“The green-eyed monster has you in his grip, for sure! Come on, let’s go and see what they’re talking about.”
Patty rose and Chester followed her to where Helen and Philip Van Reypen were eagerly talking to Mr. Herron.
“Yes,” Herron was saying, “to train a thousand aviators usually means the smashing of more than a thousand machines. Why, every learner breaks up one or two airplanes before he’s a flyer.”
“Really!” said Helen, her eyes big with interest. “And how much do these airplanes cost?”
“Oh, about seven thousand dollars apiece.”
“They do! What a fearful expense for the government!”
“The government does have fearful expenses, Miss Barlow,—or so I’ve heard.”
“But that’s something awful, old man,” put in Van Reypen. “I’m going to be a flyer, and I’ll begin training soon. That’s why I’m so keen on questioning you. Do I go up in the air at once?”
“No, sir. You begin on a machine that stays on terra firma.”
“Then it isn’t a flying machine at all,” observed Patty, as she and Chester joined the others.