The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-04-20
CHAPTER I.
rhs Man With Wings.

rhs Man With WInss.
ver many hours-CAylsy- was too
much of . god today to bother with
tAs enact number Of thsm-hs had
besa flying slowly northward down .
0ilA southerly breeze. Hundreds of
fest below him was the dazzling. ter
ribls sxpanss Of the polar Ice pack
which shrouds the northern limits Of
Tie Arctic ocean In it, impsnstrabls
VII q mystsry.
4 compass. . sextant . bottle Of
0ilk and . revolver comprised. with
Dc clothes hs wore. and with the
sAimmsrfng silken wings Of his areo-
Dla1e. his whole equipment His near
~ bass Of supplies. II you could call
4 that, was . 30-pound tin Of pemmi-
en-. hidden under stone ON the
sorth east extremity Of Herald island.
40 miles away. The United States
rescue station at Point Barrow. the
extreme northerly point Of Alaska.
shs place which he had called homo
eoe tAs past three months. was pos
sibly. half % far again away, some
Wheee or to the southeast.
But for these past weeks Of un.
bgokea arctic sunshine. he had fairly
nved a1wfng The earth had no OBJ
shuctioas and the air no psrfls. To
1ay. with his great broad fan-tail
Aravn Up arc-wise beneath him, his
pla4es pitched slightly forward at the
precise and psrilous angle that only
)ust Aid not send him plunging, head
oxst, down upon the sullsn masses of
- below, he lay there. prone. upon
he sheep skin sleeping bag which
paAdod the framework supporting his
two wings. ~ secure a. the great full
ymaf pstrsl which drew curiously near,
anA then. with 4 wheel and . plunge,
asd away. squawking.
Fur al practical purposes Cayley
had learned to dy. The great fan
driven air ship. 100 feet from tip to
Dip. which had long lain idle on his
raAch at sandoval. would probably
asvsr leave it, house again. It had
mane yeoman service. without it,
&erful propellers. for the last re-
source. Caylsy would never have bssn
able to try the experiments and get
he practise which had given him the
cir for his natural element He had
outSrown 1t. He had no more need
of motors or whirling fans. The force
Of gravity, the force Of the breeze and
the perfectly coordinated muscles Of
his own body gave him all the power
he needed now.
Perhaps the succeeding generations
Of humankind may develop an eye
which can see ahead when the body
is lying prone. a bird lies in its
dight Cayley had remedied this do
dcisncy with little silver mirror.
slightly concave. screwed fast to the
crossbrace which supported his shoul-
dsrs. Instead of bending back his
he'd. or trying to see out through his
eyebrows. he simply cast backward
glance into this mirror whenever he
wanted to look on ahead. 1t had been
little perplexinS at first, but he
could see better in 1t now than with
his unaided eyes.
And now. minute or two. perhaps.
aftsr that fulmar had gone squawking
away. he glanced down into his mir
row, and his olympian calm was
shaken with the shock Of surprise.
For what he saw. clearly reflected in
his little reducing glass, was land.
There was . mountain. and q long
dark line that must bs 4 clifflike
coast
And 1t was land that never had
been marked on any chart In abso-
tuts degrees Of latitude he was not,
III b tho arctic explorers view. very
fa2 north. Over on the other side Of
I'll world they run excursion steam-
srs every summer nearer to the pole
than hs was at this moment Splits