Adventure Magazine Cover — page 162: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

156 “Oh yes. Send ’em in. From now on, Graves, it’s your funeral. Come in, boys. Mr. Graves, may I present Mr. Broughton and Mr. Hinkley. Sit down. All rght, fire away, Graves.” It “YOU gentlemen are here, upon General O’Malley’s recommenda- tion, in order to, let me give you an opportunity to volunteer for a special mis- sion upon the success of which depends to a considerable extent the lives of many hundred people. Even more important, it has considerable bearing on the future wel- fare of this country. Least important—in itself, without considering the ramifications resulting from it—at means the capture of a very important and dangerous criminal.” Graves’ remarkable eyes flitted from one flyer to the other as he studied the effect of his words. Broughton was a thickset, tanned young man possessed of a certain reserve which involuntarily commanded the respect of Graves. He was blond-haired and blue-eyed, and his gaze was as steady as it was noncommittal. Tall, lath-like, Hinkley had an air of careless recklessness about him, helped along by the pronouncedly sardonic cast of his face. Like Broughton, he preserved silence. “With General O’Malley’s permission, I will go over some of the ground I have already covered with him for the benefit of you gentlemen,” Graves went on after a moment. He proceeded to tell the airmen of Hay- den, his importance and the difficulty of capturing him without great publicity and loss of life. “The only dope we have on the exact Jayout of his headquarters was obtained through field-glasses by operatives who climbed adjoining mountains and studied the place from all sides. He lives on the very peak of a mountain, without another cabin within miles. But one rough road, winding around the mountain side on a very steep grade, leads to it. For several miles before it reaches the summit of the moun- tain the cliff drops away sheer from one side of the road, and on the other rises with almost equal steepness. There are so many sheer ravines, and so forth, that it would be almost impossible to get even two hun- dred men up by any other way than the Adventure road; that is, providing they carried ma- chine-guns and other supplies which would be necessary if they stood any chance of capturing Hayden. He has several guards, sufficiently armed, who have every strategic point guarded. Hayden is absolutely with- out hope, if his presence in this country is known. Capture means for him, and he is almost as sure of it as Iam. Being a man of force and brilliancy, although he is crazy, and possessed of a weird magnetism which induces real fanaticism among his followers, the few men up there will un- doubtedly fight for him to the death. My job—in which I would like to have you gentlemen |help me—is to capture him without publicity or loss of life.’’ “Tf there’s a chance we may be working for you on this picnic, it might not be dis- courteous for us to ask who you are?”’ It was Hinkley speaking. He was loung- ing lazily in his chair, one long leg drooping over the other. Graves smiled. ‘“Here, perhaps, is enough to satisfy you,” he returned, handing Hinkley the docu- ment which had been laying on the desk since O’Malley had laid it down. “T don’t know just who he is myself,” confided O’Malley as Hinkley glanced over the signed note. ‘‘But I have a feeling that I’d give a month’s pay to be in on what he is going to do.” Broughton smiled at his irrepressible chief. “That remains to be seen, general,’ he said gently—the first word he had spoken since entering the office. “Mysterious, but impressive, Jim,” laughed the irreverent Hinkley as he passed the sheet of paper over to Broughton. The flyer read it slowly, and handed it back to Graves without comment. ‘““My scheme is this,” said Graves, leaning. back once more and setting the cigar in one corner of his mouth. ““That’s wild coun- trv—no place to land. The only cleared spot for twenty miles—or in other words near enough to Hayden to suit my needs— is right around his cabin. It is small and rough and on a grade so steep that according to my information it would make a man puff to climb it. I want you gentlemen to fly me over there in a Martin bomber, which I understand is about the safest of ships in a crackup. This ship will be equipped with extra gas and oil tanks to insure large cruising radius. No ship with COMMICLOOOkKS (C@