Mary was first and looked only a
second at the gently bobbing basket abutting the ledge before stepping in.
Inside the basket was a small step stool. Moto helped her in with a steady hand
and guided her to one of the benches on either side of the basket. They were
covered in bright fabric covered pillows. Mary found the seat to be very
comfortable. However she sat there with a small frown, she could not help it.
“Is there
something wrong?” Liza asked as she came onboard next, worried that Mary was
upset.
“Oh no, not
really, It is so wonderful, but I was hoping, I was wondering, since it is my
first time, if perhaps I could sit a bit closer to the edge?”
Liza gave a small
laugh, as did Moto.
“Yes, of course!”
Moto said. “I sat you in the middle because I knew this was your first time.
Most people wish to sit as far from the edge as possible, they get dizzy
looking down.”
Mary looked
thoughtful for a moment, stood up slowly and, grabbing the basket edge firmly,
peered over, staring down into the garden so very far below. Then she looked
back up and back to Moto and Liza, who were watching her closely.
“Well, I suspect
that the view will only get better, and, who knows, I might be begging to crawl
under blanket within a minute of takeoff, but I suspect I will instead be
thrilled with the view. So, I should be alright I think.”
“Excellent” sad
Liza, sitting down next to where Mary was standing. Mary sat down and arranged
the pillows at her back.
“The view are amazing” Liza said “We’ll be going
over the very center of London, and the Thames” she explained at the Colonel
and the General climbed on board. “If you have never seen London from the eye
of a bird, well, then you’ve never really seen London.”
Mary nodded
solemnly, picturing how small London would look and realizing, for the first
time, just how high they would be going.
Liza patted Mary’s
knee gently. “You’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
“Are we all set
then?” the General asked as he and the colonel made themselves comfortable on
the other end of the basket.
“We are ready!”
Moto said with a flourish and with a practiced move he pulled on the ropes that
attached the sedan to the cast iron poles. With only the slightest lurch, the
basket parted from the patio and drifted into the space between the houses.
Within seconds they cleared the roofs altogether and began to ascend over
London.
“We’re off” Liza
whispered...
Chapter Four
The sedan rose gently
into the still morning air. The giant propeller at the end of the basket lazily
turned around and around, smoothly pushing the sedan away from the house.
Within a minute they were several hundred feet above the patio and leaving the
row of houses in the neighborhood, and going across the main road.
Mary hesitantly
peered over the edge of the basket at first, but then, feeling more confident,
stuck her entire head out and looked down below.
“It’s amazing!”
She shouted, startling the Colonel. Mary sat back down and laughed. “Sorry Uncle!”
she said. He waved her off and turned to continue talking to the General.
“So Liza, you must
tell me all about this Mr. Cogwright. The books are very vague about him I must
say. I was up to all hours looking through Uncle’s ballooning volumes, sorry,
‘sailing’ books, but Mr. Cogwright is only mentioned in one entry.”
“Really?” Liza
said.
“Yes, it said he
was one of the best navigators of his day, but he retired after a tragedy. It
did not say what that was…”
“No, I should
suspect not, it was almost too horrible for words…” Liza said with an air of
drama. Mary said nothing but stared at Liza.
“Well,” Liza said
after an awkward several beats. “Aren’t you going to ask me what it was?”
“Oh! Am I supposed
too? I just assumed you were going to tell me. I am sorry Liza, I Am not all
that good at small talk. Mother says it is a fault.”
“Well, I am sure
your mother means well, but small talk is for small minds. You are right dear
Mary, I was going to tell you either way. So… yes, it was too horrible for
words… almost.” Liza gave a wry smile and went on. “He was a navigator on one
of the first governmental exploration units. The Crown sent out several ships
with exploring teams. Mr. Cogwright was on a smaller one, just himself, as the
navigator, together with the pilot and a first mate. It’s not clear what
happened exactly, but evidently the pilot fell out of the basket to his death!”
“Did they find his
body?” Mary asked, in a tone of voice as if Liza had just told her lunch was
cold ham.
“Well yes, they
did. In a field several days later. Terrible, terrible thing.”
“I suspect so, a
body, out of doors for several days… Did the First mate collaborate on Mr.
Cogwright’s story?”
“Well that is the
very curious thing. There is no mention that I have found of the first mate at
all. Grandfather had clippings from the paper and while he is listed on the
crew, there is no mention of him in the articles themselves.”
“Curious. Why did
Mr. Cogwright retire then, was he accused of anything?”
“No, never
anything, but he did announce he would no longer act as navigator. I suspect he
was getting on in years perhaps.”
“Yes, well, we
shall ask him. But why are we going to see him? Surely not just to ask about
his old age pension plans?”
Liza gave a small
laugh. “No, no. Grandfather and I mean to bring him out of retirement.”
“Back as navigator?”
“Yes.”
“But what for?
Moto seems capable, and I suspect that you yourself can find your way around…”
“Well, Southern
England perhaps, but where we’re going-“
“Which is where,
exactly?”
“Today?”
“No, not today… if
you are going to hire Mr.Cogwright…”
Just then the
General stood up.
“Moto,my good man,
perhaps I could steer us over the Thames and out of town?”
“Yes sir.. I mean,
certainly Robert. I can tend to the propeller, it needs to be cranked up or we
shall never get up north.”
Mary leaned over
to Liza. “Why does he do that?”
“Do what, who?”
“Moto, he
addresses your Grandfather as General and then Robert.”
“Oh, yes, well,
Grandfather is very progressive in some ways. Moto served in the King’s army,
but Grandfather wishes to treat him as an equal. So he insists Moto call him by
his Christian name.”
“What on earth
for? Clearly Moto is uncomfortable with doing so…”
“It’s the
principle of the thing Mary. We English cannot treat peoples from the colonies
as inferiors.”
“Yet if Moto were
Cockney I bet your Grandfather would make him call him General, right?”
“Well, that would
be different…”
Mary made a small
sound but said nothing.
“Mary!’ The
general bellowed and it was Mary’s turn to jump a little. “Come up here young
lady. Have you ever steered a ship before?”
“No sir.” Mary
said in a small voice as she stood up. Grabbing the side of the basket she
unsteadily walked the three short steps so she was under the burner.
“Here” The general
said, “This is the tiller. Unlike a water ship, this tiller turns not the tiller,
but the propeller itself left or right. That way we can turn. The gas above you
determines out height. Turn the flame up to go up, down to go down. Easy enough
I suspect no?”
“Yes sir.” Mary
took the tiller stick from the general with a nervous tentative hand.
“That’s it, just
gently steer us left. It’s backwards, you know.”
“Yes” Mary said,
smiling a tight smile as she carefully pushed the tiller to the right.
“We’ll make a
pilot out of you yet!” The general laughed.
Moto stood up from
the propeller box he had been hunched over.
“General sir!”
“Moto, Moto,
please, call me Robert, I won’t-
‘“Yes sir, Robert!
Please observe the large Channel passenger ship coming dead ahead!”
“Good Lord” The
General shouted and took the tiller from Mary, who back away as fast as she
could.
‘Get down!”
shouted Liza. Mary stood for a moment. Not a hundred meters from them was a
massive airship heading straight their way. It seemed to cover the entire sky
in its massive grey-ness. From straight on it was over a 100 meters wide and
easily 200 meters tall. Attached to its underbelly was a large enclosed cabin
the size of a small house.
“We can’t steer
clear!” The general shouted “Not enough room”
Moto stumbled over
the crouching Liza who was still attempting to pull Mary down.
“We’ll have to
dive then sir!” Moto shouted as he cut the flame. Within second the balloon
started a rapid, almost violent descent, causing Mary to fall over onto of
Liza. Suddenly a very loud horn sounded.
“Now you see us?”
The general shouted, shakings fist at the larger balloon. The basket rocked
dangerously as they fell another 100 yards. Calmly, and with seeming practiced
ease, Moto flicked the burner wide open and a massive flame erupted into the
balloon. The basket lurched and stopped falling. All five passengers looked up
as much as they could, trying to see beyond the green balloon filling the sky.
Slowly, they saw grey emerge above, coming not he left side as the channel ship
glided overtop their balloon, safely some dozen yards above the top of their
balloon.
“Too close”
muttered Moto and the general murmured agreement.
‘Are you alright?”
The colonel asked, trying to help Mary disentangled herself from Liza. They two
women stood up and looked at each other. Their clothes were ruffled and their
hair out of place, but otherwise unharmed. They burst into laughter at seeing
each other’s shocked faces.
“Well” said Liza,
brushing off hair from Mary’s shoulder “That was not on the itinerary!”
“No, I suspect
not” Mary said matter-of-factly and Liza laughed. “What was that?”
“That” Moto
answered “was a Cunard Channel ship, bloody stupid too!”
“Moto! Language!”
Liza said, but Mary did not seem to hear.
“It would be
helpful if we had known to look for it would not it? Is there some sort of
timetable for then they sail?”
“Yes, surely” Moto
said.
“But there are
dozens of ships at any given time, not to mention people like ourselves” The
General said. “It would be impossible to keep track of all of the ships in the
air at any given moment…”
“Yes.” Mary said
“But if there was way to signal to other ships.”
“Like the horn?”
Liza said.
“Maybe, but
something better…” Mary stared at the horizon.
“Ah there she
goes” said the Colonel “No use talking to her just now. She’s thinking.”
Liza gave a small
laugh “Well good for her.”
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