The Forrest City times., 1914-12-11
lCOPYRtotT i9i 2
 VIC CHAPMAN

morning, seemed replete with history and every single window was, in my imagination, filled with the forms of earlier owners; great lords and fair ladies who had played each his or her part in the history of Clichy and left the scene. Something of the sense of this continuity made my surroundings singularly unreal. The Comte and Charles mother seemed now hardly more than phantoms upon a ghostly stage In a mysterious setting. But such fancies were morbid. l turned my face resolutely away and started the motor felt the wheels revolye and take the soft sod under me; there was moment of swift gliding. and the ground shot from beneath me.
 l pressed the lever that controlled the rudder and flew upward. Now was cool and calm as though this were the flight of an experienced aeronaut l was, in thought again flying with Charles In the English aviation meet ing. Right and left the monoplane turned at my insistence. skimming the soft airs lightly as a swallow. rose above the tops of the old elms and circled the grounds. Once, twice made this course. and then, rising to two hundred feet, shot straight as a bee eastward toward Paris.
 Towns and villages unrolled them selves beneath me as sped over the fair panorama of northern France. kept an altitude of about four hundred feet; in this manner I was enabled to travel by the bright ribbons of the railway line, clearly perceptible below me, and. at the same time, to escape any too intimate contact with the deni- zens of the district; for above all things l wished to avoid awakening curiosity as to my identity and desti- nation. Several times railroad train, unrolling like a caterpillar out of the ground. swept past me; twice, too, outraced trains Paris bound. The ma chine seemed like a sentient thing. no longer wondered that we had beat en all our competitors in London, for we seemed so to harmonize that we were no longer twain; l was an aerial centaur, and this mechanism of steel and aluminium was part of me.
 After an hour and half a dark blur beginning to spread over the horizon told me that l was approaching Paris. l had resolved not to fly over the capi- tai lest some too adventurous news paper should send out it's aeroplane dn,t 3,, thing l longed for greatly-a news paper, that l might learn how Charles fared. what was the latest news of the trial, and whether the flight that I was to make had yet become public knowledge. But l overcame my long ing and. wheeling in southeasterly direction. mounted to an altitude of a thousand feet and shot over the green tracery of the Bois, which from that height appeared exactly like a field Of corn in tassel, set on an indistin- guishable brown background. At this height, though 1t was July, the air was crisp and keen, the wind sang past my ears, every sense tingled with exuberance. I must save Charles. Now 1t was impossible no longer; no longer dangerous even. I flashed over the poplarlfned roads of the environs, and. gradually descending to height of four hundred feet again, made my way along the highway In the direc- tion of Troyes, where I descended at noon in a large field to lunch and to inspect my motor.
 Everything was satisfactory l stepped out, a little cramped, and. lying upon a bank of softest turf. snatched a few morsels of bread and cheese, washing them down with a draft of dearest spring water from a Till near by. The sight of the great bird had already aroused the interest of the neighborhood, and l knew that my sojourn must be a brief one. In fact, hardly had I rinsed my hands after my meal when the advance guard of the rustic population came running up in the shape of a farmers boy. who, seeing me, threw up his hands in dumfounded amazement, suffering:
 It's woman! Holy Virgin, a womani"
 Seeing that a little group was nov ing over the brow of the hill, and not wishing to communicate anything of my purpose or Identity. I entered the machine again and started the motor. As the wheels revolved they shouted and ran forward threateningly. their first impulse. after fear, being hate a phenomenon common everywhere among the unintelligent For mo- ment l feared that the long grass would hold my flight; then, just as the first came panting up, the mono plane rose. almost sweeping him from his feet with whir of its mighty wings. l heard cries of anger beneath me. l looked down and waved my hand. What were these b oors to me when Charles honor and liberty were at stakel Charles The wind sang his name through the steel stays, the motor hummed 1t. was hitgh in air once more, sweeping along the great white. dusty road toward Dijorn.
 The sun sank lower, the alir grew keener yet; clouds rolling, up gave