that seemed to fill half the heavens in front of him.

"Look out!" cried the governess, seizing his hand.

Whish! whew! whirr! A large bird whipped past them like some winged imp
of darkness, vanishing among the trees far below. There would certainly
have been a collision but for the girl's energetic interference.

"You must be on the look-out for these night-birds," she said. "They fly
so unexpectedly, and, of course, they don't see us properly. Telegraph
wires and church steeples are bad too, but then we shan't fly over
cities much. Keep a good height, it's safer."

They altered their course a little, flying at a different angle, so that
the moon no longer dazzled them. Steering came quite easily by turning
the body, and Jimbo still led the way, the governess following heavily
and with a mighty business of wings and flapping.

It was something to remember, the glory of that first journey through
the air. Sixty miles an hour, and scarcely an effort! Skimming the long
ridges of the hills and rushing through the pure air of mountain tops;
threading the star-beams; bathing themselves from head to foot in an
ocean of cool, clean wind; swimming on the waves of viewless
currents--currents warmed only by the magic of the stars, and kissed by
the burning lips of flying meteors.

Far below them the moonlight touched the fields with silver and the
murmur of the world rose faintly to their ears, trembling, as it were,
with the inarticulate dreams of millions. Everywhere about them thrilled
and sang the unspeakable power of the night. The mystery of its great
heart seemed laid bare before them.

It was like a wonder-journey in some Eastern fairy tale. Sometimes they
passed through zones of sweeter air, perfumed with the scents of hay and
wild flowers; at others, the fresh, damp odour of ploughed fields rose
up to them; or, again, they went spinning over leagues of forest where
the tree-tops stretched beneath them like the surface of a wide, green
sea, sleeping in the moonlight. And, when they crossed open water, the
stars shone reflected in their faces; and all the while the wings,
whirring and purring softly through the darkness, made pleasant music in
their ears.

"I'm tired," declared Jimbo presently.

"Then we'll go down and rest," said his breathless companion with
obvious relief.

She showed him how to spread his wings, sloping them towards the ground
at an angle that enabled him to shoot rapidly downwards, at the