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Speaker 1: The Horror of the Heights, which includes the manuscript known

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as the Joyce Armstrong Fragment by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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The idea that the extraordinary narrative, which has been called

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the Joyce Armstrong Fragment is an elaborate, practical joke evolved

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by some unknown person cursed by a perverted and sinister

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sense of humor, has now been abandoned by all who

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have examined the matter. The most macabre and imaginative of

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plotters would hesitate before linking his morbid fancies with the

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unquestioned and tragic fact which reinforce the statement. Though the

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assertions contained in it are amazing and even monstrous, it

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is nonetheless forcing itself upon the general intelligence that they

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are true, and that we must readjust our ideas to

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the situation. This world of ours appears to be separated

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by unexpected danger. I'll endeavor in this narrative, which reproduces

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the original document in its necessarily somewhat fragmentary form, lay

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before the reader the whole of the facts up to date.

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Prefacing my statement by saying that if there be no

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question at all as to the facts concerning Lieutenant Myrtle

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r N and mister hay Connor, who undoubtedly met their

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end in the manner described. The joyous Armstrong fragment was

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found in the field which is called Lower Haycock, laying

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one mile to the westward of the village of Withiam

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upon the Kenton, Sussex border. It was on the fifteenth

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September last that an agricultural laborer, James Flynn, in the

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employment of Matthew Dodd, farmer of the Chauntry Farm Withiam,

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perceived a briar pipe laying near the footpath which kirts

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the hedge in Lower Haycock. A few paces farther on

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he picked up a pair of broken binocular glasses. Finally,

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among some nettles in the ditch, he caught sight of

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a flat canvas backed book which proved to be a

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note book with detachable leaves, some of which had come

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loose and were fluttering along the base of the hedge.

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These he collected, but some, including the first, were never

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recovered and leave a deplorable hiatus in this all important statement.

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The note book was taken by the laborer to his master,

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who in turn showed it to doctor J. H Atherton

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of Hartfield. This gentleman at once recognized the need for

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an expert examination, and the manuscript was forward at the

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Aero Club in London, where it now lies. The first

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two pages of the manuscript are missing. There is also

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one torn away at the end of the narrative, though

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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 qualification 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 upon as among the

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most daring and the most intellectual of flying men, a

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combination which has enabled him 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 off hurriedly from the

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seat of a moving aeroplane. There are it may be

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added several stains, both on the last page and on

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the outside cover, which have been pronounced by the Home

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

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The fact that something closely resembling the organism of malaria

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was discovered in this blood, and that Joyce Armstrong is

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known to have suffered from intermittent fever, is a remarkable

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example of the new weapon which modern science is placed

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in the hands of our detectives. And now a word

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as to the personality of the author of this epoch

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making statement. Joyce Armstrong, according to the few friends who

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really knew something of the man, was a poet and

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a dreamer, as well as a mechanic and an inventor.

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He was a man of considerable wealth, much of which

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he had spent in the pursuit of his aeronautical hobby.

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He had four private aeroplanes in his hangars near Devise It,

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and it said to have made no fewer than one

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hundred and seventy as cents in the course of the

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last year. He was a retiring man, with dark moods

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in which he would avoid the society of his fellows.

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Captain Dangerfield, who knew him better, than anyone, says that

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there were times when his eccentricity threatened to develop into

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something more serious. His habit of carrying a shot gun

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with him in his aeroplane was one manifestation of it.

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Another was the morbid effect which the fall of Lieutenant

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Myrtle had upon his mind. Myrtle, who was attempting the

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height record, fell from an altitude of something over thirty

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thousand feet horrible to narrate. His head was entirely obliterated,

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though his body and limbs preserved their configuration. Yet every

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gathering of airman Joyce Armstrong, according to Dangerfield, would ask,

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with an enigmatic smile, and where prey is Myrtle's head.

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On another occasion, after dinner at the mess of the

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Flying School on Salisbury Plane, he started a debate as

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to what will be the most permanent danger which airmen

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will have to encounter. Having listened too successive opinions as

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to air pockets, faulty construction, and over banking, he ended

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up by shrugging his shoulders and refusing to put forward

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his own views, though he gave the impression that they

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differed from any advanced by his companions. It's worth remarking

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that after his own complete disappearance, it was found that

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his private affairs were arranged with a precision, which may

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show that he had a strong premonition of disaster. With

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these essential explanations, I will now give the narrative exactly

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as it stands, beginning at page three of the Blood

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Soak note Book. Nevertheless, when I dined at Reims with

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Coselli and Gustov Raymond, I found that neither of them

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was aware of any particular danger in the higher layers

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of the atmosphere. I did not actually say what was

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in my thoughts, but I got so near to it

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that if they had any corresponding idea, they could not

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have failed to express it. But then they are too empty,

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vainglorious fellows, with no thought beyond seeing their own names

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in the newspaper. It's interesting to note that neither of

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them had ever been much beyond the twenty thousand foot level.

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Of course, men have been higher than as both in

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balloons and in the ascent of mountains. It must be

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well above that point that the aeroplane enters the danger zone.

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Always presuming that my premonitions are correct, aeroplaning has been

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with us now for more than twenty years, and one

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might well ask why should this peril be only revealing

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itself in our day. The answer is obvious. The old

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days of weak entrance, when a hundred horse power Gnome

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or Green was considered ample for every need, the flights

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were very restricted. Now that three hundred horse power is

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the rule rather than the exception, visits to the upper

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layers have become easier and more common. Some of us

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can remember how in our youth Garris made a world

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wide reputation by attaining nineteen thousand feet and it was

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considered a remarkable achievement to fly over the Alps. Our

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standard now has been immeasurably raised, and there are twenty

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

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have been undertaken with impunity. The thirty thousand foot level

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has been reached time after time with no discomfort beyond

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cold and asthma. And 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 air, 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 Pauberit's district of France. Another is

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just over my head as I write here in my

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house in Wiltship. I rather think there is a third

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in the Homburg Wiesbaden district. It was the disappearance of

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the airmen that first set me to thinking. Of course,

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every one said that they had fallen into the sea,

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but that did not satisfy me at all. First there

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was Vergier 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 fittings 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, declared 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 Haypeny 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 in a tremendous wall plane

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from an unknown height. He never got off his machine

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

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Said the doctors rubbish. Hay 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 Venables,

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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, the inquest queer.

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That nobody got thinking after that? I did, But then

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I'd been thinking for a good long time. I've made

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three accents. How Dangerfield used to chaff me about my

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shot gun, but I've never been high enough. Now, with

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this new light Paul Varney machine and its 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. A fellow wants to avoid danger, it'd best

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keep out of flying altogether and subside finally into flannel

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slippers and a dressing gown. But I'll visit the air

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jungle to morrow, and if there's anything there, I shall

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

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of a celebrity. If I don't, this note book may

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explain what I'm trying to do and how I lost

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my life in doing it, but no drivel about accidents

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

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monoplane for the job. There's nothing like a monoplane when

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real work is to be done. Beaumont found that out

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in very early days. For one thing, it doesn't mind

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damp and the weather looks as if we should be

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in the clouds all the time. It's a bonny little

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model and enters my hand like a tender mouthed horse.

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The engines a ten cylinder rotary robure working up to

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one hundred and seventy five. It has all the modern improvements,

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enclosed fuselage, high curved landing skids, brakes, gyroscopic steadiers, and

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three speeds worked by an alteration of the angle of

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the planes upon the Venetian blind principle. I took a

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shot gun with me and a dozen cartridges filled with buckshot.

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You should have seen the face of Perkins, my old mechanic,

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when I directed him to put them in. I was

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dressed like an Arctic explorer with two jerseys under my overalts,

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thick socks inside my padded boots, a storm cap with flaps,

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and my talc goggles. It was stifling outside the hangars,

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but I was going for the summit of the Himalayas

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and had to dress for the part. Perkins knew there

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was something on and implored me to take him with me.

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Perhaps I should if I were using the biplane. But

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a monoplane is a one man show if you want

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to get the last foot of life out of it.

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Of course I took an oxygen bag. The man who

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goes for the altitude record without one will either be

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frozen or smother or both. I had a good look

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at the planes, the rudder bar, and the elevating lever

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before I got in. Everything was in order as far

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as I could see. Then I switched on my engine

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and found that she was running sweetly. When they let

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her go, she rose almost at once. Upon the lowest speed.

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I circled my home field once or twice, just a

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warmer up, and then with a wave to Perkins and

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the others, I flattened out my planes and put her

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on her highest. She turned her nose up a little,

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and she began to climb in a great spiral for

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the cloud bank above me. It's all important to rise

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slowly and adapt yourself to the pressure as you go.

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It was a close, warm day for an English September,

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and there was a hush and heaviness of impending rain.

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Now and then there came sudden puffs of wind from

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the southwest, one of them so gusty and unexpected that

239
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,240
it caught me napping and turned me half round for

240
00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,639
an instant. I remember the time when gusts and the

241
00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:14,080
whorlds and air pockets used to be things of danger,

242
00:13:14,799 --> 00:13:17,840
before we learned to put on overmastering power into our engines.

243
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,000
Just as I reached the cloud banks with the altimeter

244
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,919
marking three thousand down came the rain. My word, how

245
00:13:24,919 --> 00:13:27,320
it poured. It drummed upon my wings and lashed against

246
00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,759
my face, blurring my glasses so that I could hardly see.

247
00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,480
I got down on to a lower speed, for it

248
00:13:33,519 --> 00:13:36,519
was painful to travel against it. As I got higher,

249
00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:38,960
it became hail, and I had to turn tail to it,

250
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,879
one of my cylinders, rising steadily with plenty of power.

251
00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,679
After a bit, the trouble passed, whatever it was, and

252
00:13:46,759 --> 00:13:49,720
I heard the full, deep throated purr, the ten singing

253
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,759
as one. That's where the beauty of our modern silences

254
00:13:52,759 --> 00:13:55,559
comes in. We can at last control our engines by

255
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,120
ear how they squeal and squeak and sob when they

256
00:13:59,159 --> 00:14:02,240
are in trouble. All those cries for help were wasted

257
00:14:02,279 --> 00:14:04,360
in the old days, when every sound was swallowed up

258
00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,559
by the monstrous racket of the machine. If only the

259
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,559
early aviators could have come back to see the beauty

260
00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,279
and perfection of the mechanism which had been brought at

261
00:14:13,279 --> 00:14:18,639
the cost of their lives. About nine thirty I was

262
00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,240
nearing the clouds down below me, all blurred and shadowed

263
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:26,159
with rainly the vast expanse of Salisbury Plain. Half a

264
00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,679
dozen flying machines were doing hack work at the thousand

265
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,000
foot level, looking like little black swallows against the green background.

266
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,879
I dare say they were wondering what I was doing

267
00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,759
up in cloud land. Suddenly a gray curtain drew across

268
00:14:39,799 --> 00:14:42,440
beneath me, and the wet folds of vapors were swirling

269
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,919
round my face. It was clammily cold and miserable, but

270
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,440
I was above the hail storm, and that was something gained.

271
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,399
The cloud was dark and thick as a London fog.

272
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,399
In my anxiety to get clear, I cocked her nose

273
00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,799
up until the automatic alarm bell rang, and I actually

274
00:14:58,799 --> 00:15:02,320
began to slide backward my soft and dripping wings. It

275
00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,240
made me heavier than I thought, but presently I was

276
00:15:05,279 --> 00:15:07,840
in lighter cloud, and soon had cleared up the first layer.

277
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,679
There was a second, opal colored and fleecy, at a

278
00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,440
great height above my head, a white unbroken ceiling above,

279
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,919
and a dark unbroken floor below, with the monoplane laboring

280
00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,639
upward upon a vast spiral between them. It is small

281
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:27,159
water birds that went past me, flying very fast to

282
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,080
the westwards. The quick whirr of their wings and their

283
00:15:30,159 --> 00:15:33,279
musical cry were cheery to my ear. I fancied that

284
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,759
they were teal, But I am a wretched duologist. Now

285
00:15:36,799 --> 00:15:39,200
that we humans have become birds, we must really learn

286
00:15:39,279 --> 00:15:43,200
to know our brethren by sight. The wind down beneath

287
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:47,039
me whirled and swayed the broad cloud plane once a

288
00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,159
great eddy formed in it a whirlpool of vapor, and

289
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,639
through it, as down a funnel, I caught sight of

290
00:15:52,679 --> 00:15:56,440
the distant world. A large white biplane was passing at

291
00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,320
a vast depth. Beneath me. I fancy it was the

292
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:03,399
morning Male's service between Bristol and London. Then the drift

293
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:08,200
swirled inwards again, and the great solitude was unbroken. Just

294
00:16:08,279 --> 00:16:10,720
after ten I touched the lower edge of the upper

295
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:15,399
cloud stratum. It consisted of fine diaphanous vapor drifting swiftly

296
00:16:15,399 --> 00:16:18,879
from the westwards. The wind had been steadily rising all

297
00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:21,759
this time, and it was now blowing a sharp breeze

298
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,000
twenty eight an hour by my gauge. Already it was

299
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,919
very cold, though my altimeter only marked nine thousand. The

300
00:16:28,919 --> 00:16:32,399
engines were working beautifully, and we were droning steadily upwards.

301
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,600
The cloud bank was thicker than I had expected, but

302
00:16:35,679 --> 00:16:38,600
at last it thinned out into a golden mist before me,

303
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,799
And then in an instant I had shot out from it,

304
00:16:42,639 --> 00:16:45,200
and there was an unclouded sky and a brilliant sun

305
00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,600
above my head, all blue and gold above, all shining

306
00:16:48,679 --> 00:16:52,679
silver below one vast, glimmering plane. As far as my

307
00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,000
eyes could reach. It was a quarter past ten o'clock,

308
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,759
and the barograph needle pointed to twelve thousand, eight hundred

309
00:16:59,759 --> 00:17:02,320
up If I went, and up, my ears concentrated upon

310
00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,559
the deep purring of my motor, my eyes busy always

311
00:17:05,559 --> 00:17:08,599
with the watch, the revolution indicated, the petrol lever, and

312
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,759
the oil bump. No wonder. Aviators is said to be

313
00:17:11,759 --> 00:17:14,480
a fearless race. With so many things to think of,

314
00:17:14,519 --> 00:17:17,880
there is no time to trouble about one's self. About

315
00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,400
this time I noted how unreliable is the compass When

316
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,119
above a certain height from the earth. At fifteen thousand feet,

317
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,119
mine was pointing east and a point south. The sun

318
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,920
and the wind gave me my true bearings. I had

319
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,279
hoped to reach an eternal stillness in these high altitudes,

320
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:36,880
But with every thousand feet of ascent, the gale grew stronger.

321
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,319
My machine groaned and trembled in every joint and rivet

322
00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:42,920
as she faced it, and swept away like a sheet

323
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,839
of paper. When I banked here on the turn, skimming

324
00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,279
down wind at a greater pace, perhaps than ever mortal

325
00:17:48,319 --> 00:17:51,480
man is moved. Yet I had always to turn back

326
00:17:51,519 --> 00:17:54,640
again and tack up into the wind's eye. For it

327
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:56,559
was not merely a height record that I was after

328
00:17:57,079 --> 00:18:00,480
by all my calculations. It was above little willulture that

329
00:18:00,559 --> 00:18:03,920
my air jungle lay, and all my labor might be lost.

330
00:18:04,319 --> 00:18:07,279
If I struck the outer layers at some further point.

331
00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,519
When I reached the nineteen thousand foot level, which was

332
00:18:11,559 --> 00:18:14,559
about midday, the wind was so severe that I looked

333
00:18:14,559 --> 00:18:18,400
with some anxiety to the stays of my wings, expecting

334
00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,559
momentarily to see them snap or slacken. I even cast

335
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,720
loose the parachute behind me, and fastened its hoop into

336
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,079
the ring of my leather belt, so as to be

337
00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,039
ready for the worst. Now was the time when a

338
00:18:31,039 --> 00:18:33,200
bit of scamped work by the mechanic is paid for

339
00:18:33,279 --> 00:18:36,920
by the life of the aeronaut. But she held together bravely.

340
00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,000
Every cord and strut was humming and vibrating, like so

341
00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:43,160
many harp strings. But it was glorious to see how

342
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,880
for all the beating and the buffering, she was still

343
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,039
the conqueror of nature and the mistress of the sky.

344
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,039
There is surely something divine in man himself that he

345
00:18:52,039 --> 00:18:55,480
should rise so superior to the limitations which creation seems

346
00:18:55,519 --> 00:19:00,079
to impose, rise to by such unselfish, heroic devotion as

347
00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:05,039
this air conquest has shown. Talk of human degeneration wind

348
00:19:05,039 --> 00:19:06,960
has such a story as this been written in the

349
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,599
annals of our race. These were the thoughts in my

350
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,359
head as I climbed that monstrous inclined plane, with the

351
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,640
wind sometimes beating in my face and sometimes whistling behind

352
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,000
my ears, while the cloud land beneath me fell away

353
00:19:21,519 --> 00:19:23,759
to such a distance that the folds and hummocks of

354
00:19:23,799 --> 00:19:27,880
silver had all smoothed out into one flat, shining plane.

355
00:19:28,799 --> 00:19:32,839
But suddenly I had a horrible and unprecedented experience. I

356
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:34,680
have known before what it is to be in what

357
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,920
our neighbors have called a turbillon, but never on such

358
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,319
a scale as this. That huge sweeping river of wind

359
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,799
of which I had spoken, had, as it appears, whirlpools

360
00:19:45,799 --> 00:19:50,759
within it, which were as monstrous as itself. Without a

361
00:19:50,799 --> 00:19:53,440
moment's warning, I was dragged suddenly into the heart of one.

362
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:55,799
I spun round for a minute or two with such

363
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,759
velocity that I almost lost my senses, and then fell suddenly,

364
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,039
wing foremost down the vacuum funnel in the center. I

365
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:06,640
dropped like a stone and lost nearly a thousand feet.

366
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,559
It was only my belt that kept me in my seat,

367
00:20:10,759 --> 00:20:13,799
and the shock and breathlessness left me hanging half insensible

368
00:20:13,799 --> 00:20:17,119
over the side of the fuselage. But I'm always capable

369
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,480
of a supreme effort. It's my one great merit as

370
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,920
an aviator. I was conscious that the descent was slower,

371
00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,240
the whirlpool was a cone rather than a funnel, and

372
00:20:26,319 --> 00:20:29,119
I had come to the apex with a terrific wrench,

373
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,880
throwing my weight all to one side. I leveled my

374
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,799
planes and brought her head away from the wind. In

375
00:20:34,839 --> 00:20:36,680
an instant I had shot out of the eddies and

376
00:20:36,759 --> 00:20:40,960
was skimming down the sky. Then, shaken but victorious, I

377
00:20:41,039 --> 00:20:43,480
turned her nose up and began once more my steady

378
00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,680
grind on the upward spiral. I took a large sweep

379
00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,279
to avoid the danger spot of the whirlpool, and soon

380
00:20:49,319 --> 00:20:52,519
I was safely above it. Just after one o'clock I

381
00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,839
was twenty one thousand feet above the sea level. To

382
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,160
my great joy, I topped the gale, and with every

383
00:20:58,279 --> 00:21:01,240
hundred feet of ascent the air grew still. On the

384
00:21:01,279 --> 00:21:04,240
other hand, it was very cold, and I was conscious

385
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:08,039
of that peculiar nausea which goes with rarefication of the air.

386
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:10,720
For the first time, I unscrewed the mouth of my

387
00:21:10,799 --> 00:21:13,880
oxygen bag and took an occasional whiff of the glorious gasp.

388
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,119
I could feel it running like a cordial through my veins,

389
00:21:17,559 --> 00:21:20,200
and I was exhilarated, almost to the point of drunkenness.

390
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:23,480
I shouted and sang as I soared upward into the cold,

391
00:21:23,559 --> 00:21:27,799
still outer world. It is very clear to me that

392
00:21:27,839 --> 00:21:31,480
the insensibility which came upon Glacier, and in a lesser

393
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,039
degree upon Coxwell, when in eighteen sixty two they ascended

394
00:21:35,039 --> 00:21:37,319
in a balloon to a height of thirty thousand feet,

395
00:21:37,759 --> 00:21:40,400
was due to the extreme speed with which a perpendicular

396
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,640
ascent is made. Doing it at an easy gradient, and

397
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:48,160
accustoming oneself to the lessened barometric pressure by slow degrees,

398
00:21:48,519 --> 00:21:52,160
there are no such dreadful symptoms at the same great height.

399
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,359
I found that even without my oxygen inhaler, I could

400
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,759
breathe without undue distress. It was bitterly cold, however, and

401
00:21:59,799 --> 00:22:03,400
my thermometer was at zero fahrenheit. At one thirty I

402
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,160
was nearly seven miles above the surface of the Earth

403
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,640
and still ascending steadily. I found, however, that the rarefied

404
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,960
air was giving markedly less support to my planes, and

405
00:22:14,039 --> 00:22:17,119
that my angle of ascent had to be considerably lowered.

406
00:22:17,519 --> 00:22:20,839
In consequence. It was already clear that even with my

407
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,720
light weight and strong engine power. There was a point

408
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,160
in front of me where I should be held. To

409
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,839
make matters worse, one of my sparking plugs was in

410
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,359
trouble again, and there was intermittent misfiring in the engine.

411
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,720
My heart was heavy with the fear of failure. It

412
00:22:36,759 --> 00:22:39,799
was about that time that I had a most extraordinary experience.

413
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,319
Something whizzed past me in a trail of smoke and

414
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,480
exploded with a loud, hissing sound, sending forth a cloud

415
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,799
of steam. For the instant I could not imagine what

416
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,039
had happened. Then I remembered that the Earth is forever

417
00:22:54,079 --> 00:22:58,359
being bombarded by meteor stones, and would be hardly inhabitable

418
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,680
were they not in nearly every case turned to vapor

419
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,640
in the outer layers of the atmosphere. Here is a

420
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,440
new danger for the high altitude man. For two others

421
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,880
passed me when I was nearing the forty thousand foot mark.

422
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:12,839
I cannot doubt that at the edge of the Earth's

423
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:17,720
envelope the risk would be a very real one. My

424
00:23:17,839 --> 00:23:21,400
barograph needle marked forty one thousand, three hundred. When I

425
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,559
became aware that I could go no farther physically, the

426
00:23:24,599 --> 00:23:26,880
strain was not as yet greater than I could bear,

427
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,799
But my machine had reached its limit. The attenuated air

428
00:23:30,839 --> 00:23:33,559
gave no firm support to the wings, and the least

429
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,240
tilt developed into a side slip, while she seemed sluggish

430
00:23:37,279 --> 00:23:41,000
on her controls. Possibly, had the engine been at its best,

431
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,480
another thousand feet might have been within our capacity. But

432
00:23:44,559 --> 00:23:47,039
it was still misfiring, and two out of the ten

433
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,039
cylinders appeared to be out of action. If I had

434
00:23:50,039 --> 00:23:52,319
not already reached the zone for which I was searching,

435
00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:55,880
then I should never see it upon this journey. But

436
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,880
was it not possible that I had attained it? Soaring

437
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,240
in circles like a month's strous hawk. Upon the forty

438
00:24:01,279 --> 00:24:05,440
thousand foot level, I let the monoplane guide itself, and

439
00:24:05,519 --> 00:24:08,079
with my Mannheim glass I made a careful observation of

440
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,680
my surroundings. The heavens were perfectly clear. There was no

441
00:24:11,759 --> 00:24:15,319
indication of those dangers which I had imagined. I have

442
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,480
said that I was soaring in circles. It struck me

443
00:24:17,519 --> 00:24:20,279
suddenly that I would do well to take a wider

444
00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:23,559
sweep and open up a new air tract. If the

445
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,519
Hunter entered an earth jungle, he would drive through it.

446
00:24:26,559 --> 00:24:29,880
If he wished to find his game. My reasoning had

447
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:31,880
led me to believe that the air jungle which I

448
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,920
had imagined lay somewhere over Wiltshire. This should be to

449
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,839
the south and west of me. I took my bearings

450
00:24:38,839 --> 00:24:40,640
from the sun, for the compass was hopeless, and no

451
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,279
trace of Earth was to be seen, nothing but the

452
00:24:43,319 --> 00:24:46,839
distant silver cloud plane. However, I got my direction as

453
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:48,920
best I might, and kept her head straight to the mark.

454
00:24:49,799 --> 00:24:52,079
I reckoned that my petrol supply would not last for

455
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,960
more than another hour or so, but I could afford

456
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,960
to use it to the last drop, since a single

457
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,920
magnificent vulveplane could at inn any time take me to

458
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:06,400
the Earth. Suddenly I was aware of something new. The

459
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,720
air in front of me had lost its crystal clearness.

460
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,880
It was full of long, ragged wisps of something which

461
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,720
I can only compare to very fine cigarette smoke. It

462
00:25:15,799 --> 00:25:20,200
hung about in wreaths and coils, turning and twisting slowly

463
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,440
in the sunlight. As the monoplane shot through it. I

464
00:25:23,519 --> 00:25:25,880
was aware of a faint taste of oil upon my lips,

465
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,519
and there was a greasy scum upon the woodwork of

466
00:25:28,559 --> 00:25:32,279
the machine. Some infinitely fine organic matter appeared to be

467
00:25:32,319 --> 00:25:36,079
suspended in the atmosphere. There was no life there. It

468
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:40,200
was inchoate and diffuse, extending for many square acres, then

469
00:25:40,279 --> 00:25:44,880
fringing off into the void. No, it was certainly not life.

470
00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:49,119
But might it not be the remains of life? Above all?

471
00:25:49,319 --> 00:25:53,079
Might it not be the food of life, of monstrous life,

472
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:55,079
even as the humble grease of the ocean, as the

473
00:25:55,079 --> 00:25:57,880
food of the mighty whale. The thought was in my

474
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,599
mind when my eyes looked upward and I saw the

475
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,799
most wonderful vision that ever man has seen. Can I

476
00:26:03,839 --> 00:26:05,759
hope to convey it to you, even as I saw

477
00:26:05,799 --> 00:26:10,640
it myself last Thursday? Conceive a jelly fish, such as

478
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:15,240
sails in our summer seas, bell shaped and of enormous size,

479
00:26:15,799 --> 00:26:18,519
far larger, I should judge than the dome of Saint Paul's.

480
00:26:19,319 --> 00:26:21,440
It was of a light pink color, veined with a

481
00:26:21,519 --> 00:26:25,359
delicate green, but the whole huge fabric so tenuous that

482
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,960
it was but a fairy outline against the dark blue sky.

483
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,480
It pulsated with a delicate and regular rhythm. From it

484
00:26:32,519 --> 00:26:37,200
there depended two long, drooping green tentacles, which swayed slowly

485
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:42,240
backwards and forwards. This gorgeous vision passed gently, with noiseless dignity,

486
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,839
over my head, as light and fragile as a soap bubble,

487
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:51,039
and drifted upon its stately way. I had half turned

488
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,319
my monoplane that I might look after this beautiful creature,

489
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,200
when in a moment I found myself amidst a perfect

490
00:26:57,279 --> 00:27:01,000
fleet of them, of all sizes, but none so large

491
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,200
as the first. Some were quite small, but the majority

492
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,160
about as big as an average balloon, and with much

493
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,119
the same curvature at the top. There was in them

494
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,160
a delicacy of texture and coloring which reminded me of

495
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,400
the finest Venetian glass, pale shades of pink and green

496
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,000
with the prevailing tints, but all had a lovely iridescence

497
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,319
where the sun shimmered through their dainty forms. Some hundreds

498
00:27:25,319 --> 00:27:29,160
of them drifted past me, a wonderful fairy squadron of strange,

499
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,599
unknown argases of the sky, creatures whose forms and substance

500
00:27:34,039 --> 00:27:37,079
were so attuned to these pure heights that one could

501
00:27:37,079 --> 00:27:40,400
not conceive anything so delicate within actual sight or sound

502
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,119
of Earth. But soon my attention was drawn to a

503
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:48,200
new phenomenon, the serpents of the outer air. These were long, thin,

504
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,279
fantastic coils of vapor like material, which turned and twisted

505
00:27:52,319 --> 00:27:55,319
with great speed, flying round and round to touch a

506
00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,359
pace that the eyes could hardly follow them. Some of

507
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,599
these ghostlike creatures were twenty or thirty feet long, but

508
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,240
it was difficult to tell their girth. Their outline was

509
00:28:04,279 --> 00:28:06,880
so hazy that it seemed to fade away into the

510
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,279
air around them. These air snakes were of a very

511
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,079
light gray or smoke color, with some darker lines within,

512
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,160
which gave the impression of a definite organism. One of

513
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,279
them whisked past my very face, and I was conscious

514
00:28:21,319 --> 00:28:25,640
of a cold clammy contact. But their composition was so

515
00:28:25,799 --> 00:28:29,079
unsubstantial that I could not connect them with any thought

516
00:28:29,079 --> 00:28:32,160
of physical danger any more than the beautiful bell like

517
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,799
creatures which had preceded them. There was no more solidity

518
00:28:35,799 --> 00:28:38,880
in their frames than in the floating spume from a

519
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:44,000
broken wave. But a more terrible experience was in store

520
00:28:44,039 --> 00:28:47,200
for me. Floating downward from a great height, there came

521
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,880
a purplish patch of vapor, small as I saw at first,

522
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,359
but rapidly enlarging as it approached me, until it appeared

523
00:28:54,359 --> 00:28:57,799
to be hundreds of square feet in size, Though fashioned

524
00:28:57,839 --> 00:29:01,200
of some transparent jelly like suf instance, it was none

525
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,680
the less of a much more definite outline and solid

526
00:29:04,759 --> 00:29:08,319
consistence than anything which I had seen before. There were

527
00:29:08,359 --> 00:29:13,039
more traces, too, of a physical organization, especially two vast,

528
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:17,359
shadowy circular plates upon either side which may have been eyes,

529
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,440
and a perfectly solid white projection between them, which was

530
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,759
as curved and cruel as the beak of a vulture.

531
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,799
The whole aspect of this monster was formidable and threatening,

532
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,319
and it kept changing its color from a very light

533
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,240
maub to a dark angry purple, so thick that it

534
00:29:34,359 --> 00:29:37,000
cast a shadow as it drifted between my monoplane and

535
00:29:37,039 --> 00:29:40,480
the sun. On the upper curve of its huge body,

536
00:29:40,519 --> 00:29:44,039
there were three great projections which I can only describe

537
00:29:44,079 --> 00:29:47,440
as enormous bubbles, and I was convinced as I looked

538
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,200
at them that they were charged with some extremely light

539
00:29:50,359 --> 00:29:53,880
gas which served to buoy up the misshapen and semi

540
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,319
solid mass in the rarefied air. The creature moved swiftly along,

541
00:29:58,759 --> 00:30:01,960
keeping pace easily with them monoplane, and for twenty miles

542
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,119
or more it formed my horrible escort, hovering over me

543
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,279
like a bird of prey, which is waiting to pounce.

544
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,960
Its method of progression, done so swiftly that it was

545
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,839
not easy to follow, was to throw out a long,

546
00:30:14,079 --> 00:30:17,440
glutinous streamer in front of it, which in turn seemed

547
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,839
to draw forward the rest of the writhing body. So

548
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,559
elastic and gelatinous was it that never for two successive

549
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,799
minutes was it the same shape, And yet each change

550
00:30:27,839 --> 00:30:32,400
made it more threatening and loathsome than the last. I

551
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,519
knew that it meant mischief. Every purple flush of its

552
00:30:35,559 --> 00:30:39,119
hideous body told me so. The vague, goggling eyes which

553
00:30:39,119 --> 00:30:42,599
were turned always upon me, were cold and merciless in

554
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,440
their vicid hatred. I dipped the nose of my monoplane

555
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,119
downward to escape it. As I did so, as quick

556
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,000
as a flash, there shot out a long tentacle from

557
00:30:52,039 --> 00:30:55,000
this mass of floating blubber, and it fell as light

558
00:30:55,079 --> 00:30:58,759
and sensuous as a whiplash across the front of my machine.

559
00:30:59,119 --> 00:31:00,880
There was a loud here as it lay for a

560
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,039
moment across the hot engine, and it whisked itself into

561
00:31:04,039 --> 00:31:07,240
the air again, while the huge flat body drew itself

562
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,359
together as if in sudden pain. I dipped to a volpeak,

563
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,720
but again a tentacle fell over the monoplane and was

564
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,720
shorn off by the propeller as easily as it might

565
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,480
have cut through a smoke wreath. A long, gliding, sticky,

566
00:31:21,599 --> 00:31:24,680
serpent like coil came from behind and caught me round

567
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,880
the waist, dragging me out of the fuselage. I tore

568
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,680
at it, my fingers sinking into the smooth, glue like surface,

569
00:31:31,119 --> 00:31:33,759
and for an instant I disengaged myself, but only to

570
00:31:33,799 --> 00:31:36,759
be caught round the boot by another coil, which gave

571
00:31:36,799 --> 00:31:39,319
me a jerk that tilted me almost on to my back.

572
00:31:40,319 --> 00:31:42,960
As I fell over, I blazed off both barrels of

573
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,200
my gun, though indeed it was like attacking an elephant

574
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,000
with a pea shooter to imagine that any human weapon

575
00:31:49,039 --> 00:31:52,599
could cripple that mighty bulk. Yet I aimed better than

576
00:31:52,599 --> 00:31:54,960
I knew, for with a loud report, one of the

577
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,640
great blisters upon the creature's back exploded with the puncture

578
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,799
of the buckshot. It was very clear that my conjecture

579
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,400
was right, and that these vast clear bladders were distended

580
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,119
with some lifting gas. For in an instant, the huge

581
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:13,400
cloudlike body turned sideways, writhing desperately to find its balance,

582
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,920
while the white beak snapped and gaped in horrible fury.

583
00:32:17,839 --> 00:32:20,200
But already I had shot away on the steepest glide

584
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,119
that I dared to attempt, my angine still full on

585
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,160
the flying propeller and the force of gravity shooting me

586
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,640
downwards like an aer light. Far behind me, I saw

587
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:33,920
a dull, purplish smudge growing swiftly smaller and merging into

588
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,799
the blue sky. Behind it. I was safe out of

589
00:32:36,799 --> 00:32:41,680
the deadly jungle of the outer air. Once out of danger,

590
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:43,920
I throttled my engine. For nothing tears a machine to

591
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,799
pieces quicker than running on full power from a height.

592
00:32:47,599 --> 00:32:51,079
It was a glorious spiral vulplane from nearly eight miles

593
00:32:51,119 --> 00:32:54,440
of altitude, first to the level of the silver cloud bank,

594
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,880
then to that of the storm cloud beneath it, and finally,

595
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,759
in beating rain, to the surface of the Earth. I

596
00:33:00,759 --> 00:33:02,920
saw the Bristol Channel beneath me. As I broke from

597
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,759
the clouds, but having still some petrol in my tank,

598
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,039
I got twenty miles inland before I found myself stranded

599
00:33:09,039 --> 00:33:12,720
in a field half a mile from the village of Ashcombe.

600
00:33:13,119 --> 00:33:15,200
There I got three tins of petrol from a passing

601
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,279
motor car, and at ten minutes past six that evening,

602
00:33:18,319 --> 00:33:20,960
I elated gently in my own home meadow to devise it.

603
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,200
After such a journey as no mortal upon Earth has

604
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,680
ever yet taken and lived to tell the tale. I

605
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:29,599
have seen the beauty, and I have seen the horror

606
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,680
of the heights, and greater beauty are greater horror than

607
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:36,039
that is not within the ken of men. And now

608
00:33:36,039 --> 00:33:37,920
it is my plan to go once again before I

609
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,599
give my results to the world. My reason for this

610
00:33:40,759 --> 00:33:42,960
is that I must surely have something to show by

611
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,599
way of proof before I lay such a tale before

612
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,799
my fellow men. It's true that others will soon follow

613
00:33:48,839 --> 00:33:51,400
and will confirm what I have said, And yet I

614
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,000
should wish to carry conviction from the first. Those lovely

615
00:33:55,079 --> 00:33:57,920
iridescent bubbles of the air should not be hard to capture.

616
00:33:58,599 --> 00:34:01,839
They drift slowly upon their w and the swift monoplane

617
00:34:01,839 --> 00:34:05,279
could intercept their leisurely course. It's likely enough that they

618
00:34:05,319 --> 00:34:08,039
would dissolve in the heavier layers of the atmosphere, and

619
00:34:08,079 --> 00:34:10,800
that some small heap of amorphous jelly might be all

620
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,559
that I should bring to Earth with me. And yet

621
00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:17,199
something there would surely be by which I could substantiate

622
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:20,440
my story. Yes, I will go, even if I run

623
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,760
a risk by doing so. These purple horrors would not

624
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:26,760
seem to be numerous. It's probable that I shall not

625
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,719
see one. If I do, I shall die at once.

626
00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:32,440
At the worst, there is always the shot gun and

627
00:34:32,519 --> 00:34:36,280
my knowledge of Here a page of the manuscript is

628
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,239
unfortunately missing. On the next page is written in large

629
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:45,199
straggling writing, forty three thousand feet I shall never see

630
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,519
earth again. They are beneath me, three of them. God

631
00:34:48,599 --> 00:34:54,280
help me. It's a dreadful death to die. Such in

632
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:57,800
its entirety is the joyous, armstrong statement of the man.

633
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,679
Nothing has since been seen. Pieces of his shattered monoplane

634
00:35:01,679 --> 00:35:04,320
have been picked up in the preserves of mister bud Lushington,

635
00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,480
upon the borders of Kent and Sussex, with a few

636
00:35:07,519 --> 00:35:10,679
miles of the spot where the notebook was discovered. If

637
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:15,039
the unfortunate aviator's theory is correct that this air jungle,

638
00:35:15,639 --> 00:35:19,039
as he called it, existed only over the southwest of England,

639
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,920
then it would seem that he had fled from it

640
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,000
at the full speed of his monoplane, but had been

641
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,159
overtaken and devoured by these horrible creatures at some spot

642
00:35:28,199 --> 00:35:31,280
in the outer atmosphere, above the place where the grim

643
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:35,480
relics were found. The picture of that monoplane skimming down

644
00:35:35,519 --> 00:35:39,280
the sky, with the nameless terrors flying as swiftly beneath it,

645
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:42,920
and cutting it off always from the earth, while they

646
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,320
gradually closed in upon their victim, is one upon which

647
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,960
a man who valued his sanity would prefer not to dwell.

648
00:35:50,079 --> 00:35:52,239
There are many, as I am aware, who still jeer

649
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,000
at the facts which I have here set forth. But

650
00:35:55,079 --> 00:35:59,400
even they must admit that Joyce Armstrong has disappeared, and

651
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,960
I would commend them to his own words. This note

652
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:06,440
book may explain what I am trying to do, and

653
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,239
how I lost my life in doing it. But no

654
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:14,360
drivel about accidents or mysteries, if you please. End of

655
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,119
the Horror of the Heights by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle