E. D. Skinner

“ With frantic energy he “yanked-down” the “Landing” lever of the helicopter, grabbed the parachute, pushed the button which “unstoppered” the “bottle,” and jumped—making the descent in “record” time, but landing so violently that he was buried in the snow, because, in his panic, he forgot to pull the string of his parachute until he was two-thirds down.
A momentary fear of being smothered in the snow, was followed by a spasm of skilled “football” tactics in “bucking” and squirming his way out; and, floundering frantically towards his beloved, he yelled at the top of his voice:
“Esmeralda! ”

“ Directly below the wrecked biplane, he quickly discovered his beloved Esmeralda standing waist-deep in the snow, with one arm raised as if to repel an expected attack, and still clad in the “picture-frame” costume which had caused their row. ”

“ Then, as the topographical details of his “den” became clearer to his blurred vision, his eyes picked out the recumbent form of his correctly attired and correctly featured valet slumbering peacefully and audibly in a Morris chair in the far corner—and this under the very nose of his master! Instantly the bottle was hurled at the valet’s head!—and the latter promptly proved his trained efficiency in the art of sleeping “with one eye open,” by automatically and unnecessarily dodging.
Finally Algernon’s superheated emotions found vent in speech. ”

“ Y’un’erstan’? Alg’non Shid’ey Shain’ Shons’one!”
With a “Yes, sir! At once, sir! As you say, sir!” the valet obeyed promptly, and was soon buried in his master’s private code-book; while Algernon, now considerably sobered by his rage, became fully conscious of the peculiar buzzing sensation in the region of his upper left-hand vest pocket—and of the fact that this buzzing indicated beyond a doubt that his fiancee, Esmeralda Clementine Jones-Bronson, desired to communicate with him. ”

“ Stepping to the mouth of the “bottle,” he pressed a button, and the stopper flew out with a loud report. Entering the narrow passage-way through the “neck,” he switched on the electric lights and found himself in a spacious, tempered-glass compartment “blown-into” the framework in such a way as to practically surround itself with a vacuum space, and with the few necessary contacts elaborately insulated. A yank at a lever started an “Oxygen Supply” apparatus (already set at “One Person”) going, and a touched button caused the “stopper” to fly back into place with another loud report. ”

“ And then, as if it was a reflex of the original yank, came the answering “tug” of the rear propeller as it automatically shot out of its pocket going full speed “In Reverse.”
Opening his eyes with nerves taut for the crucial moment, he reached for the “Plane-wing” lever with one hand, and glanced at the “Speedometer” for the indication of the moment when it would be safe, and necessary, that he throw-out his biplane-wings of “Electro re-tempered” steel with a “spread” of one hundred and fifty feet. ”

“ But Algernon had “hung up.”
By now he was sober enough to realize that he was not sober enough for the task in hand, so he quickly snapped the bracelets of an “Electric Regenerator” around his wrists, set the regulator at “2 seconds,” lapsed into unconsciousness—and awoke at the end of that time an entirely different man, as the result of the equivalent of two nights’ natural sleep.
His first move on awakening was to reach for a button in the desk before him marked “Package Transporter” ”

“ Pressing a button in his desk marked: “P.T.”, an apparently ornamental filigree upon the ceiling dropped and snapped into the form of a suspended package transporter. Pushing a button on the receiver of the transporter numbered: “7826,” a book, stamped with that number, promptly slid into his hand. The book proved to be a Laird and Lee’s “Common School Edition” of “Webster’s New Standard Dictionary” of the copyright date of “1912.” He had chosen this as his and Esmeralda’s private code-book, because he believed that the two copies possessed by them were all that remained in existence. ”

“ Turning to the “Electro-visional” dial, he threw the clutch into the “3670 Mile” circuit, picked out the faint outline of the higher peak of Mt. McKinley, and stuck a needle-point into it. This he connected, by means of a delicate copper wire, with “Local”—which he knew was permanently connected in a similar manner with the gigantic dynamo at Niagara Falls—set the regulator of his “Electric-flash” at “.017 Seconds,” pushed a button which shut off the helicopter, yanked back the lever which collapsed it into its overhead pocket ”

“ On the face of things, it looks like the narcotics are the only genuine stuff left to us by the ‘Bootlegger-Smuggler-Prohibitionist Combine’.”
The look of pain that had distorted his features quickly disappeared, and in its place there came the comforting jubilance of an anticipated pleasure. Turning to a combination-lock to the cash drawer of his desk; he set the knob at “0,” turned it forward to “20,” back to “15,” forward again to “2,” back to “1,” again forward to “3,” back a full revolution again to “3” and lastly forward to the final “15.” ”

“ He is sure to be one of those ‘ex-convict’ crooks working on a percentage for what he can get, and, if he catches you out here in public in that costume, he will rush you into one of his ‘kangaroo’ courts, and ‘railroad’ you into jail! ”

“ But he well knew that, if he would not be bullied through life by his future wife, he must maintain the upper hand throughout the engagement period; and—his delay in answering would have a chastening effect!
The row had started when he presented Esmeralda, as a birthday present, with one of two specially-designed miniature radio receiving-and-broadcasting sets. His own carried the equipment in a small gold case in his vest pocket ”