It was on a Friday that Captain Brice came to Bangor and, after talking the matter over at some length, it was decided that they would not make the start before Tuesday. Captain Jim, as Captain Brice called him, was of the opinion that it would be several days at least before the smugglers attempted another flight and Captain Brice announced that he would have to take some time to go over his motor to be sure that it was in first class condition.
“There was a bit of a knock in her coming up and I think she’s got a loose wrist pin,” he said.
Captain Brice was very much interested in the new cell about which Captain Jim was so enthusiastic and nothing would do but he must be shown the wheels which were fitted up with them. At Bob’s invitation he went for a short ride on one of them and on his return he was fully as zealous about it as was Captain Jim.
“If we’d only had that cell in the war and had some of our planes equipped with them,” he said. “Just think what it would have meant to us to have been able to sail through the air without making a sound. It was the noise of the motors that gave us away every time. Do you think, boys, that they could be made large enough to drive a plane?”
“I don’t see why they couldn’t be, although we have never tried it. We have a runabout over home which is equipped with one of them about four times as large as these and it will hit sixty on a good road.”
“What do you estimate the strength of this cell?”
“We have found by experiment that the power increases very nearly as the square of the diameter of the cell. This one, as you see, is about an inch in diameter and it develops very nearly four horse power.”
“Great Scott, then one a foot in diameter would develop five hundred and seventy-six horse power. Think of it Jim.”
“I have thought of it many times,” Captain Jim smiled.
“I’ll say it would run a plane,” Captain Brice declared.