A REPRISAL RAID
of order when he suddenly dived up into the light of a cold moon.
He looked around, seeking the pole-star, and found it on his left. So all the time he had been running eastward.
And then his engine began to miss.
Tam was a philosopher and a philosopher never expects miracles. He understood his engine as a good jockey understands his horse. He pushed the nose of his machine earthward and planed down through an interminable bank of clouds until he found a gray countryside running up to meet him. There were no houses, no lights, nothing but a wide expanse of country dotted with sparse copses.
There was sufficient light to enable him to select a landing-place, and he came down in the middle of a big pasture on the edge of a forest of gaunt trees.
He unstrapped himself and climbed down, stretching his limbs before he took a gentle trot around the machine to restore his
211
