Famous Flyers

Hal Gregg inside that Bob wanted to see him, and to see him quickly. Something was up. At least, that was what it should have m

ng until a pale, spectacled face appeared at an upstairs window. The window

waiting? Hurry up, come on down, I

ear you whistle at first. I w

up down. Books can wait. You should

new book on aviation I got for my birthda

en't down here in two seconds, I'm going to

head disappeared from the window, reappeared atop the narrow shoulders of its owner at the front door within a few seconds, bobbi

ig brother. He was a full head taller, his shoulders were broader, his complexion ruddier. He was the typical outdoor boy, with tousled brown hair, a few unruly freckles, and a broad pleasant face. Hal Gregg was short

rick house next to his had been empty for a long time. Nobody Bob's age had ever lived in that house, and he had grown to look at it as an old fogey sort of a house, very dull, and fit only for gr

y, just my luck," he said to his mother. "Somebody my own age

out of the automobile with his mother, and entered the hous

er. I'll bet he's the kind that can't tell one airplane from another, and buys his radio s

too much he would seem just so much worse in her son's eyes. So she resolved to let him dec

rd someone hail him. He looked over into the Gregg yard and saw Hal there, stretched out in a steamer chair, an open book in his l

sually a hard one, with suspicion on both sides. But Hal seemed surprisingly pleasant. "I've seen you ridi

g to think that this Hal might not b

eard your mother calling to you. And if sh

to know," he said. But he didn't know

a lot, and bicy

about all a fellow likes to d

her. You see, my mother's always afraid that something'll happen to me. She hasn't got anybody but me, yo

very much about me," said Bob.

on't have to be worried about," he

big and husky they might be. None of them ever showed such poor taste as to compliment a fellow. He guessed, and correctly, that Hal hadn't been with

I'm all right now, but my mother doesn't seem to realize it. She still treats me as though I was abo

ob. "I thought that you c

les, then something el

eren't going to get on at all. Why, the boy was nothing but a mollyco

said Hal, picking up

ime reading was no fun at all. And he needn't think that Bob was goi

aphy," s

t he looked at the title. It

up. "Oh, say," he s

ery book on aviators that comes out. I've al

cle Bill's an aviator. You ought to know him. He was in the war.

ave you eve

promised. He's coming to visit us some time and bring his own plane. Dad takes me out to th

aviator," he said, "I don't think that I ever

if you wanted to badly enough. Have yo

y workshop and see them," said Hal eagerly. "I read every new book

oss the Atlantic. Of course it isn't as good as my later ones. Say, we're going to have a sw

dark-afraid of getting his feet wet-afraid of staying too late and worrying his mother. And then he was awkward. Bob tried gradually to initiate him into masculine sports-but it irked him to watch Hal throw a ball like a girl, or swim li

ss in catching a ball. "Well," she said, "you may be teaching Hal th

hing me?" asked

great deal more than you ever have.

lives of the famous flyers, that's all

again, and kept her

. Two crossed flags meant "Come over at once." One flag with a black ball on it meant "I can't come over." These flags, usually limp and bedraggled by the elements horrified the parents of both Bob and Hal when they saw them h

e boys' summer vacation again. It was at the beginning of this vacation that

d of Hal that he tried even to master the language

ying to hide his excitement,

" shou

spend the summer with us. He's

id Hal, and cou

who had enlisted in the Canadian army when he was eighteen, at the outbreak of the war. When the United States joined the big battle, he had gone into her air corps to become one of the army's crack flyers, with plenty

sire to become an aviator. He had never found the time actually to visit for any length of time with his

al, he was coming for the whole summer,

"what a break! Captain Bill here for mont

. "Fly us around? Not us, Bob, old boy-you. My mo

will let you fly. She's let you do a lot of things with me th

f planes, and gets pale if I even mention flying. But that's all right

e safest thing in the world. And it is, too. We'll let Captain Bill talk to her. He can make anybody believe anything. He'll have h

d in spirits. "When's B

both out there so that we can meet Captain Bill, and drive him back. Gee,

next time he comes. What k

y since they were over in France together, and anything that Pat says, goes. It's got two cockpits, and dual controls. It's just great for teaching beginners.

In fact, it was thunder. "Golly, I hope it doe

about Bill, right up in the clouds? Of course, he can climb over the storm if it's n

ore, and suddenly the outburst that had been promising for hours poured down. Bob's father, with the aid of the two boys, put up the windows of the car, and they sat fairly snug while the rain teemed down about them. The field was becoming sodden. Crashes of lightning

t they could wait no longer. "He's probably landed some place to wait for the

that they really couldn't wait all night in the st

arrived. Hal's mother was practically hysterical, met

ck door of their house, but were soaked before they got in.

shouted Bob. The light switched on, and Bill and Mrs. Mart

have you people been? You s

uted Mr. Martin, pumping Bill's hand. "We

ried to get in touch with you, but we

exclaimed Bo

aren't you glad to see me without my p

see you, but-well, I've sort of been

and the wing needed repairing. I decided not to wait for it, but to come in on the train to be w

said Bob. "But I wa

Martin. "You change your clothes

iately. He stopped first to put two crossed flags i