owd it was! A line of motor-cars bordered the track
for half a mile, and many of the spectators were busy city men who had
taken a hasty lunch and rushed off down to Weybridge to see a little
French airman risk his life in the air. Thousands of foot passengers
toiled along the dusty road from the paddock to the hangars, and
thousands more, who did not care to pay the shilling entrance fee, stood
closely packed on the high ground outside the aerodrome.

Biplanes and monoplanes came driving through the air from Hendon, and
airmen of world-wide fame, such as Sopwith, Hamel, Verrier, and Hucks,
had gathered together as disciples of the great life-saving missionary.
Stern critics these! Men who would ruthlessly expose any "faked"
performance if need were!

And where is the little airman while all this crowd is gathering? Is
he very excited? He has never before been in England. We wonder if his
amazing coolness and admirable control over his nerves will desert him
among strange surroundings.

Probably Pegoud was the coolest man in all that vast crowd. He seemed to
want to hide himself from public gaze. Most of his time, was taken up in
signing post-cards for people who had been fortunate enough to discover
him in a little restaurant near which his shed was situated.

At last his Bleriot monoplane was wheeled out, and he was strapped,
or harnessed, into his seat. "Was the machine a 'freak' monoplane?" we
wondered.

We were soon assured that such was not the case. Indeed, as Pegoud
himself says: "I have used a standard type of monoplane on purpose.
Almost every aeroplane, if it is properly balanced, has just as good a
chance as mine, and I lay particular stress on the fact that there
is nothing extraordinary about my machine, so that no one can say my
achievements are in any way faked."

During the preliminary operations his patron, M. Bleriot, stood beside
the machine, and chatted affably with the aviator. At last the signal
was given for his ascent, and in a few moments Pegoud was climbing with
the nose of his machine tilted high in the air. For about a quarter of
an hour he flew round in ever-widening circles, rising very quietly and
steadily until he had reached an altitude of about 4000 feet. A deep
silence seemed to have settled on the vast crowd nearly a mile below,
and the musical droning of his engine could be plainly heard.

Then his movements began to be eccentric. First, he gave a wonderful
exhibition of ban