A Knight of the Air

A Knight of the Air by Henry Tracey Coxwell

Harry Goodall, a young amateur aeronaut, pursues experiments at the Crystal Palace to prove that ballooning can be made safer and more useful. Assisted by Tom Trigger, he employs Mrs Chain and her daughter, who have been impoverished by the fraudulent financier Filcher Falcon. Goodall repeatedly notices Falcon and his servant Eben Croft watching him, while Miss Chain recognises Falcon as the man who deceived her and her mother at Boulogne. Goodall tests an aero-aquatic air-ship on the palace lake. When Edith Dove falls into the water after her companion rows recklessly to observe the experiment, Goodall rescues her, but Falcon falsely claims the credit. Goodall keeps his part in the rescue private, though photographs record it. He later makes a balloon ascent displaying miniature balloons, parachutes, and explosive shells intended to demonstrate military uses of aerial craft. During the landing on Essex marshes, Falcon, disguised, attempts to set fire to the balloon; Goodall’s quick handling of the valve prevents disaster, while Trigger shoots at the fleeing incendiary. Meanwhile William Goodall receives Falcon, who reports that Harry’s father, Henry Goodall, has apparently been swept overboard from the Neptune during a storm. Falcon claims to have Henry’s authority in financial affairs and seeks to prevent Harry from visiting Squire Dove and his heiress daughter Edith, whom Harry’s family hope he will marry. William mistrusts Falcon’s manner and urges Harry to abandon ballooning, enter business, and pursue Miss Dove. Harry refuses to become a fortune hunter, though he remains dutifully undecided. Falcon’s real designs emerge in private conversations with Croft. He hopes to disable Harry, seize Edith Dove and her fortune, profit from schemes connected with the Neptune, and avoid exposure for his earlier frauds. Croft trespasses in Goodall’s workroom and steals Professor Scudder’s manuscript on flight, but Simon Warner, a practical palace policeman, catches him. The boastful detective Hawksworth dismisses Warner’s evidence, though Warner is increasingly certain that Falcon and Croft are dangerous men. Falcon tries to exploit Scudder’s ideas by arranging a secret flying-machine experiment near Haywards Heath. Disguised as Dutchmen, he and Croft employ a giant cross-bow to launch Croft in a winged machine. An explosion throws Falcon into a pond and strips off his false beard and wig. Croft is flung into trees but survives, and the pair escape before police inquiries can detain them. Goodall’s second ascent includes Miss Chain and Captain Link of the Neptune. Hawksworth mistakenly tries to arrest Link, confusing him with Falcon, whose resemblance to the captain is striking. A strong upper current drives the balloon southward; Goodall brings it safely down at Wedwell Park, the home of Squire Dove and Edith. To avoid embarrassment, the travellers initially conceal their names. Their arrival nevertheless draws Harry and Edith together, while Captain Link becomes attached to Miss Chain. At Wedwell, the guests discover that Falcon is known to the Doves as a financial adviser and suitor to Edith. Goodall, Miss Chain, and Link recognise Falcon’s portrait. Edith learns from a photograph that Goodall, not Falcon, saved her from drowning, and she and Harry realise that they have already met. Miss Chain tells Edith how Falcon robbed her and her mother, raising fears that he has similarly entrapped the squire. Doctor Peters, Falcon’s credulous supporter, resists the accumulating evidence. Falcon and Croft continue their attacks. During a moonlit captive ascent at Wedwell, a shot grazes Goodall’s head while Edith is in the balloon car. Warner traces the suspects from Sydenham toward Wedwell, and evidence shows that they have been lurking in the park. Captain Link leaves urgently to command the Retriever to Cherbourg, while Squire Dove, now convinced of Falcon’s villainy, supports Warner’s efforts to arrest the fugitives. The danger becomes more immediate when Wedwell Hall is robbed: Falcon and Croft are believed to have forced open the library bureau and stolen negotiable securities. Goodall, the squire, Warner, Trigger, and the household organise a pursuit toward Lewes and Newhaven, expecting the criminals to flee by sea. At the same time, Goodall’s balloon remains in Wedwell Park, where a violent storm causes it to plunge and strain against its moorings. Goodall, Trigger, the squire, Bennet, and the workmen struggle to secure it with weights and sandbags while preparing against any renewed attack.

By Henry Tracey Coxwell · First published 1887 · Genre: Adventure Fiction, Victorian Adventure Fiction, Scientific Romance · 25 chapters · 79,262 words

First lines

Mr Harry Goodall, a young, tall and well-set-up gentleman, was walking impatiently to and fro on the south side of Trafalgar Square, as if he were awaiting the arrival of someone who had agreed to meet him. The fact was, he was in a hurry to get to Sydenham, where he was about to try a scientific experiment, and was momentarily expecting a cab conveying a model apparatus which he was going to test. While he was waiting, his attention was drawn to two men who, in crossing the road, were nearly run over, and who, as soon as they caught sight of Goodall, nudged one another and whispered for a moment, and then disappeared behind one of the lions. Almost immediately the cab Goodall was expecting drew up with a long, coffin-shaped box on the top, and, at the same moment, the two men emerged from their hiding-place, and passed Goodall as he stepped into the cab. He noticed this action, and, for some undefined reason, he merely instructed the coachman to drive over Westminster Bridge. The cab bore him swiftly away, but "More haste less speed," for, as they went down the incline on the Surrey side, the horse slipped and fell. A crowd gathered, and Goodall alighted. As he did so, he noticed a hansom pass him, in which were the same two men he had observed watching him in Trafalgar Square. Shortly afterwards, the cab horse was got up on to his legs again and the journey to Sydenham was proceeded with, after the coachman had received definite orders as to his destination.

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Victorian adventure fiction · aeronautics · ballooning · experimental aviation · airships · Crystal Palace, Sydenham · London · Sussex · nineteenth-century England · scientific invention · technology and progress · amateur inventor

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A Knight of the Air is listed on Textopian as a novel by Henry Tracey Coxwell, dated 1887 CE.

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