The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-05-07
irginia Of the
Air Lanes B, .. 4 s;:s; ;:: s; Quick
Author of
Double Trouble"

travelled highway of the strand: and
the footprints of one in particular,
who lurked about and seemed to be
thinking of the cabin and its in
mates. Yes, this Bedouin sand
science can tell thoughts by tracks.
Tracks in the sand were to Harrod
book, newspaper, telegraph and cir
culating library. He knew the lam
guage of sand. He knew several
things that this man might be. A
deserter from the Fort, perhaps.
though such an one would have
been likely to be deserted by the
corporals guard in the scouting air
ship, and should have skunk inland
by the dense hummocks of Ben Sc
cour. Or it might be some one con-
nected with the revenue service.
This hypothesis should, of course,
have given the captain no uneasi-
ness. He was an exemplary fisher
man. with boat on shore, and tres
mires' drying on their stakes, fish
ing formally on fine days for red
fish, Spanish mackerel and pom
PIANO. His cabin was "Harrod's
fishing camp"-nothing more What
had revenue officers to do with
such humble piscatorial headquar-
tiers as these? They should not
care about Theodore's hidden in
vention. The air-ships keeping
their lanes. east, west, north and
south paid no attention. and, if
they were not interested, why need
the revenues bother? The humble
establishment had no connection
with the world save through fish
as any revenue officer should
have known.
And yet-one day the captain re-
arranged his drying nets, solicitous
as to their draping; and soon a
Shiny sea-monster stuck a blunt
| nose out from the water at about
the five-fathom contour line, opened
a rectangular mouth, and flicked a
square red tongue like an angry
snake, until Captain Harrod, on the
highest dune, opened brilliant red
handkerchief with Chautauqua
salute, and wiped his nose elabo-
rately. Whereupon the sea-Ihon-
| ster sank beneath the brine, and no
might say where it went. What
took place that night was concealed
by darkness. If Captain Harrod
was busy carrying packages ashore
until morning, he came by them
honestly, no doubt.
An examination of the popular
novels or periodicals of the past
say of the era of that president
whose Christian name our Theodore
bears-will be rewarded by real
ization of prophecy gone wrong as
to the influence on smuggling of
aerial navigation. 1t must bring
free trade, they said. Ships navi-
eating the air could land their car
goes anywhere, every acre being
potential port of entry. Yet, the
air-ships gave the custom-house
people an astonishingly small
amount of trouble. Air-ships were
so conspicuous; their loads were
necessarily so light; the system of
reporting them by wireless from
Canada, Mexico and the islands was
so efficient; the listing and regis
try regulations were so perfect; the
risk of loss was so great; the perils
of transoceanic flights were so pro-
hibitive; and the cooperation be-
tween nations was so hearty that
smuggling had little aid from aero
nautical success, such as it was.
Very Unexpectedly, it was the
submarine that drove the "reve-
nues" wild and filled the law books
with Draconian statutes. No trade
ever grew faster. The submarines
were shady characters but they had
pretensionS to legitimate trades
like other dubious individuals; and
it was their business to be lost
to sight for long periods of time.
The storms which kept in harbor
the scouts of the law offered the
submarine opportunities, and sub
marine cannot pursue submarine.
The boat-fish dived beneath the
tempest. rose on some lonely coast
like this by appointment with some
Captain Harrod sitting like be-
whskered bit of wreckage on the
dunes. Driven to open lawlesSneSs
by detection, some of the devilish
craft embraced open piracy, re-
stored to the seas a flavor of the
seventeenth century, and waXed fat
on spoils. Passengers on transat-
lantic liners learned to grow pale
at eQuivocal objects in the sea, in
expectation of the submarines eff
fective stand and deliver" backed
by torpedoes in place of the time
honored pistol. Maintaining re-
lations with Shiny sea-mon
sters was a fairly safe and
lucrative diversion; but a
mighty ticklish thing to be found
out in. Hence, perhaps, Captain
Harrod's profound interest in
tracks, his nervousness at the rus
thing of the red-brown jorees under
the scrub. Their whistles, too,
sounded startlingly like human sig
nails. He searched the thickets, in
such cases, until he found his feath-
cred friend, or established the alb
sence of enemy.
Continued tomorrow