Uncanny Tales

own in the case of my friend, Radcliffe Thorpe. One week known merely to a few friends

a, and his sensational display during the military man?uvres on Salisbury Plain, impressed his name and personality firmly upon the fickle mind of the public, and ex

mself more especially to ascending to as great a height as possible. He held all the records for

d up in great sweeping spirals. We saw him climb higher and ever higher into the azure space. We watched him, thos

he very mysteries of space. I remember I felt quite annoyed with someone who was taking a ci

to sight again and was greeted

one else declared that a glide from such a height was unthinkable an

e dared. People held their breath to watch, expecting every moment some catastrophe. But the machine kept on an even keel, and in a few moments

own eyes, our own sanity. There was

hands and knees and peered under the body of the machine as if he suspected Radcliffe of h

h, shaken voice, "the st

g the planes had also been fixed so as to hold them at the right angle for a downward glide. That was

was filling everybody's mind. He had vanished as utterl

of his body or his clothing was ever found, above all, how it was that his aeroplane had returned, the engine

, in addition to this, he had a marked aptitude for drawing, usually held at the servi

ved; certainly he had a way of talking "shop" which was a trifle tiring to those who did not figure t

noticed lying on his desk a crayon sketch of a woman's face. It was a very lovely face, the features al

jestingly, and yet aware

I was looking at

it?" I

someone!"

ursue the subject, I went on to talk of the business I had come about, and I congratulated him on

sketch-what did

answered, laughing; "or you'll be falli

of apprehension and dismay, that I stared at him blankl

n-it's an imagi

you've a jolly sight more imaginatio

n and ease, his head full of cylinders and wheels and ratchets and the Lord knows what else, would have seemed to

is favourite time was in the early morning, as soon as it was light. Then in the chill dawn he would rise a

lights when I was spending the week-end with him at

t night. The moon was shining in a clear sky, not a sound or a breath disturbed the sublime quietude; in the south one wondrous star gleamed low on the horizon. Neith

o be up there?" I

en went very pale, and to my surp

old," I said. "We

d quite plainly and distinctly a low, strange laugh, a laugh fu

?" I said, s

Radcliff

and then upwards. "I thought it came from up the

ing planned any flight for the next morning; but in the early morning, the chill and grey dawn,

r till he was lost to view. Then, after a time, I saw him emerge again from those immensities of space. He came down in one long maj

. "Why didn't you tell

I heard anything in my life, that low, strange laugh, that I h

upwards, for, absurd though it seems, that weird sound see

ered like a man in an ecst

ottage he was seated at the table sketching a woman's face-the same fa

earth--?"

strange voice. Then he laughed and

is old passion for talking "shop." He launched into a long explanat

forgotten the incident altogether when something brought every detail back

Thorpe's greatest friend, he wanted to see me. Certain expressions in the letter aroused my curiosity. I replied. He a

instalment system, and I quite won his heart by complimenting him on it. But for that, I doubt if anything would have come of my visit, for

aid; "I shan't be easy

artment had not the air of being much used. On the table were some photographs. Barnes show

the world," he said. "Milli

?" I

no one has seen-n

having been apparently one of the last of the series, taken when the aeroplane was at a great

," I said;

the mist,

uman either, so spectral was it, so unreal and strange. I felt the blood run cold in my veins and the hair bristle on the scalp of my head, for I recognised beyond al

ttered, and his face wa

woman floating in the air by his

es said. "W

p and put it in the fire. Was it fancy or, as it flared up, and burnt and was c

boss something had gone wrong with it. No one has seen t