says the cheerman, 'that we'll no' ta' onny more risk, but
confine oor attentions to strafin' spotters--"

"Carried wi' acclaimation. The meetin' then adjoorned to enquire after
machine noomber sax, eight, sax, two, strafed in the execution of ma
duty."

It seemed almost as though Tam's words were prophetic, for the next day
Smyth and Curzon were attacked whilst "spotting" for the "heavies" and
fell in flames in No-Man's Land. They got Smyth in during the night and
rushed him back to a base hospital; but Curzon was dead before the
machine reached the ground.

The same morning Tam read in the German "Official":

"In the course of the day Captain Mueller shot down his thirtieth enemy
aeroplane, which fell before the English lines."

"It were no' the English lines, but the Argyll an' Sootherland
Hielanders' lines," complained Tam. "Thairty machines yon Muller ha'
strafit. Weel, weel!"

He went to his room very thoughtful, and the day following, being an
"off" day, he spent between the machine-shop and the hangar where the B.
I. 6 reposed. It must never be forgotten that Tam was a born
mechanician. To him the machine had a body, a soul, a voice, and a
temperament. Noises which engines made had a peculiar significance to
Tam. He not only could tell you how they were behaving, but how they
would be likely to behave after two hours' running. He knew all the
symptoms of their mysterious diseases and he was versed in their
dietary. He "fed" his own engines, explored his own tanks, greased and
cleaned with his own hands every delicate part of the frail machinery.

There was neither strut nor stay, bolt nor screw, that he did not know
or had not studied, tested or replaced. He cleaned his own gun and
examined, leather duster in hand, every round of ammunition he took up.
He left little to chance and never went out to attack but with a "plan,
an altairnitive plan an'--an open mind."

And now since Mueller must be settled with, Tam was more than careful.

The difficulty about aeroplanes is that they look very much like one
another. Tam fought indecisively three big white Albatross machines
before a Fokker hawk darted down from the shelter of a cloud-wraith and
revealed itself as the temporary preoccupation of Captain Mueller.

The encounter may be told in Tam's own words.

"I' the ruthless pairsuit of his duty, Tam was patrollin' at a height o'
twelve thoosand feet, his mind filled wi' beautifu' thochts aboot
pay-day, w