The men were wordless and open-mouthed. They stared at each other in disbelief of what their eyes had registered.
"A liner!" gasped Captain Blake. "A—a—liner! Mac, there is no such thing."
cGuire pointed where the real cause of their visitor's departure appeared. A plane with engine wide open came tearing down through the clouds. It swung in a great spiral down over the field and dropped a white flare as it straightened away; then returned for the landing. It taxied at reckless speed toward the hangars and stopped a short distance from the men. The pilot threw himself out of the cockpit and raced drunkenly toward them.
"Did you see it?" he shouted, his voice a cracked scream. "Did you see it?"
"We saw it," said Captain Blake; "yes, we saw it. Big as—" He sought vainly for a proper comparison, then repeated his former words: "Big as an ocean liner!"
The pilot nodded; he was breathing heavily.
"Any markings?" asked his superior. "Anything to identify it?"
"Yes, there were markings, but I don't know what they mean. There was a circle painted on her bow and marks like clouds around it, but I didn't have time to see much. I came out of a cloud, and there the thing was. I was flying at five thousand, and they hung there dead ahead. I couldn't believe it; it was monstrous; tremendous. Then they sighted me, I guess, and they up-ended that ship in mid-air and shot straight up till they were out of sight."