Bill Barnes Air Adventurer, July 1935 — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

58 rolling in to break in a fury of foam and spray. At Tranokoditra, as though tired of the incessant pounding of the sea, the tracks turned west and buried them- selves in the dense tropical forest. Great masses of bougainvillea, hybiscus and clematis stood out in_ brilliant splotches of color among the raphia palms, tree ferns and tall beefwood trees. They followed the tracks steadily up- ward through the valley of the Vohitra, where the forest belt was broken by numerous hills whose outcroppings of rock assumed weird and fantastic forms. Giant waterfalls hissed out of the gorges and plunged into the valleys below to follow their course to the Indian Ocean. As the forests gave way to grassy up- lands the air became distinctly cooler and brisk. Another climb of a thousand feet brought them over the brim of a plateau that spread out as far as they could see. The province of Imerina lay below them like a giant relief map. In the distance a long, blue ridge arose directly from the plain. On the very back of the ridge they could discern the lofty towers of the royal palaces, and spread out all about them the pink doll’s houses that made up Tananartivo, the capital. The city was built on a Y-shaped ridge, the peak of which rose to a height of about seven hundred feet. The houses, all built of pinkish brick, were set on the sides of the hills in tiers, giving the city the appearance of being a huge amphitheater, with the wide- spread moors of Imerina the stage of the players. Broad flights of steps connected places too steep for pousse-pousses or the small motor cars that whisked through the narrow, winding streets. Beautifully arranged walks and terraces surrounded the central plaza, from which broad steps led to the highest point on the ridge, where, before the BILL BARNES conquest of the island by France, the Hova queens dwelt in their fantastic palaces. Bill Barnes studied the strange city with interest... He wondered how the French had been able to conquer it with so small a force of men. “If the three million natives of fight- ing age were armed with machine guns and well organized they could drive he French into the sea,’”’ he said to Sandy. He spoke into the radio microphone. “It looks as though we sit down out- side the city,” he said. “Take it easy. I'll go in first.” Three minutes later he brought the huge transport to a halt on a flat, even field, just off the edge of the city. The Scarlet Stormer and Snorter with Cy Hawkins at the controls of the latter fishtailed in beside him. “That,” said Shorty Hassfurther, as he climbed out of the Scarlet Stormer, “is that. Across the Atlantic, the top of Africa and three quarters of the way down the east coast. I’m tired.” “Grandpa is feeling his age,” Sandy said, with a grin. Two French cars came tearing across from the city toward them. “Let’s get cleaned up at a hotel and then poke around,” Bill said. Shorty’s bloodshot eyes brightened. He was tired but the thought that this was the end of his journey and the pos- sible solution of a thing that had both- ered him for seventeen years gave him new life. He slapped his hands together with the forced enthusiasm of a quarter back in the last minute of a grueling game of football. “Let’s go!” he said. X—FORGED RECORDS THE NATIVE DRIVERS of the two cars threaded their way through bi- cycles, motor cycles, automobiles and oxcarts on the streets of Tananarivo. Handsome, straight-haired and brown- oO mM CO Ghook CO