[ALMOST]
Bunny had trusted me on the outward trip, so now, returning to March Field, Calif., I comforted myself in the rear cockpit of our army DH with the thought that Bunny could fly as well as I.
San Francisco lay behind us. The Diablo Mountains were beneath. Snug around us, familiar and friendly, was our ship.
But beyond, strange and ominous by now to Bunny and me because we had hardly ever flown in it before, and never for so long, stretched like a white, opaque, and directionless night the fog.
The ship felt as if it were flying straight, but when I peeked over Bunny’s shoulder I saw the needle on his bank and turn indicator leaning halfway over to the right. I watched it start back then—Bunny was all right—to the center. But slowly then, inexorably—Bunny! Bunny!—the needle leaned over to the left. The ball was centered, so the turns were good. But that was not enough. Where were we going? Were we weaving? Circling? Which way were we turning mostly? The ocean was not far off to our right.
Then something else—ice! Its white hands gripped the front of wings, the leading edge of struts and wires. The prop got rough. The motor beat and strained. Once the ship shivered. I saw one aileron go down. Bunny was trying to hold a wing up. I saw the needle straighten. He had held it. But I saw something else too! I saw the altimeter losing. No hope for blue sky now. No hope to ride on top until we found a hole, as our weather report had indicated that we would. How far were the mountain tops beneath us? Would the ice melt off before we sank too far?
I saw the throttle moving backward, heard the motor taper off its friendly roar, heard Bunny’s voice sound out like thunder in white doom.
“Let’s jump,” he shouted, turning his head halfway.
Were there mountains to land on and walk on in the depths of that white down there? Or had we circled out over the ocean?