River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1916-04-13


meath a 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 q
channel fog.
Several minutes later he startled
Lanyard with another peremptory
touch on his arm, followed by signtd-
cant glance over his shoulder.
Lanyard turned hastily.
Behind them, at a distance which hS
calculated roughly as two miles, tho
silhouette of monoplane hung against
the brilliant armament, resembling,
solitary, soaring gull than any man.
with it's 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 i'm
possible to guess whether the mono
plane were gaining or losing In that
long chase or who might be its pilot
Yet Lanyard entertained little doubt
that the pursuing machine had risen
from the aerodome OF Count Remy dc
Morbihan at St.-Germain-e n-Laye; that
it was nothing less, in fact than De
Morbihan's Valkyr monoplane, reputed
the fastest in Europe and winner of
dozen international events; and that 1t
was guided, if not by De Morbihan 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 ParrottH
He couldn't hinder the escape OF Lam
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-
complished by telegraphing or tele-
phoning the Packs confreres, Vert
| hcimer's associates in the English capi-
tai!
What else could the Pack have in
mind?
Lanyard gave it UP, admitting his
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 flight, he
had apprehended trouble; it hadn't
seemed reasonable to hope that the
PARROT could be held in waiting on his
orders for many days without the SCI
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, IL
his judgment, the mOnOplane lOOmed
| larger than before against the glow
ing sky, indicating that it was over
taking them.
Beneath his breath Lanyard swOr9
from heart Drumming with disquiet-
The Parrot was capable Of speed
of eighty miles an hour; and unqueS.
tionably Vauquelin was wheediing
every ounce of power out Of that will
ing motor. Since drawing Lanyard's
attention to the pursuer he had con"
trived an appreciable acCeleratiCn.
But would even that pace serve to
hold the VaIkyr in its place, il 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 a mile. Below the channel
| fog spread itself out like sea OF
milk, slowly churning.
Staring down in fascination, Lam
yard told himself grayely:
Blue water below that. my friend!"
It seemed difficult to credit the fact
that they had covered the distance
from Paris in so short a period CT
time.
BY his reckoning-a very crude oAe
the Parrot was then somewhere on
Dieppe-it ought to pick up England.
in such case, not far from Brighton. Il
| one could only see!
By bending forward little and STAR
ing past the aviator Lanyard could
catch glimpse of Lucy Shannon.
Though all her beauty and grace or
person were lost in the clumsy swad-
dlings of her makeshift costume, she
seemed to be resting comfortably in
her place; and the rushing air, keen
with the chill Of that great altitude,
not only nodded her wind-veil precise
ly to the exquisite contours of her face,
but stung her firm cheeks until they
glowed with rare fire that even that
thick, dark mesh enshrouding them
oh