The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-31
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN-Contlnued.)

lSSy-les MOullneaux ava Il o
ground in 10 minutes.
None of the aeroplanes was out,
for there was q stiff breeze blow
ing. Don Luis ran to the sheds.
The owners names were written
over the doors.
"Davanne," he muttered d.
"Tllat's the man | want"
The door of the shed was open.
A short, stoutish man, with1a long
red face, was smoking a cigaret
and watching some mechanics
working at a monoplane. The lit
tie man was Davanne himself, the
famous airman.
Don Luis took him aside, and,
knowing from tht papers the sort
of man that he was, opened the
conversation so as to surprise him
from the start
Monsieur he said, unfolding
his map of France, Il want to
catch up some m who has car
ried off the woman | love and is
making for Nantes by motor. The
abduction took place at midnight.
1t is now about 8 o'clock. Sup
pose that the motor, which is just
a hired taxi with q driver who
has no inducement to break his
neck, does an aveage of 20 miles
an hour, including stoppages--in
IL hours time---that is to say, at
II o'clock-our man will have
covered 240 miles and reached a
spot between Anglers and Nantes,
at this point on the map"
"Les Ponts-de- Drive" agreed
Davane, who was quietly listen
ing.
Every well. Suppose, on the
other hand, that an aeroplane
were to start from Issy-les-Moul-
inearx at 8 o'clock i'll the morn
ing and travel at the rate of 60
miles an hour, without stopping
in four hours time--that is to
say, at II o'clock-it would reach
Les Ponts-de-D Drive at the exact
moment as the motor. Am l
rightY"
Perfectly" .
SIN that case, if We agree, all is
we'll. Does your machine carry
a passenger"
Sometimes she does"
"WeIl start at once. What are
your termsY'
"It depends. Who are your"
"Arsene Lupin."
"The devil you are!" exclaim-
ed Davanne, a little taken aback.
II am Arsene Lupin. You must
know the best part of what has
happened from reading about it
in the papers. Well, Florence Ia
vasseur was kidnapped last night.
! want to save her. What's your
price7"
Nothing"
"That's too much!"
perhaps, but the adventure
amuses me. 1t will be an adver-
tisement."
Every well. But your silence
is necessary until tomorrow. I'll
buy it. Here's 10000 francs."a
Ten minutes later Don Luis was
dressed in an airman's suit, cap,
and goggles; and an airplane rose
to a height of $500 feet to avoid
the air-currepts, flew above the
Seine, and darted due west across
France.
Versailles, Maintenon, Chart
res. +.
Don Luis had never been up
in al airplane. France had
achieved the conquest of the air
while he was fighting with the
Legion and in the plains of the
Sahara. Nevertheless, sensitive
though he vas to new impressions
and what more exciting impress
sion could he have than this p
he did not experience he heaven
~ delight of the man WHO for the
first time scars above the earth.
What monopolized his thoughts,
strained his nerves, and excited
his whole being to an exquisite
degree was the as yet impossible
but inevitable sight of tie motor
which they were pursuing.
Amid the tremendous swarm of
things beneath them, amid the un-
expected din of the wings and the
engine, in the immensely of the
sky, in the infinity of the horizon,
his eyes sought nothing but that,
and his ears admitted no other
sound than the hum of the inyis-
IDLE ear. His were the mighty and
brutal sensations of the hunter
chasing his game. He was the
bird of prey whom the distraught
quarry has no chance of escaping.
Nogent-le- Rotrou. LIE Ferte-