Sedgwick High School - Comet Yearbook (Sedgwick, ME)

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THE COMET 15 adventure I ever had, laughed Blair. I wouldn't have missed lt for-well, for even Mars or Pars either. That's' the spirit, my boy! It SUFC takes the young fellows to boost space travel. n When Mars was reached, the presi- dent of the Solar Navigation Innes gave Jimmie the position as assistant general manager of the lines. --L. B., '32. THE LEGEND OF LOVERWS LEAP Many years ago there lived an In- dian whose name was Wabun. He was young, beautiful, brave. He was regarded with awe and admiration by his young companions. It was he who received all the glory from battles, it was he who led his followers to victory, it was he who was the guest of honor at all the banquets. But with all this glory, Wabun was not happy. The woman he loved was kept away from him by her father, White Owl, an arch enemy of Wabun. It may seem odd that the sachem should be opposed to such a gallant warrior as Wabun, but on several oc- casions, victory was won only by the persistence of Wabun, when VVhite Owl had given up the battle. For this reason White Owl rejected praises given Wabun for his valor. Wabun wanted to marryTawasen- tha, but White Owl had other plans. She was to marry Nawanda, whom she despised. The lceremony was to take place on the full of the moon, and that only two weeks away. Something must be done immediately if the pledge of the two was to be kept, to marry or die in the attempt. The days before the full of the moon were busy ones. Piles of pine knots were to be gathered. Venison must be provided. WVarriors Krom neighboring tribes must be notified. White Owl kept constant guard over his daughter for fear she would run away. NVabun also watched. The night of the ceremony saw many strange faces about the sachem's lodge. Warriors had come from far and near to witness the mar- riage of the chief 's daughter. Both IVabun and Tawasentha were con- stantly Watching for any chance to escape, but the father was always alert and watchful over his daughter. Excitement arose as the celebration progressed. A look of dismay and discontent crept over the maiden's fair countenance as she saw N awanda approach her, in expectation of lead- ing her through rows of warriors, up to the sachem. But Wabun also saw him approaching, and, like a flash, sprang from the bushes, caught up the squaw and rushed back i11to the woods. Great excitement followed. War- riors were hurrying here and there in a crazy search for bows and ar- rows, etc. During this time, the elopers had time to gain quite a dis- tance on their pursuers, but their progress was slackened by the neces- sity of keeping to the woods and keeping constant watch for followers. In the mad rush for freedom, VVa-- bun had lost all sense of direction, and they wandered about all the dark night. At the approach of dawn, they found themselves trapped. They were at the summit of a high bluff. Its high, jagged, rock-covered side

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14 B THE coivnazfr and you have never seen the wonders of space. I've never had the chance yet, sir, replied Blair, but 11ow that I have, I'll enjoy it all the more. Monday morning appeared and the two men rode down the moving ways to the gigantic space dock on Long Island, N. Y. They boarded the president's special space ship, the Vela. This ship was small compared with the huge liners, but at that she was large in comparison with the ships of a few years back, and she had a speed of twenty miles per second between atmospheres. The automatically sealed doors? closed a11d the interplanetary ship took off. Her propellers carried her out of the atmosphere of the Earth into the black void as hundred miles up. Here the propellers were hauled in and the liquid fuel exploded in the rocket tubes and set her going at a tremendous rate. Jimmie Blair sat in the observation room and got his first eyeful of the wonders of black, airless space. The sun, planets, and stars shone in all their undimmed glory in the black, frigid sky, and to Jimmie it was a weird, beautiful sight. After ten days from port, the plan- ets began to grow slightly larger and the Earth, which was something like a million and a half miles away, had become very small. It was at about this time that something Went wrong with the generators of the repellent rays used to ward off asteroids from striking the ship. VVe were in deadly danger and knew it. The mechanics worked feverishly, but to no avail. Everyone wore his space suit in case of a col- lision. On the fifteenth day it happened. Mawson and Jimmie were together in the observation room when they saw approaching, at a terrific speed, a huge grey mass. The Vela maneu- vered crazily to escape it but could not get out of its way. It smashed into the space flier and crumbled the pointed metal nose of the craft like paper. The whole ship burst apart, due to the compressed air rushing into space and the shock of collision, and the human cargo was spewed out into frigid space. They had only their vacuum suits and ten days' sup- ply of oxygen. Mawson 'and Blair had grabbed each other when the smash came, and now they were slowly drifting around the remains of the space flier with the rest of the crew, some of whom were dead, and small parts of the Vela. The S. O. S. sent out just before the crash reached the Andromeda, of the United Space Liners, just outside of Venus. She at once put on all speed and hurried to the rescue. In seven days the Andromeda came upon the wreckage in space and picked up the men. Those who were not dead were nearly frozen by the terrible cold, in spite of their suits. The Andromeda then set out for Mars. Two weeks later, with Mars nearly reached, Mawson and Jimmie were wholly recovered from the terri- ble experience. I What do you think of interplanet- ary travel now, Jimmie, my boy? asked Mawson with a twinkle in his eye. Gosh! That was the most exciting

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16 THE coME'r cut off their advance, and the mad- dened warriors were behind them. Just as the first of the pursuers was emerging from the bushes, Wa- bun caught up his love, and retreating a few steps, made a run and leaped over the edge of the precipice. Down, down they went, clasped by a love stronger than the mightiest tiger, yea, even stronger than love of life itself. Now the Indian, even when aroused to his highest point of anger, has a keen sense of bravery, courage and true devotion. Thus, while watching the death descent of the lovers, a new legend was added to their already lo11g list--the legend of Loverls Leap. -E. B., '32, BLINDED IN NSO-MAN'S LAND At the call of stand to, which meant to change sentries, Harold Turner crept from his dug-out. His comrades were already at their posts. He joined them, shivering as the cold, damp air stung through his clothes. For awhile only the low whispers of the sentries broke the stillness of the night. But suddenly there came the zip-zip of German machine-gun bullets as they sped on their way a few inches over the heads of the sen- tries. Turner kept well below the para- pet. He did not want a stray bullet to place his name on the death roll as it had so many of his comrades. A half hour passed, and with it the rain, but not the machine guns of the enemy. They kept up a continuous fire, knowing that attempts would be made to repair the breach in the barb wire entanglements made during the day by the heavy artillery of the en- emy. The captain was more than anxious to repair the breach. A suspicious massing of the troops opposite the position occupied by Turner's divis-A ion and an unusually heavy bom- bardment led him to believe that an attack was in progress. Turner, cried the captain, si- le11ce that gun, we can never risk to fix that breach with that firing going on. At this Turner began to pour bullets at the enemy from his own machine gun, but succeeded only in striking sparks from his protection plates. The situation was becoming serious, so taking several bombs, he quickly went over the top of the trench, determined to silence that gun. Unable to walk upright, he crawled across No-Man's Land. He walked up close to the enemy's post and dropped a couple of bombs in their trench. The firing ceased. He turned to retrace his steps when, crash! a shell burst close by him. Stunned and blinded, he was hurled many yards by the force of the explosion. When he again regained his senses, he realized the danger of his position. Blind in No-man's Land! In which direction were his own trenches? VVas it day or night? If he moved, and it was daylight, he would be shot down at once. Suddenly something touched his body. It was Jack, a fox terrier, the company's mascot. Here was a chance to get back. Taking a rope from his pocket, he tied it around the dog's neck, he held the other end in his hands, and or- dered the dog to go back. The dog started at once for his company. It