for me. Also, he'd offered to pump me about
what was best in the air world on my side of the water: how
many aeroplanes of different sorts America could turn out in
six months, etc. We contrived a cypher on diagrams I made.
It was a clever one, but the credit was Herter's.

"The Bosches were waiting impatiently for my work to be
done, in order to try out the machine, and if satisfactory, spawn
a brood of their own on the same model. I was equally impatient.
I hoped to fly off with the biplane before they had time
to copy it!

"A wounded Ace of theirs, Anton Hupfer, was for ever hanging
round. He was to take up the 'plane when it was ready.
But Herter industriously chummed with him, and not for nothing.
To Herter was due the 'discovery' of the inventor;
and as he boasted experience in flying, he asked the privilege
of being Hupfer's companion on the trial trip.

"The success of this trip would depend even more on the
machine's worth as a bomber than on her speed and climbing
qualities. It was, therefore, to be undertaken at night, with a
full complement of real bombs to drop upon headquarters at
Compiegne. Herter had suggested this. Daylight wouldn't
have suited for a start.

"An hour before the appointed time he dashed in upon Hupfer
to confide that a sudden suspicion concerning me was troubling
him. He had noticed a queer expression on my face as I gave
the engine a last look over! If I had done some obscure damage
to this so new type of machine, the mechanics might not detect
its nature. Herter didn't wish to harm me, if his suspicion
was unfounded, he explained, but he proposed a drastic proof
of my good faith. I was to be hauled out of bed, and hurried
without warning to look at the biplane in her hangar. The
mechanics were to be sent outside, there to wait for a signal to
open the doors: this to avoid gossip if I was honest after all.
Hupfer was to spring it on me that he'd decided to take me up
instead of Herter. My face was to be watched as this news was
flung at me. If I showed the slightest trace of uneasiness, it
would be a sign that I had played a trick and feared to fall its
victim. In that case the 'third degree' was to be applied until I
owned up, and could be haled away for punishment.

"There was just time to carry out this programme, and
Hupfer fell for it. Herter had put me wise beforehand, and
I knew what to ex