Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1910-08-15
A New Method of
Rescue
BY ROCKFORD KING
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.
By ROCKFORD KING

4 "NhoSASu WY tOOh Sucu 1D-
terest In aeroplanes. why l contin-
uaiy practiced at driving them. why
1 studied different makes. Then, when
| l had taken flight into a distant
land, no one knew where, and after
my return all my interest in air navi-
cation had vanished. they wondered
still more.
nave been great traveller, though
am not yet thirty years old. Some
years ago while I'm Russia / made the
acquaintance. followed by the friend
SNIP or member of the American en-
bassy of St Petersburg In this way
l saw something of court life there
One night at function at the Winter
palace l was introduced to the daugh.
ter or general In the Russian service.
Not for an earldom would | give her
name, so shall call her Sophia. In
my travels ! have picked up number
OF foreign languages. Russian speak
tolerably, and Sophia spoke some Eng.
fish, There usually comes I'm a mans
life. IL 1t comes when he Is young.
some woman who appeals to him as no
| other woman has ever appealed to him.
From the moment 1 met Sophia 7
knew that one had risen up In my path
whom l must possess. else the vitality
had passed out of my life.
l went to my hotel after my first
meeting with her to lie awake half
the night with the comfort one feels
In having found mate. and the other
half l dreamed OF her. From that
time Ter several months I was with
her as often as Russian etiquette
allows l danced with her. ! skated
with her. I met her at the opera and
on court gala occasions. She gave me
unmistakable signs that I'm me she had
found what l had found in her. But
when j came TO tell her my story her
whole manner changed
mo. no. MOI" she moancd. 81 have
permitted myself TO sink into dream.
You have awakened me. | have done
very wrong. Go away from me. For,
get me-"
What there was between her and me
that led her to talk thus ! could not
induce her to tell. left Russia and
tried to forget her. continued my
travels. but the interest for me had
gone out of the curiosities of travel.
The pyramids. the Coliseum. the
works OF art that had before fascinat-
ed me, were now unable to move me.
One day l took up a newspaper and
saw by telegraph from Russia that a
conspiracy against the life Of the car
had been discovered and that the
daughter OF a prominent general had
been implicated. Something told me
that she was Sophia. l returned to
st. Petersburg TO learn that my antici-
patton was correct. The girl loved
had already been sent to Siberia. Now
l understood her action toward me-
felt that II great work had spt ing
up before me-the work, OF liberating
Sophia. A fpmous traveller was in st
| Petersburg at the time and was about
| to start, with the permission of the
ltussinn government. to write up the
condition of Siberian exiles sue
| ceeded In inducing him to appoint me
his secretary, or amanuensls. In this
way would be able to locate the girl
/ had made up my mind TO free ON
arriving In the prison region learned
that Sophia's father had been enabled
to secure for her simply exile. not i'm
| prisonment. She was living In hut
close by prison, Escape for her was
as impossible as If she had been with.
IN stone walls But her position was
| encouragement for me. whose life
work was to take her out of Siberia.
i saw her. talked with her and told
her that during the same month (Au-
gust the following year to expect me
with means by which to give her her
freedom.
| That autumn and winter | was
known to be one of the principal devo-
| tees TO the navigation of the air. /
tried every kind of aeroplane that had
| been invented. l made long flights
both by day and by night / few to
the Land of the Midnight Sun In the
dead of winter. that might become
Used to flying In the cold tried for
40 prizes. entered no contests work
ed with one purpose in view. That
was to make flight to Russia. swoop
down by the hut in which lived my
love and bear her away to freedom.
| / pass over the details Of study by
which l found machine especially
adapted for my purpose transport
ed It by sea 20 Sweden. From there
to my destination was not far. but
must make the Journey at one fight
with one supply OF fuel. One morning
rose TO n height Of 800 feet and
drove my machine eastward | pur-
posely Kept at considerable height
till stood directly over the sophyar-
hut that I might attract the least pos
sible attention. From where I was
poised was a slantlng course down to
the hut. / hoped that she might be
outside, but she was not I descended
10 her door. All was silent. I was
about 90 leave the machine TO enter
The hut when ] saw her face at the
window, and In another moment she
was sitting beside me on the machine.
had provided for starting by fitting