Tam O' The Scoots

y upon a billowing mass that bore a resemblance to the uneven surface of a limitless plain of lather. High, but

tly for the faint "H D" which was his official number. Messages

a correction of range, then.... "Stop where you are.... K L B Q.... Bad light.... Signal to X O 73

, code messages indicating the distance shells were bursting from their tar

ller.... Ab

ied the lock of his gun a

, iridescent cloud-mass below. From what

ile away, a tiny machine shot up, shining like burnished silver in the rays of the afterno

advantages-a fact which Tam realized. He ceased to climb, flattened and went skimming along the top of

to the cloud fog and be at a disadvantage. At the same time, he would risk it. Suddenly up went his tail. But Tam had v

e of the machine up again and began a lightning climb to sunshine. He

ent down and back to his hiding-place he dived. Tam corrected his level and swooped upward again.

he flight of his machine, when "chk-chk-chk" said the wireless, and Tam listened, screwing his face into a grimace

" said th

' meanin' that A' ocht to rin for ma li

on was to be put upon the message, he turned westward and dived; not, however, before

"a' the auld cats aboot

and pushed straight through the cloud the way he had come. He knew they had seen him disa

with something. Yet, for once, he drove through the swirling "smoke" with a sense of joyous anticipation, and presently began to rise gently, keeping his eyes aloft to detect the f

rds away was a f

-ticka-tick!" said

seat, the observer took his hand from his gun to grip the controls. Too late; the wide-

coming at him from all

and dropped straight through the clouds into

he home-coming adventurers. "Do you ever notice how his machine always looks lop-sided? The

's wr

beggars didn't catch him

oping-he was, in fine, setting up all those stresses which a m

companion. "I've never understood why, because if he found a weak pl

nded to bring himself to

Tam? The place to test the

rambulator or a motor-car or a pair of buits-but it's no' the place to test an aero

ceed in breaking somethi

to save ma frien's frae the ravishin' Hoon an' ma machine plays hookey?

u see M

auldin' a committee-meetin',

led, passes a hairty vote o' thanks to Tam o' the Scoots, the Mageecian o

e'll no' ta' onny more risk, but confin

orned to enquire after machine noomber sax, eigh

whilst "spotting" for the "heavies" and fell in flames in No-Man's Land. They got Smyth in during the n

Tam read in the G

r shot down his thirtieth enemy aeropla

Sootherland Hielanders' lines," complained Tam. "Th

machine had a body, a soul, a voice, and a temperament. Noises which engines made had a peculiar significance to Tam. He not only could tell you how they were behaving, but how they would be likely to behave after two hours' ru

ed. He cleaned his own gun and examined, leather duster in hand, every round of ammunition he took up. He l

st be settled with, Tam

decisively three big white Albatross machines before a Fokker hawk darted down from the she

ay be told in T

mindedly fingerin' the mechanism of his seelver-plated Lewis gun. There was nawthing in sicht, nawthing to mar the glories of the morn. 'Can A' be mistaken?' asks Tam. 'Noo! A thoosand times noo!' an' wi' these fatefu' wairds, he began his peerilous climb. Maircifu' Heavens! What's yon? '

at's a rotten story. What happened a

lep doon-it wis no' the time to ficht-it w

his enemy was unthinkable. And yet he rather a

th's quarters. Galbraith was ric

ird wi' ye?" aske

. "Come in-you want a

e A'll help mesel' absintminded. A' came-mon, this is a bonnie smawk! Ye maun pay an awfu' lot for these. Twa sheelin's each! Ech! It's sinfu' wi' so many puir souls in need-A'll

th, jumping down from the table on which he

A' doon't-it's for ma frien', Fitzroy McG

at him with lau

And who the devil

ared hi

astle wi' thoosands o' sairvants to wait on him, an' he ate his parritch wi' a deemond spune. A' seemed rawsy for the wee boy, but yin day, accused o' the mairder o' the butler an' the bairglary of his brithers' troosers, he rin frae h

the patient Galbraith; "but, h

', Angus

tzroy McGint

astily, "'twas ain of

but here's the ki

ye

nts under his arm and

s, Mr. Galbraith-but A'd be glad if ye'd no

cruit to the Royal Flying Corps. Tam was thorough and inventive. He must not only stuff the old suit with wood shavings and s

an' noo for yeer bonnie face-Horace, will ye pass me the plaister o' Paris a

nature of his task brought into play that sense of humor and tha

, surveying his handiwork, "it's no necessairy to a

d his head

d, Angus," he said and t

had planned. From the cap (fastened to the plaster head by tacks) to the gloved hands, the figur

afternoon and headed straight for the enemy's lines. He was flying at a considerable height, and Captain Müller, who had been on a joy ride to another sector of the line and had descended to his aerodr

aid Captain Müller. He focussed a

than a spotter," he said, "yet th

him longer to reach his altitude than he had anticipated. He was still below

e and a steady hand could lend to a machine-gun, all that an unfearing heart could throw into that one wild, su

mself and smiled, for he

hand in blind salute, though he had a bullet in hi

as Müller's machine fell. He saw it

t yin! He wis a bonnie fichter an' had a gay hairt, a