Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-05-08
THE TRIAL
TRIP.
BIZ FISHER AMks, JR.

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odd Silas Cotton, the first" Cot
-. had launched self-feeding mans'
G upon an appreciative rural mark
q. and unlike most of his kind, he
had prchted by his patent. Silas II,
- present owner of the farm, had
aAOvn the same inventive faculties.
He had added to the income left him
- his father by means of a sue
oe1sful vegetable crater and a re.
@arkable churn. But he lived in too
stirring an age to conf1ne his ener-
Bzes to such homely products. Elec,
aricity and gasoline were bound to
ARscinate a mind like Cotton's, and
after the churn his experiments kept
Dnce with the times, until his latest
~, an air-ship, occupied his un-
afyided attention.
L would be unfair, however, to class
n ~ toy. Within limits it was a
yr7ctical machine. but its flight so far
I'D been short. 1t remained to put
4 TO the test at an altitude where it
uoah meet with varying atmospheric
sonditions.
The morning for the trial came, but
n the last moment one of the metal
edged blades of the propeller was
Sand to be loose in the collar. It
uas repaired, but Mr.. Cotton was not
nzfixfed with the job. He believed
. longer and thicker bolt necessary;
aut his son, young Noah, was anxious
% make the trial trip, and as he was
- conduct 1t, Silas finally gave in.
The Comet, as they had christened
ne airship, sat in a wheeled cradle
which could be shifted about the long,
nxrrow work-pen to suit the convent.
sace Of the experimenters. That day
q fresh sea-breeze was blowing, ami
when every detail had been carefully
isspected, the Cottons trundled the
cradle to the eastern end of the yard,
Duinting the ship" down wind.
Noah, thin and wiry, with his IA
0ers aggressive nose in miniature,
mounted the little steps and bestrode
tAe narrow framework that hung hori-
DontaIly below the delicately floating
big There was no saddle or "car"
proper. He sat on the jointure of the
1nag. ladder-like frame, which spread
between his legs like an inverted V.
Before him on a platform was the
mile engine, from which the light
shaft ran on dts bearings to the pro-
yeiler at the bow.
Noah swung the small crank and
ne engine began TO sputter-phit!
Bhitl phut! phurr-rr! AS the explos-
IONS grew more regular and rapid,
NE vicious chatter smoothed to a me.-
IN drcne, and the propeller-blades
vhried in an unbroken smoke-colo:-
a disk. Noah worked himself back
yard along the framework, that his
weight might tilt the nose of the ship
upward when she started.
Let her go!" he said.
Not more than an hour Quit" said
1ts father Remember! shall ex.
Rect you back in about a couple o,
hours"
AN right-if the motor behaves"
replied Noah, Let her go now. She's
running we'll"
Alas drew down the lever CONTROL
fng the various clutches that held the
cumet in her cradle. Immediately she
rose like duck from water, on a long
ascending line that barely cleared the
fence and the NAPLES beyond. But
~ Noah upset one of the swinging
ballast bags of sand, so, delicately had
Ter lifting power been calculated that
cha responded instantly in curvette
xhat put her out of the reach Of OBJ
xtructions. Up she went perilously on
cad; but Noah, crawling inch by inch
Mp the frame. gradually depressed her
bow until, two hundred and fifty feet
above the racing fields, she pierced
Che air on an even keel.
The cold white spire round which
the loose farms Of Duntown lay swan
BY on the north. Noah pulled at the
4lIer-ropes, and the huge rudder-
tso intersecting planes of canvas
stiffened with bamboo-swung the
ebedient ship parallel with the state
road. He was now riding directly
With the wind, and like running"
vessel the Comet alternately dipped
md rose, but In much longer and
smoother swoops.
Between Duntown and Moorland on
che west stretched ten miles of bar.
rem little hills, breaking at their crests
into naked sand, the intervening wales
studded with thick-limbed, dwarf
trees. The state road seemed to run
through this country with an air OF
resignation. There were never many
travellers upon IT, and that afternoon
3uf . single vehicle was to be seen,
. bright blue fish-cart bound for the
1foorIand market. Somehow its driv-
a happened TO see the Comet, and
with jerk he pulled the horse to
nfzndstill and stood up, presenting the
White disk OF his face TO the sky.
Noah laughed and waved his hand
and as the Comet shot by, the fisher
Den snatched up his horn and blew
. broken below, expressive Of his
ezc1tement.
This was the only man whom Noah
ax that day, although It turned out