Adventure Magazine Cover — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

6 Lassiter titillated his fancy does not obtain south of the equator. The American- Spaniard’s idea of romance is marriage and mistresses. It is somewhat akin to the Peruvian shop-keeper’s idea of business, where he has three or four prices on every article in his ézenda. Spanish-America’s slogan seems to be, Caveat emptor et mulier. The whole ensemble lacks a certain high cold wind that blows through the Anglo- Saxon idea of romance. In time Lassiter learned these things, and the bars of his prison slowly enfolded him again. The West Coast of South America became an extension of the Stendill offices in Maiden Lane. é ‘Se feat at the head of the Stendill ee, millions was his organization of the mat passenger service from Quito to Rio de Janeiro, and the establishment along the Amazon and across the Andes, of a line of hangars, supply depots, and big tourist hotels at favorable locations. At present, it is the world’s most ambitious aerial achievement. In formulating his plans, Morrow called Lassiter from Lima to New York for a con- ference. The president presented the idea in a block to Lassiter for the South Ameri- can agent to elaborate it. It was this: At that time the transcontinental railway from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso which connected with the Antofagasta line into Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, held a monopoly on travel across South America. Valpa- raiso was twenty-six days from New York, -by way of Buenos Aires. Morrow’s pro- jected line from Rio to Quito would cut this schedule to sixteen days with the ad- vantage of flying over some of the richest tropical scenery in the world. Underneath the traveler would unroll the mysteries of the Amazon, the grandeur of the Andes, and the beauties of ancient Spanish cities. As a tourist attraction, such an aerial tour would be unequaled on the globe. More- over the price that could be quoted would be almost as low as the longer and more grueling journey by train across the monot- onous plain of the Argentine. Morrow estimated the cost of such a pro- ject at from fifteen to eighteen millions. It turned out in fact to be sixteen and there- M. L. N. MORROW’S greatest Adventure quarters. When he laid this outline before his subordinate, he impressed upon Lassiter the need of absolute secrecy in the prelimi- nary survey. The Chile-Argentine railroad would not be indifferent to such rivalry. No doubt they would install a duplicate service. Moreover, having a railroad as a base of construction, they could launch their dirigibles before the Americans could get into the air. “Therefore,” pointed out the president, “T would suggest that your preliminary survey be conducted as inconspicuously as possible. Why not be engaged ostensibly upon some other venture, say prospecting for copper, or seeking a soil that will pro- duce this new South American drink, mate. Use your judgment about the color of your expedition, select your own _ personnel, choose your own route, and do it all un- observed.”’ Lassiter remained in New York upward of © three weeks after this consultation, prepar- ing for his journey of exploration. . During this period there stuck in his head the prob- lem of an entirely inconspicuous survey. Here was the difficulty. Lassiter was well known, almost noted, along the West Coast of South America for the many enter- prises he had promoted. Latin-American financiers had come to watch him as a com- mercial weathercock pointing the winds of fortune. The Latin-American is not a man of action in the American sense. He is deliber- ate, but highly observing; he is indolent, but full of chicane. He is an extremely difficult man to beguile. Lassiter knew if he launched any sort of expedition into the interior of South America from any point along the coast, half a dozen men in his employ would be agents of the Argentine- Chile railroad. That formed his problem. The Stendill agent required no ordinary deception. He needed something enigmatic, impenetrable, absolute—there he stuck. Life has a surprizing way of presenting to the seeker exactly what he is looking for. It seems almost as if mind fashioned matter in its own image as Berkely claims it does. To wish is to possess. This, of course, is no new truth. It was promulgated two thousand years ago by a certain wise man, whose teachings, un- fortunately, have fallen in disrepute with the human race. This seer expressed it— MICLOOOK C@