“I expect so.”
“You were up last night, weren’t you? Mac told me so at Brooklands this morning.”
“Yes—Zepp-hunting. I was up three hours, but, alas1! had no luck. Two came in over Essex but were scared by the anti-aircraft boys, and turned tail. Better luck to-night, I hope,” and Ronald Pryor, the tall, dark, good-looking young man in grey flannels2, laughed merrily as, with a quick movement, he flicked3 the ash from his after-luncheon cigarette.
His companion, George Bellingham, who was in the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps4, wearing the silver wings of the pilot, was perhaps three years his senior, fair-haired, grey-eyed, with a small sandy moustache trimmed to the most correct cut.
Passers-by in Pall5 Mall on that June afternoon no doubt wondered why Ronald Pryor was not in khaki. As a matter of fact, the handsome, athletic6 young fellow had already done his bit—and done it with very great honour and distinction.
Before the war he had been of little good to society, it is true. He had been one of those modern dandies whose accomplishments7 include[2] an elegant taste in socks—with ties to match—and a critical eye for an ill-cut pair of trousers. Eldest8 son of a wealthy bank-director, Ronnie Pryor had been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. After his career at Oxford9, his father, Henry Pryor, who lived mostly at his beautiful old place, Urchfont Hall, a few miles out of Norwich, had given him an ample allowance. He had lived in a bachelor flat in Duke Street, St. James’s, and spent several gay years about town with kindred souls of both sexes, becoming a familiar object each night at the supper-tables of the Savoy, the Carlton, or the Ritz.
This wild oat sowing had, however, been brought to an abrupt10 conclusion in a rather curious manner.
One Saturday afternoon he had driven in a friend’s car over to the Aerodrome at Hendon, and had there witnessed some graceful11 flying. He had instantly become “bitten” by the sport, and from that moment had devoted12 himself assiduously to it.
Four months later he had taken his “ticket” as a pilot, and then, assisted by capital from his indulgent father, had entered business by establishing the well-known Pryor Aeroplane Factory at Weybridge, with a branch at Hendon, a business in which his companion, Flight-Lieutenant George Bellingham, of the Royal Flying Corps, had been, and was still, financially interested.
That Ronnie Pryor—as everyone called him—was a handsome fellow could not be denied. His was a strongly marked personality, clean-limbed, with close-cut dark hair, a refined aquiline13 face, and that slight contraction14 of the[3] eyebrows15 that every air-pilot so quickly develops. On the outbreak of war he had been out with General French, had been through the retreat from Mons, and while scouting17 in the air during the first battle of Ypres, had been attacked by a German Taube. A fierce and intensely exciting fight in the air ensued, as a result of which he brought his enemy down within our own lines, but unfortunately received a severe wound in the stomach himself, and, planing down, reached earth safely a long distance away and collapsed18 unconscious.
The condition of his health was such that the Medical Board refused to pass him for service abroad again, therefore he was now devoting his time to building aeroplanes for the Government, and frequently flying them at night, thus assisting in the aerial defence of our coast, and of London.
Ronnie Pryor was known as one of the most daring and intrepid19 air-pilots that we possessed20. Before his crash he had brought down quite a number of his adversaries21 in the air, for the manner in which he could manipulate his machine, “zumming,” diving, rising, and flying a zigzag22 course, avoiding the enemy’s fire, was marvellous. Indeed, it was he who one afternoon dropped nine bombs upon the enemy’s aerodrome at Oudenarde, being mentioned in despatches for that daring exploit.
His one regret was that the doctor considered him “crocked.” Discarding his uniform he, in defiance23 of everybody, flew constantly in the big biplane which he himself had built, and which the boys at Hendon had nicknamed “The Hornet.” The machine was a “strafer,” of the most formidable type, with an engine of two[4] hundred and fifty horse-power, fitted with a Lewis gun and a rack for bombs, while no more daring airman ever sat at a joy-stick than its owner.
“They’re running that new Anzani engine on the bench at Hendon,” Bellingham remarked presently. “I’m going out to see it. Come with me.”
Ronnie considered for a few seconds, and then accepted the suggestion, he driving his partner out to Hendon in his yellow car which had been standing24 in St. James’s Square.
At the busy aerodrome, where all sorts of machines were being assembled and tested, they entered the spacious25 workshops of the Pryor Aeroplane Factory where, in one corner, amid whirring machinery26, a large aeroplane-engine was running at top speed with a hum that was deafening27 in the confined space.
Half-an-hour later both men went forth28 again into the aerodrome where several “school ’buses” were being flown by pupils of the flying school. Suddenly Bellingham’s quick airman’s eye caught sight of a biplane at a great height coming from the north-west.
“Why, isn’t that Beryl up in your ’bus?” he exclaimed, pointing out the machine. “I didn’t know she was out to-day.”
“Yes,” was Ronnie’s reply. “She flew over to Huntingdon this morning to see her sister.”
“Was she up with you last night?”
“Yes. She generally goes up daily.”
“She has wonderful nerve for a woman,” declared George. “A pupil who has done great credit to her tutor—yourself, Ronnie. How many times has she flown the Channel?”
“Seven. Three times alone, and four with[5] me. The last time she crossed alone she went up from Bedford and landed close to Berck, beyond Paris-Plage. She passed over Folkestone, and then over to Cape29 Grisnez.”
As he spoke32 the aeroplane which Beryl Gaselee was flying, that great battleplane of Ronnie’s invention—“The Hornet,” as they had named it on account of a certain politician’s reassurance—circled high in the air above the aerodrome, making a high-pitched hum quite different from that of the other machines in the air.
“She’s taken the silencer off,” Ronnie remarked. “She’s in a hurry, no doubt.”
“That silencer of yours is a marvellous invention,” George declared. “Thank goodness Fritz hasn’t got it!”
Ronnie smiled, and selecting a cigarette from his case, tapped it down and slowly lit it, his eyes upon the machine now hovering33 like a great hawk34 above them.
“I can run her so that at a thousand feet up nobody below can hear a sound,” he remarked. “That’s where we’ve got the pull for night bombing. A touch on the lever and the exhaust is silent, so that the enemy can’t hear us come up.”
“Yes. It’s a deuced cute invention,” declared his partner. “It saved me that night a month ago when I got over Alost and put a few incendiary pills into the German barracks. I got away in the darkness and, though half-a-dozen machines went up, they couldn’t find me.”
“The enemy would dearly like to get hold of the secret,” laughed Ronnie. “But all of us keep it guarded too carefully.”
[6]“Yes,” said his partner, as they watched with admiring eyes, how Beryl Gaselee, the intrepid woman aviator35, was manipulating the big battleplane in her descent. “Your invention for the keeping of the secret, my dear fellow, is quite as clever as the invention itself.”
The new silencer for aeroplane-engines Ronnie Pryor had offered to the authorities, and as it was still under consideration, he kept it strictly36 to himself. Only he, his mechanic, Beryl and his partner George Bellingham, knew its true mechanism37, and so careful was he to conceal38 it from the enemy in our midst, that he had also invented a clever contrivance by which, with a turn of a winged nut, the valve came apart, so that the chief portion—which was a secret—could be placed in one’s pocket, and carried away whenever the machines were left.
“I don’t want any frills from you, old man,” laughed the merry, easy-going young fellow in flannels. “I’m only trying to do my best for my country, just as you have done, and just as Beryl is doing.”
“Beryl is a real brick.”
“No, Ronnie. I say it because it’s the rock-bottom truth; because Miss Gaselee, thanks to your tuition, is one of the very few women who have come to the front as aviators40 in the war. She knows how to fly as well as any Squadron Commander. Look at her now! Just look at the spiral she’s making. Neither of us could do it better. Her engine, too, is running like a clock.”
And, as the two aviators watched, the great battleplane swept round and round the aerodrome, quickly dropping from twelve thousand feet—the[7] height at which they had first noticed its approach—towards the wide expanse of grass that was the landing-place.
At last “The Hornet,” humming loudly like a huge bumblebee, touched earth and came to a standstill, while Ronnie ran forward to help his well-beloved out of the pilot’s seat.
“Hullo, Ronnie!” cried the fresh-faced, athletic girl merrily. “I didn’t expect to find you here! I thought you’d gone to Harbury, and I intended to fly over and find you there.”
“I ran out here with George to see that new engine running on the bench,” he explained. “Come and have some tea. You must want some.”
The girl, in her workmanlike air-woman’s windproof overalls41, her “grummet”—which in aerodrome-parlance means headgear—her big goggles42 and thick gauntlet-gloves, rose from her seat, whilst her lover took her tenderly in his arms and lifted her out upon the ground.
Then, after a glance at the altimeter, he remarked:
“By Jove, Beryl! You’ve been flying pretty high—thirteen thousand four hundred feet.”
“Yes,” laughed the girl merrily. “The weather this afternoon is perfect for a stunt.”
Then, after the young man had gone to the exhaust, unscrewed the silencer and placed the secret part in his pocket, the pair walked across to the tea-room and there sat tête-à-tête upon the verandah gossiping.
Beryl Gaselee was, perhaps, the best-known flying-woman in the United Kingdom. There were others, but none so expert nor so daring. She would fly when the pylon43 pilots—as the ornate gentlemen of the aerodromes are called—shook their heads and refused to go up.
[8]Soft-featured, with pretty, fair and rather fluffy44 hair, and quite devoid45 of that curious hardness of feature which usually distinguishes the female athlete, her age was twenty-three, her figure slightly petite and quite slim. Indeed, many airmen who knew her were amazed that such a frail-looking little person could manage such a big, powerful machine as Ronnie Pryor’s “Hornet”—the ’bus which was the last word in battleplanes both for rapid rising and for speed.
The way in which she manipulated the joy-stick often, indeed, astonished Ronnie himself. But her confidence in herself, and in the stability of the machine, was so complete that such a thing as possible disaster never occurred to her.
As she sat at the tea-table, her cheeks fresh and reddened by the cutting wind at such an altitude, a wisp of fair hair straying across her face, and her big, wide-open blue eyes aglow46 with the pleasure of living, she presented a charming figure of that feminine type that is so purely47 English. They were truly an interesting pair, a fact which had apparently48 become impressed upon a middle-aged49 air-mechanic in brown overalls who, in passing the verandah upon which they were seated, looked up and cast a furtive50 glance at them.
Both were far too absorbed in each other to notice the man’s unusual interest, or the expression of suppressed excitement upon his grimy face, as he watched them with covert51 glance. Had they seen it, they might possibly have been curious as to the real reason. As it was, they remained in blissful ignorance, happy in each other’s confidence and love.
“Just the weather for another Zepp raid[9] to-night,” Ronnie was remarking. “No moon to speak of, wind just right for them, and a high barometer52.”
“That’s why you’re going to Harbury this evening, in readiness to go up, I suppose?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ll let me go with you, won’t you?” she begged, as she poured him his second cup of tea with dainty hand.
“You were up last night, and you’ve been for a long joy-ride to-day. I think it would really be too great a strain, Beryl, for you to go out to-night,” he protested.
“No, it won’t. Do let me go, dear!” she urged.
“Very well,” he replied, always unable to refuse her, as she knew full well. “In that case we’ll fly over to Harbury now, and put the ’bus away till to-night. I’ve sent Collins out there in readiness.”
Then, half-an-hour later, “The Hornet,” with Ronnie at the joy-stick and Beryl in the observer’s seat, rose again from the grass and, after a couple of turns around the pylons53, ascended54 rapidly, heading north-east.
As it did so, the dark-eyed mechanic in the brown overalls stood watching it grow smaller until it passed out of sight.
For some minutes he remained silent and pensive55, his heavy brows knit as he watched. Then, suddenly turning upon his heel, he muttered to himself and walked to one of the flying schools where he, Henry Knowles, was employed as a mechanic on the ’buses flown by the men training as air-pilots for the Front.
In a little over half-an-hour the big biplane[10] with its loud hum travelled nearly forty miles from Hendon, until at last Ronnie, descending56 in search of his landmark57, discovered a small river winding58 through the panorama59 of patchwork60 fields, small dark patches of woods, and little clusters of houses which, in the sundown, denoted villages and hamlets. This stream he followed until Beryl suddenly touched his arm—speech being impossible amid the roar of the engine—and pointed61 below to where, a little to the left, there showed the thin, grey spire62 of an ivy63-clad village church and a circular object close by—the village gasometer.
The gasometer was their landmark.
Ronnie nodded, and then he quickly banked and came down upon a low hill of pastures and woods about five miles east of the church spire.
The meadow wherein they glided64 to earth in the golden sunset was some distance from a small hamlet which lay down in the valley through which ran a stream glistening65 in the light, and turning an old-fashioned water-mill on its course. Then, as Ronnie unstrapped himself from his seat and hopped67 out, he exclaimed:
“Now, dear! You must rest for an hour or two, otherwise I shall not allow you to go up with me after Zepps to-night.”
His smart young mechanic, a fellow named Collins, from the aeroplane works came running up, while Ronnie assisted Beryl out of the machine.
In a corner of the field not far distant was a long barn of corrugated68 iron, which Ronnie had transformed into a hangar for “The Hornet”—and this they termed “The Hornet’s Nest.” To this they at once wheeled the great machine, Beryl bearing her part in doing so and being assisted by two elderly farm-hands.
[11]Then Collins, the mechanic, having received certain instructions, his master and Beryl crossed the meadow and, passing through a small copse, found themselves upon the lawn of a large, old-fashioned house called Harbury Court. The place, a long, rambling69 two-storied Georgian one, with a wide porch and square, inartistic windows, was partly covered by ivy, while its front was gay with geraniums and marguerites.
There came forward to meet the pair Beryl’s married sister Iris70, whose husband, Charles Remington, a Captain in the Munsters, had been many months at the Front, and was now, alas! a prisoner of war in Germany.
“I heard you arrive,” she said cheerily, addressing the pair. And then she told them how she had waited tea for them. Neither being averse71 from another cup, the trio passed through the French window into the big, cool drawing-room with its bright chintzes, gay flowers, and interesting bric-a-brac.
While Beryl went half-an-hour later to her room to rest, and Ronnie joined Collins to test various portions of the ’bus and its apparatus72 before the night flight, a curious scene was taking place in the top room of a block of new red-brick flats somewhere in a northern suburb of London—the exact situation I am not permitted to divulge73.
From the window a very extensive view could be obtained over London, both south and east, where glowed the red haze74 of sunset upon the giant metropolis75, with its landmarks76 of tall factory chimneys, church steeples, and long lines of slate77 roofs.
The room was a photographic studio. Indeed, the neat brass78-plate upon the outer door of the[12] flat bore the name “R. Goring79, Photographer,” and as such, its owner was known to other tenants80 of the various suites81, persons of the upper middle-class, men mostly occupying good positions in the City.
True, a whole-plate camera stood upon a stand in a corner, and there were one or two grey screens for backgrounds placed against the wall, but nothing else in the apartment showed that it was used for the purpose of photography. On the contrary, it contained a somewhat unusual apparatus, which two men present were closely examining.
Upon a strong deal table, set directly beneath the great skylight—which had been made to slide back so as to leave that portion of the roof open—was a great circular searchlight, such as is used upon ships, the glass face of which was turned upward to the sky.
Set in a circle around its face were a number of bright reflectors and prisms placed at certain angles, with, above them, a large brass ring across which white silk gauze was stretched so that the intense rays of the searchlight should be broken up, and not show as a beam in the darkness, and thus disclose its existence.
At a glance the cleverness of the arrangement was apparent. It was one of the enemy’s guiding lights for Zeppelins!
The owner of the flat, Mr. Goring, a burly, grey-haired man of fifty-five, was exhibiting with pride to his visitor a new set of glass prisms which he had that day set at the proper angle, while the man who was evincing such interest was the person who—only a few hours before—had worked in his mechanic’s overalls, at the Hendon Aerodrome, the man, Henry Knowles,[13] who was to all intents and purposes an Englishman, having been in London since he was three years of age. Indeed, so well did he speak his Cockney dialect, that none ever dreamt that he was the son of one Heinrich Klitz, or that his Christian82 name was Hermann.
His host, like himself, was typically English, and had long ago paid his naturalisation fees and declared himself of the British bulldog breed. In public he was a fierce antagonist83 of Germany. In strongest terms he denounced the Kaiser and all his ways. He had even written to the newspapers deploring84 Great Britain’s mistakes, and, by all about him, was believed to be a fine, honest, and loyal Englishman. Even his wife, who now lived near Bristol, believed him to be British. Yet the truth was that he had no right to the name of Richard Goring, his baptismal name being Otto Kohler, his brother Hans occupying, at that moment, the post of President of the German Imperial Railways, the handsome offices of which are numbered 44, Linkstrasse, in Berlin.
The pair were members of the long-prepared secret enemy organisation85 in our midst—men living in London as British subjects, and each having his important part allotted86 to him to play at stated times and in pre-arranged places.
Richard Goring’s work for his country was to pose as a photographer—so that his undue87 use of electric-light current should not attract attention—and to keep that hidden searchlight burning night after night, in case a Zeppelin were fortunate enough to get as far as London.
As “Light-post No. 22” it was known to those cunning Teutons who so craftily88 established in England the most wonderful espionage89 system[14] ever placed upon the world. In England there were a number of signallers and “light-posts” for the guidance of enemy aircraft, but this—one of the greatest intensity—was as a lighthouse, and marked as of first importance upon the aerial chart carried by every Zeppelin Commander.
Mr. Goring had shown and explained to his friend the improved mechanism of the light, whereupon Knowles—who now wore a smart blue serge suit and carried gloves in his hand—laughed merrily, and replied in English, for they always talked that language:
“I saw Gortz at Number Three last night. He has news from Berlin that the big air raid is to be made on the fourteenth.”
“The fourteenth!” echoed his friend. Then, after a second’s reflection, he added: “That will be Friday week.”
“Exactly. There will be one or two small attempts before—probably one to-night—a reconnaissance over the Eastern Counties. At least it was said so last night at Number Three,” he added, referring to a secret meeting place of the Huns in London.
“Well,” laughed the photographic artist. “I always keep the light going and, thanks to the plans they sent me from Wilhelmsplatz a month before the war, there is no beam of light to betray it.”
“Rather thanks to the information we have when the British scouting airships leave their sheds.”
“Ah, yes, my dear friend. Then I at once cut it off, of course,” laughed the other. “But it is a weary job—up here alone each night killing90 time by reading their silly newspapers.”
“One of our greatest dangers, in my opinion,[15] is that young fellow Ronald Pryor—the aeroplane-builder,” declared Knowles. “The man whom our friend Reichardt tried to put out of existence last week, and failed—eh?”
“The same. He has a new aeroplane called ‘The Hornet,’ which can be rendered quite silent. That is a very great danger to our airships.”
“We must, at all hazards, ascertain91 its secret,” said his host promptly92. “What does Reichardt say?”
“They were discussing it last night at Number Three.”
And then the man who called himself Knowles and who, by working as a humble93 mechanic at a flying school at Hendon, was able to pick up so many facts concerning our air service, explained how “The Hornet” was kept in secret somewhere out in Essex—at some spot which they had not yet discovered.
“But surely you’ll get to know,” was the other’s remark, as he leant idly against the table whereon lay the complicated apparatus of prisms, and reflectors which constituted the lighthouse to guide the enemy aircraft.
“That is the service upon which Number Seven has placed me,” was the response.
He had referred to the director of that branch of the enemy’s operations in England—the person known as “Number Seven”—the cleverly concealed94 secret agent who assisted to guide the invisible hand of Germany in our midst. The individual in question lived in strictest retirement96, unknown even to those puppets of Berlin who so blindly obeyed his orders, and who received such lavish97 payment for so doing. Some of the Kaiser’s secret agents said that he lived in London; others declared that he lived on a farm[16] in a remote village somewhere in Somerset; while others said he had been seen walking in Piccadilly with a well-known peeress. Many, on the other hand, declared that he lived in a small country town in the guise98 of a retired99 shopkeeper, interested only in his roses and his cucumber-frames.
“A pity our good friend Reichardt failed the other day,” remarked the man who posed as a photographer. “What of that girl Gaselee?”
“The next attempt will not fail, depend upon it,” was Knowles’ reply, in tones of confidence. “When Ronald Pryor dies, so will she also. The decision at Number Three last night was unanimous.” And he grinned evilly.
Then both men went forth, Goring carefully locking the door of the secret studio. Then, passing through the well-furnished flat, he closed the door behind him, and they descended100 the stairs.
That night just after eleven o’clock, Beryl in her warm air-woman’s kit101, with her leather “grummet” with its ear-pieces buttoned beneath her chin, climbed into “The Hornet” and strapped66 herself into the observer’s seat.
Collins had been busy on the ’bus all the evening, testing the powerful dual95 engines, the searchlight, the control levers, and a dozen other details, including the all-important silencer. Afterwards he had placed in the long rack beneath the fusilage four high explosive spherical102 bombs, with three incendiary ones.
Therefore, when Ronnie hopped in, the machine was in complete readiness for a night flight.
Arranged at each corner of the big grass-field was a powerful electric light sunk into the ground and covered with glass. These could be switched[17] on from the house supply and, by means of reflectors, gave splendid guidance for descent. At present, however, all was, of course, in darkness.
The night was windless and overcast103, while the barometer showed the atmospheric104 pressure to be exactly that welcomed by Commanders of enemy airships.
Ronnie after switching on his little light over the instruments and examining his gauges105, shouted to Collins:
“Righto! Let her rip!”
In a moment there was a terrific roar. The wind whistled about their ears, and next second they were “zumming,” up climbing at an angle of quite thirty degrees, instead of “taxi-running” the machine before leaving the ground.
Not a star showed, neither did a light. At that hour the good people of Essex were mostly in bed.
On their right, as they rose, Beryl noticed one or two red and green lights of railway signals, but these faded away as they still climbed ever up and up, travelling in the direction of the coast. The roar of the engines was deafening, until they approached a faintly seen cluster of lights which, by the map spread before him beneath the tiny light, Ronnie knew was the town of B——. Then he suddenly pulled a lever by which the noise instantly became so deadened that the whirr of the propeller106 alone was audible, the engines being entirely107 silenced.
The young man, speaking for the first time, exclaimed:
Scarcely had he uttered those words when[18] suddenly they became blinded by a strong searchlight from below.
“Hullo! Our anti-aircraft boys!” he ejaculated and at the same moment he pushed back the lever, causing the engines to roar again.
The men working the searchlight at once distinguished108 the tri-coloured rings upon the planes, and by its sudden silence and as sudden roar they knew it to be “The Hornet.” Therefore next second they shut off the beam of the light, and once again Ronnie silenced his ’bus.
It was then near midnight, and up there at ten thousand feet the wind was bitingly cold. Moreover there were one or two air currents which caused the machine to rock violently in a manner that would have alarmed any but those experienced in flying.
Beryl buttoned her collar still more snugly109, but declared that she was not feeling cold. Below, little or nothing could be seen until, of a sudden, they ran into a thick cold mist, and then knew that they were over the sea.
With a glance at his luminous110 compass, the cheery young airman quickly turned the machine’s nose due south, and a quarter of an hour later altered his course south-west, heading towards London.
“Nothing doing to-night, it seems!” he remarked to his companion, as, in the darkness, they sped along at about fifty miles an hour, the wind whistling weirdly111 through the stays, the propeller humming musically, but the sound seeming no more than that of a bumblebee on a summer’s day.
It was certain that such sound could not be heard below.
After nearly an hour they realised by certain unmistakable signs—mostly atmospheric—that[19] they were over the outer northern suburbs of London.
Then, as Ronnie altered his course, in the inky blackness of the night, both saw, deep below, an intense white light burning like a beacon112, but throwing no ray.
“That’s curious!” remarked Pryor to the girl beside him. “I can’t make it out. I’ve seen it several times before. One night a month ago I saw it put out, and then, when one of our patrolling airships had gone over, it came suddenly up again.”
“An enemy light for the guiding of enemy Zeppelins—eh?” Beryl suggested.
“Exactly my opinion!” was her lover’s reply.
As he spoke they passed out of range of vision, all becoming dark again. Therefore, Ronnie put down his lever and turned the ’bus quickly so that he could again examine the mysterious light which would reveal to the enemy the district of London over which they were then flying.
For a full quarter of an hour “The Hornet,” having descended to about three thousand feet, man?uvred backwards113 and forwards, crossing and recrossing exactly over the intense white light below, Ronnie remaining silent, and flying the great biplane with most expert skill.
Suddenly, as he passed for the sixth time directly over the light, he touched a lever, and a quick swish of air followed.
No sound of any explosion was heard. But a second later bright flames leapt up high, and from where they sat aloft they could clearly distinguish that the upper story of the house was well alight.
Once again “The Hornet,” which had hovered[20] over the spot, flying very slowly in a circle, swooped115 down in silence, for Pryor was eager to ascertain the result of his well-placed incendiary bomb.
As, in the darkness, they rapidly neared the earth, making no sound to attract those below, Beryl could see that in the streets, lit by the flames, people were running about like a swarm116 of ants. The alarm had already been given to the fire-brigade, for the faint sound of a fire-bell now reached their ears.
For five or six minutes Pryor remained in the vicinity watching the result of the bomb.
Beryl, strapped in, peered below, and then, placing her eye to the powerful night-glasses, she could discern distinctly two fire-engines tearing along to the scene of the conflagration117.
Then with a laugh Ronnie pulled over the lever and, climbing high again, swiftly made off in the direction of Harbury.
“That spy won’t ever show a light again!” he remarked grimly.
Next day the newspapers reported a serious and very mysterious outbreak of fire in a photographic studio at the top of a certain block of flats, the charred118 remains119 of the occupier, Mr. Richard Goring, a highly respected resident, being afterwards found, together with a mass of mysterious metal apparatus with which he had apparently been experimenting, and by which—as the Coroner’s jury eventually decided120 four days later—the fatal fire must have been caused.
One morning Beryl and Ronnie, seated together in the drawing-room at Harbury, read the evidence given at the inquest and the verdict.
Both smiled, but neither made remark.
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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corps
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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athletic
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accomplishments
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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9
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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14
contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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15
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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16
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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18
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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19
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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20
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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21
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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22
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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23
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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24
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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25
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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26
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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27
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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28
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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29
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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30
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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31
stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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32
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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33
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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34
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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35
aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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36
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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37
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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38
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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39
pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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40
aviators
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| 飞机驾驶员，飞行员( aviator的名词复数 ) | |
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41
overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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42
goggles
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| n.护目镜 | |
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43
pylon
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| n.高压电线架，桥塔 | |
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44
fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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45
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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46
aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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47
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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48
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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49
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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50
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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51
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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52
barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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53
pylons
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| n.（架高压输电线的）电缆塔( pylon的名词复数 )；挂架 | |
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54
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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56
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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57
landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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58
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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59
panorama
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| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
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60
patchwork
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| n.混杂物；拼缝物 | |
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61
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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62
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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63
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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64
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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65
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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66
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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67
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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68
corrugated
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| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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69
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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70
iris
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| n.虹膜，彩虹 | |
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71
averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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72
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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73
divulge
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| v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布 | |
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74
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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75
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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76
landmarks
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| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
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77
slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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78
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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79
goring
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| v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破( gore的现在分词 ) | |
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80
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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81
suites
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| n.套( suite的名词复数 )；一套房间；一套家具；一套公寓 | |
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82
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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83
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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84
deploring
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的现在分词 ) | |
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85
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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86
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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88
craftily
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| 狡猾地，狡诈地 | |
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89
espionage
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| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
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90
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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91
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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92
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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93
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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94
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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95
dual
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| adj.双的；二重的，二元的 | |
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96
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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97
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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98
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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99
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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100
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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101
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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102
spherical
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| adj.球形的；球面的 | |
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103
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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104
atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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105
gauges
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| n.规格( gauge的名词复数 )；厚度；宽度；标准尺寸v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的第三人称单数 )；估计；计量；划分 | |
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106
propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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107
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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108
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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109
snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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110
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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111
weirdly
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| 古怪地 | |
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112
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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113
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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114
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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115
swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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116
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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117
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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118
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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119
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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120
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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