James R. Driscoll

“ Early in the morning Jack, Fred and Andy had a hasty breakfast and then hurried to the hangar just as Don was returning to snatch a few hours' sleep to make up for the long vigil.
"See anything further?" Jack asked.
"No," Don answered. "The fellow, whoever he is, didn't return, but I wish he had."
"Well, we're going over every inch of that plane today," Jack informed him. "But I've just been thinking that it might be best not to say anything; in fact, to make it seem that our suspicions have been lulled to sleep." ”

“ What effect would this suddenly developed and new international situation have upon the proposed Transatlantic flights?
Big Jack strolled over again to the window to gaze out at the muddied atmosphere of Halifax. From every viewpoint and everywhere it seemed to be a gloomy outlook. Men fresh from war are wearied of it and have [Pg 90] no desire for a new outbreak of that international pestilence. The glamor of it has gone; while they will of course fight if need be, they prefer the arts and the comforts of peace. They have learned to appreciate them a great deal more than they ever did before. ”

“ Half an hour later a score of young men, ruddy of complexion, clear of eye, supple of action, men who did not know the meaning of physical fear, were gathered together in the spirit of schoolboys on the big field that fronted the giant hangars in which were stored the powerful machines that soon were to vie with each other, even as now their pilots and mechanics were about to do, in a historical contest of the air. ”

“ The big-cylindered motors still were smashing out all the power they had in them and the propellers were lashing the air with seemingly uninterrupted force; the air-speed indicator still stood at one hundred and twenty-five miles an hour, and petrol was being consumed at an alarming rate; yet the lads all felt now that they were doing nothing more than holding their own—virtually remaining stationary over one spot which at any instant now might become their unmarked and unknown grave. ”

“ Don saw what happened; the others had too much to do in righting their own plane at that instant to pay attention to anything else. Jack and Andy had come literally as near as a hair losing control of their own plane in making the final attack which disposed of the other. As a matter of fact, had they not been such masters of their machine, all might have gone to the fate that the others found as the reward for their treacherous undertaking. ”

“ Fears which beset the preliminaries are forgotten; the imagination is awakened with new ambitions; life seems to hold forth previously unthought-of possibilities. And the real joy of it all is that the aerial flight never loses its thrill, never fails in these and new sensations. ”

“ The sharp-visaged, snappy-eyed, gray-haired head of the air service listened in silence until the whole plan was outlined and the great question put to him. Could he supply such men? Such an aero crew? Men who could be trusted not only to get to Europe, but to get there with the documents? ”

“ But the moment the plane is either augmented or retarded by favorable or unfavorable winds, the air-speed indicator becomes a very unreliable instrument for showing distances traveled: it practically only records the speed of the air pushed past the plane. It is like running at ten miles an hour with a pin-wheel in the hand on a perfectly calm day, and getting a certain velocity of revolutions of the wheel per minute. On another day one might stand still with the pin-wheel and permit the rush of a high velocity of wind to twirl it round with the same speed. ”

“ At any instant it seemed that they would be carried away. Jack grabbed a lever and suddenly shot a double dose of petrol into the engines. They put forth their mightiest effort in just the nick of time. It was sufficient to drag them upward a dozen feet, and another gale of wind that would have completely capsized them at their previous level, as suddenly righted them now—and they were headed down the hurricane at a speed that human beings never had traveled before.
They cut down their speed considerably by all but shutting the throttles and depending only upon the force of the storm ”

“ Even with the present practicability of the aeroplane, equipped with every known invention and device for expediting and safeguarding flights, a Transatlantic air voyage is something not to be regarded lightly, nor indeed to be undertaken at all, except by the hardiest and most courageous of men, endowed with a supreme fatalism and an all-enduring self-confidence. ”

“ Henryson, a lone and ostracized man, stalked across the field just as Big Jack Carew, laughing and puffing, came in a winner, twenty yards ahead of the next nearest man.
Thereafter there were broad-jumps, high-jumps, pole-vault contests and many other tryouts in athletic skill, but it remained for Fred Bentner to show them something in the way of novelty in almost monkey-like agility. ”

“ There was a considerable delay, during which they concluded that the dispatch was being telephoned to General Bronson, and then the answer came, "Good work," and out of the silence of the night there was recorded no more.
The balance of their journey was without incident, but every turn of the propeller, every explosion within the cylinders, it might be said, gave them renewed confidence that when they essayed the ocean flight, if that should be their privilege or their mission, they would do so with a machine as near to perfection as modern engineering could make it. ”

“ The wind had died down and here was the chance of reaching the wayward plane. Big Jack never strove harder than he did then. When he was almost in reach of the hydro he heard a muffled cry behind him. It was Andy, almost exhausted.
He measured the distance. He saw Fred and Don come up with Andy and grasp the exhausted swimmer, one on either side.
"They'll be all right for a minute," he muttered. "But we'll all be out if we don't get the plane now." ”

“ Fred Bentner prompted Big Jack.
"Nothing definite, of course," Carew replied. "But everybody's here, ready and anxious for the hop-off. The Henryson people are awfully confident of the staying powers of their single-engine machine; and the [Pg 16] Falcon crew is just as strong for that type. But I want to tell you that for both speed and endurance, as well as for safety and emergencies, I believe our dual motor hydro has got them all topped, and that, all other things being equal, we'll beat them to it when the real contest comes." ”

“ What do you say if we try to get some of the others together for some field sports—running, jumping, pole vault and track—regular old-fashioned all-round contest like we used to have at Brighton?"
"Andy, you're a wonder," ejaculated Fred Bentner, immediately enthusiastic. "Why, it's just what we need to limber up our muscles and put new ginger into us. We've been sitting around moping too long already."
"Yes," agreed Big Jack, "if by some chance or accident it should develop that we should start upon the flight today we're in no mental [Pg 26] condition for it. Our minds are groggy. ”

“ With only one able hand and arm to work with the fellow did remarkably well, but he could not handle the giant plane successfully under such a handicap.
Even then, and in that desperate situation, Jack and his crew would have let up in mercy had not the enemy, in a long, circling dive again renewed the fire.
Jack nodded his head to Andy, and Fred, understanding the signal, got ready to do his part. They banked at a dangerous, nerve-racking angle, and then in a long, sweeping curve came down upon the already crippled machine which could not get out of the way. ”

“ For, when these lads awakened, after a deserved sleep of more than twenty hours, it was to find the London newspapers laid out for them, the head-lines telling the marvels of their accomplishment.
Japan was appeased. The work of the Peace Conference again took to smooth channels. World confidence and world peace were again restored.
Small wonder that all civilization paid homage to the Brighton Boys who had saved the situation! ”

“ Jack continued, "replenish oil and petrol, mount a machine gun which already has been ordered there for us by wireless, and which will be secretly put into the hangar, so that no one will begin gossiping, and then we're off."
"Weather permitting, of course," suggested Fred.
"The international crisis is not being affected by the weather," Jack answered. "Only an impossible brand will prevent our getting away just as soon as we are ready. This is not to be a test flight under the most favorable conditions, but under whatever weather happens to prevail, once we get under way." ”

“ In the ten minutes it required to take aboard the hundred gallons of sorely needed additional fuel, the captain of the tanker proved himself all that Fred had predicted of him. And as they waved their final farewells and the plane took to the air, all felt a pang of genuine regret that the circumstances made it necessary for them to withhold the essential facts as to their actual mission. ”

“ At an altitude of nearly two miles they were skimming through the air at something more than a hundred miles an hour when Fred again uttered an exclamation of surprise.
"What now?" Don demanded.
"Wait!"
Again the engines were shut down to permit Fred to hear more clearly.
"The other plane and the ship are talking again, but I can't make it out," he explained. "It's all garbled, and I can only get a word here and there. Sounds like some sort of a code. By Jingo! It is! They're evidently talking to some other ship, and one friendly to them, at that. Conversation don't make sense at all." ”

“ It landed with the power of a motor truck behind it. It caught Henryson on that fatal spot, the point of the jaw, and lifted him clear of the ground. He staggered for an instant and then dropped in an unconscious, and for the moment a seemingly lifeless, heap. Andy looked at him for only a second, and then dropped his clenched hands. He, as well as the others, knew that the blow had been struck which had ended the fight. Henryson was out.
Captain Allerson glanced at the defeated pilot, and then walked over to Andy.
"Young man," he said. "I'm not supposed to watch fights without interferin'. ”

“ Henryson suggested, evidently intent upon being as nasty as possible.
"No, not proud, but awfully confident," Jack responded quietly, but with a note of distinct warning in his tone.
Henryson's answer was almost a sneer. "There are several ways of making things interesting," and he strode on past.
"I'll wager he's one of the meanest men in Canada," said Fred Bentner, turning to look after Henryson.
"Wonder what he meant by that last remark," added Don. "Sounded like a veiled threat to me."
"Huh," said Big Jack. "I guess there's no cause for alarm. Barking dogs seldom bite, you know." ”

“ It was long after dark when the four young men, returning to their hut from that of [Pg 38] another crew, were brought to a sudden halt a hundred feet away from their own hangar.
"What's that?" Big Jack had whispered, at the same time attracting the attention of the other three to a form barely discernible in the night, as it skulked along in the dense shadow of the big building.
"It's a man, and apparently bent on no good," said Andy Flures, at the same time starting for the hangar on a run, followed closely by the others. ”

“ As Don crawled forward to take his place behind the shielded shoulder of the machine gun, Fred stripped himself of the wireless paraphernalia to become mechanician while Jack and Andy gave all their time to the engines and the maneuvering. At the same time they climbed higher, maintaining the advantage which always is with the upper plane in aerial battle. ”

“ They landed on Henryson's face, head, body and stomach. But he was no weakling, nor was Andy endowed with the stamina to keep up such a ferocious attack indefinitely. If nothing else, neither he nor any other man had the lung power to keep up the breath necessary for such an onslaught. ”

“ Fred urged.
"Well," Andy continued, "why, for instance, the machine gun? These fellows in Washington are not given to useless delays or to heroics. Their attitude was mighty serious, and although they didn't mention it, I grasped that there might be interests which, if they knew we had these documents, might go a mighty long way to come into possession of them, or at least prevent their being presented at the Peace Conference in time to accomplish their purpose." ”

“ He trotted off across the field, to where a bleak building stood out uninvitingly against the horizon. It was the general storehouse of the coast guard station at that point, and was in charge of the ex-whaling captain with whom Big Jack Carew had discussed Newfoundland weather conditions on his first morning there. And the former whaler, it proved, was as good a sport as he was skipper.
"Would he lend Archie Brown the twenty pairs of snowshoes which that youth had seen stowed away there one day while he was holding a lengthy conversation with the old salt?" ”