Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/180

Rh to go up with his comrade. Not for the sake of talking, however, since it is next to impossible to hold any. connected conversation in the air while the motor is droning, or thumping madly, so close to one's ears, and with their warm hoods covering a good portion of the head.

"Perhaps another time, Jack, we may manage to go along," he told the drooping one. "I mean to speak to the captain about it. He has considerable influence at aviation headquarters, you know, and may be able to put in a good word for us. As you say it would be experience for us both; and we want to learn everything there is to know about this game."

"Well, don't forget, and speak soon. I understand they mean to push this bombing business for a while now, in the hope of breaking up certain big plans they've learned the Crown Prince is thinking of putting through."

They waited up to see the bombarding unit depart in the moonlight. This came to pass about eleven o'clock that night, so as to have the full benefit of the moon. They had a long journey ahead of them, and the machines were slow and cumbersome when compared to the fleet Nieuports.

Each machine, the chums noticed, carried two men, the pilot and the observer. The