Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1914 — SERIAL STORY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SERIAL STORY

=TR— Isolated Continent

A Romance of the Future

By Guido von Horvath and Dean Hoard

Copyright, mi, by W. «. Chapman In tk* Uniud State* and Great Brttala. 19 ' SYNOPSIS. For fifty year* the continent of North America has bean isolated from the rest of the world by Z-rays. the Invention of Hannibal Prudent, president of the united government, A. message from Count von Werdenstein. chancellor of Germany, that he has succeeded in penetrating the rays hastens the death of Prudent. Dying, he ■warns his daughter Astra that foreign Invasion is now certain. Astra succeeds her father as president. Napoleon Edispn, a former pupil of Prudent's, offers to assist Astra and hints at new discoveries which will make North America impregnable. A man giving the name of Chevalier di Leon offers Werdenstein the secret of making gold in return for European disarmament. The chevalier Is made a prisoner. Countess Rosiny, a spy. becomes a prisoner in the hope of discovering dl Leon’s secret. She falls In love with him and agrees to Join him In an attempt to escape. By the use of rockets he summons a curious flying machine. He escapes and sends a message to Astra Which reveals the fact that he Is Napoleon Edison. He warns Astra that the consolidated fleets of Europe have sailed to invade America. He calls on Astra the following night and explains ills plans far defense. By the use of aeroplanes made «f a new substance which is indestructible he expects to annihilate the European forces. He delivers a note to von Weron his flagship demanding immediate withdrawal. He is attacked and. by destroying two warships and several aeroplanes, forces von Werdenstein to agree to universal disarmament. The countess, who has remained in America as a guest of Astra, receives an offer from von Werdenstein of the principality of Schomburg-IJthow In return for Edison’s secret. Edison and his assistant. Santos, go in search of new deposits of the remarkable substance, cirynith. They And It on the estate of Sehomburg-Lith-ow The countess gets Santos Into her clutches. She promises to reveal Edlaon’s secret as soon as von Werdenstein turns over the Schomburg-Ltthow estate to her. On the day of the wedding of Astra and Edison the countess and Santos flee the country. Santos perfects a machine. Is made a count and marries the countess, now princess of SchomburgLlthow. Edison finds a new deposit of cirynith and builds a new fleet of airships. He accidentally discovers a liquid that will render opposing airships helpless. Santos completes a fleet for the princess.

CHAPTER XX.—Continued. “Wbat need have we of European commerce and troubles? The American continent is ours, we love it and ■we can live on it. The Z-ray stations have been kept in order and we can easily cut ourselves off from those warring countries. We will not be the losers.” So his address ran. He sat down amid tremendous applause. However, another orator arose and propounded opposite reasons for open ports and no determination was reached. Astra and ' her mother-in-law were sitting in the library at the Crystal Palace depressed and sad. The uncertainty of Napoleon’s fate caused long, sleepless nights. Thus they had lived, day after day, hopefully and fearfully. The life of the woman who had been the mainspring of all their troubles was different. The Princess Rositta had never been happier than now The twenty-first aerodromone was finished, and she, like a general, would drill her flying squadron personally. Rositta had acquired great skill in handling the aerodromone, and she could execute the capturing act very easily. She was loved by the whole crew, which was composed of men from noble families. These men admired their leader, they were hypnotized by her charms and she handled them so that they were, as one man, ready to give their lives for her. After a successful maneuver day Rositta gave the order to her men to gather in the large hall. The hail was the schoolroom where Santos taught them the art of aviation in theory. There were forty men in all —young, vigorous, brave and bold. When Rositta entered, followed by her husband. a cheer rang out: “Hurrah for our princess!’’ She walked to the platform, and her clear voice rang through the ball: " “Gentlemen!” The silence was intense. “I have called you together to explain the situation. The American continent has voluntarily taken from us Eurcpeanp, children of a different caste, a different race, our fhost cherished traditions. There is not one among you who is not a nobleman. You all know the situation and Europe’s eyes rest on us. Europe is •waiting our action to restore the old order of things. We have the might! Think of these words: ‘We hare the might!’ Therefore, we have the right! The aerodromone flotilla is my own propertv. Think this over and consider! L "Is it 4ght that I—that we—should obey orders that come from powerless yulers? That we, the gallant aerial fleet, should consider those who are held to the, ground? That we who have the might should obey anyone else except the one we cboose? “fit ntlemen, we were all born to be rulers or I would not have selected iny aviator*. Gentlemen! You »m «•< ’elect one of us for our com-

mander, and we will rule the world!" “EfuTfafiTor nfe queen T HHtTHIr for the queen of the air! Hurrah for Queen Rositta!” How sweet that sounded to the beautiful woman! A tear glistened in her eye, She ran into their arms and kissed one after another.- The- last wae Santos, and he was the least enthusiastic of them all. Rositta, queen of the air! was her election. When the enthusiasm had somewhat abated she gave them the oath of obedience, the oath that would be kept secret until the day of its worldwide proclamation. They swore to be true, obedient and brave for the queen. And she swore to be faithful and true to her little army. “We have only one man to fear, and that man is Napoleon Edison. You all know him. Seemingly he has met with some misfortune, as he has disappeared. When he returns we will fight him and win, and then the world is ours!” That same day while this infamous thing was happening in Suemeg the American Eagle slowly descended to the roof of the Crystal Palace. It was dusk and no one noticed its arrival. The tall man who alighted from the machine seemed weak, but he fastened the machine, then slowly found his way downstairs. After a gentle tap on Astra’s private door he entered. Mother and wife were there. Napoleon had returned at last

CHAPTER XXI, The Valley of Xiuh. The first raptures of the reunion were over. Words took the place of mute expressions of love. Napoleon began to tell his story: “No one knows of my return, except my men at Ciryne, and they will keep it to themselves. I did not use the ’graph, as I did not want certain people to know that I was safe —the papers would get hold of it and by morning Europe would know.” He smiled. “They have tried to surprise us, and now we will surprise them.” His eyes rested lovingly on the two women who were his nearest and dearest. i “It is exactly eight weeks today •since I left Washington to continue my search for something that I felt convinced nature had provided for a certain use; that is, to remove the electro-magnetism of cirynith. I found it, thanks be to Providence. The discovery nearly cost me my life, but I never was happier than the moment when my aerodromone was helplessly falling down. It is a wonder that I came out alive, but, aside from a few bruises, all is well. “1 was circling around an active volcano and the wing of the Eagle was touched by the warm fluid gushing up from a geyser. The wings folded together and the Eagle was helpless. 1 turned the tail rudder to break its fall, and thus escaped with my life.” A silent prayer went up from the two loving women, a prayer of thanks to Him who had saved him to save America. “I lost consciousness when the aerodromone struck the ground by being hurled into the bench. When I opened my eyes It was night and I was on a low bed. An ancient oil lamp was flickering on a table at my head. I tried to sit up, but could not. My strength was gone; even my eyelids fell down, down, and I had a feeling that 1 was falling from a great height. I felt some one come hear, and a moment later I felt a cooling bandage placed on my head by deft hands. I lost consciousness again and do not know how long I lay in a stupor, but 1 think it must have been at least eight days. “The first clear moment I had I found that I the home of some rich Indian family. Later I found that they were Aztecs —Indeed, the direct descendants; of the Incas. In the clear moments during, my fever I saw a very beautiful Aztec girl by my bedside nursing me. She was the daughter of the high priest, to whose house I had been taken. “It was five weeks before I recovered from the terrible fall. As I regained my strength the old priest, named JSiluhama, assisted me to a porch-like structure that stood before the house, and I beheld a wonderful picture. A few hundred yards

away was the smoking volcano, and several steaming geysers were spouting water in the air. At the foot of the cone-like peak stood a great church with strange statues and reliefs painted in vivid red, black green and white colors. The whole remtnded roe of the-pteture» of ancient Egypt Xiluhama’s beautiful daughter came with us and brought

cusHlohs To make ms a comfortable “The old priest could express bis thoughts so plainly that I understood him almost as well as if we were able to converse, and when I was in doubt he took a board and made drawings in a childlike but expressive way, “I soon realized that he considered me sent as a messenger by their god ltzcoatl. A prophecy made hundreds of years before by one of their great men told them that a deliverer would come as a bird. That reminded me of my Eagle that had, during my illness, been haunting me, as I feared it had been damaged beyond repair. In spite of all it meant to me I had not aßked about it. I was led by the priest to the church, through the wide doors of which my Eagle had been carried and placed before the altar. I looked it over carefully and found that It was in good condition, except that the wings had lost their magnetism. I inspected it and found one wing coated by a pale yellow varnish —it was the wing that had been touched by the liquid from a geyser. “It caused a perfect isolator, and if I had had the presence of mind to use my dry battery at the crucial moment I would not have had the fall; but everything turns out for the best. “When I was able to work 1 succeeded In cleansing the wings, and the was in working order again. “Yesterday 1 thought 1 was strong enough to leave and I bade my host goodby with the promise that I would return and bring help. "This is a short recital of my doings during the two months past, and now, my dear Astra, will you tell me all that is new here?” Napoleon had heard a few things from Whistler in Ciryne that disquieted him, and he was anxious to know the truth. That Astra could tell him best of ail. So she began to relate all the important happenings while Napoleon listened attentively, making notes fron# time to time. Astra spoke of the European decree and all the facts that were officially communicated to her. Then she told of the newspaper rumors concerning the aerodromone fleet and the preparations for war that were supnosed to be occupyIng the time of the European rulers. “We have nine days at our disposal. I will be very busy for the next few days, but next Monday I will be ready to appear in the congress as the president of the international peace com mittee.”

Early next morning Napoleon communicated with his brother workers in the peace committee, and then left the capital. He spent some hours at work designing a device to be used on" the aerodromones. With six ma chines, equipped with men and bar rels, he headed for the valley of Xlub that evening. They landed in the valley the next morning and after a peaceful negotia tion with the high priest they caughl a large supply of the liquid that had put the Eagle out of commission and returned to Ciryne. While Napoleon analyzed the liquid his workmen mads several trips between the valley and Ciryne, carrying the liquid away in vast quantities. > - —~ Napoleon, after a thorough examina tion. sighed. "Here is something new It puzzles me, but it solves the ques tion of superiority in the air.” Napoleon's next move was to try out the new swallow-type machine. It was smaller than the Eagle, but tht wings and the tall rudder were com paratively larger. It had not th« grace of the Eagle in flight, but it* speed was something unprecedented—it shot through the air like a streak Two more days passed. The third found every aerodromone equipped with a long tube very similar to the old style fire extinguisher. To this tube was connected a small automatie gun, which protruded through a spe cial aperture in the body of the aero tfromone. The lever controlling tliii gun was within easy reach of the aeroman, and the gun itself was sc arranged that it could be pointed ii any direction. The four aerodromones that hac been sent toward the west were re porting every few hours. They hac seen nothing so far that was out o! the ordinary.’ It was Saturday evening that the last of the aerodromones was made ready for prompt action. Turning the command of the island over to Whis tier, Napoleon returned to Washing, ton. The Swallow’ made the trip ii two hours. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

“When I Opened My Eyes It Was Night and I Was on a Low Bed."