ere making feverish preparations for a last ditch stand
against the Germans. And with the picture of the Albert Canal crossing
still fresh in his memory he knew in his heart that all he saw would be
just a waste of gallant effort. Those German hordes, protected by their
swarms of planes, would go right through as though the Belgians weren't
there at all. It actually made his heart hurt to watch them and so he
slumped down in the seat of the car, and let his body sway with the
bumps, and stared moodily at the back of the driver's neck.

Presently Freddy reached over and placed a hand on his knee and pressed
it.

"Chin up, Dave!" he heard Freddy say. "We'll get through all right, you
wait and see."

Dave shook his head and sat up a bit and grinned.

"Sure we'll make it," he said. "I'm not worrying about that. I was just
thinking."

"About what?" Freddy asked.

"Well, just then I was thinking about that Arado I cracked up," Dave
said. "I sure feel rotten about that. I wish I could have brought it
down all in one piece."

"Good grief, forget it!" Freddy gasped. "It was wonderful of you to get
it down at all. I would have killed us both, for fair. I can tell you,
now, that I was very scared when you took off. I didn't know then how
well you could fly, but I do, now. You're a little bit of all right,
Dave. I mean that, really!"

"You're swell to say that, anyway," Dave grinned. "I'm still sorry,
though, I had to go and crack it up. I don't know ... Well, I guess
a plane to me is something like what his horse is to a cow puncher.
It's ... it's almost something human."

"I know what you mean, Dave."

"Do you, Freddy?" Dave echoed. "Well, that's the way it is. And I'll
tell you something, but you'll probably think I'm nuts. I made an awful
punk landing when I made my first solo. Cracked up the ship. I busted a
wing and wiped the undercarriage right off, and didn't get a scratch.
But do you know? I felt so bad about it I busted right out bawling like
a kid. My instructor was scared stiff. He thought something awful had
happened to me. But when I finally cut it out he was swell about the
whole thing. He said it was the normal reaction of a fellow who could
really go for flying. It made me feel better anyway. Yeah, I sure feel
pretty punk for busting up that Arado, even though it was a German
crate."

Freddy started to speak but Dave didn't even hear the first word. The
car had bounced out of a field and was being sw