The Princeton union., 1911-03-30

| L
she be murdered before could reach
her.
| l hailed an empty hack, told the
driver to take me to IS Merton ave-
nue. and be quick about it. He asked
me where it was, and l told him it
was at Merton avenue. He must find
| it, and find it at once. I would pay
double fare. With this 1 got into the
| hack. banged the door, and the coach
man drove on. Where to go he didn't
seem to know any more than I did.
After going back and forth a few
times and turning several corners he
hailed a policeman, who sent him in a
| different direction from any he had
yet followed. My first thought was to
| take the policeman with me, but some
how 11couldn't bring myself to share
with any one the pleasure Of relieving
| a woman in distress-that is, if it
would not be too late for any one to re-
1ieve her. f., '~@
The driver finally stopped in the mid
| Ole OF the street. I opened the door
and asked:
| "Well. have you found Merton ave-
nue?"
"Ihls is Merton avenue, sir,' was the
reply, "but can find the NUMBER
He drove back and forth. while it
seemed to me that I should 20 wild
with impatience. Then, suddenly catch
! ing sight of a number in a lighted
transom-79-I jumped from the hack
and hurried along the street till I
found No. IS. The house stood by
itself, no other being within a hundred
yards. l ran up the steps and tried
| the door. It was locked. Desiring to
enter without ringing, I went around
to the rear and fortunately found a
| window unlocked. Entering, 1 ran
into the lower hall and stole softly up
stairs. I heard voices.
The only weapon had brought with
me was small rope. Armed with,
this, 1 suddenly appeared at the door
| of the room within which heard the
| voices and exclaimed:
"A message for the emperor of the.
airv'
In the room, pacing back and forth
and brandishing knife, was a young
man about twenty years old. a girl
of eighteen was following him about,
talking with him in a voice of great
distress. Both turned at once on hear
ing my voice.
Are you the emperor of the air?'-
I asked Of the man.
| Il am"
| II have been sent by the king Of
space, the realms of infinite ether, to
guide you to new machine, a ma
chine that will bear you not only to
Mars. neighboring planet, but to
Neptune, the most distant. and thence
| to the=fxed stars.''
My reference to his proposed trip to
| Mars awakened confidence at once
| where is this machine?' he asked.
Il am deputed by the king of space
to conduct you to it. Come. 1 have
a carriage below. You must depart
before the break of dawn"
The knife dropped from his hand.
Instead of using it Oh the girl he kiss
ed her and followed me down to the,
carriage. Having whispered to the
coachman to drive us to police sta
ton, I got in beside the emperor. On
| arrival at the station l beckoned to q
policeman. who came to the carriage.
'This is the emperor of the air."
| said, pressing the policemans arm by
| way of warning. Remain here while
1 60 inside. I'll be out directly"
l told the sergeant at the desk my
| story. We hunted up the address of
| an insane asylum, and in half an hour,
| without even using the rope weapon l
| had provided. we had him under con-
| finement.
From the asylum 1 drove back to
| the house from which l had removed
the patient. Though it was late, l
knew the young lady would be wait
| ing for report of what had happen
| ed. On arrival l rang the bell and
was admitted by her. She questioned
me eagerly with her eyes. told her
| that the young man was where he
would be safe from himself and could
not injure others. Then l asked her
to explain matters.
"He is my brother.' she said "Un-
fortunately he has sufficient means to
indulge in aviation. His ambition has
| been to sail higher in the air than any
| one else. Last Saturday he broke the
| record, but in touching ground he
| struck q telegraph pole. which broke
his machine and injured him severely.
| Within the past few days he has acted
so strangely that the servants became
! afraid Of him. and all left us in u
| body yesterday. Tonight. or. rather,
| last night. he became violent. l at
| tempted to call up my brother-in-law,
John Gooding. but somehow got yoHs
| by mistake-at least you heard me- ,
After locking the house l escorted
Miss Ethel Houghton to the home Of
herebrother1in-la awakened the fam
| ily;;siand she. rema inedzt there for the
night. The next,day called upon her
Ito assure myself that she had not suf
fered from her distressing experience.