The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-08-03


Undoubtedly. mademoiselle, ne an
swered. There is a motor-ear repair
shop across ihe square. Certainly
gasoline can be procured there
A man in the crowd volunteered TO
obtain it and disappeared, shortly re-
turning with a companion, both bear
.ng two huge tanks, with which ny
own was speedily repIeted. I took my
seat in the machine
Now, gentlemen" I said, pray
make room while unscrew the sus-
tanning bar OF the wings"
They cleared a space Of several
yards around me, these good Avignoh-
ese, / touched the lever and the mo-
tor hummed and throbbad [ pressed
the flight Indicator The wheels
turned, spun, lifted
A gasp Of astonishment broke from
the crowd as [ scared over them and
they ducked and ran in all directions
to escape injury. My course was Wild
/ missed the ateeple Of an old church
by several inches, scraped against the
pediment of an ancient Roman ediiica,
and sped UP to the sky looked back
as I cleared the hOusetOps The Two
gendarmes were waving their hands at
me imp0riuMy I hated to leave them
but the memory OF my mission came
TO me 10 spur me ON, and flew like
the wind soon Avignon was but a
blot in the distance.
That night / slept under tree in
The Wild mountain region Of tAe
Basses.Alpes. at dawn / continued
my course directly eastward. Now no
ign of human babitation was to be
seen. There was nothing but ranges
oil lofty mountains. The cold became
intense and the air currents treach-
erous. Time and again was caught
in gusts of icy wind, beaten, buffeted
out Of my path Over me the sky
was Of i1tensest blue; round and be-
meath me lay Che icy SUBMITS Of the
Alps. Ny teeth chadcrod aud my
hands grew SO cold thar could scarce
IS feel the levers Nothing but the
intensity of my purpose could have
enabled me TO face chat bitter wind
At last. toward afternoon just as /
Began 70 THINK taat had missed my
path, when I fait tbat / could hold
out u0 longer. I perceived very tar
southvard, a long, blue monotonous
lire On the horizon My heart leaped,
q new and feyeriah determination en-
tered into me. ii was Che sea. the blue
water of the Mediterranean, that iay
before my eyes. Now the last stage
was approaching So far I had con-
quered
] wheeled aouthward and began to
descend the long valleys OF the Mari
lme Alps
The air grew warmer the descent
more precipitous; glided downward
on the rushing winds exultingly and
ever nearer I saw the distant sea, un
I'll the narrowing horizon shut it once
more from view But when I left the
last Of the snow-capped ranges behind
me the sun suddenly sank and ! en-
tered "a region Of twilight. 1t had been
dark Tor an hour upon the lowlands
while ] was battling in the sunlight.
rhe night was moonloss: i must alight
before it grew entirely dark or run
,ee risk Of falHng into the sea. Out
of the mouutainside ] saw the white
road. the great highway between
France and Italy centuries old, de
bouchod upon lis way to Nice. whence
1t wound through the Principally OF
Monaco. Clearly 7 must descend
there where French laws did not rum
and where the Minister of The Interior
actuated. did not doubt. by interests
uim,cal to mine could not arrest my
Journey tn tha falling light I saw OIL
sudden the ltue square topped build
iag of the French customs house or
the Monaco border and the Monaco
customs. not q dozen meters distant
{ made for the latter shut off my mo-
t8f ana carceued earthward. AS / de
1erdad like q great soaring eagle.
aw men run from either building,
uoutiug and waving their arms at me
their cries reached me with surprIs-
ing clearuess. J dropped to earth.
hit The ground on the French side OF
the lIue and rolled half into Monaco,
% tumble exhausted from my aero
plane.