le, sir-r," said the man he addressed.

"Ye'll no' be callin' me 'sir-r,'" reproved Tam. "A'm a s-arrgent. Hoo
lang will ye stay in the trenches up yon?"

"Foor days, Sergeant," said the man.

"Foor days--guid Lord!" answered Tam. "A' wouldn't do that wairk for a
thoosand poonds a week."

"It's no' so bad," said half-a-dozen voices.

"Ut's verra, verra dangerous," said Tam, shaking his head. "A'm
thankitfu' A'm no' a soldier--they tried haird to make me ain, but A'
said, 'Noo, laddie--gie me a job--'"

_"Whoo!"_

A roar like the rush of an express train through a junction, and Tam
looked around in alarm. The enemy's heavy shell struck the ground midway
between him and his machine and threw up a great column of mud.

"Mon!" said Tam in alarm. "A' thocht it were goin' straicht for ma wee
machine."

* * * * *

"What happened to you, Tam?" asked the wing commander.

Tam cleared his throat.

"Patrollin' by order the morn," he said, "ma suspeecions were aroused by
the erratic movements of a graund clood. To think, wi' Tam the Scoot,
was to act. Wi'oot a thocht for his ain parrsonal safety, the gallant
laddie brocht his machine to the clood i' question, caircling through
its oombrageous depths. It was a fine gay sicht--aloon i' th' sky, he
ventured into the air-r-lions' den. What did he see? The clood was a
nest o' wee horrnets! Slippin' a bomb he dashed madly back to the ooter
air-r sendin' his S. O. S. wi' baith hands--thanks to his--"

He stopped and bit his lip thoughtfully.

"Come, Tam!" smiled the officer, "that's a lame story for you."

"Oh, ay," said Tam. "A'm no' in the recht speerit--Hoo mony did we
lose?"

"Mr. Lasky and Mr. Brand," said the wing commander quietly.

"Puir laddies," said Tam. He sniffed. "Mr. Lasky was a bonnie lad--A'll
ask ye to excuse me, Captain Thompson, sir-r. A'm no feelin' verra weel
the day--ye've no a seegair aboot ye that ye wilna be wantin'?"

CHAPTER II

PUPPIES OF THE PACK

Tam was not infallible, and the working out of his great "thochts" did
not always justify the confidence which he reposed in them. His idea of
an "invisible aeroplane," for example, which was to be one painted sky
blue that would "hairmonise wi' the blaw skies," was not a success, nor
was his scheme for the creation of artificial clouds attended by any
encouraging results. But Tam's "Attack Formation for Bombing Enemy
Depots" attained to the dignity of