Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/188

Rh to get up, before the alarm went off. Tom stifled the clock under the bed clothes, so as to prevent its noise from arousing the rest of the unit, by this time enjoying their initial sleep of the night.

When they got outside, however, they found a number of their fellows bent on riding over to the camp hangars, to see them fairly on their way. They made the short trip by means of a big car, one of many that had been commandeered for the service of the Americans and a few other aviators near by.

The busy mechanicians had the machines in line, and all tuned up for the trip, even to the bombs adjusted beneath the body of each big plane. Already the French pilots were around, and seeing that everything was in proper trim.

Every man was so bundled up that he might have passed unrecognized by his dearest friend so far as features went. Jack, however, had a means of identifying the old sergeant, and his last word of greeting received a buoyant reply that came straight from the heart, as Jean wished them "bon voyage, and a safe return my children;" that being a really French way of speaking, often used even by high commanders in addressing their armies.

After considerable delay from one cause and another, the word was given to start. In rapid