The Zeppelin Destroyer: Being Some Chapters of Secret HistoryLe Queux, William
General
The Zeppelin Destroyer: Being Some Chapters of Secret History
Le Queux, William
War stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
I rose to five thousand eight hundred feet when, on my left, I saw in
the far distance a red stream of light from the furnace of a locomotive,
but on what line of rail it was I could not decide. Lost I was in that
unbounded space of darkness--lost until I saw half a dozen scattered
street lamps darkened on top and shedding slight patches of light upon
the pavement, when I suddenly realised that below me lay a small town.
I recognised station lights! I had seen those once before that evening.
It was Uckfield!
While lost I had flown in a complete circle quite unconsciously, as
every airman flies. But now, steering again by compass, it was not long
before I at last saw those four tiny points of white light below--the
acetylene lamps over which old Theed was keeping guard.
At such a height were we that the flashes looked mere specks.
Roseye nudged me, and pointed down at them, while I nodded a response.
Just at that moment we saw, a tiny pin-point of light flashing near the
lamps, and knew it to be old Theed signalling to us, fearing lest at
that height we might miss our landmark and go forward.
He could not see us, but of course he must have been hearing our
powerful engine for some time.
In response, I gave one short flash with the searchlight, and then
commenced to plane rapidly down, circling above the field marked for our
landing.
A belt of firs stood on the west side I knew, and these I was compelled
to avoid. My additional difficulty was one that always confronts a
pilot when landing at night, namely, an ignorance of the direction of
the wind. By day the pilot can tell this from the way in which smoke
blows, the currents of air waving across growing crops, and by other
signs which in the darkness are not available. A good landing should be
against the wind, so as to break the impact of coming to earth. Yet by
night, if there be no mark in the aerodrome telling the pilot the
direction of the wind, he has to take chances and risk it.
This I did. I came down in a rapid spiral over Holly Farm and, circling
the field twice, alighted carefully, facing the front of the house.
Unable to judge the distance exactly we, of course, bumped along a
little, but I succeeded in steadying her, and a moment later we were
stationary on terra-firma after nearly two hours and a quarter in the
air.
Instantly I shut off the engine and then, turning to Roseye, uttered the
first word.
"Well?" I asked, taking her gloved hand in mine.
"Splendid, Claude!" she cried enthusiastically.
"Splendid! Absolutely splendid!"
I saw that she was pinched with cold, half-frozen indeed, and very
cramped, therefore I unstrapped her, and lifted her out into the arms of
old Theed, who came running up to us.
Then I hopped out myself and, taking my love's arm, we walked up to the
farm where we were soon before the huge log fire in the farmer's best
room, while Theed went round to extinguish the lamps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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