Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-02-12
CHAPTER VIII.
The Pursuit. of the PIanes,

The Pursuit of the Planes.
March raised his eyes and an iexcla-
nation burst from his own lips as
we'll. Just rising from the nearby
range, where he had doubtless been
roosting as he watched, swinging wide
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 cas- Of the enemy's
flight. For perhaps five seconds he
gazed at him in fascination as he con.
tinued to squeeze his companions arm
with an undiminished grip, then re-
leased his hold and gasped:
Shade Of Darius Green! Now that's
what l call flying!"
He vas 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. l 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 stragglers about. 81 am going
to start, and when I do I'll be a cy-
clone on wheels. Make way, MAKE
WAY!" Like sheep charged by a
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 Is a bee goes for
its hive so did he head onward and
upward for the marvel beyond that
1oated SO buoyantly in the limpid air.
Instantly wild tumult and hoarse
uproar burst forth. A hundred voices
beloved the discovery at nee and in
half a dozen seconds a score of avia-
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 q
covey 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 a crash
and a swapping Of 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 op-
p~ortunity Of a lifetime had gone a.
glimmering because someone In his
frantic haste had blundered. Small
wonder that their rage was boundless.
And now once more the Flying Mar
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 a minute after North
had made his start the other remained
like a 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 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 leaped forward a hun.
dred feet. and starting In a mighty