reet, and then disappeared from
London. Now, why did he come on a special mission to England? For one
reason. Because of the failure of Germany's hope, the Zeppelin airship,
combined with the report that our new Kershaw aeroplane is the most
perfect of the many inventions, and destined to effect a revolution in
warfare. The Kershaw, which was only completed at South Farnborough two
months ago, is now being tried in strictest secrecy. Vera was told so by
an engineer officer she met at a dance at Chatham a short time ago."

"And it is being tried here in the north somewhere," I added, as
together, seated in a "forty-eight Daimler," we ascended Glen Garry from
Blair Atholl--which we had left a couple of hours before--and sped along
over the wild, treeless Grampians towards Dalwhinnie. The March morning
was bitterly cold, and snow covered the ground, rendering the Highland
scenery more picturesque and imposing. And as we preferred an open car
to a closed one, the journey was very cold.

Our inquiries in Blair Atholl had had a negative result. In the long,
old-fashioned Blair Arms Hotel Ray had made a number of searching
inquiries, for though two officers of the Ballooning Department lived
there, and had been conducting the experiments in Blair Park, it was
plain that the machine had never yet taken flight. So the pair of
mysterious Germans, whose names we discovered in the visitors' book, had
either obtained the details they wanted or had left the neighbourhood in
disgust.

It was at my friend's suggestion that we had hired the car from Perth,
and had now set out upon a tour of discovery in the wildest and least
frequented districts of the Highlands--some of which are in winter the
most unfrequented in all Great Britain. Something--what I know not--had
apparently convinced him that the tests were still in progress.

"And where the trials are taking place we shall, I feel certain, find
this inquisitive person Karl Straus," he declared. "From Berlin, through
a confidential source, I hear that it was he who obtained the German
General Staff photographs and plan of the new French aeroplane that was
tried down in the Basque country last May. He's an expert aeronaut and
engineer, and speaks English well; our object is to discover his
whereabouts."

In pursuance of this quest we visited the various hotels on our way
north. The "Loch Ericht" at Dalwhinnie we found closed, therefore we
went on to Newtonmore, and by taking lunch