The Menace
Peter Corbold regarded his uncle with feelings of amazement and
pity. Up to the present, he had looked upon his relative as a man of
means, and, although somewhat erratic in his methods, of action.
He had been under the impression that he had come out to Rioguay to
get assistance from Uncle Brian. Now he found that Uncle Brian
required his help. That put things on a totally different footing.
Naturally, he concluded, Uncle Brian's difficulties were not of a
pecuniary nature, since he would not appeal to a nephew financially
"on the rocks" for aid. Brian Strong was not that sort. The fact
remained that he was, as he had confessed, in a hole and wanted to
confide in his stalwart nephew.
"What's the trouble, Uncle?" he inquired. "Has anyone been
threatening you out here? Are you in danger of your life?"
"I am," replied Brian Strong. "But that I consider a mere detail.
It's not my life that counts, Peter; it's my work. I've made a
terrible blunder--unconsciously, perhaps, but--well, I may as well
commence at the beginning."
"Fire away," exclaimed Peter encouragingly.
"My story starts with my arrival in Rioguay," began Uncle Brian.
"I'm lowering my voice purposely, Peter. Although no one in my
employ speaks English--at least, I think so--there are other
Rioguayans who do, and out here walls have longer ears than you and
I are accustomed to. Well, I hadn't been more than a week in the
place, when I discovered that Rioguay was a much more go-ahead
republic than any I had previously seen during my wanderings in
South America. There certainly seemed a jolly good opening in the
mining-engineering line, and on making inquiries I found that I had
to obtain a licence and register myself at the Department of the
Minister of the Interior. That presented little difficulty. I gave
all particulars of my career in accordance with the official
requirements, paid the necessary fees, and came on to Tepecicoa.
"About a week later, I had a visit from a Don José Cordova, who
introduced himself as the Minister of Transport. He was a long time
beating about the bush. You'll find, Peter, that that is a
characteristic of the Rioguayans. They'll use a hundred words to say
what an Englishman would in half a dozen. He was courteous--very. He
wanted me to take up an appointment under the Rioguayan Government,
to design and supervise the construction of aircraft for commercial
purposes. He mentioned the salary and stated that the estancia of El
Toro would be provided as official quarters. Then, after a while, he
asked whether I would embody the stabilizing device that I had
offered to the British Air Ministry in the new type of machine."
"The one the Air Ministry turned down?" asked Peter.
"Yes, unfortunately," was the reply. "I tried to find out how Don
José Cordova came to know about it, but he was as tight as an oyster
over that. However, I considered the proposition. It was a tempting
one. The British Government had had the chance of taking it up.
Cordova took pains to point out to me that the Rioguayan Government
would claim sole rights for the space of one year only. After that,
I would be at liberty to sell the patent rights to anyone who cared
to take the invention up. A week later, I accepted the appointment
and signed the agreement. I took possession of El Toro, engaged my
staff and a swarm of mechanics and labourers, and set to work. But
it was not long before I made the discovery that I was virtually a
prisoner and that my work was primarily intended as a menace to the
country of my birth and to which I still belong.
"For the last two and a half years, there has been a growing
anti-British feeling in Rioguay. The president, Jaime Samuda, is at
the head of it, although I have been unable to find out the exact
cause. Samuda is ambitious. There's no denying he's a strong man.
The fact that there hasn't been a revolution in Rioguay since he was
elected in 1917 proves that. At any rate, he's worked up a strong
feeling against the British."
"So Mackenzie gave me to understand," observed Peter.
"Mackenzie!" exclaimed Uncle Brian. "Is Mackenzie back? I understood
he'd cleared off for good. He was lucky enough to get out of the
country. He won't have such an easy task next time. When and where
did you meet him?"
Peter explained.
"He told me he was returning to Rioguay only to square up his
affairs," he added.
"I hope he'll be able to carry out his programme," remarked Uncle
Brian grimly. "It's easy enough to come into the country, but a
jolly hard job to get away from it, if they don't want to let you. I
can tell you this, Peter; there are a hundred chances to one against
your leaving Rioguay for the next twelve months."
"Sounds interesting," rejoined his nephew coolly. "So interesting,
that I might be tempted to try, just to see what happens. On the
other hand, I rather fancy I'd like to hang on and see a bit more of
this anti-British republic. After all's said and done, what's
sentiment without action? All their anti-British feeling can't
possibly do any harm to the British Empire. It's a case of a mouse
trying conclusions with a lion. Well, what is the reason for this
attitude?"
"I can't say. As you know, the Rioguayans sent a contingent to the
Western Front in 1917."
"Yes, and the Boche made a point of capturing every section of
trenches they held," added his nephew. "They couldn't put up a
fight; they simply bolted, leaving either the French or the British
to straighten out the line."
"That, I believe, is a fact," agreed Uncle Brian. "But, having taken
part in the Great War as an ally, Rioguay wanted a share in the
profits, so to speak. All she got was a couple of U-boats for
breaking up, four destroyers, and a small light cruiser. She wanted
far more, didn't get it, but got disgruntled instead. That may be
the cause of the present agitation, but I'm not sure. What's more
important is that the agitation has developed into a serious
menace."
"How?"
"Consider the natural position of Rioguay. She has access to the
sea, but a hostile fleet couldn't operate against her without
violating the territorial waters of the Republics of San Valodar and
San Benito. If any attempt were made to do so, those Republics would
appeal to the United States for protection under the Monroe
Doctrine. You know what that means. Rioguay has three or four modern
battleships, and plenty of trained seamen under Russian and German
naval officers. She has an understanding with two other South
American republics that in the event of hostilities, she may take
over their modern fleets _en bloc_. At San Antonio, at the present
moment, there are building twenty or thirty light
commerce-destroyers, under the guise of merchantmen."
"Saw 'em," corroborated Peter. "Thought they looked a bit fine in
the hull design for merchant hookers. Well, fire away, Uncle."
"Undoubtedly Rioguay's waiting her time to have a slap at England,"
continued Uncle Brian. "What with the drastic reduction of the
British navy and the ever-present difficulty over the Near Eastern
question and, perhaps, trouble in India and Egypt, it looks as if
that opportunity were imminent. Apparently, Rioguay's plan is to
harry British commerce in the South Atlantic, use her fleet to
tackle any flying squadron of British light cruisers, and to occupy
certain of the West Indian Islands and Guiana. If the British navy
put in an appearance in considerable force, they would certainly
drive the Rioguayan fleet off the sea, but could they do anything
against Rioguay itself? Then there is the Rioguayan air fleet to be
taken into consideration. That's where you and I come in, Peter."
"By Jove! I'd like to have the chance," exclaimed Peter. "But if we
are virtually prisoners, what can we do in the matter? Supposing you
struck--refused point-blank to do another stroke, could the
Rioguayans carry on building aircraft?"
"Unfortunately, yes," admitted Brian Strong. "As matters stand, they
have a numerous fleet of fast flying-boats, capable of operating in
a radius of two thousand miles. They can rise almost vertically in a
twenty miles an hour breeze and hover without the aid of
helicopters--never did think much of helicopters, Peter; that's
power wrongly applied and consequently wasteful. With four engines,
each of 850 horse-power, they are unsurpassed for speed by any other
aircraft in existence. Their all-steel planes and armour-plated hull
are practically invulnerable to shrapnel, and only a direct hit
could put them out of action. And their means of offence is highly
formidable: liquid-air torpedoes. They aren't my invention, thank
heaven. Now, you ask, what can we do? I'll tell you. Do you remember
that almost my first question to you on your arrival was, 'can you
fly?' or words to that effect."
"And you also said, 'That's a pity, because I wanted to bring you
down '," said Peter.
"You thought it a strange thing for me to say?"
"I thought it was a joke on your part, Uncle."
"It wasn't," declared Brian Strong. "I was in sober earnest. Having
perfected the Rioguayan air fleet, I now want to undo the results of
my handiwork. And I think I've solved the problem. I have
constructed a secret anti-aircraft device. The Rioguayan mechanics
think it is a searchlight apparatus, and I let them go on thinking.
Now, I want to put it to a practical test. Since I can't fly and be
on the ground at the same time, I had to look out for an assistant.
Obviously, a Rioguayan pilot wouldn't do. To-morrow I'll show you
the device, but what I want you to do is to learn to fly. It's
simple and quite safe with my design. You'll pick it up in a couple
of weeks. Then I want you to go up. I'll manipulate the ground
apparatus and see if I can compel you to make a forced landing.
There'll be little or no risk, as far as you are concerned. Are you
game?"