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Read Ebook: The Solar Magnet by Meek S P Sterner St Paul
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Ebook has 255 lines and 14277 words, and 6 pages
"I dislike to fire on that craft before it makes a hostile demonstration, Dr. Bird," demurred Captain Evans. "We are at peace with Russia. My action in firing might precipitate a war, or in any event, serious diplomatic misunderstandings."
"Allow me to correct you, Captain Evans, we are at war with Russia. The whole world is at war with the man who has pulled the earth out of her course. In any event, your orders are positive and the responsibility is mine. Wait until that plane gets within easy range and then shoot it down. Do not fail to get it; it must not get back to shore with word of our approach."
"Fire at once!" he cried, "and then court-martial the fool who broke out that flag!"
The two three-inch rifles barked their message of death into the sky. For agonizing seconds nothing happened. The guns roared again. Below and behind the fleeing plane, two puffs of white smoke appeared in the sky. The staccato calls of the observers came from the control station and the guns roared again and again. Now above and now below the Russian plane appeared the white puffs that told of bursting shells, but the plane droned on, unharmed.
"In twenty minutes. Doctor," replied the Engineering Officer. "As soon as we finish filling the tanks and test the motor, she'll be ready to ramble."
"Hurry all you can. Hang a half dozen hundred-pound bombs and a few twenty-fives on the racks. Lower her over the side as soon as she's ready. Where's Lieutenant McCready?"
"Below, getting into his flying togs, Doctor."
"Good enough. Come on, Carnes, we'll go below and put on our fur-lined panties, too. We'll probably need them."
In half an hour the amphibian rose from the water. Lieutenant McCready was at the controls, with Carnes and the doctor at the bomb racks. The plane rose in huge spirals until the altimeter read four thousand feet. The pilot straightened it out toward the south. The plane was alone in the sky. For two hours it flew south and then veered to the east, following the line of the Gulf of Archangel. The town came in sight at last.
"Better drop down a couple of thousand, Lieutenant," said Dr. Bird into the speaking tube. "We can't see much from this altitude."
The plane swung around in a wide circle, gradually losing altitude. Carnes and the doctor hung over the side watching the ground below them. As they watched a puff of smoke came from a low building a mile from the edge of the town. Dr. Bird grabbed the speaking tube.
"Bank, McCready!" he barked, "They're firing at us."
The plane lurched sharply to one side. From a point a few yards below them and almost directly along their former line of flight, a burst of flame appeared in the air. The plane lurched and reeled as the blast of the explosion reached it. From other points on the ground came other puffs.
"Get out of here," shouted Dr. Bird. "There must be a dozen guns firing at us. One of them will have the range directly."
From all around them came flashes and the roar of explosions. The plane lurched and yawed in a sickening fashion. Lieutenant McCready fought heroically with the controls, trying to prevent the sideslips which were costing him altitude. Gradually the plane came under control and started to climb. The shells burst nearer as the plane took a straighter course and strove to fly out of the danger zone. Dr. Bird looked at the air-speed meter.
"A hundred and eighty," he shouted to Carnes. "We'll be safely out of range in a minute."
The bursts were mostly behind them now. Suddenly a blast of air struck them with terrific force. Half a dozen holes appeared in the fabric of the wings. A bit of high explosive shell plowed a way through the after compartment and wrecked the duplicate instrument board. In another moment they were out of range. Lieutenant McCready turned the nose of his plane toward the north.
"We came out of that well," cried Carnes. Dr. Bird dropped the speaking tube which he had held pressed to his ear and smiled grimly at the detective.
"I wish we had," he replied. "Our main gas tank is punctured."
An expression of alarm crossed the detective's face.
"Is it injured badly?" he asked.
"I don't know yet. McCready says that the gauge is dropping pretty rapidly. I'm going to go out and see what I can do."
"Can't I go, Doctor? I'm a good deal lighter than you are."
"You're not as strong or as agile, Carnes, and you haven't the mechanical ability to make the repair. Hand me that line."
He fastened one end of a coil of manila rope which Carnes handed him to his waist, while the detective fastened the other end to one of the safety belt hooks. With a word of farewell, he climbed out of the cockpit and onto a wing. In the pocket of his flying suit he carried a tool kit and repair material. Carnes shuddered as the doctor's figure disappeared under the plane. He snubbed the rope about a seat bracket and held it taut. For ten minutes the strain continued. It slackened at last, and the figure of the doctor reappeared on the wing. Slowly he climbed into the cockpit.
"I've made a temporary repair, Lieutenant," he called into the speaking tube, "and the leakage has stopped. How much gas have we left?"
"Enough for about an hour of flying, including the emergency tank."
McCready headed the plane south and followed the winding ribbon below him which marked the channel of the Dwina. He kept his altitude well over eight thousand feet. For a few minutes the plane roared along. Without warning the motor sputtered once or twice and died.
"Gas finished?" asked Dr. Bird into the speaking tube.
"No, there is plenty of gas for another forty-five minutes. It acted like a short in the wiring. Maybe another fragment got us that we didn't know about. I can glide to a safe landing, Doctor. Which direction shall I go?"
"It doesn't matter," replied Dr. Bird as he looked over the side. "Wait a minute, it does matter. See that long low building down there with the projection like a tower on top? I'll bet a month's pay that that is the very place we're looking for. Glide over it and let's have a look at it. If I am convinced of it, I'll drop a few eggs on it."
"Right!"
McCready glided on a long slope toward the suspected building. Dr. Bird kept his eye glued to the bomb sight.
"It's suspicious enough for me to act," he cried. "Drop one!"
Carnes pulled a lever and a hundred-pound high explosive bomb detached itself from the plane and fell toward the ground.
"Another!" cried the doctor.
A second messenger of death followed the first.
"Bank around and back over while we give them the rest."
"Right!"
The plane swung around in a wide circle.
"Volley!" cried the doctor. Carnes pulled the master lever and the rest of the bombs fell earthward.
"Now glide to the east, McCready, until you are forced down."
McCready banked the plane and started on a long glide toward the east. Carnes and the doctor watched the falling bombs. The doctor's aim had been perfect. The first bomb released struck the building squarely while the other landed only a few feet away. Instead of the puffs of smoke which they had expected, the bombs had no effect. The volley which Carnes had discharged fell full on the building as harmlessly as had the two pilot shots.
"Were these bombs armed, Lieutenant?" demanded the doctor.
"Yes, sir. I inspected them myself before we took off and they were fused and armed. They had always fused and should have gone off, no matter in what position they landed."
"Well, they didn't. That building is our goal all right. Saranoff would naturally expect an air raid and he has perfected some device which renders a bomb impotent before it lands. How far from the building will you land?"
"A couple of miles, Doctor."
"Get as far as you can. If you can make that line of thicket ahead, we'll take to our heels and hope to hide in it."
"I don't think we'll have much luck, Doctor," said Carnes.
"Why not?"
"Look behind."
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