in the near future, that
very cable across the sea would be used by England's enemy for the
purposes of her destruction. True, we had our new wireless stations all
along the coast, and at other places inland at Ipswich, Chelmsford, and
elsewhere, yet if what was feared really came to pass, all those,
together with the shore-ends of the cables, would be seized by advance
parties of Germans already upon British soil--picked men, soldiers all,
who were already living to-day in readiness upon the East Coast of
England as hotel-servants, clerks or workers in other trades. Our
shrewd, business-like friends across the grey, misty sea would take care
to strike a blow on our shores by the wrecking of bridges, the disabling
of railways, the destruction of telegraphs, and the like, simultaneous
with their frantic dash upon our shore. Germany never does anything by
halves, nor does she leave anything to chance.

Herr Strantz, having finished some calculations, and having tapped out a
message to the ship, raised his head, and with a smile upon his broad,
clean-shaven face, said, with his broad German accent:

"Ech! You are an officer. I suppose that, if the truth were told,
England hardly welcomes another cable laid by Germany--hein?"

"Well," laughed the airman, pushing his big, round goggles higher upon
his brow, "we sometimes wonder when your people are really coming."

"Who knows?" asked the other, smiling and elevating his shoulders.
"Never--perhaps."

"Ah! Many there are in England who still regard invasion by the Kaiser's
army as a bogey," Noel Barclay remarked. "But surely it is not
impossible, or why should the British authorities suddenly awaken to the
peril of the air?"

"All is possible to Germany--when the time is ripe. That is my private
opinion as a Deutscher, and as one who has an opportunity of observing,"
the other frankly responded.

"I quite agree," was Noel's reply. "Dreams of ten years ago are to-day
accomplished facts. Aeroplanes cross the Channel and the Alps, and fly
from country to country in disregard of diplomatic frontiers, while your
German airships--unfortunate as they may be--have actually crossed to us
here, and returned without us being any the wiser. Had they been hostile
they could have destroyed whole cities in a single night!"

"And your ever-watchful coastguards who actually saw them were
disbelieved," the German laughed.

"Yes. I admit the air is conquered by your people--and Great