Show r k S by ARTHUR STRINGER WN U SO FAR because became nor IRS g STORY 7 alry airways needs the money alan 01 11 a dentist named fly to as nee eel itis it and du his part partner nero Kar karnell P to the th river to in search earch of the me tr trum roto M tin with the tr proceeds proceed slades slade peter n crager cat buys a lockheed plane partner swab S is stolen tol w bile hu slade Is 1 away staf ell be returns b starts tart out to recover he H ll is being aided by an n asal 01 timed aimed plans and by two old pros aror 0 cori sr and 1 I mt minty aun acting on A per 1 th ch slide slade goes foci to fraynert Fray net emp camp ho be discover that the missing is i helst nd by frayne to take the toty country allm 0 gua lomet bing are n pilot is hatoe abing lot for ami aben slade attempts to examine he is 1 knocked un nn car carro go h ft planes alne conscious loloa by aarne karnell he Is I 1 rescued 1 Tra stead but liter later abandoned by him y 1 deser deserted tea Is island zeke and 2 blaty 1 binl d slade plane near fraynert Fray net cam tamp and 1 after a gun tattle battle with Fr fracnes Fray aynes net roa return to guard IL now slade j blant preparations tor for his to d the tand kow continue coati noe with the story CHAPTER XV it was not long before he had firewood awaiting his lighter and by the time the he had bad gathered wood and d hy moss and feathered his cave floo with spruce branches his joints felt elt rusty and his movements slowed down lie he ate an inch of his chocolate added wood to the fire and crawled into his cave where he tested nested down in his bed of spruce beedles and moss there quick wave after iter wave of utter weariness wipe wiped d bismore from his mind the he fire was out and the sun was 17 when he wakened he emerged aam his smother of moss and sat up refreshed by his sleep having breakfasted with studious frugality he realized that he must widen his margin of safety in the matter of food supplies for theau the future his one possibility there he felt would be fish from the lake but his first tries were fruitless then it came home to him that in his haste he had resorted to water too shallow for his purposes so he wound up his line and rounded the island until he came to a more promising pool in five minutes he had hooked a fish heavy enough to threaten his pole he stood a little drunk when it finally filially lay on the rock ledge beside him for that gasping white body meant more than a meal to him it meant life it meant hope it meant final deliverance from a prison of hunger for he had biad decided to effect his escape to the mainland it was he felt his only hope while his first need would be a reserve of food the one thing essential to his escape was a raft As Tum bumstead Ti stead must have figured out his prisoner would be without strength for a three mile swim swim in in cold northern water even though he survived that swim to land sodden and exhausted on an inhospitable shore without fire and ample food would be to invite disaster on his us island stood no timber of consequence but spindling as they were he could collect and trim enough spruce boles to make a raft capable of carrying his provisions and keeping his lighter and his clothing dry it would not be substantial enough to sustain his own weight but he could strip and push it ahead of him as he swam swain that day and the next day and the day that followed were crowded with toil the early morning hour ol of the day he gave to catching fish which he later dressed and smoked and stowed away on his higan lie he fished again in the evening at an hour when his strikes proved most frequent at mid afternoon when the sun had warmed the shallows he dug and washed his bul rush h roots when that was done he e gathered firewood and when that at was done he turned to digging spruce roots which he patiently knotted blotted and braided into lengths of from them with equal patience he wove a muska moot which could hang from his shoulders like a musette bag and hold secure his possessions and a quantity of food the next morning slade made ready for gr his s trek he had chosen arld d day as the best hour for pushes ing off since the surface water by that at time would have lost a little of 01 its chill and plenty of daylight would remain at the end of his journey to find a suitable camp site te and get settled for the night the water was colder than he be nad had expected this prompted him to w throw more vigor into his arm strokes but half a mile from shore he aund d an ache of fatigue creep ing 1 into his muscles that frightened him a little he leaned on the raft t end and rested he looked about to place his land anark n knowing that he must keep fictive lic tive ive that he must keep blood coursing through his chilled limbs that at he must push on to the end he waa th 3 within althin a mile of his goal he thought bought of a h hot ot campfire with wed pil high bursting through spruce logs then Z ala such thoughts abru abruptly aptly wed ended for or out of the blue that off arched above him he heard a far aront and familiar drone it was a drone 1 1 bened l that grew w louder as he lisa throb th and became me shot t through rough h with most of power and d mounted al ab aboa to a roar high in ul the sky live the h it diane dlan serrated ridge tops he saw f f N k 00 for that gasping white body meant life it meant hope I 1 slade waved and shouted but the wings neither dipped nor banked slade started swimming again in a cold fury of defeat something not unlike indignation gave strength to his strokes as he fought his desperate way forward he kept on re refusing f using to recognize the claws of pain that tore at his entrails or the weariness that made his breath come in quick and shuddering gasps he kept on until his raft end grounded on a sandspit and he stumbled ashore and threw himself full length along a sun warmed slope 1 I dont like this said the flying padre after he and his leather clad laughter daughter had dropped down on ivick Ivi wInlet inlet to learn that had not returned from his overland trip to echo harbor knows his way about said lynn what worries me is that weve had no word from alan why should that worry you asked the padre because he should have been back before this protested the girl in dungarees dung arees 1 I hate to think of him in country where hes so out of reach of help he that way most of the time but this is different maintained lynn and we cant even get through to him by radio so youve been worrying about slade im afraid I 1 have dad some unexpected note of humility in that response prompted the padre to glance over his shoulder and meet her gaze when did you find that out he asked find what out parried lynn that your bush hawks worth worrying over or to put it more plainly that hes beginning to loom a little bigger in your mind than barrett walden 1 I say that she was able to laugh a little at the solemnity in his eyes but you must remember that ive still got you on my mind lynns father turning to her rested a hand on either slender shoulder youre mighty loyal to me arent you he said 1 i I love you dad she said quite simply what were going to do now is pick up lU manak and as soon as done were going to see keeping alan in the ana w botto otto country but that declaration failed to remove the line of worry from lynns brow as she stood staring across the low lying horizon to the south hes so careless and reckless she complained he seems to love taking chances he wont even carry a radio the flying padre smiled when did women begin losing their liking for courage he demanded they always like courage answered lynn but when you like the man who has it you rather want to know happening to him all right said the padre lets start and while the suns still high well see what we can do about pick ing up old picking up however proved less simple than it promised A two hour combing of the coastline showed no sign of him then lynn acting as observer caught sight of what looked like smoke signals from an empty fishing village the flying padre informed of this promptly circled back and swung low over the forlorn little huddle of huts in front of those huts lynn made out a squat figure gesticulating to them as they droned dronek over it t by th the e time they had nosed out a landing space behind a saddleback island that broke the surf was waiting for them on the be beach ach he was footsore and emaciated but the sea seamed med old face wore a smile of triumph me found um he announced daou found nd wh what at questioned the padre what t devil bird take to deep wa ter cave but lynn at this point intervened she came running from the plane with her coffee thermos and a generous por portion tion of their emer emergency gervy rati hes weak from hunger she contended he must take some of this before he talks squatted on the shingle slope and ate like a hungry wolf then grunting with satisfaction he reached into the pouch of his worn wom and patched and produced a fragment of velvet black mineral with a pitch like luster that um he announced the flying 9 padre took the fragment and turned it over in his hands he noted its heaviness and compactness pact ness its suggestion of octahedron cleavage with faint tinges of brown and green why this is pitchblende he said its what were getting our radium from these days but why should pitchblende be flown to echo harbor asked lynn as she studied the lustrous mineral want it for radium there what I 1 dont understand said the man of medicine he turned to question just where and how did you find this me find um in cave repeated in cave where water make deep harbor behind 1 island heap big black stones piled there black stones like that he insisted pointing to the pitchblende how big heap questioned the other more imore big than two three black whale big heap hide there next to sea maybe ship come and take black stones away but why demanded the puzzled padre had no answer for that he was more interested at the moment in reaching for another handful of lynns dried beet beef the flying padre suddenly turned to him did you see your ghost plane when you were out there no see answered lynn took her turn at once more inspecting the lustrous fragment of mineral Is there any other use for pitchblende she inq inquired aired yes was the meditative answer its our best source of helium gas now but what good would helium be to anyone in this wilderness what good is it in other parts of the world the flying padre considered that question the american navy uses it in their dirigibles and the germans when they could get it used it in their hepps but the states refused to release a stock to hillers Hit lers airmen when we get a guarantee it going to be used tor for war purposes so our german friends fell back on hydrogen you may remember helium you see inflammable but so far away from our pitchblende lynn objected they would have no way now of getting it to their chemical plants chemical plants echoed the man of medicine as his brow creased with thought wait a minute was th the e c cry r y that tea t came from the padres lips were overlooking something he took the black stone from lynn you get more than helium from this stuff you get more than radium YZ you get uranium uranium that has a flow of atomic energy five million times greater than what get by burning coal and supposing right in his claim that this is going to be harnessed and controlled and his U is going to be a new power a power a billion times stronger than anything known and supposing hitler has ordered a blitzkrieg of research in his home laboratories and a ju jump in p or 1 two wo ahead of us in splitting the uranium atom that would give him an explosive three hundred times stronger than TNT and a battleship that would be independent of fuel as 1 I long ng as it floated and pitchblende remember is the nut that holds that meat and au all around us here is the wor worlds ids biggest and best pitchblende deposit but still I 1 dont understand demurred lynn 1 I dont mys myself elf agreed he her r father not yet but the lights coming to me and the sooner we take home and get at the bottom 0 of f this the better TO ISE BE CONTINUED |