all, I think it’s a small matter.”

“Not so small.” The officer spoke slowly. “You’ll have to spend the last half of every afternoon for a week preparing for it.

“Of course,” she added, “your work here has been excellent. The time lost will not matter so much. So—”

“Then I may do it?” Sally exclaimed eagerly.

“Yes, you may!”

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you a lot!”

“It is Barbara who should be thankful. I doubt if she could take the test alone.”

“She couldn’t,” Sally agreed. “Barbara is a fine girl. She’s true blue. There are not many things she could do in our organization. For parachute rigging she’s perfect.”

“That’s right.”

“And I want her to be a great success.”

“With your help I’m sure she will be. You and she may start your training this afternoon. The sooner the better. There’s not much time left—”

And that is why Danny Duke had to wait so long to tell Sally of his grand discoveries.

That afternoon Sally and Barbara rode five miles to the training field with six boys who were to take the same training.

“Pipe the girls,” one fellow called when they were first sighted.

“Shut up!” another boy exclaimed low. “If they are going to take to the chutes, it’s not just for fun. It really takes guts. If they’ve got what it takes you have to hand it to them.”

“Ever run a children’s playground?” the director asked Sally.

“Yes, once, quite a while ago—”

“Well, this is just another one of them. Only difference is you swing on your chute straps just to get used to them instead of from the old apple tree. And if you don’t fasten your straps just right you get a good bump.”

“And you learn by bumps,” Sally laughed.

 Prev. P 35/121 next