The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-01-19
[coNTINUED.l
CHAPTER Xxx.

p" 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,
j 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 heap
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 colored
"suits" of which have spoken. They
consisted of soft. fluffy material and
were most ingeniously contrived to be
drawn quickly over the aeroplanes. l
may say here that they were the orr
gin of the downs" now universally
employed on aeros to cover the glid-
ing parts. 1t having been found that
in this way an approximation to the
feather covering of birds is obtained.
thus increasing the buoyancy and d.
rectiye facility of the machine.
This may have been Payton's orig
inal purpose. the protective mimicry"
idea being an outgrOwth of it. In adj
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 it?' 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 Il was
time to run down our quarry. cared
little about the two men, They might
escape. and welcome. if only could
capture the pirate himself. L meant
to keep after him week or ten days,
If necessary. and for that purpose i
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
ly. for it 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 a flag flying
for l 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 a good height with the Crow and
start Off SYSTEMATICALLY southwark. in
order that Payton. il he were watch
n
conclude that we were satisfied with
the recovery of Miss Grayman and
were making for home. When. to use
an old nautical phrase. we should be
"hulI down" from the rocks meant
TO put about. going round by the east
TO northeast and keeping full fifty
miles beyond the point where Payton
ead escaped.
Then | would drop down near the
ground and search 1t right and left
over breadth Of at least fifteen miles.
creeping gradually inward toward the
critical point Since he was compel
led to travel on foot did not believe
that Payton had been able to go any.
thing like fifty miles over the brush
tangled and more or less swampy
ground. But wanted to be sure.
So OF / started. after tender part
tng from Helen. whom encouraged
with the hope of soon seeing her fa-
Their and to whom I had related all
the particulars Of the manner In which
we had found Payton's lodge and of
our adventures up to the time of the
battle in the clouds. She In turn gave
me vivid description of her expert
ences on the Chameleon. where she
and Susan had been kept locked in
the cabin most Of the time. Once or
twice only they had witnessed the
chase.
"But I did not know who my res
cuer was to be-" she said. smiling |