El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-27

will not. because he will prefer to
come on by night in order to run the
less risk"
.That's what he did before" said
Mr. Grayman-
"An right, then" said the secretary.
Wen assume that that will be his
course. But we have no time to lose.
We must catch him before he starts
Fortunately, Allan. | have ordered
your aero and four other cracks TO be
ready to leave Washington. fully armed
and provisioned. on the receipt Of
dispatch from me. I'll tell them to
come on at once. Now, Grayman. you
can go along or not, as you prefer"
"I'I CO." said Mr. Grayman promptly
Mr.. Grantham, in his dispatch. had
the foresight to order the aero to meet
rs at little town considerable dis
lance east of Buffalo. where Mr.. Gray
man and himself would run less risk
Of recognition. Accordingly. after a
good meal we went by train to the
designated place, arriving a little be-
fore ] o'clock. AS we descended from
the train l was delighted to recognize
the Eagle lowering over the little town.
The four other aeros were running
about near, and crowd had already
gathered about the station and in the
street, watching them.
WED better get aboard as quickly
as possible" said Mr.. Grantham. Let's
walk a little way up the bill. out Of
town. and IN signal the aeros to drop
down for u.s."
In response to the signal two OF the
aeros, the Crow and the Eagle. swooped
down to the earth. My men were re-
joiced 70 see nae. and to set foot once
more on the deck OF my beloved fier.
She had her full complement, but the
other was a little short. SO | sent two
men aboard the Crow to make room
for the secretary and Mfr. Grayman
without weighing the Eagle too much.
l wanted to have her in good running
trim.
Nov, Lieutenant Allan" said Mr.,
Grantham as soon as we were aboard
and afy. you are in immediate COM
mand Of this feet i have ordered the
commanders OF the other aeros to rec
ognize you as their commanding off,
Ger and the Eagle as their, flagship.
shall continue to advise you. but you
will take charge Of all technical de-
tails and give the orders. AS the f1iers
are all duly armed and provisioned.
there is nothing TO prevent our max
ing start immediately"
No one could have been more eager
TO start than | was. Instantly ran
up the signal TO get under way. the
others being instructed to follow my
lead. Besides the Crow. already men,
toned. there were the Osprey. the
Bobolink and the Skylark, all. as was
glad to see. the best fiiers In the serv-
ice. although | believed that none of
them could keep pace with the Eagle
IN race
The electric gun had already been in
vented. and each of the acres carried
two of these terrible weapons. of a
caliber Of two and half inches, one
at the stern and the other at the bow
They fred either shells or solid shot.
AS everybody knows. the electric gun
makes no report, but a sharp whish
is heard as the projectile leaves the
muzzle. These projectiles at that
time had an effective range OF three
miles. but when fired from an eleva-
ton they would often fall TO earth at
a distance twice as great II was.
therefore. necessary TO be very careful
In using them over an inhabited coun-
try. and we used always to run out
over the sea for gun practice. employ
One Of our aeros could easily carry a
hundred rounds of ammunition for
each gun.
There was great competition among
the gunners In craftsmanship. and l
had on the Eagle Connecticut Yam
kee. Ethan Haight. who was practi-
cally a dead shot and a great favorite
among the men We carried no drop
ping bombs, like the navy aeros. but
each had a stand of automatic rifles
and pistols. besides cutlasses. The full
was ten men. including
the commander. the engineer and the
On this occasion our en-
Dire hOtilla carried thirty eight lighting
men. my own crew comprising only
eight men. including myself. after I
had made room for my two visitors.