Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1915-01-15

again climbing.
Although the whiz of its propeller
blades was clearly visible, like little
electric fan, the sound they made was
now altogether inaudible. The roar of
liarriman's motor meanwhile sounded
like continuous accent of haste and
anxiety.
For the monoplane was now complet
ing It's first spiral, its motor running
full speed and its occupant evidently
bent on gaining every possible inch Of
elevation. Again and again the ele-
waiting plane lifted the insect-like body
TO II sudden, almost perpendicular, up
ward flight There was danger In
thus forcing the mechanism. Each
time the aviator took the risk that the
repeated stress would snap some con
Meeting link between himself and his
apparatus and send 1t crashing down
ward, But to the audience each Of
these splendid upward leaps seemed to
he executed for its amusement, and 1t
cheercd them wildly Here and there
people argued about the probable alti-
tudc, but none denied that the mono
plane was rising faster than the air
ship that had preceded It.
Under any circumstances Harriman's
monoplane was a faster machine than
ClintOn's biplane. The biplane was
built for stability, endurance and car
rying power. The mOnoplane was con
structed for speed first and other
things afterward
Again and again 1t seemed as II Har-
rlman lifted his machine upward by
sheer force of will AS the faint buzz
Of the motor sounded once more di
rectly above the grand stand 1t was
evident that the dragon fly had cut
onethlrd from the distance that sep
arated II from the biplane. IL was
impossible to estimate its height above
the ground, but each successive spiral
out over the river, evidently brought
the pursuer nearer the altitude of his
quarry.
Fifteen minutes, twenty, twenty five
almost half an hour had elapsed since
the monOplane started. The two air
ships were now near together, and
fieldglasses were necessary to follow
their evolutions. The band had started
another march, but no feet beat time
to It.. The field had altogether lost its
customary air Of hustle and prepare
ton The aviators had drawn together
and We're looking steadily upward.
The mechanlcians stood in idle groups
watching the alrships. The announcer
had put down his megaphOne
Then the biplane began to drop. 1t
fell slowly to the level OF the mono
plane, and for n long thirty seconds
the two machines seemed to be coming
down together.
One of the men at the edge Of the
field spoke into telephone, and mo-
ment later motor driven ambulance
came into view from behind the hos
pital tent. 1t stopped and waited. In
side couple of white coated surgeons
were arranging stretcher. The chauf-
feur leaned forward, with his eye FIX
ed on the biplane.
But the two airships were again
mounting. now almost side by side.
n''n VIZ" ',ie s'"''eS was i''po'9i
p's W 'oI' "n"' Tue men III '"eli, "ei'
uo'"s' 'ut '"o 'iioior'"ne' pu''ins vi
craft and then turned and plunged sud
denly downward.
III.
A quick indrawing of breath ran
along the grand stand, a mighty sigh,
as II all these thousands Of people had
responded to given signal. The band
stopped playing, one instrument after
another Involuntary sllenced by the
general feeling Of something imminent
and terrible.
Up there In the sky Hartman seem
ed to be performing feats that were no
longer amusing, but criminally reck-
less. 1t was one thing, people told one
another, 10 see man take risks, but
they had not come there to see man
commit suicide. Three times In sue
cesslon he drove his machine across
the path of the biplane and then dived
earthward ut an angle that made 1t
seem impossible that he would not be
pitched bodily out. But the fourth
time the other machine followed, and
the two began circling back toward
the earth.
And now the race seemed to be re-
versed. The monoplane led, ana the
biplane followed. The long, graceful
spirals brought them nearer and near
er to the landing place. The band, as
sINs,F. ,.F 4RATn