"It is," agreed Fosterdyke, feelingly. "Especially as she is my own design and I superintended every bit of her construction. It was a pity, too, we didn't hang on for another half an hour. I'd have jockeyed her over the Rock somehow."
"It was a brilliant achievement, Sir Reginald," said the naval officer. "Every sportsman will sympathise with you, but I'm sure they'll shout: 'Well played, sir!'"
"Any news of the other competitors?" asked Peter.
"Yes. Commodore Nye, the Yankee, is still stranded in Australia, but I suppose you know that. Count Hyashi, the Jap, crashed somewhere near Saigon. He, too, was almost home."
"Jolly hard lines," murmured Kenyon, sympathetically. "Was he hurt?"
"No, hardly bruised, but a bit shaken. Engine failure, they say," continued the Lieut.-Commander. "That leaves only the Hun to be accounted for."
"And I suppose he's completed the circuit?" remarked Fosterdyke, questioningly.
The naval officer laughed.
"Completing the circuit of a prison-yard!" he exclaimed. "That's about his mark. A Spanish yacht brought Count von Sinzig in this morning and handed him over to the Port Admiral. It'll be a three years' job, I fancy. Huns must learn that they can't bomb British air stations in peace time with impunity."
The destroyer ran alongside the dockyard. Fosterdyke and the rest of his crew disembarked. On the jetty they were met by several of the chief Naval, Military, and Air Force officials and two representatives of the International Air Board.