Evening Star Newspaper, January 18, 1931, Page 89

though I was, I slid under his blow so that his stroke slashed into thin air, and I rolled with him to the ground. UNDER normal conditions my adversary would have been no match for me, but, numbed as I was, his old muscles had the edge on my sluggish limbs. My blows carried no steam and my jiu-jitsu holds were not dan- gercus at all, because, dazed as I was, I was unable to strike with them at the proper place. 1 managed, however, to check the frantic efforts of his armed wrist. At length a great weariness seized me. I wanted to give up: I felt it was inevitable that I should be killed. My efforts grew weaker. The Arab succesded in pinioning me beneath his bony knees. He wrenched his arm free and liftzd the knife. The next moment a detona- ticn crashed ncarby. I saw the old tribesman let co of the knife, clutch at his breast and fall backward. Then everything seemed to whi ! rapidly around me and I lost conscious- ness. ‘When 1 rezwa’ened I was out of the cave. Th2 gleaming stars shown in the incredible cobalt blue of the sky above me. “Are you well now, sidi?” Menhed anxiously asked. I breathed deeply of the clean night air and felt the strength flowing back into my limbs. “What happened, Menhed?” I asked. “Inshallah, sidi' I heard your gun. The Bbeha thought that you were fighting with the evil spirits and ran away. I wanted to go away too, at first, but I have been in battle at your side, sidi, and I could not desert my salt. So I entered the cave and I shot the old man who was going to kill you. I dragged you away from there, because the cave was filled with the smoie of the burning aun-elam herb.” I understood at once the reason of my numb- ness, of the vagaries of my brain which had made things so unreal for me within the cave; for the “aun-elam” belongs to that group of African and Asiatic woods from which is ex- tracted hashish, the opium of the Arabs. “But why did the murderer place aun-elam hemps on the fire?” I asked. “Why did not the smoke affect him, too? And, after all, was it not easier for him to stab me during 'my sleep?” . “He was a canny old man,” Menhed replied, shaking his head. “In the first place, sidi, the smoke of the burning hemp does not daze the ones who are accustomed to inhale hashish by smoking it in a pipe. The man was old. He knew that you are strong, that you are a warrior. If you would have wakened before he THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 18 1931, D - =D =S PeDANE R He came stealthily, like a giant cat—in his right hand o long knife. would come close to you, you would have killed him had you seen him with a knife ready to strike. You would have spared him had you seen him just stirring the fire. And suppose that he stabbed you before drugging you, that his hand had trembled and had failed to kil you or to disable you at once—his days would have been forfeiled, too. To make sure that 17 he would murder you, he planned skillfully to reader you helpless before striking; and he would have succeeded if your shot had not alarmed me, if I had hesitated to run to your help. Do you know who the man was, sidi?” I did not know, for, dazed as I was, I had been unable to see clearly the face of my AgETessor. “He was the very man of whom you inquired about the Caves of Dirha,” -Menhed continued. “The young Sbehas have forsaken the feud and would not harm a white man. But the old ones still remember the cave, streamed with the dead of their tribe. The old headman showed you how to reach those caves and planned to mur- der you. And, Inshallah, by but little he falled in succeeding!” (Copyright, 1931.) Manganese for Florida Soil, ANGA)’ESE, usually thought of as a cone stituent pf fine steel, has turned out to be the one ingredient lacking in otherwise good truck garden soil in some parts of Florida. The discovery of this fact came when ex= perts, from the Department of Agriculture went to Florida, in the glades section, to see if they could find out why truck farmers were uniformly unsuccessful, when all appearances indicated that the soil in which they were carrying on their work was excellent for gar- dening purposes. Various types of commercial fertilizers were used without success, and, as a last resort, quantities of the soil were hrought to Wash- ington for analysis. The tests carried on in the laboratories in- dicated that, in every respect but one, the soil seemed to be about normal. The one de- ficiency was in manganese, which was almost entirely absent. i Working on the theory that manganese contained the key to the puzzle, the experts ran parallel beds in ‘he greenhouses, in some of which the soil was used as found, with the addition of indicated fertilizers, while in the others the soil was treated also with man- ganese. The soil without manganese failed to yield plants with any degree of success, while the treated soil produced an abundant growth. With this information at “hand, it is ex- pected that the unproductive lands soon will be yielding large quantities of tomatoes, corn, potatoes, beets, beans and other garden truck. Airplanes That Can Land in a Small Lot and Park in a Two-Car Gémge Continued from Third Pagr #ts cost is higher. Furthermore, although the plane could stop in a short distance, it requires & field that isn't surrounded with tall obstruc- tions outside the urban district. T}m reason for this is its comparatively low ‘% gliding angle, the angle at which it lands. A low gliding angle, one which brings the plane forward 7 to 10 feet for every foot it drops, will not do for the small type of plane if it is to come into popular use, because it requires an unobstructed large and flat field for take-off and landing. That means getting too far away from the center of a city for the average man to interest himself in aviation. As soon as a plane is devised that would bring She owner into the heart of a city, however, and at the same time assure him safety in opera- tion, it will become as popular as the automo- bile. Stout isn’t the only one in this work who is certain of this, In its recent report to Congress the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics declared flatly that the aeronautics industry “will re- main small unless or until the private use of aircraft is extensively developed.” ‘That means the construction and popular adoption of the small airplane, comparable to the automobile, as to the large, bus- like transport ships being built today. Capt. Geoffrey De Haviland, one of Eng- land's outstanding airplane manufacturers, builder of the tiny Moth, foresees the same development. LOW-POWRRBD motors, he says, are essen- tial, for they mean reduced weight and Jower cost. They will gradually develop more speed through reduction of air resistance by better design. But the gliding angle becomes “flatter” when this is done to a plane, so that landing over high obstacles or on a down-grade requires a much longer landing distance. De Haviland suggests a simple solution, which may be ex- pected on the future flivver airplanes—it is the use of hand-operated air brakes. Clarence Chamberlin, the United States Gov- ernment flyer, about three years ago exhihited what was then considered a “foolproof” small airplane of a type that might become popular. But the big difficulty with it was its exception- ally low gliding angle—a feature which Cham- berlin, strange to say, considered an important advantage for safety. A flat landing naturally is easier to make, and brings less chance of erack-ups and ground loops. ‘True, a low gliding angle increases the factor of safety, but where the demands of the aver- age future flyer intervene there will have to be a compromise between the two. Making an airplane entirely safe and foolproof, according to De Haviland, might operate against itself. It might create “a new standard of inferior pilotage.” “Nothing mechanical can be foolproof,” he says, “and if flying were made too easy it is quite conceivable that there would be more accidents of a different sort. Moreover, the pro- vision of a very easy machine to fly is by no means the whole story. Weather conditions enter very largely into flying. Consequently a eertain standard of skill and judgment is re- quired, irrespective of how easy the machine is to fly in the best conditions.” That won't prevent the average man from flying, just as it doesn’t prevent his boy from preferring a bicycle over a tricycle, De Hali- land points out. “The tricycle is an inherently stable vehicle. The bicycle is unstable and has a definite ‘stalling’ speed. But the tricycle is heavier than the bicycle for equal seating capacity, and therefore work done upon it produces less use- ful effect. In other words, the tricycle is less efficient than the bicycle. Hence the popularity of two wheels over three, although a higher standard of skill is required.” This need of greater skill to operate an air- plane, despite all its foolproof qualities, may be the reason why there will never be as many operators of airplanes as of automobiles. That, at any rate, is what Clarence M. Young, As- sistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, # seems to believe. “The matter of physical requirements for licenses to operate aircraft will bear out this assertion,” he said recently. ‘“The physical re- quirements of necessity must be quite high in order to assure the maximum degree of safety in aerial operations.” - OWEVER, he adds, when planes are pro- provided for the average person, whom" he calls the “perennial employe,” planes that will be low in horsepower, low in price, low in main- tenance and operation, restricted in range and with the added safety factors which new design and development are continually making avail- able, it is possible that revised standards in com- ESCAPE—By Brown Turner Continued from Tenth Page man had picked himself up and was brushing the knees of his trousers. “Not hurt, I hope,~ said Matt, holding out the cap. The man looked up. The moonlight was full upon his face. There was a tense silence as the two men stared at each other. “Richardson,” said Matt softly, too amazed to be angry. Richardson’s reply was muffied. The mus- cles of his face were tense, his eyes wide with fear. Carlisle had followed him and now he was trapped on the high seas! Why hadn’t he stayed in his state room since the first time he recognized Matt? His agile mind conjured up and discarded every possible means of escape. It was man against man now. He wondered if they really did bury people in midocean . . . must be a crude ceremony. God! Was there no way out of this thing? What was Carlisle thinking? How had he known he was sailing for South America? He must have been lying in wait for him all the time, playing with him as a cat does a mouse. Well, he’d have it over— and now. With a supreme effort he brought himself erect and faced Matt squarely. Matt watched him, reading his thoughts with sudden cunning. What a simple thing it would be to throw him over the rail! With grim satisfaction he saw him struggling in the water and calling for help. Even if they managed to pull him out, Richardson wduld declare he fell accidentally. How he hated this man who had made a fool of him. He derived a queer delight from Richardson’s fear. Beneath his suave front, Matt knew he was trembling like a leaf—the coward! How he would like to bruise those full lips and flatten that arrogant nose so that no woman would ever look at him again. He scowled at Richardson, waiting for him to speak. “Carlisle,” Richardson’s voice, apologetic and tremulous, broke the silence, “I'm sorry about— about your wife. You see, I ... " At the sound of his voice Matt suddenly knew that it was not hatred he felt for Rich- ardson, but scorn, scorn so devastating that it burned against his chest and throbbed in his temples. He despised the man and every mem- ory connected with him. “You see, I . . . " Richardson was repeat- “i'brget it,” snapped Carlisle, turning on his heel, “she wasn't my wife.” (Copyright, 1931.) Wood Distillation Record. wood distillation industry, while confined to a comparatively few establishments, has turned out a fairly large quantity of products. There are 91 factories so employed, this num- ber being three more than in 1927. They turned out 8,500,000 gallons of crude wood alcohol and 5,779,000 gallons of refined wood alcohol. Other products included 58,000 tons of acetate of lime, 7,470,000 gallons of tar, 8,000,000 pounds of pitch, 4,300,000 gallons of turpentine, 2,700,- 000 gallons of pine oil, 478,000 500-pound bar- rels of rosin and 41,700,000 bushels of charcoal. Dairy Products Popular.- HE increased consumption of dairy products in this country in the past 10 years is al- most astounding, and shows -that at least one branch of agriculture has found a steady and extensive market. e Of all products, only butter failed to make peak figures. In the case of this product, 1889, with a per capita consumption of 19.9 pounds, led the way, but last year's figures of 17.61 pounds was well over 1920’s 14.7 pounds. Fluid milk censumption in the past 10 years has increased from 43 gallons a year per per- son to 58 gallons, or about two-thirds of a quart a day. Cheese, ice cream and condensed milks also showed large gains, petency and physical requirements may be brought about. One of the important drawbacks to popular acceptance of the airplane is mostly phycho- logical, somewhat similar to the state of mind in the early years of this century which made people delay their acceptance of the automo- bile. But, as Secretary Young points out, it isn't so much “fear” as it is “fare” that keeps us from flying, the “fare” in the case of the popular airplane being low original cost and low cost of operation and maintenance. The popular dread of airsickness, for exame ple, turns out to be more mental than physical. As a matter of fact, it is pointed out that only 5 per cent of those who fly today experience any sort of airsickness, and that is due mostly to lack of ventilation in the closed cabins of the passenger transports. Very little is due to bumpy riding or high flying. Stout suggests a cure for airsickness in re- designing the airplane so that the passengers will be able to see the horizon ahead. “Let the passengers look out and far ahead, instead of straight down to the ground, as are forced to do now,” he says, “and most air- sickness will be avoided.” A PLANE somewhat along this line was built a year or two ago in Germany. It was & small, high-wing affair, but with two light mo- tors, one jutting out of each wing in such a way as to leave the cabin between them unob- structed. The pilot and his passengers could look straight ahead, just as they would in an automobile. 2 Another important consideration that fright ens people away from airplanes at present is the excessively large number of instruments and controls the pilot is forced to watch and operate. That's quite a large order in face of the fact that each of the mail planes operating between Chicago and New York has almost 100 instrue ments and controls in the pilot’s cockpit. Bu$ this number is gradually being reduced by come bination and improvement of the various ine struments. Eventually perhaps we may have only a single instrument to guide our flivver planes, eneugh to show us how the motor is operating, how high we are, in what direction we are flying and at what speed. This is no wild flight of the imagination, but is the suggestion of a cool« minded aviation engineer, one of the best in the industry. WITH such simple guidance, with a fairly st_.ep gliding angle to bring us quickly into a small landing space within the city limits, with stability and safety assured through such devices as an automatic pilot and slotted wings, with sturdy shock absorbers to take up the jolt that is more evident with a steep gliding angle, with an open and well built passenger come partment, we shall feel much more at ease about flying our own airplanes than we do at present. With such a plane, small and easily handled, any one could learn to fly in a few hours, ‘While in that time we might be poor pilots, the ship would be sufficiently able to take care of itself if we happened to misjudge heights or distances. And so we could operate it with little danger of perhaps more tham a shaking up in the event of a poor landing. The day is prob- ably not far in the future.