ory,
"that yarn, as much as I get of it, would lead the average _hombre_
to pick you out as a sho' 'nuff flyer. I would myself. Me, I'm easy
fooled that way. I reckon all you buckaroos think you know somethin'
about flyin', eh?"

Standing a full six feet two, he looked down upon them, the look of pity
still in his eyes in strange conflict with the mirthless smile still on
his lips.

"What's eatin' you?" Porter growled. "We can't help it because you're
late for mess. Where've you been?"

Siddons and Hampden, not greatly interested in what they felt was some
new strained humor on Yancey's part, pushed back from the table and
started for the door, their objective being the French town of Is Sur
Tille.

Yancey waited until they were near the door before he answered Porter.

"Oh, I've just been over to Is Sur Tille havin' a look-see at this new
instructor that's comin' down here to teach us how to fly."

Siddons, with his hand upon the door, wheeled abruptly and studied
Yancey's face, trying to discover the jest hidden behind that baffling,
masking smile.

"Are you joking us?" he demanded from the doorway, but sufficiently
convinced to turn back.

The "Flying Fool" smiled sweetly. "Why, Siddons, I wouldn't kid you-all
about that sort o' thing," he drawled. "I saw him myself, in town,
ridin' in a car with the C.O.[A] Like as not the Major will bring him
in here this evenin' for a little chin-chin."

A suppressed growl arose from the other pilots.

"What is he coming here for?" young Edouard Fouche demanded, knowing the
answer but anxious to have it brought out in the open where it could be
attacked and vilified by all.

Yancey seated himself, tilted his chair back from the table and bestowed
another sweet smile upon a room filled with scowling faces. It was a
delicious moment--for Tex.

"Why, he's comin' here to teach you poor worms how to fly. It seems
that someone back in the States made a mistake in thinkin' we were
pilots. We're here by accident. Ha! Ha! That's what we are--just
accidents. Did you boys think we were sent over here to get all
messed up in this little old war? Tut, tut! We're here just to add
grandeur to the colorless scenery. Now be nice to this fellow when
he comes. Maybe after he has labored with us for a while we'll be
turned into ferry pilots and be sent to ferryin' planes up to the
regular guys. I'm so glad I horned in on this scrap; it's so well
planned and--and thrillin'."

More g