Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-10-29
CHAPTER Viii.
The Pursuit Of the Planes.

March raised his eyes and an excla-
nation. burst from his. own lips as
well. Just rising from the nearby
range, where he had doubtless been
roasting as he watched. swinging vide
over the plain perhaps two miles dis,
tant and two thousand feet up, mar.
velously distinct in the tenuous noun
tain air, the Flying Man was floating
and soaring with occasional sweeps Of
his thin pinions. Alan had witnessed
his fight with the Inflated Putnam,
but North, now seeing him for the
first time, was fairly awed at the won.
derful poise and ease OF the enemy's
fight For perhaps five seconds he
tinued to squeeze his companions arm
with an undiminished grip, then. re
leased his hold and gasped: s.
Shade OF Darius Green! Now that's
what / call fying!'''i5 s5 t5ss
He was speaking in a fierce, harsh
whisper, already working frantically,
at his engine. Don't you dare look
up don't you dare make a move.
They will all see him in another min
ute and then things will be turned up
side down. want to get away early
and avoid the rush. He sprang into.
his seat and grasped his operating
gear. Make way, there, !" he roared,
at the zstragglers about. II am going
to start, and when ! do I'll be a cy--:
clone on wheels. Make way, MAKE.
WAY!" Like sheep charged by
raging wolf, they scattered before the
great monoplane, and North, throwing
on the power, shot forward and sprang
lightly into the air like a bounded
rubber ball. With his propeller whir-
ring at topmost speed he turned at
a dizzy slant and as a bee goes for
It's hive SO did he head onward and
upward for the marvel beyond that
foated SO buoyantly in the limpid air.
Instantly wild tumult and hoarse
uproar burst forth. A hundred voices
beloved the discovery at once and in
half dozen seconds a score of avta-
tors had leaped upon their seats with
fierce shouts Of warning to the fleeing
crowd. Monoplanes and biplanes
streaked the earth as they achieved
their momentum for the upward leap.
Twenty great propellers were whir-
ring, churning, roaring all at once.
Then rising in buzzing flight like a
coyey OF mammoth grouse, they went
whistling away in twos, threes and
clusters in the wake Of North, whose
powerful blue Dragon" was splitting
the air at nearly ninety miles an hour
Belts and Fairfield, the last to rise.
collided before they had fairly left the
ground and came down with crash
and Z snappingiof wires. themselves
receiving awkward tumbles, but
springing to their feet practically un-
hurt. Their machines. however, were
temporarily disabled, and calling down
maledictions upon their luck and each
others heads they could only stand
rooted to the spot like other men and
watch their companions in the mad
million. dollar chase, when but for a
little i'll fortune they would have been
close in their wake. The greatest OBJ
portunity Of q lifetime had gone a.
glimmering because someone in his
frantic haste had Numbered. Small
wonder that their rage was boundless.
And now once more the Flying Man
seemed to have made up his mind to
test them out en- masse as he had done
Putnam individually before he had
slain him. For minute after North
had made his start the other remained
like spider suspended at the end OF
his thread, floating practically mo-
tionless in the air, then as the cloud
of other planes arose and with his
foremost foe more than half way to
him he became active. Throwing him
self forward upon a horizontal in much
the same position as though he was
about to swim in water, he gave a
mighty beat Of his wings. Like a
darting fish he 1eaped forward a hun.
dred feet, and starting in a mighty