“And it went sailing by pretty fast. For a time the fire seemed to die down, and I thought the pilot had it about out. Then it burst out worse than ever. By this time the plane was a long way past here. But it turned and headed back. I knew right away that the pilot was trying to reach the field where you just landed. I called to Dad that a plane was on fire and was heading for the landing field, and that maybe we could help save the ship if we got to the field in time. So we set out together for the field.”
“Do you live far from it?” inquired Jimmy.
“About half a mile, I suppose, though our land runs clear down to the landing field. Anyway, before we were half-way to the field we saw that the pilot would never make it. The whole airplane seemed to be aflame. It was fairly spouting fire from all sides. I knew the pilot would have to jump, and I couldn’t understand why he stayed with the ship half as long as he did.”
“You would if you knew Warren Long,” interrupted Jimmy. “That was just like him. He risked his life to try to save the mail.”
“He risked it, all right,” said Johnnie. “His plane was just a mass of flames. I don’t see why he wasn’t burned to death right in the cockpit. I just stood still and held my breath while I waited for him to jump.”
“Did you see him when he did jump?”
“See him? Why, you could see everything. The whole sky was as light as day. Out he came in a tremendous dive right through a sheet of flame. I never breathed while I waited for him to open his parachute. Do you know what happened? It was awful.”
“What was awful?” demanded Jimmy.
“Why, that burning ship turned over on its side the instant the pilot left it and dived straight after him. I thought sure the plane was going to crash into him. It was frightful to watch. My heart simply stopped beating while that plane roared after him. And the pilot was as cool as an icicle. He just kept on falling and falling and never moved a muscle. As the plane shot by him I thought it had struck him, and I cried right out. But somehow the plane missed him and shot down like a flaming meteor. Gee! You should have seen what happened then. Your friend had his parachute open the instant the blazing ship had passed him.”
“How high was he?”