As Lefty slowly walked off toward the plane, Panama again became troubled with the annoying problem of where he had seen this boy before. He looked to see if Elinor was waiting for him. Finding that she had gone, he called to Lefty to come back. When the boy once more confronted him, he asked where he had seen him before. Looking around first to make certain that they were alone, Phelps brought forth the clipping that had been the cause of the recent outburst and handed it to the sergeant. “Well, I’ll be a ——” Panama exclaimed. “So you’re the guy what ran—Say, what are you doing in the Marine Corps?” Lefty moved uncomfortably from one foot to the other, hoping that the sergeant wouldn’t betray his secret. “I couldn’t stand the ridicule! You were the only one that was decent to me and—well, here I am, to make them all take that back some day. That’s my ambition.” Panama listened attentively with a sympathetic smile, a trifle flattered by the praise of the college man. He looked at the clipping again for a moment and then proceeded to tear the caption in half handing back the part to Lefty that read: “Lefty Phelps reminds us of Lindbergh,” crumpling the rest in his hand. “That’s what they’ll be saying soon, kid,” he assured the boy. Lefty, grateful beyond words, seemed to Panama like a great big, inarticulate dog, but managed to say: “Gee! That’s decent of you. I don’t know how to——” “Don’t mention it,” Panama interrupted, and then assuming his hard-shelled professional tone, barked out so that everyone on the field could hear: “Whatinell are you doin’ here anyway? Snap into it and wash that plane clean!” CHAPTER V Ten hours of intensive flying instruction pass ever so quickly for a group of air-minded boys, determined to make a place for themselves in Uncle Sam’s most important fighting unit, the Marine Aviation Corps. With a good deal of practical aerial knowledge under his belt and a pressing desire to earn his wings, Lefty skipped through his instruction period plus one hundred per cent courage and ambition and approximately seven days of airsickness. On this particular day, the flying field at Pensacola was buzzing with unusual activity due to the fact that several new students, just through their instruction period, were ready to make their first solo flight. A line of five pursuit planes were ready in the center of the field, each plane attended by a mechanic. To the left, a small observation stand had been built that was now occupied by both officials and officers of the Navy and Marine Corps. Directly in front of the planes, Panama had his squad of pupils lined up for their final instructions.