Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

PA San ee, . 7? we ‘ Jo in Ge ha +. oe definite outlines, but none the less unmis- takably. “Tt is farther south than Stafford thought probable,” Fenton said. ‘“‘We must go up and notify the fleet at once.”’ With the big Gnome motor roaring at full speed, they shot northward again, both tense with the knowledge that minutes were precious in this dramatic climax to their day’s flight. But the fleet was not where they had left it. Instead, they could see the ships almost hull down on the horizon still further north, and they pressed on, wondering at the sud- den and unexpected change in the Admiral’s plans. Over the flagship they circled, and cut off the motor to volplane down, having no time to notice the activity of the other ships. As they alighted on the water and came to a stop, the barge that had come to their tents that morning ran out to them, and Lieuten- ant Stafford called a greeting. “Didn’t you understand our signals the first time you flew over?” he asked. “No,” Fenton replied. ‘‘Didn’t see any signals. What were they?” “We signaled you to come down,” ex- plained Stafford. ‘The G-8 was located by Ensign Merrick in one of the fleet’s ma- chines while I was on the way to your camp. The submarine has been successfully raised, and all of the men taken out alive and well. The Admiral requests that you come to the flagship so that he can personally express his thanks for your prompt and willing as- sistance.” The two men in the seats of the hydro- aeroplane glanced at each other, their eyes showing not so much surprise at this news as perplexity at the significance of what they themselves had discovered down the coast. Philip Conway seemed on the point of blurting out something of this to the naval officer, but a warning look from Fen- ton silenced him. “Will you tell the Admiral,” the aviator requested politely, ‘‘that no thanks are neces- sary and that, while I appreciate the invita- tion to visit him aboard his ship, I am al- ready late for several flying engagements at Sea View, and must start back at once? I am most profoundly thankful that you have discovered the submarine in time——’”’ “Yes,” Phil interjected. ‘Yes, of course, but what the devil——”’ “Now, Phil,” said Fenton quickly. ‘You 6 Adventure 3 ax mustn’t ask what caused her to sink. That is probably an official secret.”’ Conway subsided, rebuked by his com- panion’s very palpable misconstruction of what he was really about toask. The officer bowed, gave a command to the man at the wheel of the barge, and she backed away as the aviator, with a throw of his rear-starter, sent the Gnome into renewed life, and the hydro-aeroplane leaped forward over the water. Neither man said a word on their swift flight across the miles of open ocean, the gray finger of Long Point, and the calmer waters of the inlet. Once they glanced at each other as though answering some un- spoken thought. As their eyes met they smiled, and shook their heads to express their inability to find an explanation for what they had seen. Then again they turned their attention to the vista of land and sea that lay below them. ¥ boots that came to his waist, was = standing hip deep in the water as they alighted, ae ran the machine in beside the float. He caught its plane and held it while they climbed out, and then, having moored it safely, joined them in the tent. “Did you find the submarine, Chief?” he asked, all the ardor of his moving-picture- trained imagination glowing in his eyes. “The navy men found her,” Ward ex- plained. ‘They hauled her up and took the crew out safe and sound, so you can hurry over to the Imperial Hotel and be the first | one to give them the news. It will make you quite a hero with that ladies’ maid you have been so thick with since we have been here.” Carl flushed in guilty admission, but shook his head. “T ain’t in no hurry, Chief,” he said. “Tell me about it first.” Loder was, as are so many mechanicians in the aviation game, more than a mere hired man to his chief. Traveling, as they did, all about the country together, sharing whole-heartedly their mutual love for the wonderful machines they handled, and the highly perfected motors that drove them, they had become more friendly in their rela- tions than is usually the case in other fields of business, and Carl, a veritable magician with the puzzles of the Gnome and the in- tricacies of aircraft, had an unerring instinct that kept him from overstepping: the line (E(o) [Ani Loxeye) cS (E(@)