“How did you happen to see Warren Long’s burning plane?” asked Jimmy. “I was looking for it.” “Looking for it! What do you mean?” “Just what I say. I was looking for it, though I had no idea it was going to be afire. You see, ever since you got into the Air Mail, Jimmy, I have been interested in the mail planes. I have always hoped that one of them would land here. And as long as you were a mail pilot I guess I was always hoping that you would be piloting the ship that stopped here. Well, I got so much interested in the mail planes that I kept right on watching for them, even after you left the service. You know the first night mail plane always comes over here just about bedtime, and I almost always step out-of-doors and watch it sail over.” “I know how you feel,” said Jimmy. “Well,” continued Johnnie, “when I heard the mail plane coming last night I stepped outside as usual, and there was the plane. But something was wrong. It was afire. You could see the flames plainly. It flew in a crazy fashion——” “That must have been while Warren Long was fighting the flames,” interrupted Jimmy. “And it went sailing by pretty fast. For a time the fire seemed to die down, and I thought the pilot had it about out. Then it burst out worse than ever. By this time the plane was a long way past here. But it turned and headed back. I knew right away that the pilot was trying to reach the field where you just landed. I called to Dad that a plane was on fire and was heading for the landing field, and that maybe we could help save the ship if we got to the field in time. So we set out together for the field.” “Do you live far from it?” inquired Jimmy. “About half a mile, I suppose, though our land runs clear down to the landing field. Anyway, before we were half-way to the field we saw that the pilot would never make it. The whole airplane seemed to be aflame. It was fairly spouting fire from all sides. I knew the pilot would have to jump, and I couldn’t understand why he stayed with the ship half as long as he did.” “You would if you knew Warren Long,” interrupted Jimmy. “That was just like him. He risked his life to try to save the mail.” “He risked it, all right,” said Johnnie. “His plane was just a mass of flames. I don’t see why he wasn’t burned to death right in the cockpit. I just stood still and held my breath while I waited for him to jump.” “Did you see him when he did jump?” “See him? Why, you could see everything. The whole sky was as light as day. Out he came in a tremendous dive right through a sheet of flame. I never breathed while I waited for him to open his parachute. Do you know what happened? It was awful.” “What was awful?” demanded Jimmy.