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The Man from the Clouds By: J. Storer Clouston (1870-1944) |
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BY J. STORER CLOUSTON 1919 CONTENTS PART I
CHAPTER I In the Clouds II The Man on the Shore III Alone Again IV The Suspicious Stranger V The Doctor's House VI A Petticoat VII At the Mansion House VIII Sunday IX An Ally X The Coast Patrol XI A Near Thing XII The Key Turned XIII On the Drifter XIV My Cousin's Letter PART II
CHAPTER I An Idea II A Little Dinner III The Alcoholic Patient IV The Test V Waiting VI The Spectacled Man VII A Reminiscence VIII H.M.S. Uruguay IX Bolton on the Track X Where the Clue Led XI An Eye Opener XII The Confidant XIII Jean's Guesses XIV The Pocket Book XV Part of the Truth XVI Tracked Down XVII The Rest of the Truth XVIII The Frosty Road XIX Our Morning Call
THE MAN FROM THE CLOUDS
PART I I IN THE CLOUDS
"My God," said Rutherford, "the cable has broken!" In an instant I was craning over the side of the basket. Five hundred
feet, 700 feet, 1000 feet, 2000 feet below us, the cruiser that had been
our only link with the world of man was diminishing so swiftly that, as
far as I remember, she had shrunk to the smallness of a tug and then
vanished into the haze before I even answered him. "Anything to be done?" I asked. "Nothing," said he. It had been growing steadily more misty even down near the water, and now
as the released balloon shot up into an altitude of five, ten, and
presently twelve thousand feet, everything in Heaven and earth
disappeared except that white and clammy fog. By a simultaneous impulse
he lit a cigarette and I a pipe, and I remember very plainly wondering
whether he felt any touch of that self conscious defiance of fate and
deliberate intention to do the coolest thing possible, which I am free to
confess I felt myself. Probably not; Rutherford was the real Navy and I
but a zig zag ringed R.N.V.R. amateur. Still, the spirit of the Navy is
infectious and I made a fair attempt to keep his stout heart company. "What ought to happen to a thing like this?" I enquired. "If this wind holds we might conceivably make a landing somewhere with
extraordinary luck." "On the other side?" He nodded and I reflected. It was towards the end of August, 1914. We were somewhere about the
middle of the North Sea when the observation balloon was sent up, and I
had persuaded Rutherford to take me up with him in the basket. Five
minutes ago I had been telling myself I was the luckiest R.N.V.R.
Sub Lieutenant in the Navy; and then suddenly the appalling thing
happened. I may not give away any naval secrets, but everybody knows, I
presume, that towed balloons are sometimes used at sea, and it is pretty
obvious that certain accidents are liable to happen to them. In this case
the most obvious of all accidents happened; the cable snapped, and there
we were heading, as far as I could judge, for the stars that twinkle over
the German coast. At least, our aneroid showed that we were going upwards
faster than any bird could rise, and the west wind was blowing straight
for the mouth of the Elbe when we last felt it for, of course, in a free
balloon one ceases to feel wind altogether. Neither of us spoke for some time, and then a thought struck me suddenly
and I asked: "Did you notice what o'clock it was when we broke loose?" Rutherford nodded. "I'm taking the time," said he, "and assuming the twenty knot breeze
holds, we might risk a drop about six o'clock." "A drop" meant jumping into space and trusting one's parachute to do its
business properly. I felt a sudden tightening inside me as I thought of
that dive into the void, but I asked calmly enough: "And assuming the breeze doesn't hold?" "Oh, it will hold all right; it will rise if anything," said he. We had only been shipmates for a week (that being the extent of my
nautical experience), but I had learned enough about Rutherford in that
time to know that he was one of the most positive and self confident men
breathing... Continue reading book >>
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War stories |
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