rld, in
grave and weighty sentences, that there could now be no doubt but
that the problem of aerial navigation had been completely solved, and
that therefore mankind stood confronted by a power that was
practically irresistible, and which changed the whole aspect of
warfare by land and sea.

In the face of this power, the fortresses, armies, and fleets of the
world were useless and helpless. The destruction of Kronstadt had
proved that to demonstration. From a height of several thousand feet,
and a distance of nearly seven miles, the unknown air-vessel had
practically destroyed, with four shots from her mysterious,
smokeless, and flameless guns, the strongest fortress in Europe. If
it could do that, and there was not the slightest doubt but that it
had done so, it could destroy armies wholesale without a chance of
reprisals, sink fleets, and lay cities in ruins, at the leisure of
those who commanded it.

And here arose the supreme question of the hour--a question beside
which all other questions of national or international policy sank
instantly into insignificance--Who were those who held this new and
appalling power in their hands? It was hardly to be believed that
they were representatives of any regularly-constituted national
Power, for, although the air was full of rumours of war, there was at
present unbroken peace all over the world.

Even in the hands of a recognised Power, the possession of such a
frightful engine of destruction could not be viewed by the rest of
the world with anything but the gravest apprehension, for that Power,
however insignificant otherwise, would now be in a position to
terrorise any other nation, or league of nations, however great.
Manifestly those who had built the one air-vessel that had been seen,
and had given such conclusive proof of her terrible powers, could
construct a fleet if they chose to do so, and then the world would be
at their mercy.

If, however, as seemed only too probable, the machine was in the
hands of a few irresponsible individuals, or, still worse, in those
of such enemies of humanity as the Nihilists, or that yet more
mysterious and terrible society who were popularly known as the
Terrorists, then indeed the outlook was serious beyond forecast or
description. At any moment the forces of destruction and anarchy
might be let loose upon the world, in such fashion that little less
than the collapse of the whole fabric of Society might be expected as
the res