The Flying Reporter

Landing

other's hand. Then some one was heard run

, as soon as he could distinguish the approaching figu

ight?" he asked anxiously. "Did y

I broke a thi

th unusually strong underpinni

ht to see by. Quickly they examined th

oil line," said Jimmy. "So

t. "Hold it," he said, shoving it into Johnnie's hand

engine compartment was a telltale pool of oil. Jimmy twisted his head and got a look at the underside of the oil line. The pip

ng. "Likely it happened when I went west this afternoon, for I flew the ship pretty hard. I suppose th

aid Johnnie. "I'l

earing Johnnie. "And arrange for some oil. I'll need a lot.

ent he was rapidly taping the broken pipe-line. Over the actual opening in the seam he wound several thicknesses of the tape. Then he began to twist the stuff around the remainder of the little pipe. There was no telling how soon the

"even if the whole seam opens up. She's wound tigh

nnie. "We buy it in thirty-gallon barr

," said Jimmy. "It'll take a lot. How

e spoke they heard the chugging of a motor

ght I was done, when I was forced down. But now I can take off again and I can still get to New York on ti

seemed to be right. Then he watched the oil gauge and told Johnnie when to stop pouring oil. He made everything tig

njured when it was running with insufficient oil. Would it start now? And if it started, would it run? Could he depend upon it? Would it hav

my's heart almost stopped with it. The engine was ruined. It would not go. He had failed in his effort. He had lost h

ter whirred noisily, but the engine did not explode. Then there was a ban

as in it the first

g-machine. He ran his eye over his instrument board. The oil gauge was registering now. Everything looked

you later. I've got to be off this instant or I'll be late with

edge of the landing field. He drove the ship close to them, turned it about to head it into the wind, then went charging blindly back across the field through the fog, almost straight at the reddish blur that he knew was Johnnie's bonfire. His engine functioned perf

elevation of 2,000 feet. He had to climb a thousand feet to reach their tops, another thousand to be safe. But there was this factor in his

ing else. He wanted to gain altitude. With every second he breathed more easily. His altimeter showed him he was mounting fast. Now he was at 1,300 feet, now 1,500, now 1,800, now 2,000. Up he went. Hi

The radio beacon made that easily possible. All the time it had been singing in Jim

nosed over and damaged his propeller. He might even have crashed. Any one of these things might have happened and one of them almost certainly would have happened, had it not been for Johnnie Lee's beacon. Added to the light of

. He knew just where he was. He glanced at his clock, to check the time, and ra

the Bellefonte radio man that Jimmy had landed safely at Ringtown, had repaired a leak in his oil line, and had taken off again. At almost the same time word came to Belle

s on a level keel and was flying straight, his eyes jumped to his tachometer, to his oil gauge, his oil temperature gauge, his altimeter, and so on from instrument to instrument. But most often his eye fell upon t

ut mist. Nor did he see anything else. Yet the mist had a luminous quality he had not noticed at any other time. He sped on and presently the mist lost its luminous effect.

The waves of land that make Pennsylvania so rugged were flattening out. Nowhere before him, Jimmy knew, were there hills higher than 800 feet and soon he would be over country as flat as a sea on a c

her flash of light. He began to descend and came down cautiously until he was within a thousand feet of the earth. And now he could see, here and there as he flew,

. The mist was no longer in unbroken clouds. It was growing thin and stringy. Occasionally through a rift in it he could ca

king up his mouthpiece, he sent forth a call: "Jimmy Don

g. "Hadley Field answering Donnelly," came the reply

fog. That is growing less. What can you tell me

g Island just told us that th

en I arrive," said Jimmy. "I've got to rush some f

d tell them you want a taxi. H

con over the hangar. Now it's gone again. I must be very clo

"We'll tell Long Island you'll be there very so

w where he was. There were the lights of New Brunswick. Beyond was Metuchen. Much farther away was a glow that must be Perth Amboy. Jimmy thanked his lucky stars. No longer would

w him for miles glowed the lights of Brooklyn. His plane rushed on like an eagle. Soon Brooklyn was behind him. His own field lay just before him. There were fog clouds and shreds of fog, but it was easy enough to see down between them. Another half hour, Jim

t his ship down in a three point landing, and rolled across the turf. Then he taxied rapidly to his hangar, gave a shouted order to fill the gas a

he city editor's desk. A copy boy ran to the photograph department with his camera. Jimmy sank into a seat.

about you and the bad night. We have followed you all the way across. You had us pretty badly frightened when you told Bellefonte your engine was failing and you were mak

sense of self-consciousness as the thou

ire that saved me. Without it I should almost certainly have crashed. I owe my life to him and the Press owes its p

orting, Jimmy? Has h

chance. And I have no doubt he would be glad to work for very little pay or maybe n

willing to pay anybody who helps us get news. But we have no use for green reporters

protested Jimmy, "and

you would be the last man in the wor

ow to get news.

. And if you continue to improve, you'll make a great

ohnnie d

us that he knew how to handle a story-I might give him a chance. I feel very much indebted to

e story will make the edi

half as good as actual photographs. What's more, we'll have one feature that no other paper in the country will have. That is the story o