THE WOUNDED AVIATORS
They were out early the next morning, and started for the tramway a mile distant. They passed Tom's hangar, and stopped for a moment to take a look at his machine. As they were leaving they heard his voice:
"Going to leave us?" he inquired.
"No; but we must go to the city to get our mail, and we are expecting a telegram," shouted Ralph.
"Get back by eleven o'clock if you can," was the answer.
"We'll be here, sure," said Alfred.
"He must mean that we can have a try in the machine at that time, I suppose," remarked Ralph.
"I imagine that's why he wants us back then," answered Alfred.
They covered the mile in record time. The idea of going up in a machine was a stimulus, and they talked about it all the way, and wondered what it would feel like to sail above the earth in a war-machine.
At the post office they had their first disappointment, and there was nothing at the telegraph office. They were perplexed at the absence of news, but consoled themselves with the thought that transportation from the Swiss frontier might be in the same condition as at the Western front, so they decided they would not remain long in the city.