The Washington herald., 1915-07-25

! muse, lfe nome OF captain SHlrley
of the United States navy. retired.
Captain Shirley, man of sixty-tw'
or three, bronzed and why, met u
eagerly.
so this is Professor Kennedy: Tn
glad to meet you, SIR" he welcomed
clasping Craig's hand in both of hi
"a fine figure as he stood erect II
the light of the porte-cochere. What
the news from Washington. Burke
Any clues?"
! Il can hardly tell" replied the Sc
cret-service man. with assumed cheer
fulness. BY the way. you'll have &c
excuse me for few minutes while
run back into town on a little er.
! rand. Meanwhile, captain, will yol
explain TO Professor Kennedy jus,
how things are? Perhaps he'd better
begin by seeing the Turtle herself
| Burke had not waited longer thar
! to take leave.
! The Turtle" repeated the captain
| leading the way into the house. Well
I did call il that At first. But 1 pre-.
! fer to call it the Z99. You know the
! first submarines. abroad at least, were
| sometimes called AL. AZ, AS. and Sc
on. Well, his boat of mine is n las,
word-the 1913. Gail :; the Turtle. il
you like"
We were standing Cor a moment in
wide colonial! hall in which a fire
was cracking III = huge brick fire
place, taking the chill off the night
air.
Let me give you a demonstration
| first" added the captain. Perhaps
Zsa will work--perhaps not"
a slip of a girl entered from the
| library, saw u.s. paused. and was apou,
! TO turn back. Silhouetted against the
curtained door. there were health, ami
| nation, gracefulness, IN every lire OF
her wavy chestnut hair. her sof6
| sparkling brown eyes. her white dress
and hat to match. which contrasted
| with the healthy glow of tan on rer
full! neck and arms. and her dainty
little white shoes. ready for anything
from tennis to tango.
My daughter Gladys. Professor Ken
needy and Mr.. Jameson" introduced
the captain. We are going to try
the Z99 again. Gladys"
A moment later we four were walk
ing to the edge of the cliff where
Captain Shirley had sort of work
shop and signal station.
He lighted the gas. for Lookout
Hill was only on the edge of the town
and boosted gas, electricity. and all
modern improvements.
The Z99 is moored just below us
at private DcEdH lIo zap
tain. Il have a shed down there where
we usually keep her. but l expected
you. and she is waiting, thoroughly
overhauled. have signaled to my
men-fellows ] can trust, too. who
used to be with me in the navy-.o
cast her off. There-now we are
ready"
The captain turned switch. In
stantly a couple of hundred feet be-
low US. on the dark and ripping wa
ter, a light broke forth. Another sig
nal. and the light changed.
1t was moving.
The principle of the thing" said
Captain Shirley, talking to US but
watching the moving light intently.
briefly, is that l use the Hertzian
waves to actuate relays on the Z99.
That is, l send child with mes
sage: the grown man, through the re-
lay. so TO speak. does the work. So,
you see, l can sit up here and send
my little David out anywhere to
strike down a huge Goliath.
It was not difficult to feel the en-
thusiasm of the captain over an in
vention of such momentous possibili-
ties especially as the Z99 was well
out in the harbor now and we could
see her flashing her red and green
signal lights back to US.
You see" the captain resumed. II
have twelve numbers here on the keys
of this binator-forward,
back. stop propeller motor. rudder
right. rudder left, stop steering mo-
tor. light signals front. light signals
rear. launch torpedoes. and so on.
The idea is that of a delayed con-
tact. The machinery is always ready,
but it delays a few seconds until the
right impulse is given. purely me-
chanical problem. l take advantage of
the delay to have the message repeat
ed by a signal back to me. l can
even change it. then. You can see for
yourself that it really takes no eX-
perienCe to run the thing when all is
going right Gladys has done it fire.
quently herself. All you have to do is
to pay attention, and press the right
key for the necessary change. 1t Isl
when things go wrong that even an
expert like myself-Confound it
there's something wrong"
The Z99 had suddenly swerved. Cap
tain Shirley's brow knitted. We gatn-
eyed around closer. Gladys next to her
father and leaning anxiously over the
transmitting apparatus.
u wanted TO turn her to port yet
she goes to starboard. and signals
too. There-now-she has
stopped altogether. What do you think
of that"
Gladys stroked the old seafarer's
hand gently. al he sat silently at the
table peering with contracted brows
out into the now brilliantly moonlit
night.
'Confound that light, What's the
matter with it, he exclaimed, chang
ing the subject and glancing up at
the gas fixture.
Kennedy had already been intently |
looking at the welsbach burner over |
head. which had been Pickering inces- |
sa ntly.
That gas company" added the cap
tain. shaking his head in disgust. and
showing annoyance over trivial
thing to hide deep concern over
greater. a>-some men do. II shall use
the electricity altogether after this
contract with the company expires.
[ suppose you literary men, Mr..
Jameson. would call that the light
that failed"
There was a forced - about hisj
attempt tc be facetious tt. did norI
but rather accentua-ed. the
of feelings in him.
"On the contrary" broke in Ken
nedy. 81 shouldn't be surprised to find
hat it is the light that succeeded"
How do you mean?"
"I wouldn't have said anything
about 1t if you hadn't noticed it your
self In fact, 1 may be wrong. 1t
suggests something to me, but IT will
leed a good deal of work to verify
t, and then il may not be of any sig
lificance. Is that the way the Z99 has
behaved always lately"