The WAR IN THE AIR
[Copypight, 1907, 1908, by the Macmillan Company.]
PROLOGUE OF THE STORY.
Germany, bating the Monroe doctrine and ambitious for world's suprem
acy, secretly builds a vast fleet of airships and plans to surprise the United
States by means of a sudden attack. Iler airship fleet consists of great dirigi
bles of the Von Zeppelin type and small aeroplanes called Dracbenflieger.
Prince Karl Albert commands the German airships. Germany and Eng
land have both been endeavoring to buy an extraordinary flying machine in
vented by Alfred Butteridge, who arrives at a British seaside resort in a
runaway balloou, accompanied by a lady in whom he is interested.
Bert Smallways, a motorcycle dealer in hard luck, who is In love with
Miss Edna Bunthorne, and his partner. Grubb, are impersonating a pair of
"desert dervishes" at the seashore. Bert catches hold of the basket of the
balloon and falls into it just as Butteridge and the lady fall out.
The balloon carries Bert across the North sea. He finds drawings of But
teridge's airship in some of Butteridge's clothing and hides the plans in his
chest protector. His balloon drifts over Germany's immense aeronautic park.
German soldiers shoot holes in it and capture Bert. They think he is But
teridge. Soldiers carry him to the cabin of the Vaterland, flagship of the air
fleet. Lieutenant lvurt guards him. The vast fleet starts across the ocean
to attack New York. Graf von Winterfeld offers Bert £IOO,OOO for the secret
of Butteridge, whom Bert impersonates somewhat crudely.
Bert Meets the Prince.
••T GOT the plans," said Bert.
I "Yes; there is that! Yes, but
I you see the prince was interested
in Ilerr Pooterage because of his
romantic seit. Herr Pooterage was so
much more—ah—in the picture. I am
afraid you are not equal to controlling
the flying machine department of our
aerial park as he wished you to do.
He hadt promised himself that.
"And der was also the prestige—the
worldt prestige of Pooterage with us.
Well, we must see what we can do."
He held out his hand. "Gif me the
plans."
A terrible chill ran through the be
ing of Mr. Smallways. To this day
he is not clear in his mind whether he
wept or no, but certainly there was
weeping in his voice. "'Ere, I say!"
he protested. "Ain't I to 'ave nothin"
for "em?"
The secretary regarded him with
benevolent eyes. "You do not deserve
anyzing!" he said.
"I might 'ave tore 'ein up."
"Zey are not yours!"
"They weren't Butteridge's!"
"No need to pay atiyzlng."
Bert's being seemed to tighten to
ward desperate deeds. "Gaw!" he
said, clutching his coat, "ain't thereV"
"Pe galm," said the secretary. "Lis
ten! You shall haf five hundert
poundts. You shall haf it on my prom
ise. I will <lo that for you, and that
Is all I can do. Take it from me. Gif
me the name of that bank. Write it
down. So! I tell you the prince is no
choke. I do not think he approffed of
your appearance last night. No; I
can't answer for him. lie wanted
Pooterage, and you haf spoilt it. The
prince 1 do not understand quite. He
Is In a strange state. It is the excite
ment of the starting and this great
soaring in the air. I cannot account
for what he does. But if all goes well
I will see to it you shall haf live hun
dert poundts. Will that do? Then gif
me the plans."
"Old beggar!" said Bert as the door
clicked. "Gaw! What an ole beggar!
Sharp!" •
And later in the day an extremely
shattered and disorganized Bert Small
ways stood in the presence of the
Prince Karl Albert.
The proceedings were in German.
The prince was in his own cabin, the
end room of the airship, a charming
apartment furnished in wickerwork,
with a long window across its entire
breadth, looking forward. He was sit
ting at a folding table of green baize,
with Von Winterfeld and two officers
sitting beside him, and littered before
thern was a number of American maps
and Mr. Butteridge's letters and his
portfolio and a number of loose pa
pers. Bert was not asked to sit down
and remained standing throughout the
Interview. Von Winterfeld told his
story, and every now and then the
words balloon and Pooterage struck
on Bert's ears. The prince's face re
mained stern and ominous, and the
two officers watched it cautiously or
glanced at Bert. Presently he was
struck by an Idea, and they fell dis
cussing the plans. The prince asked
Bert abruptly in English. "Did you
ever see this thing go op?"
Bert Jumped. "Saw it from Bun 'ill,
your royal highness."
Von Winterfeld made some explana
tion.
"Flow fast did it go?"
"Couldn't say, your royal highness.
The papers, leastways the Dully Cou
rier, said eighty miles an hour."
They talked German over that for a
time.
"Couldt It standt still? Op In the air?
That is what I want to know."
"It could 'ovver. your royal high
ness, like a wasp," said Bert.
"Vlel besser, nlcht wabr?" said the
prince t" Von Winterfeld, and then
went on in German for A time.
Presently they came to an end. and
the two officers looked at Bert On a
rang a bell, and the portfolio was
handed to an attendant, who took it
away.
Then they reverted to the case of
Bert, and it was evident the prince
was inclined to be hard with him.
Von Winterfeld protested. Apparent
ly theological considerations came in.
for there were several mentions of
"Gottl" Some conclusions emerged,
and it was apj)arent that Von Winter
feld was instructed to convey them to
Bert.
"Mr. Schraallvays, you haf obtained
a footing in this airship," he said,
"by disgraceful and systematic lying."
"'Ardly systematic," said Bert "I"
The prince silenced him by a ges
ture.
"And it is within the power of his
highness to dispose of you as a spy."
" 'Ere! I came to sell"—
"Ssh!" said one of the officers.
"However, in consideration of the
happy chance that mate you the in
strument unter Gott of this Pooterage
flying machine reaching his highness'
hand, you haf been spared. Yes; you
were the pearer of goot tidings. You
will be allowed to remain on this
ship until it is convenient to dispose
of you. Do you understandt?"
"We will bring him." said the prince,
and added terribly, with a terrible
glare, "as ballast."
"You are to come with us," said
Winterfeld. "as pallast. Do you un
derstand! V
Bert opened his mouth to ask about
the £."00, and then a saving gleam of
wisdom silenced him. lie met Von
Winterfeld's eye, and It seemed to him
the secretary nodded slightly. "Go!"
said the prince, with a sweep of the
great arm and hand toward the door.
Bert went out like a leaf before a
gale.
But in between the time when the
Graf von Winterfeld had talked to
him and this alarming conference
with the prince, Bert had explored the
Vaterland from end to end. He had
found it interesting in spite of grave
preoccupations. Kurt, like the greater
number of the men upon the German
air fleet, had known hardly anything
of aeronautics before his appointment
to the new flagship. But he was ex
tremely keen upon this wonderful new
weapon Germany had assumed so sud
denly and dramatically, lie showed
things to Bert with a boyish eagerness
and appreciation, it was as if lie
showed them over again to himself,
lik* a child showing a new toy. "Let's
go all over the ship," he said with
zest. He pointed out particularly the
lightness of everything, the use of ex
hausted aluminium tubing, of springy
cushions inflated with compressed hy
drogen. The partitions were hydro
gen bags covered witli light imitation
leather. The very crockery was a
light biscuit glazed in a vacuum and
weighed next to nothing. Where
strength was needed there was the
new Charlottenburg alloy, German
steel as it was called, the toughest and
most resistant metal in the world.
There was no lack of space. Space
did not matter, so long as load did not
grow. The habitable part of the ship
was 2">o feet long, and (he rooms in
two tiers. Above these one could go
up into remarkable little white metal
turrets with big windows and air tight
double doors that enabled one to in
spect the vast cavity of the gas cham
bers. This Inside view impressed Bert
very much. He had never realized be
fore that an airship was not one sim
ple continuous gas bag containing
nothing but gas. Now he saw far
above him the backbone of the ap
paratus and its big ribs, "like the neu
ral and haemal canals," said Kurt,
who had dabbled in biology.
"Itather." said Bert appreciatively,
though lie had not the ghost of an
Idea what these phrases meant.
Little electric lights could be switch
ed on up there If anything went wrong
in the night. There were even lad
! dors across the space. "But you can't
go into the gas," protested Bert. "You
can't breve it."
The lieutenant opened a cupboard
door and displayed a diver's suit, only
that it was made of oiled silk, and
both its compressed air knapsack and
its helmet were of an alloy of alumin
ium and some light metal. "We can
go all over the inside netting and stick
up bulletholes or leaks,"he explained.
"There's netting inside and out The
whole outer case is rope ladder, so to
speak."
Aft of the habitable part of the
airship was the magazine of explo
sives, coming near the middle of its
length. They were all bombs of va
rious types, mostly in glass. None of
the German airships carried any guns I
at all, except one small pompom, to I
use the old English nickname dating [
from the Boer war, which was for
ward in the gallery upon the shield at
the heart of the eagle. From the mag
azine amidships a covered canvas gal
lery, with aluminium treads on its
floor and a hand rope, ran back under
neath the gas chamber to the engine
room at the tail. But along this Bert
did not go, and from first to last he
never saw the engines. But he went
up a ladder against a gale of ventila
tion—a ladder that was incased in a
kind of gas tight tire escape—and ran
r'ght athwart the great forward air
chamber to the little lookout gallery 112
with a telephone, that gallery that ;
bore the light 'pompom of German |
steel and its locker of shells. This j
gallery was all of aluminium magne- !
slum alloy, the tight front of the air- ;
ship swelled clitl'like above and below. |
and the black eagle sprawled over
whelmingly gigantic, its extremities
all hidden by the bulge of the gas j
bag.
Anil far down tinder the soaring
eagles was England. 4.000 feet below
perhaps and looking very small and
defenseless indeed in the morning sun
light.
The realization that there was Eng
land gave Bert sudden and unexpected !
qualms of patriotic compunction, lie
was struck by a quite novel idea. Aft
er all. lie might have torn up those
plans and thrown them away. These
people could not have done so very
much to him. And even if they did,
ought not an Englishman to die for his
country? It was an idea that had hith
erto been rather smothered up by the
cares of a competitive civilization lie
became violently depressed. lie ought,
he perceived, to have seen it in that
light before. Wasn't he a traitor?
lie was passing between Manchester
and Liverpool, Kurt told him.
Kurt and he fell talking of aerial
tactics and presently went down to
the undergallery In order that Bert
might see the Drachenflieger that the j
airships of the right wing had picked j
up over night and .were towing be- j
hind them, each airship towing three j
or four. They looked like big box j
kites of an exaggerated form, soaring ;
at the ends of Invisible cords. They j
had long, square heads and tlattened
tails, with lateral propellers.
"Your machine is different from that, j
Mr. Butteridge?"
"Quite different," said Bert. "More
like an insect and less like a bird. And
it buzzes and don't drive about so.
What can those things do?"
Kurt was not very clear upon that j
himself and was still explaining when j
Bert was called to the conference we
have recorded with the prince.
And after that was over the last
traces of Butteridge fell from Bert
like a garment, and he became Small- '
ways to all on board. The soldiers
ceased to salute him. and the officers (
ceased to seem aware of his existence,
except .Lieutenant Kurt. lie was turn
ed out of his nice cabin and packed
in with his belongings to share that : j
of Lieutenant Kurt, whose luck it was i
to be Junior, and the bird headed of- j
fleet - , still swearing slightly and car- !
rying strops and aluminium boot trees j
and weightless hair brushes and hand j ,
mirrors and pomade in his hands, re- j
snmed possession. Bert was putin
with Kurt because there was nowhere \ 1
else for him to lay his bandaged head I '
in that close packed vessel. lie was
to mess, he was told, with the men.
"What's your real name, then?" said
Kurt, who was only imperfectly in- 1
formed of the new state of affairs.
"Small ways."
"I thought you were a bit of a fraud
—even when 1 thought you were But- '
teridge You're jolly lucky the prince
took it calmly. He's a pretty tidy
blazer when he's roused. lie wouldn't '
stick a moment at pitching a chap of
your .sort overboard if he thought
tit. No! They've shoved you onto
me. but it's my cabin, you know."
"1 won't forget." said Bert. i
[To be continued.]
A GLANCE AT THE NEWS OF 1911
CONGRESS' extra session was a
busy one in spite of the fact
that it was called merely to take
action upon Canadian reciproc
ity. Among the many other matters
that absorbed its attention were the
problem of reducing the tariff on wool,
cotton and other schedules. But the
bills relating to these subjects were
vetoed by the president, who held that
the tariff board had not been afforded
sufficient time to report on them. The
arrival of the reports, however, has
led to another effort looking to the ac
complishment of the proposed reduc
tions. The Democrats control the
house and, with the progressives, hold
a senate majority. The situation is the
first of the kind in sixteen years.
As to the Presidency.
Politically the presidential campaign
of 1912 took shape more or less. For
months speculation has been rife as to
the prospective candidates. That Pres
ident Taft wants nnother term there
now is no question, and lately it has
been rumored that Governor Hadley of
Missouri will be his running mate.
Whether Colonel Boosevelt will seek
Copyright by American I'ress Association.
Colonel Roosevelt, Who May Figure In
Presidential Campaign.
•
the presidential toga for the third
term remains to be seen, although po
litical wiseacres thought they saw the
handwriting on the wall when there
appeared a magazine article from the
colonel's pen bearing on the trust ques
tion. Senator La Follette of Wiscon
sin will be in the race. I
On the Democratic side Governors
Harmon of Ohio and Wilson of New
Jersey are avowedly in the field.
Speaker Champ Clark and Represen
tative Oscar W. Underwood are other
possibilities.
More Politics.
A resolution to elect United States
senators by a direct vote of the people
was first lost in the senate by four
Votes, later passing that body, but with
an amendment in which the house has
not yet concurred.
Vote of the senate, 40 to 40, declared
William Lorimer of Illinois duly elect
ed. President Taft accepted the resig
nation of Richard Balliuger as secre
tary of the interior and appointed Wal
ter L. Fisher of Chicago. The Sixty
second congress convened on April 2,
with Champ Clark as speaker. The
United States recognized the republic
of Portugal. President Tuft signed the
Anglo-American and Franco-American
arbitration treaties. The British house
(>f lords passed the "veto bill," amount
ing to a surrender to the house of
commons. Canada rejected reciprocity
With the United States at its annual
election. California voted to adopt the
Initiative, the referendum, the recall
and equal suffrage. Francisco I. Ma
dero was inaugurated president of
Mexico. Hon. A. ,T. Balfour resigned
as leader of the British Conservatives.
The fur seal treaty between the Unit
ed States, Russia, Japan and Great
Britain became effective. Johu G. A.
Leishman became ambassador at Ber
lin, succeeding Dr. Hill, resigned. The
Progressive Republican league was
formed.
Labor.
No highly sensational conflicts be
tween labor and employer have oc
curred in the United States during 15)11,
but the trial of the McNamara brothers,
charged with responsibility for the de
struction of the Los Angeles (Cul.)
newspaper building, which caused a
death list of twenty-one, occupied the
attention of the entire country.
The International Seamen's union,
after tleing up shipping at ports of
Great Britain and elsewhere abroad,
won practically all its demands.
From the Year's Death List. '
United States Senator Stephen B. El
kins of West Virginia, aged seventy;
Paul Morton, ex-secretary of the navy,
aged fifty-four; Tom L. Johnson, form
er mayor of Cleveland. ()., famous for
his tight for o cent street car fares,
aged lifty-six; United States Senator
William Pierce Frye of Maine, aged
seventy-nine; John \Y. Gates, known ;
as "Bet You a Million Gates," aged
fl(ty-six; John M. Harlan of United j
States supreme court, aged seventy
eight; Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper pro
prietor: General Crouje, Boer war hero,
and Rear Admiral \Y. S. Schley, hero
of Spanish-American war.
The Worst Disasters.
The list of disasters was a long one.
Probably the catastrophes that most
shocked this country were the Asch
buiiding fire hofrror in New York city,
which cost the lives of 144 persons,
the greater part of them young wom
en; two mine disasters occurring al
most simultaneously, one at Throop,
Pa., in which sixty-two men and boys
perished, and the other at the Banner
mines in Alabama, where 12S died; the
flood at Austin, Pa., due to a mill dam
giving way, taking a toll of seventy
two lives, and the explosion at Com
munlpaw, N. J., in which thirty-five
were killed. Besides the above, thirty
persons were killed in a railroad wreck
at Manchester, N. Y., twenty-six were
killed at a moving picture calamity at
Canonsburg, Pa., and, an explosion
killed eight men on the United States
warship Delaware.
A tidal wave in the Philippines cost
300 lives in villages along the shores of
Lake Taal.
The tragical also figured in the year's
news abroad. Consternation was
caused in Russia by an assassin's fatal
attack upon Premier Stolypin. Bo
groff, the assailant, was executed one
week after the premier succumbed to
his wounds. Shipwrecks in foreign
waters cost several hundred lives, and
an explosion of the magazines of the
French battleship Liberte resulted in
the death of 235 men.
America's New Cardinals.
The Catholic world was Interested
in the creation of a score of new car
dinals, the number including Arch
bishop John M. Farley of New York,
Archbishop William H. O'Connell of
Boston, and Mgr. Diomede Falconio,
apostolic delegate to Washington.
Foreign Disturbances.
The revolution In China was fraught
with startling happenings. Reports
of horrible slaughter were frequent
and American mission workers' lives
were . placed in Jeopardy. Wu Ting
Fang, former minister to the United
States, headed the rebel cabinet. The
government has given into the ex
tent of granting a constitution and
parliament, and former Minister Wu
declares his belief that the empire
eventually will become a republic,
which was the purpose of the revolu
tionists at the time of the outbreak.
Exciting incidents also attended the
clash between Italy and Turkey. Italy
struck first and with disconcerting
suddenness.
Progress of Aviation,
Man's conquest of the air was sig
nalized by marvelous achievements.
The most noteworthy of these was the
flight from the Atlantic to the Pacific
of Calbraith P. Itodgers, which was
accomplished after Harry N. Atwood
had traveled by airship from St. Louis,
Mo., to Governor's island, New York,
a distance of 1.2C5 miles.
The Upheaval In Mexico.
The war in Mexico, which the insur
rectos wou, was followed with close
interest in the United States. Indeed,
Washington came near taking a hand
in it, as the accidental wounding of a
number of American citizens over the
border, in Douglas, Ariz., led to the
issuance of a stern command from this
government not to further Imperil
Americans' lives.
In the State of Ohio.
Brand Whitlock was elected as
mayor of Toledo, 0., for the fourth
term. Mayor Whitlock, who broke into
the political arena somewhat on the
lines of "Golden Rule" Jones, who also
was mayor of the same city, is known
as an author as well as a politician.
The campaign in which he was elected
was an incident of one of the warmest
elections they have ever had in the
Buckeye State. The Democrats car
ried the chief cities of Cleveland, Cln-
V -#> 112
Brand Whitlock, Author, Elected as
Mayor Four Times.
cinnati and Columbus, the new mayor
of Cleveland being a disciple of the ,
late Tom L. Johnson and the new i
mayor of Cincinnati a vigorous oppo
nent of the Cox machine. The pro- j
gressives elected the majority of mem
bers of the coming constitutional con- j
vention, assuming a provision for the
initiative, referendum and recall. Per
haps the most sensational feature of
the result, however, was that the So
cialists elected mayors of eleven cities.
Earthquakes In 1911.
The year lUII had just been ushered
In when an appalling earthquake dis
aster was reported from Russian Tur
kestan, where thousands of people
were said to have lost their lives. Mex
ico was shaken in June, with a loss of
life estimated to have been at least
200. Sbocks were felt In Germany and
[62 B]
FRENCH-GERMAN COLORS.
I Supposed Origin of the Tricolor and
Teutonic Flag.
For five centuries black and white
have been '.lie Ilohenzollern colors, and
i the first verse of the German war song,
I "Ich bin ein Preusse," Is:
I I am a Prussian! Know ye not my ban
ner?
Before me floats my Aug of black and
white!
My fathers died for freedom. 'Twas their
manner.
So say these colors floating In your
sight.
The mercantile marine tricolor of
black, white and red is emblematic of
| the joining of the Ilohenzollern black
and white with the red and white,
J which was the ensign of the Hanseatlc
I league. This flag came into being
; when the North German confederacy
' was established, Nov. 25, ISO 7, at the
close of the Austro-Prussiaa war. The
red and white represents the coinmer
j cial prosperity of the nation, while the
1 black and white symbolizes the strong
arm of the state prepared to protect
and foster it.
Nowhere have historical events caus
ed so much change in the standards
and national ensigns of a country as
in France, remarks the Kansas City
Star. The oriflamme and the chape de
St. Martin »?ere succeeded at the end
of the sixteenth century, when Henry
| HI- (the last of the house of Valois)
| came to the throne, by the white
standard powdered fleur-de-lis. That
in turn gave place to the famous tri
color, which was introduced at the
time of the revolution, but the origin
of that flag and its colors is a disputed
question. Some maintain that the In
tention was to combine in the flag the
blue of the chape de St. Martin, the
red of the oriflamme and the white
| flag of the Bourbons. By others the
; colors are said to be those of the city
of Paris. Vet again other authorities
assert that the flag is copied from the
shield of the Orleans family as it ap
peared after Philippe Egalite had
i knocked off the fleur-de-lis.
An Explanation.
Stage Manager—Ladles and gentle
men, by looking at your programs you
will notice that two years are supposed
ti ellipse between acts 1 and 2. Inas
much as the constable has seized the
costumes, I think it will be fully that
long before we get things settled.
Thanking you, one and all, for your
uniform courtesy, etc.—New York Jour
nal. '
TRAIN ROBBERY IN RUSSIA.
Government to Build Armored Car* For
Protection.
As bandits hold up trains and carry
oil large sums of money almost dally,
the Russian government has decided
to construct armored carriages for the
use of the state bank. They will run
regularly between St. Petersburg and
Russia's principal towns.
They are to be of iron and will con
tain accommodation for a strong con
voy of soldiers. Each wagon will be BO
planned that the guard can Are from
it as from a fort Each train will be
under the command of an officer, who
is to have full powers to open fire on
all suspicious persons approaching the
train.
The authorities have come to tbe
conclusion that this is the only means
of putting a stop to the prevailing law
lessness on Russian railway tracks.
As the ordinary postal trains can only
carry a small convoy, the raiders have
things all their own way and have
grown so daring that they now hold up
trains in broad daylight and quietly
bury their booty In a neighboring for
est while the panic stricken passengers
wait for them to set the engine driver
free.
In future only mails and small sums
of money will be sent by ordinary
trains. Private banks will be able to
hire accommodation In the armored
trains. They will begin to run in a
couple of months' time.
Too Many Elephants In Ceylon.
The number of elephants In Ceylon
Is Increasing so rapidly that they are
becoming a terror to the traveler and
a scourge to the planter, the latest es
timate of the forest department plac
ing their number at 5.000.
The great native land holders ar
ranged therefore with the help of their
tenants to relieve the latter of one of
their grievances and at the same time
to derive from the operation consider
able sport and more profit, for in Cey
lon the elephant has a very real mar
ket value, for he not only figures con
spicuously in all ceremonies of religion
and of state, but is employed In forest
clearing, cultivation, Irrigation and
pretty much every other form of draft
work, being when properly trained a
useful and valuable anlmaL—Outing.
Her Mourning,
Maud—Why la that lady over the
way always in black? la ah* mourn
ing for any one? Beea—Yaa, a hus
band. Maud—l didn't know she'd been
married. Besa—No, but Bile's mourn*
lag for a husband all th* ma
/