They spent long days on the stream Page 172
 
 VIRGINIA OF THE 
 AIR LANES 
 
 HERBERT QUICK 
 
 Author of 
 Double Trouble. The Broken Lance 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 WILLIAM R. LEIGH 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT igog 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 OCTOBER 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
 
 BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y.
 
 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ULO6128
 
 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WHEN MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 
 
 FOR twenty shimmering miles the Gulf beach 
 lay in the sun, a white straight-edge against 
 blue. Mistily through the surf haze glim 
 mered the tower of Sand Island light save when 
 obscured by the smoke-plume of a fruiter standing 
 in past Fort Morgan for Mobile. It was early fore 
 noon. The yellow globe of the mooring-balloon at 
 the fort shone in the sun like a dome of some au 
 dacious new architecture, flung high into the pulsat 
 ing air. Two men, far down the coast toward 
 Pensacola, caught the far-off splendor and noted, in 
 the very act of casting off from it, a long, cigar- 
 shaped aeronat an immense, elongated bubble of 
 quicksilver. It floated seaward, rounded to, stood a 
 moment end on, librating like a balancing top. 
 "She s boun fo N Yawlins, Ah reckon, suh." 
 The speaker was a typical Gulf fisherman, 
 long-bearded, soft of speech, courteous as a diplo- 
 
 i
 
 2 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 mat, barefooted, weathered in garments and skin. 
 Over his cheeks and nose were scattered broad 
 brown blotches which, had it not been for their size, 
 might have been called freckles. He rolled a cigar 
 ette, lighted it, turned his almost colorless eyes on 
 his companion, repeating, "She s sho boun fo 
 N Yawlins." 
 
 In the mien of the young man there was some 
 thing of kinship to the elder, as there might be in 
 a New England chemist or engineer something that 
 is like his forty-second cousin fishing on the New 
 foundland Banks. The softness of speech was modi 
 fied to a subtle firmness and a subdued decision. 
 The slight, tall frame was arrowy and erect; as if 
 the youth had imbibed from some winier air a latent 
 self-esteem expressed in the hint of incisiveness in 
 speech, if one may call that incisive which was still 
 soft and almost caressing. The boy also had the 
 areas of mottled freckling, overlaying a pink glow. 
 He wore a blue flannel shirt with a bright silk 
 cravat; his shoes were scoured gray by the beach 
 sand, and his well-shaped hat was powdered with 
 it ; his trousers were of cadet gray and were striped 
 down the side; seemingly they were a part of some 
 obsolete uniform. He sat on a great square timber 
 half-buried in the sand, and had been studying a 
 blue-green Portuguese man-of-war cast ashore and 
 rolled up before the breeze, dragging its yard-long
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 3 
 
 tentacles. On the beam lay a steel square, a brace 
 and bit, a roll of blue-prints, some steel drills and 
 a book of logarithms. He had returned to the sea 
 bladder, investigating it with the tip of a slim oil 
 can, and had mentally formulated a parallel be- / 
 tween this helpless thing, beaten about by every , 
 breeze, and the dirigible balloon up the coast, when 
 the speech of the old fisherman made him look 
 up. 
 
 His face was small for a man s, his eyes dark, his 
 lip blackened by a tiny mustache of jet. In the 
 manner of one who does not feel obliged to reply to 
 the speech of a constant companion, he picked up a 
 pair of binoculars from a cast-up crate and studied 
 the distant air-ship. 
 
 "Mo likely bound for Pensacola, Captain," he 
 said. "She s coming this way a Condor with bow 
 rudder. Winter resorters, I reckon." 
 
 "Then she don t keer whar she goes," replied the 
 fisherman. "It s thisaway o thataway, jist as some 
 lady says." 
 
 "I don t know that it matters," said the younger 
 man, "whether they see us or not; but I reckon we ll 
 go under the shed." 
 
 "All raght, Miste Theodo ," answered the cap 
 tain. "Hyah s doin the gophah act ag in." 
 
 The aeronat, drawing nearer, swelled like a 
 great silver moon. The men admired her as they
 
 4 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 walked inshore through soft, trodden sand, down to 
 a lower level of yellowed palmettoes, and scaled a 
 steep dune-slope thicketed with curious scrub-oaks 
 only a few feet high, but hoary with age, their an 
 cient and stunted limbs contorted fantastically by 
 the rheumatism of age, and covered with moss. Be 
 yond was a deeper hollow, quite out of sight of the 
 sea, but lulled continually by its roar. Here was 
 hidden a cabin of rough boards with a wide ve 
 randa or gallery, on the columns of which were to 
 be seen bleached barnacles telling of the storm- 
 tossed voyage which had brought them hither. 
 Abutting on the cabin by one end was a spacious 
 shed, without visible door or window. So thor 
 oughly was the edifice concealed by the oak scrub 
 and the low-growing bastard-spruce, that one might 
 have passed a dozen times within a stone s throw of 
 it without seeing it ; and even from the air-ships, its 
 drab roof powdered with blown sand was well-nigh 
 invisible. Under the gallery was perfect safety from 
 observation from aloft. 
 
 As seen through the glass, the air-ship was 
 swelled to impressive bulk, now. Her rudder stood 
 aslant, a stripe of brown against the silver foil of 
 her bilge. On the seaward side ran the darker line 
 of a toy aeroplane a matter of appearance more 
 than use and slung beneath by a gossamer nacelle, 
 steady as the deck of a liner, hung her roomy car,
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 5 
 
 the engine-room astern, the three great screws half 
 invisible, like the vibrant wings of bees. On the for 
 ward deck was a splotch of white and red, like a 
 brilliant gown, and grouped about it were two or 
 three darker forms of men. 
 
 "How she cracks on !" cried the young man. "No 
 end of power the new nineteen-cylinder, fan-type 
 engines, I suppose." 
 
 "She ll be wuth about fo bits when we get 
 through, Miste Theodo ," said the captain. "Ain t 
 shesheerin off?" 
 
 She was, though with no knowledge of them. She 
 veered to the north and stood inland as if to cross 
 the Little Lagoon, that beautiful salt lake which 
 for ten miles lies within sound of the Gulf surf, but 
 separated from it by a little wilderness of dunes 
 then by a majestic swooping movement she threw 
 her whole vast sweep of broadside open to their 
 gaze. The captain s dimmer eye now made out the 
 woman and the two men on her deck, while Theo 
 dore Carson s, keen for such a sight, and armed 
 with the glass, observed that the woman wore a 
 broad hat of vivid red, a scarf of the same color, 
 and a woman would have told him a pique gown. 
 The young man who did not wish to be discovered 
 knew only that it was white. 
 
 "They re past the Palmetto Beach resorts," ob 
 served Carson, "and "
 
 6 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Eight mile past," interrupted the captain. 
 "They re on this side o Bon Secour." 
 
 "Making for the hotels on the Lagoon," said the 
 young man. 
 
 "They bette moor," said the fisherman. "They s 
 a norther comin out." 
 
 Carson scanned the sky for signs of the "norther," 
 but saw nothing more threatening than a blue sky 
 barred by a few white scarfs of cloud puffing up 
 from the north. 
 
 "I see no signs of a blow that she can t be held 
 to by her engines," said he. "The sky looks fine." 
 
 "They ll sho hev a fight to keep from blowin out 
 to sea," returned the captain, "onless they tie up. 
 What they doin now, Miste Theodo ?" 
 
 "Why," said Carson, studying the aeronat with 
 the glass, and clipping off his sentences as the as 
 tounding evolution of the incident far up there in 
 the blue rendered every utterance obsolete before it 
 was finished, "why, they have thrown off a package 
 of ... it s mechanism, ... of some 
 sort ... in operation, and . . . They re 
 making a tow of it. ... They re reversing 
 and rounding to. See them drift off! They re ex 
 cited and all aback about something 
 Heavens ! See that thing shoot up ! It s some sort 
 of helicopter, I believe and the girl s alone in it, 
 Captain! Alone, I say! Why did they .
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 7 
 
 She s lost control she s lost! It s shooting over 
 this way and coming down ! It will it will . 
 My God! My God!" 
 
 The thing had parted from the great aeronat, 
 like an insect scared from its seat on some great 
 animal. It was a little speck topped with a broader, 
 mushroom-shaped shimmer which Carson knew for 
 the revolving blades of a helicopter, that insidious 
 toy that promised so much for the conquest of the 
 air and paid so little. For a moment it paused, 
 sucked along in the wake of the huge ship as if in 
 tow ; then, as though released from the pull of grav 
 ity, it shot skyward, leaving the silver air-ship far 
 below, as a fly might speed from a floating bubble. 
 The two spectators drew their breaths sharply in, 
 their hearts frozen in fascinated apprehension. 
 
 The air-ship floated fifteen hundred feet, per 
 haps, above the tall pines in the slashes of the nar 
 row isthmus which divides the Lagoon from the 
 Gulf. The slow-flapping buzzards on their way to 
 some reported feast over near Three Rivers never 
 noticed the glittering bilge of the giant craft, so 
 high she soared above them ; but the helicopter flew 
 like a rocket, up above the balanced ship, so straight 
 into the cool heights of the inane that those re 
 maining on the deck it had left lost it, behind the 
 overhanging hull of the aeronat. 
 
 But the men on the beach saw it, saw it rise sky-
 
 8 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ward like a boy s dart until they shuddered at the 
 abyss that yawned between it and the earth ; saw it 
 struck by the far-advanced loftier vanguard of the 
 north wind predicted by the fisher-captain; saw it 
 hurled southward before the blast like a feather; 
 and then, as if with slowing engine, saw it fall, with 
 the red hat and the white dress glimmering appeal- 
 ingly from under the shimmering helices, curving 
 obliquely toward them, like a projectile hurled out 
 ward and downward from the battlements of high 
 est heaven. And Carson gripped the barnacled col 
 umn fiercely ; he thought of the girl in the red hat 
 and pique skirt, for he was young and his heart was 
 gripped as in a vise. 
 
 The Condor had a name. She was the Roc, owned 
 by Mr. Finley Shayne; and her home port was 
 Shayne s Hold, in the Catskills. Those who are fa 
 miliar with the scope, power and spectacular suc 
 cess of Mr. Shayne s operations in Aerostatic Power 
 stocks in the latter part of the first quarter of the 
 present century, will surmise that the Roc was the 
 finest product of the art of aviational construction 
 up to that time. Her speed, her stanchness, her air 
 worthiness, her luxurious appointments the fame 
 of these had preceded her to the Gulf resorts, where 
 she awaited favorable breezes to Cuba, and, from 
 island to island in the Antilles an attractive itiner-
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 9 
 
 ary, but rather hazardous, the aerostat being an un 
 safe craft for the open sea. 
 
 This fateful morning she had moored in the 
 aerial harbor at Mobile, in her berth hard by the 
 lift near the Bienville statue. Mrs. Shayne, a na 
 tive Mobilian, pleaded indisposition; but went out 
 to see some old houses dear to her youth. Mr. 
 Shayne and their guest, Mr. Max Silberberg, had 
 insisted upon the presence of Virginia Suarez, Mrs. 
 Shayne s niece, on a trip down the Bay in the Roc, 
 to witness the demonstration of a new flying-ma 
 chine, and she had yielded. 
 
 The inventor, a suspicious, foxy, middle-aged 
 man, proved personally objectionable to Miss 
 Suarez because his thumbs turned back so far that 
 the sight of them, made her feel creepy; and as he 
 gesticulated freely while denouncing all devices for 
 aerial navigation except his, his thumbs were much 
 in evidence. He showed wonderful capacity for 
 fury, flying passionately at all who said that his 
 helicopter might not be the key to the aviation situa 
 tion. So Virginia was relieved by his going aft to 
 convince the engineer that the Roc s screws were 
 fundamentally wrong in construction. 
 
 "Unfortunate devil," said Silberberg. 
 
 "Why," she queried, "because of those awful 
 thumbs?" 
 
 "Because he failed to pleace you," replied Silber-
 
 io VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 berg 1 , with the hissing termination of the "please" 
 that constituted the one race-betraying slip in his 
 speech. "To displeace you the greatest calamity." 
 
 *"I don t believe he feels it much," said she. 
 
 "Another misfortune," replied he, "not to know 
 what he s losing. Yes, he s an unfortunate devil." 
 
 Virginia wished Wizner back, crooked thumbs, 
 fury and all ; for no thumbs or voice could be sp of 
 fensive as the unrelieved presence of Mr. Silberberg, 
 the head of the Federated Metals concern, control 
 ling the copper, gold and silver output of a conti 
 nent. He was so insistent on little encroachments 
 upon her reserve, as he fussed about with rugs and 
 deck chairs, tucking her wraps about her as they 
 rose into the high south-blowing upper drift, con 
 stantly touching her with his bediamonded fingers 
 in little ways, his breath, heavy with cigarettes, 
 floating to her like a whiff from some fetid smoking- 
 room. Virginia wished herself anywhere away from 
 Silberberg. 
 
 She felt herself thrown at his head by her aunt. 
 Little privileges, which in another would not have 
 offended, seemed like the unspeakable liberties of 
 prospective purchasers with slaves offered in the 
 market. She was getting morbid and almost hys 
 terical. Silberberg s slight baldness, running up in 
 shining coves from his forehead, his well-groomed 
 grossness of body, his oily black curls, made of him
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 11 
 
 a beastly sultan gloating over the last importation 
 from Circassia. And yet, his appearance and be 
 havior were not inherently bad the situation made 
 them unendurable. Perhaps Mrs. Shayne s tributes 
 to his greatness, and her emphasis on him as an op 
 portunity open to Virginia, a mere dependent, were 
 more chargeable with producing this tension, of 
 which Silberberg was quite unaware, than anything 
 actually done by him. 
 
 "So you think, Aunt Marie," she had said, "that 
 Mr. Silberberg is one of the great ones of the earth ?" 
 
 "Most certainly," rejoined Mrs. Shayne. "He is 
 retaining and increasing the enormous wealth and 
 power inherited " 
 
 "From old Israel Silberberg," supplied Virginia. 
 
 "Virginia," said Mrs. Shayne, "we should not 
 mention an origin of which Max never speaks. 
 . . . But to do what he is doing, takes a great 
 man. Your uncle will tell you so." 
 
 Silberberg made the hay of courtship in the sun 
 of opportunity. Virginia pondered on her aunt s 
 standard of greatness. The dark line of pines at the 
 fort drew nearer; and beyond lay the Gulf, a spark 
 ling, blue, outspread diagram. 
 
 "Where s Uncle Finley?" she asked. "We are 
 getting a long way south." 
 
 "Giving the helicopter a private examination," 
 replied Silberberg. "It is a happiness to me that he
 
 12 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 is; but the inventor would go wild if he knew the 
 sort of expert his precious machine is alone with !" 
 
 "Wild?" repeated Virginia. "Listen, even now!" 
 
 Above the purr of the screws came the angry 
 voice of the inventor in the engine-room abusing 
 the Roc s second engineer for some remark deroga 
 tory to helicopters. Already he was quite wild 
 enough, Virginia thought 
 
 "Why don t we try his machine?" she asked. 
 "Must we go out over the Gulf? Isn t the Bay big 
 enough ?" 
 
 "Mr. Shayne wants to pick up a specialist at the 
 fort," replied Silberberg, "the man who wrote up 
 the Chinese war-aerostats. He s here on some aero 
 nautical business for the army." 
 
 Miss Suarez gave her attention to the wonderful 
 landscape spread about her and below her. Far 
 astern she could dimly make out the aerial harbor 
 at Mobile, a cluster of khaki-colored bubbles float 
 ing over the old city. To starboard lay the gardens 
 and orchards of the western shore. The white 
 scarp of the eastern cliffs gleamed through the 
 haze far to the northeast past the sharp spit of 
 Mullet Point. Away to the east lay the wide, blue 
 Bon Secour semicircle beyond which she imagined 
 she saw the triangular splotch of Perdido Bay. 
 A fleet of white-sailed smacks bore off toward the 
 western oyster-beds, and lay foreshortened and out
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 13 
 
 of drawing below her. Virginia looked, and wished 
 she were alone, or that Silberberg might for a mo 
 ment be content to pay his court by being rather 
 than by doing. 
 
 A battleship was coaling at the Fort Morgan 
 wharf, her decks alive with blue-jackets; and, while 
 Virginia watched them, the retractile telephone 
 was tossed down, and brought word that Captain 
 Wickham could not accompany them. At Shayne s 
 order they cast off; and it was then that Theodore 
 Carson, at his mysterious shed in the dunes, had 
 observed their ship. 
 
 The Roc circled to the west to avoid the inhibited 
 passage over the batteries, and stood east along the 
 beach. Wizner abandoned his quarrel and came 
 forward to make the test. He set the helicopter on 
 the deck, where it stood unsteadily on its slender 
 bamboo legs, its painter hanging over the rail, its 
 top crowned by the screw-wings, slanted a little 
 outboard for the launching. 
 
 "How will you get her off, Wizner?" asked Mr. 
 Shayne. 
 
 "Easy enough," answered Wizner tartly. 
 
 "Maybe we d better make a descent for you," 
 suggested Silberberg. "It may be one of these ter 
 restrial helicopters." 
 
 "I ll ask, when I want you to go down," replied 
 Wizner, glaring. "You ll see whether it s a ground
 
 14 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 machine or not. May I take down a section of that 
 rail?" 
 
 "Certainly," answered Mr. Shayne. "But don t 
 let the helicopter topple off. It might fall on a 
 fisherman. What are you doing, Virginia?" 
 
 The girl had stepped forward as if to take a 
 seat in the little cany car of the helicopter. 
 
 "Let me sit in it," said she. "I want to imagine 
 how you feel when you get out into space." 
 
 "I wish you would," said Wizner. "It will hold 
 her still. It s perfectly safe." 
 
 Virginia, laughing at playing paper-weight, en 
 tered the car, where she sat fascinated by the in 
 ventor s turned-back thumbs as he went over the 
 bearings, the lubrication, the feed and the ignition, 
 and, with a word of reassurance to the girl, started 
 the tiny engine. Softly, steadily, the finely adjusted 
 mechanism revolved, setting the car into tingling 
 vibrations which thrilled like electricity. 
 
 "Which is the clutch-lever?" she asked. 
 
 "This," said the inventor, pointing. "I m going 
 to the engine-room; when I come back I ll show 
 you how it works." 
 
 Mr. Shayne went aft with Wizner, in animated 
 conversation, leaving Virginia in the throbbing car. 
 The rail had been removed, and a little push would 
 have been quite sufficient to shove the girl and the 
 machine overboard into the empty air. The thrill
 
 The car slipped off and swung in mid air Page 15
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 15 
 
 of the vibration, the sense of risk, or the intense gaze 
 of Silberberg made her face flush. He had never 
 seen her so charming. She laid her hand on the 
 clutch-lever. 
 
 "I could move this lever a little," said she, "and 
 fly away. I feel as if I should fly!" 
 
 "I shall not let you," said he. "I shall hold 
 you !" 
 
 "Mr. Silberberg!" 
 
 The rebuke was evoked by his putting his arm 
 about her. One white, jeweled hand was slipped 
 behind her, the other laid on her arm, the oily 
 perfumed curls stooping until the red lips ap 
 proached hers. Perfectly aware of what she was 
 doing, but quite reckless of consequences, Virginia 
 pushed the lever, threw in the clutch and the wings 
 started. The pull of the vivified mechanism, draw 
 ing him out to death, made Silberberg s very fingers 
 tingle with terror, and he let go girl and car, and 
 leaped backward. Under the lift of the wings, the 
 car dragged to the edge, slipped off with a grating 
 sound, and swung there in mid air, the painter 
 dangling almost within reach, three hundred fath 
 oms in the air, supported only by the spinning 
 helices driven by an engine that one man only knew 
 how to manage, and he as far removed from it, po 
 tentially, as if he had been in Mars ! 
 
 The carmine tint that had stimulated the aggres-
 
 16 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 sion of Silberberg faded from Virginia s lips as 
 her mouth set in a white line; and her face turned 
 deathly pale. Half-rising, she stretched her hand 
 toward the aerostat, whence there came to her ears 
 the cries of Silberberg and her uncle, and the wild 
 profanity of Wizner. 
 
 "Listen to me, damn you," he yelled, "listen !" 
 He was trying to tell her how to use the levers 
 but she could not understand for the wild drum 
 ming in her ears. She felt stifled, her hand trem 
 bled so that she could not hold to anything, no 
 matter how she tried. At last it was over in a 
 moment more by accident than design, she moved 
 something. With appalling velocity the thing shot 
 upward, the aeronat fell away toward the earth, 
 the fisherman s house far beneath was whisked 
 down to the littleness of a toy. The air struck her 
 face, blowing downward more and more chill. 
 Overhead the screws hummed implacably, the only 
 sound she heard. She was in the midst of the illim 
 itable silences, now for the first time broken save 
 for the eagle s scream or the rustle of the wide 
 wings of the osprey or the man-o -war hawk. Her 
 heart felt gripped in an iron hand, and throbbed 
 smotheringly. She was climbing upward, drifting 
 north toward the Lagoon. If she could only de 
 scend in landlocked water, she might yet be saved 
 and she was not the girl to give up.
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 17 
 
 She studied the machinery, trying to apply her 
 picked-up knowledge of engines. Here was the 
 thing with which to stop it, she felt sure of that; 
 but to stop it suddenly was mere suicide, a swift 
 fall to death. Some means there must be, she 
 knew, to ease it down ; but she saw nothing she 
 dared touch. That was the horror of it, she dared 
 touch nothing. She could only sit there awaiting 
 whatever might betide, away up in the awful isola 
 tion of the sky, with a demon-machine that buzzed 
 in ferocious energy and mounted upward. 
 
 She was growing calmer now. It would surely 
 slow down of itself, she reasoned; and if it did 
 not well, she had escaped from Silberberg, any 
 how. It was a clean, unsullied place in which to 
 meet the end. She would rather live but already 
 nature s ether, which makes death easy, was stealing 
 into possession of her senses. 
 
 And then the north wind struck. The puff smote 
 her cheek, the helicopter yielded to it and swept 
 southward, like a feather before a fan. The Lagoon 
 moved from under her, pulling the Gulf after it. 
 She was blowing out to sea. As the new thought 
 added itself to her conception of the desperate situ 
 ation, the sinking of her heart told her that until 
 now she had never given up hope. She reached 
 out to stop the engine; but as the vision passed 
 through her mind of falling, falling like the stick
 
 i8 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 of a rocket, being dashed to pieces on the earth, 
 and nuzzled over by wild hogs until some one 
 discovered her, she withdrew her trembling hand 
 again, deliberately choosing a grave in the sea. 
 
 Then a voice seemed to speak in her ear from 
 the chill solitude, senseless words, as of one stam 
 mering, like the phantasms of voices heard in the 
 delirium of fever, finally growing distinct, and 
 repeating over and over a command : "Retard the 
 spark !" it said, "retard the spark !" 
 
 The Roc was far below and to the north, now, 
 the Gulf breakers foamed nearer and nearer, and 
 still rang in her ears the ghostly command, "Retard 
 the spark." She tried to remember about engines 
 but this one was so different ! Aimlessly she put her 
 hand out, touched a little sliding thing, and paused, 
 afraid to move it, yet quite confident it was the 
 thing to move. She would fall now, if she fell, 
 into the green water of the Gulf that was a grim 
 sort of comfort. She moved the sliding thing, and 
 thought the buzz of the helices less strenuous. The 
 ground a landscape of almost pure white picked 
 out in dark green blotches of rosemary and bas 
 tard-spruce the ground seemed rising to her. 
 The roar of the breakers swelled in her ears, like 
 the crescendo of some tremendous, up-rushing music 
 and she realized that she was falling, in a great 
 parabola that might carry her into the sea, or might
 
 There fell out a mass of red hat, crimson scarf, pique and 
 silken fallals Page 19
 
 MAIDENS FELL FROM THE SKY 19 
 
 dash her upon the driftwood and wreckage of the 
 beach. By the breadth of a hair she advanced the 
 spark; and the helicopter assumed a more level 
 slant, toward the frothing water, and above the 
 driftwood. 
 
 Suddenly the machine careened ; and she thought 
 she had struck, to be dashed broken on the ground, 
 lost. She had not seen Theodore Carson on that 
 highest dune; but he had grasped the painter as it 
 dragged over him; and it was he who had thrown 
 the flying-machine from its level swoop, even as 
 it jerked him down the dune, with Captain Harrod 
 clinging to his legs, dragging them almost to the 
 water s edge. The car swung horribly ; and, finally, 
 spilled from it by its careening, there fell out of it 
 a mass of red hat, crimson scarf, pique and silken 
 fallals. The helicopter tore loose and fled out to 
 sea before the gale; and this young man who did 
 not care for visitors found himself burdened with 
 one in the form of a rather good-looking girl, as 
 he could see even in the chaos of her land-fall, who 
 lay in the soft sand apparently unhurt, but in a 
 dead faint come to him literally out of the sky.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 
 
 THE helicopter commanded the attention of 
 Captain Harrod : his bare toes buried in the 
 sand, he stood gazing after it, as after hav 
 ing brought Virginia Suarez, it had risen as by some 
 sort of negative gravity, and shot out to sea with its 
 engines firing like a gatling; whither it was now dis 
 appearing from the watcher s sight after the manner 
 of a lost toy balloon. 
 
 Theodore Carson, being young, ignored the ma 
 chine. He stared for a moment in amazement at 
 the prostrate girl, then took her tenderly in his 
 arms, carrying her toward the hidden cabin. At 
 the steepest spot Captain Harrod overtook him; 
 but the young man paid no heed to offers of aid, 
 wading steadily on to the door, which the captain 
 unlocked and opened, standing aside for Carson 
 and his interesting burden. Theodore took her into 
 the large single room, laid her softly on a clean- 
 looking bed covered with a Navajo blanket, 
 smoothed the white skirt down decorously, removed 
 the long pin and laid aside the red hat, seeming 
 
 20
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 21 
 
 scarcely to know what he was doing. There she 
 lay like a dead bird, her plumage unruffled; for the 
 white sand had shaken from, her dress and she 
 looked unsoiled and pure, and hopelessly still. 
 
 "She is dead!" said Theodore, in a hushed voice. 
 
 "O, Ah reckon not!" replied the captain. "You 
 ort to do something! She s swounded!" 
 
 "What can / do?" 
 
 A child asked to put to rights a power-loom, a 
 perfecting press, a telautograph, or any other com 
 plex and delicate contrivance, might have used the 
 same tone. The captain approached, put his hands 
 behind him, and looked, hat in hand. 
 
 "Is her heart beatin ?" he inquired. 
 
 "I don t know!" cried Carson, twisting his 
 fingers. "I don t know!" 
 
 "Ah reckon," said the captain, in an awed whis 
 per, "that she wouldn t keer seein how things is 
 if you d listen an see, Miste Theodo !" 
 
 Carson laid his ear lightly to the white blouse. 
 Some fluttering he seemed to feel ; but he could not 
 be certain. Harrod brought water in a watering- 
 pot, which he seemed to have planned to use as 
 upon a lily or rose. 
 
 "Do it beat?" he asked. 
 
 "I can t tell," said Carson, "nor whether it s my 
 pulse or hers that beats. Oh, I wish what do they 
 generally do, Captain?"
 
 22 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "They s some paht o they frock that always has 
 to be unrove, ain t they?" inquired the captain anx 
 iously. 
 
 "Captain," said Carson, the perspiration standing 
 on his brow. "I m going out on the gallery for 
 air. You do what has to be done, Captain or she 
 may die!" 
 
 "Put some watah on huh face, suh," said the cap 
 tain, in judicious avoidance of extreme measures. 
 "Ah don t reckon this hyah s a case fo vi lent o 
 oconse vative remedies. I ll oncork that ha tsho n 
 bottle!" 
 
 Carson pressed the wet towel to the girl s face; 
 the captain held a bottle labeled "ammonia" to her 
 nostrils ; she gasped, drew a quivering sigh, opened 
 her eyes, and saw over her head a sloping roof on 
 which the mud-wasps were plying their masonry, 
 rude walls of rough boards, a rack of guns, some 
 instruments nautical-looking to her unschooled eyes ; 
 a tall, rough-looking, sailor-like man stuffing the 
 cork in a bottle of pungent emanation, and a young 
 face which would have been girlish had it not been 
 for the little black mustache and the deep coat 
 of tan. The older man was looking at her in a 
 fatherly way, and the young one was sponging her 
 forehead, his face near hers. She sat up suddenly, 
 felt her coiffure, and looked about for her hat. 
 
 "You have had a fall, madam," said Carson,
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 23 
 
 "and are shaken up a little; but you are safe and 
 among friends." 
 
 "Oh, thank you," she said, in a tone of the most 
 correct formality. "It s ever so kind of you, sir 
 I I I Oh, I thought I was lost! I thought I 
 Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! O-o-o-h!" 
 
 Suddenly, from the polite commonplaces of 
 speech, she broke into hysterical screaming. Then 
 she bowed her face in her hands as if to shut out 
 some terrifying sight, and moaned and shivered 
 piteously, asking them to pardon her, promising to 
 be calm presently, sometimes looking up for a mo 
 ment with a smile forced through the horror 
 stamped on her face by memory of the ordeal 
 through which she had passed, and then breaking 
 down into hysterical crying again. Captain Harrod 
 poured a stiff glass of red liquid from a bottle, 
 diluted it, and took it to the shuddering girl, who 
 looked pathetically up into his face for a moment, 
 swallowed it obediently, and coughed as if stran 
 gled by it. 
 
 "And now," said Mr. Carson, "we will leave you, 
 if you will excuse us. Please feel at ease. You are 
 quite safe, and the cabin is yours. We are in all 
 ways at yo service. The captain here is my friend, 
 and we belong to a race that sees a sister in every 
 helpless lady. I think you will desire to sleep; 
 and I hope you may awake refreshed ; after which
 
 24 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 we shall place ourselves mo definitely under your 
 command." 
 
 She looked at him questioningly. The softness 
 of his voice, his little inconsistent lapses into dialect 
 as he uttered the old-fashioned chivalric sentiments 
 won her trust 
 
 "Ah d lie down, ma am," suggested the captain, 
 "ontil that medicine gits a chance to wuk. Good- 
 by, ma am." 
 
 Virginia lay back and closed her eyes; but the 
 potion brought no drowsiness. Her face grew hot, 
 and she knew her eyes would shine if she opened 
 them, with a brilliancy quite fascinating to the 
 young man with the little black mustache. The 
 fact that she thought of this startled her. Was 
 she growing flighty with fever? Why this abnormal 
 hilarity of spirits, in the exaltation of which all 
 anxiety departed? She was unable to dwell long 
 in thought on the uncertainty and grief of her aunt 
 at so losing her, first into the sky, and then, sup 
 posedly, into the Gulf. What difference did it 
 make? The world grew unaccountably roseate 
 with hope; more joyous because she could not tell 
 why. The one insistent impulse of the moment 
 was to burst forth into song restrained with diffi 
 culty by dwelling on the bad form of vocalization. 
 She was sure, however, that she was about to do 
 something shockingly unladylike. Perhaps it was
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 25 
 
 the ozone of the immense altitude of the helicopter. 
 The room seemed afloat on the waves that roared 
 outside, but this struck her as extremely jolly. 
 Really, it appeared selfish to enjoy this funny aber 
 ration of the nervous system alone. Her old, old 
 friends outside the young man with the girl s 
 face, and his bewhiskered companion, the relations 
 of both of whom to her past life seemed vague just 
 now, though they were undoubtedly old and dear 
 friends she would hunt them up and talk with 
 them. She rose, and walked out unsteadily upon 
 the veranda, and saw Mr. Carson and the captain 
 sitting idly just beyond earshot of the cabin. They 
 came to her respectfully. 
 
 "I came out to thank you, sir," said Virginia 
 flightily, "for your heroic behavior heroic, ro 
 mantic, mediaeval behavior! Don t my eyes look 
 funny?" 
 
 She turned up her face to his appealingly, her 
 cheeks flushed, her pupils dilated. 
 
 "I beg of you not to mention it, madam," urged 
 Mr. Carson, with infinite solicitude. "But may I 
 not insist upon your allowing me to escort you back 
 to your room?" 
 
 Virginia took his arm, leaning upon it with much 
 of her not inconsiderable weight, and as they paced 
 across the veranda, with a mischievous expression 
 in her face, she whirled him off into a few turns of
 
 26 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 a waltz. Suddenly grave, she then resumed the 
 march into the cabin, exhibiting every sign of weak 
 ness in the knees. Carson was pale with anxiety 
 at these symptoms, so at variance with those 
 expected. 
 
 "Lovely dance," she said, "lovely! So dear of 
 you ! I could waltz for ever with you !" 
 
 "Thank you," said Theodore gravely. "It would 
 be an honah beyond estimation " 
 
 "But just a little teeney bit pokey after a few 
 centuries?" she queried coquettishly. 
 
 "Not in the least!" he exclaimed reassuringly. 
 "Quite the contrary. And now, may I beg you to 
 lie down until you are quite restored?" 
 
 Virginia sat upon the bed, reached down to lift 
 her skirts with the upward swing of her feet into 
 the position for reclining, and tumbled into the 
 young man s arms with a laugh. She knew she 
 was doing extraordinary things, but did not care 
 a jot 
 
 "So awkward of me!" she said. "But you ll for 
 give me?" 
 
 "I feel sure," said Carson, looking down gravely, 
 "that if you would compose yourself and try to 
 sleep " 
 
 "If some one would sit by me," said she. "I m 
 perfectly sure sit by me, and hold my hand " 
 
 Just close yo eyes," he replied, "and if you don t
 
 A HOSPITABLE BA.NDIT 27 
 
 drop asleep, I ll, I ll At present, I think I d 
 better read to you." 
 
 "So good of you," said she. "Intellectual sopor 
 ific. That looks like a sleepy book." 
 
 "It is," said Carson, taking up a great quarto 
 volume. "Let me read on from where I stopped, 
 chapter four. In most dynamos " 
 
 "My hand ," said she, dropping it on the 
 blanket. "It s cold." 
 
 Theodore took the hand a moment and covered 
 it with the blanket. 
 
 "That doesn t warm it much," said she. "I think 
 you re funny!" 
 
 " In most dynamos, read the young man 
 hastily, " the principle of reduplication is involved ; 
 that is, commencing with a very small amount of 
 residual magnetism in the field-magnets, the in 
 ductive action between them and the revolving 
 armature results in the production of a feeble 
 current " 
 
 "Feeble magnetism," said the girl, opening her 
 eyes and looking at him with sleepy reproach. 
 "Quite so!" 
 
 " a feeble current in the coils/ " read Theodore 
 stolidly. " The current may be made to pass 
 through " And he plodded on and on, never lift 
 ing his eyes., reading of compound-wound, series- 
 wound and shunt-wound dynamos, until Captain
 
 28 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Harrod, tiptoeing in, found Virginia asleep, and 
 took away the book. 
 
 Theodore rose in relief at this respite from the 
 problem of the sky-maiden, darkened the windows, 
 and went out. 
 
 "Have you any game in the larder?" he asked. 
 
 "All them partridges you shot last night, suh," 
 replied the captain. 
 
 The "partridges" were plump little bob-whites of 
 the rosemary scrub, fat by feeding on the small, 
 oily, yellow berries. The two men dressed them in 
 silence. 
 
 "She ll be shipshape when she wakes up," said 
 the captain, at last 
 
 "I hope and pray she may. She was quite flighty. 
 I m much concerned for her," said Carson. 
 
 The captain for some time maintained a pregnant 
 silence. 
 
 "You don t allow, suh," said he at last, "that it s 
 that redeye that ails huh?" 
 
 "Captain," said Theodore sternly, "any gentle 
 man can see that this young girl is a lady ! I beg 
 to remind you that a lady does not take more liquor 
 under any circumstances than what may be necessary 
 gently to restore the weakened faculties and I 
 hope you will forgive a young man for saying so 
 much to an older one!"
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 29 
 
 "Ah reckon yo raght, suh," said the captain. 
 "An please excuse me!" 
 
 Their cookery was an operation in progressive 
 broth-making. Theodore made broth of one quail, 
 peeped in to see if his guest were awake, served the 
 broth to the captain, and made more. The sun 
 wore to the west, the last quail was cooked, the 
 captain was providently gorged with alternate 
 courses of bird and broth, when Virginia, very 
 stately and very reserved, opened the door and 
 walked out upon the gallery. Carson shrank back 
 into the kitchen and shoved the captain into the 
 breach. 
 
 "How do you do, ma am?" he inquired solicit 
 ously. "Ah sho hope yo bette aftah yo sleep." 
 
 "Much better, thank you," she replied. 
 
 "We have some pahtridge broth, ma am," he went 
 on, "with rice; and a baked yam; and a planked 
 green trout from the lake back hyah; and some 
 coffee. Sit down, ma am, and Ah ll suhve it" 
 
 The little table was spread on the gallery, its top 
 made of the head of a derelict cask, its legs of bar 
 nacled sections of a boom. Virginia s head ached 
 in dreadful similitude to the traditional feeling of 
 the morning after; but the coffee fragrance was 
 pleasant. 
 
 "You are too good," said she, accepting the chair.
 
 30 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "I shall be glad to eat a little. Where is your 
 your friend?" 
 
 "He s som eres about," replied the captain. "Ah 
 really don t know, ma am. Won t you please take 
 yo coffee?" 
 
 The coffee was black and strong; the broth was 
 a temptation, and she sipped with increasing appe 
 tite. Buttered yam and planked trout brought the 
 meal to a triumphant end, with the world not such 
 a chamber of wild horrors as it had seemed when 
 she had awakened. Yet where was she, and how 
 should she depart? Where was the Roc? Who 
 were these men? The guns, the brass instruments 
 that looked as if they pertained to navigation, the 
 big windowless shed, all suggested things nautical, 
 bold and nefarious. The kindness and courtesy of 
 the rough-looking fellows reassured her as to her 
 personal safety. Yet if they were smugglers or 
 freebooters, how could they safely return her to the 
 civilization of coast-guards and constables? It 
 was deliciously romantic but how creepy! There 
 was a horde of them; and this pretty boy was too 
 young to control their turbulence. The blacka vised 
 captain with the red sash necessary to the color- 
 scheme would be less deferential than this girl- 
 faced lieutenant (he must be lieutenant) with his 
 meticulously proper attitude. Far less ! 
 
 The red-faced captain was habitually "maddened
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 31 
 
 with drink" and always roared to the pretty girl 
 captive, "Come ere, my pretty, an give us a kiss !" 
 
 Silly, but it made her heart flutter to imagine the 
 motley sea-rovers with blunderbusses at the right 
 shoulder shift, filing toward the cabin. The lieu 
 tenant must arrange her departure at once. In the 
 midst of her panic, she recalled vaguely the influ 
 ence of the medicine, her waltz with the lieutenant, 
 the holding of her hand, and the shunt-wound dy 
 namos. Were these things true, or fragments of a 
 wild dream? Now if there be added to visions of 
 leering pirate captains, a hot and cold and shivery 
 feeling arising from the conviction that one has 
 done something horrid, Virginia s impulse to see 
 the young robber and end the idyl for ever may be 
 accounted for. She turned to Captain Harrod with 
 an expression so agitated that he was somewhat 
 startled. 
 
 "I wish you would say to the lieutenant," said 
 she, "that I must see him at once if possible." 
 
 The fisherman analyzed this speech for perhaps a 
 minute, in absolute silence. Then he said, "Yes, 
 ma am," and instantly produced Carson, who, so 
 far as Virginia could judge, had been within the 
 captain s sight when she had been assured that his 
 whereabouts were unknown. This was felonious 
 and covert-looking. She must fly this lonely shore. 
 
 "You are," said the young man, avoiding any
 
 
 32 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 reference to her recovery, "doubtless wondering 
 where your companions may be, and thinking it 
 strange that they have not returned?" 
 
 "It is strange," said she. "Something must have 
 happened to the engines." 
 
 "No," said Theodore, "not that. They all but 
 blew out to sea. They simply had to fight their way 
 off toward Pensacola, where they must have made 
 harbor. It was almost half a gale." 
 
 "And so they went and left me?" 
 
 "They really couldn t help it," urged the young 
 man. 
 
 "It shows the sort of man Silberberg is," she 
 cried hotly, "and " 
 
 "Quite so," assented Theodore. "And yet, in 
 the present state of the art, the aeronat will not 
 allow you to do quite as you would, especially on a 
 lee shore off a thousand miles of open sea, you know, 
 with a good deal more than a capful of wind. They 
 really could not be expected " 
 
 Virginia silenced him with a gesture in which 
 dissent was mingled with emphatic dismissal of the 
 subject 
 
 "And now," said she, "perhaps you will be so 
 good as to help me to some conveyance to Mobile?" 
 
 "I have a boat on the lake," said Carson, "half 
 a mile inland. There is a channel to Palmetto 
 Beach. The boat and crew are at your service."
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 33 
 
 "I should prefer to walk, if you please," said 
 she. 
 
 "Unless you have a day or two to spend in the 
 journey, I should not recommend the attempt." 
 
 "I know some people," said she, "at the Yupon 
 Hedge Inn at Palmetto Beach. Can you " 
 
 "If we go at once," he replied, "you may be 
 there for dinner." 
 
 "I am ready," said she, rising. "Let us go, 
 please, immediately." 
 
 There were few preparations to make. Captain 
 Harrod led the way, easterly alongshore to a spot 
 where the scrub grew well down toward the beaten 
 beach. A long square-hewn timber lay half-rotted 
 and sunk in the sand ; and on this, like persons striv 
 ing to conceal their trail, they walked back between 
 clumps of dark-green rosemary, over a low place in 
 the dunes, down to the dry, hard bottom of a former 
 pool, under a thicket of scrub-oaks so dense that the 
 Roc or any of her tribe might have scouted for them 
 in vain, among black ponds fringed with wiry bent- 
 grass, past ghostly clumps of tall pines, and, finally, 
 through a dense tangle of persimmon, palmetto, 
 thorny "hack-and-be-damned" and low-growing 
 cedar, they emerged upon a little north-looking 
 hillock crowned with magnolias, cedars, hickories 
 and live-oaks, and looked forth upon a strange tarn 
 of inky water, ridging somberly in the north wind,
 
 34 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 its black waves crested with foam, like white plumes 
 on funeral crape. The shores of this sinister lake 
 were densely wooded by sullen ranks of pines and 
 cypresses standing like sour-faced soldiery knee- 
 deep in swamp. Virginia gasped at sight of the 
 somber mere it seemed such an eery spot in which 
 to be cast away with these strange men who lived 
 behind closed doors and walked the sands so as to 
 leave no footprints. Surely, her worst suspicions 
 
 "Haul out the launch, Captain." 
 
 Why was the trim, speedy-looking launch so com 
 pletely hidden in the tall cane? The puldoos 
 puddling in the reeds made sounds like prowling 
 accomplices. Virginia was trembling to be off as 
 Carson went aboard and inspected the engines with 
 the air of an expert. 
 
 "And now, madam," said he, "if you will do me 
 the honor to step aboard " 
 
 She turned to the captain who, holding the 
 painter, stood with one bare foot in the water, the 
 other planted hardily among the sharp shells on 
 shore. 
 
 "I want to thank you," said she, offering him 
 her hand, "for your delicious cookery and all 
 your kindness to me." 
 
 "Yo kindly welcome," returned the captain, 
 bowing over her hand. "It s been a pleasu an a
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 35 
 
 privilege to suhve you, ma am; but the cookin 
 wasn t mine, ma am." 
 
 "It was delicious, whosever it was," she said, 
 throwing a little smile at Mr. Carson. 
 
 "Ah m sorry," resumed the captain, "about that 
 
 ere medicine. If it seemed a leetle too strong 
 
 
 Miss Suarez, remembering the waltz, swept 
 haughtily to her place in the boat. Carson, with 
 his eye steadfastly fixed on his engine, quickly 
 shoved off. 
 
 "Evenin to yeh," said the captain, still with one 
 foot in the water, like a heron. 
 
 "Good evening," responded the young man. 
 
 Virginia said nothing. Carson, stealing a look 
 at her, saw the flush dying out upon her face and a 
 smile taking its place a dimpling, spasmodic 
 smile, accompanied by little quick dilations of the 
 nostrils, as if Miss Suarez was desirous of indulging 
 in a laugh, but saw no citable reason for so doing. 
 She waved her handkerchief at the captain. 
 
 "Do you see," said Carson, pointing to the re 
 ceding shore, "that the little hill at the landing is 
 just a mass of shells?" 
 
 "Why, so it is, I believe," she exclaimed. "How 
 came so many there?" 
 
 "It s a prehistoric kitchen-midden," said this 
 most extraordinary young pirate. "So many peo-
 
 36 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 pie lived there that they literally made a hill of the 
 shells of the mollusks they ate." 
 
 "Indeed!" ejaculated Virginia, and after a long 
 pause she added, "how odd!" 
 
 Mentally, her speech was: "How odd that this 
 young outcast should know about archaeology or 
 is it palaeontology?" It was easy to study him, he 
 looked so religiously away from her. He was rather 
 interesting. If she really had said those things to 
 him, and waltzed with him, what a dreadful thing 
 it was ! But how much more fine and chivalrous he 
 had been, in view of her own behavior. Of course, 
 if he was a criminal one owed a duty to society; 
 but ought she to allow him to enter the radius of 
 action of the authorities ? He must be more sinned 
 against by society than sinning his profile was so 
 perfect and how fine and soft his mustache 
 looked! How different from Silberberg he was in 
 every way, especially in his attitude toward girls. 
 Society be plagued ! She would be perfectly silent 
 as to the cabin in the dunes, and she would never, 
 never, give evidence against these people. She 
 would refuse to know their names, and refuse to 
 testify. There! She was in a fine flush of defi 
 ance as she heard Carson finishing some further 
 observation about the shell-mounds. 
 
 "Down along the Lagoon," he said, "the shells are 
 those of oysters, prehistoric like these. At Strong s
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 37 
 
 Bayou they are twenty feet deep. What hosts of 
 inhabitants !" 
 
 "Tremendous hosts," assented Virginia, who had 
 just defied the courts, "to be so deep." 
 
 "I mean the savages," he explained. 
 
 "To be sure," she ejaculated. "What dreadfully 
 deep creatures they are! One learns that from 
 Cooper." 
 
 "But back where we started," he went on, hoping 
 for a painless adjustment of her ideas to his "back 
 where we started, they were clams." 
 
 "The the people?" she inquired hesitantly, "or 
 or what?" 
 
 "I was referring to the shell-fish/ said he with 
 a little stiffness, arising from doubts as to whether 
 she might not be making game of him. "But in 
 this little sea, it is hard to talk connectedly and 
 manage the launch." 
 
 "That isn t it at all," she replied. "Your class 
 wasn t paying the slightest attention. Pardon me." 
 
 He threw over the tiller to round into a little 
 reedy cove; but instead of running ashore he en 
 tered a narrow creek which he followed through 
 such amazing tortuosities that the sun, low in the 
 west, was now on the right, now on the left, some 
 times astern, and again dead ahead. An indolent 
 current flowed with their course, its water ruddy and 
 clear like wine, and beautifully placid save where
 
 38 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 touched by the dying wind. Tasseled reeds cut off 
 the horizon, and at no time was anything to be 
 seen but the reeds, the water, the aquatic birds that 
 flew off like figures from a Japanese screen, the 
 silent little launch, and the young and interesting 
 outlaw with whom she seemed to have entered into 
 a new world consisting of a labyrinth as complex 
 as that of Crete, from which, so far as she could 
 see, there was no escape. 
 
 The reeds beside the lazy stream shivered with 
 the motion of scampering fish; and when the boat 
 entered the still ponds, strung on the tiny waterway, 
 like beads on a cord, the glassy surface would sud 
 denly bulge up into swift, shining swells, as the 
 finny giants took flight. How beautiful it was, she 
 thought, the perfection of marshy loveliness! 
 
 "I m having," said she, "a perfectly delightful 
 time!" 
 
 "I am very, very glad," said he. 
 
 Lily pads now rose and fell in the wakes of fish 
 and boat great green disks with no notch in their 
 sides for the stem, but only a slit, as if nature had 
 used a pair of scissors and made but one snip at 
 it. Negotiating a passage so narrow that the strakes 
 of the launch softly scraped both rooty shores, they 
 emerged into a lakelet not much larger than a good- 
 sized theater, which was quite green with the float 
 ing leaves, like a rich, flat meadow. And over there
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 39 
 
 were one, two, three, a dozen blooms waxy, 
 creamy, pure, and sedately beautiful. 
 
 "Oh!" cried Virginia. "How exquisite!" 
 
 Carson cruised about and piratically robbed the 
 pond of every blossom. 
 
 "They are smaller than the northern lilies," said 
 he, "and they have little fragrance; but I love them 
 all the better." 
 
 "They are daintier," she said, "and not so pro 
 nounced." 
 
 "Like the southern girls," said he. 
 
 "I m a southern girl," said she, "if I am a north 
 ern tourist." 
 
 "I knew that," he replied. "I had that in mind." 
 
 This talk was verging upon the personal, and 
 therefore to be discouraged. How keenly observing 
 he must be to detect in her cosmopolitan English 
 the old Alabama accent! She supposed herself to 
 be quite rid of it. His own occasional and incon 
 sistent lapses into ultra-softness of intonation seemed 
 quite like dialect to her. He waxed more and more 
 interesting. Surely, surely, he was not so very 
 much worse, at heart, with his love of flowers and 
 his chivalrous delicacy, than some people in in 
 other walks of life. She was quite recovered from 
 her alarm, quite in control of the situation now, 
 snuggling bewitchingly down and looking at her 
 lilies, as they emerged from the Narrows and shot
 
 40 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 out into the Lagoon, the blue waves of which had 
 subsided into round-rolling short swells. 
 
 "Good-by," cried Virginia, looking back into the 
 enchanted marsh. "Good-by! This is the world 
 again !" 
 
 Carson was looking the other way with less per 
 sistence now. There was something mysterious in 
 the charm of this girl s manner. Her good-by to 
 the Narrows seemed a subtle rapprochement to 
 him. They were in the world, and therefore 
 figuratively she let him come closer. 
 
 The lights of the hotels and villas along the 
 north shore swept by them in a panorama of fairy 
 illuminations. A great tow-boat slowly pushed its 
 two acres of barges toward Mobile from the Per- 
 dido Bay inner passage. The Lagoon was rilled 
 with launches. The evening had so far^grown 
 quiet that the air-ships had come out, sweeping the 
 skies like enormous phosphorescent insects. From 
 a hundred yards overhead fell the twangling of a 
 banjo and the voice of a tenor in full song. Vir 
 ginia, whose glances at her robber had been extra- 
 hazardous recently, because more likely to meet his, 
 could safely look at him again, absorbed as he was 
 in the management of his craft. He stood up once, 
 lithe and graceful as a leopard, and, after scrutiniz 
 ing an approaching sloop, sheered off, saying that 
 there was better water to port. He was evading
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 41 
 
 detection, she thought; and she felt companionably 
 furtive and guilty. 
 
 "We have been very impersonal," said he. "May 
 I introduce myself? My name is " 
 
 "Oh, please don t !" she exclaimed. "Forgive me, 
 but I d rather not know." 
 
 "It is mo interesting," said he, with a slow smile, 
 "not to know. I shall always think of you as " 
 
 "As the girl from Mars," she suggested. "I 
 came tumbling down to you in a heap, out of the 
 sky." 
 
 "Hardly from Mars," he demurred. "More prop 
 erly, from Venus." 
 
 "I don t like that very well," she protested. 
 
 "There s Andromeda," he suggested. 
 
 "Too tragic," she said. "And too far off." 
 
 "Then the Pleiades are eliminated," Carson went 
 on. 
 
 "Quite so," she assented. "There s only one of 
 me, and " 
 
 "And there will never be another!" he rejoined. 
 
 No answer to this little gush seemed either de 
 manded or available. So Virginia merely shook 
 her head. 
 
 "I struck like a comet," said she; "but they all 
 have numbers, don t they or those funny little 
 cuneiform symbols?" 
 
 "Isn t there an asteroid named Psyche?" he
 
 42 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 inquired. "I m going to assume that there is, and 
 name you after that." 
 
 "A purely telescopic star " 
 
 "Because of its distance, only, Psyche." 
 
 "A little body whirled about among the great 
 ones, because it can t help it. I believe " 
 
 "And I shall not have the satisfaction, unless it 
 sends me word, of knowing whether it actually ex 
 ists or not," said he meaningly. 
 
 "And of course," she said, "Psyche will have 
 neither the means nor the inclination to enter into 
 communion with with any one on this mundane 
 globule. What shore is this?" 
 
 Theodore was mute, rebuffed, silenced. She re 
 peated quite blandly her inquiry about the shore, 
 into which they seemed about to dash headlong. 
 
 "It s where we enter the canal," said he, rather 
 sulkily. "The Eastern Inner Passage, you know." 
 
 "There s something I want to say to you," said 
 she, as they approached the entrance. "Do you 
 feel quite free to visit the hotels with their lights, 
 their crowds, and isn t there any danger?" 
 
 Theodore sat in silence while he steered into the 
 canal, as if totally at a loss to guess her meaning. 
 
 "If you would prefer," said he, as if at last he 
 had the clue, "not to be seen with " 
 
 "Oh, no, no, no, no!" she cried. "Plow can you
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 43 
 
 be so cruel! I meant . . . Oh, you are 
 cruel!" 
 
 Her protest rang back from the TOWS of dark 
 magnolias, under which he was guiding the launch, 
 a protest of perfect and pained sincerity. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Psyche," said he. "I did 
 not understand. We will go on to the beach." 
 
 "Thank you," said the girl. "I thought only of 
 your safety." 
 
 "Ah!" he said. "It s quite too late for that!" 
 
 "If anything happens to you," said she, "I shall 
 never forgive myself. Listen, my dear friend. I 
 think that no girl was ever so beautifully treated. 
 You and the captain have been perfect, absolutely 
 perfect. I I can t tell you what the beautiful 
 things were; and I know that neither of you will 
 ever know. That s what makes it so fine. If you 
 were a girl, and had lived for years where I have 
 lived, you d know, though, and you d thrill with 
 admiration for the men who are, are immense 
 enough to act so ! There !" 
 
 The boat quietly passed out across the woven 
 threads of light that webbed the water from a thou 
 sand points about Strong s Bayou, and gently came 
 to at the dock of the Yupon Hedge Inn. The 
 promenades were crowded with people in evening 
 clothes, and waiters with trays. It was a gay scene,
 
 44 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 and Carson felt the pull of it as they stepped 
 ashore. 
 
 "Can I do anything mo for you?" he asked. 
 
 "No, no, you must go now! But thank you a 
 thousand times!" said she. "I m just a little no 
 body, or I d say to you that if ever you need a 
 friend" 
 
 "Your mentioning it will be joy enough for me," 
 said he. 
 
 She put out her hand, walking up close, looking 
 into his face gratefully. She was astonished to 
 see how white and set his features were; he thrilled 
 to feel that her hand trembled in his, and was 
 touched to note the moisture that filled her eyes as 
 she poured forth her little oration of gratitude. 
 
 "You are agitated," said she, "you are in danger. 
 Go, with my best wishes for your escape and safe 
 return to your company !" 
 
 "Phyche," said he fervently, "your God-speed 
 and your anxiety make me happy; but I fear it is 
 too late. I shall never escape, Psyche, from the 
 toils you have lured me into, never!" 
 
 She looked about for the slouching form of the 
 officer she feared; but she saw no one except tour 
 ists in nautical or aeronautical toggery, coming 
 down the wharf. She was in an agony of ter 
 ror for him. He pressed her hands convulsively, 
 she returning the pressure, and begging him again
 
 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT 45 
 
 to go. He carried her hands to his lips, kissed them 
 passionately, and leaped into the boat. Virginia 
 watched him amazedly as he darted away like a 
 frightened tarpon, not toward his cabin in the 
 dunes, but out through the entrance of the bayou 
 and off across the Bay toward Point Clear. One 
 more mystery to ponder over, when thinking of her 
 mysterious malefactor.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 CARSON S LANDING 
 
 IT has always been a point of genealogical dis 
 pute as to whether or not Theodore Carson s 
 father was of kin to the founder of the old 
 Carson place up Fish River. It was one of those 
 controversies in which one side is supposed to be 
 trying to climb, the other to be oblivious of the 
 climbing, and both are in a position of peculiar 
 delicacy from the fact that they are all Americans, 
 and disbelievers in anything like inherited rank. 
 
 General Carson, in his lean years, used to sell 
 turpentine to his namesake at the dingy ship- 
 chandlery on the wharf near the Eslava Street 
 oyster dock. On these commercial occasions, the 
 general, when mellowed by juleps, with his foot 
 on the brass rail and his elbows on the bar, used 
 to call the ship-chandler "cousin." At other times, 
 however, he made no bones of his opinion that the 
 Mobile Carsonses were damned common people, 
 and branded as impudent any fool claim of kinship 
 between the humble tradesman and the Carsonses 
 
 46
 
 CARSON S LANDING 47 
 
 of Marengo County. The ship-chandler was too 
 proud to make any claim, but privately believed in 
 the kinship theory ; and when the general died, hav 
 ing lost his Marengo estates in trying to breed the 
 one-fifty trotter, it was discovered that he owed the 
 ship-chandler on mortgage more than the value of 
 the Fish River plantation, which passed to the re 
 jected branch of the Carsonses. Theodore s father, 
 delighted to have come into what he felt to be his 
 own, rode his horse through the cut-over waste 
 clinging to the horse s mane and feeling like a 
 rightful heir reinstated; and accepting the obliga 
 tion to restore the glories of the family, he em 
 barked so unreservedly and unskilfully upon the 
 development of a cotton plantation according to the 
 general s plans, that Theodore fell heir, at his 
 father s death, to nothing but this waste of second- 
 growth pine, scarcely self-sustaining, and a policy 
 of life insurance, which he invested in such edu 
 cation as he most desired, a combination of elec 
 trical engineering and mechanics. He was a little 
 bitter sometimes as he recalled the phantoms, the 
 pursuit of which had ruined two successive owners 
 of the estate: the general s breeding maggot, and 
 his father s curious pride in a mere name. Where 
 upon he gave chase to a phantom of his own, with 
 what success we shall see, and followed what his 
 friends called a rainbow, with such true Carson en-
 
 48 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 thusiasm, that when he left Virginia Suarez on the 
 dock at Strong s Bayou, on that sandy, deliciously 
 dreamy, southern shore of Mobile Bay, he steered 
 through the night for a house very nearly disman 
 tled, on an estate growing up to persimmon thick 
 ets, dewberry beds and palmetto slashes, the very 
 title to which was about to pass to his creditors. 
 His ignis fatuus was in the cabin among the Gulf 
 Beach dunes; but neither that, nor the precarious 
 state of his fortunes could account for his alternate 
 joy and gloom as he fared north in the night. The 
 sky-maiden was the thing that really mattered. 
 
 A gray dawn was broadening into morning as 
 he approached his own landing; and the chill was 
 one to make the wanderer long for warm blankets 
 and a wisp of flame in the grate ; but Theodore sat 
 on the wharf thinking, though his bed was within 
 five minutes walk. Who was the young woman 
 who had so strangely fallen from the clouds at his 
 feet? What had become of the great air-ship from 
 the deck of which she had flown in that little flying 
 machine of the management of which she seemed 
 to have no knowledge? Why had she refused to 
 learn his name, and concealed her own? Whose 
 air-ship was it from which she had been lost over 
 board, and who was the girl? 
 
 He wondered whether her people knew of the 
 chance by which he and Captain Harrod had res-
 
 CARSON S LANDING 49 
 
 cued the fair castaway. Probably they believed her 
 lost. The helicopter had scarcely paused when she 
 struck the dune, but had shot out over the Gulf 
 like a flying gull. They must mourn the girl as 
 lost. Doubtless they were filling the air with wire 
 less messages from Pensacola, calling upon vessels 
 to look out for a runaway helicopter carrying a 
 young girl to her death in the warm waters of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, somewhere off at the limit of the 
 flying-machine s radius of action. As in formal 
 duty bound, they would, no doubt, soon return to 
 the place where they had seen her last, and make 
 hopeless search. They would be likely to be seen 
 of Captain Harrod, and to see him. Theodore, 
 trusting the old fisherman to preserve the secret 
 of the hidden cabin, dismissed the matter from his 
 mind and went into his house, where a colored 
 mammy was shuffling leisurely about, but assumed 
 an ant-like activity at his demand for breakfast. 
 
 But if he was so hungry, why, she thought, did 
 he let her delicious coffee grow cold, slight her 
 omelette and hot corn-pone, and neglect the fresh 
 dewberries and cream? He sat there, building air- 
 castles in true Carson somnambulism. He had, 
 like the old general, a system by which to beat the 
 game and he had a girl s name to discover. 
 
 The Roc, according to Theodore s forecast, came
 
 50 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 coasting back in the same tardy dawn that lamped 
 that young somnambulist to his home. Mr. Silber- 
 berg lighted and smoked countless cigarettes. Mr. 
 Shayne nervously walked the deck and debated the 
 question of letting Mrs. Shayne know of her niece s 
 tragic death at once, or of waiting for a personal 
 interview. For the Roc had had no word of either 
 the helicopter or the girl, and they saw no gleam 
 of hope for her. She was a dependent, and some 
 thing of a problem for Mrs. Shayne. Any ordinary 
 circumstance that would have separated the aunt 
 and niece would not have been mourned inconsol- 
 ably by either of them; in fact, Mrs. Shayne had 
 expressed to her husband some wonder as to what 
 Silberberg saw in the girl ; but to lose her like this, 
 with all the unpleasant publicity of the terrible af 
 fair. 
 
 "Marie will never get over it," said Shayne. 
 "What the devil ails that fellow aft?" 
 
 The fellow aft was Wizner, inventor of the lost 
 helicopter, discoursing to the crew in pure assorted 
 maledictions, which he heaped on all concerned in 
 the loss of his machine. This got upon Mr. 
 Shayne s nerves so that he went aft, gave him a 
 check for what he asked, and informed him that un 
 less he kept still, they would descend and put him 
 off the aeronat. 
 
 They crossed Perdido Bay, passed the savannas
 
 CARSON S LANDING 51 
 
 and crawfish meadows and cruised about aimlessly 
 until dawn. The light found them far down toward 
 the Lagoon, flying high for safety in the darkness. 
 The long, straight beach lay white, cold-looking 
 and solitary in the pure light, which touched the 
 great gas-holder to silver while the earth and sea 
 were still in gloom. Away south in the offing 
 were two steamers, and from the wireless overhead 
 could be heard the discharges by which the operator 
 was making a last despairing effort to obtain news 
 of the lost girl. 
 
 "It s not far from here," said Silberberg. 
 
 "Oh, we haven t come nearly far enough," replied 
 Shayne. "We began preparing the helicopter for 
 the test between Three Rivers and Collins Bayou. 
 That s miles and miles west." 
 
 "But we were coming east," urged Silberberg, 
 "and it took some time." 
 
 The buzzer from the engine-room was sprung 
 with a sharp rattle. Mr. Shayne went to the speak 
 ing tube. 
 
 "We all think, sir," said the engineer, "that 
 we ve about reached the place where the young lady 
 went out to sea." 
 
 "Mr. Silberberg thinks so, too," replied Shayne; 
 "but I think it was west of here." 
 
 "There s a man on the beach, sir," said the en 
 gineer. "Shall we speak him?"
 
 52 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Do," replied Shayne. "He may know some 
 thing." 
 
 The Roc circled about like an alighting swan, all 
 the time descending. The man seated himself on 
 a log to await her libration. Finally she paused 
 above him, and in the purr of the leveling screws 
 Mr. Shayne spoke. Had he seen anything of a 
 flying-machine which went out to sea, yesterday? 
 Yes, he had. 
 
 "It was raght close hyah, suh," replied Captain 
 Harrod. 
 
 "Did you see the young lady?" asked Shayne. 
 
 "Yes, suh." 
 
 "Was she still clinging to the helicopter when 
 you last saw her?" 
 
 "No, suh, she wasn t clingin to nothing with 
 the han to ds me when Ah lost sight on huh, suh." 
 
 "Let down the lift," commanded Mr. Shayne; 
 "I m going down." 
 
 The three men, Shayne, Silberberg and Wizner, 
 gathered about the fisherman on the beach. Cap 
 tain Harrod seemed busy removing the sand from 
 between his toes with a crooked and nodular fore 
 finger. 
 
 "Do you think," queried Silberberg, "that there 
 is the slightest chance for her to to be saved, my 
 good man?"
 
 CARSON S LANDING 53 
 
 "Was the helicopter was it going when you 
 last saw it?" interrogated Wizner, "or did it fall?" 
 
 "Ah think the lady hez a chance to make po t," 
 replied Harrod calmly. "An as f r the chicka- 
 nanny dingus she come hyah in, the last Ah seen 
 of it, it were poppin to ds the snapper-banks raght 
 peart." 
 
 " It ,"repeated Shayne, " it was going! Where 
 was she? Tell us all you know." 
 
 "Ah m a raght ig nant man, an don t know 
 much," replied the captain ; "but Ah m slow spoke, 
 an it would take a half houah to tell all Ah knows 
 ( gen ly speakin . But if it s jist about the young 
 lady, she tumbled out on the sand, in fair shape; 
 an if she s made good weathah she s about bo din 
 the boat f r Mobile. We was raght proud to hev 
 huh as ou guest!" 
 
 "There !" shouted Wizner triumphantly. "Didn t 
 I tell you that machine would stand grief? Struck 
 the ground " ( 
 
 "Keep out of this !" commanded Mr. Shayne. 
 "Was she hurt seriously?" 
 
 "But I say, Mr. Shayne," protested Wizner, 
 "don t you see that with my machine you ve got 
 the business coopered? Put your money on the 
 helicopters,and you ll " 
 
 "Ah you Mr. Shayne?" inquired the captain.
 
 54 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Yes, yes," replied Shayne; "what have you done 
 with her?" 
 
 "A gentleman Ah m employed by," replied the 
 captain, "has done carried huh ove to the Inn. 
 Axin yo pahdon, ah you the Mr. Shayne that s 
 called the Prince o the Powers of the Aiah ?" 
 
 "I reckon I am," replied Mr. Shayne irritably. 
 "But tell us of the rescue of this dear girl. Tell 
 us!" 
 
 While Silberberg and Shayne listened, Wizner 
 began scouting up and down the beach. Guided 
 by some instinct for mischief he went west, and as 
 the captain s story rambled on, he scrutinized the 
 sands for traces of his beloved machine. Harrod 
 moved uneasily as Wizner paused at the spot where 
 the helicopter struck, examined the beach tracks, 
 and passed through the dunes toward the cabin. 
 Yet he finished his tale unhurriedly, and placed 
 the whole story tardily in their possession. At 
 once they signaled the Palmetto Beach wireless 
 station, and in a moment the news came in that 
 Miss Suarez had sent messages to Mrs. Shayne that 
 morning, and had taken an early boat for Mobile. 
 Mr. Shayne grasped the hand of Mr. Silberberg, 
 who sat on a log, burying his face in his handker 
 chief. 
 
 "I know how you feel, old fellow," said Shayne. 
 "And I want to say to you, my good man, I can t
 
 CARSON S LANDING 55 
 
 repay you, you know; but so far as money can go, 
 I hope you will ask, or, rather, accept " 
 
 "Ah couldn t accept anythin, suh," said the cap 
 tain; "thank ee kindly. But maght Ah ask whar 
 you-all s going now?" 
 
 "Straight to Mobile," replied Mr. Shayne; 
 "why?" 
 
 "Ah unde stand," went on the captain, "that you 
 ah int rested in all sohts of flyin craft aiah-ships, 
 an flyin dinguses lahk what the young lady come 
 in, an " 
 
 "Well," answered. Mr. Shayne, laughing, "not 
 in that sort any more, I reckon; but I m supposed 
 to control in aeronautics, if that s what you mean. 
 Got a machine that solves the problem? Most 
 every one has." 
 
 "No, suh," replied the captain; "but a friend o 
 mine, raght on yo way, Ah d pow ful well like to 
 hev you stop by an see. He s got something. If he 
 could jist git yo attention fo a minute, it maght 
 It s Mr. Theodo , my employah." 
 
 "The gentleman who took my niece to the 
 beach?" 
 
 "Yes, suh." 
 
 "We are in a hurry," urged Mr. Shayne. "We 
 are about starting for Chicago. Won t any other 
 time do?" 
 
 "It s raght on yo way, suh," persisted the cap-
 
 56 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 tain, "an it s all the favo Ah ll ask of you-all. 
 Ah leave it to you, suh, of co se; but " 
 
 "Will you go and pilot us to the place?" 
 
 "Ah cain t ve y well leave hyah, suh," replied the 
 captain; "but if yo pilot knows these piny woods 
 as well as he orto do, suh " 
 
 "Come and tell him the place," said Shayne in 
 cisively. "Toot the horn for Wizner, up there! 
 Yes, yes; don t say any more. We ll go. But I tell 
 you, my friend, your man might have spent a lot 
 of car- fare reaching Finley Shayne!" 
 
 "Ah reckon that s so, suh," replied the captain, 
 stepping into the lift. "He s been a-stud in ve y 
 heavy about the mattah, suh, fo a long tahm." 
 
 In that era of the changing world, dwellers in this 
 land of sun and dream, half coastal swamp, half 
 teeming pleasure-ground, were much habituated 
 to the sight of aerial craft then affected by the 
 wealthy. The bicycle long ago had shown the 
 attractiveness of any new mode of ambulation. 
 The automobile, following, had become the favor 
 ite extravagance of the rich. Vulgarized by com 
 merce and trade, this was in turn abandoned by 
 Dives, who now, still envied by Lazarus, rose above 
 the thronged roads, in the great aerostats of the 
 day. The discovery of the methanose mixture, 
 with ten times the explosive force of gasolene, had
 
 CARSON S LANDING 57 
 
 made ascensional and depressive screws an efficient 
 adjunct of the aeronat with its barely buoyant gas 
 bag; and, with the improved propellers which fol 
 lowed, made the old-fashioned "dirigible" a fairly 
 dependable craft in ordinary weather. It was along 
 this line, rather than by way of the heavier-than-air 
 aeronefs, that development had marched, to the 
 enormous enrichment of Finley Shayne, who con 
 trolled the Keewatin methanose marshes. Even 
 after the discovery of the Alaskan methanose and 
 the loss of this monopoly, his hold on the industry 
 by patents and secret processes could not be shaken 
 off. He was still "The Prince of the Powers of the 
 Air," and it was of him that Theodore Carson 
 thought as he sat on the columned gallery of his 
 house, watching the far-off aerial monsters that 
 were always in sight. 
 
 His barren estate lay under the lane between 
 Pensacola and Mobile; and above this ran the 
 sparser drift from Atlantic and Appalachian forest 
 points to the Mississippi Sound resorts. He knew 
 the type of every air-ship. Most of these huge 
 objects dropping like swifts into the chimney of the 
 aerial harbor at Mobile, were Shayne s Condors, 
 of which the Roc was the type, modeled after the 
 early creations of Count Zeppelin. The smaller, 
 quicker, low-flying ones without the gas-holders, 
 were the still unsuccessful aeronefs of the Wright
 
 58 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 and Farman types. The scene was varied by an 
 occasional orthopter with flapping wings, or by 
 helicopters, on each of which Carson looked long 
 ingly, wishing it might bring again the treasure 
 fetched by the fugacious machine of Mr. Wizner. 
 The problem of life was in these various vessels, 
 and he studied them wistfully, so wistfully that 
 the Roc s wild honk sounded thrice before he heard 
 it. He stepped out upon the Bermuda grass, saw 
 a retractile telephone spinning down from the great 
 silver fish balanced in the calm sky, caught it and 
 put it to his ear. 
 
 "O, Aunt Chloe," cried he, running in for his 
 hat and coat. "Here s some one above the house 
 asking for me, and who do you suppose it is?" 
 
 "Mout be the angel Gab el," replied Chloe, "f m 
 whah he is, an de way he blow dat ho n ; but Ah 
 reckon it s jes some triflin sky-hooter. Who is 
 dey?" 
 
 "The greatest luck you ever heard of !" cried The 
 odore. "Where s that new parachute? Never 
 mind, I ve found it." 
 
 And with no further explanation, Mr. Theodore 
 ran out, stepped into the lift, and was whisked up 
 to the Roc s polished deck with his new parachute 
 over his shoulder. 
 
 Mr. Shayne met him with something less than 
 the steely coldness with which he was wont to
 
 CARSON S LANDING 59 
 
 freeze the vitals of the man representing an un 
 developed business opportunity, and with much less 
 than the degree of warmth with which, had it not 
 been for the business opportunity, he would have 
 greeted the rescuer of his niece. 
 
 "I am under great obligations to you, Mr. The 
 odore," said he, "for your service to my niece. To 
 be entirely frank, I should not have appropriated 
 the time to call on any business account." 
 
 Mr. Carson felt repelled. He traced the "Mr. 
 Theodore" to Captain Harrod s mode of referring 
 to him. Seeing nothing in Mr. Shayne s air evinc 
 ing thirst for personal data concerning himself, 
 he offered none as to his name. 
 
 "I am sorry," said he, "that you have gone even 
 an inch out of your way on account of any fancied 
 obligations. I prefer the basis of business." 
 
 "By Jove," said a voice at his elbow, "you ought 
 to be able to meet him on that basis, Shayne." 
 
 Carson s ear was affronted, his nerves tautened by 
 the voice; and he felt a sudden disinclination to 
 meet its owner. Shayne waved the man away. 
 
 "But," went on Silberberg, "it seems to me, old 
 chap, we d vastly better put the whole thing on a 
 basis of breakfast, first. Send this good man aft, 
 and let s fall to!" 
 
 Carson wheeled round and stared Silberberg in the 
 face curiously, with the impersonal disfavor of one
 
 60 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 studying the picture of some noxious thing, like a 
 Gila monster or a feast of vultures. He made no ef 
 fort to avoid affront, but remorselessly bored into 
 Silberberg s visage with his eyes, until that gentle 
 man began to squirm in disquietude, whereupon Car 
 son turned his back suddenly on the head of the 
 Metals Trust, and faced Mr. Shayne just in time to 
 detect a fleeting blush departing from his counte 
 nance. 
 
 "I trust that you will take breakfast with us," 
 said he, "we shall " 
 
 "Thank you," said Theodore. "I have break 
 fasted; and while it is very hygienic, I have no 
 doubt, kosher food doesn t appeal to me." 
 
 "By God, my man," shouted Silberberg, "if you 
 say another word " 
 
 Carson turned upon him, and Silberberg sank 
 into a seat. Carson walked back to the engine- 
 room, saying that he would look the craft over, and 
 see Mr. Shayne after breakfast. 
 
 For the tourists it was not a jolly meal. Silber 
 berg conceived himself vastly insulted by this fel 
 low they had picked up, and gave his host rather 
 a bad half hour. 
 
 "We owe it to him to allow him to be a little 
 nasty," said Shayne, secretly smiling at the thought 
 of the reception awaiting this story of the kosher 
 food in certain clubs where all Silberberg s wealth
 
 CARSON S LANDING 61 
 
 had not made him a social favorite. "Think what 
 he did for Virginia, you know, Silberberg." 
 
 "By Jove," cried Silberberg, "I would rather 
 she had er, that is, I would not allow any service 
 even to her to atone for such an insult. I don t 
 allow any one to He must leave the Roc, 
 Shayne, or I will." 
 
 "But his machine may be worth while," urged 
 Shayne, using what he judged would be a valid 
 argument with his guest. "An idea is an idea, Max, 
 and this art of flying needs improvement." 
 
 "No idea," insisted Max, "is worth that much. 
 Suit yourself, Mr. Shayne, but as for me " 
 
 Silberberg waved his hand, closing the debate. 
 Mr. Shayne prided himself upon his ability in han 
 dling people, and was, moreover, most pig-headed 
 himself. He grew fonder of Mr. Carson s project 
 as Silberberg grew hotter in urging the young 
 man s dismissal. The ship passed Magnolia 
 Springs, left Point Clear far to port, sailed majes 
 tically over Fairhope, and was half-way across 
 the bay before the meal ended, with the argument 
 still undecided, though Shayne was winning pro 
 gressively by force of nearing their harbor. As 
 they rose they detected Wizner standing behind 
 them, hat in hand, as if awaiting a word with 
 them : or eavesdropping, as the case might have 
 been.
 
 62 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Well," said Shayne, rather angrily. 
 
 "I just wanted to say," replied Wizner, "that I 
 know what this young fellow s proposition is." 
 
 "So do we," said Mr. Shayne. "It s some kind 
 of flying-machine." 
 
 "Yes," said Wizner. "And if you don t find 
 him reasonable to deal with, come to me. I ve seen 
 his model. It ain t protected, of course, and I can 
 build one like it in a few weeks with money 
 enough. I ll learn him to butt in and take a cus 
 tomer from me!" 
 
 Silberberg and Shayne looked significantly at 
 each other. 
 
 "When inventors fall out," began Shayne. 
 
 "Monopolists get their hooks in," supplied Sil 
 berberg. "Let s take the fool north, and see what 
 he s got." 
 
 "Most sensible thing you ve said," replied 
 Shayne. 
 
 Now this conversation must not be taken as proof 
 that Mr. Shayne had decided upon any unfair treat 
 ment of this cocky young chap who walked the 
 Roc s deck like a young bull in his own proper 
 pasture. His services to Virginia entitled him to 
 fair treatment in business, or fair payment in 
 money. They might not entitle him to both. In 
 matters aeronautical, business was business. If 
 Wizner could learn Carson s secrets, it would do
 
 CARSON S LANDING 63 
 
 nobody harm for Shayne to know them. All these 
 things were mere business truisms. So he talked 
 with Wizner aside, and by the time the aeronat 
 librating over the aerial harbor and obeying her 
 descent screws, gently purred into her berth, he had 
 discovered that Wizner really knew nothing, but 
 was in position, as he said, to find out a deuce of 
 a lot, having seen a mysterious something in the 
 hidden shed on the South Beach, which he de 
 clined to describe, principally, as Shayne plainly 
 told him, because he couldn t ; but it might be worth 
 his while, he added, for Wizner to take another 
 look, and make a sketch or so. 
 
 Carson waited in glum silence until the second 
 descent of the lift, refusing to occupy it along with 
 Silberberg. Shayne urged him to stay aboard for 
 the night trip to Chicago. It was only one day there 
 and another back, for the weather map indicated 
 northerly winds outward and southerly ones re 
 turning one of those fine prosperous flights that 
 sometimes gave to the aeronat cruise the semblance 
 of real rulership of the air. 
 
 "The weather, north," said Shayne, "is the mild 
 est known for March. We ve plenty of furs and 
 top-coats if it falls cold. We can discuss your 
 project, Mr. Theodore, over our high-balls going 
 up. It s your only way to file your tale of woe. 
 Come with us."
 
 64 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Very well, said Mr. Theodore, he would go, with 
 many thanks. 
 
 He wondered about the niece and Silberberg, 
 but he asked no questions. His fervent wish that 
 "Psyche" might go was born of a natural desire 
 to know if she had recovered from her terrible 
 experience. He yearned so strongly to pay her the 
 merely formal attention of inquiring about this that 
 he wandered about aimlessly, growing red and 
 tingling to his ringers ends at imaginary passages 
 between himself and Psyche, running into dang 
 ers from moving trams and motor vehicles, and 
 walking in a dream slap aboard a Guayaquil liner, 
 under the impression that he was strolling up Gov 
 ernment Street. With unseemly haste he got off, 
 or his next land-fall would have been the Canal 
 Zone, not Chicago. 
 
 He cleared his eyes of Psyche dust, strode di 
 rectly to the lift, and went aboard the Roc. It was 
 late in the afternoon. The engineer was impatient 
 for his party, and swore an unblasphemous oath 
 of relief as they appeared below. Carson looked 
 down and saw a rising oval spot of black-and-white 
 checks, which he knew to be the flat cap of Silber 
 berg, and he breathed hard. Also, however, there 
 was a parterre of millinery under which must be 
 at least two women, and he breathed easier. That 
 hound was going, then, and Psyche, too. How
 
 CARSON S LANDING 65 
 
 inexpressibly annoying, and completely ecstatic it 
 was ! They went forward ; and when Carson joined 
 them, the ladies had vanished into the cabin, with 
 Silberberg. 
 
 "What do you think of the weather?" asked 
 Shayne. 
 
 "The low has reached Omaha," replied Carson, 
 "and has deepened rapidly. We ought to get into 
 stiff south winds soon, increasing all the way." 
 
 "Let em increase," rejoined Shayne. "We ll 
 make port quicker. If it should be northerly 
 weather, now " 
 
 "We d have to moor?" queried Carson. 
 
 "Naturally." 
 
 "What I m going to talk to you about," said Car 
 son, "is a machine that could make Chicago against 
 the fiercest gale quicker than this flying palace can 
 do it to-night." 
 
 "Oh, yes," lightly replied Shayne. "I ve had 
 em offered me that would do it in an hour in 
 the inventor s mind. And they ve been announcing 
 them ever since the time of Santos-Dumont, and 
 we are still about where the old Brazilian left the 
 art. Methanose and light engines help some; but 
 we re helpless yet in a forty-mile wind." 
 
 "We may be so to-night," said a voice at their 
 elbows. "The forecast is mist and clouds north of 
 Meridian; and it s blowing hard at Memphis, sir."
 
 66 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "How hard?" 
 
 "Thirty-two per," replied the engineer. "But 
 it s freshening every minute, they say." 
 
 "It ll be with us," answered Shayne. "Put her 
 tail to it, and hike." 
 
 The earth was a concave cup with the setting 
 sun a flaming wick on its rim. To the north was a 
 huge, black accumulation of clouds which seemed 
 swelling with startling rapidity; but the weather- 
 wise aviators knew it to be their own headlong 
 flight which brought the clouds nearer with such 
 speed, giving them the swift upheaval which mim 
 icked the approach of a storm. The silence was 
 absolute, save for the muffled exhaust of the engines 
 and the purr of the driving screw astern; for the 
 Roc kept pace with the blast, and the light breeze 
 that swept her decks was from prow, eastwardly 
 to stern, as she edged up into the great cyclonic 
 whirl and outfooted the wind. Darkness stole over 
 the earth, and the foreshortened landscape was 
 blotted out, even while the sun s rays still silvered 
 the great bulging overhang of the Roc s majestic 
 hull. The light drew up to the zenith and left the 
 ship, too, in shadow. The conning lamps threw 
 long white cones down thousands of feet of space 
 to the earth, and, shifting back and forth, looked 
 like the lambent legs of some unearthly monster 
 awkwardly straddling in an attempt to walk. Far
 
 CARSON S LANDING 67 
 
 off shone the lights of river steamers, Pleiad-like 
 constellations of massed stars. The arc-lights of 
 the towns shone up vividly as the flying ship neared 
 their lighted area, and then winked out, like snuffed 
 candles, as she crossed the shadows of their reflec 
 tors. Carson, for a moment left alone, walked aft. / 
 Looking rather concerned, the engineer was turn 
 ing his ear downward, listening to the sullen roar 
 that now droned up from the ground. 
 
 "A hell of a wind," said he to Carson. "Hear it 
 howl, and not a leaf stirring up here." , 
 
 "Yes," assented Carson, listening, "it is blowing; 
 but what of it?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing," replied the engineer, looking at 
 the manometer, "only did you ever try to bring 
 one of these gas-bags to in a gale? Not to mention 
 nursing her into the boss s Chicago garage! Hey?" 
 
 "No," answered Carson. "It must be difficult." 
 
 "Oh, it isn t bad," returned the engineer. "In 
 a twenty-mile wind it s just an even break, that s 
 all, whether you punch a hole in her and drop two 
 hundred feet to the street, or get dumped by a 
 down draft among the sky-scrapers with the 
 depressors running. But difficult? The devil of it 
 is it s so infernally easy! Unless we find Chicago 
 in the calm spot in the middle of the low, it s the 
 Canada woods for ours. And I despise Nature!" 
 
 Carson smiled at this gloomy forecast, followed
 
 68 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 as it was by a sprightly whistle. The young man 
 wanted his serious talk with Shayne. So far they 
 had spoken nothing but generalities, and he felt 
 frustrated, held off, played with as a skilful fencer 
 plays with a novice. And he had had no glimpse 
 of Psyche. This made him irritable the trip 
 was such a waste of time. Well, as to Shayne, 
 he must take things into his own hands, buck up, 
 and come to a definite parley. As to the girl 
 
 Miss Suarez stood by the rail, looking off into 
 the blackness, her hair heavy with a mist now just 
 becoming perceptible. She was listening, as to 
 something with which the ship had no concern, to 
 the howling of the wind down on earth. Mrs. 
 Shayne, from the cabin door, looked forth at the 
 young woman, with distinct displeasure, for Vir 
 ginia had just said a very naughty thing to Mr. 
 Silberberg, in a golf discussion, which had unac 
 countably aroused her temper. Silberberg gloomed 
 forth darkly over Mrs. Shayne s shoulder into the 
 darker night. Mr. Shayne was asking the pilot 
 for data as to distances and course, having audibly 
 wished the women at the devil. It was not all bliss 
 and in walked young Carson to make things 
 worse. 
 
 Virginia, taking him for Silberberg, turned on 
 him a face hot with anger, stood looking at him a 
 moment; then all the displeasure faded away and
 
 CARSON S LANDING 69 
 
 something quite irreconcilable with it took its 
 place. Because she held out both hands and 
 looked so divine, Carson took them and held them 
 close. 
 
 "My robber!" she whispered. "Are you a stow 
 away? Are you escaping?" 
 
 "Psyche! Psyche!" he gushed, under circum 
 stances distinctly unfavorable for outpourings of 
 souls. "Oh, I m glad! No, escape is quite hope 
 less! And you are well after, after " 
 
 "After my orgy?" she queried. 
 
 A farmer thought he heard the first bobolink of 
 spring, as her laugh tinkled down from the clouds. 
 
 "Virginia !" 
 
 It was Mrs. Shayne who called. 
 
 "Please come in," said she. "It s wet out there." 
 
 Mr. Carson gave Virginia his arm, and she swept 
 into the cabin, leaning proudly on it. 
 
 "Uncle Finley," said she, "I don t know How he 
 happens to be aboard ; but this is this is my " 
 
 "We know," said Mr. Shayne. "We picked up 
 your deliverer down in the woods, Virginia." 
 
 "Oh," said she. "Then I" 
 
 "You were the only one, it seems, in ignorance 
 of Mr. Theodore s presence. We have some busi 
 ness to talk over. What s up, Willett?" 
 
 Willett, the pilot, appeared at the door with a 
 salute. He was a stooped little scholarly-looking
 
 70 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 man who wore great mica goggles shoved back 
 on his forehead. 
 
 "You sent for the course and distances, sir," he 
 replied. 
 
 Mrs. Shayne sank back on a broad upholstered 
 divan built into the wall. Silberberg twitched 
 Shayne s arm to gain his attention, but the owner 
 of the Roc received his pilot s report. 
 
 "We seem to be breaking records," went on Wil- 
 lett. "The distance gage shows St. Louis nearest, 
 with low variation for headway. Indianapolis is 
 weak, right around a hundred and fifty miles ; and 
 we re getting indistinct registry that s either Nash 
 ville or Chicago, depending on whether it falls 
 off or increases. Plotting the course on the theory 
 that it s Chicago showing up, we re shooting into 
 Illinois a good deal faster than the wind. Here s 
 the trial sheet, sir." 
 
 "By George !" cried Shayne, looking at the sheet. 
 "That s going some, isn t it? What s the matter, 
 Max?" 
 
 "I want to see you a minute," growled Silber 
 berg, and drew Shayne out upon the deck. 
 
 Willett went back to his work; Mrs. Shayne 
 bowed grandly to the empty air which her gaze 
 indicated as occupying Carson s position; Virginia, 
 begging his pardon with her eyes, excused herself 
 and followed her aunt, and Carson was alone.
 
 CARSON S LANDING 71 
 
 He felt the insult, the condescension, the utter 
 contempt of him which the treatment accorded to 
 him by all but Virginia made plain. He hated 
 them. He wished fervently that he had never 
 stepped aboard to ask a favor of the great and arro 
 gant Shayne. He would enter into no arrangement 
 with him, now; he would win his own victory, or 
 fail. He would make the world gasp. He was in 
 a simmering fury; a silly, reasonless, boy s fury; 
 but his instincts were true. 
 
 Silberberg was making it unpleasant for Shayne 
 again. This fellow, he said, has been taking lib 
 erties with Miss Suarez, and he, Silberberg, would 
 not stand it. He was a stickler for Turkish pro 
 priety now, forgetting the episode which had made 
 Virginia throw in the clutch of the helicopter, and 
 thus brought Carson into the tragi-comedy. Per 
 haps he was suspicious that Miss Suarez would not 
 have thrown in the clutch if it had been this young 
 chap paying her his court. 
 
 "I tell you, Shayne," he urged hotly, "he must 
 be put off! He must be paid and put off. If he 
 isn t" 
 
 "If he isn t," smiled Shayne, "it wouldn t be a 
 serious matter, would it, Max?" 
 
 "Yes," spluttered Silberberg. "He insulted me! 
 I tell you, it s all over between Federated Metals
 
 72 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 and Aerostatic Power, if I m forced to take things 
 like this." 
 
 Shayne laughed heartily ; but he heeded. Silber- 
 berg wandered off into incoherent profanity. He 
 was ready to do almost anything in his jealousy, 
 which was a weakness of his well-known in circles 
 in which his affaires du cceur were known. Mr. 
 Shayne saw real danger of a breach to which no 
 obligation to Carson could have forced him, and 
 grasped Silberberg s hand warmly. He made his 
 decision without much real difficulty, though he 
 hated being bullied by Silberberg. Yielding, he 
 yielded completely, as a diplomat should. 
 
 "Max, old man," said he, "you re quite right! 
 We can t go down in ( this wind to let him land ; 
 but we can settle with him, and send him aft. 
 Come with me." 
 
 Theodore was examining his parachute. As the 
 pair entered the cabin, he had loosened the lash 
 ings, and was closing and spreading a pair of light, 
 collapsible Gossett deflectors. He slung the case 
 over his shoulder, and stood with black brows 
 frowning, the slim parachute in his hand. 
 
 "I have decided," said Shayne, "that your aero- 
 nef doesn t interest me." 
 
 "Very well," replied Theodore. "You are the 
 sole judge of that, of course."
 
 CARSON S LANDING 73 
 
 "And you may consider the negotiations off," 
 went on Shayne. 
 
 "I adopted that theory some time ago," replied 
 Carson. 
 
 Shayne took out his purse and ostentatiously re 
 moved from it a number of bills. 
 
 "I think I ought to pay you for your time," said 
 he, "and your service to my niece. Please take 
 these, and be good enough to go aft with the crew !" 
 
 If Silberberg had not seen fit to indulge in a 
 sardonic laugh at this exigency, the explosion would 
 not have occurred ; but that sneering chuckle acted 
 as a detonator for Carson s temper. He struck 
 Shayne s extended hand, scattering the bills over 
 the floor. One of them slid slithering across to the 
 door and was just blowing out when Silberberg 
 caught it. The others lodged in corners like green 
 snow. Shayne stood with flaring nostrils and white 
 with rage. Silberberg, the money rustling in his 
 fear-shaken hand, appealed to Shayne not to be 
 rash. 
 
 "Don t notice the fellow, Shayne," said he. "He 
 wants to keep his hold on the girl, and " 
 
 The speech was cut short by a blow from Carson s 
 flat hand, delivered with lightning quickness, and 
 with stinging force. As calmly as though bidding 
 Silberberg good morning Carson spoke to him.
 
 74 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Be careful how you speak of her," said he, "or 
 I ll throw you over the side. Mr. Shayne, permit 
 me to say that you are a cur. I shall leave this 
 craft at once!" 
 
 He started to go on deck, but as if reconsider 
 ing, he turned and rapped on the door through 
 which Virginia had disappeared. The girl opened 
 it and looked breathlessly into Theodore s face, 
 read the story of passion and strife and insult. 
 Shayne still stood as if fixed ; Silberberg was stanch 
 ing a bleeding nose with his handkerchief. Vir 
 ginia gasped, and looked at Theodore question- 
 ingly. 
 
 "I am about to leave the Roc," said he. "I could 
 not leave without bidding you good-by." 
 
 "Going?" said she, clinging to banalities because 
 she could think of nothing else. "Have we de 
 scended?" 
 
 "Keep away from that man!" screamed Silber 
 berg. "He struck me! And he knocked your 
 uncle s money all over the ship !" 
 
 The girl looked at the fugitive bills which Sil 
 berberg had begun laboriously to pick up, and shot 
 a glance of comprehension at Theodore. 
 
 ".You are a man!" said she. "Let me see you 
 safe aground." 
 
 Carson stood aside for her, and they went out 
 upon the mile-high deck. She halted, aghast to note
 
 I, ike a stone he fell, lost in the mists Page 75
 
 CARSON S LANDING 75 
 
 that they were still high among the clouds of the 
 storm, plowing on through a wild waste of tossing 
 vapor, while the hoarse growl from the earth was 
 so distant as to admonish her of the giddy height 
 from the ground. Beyond the illumination of the 
 lights, it was absolutely dark. 
 
 "You must be going aft?" said she interroga 
 tively. "I ll go with you." 
 
 "No," said he. "I shall never see you again; 
 but I shall never forget you! Good-by, Psyche, 
 good-by !" 
 
 That instantaneous leave-taking the trembling 
 girl never forgot. Pressing her hands, he started 
 forward as if to clasp her in his arms, while she 
 made no gesture of either yielding or resisting. He 
 turned from the embrace already half begun, 
 stepped upon the rail, and dropped off into that 
 black abyss of night and tempest Like a stone he 
 fell, lost in the mists. 
 
 The parachute, so far as she could see, had not 
 opened in the least when he vanished; and with 
 pallid face she stood there, peering over into the un 
 peopled space, her soul filled with horrible visions of 
 the end of that wild and reckless leap at the behest 
 of pride. As she pictured his fall to the solid earth, 
 she covered her face with her hands and sank 
 down on the deck.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 
 
 THEODORE fell like a stone, so swiftly that 
 the aeronat seemed to dart incontinently 
 toward heaven. All about him were the 
 tossing folds of the cloud, streaming horsetails of 
 fog, fleeces of aerial wool, invisible, save for the 
 lights of the Roc, which intermittently revealed the 
 vaporous details and partly dispelled the weird il 
 lusion that he was falling eternally, like a soul 
 hurled forth into a purgatory of limitless descent 
 Like the retinal image of a quenched flame, he saw 
 in the murk the eyes of Shayne s niece, and her 
 white face under the quaint pointed hat, blankly 
 amazed at his desperate leap from the air-ship. 
 Suddenly the pull of the parachute admonished him 
 that at last it was doing its work, and restored to 
 him an acute perception of his situation. 
 
 He felt none of the effects of the gale; but the 
 wind of his fall burst upward as from the mouth of 
 some huge blower, fighting his descent, stripping off 
 his hat, and snapping his hair like whip-lashes. 
 
 76
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 77 
 
 Black as the heavens was all below until directly be 
 neath him there suddenly burst forth a great red 
 light that kindled the cloud to crimson, turning the 
 heavens to a sky of sanguinary vapor spanning a sea 
 of flame. The mysterious light swelled like an out- 
 bursting conflagration; filled the falling boy with 
 terror; and then, as swiftly as it had grown, it 
 waned, faded, and the sky was dark again. The 
 fear of the eery and inexplicable chilled him more 
 than did the fierce March blast. The expanded para 
 chute suspended him over fiery mystery and an un 
 known land, wondering, wishing for day, or for 
 clear darkness even, that he might see on what or 
 into what he was falling. 
 
 If he but knew the land, he might set the deflec 
 tors and work his fall over into safety if safety the 
 neighborhood afforded. How the wind s voice 
 grew ! Whether on church spire or chimney or 
 tower, into garden or wood or graveyard or into 
 open grave, it was a wild, dangerous night in which 
 to land. 
 
 Suddenly he burst from the floor of the cloud 
 like a meteorite, and saw a long procession of white 
 and violet lights speeding past and away into the 
 distance, the arc-lights of a town set into apparent 
 flight by the speed of his headlong career before the 
 wind. Far off in the glare of a locomotive fire-box 
 he could see a devilish black fireman, weirdly
 
 78 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 stoking. Had there been light for it, Carson had 
 scant time to survey his land-fall; but he judged in 
 stantaneously that on either side would lie the open 
 fields; and to avoid the roofs and chimneys, he set 
 the deflectors to nurse off his descent toward farms 
 and soft earth. 
 
 The town fled away; the roar of the wind rose 
 about him; he was whipped stingingly by the 
 branches of a tall tree; then a lower one bowed him 
 through its dense top ; he laid hold of a slim birch, 
 and, as it bent like a fishing-rod under his weight, 
 he let go the sheets of his parachute, the wind spilled 
 from the silken leach, and he tumbled heavily into 
 a mattress-like bridal-wreath bush, over an as 
 phalted walk, and, eased down by the shrubbery, 
 he rose unhurt, so far as he could feel, to find him 
 self by a rustic seat near a dry fountain. On his left 
 he could make out a long building three or four 
 stories high, the roof of which he had barely missed, 
 looming against the night sky, black, solid, "dark 
 like the fool s heart," and to his eyes, immitigably 
 sinister. 
 
 A high wall running back from each end of this 
 structure, seemed to him to bound the garden for 
 a garden he guessed it to be. Back in some crepuscu 
 lar jungle he heard the throaty bellow of a great 
 dog, and thanked Heaven that he had left no trail. 
 He found his parachute almost uninjured, whipped
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 79 
 
 it about with the lashings, and slung it on his back. 
 The dog s felonious bark seemed angrier now, and, 
 he fancied, nearer. Feeling for his pistol and find 
 ing it lost, he limped for he now discovered that 
 one knee was hurt across the lawn to the place 
 farthest from the dog. 
 
 Following the wall, he found it integral with 
 that of the house. For two or three hundred feet 
 back, it was blank and high and insurmountable. 
 The dog was still now, and, though Theodore s legs 
 prickled with the fear of fangs at each rustle in the 
 shrubbery, he reconnoitered the rear wall to a brick 
 barn into which it was built. Everything was de- 
 pressingly secure and substantial and workmanlike. 
 Like the walls that surround the terrestrial para 
 dise, these structures were as the native rock of 
 the eternal hills. 
 
 In the other corner was the dog; and he shrank 
 from exploration in that direction. So, through beds 
 of dry phlox, iris and tiger-lilies, he returned to the 
 long house, and stole across to the fourth side, where 
 he found a door through the wall, tight-shut and 
 impregnable. Back by this last long wall he felt his 
 way, still baffled. A sense of durance and incarcera 
 tion began to overpower him, in the desperation of 
 which he ventured back, even to the barn again, 
 thus having completely circumnavigated both the 
 garden and the Cerberus guarding it. He felt as he
 
 8o VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 passed the kennel much as Ulysses must have done 
 with the blinded and furious Polyphemus feeling 
 about the cave for him ; but on he stole, only to make 
 sure that there was no way out. The very sternness 
 of the architecture pointed to this conclusion as a 
 moral and mural certainty. Only one course re 
 mained: to knock at the Dark Tower at the rear 
 and ask to be let out; and from this he shrank. He 
 knew nothing of the place, its people, or its laws. 
 Still, it was America, and well along toward the 
 middle of the twentieth century; and his punish 
 ment would be endurable, he hoped, praying fer 
 vently that the laws of whatever state it might be, 
 would not make burglary of his offense, which was 
 "entering," to be sure, but not by "breaking" 
 unless one counted the birch limbs and the bridal- 
 wreath and which quite lacked malice afore 
 thought. Calling up his scattered courage by the 
 drumming in his ears, he went with some steadiness 
 up to the long veranda, and was about to violate its 
 columned shades, when a shrill whistle sounding 
 from the top of the porch instantly commanded his 
 attention. 
 
 It was one of those sharp, hissing boy s whistles, 
 made with the curved forefinger stuck into one cor 
 ner of the mouth and out at the other an enviable 
 and fiendish trick. It shrilled above the blast like 
 the signal to go swimming. Theodore backed into
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 81 
 
 the open, and saw a man on the roof, just in the act 
 of swinging himself down over the eave. 
 
 "Get under here, old sport," said the voice, "and 
 give a liberty-loving classmate a leg down." 
 
 Theodore received on his shoulder a rather small 
 shoe, reached up and steadied a somewhat bony leg, 
 and was about to let his burden down, when the 
 liberty-loving one collapsed in all his members, and 
 came down by the run, in all ways, and, as it 
 seemed, on all sides at once of his helper. 
 
 Carson started forward to raise the demoralized 
 fugitive to his feet; but he was already up and in 
 the darkness seemed to be bowing and kissing his 
 hand to an imaginary audience, like a tumbler ac 
 knowledging applause. 
 
 "My celebrated Avernus act," said he. "Special 
 gravitation expert to the crowned heads ! But hist ! 
 Let me greet thee! An ye be noble, salute my 
 cheek; an ye be slob, receive my contemptuous 
 thanks! Hey, old sport?" 
 
 "I hope you aren t hurt," said Carson. 
 
 "Nay, that s past hoping!" answered the other. 
 "I am busted in all ways! Compound, comminuted 
 and stellated fractures are now desirable, in view 
 my worser scath. I am sore shent, and I fear I have 
 torn my panties. But I have escaped " (here he 
 spoke piercingly into Carson s ear) " a doom that 
 in another moment would have topped the agonies
 
 of deepest hell raised to the Nth power ! But I am 
 selfish! I talk only of myself and things. Let us 
 fuse our souls, reveal the secrets of our beings. I 
 wot we are kindred spirits, rectified, one hundred 
 proof, aged in the wood and bottled in bond bot 
 tled tight! Wottest thou not so, w at?" 
 
 Unable to account for his affinity s uncommon 
 mode of address, and quite as unable to escape, Car 
 son stood mute, alone with a possible lunatic and a 
 very probable dog, in a walled garden into which 
 he had dropped from the night sky, in an Alabama 
 suit of clothes, in a climate which in all likelihood 
 belonged to Illinois, but reminded one of Green 
 land. There seemed to be nothing adequate to say. 
 
 "If your being remains reticent as to its inner 
 springs of joy and sorrow," remarked the stranger, 
 as if speaking of some foreign and recalcitrant 
 thing, the proper treatment of which might present 
 a delicate problem, "let me unlock its refractory 
 atomic nature with the ferment of my celebrated 
 system of cross-examination, elaborated in the case 
 of Gorrell vs. Gorrell. If in generalities thou wilt 
 not wilt, let us reverse the evolutionary process and 
 proceed from the abstract to the concrete, from the 
 general to the particular. In what orchestra do you 
 play traps?" 
 
 "I am not a musician," answered Theodore. 
 
 "Stricken out as not responsive," rejoined the
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 83 
 
 stranger. "I never hinted it; but from your caput 
 cometh a rattle like a muted castanet, and anon like 
 a battery of telegraph sounders. Stay! Is it pos 
 sible that it emanates from the clattering of your 
 teeth? Caitiff, you are scairt or in an ague that 
 would reduce a foundry rattler to matchwood ! Art 
 cold, fair youth?" 
 
 "A little," replied Carson. "I am lightly dressed." 
 
 "Then come, come away, tra-la-la, with me," said 
 the strange denizen of the dark house; "to a realm 
 of balmy air and breezes of Ceylon. To heel; and 
 if thy heavy hoof but scrape the gravel to betray 
 our flight, thou diest, and all thy wad is gobbled by 
 the privy coffer of the emporium. To heel !" 
 
 With a swift darting movement the stranger 
 turned, and followed obediently by Carson, went by 
 the bridal-wreath bush of concussive memory, and 
 across to a building which Theodore guessed to be 
 a greenhouse. His guide opened the door, and stood 
 back with elaborate courtesy that Carson might pre 
 cede him. Entering, Theodore found himself among 
 beds of flowers which filled the house save for a 
 central passageway, all in deep shadow, fragrant 
 and warm. 
 
 "I shall not freeze," said he to himself; "and that 
 is some comfort." 
 
 The stranger stayed so long at the door that Car 
 son began to feel quite sure of having been beguiled
 
 84 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 into a prison by his polite companion, and that the 
 next phase would be the constabulary and arraign 
 ment. He was guilty of trespass; and the case for 
 attempted burglary might be plausible; but, surely, 
 they would not be severe. He was safe from the 
 dog, now, and what matter if the trial should delay 
 his return to the south? In the confusion of his 
 mind, hard, obvious exigencies lost importance to 
 him, numbed as he was by the amputation of a great 
 hope. Shayne had meant everything that might 
 make or mar his life; and he had defied and angered 
 him irremediably. That was irreparable, but he 
 had struck Silberberg s thick-lipped mouth and 
 that was worth much. He had had another meeting 
 with the nameless niece; she had stood by him 
 against her uncle and Silberberg, who was a great 
 figure and a suitor for her favor. These were un 
 available assets financially, but they meant so much 
 to the foolish boy that he forgot the man who had 
 enticed him into this flowery jail; forgot every 
 thing except the white face of Shayne s niece, plead 
 ing against his foolhardiness, as he leaped from the 
 aeronat, and, spurning her deck in youthful in 
 dignation, shot downward into the cloud. Her one 
 arm was about the aluminum stanchion, its hand on 
 her breast, the other to her hat. She had changed 
 the flowery bonnet for a little bycocket of bottle- 
 green velvet, brooded over by a graceful plume, and
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 85 
 
 worn with the point over her eyes, the turned-up 
 brim behind, and the sharp crown flattened over 
 like the top of a mountain struck while plastic by a 
 huge paddle. He could see it all, the great air-ship 
 lessening to a dim blur in the high mists, the face 
 and eyes and the quaint little bycocket hat glowing 
 on and on with faithful steadiness. Constables! A 
 fig- 
 
 "It is too dark," said his guide, rejoining him, "to 
 make the exchange of cards more than an empty 
 and invisible formality. Yet, I would fain know 
 more of you than the bare data of your instability 
 as a ladder and the bright and snappy technique of 
 your tooth-chattering. Quite material enough, it is 
 true, had one the time to work it out, but, to coin a 
 phrase, what s the use? Beyond your nocturnal 
 habits, what peculiar volitional defect brings you 
 here? To follow the usual conversational forms 
 here, are you a steady, or a periodical?" 
 
 "I don t understand," answered Carson. "I came 
 here quite by accident. I had no intention of com- 
 ing. I" 
 
 "Quite so," interposed his interlocutor. "Let s sit 
 down by the American Beauty bed there. If we 
 might strike a match, now ... I estimate that 
 half us lush-logged derelicts go ashore here, in a 
 state, to coin a word, of orey-eyed wooziness. I may 
 say that I came myself by accident, and without
 
 86 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 meaning to do so or otherwise ... I must have 
 a smoke!" 
 
 He seemed to be feeling for a cigar-case, tapping 
 his person in various places where it might be se 
 creted. Then came the scratch of the match; and 
 Theodore scrutinized the face in the flare of the 
 matches, as, with nervous, unsteady movements the 
 stranger lighted the weed. 
 
 He was a medium-sized person, with deep-set 
 eyes flickering from their caverns with a blurred 
 sharpness, like tungsten-lamps seen through a veil. 
 His face was sallow and colorless, with hollows in 
 the cheeks, whose announcement of ill-health was 
 contradicted by the general appearance of hardness 
 of face and neck, like that of seasoned oak. He wore 
 a flat cap with the crown piled forward; and his 
 heavy and long hair of a neutral brown matching his 
 complexion, fell to his collar in a mass that made 
 any cap seem superfluous. Two or three heavy 
 witchlocks lay like a disordered mane over his fore 
 head, mingling with eyebrows of youthful light 
 ness. His nose was irregularly notched in profile, 
 like the stub of something else broken off his face 
 with an angular fracture like crystallized iron. He 
 had sensitive lips, and a mouth which was shapely 
 and rather fine, but drooped at the corners patheti 
 cally. His chin was deeply hollowed at the base of 
 the lip, and cut through by a perpendicular crevasse
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 87 
 
 which must have been a bother to his barber. Alto 
 gether it was a curiously complex face, both in fea 
 ture and expression, and spoke to Carson of the 
 inborn wildness, and wild ability of its owner. But 
 he looked anything but insane. 
 
 His dress, however, brought back the impression 
 of abnormal eccentricity. He had on a colored shirt, 
 and from his high collar streamed a huge red silk 
 cravat, untied, arid spreading over His breast like 
 the banners of the social revolution, now greatly 
 overdue. The white evening waistcoat was too low 
 for the shirt, revealing secrets of construction never 
 meant for the scrutiny of any stranger except the 
 laundress. His coat was a long black frock, the 
 skirts of which, gathered about his legs, fell wide, 
 discovering inexpressibles of Scotch plaid, much 
 turned up, and evening shoes, the shine of which 
 was obscured by successive accretions of dried mud. 
 So much was revealed by the series of matches which 
 he lighted, sitting humped up in an evident attempt 
 to keep the light hidden in the spread of his coat. 
 Carson s head swam in the growing conviction that 
 he had reached a condition in which it was impos 
 sible to distinguish between dream and reality, and 
 that this was some disordered nightmare. 
 
 "I hope you don t smoke," said the vision, "for 
 two reasons. Firstly, when we light a match we 
 run the risk of detection, and of consequences, at the
 
 88 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 contemplation of which my purely hypothetical 
 mind constructively reels. Secondly, I find myself 
 wearing for my own use and behoof in my own 
 proper countenance, my last cigar." 
 
 Carson protested that he did not care to smoke, 
 and they sat on in unexpected quiet, the cigar glow 
 ing and waning like a far-off revolving light. 
 
 "I suppose I might explain, sir " 
 
 So began Theodore ; but the other s hand waved 
 in dim protest across the sky, checkered by the sash 
 of the roof, and his voice interrupted him. 
 
 "Explain? * said he. "Nay, nay! Leave explana 
 tions for the crass followers of ebriety. Already I 
 begin clairvoyantly to see the depths of your being. 
 I know from the seventeenth-century quirk to the 
 *ou , the slighted vanish of the long T, the cere 
 monious address derived from the racial practice of 
 private war, that you are a gentleman, suh, from the 
 South, by gad ! And your obliviousness of your ar 
 rival here furnishes proof, prima facie, but not con 
 clusive, that you are that most difficult of cases for 
 Doctor Witherspoon, a periodical. Rousing from 
 what your attendant took for slumber, yearning for 
 liberty, you came into the garden, Maud, leaving 
 your jag-boss, if any, snoring like mine, who fills 
 himself with the east wind, or, to coin a phrase, any 
 old wind, and holds his breath until you feel the 
 fond hope that he is dead, and then lets it burst from
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 89 
 
 his lips in one grand sploof that moves the dra 
 peries like the breath of a gale, and drives the wake 
 ful listener mad mad, I say! And he, the said 
 listener, flies, rules or no rules, as I have done!" 
 
 "My name is Carson," said Theodore, "and I am 
 from the South, from Alabama. I " 
 
 "Craighead is mine," rejoined the other. "I am 
 from here and elsewhere. There are twenty places 
 where I might vote were there any question under 
 the sun worth voting on, and fifty places where my 
 residence would be vehemently disclaimed by the 
 authorities. I think I may venture to give you, sir, 
 as my permanent residence until further notice 
 only the Rat Mort, Paris ; got that down ?" 
 
 "I " began Carson. 
 
 "The Rat Mort," interposed Craighead. "One 
 deep midnight in the dear, dread past beyond recall, 
 I was ejected from the Rat Mort because my con 
 duct was not up to the theretofore undisclosed 
 standards of the place from the Rat Mort actu 
 ally trun out, to coin an expression! Doth it not 
 open glimpses of a depravity hitherto fabulous? 
 And when I have been graduated from this em 
 porium, I shall return, pride in my port meaning 
 nothing vinous defiance in mine eyes, and I shall 
 sit down in the Rat Mort and behave myself for 
 long, long periods of time, for ages, in the mad, 
 mad whirl of silk hats, Latin Quartier ties, rounded
 
 90 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 and eyeleted hose and shimmering lingerie, the only 
 person plunged into beastly sobriety, a rock of pro 
 priety, standing four-square, or mayhap three-cor 
 nered, to every bacchanalian wind that blows, with 
 its scent of garlic, and Roquefort cheese, and spilt 
 wine, and volatile oil of wormwood, the active and 
 deadly principle of absinthe ! That s what I ll do !" 
 After this somewhat complicated pronunciamiento, 
 Mr. Craighead fell silent, and even forgot to smoke. 
 Languid from the long hours of strain and sleep 
 lessness, and physical as well as mental reaction in 
 the warm and fragrant greenhouse, Carson grew 
 somnolent. At short intervals the sky was illumined 
 by a far-off glare which Theodore identified with 
 the burst of flame that had so startled him in his 
 fall from the Roc, and the regular recurrence of 
 which proved it to be either the flame from the 
 nostrils of some slow-breathing dragon, or the 
 chimney of a gas-house. Mr. Craighead sat upright, 
 making occasional elocutionary gestures with his 
 cigar hand. Once he spoke again of the Rat Mort. 
 
 "Oh," said he, "I ll be the pink of perfection 
 of desirable citizenship when I graduate from this 
 emporium." 
 
 Silence again, save for the barking of the dog. 
 Craighead s breathing now indicated his capitula 
 tion to sleep, crumpled prone against a Norfolk 
 Island pine. Carson, who had classified him as a
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 91 
 
 lunatic, now found himself uncertain. The man be 
 haved like a boy playing truant, rather than an 
 adult prisoner escaping; yet, of what detection was 
 he afraid ? Why was he flying from the mysterious 
 "emporium" ? What did he mean by his talk of 
 "steadies" and "periodicals," and by putting Car 
 son down as the latter? All mystery! Only one 
 thing was certain the superiority of the greenhouse 
 over the open garden with its chill airs and its dog. 
 Carson s head nodded topplingly ; and when he be 
 came conscious, it was day. Whistles were blowing; 
 a train could be heard leaving the yards of the 
 near-by town. The clearness of the morning sounds 
 advised him that the wind had fallen; and as proof 
 that it had not been all a dream, there lay Mr. 
 Craighead against the tree-pot, his face pale, a pa 
 thetic droop saddening his mouth, his hair woefully 
 tousled, the flat cap at his feet by the half-smoked 
 cigar. Yes, Mr. Craighead stood the test of day 
 light. Like the flag, he was still there. 
 
 Two or three men came past the greenhouse, went 
 round it and walked away again, as if making some 
 sort of search. They came back after a time, and 
 entered. One was a tall, athletic, ruddy-complex- 
 ioned, youngish man, who seemed to be the leader of 
 the trio. They gazed at Carson and Craighead as 
 if taking stock dispassionately of returned estrays, 
 in the form of dogs or horses.
 
 92 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Well, Mr. Craighead," said the tall one in ac 
 cents distinctly British, "I m no end sorry to find 
 you out of bounds again, sir !" 
 
 Instantly wide-awake, Craighead assumed an at 
 titude of jocular familiarity. 
 
 "It agonizes me to have given you a moment s 
 pain, Dennis," said he; "but believe me I should 
 have been gnawing the electrolier and howling like 
 a banshee they howl, don t they? had I stayed 
 longer in the storm-center of Mr. Waddy s pneu 
 matic slumbering. As between annoying you, and 
 becoming daft, one may find difficulty in choosing, 
 Dennis; but self, self, Dennis! I fear we are all 
 selfish!" 
 
 From his evident irritation at the mention of his 
 "pneumatic slumbering," Carson guessed that the 
 shorter of Dennis companions was Mr. Waddy. He 
 was blocky and strong in build, and bearded with 
 gray excrescenses that grew forward and upward 
 from all points, as if eyebrows, whiskers and mus 
 tache had been trained through a knot-hole for a 
 long time, and then suddenly cropped off and left 
 standing. He was puffing audibly. This labored 
 breathing coupled with his appearance of having 
 dressed hurriedly, gave him the general effect of 
 one who has leaped suddenly from bed and chased 
 something at high speed. He had on a top-coat over 
 a dishabille of shirt and trousers; on one foot was
 
 93 
 
 an arctic overshoe; the other was shod in a Welling 
 ton boot. He leaned toward Craighead with a sort 
 of perplexed fierceness. 
 
 "Mr. Craighead," said he, as if carefully choos 
 ing terms of scathing rebuke. "I ve seen all kinds, 
 and you do beat the Dutch !" 
 
 "Thank you," said Mr. Craighead, bowing. "The 
 Dutch, Mr. Waddy, are a race not easily beaten, and 
 I am modest, as you know. [Yet in my specialties, I 
 may be able to but, pardon me, Dennis, have you 
 not met my friend, Mr. Carson, from Alabama ? A 
 new arrival. Oblivious of his trip hither. A period 
 ical, I believe. Mr. Carson, Mr. Dennis O Grady; 
 Mr. O Grady, Mr. Carson. Mr. O Grady is the of 
 ficial dispenser of dope " 
 
 "Tonic, Mr. Craighead, if I may correct you, sir!" 
 said Mr. O Grady, his accent as correctly British 
 as his name was Hibernian. 
 
 "Of course, Dennis," protested Craighead, "I 
 meant tonic! Please do me the justice to believe, 
 Mr. O Grady, that I meant tonic! And is this Mr. 
 Carson s jag-boss? I hope his slumbers are less 
 sonorous than Mr. Waddy s, Mr. Carson. I " 
 
 "Attendant," suggested Mr. O Grady softly. 
 "Mr. Evans is the attendant of Mr. Wylie. No doubt 
 an error on Mr. Craighead s part, Mr. Wylie, but 
 we understand perfectly that you are the Mr. Wylie 
 who arrived, very ill, last night, sir, and who de-
 
 94 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 parted before we could give him the examination 
 and the formal admission. Mr. Evans will attend 
 upon you, Mr. Wylie; and we hope, sir, to have you 
 feeling much better in a few days, sir !" 
 
 "You are greatly mistaken," exclaimed Theodore. 
 "I don t belong here at all!" 
 
 "Quite right, sir!" responded Mr. O Grady 
 heartily. "Quite right! I am glad that you are al 
 ready able to see, sir, that you belong with Mr. 
 Evans in Room 34, sir, where he will now conduct 
 you. Mr. Craighead, I fear, sir, that this failure to 
 remain within bounds will force Doctor Wither- 
 spoon to " 
 
 Mr. O Grady ended this speech with a dismal 
 shake of the head. 
 
 "But I am not Mr. Wylie," interposed Carson 
 fervently. "I don t know what people are sentenced 
 to this place for, but I am not guilty. I have done 
 nothing. I am from Alabama ; my name is Theodore 
 Carson; I am an engineer an inventor; I " 
 
 "Pardon me," softly suggested Mr. O Grady; 
 "but I find you here, Mr. Wylie, where none but in 
 mates can come." 
 
 "I dropped in," began Carson. 
 
 "For a social call," supplied Craighead. "En 
 tirely plausible, Mr. O Grady, and shows how es 
 sentially man is a social being!" 
 
 O Grady s face softened in no line or curve. He
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 95 
 
 was one of those efficient persons to whom business 
 is no joke, neither the proper subject of one. 
 
 "I dropped into this garden from an aeronat," 
 reiterated Theodore. "And I couldn t find my way 
 out." 
 
 "Pardon me, Mr. Wylie," protested O Grady, "if 
 I observe that that is not a very convincing nar 
 rative, and quite disproves your claim to being an in 
 ventor, you know. Your condition, sir, is not that 
 of a person who has fallen from the clouds, you 
 know." 
 
 "But I have!" insisted Carson. "Literally, I fell 
 from the clouds. I came down by parachute." 
 
 "In the night, sir?" asked O Grady. "And with 
 no knowledge of what you were falling into or on to, 
 sir?" 
 
 "Exactly so," asserted Carson; "and I really must 
 go by the next " 
 
 "And swallowed your parachute?" interpolated 
 O Grady, still unsmiling. 
 
 "No!" cried Carson, producing it from under the 
 bench. "Here it is ! I broke this coming through the 
 tree-tops see?" 
 
 "I have no knowledge of machinery," said 
 O Grady. "But the existence here of so common a 
 contrivance does not at all prove the absence of Mr. 
 Wylie ; and Mr. Wylie is accounted for by no per 
 sonality except your own, sir. The Slattery Insti-
 
 96 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 tute loses no patients. You are Mr. Wylie, or Mr. 
 Wylie is lost. Hence, sir, you are Mr. Wylie. You 
 will not be detained against your will, sir, longer 
 than is necessary for so far getting it out of your 
 system as to enable you to make a rational choice. 
 Please accompany Mr. Evans, and prepare for morn 
 ing treatment. Mr. Evans has your tonic. More 
 assistants will be provided if you fail to see the pro 
 priety of compliance, sir. Good morning, sir. Mr. 
 Craighead, please go with Mr. Waddy. I shall have 
 a conference with Doctor Witherspoon as to your 
 case, sir." 
 
 Mr. O Grady s calm commands carried with them 
 deep and high suggestions of irresistible force. He 
 was a born autocrat. Wondering how it would all 
 end, Theodore went with his attendant, walking in a 
 daze. 
 
 Room 34, to which the putative Mr. Wylie was 
 taken, was like the ordinary apartment of a good 
 inn, save that it had two beds. Mr. Evans ushered 
 young Mr. Carson into it as if conferring a great fa 
 vor in thus naming him Wylie, and arresting him in- 
 stanter under the new cognomen. He was a brawny 
 man with a little quavering voice like that of a 
 school-boy just bursting into tears. Theodore took 
 his measure, and promptly decided that Evans could 
 break him in two in a clinch, but might be outrun. 
 
 "Now, Mr. Wylie," wailed Mr. Evans, in a tone
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 97 
 
 that seemed to require that the sentence be com 
 pleted with the words: "Don t whip me, sir! I 
 won t do it again ;" "we ll get along nice, I know, 
 for you re a gentleman, an you won t do me no dirt. 
 I m an awful poor man; an this is my livin . Don t 
 ruin me an put a stigmer on the Institute by takin 
 any hikes, Mr. Wylie you wouldn t, would you, 
 now?" 
 
 "I am not Mr. Wylie," reiterated Carson. "I am 
 Theodore Carson, as I said; and I " 
 
 "This matter of names is so complicated," qua 
 vered Mr. Evans, pushing up his cuffs as if about to 
 attempt some feat of physical prowess. "No man 
 drawin my pay c n be expected to work it out. I 
 git awful small wages, Mr. Wylie! My duties is 
 simple. You git your tonic an treatments reg lar, 
 an* keep hours. You git a gill of whisky in a 
 bottle every night till the tonic gits in its work. 
 Other treatments as per rules. A whole lot of gen 
 tlemen comes here under special names I would ! 
 Le s drop this name discussion, Mr. Wylie, an agree 
 that we ll be reg lar as per rules, an you won t de 
 prive my family, an turn me out to starve, by doin 
 me dirt!" 
 
 Mr. Craighead rapped and entered. Evidently 
 the surveillance of the attendants was not of the 
 strictest. 
 
 "I quite agree with the remarks of my querulous
 
 98 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 friend, Mr. Evans who should have made public 
 mendicancy his profession," said Mr. Craighead. 
 "Your position, Mr. Carson, is an equivocal one. 
 Your presence or absence, Mr. Wylie, seems to me 
 to be a question purely academic in character, and 
 not within the purview of practical statesmanship. 
 You are an inventor. That is conceded. The ques 
 tion is, what s your field?" 
 
 "It is aeronautics," replied Theodore. "I have 
 devised the first effective aeronef. I " 
 
 "Very interesting," returned Craighead. "I have 
 made that a specialty. I know the defects of the 
 present-day aeronefs; and I understand the failure 
 of the gas-supported aerostats, except as toys for us 
 parasitic capitalists. But to the point in controversy. 
 Are you the Fulton of the empyrean, or the Edison 
 of the hot air? Mr. Evans porcine tonality has ex 
 pressed the only conclusion open to him to accept 
 the Wylie theory as a working hypothesis, and to 
 work it at the regular per diem. Dost foller me?" 
 
 "I suppose that this Wylie must turn up, sooner 
 or later," mused Theodore. "But why should I take 
 treatment? What are you I mean, what are people 
 cured of here, anyhow?" 
 
 "A very difficult question," replied Craighead. 
 "My first difference with Doctor Witherspoon, now 
 unhappily culminating in a diplomatic impasse, 
 grew out of my desire to discuss with him that very
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 99 
 
 question. He said with crude brutality for me to 
 move on, and let the other jags come within the 
 radio-activity of his million H. P. thought-wavery. 
 The first question is, are we cured of anything? 
 That being disposed of a matter not so easy as 
 might be thought the question rises to a higher 
 plane, and bores its snoot right down into the roots 
 of things. We hit hard-pan in the unsearchableness 
 of ultimate phenomena. Teleologically " 
 
 "What do they do to you?" persisted Theodore. 
 
 "They give you dope; they feed you for a few 
 days on bran mash; they shoot you twice a day; 
 they give you a little bottle to assuage what they, 
 call your thirst the first night or so, though why 
 they call that a thirst which is only a cerebrospinal 
 tendency entirely unconnected with irrigation, de 
 ponent saith not. The dope is the summation of all 
 villainies and that s no ribald bar-room jest, eyther 
 or either; but I am assured that it heals the sick 
 and makes the well a harder physical proposition 
 from moment to moment. The shooting will do no 
 harm. They might use dish-water, and it would do 
 just as much good. I don t say it is dish-water 
 Witherspoon guards his sacred secret well but it 
 won t do you any more harm than would that by 
 product of the scullery. Altogether, you ll find it 
 wilier to be Wylie. Let s to breakfast." 
 
 Breakfast! Here was something to be "under-
 
 loo VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 standed of the people." Carson was famishing. 
 Swallowing the yellowish "summation of all vil 
 lainies" presented tearfully by Mr. Evans, he took 
 the arm which Craighead ceremoniously offered, 
 and walked down a broad stairway ornamented with 
 potted palms, and through a spacious lobby, in which 
 a clerk behind a desk, a platoon of bell-boys, and 
 groups of ordinary citizens, clothed, and apparently 
 in their right minds, imparted an impression almost 
 amounting to a guaranty that the place was only a 
 hotel. They entered a cafe, where Mr. Craighead 
 moved to a table already half occupied, with a fa 
 miliarity born of use. 
 
 "I bring with me, gentlemen," said he airily, 
 to two men who had preceded them, "a fellow-lover 
 of the hortus nocturnus. Greet him with the grand 
 hailing sign !" 
 
 "I didn t know," said one, "that they treated them 
 cases here." 
 
 "They do, Mr. Bascom," returned Mr. Craighead; 
 "but, thank whatever gods there be, they can t cure 
 them ! What they lack here is sense of humor, Mr. 
 Bascom. Let me introduce my friend Mr. Carson- 
 Wylie, of Piccadilly." 
 
 "Glad to meet you, Mr. Carson-Wylie," said Mr. 
 Bascom, stirring his soft-boiled eggs; "and I hope 
 they do you as much good here as they have me." 
 
 "Thank you," replied Carson. "But the fact is "
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 101 
 
 "But me no buts," broke in Craighead. "I think 
 I may venture, among friends, to say that Mr. Bas- 
 com is our most popular freak. He had read the 
 seventy-fourth Rubaiyat, which saith : 
 
 " Drink ! for you know not whence you come, nor 
 
 why! 
 Drink, for you know not why you go, nor where! 
 
 and made a whole-hearted endeavor to fol 
 low its teachings. He succeeded in the realiza 
 tion of the Tent-Maker s inability to state whence 
 he came nor why, why he went, nor where, or, in 
 fact, whether he was going or coming. But in the 
 matter of financing further obedience to Mr. Omar s 
 bibulous teachings, he was, to coin a phrase, up 
 against it. Hence, he marketed the plugs in his 
 teeth. Mr. Bascom is passionately fond of Khay 
 yam." 
 
 "Never under no such fancy name," replied Mr. 
 Bascom gravely; "but I ve been fond of most every 
 thing that would make the drunk come." 
 
 "That includes Khayyam," responded Craighead. 
 
 "It was this way," went on Bascom. "If you re a 
 periodical, Mr. Carson-Wylie " 
 
 "I assure you," asserted Mr. Craighead, "that in 
 London, where Mr. Carson-Wylie is forced to live 
 in order to keep his hyphen healthy, he is rated in 
 the best asylums as a periodical."
 
 102 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Then you will understand," resumed Mr. Bas- 
 com, "that, after being drunk in Peoria for six 
 weeks I was in kind of bad shape. Clothes gone; 
 took both hands to get a glass to my mouth ; kicked 
 out of places; had some fits ever have a whisky 
 fit?" 
 
 "Never!" cried Theodore. 
 
 Mr. Bascom was a venerable-looking man with a 
 William Cullen Bryant beard and a lofty forehead. 
 To see him looking so like a poet and hear him dis 
 course of his debaucheries, sickened Theodore. But 
 Mr. Bascom continued like another Ulysses telling 
 of windier wars than those of Troy. 
 
 "The tortures of hell," said he, "are vaudeville 
 skits to em. I had sold my sample cases I was 
 traveling out of Bloomington for Fuller and Ful 
 ler" 
 
 "How appropriate !" ejaculated Craighead. 
 
 "And," went on Bascom, "hocked everything 
 loose. Now, when those whisky fits come on you have 
 to have booze. I had made friends with a highway 
 man, an he loaned me a little dirk, stood by to 
 keep me from cutting my throat while I dug the 
 gold out of my teeth, sold it, and accounted for 
 every cent. He was a good feller for a highway 
 man." 
 
 "That shows," interposed the fourth man, "how 
 we jags are foreve hangin by a tow string ove the
 
 THE FALL THAT FOLLOWED PRIDE 103 
 
 aidge of hell, an makin bets whether it ll burn off 
 or not! I tell you, I shivah " 
 
 "I join in the shiver," said Craighead. "I often 
 I beg your pardon ; Colonel McGilvray, permit me 
 to make you acquainted with Mr. Carson-Wylie, of 
 Belgrave Square, London. Colonel McGilvray is the 
 scourge of his home county, Mr. Carson-Wylie, and 
 is here being denaturized." 
 
 "I m right pleased to know you," said the colonel. 
 "And I want to encourage you to stick when you 
 get out, Mr. Ca son-Wylie. I am not if Mr. Craig- 
 head will allow me the scourge of my county; 
 but my kin thah feared I was gittin so I could shoot 
 single-mindedly while seein double, an they-all 
 presented a petition, suh, askin* me to come hyah; 
 an I m hyah as a public duty." 
 
 Colonel McGilvray was not the last to urge upon 
 Carson the advisability of "sticking" when he got 
 out. The inmates gathered about him after break 
 fast and labored with him as the "workers" in an 
 old-fashioned protracted meeting wrestled for the 
 salvation of souls. There was really something fine 
 in this. 
 
 He assured them of his good intentions. He was 
 rendered humble and almost bashful by the hope 
 lessness of trying to extricate himself from his 
 equivocal position owing to his unthinkable manner 
 of getting into the Institute, and the maze of fanci-
 
 104 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ful misrepresentations of Mr. Craighead. So he lis 
 tened and thanked them. A man with locomotor 
 ataxia said that he was ten years younger since com 
 ingand went away, carefully calculating at every 
 step just where he would put his feet next, and in 
 variably setting them unexpectedly elsewhere. A 
 distinguished-appearing personage was pointed out 
 as a railway president taking the cure at the request 
 of his company. Another had wasted six fortunes 
 in succession. That fine-looking man had been here 
 before and relapsed through the accidental taking 
 of Jamaica ginger, while ill. And a jewelry sales 
 man pointed out Craighead as a mighty bright fel 
 low who was crazy and wouldn t observe the rules, 
 and would be fired by Doctor Witherspoon. Carson 
 felt that he should never, never stand in need of fur 
 ther admonition to temperance than the memory of 
 this Sargasso Sea of the derelicts of drink. 
 
 "There s a new fellow here," said the jewelry 
 man. "I haven t seen him ; but he came in stinking 
 paralyzed last night, and was found boozing with 
 Craighead in the greenhouse this morning. Seen 
 him?"
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 
 
 YOUNG Mr. Carson, detained at the Slattery 
 Institute to balance the books, on account of 
 the e vanishment of Mr. Wylie, thought 
 often of Shayne s charming niece, but, man-like, 
 gave scarcely a thought to the situation on board 
 the Roc, as she bore northward in the night sky, 
 after dropping him as a hawk might let fall a too 
 belligerent weasel. Theodore s visualizations of the 
 party he had left were narrowly confined to a hat, a 
 face peering over the Roc s rail, and a last hand 
 clasp in the high mists. All the rest was a blot on a 
 page he would fain have white, a dissonance in a 
 harmony he wished perfect. 
 
 Yet the warfare and insurrection which he left be 
 hind would have interested him had he known. Mr. 
 Silberberg, hurt in amour propre as well as probos 
 cis, was deeply disturbed in his sultanic regard for 
 Virginia. He was too angry to follow her to the 
 deck, as she swept out of the cabin to take leave of 
 her bandit of the dunes ; Mr. Shayne was too busy 
 
 105
 
 1 06 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 quieting the shaken nerves of Mrs. Shayne to think 
 of aught else; so for some minutes the girl lay, half 
 fainting, wholly terrified, by the rail where she had 
 fallen as Theodore dropped over the side into the 
 cloud and the night. 
 
 "Where is Virginia?" queried Aunt Marie, at 
 last, pushing from her nose the vinaigrette with 
 which the agonized Shayne was plying it. "Don t 
 force it into my nostrils dear ! Has she eloped with 
 that creature?" 
 
 "She went on deck," said Shayne reassuringly. 
 "No, my dear, she couldn t from up here, you 
 know!" 
 
 "Finley !" said Mrs. Shayne, "look for her! She s 
 my niece, after all ! If she has run away " 
 
 "But Marie, dearest," protested Shayne, "she 
 couldn t ! We re a mile high in the air, you know !" 
 
 "What does a man know," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Shayne, growing agitated again, "about affairs of 
 the heart? I tell you, she s gone! Look for her! 
 Look for her!" 
 
 Mr. Shayne, in an agony of anxiety, called Mrs. 
 Shayne s maid and gave orders that Virginia be 
 sought on deck. The maid looked about hastily, and 
 failing to observe the little heap in which Virginia 
 sat huddled up by the rail, ran in agitatedly and 
 said that Miss Suarez was not on deck "in the least." 
 
 "I told you !" gasped Mrs. Shayne. "Ah ! Finley,
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 107 
 
 you never did understand a woman s nature ! She s 
 thrown herself away !" 
 
 "Nonsense!" said Silberberg, who had walked 
 glumly in from his cabin. "Did you look aft?" 
 
 "No," said the maid, applying her handkerchief 
 to her eyes. "Miss Suarez would never go back 
 there, sir!" 
 
 "She d go anywhere " 
 
 So far Mr. Silberberg got, stopped and recom 
 menced. 
 
 "This assassin," said he, "must be aft with the 
 crew. There s only one place where Miss Suarez 
 can be!" 
 
 "Go, Finley !" cried Mrs. Shayne, "and rescue the 
 wayward child before it is too late !" 
 
 Without pausing to think of the exact nature of 
 the dreadful thing which could make it too late, Mr. 
 Shayne ran aft and astonished the crew by bursting 
 into their midst and staring .wildly about as if de 
 mented. Willett took his eye from the chart he was 
 plotting, removed his goggles from the top of his 
 head and hung them up quite with the air of a man 
 clearing his decks for action. 
 
 "What is it, sir?" he asked calmly. 
 
 "Where is Miss Suarez?" panted Mr. Shayne. 
 
 "I don t know, sir," replied Willett. 
 
 "Where s that fellow we picked up?" demanded 
 Shayne.
 
 io8 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "The young engineer?" queried Willett, as if to 
 draw a distinction. 
 
 "The hound we picked up !" roared Shayne. "You 
 know who I mean ! Where is he?" 
 
 "I don t know," responded Willett. 
 
 "Haven t they been aft?" interrogated Shayne, 
 "either of them? He or Miss Suarez? They must 
 be here ! Confound it, where are they, men ? They 
 aren t anywhere else. They must be aft here with 
 you!" 
 
 Of this very logical statement the crew made 
 earnest and serious denial, seeing how almost hys 
 terical their commander was. Really, no denial was 
 required, as Mr. Shayne s eyes showed him at once 
 the absence of the pair he sought and the truthful- 
 ness of his men. 
 
 "They re gone!" he exclaimed, rushing into the 
 cabin. "Max, they ve gone over the side !" 
 
 "That parachute," said Max, "couldn t save two 
 from death, even if they made a good drop. And 
 in this darkness " 
 
 Virginia, having recovered her self-possession 
 and the control of her knees, rose, peered off into the 
 gloom for a few minutes, as if to gain another 
 glimpse of her falling preserver, and entering her 
 cabin, threw herself on her bed. She knew not that 
 she was supposed to be lost, or that this very spot 
 had been searched for her until further examination
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 109 
 
 of it was not thought of. She felt a horror of Sil 
 berberg, a sense of disgust with the Shaynes. To 
 think that they could so insult this young man who 
 had saved her life and treated her so beautifully, no 
 matter what he was ! Couldn t they see that he was 
 superior to any of them, were he a thousand times a 
 smuggler or pirate if there were such things as 
 pirates? To offer him money ! To send him aft like 
 a servant! No wonder he had struck Silberberg s 
 odious nose: the wonder was, considering his wild 
 and untamable nature, that he had not torn both 
 Max and her uncle limb from limb! The wonder 
 was that he had not made Silberberg and Shayne 
 walk the plank, subdued the crew, put Aunt Marie 
 off at some safe place and flown in the captured and 
 perverted Roc to some verdurous, languorous, sensu 
 ous tropical island, there to 
 
 Miss Suarez awoke from a nap and was glad to 
 assure herself that the ecstasy with which she had 
 contemplated the commandeering of the Roc and 
 herself by the young bandit, was one of those in 
 versions of feeling to which, in dreams, we are so 
 prone. She rose, preened like a bird before the mir 
 ror, and sat down to think. The voices of her uncle 
 and aunt and Mr. Silberberg came to her ears from 
 the main salon. Opening her window for air, she 
 noted that the roar of the wind from the earth had 
 ceased, and knew that they had reached the calm
 
 i io VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 area, of which Willett had spoken, in the middle 
 of the "low." They would probably have an easy 
 landing in Chicago. And then? 
 
 One thing was certain : she would not live longer 
 with the Shaynes. They were too sordid, too hard, 
 too cruel. They looked upon her too much as an 
 animal to be sold. They had insulted some one. 
 They had insulted her by acting as if she could care 
 anything for the young fellow who had saved her. 
 And she would not stay with them any 
 longer! 
 
 These words she emphasized by rhythmically 
 clenching and opening her hands. She was quite 
 fiercely resolved. She would leave them and teach 
 school or paint miniatures or something. 
 
 Oh ! If she only had just one relative in the v/orld 
 save Aunt Marie! 
 
 Stay ! The thought struck her of her mother s 
 father s people, somewhere in the south. Her mother 
 had been disowned by her family for a perversely 
 contracted marriage; but they were southerners, 
 and they would not see an orphan girl of their kin 
 go homeless. Her grandfather was long since dead; 
 land just who might represent the family now, she 
 had no idea; but she would nevertheless find out 
 where they lived, and go to them. She would ask 
 to be cared for until she could find employment. She 
 would not humiliate herself by staying with the
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM in 
 
 Shaynes and the Silberbergs longer. She would 
 leave Aunt Marie a note of thanks for all her many 
 kindnesses, take her really, truly own belongings, 
 and fly south. So there! 
 
 So resolving, she became quite calm, and walked 
 into the main salon in a very matter-of-fact way. 
 Aunt Marie gave a shrill scream and fainted. Sil- 
 berberg said that he would be tormented. Mr. 
 Shayne stared blankly and reached automatically 
 for his wife s smelling salts, which he applied, at 
 first, to the swollen nose of his guest. 
 
 "Well!" said Virginia, "do you think I am a 
 ghost?" 
 
 "Oh, child!" gasped Aunt Marie, "where have 
 you been with him?" 
 
 Virginia stood still, her eyes ablaze, her cheeks 
 burning. The Roc was coming into the Chicago 
 garage on the roof of the Aerostatic Power Build 
 ing, in a most beautiful landing; but none of the 
 party knew it. Silberberg was gazing at the enraged 
 Virginia in unbounded admiration her splendid 
 anger had won him back. Shayne spoke in foolish 
 agreement with his wife, half believing for the mo 
 ment that there was something questionable in Vir 
 ginia s absence. 
 
 "With a beggar !" said he. 
 
 "A bandit !" said Aunt Marie, "an assassin !" 
 
 "A beggar!" repeated Virginia, in lofty scorn.
 
 112 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Why, even if he were one, in rags and a hovel, he d 
 be worth a million like you ! An assassin ! Why 
 he s the purest, noblest man in the world ! If he ever 
 draws a weapon, it s against a society that has driven 
 him out from it by its vileness. A bandit! And if 
 he is, what are you? You rob by syndicate, assassi 
 nate by general managers and superintendents, and 
 make beggars by votes of shares ! I loathe you, and 
 
 I 1 I admire him as much as I loathe you. As 
 
 between bandits like you and bandits like him, give 
 me the brave man rather than the coward !" 
 
 Mrs. Shayne, restored, rose, stood, and was ad 
 vancing upon Virginia with reproof in her mien, 
 when Willett interrupted the scene by announcing 
 their successful landing. They passed constrainedly 
 into the tower, went down to the street, and to 
 Shayne s Chicago hotel in a motor-car, all in si 
 lence. Virginia bowed and retired. Silberberg shook 
 hands solemnly with his host and hostess, as in the 
 presence of an affliction too great for words, and left 
 them. 
 
 In the morning two letters were taken to the 
 Shayne apartments one for Mr. Shayne from Sil 
 berberg, saying that "under all the circumstances" 
 he thought it better to leave them and go to New 
 York, where his business really required his pres 
 ence. 
 
 The other was a short, tear-stained missive of
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 113 
 
 gratitude, penitence and farewell from Virginia to 
 her aunt. 
 
 "You have been as kind to me," it ran, "as any 
 woman can be to a person she can not love. You 
 have never loved me, Aunt Marie, and you will 
 never see me again. I blush to be obliged by your 
 unjust suspicions to say one thing more. I am not 
 going to any one. You have misjudged me terribly. 
 I don t even know where he is. I shall never know !" 
 
 And so it was, that while Carson stayed on with 
 Mr. Craighead at the Institute, Virginia, with flut 
 tering heart but steadfast purpose, fled southward 
 to kinsmen whose very existence she was obliged 
 to assume. Young Mr. Carson, a prisoner of the 
 perfect system of the Slattery Institute, had 
 caused all this, and knew nothing of it. So it has 
 ever been since knights aye, and pages, too rode 
 through the land and left trouble behind the case 
 ments from which beamed ladies eyes. Methanose 
 and mechanical flight haven t made a particle of dif 
 ference. 
 
 Craighead and Carson walked through a stately 
 peristyle, to a low building called the laboratory, 
 but termed by the patients the "shot-tower." Theo 
 dore was astonished at the throng assembled for the
 
 114 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "shot" treatment of which he had as yet no concep 
 tion men of all sorts, anxiously watching the clock, 
 like school-boys fearful of being tardy. They 
 formed in two columns, resting on two aisles, across 
 the farther ends of which stood two desks, exactly 
 alike. All slung their coats over their right arms, 
 disclosing slits in their shirts at the left shoulder. 
 
 Craighead, with Carson and Bascom following, 
 sent back ripples of disorder along the line by offer 
 ing bets as to whether Carson was himself or Wylie. 
 Two young men, easily classified as new-hatched 
 physicians, stationed themselves like sentinels at the 
 desks; the clock struck; there was a jostling at the 
 rear caused by late comers, at which the serious 
 young doctors frowned fiercely; the lines moved 
 forward ; and the men, as they passed the physicians, 
 seemed to undergo some sort of operation, performed 
 by means of glittering instruments of which Theo 
 dore caught glimpses like lightning playing about 
 those slitted shirt-sleeves. Once beyond this ordeal 
 the patients threw on their coats and passed on to 
 an imposing, smooth-shaven man to the left, who 
 gave to each a handshake, and something the sort 
 of audience that the populace gets at a presidential 
 reception excepting that the president is not in the 
 habit of looking at the tongues of his constituents, 
 nor of feeling their pulses, save in a way purely 
 figurative. 
 
 Theodore found himself in the human current,
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 1115 
 
 and drifted with it. On closer view, he saw that the 
 doctors pricked the patients with little, glittering 
 weapons; but he reasoned that it could be nothing 
 very severe. More than any of the others, however, 
 Craighead seemed to shrink from it 
 
 "Any locomotor ataxia germs on that stabber?" 
 he queried, "or cancer or any of the extras of the 
 curriculum?" 
 
 The doctor frowned as he reached for a syringe. 
 
 "What did I tell you?" asked Craighead as the 
 physician received his inquiry with professional 
 gloom. "No more humor than a hearse-drivers 
 union ouch !" 
 
 With this sincere protest against the stab of the 
 needle, Craighead passed on, and Carson took his 
 place. The doctor looked searchingly in his face, 
 seemed puzzled, and reached to another region of 
 the tray for a syringe. 
 
 "You should have rolled up your sleeve, or cut 
 it," said he sternly. "Roll it up." 
 
 Theodore rolled up his sleeve, whereupon, with an 
 expertness quite startling, the man of medicine 
 pinched up a bit of the brown flesh, shoved in the 
 needle, pressed down the piston ; and Theodore was 
 "shot." With a stinging in his arm, and wondering 
 as to the why of it all though he knew by this time 
 that he had dropped out of the night sky into full 
 membership in a drink cure establishment he 
 passed on.
 
 116 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The imposing, smooth-shaven man was the great 
 Doctor Witherspoon. He met each patient with a 
 standardized smile, clasped each hand with a grip 
 of absolute uniformity, and said: "Good morning, 
 Mr. Bascom" or whatever the name might be. 
 "And how is the appetite this morning? And the 
 tongue, please. Pulse regular, I observe. Have you 
 had your constitutional this morning? Improving 
 nicely, Mr. Bascom. Good morning!" But he met 
 Mr. Craighead with a frown instead of a smile. 
 
 "Please stand aside, Mr. Craighead," said he; "I 
 wish to talk with you !" 
 
 "The bowstring, the scimitar, or the Grand 
 Viziership with the title of Emeritus Superintendent 
 of Dope, O Illustrissimo?" inquired Craighead. "Or 
 wasn t my jogfry done right?" 
 
 Doctor Witherspoon was holding out his hand 
 to Theodore, smiling the standardized smile, some 
 what hardened at the Craighead irreverence. 
 
 "Good morning, Mr. Mr. " 
 
 "Allow me," said Craighead suavely. "Let me 
 present Mr. Carson-Wylie of Yphen Court, Yde 
 Park Terrace, Lon on. The bets are even as to 
 whether Mr. Carson-Wylie came in a day-coach and 
 a trance last evening, or dropped from an air-ship 
 in the night and was treed by old Tige, whose hon 
 est bark terrifies all who do not know that his is a 
 case of vox, et prceterea nihil. Mr. Carson, Doctor
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 117 
 
 Witherspoon. Tell the doctor the secrets of your 
 alimentary canal, Mr. Wylie. Know each other." 
 
 Paraphrasing a Departmental Ditty, "Red and 
 ever redder grew the doctor s shaven gill," as he 
 stood in horror and indignation contemplating this 
 lost creature, so far below the ordinary D. T. victim 
 as to stand and so brave him, here in his hold, his 
 vassals near in the very laboratory. The patients 
 stared in amazement. The great doctor could 
 scarcely credit his own impression, he was so out 
 raged and upset. Yet, never for a moment did the 
 iron discipline relax. The doctor looked at Mr. 
 O Grady, who, like a silent and substantial ghost, 
 floated forward, wafted Mr. Craighead to an inner 
 door which closed behind him as the portals of the 
 Inquisition might shut in some doomed heretic. 
 
 "Good morning, Mr. Wylie," said the doctor, 
 "and is the appetite better? Put out your pulse, 
 please. Tongue very regular, considering last night, 
 Mr. Wylie. Don t omit your exercise; and no more 
 nights in the greenhouse, Mr. Wylie ! Good morn- 
 ing!" 
 
 If any one noticed the transposition of tongue and 
 pulse in the ritual, nobody allowed himself the lux 
 ury of a smile; and the routine of the great drink 
 cure went on. Carson departed, now fully resolved 
 to escape. 
 
 He went with Mr. Evans for a long walk through
 
 ii8 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the country town. Mr. Evans pleadings had made 
 him reluctant to run away he saw the Evans fam 
 ily dying one by one of inanition if he did but he 
 must get away. He might appeal to Doctor Wither- 
 spoon; but he felt that the unconvincing story of 
 his arrival must be received with incredulity by 
 that great man s thoroughly practical mind. The de 
 parture of Carson would throw the books out of 
 balance. A credit item of one man was demanded. 
 Theodore supplied the man. The accounting de 
 partment would refuse to adopt the incredible no 
 tion that he was Carson, who had dropped from 
 the clouds, thus forcing the corollary that Wylie 
 had vanished into thin air. 
 
 He allowed these things so to depress his spirits 
 that he was glad of the arrival that evening of Mr. 
 Craighead, from whose excited manner Theodore 
 surmised that something unusual might have hap 
 pened. 
 
 "You," said he, "are a Latinist, Mr. Wylie?" 
 
 "Not a very profound one," replied Carson. "We 
 engineers are stronger in the modern languages, 
 you know." 
 
 "A mistake," replied Craighead. "I ve made a 
 specialty of the educational value of the dead ones. 
 Sort of sympathy with em, you know. Maybe you 
 can give me the passive form of the Latin verb 
 possum, however ? Possum, meaning can.
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 119 
 
 "Possum" repeated Carson. "Why, it hasn t any 
 passive." 
 
 "It hasn t?" groaned Craighead. "Stung again! 
 But I must have the passive of possum for the motto 
 of my armorial crest. "Possum" can, passive to be 
 canned my highest achievement. Fair youth, look 
 upon me!" 
 
 Obeying, Carson noted that he still wore the 
 evening waistcoat, the colored shirt, the frock coat, 
 and the checked trousers and that he had thrown 
 himself into a despairing attitude with his ringers 
 clutched in his hair. 
 
 "In me," he went on, "you see the world s most 
 symmetrical character. To but one vocation have I 
 e er been true tinware! To that am I ever at 
 tached. Fired from the kindergarten, for what? 
 For becoming bored by basketry and piling straws, 
 and heading a revolt. I never finished aught, save 
 matters better never undertaken. I was six months 
 shy, to coin a word, of graduation at the village 
 high school. At the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth 
 minute was I expunged from my maligna mater. 
 The diplomas to which I am almost entitled would 
 paper this room. I thought expulsion from Rat 
 Mort the limit ; but now, I am canned hence because 
 I am corrupting the morals of the inebriates ! Is it 
 not the height, the crown, the apex of infamy, the 
 ultra rays of the spectrum of disgrace? I sympa-
 
 120 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 thize with Mr. Tomlinson, of Berkeley Square. I 
 see in his post-mortem career a prophecy of mine 
 own! But, old sport, what a wonderfully and un- 
 surpassably complete structure it makes of my char 
 acter!" 
 
 "It is too bad " began Carson. 
 
 "Too bad?" interrupted Craighead. "Ow, down t 
 put it that strong, owld chap ! But it is pronouncedly 
 unpleasant, down t y kneow." And then with tragic 
 intensity he concluded: "In the world s fields of 
 highest endeavor, many are called, but few are 
 chosen. My unique claim to distinction, sir, is in 
 this, that, whatsoever ta-ran-ta-ra the bugles blow, 
 I, Craighead, remain the Great Uncalled! Me for 
 the blind baggage and the tomato-can hat Happy 
 Hooligan Craighead, minus the happiness. Begone 
 dull fun ! Tears, happy tears ! And eke, O ye tears ! 
 Great jumping genuflexionists, what a world !" 
 
 "But," ventured Theodore, in a sincere desire to 
 comfort his friend, "you ve had the treatment, you 
 know!" 
 
 "True, Eliphaz-Zophar nay, I will dub thee 
 Elihu, for you have not been cured of your right to 
 call yourself a Boozite or a Gittite still true, I have 
 had the treatment : its dish-water is in my veins, its 
 dope in my assimilative system. The Witherspoony 
 truths, so well adapted to the Second Reader Grade, 
 must remain in whatever vermiform appendix the
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 121 
 
 volume of my brain provides for the retention of 
 platitudinous ponderosity. I shall lose my sense of 
 humor. I shall become bourgeois, un-Bohemianized, 
 Philistine, crass. I must go forth and rob folks like 
 any other good citizen. Would that the chance 
 might present itself ere I depart for home. By 
 George ! That reminds me I have no home !" 
 
 This was delivered in exactly the tone in which 
 one might announce the leaving behind of a hand 
 kerchief or cigar-case. Quite at a loss what to say, 
 Carson said nothing; Craighead, meanwhile, smil 
 ing as if at a new and amusing thought. Into this 
 silence entered Mr. O Grady, Mr. Evans and a 
 slender person of about Carson s size, who at once 
 began the coursing of imaginary game on the wall 
 paper, slapping his thigh and laughing at every, 
 failure. 
 
 "This," said Mr. O Grady, introducing the in 
 door huntsman, "is Mr. Wylie, Mr. Carson." 
 
 "My worst fears confirmed!" hissed Craighead. 
 "The one man I ever loved turns out to be oh, ye 
 gods ! both a teller of truth and a victim of regular 
 habits ! The last straw, and no julep !" 
 
 Carson looked at Wylie, awaiting Mr. O Grady s 
 development of his case. 
 
 "We are, of cawse," said O Grady, "sorry to Have 
 interfered with your plans, Mr. Carson, but " 
 
 Mr. O Grady s grave discourse, in which Carson
 
 122 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 could feel himself being placed irrevocably in the 
 wrong, was interrupted by Mr. Wylie s making a 
 swoop upon an imaginary animal on Mr. O Grady s 
 nose. 
 
 "I most caught him," he cried. "A bumblebee! 
 A bumblebee ! Sunday, gnats ; mosquitoes, Monday ; 
 Tuesday, flies; bees Wednesday; hornets yesterday 
 and bumblebees to-day. Big game soon! Ha, ha, 
 ha, ha! Whoop!" 
 
 Craighead attentively scrutinized Mr. Wylie, 
 who was lurching about the room with a wild sim 
 ulation of mirth. 
 
 "Long-lost brother, evidently," remarked the 
 Great Uncalled. "I note the Craighead strawberry- 
 mark. W T ell, when he gets to elephants, I may 
 claim relationship." 
 
 "Of cawse," went on Mr. O Grady, paying no 
 attention to the Wylie incident, except to use and 
 examine for blood-stains a neatly folded handker 
 chief, "your being found in the greenhouse has 
 been partially explained, sir; and we are not dis 
 posed to make you trouble. The usual payment for 
 treatment will not be insisted upon, though always 
 collected in advance, and those you have had will 
 be a total loss. In fact, with our customary liber 
 ality, we shall leave to you both that and your board 
 and lodgings since you so strangely came into our 
 into our midst."
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPORIUM 123 
 
 "Hear, hear!" ejaculated Craighead. "Hooroar 
 for the emporium! Hip, and again hip! Wither- 
 spoon for ever!" 
 
 "And if you will kindly sign these mutual re 
 ceipts in full for all claims on both sides, we will 
 give Mr. Wylie his room; and here s the pen, Mr. 
 Carson, sir." 
 
 Theodore had already made the first stroke of the 
 "T" when Craighead rushed upon him like a whirl 
 wind, snatched the pen, hurled it into the door like 
 a javelin, where it stood quivering, and interposed 
 between Carson and O Grady. 
 
 "Caitiff, avaunt!" he roared. "Wilt deprive the 
 widows and orphans this youth may accumulate of 
 their cause of action against this dope-shotten em 
 porium? Back, slave! You reach him only over 
 my dead body! Receipts in full? Not on your 
 life to coin an expression. You have shot his 
 patrician blood full of dish-water and bug-juice; 
 you have filled his innocent and unworldly stomach 
 with dope ; you have committed on him false impris 
 onment, assault and battery, and malpractice, if 
 there be any mat to your practice. His spine is 
 even as wet string for limberness. He is disinte 
 grated so that he falls below the standard of the 
 human wreck he is mere debris and junk. His 
 reputation the immortal part of himself is gone, 
 and what remains is bestial. He has had jaghood
 
 124 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 forced upon him, instead of being allowed to achieve 
 it at the expense of his patrimony, as you, O Dennis, 
 and I have done. You have amputated his appe 
 tite for light wines, and may as well pass him the 
 Darker Drink first as last. He has suffered, and 
 must ever suffer, most excruciating pain and agony, 
 and both mental and physical anguish. He s a 
 gone gosling! And I, the greatest personal injury 
 specialist in the legal world, as his attorney demand 
 ten thousand plunks as damages; failing the re 
 ceipt of which, well and truly to be paid in lawful 
 money of the realm, we ll take the emporium in 
 execution, make Witherspoon a stable-boy with you 
 as assistant swipe, both of you to sleep with Tige ! 
 We don t sign nothin , see?" 
 
 He turned to Carson, drew himself up, and, with 
 tragedy in every lineament an astonishing feat in 
 facial expression he spoke with a deep-toned ex 
 aggeration of Carson s southern accent, 
 
 "Othello s occupation s done come back !"
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RETURN OF OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 
 
 FROM the hour of Carson s arrival at the Slat- 
 tery Institute, Craighead had dominated 
 him. He had accepted the character of 
 Wylie, at Craighead s suggestion; and when, on 
 Mr. Wylie s suddenly turning up, Craighead had 
 demanded damages from the Institute for suffer 
 ings of which Carson was largely ignorant, he had 
 allowed the demand. 
 
 Though Craighead was clearly no proper guide 
 for a young man whose affairs were in so critical a 
 condition, he had confided in him. Craighead had 
 grasped the new and unique principle of Carson s 
 aeronef at one leap of his oddly energetic and active 
 mind, and as he soared into the skies in roseate 
 plans for developing a monopoly of the air with it, 
 Theodore believed, and allowed himself to dream 
 of power and fame and the girl whose face haunted 
 him, pale at his leap into the depths of the tossing 
 cloud, under the drooping feather draggled with the 
 high mist. And then the gadfly of his uncompleted 
 
 125
 
 126 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 task stung him again. He must hie to the shed in the 
 Gulf dunes, complete the flying-machine, and bring 
 it to the notice of the world, in spite of the enmity of 
 Mr. Shayne, upon which he now confidently counted. 
 He must 
 
 "I know," broke in Mr. Craighead, gazing at 
 the ceiling through wreaths of smoke, "the yearn 
 ings of your subtropical Alabamian system. But 
 be practical. Ordinarily, you might yield to the 
 seductions of the South in spring, suh. I know 
 how it is. The pomegranate goes off in explosions 
 of vegetal fire. The buckeye hangs out its crimson 
 banners. The magnolia buds swell, burst, and fill 
 the world with the enchantment of fragrance and 
 velvet purity. The cape jasmine upholds its load of 
 creamy snow, the crape myrtle and hibiscus send 
 out their call to the orthochromatic plate, and the 
 doodle-bug lies in wait for the unwary ant, even 
 as I have lain in wait for you; but none of these 
 is really germane to the issues. The issues, suh, 
 are these: You come to this emporium, of which, 
 alas, neither of us is fated to be an alumnus, and 
 you find me in fine fettle, save that I am unrelated 
 to the world. I am an Antaeus, with no immediate 
 prospects of getting my tootsies to mother earth; 
 a storage battery as big as Pike s Peak, but insu 
 lated from the mass of demagnetized humanity; 
 a great force for a number of things, with no way 
 of proving it. What do you do? .You make a pro-
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 127 
 
 
 
 fession for me. I was naught, not to mention 
 naughty. What am I now? A great personal- 
 injury lawyer, developing into a prosperous ambu 
 lance-chaser. I was out of touch with the world of 
 finance. I have now laid the foundation for the 
 organization of the great Carson-Craighead Aeronef 
 Corporation !" 
 
 "What do you mean?" ejaculated Carson. 
 
 "What I say! What I say! Through a long, 
 colonnaded, peristyled vista of marble and onyx, I 
 can see, nailed to the back fence, the hide of Mr. 
 Finley Shayne. And just as I am closing something, 
 you propose to leave me. It s unthinkable !" 
 
 Carson s momentary feeling that this wild deni 
 zen of dreamland really had something definite in 
 view in the way of business departed, and he re 
 turned to the argument. 
 
 "But I have no clothes," he urged. 
 
 "Clothes," scornfully repeated Craighead. "What 
 are they ? Merely woven fabrics to fill bags to se 
 cure credit withal at hotels. And you need no 
 credit ; for this room is mine for the whole term of 
 the treatments paid for by some one into whose 
 company I dropped or rose during my last shore 
 leave from the good ship Lithia, but by whom I 
 have no idea. Clothes indeed! Scat!" 
 
 "But it s cold here," persisted Carson, feeling 
 helpless in the toils of this serpentine logic. "I m 
 not prepared for this climate."
 
 128 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Look abroad!" commanded Craighead, with a 
 gesture toward the window. "The sun beats down 
 upon the last remnants of the snow, and the little 
 brooks give the glad ha-ha to the river, and send 
 down the silky billet-doux of the catkin to remind 
 him that they ve busted loose and are hurling them 
 selves into his arms. Why, damn you, it s spring! 
 And you can stay right here steam heat, bath, 
 hot and cold water, padded cell in connection oh, 
 fair youth, I love thee! Let me finish bunkoing 
 Mr. O Grady, and start the Aeronef Company. 
 Don t be a clam !" 
 
 "You know how I feel about those damages but 
 if I could get the capital for the aeronef " 
 
 "Why, you don t doubt my practical genius, do 
 you?" queried Craighead in astonishment, "in other 
 people s affairs, I mean, of course? Why, sir, if, 
 in view of my failure with my own, I can t handle 
 other people s business, then what becomes of my 
 ability? I tell you, haughty Southron, I m good 
 for something!" 
 
 "Well," asked Carson, "but what real prospects 
 have you, now?" 
 
 Craighead peered into the hall, locked the door, 
 threw up the window, scanned the wall as if for 
 eavesdroppers secreted between the bricks, ap 
 proached Carson on tiptoe, and whispered, 
 
 "I ve found a billionaire," he hissed, "and got
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 129 
 
 him hypnotized. We see him to-night. Prepare to 
 talk aeronef as one charming the bird from the tree 
 or the woodchuck from the hole. I ve done the 
 real work; see that you make good in the insignifi 
 cant details!" 
 
 Theodore s emotions were so obviously under 
 control that Craighead called him a mollusk and 
 refused to describe his billionaire. 
 
 "I ll go," said Carson, "it can do no harm. Now, 
 as for collecting damages from the Institute, I 
 protest " 
 
 "A mere ten thousand," cried Craighead. "Say 
 no more. Away with it ! It s in the hands of your 
 lawyer, the celebrated Craighead. You never mind ; 
 but nerve yourself up to control the subjective mind 
 of the billionaire." 
 
 All that day Carson watched Craighead as one 
 might study a recently captured inmate of the zoo. 
 From a trunk covered with the labels of foreign 
 travel, Craighead took a sheet of cardboard and 
 painted upon it an elaborate sign which bore the 
 legend : 
 
 CRAIGHEAD 
 
 ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW 
 
 This he fastened outside the door, chuckling from 
 time to time as the passers-by paused as if to read
 
 130 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 it. After a while he added to it, "Personal Injury 
 Cases a Specialty," and found a recess down the 
 hall from which he could watch the employees pass 
 the sign, sheering off as if from a man-trap. The 
 height of Craighead s pleasure came when O Grady 
 himself finally paused, read the sign over and over 
 as if to make sure that this unspeakable effrontery 
 were not really a hallucination, and departed sud 
 denly in a sort of dignified panic. Then Craighead 
 went snooping about foraging for hotel stationery, 
 on which he sketched an additional design adver 
 tising the new legal business in Room 37. 
 
 "We must be economical," said he. "If we can 
 expropriate stationery enough for a month, it will 
 pay to get a rubber stamp made." 
 
 Craighead went out late and brought back sev 
 eral legal-looking books, which he ranged upon 
 the dresser in dusty formidability an old set of 
 Illinois Statutes, and a tattered Broom s Legal Max 
 ims, from which he read unctuously such Latin 
 aphorisms as "De minimis non curat lex," "Falsus in 
 uno, Jalsus in omnibus," and the like, and lectured 
 upon them very informatively. The remainder of 
 the library consisted of a ten-years file of Martin- 
 dale s Legal Directory, containing nothing more 
 authoritative than lists of the world s lawyers. In 
 each of them Craighead interlined in ink, on the
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 131 
 
 proper page, his own name, with the highest pro 
 fessional rating, and financial standing. 
 
 "This, my dear colonel," said he, "may seem to 
 you like trifling; but in the life of business and the 
 business of life, there is no such thing as a trifle. 
 Take care of the trifles, and the truffles will take care 
 of themselves and the terrapin and lobster also. 
 This library I consider my master-stroke. When 
 O Grady s spies see it, I reckon, suh, it ll throw a 
 crimp into em." 
 
 "Where did you get them?" asked Theodore. 
 
 "Second-hand man," replied Craighead. "On 
 approval. We must keep up appearances even if 
 we have to buy em." 
 
 They went out for a walk to give O Grady a 
 chance, as Craighead expressed it, to see what he 
 was up against, a statement that mystified Theodore 
 greatly. 
 
 On their return, Mr. O Grady seemed to have 
 been wrought upon by what he was "up against;" 
 for he asked Mr. Craighead if he would be so good 
 as to give him a few minutes. Mr. Craighead 
 looked at his watch, pleaded lack of time, and 
 asked Theodore if their business could wait. When 
 Carson admitted that it could, O Grady said "Thank 
 you, sir," in the tone of a porter accepting a tip. 
 
 What under heaven had suddenly raised the
 
 132 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 expelled Craighead from his despised position in the 
 Institute to a thing to inspire terror and panic, 
 Theodore could not imagine, nor guess the reason 
 for Craighead s sardonic laughter, as he sat in their 
 room, drawing indictments against O Grady and 
 Witherspoon. He saw, however, that these were 
 awesome documents, which set forth in a large, 
 round hand that these gentlemen had been guilty 
 of obtaining money under false pretenses, false im 
 prisonment, malicious assault, and the like, all done 
 "feloniously, of malice prepense and aforethought, 
 not having the fear of God before their eyes, but 
 instigated thereunto by the devil," and "against the 
 peace and dignity of the State of Illinois, and con 
 trary to the statutes in such cases made and pro 
 vided." They were carefully docketed, in a style so 
 intensely legal that Theodore himself was impressed 
 with the terrible nature of his case against the Insti 
 tute. The personal injury specialist then read the 
 accusations in round tones that rolled thunderously 
 out into the halls through the transoms, and ar 
 ranged them in careful disorder on the table, with 
 their docketings plainly visible. 
 
 "Wilt inject thy bourgeois and moral-reform dope 
 into the great Craighead?" asked he of the atmos 
 phere. "Then take the retribution genius serves 
 out! Theodore, when we return, this room will be 
 full of corpses knocked stiff by these impeachments
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 133 
 
 of O Grady and Witherspoon. One mercenary will 
 see them, and drop dead. Another will look for the 
 first, see my lethal handiwork, and collapse. And 
 so on, and on, and on ! If there s room for enough 
 to die in the imminent deadly breach of the crim 
 inal code, we ll get Witherspoon; but I guess the 
 room ll be full ere the deadly carbon dioxid of 
 my brain can reach him. This is the master-stroke 
 and, under the authorities, we shall be guiltless. 
 Fie upon their law ! Come, now, fair youth ! 
 Here we leave our deadly gin meaning no deriva 
 tive of the juniper and take the spoor of the bil 
 lionaire. Hike, oh, hike with me!" 
 
 Explaining that they would be trailed by the hell 
 hounds, Craighead effected the stratagem of "fetch 
 ing a compass round about the tower of the inter 
 locking switch" down the railway track. They 
 crossed a dim field, followed a farm road, and came 
 back into the village from the opposite side. Craig- 
 head peered up and down the street, hastily opened 
 a gate before which they had been slinking, and 
 hurried Carson to a broad porch, under tall elms 
 and maples, knobby with swelling buds. He pushed 
 a button and they waited. 
 
 Carson inspected its exterior, and pronounced the 
 establishment distinctly odd. The house was a 
 columned, old-fashioned edifice, which in an un 
 pretentious colonial way was fine and impressive.
 
 134 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The grounds must have covered two acres. The 
 trees were strong, wholesome specimens, so high 
 and bosky as to make the place shadowy like a 
 wood. The grass had been left undipped the pre 
 ceding year, and was uneven like a pasture. A cow 
 peered at them around the veranda. Near the fence 
 stood a farm wagon, equipped with sideboards for 
 the hauling of corn. Harrows and other farm tools 
 lay about as if got out in anticipation of the work 
 of spring; and all these in the grounds of a well- 
 kept house, thoroughly in repair. Even the es 
 cutcheon of the push-button, on which Craighead 
 pressed again, was polished until it shone. 
 
 At slow steps in the hall Craighead squeezed Car 
 son s arm spasmodically. The door opened and a 
 low figure stood before them in which Theodore 
 noted something familiar, and a voice not altogether 
 strange, he thought, invited them into the "other 
 room." 
 
 "Mr. Carson," said Mr. Craighead, "does not 
 recognize in our host the erstwhile guide of my 
 wandering and wabbly feet. Mr. Carson, in your 
 new and fully established capacity as a respectable 
 citizen, let me present you to Mr. Waddy, to whose 
 counsel, precept and example, while acting as my 
 attendant, I feel myself indebted for my complete 
 restoration to Philistine-hood. Mr. Carson, Mr. 
 Waddy!"
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 135 
 
 Mr. Waddy, ignoring this reintroduction, led 
 them silently down the hall, past a door, which gave 
 forth scuffling sounds, female voices, and the peep 
 ing of young chickens, and took them into a snug 
 den, the shelves of which were covered with books, 
 tall, imposing, learned-looking tomes in time-dark 
 ened bindings; where they sat down in leather- 
 covered chairs gray with dust. Mr. Waddy opened 
 the swinging door of a small cast-iron stove, the 
 pipe of which ran into the chimney above a fine 
 old mantel, and threw in a double handful of corn 
 cobs from a box in the corner. The fire roared 
 up, and, by its flickering light, Theodore saw that 
 the curious-looking machine which flanked a fine 
 bust of Shakespeare, was a cream-separator; and 
 that what he had taken for a frieze in alto-relievo 
 was a string of seed-corn, composed of pairs of ears 
 tied together by their husks, and hung over a wire. 
 In its deeper personal implications it was the most 
 baffling room Theodore had ever seen. 
 
 "You see here," said Craighead, "an illustration 
 of the manner in which the souls of things express 
 those of people. Here we find the reflective mingled 
 with the defective, serials with cereals, literature 
 with litter, the diary with the dairy, expressing our 
 good friend Mr. Waddy, who combines the types of 
 the more or less honest prince of haute finance and 
 the horny-handed son of toil. The owner of eight
 
 136 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 banks sits here in the shade of his own cream-sepa 
 rator and seed-corn, surrounded by art, Aldines 
 and Elzevirs, all coated with the desiccated soil from 
 which we are made, to which we return, and out of 
 which, under moister conditions, all wealth is de 
 rived. I am touched." 
 
 "I ain t," said Mr. Waddy. "Not yit!" 
 
 A pause succeeded this Delphic remark. Either 
 Mr. Craighead was doubtful as to Mr. Waddy s ex 
 act meaning, or he sought the psychological effect 
 of silence. 
 
 "So you did reely drop into the garden?" their 
 host finally asked. 
 
 "Yes," answered Carson. "I think it was foolish 
 to take the risk but I did." 
 
 "Why?" queried Waddy; and Carson explained. 
 
 "Boy foolishness," said Mr. Waddy; and silence 
 fell again, broken at last by Theodore s inquiry as 
 to whether Mr. Waddy was active in eight banks, 
 and if he did not find his duties irksome. 
 
 "No," replied Waddy, still Delphic. "The things 
 growed up on me. I never wanted to be a banker; 
 but my rents kep loadin me up with deposits, an 
 I sort of got one bank after another darn it! 
 Country banks the boys run em. I came here 
 to have a quiet time in my own way an see how I 
 make out!"
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 137 
 
 This conclusion was so full of rancor that Theo 
 dore felt hurt, and was about to say that if Mr. 
 Waddy s privacy was so precious he would no 
 longer intrude; when their host, at the sound of 
 the dragging of some heavy body in the hall, ceased 
 pulling his beard and eyebrows to the vanishing 
 point in his facial perspective toward which they 
 all seemed directed, stealthily peeped out and re 
 turned smiting his palm with his fist in unmistaka 
 ble agitation. 
 
 "Takin* out the incubator!" he cried. "The 
 hatch ll be ruined! Ruined!" 
 
 "Pardon me," said Mr. Craighead, "if I mention 
 the fact that some change or cataclysm seems 
 taking place here." 
 
 "I d got shut of em all," wailed Mr. Waddy. 
 "They wanted me to put on style ! They reckoned 
 I was going to when I bought this place. I could 
 slick up an go to stock-holders meetin s an the 
 boys never knowed ! An jest as I got things right, 
 Caroline s man dies an here she comes to take 
 care of me ! I shan t be allowed to earn a cent by 
 workin for Witherspoon and it brought me into 
 such society! Them jags is mighty nice fellers, 
 some of em." 
 
 "I thank you," said Craighead, with an excess of 
 manner. "And as for your being condemned by
 
 138 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 family pride to sterile uselessness, it is truly a shame. 
 But, is Caroline a relative?" 
 
 "Unly daughter," answered Mr. Waddy. "Come 
 to live with me. Settin things to rights !" 
 
 "Mr. Waddy," said Craighead, "bear up under 
 this. It may be for the best. And let us take up 
 Mr. Carson s great project for monopolizing avia 
 tion. I have long believed that some one would 
 turn up with the machine to subordinate all others ; 
 but since the time of Santos-Dumont, Farman and 
 the Wrights, aerial navigation has made no real 
 progress. Mr. Carson is the genius. We offer 
 you the unique chance to be with us co-master of the 
 world. Mr. Carson will be glad to explain his 
 aeronef." 
 
 "I wun t put a cent in it !" said Mr. Waddy. 
 
 Carson s heart sank; the unexpected affluence of 
 Mr. Waddy had bred faith in Craighead s financial 
 plans. 
 
 "Certainly not," replied Craighead, as if Mr. 
 Waddy s refusal were the most natural thing in the 
 world, "until you have ciphered the thing down to 
 brass nails. And then but tell Mr. Waddy about 
 it, Mr. Carson. You need not enter into the offers 
 of millions we have had, and spurned just describe 
 the machine." 
 
 Carson switched on the lights, and they gathered 
 about the table. The boy talked slowly at first
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 139 
 
 but as the theme grew the others had the rare ex 
 perience of hearing a man discourse upon the thing 
 which dominated an intense and repressed life. It 
 was complex much of it too technical for Mr. 
 Waddy though familiarity with the concrete 
 things of his practical career had made him acute. 
 Once in a while he interjected a question which 
 evinced intelligent comprehension of the heart of 
 Carson s explanation. The boy explained that his 
 aeronef differed from all others, in having wings 
 like a bird s; which did not flap, like those of the 
 absurd orthopters, and yet used half their surface in 
 beating the air, with a straight thrust like that of an 
 oar in water. 
 
 "Don t yeh use screws?" asked Waddy at this 
 point. 
 
 "Not at all," answered Carson. "The screw can 
 never be effective, because it strikes with a slant. 
 It will do in water, but air requires a more effective 
 thrust. When your propeller-blade moves at a 
 hundred miles an hour, say, you have a lift of thirty 
 pounds to the square foot of surface with the 
 direct stroke. But the surface of the screw " 
 
 "Now, how d ye figger that?" asked Mr. Waddy. 
 
 Carson repeated laboriously; showed how, in his 
 new wing, the whole surface revolved in sections 
 striking straight against the air. Waddy nodded. 
 
 "Why," said Carson, "I can lift weights that none
 
 140 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 of the other air-ships can stir, and fly off like an 
 eagle with a fish!" 
 
 Mr. Waddy nodded his head now, instead of 
 shaking it. Theodore s enthusiasm was infecting 
 him. Craighead, out of the running, stood over 
 them, peering silently at the drawings formed by 
 the boy s pencil. Mr. Waddy was getting a grip 
 upon the principles. The wing-blades were really 
 long feathering-wheels, the slant of which, by a new 
 application of old principles, was under perfect con 
 trol, so as to lift directly upward, to drive obliquely 
 in any direction, or to strike up and hurl the aeronef 
 suicidally downward. The farmer-banker and the 
 inventor were so absorbed that they scarcely noticed 
 the entrance of a messenger from the Institute with 
 a message from Mr. O Grady, asking if Mr. Craig- 
 head would step outside for a moment, nor Craig- 
 head s withdrawal and return. 
 
 "The direction of the blow of the propeller," said 
 Carson, "is under perfect control. A bird s wing 
 isn t. This is a better wing than an eagle s." 
 
 "Kin you raise right straight up," asked Waddy, 
 "without running along like a buzzard?" 
 
 "I sure can," replied Carson, falling into dialect. 
 "No bird can do that no big bird. It s a better, 
 stronger flier than any bird. The best any other 
 machine can do is to support four pounds to the 
 square foot of surface; with my new motors, I can
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 141 
 
 fly off with five times that; and I ve got four times 
 their bearing surface ! I can carry mail and express 
 at a profit, or passengers that can afford it. I can 
 hover over a ship with good heavy torpedoes and 
 sink her, and overtake any vessel that floats. I 
 can-" 
 
 "What kind of motors you got?" interrupted 
 Waddy. 
 
 Carson went into details of cylinders, weight per 
 H. P., revolutions per minute, fuel necessities, and 
 the like, in the midst of which Craighead returned, 
 secured Carson s signature to some document, of the 
 nature of which the boy was quite ignorant, went out 
 and reentered whistling. The old man looked 
 through his eyebrows, whiskers and mustaches at 
 Carson and the drawings. 
 
 "What if your engines stop?" he asked. "When 
 you re a mile high and over water, mebbe?" 
 
 "I can soar," answered Carson. "I can make head 
 way and gain height with no power, if there s a 
 wind and I can stay up for hours, with the pro 
 pellers set for aeroplanes. But the best thing I 
 haven t mentioned the gyroscopic balancing 
 device." 
 
 "What s that?" asked Mr. Waddy. 
 
 "Why, it s the successful application of the gyro 
 scope to aviation." 
 
 "They used to talk about that," observed Mr.
 
 142 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Waddy, "long ago the Brennan single-rail roads 
 I thought it turned out that the gyroscopes was 
 too heavy f r air work." 
 
 "They are too heavy," cried Theodore, "if you 
 use them to do the balancing that s sure. And 
 so we have had to balance by feeling, just as we do 
 a bicycle. Thought isn t quick enough, so you have 
 to rely on feeling, as a bird does. But I use little 
 gyroscopes, not to control by their weight and stress, 
 but to distribute power to the wings and rudders, 
 positive, automatic distribution of power. Why, if 
 the engineer of my machine should fall dead, it 
 would fly on just as he set it, until the fuel was ex 
 hausted. It feels and thinks." 
 
 The three men sat looking at one another, so far 
 oblivious of their surroundings that they did not 
 notice the opening of the door, nor see the woman 
 who entered. 
 
 "Papa !" she said. 
 
 Mr. Waddy rose hastily and faced her. She 
 was rather young, rosy, and quite too jolly- 
 looking for her half-mourning, which she filled to 
 a smoothness that showed marvelous adaptation of 
 fabrics to curves. She looked like Mr. Waddy but 
 was undeniably pretty. He was blocky and short; 
 she, round and plump, with small hands and feet. 
 His eyes, lost in huge brows, seemed small and 
 deep-set; hers were wide, with a glimmer of good
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 143 
 
 fun in them. His face was a hirsute jungle, grow 
 ing all ways a well-kept beard should not; her 
 cheeks were smooth and pink, her lips were red, and 
 the Waddy anarchy of hair gave her coiffure a 
 charming tousled and crinkly disorder which would 
 have convicted a small girl of naughtiness. The 
 turned-up pug nose of Mr. Waddy was modified to 
 a delightful little retrousse effect in her. An ap 
 parent effort on her part to be stern and formal 
 was mitigated by smears of dust on face and hands, 
 and a slight trace of panting and heat, as if she had 
 been exerting herself. 
 
 "Papa," said she, "this is hardly a place in which 
 to entertain these gentlemen. We have cleared out 
 the east parlor." 
 
 "Oh, yes!" assented Mr. Waddy, with feverish 
 haste. "To be sure, Caroline! Take em in, won t 
 you? I ve got to see the hired man! My daugh 
 ter, Mrs. Graybill, Mr. Craighead; Caroline, a 
 a friend of mine, Mr. Carson, of Alabama. Excuse 
 me for a minute, gentlemen!" 
 
 "I assure you, Mrs. Graybill," said Mr. Craig- 
 head, "that when I say we are delighted, we mean 
 the word in its descriptive sense, rather than its 
 conventional nonsense." 
 
 "Oh, thank you !" replied Mrs. Graybill, looking 
 about the den. "This is an unfavorable-looking 
 place for conventionalities."
 
 144 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Finding you here," went on Mr. Craighead, as 
 they entered the parlor, "is discovering an unex 
 pected rose in a patch devoted to the harmless and 
 unornamental cauliflower, a delight all the more 
 dangerous to a sensitive organism because of its 
 suddenness." 
 
 "Oh, I dare say you ll recover a great many 
 people have. And we ll strengthen that sensitive 
 organism with supper." 
 
 "And thus increase the pleasurable strain ! The 
 odore, it looks deliciously dangerous !" 
 
 "And I may as well explain about the condition 
 of this house," she went on. "Papa is reverting to 
 type, that s all." 
 
 "Ah, yes!" replied Craighead. "I see!" 
 
 "No, you don t," protested Mrs. Graybill, "though 
 it s polite to say so. When I say reverting to type, 
 I don t mean printing, or anything like that. He s 
 going back to the ways of his youth, and the youths 
 of his progenitors. I dare say we shall all tend to 
 do the same at his age, don t you think so, Mr. 
 Carson?" 
 
 Theodore bashfully answered that he had never 
 thought of it. Craighead quoted the melancholy 
 Jacques on second childhood but denied the appli 
 cation to Mr. Waddy. 
 
 "Oh, I don t mean that" said Mrs. Graybill.
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 145 
 
 "But papa got rich, and we imposed on him gradu 
 ally a life unlike that in which he was nurtured. 
 Now, he elopes when he can, and sets up establish 
 ments with seed-corn, and cream-separators, and 
 cows and harrows on the lawn, and works at any job 
 he can find, and enjoys drawing wages more than 
 anything, except teaching calves to drink. It s 
 cruel of me to come and break up the idyl ; but it s 
 so absurd!" 
 
 "If that be cruelty," said Craighead, "then to 
 coin an expression, martyrdom for mine !" 
 
 "Supper," said she, smiling, "will be served very 
 soon." 
 
 The long dining-room was gloomy with decayed 
 gentility black beams, dark wainscoting, and a 
 broad plate-rail bearing wrenches, clevises, oil-cans, 
 and baskets of eggs labeled as to breeds and dates. 
 During the meal Craighead came out amazingly in 
 his encounters with Mrs. Graybill, to whom, as 
 it seemed to Theodore, he was making violent love. 
 Mr. Waddy, deaf to the badinage which screened 
 this courtship, sat buried in thought, save when he 
 questioned Carson concerning the aeronef, and was 
 answered in occasional outbursts of eloquence dur 
 ing which Mrs. Graybill ignored Craighead and 
 watched Theodore absorbedly. 
 
 "There s no cinch in it," said Mr. Waddy, "no
 
 146 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 monopoly; an as soon as it s public, everybody ll 
 build em. I do business on cinches." 
 
 "Oh, but the patents, Mr. Waddy !" cried Craig- 
 head. "You forget the patents!" 
 
 "They expire in a few years," said Mr. Waddy, 
 "an then where are yeh? Land, now that I made 
 my money in land s an eternal cinch." 
 
 "Mr. Waddy," said Craighead, "this matter of 
 securing exclusive control of the air is a part of 
 our plans. It is one of my specialties. The law 
 affords ample justification for the assurance, which 
 I here and now give you, that that will be attended 
 to. Our present task lies with the uncompleted 
 aeronef down by the shore of the blue Gulf; to get 
 the motors into her, and start business." 
 
 Carson was amazed, for he would have wagered 
 that Craighead had never before thought of any 
 monopoly except the patents; yet here he was, as 
 suring Mr. Waddy of exclusive aerial dominion. 
 Mr. Waddy grunted as if lightly impressed; as, 
 no doubt, he was. 
 
 "How long will it take you," said he, "to kind 
 of draw out your plan for clenchin the control of 
 the air, legally?" 
 
 "Oh, a very brief time," said Craighead. "I 
 have installed a fine law library in my apartments, 
 so the consultation of authorities will be easy; 
 but"
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 147 
 
 "Well," interrupted Mr. Waddy, "if you can have 
 that done by the time Mr. Carson can go where his 
 machine is, put it in shape an fly back, it ll do. 
 When he lights in the front yard, an you bring me 
 a good law-proof monopoly, I ll go in with yeh; 
 but he s got to fetch a letter from Mobile, within 
 twenty-four hours o the time it s stamped there. 
 I m from Missouri! What say?" 
 
 "Done!" cried Craighead. "You ve bought 
 something!" 
 
 Theodore was trembling with the fear that they 
 were throwing away their chance by reckless and 
 impossible undertakings. Mrs. Graybill saw him 
 grow pale and swallow hard, as if choking, and 
 her eyes grew soft. 
 
 "Before we call it a bargain," said Theodore, 
 "I should like a word with Mr. Craighead, if you 
 will excuse us." 
 
 "Certainly," said she. "I should recommend 
 careful consultation." 
 
 Craighead faced Carson inquiringly, as they 
 found themselves alone in the hall. 
 
 "Something rising in your throat?" he queried. 
 "Frost forming on your boots? No yellow stripe 
 up your back, is there ? Come, let s reel in and give 
 him the gaff!" 
 
 "I wish to explain," said Theodore, "that I I 
 can t pay the charges on the motors; I can t get
 
 148 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 them down to the beach. So how can we accept 
 Mr. Waddy s offer?" 
 
 "Gad, cunnel," exclaimed Craighead, "I m glad 
 you told me in private, instead of disclosing our im- 
 pecuniousness to His Waddiness. But, have no fear ! 
 You carry Caesar and his fortunes. I have the fund 
 for the motors." 
 
 Craighead drew from his pocket a roll of bills, 
 the outer one of rather startling magnitude. 
 
 "Fees," said Craighead. "Damages, actual and 
 exemplary. I ve settled the case of Carson vs. The 
 Slattery Institute. Fair sir, we have a swollen for 
 tune." 
 
 "What do you mean?" asked Carson. 
 
 "I mean," said Craighead, "that this roll of 
 tainted money is our loot of the emporium. Wit 
 well, that I soaked em plenty." 
 
 "But I can t allow this !" cried Theodore. 
 
 "It s already allowed," answered Craighead, with 
 an air of perfect innocence. "Come, callow sir, 
 we can t begin now the ruinous policy of scrutiniz 
 ing the sources of our supplies. We can endow a 
 college later, and that What you doing?" 
 
 Carson was cramming the bills into his pocket. 
 
 "Going back to Mr. Waddy," said he. "Come 
 on." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir," said Craighead, his hand to his 
 forelock. "But I warns you, Capting, that there s
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 149 
 
 brokers dead ahead and on both bows, and that 
 Craighead s the only pilot as knows these waters. 
 But here s with you, if it s to Davy Jones !" 
 
 "Mr. Waddy," said Theodore, walking up to him 
 and looking him in the face, "before accepting your 
 offer, I must make sure that I can fulfil my part of 
 it. I must install the motors in the aeronef. There 
 are some financial arrangements to be made. It 
 may be some weeks " 
 
 "I ll let yeh have what money you need," said 
 Mr. Waddy. "I know how it gen ly is with these 
 here geniuses." 
 
 Theodore grasped the old man s hands, his face 
 flushed with joy. 
 
 "I accept your advances with pleasure," said he. 
 "And within sixty days, I shall be here with the 
 aeronef!" 
 
 "As certain," said Craighead, "as the world turns 
 over sixty times on its shafting. Got your order, 
 Mr. Waddy!" 
 
 As they took their departure, Mrs. Graybill drew 
 them aside as for a private conference. 
 
 "Mr. Carson," said she, "do you know that papa 
 is a dreadfully good business man?" 
 
 "I am quite sure of it," said Theodore. 
 
 "Do you think that you and Mr. Craighead are 
 quite able to cope with him where business is busi 
 ness?"
 
 150 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Fear not," said Craighead. "Colonel Carson has 
 an adviser in me." 
 
 Mrs. Graybill laughed merrily. 
 
 "I had that in mind," said she. "I believe in you, 
 Mr. Carson. I believe in your machine. And I 
 believe fully in papa and his business ability." 
 
 "Mrs. Graybill," said Theodore, "we can do no 
 better in these days of big business, than to trust 
 to a man who has the honor to be your father." 
 
 "That was a great hit you made with the fair 
 princess," said Craighead, as they went to their 
 room. "You re a wonder, Sir Theodore. I didn t 
 think you had it in you. Hanged if you haven t 
 got me half hypnotized into the belief that you 
 have some sort of rickety flying-machine down 
 there! Why, we ll make a killing here that will 
 put the beef trust in second place. And something 
 tells me that Mrs. Graybill will be in it. My heart 
 is my weak point. She s touched it. Ah, the 
 ladies, the ladies ! They re a specialty of mine !" 
 
 "I should say," said Theodore, "that you had 
 better make a specialty of your plan for a monop 
 oly of aerial navigation. I had no idea that you 
 knew any such secret." 
 
 "No more had I, son," said Craighead. "But 
 think how mean and picayunish it would have been
 
 OTHELLO S OCCUPATION 151 
 
 to refuse a promise at the psychological moment. 
 Faugh!" 
 
 "But you told Mr. Waddy " 
 
 "That it is a specialty of mine," supplied Craig- 
 head. "Certainly, I wanted to keep the psychic 
 fluid flowing. While you are on your way to the 
 more or less mythical spot where your fabulous 
 air-ship does or does not exist, I ll take a few min 
 utes some day and figure it out. Don t worry about 
 the monopoly end of the deal. That s mere dev 
 iltry, and in derogation of the common good, and, 
 therefore, easy. But you ve got to bring forth actu 
 alities. Be calm about me, old scout, and look to 
 yourself." 
 
 After retiring they lay awake exchanging re 
 marks and suggestions across the dark room. 
 
 "Oh, about that money," said Carson. "I must 
 return it to Doctor Witherspoon, Craighead. You 
 won t misunderstand me, will you?" 
 
 "Not in the least," replied Craighead sleepily. 
 "Ingrowing conscience, and all that rot Get over 
 it as you get richer, you know." 
 
 "I shouldn t much object," said Carson, "to your 
 making a fair fee out of it; for they really confined 
 me here " 
 
 "I allowed myself a fee of fifty per cent," said 
 Craighead. "It s buried, far, far beyond your ken,
 
 152 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 even as Tige burieth the bone. That roll you ve got 
 is only your half, sonny. Any time Craighead, the 
 sleuth, gets left but let me sleep, gentle knight, 
 I would fain dream of Caroline!"
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE INCEPTION OF "UNCLE THEODORE" 
 
 TO a man like Theodore Carson, who, in a 
 desperate sort of groundlessness for hope, 
 had for a long time nevertheless hoped, ar 
 bitrarily and with youthful audacity, leaning the 
 ladder by which he mounted against the clouds of 
 his vision, the transition to a merely rational hope 
 was uncomfortable, disquieting. Dreams are so 
 plastic. The chateau en Espagne is built of smoke 
 wreaths and based on morning mists ; but the family 
 dwelling rises through compromises with the ex 
 actions of other minds, in blue-prints, elevations, 
 perspectives, title deeds and plumbing estimates. 
 
 His mind, habituated to the airy ease of an un- 
 uttered faith in his mastership of the air, felt the 
 galling of reality as he walked westward from the 
 station toward dilapidated Carson s Landing. 
 While remorselessly computing everything relating 
 to the aeronef, allowing for errors and providing 
 cannily for the "margin of safety," while certain 
 as experiment could make him that it would fulfil 
 
 153
 
 154 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 his promise to Mr. Waddy, he had been, save in his 
 engineering, a visionary, unacquainted with the 
 world and its "margin of safety." 
 
 Seated on a stump he sought mental adjustment 
 before entering his house. He had had his chance 
 with Shayne, "the Prince of the Powers of the Air," 
 and had thrown it away in hot words to Shayne, 
 in a blow to Silberberg, and by leaping from the 
 Roc into the unknown abyss of night. These were 
 actualities. The broken deflector of the parachute 
 he carried proved that, as did the memory of his 
 foolishness over Shayne s niece, now happily for 
 ever past. 
 
 The sun shone down with April warmth on the 
 red soil, the Bermuda grass sod of the old fields, 
 the bleaching shingles of the old house. Blue with 
 magic was the clump of high pines across the clear 
 ing, the haze and dream of an Alabama spring. 
 The woodpeckers wove festoons of flame from tree 
 to tree; the tall Spanish bayonets stood like a row 
 of saluting guards by the road ; the buckeye touched 
 every angle of the fence with fire; the oleanders 
 at the corners of the gallery blushed faintly pink. 
 He knew that from the scuppernong arbor the car 
 penter bees were voyaging back and forth, tiny 
 black aerostats, from the blossoms to tunneled gal 
 leries in the red cedar rails of the old veranda. 
 They were boring audibly in the rail, their saw-
 
 "UNCLE THEODORE" 155 
 
 dust scattered over the cypress floor. The whole 
 familiar scene, so peaceful, so utterly at one with 
 the irresponsible past, aided that enchanting south 
 ern haze in restoring illusion, obliterating realities, 
 and relegating to dreamland the incredible Slattery 
 Institute, Mr. Craighead, Mr. Waddy, his "rever 
 sion to type," and the great "Carson-Craighead 
 Aeronef Corporation." 
 
 Mr. Waddy s money and Mr. Craighead s tele 
 grams saved the day for the real. The former was 
 actual currency, and felt comforting to his pocket. 
 The latter proved the objectivity of Craighead 
 and if Craighead turned out to be substantial, any 
 thing might be believed. 
 
 The first three yellow despatches had come in 
 one delivery at Nashville, addressed to "Theodore 
 Carson, the Illustrious Inventor and Thaumaturge, 
 Care Conductor, Train 75." Theodore, the Illus 
 trious, could not accumulate the courage to ask for 
 them, but the wise conductor had pounced sud 
 denly upon him and said, "I reckon you re Mr. 
 Carson ?" 
 
 "Yield not to temptation, fear or cold feet," the 
 first read. "Your Uncle Fuller is at the helm." 
 This was signed "The Great Uncalled," with the 
 first two words run together as "Thegreat" in a 
 telegraph operator s effort to reduce to the sem 
 blance of a name Mr. Craighead s nom de guerre.
 
 156 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The second ran: "Have no fear; monopoly is as 
 clear in the air as on the land. Apologies to Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert. None to any one else by a 
 dam site. Conspuez Shayne." This was signed 
 "Craighead, the Legal Bloodhound." "An old 
 Broom," ran the more mysterious next, "albeit 
 minus one cover and dog s-eared, nevertheless 
 sweeps clean. He yokes the whirligig to our car, 
 and sweeps the howling skies !" (Signed) "Dandy 
 Jim of Caroline Graybill." The fourth, delivered 
 at Birmingham, was addressed to General Theo 
 dore Carson, M. A. ("Monopolist of the Air"), 
 and consisted of ten repetitions of "Eureka," signed 
 "D. J. of C." The last came at Bay Minette, and 
 was too astonishing to be explained on any theory 
 consistent with Craighead s sobriety and sanity. 
 "Caroline s dad," it read, "falls dead at unveiling 
 of Broom idea. Sees absolute cinch, and rises to 
 it as per lifelong custom. Formed to-day Universal 
 Nitrates and Air Products Company. Laws of 
 West Virginia. You come in for twenty-five per 
 cent. Caroline impressed. Either universal genius 
 or rodents in campanile. Greatly encouraged, not 
 to say titivated. Almost converted to belief in my 
 own schemes and self, but am cautiously suspend 
 ing judgment. Will have Chicago surrounded by 
 time you return. Go east to Wheeling (or is Charles 
 ton capital?) to-night, and will incidentally run
 
 "UNCLE THEODORE" 157 
 
 up and construct first line of circumvallation (see 
 cyclopedia) about Greater New York. Monopoly 
 end of deal absolutely nailed down; brass nails; 
 with Waddy doubloons coming copious. Up to you 
 to produce flier. Getting wabbly in head. Losing 
 faith in you as concrete entity. Have you any aero- 
 nef? Answer Yes or No at once." This also 
 was signed "D. J. of Caroline." 
 
 If the telegrams were inexplicable, his own yield 
 ing of command to this man Craighead, whose an 
 tecedents and surroundings should have made any 
 one cautious, was more so. Yet Craighead had taken 
 control by sheer audacity. These baffling com 
 munications, the odd skips and jumps of his intel 
 lect in conversation were they the capers of insan 
 ity, or the fundamentally rational movements of a 
 mind showing its devious course at intervals only, 
 uttering things which appeared unrelated because 
 the path from position to position was passed so 
 swiftly and directly that the ordinary mind lost 
 sight of it, as one catches glimpses of a humming 
 bird only at the moments of its rest before the 
 flowers? 
 
 What could he mean by an "an old Broom"? 
 The old copy of Broom s Legal Maxims in Craig- 
 head s "library" was indeed minus a cover, and 
 dog s-eared; but how this "Broom" could, even in 
 metaphor, yoke the whirligig to any car and sweep
 
 158 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the howling skies, Carson could not guess. Mr. 
 Waddy s demand for aeronautical monopoly was 
 being complied with, to Mr. Craighead s mind, and 
 the last telegram seemed to imply that the bucolic 
 financier had been convinced. His "falling dead" 
 might mean much or little; but his "doubloons com 
 ing copious" was eloquent of faith. And what in 
 the name of all the gods at once could a "Universal 
 Nitrates and Air Products Company" mean in an 
 aerial navigation deal? Or those mysterious ex 
 pressions about "surrounding" Chicago and Greater 
 New York? 
 
 Well, Aunt Chloe was in there, shuffling about, 
 wondering where he might be, and here he was, 
 looking on spectrally and unsuspected. With the 
 common human impulse to secret approach, Theo 
 dore walked on, concealed between the Spanish bay 
 onets and a somber line of red cedars, climbed the 
 end of the veranda, scuttled into the broad hall and 
 up to his room, into which he stepped quickly; 
 breathing a little hard. He opened the closet for 
 a change of clothes, and started back in wonder 
 ment quite as paralyzing as horror; for his clothes 
 were gone! Instead, there sat a huge trunk with 
 its lid back, its open tray full of silken hosiery, 
 corsets, laces, gloves, handkerchiefs, and open-work 
 things of mystery and terror. On the hooks were 
 many, many others quite as awful : frilled and
 
 "UNCLE THEODORE" 159 
 
 tucked and ruffled and plaited garments ; silks, dim 
 ities, cashmeres, linens, cottons and soft light wool 
 ens, filling his closet; and spread against the wall 
 for occult reasons connected with keeping them in 
 shape; and protruding from the trunk were more 
 clothes, while in corners of the bedroom were more 
 trunks. 
 
 To make sure that he was in his own house, and 
 not a profaner of the shrine of some divinity of 
 lace and open-work, he looked from the window. 
 Yes, this was Carson s Landing. The gourds hang 
 ing from tall poles; the martins chattering from 
 them; the china tree full of blossoms like lilac 
 blooms, humming with bees and visited incessantly 
 by crimson bee-birds all these he knew. But this, 
 this corset: with its lacings unrove it lay there like 
 a mold awaiting the casting of a Phidian Psyche. 
 The name entering his mind made him tremble. He 
 picked up the fragrant garment with the pink rib-* 
 bons edging it, and looked at it with something of 
 the terror of Charmides in the shrine of Artemis. 
 He had forgotten the marvel of their presence in 
 that of the things themselves; for he was para- 
 disiacally innocent, an engineering hermit. 
 
 A light step sounded without, and he froze with 
 the corset in his hand to a statue of panic and trance 
 and paralysis. Some one entered, his heart bounded, 
 and then stood still ; for it was Psyche of the dunes,
 
 160 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Shayne s niece, Virginia, entering jauntily, mad 
 deningly, like a real woman taking possession of 
 his bedroom as her own! She had a little subjec-, 
 tively derived smile on her lips, held in her hands> 
 a spray of huckleberry blooms, which she put to 
 her nostrils, and then stuck in a vase by the old; 
 mirror. She took off the memorable red hat, and 
 pulled up her skirt with affrighting recklessness, 
 examined her dainty stockings for dust or burs, and 
 dropped the skirt with a little flirt, like a wren shak 
 ing a raindrop from her tail. She did a dozen, 
 things to make one fear the fate of Tom of Coven 
 try. Every time she looked his way, Theodore 
 quaked, even more than at her alarming actions in 
 ignorance of his presence. If she would only go 
 out! Why was she here? Was she here? If he 
 could only slip out ! What was she going to do now ? 
 She had opened the window as if discomforted by 
 the heat. Sitting down with her profile to him 
 and her side to the window, she fanned herself 
 with the fan he used to dry his face after shavingv 
 She smiled up at a college banner, his only chattel, 
 save the fan, exempted from her writ of dispos 
 session. She fanned herself quite vigorously; and 
 then, as if still oppressed by the heat, she stepped 
 to the mirror, unpinned the brooch at her throat 
 and began reaching back for the buttons of her 
 dress. Providential instinct, and memory of his own
 
 "UNCLE THEODORE" 161 
 
 days of roundabouts and shirt-waists, admonished 
 Theodore that it was time for action. 
 
 "Psyche!" he stammered. 
 
 With a little scream she darted toward the door; 
 recognized him as he emerged from the closet; 
 noted his paleness; turned back, her hand on her 
 breast, and a quick palpitation in the "V" of her 
 gown, like the heart of a snared robin. Yet she was 
 the least excited of the twain. Her alarm ceased 
 with her recognition of him; for this boy had 
 shown himself one to be trusted. The sense of 
 escape and secrecy which she had associated with 
 him from their first curious meeting at the robber s 
 cabin in the dunes, returned. 
 
 "My robber," said she, in a half whisper. "O, 
 I m so glad." 
 
 "Psyche," said he, "when you say you are 
 glad" 
 
 He pulled up short with a lump in his throat, 
 unable to pass the Rubicon between strangers. 
 
 "Oh, I m so glad you aren t dashed to pieces!" 
 she cried. "I ve seen you falling, falling, falling, 
 in my dreams, and never alighting! But evidently 
 you did!" 
 
 "Yes," said he, "quite safe ! But how came you 
 here?" 
 
 "Oh, I live here," said she. "But how did you 
 know? Or did you just happen? Shall I hide
 
 162 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 you? I ll never betray you, never! no matter what 
 they say you ve done!" 
 
 "You belong here?" repeated Theodore won- 
 deringly. "Here? You you live here?" 
 
 "Yes," said she hurriedly. "With my uncle. I 
 couldn t endure the Shaynes and Silberbergs any 
 longer. Why, the way they did just drives people to 
 crime ! And if you did anything, it was in open war 
 with the officers, and not by stealth as the Shaynes 
 and Silberbergs do. I told them so to their teeth 
 only you ought to reform and all that, you know. 
 And I couldn t bear Aunt Marie any more," here 
 the voice trembled, "though everybody will say I m 
 ungrateful, and all that. And General Carson s 
 family are all my relatives in the world, except 
 the Shaynes. And this is their plantation my 
 uncle that I never saw lives here and I came to 
 him. I hope he won t hate me ! I d rather not have 
 to ask him to shelter a robber the very first thing; 
 and so I hope you aren t pursued. But if you are, 
 I ll hide you before I ll see you caught. There!" 
 
 Mr. Carson reeled back against the wall, drew his 
 hands across his eyes, and looked again. She 
 seemed to be there still, rather nearer than before, 
 hands clasped in adorable anxiety, divinest pity in 
 her eyes. 
 
 "I am in no danger," said he. "Pardon me for 
 intruding here. It was by mistake. Permit me to
 
 "UNCLE THEODORE" 1163 
 
 ask the honor of an interview at a more convenient 
 time and place." 
 
 Mr. Carson of Carson s Landing, the last of the 
 Carsons, now spoke with some approach to man 
 ner and form as by tradition required. 
 
 "Oh, I m so glad you are are safe," she cried. 
 "I want you to stay to luncheon. I can t give you 
 any quail broth, nor strong remedies, but " 
 
 "Thank you," he returned. "I shall esteem it an 
 honor." 
 
 This was nearer to the conventional than any 
 thing yet. She gathered her gown about her 
 throat, looked about at the room and blushed. 
 Luncheon with this girl-faced boy with the jetty 
 mustache compliments they did not harmonize 
 with the trunks spilling lingerie, the white counter- 
 paned bed. 
 
 "Perhaps," she went on, "if you really aren t 
 afraid of being caught you might go away, now 
 to the parlor, I mean." 
 
 Carson turned scarlet, bowed grandly, and 
 walked toward the door. 
 
 "And," said she, blushing still more rosily, "if 
 you are quite sure you don t mind please leave 
 me my corset!" 
 
 Mr. Carson looked down at his hand, saw with 
 unspeakable horror that he had held, during the 
 whole colloquy, the Psyche mold, dropped it
 
 1 64 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 hastily, and rushed incontinently from the room in 
 an agony of mind quite out of proportion to the real 
 damage done by his involuntary act. He did not 
 run and drown himself in Fish River, but when 
 he tried to divine what Virginia s theory as to his 
 purpose in taking possession of the garment in the 
 first place must be, he felt like doing so rather than 
 meeting her at luncheon. It was a terrible situation.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 
 
 OF course, it s a shock," said Miss Suarez, 
 "to find you" 
 "I am sorry," said Theodore, "to have 
 shocked you by being visible. I " 
 
 "Oh, now," said Miss Suarez. "Try to supply 
 ellipses and and those things. I meant, to find 
 you, so " 
 
 "So incapable of so lacking in the qualities of 
 . of of " 
 
 "You re gradually getting closer to it," com 
 mented Virginia. "Our danger, where there is no 
 body hanging about to sort of mitigate no, not 
 that to to " 
 
 "To absorb and diffuse the shock/ " suggested 
 the engineer. 
 
 "The very word," said she. "Why, uncle, you re 
 clever once in a while " 
 
 "Thank you, Miss Virginia ! I " 
 
 "Don t interrupt, please. Our danger here in 
 the wilderness, is that of not catching the shades 
 
 165
 
 1 66 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 of expression, the nuances one has to have ground 
 into one s system with regard to one s friends if 
 nuances can be ground into anything and that we ll 
 misunderstand, and fight, and pull hair needlessly. 
 Doesn t that cover the case?" 
 
 "While a very concise statement of some of the 
 dangers," said he, "I don t think it does, quite. 
 But you were saying I lack some quality. Please 
 go on." 
 
 "The quality of unclehood," said she. "You 
 don t create the role. I suppose my image of a 
 charming young robber for you re not bad look 
 ing, uncle you know?" 
 
 Theodore blushed, but strove to keep on a high 
 and avuncular plateau of platitudes. 
 
 "Piracy and yeggism, and those things, are so 
 incompatible with one s only surviving live-with- 
 able uncle," said Virginia. 
 
 "In The Babes in the Wood, 1 said Theodore, 
 "the uncle was quite that sort." 
 
 "I thought you were going to make another ap 
 plication," said she. "The odd thing with us 
 I like living with you immensely is that, you 
 seem a Babe in the Woods more than an uncle, 
 and I the other." 
 
 "I scarcely think ," began Mr. Carson. 
 
 "Oh, I know you re venerable," she assured him, 
 "or you wouldn t have invented so much. But after
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 167 
 
 tumbling out of that crazy helicopter at your feet, 
 and being treated you know what I mean and 
 being put to bed after that potion ; and read to about 
 dynamos that was quite uncleish and your car 
 rying me home, and going north in the Roc, and 
 acting so lofty and silly and dear! with Silber- 
 berg, until his beaky old nose bled, and jumping 
 off the ship miles above a rocky and barbed and 
 spiky country in the night and storm and I feeling 
 so superior, as one does to a brigand and rather 
 making a hero of you and then to find you my 
 uncle, with a little, silky, kid s mustache isn t there 
 an incongruity? Surely you can understand " 
 
 "Perfectly," said Theodore, ignoring the frivol 
 ous things. "What I wish you to understand, is 
 how honored I am to be your guardian even 
 though I don t deserve it" 
 
 "Oh, but you do !" said she. "You began baby 
 ing me when I tumbled down. And if you aren t 
 a Methuselah, there s the Carson blood, isn t 
 there?" 
 
 "There s the Carson blood," assented Theodore 
 uneasily. "And the trust that blood alone couldn t 
 confer." 
 
 "And the relationship must stand in the place of 
 years," said Virginia. "For I can t go back to the 
 Shaynes. I m afraid they ll find me, and make 
 me"
 
 168 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "You shall not go back!" said Theodore. 
 "Never!" 
 
 "My, my!" said Virginia. "How fierce, uncle! 
 And now, let s go fishing." 
 
 Yes, Theodore had fallen ! Fleeing the best bed 
 room, in which Aunt Chloe had established Miss 
 Suarez, he had unmoored his launch for flight, but, 
 reconsidering, had demanded of Chloe an explana 
 tion not of the changed lodgings, but of the in 
 comprehensible mystery of the presence, under a 
 statement that she lived there, of Shayne s niece, 
 who had so stirred his life by falling from aloft 
 to his feet, nameless to him save for the cognomen 
 of Psyche. 
 
 "She s come to live with we-all," said Aunt 
 Chloe, assuming in him the chivalrous fidelity of 
 all southern gentlemen to their women relatives. 
 "She s kin o ou n." 
 
 Theodore gasped. He was not aware that he 
 had any kin, to say nothing of kinship with this 
 girl from New York, niece to Shayne, and whose 
 southern blood seemed her only claim to consan 
 guinity with him. 
 
 "There must be some mistake," said he. "How 
 can she be related to me, Chloe?" 
 
 "W y, yo some kine o uncle to huh," replied 
 Chloe. "Huh mothah was a daughtah to Ole 
 Gin ral Cahson. She married Lee Suarez, and
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 169 
 
 died. Miss Ginnie knowed about us, an when huh 
 aunt throwed huh off n the aiah-ship foh stan nin 
 up foh you, she come hyah, ez she had a raght to, 
 suh." 
 
 "But she didn t know I was here?" Theodore 
 suggested. 
 
 "Oh, law, no," replied Aunt Chloe. "She don t 
 know yo Mistah Carson yit, onless you tole huh." 
 
 "But, Aunt Chloe, we aren t any kin to old Gen 
 eral Carson, are we? And I m no uncle to this 
 young lady, am I?" 
 
 Aunt Chloe drew herself up in indignation. 
 
 "I reckon yo paw frail you out good, ef he hyah 
 you say that!" said she. "Hev Ah been wuckin 
 foh po whites all these yeahs? Yo sho as clus 
 as uncle. ;Yo paw knowed he was a Cahson. Doan 
 talk to me!" 
 
 "What have you told her about this relation 
 ship?" said Theodore. 
 
 "She done knowed all erbout it," said Chloe. 
 
 "Did she know how father how nobody thinks 
 we are any kin to the general, and " 
 
 "Who you mean by nobody?" queried Chloe. "Ah 
 reckon we some kin, o ou name wouldn t be Cahson, 
 would it? Ah tuk huh in as a Cahson. If you tuk 
 huh in yo ahms, an squenched huh teahs, I reckon 
 you wouldn t be bringin up these heavy argu 
 ments."
 
 170 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Ah, how close a shot did Chloe make when she 
 used this plea. If he could only have held her in 
 his arms ! But she would think of him as a clod 
 hopper she must. If he had but gone more into 
 society, instead of grinding all the time at aero- 
 nefs, and the like. And now, he was irretrievably 
 at a disadvantage, by his gross misbehavior in the 
 bedroom standing like an idiot, she deeming him 
 a fugitive, holding in his hand oh, the enormity of 
 it! her corset. The unpardonable sin, if ever one 
 committed it! 
 
 Nevertheless, he sent Aunt Chloe to inform Miss 
 Suarez that the robber of the South Beach, and 
 the stowaway of the Roc, was no other than the 
 man with whom, in a touching confidence in the old 
 chivalry which regards an unprotected woman rela 
 tive as a sacred charge, and lays the obligation of 
 gratitude on the man rendering the service, she had 
 come to live. 
 
 Uncle Theodore was stately, ceremonious, and 
 with due allowance for sundry blushes when Miss 
 Virginia emitted a little giggle, promptly smoth 
 ered in her napkin, quite grand in his demeanor at 
 luncheon. He formally kissed Virginia s hand 
 and when she told of her need, of her reliance on 
 the Carson fidelity, he yielded to the temptation 
 without a moment s hesitation. He became her un 
 cle, entered calmly upon the deception, oblivious
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 171 
 
 of the vast consequences involved, or of the real 
 right and wrong of the matter. She trusted him, 
 she made claims upon him; and she was not to be 
 pained by explanations. He was only a boy, you 
 know. 
 
 "I have the honah," said he, "to drink your 
 health the health of the jewel and the hope of 
 the Carson family." 
 
 She rose, as if at the formal signal for withdrawal, 
 took both his hands, and kissed him on the forehead. 
 There were tears in her eyes. 
 
 "Thank you, Uncle Theodore," said she; and 
 went out slowly, without looking at him. He stood 
 there, quite motionless, until he heard her walking 
 about in the upper hall. 
 
 He was wrong, of course; but there were ex 
 culpating circumstances. The situation, almost im 
 mediately, however, approached the impossible. In 
 the first place, Theodore had expected to make only 
 a day s halt, to push on, get his motors, and go to^ 
 the South Beach where Captain Harrod wondered 
 at his long absence install his engines, and fly 
 north, where Craighead was organizing companies 
 at a rate that would have dazed Mr. Carson, had 
 he not been already dazed. 
 
 The first day, he sent orders for the shipment 
 of the engines, and began to provide better equip 
 ment for the house. He brought, as a companion for
 
 Miss Suarez, an elderly widow, Mrs. Stott, who 
 was addicted to the writing of poems of a love-lorn 
 nature. Virginia s opinion of her new uncle s 
 worldly wisdom rose at this provision for chaperon- 
 age ; but she gave him too much credit. He merely 
 thought of Virginia s becoming lonely. 
 
 He could not depart until sure that "Miss Vir 
 ginia" would not feel slighted should he push on. 
 Every morning opened new avenues of service. 
 They began reading a book and they had to finish 
 it. She was fond of fishing. She wanted to explore 
 the upper reaches of the river; and they spent long 
 days on the stream. Mrs. Stott was afraid of the 
 water and still more afraid of Virginia and they 
 went alone, while that good lady wrote verses and 
 mailed them to heartless publishers. 
 
 "How can she do such things?" said Virginia, 
 one day. 
 
 "Why not?" inquired Theodore. "They sound 
 a good deal like like the other poets." 
 
 "But she s so so puddingy!" urged Virginia. 
 "And she has a mustache!" 
 
 "That," said he, advancing the spark, "would 
 not seem material. Shakespeare had one." 
 
 Virginia was trailing her hand through the 
 water, and looking at the bubbles. 
 
 "A great engineer," said she, "but you don t shine 
 in literary criticism."
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 173 
 
 "Was it that kind?" he queried. 
 
 Virginia drew in her hand. The implied rebuke 
 stung her. 
 
 "Of course, I m a nasty little cat," said she, "to 
 find fault. But you are not to jump on me like 
 that, unkie. I won t have it. Now, take your old 
 big handkerchief and wipe my hand. It s awfully 
 cold with the wind blowing on it." 
 
 Theodore complied, and held the hand a mo 
 ment to warm it. She drew it away gently, and 
 with a smile. 
 
 "We ll have Mrs. Stott go home," said he. "I 
 should have known " 
 
 "Now, please, uncle," said she, "don t be mad! 
 I want her. And I ll try to resist her inflamed sen 
 timents. She doesn t bother a bit I ll say that 
 for her." 
 
 So Mrs. Stott stayed, a most unsafe duenna under 
 the circumstances. And Theodore stayed also. 
 There were so many things to do. Craighead s tele 
 grams came in from the east, still Delphic in sig 
 nificance. One reported that New York was prac 
 tically "surrounded;" another, that the country 
 would soon be "gridironed." Theodore was deaf 
 to voices from the outer world. A letter from Har- 
 rod, proving that the news of his return had reached 
 the cabin in the dunes, lay on the old escritoire 
 one morning. Theodore inserted a paper-knife in
 
 the envelop, half cut it open and saw Virginia s 
 dress glimmering outside. The half-opened letter 
 fell to the desk and Uncle Theodore leaped out on 
 the veranda. 
 
 She came up to the gallery, and leaned her chin 
 on the rail. 
 
 "Morning, uncle!" said she. "Have you slept 
 well?" 
 
 "Fine." 
 
 "You don t look it," said she. "Your eyes look 
 dull. You devote too much time to business while 
 your family is asleep, don t you ?" 
 
 "Uncle" thought of the unopened letter, the unan 
 swered telegrams, the neglected business, Mr. Wad- 
 dy s money, the uncompleted aeronef, the sleepless 
 nights, tormented by not business, at all, not busi 
 ness! Decidedly not! 
 
 "I slept too soundly," said he. "What s the pro 
 gram for to-day ?" 
 
 She wanted some magnolia blossoms. Uncle The 
 odore thought there might be some down about 
 Week s Bay, where they came early. 
 
 "Put on your hat," said he. "Have Chloe pack 
 up luncheon, and we ll go down." 
 
 "Done!" cried she. "You re the best of uncles! 
 Let s to breakfast ! Can t we catch a speckled trout ?" 
 
 "We ought to get all we want," said Theodore. 
 
 "And cook him over a fire?"
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 175 
 
 "Certainly!" said Theodore. "And soft-shelled 
 crabs we ll have a great day !" 
 
 "Happy, happy youth," said Mrs. Stott and 
 sighed. 
 
 "Uncle Theodore," said Virginia, "is neither 
 youthful nor happy he must have a nerve special 
 ist or quit spilling his coffee!" 
 
 "Some pangs are more delicious than joy," said 
 Mrs. Stott, scrutinizing Theodore until he was half 
 wild. "Pangs of spring, youth and sweet fellow 
 ship !" 
 
 Theodore ate wolfishly, and drank great quan 
 tities of coffee to show that he was in fine fettle 
 quite unable to pick up his end of the conversation. 
 It was youth and spring and sweet fellowship, 
 though the items made him sick of Mrs. Stott s 
 table-talk. He wanted the river and Psyche, know 
 ing that he ought to go and leave her. Every night 
 he vowed to go next morning and laid plans for 
 another day with her. 
 
 It was maddening. She brought him dresses, 
 gloves and hats for criticism, and confided to him 
 the state of her wardrobe. She reckoned the time 
 before she must have any more dresses, told him 
 what her stockings and underclothing had cost, and 
 asked him if he didn t think such dreadful prices 
 absurd. < 
 
 "You know about some of the things," said she
 
 1 76 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 roguishly. "I thought once that you must be a col 
 lector of corsets !" 
 
 Uncle Theodore writhed in agony, and said he 
 was sure she had no clothing too expensive or too 
 fine well aware that, at the prices named, one 
 month s purchases would bankrupt him. 
 
 "I ve more jewelry than I need," said she. "I can 
 sell that, you know." 
 
 "No, no!" protested Theodore. "Never!" 
 
 "But some of it," said she, "I don t want. Let me 
 show you some perfectly absurd things !" 
 
 Rings, brooches, bracelets, a pearl necklace none 
 very absurd; then two bands of gold, embellished 
 with Cupids and Venuses, cunningly linked to ex 
 pand or contract with the elastic tape through them, 
 and each clasped with clustered diamonds that 
 dartled blue and red. Theodore took them up and 
 admired them for they were very lovely. 
 
 "How beautiful !" he cried. "How I should like 
 to see them on you !" 
 
 "What good would that do you, silly?" said she. 
 "I don t believe you know what they are!" 
 
 For once, the blush was Virginia s. 
 
 "They re bracelets, aren t they?" queried Theo 
 dore. "Or are they necklaces or girdles?" 
 
 "Do you mean to say ?" She stopped and in 
 desperation at his ignorance added plumply 
 "They re my Sunday-go-to-meeting garters."
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 177 
 
 Theodore stretched them to their full extent, not 
 quite in possession of the idea; and looked at her 
 as if in incredulity. Snatching them she ran to her 
 room, really put to flight she who had discussed 
 things quite as intimate with dozens of men, with 
 out a quiver of the eyelash. But they, she said, 
 weren t babies ; and it was like talking ailments to a 
 physician. But this boy-uncle he really was the 
 most disturbing creature! She felt put in an in 
 delicate position by the immaculate character-sheet 
 of the young savage. While he he felt his skin 
 freeze and burn alternately at that awful speech, 
 beyond pardon. She had left him in anger. She 
 would never speak to him again she under his pro 
 tection by his own deceit. If man ever was bound 
 to suffer death rather than utter a syllable of re 
 spectful love, even, not to mention disrespect. 
 Somehow, he must atone; and how to apologize 
 without grave offense was a question sweated over 
 at the escritoire in unavailing woe until she 
 peeped from behind the door and said : 
 
 "I can sell the absurd things, even if you don t 
 know what they are. They obstruct the circulation, 
 anyhow !" 
 
 Theodore tore up his apologia and they went after 
 berries. 
 
 No wonder that it took much coffee to clear his 
 eyes before the voyage for magnolia blooms. He
 
 1 78 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 had walked the hall in his stocking feet for hours ; 
 kissed Virginia s door once or twice; and hurried 
 to bed where he enacted enough two-character 
 vaudeville sketches to have filled all the circuits in 
 the world. In all these the avuncular relation was 
 explained away, in eloquence which brought tears to 
 the eyes of Uncle Theodore, the one dispassionate 
 auditor. "I have deceived you," the man-actor 
 would say. "But if ever man had highest claims 
 for pardon, I am he! I loved you so, Virginia, I 
 could not send you away! Will not love win par 
 don for deceit?" Sometimes the woman-character 
 scorned him, and he died of a broken heart; while, 
 oftener, she whispered that she must punish him, 
 every day of their lives by staying with him. 
 Then he died of joy. So there was a new leading 
 man at every performance but he was always Theo 
 dore Carson; and Uncle Theodore always shed 
 copious tears on the pillow. 
 
 At a ferry en route Virginia kissed a little girl 
 and called her "sweetheart." Virginia wanted to see 
 some young woodpeckers, and almost wept when 
 the one Theodore got out would not go back into 
 the nest, but fluttered away, crying pitifully. They 
 got some magnolia buds which the "creole" negro 
 girl said would surely open, adding that "all the 
 young couples came for them on Sundays." Vir 
 ginia encountered a "spreadin adder" ten inches
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 179 
 
 long, and ran to Theodore, gathering her skirts about 
 her plump calves in terror; and he calmed and com 
 forted her on a high and fatherly level. 
 
 That was the maddening thing. Everything was 
 maddening; but crisis and explosion lay in the fact 
 that, while keeping her within reach, he had palsied 
 the arm to reach her withal ; that he could drop no 
 hint of those nightly visions; that, while their re 
 lation allowed affection, they shut out love. This 
 life gave to him revelations mostly hidden from 
 lovers, and vouchsafed to fathers, brothers and hus 
 bands only; but he was cut off from the endear 
 ments of an uncle, even. He was a tiger-cub licking 
 his master s hand, and feeling the jungle hunger 
 for it. All that day the cub had been on the very 
 verge of devouring somebody. It was appalling. All 
 un-conscious of her parlous state, Virginia took his 
 arm under the screening row of cedars, told him 
 what a delightful day she had had, and squeezed his 
 arm while she said it. 
 
 Something may have warned her that this was a 
 ticklish thing with so young and inexperienced an 
 uncle, for she dropped his arm and ran gaily toward 
 the house, looking back and stepping lightly like a 
 kid when she trod in a hollow, and fell in a heap 
 on the Bermuda grass. Theodore found her with 
 her ankle gripped in her hands, and her lips tight 
 to hold back a cry. A hurried question, a cheery
 
 i8o VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 reply cut in two with a twinge of pain, and he picked 
 her up. She threw her arms about his neck to ease 
 the burden. Alas! it made it heavier! The fervor 
 of his embrace did the ankle no good, and nearly 
 crushed poor Virginia. The color rose slowly to her 
 brow, as he set her down on the veranda, and stood 
 over her, breathing hard. She rose on the sound 
 foot and tried the other carefully. 
 
 "It isn t bad at all," said she. "I can almost walk 
 on it." 
 
 Taking off the shoe, she held the little foot in her 
 hand, examining the ankle critically. 
 
 "Do you think it s swelling?" she asked. 
 
 Theodore tenderly squeezed the shapely ankle, 
 and rose to his feet. 
 
 "I don t know," said he. "I Virginia " 
 
 He had seized her hand, and was looking at her 
 with none of the impersonality of the surgeon or 
 physician. She did not take her hand away . . . 
 He dropped it, and ran ran toward the river. It 
 was very rude; yet she harbored no bitterness. She 
 had Chloe bandage her foot, went to her room, took 
 down Theodore s college pennant, restored some 
 stitches to it, and communed with her magnolia 
 blooms, pressing them to her cheek and lips. She 
 called them "Poor dears! poor dears!" All very 
 curious; for it ruins magnolia petals to be touched. 
 Perhaps that is why they were poor dears; flowers
 
 AT THE MARGIN OF SAFETY 181 
 
 and people are rather pitifully interesting when so 
 delicately made that it ruins them to be touched. But 
 why did she put the pennant under her pillow? 
 
 Theodore was absent at dinner, without apology ; 
 and the women were in bed before he stole to his 
 room, and lay tossing again. Desperate, he rose 
 and went to the library, lighted a lamp, saw the 
 still sealed letter from Captain Harrod, and slashed 
 it open as if it had been the breast of his mortal foe. 
 
 "I hear," it ran, "that you are back south. I 
 hope you can come right soon. The engines is here 
 for ten days. I am right clos run fer grub, and 
 need sleep. The man that lost the flying thing the 
 young lady come in, is back. He is right crazy, Mr. 
 Theodore, from losing his machine. He keeps try 
 ing to git into the shed, and yells he is rooned, and 
 tore off a plank, and I have to stay awake, and am 
 about all in. They is a lot of letters and telegrams 
 at Palmetto Beach. Hoping this will find you ready 
 to start, I remain yours truly, 
 
 "CROCKER HARROD." 
 
 Theodore struck himself on the breast and started 
 to his feet, determined to flee to his work, and from 
 the dangers of his unclehood. Trembling with ex 
 citement he attempted a note to Virginia. Wizner 
 at the cabin, messages at the Beach, meant danger
 
 182 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 and disgrace if He neglected his task longer, infamy 
 if he toyed on with temptation. He told Chloe 
 through her door that he had been called away, and 
 that she must explain to the ladies. He hastily 
 packed a bag, ran down and unmoored the launch, 
 and fled down the river at a speed made foolhardy 
 by the darkness. Emerging into Mobile Bay, he 
 stood toward Palmetto Beach, his eyes straight be 
 fore him, steering with automatic accuracy. Only 
 one thing roused him from his trance a white ob 
 ject lying on the gunwale, which he picked up and 
 placed in his note-book the dropped petal of a 
 magnolia bloom.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 
 
 CAPTAIN HARROD, dignified, barefooted, 
 soft-voiced, unkempt, kept his lonely vigil on 
 the white straight-edge of beach that lay 
 from Fort Morgan to Perdido Bay. All was of 
 sand, sandy. The sand-colored sandpipers skittered 
 across the beach before the breezes; pelicans in 
 sober beach-gray deliberately skimmed the cottony 
 combers bursting on the outer sand-bar; porpoises 
 leaped and spouted in terror when caught in the re 
 ceding tide among the sandy shallows near the 
 shore; and once in a while an evil-eyed shark 
 gloomed cruelly (like a spot of darker sand with 
 cold little eyes) from the green water beyond reach 
 of the fisherman s gig. To the unlettered man for 
 seventy years familiar with such things, however, 
 they wax uninteresting. 
 
 So one may understand why Captain Harrod, 
 ignoring landscape and seascape, devoted himself 
 to the study of tracks of all sorts; tracks of foxes 
 examining the beach for turtles eggs, months ahead 
 
 183
 
 1 84 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 of time; talon-marks of opossums and raccoons 
 prowling about for crabs, mice and birds eggs; 
 hoof-marks of wild hogs, rooting over the mast 
 under the scrub-oaks; "crawls" of alligators, made 
 in nightly journeys between Freshwater Lake and 
 deep holes in the pools among the dunes; long 
 scratchy claw-scores of herons from early morn 
 ing minuets on the beach; trails of men going up 
 and down the sparsely-traveled highway of the 
 strand ; and the footprints of one in particular, who 
 lurked about and seemed to be thinking of the cabin 
 and its inmates. Yes, this Bedouin sand-science can 
 tell thoughts by tracks. Tracks in the sand were to 
 Harrod book, newspaper, telegraph and circulating 
 library. He knew the language of sand. He knew 
 several things that this man might be. A deserter 
 from the Fort, perhaps, though such an one would 
 have been likely to be descried by the corporal s 
 guard in the scouting air-ship, and should have 
 slunk inland by the dense hummocks of Bon Secour. 
 Or it might be some one connected with the revenue 
 service. 
 
 This hypothesis should, of course, have given the 
 captain no uneasiness. He was an exemplary fisher 
 man, with boat on shore, and "tresmires" drying on 
 their stakes, fishing formally on fine days for red- 
 fish, Spanish mackerel and pompano. His cabin was 
 "Harrod s fishing camp" nothing more. What had
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 185 
 
 revenue officers to do with such humble piscatorial 
 headquarters as these? They should not care about 
 Theodore s hidden invention, The air-ships keeping 
 their lanes, east, west, north and south paid no at 
 tention; and, if they were not interested, why need 
 the revenues bother? The humble establishment 
 had no connection with the world save through fish 
 as any revenue officer should have known. 
 
 And yet one day the captain rearranged his 
 drying nets, solicitous as to their draping; and soon 
 a slimy sea-monster stuck a blunt nose out from 
 the water at about the five-fathom contour line, 
 opened a rectangular mouth, and flicked a square 
 red tongue like an angry snake, until Captain Har- 
 rod, on the highest dune, opened a brilliant red 
 handkerchief with a Chautauqua salute, and wiped 
 his nose elaborately. Whereupon the sea-monster 
 sank beneath the brine, and no one but the por 
 poises and sharks might say where it went. What 
 took place that night was concealed by darkness. If 
 Captain Harrod was busy carrying packages ashore 
 until morning, he came by them honestly, no doubt. 
 
 An examination of the popular novels or periodi 
 cals of the past say of the era of that president 
 whose Christian name our Theodore bears will be 
 rewarded by a realization of prophecy gone wrong 
 as to the influence on smuggling of aerial naviga 
 tion. It must bring free trade, they said. Ships
 
 186 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 navigating the air could land their cargoes any 
 where, every acre being a potential port of entry. 
 Yet, the air-ships gave the custom-house people an 
 astonishingly small amount of trouble. Air-ships 
 were so conspicuous ; their loads were necessarily so 
 light; the system of reporting them by wireless from 
 Canada, Mexico and the islands was so efficient; 
 the listing and registry regulations were so perfect ; 
 the risk of loss was so great; the perils of trans 
 oceanic flights were so prohibitive; and the coopera 
 tion between nations was so hearty that smuggling 
 had little aid from aeronautical success, such as it 
 was. 
 
 Very unexpectedly, it was the submarine that 
 drove the "revenues" wild and filled the law-books 
 with Draconian statutes. No trade ever grew faster. 
 The submarines were shady characters, but they 
 had pretensions to legitimate trades like other 
 dubious individuals ; and it was their business to be 
 lost to sight for long periods of time. The storms 
 which kept in harbor the scouts of the law offered 
 the submarines opportunities, and submarine can 
 not pursue submarine. The boat-fish dived beneath 
 the tempest, rose on some lonely coast like this by 
 appointment with some Captain Harrod sitting like 
 a bewhiskered bit of wreckage on the dunes. Driven 
 to open lawlessness by detection, some of the devil 
 ish craft embraced open piracy, restored to the seas
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 187 
 
 a flavor of the seventeenth century, and waxed fat 
 on spoils. Passengers on transatlantic liners learned 
 to grow pale at equivocal objects in the sea, in ex 
 pectation of the submarine s effective "stand and 
 deliver," backed by torpedoes in place of the time- 
 honored pistol. Maintaining relations with slimy 
 sea-monsters was a fairly safe and lucrative diver 
 sion ; but a mighty ticklish thing to be found out in. 
 Hence, perhaps, Captain Harrod s profound inter 
 est in tracks, his nervousness at the rustling of the 
 red-brown jorees under the scrub. Their whistles, 
 too, sounded startlingly like human signals. He 
 searched the thickets, in such cases, until he found 
 his feathered friend, or established the absence of 
 enemy. 
 
 It was thus that he found Mr. Wizner. The sea- 
 monster s visit had occurred the day before, and the 
 captain had slept late, and was taking a morning s 
 stroll to see that rain and wind had quite obliterated 
 all traces of a landing he knew of. Just over the 
 first hillock he heard one of those startling, human- 
 sounding rustlings in the leaves, with no joree whis 
 tle to explain it. Captain Harrod began peering into 
 the thicket, with a stricture gripping his throat. 
 
 There was a dense growth of the rheumatic little 
 old oaks on the inshore side of the hill, casting a 
 deep shade; and in the damp hollow a thick clump 
 of palmettoes an ideal spot for a hiding-place. A
 
 i88 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 joree flicked out of the deepest shadow, perched for 
 a moment on the rosemary and gave that mellow, 
 human-sounding whistle. Relieved, the captain 
 stepped boldly forward and trod on Mr. Wizner s 
 head as he slept with mosquito-bar over his face, in 
 a comfortable sleeping-bag. The inventor struggled 
 forth with a wild yell, and began running. Captain 
 Harrod, another Old Man of the Sea, leaped upon 
 his back, bore him to the ground, and sat on him, 
 panting. Wizner looked up at him in abject terror. 
 
 "Oh, it s you, is it!" cried he. "I know you! I 
 know you !" 
 
 Captain Harrod was puzzled, but relieved, to note 
 that the man did not act like an officer. In making 
 the arrest, the captain had acted on impulse and was 
 glad that he had caught no revenue. The man was 
 quite as clearly not a deserter. His whine, his roll 
 ing eyes, his scraps of nonsense, all aroused doubts 
 as to his sanity. 
 
 "You re one of em !" groaned Wizner, pounding 
 his head on the sand. "Let me up! You and 
 Shayne and Silberberg and the girl all linked in 
 together to rob me of my helicopter ! You ve got it 
 hid there ! You ve ruined me ! Kill me if you want 
 to ! Let me up !" 
 
 Captain Harrod slowly released him, and both 
 rose, facing each other.
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 189 
 
 "Ah m raght sorry, suh," said the captain, "that 
 Ah trod on yo* haid. Ah didn t see you, suh." 
 
 Wizner approached the captain, took him by the 
 shirt, looked about cunningly, and whispered in his 
 ear. 
 
 "Tell me where my helicopter is!" said he 
 wheedlingly. "It ll be all right, if you do ! And I ll 
 make you rich !" 
 
 "Oh," said the fisherman. "Yo* the flyin -machine 
 man, sho . Aftah the young lady tumbled out when 
 we hauled in on the painter, it fetched adrift an 
 went out to sea, you know, suh ?" 
 
 "I put every cent I had into it," said Wizner. "It 
 was worth a million. Give it to me !" 
 
 This argument lasted days and weeks ; for Wizner 
 saw that the fisherman s hospitality would not per 
 mit the driving away of a poor wrecked being, such 
 as he seemed to be. So the sleeping-bag was placed 
 on the veranda, and Wizner whined and glared ; and 
 whenever detected in an attempt to enter the shed, 
 he had the severest sort of paroxysm, demanded his 
 helicopter back, raved at Shayne, and refused to eat 
 for fear of being poisoned. 
 
 Such was the state of things when Carson left 
 Virginia Suarez, the girl who, after their first curi 
 ous meeting, had come to him, not knowing who he 
 was, save that she believed him to be her sole mal
 
 190 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 relative, and whom he had weakly allowed to re 
 main, believing herself his niece. He was needed 
 at the camp. It was impossible longer to refrain 
 from violating the supposed relationship, so he ap 
 peared at the cabin one day, white and determined- 
 looking, reread a pocketful of letters and telegrams, 
 and said with no salutation : 
 
 "Where are those engines?" 
 
 "In the shed, suh," replied the captain. "Ah done 
 unpacked em, suh." 
 
 Carson unlocked and opened the door from the 
 cabin to the shed, let in light through a hatch in 
 the roof, and for two hours studied the engines, his 
 eyes lighting from time to time with a serious half- 
 smile. Four powerful motors, they were, each of 
 fifty horse-power, with eight cylinders, and so 
 light that he picked them up with ease. Down the 
 long shed a huge thing, like a great dragon-fly, lay 
 in its cradle, with cheap launch-motors for experi 
 mental purposes in the engine pit. Theodore called 
 to the captain to tear them out. Once more on the 
 veranda, he noted the sleeping-bag stretched from 
 column to column. 
 
 "What s this?" he asked. 
 
 "That s what the crazy man sleeps in," replied 
 the captain. 
 
 Carson examined it with care, looked at the pneu 
 matic mattress, saw the completeness and good
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 191 
 
 condition of the outfit, and turned grimmer of face 
 than ever. 
 
 "Who turned it inside out to air it?" he queried. 
 
 "He did, suh." 
 
 "Did he ever do that before?" 
 
 "Allus does it, suh." 
 
 "What s this?" asked Theodore, picking some 
 thing up. 
 
 "Thing he lays ove* his face, suh, to fend off the 
 sand-flies. Had it ove him when Ah done found 
 him." 
 
 "Where was that?" asked Carson. 
 
 The captain explained the discovery of Wizner, 
 and the preceding mystery of his tracks. 
 
 "When did you first see the tracks?" asked Car 
 son. 
 
 "Raght soon afte you went no th, suh," answered 
 the captain. 
 
 "Kept out of sight, and made no outcry about the 
 helicopter, until you kicked him out of the palmet- 
 toes?" went on Carson. 
 
 "Yes, suh," replied the witness. 
 
 "Always careful to protect his face when he 
 sleeps?" 
 
 "Yes, suh." 
 
 "Good appetite?" 
 
 "Yes, suh, he sho has." 
 
 "Tries to get into the shed with the aeronef ?"
 
 192 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "All the tahm, suh," replied the captain. "But 
 when he got the plank off, he said the devils done 
 druv him out with hot fohks, suh, so he didn t go 
 in." 
 
 Carson laughed unsympathetically. 
 
 "Where is this systematic lunatic?" he inquired. 
 
 "That s him a-comin ove the ridge, thah," re 
 plied the captain. "He spends a heap o tahm look- 
 in afte his lost chickananny." 
 
 Mumbling to himself, and shaking his fists at va 
 cancy, Wizner approached; but the start, showing 
 guilt and embarrassment, which he gave on seeing 
 Carson, violated all the conventions of lunacy. 
 Theodore studied him with narrowed eyes, as he 
 began making passes in the air, as if in the ex 
 orcism of evil spirits, or carrying out a physical- 
 culture system. 
 
 "Another one !" he moaned. "All the devils ll be 
 here soon and then and then Ha, ha, ha !" 
 
 "Stop that!" 
 
 For some reason the young man was furious 
 where the captain had been pitiful. 
 
 "Take this stuff of yours," said Carson, "and get 
 out of this! Understand?" 
 
 Wizner took down the sleeping-bag, lashed it up 
 with the deflated mattress, and threw it down, roll 
 ing his eyes, and opening and shutting his hands. 
 
 "You re all linked in together !" he wailed, sitting
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 193 
 
 on a bench, and feebly pounding his head against 
 the column. "You re the head devil! You pulled 
 her down by the painter. You stole her! Give me 
 my million or give her back " 
 
 Carson took him by the throat, choked him pur 
 ple, and banged his head against the post until the 
 whining became an outcry of real pain. 
 
 "Like cures like," said Carson. "And pounding 
 cures pounding! Clear out, now!" 
 
 Wizner moved away slowly, but turned at a safe 
 distance, his eyes blazing. 
 
 "I ll fix you, you young fool!" he snarled. "You 
 think you re an engineer! I ll show you!" 
 
 "Go !" said Carson. "Before I fix you so you can t 
 you snake!" 
 
 Captain Harrod stood transfixed at this terrible 
 breach of hospitality on Mr. Theodore s part, puz 
 zled by Mr. Wizner s sudden sanity as he paused be 
 tween the dunes, ankle-deep in sand, and addressed 
 Carson. 
 
 "I ll fix you, good and plenty," he said. "No man 
 can choke and pound me and live!" 
 
 For the first time, Carson s face relaxed into a 
 real smile. 
 
 "It s been a great thing for you," he flung at the 
 man in the sand. "See how clear your mind is !" 
 
 "And you ll never get that mechanical devil s 
 darning-needle of yours to fly," went on Wizner.
 
 194 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "It ll turn turtle in the first puff. And if it does 
 fly, you ll have competition. You sliver-built son 
 of a" 
 
 Carson leaped from the veranda; but Captain 
 Harrod was between them. . 
 
 "Don t kill him, suh!" he exclaimed. "He may 
 not be quaht raght yit." 
 
 "You old fool !" sneered Wizner. "You damned 
 old smuggling fool ! You ll get yours, too !" 
 
 He disappeared over the hillock, as a great revul 
 sion of feeling passed through the old man s being. 
 He felt wronged : Wizner suddenly became an 
 enemy, capable of infinite harm. 
 
 "Miste Theodo ," said he, in low, slow tones, "Ah 
 have jist altogethe done lost confidence in that 
 man ! He s sho not straight, Mr. Theodo !" t 
 
 Carson had not heard, or had not comprehended 
 Wizner s allusion to smuggling. In a belated frenzy 
 of resolution, energized like a fully-charged battery, 
 he donned his working clothes, and began the in 
 stallation of the new engines which were to make 
 good his promises to himself, to Craighead and 
 Waddy, and to a world which had long awaited the 
 command of the air or to add the name of Theo 
 dore Carson to the list headed by Daedalus and Son, 
 and in which the tragic end of Lieutenant Selfridge 
 was less known than the comic mishaps of Darius 
 ^Green. It was a crisis for Theodore, for Craig-
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 195 
 
 head and Waddy and for the world. Love! A 
 mere illusion! 
 
 Wizner walked toward Fort Morgan, his teeth 
 set, his fists striking vicious blows at nothing, nearer 
 insane than he had ever been before. He hated 
 Carson most violently, now, instead of sourly and 
 inactively as before. His inventive genius was genu 
 ine and respectable, but he was insanely jealous, re 
 fusing to admit the correctness of any one else s 
 ideas as to anything pertaining to aviation and 
 yet, the great dragon-fly in the shed had impressed 
 him. It was so workmanlike, so trim so poised; 
 and the great wing surfaces beating the air in sec 
 tions, while the wing itself was stationary, were 
 eloquent of power in lifting and driving. He was 
 impressed and immensely depressed. He had been 1 
 so sanguine of his helicopter, so ambitious, with 
 Shayne s money, to build another and better one, and 
 conquer fortune; and to have this young sprout, with 
 his logarithms and his "new knowledge" rob him 
 of Shayne s attention and Shayne s money! If the 
 fool girl had only not whisked herself into the air, 
 and all but into eternity, and fallen two thousand 
 feet into this young devil s arms! And, then, who 
 had butted in, got Shayne away from him, gone 
 north in the same air-ship with him, had all the 
 chances in the world to hypnotize him, and was now 
 back, with money for the engines that had been for
 
 196 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 long months waiting to be paid for, the cock of the 
 walk, choking and pounding the head of a better 
 man and a better engineer? Carson the young 
 hound, with Shayne s money, with Shayne s influ 
 ence stolen from him! He would fix this fellow, 
 good and plenty ! He would stamp his face into the 
 ground! He would crush his white teeth out and 
 send them down his throat He would kill him, in 
 some slow, horrible way, if he waited until he was 
 a hundred years old. Wizner s burning heat was 
 so much more mental than physical that he scarcely 
 felt the cool breeze that rolled in the vast volumes 
 of lashing white water, and piled huge drifts of dry 
 foam on the white beach. He plodded along un- 
 weariedly, making toward the crossing to the la 
 goon. Once in a while he gazed off to the north 
 from a dune-top, saw that he had not yet passed 
 the Hinterland of marsh and alligator-wallow, and 
 walked on, the roar of the ocean in his ears, and the 
 growl and snarl of vengeance in his brain. 
 
 Seated on a log he looked over his drawings of 
 Carson s air-ship. He could understand the method 
 of making so much wing-surface rotary, and the 
 abandonment of the screw principle for that of the 
 old feathering wheel; he understood how the clus 
 tered gearings along the dragon-fly s back could 
 set these beating paddles at any angle or hold them 
 firm for gliding, or make them strike down, forward,
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 197 
 
 or backward. These things meant perfect control 
 save in one thing: how could so great a craft be 
 kept from overturning? It was too big to be bal 
 anced by feeling, like a bicycle or the Wright ma 
 chines. It would turn turtle; he would bet on that. 
 
 "I d give a hundred dollars to see it," snarled 
 Wizner. "To see him fall out of the fool thing, 
 breaking his bones. And before he croaked, to stamp 
 in his mouth, and feel his teeth go ! Damn him !" 
 
 But that mysterious glass globe in the center of 
 the craft, with so many little gyroscopes beautifully 
 mounted to run in vacua? This was the mystery to 
 Wizner. It looked like a round, compact, clear 
 brain. And yet, those eight gyroscopes set in 
 pairs, like the right and left halves of the brain, 
 were too light to hold the great aeronef stable in the 
 air. 
 
 "If they were heavy enough to balance her, she 
 couldn t lift the weight. What are they for? 
 There s deviltry in that glass globe. I wish I d 
 smashed it !" 
 
 He struck off north, now, among the little ancient 
 oaks, the rosemary, and the bastard-spruce. His 
 trail ran to the left of a black pool, wimpled by tad 
 poles, as by falling rain ; but fate turned him to the 
 right, past a clump of palmettoes, the tall huckle 
 berry-bushes lashing him with fragrant bloom. He 
 stooped to pass under them, paused, and let the
 
 198 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 boughs return without a rustle to their position. 
 Under the bushes lay the light, portable, telescope 
 go-devil of a submarine; and under it a man. 
 
 Wizner smiled, and started forward; paused; re 
 treated out of sight, and stood as if working out 
 some abstruse problem; flushed as if revivified by 
 wine; hurried away to the lagoon; drew a boat 
 from concealment; and rowed rapidly over to a 
 hotel, half a mile off on the north shore. 
 
 The submarine s boat had come ashore in the 
 night, and her crew were awaiting, with many 
 curses, no doubt, a sea in which they could reembark. 
 The one man was sleeping away the absence of his 
 mate. But why was this of interest to Wizner? Un 
 less he were a revenue spy, they were apt to be peo 
 ple of whom it was better to know little than much. 
 
 At the desk of the hotel Wizner got paper, en 
 velopes and a bit of copying carbon, sat down, wrote 
 a letter, and addressed it to himself, in care of the 
 chief of police of Mobile, to be turned over to the 
 collector of the port, and by him opened if not 
 called for by a certain date. He carefully copied the 
 address of the original upon the envelop of the 
 carbon copy, took them both to the clerk, handed 
 him a fine cigar, and asked him as a favor to cer 
 tify on the back of the copy that he, the clerk, had 
 personally placed in the mail the original, addressed 
 precisely as was the copy.
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 199 
 
 "Don t know what your game is, old man," said 
 the clerk, "but I hope you get away with it all 
 right" 
 
 Mr. Wizner rowed straight back, and made his 
 way to the boat under the bushes. The man was sit 
 ting up, now, smoking. Wizner walked into camp 
 jauntily. 
 
 "Hello, Faville," said he; "ain t you pretty near 
 lost?" 
 
 Faville started and dropped his hand to his hip; 
 but changed his attitude and shook hands cordially. 
 
 "No," said he, "but you are, I should think. 
 Where d you drop from?" 
 
 "You re ashore at a bad time," said Wizner. 
 "Where s the Stickleback?" 
 
 "Oh," replied Faville, "I m not on her any 
 longer." 
 
 "Funny you brought away her boat!" said Wiz 
 ner. "And her captain, too !" 
 
 This latter remark was evoked by the arrival of 
 a third person, wiry, smooth-shaven, with a dark 
 face, a dead-black eye, a straight line of mouth, 
 three fingers missing from his right hand, giving 
 the impression that he was perpetually pointing at 
 something, and thin, palpitant nostrils, like those of 
 a trapped rabbit. He came lazily in, and dropped 
 to the ground. 
 
 "Hello, Wizner," said he.
 
 200 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Hello, Captain Reagan," replied Wizner. "Can 
 you give me a snack ?" 
 
 "Sure," said Reagan. "Let s eat, Faville; I ve got 
 a grobeck for dinner." 
 
 The "grobeck" was a big, toothsome bird, like a 
 bittern, in appearance. While the meal was cooking 
 Wizner sat joking, like a man enjoying himself, 
 while the others grew more and more taciturn. A 
 couple of bottles of excellent wine washed down 
 the meal, and the men sat looking at one another 
 and smoking, in an atmosphere tense with misun 
 derstanding. 
 
 "Which way you going, Wizner?" finally asked 
 Reagan. 
 
 "I thought I d go aboard the Stickleback," re 
 plied Wizner. 
 
 "The hell you did !" replied Reagan, with an easy 
 laugh. "Well, you ve got another guess !" 
 
 "You think Faville can handle the engineer s 
 berth ?" queried Wizner, with a covert sneer. 
 
 "The surf don t roar like it did," said Reagan. 
 "The wind s off shore. It s quieting down. Stick up 
 that signal, Faville." 
 
 Faville departed and Reagan, sitting up, spoke 
 in the manner of one who scents a conflict. 
 
 "Whatever it is, Wizner," said he, "out with it. 
 I m not safe to fool with." 
 
 "I want the Stickleback for a while," said Wizner.
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 201 
 
 "What for?" asked Reagan. 
 
 "To stand off and on, do as I say, ask no ques 
 tions, and to tell no tales." 
 
 Feeling mystery in this demand, Reagan con 
 trolled his temper, and let the case develop. 
 
 "And if this modest request is refused?" he 
 queried. 
 
 "Why," said Wizner slowly, "I may let the au 
 thorities know that instead of salving mahogany, 
 the Stickleback is prowling around off Harrod s." 
 
 Reagan lay gently back, this time on one arm. 
 The other hand slid slowly to his hip pocket. He 
 was the picture of slothful ease. 
 
 "Well," he said slowly, "that might interest them, 
 but what is there in it?" 
 
 "Not much, maybe," said Wizner. "But I m a 
 law-abiding citizen, and I feel I ought to tell." 
 
 "You infernal fool !" said Reagan, speaking over 
 a short, flat, automatic pistol. "You ll stay here till 
 the hogs root you out !" 
 
 Wizner turned pale, and reached for the letter; 
 Reagan s voice stopped him. 
 
 "Hands up !" said he. "I hate like hell to kill you; 
 but I ll just give you time to pray !" 
 
 Wizner, his hands in air, and trembling like a 
 reed, played out his hand. 
 
 "There s a letter in my pocket," said he. "Read 
 it ; and you won t shoot."
 
 202 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Faville, returning, saw and understood the 
 tableau Reagan on his feet covering Wizner, the 
 inventor belligerent, but shaking. 
 
 "Take the letter from the cur s pocket," said 
 Reagan. "Cover him while I look at it and pick 
 out his grave !" 
 
 "Don t spoil the certificate!" said Wizner. "Cut 
 it!" 
 
 Reagan, after reading the endorsements inform 
 ing him that if Wizner failed to claim the letter 
 mailed it would go to the collector, read the letter 
 itself. It was a succinct accusation of smuggling, 
 with the names and addresses of two witnesses im 
 aginary who could point out the contraband goods 
 and testify to the facts, with Wizner s identifica 
 tion of the Stickleback s crew as the criminals to 
 which the witnesses named would swear if con 
 fronted with J. J. Reagan, captain, and T. W. Fa 
 ville, chief engineer. The witnesses, the letter con 
 cluded, had not been informed of the identity of 
 Faville and Reagan. 
 
 Reagan tossed the letter to Faville. 
 
 "You get in on this," said he. "Put down your 
 gun!" 
 
 "No, no!" crowed Wizner, "I won t run!" 
 
 "Don t be too cocky," said Reagan, "or I ll take 
 chances on a shot at you ! D ye hear?"
 
 MR. WIZNER SECURES A COMMAND 203 
 
 "Seems to hold high cards," said Faville. "But if 
 you say so, I ll " 
 
 "How do we know," said Reagan, "that you won t 
 peach after you get through with us ?" 
 
 "If I make the play I expect to," replied Wizner, 
 "I ll be in a damned sight deeper n you are !" 
 
 "That means," said Reagan, "worse than smug- 
 gHng." 
 
 "I mean," said Wizner, "the only thing the law 
 punishes worse than smuggling with a submarine 
 by !" 
 
 "I didn t expect," said Reagan, "I d ever go that 
 far; but I guess I ll have to serve under you, Wiz 
 ner. You re captain of the Stickleback!"
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 
 
 VIRGINIA, left alone, was rather glad of 
 it. Her desertion of the Shaynes was a 
 crisis in her life. She had acted impulsively 
 in a matter of great moment and needed time for 
 thought. She had taken flight to Carson s Landing 
 and to shelter in the shade of the sole remaining 
 branch of her family tree, full of confidence that she 
 would find there a silver-haired uncle and a delicate 
 old lavender aunt, redolent of the old regime and 
 ready to receive her, tenderly loyal to the Carson 
 blood. 
 
 Instead of silver hair, Theodore, the audaciously 
 false uncle, had red lips and the "little, silky, kid s 
 mustache," and there was no aunt. The grand- 
 niece of old General Carson, related to Theodore 
 Carson, by no chain of descent, save the dubious one 
 of the original third Carson brother of hundreds of 
 years ago and the ownership of this plantation, was 
 weakly allowed to assume kinship from the place 
 and name, and never thought of sitting down with 
 
 204
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 205 
 
 Theodore and tracing the thing out. Her flight, her 
 astonishment at finding her rescuer, the supposed 
 smuggler, as the head of her family, her guardian 
 and protector, his disturbing influence over her 
 mental faculties, their uninterrupted series of excur 
 sions by field and flood, the feeling of uncertainty 
 not to say apprehension which their relations had 
 begun to produce in her, all these made her glad of 
 a day or so to herself. She wanted the current cut 
 off so that she might become demagnetized. 
 
 Of course, she said, it was absurd of him to run 
 away just after he had held her a little tighter than 
 was necessary in picking her up that was crude, 
 and made the situation worse. She wondered just 
 what the relationship was, anyhow. Chloe said 
 that Cahsonses were Cahsonses, and she never both 
 ered about different kinds. He couldn t be a real 
 uncle, Virginia felt sure of that. He might be a 
 son of General Carson by a second wife. He was 
 the head of the family, anyhow ; she must be satis 
 fied with that. If he would only quit looking Sap 
 phic odes and prowling about of nights and oh, 
 heavens ! if he would only come back and make her 
 happy again! 
 
 Of his invention, save that it was in the mysteri 
 ous shed, chosen because of its remoteness and its 
 unobstructed beach, she really knew nothing. She 
 began to wonder, now, whether he was a world s
 
 206 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 genius, or only the crude product of a country 
 college, with nothing to command a second glance 
 except his sinewy erectness, the pathetic yearning 
 in his eyes, and the wonderful softness in his voice. 
 She was enacting vaudeville skits, too. Oh, the dra 
 matic uplift was active, down at Carson s Landing! 
 
 The devil was there, as usual, and helped the 
 thing along. Virginia stood on a stool to reach the 
 Dolly Dialogues, and Sathanas guided her ringers 
 to Doctor Pascal, which he had had bound to match 
 Anthony Hope s delicious piece of foolery. Like 
 Eve, she bit; and Mrs. Stott found her deep in the 
 love of Clotilde and her uncle the sole specimen 
 of the sort in literature, so far as I can remember. 
 This particular book, to be read by this particular 
 girl, on this particular day of all days! 
 
 "A great story of a great passion," said Mrs. 
 Stott. 
 
 "Is it?" asked Virginia the Uncandid. "Zola is 
 sp uninteresting I just happened to pick it up, you 
 know." 
 
 "They were uncle and niece," said Mrs. Stott. 
 
 Virginia flicked the corners with her thumb, mak 
 ing a sound like a fly in a web. 
 
 "Shocking!" said she. "I didn t think the law 
 allowed such alliances." 
 
 "Love," said Mrs. Stott, "is very different from 
 marriage in France. Have you read where Pas-
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 207 
 
 cal finds Clotilde burning his papers in the night 
 so lightly clothed? Or where she proposes?" 
 
 "It s an unpleasant topic," said Virginia. 
 
 "Very!" assented Mrs. Stott. "It is growing 
 warm; you are quite flushed." 
 
 "But what is the law?" asked Virginia finally. 
 
 "I m sure I don t know," answered Mrs. Stott. 
 
 "Being a question," said Virginia, "that can 
 never arise, the law wouldn t cover it." 
 
 "Zola," replied Mrs. Stott, "would not have used 
 an impossible case. To be siire, he put Clotilde 
 and Pascal into constant and intimate contact, 
 and" 
 
 "Oh, it s quite unthinkable !" said Virginia. "Pas 
 cal was old; and and she d always known him as 
 her uncle." 
 
 "Such circumstances," assented Mrs. Stott, "make 
 all the difference in the world." 
 
 When the absorbed Virginia saw the force of this 
 rerriark, she almost snapped at her companion. 
 
 "Not at all !" said she. "Not the least difference 
 in the world." 
 
 Resorting to Tennyson, she found the lines : 
 
 "Set the maiden fancies wallowing in the troughs of 
 
 Zolaism, 
 
 Forward, forward, ay and backward, downward 
 too into the abysm,"
 
 208 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 threw the book away, and went down to watch for 
 boats especially for a remarkably fast motor 
 launch, which had cleared from Week s Bay up 
 river recently, laden with magnolia blossoms, youth, 
 and palpitations of the heart. It was a long time 
 coming, so Virginia took up Penelope s occupation. 
 She wove a web of fancies every night and raveled 
 them out next morning. 
 
 One day her heart fluttered when Chloe an 
 nounced a man to see her; for it must mean an 
 emissary from the Shaynes or from Uncle Theo 
 dore, she thought. It was, in fact, Captain Harrod, 
 unchanged, save that he wore boots. The captain 
 thought her charming; and, as she shook his hand, 
 her voice seemed mysteriously vibrant. 
 
 "Mistah Theodo," said he, "reckoned Ah d bettah 
 stop by an* ask how you-all is, an tell you-all we-all 
 ah tollable well, an gettin the machine raght neah 
 ready to la nch, ma am." 
 
 "Thank you," replied Miss Suarez. "Is that all ?" 
 
 Captain Harrod felt himself in an equivocal posi 
 tion. It really was all his message, but it seemed 
 too bald and Spartan for real courtesy. 
 
 "He says," extemporized the ancient mariner, 
 "they s maghty little to see thah ; but we d be raght 
 pleased, ma am, if you-all could pass thataway an 
 stop by." 
 
 "We d be in the way," said Virginia gratefully.
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 209 
 
 "Oh, no," the captain assured her. "Not at all; 
 but it maght be onconvenient for you, ma am." 
 
 "I found life quite quite giddy there 1" said 
 she. 
 
 The captain did not allow himself the luxury of 
 a smile. He consented to stay to luncheon, during 
 which meal he described the aeronef with an ap 
 proximation to enthusiasm. 
 
 "If she flies," said he, "an* Mistah Theodo allows 
 she sho will, she ll mek the long-toms an skaoucks 
 think they s a new breed o hawks loose." 
 
 "Uncle Theodore," suggested Virginia to Mrs. 
 Stott, after learning about long-toms and skaoucks, 
 "has invited us to visit him. And, do you know, I 
 think we ll go back with the captain, if you can over 
 come your aversion to the water." 
 
 "Will the bay be rough?" asked Mrs. Stott, as if 
 confident that the captain served out the weather. 
 
 "Dead ca m, ma am," said the captain. "Flat as 
 a flounder." 
 
 "And think," went on Virginia, "how interesting 
 it will be to see the first great aeronef launched! 
 Please, please, let s go!" 
 
 "When do you start?" asked Mrs. Stott, wavering. 
 
 "Ea ly this evenin ," replied the captain. 
 
 "We ll go!" said Mrs. Stott. 
 
 The captain, considering all that part of the 
 day between the midday meal and nightfall as
 
 210 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "evening," and after dark as night, had to make this 
 distinction clear to the ladies, who, when they un 
 derstood it, hurriedly packed their dunnage, and 
 embarked. They were a gay party; Virginia was 
 full of lighter; her color rose and her eyes dilated 
 as they took the stream early enough, to the cap 
 tain s relief, to let them through the New Canal, 
 from Strong s Bayou to the Lagoon by daylight; 
 for there were ghosts in this region by night. 
 
 "Do you see any signs of a storm?" asked Mrs. 
 Stott, noting his upward glances. 
 
 "No, ma am," he returned. "Ah was just tryin 
 to make out if Ah d eve seen that craft befo aloft 
 thah." 
 
 The craft alluded to was a great silver Condor, 
 gleaming in the sun, her rudder a dark line across 
 her bow, anc} along her side the stripe of a narrow 
 aeroplane. 
 
 Virginia studied her absorbedly with her field- 
 glasses. She was standing over from Mobile, and 
 was now above Montrose, sailing low as if for a 
 short vpyage. 
 
 "I think," said Virginia, "that she s the Roc. 
 I m pure of it!" 
 
 "Yes, ma am," replied Harrod; and not another 
 word was said, until the captain saw the air-ship 
 librating, sinking, balancing like a hawk, far to the 
 eastward.
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 211 
 
 "She s lyin to," said the captain. "Thah goes 
 huh lift down." 
 
 "Why," asked Virginia wonderingly, "what can 
 she want over there in the woods?" 
 
 "She s jist about ove yo home, ma am," said 
 Harrod. 
 
 Virginia grew pale, and asking for the glass, 
 scanned the great aerostat with the lowered lift, like 
 a nexus, to the ground. 
 
 "Can t you go a little faster?" said she, laying 
 down the binoculars. 
 
 "Aftah we clear Week s Bay," said the captain, 
 "we ll go raght brisk, Miss. But we cain t go much 
 faste hyah, Ah m afraid." 
 
 His tones were low, sympathetic, respectful, in 
 curious, perfectly courteous. She felt calmed. Why 
 be agitated? She could not be forced to return with 
 the Shaynes; and what chance was there, for that 
 matter, for them to find this speck of a launch, and 
 they so high above it and so far away? 
 
 Once clear of the channel they stood for the south 
 shore, the engines firing in continuous explosion, 
 as the captain threw on the last speed. The bay 
 was a great mirror. A fishing schooner, becalmed 
 with all sails set, floated like a cloud above her own 
 elongated image; the cumulus clouds gleamed in 
 pearly immensity from the glassy depths, more im 
 posing than in the sky; and the pursuing gulls
 
 212 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 occasionally embraced their own white wraiths as 
 they dipped in the wave of the wake, the real kiss 
 ing the ideal. So thought Virginia, forgetful of 
 the great aerostat at Carson s Landing, forgetful 
 of everything except the calm bay, the speeding 
 boat, the meeting before her the real kissing the 
 ideal. Suddenly with a little scream, she leaned 
 out to look upward past the awning. In the water, 
 instead of bird or sail or cloud, she had seen, com 
 ing up from the depths under their rail, the Roc, 
 under full speed, her great engines purring like 
 tiger-cats, her screws shimmering, her giant hull a 
 resplendent bubble of steel. Looking up, Virginia 
 saw her overhead, and cowered back into the boat; 
 for peering over the rail and calling like an evil 
 bird, was Silberberg. 
 
 "Shall Ah answer the hail, Miss?" asked the 
 captain. 
 
 "No!" whispered Virginia. "Take no notice, I 
 beg of you, Captain !" 
 
 The Roc swept on like a meteor, leaving the 
 launch behind. Virginia asked the captain if he 
 supposed she had been recognized. 
 
 "Ah reckon not, Miss," said he. "Jist a chance 
 meetin , Ah reckon." 
 
 The captain told of accidental meetings of sailors 
 in strange parts, of rencounters in the woods, and 
 of experiences along the waterside of Mobile and
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 213 
 
 Pensacola. The Roc, dead ahead, her reflection 
 wimpling in the water like a stripe of nickel-plate, 
 was miles away, and Virginia breathed freely. 
 She was not frightened, she told herself but she 
 didn t care to meet the Shaynes, or Silberberg. 
 
 "She s come to, raght ove the Inn," said the 
 captain. "We re ove haulin her." 
 
 "Is there no way of getting to Theodore," said 
 Virginia, adopting language that drew a smile from 
 Mrs. Stott, "except by passing them?" 
 
 "No, Miss," said the captain. "It s thataway o 
 none." 
 
 Virginia sat under the middle of the awning, 
 quite in a tremble. The boat slowly threaded the 
 shelly entrance to the Bayou, and passed the wharf 
 of the Inn. The people on the quay were craning 
 their necks at the descent of the passengers from the 
 Roc. 
 
 "Hurry, Captain, hurry !" urged Virginia, 
 
 "Ah cain t, ma am," said he. "Ah ll hev to lie 
 to a minute, foh that boat. Neve fear, Miss; yo 
 all raght with me!" 
 
 "Here you see," said a voice from th e wharf, 
 "two soon-to-be-discarded modes of navigation 
 the boat displacing water, and the aerostat floating 
 in the air upheld by gas. The hydroplane must re 
 place the boat; the aeronef, the aerostat. I have 
 made a specialty of this. I know. The value of that
 
 214 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 cigar-shaped craft up there as junk, deducted from 
 her present value, is the measure of Mr. Finley 
 Shayne s loss when our big show opens its ticket 
 wagon. Seest thou?" 
 
 Virginia looked attentively at the speaker, startled 
 to hear her uncle s name mentioned almost in his 
 presence. She saw a youngish man of medium 
 height, thin habit of body, and long, thick hair, 
 who Was gazing, with every appearance of interest, 
 not at the air-ship, but at a lady of perhaps twenty- 
 seven" years, short, plump, admirably gowned in a 
 sort of reduced half-mourning, with her jolly little 
 face turned toward the Roc, her brown hair tousled 
 about her face, her prominent little chin carrying 
 the facial angle forward and downward. 
 
 "That talk will do with me," said she, "but you ve 
 got to show papa something besides oratory pretty 
 soon, or there ll be trouble. He tells me that you 
 and Mr. Carson are the first ever to sell him a gold 
 brick; And lie proposes to make an example of you. 
 Ydu re supposed to be iri custody now." 
 
 "Never mind, honey " 
 
 "Now, that will do !" said she. 
 
 "Well, I ll think it," said he. "The tongue may 
 be in custody with the body, but the spirit is free 
 begad! And my youthful Edison can t elude us 
 much longer. Why, he s got to make good! If 
 he doesn t
 
 AN OVER-SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY 215 
 
 " I will grasp Theodore until 
 I feel his red wet throat distil 
 In blood through these two hands ! 
 
 That s what I ll do. Why, your father sees in the 
 aeronef the missing link between the monkey of 
 failure and the Caucasian of success. He s satisfied 
 with the cinch of the Air Products Company 
 and when a cinch satisfies your respected dad, dear 
 I mean, of course why, here he is, now !" 
 
 Mr. Waddy came down the wharf, combing his 
 whiskers and mustache out in front of his nose 
 with his fingers. He carried a daisy, which he 
 handed to the lady, who began picking off its petals 
 as if trying her sweetheart s love, turning toward 
 the younger man an incurved back, up and down 
 which ran a row of buttons, from the neck to the 
 bottom of the shapely waist. As Harrod s boat 
 glided within arm s length of the wharf, the lift 
 descended from the air-ship, filling Virginia with 
 terror. 
 
 "I don t think I ll get you another posy, Caro 
 line," said the old man. "Pickin it to bits like 
 that!" 
 
 "I m trying my fortune," said she, with a little 
 embarrassed laugH. 
 
 "Humph !" said her father. 
 
 The younger man seemingly recovered from his
 
 216 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 perplexity, was touching the row of buttons one by 
 one; and as the launch gathered way, Virginia 
 heard him say to button after button, "She loves 
 me! She loves me not! . . . She loves me! 
 Hooray!" 
 
 The shout greeted the favorable answer of the 
 oracle. The lady, as if feeling the fingers in her 
 curls, turned and gently slapped the gentleman s 
 ears. The launch shot into the canal, and out of 
 sight. 
 
 "Hooray !" shouted Virginia. 
 
 "Why," said Mrs. Stott, "you are quite excited, 
 Miss Suarez!" 
 
 "It was the fortune-telling," said Virginia. "I 
 wanted it to come out that way. And I said 
 Hooray ! to echo him." 
 
 As for Captain Harrod, he did not shout. He 
 wondered what Mr. Theodore would say when 
 the launch discharged the cargo resulting from his 
 over-successful embassy.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 STABLE AND UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM 
 
 WHATEVER anger Mr. Carson may 
 have felt at Captain Harrod for bring 
 ing Virginia Suarez and Mrs. Stott 
 into camp, was sternly repressed. The ladies were 
 made sole owners of the cabin, and the men slept 
 with the aeronef by night, while by day Captain 
 Harrod stood by to aid Theodore, slipping away 
 to the top of the dunes at times to scan the offing 
 for the slimy-nosed Stickleback, inexplicably reap 
 pearing, with her oval deck just awash, her thin, 
 semi-invisible periscope in air. Having arranged 
 with Reagan for a cessation of the contraband busi 
 ness until the aeronef was off the stocks, the captain 
 was worried. He waved the Chautauqua salute one 
 day, whereupon the submarine sounded like a gal- 
 lied rorqual. The captain s ingenuity was not equal 
 to the task of developing a theory to account for her 
 presence or her alarm. Perhaps she was not the 
 Stickleback; but if not, why was she prowling about? 
 And why was she frightened at the old signal ? 
 So the superintendence of the work, the talking 
 217
 
 218 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 of aeronautics to Theodore and inspiring him to 
 greater application, fell to Virginia; for Mrs. Stott 
 was studying shells. Carson suddenly became pos 
 sessed of an unremitting energy that commanded 
 Virginia s 1 admiration; but if she wandered away 
 for a little while, the sound of his tools ceased, and 
 he came looking for her. As he told her again of 
 his struggles, his experiments, his falling into the 
 garden of Doctor Witherspoon, his meeting with 
 Craighead, the financial enlistment of Mr. Waddy, 
 and of the puzzling messages he had received, she 
 became an enthusiast, too. 
 
 "I d like to meet Mr. Craighead," said she. "I d 
 like to feel sure of him. How can he secure a mo 
 nopoly of the navigation of the air?" 
 
 "I have no idea," replied Theodore, "but he says 
 he has." 
 
 "Now, what," she queried, "could ever prevent 
 the Roc from freely swooping down and taking me 
 away ?" 
 
 "I could!" said Theodore firmly. 
 
 "Maybe," said Virginia, "if you wouldn t be glad 
 to have them " 
 
 "Virginia!" He began, adopting the familiar 
 address. 
 
 " but," she went on, "from swooping, you know ? 
 Your Mr. Craighead couldn t prevent them from 
 either snooping, or swooping, it seems to me."
 
 UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM 219 
 
 This statement was worthy of consideration; so 
 he sat down beside her to ponder. 
 
 "No," said she, "you mustn t quit work. We must 
 do our part, whatever Mr. Craighead does." 
 
 Theodore was really tired, but he rose and re 
 turned to work. A tired person helps himself to 
 rise by putting his hand on something. Theodore 
 placed his on the bench ; and if Virginia s hand hap 
 pened to be just there, was it his fault? He fell to 
 work furiously. When he looked again, she was 
 hugging the hand to her bosom as if it had become 
 a doll and she was a little girl. 
 
 "You might form an opinion of him," said he, 
 "by reading his telegrams." 
 
 "Of whom?" inquired Virginia, evidently think 
 ing of something else. 
 
 "Craighead," replied Carson. "Here they are. 
 What do you think of them?" 
 
 The first was dated Charleston, West Virginia. 
 "Air Products incorporated," it ran. "Immense 
 sensation in trust incubator and brooder. Why 
 don t I hear from illustrious co-conspirator? Craig- 
 head, the Plute." 
 
 "Tries to be humorous," said Virginia. "Let s 
 see the next." 
 
 The next was dated "En route to Cosmopolis 
 from Incubator," and was unsigned. "To Him 
 Who Commands the Winds, from Him Who Winds
 
 220 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the Commands, greeting," it ran. "Be of good 
 cheer. The train is laid, the gin is set, the dogs of 
 war strain forward in the leash. But is there any 
 aeronef? Broom end of pipe-dream assumes ter 
 rifying concreteness. Noble, sir, assure me of 
 thine ! Just wire saying you are you, and there is 
 an aeronef, collect!" 
 
 "Did you answer this?" asked Virginia. 
 
 Theodore shook his head. 
 
 "I feel," said Virginia, "that he was downcast, 
 and could not believe in good things. It is the only 
 convincing thing I ve seen so pathetic, as if he 
 needed help. Why didn t you answer it, uncle?" 
 
 "It was days and days before I got it," said 
 Theodore. 
 
 "Why didn t he send it to the plantation?" asked 
 Virginia. 
 
 "I gave him this address," said Theodore. "I 
 I stayed there too too long." 
 
 He opened the gyroscope globe, and began run 
 ning the engines lightly, setting the heavy little 
 wheels spinning, rocking the aeronef from side to 
 side to note the operation of the balancing devices. 
 Preserving their perpendicularity, as if of intelli 
 gent purpose, the gyroscopes moved the levers of 
 the wing-differentials which would accelerate the 
 propeller-wheels of the lowered wing and corre 
 spondingly slow the upper. Right or left, stern or
 
 UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM 221 
 
 bow, the depressed area would work the harder, 
 the raised part slower, while powerful rudders co 
 operated, moving like a fish s fins, even now while 
 the propeller rested. Theodore was getting past an 
 awkward reference to his long stay at the planta 
 tion by a painstaking examination of the brain of 
 his air-ship. 
 
 "See how it works, Virginia!" he exclaimed. 
 "It knows the levers to be moved ! Why, if a puff 
 starts to overturn her, she ll strike with the lowered 
 wings alone like a bird. And see the intelligence of 
 those rudders! And that fellow said she d turn 
 turtle!" 
 
 Virginia gazed in admiration. The clutch had 
 been off ten minutes, and still the gyroscopes spun, 
 so silent, so immovable, that one might have laid 
 hold of them, thinking them stationary. 
 
 "How long they run!" she cried. 
 
 "Long!" said he scornfully. "Why, with the 
 globe on and the air out of it, they ll run a whole 
 day after the engines are stopped. They re the 
 heart and brain of my invention, Virginia. I m 
 proud of it." 
 
 "And Mr. Craighead doesn t get any report of 
 all this ! What must he think?" 
 
 "I told him about it," said Theodore proudly. 
 "And it was no time to telegraph apologies. It was 
 a time to work."
 
 222 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "I won t bother you," said she, stepping from the? 
 car, "any more. I give you my word !" 
 
 He rose to follow, his foot on the gunwale, his 
 eyes demanding explanation. 
 
 "If you go," said he, "I shall cease work at 
 once. You help me!" 
 
 "Then go back to work, uncle," she pleaded. 
 "Please ! And I ll read the rest of poor Mr. Craig- 
 head s telegrams." 
 
 She sat where he could see her by turning his 
 head quite the thing as between an affectionate 
 uncle and a charming young niece. Blood is thicker 
 than water, thought she oh, vastly thicker! 
 
 The Stickleback outside, if her inexplicable prowl 
 ing had to do with any one s desire to see what the 
 air-ship would do, was not to have long to wait. 
 While Virginia read the telegrams, Theodore, 
 whose genius and strength were fast winning her 
 rather fearful respect, was replacing the vacuum 
 globe over the gyroscopes. 
 
 The next message was addressed to General 
 Theodo Carson, M. A., and ran : "A God s name, 
 sweet knight, discover. Art asset or liability? An 
 swer yes or no !" 
 
 Then came one addressed to Palmetto Beach, 
 "or somewhere it is hoped," and seemed to be re 
 garded by Craighead as very important. "My luck 
 hath turned! It is Craighead Felix now," said he.
 
 UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM 223 
 
 "I could fall in a well and come up bearing the 
 jewel of the tutelary toad in my nose. Have found 
 a gang of grafters organized to get us grants in no 
 time; will cinch New York by Friday; Chicago 
 already hemmed in. New Thought: fee of roads 
 in grangers everywhere. Will secure title except 
 for road purposes. Tis ever sweet to see the 
 engineer hoist by his own petard. Monopoly, we 
 delve beneath thee! Shayne, thy sun sets apace! 
 To your tents, O Israel ! Whoop ! Whoop ! 
 Whoopee! We ve got em, we ve got em! Caro 
 line s dad ready to bust all eight banks to back 
 scheme. You must make good, Theodorie. The 
 Dread Sisters of the thread and shears never done 
 nobody the dirt they d do me to let you turn me 
 down. Answer, for the sake of divine pity, just 
 one leetle teeney peep ! Napoleon Bonaparte Han 
 nibal Miltiades Craighead." 
 
 "What does he mean," asked Virginia, "by all 
 this about grants, highways and fee simple? It s 
 awfully queer." 
 
 "I don t know," replied Carson. "Some vision 
 ary thing." 
 
 "And who is Caroline?" asked Virginia. 
 
 "Mrs. Graybill, Mr. Waddy s daughter. Now, 
 listen, Virginia, and watch. She s ready to try." 
 
 He threw in the clutch, and the wings began 
 whirring like great buzzes, blowing the sand off the
 
 224 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 floor into the farthest corners and setting light 
 things flying in the tremendous currents of air, so 
 that Virginia clung to her hat, wound her skirts 
 about her legs and sat on them, in the cage of a do 
 mesticated tornado. Faster and faster the wing- 
 sections whirled until the aeronef strained upward 
 on her lashings like a restive horse. Theodore tip 
 ped a lever and she leaped forward, stretching the 
 ropes at an angle of forty-five degrees; he re 
 versed it, and she slacked backward, as might an 
 eagle repulsed by a foe. Virginia swung her hat 
 and shouted. 
 
 "Pull the line on the end of that wing," said he, 
 "and see if you can tip her. Pull !" 
 
 Virginia walked gingerly forward, her dress fly 
 ing, her hat whisked to the top of the room. Grasp 
 ing the flying rope-end, she pulled downward. The 
 wings settled slightly, and then, as the gyroscope- 
 brain felt the depression, the lowered wings lifted 
 as if consciously rising to a load. It was marvelous, 
 
 "Can t you pull harder?" cried Theodore, bare 
 headed, his hair flying. "Try !" 
 
 "Aye, aye, sir!" cried Virginia cheerily, "try 
 it is! But suppose I lose my clothes in the gale? 
 I haven t many!" 
 
 Reaching up she pulled herself clear of the 
 floor, her strong little form swaying like a most 
 charming pendulum. The enormous dragon-fly,
 
 UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM 225 
 
 throwing its power into the depressing wing, rode 
 level, with nine stone weight of solid American girl 
 dangling from the tip of one wing, a mechanical 
 paradox. Back and forth she swung; until, with 
 muscles weakened, she dropped to the floor. In 
 stantly, the released side rose a thought too high, 
 the other took the power; there was a momentary 
 vibration, as the momentum of the swing was taken 
 out by the differentials, and the boat stood in air, as 
 level as a ship in a calm. 
 
 "Hurrah !" shouted Theodore, swinging his arms. 
 "Never anything like it in the world. Carried you 
 on one wing, and kept level. Hurrah for the 
 Virginia!" 
 
 He eased her down, and stepped to where Vir 
 ginia waited, hands outstretched, red from the 
 rough rope, hair blown abroad. 
 
 "And are you going to name her that?" she 
 cried. "Oh, how perfectly dear of you!" 
 
 Theodore held the chafed hands, triumph in his 
 face, happy as he only can be who tastes the fruit 
 of achievement. 
 
 "She carried you on one wing!" said he. "She 
 did, didn t she?" 
 
 "She did," replied Virginia; "and it made my 
 hands too sore for squeezing purposes, uncle ! But 
 she did." 
 
 Theodore opened the little red palms and kissed
 
 226 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 them, over and over again. Mrs. Stott came in and 
 saw him doing it. 
 
 "I hurt my hands," said Virginia, showing them. 
 "And uncle is kissing them well." 
 
 "Very kind and self-sacrificing, I m sure!" re 
 plied Mrs. Stott. 
 
 "I m going with you, now," said Virginia, taking 
 Mrs. Stott s arm. 
 
 "It may be as well," said Mrs. Stott. 
 
 Virginia looked back, rosy, smiling, a little reck 
 less. Theodore went for Harrod, to help with the 
 launching. They were all excitement; for by noon 
 of the next day they would have her in the air. 
 Mr. Wizner, outside in the Stickleback, thought it 
 quite time.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 
 
 MR. WADDY says that he never should 
 have gone into Craighead s schemes, 
 but for "the children/ meaning Mrs. 
 Graybill and the eight banker-brothers. He was 
 comfortably "reverting to type," when Caroline 
 interrupted the process which was a return in 
 old age to the ways of his youth. This was a 
 family scandal involving a mode of life quite in 
 consistent with wealth, live stock on the lawns, 
 seed-corn in the library, a cream-separator by the 
 bust of Shakespeare, cast-iron stoves burning corn 
 cobs, for radiators; and more scandalous than all, 
 he had actually hired out to Doctor Witherspoon, 
 and between meetings of directors and stock-holders, 
 he was performing the more or less useful labor of 
 a "jag-boss"; not for purposes of investigation, or 
 to procure "materials" for a book, but with the hor 
 rible object of earning wages. 
 
 So Mrs. Graybill, under the pretext of house- 
 cleaning, had the seed-corn taken down from over 
 
 227
 
 228 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the portraits of Dante and ^Eschylus, and removed 
 the cream-separator from its place beside the bard 
 of Avon who had been looking at it all the time 
 with a knowing air, as if entirely familiar with its 
 operation. The wagons and harrows and cows were 
 sold. The old democrat wagon and matronly 
 Percheron mare, whose progress was impeded by 
 the necessity of an occasional stop for purposes 
 connected with the sustenance of her colt, were sup 
 planted by a new automobile. Mr. Waddy, like 
 the toes of the Barefoot Boy, was encased "in the 
 prison-cells of pride." 
 
 It was galling; and so, sitting desolate in his 
 deruralized library, the old gentleman, having no 
 vocation for any other intoxicant, imbibed freely of 
 Craighead. He knew that he was likely to lose 
 money by it. He rather desired to do so, that he 
 might say to his sons, and to Caroline: "Well, 
 dumb it! If you d have let me alone I wouldn t 
 have lost anything!" 
 
 But that was at first. The money for the last 
 touches to the air-ship was to be the extent of his 
 venture; and then came Craighead with his new- 
 hatched plan for actually monopolizing the air; 
 and, Mr. Waddy, having submitted it to his local 
 lawyer, hesitated, and was lost. 
 
 "I ll go into it," said he. "We ll make everybody 
 come and settle that wants a trip by air-ship. Hey?"
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 229 
 
 "Exactly!" replied Craighead. 
 
 "Jest as if the whole country was our farm!" 
 cried Mr. Waddy. 
 
 "It will be for circumambient purposes," replied 
 Craighead. "And as you so well said, a farm s a 
 cinch. And remember, Mr. Waddy : in putting 
 Shayne and his pirates down and out, we and our 
 pirates are making way for the matchless, unsink- 
 able, double-acting, universal-speed, direct-drive, 
 non-halation, orthochromatic Carson aeronef. Don t 
 forget our haughty Southron co-conspirator who 
 will wing his way to Illinois by the time we return. 
 Don t fall down and forget that." 
 
 "Huh," ejaculated Mr. Waddy. 
 
 "Oh, say not so, Mr. Waddy, say not so!" urged 
 Mr. Craighead protestingly. "Our aeronef has 
 everything, the in-shoot, the drop, the float, the 
 out everything! Tested under all conditions; 
 margin-of-safety factor completely looked after; 
 basic principle so demonstrably correct; gyroscopic 
 libration-devices, for automatic power-distribution 
 to correct perturbations of all sorts, perpendicular, 
 horizontal and oblique. Why, doubt these and doubt 
 the advance of science, the improvement in corn, 
 the advent of the general-purpose hen, the fixation 
 of nitrogen in the soil by the nodules on the roots 
 of legumes or is it on the legs of rootlumes ? Thou 
 knowast, O son of the soil, which it is ! All of us
 
 230 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 knowest how crude it is to doubt em ; and to doubt 
 the Carson aeronef is waur, mon, a deil sight waur!" 
 
 "Well, you d better have him on hand," said Mr. 
 Waddy, "as he promised, or I ll know why he took 
 my good hard money." 
 
 It was on occasions of this sort that Mr. Craig- 
 head had sweated telegrams begging to know if 
 Theodore really had any air-ship, and asking of 
 Carson s status as asset or liability; for Mr. Waddy 
 had accompanied Craighead east; and these tele 
 graphic moans of a spirit agonized by doubt had 
 been evoked by his truculent attitude toward the 
 possible failure of Carson to come north cleaving 
 the air in the invention which was to change the 
 world. 
 
 "But think, my dear sir," protested Mr. Craig- 
 head, "of the untold millions in the Broom idea 
 aerial monopoly! Even if Theodore should be 
 only four clubs and a spade, we still hold the aces, 
 my dear Mr. Waddy. Do not grind your teeth 
 thus, so long as the American Nitrates and Air 
 Products Company remains as the Archimedean 
 lever with which to pry up and dump the world. 
 We are ahead, whatever happens to the aeronef 
 end of the deal." 
 
 "Well, the aeronef end," said Mr. Waddy, "had 
 better come to the center, or I ll see what law there 
 is for getting money by false pretenses."
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 231 
 
 And Craighead sent another frenzied query as 
 to whether the tardy Theodore really had any 
 aeronef; Carson, meanwhile, being oblivious of it 
 all in his effort to be a well-behaved uncle to Vir 
 ginia down among the pines. 
 
 The two men were the best of traveling compan 
 ions. Mr. Waddy insisted on going in the smoker; 
 Mr. Craighead took the state-room while his money 
 lasted ; and then borrowed of Mr. Waddy. In New 
 York Mr. Waddy stayed at the Mills, and would 
 not let Craighead go to the Vathek, because they 
 ought to be where they could consult. This neces 
 sitated Mr. Craighead s sneaking to the nearest 
 subway station every morning and going up-town 
 to make the start for the day. Here he would enter 
 the Vathek s lobby, solemnly fee a boy, buy a cigar, 
 and rejoin Waddy in the street. This, he explained, 
 was to get the proper psychological aura for finan 
 cial operations; to complete which he took an elec 
 tric hansom to Wall Street, and awaited in the ante 
 room of a friend s office the appearance of Mr. 
 Waddy, who came by car, scrutinizing the buildings 
 like a prospective buyer. Yet they got along swim 
 mingly. 
 
 Mr. Craighead had advertised for people able to 
 organize a rapid business campaign covering the 
 civilized world to meet him in West Twenty-third 
 Street at the studio of an acquaintance, to whom he
 
 232 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 had neglected to impart any knowledge of the tryst 
 with the specialists. Waddy and Craighead arrived 
 somewhat late, on account of the time consumed in 
 adjusting Mr. Craighead s aura, and found a crush 
 of people entirely alien to the fine arts, filling the 
 studio and the hall outside. Craighead s sculptor 
 friend, with a lady model, escaped the angry mob 
 into the scaffolding of an equestrian group repre 
 senting an Indian maiden in a stampede of buf 
 faloes. The model had been posing for something 
 an Indian maiden, perhaps and had feathers in 
 her hair. The sculptor was disputing acrimoniously 
 with a Roman-nosed captain of industry, who wore 
 sandals and no waistcoat, as to whether he would or 
 would not contribute a nickel with which to free 
 the telephone for the purpose of calling the police 
 that he might be "pinched" for putting in "them 
 ads." 
 
 Craighead broke through by impersonating an 
 officer, shouting, "Make way for the police!" and 
 upper-cutting the crowd with his elbows. 
 
 "Hello, De Land !" said he, nodding to the sculp 
 tor. "Most beauteous princess of the Apaches, 
 how?" 
 
 "That you, Craig?" called down the sculptor. 
 "What, not sober? Go after the police. Turn these 
 people out, please, Craig!" 
 
 "Friends of mine," said Craighead. "I adver-
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 233 
 
 tised for em. Hope you haven t been incommoded, 
 old man!" 
 
 "Not at all!" replied the sculptor sarcastically. 
 "But get them out, so Miss Brown and I can 
 descend." 
 
 Craighead s manner of disposing of the crowd 
 commanded Mr. Waddy s sincere respect He went 
 about with marvelous rapidity, sending away those 
 whose non-utility was unquestionable, and making 
 engagements with others at "our Wall Street office," 
 the name of which made everybody more respectful, 
 save a lady in goggles, who demanded damages for 
 having been detained forcibly in a disreputable 
 place, the character of which she proved by putting 
 in evidence Miss Brown and certain studies in the 
 nude. Mr. Craighead cowed her by a lecture on 
 the difference between the naked and the nude, 
 which so horrified the lady that when he asked 
 Miss Brown to illustrate certain points which were 
 obscure in the abstract, she dashed off her goggles 
 to shut out the awful sight and fled screaming. 
 
 The dinner to which Mr. Craighead took Mr. De 
 Land, Miss Brown, and Mr. Waddy, was the first of 
 a series which reduced Mr. Waddy to torpor. The 
 old gentleman, in his long frock-coat, which buttoned 
 to a surtout, his frowzy face, and his evident attach 
 ment to Mr. Craighead, was remembered in certain 
 ultra- Bohemian circles for his surreptitious slinking
 
 234 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 into the dimmest corners of cafes and roof gardens. 
 He had a dark secret, Mr. Craighead said; which, 
 he did not explain, originated in Mr. Waddy s 
 agreement with the lady in goggles that the whole 
 situation was improper. He felt obliged to keep 
 with Craighead because of a suspicion that the 
 aeronef was a figment of two Slattery Institute im 
 aginations; and he did not purpose to let any guilty 
 man escape. So he providently engaged a detective 
 to shadow both himself and Mr. Craighead, the un 
 remitting presence of whom in very plain clothes 
 made Mr. Waddy feel and look guilty and fugitive. 
 Mr. Kostomolasky, an artist, sketched him one mid 
 night as a symbolic figure of Blue Funk, on the back 
 of an engraving which he tore from its frame, and 
 which Mr. Waddy bought at the suggestion of the 
 almond-eyed management of the chop suey estab 
 lishment. 
 
 His second reason for becoming Mr. Craighead s 
 double was his sense of duty of preventing that 
 pupil of Doctor Witherspoon from breaking the vow 
 of abstinence. So he drank most of the intoxicants 
 served to Craighead, somewhat to the injury of his 
 health, but much to the betterment of his reputa 
 tion as a roysterer. Altogether, it was a relief to 
 get Craighead home, where he installed him as a 
 lodger and boarder, charging him well for his ac 
 commodation, and lending him the money on his
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 235 
 
 note to pay for it. On arrival he went to bed and 
 turned Craighead over to Mrs. Graybill, with strict 
 injunctions to telephone the sheriff s office if he was 
 unaccounted for for more than an hour. He told 
 his daughter that no tongue could describe what he 
 had been through, what with sculptors and models, 
 and outlandish suppers toward morning, and wine 
 and women and song. He was not to be disturbed 
 except for something important. 
 
 "If Mr. Carson comes," said Mrs. Graybill, "I ll 
 call you." 
 
 "And if Craighead slopes?" 
 
 "While in my charge," said Mrs. Graybill, "Mr. 
 Craighead will not depart." 
 
 It was a situation with some unique aspects. Mr. 
 Craighead began whiling away time with a work on 
 the Morphology of the Crawfish, and dips into De 
 Quincey s Spanish Nun. Looking from the library 
 window, he saw Mrs. Graybill enter a summer- 
 house, leaving a red hat on the railing outside. 
 
 The Morphology grew uninteresting. He shut 
 his eyes, but the red hat blazed on inside his eye 
 lids red, yellow, green and finally purple. Craig- 
 head stepped from the window, scanned the skies for 
 the aeronef, saw nothing aeronautical save the usual 
 flight of aerostats, went into the summer-house, and 
 started at finding Mrs. Graybill there, her hair 
 tousled about her head, her little nose elevated in
 
 236 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 that comical resemblance to her father s, her chin 
 aggressively carried forward, her dress fitting as 
 marvelously as ever. 
 
 "Don t insist on my going," he begged. 
 
 "I had no such intention," she replied. "You 
 may smoke, if you wish." 
 
 "Thank you," and he lighted a cigar. "Mr. 
 Waddy informs me that the late Mr. Graybill was 
 a minister of the gospel," he ventured. 
 
 "Yes," she replied, "he was." 
 
 "And that he has been called," Craighead went 
 on, "to a better life, a year or more?" 
 
 "Fourteen months," answered Mrs. Graybill. 
 
 "I have been reading," said Craighead, "a work 
 on the Morphology of the Crawfish. It holds me 
 enthralled." 
 
 "So I see," she replied. 
 
 Craighead looked up suspiciously, but she looked 
 so innocent! 
 
 "The crawfish," he resumed, "is admirably 
 adapted to a very lowly station; but how wonder 
 fully his morphology illustrates the overruling 
 design in nature. The person who fails to glean 
 wisdom from the crawfish has never tested his 
 intelligence with a bare toe, nor studied Ms mor 
 phology! Passing wonderful " 
 
 "Mr. Craighead!"
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 237 
 
 Mrs. Graybill had dropped her work and looked 
 at Craighead sternly. 
 
 "Don t pose !" said she. "Don t think that I want 
 a beautiful lesson in everything, if I have been a 
 minister s wife. Tell me of Mr. De Land, and 
 and Sadie Brown, and Mr. Kostomolasky and the 
 chop suey, and and that life. Tell me, Mr. Craig- 
 head!" 
 
 It was a very, very marine Bohemia of which 
 Mrs. Graybill heard, I fear. Whether Mr. Craig- 
 head s statues were the equal of De Land s when the 
 former took up chemistry may be doubted ; but Mrs. 
 Graybill got the impression that they were. The 
 point here is that there was no danger of Craig- 
 head s running off while she listened with such 
 breathless interest to his adventures. He explained 
 his natural transition from the study of artistic an 
 atomy to surgery, and then through medical juris 
 prudence to law; and over all gloomed the shadow 
 of his wonderful, his poetic, his epic dissipations. 
 Mrs. Graybill was shocked, but she asked for all the 
 horrible tale, that he might so relive it that nothing 
 would ever, ever induce him to drink again. 
 
 "Only one thing would ever do that," said he, 
 "or maybe two. The pangs of despised love " 
 
 "Which you have never experienced ?" she asked. 
 
 "Never," said he, "as I am now likely to !"
 
 238 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "And the other shock that might overturn your 
 self-control?" 
 
 "The failure of Carson," replied Craighead. 
 "That would put me down and out down and out !" 
 
 The jailer and the jailed walked together, mo 
 tored, and played tennis, in growing familiarity and 
 friendliness. The captive approached the edge of 
 love-making, looked hungry and yearnful, secreted 
 gloves and handkerchiefs, and interfered seriously 
 with Caroline s household duties; all borne by her 
 with an equanimity that spoke volumes for her loy 
 alty to the commands under which she had taken 
 this strange gentleman into custody. She was a 
 very dutiful daughter. 
 
 But the relations of Craighead to Mr. Waddy be 
 came more and more strained. Theodore Carson, 
 long overdue, had not appeared. No great bird 
 came into view by day; no mechanical dragon-fly 
 settled in the yard by night. Mr. Waddy was iras 
 cible. The Nitrates Company had already spread 
 its nets over many states, through confidential rela 
 tions of its agents with the National Federation of 
 Farmers, spinning aerial monopoly as a spider spins 
 its web ; but the more promising this grew, the more 
 galled and embittered grew Mr. Waddy at Theo 
 dore s delinquency; for the aeronef, after all, was 
 the thing which had appealed to his imagination 
 and enlisted his desires.
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 239 
 
 "OH, never fear," Mr. Craighead protested. 
 "He ll be here in time. Delays, delays, Mr. Waddy. 
 Think of the spark plugs, the differentials, and 
 mufflers and things. Why, just imagine " 
 
 "Huh!" snorted Mr. Waddy. "I don t b lieve 
 you know a thing about it." 
 
 "Sir," said Craighead, "this amounts to an impu 
 tation upon my pledge that the aeronef is a per 
 fected and certain success an imputation unworthy 
 of you, sir, until I have had a chance to put the 
 thing to proof, or you have shown its immateriality. 
 This is unjust, sir!" 
 
 "All right," said the old gentleman. "We ll go 
 an find the dumbed thing. Start to-morrow morn 
 ing." 
 
 "Certainly," said Craighead, in no apparent em 
 barrassment. "With all the world, if you like." 
 
 "Very well," said Mrs. Graybill, "that includes 
 me." 
 
 "AK, no!" rejoined Craighead, "you include it!" 
 
 Mrs. Graybill s glance said that he surely didn t 
 mean it, that it was ridiculous nonsense, that all 
 such things were absurd, from the degenerate, if 
 interesting, Craighead to the relict of the Reverend 
 Mr. Graybill ; that she could never look upon Craig- 
 head in any such light, but that if he would feel so, 
 she couldn t help it; but her lips said merely that 
 she had much to do to be ready in the morning.
 
 240 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Thus it was that the three were at Palmetto Beach 
 when Captain Harrod with the launch passed 
 through Strong s Bayou with Virginia and Mrs. 
 Stott on the way to the cabin where the first Carson 
 aeronef was preparing for its delayed flight north. 
 People may draw their own conclusions as to the 
 significance of Mr. Craighead s questioning of ora 
 cles, daisy-petal-fashion, by the buttons on Mrs. 
 Graybill s incurved back, and of his punishment by 
 that slight box on the ear; but, however he stood 
 with Mrs. Graybill, his relations with Mr. Waddy 
 had worsened. Tickets had been bought to Pal 
 metto Beach on Craighead s statement that Carson 
 was here; and the party had disembarked, in glum 
 silence on Mr. Waddy s part, nervous loquacity on 
 Craighead s, and anxious endeavor on Mrs. Gray- 
 bill s to smooth things over. 
 
 "Ah," said Craighead. "How natural it all looks ! 
 I seem never to have left these balmy, if somewhat 
 sandy shades. Dear old Yupon Hedge Inn !" 
 
 Mr. Craighead was halted by a liveried atten 
 dant. 
 
 "Beg pardon, sir," said he. "This is a private 
 club-house. The Inn s over there!" 
 
 "Oh, certainly," replied Craighead. "All cement 
 walks look alike to me." 
 
 "The one over at the Inn looks like brick," said 
 Mr. Waddy grimly.
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 241 
 
 "Oh, see the magnolia blooms !" cried Mrs. Gray- 
 bill. "I wonder if we can get any?" 
 
 "Right after dinner," replied Craighead, "I ll go 
 back into the wood " 
 
 "I guess not," said Mr. Waddy, still more grimly. 
 "Find Carson first." 
 
 "That, my dear sir," answered Craighead jaun 
 tily, "can await the morning. Mrs. Graybill s desire 
 to see the points of interest, and " 
 
 "No, papa," said Mrs. Graybill, with a nervous 
 little laugh, "I shall not stir till I ve seen every 
 thing." 
 
 "Angel !" whispered Craighead, pressing her arm, 
 as he helped her up the steps. "Keep him busy 
 while I take a hike around." 
 
 Certain observant guests were interested a little 
 later in seeing a slender man with a voluminous 
 scarf slinking alongshore, anxiously questioning 
 every waterside character he met, and bestowing 
 tips at parting. They were mystified when the short 
 old gentleman, with the wild and turbulent beard, 
 set out on a frenzied hare-and-hounds chase after 
 him. The mystery and interest grew intense, when 
 the cheerful-looking widow, who was clearly the old 
 gentleman s daughter, emerged in unimpeachable 
 walking costume, overtook the young man by a short 
 cut, and was strolling along discussing hermit-crabs 
 with him when the old gentleman hove in sight,
 
 242 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 slackened his speed, and overtook them at a leisurely 
 pace quite out of keeping with his heat, perspiration 
 and shortness of breath. The theory was suggested 
 that the young man was off his head, and trying 
 the sea air, while his keepers saw to it that he did 
 not cut his throat with an oyster shell. 
 
 "I discover," said Mr. Craighead, as they walked 
 back to the hotel, "that our young conqueror of the 
 upper seas is not here. Confoundedly odd of him 
 to remove to his plantation, now! Mechanical 
 reasons, eh, Mr. Waddy?" 
 
 "I guess so," said Mr. Waddy; "an* o course you 
 don t know where the plantation is, an we ll have to 
 wait some more ! Hey ?" 
 
 "Papa!" 
 
 "Don t know?" said Craighead. "Don t know? 
 Well, wait till morning. Steamer up Fish River at 
 nine plantation at noon long chase over. I fear 
 one thing, only : that he has completed the aeronef, 
 and flown north to keep his tryst on the front lawn. 
 That would amount to something like a complete 
 joke, wouldn t it?" 
 
 "Huh !" grunted Waddy. "Don t worry ; you bet 
 I he ain t flew none." 
 
 If Craighead s easy flow of speech was somewhat 
 impeded by his sense of the uncertainties, not to 
 say dangers, of his position, it was worse when they 
 returned from the plantation, having elicited from
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY, 243 
 
 the reluctant Chloe the information that Mr. Theo 
 dore, his machine, his niece, and his niece s com 
 panion, were at Harrod s camp on the beach, which 
 was "off thatterway." They jist went down the 
 river, through a canal, across some land, and then 
 they were thar. She didn t know about no aero- 
 nef, but Mr. Theodo was a-projickin around with 
 some flyin -machine. She reckoned the canal at 
 Palmetto Beach was the one; but she didn t know. 
 This information, Mr. Craighead declared, made 
 everything clear; but on returning to the Inn, Mr. 
 Waddy hired a local officer to guard Mr. Craig- 
 head s room, and began taking thought of having a 
 warrant issued against him for something Mr. 
 Waddy was not quite clear for what. 
 
 Craighead was trapped, lost, betrayed. He sat 
 in his room chewing a cigar, and calculating the 
 distance to the ground. It looked feasible to get 
 down a pillar of the veranda and into the woods. 
 Carson was an impostor, they were guilty of fraud, 
 there was no aeronef, and the Air Products Com 
 pany would collapse at Mr. Waddy s defection. 
 Life might be sustained on shell-fish alongshore, 
 though the hermit-crabs were not tempting. Lift 
 ing the sash softly, he put out a foot, determined to 
 run for it. His bluff had been called, and he had no 
 cards. He had put too much realism into his de 
 scription of things down here. Nothing was to be
 
 244 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 gained by awaiting arrest. The world was wide. 
 The weather was warm. His foot touched the roof, 
 when 
 
 Ting-a-ling-ting-ting-g-g-g ! 
 
 His telephone rang. Was his good angel on the 
 wire? She was. 
 
 "Is this you, Mr. Craighead? You know who 
 this is?" 
 
 "Know these tones?" he gushed. "Why, were I 
 in deepest hades, through geological depths of burn 
 ing marl and lignite, and other carboniferous de 
 posits, I d know them! What is it, fair one?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing! Only I have just learned at the 
 post-office that Mr. Carson is back a few miles, 
 through a canal and a lagoon and winding passages ; 
 and the man will get us a guide with a boat to take 
 us through those narrows in the morning. Is that 
 all right or have I made a mess of it as a woman 
 always does?" 
 
 "You are my God, Caroline, you have saved 
 me from you know not what ! I shall love you, love 
 you, love you " 
 
 And the telephone was hung up. 
 
 Morning saw Craighead himself again : so much 
 so that he lectured Mr. Waddy on the old kitchen- 
 midden shell banks. 
 
 "These piles of shells," said he, "are neither In 
 dian remains, in the ordinary signification of the
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 245 
 
 term Indian, nor Aztec, in the proper sense of that. 
 I have made a specialty of these things. They 
 are" 
 
 "The boat is waitin , suh," said the man with the 
 launch. 
 
 They went through the canal in great style, 
 Craighead descanting on the influence of canals in 
 general, and this one especially. It was Craighead 
 who leaped out, pushed the launch through a tight 
 squeeze in the narrows, and leaped in like a track- 
 meet man, rilled Mrs. Graybill s lap with lilies, and 
 tried unsuccessfully to engage her in conversation 
 she being unusually pensive. He was the life of the 
 party once more. Fate smiled ; the cards again ran 
 his way, and all was well save for the Graybill 
 pensiveness. Perhaps his declaration over the wire 
 but pshaw ! She had saved him, and the logic of 
 their lives was plain. 
 
 They skimmed the black waters of Freshwater 
 Lake, and landed at the shelly hummock. While the 
 boatman searched for the path to the Gulf Beach, 
 they sat on the shell mound, fascinated by the 
 strange landscape. The expanse of black pools and 
 reedy marshes between them and the line of surf, 
 which they could hear roaring beyond the dunes, 
 was dotted with clumps of tall pines, and splotched 
 with scrub-oak thickets. 
 
 "Those pines," said Mrs. Graybill, "are like palms
 
 246 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 on coral islands, so tall, so slender, and why, 
 what s that?" 
 
 Well might she speak thus; for, rising from be 
 yond the dunes, as if from the sea, there soared a 
 great something which moved like a bird. With 
 enormous wings steadily outstretched, it made in 
 land, like a foraging hawk. It swelled like a magic 
 ship as it neared them, sailing low and dominating 
 the sky like a cloud. It came with the most amazing 
 speed, like an eagle in mid-swoop, so swift, so light, 
 so facile that all impression of weight was abolished, 
 and the huge thing filled the mind with the notion 
 of levity like a humming-bird. It swerved, as it 
 neared the lake, and sheered round as swings a gull 
 to pick up food. The whir of machinery came 
 down to them like the rush of a thousand quail 
 bursting from covert; as, with a wide graceful 
 curve, it departed as suddenly as it had come, leav 
 ing them gazing after it, spellbound, almost struck 
 dumb. 
 
 "Oh, of course," said Craighead, his hands trem 
 bling, his face white, "this man Carson is a fraud ! 
 Oh, yes, we knew it all the time ! But you see that 
 his aeronef has gone through the empty form of 
 eventuating all the same. Flying like a frigate 
 bird! Shayne, charge! Roll over, Silberberg! 
 And don t dare move till I say so ! Oh, this is rot 
 ten, rotten! I ve got to kiss some one! Hooray! *
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 247 
 
 Mrs. Graybill was running along the path after 
 the guide, who was straining every nerve to attain 
 the beach where the view would be unimpeded. 
 Craighead ran after her, Mr. Waddy puffing along 
 behind, hopelessly unplaced. 
 
 "Did you see Carson?" said Craighead. "And 
 there was a girl with him. Some confidence, to risk 
 a lady on board, not?" 
 
 "Oh, let us hurry !" said she. "It s the most mar 
 velous thing in the world." 
 
 Emerging from the dunes, they saw the air-ship 
 skimming off along the line of beach foam, growing 
 smaller with a rapidity that spoke eloquently of her 
 speed. Down the beach stood Mrs. Stott and Cap 
 tain Harrod, looking after the air-ship in amaze 
 ment and delight. It was the day of the first trial. 
 The prophecy of the night before was fulfilled. 
 They "had her in the air." 
 
 Perhaps two miles she sped from them, then 
 turning like a frightened heron, she swept seaward 
 about to the line of the outer bar, and came down 
 the wind like an arrow, Virginia waving an Amer 
 ican flag over the rail, and Theodore swinging his 
 hat. In all three groups was joy. The wonderful 
 creation of Carson s genius was a-wing, as he had 
 promised, her every movement under perfect con 
 trol. 
 
 Suddenly, as she passed them, with a manoeuver
 
 248 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 so astounding for aerial craft that they could 
 scarcely believe their eyes, she stopped. The sharp 
 whir of the beating wing sections told of the sud 
 den reversal of their stroke, and of the unprece 
 dented phenomenon of the almost instant arrest of 
 such a machine in mid air. It was an unnecessary 
 strain, thought the captain Theodore ought not to 
 have done it 
 
 He saw the reason, however, a moment later. A 
 black slimy nose the nose of the Stickleback 
 poked itself above water right ahead of the Vir 
 ginia. A boat that looked stove and sinking, drew 
 away from her, with a struggling, gesticulating fig 
 ure in it waving a signal of distress. The slimy 
 nose sank; and the apparent castaway was left as 
 if to perish, unless rescued by the Virginia. 
 
 Accepting the humane task, she reversed with 
 that boiling whir that had reached the ears of those 
 on land. Lower, lower, lower sank the aeronef, 
 until its car appeared almost to touch the waves. 
 The man in distress seemed to throw something 
 like a lasso over the nacelle of the air-ship; and 
 the great bird rose slightly, as if to be safe from the 
 billows. The Stickleback again peeped above the 
 waves, her manhole opened, the castaway of the 
 stove boat went down into the submarine. 
 
 It was absolutely beyond the power of any one 
 looking on to guess what was taking place. Why
 
 MR. CRAIGHEAD IN CUSTODY 249 
 
 had the man made the signals for help, if the sub 
 marine was standing by? If the coming of the sub 
 marine to his rescue was unexpected, why had he 
 not cast off the line from the aeronef ? Why and 
 suddenly they all felt that something sinister, some 
 thing devilish, was taking place. They heard a 
 shout from Theodore, a scream from Virginia. The 
 submarine had come awash again; and from her 
 open manhole came the crack of a pistol a pistol 
 aimed at the air-ship. Then she sank again and the 
 air-ship was drawn downward by the line. Strug 
 gling toward land, hanging by the fatal thread, like 
 a trapped bird, she strained at her tether, while the 
 grim submarine, like a devil-fish which had thrown 
 a tentacle about a water-fowl, made seaward, out 
 into the Gulf, out into deep water, with a purpose 
 as manifest as it was deadly.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 
 
 WHEN the aeronef was run out on her 
 ways by the long shed in which she 
 had been built, there was a flutter of 
 expectancy among those so deeply concerned in her 
 flight. Captain Harrod forgot his periodical visits 
 to the hillock to scan the offing for the erect peri 
 scope or the fishlike back of the mysterious lurking 
 submarine, which, like a shark awaiting the drop 
 ping overboard of man or other morsel, had haunted 
 these waters since the day Wizner had been driven 
 from the camp as a spy. The captain was a moving 
 kit of oil-cans, wrenches, spanners, extra parts, odd 
 cells of battery, plugs, screws and the like, which 
 in his excitement he kept carrying about long after 
 the machine was ready for her flight. 
 
 Mrs. Stott excitedly took repeated snapshots at 
 the Psyche, and from time to time noted down her 
 thoughts on this crisis in history with a stylographic 
 pen, with which she made careful carbon copies, the 
 usefulness of which was impaired by their being on 
 
 250
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 251 
 
 the backs of the originals, on account of Mrs. Stott S 
 having agitatedly reversed her carbon sheets. 
 
 Virginia was a close second to the captain iri the 
 matter of aiding the inventor, whose conscience was 
 therefore more tender for the sin of having assumed 
 on very small justification the relation of uncle to 
 his Psyche, thrown under his protection by a per 
 verse fate. She called him "uncle" with a fre 
 quency that assumed an insistence on the avuncular 
 relationship; in memory maybe of the tumultuous 
 disturbance of atmosphere and heart-beats at the in 
 door trial of the aeronef. She moved levers, tried 
 sparks, and made herself useful about the machine 
 in so many ways that Theodore promoted her to 
 the position of first mate on the spot 
 
 "The first mate always sails with the ship, uncle," 
 she suggested. 
 
 "I thought you had had enough of aeronefs," said 
 Theodore, "in the wreck of Wizner s helicopter. 
 Please throw in the gyroscope gear. Thank you. 
 Don t they spin beautifully?" 
 
 "But that was only what Captain Harrod calls 
 a chickananny thing. This is as stable as the Roc 
 herself." 
 
 "Would you really go on the trial trip?" he asked. 
 
 "Try me," said she; "I want to." 
 
 "You d be worth a dozen of the captain," replied 
 Carson. "He hasn t the faintest idea of the prin-
 
 a* 2 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ciples of the Virginia, while you could fly her in 
 a week." 
 
 "I could now," asserted Virginia. "The Virginia 
 is a simple, manageable little thing, like her name 
 sake." 
 
 "If she shows all her namesake s sweet traits ," 
 began Theodore. 
 
 "Then I m to go?" 
 
 "Captain," cried Theodore, "here s a girl that 
 wants to ship as first mate." 
 
 "Yes, suh?" 
 
 "Well," went on Theodore, "she will not be al 
 lowed to displace you. Make sail, Captain; we re 
 going!" 
 
 "Did did did you allow fo me fo me to 
 go?" asked the captain. 
 
 "Why, certainly," replied Carson. "Didn t you 
 expect to go ?" 
 
 "No, suh," replied the captain. "Ah neve al 
 lowed to go on any o these aiah-boats. Of co se, 
 ef you-all insists, Ah ll go aboa d ontil Ah fall out, 
 which ll be about fo fathom high. Ah git dizzy- 
 like, an can t he p it. Howseve hyah goes !" 
 
 "Now you must let me go !" Virginia pleaded, 
 with her hand on his arm. "If the captain gets 
 dizzy " 
 
 "Blin , staggerin , drunk dizzy, Ah do," inter 
 posed Captain Harrod.
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 253 
 
 "It would be dangerous and foolish to take him, 
 wouldn t it, uncle?" 
 
 Theodore hesitated. The weakness of height- 
 sickness and the horrible vertigo of those subject 
 to it seemed to prove the captain s disability, and 
 yet 
 
 "It would be foolhardy," said he. "Well, I can 
 do it alone, if everything goes well. A little help 
 might be important, but I " 
 
 "I m going, uncle," said Virginia. "There s no 
 danger. I like it. Think of my thousands of miles 
 in the Roc." 
 
 "I can t consent to it," said Theodore, entering 
 the car. "There s a grave theoretical danger. I 
 should be blamed " 
 
 But Virginia was seated beside him, wearing a 
 dress of soft white wool, a close-fitting little cap on 
 her head, and carrying a jacket over her arm. Evi 
 dently she had come out with the full intention of 
 doing this. 
 
 "My danger is theoretical," said she. "Yours in 
 going alone is quite real. Now, shall I keep the 
 manometer readings ? Oh, you haven t any ! Well, 
 then, the altimeter-statoscope?" 
 
 "It s self -registering," said Theodore. "Really, 
 there s nothing to do, except in emergencies, and " 
 
 "And there ll be no emergencies," she cried. 
 "Throw in the clutch, Admiral of the Circumambi-
 
 254 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ent Inane! You do the work, and I ll play lady! 
 We re off!" 
 
 "Are you willing," said he, turning to her, "to 
 forgive me, for this, and everything I may ever 
 have done, whatever happens?" 
 
 "Whatever happens, or doesn t happen, I forgive 
 you," she cried, "Throw in the clutch before the 
 gyroscopes stop, and the Virginia gets brain-fag 
 or shall I?" 
 
 "Just for luck," said Theodore, "you throw it 
 
 in." 
 
 She threw over the lever rather too far and 
 the wing-sections started like forty thousand boys 
 <( buzzes." A storm of sand roared back from under 
 the wings, powdering Mrs. Stott s dress, and forcing 
 her to turn her back to the tempest. The deafening 
 howl, as of many winds, lessened as the big bird 
 rose perpendicularly from the ways, and fanned the 
 ground no more. Theodore turned on a little more 
 speed, put the rudders aport to bring her head to 
 the light seaward wind, and, as she mounted higher 
 and higher, he tried her control. He pushed over 
 the lever that determined the thrust of the driving 
 blades, and she shot in over the dunes like a wild 
 thing until he headed her back for the Gulf. Well 
 inside the bar, so that an overturn might not mean 
 a drowning, he circled about in a wide curve, which 
 he gradually narrowed by a more extreme use of the
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 255 
 
 helm, until she was spinning round and round in an 
 orbit, in which the tips of the inner wings were 
 almost stationary and "treading" air like a pausing 
 swimmer. 
 
 "That tests out the balancing device!" shouted 
 Theodore. "How s that?" 
 
 "Aye, aye, sir!" said Virginia. "That do sure 
 test out the balancing device. And if you let her 
 chase her tail like this much longer I m going to 
 be indisposed. Please whirl her the other way a 
 while, unkie." 
 
 All fear, all uneasiness even, had gone from The 
 odore s mind. He felt the subjection of the machine 
 as a horseman feels the obedience of his steed. He 
 had much to learn of her navigating qualities; but 
 the thing which all aeronefs had required the mas 
 tery of balancing he had not to learn. The gyro 
 scopic brain in the glass globe saved him this. To 
 every perturbation the machine presented the resist 
 ance and correction of the automatic differentials of 
 the wings. The powerful eight-cylinder engines 
 purred with an almost perfect freedom from vibra 
 tion, one to each wing, each at the safhe flofmal 
 speed; but to meet the least lowering of any part, 
 the little gyroscopes spun in constant readiness to 
 give to the depressed area the advantage in speed 
 which the operator could riot impart if he chose, 
 and to shift the rudders, as a fish its fins.
 
 2$6 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Please walk about the deck," commanded Theo 
 dore. "See how the rudders pulsate, like a butter 
 fly s wings, as you go back and forth. See it, see 
 it ! It looks alive !" 
 
 Virginia walked up to her commander and took 
 his hand. 
 
 "From the bottom of my heart," said she, "I con 
 gratulate you. You are a great man, Theodoje 
 Carson." 
 
 "Thank you, my dearest," said Theodore, lifting 
 her hand to his lips. "It is all yours, you know, 
 yours !" 
 
 Virginia withdrew her hand and walked forward. 
 They were flying higher now, and she could see the 
 pine woods far inland, with their square patches of 
 plowed fields, their white houses behind the great 
 green globes of the china trees. The Freshwater 
 Lakes lay almost under their feet, one beyond the 
 other like a string of beads ; and all about them was 
 the immense marsh, the haunt of water-fowl and 
 alligator, mottled with pools picked out in white 
 with lilies. To the west lay the blue waters of the 
 Lagoon, its farther beach a dozen miles away, lost 
 in amethystine haze, its nearer foreshore glimmer 
 ing with columned villas and hotels, its surface 
 dotted with the sails of yachts and laced with the 
 wakes of popping motor boats. Over the land be 
 yond glimmered the waters of Mobile Bay. The
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 357 
 
 i 
 
 mooring balloon at Fort Morgan was almost lost in 
 the white haze of spray from the twenty miles of 
 breaking combers, and the Sand Island light split 
 the far western horizon like a spike driven up 
 through from below to hold the Gulf in place. The 
 sun blazed overhead, but the breeze was cool ; and 
 the Virginia cut through it so swiftly that, except 
 in the protected lee of the wedge-shaped wind 
 shields, she was swept from bow to stern by some 
 thing like half a gale. Far over the northwest 
 soared a great aeronat, silver-white as if covered 
 with tinfoil. 
 
 "I wonder if that isn t the Roc?" queried Vir 
 ginia. 
 
 Theodore was too busy with his levers and wheels, 
 to look. 
 
 "If it is," said he, "and she comes about this 
 place, we ll show her what real aviation is. What s 
 that over on the Freshwater Lake? A party?" 
 
 "There s a launch," replied Virginia, "and three 
 men and a woman coming across to our beach." 
 
 "Excursionists, probably," answered Theodore. 
 "Let s give them something to remember !" 
 
 It was now that the Virginia made her swift 
 swoop across the isthmus to the lake, hovered over 
 the heads of Craighead and his companions, and 
 bore off to the eastward like a homing pigeon. 
 Those on the ship could not recognize their newly
 
 258 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 arrived friends, nor hear Craighead s wild shout of 
 triumph. They were far down toward Perdido 
 Bay, flying like a driven leaf, Virginia gazing at 
 Carson with something like fear in the admiration 
 which now possessed her, as he tried every combina 
 tion of factors in flight which he could conjure up. 
 
 He turned and surprised her look; she bore de 
 tection calmly, but with some heightening of color. 
 
 "She s as near perfect as a machine can be," said 
 he; "more nearly so than I ever hoped. You see, 
 I ve had so much time to work things out while I 
 was waiting for the money. .You don t know what 
 this means to me, Psyche." 
 
 "I believe I can partly guess," said she. "Money 
 that s something " 
 
 "But an uncertainty," observed Theodore. "The 
 power of the Shayne people may ruin me, commer 
 cially." 
 
 "Maybe," said she, after living with the Shaynes 
 as I did, I can understand that better than you can. 
 But they can t take from you the glory of achiev 
 ing what the race has been trying so long, and 
 dreaming of so much longer. You re a great man, 
 uncle ! That s the real thing." 
 
 "It was," said he, "but it isn t now. Can t you 
 understand, mate, that there may be some one living 
 whose approval means more than any fame? I 
 want you to."
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 259 
 
 Now, there is nothing in the word "mate," ap 
 plied to the second in command, that need call the 
 blush to the cheek, ordinarily speaking; but when 
 the word is uttered in the most meaning way, and 
 emphasized by a long look into the mate s eyes out 
 of two languishing orbs that speak odes and sonnets 
 and rondeaus, a young person, however experienced 
 in the ways of eyes and voices, may possibly blush. 
 If she does, she may turn her eyes downward ; and, 
 if looking over the rail of the air-ship, she may see 
 any extraordinary thing below, and make a diver 
 sion by calling attention to it. 
 
 "Oh, look, look! said Virginia. "There s some 
 one in the water!" 
 
 Below floated the half-collapsed and sinking go- 
 devil of a submarine. Beside it lay a great blotch 
 of darkness, so symmetrical that Theodore was im 
 pressed with the sudden idea that it was a subma 
 rine rather than a patch of dark sand. A man on 
 the derelict was struggling, shouting, and waving a 
 white cloth as if in distress. If he could not swim, 
 he was doomed. Theodore s eyes flashed. Here 
 was a test of the Virginia for which he had laid no 
 plans, and he welcomed it. He reversed the thrust 
 of the wing propellers ; and in an instant they were 
 fighting the air with all the power of the mighty 
 engines. The passengers felt their bodies sway for 
 ward with the momentum, as the Virginia slowed
 
 260 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 up, halted, and moved astern; and as accurately as 
 if he had had years of practice, Carson brought 
 her to, over the struggling man, and lowered her 
 slowly, slowly, toward the swells which rose to meet 
 her, until the line thrown over by Carson dabbled 
 in the water by the castaway s side. 
 
 "Can you climb up?" cried Theodore. "I don t 
 dare come much lower." 
 
 "For Christ s sake," called the man, "bring her 
 down a foot or so ! I m too weak to climb !" 
 
 "Cheer up!" called Theodore. "It s risky, but 
 I ll try." 
 
 The man, who looked downward from weak 
 ness, or as if to conceal his features, was appar 
 ently in great distress, and in terror from the fact 
 that his collapsible skiff was half deflated, as if 
 by the bursting of her air-chambers. If he was to 
 be saved there was no time to be lost; so thought 
 Carson as he depressed the Virginia more and more, 
 holding her stationary by a slight windward thrust 
 of the wing-blades, like a swimmer who meets the 
 current by a down-stream kick, a feat quite beyond 
 the power of any other air-ship ; and speaking to the 
 man in the water, as well as to him in the air, the 
 triumphant success of the new machine. Wizner 
 set his teeth in a fierce determination to put both 
 man and ship out of the field at once. The thing 
 became immense to him, swelling, as the astounding
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 261 
 
 behavior of the Virginia grew upon him. He was 
 the sole custodian of the secret of her construction, 
 save for Carson. If he could drown her, and master 
 the secret of the glass globe, he could rebuild her, 
 make his terms with Shayne, be the greatest in his 
 line. 
 
 The lower works of the air-ship descended almost 
 to his head, and Wizner, glancing upward, saw Vir 
 ginia looking down and singing out their aerial 
 "soundings" to Carson. The swell lifted Wizner as 
 the Virginia sank to her lowest; and he seized the 
 nacelle with fierce energy, drew himself up into the 
 truss-work, threaded a steel chain through an open 
 ing in the structure, and dropped back into the water 
 holding the chain in his hand. It ran around the 
 aluminum beam with a sharp, rasping, startling 
 rattle. 
 
 "He s fallen in !" cried Virginia. "He climbed up 
 under, and fell off ! Oh, he ll drown, he ll drown !" 
 
 Theodore looked over the side. A small double 
 chain ran down from the air-ship, its ends moving 
 about in a most mystifying manner in the sea. And 
 as he looked in astonishment, the dark blotch of 
 sand rose to the surface, and defined itself as the 
 rounded top of the Stickleback, on the black hull of 
 which sat Wizner blowing brine from his mouth, his 
 head shining with water. The manhole opened, 
 Wizner snapped the chain into a ring, slipped into
 
 262 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the submarine, and reappeared with something small 
 and flat in his hand. 
 
 "I ll fix you, you damned whelp !" he yelled. "I ll 
 show you what it means to choke me ! Take that !" 
 
 He aimed at Carson, fired, and the bullet sang 
 away into the sky. Theodore seized Virginia in 
 his arms, and drew her down into the bottom of 
 the car, where they lay panting in each other s arms, 
 panic-stricken. 
 
 "I must put the ship out of range !" cried Carson, 
 leaping to the lever, and throwing on full speed 
 upward and ahead. 
 
 She rose like a feather for just a moment, and 
 then she swung about like a kite with its string 
 fouled, anchored by some devilish contrivance, of 
 the nature of which the bewildered Carson could not 
 guess. He stepped to the side again and looked 
 over. The Virginia hung some thirty yards above 
 the water, and straining backward and downward 
 ran the steel chain looped through her works and 
 fastened by both ends to the submarine. The harsh, 
 raucous laugh of Wiznef rose with horrid signifi 
 cance from the Stickleback s manhole, which was 
 again above water and open. 
 
 "Don t be in a hurry!" he shouted. "Stick around 
 with us a while ! We re going out where it s deep ! 
 Come in, the water s fine! Got your bathing suits? 
 If you hain t you ll have to let us lend you some.
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 263 
 
 Sorry to incommode the lady, but we re goin out 
 where that chain won t put you up so high out o 
 water. When she draws short, telephone down. 
 Don t yell, for there won t no one hear you. There 
 won t no one hear either of you again in this world, 
 except just you two. By-by! See you in Davy 
 Jones damn you!" 
 
 And with this, as if pulled down from below, the 
 man vanished into the dark interior, the manhole 
 closed, and the chain, like a line taken by some 
 titanic fish, started out to sea. The air-ship had been 
 captured by the submarine! The mechanical devil 
 fish was not running very deep; her round deck 
 rose awash sometimes ; but with the manholes closed, 
 and with no sign, save the erection of her periscope, 
 that she was more than an inert mass of steel, she 
 swam on, remorseless, silent, the evil element in a 
 battle unprecedented and undreamed of. 
 
 Still seated where Theodore had placed her, Vir 
 ginia looked at him in questioning terror. He was 
 white and horrified, but he was managing the Vir 
 ginia with a set determination, which rose with and 
 met the danger, to save her and her freight if pos 
 sible. At this moment he was depressing her in her 
 flight so as to get all possible slack in the chain, so 
 that by a sudden upward rush he might break the 
 tether. Once, twice, thrice he did this; but the 
 chain held.
 
 264 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "What is it, Theodore? What is it?" said she. 
 
 "I don t know," said he; "but I think it s the 
 end!" 
 
 He was not looking at her he was looking up 
 ward, like a man seeking for some sort of inspira 
 tion. His expression seemed to say that there was 
 work to do ; and as long as every tick of the watch 
 might make the difference between death and life, 
 he had no time for her questions. She stood look 
 ing out over the great desolate sea, and back to the 
 receding shore on which she saw a group of forms 
 the forms of their friends. Nothing could seem 
 more helpless. They were chained to their fate a 
 dark fiend of a machine that was taking them out 
 to sea, to deeps profound enough to drown them. 
 It might be an hour it might be the next moment. 
 The immitigable cruelty of the plan by which they 
 had been snared took away all hope of its abandon 
 ment by any softening of the demons who had de 
 vised it, down in that black, round hull. 
 
 Carson stood over her with a pistol in his hand. 
 She looked up in wonder, thinking of those cases in 
 which men kill the women they love, rather than 
 allow them to fall into the hands of ruffians. 
 
 "Virginia, can you shoot?" he asked. 
 
 She took the pistol with the air of one who knows 
 how to use it and nodded her head. 
 
 "I shall have to ask you to protect me," said he,
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 265 
 
 "while I try to cut that chain. They can see with 
 their periscope what I m doing, and when it is nec 
 essary they will come up into the open and fire. By 
 pulling out to sea, I can get her at an angle that will 
 force them into the open to shoot. I ll do that. 
 When the manhole opens, shoot into it. Keep them 
 back. If you should hit one of them, don t let it 
 trouble you you " 
 
 "I shall kill one of them if I can," said she. 
 "Never mind that! Tell me the things to do !" 
 
 "I shall take the pliers and a file," said he. "I 
 don t think the pliers will cut it. It will take quite 
 a while to file it. Even if I can hang on that long, 
 I may be too weak to climb back. I don t know 
 that I can do it, anyhow. You must take us back 
 to land if I cut her free." 
 
 "I will," said she. "Never fear, I can do it. I 
 know every lever." 
 
 "There s another thing," said he. "We came out 
 with only a little gas. If we go much farther, we 
 haven t enough to get ashore with. I shall have to 
 be the judge of that for you. I think I could soar 
 her in with the aeroplane set of the blades, but I 
 don t know. I think we had better fly low going 
 back, and not waste fuel in vertical lift. That takes 
 power. Keep her gliding about a hundred feet from 
 the water; but if you want the aeroplane set, this 
 is the way to fix it."
 
 266 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 With a swift movement he showed her the way 
 to manage the mechanism 1 . Then he required her to 
 tell him how to tlirh, how to rise, how to fall, how 
 to vary the speed, how to determine the thrust of 
 the blades. He lashed a pair of pliers about his neck 
 with a lanyard, thrust a couple of files into his 
 pockets, took off his boots, his coat and waistcoat, 
 pulled his little cap s visor far down over his eyes 
 to shelter them from the glare; and stepped to the 
 side. 
 
 "You may get ashore," said he> "while I may not. 
 If so, good-by, and God bless you, dearest!" 
 
 She threw her arms about his neck and kissed 
 him over and over again he felt her warm tears 
 on his lips. But he controlled himself sternly, al 
 most fiercely. 
 
 "Don t cry !" said he. "Clear your eyes, and shoot 
 straight ! Good-by !" 
 
 She stepped to the rail and looked fixedly at the 
 black shadow like a gigantic fish that represented 
 the submarine. Carson had disappeared over the 
 side, in a terrifying hand-under-hand descent, in 
 which he swung over the swelling waves, until he 
 reached the truss-work of the nacelle, where he 
 citing 1 , now, trying his pliers on the chain. The sub 
 marine seemed in no way interested, at first; but 
 presently her black shadow grew more distinct, the 
 round deck broke water; and as the manhole opened,
 
 He dropped back into the darkness Page 267
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 267 
 
 Wizner appeared and aimed at Carson, coolly, as at 
 a target Too hastily, Virginia fired; the bullet 
 struck the edge of the deck with a vicious spat. Wiz- 
 ner s pistol spoke, his bullet striking metal, flew 
 singing away, and the girl replied with the third 
 shot of this strange duel. She braced herself against 
 the rail, aimed conscientiously at the middle of the 
 mark presented by the villain below, and fired fired 
 with the curious certitude the marksman feels when 
 he is making a good shot. Wizner had just lifted 
 his arm to fire again ; but his hand fell as if struck 
 down by a giant s blow; he dropped back into the 
 darkness like a shot woodchuck, the manhole closed, 
 and the submarine went on toward deep water as 
 grimly as before. 
 
 "All right down here!" sang out Carson. "How 
 are you on deck?" 
 
 "All right here," said she. "Do you think they ll 
 shoot any more?" 
 
 "No," said Theodore. "But watch the manhole 
 just the same. I shall Have to file the chain. The 
 pliers won t do !" 
 
 The girl waited. It was well for her that she had 
 something to do ; otherwise her reason might have 
 given way. She stood by the rail with the pistol in 
 her hand, listening to the "screek, screek" of the file 
 on the chain. Suddenly this sound stopped, and she 
 heard Carson calling.
 
 268 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "They ve hove to," said he. "I think they re go 
 ing to try drowning us here. Don t lose control of 
 yourself remember, this is a fight, and we aren t 
 whipped yet. Do you hear?" 
 
 "Yes," said she. "But it s so awful ! So awful ! 
 If you were only up here where you could Tell 
 me what to do ! Tell me what to do !" 
 
 "Do you see how the chain shortens?" asked Car 
 son. "She s going down. If the water s deep enough 
 she can drown us, unless we can overcome her grav 
 ity. Turn the index so as to show a dead-down 
 thrust of the blades and then full power on the 
 last speed. It will take fuel, but it s the only way ! 
 Hurry!" 
 
 The air-ship sank, sank, nearer and nearer to the 
 water; but without waiting to learn how the girl 
 was carrying out his orders, Carson again attacked 
 the chain, and the shrill "screek" of the file greeted 
 Virginia s ears again, as she turned the indicator, 
 and threw on the power. As they had never done 
 before, the great engines purred, the wing-blades 
 trod the air with a terrific roar; but with remorse 
 less suction-like force the submarine drew her down 
 closer, closer to the water, and she seemed lost. The 
 sinking was slower, now; but nevertheless more and 
 more of the chain disappeared in the sea every mo 
 ment Virginia looked and despaired. The waves 
 were so terrifyingly near; death in their cold
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 269 
 
 depths seemed so unthinkably horrible . . . she 
 bowed her face in her hands. The "screek, screek, 
 screek" of the file kept on with the regularity 
 of a machine. Carson was at work. He might be 
 drowned; but when he went under, he would go 
 fighting. He was a man! And suddenly Virginia 
 felt herself strengthened and comforted. Death 
 was due every one at some time. Why not now? 
 Why whimper and shrink from what must be some 
 time anyhow ? 
 
 She stepped to the side, and called to him. 
 
 "I think," said she, "that we are doomed. Is there 
 anything I can do?" 
 
 "You might advance the spark," said he. "Not 
 much. Just the least trifle . . . Yes, I reckon 
 they ve got us." 
 
 She sprang to the machinery and did this last 
 thing ordered by her commander did it with un- 
 shaking hands, as a soldier might take up the 
 weapon of his comrade killed at his post. By the 
 faintest trifle she advanced the spark; and went to 
 the side to see the effect. They were lower, now, 
 and the truss-work in which Carson hung must be 
 in or near the crest of the swells; but the "screek" 
 of the file went on not so strong, perhaps, but 
 steadily still, the paean of the unconquerable spirit 
 of the man clinging to the truss-work beneath her. 
 It was grand. It was immense. Her spirit rose to
 
 270 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 the occasion, rose to the prosaic "screek, screek" of 
 a file in a hand that was dabbled in the waves at 
 every lifting swell of the stolid ocean that rolled on 
 just the same where its prey dangled within the lap 
 ping of its tongue, and out yonder where, perhaps, 
 no man had been since creation s morn. 
 
 "Theodore!" 
 
 The file stopped for a minute. 
 
 "Keep her as she is," said he. "We ve got the 
 submarine stopped. I ve got the chain about filed 
 through but I m a little tired. Keep her as she 
 is for just a little while!" 
 
 Again the file began its work. The immediate 
 danger was over; but both the man below and the 
 girl in the car knew that the terrific consumption 
 of gas in the engines made the seconds too precious 
 for use in conversation. A minute s supply of gas, 
 ten seconds supply, one second s supply, might save 
 their lives in the home stretch, when the chain 
 should be filed through, and they should take their 
 flight toward land to make triumphant landing 
 after this deadly peril, or to sink in the waves from 
 which they were now fighting to save themselves. 
 The roar of the machinery filled the air with tem 
 pest; the wind from the wing-blades driven down 
 on the water set it boiling like a whirlpool ; one mo 
 ment the straining submarine drew them down by 
 a link or two of the chain ; the next the struggling
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 271 
 
 air-ship lifted the submarine up an inch or so from 
 her dark lair in the depths. At last, at the very 
 height of the fierce struggle, the air-ship shot up 
 ward with the jingle of dropping chains, a worn 
 file fell into the foam of a white-capped wave, and 
 the girl leaped to the levers in obedience to the 
 voice of Carson telling her to make haste, for God s 
 sake, and set the wings for a forward flight; to cut 
 the speed down one-third, and to steer straight for 
 shore. 
 
 She obeyed. They had risen to a height of per 
 haps two hundred feet before her inexperienced 
 hands could change the propellers ; and Carson told 
 her to keep the height. She asked if she might not 
 use a little higher speed, but he said no, economy 
 in gas was in the moderate speed. "Keep her as she 
 is," said he. 
 
 "Can you come up?" she asked. "Have you the 
 strength?" 
 
 She asked this two or three times, and got no 
 reply. Suddenly she screamed with the fear that 
 he had fainted, and as if aroused from a stupor he 
 asked her to advance the spark a little, and, when 
 she had done so, to retard it again. 
 
 "Are you in danger?" she asked. "Can you 
 hang on?" 
 
 "I m all right," said he, "only my hands. Can 
 you see shore? Is it far?"
 
 272 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The shore was rising fast, she told him. It was 
 not so very far, now, but the gas was almost gone. 
 Could she do anything? Was there nothing to be 
 done to eke it out so as to bring them a little closer 
 before they fell into the sea? Could he do any 
 thing if he were in the car? 
 
 "Keep her as she is," said he. "When we get 
 close enough so she can glide in, I ll lighten her." 
 
 "How lighten her?" she asked. 
 
 "It s easy," said he, "from down here. Keep 
 her as she is !" 
 
 The dunes lifted white in the sun, shimmering in 
 the heat, swelling as the Virginia darted nearer and 
 nearer to shore. The horror-stricken people on the 
 beach saw her coming, like an albatross before a 
 gale. The girl on the deck prayed fervently for 
 the miraculous renewing of the little cruse of oil 
 from which was made the gas that kept them up 
 and the man underneath hung on grimly, awaiting 
 the cessation of stroke, which would prove that the 
 mixture which was the breath of the life of the 
 great engines was exhausted at last. Once, twice, 
 thrice, came the halting in the machinery that was 
 the death rattle of the motors. 
 
 "Virginia!" said he. 
 
 "Yes," she replied. 
 
 "Fix the gliding mechanism ! The gas is done !" 
 
 "Yes, Theodore!"
 
 DEVIL-FISH VS. BIRD 273 
 
 "Turn her nose down a little. With momentum 
 enough, she ll make it from here. And when she 
 gets within those breakers, if she is less than twenty- 
 five feet high, tilt her up again a little. Do you 
 understand?" 
 
 "Yes ! I ll do it! Anything more, Theodore?" 
 
 "No only remember what you said about for 
 giving me, if I d let you come with me. Remember, 
 turn her prow up a little when she nears shore. 
 You ll make it, dear you ll make it!" 
 
 Mrs. Graybill, standing on the shore, noted with 
 the rest the new motion of the air-ship when the 
 engines were stopped, and wondered why it behaved 
 so queerly; and it was her eye alone that detected 
 a man s form clinging to the truss-work under the 
 car. This, she thought, was the person they had 
 tried to rescue. She wondered when she saw the 
 girl managing the machinery, which was so oper 
 ated as to send the aeronef on a long, long, swift 
 swoop down toward the land. In across the line of 
 breakers she came, the very swiftness of her descent 
 making for her peril, as she neared the waves. 
 
 And then Mrs. Graybill screamed. She had seen 
 the man under the car deliberately let go his hold 
 and drop into the water. The lightened car, tilted 
 slightly upward now, as Virginia obeyed orders, 
 soared slowly onward, rising a little as her mo-, 
 mentum brought the great gliding surfaces against
 
 274 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the air, and then, clearing the foam of the surf, she 
 softly settled on the sand, with her stern rudder, 
 like the tail of a great dead bird, washed by the 
 hungry waves which she had, as by a miracle, es 
 caped. And rowing in from the offing where he 
 had gone in his fishing boat in the wild and im 
 probable belief that he might help his master, came 
 Captain Harrod, with a white-faced young man 
 lying in the bottom of the boat, whose fingers 
 dripped blood from the remorseless work of the file ; 
 while from the air-ship they took the senseless form 
 of a girl who had risen above the fear of death, and 
 by sheer pluck had brought the Virginia into port.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 
 
 ALLOW me to suggest," observed Craig- 
 head, as the gentlemen of the party at 
 Harrod s fishing camp sat in lounging atti 
 tudes on various articles used as chairs, mostly jet 
 sam and flotsam of the Gulf, "that in perfecting the 
 first really practicable flying-machine, we have set 
 in motion social and economic reactions that will 
 go on and on far beyond the ken of those who, 
 unlike myself, have not made a specialty of them. 
 As that submarine dragged the Virginia out to sea 
 yesterday, we all thought it was the last of Carson, 
 M. A., didn t we?" 
 
 "It looked bad to me," said Mr. Waddy. 
 
 "Ah sho thought," observed Captain Harrod, 
 "that Miste Theodo an Miss V ginny hed gone off 
 togethe to stay." 
 
 Mr. Carson, sitting on a cast-up half barrel, 
 picked at his bandaged fingers, embarrassed. 
 
 "I didn t see much hope of escape," said he. 
 
 "There wasn t any," replied Craighead. "Your 
 275
 
 276 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 escape is due to your lack of logic, fair knight. Any 
 one with a lick of sense would have seen and ac 
 cepted the inevitable. But that s another work of 
 fiction. I am endeavoring to point out, while break 
 fast for seven gets itself with utensils for two, that 
 the fertile and fecund mind gets hints of connota 
 tions rich with wealth and progress from the lower 
 ing brow of tragedy herself the lowering brow of 
 tragedy," repeated Mr. Craighead, as if to give the 
 class a chance to note the phrase in their books. 
 
 Captain Harrod, to whom Craighead was an ob 
 ject of superstitious wonder, leaned awry to gaze 
 more fixedly into his face; and sat fascinated, with 
 his fingers crossed, as Craighead went on with his 
 very practical suggestions. 
 
 "As to the Stickleback" went on Craighead, "if 
 the Stickleback it was " 
 
 "It sho wus," interposed the captain. "She s 
 the on y sub as has the manhole hatch hinged by " 
 
 "Assuming the fact," resumed Craighead, "to be 
 as stated, the point is, that when she hooked the 
 Virginia and started for deep water, an idea came 
 to me which will revolutionize tarpon fishing, as 
 completely as our monopoly hatched from the egg 
 of a legal maxim found by me, in a borrowed copy 
 of Broom, a maxim on which every law student of 
 the past has stubbed his toe with no idea of its, 
 bearing on aviation will revolutionize aeronautics.
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 277 
 
 Under present rules, the fisherman goes forth to 
 fish with a launch, a rod, a reel, a hook, and a 
 mullet for bait. When he hooks the tarpon, he has 
 the advantage in weight, the tarpon, in the lightness 
 of the tackle. The tarpon, however, bets his life 
 against the fisherman s time. This is unsportsman 
 like graft on the fisherman s part. It is like taking 
 toffee from a tad." 
 
 Craighead repeated the alliterative phrase for 
 the benefit of the approaching Mrs. Graybill. 
 
 "Taking toffee from a tad, copping candy from a 
 kid, filching fudge from a feeble filius " 
 > "Oh, Mr. Craighead!" cried Mrs. Graybill. 
 "That s execrable!" 
 
 "So I was endeavoring to show," replied Craig- 
 head. "New rules for tarpon fishing shall be pro 
 mulgated. The foot-pound coefficient of a tarpon- 
 power shall be dynamometrically ascertained; the 
 fisherman must fish from an aeronef, bought of us, 
 by James! which shall have just the power of the 
 tarpon. When he hooks the fish, each party having 
 an equal show, if he has the skill and address, he 
 will get the fish; otherwise, the fish will get him. 
 Accurate records will be kept, and " 
 
 "But excuse me, Miste Craighead!" said Captain 
 Harrod. "S pose the man fishin thataway gits 
 aholt of a fish thet s heaviah than the ev-rige?" 
 
 "That," said Mr. Craighead, "would be a risk
 
 278 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 of the sport, if the tarpon should have the bad taste 
 to use his advantage. But victory for the fisher 
 man would be worth something recording; and he 
 should be given higher markings; and if the man 
 lost, the tarpon would get no credit at all. This, 
 Captain, is one of those objections offered in the in 
 fancy of all great reforms. Do not knock. Boost ! 
 That s the radium rule, Captain. Boost!" 
 
 "I don t think you could get poor Miss Suarez 
 to go fishing in a flying-machine," said Mrs. Gray- 
 bill. 
 
 "Is she worse?" asked Theodore. 
 
 "No," replied Mrs. Graybill. "But she s awfully 
 collapsed. The fearful strain she will never recover 
 from, never!" 
 
 "She will," said Craighead. "I shall treat her 
 with my system of mental therapeutics my spe 
 cialty from this moment. She will be well in 
 exactly four hours. Think no more of it, sweet 
 lady!" 
 
 "Oh," cried Mrs. Graybill, "can you do such 
 things, Mr. Craighead?" 
 
 "Can I?" he repeated. "Look me in the eye. 
 You feel drowsy ! You do ! You do ! In a moment, 
 you will sleep, and you will dream, of him who " 
 
 "Oh, stop!" cried Mrs. Graybill. "I never 
 thought you had such power!" 
 
 Mrs. Graybill vanished, throwing back a glance
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 279 
 
 at Craighead in which archness struggled with 
 terror of his magic. He made hypnotic passes, 
 against which she slammed the door. 
 
 "Down in Colombia," went on Craighead, "are 
 some placers running two ounces of gold to the 
 yard. Can t be worked. I took one of em from! 
 some Creole burglars in Bogota. Took a crew of 
 descendants of the Incas, and went in. Machinery 
 on the backs of mules. Roads like the edge of the 
 sword Mohammedans walk into Paradise on. Got 
 in. Mosquitoes so thick you breathe em. Anaph- 
 eles, with an occasional Stegomya sprunkle in. We 
 had everything but bubonic plague and leprosy in 
 fifteen minutes which is the local period of incu 
 bation of all deadly pestilences. Fled for our lives. 
 Lost paternal patrimony. Now! 
 
 With the "Now!" Craighead turned upon Cap 
 tain Harrod fiercely, and at every statement smash 
 ing his fist into his palm, advanced upon him so 
 threateningly that the fisherman gradually gave 
 ground, and finally brought the disquisition to an 
 end by falling off the veranda. 
 
 "Now!" ejaculated Craighead. "I shall take 
 that concession again. Mr. Waddy will furnish 
 the money. We carry in machinery and laborers 
 with Carson s aeronef, work the gravels by day, and 
 at night soar to the summit of Chimborazo, where 
 the germs will be congealed and the air so pure
 
 280 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 that our health will get better and better until we 
 can t stand it, and will have to take something to 
 mitigate our robustiousness. Our cargoes of dust 
 will swamp the financial world, place us on a pin 
 nacle of affluence undreamed of, and make gold so 
 cheap that it will be equivalent to a universal bank 
 rupt law, and legislation will be demanded by the 
 distressed creditor class to relieve them of the horrid 
 cruelty of the debtors, who, like Shylocks with the 
 reverse English, will hound them day and night with 
 offers of payment in pure gold. And when we ve 
 done this " 
 
 The captain fell off and breakfast was served at 
 the same moment. Mr. Waddy sat by Craighead, 
 asking wary questions about the placers, asserting 
 that he wouldn t put a cent in a mine, if he knew it 
 to run pure gold, two thousand pounds to the ton. 
 Craighead held out hopes that he might find a way 
 to evade his pledges of secrecy, but withheld in 
 formation. 
 
 Mr. Waddy was upon tenter-hooks until the 
 Virginia had been explained to him. The young 
 inventor s bandaged hands had no effect upon his 
 enthusiasm to show Mr. Waddy that his "good 
 hard money" was safe, if merit in the aeronef could 
 make it so, and a trip was arranged for Waddy, 
 Craighead and Carson. They would fly down to 
 Fort Morgan, thence to Palmetto Beach, get their
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 281 
 
 mail, and be back for dinner; for which meal the 
 captain and the guide promised some rail from the 
 swamp. The party must break up as soon as Miss 
 Suarez should feel like traveling which Craig- 
 head took it upon himself to say would not be later 
 than the following morning. 
 
 "I can feel the voltage emanating from me," 
 said he. "All I fear is, that I may make her so 
 healthy that it will spoil her beauty !" 
 
 Mr. Waddy shied from the sea, and insisted that 
 all castaways seen in it were to be allowed to drown ; 
 but once in air he became intoxicated with enthusi 
 asm. If this machine, said he, was so good that 
 the Aerostatic Power people thought it good busi 
 ness to hire Wizner to drown it, its inventor and the 
 young woman who happened to be along and he 
 could not otherwise explain the horrible affair of 
 yesterday it was good enough to be backed with all 
 the Waddy money, in all the eight banks. What 
 ever "the children" said he was in it, win or lose. 
 Caroline wanted an interest, and he d buy a little 
 stock for her. And he wouldn t mind taking a 
 look at those placers, though he wouldn t put a cent 
 in a mine, if 
 
 The Virginia had alighted on the parade-ground 
 at Fort Morgan, softly, like a bird upon her eggs. 
 The bamboo braces fell outward, and she lay on an 
 even keel, the great fortification bursting into an
 
 282 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 uproar at her intrusion. The aeronats invariably 
 halted at the mooring-balloon and received passes; 
 but Mr. Waddy s declaration of fealty was so ab 
 sorbing and the speed of the Virginia so unwonted 
 to her pilot, that the fort had been spread beneath 
 him, like a map, before he was aware of it. To 
 alight might mean arrest, inquiry and discharge, 
 after explanations to the commandant, Colonel 
 Krimnitz, of whose severity Carson felt no real 
 fear. But if he tried to go away after running 
 the guard, he might be fired on as a spy making off 
 with complete photographs. Altogether it was 
 safest to alight, thought Carson ; and he settled on 
 the parade-ground, greatly to the agitation of an 
 awkward squad drilling under a sergeant, whose 
 bellowed commands were cut short off by the whir 
 of the reversal of the Virginia s wing-blades. He 
 turned, saw the huge dragon-fly with its bow rud 
 der pointed at him like a great mandible; and in 
 the same raucous voice of command he shouted, 
 "Well, I m damned !" and took to his heels, followed 
 enthusiastically by the rookies. 
 
 "The courage of the American soldier," said 
 Craighead, "is proverbial. The exception but 
 proves the rule, just how, may be left for future 
 discussion, while we take up the matter of awaiting 
 our fate, which may be a year in black-hole, or ten 
 days bucked and gagged. Right here is where
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 283 
 
 Craighead returns to the service, in durance vile, as 
 of old!" 
 
 The drill sergeant s expression carried conviction 
 to the sergeant of the guard, where his description 
 of a devil of a big bird-thing that you couldn t 
 see at all till it struck the ground, might not have 
 been credited. The guard turned out and moved on 
 the parade-ground, while the drill sergeant became 
 an orderly to inform the officer of the day. Bear 
 ing down on the defenseless air-ship like a whirl 
 wind, the guard encountered a great silver-winged 
 insect with a snug car amidships, her four braces 
 sticking in the Bermuda grass like very short legs. 
 Standing by her were Carson, erect and soldierly, 
 as befitted the surroundings; Waddy, half inclined 
 to crawl under the car; and Craighead, drawn up 
 in an exaggerated setting-up drill, chest thrown 
 out, chin and stomach drawn in, spine incurved in 
 the Grecian bend, eyes set and staring forward like 
 those of a wooden man, his right hand to his cap in 
 a frozen salute. 
 
 The guard halted at five paces, and the sergeant 
 advanced, obtaining his first good look at Mr. Craig- 
 head, maintaining the attitude of military carica 
 ture with a steadiness perfectly statuesque. The 
 sergeant, a little man with a red moustache turned 
 up a la Kaiser, looked at him for half a minute, and 
 uttered a mysterious exclamation, the meaning of
 
 284 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 which was quite unknown to Mr. Waddy and 
 Carson. 
 
 "What the billy h hotel bill!" said he. 
 
 Craighead remained motionless, his hand to his 
 cap. The sergeant amazedly returned the salute. 
 Craighead relaxed his tense muscles, dropped his 
 hand to his side, and winked with the utmost so 
 briety of expression. 
 
 "Podner," said he, "have yeh got any eatin to- 
 backer?" 
 
 "I ll trouble you gentlemen for your passes," 
 returned the sergeant. 
 
 "Unfortunately," replied Mr. Craighead, "we 
 omitted to obtain passes. The fact is that the posts 
 were so far apart in the stratum in which we entered 
 that we missed the sentries and accidentally ran the 
 guard. We may have overestimated the height of 
 the American soldier, and passed over the heads of 
 our audience. We will, however, make good now, 
 and take out all necessary credentials. Say no more, 
 Mr. Sergeant. We see your position, and you 
 may trust our discretion. We are all soldiers. This 
 is Gennle Theodo Cahson, M. A., and this Mr. 
 Waddy, who served in his youth in the typhoid up 
 rising at Chickamauga in the Spanish-American 
 war. Show your button, Mr. Waddy, as an S. A. W. 
 V. You see, Sergeant, that you are quite safe 
 against our capturing Fort Morgan. Am I right
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 285 
 
 in my assumption that the building 1 yonder from 
 which the officer is emerging so incontinently is the 
 headquarters?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," replied the sergeant. 
 
 "Then," said Mr. Craighead, "will you not pre 
 sent us to the commandant? You may leave a guard 
 for the aeronef. Your arm, sir !" 
 
 "It won t be necessary," said the sergeant. 
 "Here s Captain Bolger now." 
 
 Captain Bolger was a choleric gentleman, with 
 whiskers like General Sherman s, much thinned by 
 the increase in the area of the face since the estab 
 lishment of the foliage. The beard was black; but 
 the red shone through vividly in a color scheme 
 that made the Bolger face an Indian summer sun 
 just above the horizon, with its lower limb in dark 
 haze. He advanced rapidly, with a hippety-hopping 
 gait, as if catching step with an imaginary compan 
 ion very careless of the march. 
 
 "What s this, Sergeant?" he sputtered. "What s 
 this? This is quite irregular, Sergeant entirely 
 irregular. The parade-ground! A damned thing 
 with wings and V-type engines two of them two 
 of them ! What do you mean by it, Sergeant? And 
 no passes? Some one will sweat for this highly 
 irregular!" 
 
 He pulled up suddenly and panted violently. 
 The perspiration beginning to drip down from
 
 286 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 under his service hat he took the hat off, turned his 
 back as if concealing some very private matter, 
 wiped his head and face elaborately with a silk 
 handkerchief, then turned to the sergeant suddenly, 
 his heels clicking, his posture intensely military, as 
 if to close the incident of the handkerchief, and put 
 it into the dead past for ever. 
 
 "The parade-ground !" he repeated in an outraged 
 tone, as if it would have been vastly better if it 
 had been the glacis, or the covered way, or the coun 
 ter-scarp. 
 
 "Pardon me," said Theodore. "My name is 
 Carson. I miscalculated my speed and came in be 
 fore I was aware of it. I know Colonel Krimnitz, 
 and if" 
 
 "Colonel Krimnitz, sir," said Captain Bolger, "is 
 temporarily on leave. I am the officer of the day, 
 sir. You will produce a pass for your confounded 
 aeronef or I shall order you " 
 
 "I feel sure," said Mr. Carson, "that Colonel 
 Krimnitz " 
 
 "Colonel Krimnitz be hanged!" retorted Captain 
 Bolger, whose wife had recently been snubbed by 
 Mrs. Colonel Krimnitz, and to whom the name of 
 Krimnitz had been made an irritant by Mrs. Bol 
 ger. "Colonel Krimnitz be damned, in fact. You 
 can t come the Krimnitz game, sir, while he is, as 
 I have had the honor of informing you, on leave."
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 287 
 
 "We didn t mean no harm," ventured Mr. 
 Waddy, "and it seems to me " 
 
 "No harm!" snorted Captain Bolger. "What do 
 you mean, sir? Running the guard, sir, in a con 
 founded flying-machine with four eight-cylinder 
 engines sir!" as if the gravamen of the crime lay 
 in the number of the engines, or the cylinders 
 "and sticking her infernal legs into the lawn, and 
 Sergeant !" 
 
 "Captain !" said the sergeant, saluting. 
 
 "See what that thing is in the fellow s hand," 
 pointing to Mr. Waddy s camera. "Take it, and if 
 it s a bomb, explode it at sea. If it s a camera, turn 
 it over to me instantly ; and confine these men. My 
 compliments to Major Flathers ; and say to him that 
 I have confined three men who ran the guard in an 
 air-ship, with bombs or cameras, as the case may be, 
 that I have the air-ship under guard, and await his 
 instructions at headquarters." 
 
 And Captain Bolger hippety-hopped to head 
 quarters, followed by a soldier with a camera. 
 The three interlopers went into the guard-house, 
 while Captain Bolger s message went to Major 
 Flathers, commandant in the absence of Colonel 
 Krimnitz. 
 
 The guard-house was clean and quite agreeably 
 cool, with wide north and south windows guarded 
 by steel basketry built into the concrete walls. A
 
 288 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 soldier with a black patch over his eye and a wet 
 cloth on his head was their sole fellow-offender. 
 There seemed little need of the sentry before the 
 door, everything was so secure and tight-fitting. 
 Mr. Craighead rolled and lighted a cigarette, of 
 fered the patched man the paper and the tobacco, 
 and smoked. Carson began -unavailing efforts to 
 enlist the sentry in a project for an interview with 
 the commandant. Mr. Waddy stood where the 
 guard had left him for perhaps ten minutes, and 
 then began hopping up and down. 
 
 "I won t stand it!" he shouted. "I want to wire 
 John H. Gunn ! I want to wire Washington, I tell 
 you John H. Gunn, Speaker of the House ! He ll 
 make somebody chew hay for this! Why, I could 
 buy and sell all these understrappers an martin 
 gales ! Cyrus Waddy put in jail by that red-faced 
 Suffolk! Wire Gunn at Washington!" 
 
 "The mills of the gods," said Craighead, "grind 
 slowly. Ever notice that?" 
 
 The soldier with the patch and bandage replied 
 that he hadn t paid much attention to em; but it 
 seemed reasonable. 
 
 "And how fast," pursued Craighead, "do your 
 red-tape mills operate here? When shall we be 
 brought before the supreme being that ranks 
 Bolger?" 
 
 "If old Flathers," responded the battered de-
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 289 
 
 fender of his country, "is good-natured, you may 
 be hauled up by the time he s finished his round of 
 golf. But if it s close, and the doctor stumps him, 
 he ll bet two bits and play another. He ll have his 
 bath, an his lunch, an his nap oh, I reckon you 
 go against him some time to-day. What s the 
 odds?" 
 
 "No odds," replied Craighead, "except that the 
 explosion of Mr. Waddy might wreck government 
 property. I never feel so calm as when in hock. 
 But he is different. He can telegraph to Mr. Gunn, 
 who will send a page to the Chairman of the Com 
 mittee on Military Affairs, who will appeal to the 
 Secretary of War and off comes Captain Bolger s 
 head." 
 
 "In a horn," remarked the soldier. "Give us an 
 other o them coffin nails !" 
 
 Mr. Craighead began humming It s Twenty 
 Miles to Vassar, evidently a West Point ditty, 
 paced the guard-house, turning corners with mili 
 tary precision, or stood accurately with certain 
 fingers on certain seams of his trousers as precise 
 as a tin soldier. The atmosphere had permeated 
 his system ; and when a corporal s guard called for 
 them, his stride might have been offered as a model. 
 
 Access to Major Flathers desk was opened for 
 them by orderlies described by Mr. Waddy as 
 state s-prison-looking fellows, armed to the teeth.
 
 290 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 The major was thin, solemn, bilious-looking, as if 
 he had a bad liver from service in the tropics; 
 haughty, as if the liver had overflowed his temper. 
 Their hearts sank as they looked into his eyes of 
 yellowish brown, with whites of smoky yellow; and 
 noted the funereal droop of his long black mus 
 tache, cut down the middle by the greater droop of 
 the nose enormously high, surpassingly hooked, in 
 credibly sharp and thin; he looked so unapproach 
 able and jaundiced and like an immensely exalted 
 potentate contemplating candidates for the Asylum 
 for the Irretrievably Worthless who had been found 
 below grade. His voice was the deepest of bassos, 
 rumbling softly out as if protesting that, really, it 
 had no room to turn itself. Craighead started at 
 the sound; and began a close scrutiny of Major 
 Flathers, making notes in a book. 
 
 "Who are you?" said Major Flathers. 
 
 He looked at Mr. Waddy, his tone of well-modu 
 lated distant thunder seeming to say that they were 
 really nobody. 
 
 "Who are we?" cried Mr. Waddy. "Who are 
 we? American citizens, sir! Citizens and taxpay 
 ers before you was ever born, sir! Wire John H. 
 Gunn, at Washington, that Cyrus Waddy s shut up 
 in jail, an you ll find out ! You ll" 
 
 "It would seem an economy of time, Mr. Waddy," 
 said the major, after quelling him with a yellow
 
 glower, "not to trouble Mr. Gunn nor the presi 
 dent, who might find it inconvenient to attend for 
 purposes of identification. It would be quite as 
 easy for this young gentleman to be the Crown 
 Prince of Germany, and the other the First Lord of 
 the Admiralty as for you to be Mr. Waddy illus 
 trious though he may be, and no doubt is. You must 
 prove yourselves good citizens by authorities nearer, 
 than Washington. What can you say, sir?" 
 
 This query was directed at Craighead, who had 
 ceased to take notes and was looking at the im 
 posing major in the manner of one who knows his 
 man. 
 
 "Most high and illustrious one," said he, "the 
 world is wide, its population some sixteen hundred 
 millions. Of this considerable force, we are but 
 three. You ask us, O Serenity, to set ourselves 
 apart from the others by brands and marks. Wert 
 thou present when the obstetrician scheduled our 
 strawberry-marks, or the midwife recorded the 
 notches in our ears? Then how can the thing be 
 proven? It is a hard saying. And yet, didst ever 
 see that serrated nose? Give me a pen, and let me 
 mark it Exhibit A !" 
 
 The major rose with pronounced absence of 
 haste, adjusted a pair of rimless glasses to his pre 
 cipitous beak by a clasp of special construction ; ex 
 amined Craighead s nose critically and imperson-
 
 292 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ally, as if looking at a specimen in a case, slowly 
 removed the glasses, and deliberately reseated him 
 self. 
 
 "I have observed such a nose in but one case," 
 said he; "but its introduction in evidence does not 
 establish its identity with the only snout of similar 
 asymmetry recorded. Exhibit A will be consid 
 ered for what it is worth as evidence. Proceed." 
 
 "The memory," went on Craighead, "is more inti 
 mately personal and individual than is the organ of 
 olfaction. I will now render a song, which I beg 
 this honorable body to receive as Exhibit BV 
 
 Though this declaration made a distinct sensation 
 among the officers and orderlies; and though the 
 sergeant, who was shorthand reporter, broke three 
 pencils in his agitation, Major Flathers never let 
 down by even one degree the saturnine dignity of 
 his presence. Craighead sang with a fine inde 
 pendence of tune, but with an air and style of tone 
 emission which reminded all hearers of a basso pro- 
 fundo laboring in the trough of the heaviest vocal 
 sea. That it reminded his friends of the major him 
 self was shown by smiles hidden behind hands, by 
 significant glances, and a final titter as Craighead 
 finished with a sub-cellar cadenza so low that it 
 could not be sung, but only indicated by the drawing 
 down of the chin with a hoarse whisper on the word 
 "morning."
 
 "Oh, it s twenty miles to Vassar, and the Hudson 
 
 for to cross ; 
 There s regulations to be broke at both ends of the 
 
 route ; 
 But Belinda s eyes are like the sky, Belinda s hair 
 
 is floss ; 
 
 And Jim is black and plagued with love, and 
 doesn t care a hoot ! 
 
 Oh, it s twenty miles to Vassar! 
 But it s fifty smiles at Vassar! 
 And it s other lovey-dovey things in hosts beyond 
 
 compare ! 
 
 Oh, the love of dear Belinder burns his heart into 
 a cinder 
 
 And Jim will be at Vassar ere the 
 morning." 
 
 A slight redness crept up under the tan of Major 
 Flathers cheek, a slight quiver of the thin nostril 
 betrayed the fact that Craighead s song had touched 
 some spot that thrilled but whether to laughter or 
 anger no one could tell. Mr. Craighead asked if it 
 would be necessary to adduce more proof of his 
 identity. 
 
 "Will the proof consist in further vocalization?" 
 asked the major judicially. 
 
 "Oh, wise and upright judge," replied Craighead, 
 "it will consist of ten other stanzas once sacred to a 
 select circle at West Point. If an accompanist " 
 
 "In view of this," said the major, with unabated 
 dignity, "I shall hear the case in private."
 
 294 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The major rose, and passed out without a glance 
 at the intruders. The squad took them to his quar 
 ters, where he received them in frozen stiffness; 
 and stood aside to let them into a library rather 
 well furnished with books. 
 
 The major sat like a graven image until the re 
 ceding footsteps were lost to the ear. Then he 
 rushed at Craighead, shook him until his teeth 
 chattered, laughing, slapping him on the back, 
 shaking his hands, and otherwise showing such a 
 reversal of form from his official staidness that Mr. 
 Waddy and Carson came independently to the con 
 clusion that he had suddenly gone mad. 
 
 "Craig! Craig!" said he. "You confounded old 
 scapegrace! I ve an infernal good mind to throw 
 you in for ten years ! And that Belinda song you 
 made up about me! Blast you, the regulations 
 won t permit adequate punishment! And sober, 
 too ! Tell me all about yourself, confound you, and 
 introduce your friends !" 
 
 "With Mr. Waddy s name," said Craighead, "you 
 are familiar. He is the billionaire owner of Speaker 
 Gunn." 
 
 "Confoundedly sorry," said the major. "But if 
 this reprobate," indicating Craighead, "had hinted 
 that he was our West Point disgrace I should have 
 issued passes, and "
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 295 
 
 "Oh, that s all right," said Mr. Waddy. "Don t 
 say no more about it, Major." 
 
 "And this," said Craighead, "is the inventor and 
 builder of our air-ship, General Theodore Carson, 
 M. A." 
 
 "Glad to meet you, General," said the major. 
 "Not in our army?" 
 
 "Not in any," said Carson. "It s a pleasantry of 
 Mr. Craighead s." 
 
 "Quite so!" replied the major, shaking hands 
 again. "But it was confoundedly irregular to run 
 the guard, you know !" 
 
 "We didn t intend" 
 
 "Not a word !" said the major. "You must dine 
 with me Mrs. Flathers will waive ceremony. She 
 isn t Belinder, Craig, you disreputable old dog, 
 disguised as a sober man! Could be hanged as a 
 spy! Twenty Miles to Vassar, in headquarters! 
 Nobody but Craig let s write a letter to Bill Alex 
 ander in Guam!" 
 
 The major was as complaisant now as he had been 
 unyielding. He and Craighead talked out the Be 
 linda episode, the expulsion of Craighead, the 
 slowness of promotions, the aeronef company, and 
 then the aeronef itself as it lay on the parade- 
 ground on which occasion Major Flathers was 
 particularly fierce in commanding a search for
 
 296 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 down-looking photographic mechanism, and for ex 
 plosives. The examination, the dinner, the view of 
 the Flathers baby, and Mrs. Flathers confidential 
 conversation with Carson, who was always strong 
 in his appeal to the ladies, delayed their departure 
 until the sun was sinking beyond Fort Gaines, and 
 Mr. Waddy was startled into a trembling fit by the 
 sunset gun as they crossed the rifle range, taking it 
 for an artillery attack on the Virginia. The dark 
 ness crept under them across the peninsula as they 
 flew ; and it was starlight when they alighted, each 
 filled with his own anticipations Mr. Waddy, of 
 supper; Mr. Craighead, of the company of Mrs. 
 Graybill ; and Carson, to whom the terrible experi 
 ence of the day before had made her doubly dear, 
 of admission to the presence of Virginia. Mrs. 
 Graybill met them, with a letter in her hand for Mr. 
 Carson, and a troubled look on her face. Carson 
 turned white as he tore it open. 
 
 "I am going away," it ran, "with my aunt, who 
 has kindly found me and told me of your decep 
 tion in allowing me to live with you, thinking you 
 my uncle. There are many things I might say, 
 many I should like to say ; but I might use expres 
 sions for which I should be sorry. As for the com 
 promising of myself, of which my aunt has spoken, 
 I care nothing, other things count for so much 
 more. I want our parting to be without bitterness;
 
 A CAPTURE AND AN ESCAPE 297 
 
 so, with the assurance that I shall watch over you 
 and pray for your success, and with thanks for the 
 many, many good and kind things you have done 
 for me, I bid you good-by for ever. We can never 
 forget each other the things we have known to 
 gether forbid that ; but we can never meet again. 
 Virginia Suarez." 
 
 Craighead caught Theodore as he staggered. 
 
 "When did they go?" said he. 
 
 "About noon," replied Mrs. Graybill. 
 
 Carson groaned, thinking bitterly of the hours 
 wasted at Fort Morgan; and asked for Mrs. Stott. 
 She had gone home on the Roc. 
 
 "They went north, then," said Carson. 
 
 "So must we," rejoined Craighead. 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Waddy, who seemed to consider 
 the Virginia incident closed, "I ll go home an push 
 the work in the West; you boys to New York, to 
 gtart the injunctions an things." 
 
 "Very well," said Carson. "Craighead, we ll 
 start for New York in the Virginia in the morning !" 
 
 That night Carson wandered to the spot on the 
 beach where he had drawn Virginia down out of 
 the sky in the runaway helicopter. The heavens 
 were overcast, the east winds moaned through the 
 pines, great gray waves broke thunderously on the 
 beach, and from the marshes came the croak of 
 night-herons. He sat pondering on his misery, on
 
 298 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the temptation to which he had succumbed, on the 
 hopelessness of his love. They he and she had 
 approached each other like two stars, and flown off 
 into space, never to meet, in predestined orbits. 
 And after all they had enjoyed and lived and suf 
 fered together! The hand on his shoulder felt for 
 the moment like hers, but it was Mrs. Graybill who 
 had come through the soft sand, silent as a ghost, 
 to his side. 
 
 "Mr. Carson," said she, "this isn t the last. Don t 
 give up. I couldn t speak to her ; I was only a stran 
 ger. But I kept the fragments of the letters she 
 tore up. Put them together. They will cheer you 
 up. What a woman wants to say, and doesn t dare, 
 means much, much more than what she says. Mr. 
 Carson, don t despair!" 
 
 And she ran away as silently as she had come.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 
 
 THE date when the Virginia left the dunes of 
 the Alabama coast for her first long voyage 
 is now historic. It placed man, as a flying 
 animal, on an equality with the birds and bats and 
 insects. It relegated the makeshifts with which the 
 world had attempted the conquest of the air, with 
 the flail, the coracle, the galley, the galleon, the 
 distaff and the sling, to the limbo of abandoned 
 things. The gas-bag of the aerostat, and the aero- 
 nefs of the first decade of the century, went the way 
 of the tentative and imperfect with the steam-engine 
 of Hero, and the war-gins of Archimedes, Calli- 
 machus and Demetrius. The new era is one of great 
 flying engines beside which the Virginia was as 
 a humming-bird to a hawk; but which are, 
 every one, built on the Virginia s principles the 
 direct thrust of the blades, and the balancing by the 
 automatic distribution of power by means of light 
 gyroscopes. The new hero was the miserable young 
 
 299
 
 300 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 man who looked like one with his death-wound, and 
 manoeuvered the new machine like a veteran Theo 
 dore Carson. Every school-boy knows these things. 
 
 But every one does not know of her difficulty in 
 getting off. She cleared from her nest and struck 
 out like a homing pigeon, and suddenly, as if by 
 an elastic return-ball cord, she returned to the 
 launch of Mr. Waddy and Mrs. Graybill on Fresh 
 water Lake. I 
 
 "What s wrong?" inquired Mr. Waddy anx 
 iously. 
 
 "My mental cargo shifted," replied Craighead, 
 from above. "The Virginia was leaky and unsea- 
 worthy ! Had to put back !" 
 
 "Shifting cargo" symbolized the fact that Mr. 
 Craighead had something to say in which he 
 passed from a forced business conversation to an 
 exchange of farewells with Mrs. Graybill, cut short 
 by Carson s resumption of flight 
 
 The wharves and verandas of the hotels and villas 
 were filled now with observers of the new inhab 
 itant of the sky. They saw her take her second 
 flight northward ; but again, with a sweep that filled 
 them with admiration, she fled back once more to a 
 position a few yards above the launch. 
 
 "The crew mutinied," said Craighead. "Salt 
 horse wormy! And we ought to work out this 
 Broom idea a little more, Mr. Waddy."
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 301 
 
 "There ain t no use in your comin back for that," 
 said Mr. Waddy. "I know my business as well as 
 the next one. I m handlin the West. You let me 
 alone." 
 
 "Assuredly, Michael," assented Craighead. 
 "Good-by, Mrs. Graybill. The hard part of going 
 to sea is good-by." 
 
 Again they flew northward; and again, within 
 five minutes of losing the launch, Craighead de 
 manded that Carson put back. 
 
 "I would have converse with Sir Cyrus Waddy," 
 said he. "This time I must. My statistical bureau 
 has dug up the real item that I wanted to show him. 
 Return, Sir Thedo Cahson, Lord Mayor of Every- 
 whar ! Return to the launch !" 
 
 "No!" said Theodore; "we have vacillated 
 enough ; too much. I shall not return." 
 
 "But, I say, old chap," urged Craighead, "this 
 is the lahst, you know. Seriously now, Mr. Waddy 
 doesn t know the first thing about my scheme for 
 controlling Middle West space through titles to 
 highways. I ve got to talk with him. Come now. 
 Go back, or I ll jolly well hop into the bay and 
 swim. I will go back. I ll scuttle the ship. I shall 
 not sleep a wink. I ll be worthless unless I m taken 
 back. Back, villain, unhand me ! I ll buy a starling 
 in the first poultry market, and teach the infernal 
 fowl to hqllp in thine ear, Back! Take me back!
 
 302 VIRGINIA OE THE AIR LANES 
 
 I m in earnest. The farther we go, the more things 
 I think of to go back for. Take me " 
 
 "For the last time?" Carson stipulated. "Do you 
 promise?" 
 
 "Yes, good my; lord, this is the amen trip! I 
 swear it!" 
 
 The Virginia, darting like a meteor up the bay, 
 swerved so sharply over the Middle Bay light that 
 Craighead well-nigh went overboard, and steered 
 once more into the beautiful blue semicircle of Bon 
 Secour Bay, Craighead peering forward under the 
 pintles of the bow rudder for the launch, as a globe- 
 circling sailor might scan the shore for his waiting 
 wife. They went hurtling back over the Palmetto 
 Beach hotels at a height of five hundred feet; and 
 thence to the easterly end of the Little Lagoon. 
 The galleries were alive with people, scanning the 
 tremendously powerful flier with glasses. What 
 was this thing harrowing the sky in this seemingly 
 aimless fashion, so alive, so vigorous, so forceful 
 in her swift swoop? 
 
 Craighead, with the binoculars, saw in the black 
 circle of Freshwater Lake no launch. 
 \ "They re not on the lake, Carson," he cried in 
 panic. "What can have happened? Is it possible 
 they ve sunk?" 
 
 "Don t faint !" said Carson. "They re in the nar 
 rows, hidden by the cane. We ll find them."
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 303 
 
 "I cal late you ve guessed it, Cap n," replied 
 Craighead, with a sigh of relief. "There they are 
 now." 
 
 The Virginia followed the tortuous channel as a 
 kestrel in quest of finches might trace the windings 
 of a rail fence. In the sheltered pond, which Carson 
 called Virginia s lily-bed, Mrs. Graybill was gather 
 ing waxen blossoms, and piling them in the pilot s 
 oilskins. When the low-flying aeronef came up 
 astern, she grew crimson, and laughed. 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Waddy; "I ll be darned!" 
 
 "We returned to say " began Mr. Craighead. 
 
 "It was Craighead s desire," broke in Carson. 
 
 "Exactly," assented Craighead. "I desired a 
 word with you, sir, on the western highways " 
 
 "No use o that," cut in Mr. Waddy. "You give 
 Filley the idee?" 
 
 "I communicated the conception," said Craig- 
 head. "Yes." 
 
 "An I paid him f r an opinion on it?" 
 
 "You became obligated for it," said Craighead. 
 "Equivalent to payment, in your case, but, legally, 
 quite distinguishable." 
 
 "It s the same thing," cried Mr. Waddy. "An 
 the fellers we hire know more than a quarter-sec 
 tion of folks that don t know their own minds. 
 Don t you come back again ; it bothers me like mus- 
 keeters. Go on !"
 
 304 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Presently, most puissant sir. There s a matter 
 we haven t mentioned. How shall we yawp forth 
 the grand hailing sign of distress, when I am far 
 away ?" 
 
 "They re still runnin the mails and telegraphs, 
 ain t they ?" queried Mr. Waddy testily. 
 
 "Would you," queried Craighead, "place a world 
 in pawn on the faith of a mail clerk ; or the fidelity 
 of a telegraph system controlled by our loathsome 
 enemies? As triumvir to triumvir, answer, in the 
 name of our patron saints, Sir Henry Morgan and 
 Jesse James !" 
 
 "We agreed on a cipher," snapped Mr. Waddy. 
 "Go on an use it" 
 
 "Cipher!" scoffed Craighead, who had devised 
 it himself. "Not with the hounds of Shayne on Car 
 son s traces. Why, any cipher can be deciphered. 
 Go back to the time of Bacon " 
 
 "Well, if yeh stay much longer," cried Mr. 
 Waddy irritably, "we may as well go back to the 
 time of Ham as Bacon ! What you drivin at, any 
 how?" 
 
 "Your pungent play on words," said Craighead, 
 "gives me joy. It proves my power to corrupt. 
 Last springtide you d have been incapable of it. 
 I m driving at the necessity of a trusty messenger 
 who will die rather than disclose, will swallow blue 
 prints to keep them from the enemy, will explode
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 305 
 
 a magazine before admitting a traitor even unto 
 its table of contents. I know one such." 
 
 "Who?" asked the puzzled Waddy. 
 
 "Your beauteous daughter! Give her a running 
 schedule per ten-hour train between Chicago and 
 New York, bringing your messages and returning 
 with ours until victory is won. Eh?" 
 
 Mrs. Graybill leaned back and laughed until she 
 was crimson of face and teary of eye. 
 
 "It won t do," she said. "I never could eat blue 
 prints. Any one can deceive me " 
 
 "Then I ve some hope," said Craighead. "That s 
 worth coming back for." 
 
 "Use the mails, you absurd fellow !" she went on. 
 "Good-by. Take him away, Mr. Carson ; and return 
 with your shield, or on it, Mr. Craighead. Oh, 
 you ha, ha, ha, ha-a-a!" 
 
 "This rippling ha-ha, fair one," said Craighead 
 severely, "would be unseemly from a less seemly 
 pharynx. But I swear " 
 
 The oath was cut in two by an upward and for 
 ward flight, at the last speed, that pulled the speech 
 in twain and left the launch alone in the great 
 marsh, with Mrs. Graybill, her color high, her 
 mouth occasionally curving into a smile sometimes 
 culminating audibly practising Japanese flower 
 arrangements, while her father combed his beard 
 with his fingers and said nothing.
 
 306 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Passing over the bay with a wide westerly detour, 
 the Virginia came in over Spring Hill, and alighted 
 softly at the aeronef landing at Mobile. From a 
 hundred sally ports streets, alleys and wharves 
 poured a throng of people, attracted by the strange 
 craft that had made port, the negroes, first forming 
 about the car a black ring starred with white eyes. 
 Caucasians then assumed advantageous positions, 
 rather abashed at the steady gaze of Carson, and 
 the evident amusement of Craighead. 
 
 "Howdy, folks?" said the latter. "Take a good 
 look. For even when ye wist not, we vanish. Out 
 of the great deep we come, into the great deep we 
 go. The Elementals who send us are the pow fulest 
 spirits what there is. But a brief space have we, to 
 warn Mobile. Repent! Repent! Yet a few mo 
 days, an Mobile shall be done destroyed !" 
 
 "Stop, Craighead," cried Carson. "Don t pay 
 any attention to what he says " 
 
 "They won t," replied Craighead. "They ll sin 
 just the same the minute we re gone. Even an angel 
 from Heaven, which far be it from me to claim " 
 
 "Dan Thomas," said Carson, to an old negro, with 
 la whip in his hand, "come here!" 
 
 "Yes, Mistah Cahson," responded the negro. 
 
 "Fetch me at once one Number Two can of A- 
 quality methanose and get me a list of the aeronat 
 clearings for the last two days."
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 307 
 
 "Yes, suh." 
 
 Thomas darted away; and Carson began testing 
 his machinery for another flight 
 
 "Pardon me," said a man, who had a withered 
 arm drawn up to his side in such a way as to give 
 one the impression that he was holding his breath ; 
 "but, are you going far, so short-handed ?" 
 
 "Not far in time," replied Theodore. 
 
 "Only to Alaska," added Craighead. "We meet 
 a Russian admiral in St. Michael s at three. If 
 that nigger doesn t hurry we shall be late, General 
 and what will Admiral Phlaskovodka say then?" 
 
 The man lifted his sailor hat, bowed politely, 
 and stepped back, unveiling a face behind him 
 which Carson knew the foxy, suspicious face of 
 Wizner, the inventor of the lost helicopter. Carson 
 stooped as if for some casual purpose, laid hold on 
 a spanner, and spoke to Craighead, low, distinctly, 
 intensely. 
 
 "I m going to get a man in the crowd," said Car 
 son. "Guard the aeronef!" 
 
 "All right," said Craighead, who had no idea of 
 his full meaning; "but hurry back. Remember the 
 admiral." 
 
 With the spanner in his hand, Carson rose; and 
 with a light leap he stood in the midst of the crowd, 
 his face so fierce that the throng flowed away like 
 water, leaving him in an open space, like a lion
 
 308 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 in a ring of foes. Wizner had fled ; but through the 
 thinned crowd Theodore saw his wiry figure, with 
 the arm that Virginia s bullet had reached hang 
 ing in a sling, darting behind a building as if run 
 ning from death itself. With his hand on his hip, 
 Carson gave chase. Some one cried, "Stop him!" 
 and an officer, seeing in Carson the only fugitive 
 in sight, stopped him. 
 
 "Let me go," cried Carson, struggling. "Come 
 with me and arrest a man for attempt to murder." 
 
 "That cock won t fight," answered the policeman. 
 "Good dodge, but won t go with me. What s he 
 done?" he inquired, bringing Theodore back. 
 
 Nobody seemed to have any definite complaint 
 to make. 
 
 "He jumped out of his air-ship," said one, "and 
 acted like he was going to brain some one." 
 
 "Did he brain any one?" asked the policeman. 
 
 "No," replied the Mobilian, "but he might." 
 
 "If he had met any one with brains," said Craig- 
 head, "to act as the corpus delicti. A braining re 
 quires a brainee a term connoting brains. Advo- 
 catus Diabolus, thy case is weak!" 
 
 "Well," laughed the policeman. "He had a right 
 to jump lookin as cross as he pleased." 
 
 "But he ran off," persisted the Advocatus Dia 
 bolus, "as if pursuing some one " 
 
 "Or trying to get somewhere," supplied Craig-
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 309 
 
 head. "Aren t people here allowed to hurry? Have 
 you ordinances against haste, O Guardian of the 
 Realm? What s the speed limit for pedestrians in 
 Mobile, anyhow?" 
 
 A boy in a messenger cap interrupted the col 
 loquy by calling "Mr. Cahson, Mr. Cahson!" as if 
 "paging" a man in a hotel. 
 
 "I m Carson," said Theodore. "What do you 
 want?" 
 
 "Somebody on the wire for you at the telephone 
 booth in the hotel," replied the messenger. "Wants 
 you at once." 
 
 "May I go?" asked Theodore of the policeman. 
 
 "For all me," replied the officer. "I don t want 
 you." 
 
 Wondering who in Mobile might desire speech 
 with him, Carson said, "Who s this?" into the trans 
 mitter. 
 
 "Your old friend Wizner," said the receiver. 
 "Crazy as ever. Never mind where I am; I ll tell 
 that after I ve talked, if you want me to you 
 pup!" 
 
 Carson glared into the receiver with crimson face, 
 and lips drawn back unhandsomely; then hastily 
 returned it to his ear, and caught the middle of a 
 sentence about smuggling. 
 
 "I didn t get that," said Carson. 
 
 "Well, you ll get it," said Wizner, "if you ain t
 
 3io VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 careful. You can have me pinched but I can prove 
 an alibi. And while I m proving things, I ll fix you 
 fellows for smuggling; and put Harrod where the 
 dogs won t bite him ; and you, too !" 
 
 "I don t know anything about smuggling," pro 
 tested Theodore. 
 
 "Well," went on Wizner, "if you dig into the 
 big sand hill with the steel buoy on it, you will. 
 You ll find what ll put you in a better trade than 
 putting me in prison for a frolic with your aeronef. 
 Oh, don t talk so innocent! How did you finance 
 your air-ship, except by free trade?" 
 
 Carson had nothing to say. He remembered Cap 
 tain Harrod s expression when Wizner had called 
 him an old smuggling fool. He remembered a 
 thousand mysterious things, now made plain by the 
 hypothesis of Harrod s having yielded to the coast 
 wise temptation of smuggling. That the old man 
 he loved should be guilty of a felony was bad ; but 
 to be in Wizner s power was worse. Thus, thought 
 Carson, while Wizner waited for his reply, uttering 
 into the instrument a sly, sinister, exasperating 
 chuckle. 
 
 "Lost your tongue?" he taunted. "Well, arrest 
 me. Any one can tell you where I am ; but will the 
 girl leave Silberberg to come and testify? The 
 courtship s just getting good, now; too bad to dis 
 turb em!"
 
 3" 
 
 Carson hurled the receiver away and strode back 
 to the Virginia, looking even more forbidding than 
 when he had leaped over her side. As he shoved 
 through the crowd, he found Thomas, the negro, 
 with two men, hoisting the can of methanose 
 aboard. 
 
 "What about those aeronat clearings ?" he asked. 
 
 "Hyah s a papah they give me," said Thomas. 
 "I reckon it s in that." 
 
 The sailings were not many. The Tern for Mem 
 phis, the Long Tom for St. Andrews Bay, the Phyll 
 is Y for Montgomery ; and, yes, the Roc departing 
 the morning before "for northern points." Carson 
 threw the paper away, and Craighead picked it up. 
 
 "We can overhaul the Tern," said he, with a judi 
 cial air, "at, say, Jackson; and take on our friends 
 for Alaska. I do hope the president can join us at 
 Omaha ! Gentlemen," addressing the crowd, "here 
 you see a new aeronef invented by me. By reach 
 ing Alaska before nightfall we win a million dollars. 
 This is a sure thing, as the sun will not set there 
 for three months the bet is with a Brazilian who 
 forgot about the days coming quarterly at Nome. 
 But we shall be honorable, and pay him the million 
 on the nail if we fail to make it before sunset in 
 Rio, the real locus. To-morrow, we shall win 
 five hundred thousand from Rothschild, by leaving 
 Greenwich Observatory at sunrise going west, and
 
 312 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 returning at sunrise next day from the east cir 
 cling the world in twenty-four hours of continual 
 sunrise. Wish us well, gentlemen ! At the bar of 
 the Cawthon we have made arrangements for you- 
 all to be treated to champagne, if you insist on it, 
 or to mineral water, if you are wise. I have made a 
 specialty of this champagne game, and I know. 
 Shun intoxicants, but drink heartily to the triumph 
 of the Virginia. Good-by, honest peasantry, your 
 country s pride, good-by !" 
 
 The majestic rise of the Virginia, with no pre 
 liminary run or Mr. Craighead s parting promise 
 of vinous cheer drew a round of applause. Craig- 
 head waved his cap; but Carson, paying no atten 
 tion, laid the Virginia dead for New York. 
 
 Carson s manner, or the parting in the narrows, 
 depressed Mr. Craighead s mercurial spirits; and 
 they were far up the Alabama delta before he spoke 
 and was rebuffed by Carson s refusal to explain 
 his effort to "get" the man in the crowd. They 
 flew high ; and the constant picking up and dropping 
 of railway trains and steamers, and the swift succes 
 sion of villages and towns spoke of the fierceness 
 with which the Virginia was hurled against the 
 leagues between Mobile and New York. They left 
 Montgomery to port and Atlanta to starboard. Car 
 son had assigned himself and Craighead their du-
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 313 
 
 ties, and both were busy, Craighead at the tiller 
 with his eye on the compass, Carson looking at every 
 working part, oiling, feeling for hot bearings, 
 watching for the slightest quiver or jar, greedy of 
 every mile. He was cracking on too hard for new 
 machinery he knew that; but he never hesitated. 
 And it was only after they had won through to 
 the mountains, and were speeding along over the 
 great National Appalachian Forest that he relieved 
 Craighead. 
 
 That gentleman stood up, heaved a sigh of relief, 
 and waved his hand to the north and west, where 
 fleecy cumulus clouds buttressed the horizon with 
 mother-of-pearl. 
 
 "Another hour of that," said he, "would have 
 made the points of the compass a subjective vision 
 for ever. I can see E.N.E. and N.E. by N. on 
 every pinnacle of yon clouds! And now, sir, an it 
 please thee, I ll get luncheon if luncheon it can 
 properly be called that costs less than fifty cents 
 per jack-knife. Allans!" 
 
 In the little locker were found the elements from 
 which Craighead prepared the luncheon of bacon, 
 eggs and coffee, cooked on the methanose stove. 
 Carson listened to the engines, as a physician to 
 heart-throbs, glancing from the compass to the 
 mountain domes of clouds in the north and west.
 
 314 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "We shall get into upper Atlantic regions," said 
 he, "just in time to hit the area of local storms to 
 night" 
 
 "Tornadoes?" queried Craighead, pouring out 
 the amber coffee. 
 
 "Maybe," smiled Carson. "Severe local storms 
 always mean possible twisters." 
 
 "Well," replied Craighead, "what do we care? 
 I ve got me umbrella, ye kneow." 
 
 "That makes us safe," replied Carson. "The 
 worst we need look for is a good hard thunder 
 shower; but I d rather make my first landing in 
 Manhattan in fair weather." 
 
 "It s squally there with me as soon as I blow in," 
 answered Craighead. "Come to grub." 
 
 Carson looked from the tiller to the compass, and 
 hesitated. He had never tried letting the Virginia 
 follow her nose with the tiller lashed. 
 
 "Of course," said he, "she ll fall off but if she 
 turns, I can put her back on her course. I believe 
 I ll try her." 
 
 "Do," urged Craighead. "With this fairway, she 
 oughtn t to run into danger unless she s steerable by 
 heart-throbs and subjective yearnings. She d go 
 back, if she was!" 
 
 "She d go straight on," replied Carson; "I 
 wouldn t need to lash the tiller." 
 
 "The galling slavery of the crew," said Craig-
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 315 
 
 head, "doesn t allow his telekinesis to buck the sub 
 liminal brawn of the captain. 
 
 " I go away this blessed day, 
 To sail across the state, Matilda; 
 My air-ship starts for various parts, 
 At twenty after eight, Matilda; 
 I do not know where we may go, 
 Or whether near or far, Matilda; 
 For Captain Carson, don t make a parson, 
 Of any foremost tar, Matilda; 
 That mystic man beneath my ban, 
 Shall suffer, cotite qu il cotite, Matilda; 
 What right has he to keep from me 
 The airy, scary route, Matilda? 
 Although, in sooth, I am a youth, 
 Of common sailor lot, Matilda, 
 Am I a man on human plan 
 Devised, or am I not, Matilda? 
 
 And echo, if there were any place to echo from, 
 would answer, Not Matilda! Have some of the 
 milk, while the Virginia chases her tail above Mr. 
 Pinchot s forest." 
 
 "She doesn t chase her tail much," replied Car 
 son. "So far, at least." 
 
 She did not. The gyroscopes held her on an 
 even keel, and the altimeter-statoscope delivered
 
 316 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the verdict that the Virginia was following a course 
 as level as a battleship s. The compass trembled 
 about the point where Carson set it, as the air-ship 
 made minute deviations with changes in the air cur 
 rents, or momentarily lost coordination of the en 
 gines at once corrected by the synchronizer. She 
 was holding far closer to her course (away up there 
 in the blue) than a schooner with lashed helm would 
 have done in the steadiest of breezes. Carson ate, 
 watched the triumphant test, and forgot to frown. 
 Save for wisps of cirrus clouds miles above them, 
 the sky was clear. Peak after peak, range after 
 range, village after village and occasionally a big, 
 smokeless town about the national power plants of 
 the Leighton reservoirs came hurrying toward 
 them from the northeast, passed beneath like visions, 
 and fell behind into the wake of vanished things. 
 The great features of the landscape, the lake-like 
 reservoirs in which were stored the waters that in 
 former years had desolated the valleys with floods, 
 but now were stored to immunize the rivers from 
 low water and to turn the laboring wheels of busy 
 cities ; the bright green areas of young trees where 
 the old washed-off mountain sides had been refor 
 ested, the far-off farming lands, brown in the unver- 
 dured spring, or green with the emerald of winter 
 wheat; the valleys, ranges, and plateaus, which lay 
 as distinct as on a relief-map all these impressed
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 317 
 
 themselves on the voyagers as the streets of a village 
 on the mind of a stranger. 
 
 "I used to think it quite a trick," said Craig- 
 head, "for the birds to find their way north in 
 spring; but, pshaw! I can do it in the night A 
 continent is as simple as a quarter-section. The 
 goose isn t as much wiser than I as I always thought. 
 If Mr. Bryant had come with us, he d never have 
 written To a Water-fowl. There d have been no 
 mystery in the goose s certain flight up here where 
 he can see things." 
 
 "See that big stratus cloud?" asked Carson. 
 "Shall we go over or under it?" 
 
 "Personally," replied Craighead. "I ve been un 
 der a cloud long enough." 
 
 The stratus was an immense vapor sheet half 
 a mile above the earth. Underneath were the gloom 
 and dullness of cloudy weather ; but above it the sun 
 shone with a brightness augmented by the brilliancy 
 reflected from the upper surface of the cloud as 
 from a great glittering plain of snow. The sun was 
 past the meridian, and shining warm; but on the 
 wing, over that great expanse of pearl, the air felt 
 not cold, but "caller," and they put on their top 
 coats. Fields of cirro-cumulus clouds five miles 
 above the vaporous plain were duplicated on it by 
 their own mottled shadows, like great clusters of 
 foliage silhouetted on an illimitable ground of wool.
 
 318 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The shadow of the Virginia ran with her across the 
 cloud, like a black bat, haloed in the unspeakable 
 glory of a triple rainbow which ringed the scud 
 ding shadow about in concentric circles, so bright, 
 so refulgent in dye, so glorious in their mingling 
 lines, that the voyagers, glancing from radiance to 
 radiance, lowered their voices to the thrill of a 
 beauty too intense for speech. 
 
 The immense engines were moving more regu 
 larly than clockwork, keeping the pledge of their 
 makers that, if supplied with fuel and oil, they would 
 run without a single stop until worn out the per 
 fection of the internal combustion engine, once so 
 untrustworthy. Craighead, past the first surprise 
 of the beauty of the cloudscape, looked down at the 
 three rainbows which trailed behind them now like 
 rings of lambent fire, and criticized the outlook. 
 
 "This is, to coin a phrase," said he, "rotten, rot 
 ten ! Where are those right angles that make up 
 the peculiar allurement of the American landscape? 
 Where are the straight lines that constitute real 
 beauty? And not a patent medicine or breakfast 
 food sign as far as we can see rotten ! When we 
 own these lanes, we must have improvements. In 
 stead of those disgusting rings of color, we must 
 lay everything off in rectangular blocks, and put up 
 signs advertising nice, airy lots magnificent view 
 in Stratus Addition to Nimbusville. We must
 
 319 
 
 establish the Strato-Cumulus Club-House at the 
 Sign of the Hail-Fellow-Well-Met devoted to high 
 jinks for the accommodation of exalted person 
 ages, including, of course, the Air-Apparent of the 
 Raining Drynasty. We must open the Alto-Stratus 
 Opera House there being, I believe, no Soprano 
 clouds and the Cumulo-Nimbus Electric Com 
 pany s Thunder Plant; hey, Gin ral?" 
 
 "I m glad," said Carson, "to get above profits. 
 Thank Heaven, clouds can t be commercialized." 
 
 "Can t, eh ?" sneered Craighead. "You have made 
 good with this machine, I ll have to admit; but you 
 lack financial resourcefulness. I ve got to dig out 
 the by-products of the company myself. One of 
 them has just occurred to me. We ll lease sites for 
 captive balloons all along our lanes of licensed air 
 navigation, and sell the right to throw ads for John 
 son s Gum Drops and Mother Hubbard s Obesity 
 Regulator on the shining levels of the cloud floor. 
 It can be done by a simple mechanism if it isn t 
 invented, I ll invent it in an odd moment. And 
 we ll sell exclusive rights to throw colored pictures 
 of Killarney and Senator Clark s house, and moving 
 pictures of the great Sage-Brush Hen-House Rob 
 bery on the thunder clouds in alternation with 
 praises of Peterson s Planetry Paint and Bugworth s 
 Insecticide. Why, hang you, witless youth, let me 
 out, while I work these things up, right now!"
 
 320 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "I ll go down, and show you where you ll drop," 
 said Carson; "but I can t stop." 
 
 "Going down? Floor below?" asked Craighead. 
 "Wherefore, O brave skipper?" 
 
 "I want to see where we are," said Carson. "This 
 is like an open ocean. I want to compare the map 
 with the landscape." 
 
 Obedient to the tilted rudders, the Virginia 
 pointed her prow downward; her propeller blades 
 hurled her swiftly forward and toward the earth, 
 and she plunged into the cold steam of the stratus 
 cloud, into mist and white scarfs of lacy fog, and 
 the snowy obscurity of an aerial blizzard. Craig- 
 head gasped at the chill and the blindness. 
 
 "Ring for a guide," said he. "I m lost." 
 
 He was not lost for long; for the Virginia clove 
 the fleecy hoodwink, and emerged through its lower 
 levels into the clear shadows of the nether air. They 
 could feel the warmth radiated from the ground, 
 balmy with earthy scents. The landscape was ut 
 terly changed. Far off to the west was the blue 
 line of the highlands, its peaks lost in haze. Below 
 were farms planted in corn and wheat and tobacco, 
 from which came up the lowing of cattle, the crow 
 ing of cocks, and, most distinct of all, the barking 
 of dogs. Far to the northeast lay a shining river, 
 widening at the limit of vision into a broad estu 
 ary; and just within sight could be discerned the
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 321 
 
 clustered spires and towers of a city. Carson looked 
 the landscape over and studied his map. 
 
 "I wonder if it s possible," said he, "that that s 
 Richmond?" 
 
 "If so," answered Craighead, "let me adopt Mr. 
 Greeley s war-cry, On to Richmond ! But, to coin 
 an expression, what s the matter with its being Phila 
 delphia? It s so peaceful under its atmosphere of 
 Quaker drab. But if not the City of Brotherly 
 Graft, let s have it Richmond." 
 
 "But it must be the James," cried Carson. 
 "Craighead, we ve made Richmond three hours 
 quicker than I thought it possible! A stork, or a 
 Canada goose, couldn t have covered the distance 
 and they sometimes go two hundred miles an hour! 
 Why" 
 
 "Let us exult over yon insufferable plutes," cried 
 Craighead. "Let s fly rings around em ! Let s sail 
 circles around the snobs !" 
 
 Craighead, scanning the southeast with his field- 
 glasses, had discovered at a distance of six or seven 
 miles, a huge silver aeronat steering northward 
 and to its passengers he referred with many ges 
 tures. Carson trained his binoculars on her and 
 grew tense as a greyhound at sight of a distant 
 wolf. The aeronat was of the Condor type and of 
 the largest size, with bow rudders, and along her 
 side ran the line of a vestigial aeroplane. Still at
 
 322 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 the same unheard-of speed, Theodore threw over 
 the tiller and made for the air-ship. Craighead 
 looked at him in wonder. 
 
 "Why so obedient, O Knight of the Congealed 
 Countenance all so suddenly?" 
 
 "That ship looks," said Carson, advancing the 
 spark and crowding the engines until the wind of 
 flight swept the aeronef like a gale, "like the Roc!" 
 
 After a few moments on a straight course to inter 
 sect that of the aeronat, Carson threw the Virginia up 
 into the cloud. As the earth was blotted from sight 
 he compared the direction of the aeronat with the 
 points of the compass, making a mental calculation 
 as to the distance and the speed of the two ships, 
 and in another moment they emerged on the shining 
 upper levels of the cloud, which, like a shimmering 
 screen between the Virginia and the other craft, hid 
 their approach to each other. One below the cur 
 tain and one above it, the air-ship of the future and 
 the air-ship of the past flew on converging courses. 
 Carson held his watch as it ticked off the time for 
 the five or six miles of distance, set the rudders for 
 a downward dip, plunged through the cloud for the 
 third time, and darted downward out of the vapor 
 like a swift into a chimney. 
 
 They looked about and saw nothing. The aero 
 nat was invisible. And yet, above the purring of 
 the machinery, came to their ears the tremor from
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 323 
 
 powerful engines, the whirring of screws close at 
 hand. Could the Condor have ascended into the 
 cloud as they descended from it? It was possible, 
 but the sounds were approaching, not receding; and 
 voices now mingled with the sounds of machinery 
 voices coming closer and closer. 
 
 "My God, Carson !" shouted Craighead. "You re 
 going foul of her. Look down !" 
 
 Just in time Carson looked. From the clear 
 depths of air below, the great bubble of silver rose, 
 swelling in her swift approach. A collision meant 
 ruin for the aeronat, and probably destruction to 
 the Virginia. The propelling blades of the aeronef 
 would cut the envelop of the gas-holder like paper; 
 and the two ships, in a huge mass of tangled wreck 
 age, would fall to the earth in death and ruin ; or 
 the escaping gas from the aeronat, ignited from the 
 exhaust of the Virginia s engines, might explode, 
 hurling the fragments of both vessels far and wide 
 and Carson saw in the ruin the fair form of Vir 
 ginia Suarez hurled to earth and crushed to form 
 lessness below. 
 
 There was no time to check their downward ca 
 reer; salvation lay solely in a swift dart to evade 
 the rising peril. Quick as lightning Carson threw 
 on full speed forward. The Virginia obeyed her 
 machinery and as she swooped to the aeronat s 
 starboard, the latter rose swiftly; the Virginia s
 
 324 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 stern rudder grazed the gas-bag and was all but 
 carried away; a cord of the suspension system of 
 the air-ship snapped with a detonation that set the 
 huge fabric in a tremble; there rose a cry from the 
 deck of the hitherto unconscious monster, as her 
 people realized the fearful fact that here in these 
 dizzy heights they were in collision with something; 
 and as the Virginia came in sight past the immense 
 bilge, they saw white visages turned upward to 
 them, as might appear the doomed traveler s face 
 when assailed by the roc of Arab fable; and as they 
 sheered off, a man came running out of the cabin 
 with a gun in his hand, as if with some wild notion 
 of giving battle to the invisible destroyer which had 
 swept down upon them from the fleecy heights of 
 the cloud. 
 
 The Virginia was half a mile from the air-ship 
 before the crew of the latter had time to assure 
 themselves of her safety. The great aeronat had 
 not changed her course, but was still cracking on at 
 the height of her speed toward Richmond like a 
 whale at which a swordfish had made a vicious slash 
 and missed. The Virginia went astern as well as 
 athwart the course of the other craft, and as she 
 sheered to starboard, the aeronef and the aeronat 
 sped from each other at the sum of their two speeds 
 perhaps four miles a minute. The people on the 
 latter must have thought the other gone for ever,
 
 325 
 
 when an astounding thing happened. The aeronef 
 wheeled about and gave chase nay, she gave chase 
 so swiftly that she swelled visibly in her swift over 
 hauling of the aeronat. In a time so short that 
 it seemed like a breath, the Virginia, on a level 
 now with the other s deck, came in close astern, then 
 sheered off and deliberately ran around the big Con 
 dor as she stood on her course at full speed. As a 
 falcon might describe circles about the head of the 
 hawker, the Virginia went about the Condor. As 
 she crossed the bows a cry went out from the great 
 ship s engine-room a cry of mingled fear and 
 astonishment astonishment that any aerial craft 
 dared lay herself across a speeding Condor s bows, 
 fear of a collision, and the dread which comes to 
 those who see themselves in the power of another. 
 Why did this new craft so course about them? It 
 was some new engine of aviation that was sure. 
 And with such incredible speed and such un 
 heard-of mobility, what more profitable trade could 
 open to her than the aerial hunt and spoiling of 
 the "dirigibles," with their passenger lists of mil 
 lionaires? 
 
 So as Carson came up on his second circumnavi 
 gation of the Condor, there stood at the rail of the 
 big air-ship two or three men with guns, who made 
 threatening gestures and shouted to him to stand 
 off or they would shoot.
 
 326 VIRGINIA OK THE AIR LANES 
 
 "What ship is that?" cried Carson. 
 
 "None of your damn business !" was the reply. 
 "You stand off or we ll shoot!" 
 
 "Shoot, if you dare!" cried Carson. "Don t you 
 see that I can go above where you can t shoot and 
 rip your gas-bag in perfect safety? Come now, 
 answer my question. Why, confound it, if I wanted 
 to do you any harm, don t you see you re in my 
 power? Don t be silly." 
 
 Something in the boy s tone reassured the aero- 
 nat. 
 
 "This is the Dcedalus of Spokane," was the reply. 
 "What devilish thing is that?" 
 
 "The Virginia of of Carson s Landing in Ala 
 bama," replied Theodore. 
 
 "You will pardon us for our abrupt descent to 
 your level," said Craighead suavely. "Ordinarily, 
 the Virginia prefers a higher plane. We were 
 strictly in nubibus a moment ago, and on materializ 
 ing we found ourselves descending on you like a 
 duck on a June-bug. We busted one of your suspen 
 sion cords for which we are sorry; but the gods 
 bump into things when they come down from Olym 
 pus." 
 
 "Whose aeronef is that?" asked the man who 
 seemed in command. 
 
 "It s mine," said Theodore; "I built her." 
 
 "Well," said the man on the other deck, "you ve
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 327 
 
 got the world by the tail ; and if you need money to 
 swing it, just apply to Calvin J. Fry of Spokane 
 if you ve got clear title to the mechanism." 
 
 "Thank you," said Theodore. "I thought you 
 might be an acquaintance. I think we ll leave you, 
 now." 
 
 "But wait," said Mr. Fry. "Let me handle your 
 foreign rights. I can get next. I know the Japa 
 nese foreign minister; and China s looking for 
 something like that. Hold on Hatton, will you let 
 a mechanical devil s-darning-needle like that leave 
 the D&daliis behind as if anchored? Hold on, 
 please " 
 
 But the Virginia, gently increasing her speed, 
 left the hustling Calvin J. Fry gesticulating far out 
 of hearing. 
 
 "That, to originate a locution," said Craighead, 
 "ought to hold them for a brief period. Looks as 
 if they were back-pedaling." 
 
 "I will find them," said Carson, evidently mean 
 ing something else, "if they have hidden her in the 
 farthest cave of that thunder cloud." 
 
 "Highly improbable, deown t ye kneow," sug 
 gested Craighead, "that they should select such a 
 demnition insanitary place for the young person. 
 Doubtless we ll run across em in New York. By 
 the way dinner ! I have the honor to report that 
 the ship is without grub, and is starving!"
 
 328 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "I shall not stop/ said Theodore, "this side of 
 New York." 
 
 "Very well, sir," said Craighead, "I still have my 
 boot heels. Doubtless I shall do very well with 
 them. I suppose you see that we are butting into 
 weather, dead ahead and on both bows?" 
 
 "Certainly. It s the area of local storms." 
 
 Past Richmond, they left the domed capitol at 
 Washington far to port, passed between Baltimore 
 and Dover, and directly over Philadelphia, where 
 Carson made a wide circle above the vast aerial 
 harbor, scanning the berths for a huge silver ae ro- 
 nat of the Condor type but rinding none. It was 
 growing dusk, and the west and northwest were 
 ramparted with towering thunder-heads, quivering 
 with lightning, toward which Carson hurled the 
 Virginia like a bullet. The town-studded suburban 
 region of New Jersey swept under them as if drawn 
 by swift mechanism; and the harbor of New York 
 lay beneath, alive with shipping. The lights were 
 already burning, and the far-spread Babylon of the 
 modern world hung like a fairy dream from the 
 foreground to the farther rim of the concave cup 
 of the earth. The castellated marge of the city stood, 
 incredibly lofty, clear to the water s edge, reared 
 so high in air as to challenge the air-ship itself in 
 altitude. Carson was amazed and stunned. He 
 had never seen New York, and his ideas were all
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 329 
 
 inadequate to the actualities before him. The streets 
 flashed into sight as the Virginia passed into posi 
 tions permitting a view of the bottom of one metro 
 politan canon after another flashed into view as 
 long lines of arc-lights and gorgeous electric signs 
 a perfectly unimaginable tangle and jungle of lights 
 of all colors ; and then the soaring craft would pass 
 on, the streets would be snuffed out by the tall build 
 ings the illuminated roofs and towering cliffs of 
 lighted windows becoming a great plain of glim 
 mering constellations. The boy was afraid the 
 huge city, roaring up at them like a ravening beast 
 struck him with terror. It was so unreal, so sinister, 
 so like a gorgeous nightmare of feverish human 
 achievement, that it seemed unthinkable that it 
 could hold for him aught but danger and struggle, 
 and, perhaps, defeat. 
 
 "Why dost circle about like a sand-hill crane?" 
 said Craighead. "Why don t you light?" 
 
 "Like the sand-hill crane," replied Carson, "I m 
 afraid. Where can we alight?" 
 
 "Gad !" said Craighead, "I never thought of that! 
 New York has always reached out for me so lov 
 ingly, that the idea of there being any difficulty in 
 getting into her embrace never entered my brain. 
 We are a little shy of knowledge of how to get in 
 from above, aren t we?" 
 
 "What are the harbor rules?" asked Carson.
 
 330 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "Hanged if I know," replied Craighead. "TKe 
 ground has always seemed adequate as a way in 
 before. Can t you follow the crowd?" 
 
 "There s not an air-ship to be seen," said Car 
 son. "They ve been driven in by the night and the 
 weather. Is it safe to drop into any harbor we may 
 happen to find?" 
 
 "What else are we to do ?" cried Craighead. "It s 
 coming on to storm; and I m hungry; and there s 
 the Great White Way beckoning! We must land." 
 
 "No," replied Carson, "I m afraid. And I think 
 it better by all means to go out to the country, and 
 come into New York by day. And that s what I m 
 going to do." 
 
 It was quite dark now, save for the moon, whicH, 
 nearly full, was climbing the eastern sky, still clear. 
 The land to the south and east would escape the 
 storm for hours. To the northwest towered the 
 pearly clouds palpitant with lightning. Craighead, 
 complainingly assenting to his companion s plan of 
 retreat from Manhattan until day, expected Theo 
 dore to turn the Virginia from foul weather to some 
 far New Jersey village; and was astonished when 
 he entered upon a swift flight up the Hudson, which 
 lay shining in the moonlight, laced with the wakes 
 of boats. Far ahead, on both sides, quivered the 
 lightning of the storm; and from afar came the 
 rumbling of thunder. Carson seemed to be seeking
 
 A RETREAT FROM BABYLON 33 1 
 
 night in the heart of a thunder-storm. Craighead 
 seized his arm and tried to glean something of his 
 mood from a scrutiny of his face. 
 
 "I know how impolite it is to ask about such 
 aberrations," said he, "from experience. But may 
 I inquire why you seem determined to enter upon 
 an unseemly frolic with the Storm King? No, by 
 James, you ve passed the Storm King, and you ve 
 headed for the Catskills the confoundedest place 
 for thunder and lightning in these parts. What 
 about you ?" 
 
 "I m going to the Catskills," said THeodore. "Be 
 fore I sleep, I m going to find Shayne s Hold!"
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 
 
 WITH a complaining, mutinous crew, 
 and a captain sullenly silent, the Vir 
 ginia fared north along the Hudson 
 witH her cargo of dreams and fears. Theodore, at 
 the tiller, between glances at the compass and the 
 chart, watched the silver ribbon of the river broad 
 ening into the placid lake of Tappan Zee, contract 
 ing to a thread between Peekskill and West Point, 
 and lost altogether in a sheet of rain that roared 
 down across Poughkeepsie. -i 
 
 "I never supposed," remarked Craighead, as they 
 passed far east of West Point to escape the thunder 
 storm, "that I d ever be able to look so scornfully 
 down on this cradle of our nation s heroism and 
 flubdub, which lost its chief est jewel when it ex 
 pelled me. Proud nest of warriors with indrawn 
 stomachs, I scorn ye! If I knew where ye were, 
 within a league or so, I d shake off the dust of my 
 feet against ye. I laugh in your upturned face 
 ha ha!" 
 
 332
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 333 
 
 Carson was still silent, as he avoided the local 
 shower that drenched the decks of the night boats, 
 gained its rear, crossed the Hudson in a slow drizzle 
 at Kingston and stood northwest toward heavy 
 dense masses of towering clouds, vivid with inces 
 sant lightning, screening the high peaks of the Cats- 
 kills and Shayne s Hold. 
 
 "I m distinctly for this trip now!" cried Craig- 
 head. "Talk about excitement! Why, when before 
 did man that is born of woman make a night flight 
 into the whither, dodging thunder-storms by the 
 way ? What is more elevating than to cast contempt 
 into the teeth of the elements by dancing up into 
 the very front of a cloud-burst, and getting away by 
 superior foot- work? The watery kingdom whose 
 ambitious head spits in the face of Heaven why 
 it s modest and retiring compared with us! The 
 armies of the tempest encamp against us, they com 
 pass us about, they vaunt their strength even as a 
 gladiator, they speak in thunder across the leagues, 
 saying, Let the left wing advance yonder, and the 
 right wing hold the hills, while the center rushes in 
 with the trampling charge of its wind and down 
 pour and we shall get these mortals, good and 
 plenty P Arid then we outflank them on the east and 
 give them the contumelious ha-ha, and hang on their 
 rear threatening their communications with Medi 
 cine Hat and Kamloops, by James ! And if they do
 
 334 VIRGINIA OE THE AIR LANES 
 
 surround us, we ll rise into the inane as has fre 
 quently been my habit anyhow and we ll soar over 
 the topmost domes of their encampment of destruc 
 tion and dampness and statical electricity, and we ll 
 drop down outside the lines dry within and with 
 out. This is sport for a king or a hippogriff. On, 
 on, say I, and yet again, on !" 
 
 "That s all right as pure fancy," replied Carson, 
 "but if we ever get hemmed in among these storms, 
 we ll not get out by going over them." 
 
 "Why not?" asked Craighead. "I ll not hear that 
 there are limits to the achievements of this flying 
 exclamation-point, for the prospecti upon which I 
 am mentally engaged must speak of the pleasures 
 of tornado-baiting, and the following of the spoor 
 of the typhoon and the sirocco. Why not hurdle the 
 tempest, caitiff?" 
 
 "Those highest towers," replied Carson, pointing 
 to the thunder-heads now again snowy in the moon 
 light, "are thirty, forty, fifty thousand feet high." 
 
 "Well, what do we care?" protested Craighead. 
 "It wouldn t hurt any more to fall that far, than 
 from where we are. Come, better logic, sirrah !" 
 
 "The upper strata," said Carson, "are snow and 
 ice and frost." 
 
 "Better to feel a frost," said Craighead, "than to 
 be one, Sir Dagonet. Come, thou rt unhorsed !" 
 
 "And the atmosphere up there," went on Carson,
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 335 
 
 "is too rare for the Virginia s foothold; or for 
 breath. Before we got above those domes, the en 
 gines would be put to it to keep her at a standstill." 
 
 "Then, sir," said Craighead, "you have enlisted 
 the great, safe, sane and conservative Craighead in 
 a wildcat promotion of a machine in which, in sur 
 mounting an ordinary thunder-head, we shall be suc 
 cessively stalled, frozen to death, and suffocated! 
 Am I right, Colonel Carson?" 
 
 1 Carson was questioning the altimeter-statoscope 
 as to whether or not their altitude would carry them 
 over the peaks which must now be fast rising be 
 neath them. Far to the north glowed the lights of 
 some great hotel like a swarm of stationary fireflies. 
 Beneath was darkness and mystery, though once he 
 heard a dog s bark the last sound lost in aerial 
 traveling. Craighead waited as if for a reply. 
 
 "By your silence," said he, "you confess. Let me 
 out. I am hurt to the heart. To have fooled away 
 so much time on such a dinky thing! Let me out! 
 I would fain walk back to Sherry s." 
 j The simile of an advancing army quite obviously 
 described the approaching storm. Like a vast arch 
 the clouds marched on, covering the mountains far 
 to right and left, the black nimbus on which they 
 were based sweeping the earth with a trailing veil 
 of rain. By abandoning the Catskills, the aeronef 
 might have evaded the struggle, but her commander
 
 336 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 seemed to have no notion of retreat. Though* terri 
 fied by the lights and towers and multitudinous life 
 of New York, he drove his craft unshrinkingly into 
 the teeth of thunder and lightning and wind and 
 rain. 
 
 "Put on your oilskins," said he to Craighead. 
 
 "It s humiliating," said Craighead, "but I reckon 
 I must" 
 
 "There s an opening yonder in the rain," said 
 Carson. "If it doesn t close up, we may slip 
 through to the back of the storm again !" 
 
 As if the wings of the advancing army had ex 
 tended its lines until they pulled apart in the cen 
 ter, the rain opened where Carson pointed. At that 
 moment the whole heaven was black, save where 
 the moon, now riding high, touched the cloud-sum 
 mits with silver; but in an instant a sudden dis 
 charge of looped and linked lightning lit up the 
 whole northwest, and Craighead saw through to the 
 rear of the rain as through a window, the base of 
 which was the hills, its upper limit a straight hori 
 zontal line of black nimbus, its sides misty and in 
 definite with encroaching downpour. 
 
 "We must go lower," said Carson, "and pass un 
 der. The rain is closing in; but I reckon we can 
 slip through, pretty dry." 
 
 The on-coming black arch lighted to whiteness 
 when the lightning blazed swelled fearfully as
 
 - . /.- .; r.7 
 
 its ratnlew tp aarrowtn* jaao- 
 
 afcy, if ffef lost, was, to be 
 
 that. The curtaiai of water, drawn 
 let tiie travelers tiirog^i, fwiatig to^rfbcr a 
 approached. Tbe edges of the ckttd cwifli 
 svfled by t&e CMtaMfiof CKrrects, the K<jfat% be 
 came alaKMt JSKHKMfc. 
 
 "Whoop r cried Crag!iad. Tbe Ftr.fBB* ! 
 I gocs IH stay m this deal for a while after all! 
 Cteef Hdr thrCUW, 1 <qr say fealty r 
 
 h* P9q0M&4ki 
 
 jpfa~ *o left asjd right t 
 
 vcalai ! IsssWd by the torrential dowsjsisw 
 bowing in Ac stem tfsjsj^ while a 
 roar rose from the earth, Hire 
 
 Niagara. There was a moment of tfe < 
 
 of huge drops wrdi strokes Kke hailstooes; 
 
 VirgnaA slipped th rough tike thinned pfcalarrr 
 
 tibe rain and winged her way oo only to f 
 
 self face to face with a strosveran 
 
 first Towerfj so h 
 
 vfldi Mvfiw sfcssd^f Me
 
 338 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 for surrender if we can find an inn. Some would 
 be a live coward rather than a dead hero, but I d 
 rather be a live tumble-bug than a dead anything. 
 Come, brave Southron, surrender! Let s to an 
 otel." 
 
 Carson laughed thinking of Shayne s Hold, and 
 conjecturing as to its whereabouts. If he read his 
 chart correctly, the lights seen afar to the north 
 east indicated that they had left the Kaaterskill be 
 hind, and were nearing Black Head Mountains 
 though he confessed to himself that the crags re 
 vealed by the lightning might be the Hunter Peaks, 
 or even the summits of Slide Mountain. All he 
 really knew was that he was above the Catskills, 
 and that unless he could out-manceuver the elements, 
 they faced an encounter with rain, wind and great 
 possibilities in the way of lightning. The domes of 
 thunder-cloud a few miles to their right seemed al 
 most low enough to be overpassed; so he set the 
 levers for an ascent; and the Virginia rose like an 
 osprey chased by an eagle. 
 
 "Which way doe- that shoot us," queried Craig- 
 head, " if a foremast tar may inquire?" 
 
 "Forty-five degrees up," answered Carson. 
 
 "Afraid of contamination by low associations, or 
 what?" 
 
 "I m trying your suggestion," answered Carson. 
 "I m scaling the front of that shower."
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 339 
 
 "Thank you," said Craighead. "A dash into a 
 blizzard may give me an appetite. Oh, for a hard- 
 boiled hailstone! . . . But man, man, the au 
 dacity of it !" 
 
 Even Craighead s voice was hushed in awe. Like 
 the fairy domes of some city of oriental fable, rose 
 the cloud-castles, their summits white in the moon 
 light, their folds dark like a dove s wing. Suddenly 
 the lightning blazed out in the heart of the black 
 base on which the city of enchantment was reared; 
 and instantly the whole vast fabric grew white and 
 palpitant and terrible, while the blue sky beyond and 
 above it turned black velvet by contrast. The light 
 ning ceased; and there hung the billowy cloud, 
 silver-white and drab on a base of darkness as be 
 fore; and climbing toward the pearly summit like a 
 black insect winging its way over a mountain-top, 
 soared the audacious air-ship, seen of no eye but 
 that of the Infinity of the infinite spaces whose ar 
 cana it dared invade; while, as if to turn back the 
 intruders, the lofty ramparts were momently reared 
 higher and higher, new towers surmounting those of 
 a few moments before, old domes curving toward the 
 zenith as if boiled up from beneath as they were. 
 He who will watch the ascension and inflation of 
 the thunder-clouds of an increasing storm will see 
 the impossibility against which the Virginia was 
 pitted by her presumptuous builder.
 
 For it was an impossibility. The air had grown 
 chill as with frost, and still the clouds were far 
 above them. The bite of the propellers on the air 
 seemed to fail; for the cloud masses no longer ap 
 peared to fall, as when the aeronef was rising. 
 
 "We can t make it," said Carson. 
 
 "Don t try!" exclaimed Craighead. "It s ef 
 frontery !" 
 
 Changing a lever or so, Carson drove straight 
 toward the pearly bosom of the cloud. He was far 
 above that level line from which the spectator of a 
 storm sees falling the fringe of rain, and among the 
 rounded masses of the lower cumulus. The Virginia 
 again seemed to make speed ; for the clouds swooped 
 down on the aeronef visibly, as if to destroy her; 
 over them went the murky pinions of the squall, 
 and then came darkness and cold in which they 
 swam through blinding and beating sheets of rain 
 and huge vortices of chill mist. Sudden darkness 
 wrapped them, torn through with still more sudden 
 light, so blinding, so prismatic that it smote the eye 
 balls like a whip, as a tremendous discharge of flame 
 cut through the cloud like an archangel s sword 
 its slashing blow barely missing the speck of man- 
 made mechanism which blindly felt its way 
 through the lair of the lightning, like a shallop in 
 the home of the Midgard Snake. The thunder 
 pealed out in a swift, tearing crash, sudden as a 
 gunshot. The metallic points of the Virginia blazed
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 341 
 
 with white flame. The electric lights winked out like 
 closed eyes, and then shone forth again. The men 
 felt tinglings in their fingers and toes, their hair 
 stood out stiff as if frozen while wet and then 
 came back the darkness, the cold, the rain and mist, 
 and the beating of the wind. 
 
 Carson sat with his hand on his levers, pale as if 
 dead; Craighead clutched a hand-rail, his eyes 
 turned aloft as if in invocation. A more remote 
 flash, and darkness returned, but not so densely; the 
 space before them grew softly light; and in a mo 
 ment they swam into the moonlight above great 
 masses of woolpack, nacreous like the inside of a 
 shell and etched with the shadow of the Virginia, 
 surrounded by a glorious lunar bow. 
 
 All about towered the higher clouds like those 
 through which they had come. Ahead was a great 
 cavern, miles in height, into which they winged 
 their way like a bat into its cave. But this grotto 
 was neither dark nor noisome, but whitely shadowy, 
 with huge stalactites dangling from a roof so high 
 that one almost expected to see imprisoned stars 
 under it. Rising from the abysmal hollows of the 
 cavern floor towered immense stalagmites, thousands 
 of feet high; and under the diffused light of the 
 moon, reflected into the cave mouth from the ala 
 baster fields astern, and multiplied in the colorless 
 spaces of the enormous chamber, the stalactites and 
 stalagmites changed, melted away, reformed, and
 
 342 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 detaching themselves, floated away in broken masses. 
 In all this memorable voyage nothing else was so 
 incomprehensibly immense, so beautiful as this ; but 
 it lasted for a few moments only. Through the 
 immeasurable chamber of cloud darted the aeronef, 
 into a second smother of rain and mist, and out on 
 a lower level, into the calm space behind the storm ; 
 where, under a sheet of low-lying vapor from which 
 dropped the last of the rain, lay the peaks of the 
 mountains, high, craggy, jostling the lower clouds. 
 From this region of shadow they emerged into the 
 moonlight again, and began their search for signs 
 of human habitation a quest seemingly hopeless, 
 not from any lack of houses, but from the unlikeli 
 hood of rinding the one place sought Even by day 
 it might not have been easy. Yet the Virginia, 
 systematically scouting, no longer pursued her flight 
 like a migrating bird, but flew here and there as if 
 for prey. At every lightning flash, Carson peered 
 about for white walls, open pools, or other signs of 
 so rich a dwelling. Wherever the scarped mountain 
 side simulated masonry, they hovered and made 
 sure it was not a wall. Finally, just as Theodore 
 was at the point of retreat, both at once saw what 
 neither doubted was Shayne s Hold. 
 
 The Hold was on the triple peak of one of the
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 343 
 
 ruggedest and highest masses of the Catskills, rising 
 steep as a wall, hundreds of feet in the air, to three 
 summits, in the midst of which stood the mansion. 
 Soil from below had been placed in the hollow 
 between the peaks, and gardens planted in it. The 
 huge buildings had been built; the animals had 
 been introduced; the last luxury had been sup 
 plied and Shayne s Hold had been sealed up. 
 Down from the mountain flowed three streams, up 
 which had run the precipitous roads to the top; 
 and when the time came for closing the Hold to 
 those who had no way of navigating the air, Mr. 
 Shayne had built across them immense dams, using 
 materials blasted from the mountain sides at such 
 places as to render quite unscalable every place 
 where ascent might have been possible before. The 
 steepened precipices thus carried across the ravines 
 in masonry made a lofty wall entirely around the 
 mountain. The water filled up the abysses behind 
 the dams; and thus, where roads had been, were 
 now deep lakes, stocked with fish, and cruised over 
 by every craft which sail or oar or motor might fit 
 for ministry to luxury and pleasure. 
 
 The dams furnished electricity to light and heat 
 the Hold, and to propel its vehicles. Every effect 
 that could be produced by lights, white and colored, 
 the electrician-artists had worked out for the illu 
 mination of this enchanted palace hung on cliffs.
 
 344 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Overlooking the region, as its owner overlorded his 
 fellows, the Hold was a place of mystery, holding 
 no neighborship with the people below, who some 
 times heard bursts of sweet music, a voice lifted 
 high in song, or the pealing of a great organ, de 
 scending as from Olympus. Foresters and wood 
 men, tramps and campers, rich and poor, were shut 
 out from this terrestrial paradise, fenced from the 
 world like Eden of old by mountain walls, and 
 by masonry as firm as the hills. The huge aeronats 
 came in swarms, sometimes, like fabulous birds con 
 gregating for some mysterious purpose not under 
 stood by those who looked with upturned faces, and 
 with hating hearts for the man below always 
 resents the flaunting and domination of him above. 
 For this, however, Mr. Shayne and his guests, in 
 the high altitudes of coolness and health, with every 
 thing that wealth could furnish, isolated in a world 
 of their own, cared nothing. The sailing of the 
 seas of air had made this place possible; and by no 
 other means could it be reached. It was a real 
 Laputa an island in the air; and those only could 
 reach it who could fly. 
 
 Seen from above, it seemed a precipitation in 
 stone of the vision of a Beckford. The cliffs formed 
 a circle so artificialized as to impart the impression 
 that the mountain itself had been built by man.
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 345 
 
 Dammed in the old ravines, glimmered three tri 
 angular lakes, swarming with pleasure craft, and 
 ornate with boat-houses and pergolas. Skirting 
 the cliff ran a line of arc-light clusters, patrolled by 
 a guard against intruders from below their long 
 vigil as yet unrewarded by a single trespass. The 
 lights a fiery wreath for the brow of a mountain- 
 Bacchus made twilight in the hollow where stood 
 the beautiful house, so built as to seem already en 
 wrapped in the ivy, and drab with the weathering 
 of age. About the peak ran a labyrinth of bridle 
 paths and carriage roads, all outlined from above 
 by winding lines of lights, like the route of an army 
 of bewildered glow-worms. Hidden by a spur of 
 cliff, was the immense air-ship garage, the most 
 commodious in the world, save those of the king of 
 England and the president of the Russian Repub 
 lic. There were summer-houses and conservatories ; 
 cellarage for a Lucullus ; stables and kennels ; courts, 
 alleys, and halls for games; libraries; galleries; 
 observatories an alter orbis, immune to the airs, 
 diseases, noises, tumults, and unchosen companion 
 ships of the lower earth and, indeed, to a great de 
 gree immune to its laws ; for Shayne s Hold was by 
 special act a unit of civil government, with magis 
 trate and constables chosen by form of law from its 
 own servants. Thus the Hold drew up its rocky
 
 346 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 skirts and spurned the contamination of the neigh 
 borhood and the trammels of local law. 
 
 The lightning had disabled its lighting system 
 for the most part, and the Hold had gone dark. 
 Carson had made two or three reconnaissances over 
 the very spot, but had not suspected its presence, 
 for the sky was clouded and the luster of the pools 
 too feeble to reach his eyes ; so that the sudden out- 
 flash of the myriad lights, when the currents were 
 restored, came to both men with astonishing unex 
 pectedness. Craighead was clamoring for an aban 
 donment of their search. 
 
 "I ask not for human grub," said he, "but turn me 
 loose to dig roots, or mayhap snare a toad or ex 
 hume a worm. I would not live alway, but how 
 would you bury me up here, old scout? Think!" 
 
 "I have been thinking," replied Carson, "and I 
 must admit that you are correct look there !" 
 
 The Hold had blossomed suddenly in fire. The 
 lakes edged with lights glimmered like mirrors; 
 the clustered arc-lights delimited the high mesa 
 like a map ; the winding labyrinth of incandescents 
 netted the peaks like glowing Lilliputian threads 
 about the recumbent Gulliver; and in the midst 
 stood a great, roomy, columned mansion, its wings 
 in shade, its central court agleam, the radiant heart 
 of an elaborate splendor. Carson drew in his breath 
 sharply.
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 347 
 
 "My God!" said he. "Who could ever think of 
 such a thing?" 
 
 Craighead was silent, until Carson unhesitatingly 
 turned the prow of the Virginia directly toward the 
 Hold. 
 
 "What would you do now?" he asked. "Play 
 we re kids going after tigers and finding them?" 
 
 Now that he had found the Hold, Carson was too 
 much at a loss to reply. He would not ask admis 
 sion and he had no idea that he would be admitted 
 if he did. But he must see Virginia. Utterly es 
 tranged as they were, this night voyage had a 
 reason the hope of seeing her, of asking her for 
 giveness, of bringing her to see that when she 
 dropped from the sky to his feet, he had loved her, 
 that when she had come to live with that uncle of 
 whom she had heard so little, and had found the 
 last Carson in him, the temptation was so masked 
 in duty that it was too strong for him. And had 
 he ever once in that delicious, perilous time of act 
 ing "Uncle Theodore," inexcusably presumed on 
 the relationship, or failed in goodness? True, he 
 had let her stay as his niece; but had not his father 
 always thought himself of the same blood? Vir 
 ginia must allow some weight to this tradition. She 
 must see that, while too remotely related to be ob 
 jectionable in a nearer, dearer way, he was too 
 probably of kin to have turned her away. And,
 
 348 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 surely, when once he could look in her eyes, all the 
 dear, disguised avowals and acceptances in the mis 
 taken past must make him something better than a 
 stranger. He would land in Shayne s Hold, if it 
 were the last act of his life. 
 
 With the ancient instinct of the surreptitious lover, 
 he made for the angle between two dark wings of 
 the great house. Glimmers of light from two win 
 dows were their sole sign of occupancy ; the center 
 of human concourse being about that core of light 
 in the court. The wings seemed like low adjuncts for 
 conservatories or billiard-rooms; and the angle be 
 tween, with its light mottlings, looked like a flower- 
 sprinkled lawn, on which Carson felt confident of 
 placing the Virginia gently, and with no disturb 
 ance. Beyond this he had been too much engrossed 
 in the management of the aeronef to make plans. 
 With a slow soaring motion she came into the angle 
 like a steamer into her slip and found, instead of a 
 lawn, a graveled roof cluttered with tables and 
 chairs as if for the serving of refreshments. Among 
 these the Virginia nosed in, dumped some chairs, a 
 table and two potted palms into the court, and set 
 tled down amid crackling furniture and crashing 
 pottery a beautiful landing, in a rather unsuitable 
 spot. 
 
 Craighead leaped out on the roof. 
 
 "Let s run !" said he, in a stage whisper. "They
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 349 
 
 must have heard that, and if they catch us, we re in 
 for it!" 
 
 "Stay here," said Carson, in a low tone. "If we 
 must, we can fly in the Virginia. I ll see if any- 
 thing s broken!" 
 
 The Roc had reached Shayne s Hold just in time 
 to escape the storm, and the wearied Virginia had 
 retired, sick of the harping of her aunt upon the 
 disgrace of her sojourn with "Uncle Theodore;" 
 weary of telling how innocent it had been, how gen 
 tle and considerate he was, how idylic their life 
 would always seem all in spite of her anger at 
 Mr. Carson. She had taken dinner on the roof, 
 watching the march of the storm, wondering where 
 that air-ship was, in which she and some one had 
 so nearly met their death. She was angry, and she 
 despised Theodore, but she hoped he was safe, that 
 his campaign for the control of the air against her 
 uncle might succeed though that seemed the wild 
 est of presumption. While her maid prepared her 
 for bed, she thought how much happier she had 
 been at Carson s Landing, with no attention save an 
 ewer of hot water brought up by old Chloe. 
 
 Her uncle had spoken of a wireless message from 
 Wizner at Mobile, relating no doubt to Theodore 
 and the Virginia; and she was horrified to think that 
 he could keep up communication with the man who
 
 350 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 had tried to murder both her and Theodore. With a 
 book close to the light, she was composing her mind 
 to sleep, when into the dreamy quietude came a 
 purring that was so unmistakably the voice of the 
 aeronef that Virginia rose, with her hand to her 
 heart, in an amazement not all unpleasant, wonder 
 ing where her namesake might alight, and what 
 Shayne s hired constabulary might do with Theo 
 dore when from the roof came a scraping as if 
 all the furniture were being moved at once; chairs 
 and tables went over the parapet with a crash and 
 the voices of Craighead and Carson came in at the 
 window, low, hurried and agitated. 
 
 There was a hustling in the lower hall, as people 
 ran to the windows that gave on the court, and 
 rushed out to see what had fallen. Virginia turned 
 out the dim light I wonder why? 
 
 "Well," said she, in answer to her maid s tap, 
 "what is it, Fanny?" 
 
 "I eared an awful noise," said Fanny. "It seemed 
 to come from ere, Miss." 
 
 "Some things fell into the court," replied Vir 
 ginia. "Please tell the servants ; and say that things 
 must not be piled upon the parapet. That s all, 
 Fanny." 
 
 "Are you quite sure, Miss " 
 
 "Yes, yes ! Run at once and tell them. I am quite 
 in earnest, Fanny!"
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 351 
 
 Fanny s footsteps went out of hearing; and Vir 
 ginia walked to the window. There lay the dear 
 little air-ship, that she and Theodore had planned 
 campaigns for, and conquered the world with. This 
 wing, which had poked so nearly through her win 
 dow, was the very one upon which she had hung, 
 to test the balancing and she reached out and 
 patted it with her hand. Theodore was passing the 
 other way, now, moving chairs and tables, peering 
 into every bearing and gearing for signs of damage. 
 Craighead was skirting the parapet as if looking for 
 a staircase. 
 
 "It s a miracle," said Theodore, at last, "but she s 
 all right and ready to rise at a touch !" 
 
 "Thank God!" said Virginia. 
 
 "Did you find a way down?" asked Carson, all 
 unconscious of the nearness of what he sought. 
 
 "Only the old way by which I came off the back 
 stoop of the emporium," replied Craighead. "It s, 
 a matter of specific gravity. As to getting back, 
 unless you brought your specific levity with you, I 
 really don t see, old chap, how it s going to be man 
 aged." 
 
 "Once down I can force my way up," said Theo 
 dore, raising his voice in his intensity. "Do you 
 think I ll go back without seeing her? No! You 
 stay here, and " 
 
 "Mr. Craighead!"
 
 352 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 TKe voice came from tHe "darkness of the house, 
 cool, calm, self-possessed. 
 
 "Present!" answered Craighead. "But don t 
 shoot ! I m a starving man, in charge of a maniac " 
 
 "Please come here, Mr. Craighead !" said the soft 
 voice. 
 
 "Virginia!" cried Carson. 
 
 "Please tell your friend," said the voice, "that if 
 he presumes to address any person except yourself, 
 this window will be closed !" 
 
 "Got that?" asked Craighead. "Or will you 
 have the message repeated at your expense, to avoid 
 possible errors?" 
 
 Craighead approached the glimmer of white 
 drapery, and Virginia gave him her hand, which 
 he gallantly kissed. 
 
 "You may tell your friend," said Miss Suarez, 
 "that his coming here is a foolhardy thing, and 
 quite uncalled for. No one here either can see him, 
 or would if she could." 
 
 "You hear, old man?" queried Craighead. "The 
 imprisoned damosel saith it s all a mistake. She 
 don t want no knight! This balcony business lacks 
 appeal, being hackneyed and overworked. It s no 
 go, Colonel except for you. Do I correctly inter 
 pret the speech from the throne and to the 
 thrown?"
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 353 
 
 "You may tell him," went on Virginia, "that his 
 movements have been reported, and the Aerostatic 
 Power Company is about taking legal steps I don t 
 know what to contest with him I don t know 
 what!" 
 
 "That s in my department," replied Craighead. 
 "I don t allow my friend to mingle with it. And 
 tell your friend to coin an expression that we 
 shall be with him in the courts. The great Craig 
 speaketh of his specialty." 
 
 "And now go!" said Virginia. "Your coming 
 here at all is perfectly shameless!" 
 
 A murmur of voices arose from the court, and 
 lights flashed out, illuminating the roof and the 
 girl s form and face, as she stood at the window in 
 flowing white robes like an angel. 
 
 "I can t go!" said Carson. "I must speak! I was 
 wrong not to tell you of your mistake; but I loved 
 you from the moment I picked you up from the 
 sand and carried you into the cabin! I couldn t 
 say you had no place to go ! I wanted you ! And I 
 didn t think of anything that that could remind me 
 of of of your reputation " 
 
 "Mr. Craighead!" 
 
 "Adsum!" responded Craighead. "But not pre 
 pared to recite. Let s not relay this talk any more. 
 Speak to the villain direct. The current is burning
 
 354 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 out the wire. Let him talk to you or install a trans 
 former. Help! Help!" 
 
 "Tell your friend," went on Virginia, and her 
 voice now faltered "that I shall consider what he 
 says " 
 
 "I believe," cried Carson, "that I am the last of 
 the Carson family! My father always taught 
 me" 
 
 " and that I shall cease to be angry by ceasing 
 to remember him. And now, go ! You are imper 
 iling your precious interests and risking arrest." 
 
 "Of that," said Theodore, "we are not at all 
 afraid!" 
 
 "Speak for yourself," quavered Craighead, as 
 the cries below redoubled. "I m scared stiff!" 
 
 "We are here for no bad purpose," said Theodore 
 firmly, "and we shall not fly " 
 
 "Foolish boy!" cried Virginia. "They will con 
 fine you during pleasure, through officers that can 
 act legally, and study the air-ship, and steal your 
 creation ! Go, I beg of you, go !" 
 
 There was a knocking at the door, and loud voices 
 demanding admission. Virginia extended her 
 hands imploringly as she spoke; and Theodore 
 seized them. 
 
 "I will go," said he, "when you tell me when I 
 may seek you and make my explanations ! I have 
 the right, Virginia!"
 
 SHAYNE S HOLD 355 
 
 "Oh, oh," she cried. "You are cruel! You are 
 putting the blame of your ruin on me ! Go, Go !" 
 
 "When may I see you again ?" 
 
 "When you have won your fight for the Vir 
 ginia/ answered she. "When the fruits of your 
 genius are saved to you if you will go at once! 
 Or when you are completely ruined maybe!" 
 
 "Hurry, old man!" cried Craighead. "They re 
 putting up ladders. Hurry! I ll go bail you see 
 her again some time. When you re ruined, will be 
 the soonest if you don t come. Fly with me! 
 Fly!" 
 
 Shayne s voice was heard outside the door, giving 
 orders that it be broken in, and some person hurled 
 himself against it unavailingly. A flat cap appeared 
 above the roof; and as the man under it mounted 
 the ladder, carrying a pistol, Craighead seized an 
 overturned chair, and screwing its legs into the 
 breast and face of the sealer, dumped him neatly 
 into the arms of three or four servants in the 
 court after which he examined the chair leg, 
 shouted, "No meat on it; I shall starve!" and threw 
 the chair down after the man. Leaping into the car 
 he shouted to Carson to come, or he would have 
 to walk. 
 
 Theodore clung to Virginia s hands. His fight 
 ing blood was up, and he hated to miss seeing the 
 dear faces of his foes, The discharge of the pistol,
 
 356 VIRGINIA OE THE AIR LANES 
 
 however, admonished him of the seriousness of his 
 situation, and emphasized Virginia s pleading. He 
 clasped her in his arms; she feebly pushed him off, 
 but yielded to overpowering force. 
 
 "Within a few weeks," said he, "I shall be ruined, 
 or successful. And I shall come for your love !" 
 
 "I promise nothing," she whispered, "except to 
 consid Oh, Theodore, go, go! Please, for my 
 sake, go!" 
 
 Her face was upturned in pleading, and he kissed 
 her mouth once, twice ; and as her door crashed in, 
 he gently released her, leaped into the car, and threw 
 on the clutches. The aeronef, rising, soared above 
 the great house, and sped off into the night, amid 
 the whizzing of bullets and the crackling of fire 
 arms. The attack on Shayne s Hold was repulsed 
 but its leader was jubilant.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 
 
 "^T "IT ~Y HAT is the business, Mr. Craighead, 
 % i\ I of the Universal Nitrates and Air 
 
 T T Products Company?" 
 
 Mr. Craighead, looking down into Broadway 
 from the window of his office, ceased his mysterious 
 counting and tallying, snapped a stop watch and 
 turned to the group of reporters. His look was re 
 proachful. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said he, "y u are crass Roman 
 soldiery. I am Archimedes making calculations ; 
 and, instead of allowing him to equate his equations, 
 you javelin him with questions. Tell the journal 
 istic Marcelli who sent you that Ark won t be dis 
 turbed!" 
 
 "Tell us about these abtruse studies of middle 
 Broadway," said a young man with a snub nose. 
 
 "I am determining," said Mr. Craighead, "the 
 ratio of out-of-town visitors to cliff-dwellers, by 
 observing the number who try to see the cornices. 
 
 357
 
 358 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The Carson-Craighead Company must know this. 
 Then my plan for aiding the Society for the Pre 
 vention of Noise by the way, there s a story in 
 that!" 
 
 "What is it?" asked a tall, young man who wore 
 a bored look and glasses. 
 
 "A law," said Mr. Craighead, "to compel cabmen 
 to take out licenses " 
 
 "They have to now !" snapped a young woman in 
 a sailor hat "You re stalling us off !" 
 
 "It hurts me," said he, "to be accused of deceit, 
 by one so fair, in terms which make it a cinch that 
 she s wise to all the flash patter along the pike of 
 slang!" 
 
 "But about this noise story," said the snub-nose. 
 
 "My bill," resumed Mr. Craighead, "will compel 
 cabmen to be so trained in good vocal schools, that 
 their cry, or bay, or yowl will resound through the 
 streets melodiously, surpassing the double-tonguing 
 of hounds, when the horn of the hunter is heard on 
 the hill. Each will be given a pitch for his Keb ! 
 Keb ! Minor effects may be introduced through 
 accidentals or accidents. Full choruses will swell to 
 the blue dome in blockades. This raw material for 
 music far more vital than Wagner s or Strauss will 
 be written down by the tonic sol-fa system, and 
 Music, gentle maid, will be young again. At the 
 ferries and stations serried columns of cabmen will
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 359 
 
 compete in antiphonal chant, deep, musical, elevat 
 ing like the Greek chorus. Art, in that day " 
 
 "This reform, Mr. Craighead," said the slangy 
 young lady, "will come with your plan of teaching 
 burglary and housebreaking in the public schools?" 
 
 "Do not sneer," protested Mr. Craighead. "Until 
 we do that, the yeggmen have us faded. And sneer 
 ing distorts the features. Belay sneering!" 
 
 "But about the Universal Nitrates and Air Prod 
 ucts Company," said a fat man with perpetually 
 poised pencil, ."and its connection with the aeronef 
 company ?" 
 
 "Merely fortuitous," replied Craighead. "The 
 aeronef company is an ephemeral agency for profit 
 and I scorn it!" 
 
 "But you are a director?" 
 
 "Oh, yes! Oh, yes!" replied Craighead. "But 
 the greater things had not occurred to me when I 
 went into it. I was ill. I was under a claim. I 
 was chemicalizing in that reaction which results in 
 the product known as tungstate of alcoholism, or 
 magalo-conversation. A natural monopolist, Gen 
 eral Theodo Cahson, M. A., took advantage of my 
 weakness and got me into it. Honor rooted in dis 
 honor stands, and faith unfaithful keeps me falsely 
 true ; and I stay with him in his fight with Aerostatic 
 Power. Then I shall give my whole attention to the 
 Universal Nitrates and Air Products Company,
 
 360 VIRGINIA OE THE AIR LANES 
 
 which is to the Carson-Craighead Aeronef as the 
 rings of Saturn to those of Tammany Hall. And, to 
 originate a phrase, that s going some !" 
 
 "You re really good, Mr. Craighead," said she 
 of the sailor hat, "and if the tungstate of your alco 
 holic days was worse than this, you ought to have 
 taken something for it " 
 
 "I tried to," confessed Craighead, "but Doctor 
 Witherspoon expelled me!" 
 
 "But here s the situation as we get it. If we re 
 wrong, we ll stay wrong, unless you set us right " 
 
 " O cursed spite! " recited Craighead. 
 
 "No more tungstate, if you please," said the young 
 woman. "The Air Products Company was a wild 
 cat-looking West Virginia formation to" here she 
 read from a clipping " to extract free nitrogen 
 from the air by the Craighead method or otherwise, 
 for the purpose of obtaining fertilizers to thereby 
 increase the capacity of the earth for supporting 
 population " 
 
 "Is that," cried he frantically, "in our articles? 
 Then all is lost ! Let me take it !" 
 
 His tragic expression seemed so indicative of 
 something sensational that she gave him the paper. 
 With shaking hand he took down the telephone and 
 asked for Mr. Filley. 
 
 "This you, Filley?" he queried. "Here s some 
 thing that ruins us. ... A split infinitive in
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 361 
 
 the articles. . ,.. . Won t hurt anything? 
 Won t have to be done over? . . . And we 
 call ourselves civilized! . . ." 
 
 Craighead handed the paper back. 
 
 "You have shocked me," said he. "But never 
 mind, dearie! I know not whether to rejoice for 
 the Air Products Company, or weep for institutions 
 that allow such a solecism to be legal as to thereby 
 increase/ Really now, wouldn t it cork a purist like 
 myself " 
 
 "Well," said th e reporter, "it goes on to say and 
 for securing all rights in the atmosphere necessary 
 for its complete reduction to possession for the pro 
 duction of nitrates, ozones and all other atmospheric 
 derivatives; and for the securing of exclusive rights 
 in the air over lands for all purposes whatsoever. 
 Now that," said she, " for all purposes whatsoever : 
 isn t that pretty broad ?" 
 
 "A broad intellect composed it," said Craighead. 
 "I done wrote that, mahse f, honey !" 
 tt "And under this clause," said the girl, "you have 
 Acquired from landowners over the continent, all 
 *their rights in the air over their lands, subject to 
 ftheir use for tillage and building?" 
 
 ^. v Oh, do not exaggerate!" cried Craighead. "A 
 symmetrical character requires moderation of state 
 ment. We ve got these rights from some landown 
 ers. We hope "
 
 362 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "But," pursued the reporter remorselessly, "these 
 rights happen merely happen to gridiron every 
 state in squares marked by grants and leases to the 
 Air Products Company?" 
 
 "My child," said Craighead, "do you understand 
 the Craighead method of extracting nitrates from 
 the atmosphere by spontaneous discharges of statical 
 electricity from electrodes suspended over the 
 earth s surface?" 
 
 "No," she said, "do you?" 
 
 "It is one of my specialties," said he. "If I might 
 have you all to myself for an evening " 
 
 "Nothing easier," said she, "if I can get this story; 
 but I am losing faith in you. Why not tell us now 
 the secret of your checker-board overlying Amer 
 ica?" 
 
 "I will try," said he soberly. "Have you studied 
 the formation of crystals ; or the causes of the math 
 ematically accurate distribution of snowdrifts on 
 the surfaces of smoothly frozen lakes ; or the reason 
 for the disposition of the clouds in the ill-under 
 stood mackerel sky ? Have you mastered the sci 
 ence of wave motion, of cycles, of periodicity? 
 I assume- you have, and " 
 
 "Well, you may assume again," said she. "I 
 don t believe there is such a science!" 
 
 "TheiV said Craighead, "it will be impossible 
 to explain why my extraction of nitrates from the
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 363 
 
 air requires a mathematical distribution of its mech 
 anism. Don t you get a glimmer of it?" 
 
 Craighead appealed to the fat man as to the one 
 rare soul capable of understanding. 
 
 "I guess so," said the fat man. "But it s a mighty 
 dim glimmer!" 
 
 "Any glimmer at all," said Craighead, "and I hail 
 in you a kindred spirit! I thank you! And now 
 that ll be about all for to-day ! By-by !" 
 
 Mr. Craighead took much pleasure in his posi 
 tion as press representative of the Carson-Craighead 
 Aeronef Company. The Virginia, her builder, and 
 the contest with Aerostatic Power were matters on 
 which the great dailies had men at work night and 
 day. This much was known : she had been built 
 on the Alabama coast, she had flown with incred 
 ible speed to the Catskills and thence to New York. 
 This visit to the neighborhood of Shayne s Hold, 
 the summer place of the man who ruled Aerostatic 
 Power, was a tantalizing mystery. The mountain 
 inn, where the Virginia had been laid up for re 
 pairs, had been visited by reporters, and the im 
 possibility of surface communication between it and 
 Shayne s Hold pointed out. The mysterious Craig- 
 head had leased, for the Aeronef Corporation, the 
 vacant aerodrome on the roof of this very building, 
 gone back to the inn, whence the Virginia had 
 sailed to their leased roof within an hour and not
 
 364 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 by Shayne s Hold. After which Craighead was the 
 news center from which emanated the most astound 
 ing medley of scientific, psychologic, mystical and 
 mystifying news ever heard. Craighead was always 
 at liberty, ready to see the representatives of the 
 press, always laden with a story. But the stories 
 never threw anything but darkness over the struggle 
 of Aerostatic Power with the wonderful new aeronef 
 from the South. 
 
 Theodore Carson, engineering genius, with his 
 southern accent and retiring manners, was usually 
 with Mr. Filley, the personal representative of Mr. 
 Cyrus Waddy, a midland capitalist who was financ 
 ing the Carson project. He avoided reporters, was 
 greedy of time, and met secret emissaries from all 
 the world. The New York, of which he had been so 
 afraid, opened its arms to him, but looked on him as 
 upon a man with his head in the lion s mouth. That 
 an Illinois banker, an Alabama engineer, and a wild, 
 weird freak like Craighead could escape Shayne 
 in his Wall Street jungle seemed very unlikely. 
 
 They even said that Aerostatic Power had ac 
 quired inventions identical in principle with the 
 Virginia, but antedating that aerial marvel by many 
 years ;, and they smiled and said, "The old game !" 
 and "I told you so!" The newspapers published 
 Carson s picture as that of a man who was to be 
 robbed of the greatest invention of the ages. A
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 365 
 
 Mobile despatch spoke of a certain Wizner as the 
 real inventor of the Virginia; the machine which 
 made the air a manoeuvering place for the destruc 
 tion of navies and cities, and a medium for the swift 
 est transportation yet known. 
 
 Then some one discovered that on the day the 
 Carson-Craighead Company had been formed, the 
 Universal Nitrates and Air Products Company was 
 born, with directors and stock-holders identical with 
 those of the Aeronef Company, and that they had 
 spent a great campaign fund in getting leases and 
 grants for the extraction from the atmosphere of ni 
 trates and the like, in lines like those of Scots plaid 
 all over the continent. The air over almost every 
 highway had been granted away by the owners of 
 the fee the very streets of New York being covered 
 so far as to cut the city into nearly a hundred irregu 
 lar blocks. The other great cities were similarly 
 gridironed. The space over the smaller rivers and 
 streams was mostly sold to the Air Products Com 
 pany. The mystery in this so stimulated curiosity 
 that it caused more excitement than the Virginia 
 herself. For these seemingly worthless rights over 
 farms, streams, roads and streets were like a huge 
 spider s web spun as a net over the world Europe 
 and Asia, as well as America. Some one with great 
 resources was up to something big. Something was 
 to be caught in the net but what?
 
 366 VIRGINIA OK THE AIR LANES 
 
 And in answer, Craighead emitted daily state 
 ments of dreams wilder than the visions of opium 
 Mr. Craighead seemed crazy but was he? Mr 
 Craighead seemed shallow: but was he not reall] 
 deep? Mr. Craighead had organized both thesi 
 companies on the same day, officered them by tru 
 same men one a wild scheme that made the worlc 
 laugh, the other based on an invention that mus 
 change the course of history. Endless discussioi 
 ensued; and the question never answered was this 
 what can these grants of nitrate-rights to this opium 
 dream company have to do with the navigation o 
 the air? 
 
 Craighead and Carson dined that day with Mr 
 Filley, a little man with a great, scantily-thatchec 
 head and no body, who ate lobster and green-turtl 
 soup, and drank port, and grew paler every day. 
 
 "When shall we know?" asked Theodore. 
 
 "Soon," replied Filley. "We ll cover the whoL 
 country with injunctions this afternoon and get < 
 hearing here in a few days. In a very few week: 
 we shall win the greatest legal triumph of recen 
 times; or snuffed out!" 
 
 "And I " said Carson. 
 
 "And you, fair youth," said Craighead, "will b< 
 eligible one way or the other to repair again to th< 
 Sibyl of the Mountain Top. Waiter, a magnum o: 
 choice unfermented grape juice sparkling with car
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 367 
 
 bonic acid from the soda fountain. Perish the 
 thought that Filley of the Sapient Phiz shall fail in 
 establishing a legal principle clear as day, and ap 
 proved by me! Drink with me, gentlemen! To 
 triumph !" 
 
 That night began the series of sensations that 
 made so memorable the war for the use of the air. 
 In the courts of every federal district and the state 
 courts of West Virginia, Mr. Filley filed his in 
 junction suits against the owner of every known 
 air-ship, and, by the clause used in labor dis 
 putes, bound all persons, whether named or not, 
 who might, with the defendants or, independently, 
 design trespass against the plaintiff s rights. 
 
 The bill in New York recited that the plaintiff was 
 the owner of all rights of navigation in the air in 
 certain described belts or bands surrounding the City 
 of New York, dividing it into portions, and grid- 
 ironing the continent; that the defendants had in 
 the past habitually trespassed on these by flying over 
 them in air-ships; that the passage to or from the 
 City of New York over the sea, the river, or other 
 route was impossible save by such trespass; and 
 therefore injunction was asked prohibiting the de 
 fendants, their servants and all other persons from 
 departing from or coming to the said City of New 
 York through the air owned by the plaintiff, or from 
 navigating any aerial craft across, over or through
 
 368 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the real property of the plaintiff wheresoever situ 
 ated. 
 
 Finley Shayne s name led the list of defendants, 
 followed by that of the Aerostatic Power Company 
 and page after page of names of people owning 
 aerial craft; and air-ships everywhere were hemmed 
 in by the "real property" of the plaintiff, like whalers 
 frozen in the ice. The "real property" was that 
 wonderful spider s net of grants; and the plaintiff 
 was the Universal Nitrates and Air Products Com 
 pany! Craighead s opium dream was explained. 
 The relation between the twin companies was dis 
 closed. Two perfectly well-known legal principles 
 were here united in an audacious attempt to monopo 
 lize the air: the rights attaching to ownership of 
 land, and that of injunction to prevent trespass or 
 nuisance. 
 
 Public and press were struck with amazement. 
 The unthinking laughed at the unheard-of and pre 
 posterous claim to private control of the atmosphere. 
 Craighead, himself a joke, reduced to a joke any 
 thing he touched; but this man Filley had never 
 been a jest to his opponents. An undercurrent of 
 seriousness toward the "air-ship case" grew more 
 noticeable from day to day while the world waited 
 for the hearing on the issuance of the temporary 
 injunction. The Aerostatic Power Company was 
 known to be feverishly active in the preparation of
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 369 
 
 its case even while filling the press with ridicule 
 of "Craigheadism." Some journals in the Shayne 
 interest advocated laws to make it impossible for a 
 crank like Craighead to annoy people by absurd 
 lawsuits. It was laughable ; but it was, for all that, 
 an outrage. Laughter, too, was out of place, when 
 people of substance in the community must appear 
 and answer the crazy allegations of a lunatic in that 
 phase of parancea producing the delusions of dealing 
 with great affairs, owning the earth, being presi 
 dent or Messiah. To all of which Mr. Craighead 
 replied in a grave discussion as to the distinction, 
 if any, between sanity in the editorial sense, and im 
 becility. Lawyers began poring over cases dealing 
 with rights in and over land, with growing dubiety 
 as to the outcome of "The Universal Nitrates and 
 Air Products Company vs. Shayne, et al" 
 
 When the case came on to be heard the laugh 
 had disappeared, the very army of lawyers appear 
 ing for the defendant rendering it a serious matter. 
 The justices seemed to ooze gravity from the bench ; 
 the attorneys at the tables just outside the rail rus 
 tled their briefs, sent messengers hither and yon, 
 and conferred in whispers. Craighead sat with 
 Filley, his hair rumpled, his crooked nose high, in 
 a suit of legal black, drawing more attention than 
 did Carson whose face, bleached of the Gulf beach 
 tan, had assumed the pallor of the scholar, while
 
 J370 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 vast responsibilities had been imparting to him an 
 atmosphere of distinction. He sat scanning the 
 people of the defense Shayne, Silberberg, and 
 other great financial figures. He caught Silber- 
 berg s eye, and that gentleman s neck grew red with 
 , rage; but Shayne was suave, debonair, and appar- 
 ently at ease, carefully ignoring Carson. The per 
 sonal relations of the three was the one great news 
 story that the press representatives missed but that 
 came afterward. 
 
 The young woman in the sailor hat who handled 
 the case for the Tribune sought for the sounding 
 phrase which would pierce. As the justice called 
 out "Universal Nitrates, etc., vs. Shayne et al!" 
 she found it. "This call to arms," she wrote, "in 
 defense of the right to an open road, sounded the 
 charge in a contest to determine whether or not the 
 phrase free as air shall be henceforth nonsense; 
 whether or not man s mastering of flight shall give 
 him the bird s freedom, or leave him still the payer 
 of tribute to those who own the earth; whether or 
 not the word of promise of freedom will be kept 
 to the ear only, and broken to the hope. And it was 
 one of life s ironies, that the man who stood for free 
 dom, was he who had done most to make freedom of 
 aerial travel impossible, Finley Shayne; and that 
 those who stood for monopoly and thraldom of the 
 heavens to the earth, were a group of adventurers
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT .371 
 
 who were suddenly become a portent. And the cry 
 to carnage was in the voice of Justice McFadden 
 droning forth the words: Universal Nitrates, etc., 
 vs. Shayne et all 
 
 While the pleadings and affidavits were read, 
 Craighead sketched the bailiffs, shuffled his feet, 
 and drummed on the table until the court tapped 
 for silence, 
 
 "We will hear from the plaintiff," said Justice 
 McFadden. "And as the facts seem practically 
 undisputed " 
 
 "But, your Honor !" protested the counsel for the 
 defendants, "we certainly do not admit " 
 
 "For present purposes," replied the justice, "the 
 showing seems ample that plaintiff owns certain 
 rights in lands so distributed that the defendants 
 must pass over them in going from place to place; 
 that the defendants have habitually done so; and 
 that the situation constitutes a threat that this will 
 be repeated. The defendants, by claiming the right 
 to pass these lines, confess this for present purposes. 
 We will therefore hear from plaintiff s counsel on 
 the law." 
 
 Mr. Filley gathered up his papers; but with a 
 professional-sounding "May it please the court" 
 that dumfounded Filley and drew from the justice 
 a request for the gentleman s name, Craighead rose. 
 
 "Craighead," said he in response to the court s
 
 372 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 query. "I will offer a few remarks on the law, 
 and then yield to my learned colleague, who will 
 lay before your honors the feeble attempts of 
 the courts to crystallize it in precedents. The 
 law is fully as plain as the nose on the face of 
 the most Roman of your honors. As to its 
 righteousness, it is as moral as landownership. That 
 it has not heretofore been applied has been owing to 
 the stupidity of the legal profession, to the asininity 
 of landowners, and to the fact that the law is so 
 plain; for that which is all around ever remains 
 undetected, like the pressure of the atmosphere, or 
 the picture with trees and clouds representing faces 
 or animals. And as when once the cat in the 
 landscape is seen, the landscape fades and one can 
 see nothing but the cat so in this case, when the 
 law is once made plain, your honors will be able to 
 see nothing else. We are taking the liberty of un 
 sealing the blind eye of the courts." 
 
 Mr. Filley was outraged at the effrontery of this 
 unlicensed actor in thus taking the scene; but to 
 make a disturbance now would be worse than to let 
 him go on ; and Mr. Filley sat down frowning, and 
 hoping that Craighead s offense might escape dis 
 covery. 
 
 " Cujus ad solum, ejus est usque ad coelumf " 
 went on Craighead, "is the maxim on which we 
 stand, the meaning of which has been decided in
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 373 
 
 hundreds of cases and, strange to say, is still 
 clear He who owns land, owns to the sky. He 
 has as much moral right to the sky as to the surface. 
 The man with a deed to a square mile of the sur 
 face of this planet, under this law, owns a great 
 pyramid, apexing at the earth s center, and extend 
 ing out into space, in diverging lines, infinitely; so 
 that if he can show that these lines of boundary 
 take in Mars and her canals, he would have a per 
 fect case against the Martians for rent of fields and 
 tolls over waterways, if he could get service and 
 bring the defendants into court. 
 
 "Land! land! The mystic word that rules the 
 world! The woman who ejaculates Good land! 
 conjures by a thing more potent than all the gods 
 of Olympus. Three names are intimately related 
 in the widely-separated fields of the coal combine 
 and the law of real property Coke, Blackstone and 
 Littleton and it is Lord Coke in his commentaries 
 on Littleton who says: Land is a nomen general- 
 issimum and includes everything fixed to the 
 ground, and everything above or below it and 
 when I speak, or still more when I spell those won 
 derful words, nomen generalissimum, I believe it! 
 These words from him who may have begun as 
 Cole, but by losing everything in him volatile or 
 juicy was turned to Coke, to the distress of the law 
 student for ages, these words are quoted in Brocket
 
 374 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 vs. State, 14 Pennsylvania State and they are the 
 law. 
 
 "The air above our land is a part of it. You know 
 it. Why else have you recognized Reimer s Appeal, 
 too Pennsylvania State, as good law? What was 
 that case? A bay-window many feet above the 
 sidewalk was declared a nuisance because it jutted 
 out into the air that was a part of the street. And 
 see, also, Bybee vs. The State, 94 Indiana. You 
 hang your cornice or string a wire in my air, and 
 I will hale you into court. Don t presume to fly 
 a kite over my land except by my consent; you 
 have no right. And remember that the city of 
 Cleveland was mulcted in the sum of fifty inousand 
 dollars for swinging a bridge a few times a day a 
 hundred feet above an inch strip of land. 
 
 "How much more am I damnified by the air-ship, 
 which may drop a monkey-wrench, a spanner, a 
 gob of ballast, or a casual remark into my privacy? 
 Like other highways, the air will be infested by 
 accidents and collisions. Aeronefs will fall into 
 the rural silo, drag- ropes will rip up barbed wire; 
 and Pyramus and Thisbe, in their Arcadian wooing, 
 may be smothered under falling gas-bags, or torn 
 asunder by dragging anchors inserted in their 
 pancreases! I shudder, your Honors, at what may 
 happen when the air is populous with flying- jiggers, 
 pop-popping about, raining ballast, and wine-bottles,
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 375 
 
 and bacon rinds, and stale bananas, and hot coffee, 
 and soft-boiled eggs, and lobster a la Newburg on 
 a lost and undone republic and when / shudder, 
 persons of ordinary sensitiveness fly into fragments 
 with the shivers. For I am no light and habitual 
 shudderer. 
 
 "I have spoken in my weak way of what might 
 make a landholder unwilling to have his air used as 
 a highway; but he doesn t have to give a reason 
 he can show his deed, and tell the whole world to 
 go to to the captain s office and settle. Your Hon-. 
 ors, I adjure you to cling to your unbroken prece 
 dents, and uphold property, on which society is 
 based. To say that we do not own these strips of 
 land, but only rights in the air, is foolishness of 
 the damphest sort. The landowner may sell the 
 surface and keep the minerals; or sell the mineral 
 rights down to China, and keep the surface. Our 
 grantors owned and sold these rights to us. It 
 is slanderous to say that we have hornswoggled 
 to coin a phrase the farmers by promising cheap 
 nitrates by the Craighead method. It is my inten 
 tion to take a few moments some day to perfect the 
 Craighead method, and begin to extract nitrogen 
 but that is another narrative. The point is that we ve 
 got those rights. We have what nobody ever had be 
 fore the proof that defendants pass over our lands, 
 because they have to. Nobody else ever had lands
 
 376 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 hemming in everybody. We have. This makes our 
 proof simply pie; and we call upon you to protect 
 us, in the name of the law of landownership, on 
 which every government in all the world is founded. 
 "They say we seek to enslave travelers. This 
 absurdity applies as forcibly to surface rights or 
 mines. If the traveler can t pay our scale, let him 
 go by public highways, or by boat or rail or 
 stay at home; just as the man who wants to use 
 land and has none, may pay rent or get off the earth. 
 We may do as we will with our own space : allow it 
 to be used, or hold it for speculation. We antici 
 pate that rights to air-navigation will become more 
 and more valuable. We expect to charge what 
 ever the situation makes possible. This is as moral 
 as increasing rent for lands. We shall grant licenses 
 or not, as we please. We may demand title to all 
 patents on air-ship inventions before allowing 
 them to be used, thus applying the rules you and 
 your predecessors have so wisely laid down, He 
 who owns land, owns to the sky ! How beautiful 
 the principle! What a stimulus to enterprise it 
 offers in cornering space! How it serves the 
 beneficent designs of Providence and the common 
 law, that those in whose hands this planet has been 
 placed by Omniscience, may build up those aristoc 
 racies of intellect and morals and power, that the 
 possession of lands always fosters! A decision
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 377 
 
 against us would subject all of you to impeachment 
 By getting hold of these rights first, we have proved 
 that we are of the elect. And the children and the 
 children s children of the rest of mankind will have 
 the priceless privilege of navigating the air granted 
 to them by our children and our children s children 
 on proper terms, your Honors, on proper terms, 
 to be fixed by the owner. Our getting of these 
 rights may be a horse on Mr. Shayne ; but the rules 
 of the game and what a game it is, your Honors ! 
 give us the pot The costs constitute the kitty. 
 Those who are on the inside, but not of us elect, are 
 the boosters. The policeman and public officer is 
 the lookout. And whenever any one starts to beat 
 the owners of the layout the land you d better 
 copper his bet and play him to lose. I have made 
 a specialty of these things " 
 
 Justice McFadden tapped on the desk, and Craig- 
 head paused. 
 
 "Your language, Mr. Craighead," said he, "is 
 unusual though your points seem well taken." 
 
 "You re on!" ejaculated Craighead, "you re on! 
 In fact, to speak grammarianly, You re on, your 
 Honor, you re honest !" 
 
 A bailiff interrupted by handing a note to the 
 astonished court. 
 
 "Mr. Craighead," said Justice McFadden, "it 
 is suggested that you are not a licensed practitioner
 
 378 VIRGINIA OE THE AIK LANES 
 
 at this bar; or at any other. This extraordinary 
 address of yours leads the court to doubt. What is 
 the fact?" 
 
 "Your Honor," said Craighead, "I have cast be 
 fore this court some pearls of forensic art in full 
 faith that you are not of those who will turn and 
 rend. I am an almost-practitioner, a near-lawyer. 
 My uncanny cogency of reasoning is owing to my 
 being unspoiled by actual practice. I " 
 
 "Sir!" said Justice McFadden, "I thought I rec 
 ognized you as a member of this bar! Have we 
 not met?" 
 
 "Your Honor," said Craighead, "studied lan 
 guage under me." 
 
 "Language!" roared the justice. "When?" 
 
 "I was your teacher in English and drawing," 
 replied Craighead, "in Schlosser s billiard-parlors 
 English and drawing, with incidental instruction in 
 the use of the globes; also dry-nursing, the masse 
 and the follow !" 
 
 "Remove him from tHe bar, Mr. Bailiff!" thun 
 dered the court. "Take him to jail!" 
 
 "Stung in the same old aching spot!" cried 
 Craighead. "Still the Great Uncalled! But know 
 ye, proud Judges, I have been expelled from worse 
 places than this! What harm have I done ye? Fil- 
 l ev > get me out of this !" 
 
 The bailiff, a tottering old functionary with a
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 379 
 
 white mustache of Bismarckian fierceness, warily 
 laid a raptorial claw on Craighead s sleeve. 
 
 "Amateur day in court!" he hissed in the bailiff s 
 ear. "The hook! The hook! I go; but my logic 
 sticks ! Stone walls do not " 
 
 Mr. Filley here interposed to such effect that 
 Craighead was fined, expelled and set free. Mr. 
 Filley s masterly address was based on the law laid 
 down by Craighead; reference to which finally 
 evoked a smile from the justices. In a week an in 
 junction was issued as prayed; the air-ships of the 
 whole nation were tied up; the Universal Nitrates 
 and Air Products Company made the Carson-Craig- 
 head Aeronef Company its sole licensee; the Carson 
 aeronefs were the only flying-machines which 
 could be used ; the law of real property was vindi 
 cated ; Aerostatic Power dropped to nominal prices ; 
 Craighead was suddenly recognized as the most 
 overshadowing genius legal strategy had ever 
 known ; Carson stood high in finance and diplomacy ; 
 the factories for manufacturing flying-machines 
 were offered to him at his own terms, payable in 
 Carson-Craighead stocks; thousands of men were 
 put to work on the Carson aeronefs; the Waddy 
 family began to occupy space in newspapers and 
 magazines ; the world of finance whirled about and 
 readjusted itself to the explosion all of which took 
 time.
 
 380 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 And in the midst of the first excitement, the fol 
 lowing item appeared in a newspaper: 
 
 "A bizarre result of the McFadden decision, is 
 the marooning of Mr. Finley Shayne, erstwhile 
 Prince of the Powers of the Air, at Shayne s Hold, 
 where the Roc was enjoined. There is no egress 
 from the Hold, save by air-ship. The Carson crowd 
 has the air rights surrounding the mountain, and 
 Mr. Shayne and his family have no means of getting 
 away except by violating the injunctions. 
 
 "There is already a panic among the servants. 
 No craft save the Carson aeronef, the Virginia, can 
 go to them or anywhere and Mr. Shayne will 
 starve rather than allow her to land. This sounds 
 like a joke; but Mr. Shayne takes it seriously. The 
 castaways are Mr. and Mrs. Shayne, Miss Suarez, 
 and Mr. Max Silberberg. Our representative will 
 ascend the cliffs of the Hold if possible; and our 
 readers may look for an account of the Castaways 
 in a Palace to-morrow." 
 
 Carson approached Craighead with this paper, 
 his finger pointing to the item. Craighead read it 
 with much glee. 
 
 "When Shayne has eaten the last poisoned rat," 
 said he, "and worn his knees raw snaring rattle 
 snakes off the cliff for food, I ll go to him, and say,
 
 AMATEUR DAY IN COURT 381 
 
 Proud ex-plute, if on your bandaged knees you 
 beg my kingly clemency I ll give you this sand 
 wich and bottle of beer. Otherwise, s-s-s-s-s-tarve ! 
 and be anged to you! Either that; or wire him 
 permission to depart in the Roc. Which sayest 
 thou?" 
 
 "I have wired him offer of the license," said Car 
 son, "and he declined insultingly. Then I offered 
 to come for them in the Virginia" 
 
 "And he answered?" 
 
 "That he would shoot me or any man in my em 
 ploy that dared invade his air over Shayne s Hold !" 
 
 "Advised of his legal rights, evidently," said 
 Craighead. "Well, as to the fair Virginia what s 
 to be done to save the blessed damosel?" 
 
 "I m going," replied Carson, "danger or no 
 danger. And you are the only man in the world to 
 go with me !"
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 
 
 MR. CARSON, baffled in heaping coals of 
 fire on Shayne s head, brooded over the 
 fact that the very writ of injunction that 
 made him master of the air, confined the girl for 
 whom he had striven, in a petit trianon on a moun 
 tain top, with Max Silberberg! It was a thing to 
 ponder over in solitude, and to make one absent- 
 minded in public; to destroy one s appetite, and 
 make sleep a tradition. But if the victor felt such 
 ferment of spirits, what of Mr. Shayne, and the 
 castaways in a palace? 
 
 None of them knew at first that the prison was a 
 prison. Then Silberberg received the news hero 
 ically, seeing in it a Virginia-opportunity, and asked 
 permission to break the news to her himself. She 
 was in a skiff on the western lake, watching the 
 sunset, and surrounded by lotus blooms, but rowed 
 in at his call. 
 
 "I was just coming in," she said. "Let s go to the 
 house." 
 
 382
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 383 
 
 "But I have something to say to you," he said. 
 "Let s sit down." 
 
 Virginia took a seat too small for two, leaving him 
 another too large for one not the desired arrange 
 ment at all. 
 
 "What is it, Mr. Silberberg?" she asked. 
 
 "Virginia," said he impressively, "did you ever 
 read of a man and a girl wrecked on a lonely island 
 isn t there such a story?" 
 
 "Dozens of them," replied Virginia. "It s quite 
 the vogue in fiction." 
 
 "If it were you and I, it would be " 
 
 "Awfully stupid," replied Virginia. "Unless 
 you could make a Stock Exchange of me, or manip 
 ulate the water of the sea into securities. I wouldn t 
 stay!" 
 
 "Not with me?" 
 
 Virginia shook her head. "Not with any one," 
 said she. 
 
 "But I should be the most useful and obedient 
 fellow!" urged Max, now quite set upon the pro 
 ject. "I would build you a hut of of seaweed or 
 copra don t they use those things?" 
 
 Virginia laughed. 
 
 "Better build it of beche-de-mer!" she suggested. 
 
 "Virginia," said Max, oblivious of the irony, "we 
 are prisoners together!" 
 
 Virginia looked about her. Sunset had faded
 
 384 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 into twilight. Night-hawks screamed in the gloom 
 of the lower levels. From remote cottages lights 
 twinkled; yet in that high place it was day. A 
 breeze from the west swept her hair, cool, free, un- 
 contaminated by any touch of earth truly, the 
 breeze of heaven. A prisoner! Freedom herself 
 seemed to dwell there. Virginia glanced question- 
 ingly at Silberberg. 
 
 "This imprisonment!" she cried. 
 
 "Yes," said Silberberg, "we are shut in ; and by 
 that fellow Carson, that " 
 
 Of the temporary unclehood of Theodore to 
 Virginia, or the Virginia s night visit to the Hold, 
 Mrs. Shayne had not thought it necessary to tell 
 him; therefore, Mr. Silberberg was ill-informed 
 as to Virginia s real feelings toward Carson. But 
 he remembered the night on the Roc, when she had 
 taken his part and hesitated. Virginia looked 
 away. 
 
 "Yes?" said she. "And what has Mr. Carson 
 done?" 
 
 "Done!" replied Max, feeling sure that she could 
 care nothing for the man of whom she spoke in so 
 slighting a tone. "He, a pauper, and his crazy 
 friend, have got injunctions against travel by air 
 ship, and even against me, the head of Federated 
 Metals! Our courts have sunk pretty low! It is 
 an outrage!"
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 385 
 
 She rose, and almost ran down to the boat ; slowly 
 strolled back, and seated herself on the bench. Did 
 Craighead s mysterious utterances about "surround 
 ing" New York and "gridironing" the country mean 
 this ? Had Theodore found a way to defeat Shayne, 
 and the bitter, cruel Wizner? 
 
 "We are alone," said Silberberg, "on an island 
 in the air. Are you sorry?" 
 
 Virginia did not smile; she was thinking of the 
 victory of Carson. He had been great in working out 
 his creation, and in that deadly duel with the Stick 
 leback; and now, he had made war on her Uncle 
 Finley, the tiger of the Stock Exchange, in his very 
 den and won ! She was ready to throw up her 
 hat and hurrah. But yet, this last victory was not 
 like the first. This was the old story of finding how 
 to exploit the world by monopoly ; that was doing, 
 creating. Must success be so often only victori 
 ous restraint of beneficent human effort? Yet, 
 she was glad to see Theodore victor rather than 
 vanquished in any fight in which but this was 
 folly ! He had mortally offended her in that matter 
 of being her uncle; all was over between them! 
 Yet she finally answered Silberberg inconsistently. 
 
 "No," said she, "I am not very sorry. But I shall 
 need my hand, now, to hold my dress out of the 
 dew !" 
 
 Max was delighted at her complaisance and at his
 
 386 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 ability to become excited over it. He was not so 
 blase after all. He was actually trembling a 
 splendid symptom. 
 
 "Tell me once more that you are not sorry 
 please!" said he. 
 
 "I am not," she reassured him. "In fact, I I 
 am rather glad, Mr. Silberberg!" 
 
 "Max!" said he unctuously. "Let it be Max, 
 your fellow prisoner!" 
 
 "Well, Max, then !" 
 
 It is hard to be obliged to say that she said this 
 snappishly, abruptly, unlovingly, and much as one 
 might toss a crust to a drooling dog, and tell him to 
 get out. And Mr. Silberberg took the crust and 
 was satisfied. 
 
 Poor Shayne ! He straitly laid the vow of secrecy 
 upon all not to tell their awful state to Mrs. Shayne. 
 
 "She s so her nervous state, you know I have 
 no idea what she might do if she found out ! She d 
 go wild. She hasn t had no said to her in twenty 
 years! She might fall dead, with that heart of 
 hers!" 
 
 Virginia systematically hid from Silberberg, din 
 ners and forced interviews bringing no advance 
 ment to his courtship. He began to wonder if the 
 Suarez temperament were not rather difficult, and 
 sometimes felt that this long absence from stage 
 entrances and all-night cafes hardly paid. To
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 387 
 
 leave so many willing beauties for an obdurate one, 
 who, by greenroom standards was no beauty after 
 all, seemed to use his own self-revelatory phrase 
 "bad business." And the longer they dwelt in their 
 little nest the more these cage-birds of the law failed 
 to agree. Mrs. Shayne wanted to be taken to the 
 millionaire s colony in Lake Temagami, where they 
 had an island, or to have La Salvinella and her 
 company to sing, with a house party afterward. 
 Shayne was convinced that the devil himself must 
 suggest these plans, every one of which involved 
 contempt of court. 
 
 One blowy day it culminated. Virginia, from a 
 summer-house opening toward New York, braved 
 the moist gusts, and swept the sky with her field- 
 glasses for well, for something. Silberberg fol 
 lowed her, swearing inwardly at the perversity of 
 the girl; and as he found her, things began to hap 
 pen. Far over to the southeast and driving fast 
 before the gale, came the only flying-machine in 
 America free of the McFadden interdict. Unfortu 
 nate Silberberg! 
 
 At the same hour Mrs. Shayne burst into Shayne s 
 den, where he was exchanging acrimonious wireless 
 messages with his bedeviled lawyers, her breath 
 short, her face flushed, her attire and coiffure dis 
 arranged. Shayne knew the symptoms, and sprang 
 to her side.
 
 388 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 After several attempts she spoke with great dis 
 tinctness. 
 
 "Oh, tell me it isn t true!" she cried. "Tell me 
 that I am not humiliated, actually controlled, by 
 that bandit from the Alabama forest !" 
 
 Mr. Shayne begged her to calm herself, which 
 made the case worse. Mrs. Shayne drummed on 
 the Persian rug with her heels, and yelped short 
 yelps of distress or temper. 
 
 "If Madeline s been talking to you," asserted 
 Shayne, "I ll discharge her!" 
 
 "I hire and discharge my own maids, Finley 
 Shayne !" said she, much more normal now. "Then 
 it s true ! My God ! I m a prisoner !" 
 
 "It s only an injunction," urged Mr. Shayne. 
 "We can t use the Roc because the court forbids 
 it" 
 
 "At that man Carson s request!" ejaculated Mrs. 
 Shayne. "Imprisoned by him who insulted me, 
 ruined my niece, struck you, would have murdered 
 Mr. Silberberg, and now by the venal decision of a 
 purchased court, he makes prisoners of us all! I 
 tell you, Finley Shayne, it is a trick of the prole 
 tariate to immure us here and come at their leisure 
 and kill us!" 
 
 "My dear, my dear!" urged Mr. Shayne. "That 
 is quite impossible ! We could go in the Roc rather 
 than be murdered. It is absurd to suppose "
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 389 
 
 "Then I am an imbecile!" wailed Mrs. Shayne. 
 "You imprison me, and then insult me. Coward! 
 If going in the Roc is so easy, why don t we go? 
 I thought I was married to a man !" 
 
 Shayne sprang to his feet, so completely subdued 
 that he became violent. He would go to jail; he 
 would violate every injunction ever issued since the 
 days of the Star Chamber, before he would be so 
 lashed and excoriated. 
 
 "Marie," said he, "the Roc will be ready in half 
 an hour ! I ll show you I m no coward ! Get ready ! 
 Call Virginia and Silberberg! Hurry!" 
 
 Mrs. Shayne knew better than to try stopping him. 
 He yelled messages and orders into telephones. He 
 issued hurry calls for valets and maids. The force- 
 fulness that had made him what he was came up 
 permost. The great summer home woke up and 
 hummed. About the air-ship garage the mechanics 
 began testing the machinery; the pilot and the en 
 gineers appeared, grumbling at Mr. Shayne s defi 
 ance of the courts rather than be called a poltroon 
 by the wife of his bosom. Physicists should not 
 neglect in the summation of forces the "E. M. F." 
 and the "H. P." of woman s tears. 
 
 Suddenly into Shayne s den burst Silberberg, 
 his face red, his whole being simmering hot. 
 Shayne faced him and asked fairly what the devil 
 the matter was.
 
 390 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "I m done with you!" spluttered Silberberg. 
 "Get me away from here, if you re a gentleman !" 
 
 "If I wasn t I d have you kicked off!" said 
 Shayne. "You can t jump on me, if you are my 
 guest! I ll" 
 
 "There are other women in the world !" cried Sil 
 berberg. "I" 
 
 "She s refused you, then?" 
 
 "In a way I can t stand," protested Silberberg, 
 with hands upflung. "She said I was disgusting! 
 I can t stay !" 
 
 "Well," answered Shayne, "the Roc sails at once." 
 
 "It s risky, in the face of the injunction " 
 
 "Damn the injunction !" shouted Shayne. "If 
 you re afraid, stay with the servants !" 
 
 The rest were at the garage before Silberberg; 
 Mrs. Shayne in the cabin, Virginia and Shayne in 
 animated debate on the platform. 
 
 "Well," Shayne was saying to her, "stay, then, 
 like a simpleton ! But how are you to get away ? 
 I don t know how long the courts will keep this up 
 and our running the injunction won t make it any 
 shorter!" 
 
 "It s blowing awfully !" said Silberberg. 
 
 Nobody noticed him but the pilot 
 
 "I know it, sir," said he. "It s foolhardy to take 
 this gas-bag out. It s as apt to mean the Atlantic 
 as anything. There s a nor west gale at Sackett s
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 391 
 
 Harbor, and no chance to make Temagami. I don t 
 like it, if you ask me!" 
 
 "Shayne," said Silberberg, "the pilot says it s not 
 fit to go out !" 
 
 "Then stay!" answered Shayne. "You re wel 
 come to the house." 
 
 "But, Shayne," cried Silberberg, "it may mean 
 getting whirled out to sea or " 
 
 "Out to sea!" sneered Shayne. "And the wind 
 southeast! Stay if you re afraid! Virginia, Mr. 
 Silberberg s going to stay with you !" 
 
 "I m not a fool," protested Silberberg, "and I 
 shan t go in this weather for any man !" 
 
 Virginia walked aboard, with a look of disdain 
 the bitterest cut of all. The winches drew back the 
 leaves of the great roof to let out the Roc, and the 
 surge of the outer air filled the garage with windy 
 tumults. Silberberg, suddenly resolving to go, 
 leaped to the gang-plank ; but the ship rocked, and 
 the wind howled so alarmingly, and the pessimistic 
 forecast of the pilot returned so to freeze his heart 
 that he retreated to the platform, whining, threat 
 ening Shayne with the wrath of Federated Metals 
 on Change, whimpering like a whipped school 
 boy. 
 
 Shayne, engrossed in the clearance of the ship, 
 paid him no attention. The drawbridge roof 
 dropped down; the Roc, huge, steely and majestic,
 
 392 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 went out of her vast nest, careening sharply against 
 the wall as she sailed out; and under splendid man 
 agement fell off before the weather, the sense of 
 windiness ceasing as she caught step with the cur 
 rent. Her master felt free, and went in to exult with 
 Mrs. Shayne. He was an exemplary husband. 
 
 The clouds consisted of an upper high stratum 
 of plain, semi-transparent gray, apparently mo 
 tionless, and a flying scud of broken masses, which 
 swept the higher hills, and drove north directly into 
 the face of a rising body of rounded masses ad 
 vancing in the face of the wind. Shayne knew what 
 these indications meant; but he sullenly gave or 
 ders to lay a course dead for Temagami in spite of 
 the northwesterly wind back of those clouds. By 
 waiting for the turn of the wind, they might have 
 made New York; but every mile of northing took 
 them farther from the central "low," and into a 
 larger circle of the huge whirl of the gale. The 
 pilot knew that Temagami was out of the question, 
 though the wind blew dead toward it nay, because 
 of that fact : for a high wind never blows straight, 
 but always in a circle about the "low !" So Shayne, 
 violating the rules of weather outside to make sun 
 shine within, was not surprised when told that they 
 were approaching the line of reversal the turn of 
 the wind.
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 393 
 
 "Head against it," ordered Shayne, "and cross 
 Lake Ontario before dark if you can." 
 
 "It looks more than we can face," said the pilot 
 "If it is, shall we run before it, and try for a 
 Pennsylvania port?" 
 
 "Use your best judgment," said Shayne. 
 
 "Yes, sir," said the pilot, whose best judgment 
 had been to stay housed. "And you may want to 
 know, sir, there s some sort of craft astern, and 
 overhauling us." 
 
 "The devil !" ejaculated Shayne. "I ll take a look 
 at her." 
 
 The binoculars revealed an aeronef perhaps five 
 miles astern, with wide wings, in which he could see 
 the shimmer of blades in rapid revolution. The 
 exclusive rights of the Virginia, the singular swift 
 ness and power of the flight of this aeronef, and the 
 shimmer in her wings assured Shayne that he was 
 pursued by the machine which had wrecked his 
 monopoly and established a new and more impreg 
 nable one, founded on the old and time-tried basic 
 title to rulership, landlordism. Shayne gripped the 
 glass and set his teeth. The hounds had been watch 
 ing, then, to see him break their doubly-accursed 
 injunction ! They wanted to put him in jail. The 
 shame of it! He, Finley Shayne, a fugitive for 
 sailing God s free air, in his own ship! And the
 
 394 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 danger of it, too ; for Canada and safety now looked 
 utterly unattainable. 
 
 The mountains slipped from under them, and the 
 farms and villages took their places on the moving 
 concave of the earth, as the big ship made speed 
 toward the Mohawk. The south wind fell, the 
 houses and villages passed more leisurely, and the 
 roar in the trees ceased. Entirely against his judg 
 ment, noting that the speed already made seemed to 
 mean Toronto by sunset, Shayne s hope returned of 
 success in this mad voyage against command and 
 advice. If he could leave that sleuth-hound ae ro- 
 nef behind, or reach a foreign jurisdiction, he would 
 be satisfied with ever so small and temporary a 
 triumph. Thus mused Shayne; and even as he so 
 thought, the Roc was struck by the opposing gale; 
 a sudden hurricane smote her decks as her momen 
 tum drove her through the north wind ; she turned 
 before it; the great concave panorama below slowly 
 reversed, and began paying off to the north as the 
 vast aeronat drifted like a bubble to the south, 
 before the fiercest blow she had ever dared en 
 counter. Canada was out of the question. The Roc 
 was caught in the full sweep of a real gale. If it 
 kept blowing south, she could ride it out; but they 
 all knew that these winds pivot "counter-clock 
 wise;" that the shift would be from northerly to 
 westerly, and that the Atlantic s lee shore cut across
 
 THE FLIGHT OF. THE ROC 395 
 
 their course. Anger and pique decreased ; the sense 
 of danger waxed and he paced the steady deck, 
 looked at the racing towns and rivers and hills, 
 listened to the crescendo roar in the trees, and grew 
 pale. 
 
 "If we reach an aerial harbor," said he, through" 
 the speaking-tube, "what do you think of trying a 
 landing?" 
 
 "She d rip to strings," said the pilot. "We d be 
 killed. I d sooner try the rip-cord in a plowed 
 field : some of us might get off with broken bones 
 that way." 
 
 "Oh, well," said Shayne, "we haven t come to 
 that ; and we re going along very comfortably." 
 
 "As yet we are, sir," said the pilot. 
 
 During luncheon Mrs. Shayne ventured a series 
 of remarks on the tyranny of the courts. 
 
 "When they supported property and the estab 
 lished order," said Mrs. Shayne, "they were entitled 
 to respect. But now they destroy our property! 
 They have dragged their ermine in the mire. They 
 prostitute the law to adventurers and criminals " 
 
 "Theodore Carson," said Virginia, "is neither an 
 adventurer nor a criminal! I will not hear him 
 slandered! And this is no more unjust than what 
 Uncle Finley did to get his money !" 
 
 "Infatuated girl!" said Aunt Marie. 
 
 "I won t hear that, either!" cried Virginia. "I
 
 396 VIRGINIA OF. THE AIR LANES 
 
 shall never speak to him again ! But he is a hero ! 
 He almost drowned to save me ! He worked to save 
 me, with the sea lapping for him. And he never 
 faltered, even when the f-file t-tore his p-poor 
 fingers to shreds. He s worth all of you! All of 
 you! There! And I hate him! So there!" 
 
 With strife in the cabin, and the Atlantic under 
 the lee, there was trouble enough. And still that 
 infernal Virginia hung about at five miles or so 
 astern, like a wolf stalking a deer under her old 
 captain, and her old crew, again complaining and 
 almost mutinous; for Mr. Craighead had suddenly 
 resolved to return to the Waddy home, and, as he 
 stated it, "add to an unique collection of leather 
 medals the finishing touch of the booby prize in the 
 wooing handicap." 
 
 Carson shanghaied him by will power however; 
 and now the two celebrities of the new monopoly 
 followed the huge aeronat across the states, anxious 
 at Shayne s frenzied breaking of bounds in this 
 tempest, as they saw the Roc caught in the north 
 wind, and borne before it with the speed of its tre 
 mendously increased energy. For the Roc seemed 
 doomed to the aerostat shipwreck a shattering fall 
 in landing, or watery extinction in the open sea. 
 And Virginia! Agonizing for her, Carson fol 
 lowed, watching like a wrecker when a full- rigged 
 ship drives on a reef.
 
 THE FLIGHT OF. THE ROC 397 
 
 And yet, even after her turn, all seemed well 
 with the Roc. The sea lay south and east. Northing 
 was impossible; but edging into the gale with all 
 the power of her screws she worked stanchly off 
 into the west. Yet, Carson knew it was a losing fight ; 
 and Shayne walked the deck in agony as she gave 
 ground at last before the wind, which howled in 
 across the Pennsylvania mountains and beat the 
 great hunted creature to the Delaware at Philadel 
 phia. He had risen high for a gentler wind, or a 
 counter drift ; but, frightened at his wild flight, had 
 gone down again to profit by the earth s friction on 
 the air. And still she fled seaward, her best-advised 
 people stressful with fear. Mrs. Shayne was asleep; 
 but Virginia came on deck and listened to the roar 
 from beneath with awe in her face; for she knew 
 that the gale forbade landing, and that their only 
 hope lay in keeping above the continent, and riding 
 it out. 
 
 "Where are we, uncle?" said she. "And whicK 
 way are we going?" 
 
 "Oh," replied Shayne, "we re all right On our 
 course!" 
 
 Time enough for the trouble when the crisis 
 came. For shipwreck in aerial voyaging has no 
 tossing before the cyclone ere the final plunge, no 
 wrestle with the waves, no tiring at the pumps, no 
 roaring of white surf scabbarding the teeth of the
 
 398 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 reef. All is steady and comfortable until under 
 neath yawns destruction. Though every moment in 
 evitably marked a loss of gas in the balloon, once 
 out at sea, they must keep up to win the far African 
 coast or to bear around the whirl to Nova Scotia 
 or Labrador and in that quadrant was rain. Be 
 fore that could be done the huge gas-holder would 
 grow wrinkled, flabby, weak; the car would drag 
 her down; the stronger ones would cut everything 
 away to lighten the ship; the weaker would drop 
 into the brine with no hope save in the prayer-time 
 accorded by the life-preservers ; and finally, the last 
 man clinging to the fragments of the nacelle would 
 see the huge mass of flapping silk and gum and tin 
 foil drop into the waves, himself utterly lost in the 
 utter desolation of hopeless solitude food for the 
 fishes. 
 
 Shayne knew this as he sent Virginia away ; and 
 so did Carson. For while the Delaware yet flowed 
 below, far to the east there appeared on the skirt 
 of the landscape a hem of blue the Atlantic. With 
 her prow to the blast, fighting for every inch, losing 
 ground like a swimmer in a spate, the Roc delayed 
 her fate. Running with this wind, the crossing of 
 New Jersey would be a matter of minutes; but she 
 made of it an agony of hours. Dinner was served, 
 Shayne trying to smile, and discussing with these 
 dear women the time of reaching Temagami. Mrs. 
 Shayne was quite at ease; but Virginia felt the
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 399 
 
 anxiety in Shayne s pale face, and in the drawn fea 
 tures of the pilot and engineers as they struggled, 
 struggled, struggled to hold the immense hull 
 against the remorseless gale. And still the hem of 
 blue toward which they drifted, stern on, crept far 
 ther and farther down the hollowed earth. Occa 
 sionally, in the lulls of the wind, the Roc, stanchest 
 of her kind, sank low to try for a landing, only to 
 find that, after all, she still drove on so swiftly as to 
 make it madness. 
 
 Virginia stood gazing ahead, not knowing that 
 their actual flight was astern. She thought she was 
 looking toward her destination. She had lost sight 
 of the Virginia, and she was not sorry, nor dis 
 pleased to have Carson give chase, unsuccessfully. 
 She was very angry with him. She repeated that 
 to herself, even though distracted by the evident 
 distress of her uncle, of the men, and of the Roc 
 herself; for Virginia could feel in the shiverings 
 and tremblings of the ship the anguish of hard and 
 unremitting struggle. And yet, the landscape ahead 
 was one devoid of danger. 
 
 Suddenly she looked astern, and was amazed that 
 such a body of water had been passed without her 
 knowing it; as one journeying over a prairie might 
 feel, to look behind and see an ocean. The subtle 
 expression of the tossing waves told her that this was 
 the open sea. Inshore its calm was undisturbed, 
 save by the churning of dead swells from the tumult
 
 400 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 outside; but beyond, it was terrible. For miles and 
 miles she saw great waves bursting in immense 
 explosions of spindrift and spray, swept clean of 
 shipping, the glassy rear of the racing billows 
 throwing back to her eyes sinister glints from the 
 rare gleams of the westering sun ; and out into this 
 fierce fight of the elements the Roc was drifting, 
 stern on, in spite of the frenzied thrust of her great 
 screws into the suck of the gale. Virginia neither 
 screamed nor fainted, though she knew at once what 
 it all meant. The hand on the rail gripped it more 
 tightly, and the other trembled as she drew it across 
 her blanching lips. 
 
 Should she tell her aunt? It would do no good. 
 There were hours yet in which things might be 
 done, hours of supreme suffering. She must avoid 
 troubling the men, too. She realized the struggle 
 which she had hitherto only felt, and she felt tender 
 toward her uncle toward them all. They were 
 fighting like men against odds. 
 
 "Uncle," said she, pointing to the on-coming 
 shore, "I see ! It s the ocean !" 
 
 "Yes !" said he. "God forgive me, Virginia, for 
 murdering you and your aunt ! Go to her !" 
 
 "Not now," replied Virginia. "I can t keep her 
 from feeling how frightened I am. Give me 
 something to do, uncle!" 
 
 Shayne threw up his hands, empty, as might a
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 401 
 
 swordsman who had lost his blade a gesture elo 
 quent of powerlessness. They stood on the deck 
 clinging to each other, closer than they had ever 
 been, watching the water creep nearer and nearer. 
 
 "If it weren t for one thing," said Shayne, "I d 
 drop her into the shallow water and take chances. 
 But the drift would be outward. And if we stay up 
 as long as we can, we may run around the whirl and 
 make Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. It s a chance. 
 And then, there s the possibility of dropping her 
 into the path of a liner. Good God the chance! 
 And this morning we were at the Hold, safe, and 
 a hundred miles inland! Fool!" 
 
 Virginia pressed his arm. "Uncle " said she. 
 
 "On board the ship !" 
 
 The call sounded in their very ears. Within thirty 
 yards hung the Virginia, headed into the wind, and 
 drifting easily with the Roc. 
 
 "What do you propose to do?" 
 
 It was Carson s voice through the trumpet; but 
 it sounded sweet to Shayne. He had no idea of 
 any manner in which the Virginia would aid him, 
 but the sickening speed with which he was driving 
 out to sea made anything welcome as a modification 
 of his despair. 
 
 "Do you understand?" shouted Carson. "You 
 are lost if you drift on. Drop your painter, and 
 I ll give you a tow !"
 
 402 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 The thing was absurd on its face. The wind had 
 grown to a hurricane. Such a thing as this little 
 machine s towing the Roc against it was unthink 
 able. And yet swallowing his pride, Shayne or 
 dered the painter dropped ; and as it hung from the 
 Roc s nose, the Virginia, running easily into the 
 wind, dropped back, took the line, and with a word 
 of cheer she walked up into the blast, pulled the 
 painter taut and like a tug with a freighter, threw 
 herself against the pressure of the immense gas 
 bag; and for the first time the people on the aero- 
 nat s deck clung fast and turned their faces from 
 the wind as they felt its stroke. 
 
 "Hurrah!" came the cry from the engine-room. 
 "She s holding us!" 
 
 For a moment she did ; and then she dropped the 
 painter, and the abandoned Roc fell off before the 
 storm again. The aeronef, having shown her power, 
 had quitted its exercise. The Virginia, released 
 from the pull, had darted away, and was now a 
 quarter of a mile off. Shayne flamed hot with 
 anger at this cruel mocking. The men in the 
 engine-room grew sick with despair; and when the 
 Virginia, with a swift circling swoop, came along 
 side again, they begged Carson, for God s sake, not 
 to let all of them drown just because he hated 
 Shayne. 
 
 "Stand off, you infernal scoundrel !" cried Shayne.
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 403 
 
 "Stand off, or I ll shoot you ! You are the cause of 
 all this; and I ll kill you, if you don t stand off!" 
 
 "Don t make a fool of yourself!" called Carson. 
 "I want you to go lower." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "And put on your life-preservers," went on 
 Carson. 
 
 "Why?" insisted Shayne. 
 
 "I m going to put you in the water," said Carson. 
 
 "No, you ll not !" said Shayne. "Willett, keep her 
 up and run before it. We ll circle the whirl and 
 make shore." 
 
 "Mr. Willett," said Carson, "do as I say, or as 
 there is a God in Heaven, I ll go above, rip your 
 envelop and let you drop from wherever you hap 
 pen to be!" 
 
 "You obey orders !" cried Shayne. 
 
 "If Mr. Shayne interferes," said Carson, "con 
 fine him; and take orders from me or drop from 
 here ! Will you do as I say ?" 
 
 The second engineer went forward to Mr. Shayne. 
 The answer of the others was to set the depressor- 
 screws going; and the doomed Roc, now quite over 
 the sea, dropped nearer and nearer to the waves. 
 
 "Now," said Carson, "I ll tell you why I turned 
 you adrift. Your envelop won t stand the strain. It 
 had started to cave in at the bow, and in another mo 
 ment it would have ripped open and dropped you.
 
 404 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 But I m going to give it the test. If the Roc can 
 stand the strain, I believe I can tow her and land 
 you. If she doesn t I shall drop you into the At 
 lantic, you ll collapse, and I can tow you in the water 
 easily. Put on your life-preservers ! Hurry !" 
 
 Again the Virginia took the painter aboard, and 
 surged against the gale; but this time drifting with 
 the wind while the life-preservers were adjusted. 
 Carson was confronted with a fearful alternative. 
 If he let the Roc go out to sea, she had a bare 
 chance though no such escape was recorded. On 
 the other hand, dropping her in the water was an 
 expedient full of danger. The collapsed envelop 
 might blanket the passengers and drown them; 
 some might be hit by breaking beams, or stunned 
 by concussion with the water from a badly-judged 
 height. And Virginia ! Yet, weighing the chances, 
 he did not hesitate. 
 
 "All ready?" he shouted. 
 
 "No !" cried Shayne. "Come back here!" 
 
 "All ready, Willett?" asked Carson. 
 
 "Yes!" cried Willett. "Go ahead!" 
 
 Slowly crowding on power, the Virginia fought 
 forward into the storm. The painter strained taut 
 as a steel bar, and Carson wondered if it would 
 hold. The ship slowed up in their drift, stopped; 
 and a wild cheer went up from the crews, the pas 
 sengers, and from the people gathered on shore, as
 
 THE FLIGHT OF THE ROC 405 
 
 they made head against the wind: when suddenly 
 a rainy gust bore down on them in fury, the en 
 velop of the Roc crushed in at the bow, like a col 
 lapsible tube, with an awful ripping sound, and the 
 huge steely bubble longer than a city block, higher 
 than a four-story building went out like a pricked 
 bubble, became a ragged cloud of tattered frag 
 ments, and with all on board fell into the Atlantic, 
 and floated in a shapeless mass of wreckage, on the 
 churning dead swells in the quieter waters near 
 the shore. Carson looked down to see whether the 
 form he loved was smothered under the torn fabric 
 or floating free, but never halted for the drownimg 
 or the living. He let out fifty yards of line he had 
 made fast to the painter to give slack for the Roc s 
 fall; and then with frenzied eagerness, he dragged 
 the whole huge mass ashore and, as the Virginia 
 alighted on the beach, her skipper leaping out began 
 a fierce onslaught on the wreckage, seeking in its 
 chaotic mass for her whose drenched form he 
 dreaded to see.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 FINALE 
 
 THE unities doubtless require that Theodore 
 Carson be given the credit of diving under 
 the wreck of the Roc and rescuing his lady 
 love. The facts are that he met at the water s edge 
 a huge Swede in overalls carrying Virginia and tow 
 ing Mr. Shayne by a line, much to the discomfiture 
 of that gentleman, who had a tendency to turn over 
 with his nose in the sand. Craighead, seeing a glint 
 of red in the water, rescued a red mantilla, while 
 Mrs. Shayne was floated ashore by Willett. The 
 first engineer swam in with some automatic instru 
 ment from the engine-room in his teeth, swearing 
 at the second engineer for dropping its mate. The 
 gathering was one of pale, trembling, uninjured 
 people. The Roc had been nursed down close to the 
 water by Carson, and as she collapsed, her envelop 
 blew aside and turned over, swinging her people 
 clear a marvelous escape. 
 
 Theodore carried Virginia to a seaside cottage 
 just in process of being put in order for its owners. 
 
 406
 
 FINALE 407 
 
 "Tell me, dearest," he kept whispering, "that you 
 are safe safe !" 
 
 Virginia, wet, draggled, her strong little form 
 resembling a rough-cast statue of some one quite 
 irresistibly shapely, silently hung about his neck, 
 limp, weak in the knees from excitement, but really 
 not much more so than Theodore. It did not occur 
 to her, however, to ask him to let her walk; and 
 somehow she had forgotten how angry she was. 
 Life had suddenly expanded to a long vista of 
 scenes in which, whenever there was danger, he was 
 present to succor and to comfort. She closed her 
 eyes and clung about his neck, sprinkling the way 
 with brine from her dress, and restraining an im 
 pulse to hug him spasmodically; and once in the 
 comfortable room, she did allow her arms to tighten 
 a bit as he laid her down. 
 
 He kissed her softly, gently, lingeringly, and as 
 of right; and was astounded that she remained quite 
 quiescent under the outrage. A lady can not al 
 ways have presence of mind ; so he took a mean ad 
 vantage of his position, and instead of getting back 
 into her good graces gradually, he made his ap 
 pearance all at once in the citadel, as he had done 
 on the parade-ground of the fort, with no pass in 
 either case. He asked no hackneyed questions. 
 
 "You love me!" said he. "I m not going to let 
 you leave me again! Darling!"
 
 408 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 With no rub-down to stimulate reaction after her 
 plunge, and lying there in her wet clothes, Virginia 
 glowed crimson; but she held her anger in check. 
 In fact, as the servant came in with dry clothing, she 
 squeezed his hand in gratitude, and forgot to bal 
 ance her books by frowning. Carson went out radi 
 ant, meeting Craighead with the red mantilla on his 
 arm. 
 
 "You all do know this mantle," said he, "but not 
 the soul of paltry in things great. Ethically, this is 
 a lost damosel snatched from a watery grave as she 
 went down in the penultimate descent. I put my 
 confounded life in pawn, for what? For a mere 
 trumpery kick-shaw of silk with no more woman 
 in it than a rabbit. Rotten ! Rotten ! This ere res 
 cue ain t up to sample !" 
 
 "Craighead," said Carson, "I want you to run an 
 errand, and be serious." 
 
 "That will be a distinct rise in spirits," answered 
 Craighead. "At present I m tragic I may get 
 even gay! What errand wouldest thou? Deliver: 
 I ll put a gurgle round the block in forty minutes." 
 
 "Run for a doctor," said Carson. "Craighead, I 
 believe she loves me." 
 
 "Past all doctoring," said Craighead. "Don t you 
 want any one else?" 
 
 "No," answered Carson, "I can think of no one. 
 But run !"
 
 FINALE 409 
 
 "If I think of any one else " 
 
 "Do whatever you d want done for yourself in 
 my place !" cried Carson impatiently. "But hurry !" 
 
 Pacing up and down the veranda, Carson was in 
 a delicious disturbance of spirits. He forgot Shayne 
 and his wife, but ran down to see to the Virginia 
 and found in charge the village constable, who 
 marched round and round her, brandishing a po 
 liceman s club, and hitching forward occasionally 
 a broad belt in which was slung an archaic revolver. 
 
 "I know the rules of these cases," said he to Car 
 son. "When you give this to the papers say some 
 thing about the way the police end of it was han 
 dled!" 
 
 "Thank you !" said Carson, having made sure that 
 the Virginia was intact. "I shan t see any report 
 ers." 
 
 "Sure you will," said the thoughtful constable. 
 "I ve sent f r them!" 
 
 The doctor, a nervous little man with no voice, 
 whispered to Carson that his wife, meaning Vir 
 ginia, was uninjured, and urging him to go in and 
 quiet her by his presence. 
 
 "Neurology my specialty," said he slyly, in Car 
 son s ear. "Left big practice in Philadelphia on ac 
 count of nervous prostration. Acute neuropathic 
 symptoms in your very beautiful young wife, sir 
 but accident! Nothing to it!"
 
 410 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Carson explained, with some neuropathic symp 
 toms of his own, that the young lady was not his 
 wife. 
 
 "Excuse me!" whispered the doctor, on tiptoe. 
 "As to whose the mistake is, yours or mine, omis 
 sion or commission, can t say; but pardon me, just 
 the same. Must go now. Other patients, you know. 
 My card!" 
 
 And slipping his card to Theodore with the air 
 of a man seeking to establish a connection in the 
 castaway trade, he whispered himself out, being re 
 placed almost immediately by two local representa 
 tives of the metropolitan press, to whom Theodore 
 resolutely refused to say a word beyond the state 
 ment that the Roc was wrecked and that the passen 
 gers were saved. This, however, did not prevent 
 them from sending in highly-colored accounts of 
 the wreck and of the sensational assistance accorded 
 her by the Virginia aeronef which were expanded 
 in the city offices into the sensation of the day. 
 Shayne,of Aerostatic Power, had violated the Craig- 
 head injunction in the Roc! Craighead, Carson, and 
 the Shaynes were together in a New Jersey village! 
 Rumors and canards on Change and the curb ! Ex 
 tras and red type on yellow first pages! But the 
 real sensation was not known until afterward. 
 
 Craighead was a long time gone, returning with 
 a perspiring man carrying a notary s seal in one
 
 FINALE 411 
 
 hand, a huge volume under one arm, and a flat book 
 like an exaggerated check-book under the other. 
 Following them were a tall, angular, serious-look 
 ing gentleman in wading boots, his eyes covered 
 with immense blue goggles a French chauffeur, 
 if one might judge by certain strong proofs in gar 
 ments and feature; a life-saving crew from up the 
 coast who had just arrived after a long-distance 
 view of the wreck; and several water-side charac 
 ters belonging in a New Jersey way to the Captain 
 Harrod class. The man with the books seemed tired 
 with his burden, and was using occasional strong 
 words. 
 
 "Set down, set down your honorable load," said 
 Craighead, "if honor may be harried with a curse. 
 Fellow-citizens, we are delighted with what we 
 have seen of your little city. The climate is lovely, 
 the air fresh, and the water warm. We like it. 
 What do you call it?" 
 
 Carson drew Craighead aside, and suggested dry 
 clothes. 
 
 "Be silent, sirrah," cried Craighead, "and do as 
 you are bid! Friends, the performance in the big 
 tent is about to open. This, Mr. Van Brunt, is one 
 of the principals." 
 
 "Of age, I see," said Mr. Van Brunt, looking at 
 Carson. "I guess it s all right. An where s the 
 other party?"
 
 A maid who had devoted herself to Virginia re 
 plied that Miss Suarez was quite able to see people. 
 
 "Come, Mr. Van Brunt," said Craighead, "and 
 view the precious remains." 
 
 Craighead entered at Virginia s "Come in," but 
 Mr. Van Brunt went no farther than to insert half 
 his body and all his head in the room and look 
 searchingly at Miss Suarez. 
 
 "Of course," said he, "you re over eighteen?" 
 
 "Considerably," said Virginia. "But" 
 
 Mr. Van Brunt had vanished. Craighead gazed 
 solemnly at Virginia, and spoke sepulchrally. 
 
 "These," said he, "are some of the local forms of 
 the initiation. Be obedient, and thou shalt prosper. 
 Don t do nothin that you ain t told to see?" 
 
 "What does this foolery mean?" asked Carson as 
 Craighead emerged into the parlor, where Mr. Van 
 Brunt was engaged in filling up blanks and tearing 
 them out of the big check-book. 
 
 "Foolery?" said Craighead. "Profane not the 
 sacred mysteries of Eleusis! Don t get cynical nor 
 funny. You are not a very important person here. 
 Friends, fellow-citizens, Jerseymen, lend me your 
 ears! We have met for certain reasons connected 
 with the vital statistics of our common country to 
 originate an epithet. Two problems look the Amer 
 ican people in the face and gnash their problematical
 
 FINALE 413 
 
 teeth and snort. What are they? My friend the 
 doctor, who has returned with healing in his fins, 
 and our reverend friend in the waders, can bear wit 
 ness from their reduced perquisites that I speak 
 sooth when I say that these portentous national 
 dangers lie in celibacy and race-suicide. I have 
 made a specialty of them." 
 
 "Hooray !" shouted the captain of the life-saving 
 crew. 
 
 "My honorable and gallant friend," said Craig- 
 head, indicating the captain, "hath a Smith college 
 pin on his service shirt. It is not to thee, O potential 
 benedict, that I speak. We are here to call, not the 
 inoculated, but the hitherto immune to repentance. 
 Fellow reformers, at the request of my friend Mr. 
 Carson General Theodo Cahson, M. A. I sent 
 a motor-car for Mr. Van Brunt, and the county- 
 seat of this county, so far as the marriage records 
 are concerned, is here. The Reverend Mr. Coryell 
 has kindly agreed to perform the ceremony. I will 
 assume the chair, if there are no objections. I will 
 entertain a motion ordering the nuptials to proceed. 
 I assume a motion for the regular order. Reading 
 of the minutes dispensed with. All in favor of the 
 marriage of Theodore Carson and Virginia Suarez, 
 say Aye! " 
 
 There was a swelling roar of "Ayes" that startled
 
 414 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 Virginia into a belief that a political convention was 
 in session in the parlor. Craighead called for the 
 "Nays," with no response. 
 
 "It is a vote," said he. "Unanimously! I con 
 gratulate you in this harmony ! It augers well for 
 a successful campaign and a triumphant election. 
 Will some one volunteer to play the wedding march ? 
 Thank you, sir! May your own landing be as free 
 from the gaff !" 
 
 This to the captain of the life savers, who seated 
 himself on a piano-stool and ran his hands over the 
 keys. 
 
 "And now, General," said Craighead to Carson, 
 "all is ready. The statutes in such case made and 
 provided are all fulfilled. Bring out the bride, and 
 let the rapture culminate!" 
 
 "Craighead," said Carson, "come outside, and I ll 
 break every bone in your body !" 
 
 No one heard this but Craighead, and he received 
 the announcement with the suavest of bows, and a 
 withdrawal with Carson on his arm. 
 
 "Just a little delay," said he to Mr. Coryell, "you 
 know how it is last kisses of bridesmaids veil 
 askew rubbish but we must wait." 
 
 Mr. Coryell, with Craighead s money in his pocket, 
 sufficient in amount to pay the entire expenses of 
 his vacation study of Atlantic gasteropods, waited 
 smilingly, rubbing his hands. Mr. Van Brunt
 
 FINALE 415 
 
 lighted a cigar and looked officially grave. Carson 
 seized Craighead by the throat in the privacy of the 
 kitchen. 
 
 "What do you mean !" he snarled. "What insane 
 thing is this?" 
 
 "Explanations," said Craighead, extricating his 
 throat, "are uncalled for, it seemeth to me; but if 
 given, require the use of the trachea. Ah ve done 
 did what you done tole me, boss !" 
 
 "What do you mean ?" 
 
 Carson stood before Craighead with clenched 
 fists, furious at Craighead s scandalous use of Vir 
 ginia s name in public. 
 
 "Strike, in due time," said Craighead, "but hear! 
 You told me to do for you what I d want done in 
 your place. You said Virginia loved you " 
 
 "I said I believed it!" answered Carson, groaning. 
 "Oh, Craighead, Craighead! You ve ruined me!" 
 
 "Ruined your granny that is, of course, I dis 
 agree with you entirely. Faint heart never won the 
 money. I tell you the wedding-bells are now ring 
 ing. Go to, sirrah go to her. Give her the rush. 
 Lay it on me. Throw a fit on the rug; rip and tear; 
 snort ; weep ; fight ; fast ; tear thyself ; drink up eisel ; 
 eat a crocodile; take her in your arms; and inciden 
 tally mention the fact that the thing s a matter of 
 record, and will be in all the papers. It ll work. 
 Why, blast your picture, it s got to work. If it
 
 416 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 doesn t, I m stuck for seventy-five dollars for fees 
 and corruption money !" 
 
 Carson walked back and forth, torn with rage, 
 embarrassment and anxiety for the result with Vir 
 ginia, thrilled with a growing realization of what 
 it might mean to him. 
 
 "I m going in to tell her," said he. "And if I fail, 
 I shall come out and kill you, Craighead !" 
 
 "I shall make no will," said Craighead. "Why, 
 if she were Caroline, and I you " 
 
 Carson walked into the apartment of Virginia. 
 The serving-girl withdrew and left them alone. 
 
 "Virginia," said he, "I m going to take you with 
 me!" 
 
 She flushed rosily, but woman-like refused to take 
 his meaning. 
 
 "I can t go back, unkie," said she. "You failed in 
 your exams. You are marked away, away down as 
 an uncle! But I ve forgiven you." 
 
 "Don t let s talk of that," said he. "I shan t even 
 apologize. I m glad I deceived you ! Glad, do you 
 hear? And now, you re going back Psyche as my 
 wife. Don t struggle and try to escape. Don t you 
 love me? Don t you love me? Don t you love me?" 
 
 She was past the struggle, now, and in the new 
 print gown of the servant maid, she lay in his arms, 
 quite surrendered. Outside, the voice of Mr. Craig- 
 head rose and fell in eloquence uninterrupted, save 
 by rounds of applause. Like the orator who amuses
 
 FINALE 417 
 
 the throng until the great pageant approaches, 
 Craighead was doing his best. Within, Carson, 
 holding Virginia tight, repeated over and over the 
 question, of which both knew the answer, but the an 
 swering of which made her his for ever. And at last, 
 she buried her face in his breast, and voicelessly 
 nodded her head at which he, with the lover s 
 joy in his bride s blushes, lifted her face and took 
 his reward for waiting. The time passed much more 
 rapidly for them than for Mr. Craighead. His voice 
 grew hoarse, the rococo periods grew shorter, and 
 at last, he rapped on the door and called "Time!" 
 
 The audience had entered upon the phase of im 
 patience characterized by stamping in unison. 
 
 "What do they want?" asked Virginia. 
 
 "Us," said Carson. "Let us go out!" 
 
 "Out?" queried Virginia. "Out there?" 
 
 "Virginia," said Carson, "did I not say I was 
 taking you away with me ? Now ?" 
 
 "Oh!" gasped Virginia, shrinking back. "You 
 don t mean for me to understand " 
 
 "The minister is outside to marry us darling! 
 Come!" 
 
 "Oh, Theodore," she gasped, "you awful, awful 
 boy! Oh, I can t! Not to-day! I I am not pre 
 pared ! Oh, you presumptuous " 
 
 Something smothered this reproach, which went 
 on inarticulately, as if uttered into a waistcoat 
 pocket. Virginia was being hurried in minutes along
 
 418 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 the enchanted stream down which, in ordinary af 
 fairs, the bark of courtship drifts enchantingly for 
 months. To go with Theodore that was something 
 immense, unspeakable sometime; but to go now? 
 No, she said, with her face buried in his coat, she 
 could not! Did she love him? Yes, oh, yes! She 
 had got past denial of that! Did she trust him? 
 How could he ask that ! He knew she trusted him ! 
 He was the dearest, steadiest, most dependable, most 
 trustworthy Then why not now? Which brought 
 the argument back to the stage of she-couldn t Why 
 couldn t she? Oh, she couldn t, she couldn t. The 
 door opened. Craighead s voice came through in 
 inquiry. 
 
 "All ready?" he asked loudly. "Then let the 
 cortege move ! Dispensing with the shawms, the 
 timbrels, the rebecs, the psalt and psaltery, the trump 
 and trumpery, and the instrument of ten strings, let 
 the piano s martial blast rouse the echoes of the past. 
 To this is our orchestra reduced. After these nup 
 tials, we shall have the full music of the grand sweet 
 song. Like Prince Agib of Gilbertian story, 
 
 " We will diligently play 
 On the zoetrope all day, 
 And blow the loud pantechnicon all night ! 
 
 Forward! March!"
 
 FINALE 419 
 
 The wedding march from Lohengrin tinkled feel 
 ingly forth from the piano. The minister stood in 
 the narrow cirque left open by the crowd. Craig- 
 head, like a new-ducked usher, bowed grandly at 
 the door to let them through. Theodore took Vir 
 ginia s plump, print-covered arm, and whispered in 
 her ear promises which instinct told him would 
 break down the last resistance. All things went 
 roseate and purple and golden and pink before Vir 
 ginia s eyes; her feet mechanically paced the short 
 way, and she stood before the man in waders, the 
 most divinely shamefast bride ever led to the altar. 
 The short service went on, as remembered by the 
 priest. 
 
 "Who gives this woman away?" 
 
 And who but Finley Shayne, broke through the 
 press, to take her by the hand and respond heart 
 ily: "I do!" 
 
 And when the ring was called for, who but the 
 captain of the life-saving crew, true to the traditions 
 of the service, came forward, and took it from his 
 chain, and saved them? 
 
 And when the minister asked, "Do you, Virginia, 
 take this man to be your wedded husband?" and the 
 dear old remainder of it, who but Theodore Carson 
 turned dizzy at the bride s pause before answering, 
 and who but Virginia said sweetly arid clearly, "I
 
 420 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 And there was a whirl of congratulations, in 
 which Mrs. Shayne joined, weeping most properly; 
 and Carson hugged Craighead purple again; and 
 the world revolved back to the old halcyon days, 
 when no storms blew, and there were bowery joys 
 the joys, thank Heaven, that are open to the young 
 and good, no matter what their station in life ! And 
 even Craighead s statement that the minister s wad 
 ers were ominous of the deep water into which the 
 happy pair was getting, failed of effect save to 
 make the wedding dinner at which the Shaynes 
 sat down more foolishly hilarious. 
 
 The scuppernongs were ripening in the arbor at 
 Carson s Landing; the carpenter-bees were still at 
 their carpentry; the myrtle was fragrant; the ole 
 ander was in full bloom; the Satsuma oranges 
 glowed golden from the trees ; and the woodpeckers 
 still wove their festoons of fire from tree to tree. 
 Captain Harrod, removed for life from the solitude 
 and temptations of the dunes, was busy mending 
 fences. Aunt Chloe was scuffling about as of old; 
 when a whistle blew in the river, and a vessel put 
 off at the landing Mr. Theodore and Miss Virginia. 
 The captain and Aunt Chloe stood in wonder for 
 a change had come over the two they most loved. 
 Virginia was clinging to Theodore s arm with both
 
 FINALE 421 
 
 hands ; and as they passed up under the cedars, they 
 saw Theodore make occasional halts to kiss her. 
 When they came to the door, Theodore paused, and 
 picking Virginia up in his arms, carried her up the 
 steps and over the threshold. And then Aunt Chloe 
 knew. 
 
 "Mah sweet chile!" she cried. "Mah deah honey! 
 Ah knew twould come. Ah knew it !" 
 
 "Aunt Chloe," said Virginia, "I m not to blame ! 
 He abducted me!" 
 
 "Ah m powerful glad," said Captain Harrod. 
 "You two sho belong togethe . Ah wush you much 
 joy." 
 
 "We re having that now !" cried Virginia. "And 
 we re down here, Aunt Chloe, not to make you any 
 trouble, but to live! To live a thousand years in a 
 month, that won t seem but a minute! To be alone!" 
 
 "We don t want any one to know we re here," 
 said Theodore. "This little girl is enough for me, 
 and I for her. The rest of the world it s lost!" 
 
 "But some one knows a ready, suh," said the cap 
 tain. "We ve done got a heap of telegrams fo you." 
 
 "Craighead, darling!" said Theodore. 
 
 "Open them, dearest," said Virginia. "I hope the 
 dear fellow oh, Mrs. Graybill likes him, I know. 
 But open the telegrams !" 
 
 In their order, the messages were opened. The
 
 422 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 first was dated New York, and was sent on the eve 
 of Craighead s departure to learn his fate. 
 
 "As Caesar," said he, "consulted the oracles and 
 diviners before going to battle, so do I, who am the 
 Caesar of the legal world, since the temporary in 
 junction is made permanent, and Shayne s given 
 up. I prefer the art of the haruspex : but this is a 
 legal holiday, and the live stock market s closed. So 
 I revert to the daisy-petal divination. The halting- 
 places on the road that takes me to my Caroline are 
 the petals on the flower of my fate, and to them I 
 appeal. More anon . . . They end with She 
 loves me or Craighead s obsequies may be ar 
 ranged." 
 
 "I can t understand him," said Theodore, "any 
 better than when I found him in the garden." 
 
 "Oh, it s perfectly plain, sweetheart!" cried Vir 
 ginia. "Open the rest! Open the rest !" 
 
 The next was from Peekskill, and consisted of the 
 three words "She loves me." The next, "She loves 
 me not," was from Poughkeepsie. Theodore, with 
 Virginia sitting on his knee, read one after another, 
 to the growing excitement of both. Of course it was 
 foolish, but Craighead was not to be judged by ordi 
 nary standards. He might have worked himself up 
 to a whimsical faith in this old-new divination. 
 They were cast down at the "She loves me not" from 
 Albany, and cheered by "She loves me" from
 
 FINALE 423 
 
 Schenectady. Not a word came in addition except 
 "Hurrah!" added to the "She loves me" at Chicago. 
 
 "Hurrah!" cried Virginia. 
 
 "But wait," said Theodore, pulling her back to 
 the perch from which she had sprung. "There are 
 several stops before he gets to Mr. Waddy s wait!" 
 
 "Heaven have mercy !" the next ran. "I thought 
 it was all right. Again the fall-guy of destiny, I 
 must go on a local train ! All in the air again ! Oh, 
 that this too, too solid flesh might melt !" 
 
 On they went with the reading, and from one lit 
 tle Illinois town after another came the "She loves 
 me" and "She loves me not" of the despairing 
 Craighead. At last, there came from the town of 
 the Slattery Institute a wail of defeat. 
 
 "She loves me not ! The gods have done me dirt ! 
 Back to Chicago on the next train and then the 
 Rat Mort. I am still 
 
 "THE GREAT UNCALLED." 
 
 "Oh, the crazy fellow," Virginia cried, her eyes 
 full of tears. "Can t we do something? That tele 
 gram came this morning. There must be time ! Oh, 
 he ll destroy his life for a whim !" 
 
 "They s anothah done come sence den," said 
 Chloe. "The boy jest done gone when you come. 
 Hyah it is!" 
 
 They were enormously wrought up in opening it.
 
 424 VIRGINIA OF THE AIR LANES 
 
 "She loves me," it read. "One of those petals was 
 
 a water-tank. Caroline says so. Blest be the man 
 
 who first invented tanks. Cards later. I have scored. 
 
 The simple life henceforth. Come to the wedding. 
 
 Did you notice how I grasped the skirts of happy 
 
 chance and grappled with me evil star? Oh, the 
 
 game is easy when you learn it! From this day, 
 
 let no man be so dippy as to fail. She loves me ! 
 
 "THE GREAT CRAIGHEAD, SOON TO BE 
 
 REORGANIZED AS GREATER CRAIGHEAD." 
 
 "Oh, oK, oh o," cried Virginia. "What a load 
 off our minds, sweetheart! Isn t it a good 
 world!" 
 
 You may fill up the blanks yourself. Virginia did. 
 
 THE END
 
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