midday
Look ! Look ! '' And she too was gazing aloft . And then , above all other sounds McGuire heard the roar -- The clouds were golden above with the brilliance of midday -- and against them , hard and sharp of outline , was a shining shape . A cloud of vapor streamed behind it as it shot down from the clouds , and the thunder of its coming was like the roar of many cannon . A ship of the red ones was in the air -- a fighting ship , whose stripes showed red -- and it drove at the roaring menace with its steel beak and a swirling cloud of gas . It seemed that they must crash , when to McGuire 's eyes came the stabbing flash of heavy guns from the shining shape .