Page:The Zeppelin Destroyer.djvu/48

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48
THE ZEPPELIN DESTROYER

our aeroplanes in a stronger and greater degree than we could ever hope to do it. Then we ourselves would be destroyed by the secret power we have invented.'

'They shall never know the secret from me,' was my friend's fierce reply. 'Only we three know it—while Theed has, of course, learnt something. That could, not be helped.'

'We must not forget the words I read out to you the other day from the Berliner Tageblatt,' I replied. 'That paper said: "The fires and devastation caused by our Zeppelin squadron in England represented a victory greater and more important than could be achieved in a single battle." That,' I added, 'is the triumphant boast of Major Moraht, Germany's most prominent military critic.'

'Yes, and it went further,' exclaimed Teddy, turning to Roseye. 'The paper declared that if the Germans were as brutal as they were accused of being, their naval airship squadron could long ago, in memory of the Baralong, have set London afire at all four of her corners.'

'That's just what we intend to prevent,' I declared very emphatically. 'That is what, notwithstanding the efforts of prowling strangers who are seeking to know in what direction our experiments are being conducted, we intend to achieve. To-night, Roseye, we have made one great and astounding discovery—a discovery which has placed within our hands a power which Germany, with all her science and investigation, little dreams. We now know the true secret which will eventually prove the undoing of the Kaiser and his barbarous hordes.'