o,
that's not all. I want you to meet me on Epsom Downs about
midnight.... Yes, coming by 'plane.... Wait a bit. Bring with you four
bottles of bovril, couple of pounds meat lozenges, half-dozen tins
sardines, bottle of brandy--yes, _and_ soda, as you say; couple of
pounds chocolate, two tins coffee and milk.... No: I say, hold on....
Also orographical maps--maps ... o-ro-graph-i-cal maps ... of Asia
Minor, Southern Asia including India, Straits Settlements,
Polynesia.... I don't know: Stanford's will be shut, but I _must_ have
'em.... That's up to you. Bring 'em all down with you.... Well, you'd
better light a bonfire, so that I can tell where you are. You'll
manage it? Good man! See you about midnight then.... Yes: I saw it;
bad business. Hope they'll manage to hold out.... Tell you when I see
you. Goodbye!"

He replaced the receiver, and turned to find Rodier at his elbow.

"Now, Roddy," he said, "we've got two hours. Slip into it, man."

For the next two hours they worked with scarcely the exchange of a
word, overhauling every part of the engine quickly, but with
methodical care, cleaning, oiling, testing the exhaust and the
carburettor, filling the petrol tank and the reservoir of lubricating
oil, examining the turbines and the propeller--not a square inch of
the machinery escaped their attention. When their task was finished
they were as hot and dirty as engine-drivers. They washed at a sink,
filled two stone jars with water and placed them in the cage, adjusted
the wind screens, and then sat down to rest and talk over things
before starting on their night journey. Smith pencilled some
calculations on a piece of paper, referring more than once to the
globe. Then taking a clean piece, he drew up a schedule which had some
resemblance to a railway timetable.

"There! How does that strike you, Roddy?" he said, when he had
finished it.

"It strikes me hot," said the Frenchman. "What I mean, it will be hot
work. But that is what I like."

"So do I, so long as I can keep cool. At any rate we can start to the
second. Are you ready?"

The sky was brilliant with stars when, just after midnight, they took
their places in the aeroplane. Twenty-five minutes' easy run,
east-north-east, brought them within sight of the dull red glare
northward that betrayed London. Smith had so often made this journey
that, even if the stars had been invisible, he could almost have
directed his course by the lights of the villages and