The Disturbing Charm

by Berta Ruck

  CHAPTER XI

  HIS BRIDAL NIGHT

  "Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind To war and arms I fly.

  Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore, I could not love thee, Dear, so much, Loved I not Honour more."

  Lovelace.

  Mrs. Cartwright's intuition had been perfectly right.

  Jack Awdas was up during the raid over London. He was up to somepurpose, as his comrades and three other airmen (prisoners of war) couldtell.

  But here is his own version of the affair, as told by him, on thefollowing day, to his young wife.

  "When that warning came through, you see, I felt that it was for me too. I don't know what my own idea was when I went off with old Ross. He said, 'What the something do _you_ want to come along for?' I said, 'All right; shut up.' I didn't know, you know. Queer, wasn't it? All I knew was that I had got to go too, instead of bringing you back here as I'd thought.... I'd _got_ to leave you, girl."

  She listened, leaning back now in his happy arms. She listened, alleyes. His own blue eyes had been deep in hers, locked to them with thelover's look that is another embrace. But now he took them from hers.He glanced aside and away, and into Jack Awdas's eyes there crept backone of those two other looks which were characteristic of him. It wasthe "yonderly" look that sees what is not for all to see.

  "Somehow," he said, "I knew I just couldn't stay with you. I'd got to goup, and Lord only knew how it was going to be managed, or how I wasgoing to get out of the 'drome in time, even. There wasn't a taxi insight. Ross and I walked on to the Honeycomb, or half ran, half walked.Going up Whitehall he said, 'Jack, you darned fool, go back; what'swrong?' I said, 'Nothing; shut up, old thing, if you don't mind.'

  "In the courtyard of the Honeycomb we nearly ran into a tiny littledispatch-rider girl with a side-car. I didn't know until just now thatit was young Brown's widow that he was going to marry, that we'd heardabout at dinner! She'd brought some man in, and was just starting up; Isaid to her, 'Where are you for?' She said, 'Home! and time, too.''Where's home?' said I, and I believe she told me it was BakerStreet.... But just as I was asking her I began to see what I'd got todo. It began to come to me then, d'you see?

  "I said to the girl, 'Look here, I'm sorry, you can't go home yet.You've got to drive me out to my 'drome, and I told her where that was.Half an hour's ride into the country. We did it in less. I told her I'dgot to get to my 'bus, and that she'd got to go hell-for-leather; and wedid it in less....

  "You see, I'd got to take that machine across at ten o'clock nextmorning. Had to: duty. (You knew about that, of course.) But if I couldonly get her up a few hours before that! I thought.... There she was,waiting. There were dozens of our chaps up already, I knew. Here wasI----and I couldn't stand it, somehow. Not last night. Just because it_was_ that night. It would have spoilt it. You see, don't you? Yes; Ithought you would. I wouldn't think of you then; except to think 'It's_her_ I'm going to give Them.' I don't even know what 'them'meant----(This sounds such rot, girl, that I couldn't possibly tellanybody else, but there you are.... I won't kiss you again until I'vetold you the end of this.)

  "Well, we chased along the roads in the moonlight at the deuce of alick, coming round the corners on the edge of one wheel. Just imagineit! Me and that side-car, and that girl of Brown's----No more idea itwas his girl----! She's only about so-size; I thought she was a kid offifteen like one of those little brown messengers with pigtails that gotrotting about the corridors, and by Jove, I tried to _tip_ her! I did!I didn't know. I hadn't any silver on me after all those tips and thingsin the afternoon, after we were married. I just lugged out my note-caseand got out a couple of John Bradburys--the last. I stuffed 'em into herhand. 'Here, thanks awfully!' I said; 'do buy yourself a hat-pin or somesweets or something----' She did laugh! 'You won't?' I said--shestuffing them back for all she was worth. 'Oh well, sorry if I've made abreak,' I said, 'can't stop to explain now--thanks awfully--Good night!'and up I legged it to the gates, holding those notes in my hand all thetime....

  "You know, I hadn't my papers or orders or anything! Neck, wasn't it?_I_ didn't know what on earth I was going to ask the Adjutant!Sometimes when you want a thing it's a good deal better not to ask ...just go and grab it, and explain afterwards.

  "Well, then I had a bit of luck.

  "Scurrying through the gates, I ran straight into Dashmold himself; thatis the Adjutant. (A stinker on duty.)

  "'Ha, Awdas!' he said, 'can't stop now, the Colonel's just rung me upfrom his house. See you in half an hour.'

  "'Rightoh,' I said, and dashed ahead, thanking my lucky stars--for thisonly left me with our assistant adjutant, always a bit of an ass. Ichased off to the orderly-room and found him.

  "'Hello, Awdas,' he squeaked. (Voice rather like George Clarke at theEmpire; pink and white face.)

  "'I suppose you know there's a raid on?' I said. 'I've come for that'bus.' He said, 'What about your papers?' I said, 'Yes, hand 'em over,that's all right. I've just this moment spoken to Dashmold.' (So I had;just said 'Rightoh' to him.) 'Those are my orders,' I said, 'in thatpile there. Chuck 'em over. Thanks.' So that was _that_....

  "Then off I streaked to the Officers' Quarters to get into my things.Not a soul there. You know. It's a long corridor with a row of littlecubicles not much bigger than the dressing-rooms at the swimming bath.Just hold a camp-bed and a chest of drawers and a row of pegs.... ByJove, if some thief hadn't pinched my kit. Some one got into the firstthat was handy, I suppose, when they got the warning. I'll have hisblood for that, later. So in I nipped to one cubicle after another. Allempty. I thought I wasn't going to find a stitch. However! At last Icame to one; there it was, a lovely outfit all hanging ready on thepegs. Man called Jackson. He'd got leave. Well! I plunged into his coatand overalls and flying-cap and goggles, all the lot! quicker thananything I've ever done in my life. I remember I'd got those blessedpound notes still in my hand. I shoved them into my teeth while Idressed. Then down I doubled to the hangars.

  "About a dozen of the ac emmas--those are mechanics, dear--were waitingabout there. I switched the lights on.

  "There was my 'bus all ready for tomorrow morning--ah, a beauty! Yes,the one you saw on Thursday, that I'd been making the trial flight in;the single-seater Scout monoplane. I'd always fancied her. She ran alittle light, but I liked that. I'd got her balanced; just right for me.I.T. All ready, tanks filled up and everything. The gun was on her,but----Dash it! No ammunition, of course. That did me.

  "Then I saw Smithers. (He's the Quartermaster's nephew.) I said,'Smithers! Jump to it ... here you are, take this' (the last two quid Ihad on me, that Brown's widow refused), 'and get me two drums ofammunition. How? _I_ don't know. Somehow. Off with you and give you fiveminutes to get back in.' Off he streaked. Then I said to the others,'Now, you men, get a move on. Get her out.' They wheeled her out of thehangar and into the moonlight.

  "Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you all about something, though. Even atthe time I noticed it. (The sort of funny little thing you do noticewhen you aren't really thinking of anything except getting on withwhat's on.) It was tied round the joy-stick! You know, dear, your bit ofribbon that I've always kept as a mascot since that day on the beach.I'd tied it on just before the trial flight. It's always been on, youknow, on whatever 'bus I've been flying. I meant it to, until you weremine, and then I was going to give it back to you, Girl, because itwouldn't matter which of us two had the Luck _then_; it would be thesame thing.

  "I looked at it once as I was waiting, and I remember thinking to myselfquickly, in the sort of rum way, like you think of things in dreams, 'ByJove, I suppose that's the most precious prize I've owned, up to now.'

  "But after that I just looked at my watch and stamped as I stood waitingfor those blighted drums. I'd given Smithers five minutes. Lord, if hecouldn't do it. I----It seemed a thundering important thing to me, yousee: the most important I
'd ever had to do. You do know why, don't you?You do understand?"

  Golden's great eyes upon his face were as full of understanding as thetone of her simple "yes." Her young husband gave a short, contented nod,then he went on:

  "Well! So then I saw Smithers, coming running back. 'Got 'em?' Ishouted. 'Right, sir!' he shouted back. Up he came with those two drumshe'd got (God knows _how_). I fixed one on the gun myself, and put theother handy.

  "'Start her up,' I said. I climbed in, and the boys swung the propeller.I gave 'em 'Contact,' and then I was up and off.... Hadn't been off theearth for a week. And, by the way, I hadn't gone up to fight since thetime I crashed.

  "Yes, of course, it was a perfectly idiotic thing to do. I hadn't gotthe night's Orders any more than I'd orders to go and stand by withRoss, where you thought I was. I didn't know if we were fighting withguns or planes or both, nor where nor when nor anything about it.However!----.

  "What did London look like from up there? Oh, just all dark, you know:like a great turned-up field below you, with the river winding throughit. What you do see very plainly is that silver ribbon of the Thames,reflecting the light of the sky.

  "You think the sky's big, don't you? Well, it isn't so big when you canbumble into your own barrage at any moment, or when a Hun you canneither see nor hear lets fly suddenly. But I could see shrapnelbreaking away to the south-west, so I just beetled off after that....

  "Then I'm dashed if those three blighters in their big plane didn'tnearly run me down. Yes, I s'pose she'd be the plane you and Mrs.Cartwright heard over the house. Was she missing it all?"

  "Missing?" repeated the fascinated Golden. "Why, how could I know?"

  "Well, anyway, she was somewhere over that part of town. They'd jumpedthe barrage and got in. I circled round, climbing all I knew, and then Iguess they dropped those two bombs to lighten themselves.

  "The searchlight fellows down below were dazzling away to beat the band.You could see nothing but jumping flashes all over the show, putting 'emoff their aim. Me too. Perfectly poisonous. I cursed, but I knew I'd nobusiness there....

  "Well, that Scout of mine could climb as quick as any Gotha built yet,so I gave them twenty rounds or so right into 'em. They didn't likethat, so I gave 'em some more. They fired back, but nothing to hurt. Thenext go, they decided to give it up, I think. They headed for thesouth-west again. Evidently they were going to chance the barrage. Bon!Anyway, if they were, so was I.

  "And oh, Girl, if you knew how I wanted to get them! I wanted to getthose raiding Huns, if I had to chase them to the coast and across andright to Berlin. As Ross says, 'I wanted to let 'em have it where Dorawore the beads.' I felt 'I must. I'll die if I don't, and I----'

  "D'you know what I did? This is one of the most idiotic bits yet, butI'm going to tell you the lot.... Generally, I don't think I'msuperstitious. Some fellows are; well, I'd known one perfectly sane andsensible fellow, who, when he was mad keen after something he wanted,winning some event, or something----he'd turn money out of his pocket--asovereign, say, in the days when we had sovereigns, or a handful ofsilver----and throw it away. Pitch it right away, you know, to buy himluck. Well, I thought of it then. If I could buy that German plane!So----

  "I pulled off my glove as I buzzed along after 'em and made a diveinside my jacket for money. Then I remembered I hadn't a bean on me. I'dgiven my last two quid to Smithers, and here I was, and I wanted to buythat Gotha, I tell you! I'd have bought her with anything I'd got,money, ring, every last thing----

  "Then I remembered.

  "It was on the joy-stick, the thing I valued. Your little mascot! Iripped it off. I gave one look round to where those beggars were headingfor the barrage, and then chucked that bit of ribbon out over where Iguessed you might be. (Perfectly absurd, of course. The wind whisked itaway.) ... And as I chucked it I shouted something out. Somebody's name.

  "No! You can't guess whose name it was. Nobody'd have thought it. Thefunny thing about it was, it wasn't even the name I meant to shout. Imeant to shout out 'Cheer O, Girl!' I heard myself yelling out instead,'Cheer O, _Ferris_!'

  "He was the observer I used to have. Killed, last year.... Somehow, justthen, I forgot that; I felt as if he were with me. Then! I thought 'GoodLord, fancy if old Ferris----'

  "Then I didn't think any more; I settled down to business. Well, as youknow, I did have to chase 'em to the coast, those dashed Archies poppingall the way. _At_ the coast the Archies were----say really hot. Thenthose sea-planes took a hand, but it wasn't the seaplane that got her._I_ got her! Got her right over Beachy Head.

  "I knew I'd done it the moment he turned about. I'd put half a drumright into her engines, and she wouldn't want to land in the sea (ratherIrish).

  "Suddenly a searchlight blazed right on the pair of us, and the Archiesstopped, just like the band stops and the limelight concentrates for thereally tricky bit of the show with those acrobats at a music-hall....

  "But this was dead easy, the rest of it. I just circled above her like abuzzard, driving her down, down, all the time. I didn't fire at her anymore, because you could tell within twenty yards where she was going toland, and I knew the lads of the village were all ready and waiting forher. One bad wobble she gave and pitched straight down. I sheered off abit for fear of getting any bombs, but she'd drop her last one on theway. She simply came down end on like shying a lump of clay at a board.Then I landed, tumbled out, and legged it up the slope as fast as Icould; just in time to see 'em getting out all the three Huns alive.

  "'My bird, I think,' says I, running up all out of breath.

  "Then a chap beside me spoke out of the dark, 'Hi! Who are you?'

  "I couldn't see him, so I said, 'D'you mind telling me who _you_ are?'

  "He pulled a torch out of his pocket and showed it on himself. AStaff-major. So we shook hands, and he congratulated me.... Then I feltrather a fool," laughed Jack Awdas, "for he asked me my name.

  "'Well, as a matter of fact, Sir,' I said, and stopped.

  "'Well what?' he asked.

  "'Well, as a matter of fact, I'm not supposed to be here at all.'

  "'Oh?' he barked. 'Got any orders on you?'

  "I had; from the Assistant Adjutant. I pulled 'em out and he read themby the light of his torch.

  "'H'm,' he said, 'taking a machine to France, but I see by this you'renot due to start until tomorrow morning. It's now two, ac emma. How'sthis?'

  "Well, when you're cornered like that I always think there's only onething for it; pure cheek. So, as bold as brass, I gave a look at theorders myself, and then said, 'I rather fancy this must be a clericalerror, sir. My verbal orders were to start today, and I can't have beentwo hours on the way yet?'

  "I fancied I heard him give a chuckle in the dark, but all he said was,'Well, this will be a serious matter for you.'

  "'Oh, I hope not, Sir,' I said.

  "'A serious matter,' says he. 'If you'd been sent up to chase Hun planesyou might have got the D.S.O. for this. But you see what it means now?'

  "'What?' I asked.

  "'Well! This being an act outside the course of your duty,' he said, 'it_may_ mean the Victoria Cross!'"

  Golden Awdas gasped. "Then, think of it, Bird-boy! You'll only havetraded _my_ ribbon," she exclaimed, "for that wonderful other! Nowwasn't that a prize----"

  But the wide and distant stare had gone now from her airman's eyes.These had returned to her; his sweet American who had journeyed across aworld before he had found her, his love whom he had loved enough toleave, knowing that it might be for ever.... His blue eyes were lockedinto hers again for a moment with his lover's look that now sent a waveof pink fire flaming into her face and down her throat. Against thatperfect throat he buried eyes and lips.

  "'Think?' I needn't think of anything else now, Girl," he whispered."_You're_ my prize!"

  * * * * *

  That was Jack Awdas's story of his share in the raid.

  The evening papers announced:

  "Bomb
s were dropped in several districts, but no material damage wascaused. A woman and two children were slightly injured.

  "One German aeroplane was brought down on the coast by a pilot of theRoyal Flying Corps."

  The German account read:

  "A successful raid was carried out by our airmen over London last night.Good results were obtained, and large fires were seen to break out invarious districts.

  "All our aeroplanes returned safely."