Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

“Amen,” said Collins. ‘We will follow him-and beat him to a: frazzle, because our insulation renders us immune to his devilish ray.” The Men of the East Bz our ambition to discover and destroy his base was doomed to disappointment, Before two hours had passed, the wind suddenly increased, assumed the proportions of a gale, shrieked about our ship, buffeting it and straining it in every fiber. Soon the whole heav- ens were black with storm-tossed. clouds across which the lightning ran in vivid tongues of fire. The rain fell in torrents.and; as a deep twilight settled about us, the sea was blotted out in the mist, and ahead we could see nothing but a gray wall of swirling rain. Loudly: cursing the weather, Price looked at-me. “T think we had better land,” I said in answer to the question in his eyes. “We've lost track of the plane, anyhow, and it is not likely that we can pick it up again in this storm.” “Perhaps the scoundrels will go above it,” suggested Lieutenarit Collins. “Tf they were not damaged they might,” I said. “But, now that we are off their trail, I think they will take the opportunity to Jand on some desolate spot to make temporary repairs. We have made a good start - today—we have met the ‘blue: demon’ in-actual combat - and all but beaten him. Let-us console ourselves with these facts. . We will .go toward shore, Jay up for the night and perhaps to-morrow we may have better luck.” Accordingly: we turned west,.and in a half hour, fly- ing low, we saw a flat, sandy island beneath us. “On this we landed and made things snug for the night. The storm continued for. several hours, but the dawn broke clear. The wind had veered to the south, and now dying away, was breaking up the clouds above a tossing sea. Patches of blue sky showed=at inter- vals-and through a rift in the clouds we sailed up into the sunshine, “Shall we go back home, or continue south for a spell in the hope that we may sight our quarry?” I asked. “TLet’s keep on for another day at least,” replied Price. “T agree to that,” said Collins. As that was my notion also, we accordingly: set-our course south. : The clouds were breaking up rapidly. We sailed high above them, flying: leisurely and keeping a sharp lookout for the white. plane. Suddenly, through a break in the vapor, we saw it just above the sea. Its speed was-much more leisurely than that of the day before. 3 “We will drop down and rip him open,” said Price joyously: “We've got him this time.” Remembering the deadly blue ray, we closed every opening of the cabin as we began our dive. But we were not to have an easy victory. Hardly had we left the shelter of the clouds when he saw us, and made for the island we had just left. Once more that thin, blue haze surrounded us, “Keep your damned rays to yourself,” sneered Col- lins. “They: don’t bother us-any,” It was true—we felt no discomfort—and-this time the ray, or whatever it was, seemed to have lost its pony It had not the power to seriously check our a Something mighty serious has happened to those birds,” said Collins gleefully. “They've lost their. pep and are sure our meat.” THE BLUE DEMON But the great white plane put on a sudden: burst-of speed,-and at the same time our engine began to miss. We lost speed and the plane’s nose dropped. We came up quickly, however, and once more: got. above our adversary and sprayed him with bullets from our ma- chine. guns. _Again he otit-maneuvered us and we missed. Captain-Price cursed roundly as the beautiful white creature zoomed up out of reach. We saw their game—they would get above us and once more elude us among the clouds. But they were too slow. With all the-tremendous-force at our command we came up tmder them, tore into their fuselage and broke a wing. Then,-as we drew swiftly back, the white plane, like a crippled bird, lurched drunkenly, then plunged, a whirl- ing streak of white,.to the ground. It landed in a clump of palmettos and burst-into flame. Ina fever of haste and anxiety we landed near and hurried toward the burning plane, fearing that the fire would rob us-of the fruits of our*victory. I reached the plane, by extraordinary: effort, just behind my pilots. The fire was roaring around the motors ; evidently some of the gas pipes had burst in the crash. The cabin was badly shattered, and protruding half way through a broken window hung the body ofa dark-skinned man. My companions pulled him from the wreckage, carried him aside and laid him under a palmetto. He was a handsome man with traven-black hair and jet black eyes; his features were finely molded and regu- lar, his hands small but muscular with tapering fingers, his build athletic. A purple turban, its scarf awry, was on his head. = “Some high-caste oriental, or I’m a goat,” exclaimed rice. We stared-at one another. Who could be our myster- ious, opponents ? In the cabin of the wreck, we found the body of an- other oriental, garbed like his comrade; but of shorter stature. A careful search revealed no sign of any other being about the craft. All efforts to extinguish the fire with sand were. useless. We could only stand back and watch it burn itself out; which -it did when the petrol tanks were empty. When at last the metal parts had cooled sufficiently _ to be handled. we went about among them and exam- ined them with care-and awe. _ Despite the fact: that -| the motors and the other machinery were blackened and--warped, their rods, valves and dials broken and twisted. by the intense-heat, they presented an intricate maze of delicate and wonderful: mechanical construc- tion. _We-poked about among the mass, but the fire had destroyed the great secrets which we sought. We could not explain the functions of the ruined: batteries and-tanks, those queer-looking motors and-pumps. We could not rearrange the severed wires. We-could not reconstruct the. melted mirrors, reflectors and trans- formers. Nor did-a diligent search of the unburned portion of the plane reward us with a single document to help ‘us in our problem; in fact there were no papers of any kind, no records or plans. Who were these men of the east? And by whom were they sent? Only a scant wardrobe and a little bedding were all that we found in the:cabin. “The damned assassins have covered their tracks well,” snapped Price disgustedly. “Our victory is barren.” “In a degree, that is true,” I acknowledged: ruefully, “for this plane, as we witnessed in the skirmish yes- terday, is but one of many—maybe thousands—hiding away. somewhere awaiting a fa le time to strike oe. ee te . eas cals (elo) micbooks.com