Gilpin observer., 1915-04-15

plan of 1t and knew very well that the
mysterious Contragrav was hidden In
steel vault beneath the parlor floor.
III.
The Contragrav was gone!
In utter silence thieves had visited
the house at night, had drilled through
the vault and extracted the Contra
grav. Coxhei-n was frantic. All the
results of his years of work had van
ished at a blow,
To make the theft public would call
immediate attention to the invention.
Another means had to be devised.
Within two hours of the discovery OF
the theft detectives had been placed
in charge of the case. 1t was learned
Olga Belgram was a famous woman
agent for foreign power which had
long been suspected of wishing to OBJ
tain possession of the Contragrav 1t
was learned also that the conspirators
had taken the Contragrav to subur-
ban villa, where they sometimes met,
obviously with the purpose of study
ing its construction and duplicat-
ing it,
The secret of the Contragrav de-
pended upon knowledge of the mega
tive air currents in the atmosphere.
or itself it was useless. By means
of 1t. one could defy the laws of gravi-
tation; with the Contragrav strapped
about one, one could fly to any height,
al ways taking advantage of the spe-
cialized knowledge referred to. This
knowledge Willard and Laline pos
sessed, 1t was not probable that the
conspirators could of themselves solve
the problem. Nevertheless, the Con-
tragrav must Je recovered as speedily
as possible.
few hours after the discovery of
the theft Laline and Willard set out
in their aeroplane, and half an hour
later descended boldly at the door of
the villa, which stood isolated in the
Their ring was answered by servant.
who, seeing their aeroplane and be-
lieving them to be connected with the
confederates, promptly admitted them.
But hardly were they within the
house when Olga cop pfronted them.
you know what we have come for"
said Laline. boldly. You will return
the Contragrav instantly To think
that we admitted you to our hospitali-
ty, you miserable theft"
Olga Belgram smiled and pressed a
button in the wall. Two men came
hurrying in. They realized the situa-
tion instantly. and flung themselves
upon Willard.
With couple Of well-directed blows
Willard sent them to the ground At
the sane time Laline overpowered
Olga. who had precipitated herself
upon her. and threw her upon the
floor.
Before the trio could recover to re-
new the attack Willard and Laline had
locked them within the room and were
in search of the Contragrav.
The villa was small and 1t was an
easy matter to locate it. scattering
of iron filings along the passage lead.
ing to back room gave the clue The
confederates had been busy already at
tempting to reproduce a certain valve
feature which would naturally have
seemed to them to contain the clue
though it did not
Bearing the mechanism between
them. Willard and Laline retraced
their steps along the passage. Just
as they reached the front door the
door which they had locked was
broken down under the blows of the
conspirators.
But 1t was the work of a moment
only to enter their machine. Contra
grav and all. A touch to the engine.
and the aeroplane began to rise
heard the woman screaming behind
them and saw her two assistants shak.
ing their fists after the aeroplane
Willard laughed and raised the ver-
tical rudder. The machine assembled
to an immense height. The brother
and sister could take no chances of
publicity. They drove the aeroplane
up in narrowing spirals till the earth
looked like a checker board beneath
them
I'VE are safe now. Laline." said VIII
lard
".
Hardly had the words left his lips
when Laline, looking down, perceived
tiny thing. like a small bird. rising
toward them. They watched the man.
ner of its flight. II was no bird, and
from the rapidity of its almost vertical
ascent they knew that it was hell.
copter, machine designed to rise
from the ground with great rapidity
for the purpose of overtaking hostile
aeroplanes, or avoiding the danger OF
gunfre. II was, in fact. one Of the
latest type of war planes.
In fact, Olga Belgram had tele-
phoned hastily to confederate who
kept this machine constantly in readi.
ness. for the purpose of aiding her to
effect her escape in case her activities
were discovered. It had not occurred
either tn Willard or IN aline that