"Why this easterly course?" asked Dick, who, having for the time being finished with the motors, had taken his place close to the pilot. "This will land us somewhere in Norfolk if we carry on."
"Only till we pick up the North-Western main line," replied Blake. "There's nothing like a railway to help you to fix a position. In conjunction with a good map a railway lets you know where you are almost to a mile."
Forty-seven minutes from the time the battleplane left the ground a dull haze upon the horizon indicated that the metropolis was in sight. Quickly the intervening distance was covered, until at a height of two thousand feet the airmen were immediately over the Thames.
"Good enough!" declared Blake, at the same time locking the wings. Although the motors were still running they were acting merely as "free engines," ready to be coupled up to the wings in a case of emergency. For the rest of the distance the battleplane was to glide under the attraction of gravity.
Unerringly Blake brought the battleplane towards the gravelled expanse of the Horse Guards Parade. Save for a few persons hurrying across the place was almost deserted. Evidently there was no sign that the aviators were expected. Either the telegram had been delayed or the War Office officials had considered it a hoax.
Suddenly Blake coupled up the wing-mechanism. The beating of the wings caused several of the pedestrians to look skywards. For a second or so they seemed hardly able to credit their senses. Aeroplanes they knew, but the huge mechanical bird astonished them. Right and left they scattered, leaving the parade as deserted as a Siberian plain.
Making a faultless landing the battleplane came to rest. Blake, throwing back the wind screen, awaited developments.
In less than five minutes the machine was surrounded by thousands of curious spectators. It took all the efforts of a strong force of police and soldiers to keep the crowd back.
A way having been cleared through the press a group of military staff officers came up. Amongst them Blake recognised a tall, alert figure in the uniform of a major-general.
"Good morning, Sir Henry!" he exclaimed. "You see I have carried out my promise. Come on board, if you please."