s 131

XVI Blotting Out Hun Headquarters 139

XVII Flying for Victory 147

XVIII Favored by Fortune 154

XIX Tom Leads the Way 163

XX Borrowed Goods 171

XXI At the Old Chateau 179

XXII Invading the Tiger's Den 187

XXIII The Only Way 195

XXIV Tom Keeps His Word 203

XXV Peace in Sight--Conclusion 213

AIR SERVICE BOYS FLYING FOR VICTORY

CHAPTER I

IN ACTION OVER THE ARGONNE

"WILL that starting signal ever come, Tom?"

"Just hold your horses, Jack. The other squadron has gone out, and is
already hard at it over the Boche line. Our turn next. Keep cool. And
here's hoping we both pull through with our usual good luck."

"Wow! See that big Hun plane, a Fokker, too, take the nose dive, will
you? But he's overshot his mark. I warrant you he is trying like mad to
get on a level keel again."

"Good-night! I could almost imagine I heard the crash away off here,
even with all that thunder from Big Berthas and the crackle of hundreds
of machine guns."

"It makes the goose-flesh tingle all over me, Tom, to think that some
day--or it may be night--one or the other of us may finish up in just
that kind of fireworks."

"The life of an air pilot is full of hazards, Jack, just remember. If
he's going to make a success of his calling he's got to have nerves of
steel."

"Yes, and let him lose his grip and confidence because of any unusual
danger, his usefulness is gone."

"There's our signal at last, Jack!"

"Here goes! And pity the poor Boche I drive off with my new American
plane, and its bully Liberty motor!"

Both young men, attired as air pilots, with goggles and gloves as well
as heavy coats for extra warmth in the dizzy spaces a mile or two
overhead, hastened to climb aboard their waiting machines, which were of
the latest type of battleplane.

Each had an assistant, or observer, who would also handle one of the two
machine-guns with which those American flying machines were armed.

The time was that period in the fall of 1918, when the fresh American
host burst headlong into the battle line in Northern France.

At Chateau Thierry and St Mihiel they had struck the astounded foe with
the force of an avalanche. The Germans, war-weary, were stunned by the
vigor of the fresh army that once in a