|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 5
"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
had to have the Common searched. With the exception of the
observation car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences
in telling you that we discovered nothing of interest."
"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was
flying so low?" Helen enquired.
"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented.
"Two patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her.
An old man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a
long, black cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost
deafened by the noise of the engines. Personally, I cannot believe
that they would come down so low unless she was in some trouble."
The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
suddenly thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady,
very much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long
plaits of the schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand
she carried a man's Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
"Come in, Arthur," she shouted to a young subaltern who was
hovering in the background. "Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy!
Just look, Mr. Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a
bush, not twenty yards from where the observation car came down."
Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
"But, my dear child," she exclaimed, "this is nothing but an
ordinary hat! People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things
like that. How do you do, Mr. Somerfield?" she added, smiling at
the young man who had followed Nora into the room.
"Don't they!" the latter retorted, with an air of superior
knowledge. "Just look here!"
She turned down the lining and showed it to them. "What do you
make of that?" she asked triumphantly.
Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
"Read it out," Nora insisted.
Helen obeyed:
"Schmidt,
Berlin,
Unter den Linden, 127."
"That sounds German," she admitted.
"It's a trophy, all right," Nora declared. "One of the crew--
probably the Commander--must have come on board in a hurry and
changed into uniform after they had started."
"It is my painful duty, Miss Nora," Harrison announced solemnly,
"to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles
of whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's
Common, which might possibly have belonged to any one in the
Zeppelin, must be sent at once to the War Office."
"Rubbish!" Nora scoffed. "The War Office aren't going to have my
hat."
"Duty," the young man began--
"You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,"
Nora interrupted, "but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw
it into the fire sooner than give it up."
"Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora," Captain Griffiths
ventured thoughtfully.
"Nothing so important as hats," Harrison put in. "You see they fit
--somebody."
The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. "I'd listen to
anything Captain Griffiths had to say," she declared, "but you boys
who are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit.
There's nothing in your textbook about hats. If you're going to
make yourselves disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the
regiment."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|