Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-17

In a moment we were enveloped,
and men and mules doomed spookily
| huge out of the fog. We, in our
| thoughtlessness, laughed. 1t was
eeriiy queer and a new experience.
But, in the 1imness around us, the
arrieros cursed by the name or the
Green One and by the Most sacred
| Shoes, Mules fioundered with clat-
| tering huofs on an insecure footing.
Packs bumped into other packs, ana
the rawhide ropes squeaked ana
| strained as the beasts pushed ana
| tugged in panic.
Pack mules will. you know. Wise
as they are. as soon as pack touches
pack they seem to lose all sense ana
| to struggle each one desperately to
push forward in direct line. Not an
| inch will any one give.
| Even on the trail in clear daylight
this desperate instinct is paramount
| IJp there i'm that sudden Songo mist.
, where they could see no more than
| few feet. they milled about, bumped
| one another, locked packs. and
strained against one another in crazy
fear. .
While we waited. an evil spirit of
| the upper air visited us. A thin
whistling noise like the whine of wind
against airplane wires Kissed down
the cleft toward us. 1t whlZzed
through the mist overhead. so close
that /. for one, instinotively ducked.
A rattle as of dry reeds sounded as
the thing veered. 1t croaked sepul-
chrally once. and was gone.
Glen mil diablos"' shouted an
arriero. Condor! Bend low, senores.
If one of those should hit you. you
would be knocked clear to the last
ridge you have just left
Cheering thought. And unpleasant
ly possible.
The solid white wall began to break
up into thin wisps and long streamers
the latter end of the fog-bank' L
suppose-and then it was gone.
Whirled out of the narrow gap as
suddenly as it had been whirled in.
WE were collecting gear and I'M
" tangling mules when we were
treated to the rare sight of more con-
doris negotiating high pass. And
what an unforgetable sight. An ar
riero pointed suddenly and said Mira,
senior. Look how they come" My
less keen eyes required some little
time to distinguish a string OF ir-
regularly spaced dots against the snow
far below.
Like distant airplanes they looked.
And like airplanes they swept into
swift view, as steadily and much
faster. Never q flap, never tremor
of wing to make them rise. Up they
zoomed, one behind the other like
first of the squadron lift in its clean
the pass low.
Quite clearly 1t was regular route
with them, and they wasted no effort
to make unnecessary altitude.
couldn't imagine that they would skim
the surface. yet, as / watched the
first of the squadron life In its clean
sweep and f1atten out to take the gap,
my impulse was to duck. Ten feet
of clearance was all that 1t was al
lowing for. and 10 feet it held as it
hurtled into the pass. gasped at the
horrific size of the thing in its flight.
A 12-foot Widespread, IL it was an
inch, and It seemed to I'LL the gap
from wall to wall.
Then the great bird saw us, and per-
formed feat that wrenched my heart
for the DEFICIENCIES OF our man-made
machines. The condor, without fiut-
ter of those steady wings, Just altered
the angle of incidence. : That was' all.
It raised the entering edge of the
pinions and depressed the following
edge. -"
The instant result was that 1t shot
40 feet into the air. The wind rat
tied harshly through the upturned pin