Читать книгу The Perfect World. A romance of strange people and strange places онлайн

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“His what?” laughed Mr. Winthrop.

“His ‘Petradtheolin’ airship. It’s his own invention, you know, but up to now he has been unsuccessful. He has built a wonderful aluminium airship—most beautifully fitted and upholstered—in fact it is absolutely ready to fly, but up to now it won’t budge an inch.”

“What?”

“He is under the impression,” went on Alan “that in the near future flying will be an every day occurrence, and it is his greatest ambition to own the most comfortable, most speedy, and lightest airship of the day.”

Mr. Winthrop smiled. “There is a great deal of talk about flying now,” said he, “but do you honestly think it will ever come to anything?”

“I don’t know,” said Alan thoughtfully, “we have conquered the sea—‘Iron on the water shall float, like any wooden boat’,” he quoted. “We have built ships that can submerge and remain under water and navigate for certain periods of time. I see no reason why the modern man should not also conquer the air.”

Mr. Winthrop shook his head. “I may be old-fashioned, but it seems impossible to believe that navigable ships could be built for flying, that were safe. I don’t doubt that airships will be built that up to a certain point will be successful—say for a few hours’ flight, but it seems inconceivable to me that man could so conquer the air, that commerce and travel would benefit.”