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THE GREAT AIRSHIP WAS GOING A MILE A MINUTE, FOLLOWING THE WATER LINE BETWEEN THE TWO CONTINENTS.
OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA.
CHAPTER I.
THE SIGN OF THE THUMB.
“Well, my young skyscrapers, I hear that youwere lost in Petrograd, but the special messengerstell me that if anything else was lost it was not timeon the way back.”
The aviation chief in Warsaw had this greetingfor Our Young Aeroplane Scouts, Billy Barry, U.S. A., and his chum Henri Trouville, when theyoung airmen completed an interview with ColonelMalinkoff, the officer who had selected them as pilotsfor the dispatch-bearing aerial trip to the Russiancapital.
“Maybe you think we are like bad pennies—alwayssure to turn up,” laughed Billy. “But, believeme,” continued the boy, “it was no merry jest to uswhen the strange streets seemed to have no end, andwe knew that we were counted upon to pull out bydaylight.”
“I can’t figure, upon my life, why you tried tofoot it alone; at night, too, in a city like that.”
The aviation chief had another think coming tohim, if he imagined for a minute that he was goingto hear the real story of the Petrograd adventurefrom the youths he addressed.
“We thought the walk would do us good.”
Henri had some difficulty in keeping a seriousface when Billy offered this plea as an excuse forthe performance that had almost brought nervousprostration to Salisky and Marovitch, the dispatchbearers.
In a quiet corner late