t by exhibition flying
for money--not sailin' around giving the whole damn country a free
treat.

"I know--you think I'm a bum and all that; maybe you think I'm a crook,
fer all I know. And you turn up your nose at anything I say. But
lemme tell yuh, old top, I ain't a D. and O. because I never made any
money flyin'. It's because I blowed what I made. And it's because I
made so damn' much it went to my head and made a fool outa me. Listen
here, bo: I bought me a Stutz outa what I earned flyin' in one
season--and I blowed money right and left and smashed the car and like
to of broke my neck, and had to pay damages to the other feller that
peeled my roll down to the size of a pencil. The point is, it took
_money_ to do them things, didn't it? And I made it flyin' my own
plane. That's what you want to soak into your system. _I made big
money flying_. What I done with the money don't need to worry you--you
ain't copyin' me for morals.

"Now what you want to do is learn some stunts, first off. You learn to
loop and tail-slide and the fallin' leaf, and to write your name, and
them things. It ain't so hard--not for a guy like you that ain't got
sense enough to be afraid of nothing. The way you went off in that
plane with the girl made my hair stand on end, and that's no kiddin',
neither. If you'd had a fear germ in your system you wouldn't 'a' done
that. But you done it, and got away with it, is the point. And you
been gittin' away with it right along--and you not knowin' your motor
any more'n I know ridin' on a horse!"

"Aw, say! That's goin' too far," protested Johnny, but Bland gave him
no heed.

"You learn the stunts--early in the morning when there ain't the hull
town out to rubber--and then pull off an exhibition or two.
Seventy-five dollars is the least you ever need to expect. Don't go in
the air for less. From that up--depends on how spectacular you are.
The public loves to watch for the death fall. That's what they pay to
see--not hopin' you get killed, but not wantin' to miss seeing it in
case yuh do. And with this the only airplane around here--why, say,
bo, it's a cinch!"

Johnny fanned the smoke away from his face and eyed Bland with lofty
tolerance. "And where do you expect to come in? You needn't kid
yourself into hoping I'll take you for a self-forgetful martyr person.
What's the little joker, Bland?"

Bland turned his pale, opaque stare upon Johnny for a minute. "Aw, for
cat's