Air Wonder Stories, July 1929 — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

MEN WITH WINGS 65 started shortly after we did, but ours was uncom- monly fast so that we led the race. It was I who discerned a large band of flying men gathered to- gether several miles ahead. They sighted us and quickly spread out fan fashion until they disap- peared altogether into the blue sky, We were happy. We had found them out, CHAPTER THREE Caught *ARCY leaned toward me. “I suggest that D we go in search of some likely place and proceed on foot ... If these fellows have some means of destroying the plane... a hell of a fix!” Acting on his suggestion I caught up one of the ear-phones that communicated with the driving seat; for D’Arcy and I were riding in the passenger cabin while Norton rode with Wormley, the pilot. Immediately we commenced circling down look- ing for a clearing in which to land. We saw two clearings that were not very large and appeared too irregular for our purpose. Then the trees, great giants, spread out before us without a single break mile after mile. We turned about then for we did not wish to get too close to the village of the winged men. We recalled the fate of the pilot who had! It was Norton who called my attention to a sight below. On the highest tree top we could make out a figure and it was waving to us, beating both arms over its head. D’Arcy cried out. “It’s a woman |” It was a woman and Wormley dropped lower so as to pass close to her when as suddenly as she had appeared she vanished from our sight into the thick foliage of the trees, pulled from below. We could do nothing but stare at the place she had been, as we skimmed overhead. We did not doubt but that she was indeed a captive, one of the hundreds of girls who had been abducted in the last few months, We were wild with joy now. The search was over. Below us we would find our quest. We knew at the same time that if we now returned to Cuzco with the news and brought out a squadron of rescue planes we would have been heroes indeed, But fired, rather, by the eagerness to. carry out our own mission we decided in favor of landing, if we could only park our plane somewhere! We had no way of knowing then that our decision was to cost our party two lives, but on the other hand our own plans would have carried no weight at all in the next turn of events. Turning back we continued to look for a clear- ing, but the winged men had already a different scheme for us. We had no sooner turned about when we heard murmurs through our communica- cation lines from Wormley. We could not under- stand what he was saying, but it became noticeable to D’Arcy and. myself that the plane was acting queerly. Then we almost took a nose dive, but with a superhuman effort Wormley held the nose up. He spoke into his phone, “T’m losing control,” he said. We held on to our seats not knowing what was coming. It was D’Arcy who first noted that he was we'll be in cold and I began to feel the chill in the air, a northern chill that did not belong to the equator, Then Wormley lost entire control of the ship. D’Arcy let out a yell. “We're moving backwards!” It was true, the plane was actually running back- ward, and in a circling motion, the earth seeming swinging about the trees slipped from under us grotesquely and the propeller was whirling crazily. Too, it was growing dark around us although it was only about ten o’clock in the morning! I could see the stin shining as if through a haze. When the propeller stopped we stared at the big motionless blades blankly. The engine was dead, but we continued to move around in a great circle as though we were being pulled along on a string! The chill was increasing each minute and we were shivering, I remembered the words of the pilot who had managed to broadcast the course of events be- fore he fell to... what? What was happening to us? Were we to die under the hands of the men we had come to discover? Now with the engine stalled we were moving faster and faster until below us through the grow- ing darkness we could see the jungle sweeping crazily around in a blurred vision. It had become so cold that I was entirely numbed, my sense of feeling gone. Then: “God! We're falling . . . falling...” The trees were coming up to meet us. I had a glimpse of a big wall crashing toward us. I covered my face with my hands. The crash came and our screams reyerberated in my ears as I sank into darkness that swept over me. And through it I heard voices and dreamed of giant eagles who were tipping my flesh from my bones, The Toll HEN I came to consciousness I wondered at finding myself in a hospital room. I re- called after racking my brains what had happened. I remembered the day’s flight, the flying men, the peculiar antics of our plane and the fall. Beyond that I could remember nothing and wondered now how I had been transported back to the city. For some minutes I lay staring at the sky-light overhead, through which diffused a sunlight like that of northern skies. Then turning my head I stared at the four walls, and the white beds of which there were five beside mine. Two, I saw, were occupied. For a moment I did not recognize the bandage swathed face of the figure in the next bed to mine as that of Howard Wormley. “Hello,” I said, addressing that hidden face, “could you tell me what I am doing here, and how T arrived?” The figure turned over and when he spoke I re- cognized him. “Well, it’s about time you came to, old fellow. I hasn’t been pleasant lying here for 7? seven days watching to see if you breathed or not! “Oh, it’s you Wormley,” I said, “Where’s Norton and D’Arcy?” I heard him sigh through his bandages, “Norton died immediately . . . and there’s D’Arcy in the other bed. He’s been suffering horribly and it is doubted whether he will live or not! We've feared for you, afraid that you would go, too,,,” comnliclooolks. com