"I think not. I do not believe in purposeless flights. Her final trials have been successfully passed, and now nothing remains to be done until she is required to perform some task for the well-being of the British nation."
As the two men prepared to descend the ladder Whittinghame suddenly remarked:—
"You'll meet the rest of the officers to-night, Dacres. Hambrough, our doctor, turns up at five. You'll like him, I think. He's a real good sort, and as keen as anything on the voyage. I don't suppose he'll have much to do, for these high altitudes are so beastly healthy; but there's no telling. He hasn't seen the 'Meteor' yet; in fact, he's only just resigned his post as medical officer to a North of England hospital. Setchell, who will be next in seniority to you, is at present on leave. We dropped him near his home at Plymouth about three weeks ago. He had urgent domestic affairs to demand his attention, and our wireless man here got in touch with us as we were passing over the Pennines. We made a rattling good run down to Plymouth—rattling good—but cut it rather fine in getting back here. I was almost afraid that we should be spotted, but luckily we descended without being detected. Setchell will also be here at about the same time. Callaghan will pick the pair of them up at Holmsley Station. By Jove! It's close on five already. How time flies when you're busy. We had better get back to the house."
CHAPTER XII.
THE "METEOR'S" DEBUT.
SETCHELL and Dr. Hambrough arrived before Whittinghame and his companion had completed their preparations for dinner, and as soon as the formal introductions were gone through, the thin ice of reserve quickly vanished.
Dacres instinctively felt that he would have true comrades on his first commission in the Dreadnought of the Air.
The two new arrivals were quite different in temperament. Setchell was vivacious—even boisterous at times; while the doctor was grave and dignified—at first one might have thought he was taciturn.
They were both fairly young men—under thirty—and as keen on their work as Whittinghame could possibly desire.
"We're now practically ready to put the 'Meteor' into full commission," observed Whittinghame. "All her stores are on board. Dacres has to have his kit brought from London, and there is about another half-day's work to complete the charging of the reserve cylinders. So we'll have 'divisions' to-morrow, and put the men into their proper watches. You brought those rifles along with you all right, Setchell?"