ys wise
to shout aloud when dealing with matters in which the High Command had a
deep interest, such as a pending advance movement.

"It is to-morrow, Raymond," he said quietly, yet with a twinkle in his
eye.

He had taken a great liking to these daring lads who had already made
such strides toward the goal of becoming "aces" in time, granting that
they lived through the risky period of their apprenticeship.

"Both?" gasped Jack eagerly.

The head pilot shook his head in the negative.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Parmly, but you'll have to wait a bit longer,"
he announced, whereat the other's face fell again, though he gulped, and
tried to appear content. "There are several things you must correct
before you can expect to take such chances. We are short a fighting
pilot for to-morrow, and I thought it was time we gave Raymond his
initiation."

Then as he walked alongside the chums he entered into a minute
description of the duties that would devolve upon Tom in his first time
up to serve as a guardian to the heavier planes acting as "fire-control"
and scouts, or "eyes of the army."

"Of course you are only to butt in if we are outnumbered," the leader
explained in conclusion. "The experienced and able fliers must take care
of such of the enemy as venture to attack our big machines. Some of
these Boches will be their best men, with records of a dozen or two
machines to their credit. It would be little short of suicide to send a
novice up against them, you understand."

Tom was ambitious, and would of course be delighted to prove his metal
when opposed by a famous ous "ace;" whose name and reputation had long
made him a terror to the French and British airmen. Nevertheless he
recognized the wisdom of what the captain was telling him, and promised
to restrain his eagerness until given the prearranged signal that his
chance had come.

It made Tom feel proud to know he had won the good opinion of such a
brave man as the captain, as well as the friendship of those other
gallant souls composing the American squadron of aviators fighting for
France.

"Still," he said to Jack later on, when they were together in their room
getting into their ordinary street clothes, "it made me feel a bit cheap
when he spoke of my being pitted against just an _ordinary_ pilot,
some fresh hand as anxious as we are to achieve a reputation. At the
same time that's what we must seem to these veterans of scores of air
combats, all of whom