XI. Like Gentlemen 131 XII. "Air Activity" 146 XIII. The Little Butcher 164 XIV. A Cushy Job 178 XV. No Thoroughfare 185 XVI. Thrills 196 XVII. The Sequel 212 XVIII. The Raid Killers 232 I SILVER WINGS An old man working in one of the aircraft factories once complained that he was not very satisfied with his job. "I've got three boys out Front, all in the infantry; and I keep thinkin' to myself, Why shouldn't I be doin' some sort of munition work that 'ud help my own three boys? I don't know a livin' soul in the Flyin' Corpse; why should I be workin' for them, an' not makin' shells or bombs or suthin' that 'ud be helpin' my own three boys?" And then somebody told him how he _was_ helping his boys, what the work of the air services really meant, how the artillery observation, and photographing, and bombing, and directing the guns on to hostile batteries and machine-gun emplacements, and so on, all worked up to the one great end, to making the task easier for the infantry, to saving the lives of the men on the ground; and told a few stories of some of the ninety and nine ways this help works out. The old man was fully satisfied and grateful for all that was told him, and declared he'd go back to his job with twice the heart--"just knowin' I'm doin' mebbe the best work I could, and that I'm givin' real help to my own three boys." Amongst the tales told him the one of "Silver Wings" perhaps impressed him most, and that, probably because it bore more plainly its own meaning of help to the infantry, was more easy to make clear than the technicalities of artillery observation and the rest. And just because it is such a good instance of how, after all, the chief or only end and aim of the air services is the helping to victory of the men on the ground this story of "Silver Wings" may be worth the telling here. Hard fighting had been in progress for some days, and the flying men had been kept desperately busy from dawn to dark on the various branches of their several works, when a "dud day"--a day of rain and squalls and hurricane winds--gave them a chance to rest.