nearer their intended goal. Every pilot and observer in that squadron had
been carefully selected with a view to his fitness for the gigantic task
that had been laid out for accomplishment.

There would be no hesitation when the eventful moment came, since none
was present save those who had been tried in the furnace of battle and
found to be fine gold, eighteen carat pure. Such a thing as flinching
when the test came was not to be considered; they would carry through
their appointed tasks or fall while in the endeavor, paying the price the
airman has ever had dangled before his eyes.

Jack was using his night-glass, and he now broke out with a cry.

"We must be getting close to the bridge, Tom! I can see flickering
lights darting about, and I believe they must be planes rushing up
into the air!"

"Like as not they've been warned of our coming by the row we're making,"
replied the pilot, in a shout. "Then again those Huns along the line
would send word back, for they must know what we're aiming at. It's all
the same to us. We came out after action, and we'd be terribly
disappointed if we didn't get a lot of it."

Then came signals from the leading plane. Closer formation was the rule
from that time forward, since the bombers must be amply protected in
order to allow their gunners an opportunity to get to work with those
frightful explosives and hurl them at the place where the bridge was
supposed to lie.

Both boys began to feel their pulses thrill with eagerness, as well as