tell you what i come pretty dose to � ninety miles an hour � yes and a hundred now listen i was going to make a trial tomorrow but it won t take two hours to start today i ll tackle it this afternoon keep that money give me the pigeon and i follow her to her wherever it is hold on let me talk to the he called up the and in crisp sentences gave his orders in a way that went to winged the older man s heart truly his one son was a oflf the old block and peter had no meek notions concerning the value of said old block timed to the minute the young man two hours later was ready for the start in a at his hip for instant use cocked and with the safety on was a large pistol with a final inspection and he took his seat in the he started the engine and with a wild of gas the beautiful fabric darted down the ways and lifted into the air as he rose to the west he wheeled about and and for the real start of the race this start depended on the pigeon peter held it nor was it with shot this time instead half a yard of bright ribbon was firmly attached to its leg � this the more easily to enable its flight being followed peter released it and it arose easily enough despite the slight drag of the ribbon there was no uncertainty about its movements this was the third time it had made this particular passage and it knew the course at an of several feet it winged straightened out and went due east the a straight course from its last curve and followed the race was on peter looking up saw that the pigeon was the machine then he saw something else the suddenly and instantly became smaller it had its hi speed plane design was now revealed instead of the generous spread of surface with which it had taken the air it was now a lean and balanced on long and exceedingly narrow wings when yoimg down so suddenly he received a surprise it was his first trial of the new device and while he was prepared for increased speed he was not prepared for such an astonishing increase it was better than he dreamed and before he knew it he was hard upon the pigeon that little creature frightened by this the most monstrous hawk it had ever seen immediately darted upward after the manner of that strive always to rise above a hawk in great curves the followed upward higher and higher into the blue it was winged from underneath to see the pigeon and young dared not lose it his sight he even shook out his in order to rise more quickly up up they went until the pigeon true to its instinct dropped and struck at what it took to be the back of its pursuing enemy once was enough for evidently finding no life in the smooth cloth surface of the machine it ceased soaring and straightened out on its east ward course a pigeon on a passage can achieve a high rate of speed and again and again to his satisfaction he found that he was beating the pigeon but this time he quickly shook out a portion of his surface and down in time from then on he knew he had the chase safely in hand and from then on a chant rose to his lips which he continued to sing at intervals and for the rest of the passage it was going some going some what did i tell you � going some even so it was not all plain sailing the air is an medium at best and quite without warning at an acute angle he entered an tide which he recognized as the gulf stream h winged of wind that poured the golden gate his right wing caught it a sudden sharp puff that lifted and the and threatened to il but he rode with a sensitive loose and quickly but not too quickly he shifted the angles of his wing tips depressed the front and swung over the rear to meet the thrust of the wind as the machine came back to an even and he knew that he was now wholly in the invisible stream he the wing tips swung back the a few more yards of surface and lit out after the pigeon which had drawn rapidly away from him during the several moments of his discomfiture the pigeon drove straight on for the county shore and it was near this shore that had another experience he fell into an air hole he had fallen into air holes before in previous flights but this was a far larger one than he had ever encountered with his eyes strained on the ribbon attached to the pigeon by that fluttering bit of color he marked his fall down he went at the pit of his stomach that old sinking sensation which he had known as a boy when winged he first quick starting but among other secrets of had learned that to go up it was sometimes necessary � first to go down the air had refused to hold him instead of struggling and against this lack of he yielded to it with steady head and hand he depressed the forward � just enough and not a more � and the and sharply down the void it was falling with the of a knife blade every instant the speed thus he accumulated the that would save him but few were required when abruptly shifting the double forward and he shot upward on the tense and straining plane and out of the pit at an of five hundred feet the pigeon drove on over the town of and lifted its flight to the hills 