frightened for herselfânot then, anywayâshe was thinking of her mother and her father and her baby brother. She felt destitute. Her whole world had vanished, because if that was what Paul thought it must be right. Paul was so sensible, so level-headed, and she was such a scatterbrain. Paul wouldnât have said it if he could have held it back any longer.
Little Harvey sat quite still, his eyes full of tears, his mouth open, drawing great shuddering gulps of air. All he wanted to do was to howl and suddenly he couldnât stop it. Frances dashed to him and held him tight, but couldnât bring herself to judge Paul too harshly, because she had been the one, yesterday, who had told Paul to face facts and admit them. Probably it was best that they should get it over and be done with it, because Paul and Adrian were surely right. Something terrible must have happened.
She was wiping Harveyâs tears away when she looked up sharply and found that she was not the only one who had become alert. The boys, too, were looking to the sky, keenly aware of the sound that she herself had heard.
âIt is!â Paul cried. âItâs an aeroplane!â
âWhere?â
âCanât see it. Can anyone see it?â
They crowded towards the lip of the ledge and Adrian had sense enough to bellow. âEasy. Youâll have us over the side.â
âI canât hear an aeroplane.â
âAnd neither can anyone else. Youâre making too much noise.â
They listened again and it was unmistakableâthe roar of a big aeroplane somewhere, flying high.
Gussie squealed. âThere it is!â
She pointed high into the north-east and one by one they picked it up, flashing in the sun.
âWhat sort is it, Adrian? You know all about aeroplanes.â
âI think itâs a Lincoln.â
âOne of the bombers?â
âYeah. Thatâs what it is, all right. A Lincoln. The Air Force.â
âGolly! What would the Air Force be doing away out here?â
âHow should I know? I wish we could make a signal or something.â
âHow could we make a signal? Weâve got nothing thatâll burn.â
âAnd no matches, anyway.â
âAnd heâs miles and miles away. Heâd never see.â
âHeâs turning, isnât he?â
âYeah. And I canât hear his engines any more. Can you?â
They listened again and they could hear them, but they were burbling, making a funny sound.
âOoh!â said Harvey. âHeâs going to crash.â
âHeâs gliding, stupid. Thatâs what heâs doing. Coming down! â
âAre you sure, Adrian?â
âOf course Iâm sure. You can see for yourself. Heâs circling round and round.â
Maisie shouted, âWeâre going to be saved. Hooray! Hooray!â And then her voice faded. âAre we? He couldnât see us, could he? Heâd never see us. Heâs miles and miles away.â
âToo far away all right,â said Adrian. âYou know where I think he is? I think heâs going down to look at the town.â
Paul grunted breathlessly. âThatâs what I think, too. And itâs never happened before, has it? Itâs never happened before because nothing terrible has ever happened before.â
They were very quiet again and they watched the aeroplane come lower and lower until it passed from their sight, until they heard its engines roar again, until they knew that it was circling the town at a very low altitude, going round and round and round.
One by one they sat near the lip of the ledge, and they were pale and frightened and unhappy. They knew now beyond the last doubt that something was wrong with their town, because the aeroplane went round and round and round and they didnât see it again for nearly half an hour. Then it rose up above the forest and went down through the valley in the south, no more
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