The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1910-07-08
A New Method Of
Rescue
BY ROCKFORD KING
Copyright. 1910, by American Press
Association.

People wondered why took such in
terest In aeroplanes. why | contin.
ually practiced at driving them. why
studied different makes. Then. when
| l had taken flight into distant
4 land. no one knew where. and after
my return all my interest in air uavi-
CATION had vanished, they wondered
still more.
! have been great traveller. though
am not yet thirty years old. Some
years ago while in Russia ] made the
acquaintance. followed by the friend
ship. Of 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 was introduced to the daugh-
ter of 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.
lish. There usually comes In a mans
life, II II comes when he is young.
some woman who appeals to him as no
other woman has ever appealed TO him.
From the moment met Sophia |
knew that one had risen up in my path
whom ] must possess, else the vitality
had passed out of my life.
went to my hotel after my first
It, olyo holf
the night with the comfort one feels
IN having found a mate, and the other
half I dreamed of her. From that
time for several months | was with
her as often as Russian etiquette
allows. danced with her. | skated
with her, met her at the opera and
on court gala occasions She gave me
pnmistakable signs that in me she had
found what | had found In her But
when ] came TO tell her my story her
whole manner changed.
mo, no. no" she moaned. II 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 took up 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. returned to
St. Petersburg to learn that my antlci-
patton was correct The girl loved
had already been sent to Siberia. Now
] understood her action toward me.
/ felt that a great work had sprung
up before me-the work of liberating
Sophia. A famous traveller was in st
Petersburg at the time and was about
to start. with the permission of the
Russian government. to write up the
condition of Siberian exies. sue
ceeded in inducing him to appoint me
his secretary, or amanuensis. 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. |
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 made long fights
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
no prizes, entered no contests. work
ed with one purpose In view. That
was to make fight 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
I |
adapted for my purpose. | transport
ed 1t by sea to Sweden. From there
to my destination was not far. but l
must make the journey at one fight
with one supply of fuel. One morning
| rose to a height of 500 feet and
drove my machine eastward. pur-
poseiy kept at considerable height
till | stood directly over the sephyar-
hut that might attract the least pos
sible attention. From where was
poised was a slanting course down to
the hut. hoped that she might be
outside. but she was not. | descended
to her door. All was silent. was
about to leave the machine to enter
the hut when l saw her face at the
and In another moment she
was sitting beside me on the machine
l had provided for starting by fitting
my machine with apparatus especially
adapted to the purpose. and. though
keepers we're by this time running
toward US from every direction, we
rose above them andsthe shots they
sent up in time to save ourselves.
After a ride high in the air we came
down in Sweden, nearly frozen. From
there we Travelled southwark, not step
ping till we reached Msrseilles, where
we took a steamer.
We are now both in America and are
Iooa to be married.