Page:The Night Born (London,1913).djvu/159

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

WINGED BLACKMAIL

difficult, from underneath, to see the pigeon, and young Winn dared not lose it from his sight. He even shook out his reefs in order to rise more quickly. Up, up, they went, until the pigeon, true to its instinct, dropped and struck at what it took to be the back of its pursuing enemy. Once was enough, for, evidently finding no life in the smooth cloth surface of the machine, it ceased soaring and straightened out on its eastward course.

A carrier pigeon on a passage can achieve a high rate of speed, and Winn reefed again. And again, to his satisfaction, he found that he was beating the pigeon. But this time he quickly shook out a portion of his reefed sustaining surface and slowed down in time. From then on he knew he had the chase safely in hand, and from then on a chant rose to his lips which he continued to sing at intervals, and unconciously, for the rest of the passage. It was: "Going some; going some; what did I tell you?—going some."

Even so, it was not all plain sailing. The air is an unstable medium at best, and, quite without warning, at an acute angle, he entered an aerial tide which he recognized as the gulf stream

145