Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-01-09

earth with a speed and aim that notn-
ing could avert
Seven days later Durand, with
thousand pounds of melinite in his
dirigible balloon, and the parachute
attached to the aluminium stern. rose
slowly above the French camp into
the air.
From the walls of the fortress the
besieged general. glass to his eyes.
watched and wondered at this new
maneuver.
He had sworn never to surrender. |
and by heroic privations his men had |
managed to conserve still another
days supply of water. though nearly |
all their animals were dead of thirst~t
1t was the generals intention to cut |
his way out at the head of his troops
on the morrow, and die upon the
field-unless it rained-
But the scorched heavens refused
| to open. Day and night were one
brazen glow of heat All night heat
lightning played on the horizon. and
sometimes the distant muttering OF
| thunder was heard, but never a drop
of rain had fallen.
Durand rose slowly into the air,
and. as he did so, the airguns of the
fortress opened fire upon him. But
it is the most difficult thing in the
| world to hit quickly rising balloon,
| and neither Durand nor Lamarche had
any fears on that score. If the bal
| loon were hit, the melinite would ex-
plode in the air and the balloon and
aviator would vanish-but no harm
would come to the besiegers- At
worst, the experiment would harm no
body.
At an altitude of two thousand feet
the balloon was safe from danger.
Durand smiled as he heard the great
shells whizzing around him. He
knew that only a miracle of marks
manship could bring him down.
At four thousand feet Durand was
only a speck in the sky. hardly to be
discerned even through Lamarche's
glasses. The French camp strained
its eyes upward. The report of the
broken mans exploit, which was to
; restore his honor and bring. no doubt,
. the ribbon of the legion of honor,
! had become universal. And in the
beleaguered fortress for the first time
an inkling of the airman's intentions
\ became obvious when a tiny speck
was seen to detach itself from the
slightly larger mass and drop toward
| earth.
Instantly it had begun the swift
descent, while the balloon, relieved OF
its slighter burden, shot upward, in
1 spite of the rapid escape of gas The
dirigible assembled five hundred feet
before it paused, stood still. and then
began its downward rush.
Durand had planned his descent sc
that it should carry him into the
French lines. But to his horror 6
sudden breeze drove the parachute
straight toward the inside of the fort
ress walls. And then, resigning him
4 self to the inevitable, he devoted al
;, his efforts toward saving his life
rather than attempting to gain thu
camp of the besiegers, which woult
mean an instant drop to death.
Ill 1t was about a minute after he hat
pulled the cord of the valve when Du
rand dropped, unframed, at the fee
| of the general in defense of For
II Gleichen.
" But nobody noticed him, for all eye
5y were strained upward to where tn
great balloon came whirling down
straight toward the fortress. Her
Durand had not miscalculated. 1t fel
i'd true as an arrow, and the heat light
to ming played about 1t and
N Boom!
IN The most awful defamation that ha
Id ever been heard since war begaI
K filled the whole air with sound
n coil of cloud enveloped everything
i'd and shut out the sunlight. Slowly
le drifted away. And everyone kne'
what had occurred. The dirigible ha
ia, been struck by lightning during 1t
-e, descent.
ed An instant later the sun disaI
IS. peared. And suddenly, with the SCUM
en- of a million bullets, hailstones tn
size of pigeons eggs whizzed to tn
ny earth, followed by drenching dow
pour.
ro- Never had it rained as it rained thu
lie. afternoon. The water fell in torrent
lot It was as though a million hose
r." were turned earthward from the hea
GU ems. In two minutes the camps wei
flooded. The streets of the b
M leaguered town ran water. Men fur
nd themselves upon their faces and we
he lowed in the precious rain. Fro
every house buckets, bath tubs, II
of plements of every kind were on
1 stretched to hold the Efe-giving waite
7ill The cfsterns overfiowed. The b
sieged city was saved.
of Durand stood before the gener
all within the fortress. His hope b.
ice failed. by the interposition of the u
e." expected element, fate, which SEN
SO many schemes agley.
nd He expected death He was n
es. even in uniforms hopeless. ragg
asst ex-conyict, bearing the stamp
bic. shame upon his furrowed face.