Tam O' The Scoots

us villainy of the factor, or the lonely vairtue of the Mill Girl. A forest maiden wi'oot the forest or a hard-workin' fa

n the arts, Tam?" asked

ideal accompaniment to philosophy, you might think. Blackie was as nervous as a squadron commander may well be who has sent a party on

much like airmanship. 'Tis all notes of excl'mation an' questio

said Blackie savagely. "Haven't you a

Taunton's Lubricatos an' A'm smokin' it for an endurance test-they're

ie tu

'm just worried sick about

comin' back, Captain Blackie, sir-r-a' five, one with an engine th

turned to the ot

em?" he asked. "

or the past five minutes A've been listenin' to the gay music of their

ight glowed, lingered a moment and vanished. T

!" breathed Bla

Tam, "yon 'buses are

earth, five monstrous shapes, and pa

er, stripping his gloves thoughtfully by the si

led the youth.

Tam and put his h

across to the co

ck had you?"

unton made a

y of Archies. There's a new battery and unless I'm mistaken a new kind of gun-that's why we climbed. They angled the lights and got our range in two calendar seconds and th

houghtfully, "did you

map which covered the side of the office; "it wasn't worth while locating, for I fancy

osand shells to hit a flyin'-man-by my own elaborate system of calculation, A' reckon that A

ht. Forty-eight hours later he found the question of A-A gunner

quadron waiting for him. Tam descended from the fuselage very solemnly, affecting not to notice the waiting audience, and with

he smiled. "Wh

am with well-si

ear about

oked in the greater business of the day. "Well, now, sir-r, that is some gun, a

his mess, followed by the

dn't you?" Blackie turn

ere firing like a gas-pipe, by the way, right outside the clock

ttery," interrupted Blac

re on the Lille road, and it was a scorcher, for it got his level first pop. Instead of going on, the 'bus started circling as though he was enjoying the 'shrap' bath. As far as I could see there were four guns on him, but three of them were wild and late. You could see their bursts over him and under him, but the fourth was a terror.

his promise,

ntlemen have a se

offered to him and

hospitality. They mayn't be good seegairs, as A've reason to

up his legs under him and pulled silentl

e skies. Had ye been near enough ye would have obsairved a smile that played aroond his gay young face. In his blue eyes was a look o' deep thought. Was he thinkin' of home, of his humble cot in the shadow of Ben Lomond? He was not,

ignant voice, "and when I came to

that life was indeed a bed of shrapnel and that more was on its way, for at every point of the compass Archie was belching forth death and destruction"-he paused and rubbed his chin-"Archie A' didn't mind," he said with a little chuckle, "but Archie's little sister, sir-r, she was fierce! She neve

Blackie. "Was it she

ns were bangin' and bangin' at me, and one of them was a good one-too good to

was fr

he said; "you have never shown a disposit

ook hi

erent to the rest. Mr. Austin had him the other night. Mr. Colebeck was nearly brought doon yesterday

aid Austin; "this n

s. To-morrow the luck may be all the other way, and he'll bring doon every one he aims at. Ma idea is that to-morrow we'

roke in o

o you were just hanging a

you've got, Von,' says they; 'can ye no' bring doon one wee airman?' 'Gi' me anither thoosand shots,' gasps Willie, 'and there'll be a vacant seat in the sergeant's mess;' and so the aft

h information and inquiry. A hundred aerodromes, from the North Sea to the Vos

ght devouring the latest of

shelves which ran the width of the wall facing the door. These were filled with thin, paper-covered "volumes" luridly colored. Each of these issues consisted of thirty-two

light which came from an electric bulb above his head and his mi

other half had wandered pleasantly through deep and sunless gulches or had clambered on the back of a surefooted bronco up precipitous mountain-slopes, the mental picture he conjured was in the nature of a double exposure, for ev

et, switched off the light and, opening the door, stepped out into the darkness. Buttoning his jacket as he went, he mad

I want you to go

lis

ho

triously bombing billets," he said; "he dodged the

ho

he bursting bo

said Tam as he swung into

ar, the machine disappeared in

Blackie, straining his eyes upward, followed its pr

ho

s," said Blackie; "s

t were sweeping the sky urgently. From a

e us now he ought to be

t the aerodrome, for the next ex

st," said young Austi

losions and they waited

icka-tic

ame from ri

Blackie; "the devil mus

ocka-toc

aid Blackie, "and

space of a hundred yards slid a ghostly white moth. It dipped suddenly and fell out of the light

and they had hardly been switched

ad gone swiftly in the direct

ly, as he jumped to the ground; "

ther hurt nor frightened,

bored. They brought him into the mess-room, a tall stripling with shaven head and blue laughing e

r," the prisoner i

even at night," he said; "I suppose I didn't by any luc

ackie cheerfully, "an

I ask you whether it was Tam who

ie no

n your machine, and though we told them it was most unlikely, they insisted-you know what obstinate people these manufacturers are; in fact, they say that they saw it glitter," he laughed softly. "You see," he went on, "they don't understand this game. The

en he laughed, a deep, bubbling chuckle of laughter, which was even more unusual. "O

e next morning he carried with him, carefully strapped to the fuselage, a sheet of tin w

ing to do with that,

m solemnly. "'Tis a grand inven

the idea?"

"I have a theery, and if you have

Blackie with a

urely way back to that point of the Lille road where he had met with his adventures of the previous day. He was hoping to find the battery which he had worried at that tim

upon his level and he was bumped and kicked by the violence of the concussions. As for the other guns, he ignored them; but from whence came the danger? He had unstrapped the tin-plate and held it ready in his gloved hand-then there came a burst dangerously n

time they recommenced they fired short. Tam was now swooping round eastward farther and farther from range, and all the

tain landmarks, and his eyes flickered from one point to the other. A drifting wisp of cloud helped him a little in the period of waiting. It served the purpose of conceal

s did not see him until too late. Away to his right, two Archies crashed and missed him by the length of a street. He slowly flattened before he came over a gun which

ave one fleeting glance backward and saw the débris, caught a photographic glimpse of hal

Heinzelle, one of Krupp's best designers, had been "killed on the Wes

attention Tam's act of genius had been bro

nd so he took up a plate of tin and dropped it. What was more natural than that they should retrieve the armor and take it to the experts for exa

ngenious idea!" s

ckie conveyed to

it," said Tam. "'Twas a