Grants Pass High School - Toka Yearbook (Grants Pass, OR)

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26 $ljr 5oka above the ground. Too late! John sickened at the thought. But what was that? Something was dragging beside him. He grasped it hurriedly and found it to be a huge anchor chain. Some one of the crew had left an anchor loose and John had found it. In a moment the chain tightened and with a rush of air he was lifted far above the earth. John never forgot the first sensation. Tt. was beautiful, and awful. The great ship above him, its dark hulk dimly outlined against the sky, the steady hum of its drivers, the ceaseless throb of the motors, never brokeu except by the calm voice of the captain as ho gave his orders, the lightning changes of the giant searchlights—and all unconscious of him hanging below like a spider on a thread. Suddenly he felt a tremor. He knew what it meant in an instant. The anchor had been discovered and the crew were pulling it up. John was happy. Every moment brought him nearer Angeline. When he was directly under the ship, he felt the crew give a mighty heave and then he was lifted bodily over the side. His arrival on board created a real sensation, to say the least. The crew stared at him as though he were some strange animal. But the captain didn’t. He gripped John by the throat and threw him over backward into a stateroom and locked the door. Luckily, there was a light in the room and John could see plainly. The room was nicely furnished and at one end was a set of huge tanks. These were connected by tubing to a common valve and on examination he found that they contained hydrogen. Evidently the ship had a mechanical apparatus for supplying air. John was not interested in that. He wanted Angeline. Was she alive? Were they carrying her off? He pounded on the door and could get no answer. He beat his hands to a pulp on the hard steel walls, but to no avail. For hours the distracted boy sat looking through the plate glass windows into space. The monotony was killing him. Nothing but that never-ending hum of the motors, the onward rush of the ship so far above the earth, so far from everything. Once he felt a violent pitching of the ship, the sudden shifting of the planes, and once more It was quiet. John was crazed. What could he do? He sat upon the floor and formed plan after plan to escape, yet each was broken in succession. Unconsciously his lips moved and he whispered the name of Angeline. Where was she? Some one came in. John did not even look up. The intruder shook the boy roughly. “What do you want?” he yelled sharply in John’s ear. “Angeline,” called John softly, “Angeline.” Here some of the crew entered and they pulled the heartbroken boy to his feet. “How’d you get on that anchor?” asked one rudely. “Angeline, Angeline,” called John, thinking only of the dear one who loved him. “Crazy, I guess,” said the captain. He was a hard man of the world, this captain. He was of another sphere than John’s. He knew not the higher life and the course of true love. Just then one of the crew came in dragging a rope. “Angeline,” murmured John.

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tlbr auka 21 Angelin? £o Chp 'Balefcirturian bg a iluniur NGELINE was a girl who seemed to have that marvelous faculty of being always popular. She had curly hair and a round, cheery facp and brown eyes. There really was nothing handsome about her, in fact, she was rather plain, but she had a personality. He was a short, stocky farmer boy who came to school in a one-horse sulkey and wore freckles and a straw hat. He was anything but handsome and did not even have personality, and his name was just plain John—and hers was Angeline. John never knew just what started it a’.!, but it really began one Friday night. He had been to a “party” (if the social gathering he had attended might be called by that name) and had gone home with Angeline. From this time on things went from bad to worse. John didn’t get up early enough, he was given to talking in his sleep, he worked halfheartedly and with no interest in what he was doing. On this particular Thursday of which I am writing, things had gone wrong with John. He had had to be pulled bodily out of bed to begin with, and when he went to milk he grew absent-minded and put his harness on his mother’s favorite horse. After this had been straightened out he got along better and at six-thirty that night had on his best clothes, ready to escort his youthful sweetheart to the spelling bee at the “corners.” Everything had gone nicely—evidently—for at one o’clock John sat in his room and smiled to himself with great satisfaction. He was tired and sleepy, but happy. He had closed his eyes for a moment, not thinking of sleep, when he heard a sound like the whistling of the wind in a dense forest. Turning to the window, John raised the sash and looked out. At first it was dark and the shapes were very indistinct, but in a little w'hile he could see plainly. He was just a little surprised to see an airship anchored a short distance off. In fact, it was right beside the barn. Strange to say, he was not really alarmed and his leaving for the airship was prompted only by curiosity. From all appearances the airship was just preparing to ascend. He could hear the rattle of chains and the shouts of the men. Suddenly he stopped. What was that? A scream? John’s heart stopped beating. Visions of a round-faced school girl with brown eyes rose before him. He heard the voice again. It was Angellne’s! Cold chills ran up and down his back and held track meets and football games on his shoulders. He must save her! The voice came again. It was from the airship and it was Angeline’s! Angeline’s! John covered the block between the house and the barn in four seconds and arrived on the spot just as the giant bird started its motors and rose

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CEhr Snka 27 'No! said the sailor shortly, putting the rope over John's neck. Fish-line. Then they dragged him out of the room and onto the cool deck. They tied one end of the rope to the railing and in spite of the boy’s struggles, lifted him to the rail. John thought his hour had come. He thought of Angeline and called her dear name in agony. But the crew were not decided. Upon second consideration they took off the rope and untied it from the railing. John's hopes rose. Were they to set him free at last? But hardly had the thought passed through John's mind when he received a shove in the back of the neck and he went over backward into space. The first sensation was awful. John knew he was falling to certain death. He had seen the stars and the moon from the airship and he knew that the earth must be at least a thousand miles off. Down, down, down he went. In agony the boy called for friends, mother, Angeline. Everyone had deserted him. What was that staring him in the face? It was Angeline. She was calling to him. Yes! Angeline, I am coming! Yes. Angeline, my love, Angeline!” Some one seemed choking him. Angeline!” John awoke. At first he was bewildered, dazed. Then he realized what had happened. His father and mother were standing over him, amazed. The room looked as though it had been through two or three cyclones and a war. The bedclothes were scattered over everything. The pictures were torn from the walls and the dresser lay face down upon the floor, the mirror in a thousand pieces. John sat with his back to the wall and his feet upon a chair. His clothes were torn and wrinkled. His collar was lying in the middle of the floor. John’s mother was clinging to his father and trembling from head to foot. John’s father was stern indeed. John Washington Williams,” he began, what is the meaning of this? Who Is Angeline?” No answer. Young man,” the irate father continued, lifting John to his feet, “I wish to see you in the kitchen.” Father,” his wife spoke, It’s two o’clock.” I don’t care if it is,” snapped her husband. Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of this painful scene.