Evening star., 1922-05-13

1t into my hands. 1t was from the
operator:
wireless out of business again.
Curse that fellow who is buttfng in.
Am Keeping record" was all il said.
shot glance of inquiry at Ken
nedy, but he was paying no attention
now to anything but Norton. He held
his watch in his hand.
Walter" he calculated as hr
snapped it shut, ''it has now been
seven minutes and a half since he
stopped his propeller. The Brooks
prize calls for five minutes only Nor
ton has exceeded it so per cent. Here
! goes!'
With his hat in his hand, he waved
three times and stopped. Then he
repeated the process.
At the third time the aeroplane
! seemed to give start. The propeller
began to revolve, Norton starting it
on the compression successfully
slowly he circled down again. To
| ward the end of the descent he
stopped the engine and volplaned. or
| coasted. to the ground. landing gently
in front of his hangar
| A wild cheer rose into the air from
| the crowd below US. All eyes were
riveted on the activity about Norton's
bip!ane. They were doing something
! 70 1t. Whatever il was. il was fin
lshed in a minute, and the men wcr.
! standing again at a respectful dig
| tance from the propeller. Again Nor
ton was in the air. AS he rose above
the field Kennedy gave a last glanc.
| at his ondometer and sprung down the
ladder. l followed closely Back of
| the crowd he hurried, down the walk
| to the entrance near the railroad sta
tion: The man in charge of the Pink
| ertons was at the gate with two other
| men. apparently waiting
| Come on!" shouted Craig.
[ We four fOlloWe ed him as fast as ~.
could. He turned in at the lane. run
ming up to the yellow house so as to
approach the barn from the rear. un-
observed
| Quietly now" he cautioned
! We were now at the door of th.
| barn. A curious. cracking, swapping
| noise issued. Craig gently tried the
| door. 1t was bolted on the inside. As
! many Of us as could threw ourselves
like human catapult against il. Ii
yielded.
Inside 1 saw sheet of fame fifteen
or twenty feet long-it was verita-
! BILE artificial bolt of lightning. \
man with telescope had been peering
ing us in surprise.
| Lamar. shouted Kennedy, drawing
/ pistol, "one motion of your hand and
you are a dead man. Stand still
where you are. You are caught red
handed
| The rest of US shrank back in mo-
mertary fear of the gigantic forces of
! nature which seemed let loose in the
room. The thought. in my mind at
| least. was, suppose this arch -fiend
should turn his deadly power on us?
! Kennedy saw us from the corner OF
his eyes. Don't be afraid" he said
! with just curl to his lip. I've seen
! al! this before. 1t won't hurt you.
It's a high-frequency current. The
man has simply appropriated the in
Vpnfi0n nf Mr. Nikn1a TeCla SPiza
him. He won't struggle. I've got him
| covered"
Two burly Pinkertons leaped for
ward gingerly into the midst of the
| electrica! apparatus. and in less time
| than it takes to write il Lamar was
| hustled out to the doorway, each arm
| pinioned back of him.
| AS we stood. half dazed by the sud-
| nstty hastily explained:
| ''TeSla's theory is that under GER
tain conditions the atmosphere. which
is normally a high insulator. assumes
| conducting properties and so becomes
capab BILE of conveying any amount of
| electric energy. j myself have seen
J electrical oscillations such as these in
| this room of such intensity that while
they could be circulated with impu-
| nifty through ones arms and chest
they would melt wires farther along
| in the circuit. Yet the person through
whom such current is passing feels
no Inconvenience. l have seen loop
of heavy copper wire energized by
! such oscillations and a mass of metal
within the loop heated to the fus!nE
! point. and yet into the space in which
| this destructive aerial turmoil was
, going on l have repeatedly thrust my
! hand and even my head without feel
| ing anything or experiencing any in
| jur.ous after effect. In this form ali
I the energy of au the dynamos OF
!. Niagara could pass through ones body
4 D,,A i ia
| bolically directed. this vast energy
has been used by this man to melt the
| wires in the little dynamo that runs
Norton's gyroscope. That is all. Now
| to the aviation field. ] have some
| thing more to show you"
| We hurried as fast as We could up
| the street and straight out on the
| field, across toward the Norton han
| gar. the crowd gaping in wondermeni.
Kennedy waved frantically for Nor
| ton toscome down, and Norton. who
was only a few hundred feet in the
i air. seemed to see and understand.
! Il suspected some wireless power
trick when found that the field wire
! less telegraph failed to work every
| time Norton's aeroplane was in the
air" he said. approaching close to
Lamar II just happened to catch
sight of that peculiar wireless mast
/ of yours. A little fash of light hrst
attracted my attention to il. | thought
l
| too clever for that. Lamar. Still. you
! forgot a much simpler thing. 1t was
| the CLINT of the sun on the lens 'of
your telescope as you were watching
Norton that betrayed you"
! Lamar said nothing.
! I'm glad to say you had no con-
federate in the hangar there" con-
| tinued Craig. "At first I suspected it
Anyhow, you succeeded pretty well
single handed-two lives lost and two
machines wrecked. Norton flew ali
f, right yesterday when he left his gyro
scope and dynamo behind. but when
| he took them along you were able to
fuse the wires IN the dynamo-you
! pretty nearly succeeded in adding his
! name to those of Browne and Her
rick"
The whir of Norton's machine told
us he was approaching We scattered
| to give him space enough to choose
the spot where he would alight. As
! the men caught his machine to steady
it he Jumped lightly to the ground.
where's Kennedy" he asked. and
then, without waiting for reply. he
exclaimed. "Queerest thing ! ever
saw up there! The dynamo wasn't
protected by the sheet lead shield in
this flight as in the first today. !
hadn't risen a hundred feet before
happened to hear the darnedest spui-
tering in the dynamo. Look. boys, the
insulation Is completely burned of
the wires. and the wires are nearly
all fused together
! $50 It was in the other two wrecked
machines" added Kennedy, coming
coolly forward. IF you hadn't had
everything protected by those shields
7 gave YOU in your first flight today.
YOU would have simply repeated your
fon NJ NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. fatally