ch we are rising.

Once more we emerge into the open space between sky and cloud. The
flight-commander takes the mouthpiece of his telephone tube and shouts
to me that he intends completing the round above the clouds. To let me
search for railway and other traffic he will descend into view of the
ground at the most important points. He now sets a compass course for
Toutpres, the first large town of the reconnaissance, while I search all
around for possible enemies. At present the sky is clear, but at any
minute enemy police craft may appear from the unbroken blue or rise
through the clouds.

The slowness of our ground speed, due to the fierce wind, allows me
plenty of time to admire the strangely beautiful surroundings. Above is
the inverted bowl of blue, bright for the most part, but duller towards
the horizon-rim. The sun pours down a vivid light, which spreads
quicksilver iridescence over the cloud-tops. Below is the cloud-scape,
fantastic and far-stretching. The shadow of our machine is surrounded by
a halo of sunshine as it darts along the irregular white surface. The
clouds dip, climb, twist, and flatten into every conceivable shape.
Thrown together as they never could be on solid earth are outlines of
the wildest and tamest features of a world unspoiled by battlefield,
brick towns, ruins, or other ulcers on the face of nature. Jagged
mountains, forests, dainty hills, waterfalls, heavy seas, plateaux,
precipices, quiet lakes, rolling plains, caverns, chasms, and dead
deserts merge into one another, all in a uniform white, as though
wrapped in cotton wool and laid out for inspection in haphazard
continuity. And yet, for all its mad irregularity, the cloud-scape from
above is perfectly harmonious and never tiring. One wants to land on the
clean surface and explore the jungled continent. Sometimes, when passing
a high projection, the impulse comes to lean over and grab a handful of
the fleecy covering.

After being shut off from the ground for a quarter of an hour, we are
able to look down through a large chasm. Two parallel canals cut across
it, and these we take to be part of the canal junction below Toutpres.
This agrees with our estimate of speed, wind, and time, according to
which we should be near the town. The pilot takes the machine through
the clouds, and we descend a few hundred feet below them.

To disconcert Archie we travel in zigzags, while I search for items of
interest. A train is moving south, an