right?"

"Yes, sir."

Then off with you, and good luck. You will be doing this sort of thing
every day before long, but I expect it seems a bit new to you at first."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

A final nod to his men---the roar once more, louder, more vibrant, more
defiant than ever---a quick signal of the hand, and the cords attached
to the blocks under the wheels were given a jerk. Jimmy was off on
his dangerous mission!

Old force of habit, a relic of earlier days of aeronautics, sent the
men to the wings, where they gave the big dragon-fly an unnecessary
push. After a run of a few feet Jimmy raised her suddenly, swiftly,
and she darted up almost perpendicularly. He realized as never before
that he was mounted on a machine that could probably outclimb and
outtrick any antagonist he was likely to meet.

"This is sure some bus," he thought to himself. "I guess she will do
all that is asked of her, whatever she runs into. So it's up to me.
If I fly her right she will come home, sure."

As he climbed into the clear sky he could see Parker's machine ahead,
circling higher and higher. He was glad Parker was going, too.
There was an odd but unmistakable sense of companionship in having
Parker up there ahead, though at fifteen thousand feet up or more, and
at eight hundred to a thousand feet distant, it seemed silly to think
of a man as "near" in case of trouble. Beside, he was to guard Parker,
and no one was to guard him.

But the powerful hunter on which he was mounted thrilled with such a
feeling of self-satisfaction, her engines hummed so merrily, and she
lifted herself so lightly and easily when he asked her to climb, that
he was soon wrapped in the joy of mastering so perfect a piece of
mechanism. Moreover, Jimmy had grown to love flying for flying's sake.
It was meat and drink to him.

When Parker had gained the altitude that suited him he straightened
out and headed for the enemy's country at a high rate of speed. Jimmy
thought himself too far behind at first, but the splendid machine
answered readily to his call upon it for a burst of five minutes, and
before he had time to realize it he was in good position and far below
were the long, winding scars on the surface of the earth that told
where the opposing armies were entrenched. Fighting the temptation
to watch what was passing underneath, he alternately kept his eyes on
Parker and scoured the sky ahead for signs of enemy aircraft.

Sudd