Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 267, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1913 — The Flying Man [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Flying Man

by Harry Irving Greene

The lash o£ Circumstanco o{ “ BarWa>tSe , Copyright, 10X2, by Harry Irving Greene

SYNOPSIS. Professor Desmond of the Peak observatory causes a great sensation throughout the country by announcing that what appears to be a satellite is approaching at terrific speed. Destruction of the earth is feared. Panic prevails everywhere. The satellite barely misses the earth. The atmospheric disturbance knocks people unconscious, but does no damage. A leaf bearing a cabalistic design flutters down among the guests at a lawn party. It is Identical in design with a curious ornament worn by Doris Pulton. A hideous man-like being with huge wings descends In the midst of the guests. He notices Doris’ ornament and starts toward her. The men fear he intends some harm to Doris and a fierce battle ensues, in which Tolliver and March, suitors of Doris, and Professor Desmond are injured. The flying man is wounded by a shot from Tolliver, but escapes by flying away. A farmer reports that the flying man carried off his young daughter. People every-' where are terror-stricken at the possibilities for evil possessed by the monster. The governor offers a reward of 1500,000 for his capture, dead or alive. Putnam is the first of the aviators to respond. After a thrilling chase in the air he is thrown from his machine by the flying man and killed. North and a score of other aviators arrive. The reward is increased to a million. The aviators find themselves Outdistanced and outvnaneuvered by the flying man. Artillery proves futile. A negress is the latest victim. The aviators go to th'e scene of the tragedy, some 200 miles distant. Doris invites March to accompany her on a horseback ride. They are joined by Tolliver, much to March’s disgust. While the men >.re rounding up the horses, which have become unaccountably frightened, the flying man suddenly swoops down and carries Doris off. March and Tolliver pursue the demon. The way leads through canyons and over mountains. Tolliver, driven insane by the strain, shoots March. Tolliver succeeds in climbing up the mountain to a plateau where the flying man has sought refuge. Tolliver is taken unawares by the monster, who carries him up in the air and drops him to his death. March, only slightly wounded, Starts back to summon the aviators, but drops from exhaustion. He sees North flying on high and calls him to earth. North takes him in the machine and they land on the mountain plateau. CHAPTER XlV.—Continued. In the deathlike stillness the whisper of North sounded thin and shrill as they drew their weapons. “We will keep about fifty yards apart, yet always in each other’s sight. Watch me closely for signals and I will do the same by you. Now come.” Slowly they advanced, scanning each possible place of retreat and choosing 'their way with the infinite caution of prowlers who traverse a corridor in the darkness of midnight. In the 'tension of hiß suspense March could not feel his heart pounding heavily. The weirdness of the place was upon them with its spell, its silence throbbing in their straining ears, its chaos infernal In its hideous desolation. To one side and below them was a thousand feet, so nearly sheer down that one might have almost toßßed a pebble into It, glinted the steel .blue waters of Lake Talo, the crater lake of unmeasurable depth, that lay amidst this solitude a dozen thousand feet above the level of the sea. Then March, whose eyes were everywhere, saw North abruptly stop, recoil and then beckon to him to come bjL a wave of his hand. Even across the distance that separated them he conld see the pallor that had swept over his friend’s sun-browned face, and sick with fear at the unknown horror

he must now look upon he passed Quictyy to his side. The aviator was pointing at an object which lay clqse before him. March, looking also, felt his blood turn to ice. "A sight like that is about the only thing that getß my nerve,” whispered the other as he blotted hia damp forehead ■ with a hand that shook despite his efforts to control it. *T have seen too many of my good friends lying like that. It makes me think what I will look Ilka one of these days if I don't get out of this cursed business. But we will come back and take care of him later. Just at present we have, a woman to look afterALord! He must have fallen a thoujtend feet. Five minutes later Alain, moving with the stealth of a mounriM§WHL aaw something that brought bis hears

_lo his throat. Doris, huddled against a rock, her face in her hands, was within a hundred feet of him. With an involuntary.cry and thoughtless of all except that he had found her, he bounded forward. She heard him coming, shrank convulsively back against the rock with a cry of distress, then raising her hollow eyes saw who it was and springing to her feet stood swaying with hands outstretched. Another instant and he had caught her in his arms. “Doris!”,.he cried fiercely as he strained her to him, searching her wan face and sunken eyes. She shuddered, clung to him closer, seemed about to lose her senses, then raising her face to his, smiled. CHAPTER XV. The Rescue. North came up on a run. “Thank the Lord,” he exclaimed huskily. “I feel like falling upon my knees and worshiping.” Ever alert as a weasel, he looked upon all sides and upward! “Where is he now?” he demanded. She shook her head. “I do not know. He left an hour ago—creeping away among the rocks. He goes and comes as silently as a shadow. Always he seems to be upon the watch, by night as well as by day. I doubt If he ever sleeps.” She looked at Alan’s torn garments, bloodstained face and lacerated hands. “Oh, It is too bad, too horrible! And Clay—” She, shuddered and covered her face with hen- palms. “I think I lost my senses for a time last night when that terrible thing happened. He seemed to be falling for hours. Take me away from this place of hideousness.” North, pacing restlessly about, frowned.

“ Guess we will all have to wait hereabouts until we have located this game of outs. For all we know, he may be roosting somewhere about and waiting for us to set sail. I dare not take you aboard until I know that he is not in a position to Interfere. He has given me a few illustrations of what he can do in the flying line when he wants to —and neither have I forgotten poor Putnam as yet." The wisdom of his position could not be controverted. Doris must not be risked in the downward flight until the enemy either rendered harmless or driven afar. They must wait. briefly she told them of her ordeal. Following the fearful shock of finding herself borne upward by him liad. ensued a condition of unconsciousness with brief spells of reason regained, wherein she saw them running and falling as they struggled on below in their pursuit, intermitted by blank periods until at last she awakened to find herself in this land of desolation. He had not seemed to desire to injure her either upon the flight or after their'arrival here, in fact had handled her no more severely than necessary in transporting her. And after their descent he had laid l no hand upon her, only staring at her by the hour from the distance of a yard or two with his beetle-like eyes, silent as a gargoyle or a graven idol. Then of a sudden he would arise, listen as though he had heard a sound which had not registered itself upon her ears, disappear only to later on come creeping back with the stealth of a cat to resume his steadfast gazing. He had not seemed to notice the bitter chill of night and had made no effort to make a fire, and her principal physical sufferings had been caused by the night cold. Neither had he eaten or (Jrank in her presence, and what he was engaged in during his frequent excursions she had no idea except when— She shuddered, clinging convulsively to March, speaking in a broken voice. “I would give years of my life to efface that horrible memory. The tnoon had arisen fairly high when all at once be became rigid, listened, and his eyes shone —Oh, with such a light, so uncanny, so vindictive. They were the eyes of a colled serpent, only so much greater than a serpent’s and therefore room for infinitely more malice. Then he crept away like a ghost through the shadows of the plateau with wings tmfll&g and 1 saw him outlined for a moment upon a distant pile of rocks before he dropped out of sight upon the other side. It was still then as it is now—this unearthly stillness wherein all nolseß seem faint and far away with no sounding board to emphasize them. Then a cry arose, a cry so awful that for a moment I was paralyzed by the horror of it, and after that came the sounds of a struggle, the voice of a man who is fighting for his life, hoarse and desperate, together with a strange, croaking sound such as the creature made that night upon the lawn after Clay had wounded him. I knew that he had surprised either you or Clay, or possibly both of you, and that somebody would be killed. My strength came back to me as it did when I rustled out to you with the sword and In my .Operation I seized a stone and towards the place where they were fighting, not knowing what 1

would do except that 1 would aid with all my little might. Then I saw him prise with a dark form in his arms—who it was 1 could - not" tell. He beat 1 his way upward until he was very high, so high that he looked no larger than my hand, and then —” She choked and could speak no more, staring straight ahead with fixed eyes as if fascinated by something far distant—“and then I sank upon this spot and have not left it since. _ I dared not go and 100k —not even In the periods of his absence.” She paused and they stood silently, the grewsomeness of it all gripping them as though they had just awakened from the spell of a nightmare. Then North’s voice arose quiet and even as though he were Speaking of the most immaterial of (things. “Miss Fulton, there is no occasion for further anxiety upon your part, for between Alan and myself here we will guarantee you protection from all flying things, man or devil, between here and Jupiter. Yet we must all be prepared for action and each be alert to do his part—and that part Is going to happen pretty quick.” He made a slight motion with his head. “He is coming now. Look to the south.” Instantly their eyes flew in that direction. Perhaps a mile away and almost upon a level with the plateau the Flying Man was bearing down upon them. with the speed of a hawk, flying as he had done during the long chase by the planes, his body almost horizontal with the earth, his wings cutting the air with a rapidity of movement that they could not follow. That he had just discovered them was evidenced by a sudden broad sweep aside, a halt and a poising, followed by a slow zigzag course towards the edge of the plateau. Two hundred yards away from them he alighted, and standing upright and with wings half extended stared at them unwinkingly with great, opalesque eyes. March, his left arm thrown around Doris and his right hand clasping his revolver, was debating as to whether he should risk one of his remaining three shots at that improbable hitting distance. North was already speeding upon him with tfie rush of a terrier. For perhaps ten seconds March, chafing under the impulse to charge after North, yet not daring to leave the one who was now clinging to him, watched them in absolute fixity. Then as the aviator, now half way across the space, raised his arm fcir the first shot, the flying one beecame a thing of energy once more, alert and cunning. The fury of a jealous ape distorted his face. With a leap of incredible quickness he sprang over the ledge and disappeared, and when North, dhrting up to the edge, peered over it he saw his prey far below, his wings half shut, falling as an autumn leaf eddies downward from a bough. Close above the surface of the crater lake he spread his pinions broad, skimmed over it like a gull and went soaring upward from the momentum of his fall. A mile away he alighted upon the side of the opposite mountain, went crawling over it upon all fours with wings trailing, then picking up a large object mounted again. Upon the table mountain the three shot quick glances at each other. He was ,about to bombard them from on high with storms that if they struck their mark would fell them as though stricken by the lightnings, and March, knowing that he and North would be the objects of the attack, thrust Doris from him and stepped forth upon the cleared space that lay before him. High above them the flying one poised, beating the air as an eagle hovers above the basking fish as he achieves a position of absolute perpendicularity, then released the missile. Straight down upon North it shot, but' the aviator darting aside with the quickness of a weasel, dodged it by a dozen feet, yet escaping being beheaded in its clanging rebound by the breadth of a hand. The next instant both revolvers spoke. Three hundred feet above them they saw him flap convulsiv ly like a wild fowl that feels the sudden sting of lead, wheel in a broad circle, and then go lurching over the abyss with spasmodic beating of his wings. A grim smile came creeping over the faci of North. “We touched him up Lard that time. Now once again, before he gets out of range.” Again the mountains reverberated to the double roar, and the Flying Man, collapsing in midair, turned a complete summersault as he had done that day when the mortars were loosed against him' But this time there was no recovery. Whirling, spinning, turning dizzily, his great wings now (fluttering impotently, he struck the lake in a spout of spray that shot high upward, sank, arose, floated for a moment borne up by hiß wide pinions, then disappeared in the depths of the blue waters aa a shadow merges with the shade. ' “And Lake Talo is bottomless. The scientists will never even get his body to speculate muttered Mfrt;ch. North turned his tense face them. “Anyway there are three eye wit-

nesses who can testify at the coroners inquest, and when it comes to applying for that little old reward,” 'he said grimly. “And it will make a respectable sifm when divided up prorata amongst us, Put’s widow and a slice for the other boys who did not happen to be in at the death. Also today sees the last flight of one erstwhile aviator named North. 1 have had enough of skyscraping to last for one lifetime. I am going to get married and live happily in a hole in the ground forever after.” He pointed into the air. “Imlay is coming. He must have heard our guns. He can take one of you down and I will guarantee the safe descent of the other.” A grin overspread his face. “You two seem to be having your own troubles and I guess I’ll fade into the perspective for a moment if you think you can spare me. And my blessings upon you.” He turned his back upon them and was gone behind the rocks. t CHAPTER XVI. The End. Doris was in March’s arms, her tremblings vanished by that strong clasp, the horror that had filled her eyes gone; her sweet face upturned to his. “But tell me,” he was whisperings “Poor Clay—he lost his mental poise at the last and said many wild things. Was there any understanding between you—you know what I mean, Doris—were you—” He hesitated, fuming his eyes upon the distant speck floating in the sky, which he knew to be Imlay speeding towards them. Her face grew very grave and her voice was low as she anticipated the word he disliked to speak. “No —we were good friends, nothing more. He asked me to marry him upon the Sunday of the pursuit and I told him I would answer him by letter upon the following day. He had always been so kind to me that I did not have the courage to refuse him to his sac he waß so strange in many ways. In my letter I told him that I could not accept, begging the privilege of his continued friendship. He accepted the answer calmly, merely renewing his avowals tit devotion and repeating that he would give uneven to his life—for me.” Her eyes swam mistily. “And the horror of it! He kept his word.” “He loved you devotedly and did all that a brave man could for you. Doris,” said March gently. She nodded. “1 understand. And his memory—what can one say! She ran her fingers lightly across his matted hair, where the bullet had raked his skull.

"You were wounded?" she asked softly. For the first and last time in hla life March lied to her. “Yes, tin accident—the accidental discharge, of a revolver. But towards the last I thought you loved him moßt after all. You never would answer me, you know.” She smiled up at him, Doris' old smile, ai-« there was nc sweeter one anywhere. “That night upon the lawn when 1 thought my last hour had come! Did I not leave him and run to your arms? And was that not answer enough?” A faint whistle fell upon their ears, thin, sibilant, momentarily shrilling louder. March glanced southward again. “Imlay is only a mile away and will be here In another minute to take you back —back to the home from which I shall so shortly take you forever, Doris," he said as he drew her closer. Her head was upon his shoulder, her face upturned, her rich lips but a matter of inches from hit own. He claimed them. \ the END.

With an Involuntary Cry He Bounded Forward.

Again the Mountains Reverberated to the Double Roar.