The prince of space

By Jack Williamson
Author of The Metal Man, The Green Girl, etc.
Illustrated by MOREY
Even the Lick Observatory, which was built at the summit of Mount Wilson, 5885 feet high, at tremendous expense, cannot satisfy the astronomers. An observatory that would reach about twice that height, such as the one built by the scientist in this story, would be more likely to hit the mark. Certainly, the views obtained of the Moon, and even of Mars, through our present apparently gigantic telescopes, undoubtedly call for a higher observatory, fitted with a more enormous telescope, which will some day be established. What may be seen then cannot be foretold with certainty. But that's where the imagination—with scientific visualizations—enters. Mr. Williamson's writing is not new to our readers. At that, this story is sure to make stronger friends for him, and add many new ones to his ever fast-growing list of admirers.
CHAPTER I
Ten Million Eagles Reward!
Space Flier Found Drifting with Two Hundred Dead! Notorious Interplanetary Pirate—Prince of Space—Believed to Have Committed Ghastly Outrage!
Mr. William Windsor, a hard-headed, grim-visaged newspaperman of forty, stood nonchalantly on the moving walk that swept him briskly down Fifth Avenue. He smiled with pardonable pride as he listened to the raucous magnetic speakers shouting out the phrases that drew excited mobs to the robot vending machines which sold the yet-damp news strips of printed shorthand. Bill had written the account of the outrage; he had risked his life in a mad flight upon a hurtling sunship to get his concise story to New York in time to beat his competitors. Discovering the inmost details of whatever was puzzling or important or exciting in this day of 2131, regardless of risk to life or limb, and elucidating those details to the ten million avid readers of the great daily newspaper, The Herald-Sun , was the prime passion of Bill's life.
Incidentally, the reader might be warned at this point that Bill is not, properly speaking, a character in this narrative; he is only an observer. The real hero is that amazing person who has chosen to call himself The Prince of Space. This history is drawn from Bill's diary, which he kept conscientiously, expecting to write a book of the great adventure.