The Flying Reporter

riend-Johnnie Lee, o

ced down in this terrible region. And yet this country was tame beside that of the "graveyard of airplanes" in the western half of the state. It was here, when he was fairly in the heart of these terrible mountains, that Warren Long had found his plane afire. As Jimmy looked down now at the torn and jagged face of the country, he fairly shivered when he thought of the terrible situation in which his friend had been placed such a short time previously. For it was obviously impossible to land a plane safely in these ragged hills, especially in the dark; and to Jimmy it seemed almost as dangerous to trust to

Warren Long had been striving to reach on the preceding nigh

large. Tall trees on the lee side of it called for plenty of energetic side-slipping and fish-tailing. Jimmy straightened her out, held her off to lose flying speed, and as soon as he felt the wheels touch hauled back on the stick and stepped on his brakes. Jimmy breathed a sigh of reli

so the valves could cool before he "cut his switch." He stepped t

, where in the world did you come from, Johnnie Lee?" he demanded, after a moment. And he stepped quickly toward a sturdy lad

and. "I didn't know you at first, with your helmet on. I'm

demanded Jimmy, when they

ry. We have relatives close by named Healy. So Dad bought a little farm here. I've been at home, doing most of the farming. You are the first member of the old Wireless Patrol I have see

the oyster business, and Roy Mercer a wireless operator on an ocean steamer, and Bob Martin in the Lighthouse Service, and Henry Harper in the Coast

e lot about Jimmy Donn

. "What do you know about me

nding lost air mail pilots and rounding up robbers and not have people

ning Press, to get more details about Warren Long's parachute

ppen, and the pilot landed right on our farm and I helped him

Take me to the burned plane, will you, an

ed the way toward a clearing on the sl

some stony fields and through a patch of timb

see Warren Long's burni

looking

r it! What

t one of them would land here. And as long as you were a mail pilot I guess I was always hoping that you would be piloting the ship that stopped here. Well, I got so much interested in the mail planes that I

you feel,"

stepped outside as usual, and there was the plane. But something was wrong.

Warren Long was fighting th

plane was a long way past here. But it turned and headed back. I knew right away that the pilot was trying to reach the field where you just landed. I called to Dad that a

ar from it?" i

field we saw that the pilot would never make it. The whole airplane seemed to be aflame. It was fairly spouting fire from al

rrupted Jimmy. "That was just like him. H

flames. I don't see why he wasn't burned to death right in the cockpit.

e him when

e came in a tremendous dive right through a sheet of flame. I never breathed whil

wful?" dema

ed beating while that plane roared after him. And the pilot was as cool as an icicle. He just kept on falling and falling and never moved a muscle. As the plane shot by him I thought it had struck him, and I cr

igh wa

I could see the pilot spin around like a weather-vane in a wind squall. You know he was falling head foremost all this

ed then?" de

gave a thought to the mail. I ran to help the pilot. I couldn't help thinking that afte

n't in the plane, and that lets me out of the st

alf stunned. And he wrenched one of his ankles badly. Maybe it's sprained. Anyway, I helped him to get out of his harness, and I told him just to sit down and take it easy while I gathered up the parachute. But he didn't want to wait an instant. He said he had

ave any of

ire was too hot. I wasn't much interested in the mail or even in the plane. I couldn't think of anything but the pilot. He looked awful. When we got near the burning ship, where it was light en

Jimmy. "What I can't understand is why he didn't jump soone

e it might have fallen on some of the homes beneath him. You see he was right over the town. So he just kept right

prised if he had done anything else. It's exa

thing I ever heard

m?" demanded Jimmy. "His burn

d his hands. But he didn't seem to think about anything except the mail. That evidently

a vivid account of the affair, Jo

his health back now and doesn't really need me any longer. I've been looking for

I don't believe I can do much for you. You see,

ered about it, for ever since daybreak people had been coming from far and

rren escaped,

ittle knoll that rose sharply at no great distance, and from this vantage-point Jimmy secured an excellent picture of the countryside, with the wrecked plane in the very centre of the picture. Then he and Johnnie walked across the country to the spot where Warren Long had landed.

ed in the effort to save the mail. Besides, I want to see him anyway. I hav

to the house,"

and Dad is at work some

life. He had little time for visiting, however. Most of the little visit he spent in asking Mr. Lee questions about the burning plane and the effort

am more than grateful to you for what you folks did for Warren Long last night. You have helped me a lot, Johnnie. I won't forget about you when I get back to New York. If ther