Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History The Air PirateThe 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. Mo |