“My God!” said Lawrence.
“Well, that is the reason that I do not want to take any chance by mentioning wires at all. They don’t know now that one wire will not do the trick, and if they get the idea that it is a question of the largest possible number, they will double up on us. As it is, they have sixteen, and we have a fighting chance. At any rate, I will speak to ‘Specs’ and tell him not to come over the Embassy until after dark.”
“Won’t he have some difficulty in finding the Embassy?” asked Lawrence.
Edestone laughed. “You do not know old ‘Specs.’ In the first place he studied for six years in Berlin and knows it from end to end. Besides, he has all of the cities of Europe plotted, and he can get his bearings from a dozen different points. He will feel very badly unless Capt. Lee puts him within a few inches of where his calculations tell him he should be. Why, you should see him calculating! He used a 6 H pencil, and he can cover a large sheet of paper with microscopic figures before you have even sharpened yours! It will be just like ‘Specs,’ if it is a still night, to drop a plumb line and check himself. When you see him coming down slowly, you can be sure that he is going to drop his ladder at exactly the right spot.
“You see to it that the servants are all out of the way. If necessary, lock them all down in the basement. I will work out the message.”
When Lawrence returned and stated that everything was clear, Edestone said to him: “Send this. It says:
“Stand by at 50, up 10,000. After dark follow orders. If called
come quickly.’”
They then took the elevator and went together to the roof, where with powerful glasses they searched the south-western sky. On all sides they could see Taubes, which like great birds were circling in all directions.
Edestone was startled by seeing something that looked like the “Little Peace Maker,” but it turned out to be one of the largest German Zeppelins.
“Why, my boy,” laughed Lawrence, “Captain Lee could make that fellow look like an ante bellum picnic in a thunderstorm, all hoop skirts and bombazine, before Count Zeppelin could get it under the shelter tent.