Evening star., 1940-08-07

'e straight at the pan.
II understand" he said sympa-
thetically. What shall 1t be? Smith?
Jones? Brown"
She smiled again. A passing truck
caught her eyes, she noted name
painted on its side and said. Ellis.
Nancy Ellis-that sounds business
like"
"Okay. Miss Ellis" He grinned
and patted her hand.
Nancy Ellis. The name sound
ed strange to the girl, as strange
as the life she was about to enter.
Only a few weeks before she had
been going busily about affairs at
school. concerned with dates and
clothes and occasionally studies,
rooming with Iris Bristow, the
daughter of the white-haired man
who sat beside her now. Then ca
tastrophe had come so quickly that
it had left her stunned for days.
but not too stunned to be aware of
the newspaper headlines that
screamed of Robert Thorne's sui
eide, Of the collapse of the Thorne
brokerage house and the loss of
the Thorne fortune.
Iris Plans to Fly.
Rich girl, poor girl, she thought
grimly. A life of schools, sorority
house, costly clothes, her own car
everything she wanted. given her
by an indulgent widowed father.
Nova job and the room she had
taken that morning in a cheap
rooming house. Well, she'd manage,
she told herself firmly.
With what appeared to be an at
tempt at changing the subject, John
Bristow said: Il suppose you know
Iris takes her first flying lesson to-
day"
Nancy nodded. She knew it very
well, too well, in fact. How do you
feel about her becoming a pilot?"
Me? Oh, my opinion wouldn't
count for anything. Iris hasn't
asked my permission to do any
thing since she was g." A deep
rumbling chuckle came from his
lips. "Headstrong little idiot"
There was warm pride in his voice.
Nancy said nothing. Iris Bristow,
her childhood friend and college
roommate, had finished her ground
instruction, and today she was &C
tually learning to fly. Involuntarily
the red-haired girl glanced up at
the wide expanse of blue. Not so
very long ago she herself had been
looking forward to that same first
lesson. Now, instead of adven-
turous hours in the air, she was 60
ing the spend her days in an office
that she imagined would be ex-
tremely dull. The Bristow company
had something to do with machin-
cry, she wasn't even sure what it
was.
Perhaps, she told herself wryly,
she ought to be finding out, instead
of sitting here feeling sorry for her
self.
What is made at the plant?"
John Bristow said in answer to her
question. Its little hard to ex-
plain in a few sentences. You'll
find out soon enough"
Iris said-it had something to
do with airplane motors"
Bristow Explains.
mot exactly. The dies from which
certain parts of motors are made.
Don't worry your head about it
now" A change seemed to have
come over him suddenly, he was
peering anxiously down the street
ahead. He answered Nancy's timid
questions as though his mind had
suddenly gone far away from her.
They were driving down a wide
street, with streetcar line run
ming down the center. On either
side were immense brick factory
buildings, alternating with blocks of
tumble-down houses and tenements,
and here and there occasional small,
dingy stores. From somewhere in
the distance she could hear the
putting of freight engine.
She had always dreamed, in her
school days, of what her life might
be like when school was over. She
had imagined adventure, excite
ment, romance, pictured herself
sailing to far away places-oh, we'll
there was no use in thinking of all
that now.
Besides-there were still adven-
ture and excitement ahead. Yes,
even in this life she must fit her
self into. You didn't search out ad-
venture, it searched for you.
There's one of our trucks now"
John Bristow said suddenly. His
voice had family anxious tone.
Nancy looked out the window Gu
riously. A little ahead of them,
down the side street, she could see
an enormous dark green van NOV
ing with astonishing speed for its
great size. On the side was let
tered "Bristow Die-Casting Co."
She watched 1t with growing in
terest, it seemed to be linking her
to this new world After a block
or so she suddenly noticed some
thing else. A car appeared to be fol-
lowing the great conveyance close
ly, only a half block behind. She
took second look and saw that 1t
was a squad car.
Attack on Truck.
She eiutched ct her companions