Omaha daily bee., 1910-09-11

guard on the scouting airship and should
have skunk inland by the dense hummocks
Of Bon Secour. Or it might be some one
connected with the revenue service.
This hypothesis should. Of course. have
given the captain no uneasiness. He was
an exemplary fisherman, with boat on
shore and 'tresmires" drying on their
stakes. fishing formally on fine days for
reddish Spanish mackerel and pompano.
His cabin was ''Harrod's fishing camp
nothing more. What had revenue officers
TO do with such humble piscatorial head
quarters as these? They should not care
about Theodores hidden invention. The
airships keeping their lanes, east west
north and south. paid no attention; and.
if they were not interested why need the
revenues bother? The humble establish
ment had no connection with the world
save through fish-as any revenue officer
should have known.
And yet-one day the captain rearranged
his drying nets, solicitous as to their drap-
ing; and soon a Shiny monster stuck
a blunt nose out from the water at about
the five-fathom contour line, opened q
rectangular mouth, and flicked a square
red tongue like an angry snake until
Captain Harrod. on the highest dune.
opened a brilliant red handkerchief with
a chautAuqua salute, and wiped his nose
deliberately. Whereupon the sea monster
sank beneath the brine, and no one but
the porpoises and sharks might say where
it went What took place that night was
concealed by darkness. II Captain Harrod
was busy carrying packages ashore until
morning. he came by them honestly, nc
doubt.
An examination of the popular novels OF
periodicals of the past-say OK the era Of
that president whose Christian name our
Theodore bears-will be rewarded by a
realization OF prophecy gone wrong to
the influence on smuggling Of aerial navi-
CATION 1t must bring free trade. they
said. Ships navigating the air could land
their cargoes anywhere, every acre being
a potential port of entry. Yet, the airships
gave the custom house people an astonish-
ingly small amount Of trouble. Airships
were so conspicuous; their loads were
necessarily so light; tho system Of report
ing them by wireless from Canada, Mex
leo and the islands was so efficient: tbs
listing and registry regulations were 81
perfect; the risk OF loss was so great; tht
perils Of trans-oceanic flights were SO pro
hibitive and the cooperation between ma.
tons was 50 hearty that smuggling had
little aid from aeronautical success, such
as it was.
Very unexpectedly, II was the submarin,
that drove the revenues" wild and filled
the law books with Draeonian statutes. NJ
trade ever grew faster. The submarine.
were shady characters, but they had pre-
tensions TO legitimate trades-like othel
dubious individuals; and IL was their busi
ness TO be lost 10 sight for long periods
Of time. The storms which kept in har
Dor the scouts OF the law offered the sub
marines opportunities and submarine car
not pursue submarine. The boat-fish dive
beneath the tempest, rose on some lonell
coast like this by appointment with SOM
Captain Harrod sitting like a bewhiskeret
bit Of wreckage on the dunes. Driven 4
open lawlessness by detection. some OF tn
devilish craft embraced open piracy
restored 10 the seas a flavor Of the seven
: teenth century and waxed fat on spoils
; Passengers on Transatlantic liners learne
? to grow pale az equivoeal objects in IA
sea, in expectation Of The submarines ef
fecuve stand and deliver" backed b
! torpedoes IN place OF the time honore
; pistol Maintaining relations with slim
' sea monsters was q fairly safe and ID
cratlNe diversion blt mighty uckhs
J thing 10 be found out in. Hence. perhapi
d Captain Harrod's profound Interest
n tracks, his nervousness at the rustling d
!. the red-brown jorees under the scrul
/, Their whistles. too. sounded startlngly hk
2 human signals. He searched the thicketi
/ in such cases until he found his feathere
q friend, or established the absence q
p enemy.
n IL -
> The sea monsters visit had occurred u