CHAPTER IV
A BOLT FROM THE BLUE
"I feel," said Lawless, addressing himself to Sub-lieutenant Trent as they stood together on the deck of the Knat, "as pleased as a pig with two tails."
He glanced around him appreciatively, lingering over each well-remembered object, from the quick-firer on the "bandstand" aft to the battered ventilating cowls each side of the for'a'd funnel.
"Even the old shipboard stink is fragrant in my nostrils," he went on, "and the awful profanity issuing from the galley yonder is like sweet music unto my ears."
"H'm," grunted Trent, "you don't seem to have been very happy in the air service."
The look of joyful appreciation faded from the Lieutenant's eyes.
"I've lost one thousand five hundred and five pounds since I left the Knat," he answered. "Or as good as lost it."
"Eh!" ejaculated the junior officer.