boys of the gun crew watched in some surprise. One whistled softly through his teeth.

“She knows about guns,” the other whispered. “What d’you know about that!”

“Now.” The girl straightened up to fix her eyes on the sergeant. “You take it.”

The sergeant took over. The girl held a watch on him. The sergeant was on the spot. A girl had offered him a challenge. As a gentleman he had accepted the challenge. His face tensed as the seconds—one, two, three, four, five—ticked away.

“Now,” came from the girl in a hoarse whisper.

The sergeant’s fingers moved like triggers. Instantly the gun boomed. They waited one, two, three, four, five seconds. Then came the dull roar of the exploding shell.

They waited again—one, two, three, four, five—up to the count of twenty. Fragments of the shell could be heard dropping. And then, at the edge of the cloud appeared a gray shadow that rapidly developed into a black ball.

“By thunder! They got that balloon in the bag!” one of the boys exclaimed.

Turning about, the sergeant held out his hand to the girl. She took it, man to man, a good hearty grip.

“That,” said one of the privates, “is better than the boy chinning the rope. You’d ought to go in for magic, Miss. There’s money in magic.”

The girl smiled, but made no reply. She glanced away at the shadows of the palm tree. The black dwarf was still there. Not knowing why, she shuddered, but she still did not tell him to go away.

The steel ball reached earth some distance away. The first gunner, still a bit of a skeptic, ran over to retrieve it.

“You never touched the steel ball!” he called on the way back.

“But he got the balloon!” the girl insisted. “That was very good indeed for the first try.”

“Thank—O—Thanks.” The sergeant made a bow. “Sometimes the Captain says I’m good and sometimes he says I’m—well, never mind just what he says. It’s not fit language for a lady.”

“I’m no lady,” the girl laughed. “I’m just a soldier, a WAC. So let’s just be nice and natural. Shall we have another try?”

“Oh sure! As many as you like.” The sergeant 

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