Page:The Zeppelin Destroyer.djvu/43

 'We have made a great and most important discovery to-day, Roseye,' I said as calmly as I could, as together we walked back to the shed. 'This discovery is undreamed of by Germany. It will give us power over any Zeppelin which dares to come to our shores, providing that we can approach sufficiently near.'

'Ah! if you can' replied the girl at my side.

'No doubt we shall increase the range,' I replied. 'We have, this evening, established the one most important fact that our apparatus is really capable of directing the rays, and that between metal and metal we can now, as Hertz endeavoured to, set up an electric spark from a distance.'

'You certainly have done that—but I don't yet see the trend of your argument, Claude. I know I'm only a woman and unversed in technicalities, so please forgive me, won't you?'

'Well,' I said as we walked, my arm linked in hers. 'First, as you know, a Zeppelin is constructed mostly of aluminium, its stays and practically all its rigid parts are of that metal except some of light steel. It consists of a number of ballonets filled with highly inflammable gas, and around those ballonets are ribs of aluminium and steel. There must be joints in these ribs, and over those joints we have now proved that we can create sparks from a considerable distance. From the ballonets there is a constant leakage of gas, therefore if we charge the aluminium and steel so that they spark wherever there is the slightest gap we shall ignite that escaping gas and cause the whole airship to explode with terrific force. Do I explain it clearly?'