write her brother a letter. It will be
better to have one come direct from her than for us merely to give him
news of her in one of our notes."

"Yes," agreed Jack, "I guess it would. And I begin to see which way the
wind blows. You wish to see Nellie."

"Oh, you make me tired!" exclaimed Tom. "All you can think of is girls!
I tell you I'm doing this for Harry!"

"And I believe you, old top, and what's more, I'm with you from the word
go. It's a crazy scheme and a desperate one, but for that very reason it
may succeed. The only thing is that we may not get permission to carry
it out."

"Oh, I don't intend that anyone shall know what our game is," returned
Tom. "Of course the authorities would squash it in a minute. No, we'll
have to keep dark about that. All we need is permission to do a little
flying 'on our own,' for a while."

"Suppose they won't let us do that?"

"Oh, I think they will, after what we did yesterday," said Tom. "Come
on, let's get ready to go to Paris."

CHAPTER XIV. WILL THEY SUCCEED?

The scheme evolved, or, perhaps, dreamed of by Tom Raymond in his
anxiety to get some word to the captive Harry Leroy worked well at the
start. When he and Jack asked permission to have half a day off to make
the trip to Paris it was readily granted. Perhaps it was because of
their exploit of the day before, when their sharp eyes had discovered
the camouflaged German battery and brought about its destruction, or
maybe it was because the day was a misty one,+ when no flying could be
done.

At any rate, soon after breakfast saw the two boys on their way to the
wonderful city--wonderful in spite of war and the German "super cannon,"
which had itself been destroyed.

Tom and Jack knew that unless their plans were changed, the two girls
and Mrs. Gleason would be at home in Paris, for they had a holiday once
in every seven, and it was their custom to come to their lodging for
a rest from the merciful, though none the less exceedingly trying, Red
Cross work.

Nor had the boys guessed in vain, for when they presented themselves
at the Gleason lodging, where Nellie Leroy was also staying, they were
greeted with exclamations of delight.

"We were just thinking of you," said Bessie, as she shook hands with
Jack.

"And so we were of you," Jack replied, gallantly.

"I thought of it first," said Tom. "He'll have to give me credit for
that."

"Yes," agreed Jack, "I will. He's got a great scheme," he ad