alk, sat O'Malley. He looked up and for a moment held a big piece of
steak poised on his fork. Then he shoved the steak into his mouth and
waved a big hand.

Stan crossed the room and seated himself. There was no warm greeting.
O'Malley swallowed his steak and grinned at his pal.

"Ye're a bit late, but in time for the pie course."

"I took a bath on the way back," Stan said.

"That spalpeen--"

"Now, now," Stan cut in. "No names named."

"I said a spalpeen let you down," O'Malley growled.

"And what happened to you?"

O'Malley grinned. "Me? Oh, I had the boys tuck an extra sixty gallons o'
gas aboard. The colonel said we was to handle fixing the tanks, so I
fixed mine like that."

"You dropped out of sight at Huls in a hurry," Stan said.

"I ran out of ammunition, and havin' a spot of extra gas, I did a bit o'
sight-seein'," O'Malley explained. "An' did I get an eyeful!"

The four youngsters sighed and got to their feet. It was time for them
to shove off.

"See you when I got time to tell you how I chased a Nazi birdman right
down on a British landing strip," O'Malley called after them.

"You've been stringing the kids along," Stan said.

"I gave them only a bird's-eye view o' the life o' the great O'Malley."
The Irishman leaned back and surveyed the platter where the steak had
been. "Now jest a wee bit of apple pie an' I'll have the edge taken off
me hunger."

He ordered a whole pie. Stan ordered a steak and coffee. As soon as the
orders were placed before them, O'Malley leaned forward.

"Sure, an' I saw the strangest sight today," he began. "I wouldn't have
believed it if I hadn't seen it."

"What was it?"

"I was flittin' along over the tops o' trees an' the spires o' kirks
when I zoom out over a wooded slope with a big cleared field in the
middle o' the woods. There on that field was at least seventy Jerry
fighter planes." O'Malley paused to cram a large bite of pie into his
mouth.

"Fighter field. Did you get its location?"

"Sure. An' I thought I'd give those fellers a grand scare. There wasn't
a plane in the air, so I was safe. I zoomed up an' over an' came down in
a dive." O'Malley paused and shook his head. "You'd never believe it. I
could hardly believe me own eyes. When I came back down to scare the
daylights out o' them Krauts, there wasn't a plane on that field. They
just vanished." O'Malley looked hard at his pie and kept on shaking his
head.

"It's all right to tell that yarn