Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-04-27

Lanyard found his perch comfort
able enough. A broad band Of webbing
| furnished .pport for his back, another
crossed his chest by way of provision
against forward pitching, there were
rests for his feet and cIoth-wound
grips fixed to struts on either side for
! his hands
He smiled at Lucy across the empty
| seat, and was surprised at the clear
/ ness with which her answering smile
was visible But he wasn't to see it
| again for long and weary time; al
most Immediately she began to adjust
| her veil.
| The morning had grown much light
/ er within the last few minutes.
| a wait ensued Of seemingly interim
| nable duration. A swarm OF mechan-
/ les, assistants and military aviators
| buzzed round their feet like bees.
| The SKY was now pale to the eastern
/ horizon. a fees OF heavy clouds was
! drifting off into the south, leaving in
1 their wake thin veil of mist that
babe fair soon to disappear before the
rays Of the sun. The atmosphere
! seemed tolerably clear and not IN
| seas0nably cold
The light grew stronger still
features of distant objects defined
themselves; traces of color warmed
the winter landscape.
| After some time their pilot, wearing
his wind-mask, appeared and began to
! climb to his perch With a cool nod
for Lanyard and a civil bow to his
woman passenger he settled himself,
adjusted several levers and 1irted a
| gay hand TO his brother officers.
There vas warning cry from the
rear. The crowd dropped back rapid
! ly to either side. Ducroy lifted his hat
in parting salute, cried Bon voyage."
and scuttled clear like a startled rOOst-
er before a motor car. Thereupon the
motor and propeller broke loose with
a mighty roar comparable only, in
Lanyards fancy, to the chant Of ten
thousand riyeting -locusts.
He felt momentarily as if his tym-
panums must burst with the incessant
and tremendous conclusion registered
upon them; but presently this sensa-
ton passed, leaving him with that of
permanent Deafness
Before he could recover and regain
control of his startled wits the aviator
had grasped lever and the great fab
ric was in motion.
It swept down the field like a
frightened swan, and the wheels of it's
chassis, registering every infnitesimal
irregularity in the surface Of the
ground, magnifed them all a hundred
fold. 1t was like riding in a tumbrel
driven at top speed over the Giants
CaUseWay Lanyard was shaken VIC
Iently TO the very marrow of his bones;
he believed that even his eyes must be
rafting in their sockets.
Then the Parrot began to ascend.
Singularly enough, tlis change was
marked at first by no more than a
slight lessening of the vibratiOn-the
machine seemed still to be dashing
over a cobbled thoroughfare at break
neck speed; and Lanyard found it diff
ficult to appreciate that they were
! afloat, even when he looked down and
discovered a hundred feet of space be-
tween himself and the practice-feld.
In another breath they were soaring
over housetops.
Momentarily, now, the shocks be-
came less frequent. And presently they
ceased almost altogether, to be repeat
ed only at rare intervals, when the
drift of air opposing the planes deveI-
oped Irregularities in it's velocity.
There succeeded, in contrast, the sub
FINEST peace; even the roaring of the
propeller dwindled to the negligible
status of a sustained drone; the Par
rott seemed to float without an effort
upon a vast, still sea, flaWed only OcCa-
sionalIy by inconsiderable ripples.
Still rising, they surprised the
earliest rays of the sun; and in their
virgin light the aerOpIasle was trans
formed into thing of gossamer gold.
Continually the air buffeted their
faces like food of icy water.
Below, the scroll of the world I'M
rolled like some vast and intricately
Illuminated missaI, or like some
strange mosaic. marvelously minute.
Lanyard could see the dial of the
compass, fixed to a strut on the pilots
left. By that telltaIe their course lay