Evening star., 1928-04-27

= STAR. WASHTNGTO
and telephones. and men to wait on
them. To Fitzmaurice, fear, It is no
longer exciting. Having seen the wind
ing ST. Lawrence twice. and there Is
little change in 1t, he Enthusiastically
awaits his turn at the controls. He
munches an unbuttered cracker, and
the baron digs into can of bully
beef with q pocket knife, borrowed from
the Lord only knows where
Not so disinterested Is Capt. Koehl
The energy In that man Is eXtraordi-
nary. From the inner pocket Of his great
coat he has taken half dozen maps,
great squares of papers. most meticu-
lously deciphered and annotated. They
arc German maps. used on the Brenf-
ems flight Eagerly his eyes search the
skyline and the shore line. looking for
signs to identify the path the wandering
Bremen took that clustering day she
staggered out of Labrador and hurtled
on to find the coast He talks eXcitedly
with the baron in German. The maps
and panorama are consulted and the
compass pencils are active, but he is
still puzzled
AEhNNN AdAu va
"I think it Is there" with pudgy,
but singularly graceful finger, he traces
a path down the face of Labrador. from
the mouth of the Hamilton River to
Belle Isle Srtaits. "Ve come here, und
here, und here. so. We we're very, very
luck. Nicht wahr."
Suddenly Balchen Shoves his finger
toward the gulf; we all peer out. Two
thousand feet below, and barely per-
ceptible dark rift begins In the ice
pack and. as gracefully and as perfect
ly curved as a scimitar, 1t extends al
most to the horiZon--30 miles away.
The ice is breaking: no one needed that
explained. It was what had been feared
what had caused Balchen and Koehl
to order both planes moved the night
before from the middle of the ice be-
tween Greenly Island and Long Point.
Spring is Seeping into Labrador and
even the iron-clad ice must go.
Escape Breaking Of Ice.
eve we're Just in, time" shouts the
captain. In day oT4 two more, perhaps
be split just so. Had we chanced wait
ing two or three days. we should have
been stranded for weeks perhaps"
1T is dangerous in the North, -
Balchen says, Ito depend upon ice. 1t
Is ever treacherouS.'
At the hilt Of this natural Scimitar
his propheSy seems borne out. Here the
East gale which tore out af the North
east Tuesday night had churned the
ice into cakes, tossed In splendid con-
fusion. Yet when we flew here the
day before. it was as solid and smooth
as a dance floor, a perfect landing
place.
Now there are but two or three
reasonably safe landing places between
Greenly and Murray Bay. 1t causes
one TO marvel at the audacity of Duke"
Schiller. who flew to Greenly first and
In a single-engined plane. One can
derive pleasant comfort In the music
OF three perfectly co-ordinated Wright
whirlwinds.
Encounter Fair Weather.
At Natashquan we strike fair weather.
smoking fog still troops across the foot
hills. for here the mountain ranges
shelye of into the Province of Que
bee, but the skies ahead and above are
fairly clean. 1t Is bitter cold. The
baron and the captain struggle into
heavier jackets.
Balchen, To whom cold seems to bring
no pain, grips the wheel with unpro-
tected hands. A few miles on, he
turns over the wheel to Fitzmaurice.
and the flying Irishman, immediately
finds himself in diflculty in very
bumpy air.
Though there is little enough to do
now, the passage Is not without its
comedy The captain produces a mon
ocle-a yellow glass from a pair of sun
glasses borrowed from native, and de-
lights in a gross burlesque of the baron,
who pays no heed and dozes on the
cushions.
Difficult Flying.
An hour of flying-it is Furnishing TO
handle the big plane in the bunny
weather-and Koehl Scramhles into the
control cabin to take his turn. 1t is
easy TO see he loves flying. and he and
Balchen seem to be enjoying themselves
hugely. The Norwegian Is explaining
the operations. and they talk In Ger
man, language In which the pilot
OF the relief plane Is remarkably pro-
ficient. FitZmaurice sets his hat for
ward on his head and Slumps to the
floor, to sleep. Koeppen, the mechanic
who has been laying along the board
over the two emergency gas tanks In the
AASSAd6Gt N0a1tNG 4QAWhEu hLl0 UEElIlA
vigorously to work the hand pump with
which the wing tanks are replenished
from the main tanks.
Take Turns at Pump.
And that was the end OF Joy riding
After that. and throughout the Journey
We all took turns lifting and depressing
ridtculously small pump handle until
the arm muscles were sore. Particularly
energetic was the baron. LET me dc
IT, he insisted. Il know how" He was
a real shipmate. and though was
freezing cold and he a guest, he would
have nothing of rest. And when the
captain finished his trick, he went back
TO his maps. He must be an extraordi-
nartly good cross-country flyer. He
picked the course as II 1t were a memo
riZed book.
The baron once more Is butterine
crackers, springling them with corned
beef, and passing them TO each Of us
MAJ. Fitzmaurice, who seems TO have
the appetite of 10 men, looks for an ex-
ira snack for his and makes the la
mentable discovery that the meat Is all
gone.
Baron Produces Sandwiches.
"Vait." says the baron. He scrambles
into the fuselage and returns holding a
paper bag by its throat. He tears out
four sandwiches.