The War in the Air

l his provisions except the cigarettes and mineral water,

om that of a contemporary motor-bicycle. The rest of the time was taken up by a vast musing and delaying and hesitation. Chiefly he saw himself splashing into the rapids and whirling down them to the Fall, clutching and drowning, but also he had a vision of being hopelessly in the

y in some nook or cranny of the Island; and it was only after a most exhaustive search that he abandoned that distressing idea. "If I found 'i

f I leave 'er, she'll starve.... Ought to catch mice for 'erself.... ARE there m

eated himself in the saddle of the flying-machine. Big, clumsy thing it was-and not a bit like a bicycle. Still the working of it was fairly plain. Yo

was, but sudde

pped disconcertingly, flapped again' cl

er-clock, he was rising! The machine was lifting its dripping wheel out of the eddies, and he was going up! There was no stopping now, no good in stopping now. In another momen

. And while in ballooning there is no wind, since the balloon is a part of the wind, flying is a wild perpetual creation of and plunging into wind. It was a wind that above all things sought to blind him, to force him to close his eyes. It occurred to him presently to twist his knees and legs inward and grip with them, or surely he would have been bumped into two clumsy halves. And he was going up, a h

a fall over land or

ate a comfort that the Falls and the wild swirl of waters below them were

mile high, or more. There were some people among some houses near a railway station between Niagara and Buffalo, and then more people. They went like ants busily in and out of the houses. He saw two motor cars gliding along the road towards Niagara city. Then far away in the south he saw a great Asiatic airship going eas

and instantly the tail of the machine cocked up and the wings became rigidly spread. Instantly everything was swift

n some mysterious way given at its edge and he was sweeping round and downward in an immense right-handed spiral. For some moments he experienced

a sensation of being spun round

d all that height. For a moment he had the ineffectual sensations of one whose bicycle bolts downhill. The ground had almost taken him by surprise. "'Ere!" he cried; and then with a

ong coast down, and so up again, and then a coast. Then as he came swooping a quarter of a mile above a village he saw p

, and suddenly the wings seemed to give way in the middle. But the engine was still

ck, he thought very quickly. He couldn't get up again, he

rate of perhaps thirty

rches looked the soft

himself to the steering

to a cloud of green sharp leaves and black twigs. There was a sudden snapping, and he fell off t

nd himself slipping and dropping through branches with everything giving way beneath him. He clutched and found himself in the lower branches of a tree beneath the flying-machine.

looking up at the bent a

opped

e aware of a violent tumult at his side. "Lord!" he said, "You must be 'arf smothered," and extracted the kitten from his pocket-handkerchief and pocket. She was twisted and crumpled and

then with a gesture of vexation, "Desh

ee when he had seated himself

in the quality of the world, and then he perceived t

n the habit of talking through the nose like Norfolkshire, and saying "allow" and "reckon" and "calculate," after the manner of the people who live on the New Forest side of Hampshire. Also they were very rich, had rocking-chairs, and put their feet at unusual altitudes, and they chewed

Neither hedge nor ditch nor curbed distinctive footpath separated it from the woods, and it went in that long easy curve which distinguishes the tracks of an open continent. Ahead he saw a man carrying a

hereabouts I am at

on. Then he replied in a strange outlandish tongue that was, as a matter of fact, C

ected gravely for a mome

for a moment, was struck with an idea, began an abortive gesture,

He stopped before the steps that led up to the door, perhaps thirty yards away. The place seemed deserted. He would have gone up to the door and rapped, but suddenly a big black dog appeared at the side and regar

tated and

ering about him among the trees. "If I 'a

e through the trees to get a better look at him and cou

ht," he said.... "

without conviction. But if it had not been

t. Then he came to three or four houses, wooden like the last, each with an ill-painted white verandah (that was his name for it) and all standing in the same casual way upon the ground. Behind, through the woods, he saw pig-stys and a rooting black sow leading a brisk, adventurous family. A

t is America

Then he struck a cross-road with a mono-rail at its side, and there was a notice board at the corner with "Wait here for the cars." "That's all right, any'ow," said Bert. "Wonder 'ow long I should 'ave to wait?" It occurred to h

old negro, in a voice of a

me of this pla

sah!" said

s!" sa

" said the negro

hop. It was the first house that professed the hospitality of an open door, and from within came a strangely familiar sound. "Gaw!" he said searching in his pockets. "Why! I 'aven't wanted money for free

man in shirt sleeves appeared in it and scrutinised him and his cudgel.

eaven, in clear, good American. "Thi

then, "Well, can I

n a tone of confident encourag

up the vista, and beyond, a large archway leading to more space. A little group of men was assembled round one of the tables, and a woman of perhaps five-and-thirty leant with her elbows on the counter. All the men were armed with rifles, and the barrel of a gun peeped above the counter. They were all l

g-a-ting-a ling-a-tang...

ing, stopped the machine with a touch, and they all turne

nything to eat, mother, or ca

ut moving, "right up from a cracker to a square meal." She strugg

I 'aven't very much money. I do

said the propr

with a sudden disagreeable re

for a moment from his courtly beari

d a wise-looking, lank yo

onsternation, produced a coin

"and he wants A meal for A shilling. May I ask

ng in his pocket as he s

id you leav

an ho

, and turned with a puzzled

ious questions

d, "I been with the German air-fleet. I got caught up

Engl

a great battle with them Asiatics, and I got

t Is

ny'ow I found a flying-machine and mad

eyes on him. "Where's the flying

woods here-'bout

id a thick-lippe

wn rather

talked confusingly. They wanted him to

u-only I 'aven't 'ad anything to eat

ident authority. "That's aw right," he said. "Give him a feed, Mr. Logan-from me. I want to hear more of that story of his. We'll see his machine afterwards. If you a

o seem easy and natural and correct, to present himself as a trustworthy and understandable Englishman in a sound mediocre position, to whom refreshment and accommodation might be given with freedom and confidence. When his fragmentary story came to New York and the battle of Niagara, they suddenly produced newspapers which had been lying about on the table, and began to check him and question him by these vehement accounts. It became evident to him that his descent had revived and roused to flames again a discussion, a topic, that had been burning continuously, that had smouldered only through sheer exhaustion of material during the temporary diversion of the gramophone, a discussion that had drawn these men together, rifle in hand, the one supreme topic of the whole world, the War and the methods of the War. He found any question of his persona

nd capabilities of all the men who were with him, and he set them to work at once with vigour and effect to secure this precious instrument of war. They got the thing down to the ground deliberately and carefully, felling a couple of trees in the process, and they built a wide flat roof of timbers and tree boughs to guard their precious find against its chance discovery by any passing Asiatics. Lon

of men gathered in the store and talked of the flying-machine and of the war that was tearing the world to pieces. And presently came a man on a bicycle with an ill-printed newspaper of a single sheet which acted like fuel in a blazing furnace

h news

is, of nations in tumultuous march, of continents overthrown, of famine and destruction beyond measure. Ever and again, in spite of his efforts to suppress them, certain personal impressions would scamper

d smashing up of towns, railway junctions, bridges, of whole populations in hiding and exodus. "Every ship they've got is in the Pacific," he heard one man exclaim

s life was flowing; the appalling and universal nature of the epoch that had arrived; the conception of an end to sec

rs of security. And they had been but the first warning impacts of universal cataclysm. Each day destruction and hate and disaster grew, the fissures widened between man and man, new

had marched as it seemed invincible about the earth, never now to rest again. For three hundred years and more the long steadily accelerated diastole of Europeanised civilisation had been in progress: towns had been multiplying, populations increasing, values

swift and unexpected systole, like the closing of

tness of their progress. Collapse, though it happened all about them, remained incredible. Presently

ope that communication would speedily be restored. The land war was still far away. A man with a flat voice distinguished himself by a display of knowledge and cunning. He told them all with confidence just what had been wrong with the German drachenflieger and the American aeroplanes, just what advantage the Japanese flyers possessed. He launched out into a romantic

n they came to look for the parts-none could

the man in the straw hat. "D

d apoplexy. At a place cal

about it in the Sunday American. At the time they

urch was the worst thing-absolutely the worst thing that ever happened

knows hi

ppears, was lost at sea, with all the pla

us

own those scarlet humming-birds wherever they appeared. But it's gone, it's gone, and there's no time to reinvent it no

iolently. He cleared

said, "loo

with the flat voice was openi

ow-" h

olently excite

say!" he exclaimed, "Mr. Laurier. Look 'e

a magnificent gesture, arrested the discourse of

ing was happening to Bert; either he was su

a bit!" and trembling and e

liver. Then as he struggled with buttons on his shoulder they perceived this flattened horror was in fact a terribly dirty flannel ch

ou know! Mr. Butteridge-his machine! What died

rs to Bert's white face and blazing eyes, and back to the papers o

ction. "Real rightdown Irony! When it's

y over again, but it was it this point that Laurier showed

uing them even from the expository finger-marks of the man with the flat voice, and handed

took

the man in

of these States and give these plans over to h

" asked Bert weakly in t

garding that feeble inquiry,

Bert didn't like any of them very much. They had wood rims and an experience of wood rims in the English climate had taught him to hate them. That, however, and one or two

e him. When they think they have located the seat of government, they throw bombs. This inconveniences him, but so far they have not come within ten miles of him. The Asiatic air-fleet is at present scattered all over the Eastern States, seeking out and d

attitude. "We shan't get t

er. "We shall have to

't get a lift on a

da for three days. It is no good waiting.

tin'

ting

shan't be able to

gged and sleep then. So much cl

ries of the dawn upon Goat Island,

ic packing of the chest-protector, for sev

ith the President; now something had happened and he was lost again. But always they had to go on, and always Bert rode. A tyre was deflated. Still he rode. He grew saddle sore. Laurier declared that unimportant. Asiatic flying ships passed overhead, the two cyclists made a dash for cover until the sky was clear. Once a red Asiatic flying-machine came fluttering after them, so low they could distinguish the aeronaut's head. He followed them for a mil

rplexed him, and then he passed on with un

e on a hillside to the righ

t. It was a remarkably sumptuous train, the Last Word Trans-Continental Express, and the passengers were all pla

ere hanging in a string from the trees a

s tyre mended and found beer and biscuits, they were approached by

nging a Chink

Chinaman?"

got him rubberin' d

O

led his legs. Deyse doin' all der Chinks dey can fine dat w

ilful expectoration, the young gentleman was attracted by the appearance

and partly decomposed, lying near the middle of the road, just

side the driver's seat. An old man was under the car trying to effect some impossible repairs. Beyond, sit

it out. Neither he nor his son-in-law had any mechanical aptitude. They had been assured this was a fool-proof car. It was dangerous to have to stop in this place. The party had been attacked by tramps and had had

go on! We have something more than a w

l never

y passed a m

upon the outskirts of a place called Pinkerville on the Hudson