style="font-size:15px;"> Jack couldn’t contain himself, so he cried, “How about now?”
Major McCarthy shook his head. “Enough for today,” he told them.
They were now flying over the airport and a minute later they landed. The three waiting boys sent up a couple of greeting cheers and ran over to meet the grinning two who were tumbling out of the plane. “How was it?” demanded Nuthin’.
William was impatient. “Tell us about it, quick,” he cried.
Paul nudged his chum in the ribs and asked, “Do you think we ought to tell them?”
Jack smiled and wiggled his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I think we ought to consider it.”
William was impatient. “Hey, come on,” he cried. “No stalling now.”
The major joined the group and the two boys thanked him. He said, “It’s quite all right, boys, I’m only too glad to do it. And by the way, I heard all about what happened yesterday. You tell that fellow, what’s his name—”
“Bobolink,” cried Nuthin’.
“Bobolink,” repeated the major. “He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?”
Wallace interjected, “He certainly is. He is a grand fellow, too.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said the major. “So you tell him that just as soon as he’s recovered, to come over here and I’ll take him up for a ride.”
“Yea!” cried Nuthin’, “hooray for Major McCarthy!”
They gave the major three cheers. But William wanted to know something else. “How about us?”
“Well,” he said, “I’ll think it over.” They were now at the door of the office building. Entering, he turned around and said, “Don’t go away, now. I’ll be out right away.”
The boys squatted on the ground, with Paul and Jack in the center and the two boys were obliged to tell every detail of their experience. It took about fifteen to twenty minutes to narrate the story and when finally it was told, the boys sat back, speechless and lost in thought. William said, “Gee, I hope the major gives me a ride. I’d do anything.”
Wallace said, “Getting a ride is all very well, but what I really am interested in is to learn how to fly. I wonder if it’s hard to learn.”
“No, I don’t think so,” replied Paul. “Major McCarthy told us yesterday that it was easy to learn.”
Jack said, “I was watching him all the time and it looks very simple. But we could ask him.”
“Yes, we could do that,” remarked Wallace, “but what we want to know is whether he would teach us.”
William spoke up, saying, “All of us.”
“Of course, all of us,” agreed Paul.
Just then the major came out and they called him over. He seated himself on the ground beside them. Paul asked, “Do you think you could teach us how to fly?”
“Of course,” he said. “I’ve taught a lot of people how to fly.”
“Is it difficult to learn?” demanded Wallace.
“Why, no. On the contrary, it’s very simple.”
Again Wallace asked a question. “If you could teach us to fly, would we—would we—” he hesitated. Finally he said, “Would it cost a lot of money?”
McCarthy thought for a moment. “Well,” he said, “I don’t think so. As a matter of fact, I’d love to teach you young fellows and I’m sure we could come to some arrangement.”
“That’s mighty nice of you,” Paul said, voicing the sentiment of the other boys.
“I think what you ought to do,” said McCarthy, “is to consider yourself a single group and I’ll teach you as a group. Of course I couldn’t take you up all together, but whatever ground-work there is to be done, I could instruct you as a group.”
“That’s just what we were thinking, sir,” said Jack.
“In that case, everything is settled, except that I must insist that you bring written permission from your parents. Is that agreeable?”
The boys were so surprised and shocked by the willingness of McCarthy to instruct them that they were left almost speechless. William was the first one to recover. “You mean to say that you’re actually willing to teach us to fly?” he asked skeptically.
The major smiled and nodded. “That’s just what I said, didn’t I?”
“Yes, but you said it so casually and carelessly that we didn’t grasp it at once,” said Nuthin’. “Say it again, please, sir,” he pleaded.
Major McCarthy reiterated his offer and the boys let out wild yells of joy.
CHAPTER V
The major got up and the boys also jumped to their feet. “Well, who wants to go up now?” he asked.
“I do!” cried William lustily.
“Me too,” insisted Wallace.
“What about me?”—that from Nuthin’.
The three boys milled around the major. Paul and Jack, smiling, retreated to the background. They had had their ride and it was somebody else’s turn now. “I’ll tell you what,” the major said, “the three of you choose and I’ll take the two winners up now. And when I come down I’ll take up the loser.”
It was a good suggestion and fair enough. And as luck would have it, William who was the most persistent and eager, lost and his twin brother Wallace and Nuthin’ went up. From the ground, they watched the plane in the air. McCarthy kept them in the air for a much shorter time than Paul and Jack and performed no stunts. When they landed, the two boys, thrilled and excited, climbed out of the machine. The pilot smiled cheerfully and cried, “Well, who’s next?”
William shouted, “I am!” And quickly and eagerly tumbled into the observer’s seat. This time the other boys thought that William was the lucky chap, since he was going to fly all by himself. Jack immediately spoke up. “Major McCarthy,” he said, “would it be all right with you if the four of us chose to see which one of us could go up with you a second time?”
He nodded. “Sure,” he said. “That’s fair enough, I guess.”
Paul was the lucky one and he went up in the air for a second time. When McCarthy landed, the boys thanked him heartily. When they returned to Stanhope they all went to Bobolink’s house because he was still unable to leave his bed and they had decided to hold the meeting that afternoon in his room. When they got there, they found Bluff and Ken already present and they could hardly contain their excitement. William, impatient as well as impulsive, broke into the room, shouting, “Hey, fellows, we flew in a real airplane.”
The boys in the room were also highly excited and Bluff, who was eager to explain, stuttered so because of the exciting news, that he
