"Leslie F. Stone - Men With Wings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stone Leslie F)

chill that did not belong to the equator. Then Wormley lost entire control of
the ship. D'Arcy let out a yell. "We're moving backwards!"
It was true, the plane was actually running backward, and in a circling
motion,
the earth seeming swinging about the trees slipped from under us grotesquely
and
the propeller was whirling crazily. Too, it was growing dark around us
although
it was only about ten o'clock in the morning! I could see the sun shining as
if
through a haze.
When the propeller stopped we stared at the big motionless blades blankly.
The
engine was dead, but we continued to move around in a great circle as though
we
were being pulled along on a string! The chill was increasing each minute and
we
were shivering. I remembered the words of the pilot who had managed to
broadcast
the course of events before he fell to . . . what? What was happening to us?
Were we to die under the hands of the men we had come to discover?
Now with the engine stalled we were moving faster and faster until below us
through the growing darkness we could see the jungle sweeping crazily around
in
a blurred vision. It had become so cold that I was entirely numbed, my sense
of
feeling gone.
Then: "God! We're falling . . . falling . . . "
The trees were coming up to meet us. I had a glimpse of a big wall crashing
toward us. I covered my face with my hands. The crash came and our screams
reverberated in my ears as I sank into darkness that swept over me. And
through
it I heard voices and dreamed of giant eagles who were ripping my flesh from
my
bones.



The Toll
WHEN I came to consciousness I wondered at finding myself in a hospital room.
I
recalled after racking my brains what had happened. I remembered the day's
flight, the flying men, the peculiar antics of our plane and the fall. Beyond
that I could remember nothing and wondered now how I had been transported
back
to the city.
For some minutes I lay staring at the sky-light overhead, through which
diffused
a sunlight like that of northern skies. Then turning my head I stared at the
four walls, and the white beds of which there were five beside mine. Two, I