Once Harry had seen a fascinating duel between Richardson and a Boche plane, in which the latter retired before a decision was reached.  Once the two American pilots had been compelled to run from a squadron of hunters, who gave up the chase as soon as they drew near to the Allied territory.  But Jimmy Hill’s exploit, and the fact that he had not only been the hero of a fight against big odds, but had actually brought down a flier and smashed up a hunter machine, loomed so large with the Brighton boys that the more ordinary experiences of the others paled into insignificance in their eyes.

Bob Haines had been on a photographing trip, and had earned great commendation from the observation officer whom he carried.  Bob had taken keenly to the scientific work of trench photography, and spent his spare hours in the photographic workshop, which was a storehouse of wonders to him.  He was fast getting sound ideas on subjects in connection with air-pictures, which made him all the more valuable as a pilot of a machine that carried some officer of the photographic department.

He had witnessed a very pretty fight between an American and a Boche not far distant, but he could not take part.  His observer was a good hand with a Lewis gun, too.  They had on board at that time, however, a set of negatives that were of considerable value, which they had been sent specially to obtain, so their duty was to leave the hunter to fare as best he could, while they scurried home in safety with their negatives.

Thus Will Corwin found that the Brighton boys were fast becoming broken in to practical flying work.  Archie Fox had been as busy as any of the rest, tuning up a new machine that had a hidden kink in its anatomy somewhere that defied detection.

Dicky Mann had been selected by the flight commander to work up a special set of maps—–­office work that required great care.  He had been absorbed day and night, and had cut down his sleeping hours to five or six hours instead of the eight or nine he used to indulge in at Brighton.

It was not so exciting as flying, the commander had told him when he was selected for the job, “but of equal, if not greater, importance.”  At all events, Dicky was at it, heart and soul, and the evening that Will Corwin made his appearance was the first for some days that Dicky had joined his messmates for a chat after dinner.

“How do you think we Yanks are making out against the Teutons in the air, Will?” asked Harry.  “Do you think they are beginning to recognize that we have ’em beaten?”

Will Corwin grinned. “‘Beginning to’ is good, but that’s along way from the finished realization, and I don’t guess that will come for some little time yet.  It’s up to America and the Allies to keep on turning out planes and fliers at top speed.”

“What about the wonderful speed of the German machines, Will?” asked Joe Little.