"But a warship of the air!" cried Ned. "You can't mean it. A
warship carries guns, mortars, bombs, and--"

"Yes, I know," interrupted Tom, "and I appreciate all that when
I called my newest craft an aerial warship."

"But," objected Ned, "an aircraft that will carry big guns will
be so large that--"

"Oh, mine is large enough," Tom broke in.

"Then it's finished!" cried Ned eagerly, for he was much
interested in his chum's inventions.

"Well, not exactly," Tom said. "But what I was going to tell
you was that all guns are not necessarily large. You can get big
results with small guns and projectiles now, for high-powered
explosives come in small packages. So it isn't altogether a
question of carrying a certain amount of weight. Of course, an
aerial warship will have to be big, for it will have to carry
extra machinery to give it extra speed, and it will have to carry
a certain armament, and a large crew will be needed. So, as I said,
it will need to be large. But that problem isn't worrying me."

"Well, what is it, then?" asked Ned.

"It's the recoil," said Tom, with a gesture of despair.

"The recoil?" questioned Ned, wonderingly.