Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

‘AIR WONDER STORIES | Again the rapidly weakening sound stopped, and- nothing could be heard but the steadily increasing static that snapped and crackled in the speaker, making it almost- impossible to distinguish the weak signals of the lone pilot. Watson's fingers dug into the arms of his chair as he sat motionless watching the radio speaking unit. The pilots stood silently in their ‘tracks, their smbuckled™ straps forgotten as they waited’ for further word, Each man felt that the crisis had arrived, that the next message would tell of Weldon’s victory or of his doom, “God,” Jim blurted: out, breaking the silence. “Hf we could only have warned him to steer clear of that val—” “Chief;” the weak and almost unintelligible words of the battling mail. pilot came’ from the speaker, mingled with crash- - ing discharges of static, “Centre left—dead—eliding into valley. Tt’s hell. All elect—paralyzed. Last motor missing, God she’s stopped. Good-bye chief. Valley: below—blazing inferno—val- Jey of hell, I’m going to leap. Find me in—devilish valley.” CHAPTER III ‘ Into the Air! S the voice ceased, Tom sprang into action. A “Come.-on, Jim, it’s-our move. We'll keep in constant touch with you, chief, and check up.on the atmosphere as we go. Come.on, Jim.” Buckling on their equipment as they went, the two pilots followed closely by their chief, hurried from the little shanty and ran across the field-towards the dark outline of the waiting plane, Reaching the ship Jim at once climbed into the radio opérator’s seat followed closely by his-companion, who took the controls, “Is.the radio equipment perfect?” barked Watson to the mechanic who stood by the plane. “Yes sir.” “And their ration kit on board, and a full-supply of rockets? And how about the machine gun and side arms?” “AML ‘complete, sir.” “Then pull air,” he turned to Tom. who was sliding his gog- gles down over his face, “And if there’s a ghost of a chance, get to Weldon and bring him in.” — Tom's reply was drowned out by the roaring of the ‘motors as with no further delay, he started down the field, the fleet little speedster accelerating at a marvelous rate, _ _ As the:ship levelled off and commenced its time-defying dash to the. south-west, Jim started the automatic radio signal trans- mitter and tested out his main transmitting and reception radio units. Finding everything in good working order he connected his ear and mouthpieces onto the focal phone circuits by means of a four-pole-two-way switch, then spoke into the mouthpiece securely fastened to his helmet, “Well, Tom, we should make it in a little over an hour with this speed demon.” “Tt’s close to.two hundred miles-to Skeleton Valley,” his com- paniion replied, “We'll need an hour and a half with the wind against us-as it is now.” “Tf Weldon was quick enough to jump clear and spread his sheet, he probably landed safely.” “Tf he landed in that valley, he will probably be spotted by. that gang.” “Then you also. believe that it is the work of air bandits,-eh ?” “T was a little doubtful until I heard his own account of things, Did-you hear, what-he said about getting a sickening feeling ?” “Yes, and what makes things more puzzling is his description ' of the valley as.a blazing inferno,” “Probably a blinding light of some sort used to confuse the flyer-or maybe the fight of their base below.” “No, Tom, I think it was more than that. Weldon is a pretty cool guy as-a rule but its plain that he was scared plenty when he described that valley below. him. I have a hunch that he saw something that just about scared the wits out of him.” “Whatever it was, it is right in that valley, and we're going to get at the bottom of it before we come back.” “Well, we're making good headway and the radio beam shows no sign-of weakening,” “It wont until we hit the valley neighborhood. That’s where it disappears and the motors go dead,’ PELL,” Jim spoke in reply as he swung the machine gim- around on its ball-bearing. swivel, and inserted-the first shell of an ammunition belt into the firing chamber, “If it's gomg to be plain aerial warfare, we stand a pretty iair chance with a speed boat like this ship, But if it’s a ray that they’re using, which seems to be the case, then—” « “Then,” cut in-Tom. grimly, “the fighting’s going- to take place on the ground.” “You said it. Til bet your right hand is itching to slip the safety catch off from your automatic,” “Clouds ahead, and a liberal sprinkling of: lightning,’ Tom changed the subject. “That’s the storm that just passed the yalley—the one-that Weldon ‘hit, Well, we'll hit it under more favorable conditions, We-won't have to oem storm and valley both at the same time.” In a few minutes the swift flyer ioe into the front of the storm as it sped across the black jungle wastes. On and on, guided by the narrow radio ‘beam, sped the roaring plane, Rain fell in torrents, cooling off the hot” stifling air and causing a noted drop in temperature. Lightning cut vividly across the black thunderheads above the ship, and deafening crashes of thunder echoed between the clouds and the dark dismal land below. The swift-speed of the> ship however, soon put the storm behind them, and again the clear soft-tropical sky with its millions of sparkling gems looked down on the racing machine, “Jim,” Tom spoke through the phone circuit, “Better call the chief and tell him that everything is O, K. We're getting close. to the valley now. Better keep in. touch with him con- stantly. from now on, so he can check up on ts. - Don't say anything about Weldon or the valley though, for someone may be tapping in on our message. Get me?” “O, K. Tom.” Tn a few minutes Jim had a call sent out, and almost instantly a reply sounded in his ears. “Hello Jim,” the chief’s voice came through, “I was just about to call you. Your: automatic signals are coming in nor- mally, and your transmitter sounds healthy. How are things?” “Bine, chief. Everything working perfectly and motors are all pulling fine, Just passed the storm that Weldon hit over the yalley and the sky is clear ahead of us now, Weare now pretty: close to the valley. The beam registers strong and we are making an average of about 140 miles, The compass so far is O, K.” = “Very well, Jim. Now get a call through to the coast. 1 can’t get them on my. set ‘at all. If you raise them, report Weldon’s forced’ descent, and ask that a search ship be sent out from-there, Also warn-them to send no more-ships over the:valley. They have one schedtled to leave for here at six in the morning. ‘The telegraph line is out of order so our only hope is the wireless.” The Strategy FTER the signing off from the-home field, Jim at once sent out the call of the Capetown government wireless station, Receiving no reply, he tried again and again without success. “T can't raise the coast station,” he informed Tom, “And usually they're an easy station to get.” “The yalley is between us and them.” “Yes, but it'll take more than a magtietic ray to interfere with the wireless.” = = comicbooks-cor