Lawless was now underneath, his back resting on the narrow deck of the car, while the airman struggled to get a grip of his throat. Uppermost in the mind of each was the desire to kill. Hate gleamed from their bloodshot eyes, and they ground their teeth savagely. Having the advantage of position, the airman at last managed to get his fingers round the Lieutenant's throat, and the latter, in a desperate endeavour to free himself from the choking grip, relaxed his hold, and was swung over the side of the car. For a moment he remained head downwards, suspended only by the steel wires into which he had twisted his legs. Then he began to slip, and a second later disappeared from sight into the yawning abyss beneath. Quick as thought the airman leaned back, and, reaching the lever which operated the bomb-throwing machine, pulled it; but, as he did so, the waterplane gave a terrific lurch, and the bomb, instead of dropping on the _Mars_, which at that moment was directly underneath, fell into the water and exploded some distance astern of her. The cause of this failure was due to Lawless gripping in his fall one of the stays which held the rudder, and his weight, operating on the extreme end of the machine, had destroyed its balance, and therefore altered the course of the bomb. Instantly the night was illuminated with the beams of searchlights, which, like huge phosphorescent feelers, swept the sky, until at last they were focussed on the waterplane. Then came a cracking sound from beneath, and shot after shot whizzed upwards from the anti-aircraft guns of the _Mars_, striking the car, smashing and splintering the slender wooden spars which supported the planes, and occasionally snapping a steel guy. By a miracle Lawless had managed to retain his hold of the wire, though it cut through his flesh, and he knew that he must drop before many seconds elapsed, even if he was not struck by one of the shots from below. He was on the point of letting go through sheer pain and exhaustion, when the machine suddenly tilted, turned right over, and then swooped downwards with a velocity that made his brain reel. The terrible sensation of falling from a tremendous height terminated abruptly, and next moment the Lieutenant felt the water close above his head, and he was sinking down, down, fathoms deep, it seemed to him, into the sea. Then came a feeling of agonising suffocation, a terrible pressure on his chest, a sensation as though his lungs were about to burst, and he rose to the surface, to find himself near some floating remnants of the wrecked waterplane.