Page:The Zeppelin Destroyer.djvu/172

 washers, adjusting bolts and other things. And at evening, while the Theeds and Mulliner gossiped in the kitchen, we three made ourselves comfortable before the great log fire in the farmer's best room, and sometimes passed the time with cards, a well-thumbed pack of which Roseye had discovered in a drawer.

One evening we had played cards and Teddy had wished us good night, taken his candle and ascended the narrow creaky stairs, worn hollow by the tread of generations of farmers.

'Claude,' exclaimed my love, when we were alone, 'I feel so very worried over you! I know how keen you are to act your part in this war, and to put your theory to the test. But is it really wise? Remember that you are going to risk your life. The creation of that electric wave, when in the air, may re-act upon your own engines and seize them—or it may create a spark across your own petrol-tank. In that case you would be blown up in mid-air!'

'Ah! That contingency I've already provided for, darling,' I assured her. 'Have you not seen that my new petrol-tank is a wooden barrel held by wooden bands, so that there is no metal over which to spark?'

'I know. But electricity is such a mysterious force, one never knows what it will do, or how it will take effect.'

'You are going a little wide of the mark, Roseye,' I laughed. 'We know pretty well the limitations of electricity—or rather we three know as much—and perhaps a little more, than the enemy does. My