Gloucester County Democrat., 1911-11-09
CHAPTER Xxx.
THE LAST OF THE SKY PIRATE.

u IOu0U SuSdH on tue TOCkS
NAV in an agony of terror and
wv anxiety. When she saw her
mistress she burst into
tears. The three of us were half fam
ished. but our wants were soon sup
piled from the stores Of the Crow.
We waited until daylight TO begin
the search for Payton. and In the
meantime, with the aid of our lights.
found and overhauled the Chame-
leon. The effect of our fire had been
terrific. and | more than ever wonder
ed that she had not fallen In a heap
from the clouds All of her aero
planes were more or less smashed up.
and the deck had suffered. but the
cabins were comparatively uninjured.
Ethan having taken pains to save
them as much as possible, knowing
that the prisoners would be in that
part of the aero.
Now found the various coloreG
'suits" of which / have spoken. They
consisted of soft. fluffy material an6
were most ingeniously contrived to be
drawn quickly over the aeroplanes. |
may say here that they were the orr
gin of the downs now universally
employed on aeros to cover the glid-
ing parts. it having been found that
in this way an approximation to the
feather covering Of birds is obtained.
thus increasing the buoyancy and di-
rective facility of the machine.
This may have been Payton's orig
inal purpose. the protective mimicry''
idea being an outgrowth of it. In ad-
diton to the aeroplanes the other con-
spicuous parts of the aero were SINH
larry suited.
$50 that's the way the varmint play
ed possum. is itT' said Ethan when
he saw these suits. "Waal. she'll not
turn grasshopper ner blue. white ner
black butterfly ag'in. I'll allow"
Having selected from the stores Of
the Chameleon such things as would
be Of use to us and having found some
of her bombs. | had her blown up.
and we returned to the rocks
1t was now O'Clock. The sun was
getting over the horizon. and 1t was
time to run down our quarry. ! cared
little about the two men. They might
escape. and welcome. II only could
capture the pirate himself meant
to keep after him week or ten days,
IL necessary. and for that purpose !
had taken possession of the unused
batteries of the Chameleon. which suf
feed to replace all that the Crow had
exhausted up to this time.
The three men who had been left at
the scene of the last nights adventure
had arrived at the rocks. bringing
along their wounded comrade. who
was seriously shot through the breast.
They also brought Payton's pack OF
provisions, which had been left on the
ground. This delighted me exceeding
". for 1t vastly increased the chances
of his capture.
had. including myself and Peters.
ten available men, decided to leave
Peters and four men at the rocks. with
plenty OF provisions. and one of the
electric guns. placing Helen in their
charge until the arrival of the party
from the Osprey or until my return.
directed Peters to keep flag flying.
for | felt confident that our friends
would soon come. and probably with
the aero. since my engineer had as
sured Peters that he could repair the
steering gear
For the search. my idea was to rise
to good height with the Crow and
start or ostentatiously southwark. in
order that Payton. If be were watch
ing. as he doubtless would be. might
conclude that we were satisfied with
the recovery of Miss Grayman and
were making for home When. to use