Masters' eyes were wide open with amazement. Bert could hardly believe his ears. As for Hugh and Clive they were bubbling over with excitement. Nor were they intensely astonished. The latter, at any rate, had seen so much of Susanne as to convince him that what that young fellow took in hand he accomplished. For Feofé had that happy knack of winning friendship, a knack which it behoves all to acquire. Also he was far more at his ease with his elders than any of the others. It seemed almost natural, therefore, to Clive that he should have brought about this introduction. Clive bobbed to the young fellow whom Susanne presented, and then, forgetting all else, stepped up to the aeroplane and began with Hugh's help a close and critical examination. Then a call from the smiling owner sent the two of them to the far corner where a board table was erected, with a ham and a joint of beef upon it, together with other items.
"Help yourselves, gentlemen," said Monsieur Dubonnet. "Accident has given me friends to-day, and I needed them. Now, let's get the meal started and then tell me how you managed this business. I suppose you're from Ranleigh?"
"Yes," admitted Masters, his mouth already half filled with ham, his eyes protruding at the directness of the question.
"Know it?" asked Clive.
"Rather! There myself, you see. Breaking bounds, eh? Well, I don't blame you. But, by the way, I'm expecting one of the masters. My old dormitory master, you know—Old B. Know him? Of course you do."
The bombshell produced an impressive and painful silence. Masters looked desperately across at the door. Even Susanne reddened, and then Monsieur Dubonnet relieved the tension by laughing uproariously.
"Had you all badly," he grinned. "All the same, Old B.'ll be paying me a visit. But we'll make that right. There's a place screened off at the back of the hangar and you can get cover there. I'll post one of you fellows to watch at the door."
And so for the following hour they took it in turn to watch. The meal finished, Clive and Hugh plied Monsieur Dubonnet with questions—questions, too, of such an intelligent nature that they aroused his interest. Indeed, the enthusiasm of these young fellows gained for them an invitation to try a flight.
"You'll like it awfully," declared Monsieur Dubonnet. "Of course, one feels scared at first, but that's natural. Accidents do happen at times, I know, but I don't think you need be fearful."
It was with beating hearts that our two young friends, half an hour later, smuggled themselves into the cab mounted on the machine. Two mechanics appeared and wheeled it from the shed, while Susanne and the others kept carefully in the background.