The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-11-05
CHAPTER XVII

of the body. It uses inverted-V en-
gines for smoother streamlining-"
But Curt couldn't stand there star
ing all night. He swung the beam of
light about and Immediately the
plane was swallowed in blackness.
Quickly the men went over the big
building-one building, they found,
now they were inside. Curt knew
the two hangers at the other end of
the field were separate buildings,
the shed-roof chemical space be-
tween being walled off on either
side.
Here, however, were no partitions,
only the trunks of trees rising
through the lower shed roof. This
central section was the machine
shop, and well-ftted out, as one
sweep of the flashlight showed.
Along the entire front of these
three joined buildings were thin
stacks of lumber piled to present
the picture Curt had got through
field glasses a few days ago, of
stacks of pipe, or piles of boxes and
crates. With doors open it would
look like a solidly packed ware
house. Actually, all materials could
be pulled down quickly.
"Clever!" grunted Collins. The
tale of it had been hard for him
to swallow, but now he saw how eff
fective the camouf1age was.
The big plane they first came
upon appeared to be ready for flight.
In the other hangar was a second
plane not yet fully assembled. The
motors and propellors were missing,
but Curt found the engines quickly.
The two square boxes he'd seen
pass through Cabeza only that morn
ing, the boxes stenciled Genera
tors" had been knocked apart, and
the two motors for this plane stood
revealed on the floor ready to be
hoisted into position.
''What'd I tell you'll" growled Curt.
GAS soon as got the low-down on
Montaya tonight all the pieces be-
gan to slide in together and I knew
this was the answer. But man alive,
in spite of my eyes, it's hard to be-
lieve! Such long shot ranks with
suicide!"
And the thousands of parachute
troops used in Holland, Belgium,
Greece, Crete?" asked Collins dry
ly. 1.-THE spearhead of any mech
anized thrust? The submarine which
entered Scapa Flow-and got away
again."
81 know" returned Curt thought
fully. ''There are always fanatics
and zealots, and there's risk in any
branch of military service. After
all, perhaps there's less danger in
this than in battle. A surprise at
tack"
There you have it," Collins
voice was bitter. 1t had risen, but
the slapping echoes brought it down
again. ga surprise attack! The Ca
nal has the best defense possible,
and it's being constantly improved
and extended. But protection for
the Canal depends on sufficient
warning to get planes into the air, to
get anti-aircraft ground units into
action"
And these planes, coming over
land, from unsupported, close-in neu-
trail territory"
"Why, man, they'd be over the
Canal before effective resistance
could be organized. Why, some of
our advance air bases and listening
posts are farther out from the Canal
than this"
A long silence followed, finally
broken by Curtis sour, ''Yeh, but
we haven't got all night. There's
something else to locate. Mitchell
cheap Jap pump neutrality-suspicious.
boxes like oversize coffins."
Collins pointed briefly in the beam
of light, and Curt swung it from
one end to the other of a bulkhead
which rose to the height of the win
dow stripping along the back OF
the central section, the machine
shop.
In front of the wall was heavy
workbench on which lay in orderly
precision small parts, tools, instru.
ment panels, evidently intended fol-
the unassembled plane. At one END
was a door. They found it pad.
locked
Nothing we can do about that
muttered Curt.
He cast about for something tc
climb on, found a stool which he
placed on the bench. Standing or
this he peered over the top of the
boarding.
"Roofed," he said. He pulled the
chisel from his pocket and prieo
about to find a plank loosen thar
the others.
When he found a board he could
force up and had cast his beam
of light inside the bulkhead, hi.
body stiffened, not muscle moved
At last he climbed down silently
handed over his fashlight to Col
Inns, motioned the other up.
Stacked inside the long storage
room, securely braced on heavy
timbers, was single row of eigh
streamlined aerial bombs, each thu
height of man. On the shell
above them was neat row of eigh
nose fuses and eight tail fuses ready
to be screwed into place.
Thousand pounders!" breathet
Collins, back on the floor. 80
course, they'd be bound to use tn,
most powerful. They'd have to pu
all their hopes in one dash. They't
never get close enough secont
time"
stAll right, we've found out wha
we wanted to know" growled Curt
and amended himself, tto know TO
sure. Let's get out of here. til
take time to get back to Tempujo.
He replaced the stool exactly a
LID found II Under the trees again