, it is certain."

"But he--the man of the monoplane? He fell with them?"

"He fell, yes, my child. But he fell free of the Zeppelin. He is not in
that fire cauldron there. Didn't you see the end of what happened?"

"No!" I said. "For a second I covered my eyes."

"Oh, it was all in that second! We thought he was lost, sacrificed for
us; and even now it is most likely that he is dead. We saw the Zeppelin
drop away from under the monoplane. Then came the flare of light, with
the gas exploding and catching fire. But just before that, the monoplane
was poised in the air for an instant above the great falling shape. It
seemed to--do you call it 'plane' down? All that happened was so quick
and sudden, and the aeroplane came to earth so fast we could not be sure
of her fate. But if she fell, she fell free of the Zeppelin. We shall
soon hear. The other hospitals in town are full already, except our
little one, which has still room for a few. If any are saved from either
of the wrecks, they will be brought here, unless we have filled up our
beds meanwhile with people hurt by the Zeppelin bombs."

By the mingled dawnlight and firelight we could see figures running to
the fields where the wreck of the great dirigible and the heroic little
monoplane had come down. But long before news arrived of the occupants'
fate we heard that none of the townsfolk had been injured by the
explosion of the only two bombs which the Zeppelin had been given time
to drop. Three or four buildings had suffered more or less, but
fortunately they were shops, and nobody had been sleeping there. One
bomb had fallen near a hospital, and Tony Dalziel, hearing a rumour that
the "Annex" (as ours was called) had been struck, came rushing from the
hotel close by to find out what had been my fate. When he saw the
steep-roofed building untouched, and with lighted windows, he was
relieved, but ventured to ask for me, and I ran down to speak with him
at the foot of the stairs for a moment.

"Peggy! I just can't stand for this!" he groaned, and the tragedy in his
voice contrasted so quaintly with his comic appearance, bareheaded, hair
ruffled, and costume sketchy, that I felt rising symptoms of hysteria,
which had to be controlled. "I must get you and the mater and Milly into
safety somehow. To-night is the limit. Mater's more dead than alive, and
Mill isn't much better."

"Don't worry about me, anyhow," I said. "You see, I don't much _care_
whether I'm dead o