Smith did not answer, but instead went head first into the cockpit. He squirmed around for a while with his feet in the air and then started working his way back again.
“Here it is,” he said when he had resumed his normal position.
He held a small board in his hands.
“What has that to do with it?” asked Bill.
“That board evidently fell or was placed in front of the rudder bar,” said Smith. “When it dropped in place, it exactly fit the space between the right side of the bar and the front cross members of the fusilage. The result was that you could not have pushed your right foot forward without breaking the cross members of the fusilage.”
“I wonder where it came from?” asked Bill. “Breene, who was working on this plane with you?”
“Corporal Grabo and a recruit. I don’t know the recruit’s name. Who was he, Barney? You sent him over.”
“Dixon,” replied Barney.
“I wasn’t in the cockpit at all,” said Grabo. “Let’s get Dixon and find out what he knows.”
“I sent Dixon in to do some K. P. work,” said Barney. “He was in the way out here and balled up everything that I gave him to do. Roll the plane back to the hangar, you men.”