Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-12

| would have melted much of the snow
I on the roof
+; Then they heard a dog bark That
| was the moment for action. In that
moment kloor acted. He pulled the
rip rope. This is rope that rips a
! hole in the gas bag and causes it to
! collapse.
| Down came the balloon. The three
! men, looking over the basket, saw the
earth jump up to meet them. They
saw the pointed tree tops rush up to
| them. like a phalanx of spears. They
| prepared to jump. Just then the
balloon hit tree. The basket caught
the topmost branches and almost up
set
| They clutched on for their lives.
/! The basket fell further into the trees.
! then it came to a stop with jolt
! that Jared their teeth.
! The airmen realized that the bask ct
| was securely lodged there. One by
! one they jumped out: one by one
| they came down the tree. On firm
| land again the airmen held a con-
! sultation. They had no idea where
/; they were.
! Clothes limit for Climate.
Some time had elapsed since they
had seen the haystack they believed
| to be house. They could not tell
now in which direction it lay. Which
| direction should they go to reach
habitation?. They did not know. At
| last they decided to go north.
The weather was then cold. but there
| was little snow on the ground. They
, were in their flying clothes.
in such garb not even the Indians
: would venture into the northern brush
in winter. The woods here were thick.
They soon stopped to rest. then they
straight path. They staggered. zig
Jagged this way and that, but kept a
/ general direction. It was not long be
fore their feet began to ache. They
had been fighting their way through
the brush. 1t was one continuous
struggle. and they we're bitterly cold.
Their feet panied dreadfully. BY
some miracle they had brought along
| three homing pigeons. They had start
1 ed out with four: one they had set
/ now killed the three. To carry them
| in their cage was impossible. It Was
all they could do to force their way
| through the underbrush.
!! They had not gone more than two
or three miles from the place where
they landed when darkness overcame
them. and the cold became even more
bitter. They decided to camp for the
night. Looking over their equipment
they found few matches and a
pocketknife. That is not any sort of
equipment to be stranded with in
these northern woods if one wants to
live.
With the knife they could cut only
small branches These they lighted,
but the heat was insufficient. The
cold was growing hourly. Darkness
had now fallen. At last they found q
great fallen tree. They set fre to the
branches and at last the IRE reached
the trunk. The trunk was three
feet in diameter, but the wood was
dead and dry. and it was soon blazing
merrily. They did not sleep that
night.
They ate a pigeon. On Wednesday
morning they found themselves cold
and tired. but struggled on. They
were heading south and kept that di-
rection all day. They made only sew
hard as on the first day. Hinton and
; Kloor stood it well. Farrell. however.
soon began to get fatigued. He is an
older man. He is unaccustomed to
such adventuring. Thursday they ate
their second pigeon. At last they came
and they decided to follow it's course.
! At night they camped again. All
were giving out now. Their clothing
was in tatters. The frost nearly
killed them. Their feet became Bills
tered.
I Safety-at Last.
! Farrell felt they could not go on.
ditfon. but there seemed no destina-
ton. About them lay woods. There
were no marks of any kind. They
] passed no tracks. For all they knew
they were going in exactly the wrong
| direction. Still eastward they went,
and at last they came up to Tom
Marks. an Indian. That seemed to
have been on Friday. He was at drst
! frightened. but. summoning up his
, courage. he stopped at last in re-
Spouse to the calls of Kioor and Hin.
ton and led them to his hut.
/ The first question the airmen asked
the Indian was their whereabouts
Marks could only tell them in very
broken English that they were near
Moose Factory. on James bay. They
showed establishment. They thought
they were still in the United States
which Moose Factory is located
Marks hut is at the southern end OF
lit. He sent word to the factory and
the manager with some of his assist
ants and some Indians came out ia
meet the airmen. They led them to
the post and cared for them.
1t was Friday. December II, wher
they reached Moose Factory. After
hot food and rest they seemed fl,
again. Hinton wanted to come out a1
toncs to Mattice. He was induced to
remain over for the others, and so 9
PACKET tudt vas coming on DeCempel
22 came out without them. Il
brought the FIRST word Of their safe
Iarrival
Christmas was spent at Moose Fac
| tory. The airmen were lucky to be
there, for it began to snow the day
after their rescue. The weather be-
| came colder and colder, dropping be.
low zero. In such weather they could
not have lived q day. Realizing tina,
they would have to walk BY the
winding river trail from Moose Fac.
tory to Mattice, the three put on snow
shoes and tried to learn to walk com.
fortably in them It was not until II
o'clock on the morning OF December
% that all was ready.
| They did not get far that first dAS
on the trail. They were heavily ladeI
and found mild weather had made thu
trail sloppy. II piled up on theil
snowshoes and soon tired them out
At last they rested on the sleds and
rode on them, but the dogs were toe
few, and SO they had to send back
for more.
! Last Sunday was so bad on the trai
the party had to turn back. They re.
traced their steps for a mile. Colder
weather, however. improved the trail
and they were able to go on. II VA
this that made them 80 long on tn,
trail They finished the last twent.
tmiies in day.