Bill Barnes Air Adventurer, July 1935 — page 51: what you’re looking at

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

AIR ADVENTURER the Sahara Desert was a sea this was probably one of the outlets from it to the Mediterranean.” The snow range of the grand Kabylia rose ahead of them in all its somber grandness as Bill stuck the nose of the transport upward. Nota tree or a bit of green could be seen in the distant valleys. Farther on they crossed a high, dusty plateau some thirty-five hundred feet above the level of the sea. Here and there a native village sprawled in the choking dust that blew in clouds, or perched on the side of a steep hill. “South of here, kid—about a hundred and fifty miles inland—are the ruins of Timgad. It stands, or what is left of it, at the foot of the Aures Mountains, on the northern fringe of the Sahara. It was founded in the days of Rome and was strongly fortified. The Van- dals partially destroyed it in 535. It was restored by Solomon, a Byzantine general, and was like Wall Street in 1928 until the Arabs took a crack at it in 646. After that it was abandoned and the passing centuries covered it with sand until the city was blotted out. Then the French uncovered it to find mosaic pavements more perfect than the pavements of old Rome. Great man- sions and monasteries, theaters and lux- urious baths, courts and gardens were unearthed. Soldiers from the Augustan third legion used to congregate in the great monastery. The whole place was preserved from the barbaric invaders by the sands of time.” “Gosh, Bill,’ Sandy said, “you sound like one of those lecturers. Wait until I spill all this stuff to Shorty.” “You'd better lay off, or he'll spill you.” Bill laughed. “You'd better con- tact him on the radiophone. Also Cy and Red. See how they’re riding.” Sandy adjusted a couple of dials on the radio panel and spoke to Shorty a moment later. Cy and Red checked in at the same time. | “Bill says to check your maps and BB—4 49 bearings,” Sandy said into the micro- phone. “We'll be over Constantine in a few minutes. Due east from there to Bone and then across the tip of Tunisia to Tunis. Southeast over the Mediter- ranean to Bengazi in Tripoli. Check back before we start the water hop. It’s about seven hundred miles. Eight hun- dred from Bengazi to Cairo, on ine same course.’ They all reported their motors turn- ing over perfectly. — “Dinner to-night at Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo,” Cy Hawkins cut in. ‘““There’s a place to eat. The best food. ‘east of Paris.” oe “That’s fine,” Sandy said; chuckling. “T want to tell all of you about the an- cient city of Timgad which lies on the border of the Sahara about one hundred and fifty miles south of here. It “Go soak your ears!’ Shorty and Red Gleason said in unison and signed off. A FEW MINUTES later the little squadron soared over Constantine, perched high on her cliffs. To the south were vast stretches of lonely yellow mountains silhouetted against the blue sky. Here and there were pale-green meadows over which trains of camels and turbaned Arabs made their way. But on the barren, desert mountains no life existed or ever had existed. As the little city of Bone flashed be- hind them, the sad blue-gray of olive groves came in sight, relieved by count- less fruit trees in blossom. Almond, cherry, apple and peach blossoms made a bed of delicate hues of the earth, bor- dered by green fields of flowering nar- cissus. At Bone they left the sapphire blue waters of the them and roared above mountains cov- ered with groves of cork trees. Dougga, the ancient Thugga of the Romans, stood high on a hill overlooking a fertile valley. Flying low they saw that the once graceful columns of the theater and Mediterranean behind oO COL) clo@ol< CO