Thus having the spot indicated, even in the dim light Curt was able to see that deep ruts had been made, not only in the soft, ploughed edge of the field, but also on the turf.
“Hm-m-m!” he had no explanation to comment. It was unimportant. Something of greater concern was on his mind.
“See here, buddy,” Curt said, “will you help me ‘warm up’ this ship?” He was searching for two stones or blocks big enough to hold the airplane still while the propeller revolved. “The pilot might want to take off now that I’ve fixed the damage.” The boy agreed. Curt, locating several rocks near where the brown ‘plane had once been hidden, set them under the wheels, and then, realizing that the ship must take off facing into the wind, he got the youth to help him drag the tail around, to pull the whole ship as far up at the end of the turf as possible.
“First time I ever worked around a—er—‘grate’——”
“‘Crate,’” Curt corrected, smiling in the darkness. “That’s a slang way of speaking of an airplane, and it means either a term of fondness, or of disgust, according to how the user feels about his ‘ship.’”
“I see. Gee! Wisht I could be one of them aviator flyers.”
“You can, if you are willing to study enough,” Curt said. “It means hard work. There’s a lot to learn. But a fellow who has ambition can get to be anything he likes.”
“Not without being educated more than me.”
“You can pick up some education while you’re studying in ‘ground school,’” Curt explained. “After you learn the parts of the airplane, the way each one works, what it is for, and so on, and how they are put together, you have to study about airplane engines—the principle of the internal combustion engine and what all the parts are for and how they work. There has to be study of—let’s see—oh, yes!—aerodynamics—how a ship flies, and why, and what different air currents do, and how to know their effects. There’s navigation, too—the beginnings of it, anyway.”
“All that? I thought you got in and pushed something and——”