und a
chance to bring the other down from the heights where he had been
sailing, and Bud now knew that he had made his bright discovery
"a mile too late," as he himself expressed it, looking exceedingly
downcast at the time.

Of course the three were looked upon as the luckiest fellows ever
known by the rest of the troop present. Others among the boys had
experienced some notable things since joining the troop and assisting
the rival armies in the field of maneuvers as signal corps operators;
but nothing that had come their way as half as wonderful as being
taken up in a genuine war aeroplane and being given a wild ride
through the clouds.

What Hugh had to tell about the two foreign spies also excited the
delighted interest of Billy Worth, Arthur Cameron, Walter Osborne,
Blake Merton, Don Miller, Cooper Fennimore, "Spike" Welling, Alec
Sands, Sam Winter, Dick Bellamy, Tom Sherwood, Ned Toyford and Jack
Durham, all of whom were present. They asked him many questions,
and seemed never to tire of hearing about how the army air pilot
had fired those volleys of small bombs down at the skulkers, actually
driving them from the field for good.

A week later when Hugh met Bud Morgan on the way to school, he saw
from the way in which the other looked at him that in some sense
the die had been cast.

"What's doing now, Bud?" asked the patrol leader, possibly guessing
what the answer would turn out to be.

"Smashed her into flinders this A.M.," replied Bud, firmly.

"I reckon you must mean that aeroplane model of yours," ventured
Hugh.

"And you hit the bull's-eye plumb center when you say that, Hugh.
I just made up my mind that I was too young to bother my brains
over a man's work and go to high school at the same time. My
lessons aren't any too good as it is, and they'd get so rotten bad
soon I'd be sent home with a note to my dad. I've been trying to
find out where I got that idea of the stability device, and finally
discovered an article about the Wright invention tucked away in one
of my books. Must have read it once and then forgotten all about
it, so there's how I fooled myself into believing the idea was
original with me. Served me right, too, but, anyhow, she worked,
Hugh, didn't she?"

He grinned as he made this last triumphant observation, and Hugh
shook him by the hand to show how sorry he felt for the disappointed
inventor.

"Worked like a charm, Bud," he remarked; "and if the famous Wright
brothe