 at feral yes ma'am we'll see can i take that note someplace for you know thank you i'm going to put this up on the bulletin board oh it concerns you jerry me i've just come from captain gardener's office and on this notice is the outcome of the writing test for the polo team can i see it please may i jerry oh yeah uh may i see it please yes you may but first i want to tell you something jerry yes both the captain and sergeant alton deliberated a long time making a it wasn't an easy task sergeant alton praised the writing of all three of you boys in fact he expressed a desire to have all of you on the team but of course you understand there's just the one position open yes ma'am i know that the men finally had resort to writing the three names on separate pieces of paper and drawing the winner so you see it was very fair i didn't get it did i no you didn't and i'm sorry but you still have a chance well i don't see how one of the other boys was spared the culley newson was the lucky one and you and paul warren are next in line or you mean the next time there's an open place on the team no before that jerry in fairness to you and paul warren sergeant alton is going to break a precedent and give cully just a couple of weeks trial of course if he makes good he'll keep the position but if there's a flaw in his work you and paul will be given a trial now i see what you mean you don't feel badly about it do you jerry no ma'am it says right here on this notice that you were all three judged equally in writing ability so all the other cadets will know you didn't fall down on the test well better luck next time that's the way to talk now you run along and take advantage of the afternoon have you made any plan no ma'am lee and i are going to do something but i don't know what where is lee he's waiting for me outside well don't keep him waiting too long okay goodbye mrs gardener goodbye jerry oh there you are jerry oh hi what kept you so long well lee i just had a talk with mrs gardener oh i see and i found who won the writing test for the polo team you did who was it you got it didn't you no i didn't cully newson was picked oh but you wrote as good as he did jerry every bit is good i know it and mrs gardener explained the whole thing to me he uh where are we heading for let's walk over to max place and have a cool drink okay but go ahead and tell me just what happened well mrs gardener said that sergeant alden and captain gardener couldn't decide so they wrote our names down on pieces of paper and had a drawing cully's gonna get a couple of weeks trial and if he doesn't make good then warren and i will get our turn oh well then you've still got a chance uh-huh who say i heard something that might interest you yeah what well i overheard one of the fellas say the captain roland is starting to line up the crews why don't you look him up and put in your application for cox one of the plebe crew i will if you will what well why not you're not going out for any other athletics well i'm just waiting for basketball jerry i thought i'd try for the plebe basketball team well you can roll can't you i have a little bit well you're good and strong what do you say we'll both try for the plebe crew are you on okay i will okay let's take on it put it there right do get in philip to the plebe crew that way we can be together and help each other we might even get famous as a team oh there's nothing i'd like better let's make that our goal you as coxon and i a stroke but we won't tell anybody about it it's just between the two of us right right he look at there's a bird cage hanging out in front of max place that's his pet canary he hangs him outdoors in the sun a couple of hours every day didn't you see him the last time we were here no he wasn't in the store maybe he had him out back in his living quarters here we are let's see if he'll sing for us come on Duncan how about a song Duncan is that his name that sure is a funny name for a bird better not let mac hear you say that he says it's a perfect name it's an old scotch name jerry means brown on warrior oh well that's not so bad then that's a fella you see jerry sometimes mac lets him out of his cage when he does Duncan leaps around all over the store and pecks at everything he can find a peck at he jumped on my shoulder once and pecked my ear brown warrior fits him then doesn't help say it well come on let's go on inside okay hi you mac i'll be right with you lads no hurry mac take your time hey it's sound like mac is building a house the way he's hammering most likely fixing something what are you gonna have leigh oh i don't know maybe some ice cream oh come on jerry let's go back and see what happened okay i'm right with you what is it what's the matter mac i have much for fingers lodge oh i really give it a good one this is an extra good one he all said he did here you better let the cold water run on that's right mac hold on the cold water oh see that that hurts well how did you happen to hit your finger mac i guess i had it when that nail should have been in there i'm undidding with all the difference yeah that's enough now i'll just dry it off and forget about it turn the tap off jerry okay that's too bad mac i'm sorry you hurt yourself no nothing seriously it's things like this that opens a person's eyes there is an old saying goes like this miss fortune is a good teacher huh yeah sorry you'll learn through mistakes there'll be a lot more careful the next time here's a lot more careful say look here what is this thing mac looks like some kind of a machine and look jerry it took top of the electricity no no no never mind that's not for you to see i didn't ever intend for you to come back here and have a look at it but what is that yeah tell us mac we've seen it already it's a secret lads and yours are the first eyes that have seen it a secret i i have been working on that for a long long time is it some sort of an invention mac that it is won't you tell us about it please mac well uh on one condition i'll tell you you've got to promise me you won't tell one living person about it oh we won't mac we promise don't we jerry sure we do i i know i can count on your words you bet you can well you're uh you're looking at a miniature model of what i hope will be the salvation of aviation i don't believe i get you mac that um machine as you call it is the greatest need in aviation today sounds interesting but i didn't know you were an inventor or knew anything about aviation lost that's if i i i've been ticking it for years on this alert but i've got a real one here well what is the greatest need in aviation mac what will your invention do it's a new kind of altimeter an altimeter you know what that is don't you jerry it's a sort of a gauge to tell how high an airplane is oh yeah i know what you mean well how does your invention differ from the altimeters they have now well that's the secret you can all the altimeters they have no give you the height from sea level that's right in other words if you take off from an airport that's 500 feet above sea level and you fly up a thousand feet your altimeter would read 1500 feet am i right yeah i guess it would be all right well of course it would but actually you're only a thousand feet off the ground below why see what you mean your invention will tell the exact distance between the ground under the plane and the plane itself not the difference between sea level and the plane you're a smart lad lead that's exactly yeah but i don't see why that's so important the aviator that's flying the plane makes allowances for the extra 500 feet and well he can tell how high he is anyway well wait a minute jerry i think i can explain that now look that's supposing the flyer doesn't know the territory he's flying in in that case he does know how high the ground below him is above sea level very goodly very good i couldn't explain it better myself of course uh that's just an explanation the real was of my invention lies in the fact that will warn flyers of approaching objects wow that's perfect mac you mean if a plane's heading straight for a mountain peak that it can't clear well your invention will warn the pilot right and at least that's what i hope it will do but uh there's a lot more work to be done tell us how it works mac well uh i guess you've heard the red of many airplanes running into the side of mountains and crashing haven't you know sure lots of times and i never could figure out how it could happen with all the latest flying equipment they're using nowadays it happens very easily a plane can be flying right on a radio beam think on that beam is true but it isn't that's been proven because of electrical storms those beams have been known to go off their court several miles now let's suppose a pilot is flying 8 000 feet up and right on the beam he knows there are no mountains higher than 6 000 feet on the course so he feels very safe and i see but actually he may be several miles off his course right and off the course there are mountains 9 or 10 000 feet high to the left or right of the true course so that's why sometimes you hear a plane flying right into the side of a mountain yes jerry that's the reason well now tell us how your invention will prevent that happening let me show you the machine here come over to see all right no uh you see this little tube here with the light over it yeah what's that that's the altimeter jerry now here's how it works the meter is lighted up the same as other instruments on the panel by a dash light and giving the true distance between the ground or the mountains below the right right right now if the plane is flying along and all of a sudden the mountain shows up that the altitude of the plane can't clear this light goes on and a buzzer rings at the same time giving plenty of warning in plenty of time so the pilot can turn around or gain more altitude that's wonderful mac isn't a jerry i'll say it is hey but how does it work mac oh that's it you know that's the secret lens yes that's the secret you've told us everything else about it aren't you gonna tell us the principle now well i'll tell you this much it's worked by magnet well what do you know about that yes a magnet so sensitive that it will work at a great distance i think that's about the greatest invention i ever heard about if you can really get up to work mac you'll be rich well you'll make plenty of money with an idea like that oh perhaps perhaps jerry but that isn't why i want to give my idea to the world i'm only thinking of the lives it will see i that would make me very happy there's an old saying goes like this wealth really brings happiness that's up through and lads yeah i guess that's right now you bet it is when do you think you'll have your invention finish me well so everything has worked out now so far as i can go my next step is to build a working model that can be put into an airplane and tried out well you're going to start on it right away oh i wish i could large yes sir i wish i could why can't you you made a small model now all you got to do is to make a big no it's not that easy jerry no sir not quite that easy it takes money and lots of it it would take at least a couple of hundred dollars and i i haven't had that much losha i haven't asked that much i could spare a light purse is a heavy cost well isn't there somewhere you could raise the money well only by mortgage in the store here and i didn't care to do that oh no i should say no well come on lads that's old max problem and whenever a mark has a problem he finds a solution now you didn't come here to work out my financial troubles you come here for a drink huh come on up to the fountain and let me get your orders okay how's your finger now man oh well it hurts a little but it's nothing serious yeah i'll be forgetting about it in the jiffy well i think i'll take some ice cream mac ice cream for you and jerry well fix me up one of your special chocolate sodas man chocolate soda right uh-huh say mac have you talked with anyone about your invention no no you're the first ones to hear about it well look did you ever think of talking it over at the bank i mean sometimes you can sell an interest in an invention and get the money you need to develop it that way well i thought of that but uh i've got to get the yeah you've got to protect it before you talk about it hey i've got an idea lee yes what is it i think i know where we can get the two hundred dollars mac needs i'm almost sure and i'm gonna do something about it right away