, said, "Right you are," and scrambled
up behind him. The engines were started, she sped along the grass, and
before I could realize it we were some 500 feet high up in the air, still
rising and sailing over Botany Bay. As the manager had told Macdonald to
go wherever I directed him, I decided to fly over Sydney and the harbour,
so that I should pass over the barracks, the forts, Government House, the
Post Office and the principal streets of Sydney and give the public a
fair opportunity of watching us.

It was a lovely day; the machine behaved splendidly. Young Macdonald was
as cool as a cucumber, and we returned and landed at the Ascot Race
Course after two hours of a delightful experience. I regret to say that
my youthful pilot was killed during the early days of the war; his
machine dived into the Thames and he was drowned.

Some years later I selected the site for and established at Point Cook
near Melbourne the first Flying School in Australia.

CHAPTER V

THE AMERICAN NAVAL VISIT

The next big event of importance after Lord Kitchener's tour of
inspection was the arrival of the American Fleet. Whether the visit of
this fleet, which comprised practically the full strength of the American
Navy, had any connexion with the visit of the Japanese Fleet which I have
already told you about, I do not know. Was it by way of a demonstration
in force in the waters of the Pacific in answer to the display made by
the Japanese? Had it a political aspect in other ways? Or was it purely a
pleasure trip, arranged by the American Government to give their naval
officers and men an extended tour for purposes of instruction and
pleasure? Who can tell? I cannot. But I can testify to the pleasurable
times they had during their lengthy stay at the several ports they
visited.

Sydney woke up again. The occasion had arrived to remember the great days
of the inauguration of the Commonwealth. Sydney wanted to decorate
herself again and to look her best, and she certainly succeeded. Though
somewhat different in detail, the decorations of the city and streets
were as gorgeous as those of 1901, on the inauguration of the
Commonwealth, and everyone was determined to give the Americans (and
incidentally himself) a real good time. It is doubtful if the foreshores
of the great harbour of Sydney will ever hold again so many thousands of
spectators as they did on that glorious morning when, at 11 A.M., the
leading warship of the American