and Hook-of-Holland
mail-boat. He was half asleep or he'd have wondered where her
mast-lights were. I took very little notice, I say, until it struck me
that, so far from being a trawler, those lights were moving a good deal
faster than a mail-boat. Sometimes I could see only one light. I began
to wonder what it was and I stepped down to my room to get my
binoculars. I remember the mess-room was dark, and across the table and
floor was a narrow bar of light from the Fourth's door. As I came up the
stairs I heard a peculiar droning sound, as though the Third had let the
dynamo run away. I turned round intending to go down below, when I saw
the green lights coming up fast ... fast.

"As my foot touched the deck the wings were overhead and I saw the long
body and flat tail. To me, for I'd never seen an aeroplane close before,
it was a wonderful sight. I put the glasses up and watched it slide away
in the dark, dropping until it seemed to skim the water. 'So that's an
aeroplane!' I said to myself. And I saw it wheel round and the green
lights came into view again, rising, I remember. I was a bit excited and
leaned over the stern rail. I had never realized before how a man might
feel while flying. I'd always looked at the pictures as rather Jules
Verney, you might say; improbable and far-fetched. But here it was,
coming up on us again, much more wonderful than any picture! We were
doing about twelve knots, and I suppose that machine was coming up at
thirty. Just above the big triangle of three green lights was a blue
spark snapping, and in the shadow between the wings the shape of a man.
I stood there watching, watching, feeling nervous because of that
peculiar drone that the propeller made, when all of a sudden it stopped
and the whole thing swooped down to within twenty feet of the
awning-spars. I stepped back a little and looked straight up. In the
wink of an eye he was gone, but I saw him, and he me. As he swerved away
to clear the funnels, I heard him give a great shout of laughter that
rose to a small scream: '_'Pon--soul--it's--Char--ley!_' he sang out,
and dropped away astern. I heard his engine begin again, a note like an
insect; and he fled away towards Gunfleet. And that was all!

"I stood there dazed for a moment. In spite of the suddenness of it, I
don't think I had any doubt it was my brother. I saw his big hook nose
sticking out of his fur cap between the horrible goggles, his body
craning forward under the w