“‘La Patrie’?” asked Helmer, interested. He had heard of the triumphant flight of this military airship and also of the accident which had happened to it later.
“You know about it?” exclaimed the Frenchman. “Then you also know the unfortunate ‘Patrie’ was driven out of its course by a storm and was never seen again.”
“Yes, I know; Count Zeppelin did not have much better luck at Echterdingen. But I hardly think, M. Juillot, that you will be very well satisfied with my conclusions. You designated your dirigible for war, and I protested most urgently against the exploitation of the splendid invention for such a purpose.”
“I believe that our views are not so very divergent,” replied the Frenchman. “My opinion is: the airship is going to give the death-blow to war.”
“And you say this? You, who worked in the service of the ministry of war?”
“Why not? Activity in a given calling does not necessarily shut out the view of the intellectual horizon, does it?”
“It ought not to do so—yet it generally does.”
The engineer stood up. “I will not detain you longer now, and indeed here comes some one looking for you.”
Helmer seized his hand, and shook it heartily. “I thank you for your words, M. Juillot. I hope we shall meet again.”
“Ah, at last you are discovered. I was looking for you as for a needle in a haystack!” It was Prince Victor Adolph who came up to him.