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.It was difficult for anyone to work on the appointed day.The fourteenth was bright.The windwas gentle and visibility good-although the weather had never returned to what would have beenconsidered normal for northern Michigan in the summer.There was always a moderate amount of haze.Sometimes the sky was obscured by new and interminable clouds of volcanic dust.The thermometerranged between eighty and ninety-five, seldom falling below the first figure.From the laboratory, thedining-halls, the shops, powerhouse, kitchens and the hangar, men and women constantly emerged intothe outdoors to stand silently, inspecting the sky.No one went to bed that night until long after the usual hour.Then, reluctantly, thoseoverwearied, those who had arduous tasks and heavy responsibilities on the morrow, regretfullywithdrew.Fears now had voices."They're so damn' resourceful, I can't believe they could miss out." "But--after all--what do we know about outside conditions?""Think of the risks! God only knows what they might have faced.Anything, from the violence ofa mob to a volcanic blast blowing them out of the sky."Tony was in charge of the landing arrangements.At three a.m.he was sitting on the edge of thefield with Eve.Hendron had left, after giving instructions that he was to be wakened if they arrived.They had little to say to each other.They sat with straining eyes and ears.Coffee and soup simmered ona camp-stove near the plane-shed against which they leaned their chairs.Dr.Dodson lay on a cot, readyin case the landing should result in accident.At four, nothing had changed.It began to grow light.Since the passing of the Bronson Bodies,dawn had been minutes earlier than formerly.Eve stood up stiffly and stretched."Maybe I'd better leave.I have some work laid out formorning."But she had not walked more than ten steps when she halted."I thought I heard motors," she said.Tony nodded, unwilling to break the stillness.A dog barked in the camp.Far away toward thestockyards a rooster crowed.The first sun rays tipped the lowest clouds with gold.Then the sound came unmistakably.For a full minute they heard the rise and fall of a churningmotor-remote, soft, yet unmistakable."It's coming!" Eve said.She rushed to Tony and held his shoulder.He lifted his hand.The sound vanished, came back again--a waspish drone somewhere in the sky.Their eyes swept the heavens.Then they saw it simultaneously--a speck in the dawning atmosphere.Thespeck enlarged.It took the shape of a cross."Tony!" Eve breathed.The ship was not flying well.It lurched and staggered in its course.Tony rushed to the cot where Dodson slept."They're coming," he said, shaking the Doctor."Andthey may need you."The ship was nearer.Those who beheld it now appreciated not only the irregularity of its course,but the fact that it was flying slowly."They've only got two motors," somebody said.The words were not shouted.Scarcely breathing, they stood at the edge of the field.The pilot did not wiggle his wings orcircle.In a shambling slip he dropped toward the ground, changing his course a little in order not tostrike the ten-foot precipice which had bisected the field.The plane was a thousand yards from theground.Five hundred."She's going to crash!" some one yelled.Tony, Dodson and Jack Taylor were already in a light truck.Fire-apparatus and stretchers werein the space behind them.The truck's engine raced.The plane touched the ground heavily, bounced, touched again, ran forward and slewed.It nosedover.The propeller on the forward engine bent.Tony threw in the clutch of the car and shot toward it.As he approached, he realized that fire hadnot started.He leaped from the truck, and with the Doctor and Jack at his heels, he flung open the cabindoor and looked into the canted chamber.Everything that the comfortable cabin had once contained was gone.Two men lay on the floor atthe forward end- Vanderbilt and James.Ransdell was unconscious over the instrument panel.Vanderbiltlooked up at Tony.His face was paper-white; his shirt was blood-soaked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]