THE OUTLAW OF THE AIR

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1922, Page 22

THE OUTLAW OF THE AIR

By JOHN L CARTER, Author of "Putting Off Mary," "Pe_fy *•»" Aeronaut," "Tho P__rioi»_a of Delilah," "Njrmphet," "Hia Painted __<Jy," "A Honeymoon Interlude," "Tho Witseu," etc.

synopsis or prtßviors chatter's. fieri Mungen. an unscrupulous but clever German, has founded the Angus Aeroplane Transport Company. which ran four immense 10.000 horse power aeroplanes between London and New York. He It was who Induced the public to put up the money to finance tbe clever Invention of Rohert Angus, who had adapted helicopter screws to facilitate the ascent and landlne of aeroplanes. The business manager of the company is John Hertford, fl Labour M.P.. who had been secured by Mungen solely with a view to Inspiring public- confidence. It had been surprising lo Mungen and quite accidental that the transport company had proved a financial success, and did a genuine business. Angus and Redford lenrn that Mungen hns. however, deliberately swindled and ruined the company and that the police are after him. Angus is engaged to Sheila I.nmartine. a strikingly benutlful girl employed In the London office of the company. Mungen dodges the police and announces bis Intention to escape from Knrrlnnd in the "Angus the First." one of the big machines. Angus tries to prevent him. but Is Ftunned. and Mungen forces Redford and Sheila to accompany him. The girl intends to I revenge herself on Mungen. and to gnln her ' end pretends to help during the exciting ' tussle with the poller which occur, before the furrittves succeed In launching the great plane for their .lash from Kngland. CHAPTER 111. A t'LEAX SWEEP. The Angus I. was skimming over the Chiltern Hills with its sister machine not far behind. Sheila limo resigned the post of pilot to Redford, although she was at least as capable at the gear, having learned the control during her numerous voyages with her father. And Berl Mungen had insisted upon her going into the passenger car -chiefly because her strangw look unnerved him. Mungen and the dark-skinned Smith were glowering through the glass panels of the conning lower at the glimmor in the darkness some four miles astern, which iiu all thiit could be >teen of the pursuing aeroplane. I'cdfi.id looked far from happy. His face was a sickly white, except for the place where the blood from his wound md dried into a brown smear. He scowled resentfully at Mungen. He was in a terrible funk at the news that they were being followed. "I was mad to throw in with you," he said sullenly. "Far better to have faced the trouble." Berl Mungen laughed in his silent fashion. "This is hardly in your Jine," he agreed. "Making laws suits you better than breaking them, eh? Never mind! I'm going to show you how to make money by the hatful. That will be much better than being a rotten little Socialist member of Parliament." But the little man shook his great bnnv 1: nd and sitfhed. He was thinking of those thousands of faithful followers who believed him to be the Messiah of the Socialist millennium. "They are gaining on us every minute," he said a moment later. "What shall eve do?" "I say! fhe same's no." cried Srrailh. "Let's settle down and make off on foot." "Not if I know it!" protested Mungen. "This aeroplane has to earn mc a heap of money yet." Redford's hand instinctively went out. to the descent lever. But Mungen . warning frown was enough to arrest the action.

"We had better descend and do as Smith suggests," whined Redford. Mungen had a better plan, but he greatly feared that bhe conscientious Redford might raise objections. "That would do no good, and you know if," he said. "The Angus the Sixth would simply settle alongside before we could get down the ladders. Your plan means certain imprisonment, if not hanging." "They cannot hang mc," protested Redford. "I didn't kill Angus." "No. 1 take credit for that little job myself,*' said Mungen. "But you would never get a jury to believe that you, the business manager, had no hand in all the defalcations. Your going off with mc would alone ruin your case. Xow, look here. Redford, my boy, this is no time for fancy morals. We have either got to let them arrest us, or else put their aeroplane out of the running." And then he made his suggestion, which was that they should rise several hundred feet, with all lights ont, and then wait until the Angus the Sixth should come under them. "And what then?" s aid the suspicious, but hopeful Redford. "Well, while you keep the Angus running exactly over Smith and I will drop things." "But you might capsize her," protested Redford. . "Oh, you needn't fear," grinned Mungen. "We should only smash a plane or two, just to wing her. She could settle down quite safely. Now, I'll let you know when we're ready. Come on, Smith!" And John Redford, M.P., whose greatest ambition was to be a respectable and useful member of society, was left to watch that ever approaching glimmer, and to analyse his own quaking soul. Soon the others returned. "We're ready. Are you game?" demanded Mungen. Redford nodded reluctantly. "Well, then, just set about it!" roared Mungen. "And mind you keep a stiff upper lip, or I'll wring your neck and save the police the trouble. You know what to do." With' that he rusbed away, Smith close behind. Clinging to the creaking, swaying ladder they climed down until they reached the lowest tier of planes. Here, on the platform, they had collected a heap of improvised projectiles; several case s of soda syphons, some large tins of meat, four cheeses, a bag-of flour, and various other articles that might easily be dispensed with. Mungen smiled as he observed bow steadilj' his craft was climbing. The far-away gleam of the Angus the Sixth seemed to go lower and lower as he watched it and the pace of his own craft fell, and the wind pressure sensibly lessened. He thought approvingly of the desperate, trembling Redford who was so admirably carrying out his part. The pursuing aeroplane was racing along at considerably more than a hundred miles an hour, and Mungen recognised that Redford would have to do some clever steering if they were to succeed. Already the Angus the First was travelling directly over its sister craft, but several hundred feet above her; and now Bedford executed a dive at an angle so acute that Mungen paled—and

one of the cheeses rolled from the plat- i form and swished through the clarkncsn. j But within a very few .seconds Redford | flattened out. again and raced along some eighty or ninety feet above his ! quarry, and st'U a little ahead. j At last the moment arrived. "Now!" cried M.'ngen. seizing a heavy j ease of corned beef nnd pushinc it over the edge of the platform, down upon i the brightly-lit. throbbing thing below, j It crashed through an end plane, but, did littie damage. Already other Ill's- i «iles were swishing down, for Smith was hard at work a* well. The Angus the Sixth was hit more! than once, but without being disabled. Three planes were damaged, lint only slightly, and there were still twelve in-j tact. The few square feet of torn wingsurface made but little difference to the running of these huge multiplanes. Berl Mungen began to growl o';t curses, and with an awful imprecation he took a can of petrol and flung it down. A moment later came a cranh of splintering (.la**, and then a great white, wind spread flame leapt up. That can of petrol had goti" through the roof of the cabin, and, bursting, had set fire to the woodwork. In a moment the wind had wrapped the flames around every plane nnd almost at once ihe steady roar of the engines ceased and there was nothing let: hut a roaring bonfire which tore down to earth. When it struck the earth it spattered up again in .sparks and flashes of flame; and its destroyer hurried away through the ni.ht. Mungen gripped the ladder behind him, while Smith clung trembling to hia arm. Then Mungen thought of Redford up there in the conning tower, and he ran up the ladders with reckless haste. He found Redford ctill at his post, hut hie face looked grim, and set. and his great eye* were fixed on I he glow in front that marked tlft- furnace fires of Birmingham. "We must go cm now." said Mungen soft I v. ''\e6. we can't go back." said Redford. still looking through the thick glass windows out into the night. Then Smith came in. His teetli were chattering ami his hand trembled as Inpassed round the heavy silver cup of his huge flask. Mungen drank, but Redford waved the flask a.-ide. out of respect for the ribbon in his buttonhole. Suddenly the door burst open and Sheila, with her great eyes flaming like fires in her ashen face, seized the silver cup. "The toast?" she cried, looking expectantly at Mungen. Mungen laughed, his amused, tolerant laugh. ] "Drink to the new age! I o Redford's , Socialism!" he jeered. "Drink to llerl j Mungen's reign of terror. By Uee! Yes! j I'll, put the whole world in terror of me.'' | Sheila filled up the cup, laughed i harshly, and took two stealthy steps in i his direction. ! "To Berl Mungen's reign of terror!" | she cried. I And with another mad shriek of latighI ter she flung the cup of brandy in his face, darted back into the cabin, and bolted the door.

CHAPTER IV. THE FORGED LETTER. The police had taken possession of the offices of the Angtta Transport '. cimrany and had ransacked them with characteristic thoroughness. They did not take long to trace Rob Angus' body to the space behind the desk, for a trail of drops of blood had been left a- Berl Mungen carried Rob. And it was then discovered that Rob was not dead. Within ten minutes all the ugly bloodstains were gone, and neat, soothing bandages covered that nasty wound. And Bob pale and weak, but remarkably well, considering what he had gone through 6at in the deep green leather arm-chair, and told the *'iry of the defalcations and of Mini;- . murderous attack as briskly as . ~_ .>.- expected in the circumstances. Rob was elated at the news that the Angus Sixth had set out in pursuit, with a posse of police armed with revolvers. Inspector Marsh, of the Criminal Investigation Department, was giving him details when a woman entered. "How do you do, Lady Sandley'"" said Rob, with a wry smile. "So you have heard of our trouhles, then?" Lady Sandley was a beautiful woman of twenty-five, with wonderful yellow hair and great hazel eyes. At the moment those beautiful hazel eyes were full of anxiety for Rob. "But how are you?"' she cried. "I was in the hotel lobby when the news came-. I had to come and sec. Oh! thank God! you are not dead." Inspector Marsh shot a curious glance at. Lady Sandley. echo, though one of the richest and moat courted women in society, yet seemed so very greatly concerned regarding the well-being of Rob AngU6, the engineer. "1 am quite all right." Bob assured her. "What troubles mc is that we have let the shareholders down. I can never forgive myself for that." Lady Sandley tossed her head. The shareholders were nothing to her. "Shareholders take risks, hoping to make big dividends," she said scornfully. "That is their look-out. 1 am only concerned about you and that dreadful wound." Rob Angus was a simple fellow in spite of his great knowledge of mechanical science and his genius for applyin" it. For example, it seemed obvious to everybody but himself that Lady Sandley was. in love with him. Rob never dreanied of giving the thing a thought. For one thing, he had been in love with little Sheila all these months—and there is not room in the heart of a true man for more than one woman—so he had never noticed Lady Sandley's growing interest in himself, bift had taken it merely as an interest in aviation, in the Angus type of machine, and a financial interest in the Company. "Anyhow, the Company is ruined." he told her, "and the shareholders' money will be gone. Yours, too," he reminded her. _ady Sandley smiled sweetly, and arched her brows. "Mine? I had only twenty thousand in the concern," she said lightly, "i shan't feel that very much." Then her face sobered, and her hand rested lightly on his sleeve. "I'm afraid that it will have taken all your savings, though ?" She was sorry for him. and yet she was glad for herself. <sbo vn-il . now have an opportunity to help him in a financial way. Perhaps he mieht agree to go into partnership with her. And

then—well, that might lead to another, more precious kind of partnership. And so she was almost glad of the catastrophe Chut had occurred. "1? I can always get work," cried Rob. "No, 1 am ihe last one to have any right to squeal." Inspector Marsh approached. j "Some of my men have gone after Mungen. on the Angus the Sixth," he said lo Lady Sandley. ""What pilot did they take?" asked Rub. "L-.nnnrtine." said Marsh. "I particularly asked for him." "i'm glad," said Rob. "They will never get away from I.amartine."' 'Mr. Rc.lforc'l. the MP., went of. with Per! Mungen." went on Marsh. "My nieii are of the opinion that he went against his own will." "Redford gone with Mungen!'* gaped =ped RM,. "Poor Redford! I'm afraid his political career is ended." I "MUs LamiiTtine—your clerl: —" ; added Marsh. "It seems that Miss ILa mart ire went loo." j Roir.s pale face went still more pale. I "Miss I.amnrline gone with Mungen!" 'he whispered aghast. Then his browlowered threateningly. "So Mungen , forced Iter to go too." "Hardly that, sir," said Inspector | Mar-li. "My men saw her board the i Angus l-'irst before Mungen arrived. ■ N.i. sir. it niu-l have been or "ncr own 'free will." I Ancus sat in deep thought. There i was a mystery about tiiis. He could ! not fathom it at al.. Why had Sheila ■clone thai? due would have thought I that, she umilil have wished to remain with him. What was "behind all this? What had pos-essed Shei'a?" ] .hist then one of Marsh's men came 'in In say that the Angus Sixth had !crashed. I "Cood Lord, no!" protested Rob. "The Anjrus machines are far too reliable. And Lamartine is the best pilot in the I world!" i "It doesn't seem to have been an accij dental landing:' explained the policeI mac. "Th.- other machine stole a„ove ! her and bombarded her. She caught ' tire." | "Well. 1 think there is nothing more for mc to stay for." said the Inspector. I "I'll go. No" doubt her ladyship will ■help voi' into a taxi when you wish to ■gn home." j "Most certainly I will," said Lady Sandiey. delighted at tiie provpect of j having Rub l<> herself. And with that ' Inspector Marsh went away. For a few minutes nothing was said. I Rob was wholly absorbed with his | thought*. He wanted to know why I Shei.-.i had gone off with Berl Mungen. 1 No. he was not suspicious. It was ] simply that it perplexed him. Could it ; lie that Mungen had some power over [ Sheila? That did not seem probable, , though there appeared to be no other i way of accounting for her ffoing. j As for Lady Sandley. she too. was 'thinking. Now was the time that she j might prove to Rob Angus that she was i his friend, that she was prepared to give ! her who'.e fortune, and herself, to him. i She had known him for six months, I now. und she had for some time felt .a-.siired that there was not much that ' kept them apart- possibly it was nothing more than a little diffidence on ! his part, natural to a young m-.tn of the ; people when thinking of any girl who I owned wealth and was a lady in her : own right. j At hrst Lady Sandiey had been Mir- | prised in tiiicl iicr.-c.t failing in love with ihis eager engineer—sue, who had had so many -tutors in her own exalted ! sphere, ilut at last =he recognised that |it was chiefly Rub's earnestness that j made him seem so superior to the poloplaying men who had hitherto interested her. Hob Angus was a man indeed.

"Mr. Angus,"' she began at last. "If you should want any Hinds at any time "l -hall be delighted if you will draw on mc." Hob wrenched his mind from the problem of Sheila's going with Berl Mungen, and looked across at Lady Sandley. 'Thank you, Lady Sandley." he said. •'Should you think of starting again, I should be delighted to join you,"' she added. "I have plenty of money. We might be partners, perhaps." Rob shook his head. "As soon as I have straightened out my present mess, 1 think 1 shall take a post of some sort."' he said. "I could tret a job as ru-iiager in one of the works." Lady Sandley sighed. "That would not please mc," she said. "Mr. Angus, you don't understand. 1— I want you to co-operate with mc. I have money: you have great technical knowledge. It would be such a pity to sink back into being merely somebody else's manager. And I should so very much like to help you, to work with you — for you and mc to do something big together." Rob frowned thoughtfully. He could see by tho flutter of pink in her cheeks and the downcast look in her eyes that she was not finding it an easy matter to say what she had to say. But he never guessed that she loved bine. "It's very good of you to put it like that."" he said. "Rut'i fe« that I have failed in the present matter and could not ask anyone to advance more capital for further ventures."

"You would not be asking," she pointed out. "It is I who asked. I ask you as a favour, a sign of—friendship, i j do so want yon to consider it. I want j you and I to be friends always." Suddenly something in her ardent ; gaze brought the truth home to Rob. I The thought confused and shamed him. , It was hateful to think that poor Lady j Sandley should feel for him an interest ' that he could never return. True, he ' admired her, as any man with eyes must . have done: but he loved Sheila. There could be no other woman in his life. Nevertheless, he felt, a strange blending of compassion and gratitude toward- i Lady Sandley, and he hel.l out his hands for hers. ] "I think we may =ay that we shall j always 'be good friends," he said, "1 have always highly valued your kindness dlirin- the pa t few p-run h-... - ' Lady Sandley's pretty face grew radiant. She had never expected such boldness from the reserved Rob. "I think that this trouble will draw us closer than var." 'ii • -aid. "I am certain of it." he said. "Indeed, I can do with your help, for I mi in very great trouble. . . . Can you think what caused Miss Lamartine to go with Berl Mungen?" Lady Sandley's brow clouded as he mentioned Sheila. She had noticed Sheila, more than once, when she had come to the offices to see Bob. And she had always felt uneasy about the French-Irish girl's wondrous beauty. Now she glanced sharpiy at Rob hoping to read something of his mind from hi, j face. And she felt suddenly elated as j she remembered that Miss Lamartine cva.s no longer there. Her only answer was a shrug of her shoulders, which might have been taken as suggesting anything particularly anything bad—about Sheila. "Sheila and 1 got engaged, only two j days ago," Rob to.d her. i Lady Sandley haci to grip the arm of j her chair, and close her eyes. It had been a tremendous blow. It had been totally unexpected. And Sheila had I been the one girl of whom she had been I really, instinctively, afraid. And n° rt ', well, she would fight for him. tight against this Sheila Lamartine, who had deserted him so strangely, so. heartlessly, when he most, needed her. After all. why should she not fight? All was | fair in love and war. Love was war, and the conqueror took the spoils. "Engaged you sayr" she asked with just a suggestion of incredulity in her tone. "Of course she was a very pretty girl. I— I suppose I ought to congratulate you?"' "You sound rather a= though 1 deserve your sympathy," he remarked | drily. ' ' i 1 "I'm sorry, if you thought so," she i said. 'T was only thinking that it was ! hopeless to ask mc to give the reason for her going off with that rascal Mungen. Surely you, if as you say. you were engaged, are the one who should i-be in a position to know why she did i that. Perhaps she was attached to I Mungen. I do not know. Certainly it I points that, way." "She disliked Mungen," E aid Rob. with a touch of antrer. "We can dispense with any thought of that sort of thing. Sheila loved mc." 1 adv Sandley turned away, her lip curling. "One never knows," she said. "Mungen might have pointed out that you were ruined, and that he could give her" a good time." T.ady Sandley looked up and saw Rob's angry face. "Oh! T 'beg yonr par-

don. I was forgetting that you loved her. I'm sorry!" | "You were only saying what you | really thought," he said, suddenly controlling himself. ""Of course you never knew Sheila. You would regard her as . simply a clerk. And you pro'oably have the idea that girls who go out to work | are easily overeoni: by temptations." | R„b shook his head. "My experience is that they have ideals at least as pure | as the leisured classes. No, I cannot believe any wrong of Miss Lamarttue. I cannot offer an explanation, bat there it is." ' "I hope that your trust turns out to have been well placed," she «aiiL '"Honestly, 1 wish you every happiness. I trust that time will prove that you ,

have not made a mistake. .lust then the telephone bell rang and Rob went off to answer it. Lady Sand- | icy turned and idly touched the keys of j the typewriter. She had one of her own , at home, and so was mildly interested, j Then a sudden thought came to her and j tempted her as she had never been temp- ■ ted in all her life. This Sheila Lamartine! Of course she had gone off with Mungen! Who was she. anyhow? A ' foreigner, obviously. And no doubt she j had amused herself with Rob, and had ' become engaged in the belief that he . would one"day be rich. But now. the moment things began to look black, she had run off. Even Rob must admit that she had run away, though it was hardly to be expected that he would admit that she had run off with Mungen simply . because she preferred Mungen. And I she had gone without a word. j Suddenly Lady Sandley's eyes flashed. Suppose -suppose she were to alter all j that, make it appear that Sheila Lamar- , tine had left just a brief note behind?! Why not? It would be doing a little | wrong, in a sense, but it would be rid- ! ding Rob of his last sneaking attach- • ment to a scheming adventuress. Almost instantly she slipped a sheet of paper j into the' typewriter. ■'Dear Mr. Angus" (she wrote). | "The game is up and I am hopping It with Berl Mungen. He told mc you i w.i'.il'i c m« round all rivrhi. and in any | case T didn't care to wait and face you. ! The plain fact is you're 'bust, broke, and I'm just fed up with genteel poverty. So I'm going with Mungen. He's got quite a he.p of fivers, and I'm going to help to -spend them for him. A short life and a merry one. you would say. : That's a Scotsman all through. Well. I want a gay time, real life —and Mungen's pr-n"*ed to -iv. ir to me.—S I "' = Lady Sandlev had added the initials in writing. She copied them from a letter that lay on the desk ready to be put in an envelope for the post, which had been initialled by Sheila. That done she left the letter on top of the machine and returned to her chair. There she sat in a torment of shame and anxiety waiting for Rob to return. Twice she got up resolved to tear up that lying forgery of a letter, but each I time she found that she could not do • so. She wanted Rob. ached and yearned j for his love. She w-as convinced that | Shei'.a Lamartine was an adventuress, utterly unworthy of Rob, and she told 1 herself that it was only a nominal wrong that she was doing. In reality, she insisted, it was a kindness to Rob to disillusion him as speedily as possible. •lust as she started up under a last impulse of conscience to destroy the letter. Rob entered and it was too late. He told her that the Angus First was already between Sheffield and Carlisle. The police were taking every possible j step to capture it. t

"You ought not to be troubled with telephone messages," she cried protectin"ly. "And isn't it time that I saw , you home? You will let mc take yo'i! IWc needn't have a taxi. My own Rollsj Royce is outside." "I suppose I had better go home." I said Rob, but without enthusiasm. It I was here, in that office, that he had grown to love little Sheila, sweet, shy, I enthusiastic, loyal Sheila. Re wanted to remain, here where sweet memories of his Sheila clung. He crossed to her desk, and looked at the calendar that hung on the wall opposite where she n-cii to sit. The days were crossed off in Sheila's strong pencil strokes. There was purpose and | character even in those firm strokes, he j told himself. Then he listlessly picked up her dictionary, touched her eraser, j rattled the space-bar of her machine, i Hermione. Lady Sandley, watched I him. fascinated. motionless. She j wanted to scream out. to prevent him j speing that cruel, forged letter. And yet, she loved him, and meanly, criminally, allowed her passionate yearning . for him to keep her silent. She pretended to herself that she would have 1 told him. even now. but for thp certain ' fact that he would turn away from her ( for ever if he knew. No. he was in the hands of destiny! Let destiny decide! She should have known that every criminal since Cain ha* tried to blame de=tiny, or chance, or fate for his own, selfish crime, j At last he caught sight of his oicd ; name on that sheet of paper, saw the | initials. S.L.. and he eagerly began to . read. Lady Sandley dare not look. She j scat with clenched fist*, waiting in an I agony of shame and fear. ! As Rob read that letter, his amazei ment and bitterness grew. Could he ; believe that? He must believe his eyes. Ir was Sheila's letter, right enough. She had initialled it. Suddenly his bitter j disappointment flared up into speech. "You were rlg-t," he cried brokenly, ' snatching up the letter and waving it iin front of Lady Sandley. 'This letter I was left by Miss Lamartine. In it she i tells mc that _he has chosen between mc and Mungen. And, she has chosen Mungen." Then he realised that his head was going round. He passed his hand wearily over his brow. : "Take mc home, will you?" he said i wearily. "I want to rest." And he sank 'back in a sort of faint into his chair. Lady Sandley immediately fetched her chauffeur. "Carry Mr. Angus into the car,"' she said. "He is ill. I am going to take I him to uvy house until he is well." (To be continued Saturday next.)