an effort at a lighter tone. "You'll find some cigarettes on that
table, Mr. Harrison. I can't think where Nora is. I expect she
has persuaded some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's
Common."

"The road all the way is like a circus," the young soldier observed,
"and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval
airmen were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths
wasn't far behind them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers,
sir," he concluded, turning to his neighbour.

"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
had to have the Common searched. With the exception of the
observation car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences
in telling you that we discovered nothing of interest."

"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was
flying so low?" Helen enquired.

"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented.
"Two patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her.
An old man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a
long, black cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost
deafened by the noise of the engines. Personally, I cannot believe
that they would come down so low unless she was in some trouble."

The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
suddenly thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady,
very much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long
plaits of the schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand