Amador ledger., 1906-06-01

when one took note of their enormous
turret guns-twenty-inch, without
doubt, capable of hurting a ton or
more of metal every five minutes. I
counted ten battleships, five or six tor
pedo-boat destroyers (recognized by
their quadruplicate funnels) and sew
eral cruisers. Two huge coal barges
were being towed several miles to the
rear. This much was visible to the
naked eye. Looking through my glass
l could see swarm of torpedo boats,
only their coming towers showing
above the water, lowering around the
f1anks and leading the advance.
The fleet was proceeding very slow'N
in a great curve to the north, evidently
not desiring to advance nearer the
coast. By late afternoon it had turAed
and was heading west at the same
pace.
AS the sun drew near the horizon and
the wind freshened I turned the nose
of my airship tor the east and prepared
to spend the night aloft. 1 had been
sailing leisurely back and forth over an
seeing the German fleet. Except for
the many passenger steamers coming
and going there was nothing to be seen.
1 was leaning over the edge O. my
basket smoking idly. had just CT l.is-
tened my ship "L'Aimee," al was
wishing I had the original win me,
when a voice came down upon me from
the clouds.
who are you," it called, in French.
l looked up in astonishment, and
there floated the strangest airship l
had ever seen. 1t was merely an aero
plane, supported by great saucer-like
metal contrivanceS, with a small baS-
ket-car hung by slender cables. 1t
swept by, some hundred feet above me,
erIi Of 70 70 oe
looking down upon me. l sped up the
motor, and rising as I advanced soon
drew up alongside my fellow traveller.
Then ensued a brief conversation.
Where are you going?" 1 shouted
He was not more than a hundred yards
away.
81 don't know. My steering fans
won't work, and I cannot turn. 1 sup
pose I shall have to consider myself
bound for America"
Can you descend?"
'Drop to the sea, then, and I will
pick you up. My ship steers perfectly
We were now far beyond the fleet.
descended by degrees. The other tipped
his planes slightly and started down
on a long slant, like boy coaSting
down a hill. When within twenty feet
or less of the water he tipped the planes
sharply in the other direction, and his
ship stopped with shudder, hovered
for time like brooding gull, and set
tied slowly into the sea. I was close
behind him with small rope-ladder
and minute later, dripping wet, but
cheerful, he clambered into my car
Then we rose again t. the two-thou-
sand-foot level and VII just enough
headway on to overcome the wind, lay
as in a calm.
I found that my guest was none other
than Emil LeFevre, son of the great in.
ventor of submarines and explosives
When he had disrobed and hung his
wet clothes to dry in front of the radi-
ators, swathing himself in a rug mean
while, he gave me a brief account of hi:
journey. The world was ringing witt
the news of the great battle on the
Catalunian Plain; how the French hat
been all but whipped when their flee
of airships, belated by some misman'
agement, came upon the scene with thu
new explosive, glycolite, and sent thu
Germans back upon their camp, kill
| ing and manning thousands. There
had been no movement on land since
that. All eyes were now turned toward
the sea, where the fleets were watching