, at the appointed time and place in due course. The airdrome
where the squadron landed was but four hours' drive by motorcar
from the point from which Bob and Dicky had started the flight that
had ended so strangely for them. The flight commander of the Britishers
gladly sent the American lads to their own airdrome in a car, and
they arrived at dinner-time. When they walked into the headquarters'
hut they had a welcome indeed, and half an hour later when they were
allowed to join their comrades in the mess building, there was a
scene that none of the Brighton boys could ever forget. Feeling ran
too deep to make any of the fellows try to hide wet eyes, and lumps
in the throat made handclasps all the more firm.

Bob and Dicky were anxious to know how the rest had fared during their
absence, but not a word would anyone of the others say until the two
returned heroes of the mess had gone over their story in detail.

As the boys finished the recital of their adventures Joe Little
expressed the universal feeling in the hearts of every one of the
Brighton boys when he turned to Bob and Dicky, and putting a hand
on a shoulder of each, said soberly: "Fellows, if two of us can get
out of a hole like that and get back safe and sound, we can rest
mighty secure in the sort of Providence that is looking after us.
It is little we need to worry about what may happen to us, after all."

"You never know how lucky you can be in this world," said Bob.

"And you never want to be afraid to give your luck a fighting chance,"
added Dicky.

CHAPTER XII

PLUCK AND LUCK

No little change came over the Brighton boys as they developed into
seasoned fighting airmen. They looked older, harder, but they were
just as much boys as ever.

The first serious casualty suffered by their little band of six came
to Archie Fox. Archie was doing what he called "daily grind" when
Fate overtook him. That "daily grind" was the sort of work that
bid fair to end in disaster one day or another.

Well Archie remembered that day. It had started much the same as
other days experienced by Archie's unit. The getting ready of the
machine, the brief examination of the controls, first Archie and
then his observer, a young officer named Carleton, taking their seats,
the word given, and then all other sound shut out by the dull roar
of the engine---it was always like that. Lines of trees, patchwork
patterns made by the fields, and oddly grouped far