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 may partially cripple the machine by upsetting its stability, and it is then highly dangerous to run the powerful engines at speed. To hit either of the gondolas would, of course, do serious harm, but at six thousand feet they are at night an almost invisible mark, and it is only by a lucky chance they would be damaged.'

'And what, in your opinion, is the best means of destroying Zeppelins?' Roseye asked, with a sly glance at me.

'My dear Miss Lethmere,' he replied, 'guns and guns alone are at present of any use against these air monsters. We must see to it that the weapons we use are sighted to carry to 12,000 feet, and fire a shell that will not only rip up casing and ballonet, but will at the same time ignite the escaping gas.'

'The newest super-Zeppelins have a sentry posted on top,' remarked Mrs. Tringham, a smart little lady, well-known to Roseye, for she had often flown with her husband. 'He is separated from the crew far below, but he is in telephonic communication with the commander, so that he can warn him of any aeroplane ascending above for bomb-dropping. I quite agree with Alfred,' she went on, 'well-equipped guns and good naval gunners are the best defences against this new peril of the night.'

'Moreover,' Tringham remarked, I give no credence whatever to the reports that the Germans are circulating, namely, that they are completing two new Zeppelins a week.'

'I agree,' I said. 'That story has gone the round of the Press, but is only a piece of clever propaganda