At a quarter to five in the afternoon of the same day as the salvage of the derelict Zeppelin was effected, Rex Thompson, the energetic editor of The Westminster Daily Record, was superintending the final setting-up of the evening edition.
The stop-press column was being delayed until the tape machine had finished the report of the strange occurrence in the North Sea—how a British destroyer had fallen in with and had towed into Harwich one of the latest type of Zeppelins. Presently the door was flung wide open, and Gordon Stirling burst into the room.
"Heard the news?" he asked breathlessly. "The Zeppelin?"
"Hallo, where did you spring from?" demanded Thompson in even tones. "I thought you were supposed to be in Holland?"
"But the news?" demanded the young "special".
"Yes, yes, my dear Stirling. I am afraid you are a trifle late."
Stirling's face fell. It seemed hard lines, after having received Lieutenant Mallet's assurance that no information would be given to the Press representatives of Hamerton's presence on the fugitive airship, that the news should have leaked out. The knowledge that a German airship had been brought into Harwich was common property. It was impossible to hide a gasbag of nearly a million cubic feet capacity from the public gaze, but Stirling counted on Mallet's word. The details were, of course, communicated by wireless to the Admiralty, but The Westminster Record's special was to be the medium whereby the news of Hamerton's hairbreadth escape was to be given out to the great British Public.
Stirling dare not telegraph or telephone the momentous news. Instead he chartered a powerful car, and in an hour and twenty-five minutes the chauffeur drew up outside The Westminster Record's offices.
And then came the crowning disappointment. In bland tones he had been informed by his chief that the news he brought was a trifle—just a trifle—late.
"You might, however, glance at this," continued Thompson, handing him the typed transcript of the tape message. "If there's anything important to add, let me know."