"I am afraid we shall have to leave you," said Ralph. "We promised Tom to be over at the hangar at eleven." "Tom Brandon; the American dare-devil?" said the lieutenant, smiling. "Why, yes," replied Alfred, somewhat hesitatingly. "Is he a dare-devil?" he continued, with wide-open eyes. "Well, he doesn't seem to be afraid of anything; I suppose he would go anywhere, if he was ordered to make the trip. Is your engagement an important one?" asked the lieutenant, with a curious light in his eye. "Why,--yes,--we--we wanted to take a flight this afternoon," said Ralph. "Do you think they would let us?" asked Alfred quickly. "Rather against the rules and somewhat risky," said the lieutenant, slowly shaking his head, but his face relaxed, as he saw the crestfallen appearance of the boys. "We can get around the rules sometimes," he added. "Tom said he would try to fix it for us," said Ralph. "Then go at once, and tell him that Winston gave him permission," said the lieutenant. "Do you think it is safe, Addie?" he asked, turning to his sister. "It seems to me it is safe to trust boys who have been in battles as they have, don't you?" she replied sweetly, as she arose and grasped the boys' hands. "Now, don't forget us, will you?" "No, indeed; we intend to come over to see you in the morning," said Ralph. The boys fairly flew across the broad grounds in order to reach the hangar. Their chagrin was great as they peered in to find that Tom and his machine were absent. "Looking for Tom?" asked one of the men. "Yes; do you know where he is?" asked Alfred. "He's coming now, I think," was the reply, as the man approached the door and glanced upward. "Yes; there he is, winging it in." Within two minutes the Morane gave a quick dive, then flattened out and skimmed the ground, and just before alighting the nose of the machine gave a short, quick, upward dart. "He does that the slickest of the whole lot. That was a quick stop, sure enough," remarked an attendant. The machine had landed not two hundred feet from the hangar. The boys were over without delay, and accosted Tom, as he reached the ground. "We are sorry that we couldn't get here in time, but we met Lieutenant Winston's sister coming over, and we were detained at the hospital," said Ralph. "It's just as well, as I couldn't make it. The commandant wouldn't give me the time to take you out," said Tom. "But the lieutenant told us to tell you that he gave you permission to take us," said Alfred. "Did he say that? Well, that's another thing. I'll tell the commandant," and, without another word, he crossed the field, and disappeared. He was back in five minutes, and waved his hat as he appeared. "All right, boys; we'll have an hour's flight; how will that suit you?" he said.