CHAPTER XXXIV
THE DEPARTURE
THE successful nonstop flight of the Silver Comet was a front-page sensation in the American newspapers. The fact that the Transatlantic plane had been given up as lost added to the interest of the story.
Furthermore, Lieutenant Raymond Branson had disappeared after his successful landing in Germany, and his whereabouts had been unknown for several days.
Berlin had been the pilot’s objective. He had confided that fact to his companion in the plane, early in the flight.
Everything had gone well until they had reached Germany; then, for some unknown reason, Branson had been forced to make a landing. He had brought the ship to earth not far from a large town, and had immediately left the plane.
When his weary companion had climbed from the ship, Branson was nowhere around.
The man who had accompanied Branson had been completely bewildered by the disappearance of his chief. He was unable to speak German. It had been some hours before he had been able to convince people that this was a plane from America, and that the pilot had vanished.
Branson’s picture had been printed on the front pages of thousands of newspapers. Then, while wild theories were being advanced to account for his absence, the missing man revealed himself in Berlin.
The strain of the flight had told on him, he said. His failure to reach Berlin had made him frantic. He had hastened from the plane, and had gone to the town near which he had landed.