"It's my own fault," continued the major gloomily, "but I was, so to speak, rushed into it. You see, the day after you'd brought down that 'Zep.' I strolled into the club smoking-room and found everyone talking of your exploit. I kept out of it as long as I could, naturally, but when Sir John Carver started in to declare that it was nothing more than an accident, a mere stroke of luck, I got angry. Sir John, though he's as rich as Croesus, knows no more about aviation than I do about soap-boiling, which, I believe, was his profession at one time. So I took up the challenge, and for a time we argued the matter up and down. "He couldn't refute my professional knowledge, of course; so at last, finding he was getting the worst of it, he stuck his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat in that detestable manner of his and said, 'I'll bet you a thousand pounds that your nephew doesn't bring down another Zeppelin within a year.' On the impulse of the moment I, like a fool, said 'Done!' and the bet was clinched there and then." The major stopped, and there was a long and constrained pause. "Well, uncle," said Lawless presently, "you certainly were a mug." "It was all due," answered the major, "to arguing with a man who is not a gentleman." They both relapsed into silence again. The major was not exactly a poor man, but a thousand pounds, especially in wartime, is--well, a thousand pounds, and the old gentleman, as Lawless was well aware, could not afford to lose such a sum. "So," remarked the Lieutenant after a while, "it's up to me to see that you don't lose that thou., uncle?" "I don't say that, my boy, but if you could--er--manage to bring down a Zeppelin within the year it would be--er--a great convenience to me." Lawless, in spite of the serious responsibility which had been thrust upon him, laughed. "I hope this'll be a warning to you against an over-indulgence in family pride," he said. "It was all my own fault, of course," answered the major sadly. "But remember," he added, brightening up, "the thousand pounds is yours if you get that airship. I wouldn't touch a penny of Sir John's money." "I'm not so fastidious, uncle. So, if I do bring down a 'Zep'--which isn't at all likely, I'm afraid--I'll have much pleasure in taking charge of the cash." In due course Lawless reported himself at headquarters, confident that now he would at once be sent to the Front. In this, however, he was again doomed to disappointment; for, much to his chagrin, he was sent with his mechanic to test a new type of seaplane off the Irish coast. "I've a good mind to chuck the Service altogether," he growled at the thought of that thousand pounds becoming more visionary than ever. Certainly there was not much chance of encountering a Zeppelin off the coast of Munster, which was where the tests were to take place.