Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-18

against the black of the grand stand?"
| exclaimed Mrs. Mars suddenly.
/ Sure enough, far below and hardly
more than a specI1 but with flash of
| sunlight on a propeller blade now and
| then and the sheen of the yellow gas
enclosure, we watched the dir1gible's
flight We even could watch the de-
scent as the dirigible settled down be-
side it's fellow in the field.
Barometer" queried the pilot as
we began to veer off toward Redondo
and away from the park.
-Four thousand, two hundred" came
! back the answer of his wife.
Better go up a little higher" said
! the pilot. Were getting too far to
the right to get back to the park on
that lower current" More sand went
out and the earth dropped away still
lower-for to our earth-bound senses
we had lost all thoughts of motion in
our little basket and the earth was
making the queer changes that were
sending us from place to place.
There goes one of the biplanes,"
exclaimed one of the passengers as
she pointed again toward the white
| tent row and the black mass of the
ever.
"Time?" asked the pilot.
"Five O'clock" was the answer.
Barometer was the next ques-
ton.
Mile in the Air
give thousand, three hundred"
came back the answer from Mrs. Mars.
! We could see, even from this dis
tance of more than a mile with the
naked eye, that the crowd at the park
was thinning. Then the wind veered.
We went more rapidly toward the
hills of Point Firmin, with the whole
map of the harbor below us, and then
to the left toward Redondo.
It seemed fruitless now to try to
reach aviation park before the specta-
| tors had departed for home The current
we were in was bearing us toward the
ocean and danger. The west was fam
| ing with a gorgeous sunset. The lofty
! hills of Catalina were no bar to our
| vision of the ocean beyond, and it
seemed as though we were close enough
to Redondo to hit the power house with
| a pebble or to knock fly over the
roofs of San Pedro.
| That was an hour rare enough to be
remembered for a lifetime. Then the
! earth came to greet us again. How
| it was managed 1 do not know, but
| as the shadows on the water deepened
and twilight came we all were too en-
tranced with the beauty all around US
to notice what the busy pilot was
about.
Then came call: "Oh. see! The
moon is giving us a shadow on the
earth. It's going on ahead Of us like
| a protector. just to pave the way.
And sure enough, there was the shad-
oW. and as we passed on silently mere
and there over reservoir or creek or
! irrigation stream we could see the sill
Yer reflection far below.
Still sailing on we came back toward
! the now glittering lights of the city at
2000 feet, so said the aneroid when We
could catch a glimpse of the register
when the great bag overhead swayed
out of the moonlight's way.
All still with us. 1t was no time for
| talk But from below we could hear
even the sounds of conversation. From
one rancher'S home we caught the fresh
voice of a girl singing annie Laurie,
AS we passed over another ranch house
we could see the horses. frightened by
our strange appearance, rushing madly
about the corral. From the house
/ they had caught sight of the simmer
of the gas bag in the moonlight-we
caught the hearty cry: Come in and
stop awhile. We're going to have
some dinner Come on down."
Invitation Is Declined
That sounded good but we wanted
TO get nearer home. Boys below US
now. as we drew nearer to earth,
shouted up to us and swarmed after
us in a vain endeavor to keep up as
we Travelled on over the houses and
| the fields
At $40 o'clock we were close to the
| southern boundary of the city. There
/ still were fourteen bags of ballast IN
the bag and little of the gas mad been
| lost
"Shau we try a flight over the city?'
| asked the pilot 1T will be easy to-
night but it may take until midnight
| for we can't come down among the
| houses"
1t was hard to say no, but there
were busines duties and - we pre-
| pared for the descent.
"When we so down, hang to tie
rings on that side" said the pilot. 'Ho
one is to leave the bag until l say So
That was all there was to it. We
/ did as he bade us, and, at 6;25 o'clock
we were safe once more on terra hrlha
in a plowed field. after alighting 50
| easily that one and all of the passen-
! GERS rubbed their eyes and looked
again to see if it was true.
The big bag was there and IN q
! few minutes an express wagon that
| had been keeping track of the flight
| Grove up. The men and boys of the
neighborhood lent a helping hand A
/ half an hours work aud the balloon
was debated and wrapped up and the
! niIot and his nervy little wife amt
| tbeir guests were on their way back
1 to the city and everyday life on
street car
1,1Au-r IKE rn RE AIT,