the aeroplane;
while more lamentable still was the failure of the Zeppelin as an
instrument of terror to the civil population. In the long list of German
miscalculations must be included that which pictured the victims of
bombardment from the air crying out in terror for peace at any price.

Before the war Count Zeppelin was regarded by the British public as
rather a picturesque personality. He appeared in the romantic guise of
the inventor struggling against difficulties and disasters which would
soon have overwhelmed a man of less resolute character. Even old age
was included in his handicap, for he was verging on seventy when still
arming against a sea of troubles.

The ebb and flow of his fortunes were followed with intense interest
in this country, and it is not too much to say that the many disasters
which overtook his air-ships in their experimental stages were regarded
as world-wide calamities.

When, finally, the Count stood on the brink of ruin and the Kaiser
stepped forward as his saviour, something like a cheer went up from
the British public at this theatrical episode. Little did the audience
realize what was to be the outcome of the association between these
callous and masterful minds.

And now for a brief sketch of Count Zeppelin's life-story. He was born
in 1838, in a monastery on an island in Lake Constance. His love of
adventure took him to America, and when he was about twenty-five years
of age he took part in the American Civil War. Here he made his first
aerial ascent in a balloon belonging to the Federal army, and in this
way made that acquaintance with aeronautics which became the ruling
passion of his life.

After the war was over he returned to Germany, only to find another war
awaiting him--the Austro-Prussian campaign. Later on he took part in the
Franco-Prussian War, and in both campaigns he emerged unscathed.

But his heart was not in the profession of soldiering. He had the
restless mind of the inventor, and when he retired, a general, after
twenty years' military service, he was free to give his whole attention
to his dreams of aerial navigation. His greatest ambition was to make
his country pre-eminent in aerial greatness.

Friends to whom he revealed his inmost thoughts laughed at him behind
his back, and considered that he was "a little bit wrong in his head".
Certainly his ideas of a huge aerial fleet appeared most extravagant,
for it must be remembered that the motor-engine h