Tales of Terror and Mystery
The Horror of the Heights
Ateverygatheringofairmen,Joyce-Armstrong,accordingtoDangerfield,wouldask,withanenigmaticsmile:"Andwhere,pray,isMyrtle’shead?"
Onanotheroccasionafterdinner,atthemessoftheFlyingSchoolonSalisburyPlain,hestartedadebateastowhatwillbethemostpermanentdangerwhichairmenwillhavetoencounter.Havinglistenedtosuccessiveopinionsastoair-pockets,faultyconstruction,andover-banking,heendedbyshrugginghisshouldersandrefusingtoputforwardhisownviews,thoughhegavetheimpressionthattheydifferedfromanyadvancedbyhiscompanions.
Itisworthremarkingthatafterhisowncompletedisappearanceitwasfoundthathisprivateaffairswerearrangedwithaprecisionwhichmayshowthathehadastrongpremonitionofdisaster.WiththeseessentialexplanationsIwillnowgivethenarrativeexactlyasitstands,beginningatpagethreeoftheblood-soakednote-book:
"Nevertheless,whenIdinedatRheimswithCoselliandGustavRaymondIfoundthatneitherofthemwasawareofanyparticulardangerinthehigherlayersoftheatmosphere.Ididnotactuallysaywhatwasinmythoughts,butIgotsoneartoitthatiftheyhadanycorrespondingideatheycouldnothavefailedtoexpressit.Butthentheyaretwoempty,vaingloriousfellowswithnothoughtbeyondseeingtheirsillynamesinthenewspaper.Itisinterestingtonotethatneitherofthemhadeverbeenmuchbeyondthetwenty-thousand-footlevel.Ofcourse,menhavebeenhigherthanthisbothinballoonsandintheascentofmountains.
