The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1916-05-12

ward the horizon ahead And seeing
nothing but cloud In the quarter indl
Gated, Lanyard began to grasp the na-
ture OF a phenomenon which. from tho
FIRST. had been vaguely troubling him
The reason why he had been able 10
perceive no real rim 10 the world was
that the earth was all asteam from the
heavy rains OF the last week: all the
more remote distances we're yelled
with rising vapor And now they were
approaching the coast TO which, II
seemed, the mists olunR 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 III at ease
facing the prospect Of navigating In 9
channel fog.
Several minutes later he startled
Lanyard with another peremptory
touch on his arm. followed by signiA-
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 II was moving.
He watched It for several seconds.
in deepening perpleXity finding It inn
possible to guess whether the mono
plane We're 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 t.-Germain-en-Laye that
II was nothing less, in fact, than De
Morbihan's Valkyr monoplane reputed
the fastest in Europe and winner Of a
dozen international events; and that it
was guided, If not by De Morbhan him
self, by one of the creatures of the
Pack-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 ac-
complshed by telegraphing Or tele-
phoning the Packs confreres, Werf. |
heimer's associates in the English capt.
tall
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-
quired postponement of this fight, he
had apprehended trouble; it hadn't
seemed reasonable to hope that the
Parrott could be held in waiting on his
orders for many days without the Sc f.
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
10 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 loomed
larger than before against the glow
ing sky, indicating that It was over
taking them.
Beneath his breath Lanyard swore
from a 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-
-rived an appreciable acceleration.
But would even that pace serve to
hold the Valkyr in it's place, if not to
distance it?
His next backward look reckoned
he monOplane no nearer.
And another thirty minutes or so
elapsed without the relative positions
If the two flying machines undergoing
my perceptible change.
In the course of this period the Par
'ott rose to an altitude, indicated by
he barograph at Lanyard's elbow, Of
)ver half mile Below the channel
og spread itself out like sea OF
milk slowly churning.
Staring down in fascination, Ian.
ard told himself gravely:
Blue water below that, my friend!"
1t seemed difficult to credit the fact
hat they had covered the distance
rom Parfs in SO short a period of
ime.
BY his reckoning-a very crude one
the Parrott was then somewhere off
ought to pick UP England
a such case, not tar from Brighton. If
ne could only seel
By bending forward little and star.
ng past the aviator Lanyard could
atch a glimpse Of L.ucy Shannon.
Though all her beauty and grace of
erson were lost in the clumsy swad
lings of her makeshift costume, sho
eemed to be resting comfortably il
er place. and the rushing air, keen
nth the chill of that great altitude,
ot only nodded her wind-veil precise
? to the exquisite contours of her face,
ut stung her firm cheeks until they