In the tiger's lair

by Leo E. Miller

“You are covering a lot of territory,” he replied. “The ground is good enough for me.”

“It will have to be for me, too, I guess, but think of those fellows playing among the clouds while we swallow dust on the road or wallow in knee-deep mud in the trenches. Think of the glory of fighting miles above the earth!”

“What’s the matter? Not feeling sorry for yourself, are you?”

Ted ignored this remark. His thoughts were high above in the ethereal blue, where the airplane had been manœuvring with such graceful ease but a few minutes before.

“I want to fly and do my fighting up there,” he said to himself more than to any one else in particular.

“And be shot down and hit the ground so hard it would take the whole police squad a week to dig you out,” Ted’s neighbor, whose name was Carter, interrupted. “Not for me! I’ll take mine down here, where I know there is something safe and solid under my two feet.”

The company reached the barracks with just fifteen minutes in which to brush up for retreat. There was no time for discussion or conversation, but that night, just before taps, it was reported that a commission had arrived whose object it was to select men for the air service; several would be accepted from each company. That accounted for the sudden appearance of the air-ship that afternoon; it was part of the advertising plan to secure the necessary number of men.

Ted called on his captain immediately, and was told to report to the major in charge of the commission on the following morning.

There was no sleep for him that night. The hours dragged as he tossed restlessly on his hard bunk and listened to the heavy breathing of the other men, and when morning came he was so excited he was sure he should be rejected on that very account. But the major was inclined to make allowances, and informed Ted that he might expect to be transferred at no far-distant date.

The order releasing him from duty with the company and sending him southward to the ground school in Texas came two weeks later. And two days after that Ted was speeding toward his new station.