he air above
airplanes in waiting. The Germans, therefore, practically gave up
attacks upon Paris. They were dangerous.

London, practically unarmed, seemed to them an easy mark. But the
British Lion was now awake. The English had been taken by surprise. They
attempted at first, in an unorganized way, to protect their city, and,
though occasionally successful in destroying an airship through the
gallantry of some individual hero, they soon found that their defense
must be organized, and Admiral Sir Percy Scott was entrusted with the
task. Lights were extinguished on the streets and screened on the water
front. Illumination for advertising purposes was forbidden; windows were
covered, so that London became at night a mass of gloom. The Zeppelins,
compelled to fly at a very great height, because of anti-aircraft guns,
were blinded. As in Paris airplanes were constantly kept on the alert
and searchlights and anti-airship guns placed at every convenient point.

The suggestion was made that the English should undertake reprisals, but
the suggestion was strongly opposed on the ground that the British
should not be a "party to a line of conduct condemned by every
right-thinking man of every civilized nation."

The effect of the English improved defenses was soon obvious, when the
German expeditions began to lose airship after airship. Under the new
regime, when such an attack was signaled, the whole city immediately
received warning and the sky was swept by dozens of searchlights. Safe
retreats were ready for those who cared to use them, but ordinarily the
whole population rushed out to watch the spectacle. Airplanes would dash
at the incoming foe; the searchlights would be switched off and the guns
be silent to avoid hindering the aviators. Then would come the attack
and Zeppelin after Zeppelin would be seen falling, a great mass of
flames, while their companions would hurry back across the Channel. Even
there they would not be safe, for many an airship was brought down on
English fields, or on the waters of the sea.

The Germans, however, did not confine their policy of frightfulness in
the air to the performances of their Zeppelins. Before the Zeppelins had
crossed the Channel their airplanes had visited England. On Christmas
Day, 1914, an airplane attacked Dover, doing, however, no damage. Other
airplanes also visited the British Isles from time to time, dropping
bombs, and as the Germans began to lose faith in the effi