“Oh, yes; he showed me a capital photo. When I told him where you were, then he handed me one, sir, which I gave to Lucy before she left here.”
“Be sure you tell her to destroy it, Tom, or not to show it.”
“I will, sir, next time I see her.”
“I have suppressed them, Tom, as they might expose just what I want to keep secret—namely, the rescue of that lady.”
“I don’t think, sir, that one I gave to Lucy will do much harm in her care, as she did not look at it much; besides, she doesn’t know about the lake affair.”
“Good! We must now confine ourselves, Trigger, to the necessary preparations for the morning. I wish those two parachutes to be seen to and the triangular frames for our model balloons, which will prove a novelty.”
“I suppose, sir, we shall want the small silk balloon for the signalling experiment?”
“Yes, you must see that they are all in readiness, as I do not intend to follow on the old lines, even with pilot balloons and parachutes. I will show, if possible, another and more instructive way of employing them than has hitherto been adopted. Balloons and parachutes as well can be applied, you know, Trigger, to better uses than they have been, as my respected instructor has impressed upon me, and he suggested also the modus operandi which I am about to try.”
“And I have no doubt they will succeed, sir. I was going to ask, too, whether Messrs Brock had not better see about your torpedoes and aerial shells which you intend using?”
“They are already made, Trigger; but you can let them know that they will be wanted to-morrow.”