ed aside his cold coffee. "We have a new man coming in. He
ought to be here any minute now."

Ten minutes later a tall man entered the mess. He stood looking around,
then spoke to one of the privates. The soldier nodded toward Allison,
and the tall youngster headed across the room.

"Here he comes," Allison muttered sourly.

Stan saw a black-haired, hawk-faced young man of perhaps twenty. The new
flier had a big mouth that was pulled into a loose frown as his dark
eyes stabbed about the room, pausing to rest for a moment upon each
face. He walked with a swagger and his uniform was neatly creased. At
first glance Stan didn't think much of him.

"Hello," he greeted Allison. "Are you Flight Lieutenant Allison?"

"Sure. Sit down and have something."

"I'm Arch Garret. The O.C. sent me over to plug a hole in Red Flight.
I'll take care of you boys." He glanced at Allison's sloppy uniform and
then at Stan's, which was little better.

"That's nice of you, old man," Allison said in a soft drawl.

Then Arch Garret began to tell how good he was, and how many
Messerschmitt One-Tens he had knocked off in coast combat. He spoke
loudly so that all in the room could hear. After listening for a few
minutes, Allison yawned and got to his feet. Without a word he walked
away.

Stan was sure Garret hadn't had all the experience he claimed. One thing
was certain: Stan knew the new flier would soon have the gang down on
him. He listened silently to Arch Garret's talk while he finished his
waffles and coffee.

"I'm from the United States," Garret said. "I was the best test pilot
Lockheed ever had or ever will have. Spinning those Yank jobs was too
slow for me. I had to have action." Garret smoothed a closely cropped
little mustache and swelled out his chest.

Stan pretended to be dumb, but he was looking Arch Garret over very
closely. He knew every ace test pilot Lockheed had had in the past five
years. He was sure Garret was lying.

He was about to ask some questions when the intersquadron speaker began
snapping and clicking. A voice filled the room.

"Red Flight, all out! Red Flight, all out!"

"That's us," Stan said as he jumped to his feet. "Sorry, you'll have to
miss your coffee."

Arch Garret's manner changed at once. He quit bragging and seemed to be
a little nervous as he got to his feet.

"Where are we headed?"

"I don't know," Stan snapped.

They barged out of the mess close upon Allison's heels. Everything was