ue shadows; the beautiful
contrasts of unusual shades of colour which are always differing and
shifting with the changing sunshine and the ever moving position of the
aerial observer. Ah! for some better pen than mine to describe these
things! One with glowing words and a magic rhythm to express the wonders
of the air and the beauty of the garden beneath--the immensity of the
sea--the sense of space and of one's littleness there--the realization
of the Power moving the multitudes below--the exaltation of spirit
altitude produces--the joy of speed. A new world of sensation!

Now the bay is almost crossed and the Aerodrome at B. can be
distinguished....

* * * * *

On the Aerodrome is a little crowd waiting and watching for the arrival
of the Aeroplane, for it is of a new and improved type and its first
'cross-country performance is of keen interest to these men; men who
really know something about flight.

There is the Squadron Commander who has done some real flying in his
time; several well-seasoned Flight-Commanders; a dozen or more
Flight-Lieutenants; a knowledgeable Flight-Sergeant; a number of Air
Mechanics, and, a little on one side and almost unnoticed, the Designer.

"I hope they are all right," says someone, "and that they haven't had
difficulties with the fog. It rolled up very quickly, you know."

"Never fear," remarks a Flight-Commander. "I know the Pilot well and
he's a good 'un; far too good to carry on into a fog."

"They say the machine is really something out of the ordinary," says
another, "and that, for once, the Designer has been allowed full play;
that he hasn't been forced to unduly standardize ribs, spars, struts,
etc., and has more or less had his own way. I wonder who he is. It seems
strange we hear so little of him."

"Ah! my boy. You do a bit more flying and you'll discover that things
are not always as they appear from a distance!"

"There she is, sir!" cries the Flight-Sergeant. "Just a speck over the
silvery corner of that cloud."

A tiny speck it looks, some six miles distant and three thousand feet
high; but, racing along, it rapidly appears larger and soon its outlines
can be traced and the sunlight be seen playing upon the whirling
propeller.

Now the distant drone of the engine can be heard, but not for long, for
suddenly it ceases and, the nose of the Aeroplane sinking, the craft
commences gliding downwards.

"Surely too far away," says a