“There’s just one thing I’d like to know,” said the ranchman. “What in thunder were you trying to do when you started for the ground all of a sudden. I was scared half to death and Curly was shouting his prayers.”
“To tell the truth I went to sleep,” confessed Tim. “When I woke up we were in a power dive and not very far from the ground. I was scared stiff but Lady Luck was with us and the wings stayed on when I pulled the plane out of the dive. Otherwise, we might not be having hot soup right now. And boy, does this soup hit the spot!”
They had nearly finished their lunch when the door opened and the managing editor of the News hurried in.
“They phoned me you were coming in a few minutes ago,” he told Tim. “How are you? Where’s Ralph? Is Lewis all right?”
The flying reporter answered the managing editor’s questions as rapidly as possible and then related the events of the day. He introduced the managing editor to Hank Cummins and Curly and told of the important part the Circle Four men had taken in the rescue of the injured pilot.
“That’s great work, Tim, great,” exclaimed the managing editor. “If Ralph isn’t reported by morning you’ll want to start out again. How about writing the story for the News before you turn in?”
The lunch and opportunity to relax had restored part of Tim’s strength and he was eager to write the story of the day’s happenings. It was all fresh and vivid in his mind. If he went to sleep and tried to write the story in the morning part of the dashing action, the brilliant color of the words, would be lost. He agreed to the managing editor’s suggestion and sat down at the typewriter in the field manager’s office.
With a handful of paper on the desk beside him, he started his story. The other men in the room continued their conversation but they might as well have been in another world as far as Tim was concerned. He was reliving the events of the day, transferring the story of what had happened in the clouds into words and sentences that would thrill the readers of the News the next day.
Page after page of copy fell from the machine as Tim’s fingers hammered at the keys. The managing editor unobtrusively picked them up and read them with increasing eagerness.
In glowing words Tim painted the story of the entire events of the day from the sudden onslaught of the blizzard to the final landing of his plane on the home field. It was a story high in human interest—a story every subscriber of the News would read and remember.