s
excited as two boys seeing their first three-ring circus. We scarcely
knew which way to turn in our anxiety to miss nothing. But my chief
concern, in anticipation, had been this: how were English-speaking
_eleves-pilotes_ to overcome the linguistic handicap? My uneasiness
was set at rest on this first morning, when I saw how neatly most of
the difficulties were overcome. Many of the Americans had no knowledge
of French other than that which they had acquired since entering the
French service, and this, as I have already hinted, had no great
utilitarian value. An interpreter had been provided for them through
the generosity and kindness of the Franco-American Committee in Paris;
but it was impossible for him to be everywhere at once, and much was
left to their own quickness of understanding and to the ingenuity of
the _moniteurs_. The latter, being French, were eloquent with their
gestures. With the additional aid of a few English phrases which they
had acquired from the Americans, and the simplest kind of French, they
had little difficulty in making their instructions clear. Both of us
felt much encouraged as we listened, for we could understand them very
well.

As for the business of flying, as we watched it from below, it seemed
the safest and simplest thing in the world. The machines left the
ground so easily, and mounted and descended with such sureness of
movement, that I was impatient to begin my training. I believed that I
could fly at once, after a few minutes of preliminary instruction,
without first going through with all the tedious rolling along the
ground in low-powered machines. But before the morning's work was
finished, I revised my opinion. Accidents began to happen, the first
one when one of the "old family cuckoos," as the rolling machines were
disdainfully called, showed a sudden burst of old-time speed and left
the ground in an alarming manner.

It was evident that the man who was driving it, taken completely by
surprise, had lost his head, and was working the controls erratically.
First he swooped upward, then dived, tipping dangerously on one wing.
In this sudden emergency he had quite forgotten his newly acquired
knowledge. I wondered what I would do in such a strait, when one must
think with the quickness and sureness of instinct. My heart was in my
mouth, for I felt certain that the man would be killed. As for the
others who were watching, no one appeared to be excited. A _moniteur_
near m