n stage and stage. And a distinctive feature of
the architecture of this section was the ostentatious massiveness of the
metal piers and girders that everywhere broke the vistas and spanned the
halls and passages, crowding and twining up to meet the weight of the
stages and the weighty impact of the aeroplanes overhead.

Graham went to the flying stages by the public ways. He was accompanied
by Asano, his Japanese attendant. Lincoln was called away by Ostrog,
who was busy with his administrative concerns. A strong guard of the
Wind-Vane police awaited the Master outside the Wind-Vane offices, and
they cleared a space for him on the upper moving platform. His passage
to the flying stages was unexpected, nevertheless a considerable crowd
gathered and followed him to his destination. As he went along, he could
hear the people shouting his name, and saw numberless men and women and
children in blue come swarming up the staircases in the central path,
gesticulating and shouting. He could not hear what they shouted. He was
struck again by the evident existence of a vulgar dialect among the
poor of the city. When at last he descended, his guards were immediately
surrounded by a dense excited crowd. Afterwards it occurred to him that
some had attempted to reach him with petitions. His guards cleared a
passage for him with difficulty.

He found an aeropile in charge of an aeronaut awaiting him on the
westward stage. Seen close this mechanism was no longer small. As it lay
on its launching carrier upon the wide expanse of the flying stage, its
aluminium body skeleton was as big as the hull of a twenty-ton yacht.
Its lateral supporting sails braced and stayed with metal nerves
almost like the nerves of a bee's wing, and made of some sort of glassy
artificial membrane, cast their shadow over many hundreds of square
yards. The chairs for the engineer and his passenger hung free to swing
by a complex tackle, within the protecting ribs of the frame and well
abaft the middle. The passenger's chair was protected by a wind-guard
and guarded about with metallic rods carrying air cushions. It could,
if desired, be completely closed in, but Graham was anxious for novel
experiences, and desired that it should be left open. The aeronaut
sat behind a glass that sheltered his face. The passenger could secure
himself firmly in his seat, and this was almost unavoidable on landing,
or he could move along by means of a little rail and rod to a lock