I'm studying his methods of
aviation with a view to making some practical use of what I learn,
eventually."
"Really? Are you an inventor, too? I'm crazy about aviation."
"Ah, then you'll be interested in this," he said, now quite at his
ease. "You know that the mosquito is the curse of the tropics."
"Of other places, as well."
"But in the tropics it means yellow fever, Chagres fever, and
other epidemic illness. Now, the mosquito, as you doubtless
realize, is a monoplane."
"A monoplane?" repeated the girl, in some puzzlement. "How a
monoplane?"
"I thought you claimed some knowledge of aviation. Its wings are
all on one plane. The great natural enemy of the mosquito is the
dragon-fly, one of which just paid you a visit. Now, modern
warfare has taught us that the most effective assailant of the
monoplane is a biplane. You know that."
"Y-y-yes," said the girl doubtfully.
"Therefore, if we can breed a biplane dragonfly in sufficient
numbers, we might solve the mosquito problem at small expense."
"I don't know much about science," she began, "but I should hardly
have supposed--"
"It's curious how nature varies the type of aviation," he
continued dreamily.
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