The Outlaws of the Air | Page 5

introduced here as elsewhere as the cleverest engineer in Europe, and

an anarchist heart and soul-if he had a soul, which some of his nearest
acquaintances were very much inclined to doubt.
"Very well," said Lea; "I withdraw my objection, if, indeed, I ever had
one."
The veto of one member, by the rules of the Group, would have been
fatal to the execution of the proposal. As Lea withdrew hers, she
flicked some more ash off the end of her cigarette, and with it virtually
fell the man whose death all Europe would be mourning within
forty-eight hours.
"Then that is settled," said Max. " I will wire to Lyons the first thing in
the morning. Now, Hartog, have you anything to tell us about this
gunboat of yours?"
"Ja, dot is all arranged. Her keel vill be laid on de slips next mont. I
have designed de engines mineself, and de speed contracted for by de
firm mit de Russian Government vill be thirty-five knots, and you can
bet dat my engines vill make her do it. She vill make her private trial,
mit all her coal and arms and ammunition on board according to de
contract, mitin eighteen monzs from now, and you can depend upon me
to be on board her at de time, mit a suitable majority of de firemens and
crew to do vat ve vants snit her.
"You can be sure, too, dat de oders vill have got someting inside dem
dat vill not make dem mooch good if ve have to have a small
scrimmage after all to get possession of de boat. Den ve vill rendezvous
at de proper place, and den dere vill be some vild time on de Atlantic
and de Cape routes ver dey bring de specie and de diamonds.
"Ja, you believe me, Monsieur Max and comrades, Franz Hartog vill
make you de masters ov de sea, and you shall laugh at all de fleets of
Europe ven dey try to catch you. Dat vill be anarchy vot vill be worth
calling somdings. Ja, it is a great scheme, and ve shall do it, you believe
me."
The little German stopped and looked round the table, rubbing his

hands, and amidst the murmurs of approval that followed his speech,
Max nodded laughingly to him and said-
"Yes, my friend, you are quite right. That, is a great scheme, and if you
can capture that little greyhound for us when she is built and armed,
you will have done more for anarchy, and driven a bigger nail into the
coffin of the tyranny of commercialism, than ever any man did yet.
And now I am going to tell you of a greater scheme than that."
"Greater as dot!" exclaimed the German, his steely blue eyes glittering
through his spectacles with excitement. "How can any scheme be
greater as dot?"
"Listen and you shall hear," said Max, "and I won't take very many
words to tell you."
"Some years ago now, when I was little more than a lad, and before I
came to believe that there is no remedy for the present state of affairs
except force and terrorism, I joined a society of amiable idiots who
meet at each other's houses in different parts of London, and who call
themselves the Brotherhood of the Better Life.
"I have kept up my membership, partly because it amused and
interested me, and partly because I had a sort of idea that some day
something might come of it. For a long time they have had a scheme on
foot to emigrate to some out-of-the-way part of the world, and start one
of those social colonies which of course always come to grief in some
way or another, as the Freeland one has just done; but, up to a few
weeks ago, they never had a chance of making a start, for lack of
money.
"Then, about a month ago, we had a regular romance, and something
occurred that I would never have credited if it hadn't happened under
my own eyes. Nearly six months ago, one of our members who
pretended to be a craftsman - but who was really nothing of the sort, for
he was what they call a gentleman from head to foot-disappeared.
"For five months we heard nothing of him, and then, one night, after a

lecture by a sort of latter-day prophet of ours, a very clever but
misguided fellow called Edward Adams, a stranger came out from the
audience and asked to be allowed to say a few words.
"Of course, we allowed him to, and then he started out and told us that
he was the father of the young fellow who disappeared from amongst
us, that his son was dead, and that on his