to land in a field near
Luneville after a sustained flight of eight hours and fifty minutes.

CHAPTER VI

THE GUIDING HAND

Mysterious Dick, or "Mystery" as he was usually called, was a slender,
anaemic-looking boy with deep brown eyes. He was nicknamed "Mystery" for
several reasons. In the first place, he gave every one on first
acquaintance an uncomfortable feeling; no one could explain this, but
every one admitted that he was a "bit queer." When he looked at you his
eyes never appeared to be focused on you, but to be looking at something
back of you; I have seen a man to whom Dick was talking suddenly turn
and look over his shoulder. Another very noticeable trait of Dick's was
to answer an unasked question, or to interrupt a man at the beginning of
an argument with a refutation or agreement, as the case might be.

I remember coming into the mess one morning about five o'clock after an
all-night raid; our machine was the third back. It was a bitter cold
winter's night and "upstairs" it was absolutely numbing. In the mess
there were Mac and Dick and one or two others, thawing their congealed
blood and numbed brains with hot rum. It had been a nasty trip that
night, dense, low clouds and a head wind on the return voyage; there
were many machines still unaccounted for, although the supply of petrol
would "keep them up" but another fifteen minutes. So in the mess we
sipped our hot rum and sat and thought, or just sat.

"I think they were south of Dieuze"; it was Dick who broke the silence.

Mac jumped and looked hard at "Mysterious Dick," and as we all looked at
him inquiringly a faint flush rose to his face, he gulped down his rum
and left the mess.

"It's queer," said Mac, "how often he does that."

"Does what?" I asked.

"Answer your unasked question," replied Mac. "The green balls must have
been south of Dieuze just as 'Mystery' said, for after leaving Mannheim
I followed up the Rhine to Hagenau Wald, turned west and crossed the
Vosges over Zabern; here we went above low clouds and I didn't see the
ground again for over an hour. I steered my course all right, but was
fearing a change of wind when just ahead of me I saw the Hun signal of
two green balls come up through the clouds; as the last 'intelligence'
placed these two balls at Morchange, I changed my course from 270 deg. to
245 deg.. It was only luck that about half an hour later a rift in the
clouds showed me 'F' lighthouse, and as that is abo