The Randall County news. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1908-1926, 1910-07-01
A New Method Of
! Rescue
By ROCKFORD KING
Copyright, 1910, by American Press
Association.
BY ROCKFORD KING

| had taken Il 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.
| have been a great traveller, though
| am not yet thirty years old. Some
years ago while in Russia | made the
acquaintance, followed by the friend,
ship, of a member of the American EN-
bassy Of st. Petersburg. In this way
| saw something of court life there.
One night ut a function at the Winter
palace | was introduced TO the daugh-
ter of a general in the Russian service.
Not for an earldom would ! give her
name, so | shall call her Sophia. In
my travels | have picked up a number
of foreign languages. Russian | speak
tolerably. and Sophia spoke some Eng
lish. There usually comes in a mans
life, if it 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 hid risen up in my path
whom I must possess, else the vitality
had passed out of my life.
went TO my hotel after my first
meeting with her to lie awake half
the night with the comfort n feels
in having found a mate, and the other
half | dreamed of her. From that
time for several months ] was with
her as often as Russian etiquette
allows. I danced with her. skated
with her. | met her at the opera n
on court gala occasions. She gave me
unmistakable signs that in me she had
found what | had found in her. But
when | came to tell her my story her
whole manner changed.
"No. no, no." she moaned. Il nave
permitted myself to sink into a 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 n
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 Il newspaper Il
saw by telegraph from Russia that Il
conspiracy against the life of the car
had been discovered and that the
daughter of n prominent general bad
been implicated. Something told me
that she was Sophia. | returned to
st. Petersburg TO learn that my antici-
patton was correct. The girl loved
had already been sent to Siberia. Now
/ I understood her action toward me.
| felt that Il great work had sprung
up before me-the work of liberating
Sophia. \ famous traveller was in 81.
Petersburg at the time and was about
to start, with the permission Of the
Russian government, to write up the
condition of Siberian eXiles. | 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 a hut
close by a 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 anne month eau
gust the following year TO expect me
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 Il
the Land of the Midnight Sun in the
dead of winter, that | might become
used to flying in the cold. | tried fol
no prizes. entered no contests. work
tu Win cue pun poot III view. Ina
was TO make a flight to Russia, swooI
down by the hut in which lived my
love and bear her away to freedom.
| pass over the details of study b,
which found a machine especial.
adapted for my purpose. | transport
ed 1t by sea to Sweden. From there
to my destination was not far, but
must make the journey at n fllgh
with one supply Of fuel. One morninl
/ rose to a height Of 500 feet anc
drove my machine eastward. | pur
posely kept at a considerable heigh
ill | stood directly over the sophyar
hut that | might attract the least pos
sible attention. From where | wa
poised was a slanting course down t
the hut. / hoped that she might b
outside. but she was not. | descende'
to her door. All was silent. | wa
about to leave the machine to ente
the hut when | saw her face at tn
window. and in another moment sh
was sitting beside me on the machine
| had provided for starting by tttin
my machine with apparatus especial
-l-.,I 80 tha ,,trnnSa aud thnrtn