With the motor muffled down, they were able to talk easily. In the earlier days of aeroplanes the motor made so much noise that anything like a sustained conversation was impossible. But now the motor only purred gently in their ears, just like that of a motor car. For military purposes the silence thus obtained more than made up for the slight sacrifice of power. The more old-fashioned 'planes, many of which were still in use, advertised their presence to an enemy as soon as they came at all near. But this new type, largely used by the British and the French, as Frank knew, had to be seen before they were in any danger, so silently do they wing their flight.
"Talking about fog," Greene went on, talking as indifferent as if they had been on solid ground, "I had a nasty experience just before Kaiser Bill started this trouble. Went up at Sheerness, for an experimental flight in this same 'plane. First time I'd had her out, and I didn't know her very well. And one of those old-fashioned sea fogs came rolling in when I was ten miles from anywhere. Never saw anything so sudden in my life!"
"How did you find your way, sir?"
"I didn't! I just went up and up until I was above the fog and in the sunlight. You can do that, you know. But that was a queer fog—rose a whole lot. Anyway, when I got above it, it was precious cold. And the sun didn't do me much good. I'd got lost, so far as my bearings below were concerned, making spirals as I went up. What I hoped for was to find out something when I was above the fog."
"How was that? You mean that the fog would only spread over a certain distance?" he asked.
"That's it exactly. Only I didn't know that fog! So far as I could tell, it spread over all England and Ireland, too, with some left over for France! Only one thing for it, of course. I knew I'd get away from it if I kept on flying. So I steered by the sun as well as I could, and kept on until my petrol began to run short, and a cylinder began missing. And then, just as I was wondering whose windows I'd break when I went down, it began to thin out, and slipped away as quickly as it had come. And I was right above the golf links on Wimbledon Common. I volplaned down, and landed on a putting green, and an old colonel who'd been invalided home from India said I'd done it on purpose, and he was going to have me court-martialled!"
Frank laughed heartily at the story. But at the same time, he suspected Captain Greene's purpose in telling it. He thought the captain wanted to keep his spirits up, and make him forget that he had never had a flight before, and he admired and liked him more than ever in consequence, even though, as he told himself, it wasn't necessary.
"Hello! I think we're getting near your spot, young 'un," said Greene, abruptly. He dipped down, and Frank peered down to see where they were.
"Yes," he cried, in assent. "There's the hill we were coming down when we saw them, just as we rounded that turn. That's the road they were marching along, and there, over to our left, are the woods. I wonder if they're still there."
"We'll soon know," said Greene. "Now for a little climbing. I'm not afraid of being hit, but orders are to find them without being seen, if we can manage it. So we'll try the high spots for a bit."