WHILE THE AEROPLANES WERE COMING

The man in yellow was them. Neither had noted his coming. He was saying that the south-west were marching. "I it so soon," he cried. "They have done wonders. You must send them a word to help them on their way."

Graham at him absent-mindedly. Then with a start he returned to his previous about the stages.

"Yes," he said. "That is good, that is good." He a message. "Tell them;—well done South West."

He his to Helen Wotton again. His his ideas. "We must the stages," he explained. "Unless we can do that they will land negroes. At all we must prevent that."

He as he spoke that this was not what had been in his mind the interruption. He saw a touch of in her eyes. She about to speak and a her voice.

It to Graham that she him to lead these people, that that was the thing he had to do. He the offer abruptly. He the man in yellow, but he spoke to her. He saw her respond. "Here I am doing nothing," he said.

"It is impossible," the man in yellow. "It is a in a warren. Your place is here."

He elaborately. He the room where Graham must wait, he no other was possible. "We must know where you are," he said. "At any moment a may needing your presence and decision."

A picture had through his mind of such a as the in the had suggested. But here was no battle-field such as he imagined. Instead was seclusion—and suspense. It was only as the on that he together a picture of the that was raging, and invisibly, four miles of him, the Roehampton stage. A and it was, a that was a hundred thousand little battles, a in a of and channels, out of of sky or sun under the electric glare, out in a by in arms, by acclamation, by and by the of two hundred years of security against by of and indulgence. They had no artillery, no into this or that; the only on either was the little green metal carbine, and in had been one of Ostrog's moves against the Council. Few had had any with this weapon, many had one, many who it came with ammunition; was in the history of warfare. It was a of amateurs, a warfare, rioters, by the and of a song, by the of their numbers, in the smaller ways, the lifts, the with blood, the and passages with smoke, the stages, to learn there when was the of warfare. And overhead save for a upon the and for a and of that and the evening, the day was a clear serenity. Ostrog it had no at and in all the phases of the the played no part. Not the smallest cloud was there to the empty of the sky. It as though it itself until the should come.

Ever and again there was news of these, nearer, from this Spanish town and then that, and presently from France. But of the new that Ostrog had and which were to be in the city came no news in of Graham's urgency, any report of successes from the of about the stages. Section after of the Labour-Societies reported itself assembled, reported itself marching, and from knowledge into the of that warfare. What was there? Even the did not know. In of the opening and of doors, the messengers, the of and the clitter-clack of implements, Graham isolated, inactive, inoperative.

His at times the strangest, the most of all the that had since his awakening. It had something of the quality of that that comes in dreams. A tumult, the of a world Ostrog and himself, and then this little room with its and and mirror!

Now the door would be closed and Graham and Helen were alone together; they marked off then from all the world that together without, aware of one another, only with one another. Then the door would open again, would enter, or a would their privacy, and it was like a window in a well house open to a hurricane. The dark and tumult, the and of the in and them. They were no longer but spectators, of a convulsion. They to themselves, of personality, small, and the two realities, the only in being were the city, that and in a of and secondly the them over the of the world.

There came a outside, a to and fro, and cries. The girl up, speechless, incredulous.

Metallic voices were "Victory!" Yes it was "Victory!"

Bursting through the appeared the man in yellow, and with excitement, "Victory," he cried, "victory! The people are winning. Ostrog's people have collapsed."

She rose. "Victory?"

"What do you mean?" asked Graham. "Tell me! What?"

"We have them out of the under at Norwood, Streatham is and wildly, and Roehampton is ours. Ours!—and we have taken the that thereon."

A rang. An grey-headed man appeared from the room of the Ward Leaders. "It is all over," he cried.

"What it now that we have Roehampton? The have been at Boulogne!"

"The Channel!" said the man in yellow. He calculated swiftly.

"Half an hour."

"They still have three of the stages," said the old man.

"Those guns?" Graham.

"We cannot them—in an hour."

"Do you they are found?"

"Too late," said the old man.

"If we stop them another hour!" the man in yellow.

"Nothing can stop them now," said the old man. "They have near a hundred in the fleet."

"Another hour?" asked Graham.

"To be so near!" said the Ward Leader. "Now that we have those guns. To be so near—. If once we them out upon the spaces."

"How long would that take?" asked Graham suddenly.

"An hour—certainly."

"Too late," the Ward Leader, "too late."

"Is it too late?" said Graham. "Even now—. An hour!"

He had a possibility. He to speak calmly, but his was white. "There is are chance. You said there was a monoplane—?"

"On the Roehampton stage, Sire."

"Smashed?"

"No. It is to the carrier. It might be got upon the guides—easily. But there is no aeronaut—."

Graham at the two men and then at Helen. He spoke after a long pause. "We have no aeronauts?"

"None."

He to Helen. His was made. "I must do it."

"Do what?"

"Go to this stage—to this machine."

"What do you mean?"

"I am an aeronaut. After all—. Those days for which you me were not wasted."

He to the old man in yellow. "Tell them to put it upon the guides."

The man in yellow hesitated.

"What do you to do?" Helen.

"This monoplane—it is a chance—."

"You don't mean—?"

"To fight—yes. To in the air. I have before—. A big is a thing. A man—!"

"But—never since began—" the man in yellow.

"There has been no need. But now the time has come. Tell them now—send them my message—to put it upon the guides. I see now something to do. I see now why I am here!"