The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-05-20

dark Wlnd-Veil that ShrOuded his face,
which he believed to show nothing
less than panic terror.
He was, in sober fact, quite rigid
with fright and horror It were idle
to argue that only unlikely chance
would wing one of the bullets from
the Valkyr to a vital point-there
was the torn canvas overhead, there
was that hole through Vauquelin's
sleeve.
And then the Paragraph on the strut
beside Lanyard disappeared as if by
magic. He was aware of slight jar;
the framework of the biplane quiv-
cred as from heavy blow; something
that resembled a handful of black
crumbs sprayed out into the air ahead
and vanished and where the instru-
ment had been nothing remained but
an iron clamp gripping the strut.
And even as any one of these bull
lets might have proved fatal, their first
successor might incapacitate the avia-
tor, if it did not slay him outright
in either case inevitably the result
would be death following a fall from a
height, as recorded on the Paragraph
dial the instant before its destruction,
Of over four thousand feet.
And they were still climbing.
Now the pursuer was losing some of
the advantage of his superior speed;
the Parrot was perceptibly higher;
the Valkyr must needs mount in a
more sweeping curve.
None the less. Lanyard, peering
down, saw still another tongue of
fame spit out at him, and two bullet
| holes appeared in the port wings Of
the bip1ane, one in the lower. one in
the upper spread of canvas.
White-lipped and trembling, the ad-
venturer began to work at the fasten-
ings of his surtout. After a moment
he plucked off one of his gloves and
cast it impatiently from him. Asprawl,
| it sailed down the wind like a wound
ed sparrow. He caught VauqueIin's
eye upon him, quick with a curiosity
which changed to a sudden CLEAN of
comprehension when Lanyard, thrust
ing his hand under the leather coat.
CROPPED for his side pocket and pro-
| duced an automatic pistol which Du-
croy, learning that he was unarmed,
had pressed upon him.
| They were now perhaps a hundred
feet higher than the Va1kyr, which
was soaring quarter of mile off to
starboard. Under the guidance of the
! Frenchman the PARROT swooped rornd
in a narrow circle until it hung almost
| Immediately above the other-a ma
neuver requiring, first and last, some
thing more than five minutes to effect.
Meanwhile Lanyard rebuttoned his
surtout and, clutching the pistol, tried
hard not to think But already his
imagination was sick with the thought
| of what would ensue when the time
came for him to carry, out his inten-
ton.
VauqueIin touched his arm with ur-
gent pressure; but Lanyard only shook
his head, gulped, and without looking,
surrendered the weapon to the aviator
Bearing heavily against the chest
band, he commanded the broad, white
spread of the Valkyr's back and wings.
Invisible beneath these hung the mo-
tor and the drivers seat
An instant more and he was aware
that Vauquelin was bending forward
over the edge of the plane.
Aiming with what deIiberation was
CT its cartridges in less than a minute
The reports rang out against the
drum Of the motor with an accent as
vicious as the cracking Of a black
snake whip.
Momentari1y, Lanyard doubted if a
single bullet had taken effect. He
could not, with his swimming vision,
detect any sign of damage in the can
vas of the Valkyr
He saw the empty automatic slip
from Vauquelin's numb and nerveless
fingers, and vanish.
A frightful fascination kept his gaze
constant to the soaring Valkyr. Be
yond it. down, deep down. a mile of
emptiness. was that golden floor of
tumbled cloud. waiting.
He saw the monoplane halt abruptly
in its strong onward surge-as if it
had run, full tilt, head on against an
invisible obstacle = and for what
seemed a rounds minute, it hung so
veering and wabbling, muzzling the
wind. Then, like a sounding whale
it turned and dfved headlong, propeI
Ter spinning like a top.
Down through an eighth of a mile
of space it plunged plummetlike; then
perhaps caught in a flaw of wind, II
turned sidewise and began to reVolYe
at first slowly, but with increasing
rapidity In it's fatally swift descent.
Toward the beginning of its revolu
tions something was thrown OF, some
thing small, dark and sprawling-liks
that glove which Lanyard had discard
ed. But this object dropped with &
speed even greater than that of the
Valkyr; in brace OF seconds had di
: minished to the proportions of gnat;
in another was engulfed in that vas
+ sea of golden vapor.
D The monoplane itself. scarcely les
? precipitate. spun down through tn,
abyss and plunged to Oblivion in tn;
T fog-wrack.
e And Lanyard was still hangin,
against the chest-band, limp and spen
e and trying not to give way 60 deadl.
J, sickness when. of a sudden and with
t out any warning whatever, the sten
/ ~.