Evening star., 1939-06-18

"HAT was all - two lines buried in a Ma.
drid dispatch - but Dick Burton, flag
d captain of the Southwestern Division of
Great Basin Air Transport read it in an Ell
Paso newspaper and set a new record for trans
port planes from the Pass City to the coast;
ordered his oo-pilot to check in the ship. and
raced for his roadster which was parked behind
the engineering hangar. Kay Burton, who had
been Katharine MCFIaIe, cried quietly for
long time in her husbands arms. Dick Burton
didn't cry but he blew his nose violently
several times and reflected that the boy would
have had a full pilots rating with G-BAT if
he'd stuck with the line and if and if -.
There were 50 many ifs If the dispatch
were an error but it couldn't be, for Kay
had written to and heard from Sehor Captain
Lorenzo Megao Lorenzo" was Lawrence,
and "Megallo' Spanish approximation of
McIIale. They were one and the same. and
Larry was dead - as dead as those two others
with whom he had had his great adventure in
a lonely Arizona valley. Maybe it was for the
best, but it was sure tough on Kay, who had
loved Larry as only a sister can love her twin
brother
Twins Physically as like as man and woman
can be; spiritually worlds apart. Kay was fine
and gay and courageous and loyal, incapable of
deceit, as straight as she was pretty. OF those
qualities her twin had only the gaiety and cour-
age. He was as nervy flyer as ever laid hand
to controls, but drOss where his sister was re-
fined ore
He was that paradox 50 often encountered,
lovable weakling He'd been Dick Burton's
co-pot on the run from Glendale to San Lean
dro and twice had reported with the odor OF
liquor heavy on his breath and his eyes blood
shot from sleepless night. Onthe first occasion,
Dick had given him tongue lashing that
blistered the varnish in the cabin; on the second
he had shifted deeply, once, then cut the motors
and reported his co-pilot as drunk and incap
able of performing his duties 1t had cost Larry
his job, of course, but he'd walked out with his
head high and devil-may care smile curling
his lips and Dick hadn't seen or heard of him
for more than year.
Dick had known that McHale had twin
sister, but he'd never met her. When Larry's
pilot book received its final G-BAT stamping
Dick thought of that sister. wondered if she
was like Larry, and if she blamed him for her
brothers dismissal That had been only little
over three years ago. and Dick Burton was
G-BAT flag g-captain now and blue-eyed Kay
McHale was his wife, and Larry was dead in
Spain. Dead, his lips forever sealed, and only
two people in the world - Dick and Kay Bur
ton - now knew the story of that bloody dawn
in and over the Bijote Valley.
She had come to him - that day two years
ago, slim girl in white flannel skirt and blue
sports sweater who'd slipped into the chair
opposite his at the airport restaurant. He knew
now that her eyes were as blue as gentians but
they'd looked almost black then against the
palor of her face.
I'm Katharine McfIale." she said. "Larry's
twin sister Please call me Kay and let me call
you Dick. 1t will make it easier because Larry
always spoke of you as Dick and want to talk
to you about him.
He sensed only an appeal for the impossible,
the reinstatement of a pilot dismissed for
drunkenness on duty, and his voice was harsh.
There were fourteen passengers and stew
ardess riding behind us, Miss Mcf1ale, and
Larry was blotto. I'd have turned in my own
brother for that"
Il know - and l think Larry knows" she
said softly. Its something else and I've come
to you because " well, our father and mother
are dead and our relatives say they We helped
Larry out of his last mess. There's only you.