"But, very fortunately for me, after a momentary spluttering, the engine picked up again, and fired properly. I had begun to sink toward the ground, upon which I knew I could have picked out no landing place in the darkness. As soon as my engine began to do its work again, however, I rose and continued my flight smoothly." With the dawn came a terrific wind which forced the aviator to land near Polesworth. While waiting for the wind to abate the Englishman and his friends heard Paulhan had reached Manchester and won the prize. Of Paulhan's famous flight, one of the men who was aboard the special train following Paulhan, according to Mr. Grahame-White, said: "I do not think I have ever seen a machine roll about in the air as his did. He was, we could see, incessantly at work. One wind gust after another struck the machine and it literally reeled under the shock. "Up and down it went, and from side to side. Paulhan's pluck and determination were remarkable. I do not think that any other man could have kept on with such determination as he displayed. It was a strange thing to see how the wind got worse and worse as the airman flew on." But these feats that startled the world in 1910 would not cause a ripple of enthusiasm now, since the North American Continent has been crossed by aeroplane; since the trip from Boston to Washington and from St. Louis to New York has been made; since a machine has stayed in the air a whole day, or more than eight and a half hours, since a dozen passengers have been carried half a dozen miles and since the development of the hydro-aeroplane. [Illustration: Copyright, by Brown Brothers, N. Y. CHAVEZ ON HIS FATAL FLIGHT ACROSS THE ALPS] [Illustration: THE LATE CALBRAITH P. RODGERS, TRANS-CONTINENTAL FLIER This picture was taken just after Rodgers had picked himself up after one of the many smash-ups of his aeroplane during his ocean to ocean flight.] Of course it hasn't all been the winning of prizes and the cheering of crowds, for, as we all know, there has been a tragic side to aviation. Up to the summer of 1912 more than 150 persons had met death in aeroplane accidents. To analyze all these accidents would require a whole book, but experts agree that in a great many cases they were the result of carelessness on the part of the pilot. Of course there were other causes, such as the collapse of the wings, the breaking of stays, the overturning by wind gusts, "holes in the air," the explosion of the motor, the failure of the motor at a critical time, or the collapse of the aviator, but authorities declare that many of these can be prevented by the use of proper care by the designers, manufacturers, and pilots of the air vehicles.