stomach was to make friends with a few
men whom the Huns had sworn to kill on sight.

Nothing daunted, Mid soon "wangled" permission to become attached to the
Bedouin Squadron, and a more dare-devil spirit and lovable comrade than
Mid did not exist among the Bedouins. He was always as keen for work as
he was "full out" for a party, and he was always the life of a
celebration. I remember one night when the C.O. read out at dinner a
telegram which concisely stated that His Majesty the King had awarded to
one of the Bedouins a very great honor, Mid broke loose. "Say, kids," he
said, "I want to say right here that it's a great honor for my mother's
younger son to be a Bedouin, and since it's a 'dud' night I want to ask
your permission, Sir" (turning to the C.O.), "to present every Bedouin
with a quart of the best." Permission being given by the C.O. on the
condition that the C.O. himself would be allowed to share in the
"largess," every Bedouin had placed before him a quart of Heidsieck
Monopole. Songs and speeches followed, and Mid, since he could not "take
the air," took the floor.

"Fellow citizens," he said, balancing himself on an upturned beer
barrel, "it gives me great pleasure to be able to stand before you this
evening"; support given and applause. "It has always seemed to me that
the greatest country in the world might be considered a bit slow in
entering the war." [Hear! Hear!] "But, gentlemen, now that we are in, I
want to say that we will be the first out." [Loud applause!] "I want you
to understand that because the United States has always been considered
the historic enemy of Great Britain, Germany was enabled to persuade an
ignorant electorate that the United States and Germany were friends.
But now we are in, we are in to the finish. When I say finish,
gentlemen, I mean a finish to the fighting, but I beg of you to be
careful of the non-fighting part of my country's population, and their
representatives. More I cannot say, except this, if ever your King or
your sea-power is threatened, you may depend upon every true American;
we owe you a debt, and depend upon it every descendant of the founders
of our country will die before that obligation is allowed to be
repudiated." With loud cheers, Mid was lifted from his perch.

VII

The Bedouin who held the unenvied record for crashes was known
throughout the service as "Killem." Almost every time he went on a raid
he crashed his machine, fortunately for him