The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-10-29

far as he knew, and he was pretty
familiar with the project by now,
they had no use for generators of
that size, nor were any on order
that he knew of, and he'd had &C
cess4-.presumably-to all engineer
ing equipment orders then placed.
They reached the airfield spur.
Here a wide stand of manzanitas
made a black blob on the land
scape. They dared not continue use
of the motor, for sound rises and
San Alejo was not more than
kilometer ahead and above them.
Pushing the car up the branch
line, and backing out by the third
leg of the "Y" onto the main line
again, they had the car headed for
Tempujo once more. They left it in
the blacness of the low trees.
Curt funbled in the tool box, stuck
a chisel into hip pocket, and the
two men struck off down the airfeld
branch. Stars there were aplenty,
and they gave some light, but there
was no moon and the going was
rough.
They followed the tracks to pne
spur that led to the bodega at the
lower end of the field, then up this
spur to the fence: This lower gate
was locked, but Curt expected that.
He led the way along the fence I'M
til they'd turned the corner at the
end of the field, then on to the copse
of trees that sheltered the big build
ings. The blackness here was so thick
it felt solid as they pushed into it.
81 doubt if we need to worry about
a guard inside" Curt muttered.
''The fence is ordinary protection
and they couldn't keep a Waterman
at this end of the field without his
showing light at times. Lights
down here would cause speculation
if seen from San Alejo."
He seized hold of the fence and
pulled and pushed experimentally.
81 don't know" he confessed, "but
suspect it's strung along the top
for alarm. In any case, it'd be
darn near impossible for us to get
over that barbed stuff in the dark.
Well burrow under"
They used the fashlight, playing
it close to the ground. Putting the
chisel to work to loosen the earth,
Curt scraped away with his hands
until they had hole through which
they could crawl. He had sudden
thought.
Hey, take off your clothes! I've
got fresh ones at Tempujo for my
self, but if give you any others it
might be noticed"
Right"
Collins stripped to his shorts for
the forage, and, minus a gun belt,
had to carry his automatic in his
hand. They circled the three build
ings cautiously, the two hangers,
the adjoining shed-roof between, du-
plicate of the hangers at the other
end of the field.
Haven't yet cut the grass here"
commented Curt. "Huh. Probably
don't intend to-it's better indica-
ton that the buildings aren't III &C.
tive USE"
High in the walls was conttnu-
Gus horizontal strip of windowing
in ground glass. Not the faintest
glimmer of light showed anywhere.
Absolutely perfect camoufage
from above" growled Curt. Look
how they built the center portion
around trees. The trunks 60 up
through the roof. I'll bet not a
square foot of these buildings can
be seen from the air. Only the
tracks leading in here would tell
anything, and they can't be avoided.
But even the tracks, with the weeds
not kept down, probably look like a
cart path"
They were now in front. Down
at the other end of the field only
few night lights showed.
This loading platform along the
'front.'" went on Curt. ''It's anchored
only lightly to the buildings and the
ground. My guess is it could be
picked up by couple of dozen men
and swung out of the way in few
minutes. Pretty darn clever"
True, this loading platform, the
height of a fiat car, was not solid.
It jiggled to a healthy push.
"Wen, we can't force the doors,
obviously"
"Can we dig under as we did with
the fence, or do you suppose
there's fioor?"
Curt pondered. Bound to be a
cement floor" he decided. "Any-
way, we couldn't lamp down earth
inside when we left. No, the wall is
only corrugated sheet iron. Let's
find a section to pry loose"
They searched along the back of
the buildings, coming finally to a
spot where Curt could use his chisel
again with least likelihood of it's
being discovered. 1t took some min
utes before they had one sheet of
the sheathin5 sufficiently sprung to
| give them entrance. There was
noise to this job, try as they would
to muff1e it, but they seemed to
have the field to themselves. They
crawled through the opening.
Only Curt had a f1ashlight. He
played it about experimentally, then
more boldly, taking care that neither
| the beam nor a reflection from it
should hit the strip of windowing.
Then it fell on something and
stopped dead! Directly above them
spread wings of death.
"By God, Collinsl What'd I tell
you'll
His words sounded hollow, and
echoes slapped back at them from
the walls. The finger of light picked
out the fuselage of a huge plane
that lowered above the two men,
played along it back and forth. A
long, slender, cigar-shaped body, its