The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-03-31

manner in which the Virginia
would aid him, but the sickening
speed with which he was driving
out to sea made anything well
come as a modification of his
despair.
do you understand" shouted
Carson. you are lost If you
drift on. Drop your painter, and
I'll give you fowl"
The thing was absurd on its
face. The wind had grown to a
hurricane. Such thing as this
little machines towing the Roc
against it was unthinkable. And
yet-swallowing his pride, Shayne
ordered the painter dropped; and
as it hung from the Roc's nose,
the Virginia, running easily into
the wind, dropped back, took the
line, and with a word of cheer she
walked up into the blast, pulled
the painter taut-and like a tug
with a freighter, threw herself
against the pressure of the i'm
mense gas-bag; and for the first
time the people on the aeronat's
deck chung fast and turned their
faces from the wind as they felt
its stroke.
"Hurrah!" came the cry from
the engine-room. "She's holding
us!"
For a moment she did; and
then she dropped the painter, and
the abandoned Roc fell off before
the storm again. The aeronef,
having shown her power, had
quilted it's exercise. The Vir-
ginia, released from the pull, had
darted away, and was now a
quarter of a mile off. Shayne
famed hot with anger at this
cruel hooking. The men in the
engine-room grew sick with de-
, spair; and when the Virginia,
with a swift, circling swoop,
came alongside again, they
begged Carson, for Gods sake,
not to let all of them drown Just
because he hated Shayne.
Stand off, you Internal
scoundrel!" cried Shayne. Stand
off, or I'll shoot you! You are
the cause of all this; and I'll kill
you, If you don't stand off"
"Don's make fool of your
self" called Carson. 81 want
you to go lower"
"Why?"
"And put on your life-preserv-
ers," went on Carson.
Why?" insisted Shayne.
I'm going to put you in the
water" said Carson.
mo, you'll not!" said Shayne.
"Willett, keep her up and run be-
fore it. Well circle the whfrl
and make Shore"
Mr.. Willett," said Carson, "do
as 1 say, or as there is a God in
Heaven, I'll go above, rip your
envelope and let you drop from
wherever you happen to bel"
"You obey orders!" cried
shayne.
"If Mr.. Shayne interferes, =
laid Carson, "confine him: and
AXE orders from me-or drop|
from here! Will you do as
,ay?"
The second engineer went for
ward to Mr.. Shayne. The an
iwer of the others was to set the
iepressor-screws going; and the
doomed Roc, now quite over the
Yea, dropped nearer and nearer to
The waves.
Now" said Carson, "I'll tell
you why I turned you adrift
Your envelope won't stand the
strain. 1t had started to cave in
at the bow, and in another mo-
ment would have ripped open and
dropped you. But I'm going to
give 1t the test. If the Roc canl
stand the strain, I believe I can
tow her and land you. If she
doesn't l shall drop you into the
Atlantic, you'll collapse, and IL
can tow you in the water easily.
Put on your life-preservers!
Hurry"
Again the Virginia took theI
painter aboard, and surged
against the gale; but this time
drifting with the wind while the
life-preservers We're adjusted.
Carson was confronted with al
fearful alternative. If he let the
Roc go out to sea, she had a bare
chance-though no such escaped
was recorded. On the other
hand, dropping her in the water
was an expedient full of danger.
The collapsed envelope might
blanket the passengers and
drown them; some might be hftI
by breaking beams, or stunned
by conclusion with the water
from a badly-judged height. And
Virginia! Yet, weighing the
chances, he did not hesitate.
"All ready?" he shouted.
mol" cried Shayne. Come
back herel"
"All ready, Willett?" asked
"Yes!" cried Willett. Go
ahead"
Slowly crowding on power, the
Virginia fought forward into the
storm. The painter strained tautI
as a steel bar, and Carson won
dered If 1t would hold. The shipI
slowed up in their drift, stopped:
and wild cheer went up from the
crews, the passengers, and from
the people gathered on shore, as
they made head against thel
i. 4 ! -