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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28625-h.zip b/28625-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bde0db8 --- /dev/null +++ b/28625-h.zip diff --git a/28625-h/28625-h.htm b/28625-h/28625-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ac0ff9 --- /dev/null +++ b/28625-h/28625-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5005 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Battling the Clouds, by Captain Frank Cobb. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.centerbox { width: 30%; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + padding: 1em; + } + + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; +} + +.author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;} + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Battling the Clouds, by Captain Frank Cobb + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Battling the Clouds + or, For a Comrade's Honor + +Author: Captain Frank Cobb + +Release Date: April 27, 2009 [EBook #28625] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLING THE CLOUDS *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/cover001-500dpi.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt="Battling the Clouds + +Aeroplane Boys Series" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Battling the Clouds + +Aeroplane Boys Series</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;"> +<img src="images/fig002-500dpi.jpg" width="386" height="600" alt=""Stop!" cried Ernest. "Stop, Bill! What does this +mean?"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Stop!" cried Ernest. "Stop, Bill! What does this +mean?"</span> +</div> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + + <h2><i>AEROPLANE BOYS SERIES VOLUME 1</i></h2> + + <h1>BATTLING THE CLOUDS</h1> + + <h3>OR</h3> + + <h2>FOR A COMRADE'S HONOR</h2> + + + <h4>BY</h4> + + <h2>CAPTAIN FRANK COBB</h2> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<img src="images/fig003-500dpi.jpg" width="250" height="107" alt="" title="decoration" /> +</div> + + <p class="center">THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY<br /> + CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK<br /> + + + + + Copyright, 1921, by<br /> + THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY<br /><br /></p> + + + +<div class="centerbox bbox"> +<h4>AEROPLANE BOYS SERIES</h4> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1 BATTLING THE CLOUDS,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="smcap">Or, For a Comrade's Honor</span></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">2 AN AVIATOR'S LUCK,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><span class="smcap"> Or, The Camp Knox Plot</span></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">3 DANGEROUS DEEDS,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="smcap">Or, The Flight in the Dirigible</span></span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p><br /><br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2><br /><br /><a name="BATTLING_THE_CLOUDS" id="BATTLING_THE_CLOUDS"></a>BATTLING THE CLOUDS<br /><br /></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<p>The vast aviation field at Fort Sill quivered in the grilling heat of +mid-July. The beautiful road stretching through the Post looked smooth +as a white silk ribbon in the blazing sun. The row of tall hangars +glistened with fresh white paint. On the screened porches of the +officers' quarters, at the mess, and at the huts men in uniform talked +and laughed as though their profession was the simplest and safest in +the world.</p> + +<p>Around the Post as far as the eye could reach the sun-baked prairies +stretched, their sparse grasses burned to a cindery brown. From the +distant ranges came the faint report of guns. The daily practice was +going on. Once in a while against the sky a row of caissons showed up, +small and clear cut.</p> + +<p>Overhead sounded the continual droning of airplanes manœuvering, now +rising, now circling, now reaching the field safely, where they turned +and came gaily hopping along the ground toward the hangars, like huge +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>dragonflies. And when they finally teetered to a standstill, what +splendid young figures leaped over the sides and stretched their cramped +legs, pushing off the goggles and leather headgear that disguised them! +Laughing, talking, swapping experiences, listening in good-natured +silence to the "balling out" that so often came from the harried and +sweating instructors, splendid young gods were these airmen, +super-heroes in an heroic age and time.</p> + +<p>In the shade of one of the hangars sat two boys. They were blind and +deaf to the sights and sounds around and over them. The planes were as +commonplace as mealtime to them, and not nearly so thrilling. All their +attention was centered on a small box on the ground before them. It was +made of screen-wire roughly fastened to a wooden frame. One side was +intended for a door, but it was securely wired shut. The box had an +occupant. Furious, raging with anger, now crouching in the corner, now +springing toward the boys, only to strike the wires, an immense +tarantula faced his jailers with deadly menace in his whole bearing. One +of the boys gently rested a stick against the cage. The great spider +instantly hurled himself upon it.</p> + +<p>Involuntarily both boys drew back.</p> + +<p>"What you going to do with him now you have got him?" asked the taller +of the two boys.</p> + +<p>"Dunno," said the other, shrugging his shoulders. "No use expecting +mother to let me keep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> him in quarters, and the C. O. won't have 'em +around the hangars. I guess I will have to give him back to Lee and let +him get rid of him."</p> + +<p>"What does C. O. mean, and who is Lee?" asked the first boy.</p> + +<p>"Gee, you are green!" scoffed the smaller of the two. "Tell you what +I'll do, Bill; I will take a day off and teach you the ropes."</p> + +<p>"I will learn them fast enough if I can get a question answered once in +awhile," answered Bill, laughing pleasantly. "You can't expect to learn +<i>every</i>thing there is about the Army in a week."</p> + +<p>"It is too bad you are in Artillery," said the other boy, whose name was +Frank and whose father was Major Anderson, in the Air service. "There is +a lot more doing over here, but of course as long as I am sort of your +cousin, why, you can get in on things here whenever you want to."</p> + +<p>"Much obliged," returned Bill. "And of course whenever you want, I will +take you any place you want to go in my car."</p> + +<p>"That car is the dandiest little affair I ever did see," said Frank half +enviously. "Just big enough for two of us." He glanced over to the +boy-size automobile standing in the shade. It was a long, racy looking +toy, closer to the ground than a motorcycle, but evidently equipped with +a good-sized engine. "Where did you get it, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"I have an uncle in the automobile business, and he had it made for +me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Some uncle!" commented Frank. "How fast will she go?"</p> + +<p>"A pretty good clip, I imagine," said Bill. "I have never tried her +out."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with you? Scared?" asked Frank. "I say we speed her +up some of these days."</p> + +<p>"Can't do it," said Bill, shaking his head. "There is a speedometer on +it, and I promised my mother I would never go over fifteen miles an hour +until she gives me leave."</p> + +<p>"Fifteen miles; why, that's crawling!" said Frank scornfully. "I tell +you what. I can drive a little, and you can let me take the wheel, and +see what she will do. That won't be breaking your word."</p> + +<p>Bill shook his head. "It isn't my way of keeping a promise," he said. +Then to change the conversation before it took a disagreeable turn, he +asked, "You didn't tell me what C. O. means and who Lee is."</p> + +<p>"C. O. means Commanding Officer; you had better keep that in your head. +And Lee is the fellow who gave me this tarantula. He takes care of the +quarters across from yours at the School of Fire. I go over there to +play with the Perkins kids a lot. Lee fools with us all he can. He is a +dandy. He is half Indian. His father was a Cherokee."</p> + +<p>"I know whom you mean," said Bill. "He is awfully dark, and has squinty +black eyes and coal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> black hair. He has been transferred to our quarters +now. He is splendid—does everything for mother: brings her flowers and +all that, and a young mocking bird in a cage he made himself."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know he had been transferred," said Frank. "I bet he won't be +let to stay long. The Perkins family like him themselves."</p> + +<p>"Can they get him sent back?" asked Bill anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Sure," said Frank. "Colonel Perkins can get anybody sent where he wants +them. If he was your orderly he would stay with you, of course, but he +isn't; he is working as janitor."</p> + +<p>"What's an orderly?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"You sure have a lot to learn!" sighed the learned Frank. "It is like +this. That new dad of yours is a Major, isn't he? All right. He has the +right to have a special man that he picks out work for him, and take +care of his horse and fuss around the quarters and fix his things. But +the man has to belong to his command, and Lee is attached to the School +of Fire."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Bill, thoughtfully. As a matter of fact he did not see so +very clearly, but he knew that it would be clearer after awhile, and he +had the good sense not to press the matter further. Bill had the great +and valuable gift of silence. To say nothing at all, but to let the +other fellow do the talking, Bill had discovered to be a short cut to +knowledge of all sorts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Frank, "you see now that you can't get Lee for orderly."</p> + +<p>Frank was glad of it. He did not know it, but down in his heart, he was +jealous of this Bill boy, who had appeared at the School of Fire with +his quiet good manners and his polite way of speaking, his good clothes +and, above all, his wonderful little automobile scarcely larger than a +toy, yet capable of real work and speed.</p> + +<p>He rejoiced that Bill at least was not going to have Lee for an orderly. +He knew what it was to have a fine orderly, and Lee was almost too good +to be true at all. Why, only the week before, Lee had offered to get +Frank a wildcat cub for a pet. Frank's mother, Mrs. Anderson, and his +father, the Major, had refused to have the savage little creature about +and Frank had had to tell Lee so. He had kept teasing Lee for some sort +of pet, however, and as a joke Lee had just presented him with the +biggest tarantula he could capture.</p> + +<p>The tarantula, taken as a pet, was not a great success. Frank poked the +stick at the cage and watched the ferocious creature dart for it, and +decided that the wisest thing was to get rid of it at once.</p> + +<p>"I will give you this tarantula, Bill," he said with an air of bestowing +a great benefit. "I bet your mother has never seen one, and you can take +it home with you in your car and show it to her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> If she has never seen +one, she will be some surprised."</p> + +<p>"I suppose she would," said Bill, "but for all I know it might frighten +her, and I couldn't afford to risk that. Mother isn't so very strong, +and dad says it is our best job to keep her well and happy. I don't +believe it will help any to show her something that looks like a bad +nightmare and acts like a demon, so I'm much obliged but I guess I won't +take your little pet away from you, not to-day at any rate." He laughed, +and jumped to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Where you going?" demanded Frank.</p> + +<p>"Home," said Bill. "It is nearly time for mess. Get that? I said <i>mess</i> +and not <i>dinner</i>."</p> + +<p>"Don't go yet," pleaded Frank. "What if you are a little late?"</p> + +<p>"Mother likes me to be punctual, so I'll have to move along," said Bill.</p> + +<p>Frank looked at him. "Say," he said, "aren't you just a little tied to +your mother's apron strings?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Bill good-naturedly. "I think it is a pretty +good place to be tied to if anyone should ask me, and if I am, I hope I +am tied so tight she will never lose me off."</p> + +<p>He shook himself down and started toward his little car. "So long! Come +see us!" he called over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Frank scrambled to his feet and followed. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> stood watching while Bill +settled himself in his seat and started the engine. He stood looking +after him until the speedy little automobile swept out of sight across +the prairie and down the rough road that led to the New Post and from +there on to the School of Fire.</p> + +<p>Frank gave a grin. "It's a dandy car, all right," he said, "and he may +be able to swim and ride the way he says he does, but I can beat him out +on one point. I can pilot a plane, and I have been up in an observation +balloon. I wonder what he would look like up in the air. I bet he would +be good and sick!"</p> + +<p>Bill, guiding the car with a practiced hand, swept smoothly along, +avoiding the ruts made by the great trucks belonging to the ammunition +trains and the rough wheels of the caissons.</p> + +<p>Bill was thinking hard. The years of his life came back to his thoughts +one by one.</p> + +<p>When his father died, he was only four years old, and his pretty young +mother had been obliged to go out into the world and support herself and +her little son. They had lived alone together, in the dainty bungalow +that had been saved from the wreck of their fortunes, and had come to be +more than mother and son; they were companions and pals.</p> + +<p>So when Major Sherman appeared, and surprised Bill greatly by wanting to +marry his mother, he was not surprised to hear her say that the Major<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +would have to get the permission of her son before she could say yes.</p> + +<p>Bill and his mother had many a long and confidential talk in those days +and Bill learned, through her confidences, a great deal about the +strange thing that grown people call love. Bill's mother talked to her +son as she would have talked to a brother or a father, and the result +was that one day young Bill had a long talk with Major Sherman, a talk +that the Major at least never forgot. After it was over, Bill led the +way to his mother, and taking her hand said gravely:</p> + +<p>"Mother, we have been talking things over, and I think you ought to +marry the Major. You are a good deal of a care sometimes, and I have his +promise that he will help me."</p> + +<p>Bil's mother laughed, and then she cried a little, while she asked Bill +if he was trying to get rid of his troublesome parent. But Bill knew +that she was trying to joke away the remembrance of her tears, so he +kissed her and went out, wondering if he had lost his darling mother or +had won a new and dandy father.</p> + +<p>It proved that he had found a real father after so many years, a father +who understood boys and who was soon as good and true a pal as his +mother was. Bill commenced to whistle when he remembered up to this +part, and then he laughed to himself when he recollected a couple of old +lady aunts who had offered to take him to bring up, because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> they were +sure that Major Sherman, being a soldier and no doubt unused to boys, +might abuse him!</p> + +<p>It was enough to make Bill chuckle. His mother said that the Major +spoiled Bill. And in his secret heart Bill knew that there were times, +off and on, say a few times every week, when the Major gave him treats +that he would never have been able to coax from his mother. The little +car for instance. His mother had declared that it was a crazy thing to +give a boy twelve years old, no matter how tall and well grown he was, +but the Major had prevailed, and she had at last given a reluctant +consent. There had been an endless time of waiting, indeed a matter of +several months while the small but perfect car was assembled, and Bill +could never forget the day it arrived and the Major squeezed his big +frame into the driver's seat and gave it a thorough trying out.</p> + +<p>Pets, too. Mother was brought to see that pigeons and white rats and a +tame coon and indeed everything that came his way, was a boy's right to +have. The Major was educating Bill in the knowledge of how to care for +dumb animals: he was learning the secret of self-discipline and +self-control, without which no man or woman or boy or girl is fit to be +the owner of any pet.</p> + +<p>The Great War was ended when Bill's mother married the Major, just +returned from foreign service, and immediately they packed their +belongings, putting most of them in a storehouse for the happy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> day when +the Major should retire and be able to have a home. This is the dream of +every officer who gives his days and strength and brains to the service +of his country. Then they packed the few articles that they felt most +necessary to their comfort, gave away ten guinea pigs, eight white rats, +four pigeons and a kitten, crated Bill's collie and the Major's Airdale, +and started off for their first post, Fort Sill, where the Major was +stationed at the School of Fire as instructor.</p> + +<p>Fort Sill rambles all over the prairie. Not the least of its various +branches is the Aviation School. And when the Major arrived with his +wife and son, he found that his cousin, Major Anderson, who was in the +Air service, was stationed at the Aviation School. Major Anderson had +two children: a little girl, and a boy just the age of Bill. Frank +Anderson liked his new cousin, but scorned him for his very natural +ignorance on subjects referring to the Army. He did not stop to discover +that in the way of general information Bill was vastly his superior. +Major and Mrs. Anderson were quick to see a certain clear truthfulness +and good sense in Bill that they knew Frank lacked and they were anxious +to have the boys chum together for that reason.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<p>Bill, driving the little car which he had named the Swallow, reached the +quarters at the School of Fire in a rising cloud of dust. The wind had +risen suddenly and the fine sand whipped around the long board +buildings, driving in through every crack and crevice. All the rest of +the afternoon it blew, and at six o'clock, when the Major came in, he +was coated with the fine yellow dust. By nine o'clock, when Bill went to +bed, a small gale was singing around, and about one o'clock he was +awakened by the scream of the wind. It shrieked and howled, and the +quarters rattled and quivered.</p> + +<p>Bill remembered the Swallow and his dad's car, both standing at the back +door. He rose and went to his mother's room. He found her curled up in a +little ball on her quartermaster's cot, looking out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Billy," she said as she saw him at the door. "You are missing +a great sight."</p> + +<p>They cuddled close, their arms around each other, and pressed their +faces close to the pane. The yellow sand was driven across the prairie +like a sheet of rain. The Major's big car shuddered with each fresh +blast, and the little Swallow seemed to cower close to the ground. +Continuous sheets of light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>ning made the night as bright as day. Over +the whine and whistle of the wind they could hear the distant rumble of +the thunder. The room was full of dust, driven through the cracks of the +window. Their throats were choked with it. The wind blew harder and +harder; the lightning grew brighter, slashing the black sky with great +gashes of blinding light.</p> + +<p>Bill looked sober. "Gee, it is fierce!" he said in an awed tone. "Where +is dad all this time?"</p> + +<p>"In his room sound asleep," said Mrs. Sherman. "I suppose he is used to +sights like this. Wasn't it <i>nice</i> of Oklahoma to stage such a wonderful +sight for us? I wouldnt have missed it for anything."</p> + +<p>"It is going to rain," said Bill, again looking out. "The thunder is +growing louder and louder. Did you ever see anything like the glare the +lightning makes?"</p> + +<p>All at once Mrs. Sherman clutched Bill and pointed out.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look, look!" she cried.</p> + +<p>Bill followed the direction of her finger, and saw a small rabbit +running before the blast. He was going at a rate that caused his pop +eyes to pop worse than ever. As he skimmed along, he made the mistake of +trying to turn. In a second he was being rushed along sidewise, hopping +frantically up and down in order to keep on his feet, but unable to turn +back again or to stop. Bill and his mother laughed until they cried as +the little rabbit was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> hustled out of sight around the end of the +students' quarters.</p> + +<p>The lightning grew worse and occasionally balls of flame shot earthward. +The thunder rolled in a deafening roar. Then suddenly the wind +stopped—stopped so suddenly and completely that Bill jumped and his +mother said, "Goodness me!" in a small, scared voice.</p> + +<p>There was a long pause as though Nature was calling attention to her +freaks, and then down came the rain. It came in rivers, sheets, floods. +The roads ran yellow mud; the creek over the bluff commenced to boil. +The sparse dwarfed trees that clung to the sides of the gullies bent +under the weight of falling water.</p> + +<p>It poured and poured and poured.</p> + +<p>Bill had seen rain before, if not in such quantities. He found himself +growing sleepy, and kissing his mother twice, once for luck and once for +love, as he told her, he went to bed and to sleep, while the downpour +continued until almost morning.</p> + +<p>The roads were impassable, although a hot, steamy, sunshiny day did its +best to dry things up. Bill spent most of the day putting the poor +half-drowned Swallow in shape.</p> + +<p>Frank telephoned, but could not get over. He was excited about the +damage that had been done at the Aviation Field. One of the great +hangars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> had collapsed, ruining the machines inside. No planes were +allowed to fly.</p> + +<p>Frank wanted Bill to walk over and Bill suggested the same pastime for +Frank; consequently neither one would go. The roads continued to be a +gummy, sticky mass of clay, and after four or five days Frank started to +walk across the prairie to the School of Fire.</p> + +<p>Just before he reached the bridge crossing the glen between the New Post +and the School, he heard a joyful whoop and there was Bill running to +meet him.</p> + +<p>"Hey there!" called Bill, as soon as he could possibly make himself +heard. "I was just starting over to see you."</p> + +<p>"Come on back!" grinned Frank. "I am at home this morning."</p> + +<p>"Not as much as I am," answered his friend. "Gee, it has been a long +week! Did you ever see such a storm?"</p> + +<p>"Oklahoma can beat that any time she wants to," boasted Frank. "That was +just a <i>little</i> one. You ought to see a real blizzard or 'sly coon' as +we call the cyclones. They are bad medicine, as the Indians say."</p> + +<p>"This was big enough to start with," said Bill. "I thought the Swallow +was going to fly away. And dad's big car <i>reeled</i> around. And you should +have seen our bath tub! It was full of sand."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Clear up to the top?" asked Frank teasingly.</p> + +<p>"There was a good inch in it," retorted Bill, "and it looks to me as +though that was a good deal of sand to trickle through the windows when +they all have screens and were closed besides."</p> + +<p>"It surely does get in," granted Frank. "Hello, there comes Lee! Where +is he going, I wonder, without his fatigue suit on?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose you mean those overall things he works in, don't you?" said +Bill. "I know that much now. Lee doesn't wear them any more. He was so +crazy over mother and so good to her and to me that dad got him +transferred to his Battery, and now he is our orderly."</p> + +<p>"How did he manage to do that?" said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Why, there was some fellow who wanted to leave the guns and work around +the quarters as janitor. They have an idea that it is an easy job. So +dad let him make the exchange, and I can tell you we were all about as +pleased as we could be."</p> + +<p>"Good work!" commended Frank, but without enthusiasm. He did not want +Bill to have the fun of having Lee for orderly. He had been trying to +think up some scheme whereby the soldier would be sent over to fill that +position with his own father.</p> + +<p>"Lee is a peach," said Bill warmly. "Look what he made me."</p> + +<p>He fished in his pocket and drew forth a length of chain. The small, +delicate links were carved from a single piece of wood, and at the end, +like an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> ornamentation, hung a carved cage in which rolled a little +wooden ball. It was all very curious and delicate.</p> + +<p>"My, but that's a peach," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"You ought to see the one he did for mother," said Bill. "Small enough +for a bracelet almost, and the little ball smaller than a pea. The links +are all carved on the outside, and there is a sort of rose on the end of +this cage thing, and Lee painted it all up pink and green where it ought +to be like that.</p> + +<p>"He knows all about a car too. This week he has been going over dad's +car and the Swallow, and they run like grease."</p> + +<p>Frank fiddled with the chain. He had nothing to say. On account of his +Indian blood, his silent ways and mischievous nature, Lee had always +filled him with interest. He could tell wonderful stories too of his own +times and the times that lay long behind him, as he heard of them from +his father and grandfather.</p> + +<p>Lee's grandfather knew a great many things that he never did tell, but +once in awhile he was willing to open his close-set old mouth and talk. +He wore black broadcloth clothes, a long coat, and a white shirt, but +never a collar. A wide black, soft-brimmed hat was set squarely on his +coal black hair. Under the hat, smooth as a piece of satin, his hair +hung in two tight braids close to each ear. They were always wound with +bright colored<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> worsted. Grandfather Lee, the old chieftain, liked +bright colors, so he usually had red and yellow on his braids. They hung +nearly to his waist, down in front, over each coat lapel. Small gold +rings hung in his ears, and under his eyes and across each cheek bone +was a faint streak of yellow paint.</p> + +<p>His Indian name was Bird that Flies by Night, and he lived about a +hundred miles away, on a farm given him by the Government. He had lived +there quite contentedly for many years, tilling the ground when he had +to. But now everything was changed. Oklahoma had given up her treasure, +the hidden millions that lay under her sandy stretches. Oil derricks +rose thickly everywhere, and Bird that Flies by Night found that all he +had to do was to sit on his back porch and look at the derrick that had +been raised over the well dug where his three pigs used to root. Two +hundred dollars a day that well was bringing to the old Bird and, as Lee +said, was "still going strong."</p> + +<p>"And here <i>I</i> am," said Lee grimly, "enlisted for three years!"</p> + +<p>Lee's father was an Indian of a later day. He had gone through an +eastern college and had been in business in a small town when the oil +excitement broke out. He went into oil at once, and was far down in the +oil fields, Lee did not know where.</p> + +<p>As a boy, Lee himself had refused to accept the schooling urged by his +mother and college-bred father, and had led a restless, roaming life, +filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> with hairbreadth escapes, until the beginning of the war, when +he had enlisted in the hope of being sent across where the danger lay. +But like many another man as brave and as willing, he had been caught in +one of the war's backwaters, and had been stationed at Fort Sill.</p> + +<p>Sauntering up to the quarters, the boys found Lee staring moodily at the +small and racy Swallow, now standing clean and glistening in the bright +sunlight.</p> + +<p>"She knocks," he said, knitting his fierce black brows. "All morning I +have been working over that car, and I can't find that knock."</p> + +<p>The boys came close and listened.</p> + +<p>"I don't hear any knock," said Frank.</p> + +<p>They all listened.</p> + +<p>"Don't you hear it now?" said Lee, speeding the engine.</p> + +<p>"Seems as though I hear something," said Bill, partly to please Lee.</p> + +<p>They all listened closely.</p> + +<p>Lee commenced to pry about in the engine. "I have it, I think," he +exclaimed triumphantly as he took out a small piece of the machinery. +Frank motioned Bill one side, and they wandered around the end of the +building.</p> + +<p>"Don't you feel sort of afraid to let Lee tinker with your car?" he +asked with a show of carelessness.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit! Dad says he is a born mechanic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> and he trusts him with all +the care of his car. If dad thinks he can fix that, why, I guess it is +safe to let him do anything he wants to do with the Swallow."</p> + +<p>"Do you ever let anybody else drive the Swallow?" asked Frank. "I +wouldn't mind taking it some day if you don't care."</p> + +<p>Bill looked embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"I would let you take her in a minute," He said, "but dad made me +promise that I would never loan the Swallow to anyone. It is not that he +wants me to be selfish, but he says if anything should happen, if the +car should be broken, or if there should be an accident and some other +boy hurt, I would sort of feel that it was my fault."</p> + +<p>"I don't see it that way at all," said Frank, who was crazy to get hold +of the pretty car and show it off to some boys and girls he knew in +Lawton. He didn't want to drive with Bill. He was the sort of a boy who +always wants all the glory for himself. That car was quite the most +perfect thing; the sort a fellow sees in his dreams. Frank knew that he +could never hope to own such a car, and the fact that Bill was always +willing to take him wherever he wanted to go was not enough. Bill had +never driven to Lawton, the town nearest the Post. He had told Frank +that he would take him with him the first time. Frank had thought it +would be pretty fine to go humming up the main street past all the +people from the Post and the ranches, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> the old Indians and the +crowds of Indian boys his own age who always came in on Saturday from +the Indian school near by. He had been anticipating that trip ever since +Bill had appeared with the Swallow; but now he felt that it would be far +nicer if Bill would or could be made to loan him the car. Of course he +couldn't run it, but he could run an airplane engine, and he was +perfectly willing to try running the little Swallow.</p> + +<p>Frank had a great trick of getting his own way about things, and he +reflected with satisfaction that as long as the roads to Lawton were +almost impossible for traffic after the rainfall, there would be a few +days in which to scheme for his plan. Nothing of this, however, appeared +in his face. He turned and shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you and your dad think Lee can handle a car all right, it's +all the same to me," he laughed. "My father says you never can trust an +Indian anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Well, we would trust Lee with anything in the world," reiterated Bill.</p> + +<p>"That's all right, too, if you think so," said Frank, trying slyly to +breed distrust in Bill's heart. "I guess you never heard my father tell +some of his Indian stories. You would feel different if you had."</p> + +<p>"But anybody would just <i>have</i> to trust Lee," said Bill. "Why, he is as +good as gold! And he hates a lie, and he has such nice people—two of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +the prettiest little sisters. One of them plays the harp. It's one of +those big gold ones, and she is so little that Lee says she has to trot +clear round the harp to play some of the notes, because her arms are too +short to reach."</p> + +<p>"He's half Indian just the same," insisted Frank. He warmed to the +subject as he went on. He couldn't forgive Lee, quite the most thrilling +and amusing soldier he knew, for <i>letting</i> himself be made Major +Sherman's orderly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I am for Lee every time," said Bill, "and I would wager anything +I have that he is just as true blue as—as—well, as my dad!" Bill could +pay no greater compliment, and the words rang out clear and honest. The +boys stood beside the quarters, staring idly across the bluff as they +talked. They were so interested in their conversation that they were not +aware of a listener. Lee, with a part of the Swallow in his hand to show +Bill, had followed them in time to overhear the conversation concerning +himself, but he quickly drew back and returned to the automobile.</p> + +<p>"Good boy, Billy!" he said softly to himself. Then with a dark look +coming into his face, "So you can't trust an Indian, can you? Ha ha! I +wonder what we had better do about that?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<p>Frank Anderson found no time to invent a scheme that would put the +Swallow into his hands because two days later on a bright Saturday +morning, Frank heard a silvery little siren tooting under his window, +and looked out to see the Swallow below and Bill in businesslike +goggles.</p> + +<p>"Hey!" called Bill joyfully. "Want to come along and show me Lawton? Dad +and mother are coming in for dinner to-night, and we can stay in all day +and see the sights, then meet them and have dinner with them. Dad sets +up a dandy dinner, I will say. Hurry up!" He tooted the siren again +gaily, and Frank bolted in search of his mother.</p> + +<p>He found her getting ready for a bridge luncheon, and she scarcely +listened when he told her the plan for the day. She managed to say yes, +however, when she understood the part Major Sherman was going to play, +and drifted out of the room leaving Frank to yell down from the window +that he was coming and to embark on a more or less thorough toilet. He +looked very smooth and clean, however, ten minutes later, when he hopped +into the Swallow and settled himself beside Bill.</p> + +<p>Frank pointed out the various places of interest as they went along, and +before they knew that the miles had been passed, they were entering the +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>skirts of the village. It was a typical Western village: low, squat, +unpainted sheds of houses, with sandy front yards, and heaps of refuse +lying about.</p> + +<p>As the boys picked their way along, they turned a corner into a better +part of the town. Here the houses were better; but on the whole very +shabby. The influence of the oil boom was being felt, however, and here +and there immense and showy residences were being built.</p> + +<p>They then turned into the main street, a very wide, splendidly paved +thoroughfare crowded with automobiles, carriages, mule teams, saddle +horses, and indeed every possible kind of conveyance.</p> + +<p>Frank noted with pride that wherever they went the little Swallow +created a great commotion. People stopped to stare and exclaim. Bill, +who was busy guiding his little beauty among the larger vehicles, did +not seem to notice but it was meat and drink to Frank.</p> + +<p>Down by Southerland's drug store they parked the Swallow, locking it +carefully, and walked off, leaving the Swallow literally swallowed up by +a crowd of admiring people. Frank hated to go and when they had wandered +half a block away made an excuse for going back. Bill said he would look +at some sweaters in a sporting goods window until he returned.</p> + +<p>Frank found the crowd larger than ever. A policeman had attached himself +to the circle and a couple of old Indians stood looking solemnly down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +Someone was talking and when Frank pressed through the crowd he found a +boy about his own age leaning on the fender and addressing everybody in +general. Frank listened and studied the boy as he did so. He was a slim, +pale chap with a shock of light, wavy hair which was shaved close to his +head everywhere except on top where a thick brush waved. He was +continually smoothing it back or shaking his head to get it out of his +eyes. He seemed to consider it a very fascinating motion. Frank liked +his man-of-the-world air and did not see the grins on the faces of many +of the listeners.</p> + +<p>"Rather nice little machine," said the boy. "I wonder who owns it. I +would like to tell him a few things he ought to have changed about it. +Some of the lines are all wrong, and anyone can see the engine couldn't +hold up under any strain. I bet he has trouble with the hills. All the +cars of this make have trouble. His tires are wrong too. He ought to use +a heavier tire if he expects to get any speed out of it. It ought to go +at a pretty good clip if the chap knows how to drive. There is +everything in the driving. I have taken my eight-cylinder at one hundred +and ten miles easily a good many times, but my dad and the chauffeurs +never get over eighty-five out of it."</p> + +<p>Frank felt his head swim. Here was talk that <i>was</i> talk! He completely +forgot Bill, looking at sweaters. He edged up to the car and fumbled +under the seat.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hello!" said the boy. "This your car?"</p> + +<p>"It belongs to another fellow and me," said Frank, unable to keep +himself from establishing some sort of a claim on the Swallow. "Why?"</p> + +<p>"Quite a nice little toy," said the boy, nodding condescendingly. "I +never cared much for toys myself but some chaps like 'em. I have an +eight-cylinder machine and a six-cylinder runabout, and that's enough to +keep me going for the present. I want a racing car built for me pretty +soon."</p> + +<p>"You don't live here, do you?" asked Frank, sure he would have heard +somehow of this remarkable youth who talked so glibly of owning a string +of cars.</p> + +<p>"I should hope not!" said the boy scornfully. "Not in this dead little +hole! I guess you don't know me. I am Jardin, Horace Jardin. My father +is the automobile man."</p> + +<p>"I have heard of him," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"I guess you have!" chuckled young Jardin. "You couldn't go anywhere on +the globe without seeing the Jardin cars. Dad puts out more cars than +any other two concerns on earth." He assumed a very bored look. "Gee, +sometimes I wish I could change my name! Makes a fellow so conspicuous, +you know."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>I</i> didn't know who you were until you told me," said Frank, +grinning.</p> + +<p>Jardin flushed. Evidently he could not take a joke that was levelled at +himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, I suppose there are a few rube places like this where the people +have never heard of the Jardin car."</p> + +<p>Frank hastened to smooth things over. He had no desire to quarrel with +this young prince who talked so easily. Frank had to admit that a good +deal of it sounded like ordinary boasting, but he assured himself that +it must all be true, and proceeded to make things square again.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong there," he said. "It would be a good deal smaller place +than Lawton before the people had to be told about the Jardin car. Of +course I didn't know that you were Jardin, but I couldn't be blamed for +that."</p> + +<p>"Sure not!" granted the boy. He took a gold cigarette case from his +pocket and lighted one, then as an after-thought offered it to Frank who +refused, but with a feeling of disgust that he was unable to take one +and smoke it coolly as young Jardin was doing.</p> + +<p>"The little fool!" a man in the group was saying, but Jardin either did +not hear or care.</p> + +<p>"Where is the other boy who owns the car?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Down the street," said Frank. "I forgot all about him. We are in town +for the day. His father is an instructor at the School of Fire at Sill, +and mine is stationed at the Aviation School."</p> + +<p>"That's what I am crazy over," said Jardin. "If I consent to go to +school and stay all through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> the winter, I am to have a little plane +this fall. I have been taking lessons down at Garden City, and my plane +is to be a real long distance one. Dad will give me anything if I will +go to school. Gee, I hate it!"</p> + +<p>Frank swallowed hard. Two automobiles and an airplane! He commenced to +feel sorry for Bill. "Bill and I are going east to school this fall," he +said. "Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know yet," said Jardin. "I have got to talk it over with dad."</p> + +<p>"Let's go find Bill," said Frank. "That is, if you haven't anything +better to do."</p> + +<p>They detached themselves from the crowd and walked down to the sporting +house, where they found Bill just tucking a bulky bundle under his arm. +He had bought his sweater and stopped to count his change before he +turned to greet the boys.</p> + +<p>"Gee, what an old woman's trick," said Frank, who wanted to let Jardin +know that <i>he</i> was not afraid to spend.</p> + +<p>"You mean to count the change?" Bill inquired.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"You are right," Jardin cut in. "I never have time. <i>My</i> time is more +valuable than a few cents the fellow may swipe from me."</p> + +<p>"Suppose it is the other way around," said Bill. "Suppose the fellow has +made the mistake. When the checks are made up, his shows the loss and he +has to make it up. Not much fun for him. Per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>haps he has a family and he +can't afford it. I never used to bother either, but once I was taking +dinner in New York with a friend of mother's who has oodles of money, +and when he came to pay the check he looked every item over and counted +the change and it was thirty cents overcharged. I suppose I looked +funny, because he said to me when the waiter went off to get it +straightened out, 'Bill, it is no special credit to let these fellows do +you. If you want to give money away, there are plenty of beggars on the +streets, or you can buy millions of shoe laces and pencils. But never +let anybody think they can put it over you.'</p> + +<p>"And then to show the other side, that is, when the other fellow makes +an honest mistake, he told me a story that made me remember. Then the +waiter brought the right change, got a tip, and we left. But I always +count change now."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to see anybody do that in the Biltway Hotel!" laughed Jardin.</p> + +<p>"This was in the Biltway Cascades," said Bill.</p> + +<p>"Come down here," said Frank. "Here is where the Indians come most." +Young Jardin and his father had only reached town late the night before +so he was as ready as Bill to see the sights.</p> + +<p>On a corner by a drug store two very old Indians stood gesturing at each +other. The boys stopped a little way off and watched them. Their +wrinkled old mouths were tight closed but their hands flew in short, +quick motions that were perfectly impossible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> for the boys to +understand. It was evident, however, that the two old men understood +each other with perfect ease because at intervals they would laugh as +though at an excellent joke.</p> + +<p>"That beats all!" exclaimed Jardin, actually interested for once. "Both +those old fellows are deaf and dumb."</p> + +<p>"Wait," said Frank.</p> + +<p>The gestures went on, and presently another old Indian approached. He +was even older than the other two. His face was a network of wrinkles +and his braided hair hung in two thin, scant little tails scarcely +reaching his shoulders. It was gayly wound, however, and his cheeks were +carefully painted. The two other old men seized him by the arms and to +the amazement of Bill and Horace both commenced to talk at once.</p> + +<p>"Now what on earth did they do that for?" demanded Bill of no one in +particular. "If they can talk, why did they go through all that crazy +motion business?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Frank. "They do it all the time. Only the old ones, +though."</p> + +<p>"I bet Lee will know," said Bill. "We will ask him."</p> + +<p>"Who is Lee?" asked Horace</p> + +<p>"My dad's orderly," said Bill. "He will drive father and mother in +to-night when they come. Who are all these boys in blue suits? Look like +bell boys."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They are from the Indian school we passed on the way out," explained +Frank.</p> + +<p>"Lee knows a lot of the boys in that school," said Bill. "He is going to +go over with me some day."</p> + +<p>"How does he happen to know them?" asked Jardin.</p> + +<p>"He is part Indian himself," explained Frank.</p> + +<p>"A half-breed?" said Jardin. "They are awfully treacherous. Don't you +feel afraid to have him around?"</p> + +<p>Bill laughed. "I should say not! Why, Lee is the finest and best fellow +I ever knew! He wouldn't lie to save his life. Dad says he can trust him +with anything anywhere. Afraid? Well, you just don't know what you are +talking about! Frank has got that afraid bee in his bonnet. It makes me +sort of tired because I know what Lee is, and I am going to be for him +every time and all the time."</p> + +<p>"You always act as though it was a personal slam if anyone says the +least thing about Lee," complained Frank.</p> + +<p>"That's the surest thing you know!" said Bill fervently. "I <i>do</i> take it +as a personal slam always if anyone says things against a friend. And a +friend Lee certainly is. I think he is as true and clean as any man I +know, and he is—well, he is a dandy! Anybody who says he is different +will have to prove it!"</p> + +<p>A spirit of malicious meanness rose in Frank. He assumed an air of good +nature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right," he said. "It is really not worth talking about, but some +day I may be able to make you see things differently."</p> + +<p>"I will believe you when you can prove it," retorted Bill.</p> + +<p>"Aw, let's drop it," said Jardin, taking each boy by an arm and turning +into a doorway. "Let's look in this pawnshop. Did you ever see anything +like that white buckskin Indian suit?"</p> + +<p>"The Sioux Indians work those, little gentlemen," said the owner of the +pawnshop, seeing them pause before the soft, snowy leather garment. +"They are the only Indians who can cure the hides and tan them like +that, and the squaws do the bead work."</p> + +<p>"I have a notion to buy that for my sister," said Jardin, feeling of the +delicate fringes. "She could wear it to a fancy dress ball. I suppose +this feather headdress goes with it."</p> + +<p>"It is worn with it," said the man. "I will let you have them cheap. +Dress and headdress for fifty dollars."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Jardin as coolly as though the man had said fifty +cents. "Send them over to the hotel C. O. D. May will have a fit over +those."</p> + +<p>"I reckon you are sort of all right to get a present like that for your +sister," said Frank, as they strolled out. "You must like her a whole +lot."</p> + +<p>"I don't," said Jardin. "I just have to keep squaring her all the time. +She is an awful tattler,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and if I don't keep her squared, she peaches +on me. Sisters are an awful nuisance!"</p> + +<p>"You are right," said Frank. He had never thought so before but if this +wonderful young man thought so, why, it must be true.</p> + +<p>Bill said nothing.</p> + +<p>Jardin glanced at his wrist watch.</p> + +<p>"Lunch time," he announced. "Come on back to the hotel and have +something to eat with me."</p> + +<p>"That suits me," said Frank.</p> + +<p>"Sorry, but I can't accept," from Bill. "I have a couple of errands to +attend to for mother and I have been fooling around so long that I will +have to be pretty spry. You all go on, and I will get a bite later."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course I will stay with you if you think you can't put your +errands off for an hour or so," said Frank sulkily.</p> + +<p>"I have put it off too long anyhow," said Bill, "but I certainly won't +mind if you go."</p> + +<p>"No, I will go with you," decided Frank.</p> + +<p>"All right then," said Jardin, shrugging his shoulders. "Suit yourself, +of course! Perhaps we will meet later." He turned and started back +toward the hotel, leaving the boys looking after him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<p>"Well, I will say he's a peach!" said Frank.</p> + +<p>Bill made no reply.</p> + +<p>"Don't you say so?" pressed Frank. "Don't you think he is a peach?"</p> + +<p>Bill, forced to answer the question, made a frank but reluctant reply.</p> + +<p>"No," he said. "I think he is a pill." He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"You are a queer one!" said Frank. "It don't look as though you had any +sporting blood in you. I suppose because he smokes naughty cigarettes—"</p> + +<p>"It isn't that," said Bill, frowning. "He is just plain <i>foolish</i> to +smoke. Why, he is undersized and underweight now for his age, and every +time he smokes he checks his growth. It is up to him. I bet he has had +it explained to him a million times by each teacher and tutor he has +ever had just how smoking will harm him and dope up his brain, so if he +wants to miss out on athletics and all that, and look like a boiled +mosquito in the bargain, let him go to it. <i>I</i> don't care. It's not that +I don't like about him. It is the way he thinks and talks. Where does he +live when he is at home?"</p> + +<p>"Detroit," said Frank.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You would think he owned the whole world!" grumbled Bill. "And +<i>squaring</i> his sister!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Frank, "you have a queer way of looking at things. I +don't think you are giving the fellow a fair deal. Perhaps he <i>does</i> +talk pretty big, but on the other hand he has a lot to talk about. Think +of it: a fellow only the age of us and he has a couple of automobiles of +his own and is going to have an airplane. Gee, I am glad I can manage a +plane! I have got him there."</p> + +<p>"It's all right, I suppose, for him to gab all he wants to about his +cars and things. By the time we go back to the Post to-night, if we see +him again, I'll bet you he tells us what his father is worth and just +how many gold chairs they have at his house."</p> + +<p>"You are sore," said Frank loftily.</p> + +<p>"What at, for goodness' sake?" demanded Bill. "I wouldn't swap the +little Swallow for all the cars he ever had or will have. We have more +fun in our little cooped-up quarters over at the School than he ever +thought of with his scraps with his sister. I guess I am sore a little, +Frank. I am sore because he came butting in and spoiled our whole +morning. Let's forget him for awhile. I want to take mother's watch to a +jeweller and then we will hunt up a good restaurant and have lunch. It +is on me."</p> + +<p>Frank followed in silence. He knew Bill was right, but the stranger had +dazzled him. He wished bitterly that his father was a rich manu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>facturer +instead of a poor army officer. The traveling they had had, the +wonderful sights they had seen all over the world seemed poor in +comparison with all the glories Jardin had told and hinted at.</p> + +<p>Poor Frank, did not know it, but slowly, ever so slowly, he was making +the wrong turn; the turn that led away from the right.</p> + +<p>"The trouble with you, Bill," he said, as they loitered over their +ice-cream at luncheon, "the trouble is that you are narrow."</p> + +<p>Bill groaned. "There you go on Jardin again, I do believe," he said. +"All right; I will tell you what <i>I</i> will do. I will really try to like +him, and if he comes around where we are I will be as decent to him as I +can be. Perhaps he has a lot of good in him, as you say. <i>I</i> don't want +to be unjust."</p> + +<p>Frank looked pleased. "I think that is the square thing for you to do," +he said. "Jardin may turn out to be a good scout in every way. Perhaps +he saw the Swallow and was so impressed with it that he wanted to make a +big impression to get even. You can't tell the first time you see +anybody what they will be like when you get to know them well."</p> + +<p>"Well, I gathered that Jardin was here with his father on some oil +business, and probably we won't see him anyhow after this afternoon. He +won't be apt to come to the Post. Anyway, let's not spoil our whole +afternoon. I want to see some more of those Indians, and I would like to +go to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> that pawnshop without someone tagging along who can buy the place +out. I want to buy a little bead bag I saw in the window if it does not +cost too much. I think mother would like it to carry with a blue dress +of hers.</p> + +<p>"Say, you are just like a girl, aren't you?" exclaimed Frank. "I would +never know what sort of a dress my mother had on, and she would <i>never</i> +get a bag if she depended on <i>my</i> getting it for her."</p> + +<p>"I suppose there is a difference in folks," said Bill. "There was a man +visiting my uncle back home one time. He broke his leg while he was with +us, and mother helped take care of him and amuse him, and say, he could +embroider and crochet! He taught mother a lot of stitches."</p> + +<p>"A regular sissy!" sneered Frank.</p> + +<p>"I thought so," said Bill; laughing at the recollection. "One night when +he felt sort of bad I rubbed his back, and his shoulders were all +covered with scars. Well, what do you think? A tiger did it. A Royal +Bengal tiger like you read about! And I found out that he had hunted +every kind of big game there is, and the fiercer, the better. He simply +didn't care <i>what</i> he did in the way of hunting. Oh, my; that was a snap +for me! When he found out that I was simply crazy to hear his yarns, he +used to tell me thrills, I can tell you.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think he was such a sissy then. That crochet work looked all +right. But it was sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> funny to see him lying there showing my +mother how to make a new kind of muffler or table mat and remember how +he came by a great white scar that showed on his wrist when he stuck his +arm out."</p> + +<p>"How did he get it?" asked Frank, all attention.</p> + +<p>"He got that one in Africa," said Bill, taking a taste of his ice-cream. +"He and another chap had penetrated away into the jungle. They were +after a splendid specimen of—"</p> + +<p>Bill stopped, looked at the door and attacked his ice-cream.</p> + +<p>"Here is little Percy again," he groaned. "Frank, if I don't treat him +according to agreement, you are to kick me."</p> + +<p>Frank turned. The African jungle faded away. There was Jardin!</p> + +<p>He came smiling across the room and joined them.</p> + +<p>"Hello, everybody!" he said gaily. "Getting some grub? It didn't take me +very long to get through, so I thought I would wander down the street +and see if I could run across you. Thought you might like to go to see a +movie."</p> + +<p>"That is mighty nice of you," said Bill heartily, "but I sort of wanted +to see a little of the town this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I think that is a good idea," said Jardin. "We can go to see the movies +any old time. I saw my dad at the hotel and have some good news to tell +you. We are going to stay here for a couple of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> weeks. Dad thought that +I would make an awful kick about it, and I would if I hadn't met you +fellows, but between us we ought to be able to start something going. If +I had one of my cars here I could give you a good time, but we will have +to take a fall out of your little steamer."</p> + +<p>"Say, that's fine!" said Frank with enthusiasm enough for two. "I will +have a chance to show you the Aviation Field, and Bill can show you the +School of Fire, and there are some dandy fellows over at New Post and up +at Old Post too."</p> + +<p>"I would like to see them, especially the Aviation part," said Jardin. +"I might get some pointers about flying my plane. It will be done before +long,—in a couple of months anyway. I worked hard enough for that car," +he chuckled. "I thought up every kind of mischief you ever heard of and +then some, and tried 'em all out, and all the time I kept hollering for +an airplane. I just wore dad out. He offered me everything you ever +heard of if I would stop cutting up, and at last he hit on this airplane +which was what I had been after from the start. So we made an agreement, +regular business affair you know, and we both signed it. I am to stop +smoking the day school opens and also agree to go to whatever school he +picks out and to keep the rules and remain for the three terms of the +school year. He has got to give me plenty of money, though. You can't +have a decent time in school without your pocket full of money."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't see why you need much," said Bill thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Take it from me, you do," replied Jardin. "I have been in about every +high-class school around our part of the country and I <i>know</i>."</p> + +<p>"I am going to boarding-school this fall, and I don't believe I will +have much of an allowance. My folks won't think it is wise, I know."</p> + +<p>"A lot of people are like that," said Jardin. "Are you going away to +school too, Frank?"</p> + +<p>"I expect I am," said Frank. "I don't know where yet; the folks have not +decided for either of us, but we hope we will go together; don't we, +Bill?"</p> + +<p>"Sure!" agreed Bill.</p> + +<p>"Wish you knew where you were going," said Jardin. "I would make dad +send me where you were. That would be a lark. The Big Three: how would +that go for a name, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Great!" said Bill absently. He finished the last spoonful of his +ice-cream. "Let's go out and see the town," he suggested. "There is a +shooting gallery around the corner that has the cutest moving targets I +ever saw."</p> + +<p>"That's the ticket!" said Jardin. "I can shoot almost better than I can +do anything else."</p> + +<p>They wandered out, and turned down to the shooting gallery. A soldier +was leaning idly against the door frame. Bill looked twice, grabbed the +young man in a bear hug.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lee, you old scamp!" he cried. "How did you happen to get here?"</p> + +<p>The dark face of the handsome young half-breed lighted up. "I drove the +car in," he answered. "Your mother is shopping and your father will come +in with Colonel Spratt in time for dinner. I have been watching these +people shoot. Are you boys going to try it?" He glanced at Jardin with a +keen eye, then looked away instantly.</p> + +<p>"I can't shoot for sour apples and you know it. I suppose you want to +have a good laugh at me," said Bill. "All right, here goes!" He laid +down his money and received the little rifle.</p> + +<p>"No moving targets for me," he said to the man in charge. "And I want +the biggest target you have, at that."</p> + +<p>"Here is one we let the ladies shoot at," the gallery man laughed. He +put up a brilliant affair of different colored rings encircling a large +black spot.</p> + +<p>"That is the thing for me," said Bill.</p> + +<p>"Us ladies!" jeered Frank, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Shoot!" commanded Lee.</p> + +<p>Bill aimed, breathed hard, blinked and pulled the trigger violently.</p> + +<p>There was a black hole in the outside ring.</p> + +<p>"Good boy!" said Bill, patting himself. "Good boy! 'If at first you +don't succeed, try, try again.' I have just three tries, I believe."</p> + +<p>The next shot was a trifle closer. Bill held a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> little steadier. The +last shot he took his time about and pulled carefully, using his finger +instead of his whole side. A bell clanged. He had actually hit the +bull's eye! Bill fell against Lee in a make-believe faint.</p> + +<p>Frank tried next, Jardin refusing to make an attempt. At last however, +after Frank had repeated Bill's performance, Jardin selected a rifle and +asked for the moving targets to be set in motion.</p> + +<p>He aimed quickly at the head of the smallest duck, and it disappeared +behind the painted waves. Again and again he repeated this while the +boys stood spellbound.</p> + +<p>"That's easy!" said Jardin, laying the rifle down on the counter. "I can +beat that easily."</p> + +<p>"Do it," said Lee, handing him a rifle.</p> + +<p>"Put up your hardest target," instructed Jardin. "I want something worth +while."</p> + +<p>The target popped into place. It was a pretty little figure of a dancing +girl with a tiny tambourine in her uplifted hand. She whirled and turned +and the little tambourine gleamed and sparkled. Jardin took careful aim +at the tambourine and missed. Three times he missed, the boys exclaiming +that no one could hit anything so delicate. Finally he gave it up, +giving a number of explanations <i>why</i> he did not hit it.</p> + +<p>Then, quite idly, Lee picked up a rifle and with a half smile at the +gallery man he shot without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> raising the rifle to his shoulder. A shower +of tiny flashes burst from the uplifted tambourine. Then three times, as +fast as he could lift a rifle, Lee hit the little tambourine and the +bright flashes leaped up. It was evident that Lee had been there before +because without a word the man removed the little dancer and placed a +row of small and lively dolphins in view. They curved in and out of +sight and looked very funny indeed. But Lee shook his head. The man +removed the target, and feeling under his lapel drew out a pin, a common +white pin which he stuck carefully in the middle of the black cloth at +the end of the gallery. Lee's bullet drove the pin into the cloth as +neatly as though it had been done with a mallet.</p> + +<p>"Want to try?" he asked Jardin.</p> + +<p>Jardin smiled sourly. "I am no professional," he said.</p> + +<p>He and Frank sauntered out, followed by Bill and Lee.</p> + +<p>"Who is that soldier?" asked Jardin. "Isn't he just an enlisted man?"</p> + +<p>"That's all," said Frank. "He is the Major's orderly."</p> + +<p>"I don't like his looks," said Jardin.</p> + +<p>"Neither do I," agreed Frank. "But you had better not tell Bill that. He +is crazy over Lee."</p> + +<p>"Every man to his taste!" Jardin said with a sneer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<p>About a week later, Bill, accompanied by Lee, drove the Swallow over to +the Aviation Field. They found Horace Jardin staying there at Frank's +quarters, as the houses are called on all army posts. Mr. Jardin had +gone down into the Burkburnett Oil Fields and Frank had invited the boy +to come and stay with him. Mrs. Anderson, a weak and idle person, was +flattered to have the young millionaire as her guest and revelled as +Frank did in his glowing yarns of everything concerning the Jardins. +Horace treated Mrs. Anderson and the Major with all the politeness he +could muster.</p> + +<p>It was always his policy to be agreeable to other fellows' parents. It +made things easier all around to have what he privately and rudely +called "the old folks" think he was a fine boy, and he found that they +always "fell for it" when he paid them a little attention.</p> + +<p>So he cleverly kept silence whenever the Major was around, only asking +questions that he knew would please him to answer and enlarge upon.</p> + +<p>With Mrs. Anderson he worked a different scheme. He launched into +glowing accounts of parties and bridge luncheons his mother had given, +recounting with more or less truth details about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> the food and the +decorations, and the jewels worn by the guests.</p> + +<p>"Seems to be a very quiet, studious boy," was Major Anderson's decision, +and Mrs. Anderson proclaimed him "The sweetest child, with such <i>lovely</i> +manners, and perfectly unspoiled by his enormous wealth."</p> + +<p>Jardin laughed in his sleeve, and Frank, also a willing listener, but to +a greatly differing line of talk, was rapidly absorbing all the mental +and moral poison that Jardin could think up.</p> + +<p>As Bill looked at his friend, he was conscious of a change in him. He +had a worldly, bored air that to Bill was extremely funny. Frank and +Horace did not trouble to speak to Lee, who grinned cheerfully and said +nothing, while he cared even less. Lee saw through the two boys and was +determined to keep them from doing any harm to Bill, for whom he felt +the truest affection. They were growing into a friendship that was +destined to last for many years.</p> + +<p>Lee was the soul of honor and had a sense of humor seldom found in one +of Indian blood, and was as ready to romp and roughhouse as a boy of +twelve. His straightforwardness and his tender care of Mrs. Sherman +caused the Major to rejoice every day that he had transferred him to his +service as orderly.</p> + +<p>Lee had the Indian gift of silence, so he made no comment at all when he +was alone with Bill and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> Bill commenced to sputter and fuss about the +change in Frank. He just stared ahead, gazing off across the prairie or +carving delicately on another length of chain which Mrs. Sherman had +asked him to make for her sister back in the east.</p> + +<p>"My airplane is finished," said Horace as soon as he could make Bill +hear the glad news. For once he looked genuinely pleased and excited.</p> + +<p>"Good enough!" cried Bill. "Is it here?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," scoffed Jardin. "I will not get it until I go back +east. But Major Anderson has arranged for me to learn to fly here. My +father called him on long distance and arranged it."</p> + +<p>"I guess I will hang around and pick up some pointers myself," said +Bill. "When do these lessons come off? 'Most any time?"</p> + +<p>"Almost any time we want to go over to the Field and get hold of an +instructor," answered Frank. "Now the war is over, the rush is over too +and we are taking our time over here. Stick around all you want to, +Bill; I can fly myself."</p> + +<p>Walking over to the hangars, the boys found the field bright with the +giant dragonflies hopping here and there or rising slowly from the +ground, and taking wing with ever increasing noise and speed. Lee +followed the boys and was glad when he found that Bill could not make a +flight without written permission from his parents. This was a rule of +the Field, no minor being allowed to go up without the presentation of +such a paper, which acted as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> sort of release in ease of any accident. +Jardin buttoned himself into an elaborate and most expensive leather +coat, carefully, adjusted his goggles, stepped into a plane beside the +usual pilot who winked slyly at Lee, and proceeded, to send his big bug +skimming here and there across the field under the wobbly and uncertain +guidance of Horace. They did not leave the ground, but Frank soon soared +upward on a short flight that filled Bill with joy and envy all at the +same time. He felt that he <i>must</i> fly.</p> + +<p>Frank was really mastering the control of a plane in a remarkable +manner. The instructors said that he was a born birdman. He seemed to +know by instinct what to do and when to do it.</p> + +<p>Bill and Lee, on the sidelines by the hangars, did not find all this +very exciting. Bill grew more and more crazy to go up, and Lee, who was +an artilleryman and had no use for flying, was sorry to see the craze +for the dangerous sport grow in his favorite.</p> + +<p>Finally the lesson was over, and Frank and Horace, both much inclined to +crow, rejoined Bill and Lee to talk it over. They wandered over to the +Andersons' quarters, where Lee left them to go to the men's mess for his +luncheon. Mrs. Anderson was out attending a bridge luncheon, and the +Major did not come home at noon, so the boys had the table to +themselves.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have decided to be an aviator," de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>clared Jardin. "There will +be another war sometime perhaps, and there is nothing like being ready. +I suppose I will have to go to school this winter because I agreed to. +Gee, I hate the thought of it! Perhaps there will be some way of getting +out of it, I can almost always work dad one way or another. He is crazy +for me to go through college."</p> + +<p>"So is my father," said Frank. "But I am going to be an aviator too, and +I don't see any need of college."</p> + +<p>"My father is set on college, too," said Bill, "or at least a good +training school."</p> + +<p>"Well, he is only your stepfather, so I suppose you will do just as you +like about it," said Jardin.</p> + +<p>"I don't see it that way," replied Bill, flushing, "Of course he is my +stepfather, but he is the kindest and best man I ever knew or heard of +and I will say right now I am perfectly crazy over him. If I hadn't +been, I would never have let mother marry him."</p> + +<p>"Much she would have cared what you wanted!" chuckled Jardin.</p> + +<p>"She would have done exactly as I said," Bill insisted. "We always talk +things over together and never decide any really <i>big</i> things without a +good old consultation."</p> + +<p>"Nobody ever consults me," grumbled Frank.</p> + +<p>"None of the women consult me," said Jardin.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> "They know I won't be +bothered with them. Dad and I usually go over things together."</p> + +<p>How Horace Jardin's father would have laughed if he could have heard his +son and heir make that remark! Horace was Mr. Jardin's greatest care and +problem. He often said that his son caused him more trouble than it gave +him to run all his factories. Mr. Jardin was a very unwise man who loved +his only son so much that he did not seem able to make him obey. Horace +had not been a bad boy to start with, but twelve years of having his own +way and feeling that, as he said, he could work his father and mother +for anything that trouble could procure or money buy had made him +selfish, grasping and unreliable. Other and graver faults were +developing in him fast, to his mother's amazement and his father's +sorrow.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Jardin found that he must go down into the oil fields to look +after his wells there, he was greatly relieved and pleased to find that +he could leave his son with such pleasant people as the Andersons. He +knew that for awhile at least the novelty of being right at an Aviation +Post would keep Horace out of any serious mischief. In a measure he was +right. The discipline and routine, the sharp commands, the rage of the +instructors if anything went even a shade wrong, impressed Horace as he +had never been impressed before. All the good in him came to the +surface; the bad hid itself away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>Unfortunately, however, while Horace was spending his time in what +seemed to all a highly creditable manner, his influence over Frank was +bad, and grew worse as time went on. He absorbed like a sponge every +word of Jardin's boastful tales; he learned a thousand new ways in which +to gain his own ends; he learned to cheat; he learned to lie without the +feeling of guilt and distress that used to bother him when he slipped +from the truth. And most of all, he was made to feel that there was +nothing so necessary as money, money and still more money. Every letter +from Mr. Jardin brought Horace a check for anything from twenty-five to +a hundred dollars, and this money was spent like water.</p> + +<p>Frank, who had thought his allowance of a dollar a week a fine and +generous amount, watched Jardin buy his way and squander money in every +direction. Frank commenced to worry about school. It must be as Horace +said: useless to try to be happy or comfortable unless one had a pocket +full of change all the time. He commenced to wish for some money, then +the wish changed, and he wished for a certain sum, the amount he thought +would be sufficient to carry him through the three terms of school. He +made up his mind that he wanted six hundred dollars. Where this vast sum +was to come from he did not know. He knew very well that his father and +mother would not give it to him. He could not earn it. Only a few weeks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +later the boys would be sent east to school. Six hundred dollars he +wanted, and his whole mind seemed to focus on that amount like a burning +glass, and the thought of it scorched him.</p> + +<p>All through luncheon Frank thought of the money. He went off into +day-dreams in which he rescued the daughter of the Colonel from all +sorts of dangers and invariably after each rescue, the Colonel would +say, "My boy, thanks are too tame. I insist, in fact I <i>order</i> you to +accept this little token of my regard." And then he would press into +Frank's hand six hundred dollars. It was thrilling; and in a day-dream +so easy.</p> + +<p>The fact that the Colonel's only daughter was a strapping damsel who +stood five feet eight and weighed one hundred and sixty pounds and +always took the best of care of herself in all kinds of tight places +without asking odds of anyone, did not affect Frank's day-dreams at all. +Neither did the fact that the Colonel was well known to be so close with +his money that he had learned to read the headlines upside down so that +he seldom had to buy a paper of a newsy! Six hundred dollars ... it +would have killed him!</p> + +<p>Frank was called back to the present by hearing Horace say,</p> + +<p>"Six hundred dollars! Where does a common soldier get all that?"</p> + +<p>Frank looked up from his dessert quite wild-eyed. It was so pat!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"His grandfather sent it to him. He has a lot more than that."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about?" demanded Frank, coming wholly out of his +trance and looking from one to the other. "Who has six hundred dollars, +and whose grandfather sent it to him?"</p> + +<p>"Lee's," said Bill.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it!"</p> + +<p>"It is true," Bill affirmed. "I was just telling Horace that I went to +Lawton this morning before I came here, so that Lee could bank the +money. He has a nice bank account. He is saving up so he can go into +business when he is discharged."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't believe it," said Frank bitterly. Six hundred +dollars—and someone else had it!</p> + +<p>"It is true anyhow," repeated Bill, "and this is the way it happened. +Years and years ago, as the storytellers say, the Government decided to +grant to every Indian a certain amount of ground. I forget how much Lee +told me. Anyhow, it was a nice large farm, and they gave one to each +Indian. Some of the Indians were glad to get the grant and went right +off and settled down and did their best to be farmers. And some of them +didn't want land, and said they wouldn't <i>have</i> land. It looked too much +like work.</p> + +<p>"Lee's grandfather was one of those. He just said no, he wouldn't take +it. But the Government knew that what one Indian had, the rest ought to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +have or there would be scrapping over it sooner or later, sure as +shooting.</p> + +<p>"So old Foxy Grandpa found a farm wished off on him whether he liked it +or not. He was quite mad about it—so mad that for a long while he +wouldn't speak more than once a week instead of once in a day or two, +the way he usually did. Bimeby he built a house and his boys, who were +all getting an education, commenced to work the ground and collect +cattle and horses. This commenced to interest grandpa a little, although +he wouldn't help, and he used to sit on the back porch and look over the +farm and watch his children, and just rattle right along, saying nothing +at all.</p> + +<p>"Then all at once oil was discovered in Oklahoma, and the Government +took control of the Indian grants. That; is, they dig the wells and give +the Indians a big royalty. If the well is a dry hole, it does not cost +the Indian anything.</p> + +<p>"The fellows who knew about such things came moseying around +grandfather's farm and thought they smelled oil. So they put up a +derrick, and commenced to drill right where the pig yard was, not far +from the house.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather just sat right on the back porch and watched them do it. +Didn't keep them from work by his talking; just sat and looked on. It +took several weeks to drill the well, but grandfather kept right on +watching.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Finally bing, bang! They struck, and it was a gusher. Just poured right +out and most drowned grandfather on the back +porch before they could plug it and fix the tanks.</p> + +<p>"The first dividend was five thousand dollars, and grandfather took it +and looked at it and then shoved it over to his oldest son and commenced +to talk. That is, Lee said he spoke <i>one word</i> in the Indian language. +It meant the-car-that-runs-by-itself. He wanted an automobile! Well, his +son went off and got him the biggest he could for the money, and now the +old gentleman is quite satisfied.</p> + +<p>"When he isn't riding around the country he still sits and watches that +old gusher keep gushing. He gets about two hundred dollars a day out of +it."</p> + +<p>"That's nothing!" said Horace Jardin.</p> + +<p>"<i>Nothing?</i>" repeated Bill. "Well, it would mean <i>some</i>thing to me, I +can tell you!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing?" cried Frank in a tone filled with real pain. "<i>Nothing?</i> My +soul! It would be six hundred dollars every three days."</p> + +<p>"Why pick on six hundred dollars?" asked Bill. "Why not fourteen hundred +a week? Those old wells go right on working on Sunday, you know."</p> + +<p>Frank slammed down his fork and shoved his chair back from the table.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is a <i>shame</i>!" he cried bitterly.</p> + +<p>Both boys looked at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"What ails you, anyhow?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Frank.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<p>Jardin left the following week and the two boys tried to settle down +into the old groove. Bill spent a great deal of time with Frank, +watching the manœuvers on the Field. Frank kept up the study of +aviation with surprising earnestness. He had a special gift for it and +was really a source of great pride to his instructors. Of course his +father forbade long or very high flights, but Frank soon was able to +execute any of the simpler stunts that make the air so thrilling.</p> + +<p>Bill, who refrained from any flying even as a passenger on account of +his mother, tried to absorb as much as he could from the talk and from a +couple of the airmen who took a great fancy to the quiet, handsome boy +who asked such intelligent questions and who so soon mastered all the +technicalities of the monster dragonflies.</p> + +<p>With a small maliciousness that surprised even himself, Frank had +dropped a hint here and there that Bill was afraid to fly, and the two +airmen, Lem Saunders and Chauncey Harringford, who were his special +friends at the Field discussed it between themselves. One day they +stopped Lee and asked him if it was true. Lee flushed under his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> dark, +swarthy skin, and his small, black eyes flashed angrily.</p> + +<p>"Who says it?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how it started," answered Lem. "I don't know as it matters +whether the kid is afraid or not, but it doesn't seem just like him; and +I sort of hate to think there is a grain of yellow anywhere in that good +body of his."</p> + +<p>"I will bet all my month's pay that there isn't," affirmed Chauncey. "I +<i>know</i> there isn't, but I wish I knew how the report started. It makes +it sort of hard for him. The fellows guy him."</p> + +<p>"I wish <i>I</i> could be there when they do. I know one soldier who would +have a ticket for the guardhouse for fighting in about ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"It is not as bad as that," said Chauncey. "The fellows don't mean any +harm, only young Frank is such a whiz and even that green little sprout +of a Jardin flew like a swallow. And here is Bill, by far the best of +the three, won't go off the ground but just shakes his head and grins if +you ask him why not."</p> + +<p>"I know the reason," said Lee firmly. "It is a good one, too. Do you +know his mother? No? Well, she is more like an angel than a human +being." Lee took off his campaign hat as he spoke, as though he could +not talk of Mrs. Sherman while he remained covered.</p> + +<p>"She is perfect," he continued. "So gentle, so sweet; and such a true +friend! But she has a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> weak heart. There is something wrong, very +wrong about it, and Major Sherman has told me that a shock might kill +her. And what greater shock could there be than something happening to +her only son? Major Sherman told me that he had explained it to Bill, +and that Bill never did one thing to worry his mother. If he says he +will come home at a certain time, he gets there. When he is away, at +Lawton or Medicine Park or any place like that, he telephones her a +couple of times to let her know he is all right. That boy is a peach, I +can tell you! There are dozens of things he doesn't do on her account. +And he never complains. He doesn't wait for her to ask him not to, +either. It is awfully hard on him, I can tell you, because he is the +most fearless and daring boy of his age I have ever seen. He wants to +try everything going." Lee looked wistful. "I wish <i>I</i> could hear +someone say Bill is a coward!"</p> + +<p>"They don't go as far as that," said Chauncey soothingly. "They just guy +him a little."</p> + +<p>"They will stop guying if <i>I</i> hear them," said Lee doggedly. "The boy +has every kind of courage that there is and some day will prove it. But +never, never if it will distress his mother. He will bear all the slurs +and insults in the world rather than hurt her."</p> + +<p>"Jimminy, old fellow, you take it too hard!" said Lem, laughing. "All +the fellows do is guy him, and we will see to it that they stop that, +you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> can bank on it. Chance here and me will never see the kid abused. I +am some scrapper myself, if it comes to that!"</p> + +<p>He pounded Lee cheerfully on the back and that young man smiled in spite +of himself. Turning, he caught Lem, a six footer and heavy, and with +what seemed a playful little clasp raised him from the ground and tossed +him over his shoulder where he hung balanced for a minute before Lee +gently eased him to the ground. Chauncey was round-eyed with amazement +and Lem sputtered, "Lee, you wizard, you! How in the world did you do +that? Why, I am twice your size!"</p> + +<p>"Just a little Indian trick that I learned a good while ago when I used +to visit some cousins of mine. There were two young bucks who used to +wrestle with me, and I learned a lot from them. I have been teaching +Bill, and he can almost beat me at my own game. You don't have to be big +like you, Lem. Do you want to see me throw you twenty feet over my +head?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you loon, I should say not!" said Lem, backing off.</p> + +<p>"Oh, be a sport, Lem, and let me see the fun!" cried Chauncey.</p> + +<p>But Lem refused to be obliging. For a man who did not care how high or +how far he flew, he was strangely unwilling to let himself be tossed out +on the prairie to amuse Chance or anyone else.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lee walked off laughing. The others stood looking after him.</p> + +<p>"The only Indian thing about him is his color and his walk. Do you +notice how he puts one foot down right in front of the other as though +he was walking along a narrow trail?"</p> + +<p>"He is one of the straightest fellows I have ever known," said Lem, +feeling of his neck and waggling his head to see if it was all right +after its late experience with Lee. "I am glad to know about Bill. He +understands every last thing there is about a plane, and it did seem so +funny that he would never leave the ground. It is a wonderful chance for +those kids to stand in over here, you know. They are getting the best +training in the world in the flying game. I had commenced to think Bill +was a perfect sissy. That little automobile of his is a wonder—a +regular racing car on a small scale—and yet he goes crawling along at +fifteen miles an hour. Well, I am glad to know how it is."</p> + +<p>Lem fished in his pocket and found some chewing gum which he offered to +Chauncey. They strolled away in the direction of the hangars and Lee +hurried over to Major Anderson's quarters, where he found the two boys +sitting on the wide, screened veranda.</p> + +<p>"Just waiting for you, Lee," said Bill, looking at his watch. "We must +be getting along. Do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> you know what I am doing these days?" he asked +Frank, who was moodily staring at Lee. "I am packing up for school."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you begin last Christmas?" asked Frank, coming out of his +dream.</p> + +<p>"There is always such a lot of things to attend to at the last second +and I am getting all my traps in shape."</p> + +<p>"Mother is packing for me," said Frank. "I wish we didn't have to go. I +will be all out of practice with the planes by the time we have a chance +to fly again. I wonder where Jardin is going to school?"</p> + +<p>"Have you heard from him lately?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"Not a word since he went away. Mother thought it was funny he didn't +write her a note to thank her for entertaining him. His father wrote her +instead."</p> + +<p>"Did Jardin know where we are going?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"We didn't know ourselves when he left, and I can't write and tell him, +because for all I know he may be in Europe by this time."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> am just as well pleased," said Bill. "You know I never did have any +use for him, and I think we will get along a good deal better with the +other fellows and with the teachers if he is not there as a friend of +ours."</p> + +<p>"You were always down on him and for noth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>ing," said Frank. "I think he +is all right. And he has the money, too."</p> + +<p>"Well, you don't want to sponge, do you?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"Of course not!" said Frank, flushing. "You are such a nut about things! +Of course I don't mean <i>sponge</i>, but money is the only thing that will +put you in right at school or anywhere else."</p> + +<p>"That sounds just like Jardin," replied Bill. "Well, if that is so, what +do you suppose I am going to do on about nine cents a week? What are you +going to do yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, but if there is any money to be had, I am going to get +it."</p> + +<p>"How are you going to go about it?" asked Bill as he stepped into the +Swallow and prepared to start.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," answered Frank, still sitting with his chin in his +hands. "Beg it, or borrow it, or steal it."</p> + +<p>Bill threw in the clutch and the Swallow sped away.</p> + +<p>Frank was left to his own bitter thoughts. Money! He had brooded over +his lack of it and had remembered Jardin's assurance that to have a good +time in school he must have a pocketful of money at all times. Frank had +changed his mind about school. He was going for the good time he +expected to have. He only wished that he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> going with Jardin instead +of with Bill Sherman. What Bill had said about sponging had stung him. +Now he knew that he must obtain what he wanted somehow and somewhere. +His mother could not give it to him; his father would not. He had +nothing to sell that was of any value. Yes, there was one thing. He +could pawn his watch, that beautiful watch that had been his +grandfather's and which he was to use when he was twenty-one. In the +meantime it was <i>his</i>, left him by his grandfather's will. On the spur +of the moment he rose and hurried into the house. Why had he not thought +of it before? It was a repeater, that watch, and his grandfather had +paid nearly a thousand dollars for it. He would sell it. He hurried into +the house and to his mother's room: he knew where she always kept her +jewel case hidden. The watch was there and putting it in his pocket, +Frank hurried out of the house.</p> + +<p>Bill and Lee took it slowly as usual going back to school, stopping to +watch the big observation balloon come down to anchor.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry about Frank," Bill remarked as they turned and skirted the +parade ground in New Post. "I never saw a fellow change so in such a +short time. He is brooding all the time and is as grouchy as he can be. +I wish there was something I could do for him."</p> + +<p>"Just what I was thinking," said Lee. "Do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> you suppose his folks would +mind if I gave him the money he wants? I am getting an awful wad down +there in the bank. I am always in right with my grandfather because I +can talk his sign language and because I look more like an Indian than +some of the real ones. I would be awfully glad to give him five or six +hundred dollars."</p> + +<p>"That is perfectly fine of you, Lee, but I know they would not want you +to do such a thing, because they would think it was simply wild to have +Frank have a large sum. At the school we are going to, there is a rule +that the boys are not to have money. There is a small sum deposited with +the principal and he gives us what he thinks we ought to have. More for +the big fellows and less for the little ones, and none at all if we +don't behave."</p> + +<p>Lee looked disappointed.</p> + +<p>"That's too bad," he said, patting Bill on the shoulder with a rare +caress. "I was going to get Major Sherman to let me divvy up with you."</p> + +<p>"You are all right, Lee, old man," said Bill, "but honest, I won't need +money. What I will want is a letter from you once in awhile. That will +be the best thing you can do for me. Gee, I know I am just about going +to die with homesickness. Why, I was never away from my mother before in +my life! I can tell you, I will never be away from home any more than I +can help. Home folks are good enough for me," he laughed.</p> + +<p>Lee stuck to the subject. "What if I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> <i>lend</i> Frank the money he +wants?" he persisted.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, old dear, he won't be allowed to have money at all."</p> + +<p>"What is to prevent it if they don't know it?" asked Lee.</p> + +<p>"Why, <i>he</i> wouldn't want to break the rules," said Bill. "There is no +fun in breaking rules. You can get enough fun without that."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Lee, "but the Indian part of me is having a bad hunch +about Frank. You watch and see. He is going to get into trouble, and I +think it will have something to do with this money he wants so much."</p> + +<p>"I hate to have you say that," from Bill. "Your hunches come to time +pretty sharply; but I will simply keep an eye on him and try to keep him +out of trouble. It is lucky we are not going to the same school with +Jardin."</p> + +<p>"Do you know that you are not?" said Lee with a queer smile.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I <i>do</i> know, and for two reasons. We did not know where we were +going when he was here and, second place, the school we are going to is +not swell enough for Jardin."</p> + +<p>"Look for him when you get there," remarked Lee.</p> + +<p>"Oh, wow!" cried Bill, sending the Swallow in a long sweep to the back +step of the quarters in B2. "If you keep this hunch business up, Lee, +you will be getting up as a fortune-teller. We are through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> with Jardin +for a good while, I am thinking."</p> + +<p>They were not through with Jardin's influence at least. If it had not +been for his tales and suggestions, Frank would not at that moment have +been walking the streets of Lawton, his grandfather's splendid watch in +his pocket, hunting for a pawnshop that looked inviting. He came to one +with a window filled with diamond rings and watches that were certainly +not in the class with the timepiece he was carrying. That seemed a good +place to go. With so many ordinary watches on hand, they would +appreciate as fine a one as he carried.</p> + +<p>He looked in the window, then walked boldly in with the air of a person +who wishes to buy something. He did it so well that the proprietor came +forward with a beaming smile.</p> + +<p>The smile faded when Frank laid the watch on the counter and the man +pierced him with a keen look. He took the watch and turned it over.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" he asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>Frank looked up in surprise.</p> + +<p>"I don't see as that has anything to do with it," he replied stiffly.</p> + +<p>"It has a good deal to do with it," said the man. "That is not the sort +of a watch a boy your age carries. Not on your life it isn't! Now where +did you get that watch? Did you steal it? That is the question. Are you +selling it for someone else? That's what I want to know. We are +licensed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> dealers here, and we got to be pertected. Come across, young +feller, come across! What's your name?"</p> + +<p>"Bill Sherman," said Frank, and was sorry as soon as he had said it. But +he did not dare retract his words.</p> + +<p>"So far, so good!" said the man to whom the name meant nothing. "Now, +Bill Sherman, where did you get this watch?"</p> + +<p>"It is mine," said Frank, "and I am not selling it; I want to pawn it."</p> + +<p>"If Bill Sherman can afford to own a watch like that, why then should he +pawn it? Looks like he ought to have plenty of money."</p> + +<p>"I do mostly," said Frank, red and fidgeting. "But I am short just at +present, and that is my own watch that my grandfather willed to me so I +thought I would pawn it for awhile."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said the man. "I got boys of my own. But if I don't take +it you will go somewhere else. So what's the difference? What do you +expect to get for it?"</p> + +<p>"Grandfather paid nearly a thousand dollars for it!" said Frank. "Would +you think six hundred dollars about right?"</p> + +<p>Then for a moment Frank thought the pawnshop man was going to have a +fit, a fit of large and dreadful proportions, right on the premises. His +eyes bulged; he choked and gurgled. It was really awful, and Frank could +not help wishing himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> home again, watch and all. Even with the +coveted sum so close within reach, he was sick of the whole thing.</p> + +<p>Presently the pawnshop man came to himself a little.</p> + +<p>He leaned across the counter and said softly, "Would you please say that +again?"</p> + +<p>"Six hundred dollars," repeated Frank.</p> + +<p>"Say," said the man, leaning confidentially toward the boy, "what a +joker you are! That's good enough for vaudeville, I'll say! Well, we've +laughed enough at that, ain't we? And I feel so funny about it that I +will give you a good price for the watch. What do you guess it is?" He +leaned closer. "Twenty-five dollars."</p> + +<p>"<i>Twenty-five dollars!</i>" gasped Frank. "Why, my grandfather paid 'most a +thousand dollars for it!"</p> + +<p>"Sure, I don't doubt it; and so did George Washington have a watch +bigger than this that cost a lot of money but I would not give more than +twenty-five dollars for either one of 'em."</p> + +<p>"I can't take that," said Frank, looking so shocked and disappointed +that the man knew that he would end by accepting.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-five is as high as I can go," said the man. "We got to pertect +ourselves."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<p>With a bitter feeling of disappointment and shame, Frank took the +proffered twenty-five dollars, after a long wrangle had convinced him +that there was positively no more to be wrung from the pawnshop man. He +left the shop with dragging feet, half inclined to go back and throw +down the money with a demand for his watch. But the thought of Jardin +deterred him. As he went out he could see the man leaning into the +window where he rearranged the group of watches already displayed there, +and placed the watch, Frank's beautiful watch, in the place of honor on +a purple velvet cushion in the center.</p> + +<p>Two weeks passed, and one day remained before the boys were to start to +school. Frank finally heard from Horace Jardin. Horace urged him again +to collect what he termed a "<i>wad</i>," assuring him that life would be +really terrible without a lot of money. Also he hinted darkly of +something very surprising that he would have to tell later. That it only +concerned Jardin himself Frank did not question, as Jardin was never +interested in anything concerning other people except as it had some +bearing on himself in one way or another.</p> + +<p>Money—money! Frank thought of nothing else. Then, as though it had been +a terrible unseen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> monster waiting to spring on the boy, his temptation +leaped upon him.</p> + +<p>Temptation only attacks the weak. If we allow ourselves to harbor +unworthy or wicked thoughts, if we pave the way with wicked and unworthy +deeds, temptation has an easy time. Temptation is like a big bully. He +does not like to be laughed off, or to be scorned. He prefers to be +parleyed with. Then there is always a good chance for him. Better still, +he prefers to dash up to the weak and sinning, and say hurriedly, "Here: +quick, quick! Here's the easy way out! It's the <i>only</i> way out! Just you +tell this lie, disobey your parents, or take this money. It isn't +stealing, you know, because you mean to put it back as soon as you can +and everything will be all right."</p> + +<p>That is the way temptation talks, and on that last day before the boys +started off to school Frank listened.</p> + +<p>He was over at Bill's quarters, in B2, when the telephone rang. Now +there are just two telephones to each building at the School of Fire, +one upstairs and one down. They are wall phones, fastened on the outside +of the buildings, midway of the porch that runs the whole length. When +the bell rings, whoever is nearest answers and calls the person who is +wanted. So Frank, standing in Bill's doorway and close to the phone, +stepped out and took down the receiver. While he waited for an answer, +he leaned his elbow on the sill of the window beside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> him and idly +scanned the confusion of papers on the big desk shoved close to the sill +inside. A strong wind fluttered the papers.</p> + +<p>Frank, waiting on a dead line, stared at the desk and his eyes grew +wild. Down at the end of the porch a grey-haired Colonel sat with his +eyes glued to the <i>Army and Navy Journal</i>. He was reading about a +proposed increase in pay, and he had no interest in small boys. Across +the sandy space on the porch of the opposite quarters two ladies sat +embroidering.</p> + +<p>In the Sherman quarters, he could hear Mrs. Sherman and Bill and Lee +talking as they finished packing Bill's trunk.</p> + +<p>No one noticed Frank. No one saw what he did next, so stealthily and +rapidly. But in a moment he put the receiver down on the shelf, hurried +to the Shermans' door, and called for Lee.</p> + +<p>"Someone wants you on the phone," Frank said, and as Lee hurried out, +Frank sat down on the door sill and whistled shrilly to the Shermans' +Airdale, who was trying to chum with the pretty ladies across the way. +They looked up, saw Lee at the phone but did not see Frank who had +dodged inside the door. The Colonel looked up from his paper, scowling. +He laid the whistle to Lee and glared.</p> + +<p>Lee called "Hello!" half a dozen times. He too leaned on the sill of the +open window. No one answering the phone, he hung up and went back to the +packing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>And the next morning, Bill and Frank, feeling fearfully overdressed in +new suits, and bearing spotless shiny yellow suitcases, stood on the +train waving to two rather damp looking mothers and two fathers who +stood up almost <i>too</i> straight, and started away on their long journey.</p> + +<p>Lee did not wave at them. The half of Lee that was Indian was afraid +that the half that was white would look too sorry and lonesome if he +stood on the platform watching the two small figures waving on the train +while a friendly porter clutched a shoulder of each. So Lee stayed in +the machine and listened as the train pulled out, and felt very blue and +lonesome, and fell to planning how he would ask for a furlough and go +shoot some wildcats to make rugs for Bill's room. And he wondered how +soon the boys would look inside their suitcases. Lee had opened both +those suitcases!</p> + +<p>The boys, wildly excited over the charm and novelty of travelling alone, +went to their seats and gravely studied the flat bleakness of Oklahoma. +As yet they had no regrets at leaving the Post, although Bill felt +rather low whenever he thought of his mother. Her picture, as radiant +and lovely as any of the girls who came visiting on the Post, he had +pasted on the dial of his wrist watch, the Major helping. They had had +lots of fun doing it, the Major pretending to be awfully jealous. But +when the picture was fastened safely on the dial, it was the Major, who +was something of an artist,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> who got out his color-kit and delicately +tinted the lovely features until the cut-out snapshot looked rare and +lovely as a portrait painted right on the watch. Then he carefully +fastened the crystal, and Frank slipped it on his wrist, more than +pleased.</p> + +<p>"In old times," said the Major, washing his brushes in the tumbler of +water, "the knights always wore a ribbon or a glove belonging to the +lady they loved the best. They did not hide their keepsakes in their +inside pockets but bound them boldly on their helmets, to remind +themselves that they must be loyal, faithful, fearless, brave and true +for her sake, and to show all who cared to look that they were proud to +do their best for one so fair. No doubt there were dark days and hard +times when they needed every ounce of support and encouragement they +could get.</p> + +<p>"You will find it so, old man. I can't help you, but," he gently touched +the watch, "<i>she</i> will, always. You know it, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I do!" said Bill, looking down on the smiling face.</p> + +<p>"Then you don't need another word from me, son," said the Major. They +were alone. He bent and kissed the boy on the cheek. Then he smiled.</p> + +<p>"That is allowable between men, you know, son, on the eve of battle. Put +up a good fight." He left the room, and something that was part promise +and part prayer went up from his soul.</p> + +<p>"I <i>will</i> put up a good fight!" he whispered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Frank had spent his last evening alone, a throng of distressful thoughts +crowding in on him. His father was on some official business in town and +his mother had not thought it necessary to break her weekly engagement +with her bridge club. Frank wandered over to the hangars but he missed +Lem and Chauncey and soon returned home. He was greatly excited over the +coming trip, and had other and most serious reasons for wishing to go +away. So many unpleasant thoughts crowded upon him that it was not until +ten o'clock that he happened to think of his watch, still in Lawton at +the pawnshop. He had not redeemed it, and the twenty-five dollars +reposed in the bottom of his kit bag, in an envelope that had thread +wound around it.</p> + +<p>He reflected that he could send the money and his ticket back to the +pawnshop man, for it was too late to take the trip to town. His parents +were apt to return at any time. They did not come very soon, however, +and Frank went to bed, a lonely, unhappy and sinning boy.</p> + +<p>The boys had so much to look at that for awhile they were quite silent. +Then Bill remembered something.</p> + +<p>"Say!" he suddenly exclaimed. "We are having the deuce of a time at the +school. Right in our quarters, too. Did you hear?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Frank, still staring out. "What was it?"</p> + +<p>"Somebody stole six hundred dollars from Cap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>tain Jennings next door to +us. It was money he had to pay the Battery, and it is gone. There is an +awful fuss about it."</p> + +<p>"Will they arrest him?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"Why, no; they won't do that, of course. He didn't steal it from +<i>himself</i>, and Dad says he has money besides what he gets as captain, +but I don't suppose he likes the idea of making it good. There is going +to be an <i>awful</i> fuss about it."</p> + +<p>"Did he lose it out of his pocket?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"No; that's the funny part," said Bill. "He had it on his desk in his +study, under a paperweight, in an envelope, and that's the last he ever +saw of it. Oh, there will be an <i>awful</i> fuss over it! Whoever took it +will go to Leavenworth for so many years that he will have a good chance +to be sorry about it. It is an awful thing."</p> + +<p>"Do they suspect anyone?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"I didn't hear anything this morning," said Bill. "We left too early. +But there will be an awful fuss. Why, it is an <i>awful</i> thing, you know. +I didn't know there was anyone over there low enough to steal. It makes +me feel kind of queer!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<p>The day passed rapidly. The boys were the first in the dining-car when a +meal was announced, and be it said they were almost the last to leave. +They had been provided with plenty of money for "eats," as the two +Major-fathers wisely remembered that a boy is never so hungry as when +travelling. Also their section was the first one made up. They were +tired, and sleepy.</p> + +<p>They tossed up to see which should take the upper berth, both boys +wanting it, and Frank won.</p> + +<p>They spread their suitcases out on Bill's bed to open them, then Frank +decided to take his up with him and climbed up into his lofty berth +while Bill boosted and lifted the suitcase after him. Bill had packed +his own suitcase for the first time, and his mother had smiled as she +saw him carefully plant his pajamas on the very bottom. She said +nothing, however, as she knew that another time he would lay them on the +top where he could get them without any trouble. Frank had done the same +thing, so for a little there was silence as the boys spread everything +on the beds in a wild effort to locate the missing garments. At last +they were found, and the suitcases repacked, hair brushes and tooth +paste being salvaged as they went.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>As Bill slipped into his pajama coat something pricked him. The pocket +was pinned together with a large, rusty pin. He drew it out and from the +pocket took a folded envelope.</p> + +<p>"What in time is this?" he murmured to himself, then smiled as he +reflected that it must be a little love letter from his mother. He +winked mischievously at her picture on his wrist as he tore open the +envelope. But there was no letter from mother in the envelope. Instead +it was stuffed with perfectly new, crisp five-dollar bills. There were +twenty of them. Twenty! Bill counted them twice. Then still disbelieving +his eyes, he laid the beautiful green engravings all over his sheet and +counted them one by one with his forefinger. Twenty! He noticed a small +piece of paper in the envelope and examined it. It read briefly:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 2em;">"Bill</span>:</p> + +<p>"i looked all over Lawton for sumething nise for you to take to +school. So please spend this on something you like. I will tell +your mother what I done so she wont kick. Anyhow I aint afraid of +her kicking ever since the day i broke her big glass dish that you +said was cut. It cut me all right, but she never said a word, and I +bet she wont now when i explane. So remember when this you see, +remember Lee. That is some poetry partly mine and partly out of a +book. If I had kept at school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> the way I should of, I could have +made the whole piece up myself. Rite soon to</p> + +<p class="center">yours as ever,<br /> + +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 6em;">"Lee.</span>"<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>Bill gasped. Then he gathered the precious money tight in his hand and +standing on the edge of his berth, hoisted himself up to Frank's level.</p> + +<p>"Glue your eye to this!" he whispered loudly over the racket of the +train. "Gee, have you got the same?"</p> + +<p>At the sound of Bill's voice, Frank, who was staring at a handful of +bills, started violently, then forced a rather shaky smile.</p> + +<p>"Found this in my pajama coat," he said; then as Bill waved his fist, +"What! Have you the same thing?"</p> + +<p>"Surest thing you know!" said Bill. "Never had so much money in my life. +The darned old peach!"</p> + +<p>"I haven't counted it," said Frank. "It sort of scared me. Who do you +think gave it to us?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't you read your letter?" asked Bill, wiggling the rest of the way +up and taking a paper like his own from Frank's envelope. He handed it +over and Frank unfolded and read it. Reluctantly, but seeing no way out +of it, he handed it over to Bill.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Frank," said the letter, "Lawton is a dead one. Nuthing in it for +boys except rattles and guns and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> pink silk shirts and stick pins. +But your dad wouldnt let you have the pins and your mothers +wouldn't see you found dead in them shirts, and the pins was sort +of advansed, so I want you to spend this money on something you +like when you get to whatever it is.</p> + +<p class="center">"Just a present from your friend<br /> + +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 8em;">"Lee.</span>"<br /> +</p> + +<p>"P. S. Say, Frank, lets take a fresh start me and you. I wouldnt +believe you would lie or steal even if some do do such. So you must +take it from me that a good indian is a good indian just as a good +white man is good.</p> + +<p>"So that all we want to bother about that.</p> + +<p class="center"> +"Your true friend<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 4em;">"Lee.</span>"<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>"Well, this beats all!" said Bill, handing back the letter. "Isn't Lee +the <i>peach</i> though? I wish I was sure Mom would let me keep this. Isn't +it great—all new fives! I suppose he thought it would be handy that way +for us to spend."</p> + +<p>"What does he mean about not believing that I lie or steal?" said Frank, +scowling.</p> + +<p>"Why, just what he says, you nut!" exclaimed Bill. "Can't you read? He +means he knows <i>you</i> wouldn't do anything wrong, and so you must believe +in <i>him</i>. I bet he has overheard some of the things you have said about +him. Anyhow, it is just as he says. You must keep his present, and make +a new start. He wants to be good friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> with you and wants you to like +him. And I should say he deserves it."</p> + +<p>Frank said very little about the present but Bill didn't notice. He was +too busy voicing his own surprise and gratitude. Before he finally slid +down into his own berth he had spent the crisp new fives twenty times +over. He thought he was too excited to sleep, but after he had pinned +the present back in his coat pocket, and had carefully laid himself down +on that side, and tied all the curtains shut, and balanced his suitcase +on end at the front of the berth so a possible robber would tip it over +on him, he was asleep in two seconds. It would have worked all right at +that, only by-and-by in the middle of a dream where Bill was batter in a +baseball nine that used ice-cream cones instead of balls, the train went +around a curve and over came the suitcase. Bill was awake in a second, +and for a moment had a hand-to-hand fight with the curtains before he +realized what had happened. With a laugh he felt for his precious +pocket, and slept again.</p> + +<p>But in the upper berth Frank Anderson had tossed Lee's friendly letter +and the packet of bills down to the end of the berth as though they were +worthless. He was only a boy and should have slept but all night long he +lay and stared at the little electric bulb burning dimly over his head. +He lay and thought; and his thoughts burned like fire.</p> + +<p>It was very late the following night when they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> reached their +destination. Bill had come to the conclusion that Frank was not a very +jolly traveling companion. He was moody and inclined to be really +grouchy. And touchy.... <i>Whew!</i> It was all Bill could do to say the +right thing. Finally he remembered that some people are always car-sick +when they travel, and on being asked, Frank admitted that he didn't feel +so very good. So Bill let him alone and things went better. Bill made a +good many friends that day and came within an ace of being kissed by a +pale little lady who found a chance to take a much needed nap because +Bill took charge of her two-year-old terror of a baby boy while she +slept. There was an old gentleman too, who asked him a million or more +questions, and enjoyed himself very much. He asked the boys to take +luncheon with him, and proved that he had not forgotten his boyhood by +ordering the <i>dandiest</i> dinner—even a lot of things that were not on +the bill. He was a director of the road, or vice-president, or +something, the porter told Bill in a whisper, but Bill didn't pay much +attention. What the old gentleman <i>didn't</i> tell was that he was a +trustee of the very school the boys were going to attend. Some day they +were going to meet him again, but that is another story.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, it was very late when they arrived and they were piloted to +their room by a pale young instructor who met them at the station in an +ancient and wheezy Ford belonging to the school. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> were the last +boys to arrive, he told them, and school was to begin at eight o'clock +in the morning. He warned them to be perfectly quiet as the boys were +all asleep and it was against rules to speak or have the lights on after +nine. But they were to be allowed a light to undress by, and he would +come in in fifteen minutes and put it out.</p> + +<p>They undressed in about a tenth of the time it usually took for that +ceremony, and even Bill, who forgot to brush his teeth and had to get up +again to do it, was deep under the covers when Mr. Nealum, the +instructor, came silently in, said goodnight without a smile, turned +off the light, found the door by the aid of a big flashlight he carried +and silently disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Undertaker!" whispered Frank.</p> + +<p>"Shut up!" said Bill. He listened intently, then said under his breath, +"Be careful! I thought I heard him breathe!"</p> + +<p>"He is gone," answered Frank. "I heard him walk away."</p> + +<p>"Not much you did!" said Bill. "He pussyfooted it. Must have had rubber +soles on his shoes."</p> + +<p>"I heard him anyhow," insisted Frank. The boys lay still, thinking over +their new situation. It was very exciting. They were not lonely. Their +narrow beds, but little wider than the quartermaster cots at Sill, were +side by side, nearly touching. Presently Bill spoke.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with you, Frank?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing! What ails <i>you</i>?" retorted Frank.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, but you <i>breathe</i> so hard—sort of choky and gaspy."</p> + +<p>"That's you doing <i>that</i>," said Frank. "I can't sleep with you snorting +so."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's you!" said Bill. "I listened to myself breathe, and you +couldn't hear me. I was breathing just like this." He gave a sample, and +you could not hear him. Then as both boys listened, things began to +happen.</p> + +<p>Frank made a light leap from his bed and landed on top of the stunned, +scared and astonished Bill.</p> + +<p>"Sssssh!" hissed Frank. "The money!... Robbers!... Under the bed!"</p> + +<p>Frozen with horror, the boys listened intently. The breathing <i>was</i> +under Bill's bed. It seemed as though they lay listening for a week +before Bill made a violent motion to free himself from Frank's grasp.</p> + +<p>"Where you going?" hissed that youth.</p> + +<p>"To light the light and give the alarm. If he tries to get out, we will +hold him."</p> + +<p>"Stay here!" commanded Frank.</p> + +<p>For answer Bill wrenched himself free and bounded out on the floor. With +another bound he reached the light and turned the button. No light +responded. He stood beside the wall, uncertain what move to make next. +The sensible thing seemed to be to shout an alarm or else go out and +find Mr. Nealum. In either case what would the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> robber do to Frank, who +was roosting right above him? The breathing under the bed continued, now +fast, now slow, up and down. Bill had heard something like that +somewhere.</p> + +<p>As his fright subsided, he recognized the sounds as very familiar. Bill +had not lived in the apartments at Sill for nothing. Too, too often had +he listened to the sounds that trickled clearly through the +plaster-board partitions. Those partitions were like sounding boards. +From one apartment to the next, they transferred the arguments, +discussions and all goings-on on the other side. Bill laughed +soundlessly in the dark. The lights had been turned off at some central +switch, and the darkness was intense. He was lost in the strange room. +He took a step sidewise along the wall and stubbed his toe against a +suitcase. Bending, he found that it was his own. The problem was solved. +Rummaging hastily, he found his flashlight.</p> + +<p>"Frank!" he called in a low whisper.</p> + +<p>"W-w-what?" quavered from the dark.</p> + +<p>Following the direction of the low sound, Bill crossed the room until +his outstretched hand collided with Frank's eye. This mostly happens, +you know. Frank stifled a howl as Bill hissed, "Listen! We have him now! +He's asleep—snoring. Let's take a look at him and then beat it for Mr. +Nealum. He must be somewhere about."</p> + +<p>"Don't you do it!" whispered Frank, clutching Bill. "Find Mr. Nealum +first. You go to flashing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> that light in his eyes and you will wake him +up. He's apt to kill us before you could get to the door."</p> + +<p>"Think what a lark it will be if we take him prisoner all by ourselves! +We can tie him up with these sheets in no time. Now I tell you how we +will work it. As soon as we see just how he is lying, I will shove the +bed off him, and you lam him good and plenty with that dictionary. Soon +as you do that I will throw all the blankets and bedclothes and the +mattress on him and then we will sit on him and yell. Somebody ought to +come."</p> + +<p>Frank still objected, sure from the size of the sounds that were now +easily recognizable as snores, that the robber was really in a deep +sleep.</p> + +<p>"If he is anything like Lee," he said, "he will throw us off in a +second."</p> + +<p>"But you are going to lam him one!" whispered Bill patiently. "You must +hit hard enough to knock him out—stun him."</p> + +<p>"Well, have it your own way!" conceded Frank. He commenced to realize +what a wonderful introduction this would be to the boys of the school if +it went through as smoothly as Bill seemed to think it would.</p> + +<p>"Here, take the flashlight, but don't turn it on," whispered Bill. "I +want to get the bedclothes ready."</p> + +<p>Silently and quickly he loosened the tucked-in sheets and blankets. He +rolled up the sleeves of his pajama coat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "let's take a look before we roll the bed away."</p> + +<p>Clutching the dictionary in both hands, Frank slid to the floor where he +crouched, shivering from excitement. Bill, on his knees, folded a +handkerchief over the flashlight to dim it, then pressed the button. +Slowly he turned it under the bed. The dim light rested on a tumbled +shock of hair and a flushed face, pillowed uncomfortably on a cramped +and doubled arm.</p> + +<p>Snores rattled furiously from the open mouth. Sleeping the sleep of the +weary, the thief lay completely at their mercy.</p> + +<p>"Gosh!" said Bill as he looked.</p> + +<p>"Gee-roosalem!" murmured Frank.</p> + +<p>With a bang the big dictionary slipped from his hands and landed on the +floor.</p> + +<p>The intruder with a violent start opened his eyes and looked at them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<p>Setting the flash so it would not go out, Bill laid it down on the +floor, cried "Oh, you robber!" and beginning to laugh continued until he +had to lie on the floor and roll around. Frank, laughing, too, carefully +shoved back the bed. The intruder sat up, rubbing his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I guess the joke is on me," he said.</p> + +<p>It was Horace Jardin!</p> + +<p>"This beats everything in my young life," said Bill as soon as he could +speak. "What are you doing here anyhow, scaring the life out of two poor +little boys on their very first night in boarding-school? Don't you know +you are making us break rules the first shot?"</p> + +<p>Horace laughed sheepishly.</p> + +<p>"I was going to give you a good old scare," he said, "but I was so tired +and it took you so long to get here that I went to sleep. But I bet you +are surprised to see me here."</p> + +<p>"Here at this school, or under our beds?" quizzed Bill.</p> + +<p>"Both," said Horace.</p> + +<p>"How did it happen?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>"It was the airplane," explained Horace. "This is the only school in the +country where they let you fool with this air stuff, and so I told dad +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> it was no use bribing me with an airplane to stay in school all +the year if I couldn't go where I could use it. I have learned to fly, +by the way. Dad paid a dollar a minute to have me taught. I tell you I +am a whiz! It cost him five hundred dollars for my tuition, and two +thousand more to mend a plane I broke, but he was so pleased at the way +I learned that he didn't mind the bills at all. So here I am, and when I +heard you were coming—well, I was certainly tickled! So I sneaked in +here as soon as the bell rang for lights out, and first I knew I was +asleep."</p> + +<p>"From the way you were snoring, I should say first thing you knew you +were awake," laughed Frank.</p> + +<p>"Guess I will beat it now," said Horace. "There is no school +to-morrow—just the organization of classes, and we can go down to the +hangars and see my plane. You ought to see those dinky little hangars! +Not much like the big government ones. There are only three planes. Mine +and one belonging to the school, and one that belongs to a fellow from +Toronto. It is a peach, and he thinks he can beat me in a race. We are +going to try it out some day if we can ever get up without an +instructor. They are awful strict here. I will have a deuce of a time if +they catch me in here."</p> + +<p>"I should think you had better fade away then," said Frank uneasily. "We +don't any of us want to get in wrong."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I am glad you have come, fellows," whispered Jardin, tiptoeing to +the door. "Put out that flash, Bill! You don't want to tell everybody +what we are doing. See you in the morning. Goodnight!".</p> + +<p>He slipped out, and the boys silently crept back into their beds.</p> + +<p>"That beats all!" exclaimed Bill after a long pause when he decided by +Frank's breathing that he was still awake. "I surely thought we were +quit of that chap."</p> + +<p>"You always have it in for him, haven't you?" said Frank. "You are a +funny one. Always cracking up that Indian orderly of yours as such a +peach and a straight fellow, and forever knocking a first-class good +sport like Jardin."</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to knock Horace," said Bill, "but he does seem—well, I +don't know just what!"</p> + +<p>"I guess that's about it," sneered Frank. "Just about it! You don't know +<i>why</i> you knock him or what about, because you have just made up your +mind to do it. Well, suit yourself! I like Jardin and he is good enough +for me, and that's all I have to say about it. You can do as you please; +don't mind me."</p> + +<p>"Don't get so sore," said Bill. "I told you back home that I was going +to treat him decently, and I am."</p> + +<p>He turned on his pillow and was silent, and both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> boys were asleep in +about a minute. They were very tired.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning Jardin introduced the Toronto boy, and they found +him a very quiet, pleasant chap who made no pretensions of any sort. +Together they walked down to the hangars.</p> + +<p>"How do you learn to fly in the civilian schools?" asked Bill of the +Toronto boy, whose name was Ernest Breeze.</p> + +<p>"It is about the same as the government schools," said the boy. "You +know something about flying, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"A little," replied Bill modestly. "I can control the machine on the +field, but I have never been up. There are reasons that keep me from +flying but I hope to some day."</p> + +<p>"Well, we learned on an old style Bright," said Ernest. "With a dual +control, you know. You take the same seat you will always occupy, you +follow every movement of the instructor beside you, and you sort of feel +that you are managing the levers all alone, until you sense the tricks +of the machine and learn a few things like rising from the field, +manœuvering and landing. It is a good deal easier than it is to drive +an automobile."</p> + +<p>"That's the way you start at the aviation schools in the Army," said +Frank. "But there you don't have to pay any of this dollar-a-minute +business."</p> + +<p>"No," said Ernest, "but in exchange for your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> tuition you have to join +the Aviation Corps. And now that the war is over, I would rather do +postal work, or ferry or excursion lines instead of hanging around an +Army aviation camp. My aim is to be as perfect a flier as I possibly +can, and then if there is ever any need of another Army Aviation Corps, +why, I will enlist right off. You see your final test qualifies you for +government service if you make good."</p> + +<p>"What do you think is the quality a birdman should have most of?" asked +Bill.</p> + +<p>"Our instructor used to say a pilot should have courage, skill, +knowledge, aptitude and confidence; but he always went on to say that +all these together amounted to very little unless you have a bushel of +common sense. I think he was right. I had to earn part of my tuition in +the Aviation school because I didn't want to ask my father to pay all +that out for me and get me an airplane beside. That is why I am just +entering school. As long as the war lasted, I thought I ought to be +learning something that would help a bit if they needed me, but it ended +before I got a chance to offer myself, and now I have got to work mighty +hard to make up for the time I spent in the air. That's why I am here. I +want to keep in practice and fly whenever I am not busy with school +work."</p> + +<p>He looked critically at the sky.</p> + +<p>"It is going to be a wonderful day up there,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> he said. "Don't you want +to come up, one of you?"</p> + +<p>"Frank is going with me," said Jardin.</p> + +<p>"Come on then," invited Ernest, smiling at Bill.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, but I can't go up," said Bill, flushing.</p> + +<p>"Bill likes to stay on the ground pretty well," sneered Jardin, pushing +open the door of the hangar. He disappeared within, followed by Frank.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's all right," said Ernest, smiling pleasantly. "I don't see +as it is anyone's business what you like to do. I think if you feel a +bit uneasy you are very wise to stay right on the ground."</p> + +<p>"It is not that at all," said Bill, acting on a sudden impulse to tell +this pleasant young stranger the reason for his refusal. "It is not +that, and the reason probably won't interest you. Frank and Horace are +always kidding me about it, but I can't help it. You see, I promised my +mother that I wouldn't go up. She has a bad heart, and a shock like my +getting hurt would certainly kill her. I can't risk that, can I? And +when you come down to it, it is just as you say. I don't see as it is +anybody's business what I do."</p> + +<p>"I rather think not," said Ernest, clapping Bill on the shoulder. "I +guess if you were in <i>my</i> boat, with no mother to do things for, you +would be glad enough to give up a thing like that. What do you care +<i>what</i> they say?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't," declared Bill, "only they always give people the impression +that I am afraid. And I am not."</p> + +<p>"Of course you are not!" exclaimed Ernest. "That bores me awf'ly! Let's +get my little boat out. You don't mind skating around the field, do +you?"</p> + +<p>"Tickled to death!" said Bill eagerly, and hastened into a place in the +trim, beautiful little plane.</p> + +<p>The moment they were set in motion he saw that the plane was a wonder. +It answered to the slightest touch of the wheel or levers and rode the +humps on the field with a motion that told Bill, experienced as he was +in that part of the sport, that it was made of the finest possible +materials.</p> + +<p>His admiration finally burst into speech.</p> + +<p>"What a beauty this is!" he roared over the blast of the throbbing +engine.</p> + +<p>The young pilot turned a lever, and the racket subsided into a soft, +steady humming.</p> + +<p>Bill repeated his remark. Ernest stopped the plane and, getting out, +commenced to adjust the engine.</p> + +<p>"I see she needs a little tuning up this morning," he said, pulling off +his gauntlets and fishing a screwdriver out of one of the many pockets +in his aviator's coat. Bill joined him.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> a good machine," admitted Ernest. "I am certainly proud to own +it. It is too good a machine for me but I am as careful of it as I know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +how to be. I think so much of it that I never try any fool stunts with +it. Dad says it was worth all he put into it just on that account. He +says that perhaps I would forget to take care of my own safety, but he +is sure I will never fail to look after this little pet. For instance, +when I was learning to fly three years ago (and I don't consider that I +really know how to do it yet) they tried to din it into me that I must +always keep the tail of my machine a little higher than the nose, in +case the engine should go dead when I wasn't expecting it."</p> + +<p>"What would happen then?" asked Bill, deeply interested.</p> + +<p>"Well, if the aeroplane is correctly balanced with the tail a little +higher than the nose it will be ready for a glide if the engine goes +dead, and on the other hand it is apt to lose headway, and go down tail +first. And that, you know," added Ernest, laughing, "is often very +uncomfortable for the occupants of the car."</p> + +<p>"I should say so!" agreed Bill.</p> + +<p>"Chaps make such a mistake trying to build their own cars," said Ernest. +"More accidents come from that than people realize. While the war was +going on, no one had time to tinker at building, but now half the chaps +I know are studying up and attempting to make aeroplanes for themselves.</p> + +<p>"It just can't be done. For instance, every piece of wood used in a +machine must be tested with the greatest care. A chap can't do that +himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> Every piece of wire used has got to be stretched in a machine +specially invented for the purpose. For instance, to find the breaking +strain of a piece of wire, a piece fifteen inches long is placed between +the jaws of a standard testing machine, so that a length of ten inches +of the wire is clear between the two ends. What they call the 'load' is +then put on by means of a handle at the rate of speed of about one inch +a minute. You can't do this yourself, and by the time you have sent your +wire, or have taken it where the test can be applied, and have also had +the test made on the twist of your wire, and all the woodwork, you will +have a machine that will cost more than one made by skilled workmen. +There is another test too that is very necessary. That is for your wing +fabric. It ought all to be soaked in salt water. If the fabric has been +varnished, the salt will soften it. Then dry the sample in the sun and +if it neither stretches nor shrinks, you will know that it is all right, +and you will feel safe about using it."</p> + +<p>"I took in all I could learn, without actually going up, at the Aviation +field at Sill," said Bill. "I will get my chance some day. I wrote +mother this morning, telling her about our trip and all, and I asked her +if she thought she would sometime feel like letting me fly. I didn't +<i>ask</i> her to let me, you know, but I have a hunch that something might +happen sometime and I might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> almost have to fly. So I told her just how +I felt about it. Whatever she says goes."</p> + +<p>"That's a good sport!" said Ernest, smiling. "It seems to me that I +would be willing to give up anything in the world if I could have my +mother alive to make sacrifices for. Of course I have dad, and he is a +corking pal and just an all-round dear, but a chap's mother is +different, somehow. I think you were wise to write that letter, for you +never know what might come up. If your mother is what I should think she +is, she will understand that you are not trying to fix a loophole for +yourself or tying a string to your word of honor."</p> + +<p>"No, she won't think that," said Bill positively. "Mother and I +understand each other. I can trust her and she knows she can trust me. +It makes things nice all around. She will be <i>crazy</i> about this machine +of yours. Perhaps she will take a little glide with you, if she doesn't +feel like actually going up. She has promised to come on and spend the +Thanksgiving vacation with me."</p> + +<p>"Good work! That makes me feel glad that I can't go home. I am going to +stay right through the whole year and put in some extra work during the +vacations."</p> + +<p>"Mom will like you too," said Bill. "She will want to know all about the +plane, and when she gets through listening she will know 'most as much +as you do. There is one thing I am afraid of, if I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> should fly, and that +is spinning. Now if you begin to side-slip, either outward or inward, +you are apt to commence to spin, and—well, there is usually a speedy +and more or less painless end to you and your hopes."</p> + +<p>"I think, Bill, that you will have no trouble in learning to control a +machine when your mother feels like releasing you from your promise. I +knew of a fellow once who made a long and successful flight with no +preparation at all other than what he had learned from books and +observation."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I would want to try anything like that," laughed Bill, +"but I am stowing away all I can gather here and there."</p> + +<p>"The thing for you to do," said Ernest, "is to roll around the fields +every chance you get. I will be glad to take you with me any day or +every day that you feel like going. Of course you won't have very much +time after to-day except on Saturdays. To-morrow classes will be in full +swing. Get in now and take my seat."</p> + +<p>Ernest tucked his screwdriver deep in his pocket, pulled his goggles +over his eyes and, seating himself behind Bill, directed his actions. A +thrilling two hours followed for Bill.</p> + +<p>When at last they returned to the vicinity of the hangar from which they +had started, they found an excited and angry group around Horace +Jardin's aeroplane. Something was wrong with it and the two mechanics +working over it were unable to find<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> out why the machine refused to fly. +It refused, indeed, to rise from the ground and the engine worked with a +peculiar jolt. The sound of the bugle from the high ground in front of +the mess hall called them to lunch and they went off, leaving the men +still at work. Horace was in a very bad humor, and as usual indulged +himself in a number of foolish threats, the least of which was to scrap +the whole machine.</p> + +<p>"I will do it sure as shooting!" he blustered. "If that machine isn't +going to come up to the maker's guarantee, I will make my dad get me one +that will. I won't tinker round with any one-horse bunch of junk like +this looks to be."</p> + +<p>"Give it a chance," suggested Bill soothingly.</p> + +<p>"Not a darned chance!" declared Jardin. "I tell you my father promised +me an aeroplane, and he has got to come across with a good machine! He +will do it, too. He's too stuck on me to risk my being hurt. And he +knows it is not my fault. I can fly all right."</p> + +<p>"Don't junk it, anyhow," said Frank anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Want to buy it?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"I might," said Frank, "provided Horace doesn't charge too much."</p> + +<p>"If she won't fly, I will sell her to you for five hundred dollars," +declared Horace. "You can tie a string to her, and Bill here can have +her to lead around the lot."</p> + +<p>"That's a go," said Frank. Everyone laughed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> but a look of cunning +suddenly flamed in Frank's eyes. He commenced to lay a train for +Jardin's anger to burn upon, a sort of fuse leading up to the explosion +Frank wished. He cast a quick glance at the others. It was evident that +they took the whole conversation as a joke. But Frank, with an arm over +Jardin's hunched shoulders, commenced pouring into his willing ears a +stream of abuse directed at the makers of Horace's beautiful plane, and +an account, invented on the spot, of divers people who had thrown over +their planes for just the reason which had so angered Horace. Frank, +with his real working knowledge of flying learned at the greatest of +schools, was able to talk in a most convincing manner. Horace, sunk in a +sullen silence, listened closely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<p>The first week of school, full of adjustments and experiments, passed +with the greatest swiftness. The boys were soon accustomed to their +surroundings and threw themselves with enthusiasm into their studies and +drill. Every possible moment was spent on the aviation field. Bill was +learning every quirk and crank of such work as he could do in Ernest's +plane without leaving the ground.</p> + +<p>The mechanicians still worked on Horace Jardin's plane, but seemed to +make no headway. Horace threatened one thing and then another, ready to +take the advice of whoever stood nearest. Frank made it a point to be +that person as often as possible. He fretted no longer about money, a +fact that pleased Bill.</p> + +<p>Then Saturday came, and things commenced to happen.</p> + +<p>First was the usual rush for the morning mail at eight o'clock. There +was a letter from Mrs. Sherman, which Bill carried into the deserted +library to read. He always wanted to be alone when he read his mother's +letters. They were so dear and so precious, and seemed so nearly as +though she herself was speaking to him, that he hated to be in a crowd +of careless, chaffing boys.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>When he had read half the long, closely written pages, however, he gave +a shout and hustling down the corridor to the chemistry room, burst in +upon Ernest who was doing some extra work there.</p> + +<p>"Hey, Ern!" cried Bill, waving the letter. "Hear this! My mother is a +peach if there ever <i>was</i> one!"</p> + +<p>The elder boy laughed. "I bet she says you can fly," he guessed.</p> + +<p>"Just that. Listen!"</p> + +<p>Bill hastily hunted for the right place.</p> + +<p>"'You know, darling' ... no, that's not it," he hastily corrected +himself. "Here it is. 'Perhaps I have been selfish in asking you not to +try your wings until you are older. Your dad assures me that you are an +expert with your automobile and says that there are no age limit flyers. +You see, the trouble is, sonny, that it is hard for your mother to +realize that you are going to grow up soon. You notice that I say you +are <i>going</i> to, not you <i>are</i> growing up. This is a gentle way of +leading up to what I want to say about flying.</p> + +<p>"'Dear boy of mine, please, <i>please</i> let your promise stand, with this +much of a release. If ever, <i>ever</i> there comes an occasion of the +<i>greatest importance</i>, an occasion where you know I would approve—and +you always do know when I approve—then you may fly. I hope and pray +that it will not come, but if it does, you will know how to act. And +whatever you do you will know that your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> mother stands back of you +because she trusts in your judgment.</p> + +<p>"'I sound like a <i>nobul parent</i>, don't I, Bill dear? Well, I <i>do</i> feel +that I am on the safe side, because I cannot foresee any possible +occasion for you to go flying off from school. However, if ever you feel +that you <i>must</i>, why, you <i>may</i>!</p> + +<p>"'Get that nice boy Ernest to teach you everything he can, and if you +have to fly, ask him to fly with you.'</p> + +<p>"That's all she says about <i>that</i>," said Bill with a happy grin, "but +now I feel safe. I don't know why, but I had a sort of hunch that I +ought to ask her to let me fly if I had to."</p> + +<p>"It is certainly nice of your mother," remarked Ernest, "but I agree +with her that there will be very little chance of your finding it +absolutely necessary to go aloft in the near future. Of course if you +go, I will go along."</p> + +<p>"I have not read the rest of the letter," said Bill, "but I had to show +you this. I will read the rest now."</p> + +<p>He hurried back to the library and resumed his reading. And the very +next sentence made him sit up straight, a dark scowl on his face.</p> + +<p>"And now I must tell you something so dreadful and so sad that I can +scarcely write it," said the letter. "You will remember the money that +was stolen from a certain officer next door to us here? It happened just +before you left for school. Oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> Bill, you will find it almost +impossible to believe it when I tell you that our Lee, Lee whom we have +always found so honest and so faithful, is <i>under arrest</i> for taking it.</p> + +<p>"It seems that two ladies were sewing or visiting on the porch across +from our quarters, and a colonel was reading at the end of our own +porch. Lee came out and went to the telephone and kept saying hello so +many times that they all noticed him. The telephone is right beside the +window, and inside, on a desk, the money was lying in an open envelope +under a paperweight. The weight was so heavy the money could <i>not</i> blow +away. Lee was the only one out there while the owner of the desk was +away from it. He was only gone for a moment, while he spoke to an +orderly at the back door.</p> + +<p>"You know Lee always has lots of money of his own, but now they don't +believe that his grandfather sends him the money at all. He is up for +trial and if he is convicted, (and the circumstantial evidence is very +strong) he will be sent to Leavenworth for years and years. It is a +<i>dreadful</i> offence.</p> + +<p>"The money was in an official envelope, and if <i>that</i> could only be +found Lee would be cleared, unless it was found in his possession. They +even ripped up his uniforms to see if it was hidden there, but now they +think he has burned it. Of course I believe in Lee. It is all a horrible +mistake, and some day perhaps it will be cleared up, but not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> soon +enough to save Lee because if he even gets inside Leavenworth he will +feel disgraced for life and I don't know <i>what</i> will become of him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bill, it is simply <i>too awful</i>! Of course they found three or four +hundred dollars on him, but he always has a great deal too much money +for an enlisted man to be traveling around with. Dad is simply sick over +it. Our Lee! We don't know <i>what to do</i>. Who could have taken that +money? And where is the envelope? If we could only find that! They say a +criminal always leaves some clue behind him, but the person who stole +that money must be a clever thief. There is nothing, absolutely +<i>nothing</i> to guide us.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it too awful? I wish you would write to Lee. He is in the guard +house, but I could get a letter in to him without any trouble. Make him +understand, Bill, that you believe in him and are his friend. He is +down-hearted."</p> + +<p>There was but little more in the letter. Bill's mother had felt too sad +to fill the pages with all the little details of the Post. And Bill, +after he had read about Lee, felt as though he could never smile again. +He felt helpless and lonesome and very far away. He wished heartily that +he was back on the Post. It <i>did</i> seem as though he could help if he +only knew what to do.</p> + +<p>Advice: that was what he wanted. But who was there to advise him? The +principal of the school was absolutely out of the question. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> thought +of the instructors one by one. No good on such a count.</p> + +<p>Troubled beyond words, he made his way slowly to his room. Frank was not +there, and Bill sat down and wrote a letter to his mother, which he +later sent special delivery. It was rather a rambling and purposeless +affair, but the best he could do under the circumstances. The note which +he enclosed for Lee was quite different in tone, and was intended to +make the prisoner believe that it was only a question of a few days +before the real culprit would be led to justice.</p> + +<p>The trouble with Bill was that he could remember nothing at all of the +events of the fateful morning of the robbery except that he was busy +packing and yelling good-byes to everyone who passed the back door of +the quarters, Bill's locker being on the back porch, past which long +lines of student officers on their way out to make road maps continually +marched two by two, followed by the usual company of little and big +mongrel dogs that are always found on army Posts. Bill could see the men +and the dogs and he remembered the greetings, but who passed by or what +occurred on the front porch he did not know. His mind remained a blank.</p> + +<p>Frank came in whistling. He grinned in an unfriendly fashion when he saw +his roommate slumped in the camp chair by the window.</p> + +<p>"Heard the news?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"No; what's up?" asked Bill without interest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, the school was just put under strict quarantine," said Frank. +"The town and all the country is so full of that new disease, +what-you-call-it, that we are going to be shut up here for goodness +knows how long. And they say there are seven fellows down with it in the +hospital now. What do you suppose they will do if it gets to be an +epidemic in the school? I saw old Nealum just now, and he was mum as an +oyster: looked bad, because he always loves to give out information, you +know. We are to go to chapel in half an hour for instructions and new +rules. Wish they would send us home! I don't like school."</p> + +<p>"I would like to go home too," said Bill.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought <i>you</i> were dippy over your 'dear school' and your 'sweet +teachers,'" sneered Frank.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said Bill, "but I got a letter from home just now. Lee +is under arrest for stealing that money."</p> + +<p>Bill was looking out of the window. He did not see the look of triumph +that swept over Frank's face.</p> + +<p>"Good work!" said Frank. "I knew he was a crook, and I knew that sooner +or later they would grab him. Did they find the money?"</p> + +<p>"They didn't find the money, and Lee is as straight as I am!" declared +Bill. "And if you say anything different I will lick you out of your +skin! I have a mind to do it anyhow!"</p> + +<p>Frank glanced at the door. "You make me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> tired!" he said. "You won't let +anybody have an opinion without jumping them for it. Wait and see what +comes of this before you get so brash! I am going out to the field. Ern +is waiting for you there, or perhaps he will meet you in chapel. Nealum +told me there was going to be a halt on most of the indoor classes. They +want to keep us out in the air. That will give us a lot more time with +the planes. Too bad your mother won't let you fly. You could fly home. I +would do it if <i>I</i> owned a plane. Jardin is sick of his."</p> + +<p>He went off whistling, and Bill walked wearily to the chapel.</p> + +<p>Days went by. The country trembled for the children and young men and +women who were being stricken, the teachers redoubled their efforts to +keep the boys well and happy, and the boys themselves regarded the +affair as a happy interlude in the year's grind.</p> + +<p>Our four boys spent all their leisure time on the aviation field. The +Jardin plane seemed possessed. Every night, after the mechanicians had +spent the day working over it, the machine would go sailing off the +field, purring and humming and flying smoothly and evenly. And as surely +as morning came something was wrong! Jardin was frantic. Frank, always +at his elbow, irritated him into admissions and statements that he +scarcely recognized as his own when he afterwards thought about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> them. +He was not wise enough to put two and two together.</p> + +<p>Another letter came from Mrs. Sherman, and on the same mail one from +Major Sherman written, not from his cozy desk in quarters, but over at +his office.</p> + +<p>Bill looked very grave after he read it. Strangely enough, he had left +his mother's letter for the last. Major Sherman wrote to know what watch +Bill had pawned. A pawnbroker in Lawton had written him to say that he +would be glad to sell the watch left with him as he had a good customer +for it. Major Sherman wanted an explanation from Bill. He had simply +written the man to hold the watch until he had heard from his son.</p> + +<p>Bill was stunned. What it all meant he could not guess. Something +strange was in the air. He felt the influence of evil but could not +place it. Taking his mother's letter, still unopened, he walked slowly +to the library. It was full of boys, all laughing and talking. It had +become a lounging room during the quarantine. Bill could not read there. +Slamming on his cap, he wandered over to the hangar. Climbing into +Ernest's plane, he huddled down where he was effectually hidden. He knew +that Ernest would not be out of the chemistry laboratory for hours, and +he tore open his mother's letter and read it rapidly.</p> + +<p>Lee had been convicted! Bill groaned in an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>guish as he read the words. +He was to be taken to Leavenworth as soon as a couple more trials were +held so that all the prisoners could go under the care of one officer +and a squad. <i>Lee going to prison!</i> Bill could not believe it. And Lee +had told Mrs. Sherman that he would never be taken to Leavenworth alive. +Bill shuddered.</p> + +<p>Stunned by his emotions, Bill lay motionless in the cramped quarters he +had chosen. Presently he heard a light footstep. It stopped close beside +him and Bill, raising himself on his arm, peered over the edge of his +small quarters at the back of Frank Anderson, who was bending over the +engine of Horace Jardin's plane. No one else was in the hangar. Bill +heard the scrape of steel on steel and saw Frank slip a small +screwdriver into his pocket. Then Bill dropped out of sight, and soon he +heard Frank retreating to the small door of the hangar where he stood +for a moment looking out before he went out.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later he returned with Horace Jardin.</p> + +<p>Horace as usual was sputtering.</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Andy," he said with his usual bluster, "this is the <i>last</i> +day I will fool with that plane. Absolutely the last! If she doesn't go +before night, she needn't go at all. I will get rid of her. Dad wrote me +this morning that he had had a letter from the chief mechanician here, +and what the fellow says about the plane looks as though the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> company +had put one over on us. Dad won't stand for that. He is going to make +them replace the car. But they can't have this one back. I will sell it +sure as shooting! I need money."</p> + +<p>"What's your price?" asked Frank.</p> + +<p>Jardin registered deep thought. "I need five hundred," he said.</p> + +<p>"I will buy it," replied Frank. "I can make a little on it if I sell it +for junk, and you can't afford to dicker around like that. It would be +out of place for a Jardin to be dealing in second-hand stuff. Everyone +knows I have nothing."</p> + +<p>"How do you come to have the five hundred then?" asked Horace +suspiciously.</p> + +<p>Frank flushed but did not hesitate.</p> + +<p>"A present from my grandmother," he said, trusting to luck that Jardin +would not know that the lady had been dead for many years.</p> + +<p>"Well, if she doesn't go by to-night, she is yours for the five +hundred," promised Jardin. "I wonder where those mechanicians are. Let's +go look them up."</p> + +<p>Together the boys went out, and Bill, feeling it was high time to +escape, leaped out of the plane and dodged out the door.</p> + +<p>Across the field, Ernest, the two mechanicians, Frank and Horace were +talking excitedly.</p> + +<p>Bill joined the group.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<p>"No use talkin' Mr. Jardin," one of the men blurted out as Bill came up. +"There is some monkey work going on here. Somebody is foolin' with your +plane. We lock the hangar every night, and someone is always around all +day, but allee samee, as the Chinee says, allee samee, <i>somebody</i> gets +that machine all out of tune as soon as I get it right. And it's no +fool, either. Whoever is tinkering with it understands that type of +flyer down to the ground. He knows just what to discombobolate in order +to make us the most trouble."</p> + +<p>Ernest laid a hand on the man's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"The thing is, Tom, we will have to look for a motive. Now what earthly +motive can anyone have?"</p> + +<p>"Search me!" said Tom. "Whoever is doing it doesn't want to hurt Mr. +Jardin here, because the damage is always to something that will keep +the plane from rising. For instance, yesterday the spark plugs had mud +in 'em. Before that, the exhaust wouldn't work; one time the priming pin +was clean gone; once the dust cap was half off; then the drum control, +warping the wings got on the blink. I tell you, it is enough to drive +anybody crazy! Lately we have took to sleeping in the hangar, but things +happen just the same."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am afraid it is a case of poor construction," said Ernest. "There is +no one who would pick on Jardin like that. Why don't they do something +to <i>my</i> plane? Jardin has no enemies. He has invited about every boy in +the whole school to ride with him."</p> + +<p>"Certainly I have!" said Jardin. "I guess I more than pay my way around +this place! I have stood treat oftener than any one in the whole school. +It doesn't pay to be an enemy of mine."</p> + +<p>Ernest frowned. "It is not a case of treating," he said sternly. "It is +merely that no special fellow here owes you a grudge. So, as they have +no reason to owe me a grudge either, I don't see why I do not come in +for some of the damage, or you, Tom. There are only three planes here. +Why do they pick on Jardin? It beats me! There is something back of this +that I do not understand."</p> + +<p>Bill, cautiously studying Frank, said to himself, "There will be trouble +with the other planes to-morrow. The conversation has given Frank an +idea."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jardin mysteriously, "after today I don't care what +happens. Come along, Tom, and see if she is all to the bad today."</p> + +<p>Together they walked over to the hangar and wheeled Jardin's plane out +into the field. It could not be made to start. Tom gave a short, hard +laugh.</p> + +<p>"I am beaten!" he declared. "The screws are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> all loose on the +interrupter and it will take me all day to adjust the engine again."</p> + +<p>"Gee, that's a shame!" said Frank, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>Bill looked at him with amazement. After what he had seen in the hangar, +the boy's sly cunning filled him with amazement. He had an overwhelming +desire to confide in someone, and Ernest flashed into his mind.</p> + +<p>The sky was growing very dark, and a queer yellow light spread the +northwest like a blanket.</p> + +<p>Tom turned the plane and headed it back toward the hangar. "No flyin' +today," he said. "Look at that sky!"</p> + +<p>The boys helped him put the plane away, then they sauntered up to the +school. A flash of lightning split the sky.</p> + +<p>"Funny time of year for lightning," said Bill.</p> + +<p>"It is, at that!" answered Ernest. "But it looks to me as though we were +going to have a real electrical storm. Let's get under cover."</p> + +<p>They raced up the hill and into the building just as the storm descended +in good earnest. As Bill hurried to his room to shut the window, the boy +in the telephone booth called him.</p> + +<p>"Telegram for you," he said, shoving the message through the wicket. +Bill signed the slip with a hand that shook a little. His mother! She +was his first thought. But her name was at the foot of the message which +proved to be a night letter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Lee will be taken to Leavenworth on Tuesday," it ran. "Circumstantial +evidence too strong. He is in a dreadful state but promises me to take +it like a soldier. Wish that you were here, but am told the quarantine +is absolutely strict. Will see you Thanksgiving if possible. Love. +Mother."</p> + +<p>Bill turned abruptly and went after Ernest. No one had seen him. +Presently he gave up the search and went to his room where he found +everything in the greatest disorder and a gale sweeping clothing, papers +and bedding from their places. He closed the window and straightened up +the place, moving the two army lockers to a new and better position and +rearranging his desk. He was too worried and restless to work, so he +went to the window, and leaning against the sash, watched a spectacular +storm sweep across the valley. In the distance he could see the trolley +cars struggling against the blast, but presently they were seen no more. +Great branches broke from the trees and whirled through the air. The +steel flag-pole before the main building bent perilously and, as Bill +watched, a row of telephone poles went toppling over. Blacker and +blacker grew the air, and at last with a crash the rain fell. Bill drew +a chair and moodily stared out into the whirling wet landscape.</p> + +<p>All day the storm raged and Bill, worried and irresolute, sought Ernest. +It was not until supper time that he found him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>He had shut himself in the clubroom over the grill and had been boning +for an examination. Mess over, they wandered out on the terrace. The +storm was over, completely and wholly. The air was clear, the sky +cloudless. A gentle breeze fanned them. Trolley wires, telephone poles +and trees lay in every direction, with here and there a rolled-up tin +roof. It had been bad enough while it lasted.</p> + +<p>"Come over here by the tennis court," suggested Bill. "I want to talk to +you. A lot of things have happened in the last few weeks, and I don't +know what to make of them."</p> + +<p>"Fire ahead if I can help," said Ernest.</p> + +<p>Bill commenced his story with the influence Jardin seemed to have over +Frank and concluded with what he had seen in the hangar.</p> + +<p>"What's the game?" he demanded at last.</p> + +<p>"I can't guess unless he wants Jardin to get so disgusted that he will +give him the plane. Has Frank any money?" asked Ernest.</p> + +<p>"He had a present from a friend of ours when we came," said Bill, "but +most of that has been frittered away. Besides that, he hasn't a cent +although he goes strutting around as though he had a little private wad +to draw on. But I know he hasn't any. Where would <i>he</i> get money? His +folks have only their army pay."</p> + +<p>"It surely is funny about that plane," said Ernest. "I never saw a chap +so crazy about flying,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> but he can't expect to get a plane like that for +nothing, and yet what you saw looks suspiciously as though he was up to +some scheme. What sort of a chap was he at home?"</p> + +<p>"Not bad," replied Bill generously. "There was a lot of things I didn't +like about him, but I never suspected he would do anything underhanded. +Why, he might kill Jardin, monkeying that way with the plane!"</p> + +<p>"He is determined not to harm him," said Ernest. "Everything that has +happened to the plane has been of a nature that has made it impossible +to get it off the ground. So Jardin is safe for the present at least. I +think I will manage to secrete myself in that hangar to-morrow morning. +I don't believe we had better tell anyone about this, Bill; it would +stir up such a fuss. The plane is in perfect order now. I saw Tom a +little while ago and he has it tuned up to perfection. In the meantime I +think I will seek our friend Jardin and sound him a little. Later I will +drop in." He strolled off in the direction of the billiard room where +Jardin was usually to be found, and Bill went to his own room and tried +to read. The thought that in a short time Lee, good, honest, loyal Lee, +would be on his way to prison, a convicted thief, was more than he could +bear. The print danced before his eyes. He heaved a sigh of relief when +a tap on the door was followed by the entrance of Ernest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The plot thickens," he said, closing the door carefully and glancing +about to assure himself they were alone. "I have had a long talk with +young Jardin and it was very mystifying. You are mistaken about Frank, I +think. He must have a bank account or something of the sort, because he +has actually offered to buy that plane. I suspect he has offered very +little for it, because Jardin would not tell me the price. But the deal +is good as closed. Jardin is going to get a new machine, and Frank is to +pay him for this one to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Bill was silent for a long time. "I don't know what it all means," he +said finally. "Something queer has happened to me that worries me. I +wonder—do you think—no, it couldn't be."</p> + +<p>"Probably it couldn't," agreed Ernest, "but I can't think before you +explain what to think about."</p> + +<p>"It was a letter from my dad," explained Bill, and went on to tell him +about the watch that was in the pawnshop in his name. And then, because +he had a good start, he told Ernest about Lee.</p> + +<p>"That pawnshop affair may have something to do with Frank," said Ernest, +"but you can't connect him with that robbery. That is too big and too +serious. Six hundred dollars, you say?"</p> + +<p>"I think that was what they told me," said Bill. "No, of course Frank +has nothing to do with that, and I know Lee is perfectly innocent of it +too. I just about go crazy when I think about it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is terrible," said Ernest, deeply troubled.</p> + +<p>For a long while they sat talking things over, but were finally +interrupted by the entrance of Frank, who came bursting noisily into the +room, throwing his cap across the bed and tearing off his coat.</p> + +<p>"Taps going to sound!" he said.</p> + +<p>"I don't have to go to bed until I want to," said Ernest. "Will it +disturb you boys if I stay awhile?"</p> + +<p>"Don't mind me!" said Frank. He took off his stock, and sat down on his +bed with his back to them.</p> + +<p>"I never did show you the pictures of my folks, did I?" asked Bill of +Ernest. He went over to the lockers.</p> + +<p>"Darn these lockers," he laughed. "They are exactly alike. I never know +which is mine."</p> + +<p>"Yours is next the window," said Frank, "and mine is always locked."</p> + +<p>"They are both locked now, as it happens," said Bill. He went over to +the dresser and picked up a key. "That doesn't look like mine," he said, +squinting at it.</p> + +<p>"Mine is in my pocket," said Frank.</p> + +<p>Bill took the key and opened the locker. He tipped up a corner of the +tray and felt under it, drawing out a square photograph case.</p> + +<p>"Our folks fitted us out just alike as to kit bags and toilet sets and +photograph cases," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> Bill, coming over toward the light with the +case. It slipped out of his hand as he spoke and he made a grab for it, +catching it by one corner. A photograph and a long envelope fluttered to +the floor.</p> + +<p>"This isn't—" said Bill, then stopped and glanced at Frank who was +lying on his back on the bed with both legs in the air, unfastening his +puttees. With trembling fingers Bill seized the paper and scanned it. He +took one look at its contents and for a moment stood as though turned to +stone.</p> + +<p>He passed a shaking hand across his forehead, then in a terrible voice +he cried:</p> + +<p>"Anderson, you—you—you thief, I've got you! Oh, you dog, I've got +you!"</p> + +<p>He choked and took a step toward Frank who had bounded to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" cried Ernest. "Stop, Bill! What does this mean?"</p> + +<p>"The envelope!" cried Bill, violently striking the paper in his hand. +"The envelope! And the money! The money Lee is going to prison for!"</p> + +<p>"No such thing!" cried Frank, finding his tongue. "That money is mine!"</p> + +<p>"Here is the paymaster's endorsement on the envelope," cried Bill +furiously. "You stole it—stole it and somehow put the blame on Lee. And +then you took his present!"</p> + +<p>He struck away Ernest's restraining hand.</p> + +<p>"Give me that money!" cried Frank. "I found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> that envelope; that's all +there is to that! The money is <i>mine</i>. Give it to me!"</p> + +<p>"Yours?" said Bill. "Well, you won't get it!" and he thrust the long +envelope full of bills into Ernest's grasp.</p> + +<p>With a muttered word, Frank made a leap for it and Bill met him half +way. Bill parried the blow that Frank launched as he realized that the +money was out of his grasp, and in another instant they were fighting +silently and desperately. Both were furiously angry, but Frank was +desperate. Ruin stared him in the face. He was too stunned to realize +that the game was up, his hand played out, and he fought with a +primitive impulse to down the person who had trapped him.</p> + +<p>That Bill had changed the trunks around when the storm was raging and +that the keys were identically alike never occurred to either of them. +Bill's mind was a blank save for the one overwhelming thought that he +had found the envelope that would free Lee.</p> + +<p>Frank's mind was chaos. A wild and whirling fury at Bill, at himself for +carelessly keeping the money in the envelope although its hiding place +back of the photograph seemed absolutely safe, at fate for playing him +such a trick, the thought of exposure—everything was mixed into a +poisonous potion which filled his brain and of which his soul drank. He +leaped upon Bill and tried to throttle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> him. He fought with the strength +of ten. Somehow both boys seemed to feel the need for silence. Except +for the quick intake of their labored breathing, there was no sound save +the scuffle of Bill's shoes and the impact of their blows.</p> + +<p>When Frank clinched and tried to gouge, Bill in self-defence dropped his +sparring and resorted to the Indian tricks taught him by Lee. He took +joy in the thought that the person who had taught him such clever modes +of self-defence was now to be benefitted by them.</p> + +<p>Frank went down like a rock, and Bill, still holding him helpless, said +panting, "Will you give up?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<p>"Let me up!" cried Frank, the veins standing out on his purple forehead +as he struggled vainly under Bill's grasp. "You Injun fighter you, give +me a white man's chance and I'll fight you square!"</p> + +<p>"I don't intend to fight you at all," said Bill. "I don't fight with +fellows like you. And I don't intend to let you beat me up. If you +promise to sit there in that chair and make a clean breast of it, I will +let you up."</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to tell," said Frank. "Lee must have put that money +and that envelope in my trunk. I don't see what you are going to do +about it."</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness there was a witness of the way you acted when I found +it!" exclaimed Bill. He stood up, and Frank scrambled to his feet. He +watched Bill furtively until he glanced aside, then he made a mad lunge +toward him. Bill was too quick for him and once more Frank, sobbing with +rage, went crashing to the floor.</p> + +<p>As Bill stood over him, he glanced at Ernest, who had been an interested +observer.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do with him?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"This," said Ernest. He pulled a quantity of very strong waxed cord from +his pocket. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> some he sometimes had need of in fixing his plane.</p> + +<p>With a quick twist he had a loop around Frank's ankles, and then, +dragging the resisting boy to his feet, he jammed him down on a chair +and proceeded to fasten him neatly to it.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "what next?"</p> + +<p>"Next is to save Lee from Leavenworth," said Bill. "Mother says he will +kill himself if ever he gets there. He can't stand the disgrace. If you +will stick around and watch this fellow, I will go down and see about +sending the telegram."</p> + +<p>"You had better stay here, and I will go," offered Ernest. "It is too +late for you underclass fellows to be out in the corridor, and I can go +down and rush the message. I have a pull with the telephone boy. Write +your message."</p> + +<p>"Don't do it; you will ruin me!" cried Frank.</p> + +<p>Bill stared. "Ruin you; ruin you? What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you know what this will mean to me if it gets back on the Post. +What's Lee, anyhow? Just a half-breed private! Let him take his +medicine!"</p> + +<p>Bill paled and Ernest made an involuntary motion as though he was going +to strike the coward down. Bill controlled himself with an effort.</p> + +<p>"He is worth more—his little <i>finger</i> is worth more than your whole +body. He is the finest chap I know. And the next time you call him +half-breed I will lick you. He is justly proud of the American<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Indian +blood in him. Oh, you aren't worth talking to!"</p> + +<p>He scribbled something on a pad and gave it to Ernest, who disappeared +with it. Instead of returning in a few minutes, it was almost an hour +before he stuck his head in the door and beckoned Bill into the +corridor.</p> + +<p>The boys had not spoken during his absence.</p> + +<p>"Wires all down," he said briefly. "The storm has destroyed all lines of +communication. And they say there are wash-outs all along the lines of +railroads. Also we are under quarantine. Hope you don't mind what I did. +I went to the principal and told him the whole thing, and offered to +take you and Frank out to Sill in my plane. I am perfectly capable of +making a flight ten times that long, and as you know I am a licensed +pilot. Unless a new storm comes up, the air is perfect for flying, and +we can start at daybreak. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me old Prexy will let us go?" demanded Bill.</p> + +<p>"Surely! He is a good old chappie when he has to rise to an occasion and +I should say this was one. Besides, he wants to get rid of Frank. He +says he doesn't want him in the school another day, and if he is here he +will put him in close confinement. And this affair really does not come +within the school discipline, so the old dear is willing to let you take +Frank and that precious envelope back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> to Sill. And the only way we can +make it is by air."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is the greatest luck in the world!" cried Bill. "This is the +reason mother let me off my promise. That plane of yours holds three, +doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Easily!" said Ernest.</p> + +<p>"Don't say a word to Frank until we are ready to go," Bill suggested.</p> + +<p>"Well, you can't leave him trussed up there in that chair all night," +said Ernest. "We all need to sleep. I never fly unless I have had a good +supper and a good sleep afterwards. It is the only way to keep a clear +head and steady nerve."</p> + +<p>Between them they lifted Frank, who in sullen silence refused to stand +or use his legs, over on one of the beds, and again tied him securely. +When they were sure that he could not escape, and yet was able to move +sufficiently to keep from being cramped, Bill tumbled into his own bed +and Ernest went off in the direction of his own room, stopping on his +way to thank the principal for his permission. Then, with a last look at +the sky he set his alarm clock, and in a second was fast asleep.</p> + +<p>Before Bill realized that he had really shut his eyes, he felt Ernest +shaking him, and rolled over to see Frank, still bound, glaring at him +in sullen fury.</p> + +<p>"Almost daylight," said Ernest. "I have some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> breakfast ready over at +the Grill. No one is up, so we can bring Frank right along."</p> + +<p>"What are you up to?" demanded Frank as Bill commenced to dress, hastily +donning his heaviest underclothes. "I am sick of this fooling. You try +to take me out of this room and I will yell so I will bring every +teacher in the building!"</p> + +<p>"Good for you!" said Ernest. "Forewarned is forearmed." He arranged a +gag which effectually prevented Frank from making a sound and, loosening +his feet, they started toward the door. But scenting punishment, Frank +let himself go suddenly limp, and Bill had to put the screws on, as he +expressed it, by applying one of the hand holds that Lee had taught him. +After that the prisoner walked.</p> + +<p>As they silently passed the office the stern face of the principal of +the school suddenly appeared. He made a gesture and the three boys +stopped. Then for a long minute he looked at Frank.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," he said solemnly. "I pray that you will wake to a +realization of what you have done. You have been a thief; you have +willingly allowed a good young man to bear punishment for your crime, +and you are now about to endanger the lives of two of your mates, who +are willing to take the risk in order to save the innocent. If you are +mercifully permitted to make good this wicked crime, arouse yourself, +Anderson, and resolve to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> a different boy." He turned as though he +could say no more, and with a warm handclasp for each of the others, +closed the door.</p> + +<p>"I bet he has been up all night," whispered Ernest.</p> + +<p>They found a hot breakfast at the Grill, and just as the pitch darkness +gave way to a pale streak of dawn, they cut across the campus and +reached the hangar.</p> + +<p>As they switched on the lights, Ernest's beautiful plane seemed to +sparkle with preparedness. He went over it bolt by bolt, nuts, screws, +wires, and wings passing under his careful and critical eye. He looked +at and tested the tension of the wires, the swing of the rudder, the +looseness of the ailerons. Satisfied at last that everything was +perfectly in tune, he turned and gave a critical glance at Frank.</p> + +<p>"He is going to freeze," he said. "You go up to the gym and in my locker +you will find another coat and safety helmet."</p> + +<p>Bill started on a run. It was growing light fast, and it was time they +were on their way. Frank suddenly found his tongue.</p> + +<p>"You have got to tell me what you are trying to do with me," he said. +All the bluster had gone from his voice, and he watched Ernest with +worried eyes. "It is not fair the way you are acting. What are you going +to do?"</p> + +<p>"You may as well know now," said Ernest. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> think myself it is fair to +tell you. We are going to fly to Fort Sill and save Lee from the trip to +Leavenworth. If we have good luck, we have just about time to make it. +That storm last night blew half the telephones down, and we are under +such strict quarantine that we couldn't get away from here any other +way.</p> + +<p>"And if we could there is no time. Of course if we could telegraph, it +would fix things all right. But we have got to hurry. Mrs. Sherman +writes that your victim will never allow himself to go to Leavenworth. +The Indians are proud, you know, and we are making this flight perhaps +to save a life. I don't envy you when you get there, young chap!"</p> + +<p>"I won't go!" said Frank in a low voice. "If you take me up, I will +spill us all out of the plane."</p> + +<p>"You can't do it, you know," said Ernest, laughing. "This plane doesn't +spill as easily as all that, and if you go to talking like that we will +tie you up. I think we will anyway."</p> + +<p>Frank came close to his side. "Have a heart, will you?" he said. "I did +take that money, and I did pawn my watch in Bill's name, but I will +write it all down, if you won't try to take me back."</p> + +<p>"More news," said Ernest. "We didn't know about the watch. I think you +are badly needed back there at Fort Sill."</p> + +<p>He turned to adjust something, dismissing Frank as though he was not +there. They could hear Bill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> trotting rapidly down the campus. A short +heavy length of iron pipe lay close to Frank's foot. He stooped, picked +it up and made a lunge for Ernest. Ernest turned in time to see the bar +descending and threw up his arm. The bar struck it with sickening force +and the boy reeled back, both bones in the forearm broken. His right arm +dangling loosely at his side, Ernest leaped on his assailant and threw +him to the ground as Bill came up.</p> + +<p>"Help me!" he panted, his face pale with pain. Once more they bound +Anderson, and then put Ernest's arm in rough splints.</p> + +<p>"Well, this ends it!" said Bill gloomily. He dropped down on a bench and +pressed his face in his hands.</p> + +<p>Frank grinned. He was desperate and almost crazy with worry and despair +and remorse. He had not meant to hurt Ernest badly; he thought a good +crack would disturb him and he would have a chance to coax or wriggle +out of the terrible trip before him. He was called to the present and +his surroundings by hearing Ernest's voice.</p> + +<p>"Ends it? Not at all! We will go right ahead."</p> + +<p>"You can't drive with one hand," said Bill sadly.</p> + +<p>"<i>No, but you can and will</i>," replied Ernest grimly.</p> + +<p>"What?" cried Bill.</p> + +<p>"He can't drive!" cried Frank. "It will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> suicide and murder to let +him try. He has never been up in a plane in his life. Don't do it; don't +do it, I tell you! Don't you know anything, Bill? You will be killed +sure as shooting!"</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid," said Bill calmly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I am!" cried Frank.</p> + +<p>"I would be if I were you," scorned Bill. "If I had stolen one man's +reputation and broken another man's arm, I would be a little afraid +myself!"</p> + +<p>"To say nothing of stealing another boy's name!" cut in Ernest.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"That's another story," said Ernest. "You can hear that some other time. +Hustle into your togs now; I want to get to Sill. My arm hurts."</p> + +<p>Flying is getting to be such a widespread sport as well as profession +that every device possible is being developed for the safety and welfare +of airmen and women. So Bill helped Ernest into a leather hood which +extended down over the shoulders, and which was softly and warmly lined +with wool fleece. Over this went a helmet with a specially heavy padded +top and sides built on a heavy leather form with ear cones, adjustable +visors, and flaps. Ernest's leather coat could only be worn on one arm +on account of the right one which was tightly bandaged against his +breast, but Bill buttoned and tied it together as closely as he could.</p> + +<p>He then ordered Frank into a similar outfit,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> which they found in +Jardin's car, and rapidly dressed himself in the same manner. He +unlatched the great doors and swung them wide, and together they pushed +the plane out onto the field, Frank lying tied in the observer's seat. +It seemed cruel to tie him in the face of his fear, but they were afraid +he would do something desperate.</p> + +<p>"Now just a last word," said Ernest, laying a hand on Bill's shoulder. +"You won't lose your nerve, will you, old fellow?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not!" said Bill. "Let's get off. I have a hunch that we ought +to get along. We don't want to have to follow all the way to +Leavenworth."</p> + +<p>"All right-o, let's be off!" seconded Ernest. "Take the pilot's seat, +and I will help you if it is necessary. Good luck, old dear!"</p> + +<p>"Here comes Tom and the other fellow," said Bill. "They can hold us."</p> + +<p>He climbed into his seat and Ernest sat beside him, nursing his wounded +arm. Tom and his helper, boiling with amazement and curiosity, held the +machine and turned it to face the wind.</p> + +<p>Bill gave his engine plenty of gas, the propellers whirled faster and +faster, and when they reached top speed under Bill's accustomed hand, he +gave the signal and the men let go. The plane bounded forward, skipping +merrily over the field. Bill balanced on one wheel for a moment, then +with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> thrill of the heart such as he had never known tilted the +elevating plane and felt himself rise in the air.</p> + +<p>They were off!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + +<p>As the plane, responding perfectly to Bill's touch, soared upward, it +seemed as though they were rising on gossamer wings out of a well of +darkness and mists. They actually rose to greet the sun whose first rays +were gilding the tops of the hills. They went up in the very face of the +great orb whose light, first striking the upper wings, turned all the +delicate wires and cords to gold. How they shone in the clear early +sunlight! As the pace increased, Bill felt rather than heard the +delicate humming of the wires. Over the roar of the engine he did not +know whether he could distinguish a delicate sound or whether it was +only a trick of his imagination, but he was so exalted and so thrilled +by the wonderful experience through which he was passing that he seemed +to hear all sorts of celestial sounds.</p> + +<p>Fear fell from him. A new power was born in heart and brain. He felt as +uplifted in soul as he was in body. Somehow he longed more than ever to +be a good boy; to harbor good thoughts; to do good deeds. When he tried +to think of Frank and his ugly black actions, he found that he regarded +them through a haze as though they were a long ways away and of little +consequence. All<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> was going to be well. It was as though the darkness +from which they had risen was a symbol. They were going up, up into the +light! Bill knew as well as though some higher power had whispered it to +him that there would be a good ending: he did not doubt his ability to +do an almost unheard-of thing. His hand was as steady as though he had +flown all his life. He was "exalted in spirit," because his goal was a +worthy one. Without a question for their own safety, the boys had +started on an enterprise filled with dangers, in order to save Lee from +false imprisonment and possibly worse. Ernest knew the Indian nature +better even than Bill. He knew how impossible it is for them to bear +unmerited disgrace and how often they end that disgrace with a bullet or +the swift thrust of a knife. He hoped that the white blood that +dominated Bill's good friend was strong enough to overcome this trend, +but nevertheless he felt that there was not a moment to be lost. So +there he sat, only an observer in his well-beloved aeroplane, the broken +arm throbbing with a blinding pain, while Bill—young Bill who had never +been nearer to flying than the warping of a wing and the sailing on one +wheel over the field—sat in the pilot's seat, grave and intent, and +guided their swift flight.</p> + +<p>But ah, who could tell the thoughts that all unbidden coursed through +the mind of the culprit lying bound and muffled in the rear seat? So +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>tently were the eyes of his spirit bent inward on the dark and +whirling horrors they found there that the eyes of his body were blind +to the wonders of the young day. He lay where they had placed him, +staring blindly through his goggles straight up into the great dome +above him.</p> + +<p>The storm seemed to have washed the very air. It was clear as crystal. A +few clouds, thin as gossamer, hung here and there, growing less as a +steady breeze sprang up in the wake of the sun and gently dismissed them +from the great blue bowl in which they lingered.</p> + +<p>When they passed through these fairy clouds, they found them a soft +golden mist shot through with rainbow colors. Then emerging, they passed +once more into blue space, a space greater than Bill had ever imagined.</p> + +<p>How tiny, how frail they were: three boys darting in a man-made machine +high above their own realm! What daring! What risks!</p> + +<p>Daring, risks? Bill was unable to grasp the meaning of those earth-born +words. He felt neither small nor frail. He, Bill Sherman, a boy, was +among the conquerors!</p> + +<p>At a signal from Ernest he increased the speed and soared upward. It is +safer in the higher altitudes, although there is usually a great deal +more wind blowing there. In case of any engine trouble, you have more +time and a longer distance in which to bring the machine to the gliding +angle. Also if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> you are flying over a city when trouble threatens, you +have a chance to find a good landing place.</p> + +<p>All of these things Bill had had lectured to him endlessly at Sill, and +from both Ernest and Tom at school. But actual experience he had not +had. That fact, however, he put resolutely behind him. Just one breath +of fear struck him. He had witnessed a tail dive once at Sill, and over +and over his mind kept repeating, "Keep the tail a little higher than +the head and you won't spin." Ernest smiled to himself as he saw from +Bill's manœuvers as the flight went on that he had stored away all +the counsel he had listened to. Many a trained aviator never learned to +drive his engine and balance his plane with the cool cleverness and +judgment of this young and untried aeronaut. Ernest commenced to relax +and enjoy himself. If they had no engine accident, there was no reason +to suppose that Bill would wreck the plane.</p> + +<p>"Up!" cried Ernest, pointing with his well hand.</p> + +<p>Bill responded and the plane again soared aloft.</p> + +<p>Here the wind screamed a gale. The plane shot forward, the wires +whistling, the engine drumming, the whole light fabric in which they +rode quivering. Bill's hand on the wheel grew tense; his faculties +seemed on a wire edge. Ernest's guiding hand pointed to the right. Bill +was surprised. He had kept good track of his direction by the aid of the +air compass and felt sure he was going in the right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> direction. +Nevertheless he turned and, banking his wings and lifting the ailerons, +moved smoothly in the direction suggested. Half an hour later Ernest +again motioned, this time for a turn to the left.</p> + +<p>It was not until days after their arrival at Sill that Ernest thought to +tell Bill that the unexpected and seemingly unnecessary deviations from +the straight course were merely to try him out. An hour or so later when +Ernest saw that they were passing over a strip of country where good +landing places seemed plentiful, he indicated a dip and Bill executed it +perfectly. He felt proud of himself now, and said, "Tail up, tail up!" +repeatedly, as he felt the plane drop earthward. Reaching a lower level, +Ernest nodded and they sailed on a straight-away flight, their eyes +turned ever to the far-away goal in the west.</p> + +<p>Bill was unconscious of the passing time. They had had a heavy and +sustaining breakfast, and luncheon was forgotten. There was no time to +stop if they had been hungry. But Ernest was thinking of many things.</p> + +<p>He carefully scanned the country they were passing over for a landing +place. Bill's face was well covered with the flaps of his helmet and the +wings of his goggles, but Ernest fancied that the young aviator was +pale. He felt that they must land for awhile. Even now they were many +hours ahead of the time they would have made on a railroad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> train. He +indicated an upward course, and Bill rose as they raced over a flat and +open part of the country. Far ahead there lay what seemed to be an open +plain dotted at long intervals with small villages. A pleasant farming +district evidently, far from any large city. Ernest was sure that he +could get gasoline in any hamlet, and there seemed to be plenty of +landing places. The only question remaining was Bill's ability to get +down without a smash. Ernest smiled. He was fatalist enough to be +willing to risk what <i>had</i> to be risked.</p> + +<p>The sun was well in the west. They seemed to be flying straight into the +blazing disk when Ernest, pointing to a wide plain far ahead, touched +Bill and told him with a gesture to go down and land.</p> + +<p>Bill gave a short nod and prepared to obey. There flashed into his head +a saying of Tom's, "Anybuddy can fly, but it's the landing that hurts."</p> + +<p>Bill felt everything—their safety, his own self-respect and Ernest's +confidence in him—rested on this last and different test. He could not +conceive of a reason for landing, but Ernest said land, so land it was!</p> + +<p>At any rate, his engine was going perfectly, so he was not required to +attempt a difficult volplane with a dead engine. It was something to be +spared that. Bill picked the likeliest spot in the distant landscape, +all immense field with only a few groups of black dots to break its late +fall greenness. Bill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> could not tell the nature of the dots at the +height he was flying. They might be bushes or cows. Bill hoped for the +latter, and as he came down he saw that he was right. Cows would be +likely to scatter, thought Bill, but bushes would be difficult to steer +around.</p> + +<p>About a hundred feet from the ground he tilted his elevating plane, and +the machine, nosing up, glided off at a tangent. Once more making a +turn, he came down to the ground, striking it gently, and bobbing along +the grassy surface of the field.</p> + +<p>The cows scattered all right. When the machine came to a standstill, +swaying back and forth like a giant dragonfly, all that remained of the +herd was a glimpse of agitated and wildly waving tails galloping off +into the second growth which rimmed the pasture.</p> + +<p>Ernest, who had taken many long flights, removed his goggles and smiled +at the young pilot as he climbed awkwardly over the side and dropped to +the ground. His head whirled, and his eyes felt strained out of his +head. With fingers that trembled he undid his helmet and pushed off his +goggles.</p> + +<p>"Well, boy, I may say that I was never so proud of a friend in my life! +You have done nobly!"</p> + +<p>"What did we land for?" asked Bill. "I don't see as we can afford the +time."</p> + +<p>"We must take time to get some gas and rest you up a little. Don't you +worry, son! You are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> going to drive all night to-night unless—well, why +didn't I think of this before? We are 'way past the path of the storm +last night, and—"</p> + +<p>"Last night!" interrupted Bill. "Was it only last night? I feel as +though it was a week ago."</p> + +<p>"I was going to say," resumed Ernest, "that we can send a telegram from +somewhere around here, and then we can spend the night at a farmhouse, +and go on to-morrow. We can reach there to-morrow night, perhaps +earlier."</p> + +<p>"I don't approve of that," said Bill. "If my mother thought I was 'up in +a balloon, boys,' she would about die of fright."</p> + +<p>"She gave you permission," reminded Ernest.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but of course she never thought anything like this would happen +and honestly I wish you wouldn't! I can drive all night all right. That +is, if I can get a little rest," he added, as he sensed his aching +muscles and realized the tension he had been under.</p> + +<p>"I think about so," said Ernest. "I will look around for a farmhouse. +Must be one near on account of all these cows. Oh, goodness! See what's +coming!"</p> + +<p>Across the field surged a small but excited procession. A lean boy on +horseback, without saddle or bridle and guiding the shambling colt he +rode by a halter strap, led the van. Behind him, as lean as he, and +about seven feet tall, a farmer, whiskered like a cartoon, kept pace +easily with the horse. Be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>hind came a roly-poly old lady, her apron +strings fluttering in the breeze as she bowled along dragging a fat +little girl by each hand. Three dogs barking loudly brought up the rear.</p> + +<p>Twenty-five feet from the plane the procession was thrown into confusion +by the colt which suddenly discovered what seemed to him to be a giant +horsefly, its wings wagging lazily. He had dreamed of just such monsters +while snoozing in the shade on hot summer days, but here, oh, here was +the creature itself ready to fly up and alight on him!</p> + +<p>He did not wait for further investigation, but whirled and left for +parts distant where the cows peered through the saplings at the awful +intruder in their peaceful pasture. The sod was soft and the young +rider, rolling head over heels, was not harmed as he came to a stop +close to the boys and sat up, rubbing his red head.</p> + +<p>"What's your hurry?" asked Ernest, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Nuthin'," said the boy. "Say, is that a airyplane?"</p> + +<p>"Sure thing!" replied Ernest. "Do you live near here?"</p> + +<p>"Yep!" said the boy. "Let's see you fly in it."</p> + +<p>Ernest laughed. "You certainly believe in speeding the parting guest, +don't you, young chap? Is this your father coming?"</p> + +<p>"Yep! Say, how do you work her?"</p> + +<p>Ernest turned to greet the tall farmer. Every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>thing was turning out as +he hoped. Not only would the farmer and his roly-poly wife, who +presently came up panting, give them supper and a place to rest, but he +had a Ford, and on account of the distance from town was always supplied +with a large tank full of gas. Ernest gave a sigh of relief. The only +danger was from their curiosity. When the thin boy went off to get the +colt, and was seen riding furiously away, Ernest knew that, like Paul +Revere, he was off to give an alarm and rouse the countryside. He looked +at his watch. There should be a full moon later, but Bill was completely +tired out and had not yet come into the condition known as second wind. +It would take three or four hours to get ready for the rest of the +flight.</p> + +<p>"What sort of a chap is that boy of yours?" asked Ernest.</p> + +<p>"Pig-headed!" said the old lady, speaking for the first time.</p> + +<p>"That is not a bad trait," said Ernest, smiling. "I mean can you trust +him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you <i>kin</i>," said his mother. "Webby will do just what he says +every time and all the time."</p> + +<p>"The woman's right," said the farmer. "I kin trust Web soon as I kin +myself."</p> + +<p>"Sooner!" said his wife scornfully. "You are the forgittinest feller, +and Webby don't <i>never</i> forget. If you want he should go an errant, +mister, he'll be back soon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not exactly an errand," said Ernest, and no more would he say until he +saw the boy come galloping back to the field. He dismounted a long way +off, and came running.</p> + +<p>"Your mother and father tell me you can keep your word, and be trusted," +said Ernest. "I want you to stand guard over this machine. I don't want +you or anyone else to <i>touch</i> it. I want you to keep everyone at least +ten feet away. If you will do this, I will either pay you or else take +you up for a little flight."</p> + +<p>"Wait!" said the boy. He turned and went running back to his colt and, +mounting, dashed out of sight. In five minutes he returned bearing a +long out-of-date rifle.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead and get something to eat," he said. "This ought to fix 'em!"</p> + +<p>With a stick he drew a deep scratch in the green grass around the plane. +Then he looked with a smile across the field.</p> + +<p>"Let 'em come!" he said. "This ought to fix 'em!"</p> + +<p>Ernest looked. Mr. Paul Revere Webby had not ridden in vain. They were +coming. Coming in Fords, buggies and on horseback. Coming strong.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + +<p>Ernest turned to the boy with the rifle who was standing guard over the +wonderful, strange thing that had alighted in his father's meadow, and +was satisfied. Cool, clear, honest blue eyes stared back and met his +gaze fairly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you be feared," said the boy. "They won't come apast that +scratch. You kin trust me. Ma and Pa trusts me with the roan colt."</p> + +<p>"The one you were riding?" asked Ernest.</p> + +<p>"Naw, not that," the boy laughed. "You git on, less'n you want to answer +four million questions. You kin leave her with me. They won't come apast +that scratch, and I kin skeer 'em off with this. They know I kin shoot."</p> + +<p>He patted the long, lean rifle lying along his arm, and Ernest knew that +in truth he could not leave the airplane in safer hands.</p> + +<p>He followed Bill and the farmer's family across the slope, Frank +lounging along beside him. They did not talk. Frank staggered as he +walked, he was so tired, and Ernest, who was accustomed to long flights, +was silent too. The pain in his arm was about all he could bear, and he +did not feel in the mood for talking to the fellow who had injured him. +So they moved silently across the soft sod,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> the farmer and his wife +talking busily to Bill. The two children and the three dogs ran and +frolicked in the rear. From the distant second growth the herd gazed +out, still suspicious. They had almost forgotten to chew their cuds!</p> + +<p>The roly-poly farmer's wife gave them a feast. Home-cured ham and +home-laid eggs and corn pone and jam and jelly and cake and molasses and +all sorts of good things besides, including cream to drink—real cream, +all blobby on the sides of the glass. Bill thought he would never get +enough to eat, and even Frank consumed about enough for two boys. As +soon as the meal was over, Ernest made Bill go and lie down on Webby's +bed. Frank was given the narrow horsehair sofa in the stuffy parlor, but +Ernest knew that Bill must sleep in an airy room, and the parlor had not +been opened since the war of '60 to judge by the musty closeness of it. +Ernest himself was in too much pain to rest so he sat and talked +aviation with the farmer for a few minutes and then they went down to +the lot to take a look at the machine. The farmer's wife had stacked her +dishes and was there before them.</p> + +<p>Not even his mother was allowed inside the scratch by the important and +faithful Webby. He stood guard beside the machine, enjoying the proudest +moment of his life. In after years, when Webby, goaded on by that +fateful landing, had gained the highest rung of fame's ladder, his +triumph was little compared to that clear sunset time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> in the pasture +when he stood guard over the wonder-car that had come from the sky with +its pilot and passengers scarcely older than himself.</p> + +<p>When Ernest approached, the crowd surged forward, but Webby sternly +drove them back.</p> + +<p>There were growls from the outsiders, who yearned to step over the +danger line and look and handle and if possible go off with a bit of +wire or string or what not, as a keepsake. But Webby was adamant, +although he was obliged to make dates for the following day with three +boys who insisted on fighting him out of revenge.</p> + +<p>One glance at the plane assured Ernest that everything was exactly as he +had left it. He thanked Webby and asked him what he would like best—a +payment of money or a flight.</p> + +<p>"Druther fly," said Webby promptly, laying down his rifle and starting +toward the car.</p> + +<p>"I can't fly it myself now," said Ernest, "but when the other boy comes +down from the house he will give you a little turn. If we had time, we +could stay here for a day or so. This is the finest field for landing +that I have seen in a long time. But we are in a great hurry, and all we +can do for you to-night is to give you a short spin."</p> + +<p>When Bill came down, his eyes heavy with sleep, he found Webby +restlessly pacing up and down before the car, and a silent, attentive +crowd of natives waiting to see what was going to happen. Webby's +parents did not know enough about aviation to feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> any fear for their +son, and watched with unspeakable delight as Ernest with his one arm and +Bill with his two sound ones, pulled the plane around to face the wind, +settled Webby in his seat and started the engine.</p> + +<p>"Don't go more than fifty feet above the ground, and keep over the field +if you can," whispered Ernest in Bill's ear.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going up?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"No use; you can manage it all right," said Ernest, "and I will stay +here and keep an eye on Frank. He needs watching. He would lose himself +in the swamp for a cent. He is in a bad state of mind. I hope he is, +too. Perhaps he will come to realize what he has done."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said Bill. "Can't we leave as soon as I give that kid a +turn? I want to get along. It seems as though we were hanging around +here an awful while."</p> + +<p>"Land over by the bars if you can," said Ernest. "It will be fun to see +this outfit scamper over, and besides it will be closer to the gasoline +tank."</p> + +<p>"All right," replied Bill, tuning up the engine. He skimmed along the +field while a wild, shrill shout went up from the observers. They +commenced to trail excitedly after, and stood hopping up and down and +tossing their hats in excitement as the graceful car left the ground and +sailed smoothly into the air. Bill found that flying, ris<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>ing and +lighting the second time was much easier than the first. He had lost +what little awkwardness he had had in the beginning, and the machine +moved with a smooth freedom. He wished that he had eyes in the back of +his head so he could see Webby. But if he <i>had</i> seen Webby, he would not +have laughed. Webby, watching the old familiar earth drop away, felt +exalted; he felt as though he had suddenly become a creature of some +finer, rarer place. When Webby told about it next day, he said, "I felt +like I was a chicken just hatched fum out an aig," but Webby said that +because words were hard things and difficult to handle. He really +thought of angels and made up his mind then and there to be a great man.</p> + +<p>Bill made the landing on the other side of the field as Ernest had +suggested, and he and Webby sat in the car and laughed as the audience +streaked across to them. Webby shook just a little when he stood once +more on solid earth, and he was more silent than ever. But when Ernest +came up he said in a low tone: "Say, ain't there books about this here?"</p> + +<p>"What you want is a magazine," said Ernest, "and I will send you mine as +soon as I have read it."</p> + +<p>"Every time it comes?" asked Webby. "Say, you are good!"</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said Ernest, "only take one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> piece of advice. The +flying will keep. Just you <i>keep on going to school</i>. You will need all +sorts of learning, especially mathematics."</p> + +<p>"Ho; I kin <i>eat</i> figgers!" boasted the boy.</p> + +<p>"That's good," said Ernest, shaking his hand. "Now, good-bye. I have +left my address with your mother. If you will write me next week, I will +send you that magazine."</p> + +<p>They said good-bye to the kindly farmers, having filled up with gas, +settled Frank in his seat, and arose just as a great white moon showed +itself over the trees.</p> + +<p>Once more they were off. With good luck they would reach their +destination early the following day. Bill was tired, deadly tired; but +he thought of the pain Ernest must be suffering from his wounded arm and +settled himself to his task with dogged determination. He had never been +up after dark, and the sensation was a new one. He was glad to have +Ernest beside him. As they rose, a couple of enormous birds sailed out +of their way. Eagles or buzzards; he did not know enough of the country +to be able to tell which. He was conscious of a feeling of dizziness and +fatigue. Everything he had ever heard about side slipping, tail spins, +nose dives—in fact, all the accidents that might befall an aviator +passed through his mind in gruesome procession. He looked down at the +compass, now beginning to show its luminous dial, and saw that they were +really going in the right direction.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> As he looked down, he commenced to +feel a stranger to the many levers and knobs before him. He knew them +all, knew them like a book; at least he had. Now they were slipping, +slipping away from him. He could not remember what they were for.</p> + +<p>He felt rather than saw Ernest motion him upward. As he climbed through +the cutting air, he plunged into a dense bank of cloud. The thought +flashed over him that if the plane turned over there in unlighted space, +he would not be able to right it again. As they passed once more into +the clear air, it was as though they were plunged into a bath of liquid +silver. The moon, immense and coldly luminous, had risen and hung in the +sky huge and pale. If the morning sun had turned every wire and blade to +gold, the moon silvered the whole plane. Space about them stretched off +dim and threatening. Bill shivered. His clutch on the wheel loosened and +the engine coughed twice.</p> + +<p>Bill felt his nerve die within him. Then a voice clear and sweet seemed +to speak. It was so clear that he glanced toward Ernest to see if he too +heard. Twice he heard his name called, then the dearest voice in the +world said clearly:</p> + +<p>"All's well, sonny. We are waiting. You will be in time."</p> + +<p>With a start Bill knew that his mother was speaking. Where she was he +did not know, but he heard her. All his fear, his indecision and his +nervousness faded away. He glanced at the dial of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> clock. It was +just nine. The long, hard night was ahead of him, but he could make it. +He set the wheel and risked a look at Ernest. He had not spoken, and he +had not heard. With his well arm he was nursing the broken one, and as +Bill looked at him he once more motioned upward. So they went soaring +up, up and still up, into silver-shod space, above ink-black masses of +cloud that held the silver rays of the moon on their upper surfaces as +though they were cups.</p> + +<p>As they sped on a wind began to blow behind them. It raced with them, +caught them, hurled them forward with incredible speed. Bill held his +course steadily, remembering "tail up!" as he tore onward. They were now +so high that the earth was not even a shadow below them.</p> + +<p>Suddenly as though flung through a doorway, they fell into one of those +strange freaks of the upper air called a "pocket." It is a vacuum, and +most dangerous.</p> + +<p>The plane shook and wavered, but Bill set himself for a downward course +and glided across the perilous area. As they emerged and struck the wind +again, the plane slipped dangerously, but Bill warped the planes and set +the ailerons with all the speed he could, and presently the indicator +before him registered an even keel and the danger past.</p> + +<p>Silently Ernest reached over and patted Bill's shoulder. Bill scarcely +noticed. He was no longer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> afraid, no longer nervous. He had come into +his own—and his mother was waiting for him! He would not fail her. She +expected him. He would be there. How or why she knew that he was coming +he could not guess, but he had heard her voice. Bill settled back in his +seat and felt that he was master of his machine. And, better still, he +was master of himself. Never again would he lose control of his nerves. +He wondered how he had ever done so. In the darkness he smiled.</p> + +<p>Hour after hour sped by. Bill was experiencing one of the peculiar +things about air voyages. Time seemed to be obliterated and he did not +feel the slightest fatigue. All the usual sensations of the human body +seemed to disappear just as the earth had disappeared. On and on flew +the plane. Once more he glanced at Ernest. It seemed as though he had +slipped down in his seat. Bill wondered if he was tired. Darkness crept +over the intense moonlight like a veil, and Bill realized that the moon +was gone. He kept his course, however, with the aid of his indicator and +the air compass and at last a new light commenced to show, the cold, +cheerless, dun light of early dawn. As yet there was no sign of the sun.</p> + +<p>Bill wondered if, in the night, he had flown past Fort Sill. It was +certainly time they were approaching it. He slowed the engine down as +much as he dared, and waited for more light. As day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> came, he saw that +he was indeed over the bleak, cheerless wastes of Oklahoma, but as yet +there was no sign of the great Post.</p> + +<p>At last, far, far ahead he saw it; a great city, part of it forsaken and +dismantled now that the war was ended and the need of trained troops not +so important. He dropped a little as he recognized his location. He +scanned Old Post lying on its low eminence, with the white hospitals +spreading over their area, New Post with its wide parade ground and its +trim rows of officers' quarters staring primly at the departmental +buildings built in the old Mexican fashion on the other side of the +parade.</p> + +<p>Donovan, with its splendid roads and miles of skeleton tent frames, and +nearer Bill recognized with a quickly beating heart the squat, ugly +quarters and class buildings of the School of Fire.</p> + +<p>Now on the instant there came to Bill a daring idea. Back of the +quarters where his mother and dad lived, a wide level space stretched +out to a bluff under which ran a sluggish stream called Medicine Creek. +It was a good-sized field, but of course not nearly the size of Aviation +Field lying far the other side of the Post. Nevertheless Bill made up +his mind to land there. He circled the Post, rising as he did so to a +high altitude, and leaving the plain he wished to land on far behind.</p> + +<p>He knew that he must be careful, as too great speed in striking would +drive the plane forward into the Students' building lying broadside.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<p>If he approached from the other direction, a false landing would send +them over the cliff into the trees and underbrush along the creek bank.</p> + +<p>But he knew that he could do it, and he did. The plane came down at a +perfect angle, reached the earth just at the edge of the bluff, hopped +gayly along toward the class building, turned in response to his hand on +the wheel, and stopped almost opposite his mother's back door.</p> + +<p>Bill turned and looked at Ernest. He was lying low in his seat in an +almost fainting condition. Frank, with closed eyes, looked deathly in +the early morning light. Bill struggled out of his seat, and stood +shakily beside the plane, undoing his helmet. A group of orderlies and +janitors ran up, and several officers in more or less undress appeared +on the porches. Bill, reeling, walked over to his mother's door.</p> + +<p>She herself opened it, clasped him in her arms, and gave a cry of +delight.</p> + +<p>"Bill, darling, you have <i>grown</i>!" she cried, and then as an +after-thought, "How <i>late</i> you are! I have been watching for you for an +hour."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + +<p>"How did you know I was coming, mother dear?" asked Bill, clinging +rather crazily to her as he tried to steady himself.</p> + +<p>"I just <i>felt</i> it," she answered, "and once I was so frightened about +you, but that passed away."</p> + +<p>"What time was it, do you remember?" asked Bill.</p> + +<p>"Nine o'clock," she said. "I was waiting for dad to come home from a +board meeting."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was just nine," said Bill with a strange look on his face. "I +heard you when you spoke to me, mother, and I think it saved my life, +and the lives of the other fellows.</p> + +<p>"How very strange!" exclaimed Mrs. Sherman. "Who came with you, Bill, +and who piloted the plane?"</p> + +<p>"I did," replied the boy. "It is a very long story, mother. It was the +only way we could come. We <i>had</i> to get here, and a storm had torn all +the wires down, and the school was in quarantine, and oh, mother, Lee is +<i>saved</i>! We have the envelope and the money and it is all going to be +right again. They have not taken him away, have they?"</p> + +<p>"They were going at noon to-day," answered Mrs. Sherman. "I don't +understand at all, Bill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> How do you happen to have the money, and all +that?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you everything about it presently, mother," said Bill. "I +want you to take care of Ernest Breeze, if you will. It is his plane, +and he has a broken arm and could not manage to drive, so I had to do +it. We flew all night and all day yesterday. Gosh, we are about all in!"</p> + +<p>"Don't say another word then!" cried Mrs. Sherman. "Dad isn't out yet, +but go get Ernest and I will make some coffee."</p> + +<p>Bill took a quick step to her side.</p> + +<p>"Coffee for three, please, mother," he said. "There is someone else with +us. Frank Anderson is here. He knows something about the theft."</p> + +<p>Bill stumbled over his statement. Somehow he hated to tell his mother +the bald and awful truth about the boy who had been his friend and hers.</p> + +<p>She did not wait for further explanations. Already she was moving +rapidly about the tiny kitchen, regulating the roaring fire that had +already been started by the janitor, and getting out the canister of +coffee.</p> + +<p>Bill went back to the airplane. With the aid of the soldiers grouped +about, he assisted Ernest over to the quarters, and laid him down on the +Major's bed. That gentleman called a lathery greeting from the bathroom +where he was shaving.</p> + +<p>Ernest was in bad condition. The exposure and the lack of proper care +had caused his arm to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>come terribly inflamed. Mrs. Sherman sent an +orderly with a side car over to the Hospital on a hurry call for the +doctor.</p> + +<p>Then she braced the boy carefully with pillows and covered him with a +warm blanket. As soon as it was ready, she brought him a cup of hot +coffee and an egg, leaving Bill to care for himself and attend to Frank.</p> + +<p>Frank had reached a state where he seemed numb. He was past caring what +happened. After a hot drink, however, he braced up a little and prepared +to face his ordeal. He did not know what it was to be. For all he knew, +he would be taken to Leavenworth. It was agony to think that soon +someone would go to his father and mother and tell them that their son +on whom they had built such hopes was a thief. He sat silent and +downcast and only answered in brief sentences when they addressed him. +Of course Major and Mrs. Sherman sensed something dreadful, but they +were too wise to press their questions until such time as the boys were +fed and rested.</p> + +<p>A little color had already crept back in Ernest's face, and Bill was +seemingly quite himself.</p> + +<p>Then he asked Major Sherman to come into the den, and beckoned Frank to +follow. The boy did so with the air of a condemned man.</p> + +<p>No one ever knew what went on at that solemn meeting. One hour, two +passed and still they sat behind the closed door. Then Major Sherman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +with a grave and troubled face, came out, kissed his wife, mounted the +horse the orderly had been holding for the past hour, and rode away in +the direction of the General's quarters. Bill and Frank remained seated +in the den.</p> + +<p>Bill, almost as shaken as the culprit, stared out of the window at the +quarters across the court. Frank, broken at last, lay on the hard +quartermaster cot and shook with dry and racking sobs. Neither boy knew +what the outcome would be. It seemed days before the jingle of spurs in +the tiny passageway told of the approach of officers, and the door +opened to admit General Marcom, his aide, and the Major. Bill rose and +stood at attention. Frank too struggled to his feet and stood drooping +before his judges.</p> + +<p>Once more the story was told, this time Frank adding a broken sentence +here and there. He told how Jardin had filled him with the longing for +money, and how he had seen the amounts that Jardin spent and wickedly +wanted to do likewise. It was on the impulse of the moment that he had +taken the envelope filled with bills to pay the Battery. Once in his +possession, he was panicstricken. The terror of being found out and +punished had driven him onward; that was all.</p> + +<p>The General, an old and kindly man, listened with a grave face. He said +nothing. Writing an order on a slip of paper, he gave it to his orderly, +who galloped off toward Old Post where the jail is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> situated. In this +grim building with its small, grated windows and thick stone walls, Lee +was awaiting the hour of his departure for prison. There was much red +tape to go through with, but at last the orderly went clattering back to +the General with his answer, and close behind him followed an ambulance +with Lee and a couple of guards, armed with short carbines and heavy +pistols.</p> + +<p>As they entered the quarters through the kitchen, Mrs. Sherman placed +both hands on Lee's shoulders—shoulders as straight and proud as ever.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear boy, it is <i>all right</i>!" she whispered so the guard would +not hear. "It is all right, just as I knew it would be! Be generous, be +forgiving, won't you, Lee?"</p> + +<p>He smiled down tenderly at the little lady he loved so well and nodded. +Then he too passed into the den. For a long while the rumble of the +General's deep voice rattled the ornaments on the thin walls, and once +more the wild sobbing of a boy was heard. The orderly, standing just +outside the door, saluted as the door opened and the General gave him +another order to deliver. He came out in person a moment later and +dismissed the ambulance and the guards, who went away wondering.</p> + +<p><i>Lee was a free man.</i></p> + +<p>When the General returned to the den he looked long at Frank, and the +Major was inspired to ask permission to leave for a few moments.</p> + +<p>"Please call if you want us," he said, and nod<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>ding to Lee and Bill to +follow, he took them across into his wife's room where they awaited a +signal from the General. The wise Major knew that anything the General +might say to Frank would be burned forever on his memory. For the +General was not only a very great man but a wise one as well, and his +words were always words of wisdom, and they were often words of mercy +and forgiveness as well.</p> + +<p>So the deep old voice rumbled on in the den, with only a brief word in +Frank's boyish tones once in awhile.</p> + +<p>Presently the door was opened and the General called.</p> + +<p>The group advanced.</p> + +<p>"Lee," said the General, "have you anything to say to this boy?"</p> + +<p>There was a silence. Lee stiffened. Then Mrs. Sherman's tiny hand closed +around Lee's great horny fingers and pressed them in the warmest, +tenderest clasp. It was very unmilitary, but the General said nothing.</p> + +<p>Lee looked down at the little lady and smiled; the first smile for many +weeks.</p> + +<p>Then he stepped forward a pace, still holding Mrs. Sherman's little +hand. Lee raised it, looked at the General, at Mrs. Sherman and last at +Frank. With a gesture of reverence he let the little hand drop.</p> + +<p>"I forgive you!" he said, "Let's begin new."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> He held out his hand to +the boy, but with a cry Frank turned away.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, not yet! I can't take it!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"You can if I can," said Lee.</p> + +<p>"No, no, I can't; not yet!"</p> + +<p>"He is right," said the General. "Let <i>me</i> shake your hand instead, +young man, and thank you as one man to another for your forgiveness."</p> + +<p>"My car is outside," said Major Sherman meaningly.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said the General. "Anderson, the hardest part is before +you. Go home and make a straight confession to your father and mother, +and then close this black chapter. Somehow or other I will see that our +part of it is taken from the records. It remains for you to turn over a +clean page."</p> + +<p>Looking at no one, Frank left the room. He entered the Major's car, a +lonely, frightened, despairing culprit.</p> + +<p>"General," cried Lee suddenly, "if you please, sir, let me go with him! +Major Anderson is a hard man, sir. Please let me go!"</p> + +<p>"Go!" said the General, and in a moment the boy who had caused such +bitter trouble and so much pain and his innocent and forgiving victim +were on their way to the Anderson quarters at Aviation Field. The +General fussed for a moment, then went outside to the fateful telephone +and called Major Anderson.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>The others could hear what he said.</p> + +<p>"Anderson," he commenced, "this is unofficial. General Marcom speaking. +You have a hard and trying interview before you. I want you to meet it +with <i>mercy</i>, Anderson; <i>mercy</i> rather than justice. Justice has already +been done. I could recall something in your past, Anderson, that met +with mercy, and which saved your whole career. I ask you to remember +this. What? No, I won't explain—the explanation will reach you +shortly—You will do as I suggest? Thank you, Anderson. Tell your wife +what I have said. Good-morning!"</p> + +<p>He hung up the receiver and returned to the house. A round wicker table +stood in the center of the living-room near Ernest's couch. A snowy +cloth covered it, and it was spread with the most delicious breakfast.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the General's assurances that he had eaten hours ago he +sat down, unable to withstand the delicious whiffs rising from the +coffee urn, and the smell of crispy toast browning in the electric +toaster.</p> + +<p>Grapefruit and eggs and commissary bacon (which is by all odds the best +on earth) and that same before-mentioned toast, and coffee, and orange +marmalade.</p> + +<p>Bill, who had never imagined the time would come when he would be taking +breakfast with a real General, was nevertheless so hungry and so happy +that he forgot rank and everything else.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> The General did too, it +seemed, because he sat and sipped, and ate, and ate, and questioned the +boys and finally wanted the story of the flight from the very first +instead of getting it tail-end first in little pieces.</p> + +<p>Bill told his side of the flight, and Ernest told his, and together they +told about the landing in the farmer's field, and the amusing people and +about Webby, the "pig-headed" and trustworthy one.</p> + +<p>And then the General and Major smoked as though there were no dispatches +for the General to read and no classes waiting for the Major—in fact, +as though there was no military discipline at all. But as the General +said, what was the use of being a General, anyway, if it didn't give you +some privileges?</p> + +<p>But at last the General jingled away, happy and quite full up with +delicious coffee and things, and thinking Major Sherman was a lucky dog +anyhow to have that little wife and fine boy. Before he left he gave an +order for a guard for the airplane standing so calmly in the small +field.</p> + +<p>Close on his departure came the ambulance, and Major Sherman went off +with Ernest to the Hospital for an X-ray of his broken arm.</p> + +<p>Bill and his mother were alone.</p> + +<p>Together they hustled the dishes into the kitchen and cleared up the +living-room. Then Mrs. Sherman sat down in her favorite corner on the +couch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> and Bill threw himself beside her with his tousled head in her +lap.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, Billy, you certainly <i>have</i> grown!" she said. "Your legs +trail way off the end, and when you went to school you didn't reach to +the edge."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come now, mother," said Bill, "quit fooling! I have grown about an +inch."</p> + +<p>"More than that," insisted Mrs. Sherman. "You are taller than I am now. +What an awful time I am going to have bossing you around now that you +are so big."</p> + +<p>"You never <i>did</i> boss me," boasted Bill. "You just twisted me around +your little finger."</p> + +<p>"I won't be slandered!" said Mrs. Sherman, pulling his hair. "You are +tired now and I should think you would like a nice hot bath and a good +long sleep."</p> + +<p>"That does sound good, Mummy. We will have to stay here for awhile, you +know, because of the quarantine. But we will get rested up in, a few +hours."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you <i>must</i> get rested," said Mrs. Sherman, "because as soon as you +feel right, I want you to take me for a ride in that nice, lovely +airplane."</p> + +<p>Bill sat up. "<i>What!</i>" he cried. "You—fly!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman nodded, smiling. "Yes, <i>me</i>—fly!" she mimicked. "Bill, I +am converted!"</p> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<p class="center">Transcriber's note: TABLE OF CONTENTS added by the transcriber.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Battling the Clouds, by Captain Frank Cobb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLING THE CLOUDS *** + +***** This file should be named 28625-h.htm or 28625-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/2/28625/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Battling the Clouds + or, For a Comrade's Honor + +Author: Captain Frank Cobb + +Release Date: April 27, 2009 [EBook #28625] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLING THE CLOUDS *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: Battling the Clouds + + Aeroplane Boys Series] + + [Illustration: "Stop!" cried Ernest. "Stop, Bill! What does this + mean?"] + + + _AEROPLANE BOYS SERIES VOLUME 1_ + + BATTLING THE CLOUDS + + OR + + FOR A COMRADE'S HONOR + + + BY + + CAPTAIN FRANK COBB + + [Illustration] + + THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK + + + Copyright, 1921, by + THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + + [Illustration] + + AEROPLANE BOYS SERIES + + 1 BATTLING THE CLOUDS, + OR, FOR A COMRADE'S HONOR + + 2 AN AVIATOR'S LUCK, + OR, THE CAMP KNOX PLOT + + 3 DANGEROUS DEEDS, + OR, THE FLIGHT IN THE DIRIGIBLE + + + + +BATTLING THE CLOUDS + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +The vast aviation field at Fort Sill quivered in the grilling heat of +mid-July. The beautiful road stretching through the Post looked smooth +as a white silk ribbon in the blazing sun. The row of tall hangars +glistened with fresh white paint. On the screened porches of the +officers' quarters, at the mess, and at the huts men in uniform talked +and laughed as though their profession was the simplest and safest in +the world. + +Around the Post as far as the eye could reach the sun-baked prairies +stretched, their sparse grasses burned to a cindery brown. From the +distant ranges came the faint report of guns. The daily practice was +going on. Once in a while against the sky a row of caissons showed up, +small and clear cut. + +Overhead sounded the continual droning of airplanes manoeuvering, now +rising, now circling, now reaching the field safely, where they turned +and came gaily hopping along the ground toward the hangars, like huge +dragonflies. And when they finally teetered to a standstill, what +splendid young figures leaped over the sides and stretched their cramped +legs, pushing off the goggles and leather headgear that disguised them! +Laughing, talking, swapping experiences, listening in good-natured +silence to the "balling out" that so often came from the harried and +sweating instructors, splendid young gods were these airmen, +super-heroes in an heroic age and time. + +In the shade of one of the hangars sat two boys. They were blind and +deaf to the sights and sounds around and over them. The planes were as +commonplace as mealtime to them, and not nearly so thrilling. All their +attention was centered on a small box on the ground before them. It was +made of screen-wire roughly fastened to a wooden frame. One side was +intended for a door, but it was securely wired shut. The box had an +occupant. Furious, raging with anger, now crouching in the corner, now +springing toward the boys, only to strike the wires, an immense +tarantula faced his jailers with deadly menace in his whole bearing. One +of the boys gently rested a stick against the cage. The great spider +instantly hurled himself upon it. + +Involuntarily both boys drew back. + +"What you going to do with him now you have got him?" asked the taller +of the two boys. + +"Dunno," said the other, shrugging his shoulders. "No use expecting +mother to let me keep him in quarters, and the C. O. won't have 'em +around the hangars. I guess I will have to give him back to Lee and let +him get rid of him." + +"What does C. O. mean, and who is Lee?" asked the first boy. + +"Gee, you are green!" scoffed the smaller of the two. "Tell you what +I'll do, Bill; I will take a day off and teach you the ropes." + +"I will learn them fast enough if I can get a question answered once in +awhile," answered Bill, laughing pleasantly. "You can't expect to learn +_every_thing there is about the Army in a week." + +"It is too bad you are in Artillery," said the other boy, whose name was +Frank and whose father was Major Anderson, in the Air service. "There is +a lot more doing over here, but of course as long as I am sort of your +cousin, why, you can get in on things here whenever you want to." + +"Much obliged," returned Bill. "And of course whenever you want, I will +take you any place you want to go in my car." + +"That car is the dandiest little affair I ever did see," said Frank half +enviously. "Just big enough for two of us." He glanced over to the +boy-size automobile standing in the shade. It was a long, racy looking +toy, closer to the ground than a motorcycle, but evidently equipped with +a good-sized engine. "Where did you get it, anyhow?" + +"I have an uncle in the automobile business, and he had it made for +me." + +"Some uncle!" commented Frank. "How fast will she go?" + +"A pretty good clip, I imagine," said Bill. "I have never tried her +out." + +"What's the matter with you? Scared?" asked Frank. "I say we speed her +up some of these days." + +"Can't do it," said Bill, shaking his head. "There is a speedometer on +it, and I promised my mother I would never go over fifteen miles an hour +until she gives me leave." + +"Fifteen miles; why, that's crawling!" said Frank scornfully. "I tell +you what. I can drive a little, and you can let me take the wheel, and +see what she will do. That won't be breaking your word." + +Bill shook his head. "It isn't my way of keeping a promise," he said. +Then to change the conversation before it took a disagreeable turn, he +asked, "You didn't tell me what C. O. means and who Lee is." + +"C. O. means Commanding Officer; you had better keep that in your head. +And Lee is the fellow who gave me this tarantula. He takes care of the +quarters across from yours at the School of Fire. I go over there to +play with the Perkins kids a lot. Lee fools with us all he can. He is a +dandy. He is half Indian. His father was a Cherokee." + +"I know whom you mean," said Bill. "He is awfully dark, and has squinty +black eyes and coal black hair. He has been transferred to our quarters +now. He is splendid--does everything for mother: brings her flowers and +all that, and a young mocking bird in a cage he made himself." + +"I didn't know he had been transferred," said Frank. "I bet he won't be +let to stay long. The Perkins family like him themselves." + +"Can they get him sent back?" asked Bill anxiously. + +"Sure," said Frank. "Colonel Perkins can get anybody sent where he wants +them. If he was your orderly he would stay with you, of course, but he +isn't; he is working as janitor." + +"What's an orderly?" asked Bill. + +"You sure have a lot to learn!" sighed the learned Frank. "It is like +this. That new dad of yours is a Major, isn't he? All right. He has the +right to have a special man that he picks out work for him, and take +care of his horse and fuss around the quarters and fix his things. But +the man has to belong to his command, and Lee is attached to the School +of Fire." + +"I see," said Bill, thoughtfully. As a matter of fact he did not see so +very clearly, but he knew that it would be clearer after awhile, and he +had the good sense not to press the matter further. Bill had the great +and valuable gift of silence. To say nothing at all, but to let the +other fellow do the talking, Bill had discovered to be a short cut to +knowledge of all sorts. + +"Yes," said Frank, "you see now that you can't get Lee for orderly." + +Frank was glad of it. He did not know it, but down in his heart, he was +jealous of this Bill boy, who had appeared at the School of Fire with +his quiet good manners and his polite way of speaking, his good clothes +and, above all, his wonderful little automobile scarcely larger than a +toy, yet capable of real work and speed. + +He rejoiced that Bill at least was not going to have Lee for an orderly. +He knew what it was to have a fine orderly, and Lee was almost too good +to be true at all. Why, only the week before, Lee had offered to get +Frank a wildcat cub for a pet. Frank's mother, Mrs. Anderson, and his +father, the Major, had refused to have the savage little creature about +and Frank had had to tell Lee so. He had kept teasing Lee for some sort +of pet, however, and as a joke Lee had just presented him with the +biggest tarantula he could capture. + +The tarantula, taken as a pet, was not a great success. Frank poked the +stick at the cage and watched the ferocious creature dart for it, and +decided that the wisest thing was to get rid of it at once. + +"I will give you this tarantula, Bill," he said with an air of bestowing +a great benefit. "I bet your mother has never seen one, and you can take +it home with you in your car and show it to her. If she has never seen +one, she will be some surprised." + +"I suppose she would," said Bill, "but for all I know it might frighten +her, and I couldn't afford to risk that. Mother isn't so very strong, +and dad says it is our best job to keep her well and happy. I don't +believe it will help any to show her something that looks like a bad +nightmare and acts like a demon, so I'm much obliged but I guess I won't +take your little pet away from you, not to-day at any rate." He laughed, +and jumped to his feet. + +"Where you going?" demanded Frank. + +"Home," said Bill. "It is nearly time for mess. Get that? I said _mess_ +and not _dinner_." + +"Don't go yet," pleaded Frank. "What if you are a little late?" + +"Mother likes me to be punctual, so I'll have to move along," said Bill. + +Frank looked at him. "Say," he said, "aren't you just a little tied to +your mother's apron strings?" + +"I don't know," replied Bill good-naturedly. "I think it is a pretty +good place to be tied to if anyone should ask me, and if I am, I hope I +am tied so tight she will never lose me off." + +He shook himself down and started toward his little car. "So long! Come +see us!" he called over his shoulder. + +Frank scrambled to his feet and followed. He stood watching while Bill +settled himself in his seat and started the engine. He stood looking +after him until the speedy little automobile swept out of sight across +the prairie and down the rough road that led to the New Post and from +there on to the School of Fire. + +Frank gave a grin. "It's a dandy car, all right," he said, "and he may +be able to swim and ride the way he says he does, but I can beat him out +on one point. I can pilot a plane, and I have been up in an observation +balloon. I wonder what he would look like up in the air. I bet he would +be good and sick!" + +Bill, guiding the car with a practiced hand, swept smoothly along, +avoiding the ruts made by the great trucks belonging to the ammunition +trains and the rough wheels of the caissons. + +Bill was thinking hard. The years of his life came back to his thoughts +one by one. + +When his father died, he was only four years old, and his pretty young +mother had been obliged to go out into the world and support herself and +her little son. They had lived alone together, in the dainty bungalow +that had been saved from the wreck of their fortunes, and had come to be +more than mother and son; they were companions and pals. + +So when Major Sherman appeared, and surprised Bill greatly by wanting to +marry his mother, he was not surprised to hear her say that the Major +would have to get the permission of her son before she could say yes. + +Bill and his mother had many a long and confidential talk in those days +and Bill learned, through her confidences, a great deal about the +strange thing that grown people call love. Bill's mother talked to her +son as she would have talked to a brother or a father, and the result +was that one day young Bill had a long talk with Major Sherman, a talk +that the Major at least never forgot. After it was over, Bill led the +way to his mother, and taking her hand said gravely: + +"Mother, we have been talking things over, and I think you ought to +marry the Major. You are a good deal of a care sometimes, and I have his +promise that he will help me." + +Bil's mother laughed, and then she cried a little, while she asked Bill +if he was trying to get rid of his troublesome parent. But Bill knew +that she was trying to joke away the remembrance of her tears, so he +kissed her and went out, wondering if he had lost his darling mother or +had won a new and dandy father. + +It proved that he had found a real father after so many years, a father +who understood boys and who was soon as good and true a pal as his +mother was. Bill commenced to whistle when he remembered up to this +part, and then he laughed to himself when he recollected a couple of old +lady aunts who had offered to take him to bring up, because they were +sure that Major Sherman, being a soldier and no doubt unused to boys, +might abuse him! + +It was enough to make Bill chuckle. His mother said that the Major +spoiled Bill. And in his secret heart Bill knew that there were times, +off and on, say a few times every week, when the Major gave him treats +that he would never have been able to coax from his mother. The little +car for instance. His mother had declared that it was a crazy thing to +give a boy twelve years old, no matter how tall and well grown he was, +but the Major had prevailed, and she had at last given a reluctant +consent. There had been an endless time of waiting, indeed a matter of +several months while the small but perfect car was assembled, and Bill +could never forget the day it arrived and the Major squeezed his big +frame into the driver's seat and gave it a thorough trying out. + +Pets, too. Mother was brought to see that pigeons and white rats and a +tame coon and indeed everything that came his way, was a boy's right to +have. The Major was educating Bill in the knowledge of how to care for +dumb animals: he was learning the secret of self-discipline and +self-control, without which no man or woman or boy or girl is fit to be +the owner of any pet. + +The Great War was ended when Bill's mother married the Major, just +returned from foreign service, and immediately they packed their +belongings, putting most of them in a storehouse for the happy day when +the Major should retire and be able to have a home. This is the dream of +every officer who gives his days and strength and brains to the service +of his country. Then they packed the few articles that they felt most +necessary to their comfort, gave away ten guinea pigs, eight white rats, +four pigeons and a kitten, crated Bill's collie and the Major's Airdale, +and started off for their first post, Fort Sill, where the Major was +stationed at the School of Fire as instructor. + +Fort Sill rambles all over the prairie. Not the least of its various +branches is the Aviation School. And when the Major arrived with his +wife and son, he found that his cousin, Major Anderson, who was in the +Air service, was stationed at the Aviation School. Major Anderson had +two children: a little girl, and a boy just the age of Bill. Frank +Anderson liked his new cousin, but scorned him for his very natural +ignorance on subjects referring to the Army. He did not stop to discover +that in the way of general information Bill was vastly his superior. +Major and Mrs. Anderson were quick to see a certain clear truthfulness +and good sense in Bill that they knew Frank lacked and they were anxious +to have the boys chum together for that reason. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Bill, driving the little car which he had named the Swallow, reached the +quarters at the School of Fire in a rising cloud of dust. The wind had +risen suddenly and the fine sand whipped around the long board +buildings, driving in through every crack and crevice. All the rest of +the afternoon it blew, and at six o'clock, when the Major came in, he +was coated with the fine yellow dust. By nine o'clock, when Bill went to +bed, a small gale was singing around, and about one o'clock he was +awakened by the scream of the wind. It shrieked and howled, and the +quarters rattled and quivered. + +Bill remembered the Swallow and his dad's car, both standing at the back +door. He rose and went to his mother's room. He found her curled up in a +little ball on her quartermaster's cot, looking out of the window. + +"Come in, Billy," she said as she saw him at the door. "You are missing +a great sight." + +They cuddled close, their arms around each other, and pressed their +faces close to the pane. The yellow sand was driven across the prairie +like a sheet of rain. The Major's big car shuddered with each fresh +blast, and the little Swallow seemed to cower close to the ground. +Continuous sheets of lightning made the night as bright as day. Over +the whine and whistle of the wind they could hear the distant rumble of +the thunder. The room was full of dust, driven through the cracks of the +window. Their throats were choked with it. The wind blew harder and +harder; the lightning grew brighter, slashing the black sky with great +gashes of blinding light. + +Bill looked sober. "Gee, it is fierce!" he said in an awed tone. "Where +is dad all this time?" + +"In his room sound asleep," said Mrs. Sherman. "I suppose he is used to +sights like this. Wasn't it _nice_ of Oklahoma to stage such a wonderful +sight for us? I wouldnt have missed it for anything." + +"It is going to rain," said Bill, again looking out. "The thunder is +growing louder and louder. Did you ever see anything like the glare the +lightning makes?" + +All at once Mrs. Sherman clutched Bill and pointed out. + +"Oh, look, look!" she cried. + +Bill followed the direction of her finger, and saw a small rabbit +running before the blast. He was going at a rate that caused his pop +eyes to pop worse than ever. As he skimmed along, he made the mistake of +trying to turn. In a second he was being rushed along sidewise, hopping +frantically up and down in order to keep on his feet, but unable to turn +back again or to stop. Bill and his mother laughed until they cried as +the little rabbit was hustled out of sight around the end of the +students' quarters. + +The lightning grew worse and occasionally balls of flame shot earthward. +The thunder rolled in a deafening roar. Then suddenly the wind +stopped--stopped so suddenly and completely that Bill jumped and his +mother said, "Goodness me!" in a small, scared voice. + +There was a long pause as though Nature was calling attention to her +freaks, and then down came the rain. It came in rivers, sheets, floods. +The roads ran yellow mud; the creek over the bluff commenced to boil. +The sparse dwarfed trees that clung to the sides of the gullies bent +under the weight of falling water. + +It poured and poured and poured. + +Bill had seen rain before, if not in such quantities. He found himself +growing sleepy, and kissing his mother twice, once for luck and once for +love, as he told her, he went to bed and to sleep, while the downpour +continued until almost morning. + +The roads were impassable, although a hot, steamy, sunshiny day did its +best to dry things up. Bill spent most of the day putting the poor +half-drowned Swallow in shape. + +Frank telephoned, but could not get over. He was excited about the +damage that had been done at the Aviation Field. One of the great +hangars had collapsed, ruining the machines inside. No planes were +allowed to fly. + +Frank wanted Bill to walk over and Bill suggested the same pastime for +Frank; consequently neither one would go. The roads continued to be a +gummy, sticky mass of clay, and after four or five days Frank started to +walk across the prairie to the School of Fire. + +Just before he reached the bridge crossing the glen between the New Post +and the School, he heard a joyful whoop and there was Bill running to +meet him. + +"Hey there!" called Bill, as soon as he could possibly make himself +heard. "I was just starting over to see you." + +"Come on back!" grinned Frank. "I am at home this morning." + +"Not as much as I am," answered his friend. "Gee, it has been a long +week! Did you ever see such a storm?" + +"Oklahoma can beat that any time she wants to," boasted Frank. "That was +just a _little_ one. You ought to see a real blizzard or 'sly coon' as +we call the cyclones. They are bad medicine, as the Indians say." + +"This was big enough to start with," said Bill. "I thought the Swallow +was going to fly away. And dad's big car _reeled_ around. And you should +have seen our bath tub! It was full of sand." + +"Clear up to the top?" asked Frank teasingly. + +"There was a good inch in it," retorted Bill, "and it looks to me as +though that was a good deal of sand to trickle through the windows when +they all have screens and were closed besides." + +"It surely does get in," granted Frank. "Hello, there comes Lee! Where +is he going, I wonder, without his fatigue suit on?" + +"I suppose you mean those overall things he works in, don't you?" said +Bill. "I know that much now. Lee doesn't wear them any more. He was so +crazy over mother and so good to her and to me that dad got him +transferred to his Battery, and now he is our orderly." + +"How did he manage to do that?" said Frank. + +"Why, there was some fellow who wanted to leave the guns and work around +the quarters as janitor. They have an idea that it is an easy job. So +dad let him make the exchange, and I can tell you we were all about as +pleased as we could be." + +"Good work!" commended Frank, but without enthusiasm. He did not want +Bill to have the fun of having Lee for orderly. He had been trying to +think up some scheme whereby the soldier would be sent over to fill that +position with his own father. + +"Lee is a peach," said Bill warmly. "Look what he made me." + +He fished in his pocket and drew forth a length of chain. The small, +delicate links were carved from a single piece of wood, and at the end, +like an ornamentation, hung a carved cage in which rolled a little +wooden ball. It was all very curious and delicate. + +"My, but that's a peach," said Frank. + +"You ought to see the one he did for mother," said Bill. "Small enough +for a bracelet almost, and the little ball smaller than a pea. The links +are all carved on the outside, and there is a sort of rose on the end of +this cage thing, and Lee painted it all up pink and green where it ought +to be like that. + +"He knows all about a car too. This week he has been going over dad's +car and the Swallow, and they run like grease." + +Frank fiddled with the chain. He had nothing to say. On account of his +Indian blood, his silent ways and mischievous nature, Lee had always +filled him with interest. He could tell wonderful stories too of his own +times and the times that lay long behind him, as he heard of them from +his father and grandfather. + +Lee's grandfather knew a great many things that he never did tell, but +once in awhile he was willing to open his close-set old mouth and talk. +He wore black broadcloth clothes, a long coat, and a white shirt, but +never a collar. A wide black, soft-brimmed hat was set squarely on his +coal black hair. Under the hat, smooth as a piece of satin, his hair +hung in two tight braids close to each ear. They were always wound with +bright colored worsted. Grandfather Lee, the old chieftain, liked +bright colors, so he usually had red and yellow on his braids. They hung +nearly to his waist, down in front, over each coat lapel. Small gold +rings hung in his ears, and under his eyes and across each cheek bone +was a faint streak of yellow paint. + +His Indian name was Bird that Flies by Night, and he lived about a +hundred miles away, on a farm given him by the Government. He had lived +there quite contentedly for many years, tilling the ground when he had +to. But now everything was changed. Oklahoma had given up her treasure, +the hidden millions that lay under her sandy stretches. Oil derricks +rose thickly everywhere, and Bird that Flies by Night found that all he +had to do was to sit on his back porch and look at the derrick that had +been raised over the well dug where his three pigs used to root. Two +hundred dollars a day that well was bringing to the old Bird and, as Lee +said, was "still going strong." + +"And here _I_ am," said Lee grimly, "enlisted for three years!" + +Lee's father was an Indian of a later day. He had gone through an +eastern college and had been in business in a small town when the oil +excitement broke out. He went into oil at once, and was far down in the +oil fields, Lee did not know where. + +As a boy, Lee himself had refused to accept the schooling urged by his +mother and college-bred father, and had led a restless, roaming life, +filled with hairbreadth escapes, until the beginning of the war, when +he had enlisted in the hope of being sent across where the danger lay. +But like many another man as brave and as willing, he had been caught in +one of the war's backwaters, and had been stationed at Fort Sill. + +Sauntering up to the quarters, the boys found Lee staring moodily at the +small and racy Swallow, now standing clean and glistening in the bright +sunlight. + +"She knocks," he said, knitting his fierce black brows. "All morning I +have been working over that car, and I can't find that knock." + +The boys came close and listened. + +"I don't hear any knock," said Frank. + +They all listened. + +"Don't you hear it now?" said Lee, speeding the engine. + +"Seems as though I hear something," said Bill, partly to please Lee. + +They all listened closely. + +Lee commenced to pry about in the engine. "I have it, I think," he +exclaimed triumphantly as he took out a small piece of the machinery. +Frank motioned Bill one side, and they wandered around the end of the +building. + +"Don't you feel sort of afraid to let Lee tinker with your car?" he +asked with a show of carelessness. + +"Not a bit! Dad says he is a born mechanic and he trusts him with all +the care of his car. If dad thinks he can fix that, why, I guess it is +safe to let him do anything he wants to do with the Swallow." + +"Do you ever let anybody else drive the Swallow?" asked Frank. "I +wouldn't mind taking it some day if you don't care." + +Bill looked embarrassed. + +"I would let you take her in a minute," He said, "but dad made me +promise that I would never loan the Swallow to anyone. It is not that he +wants me to be selfish, but he says if anything should happen, if the +car should be broken, or if there should be an accident and some other +boy hurt, I would sort of feel that it was my fault." + +"I don't see it that way at all," said Frank, who was crazy to get hold +of the pretty car and show it off to some boys and girls he knew in +Lawton. He didn't want to drive with Bill. He was the sort of a boy who +always wants all the glory for himself. That car was quite the most +perfect thing; the sort a fellow sees in his dreams. Frank knew that he +could never hope to own such a car, and the fact that Bill was always +willing to take him wherever he wanted to go was not enough. Bill had +never driven to Lawton, the town nearest the Post. He had told Frank +that he would take him with him the first time. Frank had thought it +would be pretty fine to go humming up the main street past all the +people from the Post and the ranches, and the old Indians and the +crowds of Indian boys his own age who always came in on Saturday from +the Indian school near by. He had been anticipating that trip ever since +Bill had appeared with the Swallow; but now he felt that it would be far +nicer if Bill would or could be made to loan him the car. Of course he +couldn't run it, but he could run an airplane engine, and he was +perfectly willing to try running the little Swallow. + +Frank had a great trick of getting his own way about things, and he +reflected with satisfaction that as long as the roads to Lawton were +almost impossible for traffic after the rainfall, there would be a few +days in which to scheme for his plan. Nothing of this, however, appeared +in his face. He turned and shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, if you and your dad think Lee can handle a car all right, it's +all the same to me," he laughed. "My father says you never can trust an +Indian anyhow." + +"Well, we would trust Lee with anything in the world," reiterated Bill. + +"That's all right, too, if you think so," said Frank, trying slyly to +breed distrust in Bill's heart. "I guess you never heard my father tell +some of his Indian stories. You would feel different if you had." + +"But anybody would just _have_ to trust Lee," said Bill. "Why, he is as +good as gold! And he hates a lie, and he has such nice people--two of +the prettiest little sisters. One of them plays the harp. It's one of +those big gold ones, and she is so little that Lee says she has to trot +clear round the harp to play some of the notes, because her arms are too +short to reach." + +"He's half Indian just the same," insisted Frank. He warmed to the +subject as he went on. He couldn't forgive Lee, quite the most thrilling +and amusing soldier he knew, for _letting_ himself be made Major +Sherman's orderly. + +"Well, I am for Lee every time," said Bill, "and I would wager anything +I have that he is just as true blue as--as--well, as my dad!" Bill could +pay no greater compliment, and the words rang out clear and honest. The +boys stood beside the quarters, staring idly across the bluff as they +talked. They were so interested in their conversation that they were not +aware of a listener. Lee, with a part of the Swallow in his hand to show +Bill, had followed them in time to overhear the conversation concerning +himself, but he quickly drew back and returned to the automobile. + +"Good boy, Billy!" he said softly to himself. Then with a dark look +coming into his face, "So you can't trust an Indian, can you? Ha ha! I +wonder what we had better do about that?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Frank Anderson found no time to invent a scheme that would put the +Swallow into his hands because two days later on a bright Saturday +morning, Frank heard a silvery little siren tooting under his window, +and looked out to see the Swallow below and Bill in businesslike +goggles. + +"Hey!" called Bill joyfully. "Want to come along and show me Lawton? Dad +and mother are coming in for dinner to-night, and we can stay in all day +and see the sights, then meet them and have dinner with them. Dad sets +up a dandy dinner, I will say. Hurry up!" He tooted the siren again +gaily, and Frank bolted in search of his mother. + +He found her getting ready for a bridge luncheon, and she scarcely +listened when he told her the plan for the day. She managed to say yes, +however, when she understood the part Major Sherman was going to play, +and drifted out of the room leaving Frank to yell down from the window +that he was coming and to embark on a more or less thorough toilet. He +looked very smooth and clean, however, ten minutes later, when he hopped +into the Swallow and settled himself beside Bill. + +Frank pointed out the various places of interest as they went along, and +before they knew that the miles had been passed, they were entering the +outskirts of the village. It was a typical Western village: low, squat, +unpainted sheds of houses, with sandy front yards, and heaps of refuse +lying about. + +As the boys picked their way along, they turned a corner into a better +part of the town. Here the houses were better; but on the whole very +shabby. The influence of the oil boom was being felt, however, and here +and there immense and showy residences were being built. + +They then turned into the main street, a very wide, splendidly paved +thoroughfare crowded with automobiles, carriages, mule teams, saddle +horses, and indeed every possible kind of conveyance. + +Frank noted with pride that wherever they went the little Swallow +created a great commotion. People stopped to stare and exclaim. Bill, +who was busy guiding his little beauty among the larger vehicles, did +not seem to notice but it was meat and drink to Frank. + +Down by Southerland's drug store they parked the Swallow, locking it +carefully, and walked off, leaving the Swallow literally swallowed up by +a crowd of admiring people. Frank hated to go and when they had wandered +half a block away made an excuse for going back. Bill said he would look +at some sweaters in a sporting goods window until he returned. + +Frank found the crowd larger than ever. A policeman had attached himself +to the circle and a couple of old Indians stood looking solemnly down. +Someone was talking and when Frank pressed through the crowd he found a +boy about his own age leaning on the fender and addressing everybody in +general. Frank listened and studied the boy as he did so. He was a slim, +pale chap with a shock of light, wavy hair which was shaved close to his +head everywhere except on top where a thick brush waved. He was +continually smoothing it back or shaking his head to get it out of his +eyes. He seemed to consider it a very fascinating motion. Frank liked +his man-of-the-world air and did not see the grins on the faces of many +of the listeners. + +"Rather nice little machine," said the boy. "I wonder who owns it. I +would like to tell him a few things he ought to have changed about it. +Some of the lines are all wrong, and anyone can see the engine couldn't +hold up under any strain. I bet he has trouble with the hills. All the +cars of this make have trouble. His tires are wrong too. He ought to use +a heavier tire if he expects to get any speed out of it. It ought to go +at a pretty good clip if the chap knows how to drive. There is +everything in the driving. I have taken my eight-cylinder at one hundred +and ten miles easily a good many times, but my dad and the chauffeurs +never get over eighty-five out of it." + +Frank felt his head swim. Here was talk that _was_ talk! He completely +forgot Bill, looking at sweaters. He edged up to the car and fumbled +under the seat. + +"Hello!" said the boy. "This your car?" + +"It belongs to another fellow and me," said Frank, unable to keep +himself from establishing some sort of a claim on the Swallow. "Why?" + +"Quite a nice little toy," said the boy, nodding condescendingly. "I +never cared much for toys myself but some chaps like 'em. I have an +eight-cylinder machine and a six-cylinder runabout, and that's enough to +keep me going for the present. I want a racing car built for me pretty +soon." + +"You don't live here, do you?" asked Frank, sure he would have heard +somehow of this remarkable youth who talked so glibly of owning a string +of cars. + +"I should hope not!" said the boy scornfully. "Not in this dead little +hole! I guess you don't know me. I am Jardin, Horace Jardin. My father +is the automobile man." + +"I have heard of him," said Frank. + +"I guess you have!" chuckled young Jardin. "You couldn't go anywhere on +the globe without seeing the Jardin cars. Dad puts out more cars than +any other two concerns on earth." He assumed a very bored look. "Gee, +sometimes I wish I could change my name! Makes a fellow so conspicuous, +you know." + +"Well, _I_ didn't know who you were until you told me," said Frank, +grinning. + +Jardin flushed. Evidently he could not take a joke that was levelled at +himself. + +"No, I suppose there are a few rube places like this where the people +have never heard of the Jardin car." + +Frank hastened to smooth things over. He had no desire to quarrel with +this young prince who talked so easily. Frank had to admit that a good +deal of it sounded like ordinary boasting, but he assured himself that +it must all be true, and proceeded to make things square again. + +"You are wrong there," he said. "It would be a good deal smaller place +than Lawton before the people had to be told about the Jardin car. Of +course I didn't know that you were Jardin, but I couldn't be blamed for +that." + +"Sure not!" granted the boy. He took a gold cigarette case from his +pocket and lighted one, then as an after-thought offered it to Frank who +refused, but with a feeling of disgust that he was unable to take one +and smoke it coolly as young Jardin was doing. + +"The little fool!" a man in the group was saying, but Jardin either did +not hear or care. + +"Where is the other boy who owns the car?" he asked. + +"Down the street," said Frank. "I forgot all about him. We are in town +for the day. His father is an instructor at the School of Fire at Sill, +and mine is stationed at the Aviation School." + +"That's what I am crazy over," said Jardin. "If I consent to go to +school and stay all through the winter, I am to have a little plane +this fall. I have been taking lessons down at Garden City, and my plane +is to be a real long distance one. Dad will give me anything if I will +go to school. Gee, I hate it!" + +Frank swallowed hard. Two automobiles and an airplane! He commenced to +feel sorry for Bill. "Bill and I are going east to school this fall," he +said. "Where are you going?" + +"I don't know yet," said Jardin. "I have got to talk it over with dad." + +"Let's go find Bill," said Frank. "That is, if you haven't anything +better to do." + +They detached themselves from the crowd and walked down to the sporting +house, where they found Bill just tucking a bulky bundle under his arm. +He had bought his sweater and stopped to count his change before he +turned to greet the boys. + +"Gee, what an old woman's trick," said Frank, who wanted to let Jardin +know that _he_ was not afraid to spend. + +"You mean to count the change?" Bill inquired. + +"Yes," said Frank. + +"You are right," Jardin cut in. "I never have time. _My_ time is more +valuable than a few cents the fellow may swipe from me." + +"Suppose it is the other way around," said Bill. "Suppose the fellow has +made the mistake. When the checks are made up, his shows the loss and he +has to make it up. Not much fun for him. Perhaps he has a family and he +can't afford it. I never used to bother either, but once I was taking +dinner in New York with a friend of mother's who has oodles of money, +and when he came to pay the check he looked every item over and counted +the change and it was thirty cents overcharged. I suppose I looked +funny, because he said to me when the waiter went off to get it +straightened out, 'Bill, it is no special credit to let these fellows do +you. If you want to give money away, there are plenty of beggars on the +streets, or you can buy millions of shoe laces and pencils. But never +let anybody think they can put it over you.' + +"And then to show the other side, that is, when the other fellow makes +an honest mistake, he told me a story that made me remember. Then the +waiter brought the right change, got a tip, and we left. But I always +count change now." + +"I'd like to see anybody do that in the Biltway Hotel!" laughed Jardin. + +"This was in the Biltway Cascades," said Bill. + +"Come down here," said Frank. "Here is where the Indians come most." +Young Jardin and his father had only reached town late the night before +so he was as ready as Bill to see the sights. + +On a corner by a drug store two very old Indians stood gesturing at each +other. The boys stopped a little way off and watched them. Their +wrinkled old mouths were tight closed but their hands flew in short, +quick motions that were perfectly impossible for the boys to +understand. It was evident, however, that the two old men understood +each other with perfect ease because at intervals they would laugh as +though at an excellent joke. + +"That beats all!" exclaimed Jardin, actually interested for once. "Both +those old fellows are deaf and dumb." + +"Wait," said Frank. + +The gestures went on, and presently another old Indian approached. He +was even older than the other two. His face was a network of wrinkles +and his braided hair hung in two thin, scant little tails scarcely +reaching his shoulders. It was gayly wound, however, and his cheeks were +carefully painted. The two other old men seized him by the arms and to +the amazement of Bill and Horace both commenced to talk at once. + +"Now what on earth did they do that for?" demanded Bill of no one in +particular. "If they can talk, why did they go through all that crazy +motion business?" + +"I don't know," said Frank. "They do it all the time. Only the old ones, +though." + +"I bet Lee will know," said Bill. "We will ask him." + +"Who is Lee?" asked Horace + +"My dad's orderly," said Bill. "He will drive father and mother in +to-night when they come. Who are all these boys in blue suits? Look like +bell boys." + +"They are from the Indian school we passed on the way out," explained +Frank. + +"Lee knows a lot of the boys in that school," said Bill. "He is going to +go over with me some day." + +"How does he happen to know them?" asked Jardin. + +"He is part Indian himself," explained Frank. + +"A half-breed?" said Jardin. "They are awfully treacherous. Don't you +feel afraid to have him around?" + +Bill laughed. "I should say not! Why, Lee is the finest and best fellow +I ever knew! He wouldn't lie to save his life. Dad says he can trust him +with anything anywhere. Afraid? Well, you just don't know what you are +talking about! Frank has got that afraid bee in his bonnet. It makes me +sort of tired because I know what Lee is, and I am going to be for him +every time and all the time." + +"You always act as though it was a personal slam if anyone says the +least thing about Lee," complained Frank. + +"That's the surest thing you know!" said Bill fervently. "I _do_ take it +as a personal slam always if anyone says things against a friend. And a +friend Lee certainly is. I think he is as true and clean as any man I +know, and he is--well, he is a dandy! Anybody who says he is different +will have to prove it!" + +A spirit of malicious meanness rose in Frank. He assumed an air of good +nature. + +"All right," he said. "It is really not worth talking about, but some +day I may be able to make you see things differently." + +"I will believe you when you can prove it," retorted Bill. + +"Aw, let's drop it," said Jardin, taking each boy by an arm and turning +into a doorway. "Let's look in this pawnshop. Did you ever see anything +like that white buckskin Indian suit?" + +"The Sioux Indians work those, little gentlemen," said the owner of the +pawnshop, seeing them pause before the soft, snowy leather garment. +"They are the only Indians who can cure the hides and tan them like +that, and the squaws do the bead work." + +"I have a notion to buy that for my sister," said Jardin, feeling of the +delicate fringes. "She could wear it to a fancy dress ball. I suppose +this feather headdress goes with it." + +"It is worn with it," said the man. "I will let you have them cheap. +Dress and headdress for fifty dollars." + +"All right," said Jardin as coolly as though the man had said fifty +cents. "Send them over to the hotel C. O. D. May will have a fit over +those." + +"I reckon you are sort of all right to get a present like that for your +sister," said Frank, as they strolled out. "You must like her a whole +lot." + +"I don't," said Jardin. "I just have to keep squaring her all the time. +She is an awful tattler, and if I don't keep her squared, she peaches +on me. Sisters are an awful nuisance!" + +"You are right," said Frank. He had never thought so before but if this +wonderful young man thought so, why, it must be true. + +Bill said nothing. + +Jardin glanced at his wrist watch. + +"Lunch time," he announced. "Come on back to the hotel and have +something to eat with me." + +"That suits me," said Frank. + +"Sorry, but I can't accept," from Bill. "I have a couple of errands to +attend to for mother and I have been fooling around so long that I will +have to be pretty spry. You all go on, and I will get a bite later." + +"Well, of course I will stay with you if you think you can't put your +errands off for an hour or so," said Frank sulkily. + +"I have put it off too long anyhow," said Bill, "but I certainly won't +mind if you go." + +"No, I will go with you," decided Frank. + +"All right then," said Jardin, shrugging his shoulders. "Suit yourself, +of course! Perhaps we will meet later." He turned and started back +toward the hotel, leaving the boys looking after him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +"Well, I will say he's a peach!" said Frank. + +Bill made no reply. + +"Don't you say so?" pressed Frank. "Don't you think he is a peach?" + +Bill, forced to answer the question, made a frank but reluctant reply. + +"No," he said. "I think he is a pill." He shook his head. + +"You are a queer one!" said Frank. "It don't look as though you had any +sporting blood in you. I suppose because he smokes naughty cigarettes--" + +"It isn't that," said Bill, frowning. "He is just plain _foolish_ to +smoke. Why, he is undersized and underweight now for his age, and every +time he smokes he checks his growth. It is up to him. I bet he has had +it explained to him a million times by each teacher and tutor he has +ever had just how smoking will harm him and dope up his brain, so if he +wants to miss out on athletics and all that, and look like a boiled +mosquito in the bargain, let him go to it. _I_ don't care. It's not that +I don't like about him. It is the way he thinks and talks. Where does he +live when he is at home?" + +"Detroit," said Frank. + +"You would think he owned the whole world!" grumbled Bill. "And +_squaring_ his sister!" + +"Oh, well," said Frank, "you have a queer way of looking at things. I +don't think you are giving the fellow a fair deal. Perhaps he _does_ +talk pretty big, but on the other hand he has a lot to talk about. Think +of it: a fellow only the age of us and he has a couple of automobiles of +his own and is going to have an airplane. Gee, I am glad I can manage a +plane! I have got him there." + +"It's all right, I suppose, for him to gab all he wants to about his +cars and things. By the time we go back to the Post to-night, if we see +him again, I'll bet you he tells us what his father is worth and just +how many gold chairs they have at his house." + +"You are sore," said Frank loftily. + +"What at, for goodness' sake?" demanded Bill. "I wouldn't swap the +little Swallow for all the cars he ever had or will have. We have more +fun in our little cooped-up quarters over at the School than he ever +thought of with his scraps with his sister. I guess I am sore a little, +Frank. I am sore because he came butting in and spoiled our whole +morning. Let's forget him for awhile. I want to take mother's watch to a +jeweller and then we will hunt up a good restaurant and have lunch. It +is on me." + +Frank followed in silence. He knew Bill was right, but the stranger had +dazzled him. He wished bitterly that his father was a rich manufacturer +instead of a poor army officer. The traveling they had had, the +wonderful sights they had seen all over the world seemed poor in +comparison with all the glories Jardin had told and hinted at. + +Poor Frank, did not know it, but slowly, ever so slowly, he was making +the wrong turn; the turn that led away from the right. + +"The trouble with you, Bill," he said, as they loitered over their +ice-cream at luncheon, "the trouble is that you are narrow." + +Bill groaned. "There you go on Jardin again, I do believe," he said. +"All right; I will tell you what _I_ will do. I will really try to like +him, and if he comes around where we are I will be as decent to him as I +can be. Perhaps he has a lot of good in him, as you say. _I_ don't want +to be unjust." + +Frank looked pleased. "I think that is the square thing for you to do," +he said. "Jardin may turn out to be a good scout in every way. Perhaps +he saw the Swallow and was so impressed with it that he wanted to make a +big impression to get even. You can't tell the first time you see +anybody what they will be like when you get to know them well." + +"Well, I gathered that Jardin was here with his father on some oil +business, and probably we won't see him anyhow after this afternoon. He +won't be apt to come to the Post. Anyway, let's not spoil our whole +afternoon. I want to see some more of those Indians, and I would like to +go to that pawnshop without someone tagging along who can buy the place +out. I want to buy a little bead bag I saw in the window if it does not +cost too much. I think mother would like it to carry with a blue dress +of hers. + +"Say, you are just like a girl, aren't you?" exclaimed Frank. "I would +never know what sort of a dress my mother had on, and she would _never_ +get a bag if she depended on _my_ getting it for her." + +"I suppose there is a difference in folks," said Bill. "There was a man +visiting my uncle back home one time. He broke his leg while he was with +us, and mother helped take care of him and amuse him, and say, he could +embroider and crochet! He taught mother a lot of stitches." + +"A regular sissy!" sneered Frank. + +"I thought so," said Bill; laughing at the recollection. "One night when +he felt sort of bad I rubbed his back, and his shoulders were all +covered with scars. Well, what do you think? A tiger did it. A Royal +Bengal tiger like you read about! And I found out that he had hunted +every kind of big game there is, and the fiercer, the better. He simply +didn't care _what_ he did in the way of hunting. Oh, my; that was a snap +for me! When he found out that I was simply crazy to hear his yarns, he +used to tell me thrills, I can tell you. + +"I didn't think he was such a sissy then. That crochet work looked all +right. But it was sort of funny to see him lying there showing my +mother how to make a new kind of muffler or table mat and remember how +he came by a great white scar that showed on his wrist when he stuck his +arm out." + +"How did he get it?" asked Frank, all attention. + +"He got that one in Africa," said Bill, taking a taste of his ice-cream. +"He and another chap had penetrated away into the jungle. They were +after a splendid specimen of--" + +Bill stopped, looked at the door and attacked his ice-cream. + +"Here is little Percy again," he groaned. "Frank, if I don't treat him +according to agreement, you are to kick me." + +Frank turned. The African jungle faded away. There was Jardin! + +He came smiling across the room and joined them. + +"Hello, everybody!" he said gaily. "Getting some grub? It didn't take me +very long to get through, so I thought I would wander down the street +and see if I could run across you. Thought you might like to go to see a +movie." + +"That is mighty nice of you," said Bill heartily, "but I sort of wanted +to see a little of the town this afternoon." + +"I think that is a good idea," said Jardin. "We can go to see the movies +any old time. I saw my dad at the hotel and have some good news to tell +you. We are going to stay here for a couple of weeks. Dad thought that +I would make an awful kick about it, and I would if I hadn't met you +fellows, but between us we ought to be able to start something going. If +I had one of my cars here I could give you a good time, but we will have +to take a fall out of your little steamer." + +"Say, that's fine!" said Frank with enthusiasm enough for two. "I will +have a chance to show you the Aviation Field, and Bill can show you the +School of Fire, and there are some dandy fellows over at New Post and up +at Old Post too." + +"I would like to see them, especially the Aviation part," said Jardin. +"I might get some pointers about flying my plane. It will be done before +long,--in a couple of months anyway. I worked hard enough for that car," +he chuckled. "I thought up every kind of mischief you ever heard of and +then some, and tried 'em all out, and all the time I kept hollering for +an airplane. I just wore dad out. He offered me everything you ever +heard of if I would stop cutting up, and at last he hit on this airplane +which was what I had been after from the start. So we made an agreement, +regular business affair you know, and we both signed it. I am to stop +smoking the day school opens and also agree to go to whatever school he +picks out and to keep the rules and remain for the three terms of the +school year. He has got to give me plenty of money, though. You can't +have a decent time in school without your pocket full of money." + +"I don't see why you need much," said Bill thoughtfully. + +"Take it from me, you do," replied Jardin. "I have been in about every +high-class school around our part of the country and I _know_." + +"I am going to boarding-school this fall, and I don't believe I will +have much of an allowance. My folks won't think it is wise, I know." + +"A lot of people are like that," said Jardin. "Are you going away to +school too, Frank?" + +"I expect I am," said Frank. "I don't know where yet; the folks have not +decided for either of us, but we hope we will go together; don't we, +Bill?" + +"Sure!" agreed Bill. + +"Wish you knew where you were going," said Jardin. "I would make dad +send me where you were. That would be a lark. The Big Three: how would +that go for a name, eh?" + +"Great!" said Bill absently. He finished the last spoonful of his +ice-cream. "Let's go out and see the town," he suggested. "There is a +shooting gallery around the corner that has the cutest moving targets I +ever saw." + +"That's the ticket!" said Jardin. "I can shoot almost better than I can +do anything else." + +They wandered out, and turned down to the shooting gallery. A soldier +was leaning idly against the door frame. Bill looked twice, grabbed the +young man in a bear hug. + +"Lee, you old scamp!" he cried. "How did you happen to get here?" + +The dark face of the handsome young half-breed lighted up. "I drove the +car in," he answered. "Your mother is shopping and your father will come +in with Colonel Spratt in time for dinner. I have been watching these +people shoot. Are you boys going to try it?" He glanced at Jardin with a +keen eye, then looked away instantly. + +"I can't shoot for sour apples and you know it. I suppose you want to +have a good laugh at me," said Bill. "All right, here goes!" He laid +down his money and received the little rifle. + +"No moving targets for me," he said to the man in charge. "And I want +the biggest target you have, at that." + +"Here is one we let the ladies shoot at," the gallery man laughed. He +put up a brilliant affair of different colored rings encircling a large +black spot. + +"That is the thing for me," said Bill. + +"Us ladies!" jeered Frank, laughing. + +"Shoot!" commanded Lee. + +Bill aimed, breathed hard, blinked and pulled the trigger violently. + +There was a black hole in the outside ring. + +"Good boy!" said Bill, patting himself. "Good boy! 'If at first you +don't succeed, try, try again.' I have just three tries, I believe." + +The next shot was a trifle closer. Bill held a little steadier. The +last shot he took his time about and pulled carefully, using his finger +instead of his whole side. A bell clanged. He had actually hit the +bull's eye! Bill fell against Lee in a make-believe faint. + +Frank tried next, Jardin refusing to make an attempt. At last however, +after Frank had repeated Bill's performance, Jardin selected a rifle and +asked for the moving targets to be set in motion. + +He aimed quickly at the head of the smallest duck, and it disappeared +behind the painted waves. Again and again he repeated this while the +boys stood spellbound. + +"That's easy!" said Jardin, laying the rifle down on the counter. "I can +beat that easily." + +"Do it," said Lee, handing him a rifle. + +"Put up your hardest target," instructed Jardin. "I want something worth +while." + +The target popped into place. It was a pretty little figure of a dancing +girl with a tiny tambourine in her uplifted hand. She whirled and turned +and the little tambourine gleamed and sparkled. Jardin took careful aim +at the tambourine and missed. Three times he missed, the boys exclaiming +that no one could hit anything so delicate. Finally he gave it up, +giving a number of explanations _why_ he did not hit it. + +Then, quite idly, Lee picked up a rifle and with a half smile at the +gallery man he shot without raising the rifle to his shoulder. A shower +of tiny flashes burst from the uplifted tambourine. Then three times, as +fast as he could lift a rifle, Lee hit the little tambourine and the +bright flashes leaped up. It was evident that Lee had been there before +because without a word the man removed the little dancer and placed a +row of small and lively dolphins in view. They curved in and out of +sight and looked very funny indeed. But Lee shook his head. The man +removed the target, and feeling under his lapel drew out a pin, a common +white pin which he stuck carefully in the middle of the black cloth at +the end of the gallery. Lee's bullet drove the pin into the cloth as +neatly as though it had been done with a mallet. + +"Want to try?" he asked Jardin. + +Jardin smiled sourly. "I am no professional," he said. + +He and Frank sauntered out, followed by Bill and Lee. + +"Who is that soldier?" asked Jardin. "Isn't he just an enlisted man?" + +"That's all," said Frank. "He is the Major's orderly." + +"I don't like his looks," said Jardin. + +"Neither do I," agreed Frank. "But you had better not tell Bill that. He +is crazy over Lee." + +"Every man to his taste!" Jardin said with a sneer. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +About a week later, Bill, accompanied by Lee, drove the Swallow over to +the Aviation Field. They found Horace Jardin staying there at Frank's +quarters, as the houses are called on all army posts. Mr. Jardin had +gone down into the Burkburnett Oil Fields and Frank had invited the boy +to come and stay with him. Mrs. Anderson, a weak and idle person, was +flattered to have the young millionaire as her guest and revelled as +Frank did in his glowing yarns of everything concerning the Jardins. +Horace treated Mrs. Anderson and the Major with all the politeness he +could muster. + +It was always his policy to be agreeable to other fellows' parents. It +made things easier all around to have what he privately and rudely +called "the old folks" think he was a fine boy, and he found that they +always "fell for it" when he paid them a little attention. + +So he cleverly kept silence whenever the Major was around, only asking +questions that he knew would please him to answer and enlarge upon. + +With Mrs. Anderson he worked a different scheme. He launched into +glowing accounts of parties and bridge luncheons his mother had given, +recounting with more or less truth details about the food and the +decorations, and the jewels worn by the guests. + +"Seems to be a very quiet, studious boy," was Major Anderson's decision, +and Mrs. Anderson proclaimed him "The sweetest child, with such _lovely_ +manners, and perfectly unspoiled by his enormous wealth." + +Jardin laughed in his sleeve, and Frank, also a willing listener, but to +a greatly differing line of talk, was rapidly absorbing all the mental +and moral poison that Jardin could think up. + +As Bill looked at his friend, he was conscious of a change in him. He +had a worldly, bored air that to Bill was extremely funny. Frank and +Horace did not trouble to speak to Lee, who grinned cheerfully and said +nothing, while he cared even less. Lee saw through the two boys and was +determined to keep them from doing any harm to Bill, for whom he felt +the truest affection. They were growing into a friendship that was +destined to last for many years. + +Lee was the soul of honor and had a sense of humor seldom found in one +of Indian blood, and was as ready to romp and roughhouse as a boy of +twelve. His straightforwardness and his tender care of Mrs. Sherman +caused the Major to rejoice every day that he had transferred him to his +service as orderly. + +Lee had the Indian gift of silence, so he made no comment at all when he +was alone with Bill and Bill commenced to sputter and fuss about the +change in Frank. He just stared ahead, gazing off across the prairie or +carving delicately on another length of chain which Mrs. Sherman had +asked him to make for her sister back in the east. + +"My airplane is finished," said Horace as soon as he could make Bill +hear the glad news. For once he looked genuinely pleased and excited. + +"Good enough!" cried Bill. "Is it here?" + +"Of course not," scoffed Jardin. "I will not get it until I go back +east. But Major Anderson has arranged for me to learn to fly here. My +father called him on long distance and arranged it." + +"I guess I will hang around and pick up some pointers myself," said +Bill. "When do these lessons come off? 'Most any time?" + +"Almost any time we want to go over to the Field and get hold of an +instructor," answered Frank. "Now the war is over, the rush is over too +and we are taking our time over here. Stick around all you want to, +Bill; I can fly myself." + +Walking over to the hangars, the boys found the field bright with the +giant dragonflies hopping here and there or rising slowly from the +ground, and taking wing with ever increasing noise and speed. Lee +followed the boys and was glad when he found that Bill could not make a +flight without written permission from his parents. This was a rule of +the Field, no minor being allowed to go up without the presentation of +such a paper, which acted as a sort of release in ease of any accident. +Jardin buttoned himself into an elaborate and most expensive leather +coat, carefully, adjusted his goggles, stepped into a plane beside the +usual pilot who winked slyly at Lee, and proceeded, to send his big bug +skimming here and there across the field under the wobbly and uncertain +guidance of Horace. They did not leave the ground, but Frank soon soared +upward on a short flight that filled Bill with joy and envy all at the +same time. He felt that he _must_ fly. + +Frank was really mastering the control of a plane in a remarkable +manner. The instructors said that he was a born birdman. He seemed to +know by instinct what to do and when to do it. + +Bill and Lee, on the sidelines by the hangars, did not find all this +very exciting. Bill grew more and more crazy to go up, and Lee, who was +an artilleryman and had no use for flying, was sorry to see the craze +for the dangerous sport grow in his favorite. + +Finally the lesson was over, and Frank and Horace, both much inclined to +crow, rejoined Bill and Lee to talk it over. They wandered over to the +Andersons' quarters, where Lee left them to go to the men's mess for his +luncheon. Mrs. Anderson was out attending a bridge luncheon, and the +Major did not come home at noon, so the boys had the table to +themselves. + +"Well, I have decided to be an aviator," declared Jardin. "There will +be another war sometime perhaps, and there is nothing like being ready. +I suppose I will have to go to school this winter because I agreed to. +Gee, I hate the thought of it! Perhaps there will be some way of getting +out of it, I can almost always work dad one way or another. He is crazy +for me to go through college." + +"So is my father," said Frank. "But I am going to be an aviator too, and +I don't see any need of college." + +"My father is set on college, too," said Bill, "or at least a good +training school." + +"Well, he is only your stepfather, so I suppose you will do just as you +like about it," said Jardin. + +"I don't see it that way," replied Bill, flushing, "Of course he is my +stepfather, but he is the kindest and best man I ever knew or heard of +and I will say right now I am perfectly crazy over him. If I hadn't +been, I would never have let mother marry him." + +"Much she would have cared what you wanted!" chuckled Jardin. + +"She would have done exactly as I said," Bill insisted. "We always talk +things over together and never decide any really _big_ things without a +good old consultation." + +"Nobody ever consults me," grumbled Frank. + +"None of the women consult me," said Jardin. "They know I won't be +bothered with them. Dad and I usually go over things together." + +How Horace Jardin's father would have laughed if he could have heard his +son and heir make that remark! Horace was Mr. Jardin's greatest care and +problem. He often said that his son caused him more trouble than it gave +him to run all his factories. Mr. Jardin was a very unwise man who loved +his only son so much that he did not seem able to make him obey. Horace +had not been a bad boy to start with, but twelve years of having his own +way and feeling that, as he said, he could work his father and mother +for anything that trouble could procure or money buy had made him +selfish, grasping and unreliable. Other and graver faults were +developing in him fast, to his mother's amazement and his father's +sorrow. + +When Mr. Jardin found that he must go down into the oil fields to look +after his wells there, he was greatly relieved and pleased to find that +he could leave his son with such pleasant people as the Andersons. He +knew that for awhile at least the novelty of being right at an Aviation +Post would keep Horace out of any serious mischief. In a measure he was +right. The discipline and routine, the sharp commands, the rage of the +instructors if anything went even a shade wrong, impressed Horace as he +had never been impressed before. All the good in him came to the +surface; the bad hid itself away. + +Unfortunately, however, while Horace was spending his time in what +seemed to all a highly creditable manner, his influence over Frank was +bad, and grew worse as time went on. He absorbed like a sponge every +word of Jardin's boastful tales; he learned a thousand new ways in which +to gain his own ends; he learned to cheat; he learned to lie without the +feeling of guilt and distress that used to bother him when he slipped +from the truth. And most of all, he was made to feel that there was +nothing so necessary as money, money and still more money. Every letter +from Mr. Jardin brought Horace a check for anything from twenty-five to +a hundred dollars, and this money was spent like water. + +Frank, who had thought his allowance of a dollar a week a fine and +generous amount, watched Jardin buy his way and squander money in every +direction. Frank commenced to worry about school. It must be as Horace +said: useless to try to be happy or comfortable unless one had a pocket +full of change all the time. He commenced to wish for some money, then +the wish changed, and he wished for a certain sum, the amount he thought +would be sufficient to carry him through the three terms of school. He +made up his mind that he wanted six hundred dollars. Where this vast sum +was to come from he did not know. He knew very well that his father and +mother would not give it to him. He could not earn it. Only a few weeks +later the boys would be sent east to school. Six hundred dollars he +wanted, and his whole mind seemed to focus on that amount like a burning +glass, and the thought of it scorched him. + +All through luncheon Frank thought of the money. He went off into +day-dreams in which he rescued the daughter of the Colonel from all +sorts of dangers and invariably after each rescue, the Colonel would +say, "My boy, thanks are too tame. I insist, in fact I _order_ you to +accept this little token of my regard." And then he would press into +Frank's hand six hundred dollars. It was thrilling; and in a day-dream +so easy. + +The fact that the Colonel's only daughter was a strapping damsel who +stood five feet eight and weighed one hundred and sixty pounds and +always took the best of care of herself in all kinds of tight places +without asking odds of anyone, did not affect Frank's day-dreams at all. +Neither did the fact that the Colonel was well known to be so close with +his money that he had learned to read the headlines upside down so that +he seldom had to buy a paper of a newsy! Six hundred dollars ... it +would have killed him! + +Frank was called back to the present by hearing Horace say, + +"Six hundred dollars! Where does a common soldier get all that?" + +Frank looked up from his dessert quite wild-eyed. It was so pat! + +"His grandfather sent it to him. He has a lot more than that." + +"What are you talking about?" demanded Frank, coming wholly out of his +trance and looking from one to the other. "Who has six hundred dollars, +and whose grandfather sent it to him?" + +"Lee's," said Bill. + +"I don't believe it!" + +"It is true," Bill affirmed. "I was just telling Horace that I went to +Lawton this morning before I came here, so that Lee could bank the +money. He has a nice bank account. He is saving up so he can go into +business when he is discharged." + +"Well, I don't believe it," said Frank bitterly. Six hundred +dollars--and someone else had it! + +"It is true anyhow," repeated Bill, "and this is the way it happened. +Years and years ago, as the storytellers say, the Government decided to +grant to every Indian a certain amount of ground. I forget how much Lee +told me. Anyhow, it was a nice large farm, and they gave one to each +Indian. Some of the Indians were glad to get the grant and went right +off and settled down and did their best to be farmers. And some of them +didn't want land, and said they wouldn't _have_ land. It looked too much +like work. + +"Lee's grandfather was one of those. He just said no, he wouldn't take +it. But the Government knew that what one Indian had, the rest ought to +have or there would be scrapping over it sooner or later, sure as +shooting. + +"So old Foxy Grandpa found a farm wished off on him whether he liked it +or not. He was quite mad about it--so mad that for a long while he +wouldn't speak more than once a week instead of once in a day or two, +the way he usually did. Bimeby he built a house and his boys, who were +all getting an education, commenced to work the ground and collect +cattle and horses. This commenced to interest grandpa a little, although +he wouldn't help, and he used to sit on the back porch and look over the +farm and watch his children, and just rattle right along, saying nothing +at all. + +"Then all at once oil was discovered in Oklahoma, and the Government +took control of the Indian grants. That; is, they dig the wells and give +the Indians a big royalty. If the well is a dry hole, it does not cost +the Indian anything. + +"The fellows who knew about such things came moseying around +grandfather's farm and thought they smelled oil. So they put up a +derrick, and commenced to drill right where the pig yard was, not far +from the house. + +"Grandfather just sat right on the back porch and watched them do it. +Didn't keep them from work by his talking; just sat and looked on. It +took several weeks to drill the well, but grandfather kept right on +watching. + +"Finally bing, bang! They struck, and it was a gusher. Just poured right +out and most drowned grandfather on the back porch before they could +plug it and fix the tanks. + +"The first dividend was five thousand dollars, and grandfather took it +and looked at it and then shoved it over to his oldest son and commenced +to talk. That is, Lee said he spoke _one word_ in the Indian language. +It meant the-car-that-runs-by-itself. He wanted an automobile! Well, his +son went off and got him the biggest he could for the money, and now the +old gentleman is quite satisfied. + +"When he isn't riding around the country he still sits and watches that +old gusher keep gushing. He gets about two hundred dollars a day out of +it." + +"That's nothing!" said Horace Jardin. + +"_Nothing?_" repeated Bill. "Well, it would mean _some_thing to me, I +can tell you!" + +"Nothing?" cried Frank in a tone filled with real pain. "_Nothing?_ My +soul! It would be six hundred dollars every three days." + +"Why pick on six hundred dollars?" asked Bill. "Why not fourteen hundred +a week? Those old wells go right on working on Sunday, you know." + +Frank slammed down his fork and shoved his chair back from the table. + +"Oh, it is a _shame_!" he cried bitterly. + +Both boys looked at him in surprise. + +"What ails you, anyhow?" asked Bill. + +"Nothing," said Frank. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Jardin left the following week and the two boys tried to settle down +into the old groove. Bill spent a great deal of time with Frank, +watching the manoeuvers on the Field. Frank kept up the study of +aviation with surprising earnestness. He had a special gift for it and +was really a source of great pride to his instructors. Of course his +father forbade long or very high flights, but Frank soon was able to +execute any of the simpler stunts that make the air so thrilling. + +Bill, who refrained from any flying even as a passenger on account of +his mother, tried to absorb as much as he could from the talk and from a +couple of the airmen who took a great fancy to the quiet, handsome boy +who asked such intelligent questions and who so soon mastered all the +technicalities of the monster dragonflies. + +With a small maliciousness that surprised even himself, Frank had +dropped a hint here and there that Bill was afraid to fly, and the two +airmen, Lem Saunders and Chauncey Harringford, who were his special +friends at the Field discussed it between themselves. One day they +stopped Lee and asked him if it was true. Lee flushed under his dark, +swarthy skin, and his small, black eyes flashed angrily. + +"Who says it?" he demanded. + +"I don't know how it started," answered Lem. "I don't know as it matters +whether the kid is afraid or not, but it doesn't seem just like him; and +I sort of hate to think there is a grain of yellow anywhere in that good +body of his." + +"I will bet all my month's pay that there isn't," affirmed Chauncey. "I +_know_ there isn't, but I wish I knew how the report started. It makes +it sort of hard for him. The fellows guy him." + +"I wish _I_ could be there when they do. I know one soldier who would +have a ticket for the guardhouse for fighting in about ten minutes." + +"It is not as bad as that," said Chauncey. "The fellows don't mean any +harm, only young Frank is such a whiz and even that green little sprout +of a Jardin flew like a swallow. And here is Bill, by far the best of +the three, won't go off the ground but just shakes his head and grins if +you ask him why not." + +"I know the reason," said Lee firmly. "It is a good one, too. Do you +know his mother? No? Well, she is more like an angel than a human +being." Lee took off his campaign hat as he spoke, as though he could +not talk of Mrs. Sherman while he remained covered. + +"She is perfect," he continued. "So gentle, so sweet; and such a true +friend! But she has a very weak heart. There is something wrong, very +wrong about it, and Major Sherman has told me that a shock might kill +her. And what greater shock could there be than something happening to +her only son? Major Sherman told me that he had explained it to Bill, +and that Bill never did one thing to worry his mother. If he says he +will come home at a certain time, he gets there. When he is away, at +Lawton or Medicine Park or any place like that, he telephones her a +couple of times to let her know he is all right. That boy is a peach, I +can tell you! There are dozens of things he doesn't do on her account. +And he never complains. He doesn't wait for her to ask him not to, +either. It is awfully hard on him, I can tell you, because he is the +most fearless and daring boy of his age I have ever seen. He wants to +try everything going." Lee looked wistful. "I wish _I_ could hear +someone say Bill is a coward!" + +"They don't go as far as that," said Chauncey soothingly. "They just guy +him a little." + +"They will stop guying if _I_ hear them," said Lee doggedly. "The boy +has every kind of courage that there is and some day will prove it. But +never, never if it will distress his mother. He will bear all the slurs +and insults in the world rather than hurt her." + +"Jimminy, old fellow, you take it too hard!" said Lem, laughing. "All +the fellows do is guy him, and we will see to it that they stop that, +you can bank on it. Chance here and me will never see the kid abused. I +am some scrapper myself, if it comes to that!" + +He pounded Lee cheerfully on the back and that young man smiled in spite +of himself. Turning, he caught Lem, a six footer and heavy, and with +what seemed a playful little clasp raised him from the ground and tossed +him over his shoulder where he hung balanced for a minute before Lee +gently eased him to the ground. Chauncey was round-eyed with amazement +and Lem sputtered, "Lee, you wizard, you! How in the world did you do +that? Why, I am twice your size!" + +"Just a little Indian trick that I learned a good while ago when I used +to visit some cousins of mine. There were two young bucks who used to +wrestle with me, and I learned a lot from them. I have been teaching +Bill, and he can almost beat me at my own game. You don't have to be big +like you, Lem. Do you want to see me throw you twenty feet over my +head?" + +"Why, you loon, I should say not!" said Lem, backing off. + +"Oh, be a sport, Lem, and let me see the fun!" cried Chauncey. + +But Lem refused to be obliging. For a man who did not care how high or +how far he flew, he was strangely unwilling to let himself be tossed out +on the prairie to amuse Chance or anyone else. + +Lee walked off laughing. The others stood looking after him. + +"The only Indian thing about him is his color and his walk. Do you +notice how he puts one foot down right in front of the other as though +he was walking along a narrow trail?" + +"He is one of the straightest fellows I have ever known," said Lem, +feeling of his neck and waggling his head to see if it was all right +after its late experience with Lee. "I am glad to know about Bill. He +understands every last thing there is about a plane, and it did seem so +funny that he would never leave the ground. It is a wonderful chance for +those kids to stand in over here, you know. They are getting the best +training in the world in the flying game. I had commenced to think Bill +was a perfect sissy. That little automobile of his is a wonder--a +regular racing car on a small scale--and yet he goes crawling along at +fifteen miles an hour. Well, I am glad to know how it is." + +Lem fished in his pocket and found some chewing gum which he offered to +Chauncey. They strolled away in the direction of the hangars and Lee +hurried over to Major Anderson's quarters, where he found the two boys +sitting on the wide, screened veranda. + +"Just waiting for you, Lee," said Bill, looking at his watch. "We must +be getting along. Do you know what I am doing these days?" he asked +Frank, who was moodily staring at Lee. "I am packing up for school." + +"Why didn't you begin last Christmas?" asked Frank, coming out of his +dream. + +"There is always such a lot of things to attend to at the last second +and I am getting all my traps in shape." + +"Mother is packing for me," said Frank. "I wish we didn't have to go. I +will be all out of practice with the planes by the time we have a chance +to fly again. I wonder where Jardin is going to school?" + +"Have you heard from him lately?" asked Bill. + +"Not a word since he went away. Mother thought it was funny he didn't +write her a note to thank her for entertaining him. His father wrote her +instead." + +"Did Jardin know where we are going?" asked Bill. + +"We didn't know ourselves when he left, and I can't write and tell him, +because for all I know he may be in Europe by this time." + +"_I_ am just as well pleased," said Bill. "You know I never did have any +use for him, and I think we will get along a good deal better with the +other fellows and with the teachers if he is not there as a friend of +ours." + +"You were always down on him and for nothing," said Frank. "I think he +is all right. And he has the money, too." + +"Well, you don't want to sponge, do you?" asked Bill. + +"Of course not!" said Frank, flushing. "You are such a nut about things! +Of course I don't mean _sponge_, but money is the only thing that will +put you in right at school or anywhere else." + +"That sounds just like Jardin," replied Bill. "Well, if that is so, what +do you suppose I am going to do on about nine cents a week? What are you +going to do yourself?" + +"I don't know, but if there is any money to be had, I am going to get +it." + +"How are you going to go about it?" asked Bill as he stepped into the +Swallow and prepared to start. + +"I don't know," answered Frank, still sitting with his chin in his +hands. "Beg it, or borrow it, or steal it." + +Bill threw in the clutch and the Swallow sped away. + +Frank was left to his own bitter thoughts. Money! He had brooded over +his lack of it and had remembered Jardin's assurance that to have a good +time in school he must have a pocketful of money at all times. Frank had +changed his mind about school. He was going for the good time he +expected to have. He only wished that he was going with Jardin instead +of with Bill Sherman. What Bill had said about sponging had stung him. +Now he knew that he must obtain what he wanted somehow and somewhere. +His mother could not give it to him; his father would not. He had +nothing to sell that was of any value. Yes, there was one thing. He +could pawn his watch, that beautiful watch that had been his +grandfather's and which he was to use when he was twenty-one. In the +meantime it was _his_, left him by his grandfather's will. On the spur +of the moment he rose and hurried into the house. Why had he not thought +of it before? It was a repeater, that watch, and his grandfather had +paid nearly a thousand dollars for it. He would sell it. He hurried into +the house and to his mother's room: he knew where she always kept her +jewel case hidden. The watch was there and putting it in his pocket, +Frank hurried out of the house. + +Bill and Lee took it slowly as usual going back to school, stopping to +watch the big observation balloon come down to anchor. + +"I am sorry about Frank," Bill remarked as they turned and skirted the +parade ground in New Post. "I never saw a fellow change so in such a +short time. He is brooding all the time and is as grouchy as he can be. +I wish there was something I could do for him." + +"Just what I was thinking," said Lee. "Do you suppose his folks would +mind if I gave him the money he wants? I am getting an awful wad down +there in the bank. I am always in right with my grandfather because I +can talk his sign language and because I look more like an Indian than +some of the real ones. I would be awfully glad to give him five or six +hundred dollars." + +"That is perfectly fine of you, Lee, but I know they would not want you +to do such a thing, because they would think it was simply wild to have +Frank have a large sum. At the school we are going to, there is a rule +that the boys are not to have money. There is a small sum deposited with +the principal and he gives us what he thinks we ought to have. More for +the big fellows and less for the little ones, and none at all if we +don't behave." + +Lee looked disappointed. + +"That's too bad," he said, patting Bill on the shoulder with a rare +caress. "I was going to get Major Sherman to let me divvy up with you." + +"You are all right, Lee, old man," said Bill, "but honest, I won't need +money. What I will want is a letter from you once in awhile. That will +be the best thing you can do for me. Gee, I know I am just about going +to die with homesickness. Why, I was never away from my mother before in +my life! I can tell you, I will never be away from home any more than I +can help. Home folks are good enough for me," he laughed. + +Lee stuck to the subject. "What if I should _lend_ Frank the money he +wants?" he persisted. + +"I tell you, old dear, he won't be allowed to have money at all." + +"What is to prevent it if they don't know it?" asked Lee. + +"Why, _he_ wouldn't want to break the rules," said Bill. "There is no +fun in breaking rules. You can get enough fun without that." + +"All right," said Lee, "but the Indian part of me is having a bad hunch +about Frank. You watch and see. He is going to get into trouble, and I +think it will have something to do with this money he wants so much." + +"I hate to have you say that," from Bill. "Your hunches come to time +pretty sharply; but I will simply keep an eye on him and try to keep him +out of trouble. It is lucky we are not going to the same school with +Jardin." + +"Do you know that you are not?" said Lee with a queer smile. + +"Yes, I _do_ know, and for two reasons. We did not know where we were +going when he was here and, second place, the school we are going to is +not swell enough for Jardin." + +"Look for him when you get there," remarked Lee. + +"Oh, wow!" cried Bill, sending the Swallow in a long sweep to the back +step of the quarters in B2. "If you keep this hunch business up, Lee, +you will be getting up as a fortune-teller. We are through with Jardin +for a good while, I am thinking." + +They were not through with Jardin's influence at least. If it had not +been for his tales and suggestions, Frank would not at that moment have +been walking the streets of Lawton, his grandfather's splendid watch in +his pocket, hunting for a pawnshop that looked inviting. He came to one +with a window filled with diamond rings and watches that were certainly +not in the class with the timepiece he was carrying. That seemed a good +place to go. With so many ordinary watches on hand, they would +appreciate as fine a one as he carried. + +He looked in the window, then walked boldly in with the air of a person +who wishes to buy something. He did it so well that the proprietor came +forward with a beaming smile. + +The smile faded when Frank laid the watch on the counter and the man +pierced him with a keen look. He took the watch and turned it over. + +"What is your name?" he asked suddenly. + +Frank looked up in surprise. + +"I don't see as that has anything to do with it," he replied stiffly. + +"It has a good deal to do with it," said the man. "That is not the sort +of a watch a boy your age carries. Not on your life it isn't! Now where +did you get that watch? Did you steal it? That is the question. Are you +selling it for someone else? That's what I want to know. We are +licensed dealers here, and we got to be pertected. Come across, young +feller, come across! What's your name?" + +"Bill Sherman," said Frank, and was sorry as soon as he had said it. But +he did not dare retract his words. + +"So far, so good!" said the man to whom the name meant nothing. "Now, +Bill Sherman, where did you get this watch?" + +"It is mine," said Frank, "and I am not selling it; I want to pawn it." + +"If Bill Sherman can afford to own a watch like that, why then should he +pawn it? Looks like he ought to have plenty of money." + +"I do mostly," said Frank, red and fidgeting. "But I am short just at +present, and that is my own watch that my grandfather willed to me so I +thought I would pawn it for awhile." + +"I don't know," said the man. "I got boys of my own. But if I don't take +it you will go somewhere else. So what's the difference? What do you +expect to get for it?" + +"Grandfather paid nearly a thousand dollars for it!" said Frank. "Would +you think six hundred dollars about right?" + +Then for a moment Frank thought the pawnshop man was going to have a +fit, a fit of large and dreadful proportions, right on the premises. His +eyes bulged; he choked and gurgled. It was really awful, and Frank could +not help wishing himself home again, watch and all. Even with the +coveted sum so close within reach, he was sick of the whole thing. + +Presently the pawnshop man came to himself a little. + +He leaned across the counter and said softly, "Would you please say that +again?" + +"Six hundred dollars," repeated Frank. + +"Say," said the man, leaning confidentially toward the boy, "what a +joker you are! That's good enough for vaudeville, I'll say! Well, we've +laughed enough at that, ain't we? And I feel so funny about it that I +will give you a good price for the watch. What do you guess it is?" He +leaned closer. "Twenty-five dollars." + +"_Twenty-five dollars!_" gasped Frank. "Why, my grandfather paid 'most a +thousand dollars for it!" + +"Sure, I don't doubt it; and so did George Washington have a watch +bigger than this that cost a lot of money but I would not give more than +twenty-five dollars for either one of 'em." + +"I can't take that," said Frank, looking so shocked and disappointed +that the man knew that he would end by accepting. + +"Twenty-five is as high as I can go," said the man. "We got to pertect +ourselves." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +With a bitter feeling of disappointment and shame, Frank took the +proffered twenty-five dollars, after a long wrangle had convinced him +that there was positively no more to be wrung from the pawnshop man. He +left the shop with dragging feet, half inclined to go back and throw +down the money with a demand for his watch. But the thought of Jardin +deterred him. As he went out he could see the man leaning into the +window where he rearranged the group of watches already displayed there, +and placed the watch, Frank's beautiful watch, in the place of honor on +a purple velvet cushion in the center. + +Two weeks passed, and one day remained before the boys were to start to +school. Frank finally heard from Horace Jardin. Horace urged him again +to collect what he termed a "_wad_," assuring him that life would be +really terrible without a lot of money. Also he hinted darkly of +something very surprising that he would have to tell later. That it only +concerned Jardin himself Frank did not question, as Jardin was never +interested in anything concerning other people except as it had some +bearing on himself in one way or another. + +Money--money! Frank thought of nothing else. Then, as though it had been +a terrible unseen monster waiting to spring on the boy, his temptation +leaped upon him. + +Temptation only attacks the weak. If we allow ourselves to harbor +unworthy or wicked thoughts, if we pave the way with wicked and unworthy +deeds, temptation has an easy time. Temptation is like a big bully. He +does not like to be laughed off, or to be scorned. He prefers to be +parleyed with. Then there is always a good chance for him. Better still, +he prefers to dash up to the weak and sinning, and say hurriedly, "Here: +quick, quick! Here's the easy way out! It's the _only_ way out! Just you +tell this lie, disobey your parents, or take this money. It isn't +stealing, you know, because you mean to put it back as soon as you can +and everything will be all right." + +That is the way temptation talks, and on that last day before the boys +started off to school Frank listened. + +He was over at Bill's quarters, in B2, when the telephone rang. Now +there are just two telephones to each building at the School of Fire, +one upstairs and one down. They are wall phones, fastened on the outside +of the buildings, midway of the porch that runs the whole length. When +the bell rings, whoever is nearest answers and calls the person who is +wanted. So Frank, standing in Bill's doorway and close to the phone, +stepped out and took down the receiver. While he waited for an answer, +he leaned his elbow on the sill of the window beside him and idly +scanned the confusion of papers on the big desk shoved close to the sill +inside. A strong wind fluttered the papers. + +Frank, waiting on a dead line, stared at the desk and his eyes grew +wild. Down at the end of the porch a grey-haired Colonel sat with his +eyes glued to the _Army and Navy Journal_. He was reading about a +proposed increase in pay, and he had no interest in small boys. Across +the sandy space on the porch of the opposite quarters two ladies sat +embroidering. + +In the Sherman quarters, he could hear Mrs. Sherman and Bill and Lee +talking as they finished packing Bill's trunk. + +No one noticed Frank. No one saw what he did next, so stealthily and +rapidly. But in a moment he put the receiver down on the shelf, hurried +to the Shermans' door, and called for Lee. + +"Someone wants you on the phone," Frank said, and as Lee hurried out, +Frank sat down on the door sill and whistled shrilly to the Shermans' +Airdale, who was trying to chum with the pretty ladies across the way. +They looked up, saw Lee at the phone but did not see Frank who had +dodged inside the door. The Colonel looked up from his paper, scowling. +He laid the whistle to Lee and glared. + +Lee called "Hello!" half a dozen times. He too leaned on the sill of the +open window. No one answering the phone, he hung up and went back to the +packing. + +And the next morning, Bill and Frank, feeling fearfully overdressed in +new suits, and bearing spotless shiny yellow suitcases, stood on the +train waving to two rather damp looking mothers and two fathers who +stood up almost _too_ straight, and started away on their long journey. + +Lee did not wave at them. The half of Lee that was Indian was afraid +that the half that was white would look too sorry and lonesome if he +stood on the platform watching the two small figures waving on the train +while a friendly porter clutched a shoulder of each. So Lee stayed in +the machine and listened as the train pulled out, and felt very blue and +lonesome, and fell to planning how he would ask for a furlough and go +shoot some wildcats to make rugs for Bill's room. And he wondered how +soon the boys would look inside their suitcases. Lee had opened both +those suitcases! + +The boys, wildly excited over the charm and novelty of travelling alone, +went to their seats and gravely studied the flat bleakness of Oklahoma. +As yet they had no regrets at leaving the Post, although Bill felt +rather low whenever he thought of his mother. Her picture, as radiant +and lovely as any of the girls who came visiting on the Post, he had +pasted on the dial of his wrist watch, the Major helping. They had had +lots of fun doing it, the Major pretending to be awfully jealous. But +when the picture was fastened safely on the dial, it was the Major, who +was something of an artist, who got out his color-kit and delicately +tinted the lovely features until the cut-out snapshot looked rare and +lovely as a portrait painted right on the watch. Then he carefully +fastened the crystal, and Frank slipped it on his wrist, more than +pleased. + +"In old times," said the Major, washing his brushes in the tumbler of +water, "the knights always wore a ribbon or a glove belonging to the +lady they loved the best. They did not hide their keepsakes in their +inside pockets but bound them boldly on their helmets, to remind +themselves that they must be loyal, faithful, fearless, brave and true +for her sake, and to show all who cared to look that they were proud to +do their best for one so fair. No doubt there were dark days and hard +times when they needed every ounce of support and encouragement they +could get. + +"You will find it so, old man. I can't help you, but," he gently touched +the watch, "_she_ will, always. You know it, don't you?" + +"Yes, sir, I do!" said Bill, looking down on the smiling face. + +"Then you don't need another word from me, son," said the Major. They +were alone. He bent and kissed the boy on the cheek. Then he smiled. + +"That is allowable between men, you know, son, on the eve of battle. Put +up a good fight." He left the room, and something that was part promise +and part prayer went up from his soul. + +"I _will_ put up a good fight!" he whispered. + +Frank had spent his last evening alone, a throng of distressful thoughts +crowding in on him. His father was on some official business in town and +his mother had not thought it necessary to break her weekly engagement +with her bridge club. Frank wandered over to the hangars but he missed +Lem and Chauncey and soon returned home. He was greatly excited over the +coming trip, and had other and most serious reasons for wishing to go +away. So many unpleasant thoughts crowded upon him that it was not until +ten o'clock that he happened to think of his watch, still in Lawton at +the pawnshop. He had not redeemed it, and the twenty-five dollars +reposed in the bottom of his kit bag, in an envelope that had thread +wound around it. + +He reflected that he could send the money and his ticket back to the +pawnshop man, for it was too late to take the trip to town. His parents +were apt to return at any time. They did not come very soon, however, +and Frank went to bed, a lonely, unhappy and sinning boy. + +The boys had so much to look at that for awhile they were quite silent. +Then Bill remembered something. + +"Say!" he suddenly exclaimed. "We are having the deuce of a time at the +school. Right in our quarters, too. Did you hear?" + +"No," said Frank, still staring out. "What was it?" + +"Somebody stole six hundred dollars from Captain Jennings next door to +us. It was money he had to pay the Battery, and it is gone. There is an +awful fuss about it." + +"Will they arrest him?" asked Frank. + +"Why, no; they won't do that, of course. He didn't steal it from +_himself_, and Dad says he has money besides what he gets as captain, +but I don't suppose he likes the idea of making it good. There is going +to be an _awful_ fuss about it." + +"Did he lose it out of his pocket?" asked Frank. + +"No; that's the funny part," said Bill. "He had it on his desk in his +study, under a paperweight, in an envelope, and that's the last he ever +saw of it. Oh, there will be an _awful_ fuss over it! Whoever took it +will go to Leavenworth for so many years that he will have a good chance +to be sorry about it. It is an awful thing." + +"Do they suspect anyone?" asked Frank. + +"I didn't hear anything this morning," said Bill. "We left too early. +But there will be an awful fuss. Why, it is an _awful_ thing, you know. +I didn't know there was anyone over there low enough to steal. It makes +me feel kind of queer!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The day passed rapidly. The boys were the first in the dining-car when a +meal was announced, and be it said they were almost the last to leave. +They had been provided with plenty of money for "eats," as the two +Major-fathers wisely remembered that a boy is never so hungry as when +travelling. Also their section was the first one made up. They were +tired, and sleepy. + +They tossed up to see which should take the upper berth, both boys +wanting it, and Frank won. + +They spread their suitcases out on Bill's bed to open them, then Frank +decided to take his up with him and climbed up into his lofty berth +while Bill boosted and lifted the suitcase after him. Bill had packed +his own suitcase for the first time, and his mother had smiled as she +saw him carefully plant his pajamas on the very bottom. She said +nothing, however, as she knew that another time he would lay them on the +top where he could get them without any trouble. Frank had done the same +thing, so for a little there was silence as the boys spread everything +on the beds in a wild effort to locate the missing garments. At last +they were found, and the suitcases repacked, hair brushes and tooth +paste being salvaged as they went. + +As Bill slipped into his pajama coat something pricked him. The pocket +was pinned together with a large, rusty pin. He drew it out and from the +pocket took a folded envelope. + +"What in time is this?" he murmured to himself, then smiled as he +reflected that it must be a little love letter from his mother. He +winked mischievously at her picture on his wrist as he tore open the +envelope. But there was no letter from mother in the envelope. Instead +it was stuffed with perfectly new, crisp five-dollar bills. There were +twenty of them. Twenty! Bill counted them twice. Then still disbelieving +his eyes, he laid the beautiful green engravings all over his sheet and +counted them one by one with his forefinger. Twenty! He noticed a small +piece of paper in the envelope and examined it. It read briefly: + + "BILL: + + "i looked all over Lawton for sumething nise for you to take to + school. So please spend this on something you like. I will tell + your mother what I done so she wont kick. Anyhow I aint afraid of + her kicking ever since the day i broke her big glass dish that you + said was cut. It cut me all right, but she never said a word, and I + bet she wont now when i explane. So remember when this you see, + remember Lee. That is some poetry partly mine and partly out of a + book. If I had kept at school the way I should of, I could have + made the whole piece up myself. Rite soon to yours as ever, + + "LEE." + +Bill gasped. Then he gathered the precious money tight in his hand and +standing on the edge of his berth, hoisted himself up to Frank's level. + +"Glue your eye to this!" he whispered loudly over the racket of the +train. "Gee, have you got the same?" + +At the sound of Bill's voice, Frank, who was staring at a handful of +bills, started violently, then forced a rather shaky smile. + +"Found this in my pajama coat," he said; then as Bill waved his fist, +"What! Have you the same thing?" + +"Surest thing you know!" said Bill. "Never had so much money in my life. +The darned old peach!" + +"I haven't counted it," said Frank. "It sort of scared me. Who do you +think gave it to us?" + +"Didn't you read your letter?" asked Bill, wiggling the rest of the way +up and taking a paper like his own from Frank's envelope. He handed it +over and Frank unfolded and read it. Reluctantly, but seeing no way out +of it, he handed it over to Bill. + + "Frank," said the letter, "Lawton is a dead one. Nuthing in it for + boys except rattles and guns and pink silk shirts and stick pins. + But your dad wouldnt let you have the pins and your mothers + wouldn't see you found dead in them shirts, and the pins was sort + of advansed, so I want you to spend this money on something you + like when you get to whatever it is. + + "Just a present from your friend + "LEE." + + "P. S. Say, Frank, lets take a fresh start me and you. I wouldnt + believe you would lie or steal even if some do do such. So you must + take it from me that a good indian is a good indian just as a good + white man is good. + + "So that all we want to bother about that. + + "Your true friend + "LEE." + +"Well, this beats all!" said Bill, handing back the letter. "Isn't Lee +the _peach_ though? I wish I was sure Mom would let me keep this. Isn't +it great--all new fives! I suppose he thought it would be handy that way +for us to spend." + +"What does he mean about not believing that I lie or steal?" said Frank, +scowling. + +"Why, just what he says, you nut!" exclaimed Bill. "Can't you read? He +means he knows _you_ wouldn't do anything wrong, and so you must believe +in _him_. I bet he has overheard some of the things you have said about +him. Anyhow, it is just as he says. You must keep his present, and make +a new start. He wants to be good friends with you and wants you to like +him. And I should say he deserves it." + +Frank said very little about the present but Bill didn't notice. He was +too busy voicing his own surprise and gratitude. Before he finally slid +down into his own berth he had spent the crisp new fives twenty times +over. He thought he was too excited to sleep, but after he had pinned +the present back in his coat pocket, and had carefully laid himself down +on that side, and tied all the curtains shut, and balanced his suitcase +on end at the front of the berth so a possible robber would tip it over +on him, he was asleep in two seconds. It would have worked all right at +that, only by-and-by in the middle of a dream where Bill was batter in a +baseball nine that used ice-cream cones instead of balls, the train went +around a curve and over came the suitcase. Bill was awake in a second, +and for a moment had a hand-to-hand fight with the curtains before he +realized what had happened. With a laugh he felt for his precious +pocket, and slept again. + +But in the upper berth Frank Anderson had tossed Lee's friendly letter +and the packet of bills down to the end of the berth as though they were +worthless. He was only a boy and should have slept but all night long he +lay and stared at the little electric bulb burning dimly over his head. +He lay and thought; and his thoughts burned like fire. + +It was very late the following night when they reached their +destination. Bill had come to the conclusion that Frank was not a very +jolly traveling companion. He was moody and inclined to be really +grouchy. And touchy.... _Whew!_ It was all Bill could do to say the +right thing. Finally he remembered that some people are always car-sick +when they travel, and on being asked, Frank admitted that he didn't feel +so very good. So Bill let him alone and things went better. Bill made a +good many friends that day and came within an ace of being kissed by a +pale little lady who found a chance to take a much needed nap because +Bill took charge of her two-year-old terror of a baby boy while she +slept. There was an old gentleman too, who asked him a million or more +questions, and enjoyed himself very much. He asked the boys to take +luncheon with him, and proved that he had not forgotten his boyhood by +ordering the _dandiest_ dinner--even a lot of things that were not on +the bill. He was a director of the road, or vice-president, or +something, the porter told Bill in a whisper, but Bill didn't pay much +attention. What the old gentleman _didn't_ tell was that he was a +trustee of the very school the boys were going to attend. Some day they +were going to meet him again, but that is another story. + +Anyhow, it was very late when they arrived and they were piloted to +their room by a pale young instructor who met them at the station in an +ancient and wheezy Ford belonging to the school. They were the last +boys to arrive, he told them, and school was to begin at eight o'clock +in the morning. He warned them to be perfectly quiet as the boys were +all asleep and it was against rules to speak or have the lights on after +nine. But they were to be allowed a light to undress by, and he would +come in in fifteen minutes and put it out. + +They undressed in about a tenth of the time it usually took for that +ceremony, and even Bill, who forgot to brush his teeth and had to get up +again to do it, was deep under the covers when Mr. Nealum, the +instructor, came silently in, said goodnight without a smile, turned +off the light, found the door by the aid of a big flashlight he carried +and silently disappeared. + +"Undertaker!" whispered Frank. + +"Shut up!" said Bill. He listened intently, then said under his breath, +"Be careful! I thought I heard him breathe!" + +"He is gone," answered Frank. "I heard him walk away." + +"Not much you did!" said Bill. "He pussyfooted it. Must have had rubber +soles on his shoes." + +"I heard him anyhow," insisted Frank. The boys lay still, thinking over +their new situation. It was very exciting. They were not lonely. Their +narrow beds, but little wider than the quartermaster cots at Sill, were +side by side, nearly touching. Presently Bill spoke. + +"What's the matter with you, Frank?" + +"Nothing! What ails _you_?" retorted Frank. + +"Nothing, but you _breathe_ so hard--sort of choky and gaspy." + +"That's you doing _that_," said Frank. "I can't sleep with you snorting +so." + +"I tell you it's you!" said Bill. "I listened to myself breathe, and you +couldn't hear me. I was breathing just like this." He gave a sample, and +you could not hear him. Then as both boys listened, things began to +happen. + +Frank made a light leap from his bed and landed on top of the stunned, +scared and astonished Bill. + +"Sssssh!" hissed Frank. "The money!... Robbers!... Under the bed!" + +Frozen with horror, the boys listened intently. The breathing _was_ +under Bill's bed. It seemed as though they lay listening for a week +before Bill made a violent motion to free himself from Frank's grasp. + +"Where you going?" hissed that youth. + +"To light the light and give the alarm. If he tries to get out, we will +hold him." + +"Stay here!" commanded Frank. + +For answer Bill wrenched himself free and bounded out on the floor. With +another bound he reached the light and turned the button. No light +responded. He stood beside the wall, uncertain what move to make next. +The sensible thing seemed to be to shout an alarm or else go out and +find Mr. Nealum. In either case what would the robber do to Frank, who +was roosting right above him? The breathing under the bed continued, now +fast, now slow, up and down. Bill had heard something like that +somewhere. + +As his fright subsided, he recognized the sounds as very familiar. Bill +had not lived in the apartments at Sill for nothing. Too, too often had +he listened to the sounds that trickled clearly through the +plaster-board partitions. Those partitions were like sounding boards. +From one apartment to the next, they transferred the arguments, +discussions and all goings-on on the other side. Bill laughed +soundlessly in the dark. The lights had been turned off at some central +switch, and the darkness was intense. He was lost in the strange room. +He took a step sidewise along the wall and stubbed his toe against a +suitcase. Bending, he found that it was his own. The problem was solved. +Rummaging hastily, he found his flashlight. + +"Frank!" he called in a low whisper. + +"W-w-what?" quavered from the dark. + +Following the direction of the low sound, Bill crossed the room until +his outstretched hand collided with Frank's eye. This mostly happens, +you know. Frank stifled a howl as Bill hissed, "Listen! We have him now! +He's asleep--snoring. Let's take a look at him and then beat it for Mr. +Nealum. He must be somewhere about." + +"Don't you do it!" whispered Frank, clutching Bill. "Find Mr. Nealum +first. You go to flashing that light in his eyes and you will wake him +up. He's apt to kill us before you could get to the door." + +"Think what a lark it will be if we take him prisoner all by ourselves! +We can tie him up with these sheets in no time. Now I tell you how we +will work it. As soon as we see just how he is lying, I will shove the +bed off him, and you lam him good and plenty with that dictionary. Soon +as you do that I will throw all the blankets and bedclothes and the +mattress on him and then we will sit on him and yell. Somebody ought to +come." + +Frank still objected, sure from the size of the sounds that were now +easily recognizable as snores, that the robber was really in a deep +sleep. + +"If he is anything like Lee," he said, "he will throw us off in a +second." + +"But you are going to lam him one!" whispered Bill patiently. "You must +hit hard enough to knock him out--stun him." + +"Well, have it your own way!" conceded Frank. He commenced to realize +what a wonderful introduction this would be to the boys of the school if +it went through as smoothly as Bill seemed to think it would. + +"Here, take the flashlight, but don't turn it on," whispered Bill. "I +want to get the bedclothes ready." + +Silently and quickly he loosened the tucked-in sheets and blankets. He +rolled up the sleeves of his pajama coat + +"Now," he said, "let's take a look before we roll the bed away." + +Clutching the dictionary in both hands, Frank slid to the floor where he +crouched, shivering from excitement. Bill, on his knees, folded a +handkerchief over the flashlight to dim it, then pressed the button. +Slowly he turned it under the bed. The dim light rested on a tumbled +shock of hair and a flushed face, pillowed uncomfortably on a cramped +and doubled arm. + +Snores rattled furiously from the open mouth. Sleeping the sleep of the +weary, the thief lay completely at their mercy. + +"Gosh!" said Bill as he looked. + +"Gee-roosalem!" murmured Frank. + +With a bang the big dictionary slipped from his hands and landed on the +floor. + +The intruder with a violent start opened his eyes and looked at them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Setting the flash so it would not go out, Bill laid it down on the +floor, cried "Oh, you robber!" and beginning to laugh continued until he +had to lie on the floor and roll around. Frank, laughing, too, carefully +shoved back the bed. The intruder sat up, rubbing his eyes. + +"I guess the joke is on me," he said. + +It was Horace Jardin! + +"This beats everything in my young life," said Bill as soon as he could +speak. "What are you doing here anyhow, scaring the life out of two poor +little boys on their very first night in boarding-school? Don't you know +you are making us break rules the first shot?" + +Horace laughed sheepishly. + +"I was going to give you a good old scare," he said, "but I was so tired +and it took you so long to get here that I went to sleep. But I bet you +are surprised to see me here." + +"Here at this school, or under our beds?" quizzed Bill. + +"Both," said Horace. + +"How did it happen?" asked Frank. + +"It was the airplane," explained Horace. "This is the only school in the +country where they let you fool with this air stuff, and so I told dad +that it was no use bribing me with an airplane to stay in school all +the year if I couldn't go where I could use it. I have learned to fly, +by the way. Dad paid a dollar a minute to have me taught. I tell you I +am a whiz! It cost him five hundred dollars for my tuition, and two +thousand more to mend a plane I broke, but he was so pleased at the way +I learned that he didn't mind the bills at all. So here I am, and when I +heard you were coming--well, I was certainly tickled! So I sneaked in +here as soon as the bell rang for lights out, and first I knew I was +asleep." + +"From the way you were snoring, I should say first thing you knew you +were awake," laughed Frank. + +"Guess I will beat it now," said Horace. "There is no school +to-morrow--just the organization of classes, and we can go down to the +hangars and see my plane. You ought to see those dinky little hangars! +Not much like the big government ones. There are only three planes. Mine +and one belonging to the school, and one that belongs to a fellow from +Toronto. It is a peach, and he thinks he can beat me in a race. We are +going to try it out some day if we can ever get up without an +instructor. They are awful strict here. I will have a deuce of a time if +they catch me in here." + +"I should think you had better fade away then," said Frank uneasily. "We +don't any of us want to get in wrong." + +"Well, I am glad you have come, fellows," whispered Jardin, tiptoeing to +the door. "Put out that flash, Bill! You don't want to tell everybody +what we are doing. See you in the morning. Goodnight!". + +He slipped out, and the boys silently crept back into their beds. + +"That beats all!" exclaimed Bill after a long pause when he decided by +Frank's breathing that he was still awake. "I surely thought we were +quit of that chap." + +"You always have it in for him, haven't you?" said Frank. "You are a +funny one. Always cracking up that Indian orderly of yours as such a +peach and a straight fellow, and forever knocking a first-class good +sport like Jardin." + +"I didn't mean to knock Horace," said Bill, "but he does seem--well, I +don't know just what!" + +"I guess that's about it," sneered Frank. "Just about it! You don't know +_why_ you knock him or what about, because you have just made up your +mind to do it. Well, suit yourself! I like Jardin and he is good enough +for me, and that's all I have to say about it. You can do as you please; +don't mind me." + +"Don't get so sore," said Bill. "I told you back home that I was going +to treat him decently, and I am." + +He turned on his pillow and was silent, and both boys were asleep in +about a minute. They were very tired. + +Early in the morning Jardin introduced the Toronto boy, and they found +him a very quiet, pleasant chap who made no pretensions of any sort. +Together they walked down to the hangars. + +"How do you learn to fly in the civilian schools?" asked Bill of the +Toronto boy, whose name was Ernest Breeze. + +"It is about the same as the government schools," said the boy. "You +know something about flying, don't you?" + +"A little," replied Bill modestly. "I can control the machine on the +field, but I have never been up. There are reasons that keep me from +flying but I hope to some day." + +"Well, we learned on an old style Bright," said Ernest. "With a dual +control, you know. You take the same seat you will always occupy, you +follow every movement of the instructor beside you, and you sort of feel +that you are managing the levers all alone, until you sense the tricks +of the machine and learn a few things like rising from the field, +manoeuvering and landing. It is a good deal easier than it is to drive +an automobile." + +"That's the way you start at the aviation schools in the Army," said +Frank. "But there you don't have to pay any of this dollar-a-minute +business." + +"No," said Ernest, "but in exchange for your tuition you have to join +the Aviation Corps. And now that the war is over, I would rather do +postal work, or ferry or excursion lines instead of hanging around an +Army aviation camp. My aim is to be as perfect a flier as I possibly +can, and then if there is ever any need of another Army Aviation Corps, +why, I will enlist right off. You see your final test qualifies you for +government service if you make good." + +"What do you think is the quality a birdman should have most of?" asked +Bill. + +"Our instructor used to say a pilot should have courage, skill, +knowledge, aptitude and confidence; but he always went on to say that +all these together amounted to very little unless you have a bushel of +common sense. I think he was right. I had to earn part of my tuition in +the Aviation school because I didn't want to ask my father to pay all +that out for me and get me an airplane beside. That is why I am just +entering school. As long as the war lasted, I thought I ought to be +learning something that would help a bit if they needed me, but it ended +before I got a chance to offer myself, and now I have got to work mighty +hard to make up for the time I spent in the air. That's why I am here. I +want to keep in practice and fly whenever I am not busy with school +work." + +He looked critically at the sky. + +"It is going to be a wonderful day up there," he said. "Don't you want +to come up, one of you?" + +"Frank is going with me," said Jardin. + +"Come on then," invited Ernest, smiling at Bill. + +"I am sorry, but I can't go up," said Bill, flushing. + +"Bill likes to stay on the ground pretty well," sneered Jardin, pushing +open the door of the hangar. He disappeared within, followed by Frank. + +"Well, that's all right," said Ernest, smiling pleasantly. "I don't see +as it is anyone's business what you like to do. I think if you feel a +bit uneasy you are very wise to stay right on the ground." + +"It is not that at all," said Bill, acting on a sudden impulse to tell +this pleasant young stranger the reason for his refusal. "It is not +that, and the reason probably won't interest you. Frank and Horace are +always kidding me about it, but I can't help it. You see, I promised my +mother that I wouldn't go up. She has a bad heart, and a shock like my +getting hurt would certainly kill her. I can't risk that, can I? And +when you come down to it, it is just as you say. I don't see as it is +anybody's business what I do." + +"I rather think not," said Ernest, clapping Bill on the shoulder. "I +guess if you were in _my_ boat, with no mother to do things for, you +would be glad enough to give up a thing like that. What do you care +_what_ they say?" + +"I don't," declared Bill, "only they always give people the impression +that I am afraid. And I am not." + +"Of course you are not!" exclaimed Ernest. "That bores me awf'ly! Let's +get my little boat out. You don't mind skating around the field, do +you?" + +"Tickled to death!" said Bill eagerly, and hastened into a place in the +trim, beautiful little plane. + +The moment they were set in motion he saw that the plane was a wonder. +It answered to the slightest touch of the wheel or levers and rode the +humps on the field with a motion that told Bill, experienced as he was +in that part of the sport, that it was made of the finest possible +materials. + +His admiration finally burst into speech. + +"What a beauty this is!" he roared over the blast of the throbbing +engine. + +The young pilot turned a lever, and the racket subsided into a soft, +steady humming. + +Bill repeated his remark. Ernest stopped the plane and, getting out, +commenced to adjust the engine. + +"I see she needs a little tuning up this morning," he said, pulling off +his gauntlets and fishing a screwdriver out of one of the many pockets +in his aviator's coat. Bill joined him. + +"It _is_ a good machine," admitted Ernest. "I am certainly proud to own +it. It is too good a machine for me but I am as careful of it as I know +how to be. I think so much of it that I never try any fool stunts with +it. Dad says it was worth all he put into it just on that account. He +says that perhaps I would forget to take care of my own safety, but he +is sure I will never fail to look after this little pet. For instance, +when I was learning to fly three years ago (and I don't consider that I +really know how to do it yet) they tried to din it into me that I must +always keep the tail of my machine a little higher than the nose, in +case the engine should go dead when I wasn't expecting it." + +"What would happen then?" asked Bill, deeply interested. + +"Well, if the aeroplane is correctly balanced with the tail a little +higher than the nose it will be ready for a glide if the engine goes +dead, and on the other hand it is apt to lose headway, and go down tail +first. And that, you know," added Ernest, laughing, "is often very +uncomfortable for the occupants of the car." + +"I should say so!" agreed Bill. + +"Chaps make such a mistake trying to build their own cars," said Ernest. +"More accidents come from that than people realize. While the war was +going on, no one had time to tinker at building, but now half the chaps +I know are studying up and attempting to make aeroplanes for themselves. + +"It just can't be done. For instance, every piece of wood used in a +machine must be tested with the greatest care. A chap can't do that +himself. Every piece of wire used has got to be stretched in a machine +specially invented for the purpose. For instance, to find the breaking +strain of a piece of wire, a piece fifteen inches long is placed between +the jaws of a standard testing machine, so that a length of ten inches +of the wire is clear between the two ends. What they call the 'load' is +then put on by means of a handle at the rate of speed of about one inch +a minute. You can't do this yourself, and by the time you have sent your +wire, or have taken it where the test can be applied, and have also had +the test made on the twist of your wire, and all the woodwork, you will +have a machine that will cost more than one made by skilled workmen. +There is another test too that is very necessary. That is for your wing +fabric. It ought all to be soaked in salt water. If the fabric has been +varnished, the salt will soften it. Then dry the sample in the sun and +if it neither stretches nor shrinks, you will know that it is all right, +and you will feel safe about using it." + +"I took in all I could learn, without actually going up, at the Aviation +field at Sill," said Bill. "I will get my chance some day. I wrote +mother this morning, telling her about our trip and all, and I asked her +if she thought she would sometime feel like letting me fly. I didn't +_ask_ her to let me, you know, but I have a hunch that something might +happen sometime and I might almost have to fly. So I told her just how +I felt about it. Whatever she says goes." + +"That's a good sport!" said Ernest, smiling. "It seems to me that I +would be willing to give up anything in the world if I could have my +mother alive to make sacrifices for. Of course I have dad, and he is a +corking pal and just an all-round dear, but a chap's mother is +different, somehow. I think you were wise to write that letter, for you +never know what might come up. If your mother is what I should think she +is, she will understand that you are not trying to fix a loophole for +yourself or tying a string to your word of honor." + +"No, she won't think that," said Bill positively. "Mother and I +understand each other. I can trust her and she knows she can trust me. +It makes things nice all around. She will be _crazy_ about this machine +of yours. Perhaps she will take a little glide with you, if she doesn't +feel like actually going up. She has promised to come on and spend the +Thanksgiving vacation with me." + +"Good work! That makes me feel glad that I can't go home. I am going to +stay right through the whole year and put in some extra work during the +vacations." + +"Mom will like you too," said Bill. "She will want to know all about the +plane, and when she gets through listening she will know 'most as much +as you do. There is one thing I am afraid of, if I should fly, and that +is spinning. Now if you begin to side-slip, either outward or inward, +you are apt to commence to spin, and--well, there is usually a speedy +and more or less painless end to you and your hopes." + +"I think, Bill, that you will have no trouble in learning to control a +machine when your mother feels like releasing you from your promise. I +knew of a fellow once who made a long and successful flight with no +preparation at all other than what he had learned from books and +observation." + +"I don't believe I would want to try anything like that," laughed Bill, +"but I am stowing away all I can gather here and there." + +"The thing for you to do," said Ernest, "is to roll around the fields +every chance you get. I will be glad to take you with me any day or +every day that you feel like going. Of course you won't have very much +time after to-day except on Saturdays. To-morrow classes will be in full +swing. Get in now and take my seat." + +Ernest tucked his screwdriver deep in his pocket, pulled his goggles +over his eyes and, seating himself behind Bill, directed his actions. A +thrilling two hours followed for Bill. + +When at last they returned to the vicinity of the hangar from which they +had started, they found an excited and angry group around Horace +Jardin's aeroplane. Something was wrong with it and the two mechanics +working over it were unable to find out why the machine refused to fly. +It refused, indeed, to rise from the ground and the engine worked with a +peculiar jolt. The sound of the bugle from the high ground in front of +the mess hall called them to lunch and they went off, leaving the men +still at work. Horace was in a very bad humor, and as usual indulged +himself in a number of foolish threats, the least of which was to scrap +the whole machine. + +"I will do it sure as shooting!" he blustered. "If that machine isn't +going to come up to the maker's guarantee, I will make my dad get me one +that will. I won't tinker round with any one-horse bunch of junk like +this looks to be." + +"Give it a chance," suggested Bill soothingly. + +"Not a darned chance!" declared Jardin. "I tell you my father promised +me an aeroplane, and he has got to come across with a good machine! He +will do it, too. He's too stuck on me to risk my being hurt. And he +knows it is not my fault. I can fly all right." + +"Don't junk it, anyhow," said Frank anxiously. + +"Want to buy it?" asked Bill. + +"I might," said Frank, "provided Horace doesn't charge too much." + +"If she won't fly, I will sell her to you for five hundred dollars," +declared Horace. "You can tie a string to her, and Bill here can have +her to lead around the lot." + +"That's a go," said Frank. Everyone laughed, but a look of cunning +suddenly flamed in Frank's eyes. He commenced to lay a train for +Jardin's anger to burn upon, a sort of fuse leading up to the explosion +Frank wished. He cast a quick glance at the others. It was evident that +they took the whole conversation as a joke. But Frank, with an arm over +Jardin's hunched shoulders, commenced pouring into his willing ears a +stream of abuse directed at the makers of Horace's beautiful plane, and +an account, invented on the spot, of divers people who had thrown over +their planes for just the reason which had so angered Horace. Frank, +with his real working knowledge of flying learned at the greatest of +schools, was able to talk in a most convincing manner. Horace, sunk in a +sullen silence, listened closely. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +The first week of school, full of adjustments and experiments, passed +with the greatest swiftness. The boys were soon accustomed to their +surroundings and threw themselves with enthusiasm into their studies and +drill. Every possible moment was spent on the aviation field. Bill was +learning every quirk and crank of such work as he could do in Ernest's +plane without leaving the ground. + +The mechanicians still worked on Horace Jardin's plane, but seemed to +make no headway. Horace threatened one thing and then another, ready to +take the advice of whoever stood nearest. Frank made it a point to be +that person as often as possible. He fretted no longer about money, a +fact that pleased Bill. + +Then Saturday came, and things commenced to happen. + +First was the usual rush for the morning mail at eight o'clock. There +was a letter from Mrs. Sherman, which Bill carried into the deserted +library to read. He always wanted to be alone when he read his mother's +letters. They were so dear and so precious, and seemed so nearly as +though she herself was speaking to him, that he hated to be in a crowd +of careless, chaffing boys. + +When he had read half the long, closely written pages, however, he gave +a shout and hustling down the corridor to the chemistry room, burst in +upon Ernest who was doing some extra work there. + +"Hey, Ern!" cried Bill, waving the letter. "Hear this! My mother is a +peach if there ever _was_ one!" + +The elder boy laughed. "I bet she says you can fly," he guessed. + +"Just that. Listen!" + +Bill hastily hunted for the right place. + +"'You know, darling' ... no, that's not it," he hastily corrected +himself. "Here it is. 'Perhaps I have been selfish in asking you not to +try your wings until you are older. Your dad assures me that you are an +expert with your automobile and says that there are no age limit flyers. +You see, the trouble is, sonny, that it is hard for your mother to +realize that you are going to grow up soon. You notice that I say you +are _going_ to, not you _are_ growing up. This is a gentle way of +leading up to what I want to say about flying. + +"'Dear boy of mine, please, _please_ let your promise stand, with this +much of a release. If ever, _ever_ there comes an occasion of the +_greatest importance_, an occasion where you know I would approve--and +you always do know when I approve--then you may fly. I hope and pray +that it will not come, but if it does, you will know how to act. And +whatever you do you will know that your mother stands back of you +because she trusts in your judgment. + +"'I sound like a _nobul parent_, don't I, Bill dear? Well, I _do_ feel +that I am on the safe side, because I cannot foresee any possible +occasion for you to go flying off from school. However, if ever you feel +that you _must_, why, you _may_! + +"'Get that nice boy Ernest to teach you everything he can, and if you +have to fly, ask him to fly with you.' + +"That's all she says about _that_," said Bill with a happy grin, "but +now I feel safe. I don't know why, but I had a sort of hunch that I +ought to ask her to let me fly if I had to." + +"It is certainly nice of your mother," remarked Ernest, "but I agree +with her that there will be very little chance of your finding it +absolutely necessary to go aloft in the near future. Of course if you +go, I will go along." + +"I have not read the rest of the letter," said Bill, "but I had to show +you this. I will read the rest now." + +He hurried back to the library and resumed his reading. And the very +next sentence made him sit up straight, a dark scowl on his face. + +"And now I must tell you something so dreadful and so sad that I can +scarcely write it," said the letter. "You will remember the money that +was stolen from a certain officer next door to us here? It happened just +before you left for school. Oh, Bill, you will find it almost +impossible to believe it when I tell you that our Lee, Lee whom we have +always found so honest and so faithful, is _under arrest_ for taking it. + +"It seems that two ladies were sewing or visiting on the porch across +from our quarters, and a colonel was reading at the end of our own +porch. Lee came out and went to the telephone and kept saying hello so +many times that they all noticed him. The telephone is right beside the +window, and inside, on a desk, the money was lying in an open envelope +under a paperweight. The weight was so heavy the money could _not_ blow +away. Lee was the only one out there while the owner of the desk was +away from it. He was only gone for a moment, while he spoke to an +orderly at the back door. + +"You know Lee always has lots of money of his own, but now they don't +believe that his grandfather sends him the money at all. He is up for +trial and if he is convicted, (and the circumstantial evidence is very +strong) he will be sent to Leavenworth for years and years. It is a +_dreadful_ offence. + +"The money was in an official envelope, and if _that_ could only be +found Lee would be cleared, unless it was found in his possession. They +even ripped up his uniforms to see if it was hidden there, but now they +think he has burned it. Of course I believe in Lee. It is all a horrible +mistake, and some day perhaps it will be cleared up, but not soon +enough to save Lee because if he even gets inside Leavenworth he will +feel disgraced for life and I don't know _what_ will become of him. + +"Oh, Bill, it is simply _too awful_! Of course they found three or four +hundred dollars on him, but he always has a great deal too much money +for an enlisted man to be traveling around with. Dad is simply sick over +it. Our Lee! We don't know _what to do_. Who could have taken that +money? And where is the envelope? If we could only find that! They say a +criminal always leaves some clue behind him, but the person who stole +that money must be a clever thief. There is nothing, absolutely +_nothing_ to guide us. + +"Isn't it too awful? I wish you would write to Lee. He is in the guard +house, but I could get a letter in to him without any trouble. Make him +understand, Bill, that you believe in him and are his friend. He is +down-hearted." + +There was but little more in the letter. Bill's mother had felt too sad +to fill the pages with all the little details of the Post. And Bill, +after he had read about Lee, felt as though he could never smile again. +He felt helpless and lonesome and very far away. He wished heartily that +he was back on the Post. It _did_ seem as though he could help if he +only knew what to do. + +Advice: that was what he wanted. But who was there to advise him? The +principal of the school was absolutely out of the question. He thought +of the instructors one by one. No good on such a count. + +Troubled beyond words, he made his way slowly to his room. Frank was not +there, and Bill sat down and wrote a letter to his mother, which he +later sent special delivery. It was rather a rambling and purposeless +affair, but the best he could do under the circumstances. The note which +he enclosed for Lee was quite different in tone, and was intended to +make the prisoner believe that it was only a question of a few days +before the real culprit would be led to justice. + +The trouble with Bill was that he could remember nothing at all of the +events of the fateful morning of the robbery except that he was busy +packing and yelling good-byes to everyone who passed the back door of +the quarters, Bill's locker being on the back porch, past which long +lines of student officers on their way out to make road maps continually +marched two by two, followed by the usual company of little and big +mongrel dogs that are always found on army Posts. Bill could see the men +and the dogs and he remembered the greetings, but who passed by or what +occurred on the front porch he did not know. His mind remained a blank. + +Frank came in whistling. He grinned in an unfriendly fashion when he saw +his roommate slumped in the camp chair by the window. + +"Heard the news?" he demanded. + +"No; what's up?" asked Bill without interest. + +"Well, the school was just put under strict quarantine," said Frank. +"The town and all the country is so full of that new disease, +what-you-call-it, that we are going to be shut up here for goodness +knows how long. And they say there are seven fellows down with it in the +hospital now. What do you suppose they will do if it gets to be an +epidemic in the school? I saw old Nealum just now, and he was mum as an +oyster: looked bad, because he always loves to give out information, you +know. We are to go to chapel in half an hour for instructions and new +rules. Wish they would send us home! I don't like school." + +"I would like to go home too," said Bill. + +"Why, I thought _you_ were dippy over your 'dear school' and your 'sweet +teachers,'" sneered Frank. + +"It's all right," said Bill, "but I got a letter from home just now. Lee +is under arrest for stealing that money." + +Bill was looking out of the window. He did not see the look of triumph +that swept over Frank's face. + +"Good work!" said Frank. "I knew he was a crook, and I knew that sooner +or later they would grab him. Did they find the money?" + +"They didn't find the money, and Lee is as straight as I am!" declared +Bill. "And if you say anything different I will lick you out of your +skin! I have a mind to do it anyhow!" + +Frank glanced at the door. "You make me tired!" he said. "You won't let +anybody have an opinion without jumping them for it. Wait and see what +comes of this before you get so brash! I am going out to the field. Ern +is waiting for you there, or perhaps he will meet you in chapel. Nealum +told me there was going to be a halt on most of the indoor classes. They +want to keep us out in the air. That will give us a lot more time with +the planes. Too bad your mother won't let you fly. You could fly home. I +would do it if _I_ owned a plane. Jardin is sick of his." + +He went off whistling, and Bill walked wearily to the chapel. + +Days went by. The country trembled for the children and young men and +women who were being stricken, the teachers redoubled their efforts to +keep the boys well and happy, and the boys themselves regarded the +affair as a happy interlude in the year's grind. + +Our four boys spent all their leisure time on the aviation field. The +Jardin plane seemed possessed. Every night, after the mechanicians had +spent the day working over it, the machine would go sailing off the +field, purring and humming and flying smoothly and evenly. And as surely +as morning came something was wrong! Jardin was frantic. Frank, always +at his elbow, irritated him into admissions and statements that he +scarcely recognized as his own when he afterwards thought about them. +He was not wise enough to put two and two together. + +Another letter came from Mrs. Sherman, and on the same mail one from +Major Sherman written, not from his cozy desk in quarters, but over at +his office. + +Bill looked very grave after he read it. Strangely enough, he had left +his mother's letter for the last. Major Sherman wrote to know what watch +Bill had pawned. A pawnbroker in Lawton had written him to say that he +would be glad to sell the watch left with him as he had a good customer +for it. Major Sherman wanted an explanation from Bill. He had simply +written the man to hold the watch until he had heard from his son. + +Bill was stunned. What it all meant he could not guess. Something +strange was in the air. He felt the influence of evil but could not +place it. Taking his mother's letter, still unopened, he walked slowly +to the library. It was full of boys, all laughing and talking. It had +become a lounging room during the quarantine. Bill could not read there. +Slamming on his cap, he wandered over to the hangar. Climbing into +Ernest's plane, he huddled down where he was effectually hidden. He knew +that Ernest would not be out of the chemistry laboratory for hours, and +he tore open his mother's letter and read it rapidly. + +Lee had been convicted! Bill groaned in anguish as he read the words. +He was to be taken to Leavenworth as soon as a couple more trials were +held so that all the prisoners could go under the care of one officer +and a squad. _Lee going to prison!_ Bill could not believe it. And Lee +had told Mrs. Sherman that he would never be taken to Leavenworth alive. +Bill shuddered. + +Stunned by his emotions, Bill lay motionless in the cramped quarters he +had chosen. Presently he heard a light footstep. It stopped close beside +him and Bill, raising himself on his arm, peered over the edge of his +small quarters at the back of Frank Anderson, who was bending over the +engine of Horace Jardin's plane. No one else was in the hangar. Bill +heard the scrape of steel on steel and saw Frank slip a small +screwdriver into his pocket. Then Bill dropped out of sight, and soon he +heard Frank retreating to the small door of the hangar where he stood +for a moment looking out before he went out. + +Five minutes later he returned with Horace Jardin. + +Horace as usual was sputtering. + +"I tell you, Andy," he said with his usual bluster, "this is the _last_ +day I will fool with that plane. Absolutely the last! If she doesn't go +before night, she needn't go at all. I will get rid of her. Dad wrote me +this morning that he had had a letter from the chief mechanician here, +and what the fellow says about the plane looks as though the company +had put one over on us. Dad won't stand for that. He is going to make +them replace the car. But they can't have this one back. I will sell it +sure as shooting! I need money." + +"What's your price?" asked Frank. + +Jardin registered deep thought. "I need five hundred," he said. + +"I will buy it," replied Frank. "I can make a little on it if I sell it +for junk, and you can't afford to dicker around like that. It would be +out of place for a Jardin to be dealing in second-hand stuff. Everyone +knows I have nothing." + +"How do you come to have the five hundred then?" asked Horace +suspiciously. + +Frank flushed but did not hesitate. + +"A present from my grandmother," he said, trusting to luck that Jardin +would not know that the lady had been dead for many years. + +"Well, if she doesn't go by to-night, she is yours for the five +hundred," promised Jardin. "I wonder where those mechanicians are. Let's +go look them up." + +Together the boys went out, and Bill, feeling it was high time to +escape, leaped out of the plane and dodged out the door. + +Across the field, Ernest, the two mechanicians, Frank and Horace were +talking excitedly. + +Bill joined the group. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +"No use talkin' Mr. Jardin," one of the men blurted out as Bill came up. +"There is some monkey work going on here. Somebody is foolin' with your +plane. We lock the hangar every night, and someone is always around all +day, but allee samee, as the Chinee says, allee samee, _somebody_ gets +that machine all out of tune as soon as I get it right. And it's no +fool, either. Whoever is tinkering with it understands that type of +flyer down to the ground. He knows just what to discombobolate in order +to make us the most trouble." + +Ernest laid a hand on the man's shoulder. + +"The thing is, Tom, we will have to look for a motive. Now what earthly +motive can anyone have?" + +"Search me!" said Tom. "Whoever is doing it doesn't want to hurt Mr. +Jardin here, because the damage is always to something that will keep +the plane from rising. For instance, yesterday the spark plugs had mud +in 'em. Before that, the exhaust wouldn't work; one time the priming pin +was clean gone; once the dust cap was half off; then the drum control, +warping the wings got on the blink. I tell you, it is enough to drive +anybody crazy! Lately we have took to sleeping in the hangar, but things +happen just the same." + +"I am afraid it is a case of poor construction," said Ernest. "There is +no one who would pick on Jardin like that. Why don't they do something +to _my_ plane? Jardin has no enemies. He has invited about every boy in +the whole school to ride with him." + +"Certainly I have!" said Jardin. "I guess I more than pay my way around +this place! I have stood treat oftener than any one in the whole school. +It doesn't pay to be an enemy of mine." + +Ernest frowned. "It is not a case of treating," he said sternly. "It is +merely that no special fellow here owes you a grudge. So, as they have +no reason to owe me a grudge either, I don't see why I do not come in +for some of the damage, or you, Tom. There are only three planes here. +Why do they pick on Jardin? It beats me! There is something back of this +that I do not understand." + +Bill, cautiously studying Frank, said to himself, "There will be trouble +with the other planes to-morrow. The conversation has given Frank an +idea." + +"Well," said Jardin mysteriously, "after today I don't care what +happens. Come along, Tom, and see if she is all to the bad today." + +Together they walked over to the hangar and wheeled Jardin's plane out +into the field. It could not be made to start. Tom gave a short, hard +laugh. + +"I am beaten!" he declared. "The screws are all loose on the +interrupter and it will take me all day to adjust the engine again." + +"Gee, that's a shame!" said Frank, shaking his head. + +Bill looked at him with amazement. After what he had seen in the hangar, +the boy's sly cunning filled him with amazement. He had an overwhelming +desire to confide in someone, and Ernest flashed into his mind. + +The sky was growing very dark, and a queer yellow light spread the +northwest like a blanket. + +Tom turned the plane and headed it back toward the hangar. "No flyin' +today," he said. "Look at that sky!" + +The boys helped him put the plane away, then they sauntered up to the +school. A flash of lightning split the sky. + +"Funny time of year for lightning," said Bill. + +"It is, at that!" answered Ernest. "But it looks to me as though we were +going to have a real electrical storm. Let's get under cover." + +They raced up the hill and into the building just as the storm descended +in good earnest. As Bill hurried to his room to shut the window, the boy +in the telephone booth called him. + +"Telegram for you," he said, shoving the message through the wicket. +Bill signed the slip with a hand that shook a little. His mother! She +was his first thought. But her name was at the foot of the message which +proved to be a night letter. + +"Lee will be taken to Leavenworth on Tuesday," it ran. "Circumstantial +evidence too strong. He is in a dreadful state but promises me to take +it like a soldier. Wish that you were here, but am told the quarantine +is absolutely strict. Will see you Thanksgiving if possible. Love. +Mother." + +Bill turned abruptly and went after Ernest. No one had seen him. +Presently he gave up the search and went to his room where he found +everything in the greatest disorder and a gale sweeping clothing, papers +and bedding from their places. He closed the window and straightened up +the place, moving the two army lockers to a new and better position and +rearranging his desk. He was too worried and restless to work, so he +went to the window, and leaning against the sash, watched a spectacular +storm sweep across the valley. In the distance he could see the trolley +cars struggling against the blast, but presently they were seen no more. +Great branches broke from the trees and whirled through the air. The +steel flag-pole before the main building bent perilously and, as Bill +watched, a row of telephone poles went toppling over. Blacker and +blacker grew the air, and at last with a crash the rain fell. Bill drew +a chair and moodily stared out into the whirling wet landscape. + +All day the storm raged and Bill, worried and irresolute, sought Ernest. +It was not until supper time that he found him. + +He had shut himself in the clubroom over the grill and had been boning +for an examination. Mess over, they wandered out on the terrace. The +storm was over, completely and wholly. The air was clear, the sky +cloudless. A gentle breeze fanned them. Trolley wires, telephone poles +and trees lay in every direction, with here and there a rolled-up tin +roof. It had been bad enough while it lasted. + +"Come over here by the tennis court," suggested Bill. "I want to talk to +you. A lot of things have happened in the last few weeks, and I don't +know what to make of them." + +"Fire ahead if I can help," said Ernest. + +Bill commenced his story with the influence Jardin seemed to have over +Frank and concluded with what he had seen in the hangar. + +"What's the game?" he demanded at last. + +"I can't guess unless he wants Jardin to get so disgusted that he will +give him the plane. Has Frank any money?" asked Ernest. + +"He had a present from a friend of ours when we came," said Bill, "but +most of that has been frittered away. Besides that, he hasn't a cent +although he goes strutting around as though he had a little private wad +to draw on. But I know he hasn't any. Where would _he_ get money? His +folks have only their army pay." + +"It surely is funny about that plane," said Ernest. "I never saw a chap +so crazy about flying, but he can't expect to get a plane like that for +nothing, and yet what you saw looks suspiciously as though he was up to +some scheme. What sort of a chap was he at home?" + +"Not bad," replied Bill generously. "There was a lot of things I didn't +like about him, but I never suspected he would do anything underhanded. +Why, he might kill Jardin, monkeying that way with the plane!" + +"He is determined not to harm him," said Ernest. "Everything that has +happened to the plane has been of a nature that has made it impossible +to get it off the ground. So Jardin is safe for the present at least. I +think I will manage to secrete myself in that hangar to-morrow morning. +I don't believe we had better tell anyone about this, Bill; it would +stir up such a fuss. The plane is in perfect order now. I saw Tom a +little while ago and he has it tuned up to perfection. In the meantime I +think I will seek our friend Jardin and sound him a little. Later I will +drop in." He strolled off in the direction of the billiard room where +Jardin was usually to be found, and Bill went to his own room and tried +to read. The thought that in a short time Lee, good, honest, loyal Lee, +would be on his way to prison, a convicted thief, was more than he could +bear. The print danced before his eyes. He heaved a sigh of relief when +a tap on the door was followed by the entrance of Ernest. + +"The plot thickens," he said, closing the door carefully and glancing +about to assure himself they were alone. "I have had a long talk with +young Jardin and it was very mystifying. You are mistaken about Frank, I +think. He must have a bank account or something of the sort, because he +has actually offered to buy that plane. I suspect he has offered very +little for it, because Jardin would not tell me the price. But the deal +is good as closed. Jardin is going to get a new machine, and Frank is to +pay him for this one to-morrow." + +Bill was silent for a long time. "I don't know what it all means," he +said finally. "Something queer has happened to me that worries me. I +wonder--do you think--no, it couldn't be." + +"Probably it couldn't," agreed Ernest, "but I can't think before you +explain what to think about." + +"It was a letter from my dad," explained Bill, and went on to tell him +about the watch that was in the pawnshop in his name. And then, because +he had a good start, he told Ernest about Lee. + +"That pawnshop affair may have something to do with Frank," said Ernest, +"but you can't connect him with that robbery. That is too big and too +serious. Six hundred dollars, you say?" + +"I think that was what they told me," said Bill. "No, of course Frank +has nothing to do with that, and I know Lee is perfectly innocent of it +too. I just about go crazy when I think about it." + +"It is terrible," said Ernest, deeply troubled. + +For a long while they sat talking things over, but were finally +interrupted by the entrance of Frank, who came bursting noisily into the +room, throwing his cap across the bed and tearing off his coat. + +"Taps going to sound!" he said. + +"I don't have to go to bed until I want to," said Ernest. "Will it +disturb you boys if I stay awhile?" + +"Don't mind me!" said Frank. He took off his stock, and sat down on his +bed with his back to them. + +"I never did show you the pictures of my folks, did I?" asked Bill of +Ernest. He went over to the lockers. + +"Darn these lockers," he laughed. "They are exactly alike. I never know +which is mine." + +"Yours is next the window," said Frank, "and mine is always locked." + +"They are both locked now, as it happens," said Bill. He went over to +the dresser and picked up a key. "That doesn't look like mine," he said, +squinting at it. + +"Mine is in my pocket," said Frank. + +Bill took the key and opened the locker. He tipped up a corner of the +tray and felt under it, drawing out a square photograph case. + +"Our folks fitted us out just alike as to kit bags and toilet sets and +photograph cases," said Bill, coming over toward the light with the +case. It slipped out of his hand as he spoke and he made a grab for it, +catching it by one corner. A photograph and a long envelope fluttered to +the floor. + +"This isn't--" said Bill, then stopped and glanced at Frank who was +lying on his back on the bed with both legs in the air, unfastening his +puttees. With trembling fingers Bill seized the paper and scanned it. He +took one look at its contents and for a moment stood as though turned to +stone. + +He passed a shaking hand across his forehead, then in a terrible voice +he cried: + +"Anderson, you--you--you thief, I've got you! Oh, you dog, I've got +you!" + +He choked and took a step toward Frank who had bounded to his feet. + +"Stop!" cried Ernest. "Stop, Bill! What does this mean?" + +"The envelope!" cried Bill, violently striking the paper in his hand. +"The envelope! And the money! The money Lee is going to prison for!" + +"No such thing!" cried Frank, finding his tongue. "That money is mine!" + +"Here is the paymaster's endorsement on the envelope," cried Bill +furiously. "You stole it--stole it and somehow put the blame on Lee. And +then you took his present!" + +He struck away Ernest's restraining hand. + +"Give me that money!" cried Frank. "I found that envelope; that's all +there is to that! The money is _mine_. Give it to me!" + +"Yours?" said Bill. "Well, you won't get it!" and he thrust the long +envelope full of bills into Ernest's grasp. + +With a muttered word, Frank made a leap for it and Bill met him half +way. Bill parried the blow that Frank launched as he realized that the +money was out of his grasp, and in another instant they were fighting +silently and desperately. Both were furiously angry, but Frank was +desperate. Ruin stared him in the face. He was too stunned to realize +that the game was up, his hand played out, and he fought with a +primitive impulse to down the person who had trapped him. + +That Bill had changed the trunks around when the storm was raging and +that the keys were identically alike never occurred to either of them. +Bill's mind was a blank save for the one overwhelming thought that he +had found the envelope that would free Lee. + +Frank's mind was chaos. A wild and whirling fury at Bill, at himself for +carelessly keeping the money in the envelope although its hiding place +back of the photograph seemed absolutely safe, at fate for playing him +such a trick, the thought of exposure--everything was mixed into a +poisonous potion which filled his brain and of which his soul drank. He +leaped upon Bill and tried to throttle him. He fought with the strength +of ten. Somehow both boys seemed to feel the need for silence. Except +for the quick intake of their labored breathing, there was no sound save +the scuffle of Bill's shoes and the impact of their blows. + +When Frank clinched and tried to gouge, Bill in self-defence dropped his +sparring and resorted to the Indian tricks taught him by Lee. He took +joy in the thought that the person who had taught him such clever modes +of self-defence was now to be benefitted by them. + +Frank went down like a rock, and Bill, still holding him helpless, said +panting, "Will you give up?" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +"Let me up!" cried Frank, the veins standing out on his purple forehead +as he struggled vainly under Bill's grasp. "You Injun fighter you, give +me a white man's chance and I'll fight you square!" + +"I don't intend to fight you at all," said Bill. "I don't fight with +fellows like you. And I don't intend to let you beat me up. If you +promise to sit there in that chair and make a clean breast of it, I will +let you up." + +"There is nothing to tell," said Frank. "Lee must have put that money +and that envelope in my trunk. I don't see what you are going to do +about it." + +"Thank goodness there was a witness of the way you acted when I found +it!" exclaimed Bill. He stood up, and Frank scrambled to his feet. He +watched Bill furtively until he glanced aside, then he made a mad lunge +toward him. Bill was too quick for him and once more Frank, sobbing with +rage, went crashing to the floor. + +As Bill stood over him, he glanced at Ernest, who had been an interested +observer. + +"What are we going to do with him?" he asked. + +"This," said Ernest. He pulled a quantity of very strong waxed cord from +his pocket. It was some he sometimes had need of in fixing his plane. + +With a quick twist he had a loop around Frank's ankles, and then, +dragging the resisting boy to his feet, he jammed him down on a chair +and proceeded to fasten him neatly to it. + +"Now," he said, "what next?" + +"Next is to save Lee from Leavenworth," said Bill. "Mother says he will +kill himself if ever he gets there. He can't stand the disgrace. If you +will stick around and watch this fellow, I will go down and see about +sending the telegram." + +"You had better stay here, and I will go," offered Ernest. "It is too +late for you underclass fellows to be out in the corridor, and I can go +down and rush the message. I have a pull with the telephone boy. Write +your message." + +"Don't do it; you will ruin me!" cried Frank. + +Bill stared. "Ruin you; ruin you? What do you mean?" + +"Why, you know what this will mean to me if it gets back on the Post. +What's Lee, anyhow? Just a half-breed private! Let him take his +medicine!" + +Bill paled and Ernest made an involuntary motion as though he was going +to strike the coward down. Bill controlled himself with an effort. + +"He is worth more--his little _finger_ is worth more than your whole +body. He is the finest chap I know. And the next time you call him +half-breed I will lick you. He is justly proud of the American Indian +blood in him. Oh, you aren't worth talking to!" + +He scribbled something on a pad and gave it to Ernest, who disappeared +with it. Instead of returning in a few minutes, it was almost an hour +before he stuck his head in the door and beckoned Bill into the +corridor. + +The boys had not spoken during his absence. + +"Wires all down," he said briefly. "The storm has destroyed all lines of +communication. And they say there are wash-outs all along the lines of +railroads. Also we are under quarantine. Hope you don't mind what I did. +I went to the principal and told him the whole thing, and offered to +take you and Frank out to Sill in my plane. I am perfectly capable of +making a flight ten times that long, and as you know I am a licensed +pilot. Unless a new storm comes up, the air is perfect for flying, and +we can start at daybreak. What do you say?" + +"Do you mean to tell me old Prexy will let us go?" demanded Bill. + +"Surely! He is a good old chappie when he has to rise to an occasion and +I should say this was one. Besides, he wants to get rid of Frank. He +says he doesn't want him in the school another day, and if he is here he +will put him in close confinement. And this affair really does not come +within the school discipline, so the old dear is willing to let you take +Frank and that precious envelope back to Sill. And the only way we can +make it is by air." + +"Oh, it is the greatest luck in the world!" cried Bill. "This is the +reason mother let me off my promise. That plane of yours holds three, +doesn't it?" + +"Easily!" said Ernest. + +"Don't say a word to Frank until we are ready to go," Bill suggested. + +"Well, you can't leave him trussed up there in that chair all night," +said Ernest. "We all need to sleep. I never fly unless I have had a good +supper and a good sleep afterwards. It is the only way to keep a clear +head and steady nerve." + +Between them they lifted Frank, who in sullen silence refused to stand +or use his legs, over on one of the beds, and again tied him securely. +When they were sure that he could not escape, and yet was able to move +sufficiently to keep from being cramped, Bill tumbled into his own bed +and Ernest went off in the direction of his own room, stopping on his +way to thank the principal for his permission. Then, with a last look at +the sky he set his alarm clock, and in a second was fast asleep. + +Before Bill realized that he had really shut his eyes, he felt Ernest +shaking him, and rolled over to see Frank, still bound, glaring at him +in sullen fury. + +"Almost daylight," said Ernest. "I have some breakfast ready over at +the Grill. No one is up, so we can bring Frank right along." + +"What are you up to?" demanded Frank as Bill commenced to dress, hastily +donning his heaviest underclothes. "I am sick of this fooling. You try +to take me out of this room and I will yell so I will bring every +teacher in the building!" + +"Good for you!" said Ernest. "Forewarned is forearmed." He arranged a +gag which effectually prevented Frank from making a sound and, loosening +his feet, they started toward the door. But scenting punishment, Frank +let himself go suddenly limp, and Bill had to put the screws on, as he +expressed it, by applying one of the hand holds that Lee had taught him. +After that the prisoner walked. + +As they silently passed the office the stern face of the principal of +the school suddenly appeared. He made a gesture and the three boys +stopped. Then for a long minute he looked at Frank. + +"Good-bye," he said solemnly. "I pray that you will wake to a +realization of what you have done. You have been a thief; you have +willingly allowed a good young man to bear punishment for your crime, +and you are now about to endanger the lives of two of your mates, who +are willing to take the risk in order to save the innocent. If you are +mercifully permitted to make good this wicked crime, arouse yourself, +Anderson, and resolve to be a different boy." He turned as though he +could say no more, and with a warm handclasp for each of the others, +closed the door. + +"I bet he has been up all night," whispered Ernest. + +They found a hot breakfast at the Grill, and just as the pitch darkness +gave way to a pale streak of dawn, they cut across the campus and +reached the hangar. + +As they switched on the lights, Ernest's beautiful plane seemed to +sparkle with preparedness. He went over it bolt by bolt, nuts, screws, +wires, and wings passing under his careful and critical eye. He looked +at and tested the tension of the wires, the swing of the rudder, the +looseness of the ailerons. Satisfied at last that everything was +perfectly in tune, he turned and gave a critical glance at Frank. + +"He is going to freeze," he said. "You go up to the gym and in my locker +you will find another coat and safety helmet." + +Bill started on a run. It was growing light fast, and it was time they +were on their way. Frank suddenly found his tongue. + +"You have got to tell me what you are trying to do with me," he said. +All the bluster had gone from his voice, and he watched Ernest with +worried eyes. "It is not fair the way you are acting. What are you going +to do?" + +"You may as well know now," said Ernest. "I think myself it is fair to +tell you. We are going to fly to Fort Sill and save Lee from the trip to +Leavenworth. If we have good luck, we have just about time to make it. +That storm last night blew half the telephones down, and we are under +such strict quarantine that we couldn't get away from here any other +way. + +"And if we could there is no time. Of course if we could telegraph, it +would fix things all right. But we have got to hurry. Mrs. Sherman +writes that your victim will never allow himself to go to Leavenworth. +The Indians are proud, you know, and we are making this flight perhaps +to save a life. I don't envy you when you get there, young chap!" + +"I won't go!" said Frank in a low voice. "If you take me up, I will +spill us all out of the plane." + +"You can't do it, you know," said Ernest, laughing. "This plane doesn't +spill as easily as all that, and if you go to talking like that we will +tie you up. I think we will anyway." + +Frank came close to his side. "Have a heart, will you?" he said. "I did +take that money, and I did pawn my watch in Bill's name, but I will +write it all down, if you won't try to take me back." + +"More news," said Ernest. "We didn't know about the watch. I think you +are badly needed back there at Fort Sill." + +He turned to adjust something, dismissing Frank as though he was not +there. They could hear Bill trotting rapidly down the campus. A short +heavy length of iron pipe lay close to Frank's foot. He stooped, picked +it up and made a lunge for Ernest. Ernest turned in time to see the bar +descending and threw up his arm. The bar struck it with sickening force +and the boy reeled back, both bones in the forearm broken. His right arm +dangling loosely at his side, Ernest leaped on his assailant and threw +him to the ground as Bill came up. + +"Help me!" he panted, his face pale with pain. Once more they bound +Anderson, and then put Ernest's arm in rough splints. + +"Well, this ends it!" said Bill gloomily. He dropped down on a bench and +pressed his face in his hands. + +Frank grinned. He was desperate and almost crazy with worry and despair +and remorse. He had not meant to hurt Ernest badly; he thought a good +crack would disturb him and he would have a chance to coax or wriggle +out of the terrible trip before him. He was called to the present and +his surroundings by hearing Ernest's voice. + +"Ends it? Not at all! We will go right ahead." + +"You can't drive with one hand," said Bill sadly. + +"_No, but you can and will_," replied Ernest grimly. + +"What?" cried Bill. + +"He can't drive!" cried Frank. "It will be suicide and murder to let +him try. He has never been up in a plane in his life. Don't do it; don't +do it, I tell you! Don't you know anything, Bill? You will be killed +sure as shooting!" + +"I am not afraid," said Bill calmly. + +"Well, I am!" cried Frank. + +"I would be if I were you," scorned Bill. "If I had stolen one man's +reputation and broken another man's arm, I would be a little afraid +myself!" + +"To say nothing of stealing another boy's name!" cut in Ernest. + +"What's that?" asked Bill. + +"That's another story," said Ernest. "You can hear that some other time. +Hustle into your togs now; I want to get to Sill. My arm hurts." + +Flying is getting to be such a widespread sport as well as profession +that every device possible is being developed for the safety and welfare +of airmen and women. So Bill helped Ernest into a leather hood which +extended down over the shoulders, and which was softly and warmly lined +with wool fleece. Over this went a helmet with a specially heavy padded +top and sides built on a heavy leather form with ear cones, adjustable +visors, and flaps. Ernest's leather coat could only be worn on one arm +on account of the right one which was tightly bandaged against his +breast, but Bill buttoned and tied it together as closely as he could. + +He then ordered Frank into a similar outfit, which they found in +Jardin's car, and rapidly dressed himself in the same manner. He +unlatched the great doors and swung them wide, and together they pushed +the plane out onto the field, Frank lying tied in the observer's seat. +It seemed cruel to tie him in the face of his fear, but they were afraid +he would do something desperate. + +"Now just a last word," said Ernest, laying a hand on Bill's shoulder. +"You won't lose your nerve, will you, old fellow?" + +"Of course not!" said Bill. "Let's get off. I have a hunch that we ought +to get along. We don't want to have to follow all the way to +Leavenworth." + +"All right-o, let's be off!" seconded Ernest. "Take the pilot's seat, +and I will help you if it is necessary. Good luck, old dear!" + +"Here comes Tom and the other fellow," said Bill. "They can hold us." + +He climbed into his seat and Ernest sat beside him, nursing his wounded +arm. Tom and his helper, boiling with amazement and curiosity, held the +machine and turned it to face the wind. + +Bill gave his engine plenty of gas, the propellers whirled faster and +faster, and when they reached top speed under Bill's accustomed hand, he +gave the signal and the men let go. The plane bounded forward, skipping +merrily over the field. Bill balanced on one wheel for a moment, then +with a thrill of the heart such as he had never known tilted the +elevating plane and felt himself rise in the air. + +They were off! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +As the plane, responding perfectly to Bill's touch, soared upward, it +seemed as though they were rising on gossamer wings out of a well of +darkness and mists. They actually rose to greet the sun whose first rays +were gilding the tops of the hills. They went up in the very face of the +great orb whose light, first striking the upper wings, turned all the +delicate wires and cords to gold. How they shone in the clear early +sunlight! As the pace increased, Bill felt rather than heard the +delicate humming of the wires. Over the roar of the engine he did not +know whether he could distinguish a delicate sound or whether it was +only a trick of his imagination, but he was so exalted and so thrilled +by the wonderful experience through which he was passing that he seemed +to hear all sorts of celestial sounds. + +Fear fell from him. A new power was born in heart and brain. He felt as +uplifted in soul as he was in body. Somehow he longed more than ever to +be a good boy; to harbor good thoughts; to do good deeds. When he tried +to think of Frank and his ugly black actions, he found that he regarded +them through a haze as though they were a long ways away and of little +consequence. All was going to be well. It was as though the darkness +from which they had risen was a symbol. They were going up, up into the +light! Bill knew as well as though some higher power had whispered it to +him that there would be a good ending: he did not doubt his ability to +do an almost unheard-of thing. His hand was as steady as though he had +flown all his life. He was "exalted in spirit," because his goal was a +worthy one. Without a question for their own safety, the boys had +started on an enterprise filled with dangers, in order to save Lee from +false imprisonment and possibly worse. Ernest knew the Indian nature +better even than Bill. He knew how impossible it is for them to bear +unmerited disgrace and how often they end that disgrace with a bullet or +the swift thrust of a knife. He hoped that the white blood that +dominated Bill's good friend was strong enough to overcome this trend, +but nevertheless he felt that there was not a moment to be lost. So +there he sat, only an observer in his well-beloved aeroplane, the broken +arm throbbing with a blinding pain, while Bill--young Bill who had never +been nearer to flying than the warping of a wing and the sailing on one +wheel over the field--sat in the pilot's seat, grave and intent, and +guided their swift flight. + +But ah, who could tell the thoughts that all unbidden coursed through +the mind of the culprit lying bound and muffled in the rear seat? So +intently were the eyes of his spirit bent inward on the dark and +whirling horrors they found there that the eyes of his body were blind +to the wonders of the young day. He lay where they had placed him, +staring blindly through his goggles straight up into the great dome +above him. + +The storm seemed to have washed the very air. It was clear as crystal. A +few clouds, thin as gossamer, hung here and there, growing less as a +steady breeze sprang up in the wake of the sun and gently dismissed them +from the great blue bowl in which they lingered. + +When they passed through these fairy clouds, they found them a soft +golden mist shot through with rainbow colors. Then emerging, they passed +once more into blue space, a space greater than Bill had ever imagined. + +How tiny, how frail they were: three boys darting in a man-made machine +high above their own realm! What daring! What risks! + +Daring, risks? Bill was unable to grasp the meaning of those earth-born +words. He felt neither small nor frail. He, Bill Sherman, a boy, was +among the conquerors! + +At a signal from Ernest he increased the speed and soared upward. It is +safer in the higher altitudes, although there is usually a great deal +more wind blowing there. In case of any engine trouble, you have more +time and a longer distance in which to bring the machine to the gliding +angle. Also if you are flying over a city when trouble threatens, you +have a chance to find a good landing place. + +All of these things Bill had had lectured to him endlessly at Sill, and +from both Ernest and Tom at school. But actual experience he had not +had. That fact, however, he put resolutely behind him. Just one breath +of fear struck him. He had witnessed a tail dive once at Sill, and over +and over his mind kept repeating, "Keep the tail a little higher than +the head and you won't spin." Ernest smiled to himself as he saw from +Bill's manoeuvers as the flight went on that he had stored away all +the counsel he had listened to. Many a trained aviator never learned to +drive his engine and balance his plane with the cool cleverness and +judgment of this young and untried aeronaut. Ernest commenced to relax +and enjoy himself. If they had no engine accident, there was no reason +to suppose that Bill would wreck the plane. + +"Up!" cried Ernest, pointing with his well hand. + +Bill responded and the plane again soared aloft. + +Here the wind screamed a gale. The plane shot forward, the wires +whistling, the engine drumming, the whole light fabric in which they +rode quivering. Bill's hand on the wheel grew tense; his faculties +seemed on a wire edge. Ernest's guiding hand pointed to the right. Bill +was surprised. He had kept good track of his direction by the aid of the +air compass and felt sure he was going in the right direction. +Nevertheless he turned and, banking his wings and lifting the ailerons, +moved smoothly in the direction suggested. Half an hour later Ernest +again motioned, this time for a turn to the left. + +It was not until days after their arrival at Sill that Ernest thought to +tell Bill that the unexpected and seemingly unnecessary deviations from +the straight course were merely to try him out. An hour or so later when +Ernest saw that they were passing over a strip of country where good +landing places seemed plentiful, he indicated a dip and Bill executed it +perfectly. He felt proud of himself now, and said, "Tail up, tail up!" +repeatedly, as he felt the plane drop earthward. Reaching a lower level, +Ernest nodded and they sailed on a straight-away flight, their eyes +turned ever to the far-away goal in the west. + +Bill was unconscious of the passing time. They had had a heavy and +sustaining breakfast, and luncheon was forgotten. There was no time to +stop if they had been hungry. But Ernest was thinking of many things. + +He carefully scanned the country they were passing over for a landing +place. Bill's face was well covered with the flaps of his helmet and the +wings of his goggles, but Ernest fancied that the young aviator was +pale. He felt that they must land for awhile. Even now they were many +hours ahead of the time they would have made on a railroad train. He +indicated an upward course, and Bill rose as they raced over a flat and +open part of the country. Far ahead there lay what seemed to be an open +plain dotted at long intervals with small villages. A pleasant farming +district evidently, far from any large city. Ernest was sure that he +could get gasoline in any hamlet, and there seemed to be plenty of +landing places. The only question remaining was Bill's ability to get +down without a smash. Ernest smiled. He was fatalist enough to be +willing to risk what _had_ to be risked. + +The sun was well in the west. They seemed to be flying straight into the +blazing disk when Ernest, pointing to a wide plain far ahead, touched +Bill and told him with a gesture to go down and land. + +Bill gave a short nod and prepared to obey. There flashed into his head +a saying of Tom's, "Anybuddy can fly, but it's the landing that hurts." + +Bill felt everything--their safety, his own self-respect and Ernest's +confidence in him--rested on this last and different test. He could not +conceive of a reason for landing, but Ernest said land, so land it was! + +At any rate, his engine was going perfectly, so he was not required to +attempt a difficult volplane with a dead engine. It was something to be +spared that. Bill picked the likeliest spot in the distant landscape, +all immense field with only a few groups of black dots to break its late +fall greenness. Bill could not tell the nature of the dots at the +height he was flying. They might be bushes or cows. Bill hoped for the +latter, and as he came down he saw that he was right. Cows would be +likely to scatter, thought Bill, but bushes would be difficult to steer +around. + +About a hundred feet from the ground he tilted his elevating plane, and +the machine, nosing up, glided off at a tangent. Once more making a +turn, he came down to the ground, striking it gently, and bobbing along +the grassy surface of the field. + +The cows scattered all right. When the machine came to a standstill, +swaying back and forth like a giant dragonfly, all that remained of the +herd was a glimpse of agitated and wildly waving tails galloping off +into the second growth which rimmed the pasture. + +Ernest, who had taken many long flights, removed his goggles and smiled +at the young pilot as he climbed awkwardly over the side and dropped to +the ground. His head whirled, and his eyes felt strained out of his +head. With fingers that trembled he undid his helmet and pushed off his +goggles. + +"Well, boy, I may say that I was never so proud of a friend in my life! +You have done nobly!" + +"What did we land for?" asked Bill. "I don't see as we can afford the +time." + +"We must take time to get some gas and rest you up a little. Don't you +worry, son! You are going to drive all night to-night unless--well, why +didn't I think of this before? We are 'way past the path of the storm +last night, and--" + +"Last night!" interrupted Bill. "Was it only last night? I feel as +though it was a week ago." + +"I was going to say," resumed Ernest, "that we can send a telegram from +somewhere around here, and then we can spend the night at a farmhouse, +and go on to-morrow. We can reach there to-morrow night, perhaps +earlier." + +"I don't approve of that," said Bill. "If my mother thought I was 'up in +a balloon, boys,' she would about die of fright." + +"She gave you permission," reminded Ernest. + +"Yes, but of course she never thought anything like this would happen +and honestly I wish you wouldn't! I can drive all night all right. That +is, if I can get a little rest," he added, as he sensed his aching +muscles and realized the tension he had been under. + +"I think about so," said Ernest. "I will look around for a farmhouse. +Must be one near on account of all these cows. Oh, goodness! See what's +coming!" + +Across the field surged a small but excited procession. A lean boy on +horseback, without saddle or bridle and guiding the shambling colt he +rode by a halter strap, led the van. Behind him, as lean as he, and +about seven feet tall, a farmer, whiskered like a cartoon, kept pace +easily with the horse. Behind came a roly-poly old lady, her apron +strings fluttering in the breeze as she bowled along dragging a fat +little girl by each hand. Three dogs barking loudly brought up the rear. + +Twenty-five feet from the plane the procession was thrown into confusion +by the colt which suddenly discovered what seemed to him to be a giant +horsefly, its wings wagging lazily. He had dreamed of just such monsters +while snoozing in the shade on hot summer days, but here, oh, here was +the creature itself ready to fly up and alight on him! + +He did not wait for further investigation, but whirled and left for +parts distant where the cows peered through the saplings at the awful +intruder in their peaceful pasture. The sod was soft and the young +rider, rolling head over heels, was not harmed as he came to a stop +close to the boys and sat up, rubbing his red head. + +"What's your hurry?" asked Ernest, smiling. + +"Nuthin'," said the boy. "Say, is that a airyplane?" + +"Sure thing!" replied Ernest. "Do you live near here?" + +"Yep!" said the boy. "Let's see you fly in it." + +Ernest laughed. "You certainly believe in speeding the parting guest, +don't you, young chap? Is this your father coming?" + +"Yep! Say, how do you work her?" + +Ernest turned to greet the tall farmer. Everything was turning out as +he hoped. Not only would the farmer and his roly-poly wife, who +presently came up panting, give them supper and a place to rest, but he +had a Ford, and on account of the distance from town was always supplied +with a large tank full of gas. Ernest gave a sigh of relief. The only +danger was from their curiosity. When the thin boy went off to get the +colt, and was seen riding furiously away, Ernest knew that, like Paul +Revere, he was off to give an alarm and rouse the countryside. He looked +at his watch. There should be a full moon later, but Bill was completely +tired out and had not yet come into the condition known as second wind. +It would take three or four hours to get ready for the rest of the +flight. + +"What sort of a chap is that boy of yours?" asked Ernest. + +"Pig-headed!" said the old lady, speaking for the first time. + +"That is not a bad trait," said Ernest, smiling. "I mean can you trust +him?" + +"Yes, you _kin_," said his mother. "Webby will do just what he says +every time and all the time." + +"The woman's right," said the farmer. "I kin trust Web soon as I kin +myself." + +"Sooner!" said his wife scornfully. "You are the forgittinest feller, +and Webby don't _never_ forget. If you want he should go an errant, +mister, he'll be back soon." + +"Not exactly an errand," said Ernest, and no more would he say until he +saw the boy come galloping back to the field. He dismounted a long way +off, and came running. + +"Your mother and father tell me you can keep your word, and be trusted," +said Ernest. "I want you to stand guard over this machine. I don't want +you or anyone else to _touch_ it. I want you to keep everyone at least +ten feet away. If you will do this, I will either pay you or else take +you up for a little flight." + +"Wait!" said the boy. He turned and went running back to his colt and, +mounting, dashed out of sight. In five minutes he returned bearing a +long out-of-date rifle. + +"Go ahead and get something to eat," he said. "This ought to fix 'em!" + +With a stick he drew a deep scratch in the green grass around the plane. +Then he looked with a smile across the field. + +"Let 'em come!" he said. "This ought to fix 'em!" + +Ernest looked. Mr. Paul Revere Webby had not ridden in vain. They were +coming. Coming in Fords, buggies and on horseback. Coming strong. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Ernest turned to the boy with the rifle who was standing guard over the +wonderful, strange thing that had alighted in his father's meadow, and +was satisfied. Cool, clear, honest blue eyes stared back and met his +gaze fairly. + +"Don't you be feared," said the boy. "They won't come apast that +scratch. You kin trust me. Ma and Pa trusts me with the roan colt." + +"The one you were riding?" asked Ernest. + +"Naw, not that," the boy laughed. "You git on, less'n you want to answer +four million questions. You kin leave her with me. They won't come apast +that scratch, and I kin skeer 'em off with this. They know I kin shoot." + +He patted the long, lean rifle lying along his arm, and Ernest knew that +in truth he could not leave the airplane in safer hands. + +He followed Bill and the farmer's family across the slope, Frank +lounging along beside him. They did not talk. Frank staggered as he +walked, he was so tired, and Ernest, who was accustomed to long flights, +was silent too. The pain in his arm was about all he could bear, and he +did not feel in the mood for talking to the fellow who had injured him. +So they moved silently across the soft sod, the farmer and his wife +talking busily to Bill. The two children and the three dogs ran and +frolicked in the rear. From the distant second growth the herd gazed +out, still suspicious. They had almost forgotten to chew their cuds! + +The roly-poly farmer's wife gave them a feast. Home-cured ham and +home-laid eggs and corn pone and jam and jelly and cake and molasses and +all sorts of good things besides, including cream to drink--real cream, +all blobby on the sides of the glass. Bill thought he would never get +enough to eat, and even Frank consumed about enough for two boys. As +soon as the meal was over, Ernest made Bill go and lie down on Webby's +bed. Frank was given the narrow horsehair sofa in the stuffy parlor, but +Ernest knew that Bill must sleep in an airy room, and the parlor had not +been opened since the war of '60 to judge by the musty closeness of it. +Ernest himself was in too much pain to rest so he sat and talked +aviation with the farmer for a few minutes and then they went down to +the lot to take a look at the machine. The farmer's wife had stacked her +dishes and was there before them. + +Not even his mother was allowed inside the scratch by the important and +faithful Webby. He stood guard beside the machine, enjoying the proudest +moment of his life. In after years, when Webby, goaded on by that +fateful landing, had gained the highest rung of fame's ladder, his +triumph was little compared to that clear sunset time in the pasture +when he stood guard over the wonder-car that had come from the sky with +its pilot and passengers scarcely older than himself. + +When Ernest approached, the crowd surged forward, but Webby sternly +drove them back. + +There were growls from the outsiders, who yearned to step over the +danger line and look and handle and if possible go off with a bit of +wire or string or what not, as a keepsake. But Webby was adamant, +although he was obliged to make dates for the following day with three +boys who insisted on fighting him out of revenge. + +One glance at the plane assured Ernest that everything was exactly as he +had left it. He thanked Webby and asked him what he would like best--a +payment of money or a flight. + +"Druther fly," said Webby promptly, laying down his rifle and starting +toward the car. + +"I can't fly it myself now," said Ernest, "but when the other boy comes +down from the house he will give you a little turn. If we had time, we +could stay here for a day or so. This is the finest field for landing +that I have seen in a long time. But we are in a great hurry, and all we +can do for you to-night is to give you a short spin." + +When Bill came down, his eyes heavy with sleep, he found Webby +restlessly pacing up and down before the car, and a silent, attentive +crowd of natives waiting to see what was going to happen. Webby's +parents did not know enough about aviation to feel any fear for their +son, and watched with unspeakable delight as Ernest with his one arm and +Bill with his two sound ones, pulled the plane around to face the wind, +settled Webby in his seat and started the engine. + +"Don't go more than fifty feet above the ground, and keep over the field +if you can," whispered Ernest in Bill's ear. + +"Aren't you going up?" asked Bill. + +"No use; you can manage it all right," said Ernest, "and I will stay +here and keep an eye on Frank. He needs watching. He would lose himself +in the swamp for a cent. He is in a bad state of mind. I hope he is, +too. Perhaps he will come to realize what he has done." + +"I hope so," said Bill. "Can't we leave as soon as I give that kid a +turn? I want to get along. It seems as though we were hanging around +here an awful while." + +"Land over by the bars if you can," said Ernest. "It will be fun to see +this outfit scamper over, and besides it will be closer to the gasoline +tank." + +"All right," replied Bill, tuning up the engine. He skimmed along the +field while a wild, shrill shout went up from the observers. They +commenced to trail excitedly after, and stood hopping up and down and +tossing their hats in excitement as the graceful car left the ground and +sailed smoothly into the air. Bill found that flying, rising and +lighting the second time was much easier than the first. He had lost +what little awkwardness he had had in the beginning, and the machine +moved with a smooth freedom. He wished that he had eyes in the back of +his head so he could see Webby. But if he _had_ seen Webby, he would not +have laughed. Webby, watching the old familiar earth drop away, felt +exalted; he felt as though he had suddenly become a creature of some +finer, rarer place. When Webby told about it next day, he said, "I felt +like I was a chicken just hatched fum out an aig," but Webby said that +because words were hard things and difficult to handle. He really +thought of angels and made up his mind then and there to be a great man. + +Bill made the landing on the other side of the field as Ernest had +suggested, and he and Webby sat in the car and laughed as the audience +streaked across to them. Webby shook just a little when he stood once +more on solid earth, and he was more silent than ever. But when Ernest +came up he said in a low tone: "Say, ain't there books about this here?" + +"What you want is a magazine," said Ernest, "and I will send you mine as +soon as I have read it." + +"Every time it comes?" asked Webby. "Say, you are good!" + +"That's all right," said Ernest, "only take one piece of advice. The +flying will keep. Just you _keep on going to school_. You will need all +sorts of learning, especially mathematics." + +"Ho; I kin _eat_ figgers!" boasted the boy. + +"That's good," said Ernest, shaking his hand. "Now, good-bye. I have +left my address with your mother. If you will write me next week, I will +send you that magazine." + +They said good-bye to the kindly farmers, having filled up with gas, +settled Frank in his seat, and arose just as a great white moon showed +itself over the trees. + +Once more they were off. With good luck they would reach their +destination early the following day. Bill was tired, deadly tired; but +he thought of the pain Ernest must be suffering from his wounded arm and +settled himself to his task with dogged determination. He had never been +up after dark, and the sensation was a new one. He was glad to have +Ernest beside him. As they rose, a couple of enormous birds sailed out +of their way. Eagles or buzzards; he did not know enough of the country +to be able to tell which. He was conscious of a feeling of dizziness and +fatigue. Everything he had ever heard about side slipping, tail spins, +nose dives--in fact, all the accidents that might befall an aviator +passed through his mind in gruesome procession. He looked down at the +compass, now beginning to show its luminous dial, and saw that they were +really going in the right direction. As he looked down, he commenced to +feel a stranger to the many levers and knobs before him. He knew them +all, knew them like a book; at least he had. Now they were slipping, +slipping away from him. He could not remember what they were for. + +He felt rather than saw Ernest motion him upward. As he climbed through +the cutting air, he plunged into a dense bank of cloud. The thought +flashed over him that if the plane turned over there in unlighted space, +he would not be able to right it again. As they passed once more into +the clear air, it was as though they were plunged into a bath of liquid +silver. The moon, immense and coldly luminous, had risen and hung in the +sky huge and pale. If the morning sun had turned every wire and blade to +gold, the moon silvered the whole plane. Space about them stretched off +dim and threatening. Bill shivered. His clutch on the wheel loosened and +the engine coughed twice. + +Bill felt his nerve die within him. Then a voice clear and sweet seemed +to speak. It was so clear that he glanced toward Ernest to see if he too +heard. Twice he heard his name called, then the dearest voice in the +world said clearly: + +"All's well, sonny. We are waiting. You will be in time." + +With a start Bill knew that his mother was speaking. Where she was he +did not know, but he heard her. All his fear, his indecision and his +nervousness faded away. He glanced at the dial of the clock. It was +just nine. The long, hard night was ahead of him, but he could make it. +He set the wheel and risked a look at Ernest. He had not spoken, and he +had not heard. With his well arm he was nursing the broken one, and as +Bill looked at him he once more motioned upward. So they went soaring +up, up and still up, into silver-shod space, above ink-black masses of +cloud that held the silver rays of the moon on their upper surfaces as +though they were cups. + +As they sped on a wind began to blow behind them. It raced with them, +caught them, hurled them forward with incredible speed. Bill held his +course steadily, remembering "tail up!" as he tore onward. They were now +so high that the earth was not even a shadow below them. + +Suddenly as though flung through a doorway, they fell into one of those +strange freaks of the upper air called a "pocket." It is a vacuum, and +most dangerous. + +The plane shook and wavered, but Bill set himself for a downward course +and glided across the perilous area. As they emerged and struck the wind +again, the plane slipped dangerously, but Bill warped the planes and set +the ailerons with all the speed he could, and presently the indicator +before him registered an even keel and the danger past. + +Silently Ernest reached over and patted Bill's shoulder. Bill scarcely +noticed. He was no longer afraid, no longer nervous. He had come into +his own--and his mother was waiting for him! He would not fail her. She +expected him. He would be there. How or why she knew that he was coming +he could not guess, but he had heard her voice. Bill settled back in his +seat and felt that he was master of his machine. And, better still, he +was master of himself. Never again would he lose control of his nerves. +He wondered how he had ever done so. In the darkness he smiled. + +Hour after hour sped by. Bill was experiencing one of the peculiar +things about air voyages. Time seemed to be obliterated and he did not +feel the slightest fatigue. All the usual sensations of the human body +seemed to disappear just as the earth had disappeared. On and on flew +the plane. Once more he glanced at Ernest. It seemed as though he had +slipped down in his seat. Bill wondered if he was tired. Darkness crept +over the intense moonlight like a veil, and Bill realized that the moon +was gone. He kept his course, however, with the aid of his indicator and +the air compass and at last a new light commenced to show, the cold, +cheerless, dun light of early dawn. As yet there was no sign of the sun. + +Bill wondered if, in the night, he had flown past Fort Sill. It was +certainly time they were approaching it. He slowed the engine down as +much as he dared, and waited for more light. As day came, he saw that +he was indeed over the bleak, cheerless wastes of Oklahoma, but as yet +there was no sign of the great Post. + +At last, far, far ahead he saw it; a great city, part of it forsaken and +dismantled now that the war was ended and the need of trained troops not +so important. He dropped a little as he recognized his location. He +scanned Old Post lying on its low eminence, with the white hospitals +spreading over their area, New Post with its wide parade ground and its +trim rows of officers' quarters staring primly at the departmental +buildings built in the old Mexican fashion on the other side of the +parade. + +Donovan, with its splendid roads and miles of skeleton tent frames, and +nearer Bill recognized with a quickly beating heart the squat, ugly +quarters and class buildings of the School of Fire. + +Now on the instant there came to Bill a daring idea. Back of the +quarters where his mother and dad lived, a wide level space stretched +out to a bluff under which ran a sluggish stream called Medicine Creek. +It was a good-sized field, but of course not nearly the size of Aviation +Field lying far the other side of the Post. Nevertheless Bill made up +his mind to land there. He circled the Post, rising as he did so to a +high altitude, and leaving the plain he wished to land on far behind. + +He knew that he must be careful, as too great speed in striking would +drive the plane forward into the Students' building lying broadside. + +If he approached from the other direction, a false landing would send +them over the cliff into the trees and underbrush along the creek bank. + +But he knew that he could do it, and he did. The plane came down at a +perfect angle, reached the earth just at the edge of the bluff, hopped +gayly along toward the class building, turned in response to his hand on +the wheel, and stopped almost opposite his mother's back door. + +Bill turned and looked at Ernest. He was lying low in his seat in an +almost fainting condition. Frank, with closed eyes, looked deathly in +the early morning light. Bill struggled out of his seat, and stood +shakily beside the plane, undoing his helmet. A group of orderlies and +janitors ran up, and several officers in more or less undress appeared +on the porches. Bill, reeling, walked over to his mother's door. + +She herself opened it, clasped him in her arms, and gave a cry of +delight. + +"Bill, darling, you have _grown_!" she cried, and then as an +after-thought, "How _late_ you are! I have been watching for you for an +hour." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +"How did you know I was coming, mother dear?" asked Bill, clinging +rather crazily to her as he tried to steady himself. + +"I just _felt_ it," she answered, "and once I was so frightened about +you, but that passed away." + +"What time was it, do you remember?" asked Bill. + +"Nine o'clock," she said. "I was waiting for dad to come home from a +board meeting." + +"Yes, it was just nine," said Bill with a strange look on his face. "I +heard you when you spoke to me, mother, and I think it saved my life, +and the lives of the other fellows. + +"How very strange!" exclaimed Mrs. Sherman. "Who came with you, Bill, +and who piloted the plane?" + +"I did," replied the boy. "It is a very long story, mother. It was the +only way we could come. We _had_ to get here, and a storm had torn all +the wires down, and the school was in quarantine, and oh, mother, Lee is +_saved_! We have the envelope and the money and it is all going to be +right again. They have not taken him away, have they?" + +"They were going at noon to-day," answered Mrs. Sherman. "I don't +understand at all, Bill. How do you happen to have the money, and all +that?" + +"I will tell you everything about it presently, mother," said Bill. "I +want you to take care of Ernest Breeze, if you will. It is his plane, +and he has a broken arm and could not manage to drive, so I had to do +it. We flew all night and all day yesterday. Gosh, we are about all in!" + +"Don't say another word then!" cried Mrs. Sherman. "Dad isn't out yet, +but go get Ernest and I will make some coffee." + +Bill took a quick step to her side. + +"Coffee for three, please, mother," he said. "There is someone else with +us. Frank Anderson is here. He knows something about the theft." + +Bill stumbled over his statement. Somehow he hated to tell his mother +the bald and awful truth about the boy who had been his friend and hers. + +She did not wait for further explanations. Already she was moving +rapidly about the tiny kitchen, regulating the roaring fire that had +already been started by the janitor, and getting out the canister of +coffee. + +Bill went back to the airplane. With the aid of the soldiers grouped +about, he assisted Ernest over to the quarters, and laid him down on the +Major's bed. That gentleman called a lathery greeting from the bathroom +where he was shaving. + +Ernest was in bad condition. The exposure and the lack of proper care +had caused his arm to become terribly inflamed. Mrs. Sherman sent an +orderly with a side car over to the Hospital on a hurry call for the +doctor. + +Then she braced the boy carefully with pillows and covered him with a +warm blanket. As soon as it was ready, she brought him a cup of hot +coffee and an egg, leaving Bill to care for himself and attend to Frank. + +Frank had reached a state where he seemed numb. He was past caring what +happened. After a hot drink, however, he braced up a little and prepared +to face his ordeal. He did not know what it was to be. For all he knew, +he would be taken to Leavenworth. It was agony to think that soon +someone would go to his father and mother and tell them that their son +on whom they had built such hopes was a thief. He sat silent and +downcast and only answered in brief sentences when they addressed him. +Of course Major and Mrs. Sherman sensed something dreadful, but they +were too wise to press their questions until such time as the boys were +fed and rested. + +A little color had already crept back in Ernest's face, and Bill was +seemingly quite himself. + +Then he asked Major Sherman to come into the den, and beckoned Frank to +follow. The boy did so with the air of a condemned man. + +No one ever knew what went on at that solemn meeting. One hour, two +passed and still they sat behind the closed door. Then Major Sherman, +with a grave and troubled face, came out, kissed his wife, mounted the +horse the orderly had been holding for the past hour, and rode away in +the direction of the General's quarters. Bill and Frank remained seated +in the den. + +Bill, almost as shaken as the culprit, stared out of the window at the +quarters across the court. Frank, broken at last, lay on the hard +quartermaster cot and shook with dry and racking sobs. Neither boy knew +what the outcome would be. It seemed days before the jingle of spurs in +the tiny passageway told of the approach of officers, and the door +opened to admit General Marcom, his aide, and the Major. Bill rose and +stood at attention. Frank too struggled to his feet and stood drooping +before his judges. + +Once more the story was told, this time Frank adding a broken sentence +here and there. He told how Jardin had filled him with the longing for +money, and how he had seen the amounts that Jardin spent and wickedly +wanted to do likewise. It was on the impulse of the moment that he had +taken the envelope filled with bills to pay the Battery. Once in his +possession, he was panicstricken. The terror of being found out and +punished had driven him onward; that was all. + +The General, an old and kindly man, listened with a grave face. He said +nothing. Writing an order on a slip of paper, he gave it to his orderly, +who galloped off toward Old Post where the jail is situated. In this +grim building with its small, grated windows and thick stone walls, Lee +was awaiting the hour of his departure for prison. There was much red +tape to go through with, but at last the orderly went clattering back to +the General with his answer, and close behind him followed an ambulance +with Lee and a couple of guards, armed with short carbines and heavy +pistols. + +As they entered the quarters through the kitchen, Mrs. Sherman placed +both hands on Lee's shoulders--shoulders as straight and proud as ever. + +"Oh, my dear boy, it is _all right_!" she whispered so the guard would +not hear. "It is all right, just as I knew it would be! Be generous, be +forgiving, won't you, Lee?" + +He smiled down tenderly at the little lady he loved so well and nodded. +Then he too passed into the den. For a long while the rumble of the +General's deep voice rattled the ornaments on the thin walls, and once +more the wild sobbing of a boy was heard. The orderly, standing just +outside the door, saluted as the door opened and the General gave him +another order to deliver. He came out in person a moment later and +dismissed the ambulance and the guards, who went away wondering. + +_Lee was a free man._ + +When the General returned to the den he looked long at Frank, and the +Major was inspired to ask permission to leave for a few moments. + +"Please call if you want us," he said, and nodding to Lee and Bill to +follow, he took them across into his wife's room where they awaited a +signal from the General. The wise Major knew that anything the General +might say to Frank would be burned forever on his memory. For the +General was not only a very great man but a wise one as well, and his +words were always words of wisdom, and they were often words of mercy +and forgiveness as well. + +So the deep old voice rumbled on in the den, with only a brief word in +Frank's boyish tones once in awhile. + +Presently the door was opened and the General called. + +The group advanced. + +"Lee," said the General, "have you anything to say to this boy?" + +There was a silence. Lee stiffened. Then Mrs. Sherman's tiny hand closed +around Lee's great horny fingers and pressed them in the warmest, +tenderest clasp. It was very unmilitary, but the General said nothing. + +Lee looked down at the little lady and smiled; the first smile for many +weeks. + +Then he stepped forward a pace, still holding Mrs. Sherman's little +hand. Lee raised it, looked at the General, at Mrs. Sherman and last at +Frank. With a gesture of reverence he let the little hand drop. + +"I forgive you!" he said, "Let's begin new." He held out his hand to +the boy, but with a cry Frank turned away. + +"Not yet, not yet! I can't take it!" he cried. + +"You can if I can," said Lee. + +"No, no, I can't; not yet!" + +"He is right," said the General. "Let _me_ shake your hand instead, +young man, and thank you as one man to another for your forgiveness." + +"My car is outside," said Major Sherman meaningly. + +"Thank you," said the General. "Anderson, the hardest part is before +you. Go home and make a straight confession to your father and mother, +and then close this black chapter. Somehow or other I will see that our +part of it is taken from the records. It remains for you to turn over a +clean page." + +Looking at no one, Frank left the room. He entered the Major's car, a +lonely, frightened, despairing culprit. + +"General," cried Lee suddenly, "if you please, sir, let me go with him! +Major Anderson is a hard man, sir. Please let me go!" + +"Go!" said the General, and in a moment the boy who had caused such +bitter trouble and so much pain and his innocent and forgiving victim +were on their way to the Anderson quarters at Aviation Field. The +General fussed for a moment, then went outside to the fateful telephone +and called Major Anderson. + +The others could hear what he said. + +"Anderson," he commenced, "this is unofficial. General Marcom speaking. +You have a hard and trying interview before you. I want you to meet it +with _mercy_, Anderson; _mercy_ rather than justice. Justice has already +been done. I could recall something in your past, Anderson, that met +with mercy, and which saved your whole career. I ask you to remember +this. What? No, I won't explain--the explanation will reach you +shortly--You will do as I suggest? Thank you, Anderson. Tell your wife +what I have said. Good-morning!" + +He hung up the receiver and returned to the house. A round wicker table +stood in the center of the living-room near Ernest's couch. A snowy +cloth covered it, and it was spread with the most delicious breakfast. + +Notwithstanding the General's assurances that he had eaten hours ago he +sat down, unable to withstand the delicious whiffs rising from the +coffee urn, and the smell of crispy toast browning in the electric +toaster. + +Grapefruit and eggs and commissary bacon (which is by all odds the best +on earth) and that same before-mentioned toast, and coffee, and orange +marmalade. + +Bill, who had never imagined the time would come when he would be taking +breakfast with a real General, was nevertheless so hungry and so happy +that he forgot rank and everything else. The General did too, it +seemed, because he sat and sipped, and ate, and ate, and questioned the +boys and finally wanted the story of the flight from the very first +instead of getting it tail-end first in little pieces. + +Bill told his side of the flight, and Ernest told his, and together they +told about the landing in the farmer's field, and the amusing people and +about Webby, the "pig-headed" and trustworthy one. + +And then the General and Major smoked as though there were no dispatches +for the General to read and no classes waiting for the Major--in fact, +as though there was no military discipline at all. But as the General +said, what was the use of being a General, anyway, if it didn't give you +some privileges? + +But at last the General jingled away, happy and quite full up with +delicious coffee and things, and thinking Major Sherman was a lucky dog +anyhow to have that little wife and fine boy. Before he left he gave an +order for a guard for the airplane standing so calmly in the small +field. + +Close on his departure came the ambulance, and Major Sherman went off +with Ernest to the Hospital for an X-ray of his broken arm. + +Bill and his mother were alone. + +Together they hustled the dishes into the kitchen and cleared up the +living-room. Then Mrs. Sherman sat down in her favorite corner on the +couch and Bill threw himself beside her with his tousled head in her +lap. + +"Goodness, Billy, you certainly _have_ grown!" she said. "Your legs +trail way off the end, and when you went to school you didn't reach to +the edge." + +"Oh, come now, mother," said Bill, "quit fooling! I have grown about an +inch." + +"More than that," insisted Mrs. Sherman. "You are taller than I am now. +What an awful time I am going to have bossing you around now that you +are so big." + +"You never _did_ boss me," boasted Bill. "You just twisted me around +your little finger." + +"I won't be slandered!" said Mrs. Sherman, pulling his hair. "You are +tired now and I should think you would like a nice hot bath and a good +long sleep." + +"That does sound good, Mummy. We will have to stay here for awhile, you +know, because of the quarantine. But we will get rested up in, a few +hours." + +"Yes, you _must_ get rested," said Mrs. Sherman, "because as soon as you +feel right, I want you to take me for a ride in that nice, lovely +airplane." + +Bill sat up. "_What!_" he cried. "You--fly!" + +Mrs. Sherman nodded, smiling. "Yes, _me_--fly!" she mimicked. "Bill, I +am converted!" + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Battling the Clouds, by Captain Frank Cobb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLING THE CLOUDS *** + +***** This file should be named 28625.txt or 28625.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/2/28625/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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