Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-04

Fletcher soaring through the air head
downward in the dim starlight. The
next thing / knew was sensation
of falling through space. I struck
the ground-and then went to sleep.
When I regained consciousness re-
called crashing down into the top of a
mesquite treei I remembered humping
through the branches and feeling the
thorns tear my flesh. Gradually re-
gained my full senses. to find Fletcher
standing over me with canteen. bath
ing cash near the top of my fore
head from which the warm blood was
streaming down into my eyes and
over my face.
What on earth happened to us,
Jack?" were my first words.
Hanged II I know" he exclaimed.
81 think we must have driven off
cliff. but don't worry about that now.
Let's see If your bones are all intact"
was so delighted to find that all
my bones were apparently whole that
was quite happy our mishap had
been no worse. My next thought was
as to whether or not Fletcher had
been injured. "How about you, Jack;
are you hurt?" I asked.
"Well, not to speak OFF, he answer
ed. 81 think fell mile; and then
went to sleep. We're. so lucky to be
alive after such a wreck that we
ought to be optimists for the rest Of
our lives"
There was no moon, but in the clear
desert atmosphere there appeared to
be literally billions Of brilliant stars,
which shed enough light over the
scene to enable us to make out the
dim outline of the surroundings.
To all appearances we had blunder
ed up the side of the sand-dune, and
down the other side, to plunge off
into space over the wall of deep
canyon. We had dropped almost per
pendicularly over the face of the cliff
a plunge of about rs feet-and had
landed in dense growth of mesquite
and chaparral.
WE found the motor cycle lying bot
w tom-upward In the tangle of
brush, which had undoubtedly saved
us from instant death on the surround
ing rocks by breaking the force of the
fall. A superficial inspection of the
machine-such as we were able to
make in the darkness-convinced us
that it was not damaged to any great
extent.
Gasoline from the fuel reservoirs
and sulphuric acid from the storage
batteries were much in evidence in
the atmosphere nearby, so that we
dared not run the risk of fire by
attempting to make a further inspec-
ton with any form of artificial light.
The leakage of gasoline was at that
moment our greatest concern, for If
we lost the fuel we should be stranded
in the desert-probably q hundred
miles from the nearest water, and
equally distant from any new source
of fuel supply. Fletcher crawled
, under the sidecar and to our great JOY
discovered that the fuel tanks were
not damaged.
The gasoline was leaking from the
air vents, which be succeeded in stop.
pering by whiting off match-stems
and driving them into the vents.
We proceeded to make ourselves as
comfortable as we could. We recov.
cred most Of our camping outfit from
the upturned sidecar and the sur.
| rounding brush, built a fire a safe
| distance away from the machine, and
| set about establishing a camp for the
| night. cooked a supper of bully
beef, dried beans, coffee and biscuits,
| and later dragged in sufficient mes.
quite wood for a roaring evening
campfire.
| We slept contentedly under our
blankets that night, and awoke with
the sunlight streaming among great
black shadows over the surrounding
rock.clnG Both Of US were so sti6