air was shattered with the noise of warning guns. As if
released by a single switch, a dozen searchlights sprang into the sky,
crossing and blending in a swerving glare. There was the piercing
warning of bugles and the heavy booming of maroons.

Dazed by the swiftness of it all, Selwyn leaned against the low iron
fence. A Boy Scout whirled past on a bicycle, his bugle hoarse and
discordant; an old woman went whimpering by, hatless, with a protesting
child in her arms; an ambulance, clanging its gong, rounded the corner
with reckless speed; a mightier searchlight than any of the rest swept
the sky in great circles.

It seemed only a matter of seconds, though in reality much longer, when
the American heard a faint crunching sound in the distance, followed by
a deep, sullen thud. In rapid succession came three more, and the
defence guns of London burst into action, changing the night into
Bedlam.

Still motionless, he listened, awe-struck, to the din of the weird
battle with an unseen foe, when the cough of exploding shells in the
air grew appreciably louder. Raising a whirlwind of dust, a motor-car
swerved dangerously into the square, and with a roar sped up the road,
carrying to their aerodrome three British airmen. As if driven by a
gale, the battle of the clouds drew nearer and nearer, the whine and
barking of the shells like a pack of dogs trying to repel some monster
of the jungle.

There was a deafening crash.

Selwyn was thrown against the fence, and almost buried beneath a shower
of bricks and earth. With the roar of a rushing waterfall in his ears,
and blood streaming from a wound in his forehead, he sank to his knees
and for a moment lost consciousness; but mastering his weakness, he
staggered to his feet and looked wildly about. On the other side of
the street, where there had been a house, there was a smoking chaos. A
little crowd had appeared seemingly from the bowels of the earth, and a
woman was shrieking horribly.

Selwyn wiped his forehead with his hand and gazed stupidly at the blood
which covered it. The roar of the guns was louder than it had yet
been, and from a few streets away came the crunch of another bomb,
shaking the earth with the explosion which followed. Selwyn leaned
impotently against a post, and a quivering uncanny laugh broke from his
lips. It was all so grotesque, so absurd. _Human beings didn't do
such things_. It was a joke--a mad jest. He held his sides and
lau