The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-04-25

'PPA oefShlAS iHe COAST, W WHICH, At
seemed, the mists chung closest; for
all the world before them slept be
meath blanket of dark gray.
Nor was it difficult now to under
stand why the aviator was i'll at ease
facing the prospect Of navigating in
channel fog.
Several minutes later he startled
Lanyard with another peremptory
touch on his arm, followed by a signiti-
cant glance over his shoulder.
Lanyard turned hastily.
Behind them, at a distance which he
calculated roughly as two miles. the
silhouette of monoplane hung against
the brilliant armament, resembling,
a solitary, soaring gull than any man.
with its single spread of wings, more
directed mechanism.
Only an infrequent and almost i'm
perceptible shifting of the wings
proved that it was moving.
He watched it for several seconds
in deepening perpleXity finding it inn
possible to guess whether the mono
plane were gaining or losing in that
long chase or who might be it's pilot.
Yet Lanyard entertained little doubt
that the pursuing machine had risen
from the aerodome of Count Remy de
Morbihan at St.-Germain-en-Laye; that
it was nothing less, in fact, than De
Morbihan's Valkyr monoplane, reputed
the fastest in Europe and winner of a
1n1nD inf aI nd hot
was guided. if not by De Morbihan him
SELF by one of the creatures of the
Paek-quite possibly, even more prob
ably, by Ekstrom!
But-assuming all this-what evil
could such pursuit portend? In what
conceivable manner could the follow
ing pilot reckon to profit himself by
overtaking or distancing the Parrott?
He couldn't hinder the escape of Ian
yard and Lucy Shannon to England in
any way, by any means reasonably to
be imagined.
Was this simply one more move to
keep Lanyard under espionage? But
that might more readily have been &C.
complished by telegraphing or tele-
phoning the Packs confreres, Vert
heimer's associates in the English CAPT
tai!
What else could the Pack have In
mind?
Lanyard gave it up, admitting his
inability to trump up any sane excuse
for such conduct; but the riddle con-
tinued to fret his mind.
From the first, from that moment
when Lucy's disappearance had re-
CURED postponement Of this fight, he
had apprehended trouble; it hadn't
PARROT could be held in waiting on his
orders for many days without the Sc
cret leaking out; but it was trouble to
develop before the start from Port
Aviation that he had anticipated. The
possibility that the Pack would be able
to work any mischief to him after that
had never entered his calculations.
Even now he found it difficult to give
it serious consideration.
Again he glanced back. Now, in
his judgment, the monoplane doomed
larger than before against the glow
ing sky, indicating that it was over
taking them.
Beneath his breath Lanyard swore
from heart brimming with disquiet.
The Parrott was capable of a speed
of eighty miles an hour; and unques-
tionably Vauquelin was wheedling
every ounce Of power out of that will
ing motor Since drawing Lanyard's
attention to the pursuer he had con-
trived an appreciate acceIeration.
But would even that pace serve to
hold the Valkyr in it's place, if not to
distance it?
His next backward look reckoned
the monoplane no nearer.
And another thirty minutes or SO
elapsed without the relative positions
OF the two flying machines undergoing
any perceptible change.
In the course of this period the Par
rott rose to an altitude, indicated by
the paragraph at Lanyard's elbow, Of
over half mile. Below the channel
fog spread itself out like a sea OF
milk. slowly churning.
Staring down in fascination, Lam
yard told himself gravely:
"Blue water below that, my friend!"
1t seemed difficult to credit the fact
that they had covered the distance
from Paris in so short a period of
time.
BY his reckoning-a very crude one
the PARROT was then somewhere off
Dieppe-it ought to pick up England,
in such case, not far from Brighton. II
one could only see!
By bending forward little and star
ing past the aviator Lanyard could
catch a glimpse of Lucy Shannon.
Though all her beauty and grace Of
person were lost in the clumsy swad-
slings of her makeshift costume, she
seemed to be resting comfortably in
her place; and the rushing air, keen
with .he chill Of that great altitude,
not only nodded her wind-veil precise
" to the exquisite contours Of her face,
3lt stung aer firm cheeks until they
glowed with rare fire that even that |
thick, dark fresh enshrouding them |
could not who'll que9ch.
The sun crept above the floor of |
mist, played upon it with iridescent |
rays, shot it through and through with |
a warm, pulsating glow ike that OF
fire-onaI and suddenly turned it to g |