"Hadn’t you better rest? You have done a good day’s work already, and I don’t want to lose you as well as Boissel." "To tell the truth, our job at the bridge has whetted my appetite, and I am sure Amory is ready for another go." "Whenever you please," said Kenneth. "Very well," said the commandant. "But I beg that you won’t be rash. Boissel was a little too eager--a pardonable fault; but prudence is a positive merit." "We will be discretion itself," said Pariset. Kenneth smiled; he did not know Boissel, but he could not imagine any airman more likely to show reckless daring than his friend. They snatched a meal, then set about their preparations. The Zeppelin being manned with a numerous crew armed with rifles and machine guns, and equipped for bomb-throwing, it was axiomatic that the aeroplane must try to accomplish by superior speed, climbing power, and manageability what it could not hope to achieve by force. If it were a mere question of manoeuvring the advantage would lie with the aeroplane. The Zeppelin would be at a disadvantage in that it presented a bulkier target. After a hurried discussion--for the Zeppelin might return at any moment--the two airmen decided to get a number of bombs with time fuses, and to fix in front of the pilot’s seat a small petrol lamp, sheltering it from the wind by a zinc screen that would almost enclose it; the fuse could be lit from this. "It won’t be wise to trust to bombs exploding by contact," he explained. "They might miss the mark, big as it is; and the envelope of the airship is so fragile that it is quite possible for a bomb to pass through it without exploding." "But wouldn’t the gas escape through the rent, and the thing collapse?" Kenneth asked. "The envelope consists of several compartments, and one might be injured without affecting the others." "You won’t try rifle shots?" "Very little use, my son. We should only bore a few holes in it. Their Mausers would be much more dangerous to us. We shouldn’t have the slightest chance against them, any more than a torpedo boat would have against a Dreadnought, so far as armament is concerned. But I am simply panting for the chance to match the aeroplane against the airship. I hope they’ll come back." "I dare say they will, having got off scot free before. We must be ready to fly off at a moment’s notice. The Zeppelin is very fast, I’ve heard." "But no match for my machine. We’ll use that instead of the Taube. I’m more used to it; it is faster and better for bomb-dropping." "You won’t pilot it, surely!" "Indeed I shall! My arm doesn’t bother me much, and you know I have had much more experience than you." "I’ve had absolutely no experience of bomb-throwing," Kenneth protested. "Well, you play golf, don’t you? Do you remember the first time you went round?" "Yes. Why?" "Simply that, like everybody else, you probably got round in fewer strokes than you did for months afterwards."