It seemed to tell more than it really did.
At four o'clock that afternoon Ned and Alan were speeding over the
green and fertile prairies of middle Kansas in blissful ignorance of
what Bob Russell had done. Under striking headlines appeared the
following story:
"Ned Napier, the famous young aeronaut of Chicago, passed through
the city this morning on his way to the southwest to execute the
most daring and important balloon journey ever undertaken in this
country. Accompanied by an assistant, Alan Hope, and on board a
special car packed with $50,000 worth of apparatus he will proceed
to Clarkeville, an insignificant town in New Mexico, from which
place he will make his hazardous flight over the mountains lying to
the north. The aerial journey may possibly extended over the Sierra
Nevadas as far as the Pacific Coast.
"The details of the expedition are not made public, as young Napier
has been retained by the authorities at Washington and is operating
under a strict pledge of secrecy. The knowledge that such an
expedition is under way was made known for the first time to the
representative of the Comet by Mr.
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