The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-03-02

smoke The three of US sat Silently
drawing at our pipes; the fact is, we
were the most downhearted set nf men
to be found that night in all London.
7 give it up, sighed Mac. This
Is my fourth attempt. and it's my
last" His eyes dwelt gloomily on the
broken model of the flying-machine
tnat 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 all the money he could borrow.
was on the point Of adding my
quota to the chorus of vain regrets
when the door opened with a jerk and
Brldger stumbled in. Our nerves, just
then. were not in 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.
"W-what's 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 half.pint
IN the bottle that Mac hurriedly pro-
duced, and Bridger swallowed the bet
ter part OF 1t. Then he wiped the per-
spiration from hS, forehead and col
lapsed into a chair.
Feel better?" asked Dawes sympa-
thetically
Bridger nodded, and presently spoke
in a weak voice. I'm awful sorry
to make such an ass Of myself, but I've
had a bit Of shock"
bad news?" | inquired.
Not so much that as a series Of
nerve-trying incidents. Cumulative,
you know. They've knocked me out
Of time"
4 ought to have told ycu," he said,
rather desperately, that, like your
selves, I've been giving months to
the problem of aerial flight, working
with another man, an Italian chemist,
who has made strange discovery in
motive power. Our Joint efforts re-
suited in model which made its first
flight a week ago"
You don't mind giving us details?'
suggested Dawes. You can rely on
us to respect your confidence"
'1'll tell you everything" declared
Bridger. 1T win be relief Indeed,
cant keep the hellish thing to my
self any longer" He waited a moment
as If to concentrate his thoughts.
"You know the ring.doveg 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
batross quills. and the motive pow
er-" He made an impressive pause
was radlum!"
"Radiuml" 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 q chemist, and fear can't give
you the explanation I should like Of
how this form Of energy was adapted
to our purpose. In fact. this portion
Of the work was undertaken by Zof
fanl.
By this time our interest vas thor
oughly aroused. Bridger had begun
by exciting our curiosity; now, both
his manner and his words rivetted our
attention When. at the first trial.
be continued. I'VE found that the lift
Ing power OF the machine was nine
times that OF. its total weight you may
imagine our exultation. Our fondesl
hopes had been exceeded. It's flight
was so strong and sustained that con.
troll was necessary from the first
Up to this point Bridger had shown
comparative calmness, but directly ne
referred to the dove 3 change came
over him. His breath grew shorter;
his words came In jerks.
The bird was a wild one-we got II
from Romney marsh--a female. II
had got used to captivity. but directly
the machine approached IT, It showed
fear-battlsd against the bars Of It's
cage. At these times We could plainly
see that the machine was exerHng an
increased pull as though striving to
reach the bird.
He shlvered slightly.
We moved the cage to the opposite
end Of the building. The machine
followed iti That was not aft. II be.
gan to emit strange sounds-not the
hum Of a moving body-not mechan-
ical sound, but animal-full Of mean.
lng-beastlyi
4 cant describe those sounds.
can't even describe my own sensations
as I listened to them beyond saying
that they we're aickening ones. The
dove. after showing aeonlea Of fear