The Brighton Boys with the Flying Corps

would have been missed by more than one person about the camp if they had failed to put in an appearance s

from their great crates and set up, then wheeled into their respec

e uncrating of box of spare engine parts one afternoon when no specific job claimed him for the moment, and fell i

different total each time. Worse, neither of his totals tallied with

avoid proximity to the coming storm when he thought: "This may be a chance to help." He turned and said to the

ort of run together, and I couldn't count them correctly to save my life. If you can make them come out

t at the sergeant's direction began placing them in neat piles on the shelf of the store-room that had been set

was nothing if not a martinet, "who

"If you don't need him for something else to-day I wish you would let him stay with me. I am supposed to have a

himself referred to as "this man." That was getting on, sure eno

im," answered the sergeant-major. "Have

now about," w

ntil the sergeant i

laces was far from uninteresting. The boy took a real delight in his new task; and when, three days later, the sergeant-major called into the stores on

e of proprietorship. Stores still poured in every day or so. The two soldiers who were to help at last made their appearance, but neither of them seemed to particularly

h interest in them to be of much use except when working under direction. So the real storekeeper was Fat for the interim. The sergeant-major discovered the fact and reported it casually to Major Phelps, who spoke to the colonel about it. Both of these offi

y into the organization of the camp unostentatiously, on his own merits, pleased the colonel immensely. He even went so far as t

hat came through his hands, until at length he knew at a glance what each par

st any job that it lay in the sergeant-major's power to offer him. One day Louis casually mentioned that he w

lked little unless he was speaking to some prime favorite, when he became most voluble. The sergeant-major and Mac were cronies. Consequently it took little laying together

f he needed them. But Colonel Marker was as ready to help the Brighton boys as was the sergeant-major, so he s

a refractory engine and chatting along in a seemingly never-ending stream of engine small-talk. All of which was meat and dr

ne night. These three were fast growing to be closer than brothers. W

ay to get you fellows w

is

re anxious to get closer to the planes and he is turning it over in his mind

s the question. He had a talk with Parks, the head instructor, one afternoon, and

here to help clean and tune up the school machines? It is a bit irregular, but so is their being here at all. I don't see why, if the Old Man can use them around the offices, we can't have a couple of them here. I have

" and let the matter go at that. Parks passed that laconic permission

him that the three boys in the hangars were "having all the fun," he suggested that he so assign them to duty that but two of them would be "on" at the same time. Thus when Bob and Dicky Mann wer

of the flying game, not as onlookers, but as parts of the machine into which the va

g. With their special eagerness they were rapidly becoming well acquainted with most details of the work of the airmen. N

an did Harry Corwin. Close application to many a dry volume bore g

ine, and had not been much in demand owing to the fact that no other monoplanes were in evidence at the camp, when an army

ver had attached them had done so mistakenly. Harry could hardly believe the evidence of his eyes, yet there i

ntrol wires himself. He glanced hurriedly at the terminals, and seeing that they were apparently secure, thought the boy beside him must be mistaken. He missed the crossed wires. H

for the young airman, though in just what form it would come he could not figure out. The monoplane had not gone far along the grass before the flier tried to raise it. As the machi

ground. The plane was not many feet from the earth when it dived, but was far enough up to come to the ground with a bad crash. Harry could see a dash of white spray in the sunligh

r, that he was but little the worse, save for the shock and the fright. He was as pale as a sheet. Harry helped him to his feet and assisted him to take stock of his injuries. By the time they had discovered that no bones were bro

had already smashed up two machines that

this time?" Park

rd Harry, "was good enough to tell me before I started that I had mussed things up before I got into her. I was a fool not to have

rry. "You knew whe

were crossed," Ha

ntinued Parks. "When have you s

quite a bit. I had a book that contained an awful lot about this particular sort of machine, and I cou

? Are you in the same bunch that Hill and Little came from? If you are, I guess I can use you in the way I am using them. Would you like to get some practical ex

lar work," answered Harry. "There are four of us left, at the headquarte

y let me have a chance to see what's in you? Fellows who know at a glance that elevator wires are crossed ought to be encouraged. That's my view." Parks left the subject and turned his attention to the bruised pilot, who came

he engine has suffered." Park's critical eye ran over the wreck and he nodded. Without further comment he jumped into his car. As it started away he said: "Don't bothe

d Harry. "I shou

ir camp increased he found his hands so full that his promi

l, for he was very fond of Jimmy Hill, and thought it hard fate indeed that took Jimmy away from him. Jimmy was learning rapidly. He had

do he would go over work just completed and make sure it had been done well. In consequence, Reece had few accidents, and rarel

ns and making explanations. Reece had been for some years working for one or another of the crack international fliers who traveled in various parts of the world. He h

o the habit of going to church each Sunday morning in uniform, with the army men, who always turned out in some force. Sunday afternoons generally found them at the airdrome, and often they might be found at work, but they

Archie was on duty with him, accompanying him as a sort of extra ord

ng his first "solo," or flight by himself, not far away. "Handles her nicely," he said, half to

oughtful and shook his head soberly b

I found one of you Brighton bo

o fly. It's the machin

matter with

well with her for a while and then she plays a trick on someone. Last time I saw her cutup she side-slipped without any explanation for it. Some of us have got the i

alk as if you knew all about the different machin

end our spare time around the machines, and, of course, we hear the

te right. I have known of machines that had bad habits, plenty of them. Bu

tside. A moment later a soldier came into the hangar and reported a bad smash. The colonel walked to the door. There across the meadow, was a wrecked airplan

rders not to let novices go up in that ma

us' that smashed?"

e boys called her. She is not a re

what she di

hangar. I was some distance away, but I hap

he sid

glanced at Colonel Marker inquisitiv

ys remarked to me not more than ten minutes before the smash. He said the 'bad bus'--as he ca

the accident, and both of them for

he young pilot had received a broke

pile up the old thing and let her sit in a corner until I need her worse than I do now. She has played her l

rs of them

have one at headquarters named Corwin that k

t I suppose if they are to learn flying they had better

are all as good as th

do wit

n we came here, and they are just the sort of stuff, as far as I can see, th

Benson in the stores and the other seven boys in the hangars, they felt themselves truly part and parcel of the airdrome. This feeling of responsibility was aging them