by Jack Wright
CHAPTER VI--More About The Eagle
It was after dinner at the Martin's. Captain Bill, Pat, and the two boyshad gone out to the garden. The Captain and Bob were stretched out intwo deck chairs, the Captain's long legs sticking out a long way pastthe end of the low foot-rest. Pat lay in the glider, swinging himselflazily, squeaking in a melancholy rhythm at each forward and back push,Hal, who had got permission from his mother to eat dinner with theMartin's, lay on a rug thrown down on the grass. The dusk was turning todark, and the Captain's pipe was beginning to show up as a dull glow inthe fading light.
For a while nobody spoke. Then Pat said, "Well, Robert, tell us the endof your story."
"I've been thinking of where to start. We left Lindy over in Europe,coming back to the United States. He didn't come right back, though. Hehad to tour about some of the foreign countries, as an ambassador ofgood will, and get decorated with about every kind of medal that wasever made. It must have been pretty boring for him to go to banquetafter banquet, and listen to all those speeches praising him. He musthave blushed like anything at some of those flowery compliments. But hestayed calm, and didn't lose his head and get all swelled up over thereceptions and cheers and everything. He knew that everybody meant everyword he said, and that they were mighty pleased with him. They gave himall sorts of presents. He could have started a store with them. But Iguess that most of them are in the Lindbergh museum now.
"Well, the honors they heaped on Lindy in France and England and Belgiumwere nothing to what was waiting for him when he got back to the UnitedStates. New York turned out, it seemed, to a man. They had a parademiles long, with Lindy the chief attraction, sitting on top of an opencar, smiling at the mobs of screaming, shouting people all along theway. It rained ticker tape for hours, and people in offices tore uptelephone books and added the bits of paper to the rainstorm. Nobodycould do enough for the Colonel." Bob looked around at the group. "Hewasn't the Captain any more," he explained. "He was now ColonelLindbergh. Well, anyway, there were banquets and parties, until Lindyhad to leave. St. Louis started where New York left off. After all itwas St. Louis where Lindy had found his backers, and naturally they werepretty proud of him there. Slim took it all smiling, just as modest ashe'd been from the beginning. There was no fussing him. And the peopleloved it. Slim was the most talked-about hero the United States has everadopted. Why, you remember that almost everything from candy-bars toswimming suits were named after him--and a whole lot of new babies, too.All the kids in America were crazy about him, and they all woreaviator's helmets and made plans to become aviators as soon as they wereold enough. It seems that Lindy's plan was pretty successful. He wantedto get people to talking and thinking about airplanes, and believe me,they didn't talk or think about much else from the time he set out fromRoosevelt field."
"You'd think that he'd be tired and ready for a rest after his flight,and his receptions, but even though he may have been tired, he thoughthe'd strike while the iron was hot, and follow up his good work, thisbusiness of getting people aviation conscious. And I guess, too, he feltthat he owed something to the people of the United States for being sokind to him, so Lindy set out on a trip around the country. He stoppedat almost every important city, and covered every state in the union. Hetraveled almost 20,000 miles. And that's some traveling. Just think ifhe'd had to travel that distance in a train! He'd be going yet. Well,every place that he stopped gave him three rousing cheers, and thensome. You'd think that by that time he'd be pretty tired. If it had beenme, I'd have turned around and bitten some of the welcoming committee.But not Lindy. He stuck it out, and smiled at them all.
"And after the country-wide tour was over, he took his Mexican andCentral American and South American trip. It was this trip that clinchedhis name of 'Good Will Ambassador,' although he'd been one to all of theEuropean countries that he went to. In December, seven months after hisfamous flight, he pointed the nose of the old Spirit of St. Louis south,and lit out for Mexico City.
"They were pretty anxious to see him down there, and the MexicanNational aviation field was crowded long before Lindy was due to getthere. Everybody knew that this was one flyer who always got places whenhe said he'd get there. He was never off schedule. So imagine howeverybody felt when the time set by him to reach Mexico City passed, andno Lindy showed up. Well, they were all set to call out the reserves,when Slim Lindbergh winged into sight, and made a sweet landing on theMexican field.
"There was some cheering--more, maybe than if he'd got there on schedule,although you don't see how that could be possible. They gave Lindy achance to explain that he'd been lost in the fog, and then they went onwith their entertaining and celebrating.
"Mexico City was pretty important to Lindbergh, although nobody knew itthen. Dwight Morrow was Ambassador to Mexico then, and he had a daughternamed Anne. Well, I don't like to get sentimental--I guess I can't tellromantic stories--well, anyway, that part comes later."
Captain Bill saw fit to interrupt the story here. He saw that Bob wasembarrassed, and saw an opportunity to rub it in. "What part?" he asked,innocently, knocking the heel of ash from his pipe as he did so.
"Oh, you know, Lindy's marrying Anne Morrow, and that."
"Well, we certainly demand the whole thing. You can't leave anythingout," insisted Bill.
"Aw, all right, but it doesn't come in now."
"We can wait," said Bill, and settled back satisfied.
"From Mexico City," went on Bob, grateful that his ordeal bad been putoff, "Lindy flew off down to Central America. First he zig-zagged a bitto get in all of the little countries, and went from Guatemala City toBelize in British Honduras, and then back again to San Salvador, andfrom then on straight down the narrow isthmus to Teguci--Teguci--well,that place in Honduras."
"Tegucigalpa," said Pat.
"That's it," said Bob. "And from Teguci--and from there, he went on toManagua, and then to Costa Rica--San Jose. Now he was just about threehundred and twenty-five miles from the Panama Canal, as the crowflies--or rather, as Lindy flies, which is much better than any crow I'veever seen. He didn't have any trouble making the flight, and say thatthey weren't glad to see him down there, especially in the Canal Zone,where the Americans lived. They entertained him royally, and he wentinto the jungles of Panama for a hunting trip, which must have beengreat. They have all sorts of wild hogs, deer and pheasants, and it musthave made grand hunting.
"But after all, Lindy couldn't stay anyplace very long. South Americawas waiting for him. So he packed himself off, and flew to Cartagena, inColombia, adding another continent to his list. From Cartagena he flewto Bogota, and then straight across the top of South America to the eastcoast. He stayed at Maracay, Venezuela. I never heard of it before, didany of you?" Bob paused dramatically for a reply.
There was only a dead silence for a second, and then, since none elsespoke, Hal felt called upon to confess his ignorance, "I never did," hesaid. "And gee, Bob, how do you remember all these places that Lindberghstopped at? I never would in a hundred years."
"Oh, it's easy," said Bob airily. He did not tell them of the long hoursthat he had spent memorizing the towns and cities that Lindbergh hadstopped at in his good will tour, nor the hundreds of times that he hadwished that Lindy had flown to some easy place like Canada, where thenames were all pronounceable. But then, Lindy might have flown to Wales,and Bob, having seen Welsh names, thanked his lucky stars for suchplaces as Tegucigalpa and Bogota. And now, having at least impressedHal, he went on with renewed enthusiasm.
"Maracay," he said, "was the jumping off place for the thousand-milejump to the Virgin Islands. You see, Lindy was on his way back to theUnited States. He hopped from island to island in the Caribbean Sea,stopping at San Juan, Porto Rico; Santo Domingo; Port-au-Prince inHayti; and then to Havana. From Havana he made the biggest hop of all,and landed smack in St. Louis without sitting down once along the way.He made some twelve hundred miles in about fifteen and a half hours.
"Somebody figured up how long he had fl
own, and how long he took for thewhole 'good will' trip, and found out that he'd made sixteen flights tofifteen countries, and had gone 8,235 miles in one hundred and a halfhours. Of course, that was actual flying time. The trip had taken himjust two months, because he got back to St. Louis on February 13th, andhe'd left Boiling Field at Washington on December 13th. But in those twomonths Lindy accomplished a great deal. He'd made friends with all thelittle countries down to our south, and with Mexico, too. Theyunderstood us better, and we got to understand them better. Gee,wouldn't it be great if airplanes would make people friendlier? I mean,we're so close to each other now, it seems as though we ought to knowmore about each other, and like each other better. I may not be sayingthat so well, but you fellows know what I mean, don't you?"
"That's a very good philosophy," said Captain Bill, and Bob beamed asbroadly as the moon that had risen over the trees and was shining overthe little group in the garden. "Let's hope that you're right."
"Well, Lindy palled around with his old buddies at St. Louis, andcarried mail over his old route to Chicago. He broke up his flights withgoing to New York to get a medal from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation forinternational peace and understanding, and then he went to Washington toget the Congressional Medal of Honor. And he had to get a new plane,too, from the Mahoney people who made the Spirit of St. Louis. I guessLindy hated to part from the old bus. It was still in great condition,even though he'd flown 40,000 miles in it. But they wanted to put it inthe Smithsonian Institution, and he had to get another.
"It was just about this time, in April of 1928, that Lindbergh had toput his flying to a stiff test. He was in St. Louis when he learned thatFloyd Bennett was very sick with pneumonia up in Quebec. Bennett was agreat fellow, one of the most popular aviators of his time. He'd flownwith Byrd to the North Pole, you remember. And in April, although he wassick, and knew he shouldn't have gone, he flew up to help Captain Koebland Major Fitzmaurice and Baron von Huenefeld, who'd flown across theAtlantic, and were forced down off the coast of Labrador. Well, helanded with pneumonia in a Quebec hospital, and they needed some serumin a hurry to save his life. Lindy offered to fly with it, and took offright away for New York. It was 500 miles from New York to Quebec,mostly through fog and snow, and blizzards, but Lindy made it in threehours and thirty-five minutes. The serum didn't save Floyd Bennett,though. That plucky scout died the day after Lindbergh got there. He'dput up a great fight, but it was no use. The whole country felt gloomyover his death, and Lindy especially so, although he'd done his best tosave his pal's life.
"In June of that year, that is, in 1928, Lindy,--maybe I should call himCharles Augustus Lindbergh, was appointed the chairman of the technicalcommittee of the Transcontinental Air Transport, the company sendingplanes cross-country. This gave him the chance to be right in on theground--or rather right in the air--of aviation progress. It wasn't justan office job, either, because Lindy flew almost as much after hisappointment as before.
"In 1929 he kept right on flying. That's not really news. If Lindystopped flying, that would be news. But in February of '29 he flew thefirst mail from Miami to Colon, in the Panama Canal Zone. This was theinauguration of the Pan-American Airways.
"In February the Morrows announced the engagement of Anne Morrow toCharles Augustus Lindbergh. From then on the reporters and photographershung around in order to be in at the wedding. But Lindy and Anne fooledthem. They were married in April, and nobody knew anything about it.They just got quietly married, and left on their honeymoon in a yacht.
"From then on, whenever Lindy went on a trip, Anne Lindbergh went withhim. She's a great flyer, and helps Lindy fly on long stretches. Shepilots while he rests.
"The first long trip they took was in '29. That was the one throughCentral America to Belize, in British Honduras. That covered 7,000miles. But they didn't stop long at Belize. They'd gone there for areason. They headed their plane over the Yucatan peninsula, looking forMayan ruins. You know, the Mayan Indians had a wonderful civilizationall built up long before the white men came to Yucatan. They had a hugeempire, and big cities with buildings as large as ours. Scientists arealways digging around down there to uncover the ruins, so that they canfind out about the Indians, and how they lived, and all that. But it'shard to find the places where the Maya Indians had their cities. Thejungle has grown up so thickly all about them that it takes days andmonths to get to them. And those that aren't on rivers are almostimpossible to get to.
"So Lindy proved once more that the airplane was a help to science, andflew over the old Mayan hang-outs, looking for ruins. He skimmed hisplane over the tops of the jungles, so low that it seemed he mightalmost reach out his hand and grab a branch of one of those giant treesthat grow down there, and he flew slowly, too, so that the scientiststhat were with him could take pictures.
"They found what they were after, three cities that hadn't ever beendiscovered before. And it took only four days, where it might have takena party on foot months to do the same thing. Anne Lindbergh helped pilotthe plane, and take pictures, too.
"There weren't any more exciting flights that year, but early the nextyear, that is, in 1930, Lindy ordered a new plane. It was aLockheed-Sirius, a monoplane with a Wasp motor. It had aflattish-looking nose, but it was graceful just the same. It hadsomething new that Lindy had designed himself. That was two covers thatcould be slid over the cockpits, so that the pilots would be protectedin bad weather.
"Lindy and Anne had a use for the plane and the cockpit covers verysoon. They flew across the country one day and broke the cross-countryspeed record that existed then.
"Hardly anybody knew what they were up to, and there were just a fewpeople at the Glendale airport, where they started from. It was aterrible day, cold and rainy, and the sun hadn't come up yet to drythings out. But the Lindberghs didn't care. They had on suits heated byelectricity, because they knew that it was going to be even colder wherethey were going.
"A basket of sandwiches, 400 gallons of gas, and they were ready. It washard taking off, because the load was heavy, but Lindy got hisflat-nosed Sirius into the air beautifully, and they disappeared fromsight. Disappeared is the word, because for hours nobody saw them. Theywere looking for them, too, because you can bet on it that as soon asthe Lindberghs took off, everybody knew about it. All over the west thecowboys and Indians were gaping up to see the blunt-nosed plane, butnobody saw it.
"Then suddenly Anne and Lindy dropped out of the sky at Wichita, Kansas,said hello, they'd like some gas, they'd be in New York about eleven,and sailed off.
"They were in New York around eleven, too, and New York was waiting forthem, with auto horns, and whistles, and all the other noise that it canmake for people who have gone out and done things. The Lindberghscertainly had done just that. They'd come across the country with onestop in 14 hours and twenty-three minutes and some seconds, and hadclipped two and a half hours off the record then standing."
"But what happened out' west?" asked Hal. "Why hadn't anybody seenthem?"
"Because you can't see 10,000 feet into the air, and that's where theLindberghs were flying. Way above the clouds, from 10,000 to 15,000 feethigh, flying blind, with the cockpits closed to keep out the cold. It'smighty cold 15,000 feet up in the air. Flying blind that way, they hadto depend upon their sextant to keep their course, and Anne Lindberghdid her part by using this. She did all the navigating from the backcockpit, and took the controls part of the time when Lindy rested.
"Lindy and Anne hadn't intended to set a record. At least, that wasn'twhat they set out to do. They wanted to test out flying at highaltitudes, because Lindy believes that planes in the future will flyhigh to avoid storms and wind, and that blind flying should beencouraged. That's why they flew so high up, out of sight of alllandmarks.
"There was no flying for Anne and Lindy after that for a while, becausein June that year little Lindy was born. It seems awfully sad now totalk about all the excitement not only in this country, but all over theworld when that baby was born. Lindy was
the world's hero, and his babywas adopted by everybody just as Lindy had been. Nobody could havedreamed what a terrible end the Lindbergh baby would come to."
Bob paused. The events of the Lindbergh baby's kidnapping, and thefinding of its body a few months later, after the whole world hadsearched for it, were still fresh. In fact, they were too fresh for Bobto talk about then, and with the silent consent of all the men there, hepassed over the horrible details of the case, and in a few moments wenton with his story.
"The Lindberghs have another baby boy now and everybody in the countrywill protect this child. People all over the world were heartbroken atthe death of their first baby.
"It was when the baby was a year old, and didn't require so muchattention, that Anne and Lindy started out on their longest trip, theflight across the Pacific to China and Japan. That was in July of 1931.There was some delay in choosing the route, because they had to considerall sorts of things, like chances for refueling, and over-water flyingdistances, but finally they decided that they'd fly across Canada toPoint Barrow, in Alaska, and from there to Nome; then across the Oceanto Karaginsk, from there to Nemuro, and on to Tokyo."
Captain Bill broke in. "Good for you for remembering that. Did youmemorize the route?"
"I did," said Bob proudly. "I even drew a map of it. They flew roughlynorthwest, and then south again, making the two sides of a triangle,with the point up at the top of Alaska.
"Well, the Lindberghs made their usual careful preparations. They neededmore than a ham sandwich for this trip. The plane they chose was alow-winged Lockheed Sirius with a Wright Whirlwind motor. It was ablunt-nosed ship, painted reddish orange and black. And since they weretraveling over water, it had to be equipped with floats. These were anew kind of Edo float, which were grooved on at the bottom to make forless resistance of the water.
"In the tail of the plane they had a pretty complete emergency kit,which would pop out automatically if the plane went under. It had afolding life boat in it, that they could fill from a bottle ofcompressed air. It was pretty smooth, with a mast and sail andeverything, and though they didn't; have to use it, it was a mighty nicething to have along in case they sat down in the middle of the ocean.Then, of course, they had food and water, and an emergency radio set,besides the one that Anne Lindbergh was going to use. This emergency onewas ready for anything. You couldn't hurt it by getting it wet, or bydropping it. In fact, they tested it by dropping it from a hangar, andthen soaking it in water for 24 hours. I wouldn't want anybody to dothat to my radio set, but I guess nothing much happened, because thetough radio survived its tests, and went along with the Lindberghs toChina. The rest of their equipment included fifty pounds of food, fivecanteens of water, blankets, and all that sort of thing.
"On July 27th, Anne and Lindy started out. Washington was their firststop, to make the first leg official. From there they went to New York,bound for Maine, to say goodbye to the baby. But there was trouble rightat the start. About two hours after they had left New York, theLindberghs had to turn back again. Somebody had tampered with theirradio, and put it out of working order. But this was fixed up all right,and they started out again. They got to North Haven, Maine, in aboutthree and a half hours.
"After spending some time at North Haven with Anne's parents and thebaby, they left for Ottawa, and from Ottawa for Moose Factory. Just outof Ontario, though, they disappeared. The newspapers ran big headlines,'Lindberghs Missing.' But they weren't really missing. That is, theLindberghs knew all along where they were, but their radio was out oforder, and they couldn't tell anybody else. Pilots were sent out tosearch for them, and Pilot Clegg found them in Moose Factory, safe andsound.
"Moose Factory sounds awfully funny, doesn't it? I'd never heard of it,before the Lindberghs landed there, but it's quite a place. All onehundred of its people came out to cheer the flyers.
"On Sunday morning they left Moose Factory, for their 750 mile jump toChurchill Harbor, in Manitoba. The weather wasn't very good forflying--gray and stormy, and the country was gray and flat. All in all,it wasn't a very pleasant leg of their journey, and there was almostnine hours of it. I'll bet they were glad when they flew into ChurchillHarbor, and saw the whole town waiting for them. There were only 2,000people in the town, but then, that probably looked like a pretty bigcrowd after all that flying over country without seeing anybody oranything. And those 2,000 made up for it by being awfully noisy.
"Baker Lake is 375 miles from Churchill, and that was the next stop.Just three and a quarter hours after they'd left Churchill Harbor, theygot into Baker Lake. Everybody was waiting for them, and everybody inthis case was made up of Eskimos. There are only about six white peoplein the whole place, but they were out, too, and took charge of theLindberghs when they landed that night. So far so good.
"The Lockheed up to now was working perfectly--the trip was going off asscheduled--just as all of Slim's trips go off as scheduled. From BakerLake the going was to be harder. The next stop was Aklavik, on theMacKenzie River. Aklavik is pretty far north, just about 130 mileswithin the Arctic Circle, and the route called for a jump of over 1,000miles across this cold country. But Slim and Anne made it. They did that1,000 miles in eleven and a half hours, which was some going. They hadthe Aurora Borealis with them, because the farther north they went, thebrighter the lights grew, and flying at night was as easy as flying byday.
"Aklavik may be cold, but it was warm to the Lindberghs. Slim and Annesaw a lot of things they'd never seen before, and they had what you'dcall their first real taste of the arctic. There were all the people youread about up there--Mounties, and Eskimos and fur trappers, who'dtrekked in from miles around to see the Lindberghs land. Eskimo kidstrailed them around and grinned when they were spoken to.
"They had a lot of time to look around, too, because they had to stay atAklavik for three days. The weather grounded them, but on August 7th,the sky cleared, and they were off again, now for Point Barrow. Nome wasnext. But before they got to Nome there was trouble.
"They'd started out from the Point in the morning, and flew all day. Allthey saw was packed ice for miles around. A thick fog was raising.Finally at 11 o'clock that night the fog grew so thick that the Coloneland his wife thought it would be best just to sit down and wait for thefog to clear. So that's what they did. They sat down in Shismaref Bay,on Kotzebue Sound."
At this point Bob paused significantly, and waited. He had pronouncedboth words without hesitation of any kind, and he was waiting for thepraise that he felt was due him. There was a strange silence. So Bobsaid again: "They sat down on Shismaref Bay, on Kotzebue Sound."
This time Captain Bill realized what was required of him. "Good work,"he said "You got them both without a slip."
Now Bob could go on. "They sat down," he began.
"That they did," interrupted Pat. "They sat down on Shismaref Bay onKotzebue Sound. What heathen names. But we've heard them, and get onwith you, lad."
"I am," said Bob, and got on. "They had to wait for ten hours for thefog to lift, and it must have been mighty uncomfortable in the cockpitsof their planes. When they finally did get started, they found that theycouldn't get to Nome after all. The fog drifted up again, and they hadto come down--"
Pat broke the silence with a mighty exclamation. "Not on Shismaref Bay!"
Bob was cold. "Of course not. This time they came down on Safety Bay,and please don't interrupt."
But there was another interruption, this time from Hal. "Where's SafetyBay?" he asked.
Bob stretched out comfortably. He was satisfied with himself and hisstory. "I don't know whether you're just trying to test me, or not," hesaid, "but I'm prepared for you. I've been over every inch of theLindbergh trip with an atlas, and I know where everything is located,and how to pronounce it."
Hal, his pale face lighted up by the moonlight, was obviously impressed,and his large eyes beamed in the light. He was storing up notes for hisown story that was to come later.
"Safety Bay," said Bob, "is twenty-one miles f
rom Nome, and mid-waybetween Nome and Solomon Beach. They call it Safety Bay becausefishermen caught in storms out at sea used to come in to the bay forsafety. It was a 'safety bay' for the Lindberghs, too, all right. Theywaited for the fog to lift again, and they finally got to Nome. Nome hadbeen waiting so long for them that it gave them a right royal welcome.
"Nome was an important stop, because the Lindberghs planned to use thisas their jumping off place for the hop across the Pacific Ocean toKaragin Island, off the Kamchatkan Peninsula. The Pacific has beencrossed before, and was crossed later, too, by Herndon and Pangborn. Butit's a tricky place to cross, especially in the northerly part, wherethe Lindberghs were to cross. It's a place of fog and ice, and quicklychanging wind currents, so that a fog can creep up on you and blot outthe world in a split second.
"Well, this was the ocean that the Lindberghs were going to cross. Andthey crossed it. On Friday, August 14th, they started out. They were thefirst to cross by that route, blazing a new aviation trail. For half anhour there was silence. Then the St. Paul Naval station in thePribiloffs made the first radio contact. Anne Lindbergh signaled thateverything was all right, the weather was good, and the flying fine.Every half hour the station sent out signals, and gave directions,because up north there, so near the magnetic pole, a regular compass isthrown way off.
"St. Lawrence Island was the first land in their path; then from St.Lawrence to Cape Naverin the route was over water again, about 250miles. Finally the radio operator got the message that they'd sightedCape Naverin, and that everything was O. K. They got to Karagin Islandearly in the morning. And that means they flew over 1,000 miles in lessthan 11 hours. Which is some flying over that treacherous route.
"The Lindys stayed at the Island for just a little while to rest up, andthen took off for the southern end of the Kamchatkan Peninsula, forPetro--Petro--" Bob paused, embarrassed. "Say, what's the name of thatplace at the southern end?" he asked.
Bill felt called upon to answer. "Petropavlovsk," he said.
Bob tried it. "Petro--Petro-what?"
"Petropavlovsk," repeated Bill.
They all tried it then, with varying degrees of success. Finally Bob gotit. "Petropavlovsk," he said proudly, and was able to go on with hisstory. "It was an easy flight, and they made it in about four hours. ButNemuro was next.
"Nemuro's on the tip of Hokkaido Island, and to reach it the Lindberghshad to fly across the Kurile Islands, the worst fog trap in the world.There's a warm Japanese ocean current that flows up here and hits thecold arctic blasts, so that there are sudden fogs that you can'tpossibly see through. And besides, there are volcanic peaks that sticktheir peaks up but of the water. Some are dead and some are alive, butthey're all pretty bad news for an airplane if it happens to come incontact with one of them.
"The start was pretty good. The sky was clear, and the visibility good.But they should have known better than to trust such luck. They'd beenout about 500 miles when a thick blanket of fog came up from nowhere andwrapped them around. A minute before they'd been able to see MurotonBay, but when they turned back, it had disappeared. There were twothings for them to do, and neither one pleasant. They could either flyon in the fog, and risk hitting a peak or losing their course, or landin the water. This was hardly better than going on, because the currentsare very dangerous around there, and their plane might easily becapsized. But they decided that it was better to land. They landed onthe sheltered side of a place called Ketoi Island, and put their radioto work sending out an S.O.S.
"It didn't take long for somebody to get to them. The Japanesegovernment ordered two ships to Ketoi to help them. One was theShimushiru, and it stood by all night, while the Lindberghs spent thenight doubled up in the cockpit of their plane. They stood by because ofthe danger. You see, the island is pretty wild, and is inhabited byHairy Ainus, who live in caves. They're white people, and they'resupposed to have lived all over Japan once, but they're not verypleasant to have around, especially if you're unprotected. But with theJapanese ship standing by, the Lindberghs were safe.
"In the morning the ship towed the Lockheed Sirius to Muroton Bay, andwhile it was sort of quiet, Lindy fixed up a wet spark plug and theywere ship-shape again, and raring to go. But the fog wouldn't lift.Finally it seemed to lift, and they started off.
"When they got to the island of Iturup a thick fog came up from nowhereand cut off their visibility again. Then a radio message told them thatthe safest place to land was at Shana, so at Shana they landed. And atShana they stayed, too, grounded by the fog. But finally the fog lifted,and they were able to get to Nemuro.
"Tokyo next. And Tokyo was glad to see them! There were over 30,000people at the airport when they landed. The Lindys were just as popularas ever, and just as much the good will ambassadors as ever. They weretaken all over Tokyo, ate with chopsticks, lived through a littleearthquake, and did as the Japanese did generally.
"Lindbergh told the Japanese people what he had set out to do, and thathe hoped that there'd be a regular airplane route between Japan and theUnited States. He said that he thought the route would be from thenorth, too, but a little south of the one that he and Anne had taken.
"Japan liked the Lindberghs, but they had to leave, bound for China.That was in September. Japan and China hadn't decided yet to go to war,but things were pretty bad in China, anyway. The Yangtze Kiang and theHwai river had overflowed and flooded hundreds of villages and cities.Together they'd covered about 1,000 square miles of land, so you canimagine in what sort of condition China was then. Everything that goeswith flood had come to China too, including starvation and disease. TheRelief Committee was doing all that it could to help the inland people,but it couldn't do much, because there was no way of communicating withthem, and of finding out who needed aid, and what towns had beenflooded.
"As soon as Lindy landed in Nanking, he volunteered to help the Chinesegovernment by making surveys of the flooded land. The governmentaccepted his offer, and Lindy flew over the country, making reports ofdistricts that were under water. He found a lot of places that no oneknew about, and did wonderful work. At one place he landed on the waterin a village that was completely covered. He had a doctor and medicalsupplies with him, but the poor Chinese thought that he had broughtfood. They paddled over to the plane, grabbed the supplies and tore themto shreds, looking for something to eat. Lindy and the doctors took offas soon as they possibly could. As a result of this, Lindy advised thatall supplies should be brought by armed guards, and that food was themost urgent need at the moment. Because of the good work that he did,the President of China gave Lindy another medal to add to hiscollection, the Chinese Aviation Medal.
"In October the Lindbergh's trip was suddenly cut short, in the firstplace, by an accident that might have proved pretty serious. TheColonel, Anne, and a doctor were setting out for a survey of theTungting Lake district, and were to take off in the Yangtze. But just asthey were about to leave the water the current caught one of the wings,and it crumpled up. The plane turned over, and threw them all into theriver. They were all weighed down by their heavy suits, and could easilyhave drowned, but they were pulled out of the water. The Lockheed waspulled up on board a British carrier, and Anne and Lindy decided to goto Shanghai with it and wait while it was being repaired.
"While they were on board the Hermes, the aircraft carrier, they gotword that Dwight Morrow, Anne's father, had died. This meant that theirtrip was over, since they had to get back to the United States asquickly as possible. They took a steamer to Vancouver, and then flewacross the country to Maine."
"From then on the Lindberghs dropped out of the news, because theywanted to. And they didn't figure in the news again until that terribleday when their baby was kidnapped. That was on March 1st, you remember.But in spite of everything that's happened, Lindy is carrying on, and sois Anne Lindbergh. They're still the country's most loved couple.
"Lindy's still working hard at aviation, and trying to make the worldaviation conscious. That's what he says his aim is,
and that's what hemakes his trips for. He wants people to get so used to airplanes thatthey'll ride in them just like they ride in automobiles, withoutthinking twice about it. He hasn't had any serious accidents, becausehe's always careful that everything's in perfect order before he startson a flight. That's part of his program. He wants to make people seethat if you're cautious enough, flying isn't dangerous.
"I think that Lindy's succeeded in what he's tried to do. The world, andespecially the United States was never more interested in aviation thanin the year that Lindy flew across the Atlantic. That made them sit upand take notice. The United States was way behind Europe in air service,but since it perked up and got interested in what could be done, why,its been getting ahead by leaps and bounds.
"And we mustn't forget that the most important thing about Lindy is thathe was born with wings. He wasn't made a flyer, he just was one. I'veseen him give an exhibition, when we went to see the air races, andgolly, you could tell his plane from anybody else's in the world. Hehandles it so easily, and takes it off like a thistle and brings it downlike a feather. A plane's just part of him.
"And besides that, he's as modest as they come. Of course, that's an oldstory. Everybody knows that. But it still strikes me as pretty marvelousthat a man can make a big success when he's only 25, and then go on asthough nothing had happened, sticking to his work, only working harderthan ever. If anybody gets my vote, it's Lindy, even if he was runningfor President, and I was old enough to vote." Bob stopped. "Well," hesaid then, "I guess that's the end of my story."
It was pretty late. The moon had gone down, and the garden was dark,with the four men making four mounds of deeper black where they sat.Suddenly a light in the house switched on, sending out a stream of lightthat picked out Bob, his hair tousled, his eyes blinking in the suddenglare.
Hal started. "It must be late," he said anxiously. "I'd better begetting on. The night air--I shouldn't have stayed so long."
The screen door of the house slammed, and a figure approached, then downthe garden walk, strangely burdened.
"Hang around," said Captain Bill, starting up. "This is going to beinteresting." He hurried down the path and met Bob's mother, whosestrange burden turned out to be a tray with glasses and a covered dish.He took the tray from her. "You can't go now," he called to Hal. "Lookwhat we've got." He set the tray down, and lifted the napkin from theplate. "Home baked cookies," he said, and took one. "You should havejoined our group sooner," he said to his sister, between bites.
"Because I brought cookies, I suppose, if for no other reason," she saidwith a laugh.
"Why, Meg, you know that you'd be welcome even without cookies. Youshould have been here to hear your son and my nephew tell a grand storyin a grand way."
Bob felt himself blushing in the dark. Praise from Bill was rare andmuch sought after. "Aw," he said, "it wasn't anything."
"It was a good yarn," said Bill, emphatically.
"If it was a good yarn, then he's your nephew, all right," said Mrs.Martin. "There was never anybody like you for yarning. And good ones,too."
Captain Bill laughed, and took another cookie. "If I can tell storiesthe way you bake cookies--"
He didn't finish his sentence. Hal had been standing nervously at theedge of the group, waiting for a chance to break in. Now he broke in,chance or no chance. "I've got to go, really I do," he said. "My motherwill be worried. Thanks a lot for everything. Goodnight." He broke intoa run, and disappeared into the darkness.
Captain Bill looked after him. "Say, what's the matter with Hal? Whatwas his hurry?"
Bob was a little embarrassed. He hated to talk disloyally about hisfriend, but he felt that Bill ought to know. "I guess he's afraid to beout so late alone. You see, Hal's pretty much of a baby yet. He's afraidof a lot of things he oughtn't to be afraid of, and he's always afraidthat his mother's worrying about him."
"I think that it's his mother's fault," said Mrs. Martin. "She'spampered him and spoiled him until he can't do a thing or think forhimself. She just didn't know that the best way to rear a boy is to givehim plenty to eat and a place to sleep and let him take care ofhimself."
"That's why I turned out so well, isn't it, Mother?" said Bob.
His mother laughed. "Oh, I don't know about you. You must be theexception that proves the rule."
Bill spoke suddenly. "There ought to be something done about Hal," hesaid. "I like that boy. He's got the stuff there, but he needs somethingto bring it out. How about it, Bob?"
"I think so, Bill," said Bob, pleased that Captain Bill had seen so muchin his friend. "I've been trying to help Hal, and I think that he'sgetting much better than he was, don't you, Mother?"
"I have noticed an improvement," said Mrs. Martin.
"There'll be more before I go home," said Captain Bill.
"Don't hog the cookies," said Pat, making his first, but most importantcontribution to the conversation. But Pat, though he had said nothing,had thought a lot.