Two Zeppelins were now seen making their way in a north-easterly direction. An anti-aircraft gun, which had been following or anticipating their movements, opened fire. The gun was fired as fast as it could be reloaded, and one or two others, at a little distance off, joined in. But owing, perhaps, to their power of emitting dense smoke clouds behind which to escape, the Zeppelins managed to elude their watchers. But once more, after a brief interval, the sounds of the engines could be heard above, and the airships could occasionally be discerned at a great height, as they were revealed by the searchlights making their way back to the coast at what seemed to be the utmost speed of which they were capable. Whether the Zeppelin that was first seen was one of the two which were hit afterwards is not known. The guns for the defence of London now opened again sharply for a few minutes, and as suddenly relapsed into silence. Faint searchlights flickered here and there, and were withdrawn one or two at a time, when it seemed there was nothing left aloft to search for. But the fleeing Zeppelins were not having it all their own way. Their flight was punctuated by gunfire, which became fainter the farther they went, and they were also pursued by heroic airmen. Then miles away in the distance, and not many degrees above the horizon, the sky began to glow red. ‘Then there appeared the nucleus of a brilliant comet falling headlong.’ It was visible only for a few seconds, but the spectators raised loud cheers, for they knew that another raiding Zeppelin had met with the fate it deserved so richly, and that another proof had been given to the Germans that Zeppelin raids could not be made with impunity.