Bill Barnes Air Adventurer, July 1935 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

56 BILL BARNES WHILE they were eating breakfast the next morning the proprietor of the hotel led a man into the dining room. He approached Bill respectfully and spoke to him in English. Then he pre- sented the dark-skinned, curly-headed man following him. The man bowed low and spoke to Bill in a language Bill could not understand. After the bow and speech he reached into an inner pocket and drew forth a letter which he presented to Bill. Bill turned the plain white envelope over curiously. “Where is he from and what does he want?” Bill asked the proprietor. He spoke with the man for a moment in that same curious language. Then turned back to Bill. “He says the letter will explain every- thing. And there is no answer. He asks to be excused if you so order it.” Bill smiled and gesticulated with one hand. “Fell him | so order it Ne said. The dark-skinned man bowed and turned on his heel without another word. The proprietor went back to his desk. Bill’s men. watched his face while he opened the letter and read: One of my most trusted servants will bring this letter to you. Please do not disclose the contents to any person. When you have finished with your pres- ent mission will you be gracious enough to become my guest, in my palace, in the capital city of my kingdom, Ahmara? It will be to your advantage and to mine. It was signed, ‘“Rarah, II, King of the Sun, the Moon and the Sovereign State of Jogam.” Bill studied the letter for a moment, then stuck it in his pocket. At first he had been tempted to pass it around the table to his men. But something re- strained him. Something he could not identify. He turned in his chair and saw that the dark-skinned man with eurly hair was regarding him through the door. The man turned away with a nod as his eyes met Bill’s. He began to eat again, paying no attention to the curious glances of Sandy, Shorty, Red and Cy. “Gosh, Bill!” Sandy exploded at last. “What was it—a check from home?” Bill laughed and shook his blond head. “Tl tell you all about it later. When I know what it is myself.” He finished his breakfast and prepared to leave the. dining room. “Be sure of your motors before we start out to-day,’ he said. ‘To-day 1s going to be the toughest spot of all. I’m going to cut straight down across Abyssinia into Kenya and Tanganyika to Zanzibar instead of following the coast. Nurse your engines. We'll go high enough to get away from the equa- torial heat, if we can. To-morrow night we'll be in Tamatave, on the east coast of Madagascar.” Bill knew only too well the countless hazards ahead of them that day. The deserts, high mountain, jungles and sav- age natives would be something to con- sider if any of them were forced to land. As the three planes sped across the border of Abyssinia into Kenya at noon- time they were all aware of their prox- ixity to the equator. Below them was a solid mass of tangled forests crowded with unkempt, ghostlike trees. Humid, enervating air rose from the too-luxuri- ant vegetation and vast stretches of marshy, unwholesome swamps. “Another four hours does it,’ Bill said into the radiophone. ‘Another two will do for me,” Sandy said, wiping the streaming perspiration out of his eyes. Bill laughed and took the controls from him. It was almost to a dot that they set the three groaning planes down at Zanzi- bar four hours later. They chose the splendid harbor of the city for a land- ing place at the coralline islands, it be- ing one of the finest ports in Africa. Sandy gasped at the beauty of the place. “What do they do here, Bill?” he asked. CO Ghook CO