THIS week we have another early story by the prolific O.B. Myers! Myers was a pilot himself, flying with the 147th Aero Squadron and carrying two credited victories and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

“Only one explanation I can see, Reed,” said the Skipper. “Burwell must have escaped, stolen a Halberstadt, and flown over. He was trying to land here when his tank was hit from the ground.”

“We—we killed him ourselves!” gasped Rip. Joe was dead. Rip tried to grasp the fact, but could not. He saw before him the laughing blue eyes, the ruddy countenance, the square shoulders of his nearest and dearest friend. He felt again the throb of relief in his throat as he had seen that tiny figure jump from a wreck, far below, and move across the greenness of the meadow. Joe Burwell dead, like this? But no, it could not be. It was too ghastly. His mind refused to believe—and yet, the evidence. . . . Rip needed to find out what events had led from Joe crashing in a field in Germany to flying that Halberstadt to it’s fiery conclusion!

Not one of those American pilots dared approach that seething cauldron of flames—not one could read its strange secret. But when only gray dust remained of what had been a German plane, they saw—and read the—MESSAGE IN THE ASHES!

• Download “Message in the Ashes” (February 1931, Sky Birds)