Part 5 (2/2)

”What luck, Lieutenant Armitage?”

”Fair, the wrong end hit first. I think the regulation size would have worked all right. At all events, I 'll study it out to-night.”

He paused. Then as the storekeeper stepped past him he called him back.

”Mr. Jackson, I may be silly, but I 've been a bit worried of late.

You keep a close eye on the record of parts, don't you?”

”Yes, indeed, sir, I go over it every night.”

”Do you ever actually go over the parts to see that they tally with the records? What I mean is, important parts might be missing, although the daily record might be so juggled as to make it appear they were not.”

”By George!” exclaimed the storekeeper, ”I never have done that. I 'll begin to-morrow.”

”Thanks, I should if I were you. Good-night.”

Armitage pa.s.sed into the shop and switched on an electric light over a long pine table in the centre of the apartment. Then he went to the safe, opened it, and returned to the table with an armful of rolled parchment and specifications. These he spread out and thereafter, while the night waned, he was lost to the world and its affairs.

Briefly, Armitage had invented a torpedo, whose steering was so controlled by delicate magnetos, that while ordinarily proceeding in the line of aim, if such aim, through the movement of the vessel aimed at, or through some other cause, should result in a miss, the effect of the steel hull of the objective s.h.i.+p on the delicate magnetos of the Armitage torpedo would be such as to cause a change in the course of the deadly missile, and have her go directly toward the vessel and even follow her.

Armitage, whose mechanical genius had marked him while at the Academy as a man of brilliant possibilities, had developed his idea in the course of several years, and when it was perfected in his mind he had gone to the Chief of Ordnance at Was.h.i.+ngton and laid the matter before him in all its details. The chief at once gave the lie to the theory long current that the Department was averse to progress along whatever line, by expressing unqualified delight. He had Armitage ordered to the Torpedo Station at Newport to carry on experiments forthwith, and instructed the superintendent of the station to give the inventor every facility for carrying on his work. Two months had already elapsed and the work was at the stage when a destroyer and a practice torpedo boat had been detached from regular duty and placed at his exclusive service.

The Government was deeply interested in the progress of the work, and had shown it in many ways. The significance of such a torpedo in any war in which the country might become involved was patent. Rumors more or less vague had leaked, as such things do, to foreign war offices, and there was not a naval _attache_ at Was.h.i.+ngton but had received imperative orders to leave nothing undone by which the exact nature of the torpedo and its qualifications might be ascertained. But neither Armitage nor the Department had any idea of permitting the slightest information regarding the invention to escape.

All matters connected with the invention had been carried forward with the utmost secrecy, while the pedigree of every man employed in the work had been investigated carefully. All but Yeasky were native-born mechanics, and he had come from a great electrical plant in New Jersey with highest recommendations as to character and ability.

The sound of bells ringing for early ma.s.s was floating across the water from the city, when Armitage, with a deep breath of relief, walked from the table and threw himself with legs outstretched into a chair.

”No,” he said with a triumphant grimace, ”there will be no mistake next time. There was not a single fault in the model except--” He suddenly started bolt upright and looked about him. Then he settled back laughing. ”A fine state of nerves,” he added, ”when I am afraid to talk to myself.”

He arose with the pleasing design of enjoying a cold tub and a shave on board the destroyer, the _D'Estang_, but the idea of pumping his water did not accord with his mood.

He walked over to Billy Harrison's house. Billy commanded the First Flotilla and, being married, had quarters on the reservation. A drowsy servant answered the bell. She said that the Harrisons were still asleep.

”Well, never mind,” said Armitage, chuckling, ”I'll be back later.”

Instead of going away he went around to the side, seized a handful of gravel, and threw it into an open second story window. He could hear it rattle against the wall and floor. A short silence followed and Armitage was about to pick up more gravel when a girl in a green and white dressing-gown appeared.

”Jack Armitage!” she cried, falling to her knees, so that only her head rose above the sill. ”What on earth do you want now?”

”Why, h.e.l.lo, Letty,” laughed Armitage. ”Where 's Billy?”

”He 's here, sleeping. What do you mean by throwing stones into my window?”

”I want to talk to Billy,” said Armitage.

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