The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-27
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field sank away. and he was throbbing steeply upward against the sweep of the winde
 Daunt threw himself forward. The bubble in the spirit level clung to the top of its tube. Rapidly he warped down the elevation vanes till slowly. slowly, the telltale bubble crept to the middle of the level What was the matter? The engine was working well, yet there was sense of heavi- ness. of sluggishness. that was unac- countable. He looked to either side. before him. behind him.
 His fingers frightened on the clutches. Just forward of the whirling propeller he made out the figure of man lying lat along the ribs of the glider's body clutching the steel guys of the planes. looking at him. j.
 For a moment he stared motionless. It was this extra weight that had sent the glider reeling prov up-had made 1t unresponsive to control The man who clung there had aimed to prevent the flight. Daunt leaned to let the full beam of the f1aring lamp go past him. A quick intuition had told him whose were the eyes that had glittered across the throbbing fabric. but the face he saw now wAs infuriate with a new look that made him shiver. 1t was in- carnate with the daredevil of terror. Phil had been a drunkard: he was drunk now with the calculate madness of overmastering fear. As he gazed a fitting. irrelevant memory crossed Daunt's mind of day at college years before when by a personal appeal he had saved Phil from the disgrace of expulsion. And now it was Phil Phil clinging there with desperate hooked fingers. struggling to consum- mate crime that must sink him for ever.
 Pst-pst pst-pst. pst-pst: on the glider drove.s With a fierce effort Daunt crushed down the sense of unreaity and swiftly weighed his position
 The other was directly in front of the propeller. perilous place. Only the guy wire was in his reach. Be tween them was shuddering space. To land in. the darkness to rid the aeroplane of that incubus was impos- sible. He must go on. Could he win with such terrible handicap? He set his teeth Til-ing the lateral vanes,. he scared in wide serpentine. peering into the deep. resounding dark below.
 Tokyo lay svast network of tiny pin bricks of fire. He had never been so high before. had been content to sweep the treetops. To the left a, bearded scimitar of light merged by blackness marked the bay. Daunt swung parallel with this. Pstrpst. pst- pst. pst-pst The wind tore in gusts through the structure, the planes vi- brating. the guys hnmming like the strings of a gigantic harp. His cloth ing dragged at his body. He was too high. He leaned over the mass of lev. CTS. and the glider slid down long. steep descent till in the starlight he could see the blue gray blur of roofs, the massed shadows of little parks of trees. Now he was passing the edge of the city: now below him was the gloom of the ricefields. A low sob- bing sound came in the wind. It was the bubbling chorus of the frogs, and across it he heard the bark of a peas ants dog.
 To the right a dark hill loomed with out warning. with a dim congeries of red tea houses. It was the famous Ikegami. the shrine of the Buddhist saint Ichiren. famed for its plum gar dens. 1t fell away behind. and now far off score of miles ahead grew up on the horizon misty blotch of radi- ance. Yokohama! He swerved. head ing out across the lagoon straight as the bee dies for the shimmering spot. Pst-pst. pst-pst-faster and faster spat the tiny explosions. The glider throb- bed and sang like a thing alive. and the hum of the propeller shrilled into . scream.
 Tokyo was far behind now. the pale glow ahead rising and spreading. To the right he could see the ciumped fights of the villages along the rail- road. Kamata - Kawasaki - Tsurumi He dropped stil lower. out of the lash of ts~ wind.
 Suoaehiy flying missile struck the forward plane. which resounded like 8 great drum. A drop of something red fell on his bare hand. and feath- cred body fell like stone between his feet A dark carpet, dotted with foam, seemed to spring up out of the gulf. Daunt threw himself at the lev CTS and rammed them back. The glid- CT had almost touched the sea-for heartbreaking instant he thought it could never rise. He heard the curl of the waves and a cry from behind him Then. slowly. slowly breasting the blast, 1t came staggering up the hill of air to safety.
 The sky was perceptibly Tightening now. Daunt realized it with a tight ening of all his muscles 1t was the first tentative withdrawal of the forces of the dark. Should he be in time? With his free hand he loosened the coil of the grapnel. Suddenly the chances seemed all against success. A feeling of hopelessness caught him. He thought of the two men he had left behind. waiting-waiting. What message would come to them that morning?