spent much time and labor
in figuring it all out to a fraction, barring hazards of which they could
of course know nothing until they were met.

"I've got all the charts necessary," he assured them, after they had
about exhausted the subject, with Jack more enthusiastic than ever. "And
while you boys are waiting to receive your official notifications, which
ought surely to come to-morrow, since there was a hurry mark on them, I
noticed, I'll rush over to the coast and see that additional supplies of
fuel and food are put aboard."

"Don't stint the gas, above everything," urged Jack. "We'd be in a pretty
pickle to run out while still five hundred miles from shore. If it was
only a big seaplane now, such as we hear they're building over in
America, we might drop down on a smooth sea and wait to be picked up by
some ship; but with a bomber, it would mean going under in a hurry."

"Make your mind easy on that score, Jack," came the lieutenant's reply.
"I'll figure to the limit, and then if the plane can carry another fifty
gallons it'll go aboard in the reserve reservoir. I'm taking no chances
that can be avoided. There'll be enough to bother us, most likely. And,
for one, I'm not calculating on committing suicide. I hope to live to
come back here aboard some ship, and see the finish of this big,
exciting scrap."

Tom liked to hear him talk in that serene way. It showed that Lieutenant
Colin Beverly, while a daring aviator was not to be reckoned a reckless
one; and there is a vast difference between the two. Tom was of very much
the same temperament himself, as was proved in past stirring incidents in
his career, known to all those who have followed the fortunes of the Air
Service Boys in previous books of this series.

"Is there anything else to confer about?" asked Tom. "Because I can see
you're itching to get away, Colin."

"Not a thing, as far as I know," came the reply. "If any fresh idea
happens to strike me I'll have it on tap when you arrive. Are you sure
you've got the directions how to get to Dunkirk, and then how to find my
secret hangar on the coast beyond the town, Tom?"

"We'll be ready to skip out just as soon as our official notice comes to
hand," the other assured him.

"That's the only thing bothering me just now," observed Jack. "Any delay
there might ruin our plans at the last minute. As it is, we're not apt to
have any too much time to beat the steamer to New York."

"I expect you to show up t