its handles was a little celluloid stud, and to this he bent his head
until his lips touched it. Then he had to bite in order to let the air
in upon the inducive. Sure of its accessibility, he craned his neck over
the side of the aeroplane and judged his pace and distance. Then very
quickly he bent forward, bit the stud, and hoisted the bomb over the
side.

'Round,' he whispered inaudibly.

The bomb flashed blinding scarlet in mid-air, and fell, a descending
column of blaze eddying spirally in the midst of a whirlwind. Both the
aeroplanes were tossed like shuttlecocks, hurled high and sideways and
the steersman, with gleaming eyes and set teeth, fought in great banking
curves for a balance. The gaunt man clung tight with hand and knees; his
nostrils dilated, his teeth biting his lips. He was firmly strapped....

When he could look down again it was like looking down upon the crater
of a small volcano. In the open garden before the Imperial castle a
shuddering star of evil splendour spurted and poured up smoke and flame
towards them like an accusation. They were too high to distinguish
people clearly, or mark the bomb's effect upon the building until
suddenly the facade tottered and crumbled before the flare as sugar
dissolves in water. The man stared for a moment, showed all his long
teeth, and then staggered into the cramped standing position his straps
permitted, hoisted out and bit another bomb, and sent it down after its
fellow.

The explosion came this time more directly underneath the aeroplane
and shot it upward edgeways. The bomb box tipped to the point of
disgorgement, and the bomb-thrower was pitched forward upon the third