baleful glare. "You should ask--with as much
experience as both of us have had with these tricky motors. I choked it
down, that's all. That same little fault has sent many a pilot home in a
wooden box. Go get me a piece of that wire. We'll fix the skid, somehow,
and when I get to Le Bourget I'll set her down on two points. And
listen! From here on in we do--"

"No contour chasing," Larkin completed, forcing a thin smile. "Seems I
heard that somewhere before. Crawl out, Shrimp. You said you wanted to
be out among the flowers and sweet things. Well, here's a sweet thing,
and this field is full of flowers. I brought you down low so you could
enjoy them."

"Yeah! I said I wanted to be among 'em--not pushing 'em up. Hurry over
and get that wire before I do something violent."

2

Thirty minutes later two chastened pilots took off from the level field,
with a half dozen curious French peasants for an audience, and laid a
straight course for Le Bourget. No more acrobatics and no more hedge
hopping. To an observer below they would have resembled two homing
pigeons flying rather close together and maintaining their positions
with a singleness of mind and purpose.

When they reached Le Bourget they circled the 'drome once, noted the
wind socks on the great hangars, and dropped as lightly to the field as
two tardy, truant schoolboys seeking to gain entrance without attracting
notice.

A newly arrived American squadron was stationed at the field, jubilant
over the fact that they were trying their skill on the fast climbing,
fast flying single-seater Spads. Five of these swift little hawks were
now on the line, making ready for a formation flight.

McGee and Larkin introduced themselves to the officer in command,
presented their passes and authority for refueling, and McGee requested
that his tail skid be repaired and his motor checked over.

"Let's stick around and watch this formation flight," McGee then said to
Larkin. "I want to see what these lads can do with a real ship."

"All right, but don't get goggle-eyed. I came up here to see Paris, and
I'm thirty minutes behind time now."

The take-off of the five Spads was good, and in order. McGee noticed
with considerable satisfaction that the flight commander knew his
business, and the four planes under his direction followed his signaled
orders with a precision that would have been creditable in any group of
pilots.

"Nice work!" Red said to an American captain who