So it was finally decided that the wisest course to pursue was a waiting attitude. There was a panic in Wall Street when the news came of the surrender of Los Angeles. Edna had been left in charge of the office in New York and thru the secret Pocket Radio, kept in communication with Walter and Robert. She was conducting a campaign in the stock market for them and had made a fortune on the short side of the market. Business was bad, and the whole country was in a state of turmoil. After the white flags were floated over the ruins of Los Angeles, days went by and there were no more attacks by the enemy, nor was any word received from enemy headquarters. The American patrol planes around Los Angeles reported occasionally seeing the enemy planes scouting over the city at great heights, evidently taking observation as to what was going on. This mysterious action on the part of the enemy was a source of worry to the commanding officers of the United States. The people all over the country were in a state of anxiety, wondering where the enemy would strike next. The Infantry and Cavalry were restlessly waiting orders to go into action along the Rio Grande. On the night of August 1st, the enemy planes crossed the Rio Grande and dropped bombs all along from Brownsville to El Paso, destroying property and killing more than a hundred thousand men among the Infantry and Cavalry. The enemy planes were again flying very high. The anti-craft guns and the attack by our planes did very little damage, only bringing down five of the enemy planes along the entire lines, while more than 200 of the American airplanes were destroyed by bombs dropping on them from above. General Marshall in his report to General Pearson next day said: "Hell turned loose in the sky last night from Brownsville to El Paso. Our loss was terrific and the enemy's loss was very small. There is but one hope and that is to get more and better airplanes. We must get planes that will rise to a height where they can reach the enemy and make the fight in the air." Captain Robert Gordon was still stationed near Los Angeles and when news came of the terrible loss of life along the Rio Grande, his mind turned to "Marie the Angel of Mercy,"--his great plane secretly stored away in the Adirondack Mountains for use in just such an emergency as this. He knew what the "Demon of Death" could do and the sleeping gas invented by Captain Kennelworth. He thought of going to General Pearson, telling him of his discoveries and offering them to the United States to put into immediate use, but after meditating over the matter decided that they would only call him a fool and refuse to listen to him as they had before, because he was too young. However, he asked General Pearson for orders to permit him to go on a scouting expedition over Mexico and up and down the Rio Grande to see if he could learn anything of value.