The Cairo bulletin., 1908-04-13
Tried ON
the Dog
BY Armiger Barclay
(Copyright)


drawing at our pipes; the fact is, we
were the most downhearted set of men
to be found that night in all London.
Il give II up" sighed Mac, This
is my fourth attempt, and It's my
last" His eyes dwelt gloomily on the
broken model of the fying-machine
that Uttered the table.
Time wasted-money gone-hope
vanished" Dawes ground out between
his teeth. He was thinking of the col
| lapse of his last piece of apparatus
on which he had spent three months
and ali the money he could borrow.
was on the point of adding my
| quota to the chorus of vain regrets
when the door opened with jerk and
Bridger stumbled in. Our nerves. just
then were not in a state to support
any form of shock however slight, and
| his sudden entrance startled us.
Bridger's face was like the face Of
man who had seen a ghost
WHATS up" Mac exclaimed.
For answer. Bridger supported him
self on the edge of the table and made
sound that we knew meant
Brandy" There was some halfpint
in the bottle that Mac hurriedly pro-
duced. and Bridger swallowed the bet
ter part of ii. Then he wiped the per-
SEPARATION from his forehead and col
lapsed into a chair.
Feel better?" asked Dawes sympa-
thetically.
Bridger nodded, and presently spoke
in weak voice. I'm awful sorry
to make such an ass Of myself, but I've
had bit of a shock
Bad news" | inquired
Not SO much that as a series Of
nervetrying incidents. Cumulative,
You know. They've knocked me out
Of time"
Although he worded his distress in
conventional iargon. it was obviously
acute. He was shaking all over
Il ought to have told you" he said,
rather desperately that, like your
selves, I've been giving months 10
the problem of aerial flight. working
with another man, an Italian chemist,
who has made a strange discovery in
motive power Our joint efforts re-
suited in a model which made its first
flight a week ago"
You don't mind giving us details?'
| suggested Dawes. You can rely on
rs to respect your confidence"
IN tell you everything declared
| Bridger. 1T will be a relief Indeed
| can't keep the hellish thing to my.
| self any longer" He waited a moment
as if to concentrate his thoughts
You know the ring-dove? It's
flight is noiseless and very rapid We
kept one captive in the shed where we
worked, intending to base our designs
on It, Somehow, we changed them,
Zoffani. my partner, had manufactured
a cartilaginous substance sort OF
membrane, and this was stretched
over digits, and the planes ultimately
took the shape OF a bats wing. The
whole model was only a foot across
and extremely light. For the digits,
stays and braces we used only al
hatross quilts, and the motive pow
en-" He made an impressive pause
was radium.'
"Radium!" echoed Mac, increduous.
ly You're not serious?"
Il never was more so in my life"
Bridger's tone was too impressive to
leave any doubt on that score.
"But-how did you apply it?" ]
asked
In the form Of the Beta-ray. | am
not chemist and | fear / can't give
you the explanation | should like Of
how this form of energy was adapted
to our purpose. In fact. this portion
Of the work was undertaken by Got
fani.
BY this time our interest was thor
Oughly aroused. Bridger had begun
by exciting our curiosity; now. both
his manner and his words riyetted our
attention When, at the first trlal'
he continued, we found that the lift
ing power of the machine was nine
times that of it's total weight you may
imagine our exultation Our fondest
hopes had been exceeded. Its flight
was so strong and sustained that con
troll was necessary from the first
Connected to the middle of the floor
by strong fishing line. 1t could keep
in midair for. apparently. indefinite
periods At first, It rose and remained
IN vertical position, but ii was. |
think. AT the third trial thai We began
10 notice its tendency 10 incline to-
wards the cage in which the dove was
kept"
Up to this point Bridger had shown
comparative calmness. but directly he
referred to the dove a change came
over him His breath grew shorter
his words came in jerks.
The bird was wild one-we got il
from Romney marsha female II
had got used TO captivity. but directly
the machine approached it. il showed
fear-battled against the bars Of its
cage At these times We could plainly
see that the machine was eXerting an
increased pull as though striving to
reach the bird.
There was something horribly
fascinating in the machines strange
attraction 10 the bird. and the birds
obvious terror Of the machine. If
a.