imed with oil and dirt,
were testing the engine. As the great propeller spun round, coats
ballooned out with the rush of air, and the noise was such that one
could hardly hear one's own efforts to shout. It was a sound which
filled you with awe. The propeller was stopped after a few minutes, and
the mechanicians shot up the sides of the craft, and punched oil and
gasolene into the places where it was needed. Young officers in naval
uniforms stood around the machine--all are usually interested in a
departing seaplane. Not far from us were many immense sheds in which
were some of the newest types of England's youngest branch of the Navy.
There were aircraft there which bespoke the inventive genius of the
Briton, and the confidence of the young pilots inspired you with
pleasure--it was a confidence that they could beat the enemy at one to
two.

Presently the chief mechanician announced to the pilot that all was
well, and the man who was to take me above the North Sea, attired in his
uniform and a thick white woollen scarf, climbed up the seaplane's port
side. He signalled to me to follow, showing the places for me to put my
feet. The climb was more difficult than I had imagined, and a literal
_faux pas_ might not have aided the flying ability of the machine.

There was no lashing the passenger to a seat in the plane. The place in
which I sat would not have cramped three men, the pilot being in front.
There was a loose leather seat cover atop a wooden box as the only sign
of comfort.

"Make the best of it," said the pilot. With that, he turned on a switch,
and the propeller whirred a warning of departure to the clouds. It was a
parting shot to ascertain that the engines were in trim, and after the
engine had been stopped the craft was wheeled out into the waters of the
bay, and then again the propeller rent the air with a burring noise
which is surprising even if you are more or less prepared for it.

For the first few seconds we apparently swung along on the water's
surface, then skimmed along, the floats at the sides of the plane
bobbing on the slightly crested sea. It was only a matter of less than a
minute before I realised that we were rising in the air between sky and
water, and with amazing speed we soared, and soon were 300 feet in the
air. Still our aircraft climbed and climbed. The ocean, which had been
beating on the sands now outside, seemed peaceful and green. The town
which I thought had such winding stree