Mannheim glass I made a careful observation of my surroundings.
The heavens were perfectly clear; there was no indication of those
dangers which I had imagined.

"I have said that I was soaring in circles. It struck me
suddenly that I would do well to take a wider sweep and open up a
new airtract. If the hunter entered an earth-jungle he would drive
through it if he wished to find his game. My reasoning had led me
to believe that the air-jungle which I had imagined lay somewhere
over Wiltshire. This should be to the south and west of me. I
took my bearings from the sun, for the compass was hopeless and no
trace of earth was to be seen--nothing but the distant, silver
cloud-plain. However, I got my direction as best I might and kept
her head straight to the mark. I reckoned that my petrol supply
would not last for more than another hour or so, but I could afford
to use it to the last drop, since a single magnificent vol-plane
could at any time take me to the earth.

"Suddenly I was aware of something new. The air in front of me
had lost its crystal clearness. It was full of long, ragged wisps
of something which I can only compare to very fine cigarette
smoke. It hung about in wreaths and coils, turning and
twisting slowly in the sunlight. As the monoplane shot through it,
I was aware of a faint taste of oil upon my lips, and there was a
greasy scum upon the woodwork of the machine. Some infinitely fine
organic matter appeared to be suspended in the atmosphere. There
was no life there. It was inchoate and diffuse, extending for many
square acres and then fringing off into the void. No, it was not
life. But might it not be the remains of life? Above all, might
it not be the food of life, of monstrous life, even as the humble