Evening star., 1924-12-21
tinued from Yesterdays Starr
CHAPTER vi.
Kristen

We had left the Parnassic at about
6 o'clock, New York time. with a.
flight of nearly twelve hundred kilo-
meters before US. Keeping the Merlin
at steady four-sixty per hour. we
expected to make the Battery soon
after half-past 8.
From the bearing which the radio
indicator had given us OF the West
burys position, Dan and plotted out
her relation to the Parnassfc at the
time of the raid, and found that she
had been just over so kilometers from
the liner. She was probably one Of
| the freighters we had sighted in ap-
preaching the Parnassic.
Now, the hour given by the West
bury's skipper as the time when she
was brought to-eight bells in the
middle watch, or 4 o'clock In the
morning-revealed the astonishing
fact that the raid on the Parnassic
had been pulled off, so kilometers
covered, and the oii-tanker stopped,
all within an hour. Even at record
airship speed, the flight between the
two vessels would occupy nearly 25
minutes. which left 35 in which TO
board the liner, break open the
strongrpom and specie boxes, and re-
move 5000 kilos of gold before cast
ing off. 1t seemed incredible that one
group of pirates could have effected
the two operations.
We tried to work out the raids with
every conceivable type. Of craft, TAX
ing into consideration the time fac
tors and the 5000 kilos weight of gold
and oil that had been carried away.
We even tried Dick Schuyler's idea Of
| a. motor-ship, giving her the highest
known speed for Claiborne craft, but
we found the thing impossible. de-
/ spite the fact that we provided her
with hydroplane type Of power boats
as auXiliaries. We were inevitably
! brought back to our airship. -
When we came to consider what
kind of machine would have made
possible the whole series Of opera
tions-from the gasoline station at
| Newark, Wall street, the Parnassic,
to the descent on the Westbury-the
weight of the evidence was strongly
| in favor of dirigible, of the very
| latest type; and the abstraction Of the
gasoline from the Newark station and
| from the Westbury was an additional
| support to the idea, since an air
| ship carrying out these operations
would certainly need to replenish her
| fuel
J We imagined the pirates operating
from base within a days flight of
New York and judging from the raid
on the Parnassic, prabably situated
over the Canadian border. The weak
! ness of the raiders position In using
a dirigible or dirigibles for their op-
| erations lay In the conspicuousness OF
their craft, and of the sheds neces-
sary for docking them We did not lose
| sight of the possibility that the
pirates might be masquerading as q
corporation engaged In civilian trans
port. a few such companies were In
existence, despite the popular pretu-
| dice against the so-calIed Tighter
! than-air" machines on account of the
structural Weaknesses which in the
latter seemed to be past curing. But
| every dirigible that took the air
whether experimental or otherwise
could only do so under permit OF
/ license from the Government. II
would present no great difficulty
therefore, for the police to run to
earth any unregistered airship on
American territory.
With the help OF Lord Aimeric and
| Miss Torrance. and an occasional
word from Milliken, Dan and / de-
cided on a present plan of action. II
| the raiders had used an airship, they
would now be making for their base
and could not be far away from ue
In the air. To escape detection they
would probably get to as high an
altitude as pesafble. We determined