Once more at the controls, he dived down just as the fire crew reached the field and the men left the truck, carrying axes and extinguishers, ready for an immediate and impending emergency. The ship hit the ground with a thud, taxiing along the field on one wheel in a perfect landing. Finally losing speed, the other end of the axle struck into the earth and the plane spun around in a circle without causing either injury or damage. When the ship finally came to a sudden stop, the crowd on the field rushed forward and surrounded the two men still seated in the cockpits. Among the group was the major, whose face plainly showed his pride and happiness over the skillful landing. He confronted the boy with a beaming, warm smile as Lefty jumped out of the ship. Almost inarticulate in his praise, he wasted no time in freeing the silver wings from above his left breast pocket and pinning them on Lefty, saying: “Take mine, son, until I can get you a pair of your own!” [Illustration: “Take mine, son, until I can get you a pair of your own!”] Ever since the first minute he had entered the Flying Corps, the boy had lived for the great day when his efforts and craftsmanship would earn him his wings. Now that the glorious moment had arrived, he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in the solemn procedure, for over to the right of the plane, Elinor stood alone, her cheeks flushed crimson with pride for the man she idolized. She threw pride to the winds and, with strong determination, walked directly to the spot where Lefty awaited her coming with suppressed eagerness. Just as he took her in his arms, unmindful of the others about them who watched the procedure interestedly, two Bed Cross men carried Panama from the plane and, at the sergeant’s command, brought him over to where the lovers stood in a warm embrace. “What did I tell you about that Lindbergh stuff?” Panama called to the boy as a wide grin spread over his face from ear to ear, and then gazing at Elinor with a look of unselfish devotion, assured the girl in no uncertain manner, “Well, even if you didn’t get ‘We’ you sure landed the next best thing!” The boy and girl smiled after the sergeant with gratitude and as the medical attendants carried him off, they once more became locked in each others arms, sealing the joining together at last with a long, lingering kiss. Major Harding ran across the field after Williams, finally joining up with the sergeant as the attendants carried him down the company street to his tent. “Sergeant!” the commander panted, “I won’t forget your bravery this time! I’m going to see that you get a medal if I have to go all the way back to Washington and fetch it for you myself!” Williams smiled in a sly, mischievous way as he watched Lefty and Elinor walk across the field, arm in arm, wrapped completely in their new-found happiness.