Air Stories — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

SECRET OF KALUNDA rose from the close-packed audience. Then Grant spoke. He, too, was weak and exhausted, more so perhaps than the girl. His tongue felt like cracked leather to his lips, but he had saved all his energy for this moment of final appeal. ‘“‘If you permit this wicked deed the Great White King will find you! ’”’ he warned. ‘‘He will punish. No matter how you hide he will find you, for his servants ride the air like birds. Set us free and return to your homes and no harm shall come to... .”’ His words were cut short by a stag- gering blow on the face from one of the guards, a blow that brought Grant to his knees and drew blood to his lips. In the hush that ensued he seemed to hear a distant hum, as of aircraft, but he was half dazed from the blow, and now Afali broke the silence. ‘* Let the first be hurled to the gods,’’ he cried. Grant clambered painfully to his feet, and as he rose he thought he saw a cluster of ‘dots low against the sky to the west. An unreasoning hope clutched him, and then vanished. The mirage of the desert was a familiar sight. Why not a mirage of the sky ? There could be no aircraft within a thousand miles of them. The unfortunate policeman was dragged, struggling, to the middle of the rope. His body was doubled over it and two men seized each arm and leg. Holding him tightly, they pulled away from the precipice, and as they pulled the rope gave like the rubber of some gigantic catapult. Now Afali raised his hands above his head and slowly bowed three times towards the sun. Then he gave a great shout, and on the instant the native was released and the rope swept him forwards and up like a shot from a cannon. The doomed man gave a long-drawn yell of despair which faded quickly as his body rocketed in a falling curve. The action of the air caused him to spin fast and unevenly like an unbalanced top. The cliffs took up the sound of his cry and echoed it back to the rock long 45 after he had sunk from view. Judy’s Iknees gave way and she would have fallen but for the men who held her fast. The crowd, now wildly excited, yelled, and then were quiet, eager for a repeti- tion. Then, superimposed on this sudden silence, came the roar of many Kestrel engines, plainly heard. A great sob of fear seemed to rise from that close- packed multitude as they turned their heads and saw two flights of gigantic birds hurtling towards them. FALI, too, was visibly shaken by the sudden appearance of the white men’s aeroplanes, following so closely upon Grant’s threat of their coming. But he was not yet beaten. He had travelled far, and had seen the White Man’s birds in distant places. He knew that they needed wide plains in which to alight, and they could not alight here. They would have to return the way they had come. Nor could they shoot their fire for fear of hitting their own people. So he fought his fear and shouted encouragement to his followers. He called to the prisoners’ guards to hold their ground, and then himself dropped from the rock and took cover among the bushes. The formation drew near in an ac- cumulated roar of power, passed over- head and swept round in a wide circle. It was a good formation except for one machine that lagged behind the rest. Now it was to the north of the rock, having turned 180°, so that it was headed again for the coast. And almost as rapidly as they had appeared the birds of the air diminished in size and the roar of their engines faded. They had carried out their appointed task. It was rather a futile task, thought Squadron Leader Vachell, flying at the apex of the V_ formation—really a waste of time. And there was always the risk of engine failure on a job like this. The sooner they got back to the ship the better it would be for all con- cerned, Meek, too, thought it unutterably futile to have come so far for no purpose. Comiclooks.com