"George Griffith - The Outlaws of the Air" - читать интересную книгу автора (Griffith George)

XXVI. A FLYING FIGHT
XXVII. AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE
XXVIII. PRISONERS OF WAR
XXIX. MAX TO THE RESCUE
XXX. THE BATTLE OF THE SOUND
XXXI. THE VICTORS VANQUISHED
XXXII. THE OUTLAWS' EYRIE
XXXIII. NEWS AND BAD NEWS
XXXIV. VENDETTA
XXXV. TURNING THE TABLES
XXXVI. THE END OF THE "BREMEN"
XXXVII. PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT
XXXVIII. MUTINY
XXXIX. HARTOG'S REVENGE
XL. GAME TO THE LAST
XLI. THE SYNDICATE PREPARES TO ACT
XLII. WOLVES AT BAY
XLIII. THE ULTIMATUM
EPILOGUE.- THE NEW UTOPIA

To Contents
 PROLOGUE.
IN THE CAMP OF ISHMAEL.

A FEW minutes before one A.M. on Sunday, the 1st of July 1894, a man was walking with quick if
somewhat irregular strides, as some men do walk when deeply absorbed in thought, up the Caledonian
Road from King's Cross Station. By his dress he might either have belonged to the aristocracy of the
craftsman class, or he might have been one of the poorer members of that class which is popularly
considered to be above it.

But, whatever doubt there might have been as to his station in life, there could have been none as to the
character of the face on which his slightly back-tilted black felt hat allowed the light of the gas-lamps to
fall, as he walked with his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, and his head thrown back just a shade from
the perpendicular. It was a dark, clear-cut, clean-shaven face, with bright blue eyes, contrasting strongly
with the black straight brows above them; a slightly aquiline nose, with thin, sensitive nostrils; short upper
lip, firm, resolute mouth, square chin, and strong though not heavy lower jaw.

A single glance would have been enough to show that it was the face of a man in whom strong
convictions were united with the will and the courage to translate them into action, no matter what
difficulties or dangers might lie in the path marked out for him by what he considered to be his duty.

In stature, he was over the average, and but for a slight stoop of the shoulders which gave a suggestion of
the student, borne out by the broad, square forehead and two little perpendicular lines between the eyes,
he would have stood very nearly six feet in the low-heeled walking shoes which he wore.

To the casual glance of the passer-by, there was nothing to differentiate him from any other young fellow
of his apparent age and station; and, therefore, it was quite out of the question that the policeman who
was beginning his night's work by flashing his bull's-eye into the doorways, and trying door handles and
shop shutters, should bestow more than a passing glance, quite devoid of interest, upon him as he strode
by. He was sober and respectable, and seemingly making his way quietly home after a decently spent