Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History The Air PirateOpen Original Text The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Air Pirate
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The Air Pirate
Author: Guy Thorne
Release date: July 28, 2012 [eBook #40361]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40361
Credits: Produced by Mark C. Orton, Martin Pettit and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AIR PIRATE ***
_The Air Pirate_
Some Ranger Gull Books
_HIS GRACE'S GRACE_
_BACK TO LILAC LAND_
_THE CIGARETTE SMOKER_
_PORTALONE_
_THE SERF_ } _Historical_
_THE HOUSE OF TORMENT_ } _Novels_
_WHEN SATAN RULED_ }
_THE HARVEST OF LOVE_
_A STORY OF THE STAGE_
_THE PRICE OF PITY_
_THE AIR PIRATE_
_By Ranger Gull, Author of "The Serf,"
"Back to Lilac Land," "The Snare of the Fowler," etc._
[Illustration: Decoration]
_LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C._
Dedication
TO PERCY BURTON, Esq.
In memory of a certain celebrated walk from Great Holland to
Frinton-on-Sea, and the salmon we met at the end of it. With all
good wishes from the Author.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I.--THE COMMISSIONER OF AIR POLICE FOR GREAT
BRITAIN RIDES TO PLYMOUTH IN GOOD COMPANY 9
II.--FATE OF THE TRANSATLANTIC AIR-LINER
"ALBATROS" 24
III.--"COLD-BLOODED PIRACY IN THE HIGH AIR" 39
IV.--THE NEWSPAPERS IN FULL CRY 55
V.--THE FAMILIAR SPIRIT OF MR. VAN ADAMS 67
VI.--MR. DANJURO, THINKING MACHINE,
EXPLAINS HIMSELF 83
VII.--THE CURIOUS FIGHT IN THE RESTAURANT 99
VIII.--THE HUNTING INSTINCT IS STIMULATED
BY A PROCESSION 111
IX.--THE MAN WITH THE WICKED FACE 128
X.--SIR JOHN CUSTANCE COMES UPON THE
HOUSE OF HELZEPHRON 138
XI.--"THE AIR WOLVES ARE HUNTING TO-NIGHT!" 150
XII.--THE KILLING OF MICHAEL FEDDON 165
XIII.--THE SECRET THAT PUZZLED TWO CONTINENTS 176
XIV.--THE AIR PIRATE AT LAST 187
XV.--LED OUT TO DIE 203
XVI.--THE HOUNDS FROM THIBET AND MR. VARGUS;
WITH A DISCOVERY ON BOARD THE PIRATE 216
XVII.--THE MOMENT OF TRIUMPH 236
XVIII.--THE GOLDEN DREAM 253
XIX.--LAST FLIGHT OF THE PIRATE AIRSHIP 266
EPILOGUE 277
THE AIR PIRATE
CHAPTER I
THE COMMISSIONER OF AIR POLICE FOR GREAT BRITAIN RIDES TO PLYMOUTH IN
GOOD COMPANY
Nearly two years ago a leading London daily newspaper said: "The
Government have assured us that all danger from present and future air
piracies is now over, and that the recent events which so startled and
horrified both this country and the United States of America can never
recur. For our own part we accept that assurance, and we do not think
that the Commissioner of Air Police for the British Government will be
caught napping again.
"In saying this we do not in the least mean to imply that Sir John
Custance could either have foreseen or prevented the astounding
mid-Atlantic tragedies. Sir John, though barely thirty years of age, is
an official in every way worthy of his high position, an organizer of
exceptional ability and a pilot of practical experience. Press and
public are perfectly well aware that it is owing to his personal
exertions that our magnificent Transatlantic air-liners are no longer
stricken down by the Night Terror of the immediate past. And in saying
this much, we have both a suggestion and a request to make.
"The inner history of the piracies is only fully known to one man. It is
a story, we understand, that puts the imagination of the boldest writer
of fiction to shame. Such parts of it as have been made public hint at a
story of absorbing interest behind. The bad old days of censorship and
secrecy have vanished with the occasions that made them necessary. We
suggest that a full and detailed 'story' of the first--and we trust the
last--Air Pirate should be written, and given to the world. And we call
upon that most popular public man, Sir John Custance, to do this for us.
He alone knows everything."
At the time that it appeared I read the above to Charles Thumbwood, my
little valet, as I finished breakfast, in my Half Moon Street chambers.
"Not _quite_ correct, Charles. You know almost as much about it as I do.
To say nothing of a certain friend ..."
"I wouldn't say that, Sir John," said Charles, brushing my light
overcoat. "Though I rode part of the course alongside of you; to say
nothing of Mr. Danjuro." Thumbwood was a jockey before I took him into
my service. "Are you going to write it all down, Sir John?"
"That depends on several things, and on one person especially. I must
think it all over."
Think it over I did as I drove to my offices in Whitehall--the Scotland
Yard of the Air--and I discussed it afterwards with a certain lady....
Which is how the following narrative came to be written, though I did
not complete it until the best part of two years had elapsed.
II
I never did any flying during the Great War. I was too young, being only
fifteen and at Eton when Peace was signed. But from the very earliest
days that I can remember aviation fascinated me as nothing else could.
My father, the first baronet, left me a moderate fortune. He died when I
was eighteen, and instead of going to Oxford, I entered as a cadet in
the R.F.C. It is not necessary to detail how, when I had earned my
wings, I joined the civil side of flying and became a pilot-commander in
the Transatlantic Service. I had a good deal of influence behind me,
and, to cut a long story short, at twenty-eight I was Assistant, and at
thirty Chief Commissioner of the British Air Police. I was answerable
to Government alone, and, within its limits, my powers were absolute.
It was on a morning in late June, the 25th to be exact, when the wheels
began to move. I date the start of everything from that morning. About
one o'clock on the preceding night Thumbwood had waked me from
refreshing sleep. A wireless message, in code, had been received at
Whitehall. It was addressed to me personally, and was from the
Controller of the White Star Air Line at Plymouth. My people at
Whitehall, on night duty, thought it of sufficient importance to send on
even at this hour.
As soon as I was thoroughly awake, and had done cursing Thumbwood, I
read the message. It only said that a matter of the gravest importance
required my personal presence at Plymouth, and would I come down at
once.
Now considerable experience of the fussy great men who controlled the
air-liner companies, which linked up England with all parts of the
world, had made me somewhat sceptical of these urgent demands for my
presence. Next |