Stephen Morris Read Free Page A

with the least expenditure of time and petrol. Morris listened respectfully; the little man knew his business from end to end. Riley had chosen his partner well; a plain little man who knew his own limitations and who would work like a horse at the practical running of the business.
    He was a great talker; he rambled on from one subject to another. Morris had been to the hut? They had thought it out when they started up in this business, and Riley had said it would be best if at first they lived like on Service, or more so. It cut the overhead charges. It suited them well enough. It had been a bit of luck getting this place. It had been quite empty when they came; they fixed up to rent it from the farmer on whose ground it stood, who could get nothing out of the Air Ministry for it. It had been put on his land during the war and just left there. They paid a very low rent. The farmer grazed cattle on the aerodrome; one had to watch them when taking off or landing. Riley said they had no legal tenure here at all. Six weeks after they had come, a caretaker had arrived and reported that they were there. There had been a little fuss about it at first, but the Air Ministry had not gone to the length of evicting them. Riley said that so long as they paid rent to the farmer and the Air Ministry didn’t, they were all right - unless the Air Ministry took away the buildings. He (Stenning) didn’t know much about the Law. He thought the Air Ministry didn’t want to bust up a company that was doing good work. Anyway, they had been there just over a year now, and nothing had happened.
    Then a low hum from the north announced the other machine. Riley came in low over their heads and waved a hand as he passed, went to the south of the aerodrome, turned into the wind, and put the machine down justoutside the hangars. He, too, taxied into the hangar, assisted by Stenning and the mechanic.
    They closed the great sliding doors and walked back to the hut. Presently a hot meal made its appearance.
    ‘Didn’t do so badly today,’ said Riley. ‘You’ve got those Air Ministry licences, have you? The ones I wrote to you about.’
    ‘I got those,’ said Morris. ‘When do I start work? I’d like half an hour or so on the machine before going out - I never did more than five hours or so on the Avros, and that was years ago.’
    ‘You’ve seen your machine?’ asked Riley. ‘Oh well, you’d better stay at home tomorrow. Have an hour or so in the air, brushing up short landings, particularly. It’s easy enough work. Then if anyone comes up and wants a flight, you can take them up. They’re always doing that, and it’s awkward when we’re all away.’ He paused. ‘Did you use the car?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Morris. ‘That gear’s nothing serious. The gate’s shifted a bit - it’s all loose.’
    ‘Is that all?’ said Riley. He yawned sleepily. ‘It only happened yesterday - I must see about it some time. Or if you’re at home tomorrow you might see if you can do anything, will you? If you find anything bust, get Peters - the chap in the hangar - and put him on to it. He’s all right, but he wants watching on any job he hasn’t done before. Let’s have supper.’
    After supper he cleared the table and produced a small typewriter from a case and a bundle of letters. He set up the machine on the table and proceeded to answer the letters in rapid succession. Stenning settled down with a pipe and a novel.
    ‘Can I help at all with those?’ asked Morris.
    ‘Don’t think so, thanks,’ said Riley. ‘They don’t take long.’ He read another. ‘Stenning.’
    Stenning looked up.
    ‘Town Council of Lymington got an annual fair and horse show on the fifteenth. That’s the place I went to alone last year and turned away more than I could take up - you remember. They offer us a field and two policemen.’
    ‘Wish other towns ’d do that.’
    ‘How many machines shall we send?’
    ‘Let’s send two, and t’other chap stay at