p his horse and stared open-mouthed at this
extraordinary apparition from the sky, and when the aeroplane
alighted, and from the car stepped a tall, dirty creature with a
monstrously ugly face, the native whipped up his horse and with
shrill cries sought to escape the clutches of what he felt in his
trembling soul must be a djinn of the most evil kind.

Smith shouted to him to stop, but in vain; whereupon he picked up his
heels and ran to overtake the carriage. The horse was a sorry
specimen, and Smith, being a very passable sprinter, soon came up with
it, jumped in, and called to the driver to take him to Mr. Jenkinson's
godown. The man yelled with fear, and in sheer panic flogged his horse
until it went at a gallop, the vehicle swaying in a manner that any
one but a sailor would have found unpleasant. Both horse and driver
seemed to be equally affected with terror, but since the carriage was
going towards the city Smith was perfectly well satisfied, and did not
turn a hair even when it narrowly escaped a collision with a
bullock-wagon.

On they went, past some buildings on the right which appeared to be
barracks, until they reached a street in which there were so many
people that Smith thought it time to pull up before mischief was done.
Leaning forward, he gripped the driver's dhoti and drew him slowly
backward. The man yelled again; the passers-by stood in wonderment;
but with his backward movement the driver tightened his grip on the
reins, and within a few yards the panting horse came to a standstill.

"Where is Mr. Jenkinson's godown?" said Smith, releasing the driver.
But the man's terror was too much for him. Throwing the reins on the
horse's back, he sprang from his seat and fled, a vision of bare brown
legs twinkling amid white cotton drapery.

By this time a crowd of chattering natives had gathered round, who,
not having seen the aeroplane, were more amazed at the driver's
evident terror than at the passenger. He was dirty, it is true, and
not clad like the sahibs whom they were accustomed to meet, but when
he had removed his goggles they saw that he was certainly a sahib.
Smith was about to ask some one to direct him to Mr. Jenkinson's when
a native policeman pushed his way through the crowd, and in a shrill,
high-pitched voice and wonderful English, announced that he had come
to take the number of the carriage; it was clearly a case of furious
driving to the danger of the public.

"Shut up!" said Smi