Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-04-28
The Kingdom of
Slender Swords
By Halle Erminis Rives.
Author Of 'Hearts Courageous" Satan Sander
son." Etc.-Copyright, 1910, The Bobbs-
Merrill Company.
BY Halle Erminie Rivss,
CONTINUED from Last 1ssue.)

CONTINUED from Last 1ssue.)
With Pills mad. derisive laughter
ringing in his ears, he dropped the Gid
ers stem and drove it obliquely across.
The grapnel bounded and Changed along
the thing, missing the tripod by three
feet On, in an upward staggering
lunge, then round once more, wearing
into the wind.
There was no peal of laughter now
from the man clinging to the steel rib.
With the clarity of the lunatic Phil saw
how close the swoop had been. The
scourge of the wind and the rapid flight
through the rarefied air had exalted him
to a cunning frenzy. He had no terror
of the moment-all his fear centered in
the tomorrow. To his deranged imagi-
nation the black square on the tripod
represented his safety. He had forgot
ten why. But Bersonin had made him
see 1t clearly. 1t must not be touched!
Daunt was the devil-he was trying to
send him to the copper mines, to work
underground, with chains on his feet, as
long as he lived!
The Glider heeled suddenly and slid
steeply downward. . Daunt gripped the
levers and with all his strength warped
up the forward plane. He felt pang
of sharpening agony He, too. would
fail! The crash was almost upon him.
But the Glider hung a moment and
righted. Farther and farther he twisted
the laterals, till she swan up, oscillat-
ing. A jerk ran through her after frame
work; he turned his head. Clinging with
foot and hand, his hair streaming back
from his forehead, his lips wide, Phil
was drawing himself inch by inch,
along the sagging guy-wire toward him.
For rigid second Daunt could not
move muscle. Then, caught by the
upper wind, the perilous fitting of the
planes awoke him. He swung head on,
wavered, and swooped a last time for
the root.
Pst-pst-pst-pst- Crash! The curved
irons of the grapnel tore away the cop
ing-slid, screaming A Jolt all but
threw him from his seat. There were
running feet somewhere far below him
battering and shattering of glass in
the piazza. He felt a sudden clearance
and the big aeroplane plungedw sidewise
out over the bay, with a black, unwieldy
weight, that spun swiftly, hanging on its
grapnel.
A shout tore its way from his lips.
Needless of direction, he wrenched with
his fingers to unship the grapnel chain.
At the same instant the first sunbeam
slid across the waves and turned the
misty gloom to the golden-blue glory of
morning.
And with it, as though the voice of the
day itself. there went out over the wa
ter, above the sweep of the wind, a sim
gle piercing-sweet note of music, like
the cry of a great, splendid bird calling
to the sunrise. Fishermen in tossing
sampan and sailors on heaving junk
heard it, and whispered that it was the
cry of the kaminari, the thunder-aniInal,
or of the kappa that lures the swimmer
to his death. An icy blast seemed to
Glider int he
Staring, Daunt realized that one of the
great planes, the propeller, the after
framework with the man who had chung
to it, were utterly geperrthat the Glider,
like dead bird caught by the thudding
twinge of a bullet was lunging by its
own momentum-to- its fall Had Phil
fallen. was it
Suddenly he felt himself funk back
ward, then forward on his face. The
spreading vanes, crumpled edgewise, like
squares of cardboard, were sliL-ag down.
He saw the shipping of the bay spread
beneath him-the twin lighthouses, one
red, one white, on the ends of the break
water-the blac-1 Dreadnaughts-a steam
er with bright red funnels--a fleet of
fishing sampan putting out. All were
swelling larger and larger The wind,
blowing upward and around him, stole
his breath, and he felt the blood beat
ing in his temples. He heard ships bells
striking, and across &c sound a temple
bell doomed clearly. A mist was COM
ing before his eyes. Just below him was
a white yacht; it seemed to be rushing
up to meet him like a swan.
Thoughts darted through his brain like
live arrows. The battleships were saved!
No shameful suspicion should touch ia
pans name in the highways of the
world What matter that he lost the
game? What did one-any one-count
against so much?
He thought of Barbara. He would new
er know what she had been about to tell
him that night at the Nikko shrine! He
would never see her againl But she
would know she would knowl
The sound of the sea-a great roaring
in his ears.
Tokyo lay vast network of tiny pin
pricks of fire. He had never been so
high before, had been content to sweep
the tree-tops. To the left bearded
scimetar of light, merged by blackness.
marked the bay. Daunt swung parallel
with this. Observation-Disclosures
The wind tore in gusts through the
guys humming like the strings of
gigantic harp. His clothing dragged at
his body. He was too high; he leaned
over the mass of levers and the Glider
slid down a long, steep descent, till I'D
the starlight he could see the blue-gray
blur of roofs, the massed shadows of
little parks of trees. Now he was pass
ing the edge of the city-now below him
was the gloom of the rich fields. A low
sobbing sound came in the wind; ii was
the bubbling chorus of the frogs, and
across ii he heard the bark of a peas
ants dog.
out warning, with dim congeries of