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CHICAGO, lLL.,
SATURDAY, '0(JTOlBEli. 11,
1913.
turvr.
"thesteady wlilr or the
‘his. ea '0 other
thss win
alolt came to I-Sliston.
-and brawn.
precision.
' “I must today."
'. thought.
J type when they nre in
‘ .r iucnt.
the rest 0! the day to do it.
HE man lifted his eyes
unroofed
0 t
4' ,rnult above him. They
- nto
lue. the
blue. as he
[7 e t w e e n- jawed. steely-eyed Englisinnan. who car-
a
worlds. :1 bold adven-
speck in
spare. a mariner on a
. mysterious ma :1.
‘ I '- ' Behind the aviator
motors crooned in
sound save this and
d in the wide wings that held him
Ilis muscular, yet
nnely shaped hands played now and than people had come from all the globe over
among the levers beside him. and the
'-sensitive creature, work of man's brain
answered his control with struggle.
In wide spiral circles the aeroplane
sped on. her nose pointed upward. Some-
where else here Eilston knew that
Spending fought with him for the su-
premacy of the airsspcndlnxz the lean-
ried with him always A suggestion of the
dark Devon turns whence he sprung.
was a tremendous idea of lcttimz
them light it out hilt to hilt-Spending.
the Englishman, and Ellslon, the Ameri-
The cables had tnlked nhout it more
than once before final (lot-ision had been
reached to hold the historic Contest over
the level fields south oi’ Chicago. And
s-from Europe, from India, and from the
Ear islands of the sons to watch the
Both men were champions.
They had
the birdman distanced all others six months before at
ei
‘I must win if I have to
with that lucid ciearness and
.<iispassionnte surety characteristic oi his‘ close together-too close to stand
r own ole-
climb for .
Vienna. but their records were perilously
with-
out lighting: of! the practical tie. Ad-
vantage’: shade was
200 Ieet. Millions would change hands
“unit ;
.‘ 9"mlauI.ix' AX 5“;
e[](l3Slu
today on the result of this aerial contest,
Just before making his ascent. I-Iliston
thought that he had never before sccn
such a’ crowd, nor had he. It was the
largest gathering ever known in
world‘s history; the gathering at Vienna
had not been and the
crowd at Chicago in 1910 was
handful beside it. But gathered ram the
far ends of the earth. made up of five
hundred different races. perhaps, it had
been a strangely silent crowd, a gather-
ing that seemed t0 sense something sinis-
ter and uncanny in this greatest sporting
event of history. There had been the
low hum of a large gathering, but the
joyous
ta
:a
E?
I:
-q
the gathered thousands sensed somethins:
ot the deep hatred that lay around the
heart of one of the contestants.
Eilston leveled the nose of his ucroA
plane with a quick motion. Always when
in the air he rested at a certain distance
from the earth before leaping up into the
almost frigid upper stratas. The bird-
rnun niant-Pd downward. “ihite Clouds
,.-...mm:sssr“LtJ<c:ntJs Wn'IrI1-mas
tier what he would think about God it he
‘ 5 up here with me aw Rather
imagine his ideas would undergo recon-
struction. e' come 0 the conclusion
More than this contest for air premier-
ship lay between t e 0 men. though
of the chief thing‘ Spending did not know.
It was a. fight involving more than the
natural keen rivalry of two strong men
of different nations. for, though the Bug‘-
lishman di not know it. a woman was
i)(‘tWGi3ll hemsa Woman with eyes like
twin stars: a woman deep-boaomed and
tawny-haired. whose vivid red lips serm-
ed forever stirring in deep desire which
was quenched by the cold clearness of
her deep gray eyes. This woman was
Spondinrfs wile.
Eliston's mind went swiftly back six
months to a garden-a cool English gar-
dcn. sweet with the scent of innumerable
with the nriton by"
i-iliowed and roller] beneath him. playr
things of a wind that had fanned him :1
minute ago, w on he crossed its path.
The sunlight falling upon moving
mass made silver peaks that gleamed up
at him brilliantly.
Ills mind leaped downward to the
earth below, and he thought of the day
before, when e had gone with his moth-
er. a frail little wisp oi’ a woman, whose
eyes Mgen now were straining upward. to
a little “'95! Side mission ('hur(‘h, that
she might worship in that simplicity
which the larger churches disturbcd.
"And that little fellow in the long
black coat tried to tell us about Gail."
mused Diiston aloud. Ills voice sounded
weird and unreal in the high altitude.
and when he broke into a laugh the
sound of it in his ears almost frightened
him. It sounded like the unnatural mer-
riment 0! some evil spirit. Eiiston had
never laughed aloft before. - He decided
that he would not do so again.
deep breath. "Tried to tell me about
God." his thoughts ran on. "Well I warn-
X
rusos-yet a garden in which the blue
li(l“‘t‘l' of happiness had been crushed
under his own feet. ‘
brokenly, a you. dear! I love 3
I love you!" and of how he had shut his
eyes and clenched his teeth to stay the
mad beating-of his blood
‘I must win this rare and her."
thought again. “She is my mate in reali-
ty. not his: only a hideous twist of late
could have tied her to im. we, she and
I, must be strong enough to unite that
nd "
he
no remembered what she had said:
“'I)e-feat him, and I will go with you.‘
It was just one year ago that Eilston
had met Mrs. Spending at Vienna. durlnt:
the international avlntion meet held near
the Austrian capital. There she ha-I
gone to take part In the triumphs of hen,
,.,,,;.,i ‘um-