The crisp voice answered:
"Tremendous it not only was, but Is. The most terrible and effective method of annihilating an enemy, that has ever been conceived by the brain of man."
Sherbrand said, drawing a deep breath:
"And that is what von Herrnung carried in the brown leather valise-thing that he took away with my machine! Not that I trouble about the Bird. She was old, and I've got the stuff to build a new one. But my patent—the hawk-hoverer—that's another pair of shoes!"
"The hawk—! Phee-eew!"
The Chief whistled a rueful note and his keen eyes softened in sympathy:
"I had forgotten your invention. So von Herrnung has scooped for Germany the gyroscopic hovering-apparatus that the French War Ministry were proposing to buy. Now I understand the something about you that has puzzled me. You wear the look of a father, Sherbrand, bereaved of an uncommonly promising son."
Saxham's stern face rose up in Sherbrand's thought, stamped with that look, and his throat contracted chokingly. The Chief asked:
"What sort of man is the mechanic von Herrnung has commandeered? A fellow easy to bribe, or intimidate? It would be worth while to know?"
"It's a boy—not a man!" broke from Sherbrand, hurriedly and hoarsely. "General, no more unlucky thing could have happened! ... Dr. Saxham's twelve-year-old nipper took a tremendous shine to von Herrnung, and—and—he's gone with him! That's the news the Doctor's got to hear by and by!"