The Brighton Boys with the Flying Corps | Page 9

and when, three days later, the sergeant-major called into
the stores on his way past and said to the stores sergeant, "Are you
going to keep Benson here for good?" the stores sergeant replied
without hesitation, "I sure am."

To have been among the stores from the time they were first unpacked,
and to have assisted in the work of first placing them where they
belonged, gave Fat a sort of sense of proprietorship. Stores still poured
in every day or so. The two soldiers who were to help at last made their
appearance, but neither of them seemed to particularly appeal to the
stores sergeant, who was by that time depending more than he realized
upon the quick intelligence and persistent application of his big-bodied
boy assistant.
Fat's prime chance came at the end of the first fortnight, when the
stores sergeant was kept in bed for a few days from unusually severe
after-effects of vaccination. The pair of soldiers had not been in the
new stores sufficiently long nor taken keen enough interest in them to
be of much use except when working under direction. So the real
storekeeper was Fat for the interim. The sergeant-major discovered the
fact and reported it casually to Major Phelps, who spoke to the colonel
about it. Both of these officers had their hands very full at that time,
and both of them had felt the blessing of having the ever-ready and
ever-willing Brighton boys always on tap, as it were, to run quick
errands and be eyes and feet for anyone that required an extra pair of
either.
It was a source of gratification to Colonel Marker that the boys were
doing well; and that one of their number had worked his way into the
organization of the camp unostentatiously, on his own merits, pleased
the colonel immensely. He even went so far as to stop in the stores on
his way to dinner and say a kindly word to Fat, whose coat buttons
seemed ready to burst in consequence.
Thereupon Fat became a fixture in the stores, studying carefully
everything that came through his hands, until at length he knew at a
glance what each part or store might be, and whether it was in good
condition or not when received.
The dark French boy, Louis Deschamps, was a general favorite. So
much so, in fact that he could have had almost any job that it lay in the
sergeant-major's power to offer him. One day Louis casually mentioned
that he wished he could get nearer the engine work, and the

sergeant-major at once decided the boy should have his wish.
No finer fellow on the grounds could be found than the big Scot,
Macpherson, who was head engine hand of the first lot of mechanics to
arrive at the airdrome. Macpherson talked little unless he was speaking
to some prime favorite, when he became most voluble. The
sergeant-major and Mac were cronies. Consequently it took little laying
together of heads before the sergeant-major went before the colonel one
day and asked if Louis Deschamps could be spared from headquarters
to go and give Macpherson a hand as helper.
The colonel smiled. He knew what was in the wind. The Scot knew
well where he could obtain helpers in plenty if he needed them. But
Colonel Marker was as ready to help the Brighton boys as was the
sergeant-major, so he smilingly acquiesced, and the next morning
Louis came to camp attired in a suit of blue dungarees over his khaki.
In ten days' time Macpherson had taken the French lad to his heart, and
was never so happy as when working away with him over a refractory
engine and chatting along in a seemingly never-ending stream of
engine small-talk. All of which was meat and drink to Louis, and was
rapidly acquainting him with much that it would otherwise have taken
him years of experience to acquire.
Joe Little and Jimmy Hill had a council of war with Louis Deschamps
one night. These three were fast growing to be closer than brothers.
What one of them had he was anxious the other two should share at
once.
"I think I can see my way to get you fellows working in the hangars,"
Louis said.
"Mac will help us. I never saw such a good friend. I told him you
fellows were anxious to get closer to the planes and he is turning it over
in his mind. He will have a scheme soon, and when he does, it will go
through all right."
Macpherson had a scheme, but just how and when to try to put it into

operation was the question. He had a talk with Parks, the head
instructor, one afternoon, and told Parks about the Brighton boys and
their