Arthur Somers Roche

“ So then, the plans not yet being whipped into shape, and months of work being necessary before they would be in shape, my uncle was not foolish enough to attempt to interest either the British or the United States governments at once. He knew that Sir Richard’s copy of the plans would be unintelligible to his executors, that nothing would be thought of them, and that they could not possibly be developed by any one other than my uncle himself. So my uncle set to work to develop them himself. ”

“ So far as I could tell, neither Ravenell nor Minot seemed the least disturbed by the proceedings. If they held guilty knowledge of the murder, they were indeed geniuses in the art of hiding their emotions. ”

“ In other words, inasmuch as the United States government did not forbid the exportation of munitions of war to the belligerents by private parties, there was no reason why an American citizen, who happened also to be a retired army officer, should not engage in any business he saw fit with any Englishman. But, being a retired officer and therefore an official, so to speak, of the United States, it would not be proper for him to deal directly with the British Government. ”

“ We feared that if we passed the plans to any one that person would be robbed—worse, perhaps.
“So, then, the plans must be turned over to England without any one’s knowledge and in such a way that whoever took them from my uncle could gain the Canadian border before any demand that he be held, could be complied with.
“Needless to state, the Government, our Government, even unofficially, knew nothing of my uncle’s plan. We gave it out that Major Penrose was going South for his health. Then we slipped away from Washington, going to New York. We did not dare go ourselves to Canada. ”

“ The jurymen had already visited the major’s room and were about to examine the witnesses. I dressed hurriedly and made my way to the office. Except for Polly, the waitress, who, I could see through the open dining-room door, was hovering nervously about the table, waiting my belated arrival, every one who had testified to Dr. Reese yesterday was present in the office this morning. ”

“ I only know that my uncle said to me that half a loaf was better than none.
“By that he meant that it would be better for the United States to share the invention with Great Britain than for the United States to have no share in its ownership.
“There were few objections to this course of reasoning. The United States and Great Britain were the two countries on earth least liable to be engaged in a war with each other. England would not dare attack us because of Canada’s helplessness before our assaults. ”

“ So he determined that his years of retirement should be devoted to submarine invention, and when we reached Bermuda he plunged at once into work. He had an idea that he could invent some appliance whereby a submarine could carry enough air to remain under water several days—weeks, possibly.
“Air, you know, is the greatest problem confronting submarine inventors. How to store enough air to enable a submarine to cruise almost indefinitely beneath the surface, never rising to expose itself to hostile guns, that was his problem. ”