The General eyed him for an instant in amazement, started to say something and then apparently changed his mind. He turned to go.
"If you hear from them again, 'phone me instantly," he said. "I'll be at my office throughout the night."
"Yes, sir," the operator responded respectfully, and resumed his position at the radio.
CHAPTER XI In the Teeth of a Hurricane
Even with the present practicability of the aeroplane, equipped with every known invention and device for expediting and safeguarding flights, a Transatlantic air voyage is something not to be regarded lightly, nor indeed to be undertaken at all, except by the hardiest and most courageous of men, endowed with a supreme fatalism and an all-enduring self-confidence.
With the fall of darkness, just as had been expected and reported by the Secret Service operatives who were watching the rapidly-unfolding developments there, the enemy plane, equally as well equipped and perhaps as powerful as the other, had put off in pursuit only a few minutes after the wireless went out from Washington in warning of that expected eventuality.
And quickly following the enemy departure had gone another radio, informing the leading plane of that fact. The message had been received, and indeed a reply had been sent; but it had dissipated itself in the air and had never reached the delicately-tuned instrument at which an operator sat breathless, seeking to catch the faintest sound wave.
Why had not the pursuing plane been stopped? The answer was clear. It was on Canadian soil. To have even attempted to intercept her would have entailed an almost endless and detailed explanation to the Canadian authorities, and this in turn would have required a full revelation of the lengths to which the American Government was going to maintain world stability of peace.