By the bank door were standing the two airmen, whose machines he had unbuttoned. They had got their caps on the side of their heads all right, but they didn’t look quite like ordinary airmen. The nose of one had grown enormously since David saw him last, and he waved it about, turning up the end of it in a manner that reminded David not of an airman at all, but of some quite different sort of creature. The other had a large kind face, and kept moving his mouth round and round, and out of his hair there distinctly stuck two horns, both broken.
As soon as they saw David they ran inside the bank, and shut the door in his face, leaving him out in the dark and the cold.
CHAPTER IV
David felt rather hurt at this, for having intended to ask them to tea, it was vexing to find that they didn’t intend to ask him. But before he could feel much hurt the window on the third floor was thrown open, and a giraffe looked out. It bent down to David, and whispered in his ear:
‘They’ll let you in soon. It’s a surprise.’
‘Is it a nice one?’ asked David.
‘That depends on whether you like it. But I’ll stay and talk to you till they’re ready. You begin.’
David didn’t know what sort of conversation giraffes liked, but he supposed that, like everybody else, they enjoyed talking about themselves.
‘How did you get up to the third floor?’ he asked. ‘I should have thought you were too tall to be able to go upstairs.’