sh 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