Dick obeyed, using the "cut-out." Instead of the engines purring almost noiselessly they roared like the concentrated discharge of a battery of mitrailleuses. Then, with a mighty sweep of her wings the battleplane appeared to stand on end. The next instant she was soaring swiftly above the dirty grey stone work of the buildings of the Horse Guards.
The passenger seated in the balanced chair, and seeing the body of the machine turning apparently around a fixed axis, was too astonished even to ejaculate. At length, encouraged by the cool demeanour of Dick and his chum, the official plucked up courage, and, the battleplane having settled down to a steady position, peered over the edge of the coaming.
It was his first sight of London from a height of three thousand feet. He was beginning to enjoy the sensation.
Up and down, describing erratic curves, nose-diving, volplaning and side-slipping with deliberate intent, Desmond Blake carried out his spectacular and demonstrative programme. At one moment it seemed as if the battleplane was diving under the Admiralty Arch; at almost the next it was skimming the aerials on the twin domes of the headquarters of the British Navy. Spinning round, almost on the tip of one wing, the tractable machine circled Nelson's Monument, as if to pay homage to the memory of the one-armed little man whose traditions the Navy of to-day so gallantly uphold. Then, at a rate equal to double that of an express train, the battleplane disappeared from view, to circle over the Nore at a height far beyond the range of the most efficient anti-aircraft guns that the Medway Defences possessed.
Fifteen minutes later the battleplane again came to rest on the Horse Guards Parade. Her passenger, almost speechless with unbounded admiration, did not hesitate to make his amends.
Nor was Sir Henry less enthusiastic.
Gripping Blake's hand as the inventor descended from the battleplane he exclaimed, "Bravo! my dear sir; your aeroplane is simply great. But why the deuce did you make such a show with it? By to-night all the world will know about it."
Desmond Blake shrugged his shoulders.
"It was the only way," he replied. "Nothing else would have attracted the attention of the War Office."
"You certainly have now," said Sir Henry with a smile. "Suppose we adjourn to my office. I'll summon my colleagues and we can discuss terms."