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60

Waco

Monday. 4.40. a.m.
Cleveland, Ohio

Dear Diary:

We are out at the mail hanger, so as to follow the mail into Bellefonte, Pa. George doesn't feel so good. Think the Pa. mountains worry him, with this big ship. Pilots don't like the eastern mountains.

It is cool this time of the morning. Buddie cried he was so sleepy. George is revving the motor up, longer than usual. Since he lost his sense of smell, he has to depend on his eyes and ears. Now George looks satisfied.

The De H. is off. Here we go.

There is Cleveland under us.... still asleep. Smoke beginning to curl from factory chimneys. Bud is watching the mail ship. How the De H. is frolicking, or else we are so slow. We are climbing, constantly. 6500 ft., 'C.D.' says. We did not eat any breakfast. I like the feeling of the comradeship with the mail plane. All aviators feel related.

All we can see now is clouds.... then a little speck of ground.

The feeling in the clouds is a little like I had when I crawled through some large pipes that had been unloaded for a new sewer, and my brothers blocked both the ends up. A little breathless sorta.!

Buddie is sound asleep. A cradle, 6500 ft. up in the air. 

Guess I will doze off. Don't I smell something hot? There is a fine spray of water on the windows, and no storms this morning. C.D. thinks I am nervous. I looked back at George, and sniffed, in pantomime. He looked sharply out the side toward the motor. I know those eyes, and something is wrong. Now the motor is limping. [[strikethrough]] 15 [[/strikethrough]] Fifteen minutes and we will be in Bellefonte. The mail