It struck him as one of the finest little thoughts of the season, and he rushed into Jack Adeler’s room cheerfully.
The Lieutenant looked up from a big book of electricity.
“Where can I get an aeroplane?” begged Hike. “I want one, right away.”
“There isn’t any other little thing you’d like, is there?”
“No, there isn’t,” stated Hike, refusing to be drawn. “I find the fellows keep thinking I’m an outsider, because of my aviating, and I want to bring a machine here, and get them into the feel of it.”
“I see. Good idea. I’ve noticed you’ve been having trouble. It’s made me pretty angry, but I thought I’d let you work it out. What do you want to do?”
“Why, I thought if I gave them some rides, it would make them feel they were aviators.”
“They might. Worth trying, anyway. I’ll tell you. A friend of mine has a Paulhan-Tatin monoplane, at Tanforan, just out of San Francisco. He’s offered to lend it to me—wants me to regulate the motor and so on, I guess. We’ll use that.”
“When can we get it, Lieutenant?”
“To-night?”