To fire this stationary weapon the pilot would have no need to remove his hand from the controls. The instruments consisted of a compass, an altimetre to register the height, a speed indicator and several others. Then there was a map in a roller case.
The top of the plane was camouflaged by means of spots of a greenish and brownish color; and besides the concentric circles of blue, white, brown and red on the wings the end of the tail had been painted with the tricolor of France.
Though Don Hale, as a rule, was a pretty calm lad, he found it hard to conceal his nervous tension.
His preliminary flight that afternoon, however, was really nothing more than a repetition of those he had taken while in the training schools. A green pilot was not to be fed to the hungry Boches, and he stood in no more danger from that source than if he had been hundreds of miles away.
On the following days the sergeant led him a little further toward the fighting front. And then, having received all the protection which wise counsel and advice could afford, the young airman was pronounced ready to begin his career as a combat pilot.
CHAPTER XII—ABOVE THE CLOUDS
On a certain morning, just after sunrise, Don Hale, in his fur-lined combination suit, leather aviation helmet, and provided with heavy goggles and gloves, was strapped in his machine. It was one of a row of six, which, in almost perfect alignment, were ready to go aloft.
There was the greatest activity and noise about the flying field. The air was filled with the roar, the drone and the hum of many motors; and in this sea of sound the reverberations of the distant guns were, for the time being, completely lost.
Don had received his instructions to fly at the rear of a formation of six machines, following one another at a distance of fifty metres. This vol de groupe would patrol the German lines for a period of several hours.
Don Hale found himself murmuring over and over again: “At last!” And though he tried his best to still the rapid pulsations of his heart—to control a hand that had an extraordinary tendency to tremble, it was without avail. He was going up to face peril of the gravest sort.