Thereupon he fulfilled the prophecy of the Book of Joel, and rose from the ground and “ran like a mighty man.”
The airplane settled upon the edge of the Moccasin prairie. A young man dismounted from the machine, glanced at it critically, then took a survey of the sky with a rather furtive eye, and turned with an air of decision and disappeared in the swamp.
Then a strange negro stepped to the edge of the clearing, waited until he was sure that the airman was not going to return, and walked over to the machine.
“Dat white man is done got enough flyin’ an’ he’s drapped dis car down here fer good,” he decided. “Dis am four miles from Tickfall, an’ ef dat white man had wanted to land anywise nigh he could hab done it.”
He stood scratching his head and pondering.
“Naw, suh,” he concluded. “Dat white man is done lost dis here flyin’-machine. He lost it a puppus. He ain’t never comin’ back fer it.”
Sniffing at the taint of hot oil which spoiled the rich odors of the woods, the strange negro wandered on toward Tickfall, his nose in the air.
Incidentally he had some plans in the air.
II
THREE MEN
Three men left the landing place of the airplane and started for Tickfall, four miles away.