Air Service Boys in the Big Battle | Page 8

happier channels.
"No; that's Mabel--Mab he calls her. She's younger than I. Did he often speak of her?"
"Oh, yes; and you too!" exclaimed Tom, so warmly that Nellie blushed, and the damask
tint in her hitherto pale cheeks was most becoming.
"We've seen your picture, and Mab's too," went on Tom. "Harry keeps them just over his

cot in the barracks. But I didn't recognize you when I saw you a little while ago in the
machine. Though I might have, if so many things hadn't happened all at once, and made
me sort of hazy," Tom explained.
"Then are you and my brother good friends?" asked Nellie.
"The best ever!" exclaimed Tom, and Jack warmly assented. "Not so many Americans
are in this branch of the escadrille as are in others," Torn went on; "so Harry and Jack and
I are a sort of little trio all by ourselves. He hardly ever goes up without us, but we are on
a rest billet; and to-day he went up with Du Boise."
"If he had only come back!" sighed Nellie. "But there! I mustn't complain. Harry
wouldn't let me if he were here. We both have to do our duty. Now I'm going to see what
I can do to help, and not be silly and do any more fainting. I hope you'll pardon me," and
she smiled at the two boys.
"Of course!" exclaimed Tom, with great emphasis, and again Miss Leroy blushed.
"Then, is to wait the only thing we can do?" she asked.
"That's all," assented Tom. "We may get a message from the clouds any day."
"And, oh! I shall pray that it may be favorable!" murmured the girl. "Perhaps I may
question this Mr. Du Boise, and learn from him just what happened?" she interrogated.
"Yes, we want to talk to him ourselves, as soon as he's able to sit up," said Jack. "We
want to get a shot at the Boche who downed Harry."
"So you are as fond of Harry as all that! I am glad!" exclaimed his sister. "Have you
known him long?"
"We knew him slightly before we went to the flying school in Virginia with him," said
Tom. "But down there, when we started in at 'grass-cutting,' and worked our way up, we
grew to know him better. Then Jack and I got our chance to come over. But Harry had a
smash, and he had to wait a year."
"Yes, I know. It almost broke his heart," said Miss Leroy. "I was away at school at the
time, which accounts for my not knowing more of you boys, since Harry always wrote
me, or told me, about his chums. Then, when I came back after my graduation, I found
that he had sailed for France."
"And maybe we weren't glad to see him!" exclaimed Tom. "It was like getting letters
from home."
"Yes, I recall, now, his mentioning that he had met over here some students from the
Virginia school," said Miss Leroy. "Well, after Harry sailed I was wild to go, but father
and mother would not hear of it at first. Then, when the war grew worse, and I showed
them that I could do hard work for the Red Cross, they consented. So I sailed, but I never

expected to get like this."
"Oh, well, everything may come out all right," said Tom, as cheerfully as he could. But,
in very truth, he was not very hopeful in his heart.
For once an aviator succumbs to the hail of bullets from the German machine guns in an
aircraft, and his own creature of steel and wings goes hurtling down, there is only a scant
chance that the disabled airman will land alive.
Of course some have done it, and, even with their machines out of control and on fire,
they have lived through the awful experience. But the chances were and are against them.
Harry Leroy had been seen to go down, apparently with his machine out of control, after
a fusillade of Boche bullets. This much Du Boise had said before his collapse. As to what
the fallen aviator's real fate was, time alone could disclose.
"I can only wait!" sighed Nellie, as the boys took their leave. "The days will be anxious
ones--days of waiting. I shall help here all I can. You'll let me know the moment there is
any news--good or bad--won't you?" she begged; and her eyes filled with tears.
"We'll bring you the news at once--night or day!" exclaimed Tom, vigorously.
As he and Jack walked out of the hospital, the latter remarked:
"You seem to be a favorite there, all right, Tom, my boy. If we weren't such good chums
I might be a bit jealous."
"If you feel that