rters," Williams said, eagerly.

"Never mind, I'll find him," McGee said. "Have to check in at
headquarters first. I hear Cowan is still C.O."

"Yes, sir. He sure is. And he's a darb, Lieutenant."

"So I hear. Piling up quite a record. How many of the old gang still
here, Williams?"

"Not many. If the Hun doesn't get 'em, nerves and the smell of
castor-oil does. Half a dozen of 'em gone flooey in the stomach.
Couldn't eat enough to keep a bird alive and couldn't keep that down.
It's a tough game, Lieutenant. Next war that comes yours truly is going
to join the infantry."

"Don't do it," McGee warned, as he turned away. "I've just had a little
experience with the infantry and it's not such a bed of roses. See you
later, Williams."

"Well for the luva Pete!" Williams commented to himself, standing arms
akimbo as he watched McGee cross over toward headquarters. "And they
said that bird's head was busted wide open and his brains scattered all
over France. Now there he is, big as life. I'll bet ten bucks to a lousy
centime he lives to fall off a merry-go-round and break his neck. For
the luva Pete!"

2

McGee's return to the squadron would have been fittingly celebrated but
for the fact that five o'clock the following morning had been designated
as "zero hour" for the greatest drive ever undertaken by Americans on
foreign soil. He had arrived just in time to hurl himself into the
feverish preparations for the support which all air units must give the
massed ground forces that would hurl themselves upon the supposedly
impregnable Hindenburg Line. With the coming of dawn the combat
squadrons must gain and hold air supremacy. Nothing less than complete
and absolute supremacy would satisfy Great Headquarters, who in planning
the drive were high in the hope that the fresh divisions of American
soldiers could break through the Hindenburg Line and by hammering,
hammering, hammering at the enemy force him into peace terms before the
coming of winter.

McGee was tickled pink by his timely arrival, but it was not all a
matter of rejoicing. For one thing, it seemed that almost the entire
group was made up of new faces. Of those flight pilots whom he had first
met when he came to the squadron as an instructor, only three
remained--Yancey, Nathan Rodd and Siddons. Of course Larkin was still on
top, and Cowan not only held his command, but had established quite a
reputation. Yancey had earned the right to a nickname more app