The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-07-26
CHAPTER 35. HAPPY LANDINGS"

l Ilt dulplllDldll dppSd4CN VO lAOeb1 up to meet them.
 Jerry, leaning forward in his seat, watched the gangster ship with half closed eyes He must miss that upper wing by inches only. The tracer bullets from be- low were sweeping the monoplane from wing tip to wing tip as Lu- ccis gunner kept his finger clasped tight on his trigger.
 Down, down. Funny, how long such a short dive could takel The tracer bullets annoyed him. They seemed to stretch Like taut string between his own gray eyes and the other fellows gun. He wondered vaguely why he hadn't been riddled with lead. The lum- inous dial of the altimeter sudden ly disappeared from the instrument board. Something else, too, had disintegrated as the gangster's bull lets crashed through the panel. He couldn't stop to see what it was. No time for anything but to dive as close to that upper wing as he could. Must give good old Steve fair target. Then he became aware of 2 new sound, continued tactactac as of a steel riveter at work. It was Steve. Attaboy, Steve!
 The long, upper wing of the amphibian seemed to leap up in the bow of the plunging mono plane. Jerry pulled back desper- ately, wondering if he had waited too long. AS the nose lifted he lis tened for the crash that would mean the end of everything. Steve was strengthening up, pulling his gun garrel out of the panel. Jerry's breath whistled between his tight shut teeth. They were clear. Miss ed a collision by a fraction of an inch.
 Get it?" he demanded.
 q dunno. Usually do." It was all of a nights work with the de- tective.
 The monoplane was flying level again. Jerry yanked hard over to return to the attack. The dark hulk of the other ship became visible. The pilot slapped his com panion on the back.
 "Lookf' he shouted. They're go- ing down"
 The amphibian, her exhausts streaming fire, were gliding in a long, thin, quarter turn, her pilot obviously trying to reach the san dy beach of the mainland. Jerry measured the distance with his eye. Yes, they might make it. He must beat them to it. With his own engine full on, he, too, swung i toward shore in terrific power dive, hoping against hope that he would find the beach suitable for a landing.
 Jerry dived past the slowly-glid- ing ship. With his own nightly engine wide open, the monoplane was covering two feet to the am- phibians one. Down, down, with the wind whistling through the struts, the entire fabric vibrating to the banshee shriek of the mo- tor. There was no time to drag the beach to find out whether the sand was hard or soft. 1t didn't matter. Te closed the throttle and pivoted the plane around on her wing tip. AS the fat balloon tires struck the sand the heavy ship lurched and faltered. Jerry braced himself, thinking that she was about to dig in and turn over Then she rolled heavily to stop
 Jerry leaped to the sand before Stevens had opened the door or the other side. The amphibiar had just landed on the water, for ty or fifty feet from shore anc was now drifting in toward tht beach under the forward momen. tum of the glide. With engine dead and it's crew silent it looked like a black ghost ship in tht night.
 Jerry, in cold sweat of impa- tience could not wait for her tt reach the beach. He waded ou' irto the dark water, his hands itching to wrap themselves around Lucci's throat
 One shot out of that gun, came Stevens calm voice from the MIIIIlIIiIIIIlIiiIIIIIIIIIiiIIIIIIIIIiIIIIlI