"We seem to be sort of friendly rivals," he remarked. "I don’t want to boast, but I think I stand the better chance. Had that German scoundrel kept to the sea the odds would be in your favour, but since he is in comparatively limited and shallow waters he cannot submerge his ’Vorwartz.’ But aloft I can command a vast extent of country, while you have to grope about, if I may say so." "I quite see the point of your argument," replied Captain Restronguet drily. "But, might I ask, what do you propose to do when you find the ’Vorwartz’?" "Oh, we are armed," said the Captain of the "Pride of Rhodesia." "We carry two bomb-dropping devices, besides four quick-firers. We are subsidized by the Government and authorized to carry offensive and defensive weapons. Directly we spot the ’Vorwartz’ I shall have no hesitation in dropping a fifty pound charge of dynamite and blowing her to atoms." "Dropping, you say? I understand that you cannot do otherwise than allow the bombs to fall simply by the action of gravity?" "That is so," assented the owner of the airship. "But I think there is little possibility of their missing the mark. We took first prize at the Johannesburg Aero-Exhibition last year, placing six dummy bombs within a space eighty feet by twenty, and that from an altitude of five hundred feet." "And your quick-firers?" "Three-pounders." "Not heavy enough to penetrate the plating of the ’Vorwartz,’ I can assure you. Now, what do you think Karl von Harburg will be doing while you are manoeuvring to be in a position to drop one of your bombs immediately overhead?" "I don’t know," replied Captain Jones. "Why--do you?" "Step below and I will show you a weapon that is almost identical with one carried by my rival. As you are probably aware, Karl von Harburg applied several of my inventions to his own use." Captain Restronguet led the way below to where the aerial torpedo gun was housed. "Here is a weapon capable of being trained fifteen degrees in any direction from a vertical," he explained. "Even when submerged to a depth of fifty feet I can discharge a projectile and hit an object a thousand feet in the air. The bursting charge throws out a shower of shrapnel with such force that no air-craft, within a radius of two hundred yards from the point of explosion, could possibly survive." "By Jove!" ejaculated Captain Jones, his bronzed skin turning a lighter shade. "I didn’t know the ’Vorwartz’ carried anything like that. But no matter," he added cheerfully. "It is the fortune of war either way. I mean to do my duty in ridding the world of a pest, and if I fail it won’t be for want of trying." "Hear! hear!" exclaimed Hythe, while Captain Restronguet brought his hand down heavily upon his friendly rival’s shoulder. "That shows the British bull-dog spirit isn’t dead yet," he remarked. "I am glad to hear you speak thus. You do your best: I’ll do mine, and may the better man win."