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”
- But when
12 .
[oWHAPPY
DAYS e—
eee i
have a chance to ride myself, and may as
well doso, He'll be very angry about it,
but I won't’ be here to see it,” and he urged
the horse forward at 2 brisk trot. It was
several miles up to the river, an e was
auxious to get there as soon as possible,
e came within sight of the
picket fires he dismounted, turned the
orse loose, keeping the two holster pis-
tols, and plunged into the woods
Though a clear starlit night, it was very
dark in the woods. But he knew every
foot of ground and the direction of the sen-
try line, He wanted to filter through with-
out giving an alarmif he could, bence he
crept forward very slowly and noiselessly
for halfa mile. But*he found, to his dis-
may, that the sentinels had been quad-
rupled, They stood ten feet apart all
along the line, and did not have to pace to
and fro.
* Ah,” he thought to himself, “ they are
determined to catch the apple girl at all
hazards, it seems. Idon't see how I can
pass here, They are too close together.”
and while he was there two old sows came
along, followed by pigs, They grunted as
they went leisurely along the path, which
ran across the sentry line.
“Pigs are not rebels, eh, comrade?” said
the sentinel nearest to them,
“No, only when rations are short,” was
the reply. .
“Then I'll let em go by without a chal-
lenge,” and they both laughed.
Instantly Jared was down on his hands
and feet, imitating the grunts of the two
sows, an ade his way across the line
into the woods beyond,
@ more in the woods the grunts
changed to chuckles, He rose to his feet
and fairly shook with suppressed laughter,
till he had to run along the path to get
away before his risibles got the better of
m,
“It’s the first time in my life I ever
played the hog,” he chuckled, ‘‘and I play-
ed it so well it fooled a half dozen.men,
Really, 1 ought to turn_Jew out of grati-
tude to the grunters. I wonder if I can
play it on the pickets that way.”
ile was not very far from the same-spot
where he encountered a picket on a former
visit, when he was shot at, was neces
sary that he should be more cautious than
ever, as it was known that he had passed
that way several times. ‘Then, too, it was
a
ved, and senti-
nels would probably be on the lookout for
. fection :
“Td goround the other way—toward
the sound,” he said to himself, “ but can’t
get across the river. It’s too deep over
that way. J’'ll have togo up by way of the
creek, Never saw so many pickets out
before.” © .
Le moved slowly, stepping cantiously to
avoid the breaking of a twig under his feet
and passed several picket fires, by the light
of which he saw scores of soldiers,
“The woods are full of redcoats,” he said
tohimself. ‘ My only chance is to get up
some excitement amongst them and try to
step by them while it lasts. I
very place for that game,” and he worked
“his way forward for several hundred yards
to where the woods were quite dense on
both sides of the picket line. Once there,
he made sure of his location and then pro-
ceeded to play his game. -
e sung out:
“Halt there"—crackl-
* Help! Help’—crack! .
He used the two holster pistols, and then
made a noise as 0 o men in a-death
struggle back in the bushes,
The entire band of soldiers rushed to the
spot to see what it meant, and Jared dart-
ed through the bushes and past the light
unperceived.
*. That was the easiest of all,” hechuckled,
as he made his way up the creek. ‘I fool.
ed both of them, and now I guess I can get
along without any more trouble,” and he
hurried forward to the place where he had
coats seized him as soon as he left the
wal
er,
“We have you at last, my fine fellow,”
said one.of his captors.
Quick as a flash he tripped the two men
who had hold of him, causing one to fall
Then he sprang forward
into the darkness beyond,
“Fire!” cried a voice,
C-r-r-r-ack!
Some eight or ten muskets were dis-
charged athim, The bullets whistled all
round him.
“I'm a dead man!” he sung out, and
then slipped forward through the bushes,
- “That got him!” cried several - voices,
and he heard them calling for lights to
search forhim. He chuckled and hurried
on his way toward the Hudson River, On
reaching the place where he kept his
canoe concealed, he was dumfounded at
finding it gone, :
“Tt's too much of a swim for me,” he
said, as he looked out over the big river,
“J don't like to undertake it. Ili go up
the river and see if I can find another one,”
and he started on the search, It wasa
tedious one, as the banks of the river were
rocky and quite rough in many places,
After going some three or four miles he
heard voices just ahead of him, He stop-
ped and listened. His hearing was acute.
‘hough the voices were low, almost in half
whispers, he soon learned that they were
a young coup le.
Je crept closer to hear better.
No Indian could creep through the forest
more noiselessly than he, In a couple of
minutes he was in a position to hear what
they were saying.
“Take it to the lines early in the morn-
ing,” he heard the man say to the young
woman, “and tell the guard you must see
ave news of
Sir Henry at once—that you
importance to tell him. They will escort
ou to headquarters, and when you see Sir
enry, give him the note. He willunder-
stand it at once, and see that you are re-
warded, We'll soon have enough to buy a
arm and settle down. Run up to the
house and fetch me something to eat, if it
is but-a crust of bread, for [am almost
starving.”
He heard him kiss the girl, and a mo-
ment later she was hurrying back to the
ouse, He could not see the house, nor
any light, even, but he knew it must be
nearby somewhere,
After waiting some little time, Jared got
up from his crouching position and walked
forward.
“Tsityou, Lucy ?’-the expectant watcher
asked.
For answer Jared downed him with a
stone which he held in his hand. It was
hard blow, and the man fell senseless in
his tracks, .
Jared quickly bound and gagged hi
a
1
»
m,
after which he laid him in a canoe in the
water just below him. ‘Then, having
changed the man’s hat and coat for his own,
he waited for the girl. Would she never re-
turn? The minutes seemed like hours.
But she came at last, He stood where she
had left her lover, . .
‘*Here’s some bread and venison,” she
said, handing him a package. He took it,
and then whispered : a
“Give me the note again.” -
Ilis voice was so low she could not reeog-
nize it. She handed him the note,
“Run back to the house—someone is
coming,” he whispered, .
She darted away in an instant. ‘
Jared chuckled as he turned and entered
the canoe, :
‘TO BE CONTINUED.
[ 1 es
-_ : Aa
WE/ARE CIVING FIVE ** KOMBL//CAM-
ERAS AWAY EVER¥-WEEKs"HAVE YOU
TRIED FOR ONE? \
PLYING- MACHINES.
By Francis W, Dovueury.
In a previous number we had somethin,
to say about balloons, flying machines an
kindred subjects which seems to have giv-
large a number of the
many thousands who weekly peruse the
columns of Happy Days, that we have
concluded to allude to the subject again,
The 17th century in Europe was emphat-
ically an age of invention. Men were just
beginning to emerge from the darkness of
the Middle Ages, and were devoting their
energies toevery branch of science and art.
Fig, 1.—Lana’s Fuyrnc MAcHINE,
Among other matters, the problem of
flying received much attention, It wa
believed by many to be entirel possible to
invent some sort of wings whic could be
attached to a man’s back, so as_to enable
him to fly through the air Jikea bird, while
others turned their attention to the con-
struction of air-ships and machines for
raising one’s self in the air, .
Of course all these efforts were failures,
although many sound thinkers of the pres-
ent day, well posted in mechanics, believe
the thing to be entirely feasible; had it
been otherwise probably the gas balloon
would never have been invented, Asarule
men do not like to record their failures,
but several of the inventions for fying of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
have been handed down to us, prominent
among which is Lana’s flying machine,
wiich we illustrate in Figure
Francis Lana was a Jesuit monk, a deep ©
thinker, anda man of many attainments,
e published a book in the Italian lan-
guage in the year 1670, which is aow very
rare, to demonstrate the feasibility of a
flying machine which he had himself in-
vented the same year, Lis first proposition
had been to prepare four hollow globes of
copper, each twenty feet in diameter, and
so thin that they would weigh less than a
quantity of atmospheric air equal to their
bulk when the air within had been ex-
hausted, To these globes he designed
fastening a boat in which the aeronaut
was to be stationed. This plan, however,
was abandoned, and the machine illustra-
ted in Figure 1 constructed, The globes
were of copper and some twenty feet in
diameter. Instead of four there were two,
with a station for the aeronaut between
them, and sails to guide the movement of
the machine; but, alas! there was one
thing that Lana had forgotten. When the
air was exhausted from his globes a bad
attack of atmospheric pressure set in, and
in an instant they had collapsed, and were
globes no more,
About the same time we find one Cyrano
de Bergerac proposing five different meth-
ods of flying in the air, First by means of
phials filled with dew, ‘‘ which would at-
tract and cause to mount up.” Second, b:
a great bird, made of wood, whose wings
were to be kept constantly in motion,
Third, by means of rockets, which, going
off successively, would drive up the bal-
loon by the force of projection. Fourth,
by an octohedron of glass, heated by the
sun;and of which the lower part should
ear of iron, andaball of magnetized iron,
which the aeronaut was to keep throwing
up in the air, and which was expected
attract and draw up the balloon.
‘Lo read of these absurd plans makes us
wonder what manner of minds the men of
those days possessed. They were the minds
of children; they knew but little of science
as we understand it,.and ridiculous as
these schemes appear, they were all pro-
posed in good faith, .
Fig. 2—Henson’s AERIAL STEAM Car-
. RIAGE,
After Lana we have Galien, also a monk,
who constructed _an air-boat which came
nearer success. It is described asa great
leather bag filled with heated air with a
basket attached below, This was but an
experiment, for Galien proposed to build a
full sized ship on the same principle. Ac-
cording to his theory the atmosphere is di-
vided into two horizontal layers, the upper
layer being much lighter than the lower,
“But,” says Galien in his curious little
work, The Art of Sailing in the Air, pub-
lished in 1735, “‘a ship keeps its place in
the water because it is full of air and air is
much lighter than water. Suppose then
that there was the same difference of
weight between the upper and lower layer
of air as there is between the lower stra-
tum of air and the water; and suppose
also a boat which rested upon the lower
layer of air with its bulk in the lighter up-
per air—like a ship which has its keel in
-|the water, but its bulk in the air—the
same thing would happen with the air-
ship—it would float
in the denser layer of air.”
Of course Galien failed in his experi-
ments, as the atmosphere was not sufti-
ciently obliging to divide itself into two
layers of different density for his express
accommodation.
No longer ago than 1840 a very remark-
able flying machine was inventéd in Eng-
land by aman named Henson, which at-
tracted much attention, and had many be-
levers at the times, found
n Figure 2 will be found an illust:
of Mr. Henson's machine, ie appassion
3 | consisted of a central car constructed to
oods, passengers,
ight rectangular
frame made of wood and covered with oil
silk was attached. This frame .was sta-
tionary, and extended on either side of the
car like the outstretched wings of a bird.
Behind these wings were two vertical fan
wheels, furnished with oblique vanes,
contain a steam en: ine, &:
a
which were intended to propel the appar-
atus through the air, These wheels were
kept in motion by means of bands and pul-
leys from the steam engine contained in
e car,
Fig. 3.—BLANCHARD’s FLYING VESSEI.
To an axis behind the cara triangular
frame was attached—seen in our illustra-
tion spread out like a sail, also covered
with oiled silk and_resembling the tail of
a bird.” This could be expanded or con-
tracted at pleasure, causing the machine
to ascend or descend. Beneath. the tail °
was arudder, and to-make the steering
still easier, a sail was ‘stretched between
two masts which rose from the car,
n launching Henson's machine, the
specification stated it would be necessary
to select an elevated situation, and allow
the machine to run some distance downan
inclined plane, for which purpose the littie
wheels seen at the bottom of the car were
attached, When the machine had thus
acquired a momentum, the rotary fan
wheels were to be put in motion to raise
and propel it through the air,
‘He
n’s machine,” says Professor
to|in the mere theoretical mind; but to the
ractical man it at once occurs, what isto
keep it from tilting over, from losing its
balance by a flaw of wind or any other
casualty, and thus falling to the ground?”
t does not appear that Henson's ma-
chine ever got beyond a model, although
we believe a company was formed in Eng-
land to build one which was to have been
sent across the Atlantic.
Perhaps the most popular among the
French aeronauts of the last century was
Blanchard, who constructed a flying boat
with oars and rigging, in which he actual-
ly did sustain himself in the air for some
moments at the height of 80 feet. ‘
rene:
Fig. 4.—BLancuarp’s Ascent CARICA:
. TURED,
This was just about the time the broth-
ers Montgolfier invented the gas balloon,
the success of which caused Blanchard to
at once abandon his own scheme and seize
upon theirs, . .
Figure 3 illustrates Blanchard’s “ Flying
Vessel,” as it was called, in which, accom:
panied by a priest. named Pesch, he pro- .
Mars, in Paris, on the 2d of March, 1784.
Blanchard and Pesch were prevented
from going up in the balloon, however, by
a certain crank—as_we would call him
yoyagers. Being pushed back he drew his
sword, leaped into the car, wounded Blan-
‘chard, cut the rigging and broke the oars
°
r wings.
Later in the day Blanchard ascended
alone, and was quite successful, perform-
ing an aerial journey of one hour anda
quarter, and finally landing near Ver-
sailles,
Of course the papers of the day made all
manner of sport of Blanchard and his fly-