t talking about Sundays.
Suppose he got down and went inside all by himself, what would you
think, padre? There's only one thing you could think, that Maitland had
been drinking."

"Sir Galahad," said Maitland, "went in to say his prayers. He was on his
way to a battle. They didn't have to wait months and months for a battle
in those days. They had a scrap of some sort about once a week."

He sighed. The Turks had failed to do what was expected of them, and
life in the camp was intolerably dull.

He looked at Haddingly. It was plainly a padre's duty to support a
spiritual and romantic view of life against the profane jibes of Dalton.
Haddingly spoke judicially.

"The general tone of society in those days," he said, "seems to have
been very different from what it is now. Men had much less difficulty in
giving expression to their emotions. No doubt we still feel much as they
did, but----"

Haddingly became aware that no one was listening to him. The attention
of everyone at the table was attracted by something else. The men sat
stiffly, listening intently. Haddingly heard a faint, distant humming
sound. It grew louder.

"Jiminy!" said Dalton, "an aeroplane!"

The breakfast table was laid in the open air outside the mess tent The
men rose from their seats and stared in the direction of the coming
sound. It was the first time that an aeroplane had approached the
camp in the desert. Its coming was an intensely exciting event, an
unmistakable evidence of activity somewhere; surely a sign that activity
everywhere might be expected.

The sound increased in volume. The machine appeared, a distant speck in
the clear sky. It grew rapidly larger, flying fast. It was seen to be a
biplane. It passed directly over the camp, flying so low that the head
of the pilot was plainly visible. In a few minutes it passed from sight.
The hum of its engines grew fainter. But till the sound became inaudible
no one spoke.

Then a babble of inquiry and speculation broke out Where was the thing
going? What was it doing? What did its sudden swift voyage mean? For
the rest of the day the camp was less sleepy than usual. Men everywhere
discussed the aeroplane. Dalton was not the only one who envied the
members of the Flying Corps. It seemed a very desirable thing to be
able to rush through the air over unknown deserts; to have the chance
of seeing strange and thrilling things, Arab encampments, green
oases, mirages, caravans and camels; to d