noon
All right , I would n't ask you to whisper just one word to me ; only I feel sore because they have left me out of the game . But I never was lucky in drawing prizes . I 'll go out and vent my spleen on some Fritz who happens to get in my way . '' When the airmen trailed in toward noon on that October day , first , rumors reached Tom and Jack , and then came the plain story connected with Harry 's extraordinary conduct on that wonderful morning . Other pilots said the boy seemed to be possessed of a spirit such as they had never known him to show before . He hunted out the Boche wherever he could find him , forced him to give battle , and then simply played with him , no matter if he chanced to be one of the best-known German aces . Two he had sent down in flames , for which he would receive due credit ; and there were reports that he had also made as many more drop to the earth in a condition of impotence .