Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

v we ae ee A ert Afri ay week they were fairly under way one of them began to wobble; then it dove straight into the air, only to drop back ‘in ‘a. moment in a tail-spin to the sea: It now became a death struggle between the re- maining white plane and its terrible antagonist. Still hovering there inactive, not knowing who was friend or foe, if either, and expecting to be attacked by the victor, we stared silently at the remarkable battle. In some strange manner the white plane, although now. the center of the aggressor’s attack, managed to parry his fiery thrusts and to-return again and again to the attack. For the first time we noticed a pale, blue ray dart intermittently from the cabin of the white plane. Then we-suddenly realized that its great foe had been hard hit; no longer the fire flashed from its wings and fuselage. It began to retreat at an upward angle before the thrusts of its enemy. Three times it re- turned and attempted to ram the white plane, which always eluded it. But we could see that the white plane also was badly crippled. Its movements had become slower and they lacked their usual skill. Suddenly the big plane drew away from its white foe. Tt rose higher and higher with a slow, unsteady motion, while we followed at a distance, and the white plane kept climbing and circling after it a hundred yards below it. Then, to our utter amazement, we saw a: man emerge from the cabin of the upper plane, walk out upon a wing and pause there, staring down at his enemy. A blue smoke was issuing from the fuselage behind him, and the whole. plane was trembling and swaying as if about to fall. The man was without a parachute, and we wondered what he had in mind as he continued to gaze down at the circling plane. Why the latter did not finish him off as he stood there,-a fair and open target, we could not imagine. But likely its pilots were hard pressed to keep the plane in the air. An Astounding Discovery 5 Re white plane still circled closer in its narrow- ing orbit, passing directly under the man on the wing. Suddenly we saw him gather himself for a spring. “My God, he is going to jump!” I cried aghast. “He is going to leap to the other plane!” Then as we stared in dumb and silent awe he sprang into the air. Straight down he plunged, and he had gauged the plane’s motion well, for he alighted squarely on his feet in the center of its wing. He swung him- self down to the cabin and entered by an open door. A few hoarse cries reached us, mingled with the clank of metal striking metal, then all was silence. But in a moment the plane staggered into a nose dive. For a thousand feet it dove as we followed after, and we thought that it was surely about-to crash into the sea. Yet, after a moment, it flattened out and turned toward the land. A sudden mighty rush of air now thrust us aside, and the great plane which had just been abandoned, careening madly from side to side, rushed past us and buried itself in the ocean. Intent on watching the white plane, we had forgotten it momentarily and came near being crushed by it. Meanwhile, the crippled white plane, paying no at- tention to us, was painfully making its way toward the land, with crazy, uncertain glides. It was evident that its navigator was nearly spent and was seeking a haven of refuge on land. At last he reached the shore, just grazing the top of the cliffs, and came to a crushing stop in a stony field a quarter of a mile inland. Ke soon as possible, we landed by the side of the THE BLUE DEMON wrecked plane and rushed forward. The first human figures we saw were two turbaned orientals, dressed like the two we had vanquished. One glance and we saw that both were dead. Each had a smile of devilish defiance on his dark face, a smile of haughtiness and disdain, and their wide-open staring eyes held no shadow of fear. Hurriedly we looked for their intrepid con- queror.. Then we saw him lying on his face, wedged in between the pilot’s seat and the instrument board where he doubtless had fallen when the plane struck. Blood was flowing freely from a wound on his head, but he was breathing. Collins and Price pulled him out and laid him on the ground beside the cabin. And then as I bent over him my senses reeled drunkenly, and for a.moment I doubted the evidence of my eyes. For I was gazing at.the rugged, honest face of Lon Grand! “Good God, boys!” I gasped. lost friend! This ts Lon Grand!” They stared at me incredulously. “He was fighting our battles,” said Price at last, “and to think that just a short time ago we were try- ing to send him down to Davy Jones!” “We must get him to a hospital at once,” said the ever-ready and resourceful Collins as he knelt to bind his handkerchief about Lon’s bleeding head. “Price,” he continued, placing his hands beneath Lon’s shoul- ders, “you take his feet.” We soon had Lon aboard our plane, then as the ex- cited natives of the locality ran up, we shot into. the air and headed for Portsmouth, the site-of the nearest hospital. On the way. we radioed to the Air Depart- ment to secure the wrecked plane. Tt took heroic work to save Lon’s life; although he had no severe wounds or injuries save that on his head. For weeks he Jay in a coma; but at last science and tender nursing prevailed and he came out of the shadows—came from under the mental cloud that had possessed him so Jong. Calm reason without: a glint of fear, doubt or uncertainty, now glowed in his splen- did eyes. Doubtless the blow he had received’in that last mad fight had proved his mental salvation. Day after day and often far into the night I had sat by his. bedside praying that his life be spared. I left the work of the air patrol to others. But it was now without particular interest, for the attacks of the “blue demon” had entirely ceased. But so frail was Lon’s hold on life, and so fearful were the doctors that any sudden excitement might-again unbalance his mind, that it was another month before I was allowed to reveal myself to him and ask him to tell his story. “Tt is but a simple tale, Clare,” he said modestly as he gazed fondly into my eyes. I sat by his wheel-chair holding his hand in.a warm clasp. “TI am sorry that I have been unable to tell it to you sooner for now it may be too late unless—” He paused and looked at me with a whimsical smile. “Unless your insulated plane has turned the trick,” he finished. “You have turned the trick yourself, Lon,” T said warmly. “You alone saved us, but we are just dying to know how you have wrought this miracle. We have lost no more planes since that last. heroic battle of yours. I reckon the ‘blue demon’ is sleeping.” “The blue demon,” repeated Lon reflectively: “Well, the name is-appropriate enough. But I can’t under- stand why they have let up in their attacks. Still, there are many other things about this strange enemy of ours that I can’t understand. One thing I do not posi- tively know—its identity: Think of it—I who have lived among the conspirators, supped and slept with “This is my long- —- i ~ comicbooks.com