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Speaker 1: The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle. The

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idea that the extraordinary narrative, which has been called the

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Joyce Armstrong Fragment, is an elaborate, practical joke evolved by

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some unknown person cursed by a perverted and sinister sense

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of humor, has now been abandoned by all who have

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examined the matter. The most macab and imaginative of plotters

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would hesitate before linking his morbid fantasies with the unquestioned

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and tragic facts which reinforce the statement. Though the assertions

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contained in it are amazing and even monstrous, it is

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nonetheless forcing itself upon the general intelligence that they are true,

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and that we must readjust our ideas to the new situation.

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This world of ours appears to be separated by a

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slight and precarious margin of safety from a most singular

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and unexpected danger. I will endeavor in this narrative, which

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reproduces the original document, and it is necessarily somewhat fragmentary form,

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to lay before the reader the whole of the facts

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up to date. Prefacing my statement by saying that there

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be any who doubt the narrative of Joyce Armstrong. There

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can be no question at all as to the facts

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concerning Lieutenant Myrtle r N and mister hay Connor, who

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undoubtedly met their end in the manner described. The Joyce

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Armstrong fragment was found in the field which is called

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Lower Haycock, lying one mile to the westward of the

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village of Withiam upon the Kent and Sussex border. It

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was on the fifteenth September last that an agricultural laborer,

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James Flynn and the employment of Matthew Dodd, farmer of

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the Chauntry Farm with him, perceived a briar pipe lying

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near the footpath which skirts the hedge in Lower Haycock.

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A few paces farther on he picked up a pair

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of broken binocular glasses. Finally, among some nettles in the ditch,

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he caught sight of a flat cat anvespacked book which

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proved to be a notebook with detachable leaves, some of

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which had come loose and were fluttering along the base

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of the hedge. These he collected, but some, including the first,

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were never recovered and leave a deplorable hiatus. In this

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all important statement, the notebook was taken by the laborer

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to his master, who in turn showed it to doctor J.

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H Atherton of Hartfield. This gentleman at once recognized the

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need for an expert examination, and the manuscript is forwarded

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to the Aero Club in London, where it now lies.

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The first two pages of the manuscript are missing. There

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is also one torn away at the end of the narrative,

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though none of these affect the general coherence of the story.

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It is conjectured that the missing opening is concerned with

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the record of mister Joyce Armstrong's qualifications as an aeronaut,

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which can be gathered from other sources, and are admitted

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to be unsurpassed among the air pilots of England. For

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many years, he has been looked to upon as among

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the most daring and most intellectual of flying men, a

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combination which has enabled them to both invent and test

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several new devices, including the common gyroscopic attachment, which is

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known by his name. The main body of the manuscript

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is written neatly in ink, but the last few lines

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are in pencil and are so ragged as to be

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hardly legible, exactly in fact as they might be expected

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to appear if they were scribbled out hurriedly from the

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seed of a moving aeroplane. There are, it may be added,

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several stains, both on the last page and on the

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outside cover, which have been pronounced by the Home Office

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experts to be blood, probably human and certainly mammalian. The

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fact that something closely resembling the organism of malaria was

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discovered in this blood, and that Joyce Armstrong is known

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to have suffered from intermittent fever, is a remarkable example

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of the new weapons which modern science is placed in

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the hands of our detectives. And now a word as

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to the personality of the author of this epoch making statement.

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Joyce Armstrong, according to the few friends who really knew

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something of the man, was a poet and a dreamer,

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as well as a mechanic and an inventor. He was

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a man of considerable wealth, much of which he had

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spent in the pursuit of his aeronautical hobby. He had

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four private aeroplanes and his hangars near Devizes, and is

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said to have made no fewer than one hundred and

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seventy a cents in the course of last year. He

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was a retiring man with dark moods in which he

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would avoid the society of his fellows. Captain Dangerfield, who

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knew him better than anyone, says that there were times

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when his eccentricity threatened to develop into something more serious.

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His habit of carrying a shotgun with him in his

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aeroplane was one manifestation of it. Another was the morbid

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effect which the fall of Lieutenant Myrtle had upon his mind. Myrtle,

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who was attempting the height record, fell from an altitude

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of something over thirty thousand feet horrible to narrate. His

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head was entirely obliterated, though his body and limbs preserved

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their configuration. At every gathering of airman Joyce Armstrong, according

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to Dangerfield, would ask, with an enigmatic smile, and where

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pray is Myrtle's head. On another occasion, after dinner at

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the mess of the Flying School on Salisbury Plane, he

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started a debate as to what will be the most

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permanent danger which airman will have to encounter. Having listened

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to successive opinions as to air pockets fall, to construction

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and over banking, he ended by shrugging his shoulders and

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refusing to put forward his own views, though he gave

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the impression that they differed from any advanced by his companions.

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It is worth remarking that after his own complete disappearance,

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it was found that his private affairs were arranged with

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a precision, which may show that he had a strong

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premonition of disaster. With these essential explanations, I will now

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give the narrative exactly as it stands, beginning at page

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three of the Blood Soaked note Book. Nevertheless, when I

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dined at Reims with Coselli and Gustav Raymond, I found

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that neither of them was aware of any particular danger

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in the higher layers of the atmosphere. I did not

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actually say what was in my thoughts, but I got

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so near to it that if they had any corresponding idea,

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they could not have failed to express it. But then

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they are two empty, vinglorious fellows, with no thought beyond

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seeing their silly names in the newspaper. It is interesting

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to note that neither of them had ever been much

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beyond the twenty thousand foot level. Of course, men have

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been higher than this, both in balloons and in the

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ascent of mountains. It must be well above that point

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that the aeroplane enters the danger zone. Always presuming that

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my premonitions are correct. Aeroplaning has been with us now

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for more than twenty years, and one might well ask

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why should this peril be only revealing itself in our day.

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The answer is obvious. In the old days of weak engines,

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when one hundred horsepower Gnome or Green was considered ample

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for every need, the flights were very restricted. Now that

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three hundred horse power is the rule rather than the exception,

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visits to the upper layers have become easier and more common.

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Some of us can remember how in our youth Garros

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made a worldwide reputation by attaining nineteen thousand feet and

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it was considered a remarkable achievement to fly over the Alps.

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Our standard now has been immeasurably raised, and there are

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twenty high flights for one. In former years, many of

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them have been undertaken with impunity. The thirty thousand foot

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level has been reached time after time with no discomfort

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beyond cold and asthma. What does this prove? A visitor

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might descend upon this planet a thousand times and never

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see a tiger, Yet tigers exist, and if he chanced

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to come down into a jungle, he might be devoured.

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There are jungles of the upper end, and there are

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worse things than tigers which inhabit them. I believe in

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time they will map these jungles accurately out. Even at

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the present moment I could name two of them. One

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of them lies over the Powell Barittz district of France.

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Another is just over my head as I write here

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in my house in Wiltshire. I rather think there is

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a third in the Hamburg Wiesbaden district. It was the

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disappearance of the airmen that first set me thinking. Of course,

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everyone said that they had fallen into the sea, but

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that did not satisfy me at all. First there was

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very air in France. His machine was found near Bayonne,

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but they never got his body. There was the case

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of Baxter, also who vanished, though his engine and some

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of the iron fixings were found in a wood in Leicestershire.

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In that case, doctor Middleton of Amesbury, who was watching

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the flight with a telescope, declares that just before the

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clouds obscured the view, he saw the machine, which was

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at an enormous height, suddenly rise perpendicularly upwards in a

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succession of jerks in a manner that he would have

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thought to be impossible. That was the last scene of Baxter.

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There was a correspondence in the papers, but it never

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led to anything. There were several other similar cases, and

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then there was the death of hay Connor. What a

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cackle there was about an unsolved mystery of the air

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and what columns in the halfpenny papers, And yet how

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little was ever done to get to the bottom of

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the business. He came down on a tremendous vaulplane from

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an unknown height. He never got off his machine and

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died in his pilot's seat. Died of what heart disease?

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Said the doctors rubbish hey Connor's heart was as sound

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as mine is? What did Venables say? Venables was the

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only man who was at his side when he died.

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He said that he was shivering and looked like a

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man who had been badly scared. Died of fright, said Vannah,

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but could not imagine what he was frightened about. Only

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said one word to Venables, which sounded like monstrous. They

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could make nothing of that at the inquest, but I

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could make something of it. Monsters. That was the last

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word of poor Harry hay Connor. And he did die

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of fright, just as Venables thought. And then there was

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Myrtle's head. Do you really believe does anybody really believe

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that a man's head could be driven clean into his

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body by the force of a fall. Well, perhaps it

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may be possible, but I, for one have never believed

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that it was so with myrtle. And the grease upon

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his clothes, all slimy with grease, said somebody at the inquest.

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Queer than nobody got thinking after that, I did, But

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then I had been thinking for a good long time.

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I've made three a cents. How Dangerfield used to chaff

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me about my shotgun, but I've never been high enough. Now,

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with this new light Paula machine, and it's one hundred

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and seventy five rober, I should easily touch the thirty thousand.

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Tomorrow I'll have a shot at the record. Maybe I

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shall have a shot at something else as well. Of course,

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it's dangerous. If a fellow wants to avoid danger, he'd

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best keep out of flying all together and subside finally

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into flannel slippers in a dressing gown. But I'll visit

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the air jungle tomorrow, and if there's anything there, I

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shall know it. If I return, I'll find myself a

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bit of a celebrity. If I don't, this notebook may

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explain what I am trying to do and how I

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lost my life in doing it, but I'll drivel about

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accidents or mysteries, if you please. I chose my Paul

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Verona monoplan for the job. There is nothing like a

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monoplan when real work is to be done. Beaumont found

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that out in very early days. For one thing, it

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doesn't mind damp and the weather looks as if we

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should be in the clouds all the time. It's a

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body little model and answers my hand like a tender

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mouth horse. The engine is a ten cylinder rotary rober

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working up to one hundred and seventy five. It is

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all the modern improvements, enclosed uselage, high curved landing, skids, brakes,

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gyroscopic steadi ears and three speeds, worked by an alteration

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of the angle of the planes upon the Venetian blind principle.

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I took a shotgun with me and a dozen cartridges

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filled with buckshot. You should have seen the face of Perkins,

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my old mechanic, when I directed him to put them in.

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I was dressed like an Arctic explorer, with two jerseys

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under my overalls, thick socks inside, my padded boots, a

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storm cap with flaps, and my TALC goggles. It was

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stifling outside the hangars, but I was going for the

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summit of the Himalayasinet to dress for the part. Perkins

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knew there was something on and implored me to take

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him with me. Perhaps I should if I were using

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the biplane. But a monoplane is a one man show

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if you want to get the last foot of life

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out of it. Of course, so I took an oxygen bag.

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The man who goes for the altitude record without one

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will either be frozen or smothered, or both. I had

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a good look at the planes, the rudder bar, and

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the elevating lever before I got in. Everything was in order,

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so far as I could see. Then I switched on

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my engine and found that she was running sweetly. When

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they let her go, she rose almost at once upon

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the lowest speed. I circled my home field once or

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twice just to warm her up, and then with a

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wave to Perkins and the others, I flattened out my

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planes and put her on her highest She skimmed like

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a swallow down wind for eight or ten miles, until

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I turned her nose up a little and she began

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to climb in a great spiral for the cloud bank

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above me. It's all important to rise slowly and adapt

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yourself to the pressure as you go. It was a close,

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warm day for in English September, and there was the

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hush and heaviness and pending rain. Now and then there

239
00:13:54,919 --> 00:13:58,240
came sudden puffs of wind from the southwest, one of

240
00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,960
them so gusty and unexpected that it caught me napping

241
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,600
and turned me half round for an instant. I remember

242
00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,039
the time when gusts and whirls and air pockets used

243
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,480
to be things of danger, before we learned to put

244
00:14:09,519 --> 00:14:13,759
an overmastering power into our engines. Just as I reached

245
00:14:13,759 --> 00:14:17,200
the cloud banks with an altimeter marking three thousand down,

246
00:14:17,279 --> 00:14:21,120
came the rain. My word, how it poured. It drummed

247
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,519
upon my wings and lashed against my face, blurring my

248
00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,279
glasses so that I could hardly see. I got down

249
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,679
onto a low speed, for it was painful to travel

250
00:14:29,679 --> 00:14:33,120
against it. As I got higher, it became hail, and

251
00:14:33,159 --> 00:14:35,679
I had to turn tail to it. One of my

252
00:14:35,799 --> 00:14:39,159
cylinders was out of action, a dirty plug, I should imagine.

253
00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,120
But still I was rising steadily with plenty of power.

254
00:14:43,399 --> 00:14:46,120
After a bit the trouble passed, whatever it was, and

255
00:14:46,159 --> 00:14:49,080
I heard the full, deep throated purr. The ten singing

256
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,480
is won. That's where the beauty of our modern silencers

257
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,279
come in. We can at last control our engines by ear,

258
00:14:56,879 --> 00:14:59,559
how they squeal and squeak and sob when they are

259
00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,840
in trouble. All those cries for help were wasted in

260
00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,960
the old days, whenever he sound was swallowed up by

261
00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,960
the monstrous racket of the machine. If only the early

262
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,720
aviators could come back and see the beauty and perfection

263
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:15,200
of the mechanism which have been bought at the cost

264
00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,039
of their lives. About nine thirty I was nearing the

265
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,120
clouds down below me, all blurred and shadowed with rain

266
00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,879
lay the vast expanse of Salisbury Plain. Half a dozen

267
00:15:26,919 --> 00:15:29,840
flying machines were doing hackwork at the thousand foot level,

268
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,519
looking like little black swallows against the green background. I

269
00:15:34,639 --> 00:15:36,919
dare say they were wondering what I was doing up

270
00:15:36,919 --> 00:15:41,399
in cloud land. Suddenly a gray curtain drew across beneath me,

271
00:15:41,879 --> 00:15:44,759
and wet folds of vapors were swirling round my face.

272
00:15:45,279 --> 00:15:48,440
It was clammily cold and miserable, but I was above

273
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,159
the hail storm, and that was something gained. The cloud

274
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,000
was as dark and thick as a London fog, and

275
00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:57,759
my anxiety to get clear, I cocked her nose up

276
00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,960
until the automatic alarm bell rang, and I actually began

277
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,440
to slide backwards. My soft and dripping wings had made

278
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,679
me heavier than I thought, But presently I was in

279
00:16:06,799 --> 00:16:10,519
lighter cloud, and soon had cleared the first layer. There

280
00:16:10,639 --> 00:16:13,799
was a second, opal colored and fleecy, at a great

281
00:16:13,799 --> 00:16:17,559
height above my head, a white unbroken ceiling above, and

282
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:21,639
a dark unbroken floor below, with the monoplane laboring upwards

283
00:16:21,679 --> 00:16:26,039
upon a vast spiral between them. It is deadly lonely

284
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,279
in these cloud spaces. Once a great flight of some

285
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,240
small water birds went past me, flying very fast to

286
00:16:32,279 --> 00:16:35,240
the westwards. The quick whir of their wings and their

287
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,399
musical cry were cheery to my ear. I fancy that

288
00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,840
they were teal, but I am a wretched zoologist. Now

289
00:16:41,879 --> 00:16:44,360
that we humans have become birds, we must really learn

290
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,399
to know our brethren by sight. The wind down beneath

291
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:52,000
me whirled and swayed the broad cloud plane. Once a

292
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,000
great eddy formed in it a whirlpool of vapor, and

293
00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,279
threw it as down a funnel. I caught sight of

294
00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,919
the distant world. A large white bike plane was passing

295
00:17:00,919 --> 00:17:03,879
it a vast depth beneath me. I fancy it was

296
00:17:03,919 --> 00:17:07,559
the morning mail service betwixt Bristol and London. Then the

297
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,880
drift swirled inwards again, and the great solitude was unbroken.

298
00:17:12,559 --> 00:17:14,799
Just after ten I touched the lower edge of the

299
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,599
upper cloud stratum. It consisted of fine diaphanous vapor drifting

300
00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,599
swiftly from the westwards. The wind had been steadily rising

301
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:25,680
all this time, and it was now blowing a sharp

302
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:29,480
breeze twenty eight an hour by my gauge. Already it

303
00:17:29,559 --> 00:17:33,200
was very cold, though my altimeter only marked nine thousand.

304
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,960
The engines were working beautifully, and we went droning steadily upwards.

305
00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,440
The cloud bank was thicker than I had expected, but

306
00:17:41,519 --> 00:17:44,559
at last it thinned out into a golden mist before me,

307
00:17:45,279 --> 00:17:47,720
And then in an instant I had shot out from it,

308
00:17:48,079 --> 00:17:50,920
and there was an unclouded sky and a brilliant sun

309
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,680
above my head, all blue and gold above, all shining

310
00:17:54,759 --> 00:17:58,519
silver below. One vast, glimmering plane. As far as my

311
00:17:58,559 --> 00:18:02,119
eyes could reach. It was a quarter past ten o'clock,

312
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:05,400
and the barograph needle pointed to twelve thousand, eight hundred.

313
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,359
Up I went, and up, my ears concentrated upon the

314
00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,799
deep purring of my motor, my eyes busy always with

315
00:18:13,839 --> 00:18:17,880
the watch, the revolution indicator, the petrol level, and the

316
00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,160
oil pump. No wonder. Aviators are said to be a

317
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:23,640
fearless race. With so many things to think of, there

318
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,200
is no time to trouble about oneself. About this time

319
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,039
I noted how unreliable is the compass went above a

320
00:18:30,079 --> 00:18:34,119
certain height from earth. At fifteen thousand feet, mine was

321
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,400
pointing east and a point south. The sun and the

322
00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,920
wind gave me my true bearings. I had hoped to

323
00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,880
reach an eternal stillness in these high altitudes, But with

324
00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:47,680
every thousand feet of ascent, the gale grew stronger. My

325
00:18:47,799 --> 00:18:50,680
machine groaned and trembled in every joint and rivet as

326
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,440
she faced it, and swept away like a sheet of paper.

327
00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:56,240
When I banked her on the turn, skimming down wind

328
00:18:56,319 --> 00:19:00,319
at a greater pace, perhaps than ever mortal man man

329
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,880
has moved. Yet I had always to turn again and

330
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,240
tack up in the wind's eye. For it was not

331
00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,160
merely a height record that I was after by all

332
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,240
my calculations. It was above little Wilchair that my air

333
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,279
jungle lay, and all my labors might be lost if

334
00:19:15,319 --> 00:19:19,720
I struck the outer layers at some farther point. When

335
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,599
I reached the nineteen thousand foot level, which was about midday,

336
00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,079
the wind was so severe that I looked with some

337
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:30,079
anxiety to the stays of my wings, expecting momentarily to see

338
00:19:30,079 --> 00:19:34,519
them snap or slacken. I even cast loose the parachute

339
00:19:34,559 --> 00:19:37,119
behind me, and fastened its hook onto the ring of

340
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,240
my leathern belt, so as to be ready for the worst.

341
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,559
Now was the time when a bit of scamped work

342
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,119
by the mechanic is paid for by the life of

343
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:50,640
the aeronaut. But she held together bravely. Every cordon strut

344
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,519
was humming and vibrating, like so many harp strings. But

345
00:19:53,599 --> 00:19:56,279
it was glorious to see how for all the beating

346
00:19:56,279 --> 00:19:59,400
and the buffeting, she was still the conqueror of nature

347
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,640
and the mist of the sky. There is surely something

348
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,039
divine in man himself that he should rise so superior

349
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,680
to the limitations which creation seemed to impose rise too.

350
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:16,519
By such unselfish, heroic devotion as this air conquest is shown,

351
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:21,039
talk of human degeneration. When has such a story as

352
00:20:21,079 --> 00:20:25,000
this been written in the annals of our race? These

353
00:20:25,039 --> 00:20:27,079
were the thoughts in my head as I climbed that

354
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,640
monstrous inclined plane, with the wind sometimes beating in my

355
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,200
face and sometimes whistling behind my ears, while the cloud

356
00:20:34,279 --> 00:20:37,200
land beneath me fell away to such a distance that

357
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,240
the folds and hummocks of silver had all smoothed out

358
00:20:40,279 --> 00:20:44,119
into one flat, shining plane. But suddenly I had a

359
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,319
horrible and unprecedented experience. I have known before what it

360
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,680
is to be, and what our neighbors have called outurbillon,

361
00:20:52,279 --> 00:20:56,079
but never on such a scale as this. That huge

362
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,599
sweeping river of wind which I have spoken had as

363
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,960
it appear, Here's whirlpools within it, which were as monstrous

364
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,279
as itself. Without a moment's warning, I was dragged suddenly

365
00:21:07,319 --> 00:21:09,880
into the heart of one. I spun round for a

366
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,480
minute or two with such velocity that I almost lost

367
00:21:12,519 --> 00:21:16,960
my senses, and then fell suddenly left wing foremost down

368
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,559
the vacuum funnel in the center. I dropped like a

369
00:21:20,599 --> 00:21:23,920
stone and lost nearly one thousand feet. It was only

370
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,480
my belt that kept me in my seat, and the

371
00:21:26,519 --> 00:21:30,440
shock and breathlessness left me hanging half insensible over the

372
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,839
side of the fuselage. But I am always capable of

373
00:21:33,839 --> 00:21:36,599
a supreme effort. It is my one great merit as

374
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,079
an aviator. I was conscious that the descent was slower,

375
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,240
the whirlpool was a cone rather than a funnel, and

376
00:21:44,279 --> 00:21:47,440
I had come to the apex with a terrific wrench,

377
00:21:47,799 --> 00:21:50,480
throwing my weight all to one side. I leveled my

378
00:21:50,559 --> 00:21:54,400
planes and brought her head away from the wind. In

379
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:56,480
an instant I had shot out of the eddies and

380
00:21:56,519 --> 00:22:01,039
was skimming down the sky. Then, shaken victors glorious, I

381
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,799
turned her nose up and began once more my steady

382
00:22:03,839 --> 00:22:07,799
grind on the upward spiral. I took a large sweep

383
00:22:07,839 --> 00:22:10,480
to avoid the danger spot of the whirlpool, and soon

384
00:22:10,519 --> 00:22:14,200
I was safely above it. Just after one o'clock I

385
00:22:14,279 --> 00:22:17,200
was twenty one thousand feet above the sea level. To

386
00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:19,720
my great joy, I had topped the gale, and with

387
00:22:19,799 --> 00:22:23,359
every hundred feet of ascent the air grew stiller. On

388
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,960
the other hand, it was very cold, and I was

389
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,799
conscious of that peculiar nausea which goes with the rarefication

390
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,359
of the air. For the first time, I unscrewed the

391
00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,240
mouth of my oxygen bag and took an occasional whiff

392
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,400
of the glorious gas. I could feel it running like

393
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,599
a cordial through my veins, and I was exhilarated, almost

394
00:22:41,599 --> 00:22:44,799
to the point of drunkenness. I shouted and sang as

395
00:22:44,799 --> 00:22:49,000
I soared upwards into the cold, still outer world. It

396
00:22:49,039 --> 00:22:51,599
is very clear to me that the insensibility which came

397
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,799
upon Glacier, and in a lesser degree upon Cockswell, when

398
00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,599
in eighteen sixty two they ascended in a balloon to

399
00:22:58,599 --> 00:23:01,400
the height of thirty thousand feet, was due to the

400
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,039
extreme speed with which a perpendicular ascent is made, doing

401
00:23:06,079 --> 00:23:08,960
it in an easy gradient, and accustoming oneself to the

402
00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:12,839
lessened barometric pressure by slow degrees, there are no such

403
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,279
dreadful symptoms at the same great height. I found that,

404
00:23:16,319 --> 00:23:20,440
even without my oxygen inhaler, I could breathe without undue distress.

405
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,119
It was bitterly cold, however, and my thermometer was at

406
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,200
zero fahrenheit. At one thirty I was nearly seven miles

407
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,279
above the surface of the Earth, and still ascending steadily.

408
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,319
I found, however, that the rarefied air was giving markedly

409
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,200
less support to my planes, and that my angle of

410
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,799
ascent had to be considerably lowered. In consequence. It was

411
00:23:41,839 --> 00:23:44,640
already clear that even with my light weight and strong

412
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,880
engine power, there was a point in front of me

413
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,200
where I should be held. To make matters worse, one

414
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,799
of my sparking plugs was in trouble again, and there

415
00:23:52,839 --> 00:23:56,079
was an intermittent misfiring in the engine. My heart was

416
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:59,200
heavy with the fear of failure. It was about that

417
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:03,200
time that I had a most extraordinary experience. Something whiz

418
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:05,839
past me in a trail of smoke and exploded with

419
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,759
loud hissings sound, sending forth a cloud of steam. For

420
00:24:09,799 --> 00:24:12,720
the instant I could not imagine what had happened. Then

421
00:24:12,759 --> 00:24:15,400
I remembered that the Earth is forever being bombarded by

422
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,039
meteor stones, and would be hardly inhabitable were they not

423
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,440
in nearly every case turned a vapor in the outer

424
00:24:21,559 --> 00:24:24,720
layers of the atmosphere. Here is a new danger for

425
00:24:24,759 --> 00:24:27,519
the high altitude man. For two others passed me when

426
00:24:27,559 --> 00:24:30,720
I was nearing the forty thousand foot mark. I cannot

427
00:24:30,799 --> 00:24:33,599
doubt that at the edge of Earth's envelope, the risk

428
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,920
would be a very real one. My barograph needle marked

429
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,039
forty one thousand, three hundred when I became aware that

430
00:24:41,079 --> 00:24:44,279
I could go no farther. Physically, the strain was not

431
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,839
as yet greater than I could bear, but my machine

432
00:24:46,839 --> 00:24:50,240
had reached its limit. The attenuated air gave no firm

433
00:24:50,279 --> 00:24:53,440
support to the wings, and the least tilt developed into

434
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,559
a side slip, while she seemed sluggish on her controls,

435
00:24:58,839 --> 00:25:01,960
possibly hid the engine been at its best, another thousand

436
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,759
feet might have been within our capacity, but it was

437
00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:07,920
still misfiring, and two out of the ten cylinders appeared

438
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,640
to be out of action. If I had not already

439
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:12,759
reached the zone for which I was searching, then I

440
00:25:12,759 --> 00:25:15,880
should never see it upon this journey. But was it

441
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,319
not possible that I had attained it? Soaring in circles

442
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,440
like a monstrous hawk. Upon the forty thousand foot level,

443
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,759
I let the monoplane guide herself, and with my Manheim glass,

444
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,799
I made a careful observation by surroundings. The heavens were

445
00:25:30,839 --> 00:25:34,359
perfectly clear. There was no indication of those dangers which

446
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,640
I had imagined. I have said that I was soaring

447
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,720
in circles. It struck me suddenly that I would do

448
00:25:40,839 --> 00:25:43,160
well to take a wider sweep and open up a

449
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:47,319
new air tract. If the hunter entered an earth jungle,

450
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,559
he would drive through it if he wished to find

451
00:25:49,599 --> 00:25:52,720
his game. My reasoning had led me to believe that

452
00:25:52,799 --> 00:25:55,839
the air jungle which I had imagined lay somewhere over Wiltchhiir.

453
00:25:57,039 --> 00:25:59,000
This should be to the south and west of me.

454
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,519
My bearings from the sun, for the compass was hopeless,

455
00:26:03,039 --> 00:26:05,599
and no trace of Earth was to be seen, nothing

456
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,359
but the distant silver cloud plane. However, I got my

457
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,079
direction as best I might, and kept her head straight

458
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,000
to the mark. I reckoned that my petrol supply would

459
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,880
not last for more than another hour or so, but

460
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,200
I could afford to use it to the last drop,

461
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,839
since a single magnificent vulplane could at any time take

462
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:28,400
me to the Earth. Suddenly I was aware of something new.

463
00:26:29,079 --> 00:26:31,720
The air in front of me had lost its crystal clearness.

464
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,400
It was full of long, ragged wisps of something which

465
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,480
I could only compare to very fine cigarette smoke. It

466
00:26:39,599 --> 00:26:43,240
hung about in wreaths and coils, turning and twisting slowly

467
00:26:43,279 --> 00:26:46,599
in the sunlight. As the monoplane shot through it. I

468
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,400
was aware of a faint taste of oil upon my lips,

469
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,440
and there was a greasy scum upon the woodwork of

470
00:26:52,519 --> 00:26:56,880
the machine. Some infinitely fine organic matter appeared to be

471
00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,880
suspended in the atmosphere. There was no life there. It

472
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,599
was inchoate and diffuse, extending for many square acres and

473
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,680
then fringing off into the void. No, it was not life.

474
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:12,079
But might it not be the remains of life? Above all?

475
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,160
Might it not be the food of life, of monstrous life,

476
00:27:15,559 --> 00:27:17,759
even as the humble grease of the ocean is the

477
00:27:17,759 --> 00:27:21,039
food for the mighty whale. The thought was in my

478
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,759
mind when my eyes looked upwards and I saw the

479
00:27:23,799 --> 00:27:27,119
most wonderful vision that ever man has seen. Can I

480
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:29,079
hope to convey it to you, even as I saw

481
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:35,160
it myself last Thursday? Conceive a jellyfish, such as sails

482
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,839
in our summer, seas, bell shaped and of enormous size,

483
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,599
far larger, I should judge than the dome of Saint Paul's.

484
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,160
It was of a light pink color, vein with a

485
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,400
delicate green, but the whole huge fabric so tenuous that

486
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,039
it was but a fairy outline against the dark blue sky.

487
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,640
It pulsated with a delicate and regular rhythm. From it,

488
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,720
there depended too long own drooping green tentacles, which swayed

489
00:28:02,839 --> 00:28:07,960
slowly backwards and forwards. This gorgeous vision passed gently, with

490
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,920
noiseless dignity, over my head, as light and fragile as

491
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,119
a soap bubble, and drifted upon its stately way. I'd

492
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,559
have turned my monoplane that I might look after this

493
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:24,240
beautiful creature, when in a moment I found myself amidst

494
00:28:24,319 --> 00:28:27,599
a perfect fleet of them, of all sizes, but none

495
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,720
so large as the first. Some were quite small, but

496
00:28:31,799 --> 00:28:34,920
the majority about as big as an average balloon, and

497
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,400
with much the same curvature at the top. There was

498
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,720
in them a delicacy of texture and coloring which reminded

499
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,440
me of the finest Venetian glass. Pale shades of pink

500
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,359
and green were the prevailing tints, but all had a

501
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,519
lovely iridescence where the sun shimmered through their dainty forms.

502
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,839
Some hundreds of them drifted past me, a wonderful fairy

503
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:01,799
squadron of strange, unknown argacies of the sky, creatures whose

504
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,480
forms and substance were so attuned to these pure heights

505
00:29:05,839 --> 00:29:09,359
that one could not conceive anything so delicate within actual

506
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,960
sight or sound of Earth. But soon my attention was

507
00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:16,359
drawn to a new phenomenon, the serpents of the outer air.

508
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:21,000
These were long, thin, fantastic coils of vapor like material

509
00:29:21,359 --> 00:29:24,960
which turned and twisted with great speed, flying round and

510
00:29:25,079 --> 00:29:27,400
round at such a pace that the eyes could hardly

511
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,079
follow them. Some of these ghosts like creatures were twenty

512
00:29:31,119 --> 00:29:33,920
or thirty feet long, but it was difficult to tell

513
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,799
their girth, for their outline was so hazy that it

514
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:41,200
seemed to fade away into the air around them. These

515
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,920
air snakes were very like gray or smoke color, with

516
00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:47,680
some darker lines within, which gave the impression of a

517
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,200
definite organism. One of them was past my very face,

518
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,720
and I was conscious of a cold clammy contact, But

519
00:29:54,759 --> 00:29:58,119
the composition was so unsubstantial that I could not connect

520
00:29:58,119 --> 00:30:01,279
them with any thought of physical danger any more than

521
00:30:01,279 --> 00:30:05,559
the beautiful bell like creatures which had preceded them. There

522
00:30:05,599 --> 00:30:08,039
was no more solidity in their frames than in the

523
00:30:08,079 --> 00:30:12,039
floating spume from a broken wave. But a more terrible

524
00:30:12,079 --> 00:30:15,720
experience was in store for me. Floating downwards from a

525
00:30:15,759 --> 00:30:19,519
great height there came a purplish patch of vapor, small

526
00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:22,519
as I saw at first, but rapidly enlarging as it

527
00:30:22,559 --> 00:30:26,599
approached me, until it appeared to be hundreds of square

528
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:31,799
feet in size. Though fashioned in some transparent jelly like substance,

529
00:30:32,079 --> 00:30:35,920
it was nonetheless of much more definite outline and solid

530
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,319
consistence than anything which I had seen before. There were

531
00:30:39,359 --> 00:30:43,720
more traces, too, of a physical organization, especially two vast,

532
00:30:43,759 --> 00:30:48,359
shadowy circular plates upon either side, which may have been eyesed,

533
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,400
and a perfectly solid white projection between them, which was

534
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,720
as curved and cruel as the beak of a vulture.

535
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,400
The whole aspect of this monster was formidable and threatening,

536
00:30:59,759 --> 00:31:02,319
and it kept changing its color from a very light

537
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,759
mauve to a dark, angry purple, so thick that it

538
00:31:05,799 --> 00:31:09,039
cast a shadow as it drifted between my monoplane and

539
00:31:09,079 --> 00:31:13,240
the sun. On the upper curve of its huge body,

540
00:31:13,279 --> 00:31:16,519
there were three great projections which I can only describe

541
00:31:16,519 --> 00:31:19,960
as enormous bubbles, and I was convinced as I looked

542
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,559
at them, that they were charged with some extremely light

543
00:31:22,799 --> 00:31:26,880
gas which served to buoy up the misshapen and semi

544
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:32,640
solid mass in the rarefied air. The creature moved swiftly along,

545
00:31:32,839 --> 00:31:36,359
keeping pace easily with the monoplane, and for twenty miles

546
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,960
or more it formed my horrible escort, hovering over me

547
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,519
like a bird of prey which is waiting to pounce.

548
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,599
Its method of progression, done so swiftly that it was

549
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,079
not easy to follow, was to throw out a long,

550
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,240
glutenous streamer in front of it, which in turn seemed

551
00:31:52,279 --> 00:31:55,839
to draw forward the rest of the writhing body. So

552
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:59,720
elastica gelatinous was it that never for two successive minutes

553
00:31:59,759 --> 00:32:02,759
was it the same shape, and yet each change made

554
00:32:02,759 --> 00:32:07,440
it more threatening and loathsome than the last. I knew

555
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,799
that it meant mischief. Every purple flush of its hideous

556
00:32:10,839 --> 00:32:14,279
body told me so. The vague, goggling eyes which were

557
00:32:14,319 --> 00:32:17,839
turned always upon me, were cold and merciless in their

558
00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:22,400
viscid hatred. I dipped the nose of my monoplane downwards

559
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,960
to escape it. As I did so, as quick as

560
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,720
a flash, there was shot out a long tentacle from

561
00:32:27,759 --> 00:32:30,759
this massive floating blubber, and it felt as light and

562
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,200
sinuous as a whiplash across the front of my machine.

563
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,200
There was a loud hiss as it lay for a

564
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,079
moment across the hot engine, and it whisked itself into

565
00:32:40,119 --> 00:32:43,640
the air again, while the huge flat body drew itself

566
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:48,160
together as if in sudden pain. I dipped to a vulpeak,

567
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,519
but again a tentacle fell over the monoplane, and it

568
00:32:51,599 --> 00:32:54,000
was shorn off by the propeller as easily as it

569
00:32:54,079 --> 00:32:58,319
might have cut through a smoke wreath. A long, gliding, sticky,

570
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,440
serpent like coil came from behind and caught me round

571
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,079
the waist, dragging me out of the fuselage. I tore

572
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:09,119
at it, my fingers sinking into the smooth, glue like surface.

573
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,440
For an instant. I disengaged myself, but only to be

574
00:33:12,519 --> 00:33:15,680
caught round the boot by another coil, which gave me

575
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:19,480
a jerk that tilted me almost onto my back. As

576
00:33:19,519 --> 00:33:22,519
eye fell over, I blazed off both barrels of my gun,

577
00:33:23,119 --> 00:33:25,920
though indeed it was like attacking an elephant with a

578
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,039
pea shooter to imagine that any human weapon could cripple

579
00:33:29,119 --> 00:33:33,000
that mighty bulk. And yet I aimed better than I knew,

580
00:33:33,119 --> 00:33:36,240
for with a loud report, one of the great blisters

581
00:33:36,279 --> 00:33:39,960
upon the creature's back exploded with the puncture of the buckshot.

582
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,240
It was very clear that my conjecture was right, that

583
00:33:44,279 --> 00:33:48,119
these vast clear bladders were distended with some lifting gas.

584
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,480
For in an instant the huge cloud like body turned sideways,

585
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,359
writhing desperately to find its balance, while the white beak

586
00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,559
snapped and gaped in horrible fury. Al Ready I had

587
00:34:00,599 --> 00:34:03,519
shot away on the steepest glide that I dared to attempt,

588
00:34:03,799 --> 00:34:07,160
my engine still full on the flying propeller, and the

589
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:11,880
force of gravity shooting me downwards like an aerowlight. Behind me,

590
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,559
I saw a dull, purplish smudge growing swiftly smaller and

591
00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:19,280
merging into the blue sky behind it. I was safe

592
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,880
out of the deadly jungle of the outer air. Once

593
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,159
out of danger, I throttled my engine. For nothing tears

594
00:34:26,199 --> 00:34:28,519
a machine to pieces quicker than running on full power

595
00:34:28,519 --> 00:34:32,199
from a height. It was a glorious spiral vault plane

596
00:34:32,199 --> 00:34:35,679
from nearly eight miles of altitude, first to the level

597
00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:38,400
of the silver cloud bank, then to that of the

598
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,719
storm cloud beneath it, and finally, in beating rain to

599
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,840
the surface of the Earth. I saw the Bristol channel

600
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,440
beneath me. As I broke from the clouds but having

601
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,480
still some petrel in my tank, I got twenty miles

602
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,880
inland before I found myself stranded in a field half

603
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:57,079
a mile from the village of Ashcombe. There I got

604
00:34:57,119 --> 00:35:00,039
three tins of petrol from a passing motor car, and

605
00:35:00,119 --> 00:35:03,400
at ten minutes past six that evening, I alighted gently

606
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,639
in my own home meadow at Divisas, after such a

607
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,159
journey as no mortal upon Earth has ever yet taken

608
00:35:10,199 --> 00:35:13,719
a live to tell the tale. I have seen the beauty,

609
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,280
and I have seen the horror of the heights, and

610
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,239
greater beauty, or greater horror than that is not within

611
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,599
the ken of man. And now it is my plan

612
00:35:22,679 --> 00:35:24,960
to go once again before I give my results to

613
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,840
the world. My reason for this is that I must

614
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:31,039
surely have something to show by way of proof, before

615
00:35:31,079 --> 00:35:34,280
I lay such a tale before my fellow men. It

616
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,039
is true that others will soon follow and will confirm

617
00:35:37,079 --> 00:35:39,679
what I have said, And yet I should wish to

618
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:44,000
carry conviction from the first. Those lovely iridescent bubbles of

619
00:35:44,039 --> 00:35:47,719
the air should not be hard to capture. They drift

620
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,079
slowly upon their way, and the swift monoplane could intercept

621
00:35:51,119 --> 00:35:55,119
their leisurely course it is likely enough that they would

622
00:35:55,159 --> 00:35:57,880
dissolve in the heavier layers of the atmosphere, and that

623
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,960
some small heap of amorphous jelly might be all that

624
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,239
I should bring to Earth with me. And yet something

625
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:09,079
there would surely be by which I could substantiate my story. Yes,

626
00:36:09,119 --> 00:36:11,519
I will go, even if I run a risk by

627
00:36:11,559 --> 00:36:15,559
doing so. These purple horrors would not seem to be numerous.

628
00:36:16,119 --> 00:36:19,840
It is probable that I shall not see one. If

629
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,719
I do, I shall dive at once. At the worst,

630
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,400
there is always the shotgun, and my knowledge of here.

631
00:36:26,519 --> 00:36:29,719
A page of the manuscript is unfortunately missing. On the

632
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:34,480
next page is written in large straggling writing, forty three

633
00:36:34,519 --> 00:36:38,239
thousand feet I shall never see Earth again. There beneath

634
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,960
me three of them, God help me. It is a

635
00:36:41,039 --> 00:36:47,360
dreadful death to die. Such in its entirety is the

636
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,760
Joyce Armstrong statement of the man Nothing has since been seen.

637
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,320
Pieces of a shattered monoplane have been picked up in

638
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:58,840
the preserves of mister bud Lushington, upon the borders of

639
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,440
Kent and Sussex, within a few miles of the spot

640
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,920
where the notebook was discovered. The unfortunate aviator's theory is

641
00:37:07,079 --> 00:37:10,199
correct that this air jungle, as he called it, existed

642
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,639
only over the southwest of England. Then it would seem

643
00:37:13,639 --> 00:37:15,559
that he had fled from it at the full speed

644
00:37:15,559 --> 00:37:19,320
of his monoplane, but had been overtaken and devoured by

645
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,679
these horrible creatures at some spot in the outer atmosphere

646
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:28,079
above the place where the groom relics were found. The

647
00:37:28,079 --> 00:37:31,480
picture of that monoplane skimming down the sky, with the

648
00:37:31,559 --> 00:37:35,159
nameless terrors flying as swiftly beneath it, and cutting it

649
00:37:35,199 --> 00:37:38,639
off always from the earth, while they gradually closed in

650
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,760
upon their victim, is one upon which a man who

651
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,320
valued his sanity would prefer not to dwell. There are many,

652
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,519
as I am aware, who still jeer at the facts

653
00:37:48,559 --> 00:37:51,039
which I have here set down. But even they must

654
00:37:51,079 --> 00:37:55,119
admit that Joyce Armstrong has disappeared, and I would commend

655
00:37:55,119 --> 00:37:58,480
to them his own words. This notebook may explain what

656
00:37:58,559 --> 00:38:00,840
I am trying to do, and how I lost my

657
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:04,320
life in doing it, But no drivel about accidents or mysteries,

658
00:38:04,679 --> 00:38:10,599
if you please, And of the horror of the heights