The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-03-06
BY RBERT QUIC
AUTHOR OF DOUBLE TROUBLE


steadily, the finely adjusted mech
anism revolved, setting the car into
tingling vibrations which thrilled
like electricity.
Which is the clutch lever?" she
asked. r...
This" said the inventor, point
ing. I'm going to the engine room;
when l come back I'll show you
how it works."
Mr.. Shayne went aft with Wiz
ner, in animated conversation, leav-
ing Virginia in the throbbing car.
The rail had been removed, and a
little push would have been quite
sufficient to shove the girl and the
machine overheard into the empty
air. The thrill of the vibration, the
sense Of risk or the intense gaze of
Silberberg made her face flush. He
had never seen her so charming.
She laid her hand on the clutch
lever.
Il could move this lever a little,"
said she, "and fly away. feel as IL
Snou1d lily!
81 shall not let you," said he. IT
shall hold you!"
"Mr. Silberberg!"
The rebuke was evoked by his
putting his arm about her. One
white, jeweled hand was slipped be-
hind her, the other laid on her arm,
the oily perfumed curls STOPPING
until the red lips approached hers.
Perfectly aware of what she was
doing, but quite reckless Of sonse-
quences, Virginia pushed the lever,
threw in the clutch-and the wings
started. The pull of the vivified
mechanism, drawing him out to
death, made Silberberg's very fin
gers tingle with terror, and he let
go girl and car, and leaped back
ward. Under the life of the wings,
the car dragged to the edge, slipped
off with a grating sound and swung
there in mid air, the painter dang
ling almost within reach, 300 faith
oms in the air, supported only by
the spinning helices driven by an
engine that one man only knew
how to manage, and he as far re-
moved from 1t. potentially, as II he
had been in Mars!
The carmine tint that had stimu-
lated the aggression Of Silberberg
faded from Virginia's lips as her
mouth set in white line; and her
face turned deathly pale. Half ris-
| ing, she stretched her hand toward
the aerostat, whence there came to
her ears the cries of Silberberg and
her uncle, and the wild profanity of
Wilmer.
Listen to me. damn you." he
yelled; "listen!"
He was trying to tell her how to
use the levers-but she could not
understand for the wild drumming
in her ears She felt stifled, her
hand trembled so that she could not
hold to anything, no matter how
she tried. At last-it was over in a
moment--more by accident than de-
sign, she moved something. With
appalling velocity the thing shot up
| ward, the aeronat fell away toward
the earth, the fisherman's house far
beneath was whisked down to the
littleness of a toy. The air struck
her face, blowing downward more
and more chill. Overhead the
screws hummed implacably, the
only sound she heard. She was in
the midst of the illimitable silences.
now for the first time broken save
for the eagles scream OF the rustic
OF the wide wings of the osprey or
the man-o'-war hawk. Her heart
felt gripped in an iron hand. and
throbbed smotheringly. She was
climbing upward, drifting north
toward the lagoon. If she could
only descend in landlocked water,
she might yet be saved-and she
was not the girl to give up.
She studied the machinery, try.
ing to apply her picked-up knowl-
edge of engines. Here was the
thing with which to stop it. she felt
sure of that; but to stop it sudden.
~ was mere suicide, a swift fall to
death. Some means there must be,
she knew, to ease 1t down; but she
saw nothing she dared touch. That
| was the horror of it-she dared
touch nothing. She could only sit
there awaiting whatever might be-
tide. away up in the awful isolation
of the sky. with a demon-machine
that buzzed in ferocious energy and
mounted upward.