Page:The Zeppelin Destroyer.djvu/235

 'I contend that it does. We should have been told the truth,' he declared emphatically and, rising, he took from beneath a table a large scrap-book.

Then, returning to his chair, he said: 'I have here a cutting from The Times of March 20, 1913. I came across it only the other day. Listen—and I'll read it to you, because it is most illuminating to you airmen?

And then he read to us as follows:—

'Colonel Seeley, Secretary of State for War, said yesterday: We have decided that the Army should have small dirigibles which could be packed up in boxes, put in motor-lorries or in ships, and sent wherever they are required. These we have got. These dirigibles, I say without hesitation—and all who understand the matter will agree—are superior to any other kind of portable airship. They have various mechanical advantages, which I do not wish to dwell upon, because those concerned believe the secret is our own, enabling them to rise more rapidly in the air, and enabling them, above all, to avoid having to part with hydrogen when they rise, and therefore there is no need for reinforcing the hydrogen when they fall. They have these advantages, which we believe are superior to those of any other nation.'

Then, pausing, the colonel raised his eyes to mine, and, with a merry laugh, asked:

'Now. What do you think of that for a Ministerial statement eh?'

'Perhaps, instead of putting them in boxes, we