"Yes, yes," Teddy sighed. "It is all too awful! That correspondent's story only serves to show how easily we were fascinated by German friendship, and by the Emperor himself, who raced at Cowes, and who, while bowing his head piously over Queen Victoria's grave, was already secretly plotting our downfall. But are we not secretly plotting the downfall of the Zeppelins--eh?" he added, with his usual cheery good humour. "Yes, we are. And, by Gad, we'll show the world what we can do, ere long," I said. "But I am full of fierce anger when I recollect how our little aviation circle has been ridiculed by red-taped officialdom, and starved by the public, who thought us airy cranks just because the Invisible Hand was all-powerful in our midst. The German experts deceived the Berlin correspondents of our newspapers; the Emperor uttered his blasphemous prayers for peace, the Teutonic money-bags jingled and their purse-strings were opened. And so our trustful public were lulled to sleep, and we were told to forget all about Zeppelins for they were mere harmless toys, and we were urged, in leading articles of our daily papers, to get on with the Plural Voting Bill, and to investigate the cause in the fall of the output of sandstone--`including ganister' as officialdom describes that commodity." "True, Claude," exclaimed my friend, as we smoked together. "The whole thing is a striking example of the blindness of those who would not see; and who, even now, when innocent women and children are being killed, are dismissing the raids as `of no military importance.'" "Since war broke out we've learnt one or two things--haven't we?" I said. "Though the public are still in ignorance of the actual truth, we flying-men who have studied aeronautics as perfected by Germany, know that Zeppelins can now be brought to a standstill and mark time during the observations of their pilots. Aiming is still in a primitive stage, notwithstanding the use of `directed' aerial torpedoes such as we know, by the Press bureau, have been used. Smoke-bombs are effective to cover the rising of the airship to safety heights. Zeppelins can fly at a height of two and a half to three miles, while shots through the fabric can be repaired during the flight." "Exactly," replied Teddy. "But we have also proved that warnings to Britons do not foster panic. Nowadays we see quite plainly that Zeppelin raids have been adopted by the Germans as part of their regular campaign, and it is quite clear that during the coming months they may `increase and multiply'--whatever the civilised world may say or think. The enemy is out to damage our cities, and has, indeed, told the neutrals that he will do so, regardless of every law of civilised warfare." "I contend that Zeppelin raids _are_ of military importance--of very great importance--and I intend to devote myself to treating them as such, whatever officialdom may say to the contrary," I declared.