Air Wonder Stories, August 1929 — page 53: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

é nee it eB ed oo Ea ees ae ple A é i Pear ae oa +T 1 re ee apres 4 THE ARK OF THE COVENANT 147 laughing till tears streamed down their-faces. I thought it funny enough, but their laughter got.me more than the joke. ; “Confound it, Basildon,” said Lord Almeric, mop- ping his eyes. “The thing’s farcical.’ It couldn't have been the taiders—surely not!” “Must have been, Pluscarden. Boxes of radium were left beside the mace, addressed to some ot our research institutions, The thing’s conclusive!” “Tt might have been one of the Opposition who woke up first and snatched the opportunity to make the front bench look ridiculous, It is enough to wreck the Gov- ernment.” “Might have been that,” Sir Thomas chuckled, “and I hope it does: wreck the Government. We may get the Die-Hards back again, thank God.” “Tet us hope so, Basildon, Well, there is little use in remaining here. We can do nothing until the clerks turn up, when we can go through the books. Heavens, what a mess!” said Lord Almeric: “I think a ride home and-a bath, then early breakfast, is the idea. Let us go, Jimmy.” “Just let Mr. Boon show me those splashes of pow- dered glass, Pluscarden,” Sir Thomas said, “and I’m with you. Could -you drop me at Scotland Yard, if I send my car on? I want to talk to you on the way.” - “Surely,” said his lordship. “I'll pick you up out- side.” There was no great crowd in the streets yet, for it was barely six o'clock, but Sir Thomas no. sooner ap- peared than he was surrounded by newspaper men, who wanted a statement. “T can’t give you any statement yet,” Sir Thomas protested. “Yes—yes, you can say I believe it to be the work of the Paynassic gang. That must be obvious. I shall issue a general statement when I get back to Scotland Yard. I must treat you all alike.” They fell away from him, but watched him from a distance, and when we had finistied looking at the smears of glass and had gone on,I saw them gather round the spot:and examine the powder closely. “Glass bombs, I agree—probably containing the gas in liquid form,” said Sir Thomas. “I wonder what it is?” The newspaper men were still hanging round the smeats when the three of us drove away in Lord Almeric’s automobile. “T must have those policemen sent away,” said Sir Thomas, when we had passed through the cordon which was holding a small crowd back from the area which had been gassed, “It is nothing but a waste of time.” He and Lord Almeric talked earnestly enough as we made our way to the West End, but though they did not exclude me from the conversation, it was of stuff that was Greek to me, and I was more interested in the wakening streets. I should like to have seen how Fleet Street was taking the event, but we went down a street which brought us out on the Embankment by Blackfriar’s Bridge, passing the building that during the war was known as Adastral House, where I had tried to get into the British Flying Corps by swearing I was a British citizen. They wouldn't have me. be- cause of my age, I was only a kid then. The build- ing now seemed to be the offices of some commercial firm. I remembered my chagrin at being turned down by the British authorities, though they were extraor- dinarily kind to me, and looking Rack at that time, I got a-tingle all over to think that I was taking a lively part in an affair pretty night as exciting as the war I had wanted so much fo get into. It made me smile to think of the intense awe I should have had for thé general in those days, or even for Lord Almeric, kind as he was. A mighty queer set of happenings, thought I, that brought me to be in a limousine with the chief of the British C, I. D, and the deputy governor of the Bank of England! We dropped Sir Thomas-Basildon at New Scotland Yard, passing through the courtyard into Whitehall. “You must permit me to worry you a trifle more, Mr. Boon,” said Sir Thomas, as he stepped from the automobile, “I want you to recount your experiences to some of my men. May I ring you up at Lord Almeric’s?—or, no—let us fic the time at twelve-thirty to-day. And perhaps I may be able to snatch a minute or two to see-your new plane—what d’ye call it?—the Merlin?—if I may be allowed.” “Delighted, sir,” said I. Here?” “Here,” he replied. “Ask for me at this door. They'll bring you straight up,” As we turned: into Whitehall, I caught a glimpse of crowds in Parliament Square. “Surely the Senate—the Parliament isn’t still sit- ting?” I asked Lord Almeric. “No,” he smiled. “I expect they’ve gone home by now. But you know what crowds are, They will hang around Parliament Square for hours in the vain hope that they will see somebody who has had his face blackened, and they will give a circumstantial account of how nearly they accomplished it, years after.” One-third the Sun’s Speed Wi reached Lord Almeric’s house in Knights- bridge about half-past six. Milliken was no- where to be seen, I looked about for a servant, and found the one who had opened the door, yawning on the landing. “Do you know where Mr. Milliken has gone?” I asked. “No, sir. He must have slipped out early, before the ’ouse was properly astir, sir—if he has gone,” said the man with an air of suspicion. “Very well,” said I. T guessed that my mechanic had gone down to begin work on the Merlin, so I hada bath, and presently joined Lord Almeric at breakfast. “What plans have you for to-day, Jimmy?” asked his lordship. : “First, I shall cable my father, and get him to begin the campaigns against-the raiders so that a cordon of scouts can-be drawn round the coast to-night. Then I will have to attend to the Merlin. I propose starting SE eae at ten to-morrow, so as to arrive before lar bes “Bless me! How on earth can you do that?” “T leave at ten from here,.and taken thirteen hours to. make Long Island, nominally eleven o'clock at night —but as a matter of fact it will be six o’clock, Amer- ican time, when J arrive, I get back the five hours we lost coming here,” “T had forgotten that,” said Lord Almeric with a smile. “One of these days you young men will be beating time itself.” *Ah,” said I. “We've got to fly at. about. thirteen hundred kilometres per hour to beat time across the Atlantic from east to west.” . “Good God!” he cried. “You don’t mean to say “Twelve-thirty, then, = comicbooks:co 4 ‘~ Oo a sr ee eh A GI, ee ee \ +. rf, PIT a ee a) ee