CHAPTER V
The Reward
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?”