se, so I can handle a bus fairly well. It's all a matter
of hands, you know. There ain't half the risk of the infantry down
below you, and a million times the fun. Jolly glad I changed, sir.'

We talked of Peter, and he put him about top. Voss, he thought, was the
only Boche that could compare with him, for he hadn't made up his mind
about Lensch. The Frenchman Guynemer he ranked high, but in a different
way. I remember he had no respect for Richthofen and his celebrated
circus.

At six sharp we were ready to go. A couple of mechanics had got out the
machine, and Archie put on his coat and gloves and climbed into the
pilot's seat, while I squeezed in behind in the observer's place. The
aerodrome was waking up, but I saw no officers about. We were scarcely
seated when Gibbons called our attention to a motor-car on the road,
and presently we heard a shout and saw men waving in our direction.

'Better get off, my lad,' I said. 'These look like my friends.'

The engine started and the mechanics stood clear. As we taxied over the
turf I looked back and saw several figures running in our direction.
The next second we had left the bumpy earth for the smooth highroad of
the air.

I had flown several dozen times before, generally over the enemy lines
when I wanted to see for myself how the land lay. Then we had flown
low, and been nicely dusted by the Hun Archies, not to speak of an
occasional machine-gun. But never till that hour had I realized the joy
of a straight flight in a swift plane in perfect weather. Archie didn't
lose time. Soon the hangars behind looked like a child's toys, and the
world ran away from us till it seemed like a great golden bowl spilling
over with the quintessence of light. The air was cold and my hands
numbed, but I never felt them. As we throbbed and tore southward,
sometimes bumping in eddies, sometimes swimming evenly in a stream of
motionless ether, my head and heart grew as light as a boy's. I forgot
all about the vexations of my job and saw only its joyful comedy. I
didn't think that anything on earth could worry me again. Far to the
left was a wedge of silver and beside it a cluster of toy houses. That
must be Edinburgh, where reposed my portmanteau, and where a most
efficient police force was now inquiring for me. At the thought I
laughed so loud that Archie must have heard me. He turned round, saw my
grinning face, and grinned back. Then he signalled to me to strap
myself in. I obeyed, a