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7. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
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8. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Contents
Preface
Part I: General Topics
Chapter 1: Introduction
Logical Organization
Scalability
Predictability
Responsiveness
Efficiency
Chapter 2: Windows
Windows, Objects, and Properties
Overview of Window Types
Window Types for Objects, Properties, and Actions
Primary Windows
Title Bars in Primary Windows
Toolbars in Primary Windows
Status Bars in Primary Windows
Property Windows
Property Window Characteristics
Choosing the Correct Property Window Characteristics
Dedicated and Non-Dedicated Property Windows
Inspecting and Non-Inspecting Property Windows
Behavior and Layout of Property Windows
Action Windows
Title Text in Action Windows
Command Buttons in Action Windows
Window Titles for Identically Named Objects and Views
Window Titles for Identically Named Objects
Window Titles for Multiple Views of the Same Object
Setting the State of Windows and Objects
Positioning Secondary Windows
Restoring the State of Property Windows
Alerting Users After an Object's State Changes
Multiple Document Interfaces
Chapter 3: Menus
9. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Menu Elements
Keyboard Shortcuts and Mnemonics for Menu Items
Available and Unavailable Items
Additional Conventions for Menu Items
Common Menus
Typical File Menu
New Item
Open Item
Close Item
Print Item
Preferences Item
File Properties Item
Most Recently Used (MRU) Menu List
Exit Item
Typical Edit Menu
Updating Labels of Menu Items
Paste Special Item
Properties Item
Typical View Menu
Typical Help Menu
Additional Menus
Object Menus
Object Menus and the Action Menu
Beyond Object Menus and the Action Menu
Contextual Menus
Window Management and the File Menu
When Window Reuse Is the Default
When Opening a New Window Is the Default
Chapter 4: Behavior
Modes
Modal Secondary Windows
Modes Set From Tool Palettes
Application-Wide Modes
Selecting Multiple Objects
Filtering and Searching a Set of Objects
Complex Filtering and Searching
Simple Filtering and Searching
Stopping Searches and Filter Operations
Tool Tips
Chapter 5: Idioms
Overview of Idioms
10. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Idioms for Selecting and Editing in Tables
Selection Models and Editing Models for Tables
Using Row Selection Models
Editing Row-Selection Tables
Using Cell Selection Models
Editing Cell-Selection Tables
Idioms for Arranging a Table
Table Appearance
Table Command Placement
Column Reordering and Column Resizing
Row Sorting
Automatic Row Sorting
Tree Table Idiom
Idioms for Text Fields and Lists
Browse Idiom
Key-Search Idiom
Add-and-Remove Idiom
Container-and-Contents Idiom
Chapter 6: Responsiveness
Characteristics of Responsive Applications
Problems of Unresponsive Applications
Responsiveness as Part of Performance
Computational Performance
Scalability
Perceived Performance, or Responsiveness
Determining Acceptable Response Delays
Measuring Response Delays
Setting Benchmarks for Response Delays
Tools for Measuring Response Delays
Responding to User Requests
Providing Operational Feedback
Deciding Whether to Provide Feedback
Types of Visual Feedback
Providing the Correct Type of Visual Feedback
Letting Users Stop Commands in Progress
Part II: Special Topics
Chapter 7: Wizards
Fundamentals of Wizards
Standalone Wizards and Embedded Wizards
Typical Uses of Wizards
11. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Deciding Whether You Need a Wizard
Providing Alternatives to Wizards
Types of Wizard Pages
User-Input Pages
Overview Page
Requirements Page
Confirmation Page
Progress Pages
Summary Page
Designing Wizard Pages
Designing the Title Bar
Designing the Bottom Pane
Designing the Right Pane
Subtitles
Main Instructions
User-Input Areas
Additional Instructions
Navigation Instructions
Designing the Left Pane
Deciding What to Display in the Left Pane
Left Pane With a List of Steps
Left Pane With Steps That Branch or Loop
Left Pane With Help Text
Left Pane With Steps and Help Text
Left Pane With a Graphic
Designing Wizard Behavior
Delivering and Starting Wizards
Supporting a User's Entire Task
Positioning and Sizing Wizards
Checking Wizard Dependencies and User Input
Providing Operational Feedback in Wizards
Alerting Users in Wizards
Designing Installation Wizards
Choosing a Location for a Wizard's Code
Helping Users Decide Whether to Install
Tasks That Installation Wizards Should Handle
Chapter 8: Events and Alarms
Alarm Conditions
Levels of Severity
Alarm Status
Logging Events
Displaying Alarm Views
Alarm Graphics
12. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Monitored-Entities View
Detailed Alarm View
Glossary
Index
13. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Preface
Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics provides guidelines
for anyone designing user interfaces for applications written in the JavaTM
programming language. In particular, this book offers design guidelines for
applications that use the Java look and feel. This book supplements Java Look
and Feel Design Guidelines, 2d ed. For details on that book, see Related
Books.
Although some topics in Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced
Topics apply only to certain types of applications, most topics apply to all
applications that use the Java look and feel.
Who Should Use This Book
Primarily, this book addresses the designer who chooses an application's
user-interface elements, lays them out in a set of components, and designs the
user interaction model for an application. This book should also prove useful
for software developers, technical writers, graphic artists, production and
marketing specialists, and testers who help create applications that use the
Java look and feel.
Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics focuses on design
issues and human-computer interaction in the context of the Java look and feel.
For information about technical aspects of the Java Foundation Classes (JFC),
visit the JFC and Swing Connection web sites:
• http://java.sun.com/products/jfc
• http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc
The guidelines in this book are appropriate for GUI applications that run on
personal computers and network computers. These guidelines are not
intended for software that runs on consumer electronic devices, such as
wireless telephones or personal digital assistants (PDAs).
How to Use This Book
This book is intended to be read in its entirety or to be consulted as a reference
on particular topics. The information in this book is easier to understand if you
first read Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines, 2d ed. If you read only
14. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
particular topics in this book, you should also see any corresponding topics in
that book.
This book assumes that you are familiar with the terms and concepts in Java
Look and Feel Design Guidelines, 2d ed., which is available in printed form at
bookstores and as hypertext at the following web address:
http://java.sun.com/products/jlf
In addition, this book assumes that you are using the default Java look and feel
theme, as described in Chapter 4 of Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines,
2d ed.
What Is in This Book
This book contains two main parts--
"General Topics" and "Special Topics."
Part One, "General Topics," consists of chapters whose user interface
guidelines apply to most applications.
• Chapter 1, "Introduction," explains why a consistent look and feel is important in
applications and describes characteristics of well-designed applications.
• Chapter 2, "Windows," defines user-interface objects and then describes various
types of windows. In addition, the chapter describes how to choose the right
window type, design window elements, set the state of windows, and handle
multiple windows.
• Chapter 3, "Menus," provides guidelines for designing menu elements, common
menus (such as File, Edit, and Help), and contextual menus. The chapter also
provides guidelines for assigning mnemonics and keyboard shortcuts to menu
items.
• Chapter 4, "Behavior," discusses modes of user interaction, multiple selection,
filtering, searching, and tool tips.
• Chapter 5, "Idioms," describes how to use sets of JFC components to achieve a
standardized appearance and behavior. In particular, the chapter discusses
idioms for tables, text fields, lists, and hierarchies of user-interface objects.
• Chapter 6, "Responsiveness," discusses characteristics of responsive
applications, describes how responsiveness relates to performance and to
response delay, explains how to measure response delay, and describes ways to
improve responsiveness and provide operational feedback to users.
Part Two, "Special Topics," consists of chapters whose guidelines apply only
to applications that include wizards or alarms.
15. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
• Chapter 7, "Wizards," introduces wizards and then describes how to decide
whether your users need a wizard, how to design the layout and behavior of
wizards, and what other factors to consider when designing wizards.
• Chapter 8, "Events and Alarms," defines the terms "event" and "alarm" and then
provides information on how to display alarm views (representations of alarms)
and how to manipulate alarm views (for example, by sorting them at a user's
request).
What Is Not in This Book
This book does not provide detailed discussions of human interface design
principles or the design process, nor does it present information about task
analysis--an essential concept in user interface design. For resources on
these topics, see Related Books and "Related Books and Web Sites" in Java
Look and Feel Design Guidelines, 2d ed.
Many of this book's guidelines can be applied to applications that use the Java
look and feel to display text in any language. However, the usability of the
book's guidelines and examples has been tested only with languages in which
users read left to right. If you are designing for users who read right to left, use
your judgment to decide whether this book's guidelines regarding layout are
appropriate for your application.
Graphic Conventions
The screen shots in this book illustrate the use of JFC components in
applications with the Java look and feel. Except where noted, measurements
called out in screen shots are in pixels.
Throughout the text, symbols call your attention to Java look and feel design
guidelines and to tips for implementing them.
Java Look and Feel Standards
Requirements for the consistent appearance and compatible behavior of Java
look and feel applications. To conform with the Java look and feel, applications
must meet these requirements.
Java look and feel standards promote consistency and ease of use in
applications. In addition, they support the creation of applications that are
accessible to all users, including users with physical and cognitive limitations.
16. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
These guidelines require you to take actions that go beyond the provided
appearance and behavior of the JFC components.
Implementation Tips
Technical information and useful tips of particular interest to the programmers
who are implementing your application design.
Related Books
The preface to Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines, 2d ed., cites many
references on topics such as fundamental principles of human interface design,
design issues for specific (or multiple) platforms, and issues relating to
internationalization and accessibility. This section does not repeat those
references; instead, it lists only books to which this book refers.
• Sun Microsystems, Inc. Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines, 2d ed.,
Addison-Wesley, 2001. This book provides essential information for anyone
involved in creating cross-platform GUI (graphical user interface) applications and
applets in the Java programming language. In particular, the book offers design
guidelines for software that uses the Java look and feel.
• Hackos, JoAnn T., and Janice C. Redish. User and Task Analysis for Interface
Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998. This book explains how to observe and
interview users to gather the information you need to design your application.
• Johnson, Jeff. GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web
Designers. Morgan Kaufman, 2000. This book provides examples of poor design
in windows, inconsistent use of labels, and lack of parallelism in visual layout and
grammar. The writer develops principles for achieving lucidity and harmony of look
and feel.
• Wilson, Steve, and Jeff Kesselman. Java Platform Performance: Strategies and
Tactics. Addison-Wesley, 2000. Intended to help software developers write
high-performance software for the Java platform, this book describes the various
qualities known as performance and describes how to attain and measure them.
17. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Part I: General Topics
This part consists of:
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Windows
• Chapter 3: Menus
• Chapter 4: Behavior
• Chapter 5: Idioms
• Chapter 6: Responsiveness
1: Introduction
An application's usability depends on its appearance and behavior--its
look and feel. A consistent look and feel helps users learn an application
faster and use it more efficiently. In addition, a consistent look and feel helps
users learn other applications that share that look and feel.
This book provides guidelines for designing applications with the
Java look and feel. All the guidelines are intended to help you create a
well-designed application.
Well-designed applications have the following characteristics:
• Logical organization
• Scalability
• Predictability
• Responsiveness
• Efficiency
The rest of this chapter describes each of these characteristics, why each is
important, and which parts of this book relate to each characteristic.
Logical Organization
Applications that use the Java look and feel consist of user interface
components displayed in windows. The way that you organize your application
into windows and components should be consistent with the logical divisions
that users perceive in their tasks. For example, a logically organized email
application might include:
18. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
• A window for reading received messages, each of which is an object
• A window for composing messages, with components such as text fields for
addressees, a text area for the message, and a button for sending the message
Logical organization is especially important in applications that display many
objects in several windows. For example, an application for managing a large
network might display:
• Windows displaying sets of network domains
• Views (such as icons or table entries) of each domain's nodes
• Views of each node's properties (for example, its network address)
Chapter 2 discusses how to choose the correct types of windows for different
types of user interaction. Within a window, usability often depends on whether
menus are organized logically. Chapter 3 describes how to design menus.
Scalability
Applications sometimes need to display widely varying numbers of user
interface objects. For example, in an application that monitors the computers
of a growing corporation, the number of objects representing computers at a
particular site might increase rapidly. When looking for a particular object in a
window representing that site, a user might need to view 15 objects in one
month or 1500 the next. The user interface of such an application should be
scalable. In other words, it should enable users to find, view, and manipulate
widely varying numbers of objects.
This book discusses several ways to make your application's user interface
more scalable. For example, Chapter 4 describes filtering and
searching--features that enhance an application's ability to manipulate large
sets of objects.
Predictability
To learn new parts of an application, users often rely on their experience with
the application's other parts. Slight inconsistencies between the look and feel
of different parts can frustrate users and reduce their productivity. Chapter 5
describes ways to group JFC components into reusable units that promote
predictability in your application.
19. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Responsiveness
Responsiveness is an application's ability to keep up with users. It is often
cited as the strongest factor in users' satisfaction with applications. Chapter 6
describes techniques for measuring and improving your application's
responsiveness.
Efficiency
To provide maximum usability, your application must be efficient. An
application's logical organization, scalability, predictability, and responsiveness
all contribute to its efficiency.
Efficiency is especially important if users' tasks are complex and
time-consuming. User aids, such as wizards, can help new users and
experienced users work efficiently. Chapter 7 describes how to design wizards
that are as efficient as other user-interface designs.
In applications that monitor and manage real-time systems--such as large
computer systems and networks--a user's ability to respond efficiently to
alarms can sometimes prevent major system failures. Chapter 8 discusses how
to design applications that enable users to handle alarms efficiently.
2: Windows
The Java platform provides several types of windows, each for a different type
of interaction. To help you choose appropriate windows types for your
application, this chapter:
• Introduces objects and properties, which are displayed in windows
• Provides an overview of window types
• Explains how to choose the correct window type
• Describes various window types in detail
• Describes how to title windows and set their state
• Provides guidelines about using multiple document interfaces
This chapter supplements Chapters 7 and 8 of Java Look and Feel Design
Guidelines, 2d ed.
In this chapter, the dialog box window type is subdivided into action
windows and property windows, both described here.
20. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
For information about using menus in windows, see Chapter 3.
Windows, Objects, and Properties
Windows can display user interface objects. An object is a logical entity that
an application displays and a user manipulates--for example, a document or
paragraph in a word-processing application. User interface objects do not
necessarily correspond to Java programming language objects in an
application's code. User interface objects represent data or other parts of a
user's tasks.
User interface objects have characteristics called properties. For example,
a paragraph might have a property that determines whether it is indented.
Users can view or set the values of properties.
Applications can display a single object in more than one view. For example,
at a user's request, an application might display the same objects as list items,
table entries, or icons, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Different Views of the Same Objects
Overview of Window Types
The Java platform provides the following basic window types:
• Plain windows
• Utility windows
• Primary windows
• Secondary windows
Figure 2 shows these window types and their subtypes.
Figure 2 Window Types
21. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Table 1 lists each window type and describes its intended use.
Table 1 Window Types and Intended Use
Window Type Intended Use
Plain
window
Typically, displays a splash screen, which appears briefly in the
time between when an application starts and when the
application's main window appears.
Utility
window
Displays a set of tools (for example, the drawing tools in a
graphics program), or enables other user interaction that can
affect a primary window.
Primary
window
Represents an object or a set of objects. A primary window can
have any number of dependent, or secondary, windows. For
more information, see Primary Windows.
Secondary
window
An alert box or a dialog box:
Alert box--Enables brief interaction with a user--for example, to
display error messages or warn of potential problems. For more
information, see Alerting Users After an Object's State
Changes.
Dialog box--A property window or an action window:
• Property window--Enables a user to display or set the properties of
22. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
one or more objects, typically objects in the parent window (which
opened the property window). For more information, see Property
Windows.
• Action window--Prompts a user for information needed to perform an
action (such as opening a file). The user requested the action from the
parent window. Action windows are not for displaying or setting
properties of objects. For more information, see Action Windows.
Window Types for Objects, Properties, and Actions
A window's intended use determines its correct window type. Choosing the
correct window type is especially important when displaying objects or
properties.
Only two window types are intended for displaying objects and their properties:
• Primary windows
• Property windows
You can use an action window to let users perform actions on an object. In
addition, you can enable users to perform actions on objects by providing
drop-down menus or equivalent controls.
To represent an object or a set of objects, use a primary window. To
represent an object's properties, use a property window. Use these window
types only for these purposes.
When providing a window for performing actions on an object, use an
action window. However, do not use an action window to display or set the
properties of an object. Use a property window instead.
Primary Windows
A primary window is the main window in which a user interacts with a
document or data. An application can have one or more primary windows,
each of which a user can manipulate independently.
A primary window represents an object (such as an email message) or a set of
objects (such as all the messages in a mail window). For information about
representing the properties of objects, see Property Windows.
23. Sun - Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics dotneter@teamfly
Primary windows contain a title bar and, optionally, a menu bar, toolbar, and
status bar, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Elements of a Primary Window
Title Bars in Primary Windows
The title bar of a primary window displays text that includes the name of the object, or set of
objects, that the window represents. Figure 4 shows a typical title bar for a primary window.
Figure 4 Title Bar of a Primary Window
For more information about window titles, see Chapter 7 of Java Look and Feel Design
Guidelines, 2d ed. In addition, see Window Titles for Identically Named Objects and
Views of this book.
In primary windows, begin the window title text with the name of the object
or set of objects that the window represents, followed by a space, a hyphen,
another space, and the application name.
Toolbars in Primary Windows
Primary windows can contain a toolbar, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5 Toolbar of a Primary Window
25. "I know it, I know it--look here!" and the colonel handed him the
batch of cables and wireless messages which showed how the
Scorpion had already got to work.
"H'm! and there will be worse to follow," added the airman after
he had glanced through the list.
"Now, tell me briefly what you have found, Keane, after which we
must get to work to devise some immediate plan to thwart these
aerial brigands. But first take off your flying gear, and sit by the fire,
for you must be hungry, tired and numbed after that cold night ride."
Then, ringing for his attendant, he ordered up more strong coffee and
sandwiches.
"Thanks, Colonel, I will not refuse. It was indeed a cold ride, and
we had no time to get refreshments before leaving the aerodrome at
Cologne this evening," said Sharpe, as he divested himself of his
heavy gear, sat by the fire and enjoyed the coffee which soon arrived.
A few moments later, the three men were engaged in serious
conversation, although the hour of midnight had long since been
tolled out by Big Ben.
"You sent me," Keane was saying, "to discover the whereabouts
of this great German engineer and man of science, this brain wave
whose perverted genius is likely to cost us so dear."
"And you were unable to find any trace of him?" interposed the
chief.
"Well, we were unable to come into contact with him, for we
found that since peace was concluded he had vacated his professorial
chair at Heidelberg University, where he had been engaged for some
considerable time, not only on some mechanical production, but in an
attempt to discover some unknown force, evidently a new kind of
highly compressed gas to be used for propulsive purposes."
26. "Had he been successful?"
"That, it was impossible to find out during our short stay over
there," replied Keane, "but I discovered from someone who had been
in close touch with him just about the time peace was signed, that he
had expressed himself in very hopeful terms."
"Was he a very communicative type of man, then, did you learn?"
"No; on the contrary, he seldom spoke of his work, but on this
occasion, when he communicated this information, he was very much
annoyed at the defeat of Germany, and considered that his country
had been betrayed into a hasty peace."
"And what happened to him after that?" asked the colonel.
"Shortly afterwards he disappeared completely, taking with him
all the apparatus connected with his research work, also a highly
skilled mechanic who had been specially trained by him for a number
of years. But he left not a trace of himself or his work," said the
captain, pausing for a moment to light a cigarette.
"Do you think he is acting under any instructions from his
authorities?"
"No, certainly not; he distrusts his present Government entirely,
and considers them traitors to the Fatherland."
There was another brief silence, whilst the three men, wrapt in
deep thought, sat looking into the fire, or watched the rings of
tobacco smoke curling upwards to the ceiling. At last, Captain Sharpe
observed:--
"A powerful intellect like that did not suddenly disappear in this
way without some ulterior motive, Colonel Tempest."
"Obviously not," returned the latter briefly, for he was deep in
contemplation, and his mind was searching for some clue. At length
he turned to the senior captain and said:--
27. "This silent engine theory, Keane, what do you think of it?"
Keane shook his head doubtfully, and the colonel handed to him
once more the recent wireless message from Delhi, adding merely:--
"Do you think it possible?"
"Scarcely," replied Keane carefully, "but with a master mind like
this, one never knows. It will be necessary for you to consult the most
eminent professors of science and chemistry at once."
"I intend to visit Professor Verne at his house first thing to-
morrow, or rather to-day, for it is already morning."
"But the aeroplane," added Sharpe, who had been perusing the
Delhi message, "this also must have been specially built for this new
gas."
"Given the one, the other would naturally follow, and would be
the lesser task of the two, for this man is a great engineer as well,"
said Keane.
"It is a deep well of mystery," continued Tempest after another
pause; "but something must be done at once. To-morrow the morning
papers will be full of it. Next day Parliament meets, and questions will
be asked, and it will all come upon us. I shall have to meet the Home
Secretary as soon as I have interviewed Professor Verne, and Lord
Hamilton will not be easily satisfied. The public will also be clamouring
for information on the subject, and they will have to be appeased and
calmed. The Stock Exchange will begin to talk also, and to demand
compensation for the companies whose properties have been
damaged. Insurance rates, marine and otherwise, will be raised, and
Lloyd's underwriters will not fail to make a fuss. Now, gentlemen,
what steps can we take to deal with these raiders in the immediate
future?"
28. Send us after this mystery 'plane on fast scouts with plenty of
machine-gun ammunition," urged Sharpe.
"I cannot spare you for that, but I have already ordered strong
patrols of aerial police to search for the brigands. I must have you
here or somewhere within call. At any rate, I cannot let you go further
than Germany. It may be necessary to send you there again."
"On what account, sir?" asked Keane.
"To find the aerodrome which this raider calls 'home,' for he must
have a rendezvous somewhere if only to obtain supplies and repairs."
"And that secret aerodrome must be somewhere in Germany,
hidden away in some out-of-the-way place," ventured Sharpe.
"But in what part of Germany?" asked the commissioner.
"Let me see," cried Keane, rising to his feet, and walking across
the room to where the large map of Germany hung upon the wall--
"why, it must be in the Schwarzwald!"
"The Schwarzwald!" exclaimed the other two.
"Yes, it is by far the best hiding-place in the whole country. One
may tramp for days and never see a soul. It must be somewhere in
the Schwarzwald."
"Then to the Schwarzwald you must go to-morrow, adopting
whatever disguises you desire, and you must find this hidden spot
where the conspiracy has been hatched," concluded the colonel.
CHAPTER V
THE AERIAL LINER
29. The airship liner, Empress of India, was preparing to leave her
moorings, just outside the ancient city of Delhi, for Cairo and London.
This mammoth airship was one of the finest vessels which sailed
regularly from London, east and west, girdling the world, and linking
up the British Empire along the All-Red Route. She had few
passengers, as she carried an unusually heavy cargo of mails for
Egypt and England, and a considerable amount of specie for the Bank
of England. Several persons of note, however, figured amongst her
saloon passengers, including the Maharajah of Bangapore, an Anglo-
Indian judge, and a retired colonel of the Indian army.
She was timed to depart at mid-day, and during the morning
mailplanes had been arriving from every part of India with their
cargoes of mail-bags, already sorted for the western trip.
The great mammoth now rode easily with the wind, moored by
three stout cables to the great tower which rose above the roof
gardens of the air-station. An electric lift conveyed the passengers
and mails to the summit of this lofty tower, from whence a covered-in
gangway led to the long corridors which lined the interior of the rigid
airship.
"Have all the engines been tested?" the captain asks of the chief
engineer, as he comes aboard with his navigating officer.
"Yes, sir."
"All the passengers aboard?" he asks next of the ground officer.
"All except the maharajah, Captain, and I expect him any
moment."
"Excellent," replied the skipper. "There's a good deal of bullion
aboard from the Indian banks, I hear, and the rajah himself is likely
touring a lot of valuables with him, I understand, as he is to attend
several court functions at St. James's Palace."
30. "Yes, sir. I hope you won't meet that aerial raider," replied the
ground officer.
"Poof! What can he do? He can't board us in mid-air! Besides, I
hear that the aerial police are on his track, and that all their fast
scouts are patrolling the mail routes."
"Yes, you'll have an aerial escort with you for the first two
hundred miles, Captain. They'll pick you up shortly after you leave
here."
"Absolutely a waste of time. The police could be much better
employed in searching for these rascals."
"Well, perhaps you're right," replied the ground official. "They
certainly cannot board you in mid-air, as you observe, and they
cannot set you on fire as they did the early Zeppelins, for helium
won't burn."
This conversation was interrupted by shouts and cheers which
reached the speakers from down below.
"Hullo! here comes the rajah. I must go down and welcome him,"
said the captain, as a fanfare of trumpets announced the arrival of the
great Indian chief.
Then, with all the ceremonial and pomp of the East, the
Maharajah of Bangapore was welcomed aboard the luxurious air-liner,
and, accompanied by his personal attendants, he was shown with
much obsequiousness to his private saloon. His baggage, containing
treasures worth a king's ransom, was likewise transferred, under the
supervision of his chamberlain, from the ground to his suite of
apartments.
The clock in the palace of the Great Mogul in the old city of Delhi
strikes twelve, and the captain's voice is heard once more, as he
speaks from the rear gondola:--
31. "All ready?"
"Yes, sir, all clear!"
A button is pressed and the water ballast tanks discharge their
cargo to lighten the ship, and then swiftly comes the final order:--
"Let go!"
And as the cables are slipped from the mooring tower, the light
gangway is drawn back, the crowd down below cheer, and the giant
airship backs out, carried by the force of the wind alone till she is well
clear of the station. Then her engines open up gradually. She turns
until her nose points almost due west, then slips away on her four
thousand miles' journey over many a classic land, desert, forest and
sea towards the centre of the world's greatest empire.
About four o'clock that afternoon, as Judge Jefferson sat and
talked with his friend Colonel Wilson in one of the rear gondolas
where smoking was permitted, he remarked that this was his seventh
trip home to England by the aerial route, and declared that he could
well spend the rest of his lifetime in such a pleasant mode of travel.
"There's no fatigue whatever," he added; "nothing of the jolt and
jar which you get in the railway carriage. As for the journey by sea, I
was so ill during my last voyage that I simply couldn't face the sea
again. A storm at sea is of all things the most uncomfortable. If we
meet with a storm on the air-route we can either go above it or pass
on one side, as most storms are only local affairs."
"Not to speak of the time that is wasted by land or sea-travel,"
added the colonel.
"Exactly," replied the judge.
"Only to think that in forty-eight hours we shall be in London,
even allowing for a two hours' stay in Cairo to pick up further mails
and passengers."
32. "Wonderful! Wonderful!" agreed his companion.
"And the absence of heat is some consideration, when travelling
in a land like India," continued the colonel as he flicked off the end of
his cigar.
"Yes. The stifling heat, particularly in May, June and July, when
you get the hot dry winds, is altogether insufferable in those stuffy
railway carriages, while up here it is delightfully cool and bracing, and
the view is magnificent."
"Hullo! what is that fine river down there?" asked the judge, as
he looked down through the clear, tropical atmosphere on to the
delightful landscape of river, plain and forest three thousand feet
below.
"Oh, that must be the Indus, the King River of Vedic poetry, a
wonderful stream, two thousand miles in length," said the colonel,
consulting his pocket map.
"Can it really be the Indus?"
"It is indeed."
"Then we have already travelled four hundred miles since noon
across the burning plains of India, and we have reached the confines
of this wonderful land," replied Jefferson.
"Yes, we have indeed. We shall soon enter the native state of
Baluchistan. See yonder, right ahead of us, I can already make out the
highest peaks of the Sulaiman Mountains. We are already rising to
cross them."
"And this evening we shall cross the troubled territory of
Afghanistan."
"Yes," replied the colonel, "and by midnight, if all goes well, we
shall be sailing over Persia."
"Persia, the land of enchantment," mused the judge.
33. "And of the Arabian Nights, those wonderful tales which charmed
our boyhood--the land of Aladdin, of the wonderful lamp, and the
magic carpet."
"The magic carpet," laughed the judge. "This is the real magic
carpet. The author of that wonderful story never dreamt that the day
would really come when the traveller from other lands, reclining in
luxury, would be carried through the air across his native land, by day
or by night, at twice the flight of a bird."
And so these two men talked about these wonderful classic lands
over which they were sailing so serenely, of Zoroaster, the great
Persian teacher of other days, of Ahura Mazda, the All-Wise, and the
Cobbler of Baghdad, until the tea-bell startled them.
Then, finding they were hungry because the bracing air had
made them so, they passed on to the snug little tea-room, where,
amid the palm-trees and the orchids, they listened to soft dulcet notes
from a small Indian orchestra which accompanied the maharajah.
Here, they sipped delicious china tea from dainty Persian cups, and
appeased their hunger, as best they could, from the tiny portions of
alluring patisserie which usually accompany afternoon tea.
But, later that evening, they did ample justice to a fuller and
nobler banquet, which had been prepared for them in the gilded and
lofty dining saloon; for they were the honoured guests of the
Maharajah of Bangapore. And he entertained them right royally as
befitted one of his princely rank.
And in all the wondrous folk-lore and tradition of the ancient
Persian kings, was there ever a more regal banquet, or one more
conspicuous by the splendour of its oriental wealth than this long-
protracted feast? Rich emblazoned goblets of gold, bejewelled with
rare and precious gems, adorned the table, for the prince had brought
34. his household treasures; they were to him his household gods, and
heirlooms of priceless worth.
Never the Lydian flute played sweeter music than these soft
native airs which wandered amid the eastern skies, as, under the
silver moon, the long, glistening, pearl-like airship sailed on beneath
the stars, while down, far down below, lay the ruins of Persepolis,
where the ancient kings of Persia slept their last long sleep.
CHAPTER VI
AN UP-TO-DATE CABIN BOY
While the great, mammoth air-liner is racing like a meteor across the
eastern skies, on its way to Cairo and London, it is necessary to
introduce to the reader a chirpy, little fellow called Gadget. In fact,
this cute little chap, who stood a matter of four feet two inches in his
stockinged feet, deserves a chapter or two all to himself.
Now Gadget did not belong to the passengers, nor did his name
appear at all in that distinguished list. Neither did he rightly belong to
the crew, except in the matter of his own opinion--on which subject
he held very pronounced views. But he certainly did belong to the
airship, and appeared to be part of the apparatus, or maybe the
fixtures and effects. He certainly knew the run of that great liner,
every nook and corner of it, better even than the purser or the
navigating officer.
To tell the truth, this insignificant but perky little bit of humanity
was a stowaway, who had determined, at twelve years of age, to see
the world, at the expense of somebody else. How he came aboard,
35. and hid himself amongst the mail-bags, until the airship had sailed a
thousand miles over land and sea, still remains a mystery. But it
happened that, when the Empress of India was crossing the blue
waters of the Adriatic sea, on her outward voyage, there came a tap
at the captain's door one afternoon when the latter had just retired
for a brief spell.
"Come in!" called the air-skipper, in rather surly tones, wondering
what had happened to occasion this interruption.
The next instant, the chief officer entered the little state-room,
leading by a bit of string, attached to one of his nether garments, the
most tattered-looking, diminutive, but perky little street Arab the
captain had ever beheld.
"What in the name of goodness have you got there, Crabtree?"
exclaimed the skipper, starting up from his comfortable bunk, at this
apparition.
"Stowaway, sir!" replied the officer briefly.
"Stowaway?" echoed the captain.
"Yes, sir."
"Where did you find him?"
"Didn't find him, sir. He gave himself up just now. Says he's been
hiding amongst the mail-bags. What shall I do with him, sir?"
"Tie him to a parachute and drop him overboard as soon as we
are over the land again," shouted the captain in angry tones. "I won't
have any stowaways aboard my ship."
This was said more to frighten the little imp than with real intent,
though the air-skipper spoke in angry tones, as if he meant what he
said. He was evidently very much annoyed at this discovery.
"He's half-frozen, sir," interposed the chief officer in more kindly
tones.
36. "Humph! Of course he is," added the captain. "This keen, biting
wind at three thousand feet above the sea must have turned his
marrow cold. Besides, he hasn't enough clothes to cover a rabbit
decently. Just look at him!"
The little chap's eyes sparkled, and his face flushed a little at this
reference to his scant wardrobe. But he knew by the changed tone in
the captain's voice that the worst was now over. He had not even
heard a reference to the proverbial rope's-end, a vision which he had
always associated in his mind with stowaways.
"My word, he's a plucky little urchin, Crabtree!" declared the air-
skipper at length, his anger settling down, and his admiration for the
adventurous little gamin asserting itself as he gazed at the ragged but
sharp-eyed little fellow.
"What is your name, Sonny?" he asked at length.
"Gadget, sir," whipped out the stowaway.
"Good enough!" returned the captain smiling. "We've plenty of
gadgets aboard the airship, and I guess another won't make much
difference. What do you say, Crabtree?"
"Oh, we'll find something for him to do, sir. And we'll make him
earn his keep. He's an intelligent little shrimp, anyhow."
"How old are you, Gadget?" asked the captain.
"Twelve, sir!" replied the gamin.
"Father and mother dead, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir."
"Been left to look after yourself, Gadget, I reckon, haven't you?"
said the skipper kindly, as he gave one more searching glance at the
small urchin, and noted how the little blue lips quivered, despite the
brave young heart behind them.
37. There was no reply this time, for even the poor, ill-treated lad
could not bring himself to speak of his up-bringing.
"Never mind, Gadget...!" interposed the skipper, changing the
subject. "So you determined to see the world, did you, my boy?"
"Yessir!" came the reply, and again the sharp eyes twinkled.
"Well, you shall go round the world with me, if you are a good
boy. But, if you don't behave, mark my words"--and here the captain
raised his voice as if in anger--"I'll drop you overboard by parachute,
and leave you behind! Do you understand?"
The urchin promised to behave himself, and, in language redolent
of Whitechapel, began to thank the captain effusively.
"There, that will do! Take him away, and get him a proper rig-out,
Crabtree," said the skipper impatiently. "I never saw such a
tatterdemalion in all my life."
"Come along, now, Gadget," ordered the chief officer, giving a
little tug at the frayed rope, which he had been holding all this while,
and, which, in some unaccountable way, seemed to hold the urchin's
wardrobe together.
This little tug, however, had dire results, in-so-far as the above
mentioned wardrobe was concerned. It immediately became obvious
that it not only served as braces to the little gamin, but also as a
girdle, which kept in a sort of suspended animation Gadget's
circulating library and commissariat. For, even as the janitor and his
prisoner turned, the rope became undone, and, though Gadget by a
rapid movement retained the nether part of his tattered apparel in
position, yet his library--which consisted of a dirty, grease-stained,
much worn volume--and his commissariat--composed of sundry
fragments of dry crusts of bread wrapped in half a newspaper--
38. immediately became dislodged by the movement, and showered
themselves in a dozen fragments at the captain's feet.
"Snakes alive! what have we here?" demanded that august
person, as he stooped and picked up the book. Then he laughed
outright, as he read aloud from the grubby, much-thumbed title
page:--
Five weeks in a Balloon ... by Jules Verne.
The mate grinned too. He remembered how that same book had
thrilled him, not so long ago either. And, perhaps, after all, it was the
same with Captain Rogers.
"Where did you get this, Gadget?" asked the captain, reopening
the conversation, after this little accident.
"Bought it of Jimmy Dale, sir," replied the boy readily.
"And how much did you pay for it?"
"Gev 'im my braces, an' a piece o' tar band for it, sir."
The captain ceased to laugh, and looked at the boy's earnest
face. And something suspiciously like a tear glistened in the eyes of
the airman, as he replied:--
"You actually gave away to another urchin an important part of
your scanty wardrobe to get possession of this book?"
"Oh, it wur a fair bargen, sir. Jimmy found the book on a dust
heap, but I wasn't takin' it fur nothin'. And then Jimmy never had any
braces."
"I see. Very well, you can go now, Gadget. Mr. Crabtree will find
you some better clothes, and get you some food. Then you shall
report to me to-morrow. See, here is your treasured book," said the
skipper, dismissing the urchin once more.
"Thank you, sir," returned the boy, pulling a lock of unkempt hair
which hung over his forehead, by way of salute. "I'll lend you the
39. book, sir, if you'll take care of it," and the chief officer smiled as he led
the little chap away.
So that was how Gadget became part of the fixtures and
apparatus of the air liner. He was more than an adventurer, was
Gadget. He might even have been an inventor or a discoverer, if he
had met with better fortune in the choice of his parents. His sharp,
young brain was full of great ideas.
In less than a couple of days, rigged out in a smart pair of
overalls, which had been very considerably cut down, he was soon
perfectly at home aboard the great liner. But then he was so
adaptable. As an up-to-date cabin boy, the captain declared that he
never knew his equal.
He became a general favourite, and in a very short space of time
he discovered more about airships and internal-combustion engines
than many a man would have learnt in six months.
It was no use, therefore, to argue with the boy that he didn't
belong to the crew of the Empress. And it just wasn't worth while to
inform him that, as he was still of school age, he would be handed
over to the authorities, or placed in a reformatory, as soon as the
vessel returned to England. Gadget had made up his mind that he
wouldn't. In a little while it even became an open question whether
Gadget belonged to the airship or the airship belonged to Gadget.
"I hain't argefyin' with you, I'm telling ye. This is the way it
should be done!" he was heard to remark to one of the air mechanics
one day, after he had been on the vessel about a week. The point at
issue concerned a piece of work on which the mechanic was engaged,
and Gadget had even dared to express his point of view. The
extraordinary thing was that Gadget was right.
40. Ships and railway engines were all right in their way, but they
were not good enough for Gadget. Aeroplanes and airships were
much more to his liking. He was thoroughly alive and up-to-date, and
though some months ago, when this fever of world travel first seized
upon him, he had more than once considered the question of stowing
himself quietly away on some outward bound vessel from the West
India Docks in London, his fortunate discovery, and ultimate
possession of that tattered copy of Five Weeks in a Balloon, had
caused him to change his views.
Ever since reading that volume he had had no rest. Even his
dreams had been mainly concerning balloons and their modern
equivalents, airships.
"I will see the world from an airship," he had confidently
announced to himself one day. "I will sail over tropical forests and
lagoons, over deserts and jungles."
This had been his dream and his prayer. But unlike many older
folk, Gadget had left no stone unturned in order to answer his own
prayer. He had carefully followed the newspapers (for he had earned
many a shilling by selling them) for the movements of the new air
liner and the opening up of the All-Red Route. And when the time had
arrived for the airship to sail, watching his opportunity the little fellow
had smuggled himself on board, and here he was, having now almost
sailed around the world, crossing the Arabian desert on the homeward
voyage.
CHAPTER VII
A DUEL WITH WORDS
41. Gadget's activities, however, were not confined merely to the duties of
cabin boy, although his diminutive size and his rapidity of movement
made him very useful in that capacity. To fetch and carry for the
skipper or chief officer along that 670 feet of keel corridor was to him
a life of sparkle and animation. But, when no particular duty called
him, the pulsating mechanism of that mighty leviathan irresistibly
attracted him.
His round, closely cropped, well shaped head, and his roguish
little face, would suddenly appear in the wireless cabin or in one of
the four gondolas, where the powerful Sunbeam-Maori engines drove
the whirling propellers.
Ship's mascot and general favourite though he was, his sharp
wits soon enabled him to make himself almost indispensable. At
length, however, the everlasting call seemed to be----
"Gadget! Gadget! Where is the little rascal? What mischief is he
up to now?"
For it must be admitted that the overwhelming curiosity of the
urchin sometimes got him into trouble. In this respect he had
particularly fallen foul of Morgan, the third engineer, a short, stout,
somewhat stumpy type of Welshman, whose spell of duty generally
confined his activities to the care of the twin-engines in the rear
gondola.
It appears that Gadget had unwittingly broken the rules and
regulations of the airship by smuggling two parcels of tobacco aboard
during a brief stay in one of the air ports. He knew full well that a
little fortune awaited the man who could unload smuggled tobacco
down the Whitechapel Road, and the temptation had been too great
42. for him. He had been discovered, however, and the captain had
punished him for the offence.
Now, Gadget was still smarting under this punishment when one
day he startled the third engineer by his sudden and unlooked for
appearance in the rear gondola.
"How now, you little rascal!" exclaimed Morgan, throwing a
greasy rag at the boy. "How much did you make on that tobacco?"
"Stop smokin' on dooty, will yer, an' mind yer own bisness!"
rasped out the urchin, feeling that both his dignity and importance
were being imperilled by this reference to his recent offence.
"Go away!" snarled the bad-tempered Welshman, surreptitiously
hiding the still smoking cigarette.
"Yah! Why don't yer get more 'revs' out o' those rear engines?"
yapped the insulting little Cockney boy, repeating a few words used by
the captain himself the day before, and preparing to beat a hasty
retreat through the doorway.
"You dirty ragamuffin!" shouted the stout man, flushing with
anger, and hurling the oil can, which he held in his hand, at the
gamin.
For one instant the tantalising little street arab disappeared on
the other side of the door, but, when the missile had spent its force,
and had crumpled up against the panelling, leaving a pool of oil on
the floor, the urchin's head reappeared once more. The opportunity
was too good to be lost. All the vivacity of the boy was pitted against
the hot tempered Welshman, and Gadget was a master of invective,
and had a wonderful command of high sounding words, the real
meaning of which, however, he did not properly understand. But he
was just dying for another of these encounters, so common in his
43. experience of things down Stepney way, or along the West India Dock
Road.
"Call yerself an ingineer?" came the next gibe from the saucy,
impudent little face, now distorted into something grotesque and ugly.
"We'll be two hours late at Cairo, an' all because you ain't fit to stoke
a donkey-ingine."
"Ger-r-r-o-u-t!" shouted the angry man, making a rush for his
tormentor. "I'll break your head if you come in here again!"
"I'd like ter see yer!" came the tart reply, ten seconds later, as the
head reappeared once again, for Gadget had retreated swiftly some
way down the keel corridor, as his opponent made for him with a
huge spanner.
The engineer had determined to lock the door of the little engine-
room against the little stinging gad-fly, but of course the sharp-witted
rascal had outwitted, or "spike-bozzled" him, as they say in the Air
Force, by snatching the key and locking the communication-door on
the outer side.
Morgan was beginning to find out to his cost that it was a very
unwise proceeding to cross the path of this pertinacious stowaway. He
could not get rid of him, and this morning, after the skipper's recent
remarks, he was trying to recover his lost reputation by extra
attention to his engines. Besides, the captain would be along on his
rounds again soon, and, if the engines were not doing their
accustomed revolutions, there might be trouble.
Thinking he had now got rid of his tormentor, Morgan turned to
examine his engines, when the key turned softly in the lock once
more, and the irrepressible mascot, peering through the slightly open
door, grinned, and then gave vent to the one word, which means so
much:--
44. "Spike-bozzled! Yah!"
"You're a little villain!" roared the engineer.
"You're an incubus!" retorted Gadget.
"Go away!"
"Swollen head, that's what you've got!"
"By St. David, if I catch you, I'll----" cried the now exasperated
Welshman.
"Abnormal circumference--distended stummick, that's what you're
sufferin' from. The capten says so!" replied Gadget as a parting shot.
This ungentle reference to his personal symmetry was too much
for the engineer, and he made another wild rush in the direction of his
opponent. This time, Gadget had no opportunity to lock the door, but,
turning round, he bolted precipitately down the long keel corridor,
cannoning into the chief officer, who was just coming along to the
rear gondola, and receiving a somewhat violent cuff on the head from
that dignified official, whose gravity had been gravely endangered by
this sudden encounter.
"Here, you little rascal, take that!" cried the angry officer, and
Gadget, glad to get away on such slight terms, and feeling that he
had given his opponent value for his money, scampered off, and made
his way to the wireless cabin.
Here he assumed immediately an attitude of respectful attention,
and even prevailed on the officer in charge to give him another lesson
on the Morse code, for the urchin had a wonderful range of feeling
which enabled him at a moment's notice to adapt himself to the
circumstances of his environment.
"Wonderful, Gadget! You're making rapid progress. You shall have
a lesson in taking down messages, to-morrow. You have the making
45. of a good wireless operator in you. I shall speak to the captain about
it."
"Thank you, sir," replied the gamin, pulling his lock of hair by way
of salute. This lock of hair, by the way, at the urchin's special request,
had been left there, when the famous "R. D. clippers" had shorn off
the rest of the crop, when the airship's barber had overhauled and
close-reefed him, soon after his first encounter with the captain.
Gadget's next visit was to the little photographic cabin, where the
wonderful negatives and bioscope films were carefully prepared.
These were to record to the world at large the wonderful panorama of
the earth and sky, photographed from the great air-liner on her
wonderful trip.
Here, again, by his artful, winning way, which Gadget knew how
to adopt when circumstances demanded it, the little urchin was on
good terms with the photographic officer. The latter, who admired the
boy's character and wit, and pitied his upbringing, had declared more
than once that Gadget possessed in a large degree that intuitive
genius which belongs to greatness, and prophesied a brilliant future
for the neglected boy, if only he could be properly trained.
"Come to me for an hour a day, Gadget, when the captain does
not require your services, and I will teach you photography. Some day
you shall have a camera of your own, and who knows, you may
become a great film operator." And the grateful boy was only too
quick to learn what these skilful operators had to teach.
So, into this new life of adventure and travel, this little urchin
entered with all the zest and enthusiasm of which he was capable,
making many friends, and an occasional enemy. And all the while the
great airship, glistening in the tropical sun, sailed on across the wide
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