Edwin Balmer

“ War—and life?”
He turned; and now he was the one holding to her, as they walked away in the darkness and behind the cars. “Let me kiss you, Corrie.”
Her face was against his; now she flung open her coat and his hand came against the flesh of her shoulders; he stooped and kissed her throat. “All right now!” he said.
A minute later he was again over the lake.
Corrina stood at the edge of the field staring after him till the wind no longer brought the sound of the engine; then recollecting, she ran, not sparing herself till she reached Harry Wallace's radio-room. ”

“ Gregg leaned toward Winston, “The tugs!” he called.. “They're finding heavy ice packed at the mouth of the river. I guess they can't get out!”
The thrill of the combat of men, and men's creations, with the elements halted him. He put his back to the frost-shrouded show-window of a milliner's shop and stood staring lakeward through the storm. He could see nothing beyond Grant Park—not even the lights at the river mouth or the beacons on government pier. ”

“ Readers of this thrilling story of adventure will share the anxious suspense that kept a whole city waiting up for news one stormy winter's night. Out in the inaccessible ice floes of Lake Michigan an injured man suffered alone on an abandoned boat while a volunteer took the one desperate chance of rescue. ”

“ You've got to allow for that constantly and head at a theoretical point between the spot you're aiming for and the spot the wind's blowing from. That's why, when you see an airplane in flight, it rarely is traveling actually in the way it's headed.”
“I don't see,” said Callider, “how a pilot would find anything at all over the lake to-night.”
“He'd certainly have to feel for it.”
“If he found it—the Andana, for instance—could he land safely?”
“Might save himself, but not his ship; there seems to be quite a big ice-field about the Andana. Getting down on it would depend a lot on luck. ”

“ A few miles up—at ten to twelve thousand feet—you often find very strong winds; much more than this; but they don't bother you.”
“Then the snow is the reason no one goes to the Andana?”
“The snow'd certainly make any one fly blind to-night,” Gregg said. “And it would be no easy business finding the ship, even if they knew exactly where they were and could tell you. Flying in a wind, even when you can see, it's not easy to steer just where you want to go—unless the wind blows straight to or from your objective point.” ”

“ In case he has to put back, they're arranging landing lights in the city; but he may get lost; besides the Andana is supposed to be nearer here than Chicago—I want lighted landing grounds to be arranged along this shore. Walton's Field is a good place here; near the lake and smooth and hard; the wind keeps it free from drifts. We'd better have a big fire built at one end, and then down two sides, leaving a long, wide lane the direction of the wind. Father, get people to place their motor cars with bright head-lights over the landing lane. ”

“ Corrina cried, thrusting the paper from her. “They've no right to. No one can fly and live to find any one on the lake to night!” And she went to the east window where the storm beat. Her trouble was that she knew that Gregg—if he saw this—would want to try it. ”

“ Gregg asked Callider.
“He's an ex-soldier who had a head wound—the one who tried for the shore. Had a plate for part of his skull; when he fell on the ice, after he was half frozen, he seemed to knock something out of place. He's crazy with pain and they can't do anything for him. They wirelessed to send a surgeon with instruments and anesthetics on the tug. ”

“ She—they hear an airplane—It's circling them! Coming down!”
For five minutes Corrina gripped the boy's shoulders and he never once winced; then:
“The Andana again. They say: “Airplane smashed-landing—both men unhurt—have reached ship.”
Later that night the radio carried the word that Dr. Rowntree of Chicago, who had been brought to the Andana by airplane. had performed successfully an emergency operation upon the ex-service man, Daniel Maloney. The next day the Alabama wirelessed that she had reached the position of the Andana and was standing by. ”

“ Stokely.”
“What's that now?”
“A-n,” the boy wrote. “That's Chicago calling Andana. Mrs. Stokely they're asking if—Andana's seen anything. Now there's the Andana. She's saying: 'Chicago; no.'”
Corrina stared at her watch. It was four minutes after eight; and she knew that in the first rush through the storm steering by fixed reckoning, her husband had missed the Andana and he must be circling about, lost in the snow.
She gazed to the east into the blackness over the lake; turning to the south ”

“ The only chance for this man lies in the revival of the will to take the extreme risk without regard to self which distinguished our war-pilots a year and a half ago. We have several brave and skilful flyers in this city. ”

“ D'you suppose Mahoney asked what my name was before he started out for me?”
“That was in war, Gregg. Every one was taking chances; no one knew, anyhow, whether he'd be alive or dead the next minute. It wasn't so much to do in war.” Winston stopped and colored as his brother-in-law faced him. Winston was one of those who had not got over. “Isn't that right, Gregg?” he appealed.
Gregg stepped, unopposed, into a telephone booth and when he got the number:
"Hello, city editor? This is Gregg Stokely; do you happen to— Yes, I want to, if you can get me a ship—better have ordinary landing-gear ”

“ Everybody all right on board?”
“All but one man, they say, sir. Good-night, Mr. Stokely.”
“What happened to him?” Gregg was asking; but the people poured out of the car and swept him aside. “Good night, Fred.”
Gregg drifted to the door where, in spite of Win's endeavor to lead him past, he bought a paper and stood reading the headlines and subheads.
“Radio locates Andana! Lost steamer leaking and badly battered from battle with floes. Reports by wireless. Locked in the great ice-field thirty miles N.E. city. All hands safe, but one man badly injured. ”

“ HE BENT forward and illustrated with his finger on the table-top as he saw Callider's interest. “The wind's almost always blowing at an angle to the direction you want to go; now you're flying in the wind, so you side-drift—fall off—just as fast and as far as the wind is blowing. ”