be that the bottom of the top Surface will not secure as good
a Reaction from the air as would otherwise be the case,
and that means loss of Lift; and you can't help matters
by increasing the gap between the surfaces because that
means longer Struts and Wires, and that in itself would
help me, not to speak of increasing the Weight. You see
it's not quite so easy as you thought.''

At this moment a hiccough was heard, and a rather fast
and rakish-looking chap, named Stagger, spoke up. ``How
d'ye do, miss,'' he said politely to Efficiency, with a side
glance out of his wicked old eye. ``I'm a bit of a knut,
and without the slightest trouble I can easily minimize
the disadvantage that old reprobate Drift has been frightening
you with. I just stagger the top Surface a bit forward,
and no longer is that suction effect dead under it. At the
same time I'm sure the top Surface will kindly extend its
Span for such distance as its Spars will support it without
the aid of Struts. Such extension will be quite useful, as
there will be no Surface at all underneath it to interfere
with the Reaction above.'' And the Stagger leaned
forward and picked up the Chalk, and this is the picture
he drew:

Said the Blackboard, ``That's not half bad! It really
begins to look something like the real thing, eh?''

``The real thing, is it?'' grumbled Drift. ``Just consider
that contraption in the light of any one Principle, and I
warrant you will not find one of them applied to perfection.