Yes, when flying, Colonel John Decies felt that he was nearer to the woman he had lost nearly a quarter of a century before. In one sense he may have been so, for he was a very reckless airman, and never in greater danger than when engaged in what he called “ground-scouring” among the air-current haunted, mist-haunted mountains of the Border. He anticipated an early Border-war and realized that here would be a great opportunity for a keen-sighted and iron-nerved medical airman to locate, if not to pick up, overlooked wounded. Here, too, would be a double need of such service in a country where “the women come out to cut up what remains”! Imagine, too, cavalry reconnaissances and bad casualties a score of miles from medical help …
Whether it brought him nearer in any sense to Lenore de Warrenne, it brought him nearer to her son, on one of those hundred-mile circular “scours” which he practised when opportunity offered, generally accompanied by a like-minded officer of the R.A.M.C., to which Corps he had become a kind of unofficial and honorary instructor in “First- Aid Flying” at the Kot Ghazi flying-school, situate in the plains at the foot of the “Roof of the World”.
“Hullo!” said Colonel John Decies to himself—“vultures! I suppose they might be referred to in my manual as a likely guide to the wounded. Good idea. ‘The flying casualty-scout should always take note of the conduct of vultures, noting the direction of flight if any are seen dropping to earth. These birds may prove invaluable guides. A collection of them on the ground may indicate a wounded man who may be alive.’ …”
The Colonel was thinking of his magnum opus, “The Aeroplane and the Surgeon, in War,” wherewith he lived laborious days at Bimariabad in the intervals of testing, developing, and demonstrating his theories at Kot Ghazi.
Turning his head, he shouted to Surgeon-Captain Digby-Soames, R.A.M.C., his passenger and pupil:—
“Vultures on the left-front or starboard bow. ‘Invariable battle-field sign of wounded man. Note spot if unable to land and rescue. Call up stretcher-party by signal—Vide page 100 of Decies’ great work,’ what?”
“By Jove, it is a wounded man,” replied Captain Digby-Soames, who was using field-glasses. “Damned if it isn’t a Sahib, too! Out shikarring and sprained his ankle, I suppose. Dead, I’m afraid. Poor devil!”
“Vultures aren’t at work, anyhow,” commented Colonel Decies. “Can’t land anywhere hereabouts, and I’m afraid ‘calling up the stretcher party’ isn’t in the game here.”
“Nothing nearer than Kot Ghazi and that’s a good thirty miles,” replied Captain Digby-Soames as the aeroplane hovered and slowly sank.
“Let’s see all we can and then find the nearest landing-place. Search all round for any sign of a tent or encampment. There may be a dak-bungalow somewhere down in the plains, too. The river-bed down on the right there, marks the border.”