The Argosy, Christmas 1912 — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

46 We let the airman sleep till he woke himself, having put in ten hours’ good rest. He felt refreshed, and showed no ill effects of his experience. He was able to sit at the table with us and eat. His manner was shy, almost fear- some. He would glance furtively from one to the other, but his regard mostly rested on Donaldson. Wishing to break the barrier that seemed to be building itself around him, [ introduced Ordway and myself, and explained about Donaldson and the island, and the manner in which we had come there. To make all this clear required some time. They were all finished with their meal betore I had fairly begun. “Now,” I said, “ you know all about us. While I get some grub into me, go ahead and tell us what you care to about yourself. You do not, of course, wish to spend the rest of your life on this island. Your air-ship is in the trees, not far from here, but I fear it is in bad shape.” He sighed, and yet a half smile played around his rather weak moth. “Poor old ship,” he said. “T little thought it would be used to escape from arrest in. But here goes, gen- tlemen. I feel that not only am I among my countrymen, but among friends as well. “My name is Sanderman—Mark Sanderman. I am twenty-three years old. My father died a few years ago, leaving my mother and sister enough to live on and me just a little to start life with. That was as it should be, and I had no doubt of my ability to make my own way in the world. Espe- cially was this so, as I had the backing -of a loving—nay, a doting—mother, and a most affectionate sister, Alma.”’ Ordway and I shot a glance at each other. The name of the air-ship was explained. “T was from my very youngest days a tinker. I became an inventor, and as a machinist went to work for a man in Paterson, New Jersey, named Joloff. This man, though an American citizen, THE ARGOSY. had some kind of foreign blood in his veins—I don’t know what. But he was capable, shrewd, cruel, and mean. still, his shops gave me the employ- ment I needed, and did not exact too much of my time. “We lived in Jersey City, on what they call the Heights, and back of these, on the meadows, I obtained pos- session of a piece of reclaimed land, and built a little factory of my own. In my hours away from Joloff’s shops in Paterson I worked at my owni in- ventions. . “My mind turned to air-ships. Now, you must know, gentlemen, that the building of air-ships is no play for a poor man. But I was confident that I had the idea in air-ships. I showed the plans to Joloff, and he proposed to study them, and if he considered it a good investment, to go in with me. He gave me back the plans, and said they would not work out as a com- mercial success. “ Still I was confident, and my sister told me to go ahead and she would fur- nish the money. I did go ahead, com- pleted my air-ship secretly, and named it Alma, after my sister. “As you perhaps know, there is a great international exhibition of air- ships, aeroplanes, all kinds of air‘craft, going on at Paris now. I shipped the Alma, and my sister and mother ac- companied me, for we were sure I had the prize-winner. “Among the exhibitors wads the In- ternational Air Navigation Company. There was some mystery about the people who composed this company. When the first day for air-ships, after the aeroplanes had done their flying, had come, it was with the feelings of a conqueror that I got my Alma from the great shed that had been allotted to me and began preparations to soar. “Imagine my amazement and cha- grin when the International Air Navi- gation Company brought out a bigger air-ship — my own on a larger scale, costing more money than my sister and I could command. CoOMmicbook CO