sheer down upon
the American Fall. There he stood breathless amidst that eternal rush of
sound, breathless and staring.

Far below, and travelling rapidly down the gorge, whirled something like
a huge empty sack. For him it meant--what did it not mean?--the German
air-fleet, Kurt, the Prince, Europe, all things stable and familiar,
the forces that had brought him, the forces that had seemed indisputably
victorious. And it went down the rapids like an empty sack and left the
visible world to Asia, to yellow people beyond Christendom, to all that
was terrible and strange!

Remote over Canada receded the rest of that conflict and vanished beyond
the range of his vision....

CHAPTER IX. ON GOAT ISLAND

1

The whack of a bullet on the rocks beside him reminded him that he was
a visible object and wearing at least portions of a German uniform. It
drove him into the trees again, and for a time he dodged and dropped and
sought cover like a chick hiding among reeds from imaginary hawks.

"Beaten," he whispered. "Beaten and done for... Chinese! Yellow chaps
chasing 'em!"

At last he came to rest in a clump of bushes near a locked-up and
deserted refreshment shed within view of the American side. They made
a sort of hole and harbour for him; they met completely overhead. He
looked across the rapids, but the firing had ceased now altogether and
everything seemed quiet. The Asiatic aeroplane had moved from its former
position above the Suspension Bridge, was motionless now above Niagara
city, shadowing all that district about the power-house which had been
the scene of the land fight. The monster had an air of quiet and assured
predominance, and from its stern it trailed, serene and ornamental, a
long streaming flag, the red, black, and yellow of the great alliance,
the Sunrise and the Dragon. Beyond, to the east, at a much higher level,
hung a second consort, and Bert, presently gathering courage, wriggled
out and craned his neck to find another still airship against the sunset
in the south.

"Gaw!" he said. "Beaten and chased! My Gawd!"

The fighting, it seemed at first, was quite over in Niagara city, though
a German flag was still flying from one shattered house. A white sheet
was hoisted above the power-house, and this remained flying all through
the events that followed. But presently came a sound of shots and then
German soldiers running. They disappeared among the houses, and then
came two engineers in blue s