The Phantom Airman

several miles the wild unbroken solitudes of that primeval forest, emerged at length from the dark sh

t last!" excla

ct little aerodrome,"

hangar?" asked the

dered the Rittmeister, waving his comp

seen anywhere," expostulated

ke," whispered the flight-commander, and then

iping tone of the woodland robin, than a similar call

e came the signal. And his companions followed him, silently wondering, for, somehow, they felt that

a solitary figure emerged from the shadows and greeted them. It was the keen, lynx-eyed professor, the great mathematician and

id, extending his hand, and fixing the two strangers

tzer, when the first salutation was ove

ssor, speaking in the language of the forest. "It was the time arranged, but"--and here he

gan the chief, but the geniu

o-day. For the first time since I came here

y found

jaculated th

ds may view the aero

teen feet wide, the professor led the way to a combined hangar and

ng airmen received the great

!" announced

hter used to wear during the later days of the Great War. Yet it was not a Bristol Fighter by any means, for it was twin-engined, and steel-built throughout, with a central

exclaimed Max. "H

pitzer. "Each one develops an

y carefully examining the starboard engine,

r's, but shorter, and they have a peculiar twist, which I have never

mused at the growing enthusiasm for his idol, the Rittmeister, who had been secretly schooled in the hidden myst

oed the other. "I thou

possible to the man of science. Hav

and the Britishers have been experimenting with

, with this driving power behind it, practically gives the verti

Max, his enthusiasm growing by leaps and

he planes," exclaimed Carl, who was now carefully ex

propellers, tail fin, rudders. There's not an oun

," ventured Max, whose one dread in

ted," replied the chief

are the petrol tanks?" exclaimed Carl

he Rittmeister, smiling. "I w

the astonished cry from

urned the other; "and that's

dreaming?" e

awake. Don't star

om Spitzer to the professor, and from the latter to his mechanic, who had stood by all

everything now--time will not permit--but you shall

, go

ach discovery has been co-ordinated and fitted into the scheme. The greatest of all his discoveries is the

pose," interposed Max, who had

the still more wonderful brain of the professor. It has not been committed to paper even, in its final terms and ratios, so that, even should this machine be

gines are so small,

cise

esent supply of thi

linders, each about two feet long, and six inches in diameter, whic

es

nt, excluding the two cylinders whic

ol tank, which in a Fokker scout would last only three hours with the th

friend; so enormous that if

e universe, I reck

er you mentioned, that of fire, is altogether eliminated. There would be nothing to bur

to voce, for, brave youth that he

longed not to the highly sensitive scouts, but to the hea

f those cylinders t

ied the chief, "that is, o

ther motor makes a dozen. Why, they would carry us"--and here he ma

tle to spare, when we had

ld she pick up, say

e professor, as though uncertain

aded, "They cannot withdraw," and the g

iles without being pushe

And what if s

has never been dr

make--like a whole formation of Go

left it to the Rittmeister

ight hum from the propellers. That cannot

abin, where four men might sit at the little table, or lie down at full length, but could not stand upright. The steel struts, steel folding wings, the carefully packed spares, the little mica windows in the cabin--these, and a dozen other things, w

s an aerodrome at all!"

e chief. "At any rate,

rfully camouflaged. She could hide

long, long trip," ventured Carl, who

ings round anything, even a Fokker scout,

ed, both of you?" a

to-morrow, so that I may turn aerial brigand

you,

to the end of the world, for mine