Now he was floating quite smoothly. It seemed he was hardly moving. He looked down; the clouds were a long way below, still He began fo feel bored. Then—whoosh He was suddenly in them—like diving in a cold pool Down, down through the clammy, whi'e vapour. and what a long time it seemed! Then he was out. Fields and trees coming up fast. Wallop! He landed Mke jumping down off a wall.
Tail End Charlie sorted himself from the tangle of cords and white silk, He was close to a hedge in a very large newly-ploughed field. He stood üp, rallied himself, "Whey," said a bucolic voice, "'ave ce coom down from sky, like?"
Tail End Charlie said "Yes" and asked for the nearest farmhouse.
"Over there tis, back side of hedge. Give us autograph first, fore A scrubby envelope and stump pencil were anxiously tendered. Fame at last; how could he refuse? Tail End Charlie obliged and stumbled away to the farm, where a tender was sent out to fetch him. His comrades were safe at the station, Five more caterpillars of gold!
"Prépáre to abandon aircraft" he érdets tersely, at the same time causing a magnesium-loaded bulb to flash in the tail turret. Poor Tail End Charlie, who is getting to feel a bit has the start of his life, but knowledges the signal both vocally and by means of a small signal lamp. He climbs out of his turret, clips on his parachute, the escape hatch fi the roof, and waits for the word ön the end of his intércomimunitation cable, it comes, "Abandon alrerafi, the pilot orders. "Tail gunner—go!" I' ds the all. gunner's dubious privilege to be first over the side, Everyone else is under the eye of the captain and leaves by the forward hatch. So the lonely man at the back goes ahead, to make sure that he does
ful traditions cán rival the Navy's foxy ma Service whose youth-fines, it is needless to say that the captain goes last from his "ship.
Tail End Charlie takes off his helmet atid climbs on the black horsehair "back rest" More than a third of his body is outside the plane-'The slip stream pulls at his hair. The long fuselage s'rethes behind him io the glassed-in cabin in front, On either side stand the great tail fins, with the turret dome midway between them. He gazes down at, the clouds. The suh shines here—but down there? Church spites? Pits? Lakes? Cliffs?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.