Adventure Magazine Cover — page 170: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

926 it in stern reality. No impossibility, no hallucination—but true! ‘“What does it mean, sir?’”’ whimpered Jacobs, his ruddy face gray in the glaring light. “Treachery!” hissed Algy through his clenched teeth. ‘“Treachery—base, black treachery, Jacobs! Uncle Stephen a traitor, a servant to Ostermann, selling his soul for money! A secret airship-base controlled by a foreign country here! Think of it!” “I don’t understand,” said Jacobs, but his mouth was quivering and there was fear in his eyes. ‘‘What are those things—those monsters?”’ ‘Battleships, Jacobs. Aerial battleships. Financed by Uncle Stephen, built by Oster- mann, bought by aliens! When there is war —but it will be no war; it will be a holo- caust! S-s-h! Stand behind this stack! Some one is coming! Listen!” With straining ears they caught the sound of heavy metal folding and sliding back, and Algy craned his neck to see what was hap- pening. He all but cried out in amazement at what he saw. The whole of the end wall, which he had noticed was made of armor-plates, was glid- ing back, folding into sections as it moved. And as it rolled away there was revealed a space of inky blackness filled with the ceaseless boom of breaking surf. And from the ebony darkness, into the white light of the electric radiance which flooded the giant workshop, stepped Alsopp Ostermann. For a brief moment he scanned the place with his eyes, and then, satisfied that 1t was empty of workmen, stood to one side and bowed obeisance to a short, stout man wrapped to the eyes in a black cloak who followed close upon his heels. “The whole fleet is here, your Majesty,” said Ostermann, a proud ring in his voice, and triumph lighting up his eyes. ‘‘The whole fleet, even to Gray Ghost, as these English call her, and she is, of course, the, largest and most perfect of them all. Fifty are ready for service immediately. They could be manned and out of this workshop within twenty minutes. Ten more will be ready in time for your business next week. That makes sixty, your Majesty. ‘“‘Each can carry ten men and at least eight tons of ammunition—not counting the weight of the four guns allotted each ship. When you signal me the word ‘Gol’ I Adventure guarantee to send at least sixty—perhaps seventy—of my little pigeons to your aid. Certainly fifty, even if the call comes sooner than you have arranged for. Best of all news is that, in spite of the escape of that young Brett and the knowledge that he is still at large, there has not been the slight- est trace of a leakage. The secret has been magnificently kept by our men. A splendid specimen of what can be done under the very noses of our enemies, eh?”’ “And Sir Stephen Brett? still?” “Quite, your Majesty. At one time he was inclined to back out and die in the odor of honesty, but your check for fifty thousand pounds quieted him wonderfully.” Quite safe 49 ‘AND in case of surprises? You’ve See allowed for them? We could get out = from here if the entrance to the cove were discovered and we were trapped? Remember that, although Phelps swears young Brett did not get the chart of the cove, he admits he did get another paper, though he professes ignorance of at it was. Are we safe?”’ ‘Quite safe, your Majesty. I would not invite your Majesty into a place where there was danger of being caught like rats in a trap. I have a loophole of escape in Penny- dale Moor, and that passage on the other side of that little door there leads into the castle. So you see, your Majesty, we are fairly well safeguarded.” “It does you credit, Ostermann, and I will see you are remembered for it, perhaps even beyond the two millions we owe you! And now show me the new motor you think such a lot about. Is it really so very, very won- derful?”’ “So wonderful, indeed, your Majesty, that I have been able even to improve on the powers of the birds of the air. I have mas- tered their art with such completeness and success that now they appear clumsy and incapable beside me. CY See,-here is one! They stooped low over the machine, Ostermann engrossed in explaining the mechanism, the other listening intently to the story of its marvelous powers. They were not twenty yards from the three men crouching behind the stack of girders. Algy was so intent on watching them that for a moment he did not notice that Hafner had slipped away from him and was gliding like a snake along the floor C© MICLOOOKS C©