The Air Pirate

_The Air Pirate_




Some Ranger Gull Books

_HIS GRACE'S GRACE_
_BACK TO LILAC LAND_
_THE CIGARETTE SMOKER_
_PORTALONE_
_THE SERF_             } _Historical_
_THE HOUSE OF TORMENT_ } _Novels_
_WHEN SATAN RULED_     }
_THE HARVEST OF LOVE_
_A STORY OF THE STAGE_
_THE PRICE OF PITY_




_THE AIR PIRATE_

_By Ranger Gull, Author of "The Serf,"
"Back to Lilac Land," "The Snare of the Fowler," etc._

[Illustration: Decoration]

_LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C._




Dedication


TO PERCY BURTON, Esq.

     In memory of a certain celebrated walk from Great Holland to
     Frinton-on-Sea, and the salmon we met at the end of it. With all
     good wishes from the Author.




CONTENTS


 CHAP.                                             PAGE
    I.--THE COMMISSIONER OF AIR POLICE FOR GREAT
        BRITAIN RIDES TO PLYMOUTH IN GOOD COMPANY     9

   II.--FATE OF THE TRANSATLANTIC AIR-LINER
        "ALBATROS"                                   24

  III.--"COLD-BLOODED PIRACY IN THE HIGH AIR"        39

   IV.--THE NEWSPAPERS IN FULL CRY                   55

    V.--THE FAMILIAR SPIRIT OF MR. VAN ADAMS         67

   VI.--MR. DANJURO, THINKING MACHINE,
        EXPLAINS HIMSELF                             83

  VII.--THE CURIOUS FIGHT IN THE RESTAURANT          99

 VIII.--THE HUNTING INSTINCT IS STIMULATED
        BY A PROCESSION                             111

   IX.--THE MAN WITH THE WICKED FACE                128

    X.--SIR JOHN CUSTANCE COMES UPON THE
        HOUSE OF HELZEPHRON                         138

   XI.--"THE AIR WOLVES ARE HUNTING TO-NIGHT!"      150

  XII.--THE KILLING OF MICHAEL FEDDON               165

 XIII.--THE SECRET THAT PUZZLED TWO CONTINENTS      176

  XIV.--THE AIR PIRATE AT LAST                      187

   XV.--LED OUT TO DIE                              203

  XVI.--THE HOUNDS FROM THIBET AND MR. VARGUS;
        WITH A DISCOVERY ON BOARD THE PIRATE        216

 XVII.--THE MOMENT OF TRIUMPH                       236

XVIII.--THE GOLDEN DREAM                            253

  XIX.--LAST FLIGHT OF THE PIRATE AIRSHIP           266

        EPILOGUE                                    277




THE AIR PIRATE




CHAPTER I

THE COMMISSIONER OF AIR POLICE FOR GREAT BRITAIN RIDES TO PLYMOUTH IN
GOOD COMPANY


Nearly two years ago a leading London daily newspaper said: "The
Government have assured us that all danger from present and future air
piracies is now over, and that the recent events which so startled and
horrified both this country and the United States of America can never
recur. For our own part we accept that assurance, and we do not think
that the Commissioner of Air Police for the British Government will be
caught napping again.

"In saying this we do not in the least mean to imply that Sir John
Custance could either have foreseen or prevented the astounding
mid-Atlantic tragedies. Sir John, though barely thirty years of age, is
an official in every way worthy of his high position, an organizer of
exceptional ability and a pilot of practical experience. Press and
public are perfectly well aware that it is owing to his personal
exertions that our magnificent Transatlantic air-liners are no longer
stricken down by the Night Terror of the immediate past. And in saying
this much, we have both a suggestion and a request to make.

"The inner history of the piracies is only fully known to one man. It is
a story, we understand, that puts the imagination of the boldest writer
of fiction to shame. Such parts of it as have been made public hint at a
story of absorbing interest behind. The bad old days of censorship and
secrecy have vanished with the occasions that made them necessary. We
suggest that a full and detailed 'story' of the first--and we trust the
last--Air Pirate should be written, and given to the world. And we call
upon that most popular public man, Sir John Custance, to do this for us.
He alone knows everything."

At the time that it appeared I read the above to Charles Thumbwood, my
little valet, as I finished breakfast, in my Half Moon Street chambers.

"Not _quite_ correct, Charles. You know almost as much about it as I do.
To say nothing of a certain friend ..."

"I wouldn't say that, Sir John," said Charles, brushing my light
overcoat. "Though I rode part of the course alongside of you; to say
nothing of Mr. Danjuro." Thumbwood was a jockey before I took him into
my service. "Are you going to write it all down, Sir John?"

"That depends on several things, and on one person especially. I must
think it all over."

Think it over I did as I drove to my offices in Whitehall--the Scotland
Yard of the Air--and I discussed it afterwards with a certain lady....

Which is how the following narrative came to be written, though I did
not complete it until the best part of two years had elapsed.


II

I never did any flying during the Great War.