Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Secret of Caprice climbed in after him. A few turns of the rear-starter sent the thunder of their motor re-echoing across the water and among the hills and they hurtled forward in a smother of phosphorescent foam, rising when well down the inlet and climbing to a height that soon merged all the details of earth and sea in one shimmering glow of soft moonlight. CHAPTER VI THE CHASE IN THE MOONLIGHT HEY did not land on the Sea View waterfront. Phil decided that it would be impossible for him to go through ~ the resort and to the station without being seen by some one who knew him, and he did not want the news of his hurried trip to get to Nellie Blaydon until Ward had had a chance to explain it to her in his own way. A mile or more below the resort, a long indentation known locally as Gildey’s Creek ran in a narrow and tortuous channel far inland, its head being near the first station on the railroad line. It was here that they brought the aeroplane down to the water, cutting off their motor while still several thousand feet high and volplaning down in a graceful spiral without a sound that could be heard a quarter of a mile away. Ward worked the nose of the hydro up to the shore and Phil, taking his suit-case, stepped to the sandy beach. “Well, old top,” he said, “I hate to leave you just at this time, but I really don’t think there’s a chance in the world of those chaps repeating their call tonight.” Ward laughed easily. “Never fear,” he said. “That shot from Carl’s revolver will ring in their memories for some time to come. They’ll wait until they think we have forgotten the incident and then swoop down again prepared for war. Unless, of course, they take it as a warning that they have been discovered and scatter to the four winds. Your friend Dick Greiner will prevent that, I hope.” “Quite so. We'll leave all that sort of thing to Dick. I’ll be back just as soon as I complete my arrangements with him.” “All right. Shove me off and I'll get started for camp. I’m getting sleepy.” The high banks of the creek reverberated to the thunder of the Gnome as the rear- starter sent it again into action. Ward rose 25 in a shower of foam and climbed in a narrow ~ spiral until his practised ear told him once more that all was working smoothly. Then he glanced below. . The brilliant light of the full moon streamed over the earth and illuminated everything in its soft glow. He could see Phil Conway still standing on the shore, the white gleam on his face showing that he was craning his neck back to watch his friend mounting into the sky. Then the aviator, leveling out, headed east over the waters of Gildey’s Creek on his course to the broader expanse of the inlet. It was delightful flying for a man who so fad — : ga ity Biss at PSL Se a ae See : SS loved the game. The air had settled over . the earth in a flat calm and there was not a puff or a cross current to bother him. He sat back comfortably, his hands resting lightly on his wheel, his machine keeping its course with only the slight torque of the propeller to be corrected and that had be- come so nearly instinctive with long prac- tise that he did it without conscious thought. He saw the arc-lights of Sea View gleam- ing up at him from his left as-he reached the inlet. He had purposely climbed high so that the thunder of his motor would not reach those on the earth below. His was the only aeroplane within hundreds of miles now that the fleet was gone and he knew that the noise of his engine over the resort so late at night would cause talk and specu- lation that were certain to reach the ears of Nellie Blaydon. He did not want that. He had not yet made up his mind just how he would explain to her the object of Phil Con- way’s sudden trip to New York and he wanted time to think it over thoroughly before she should question him. Over the waters of the inlet, he swung south, following the soft glow on the waves between the dark shadows of the two shores. Above him, not a cloud was in the sky. The full moon and the myriad stars shone bright and unveiled with a definiteness that made them seem closer than the dim and misty earth below. It gave him a curious sense of detachment, as if he were a being in a uni- verse all his own, unconnected either with the crawling humans beneath him or the mysterious stellar systems that gleamed so brilliantly all about. Far down ahead of him, where the inlet proper made in from the open ocean, the dark masses of the shores were outlined in com <S Eboo com ee