Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-10-02

think that they ought to apply to
everyone except themselves. Everyone
knows that while private affairs may
be as important as one may allow
them to be to oneself, they have no
weight at all compared with the de-
Tense OF the country.
The steady regular motion Of the
tiniest cogs is essential to the perfect
functioning Of the vast machine that
guards the country Frank kissed Hen
rietta once more, and she made no
attempt to make it twice. Then he
took his arms from around her, put
on his dark glasses Che had to do
that at this hour so as to have his
eyes accustomed to darkness at night
falD and picked up his cap and gloves.
Walk up with me to the aero
drome?" he asked.
NO" said Henrietta. lid better
not"
Frank thought that was sensible of
her. There was no purpose in pro-
longing the parting. The dark glasses,
in the dark cottage room, made her
appear vague and shadowy.
II wish I were coming with you
tonight" said Henrietta with sudden
intensity. II wish I could help YOU
just little"
Frank had heard her say that be-
fore, and it made him smile a little
The night fighters job is very lone
ly one. Time was up.
D"Goodby, dear" he said.
"Goodby, DEAR" said Henrietta, with
the forced steadiness of any young
woman parting from her lover in war
time England.
Frank walked up to the aerodrome.
We know his nerves were steady
enough at this time, although, as he
says, he had been deeply moved by
his interview with Henrietta. We know
it because we have a contemporary
proof; an old envelope on which, as
soon as he arrived in the mess, he
scrubbed Henrietta's new address in
case he forgot 1.-THE Extension,
Welshpool Road, Goldman, Wore The
handwriting is little hurried, but
there Is nothing abnormal about it.
Certainly it is not the handwriting
of a drunken or delirious man.
Frank ate his breakfast-or his
supper, according to the way one looks
at it-with his dark glasses on. He
went into the operations room just to
see how things were going there. He
paid careful attention to the orders
and the instructions which were given
by the flight lieutenant. He did not
lark about his brother officers, as he
often did, because he was-as he is
the first to admit-still little distract
and wrapped up in his memories Of
Henrietta. Then as nightfall came on
he went into the dispersal room to
wait for the orders which might send
him into the air against the raiders.
The evening wireless bulletin carried
good deal of news about the bombing
of Goldman, but he did not pay much
attention to it because he knew Hen
rietta was safe. Besides, he was little
mortified at his failure of the night
before to intercept the raiders.
About midnight the orders came
which sent him up to 10000 feet; just
those orders, with nothing further as
yet. He had plenty of time to go over
his controls, and to make the neces-
sary fine adjustment of his radio
locator-the subtle instrument which
was changing the course of history.
After his last nights experiences he
was fully aware of its potential i'm
projections, however. 1t was an instru-
ment still only suitable for delicate
work in a scientific laboratory, but
forced by the eXigencies of war into
hurried practical employment at a
time when its very sensitivenesS was
against 1t.
A very minute error in the setting
of the dial could result in the placing
of the target quarter of mile from
its actual position, sometimes-a mar
velous laboratory result when it is con-
sidered that the target was anywhere
within a circle of hundred miles ra-
dius, but of little use in war on a
dark night with a maximum range of
visibility of so yards. Frank, like half
the officers of R. A. F., had his own
ideas about the improvements neces-
sary, and he had time to think about
them while he cruised about at 10000
feet with the occasional brief instruc-
tions coming in on his radio telephone.
After half an hour there came much
more explicit orders from the ground
control, and Frank set his locator as
he was ordered. and put his plane