Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-04-25

able. He looked to either side. be-
fore him, behind him,
His fingers frightened on the
clutches Just forward of the whirl-
ing propeller he made out the figure
of a man, lying fiat along the ribs OF
the elders body clutcning the steel
guys of the planes looking at him.
For a moment he stared motion
less 1t was this extra weight that
had sent the Glider Keeling prow-up-
had made it unresponsive to control.
The man who chung there had aimed
to prevent the flight, Daunt leaned to
let the full beam of the fiaring lamp
go past nim A quick intuition hao
told him whose were the eyes that mad
glittered across the throbbing fabric;
but the face he saw now was infuri-
ated with a new look that made him
SILVER. 1t was incarnate 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, ire
levant memory crossed Dant'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 observation-disclosures
there. with desperate, hooked fingers,
y
must sink him for ever.
Pst-pst-pst-pst-pst- on the
Glider drove. With a fierce effort,
Daunt crushed down the sense of UNI
reality and swiftly weighed his posi-
ton.
The other was directly in front OF
the propeller. a perilous place. Only
the guy-wire was in his reach. Be
tween them was a shuddering space.
IT. s1ov 70 rid
aeroplane of that incubus, was impos-
sible. He must go on. Could he win
with such terrible handicap? He
set his teeth fitting the lateral
vanes, he scared in wide serpentine,
peering into the deep, resounding dark
below.
The engine was doing its best, every
fibe- of tested steel and canvas ringing
and throbbing. But the creeping pallor
of the night grew apace Kanagawa-
the Glider swooped above it, left it be-
hind The misty glow was all around
now. lights pricked up through the shad-
ow Yokohama was under his feet and
aheadZthe darker mass toward which
he was hurtun g-was the Bluff.
Slowly, with painful anxiety. he swung
the huge float in to skirt the IFS sea-
ward edge. There was the naval hospital
with it's flagstaff. There beyond was
the familiar break In the rampant of TO
liage-and there. Tapping in the wind.
was the awning on the flat roof of the
Roost. In the dawning twilight 1t
seemed monstrous. leprous lichen.
shuddering at the unholy thing it hid.
Daunt threw out the graIlel.
Re curved sharply in. aslant to the
wind flung down his prov and swoop-
ed upon il There was a tearing, splin-
tering complaint of canvas and bamboo;
the Glider seemed to stop to tremble.
chen leaped on. Turning his head, Daunt
saw the awning disappear like col
lapsed KITE. He caught glimpse, on
the steep, ascending roadway of a hand
full of naked men running staggeringly.
one straggler far behind. The thought
flashed through his mind that these
were the cadets from the Naval college.
But they would be too late. The sun
was coming too swiftly. The sky was
a tide of amethyst-the dawn was very
near! He came about in a wide loop
that took him out over the bay, maxi
ing the turn with the wind. For frac-
ton OF second he looked down-on the
squadron of battleshps. a geometrical
cluster of black blots from which
straight wisps of dark smoke spun like
raveled yarn into the formless obscurity.
4 shrin mad laugh came from behind
him.
| Daunt was essaying gigantic figure
of-eight whose waist was the. flat bun
galow roof 1t was a difficult evolution
| in still sunlight and over a level ground.
He had now the semI-darkness. and the
sucking down-drafts of the wind that
made his flight with its driving falls
and recoveries, seem the careless fury
/ of a suicide. Yet never once did his
hand waver, never did that strange,
| tense GOODNESS desert him.
As he swept back like a stone in the
sling OF the wind he saw the thing he
had come to destroy. 1t had the appear
ance of large camera. set on a spidery
/ tripod near the edge of the flat roof. its
/ lens pointing out over the anchorage
Landing was out of the question:; to
slacken speed meant TO fall. He must
strike the machine with the body of the
Glider or with the grapnel. To strike
the roof instead meant to be hurled
| headlong. mangled or dead. his errand
unaccomplished. down somewhere in that
medley of roofs and foliage The chances
/ that he could do this seemed suddenly
to fade to the vanishing point. wave
of profound hopelessness chilled his
heart.