Evening star., 1941-11-01

His face and hands were dirty with
Eddie, look!" Clare exclaimed
her purse. II found them-the pla
were in a picture of mine that his
mother gave me. He must have
hidden them there just before -"
Her words dwindled off into
silence because Eddie Franklin
wasn't listening. After his first
startled expression of amazement,
he had grabbed the papers from her
and started thumbing through them
wildly. His fingers left grease
marks on them, but he didn't seem
to notice. And then he found the
one he was looking for and he held
it in front of him for long mo-
ment. His eyes were riveted to the
drawing. except once when he
turned the page sideways to read a
small legend on the margin. Then
he just stared at the paper and, as
Clare watched, the color drained
completely from his face.
What, Eddie? What is it?" 1t
wasn't her own voice. 1t was some
kind of automatic sound that came
from deep inside her, expressing the
question that her heart was asking
But Eddie only shook his head
and looked up toward the sky, hear
ing only family now the rhythmic
drum of the distant motor.
Eddie, tell me! What's the mat
ter? Why do you look like that?"
Its wrong Clare" he said, his
voice hoarse. 1T won't stand the
weight-not without the check
valves. There they are, see -'
He held out the page he'd been
looking at, pointing to score of
little symbols placed at regular in
tervals along the lines marked
Hydraulic Tubes"
Guides Clare Away.
"What-what does that mean?
What if it doesn't stand the weight
what them" There was a tight
ening all through her. a sudden
coldness as if she'd come into a
frigid temperature. She felt herself
shiver and her lips were dry as she
waited for him to answer. II
seemed an eternity before he did
She'll fly apart in midair." Eddie
said, thinking of the plane. "At 300
miles per hour the centrifugal force
in turn will throw the juice out
not in. Oh, Lord, why wasn't I born
with brains? I should have known
I should have insisted-oh. God
why didn't I tell him to go to he'll
with his cockeyed design"
He spun around wild-eyed and
he gripped Glare in his powerful
stained hands. His grip hurt
her shoulders, but she didn't care
She was staring up into his white
face, seeing the panic in his deep
set eyes, and even in that f1eeting
moment she knew that she and
Eddie Franklin were united. But
she wasn't thinking Of that con-
sciously then. She was watching
his lips that we're as dry as her
own, waiting for the words that
didn't seem to come. Then he was
pushing her toward the hangar ano
she couldn't see his lips after all
as the words tumbled from them.
Go on-go on-get in there. You
can't see this-not you. Clare. You
can't see this" And then she wa!
inside the hangar and Eddie was
closing the doors. She watched him
dumbly; saw him cross the wide
concrete floor in long. mechanical
strides, and pull from under it:
oilskin tarpaulin a red, two-wheeled
cart containing half a dozen big
cylindrical tanks. Some of them had
hoses at one end and the others had
little gauges. dials, like she had seen
on oxygen tanks once in hospital
operating room. And she watched
him as if in a dream as he wheeled
the little cart over to the only door
he'd left open, pushed it through to
the outside, then turned and stared
at her CLASSIFY as he swung the door
closed.
Betty Accuses Clare.
She didn't know how long she
stood there, transfixed with the
vision of horror that he had sug-
gested, when she heard the sound
she'd been unconsciously waiting for
The roar of motor came out of no.
where and was suddenly directly
above her. Then there was a sing
ing sound that spun away like a
penny caught in an electric fan
and after that a terrible, wild roar
that didn't sound like an airplane
motor at all, but really was one
And then instantly, but with
quality of thunder that would re-
main forever in her memory, there
was the crash.
A woman's voice was the frs
thing she heard after that. Sht
opened her eyes and for a momen'
she didn't know where she was
Then she recognized the hangar. a
couple of crates had been laid side
by side and she was stretched ou
on them. She felt some one grip.
ping her arm, hurting her, but a
first she didn't know which arm i
was and she pondered the problem
dazedly for while. But the voice
was familiar, high-pitched ant
screaming as it was, and she looked
up to her right and saw Bett!
Crowell. Her father was there, too
and he was prying Betty's finger
from her arm.
You did it to get event." Bett!
was crying Historically. You killet
him! You and Eddie Franklin killet
him to get even -"
Steve Calridge had put himsel