Bob’s eyes lighted up. “You bet,” he said. “I never get tired of reading about it.” He plucked at the grass beside him. “Gee, it makes a fellow want to do things. It makes him feel that the older folks don’t know everything—” “A-hem,” interrupted Captain Bill. Bob laughed. “You’re not old folks, old bean. Don’t flatter yourself. Anyway, they told Lindbergh that he couldn’t do it. They told him that his plane was carrying too much, and he’d never be able to make it alone.” “Did he?” said Pat. Bob looked at him disgustedly. “Did he! Don’t make fun of me, you old Irishman!” The old Irishman looked grieved. “Well, I just wanted to know. I’m always willing to learn somethin’ new. And you’d better get started, or we’ll never know. We’ll be leaving the lad up in the air, so to speak.” “Ignore that ape,” said Captain Bill, “and proceed.” “Lindbergh didn’t listen to them. He just went ahead and did what he thought was right, and by golly, he was right. It makes a fellow feel that even if he is young he can do things. He doesn’t just have to sit around and do what everybody else has done before. There’s got to be a first every time. Lindy wasn’t afraid just because nobody had ever flown the Atlantic alone before, and the wiseacres said that it couldn’t be done. He just went ahead and flew it.” “It wasn’t as easy as all that,” quietly remarked Hal. Bob turned to him. “Of course not. Lindy had planned every move that he was going to make. He was prepared for anything. That’s why he’s always so successful. He has his plans all laid before he ever takes off. He’s got all the courage in the world, but he’s not reckless.” “Put that under your hat, my lad. It’s a good lesson to know by heart when you’re going into the flying game.” “You bet,” said Bob. “Gee, it needed a lot of courage for him to make that take-off. I’ve got the date down here. It was May 20, 1927, on a Friday. That must have been an exciting morning down at Roosevelt Field. He made up his mind on Thursday afternoon. They told him that the weather was all right over the North Atlantic, and that it would be best if he started out the next morning. “He didn’t tell anybody about his plans. He never talks very much anyway. Everybody found that out later. It was all sort of secret. He just told his mechanics to get the Spirit of St. Louis ready, and keep their mouths shut. I guess he didn’t want everybody messing around with his plans. But the men who delivered his gasoline weren’t so secret, I guess, and somehow his plans leaked out Thursday night.