on o' Mars.
The angels laffit
To see this gaillant baird-man die.
'At lairst! At lairst!' the angels cry,
'We've ain who'll teach us hoo to fly--
Thanks be, he's strafit!'"

"Fine," said Blackie with a smile, "but suppose you're 'strafit'
instead?"

"Pit the wee pome on ma ain wreath," said Tam simply; "'t 'ill be true."

CHAPTER IV

THE STRAFING OF MUELLER

On the earth, rain was falling from gray and gloomy clouds. Above those
clouds the sun shone down from a blue sky upon a billowing mass that
bore a resemblance to the uneven surface of a limitless plain of lather.
High, but not too high above cloud-level, a big white Albatross circled
serenely, its long, untidy wireless aerial dangling.

The man in the machine with receivers to his ears listened intently for
the faint "H D" which was his official number. Messages he
caught--mostly in English, for he was above the British lines.

"Nine--Four.... Nine--four ... nine--four," called somebody insistently.
That was a "spotter" signaling a correction of range, then.... "Stop
where you are .... K L B Q.... Bad light.... Signal to X O 73 last
shot.... Repeat your signal .... No.... Bad light.... Sorry--bad
light.... Stay where you are...."

He guessed some, could not follow others. The letter-groups were, of
course, code messages indicating the distance shells were bursting from
their targets. The apologies were easily explained, for the light was
very bad indeed.

"Tam ... Mueller.... Above ... el."

The man in the machine tried the lock of his gun and began to get
interested.

Now his eyes were fixed upon the rolling, iridescent cloud-mass below.
From what point would the fighting machine emerge?

He climbed up a little higher to be on the safe side. Then, from a
valley of mist half a mile away, a tiny machine shot up, shining like
burnished silver in the rays of the afternoon sun, for Tam had driven up
in a drizzle of rain, and wings and fuselage were soaking wet.

The watcher above rushed to the attack. He was perhaps a thousand yards
above his enemy and had certain advantages--a fact which Tam realized.
He ceased to climb, flattened and went skimming along the top of the
cloud, darting here and there with seeming aimlessness. His pursuer
rapidly reviewed the situation.

To dive down upon his prey would mean that in the event of missing his
erratic moving foe, the attacker would plunge into the cloud fog and be