An Old Captivity Read Online Free PDF

get a survey of that district, somebody’s got to take a machine there and do the job.”
    “Well, that’s what I want to do.” The don looked curiously at the pilot.
    The pilot looked with equal curiosity at the don. “If that’s your angle on it,” he said, “it suits me. I’d like a job like that.”
    “Would you say that there is a reasonably good chance of success?”
    Ross sat silent for a minute or two, weighing up the conditions. At last: “I think so,” he said slowly. “August is the best month for a trip like that. We may make it very easily, or we may have a rough time. You want to stay there for a month and get the photographs. I should say it’s better than a fifty-per-cent chance.”
    He turned to the older man. “When did you want to start?”
    “I must keep it all within the Long Vacation. I could leave here at the end of July, and I must be back here at the end of September.”
    The pilot smiled slowly: “It’s lucky your Long Vacation isn’t in the winter.”
    The older man looked at him mildly. “I suppose that would make it more difficult.”
    The pilot said: “Yes.” There seemed to be nothing else to say.
    Lockwood got up and walked over to the french windows. He stood there looking out into the garden, eye-glasses in hand, deep in thought. At last he said: “You’ve given me a good deal to think about, Mr. Ross. What are your movements? You’ll stay here for the night?”
    “I will if you want me to.”
    “Good. I have to dine in Hall—you might care to come along. Then, perhaps, we can talk about it again in the morning.”
    Ross said: “There’s just one thing about it. If we’re going to go this summer, we’ve got to make a snap decision—now. To-morrow, at the latest.” He turned to the older man. “Don’t think I’m trying to rush you into this, but time is really very short indeed. I’ll tell you what we’ve got to do, if you like.”
    The other said: “I don’t suppose that I should understand you. But I see what you mean. I will make up my mind to-morrow, Mr. Ross. Then if I decide to go, you must go and talk the details over with my brother.”
    “Where is that?”
    The don looked at him curiously. “In Coventry. You’ve heard of the Lockwood Tube and Wire Company?”
    The pilot blinked. “Is that the same?”
    “Certainly it is. Sir David Lockwood is my elder brother.”
    For the second time that afternoon Ross had to rearrange his ideas. He knew that Lockwoods were the largest makers of high-grade steel tube in the kingdom; they had an enormous business in aviation. He knew a good deal about the tubes. He knew a little about Coventry, too; they were hard nuts up there. Instinctively he knew that they would scrutinise his record and his competence. They would make enquiries at the Air Ministry; the pilotfor Sir David Lockwood’s brother would have to know his stuff. Well, he was not afraid of that. Much more important was the money side. While he had been talking to the don he had been desperately afraid of that. The flight would be a difficult and an exacting one; to enter into it without sufficient money would be a nightmare. But with Lockwood Tubes in the background the flight became a different proposition altogether. Immediately it seemed to him to be considerably safer.
    They talked for a little longer about archæology, of which Ross knew nothing; then Lockwood showed the pilot to his room. It was a large and comfortable bedroom on the first floor, furnished in Victorian style with heavy dark mahogany chairs and wardrobes. The linen on the bed was very soft to the touch and smelt of lavender; there were little lavender sacks in the empty drawers. The old parlourmaid carried up his bag; presently she brought him hot water in a polished brass can. Ross changed into his dinner jacket, moody and a little depressed. It seemed to him that there was nothing in that house in keeping with a Greenland expedition.
    He went down to the study; the deep