Men with Wings
by Leslie F. Stone
"His wings were snowy white and he smiled brightly appearing very curious about the plane. Mureno thought of taking him back as a prisoner, but the other laughed and dropped from the plane."
THE present story is quite an extraordinary one, and aside from adventure, suspense and interest, it contains excellent science.
A well known evolutionist once said that if it were absolutely necessary for humanity to have four arms and hands instead of two, the extra members would in time be evolved. Nature always keeps pace with necessity, particularly if this necessity is vital. Once a member is no longer vital, it promptly is discarded, such as for instance, tails in human beings. It may not be known generally, that among the human family, there are so-called "throw backs," which still have a prehensile tail.
The author has made use in this tale of an evolution of a most remarkable character and carries the reader on from chapter to chapter with never ending suspense.
Sketch of the author, Leslie Stone
FOREWORD
IT was in examining the precious stack of documents that lay carefully wrapped and ticketed in the old-fashioned vault that our ancestors called a "safe" that I came across this manuscript, which in view of its great historical worth, I feel obliged to publish that all men may read.
We, today, being a race possessing wings, know the few facts of our peculiar evolution. But cold facts like a cold egg do not attract our attention or pique our appetite. And so in order to give more vivid understanding of what actually took place, I am presenting the story of my ancestor who, to use a quaint idiom of his day "typed" these chapters of the great and most picturesque period of world history.
Almost five hundred years have passed and the pages of the manuscript are yellowed by time, but it is possible in reading them for one to relive the tale in its colorful telling. One has only to lift his eye to the air above him and see his fellow-man flying as the birds fly with wings outspread, to become thankful that he is not like his ancestors of centuries ago who had to depend upon a poor sort of flying contraption that had been handed down to him. They did not know the pure joy of soaring above the eagles' heads and adding voice to that of the meadow lark. And realizing this the world can bow heads in reverence to the Martyred President of America and send up a prayer of thanks to our common ancestor, Howard Mentor!
One could write at length on the advantage of having wings, in fact, our literature contains many such extravaganzas. In fact some of our humorous writers have pictured how we would have to live if we reverted back to our poor earth-chained ancestors of the early twentieth century. They must have lived a pitiful existence.
So our story starts in 1945.
CHAPTER ONE
Alarming News
IT was Harry Brent who made the "scoop" and The American came out on one fine morning with four-inch scare heads devoting their entire front page to the news relegating the less important details of murders, robberies, gang-wars, stocks and floods to inside pages. The Warby father-daughter murder went begging for space. It was really hard on those concerned. Later, we reporters, condoled with Annabel Warby because the time was inauspicious for a first-class murder.
The American flaunted its news.
NORDIC FEMALES UNSAFE IN LATIN AMERICA!
MANY OF AMERICA'S FAIREST HAVE VANISHED WITHOUT TRACE!!
New Race of Men with Wings Believed Responsible for the Strange Disappearances of Visiting White Women!
IT IS REVEALED THAT SOUTH AMERICAN OFFICIALS HAVE PURPOSELY SUPPRESSED WORD OF ABDUCTORS FEARING LOSS OF TOURIST TRADE!!!
The newsboys made a bedlam of the streets with their ballyhoo voices interpreting the news as each saw it, and their papers went like hot-cakes.
In the editorial chambers of the New York News half-a-dozen or so of us reporters sat about discussing this latest tidbit, lamenting that it was Brent instead of us who had nosed out this delectable morsel. The wonder of it was that he had managed so adroitly to keep it all under cover until he had unearthed all the corresponding details and that no other paper had smelled it out.
The accounts described the strange abductions in detail, but the signed columns of Brent's held the meat of the whole affair.
"In searching," he said, "through the records of various South American cities I was startled in discovering that the old files held record of many unsolved woman-nappings as far back as two hundred years before, and that then, as today, only women of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Scandinavian blood appear to have been the victims!
"That fact in itself points to at least one clue and it is evident therefore that all these strange disappearances can be laid to one person or ring working under one head. The South American police have naturally been baffled, for in all these years no other clue has ever come to the surface, and all the combined efforts of the various governments of the Latin countries have not availed in discovering the culprits.
"What is hard to understand is how have they managed to keep these serious matters away from the world. Of course such news would be most injurious to the nations of South America who look forward to the in-pouring of tourists and wealthy visitors. In Brazil the Argentine, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and in fact every country where white women have visited the toll has been taken. How many more than the four hundred and thirty-five recorded kidnappings have taken place, we have no way of telling. And perhaps our South American friends might have continued to hide the truth had not the abductors themselves become so careless in their actions as to give away more clues, forced themselves, in fact, on public attention, so that our friends below the equator were forced to admit what was happening!
"I might even say that the woman-stealers have become incensed by the attitude of the South American police, at the utter disregard of them by the officials, and are now making it a point to bring themselves to the notice of the world. On the other hand it may be that, so long unrestrained, they are merely becoming careless and with a spirit of bravado are indulging in wild escapades, in extravagant gestures.
"It was the disappearance of Marion Hally, daughter of the well-known Herbert Hally, sportsman and dilettante artist of New York, that first brought Rio de Janeiro to the realization that something had to be done. In two weeks' time more information has come to light than in over two centuries.
"On March 4th the thing happened, but for almost two weeks the news was kept secret as there was hope of finding the missing girl. It was the father that exposed the truth to the public when he offered the munificent reward of one hundred thousand dollars for the recovery of his daughter or at least for word as to her whereabouts. The story was printed on handbills and distributed throughout the city as it was evident that Hally would not depend on the newspapers to make the announcement.
"The story says that Miss Hally had gone for a jaunt on her horse, followed only by an attendant by the name of Jose, through the winding paths of the vast estate of Senor Alvarez Ricardi y Murado at whose home the Hallys were visiting. The equerry kept a respectable distance behind his lady, speeding his horse as they rounded each curve so as to keep her in sight. The ride was, at first, anything but eventful; the sun was hot, the day warm. Gradually Jose fell farther and farther behind until suddenly awakened by the shying of his horse he recalled his responsibility and whipping up his horse was surprised to find his mistress riding in the company of a man who was likewise horsed.
"The stranger's costume struck Jose as singular, since the equestrian was entirely wrapped in a black, completely enfolding cape. Under his wide brimmed hat was a tanned hawkish face that reminded the equerry of a bird. Miss Hally appeared very much interested in her escort and the two were conversing with allimation. Jose fell back again and was aroused from his lethargy only when a piercing scream brought him to attention. Spurring up his horse he raced ahead. The path took a wide curve, a hairpin curve in truth and although the voice was near at hand it was necessary for him to ride in a wide circle to reach the spot from where the voice had come. He saw the two horses grazing quietly beside the road but there was no sign of their riders!
"Leaping from his horse Jose looked about. On the ground ten feet away he found the long cape of the stranger, and to it was adhering several black feathers, glossily ashine, and several inches in length. Farther on he found Miss Hally's stiff little riding hat. But though he searched in all directions and repeatedly called her name there was no answer. Once he glanced up at the sky and saw what appeared to be a large bird of black flying high and very swiftly though he appeared to be carrying a burden. It was only after much questioning that he bethought himself of the bird, but, of course, the police did not consider that a clue. Nevertheless the disappearance of Marian Hally is still one of the unsolved mysteries.
"In the following week there were several tales that paralleled that of Miss Hally. And it was found that there was always a man with a black cape near the scene of the abduction. Someone was sure to liken him to a bird and usually a few feathers of different colors were found! The hue and cry went out for a black caped man.
"It was in Quito, Ecuador, on March 17th that the real clue came to light. It was in the new Salvadora Hotel where Miss Hilda Berkenhart was visiting with her father. The Berkenharts are of old Swedish-German stock and Miss Berkenhart blonde and handsome, was often spoken of as the Viking Maid. Junoesque tall, wide-shouldered, overflowing with the vitality of her healthy body, she was a true daughter of that once great race, a prize-winner if ever there was one.
"It appears that she, with several other guests of the hotel, had entered the lift. One by one the others got off at their floors. She had a room several floors higher. She, and a tall slender man with fine aquiline features, and wearing a dark blue cape that hung to his feet, were now the only occupants beside the elevator-boy. The latter was a small slender Irishman who had found his way into the tiny country on the Equator, and he was suddenly aroused from his memories of the Emerald Isle as he realized his male passenger had addressed him. 'Drive to the roof!' had been the command.
"Miss Berkenhart started to protest, but turning the boy saw that the be-caped man held a revolver trained on them both. Up they went to the roof. 'Get out!' The girl and boy under the persuasion of the gun hurried to obey. From under his cape the man next brought forth a length of cord. 'Tie her hands together,' he had directed the elevator operator and under the menace of the revolver the girl allowed him to do it. 'Now tie her feet'. That was done. 'Go back to the lift now and descend to the lobby!'
"Quaking, the youth retreated to the elevator shaft and started the motor, but he did not descend far. He lowered the machine just enough to allow his eyes to be on a level with the roof-floor. So noiseless was the well-oiled machinery that the man in the cape did not hear. Later the operator reported what he had seen. The man had already crossed to the girl's side and said something to her that the closed door of the lift muffled, but the boy saw her smile bravely. Then the strange man tossed off his cape!
"The boy had to rub his eyes to make sure of what he had seen. The man was standing in a close-fitting costume of white that seemed skintight, decorated with a snow of colored feathers-- bright and glistening. However, that was not the strangest part of him. He was winged! On his back pressed against his shoulder blades were a pair of wings, wings such as a condor might have. The boy swore they were easily five feet in length from the shoulder blades to within a few inches of the man's heel, wings with long glossy feathers of golden brown intermingled with yellow and darker shades of brown. For joy of being free from the binding cape the wings seemed to stretch themselves and there was easily a spread of twelve feet from tip to tip!
"Smiling kindly the winged man had turned to the girl who tried to draw away from him in fear. The Irish boy admitted that the man was handsome, with his bird-like features and his dark wavy hair and sea-blue eyes that had the distance of the sky in their depths. He walked toward Miss Berkenhart and as gently as a mother, picked her up, settled her comfortably in his arms and with a great surge of those gigantic wings arose straight up into the heavens with his burden.
"For several moments the boy watched the flight, and on the streets below were people who were staring in wonder, for they too had seen the takeoff. When the youth reached the hotel lobby his eyes were rolling. He reported what he had seen. A great roar took hold of the city. The boy's word was not doubted. Others had seen. Rather the fellow was looked upon as a saviour. At last there was something tangible to work on. A winged man had carried off Miss Berkenhart. A winged man had carried off Miss Hally! Winged men had carried off women in South America for two hundred years. It was all explained. Latin America is satisfied. The mystery is solved!"
"Is the mystery solved?" asked Brent in concluding. "Surely it has just begun. What are these men with wings? Who are they? From whence have they come? What sort of beings are they? Has Science overlooked something? Is Darwin right? What have evolutionists to say? Does this prove or disprove? And what has become of our women, our girls that have been carried away? For what?"
Brent then went on to question the possibilities. Had South America given birth to a new race of men? Was there some Lost World in that half explored continent? Were these new creatures birds or men?
A Strange Tale
THE next day the papers came out with editorials concerning this new man, this new menace. Had a new race actually been evolved? Was this to change the entire theory of evolution? Where would Darwin and his monkeys be now? Could it be true that the Pterodactyl, the flying reptile was our ancestor instead of the ape? Was South America a new breeding place of man?
New tales of abductions appeared. It looked as if this alated race had come out of their two centuries of seclusion and were deliberately making war upon humanity, on white women! A pilot flying over a section of the Brazilian jungles came back with the tale of his sighting a winged man and giving chase. He tells of having caught up with the fellow, and he estimated that the flying creature was traveling at the speed of about eighty miles per hour!
Seeing the plane draw alongside of him the birdman waved and before the pilot realized his intention he had risen above the machine and then as lightly as a bird alighted on a wing, as close to the pilot as he could.
Pedro Mureno, the pilot, described the fellow as a young chap of perhaps twenty-two with fair hair and blue eyes. His wings were snowy white. He smiled brightly and appeared very curious about the plane, his eyes darting about and taking it all in. The speed of the machine evidently intrigued him for it was doing a hundred and fifty miles an hour. He crawled through the struts to the pilot's side and attempted to converse with him, but the noise of the engine prevented that.
Mureno turned a loop for the edification of the youth and performed several other maneuvers and stunts, and the boy laughed with pleasure. Mureno thought of taking him back to the base a prisoner, but, as if divining his purpose, the other laughed again, crawled to the edge of the wing and dropped from the plane. Mureno circled him for several minutes chagrined that he was unable to make his capture.
Taking the opportunity to show off, the winged youth now did stunts. Rising rapidly above the plane he suddenly closed his wings so that he fell like a stone for almost five hundred feet and as suddenly opened his wings halting his fall as abruptly as he began it. He gave a pretty demonstration of a bird chasing insects, darting, banking, soaring, whirling and plunging with the sun ashine upon the beauty of his snow-white plumage.
He turned somersaults, lay on his back with his wings spread under him, circled, turned sharply at right angles, climbed straight upwards and sailed, then came tobogganing down again. At last tired of play and wanting to be rid of his spectator with a wave of his hand he commenced rising straight upward again and before Mureno realized his intention, headed into the bright glare of the sun that was soon to set. To Mureno, it was as if he had actually flown directly into the heart of the flaming star.
Later that same trick of the flying men was going to prove rather trying to aviators giving them chase, for once in the full glare of the sun it was impossible for the pilots to make them out, blinded as they were by the sun. The trick also gave rise to the supposition that the winged men came from the sun, were not of Earthly origin after all. However, only the ignorant would believe such a tale.
