The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-05-02

::>,. The
FLYING
::~>~~~ Man >~>>>::
BY
. Harry Irving Greene
Auf6or Of
"The Lash of Circumstance"
~
<1AEJJUF OF
"The Lash of Circumstance"
Barbara of the Shows"
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I )
Copyright, 1872 By Harry Irving Greene,
For Putnam had seen the enemy
now and his plane careened on its
beam ends as it wheeled towards
where the other was mounting with
tremendous leaps, darting through the
air as a fish darts through the water,
and up shot Putnam in pursuit
straight as an arrow flies. And the
Flying Man now seeming to be salts
fed with his altitude, lowered as a
king bird hovers over his enemy the
crow, his body practically motionless,
his wings beating light tattoo upon
the air as he awaited the ascent of
this new and strange foe. Swiftly
up toward him the machine arose in
a long, sweeping curve until but
few hundred feet separated them and
a deeply intoned gasp came from the
multitude as the tragedy seemed about
to close before it had begun. And
then the unexpected happened. Clos
ing his wings as quickly as a woman
snaps her fan shut, the Flying Man
dropped in a black streak, while Put
nam, quick as a cat in pursuit of a
mouse, plunged after him in a dive
so reckless, SO apparently beyond con-
troll, that a shrill cry, quick and ex-
plosive, burst from the multitude and
hundreds averted their faces that they
might not witness the sight all
thought must follow. But when hun
dreds of those below had already start
ed for the place where he would lie
at the end of the fall, he checked his
flight with incompatible skill and
went skimming along on a parallel,
once more in perfect poise. 1t was
an exhibition of nerve beyond any
thing they had ever seen attempted
by an aviator before, and a hoarse
I roar Of admiration burst from their
threats as they pounded each other
upon the back in frenzy of delight.
AS for tie Flying Man, he had mount
ed up again and was now coming
straight toward them with mighty
sweeps. Swiftly Putnam circled about
and followed.
And now followed a chase such as
man had never seen before-the sight
OF a wingless man in machine-driven
craft whistling through the air at
wild speed in pursuit of another man
upon whom Nature had bestowed a
| power of flight beyond that of most of
her feathered things-with death as
the losers penalty. Their evolutions
became bewildering. Plainly the Fly
ing Man was trying the other out as
a boxer tests an unknown adversary
befOre deciding upon his course Of
battle. He mounted straight upward
as an arrow and at a height of thou
| sands Of feet hung stationary with a
languid beating of his great wings. He
dropped rs a nighthawk drops In his
hunting at dusk, he leaped broad
spaces like a shooting star, he flew
upon his side as a swimmer races,
he circled, he pirouetted in dizzy
whirls, scared like a condor, tapped
laziiy. 1t was an exhibition of flying
Incompatible, and the concourse be-
low grew cold with apprehension as it
mentally pictured the scene which
must follow when this wizard of the
air, firing of his exhibition, would
bring it to a close. But Putnam, reck-
less as ever and either not realizing
or not caring that he was hopelessly
outclassed, stuck to his quarry With
the tenacity Of bulldog. Almost any
other man would have descended and
awaited the arrival of reinfoFcements,
but with half a million dollars in
sight, a great crowd to watch him
and his reputation for fearlessness at
stake, the aviator followed every
movement OF the black-winged one
with fierce determination. 1t was
catch or be caught, kill or be killed,
and he had faced death at short range
too often to falter now. Steady as
an iron man, cool as ice despite his
rage, he Unanswered his machine with
a skill and dash and disregard of con-
sequences that proclaimed him the
most spectacular of his spectacular
profession, every move executed with
the accuracy Of genius, every poise
the acme of skill. Three times his
revolver had leaped from its holster
as his foe offered a possible mark,
but each time the winged one, divin-
and Putnam had released the unfred
weapon to devote himself once more
to the machine. He had begun at last
to realize that the chase was hopeless,
but his obstinacy was still mistaken.
1t has got to be you or /, my artful
dodger," he gritted between his set
teeth as he once more swung about
IN pursuit after a futile whirlwind
dash. ut is you or l, and by HeaY-
ems one of us has got to take a tumble
this day" In the grimness of his de-
termination to get a fair shot he
would have tried to fly to midocean
had the other led him that way.
But now the tactics of the Flying
Man suddenly changed. Appearing to
have satisfied his mind that he could
toy with the other and harass him as
matador does bull, he led him once
more into a blind rush, darted light
ning-like aside, and holding his wings
outstretched TO their fullest extent
and rigid as bars he came swooping
down upon the heads OF the packed
multitude with almost the speed OF
a direct fall. Down, down in a long
sharp incline as a wildfowl seeks the
surface of lake, he came, head fore
most, his body nearly perpendicular,
his arms outstretched and his hands
clasped as a swimmer dives from
great height, the whistle of his wings
shrilling ever sharper and sharper in