olloquy ensued, the man pointing now to the Englishman, now to the
aeroplane, and now to the dhow alongside the jetty. Presently the
Hindu came back.

"Silly chaps say what for you come here, sahib. You know too much,
they say."

Smith guessed that they supposed his visit had something to do with
the smuggling operations in which they were engaged. He explained
quickly that he was merely an ordinary traveller, on his way to India
in one of the new air carriages in which Englishmen were accustomed to
make long journeys, and he promised to pay the smith well for any
assistance he could give in repairing a slight injury which the
carriage had suffered in a storm. The Hindu carried this message to
the villagers, who were now increasing in number as they regained
confidence, and after another discussion he returned, accompanied by a
big man, the dirtiest in the crowd, the others following slowly.

He found it no easy matter, through his smiling but incompetent
interpreter, to explain that he wanted the use of the smith's
appliances. To quicken their apprehension he produced a couple of
half-crowns, pointing out that they were worth four rupees, and
offered these as payment when the work was done. The Hindu recognized
the King's head on the coins, and eagerly assured the Baluchis that
they were good English money; but the smith, true to the oriental
habit of haggling, rejected them scornfully as insufficient, and was
backed up by a chorus of indignant cries from the crowd.

Smith, impatient at the loss of time, and forgetting that any show of
eagerness would merely encourage the natives to delay, was incautious
enough to show them a half-sovereign. Though the Hindu appeared to do
his best to persuade them that this was generous pay, they showed even
greater contempt, and became more and more clamorous.

"Greedy chaps want more, sahib," said the Hindu deprecatingly.

"Very well," replied Smith, pocketing the coin. "We'll do without
them."

He turned his back on them, and returned at a saunter to the
aeroplane, the crowd, now swelled by the arrival of apparently all the
inhabitants of the village, old and young, pressing on behind. It was
evident that they had now lost their fear of the strange machine.

"How are you getting on, Roddy?" he asked. "These asses won't take
half-a-sovereign to lend a hand."

"Imbeciles! But the stay must be welded."

"Well, we'll pretend we can do without 'em. I daresay that will bring