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The War in the Air Chapter 9 Parts 4-7 · The H. G. Wells Library

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Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Parts four, five, six, and seven of War
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Speaker 1: in the Air. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by William
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Speaker 1: tom Coe. War in the Air by H. D Wells,
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Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Parts four, five, six, and seven. Part four. Suddenly,
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Speaker 1: on the very verge of this heroic resolution, Bert became
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Speaker 1: rigid with terror. Something was creeping towards him through the grass.
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Speaker 1: Something was creeping and halting, and creeping again towards him
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Speaker 1: through the dim, dark grass. The night was electrical with horror.
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Speaker 1: For a time everything was still. Bert ceased to breathe.
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Speaker 1: It could not be no, it was too small. It
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Speaker 1: advanced suddenly upon him with a rush, with a little
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Speaker 1: muling cry and tail erect. It rubbed its head against
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Speaker 1: him and purred. It was a tiny, skinny little kitten.
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Speaker 1: Go pussy, How you frightened me? Said Bert, with drops
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Speaker 1: of perspiration on his brow. Part five. He sat with
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Speaker 1: his back to a tree stump all that night, holding
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Speaker 1: the kitten in his arms. His mind was tired, and
1:31
Speaker 1: he talked or thought coherently no longer towards dawn, he dozed.
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Speaker 1: When he awoke, he was stiff, but in bitter heart,
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Speaker 1: and the kitten slept warmly and reassuringly inside his jacket,
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Speaker 1: and fear he found had gone from amidst the trees.
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Speaker 1: He stroked the kitten, and the little creature woke up
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Speaker 1: to excessive fondness and purring. You want some milk, said Bert.
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Speaker 1: That's what you want, and I could do with a
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Speaker 1: bit of breaker too. He yawned and stood up with
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Speaker 1: a kitten on his shoulder, and stared about him, recalling
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Speaker 1: the circumstances of the previous day, the gray, immense happenings.
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Speaker 1: Must do something, he said. He turned towards the trees
2:15
Speaker 1: and was presently contemplating the dead aeronaut again, the kitten
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Speaker 1: he held companionably against his neck. The body was horrible,
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Speaker 1: but not nearly so horrible as it had been at twilight,
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Speaker 1: And now the limbs were limper, and the gun had
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Speaker 1: slipped to the ground and lay half hidden in the grass.
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Speaker 1: I suppose we ought to bury him kitty, said Bert,
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Speaker 1: and looked helplessly at the rocky soil about him. We
2:40
Speaker 1: got to stay on the island with him. It was
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Speaker 1: some time before he could turn away and go on
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Speaker 1: towards that provision shed. Brecker first, he said, anyhow, stroking
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Speaker 1: the kitten on his shoulder. She rubbed his cheek affectionately
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Speaker 1: with her fury little face, and presently nibbled at his ear.
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Speaker 1: Want some milk, eh, he said, and turned his back
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Speaker 1: on the dead man, as though he mattered nothing. He
3:08
Speaker 1: was puzzled to find the door of the shed open,
3:10
Speaker 1: though he had closed and latched it very carefully overnight,
3:14
Speaker 1: and he found also some dirty plates he had not
3:16
Speaker 1: noticed before. On the bench. He discovered that the hinges
3:20
Speaker 1: of the tin locker were unscrewed, and that it could
3:23
Speaker 1: be opened. He had not observed this overnight. Silly of me,
3:28
Speaker 1: said Bert. Here I was puzzlin' and whackin away at
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Speaker 1: the padlock, never noticing it had been used, apparently as
3:36
Speaker 1: an ice chest. But it contained nothing now but the
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Speaker 1: remains of half dozen boiled chickens, some ambiguous substance that
3:43
Speaker 1: might once have been butter, and a singularly unappetizing smell.
3:48
Speaker 1: He closed the lid again carefully. He gave the kitten
3:53
Speaker 1: some milk in a dirty plate, and sat watching its
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Speaker 1: busy little tongue for a time. Then he was moved
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Speaker 1: to make an inventory of the provisions. There were six
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Speaker 1: bottles of milk unopened and one opened, sixty bottles of
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Speaker 1: mineral water, and a large stock of syrups, about two
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Speaker 1: thousand cigarettes, and upwards of a hundred cigars, nine oranges,
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Speaker 1: two unopened tins of corned beef and one opened, and
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Speaker 1: five large tins California peaches. He jotted it down on
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Speaker 1: a piece of paper. Ain't much solid food, he said,
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Speaker 1: Still a fortnight, Say anything might happen in a fortnight.
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Speaker 1: He gave the kitten a small second helping and a
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Speaker 1: scrap of beef, and then went down with a little
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Speaker 1: creature running after him, tail erect and in high spirits,
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Speaker 1: to look at the remains of the hohen zoleern. It
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Speaker 1: had shifted in the night, and seemed on the whole
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Speaker 1: more firmly grounded on Green Island than before. From it,
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Speaker 1: his eye went to the shattered bridge, and then across
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Speaker 1: to the still desolation of Niagara City. Nothing moved over
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Speaker 1: there but a number of crows. They were busy with
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Speaker 1: the engineer he had seen cut down on the previous day.
5:07
Speaker 1: He saw no dogs, but he heard one howling, we
5:11
Speaker 1: got to get out of this amal kitty. He said
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Speaker 1: that milk won't last forever, not at the rate you
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Speaker 1: lap it. He regarded the sluice like flood before him.
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Speaker 1: Plenty of water, he said, won't be drink we shall want.
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Speaker 1: He decided to make a careful exploration of the island. Presently,
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Speaker 1: he came to a locked gate labeled Biddle Stairs, and
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Speaker 1: clambered over to discover a steep, old wooden staircase leading
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Speaker 1: down the face of the cliff amidst a vast and
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Speaker 1: increasing uproar of waters. He left the kitten above and
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Speaker 1: descended these and discovered, with a thrill of hope, a
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Speaker 1: path leading among the rocks at the foot of the
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Speaker 1: roaring down rush of the center Fall. Perhaps this was
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Speaker 1: a sort of way. It led him only to the
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Speaker 1: choking and deafening experience of the cave of the wind,
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Speaker 1: And after he had spent a quarter of an hour
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Speaker 1: in a partially stupefied condition, flattened between solid rock and
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Speaker 1: nearly as solid waterfall, he decided that this was after
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Speaker 1: all no practicable route to Canada, and retraced his steps.
6:15
Speaker 1: As he reascended the bittle stairs, he heard what he
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Speaker 1: decided at last must be a sort of echo, a
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Speaker 1: sound of some one walking about on the gravel paths above.
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Speaker 1: When he got to the top, the place was as
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Speaker 1: solitary as before. Thence he made his way, with the kitten,
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Speaker 1: skirmishing along beside him in the grass, to a staircase
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Speaker 1: that led to a lump of projecting rock that inflated
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Speaker 1: the huge green majesty of the Horseshoe falls. He stood
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Speaker 1: there for some time in silence. You wouldn't think, he said,
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Speaker 1: at last, there was so much water, this roarin and
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Speaker 1: splashin It gets on one's nerves. At last, sounds like
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Speaker 1: people talking, sounds like people going about, sounds like anything
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Speaker 1: you fancy. He retired up the staircase again. I suppose
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Speaker 1: I shall keep on going round this blessed island, he said, drearily,
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Speaker 1: round and round and round. He found himself presently beside
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Speaker 1: the less damaged Asiatic aeroplane again. He stared at it,
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Speaker 1: and the kitten smelt it broke, he said. He looked
7:23
Speaker 1: up with a convulsive start, advancing slowly towards him. Out
7:27
Speaker 1: from among the trees were two tall, gaunt figures. They
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Speaker 1: were blackened and tattered and bandaged. The hindmost one limped
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Speaker 1: and had his head swathed in white, But the foremost
7:39
Speaker 1: one still carried himself as a prince should do, for
7:42
Speaker 1: all that his left arm was in a sling, and
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Speaker 1: one side of his face scalded. A livid crimson. He
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Speaker 1: was the Prince, Karl Albert, the warlord, the German Alexander.
7:53
Speaker 1: And the man behind him was the bird faced man
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Speaker 1: whose cabin had once been taken from him and given
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Speaker 1: to Bert. Part six. With that apparition began a new
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Speaker 1: phase of Goat Island in Bert's experience. He ceased to
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Speaker 1: be a solitary representative of humanity and a vast and
8:12
Speaker 1: violent and incomprehensible universe, and became once more a social creature,
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Speaker 1: a man in a world of other men. For an
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Speaker 1: instant these two were terrible. Then they seemed sweet and
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Speaker 1: desirable as brothers. They too were in this scrape with him.
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Speaker 1: Marooned and puzzled. He wanted extremely to hear exactly what
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Speaker 1: had happened to them. What mattered it if one was
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Speaker 1: a prince and both were foreign soldiers, if neither perhaps
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Speaker 1: had adequate English, His native Cockney freedom flowed too generously
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Speaker 1: for him to think of that, and surely the Asiatic
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Speaker 1: fleets had purged all such trivial differences. Alloh, he said,
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Speaker 1: how did you get here? It is the Englishman who
8:55
Speaker 1: brought us the butter ridge machine, said the bird faced
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Speaker 1: officer in German, and then, in a tone of horror,
9:02
Speaker 1: as Bert advanced, salute, and again louder salute, gaw said Bert,
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Speaker 1: and stopped with a second comment. Under his breath. He
9:13
Speaker 1: stared and saluted awkwardly, and became at once a masked,
9:16
Speaker 1: defensive thing with whom co operation was impossible. For a time,
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Speaker 1: these two perfected modern aristocrats stood regarding the difficult problem
9:26
Speaker 1: of the Anglo Saxon citizen, that ambiguous citizen, who, obeying
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Speaker 1: some mysterious law in his blood, would neither drill nor
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Speaker 1: be a democrat. Bert was by no means a beautiful object,
9:38
Speaker 1: but in some inexplicable way he looked resistant. He wore
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Speaker 1: his cheap suit of surge, now showing many signs of wear,
9:47
Speaker 1: and its loose fit made him seem sturdier than he was.
9:51
Speaker 1: Above his disengaging face was a white German cap that
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Speaker 1: was altogether too big for him, and his trousers were
9:57
Speaker 1: crumpled up, his legs and their ins tucked into the
10:00
Speaker 1: rubber high lows of a deceased German aeronaut. He looked
10:04
Speaker 1: an inferior, though by no means an easy inferior, and
10:08
Speaker 1: instinctively they hated him. The Prince pointed to the flying
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Speaker 1: machine and said something in broken English that Bert took
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Speaker 1: for German and failed to understand. He intimated as much
10:23
Speaker 1: duber curl, said the bird faced officer. From among his bandages.
10:28
Speaker 1: The Prince pointed again, with his undamaged hand, You verstehen
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Speaker 1: this drakenflagger. Bert began to comprehend the situation. He regarded
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Speaker 1: the asiatic machine. The habits of bun Hill returned to him.
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Speaker 1: It's a foreign make, he said, ambiguously. The two Germans consulted.
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Speaker 1: You are an expert, said the prince. We reckon to repair,
10:54
Speaker 1: said Bert, in the exact manner of Grubb. The Prince
10:58
Speaker 1: sought in his vocabulary. Is d he said, goot to fly?
11:04
Speaker 1: Bert reflected and scratched his cheeks. Slowly. I got to
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Speaker 1: look at it, he replied. It's add rough usage. He
11:12
Speaker 1: made a sound with his teeth. He had also acquired
11:14
Speaker 1: from Grubb put his hands in his trouser pockets and
11:18
Speaker 1: strolled back to the machine. Typically, Grub chewed something, but
11:23
Speaker 1: Bert could chew only imaginatively. Three days work in this,
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Speaker 1: he said, teething. For the first time, it dawned on
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Speaker 1: him that there were possibilities in this machine. It was
11:35
Speaker 1: evident that the wing that lay on the ground was
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Speaker 1: badly damaged, the three stays that held it rigid had
11:41
Speaker 1: snapped across a ridge of rock, and there was also
11:43
Speaker 1: a strong possibility of the engine being badly damaged. The
11:47
Speaker 1: wing hook on that side was also a skew, but
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Speaker 1: probably that would not affect the flight. Beyond that, there
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Speaker 1: probably wasn't much the matter. Bert scratched his cheek again
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Speaker 1: and contemplated the broad sunlit waist of the upper rapids.
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Speaker 1: We might make a job of this. You leave it
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Speaker 1: to me. He surveyed it intently again, and the Prince
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Speaker 1: and his officer watched him. In bun Hill, Bert and
12:13
Speaker 1: Grubb had developed, to a very high pitch among the
12:15
Speaker 1: hiring stock a method of repair by substituting. They substituted
12:20
Speaker 1: bits of other machines. A machine that was too utterly
12:23
Speaker 1: and obviously done for even to proffer for hire, had
12:27
Speaker 1: nevertheless still capital value. It became a sort of quarry
12:31
Speaker 1: for nuts and screws and wheels, bars and spokes, chain
12:37
Speaker 1: links and the like, a mine of ill fitting parts
12:41
Speaker 1: to replace the defects of machines. Still current and back.
12:45
Speaker 1: Among the trees was a second Asiatic aeroplane. The kitten
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Speaker 1: caressed Bert's airship boots unheeded. Men dat drakenflagger, said the Prince.
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Speaker 1: If I do bend it, said Bert, struck by a
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Speaker 1: new thought, none of us ain't to be trusted to
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Speaker 1: fly it. I will fly it, said the Prince. Very
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Speaker 1: likely break your neck, said Bert. After a pause. The
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Speaker 1: Prince did not understand him and disregarded what he said.
13:15
Speaker 1: He pointed his gloved finger to the machine and turned
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Speaker 1: to the bird faced officer with some remark in German.
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Speaker 1: The officer answered, and the Prince responded with a sweeping
13:24
Speaker 1: gesture towards the sky. Then he spoke, it seemed eloquently.
13:29
Speaker 1: Bert watched him and guessed his meaning. Much more likely
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Speaker 1: to break your neck, he said, however, ere goes. He
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Speaker 1: began to cry about the saddle and engine of the
13:41
Speaker 1: draken flagger in search for tools. Also, he wanted some
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Speaker 1: black oily stuff for his hands and face, for the
13:48
Speaker 1: first rule in the art of repairing, as it was
13:51
Speaker 1: known to the firm of Grub and small Ways, was
13:53
Speaker 1: to get your hands and face thoroughly and conclusively blackened. Also,
13:58
Speaker 1: he took off his jacket and westcott, and put his
14:01
Speaker 1: cap carefully to the back of his head in order
14:03
Speaker 1: to facilitate scratching. The Prince and the officers seemed disposed
14:08
Speaker 1: to watch him, but he succeeded in making it clear
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Speaker 1: to them that this would inconvenience him, that he had
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Speaker 1: to puzzle out a bit before he could get to work.
14:17
Speaker 1: They thought him over, but his shop experience had given
14:20
Speaker 1: him something of the authoritative way of the expert with
14:24
Speaker 1: common men, and at last they went away. Thereupon, he
14:28
Speaker 1: went straight to the second aeroplane, got the aeronaut's gun
14:32
Speaker 1: and ammunition, and hid them in a clump of nettles
14:34
Speaker 1: close at hand. That's all right, said Bert, and then
14:39
Speaker 1: proceeded to a careful inspection of the debris of the
14:41
Speaker 1: wings and the trees. Then he went back to the
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Speaker 1: first aeroplane to compare the two. The bun Hill method
14:47
Speaker 1: was quite possibly practicable if there was nothing hopeless or
14:51
Speaker 1: incomprehensible in the engine. The Germans returned presently to find
14:56
Speaker 1: him already generously smutty and touching and testing now and
15:00
Speaker 1: screws and levers with an expression of profound sagacity. When
15:05
Speaker 1: the bird faced officer addressed a remark to him, he
15:08
Speaker 1: waved him aside with nong komprong shut it, it's no good.
15:15
Speaker 1: Then he had an idea dead chap back there once burying,
15:19
Speaker 1: he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Part seven.
15:24
Speaker 1: With the appearance of these two men, Bert's whole universe
15:27
Speaker 1: had changed again. A curtain fell before the immense and
15:30
Speaker 1: terrible desolation that had overwhelmed him. He was in a
15:33
Speaker 1: world of three people, a minute human world that nevertheless
15:37
Speaker 1: filled his brain with eager speculations and schemes and cunning ideas.
15:43
Speaker 1: What were they thinking of? What did they think of him?
15:46
Speaker 1: What did they mean to do? A hundred busy threads
15:49
Speaker 1: interlaced in his mind As he potted studiously over the
15:53
Speaker 1: Asiatic aeroplane, new ideas came up, like bubbles in soda water. Gaw,
16:00
Speaker 1: he said, suddenly he had just appreciated as a special
16:03
Speaker 1: aspect of this irrational injustice of fate, that these two
16:07
Speaker 1: men were alive, and that Kurt was dead. All the
16:10
Speaker 1: crew of the Hohenzoleren were shot or burnt, or smashed
16:14
Speaker 1: or drowned, and these two lurking in the padded forward
16:17
Speaker 1: cabin had escaped. I suppose he thinks it's is bloomin star,
16:24
Speaker 1: he muttered, and found himself uncontrollably exasperated. He stood up,
16:29
Speaker 1: facing round to the two men. They were standing side
16:32
Speaker 1: by side regarding him. It's no good, he said, stared
16:36
Speaker 1: at me. You only put me out, and then, seeing
16:40
Speaker 1: they did not understand, he advanced towards them, wrench in hand.
16:45
Speaker 1: It occurred to him as he did so, that the
16:47
Speaker 1: Prince was really a very big and powerful and serene
16:50
Speaker 1: looking person. But he said, nevertheless, pointing through the trees,
16:55
Speaker 1: dead Man. The bird faced man intervened with the reply
16:59
Speaker 1: in German. Dead Man said bert to him. There he
17:05
Speaker 1: had great difficulty in inducing them to inspect the dead Chinaman,
17:09
Speaker 1: and at last led them to him. Then they made
17:12
Speaker 1: it evident that they proposed that he, as a common
17:15
Speaker 1: person below the rank of officer, should have the sole
17:18
Speaker 1: and undivided privilege of disposing of the body by dragging
17:21
Speaker 1: it to the water's edge. There was some heated gesticulation,
17:26
Speaker 1: and at last the bird faced officer abased himself to help.
17:30
Speaker 1: Together they dragged the limp and now swollen asiatic through
17:33
Speaker 1: the trees, and after a rest or so for he
17:36
Speaker 1: trailed very heavily, dumped him into the westward rapid. Bert
17:41
Speaker 1: returned to his expert investigation of the flying machine, at
17:44
Speaker 1: last with aching arms and in a state of gloomy rebellion.
17:49
Speaker 1: Brasted cheek, he said, one ud think I was one
17:52
Speaker 1: of his beastly German slaves, prancing beggar, and then he
17:58
Speaker 1: felt speculating what would happened when the flying machine was repaired,
18:02
Speaker 1: if it could be repaired. The two Germans went away again,
18:07
Speaker 1: and after some reflection, Bert removed several nuts, resumed his
18:10
Speaker 1: jacket and vest, pocketed those nuts and his tools, and
18:14
Speaker 1: hid the set of tools from the second aeroplane in
18:17
Speaker 1: the fork of a tree. Right, oh, he said, as
18:20
Speaker 1: he jumped down. After the last of these precautions, the
18:24
Speaker 1: Prince and his companion reappeared. As he returned to the
18:27
Speaker 1: machine by the water's edge. The Prince surveyed his progress
18:31
Speaker 1: for a time, and then went towards the parting of
18:33
Speaker 1: the waters and stood with folded arms, gazing up stream
18:37
Speaker 1: in profound thought. The bird faced officer came up to
18:40
Speaker 1: Bert heavy with a sentence in English. Go, he said,
18:45
Speaker 1: with a helping gesture, wound. Eat. When Bert got to
18:49
Speaker 1: the refreshment shed, he found all the food had vanished,
18:53
Speaker 1: except one measured ration of corned beef and three biscuits.
18:57
Speaker 1: He regarded this with open eyes and mouth. The kitten
19:01
Speaker 1: appeared from under the vendor's seat with an ingratiating purr.
19:05
Speaker 1: Of course, said Bert, why where's your milk? He accumulated
19:10
Speaker 1: wrath for a moment or so, then seized the plate
19:13
Speaker 1: in one hand and the biscuits in another, and went
19:16
Speaker 1: in search of the Prince, breathing vile words anent Grubb
19:20
Speaker 1: and his intimate interior. He approached without saluting ere he said, fiercely,
19:27
Speaker 1: what the Devil's this? An entirely unsatisfactory altercation followed. Bert
19:33
Speaker 1: expounded the bun Hill theory of the relations of Grubb
19:36
Speaker 1: to efficiency in English. The bert faced man replied with
19:39
Speaker 1: points about nations and discipline in German. The Prince, having
19:44
Speaker 1: made an estimate of Bert's quality and physique. Suddenly hectared.
19:48
Speaker 1: He gripped Bert by the shoulder and shook him, making
19:51
Speaker 1: his pockets rattle, shouted something to him and flung him
19:55
Speaker 1: struggling back. He hit him as though he was a
19:58
Speaker 1: German private. Bert went back, white and scared, but resolved
20:03
Speaker 1: by all his cockney standers upon one thing. He was
20:06
Speaker 1: bound in honor to go for the prince. Gaw He gasped,
20:11
Speaker 1: buttoning his jacket. Now cried the Prince, will you go,
20:15
Speaker 1: and then, catching the heroic gleam in bird's eye, drew
20:19
Speaker 1: his sword. The bird faced officer intervened, saying something in German,
20:23
Speaker 1: and pointing skyward. Far away in the southwest appeared a
20:27
Speaker 1: Japanese airship coming fast toward them. Their conflict ended at that.
20:33
Speaker 1: The Prince was first to grasp the situation and lead
20:35
Speaker 1: the retreat. All three scuttles like rabbits for the trees,
20:39
Speaker 1: and ran to and for cover until they found a
20:42
Speaker 1: hollow in which the grass grew rank. There they all
20:45
Speaker 1: squatted within six yards of one another. They sat in
20:49
Speaker 1: this place for a long time, up to the necks
20:51
Speaker 1: in the grass, and watching through the branches for the airship.
20:55
Speaker 1: Bert had dropped some of his corned beef. But he
20:57
Speaker 1: found the biscuits in his hand and ate them quietly.
21:01
Speaker 1: The monster came nearly overhead, and then went away to
21:04
Speaker 1: Niagara and dropped beyond the power works. When it was near,
21:08
Speaker 1: they all kept silence, and then presently they fell into
21:11
Speaker 1: an argument that was robbed, perhaps of immediate explosive effect,
21:15
Speaker 1: only by their failure to understand one another. It was
21:19
Speaker 1: Bert began the talking, and he talked on regardless of
21:23
Speaker 1: what they understood or failed to understand. But his voice
21:26
Speaker 1: must have conveyed his cantankerous intentions. You want that machine done,
21:32
Speaker 1: he said. First, you better keep your hands off me.
21:36
Speaker 1: They disregarded that, and he repeated it. Then he expanded
21:40
Speaker 1: his idea, and the spirit of speech took hold of him.
21:43
Speaker 1: You think you got hold of a chap you can
21:45
Speaker 1: kick and hit like you do your private soldiers. You're
21:49
Speaker 1: jolly well mistaken. See I've add about enough of you
21:53
Speaker 1: and your antics. I've been thinking you over you and
21:56
Speaker 1: your war and your empire and all the rot of rot.
22:01
Speaker 1: It is. It's you Germans made all the trouble in Europe,
22:04
Speaker 1: first and last and all for nothin', just silly prancing
22:09
Speaker 1: just because you've got the uniforms and flags. Ere I was.
22:14
Speaker 1: I didn't want to have anything to do with you.
22:17
Speaker 1: I just didn't care a hang at all about you.
22:20
Speaker 1: Then you get old of me, steal me practically. And
22:23
Speaker 1: here I am thousands of miles away from home and everything,
22:27
Speaker 1: and all your silly fleets smashed up to rags, and
22:31
Speaker 1: you want to go on prancing now that if I
22:34
Speaker 1: know it, Look at the mischief you've done. Look at
22:38
Speaker 1: the way you smashed up New York, the people you killed,
22:42
Speaker 1: the stuff you wasted. Can't you learn? Dumer Carol, said
22:47
Speaker 1: the bird faced man suddenly, in a tone of concentrated malignancy,
22:51
Speaker 1: glaring under his bandages. Essel. That's German for silly ass,
22:57
Speaker 1: I know, But who's the silly ass? M or me?
23:01
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, I used to read Penny
23:03
Speaker 1: dreadfuls about avid adventures and being a great commander and
23:07
Speaker 1: all that rot I stowed it. But what's egot in
23:11
Speaker 1: is ed rot about Napoleon, rot about Alexander? Rot about
23:17
Speaker 1: is blessed family and im and guard and David and
23:20
Speaker 1: all that. Anyone who wasn't a dressed up silly fool
23:23
Speaker 1: of a Prince could have told all this was going
23:26
Speaker 1: to happen. There was us in Europe, all at sixes
23:30
Speaker 1: and sevens, with our silly flags and our silly newspapers
23:33
Speaker 1: ragging us up against each other and keeping us apart.
23:37
Speaker 1: And there was China, solid as a cheese, with millions
23:41
Speaker 1: and millions of men only wanting a bit of science
23:44
Speaker 1: and a bit of enterprise to be as good as
23:46
Speaker 1: all of us. You thought they couldn't get at you,
23:49
Speaker 1: and then they got flying machines and biff, here we are.
23:55
Speaker 1: Why when they didn't go on making guns and armies
23:57
Speaker 1: in China, we went and poked him up until they did.
24:01
Speaker 1: They ad to give us this lickin they've give us.
24:05
Speaker 1: We wouldn't be happy until they did. And as I say,
24:08
Speaker 1: here we are, the bert faced officer shouted to him
24:13
Speaker 1: to be quiet, and then began a conversation with the Prince.
24:17
Speaker 1: British citizen said, Bert, you ain't obliged to listen, but
24:21
Speaker 1: I ain't obliged to shut up. And for some time
24:25
Speaker 1: he continued his dissertation upon imperialism, militarism, and international politics.
24:32
Speaker 1: But their talking put him out, and for a time
24:34
Speaker 1: he was certainly merely repeating abusive terms prance and nincompoops
24:40
Speaker 1: and the like, old terms and new. Then suddenly he
24:44
Speaker 1: remembered his essential grievance. However, look ere ere. The thing
24:50
Speaker 1: I started this talk about is where's that food there
24:52
Speaker 1: was in that shed? That's what I want to know,
24:55
Speaker 1: where you put it? He paused. They went on talking
24:59
Speaker 1: in German. He repeated his question. They disregarded him. He
25:04
Speaker 1: asked a third time, in a manner insupportably aggressive. There
25:08
Speaker 1: fell a tense silence for some seconds. The three regarded
25:12
Speaker 1: one another. The Prince eyed Bert steadfastly, and Bert quailed
25:16
Speaker 1: under his eye. Slowly, the Prince rose to his feet,
25:20
Speaker 1: and the bird faced officer jerked up beside him. Bert
25:23
Speaker 1: remained squatting. Be quiet, said the prince. Bert perceived this
25:30
Speaker 1: was no moment for eloquence. The two Germans regarded him
25:33
Speaker 1: as he crouched there. Death for a moment seemed near.
25:38
Speaker 1: Then the Prince turned away and the two of them
25:40
Speaker 1: went towards the flying machine. Gaw whispered Bert, and then
25:46
Speaker 1: uttered under his breath one single word of abuse. He
25:49
Speaker 1: sat crouched together for perhaps three minutes. Then he sprang
25:52
Speaker 1: to his feet and went off towards the Chinese aeronaut's
25:55
Speaker 1: gun hidden among the weeds. End of Chapter nine, Parts four, five, six,
26:04
Speaker 1: and seven. Recording by William tom Coe