“Whoever I send must be in Arlington, New Jersey, tomorrow. You’ll have to start on the slow train this evening and leave Washington on the six o’clock express in the morning.”
As Morey grasped his lieutenant’s hand in both of his he said:
“Lieutenant, you’re a brick. You’ve certainly done your share in trying to turn a foolish boy into a good man.”
[CHAPTER XVII]
THE AEROPLANE AS A WAR MACHINE.
The government had selected an old colonial home, sequestered in a bit of forest a few miles south of Arlington, as a base for its practical aeroplane experiments. It had selected this place for two important reasons. The house, now almost in ruins, was on a ridge just beyond the tidal flats or salt marshes west of New York, and it fronted on what had been a plaza. This made an admirable starting ground and from it there was an uninterrupted but distant view of the sea. From this leafy retreat, well off the main road and only approached over a now weed-grown lane, closely guarded, the airships could emerge in the early dawn or at twilight, sail over the untenanted marshes and return, practically without being observed.
The house, which had an old-fashioned, glassless octagonal observatory on top, was further screened from discovery by a new fence. On the building itself there had been but few repairs made. Major Squiers and Lieutenant Purcell, when they were there, occupied adjoining rooms on the first floor. No attempt had been made to furnish these. The officers practically “camped out” in the big, bare rooms. On the second floor were a dozen or more soldiers, including three sergeants and a corporal. The two men who assisted Mr. Wright at Fort Meyer were also here. In the yard in the rear was a cook tent. The men ate in another tent beneath the trees.
Beyond the tents, and approached by a path running through denser trees and a wilderness of weedy vegetation, was the plaza, or outlook, on which the long since dead owner had been accustomed to sniff the ocean breezes and from which, far across the marshy meadows the ocean might be seen.
Into this interesting place Morey was conducted by Corporal Steele early in the day. Major Squiers was there and in charge. Lieutenant Purcell was expected in three or four days. The boy was turned over at once to Sergeant McLean, who took him to the commander’s apartment.