As we taxied over the turf I looked back and saw several figures running in our direction.
The next second we had left the bumpy earth for the smooth highroad of the air.
I had flown several dozen times before, generally over the enemy lines when I wanted to see for myself how the land lay.

Then we had flown low, and been nicely dusted by the Hun Archies, not to speak of an occasional machine-gun.

But never till that hour had I realized the joy of a straight flight in a swift plane in perfect weather.

Archie didn't lose time.

Soon the hangars behind looked like a child's toys, and the world ran away from us till it seemed like a great golden bowl spilling over with the quintessence of light.