Bill Barnes Air Adventurer, July 1935 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

AIR ADVENTURER 31 streamlined pontoons left the concrete. The amphibian gear rose smoothly to disappear beneath the fuselage. The Scarlet Stormer joined the circling Snorters overhead as Bill climbed into the starboard pilot’s seat of the trans- port-carrier. Bill slipped his boots into the rudder stirrups and gunned the twin, super- charged engines. He flipped a switch on the intercockpit telephone and checked his crew. Old Charlie, the took; Miles, who operated the landing and loading trapeze of the little Eaglet and the retractable machine-gun turret ; Martin up in the nose, who could knock a fly off an apple tree with his bombs at two hundred m. p. h.; McCoy and Neely in the two machine-gun cockpits abaft the engines. Straight-shooting boys, all of them. They could take it. And sometimes had to! On the circular platform above and behind Bill’s head sat young Sandy San- ders. Before him was the rapid-fire, one-inch gun that could throw a hun- dred shells a minute, mounted on a cir- cular glass-inclosed turret. From his seat he could see into the pilot house and into the Eaglet’s hangar. He was rid- ing forty feet above the ground as Bill threw the brakes on the monster ship. ‘tune besides. Bill’s lips were a thin, grim line across his face and the knuckles of his hands were white on the control wheel as the big transport rolled down the concrete with ponderous grace. The low-winged monster left the concrete almost immediately as the flaps came down. Bill took it upward in wide, sweeping spirals. The four ships fell into a tight forma- tion with the Snorters just a little be- hind and on each side of the transport. Two thousand feet above and a little in front rode the Scarlet Stormer with Shorty’s hand wrapped around the con- trol column. . As the four ships stuck their noses on the horizon and took a course south by east, Shorty had a moment of uncer- tainty. His face clouded and he shook his head slowly from side to side. Sud- denly, he flipped the switch on his radio panel and spoke Biull’s name. “Bill speaking, guy,” came back to him. ‘Listen, Bill,’ Shorty said, earnestly. “It’s not too late to turn back, even now. I haven’t any idea what is ahead of us. We don’t know why any one wanted those papers. Or who wanted them. We don’t know anything about it. It’s twice as bad as flying blind.” Bill gave a snort of derision. “Who wants to turn back?” she asked. “We usually make out, don’t we?” “Sure. Bill; Bat si “But, my eye! ~ fadgine “by the cable you had from Wyndam after you <abled we were going, we'll do a lot if we can turn up the disappearance of young Dick. Jt will mean life or death to them, probably. It may mean a for- But we don’t know that yet. We'll take things as they come. And keep your powder dry! If it’s worth a trip from Madagascar to New York to steal those papers, they must be valuable. The birds who want them will probably come shooting next time.” “T learned to keep my powder dry oO COmiclbook 5}