The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-11-08

ordinary situation l turned to Janet
only to meet In her glance a sinister
meaning had never seen before, soft
ened by look akin to pity.
My spirit was broken at what then
seemed to me to be her betrayal.
Somewhat reckless of what was to be-
come of me, took the seat assigned,
realizing well enough that resistance
would be useless and pleading equally
vain. l was bitterly indignant that
my sacrifice had been repaid by thus
imperiling my life. High powered
motor cars were always at my COM
mand. l could not believe that there
was sufficient haste to make necessary
this new and unusual means of con-
yeyance. That any other motive could
possibly have led them to entrap me
into taking passing in a flying mach
inc. could not imagine.
There are those who are born
steeple jacks, who need no experience
before mounting the sides of huge
buildings to make them height-resist-
ant, so to speak. To get me ten feet
above the ground filled me with a silly
dread What l now faced / verify
believed, in fact almost hoped, would
cause my heart to cease beating.
survived, however, though terror
past description embraced me as we
slid off over the edge of the hospital
structure, some two hundred feet
above the street. l shall never know
how the scenes below looked. /
grasped the framework with a grip
~ NJ of I'm, nj
shut my eyes. After an interval that
probably was but brief, above the roar
OF the engine, heard shouting which
came from no one in our machine.
Looking wildly about, | observed be-
low us the top of the Efel tower, with
people leaning out, shouting and ges-
riculating. We might have been
hundred feet from the structure but
a wild desire prompted me to jump.
| half raised to make the attempt
which could have had but fatal result.
A hand restrained me and, glancing
up and backward, looked full in the
face of Janet, smiling and radiant.
Her hands were on my shoulders and
through them, in our secret code,
came rapidly messages of assurance
and then, after little hesitation, do
you not know love you, have always
adored you, would risk my life with
yours, or gladly give it for you?"
1t was the moment that comes but
once in the life of any man. In fact,
| can say without fear of contradic-
ton, that this moment, with its ecstasy
In the midst of such surroundings, had
never come before in the life of any
human being. Unsought, but not
doubling her welcome, she bent down
and touched my lips, exhibiting no
bodness but taking license to WOO UNI
usual to her sex. from the fact that
We were making love in an element
where lovers had never strayed be-
fore Surely Cupid's wings had new
or before carried him to such an al
titude.
This sweet denoument, this complete
answer to my consuming desire, cou-
pied with Janet's calm courage, made
me abjectly ashamed of my terrors.
looked at her, then at the stars, then
at our pilot whose impressive face
told no tales of what he may have
thought of the love scene he had wit
messed at such close proximity.
Janet pointed downward toward the
rear and | could see, among many
clusters of lights, one greater than the
rest, which | knew was our city of
Paris. 1t rapidly faded and we were
soon isolated in space, having moth
ing visible but the heavenly bodies.
Among these, the moon, toward which
we seemed to move, was fierceJy brill
liant. should have said we were
bound to land on the lunar sphere did
not my habits of thought rebel at such
a yagary. Another thirty minutes,
however. made this conviction, al
though the realization of 1t almost un-
balanced my brain. We were actually
bound for the moon!
or course, | know there are peo-
pie who will ridicule this portion of
my story. 1t will be denied that an
aeropane can fly more than 1900 feet
above the surface of the earth, the
rarity of the air, setting a definite
limit to upward aviation. II will be
positively asserted that one could
never sail out into space toward the
moon for even mentionable frac-
tiOn Of the distance from the earth to
that body. make no attempt to
reconcile these seemingly prohibitive
conditions. If this part of my adj
venture seems unreasonable, don't Gre
dit It, The impressions received l
shall recount as accurately as | may,
after the shake-up my brain received
from such an adventure.
On being convinced we were real
ly to make landing in the moon my
mind was filed with awe and wonder.
All dangers were forgotten in the
thought that l was to have a privilege
few of my race would ever enjoy.
There were no spectacular results as
we approached the lunar sphere. For
a long time we flew above it, at an
altitude of about thousand feet. Our
pilot was not preceding aimlessly;
observed him taking mental note of
prominent landmarks. At last, as
we came to castle of unusual extent
and grandeur. we dipped to make
landing near it. We had been obser-
we'd and thousands of the lunar popu-
lation filled the plain to await our
landing. Our engine stopped and we
settled to the ground among them. 1t
had not occurred to me that the Lun-
fro