*CHAPTER II*
*THE WONDER 'PLANE*
The sun was sinking amongst the pines of the Schwarzwald when the threeairmen, after traversing for several miles the wild unbroken solitudesof that primeval forest, emerged at length from the dark shadows of thetrees on to a little open glade, a natural clearing about two hundredmetres in diameter.
"Here we are at last!" exclaimed the chief.
"Himmel! what a perfect little aerodrome," cried the scout pilot.
"But where is the hangar?" asked the more observant Max.
"Hist! Let us wait for the signal," ordered the Rittmeister, waving hiscompanions back to the fringe of the forest.
"But there is not a soul to be seen anywhere," expostulated Carl. "Noone ever comes here."
"We must be careful; there is too much at stake," whispered theflight-commander, and then he gave a long, low whistle, repeated twice.
Scarcely had the last sound died away, like the sad piping tone of thewoodland robin, than a similar call came in response from the oppositeside of the glade.
"Follow me; the way is clear," said the chief as he strode across theclearing towards the spot whence came the signal. And his companionsfollowed him, silently wondering, for, somehow, they felt that they weretreading on enchanted ground, and that some interesting _denouement_would shortly take place.
As they neared the edge of the forest once more, a movement amongst thetrees attracted their attention, and the next instant a solitary figureemerged from the shadows and greeted them. It was the keen, lynx-eyedprofessor, the great mathematician and engineer; a man about fifty,dressed in a loose working garb, wearing a battered felt hat above hisshock of white, wavy hair.
"You are welcome, children of the Fatherland," he said, extending hishand, and fixing the two strangers with his piercing eyes, after thisbrief salutation.
"I hope we are not late," began von Spitzer, when the first salutationwas over and he had introduced his companions.
"The sun is amongst the pines and the shadows of the Schwarzwalddeepen," replied the professor, speaking in the language of the forest."It was the time arranged, but"--and here he paused for a second--"thereis no time for delay," and an uneasy look spread over his face.
"You don't mean that----" began the chief, but the genius forestalledhim by adding:--
"Yes, strangers have crossed the clearing to-day. For the first timesince I came here, I heard strange voices amongst the trees."
"But they found nothing?"
"Nothing!" ejaculated the professor.
"Good! Then my friends may view the aeroplane," said Spitzer.
"Certainly; let them follow me," and through an opening barely fifteenfeet wide, the professor led the way to a combined hangar and workshop,carefully camouflaged and hidden away amongst the trees.
The next instant the two young airmen received the greatest surprise oftheir lives.
"Der _Skorpion_!" announced the professor.
"Donnerwetter!" came the involuntary cry from both the strangers astheir eyes fell upon a new type of aeroplane, with an angry, waspishlook about it, that the Bristol Fighter used to wear during the laterdays of the Great War. Yet it was not a Bristol Fighter by any means,for it was twin-engined, and steel-built throughout, with a centralconning-tower, tapering off to a sharp point to improve the stream-line,and a closed-in be-cabined fuselage into which four or six persons mightwith ease be stowed away.
"But her engines!" exclaimed Max. "How small they are."
"But how powerful!" replied Spitzer. "Each one develops anything up to400 horsepower."
"Is it possible?" asked Carl, who was already carefully examining thestarboard engine, in its covered in and stream-lined casement.
"The propellers are different, too; they're something like the Fokker's,but shorter, and they have a peculiar twist, which I have never seenbefore. What is that for, Rittmeister?" asked the Gotha pilot.
"For vertical climbs, Max," replied the chief, for while the professorstood by, and looked on, interested and amused at the growing enthusiasmfor his idol, the Rittmeister, who had been secretly schooled in thehidden mysteries, explained them point by point, for he was a greatmechanic and mathematician was this ex-flight-commander.
"Vertical climbs?" echoed the other. "I thought it was impossible."
"Impossible? Rubbish! Nothing is impossible to the man of science.Have you never heard of the Helicopter?"
"You mean that hybrid mongrel the verdammt Yanks and the Britishers havebeen experimenting with of late, and which has caused so manyaccidents?"
"The same; only they went the wrong way about it. This propeller, withthis driving power behind it, practically gives the vertical ascent,especially when once flying speed has been obtained."
"Blitz, but it is wonderful!" concluded Max, his enthusiasm growing byleaps and bounds, as he continued his examination.
"Why, the propellers are made of steel, and so are the planes,"exclaimed Carl, who was now carefully examining the material of whichthe aeroplane was made.
"Steel, tempered steel, every bit of it--fuselage, propellers, tail fin,rudders. There's not an ounce of wood about the _Scorpion_," returnedthe mentor.
"Then the danger of fire is lessened," ventured Max, whose one dread inthe air had always been that of fire.
"That danger is eliminated," replied the chief, in a tone of certitude.
"Except by petrol. By the way, where are the petrol tanks?" exclaimedCarl, who had never missed them till now.
"There aren't any," replied the Rittmeister, smiling. "I was waitingfor that question."
"No petrol tanks?" came the astonished cry from both the airmen at once.
"They're not necessary," returned the other; "and that's the greatestmystery of all."
"Himmel! Am I dreaming?" exclaimed Max.
"No, you're wide awake. Don't stare like that, man!"
"Der Teufel, but how is she driven?" demanded the scout, staring withwide-open eyes from Spitzer to the professor, and from the latter to hismechanic, who had stood by all this while, with arms akimbo, silentlyamused at the bewilderment of the two strangers.
"Listen," began the Rittmeister. "I cannot explain everything now--timewill not permit--but you shall learn all these things before many daysare over."
"Yes, go on!"
"The professor has spent years on this series of inventions, both in theworkshop and the laboratory, and each discovery has been co-ordinatedand fitted into the scheme. The greatest of all his discoveries is thefact that he has been able to discover and to harness an unknown forceto drive the motors of the _Scorpion_."
"A highly compressed gas, I suppose," interposed Max, who had taken ascience degree at Bonn.
"Certainly, it is a _most_ highly compressed gas, extracted at greatpains and labour from the elements. The formulae for this wonderful newelement exist only in the still more wonderful brain of the professor.It has not been committed to paper even, in its final terms and ratios,so that, even should this machine be captured, which it certainly shallnot be whilst I am its pilot, it could not be used, once the presentsupply of this Uranis, as we will call it, is used up."
"That is why the engines are so small, then?" ventured Max.
"Precisely!"
"And what is our present supply of this wonderful element?"
"Do you see this?" said the Rittmeister, pointing to a few smallcylinders, each about two feet long, and six inches in diameter, whichlay carefully piled upon each other on the floor near the _Scorpion_.
"Yes."
"That is the world's supply at present, excluding the two cylinderswhich are already fitted on the machine."
"The world's supply," ejaculated Carl, who was thinking of the hugepetrol tank, which in a Fokker scout would last only three hours withthe throttle wide open. "That won't last long, unless the pressure isenormous."
"The pressure is enormous, my friend; so enormous t
hat if anythinghappened it would----"
"Blow a hole in the universe, I reckon," interposed Max.
"You are right, and that is the only danger connected with the_Scorpion_. The other danger you mentioned, that of fire, is altogethereliminated. There would be nothing to burn if one of these cylindersexploded, for there would be nothing left--in the vicinity."
"_Sacre bleu_!" exclaimed Carl, _sotto voce_, for, brave youth that hewas, he shuddered at the thought.
Max was the more practical of the two, however, for he belonged not tothe highly sensitive scouts, but to the heavy bombers, and he merelyasked to satisfy his curiosity:--
"How far will one of those cylinders take us, Rittmeister?"
"Ten thousand miles," replied the chief, "that is, one fitted to eitherengine."
"Good! Let me see, there are ten here, and one already fitted to eithermotor makes a dozen. Why, they would carry us"--and here he made arapid calculation--"they would take us twice round the world."
"Precisely, and with a little to spare, when we had completed the doubletrip."
"And what speed would she pick up, say at a level flight?"
For answer the chief looked at the professor, as though uncertainwhether to reply to this question.
"They have taken the oath, sir," he pleaded, "They cannot withdraw," andthe great scientist nodded his acquiescence.
"Two hundred and fifty miles without being pushed," he replied atlength.
"Donnerwetter! And what if she were pushed?"
"I cannot say, she has never been driven beyond that."
"What a deuce of a noise she will make--like a whole formation ofGothas, I should imagine," said Max.
The professor smiled, but left it to the Rittmeister to explain thislast point.
"The engines are silent, but there is a slight hum from the propellers.That cannot be effaced at present, but it is nothing."
Then, having given all these details, the visitors made a closerinspection of the machine. They were permitted to climb into theconning-tower, to handle the controls, and the two swivel machine gunsmounted there. They were shown into the little cabin, where four menmight sit at the little table, or lie down at full length, but could notstand upright. The steel struts, steel folding wings, the carefullypacked spares, the little mica windows in the cabin--these, and a dozenother things, were pointed out and explained to them--the stores whichwere already packed, comprising chronometrical instruments, maps,charts, ammunition for the guns, compressed food, etc., until theirbewilderment grew, and their astonishment became unbounded.
"Why, she scarcely needs an aerodrome at all!" Carl ventured at length.
"Scarcely," replied the chief. "At any rate, not for a long time."
"She is weather proof; she is wonderfully camouflaged. She could hidein a desert, or a meadow," said Max.
"And she carries her own stores for a long, long trip," ventured Carl,who was just dying for the morrow to come.
"And if she were chased, she could make rings round anything, even aFokker scout, or a verdammt British S.E.5," added Max.
"So you are satisfied, both of you?" asked the Rittmeister.
"Perfectly satisfied. I am only longing for to-morrow, so that I mayturn aerial brigand, buccaneer, or what you like," answered Carl.
"And you, Max?"
"I am ready, chief, to follow you to the end of the world, for mine eyeshave seen the wonder 'plane."