“From Bangor, Maine, United States of America; Barry is the family handle, and the front name is Billy.
“Mr. Stetson, I’ll have you know Mr. Henri Trouville and Mr. Joseph Mouselle, I think that is the way you pronounce it, isn’t it, Reddy?”
“Oh, call me Jimmy,” jovially urged the newcomer; “what’s ‘misters’ between friends?”
“Did you know Capt. Leonidas Johnson and Mr. Josiah Freeman in Dover?” asked Billy.
“Did I know them?” cried Jimmy. “Did I know the town-clock and the wharves? They’re the flying machine men, and I have hung around their hangars so much that I must have worn out my welcome. To tell the truth, though, I am on the waver between an aëroplane and a submarine. I’ve have had some training, too, in the underwater boats. Say, coming back at you, do you know Capt. Johnson, or just heard of him?”
“Rather well acquainted with him, I should imagine,” stated Billy with a smile; “Henri and I rode up here in the captain’s seaplane.”
“Gee whiz, then, you’re the Aviator Boys I have heard about. I was in London when that happened, and when I came back to Dover to say farewell to mother I had no more than time to wave a hand to the captain before the ship sailed for Ostend.”
“Do you mean to say that Captain Johnson and Josh Freeman are in Dover?” was Billy’s excited query.
“Just so,” stoutly maintained Jimmy. “I saw them with my own eyes.”
“Glory be!” Billy was happiest when he said that.