CONVINCING THE IMPERIAL ATTACHE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10604, 5 November 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

CONVINCING THE IMPERIAL ATTACHE.

(By Frederick Palmer)

. It was too wild for words, but I know lie-did it, for I .saw him; and if any 'military man in sceptical, lot lnm ask the Emperor or forever hold his peace. —Denman, Chief Assistant to the toremost . aviator of the day Danbudv Rodd glanced at his watch by the light of the gate lamps as ho entered the White House grounds. Ho would be on time to the minute. It was 10.25. and 10.31) was the hour winch the urgent wire summoning him from New York had set. „ "The President is wailing for yon, said the secretary who showed "odd™ the foot of the stairs leading to tlie private study. ±-„ n : Rodd sprang up two steps at a time, but in the doorway, unseen, he abruptly paused, struck by the gloomy P«!tu*P at the far end of the room, past the shelves of books. A number of tunes he had seen the President of the United States at public functions,, suave, confident, smiling, taking his gieat responsibilities casilv. Se President of the United States m tne S«f hi, study, weary, Premattirdy old, sunk deep m bis seat, as it has rates were too'heavy to bear. „ With h.m weie the Chief of Staff 01 the Army and the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, their .jaws set as they stared at an irfnoceat document on the executive desk." To their imaginations tmVdocument 'was a stick of dynamite Beautifully wrapped Hn diplomatic lancruage and tied with the silken ribbon of ambassadorial politeness. _ "You "sent for me, Mr President, said Rodd, entering. . ' His alertness, his pleasant voice, ana his impressible quality of adventurous Youth eonlmumcated a second of cheer, in which he was warmly welcomed. In the next second, gloom fell again on all tbre"e. ' , . j.. ' "I gave no reasons for asking you to come," said the President, as he indicated a vacant chair. "You shall read them for yourself." " ' He reached- for the ultimatum on the desk 'The touch of it seemed to transform lum. His eyes flashed. But the official controlled the anger of the individual, as he ran through the heavy linen pages- till''he came to a certain passage burnt clear in his mind by the rehearsals of a restless night and a long day when, with throbbing head, he had automatically ' gone through routine business and tried to appear urbane and undisturbed before his callers, whether they wanted a post office appointment or b, speech at a banquet. > This passage explained everjthing; i" emphasized every prediction about how suddenly a modern war would be declared by the ready on the unready. A great power had determined to strike while we were at her mercy. Impris-Oii-ntent of a subject for an assault on an official in the Canal was given as one reason for the blow; but a score oi other excuses would have served a sinister purpose as well. "A hold-up from the bushes!" exclaimed Rodd. "When the ninety millions hear this there will be no holding them!" „ ~ , ... r "Yes," said the President. Nt leave the decision to the people they will'say war, without realizing that it is naked "courage against a man with a gun. If I submit to humiliating terms, probably there will be no controlling -their* indignation when they hear the conditions. While he talked friendship to'-lull us into security, the Emperor "•has been preparing for this hour. He outnumbers us in battleships. He has Secretly built an overwhelming aerial flotilla." . , ■„ -n <■ =?' No doubt of that," assented Rodd, with tlie niemcry of employees discharged from his factory on suspicion that thev were spies. "And his aeroplanists "have used all the-American ideas-, while yon may be sure they have parted'with none of their own." ■•'Particularly your ideas, Mr Rodd. said the President, with that complementary turn to the inflection of his voice which he knew so well how to bestow; "and it is this which led me to ask you to-come here to-night. You have the largest private flotilla of aeroplanes in the world, I believe." "Btft, Mr President, I am sorry to say,"" Rodd declared, with his -frank way of facing facts, "that our driveis are not trained in the handling of guns or in- squadron evolutions, and our machines are not meant for war." ' '-'Exactly!" said the general and the admiral together. It was precisely what they had told the President and Congress month? ago. Both took a pose of self-justification. "How long, if your factories worked night and ~day, would it take to equip two hundred war planes?" pursued the President tenaciously. "Four months, at least!" \ "Four months!" the President repeated, in fateful comprehension. "And in ten days tlie enemy might be oyer New York and Washington, demanding an indemnity! It seems that I must yield," he added, with grudging bitter--n'esV '-"No!" It's not in red blood to submit!" the admiral declared hotly. will fight to the death—and take our thrashing!"' ' "So I would say for myself—yes, I'd like to say it personally to the E:n■petor! 'I am human. But I have no right to say "it for the nation!" answered the " President. He drew himself back in his chair in the" attitude of a. strong man driven into a corner. "Is there no way out of all our nation pi resources and ingenuity to confront this highwayman with proof that we aro stronger than ho imagines? Can't you —can't you think of one, Mr Rodd'- - ' j he asked desperately: "The'faces of : the general and the admiral were grim at the hopelessness of the President's request in the face of all they knew; grim with the thought that the army and navy were prepared to die with their boots on when tlie time came "I beg jour_pardon, Mr President." saiu Rodd, with the gentle abstraction which made people mistake him for a dreamer, as he thrust liis hand past the executive' elbow to 'reach a thin, silver paper cutter which lay on the blotter of the desk. A mechanic by nature, lie cduia 'always think best when he hid some metal object in his hand- He kept bending the cutter back and forth m "the gi ip of his thumbs and forefingers, his face'muscles twitching run! gradually "talcing shape in that inscrulnble Smile with which he mot a baiilmg wind cuncnt or a knotty problem. JVriaps'he thought' that the smile, if ho were conscious of it, 'was a substitute •fdr- conversation. ,0n such occasion lie lad' no idea of the passage of time. , The sdence grew dynamic; and the admiral, who had been-without sleep so | long that his temper was squally, broke [ ouif- testily "You seem to find it amusing!" "Why, -I thought' that was the object'" said Rodd softly, absently, as if m.tho midst of full flight lie was n».ddttig to a cloud. "Something to make ns smile and the other fellow weep." "I—l think, Admiral, the joke is on ■\ou'" .put in the President,, who had Ins first langh iii twenty-four hours. It broke the tension of the terrible strain; it'salved raw nerves. But Rodd did not seem to hear the remark. At least, his smile did not change by the quiver of a wrinkle. He was undisturbed in the swift, searching flashes of his mind for ideas, and ,the elimination of one after another "as': unfit:'' Suddenly, he gave his head such a toss as a fisherman gives a rod w r heii ho hooks a bite,

''We are holding joint mancenvrp<" on the Massachusetts coast, I believe?'' ho inquired. "Yes, we have about twenty tho"s.r"l men actually together. The Emperor can-put two million" under arms in a week," answered the,general. - "And our navyas a part of the practice, is going to'fire "on an old, condemned battleship ?" "Yes," from the' admiral.

The 'others began to wonder if Rodd's conception of a conference was tozextract monosyllabic confirmation of itaTis of.public news; while the unruffled aerial master of the air courses—undisputed master since the Dabney Clip race of 1912—took a piece of paper off the desk and'made a drawing with a few strokes, out of his memorv a<? en aviator, of the topography of. the Cape Cod region.

"There is a valley here, right near the position of the troops, which looks down on the bay, isn't - there?" lio asked.

"Yes," from the admiral again, with the manner of one humoring a lunatic. "And . all the foreign military attaches, including the almighty Imperial

attache of the Emperor, our enemy, are i to be present?" "Yes, he will bo there, laughing up his ske\c .it oui - d UlO general. Rotid «.lippul tli pipii ciiuci lik'v on to lliv* Ijlollli- <-hpp tl it sok'v .is it lie 01 ed it a tic bt ol gr ititude ".Mi J'resi<lvjit, c. m wm h >ld oft »onr answer to the. I'U.in.'tum 101 ten d.i\s'" he ,i=Ued ' 1 am not so po'ite ,>s th.it ambassador, lot alone tiie Kmporor, but—yes, I can find an excuse And, -Mi Pitsideui, if we could convince lus Majestj that theie was one idea which Yankee ingenuity had kept trom his spies, it w c could prove to him that we could tuin all his battleships and aeroplanes into junk as soon as they arrived; that we .should take'the' aggressive ; that before bis aerial flotilla reached our shores ours should be over his cities, would ft mean peace? It was putting the President s supreme wish mto words. He drew a deep breath which lifted his body to its full proportions, and he brought down" both fasts on the'arms of his chair. Me used blunt, live,~and solacing' English. "His Majesty woidd crawl! I can hear his , ambassador\saymg that so small an affair must not interfere with, the traditional friendship between two great nations, and-asking to withdraw the ultimatum, which, he feared, we bad misundeistood. That is their way —a little group of men over therel can sav 'Full fspeed ahead!' or Back water!' without any public opinion to bother them. They would make tins war for profit. If they saw they couldn't wm, they would no longer have an object." "Then, may I have command ol the army and navy for a week 0 " Rodd asked m his pleasant, way,, bhbsrully unconscious, m "view of his own plans, that his lequest was anything but natu'"\re we diearning?" inquired tho startled admiral. "Whati Give up authority to an individual civilian tor!""But, Mr Rodd, can you do it p Can you 5 " demanded tho President, in a second's reaction as he contemplated the magnitude ot the ,feat and the 1 evolutionary nature ot tho request. _ Rodd had risen lightly to his feet, his weight icsting on the balls, keen as a runner foi tho staitmg gun. "I think I can'" he answered. "Yoin plan'" asked tho President. ""ies a our plan l " repeated the general and the admiral, in chorus: llodd hesitated for much the. same reason as the piolessoi whom the young lady asked to outline the history ot tho world between the ojsteis and the soup. Where was Ins tongue to begin its task of telling all that was racing m his brain?" . "First," ho said, "I must wire to "Walker, m charge of our Nevada experiment station, to ship the Ricocheu at once," by the fastest tram." "The Ricochet?, What is the Ricochet?" came the exacting chorus. "I hardly know myself," Rodd responded, "except that she is a,devil!"* 'The President? drew down the corners Of his mouth. He was puzzled ana irritated. .Was he dealing with the Rodd who was likely to undertake any adventure when in fantastic mood, or with Rodd the cool-headed, master of affairs? -'-But he was accustomed to see -through tho habitual mask of men; and looking into Rodd's eyes he caught a glint which spoke of the courage which reckons death as one of the risks of his occupation. "My plan, Mr President," Rodd said, "is not altogether clear, but clear enough. I want some wiring by the Signal Corps and the use of the" condemned battleship. Details I will communicate to the admiral of the fleet and tho general commanding, if I may. Of this you may bo sure: nothing will he lost by failure. No! Tho army and navy will have had invaluable practice." Here he looked at'his watch.

' 'And, Mr President, you sco you asked me to come incognito, so I. emtio by train.. If I am to get the midnight back to New York, to tell all L have in my mind Would mean discussion arid delay. It is a desperato case of giving tlie man you sent for as a last resort' a free hand for a secret work."

His clipping sentences and the : lively intrepidity of his attitude carried hi& hearers with him.

"Under these conditions, go ahead!" said tho President.

"Thank you. In' ten days you will I know," said Rodd; and with a "good 1 night v to his subordinates of the army ! and navy he'hurried oiifrof the room. He decided that the long distance repeated by his Chicago and Denver stsitions Was a quicker w 7 ay than' the telegraph to reach Walker, and the secretary let him use the telephone in the waiting room. As he went down the walk he recognised, with joyous .surprise, the figure of .Denman, his matter-of-fact assistant, pacing back and forth before the gate. Denman knew the object of the visit and had followed his chief by. plane. A sure way to keep a secret was to phure it with Denman; then, if it escaped, you knew that the leak wan due to yourself. "I didn't see any use of your going back by train, even if you had to come that way," he said. ".The Falcon ; is over at the capitol aerodrome, and I confess I am plump curious f;o know what'it is all about." "I'm going to try to ride the Ricochet over the New England hills," Rodd explained. "Jerusalem!" gasped Deninan.

Usually tho expression when Rodd was let in for a new adventure was, "Jerusalem! What next?"

"Yes, Jerusalem! "But whv do von leave out 'What next?':" Rodd asked. "Because," Denham answered slowly, "because, Chief, I don't know as there will be any 'what next' this time!"

"Well, of all the cheerful, transcendental, whistle-to-yourself kind of men I ever —" was the way tho general commanding expressed his' views about Rodd in strict confidence to the adjutant.

A week had passed. Screened by tho slope, ■which formed a wall at the valley's end, the Ricochet had been unpacked and set up in a field aerodrome tent,'''isolated from tho regular army aeroplane flotilla and kept'under close guard. Up to the last, day of the manoeuvres Rodd's demands of the army wore mysteriously slight. They had gone on with their war game while he labored over assembling his machine and trying out his maiicnuvro.

That .morning, however, tho official atmosphere had been ruiddenly agitated with conjecture by orders, unaccompanied by any explanation, to encamp the troops for the night 'in such a .manner as to bo ready for movement in mass to some given point, in place of tho expected disbandment by regiments.

- The general commanding had come late in tho afternoon "for what Rodd called final instructions. They took the form of a .-•lima:: which sounded-as unreal as war in tho clouds at a Concy Island spectacle. Denman, happening to slip into the tent at tho tii.:e, could not help overhearing part of the conversation.

"You mean all the forces—thick as I can pack them?" the general asked. "Why, yes, General; and why shouldn't the attaches join in? Give -them rifles,- too, if you wish," answered Rodd, pausing_ with ?n oil pump in his har.d as "if surprised that there could-beany misunderstanding of his words. :' ; -

i "Wan, this is muidei ' It iz " "Well, if anj cf the -foldhi s are hurt 1 nnibt that it v, ■]! be Your fault, for -\ou ?.re to do l-"> wui"g,-' said Red-] v-fli irr-" nf-3-it.,. ' i\oi the soldiers V ' snapped the 'general. "Youiself, L.donVLko the idea of a premeditated public assassina-' tion'" * , Rodd put do\-n the oil can and legarded the geneial narrowly; then he took up, a. wrench. "You don't mean to say they'll hit ec ? " he-asked. - "I do l ' Whan else_can ycu expect?" "I onlv wish that was the least "of i lav w ornes!" Redd returned.

!The general wfcs -wondering if he hid not better get the President on the long distance. Ho did not wish to arp- [ pear insubordinate, but certain reguI lotions'provided that under certain circumstances the next m command conkl i ako .charge of a superior who had lost his mWtal balance. "Ti'g insane—insane'" he declared. "Tnsaup' Of course it is' Look at the beast!" Rodd said, pointing to the Bicochet. "The very inferno of mechanical insanity! That's what I'm afraid of—not your batteries!"

"I did not moan your vehicle, but you!" the general managed to sar, very ]{i dd siiiinl 'iiildlv hint bj ~uth a (oiulusioii 1101.1 one ho had conn 1 to jo- >■ <ct 101 film aid a-In/ power 1 i,a\o that nputation, I behove, ho tin ro~<-fd sotth "Still, I have jot 10 se. am pi oof convincing to my own mind " I "Well, I ha\e every confidence in 0111 high-an<»le guns, and" your'death' be'-on voni own head'" said tht> general. 'So be itP' 'rottrrned Rodd.' "And jnind'vou ihe'piomptly-. If jou don't, and if the navy man ashore *aiid yonr 1 Signal Corps irrim-dbii't piessthjHi buttons promptly,' we'll-all look foolish, 110*0 to meiitun that,wo will fold —yes, fail!" The J word" aroused him to a 'sudden outburst'.' •' He "became, deadly serious. "If all strategy is fan ;m waT, this is fan for the snkc of humanity. If we succeed, F wd "may make that pirate Empef think that science has s!6 -far that all the bf>st preTJarations of'an rmpenal liighwayrnan csrnnotf ""prevail against 'the liglrtmngs 111 control of on inventor. "We maj bring 'he woild a good deal nearer to the end of organised slaughter. \es, we mav teach those who build aeroplinos foir killing that they cair"l affoid to interfere, with the fellows who build thorn for fast mail service and passen-

ger carrying. " -■' "Your orders v.'ill be obeyed to the letter l"' said the general. He-had-given fair warning; his conscience, was ''And that is all, except a word with Captain Patton," Rodd added.' i "He will be over as soon as thcyhavo their slipper," concluded the general. * " . : . " Rodd smilingly turned to Ins inspection of the diabolical' creature of his fashioning, whose every 'part was -painted the blue of a summer's sky. Denman's simple description .of the Ricochet was that she looked more like a living; machine than any other „concreto object he could call to mind. Some of her planes ran in curving laterals, catching the press of a peculiarlooking forward propeller in a sheath. Her dozen cylinders wore shipped in a circle, and the poises that drove them was, again in the words of Deninan, "hell incarnate"; which was either dis-■ulov.-iii'v credit, or very uncomplimentary to" Rodd's friend, the Columbia professor, who had discovered a new engine explosive. All the Ricochet's runs had boon over the sands oi Nevada and the waters of Great Salt Lake. Rodd had neier attempted to ascend bo an;, height in her. He confessed his fear oi h'is own child. She made him foci like a primitive man in the presence oi the supernatural. Every turn- he ana the professor (who looked on from the ground) had taken her out for a trial, thev had promised themselves that tJiev u onld startle the world with a new for-'n of aeroplane. After the trial, Rodd a!wavs 1 hanked Heaicn that he w:'.s ali'e.'i'iid declarfd that thoin-h lie hoped he was not afraid to die, he would never again mount such a fiend. Speed she Lad beyond amthnig that had vet taken the ""air, but she lacked control. He could direct her more or less perpendicularly, but his warping ptones had no influence laterally. Denman did not overhear the chief's conversation with L'aclon, but thai; young officer came out of the tent with eves bulging. " rremendoup!" he said. "It sort oj makes the brain stagger —the nerve of that fellow in there and the bluff! If he carries this thing tinough he will be worth, twenty battleships and ten .irrny corps!" Then Patton. huriying away, assumed, with evident success, the manner of a man who is determined to appear as if he expected nothing unusual to li'inpen. "Well, Chief, just what is the game, anyway?" Deninan asked, as he entered the tent. "The vibration of the beast is what you've got to look out for," said Rodd. "It's enough to shake the ficsh off a man and leave him a skeleton. Do you see the way I'm protecting the feed pipe? "We don't want a bullet to cut that, do we?" It was midnight when he had gone over the Ricochet for the last time, inch by inch, from rod tip to rod tip. " '.'l'm full of wrinkles from bending over ail day," he told Denman. "Let's take a 'little walk and iron them out." They had not gone far when a sentry stopped them; a few yards faither on they met another. Ho repeated the words of the first with unhesitating iii-ir-iie'i'. "Sorry! Positive orders to let no ono by'" ho said. "Right you arc," said Rodd, with evident gratification. Whenever they approached the valley they met with the same reception. Put once, when they had a glimpse over the top of the rise' at the valley's bottom, they saw shadowy figtires moving here and there with spades, under the ; direction of officers. Down in the harbor not a single light was visible. ] "The squadron to have gone," observed Deninan. "Yes. 1 expect the navy folks have already finished their work," said Redd. "It's much simpler than that of the army folks in this instance — just one wire and one charge, no.t dozens!"' "Wires and charges and dozens! But you will grasp it all like a flash if it comes out all" right," said Rodd. \nd Den nan understood that lie was in touch with Rodd's single superstition, which was that if you told how you. .were qonif* to do a thing your plain were bound to go wiong. And life a:icl death, hot only for himself but for his fellow-countrymen, were at stake this time.

After they had rolled up in their ' blankcls he wondered if he would lie whole or in parts at that time to-mor-row, cud fell asleep. He slept soundly f-.wu utter exhaustion and from the consciousness that ho had left no nut in the Ricochet loose. The creaking ■of artillf-ry wheels and the tramp ot inarching men awakened him at dajvn, iu;d outside the tent he heard a soldier spying: "Tkev'w got the whole bunch, guns and doughboys, ciowded Up there like they v.-j>s at the thc?avter,-md nobody knows whit the show's p.oing- to be." "I'm not quite sine I kn'ow myself in every detail, but 1 hone I do," thought Rodd, as ho sprang up. After a cup of coilec, lie and Denman wheeled the Ricochet out into the ciisp air and brilliant light of a perfect September mornin<;. "We painted her a little too dirk for that sky," Rodd remarked. "Robin's egg blue would have been better, but it's too J ate to change now.'"

They put—her -on the starting rajls inclining upward to the top of the slope. Rodd knew.that ho was smiling and wondered how he was able to -smile.

Ho felt as if he were preparing to jump into the crater of a volcano which the seismograph said would become -active directly. ' - "'Denman," he said, "I've put a hfetaviny station just over the bluff—a life-saving station which is' strictly a personal affair. -In fact, the Falcon's there, and I want you there before I fly." - •

"You don't need mo here?" asked Denmart, with wistful idisappomtment. He ielt that his duty,was at the chief's side in the hour .of danger. "No. Everything is as ready as it can be for the start. "I'll- need you particularly at the finish." '-Rodd pointed to* a buoy aboard the Ricochet and light broke on Denmon. "Of course'J understand!" he said, disgusted.at his stupidity. " "And your station is jonly a step fro'n "Where the attaches are stationed. S n e how they take it befoie you come after the shin-wrecked manner —and ' w?toh for a little white flag. That's all." _ < I?,odd gave his assistant more' than t>'iic to reach his. destination and then "leuntod the Ricochet.". His smile had become like parchment, which"ghvo it the, appqaranco of ineffaceable 'determination. ' ' - v " Jerusalem I What next p " 'he theu-jht, 4i little hysteiically. Yet his n«ind was tinned keenly to everything 3'o had io\ do when he rammed idown the crank lever with his heel and s'\ una" over "the spark. "Impressive'" exclaimed the impenil attache, when the foreign attaches, Jed bv Captain Patton. TLS A , came to the ton of the hill. 1 .iprcsive was a perfectly safe and diplomatic word for the scene which startled the captain's box partv, for j whom a row of campstools under the I shade of an old apple tree was reserved.

L icli v, .is :. polite sp\. i'-,ei\ Oiio pics, lit to ham oviiitiiiiig about our arinv that wo did not want him to know. Out of intern itional pnlilem ss to sueii polite guests, Captain Patton acted ps their escort. 'I ho ]('"■> thev learned, the moic ciedit to him. On the pievious evening, while the Signal Corps had been busy with their spades, Patton had his charges all in hand, playing budge at their camp tluee miles away. '•'ln <all the Instoiy of manoeuvres tlfcic had-never been"anythmg'liko that spectacle tb\ winch ho now treated them" A corn held four or five hundred \yards bioad, which ioimcd the bottom of the valley, a-, as absolutely de'serted. On either slope the khaki of infantry formed m tiers fused into thd pasture land. On the'lower edges, down by tho coach lines, in football phrase; "were the 'high-angle guns built for attacking aeioplane's, then muzzles pointed toward the heavens,. On tile hilltops were the regulation field guas. k It would seem that something was about to happen in that coin field for the edification of this audience of twent;, .thousand maich-stainrd soldiois.' - "We have a Rood position —the pontic of the horseshoe at the Metropolitan isn't relatively better." lomarked Patton carelessly. "Some sports, .1 suppose, to send everybody home in good humor,'' remarked -the imperial attache, as he | swept the landscape 'with his binoculars, ' his gaze settling on the harbor. Contrary to all naval custom, no colors floated from the man-of-war's, stern, though she - was at anchor; no smoke rose from her stacks; not a soul was visible on her. dismantled decks. She had the deserted aspect of a derelict. "She's the one you. are going to, destroy, isn't she?" asked the Englishman. "I suppose you'll tow her out to sea later." "But. Captain! You will explain! This is extraordinary!" asked the Frenchman, who could control his emotion no longer. "Look! Those are not blanks —those arc live, shells lying beside the guns!" with a perfervid gesture toward the steel noses set in their brass jackets waiting to be thrust into the breeches. "Why? Yes, why do you need them? It musk be a strange kind of sport." ,He had saved the imperial attache asking the question for which Captain Patton was waiting. The captain was perfectly delibontc in an.suer. He took a rifle from a near-by soldier and emptied the contents of the magazine iutp his hand. '"Live cartridges, too —all very busi-ness-like!" he said; and'he had -a Missouri drawl which heightened the effect of the explanation. He returned the cartridges to the magazine and handed the rifle back to its owner before ho further satisfied curiosity, which was frank in everyone except the imperial attache, who was drumming the rims of his binoculars wn.li his linger tips. "I think we all' agree," said Patton, ""that the fault with our practice with aeioplaups is that wc have fired at dummy box kites that had to be trailed or at stationary targets, which is" no test at all. The results would be different with a skiil'ul driver aboard, manoouvering for safety." "True!" .said the imperial attache.

■'. "Yes, yes!" repeated • the ' Frenchman; "The very point! We play, play at War,- without having the war." '-'.Ours- is the good fortune oiv this occasion," drawled Patton, "to have n. live driver, who is going to fly by at an altitude of three or. four hundred reet - and' be the target for every gun arid everj r rifle." They all thought that Patton was lying, but were too polite to say so; and all except the Englishman were too fearsome of biting at some practical joke to ask another question. "Really!" said the Englishman. '"Really!" he repeated, by way of showing that he was not excited. "It is the very .thing we need, and it's awfully good of you to invite us. .Most'nations would have kept It to themselves," With a stare at the imperial attache, whom he did not like. "I must say, you couldn't get one of our soldiers t'o stand for anything of the sort, and if you could; the'newspapers would make such a scandal that we wouldn't dare undertake it. I once suggested hiring a Chinaman. You can hire a Chiiiaman to do anything, you know—lots of them would : jump at the chance —hut the War Office pigeon-holed the idea." "The man's- not a soldier," Patton went on. "It's Danbury Rodd! You. have heard of him, of course—oiir most progressive aviator. He is' perfectly sure that we can't hit him, and all his staff share his confidence to that ex.t'ent" —Patton saw .no reason why ho should not- put it ori as thick as he they all wanted to take his place in the experiment. Rodd and his corps regard all army aviation corps as very backward. He spends great sums on his experiments, and it is part of his eccentricity that he will mot'let his own government know his' secrets. He merely says that in case of war he will surprise us with a new kind of explosive which he can concentrate against a battleship or scatter for land

attack. The machine he is using today is the type which he would use m immediately taking the offeusive against an enemy's coast." t "Very interesting*!" said the imperial

attache, blinking. .He recalled the failure of his agents to. get employment at the Nevada station, -where one building of sheet steel had a combination lock. He

measured off certain natural objects with his- eye, hoping to judge if this talk of superior speed was anything but Yankee bluff. ■

The artillerists took their positions beside the shotted guns, captains'ready to call the gunners ready to swing "the muzzles to the right angle. Ati the infantrymen-were kneeling in a position to draw a bead, as a hunter watches for game to be beaten from cover. Thus the army waited; and nothing happened. ■ The face of Denman, standing behind the attaches, grew, pale and apprehensive. A breeze stirred/the dead tassels of the 1 ripened corn; an occasional bird flitted ■ across the valley. Still the army Waited; for -Rodd knew the effect of suspense on

sighting eye and trigger finger. ' : . Abruptly, as a vclap :of thunder came a roar, from of the slope at the valley's end. The tiers of faces turned suddenly in a wave of. whits and saw a'filmy- spot appear on the sky line. ■' .'What-''-happened then can .hardly be described in sequence. There.. was top .much., dust and: too . much excitement for anyone ;tp■' have a : clear idea.,; Be-

sides, ' it all came at once," as an Irish mfantij-maa said. Tliat hlmj spot became a fine, daik sticak diawn acioss the background of the blue sky. In its flight it sounded like a tweheuich shell with a steamship siren attached, and it was the thing the aimj Jiad been lold to fire at —and the aim-, fired in mad, disordered impulse. But before gunneis pnlletl then lanyards and jiiiemcii xh«i. tiiggoi-; saw something flash from this incredibly swilt taigct. The "crash and ioar of the uiMl'adW was diovrod In tho thundering boom or an explosion, and the>>coni fiji'l spouted like a gejser heavenwaid. The muffled silence as the shower of earth fell was broken h\, a Blast from the shore batteries. Some observers who kept their presence oi mind saw the spot over the harbor. They saw it flash "agnu, this time above the deserted nian-o.T-fl ai, iioni which iose a column of smoke lifted by a fanshaped sheet of flame.." Then the ciumpled hulk sank. Out of sight, an uncontrollable arrow of fate, the. llichocliet flew on\,,Rodd's ears roared with the high tenor of a giant buzz saw; his body felt as if it had been pounded" by a thousand flails and pricked by a million needles ; v and his eves - saw sea and' sky as a, mist of meigmg green and blue streaks. He •was not surprised that he had not been hit. Had he succeeded p How was ha ' going to escape from the back of a mad piece of mechanism-that had run* amuck ? His fear was - that once he stopped the. motor, the Ricochet would turn turtle; for he had no'idea that she conld-possibly keep her equilibrium at , lessUian fifty mdes an hour. He could only guess v his altitude, hut knew it must be a thousand feci: His bram reeled as he reached up to o brace-and drew himself free of the windguard, and pressure of the air forcing his eyes shut and gluing him against the central support of the upper plane. Then he swung off the spark, and he had a sense of a. silence that fairly cracked in the suddenness of its coming. He felt for the buoy and managed to get his nr"!. through it-before ' the Ricochet began to careen like a I,

..op iiinniiiir down She was half wa\ o\i>i, but with some lctuin oi his facilities and of strength to his numbed limbs he threw his body over and she adjusted her balance just as a ship, rolling hcawlv, swings back fiom a cntic.il point of hesitation.

But all the time she had been descending, and. he saw that'now he was not more than fifty feet" above the soft green bosom of the sea With the. desperate impulse of a snarling boast trying to shake itself free of its load, slie 'plunged.' He jumped, and coming to the surface after his dive he heard the hot motois sizzling as they struck the water. The planes held her"afloat for a minute before'she passed into the depths; while he climbed into the buoy, s,)ie, weak, and bewildeied, and began mechanically to wave the white flag he took from under his shut.

Half an Hour later he saw a penci l point grow to the sizß_of an aeroplane, which he recognised as the dependable Falcon. She sank gently, resting on her pontoons, and Denman surveyed a smut-coveied face and a jacket torn to rags above the inn of the buoy. things blow up all right o " Rodd asked. "Didn't you hear them p "

"Hardly, with all the noise that devil was making,. and I couldn't" locfk back. In fact, everything was a blur. I don't even know-if my signals worked." "Perfectly, and the army did a beautiful job in wiring that corn field \tfth capsules of dynamite," said Denman; "but no better than the navy with their gun. cotton —and in both cases they touched the button just at the psychological fraction of a second." ■ "And the almighty imperial attache? 'Did he think the destruction was due to the flashes from the Ricochet —that wo had a new kind of explosixe?" "Certainly. He looked like a man that gets a piece of gravel in the spinach between his molars. And. a funny thing was that a kernel of corn landed on his cap., That corn crop was not only husked —it was shelled for fair and planted, too!" "Oh, glorious! Oh, Jerusalem! with 'what next?' still attached, Denman! And peace to the bones of the Ricochet !" i ' "It seems to me now. Chief, said Denman, after Rodd was aboard tho Falcon, "that oim factories pught to get the contract for building the new aerial flotilla for the government," The President ' saw to this himself; and in view of the withdrawn ultimatum and of services rendered, he thought that the estimates were more than rcarcnalile.