THE COMING OF THE AEROPLANES
Two men in were in the line that along the of the Roehampton stage from end to end, their and into the of the stage called Wimbledon Park. Now and then they spoke to one another. They spoke the English of their class and period. The fire of the Ostrogites had and ceased, and of the enemy had been for some time. But the of the that was going on now in the of that stage, came every now and then the of from the popular side. One of these men was to the other how he had a man there a girder, and had at a and him as he too far. "He's there still," said the marksman. "See that little patch. Yes. Between those bars."
A yards them a stranger, to the sky, with the of his jacket in a circle about the on his chest. Close him a man, with a leg about, sat with an and the progress of that burning. Behind them, the the monoplane.
"I can't see him now," said the second man in a of provocation.
The foul-mouthed and high-voiced in his to make plain. And suddenly, him, came a noisy from the substage.
"What's going on now?" he said, and himself on one arm to survey the in the of the stage. A number of were up these, and across the stage.
"We don't want all these fools," said his friend. "They only up and shots. What are they after?"
"Ssh!—they're something."
The two men listened. The new-comers had about the machine. Three Ward Leaders, by their black and badges, into the and appeared above it. The rank and file themselves upon the vans, of the edges, until the entire of the thing was manned, in some places three deep. One of the up. "They're it on the carrier—that's what they're after."
He rose to his feet, his friend rose also. "What's the good?" said his friend. "We've got no aeronauts."
"That's what they're doing anyhow." He looked at his rifle, looked at the crowd, and to the man. "Mind these, mate," he said, his and belt; and in a moment he was the monoplane. For a of an hour he was lugging, thrusting, and shouts, and then the thing was done, and he with a of others their own achievement. By this time he knew, what in the city knew, that the Master, learner though he was, to this machine himself, was now to take of it, would let no other man attempt it.
"He who takes the danger, he who the burden, that man is King," so the Master was reported to have spoken. And as this man cheered, and while the of still one another from the of his hair, he the of a tumult, and in the and of the song. He saw through a in the people that a thick of still up the stairway. "The Master is coming," voices, "the Master is coming," and the about him and denser. He to himself the groove. "The Master is coming!" "The Sleeper, the Master!" "God and the Master!" the voices.
And close to him were the black of the guard, and for the and last time in his life he saw Graham, saw him nearly. A tall, dark man in a black he was, with a white, and him; a man who for all the little about him had neither ears thoughts….
For all his days that man the of Graham's face. In a moment it had gone and he was in the crowd. A with terror against him, pressing the stairways, "Clear for the start, you fools!" The that the stage a loud clanging.
With that in his ears Graham near the monoplane, into the of its wing. He aware that a number of people about him were to him, and their offers aside. He wanted to think how one started the engine. The and faster, and the of the people and louder. The man in yellow was him to through the of the body. He into the aeronaut's place, himself very and deliberately. What was it? The man in yellow was pointing to two small in the southern sky. No they were looking for the aeroplanes. That—presently—the thing to do now was to start. Things were being at him, questions, warnings. They him. He wanted to think about the machine, to every item of his previous experience. He the people from him, saw the man in yellow off through the ribs, saw the the line of the by his gesture.
For a moment he was motionless, at the levers, the wheel by which the engine shifted, and all the of which he so little. His a level with the him, and he something, a dozen in the engine until the in the centre of the tube. He noted that the people were not shouting, they his deliberation. A on the above his head. Who fired? Was the line clear of people? He up to see and sat again.
In another second the was and he was the guides. He the wheel and the engine to the stem. Then it was the people shouted. In a moment he was with the of the engine, and the behind, to silence. The wind over the of the screen, and the world away from him very swiftly.
Throb, throb, throb—throb, throb, throb; up he drove. He himself free of all excitement, and deliberate. He the still more, opened one on his left and and up. He looked with a head, and up. One of the Ostrogite was across his course, so that he it and would pass it at a angle. Its little were at him. What did they to do? His mind active. One, he saw a pointing, prepared to fire. What did they think he meant to do? In a moment he their tactics, and his was taken. His was past. He opened two more to his left, round, end on to this machine, closed his valves, and at it, and wind-screen him from the shot. They a little as if to clear him. He up his stem.
Throb, throb, throb—pause—throb, throb—he set his teeth, his into an grimace, and crash! He it! He the nearer wing.
Very slowly the of his to as the of his it up. He saw the full of it and then it out of his sight.
He his going down, his hands on the levers, and the engine back. He the of a clearance, the nose of the machine steeply, and for a moment he to be on his back. The machine was and staggering, it to be dancing on its screw. He a effort, for a moment on the levers, and slowly the engine came again. He was but no longer so steeply. He for a moment and himself at the again. The wind about him. One and he was almost level. He breathe. He his for the time to see what had of his antagonists. Turned to the for a moment and looked again. For a moment he have they were annihilated. And then he saw the two to the east was a chasm, and this something, a edge, and vanished, as a a crack.
At he did not understand, and then a wild him. He at the top of his voice, an shout, and higher and higher up the sky. Throb, throb, throb, pause, throb, throb, throb. "Where was the other?" he thought. "They too—." As he looked the empty he had a that this second machine had above him, and then he saw it on the Norwood stage. They had meant shooting. To being two thousand in the air was their latter-day courage….
For a little while he circled, then in a the stage. Throb throb, throb throb. The was on apace, the from the Streatham stage that had been so and dark, was now a of fire, and all the of the moving and the and and the the were now, by the of the electric light that the of the day overpowered. The three that the Ostrogites held—for Wimbledon Park was of the fire from Roehampton, and Streatham was a furnace—were with lights for the aeroplanes. As he over the Roehampton stage he saw the dark of the people thereon. He a clap of cheering, a from the Wimbledon Park stage through the air, and up above the Surrey wastes. He a of wind from the southwest, and his as he had learnt to do, and so into the upper air. Whirr, whirr, whirr.
Up he and up, to that rhythm, until the country was and indistinct, and London spread like a little map in light, like the model of a city near the of the horizon. The was a sky of over the of the world, and as he the of increased.
And behold! In the southward, low and nearer, were two little of light. And then two more, and then a of shapes. Presently he count them. There were four and twenty. The of had come! Beyond appeared a yet glow.
He in a circle, at this fleet. It in a wedge-like shape, a of nearer through the air. He a of their pace, and the little wheel that the engine forward. He touched a and the of the engine ceased. He to fall, and swifter. He at the of the wedge. He like a through the air. It a second from that moment he the aeroplane.
No man of all that black saw the of his fate, no man among them of the that upon him out of the sky. Those who were not in the of air-sickness, were their black necks and to see the city that was out of the haze, the rich and city to which "Massa Boss" had their muscles. Bright teeth and the shone. They had of Paris. They they were to have times among the white trash.
Suddenly Graham them.
He had at the of the aeroplane, but at the very last a idea had into his mind. He about and near the of the with all his weight. He was as he struck. His across its the rim. He the of the him and his along with it, and for a moment that an age he not tell what was happening. He a thousand yelling, and that his machine was on the of the float, and down, down; over his and saw the of the and the opposite up. He had a through the of chairs, faces, and hands at the bars. The in the open as the to right her. Beyond, he saw a second to the of its fellow. The area of to upward. He he had clear, that the fabric, clean overturned, like a above him.
He did not that he had the of the and off, but he that he was free on the and earth. What had he done? His like a noisy engine in his and for a he not move his of the of his hands. He the to his engine back, for two against the weight of it, himself righting, horizontally, set the engine again.
He looked and saw two overhead, looked back, and saw the main of the opening out and and outward; saw the one he had on and like a knife-blade along the wind-wheels it.
He put his and looked again. He up of his direction as he watched. He saw the wind-vanes give, saw the the earth, saw its with the weight of its descent, and then the whole over and smashed, down, upon the wheels. Then from the a thin of white fire up the zenith. He was aware of a through the air him, and just in time to the charge—if it was a charge—of a second aeroplane. It by below, him a fathom, and nearly him over in the of its close passage.
He aware of three others him, aware of the urgent of above them. Aeroplanes were all about him, to avoid him, as it seemed. They past him, above, below, and westward. Far away to the was the of a collision, and two flares. Far away to the a second was coming. Steadily he upward. Presently all the were him, but for a moment he the he had of them, and did not again. And then he came upon a second and all its of soldiers saw him coming. The big machine and as the fear-maddened men to the for their weapons. A score of through the air, and there a star in the thick wind-screen that protected him. The and to his stroke, and too low. Just in time he saw the wind-wheels of Bromley hill up him, and about and up as the he had among them. All its voices into a of yelling. The great to be on end for a second among the and vans, and then it to pieces. Huge came through the air, its like shells. A of overhead into the sky.
"Two!" he cried, with a bomb from overhead as it fell, and he was up again. A him now, a activity. His about humanity, about his inadequacy, were gone for ever. He was a man in in his power. Aeroplanes from him in every direction, only upon him, the of their packed came in as they by. He his third quarry, and did but turn it on edge. It him, to against the tall of London wall. Flying from that impact he the ground so nearly he see a up a slope. He up steeply, and himself over south London with the air about him vacant. To the right of him a wild of from the Ostrogites in the sky. To the south the of a dozen air ships flamed, and east and west and north they him. They away to the east and north, and about in the south, for they not pause in the air. In their present any attempt at would have meant collisions.
He passed two hundred or so above the Roehampton stage. It was black with people and noisy with their shouting. But why was the Wimbledon Park stage black and cheering, too? The and of Streatham now the three stages. He about and rose to see them and the northern quarters. First came the square of Shooter's Hill into sight, from the smoke, and with the that had and its negroes. Then came Blackheath, and then under the of the the Norwood stage. On Blackheath no had landed. Norwood was by a of little to and in a confusion. Why? Abruptly he understood. The of the was over, the people were into the under-ways of these last of Ostrog's usurpation. And then, from away on the northern border of the city, full of to him, came a sound, a signal, a note of triumph, the of a gun. His apart, his was with emotion.
He an breath. "They win," he to the empty air; "the people win!" The of a second gun came like an answer. And then he saw the on Blackheath was its to launch. It clean and rose. It up into the air, and away from him.
In an it came to him what this meant. It must needs be Ostrog in flight. He and it. He had the of his and the air and very swiftly. It rose at his approach. He allowed for its and upon it.
It a edge, and behold! he was past it, and with all the of his blow.
He was angry. He the engine along its and up. He saw Ostrog's machine up a him. He rose it, above it by of the of his and by the and weight of a man. He headlong—dropped and missed again! As he past he saw the of Ostrog's and and in Ostrog's a resolution. Ostrog was looking away from him—to the south. He with a of how his must be. Below he saw the Croydon hills. He and once more he on his enemy.
He over his and his attention was arrested. The stage, the one on Shooter's Hill, appeared to lift; a to a tall shape, a of and dust, into the air. For a moment this motionless, of metal from its shoulders, and then it to a of smoke. The people had it up, and all! As a second and shape up from the Norwood stage. And as he at this came a report; and the air of the him. He was up and sideways.
For a moment his nearly with her nose down, and to to altogether. He on his wind-shield, the wheel that up over his head. And then the of the second took his machine sideways.
He himself to one of the of his machine, and the air was past him and upward. He to be still in the air, with the wind up past him. It to him that he was falling. Then he was sure that he was falling. He not look down.
He himself with all that had since his awakening, the days of doubt, the days of Empire, and at last the of Ostrog's calculated treachery.
The had a quality of unreality. Who was he? Why was he so with his hands? Why he not let go? In such a as this have ended. But in a moment he would wake….
His ran and swifter. He if he should see Helen again. It so that he should not see her again. It must be a dream! Yet surely he would meet her. She at least was real. She was real. He would wake and meet her.
Although he not look at it, he was aware that the earth was very near.
THE END.
