it, he placed over each
+code-letter its de-coded equivalent, afterwards
+reading it to his apparent satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Then he rose, standing with his face to the
+north, and gazing over the wide valley into the
+night sky. He lit a cigarette, and remained
+there for a full quarter of an hour. Afterwards
+he consulted a map from his pocket and then,
+lighting another cigarette, waited somewhat
+impatiently. Now and then he could hear the
+roar of a car or a motor-cycle passing along the
+high road at the back of him.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>About three-quarters of an hour after the reception
+of the message, Pryor connected up four
+dry batteries he had in his bag to a lamp with
+a wide lens, which he placed on its back upon
+the ground, so that the beams were directed
+upwards. Then again, after pulling down the
+wire, he seated himself upon a root of the great
+tree and waited, listening very attentively.</p>
+
+<p>At last he heard a faint hum in the darkness&mdash;a
+low sound like the distant buzzing of a bee.</p>
+
+<p>It was approaching rapidly&mdash;an aeroplane
+high in the dark sky, for neither moon nor stars
+showed that night. The machine was approaching
+from the direction of London, yet, though he
+strained his eyes, he could not distinguish it in
+that dark-blue vault above.</p>
+
+<p>On it came rapidly in his direction. Into the
+electric circuit he had put a little tapping-key
+and, touching it, he tapped out the Morse letters:
+&#8220;X X D&#8221;&mdash;his own wireless call number.</p>
+
+<p>Time after time he repeated the call &#8220;X X D&mdash;X
+X D!&#8221; at the same time straining his eyes
+into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, almost exactly above him, he saw,
+like a tiny star in the sky, a light twinkling. He
+read the message, and knew that his signal
+had been seen and read.</p>
+
+<p>Next second he tapped out upon the key&mdash;flashing
+it to the arriving aeroplane&mdash;the direction
+of the light wind, afterwards opening up the light
+to serve as a guide. The aeroplane, humming
+above in the darkness, swept down lower and lower
+in half-mile spirals until, of a sudden, a powerful
+searchlight beamed out from it, directed upon
+the earth below; its pilot was looking for a safe
+landing-place.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly it circled round and round until, a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+minutes later, it came to earth in the opposite
+corner of the field to that in which Ronnie was
+standing. In an instant, with the cessation of
+the throbbing of the engine, the light was shut
+off, and Pryor, having long ago packed up his
+wireless, hastened across.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo!&#8221; he shouted into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo, Ronnie!&#8221; answered a girl&#8217;s voice
+cheerily, and a few seconds later Beryl Gaselee
+received a warm and fond caress.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I got your message all right, darling!&#8221; the
+man exclaimed, while the girl, in her workmanlike
+air-woman&#8217;s kit, stood before the propeller
+and stretched her arms above her head after her
+long flight away into Hampshire and back. By
+the light of Ronnie&#8217;s flash-lamp she was revealed
+in her leather flying-cap, her hair tucked away
+beneath it, her mackintosh confined at the waist
+by a wide belt, and, instead of a skirt, brown
+mechanic&#8217;s overalls.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I came across Bedford and St. Albans, but
+just beyond I had a terrible fright. I was flying
+low in order to pick up a railway-line when, of
+a sudden, a searchlight opened up from somewhere
+and I was attacked by two anti-aircraft
+guns. One shell whistled within five yards of
+the left plane of &#8216;The Hornet.&#8217; Indeed, it was
+quite a miracle that I was not winged.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But couldn&#8217;t the fools see the rings on the
+planes? Didn&#8217;t you bank in order to show
+them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course I did, but I was in a cloud, and they
+could not see me with any accuracy. You see,
+I never gave word to headquarters that I was
+going up. I quite forgot it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, well, in that case it is only natural that
+they would fire upon any stray aircraft at night!&#8221;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+Ronnie replied. &#8220;But I got your message all
+right, which proves that our wireless works well.
+Where were you when you sent it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I had flown about ten miles beyond Oxford.
+I had some trouble with the engine, so I was
+late in starting,&#8221; she replied. &#8220;You left your
+kit in the machine,&#8221; she added, and, climbing
+again into &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221; she threw out a leather
+cap and a heavy mackintosh.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you hear anything suspicious?&#8221; she
+asked, as he placed the bag containing the wireless
+in the observer&#8217;s seat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;It was just as we have
+guessed&mdash;enemy messages on a short wave-length.
+Not very plain, to be sure, but they are being
+transmitted, without a doubt. I heard you
+perfectly,&#8221; he added. &#8220;But we haven&#8217;t much
+time to waste if we are to keep the appointment.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The &#8217;bus is going beautifully,&#8221; Beryl said.
+&#8220;I should have had quite a pleasant trip if it
+were not for the &#8216;Archie-fire.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They may believe that the enemy send
+aeroplanes over to us at night painted to resemble
+ours. That is the reason you got peppered,
+no doubt,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We must give that station
+a wide berth in future.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Climbing into the pilot&#8217;s seat he examined the
+map set beneath the small electric bulb, and afterwards
+slipped on his airman&#8217;s coat and cap, and
+buckled the strap round his waist. Then, after
+she had swung over the propeller, he helped his
+well-beloved into the observer&#8217;s seat into which
+she strapped herself.</p>
+
+<p>With a quick bumpy run they sped over the
+pasture, and then, on the lower ground, they rose
+with a roar of the engine, turned and, passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+over the high road, circled over the opposite
+hill. Higher and higher Ronnie went up into
+the starless darkness, making great circles in
+order to get up five thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p>As the speed increased in the darkness the
+machine, thrusting its nose still upwards and lying
+over resolutely in its long spiral climb, throbbed
+onward until, at a thousand feet, there came to
+both a delicious sense of relief as they moved
+along on an even keel.</p>
+
+<p>For over an hour they flew until they were
+high above the long, steep High Street of Guildford,
+where only a few twinkling lights could be
+seen below, owing to the excellent precautions
+of its Chief Constable. At that altitude, from
+the number of lights, an enemy airman would
+never have suspected it to be a town at all.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long, however&mdash;even while they
+were circling above the town and Ronnie was
+taking his bearings&mdash;before two intense beams
+from searchlights shot out and almost blinded
+the aviators. For fully two minutes the lights
+followed them. Then the watchers below, having
+satisfied themselves that it was a friendly &#8217;plane,
+shut off again, and all was darkness.</p>
+
+<p>They had flown perhaps nine miles from
+Guildford when, of a sudden, almost directly
+below them, there sprang up four points of red
+light&mdash;lit simultaneously by an electrical wire&mdash;which
+showed them their landing-place.</p>
+
+<p>Down they swept until Ronnie, an expert in
+landing at night, found himself in a large grass-field.
+Collins came running forward eagerly to
+welcome him.</p>
+
+<p>The four lights were at once extinguished, and
+the engine being shut off, all was quiet again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, sir, I think you&#8217;re quite right,&#8221; Collins<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+said at last. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been watching these two days,
+and there&#8217;s something mysterious in the wind.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you seen them?&#8221; asked Ronnie eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. A youngish man and a stout old
+woman. When I got down I found Shawfield to
+be only a tiny place with one old inn, The Bell,
+and I knew that a stranger&#8217;s movements would
+be well watched. So I went three miles farther,
+and took a room at The George, in Bricklehurst.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How far is the farm from here?&#8221; asked Beryl.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, about a mile&mdash;not more, miss! Behind
+that wood yonder,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;They had a
+visitor this afternoon&mdash;a tall, fair, well-dressed
+man. He&#8217;s probably spending the night there.
+I watched him arrive at Shawfield Station, and
+the man who calls himself Cator met him, and
+drove him in the car to the Manor Farm.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I wonder who the visitor is?&#8221; remarked
+Pryor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He is probably one of the gang,&#8221; Beryl
+suggested. &#8220;No doubt he has come down from
+London to see them in secret. The woman
+poses as Cator&#8217;s mother, I believe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, miss. I&#8217;ve discovered that they bought
+the Manor Farm in 1913, and that Cator had an
+excellent assistant, a Belgian, it was supposed&mdash;or
+at least he gave himself out to be that. Cator
+erected new farm-buildings that you will see&mdash;nice,
+red-brick structures with corrugated iron
+roofs, and spent a large sum of money on
+improvements.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;New buildings&mdash;eh?&#8221; sniffed Ronnie in
+suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that&#8217;s just the point, sir. But let&#8217;s
+get over there, and I&#8217;ll show you one or two things
+that I regard as suspicious.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon the pair, guided by Collins, threw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+off their air-clothes and crossed the field to a gate
+where a footpath led into a dark wood, the air-mechanic
+switching on a pocket-torch to light
+their way. They conversed only in whispers,
+lest there should be anyone lurking in the vicinity,
+and on traversing the wood, found themselves out
+upon a broad highway. Then, after going perhaps
+a quarter of a mile, they turned into a second wood
+and continued through it until, at its farther
+boundary, they saw before them, silhouetted
+against the night sky, a cluster of farm-buildings,
+with the farmhouse itself close by.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hush!&#8221; urged Collins. Then, drawing his
+companions near him, he halted and whispered,
+&#8220;See that long building&mdash;away from the others?
+That&#8217;s where the mystery lies!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They both strained their eyes, and could see
+distinctly the long, low-built structure straight
+before them.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Follow me,&#8221; Collins whispered. &#8220;Be careful
+to make no noise. There are two dogs in the yard
+yonder, but they&#8217;re chained up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a mercy!&#8221; Beryl remarked, as the
+pair moved slowly after the mechanic.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, when they came out upon an ill-made
+track which was evidently a byway,
+Collins stopped and, turning his flash-lamp upon
+the ground, pointed out the recent marks of
+wheels, the broad, flat-tyred wheels of a motor-lorry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;See what&#8217;s been here of late&mdash;eh?&#8221; he
+whispered. &#8220;Look!&#8221; and he slowly flashed the
+light across the road. &#8220;It&#8217;s been here quite
+half-a-dozen times recently&mdash;on different nights or
+days.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; replied Ronnie. &#8220;You are quite
+right! Do those tracks lead up to the building?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>&#8220;Yes. Come and see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They went, and before the big, heavy doors
+which were locked so securely they saw, by the
+faint light the man showed, marks of where the
+lorry had backed right into the building.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then it must have a concrete floor!&#8221;
+remarked Ronnie as he examined the tracks
+intently. &#8220;Several lorries have been here, without
+a doubt. But might they not have been
+carting grain away?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. Because no threshing has been done
+here for over two years.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Dare we go near the house?&#8221; Beryl asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, miss; it wouldn&#8217;t be wise. We&#8217;d have
+to pass through the yard, and the dogs would give
+tongue at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, we mustn&#8217;t alarm them!&#8221; Ronnie said.
+&#8220;If we are to be successful we must do everything
+in secret and spring a real surprise. Only,&#8221;
+he added, &#8220;we must make quite certain that they
+are guilty.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course,&#8221; Beryl agreed. &#8220;But how?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, that&#8217;s the point!&#8221; said Ronnie, taking
+out his own torch, and again examining the tracks
+of the lorry in the soft ground. With the aid
+of a folding foot-rule he drew forth from his
+pocket, he took measurements at several points
+in the road, then said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is not always the same lorry that comes
+here. One is heavier than the other. The one
+which came most recently is the larger of the two,
+and from the depth of the rut it must have been
+loaded to its capacity. See there, where it sank
+into a soft place!&#8221;&mdash;and he indicated a spot
+where one wheel had sunk in very deeply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Further,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;I judge, by the recent
+dry weather, that those lorries have been here at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+intervals of about three days. They came from
+some considerable distance, no doubt. The last
+was here yesterday, in which case the next would
+be here the day after to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then I can stay and see with my own eyes?&#8221;
+suggested Collins.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly my idea,&#8221; his master replied. &#8220;You
+could be an actual witness, and make a statement
+before I dare act.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At that moment all three were startled by
+hearing voices. People were coming out of the
+farmhouse. The dogs in the yard barked&mdash;showing
+that the voice of one of the persons was
+that of a stranger&mdash;the man from London.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quick!&#8221; cried Collins. &#8220;Let&#8217;s get into
+hiding somewhere. I hope they won&#8217;t let those
+infernal dogs loose, or they&#8217;ll soon scent us out!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hope not!&#8221; said Beryl, who, though a lover
+of dogs, held farm dogs, in such circumstances,
+in distinct suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>All three sped quickly back, crouching behind
+a wooden fence close by, just as the fitful light of
+a lantern could be seen approaching. Three
+persons were revealed&mdash;the man Cator, his
+guest, and the fat old woman.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie and Beryl strained their ears to catch
+their conversation, but at first they could not
+distinguish a single word.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the woman, with a loud laugh,
+spoke more distinctly. Yes! She spoke in
+German, the man from London answering in the
+same language!</p>
+
+<p>They walked to the door of the long, low
+building which, after some difficulty, the man
+Cator unlocked, leaving his old hurricane-lamp
+outside. The trio went in; therefore it was plain
+one of them carried an electric torch.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>&#8220;I suppose they are showing him their handiwork&mdash;eh?&#8221;
+remarked Beryl in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No doubt. He has come down from London
+to make an inspection, it seems.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They could hear voices speaking in German
+within the building, but dared not emerge from
+their place of concealment to peer within. Ronnie
+had suggested it, but Beryl urged a judicious
+course.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, let Collins remain and watch,&#8221; she said
+in a whisper. &#8220;Every moment we remain here
+means graver peril to our plans. If they scent
+the slightest suspicion, then all our efforts will
+be in vain. Have you noticed over there?
+I&#8217;ve been looking at it for some minutes, and I
+don&#8217;t think my eyes deceive me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; asked Ronnie.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, look at that chimney-stack upon the
+farmhouse! Can&#8217;t you see something&mdash;a wire
+running from it right away to that high tree on
+the left?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes&mdash;by Gad! That&#8217;s so, Beryl! Why,
+they&#8217;ve got wireless here! They evidently string
+up an aerial at night!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I haven&#8217;t noticed that before!&#8221; said
+Collins. &#8220;But no doubt you&#8217;re right, sir. That&#8217;s
+a wireless aerial, without question.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. But let&#8217;s get away,&#8221; Ronnie urged.
+&#8220;They may release those horrible dogs for a run,
+and then it would be all up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So the trio, creeping cautiously, receded by
+the dark path along which they had reached the
+Manor Farm, and were soon back again in the
+Monk&#8217;s Wood, as Collins told them it was named.</p>
+
+<p>Back again at the spot where they had left
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8221; they held council.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You remain here, Collins,&#8221; said Pryor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+&#8220;Watch the place, and see what arrives. The
+next lorry may come along the day after to-morrow,
+or the day after that. You will see
+what its load is. Then, having made certain,
+come back straight to Harbury. We&#8217;ll wait for
+you there. Telephone me, but not from the
+locality. You understand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, sir,&#8221; replied the air-mechanic,
+who, in a rather shabby blue suit, wore a brass
+badge as one doing national work.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie and Beryl climbed back into the
+machine, fastened the straps round themselves,
+and made all ready for their long flight from
+Surrey, across London, to Harbury Court.</p>
+
+<p>They said good-bye to Collins, who, taking
+the propeller, pulled it over, while Pryor threw
+over the contact.</p>
+
+<p>There was no response.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hullo! What&#8217;s up?&#8221; asked Ronnie.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t know, sir,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;Try again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>They both tried again&mdash;and again, but no
+response could be got out of the engine. &#8220;The
+Hornet&#8221; had lost its sting!</p>
+
+<p>Both pilot and observer descended again to
+make a minute investigation. Both of them were
+conversant with every point of an aero-engine, but
+neither could discover the fault. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+had simply broken down!</p>
+
+<p>For nearly an hour the trio worked hard to
+get a move on the engine, but without success.</p>
+
+<p>At last Ronald declared that it would be best
+to wait until dawn, so they sat down upon the
+grass beneath the hedge, smoking cigarettes and
+chatting.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;By Jove!&#8221; exclaimed Ronnie. &#8220;If it is
+really true what we suspect, how we shall surprise
+them&mdash;eh?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>&#8220;Yes, dear,&#8221; said his well-beloved. &#8220;But
+Collins must have absolute and undeniable
+evidence.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Of course. We cannot act without that.
+See over there&mdash;the faint light in the sky.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And he pointed to the pale light, eastward,
+which heralded the dawn.</p>
+
+<p>Already the birds were twittering, and away
+somewhere a dog was barking furiously. In
+pre-war times the chimes of village church clocks
+would have struck the hour. But now, in fear
+of enemy aircraft, all chimes were silent.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the light stole over the hill, and
+presently all three walked over to &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+for another minute examination. Within ten
+minutes Collins had found the fault&mdash;quite a
+usual but unexpected one&mdash;and five minutes
+afterwards the engine was ready for the ascent.</p>
+
+<p>Pryor climbed into the pilot&#8217;s seat to test it,
+and did so half-a-dozen times before he pronounced
+his verdict that the machine was in a fit
+condition to fly back over London.</p>
+
+<p>At last, when Ronnie and Beryl had climbed in
+and settled themselves, the mechanic swung
+over the propeller, the engine roared, and a few
+moments later they had left the earth, speeding
+higher and higher in the direction of London,
+on their return to Harbury Court.</p>
+
+<p>Collins, as soon as they had left, wound up the
+electric wires connecting the little tin pans of
+petrol at each corner of the field, and hid the
+pans themselves in the hedge. Then, having
+removed all traces of the machine&#8217;s presence
+there, he started back on his three-mile walk to
+the obscure little village in which he had taken
+up his quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Next day he relaxed his vigilance on the Manor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+Farm and, with an elderly man, a retired schoolmaster
+whom he had met in the bar of The
+George, he went for a day&#8217;s fishing in the river
+which ran outside the village.</p>
+
+<p>The old man, whose name was Haddon, had a
+wide knowledge of local affairs, and as soon as
+Collins mentioned Mrs. Cator and her son, he
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! They had a very good manager in Mr.
+Bush, but he went away about a month before
+the war. He was a German, though he called
+himself Belgian.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How do you know he was a German?&#8221;
+asked Collins.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, because my daughter&#8217;s in the post-office
+here, and she says that once or twice letters
+came for him bearing a Dutch stamp, and
+addressed to &#8216;Herr B�ch,&#8217; which is a German
+name.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. That&#8217;s curious, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And there were some other curious facts, too.
+Before the war two foreigners very often came
+down to the Manor Farm to spend the week-end&mdash;gentlemen
+from London. I met them once
+or twice and heard them speaking in German.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But Mr. Cator isn&#8217;t German, is he?&#8221; asked
+Collins.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who knows? Some Germans who&#8217;ve lived
+here for years speak English so well that you
+can&#8217;t tell,&#8221; declared the ex-schoolmaster.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have you any reason for supposing that Cator
+is a German?&#8221; inquired Collins. &#8220;If he&#8217;s
+German, then what about his mother?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, it doesn&#8217;t follow that his mother is
+German. She may have been an English girl
+who married a German, you know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If so, she certainly might be pro-German,&#8221;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+Collins remarked, as they sat together on the
+river-bank eating their sandwiches.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I certainly think she is, because my daughter
+tells me that old Emma Green&#8217;s girl, who was
+housemaid at the Manor Farm when war was
+declared, says that Mrs. Cator, her son, and one
+of those gentlemen from London drank the health
+of the Kaiser in champagne that night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did the girl tell your daughter that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, she did. And I believe her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Collins was silent. These facts he had learnt
+were highly important.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You see,&#8221; Mr. Haddon went on, &#8220;nowadays
+you dare not say anything about anybody you
+suspect, for fear of being had up for libel. The
+law somehow seems to protect the Germans in
+our midst. I feel confident that the Cators are
+a mysterious pair, and I told my suspicions to
+Mr. Rouse, our police-sergeant in the village.
+But he only shrugged his shoulders and said that
+as far as he knew they were all right. So why,
+after that, should anybody trouble?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is it not an Englishman&#8217;s duty to oust the
+enemy?&#8221; Collins queried.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it is; but if the enemy can live under
+laws which protect them, what can the average
+man do?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, do his best to assist the authorities!
+The latter are not so blind as they lead the public
+to believe, I assure you,&#8221; laughed Collins, who,
+having learnt all he could from the ex-schoolmaster,
+devoted the remainder of the afternoon
+to angling, and with fair result.</p>
+
+<p>Next day he strolled, at about ten o&#8217;clock in
+the morning, in the direction of the Manor Farm,
+apparently taking a morning walk. When he had
+gone about a quarter of a mile, he met the man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+Cator in a golf suit and cap, accompanied by the
+stranger who had come from London two days
+previously, and a third man, tall, elderly, with a
+short, greyish beard, and rather shabbily-dressed.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed, Collins felt instinctively that the
+grey-bearded man, having eyed him closely,
+made some remark to his companions which
+caused them to turn back and look after him. The
+air-mechanic was, however, too discreet to turn
+himself, but went on and, walking in a circle,
+gave the Manor Farm a wide berth.</p>
+
+<p>That evening, however, as soon as it grew
+dark, he approached the place, taking up his
+position at the same spot where he had stood
+with his master and Miss Beryl&mdash;a point from
+which he had a good view of the long, low farm-building.</p>
+
+<p>He sank down into some undergrowth which concealed
+him and lit a cigarette, there being nobody
+near to smell the smoke. It was eight o&#8217;clock
+when he arrived there, and the time passed very
+slowly. Now and then the dogs in the yard
+barked furiously, once at hearing his footsteps,
+and again when somebody opened the back
+door of the farmhouse and came outside. Now
+and then a horse neighed, and once a dog barking
+far away set the two watch-dogs barking in
+response.</p>
+
+<p>The hours went by, but Collins, lying on his
+back sometimes smoking, sometimes dozing,
+kept a most patient vigil.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, however, just before midnight, as
+a glance at his watch revealed, he heard the sound
+of a car coming up the hill. He sprang up and
+listened. It was coming up behind him&mdash;up
+the byway which led through the wood to the
+farm!</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>His heart beat quickly. Pryor had been
+right. A lorry visited the Manor Farm every
+three days.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he caught a glimpse of the oil side-lights,
+and a few minutes later a big motor-lorry,
+heavily laden, approached and backed towards
+the wide doors of the farm-building. The driver
+having blown his horn, Cator and his visitor
+came out, and, when the doors were unlocked and
+wheeled open, the lorry was backed right into
+the building.</p>
+
+<p>At once all three men began unloading the
+lorry, whereupon Collins crept up to ascertain
+what was being taken out.</p>
+
+<p>Crouching behind the lorry he saw a number
+of full petrol tins being handed out and stored
+away within, after which came small, square
+wooden cases, which were handled very gingerly,
+and placed quietly upon the concrete floor of
+the well-filled building. Each case bore a red
+disc, and by the manner in which the driver
+warned Cator and his friend who handled them,
+Collins learnt that they were high explosives.</p>
+
+<p>The lorry had been practically laden with these
+cases, save for twenty tins of petrol, and all
+were safely transferred into the store. After
+this the driver went into the house for some
+refreshment, and in the meantime Collins, by
+the aid of his flash-lamp, was enabled to slip
+inside the building and make a quick examination
+of its contents.</p>
+
+<p>What he saw showed plainly that within that
+place was stored a great quantity of petrol and
+explosives&mdash;an enemy base for the use of the
+Huns who so vainly hoped one day to reach
+Britain.</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes later, ere the trio again emerged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+from the house, the air-mechanic was on his way
+back to the inn at Bricklehurst, well satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>On the following Friday, at nine o&#8217;clock in
+the evening, Beryl climbed into &#8220;The Hornet,&#8221;
+which stood in its meadow behind Harbury Court
+ready for a night flight. It had been a strenuous
+day getting ready, but the machine was now in
+perfect running order.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie, in his air-kit with leather cap and big
+goggles, climbed in and buckled the strap round
+his waist.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, let&#8217;s hope for good luck!&#8221; cried Beryl
+standing at the propeller.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Right, darling!&#8221; replied Ronnie. &#8220;Let her
+rip!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Next moment the girl swung round the propeller.
+Then she climbed in, and a few moments
+later the &#8217;plane sped over the grass and soon
+crossed the roof of the house, and was away.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later, with the lever of the silencer
+thrown back, they were hovering noiselessly,
+having passed over Guildford and away south,
+above a fire they saw below them&mdash;a hay-rick
+which belonged to the Cators. Collins had
+ignited it at a given time that night, in order to
+serve as their guide. The rick was in a field
+fully half-a-mile from the farm, and from above
+Ronnie and his companion could see that the
+local fire brigade were around it.</p>
+
+<p>The light, however, plainly illuminated the
+Manor Farm, and the building containing the
+secret store. Twice Ronnie passed over it,
+flying high, then once again he crossed directly
+above the farm. His hand was upon one of the
+little levers controlling his bombs, but, seeing
+that he had passed slightly to the south, he turned
+her nose, and re-passed once again in silence.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>Suddenly he touched the three upper levers
+in swift succession, one after the other.</p>
+
+<p>There was a swish of air below in the darkness,
+and as they watched, three blood-red flashes
+showed far down almost simultaneously.</p>
+
+<p>A noise like an earthquake rent the air, a great
+column of flame shot up, and a huge explosion
+resulted, lighting the country for miles around,
+and sending <i>d�bris</i> high into the darkness, while
+at the same time the terrible concussion tilted
+up &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; until she very nearly had a
+nasty side-slip.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie opened up his searchlight, shining it
+down upon the farm, revealing to their gaze only
+a wrecked and burning mass of ruins. The whole
+place, including the farmhouse, had, by the
+terrible force of the explosives stored there in
+secret, been swept clean away and levelled to the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; turned
+upon her homeward flight, and to this day it is
+very naturally believed by the public that enemy
+aircraft visited the spot on that memorable night.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI.<br />
+
+<small>THE PRICE OF VICTORY.</small></h2></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> wintry night was dark and moonless. There
+was a slight ground mist&mdash;and consequently
+no wind.</p>
+
+<p>Ronald Pryor returned to Harbury Court late
+for dinner, where Beryl and her sister awaited
+him. He had had a fagging day in London,
+spending nearly half his time with officials of
+the Air Department, who had at last become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+interested in his new engine silencer. Trials of it
+had been made at Farnborough and elsewhere, and
+proof of its effectiveness had been quite adequate.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The Department have decided to adopt it!&#8221;
+he announced triumphantly to Beryl as he
+entered the long, old-fashioned stone hall, and
+hung up his overcoat.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I knew they would, dear!&#8221; cried the
+enthusiastic air-woman joyously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I only hope the secret won&#8217;t leak out to the
+enemy,&#8221; he said, and then went along to wash
+his hands before sitting down to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, while they were at table, and Ronnie
+was describing the interview he had had with
+the heads of three Government Departments
+and the reading of the confidential reports upon
+the tests made with aeroplanes to which the
+silencer had been fitted, the maid entered
+announcing that he was wanted on the telephone.</p>
+
+<p>He left the table, and five minutes later returned
+with a grave look upon his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter, dear?&#8221; asked Beryl
+anxiously, for she dreaded lest something was
+amiss.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments he did not answer, busying
+himself with his plate. Then at last, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh!&mdash;well, only that I am flying &#8216;The
+Hornet&#8217; again to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May I not go with you?&#8221; Beryl asked eagerly.
+&#8220;Do let me go. It is over a week since I went
+up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated. Truth to tell, what he had heard
+on the telephone caused him some misgivings.
+Over the wire a certain disguised message had
+been given to him from headquarters&mdash;a request
+to which he had acceded.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl was in entire ignorance of the affair. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+had been asked to regard it as strictly confidential,
+hence, he had not mentioned it, even to his well-beloved.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, dearest,&#8221; he said at last, looking
+across the big bowl of flowers in the centre of
+the table, &#8220;I don&#8217;t half like you coming with me
+to-night. There may be risk, and it is unfair
+that you should take it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We are engaged, Ronnie; therefore, if there
+is any danger, why should I not share it?&#8221; was
+her prompt reply. &#8220;I am not afraid while I
+am with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s quite the right spirit, Beryl,&#8221; remarked
+her sister, approvingly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I quite appreciate your bravery, little one,&#8221;
+said Ronnie, &#8220;but flight on this misty night
+is fraught with more danger than people ever
+imagine. Once you are up you are lost, except
+for your compass. And to descend is, as you
+know, full of perils.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I quite appreciate all that,&#8221; said Beryl.
+&#8220;Don&#8217;t you recollect when I came over from
+Sandgate to Folkestone, and found a thick fog
+on this side? Well, I went on till I found a
+break in it on the Surrey Downs, and descended
+quite safely at Ash, near Aldershot.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That was in daylight&mdash;not on a dark night
+like this?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But where are you going?&#8221; she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>To her question he remained silent. His was
+a mission in strict confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Further argument followed between the pair,
+until at last, by the time dinner had ended,
+Ronald Pryor was compelled to accede to her
+request.</p>
+
+<p>Then, taking a flash-lamp, he went forth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+across the big meadow to the hangar and found
+Collins awaiting him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All ready, sir,&#8221; the latter announced
+cheerily. &#8220;I heard you quite well on the &#8217;phone
+from London, but&mdash;well, sir,&#8221; he added
+hesitatingly, &#8220;it&#8217;s a bit risky to fly to-night,
+isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is the machine all in order&mdash;everything?&#8221;
+asked his master.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Everything, sir. She only requires wheeling
+out,&#8221; and as he uttered the words the mechanic
+opened the great sliding-doors of the hangar.</p>
+
+<p>Then, together, the two men wheeled out the
+aeroplane, and while Ronnie mounted into
+the pilot&#8217;s seat Collins swung over the propeller,
+and his master tuned up his engine.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Beryl having put on her air-woman&#8217;s
+kit, with the leather jacket and cap,
+joined her lover, whom she found in the hangar
+poring over a map showing the East Coast between
+the Wash and the estuary of the Thames.</p>
+
+<p>He was taking measurements and making
+some pencilled calculations, while she stood
+expectantly beside him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, dear!&#8221; he asked at last, &#8220;are you
+ready?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite!&#8221; was her reply, and a few moments
+later, after he had put on his muffler, his overalls,
+and leather coat, they both climbed into the
+machine, and strapped themselves in.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Light the flares about two o&#8217;clock, Collins.
+I&#8217;m making a pretty long flight, so we can&#8217;t be
+back before then.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, sir.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then, tuning up again, and having tried the
+silencer, and found it in good working order,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+he ran the machine swiftly across the frosty grass.
+Soon he rose, and, skimming the trees, soon
+soared away into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>From where Beryl sat she saw the glow of the
+little electric bulb set over the instruments
+shining into her lover&#8217;s strong clean-shaven
+face, and, by the compass, gathered that they had
+described a half-circle, and, though still rising
+rapidly, were now heading eastward in the direction
+of the sea. The roar of the engine, of course,
+rendered speech impossible, while the mist was
+very chilly causing her to draw her brown woollen
+comforter around her cheeks. There was no
+sign of light anywhere below&mdash;all was a great
+black void.</p>
+
+<p>They had flown for nearly half-an-hour when,
+of a sudden, the long beam of a searchlight shot
+up from somewhere on their left, and began slowly
+to search the sky. Their approach had been
+heard by one of our air-stations.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie, watching the light made no attempt
+to evade it. Indeed, he switched on his searchlights
+in order to reveal himself. He had no
+wish to be peppered by our &#8220;Archies.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Next second both of them were blinded by the
+searchlight full upon them. In a moment a
+second, and then a third, light converged upon
+them, so that the aviator and his well-beloved
+were compelled to shade their eyes with their
+gloved hands.</p>
+
+<p>For a full three minutes the lights followed
+them, when the watchers below, having examined
+the tri-coloured rings on &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; planes
+and being satisfied, shut off.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl saw that her lover was anxiously watching
+his altimeter, as well as his compass and clock.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+It seemed as though he were apprehensive of
+something.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he began to descend, and pulled
+across the lever controlling the silencer, thus
+cutting off the noise of the exhaust.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re over the sea, now,&#8221; he remarked;
+&#8220;can&#8217;t you feel the difference in the atmosphere?
+Look on the left.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>She did so, peering down into the darkness,
+and there saw the twinkling of a light&mdash;a ship
+was signalling rapidly, being answered by another
+not far away.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where are we going, dear?&#8221; Beryl inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;On a mission,&#8221; was his abrupt response.
+And, though she pressed him for information,
+he would vouchsafe no further reply.</p>
+
+<p>For a full hour they flew over the North Sea,
+due east, until suddenly they turned south, and
+with the silencer still on, went along noiselessly
+save for the shrill wind whistling in the struts.</p>
+
+<p>From ten thousand feet they had now descended
+to a little over two thousand, when, all of a
+sudden, a distant searchlight shot forth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the Belgian coast!&#8221; Ronnie remarked,
+and once again he started to ascend, flying in a
+complete circle and undecided as to exactly
+where he might be. The single shaft of light, like
+a moving line in the total darkness, was soon
+followed by others from the same neighbourhood.
+Circles of light could be seen, showing that the
+clouds were low&mdash;a fact which would favour the
+intrepid pair.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll give those lights a wide berth for a
+little,&#8221; Ronnie said cheerfully, and again he turned
+northward, and a little later to the south-east.</p>
+
+<p>As they flew they watched those slowly-moving
+searchlights until, one by one, they disappeared.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>&#8220;They&#8217;ve finished their sweep of the skies,&#8221;
+he said at last, with satisfaction. &#8220;If there&#8217;s
+no alarm they won&#8217;t open out again for some
+time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then he flew in the direction of where the
+lights had been, descending until he was again
+only about two thousand feet above the sea.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;From the disposition of those lights it seems
+that we are near our objective,&#8221; he remarked. &#8220;I
+hope you are not nervous, darling?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why should I be with you, Ronnie?&#8221; she
+asked, placing her gloved hand tenderly upon his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, because we&#8217;re now entering the danger-zone,&#8221;
+he replied, &#8220;and I think I ought not to
+conceal it from you. Would you like to turn
+back?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Turn back!&#8221; echoed the brave girl.
+&#8220;Never! Where you dare go, I will go too.
+Don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m in the least nervous. If anything
+happens, it will happen equally to both
+of us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well spoken, my darling,&#8221; he said, his hand
+touching her cheek in the darkness. &#8220;Then we
+will go forward.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>After that there was a long silence, until below
+they saw a cluster of faint lights, with one light
+flashing at regular intervals.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look!&#8221; he said. &#8220;That is Zeebrugge.
+Beyond&mdash;that fainter light over there&mdash;is
+Ostend.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He consulted a roughly drawn map which he
+now produced, and which bore certain cryptic
+marks in red and blue; he directed Beryl&#8217;s attention
+to a speck of light to the north, saying:
+&#8220;That surely is Heyst!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then he pointed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; nose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+upwards, and rose until they were enveloped in a
+cloud of fog in order to evade the inquisitiveness
+of any searchlights, afterwards flying in a
+circle directly over the port of Zeebrugge, which
+both knew to contain strong defences and long-range
+anti-aircraft guns.</p>
+
+<p>For a full quarter of an hour they hovered over
+the town, their presence entirely unsuspected on
+account of the roaring exhaust being silenced.
+Then, carefully, he once more descended to mark
+out his objective&mdash;the new German submarine
+base. Between two spots seen far below he was
+undecided. There were many faint lights burning
+in the town, but one, he decided, was in the centre
+of the submarine base.</p>
+
+<p>Without uttering a word to his companion, who
+sat strapped in her narrow seat cramped, breathless,
+and half-frozen, he passed and re-passed
+over the German base three or four times.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly as he went a quick swish sounded
+below them, and, peering down, Beryl saw a big
+burst of flame, followed by a terrific explosion,
+the concussion of which gave the machine a
+serious tilt.</p>
+
+<p>Bang!&mdash;bang!&mdash;<i>bang!</i> sounded so quickly in
+succession that hardly had one ceased before the
+other reached them.</p>
+
+<p>Below, the bright red flashes, angry points of
+light in the blackness of the night, showed vividly,
+while at the moment that the searchlights shone
+forth Ronnie, having dropped his bombs, climbed
+swiftly into the bank of cloud.</p>
+
+<p>Higher and higher they went, until below them
+they only saw the clouds aglow with the glare,
+whether by the incendiary fires they had caused
+among the enemy or the searchlights they knew
+not.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>&#8220;&#8216;The Hornet&#8217; has done considerable damage
+this time!&#8221; Ronnie laughed hoarsely, as the
+altimeter showed that they were still ascending.
+&#8220;I saw that the second bomb dropped plumb
+into the fitting-shop! It has, no doubt, put an
+end to Fritz&#8217;s activity for a good many days
+to come.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you intend doing now?&#8221; asked
+Beryl. &#8220;Going home?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Home? No. I&#8217;ve got four more bombs
+for them, yet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, however, they heard the sharp
+bark of the enemy&#8217;s anti-aircraft guns. Yet no
+shell whistled near them.</p>
+
+<p>The Hun is a bully, and hence a coward.
+Taken unawares, as he was at Zeebrugge that
+night, when he heard nothing and saw nothing,
+it was but natural that he should fire even into
+the air in order to scare off the British raider.</p>
+
+<p>But Ronald Pryor was not the man to be
+scared off. He had had an objective to reach and
+he had reached it, but he had not yet finished,
+and did not intend to take any bombs back.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that as long as he kept above the low
+clouds, and as long as his machine was silent, as
+it would remain, it would be impossible for the
+gunners below to hit him. Therefore he drew
+away seaward again, according to his compass,
+then back to land, and for half-an-hour flew round
+the little town of Heyst.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then, as they passed from one cloud
+to another, they watched the lights of Zeebrugge
+searching for them, until it seemed that the alarm
+had died down.</p>
+
+<p>At two points, however, they could see great
+fierce fires burning&mdash;conflagrations they had
+caused in the heart of the submarine base. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+of Ronnie&#8217;s bombs had, as was afterwards known,
+dropped upon the oil-tanks, and, the blazing oil
+having been scattered over a large area, had
+caused devastation throughout the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hark! What&#8217;s that?&#8221; asked Beryl holding
+her breath, her quick ears having detected a
+familiar sound.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie, listening, suddenly said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! I quite expected that&mdash;their airmen
+are up, looking for us! Now we may have a
+little excitement. Collins put the gun ready.
+Is it all right?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite,&#8221; said the girl. Long ago Ronnie had
+taught her how to manipulate the Lewis gun.
+Therefore, she placed her hand upon it and
+drew the shoulder-piece towards her, swinging
+the machine-gun easily upon its pivot.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Keep cool, darling! Don&#8217;t fire till I tell you,&#8221;
+he urged. &#8220;We&#8217;re going over the town again
+to give them a farewell salute&mdash;all explosives
+this time. I want to get those warehouses at
+the docks! I can see them plainly now&mdash;the
+fires show them up. By Jove, they&#8217;ll get a shock
+when they find themselves bombed again, won&#8217;t
+they?&#8221; and he laughed merrily as he turned
+&#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221; nose back in the direction of
+Zeebrugge. Flying as low as he dared, he
+approached the spot where the red flames leapt
+up far below, and the smoke greeted their nostrils
+with increasing intensity.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the searchlights had been switched
+off, though Hun machines could be heard in the
+air. Those who controlled the searchlights knew
+that their aeroplanes would work best in the darkness,
+being fitted with small searchlights themselves.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>Leisurely, Ronnie came over the town, flying
+high and in silence, until, when just over where
+the darting flames were showing up the buildings
+all around, he suddenly released his remaining
+bombs&mdash;all but one.</p>
+
+<p>Terrific explosions sounded in quick succession,
+and, though so far above, they could both feel
+the concussion. Indeed, &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; very
+narrowly escaped a serious nose-dive in consequence.
+Next moment they saw that the row
+of buildings facing the docks was aflame from end
+to end, and beginning to burn almost as fiercely
+as the submarine oil-dep�t.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie, however, did not have it all his own
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Ten seconds after dropping those bombs, and
+causing panic in the occupied Belgian port, the
+sky was again ablaze with searchlights. At that
+moment Ronnie was out of one cloud, and
+travelling very swiftly into another.</p>
+
+<p>The searchlights were, however, too quick for
+him, and picked him up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;H&#8217;m!&#8221; he grunted. &#8220;They&#8217;ve found us at
+last! Now for home!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had he spoken when the anti-aircraft
+guns from below commenced to bark sharply,
+with now and then a deep boom. They could
+both hear the shells whistling close to them, but
+so high were they by this time that accurate aim
+by the enemy was well-nigh impossible.</p>
+
+<p>In such a circumstance the wisest course was
+to fly in a wide circle, descending and ascending,
+a course which Ronnie, expert airman that he
+was, adopted.</p>
+
+<p>Those were highly exciting moments! Beryl
+held her breath. Her hand was upon the Lewis
+gun, but her lover had given no order. In her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+observer&#8217;s seat she sat alert, eager, with every
+nerve strained to its fullest tension. They were
+in the danger-zone, surrounded by what seemed
+a swarm of aeroplanes, which had ascended in
+order to prevent their returning to sea.</p>
+
+<p>The little bulb in front of Ronnie burnt on,
+shedding its meagre light over instruments and
+maps. Beryl saw by the altimeter&mdash;which she
+had so often watched when flying the machine
+alone&mdash;that they were up five thousand six
+hundred feet.</p>
+
+<p>The dark waters were beneath them. A stray
+shell from the enemy would cast them both down&mdash;deep
+down into the North Sea.</p>
+
+<p>More than once they heard the whirr of an
+aeroplane-engine quite close to them, but going
+forward, slipping through the air without
+noise, thanks to Pryor&#8217;s silencer, which the
+authorities had now recognised as a remarkable
+and highly useful invention in aerial warfare,
+they managed to evade their adversaries. The
+strain of it all was, however, terrible.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the misty clouds below shone the glow
+of searchlights from land and sea, lighting up
+the billow mists, until they were quite picturesque
+undulations, like a fairy landscape. Yet through
+those mists they saw the deadly enemy flying
+to and fro in search of them as they went out
+to sea in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl watched it all from her observer&#8217;s seat.
+She knew that their raid had been successful,
+and that enormous damage had been done to
+the Hun submarine base. On her left showed
+the faint lights of Ostend, where she had spent
+one summer with her sister Iris and her husband,
+two years before the war. She had walked along
+the Digue in a smart summer gown, and she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+gambled at <i>boule</i> and eaten ices in the great
+Casino which, according to report, was now used
+as a German hospital. Ah, how times had
+changed! She had never dreamt that she would
+be flying as an enemy over that sandy coast.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie, with all his wits about him, was
+heading straight for the English coast north of
+the Thames when, of a sudden, there arose from
+the dark void below the rapid throb of an enemy
+seaplane, which, a few seconds later, opened out
+its searchlight.</p>
+
+<p>A moment afterwards it had fixed &#8220;The
+Hornet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then began a desperate fight for life. The
+German aviator, having marked his prey, rose
+like a hawk, and then bore down upon him
+swiftly, his searchlight glaring into Beryl&#8217;s face
+like some evil eye.</p>
+
+<p>The girl unstrapped herself and rose in order
+to be able to handle the machine-gun without
+encumbrance, for they were now flying upon an
+even keel.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hold on, dear!&#8221; the pilot exclaimed, and
+then suddenly he banked his machine over,
+swerving away none too soon from the hostile
+seaplane.</p>
+
+<p>Again he worked up, avoiding the quick swoop
+of his adversary, who suddenly opened fire.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy shower of bullets passed them harmlessly,
+whistling all around them, while from
+somewhere&mdash;possibly from a German warship&mdash;a
+high explosive shell burst perilously near them,
+causing &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; to roll and wallow in a
+most disconcerting manner.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again Ronnie&#8217;s adversary fired
+full upon him, but all to no purpose. Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+suddenly a second machine came up from somewhere,
+and that also let loose its machine-gun.
+Quick spurts of blood-red flame showed first
+upon one side then upon the other, yet Ronnie
+remained quite cool, awaiting his chance of gaining
+an advantage and to strike.</p>
+
+<p>A piece of the high explosive shell had torn
+the fabric of one of the planes. That was all
+the damage they had sustained up to the present.
+Surely no woman could ever have a more exciting
+or so perilous an experience, midway between
+sky and sea!</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, after climbing and diving, Ronnie
+saw his opportunity, and, making a sudden
+swerve, cried to Beryl:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Get ready!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m ready,&#8221; she answered.</p>
+
+<p>Again he climbed, and as he rose past the
+machine which was pressing him so closely,
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fire!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In an instant Beryl&#8217;s gun spluttered, sending
+forth its leaden hail full into the centre of the
+German machine. Beryl held her breath, and
+watched the enemy&#8217;s searchlight quiver, rise, and
+then suddenly pointing downwards, swiftly
+become smaller and smaller as it descended
+towards the sea.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s gone!&#8221; cried Ronnie with relief.
+&#8220;Pilot and observer both killed, I should say.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;They must have dropped into the sea!&#8221;
+gasped the girl, awe-stricken.</p>
+
+<p>Next second, however, the other machine
+loomed up to exact vengeance. Beryl had
+swiftly replenished the gun with ammunition,
+and was again in readiness for the word from her
+lover to fire.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>Ronnie, fully alive to the fact that he was being
+pressed by the second machine, dived and banked,
+then climbed as rapidly as he could, yet,
+alas! he could not shake off his pursuer.</p>
+
+<p>In silence, with the wind whistling through
+the struts and the piece of torn fabric flapping,
+he pressed on, striving to escape from his relentless
+pursuer, who, no doubt, intended to shoot
+him down as reprisal for the destruction of his
+Hun comrade.</p>
+
+<p>Again the enemy machine opened out his
+searchlight, and, holding him as a mark, fired
+rapidly. For a moment Ronnie did not reply.
+All his nerve was concentrated upon obtaining
+the advantage a second time.</p>
+
+<p>Up and down, to and fro, the two machines
+banked, rose and fell, but Ronald Pryor
+could handle his machine as though it were
+part of himself. At last he drew up, and,
+setting his teeth as he pointed &#8220;The Hornet&#8217;s&#8221;
+nose direct at his adversary, he blurted
+out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fire!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl laid the gun straight at the aeroplane,
+touched it, and again death rained forth.</p>
+
+<p>Yet almost at that very same moment the Hun
+also opened fire. The spluttering was deafening
+for a few seconds, when, to the girl&#8217;s alarm, she
+suddenly saw her lover fall helpless and inert
+over his instruments.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Gad, Beryl,&#8221; he managed to gasp, &#8220;they&#8217;ve
+got me&mdash;the brutes! Phew, how it burns!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The girl, who had not for a second lost her
+nerve, instantly realised the peril, and without a
+moment&#8217;s delay&mdash;nay, even without a word&mdash;she
+clambered across into the pilot&#8217;s seat and took
+the levers, being compelled to crush past her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+wounded lover as she did so, and not knowing
+the nature of his wound.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s right, Beryl! Fight to the last!&#8221;
+the man gasped. &#8220;Bank her, then go right
+down and rise again. You may beat him off by
+that. Try, darling! Do&mdash;do your best!&#8221; he
+whispered, and then he sank back in the blackness
+of unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>Beryl, as an expert air-woman, knew all the
+tricks of evasion while flying. She knew that her
+lover&#8217;s advice was the best, and she carried it
+out to the very letter.</p>
+
+<p>Just as she banked, the Hun machine sent out
+another splutter of lead. Those angry spurts
+of red fire seemed to go straight into her face,
+but, though the bullets tore more holes in the
+fabric of the left plane and broke a strut, they
+whizzed harmlessly past her.</p>
+
+<p>It was truly a flight for life. Flying &#8220;The
+Hornet,&#8221; as she was doing, she had no means by
+which to retaliate or to drive off the enemy.
+Their lives now depended upon her skill in manipulating
+the machine. This she did with marvellous
+judgment and foresight. To the very letter
+she carried out the orders of the man now lying
+back wounded and unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath her breath she whispered a prayer to
+Almighty God for assistance, and set her teeth.
+Again the Hun seaplane spurted forth a venom
+of fire upon her, but with a dexterous turn she
+banked, and once more avoided him. He
+intended to shoot her down into the black waters
+below, but she had her wounded lover at her
+side, and thought only of his welfare. She recollected
+her own response when Ronnie had suggested
+that she should remain at home, and when
+she saw that cruel eye of bright light following<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+her so steadily she grew more and more
+determined.</p>
+
+<p>At last she decided upon flying by the compass
+quite straight towards the Essex coast, and
+seeing if her adversary could overtake her. At
+first it seemed a very perilous course, because
+the Hun coming up behind, shot at her continually,
+and once more the fabric was torn in
+one place near her elbow. But as she flew on
+in silence she all at once made a discovery. She
+listened. Her pursuer was gradually overtaking
+her. If he did, then she was entirely
+defenceless, and must share the same terrible fate
+as the machine that Ronnie had sent down into
+the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The tension of those fateful moments was
+terrible. Yet she summoned all her woman&#8217;s
+pluck&mdash;the pluck that had come to the female
+sex in these days of war&mdash;and kept on flying
+in the direction of home.</p>
+
+<p>Her ear caught something, for it was trained
+to the noise of aeroplanes.</p>
+
+<p>Again she listened. That eye of light which
+was following her so ruthlessly was still upon her,
+yet by the noise, she knew that the hostile engine
+was not firing correctly. The throb was not
+even and incessant.</p>
+
+<p>Had Providence intervened to save her?</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long breath, and opened out so that
+she put all speed into her machine. From the
+pace she was going she knew that the wind had
+sprung up, and in her favour, too. &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+was a fast machine, yet the Huns had machines
+quite as mobile, and she had no means of knowing
+the make of aeroplane against which her speed
+was pitted.</p>
+
+<p>She flew&mdash;flew as no woman had ever flown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+before. Half-crushed beneath her in the pilot&#8217;s
+seat lay Ronnie, oblivious to everything. She
+had placed her arm tenderly round his neck, but
+on withdrawing her hand in the darkness she
+had felt it strangely sticky&mdash;sticky with blood!</p>
+
+<p>Ronald Pryor was evidently wounded in the
+neck. Perhaps he was already dead. He might
+have been, for all the brave girl knew. But that
+sound of the mis-firing of her enemy gave her
+courage, and she kept on&mdash;on and on&mdash;until,
+very slowly, she drew away from that bright evil
+eye that was bent upon her destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Again came a splutter of lead upon her. Again
+she knew that bullets had gone through the fabric,
+but no great damage had been done to the
+machine.</p>
+
+<p>She feared more for the petrol-tank than for
+herself. A shot in the bottom of that tank
+would mean a certain dive into the sea. Of a
+sudden another spurt of fire showed deep below
+them, and a shell coming up from somewhere,
+friendly or hostile she could not tell, exploded,
+and nearly wrecked them both. It was from some
+ship at sea&mdash;a British ship, no doubt, which,
+seeing aircraft with a searchlight going in the
+direction of the East coast at that hour of the
+morning, had naturally opened fire upon it.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after nearly half-an-hour, Beryl still
+with her eye upon the compass and sailing again
+upon an even keel and in an increasing wind,
+glanced over her shoulder and saw the light of
+the enemy grow dimmer, and then gradually
+disappear. She had entered a thick cloud, and
+sailing on in silence, would, she knew, be at once
+lost to the view of her enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later, when Beryl at last realised
+that she had escaped, she again placed her left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+arm tenderly round her lover and endeavoured
+to raise him, but without avail.</p>
+
+<p>Was he dead? The thought struck her
+with horror! He had done what had been asked
+of him, but perhaps he, like so many others, had
+paid the toll of war!</p>
+
+<p>Though perhaps her hand trembled a little
+upon the levers, yet she settled herself again
+as well as she could, and with her eye upon both
+map and compass she sped along over those
+dark waters, tossed by the increasing wind which
+had arisen behind her.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly two hours she flew on. By dint of
+great effort she managed to move Ronnie into
+a position which she hoped might be more comfortable.
+She spoke to him, but there was no
+answer. He lay there inert and motionless,
+strapped in his seat. When she withdrew her
+ungloved hand it was again wet with blood.</p>
+
+<p>She pressed forward, putting &#8220;The Hornet&#8221;
+along at the full pace of which the machine was
+capable. The little clock showed the hour to be
+nearly three, therefore she judged that she must
+be nearing the English coast again. Her surmise
+proved correct, for ten minutes later she saw the
+glimmer of a searchlight on the sky straight ahead&mdash;the
+light of one of our air-stations. Therefore,
+turning slightly to the north, she again opened
+the silencer as a precaution, and, with her
+engine suddenly roaring, made straight for it.</p>
+
+<p>Ere long half-a-dozen beams of intense light
+were searching the skies for the incoming machine,
+which the watchers below were eager to examine,
+and it was not long before one of the beams
+caught and held &#8220;The Hornet&#8221; in its blinding
+rays, lighting up the white, inanimate face beside
+her, and showing the dark stain of wounds.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>Then three other beams became concentrated
+for a few moments upon her, and again, one after
+another, shut off, until she was once more in
+darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The position of the lights, however, told her
+where she was&mdash;over a certain town a few miles
+inland, and taking her bearings, she rose higher,
+and began to describe a wide circle in order to
+find the four bright flares which she knew Collins
+had lit in the meadow at Harbury.</p>
+
+<p>Another half-hour she spent in vain search,
+until, of a sudden, she saw points of light deep
+down on her left. Straining her eyes she managed
+at last to make out that there were four, looking
+close together from that height. Therefore she
+quickly descended, while as she did so she saw
+Morse flashes from a signal-lamp telling her the
+direction of the wind, in order that she might
+land head on to it.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later she came safely to earth,
+when Collins ran up, having chased the machine
+across the field.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment Beryl told him with breathless
+haste what had occurred, and with but few words
+they at once carried Ronald back to the house,
+and laid him upon the sofa in the study. Then
+Collins rushed to the car, and drove away madly
+to fetch the nearest doctor.</p>
+
+<p>The latter arrived with but little delay, and
+Beryl, her sister&#8217;s arm round her, stood outside
+the door, awaiting his verdict.</p>
+
+<p>The examination occupied some time, but at
+last the medical man came forth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He is very severely wounded, Miss Gaselee,&#8221;
+he said, &#8220;but there is still a spark of life left&mdash;a
+very meagre spark. By careful attention and
+nursing he may possibly pull through. He is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+not yet conscious, but we will put him to bed,
+and I will remain and see what I can do. We
+can only hope.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Beryl, thankful that Ronnie still lived, quickly
+bestirred herself for his comfort, and it was not
+long before the senseless man was carried up to
+his own room, where the doctor remained watching
+him for many hours.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Days passed&mdash;days of breathless and terrible
+anxiety&mdash;during which the doctor forbade Beryl
+to see the wounded man. In the papers there
+had been published accounts of the enormous
+damage done to the enemy submarine base at
+Zeebrugge by a &#8220;British aeroplane,&#8221; but the name
+of the intrepid aviator was not given. Only the
+authorities and those at Harbury Court knew the
+truth. The authorities preserved a wise reticence,
+for the publication of facts is not always in the
+interests of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Ronnie&#8217;s wounds proved far more serious than
+were at first believed, and even the specialist
+who came down from Harley Street was not at
+all hopeful of his recovery. Nevertheless, the
+fine physique of the patient proved in his favour,
+and a fortnight later Beryl was allowed to see
+him for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>From that moment Beryl became his nurse,
+and slowly he recovered; slowly, because both
+his right arm and his right leg had been so injured
+that they would be entirely useless in future,
+and he could never fly again.</p>
+
+<p>Only the thought of his invention, and the great
+advantage it would give to our aviators for night-flying
+in the future, comforted him, when at last
+he was able to be wheeled about in his chair by
+Beryl.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>And was it surprising that when, three months
+later, the pair were married in the old, ivy-clad,
+church, half-a-mile from Harbury Court, the
+illustrated papers published a pathetic picture of
+the bridal couple emerging from the porch, the
+bridegroom on crutches, and described it as &#8220;a
+romantic war-wedding&#8221;?</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Miller, Son, &amp; Compy., Limited, Printers, Fakenham and London.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="transnote">
+
+<p class="ph2">TRANSCRIBER&#8217;S NOTES:</p>
+
+
+<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p>
+
+<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Beryl of the Biplane, by William le Queux
+
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-02-08 22:11:25 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-02-08 22:11:25 -0800
commit	3c683286f12c259a973a8e087616c08e2274579c (patch)
tree	17e209730bf26814054dc6c74d4dde96d12f7f8c
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