Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 12, 1927 — page 53: what you’re looking at

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

KERRY OF THE AIR MAIL. 527 wouldn’t have it any other way. I know These descendants of Icarus were taking everything will be all right. And if not— the long chance. They had done what they we'll at least be together, and we have the rubber boat.” It is just possible that if these two ad- venturous youngsters could have seen the ‘joyous face of Samuel Sheldon back in his New Brunswick home, they would not have had the audacity—or rather, the heart— to carry out the daring plan which they had made weeks ago, after the surprising tests of the great Sheldon plane. They would have seen Samuel Sheldon, before his radio set, jumping up and down for glee, then wear a puzzled expression as his son looked at him quizzically with a “ Keep cool, dad. I know it’s going to be all for the best.” For the news from far-off San Francisco was that the Sheldon plane had not landed. At San lT’rancisco the crowd was astonished to see it circle about the field three times and then tilt skyward. Glenn had throt- tled down and reminded her: “ Last call, Betty. Up to you. We have plenty of gas. Weather great. Fine visibility.” “ Still game, dear. We'll never have a better chance.” * All right. Good luck, little girl. Wait a minute. Ill point her over beyond the field—no danger of hitting anybody with it then. Careful—folks below. All right. No one there. Now!” At the signal, Betty Sheldon had calmly pulled out two bolts. The landing gear dropped from the Shel- don plane. Glenn and Betty had established the su- periority of Samuel Sheldon’s new ship by being the first above the San Francisco Air Field. It was true that some other plane, if it finished, might be the technical winner and get the first prize, but that would go to the pilot. It would not interfere with the orders for planes that would literally pour into the plant of the Sheldon Company, no matter what happened from this point on. ‘ It would simply be a question of the other plane’s touching its wheels to the ground first, a technical but questionable victory. could for Samuel Sheldon. Now they were setting out to make airplane history. The Sheldon plane swooped over the water like a great sea bird, and headed for Honolulu. Between them and their goal was something like twenty-four hundred miles of leaping salt water. The news of the daring hop flashed all over the world, and as if in greeting for this supreme act of courage, the sun burst out from behind a small cloud and silvered the wings of the speeding ship. Long before they made Honolulu, if they did, darkness would fall again, but as in the case of the historic Lindbergh flight, would not “‘ Darkness be made light by emprise?”’ XI. GLENN KERRY was keenly aware of the extreme hazard of the venture upon which he had set his heart several weeks before. Both he and Betty, and her brother Dick as well, had realized that with the massive strides made in aviation in recent years, and particularly in 1927, there was a strong pos- sibility of perhaps half of the eight planes reaching San Francisco. The daring flight of Lindbergh, who would ever remain king of the air no mat- ter what subsequent air history might be made; the nearly two-thousand-mile hop of Alcock and Brown, as far back as 1910; the flights of Chamberlin and Levine, of Maitland and Hegensberger, of Brock and Schlee, and Byrd and other daring airmen of many countries—all these had had their effect in showing that the seemingly impos- sible was possible. The several flights had shown that the conquest of great distances was not a mere accident—that they could be duplicated, and perhaps even exceeded. The situation had needed only some one to point the way. Many a night, away from the ears of Samuel Sheldon, Glenn and Betty and Dick had discussed the possibility of making the Sheldon plane achieve a record non-stop flight over land and sea so that the feat would go rocketing around the world, and COPMICLOOOKS (E@