"As my foot touched the deck the wings were overhead and I saw the long body and flat tail. To me, for I'd never seen an aeroplane close before, it was a wonderful sight. I put the glasses up and watched it slide away in the dark, dropping until it seemed to skim the water. 'So that's an aeroplane!' I said to myself. And I saw it wheel round and the green lights came into view again, rising, I remember. I was a bit excited and leaned over the stern rail. I had never realized before how a man might feel while flying. I'd always looked at the pictures as rather Jules Verney, you might say; improbable and far-fetched. But here it was, coming up on us again, much more wonderful than any picture! We were doing about twelve knots, and I suppose that machine was coming up at thirty. Just above the big triangle of three green lights was a blue spark snapping, and in the shadow between the wings the shape of a man. I stood there watching, watching, feeling nervous because of that peculiar drone that the propeller made, when all of a sudden it stopped and the whole thing swooped down to within twenty feet of the awning-spars. I stepped back a little and looked straight up. In the wink of an eye he was gone, but I saw him, and he me. As he swerved away to clear the funnels, I heard him give a great shout of laughter that rose to a small scream: '_'Pon--soul--it's--Char--ley!_' he sang out, and dropped away astern. I heard his engine begin again, a note like an insect; and he fled away towards Gunfleet. And that was all! "I stood there dazed for a moment. In spite of the suddenness of it, I don't think I had any doubt it was my brother. I saw his big hook nose sticking out of his fur cap between the horrible goggles, his body craning forward under the wings. And the voice, the wailing, sneering, screaming laugh, '_Charley!_'--that was him right enough. My brother! "I stepped along the gangway to the bridge, just as the Second Mate took the telescope from his eye and laid it in the rack. He saw me and leaned over the rail beckoning. "'Say, Mister Chief, what the blazes was that?' he whispered. "'Didn't you see it?' I asked. I knew he had been dozing on the lee side of the chart-room. "'See it! I _heard_ something!' he says. 'Was it you calling Charley?' His name's Charley, you see; Charley Phillips. "'No,' I said. 'I didn't see anything. You must have been asleep, Mr. Phillips.' "He looked at me, rather raw about the gills, took a look at the Gunfleet Light and bent down again to me. "'Did you _see_ anything?' He waved his hand towards the Essex coast. 'Yes,' I said. 'Green lights.' "'Oh, that was the Harwich boat,' he says. 'I know that. She's gone. Must have been going twenty-two knots.' "'It was an aeroplane,' I said, whispering, 'flew past.' "'_Eh!_' says he. I said it again. He straightens up and takes a turn up and down the bridge. "'You'd better watch out,' I said. 'It may come back.'