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

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,