Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 146 No. 4 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

THE came into sight of the figure of a girl stand- ing motionless beside a tree on the island a few feet back from the water and evident- ly watching him. Alan was startled. He knew there was no one living on the island. There were, in fact, few people at all in the vicinity— only an occasional negro shack or the sim- ilar shack of the “‘ poor white trash,” and a turpentine camp, several miles back i in the pines. But it was not the presence of the girl here on the island at daybreak that sur- prised him most, but the appearance of the girl herself. He sat staring at her dumbly, wondering if he were awake or dreaming. For the girl—who otherwise might have appeared nothing more than an extraordi- narily beautiful young female of this earth, somewhat fantastically dressed—the girl had wings! He rubbed his eyes and looked again. There was no doubt about it—they were huge, deep-red feathered wings, reaching from her shoulder blades nearly to the ground. She took a step away from the tree and flapped them once or twice idly. Alan could see they would measure nearly ten feet from tip to tip when outstretched. His launch had lost its forward motion now, and for the moment was lying motionless in the sluggish bayou. Hardly fifty feet separated him from the girl. Her eyes stared into his for a time—a quiet, curious stare, with no hint of fear in it. Then she smiled. Her lips moved, but the.soft words that reached him across the water were in a languageehe could not understand. But he comprehended her gesture; it distinctly bade him come ashore. Alan took a new grip on himself, gathered his scattered wits, and tried to think con- nectedly. He laid his rifle in the bottom of the launch; then, just as he was reaching for an oar, he saw back among the tall cab- bage palms on the island-in an open space, a glowing, silvery object, like a house paint- ed silver and shining under the rays of a brilliant sun. Then the whole thing came to him. He remembered the press descriptions from Wyoming of the Mercutian vehicle. He FIRE PEOPLE. 491 saw this white rectangle on the little Flor- ida island as a miniature of that which had brought the invaders of Wyoming from space. And then this girl— Fear for an instant supplanted amaze- ment in Alan Newland’s heart. He looked around. He could see-back into the trees plainly, almost across the island. He stood up in the boat. There seemed no one else in sight. Alan sat down and, taking up the oar, sculled the launch toward the spot where the girl was standing. His mind still re- fused to think clearly. The vague thought came to him that he might be struck dead by some unknown power the instant he landed. Then, as he again met the girl’s eyes—a clear, direct, honest gaze with something of a compelling dignity in it— his fear suddenly left him. A moment later the bow of the launch pushed its way through the wire grass and touched the bank. Alan laid aside his oar, tied the boat to a half-submerged log, and stepped ashore. CHAPTER V. CAPTURED! HEN I recovered consciousness I found myself lying in the sand with Mercer sitting beside me. It was still night. The tangled wreckage of our airplane lay near by; evidently Mercer had carried me out of it. . Isat up. “Tm all right,” I said. pened?” He grinned at me with relief. “The damned engine stopped. I don’t know what was the matter. You had the light off. I couldn’t see anything when we got down close.” He waved his hand toward the wrecked plane. _ “ Tt’s done for,” he added; “‘ but I’m not hurt much. Are you?” “No,” I said. “I’m all right.” I climbed to my feet unsteadily; my head seemed about to split open. _ “ Garland’s burning,” he added. Over the desert, some two.or three miles Conn cloookks.Conn “What hap-