Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

ocean might again become liquid as we had once seen it; in which case, although very shorthanded, we might be able to navigate the ship, ~ However, another long, dark winter was soon upon us; and we dropped back into our old habits until spring, or rather : until the reappearance of the sun (for in that frozen region ar there was no. season that by any stretch of the imagination ote could be called spring). 5 a y The light months came; bringing no sign of an ice break-up, es nor of help from outside. We began to despair of the safety ies of our fate shipmates. ar As time wore on we eventually becatne very low-spirited; pee: although we were in no immediate need of either food or i oats fuel. We still hada goodly supply of coal, A large quantity al of blubber and whale oil and-also had a fair supply of groceries ‘<2 and tinned foods, and in our prize whale almost an inex- ee haustible supply of meat. Ric Even when the crew was still with us, we had burrowed into ¥a- the vast cold storage carcass and: taken out large quantities ie of the meat. tea This. meat we found surprisingly tender and palatable, con- sidering the size of the great animal. NE bright. day—it was-now late summer—I was standing on deck, scanning the surrounding ice fields for signs of a rupture, when I saw a dark shadow skimming over the 7 white surface, Manifestly it must be the shadow of a bird 5: in flight; but at first I could see no bird. 3 I puzzled over that for a moment; then-it dawned on me 4 that it must be a perfectly white bird, and hence invisible =: against the white background. by : Pee Instantly I recalled how I had seen many little creatures a in shallow tropical waters that were so nearly the’color of the : water-itself as to be practically invisible. Then the bird in its flight rose above the horizon, and I saw clearly outlined a great Arctic owl. Needless to say this was a great event; for I had been with- out sight of bird or beast for three years. In great excitement I called to Willard and the Captain, who came hurrying up from the galley and when told of the presence of the bird joined in my excitement. + — With straining eyes we followed the course of his flight until he settled low over a ridge in the far distance and dis- appeared. " Focussing the telescope on the spot where he had disappeared, a we perceived that he had alighted; and was perched among ; some -preasure-jumbled blocks of ice. In spite of my companions’ protests that the wary bird would é- see me and-fly off when I was still far away, I determined to * try to bag him. : Taking my gun and my dark glasses to ward off snow- blindness, I set out; actuated by the oldest of all human emo- tions, the instinct of the hunter. So-eager was I in my. adventure that I paid little heed to the many treacherous crevasses that experience had taught me must intersect my path; and I was only brought to my. proper senses by a bad fall and a narrow escape from tumbling into a-deep, snow-bridged crack that would ‘have meant total disaster. Thoroughly frightened, but still intent on my purpose, I proceeded more circumspectly and on a circuitous route calcu- lated:to bring me close to the pressure ridge on which the bird was: perched. Cautiously I crept along among the larger pieces until I was but a hundred yards from: the great bird, stantly he spread his powerful wings and took to the air, I hesitated only long enough -to take careful aim and fired. To my delight, and I might almost say surprise—for owls are -proverbially hard to kill—he came tumbling to. earth, I ran up, prepared to dispatch him if necessary. with another /Then I had the misfortune to. stumble into plain sight. In- — ' AIR WONDER STORIES — shot; but he was stone dead, Ss The Great Ideat hn \ROM the direction of the ship came the sound of two shots fired in rapid succession; indicating that Willard and = the Captain-had' been observing my prowess. pe Se I shouldered the bird with a greater sense of exhilaration ae than I had felt for a great many weeks, and started the home- ; ward trek, 3 At first I walked quite rapidly, and with little effort; but I soon encountered some formidable crevasses, and was forced to make several detours. By the time I was half way back to the ship, I commenced to feel the strain occasioned by the bad going; and my decision to unload the bird and the gun for a short rest brings us back to the opening of this story. ‘ : I removed one glove and stroked the glossy feathers of the owl, How thick and smooth they seemed! That wonderful . smoothness was like something I had felt years ago. A mo- ment’s reflection stfficed to recall—it was the smoothness of the rear end of the tote poles the Indians used when I was a ' boy on the Western plains. Many miles of sliding through ; the buffalo grass gave just that absolutely smooth polish. I 1 remembered: how cumbersome a load_an Indian pony, or for the want of a pony an Indian squaw, could pull across the prairie, “Well, here was a thought. Why not drag the great bird over the snow?. With such an opportunity as this, there seemed no logical reason why I should carry him. : I remembered having a string in my pocket, I felt for it. : Yes, it was there; a strong piece of fish cord. I brought it out and throwing one glove down to protect my knee from the F snow, knelt beside the bird and proceeded to make a knot about : his neck. Then, fearing that the cord would injure the feathers, TI brought from an inner pocket a portion of a blue bandana handkerchief and inserted it under the cord. How much, I wondered, could the live bird have carried on such.a string while in flight, I thought of the weight that an airplane could carry; then of the load of a balloon. Then, as little pictures sometimes float through the mind just before we go to sleep, I saw a long dirigible balloon in flight; It was close down to the horizon, scarce clearing the pressure ridges, It passed by a little clotid: and emerged; but : now: it was not the form of a balloon, but that of a large whale! With-a_ start I strove to collect my senses. Surely, I was dreaming! Whales did not fly: Besides, I was not- looking about me, but down at ‘the great owl. Could it be that I was freezing, and dropping to sleep as: men do when they are oyer- come by*cold and fatigue? “ Had I been unconscious of the passage of time and become ; . chilled unawares? vs LEAPED to my: feet, and swung my arms and-beat my ‘chest. I-found I had no numbness in my hands or feet, and my limbs were not stiff. < ; Surely I must have been the victim of an hallucination, But why should I-visualize a whale inflight above this expanse of. ice and snow? Well, perhaps I had been thinking a great deal about our giant whale, having little else to occupy my thoughts for many months. > Besides, after several years of seeing nothing but this encircling vastness, one could not be expected to keep the old time grip on his mental reactions. And yet, after all, I thought, as I put on my glove and made a hand Joop in the string, a dirigible does very much resemble a whale. “They are of much the same shape, and both have steering fins and tail flukes, Tf only our giant were a dirigible, instead of a dead whale; how gladly would we sail back to God’s country! And ‘then the important-thing happened. One eminent scientist has said that perhaps the greatest a a Comicbooksscom 7 whee d |» ee ~. SOT IIS, A ng Bie Pe aD) ag ee eS