Part 25 (1/2)

Then laughing and shaking his finger in the Captain's face, he said in a tone of exultation: ”I got that cover on straight, anyhow--perfectly straight.”

Swaying as he rounded the corner of the house, he went in through the side door, where he found Fred waiting for him, who pulled off his boots and gave him his pumps.

He took off his busby, and handed it to Fred, unpinned the long military cloak, unbuckled his sword, turned down the collar of his evening coat, and ”Richard was himself again.”

Stepping into the elevator and letting himself off at the main floor, he went hurriedly into the room where Edestone was still showing his pictures, while Fred, after brus.h.i.+ng and cleaning the royal paraphernalia, put them back in their place.

Lawrence moved quickly over to the cabinet where Mr. Black was working the machine and stepped inside. ”I must speak to Mr. Edestone,” he whispered. ”Can't you stop the machine as if something had gone wrong?

Then Mr. Edestone will come back here and see what is the matter.”

”Not on your life!” Black shook his head violently. ”The Emperor now is in a perfect fury. He and Mr. Edestone have had one or two 'set-tos,'

and Mr. Edestone is beginning to put it back at him pretty strong, and if anything should happen to the machine I think it would end in a fight. I rather wish we were back in New York. If it is necessary for you to speak to Mr. Edestone before the lights go up, this reel that I am running off now will take just about eight minutes more, so if you will slip quietly back of the screen you can whisper to him from there without attracting much attention. I will make a little extra noise to help you out.”

Lawrence worked his way un.o.btrusively through the room, and standing just to the side of the screen in a dark corner, called in a low voice:

”Jack, can I speak to you?”

Edestone, who had been deeply concerned about him, felt that a load was lifted from his mind when he heard the dare-devil's voice. He knew at least that Lawrence was back safely, and he was confident that he would not have come back without the information until he had made a good fight for it. So as everything was quiet on the outside he was rea.s.sured.

Lawrence very quickly explained to him exactly what he had seen, and Edestone, squeezing his arm, said quietly:

”Ah! That is their little game!”

CHAPTER XXVI

TWO REMARKABLE MEN

When the lights finally went up and the entertainment ended, perhaps the most surprised, almost dumbfounded, man in the room was Jones. He now had his first insight into the stupendous amount of work that had been done by his friend, and was completely overcome by the seriousness of the situation. He understood at last many things which had been lost on him before, as for instance the insinuating remarks of the Chancellor at their various conferences and why he had suspected the Secretary of lying to him.

Jones wondered also if his own Government had purposely kept the Emba.s.sy in the dark as to its relations.h.i.+p with Edestone. Not knowing the whereabouts or even the owners.h.i.+p of this frightful instrument of war, he was at a loss to know what he should say when certain pointed questions which were inevitable were put to him.

He realized now for the first time that the German General Staff was at work and would stop at nothing either to obtain the use of this great monster of the air or, by seizing Edestone himself, control its movements; that is, if Edestone and not the United States were operating it.

He could not blind himself to the air of confidence that pervaded the entire company, composed as it was of the highest men in the German Government, and this led him to believe that they knew Edestone held the key of the situation, and as long as they held him they occupied the strongest position.

But why, he could not help asking himself, had Edestone been such a fool as to put himself so completely in their power. Still, being a very astute man, and having the greatest confidence in his old friend, who he knew would do the straight thing in a strong position and the wise thing if he found himself in a weak one, he awaited developments.

Edestone, who had walked over to the Secretary of Legation, leaned down and said in a voice loud enough for the Emperor to hear:

”Will you please say to His Imperial Majesty that if there is any question he would like to put to me, or if he would care to have me repeat any of the pictures, I should appreciate the great honour.”

The Emperor, who was just waking up to the fact that he had in this young American a very strong and clever man to deal with, was to a certain extent at a loss to decide just how he would treat him.

Without waiting to have the request conveyed to him in due form, and speaking directly to Edestone he said in an affable voice:

”I should like to see again the picture showing the working of the bomb-dropping device, and I would like to have the film stopped exactly at the moment that the projectile leaves the tube. I wish to examine the action of the ejector.”