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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by 
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines
+       The German Spy's Secret
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Illustrator: Robert Gaston Herbert
+
+Release Date: February 17, 2010 [EBook #31312]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER ENEMY LINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE DUEL IN MIDAIR.]
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+OR
+
+THE GERMAN SPY'S SECRET
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES AMORY BEACH
+
+Author of "Air Service Boys Flying for France"
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+
+ROBERT GASTON HERBERT
+
+THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.
+
+CLEVELAND, O. NEW YORK, N.Y.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1919, BY
+
+GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+by
+
+THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO.
+
+CLEVELAND, O.
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY LINES
+
+CONTENTS
+ Chapter                                              Page
+       I.  Back of the Trenches                          1
+      II.  The Winged Messenger                         10
+     III.  A Spy Baffled                                19
+      IV.  Praise From the General                      27
+       V.  The Strange Warning                          35
+      VI.  Looking Backward                             45
+     VII.  The Great Day Arrives                        53
+    VIII.  Over the Enemy's Lines                       61
+      IX.  Winning His Spurs                            70
+       X.  After the Battle                             78
+      XI.  A Show on the Front                          85
+     XII.  Clowns on the Wing                           94
+    XIII.  More Work in Prospect                       103
+     XIV.  Off on a Daring Mission                     113
+      XV.  The Moonlight Flight                        120
+     XVI.  Landing Close To Metz                       129
+    XVII.  More Trouble for the Chums                  137
+   XVIII.  The Lone House by the Roadside              144
+     XIX.  A Nest of Spies                             153
+      XX.  Jack Climbs a Wall                          162
+     XXI.  In the Old Lorraine Château                 171
+    XXII.  Facing More Difficulties                    181
+   XXIII.  Left Behind in the Enemy's Country          191
+    XXIV.  Troublous Times for Jack                    200
+     XXV.  Back to Safety--Conclusion                  208
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BACK OF THE TRENCHES
+
+
+"Tom, what do you suppose that strange man who looked like a French
+peasant, yet wasn't one, could have been up to late yesterday
+afternoon?"
+
+"You mean the fellow discovered near the hangars at the aviation camp,
+Jack?"
+
+"Yes. He seemed to go out of sight like a wreath of smoke does. Why, if
+the ground had opened and swallowed him up, once the hue and cry was
+raised, he couldn't have vanished quicker. I wonder if what they say
+about him can be true?"
+
+"That he was a German spy? Anything is possible in war times."
+
+"I guess you're right there. German secret sympathizers, and spies in
+the bargain, seemed to bob up all over the United States before we
+crossed the ocean to do our fighting for France as aviators."
+
+"They certainly were busy bees, Jack, blowing up munition-works, trying
+to destroy big railroad bridges so as to cripple traffic with the Allies
+over here; burning grain elevators in which France and Great Britain had
+big supplies of wheat stored; and even putting bombs aboard ocean liners
+that were timed to explode days later, when the boat would be a thousand
+miles from land."
+
+"Over in France here they make short work of spies, I've heard, Tom!"
+
+"Yes, it's a drumhead court martial and trial. Then, if the man or woman
+is found guilty, the spy goes out with a firing squad to the most
+convenient stone wall. They never return, Jack."
+
+"Whee! that sounds like war times, doesn't it? And to think the two of
+us are right on the firing line, in the midst of all the scrapping. But,
+Tom, tell me, why should a tricky German spy want to hang out around the
+aviation field? He could hardly expect to pick up any news there that
+would be worth taking across the lines to the headquarters of the Crown
+Prince before Verdun."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that, Jack. Perhaps he might learn of some
+contemplated bombing expedition, like that one we went on not so long
+ago." And Tom Raymond smiled slightly.
+
+"They are a mighty clever bunch, those spies," admitted Jack Parmly.
+
+"Why, Jack, half of the successes of the Kaiser's armies on all fronts,
+Russia, France and Rumania, can be laid at the door of his secret
+agents. They seem to be everywhere, trying to foment internal troubles,
+strikes, and discontent, so that when the Germans strike hard they meet
+a divided enemy in front."
+
+"Well, I certainly wish we had caught that fellow."
+
+"You were in the crowd, you told me, that scoured the whole neighborhood
+in search of him."
+
+"That's right, I was. But say, he proved too foxy for us all. Anyway, we
+failed to find the rascal. Then night came on, when we had to give our
+man-hunt over. And to think that I even glimpsed the fellow's face in
+the bargain before the alarm went out!"
+
+"Then you'd know him again perhaps, Jack, if ever you met him?"
+
+"I think so. Though I suppose these spies have ways of changing their
+looks at times. But, to change the subject, Tom, it strikes me neither
+of us is groaning under the weight of game so far on our little side
+hunt." And Jack Parmly grinned.
+
+"Oh, I didn't really expect to run across anything, though that French
+peasant assured us there were still some rabbits in the burrows over
+here, three miles back of our sleeping quarters. That's why, with a day
+off-duty, I took a notion to borrow an old Belgian-made double-barrel
+shotgun he owned, and walk out here."
+
+"More to stretch our legs and get the kinks out, than anything else, eh,
+Tom?"
+
+"That's it, Jack. Don't you remember that while we were training at the
+aviation school at Pau we used often to walk from the town, eight miles
+distant, until we sighted that famous little old red barn at Pau, where
+the Wright Brothers conducted some of their experiments in flying
+heavier-than-air machines. That was some little hike."
+
+"Then too, Tom, I guess we wanted to get together by ourselves for a
+change, so we could talk about our folks at home in little old
+Bridgeton, U. S. A.," went on Jack Parmly with a sigh. "All the fellows
+of the Lafayette Escadrille are mighty kind and sociable, but there are
+times when a fellow gets homesick. Just remember that we have been over
+here many months now. It seems years to me, Tom."
+
+"Say, I hope you are not homesick enough to want to go back, old
+fellow?"
+
+"Not me, Tom. I made up my mind to stick it out until we whip the
+Kaiser. But already I can see it'll never be an accomplished fact until
+Uncle Sam throws his sword into the scales. And any day now something
+may drop."
+
+"Yes, matters are at an acute stage in Washington, that's sure. All
+France, bled nearly white in two-and-a-half years of war, is praying
+that the day may come soon."
+
+After that the two athletic looking young Americans, dressed in the
+uniform of the French aviation corps, fell silent for a brief time.
+They, however, continued to trudge over the devastated fields, looking
+this way and that for any sign of a stray rabbit that had escaped the
+general slaughter.
+
+It was just previous to the world-stirring session of Congress, when the
+President made his thrilling speech that sounded almost from end to end
+of the world, and put America in line for the cause of democracy.
+Anxious days those were across the ocean, anxious not only in France,
+Italy and Great Britain, in Serbia, Rumania, Greece and Russia, but in
+the Central Empires, also.
+
+For well did those in Teutonic authority know, in spite of their vain
+boasting, that once great America decided, the thing was bound to be
+done, sooner or later. Never in the course of her history has our
+republic been on a losing side. Her wars have invariably brought
+eventual victory to her arms, because she has never once fought for an
+unjust cause.
+
+These two vigorous young fellows were fair samples of those enterprising
+Americans who found it impossible to sit idly by. They could not await
+the slow course of events that was bound to carry our country into the
+world war on the side of the Allies, in spite of all the powerful
+counter currents among the pro-German citizens at home.
+
+Dozens of the brightest of flying men from the States had gone over and
+offered their services to France, the country they loved. In time there
+came to be so many, that from the ordinary French Flying Corps there was
+formed a unit entirely made up of Americans.
+
+This, in honor of the one great Frenchman whom Americans most honor at
+home, was called the Lafayette Escadrille. Some of its members had
+become famous at their profession. Names like those of Lufbery, Thaw,
+McConnell, Chapman, Prince, Rockwell, Hill, Rumsey, Johnson, Balsley and
+others became household words among readers of the great dailies in the
+States.
+
+Tom Raymond was the son of a man who had gained fame as an inventor.
+When the war broke out he started work on numerous inventions, some of
+which were calculated to become terrible agents for the destruction of
+human life. Then Mr. Raymond's mood changed, and he set to work to
+conceive a wonderful stabilizer for airplane use that would save myriads
+of lives, and if adopted by Uncle Sam was likely to help win the war for
+the Allies.
+
+Just when this invention was finished a drawing of one of the parts was
+stolen by a German spy. Later on, after Tom and his chum, Jack Parmly
+had decided to become war aviators, having already had considerable
+aviation experience, they went to the flying school conducted by the
+Government in Virginia.
+
+From there in course of time they crossed the Atlantic and entered the
+famous French school at Pau. Then, having mastered the science of flying
+sufficiently to be sent to the front, they had joined the Lafayette
+Escadrille, as related in a previous volume entitled "Air Service Boys
+Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette Escadrille."
+
+Tom in particular seemed to have a great career ahead of him, unless
+some unfortunate accident, or possibly a Teuton pilot, cut it short, as
+had happened in the cases of Rockwell, Prince, McConnell and Chapman.
+Every one knew he possessed genius of a high order, and that it would
+not be long before Tom Raymond might anticipate gaining the proud title
+of "_ace_," which would indicate that he had defeated five enemies
+at different times, and put them entirely out of the running.
+
+Tom was already a corporal in the French service, and expected before a
+great while to be given the privilege of wearing the chevrons of a
+sergeant. Jack had not progressed so rapidly but was doing well.
+
+And now to return to the young aviators during their walk.
+
+"I reckon we've gone far enough, Jack," Tom remarked presently. "Our
+friend Jean may have been telling the truth when he said there were
+still a few bunnies left alive in this war-racked section of country,
+but I can see they've got the good sense to stick to their burrows
+during the daytime. We won't be burdened with our bag of game on the
+return trip."
+
+"Yes, that's always the trouble, when you go out after rabbits and
+haven't any hound along to get them up and bring them within gunshot,"
+grumbled Jack.
+
+"But we've had a good walk," returned his companion; "and for a time we
+managed to get away from that terrible explosion of shells, and big-gun
+firing. We ought to be thankful for our little time off, Jack."
+
+"Oh! I'm not really complaining," remarked the other young aviator, with
+a whimsical expression on his good-natured face. "But don't you know I
+hate to go back without having fired even one shot." He stopped short
+and pointed upward. "Hold on, Tom; there's some kind of bird going to
+pass over right now! Crow or anything, please bring it down! I'll
+promise to eat it, no matter what it is."
+
+Laughingly Tom threw the gun up to his shoulder, and the next instant
+the report sounded. It seemed almost contemptible, after listening to
+the roar of those monster shells exploding for so long.
+
+The bird fell fluttering in a heap. Tom evidently was a fair marksman,
+for it had been moving swiftly over their heads at the time he fired.
+Jack ran forward and picked the game up. As he did so he gave utterance
+to exclamations that naturally excited the curiosity of his chum. So
+Tom, after reloading his gun with a fresh shell, waited for Jack to
+rejoin him, which the other did, his face full of mystery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE WINGED MESSENGER
+
+
+"What do you call this, Tom? A queer sort of crow, I'd say. Looks more
+to me like the blue-rock pigeons Sam Becker used to raise at home," and
+so saying Jack held up the still quivering bunch of feathers.
+
+Tom took one quick look, and then a startled expression flitted across
+his face.
+
+"Just what it is, Jack!" he hastened to say. "A homing pigeon in the
+bargain! You can tell that from the bill and the ring around the eyes."
+
+Jack in turn became aroused.
+
+"A homing pigeon, is it?" he ejaculated. "Why, birds like that are used
+for carrying messages across the lines! Some of our airplane pilots have
+told me that sometimes they take a French spy far back of the German
+front. When he had made an important discovery he would write a message
+in cipher, enclose it in a tiny waterproof capsule attached to a ring
+about the pigeon's leg, and set the bird free. Inside of half an hour it
+would be safe back in its loft, and the message on the way to French
+headquarters."
+
+He lifted one limp leg, and then the other.
+
+"Look here, it's got a message, as sure as anything!" Jack exclaimed.
+
+Tom leaned forward and took the bird in his hand, dropping the gun
+meanwhile. He carefully took off the gelatine capsule, and from it
+extracted a delicate piece of tough paper, which he spread open. There
+were a series of strange marks on the paper, of which neither of the air
+service boys could make anything.
+
+"Looks like hieroglyphics, such as you'd expect to find on an Egyptian
+tomb or in the burial places under the pyramids," complained Jack, after
+he had stared at the lines in disgust for a brief period of time.
+
+"It's a cipher of some kind," explained Tom, seriously. "With the key
+all this would resolve itself into some sort of communication, I
+suppose, connected with valuable information concerning the French
+armies here at Verdun."
+
+"Then it was made by a spy!"
+
+"No question about that part of it," came the ready reply.
+
+"This carrier pigeon with this message, was on its way across to some
+point in the rear of the enemy line when you fired, and brought the poor
+little thing down in a quivering heap, I'm sure that's it," continued
+the other.
+
+"Yes. And so after all it's turned out to be a lucky thing you chanced
+to see the bird coming along, Jack, and begged me to knock it down so we
+could show some sort of game when we got back to camp."
+
+"What ought we do with this message?" asked Jack, accustomed to
+depending on his more energetic chum in many cases; though when left to
+his own resources he could think for himself, as had frequently been
+proved.
+
+"I shall see that it gets to French headquarters, with an account of the
+singular way we ran across it," Tom told him.
+
+"Do you think it would be possible for any one there to translate this
+cipher of the German secret code?"
+
+"Why not?" Tom demanded. "They are clever people, these wideawake
+French, and I shouldn't be at all surprised if they turned this incident
+to some good use."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Oh, it could be done in many ways. Suppose they found the key to the
+code. Don't you see how a fictitious message could be sent on in some
+way, if they could bag another pigeon from the same coop? They might
+even coax the Germans to deliver a furious attack at a supposed weak
+place in the line, which would of course be heavily guarded."
+
+"That would be something worth while!" exclaimed the other with glowing
+eyes. "Lead them into a trap, where they would be mowed down like ripe
+grain, terrible as that sounds!"
+
+"Yes, that's the idea I had in mind. But it would depend on several
+things. First of all would come the successful solving of this cipher
+code."
+
+"Yes, and then the finding of another homing pigeon," added Jack. "I
+wonder if the fellow who released that bird could have a lot more of the
+same kind hidden away somewhere around back here."
+
+"I was just going to suggest that we take a turn toward the south, and
+look around a bit before going back to camp. Do you feel equal to it,
+Jack?"
+
+"What, me! Tom? Why, I'm as fresh as a daisy! This business has made me
+forget there's such a thing as getting tired walking."
+
+"Let's see, we stood here when I fired," continued Tom reflectively,
+"and you walked straight to where the bird dropped. That would make the
+direction due northwest by southeast. How about that, Jack?"
+
+The other took a survey, and then pointed with his hand.
+
+"When I saw the bird coming first of all, Tom," he finally remarked, "it
+was just showing up over that clump of trees killed by gunfire. And it
+was heading as straight as can be for us."
+
+"Yes," Tom went on to say, "because a homing pigeon on being released
+will rise to a certain height and take its bearings. Then it starts in a
+bee-line for its loft, whether that is five miles away or hundreds of
+miles. Some peculiar instinct tells it in which way home lies. It seldom
+if ever goes astray. Sometimes birds have made a thousand miles, and
+shown up at their home coop days after being set free."
+
+"Well, then, the man who threw it into the air, after fastening this
+cipher message to it, must be over to the southeast of us," affirmed
+Jack.
+
+"The bird was released within five minutes or so of the time I fired,"
+Tom told his chum. "It's even possible the spy may have heard the report
+of my gun."
+
+"Tom, why not try to capture that spy?" asked Jack, eagerly, ready for
+any sort of excitement.
+
+The young aviators started off, walking briskly. They kept their eyes
+alertly open as they proceeded. At the same time, on Tom's suggestion,
+they continued to act as though still looking for game, even
+investigating at a burrow that certainly was used by rabbits, as the
+tracks plainly indicated.
+
+Tom never deviated from a direct line due southeast. He knew that their
+best chance of making a valuable discovery lay in finding the place
+where the carrier pigeon had been released, to fly across the lines to
+its home loft. This might be many miles to the rear of the fighting
+front, even on Lorraine territory, in the neighborhood of the fortified
+city of Metz itself.
+
+The two passed over a mile without making any sort of discovery, Jack,
+who did not possess quite as determined a nature as his comrade, was
+already commencing to make certain sounds akin to complainings, as
+though he felt keenly disgruntled because of their lack of success.
+
+"Guess we'll have to give it up, Tom," he finally remarked.
+
+"Wait," said Tom. "Before doing that let's investigate that old
+shattered farmhouse over yonder."
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Jack, plucking up some fresh interest, "have you
+located one of those remains of a building, then? I was coming to
+believe there wasn't so much as a broken wall left standing for a space
+of five square miles, so complete has been the destruction. But I see
+what you mean, Tom."
+
+They walked ahead again, and approached the ruined farmhouse. It had
+been riddled through and through by shot and shell. Three-fourths of the
+original building lay in piles, the stones heaped up as they had fallen.
+
+"Queer, isn't it, that the kitchen part escaped the smashing fire, and
+still stands," observed Jack. "I warrant you this is the only part of a
+building left around here. Tom, would our spy be likely to take up his
+headquarters in such a place as this, do you think?"
+
+"I don't know," came the answer. "We can soon find out."
+
+"He might feel desperate enough to open fire on us," suggested Jack,
+though he did not shrink or hold back when Tom advanced; for Jack Parmly
+did not have a drop of cowardly blood in his veins.
+
+Tom turned and waved his hand as though beckoning to others who might be
+coming after them. He even called out in his best French, as if there
+were a dozen back of him, that there was a possibility of securing at
+least a drink of cold water at the old-fashioned well with a sweep that
+stood near the kitchen of the ruined farmhouse.
+
+"Good idea, Tom!" commented the other, chuckling with amusement. "If he
+gets the notion in his head that we are legion he won't be so apt to
+blaze away at us, knowing it would mean a short shrift for him. He may
+prefer to play the poor French peasant part, and try to pull the wool
+over our eyes."
+
+Presently they arrived at the door. It was hanging from one hinge, and
+the entire place presented a vivid picture of the utter desolation cruel
+war always brings in its train.
+
+Tom's first act before entering was to look down at the ground just
+before the door. Some intuition told him that if the place had been
+recently occupied they would possibly find some evidences of the fact in
+the earth.
+
+"See there, Jack!" he suddenly exclaimed, as he pointed down close to
+his feet. "Fresh tracks, and made by a man's shoes in the bargain!"
+
+"Some one has been in here for a fact, Tom, and I wouldn't be afraid to
+wager he saw us coming and cleared out in a hurry. He could have skirted
+those bushes, and got clear easy enough. Do you think it could have been
+the same chap who freed that pigeon?"
+
+"No doubt about it," and Tom, stooping, picked up some small object.
+"See, here's a feather that was sticking to that dead weed. It's from a
+bird of the same color as the pigeon, perhaps from the very one I've got
+in my pocket."
+
+"That settles it," snapped the pleased Jack. "I must say you're a clever
+hand at finding these things out. I'd have never dreamed of looking down
+at my feet, but blundered right into the shack to see if----Oh! What do
+you think of the luck we're in this day, Tom? See what stands there on
+that poor old three-legged table!"
+
+Jack's excitement was natural, as Tom readily understood when he looked;
+for there was a small basket or cage made from oziers or willow wands;
+and inside this they could see two blue gray homing pigeons, mates to
+the one Tom had shot only a short time before!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A SPY BAFFLED
+
+
+Both young aviators stared at the wicker cage containing the two
+pigeons. The birds had been still up to then, but now commenced to make
+cooing sounds, as though pleased at having human company. Apparently
+they were inclined to be sociable, as Jack afterwards put it.
+
+"So he discovered us coming along," Jack went on to say, "and skipped
+out in such a hurry he didn't have time to carry away the cage with
+him."
+
+"He must have climbed out of this window in the side of the wall,"
+observed Tom. "We could have seen him if he had used the door. Yes,
+there are footprints underneath the window. He ran down behind those
+bushes and reached the stone wall that leads to the broken country and
+what is left of the woods."
+
+"The chances are he had all that mapped out beforehand," suggested Jack.
+"Surely a spy has always to keep a door open for retreat."
+
+"Yes. Why not? They take their lives in their hands every time they
+enter the hostile lines, and you can't blame a man for wanting to live a
+little longer, especially if he believes he can serve his country."
+
+"Perhaps he hasn't got such a good start but that we could overtake him
+if we went after him now," suggested Jack.
+
+"We might take a turn that way," his chum agreed. "But not too far
+afield. We didn't start out to search for spies, and we've only got a
+single gun between us. Even my automatic was left behind, because I
+didn't expect to have any use for it, and get tired carrying the thing,
+with its belt."
+
+"But these pigeons here, Tom?"
+
+"We can leave them until we get back. That's one reason why I don't want
+to get out of sight of the place. He might make a round, and carry the
+birds away while we were engaged in a hunt half a mile off. And it may
+be of much more importance that those live birds arrive in the French
+camp than that we should bag the spy."
+
+"I get you, Tom; so let's commence our little man-hunt right away."
+
+The two friends set off. Tom tried to follow the course he believed the
+spy must have taken on quitting the old farmhouse ruins. That his
+reckoning was clear he proved several times by pointing out to his
+companion plain evidences that some other person had passed along the
+way before them.
+
+Here the marks of shoes could be detected in the soft earth. A little
+further on, and at a point where the man must have crawled in order to
+keep from being seen, they found tracks where his toes had dragged
+along, as well as the indentation of his knees in the soil.
+
+Presently they arrived at the terminus of the stone wall, about the only
+thing remaining intact connected with the French farm. There was not a
+single tree showing signs of life in that patch of sombre forest; where
+shell-fire had failed to do the work of destruction a malicious hand had
+girdled the trunk with a keen-edged tool, and thus encompassed the doom
+of the trees.
+
+Tom came to a pause.
+
+"I reckon we've come far enough," he said, taking a look over toward the
+fragment of a house on the slight elevation, which could just be seen
+from their present position.
+
+"I'd have liked to catch up with that duck and march him back to camp,
+along with his feathered messengers," Jack grumbled disappointedly.
+"Somehow I hate and despise a spy above all created things."
+
+The youths set their faces once more in the direction of the ruins,
+where they soon arrived. Jack half feared that in spite of them the cage
+and its feathered inmates had been spirited away. He hastened inside
+ahead of his companion and then called out cheerily:
+
+"It's all right, Tom, and nobody at home. Here's the wicker cage and the
+pigeons, just as we left them!"
+
+"As the afternoon is passing, and we have a long distance to go, we'd
+better be making a start," Tom remarked, when he reached the open door.
+
+"Let me carry the pigeon cage, Tom, as you have the gun," suggested
+Jack, after slipping his hand through the ring at the top. "Say, perhaps
+the boys won't give us a laugh, to see what queer game we've brought
+back from our hunt!"
+
+They left the ruins of the once peaceful farmhouse behind them, and
+commenced retracing their steps. Tom was too old a hand at hunting to
+get lost. He had kept his bearings through the whole tramp, no matter
+how many turns they took in examining some promising ground where rabbit
+burrows might be found. On this account then he would have no difficulty
+whatever in leading his comrade straight back to the villa in which the
+entire Lafayette Escadrille of American fliers was quartered.
+
+They were passing along about half a mile from the wrecked farmhouse
+kitchen, and not far from the spot where Tom made his successful shot,
+when without warning the report of a gun came to their ears. Jack
+involuntarily ducked his head.
+
+"Say, did you hear that whining sound just over us, Tom? That was caused
+by a bullet skipping past!"
+
+Tom for answer dragged his chum down behind a fringe of dead bushes that
+chanced to lie close by.
+
+"It was a bullet, all right, Jack," he replied, not without a tremor in
+his voice, for this thing of being made a target by some murderous
+unseen person was a new and novel experience.
+
+"Do you suppose it was fired by the man who owns these pigeons?" further
+questioned Jack, though showing no intention of loosening his grip on
+the wicker cage.
+
+"It could hardly be any one else. He has dogged us this far, or else
+just happened to catch sight of us. That shot was fired from a distance,
+and if we take a notion to run he couldn't possibly hit us. But we might
+as well make use of this fringe of bushes to creep some way off. Then
+we'll get on our feet and put out for home at full speed."
+
+This they proceeded to do without further delay. When it was no longer
+possible to utilize the bushes for cover, they sprang to their feet and
+ran. Jack fully anticipated hearing other shots--yes, and perhaps having
+more leaden missiles singing their vicious songs about his head. But he
+was agreeably disappointed in his expectations, for not a report came.
+
+Evidently the spy had gone away, thinking discretion the better part of
+valor. He may have noticed that they were in uniform, and armed in the
+bargain.
+
+Later on the air service boys moderated their mad pace, and as there
+seemed to be no further signs of danger they finally fell into a walk.
+Still neither of them lagged, but kept up a brisk pace, Jack casting
+numerous apprehensive glances over his shoulder, haunted by a lingering
+suspicion that the spy might yet give them trouble.
+
+They came through safely at last. The villa in which the American fliers
+were quartered was reached, and seemed to be deserted at that hour in
+the afternoon. Everybody must be busy at the front, the boys concluded,
+for the din was more distracting than usual.
+
+"We picked out a bad day for getting off, I'm afraid, Tom," Jack sighed.
+"They told us there was nothing big in prospect; but since we started
+out on our hunt I guess the Huns have put up something of size. And the
+boys will be in the thick of it all too! We might have had a share if
+we'd been on duty to-day."
+
+"Brace up, Jack," chided his chum. "For all you know, what we've done
+may turn out to be ten times more important than all the work of the
+entire escadrille to-day. These captured birds and that cipher message,
+represent possibilities beyond anything you or I can know. Leave all
+that to the general."
+
+"When do you mean to see him, Tom?"
+
+"As soon as I can arrange it. And you're coming with me when I get the
+summons to his headquarters, depend on that, Jack. Your part in this
+affair is just as important as mine."
+
+Tom put the cage with its cooing inmates in their room. Then he started
+out to try to get into communication with the commanding general. He had
+met him once by mere chance, but he hardly believed General Petain would
+remember him in the least.
+
+The action was about over for the day. The Crown Prince had once again
+thrown a heavy storming party forward in the endeavor to make a breach
+in the French lines, through which he could pour the veteran reserves he
+had in waiting. But, as had often happened before, he counted without
+his host; and when the sun went down all he had to show for his stroke
+was a greatly increased casualty list.
+
+The French could not be moved.
+
+Tom understood how to go about it, and in the end managed to get an
+obliging French captain whom he knew very well, to carry a message to
+the commander-in-chief to the effect that he had news of great
+importance to communicate. Just as Tom expected would be the case, this
+brought back a speedy answer.
+
+"You are both to come with me, young Messieurs," said the captain, his
+eyes sparkling with interest, for Tom had told him enough to excite his
+curiosity, and he knew the Americans would not aimlessly take up the
+precious time of the general. "Our valiant commander is tired after a
+strenuous day; but never is he too weary to attend to duty; and he
+already finds himself interested in everything you brave young airmen
+attempt. So please accompany me to headquarters."
+
+Shortly afterwards the boys found themselves face to face with General
+Petain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PRAISE FROM THE GENERAL
+
+
+General Petain received the pair with his accustomed kindness. He loved
+youth, and his eyes sparkled with pleasure as he gave each of them a
+hand.
+
+"My time is limited, I regret to say, my gallant Americans, or I should
+gladly ask you all manner of questions concerning your own country. We
+are all anxious to know when the great republic across the sea will
+decide to cast her decisive influence into the scales to bring us the
+victory we await with much patience. Tell me now what this strange thing
+is you have come across to-day."
+
+Tom waited for no second bidding. He realized how tired the general must
+be after a strenuous day in keeping his finger on the pulse of the whole
+front, where the fierce German attacks had been hurled without success.
+
+Accordingly he started at once his tale of how they had been given a day
+off for rest, and, having a love for hunting in their veins, had
+borrowed an old shotgun and started forth. Without wasting any time in
+useless descriptions he quickly reached the point where the pigeon was
+shot.
+
+Jack, having nothing to say just then, contented himself with watching
+the various shades of expression that flitted across the face of the
+commander. At mention of the pigeon his eyes sparkled, and he leaned
+forward with an air of expectancy, as though anticipating what would
+come next.
+
+Then, as Tom produced the message written on the thin but tough paper
+and handed it to the general the French officer eagerly scanned it. Jack
+also noticed that he did not appear disappointed because he could not
+immediately read the baffling communication. Of course it would be
+written in some secret code; that was to be expected.
+
+"It is fortunate," remarked the French officer, "that I have on my staff
+one who is considered an expert at solving any and every species of
+cipher code. He will speedily figure it all out for me, and then we
+shall see what news this spy was transmitting to his commander. Please
+continue your story, which is very interesting, and in which your part
+does you both credit."
+
+Tom, thus encouraged, went on. He told of their further search for the
+mysterious man who had set the homing pigeon free after attaching the
+secret message to it.
+
+When he presently told of coming on the ruined farmhouse, and
+discovering the ozier cage containing two additional pigeons, just where
+the spy had left them in his hurried flight, the general fairly beamed.
+
+"It is splendid news you have brought me--you aviators from our sister
+republic across the sea," he remarked exultantly, as though already in
+his fertile mind he could see great possibilities looming up whereby
+those pigeons might be made to serve a purpose.
+
+The story was soon finished. Tom, of course, thought it necessary to
+tell of having been fired on while on their way back to the aviation
+post, though no harm had resulted. He did this not for the purpose of
+impressing the general with the idea that they had run any great
+personal risk, but because it might have some influence on the plans the
+officer probably had in mind.
+
+After all had been told the commander again shook hands with both of the
+air service boys. This indicated, as Tom well knew, that he had given
+them all the time he could spare and that a dozen important things were
+awaiting his attention, so he saluted and turned to depart.
+
+"This may prove to be a most important thing you have discovered," the
+general halted the aviators to say warmly. "The cipher will be solved,
+and then, if the facts warrant it, we may have another written that can
+be sent forward by one of your birds. You will give them over into the
+charge of an officer whom I shall dispatch back with you to your
+quarters. That will be convenient, I suppose?"
+
+Tom hastened to assure him that they had expected just such a thing, and
+had hoped that the two captured pigeons might prove the means of leading
+the Crown Prince's forces into some sort of trap.
+
+The general's black eyes snapped on hearing Tom say this.
+
+"Ah! I see that you too have thought it out!" he exclaimed
+enthusiastically. "Some day perhaps you may have command of an army, and
+exercise that talent with glorious success. France thanks you."
+
+Both boys were deeply moved by their brief interview with the busy
+commander-in-chief of the French forces. They did not feel any
+humiliation at being addressed as "my children," knowing that it was a
+term of endearment used freely by officers high in command when
+addressing, those in the ranks. In fact, the French army is very much
+like a big family, the men loving those they serve under.
+
+"Well, that job's over," remarked Jack, heaving a sigh of relief when
+they were on their way to their quarters, accompanied by a jaunty
+captain who, Tom believed, must be a member of the general's staff.
+
+"I'm glad to have had such a fine opportunity for meeting General
+Petain," Tom returned, for the captain at the time was walking a little
+in the rear, conversing with a courier who had come running after him,
+as if on important business.
+
+"He was fine, wasn't he, Tom?"
+
+"Next to Joffre I understand General Petain is the most beloved
+commander the army has ever had," replied the other. "I'll always feel
+proud that he shook hands so heartily with both of us."
+
+The air service boys were soon in the automobile that had carried them
+to the general's headquarters back of the French lines. Here the captain
+joined them, having finished his hasty consultation with the courier. On
+the ride to the aviation camp he chatted pleasantly with the young
+Americans. He, it appeared, had spent several years attached to the
+French Embassy at Washington.
+
+He asked particularly concerning the feeling of the common people in
+America, and what influence the powerful cliques of naturalized but
+pro-German citizens were apt to have on the Government.
+
+Tom was able to assure him that slowly but surely the people of free
+America were becoming aroused to the deadly menace of German
+imperialism, and that presently--it might come at any day, according to
+the latest advices--Congress would assemble to hear a ringing appeal
+from the President, urging them to declare war upon the Kaiser, war to
+the finish.
+
+Apparently what the boys said had much in it to comfort the French
+captain. He knew only too well how eagerly his wearied nation was
+listening to hear just such a message of hope. He knew, also, just what
+it would mean for the brave defenders of France.
+
+In due time the three arrived at the villa, Several of the American
+pilots saw the trio leave the car, wondered much what was in the wind
+that Tom and Jack should return with a member of General Petain's
+personal staff. Their curiosity was considerably heightened when later
+they saw the captain come out of the villa carrying a small ozier cage
+containing two blue-rock carrier pigeons, and effusively shake hands
+with both Tom and Jack, calling out to them as the car moved off:
+
+"In the name of France and General Petain I thank you for what you have
+done this day, my brave Americans!"
+
+As the chums were about to pass into the building there was a hail.
+
+"Wait a minute, Jack!" called one of their fellow pilots, hurrying up
+with some object in his hand at which the two boys stared with rising
+curiosity. "I've got something here for you!"
+
+"For me?" cried the youth addressed. "I'm ever so much obliged, but it
+strikes me I've got beyond the point of playing with a toy balloon;
+though honestly now, when I was a kid I used to be pretty fond of
+sailing one of 'em at the end of a long string, until it would get away,
+and leave me staring up while it climbed toward the clouds."
+
+"Oh, this one is about past doing any climbing, I should say," replied
+the pilot, laughing at Jack's description of his childish woes. "In
+fact, it's been out during the night, and the heavy air forced it to
+come down. Listen, and I'll tell you a strange story that will make you
+believe in fairy tales."
+
+"Go on then, please," urged Jack. "You've got me all worked up already.
+So there's a history attached to this little balloon, is there?"
+
+"There was _something_ attached to it, something that may mean much
+or little to you fellows," came the reply. "This thing was found by a
+French dispatch bearer on his way across country. Out of curiosity he
+stepped aside to look at the bobbing red object he had noticed among
+some bushes in an open field. When he found that it had a paper fastened
+to it, which on the outside had an address, he concluded to bring the
+whole business along with him. He came here half an hour back inquiring
+for Jack Parmly, and on finding you were away at the time left the
+balloon and the paper in my charge. Take it, and see what the message
+is, Jack!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE STRANGE WARNING
+
+
+"Open it, Jack, and see what the message is," urged Tom, as his chum
+stood with the scrap of damp paper held between his fingers, having
+allowed the sagging little toy balloon to fall at his feet.
+
+Jack was thinking just at that moment of the other message his companion
+and he had found attached to the homing pigeon. But of course they could
+not possibly have any sort of connection!
+
+He opened the small bit of paper. It had some writing in lead pencil.
+Once it had doubtless been plain enough, but the dampness must have
+caused it to become faint. Still, Jack could make it out without much
+difficulty. This was what he read aloud, so that Tom and the other pilot
+could hear:
+
+    "_Look carefully to your planes; examine every part. There is
+    treachery in the air!_"
+
+"That's all, fellows," said Jack, much puzzled, as he turned the paper
+over and over, looking for some signature.
+
+"No name attached, Jack?" asked his chum.
+
+"Nothing whatever to tell who wrote that warning. Here, take a look at
+it, Tom. Your eyes may be sharper than mine and see something I've
+missed."
+
+But Tom and the other pilot both failed to throw any light on the matter
+after examining the paper thoroughly. They exchanged stares. Then Jack
+laughed, a little queerly.
+
+"This is certainly a mystery," he went on to say, trying to take the
+thing as a joke. "Some kind friend sends me a solemn warning, and then
+neglects to sign his name. Do you think any of the fellows of the
+escadrille could be up to a prank?"
+
+Tom shook his head. The other pilot also exhibited positive signs of
+doubt in connection with such a thing.
+
+"The boys often have their little jokes, and we are a merry bunch much
+of the time, just to change off from the nervous strain we're living
+under," the man observed. "But I'm sure not one of them would dream of
+doing a thing like this. It would be a mean trick."
+
+"Then both of you are inclined to believe this warning was meant in all
+seriousness, are you?" continued Jack, no longer grinning as before.
+
+"Yes, I do," Tom instantly announced. "It seems a bit childish, sending
+it in such a queer fashion; but then perhaps it was the only way open to
+the person. There was one chance in ten that it would be found; but you
+know sometimes we can't choose our way of doing things, but must
+accommodate ourselves to circumstances. This toy balloon being handy
+suggested a possible way of getting the warning to you, Jack."
+
+"But why me any more than you, Tom, or any other fellow in the
+escadrille?" continued Jack, sorely bewildered.
+
+"That's something we can only guess at," he was told. "Evidently this
+person had your name, and knew you were working here with the Lafayette
+boys. Try to think of some one you may have done something for to make
+him feel grateful to you. Could it have been that boyish-looking German
+prisoner we talked with the other day, and for whom you bound up a badly
+damaged arm, Jack?"
+
+"Oh! that boy!" exclaimed the other, and then shook his head. "No, it's
+impossible. You see the poor chap could hardly talk halfway decent
+English, and I'm sure he never could write my name like this. Besides,
+Tom," Jack went on triumphantly, "I never bothered to mention to him
+that I had a name. To him I was simply an American flying for France."
+
+"Anybody else you can think of?" persisted Tom, for it seemed to him
+that it meant considerable to try to discover who had sent the message
+by such a strange channel.
+
+Jack pondered. Then all at once he looked up with a light in his eyes.
+
+"You've thought of something!" exclaimed the other pilot eagerly.
+
+"Well, it might be possible, although I hardly believe she'd be the one
+to go to such trouble. Still, she had children, she told me, at her home
+in Lorraine, back of Metz; and this is a child's toy, this little
+hot-air balloon."
+
+"Do you mean that woman you assisted a week or so ago? Mrs. Neumann?"
+asked Tom, quickly.
+
+"Yes, it was only a little thing I was able to do for her, but she
+seemed grateful, and said she hoped some day to be in a position to
+repay the favor. Then later on I learned she had secured permission to
+cross over to the German lines, in order to get to her family. She is a
+widow with six children, you know, a native of Lorraine, and caught by
+accident in one of the sudden furious rushes of the French, so that she
+had been carried back with them when they retreated. At the time she had
+been serving as a Red Cross nurse among the Germans. It was on that
+account the French allowed her to return to her family. They are very
+courteous, these French."
+
+Tom was listening. He nodded his head as though it seemed promising at
+least.
+
+"Let's figure it out," he mused. "Which way was the wind coming from
+last night, do either of you happen to know?"
+
+"Almost from the north," the other aviator instantly responded. "I
+chanced to notice that fact, for other reasons. But then it was almost
+still, so the little balloon could not have drifted many miles before
+the heavy atmosphere dragged it down until finally it landed in the
+field."
+
+"Well, that settles one thing," asserted Tom. "It came from back of the
+German lines, don't you see?"
+
+"Yes, that seems probable," admitted Jack.
+
+"Your unknown friend was there at the time," continued Tom, in his
+lawyer-like way, following up the trail he had started; "and hence
+apparently in a position to know that some sort of plot was being
+engineered against one Jack Parmly. Don't ask me why _you_ should
+be selected for any rank treachery, because I don't know."
+
+"And this person, this unknown friend of mine," Jack added, "wishing to
+warn me so that I might not meet a bad end to-day, sent out this message
+in the hope that it might fall back of our lines and be picked up. Tom,
+it makes me have a queer feeling. I almost think I must be asleep and
+dreaming."
+
+"No, it's real enough. We may never know who the writer of this note is;
+but we can heed the warning just the same, and go over to examine our
+planes minutely. Whoever it was, spelled your name correctly. I've
+studied the writing, but it seems to be assumed, and clumsy. There was a
+reason for that too, as well as the writer failing to sign a name."
+
+"What sort of reason?" queried Jack.
+
+"Fear that in some way the message, and the balloon, might fall into
+German hands and lead to unpleasant results," Tom continued. "We know
+about how those Huns would serve any one who tried to spoil their plans.
+They believe in frightfulness every time, and it might mean death to the
+writer. This she evidently knew full well."
+
+"Just why do you say 'she' when you speak of the writer?"
+
+"Oh, I have an idea that Mrs. Neumann may be the mysterious friend who
+is taking such desperate chances to send you a warning. Anyway,
+something about it seems to say it isn't a man's handwriting. Besides,
+neither of you may have noticed it, but there's a faint odor, as of
+perfume, adheres to that bit of paper, though the dampness has taken it
+almost all out."
+
+Jack looked astonished at such shrewd reasoning.
+
+"Well, you are certainly a wonder at seeing through things, Tom," he
+hastened to say. "And so of course that settles it in my mind. Mrs.
+Neumann sent this message to me; though how she could have learned that
+there was anything treacherous going on beats my powers of reasoning."
+
+"But don't you think it would pay to learn if there's any truth about it
+all?" asked the other pilot, whose curiosity had been stirred up by such
+a strange happening.
+
+"Yes, let's all go over to the hangars and have the planes out for a
+regular inspection," said Tom. "If mischief has been done the chances
+are it would be in a part not usually examined by the mechanician before
+a flight. Then again the damage, if there is any, might be so covered up
+by the shrewd schemer that it would not be noticeable."
+
+There were always cars going to and fro, for pilots came and went from
+time to time; so the trio quickly found themselves being whirled along
+over the road so often traveled in their daily work.
+
+"How about that fellow they chased late yesterday afternoon, who was
+loitering about the hangars and acting in a suspicious way?" asked the
+friendly pilot, as they rode along. "More than a few of the fellows say
+he must have been a spy, and up to some mischief, because he slipped off
+so slickly."
+
+"I had him in mind all the while," said Tom. "And if any mischief has
+been done, of course we can lay it at his door; though just how he
+managed to work we'll perhaps never know."
+
+"I caught sight of him, too," Jack remarked; "and I only wish now I'd
+had a good look at the chap who owned those pigeons to-day, so as to
+tell if they were one and the same, which I believe to be a fact."
+
+Just then Tom gave his chum a kick with the toe of his shoe. This
+suddenly reminded Jack that he was treading on forbidden ground, since
+they had resolved not to say anything to a third person concerning the
+adventure of that afternoon.
+
+The other member of the escadrille was looking interested. He understood
+that Tom and Jack must have met with some singular adventure; but since
+they did not see fit to take him into their confidence he was too polite
+to ask questions, feeling there must be a good reason for their silence.
+
+Presently they arrived at the hangars. It was now almost sunset. The
+fliers were coming down one by one, their labor for the day having been
+accomplished. It had been a pretty arduous day, too, and two members of
+the escadrille had new honors coming to them, since they had dropped
+enemy planes in full view of tens of thousands of cheering spectators,
+after thrilling combats high in the air.
+
+One had also passed through an experience that few aviators can look
+back to. He had started to drop rapidly when, at almost ten thousand
+feet altitude, his motor was struck by a missile from a rival pilot's
+gun. When halfway down, either through a freak of fortune or some
+wonderfully clever manipulation on the part of the pilot, the machine
+righted, and he was enabled to volplane to safety, though considerably
+bruised and cut up through hasty landing.
+
+Jack quickly had his little Nieuport out of the hangar, and the three
+airmen began a minute inspection. For a short time nothing developed
+that had a suspicious appearance. Jack, in fact, was beginning to
+believe the warning might after all be in the nature of a fake, or else
+the spy had not found a favorable chance to do his foul work before
+being frightened off.
+
+But presently Tom gave utterance to an exclamation.
+
+"Found anything, Tom?" asked Jack eagerly.
+
+"Yes. Come around here, both of you!"
+
+When the others joined Tom he pointed to where an important wire stay
+had been dextrously filed so that it must snap under a severe wrench or
+strain, such as commonly comes when a pilot is far afield, and wishes to
+execute a necessary whirl.
+
+Jack shivered as he took in the meaning of that partly severed stay. If
+it gave way while he was far above the earth it must spell his certain
+doom!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LOOKING BACKWARD
+
+
+"Just see the fiendish cleverness of the fellow who filed that stay!"
+Tom cried, as they all stared. "He filled the indentation his sharp file
+made with a bit of wax or chewing-gum of the same general color. Why, no
+one would ever have noticed the least thing wrong when making the
+ordinary examination."
+
+"Then how did you manage to find it, Tom?" asked Jack, breathing hard,
+as he pictured to himself the narrow escape he had had.
+
+"I suspected something of the kind might be done; so I ran my thumb-nail
+down each wire stay," came the answer. "And it turned out just as I
+thought."
+
+"There may be still more places filed in the same way," suggested the
+other pilot, looking as black as a thunder-cloud; because such an act
+was in his mind the rankest sort of treachery, worthy of only the most
+degraded man.
+
+"We will find them if there are," replied Tom, resolutely. "And when
+this thing is known I imagine there'll be a general overhauling of all
+the machines on the aviation field. One thing is certain, Jack. You were
+playing in great luck when you suggested that we ask for a day off and
+then picked out this particular one."
+
+Jack shrugged his shoulders as he replied:
+
+"That's right, Tom."
+
+Nothing could be done just then, with night coming on. Tom talked with
+several of the attendants at the hangars, and left it to them to go to
+work with the coming of morning. He even showed them how cunningly the
+work had been carried out; so they might be on their guard against such
+a trick from that time forward.
+
+Then the three returned to the villa. Others of the members of the
+escadrille were in the car with the trio, so the talk was general,
+experiences of the day's happenings being narrated, all told in a
+careless fashion, as if those young aviators considered all such risks
+as part of the ordinary routine of business.
+
+Later on the news concerning Jack's singular warning, and what came of
+it went the rounds. He was asked to show the brief note many times; but
+in answer to the questions that came pouring in upon him, Jack could not
+say more than he had already said with regard to his suspicions
+concerning the probable writer of the message.
+
+That night Tom and Jack preferred the quiet of their own apartment to
+the general sitting-room, where the tired pilots gathered to smoke,
+talk, play games, sing, and give their opinions on every topic
+imaginable, including scraps of news received in late letters from home
+towns across the sea.
+
+"Do you know, Tom," Jack said unexpectedly; "I'd give something to know
+where Bessie Gleason is just at this time. It's strange how often I
+think about that young girl. It's just as if something that people call
+intuition told me she might be in serious trouble through that
+hard-looking guardian of hers, Carl Potzfeldt."
+
+Tom smiled.
+
+Bessie Gleason was a very pretty and winsome girl of about twelve years
+of age, with whom Jack in particular had been quite "chummy" on the
+voyage across the Atlantic, and through the submarine zone, as related
+in "Air Service Boys Flying for France." The last he had seen of her was
+when she waved her hand to him when leaving the steamer at its English
+port. Her stern guardian had contracted a violent dislike for Jack, so
+that the two had latterly been compelled to meet only in secret for
+little confidential chats.
+
+"Oh, you've taken to imagining all sorts of terrible things in
+connection with pretty Bessie and her cruel guardian. He claimed to be a
+Swiss, or a native of Alsace-Lorraine, which was it, Jack?"
+
+"Uh-huh," murmured Jack Parmly, his thoughts just then far away from Tom
+and his question, though fixed on Carl Potzfeldt and his young ward.
+
+Bessie Gleason was a little American girl, a child of moods, fairylike
+in appearance and of a maturity of manner that invariably attracted
+those with whom she came in contact.
+
+Her mother had been lost at sea, and by Mrs. Gleason's will the girl and
+her property were left in Potzfeldt's care. Mr. Potzfeldt was taking her
+to Europe, and on the steamship she and Jack Parmly had been friends,
+and as Potzfeldt's actions were suspicious and, moreover, the girl did
+not seem happy with him Jack had been troubled about her.
+
+"I'm afraid you think too much about Bessie and her troubles, Jack; and
+get yourself worked up about things that may never happen to her," Tom
+went on after a pause.
+
+"I knew you'd say that, Tom," the other told him reproachfully. "But I'm
+not blaming you for it. However, there are several things Bessie told me
+that I haven't mentioned to you before; and they help to make me feel
+anxious about her happiness. She's a queer girl, you know, and intensely
+patriotic."
+
+"Yes I noticed that, even if you did monopolize most of her time,"
+chuckled Tom.
+
+"How she does hate the Germans, though! And that's what will get her
+into trouble I'm afraid, if she and her guardian have managed to get
+through the lines in any way, and back to his home town, wherever that
+may be."
+
+"Why should she feel so bitter toward the Kaiser and his people, Jack?"
+
+"I'll tell you. Her mother was drowned. She was aboard the
+_Lusitania_, and was never seen after the sinking. Mr. Potzfeldt
+was there too, it seems, but couldn't save Mrs. Gleason, he claims,
+though he tried in every way to do so. She was a distant relative of
+his, you remember."
+
+"Then if Bessie knows about her mother's death," Tom went on to say, "I
+don't wonder she feels that way toward everything German. I'd hate the
+entire race if my mother had been murdered, as those women and children
+were, when that torpedo was launched against the great passenger steamer
+without any warning."
+
+"She told me she felt heart-broken because she was far too young to do
+anything to assist in the drive against the central empires. You see,
+Bessie has great hopes of some day growing tall enough to become a war
+nurse. She is deeply interested in the Red Cross; and Tom, would you
+believe it, the midget practices regular United States Army standing
+exercises in the hope of hastening her growth."
+
+"I honor the little girl for her ambition," Tom said. "But I'm inclined
+to think this war will be long past before she has grown to a suitable
+size to enlist among the nurses of the Paris hospitals. And if that Carl
+Potzfeldt entertains the sentiments we suspected him of, and is secretly
+in sympathy with the Huns, although passing for a neutral, her task will
+be rendered doubly hard."
+
+"That's what makes me feel bad every time I get to thinking of Bessie.
+If only we could chance to run across them again I'd like to engineer
+some scheme by which she could be taken away from her guardian. For
+instance, if only it could be proved that Potzfeldt was in the pay of
+the German Government, don't you see he could be stood up against a
+wall, and fixed; and then some one would be found able and willing to
+take care of the girl."
+
+Tom laughed again.
+
+"How nicely you make your arrangements, Jack! Very pleasant outlook for
+poor Mr. Potzfeldt, I should say. Why, you hustle him off this earth
+just as if he didn't matter thirty cents."
+
+"It isn't because I'm heartless," expostulated the other hurriedly. "But
+I'm sure that dark-faced man is a bad egg. We suspected him of being
+hand-in-glove with Adolph Tuessig, the man who stole your father's
+invention, and who we knew was a hired German spy over in America. And
+from little hints Bessie dropped once in a while I am certain he doesn't
+treat her well."
+
+"Still, we can't do the least thing about it, Jack. If fortune should
+ever bring us in contact with that pair again, why then we could perhaps
+think up some sort of scheme to help Bessie. Now, I've got something
+important to tell you."
+
+"Something the captain must have said when he was chatting with you in
+the mess-room immediately after supper, I guess. At the time I thought
+he might be asking you about our adventures of to-day, but then I
+noticed that he was doing pretty much all the talking. What is on the
+carpet for us now?"
+
+"We're going to be given our chance at last, Jack!"
+
+"Do you mean to fly with the fighting escadrille, and meet German pilots
+in a life and death battle up among the clouds?" asked Jack, in a voice
+that had a tinge of awe about it; for he had often dreamed of such
+honors coming to him; but the realization still seemed afar off.
+
+"That is what we are promised," his chum assured him. "Of course our
+education is not yet complete; but we have shown such progress that, as
+there is need of additional pilots able to meet the Fokker planes while
+a raid is in progress, we are to be given a showing."
+
+"I'll not sleep much to-night for thinking of it," declared Jack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GREAT DAY ARRIVES
+
+
+By the time the pilots of the American escadrille began to assemble on
+the field where the airplane hangars were clustered, (these being more
+or less camouflaged by means of paint cleverly applied to represent the
+earth), the news concerning the air service boys' narrow escape had
+become generally known.
+
+Great was the indignation expressed by all. Up to this time there had
+appeared to be considerable honor exhibited among-the flying men on both
+sides. In fact many curious little courtesies had been exchanged that
+seemed to put the aviation service on a plane of its own.
+
+One thing was certain. After that there would be no taking things for
+granted. Each pilot meant to satisfy himself as best he could that his
+plane was in perfect order before risking his life in the upper
+currents.
+
+Jack was besieged for a full account of the matter. He, being an
+obliging person, gladly told everything he knew. Naturally the mystery
+attached to the discovery of the message of warning tied to the poor
+little partly collapsed child's balloon aroused considerable curiosity
+and speculation among the aviators.
+
+The way some of them pumped Jack made him laugh; but he assured them he
+was just about as "deep in the mud as they were in the mire."
+
+"I've told you all about the woman named Mrs. Neumann," he repeated for
+the tenth time. "And she's the only one I can think of who would be apt
+to care a cent whether Jack Parmly happened to be alive or dead. If
+anybody can give a better guess I'd like to hear it."
+
+They did considerable "guessing," but after all it became the consensus
+of opinion that the grateful Mrs. Neumann was responsible. And so
+finally they let it go at that; for the day had begun, and there was an
+abundance of work to be accomplished before the sun set again.
+
+"But this is certain," said one of the leading flyers of the escadrille,
+seriously; "if the Boches mean to stop playing fair it's bound to
+demoralize the service. Up to now there's been an unwritten set of rules
+to the game, which both sides have lived up to. I shall hate to see them
+discarded, and brutal methods put in their place."
+
+Others were of the opinion that there might have been something personal
+connected with the attempt to kill Jack, through that shabby trick. The
+German spy might have had a private grievance against the youth, they
+said, which he meant to pay off in his own dastardly way.
+
+No matter which turned out to be the truth, it was not pleasant for Jack
+to believe he had become an object of hatred to some mysterious prowler,
+and that possibly other secret attempts on his life might be made from
+time to time.
+
+That day passed, and another followed. There did not seem to be much
+stirring on either side of the line; but such a lull frequently proved
+the precursor of some gigantic battle, for which the armies were
+preparing.
+
+Of course, when the wind and weather permitted, there was always plenty
+of excitement among the airplane escadrilles. All manner of little
+expeditions were organized and carried out.
+
+Now it was an attempt to get above that string of "sausage" balloons
+used for observation purposes only, so that a few well-dropped bombs
+might play havoc among them.
+
+As these were always defended by a force of fighting planes hovering
+above, all primed to give battle on the slightest provocation, the
+result of these forays was that a number of hotly-contested fights were
+"pulled off" high in air.
+
+One pilot brought down another enemy, and increased his score a peg,
+always a matter of pride with a pilot of a fighting plane. And another
+of the escadrille had the honor of getting above those observation
+balloons before a couple of them could be hastily pulled down.
+
+Two of his companions engaged the defending Teuton pilots, and fended
+them off purposely, in order to permit the raid. The selected man
+swooped down like a hawk, passed the Gotha guard, and managed to shoot
+his bomb downward with unerring aim. One of the balloons was seen to
+burst into flames, and the second must have met with a like fate, since
+it was perilously near at the time, though the dense smoke obscured
+everything.
+
+All these things and more did Tom and Jack witness through their glasses
+as those two days passed. Tom especially was waiting to have his wish
+realized with as much calmness as he could summon.
+
+"I think it will come to-night, Jack," he told his chum, on the second
+afternoon, as they prepared to return to their lodgings.
+
+"Then you believe there's some big move on tap, and that to-morrow a
+battle will be commenced? And all for the possession of some old ruined
+fort, perhaps, that is now only a mass of crumpled masonry and debris!"
+
+"You mustn't forget, Jack, it is the famous name that counts with these
+romantic Frenchmen. Douaumont and Vaux mean everything to them, even if
+there is nothing but a great mound of stone, mortar and earth to tell
+where each fort once stood."
+
+"Yes, I suppose you're right, Tom; and then again I was forgetting that
+the retaking of a prominent position which the Germans had captured
+means a heartening of the whole army. I've heard them talking of
+Mort-Homme, and Hill Three Hundred and Four, as if those were the most
+precious bits of territory in all France."
+
+"These are sometimes strategic points, you know, keys to a further
+advance. But there comes the captain now, and he's got his eye on us, as
+sure as you live!" ejaculated Tom, giving a little start, and turning a
+shade paler than usual, owing to the excess of his emotions, and the
+anticipation of hearing pleasant news.
+
+The leader of the Lafayette Escadrille smiled as he drew near. He waited
+until he could speak without being overheard, for it was not always wise
+to shout aloud when dealing with matters in which the High Command had a
+deep interest, such as a pending advance movement.
+
+"It is to-morrow, Raymond," he said quietly, yet with a twinkle in his
+eye.
+
+He had taken a great liking to these daring lads who had already made
+such strides toward the goal of becoming "aces" in time, granting that
+they lived through the risky period of their apprenticeship.
+
+"Both?" gasped Jack eagerly.
+
+The head pilot shook his head in the negative.
+
+"Sorry to disappoint you, Parmly, but you'll have to wait a bit longer,"
+he announced, whereat the other's face fell again, though he gulped, and
+tried to appear content. "There are several things you must correct
+before you can expect to take such chances. We are short a fighting
+pilot for to-morrow, and I thought it was time we gave Raymond his
+initiation."
+
+Then as he walked alongside the chums he entered into a minute
+description of the duties that would devolve upon Tom in his first time
+up to serve as a guardian to the heavier planes acting as "fire-control"
+and scouts, or "eyes of the army."
+
+"Of course you are only to butt in if we are outnumbered," the leader
+explained in conclusion. "The experienced and able fliers must take care
+of such of the enemy as venture to attack our big machines. Some of
+these Boches will be their best men, with records of a dozen or two
+machines to their credit. It would be little short of suicide to send a
+novice up against them, you understand."
+
+Tom was ambitious, and would of course be delighted to prove his metal
+when opposed by a famous ous "ace;" whose name and reputation had long
+made him a terror to the French and British airmen. Nevertheless he
+recognized the wisdom of what the captain was telling him, and promised
+to restrain his eagerness until given the prearranged signal that his
+chance had come.
+
+It made Tom feel proud to know he had won the good opinion of such a
+brave man as the captain, as well as the friendship of those other
+gallant souls composing the American squadron of aviators fighting for
+France.
+
+"Still," he said to Jack later on, when they were together in their room
+getting into their ordinary street clothes, "it made me feel a bit cheap
+when he spoke of my being pitted against just an _ordinary_ pilot,
+some fresh hand as anxious as we are to achieve a reputation. At the
+same time that's what we must seem to these veterans of scores of air
+combats, all of whom have met with the most thrilling adventures again
+and again."
+
+Jack managed to hide his bitter disappointment. He realized that he
+would never be in the same class as his more brilliant chum. Tom fitted
+for becoming an expert in the line had chosen for his calling. On the
+other hand Jack began to believe that he was a little too slow-witted
+ever to make a shining success as a fighting aviator, where skill must
+be backed by astonishing quickness of mind and body, as well as
+_something else_ within the heart that is an inherited birthright.
+
+"Anyhow," he consoled himself by saying, not aloud, but softly, "I can
+be the pilot of a bombing machine, and perhaps in time they'll give me
+charge of a plane used as fire-control during the battle. That is as far
+up the pole as I ought to aspire to climb. These chaps in the Lafayette
+are one and all picked men, the very cream of the entire service."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+"I say, Tom, it looks like a poor day for flying I'm afraid," Jack
+called out in the chill of the early dawn the next morning, he having
+been the first to get out of bed and step over to the window of their
+sleeping room.
+
+It was of course in the villa placed at the disposal of the escadrille,
+many miles back of the first line of trenches.
+
+Tom, however, did not bother his head about the weather to any
+appreciable extent.
+
+"It's likely to turn out a fair day for work," he told his chum, in his
+cheery way, as he followed Jack to the window. "You know that's happened
+lots of times. So far we've been lucky enough not to get caught in a
+storm while aloft. Yes, I can already see that there isn't going to be a
+stiff breeze; and what would a sprinkle of rain amount to?"
+
+"I suppose the thing has to be pulled off, no matter what the weather
+is," mused Jack, as he proceeded to dress, since breakfast had been
+ordered at an unusually early hour that morning.
+
+"Well, the High Command has made all arrangements for a big time. You
+know what that means, when tens of thousands of poilus have to be
+transferred during the darkness of night, so that the enemy pilots can't
+glimpse the movement and give warning? So, unless the skies fall, we are
+bound to get busy this morning."
+
+The air service boys were soon at the hangars, where an animated scene
+was taking place. Any one could see that something unusual was about to
+take place, because of the numbers of men rushing this way and that,
+while motors were popping and machine-guns being tried out so as to be
+certain they were in prime condition for service. Scores of
+mechanicians, chauffeurs, observers, as well as other helpers, went
+about their work of getting "ready for business."
+
+The air fighters were dressed in their fur-lined union suits, with fur
+overcoats, gloves, and caps; for they would soon be soaring to great
+heights, where the atmosphere was almost Arctic in its intensity.
+
+They were examining their automatic pistols, seeing that their airplane
+compasses, speed indicators, special airplane clocks, mounted on wire
+springs, and altitude barometers were in their proper places and in
+working order. Their very lives might depend on a little thing, and no
+one could afford to neglect even trifles.
+
+Every few minutes one of the planes would roll over the surface of the
+level ground in front of the long line of hangars. Then, when sufficient
+momentum had been attained, it would commence to climb swiftly upward.
+Soon the machine would get into spirals like a winding staircase, and
+mount toward an altitude of perhaps four thousand feet, there to await
+the coming of companion craft before heading toward the battleground,
+far distant.
+
+Jack squeezed the hand of his chum, and gave him one last look. There
+was no need of words to tell the deep feelings that gripped his loyal
+heart; indeed, Jack was utterly unable to utter a single sentence.
+
+Then Tom was off.
+
+He made the ascent with his customary brilliancy, which had won him the
+admiration of the entire escadrille. The air seemed to be filled with
+various types of planes. Some were already moving off toward the front,
+from which came the roar of battle, showing that already the action had
+begun by an intense bombardment of a portion of the German trenches
+which the French longed to retake.
+
+Tom spent some little time "knocking around" while awaiting the coming
+of those members of the Lafayette Escadrille who were the last to leave
+the ground.
+
+What is twenty or even thirty miles to a pilot in a speedy Neiuport
+capable of going two miles a minute when pressed? They could be over the
+lines in a very brief time after leaving the aviation camp.
+
+Tom looked at the scene below him, which was spread out like a gigantic
+map. He never wearied of observing it when simply "loafing" up in the
+air, as at present. The sun was fairly above the eastern horizon, though
+clouds drifted along in scattered masses, and it was as yet impossible
+to tell what the day might bring forth.
+
+Then the last of the squadron arrived, and the signal was given to start
+for the front. Away they went with a whirr and a roar, seven strong.
+They overtook a number of clumsy two-seaters on the way, observation
+planes, bombing machines, or it might be those included in the
+"fire-control" units going to relieve some of their kind already doing
+their appointed bit in the battle.
+
+Tom looked far beyond. He could see great oceans of smoke arising that
+told of innumerable high explosives bursting, and enormous guns being
+discharged. Both sides seemed hard at work, though the French were
+certainly sending ten shells to one that came from the forces of the
+Crown Prince. This told plainly enough which army expected to do the
+attacking that day.
+
+And yet while all this wonderful panorama of war was spread beneath
+them, the seven pilots moving onward in wild-geese formation, with the
+captain at the head of the V, they heard nothing of the tumult raging.
+In their muffled ears sounded only the loud whirr of the propellers, and
+the deafening explosions of the engines. It was almost as noisy as a
+boiler shop in full blast.
+
+The fire-control planes were already sending back their signals, the
+observer aboard intently following the course of each monster shell to
+note exactly where it landed, and then communicating with the gunners,
+so they might correct their faults and make each missile count.
+
+German pilots were in the air also, sometimes in swarms. Theirs was the
+task to attack these heavier machines and try to cripple or destroy
+them.
+
+Of course each one of these machines of the French "relage," or
+fire-control, was armed with a quick-firing gun; and there was an
+observer aboard, as well as a deft pilot. They carried such a large
+assortment of material, consisting among other things of a complete
+wireless outfit, that they had to be built with unusually large wings.
+
+This makes them slow to answer to the call of the pilot; and when
+attacked by the more nimble Fokkers they have a hard time to keep from
+being shot down. That is why a number of the Nieuports with well known
+"aces" in charge, must always be hovering over the fire controls, ready
+to fly to their assistance in case they are attacked.
+
+"Things are surely beginning to happen," murmured Tom. "The Boches seem
+to be in an unusually fierce and aggressive humor on this particular
+morning."
+
+The youth was right in this. The Germans had been thrown out of numerous
+hard-won positions lately, and this gave them cause for feeling bitterly
+toward the French.
+
+By the time the American unit reached the field of battle, several
+furious combats had already taken place with disastrous results. Two of
+the enemy machines had been sent down, one of them in flames, after the
+pilot had fallen at his post, fairly riddled by the gunfire of the
+Frenchman. A birdman had also paid the great debt on the side of
+Petain's men. As the score was two against one there seemed no cause for
+depression.
+
+The Americans would not be kept out of the fight for long. No sooner
+were three adventurous Teuton pilots seen climbing up to attack the big
+fire control machine when Tom's companions dropped down from the
+"ceiling" to engage them.
+
+Tom watched everything as though photographing the thrilling happenings
+on his brain forever. He had a greater interest in these things than at
+any previous period of his life, for was he not also hovering over that
+observation Caudron, upon which the movements of the advancing French
+troops depended? At any minute might he not receive the signal from the
+captain to attack some fresh Boche, who had climbed high above the
+battle lines to join the general scrimmage, or else "get" the big French
+machine while its defenders had their hands full with his comrades?
+
+Had Tom been able to use his binoculars just then, which was out of the
+question of course, and look back to where the monster French guns were
+firing, he might have noticed various white sheets spread out in
+fantastic patterns on the ground, the picture varying every little
+while.
+
+These were used to "talk" with the observer who was sending those
+messages from the fire-control plane, telling the gunners just how many
+metres their fire was short, long, to the right, or to the left of their
+intended objective.
+
+Then again information was being sent by another observer to the
+advancing infantry, warning them of perils that lay in their way, which
+might have cost them great and grievous losses if they remained unknown
+until the German trap was sprung.
+
+The morning was advancing. Tom had seen his comrades chase off several
+flocks of enemy aircraft that endeavored to interrupt the deadly work of
+the observers. As yet his anticipated chance had not come. He was
+beginning to feel impatient. Could it be that he must stay there almost
+up among the clouds, and only be a "looker-on?"
+
+How eagerly did his heart throb with renewed hope each time he
+discovered signs of another attempt on the part of the enemy pilots to
+engineer a raid that might check this observation work. They knew what
+it was doing to advance the cause of the battling French; and that, as
+often proved to be the case, the airplanes were again the "vigilant eyes
+of the army."
+
+It was well along in the morning when Tom Raymond's time came. The
+fighting below had been going on for some time, and from fugitive
+glimpses Tom snatched every now and then as he looked down, he had
+reason to believe things were moving successfully for the assailants. At
+least the French troops occupied a long line of trenches where the
+Boches had been in possession at the close of the previous day.
+
+Yes, there was another burst of ambitious fliers rising to take a
+chance. The fact that already seven of their men had been dropped,
+several with their planes ablaze, did not deter them; for those German
+airmen had often proved their courage and were known as stubborn
+fighters.
+
+Soon another battle below the clouds was in progress. Besides Tom, there
+were now only three of the Americans in the air, the remainder having
+been driven down, some in trouble of some kind, others to replenish
+their supplies. And there were _four_ enemy planes, Tom noticed,
+even as he watched the machine of the captain and received the signal to
+attack the latest arrival in the enemy squadron.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WINNING HIS SPURS
+
+
+"At last!"
+
+Those were the expressive words that broke from Tom Raymond's lips when
+he saw the commander give him the long-anticipated signal. Tom had
+already discovered his intended antagonist. A fourth plane was coming up
+quickly. It had held back to await the chance that would be offered when
+the three defenders of the fire-control machine were hotly engaged with
+the trio of skillful Boche pilots.
+
+The game was very apparent. It was likewise exceedingly old. The French
+commander was too experienced an aviator to be so easily caught. That
+was why he had signaled to Tom to take care of the fourth and last
+German airman, and guard the important observation plane.
+
+Tom started down with a rush, just as a hungry hawk might swoop upon a
+pigeon it had marked for its intended prey.
+
+"I've got to make good!" the young aviator told himself. "I've got to
+make good!"
+
+The German pilot saw him coming. He had more than half expected to be
+interfered with in his designs; but it would please him first of all to
+riddle this ambitious young airman, and his Nieuport, and then to
+accomplish his main purpose.
+
+Now the two were so close that Tom could plainly see the black Maltese
+crosses on the wings of the Teuton plane as it tilted in climbing.
+Already had the other opened fire on him, for as his motor was silent
+during his first long dive Tom could catch the tut-tut-tut of the
+rapidly exploding mitrailleuse.
+
+Somehow this did not unnerve him in the least, as he had feared it
+might. Even when he realized that the missiles were cutting holes
+through the wings a few feet away he did not grow uneasy. The spirit of
+battle had gripped Tom. He was now attaining what had seemed to be the
+height of his ambition. He was trying out his mettle against one of the
+enemy pilots, a man with considerable more experience than himself, and
+therefore well fitted to spur him on to do his level best.
+
+He could see the pilot crouched in his place, and working his gun with
+one hand while he managed some controls of his fleeting machine with the
+other, for there was only one man aboard, though German machines usually
+hold two. Long practice had made him an adept at this sort of thing, it
+seemed.
+
+But then Tom had been taught the same clever trick down at the French
+school of aviation at Pau, and over on the lake at Casso. He was now
+about to show whether he had learned his lesson to advantage. It was
+French ways pitted against those of the German school.
+
+Tom tried to aim directly at the foeman as he rushed toward him. Then he
+pressed the release hard, and instantly the rapid-fire gun commenced its
+staccato barking, as it spit out the bullets.
+
+Crack! crack! crack! crack!
+
+Thus the two rivals, rushing at each other like opposing birds of
+enormous size, passed and dived, as though ducking to avoid the hot
+fire. Tom looked back, hoping to discover the enemy winged and dropping
+out of the fight. Nothing of the kind occurred; but on the contrary his
+antagonist was sailing on, apparently untouched, at least in any vital
+point.
+
+That meant it must all be tried over again. The second round in the air
+duel was about to open. It was impossible to predict what the outcome
+might be, but at any rate Tom felt renewed courage and confidence.
+
+If he had passed through one siege unscathed he believed he could show
+considerable improvement the next time. Already had he learned how he
+might avoid several little errors of judgment, not much in themselves
+possibly; but which tended to interfere with his doing the one thing
+necessary--firing point blank into the muffled face of the German pilot.
+
+Once more were they rushing headlong toward each other. Tom was steadier
+now, and more alert. He had his plan of campaign mapped out clearly in
+his mind. He had moreover noticed a weak point about the other's method
+of attack, of which he intended to take advantage.
+
+The other three Americans were just as hotly engaged not far away; but
+it was a case of every man for himself. Tom counted on receiving no
+assistance. Indeed, while that feeling of confidence pulsed through his
+veins he would have scorned to call for help, or even to allow it, if he
+could prevent such a thing.
+
+Again the guns opened fire as the two foes advanced with savage fury.
+Such a battle in the clouds is on a plane that almost beggars
+description. Nothing resembling it has ever been known before in all the
+annals of history until the present world war broke out, and the
+airplane was perfected as it stands to-day.
+
+This attack was even more tumultuous than the first had been. The planes
+tried dodging, and several tricks were brought to bear on either side;
+for it seems that every pilot has his pet theories as to how best to
+catch an opponent napping. Everything is fair, once the battle royal has
+started and German wit is matched against American, or French.
+
+Again did they pass each other for a sudden dip. Each feared to be
+caught in a condition that would not permit of defense. They looked for
+all the world like a couple of agile boxers engaged in a contest, in
+which foot-work counted almost as much as that of the fists.
+
+Around and around they flew, coming back to the attack a third, and even
+a fourth time. Tom was beginning to grow impatient. Try as he could, he
+did not seem able to bring the other down, though he was almost sure he
+had poked his rapid-fire gun straight for the German's face, and when
+only a comparatively short distance away.
+
+"I've got to get him!" he muttered. "Or else he'll get me!"
+
+He wondered whether there could be anything in what he had heard one old
+aviator say, to the effect that he firmly believed some of those Germans
+must be wearing armor or suits of mail, since he had poured streams of
+missiles straight at them, and without the least appreciable effect.
+
+The German was getting a bit reckless. No doubt he had anticipated an
+easy victory over the other, whom he must have guessed was something of
+a beginner at this sort of aerial combat. Tom's agility in avoiding
+punishment annoyed him; likewise the way the bullets splashed around him
+had a disconcerting effect on his mind.
+
+This was the fifth dash, and it seemed as though the time had come when
+one or the other should win the contest. They were growing more and more
+desperate now; the fire of the battle had gone to their heads, and each
+must have made up his mind to finish the fight then and there, judging
+from the way they headed straight toward one another. At any rate Tom
+had determined that he must win, and win without delay.
+
+Bang!
+
+Tom realized suddenly that he had been struck, for he felt a sudden
+acute twinge. He neither knew nor cared how serious the injury might be,
+so long as it did not incapacitate him from serving his machine. And,
+best of all, thus far no missile from that popping mitrailleuse of the
+German had done serious damage to the vitals of his plane.
+
+Let the bullets cut holes all they pleased through the linen of the
+wings; there would be no splitting, as happens in the case of cotton or
+other fabrics; and such tiny apertures do not count for much in
+retarding the upholding power of a plane.
+
+Another dash, and this time Tom felt absolutely certain he had made a
+hit. It seemed to him he must have fairly riddled the other pilot, so
+close was he when he poured all that torrent of lead aboard his craft.
+
+They rushed past one another, but Tom took the earliest possible
+opportunity to redress, and look back at his foe. A thrill ran through
+his entire being as he discovered that the other was in trouble. The
+Fokker was descending in erratic spirals, evidently out of control. Man
+or machine, perhaps both, had come within the deadly line of fire, and
+the fight was over.
+
+Turning, Tom watched the enemy plane go down. He had a queer, choking
+sensation in his throat. Every novice probably feels that when he
+watches his first rival heading earthward, with a mile or more to fall
+before he strikes. Still, Tom grimly held his feelings in check. A
+successful air pilot, especially when he manages a fighting craft, can
+not let sentiment get the better of his combative spirit. It is a fair
+test of skill and endurance, and as a rule the better man wins the game.
+And war must always be an exhibition of cruelty in that human lives are
+the stake played for.
+
+Nevertheless Tom was secretly glad to discover that the plane was being
+fairly well guided to earth, showing that the German pilot, though he
+had lost his fight, could not have been killed outright, or even
+mortally wounded.
+
+Tom now found a chance to look around, and note what was going on. It
+was just then that one of the leading American aviators drove at his
+antagonist in a series of zigzag spins that must have bewildered the
+German, he never having run up against such tactics before.
+
+The consequence was the enemy met defeat. Tom knew what was going to
+happen as soon as he saw the chief star of the Lafayette Escadrille
+start his favorite attack. And ten seconds afterwards a second Teuton
+plane was whirling around aimlessly and falling. It turned in its flight
+so that its white belly showed plainly just as a fish will in its death
+throes.
+
+But the pilot was game to the finish, and managed in some wonderful
+fashion to swing his damaged craft around again, so that when it landed
+with a crash it fell bottom-down, and the motor did not come on top of
+him.
+
+Later on Tom learned that the man was badly injured, and made a
+prisoner. Eventually he pulled through, though it was reported he would
+never be fit for flying again, even if he gained his freedom.
+
+The other two Germans had retreated, deeming the Americans too strong
+for them. And Tom hoped it would be some time before others could muster
+up sufficient courage to go aloft, to pit their machines with those of
+the members of the Lafayette Escadrille.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+AFTER THE BATTLE
+
+
+During all this turmoil the fire-control plane pilot had kept his
+machine at work. While the fighting guard engaged the German, the
+observer aboard the larger craft continued to send his signals to the
+batteries far in the rear of the French advanced lines; and through the
+successful working of the undertaking a number of heavy Teuton guns had
+already been silenced.
+
+Tom now found time to look down, using his glasses for the purpose,
+since the air in their immediate vicinity was clear of enemy planes. He
+could see something of the battle, though so much smoke lay above the
+battleground that it was only when this lifted temporarily that an
+occasional fugitive glimpse could be obtained of the earth.
+
+The French were undoubtedly pushing the Germans well out of their
+advance trenches. They had already gone forward far enough to redeem a
+fairly wide stretch of territory that had been taken from them at the
+time the forces of the Crown Prince made their forward drive, at the
+cost of more than a hundred thousand men.
+
+Tom now felt another twinge in his shoulder. On looking into the matter
+he discovered, as he suspected, that he had been wounded. Blood was
+showing on his thick fur-lined coat.
+
+Just then a plane approached him. Tom recognized the mark on the side,
+and knew the muffled figure seated in the machine was the commander of
+the escadrille. He was coming to ascertain whether the novice had drawn
+out of his first combat entirely unscathed.
+
+He had, in truth, cast many an anxious, fleeting look toward the pair
+while Tom was "doing his bit" for France; for after discovering that the
+German was an experienced pilot, and a man to be feared, the captain
+would gladly have flown to the relief of Tom only that he had his hands
+full with the Teuton he had attacked.
+
+He made motions as he approached at reduced speed. Tom could not hear a
+sound save the loud beat of his own motor, but he knew what the other
+was asking.
+
+So he touched his left shoulder with his finger, and held that up to
+show that it was reddened. Then the Captain made a quick motion that was
+meant for a command. Tom was to go down. There was no necessity for his
+remaining aloft longer, now that another had arrived to relieve him from
+the post of duty. He ought to call it a day's work, and have his
+shoulder attended to.
+
+Regretfully Tom obeyed. His fighting spirit was aroused, and he would
+gladly have accepted a second challenge to combat, had the opportunity
+come. He nodded his head to show he understood, and then started back
+toward the French lines.
+
+All this time shrapnel had been bursting here, there and everywhere
+underneath them; but no one paid much attention to the shower. Indeed,
+shrapnel does not account for as many hostile planes as might be
+imagined; since each looks like a fly when ten thousand feet high, and
+the surrounding space is so vast.
+
+So Tom swung past the advance French lines, just as they were making
+another forward movement. He could glimpse long lines of poilus
+streaming over the shell-hole pitted terrain like ants in army array.
+Tom would have been pleased to hover above them for a while, and watch
+how those furious fighters rushed the Boches out of their second line
+trenches, as though nothing could stay their push.
+
+Beyond the French barrage fire was falling like a curtain. Tom could
+tell this from the constant line of explosions that took place. The
+Germans in the second trenches would have no chance of going back
+through that deadly hailstorm of shells; they must either die at their
+posts, or surrender, he saw.
+
+So fifteen minutes later Tom dropped to the field, ran his plane up
+close to the hangar, and then as a figure dashed wildly toward him,
+started to climb wearily from his seat.
+
+Of course it was Jack. He was wild with delight, and was swinging his
+cap above his head with all the animation of a schoolboy.
+
+"Oh! to think that I saw it all, Tom!" was what he cried, as he seized
+the hand of his chum, and squeezed it fiercely, almost crying in his
+excitement.
+
+"You did!" exclaimed the other. "How did that happen, when I had the
+glasses aloft with me?"
+
+"Oh, I borrowed a pair from an obliging French officer. When he
+understood that you were my chum, and that it was your first trial at
+combat in the air, he gladly accommodated me. They are willing to do
+almost anything for us Americans. My heart was up in my throat every
+time you rushed at that terrible Boche pilot!"
+
+"But how could you pick me out at that distance?" demanded Tom
+incredulously, for it seemed almost unbelievable.
+
+"I guessed that our captain would have you hold back when he and the
+other two started to meet the rising Germans," said Jack. "You see, I
+was wise enough to believe he would want you to butt in only in case a
+fourth Boche came along. And when that happened I knew your chance had
+come."
+
+"It was pretty exciting while it lasted," remarked Tom grimly.
+
+They were soon on the road to the villa, going in one of the cars used
+to take the pilots when going to and returning from work. There was a
+surgeon at hand, and an examination of Tom's hurt was made. It proved to
+be a small matter, though it had bled quite freely.
+
+"You must take a few days' rest, young M'sieu," the army surgeon told
+the young aviator after he had dressed the wound. "It was a narrow
+escape, I assure you. Three inches further down, and I would not like to
+have answered for your life. But evidently France had further need of
+your excellent services. I salute you, M'sieu Raymond, you have this day
+done your duty well, and won your spurs."
+
+The air service boys could not remain quietly at the villa while all
+that furor was going on. They wished to be at the hangars, to greet
+those who returned, and give the pilots who were sallying forth a last
+word of encouragement.
+
+It was a long day, and full of thrilling happenings. Other battles in
+the air occurred along the extended front, and not all of them wound up
+in victories for the Allied forces. Some distinguished Teuton "aces"
+were flying on that occasion who would not be denied their toll. But the
+Lafayette Escadrille lost none of its members, Tom and Jack were glad to
+learn.
+
+Night finally set its pall over the field where all day long the hostile
+armies had fought and bled. The French were grimly holding their seized
+terrain, and hurling the Germans back again and again. The serried ranks
+had pushed forward up to within an hour of sunset; then, apparently
+realizing that it was a hopeless task, the Teuton High Command had given
+the order to withdraw.
+
+On the following day the battle was not resumed. The French had their
+hands full in strengthening and fortifying their new positions, while
+the Germans must have been so severely punished and "shot to pieces"
+that they needed time to effect the reorganization of their various
+battalions and regiments.
+
+So several days passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, at
+least in connection with the two chums. Tom's slight wound was healing
+fast, and he was told by the army surgeon that it would be quite safe
+for him to go up again at any time now, a fact that pleased the young
+aviator immensely.
+
+"I'm going to make a record for myself," he told his chum.
+
+"You're the fellow to do it," answered Jack. "Wish I was in your shoes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A SHOW ON THE FRONT
+
+
+While the fighting on the Verdun front was furious at times, with
+prolonged spasms when the Germans seemed determined to recover the
+territory they had lost to the French, there were also periods of almost
+total calm.
+
+During these quiet periods the members of the American escadrille were
+sometimes hard pushed for ways in which to pass the time away, and amuse
+themselves. Inaction fretted most of them, since they were endowed with
+that restless spirit which seems to be the inherent trait of most
+Americans.
+
+Many were the expedients tried by means of which some amusement might be
+extracted from life. Their daily business was so exciting that these
+slumps left the aviators nervous and unhappy. It was like the sailor
+who, bowling along under full pressure of canvas for weeks, in the old
+days of the sailing vessel, suddenly found himself in the "doldrums,"
+and becalmed for what might be an indefinite period--it was apt to wear
+upon a nervous system that demanded work.
+
+Of course the pilots were merry while at meals and during their loafing
+periods; but every time one of their number returned from the front and
+reported the inaction as still continuing, many deep sighs of discontent
+would arise.
+
+Then a clever thought occurred to some one of the men. Perhaps it was
+suggested by a happy-go-lucky Irish aviator who was connected with the
+British air forces, and wore the marks of distinguished service on his
+arm and cap.
+
+Sergeant Barney McGee had received a month's furlough in order to
+recover from injuries which he had sustained. Instead of going back to
+Ireland to spend his enforced vacation, as one might naturally expect
+him to do, McGee put in the time visiting other parts of the long front
+between Ypres and Verdun.
+
+After all, there was nothing so very singular about that. Give an old
+railroad engineer a week off, and presently you will discover him
+spending the time loafing around the roundhouse, chatting with the other
+engineers, and investigating things. His whole life being wrapped up in
+his work his idea of a vacation consists of being free to watch his
+fellows of the same craft work.
+
+Sergeant McGee was an exceedingly droll chap. He spent a couple of weeks
+with a French cousin who was also an aviator, and in time came to know
+the jolly members of the Lafayette Escadrille. He grew to be exceedingly
+fond of them all, and was in the mess-room nearly every night.
+
+His idea was that they should get up a show to pass these dull evenings
+away. If the enemy allowed them sufficient time they could even give a
+public performance, and give the proceeds to the Red Cross.
+
+It took like wildfire with the Americans, casting about at the time for
+some way to kill dull care, and make the hours pass more quickly until
+called to action again.
+
+A survey developed the fact that there were a number in and out of the
+Lafayette Escadrille who possessed a talent of some kind or other. This
+one had a violin which he loved to play; and, while not a finished
+artist, he was able to make real and lovely music by means of his clever
+bow. Another, it turned out, had a good tenor voice, and knew many of
+the most popular songs of the day. A third showed a talent for mimicking
+well known people, particularly Americans of national fame. Several
+agreed to black up, and give a humorous little minstrel skit that they
+declared would set the house in a roar.
+
+It was Barney McGee himself who most astonished the Americans, however.
+At the first rehearsal he appeared before their astonished eyes dressed
+to imitate a well known and popular moving picture star and he carried
+out the part in a fashion that caused the wildest excitement. From that
+moment the success of the show was assured.
+
+They made feverish preparations, for no one could tell just when the
+period of inaction would come to an end, and every available member of
+the several fraternizing escadrilles be ordered to rush to the front
+again, to take his life in his hands, and risk it hourly for the great
+cause.
+
+Tom and Jack both had parts in the entertainment. Jack made a good
+"bones" for the minstrels, and he coaxed his chum to don a burnt-cork
+face for that one evening, and show what he could do as a comedian of
+parts.
+
+They found a building in Bar-le-Duc that could be used, and which would
+hold a respectable sized audience. Little preparation was needed save to
+build a stage and get seating arrangements. Where chairs were not
+available benches had to take their place. Lights were also provided,
+and what few accessories they needed, such as curtains and stage
+scenery, were improvised after a fashion.
+
+In the spirit of fun that prevailed "any old thing went," as Jack
+expressed it. The makeshifts that came to light when the performers
+appeared dressed for their various parts were many and startling. They
+had borrowed or begged anything that promised to answer the purpose from
+a long-tailed French coat to a lady's highly colored shawl. Wigs had
+been sent for, and Paris had responded with an assortment that left
+nothing to be desired.
+
+The members of the two French air squadrons whose headquarters were near
+by, had entered into the affair with great zest. They blessed the little
+Irish pilot for his suggestion. And Sergeant Barney McGee was on the
+jump all day long, displaying all the sterling traits that distinguish
+able generals and leaders of men.
+
+The time approached when the entertainment was to come off. The
+performers were sure of a full house, provided no war orders were issued
+that would interfere with the arrangements.
+
+"Since Fritz has kept quiet for so many dreary days now," one pilot was
+heard to say on the morning of the entertainment, "let us hope we'll
+have just one more peaceful evening to reap the reward of all this
+training. It would break the heart of Sergeant Barney if the order came
+for every one to buckle down to hard work just when his big show is
+about to come off."
+
+The weather man proved friendly, for he gave them a splendid day, with
+the promise of a moonlight night. Besides, the cold had pretty well
+vanished, and it was really becoming more seasonable, with the sun
+warming the earth, and the mud drying up to a considerable extent.
+
+When the show opened that night it was to a house jammed to the doors.
+Even the windows were utilized for seating room; and crowds stood
+without, unable to gain admittance.
+
+"Some crowd, eh?" remarked Jack, as he watched the airmen, soldiers and
+others pouring in.
+
+"I should say so!" cried Tom. "I hope we make good."
+
+It was certainly a unique performance, considering the fact that it was
+given in a camp close to the battle lines; and that at any hour every
+one of those who were dressed so fancifully and conducted themselves as
+actors born to the stage, might be called on to mount to the clouds, and
+perform their dangerous work of fighting for France, perhaps even giving
+up their lives.
+
+Loud applause greeted every individual act. The violin music drew tears
+from eyes unused to weeping, because the strains of "Way Down Upon the
+Suwannee River," "Home, Sweet Home," and other loved airs tenderly and
+beautifully played, as they were, carried the Americans back again to
+those near and dear, those whom they might never again see on this
+earth.
+
+The songs were rapturously applauded, and the singers forced to give
+encore after encore. One youth who played the part of a little maid from
+school, and sang in a sweet soprano voice, caused the greatest
+enthusiasm of the evening; but then everything seemed to make a decided
+hit.
+
+Tom and Jack, as members of the minstrel troupe, did their parts well,
+though neither professed to be a star of the first magnitude. They
+certainly enjoyed seeing and hearing the others go through with their
+appointed tasks. As for Sergeant Barney McGee, he drew the house down
+every time he appeared on the stage in his quaint dress, and with the
+famous walk that is the trade-mark of the character whom he represented.
+
+Two-thirds of the entire show was soon carried out. Indeed, the rest was
+to be more or less a repetition of preceding acts, though the pleased
+audience seemed eager to sit for another hour, and applaud each turn
+vigorously and uproariously.
+
+However, it was not fated that the evening should pass entirely without
+some interruption. Afterwards the actors, and those who had enjoyed the
+performance from in front, agreed that they had been exceedingly lucky
+as it was, and that "half a loaf was much better than no bread at all."
+
+Those whose turns were finished remained, of course, as part of the
+audience. Some of the black-faced artists lingered in the so-called
+"wings" to watch what was going on, desirous of getting all the fun
+possible out of the evening.
+
+It was not a case of "eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die;"
+but "have all the happy times you can, fellows, while the going is good,
+for to-morrow we fight."
+
+Sergeant Barney McGee was on again, and the audience was convulsed with
+laughter over his ludicrous antics. He appeared to be a born actor and
+mimic; and had they not known otherwise Tom and Jack could have declared
+that the comedian who was under contract with an American film company,
+and doubtless in California making pictures at that moment, had been
+suddenly transported to the French fighting front to entertain the
+soldiers.
+
+Suddenly the laughter came to a stop. The building in which the show was
+being held shook as though a violent thunderclap had rocked the earth.
+This loud detonation that broke upon their hearing, however, was only
+too familiar to all those army aviators. They understood its dread
+meaning.
+
+The enemy had taken this opportunity to send over a squadron of raiding
+Fokkers to bomb the hangars of the French and American fliers at
+Bar-le-Duc!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CLOWNS ON THE WING
+
+
+Boom!
+
+What followed that first heavy detonation was very much like a riot. The
+audience became frantic under the belief that it meant an attack on the
+town, and that the missiles would presently drop upon the roofs, working
+destruction to everything around.
+
+It was the actors, however, who were the most exercised. One and all
+they understood what it meant to them. Their planes were in danger of
+being demolished! In some way the Teutons must have learned about the
+entertainment, and realized that almost every Allied pilot would want to
+attend it. They rightly guessed that for once the guard about the
+aviation field and numerous hangars where the dozens upon dozens of
+planes of every description were housed when not in use, would be
+unusually light. They had also taken advantage of the bright moonlight
+to make a bold sally over the French lines and reach this distant point
+undiscovered.
+
+Boom! boom! boom!
+
+Other crashing sounds announced that the enemy machines were busily at
+work. Each pilot pictured the entire camp under bombardment, with the
+utmost disaster overtaking the airplanes upon which General Petain was
+depending so much to serve as the "eyes" of his brave army.
+
+There was a general and maddened rush. Every one wanted to get to the
+camp in the briefest possible space of time. There was no chance for the
+actors to change their clothes. They were glad enough of an opportunity
+to snatch up a heavy fur-lined coat, either their own or some other
+person's. With this to hide their ludicrous attire, and also give some
+needed warmth once they went aloft, they hastened to find a waiting car,
+which, when loaded to its capacity, would be sent like mad along the
+road to the aviation field.
+
+It was one of the most amazing sights imaginable, to see those pilots,
+many of whom were world famous, thus garbed. It looked as though some
+asylum of freaks had opened its doors and allowed the inmates to escape
+to the highways and byways.
+
+Only one thought possessed them all, which was to get to the hangars in
+the shortest possible time. When they arrived each anticipated seeking
+his particular plane. If that chanced to be out of commission, then
+commandeering any other, it mattered little whose, so long as they were
+able to go up, and give battle to the audacious Teuton pilots who had
+raided their camp at Bar-le-Duc.
+
+"We've got to save our machines!" cried Tom. "Come on!"
+
+"Right you are!" responded Jack.
+
+Tom and Jack were with the rest who found some way to crowd aboard one
+of the waiting cars that were seized upon to carry the pilots to the
+field. As they went booming furiously along the road they could still
+hear those frightful explosions ahead, each one accompanied by a flash
+as of lightning. The reports were almost deafening.
+
+Eager eyes were turned aloft. The moon shone, but it was difficult to
+make out so small an object as an airplane at a height of a mile or more
+without the use of searchlights, and even these were not very efficient
+on such a night.
+
+Still, some of the pilots believed they could see several enemy planes
+swooping over at a lower level, possibly, they thought, on the lookout
+for the procession of cars bearing the aroused Allied aviators to the
+hangars.
+
+Bang!
+
+A bomb fell not fifty feet away from the car in which the two chums were
+seated. One of their companions received a trifling wound from the
+effect of the explosion of the TNT contents of the bomb, said to be the
+most powerful known for such uses, and handled by the engineers of all
+the armies, under different names.
+
+If the design of the Boche who swooped down for the purpose of waylaying
+the cars carrying the French and American airmen was to rob the Allies
+of the services of a dozen eminent pilots all at once, it failed in
+execution.
+
+At last the aviators arrived on the scene. It was lively enough, with
+bombs still bursting here and there. Already considerable damage had
+been done to some of the hangars.
+
+The Allied pilots were "mad all the way through" at having been caught
+napping by the foe. They paid no attention to the danger that still hung
+over their heads, with the enemy's supply of explosives as yet
+unexhausted. While the dreadful detonations continued, sometimes
+exceedingly close by, the various pilots seized upon such mechanicians
+as they could.
+
+One by one the planes rolled along the field and began to climb upward
+by way of the usual spiral staircase route, to give battle to the enemy,
+regardless of any superiority in numbers.
+
+Jack was dismayed to discover that his plane was badly wrecked by one of
+the explosions. Indeed, it was afterwards found that he had to have a
+new machine, since the repairs necessary to put the old one into service
+again were too complicated to be done at the front.
+
+Tom was more fortunate. His hangar had also suffered to some extent, but
+so far as could be seen in a hasty examination his plane was not injured
+in the least.
+
+He too went up, burnt-corked face and all. There were clowns abroad that
+night who could give Tom many points in the game, so far as comical
+looks went, and still easily win the stakes. But all else was forgotten
+under the spur of the moment, save that each man was eager to get in
+touch with the Boche pilots who had almost spoiled their one great
+evening.
+
+But no longer were those crashing detonations coming. This told the
+story only too well. The Germans had either exhausted their supply of
+bombs, or else they deemed discretion the better part of valor. They had
+evidently taken their departure before the first Allied pilot got up to
+the elevation they had been using in their bombardment.
+
+Nothing could be seen of them, though had the Allied pilots been able to
+use their ears, which was impossible when their own motors were making
+such loud noises, they might have heard, in the distance and to the
+east, the telltale music of Teuton propellers beating the air in a rush
+for home ports.
+
+A pursuit was organized, and several planes followed the retreating
+invaders over the entire distance to the front; but it was of no avail.
+The enemy planes had had too good a start, and were being pushed for all
+they were worth to get beyond the danger zone.
+
+There had been several accidents at the Bar-le-Duc field, but none of
+them fatal. This was not at all surprising, considering the haste shown
+by the pilots to mount and engage the foemen.
+
+Too, several of the planes besides Jack's had been damaged, a
+circumstance which brought about disaster before the aviator was able to
+leave the ground.
+
+As the fliers came back one after another, filled with indignation and
+disappointed hopes, Jack stalked about, with his black face, yet laughed
+to see what comical pictures most of his fellow aviators made.
+
+By degrees most of them began to realize that the joke was on them, and
+joined in greeting with noisy shouts each fresh arrival from above. The
+damage had not been so very serious after all, since most of the Teuton
+bombs had either failed to explode when aimed true, or else only dug
+enormous craters in the ground where it did not matter, sometimes even a
+quarter of a mile away from the hangars. Jack's machine, it was found,
+was the only one badly damaged.
+
+From that time there was one subject on which American and French pilots
+were agreed. They must certainly repay their enemy rivals for this
+visitation. The honors could not continue to be all on one side.
+
+So from that hour every Allied pilot who went far back of the German
+lines used his glasses diligently, in the endeavor to locate the secret
+aviation field of the Boche. This would naturally be camouflaged in the
+customary fashion, at which the Teutons had become almost as proficient
+as the French; but trust an airman to spy out the lodging place of his
+kind.
+
+Step by step they learned which direction the enemy planes took in
+coming to the front, and retiring when through for the day. Thus in good
+time the hiding place was found. Great was the delight of the whole
+Lafayette Escadrille when this confidential news was passed about. And,
+later on, a party of Allied aviators paid a night visit to the German
+camp, and dropped several tons of high explosives from bombing planes,
+that were heavily guarded by the fighting Nieuports.
+
+They had reason to believe from what they themselves saw, as well as
+through a secret report received from a French spy, that their aim had
+been remarkably fine; and that many times the amount of damage the
+Germans had done at Bar-le-Duc had been carried out on the reprisal
+sally.
+
+After that it seemed as though the slate had been wiped clean. Their
+honor had been fully purged of the stain that had rested on it ever
+since that dreadful night when they were caught off their guard.
+
+It turned out that the enemy had meant to start an action on the
+following day, and it had been hoped that the squadron of airmen might
+so cripple the French service that the advantage would be all on the
+side of the assailants.
+
+Something happened, however, to balk the plans of the Crown Prince.
+Perhaps he had a reprimand from his august father and emperor for so
+recklessly sacrificing such vast numbers of his men in a fruitless
+assault against the stonewall defensive of the French army. It may also
+have been something else that called the attack off, but at any rate it
+failed of accomplishment.
+
+The stagnation along the front continued; but all this while General
+Petain was making quiet though effective preparations, in order some day
+to strike a staggering blow, such as the French had before given, which
+would take the enemy by surprise, and push him still further back.
+
+Jack was fretting because thus far he had seen so little of real action.
+Since his Nieuport had been sent away, and another had as yet failed to
+arrive for his use, he often bewailed his ill-luck. He even assured his
+chum the "green mould would be growing all over his person if something
+didn't soon come to pass to break the terrible monotony."
+
+But every lane, however long, must have its turning; and Jack's hour
+struck at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MORE WORK IN PROSPECT
+
+
+"Tom, sit down here on this bench, won't you? I want to have a little
+talk with you about some things that have bothered me a whole lot
+lately," said Jack, some days after the exciting experiences narrated in
+the two preceding chapters.
+
+"I can give a pretty good guess what they are, Jack, since I see you
+staring hard at the slip of paper found attached to the toy balloon
+which drifted over our lines from somewhere back of the German front."
+
+"Yes; I own up I do sit and look at that paper, Tom. If it could only
+talk I'd know who penned that warning, and my curiosity'd be satisfied
+for one thing. But try as hard as I may, I can't be certain whether it
+was Mrs. Neumann, or somebody else. But I wanted to speak to you about
+Bessie just now."
+
+"What about her, Jack?" asked Tom, knowing how much his chum was
+concerned over the unknown fate of the pretty young girl they had met on
+the Atlantic liner, and who was apparently anything but happy in the
+charge of her legally appointed guardian, Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+"There are several things she told me, half unwillingly, I admit, that I
+guess I haven't said anything about to you, Tom."
+
+"Then she confided her secrets to you, eh?" half chuckled Tom; though he
+saw his chum was in anything but a humorous frame of mind. "I remember
+you told me she felt very bitter toward all Germans because she had lost
+her mother when the _Lusitania_ went down."
+
+"Yes. But this had to do with her guardian," Jack continued.
+
+"Oh, I see! Mr. Potzfeldt, Jack? You haven't felt favorably disposed
+toward that gentleman at any time since first meeting him."
+
+"Neither have you, Tom, to tell the truth!" declared the other quickly.
+"In fact, as I remember it, both of us were pretty much inclined to
+believe he was a paid spy of the German Government, working on some line
+of dark business over in America. Well, he had to clear out in a hurry,
+Bessie told me."
+
+"Did the authorities get track of his scheming work, and was he in
+danger of being arrested for plotting against Uncle Sam's interests as a
+neutral?" Tom asked.
+
+"It may have been that; but Bessie wasn't sure about it. In fact, she
+seemed inclined to believe her guardian had some secret, which was in
+danger of being exposed. An old friend of her mother's was interesting
+himself in the matter. Given time, he might have made it uncomfortable
+for Carl Potzfeldt; and so the gentleman cleared out between two days."
+
+"Taking Bessie with him!"
+
+"Yes. They made as if to go to Chicago, but instead hurried to New York.
+When he came aboard at the last call he kept to his cabin for a time,
+until we were well away from land. There has been considerable of
+mystery about his actions. Bessie is afraid of him, too. She even hinted
+that she believed he might have obtained control of her fortune and
+herself through fraud, and that this was in danger of being found out at
+the time he cut stick and ran."
+
+"All this is interesting, Jack; but just when and how we're ever going
+to learn the truth about it I'm unable even to guess. It would be like
+hunting for a needle in a haystack to try to find Potzfeldt. He and his
+pretty little ward may be hundreds of miles away from here."
+
+"Perhaps you're right, Tom," mused the other sadly, as he stared afar
+off toward the north. "I'd be glad of a chance to do something for that
+poor girl. She is to be greatly pitied, if she's wholly in the power of
+a man who wouldn't hesitate to do _anything_, if he saw a chance
+for gain ahead."
+
+"Well, all you can do, Jack, is to live on and hope a lucky chance will
+bob up for you. But there's our captain beckoning to me. Perhaps another
+battle is on the carpet for to-morrow, and I'll be given a look-in
+again."
+
+"Oh, if the lightning would only strike me too!" sighed Jack, enviously.
+"Please beg him to figure out something I can do, Tom. If it's only
+occupying a place aboard an observation plane or taking photographs of
+the Germans regrouping far back of the lines, I'd gladly welcome it.
+Anything but sitting here, when all the other pilots are at work."
+
+Tom hurried to join the commander of the Lafayette Escadrille. He had
+taken a great fancy to the gallant man, and believed this feeling was in
+a measure returned. Jack continued to sit and mope. He really felt
+slighted to be left out when so much thrilling work was being done.
+
+He had put away the well-thumbed scrap of paper with its mysterious
+lines of warning, for the time being Bessie and all her troubles passing
+from his mind. Jack was now full of his own affairs. He found himself
+growing a bit discontented because thus far he had been allowed to do so
+little for the cause, when his heart was full to overflowing with a
+desire to assist.
+
+There were aviators going and coming all the time, and surely many of
+them did not excel him appreciably in talents. Why did not those in
+charge find something for an ambitious pilot to do? He was striving
+daily to master the weak spots in his education; and had not the captain
+himself assured him he was doing bravely? He turned to cast an
+occasional look toward the spot where Tom and the commander of the air
+squadron still talked earnestly. Yes, something was certainly "on tap,"
+as Jack expressed it, for he saw the other carefully examining a bit of
+paper his companion had evidently placed in his hand.
+
+Jack began to be interested. Perhaps after all it might turn out to be
+something quite different from what Tom had anticipated. Had the captain
+simply wished to notify the other to be ready to answer a call on the
+following morning, surely he need not have taken all this time; nor
+would he have given Tom that paper, undoubtedly carrying explicit
+instructions.
+
+How the minutes dragged! Jack thought it an eternity before he saw Tom
+and the captain separate. He was glad to notice that his chum once more
+headed in the direction of the spot where they had been seated on a
+bench back of the long row of frame buildings used for permanent hangars
+at the Bar-le-Duc aviation field.
+
+Yes, Tom had evidently been told something that pleased him very much.
+His smile admitted the fact, and Jack knew by now just how to read the
+face of his comrade so as to get a good idea of what was passing in his
+mind.
+
+"Looks like good news, Tom," he cried out, for motors were rattling and
+throbbing, mechanicians and helpers, as well as pilots, calling to one
+another, and all manner of sounds combining to make a great racket.
+
+Tom shrugged his shoulders in a non-committal way, which might mean a
+whole lot, and again might express a small fraction of disappointment.
+
+"Yes, I've been given a job, if that's what you mean," he admitted, as
+he dropped down once more on the bench alongside Jack, and threw one leg
+over the other.
+
+"More fighting to-morrow, possibly?" queried Jack, anxiously. But he
+found his curiosity further whetted when Tom shook his head in the
+negative.
+
+"Not necessarily this time, it seems," he went on to say; "though of
+course you never can tell what you'll strike when once you pass fifty
+miles, more or less, behind the enemy front."
+
+Jack pursed his lips up as if about to whistle, but he made no sound. It
+was only a visible indication of surprise on his part--surprise, and an
+eager desire to know just what his chum was so slow in telling him.
+
+"Another bombing raid, then, is it?"
+
+"Never a bomb going along this time," came the puzzling answer. "Nor is
+there going to be a big bunch of planes starting out. I'm to be the only
+pilot in the game this time, Jack."
+
+"You're knocking me silly with that, Tom," protested the other young
+aviator. "I can see the twinkle in your eyes, as if you were holding
+something back, so as to tantalize me. Are you free to tell me what this
+business of yours it is the captain has just handed over to you?"
+
+"Oh, surely, Jack. He told me I could take _one_ fellow into my
+confidence, and no more. So I mean to tell you all about it."
+
+Tom turned and cast a careful look around. They were not very close to
+any of the hangars, it happened; and none of the many helpers and
+attendants could possibly overhear what was said, with all that clatter
+constantly going on.
+
+"I guess it's perfectly safe for me to talk here, Jack, and not give the
+thing away. You know it does seem that the German spies are able to
+penetrate nearly everywhere, and pick up all sorts of valuable
+information, to send across the line in any one of a dozen different
+ways."
+
+"Yes. But go on, Tom."
+
+"It seems there is need of some one to go to-night to a particular place
+far back of the German lines--in fact, close to the fortified city of
+Metz itself. In a certain place, inside a hollow post, will be found a
+paper marked in cipher, and containing much valuable information which
+has been collected by one of the ablest of the French spies. He is
+really a native of Alsace-Lorraine, and well thought of by the Germans.
+As it is utterly out of the question for him to report in person, he has
+adopted this way of getting his news to General Petain. And as there is
+a scarcity of pilots capable of doing this work our captain has selected
+me to undertake it for the cause."
+
+"But Tom, I should have thought he would have picked out some one more
+familiar with the ground back there. How can you find your way to that
+particular place, if you've never been there before?"
+
+"I've been given directions that are bound to take me right," Tom
+assured his worried chum. "There was a man they used for this purpose,
+and several times he's brought back the papers; but on his last trip he
+had the misfortune to run into a bunch of cruising Fokkers, and they
+brought him down. He fell fortunately inside the French lines, so his
+papers were saved; but Francois will never handle the controls of a
+plane again. He was killed."
+
+"Then there is danger in the game!"
+
+"Certainly there is. But in these times who could dream of passing so
+far back of the German front without expecting to be in constant peril?
+The papers will be put in a little box previously prepared. Should
+disaster overtake us, it will be flung overboard, and before it reaches
+the ground everything will have been consumed by the fire that follows."
+
+Jack's eyes began to glitter.
+
+"Just so, Tom! But I notice that you used the plural pronoun when you
+spoke. Then you do not go on this mission alone?"
+
+"No, that's right. I have been given permission to pick out my one
+companion, for there will be two of us aboard the plane to-night."
+
+Jack tried to keep calm, but it was indeed difficult, and his voice
+faltered more or less as he hurriedly went on to say:
+
+"Have you already made your selection?"
+
+"Yes," the other assured him in his tantalizing way. "I wanted to know
+whether the captain approved of my choice; which I am glad to say turned
+out to be the case."
+
+Jack gulped something down, and then blurted out:
+
+"Did you mention my name at all, Tom?"
+
+"Yours was the only one I had in mind; and Jack, rest easy, you're going
+along with me to-night to glimpse the lights of Metz!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+OFF ON A DARING MISSION
+
+
+The two air service boys fell to talking earnestly concerning what they
+should take with them, and how to study a map which their captain had
+promised to put in Tom's hands immediately.
+
+This was not of the ordinary kind, but so definitely marked for just
+such an emergency that even a novice could probably find his way to
+Metz, granting that he possessed the necessary qualifications of an air
+pilot.
+
+Presently a messenger came with a package for Tom. This proved to be the
+chart from the commander of the air squadron. Tom was to make as good a
+copy as was in his power, for the original was too valuable to risk
+losing.
+
+Jack understood that there were several reasons for having Tom do this.
+In the first place his work on the chart would familiarize the young
+aviator with its every detail, and fix things firmly in his mind. Then
+again, if they were lost, and never returned, the priceless chart for
+night voyaging over the enemy's lines would be at least safe.
+
+Daring men had gone forth on similar desperate errands before then, and
+had never been heard from again. It is the fortune of war. Those who
+indulge in enterprises that border on the sensational must always expect
+to sup with deadly peril.
+
+When the evening meal was announced the two chums were already deep in
+the work. Of course not a whisper of their intended mission was breathed
+at the table. No one dreamed of their contemplated trip. The customary
+chatter and good-natured badinage flowed during the whole supper-time.
+While some of the American aviators had received wounds in recent
+engagements there had been no chair vacant for some little time now; and
+hence no gloom rested on the escadrille. From the table the boys again
+went to their room.
+
+"How far is Metz from Verdun?" asked Jack, as they labored to complete
+their preparations for departure.
+
+"Not over forty miles, I should say, as the crow flies, Jack. I've never
+been over the route, but it can be measured on this copy of the map."
+
+"And that's the direct line we expect to cover, of course?"
+
+"We'll head due east."
+
+"And as it'll be densely dark when we start I guess we needn't mount to
+ten thousand feet to pass over the enemy lines, eh, Tom?"
+
+"There'll really be little need," came the reply, showing that the pilot
+had already figured all this out. "At the same time we ought to keep far
+enough out of range to avoid being struck by stray shrapnel."
+
+"Will they bombard us, do you think?" demanded Jack.
+
+"Oh, that's to be expected," said Tom indifferently. "You see the men
+who man the anti-aircraft guns are constantly on the alert. They're
+bound to hear the whirr of our propeller as we pass over, no matter how
+high we soar. The searchlight will spot us out, and then they'll do
+their best to make things uncomfortable for the pair of us. But the
+chances are ten thousand to one against our being hit."
+
+"You said our course would be due east, didn't you?"
+
+"I'll change that assertion a bit, Jack; we start east after we're well
+across the front, and away from the dazzling searchlight business. In
+the beginning we'll point the nose of our big machine toward the north."
+
+"So as to deceive the watchers, of course," remarked Jack.
+
+"That's what the game is."
+
+Jack's eyes sparkled. He was always proud of his chum's clever reasoning
+powers, and believed Tom could hold his own with any one with regard to
+mapping out a promising plan.
+
+Their preparations completed, the two air service boys lay down to
+secure a little rest. As they were not to start until some time after
+midnight, Tom believed they should secure a few hours of sleep. The moon
+was a late one, and would not rise, even with a midnight start, until
+they were well back of the enemy lines.
+
+An alarm-clock aroused them at the appointed time. Tom immediately
+shoved the noisy thing under his blankets before it could wake up the
+entire house, and set people wondering what was happening that any one
+should want to be aroused at such an unseemly hour.
+
+It was terribly black outside. Jack pressed his nose against the window
+and took a look, even while hurriedly finishing his dressing. Tom had
+taken the precaution to put a fresh battery in his little hand electric
+torch, which he believed would prove to be worth its weight in gold.
+
+Arriving at their destination, the boys quickly found their two-seater
+aircraft awaiting their coming. Quite a crowd stood around, and made
+guesses concerning the possible reason for the captain's order that this
+plane should be made ready for a journey, with enough supplies of
+gasolene and oil aboard to cover any ordinary emergency.
+
+Tom took no chances. He believed the attendants had faithfully carried
+out all directions, but to make doubly sure he looked over things
+himself. It was his life and Jack's that were at stake, and not those of
+the attendants; so he persisted in testing this and that thing until he
+felt certain everything was as it should be.
+
+"Is it time we started, Tom?" asked his companion, when this procedure
+had resulted satisfactorily.
+
+"We'll wait just ten minutes more," he was told. "I've figured
+everything down to a fraction, and expect to proceed by clock-work. We
+want to be well over the line before the moon peeps up. After that we
+can loaf a bit, and let the old lady get a little way above the horizon.
+That's so we may have the benefit of her light when we want to land."
+
+The minutes passed slowly. Meanwhile the crowd increased, every man who
+chanced to be abroad at that hour of the night gathering to see the two
+Americans start on their mysterious errand. All sorts of guesses were
+indulged in, many of them of the wildest character. Jack hearing some of
+this talk, which he half understood, was convulsed in silent laughter
+over the remarkable ideas that seemed to possess the minds of those
+French mechanicians and hostlers.
+
+Finally Tom stood up.
+
+"It's time!" he said simply, and Jack understood without any further
+explanation. He at once proceeded to climb into his seat and complete
+his simple preparations for the work in hand, being already fully
+dressed in his fur-lined garments, and with his warm hood and goggles in
+place.
+
+A minute afterwards Tom called out the word that started the propellers
+whirling. The motor took up the refrain, and hummed merrily, as though
+glad to be busy again. Then they were pushed along for a start,
+gathering momentum so quickly that the mechanicians dropped back to
+watch the dark object vanish almost wholly from their sight along the
+level field.
+
+Both boys noticed the great difference between this two-seater and their
+own active little Nieuports. How clumsy this machine was, and how slow
+to answer to the call of the pilot! Yet it would be far better for their
+purpose than two of the small aircraft, since it allowed them to be
+together.
+
+The few lights of the aviation field near Bar-le-Duc had faded almost
+entirely out of sight by the time Tom turned to the north and headed for
+Verdun. True, he might have pointed the nose of the airplane directly
+east, and saved considerable distance, but there were good reasons for
+not doing this.
+
+To cross the German lines further south would surely convince the
+Teutons that the aviators were heading for the vicinity of Metz, which
+was just what Tom did not wish to have happen. Then again, his chart
+covered only the direct line between Verdun and the fortified city of
+Lorraine that forty-odd years back had been French territory, before the
+Germans seized it as spoils after the war that made France a republic
+for the third time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE MOONLIGHT FLIGHT
+
+
+The time for talking had passed. With the motor working noisily, and the
+twin propellers churning the air, they could hardly have heard the
+discharge of one of the 'Big Berthas', as the Allies were wont to call
+the monster Krupp guns, and so called them because a woman whose maiden
+name had been Bertha Krupp, owned a big interest in the works where they
+were manufactured.
+
+All was dark around and below them. Above the stars shone, and gave a
+small amount of cold, cheery light. Tom had made a study of the heavens,
+and was able to steer by means of the stars. The aviator is often as
+much dependent on compass and heavenly bodies to shape his course as the
+sailor hundreds of miles away from land.
+
+Tom was in no especial hurry. He had carefully thought out his plans,
+and meant to pass over Verdun at just a certain time. Then would come
+the two lines of hostile trenches, and the ordeal of searchlights and
+shrapnel. Once that was done with, they had really little further to
+fear.
+
+The minutes slipped away. Under ordinary conditions they were accustomed
+to making that thirty miles in just about half that number of minutes,
+thanks to the ability of the speedy Nieuports to cover distance. It
+would be twice that now before they would find themselves at the front.
+
+Already they could see various signs to tell them they were drawing
+near. Rockets used as signals of various kinds ascended at intervals,
+and burst. Others of the star variety, and which discharged glowing
+white electric balls that lighted the earth below, could also be seen.
+One side or the other apparently had some reason for desiring to
+scrutinize a special sector of terrain in No-Man's-Land, the disputed
+region lying between the hostile trenches.
+
+Jack used his eyes to advantage. These things had not yet grown stale
+with him, for he still found himself filled with awe and wonder when
+gazing down from a lofty height at the world shrouded in darkness below.
+
+There within a comparatively short distance, that might not be over
+twenty miles, a round million of soldiers were gathered, armed with
+numberless engines of destruction of the most ponderous nature
+imaginable. It was enough to give any one a genuine thrill, and Jack
+felt such a sensation creeping over him.
+
+The crucial time had now come. They were passing over the line of the
+French trenches. Jack knew this from various signs, and also that in
+another minute they might expect to be spotted by some of the enemy
+searchlights. These would be unmasked, and trained on the heavens in the
+effort to locate the cause of that well known clattering noise above.
+
+This speedily came about. First one long shaft of dazzling light rushed
+back and forth; then others joined in the hunt, until presently they
+focussed on the progressing two-seater pushing north.
+
+Then began the bombardment. Numerous anti-aircraft guns were poking
+their noses upward in anticipation of just such a call. Their crews
+commenced to shower the shrapnel around and below the bird of passage,
+whose mission, whatever it might prove to be, could mean only evil to
+the Teuton cause.
+
+All this racket was lost upon the two so far above the earth. They heard
+nothing of the bleat of the firing guns. Even the bursting of shrapnel
+went unheeded, save at a time when a shell exploded close by, and was
+faintly heard.
+
+Tom was wisely taking but little chance. He maintained an altitude that
+prevented most of the shrapnel from coming anywhere near the plane.
+
+They crossed the enemy front, and sped on. The bombardment diminished in
+fury as they left the first and second line trenches behind them. It was
+continued to some extent from an elevation further back, but as Tom knew
+of this formation, and had crept up still higher, no accident happened
+to them.
+
+At last the air service boys were fully launched on their night voyage
+through the upper currents. Tom waited until he considered that it was
+really safe to change their course. He did not want to betray his
+movements in case some daring Boche pilot started up in a swift Fokker
+machine to pursue them.
+
+Once he shut off the engines and volplaned down a thousand feet or more.
+This was done because it was intensely cold up where they were; and the
+reasons that had kept them at such a high altitude existed no longer.
+Then again Tom wished to listen to discover if there was another
+aircraft near them; and this could be done only when his motor was
+silent.
+
+"No pursuit, Jack!" he managed to call to his chum before they once more
+straightened out, and again allowed the motor to send forth its loud
+hum.
+
+Jack had no chance to make any sort of reply. It did not matter, for he,
+too, had eagerly listened, and had failed to catch any telltale sound.
+
+Immediately Tom shaped a new course. No longer were they heading toward
+the north by east, but directly east. There some forty miles, more or
+less, away, lay the city of Metz, the object of their mission.
+
+After moving along in this fashion for a short time Tom drove his
+machine more slowly. He was watching for the rising of the old moon
+ahead, where the horizon was already lighted with her near approach.
+
+How strange she looked peering above the edge of the world as though
+curious to see all that was going on in this troubled hemisphere. Jack
+thought he had never witnessed a more peculiar spectacle. But at least
+this fragment of a moon would be likely to afford them the necessary
+illumination required when they attempted to land in a field that
+neither of them had ever seen before, and only knew through information
+imparted by means of their chart, and its accompanying notes.
+
+Some other pilot had doubtless been over this same route on previous
+occasions; yes, and even landed in that identical field. He had made the
+chart; and the accompanying memoranda consisted of his personal
+experiences.
+
+Already the moon had dispelled some of the cheerless gloom round about
+them. It was still cold up in that upper strata of rarefied air; but
+their fur-lined garments kept them from suffering. Besides this, they
+were young and vigorous, and their blood was warm, and they were excited
+with their mission and able to ignore any physical discomfort that might
+come to them.
+
+Jack continued to stare ahead as time passed. He was looking for some
+sign of the city towards which they were flying. Tom, on his part, often
+took note of his compass, then flashed a glance up at the stars, and
+finally sought to discover some landmark far down below that was marked
+upon the chart.
+
+He had the utmost confidence in his own judgment, and believed he would
+bring up at the identical place which was their goal.
+
+Tom now volplaned again, wishing to draw nearer to the earth. It was
+while thus dropping, with engine muffled, that his ears caught a sound
+calculated to give him an uneasy feeling.
+
+This was undoubtedly the whirr of a propeller beating the air in furious
+fashion. It also came from behind. Jack, too, had caught the sound, and
+was thrilled with sudden apprehension of impending trouble.
+
+They were undoubtedly being pursued, and by a much faster plane than
+their own. This would mean that presently they would be overtaken and
+fired upon. It was not in the nature of Tom Raymond to allow such a
+thing to occur and be kept from doing his share of the fighting.
+
+When Tom swung around to face the rear, and actually started to run
+toward the oncoming foe, Jack knew what was expected of him. He must man
+the gun, and prove how well he had learned his lesson when at school at
+Pau and at Casso.
+
+No longer could they expect to be guided by sounds. Their own motor
+thundered so loudly that every other sound was deadened. They must
+depend on eyesight alone to tell them when they were nearing the
+oncoming Fokker craft. Perhaps the first indication they would have of
+its presence would be the flash of its quick-firing gun, spattering
+bullets around them like hail.
+
+So Jack strained his vision to the limit. He was eager to discover the
+enemy before they themselves were seen. Much might depend on who fired
+first, in a duel of this kind.
+
+Suddenly the gun began to bark after its own peculiar way. Jack believed
+he had glimpsed something moving, and was sending forth a storm of lead
+in the hope of a lucky hit that would crumple the other machine up and
+put an end to that peril.
+
+Tom held the course. He knew that every second was carrying the rival
+airplanes nearer together--knew that possibly they were so headed that
+if they continued to rush forward they might smash in a frightful
+collision that would send both down thousands of feet to the earth.
+
+It was a time for careful calculations and prompt action. Tom gripped
+the controls and was ready either to swerve or to dip as occasion
+demanded. Meanwhile, Jack was doing his best to riddle the advancing
+Boche machine and its pilot.
+
+There was no longer any difficulty in seeing just where the Fokker was,
+for a constant flashing as her gun rattled betrayed its position
+exactly. The flying lead was now whistling all about the two air service
+boys but they did not know how close they sailed to death.
+
+Then Tom swung smartly to the right. He dared not keep on longer in his
+course lest he collide with the German craft. Just about the same
+instant he realized that the Fokker was diving. There was something
+queer about that manoeuvre. Tom had never known a French or an American
+nor yet a British airman to adopt such a clumsy way of plunging so as to
+avoid punishment.
+
+Circling around he started back on a little lower level, looking for the
+enemy. In making his latest volplane Tom had listened intently, hoping
+to ascertain whether the motor of the enemy craft still throbbed
+somewhere close by; but he heard not a sound to tell the story.
+
+Just then, suspicious of the truth, he glanced down, and was just in
+time to see a little flash of flame arise from the distant surface of
+the earth. Then the awful truth broke upon both boys. They realized that
+the German pilot had lost control of his machine, which had turned over
+and over in its drop, finally crashing to the ground, and being
+instantly enveloped in flames!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+LANDING CLOSE TO METZ
+
+
+Tom had his hands full in trying to get back to his course again.
+Naturally, in the excitement attending the duel in midair he could not
+pay attention to where he was going. It was easy enough to shape his
+line of flight by the aid of the stars and his compass, but he had also
+to catch certain landmarks below, that would serve to guide him.
+
+Fortune favored him in that he quickly sighted the lights of a town; and
+this gave him the bearings he sought. His mind freed from further
+anxiety concerning this matter, he pushed on once more.
+
+When presently he became aware of the presence of more lights Jack gave
+Tom the signal agreed on between them to mark such a circumstance. Then
+the pilot again commenced to drop to lower levels by a series of easy
+volplanes.
+
+Like a huge bird the airplane swept along, now close to earth. Had one
+of the peasants who lived in that region chanced to be aroused by the
+rattle of the propeller and thrust his head out of his cottage door, he
+must have gazed in awe to see the vast shadowy form come between him and
+the starry heavens, with the light of the moon silvering its extended
+wings.
+
+One trip failed to show them just what they wanted, and so Tom, knowing
+that the field must be somewhere in that immediate neighborhood,
+immediately swung around and started in again.
+
+The second search failed to bring success. Jack began to experience a
+sensation akin to dismay. Was their work doomed to meet with no result
+and would they find themselves compelled to start back to Verdun without
+having accomplished the important errand on which they had been
+dispatched?
+
+It was not Tom Raymond's way to feel discouraged because things did not
+always go as he wished from the start. He believed in the old motto, "If
+at first you don't succeed, try, try again." And he would circle around
+that vicinity for a full hour if only in the end he might find that for
+which he searched.
+
+Three times however, was the limit. Then Tom felt certain he had "struck
+pay dirt"; and that the opening lying below was the identical field to
+which he had been directed.
+
+After that it resolved itself into a simple landing by moonlight. There
+were no ready mechanicians waiting to lend a hand; and everything must
+be done by the pilot and his assistant. But then, all war aviators must
+be able to make ordinary repairs if necessary, and do other duties that
+usually they allow the mechanics to perform.
+
+Tom brought the heavy machine to the earth softly. It was fine work he
+did, considering the fact that it was unfamiliar ground he was striking
+and the moonlight was far from strong.
+
+They jolted along a short distance, and then came to a full stop. Jack
+was the first to spring out. His first thought was of the strangeness of
+being on German soil, far back of the fighting lines, and within a few
+miles of Metz, a city of prime importance.
+
+Hardly had they landed when the air service boys found themselves
+listening to sounds that seemed significant. Plainly came reports of
+firearms and of loud shouting, as of excited men.
+
+"What do you think that row means, Tom?" asked Jack, as they stood
+listening with quickened hearts.
+
+"It's hard to say," the other replied. "They may be having a riot of
+some kind over in the city. But I'm afraid it is more apt to have
+something to do with our presence here."
+
+"Do you mean they've seen our dropping down and that there may be
+soldiers on the way here to see what we're up to?" asked Jack.
+
+"That may turn out to be the truth of it. But we mustn't lose any more
+time. What we want now is that paper. Jack, remember that we arranged it
+so you'd stay with the plane, while I hurried off to get it."
+
+"All right, Tom; only I wish you'd let me go along. Then if anything
+happened we'd be together, anyhow."
+
+"It's better for you to stay here. I'll be gone only a few minutes if
+everything turns out O.K."
+
+Tom turned and ran across the field. Jack stared after him until he lost
+track of the runner in the misty moonlight. Then he occupied himself in
+listening to that clamor and wondering whether it was really getting
+closer, or if his fears only made him think so.
+
+There was certainly a big noise. Men continued to shout, and guns were
+being discharged, but not so frequently as before. Perhaps this latter
+was done by nervous guardians of the Lorraine city, who on first hearing
+the racket took it for granted that it meant an airplane attack, and
+were therefore starting in to bombard the skies, discovering hostile
+fliers in every lurking fleecy cloud.
+
+Yes, Jack was positive now that those who shouted to one another must be
+coming out of the city, and heading for the big field where Tom had
+dropped down.
+
+"Like as not," Jack told himself, "some wisebody has discovered that
+airplanes have been using this ground for alighting. When they had word
+that an enemy machine was heading this way they just naturally concluded
+it might drop down here. I guess our little fight up aloft was heard and
+understood by some one on guard. I hope Tom will soon get back here,
+that's what!"
+
+Tom had been gone several minutes, and Jack tried to pierce the misty
+light beyond in the endeavor to discover some sign of his returning. His
+uneasiness increased, and with reason, for the noise was drawing
+perilously near.
+
+Jack tried to figure out what his plan of campaign should be in case a
+motley mob of citizens and soldiers suddenly appeared in view, carrying
+lanterns, and perhaps blazing torches.
+
+True, he had his automatic pistol with him, but what would that puny
+weapon avail when pitted against a score or two of enemies; many of them
+armed soldiers of the Kaiser, who would ruthlessly fill him with lead at
+the first show of resistance on his part?
+
+Would it be better policy for him to slip away and conceal himself in
+case they did arrive before Tom returned?
+
+But had not Tom explicitly told him to stay on guard over the airplane
+until he came back? Jack drew in a fresh breath. He threw back his
+shoulders aggressively and his mind was made up. He would stick it out,
+no matter at what cost. If the Boches wanted that plane they would have
+to fight for it, that was all.
+
+He had his pistol out now, and was fondling it as a child would a pet
+toy. So far Jack had fired the weapon only at targets, but he had the
+reputation of being a good shot. He believed he could make every bullet
+it contained tell.
+
+Then what about the mitrailleuse aboard the plane? Was it not possible
+to train it on the advancing host, and give them such a hot reception
+that they would break and race madly for shelter?
+
+He knew the gun was fixed to shoot straight ahead. This was the custom
+with all those who went up in airplanes. To attempt to fire any other
+way would imperil the stability of the plane, and in many cases bring
+about sudden disaster.
+
+Jack fumbled for the fastenings of the airplane mitrailleuse, it being
+his intention to swing the gun free, so that he could turn its muzzle in
+any quarter desired. But it had been too well secured in place for such
+a quick delivery, and presently he gave the idea up as a bad one.
+
+No Tom yet! Things certainly were taking on a dark hue, and it looked as
+though desperate trouble might be in store for the two chums. Jack
+almost believed he could see dancing lights coming along what might be a
+road. He looked again, and no longer had any doubt on that score.
+
+"Well, a fellow can die only once, and after all what does it matter
+whether he meets his end by falling ten thousand feet from the clouds or
+in trying to hold off an angry mob of Teuton soldiers and citizens of
+Metz who are in sympathy with the methods of the Kaiser?" Jack's
+reflections served to give him courage.
+
+There was the leading one of the mob, starting across the dimly lighted
+field! Jack set his jaws hard, and determined that he would wait until
+the other had come close up. Ammunition was much too precious to be
+wasted without results following.
+
+He was soon glad he had made such a sensible resolution, for as the
+runner drew closer something familiar about his figure and methods of
+leaping told Jack it was none other than Tom.
+
+"Get aboard in a hurry, after you've given the propellers a swing!"
+cried Tom, almost breathless himself after such a sharp run. "I've got
+what I wanted."
+
+He was already in his place with his hand on the control.
+
+"Tell me when, Tom!" sang out Jack.
+
+"Cut loose!" ordered the pilot.
+
+The propellers spun, and the motors commenced their furious throbbing.
+Jack swung aboard, and at once the plane started to roll along the
+field, even as men appeared, bursting into view on one side, and
+shouting harshly as they realized how close they had come to catching
+those they sought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MORE TROUBLE FOR THE CHUMS
+
+
+It had been a close call for the two air service boys. Had they been
+delayed just a minute or two longer escape might have been impossible.
+And to have been caught with the spy's paper of information in their
+possession might have proved a very serious matter.
+
+Some of the mob, that had come from Metz itself, were German soldiers.
+They carried guns with which they opened a hot fire on the departing
+plane.
+
+Again the lucky star of Tom and Jack seemed to be in the ascendant, for
+they did not receive even a scratch. Later they found reason to believe
+that a number of the leaden missiles had come very close to their
+persons; for the marks upon the body of the plane itself, as well as the
+tiny holes in the stout linen covering of the wings, told where bullets
+had passed. Possibly, though, these had come from the rapid-fire gun
+handled by the Boche airman.
+
+The plane had left the ground and started to mount when this shooting
+occurred, so that the marksmen had at least had a fair target at which
+to fire. But as the departing airplane was speeding away from them the
+rapidly increasing distance may have disconcerted the Germans. At any
+rate they failed to bag their game.
+
+The boys were now mounting upwards again, filled with joy over their
+recent escape. Jack felt sure that Tom had the precious paper; for he
+well knew the other would never have returned so quickly had not success
+rewarded his search.
+
+They were soon heading directly for their distant base. Tom could now
+give his aerial steed the rein, and get all the speed possible out of
+the cumbersome two-seater. There was no longer any necessity for
+"loafing on the job," to allow a tardy moon to come in sight, as had
+been the case before. Home, and at top speed, was the slogan now.
+
+But, alas! it was not long before Tom realized that something was wrong
+with the plane. He found it increasingly difficult to manage the engine,
+and the machine began to give erratic jumps that alarmed Jack.
+
+Had it been possible to make himself heard above the clatter of the
+motor and the propeller, Jack would have been much inclined to shout
+out, and ask his more experienced comrade what had happened.
+
+Still he could give a shrewd guess. One of the bullets fired by the
+Teuton soldiers must have struck some part of the motor, and done enough
+damage to make its workings exceedingly erratic. If such were the case,
+would it be wise for them to try to push on at this high altitude, where
+a sudden collapse would mean death for both of the occupants of the
+disabled plane?
+
+Tom soon shut the motor off, and tilted the machine for a volplane down
+several thousand feet to a new level.
+
+Jack held his breath. This was partly because the wind rushed at him in
+a vicious fashion while they were plunging downward, and also on account
+of a new fear that clutched his heart.
+
+How about the wings of the airplane standing the strain when Tom
+suddenly brought that volplane to a stop and tried to sail on an even
+keel again? Would they hold out? Or had some defect occurred in them
+which could also be charged to the spattering bullets fired by the Metz
+mob?
+
+Then Jack breathed easier again.
+
+The thing had been accomplished, and they were once more speeding
+onward, as Tom touched the controls that started the motor working. All
+then was well, as far as they had gone. Apparently they could by
+successive stages descend close to the treetops, and skim along until
+some favorable open space showed, into which a skillful pilot would find
+it possible to drop lightly and land.
+
+A second volplane further added to Jack's peace of mind. They were now
+halfway down, and all seemed well. The earth loomed up below, although
+as yet it took on only a vague, misty effect, due to the weak moonlight.
+
+Jack busied himself in trying to make things out, as for the third time
+the nose of the heavy observation Caudron was suddenly pointed downward,
+and they took the next "header."
+
+This time Tom dropped a greater distance. When once more the loud hum of
+motor and propellers was heard they had almost reached the treetops.
+Jack gave one gulp, in fear lest his pilot could not make things work as
+he intended, and that they must crash to the earth while descending at
+such frightful speed.
+
+Now everything was all right. They could not be more than a thousand
+feet above the floor of the valley they were following in their homeward
+route. If anything happened surely Tom would find some way of making a
+landing, even if a clumsy one that would put their machine out of the
+running and leave them stranded on enemy soil.
+
+They continued to move along slowly, both looking eagerly to discover
+signs that would invite a possible landing. It looked as though they
+were in the country; at least they did not discover any signs of lights
+to indicate the presence of houses near by.
+
+Soon a landing proved feasible, as they came to just the kind of open
+plot the air service boys yearned to discover. To make absolutely
+certain before committing himself, Tom circled the ground twice, and
+even dropped lower and lower while so doing, all the while straining his
+vision to the utmost.
+
+Then the thing was done.
+
+That was far from a pleasant landing. It shook them up considerably; but
+Jack was of the opinion that no damage resulted to the airplane, which
+after all was just then the main consideration.
+
+Both of them leaped to the ground, after which Tom secured his electric
+hand-torch which he had found useful so many times while on the outward
+trip and he wished to consult the compass or the register of the
+barograph.
+
+"I guess there's some sort of a house near by," said Jack, "because a
+rooster crowed over yonder. Yes, I can see what looks like the line of a
+road, too. I suppose it runs the entire length of this valley."
+
+While Jack was saying this softly the pilot had started to take an
+inventory of the motor. His now practiced eye ran along this and that
+part, each of which was so essential to the smooth running of the
+engine. Tom too had already formed a pretty clear idea as to where he
+was likely to find the damage, and hence was able in a short time to
+give a satisfied grunt.
+
+"Located the trouble, have you, Tom?" queried the other.
+
+"Yes. It's right where I expected to find it. A bullet has made a dent
+that interferes with the free action of the part. Besides, I think that
+spark plug has become fouled with oil, and will have to be changed to
+get the best results."
+
+"How lucky you brought another with you! Lots of fellows wouldn't have
+bothered about such a little thing."
+
+"I had my suspicions about that when we started," explained the other,
+"even though the mechanician assured me it was perfectly clean. I know
+different now, and will certainly give him a piece of my mind when we
+get back."
+
+"Then you expect to get home safely, do you?" asked Jack, in a relieved
+tone, that proved how anxious he had been growing since troubles had so
+consecutively alighted on them.
+
+"Surely," chuckled the other, with his usual confidence in voice and
+manner, "a thing like this isn't going to stop our plans. Here in this
+retired spot nobody's apt to bother us while we make our repairs. You
+can hold this torch, Jack, and shove the light squarely on the work."
+
+Tom worked for some time. He tapped as gently as possible when knocking
+out the dent made by the bullet, and he gradually removed the cause of
+the trouble. He was just finishing with the spark-plug when the
+confidence of the air service boys received a sudden jolt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LONE HOUSE BY THE ROADSIDE
+
+
+"Listen, Tom!" hissed Jack.
+
+The other had just sighed with relief on completing the work of
+replacing the spark-plug that had become fouled with oil.
+
+"I, too, heard it plainly, Jack!" he breathed.
+
+"Was it someone screaming or sobbing?" asked the other breathlessly.
+
+"Sounded like it to me."
+
+"And either a woman or a girl, at that!" hazarded his chum in
+bewilderment.
+
+"It might have been a boy," suggested Tom. "There it is again."
+
+Both of them listened. Peculiar sensations crept over them as they stood
+and thus strained their ears to catch any further sounds. Sobbing at any
+time is enough to arouse the feelings of a sensitive nature; but heard
+in the dead of night, and under the conditions that surrounded the two
+young aviators, made it all the more thrilling.
+
+Jack in particular was touched to the heart.
+
+"Say, that's a queer thing, Tom!" he muttered. "Why should anybody be
+crying or screaming like that away off here, and at this time of night?"
+
+"Oh, there are many who are weeping in these dark days," said Tom
+gravely. "The men in myriads of families will never come home again.
+Perhaps a mother, or it may be a sister, has just had word that son,
+father, or brother has been shot down in battle."
+
+Jack shuddered. Why should his thoughts instantly fly to the Boche pilot
+whom they had met and fought and conquered while on the way to Metz on
+their present perilous mission? It had been a fair fight, and a case of
+their lives or his. Nevertheless Jack shuddered as he remembered how the
+other had gone down after that last exchange of gunfire.
+
+"Tom, notice that it comes from almost the identical direction where I
+told you I heard the crowing of a rooster a while ago," he hastened to
+say, more to rid his mind of those ghastly thoughts than anything else.
+
+What a strange fatality if this should be the home of the unfortunate
+Teuton pilot of that Fokker machine, and the one who mourned was his
+mother or a young sister, or perhaps his wife!
+
+"That means there's a house not far away, possibly an estate of some
+kind," mused Tom, as though turning over some sudden project in his
+mind.
+
+Jack guessed what his chum was thinking about.
+
+"Tom," he said softly, when for the third time they caught the
+heart-rending, half stifled sobs coming on the still night air.
+
+"What do you want now, Jack?"
+
+"I was just wondering whether you'd agree to something," continued the
+other, in a persuasive tone. "We're not in any _great_ hurry, are
+we?"
+
+"Well, no, perhaps not, Jack; though I'd like to deliver the paper into
+the hands of our commander as soon as possible. It is probably of the
+utmost importance, you know."
+
+"I can't help thinking how I'd feel, Tom, if my mother or sister were in
+some great trouble, and fellows who might be in a position to hold out a
+helping hand considered their own personal safety first."
+
+When Jack said this his voice was husky. Apparently the incident
+appealed strongly to his emotions. Jack had always been unusually
+thoughtful in regard to women of whatever age or degree, and would go
+far out of his way to do one a favor; so it was not strange that he
+should feel as he did at this time.
+
+Tom was in a mood to be easily persuaded. The plaintive sobs, telling of
+woe that clutched some one's heart-strings, stirred a responsive chord
+within him. He, too, remembered those at home. Jack had put a clincher
+on his argument when he asked what their opinion of a man would be who
+turned aside and went his own way after hearing a woman or a child
+crying bitterly.
+
+"All right, then, Jack; perhaps we can spare the time to take a turn
+around here, and see if we can be of any help," he announced, greatly to
+the satisfaction of his chum.
+
+"Perhaps some one has been hurt and needs assistance," suggested Jack.
+"It isn't going to delay us much, and may be of great help to them. Come
+on--let's be on the move."
+
+Tom was not quite so precipitate as his companion. Caution had a part in
+his make-up.
+
+"Don't try to rush things, Jack," he said. "I must take a last look over
+my work here, you know."
+
+"But you said everything was completed, Tom!" persisted the other.
+
+"So it is, but I ought to make doubly sure before we leave the plane,"
+Tom added, as he took the electric hand-torch from his companion and
+began systematically to look over the engine at which he had been
+working, carefully examining every detail.
+
+Jack said nothing further. He understood what his chum meant when he
+declared it important that they should know absolutely the motor was in
+prime condition for immediate service. Something might occur to
+necessitate a hurried departure from the vicinity; a detachment of the
+enemy forces might appear, or other perils hover over their heads that
+might be laughed at only if they could take to the air without
+detention.
+
+Tom was not long in doing as he desired. Meanwhile Jack could hear an
+occasional sob from the same quarter as before, and the sounds continued
+to exercise a peculiar influence over him which he could not have
+explained had he been asked.
+
+"I'm ready now, Jack!".
+
+"Glad to hear it," muttered the other, half under his breath; not that
+he meant to infer Tom had been unduly long, but because his feelings
+were wrought up to a high pitch that caused him to quiver all over.
+
+Tom evidently guessed this, judging from his next remark.
+
+"Cool down, Jack," he said, laying a hand on his companion's arm. "This
+will never do, you know. Getting excited is the worst thing an air pilot
+can do. It'll prove fatal to all your hopes, unless you manage to
+control your feelings better."
+
+"I guess you're right, Tom."
+
+"I don't think there's any chance the plane will be discovered here in
+the open field, even if there is a road so close by," mused the pilot,
+after they had gone perhaps as far as twenty-five yards.
+
+"Not in a thousand years," asserted Jack confidently, turning to look
+back as he spoke. "Why, even now I can't discover a sign of the wings,
+or anything else in the misty moonlight, it's so deceptive. Only that
+lone tree standing close to where we dropped tells me the location of
+our plane."
+
+"Yes, I marked that, too," asserted Tom quietly. "I thought we ought to
+have some sort of landmark to guide us if we should be in a hurry coming
+back. And the tree, standing up fairly high, can be seen ten times
+better than anything close to the earth."
+
+"Here's the road, Tom."
+
+"So it is, and an important one in the bargain, judging from its
+condition," remarked the other, softly.
+
+"It runs the length of the valley, of course," added Jack. "I shouldn't
+be surprised if it went all the way from Metz to the Verdun front. If
+that's the case it must have considerable travel, even if nothing has
+chanced to come along since we landed."
+
+"I can see signs to tell that we are close to some sort of country
+estate, or it may only be a Lorraine farm."
+
+"I can glimpse lights through the trees, and chances are they come from
+windows in the house beyond."
+
+"I see them too," affirmed Tom.
+
+"But say, isn't it pretty late for a farmhouse to be lighted up like
+that?"
+
+"Depend on it, there's some good reason for all that illumination," Jack
+was told. "And perhaps we'd better drop this talking so much, now we're
+getting close to the place. No telling what we'll find there. For all we
+know this may be some one's headquarters, though pretty far back of the
+line for that sort of thing. But I think it'll turn out to be something
+more than ordinary."
+
+It did.
+
+Jack began to weave all manner of fantastic explanations to account for
+the illumination of the house alongside the road to Metz.
+
+He felt he would not be very much astonished to discover a line of
+military cars standing at the gate, and find that an important council
+of war was being conducted within the building.
+
+Then he remembered the crying and sobbing. Somehow, that did not seem to
+fit in with his other imaginings. The touch of Tom's hand on his arm
+made Jack give a violent start.
+
+"Here's a high fence, you notice," Tom whispered. "Seeing that makes me
+believe it's going to turn out to be a country estate, and not just a
+farm. We ought to find a gate somewhere further along."
+
+"That crying has stopped, Tom."
+
+"For the time being, yes," admitted the other. "Perhaps she's only gone
+away from the open window. I was in hopes it would keep on, so we could
+be guided straight."
+
+Two minutes later, after walking alongside the high fence for some
+distance, they discovered the entrance to the place. Tom flashed his
+light on the ground.
+
+"Been considerable going in and coming out of vehicles, generally
+automobiles," he announced.
+
+"And private cars are almost taboo in all Germany these dark days, they
+tell us," mentioned Jack sagely. "That makes it look as if some sort of
+military business might be transacted in this isolated place. Gee! I
+tell you it's getting my curiosity whetted to a fine point, all this
+mystery. But we're going in, of course, Tom?"
+
+"Some way or other, Jack. If the entrance is closed and locked we can
+climb over the fence, all right. But no need of worrying about that,
+because I already see the gates are ajar. Come on."
+
+So they slipped into the enclosed grounds, actuated by an impulse,
+wholly unconscious of what might be awaiting them. They had been drawn
+into the adventure simply on account of a praiseworthy desire to be of
+service to some unknown one who seemed to be in trouble. And neither of
+the boys even vaguely suspected as yet what strange happenings would
+confront them before many minutes passed by.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A NEST OF SPIES
+
+
+Neither of the air service boys had any doubts now with regard to the
+character of the grounds they were invading at dead of night. It must be
+a private estate. Once it may have been kept up through a lavish
+expenditure of money, but of late years things had evidently been
+allowed to grow more or less wild.
+
+Tom was following what appeared to be the drive. It was not difficult to
+do so, because of the moonlight that sifted down through the bare
+branches of the neighboring ornamental trees, now destitute of foliage.
+
+The house was presently discovered. Just as Tom anticipated, it was a
+rather large building, that might even be called a mansion, or château.
+It lay half buried amidst a prodigious growth of trees and bushes.
+
+Jack fancied there was a sort of haunted air about the place, something
+uncanny, as he told himself. And then those sobs or screams could not be
+forgotten.
+
+"Let's go around first, and see what lies in the rear," whispered Tom.
+
+He had an object in view when he said this. Having noted carefully their
+route in coming from the open field where they had left their big plane,
+Tom knew that the window from whence the sobbing had come must be either
+at the back of the house, or on the eastern side.
+
+He was heading in that quarter now, and looking for signs of a light in
+some upper window. This he discovered speedily, and pointed it out to
+his companion.
+
+"Whoever was crying, Jack, must be up there," he said, close to the
+other's ear so as to insure safety.
+
+"But how can we find out?" queried Jack. "If you say the word I'm
+willing to climb up, and learn what's wrong."
+
+"Not yet. We must take a turn around, and pick up more knowledge of this
+place, as well as the people who live in the house."
+
+"Then why not creep up and look in at that lower window?" suggested
+Jack, pointing as he spoke. "I've seen a shadow passing back and forth,
+as if some person were walking up and down like a caged tiger. It's a
+man, too, Tom, because I could easily make out his figure, a tall man to
+boot."
+
+Tom led the way, with Jack at his heels. They managed to crawl through
+the bushes that cluttered the ground close to the wall of the stone
+building, and were at length in a position to raise themselves from
+their knees and peep under the drawn shade.
+
+Jack was the first to look. Almost instantly he drew back with a low
+ejaculation of wonder. Tom, spurred on by this fact, also raised his
+head until his eyes were on a level with the small strip of open space
+just below the shade. He too had a thrill at what he saw.
+
+"I feel as if I must be dreaming!" whispered Jack huskily. "Tell me, is
+that man in there really Carl Potzfeldt, the good-for-nothing guardian
+of little Bessie Gleason?"
+
+"It's no other than our old acquaintance of the Atlantic liner,"
+admitted Tom, though he himself had some difficulty in believing the
+startling fact.
+
+This man, whom they felt sure was a German spy, had last been seen
+descending the gangway from the steamer at an English port, with Bessie
+Gleason, his pretty little ward, held by the hand, as though he feared
+she might try to run away from him.
+
+Many times had Jack tried to picture the conditions under which he might
+run across Carl Potzfeldt again; but no matter what line of flight his
+imagination took he certainly had never dreamed of such a thing as this.
+Here in the heart of Lorraine, many miles back of the German front, on a
+moonlight night, and in a lonely country house, he once more beheld the
+object of his former detestation.
+
+He clutched his chum by the arm almost fiercely.
+
+"Well, that settles it, Tom!" he muttered savagely.
+
+"Settles what?" whispered the other, for the window was closed, and
+there did not seem to be any chance of their low-voiced exchange of
+opinions being overheard.
+
+"I don't leave here until I've seen _her_. For if he's at this
+place it stands to reason Bessie must be here also. Tom, that was Bessie
+we heard sobbing, I just know it now."
+
+Tom had already jumped to the same conclusion. Nevertheless he did not
+mean to let it interfere with his customary caution. Nothing was to be
+gained through reckless and hurried action. They must go slowly and
+carefully. This house by the roadside on the way to Metz he concluded
+might be a nest of spies, perhaps the headquarters of a vast network of
+plotters.
+
+"Hark! There's a car coming along the road and stopping at the gates
+here!" he told his chum, as he drew Jack down beside him. "We must be
+more careful how we look in lighted windows. If any one chanced to be
+abroad in the grounds we'd be seen, and perhaps fired on."
+
+They crept from the vicinity of the window. Tom led the way toward the
+front of the house, as if he had an object in view. The car was now
+coming in along the crooked drive. They could see its one light, for
+economy in the use of all means for illumination was a cardinal feature
+of the German military orders in those days of scarcity.
+
+The car stopped in front of the house, and a man jumped out. Tom saw
+that he wore a uniform of some sort, and judged that he might be a
+captain, at least. There was a second figure on the front seat, also in
+the dark-green garb of a soldier, but a private possibly.
+
+The two young Americans crouched amidst the dense bushes and listened.
+So many thrilling things were happening in rapid succession that their
+pulses beat with unwonted speed.
+
+Before this the sound of the approaching car must have reached the ears
+of the man they had seen pacing the floor in the spacious room that
+looked like a library. There were many books in cases and on shelves,
+while pictures and boars' heads decorated the walls.
+
+Potzfeldt opened the door just as the officer alighted, and there was an
+exchange of stiff military salutations. Tom discovered that his guess
+was a true one, for the man of the house addressed the other as
+"Captain."
+
+It was too bad that they spoke in German as they stood by the open door.
+Jack for once bitterly regretted the fact that he had never taken up the
+study of that language when at school, as he might have done easily
+enough. It would have paid him handsomely just then, he believed.
+
+The two men talked rapidly. Apparently the officer was asking questions,
+and demanding something, for in another minute Carl Potzfeldt took an
+object out of a bill book and handed it to the other. As near as the
+watchers could make out this object was a slip of paper, very small, but
+handled as though it might be exceedingly precious.
+
+Jack had a sudden recollection of a correspondingly minute slip of paper
+which he and Tom had found hidden in that little receptacle attached to
+the leg of the homing pigeon the latter had shot.
+
+More talk followed between the two men. Presently the man turned and
+hastened inside again. He had left the door standing open, however, with
+the German officer waiting as if for something he had come after besides
+the scrap of paper.
+
+Jack knew now that the man in uniform was from the headquarters of the
+Crown Prince. That accounted for the numerous marks of car tires which
+Tom had discovered on the drive. This lonely house by the roadside on
+the way to Metz was a nest of spies. Perhaps Carl Potzfeldt might be the
+chief, through whom negotiations were conducted and lesser agents sent
+forth.
+
+Jack had got no further in his deduction when he saw the tall man
+returning. He carried a bundle that was wrapped in a cloth, and depended
+from his hand by means of a heavy cord, or some sort of handle.
+
+This he set down on the landing, while he passed further words with the
+captain; and now it was Potzfeldt who asked the questions, as though he
+wished to learn how things were going at the front.
+
+Between queries and guttural replies the hidden air service boys heard a
+series of sounds that gave them sudden light. Jack's hand pressed on
+Tom's arm, as though in this manner he wished to call the attention of
+the other to the noise.
+
+Many times both of them had listened to similar sounds while watching
+some pigeon on the barn roof dare a rival to combat, or when wooing his
+mate. And as they could easily trace this to the covered package which
+Carl Potzfeldt had just brought out of the house, the meaning was
+obvious.
+
+Of course there were pigeons in that cage, homing pigeons at that, like
+the one Tom had shot! Doubtless had that one escaped its tragic fate the
+message it carried would have been delivered to the owner of this lonely
+house, in turn to be handed over to one of the messengers from German
+headquarters.
+
+And now the German captain, stooping over, took possession of the cage
+containing at least two of the trained birds. They would be carried to
+some point from which, on another night, a daring Boche airman would
+attempt to take them far back of the French front, to hand over to the
+agent who was in communication with the master spy, Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+It was all very simple. Nevertheless it was also amazing to realize how
+by what might be called a freak of fate the air service boys had been
+enabled to discover these facts. But for the accident to the motor they
+would not have dreamed of making a landing short of the aviation field
+at Bar-le-Duc. Then, had they not caught that woeful sound of loud
+sobbing, the idea of looking around would never have occurred to them.
+
+The officer was now starting back to his car, which would carry him
+post-haste to German headquarters, where the fresh message in a cipher
+code from beyond the French lines might be translated, and the valuable
+information it possibly contained be taken advantage of.
+
+Presently the military chauffeur started to swing around a curve that
+would allow them to leave the grounds by the same gates through which
+they had entered. The car's course could be followed by the strong ray
+its one light threw ahead; and the boys were able to tell when it
+reached the road again.
+
+As they expected it returned the same way it had come, probably heading
+for the headquarters of the Crown Prince.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+JACK CLIMBS A WALL
+
+
+"What luck we're in to be here, Tom!" murmured Jack.
+
+Carl Potzfeldt had again entered the house and closed the door; and the
+air service boys could no longer hear the car speeding along the road.
+Jack was quivering all over with excitement. The events that had just
+come to their attention filled him with a sensation of wonder
+approaching awe.
+
+"It certainly is strange how we've stumbled on this nest of spies,"
+admitted Tom.
+
+"And the paper he gave the captain--it must have been a message in
+cipher that an incoming pigeon brought from back of our lines, eh, Tom?"
+
+"I guess it was, Jack. We could see it was only a small scrap of paper,
+thin paper at that; but both of them handled it as if it were pretty
+valuable."
+
+Jack was chuckling, such a queer proceeding that Tom could not help
+noticing it, and commenting on it.
+
+"What's struck you as funny now?" he asked, puzzled to account for this
+sudden freak on the part of his companion.
+
+"I was wondering," explained Jack, "whether that mightn't be the
+doctored message we believed our commander meant to send through some
+time or other with one of the pigeons we got that day we went hunting."
+
+"That's possible," Tom agreed, also amused at the thought. "But then,
+whether it is or not, it means nothing to us, you understand. We are
+here, and must decide on our movements. If that was a bogus message, and
+will coax the Germans to make an attack at a certain place where a trap
+has been laid, that's their lookout."
+
+"Somewhere about here must be the pigeon loft where those homing birds
+have been bred," suggested Jack, following up a train of thought.
+
+"Yes, it may be on the flat roof of the château, or in the barn at the
+rear," Tom admitted. "One thing is certain, they know only this place as
+home; and wherever they're set free their first instinct is to strike a
+bee-line for here. Some people are so foolish as to fancy homers can be
+sent anywhere; but that's silly. It's only home that they're able to
+head straight toward, even if hundreds of miles away."
+
+"Oh Tom! how about Bessie?" inquired Jack eagerly.
+
+His chum considered, while he rubbed his chin with thumb and finger in a
+thoughtful way he had when a little puzzled.
+
+"It might be done in a pinch," he finally muttered.
+
+"What, Tom?"
+
+"She's such a little mite that her weight wouldn't amount to much, if
+only she had the nerve to do it, Jack."
+
+"Do you mean that you'd be willing to carry Bessie off with us? To help
+her escape from her guardian? I'm sure he must be treating her badly, or
+else she wouldn't be sobbing her poor little heart out, as we heard
+her."
+
+"That would have to depend a whole lot on Bessie."
+
+"As far as that goes I know she's a gritty little person," Jack
+instantly remarked. "Many times she said to me she wished she were a boy
+so that she might also learn to fly and fight for France against the
+detested Kaiser. Why, she even told me she had gone up with an aviator
+who exhibited down at a Florida resort, one having a hydro-airplane in
+which he took people up. And Bessie declared she didn't have the least
+fear."
+
+"That sounds good to me, Jack."
+
+"Then let's get busy, and try to let her know we're here," continued
+Jack.
+
+"First of all, we'll get under the open window where she must have been
+standing at the time we heard her crying. I think I saw a movement up
+there while the two men were conversing on the porch. Perhaps Bessie was
+listening to what they said."
+
+Tom's words gave his chum a new thought.
+
+"Oh, it would certainly be just like Bessie to do it! She seemed to be
+full of clever ideas."
+
+Tom, being mystified by such words, he naturally sought further
+information.
+
+"What would she do?" he demanded.
+
+"Send me that mysterious message by the little hot-air balloon," Jack
+announced with a vein of pride in his voice, feeling delighted over
+having solved the puzzle that had baffled him for so long.
+
+"It hardly seems probable," Tom answered softly. "At the same time it
+isn't altogether impossible."
+
+"How far are we from the French front, do you think, Tom?" pursued his
+comrade, determined to sift the whole thing out.
+
+"Twenty miles or so, I should imagine."
+
+"That isn't very far. Once I caught just such a little balloon in a tree
+in our yard that had a tag on it, telling that it had been set free in a
+village that lay _seventy_ miles off. The wind had carried it along
+furiously, so that it covered all that distance before losing buoyancy,
+and coming down in the heavy night air."
+
+"Yes, I know of other circumstances where such balloons have traveled
+long distances before falling. Then again, Jack, this valley extends
+pretty much all the way to the Verdun front, and the current of air
+would carry a balloon along directly toward our home patch."
+
+"Oh, Bessie sent it, believe me!" asserted Jack again, more confidently
+than ever. "And she'll tell us so too, when she gets the chance."
+
+Thus whispering the air service boys arrived at that side of the house
+where the lighted window on the second floor seemed to indicate that the
+object of their present concern could be found.
+
+Tom examined the building as well as the limited amount of light
+allowed. He could easily see that any agile young fellow, himself or
+Jack for instance, might scale the wall, making use of some projections,
+and a cement flower trellis as well, in carrying out the project.
+
+"We might throw pebbles up, and bring her to the window," he suggested,
+though pretty confident at the time Jack would find fault with such an
+arrangement.
+
+"That wouldn't help her get down here to us, Tom," protested the other.
+"And that's what we're planning, you remember; for you said she could
+accompany us if she felt equal to it. I must go up myself and help
+Bessie get down. There's nothing else to do, Tom."
+
+It looked very much as though Jack was right. Tom admitted this to
+himself; at the same time he wished there were some other way by means
+of which the same end could be gained, or that he could undertake the
+thing, instead of his comrade.
+
+But to this Jack would never agree. Bessie was his own particular
+friend; and they had been most "chummy" while aboard the Atlantic liner
+crossing the submarine infested ocean. Then again that warning had been
+addressed to him, and not to both, showing that the writer had only been
+concerned about the danger he, Jack, was running, should his plane be
+tampered with by some emissary of Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+"All right then; you go, Jack! But be careful about your footing. If you
+fell it'd be a bad thing in many ways, for even if you escaped a broken
+neck or a fractured leg you'd arouse the house, and all sorts of trouble
+would drop down on us in a hurry."
+
+"Don't worry about me, Tom. I'll show you I'm as nimble as any monkey.
+Besides, that isn't much of a climb. Why, I could nearly do it with one
+arm tied fast."
+
+"Go to it!" Tom told him, settling back to watch the performance and
+give whispered advice if it seemed necessary.
+
+Jack waited no longer. He was wild to find himself once more face to
+face with the pretty young girl in whom he had taken such an interest.
+Her recent sobs and cries still haunted his heart, and he felt certain
+she must be in great sorrow over something.
+
+He commenced climbing. While his boast about being equal to any monkey
+that ever lived among the treetops may have been a bit of an
+exaggeration, all the same Jack was a very good athlete, and especially
+with regard to feats on the parallel bars or the ladders in a gymnasium.
+
+He made his way nimbly upward, with Tom's eyes following every movement.
+It seemed an easy task for the climber. Just what he would discover when
+he had gained the open window was another question.
+
+The light still remained, for which both boys felt glad. It afforded
+Jack a goal which he was striving to gain; and it told Tom further down
+that the inmate of the upper room was awake and still moving about,
+though her sobs had ceased.
+
+Once Tom fancied he heard something stirring back of the house. He hoped
+it might not prove to be a servant attached to the Potzfeldt place or an
+attendant who had charge of the pigeon loft.
+
+Jack was almost up now. He had only to cover another yard of space when
+he could look into the room of the lighted window. That was where fresh
+peril must lie, because his figure would be outlined in silhouette, and
+any one moving about the grounds might discover that uninvited guests
+had arrived.
+
+Tom wished he had told his chum to insist that the light be immediately
+extinguished, if, as they believed, it proved to be Bessie who occupied
+that room. He hoped his chum would think of it without being told.
+
+There! At last Jack had arrived, and without accident! Now he was
+cautiously thrusting his head up a little, to peer within.
+
+Tom held his breath. So much depended on what would follow Jack's
+betrayal of his presence.
+
+"Tell her to put out the light, first of all, Jack!" Tom gently called
+out, using both hands as a megaphone to carry the sounds.
+
+It seemed that he must have been heard, and his directions understood,
+for immediately there was another movement above, after which the
+illumination ceased, as though Bessie had blown out the lamp.
+
+Tom breathed easier, though he still continued to look, and wonder how
+his chum was going to get the girl safely down from her elevated
+apartment. Jack was not so fertile in expedients as his chum, and many
+times depended on Tom to suggest ways and means.
+
+While Tom was still waiting, and hoping for the best, he heard his
+comrade whisper down to him as he hung suspended, clutching the sill of
+the open window.
+
+"After all, you'll have to come up too, Tom," he was saying feverishly.
+"There are complications that'll need your judgment, knots to untangle
+that are beyond me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN THE OLD LORRAINE CHÂTEAU
+
+
+What Jack said in his cautious fashion puzzled Tom. For the life of him
+he could not understand what had arisen, calling for any unusual display
+of generalship. Surely Jack should have been equal to the task of
+getting Bessie down from the window, even if he had to make use of
+knotted bed-clothes in lieu of a rope.
+
+Still he had asked Tom to come up, and there was nothing to do but grant
+his request. "Complications," Jack said, had arisen. That was a
+suggestive word, and to Tom's mind seemed to hint at further mystery.
+
+Accordingly he proceeded to imitate the example of his comrade. Jack had
+shown the way, and all his chum had to do was to follow. As Tom was also
+an all-around athlete, accustomed to much climbing from small boyhood,
+after nuts and birds' nests and all such things as take lads into tall
+trees, he found but little trouble in making the ascent.
+
+When he drew himself alongside Jack, the other gave a sigh of relief.
+
+"Whee! I'm glad you've come, I tell you, Tom," he said. "It was getting
+too big a job for me to tackle."
+
+"What's happened, Jack?" asked the late arrival on the stone ledge under
+the window of the upper room.
+
+"First, here's Bessie, Tom," Jack went on. "She wants to shake hands
+with you. Since we parted, when the steamer was docked, the poor girl
+has been having all sorts of trouble; and she's glad as can be to see us
+both again; aren't you, Bessie?"
+
+Tom, feeling a small, trembling hand groping for his, immediately
+grasped it, and gave a squeeze that must have carried conviction to the
+heart of the girl.
+
+"Oh, I'm shivering like everything!" she murmured, adding quickly: "But
+not with fear. It's because my prayers have been answered, and help has
+come at last, when everything looked so awfully dark--and I'm so very,
+very hungry."
+
+"Hungry!" repeated Tom, starting, it seemed such a very strange word for
+the girl to use, even though they were in Germany, where all food he
+knew must be getting exceedingly scarce.
+
+"Yes, what do you think, that rotten bounder of a spy is half starving
+the poor girl! He ought to be tarred and feathered, that's what!"
+growled the indignant Jack.
+
+"Not so loud," warned Tom. "Some one may hear you, Jack. But tell me
+what you've learned."
+
+"Why, first of all, Tom, it was Bessie who wrote that warning message I
+had, and attached it to that little balloon, hoping the favorable breeze
+would carry it over the front to the French lines. So that mystery is
+explained. Then, Tom, there are _two_ we've got to take out of this
+place, instead of just one, as we thought."
+
+"I don't get you!" Tom ejaculated. "What do you mean by two?"
+
+"It's a story in itself, I guess," whispered Jack. "I don't wholly
+understand it myself. But it seems that Bessie's mother didn't drown
+after all when the _Lusitania_ went down, as Potzfeldt reported she
+did."
+
+"You surprise me, Jack! How could that be?" demanded the other youth,
+thrilled by the startling information.
+
+"Oh, that slick rascal managed it somehow," came the soft if indignant
+reply. "We'll learn more about it later on. He was picked up by a
+fishing boat. The lady was temporarily out of her mind, so he gave it
+out later that she had gone down. How he ever got her over here in
+Germany beats me. But he managed to do it it seems. And she's been kept
+a prisoner in this old château of his ever since!"
+
+"But what was his object?" asked the amazed Tom.
+
+"It had a heap to do with finances," Jack told him. "While he held a
+paper that gave him charge over her daughter over in America, and a part
+of the big Gleason fortune also, there were valuable papers he had been
+unable to get his greedy hands on. She absolutely refused to tell him
+where they were hidden. As a last resort what did the wretch do but go
+all the way back to America."
+
+"You mean to fetch his ward across with him, Jack?"
+
+"Yes, just to use Bessie as a lever to compel her mother to give up
+those valuable papers. I always said, you remember, Tom, that man was
+hugging some secret to his heart. And so he was."
+
+"He's been treating Bessie badly then, half starving her, I think you
+said?" continued Tom.
+
+"Just what he has, poor girl," growled his chum, savagely. "It's an
+awful thing to be hungry! I don't see how any one can stand it. But he
+hasn't broken the spirit of either of them yet, though Bessie's getting
+so weak she finds herself crying every now and then, just as we heard
+her. And it was that which brought us over to find out what it meant.
+But Tom, tell her we mean to stand by, and see that both her mother and
+herself are taken to a place of safety."
+
+This Tom readily did, though as yet he could hardly understand just how
+their promise could be fulfilled. One they might manage to take aloft
+with them, by crowding, but the Caudron was not capable of seating four;
+nor would it be safe to carry a couple of inexperienced passengers along
+with themselves.
+
+"But we're losing valuable time," he observed. "The sooner we get in
+touch with Mrs. Gleason the better. There's a whole lot to be done
+before we can say we're on the safe side of the fence."
+
+"Then first of all we'd better climb inside the room, hadn't we?"
+suggested Jack.
+
+In answer Tom proceeded to get one leg over the sill, and then pass his
+entire body across. Jack quickly followed. In the semi-darkness, for the
+moon gave a dim light, they clustered there, and continued to map out
+their immediate plans in whispers that could not have been heard a dozen
+feet distant.
+
+It appeared that Bessie knew where her mother was confined, though both
+doors were fastened on the outside to prevent their having
+communication. But the girl had found a way. Night after night she was
+accustomed to slipping from her window, when everything was quiet below
+and the lights all out, making her way along that narrow coping, or
+ledge, and tapping softly at the window of her mother's room.
+
+They would remain together until toward morning, when the girl made it a
+practice to return by the same perilous route.
+
+On this particular night it had seemed as though the lights below would
+never go out. Carl Potzfeldt, the master spy, expecting important news
+and a messenger from the headquarters of the Crown Prince, had been
+waiting up until long after midnight in order to fullfil the important
+duties entrusted to him.
+
+Jack suggested that he creep along that coping and inform the lady of
+the golden chance for escape that had arrived. But as she would hardly
+be able to return by the same way, it seemed as though some other scheme
+must be considered.
+
+Bessie herself had a brilliant thought bordering on an inspiration.
+
+"Listen, and I will tell you," she said at this juncture. "All the time
+I have been here my one thought has been of escape. I dreamed nothing
+else save getting my poor mother away from the clutches of that coward
+who had hypnotized her in the past, and made her believe he was a good
+man as well as her cousin from Alsace-Lorraine. And I know of a way it
+can be done."
+
+"Tell us your plan, please," begged Jack; though he would be sorry to
+learn that the honor of releasing Bessie's imprisoned mother was not to
+fall to his share in the undertaking.
+
+"There is another window. It opens upon a hallway; and I can get through
+it, because I've tried it more than once. But the proper time hadn't
+come, for how were we to flee from this awful country? Wait for me here,
+both of you. I shall be able to open her barred door, and then my own.
+And it is better that I carry her the good news than some one who would
+be a stranger to my mother, however much I have told her about you."
+
+Tom saw that her plan was the best, after all. He himself had been a
+little afraid that if Jack came tapping at the window of Mrs. Gleason's
+room she might take the alarm, thinking it but another twist to the
+odious schemes of Potzfeldt, and perhaps shrieking out in terror, which
+would cause an alarm, and ruin everything.
+
+Bessie climbed nimbly out of the window, showing how accustomed she was
+to such athletic exercises. Jack held on to her to the last, and his
+whispers were all of an entreating character, as he begged her to be
+very careful, and not slip in her excitement.
+
+Now she was gone, and the two air service boys, left by themselves in
+that room of the old Lorraine château, counted the seconds and the
+minutes until they should hear a gentle signal at the door, to signify
+that Bessie and her mother were there, about to enter.
+
+Jack walked softly up and down, like a velvet-footed tiger in its cage.
+He was so worked up by the excitement of the occasion that Tom did not
+have the heart to ask him to stop his movements, though he certainly
+would have done so had not the other been keeping on his tiptoes all the
+while.
+
+What a remarkable turn their venture into the country back of the
+enemy's lines had taken! And what astounding discoveries they had made
+in the bargain!
+
+Jack was getting more and more impatient. Several times did he pause at
+the door, to lay his ear close to the heavy panel, and listen. He
+wondered what could be keeping Bessie. Surely she had had ample time to
+open the door of her mother's room and explain everything to the lady.
+In his excitement he pictured all sorts of fresh trouble as having
+befallen the girl. What if by accident she had run across the master
+German spy in the corridor? But then, in such a case, Bessie surely
+would have screamed in order to warn her two friends that they were in
+danger of being discovered, should Potzfeldt and some of his assistants
+burst into the room.
+
+Of course Jack had magnified things wonderfully. Less than half the time
+had elapsed than he thought had passed when there came a soft scratching
+on the door to notify them Bessie was there. They next heard a slight
+creaking sound, and then the soft closing of the door.
+
+"Bessie, is it you?" asked the eager Jack, softly.
+
+A reply in the affirmative followed.
+
+"And here is mother with me," added the girl, a note of joy in her
+voice, even though she spoke in a whisper.
+
+So they came together. In the semi-darkness the boys could not see what
+Bessie's mother looked like. They did note, however, that she was small
+of stature; and this fact pleased Tom very much indeed. For already he
+had figured out just how the rescue must be carried out, since there
+seemed to be no other way.
+
+His plans would entail some sacrifice on Jack's part, and also more or
+less exposure to peril; but then Tom knew his chum too well to imagine
+he would hesitate even a moment when called upon to take this additional
+burden on his shoulders.
+
+Both of them squeezed the trembling hand of the woman, and as best they
+were able assured her that they meant to carry both Bessie and herself
+to a place of safety, provided they were courageous enough to trust
+themselves to the care of two air pilots.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+FACING MORE DIFFICULTIES
+
+
+"As for me," spoke up Bessie, immediately, just as Jack felt positive
+she would, "I'd like nothing better. I've been up once in a
+hydro-airplane, and would have gone many times if mother had allowed
+me."
+
+The lady did not seem to anticipate having a very delightful time of it,
+for Tom felt her shudder; but she was courageous, and evidently ready to
+attempt any hazard in order to gain her freedom.
+
+"If only there is some way to fasten me securely," she told them, "I am
+willing to do anything you say, my brave boys. So make your plans
+without regard to my feelings in the matter."
+
+Jack about this time evidently began to scent something with regard to
+Tom's intuitions; at least his word implied a growing skepticism
+concerning their ability to find room for two passengers aboard a plane
+intended only for a pilot and an observer, or a gunner.
+
+"Of course one could squeeze in alongside me, Tom," he mentioned
+hesitatingly; "but do you think it's wise to have anybody with you?
+Mightn't it interfere with the working of the controls, and add to the
+danger?"
+
+"It certainly would, Jack; and that's why I'm forced to call on you to
+make a sacrifice."
+
+"Go on and say what's on your mind, then," demanded Jack. "No matter
+what it's going to be, you'll find me ready and willing for anything."
+
+"You'll have to wait for the second trip," Tom announced.
+
+"All right, just as you say, Tom. When will that be, later on to-night?"
+
+"If it's possible to get back, yes," said the other.
+
+"But if you can't make it, then to-morrow night, Tom?"
+
+Jack was not overcome with fear, even though the prospect did appear
+anything but cheerful. Bessie listened to this low talk, and gave
+evidence of growing anxiety.
+
+"But why should this be necessary?" she put in at that juncture. "I can
+stay behind just as well as not. Then perhaps another night later on you
+could come again, and take me with you to the French lines, and safety."
+
+Jack sniffed in disdain.
+
+"Well, I guess not, Bessie!" he told her, almost sternly. "I'd just like
+to see myself sailing away, and leaving you here to stand the racket.
+No, both of you are going to accompany Tom. I can find a hiding place
+somewhere around; and besides, no one will suspect that an American
+flier is hanging out here. There's only one thing I hate like everything
+to think of."
+
+"And I can guess what that is," Tom said, quickly. "You dread to
+contemplate a long eatless day before you. That's the worst punishment
+anyone could hand out to you, Jack."
+
+"As far as that goes," interrupted Bessie; "I can tell Jack where the
+pantry window lies. As the catch is broken you can easily climb in
+through it later on to-night, and lay in a supply of food. There is
+always something there. Before that bad man shut me up he tried to
+starve me, and I stole food myself. Then he guessed what was happening,
+for he fastened my door, and only allowed me to walk in the grounds in
+company with a woman he has for a housekeeper."
+
+Thereupon Bessie gave Jack minute directions how to find the window
+leading into the storeroom. Thus armed the young aviator felt that he
+ought to be able to stand it, in case his comrade found it impracticable
+to return on the same night.
+
+"Since all that is fixed," remarked Tom, "it strikes me we had better
+get out of this place quickly. Can you lead us down by way of the
+stairs, Bessie?"
+
+"Oh, yes; for I know every foot of the way," she told him without
+hesitation. "You see, I expected that some time we would have to slip
+away by stealth; and so I made myself familiar with everything, even to
+the fastenings of the great front door, with its chain and catch."
+
+"Then we're in great luck," Jack observed, while Tom on his part went on
+to ask further.
+
+"All seems dark outside now, Bessie; would that indicate your jailer has
+gone to his bed? And do you happen to know where his apartment is? That
+might mean a whole lot to us, you understand."
+
+"I don't believe he ever does really go to bed," she replied. "Once I
+heard him complain that there were so many times during the night that
+messengers came from headquarters with demands, or after information
+expected from over the lines, that he had to secure his sleep while
+fully dressed, and by throwing himself down on a Turkish lounge he has
+in his room."
+
+"Well, so long as his sleep is sound it's little we care how or when he
+gets it," announced Jack, flippantly. "And when you give the word, Tom,
+we'll all be ready to follow Bessie down the stairs."
+
+Tom was even opening his mouth to say there was really nothing to detain
+them, if Bessie and her mother had secured what trifles they wished to
+take away, but after all he did not speak the words that were on his
+lips.
+
+Through the open window they suddenly heard the sound of heavy, guttural
+voices. They seemed to come from the road near the entrance gates.
+
+Tom stepped over to the window and looked out. What he saw gave him an
+unpleasant feeling. There were lights already on the crooked driveway,
+and a number of men seemed to be advancing in a group.
+
+Jack at his elbow was also staring, and grinding his teeth with anger.
+
+"Hang the luck, I say!" he gritted. "That fresh bunch of Boche officers
+is bound to knock our plans silly. They'll stir things up again, and we
+can't get away. Then perhaps some one will discover the doors of the two
+rooms are unfastened, and that'll start a hornet's nest about our ears."
+
+"Get down, and keep hidden, Jack," urged his companion. "They have
+lights with them, and might see us as they come along. There's a
+general, at least, in the lot, that big stout man in the center, and I
+imagine those other officers belong to his staff."
+
+"But what are they walking for?" whispered Jack, incredulously. "German
+officers in the High Command don't often tramp along the roads like
+that, do they?"
+
+"They may have broken down in their car; and learning they were close to
+this house have come on here to wait till repairs are made. Lots of them
+know Potzfeldt, I suppose, and one of these men may have been here
+before on business. The worst of it all is we'll have to give up our
+scheme of going down by way of the stairs."
+
+They crouched down and watched as best they could, while the half-dozen
+men in the gray-green uniforms of German officers, and with many
+decorations on the breast of the martial-looking commander, approached
+the château's front door.
+
+Already lights had sprung up on the lower floor. Undoubtedly Potzfeldt
+had heard his unexpected guests coming, and was bestirring himself to
+welcome them, though inwardly raving over having his rest so frequently
+disturbed.
+
+He met them at the door, and there ensued more or less talking, all of
+it in the choicest of German. Again Jack felt sorry that his education
+was so incomplete that he could only guess at what most of it meant.
+
+Still, Tom could pick up a little of what was said. There was certainly
+mention made of an unfortunate accident to a car, that would necessitate
+a delay of some hours for repairs, possibly until morning. The general
+did not altogether fancy sitting in the car for hours in the cool night
+air. Especially was this the case after he had learned that there was a
+house half a mile or so further on where food and drink could be
+obtained in plenty, if only they chose to walk that far.
+
+All of the newcomers had by now stalked inside the house, and the coast
+seemed to be clear, so far as those above could see. But down below
+there was much hurrying to and fro, which would indicate that Potzfeldt
+must have aroused his retainers, and they were running up and down from
+wine-cellar to dining-room, bearing acceptable refreshments for the
+unbidden guests.
+
+"Say, I wonder if that old stout chap could be Hindenburg himself?" Jack
+whispered in his chum's ear. "I noticed that Mr. Potzfeldt seemed mighty
+obsequious, as if he felt highly honored at having such a noble visitor,
+and nothing could be too good to set before him."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd hit the nail on the head when
+you said that, Jack," the other told him. "He was a big, burly man, with
+a mighty important air about him; and he wore a mustache such as we've
+always seen in pictures of Hindenburg. But no matter, it doesn't concern
+us at all, if we can find a way to get down from here."
+
+"Only," said Jack, whimsically, "I do hope if they've got their German
+appetites along, they don't clean out that pantry before I get my
+look-in, that's all. Twenty-four hours without a single bite would be
+the limit for me. I don't think I'd survive the ordeal. Now what, Tom?"
+
+Tom was looking out again.
+
+"That's lucky," Jack heard him mutter.
+
+"Of course it is. But tell me what you're referring to, Tom."
+
+"Some clouds have come along. One is right now covering the face of the
+moon, you notice. Well, if we are forced to lower Bessie and her mother
+from the window by means of a rope made from knotted bed-sheets, we
+stand a chance to avoid being discovered at work by any one who might
+happen to be abroad just then."
+
+Jack chuckled as though pleased.
+
+"Sure, that's the game, Tom! I knew you'd be equal to getting up some
+sort of clever scheme. And I'll start in right away making that rope. We
+want to be certain it's strong enough to bear their weight, that's all."
+
+"I'll help you at the job," Tom told him, for he too wished to be
+positive about the twisted parts of the sheets, before trusting the girl
+and her mother to their care.
+
+Fortunately they found that Carl Potzfeldt had some of the airs of a
+millionaire about him. The sheets were of stout linen, instead of the
+customary cotton to which the American boys were accustomed. When these
+were cut first with a sharp pocket-knife, and then torn into long strips
+about a foot or so in width, they could be twisted and knotted until the
+result was a novel rope of at least twenty feet in length.
+
+Neither Bessie nor her mother said a single word. They seemed more than
+willing to be thus lowered to the ground. Such a novel experience might
+not be delightful, but it amounted to very little when compared with
+what they had suffered at the hands of their rude and cruel captor.
+
+Soon the odd rope was ready for use.
+
+"Let me be the first to go down," Bessie then said to Tom, in an
+authoritative voice.
+
+As he had been about to propose the same thing he made not the least
+objection, but proceeded to secure one end of the strange rope around
+her body just below the arms, Bessie herself assisting in the operation.
+
+Before attempting the task, Tom stood at the window listening for some
+little time. He wished to make sure that none of the German officers had
+remained outside. Tom also meant to satisfy himself that there was no
+lurking form among the bushes on that side of the château, since the
+light streaming from the lower windows dissipated some of the advantages
+gained by the temporary clouding of the moon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+LEFT BEHIND IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY
+
+
+Tom appeared finally to be satisfied, for he turned around to Bessie.
+
+"Now if you're ready we'll lower you safely," he told her.
+
+The girl showed considerable nimbleness in climbing over the
+window-sill. Jack insisted in having a hand in dropping her slowly down.
+It was not far, and in a few breaths the girl had reached the solid,
+ground. She understood what was expected of her, and immediately cast
+off the rude rope, so it might be drawn up and made to serve once more.
+
+Mrs. Gleason showed just as much bravery as her daughter, and was also
+lowered without trouble.
+
+"You go down next, Tom," whispered Jack. "Then I'll draw it up, and can
+join you easily enough without the help of the rope. A white thing like
+this dangling here would be sure to attract attention, if any one came
+around the corner of the house, and might cost us dearly in the end."
+
+Tom understood. He preferred being the last to stay, but since Jack had
+taken that upon himself, and was moreover adept at scaling walls, it was
+folly to dispute his right.
+
+So down Tom went. He had hardly landed when the sheet-rope was swiftly
+drawn up, and vanished within the room. After that Jack was seen making
+his way down over the same route he had taken while ascending.
+
+Soon they were all together again, and their queer exit from the room
+seemed not to have been discovered, for which they felt very thankful
+indeed.
+
+Tom led the way into the friendly bushes close by. It was his intention
+to skirt the carriage-drive, as it might contain elements of danger for
+them. Once they had passed out on the main road to Metz, it would not
+take them long to reach the field where the big Caudron airplane lay
+like an exhausted and enormous bat, awaiting their coming to spring into
+activity.
+
+In passing along they were enabled to catch a glimpse of the interior of
+the dining-room where Carl Potzfeldt was entertaining his distinguished
+visitor to the best of his ability in those times when scarcity ruled.
+
+Tom managed to get a better look at the general. He was more than ever
+convinced that the big man with the strong features and all these
+decorations on his uniform, was in fact Hindenburg, the head of the
+whole German army, whose opinion carried even more weight with the
+people just then than that of Kaiser Wilhelm.
+
+It would be something worth while to be able to say they had been within
+a dozen feet of the famous commander, the Iron Man of Germany. Tom
+vaguely wished he had some means of capturing the general then and
+there, and carrying him over the lines to the French headquarters. That
+would indeed be a feat well worth praise from General Petain; but of
+course it was utterly impossible.
+
+They gained the gate, and there Tom insisted on looking carefully around
+so as to make doubly certain that no sentinel had been left on duty
+while General Hindenburg remained within the house.
+
+When this fact was made clear he led the way forth. The little party of
+four almost ran along the road, so eager were they to place as much
+ground as possible between themselves and the seat of danger.
+
+There was always a chance that the flight of Bessie and her mother might
+be discovered by some one connected with the household, and communicated
+to Potzfeldt. He, of course, would exhaust every means in trying to
+overtake the fugitives.
+
+But Tom chuckled while telling himself that they must needs have
+extraordinary and fleet steeds who could successfully pursue those who
+had trusted their safety to his care and that of the big Caudron
+airplane.
+
+Jack hardly knew where the field lay, having become "rattled," as he
+called it, from the adventures at the château. So after all it was
+fortunate that Tom had taken his bearings as well as he had. He knew
+just when to leave the road, and start across the open space. Then the
+lone tree began to loom up, for the moon had once more thrust her face
+from behind the enveloping cloud.
+
+"It's all right, Bessie," said Jack reassuringly. "Our plane lies close
+to the foot of that tree ahead there. If all goes well you'll be on your
+way before many minutes have passed."
+
+"Thanks to you, Jack," murmured the girl admiringly.
+
+"Shucks! that isn't a circumstance to what I'd be willing to do for you
+and your mother!" Jack boldly told her.
+
+"But all the same it is very brave of you, Jack, and I can never forget
+your kindness to us," she insisted. "I hope and pray that nothing
+terrible will happen to you while we're gone, and that I'll soon see you
+again."
+
+"I hope so too, Bessie," he chuckled, as if amused. "As to anything
+happening to me, I guess I know how to hide all right. The worst that
+can knock me is getting a little mite hungry, you know. If that big
+German general and his staff leave a bite in the pantry I'm going after
+it, believe me! Then I'll find a hole, and crawl in, somewhere close by
+here, so I can watch for Tom's return."
+
+Apparently Jack had mapped his whole programme out; and it seemed that
+an adequate supply of provisions occupied the most prominent place in
+them.
+
+They were now at the spot where the Caudron had been left. Tom's mind
+was eased of the secret fears he had entertained when he saw the machine
+was still where they had left it. So far as he could tell no one had
+been near to meddle with it.
+
+First of all Bessie and her mother must be fastened securely to the seat
+where Jack had sat on the trip to Metz. Tom, like a wise general, had
+provided himself with plenty of the strips of linen from the torn
+sheets. This he utilized in tying the passengers, so that there would
+not be the slightest chance of their falling out.
+
+Even if Mrs. Gleason should faint through terror on finding herself a
+mile up in the air, she could not fall out of the machine. But Tom
+entertained high hopes that both of his passengers were going to display
+extraordinary courage, and give him no cause at all for anxiety.
+
+Jack tried to assist in the operation, but his hands were trembling so
+with the excitement that Tom pushed him away.
+
+"Leave the job to me, Jack," he told the other. "Too many cooks spoil
+the broth, you know. I'll make everything secure, depend on it."
+
+"Of course I know you will, Tom," the other hastened to assure him.
+"Perhaps it is better only one handled the business. And Bessie--"
+
+"Yes, Jack," said the girl, slipping a hand out toward him, which Jack
+took in his, and pressed reassuringly.
+
+"Don't bother your head for a single minute about me, mind. I'll be all
+right, and perhaps able to join you again this very night. It's a great
+lark for me, and I wouldn't miss it for a heap. But oh, if only we could
+kidnap that big commander, and carry him over to have an interview with
+General Petain, how proud I'd be!"
+
+Tom smiled on realizing that the same idea had occurred to Jack that had
+flashed through his own mind.
+
+"Here, take my automatic, Jack," Tom said. "You may find occasion to use
+it before I come back."
+
+The other complied, and apparently he felt more confidence, once he knew
+he had in his possession the means for defending himself should any
+ordinary danger threaten. Tom was loath to depart, once he had
+everything arranged. The truth of the matter was he hated to leave his
+chum in the enemy country; it seemed as though he were deserting him.
+
+So he "fiddled" around, testing this wire guy, and using his electric
+hand torch to give him light, so he could once more run his eye over the
+motor on which he had been working.
+
+"Come, Tom, it's no use hanging around here a minute longer," Jack had
+finally to tell him. "Get aboard and I'll spin your wheel for you and
+give you a boost for a start. Then I'll drop out of sight, because some
+of them may run this way when they hear the clatter and guess the
+cause."
+
+Tom climbed to his seat and settled himself according to his customary
+thorough manner. He tried the controls, and was not satisfied until he
+had tested everything within reach.
+
+"Say when, Tom!" Jack remarked, having finally left Bessie's side and
+gone to the propellers of the big plane.
+
+Tom drew in a long breath. He knew he had a risky venture ahead, taking
+those two inexperienced passengers over the hostile lines, possibly
+amidst showers of exploding shrapnel shells. But it was not this that
+weighed so heavily on his spirits. He felt almost like a criminal at
+leaving Jack behind.
+
+"All right; let her go!" he announced grimly.
+
+There came a sudden whirring sound. Then the loud hum of the motors
+chimed in, and the big Caudron machine started off.
+
+"Good-bye, Tom! Good-bye, Bessie!" Jack was heard saying, although the
+noise of the plane almost drowned his voice.
+
+Faster they went now, as the machine gained momentum. Tom paid strict
+attention to his business of pilot. At just the proper time he must
+elevate the forward rudder which would cause the plane to leave the
+ground and start upward at a sharp angle.
+
+Jack stood gazing after the object that was quickly growing more and
+more indistinct in the dim moonlight, gazing with a strange heaviness in
+the region of his heart. He had to shut his teeth firmly together to
+conquer the momentary weakness that threatened to overpower him. But his
+resolution remained master of the field.
+
+"If only he gets them safely across," Jack muttered to himself, when he
+could no longer see the airplane, though its noisy working came plainly
+to his ears, "it'll be all right. But they've heard the racket over at
+the house, too, I guess, because men are shouting, and I can see lights
+flashing this way and that."
+
+When he discovered that men with lanterns were actually looking around
+as if to learn where the departing airplane could have been resting, and
+what it all meant, Jack concluded it was time to conceal himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+TROUBLOUS TIMES FOR JACK
+
+
+The men bearing the lanterns came closer, Jack saw, as he himself
+scurried amidst the bushes seeking a hiding-place.
+
+"Guess that Potzfeldt must know that planes can drop down on his big
+open field," the youth muttered to himself. Then as a new idea flashed
+through his brain he continued: "Whee! I warrant you now that ours
+wasn't the first airplane to land there. Sometimes maybe the spy he
+wants to send back of the French lines gets aboard right here, with his
+little cage of homers."
+
+Presently loud exclamations told that the men had discovered the marks
+of the arriving and departing Caudron machine. Jack could hear them
+exchanging remarks about it, in German of course. Then he saw one of the
+trio start back toward the house. He was half running, as though much
+excited. Jack jumped to a conclusion.
+
+"Say," he said to himself, in a whisper, as though even the sound of his
+own voice might be company for him, "now that must have been Carl
+Potzfeldt himself. What's he making for the house with a hop, skip and
+jump for? Perhaps one of his sharp-eyed men has told him there are marks
+of small shoes around; and old Carl got a sudden suspicion something
+tremendous has happened."
+
+The master-spy came back again. He was now accompanied by two others,
+and Jack saw by their uniforms that they were members of the general's
+staff.
+
+All were talking earnestly, Potzfeldt, Jack imagined, telling them some
+story concerning Bessie and her mother, in which he figured as a noble
+man, trying to save Mrs. Gleason from the wiles of some American fortune
+hunter, into whose hands he now feared she and her daughter had fallen.
+
+"My! but he's wild!" chuckled the hidden observer. "He realizes that the
+two American boys have been too much for his scheming after all. Guess
+he must have had a suspicion all along we'd break up his game. That'd
+account for his plotting with the other spy to have our planes meddled
+with, so we'd meet with some terrible accident that would remove us from
+his path."
+
+Jack was really enjoying himself. It did him good to hear Potzfeldt
+raging around, and spluttering as though his rage half choked him.
+
+What Bessie had said concerning the cruel treatment she had received at
+the hands of her mother's relative had fired Jack's blood. He detested a
+man who in order to accumulate money could treat a helpless woman and
+girl as Potzfeldt had those who were in his power.
+
+"I'd just like," he was telling himself as he listened, "to be one of
+three fellows who had that villain in their power, with a nice big
+kettle of hot tar handy, ditto three feather pillows. Oh, wouldn't we
+make him a queer bird, though! The extinct dodo'd have nothing on him,
+believe me! But it's fine to hear him raging around like that. I only
+wish Bessie could listen."
+
+After a time Potzfeldt and his men went away. They knew they could do
+nothing, as the big enemy plane had long since departed, and must by
+then be many miles on the return journey to the French lines.
+
+An hour went by and all seemed quiet in the region of the big house by
+the side of the road. Jack had not forgotten the promise made to
+himself. It might mean additional danger, to be sure; but when he
+thought of a long day ahead, in all probability, with an empty stomach
+constantly reproaching him, he felt equal to the task.
+
+He had no trouble in finding the entrance to the grounds. Everything
+seemed quiet, as though the general and his staff were endeavoring to
+get a little sleep before resuming their journey to the fighting front.
+
+Jack was soon under the window that had been described to him by Bessie.
+It gave light to the pantry during the daytime. Also he had been
+assured, the catch that secured it was broken, so that if he were bold
+enough he could easily gain entrance and take his pick of what the
+housekeeper had stored there.
+
+Such a nimble chap as Jack had no difficulty whatever in making an
+entrance. Finding himself within the big closet, he listened, and,
+hearing no sound, struck a match.
+
+By the light thus afforded he could see what lay within his reach. Trust
+one with an empty stomach for knowing what he wants under such
+conditions. Jack immediately commenced to gather together a supply of
+food of various kinds, such as could be eaten without need for a fire.
+
+Quantity rather than quality seemed to rule his actions. At any rate,
+when he gathered his spoils together he had quite enough to last an
+ordinary man several days.
+
+"Well," he told himself, when lifting the bundle he had made. "I may be
+marooned around here a long time, and never get another chance at this
+supply station. I believe in striking while the iron's hot. Now to get
+it outside without raising a crowd."
+
+It was indeed a lucky thing that there was no watch-dog at the Potzfeldt
+place. Undoubtedly this was because of the many visitors coming and
+going at all times, who might be bothered by a savage beast.
+
+Jack managed to get back safely to the nest where he had hidden at the
+time of the excitement, when Potzfeldt and his men were in the field. He
+gave a sigh of relief after it was all over.
+
+Soon the young aviator settled down to try to get some sleep, as some
+time still remained before dawn would break. He meant to be early astir.
+There was danger in the air, as he might be discovered unless he
+arranged for a better hiding place than the covert of bushes where he
+now lay.
+
+Whether his sleep was worth while, or rendered uneasy by dreams, Jack
+never told. He was awake though, when the sun peeped above the horizon,
+and began to bestir himself. Presently people would be moving about.
+Some of the men might even come out to the open field again, to look at
+the telltale marks. And if they chanced to suspect that one of the crew
+of the Caudron had been left behind, a hasty search was apt to reveal
+his presence.
+
+Accordingly Jack commenced to retire deeper into the wood, and managed
+by great care to cover his tracks fairly well in so doing. Finally he
+found a place that seemed to him about as good as anything he might
+expect to run across; and so he crawled into the bushes again.
+
+Then he had a most pleasing task to start upon, which was nothing more
+nor less than that of appeasing his appetite, never more voracious, he
+fancied, than just then. Without a twinge of conscience regarding the
+fact that it was stolen food he disposed of, Jack commenced his morning
+meal.
+
+"I'm only enjoying some of the good stuff that scoundrel deprived Bessie
+of," he told himself, with a grin of contentment, after he had eaten
+until he could not take another bite. "Besides, everything is fair in
+war-times. When you're raiding through the enemy's country it's supposed
+you'll live on the spoils around you. Well, I'm going to live, and Carl
+Potzfeldt is my enemy, all right. He's proved that in a dozen different
+ways."
+
+That idea set him to thinking about Bessie again, how she had taken such
+a queer way to try to warn him, after overhearing her guardian plotting
+with one of his men the injury to one or both of the young Americans.
+
+"Now I wonder," Jack mused, as he lay in perfect peace with the world,
+for he had eaten his fill, "how he knew we had joined the Lafayette
+Escadrille. But then those German spies learn a lot of things, and he
+may have been keeping tabs on Tom and me right along. Deep down in his
+heart he suspected we'd bother him, and so he wanted to get us before we
+had a chance to strike. Well, the shoe is on the other foot, it seems."
+
+The morning advanced. Fortunately it proved to be a fair day for so
+early in April. Had a storm arisen Jack might have found it hard to find
+shelter. As it was, all he had to do was to lie under the bushes and
+doze from time to time.
+
+Whenever he got to thinking of Tom a queer feeling came over him. It
+made him uneasy, though he could not explain why that should be so; and
+from time to time he took himself to task for being worried.
+
+"Of course Tom got back safe and sound," he would muse. "He's too clever
+a pilot to make a bad job of such a business. And yet, if he doesn't
+come to-night I'll be terribly anxious. Oh, forget all that! will you,
+Jack Parmly? Think of something pleasant now. For instance, that it's
+nearly high noon, and most folks lunch then."
+
+He had just calmed down again, when he had a sudden chill. Men were
+working in a field about three hundred yards away, for he could hear
+them calling to one another in German.
+
+Suddenly there came a series of snappy barks. Jack looking around was
+horrified to discover a small dog. It was a dachschund, long of body,
+and with crooked, bandy legs. It was standing before the hidden boy and
+evidently bent on telling everybody by his barks that some suspicious
+person was hiding in the bushes.
+
+It was a crisis that made Jack's blood run cold!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+BACK TO SAFETY--CONCLUSION
+
+
+Jack hardly knew what to do. He made threatening gestures at the dog,
+but they, of course, only added to the trouble, for the animal renewed
+his barking more briskly than ever.
+
+Then Jack had an inspiration, such as sometimes comes when all seems
+lost. If the dog continued his barking, sooner or later one of the men
+working in the field not far off would have his curiosity aroused, and
+come to ascertain what sort of wild animal the dog had treed.
+
+Jack unfastened his package of food. Since stern tactics had no effect
+he meant to try to make friends with the dachschund. Dogs are always
+more or less hungry, he argued; and this must be especially true at that
+time in every part of Germany, Alsace-Lorraine not excepted, since the
+pinch of two-and-a-half years of war had made terrible inroads on all
+kinds of food.
+
+Jack commenced to eat. The dog kept on barking, though not quite so
+savagely now. The smell of the food had reached him, and he would
+occasionally give a little imploring whine between his barks.
+
+So Jack spoke to him in a soft, wheedling tone. Then he held up a scrap
+of meat, and caught the eager attention of the little beast; after which
+he tossed it to him. It vanished like a flash. The dog even wagged his
+tail, as if to let the man know his animosity was quickly giving way to
+interest. Surely any one who had all that food along with him could not
+be a suspicious personage.
+
+The next scrap fell a little short, and the dog advanced to get it. So
+by degrees Jack tempted him, until in the end he was patting the squatty
+animal on the back, and still feeding him. They were now the best of
+friends. Kindness had accomplished what all the threatening gestures,
+supplemented with many sticks hurled at the beast, could never have
+brought about.
+
+Jack believed he had saved himself from discovery. He could easily
+understand what hardships must have awaited him had he ever fallen into
+the hands of Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+The afternoon went by very tediously. The dog came and went, staying for
+short periods with Jack. The vast store of food was a magnet that held
+the little beast fast. It had doubtless been a long time since he had
+had his full.
+
+By degrees the day waned, and evening came along.
+
+Jack never saw the sun set with less regret than he did on that
+occasion. Still he knew that long hours must pass before the moon would
+peep in view above the eastern horizon.
+
+As he sat, he allowed his thoughts to roam backward. Once more in
+imagination he could see his friends who were on the other side of the
+ocean. Then for a change he would take another "snack," as he called it,
+for lack of anything else to occupy his attention.
+
+Several times also he dozed, but always arousing with a start at some
+sound, under the impression that it might be Tom who had come, and, not
+finding him, gone away again.
+
+Finally he began to believe it must surely be past midnight; and the
+late moon would presently be making an appearance. On looking closely
+toward the east he became aware that the heavens were betraying such a
+fact, for a distinct silvery glow was beginning to appear, low down.
+
+Then came a streak of light. It was the moon. Slowly she mounted higher,
+as if more or less ashamed of the dilapidated appearance of her usually
+smiling face.
+
+Jack had earlier in the night changed his place of lodging. He again
+occupied his former quarters close to the spot where he and Tom had
+landed when they wished to overhaul the motor that was acting so badly.
+
+The minutes dragged.
+
+Then once more Jack bent his head, and put a hand up to his ear to
+listen. He laughed to himself with glee.
+
+"That's Tom coming!" he muttered joyously. "I knew Tom wouldn't fail me.
+All the same I'll be mighty glad when I'm aboard the plane and on the
+air route to Bar-le-Duc and my own cot."
+
+Louder grew the sounds. There could not be the slightest doubt about it
+now, Jack decided. A plane was coming at top speed, and keeping not a
+great distance above the treetops of the little valley in which the
+house of Carl Potzfeldt and the road to Metz lay.
+
+Louder grew the insistent drumming. Jack wondered whether some of those
+at the château might not also hear the racket, and, guessing what it
+would mean, hasten out to the field in time to give Tom and himself a
+volley of shots.
+
+Now the plane was coming, like a great condor of the Andes about to
+alight on a mountain peak. Jack gauged full well where it would land. He
+ran with all his might to be close to the spot. The less time wasted in
+getting him aboard the better for their safety, he believed, remembering
+what cause Carl Potzfeldt now had for being suspicious when a plane
+visited his meadow.
+
+Then the big Caudron ran along the ground and came to a full stop.
+
+"Jack!"
+
+"Yes, Tom, I'm here, and mighty glad to see you!" cried the lad who had
+counted the minutes until his brain seemed to reel with the strain.
+
+"Get aboard in a hurry, Jack. We've no time to waste here."
+
+"I know that even better than you do," returned the other.
+
+There was indeed need of haste. The air service boys could hear voices
+from where the château was located. Someone had heard the humming of the
+oncoming airplane. It was Potzfeldt himself, and now he and two of his
+men came hurrying out on the field, all armed with pistols.
+
+Jack only waited to give the propellers a whirl, and then, as the motor
+took up its work, he made a leap for his seat. Oh, how good it seemed to
+be once more in that airplane!
+
+"Stop! Stop!" roared a guttural voice in German. "Stop, or we fire!"
+
+Now the airplane was moving along the ground, bumping and rocking
+considerably. But Tom knew how to manage, and presently the plane
+commenced to soar slowly upward.
+
+Loud and angry voices announced the fact that Carl Potzfeldt had arrived
+close enough to get a view of the rising plane in the misty light of the
+moon.
+
+"Stop! I command you! Stop!" roared the German. And then came the crack!
+crack! crack! of firearms.
+
+The air service boys, because of the noise of the motor, did not hear
+the discharge of the pistols, but suddenly Jack heard the spatter of a
+bullet as it struck the machine close beside him. Then he ducked and
+made a motion to Tom to let his chum know that they were under fire.
+
+But the machine was gaining headway rapidly, and presently they were so
+high that those below could no longer reach them. Up and up they went
+until they were thousands of feet above the valley that had been the
+scene of this remarkable adventure.
+
+Tom headed back along the course he had just come. It was now easy to
+pick up one landmark after another, and in due course of time they
+passed over the lines once more. Of course, the sound of the plane's
+propellers was heard by the Germans, and some shrapnel was sent after
+them; but as Tom was careful to keep high in the air, this did not reach
+them, and soon they were out of the danger belt.
+
+Fifteen minutes later they made a landing, this time on the well
+remembered aviation field of Bar-le-Duc. Here there were attendants on
+hand ready to care for the machines.
+
+"Glad to see you got back," said one of the attendants, grinning. He
+knew that Tom had gone off on the second trip to bring Jack.
+
+The two air service boys found a car to take them to the villa. The long
+ride through the night air had made both of them very sleepy, and yet
+neither felt just then like retiring.
+
+"It's a lucky thing, Tom," said Jack, between yawns, "that I had this
+fur-lined pilot's coat along with me. Only for that I'd have been mighty
+cold out there in the open last night, with no chance for a fire."
+
+"Well, it's all past now, Jack. Tell me what happened to you during my
+absence."
+
+Jack, was nothing loath, and as quickly as possible gave his chum the
+particulars of how he had gone into hiding and almost been betrayed by
+the dog.
+
+Tom had already told Jack about what had become of Mrs. Gleason and
+Bessie. They had been taken to a house some miles back of the lines, and
+were to be made comfortable there for the night.
+
+"And early in the morning they are to start for Paris," Tom said with
+satisfaction. "I managed through our captain to get them passage aboard
+a train that is to take some wounded back to the base hospitals. Mrs.
+Gleason says she means to stay in Paris and help all she can as a Red
+Cross nurse, for she has had some experience in nursing."
+
+"That's fine!" was Jack's comment. And then for the time being he became
+somewhat silent.
+
+Tom could easily understand that his chum was cherishing a hope that
+some time or other when they were taking a vacation from their arduous
+duties while flying for France, the pair of them might visit the French
+metropolis, and if so they would certainly try to see Bessie and her
+mother again.
+
+"And I've got more news to tell," remarked Tom, when the pair were about
+to turn in for their much-needed sleep. "You'll remember about that
+message we found in the capsule on the leg of the homing pigeon. Well,
+one of the other pigeons we found was used to send a false message to
+the Germans, telling them that a certain part of the French line was
+very weak. A short while later the Germans made a furious attack on that
+part of the line, and, believe me, they caught it for fair--the plucky
+French soldiers, aided by the artillery, literally wiped up the ground
+with them."
+
+"That's great news!" cried Jack. "Then it paid to bring down that
+pigeon, didn't it?"
+
+"It sure did, Jack!"
+
+Two days later came a most important announcement, especially to the
+American airmen.
+
+"Things are coming our way at last," the valiant commander announced, as
+they crowded about him. "The papers this morning say that Uncle Sam has
+at last got his back up. Any day may now bring the glorious news from
+across the Atlantic, telling that the United States has taken the steps
+that will put her in this World War against the Central Powers. Then it
+will be all over but the shouting."
+
+"That's right!" cried Jack.
+
+"You just leave it to Uncle Sam to do it!" added Tom.
+
+Many more adventures were in store for the young aviators, and what some
+of them were will be related in the next volume of this series, to be
+entitled "Air Service Boys Over the Rhine; Or, Fighting Above the
+Clouds."
+
+And here for the present let us leave the air service boys and say
+good-bye.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE DICK HAMILTON SERIES
+
+BY HOWARD R. GARIS
+
+A NEW LINE OF CLEVER TALES FOR BOYS
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S FORTUNE
+  or The Stirring: Doings of a Millionaire's Son
+
+Dick, the son of a millionaire, has a fortune left to him by his
+mother. But before he can touch the bulk of this money it is stipulated
+in his mother's will that he must do certain things, in order to prove
+that he is worthy of possessing such a fortune. The doings of Dick and
+his chums make the liveliest kind of reading.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS
+  or The Handicap of a Millionaire's Son
+
+The hero, a very rich young man, is sent to a military academy to make
+his way without the use of money. A fine picture of life at an
+up-to-date military academy is given, with target shooting, broad-sword
+exercise, trick riding, sham battles, and all. Dick proves himself a
+hero in the best sense of the word.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S STEAM YACHT
+  or A Young Millionaire and the Kidnappers
+
+A series of adventures while yachting in which our hero's wealth plays
+a part. Dick is marooned on an island, recovers his yacht and foils the
+kidnappers. The wrong young man is spirited away, Dick gives chase and
+there is a surprising rescue at sea.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S AIRSHIP
+  or A Young Millionaire in the Clouds
+
+This new book is just brimming over with hair-raising adventures of
+Dick Hamilton in his new airship.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S TOURING CAR
+  or A Young Millionaire's Race for Fortune
+
+A series of thrilling adventures. Dick and his friends see the country
+in a huge touring car. Their exciting trip across the country, how they
+saved a young man's fortune and other exciting incidents are very
+cleverly told.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S FOOTBALL TEAM
+  or A Young Millionaire on the Gridiron
+
+A thrilling story of how Dick made a real football team for his
+school--the team that was laughed at by other military schools until
+Dick took charge.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY-SCOUTS BANNER SERIES
+
+By GEORGE A. WARREN
+
+Author of the "Revolutionary Series"
+
+The Boy Scouts movement has swept over our country like wildfire, and
+is endorsed by our greatest men and leading educators. No author is
+better qualified to write such a series as this than Professor Warren,
+who has watched the movement closely since its inception in England
+some years ago.
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS
+  or The Struggle for Leadership
+
+This initial volume tells how the news of the scout movement reached
+the boys and how they determined to act on it. They organized the Fox
+Patrol, and some rivals organized another patrol. More patrols were
+formed in neighboring towns and a prize was put up for the patrol
+scoring the most points in a many-sided contest.
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS ON A TOUR
+  or The Mystery of Rattlesnake Mountain
+
+This story begins with a mystery that is most unusual. There is a good
+deal of fun and adventure, camping, fishing, and swimming, and the
+young heroes more than once prove their worth.
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS AFLOAT
+  or The Secret of Cedar Island
+
+Here is another tale of life in the open, of jolly times on river and
+lake and around the camp fire, told by one who has camped out for many
+years.
+
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS SNOWBOUND
+  or A Tour on Skates and Iceboats
+
+The boys take a trip into the mountains, where they are caught in a big
+snowstorm and are snowbound. A series of stirring adventures which will
+hold the interest of every reader.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by 
+Charles Amory Beach
+
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <meta name="generator" content="eppg.py 0.43 (31-Jan-2010)" />
+    <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by Charles Amory Beach</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by 
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines
+       The German Spy's Secret
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Illustrator: Robert Gaston Herbert
+
+Release Date: February 17, 2010 [EBook #31312]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER ENEMY LINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' id='img001' alt='' />
+<p class='center caption'>
+THE DUEL IN MIDAIR.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<div class='titlepage'>
+
+<p class='fs20 mb20'>Air Service Boys Over The<br />Enemy's Lines</p>
+
+<p class='fs12 mb20'>OR</p>
+
+<p class='fs14 mb20'>The German Spy's Secret</p>
+
+<p>BY</p>
+
+<p class='fs14 mb20'>CHARLES AMORY BEACH</p>
+
+<p class='mb60'><i>Author of "Air Service Boys Flying for France"</i></p>
+
+<p><i>ILLUSTRATED BY</i></p>
+<p class='mb40'>ROBERT GASTON HERBERT</p>
+
+<p>THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.<br />CLEVELAND, O. NEW YORK, N.Y.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<div class='copyrightpage'>
+<p class='sc mb60'>Copyright, 1919, BY<br />
+GEORGE SULLY &amp; COMPANY</p>
+
+<p><i>Printed in the United States of America</i><br />
+by<br />
+THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO.<br />
+CLEVELAND, O.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<p class='center fs14 mb20'>AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY LINES</p>
+
+<p class='center fs12 mb20'>CONTENTS</p>
+
+<table summary='TOC'>
+<tr><td class='tcol1' style='font-size:smaller;'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td class='tcol3' style='font-size:smaller;'>PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>I.</td><td class='tcol2'>Back of the Trenches</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_1'>1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>II.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Winged Messenger</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_2'>10</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>III.</td><td class='tcol2'>A Spy Baffled</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_3'>19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>IV.</td><td class='tcol2'>Praise From the General</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_4'>27</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>V.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Strange Warning</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_5'>35</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>VI.</td><td class='tcol2'>Looking Backward</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_6'>45</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>VII.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Great Day Arrives</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_7'>53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>VIII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Over the Enemy's Lines</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_8'>61</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>IX.</td><td class='tcol2'>Winning His Spurs</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_9'>70</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>X.</td><td class='tcol2'>After the Battle</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_10'>78</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XI.</td><td class='tcol2'>A Show on the Front</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_11'>85</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Clowns on the Wing</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_12'>94</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XIII.</td><td class='tcol2'>More Work in Prospect</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_13'>103</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XIV.</td><td class='tcol2'>Off on a Daring Mission</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_14'>113</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XV.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Moonlight Flight</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_15'>120</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XVI.</td><td class='tcol2'>Landing Close To Metz</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_16'>129</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XVII.</td><td class='tcol2'>More Trouble for the Chums</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_17'>137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XVIII.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Lone House by the Roadside</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_18'>144</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XIX.</td><td class='tcol2'>A Nest of Spies</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_19'>153</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XX.</td><td class='tcol2'>Jack Climbs a Wall</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_20'>162</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XXI.</td><td class='tcol2'>In the Old Lorraine Château</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_21'>171</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XXII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Facing More Difficulties</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_22'>181</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XXIII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Left Behind in the Enemy's Country</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_23'>191</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XXIV.</td><td class='tcol2'>Troublous Times for Jack</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_24'>200</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tcol1'>XXV.</td><td class='tcol2'>Back to Safety&#8211;Conclusion</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_25'>208</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<h1>AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES</h1>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span><a id='link_1'></a>CHAPTER I<br /><span class='h2fs'>BACK OF THE TRENCHES</span></h2>
+
+<p>"Tom, what do you suppose that strange
+man who looked like a French peasant, yet
+wasn't one, could have been up to late yesterday
+afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean the fellow discovered near the
+hangars at the aviation camp, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He seemed to go out of sight like a
+wreath of smoke does. Why, if the ground had
+opened and swallowed him up, once the hue
+and cry was raised, he couldn't have vanished
+quicker. I wonder if what they say about him
+can be true?"</p>
+
+<p>"That he was a German spy? Anything is
+possible in war times."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you're right there. German secret
+sympathizers, and spies in the bargain, seemed
+to bob up all over the United States before we
+crossed the ocean to do our fighting for France
+as aviators."</p>
+
+<p>"They certainly were busy bees, Jack, blowing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2'></a>2</span>
+up munition-works, trying to destroy big
+railroad bridges so as to cripple traffic with
+the Allies over here; burning grain elevators
+in which France and Great Britain had big
+supplies of wheat stored; and even putting
+bombs aboard ocean liners that were timed to
+explode days later, when the boat would be a
+thousand miles from land."</p>
+
+<p>"Over in France here they make short work
+of spies, I've heard, Tom!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it's a drumhead court martial and trial.
+Then, if the man or woman is found guilty,
+the spy goes out with a firing squad to the
+most convenient stone wall. They never return,
+Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"Whee! that sounds like war times, doesn't
+it? And to think the two of us are right on
+the firing line, in the midst of all the scrapping.
+But, Tom, tell me, why should a tricky German
+spy want to hang out around the aviation field?
+He could hardly expect to pick up any news
+there that would be worth taking across the
+lines to the headquarters of the Crown Prince
+before Verdun."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too sure of that, Jack. Perhaps
+he might learn of some contemplated bombing
+expedition, like that one we went on not
+so long ago." And Tom Raymond smiled
+slightly.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span>"They are a mighty clever bunch, those
+spies," admitted Jack Parmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Jack, half of the successes of the
+Kaiser's armies on all fronts, Russia, France
+and Rumania, can be laid at the door of his
+secret agents. They seem to be everywhere,
+trying to foment internal troubles, strikes, and
+discontent, so that when the Germans strike
+hard they meet a divided enemy in front."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I certainly wish we had caught that
+fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"You were in the crowd, you told me, that
+scoured the whole neighborhood in search of
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, I was. But say, he proved too
+foxy for us all. Anyway, we failed to find the
+rascal. Then night came on, when we had to
+give our man-hunt over. And to think that I
+even glimpsed the fellow's face in the bargain
+before the alarm went out!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you'd know him again perhaps, Jack,
+if ever you met him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so. Though I suppose these spies
+have ways of changing their looks at times.
+But, to change the subject, Tom, it strikes me
+neither of us is groaning under the weight of
+game so far on our little side hunt." And Jack
+Parmly grinned.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't really expect to run across anything,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span>
+though that French peasant assured us
+there were still some rabbits in the burrows
+over here, three miles back of our sleeping
+quarters. That's why, with a day off-duty, I
+took a notion to borrow an old Belgian-made
+double-barrel shotgun he owned, and walk out
+here."</p>
+
+<p>"More to stretch our legs and get the kinks
+out, than anything else, eh, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, Jack. Don't you remember that
+while we were training at the aviation school
+at Pau we used often to walk from the town,
+eight miles distant, until we sighted that famous
+little old red barn at Pau, where the Wright
+Brothers conducted some of their experiments
+in flying heavier-than-air machines. That was
+some little hike."</p>
+
+<p>"Then too, Tom, I guess we wanted to get
+together by ourselves for a change, so we could
+talk about our folks at home in little old Bridgeton,
+U. S. A.," went on Jack Parmly with a sigh.
+"All the fellows of the Lafayette Escadrille are
+mighty kind and sociable, but there are times
+when a fellow gets homesick. Just remember
+that we have been over here many months now.
+It seems years to me, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, I hope you are not homesick enough
+to want to go back, old fellow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not me, Tom. I made up my mind to stick
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5'></a>5</span>
+it out until we whip the Kaiser. But already
+I can see it'll never be an accomplished fact
+until Uncle Sam throws his sword into the
+scales. And any day now something may drop."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, matters are at an acute stage in Washington,
+that's sure. All France, bled nearly
+white in two-and-a-half years of war, is praying
+that the day may come soon."</p>
+
+<p>After that the two athletic looking young
+Americans, dressed in the uniform of the
+French aviation corps, fell silent for a brief time.
+They, however, continued to trudge over the
+devastated fields, looking this way and that for
+any sign of a stray rabbit that had escaped the
+general slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>It was just previous to the world-stirring session
+of Congress, when the President made his
+thrilling speech that sounded almost from end to
+end of the world, and put America in line for
+the cause of democracy. Anxious days those
+were across the ocean, anxious not only in
+France, Italy and Great Britain, in Serbia, Rumania,
+Greece and Russia, but in the Central
+Empires, also.</p>
+
+<p>For well did those in Teutonic authority
+know, in spite of their vain boasting, that once
+great America decided, the thing was bound to
+be done, sooner or later. Never in the course
+of her history has our republic been on a losing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span>
+side. Her wars have invariably brought eventual
+victory to her arms, because she has never once
+fought for an unjust cause.</p>
+
+<p>These two vigorous young fellows were fair
+samples of those enterprising Americans who
+found it impossible to sit idly by. They could
+not await the slow course of events that was
+bound to carry our country into the world war
+on the side of the Allies, in spite of all the
+powerful counter currents among the pro-German
+citizens at home.</p>
+
+<p>Dozens of the brightest of flying men from
+the States had gone over and offered their
+services to France, the country they loved. In
+time there came to be so many, that from the
+ordinary French Flying Corps there was formed
+a unit entirely made up of Americans.</p>
+
+<p>This, in honor of the one great Frenchman
+whom Americans most honor at home, was
+called the Lafayette Escadrille. Some of its
+members had become famous at their profession.
+Names like those of Lufbery, Thaw, McConnell,
+Chapman, Prince, Rockwell, Hill, Rumsey,
+Johnson, Balsley and others became household
+words among readers of the great dailies in the
+States.</p>
+
+<p>Tom Raymond was the son of a man who had
+gained fame as an inventor. When the war
+broke out he started work on numerous inventions,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span>
+some of which were calculated to become
+terrible agents for the destruction of human
+life. Then Mr. Raymond's mood changed, and
+he set to work to conceive a wonderful stabilizer
+for airplane use that would save myriads of
+lives, and if adopted by Uncle Sam was likely to
+help win the war for the Allies.</p>
+
+<p>Just when this invention was finished a drawing
+of one of the parts was stolen by a German
+spy. Later on, after Tom and his chum, Jack
+Parmly had decided to become war aviators,
+having already had considerable aviation experience,
+they went to the flying school conducted
+by the Government in Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>From there in course of time they crossed
+the Atlantic and entered the famous French
+school at Pau. Then, having mastered the
+science of flying sufficiently to be sent to the
+front, they had joined the Lafayette Escadrille,
+as related in a previous volume entitled "Air
+Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young
+Heroes of the Lafayette Escadrille."</p>
+
+<p>Tom in particular seemed to have a great
+career ahead of him, unless some unfortunate
+accident, or possibly a Teuton pilot, cut it short,
+as had happened in the cases of Rockwell,
+Prince, McConnell and Chapman. Every one
+knew he possessed genius of a high order, and
+that it would not be long before Tom Raymond
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8'></a>8</span>
+might anticipate gaining the proud title of
+"<i>ace</i>," which would indicate that he had defeated
+five enemies at different times, and put them
+entirely out of the running.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was already a corporal in the French
+service, and expected before a great while to
+be given the privilege of wearing the chevrons
+of a sergeant. Jack had not progressed so
+rapidly but was doing well.</p>
+
+<p>And now to return to the young aviators
+during their walk.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon we've gone far enough, Jack," Tom
+remarked presently. "Our friend Jean may have
+been telling the truth when he said there were
+still a few bunnies left alive in this war-racked
+section of country, but I can see they've got
+the good sense to stick to their burrows during
+the daytime. We won't be burdened with our
+bag of game on the return trip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's always the trouble, when you go
+out after rabbits and haven't any hound along
+to get them up and bring them within gunshot,"
+grumbled Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"But we've had a good walk," returned his
+companion; "and for a time we managed to get
+away from that terrible explosion of shells, and
+big-gun firing. We ought to be thankful for
+our little time off, Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I'm not really complaining," remarked
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9'></a>9</span>
+the other young aviator, with a whimsical
+expression on his good-natured face. "But don't
+you know I hate to go back without having
+fired even one shot." He stopped short and
+pointed upward. "Hold on, Tom; there's some
+kind of bird going to pass over right now!
+Crow or anything, please bring it down! I'll
+promise to eat it, no matter what it is."</p>
+
+<p>Laughingly Tom threw the gun up to his
+shoulder, and the next instant the report
+sounded. It seemed almost contemptible, after
+listening to the roar of those monster shells
+exploding for so long.</p>
+
+<p>The bird fell fluttering in a heap. Tom evidently
+was a fair marksman, for it had been
+moving swiftly over their heads at the time he
+fired. Jack ran forward and picked the game
+up. As he did so he gave utterance to exclamations
+that naturally excited the curiosity of his
+chum. So Tom, after reloading his gun with a
+fresh shell, waited for Jack to rejoin him, which
+the other did, his face full of mystery.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10'></a>10</span><a id='link_2'></a>CHAPTER II<br /><span class='h2fs'>THE WINGED MESSENGER</span></h2>
+
+<p>"What do you call this, Tom? A queer sort
+of crow, I'd say. Looks more to me like the
+blue-rock pigeons Sam Becker used to raise at
+home," and so saying Jack held up the still
+quivering bunch of feathers.</p>
+
+<p>Tom took one quick look, and then a startled
+expression flitted across his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Just what it is, Jack!" he hastened to say.
+"A homing pigeon in the bargain! You can
+tell that from the bill and the ring around the
+eyes."</p>
+
+<p>Jack in turn became aroused.</p>
+
+<p>"A homing pigeon, is it?" he ejaculated.
+"Why, birds like that are used for carrying
+messages across the lines! Some of our airplane
+pilots have told me that sometimes they take
+a French spy far back of the German front.
+When he had made an important discovery he
+would write a message in cipher, enclose it in
+a tiny waterproof capsule attached to a ring
+about the pigeon's leg, and set the bird free.
+Inside of half an hour it would be safe back in
+its loft, and the message on the way to French
+headquarters."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span>He lifted one limp leg, and then the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, it's got a message, as sure as
+anything!" Jack exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Tom leaned forward and took the bird in his
+hand, dropping the gun meanwhile. He carefully
+took off the gelatine capsule, and from
+it extracted a delicate piece of tough paper,
+which he spread open. There were a series of
+strange marks on the paper, of which neither
+of the air service boys could make anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Looks like hieroglyphics, such as you'd expect
+to find on an Egyptian tomb or in the
+burial places under the pyramids," complained
+Jack, after he had stared at the lines in disgust
+for a brief period of time.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a cipher of some kind," explained Tom,
+seriously. "With the key all this would resolve
+itself into some sort of communication, I suppose,
+connected with valuable information concerning
+the French armies here at Verdun."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it was made by a spy!"</p>
+
+<p>"No question about that part of it," came
+the ready reply.</p>
+
+<p>"This carrier pigeon with this message, was
+on its way across to some point in the rear
+of the enemy line when you fired, and brought
+the poor little thing down in a quivering heap,
+I'm sure that's it," continued the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And so after all it's turned out to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12'></a>12</span>
+be a lucky thing you chanced to see the bird
+coming along, Jack, and begged me to knock
+it down so we could show some sort of game
+when we got back to camp."</p>
+
+<p>"What ought we do with this message?"
+asked Jack, accustomed to depending on his
+more energetic chum in many cases; though
+when left to his own resources he could think
+for himself, as had frequently been proved.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see that it gets to French headquarters,
+with an account of the singular way we
+ran across it," Tom told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think it would be possible for any
+one there to translate this cipher of the German
+secret code?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" Tom demanded. "They are
+clever people, these wideawake French, and I
+shouldn't be at all surprised if they turned this
+incident to some good use."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it could be done in many ways. Suppose
+they found the key to the code. Don't
+you see how a fictitious message could be sent
+on in some way, if they could bag another
+pigeon from the same coop? They might even
+coax the Germans to deliver a furious attack
+at a supposed weak place in the line, which
+would of course be heavily guarded."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be something worth while!" exclaimed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span>
+the other with glowing eyes. "Lead
+them into a trap, where they would be mowed
+down like ripe grain, terrible as that sounds!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's the idea I had in mind. But
+it would depend on several things. First of all
+would come the successful solving of this cipher
+code."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and then the finding of another homing
+pigeon," added Jack. "I wonder if the fellow
+who released that bird could have a lot more
+of the same kind hidden away somewhere around
+back here."</p>
+
+<p>"I was just going to suggest that we take
+a turn toward the south, and look around a
+bit before going back to camp. Do you feel
+equal to it, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"What, me! Tom? Why, I'm as fresh as a
+daisy! This business has made me forget there's
+such a thing as getting tired walking."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see, we stood here when I fired,"
+continued Tom reflectively, "and you walked
+straight to where the bird dropped. That would
+make the direction due northwest by southeast.
+How about that, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>The other took a survey, and then pointed
+with his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"When I saw the bird coming first of all,
+Tom," he finally remarked, "it was just showing
+up over that clump of trees killed by gunfire.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span>
+And it was heading as straight as can be for
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Tom went on to say, "because a
+homing pigeon on being released will rise to
+a certain height and take its bearings. Then it
+starts in a bee-line for its loft, whether that is
+five miles away or hundreds of miles. Some
+peculiar instinct tells it in which way home lies.
+It seldom if ever goes astray. Sometimes birds
+have made a thousand miles, and shown up at
+their home coop days after being set free."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, the man who threw it into the
+air, after fastening this cipher message to it,
+must be over to the southeast of us," affirmed
+Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"The bird was released within five minutes
+or so of the time I fired," Tom told his chum.
+"It's even possible the spy may have heard the
+report of my gun."</p>
+
+<p>"Tom, why not try to capture that spy?"
+asked Jack, eagerly, ready for any sort of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>The young aviators started off, walking briskly.
+They kept their eyes alertly open as they
+proceeded. At the same time, on Tom's
+suggestion, they continued to act as though still
+looking for game, even investigating at a burrow
+that certainly was used by rabbits, as the
+tracks plainly indicated.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span>Tom never deviated from a direct line due
+southeast. He knew that their best chance of
+making a valuable discovery lay in finding the
+place where the carrier pigeon had been released,
+to fly across the lines to its home loft.
+This might be many miles to the rear of the
+fighting front, even on Lorraine territory, in
+the neighborhood of the fortified city of Metz
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>The two passed over a mile without making
+any sort of discovery, Jack, who did not possess
+quite as determined a nature as his comrade,
+was already commencing to make certain
+sounds akin to complainings, as though he felt
+keenly disgruntled because of their lack of success.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess we'll have to give it up, Tom," he
+finally remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," said Tom. "Before doing that let's
+investigate that old shattered farmhouse over
+yonder."</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" exclaimed Jack, plucking up some
+fresh interest, "have you located one of those
+remains of a building, then? I was coming to
+believe there wasn't so much as a broken wall
+left standing for a space of five square miles,
+so complete has been the destruction. But I
+see what you mean, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>They walked ahead again, and approached
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span>
+the ruined farmhouse. It had been riddled
+through and through by shot and shell. Three-fourths
+of the original building lay in piles, the
+stones heaped up as they had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>"Queer, isn't it, that the kitchen part escaped
+the smashing fire, and still stands," observed
+Jack. "I warrant you this is the only part of
+a building left around here. Tom, would our
+spy be likely to take up his headquarters in
+such a place as this, do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," came the answer. "We can
+soon find out."</p>
+
+<p>"He might feel desperate enough to open
+fire on us," suggested Jack, though he did
+not shrink or hold back when Tom advanced;
+for Jack Parmly did not have a drop of
+cowardly blood in his veins.</p>
+
+<p>Tom turned and waved his hand as though
+beckoning to others who might be coming after
+them. He even called out in his best French,
+as if there were a dozen back of him, that
+there was a possibility of securing at least a
+drink of cold water at the old-fashioned well
+with a sweep that stood near the kitchen of the
+ruined farmhouse.</p>
+
+<p>"Good idea, Tom!" commented the other,
+chuckling with amusement. "If he gets the
+notion in his head that we are legion he won't
+be so apt to blaze away at us, knowing it would
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span>
+mean a short shrift for him. He may prefer
+to play the poor French peasant part, and try
+to pull the wool over our eyes."</p>
+
+<p>Presently they arrived at the door. It was
+hanging from one hinge, and the entire place
+presented a vivid picture of the utter desolation
+cruel war always brings in its train.</p>
+
+<p>Tom's first act before entering was to look
+down at the ground just before the door. Some
+intuition told him that if the place had been
+recently occupied they would possibly find some
+evidences of the fact in the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"See there, Jack!" he suddenly exclaimed,
+as he pointed down close to his feet. "Fresh
+tracks, and made by a man's shoes in the
+bargain!"</p>
+
+<p>"Some one has been in here for a fact, Tom,
+and I wouldn't be afraid to wager he saw us
+coming and cleared out in a hurry. He could
+have skirted those bushes, and got clear easy
+enough. Do you think it could have been
+the same chap who freed that pigeon?"</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt about it," and Tom, stooping,
+picked up some small object. "See, here's a
+feather that was sticking to that dead weed.
+It's from a bird of the same color as the pigeon,
+perhaps from the very one I've got in my
+pocket."</p>
+
+<p>"That settles it," snapped the pleased Jack.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18'></a>18</span>
+"I must say you're a clever hand at finding
+these things out. I'd have never dreamed of
+looking down at my feet, but blundered right
+into the shack to see if&#8213;Oh! What do you
+think of the luck we're in this day, Tom? See
+what stands there on that poor old three-legged
+table!"</p>
+
+<p>Jack's excitement was natural, as Tom readily
+understood when he looked; for there was a
+small basket or cage made from oziers or willow
+wands; and inside this they could see two blue
+gray homing pigeons, mates to the one Tom
+had shot only a short time before!</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span><a id='link_3'></a>CHAPTER III<br /><span class='h2fs'>A SPY BAFFLED</span></h2>
+
+<p>Both young aviators stared at the wicker
+cage containing the two pigeons. The birds
+had been still up to then, but now commenced
+to make cooing sounds, as though pleased at
+having human company. Apparently they were
+inclined to be sociable, as Jack afterwards put
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"So he discovered us coming along," Jack
+went on to say, "and skipped out in such a
+hurry he didn't have time to carry away the
+cage with him."</p>
+
+<p>"He must have climbed out of this window
+in the side of the wall," observed Tom. "We
+could have seen him if he had used the door.
+Yes, there are footprints underneath the window.
+He ran down behind those bushes and reached
+the stone wall that leads to the broken country
+and what is left of the woods."</p>
+
+<p>"The chances are he had all that mapped out
+beforehand," suggested Jack. "Surely a spy
+has always to keep a door open for retreat."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Why not? They take their lives in
+their hands every time they enter the hostile
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20'></a>20</span>
+lines, and you can't blame a man for wanting to
+live a little longer, especially if he believes he
+can serve his country."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he hasn't got such a good start
+but that we could overtake him if we went after
+him now," suggested Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"We might take a turn that way," his chum
+agreed. "But not too far afield. We didn't
+start out to search for spies, and we've only
+got a single gun between us. Even my automatic
+was left behind, because I didn't expect
+to have any use for it, and get tired carrying
+the thing, with its belt."</p>
+
+<p>"But these pigeons here, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can leave them until we get back.
+That's one reason why I don't want to get
+out of sight of the place. He might make a
+round, and carry the birds away while we were
+engaged in a hunt half a mile off. And it
+may be of much more importance that those
+live birds arrive in the French camp than that
+we should bag the spy."</p>
+
+<p>"I get you, Tom; so let's commence our little
+man-hunt right away."</p>
+
+<p>The two friends set off. Tom tried to follow
+the course he believed the spy must have taken
+on quitting the old farmhouse ruins. That
+his reckoning was clear he proved several times
+by pointing out to his companion plain evidences
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span>
+that some other person had passed along the
+way before them.</p>
+
+<p>Here the marks of shoes could be detected
+in the soft earth. A little further on, and at
+a point where the man must have crawled in
+order to keep from being seen, they found
+tracks where his toes had dragged along, as well
+as the indentation of his knees in the soil.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they arrived at the terminus of the
+stone wall, about the only thing remaining
+intact connected with the French farm. There
+was not a single tree showing signs of life in
+that patch of sombre forest; where shell-fire
+had failed to do the work of destruction a
+malicious hand had girdled the trunk with a
+keen-edged tool, and thus encompassed the
+doom of the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Tom came to a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon we've come far enough," he said,
+taking a look over toward the fragment of
+a house on the slight elevation, which could
+just be seen from their present position.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd have liked to catch up with that duck
+and march him back to camp, along with
+his feathered messengers," Jack grumbled
+disappointedly. "Somehow I hate and despise a
+spy above all created things."</p>
+
+<p>The youths set their faces once more in the
+direction of the ruins, where they soon arrived.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span>
+Jack half feared that in spite of them the cage
+and its feathered inmates had been spirited
+away. He hastened inside ahead of his companion
+and then called out cheerily:</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, Tom, and nobody at home.
+Here's the wicker cage and the pigeons, just
+as we left them!"</p>
+
+<p>"As the afternoon is passing, and we have
+a long distance to go, we'd better be making
+a start," Tom remarked, when he reached the
+open door.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me carry the pigeon cage, Tom, as you
+have the gun," suggested Jack, after slipping
+his hand through the ring at the top. "Say,
+perhaps the boys won't give us a laugh, to see
+what queer game we've brought back from our
+hunt!"</p>
+
+<p>They left the ruins of the once peaceful farmhouse
+behind them, and commenced retracing
+their steps. Tom was too old a hand at hunting
+to get lost. He had kept his bearings through
+the whole tramp, no matter how many turns
+they took in examining some promising ground
+where rabbit burrows might be found. On this
+account then he would have no difficulty whatever
+in leading his comrade straight back to
+the villa in which the entire Lafayette Escadrille
+of American fliers was quartered.</p>
+
+<p>They were passing along about half a mile
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span>
+from the wrecked farmhouse kitchen, and not
+far from the spot where Tom made his successful
+shot, when without warning the report of
+a gun came to their ears. Jack involuntarily
+ducked his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, did you hear that whining sound just
+over us, Tom? That was caused by a bullet
+skipping past!"</p>
+
+<p>Tom for answer dragged his chum down
+behind a fringe of dead bushes that chanced
+to lie close by.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bullet, all right, Jack," he replied,
+not without a tremor in his voice, for this
+thing of being made a target by some murderous
+unseen person was a new and novel experience.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you suppose it was fired by the man
+who owns these pigeons?" further questioned
+Jack, though showing no intention of loosening
+his grip on the wicker cage.</p>
+
+<p>"It could hardly be any one else. He has
+dogged us this far, or else just happened to
+catch sight of us. That shot was fired from
+a distance, and if we take a notion to run he
+couldn't possibly hit us. But we might as well
+make use of this fringe of bushes to creep some
+way off. Then we'll get on our feet and put
+out for home at full speed."</p>
+
+<p>This they proceeded to do without further
+delay. When it was no longer possible to utilize
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24'></a>24</span>
+the bushes for cover, they sprang to their
+feet and ran. Jack fully anticipated hearing
+other shots&#8211;yes, and perhaps having more leaden
+missiles singing their vicious songs about
+his head. But he was agreeably disappointed
+in his expectations, for not a report came.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently the spy had gone away, thinking
+discretion the better part of valor. He may
+have noticed that they were in uniform, and
+armed in the bargain.</p>
+
+<p>Later on the air service boys moderated their
+mad pace, and as there seemed to be no further
+signs of danger they finally fell into a walk.
+Still neither of them lagged, but kept up a brisk
+pace, Jack casting numerous apprehensive
+glances over his shoulder, haunted by a lingering
+suspicion that the spy might yet give them
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>They came through safely at last. The villa
+in which the American fliers were quartered was
+reached, and seemed to be deserted at that
+hour in the afternoon. Everybody must be busy
+at the front, the boys concluded, for the din
+was more distracting than usual.</p>
+
+<p>"We picked out a bad day for getting off,
+I'm afraid, Tom," Jack sighed. "They told us
+there was nothing big in prospect; but since
+we started out on our hunt I guess the Huns
+have put up something of size. And the boys
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span>
+will be in the thick of it all too! We might
+have had a share if we'd been on duty to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Brace up, Jack," chided his chum. "For
+all you know, what we've done may turn out
+to be ten times more important than all the
+work of the entire escadrille to-day. These
+captured birds and that cipher message, represent
+possibilities beyond anything you or I can
+know. Leave all that to the general."</p>
+
+<p>"When do you mean to see him, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as I can arrange it. And you're
+coming with me when I get the summons to
+his headquarters, depend on that, Jack. Your
+part in this affair is just as important as mine."</p>
+
+<p>Tom put the cage with its cooing inmates
+in their room. Then he started out to try to
+get into communication with the commanding
+general. He had met him once by mere chance,
+but he hardly believed General Petain would
+remember him in the least.</p>
+
+<p>The action was about over for the day. The
+Crown Prince had once again thrown a heavy
+storming party forward in the endeavor to make
+a breach in the French lines, through which
+he could pour the veteran reserves he had in
+waiting. But, as had often happened before,
+he counted without his host; and when the sun
+went down all he had to show for his stroke
+was a greatly increased casualty list.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span>The French could not be moved.</p>
+
+<p>Tom understood how to go about it, and
+in the end managed to get an obliging French
+captain whom he knew very well, to carry a
+message to the commander-in-chief to the effect
+that he had news of great importance to communicate.
+Just as Tom expected would be the
+case, this brought back a speedy answer.</p>
+
+<p>"You are both to come with me, young Messieurs,"
+said the captain, his eyes sparkling with
+interest, for Tom had told him enough to excite
+his curiosity, and he knew the Americans would
+not aimlessly take up the precious time of the
+general. "Our valiant commander is tired after
+a strenuous day; but never is he too weary to
+attend to duty; and he already finds himself
+interested in everything you brave young airmen
+attempt. So please accompany me to headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards the boys found themselves
+face to face with General Petain.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27'></a>27</span><a id='link_4'></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><span class='h2fs'>PRAISE FROM THE GENERAL</span></h2>
+
+<p>General Petain received the pair with his
+accustomed kindness. He loved youth, and his
+eyes sparkled with pleasure as he gave each of
+them a hand.</p>
+
+<p>"My time is limited, I regret to say, my
+gallant Americans, or I should gladly ask you
+all manner of questions concerning your own
+country. We are all anxious to know when
+the great republic across the sea will decide to
+cast her decisive influence into the scales to
+bring us the victory we await with much
+patience. Tell me now what this strange thing
+is you have come across to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Tom waited for no second bidding. He realized
+how tired the general must be after a
+strenuous day in keeping his finger on the pulse
+of the whole front, where the fierce German
+attacks had been hurled without success.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly he started at once his tale of
+how they had been given a day off for rest,
+and, having a love for hunting in their veins,
+had borrowed an old shotgun and started forth.
+Without wasting any time in useless descriptions
+he quickly reached the point where the
+pigeon was shot.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span>Jack, having nothing to say just then, contented
+himself with watching the various shades
+of expression that flitted across the face of the
+commander. At mention of the pigeon his
+eyes sparkled, and he leaned forward with an
+air of expectancy, as though anticipating what
+would come next.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as Tom produced the message written
+on the thin but tough paper and handed it to
+the general the French officer eagerly scanned
+it. Jack also noticed that he did not appear
+disappointed because he could not immediately
+read the baffling communication. Of course
+it would be written in some secret code; that
+was to be expected.</p>
+
+<p>"It is fortunate," remarked the French officer,
+"that I have on my staff one who is considered
+an expert at solving any and every species of
+cipher code. He will speedily figure it all out
+for me, and then we shall see what news this
+spy was transmitting to his commander. Please
+continue your story, which is very interesting,
+and in which your part does you both credit."</p>
+
+<p>Tom, thus encouraged, went on. He told
+of their further search for the mysterious man
+who had set the homing pigeon free after
+attaching the secret message to it.</p>
+
+<p>When he presently told of coming on the
+ruined farmhouse, and discovering the ozier
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29'></a>29</span>
+cage containing two additional pigeons, just
+where the spy had left them in his hurried
+flight, the general fairly beamed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is splendid news you have brought me&#8211;you
+aviators from our sister republic across the
+sea," he remarked exultantly, as though already
+in his fertile mind he could see great
+possibilities looming up whereby those pigeons
+might be made to serve a purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The story was soon finished. Tom, of
+course, thought it necessary to tell of having
+been fired on while on their way back to the
+aviation post, though no harm had resulted.
+He did this not for the purpose of impressing
+the general with the idea that they had run any
+great personal risk, but because it might have
+some influence on the plans the officer probably
+had in mind.</p>
+
+<p>After all had been told the commander again
+shook hands with both of the air service boys.
+This indicated, as Tom well knew, that he had
+given them all the time he could spare and
+that a dozen important things were awaiting
+his attention, so he saluted and turned to
+depart.</p>
+
+<p>"This may prove to be a most important
+thing you have discovered," the general halted
+the aviators to say warmly. "The cipher will
+be solved, and then, if the facts warrant it,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30'></a>30</span>
+we may have another written that can be sent
+forward by one of your birds. You will give
+them over into the charge of an officer whom
+I shall dispatch back with you to your quarters.
+That will be convenient, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>Tom hastened to assure him that they had
+expected just such a thing, and had hoped that
+the two captured pigeons might prove the
+means of leading the Crown Prince's forces
+into some sort of trap.</p>
+
+<p>The general's black eyes snapped on hearing
+Tom say this.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I see that you too have thought it
+out!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Some day
+perhaps you may have command of an army,
+and exercise that talent with glorious success.
+France thanks you."</p>
+
+<p>Both boys were deeply moved by their brief
+interview with the busy commander-in-chief of
+the French forces. They did not feel any humiliation
+at being addressed as "my children,"
+knowing that it was a term of endearment
+used freely by officers high in command when
+addressing, those in the ranks. In fact, the
+French army is very much like a big family, the
+men loving those they serve under.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that job's over," remarked Jack, heaving
+a sigh of relief when they were on their
+way to their quarters, accompanied by a jaunty
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span>
+captain who, Tom believed, must be a member
+of the general's staff.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad to have had such a fine opportunity
+for meeting General Petain," Tom returned, for
+the captain at the time was walking a little in
+the rear, conversing with a courier who had
+come running after him, as if on important
+business.</p>
+
+<p>"He was fine, wasn't he, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Next to Joffre I understand General Petain
+is the most beloved commander the army has
+ever had," replied the other. "I'll always feel
+proud that he shook hands so heartily with
+both of us."</p>
+
+<p>The air service boys were soon in the automobile
+that had carried them to the general's
+headquarters back of the French lines. Here
+the captain joined them, having finished his
+hasty consultation with the courier. On the
+ride to the aviation camp he chatted pleasantly
+with the young Americans. He, it appeared,
+had spent several years attached to the French
+Embassy at Washington.</p>
+
+<p>He asked particularly concerning the feeling
+of the common people in America, and what
+influence the powerful cliques of naturalized
+but pro-German citizens were apt to have on
+the Government.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was able to assure him that slowly but
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32'></a>32</span>
+surely the people of free America were becoming
+aroused to the deadly menace of German
+imperialism, and that presently&#8211;it might come
+at any day, according to the latest advices&#8211;Congress
+would assemble to hear a ringing appeal
+from the President, urging them to declare
+war upon the Kaiser, war to the finish.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently what the boys said had much in
+it to comfort the French captain. He knew
+only too well how eagerly his wearied nation
+was listening to hear just such a message of
+hope. He knew, also, just what it would mean
+for the brave defenders of France.</p>
+
+<p>In due time the three arrived at the villa,
+Several of the American pilots saw the trio
+leave the car, wondered much what was in
+the wind that Tom and Jack should return
+with a member of General Petain's personal
+staff. Their curiosity was considerably heightened
+when later they saw the captain come
+out of the villa carrying a small ozier cage
+containing two blue-rock carrier pigeons, and effusively
+shake hands with both Tom and Jack,
+calling out to them as the car moved off:</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of France and General Petain
+I thank you for what you have done this day,
+my brave Americans!"</p>
+
+<p>As the chums were about to pass into the
+building there was a hail.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span>"Wait a minute, Jack!" called one of their
+fellow pilots, hurrying up with some object in
+his hand at which the two boys stared with
+rising curiosity. "I've got something here for
+you!"</p>
+
+<p>"For me?" cried the youth addressed. "I'm
+ever so much obliged, but it strikes me I've
+got beyond the point of playing with a toy
+balloon; though honestly now, when I was a
+kid I used to be pretty fond of sailing one of
+'em at the end of a long string, until it would
+get away, and leave me staring up while it
+climbed toward the clouds."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, this one is about past doing any climbing,
+I should say," replied the pilot, laughing
+at Jack's description of his childish woes. "In
+fact, it's been out during the night, and the
+heavy air forced it to come down. Listen, and
+I'll tell you a strange story that will make you
+believe in fairy tales."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on then, please," urged Jack. "You've
+got me all worked up already. So there's a
+history attached to this little balloon, is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"There was <i>something</i> attached to it, something
+that may mean much or little to you
+fellows," came the reply. "This thing was found
+by a French dispatch bearer on his way across
+country. Out of curiosity he stepped aside to
+look at the bobbing red object he had noticed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span>
+among some bushes in an open field. When
+he found that it had a paper fastened to it,
+which on the outside had an address, he concluded
+to bring the whole business along with
+him. He came here half an hour back inquiring
+for Jack Parmly, and on finding you were away
+at the time left the balloon and the paper in
+my charge. Take it, and see what the message
+is, Jack!"</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span><a id='link_5'></a>CHAPTER V<br /><span class='h2fs'>THE STRANGE WARNING</span></h2>
+
+<p>"Open it, Jack, and see what the message
+is," urged Tom, as his chum stood with the
+scrap of damp paper held between his fingers,
+having allowed the sagging little toy balloon
+to fall at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was thinking just at that moment of
+the other message his companion and he had
+found attached to the homing pigeon. But
+of course they could not possibly have any
+sort of connection!</p>
+
+<p>He opened the small bit of paper. It had
+some writing in lead pencil. Once it had doubtless
+been plain enough, but the dampness must
+have caused it to become faint. Still, Jack
+could make it out without much difficulty. This
+was what he read aloud, so that Tom and the
+other pilot could hear:</p>
+
+<div class='bquote'>
+<p>"<i>Look carefully to your planes; examine every
+part. There is treachery in the air!</i>"</p>
+</div> <!-- block quote -->
+
+<p>"That's all, fellows," said Jack, much puzzled,
+as he turned the paper over and over, looking
+for some signature.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36'></a>36</span>"No name attached, Jack?" asked his chum.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing whatever to tell who wrote that
+warning. Here, take a look at it, Tom. Your
+eyes may be sharper than mine and see something
+I've missed."</p>
+
+<p>But Tom and the other pilot both failed to
+throw any light on the matter after examining
+the paper thoroughly. They exchanged stares.
+Then Jack laughed, a little queerly.</p>
+
+<p>"This is certainly a mystery," he went on to
+say, trying to take the thing as a joke. "Some
+kind friend sends me a solemn warning, and
+then neglects to sign his name. Do you think
+any of the fellows of the escadrille could be
+up to a prank?"</p>
+
+<p>Tom shook his head. The other pilot also
+exhibited positive signs of doubt in connection
+with such a thing.</p>
+
+<p>"The boys often have their little jokes, and
+we are a merry bunch much of the time, just
+to change off from the nervous strain we're
+living under," the man observed. "But I'm
+sure not one of them would dream of doing a
+thing like this. It would be a mean trick."</p>
+
+<p>"Then both of you are inclined to believe this
+warning was meant in all seriousness, are you?"
+continued Jack, no longer grinning as before.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," Tom instantly announced. "It
+seems a bit childish, sending it in such a queer
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span>
+fashion; but then perhaps it was the only way
+open to the person. There was one chance in
+ten that it would be found; but you know sometimes
+we can't choose our way of doing things,
+but must accommodate ourselves to circumstances.
+This toy balloon being handy suggested
+a possible way of getting the warning to you,
+Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"But why me any more than you, Tom, or
+any other fellow in the escadrille?" continued
+Jack, sorely bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>"That's something we can only guess at," he
+was told. "Evidently this person had your name,
+and knew you were working here with the
+Lafayette boys. Try to think of some one you
+may have done something for to make him
+feel grateful to you. Could it have been that
+boyish-looking German prisoner we talked with
+the other day, and for whom you bound up a
+badly damaged arm, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that boy!" exclaimed the other, and
+then shook his head. "No, it's impossible. You
+see the poor chap could hardly talk halfway
+decent English, and I'm sure he never could
+write my name like this. Besides, Tom," Jack
+went on triumphantly, "I never bothered to
+mention to him that I had a name. To him I
+was simply an American flying for France."</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody else you can think of?" persisted
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38'></a>38</span>
+Tom, for it seemed to him that it meant considerable
+to try to discover who had sent the
+message by such a strange channel.</p>
+
+<p>Jack pondered. Then all at once he looked
+up with a light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You've thought of something!" exclaimed
+the other pilot eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it might be possible, although I
+hardly believe she'd be the one to go to such
+trouble. Still, she had children, she told me,
+at her home in Lorraine, back of Metz; and
+this is a child's toy, this little hot-air balloon."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that woman you assisted a
+week or so ago? Mrs. Neumann?" asked Tom,
+quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was only a little thing I was able to
+do for her, but she seemed grateful, and said
+she hoped some day to be in a position to repay
+the favor. Then later on I learned she had
+secured permission to cross over to the German
+lines, in order to get to her family. She is a
+widow with six children, you know, a native of
+Lorraine, and caught by accident in one of the
+sudden furious rushes of the French, so that she
+had been carried back with them when they
+retreated. At the time she had been serving
+as a Red Cross nurse among the Germans. It
+was on that account the French allowed her to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span>
+return to her family. They are very courteous,
+these French."</p>
+
+<p>Tom was listening. He nodded his head as
+though it seemed promising at least.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's figure it out," he mused. "Which way
+was the wind coming from last night, do either
+of you happen to know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Almost from the north," the other aviator
+instantly responded. "I chanced to notice that
+fact, for other reasons. But then it was almost
+still, so the little balloon could not have drifted
+many miles before the heavy atmosphere
+dragged it down until finally it landed in the
+field."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that settles one thing," asserted Tom.
+"It came from back of the German lines, don't
+you see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that seems probable," admitted Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Your unknown friend was there at the time,"
+continued Tom, in his lawyer-like way, following
+up the trail he had started; "and hence
+apparently in a position to know that some sort
+of plot was being engineered against one Jack
+Parmly. Don't ask me why <i>you</i> should be
+selected for any rank treachery, because I don't
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"And this person, this unknown friend of
+mine," Jack added, "wishing to warn me so that
+I might not meet a bad end to-day, sent out
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40'></a>40</span>
+this message in the hope that it might fall back
+of our lines and be picked up. Tom, it makes
+me have a queer feeling. I almost think I must
+be asleep and dreaming."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it's real enough. We may never know
+who the writer of this note is; but we can heed
+the warning just the same, and go over to
+examine our planes minutely. Whoever it was,
+spelled your name correctly. I've studied the
+writing, but it seems to be assumed, and clumsy.
+There was a reason for that too, as well as the
+writer failing to sign a name."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of reason?" queried Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Fear that in some way the message, and the
+balloon, might fall into German hands and lead
+to unpleasant results," Tom continued. "We
+know about how those Huns would serve any
+one who tried to spoil their plans. They believe
+in frightfulness every time, and it might mean
+death to the writer. This she evidently knew
+full well."</p>
+
+<p>"Just why do you say 'she' when you speak
+of the writer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have an idea that Mrs. Neumann may
+be the mysterious friend who is taking such
+desperate chances to send you a warning. Anyway,
+something about it seems to say it isn't a
+man's handwriting. Besides, neither of you may
+have noticed it, but there's a faint odor, as of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span>
+perfume, adheres to that bit of paper, though
+the dampness has taken it almost all out."</p>
+
+<p>Jack looked astonished at such shrewd reasoning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are certainly a wonder at seeing
+through things, Tom," he hastened to say. "And
+so of course that settles it in my mind. Mrs.
+Neumann sent this message to me; though how
+she could have learned that there was anything
+treacherous going on beats my powers of
+reasoning."</p>
+
+<p>"But don't you think it would pay to learn
+if there's any truth about it all?" asked the
+other pilot, whose curiosity had been stirred up
+by such a strange happening.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, let's all go over to the hangars and
+have the planes out for a regular inspection,"
+said Tom. "If mischief has been done the
+chances are it would be in a part not usually
+examined by the mechanician before a flight.
+Then again the damage, if there is any, might
+be so covered up by the shrewd schemer that
+it would not be noticeable."</p>
+
+<p>There were always cars going to and fro, for
+pilots came and went from time to time; so the
+trio quickly found themselves being whirled
+along over the road so often traveled in their
+daily work.</p>
+
+<p>"How about that fellow they chased late yesterday
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span>
+afternoon, who was loitering about the
+hangars and acting in a suspicious way?" asked
+the friendly pilot, as they rode along. "More
+than a few of the fellows say he must have
+been a spy, and up to some mischief, because
+he slipped off so slickly."</p>
+
+<p>"I had him in mind all the while," said Tom.
+"And if any mischief has been done, of course
+we can lay it at his door; though just how he
+managed to work we'll perhaps never know."</p>
+
+<p>"I caught sight of him, too," Jack remarked;
+"and I only wish now I'd had a good look at
+the chap who owned those pigeons to-day, so
+as to tell if they were one and the same, which
+I believe to be a fact."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Tom gave his chum a kick with the
+toe of his shoe. This suddenly reminded Jack
+that he was treading on forbidden ground, since
+they had resolved not to say anything to a
+third person concerning the adventure of that
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>The other member of the escadrille was looking
+interested. He understood that Tom and
+Jack must have met with some singular adventure;
+but since they did not see fit to take him
+into their confidence he was too polite to ask
+questions, feeling there must be a good reason
+for their silence.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they arrived at the hangars. It was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span>
+now almost sunset. The fliers were coming
+down one by one, their labor for the day having
+been accomplished. It had been a pretty arduous
+day, too, and two members of the escadrille
+had new honors coming to them, since they had
+dropped enemy planes in full view of tens of
+thousands of cheering spectators, after thrilling
+combats high in the air.</p>
+
+<p>One had also passed through an experience
+that few aviators can look back to. He had
+started to drop rapidly when, at almost ten
+thousand feet altitude, his motor was struck by a
+missile from a rival pilot's gun. When halfway
+down, either through a freak of fortune or
+some wonderfully clever manipulation on the
+part of the pilot, the machine righted, and he
+was enabled to volplane to safety, though
+considerably bruised and cut up through hasty
+landing.</p>
+
+<p>Jack quickly had his little Nieuport out of the
+hangar, and the three airmen began a minute
+inspection. For a short time nothing developed
+that had a suspicious appearance. Jack, in fact,
+was beginning to believe the warning might
+after all be in the nature of a fake, or else the
+spy had not found a favorable chance to do his
+foul work before being frightened off.</p>
+
+<p>But presently Tom gave utterance to an exclamation.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span>"Found anything, Tom?" asked Jack eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Come around here, both of you!"</p>
+
+<p>When the others joined Tom he pointed to
+where an important wire stay had been dextrously
+filed so that it must snap under a severe
+wrench or strain, such as commonly comes when
+a pilot is far afield, and wishes to execute a
+necessary whirl.</p>
+
+<p>Jack shivered as he took in the meaning of
+that partly severed stay. If it gave way while
+he was far above the earth it must spell his
+certain doom!</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span><a id='link_6'></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><span class='h2fs'>LOOKING BACKWARD</span></h2>
+
+<p>"Just see the fiendish cleverness of the fellow
+who filed that stay!" Tom cried, as they all
+stared. "He filled the indentation his sharp file
+made with a bit of wax or chewing-gum of the
+same general color. Why, no one would ever
+have noticed the least thing wrong when making
+the ordinary examination."</p>
+
+<p>"Then how did you manage to find it, Tom?"
+asked Jack, breathing hard, as he pictured to
+himself the narrow escape he had had.</p>
+
+<p>"I suspected something of the kind might be
+done; so I ran my thumb-nail down each wire
+stay," came the answer. "And it turned out
+just as I thought."</p>
+
+<p>"There may be still more places filed in the
+same way," suggested the other pilot, looking
+as black as a thunder-cloud; because such an
+act was in his mind the rankest sort of treachery,
+worthy of only the most degraded man.</p>
+
+<p>"We will find them if there are," replied Tom,
+resolutely. "And when this thing is known I
+imagine there'll be a general overhauling of all
+the machines on the aviation field. One thing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span>
+is certain, Jack. You were playing in great luck
+when you suggested that we ask for a day off
+and then picked out this particular one."</p>
+
+<p>Jack shrugged his shoulders as he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could be done just then, with night
+coming on. Tom talked with several of the
+attendants at the hangars, and left it to them to
+go to work with the coming of morning. He
+even showed them how cunningly the work had
+been carried out; so they might be on their
+guard against such a trick from that time
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>Then the three returned to the villa. Others
+of the members of the escadrille were in the car
+with the trio, so the talk was general, experiences
+of the day's happenings being narrated,
+all told in a careless fashion, as if those young
+aviators considered all such risks as part of the
+ordinary routine of business.</p>
+
+<p>Later on the news concerning Jack's singular
+warning, and what came of it went the rounds.
+He was asked to show the brief note many
+times; but in answer to the questions that came
+pouring in upon him, Jack could not say more
+than he had already said with regard to his
+suspicions concerning the probable writer of the
+message.</p>
+
+<p>That night Tom and Jack preferred the quiet
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span>
+of their own apartment to the general sitting-room,
+where the tired pilots gathered to smoke,
+talk, play games, sing, and give their opinions
+on every topic imaginable, including scraps of
+news received in late letters from home towns
+across the sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Tom," Jack said unexpectedly;
+"I'd give something to know where Bessie
+Gleason is just at this time. It's strange how
+often I think about that young girl. It's just
+as if something that people call intuition told
+me she might be in serious trouble through that
+hard-looking guardian of hers, Carl Potzfeldt."</p>
+
+<p>Tom smiled.</p>
+
+<p>Bessie Gleason was a very pretty and winsome
+girl of about twelve years of age, with whom
+Jack in particular had been quite "chummy" on
+the voyage across the Atlantic, and through the
+submarine zone, as related in "Air Service Boys
+Flying for France." The last he had seen of her
+was when she waved her hand to him when
+leaving the steamer at its English port. Her
+stern guardian had contracted a violent dislike
+for Jack, so that the two had latterly been
+compelled to meet only in secret for little
+confidential chats.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you've taken to imagining all sorts of
+terrible things in connection with pretty Bessie
+and her cruel guardian. He claimed to be a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span>
+Swiss, or a native of Alsace-Lorraine, which was
+it, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh," murmured Jack Parmly, his
+thoughts just then far away from Tom and his
+question, though fixed on Carl Potzfeldt and
+his young ward.</p>
+
+<p>Bessie Gleason was a little American girl, a
+child of moods, fairylike in appearance and of a
+maturity of manner that invariably attracted
+those with whom she came in contact.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother had been lost at sea, and by Mrs.
+Gleason's will the girl and her property were
+left in Potzfeldt's care. Mr. Potzfeldt was taking
+her to Europe, and on the steamship she and
+Jack Parmly had been friends, and as Potzfeldt's
+actions were suspicious and, moreover, the girl
+did not seem happy with him Jack had been
+troubled about her.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you think too much about Bessie
+and her troubles, Jack; and get yourself worked
+up about things that may never happen to her,"
+Tom went on after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you'd say that, Tom," the other told
+him reproachfully. "But I'm not blaming you
+for it. However, there are several things Bessie
+told me that I haven't mentioned to you before;
+and they help to make me feel anxious about
+her happiness. She's a queer girl, you know,
+and intensely patriotic."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span>"Yes I noticed that, even if you did monopolize
+most of her time," chuckled Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"How she does hate the Germans, though!
+And that's what will get her into trouble I'm
+afraid, if she and her guardian have managed
+to get through the lines in any way, and back
+to his home town, wherever that may be."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should she feel so bitter toward the
+Kaiser and his people, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you. Her mother was drowned. She
+was aboard the <i>Lusitania</i>, and was never seen
+after the sinking. Mr. Potzfeldt was there too,
+it seems, but couldn't save Mrs. Gleason, he
+claims, though he tried in every way to do so.
+She was a distant relative of his, you remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Then if Bessie knows about her mother's
+death," Tom went on to say, "I don't wonder
+she feels that way toward everything German.
+I'd hate the entire race if my mother had been
+murdered, as those women and children were,
+when that torpedo was launched against the
+great passenger steamer without any warning."</p>
+
+<p>"She told me she felt heart-broken because
+she was far too young to do anything to assist
+in the drive against the central empires. You
+see, Bessie has great hopes of some day growing
+tall enough to become a war nurse. She is
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50'></a>50</span>
+deeply interested in the Red Cross; and Tom,
+would you believe it, the midget practices regular
+United States Army standing exercises in
+the hope of hastening her growth."</p>
+
+<p>"I honor the little girl for her ambition,"
+Tom said. "But I'm inclined to think this war
+will be long past before she has grown to a
+suitable size to enlist among the nurses of the
+Paris hospitals. And if that Carl Potzfeldt entertains
+the sentiments we suspected him of, and
+is secretly in sympathy with the Huns, although
+passing for a neutral, her task will be rendered
+doubly hard."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what makes me feel bad every time
+I get to thinking of Bessie. If only we could
+chance to run across them again I'd like to
+engineer some scheme by which she could be
+taken away from her guardian. For instance,
+if only it could be proved that Potzfeldt was in
+the pay of the German Government, don't you
+see he could be stood up against a wall, and
+fixed; and then some one would be found able
+and willing to take care of the girl."</p>
+
+<p>Tom laughed again.</p>
+
+<p>"How nicely you make your arrangements,
+Jack! Very pleasant outlook for poor Mr.
+Potzfeldt, I should say. Why, you hustle him off
+this earth just as if he didn't matter thirty
+cents."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51'></a>51</span>"It isn't because I'm heartless," expostulated
+the other hurriedly. "But I'm sure that dark-faced
+man is a bad egg. We suspected him of
+being hand-in-glove with Adolph Tuessig, the
+man who stole your father's invention, and who
+we knew was a hired German spy over in America.
+And from little hints Bessie dropped once
+in a while I am certain he doesn't treat her
+well."</p>
+
+<p>"Still, we can't do the least thing about it,
+Jack. If fortune should ever bring us in contact
+with that pair again, why then we could perhaps
+think up some sort of scheme to help
+Bessie. Now, I've got something important to
+tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Something the captain must have said when
+he was chatting with you in the mess-room
+immediately after supper, I guess. At the time I
+thought he might be asking you about our
+adventures of to-day, but then I noticed that he
+was doing pretty much all the talking. What is
+on the carpet for us now?"</p>
+
+<p>"We're going to be given our chance at last,
+Jack!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to fly with the fighting
+escadrille, and meet German pilots in a life and
+death battle up among the clouds?" asked Jack,
+in a voice that had a tinge of awe about it; for
+he had often dreamed of such honors coming to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span>
+him; but the realization still seemed afar off.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what we are promised," his chum
+assured him. "Of course our education is not
+yet complete; but we have shown such progress
+that, as there is need of additional pilots able
+to meet the Fokker planes while a raid is in
+progress, we are to be given a showing."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll not sleep much to-night for thinking of
+it," declared Jack.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span><a id='link_7'></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><span class='h2fs'>THE GREAT DAY ARRIVES</span></h2>
+
+<p>By the time the pilots of the American
+escadrille began to assemble on the field where
+the airplane hangars were clustered, (these
+being more or less camouflaged by means of
+paint cleverly applied to represent the earth),
+the news concerning the air service boys' narrow
+escape had become generally known.</p>
+
+<p>Great was the indignation expressed by all.
+Up to this time there had appeared to be considerable
+honor exhibited among-the flying men
+on both sides. In fact many curious little courtesies
+had been exchanged that seemed to put
+the aviation service on a plane of its own.</p>
+
+<p>One thing was certain. After that there would
+be no taking things for granted. Each pilot
+meant to satisfy himself as best he could that
+his plane was in perfect order before risking
+his life in the upper currents.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was besieged for a full account of the
+matter. He, being an obliging person, gladly
+told everything he knew. Naturally the mystery
+attached to the discovery of the message of
+warning tied to the poor little partly collapsed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span>
+child's balloon aroused considerable curiosity
+and speculation among the aviators.</p>
+
+<p>The way some of them pumped Jack made
+him laugh; but he assured them he was just
+about as "deep in the mud as they were in the
+mire."</p>
+
+<p>"I've told you all about the woman named
+Mrs. Neumann," he repeated for the tenth time.
+"And she's the only one I can think of who
+would be apt to care a cent whether Jack
+Parmly happened to be alive or dead. If anybody
+can give a better guess I'd like to hear it."</p>
+
+<p>They did considerable "guessing," but after
+all it became the consensus of opinion that the
+grateful Mrs. Neumann was responsible. And
+so finally they let it go at that; for the day had
+begun, and there was an abundance of work to
+be accomplished before the sun set again.</p>
+
+<p>"But this is certain," said one of the leading
+flyers of the escadrille, seriously; "if the Boches
+mean to stop playing fair it's bound to demoralize
+the service. Up to now there's been an
+unwritten set of rules to the game, which both
+sides have lived up to. I shall hate to see
+them discarded, and brutal methods put in their
+place."</p>
+
+<p>Others were of the opinion that there might
+have been something personal connected with the
+attempt to kill Jack, through that shabby trick.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span>
+The German spy might have had a private grievance
+against the youth, they said, which he
+meant to pay off in his own dastardly way.</p>
+
+<p>No matter which turned out to be the truth,
+it was not pleasant for Jack to believe he had
+become an object of hatred to some mysterious
+prowler, and that possibly other secret attempts
+on his life might be made from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>That day passed, and another followed.
+There did not seem to be much stirring on
+either side of the line; but such a lull frequently
+proved the precursor of some gigantic battle,
+for which the armies were preparing.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, when the wind and weather permitted,
+there was always plenty of excitement
+among the airplane escadrilles. All manner of
+little expeditions were organized and carried
+out.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was an attempt to get above that
+string of "sausage" balloons used for observation
+purposes only, so that a few well-dropped
+bombs might play havoc among them.</p>
+
+<p>As these were always defended by a force of
+fighting planes hovering above, all primed to
+give battle on the slightest provocation, the
+result of these forays was that a number of
+hotly-contested fights were "pulled off" high in
+air.</p>
+
+<p>One pilot brought down another enemy, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span>
+increased his score a peg, always a matter of
+pride with a pilot of a fighting plane. And
+another of the escadrille had the honor of getting
+above those observation balloons before a
+couple of them could be hastily pulled down.</p>
+
+<p>Two of his companions engaged the defending
+Teuton pilots, and fended them off purposely,
+in order to permit the raid. The selected
+man swooped down like a hawk, passed the
+Gotha guard, and managed to shoot his bomb
+downward with unerring aim. One of the balloons
+was seen to burst into flames, and the
+second must have met with a like fate, since it
+was perilously near at the time, though the
+dense smoke obscured everything.</p>
+
+<p>All these things and more did Tom and Jack
+witness through their glasses as those two days
+passed. Tom especially was waiting to have his
+wish realized with as much calmness as he could
+summon.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it will come to-night, Jack," he told
+his chum, on the second afternoon, as they prepared
+to return to their lodgings.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you believe there's some big move on
+tap, and that to-morrow a battle will be commenced?
+And all for the possession of some old
+ruined fort, perhaps, that is now only a mass of
+crumpled masonry and debris!"</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't forget, Jack, it is the famous
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span>
+name that counts with these romantic Frenchmen.
+Douaumont and Vaux mean everything
+to them, even if there is nothing but a great
+mound of stone, mortar and earth to tell where
+each fort once stood."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose you're right, Tom; and then
+again I was forgetting that the retaking of a
+prominent position which the Germans had captured
+means a heartening of the whole army.
+I've heard them talking of Mort-Homme, and
+Hill Three Hundred and Four, as if those were
+the most precious bits of territory in all France."</p>
+
+<p>"These are sometimes strategic points, you
+know, keys to a further advance. But there
+comes the captain now, and he's got his eye
+on us, as sure as you live!" ejaculated Tom,
+giving a little start, and turning a shade paler
+than usual, owing to the excess of his emotions,
+and the anticipation of hearing pleasant news.</p>
+
+<p>The leader of the Lafayette Escadrille smiled
+as he drew near. He waited until he could
+speak without being overheard, for it was not
+always wise to shout aloud when dealing with
+matters in which the High Command had a
+deep interest, such as a pending advance movement.</p>
+
+<p>"It is to-morrow, Raymond," he said quietly,
+yet with a twinkle in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>He had taken a great liking to these daring
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span>
+lads who had already made such strides toward
+the goal of becoming "aces" in time, granting
+that they lived through the risky period of their
+apprenticeship.</p>
+
+<p>"Both?" gasped Jack eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>The head pilot shook his head in the negative.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry to disappoint you, Parmly, but you'll
+have to wait a bit longer," he announced,
+whereat the other's face fell again, though he
+gulped, and tried to appear content. "There
+are several things you must correct before you
+can expect to take such chances. We are short
+a fighting pilot for to-morrow, and I thought
+it was time we gave Raymond his initiation."</p>
+
+<p>Then as he walked alongside the chums he
+entered into a minute description of the duties
+that would devolve upon Tom in his first time
+up to serve as a guardian to the heavier planes
+acting as "fire-control" and scouts, or "eyes of
+the army."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you are only to butt in if we are
+outnumbered," the leader explained in conclusion.
+"The experienced and able fliers must take
+care of such of the enemy as venture to attack
+our big machines. Some of these Boches will
+be their best men, with records of a dozen or
+two machines to their credit. It would be little
+short of suicide to send a novice up against
+them, you understand."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span>Tom was ambitious, and would of course be
+delighted to prove his metal when opposed by
+a famous "ace;" whose name and reputation
+had long made him a terror to the French and
+British airmen. Nevertheless he recognized the
+wisdom of what the captain was telling him,
+and promised to restrain his eagerness until
+given the prearranged signal that his chance
+had come.</p>
+
+<p>It made Tom feel proud to know he had
+won the good opinion of such a brave man as
+the captain, as well as the friendship of those
+other gallant souls composing the American
+squadron of aviators fighting for France.</p>
+
+<p>"Still," he said to Jack later on, when they
+were together in their room getting into their
+ordinary street clothes, "it made me feel a bit
+cheap when he spoke of my being pitted against
+just an <i>ordinary</i> pilot, some fresh hand as
+anxious as we are to achieve a reputation. At
+the same time that's what we must seem to
+these veterans of scores of air combats, all of
+whom have met with the most thrilling adventures
+again and again."</p>
+
+<p>Jack managed to hide his bitter disappointment.
+He realized that he would never be in
+the same class as his more brilliant chum. Tom
+fitted for becoming an expert in the line
+had chosen for his calling. On the other
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60'></a>60</span>
+hand Jack began to believe that he was a little
+too slow-witted ever to make a shining success
+as a fighting aviator, where skill must be backed
+by astonishing quickness of mind and body, as
+well as <i>something else</i> within the heart that is
+an inherited birthright.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyhow," he consoled himself by saying,
+not aloud, but softly, "I can be the pilot of
+a bombing machine, and perhaps in time they'll
+give me charge of a plane used as fire-control
+during the battle. That is as far up the pole
+as I ought to aspire to climb. These chaps in
+the Lafayette are one and all picked men, the
+very cream of the entire service."</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61'></a>61</span><a id='link_8'></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><span class='h2fs'>OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES</span></h2>
+
+<p>"I say, Tom, it looks like a poor day for
+flying I'm afraid," Jack called out in the chill
+of the early dawn the next morning, he having
+been the first to get out of bed and step over
+to the window of their sleeping room.</p>
+
+<p>It was of course in the villa placed at the
+disposal of the escadrille, many miles back of
+the first line of trenches.</p>
+
+<p>Tom, however, did not bother his head about
+the weather to any appreciable extent.</p>
+
+<p>"It's likely to turn out a fair day for work,"
+he told his chum, in his cheery way, as he followed
+Jack to the window. "You know that's
+happened lots of times. So far we've been lucky
+enough not to get caught in a storm while
+aloft. Yes, I can already see that there isn't
+going to be a stiff breeze; and what would a
+sprinkle of rain amount to?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose the thing has to be pulled off,
+no matter what the weather is," mused Jack,
+as he proceeded to dress, since breakfast had
+been ordered at an unusually early hour that
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the High Command has made all
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span>
+arrangements for a big time. You know what
+that means, when tens of thousands of poilus
+have to be transferred during the darkness of
+night, so that the enemy pilots can't glimpse
+the movement and give warning? So, unless
+the skies fall, we are bound to get busy this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>The air service boys were soon at the hangars,
+where an animated scene was taking place. Any
+one could see that something unusual was
+about to take place, because of the numbers of
+men rushing this way and that, while motors
+were popping and machine-guns being tried out
+so as to be certain they were in prime condition
+for service. Scores of mechanicians, chauffeurs,
+observers, as well as other helpers, went about
+their work of getting "ready for business."</p>
+
+<p>The air fighters were dressed in their fur-lined
+union suits, with fur overcoats, gloves,
+and caps; for they would soon be soaring to
+great heights, where the atmosphere was almost
+Arctic in its intensity.</p>
+
+<p>They were examining their automatic pistols,
+seeing that their airplane compasses, speed indicators,
+special airplane clocks, mounted on
+wire springs, and altitude barometers were in
+their proper places and in working order.
+Their very lives might depend on a little thing,
+and no one could afford to neglect even trifles.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span>Every few minutes one of the planes would
+roll over the surface of the level ground in front
+of the long line of hangars. Then, when sufficient
+momentum had been attained, it would
+commence to climb swiftly upward. Soon the
+machine would get into spirals like a winding
+staircase, and mount toward an altitude of perhaps
+four thousand feet, there to await the coming
+of companion craft before heading toward
+the battleground, far distant.</p>
+
+<p>Jack squeezed the hand of his chum, and gave
+him one last look. There was no need of words
+to tell the deep feelings that gripped his loyal
+heart; indeed, Jack was utterly unable to utter
+a single sentence.</p>
+
+<p>Then Tom was off.</p>
+
+<p>He made the ascent with his customary
+brilliancy, which had won him the admiration
+of the entire escadrille. The air seemed to be
+filled with various types of planes. Some were
+already moving off toward the front, from which
+came the roar of battle, showing that already
+the action had begun by an intense bombardment
+of a portion of the German trenches which
+the French longed to retake.</p>
+
+<p>Tom spent some little time "knocking
+around" while awaiting the coming of those
+members of the Lafayette Escadrille who were
+the last to leave the ground.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64'></a>64</span>What is twenty or even thirty miles to a pilot
+in a speedy Neiuport capable of going two
+miles a minute when pressed? They could be
+over the lines in a very brief time after leaving
+the aviation camp.</p>
+
+<p>Tom looked at the scene below him, which
+was spread out like a gigantic map. He never
+wearied of observing it when simply "loafing"
+up in the air, as at present. The sun was fairly
+above the eastern horizon, though clouds drifted
+along in scattered masses, and it was as yet
+impossible to tell what the day might bring
+forth.</p>
+
+<p>Then the last of the squadron arrived, and
+the signal was given to start for the front. Away
+they went with a whirr and a roar, seven strong.
+They overtook a number of clumsy two-seaters
+on the way, observation planes, bombing
+machines, or it might be those included in the
+"fire-control" units going to relieve some of
+their kind already doing their appointed bit in
+the battle.</p>
+
+<p>Tom looked far beyond. He could see great
+oceans of smoke arising that told of innumerable
+high explosives bursting, and enormous
+guns being discharged. Both sides seemed hard
+at work, though the French were certainly sending
+ten shells to one that came from the forces
+of the Crown Prince. This told plainly enough
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65'></a>65</span>
+which army expected to do the attacking that
+day.</p>
+
+<p>And yet while all this wonderful panorama
+of war was spread beneath them, the seven
+pilots moving onward in wild-geese formation,
+with the captain at the head of the V, they heard
+nothing of the tumult raging. In their muffled
+ears sounded only the loud whirr of the propellers,
+and the deafening explosions of the
+engines. It was almost as noisy as a boiler shop
+in full blast.</p>
+
+<p>The fire-control planes were already sending
+back their signals, the observer aboard intently
+following the course of each monster shell to
+note exactly where it landed, and then communicating
+with the gunners, so they might
+correct their faults and make each missile count.</p>
+
+<p>German pilots were in the air also, sometimes
+in swarms. Theirs was the task to attack these
+heavier machines and try to cripple or destroy
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Of course each one of these machines of the
+French "relage," or fire-control, was armed
+with a quick-firing gun; and there was an observer
+aboard, as well as a deft pilot. They
+carried such a large assortment of material, consisting
+among other things of a complete wireless
+outfit, that they had to be built with unusually
+large wings.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span>This makes them slow to answer to the call
+of the pilot; and when attacked by the more
+nimble Fokkers they have a hard time to keep
+from being shot down. That is why a number
+of the Nieuports with well known "aces" in
+charge, must always be hovering over the fire
+controls, ready to fly to their assistance in case
+they are attacked.</p>
+
+<p>"Things are surely beginning to happen,"
+murmured Tom. "The Boches seem to be in
+an unusually fierce and aggressive humor on
+this particular morning."</p>
+
+<p>The youth was right in this. The Germans
+had been thrown out of numerous hard-won
+positions lately, and this gave them cause for
+feeling bitterly toward the French.</p>
+
+<p>By the time the American unit reached the
+field of battle, several furious combats had
+already taken place with disastrous results. Two
+of the enemy machines had been sent down,
+one of them in flames, after the pilot had fallen
+at his post, fairly riddled by the gunfire of the
+Frenchman. A birdman had also paid the great
+debt on the side of Petain's men. As the score
+was two against one there seemed no cause for
+depression.</p>
+
+<p>The Americans would not be kept out of the
+fight for long. No sooner were three adventurous
+Teuton pilots seen climbing up to attack
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span>
+the big fire control machine when Tom's companions
+dropped down from the "ceiling" to
+engage them.</p>
+
+<p>Tom watched everything as though photographing
+the thrilling happenings on his brain
+forever. He had a greater interest in these
+things than at any previous period of his life,
+for was he not also hovering over that observation
+Caudron, upon which the movements of
+the advancing French troops depended? At
+any minute might he not receive the signal from
+the captain to attack some fresh Boche, who
+had climbed high above the battle lines to join
+the general scrimmage, or else "get" the big
+French machine while its defenders had their
+hands full with his comrades?</p>
+
+<p>Had Tom been able to use his binoculars
+just then, which was out of the question of
+course, and look back to where the monster
+French guns were firing, he might have noticed
+various white sheets spread out in fantastic patterns
+on the ground, the picture varying every
+little while.</p>
+
+<p>These were used to "talk" with the observer
+who was sending those messages from the fire-control
+plane, telling the gunners just how many
+metres their fire was short, long, to the right,
+or to the left of their intended objective.</p>
+
+<p>Then again information was being sent by
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span>
+another observer to the advancing infantry,
+warning them of perils that lay in their way,
+which might have cost them great and grievous
+losses if they remained unknown until the German
+trap was sprung.</p>
+
+<p>The morning was advancing. Tom had seen
+his comrades chase off several flocks of enemy
+aircraft that endeavored to interrupt the deadly
+work of the observers. As yet his anticipated
+chance had not come. He was beginning to feel
+impatient. Could it be that he must stay there
+almost up among the clouds, and only be a
+"looker-on?"</p>
+
+<p>How eagerly did his heart throb with renewed
+hope each time he discovered signs of
+another attempt on the part of the enemy pilots
+to engineer a raid that might check this observation
+work. They knew what it was doing to
+advance the cause of the battling French; and
+that, as often proved to be the case, the airplanes
+were again the "vigilant eyes of the
+army."</p>
+
+<p>It was well along in the morning when Tom
+Raymond's time came. The fighting below had
+been going on for some time, and from fugitive
+glimpses Tom snatched every now and then as
+he looked down, he had reason to believe things
+were moving successfully for the assailants. At
+least the French troops occupied a long line of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span>
+trenches where the Boches had been in possession
+at the close of the previous day.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, there was another burst of ambitious
+fliers rising to take a chance. The fact that
+already seven of their men had been dropped,
+several with their planes ablaze, did not deter
+them; for those German airmen had often
+proved their courage and were known as
+stubborn fighters.</p>
+
+<p>Soon another battle below the clouds was in
+progress. Besides Tom, there were now only
+three of the Americans in the air, the remainder
+having been driven down, some in trouble of
+some kind, others to replenish their supplies.
+And there were <i>four</i> enemy planes, Tom
+noticed, even as he watched the machine of the
+captain and received the signal to attack the
+latest arrival in the enemy squadron.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span><a id='link_9'></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><span class='h2fs'>WINNING HIS SPURS</span></h2>
+
+<p>"At last!"</p>
+
+<p>Those were the expressive words that broke
+from Tom Raymond's lips when he saw the
+commander give him the long-anticipated
+signal. Tom had already discovered his intended
+antagonist. A fourth plane was coming
+up quickly. It had held back to await the chance
+that would be offered when the three defenders
+of the fire-control machine were hotly engaged
+with the trio of skillful Boche pilots.</p>
+
+<p>The game was very apparent. It was likewise
+exceedingly old. The French commander was
+too experienced an aviator to be so easily
+caught. That was why he had signaled to Tom
+to take care of the fourth and last German
+airman, and guard the important observation
+plane.</p>
+
+<p>Tom started down with a rush, just as a
+hungry hawk might swoop upon a pigeon it
+had marked for its intended prey.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got to make good!" the young aviator
+told himself. "I've got to make good!"</p>
+
+<p>The German pilot saw him coming. He had
+more than half expected to be interfered with
+in his designs; but it would please him first of
+all to riddle this ambitious young airman, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span>
+his Nieuport, and then to accomplish his main
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Now the two were so close that Tom could
+plainly see the black Maltese crosses on the
+wings of the Teuton plane as it tilted in climbing.
+Already had the other opened fire on him,
+for as his motor was silent during his first long
+dive Tom could catch the tut-tut-tut of the
+rapidly exploding mitrailleuse.</p>
+
+<p>Somehow this did not unnerve him in the
+least, as he had feared it might. Even when
+he realized that the missiles were cutting holes
+through the wings a few feet away he did not
+grow uneasy. The spirit of battle had gripped
+Tom. He was now attaining what had seemed
+to be the height of his ambition. He was trying
+out his mettle against one of the enemy pilots,
+a man with considerable more experience than
+himself, and therefore well fitted to spur him
+on to do his level best.</p>
+
+<p>He could see the pilot crouched in his place,
+and working his gun with one hand while he
+managed some controls of his fleeting machine
+with the other, for there was only one man
+aboard, though German machines usually hold
+two. Long practice had made him an adept
+at this sort of thing, it seemed.</p>
+
+<p>But then Tom had been taught the same
+clever trick down at the French school of aviation
+at Pau, and over on the lake at Casso. He
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span>
+was now about to show whether he had learned
+his lesson to advantage. It was French ways
+pitted against those of the German school.</p>
+
+<p>Tom tried to aim directly at the foeman as
+he rushed toward him. Then he pressed the
+release hard, and instantly the rapid-fire gun
+commenced its staccato barking, as it spit out
+the bullets.</p>
+
+<p>Crack! crack! crack! crack!</p>
+
+<p>Thus the two rivals, rushing at each other
+like opposing birds of enormous size, passed
+and dived, as though ducking to avoid the hot
+fire. Tom looked back, hoping to discover the
+enemy winged and dropping out of the fight.
+Nothing of the kind occurred; but on the contrary
+his antagonist was sailing on, apparently
+untouched, at least in any vital point.</p>
+
+<p>That meant it must all be tried over again.
+The second round in the air duel was about to
+open. It was impossible to predict what the
+outcome might be, but at any rate Tom felt
+renewed courage and confidence.</p>
+
+<p>If he had passed through one siege unscathed
+he believed he could show considerable improvement
+the next time. Already had he learned
+how he might avoid several little errors of judgment,
+not much in themselves possibly; but
+which tended to interfere with his doing the one
+thing necessary&#8211;firing point blank into the muffled
+face of the German pilot.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span>Once more were they rushing headlong
+toward each other. Tom was steadier now, and
+more alert. He had his plan of campaign
+mapped out clearly in his mind. He had moreover
+noticed a weak point about the other's
+method of attack, of which he intended to take
+advantage.</p>
+
+<p>The other three Americans were just as hotly
+engaged not far away; but it was a case of
+every man for himself. Tom counted on receiving
+no assistance. Indeed, while that feeling of
+confidence pulsed through his veins he would
+have scorned to call for help, or even to allow
+it, if he could prevent such a thing.</p>
+
+<p>Again the guns opened fire as the two foes
+advanced with savage fury. Such a battle in
+the clouds is on a plane that almost beggars
+description. Nothing resembling it has ever
+been known before in all the annals of history
+until the present world war broke out, and the
+airplane was perfected as it stands to-day.</p>
+
+<p>This attack was even more tumultuous than
+the first had been. The planes tried dodging,
+and several tricks were brought to bear on
+either side; for it seems that every pilot has
+his pet theories as to how best to catch an
+opponent napping. Everything is fair, once the
+battle royal has started and German wit is
+matched against American, or French.</p>
+
+<p>Again did they pass each other for a sudden
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span>
+dip. Each feared to be caught in a condition
+that would not permit of defense. They looked
+for all the world like a couple of agile boxers
+engaged in a contest, in which foot-work counted
+almost as much as that of the fists.</p>
+
+<p>Around and around they flew, coming back
+to the attack a third, and even a fourth time.
+Tom was beginning to grow impatient. Try
+as he could, he did not seem able to bring the
+other down, though he was almost sure he had
+poked his rapid-fire gun straight for the German's
+face, and when only a comparatively short
+distance away.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got to get him!" he muttered. "Or
+else he'll get me!"</p>
+
+<p>He wondered whether there could be anything
+in what he had heard one old aviator
+say, to the effect that he firmly believed some
+of those Germans must be wearing armor or
+suits of mail, since he had poured streams of
+missiles straight at them, and without the least
+appreciable effect.</p>
+
+<p>The German was getting a bit reckless. No
+doubt he had anticipated an easy victory over
+the other, whom he must have guessed was
+something of a beginner at this sort of aerial
+combat. Tom's agility in avoiding punishment
+annoyed him; likewise the way the bullets
+splashed around him had a disconcerting effect
+on his mind.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75'></a>75</span>This was the fifth dash, and it seemed as
+though the time had come when one or the
+other should win the contest. They were growing
+more and more desperate now; the fire of
+the battle had gone to their heads, and each
+must have made up his mind to finish the fight
+then and there, judging from the way they
+headed straight toward one another. At any
+rate Tom had determined that he must win,
+and win without delay.</p>
+
+<p>Bang!</p>
+
+<p>Tom realized suddenly that he had been
+struck, for he felt a sudden acute twinge.
+He neither knew nor cared how serious the
+injury might be, so long as it did not incapacitate
+him from serving his machine. And, best
+of all, thus far no missile from that popping
+mitrailleuse of the German had done serious
+damage to the vitals of his plane.</p>
+
+<p>Let the bullets cut holes all they pleased
+through the linen of the wings; there would be
+no splitting, as happens in the case of cotton or
+other fabrics; and such tiny apertures do not
+count for much in retarding the upholding
+power of a plane.</p>
+
+<p>Another dash, and this time Tom felt absolutely
+certain he had made a hit. It seemed to
+him he must have fairly riddled the other pilot,
+so close was he when he poured all that torrent
+of lead aboard his craft.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76'></a>76</span>They rushed past one another, but Tom took
+the earliest possible opportunity to redress, and
+look back at his foe. A thrill ran through his
+entire being as he discovered that the other
+was in trouble. The Fokker was descending in
+erratic spirals, evidently out of control. Man
+or machine, perhaps both, had come within the
+deadly line of fire, and the fight was over.</p>
+
+<p>Turning, Tom watched the enemy plane go
+down. He had a queer, choking sensation in
+his throat. Every novice probably feels that
+when he watches his first rival heading earthward,
+with a mile or more to fall before he
+strikes. Still, Tom grimly held his feelings in
+check. A successful air pilot, especially when
+he manages a fighting craft, can not let sentiment
+get the better of his combative spirit.
+It is a fair test of skill and endurance, and as
+a rule the better man wins the game. And war
+must always be an exhibition of cruelty in that
+human lives are the stake played for.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless Tom was secretly glad to discover
+that the plane was being fairly well guided
+to earth, showing that the German pilot,
+though he had lost his fight, could not have
+been killed outright, or even mortally wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Tom now found a chance to look around,
+and note what was going on. It was just then
+that one of the leading American aviators drove
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span>
+at his antagonist in a series of zigzag spins
+that must have bewildered the German, he
+never having run up against such tactics before.</p>
+
+<p>The consequence was the enemy met defeat.
+Tom knew what was going to happen as soon
+as he saw the chief star of the Lafayette Escadrille
+start his favorite attack. And ten seconds
+afterwards a second Teuton plane was whirling
+around aimlessly and falling. It turned in its
+flight so that its white belly showed plainly just
+as a fish will in its death throes.</p>
+
+<p>But the pilot was game to the finish, and
+managed in some wonderful fashion to swing
+his damaged craft around again, so that when
+it landed with a crash it fell bottom-down, and
+the motor did not come on top of him.</p>
+
+<p>Later on Tom learned that the man was badly
+injured, and made a prisoner. Eventually he
+pulled through, though it was reported he
+would never be fit for flying again, even if he
+gained his freedom.</p>
+
+<p>The other two Germans had retreated, deeming
+the Americans too strong for them. And
+Tom hoped it would be some time before others
+could muster up sufficient courage to go aloft,
+to pit their machines with those of the members
+of the Lafayette Escadrille.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span><a id='link_10'></a>CHAPTER X<br /><span class='h2fs'>AFTER THE BATTLE</span></h2>
+
+<p>During all this turmoil the fire-control plane
+pilot had kept his machine at work. While
+the fighting guard engaged the German, the
+observer aboard the larger craft continued to
+send his signals to the batteries far in the
+rear of the French advanced lines; and through
+the successful working of the undertaking a
+number of heavy Teuton guns had already been
+silenced.</p>
+
+<p>Tom now found time to look down, using
+his glasses for the purpose, since the air in
+their immediate vicinity was clear of enemy
+planes. He could see something of the battle,
+though so much smoke lay above the battleground
+that it was only when this lifted
+temporarily that an occasional fugitive glimpse
+could be obtained of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>The French were undoubtedly pushing the
+Germans well out of their advance trenches.
+They had already gone forward far enough to
+redeem a fairly wide stretch of territory that
+had been taken from them at the time the
+forces of the Crown Prince made their forward
+drive, at the cost of more than a hundred
+thousand men.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79'></a>79</span>Tom now felt another twinge in his shoulder.
+On looking into the matter he discovered, as
+he suspected, that he had been wounded. Blood
+was showing on his thick fur-lined coat.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a plane approached him. Tom
+recognized the mark on the side, and knew
+the muffled figure seated in the machine was
+the commander of the escadrille. He was
+coming to ascertain whether the novice had
+drawn out of his first combat entirely unscathed.</p>
+
+<p>He had, in truth, cast many an anxious,
+fleeting look toward the pair while Tom was
+"doing his bit" for France; for after discovering
+that the German was an experienced pilot,
+and a man to be feared, the captain would
+gladly have flown to the relief of Tom only
+that he had his hands full with the Teuton he
+had attacked.</p>
+
+<p>He made motions as he approached at
+reduced speed. Tom could not hear a sound
+save the loud beat of his own motor, but he
+knew what the other was asking.</p>
+
+<p>So he touched his left shoulder with his
+finger, and held that up to show that it was
+reddened. Then the Captain made a quick
+motion that was meant for a command. Tom
+was to go down. There was no necessity for
+his remaining aloft longer, now that another
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span>
+had arrived to relieve him from the post of
+duty. He ought to call it a day's work, and
+have his shoulder attended to.</p>
+
+<p>Regretfully Tom obeyed. His fighting spirit
+was aroused, and he would gladly have accepted
+a second challenge to combat, had the opportunity
+come. He nodded his head to show he
+understood, and then started back toward the
+French lines.</p>
+
+<p>All this time shrapnel had been bursting
+here, there and everywhere underneath them;
+but no one paid much attention to the shower.
+Indeed, shrapnel does not account for as many
+hostile planes as might be imagined; since each
+looks like a fly when ten thousand feet high,
+and the surrounding space is so vast.</p>
+
+<p>So Tom swung past the advance French
+lines, just as they were making another forward
+movement. He could glimpse long lines of
+poilus streaming over the shell-hole pitted
+terrain like ants in army array. Tom would
+have been pleased to hover above them for
+a while, and watch how those furious fighters
+rushed the Boches out of their second line
+trenches, as though nothing could stay their
+push.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the French barrage fire was falling
+like a curtain. Tom could tell this from the
+constant line of explosions that took place. The
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span>
+Germans in the second trenches would have no
+chance of going back through that deadly hailstorm
+of shells; they must either die at their
+posts, or surrender, he saw.</p>
+
+<p>So fifteen minutes later Tom dropped to the
+field, ran his plane up close to the hangar,
+and then as a figure dashed wildly toward him,
+started to climb wearily from his seat.</p>
+
+<p>Of course it was Jack. He was wild with
+delight, and was swinging his cap above his
+head with all the animation of a schoolboy.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! to think that I saw it all, Tom!" was
+what he cried, as he seized the hand of his
+chum, and squeezed it fiercely, almost crying in
+his excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"You did!" exclaimed the other. "How did
+that happen, when I had the glasses aloft with
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I borrowed a pair from an obliging
+French officer. When he understood that you
+were my chum, and that it was your first trial
+at combat in the air, he gladly accommodated
+me. They are willing to do almost anything
+for us Americans. My heart was up in my
+throat every time you rushed at that terrible
+Boche pilot!"</p>
+
+<p>"But how could you pick me out at that
+distance?" demanded Tom incredulously, for it
+seemed almost unbelievable.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span>"I guessed that our captain would have you
+hold back when he and the other two started
+to meet the rising Germans," said Jack. "You
+see, I was wise enough to believe he would want
+you to butt in only in case a fourth Boche came
+along. And when that happened I knew your
+chance had come."</p>
+
+<p>"It was pretty exciting while it lasted,"
+remarked Tom grimly.</p>
+
+<p>They were soon on the road to the villa,
+going in one of the cars used to take the pilots
+when going to and returning from work. There
+was a surgeon at hand, and an examination of
+Tom's hurt was made. It proved to be a small
+matter, though it had bled quite freely.</p>
+
+<p>"You must take a few days' rest, young
+M'sieu," the army surgeon told the young
+aviator after he had dressed the wound. "It
+was a narrow escape, I assure you. Three
+inches further down, and I would not like to
+have answered for your life. But evidently
+France had further need of your excellent services.
+I salute you, M'sieu Raymond, you have
+this day done your duty well, and won your
+spurs."</p>
+
+<p>The air service boys could not remain quietly
+at the villa while all that furor was going on.
+They wished to be at the hangars, to greet
+those who returned, and give the pilots who
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span>
+were sallying forth a last word of encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long day, and full of thrilling
+happenings. Other battles in the air occurred
+along the extended front, and not all of them
+wound up in victories for the Allied forces.
+Some distinguished Teuton "aces" were flying
+on that occasion who would not be denied their
+toll. But the Lafayette Escadrille lost none of
+its members, Tom and Jack were glad to learn.</p>
+
+<p>Night finally set its pall over the field where
+all day long the hostile armies had fought
+and bled. The French were grimly holding
+their seized terrain, and hurling the Germans
+back again and again. The serried ranks had
+pushed forward up to within an hour of sunset;
+then, apparently realizing that it was a hopeless
+task, the Teuton High Command had given
+the order to withdraw.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day the battle was not
+resumed. The French had their hands full in
+strengthening and fortifying their new positions,
+while the Germans must have been so severely
+punished and "shot to pieces" that they needed
+time to effect the reorganization of their various
+battalions and regiments.</p>
+
+<p>So several days passed, and nothing out of
+the ordinary happened, at least in connection
+with the two chums. Tom's slight wound was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84'></a>84</span>
+healing fast, and he was told by the army
+surgeon that it would be quite safe for him
+to go up again at any time now, a fact that
+pleased the young aviator immensely.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to make a record for myself," he
+told his chum.</p>
+
+<p>"You're the fellow to do it," answered Jack.
+"Wish I was in your shoes."</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span><a id='link_11'></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><span class='h2fs'>A SHOW ON THE FRONT</span></h2>
+
+<p>While the fighting on the Verdun front was
+furious at times, with prolonged spasms when
+the Germans seemed determined to recover the
+territory they had lost to the French, there were
+also periods of almost total calm.</p>
+
+<p>During these quiet periods the members of
+the American escadrille were sometimes hard
+pushed for ways in which to pass the time away,
+and amuse themselves. Inaction fretted most
+of them, since they were endowed with that
+restless spirit which seems to be the inherent
+trait of most Americans.</p>
+
+<p>Many were the expedients tried by means
+of which some amusement might be extracted
+from life. Their daily business was so exciting
+that these slumps left the aviators nervous and
+unhappy. It was like the sailor who, bowling
+along under full pressure of canvas for weeks,
+in the old days of the sailing vessel, suddenly
+found himself in the "doldrums," and becalmed
+for what might be an indefinite period&#8211;it was
+apt to wear upon a nervous system that
+demanded work.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the pilots were merry while at meals
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span>
+and during their loafing periods; but every time
+one of their number returned from the front
+and reported the inaction as still continuing,
+many deep sighs of discontent would arise.</p>
+
+<p>Then a clever thought occurred to some one
+of the men. Perhaps it was suggested by a
+happy-go-lucky Irish aviator who was connected
+with the British air forces, and wore the marks
+of distinguished service on his arm and cap.</p>
+
+<p>Sergeant Barney McGee had received a
+month's furlough in order to recover from
+injuries which he had sustained. Instead of
+going back to Ireland to spend his enforced
+vacation, as one might naturally expect him
+to do, McGee put in the time visiting other
+parts of the long front between Ypres and
+Verdun.</p>
+
+<p>After all, there was nothing so very singular
+about that. Give an old railroad engineer a
+week off, and presently you will discover him
+spending the time loafing around the roundhouse,
+chatting with the other engineers, and
+investigating things. His whole life being
+wrapped up in his work his idea of a vacation
+consists of being free to watch his fellows of
+the same craft work.</p>
+
+<p>Sergeant McGee was an exceedingly droll
+chap. He spent a couple of weeks with a French
+cousin who was also an aviator, and in time
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span>
+came to know the jolly members of the Lafayette
+Escadrille. He grew to be exceedingly
+fond of them all, and was in the mess-room
+nearly every night.</p>
+
+<p>His idea was that they should get up a show
+to pass these dull evenings away. If the enemy
+allowed them sufficient time they could even
+give a public performance, and give the proceeds
+to the Red Cross.</p>
+
+<p>It took like wildfire with the Americans,
+casting about at the time for some way to kill
+dull care, and make the hours pass more quickly
+until called to action again.</p>
+
+<p>A survey developed the fact that there were
+a number in and out of the Lafayette Escadrille
+who possessed a talent of some kind or other.
+This one had a violin which he loved to play;
+and, while not a finished artist, he was able
+to make real and lovely music by means of
+his clever bow. Another, it turned out, had
+a good tenor voice, and knew many of the most
+popular songs of the day. A third showed a
+talent for mimicking well known people, particularly
+Americans of national fame. Several
+agreed to black up, and give a humorous little
+minstrel skit that they declared would set the
+house in a roar.</p>
+
+<p>It was Barney McGee himself who most
+astonished the Americans, however. At the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span>
+first rehearsal he appeared before their astonished
+eyes dressed to imitate a well known
+and popular moving picture star and he carried
+out the part in a fashion that caused the wildest
+excitement. From that moment the success of
+the show was assured.</p>
+
+<p>They made feverish preparations, for no one
+could tell just when the period of inaction would
+come to an end, and every available member
+of the several fraternizing escadrilles be ordered
+to rush to the front again, to take his life in
+his hands, and risk it hourly for the great
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>Tom and Jack both had parts in the entertainment.
+Jack made a good "bones" for the
+minstrels, and he coaxed his chum to don a
+burnt-cork face for that one evening, and show
+what he could do as a comedian of parts.</p>
+
+<p>They found a building in Bar-le-Duc that
+could be used, and which would hold a
+respectable sized audience. Little preparation
+was needed save to build a stage and get seating
+arrangements. Where chairs were not available
+benches had to take their place. Lights were
+also provided, and what few accessories they
+needed, such as curtains and stage scenery, were
+improvised after a fashion.</p>
+
+<p>In the spirit of fun that prevailed "any old
+thing went," as Jack expressed it. The makeshifts
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span>
+that came to light when the performers
+appeared dressed for their various parts were
+many and startling. They had borrowed or
+begged anything that promised to answer the
+purpose from a long-tailed French coat to a
+lady's highly colored shawl. Wigs had been
+sent for, and Paris had responded with an
+assortment that left nothing to be desired.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the two French air
+squadrons whose headquarters were near by,
+had entered into the affair with great zest. They
+blessed the little Irish pilot for his suggestion.
+And Sergeant Barney McGee was on the jump
+all day long, displaying all the sterling traits
+that distinguish able generals and leaders of
+men.</p>
+
+<p>The time approached when the entertainment
+was to come off. The performers were sure
+of a full house, provided no war orders were
+issued that would interfere with the arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>"Since Fritz has kept quiet for so many dreary
+days now," one pilot was heard to say on the
+morning of the entertainment, "let us hope we'll
+have just one more peaceful evening to reap
+the reward of all this training. It would break
+the heart of Sergeant Barney if the order came
+for every one to buckle down to hard work
+just when his big show is about to come off."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90'></a>90</span>The weather man proved friendly, for he gave
+them a splendid day, with the promise of a
+moonlight night. Besides, the cold had pretty
+well vanished, and it was really becoming more
+seasonable, with the sun warming the earth,
+and the mud drying up to a considerable extent.</p>
+
+<p>When the show opened that night it was to
+a house jammed to the doors. Even the
+windows were utilized for seating room; and
+crowds stood without, unable to gain admittance.</p>
+
+<p>"Some crowd, eh?" remarked Jack, as he
+watched the airmen, soldiers and others pouring
+in.</p>
+
+<p>"I should say so!" cried Tom. "I hope we
+make good."</p>
+
+<p>It was certainly a unique performance, considering
+the fact that it was given in a camp
+close to the battle lines; and that at any hour
+every one of those who were dressed so
+fancifully and conducted themselves as actors
+born to the stage, might be called on to mount
+to the clouds, and perform their dangerous
+work of fighting for France, perhaps even giving
+up their lives.</p>
+
+<p>Loud applause greeted every individual act.
+The violin music drew tears from eyes unused
+to weeping, because the strains of "Way Down
+Upon the Suwannee River," "Home, Sweet
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span>
+Home," and other loved airs tenderly and
+beautifully played, as they were, carried the
+Americans back again to those near and dear,
+those whom they might never again see on this
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>The songs were rapturously applauded, and
+the singers forced to give encore after encore.
+One youth who played the part of a little maid
+from school, and sang in a sweet soprano voice,
+caused the greatest enthusiasm of the evening;
+but then everything seemed to make a decided
+hit.</p>
+
+<p>Tom and Jack, as members of the minstrel
+troupe, did their parts well, though neither
+professed to be a star of the first magnitude.
+They certainly enjoyed seeing and hearing the
+others go through with their appointed tasks.
+As for Sergeant Barney McGee, he drew the
+house down every time he appeared on the
+stage in his quaint dress, and with the famous
+walk that is the trade-mark of the character
+whom he represented.</p>
+
+<p>Two-thirds of the entire show was soon carried
+out. Indeed, the rest was to be more or less
+a repetition of preceding acts, though the
+pleased audience seemed eager to sit for another
+hour, and applaud each turn vigorously and
+uproariously.</p>
+
+<p>However, it was not fated that the evening
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92'></a>92</span>
+should pass entirely without some interruption.
+Afterwards the actors, and those who had
+enjoyed the performance from in front, agreed
+that they had been exceedingly lucky as it was,
+and that "half a loaf was much better than
+no bread at all."</p>
+
+<p>Those whose turns were finished remained,
+of course, as part of the audience. Some of
+the black-faced artists lingered in the so-called
+"wings" to watch what was going on, desirous
+of getting all the fun possible out of the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a case of "eat, drink, and be merry,
+for to-morrow we die;" but "have all the happy
+times you can, fellows, while the going is good,
+for to-morrow we fight."</p>
+
+<p>Sergeant Barney McGee was on again, and
+the audience was convulsed with laughter over
+his ludicrous antics. He appeared to be a born
+actor and mimic; and had they not known
+otherwise Tom and Jack could have declared
+that the comedian who was under contract with
+an American film company, and doubtless in
+California making pictures at that moment, had
+been suddenly transported to the French fighting
+front to entertain the soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the laughter came to a stop. The
+building in which the show was being held shook
+as though a violent thunderclap had rocked the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span>
+earth. This loud detonation that broke upon
+their hearing, however, was only too familiar
+to all those army aviators. They understood
+its dread meaning.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy had taken this opportunity to
+send over a squadron of raiding Fokkers to
+bomb the hangars of the French and American
+fliers at Bar-le-Duc!</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94'></a>94</span><a id='link_12'></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><span class='h2fs'>CLOWNS ON THE WING</span></h2>
+
+<p>Boom!</p>
+
+<p>What followed that first heavy detonation
+was very much like a riot. The audience became
+frantic under the belief that it meant an attack
+on the town, and that the missiles would
+presently drop upon the roofs, working destruction
+to everything around.</p>
+
+<p>It was the actors, however, who were the
+most exercised. One and all they understood
+what it meant to them. Their planes were in
+danger of being demolished! In some way the
+Teutons must have learned about the entertainment,
+and realized that almost every Allied
+pilot would want to attend it. They rightly
+guessed that for once the guard about the
+aviation field and numerous hangars where the
+dozens upon dozens of planes of every
+description were housed when not in use, would
+be unusually light. They had also taken
+advantage of the bright moonlight to make a
+bold sally over the French lines and reach this
+distant point undiscovered.</p>
+
+<p>Boom! boom! boom!</p>
+
+<p>Other crashing sounds announced that the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95'></a>95</span>
+enemy machines were busily at work. Each
+pilot pictured the entire camp under bombardment,
+with the utmost disaster overtaking the
+airplanes upon which General Petain was
+depending so much to serve as the "eyes" of
+his brave army.</p>
+
+<p>There was a general and maddened rush.
+Every one wanted to get to the camp in the
+briefest possible space of time. There was no
+chance for the actors to change their clothes.
+They were glad enough of an opportunity to
+snatch up a heavy fur-lined coat, either their
+own or some other person's. With this to
+hide their ludicrous attire, and also give some
+needed warmth once they went aloft, they
+hastened to find a waiting car, which, when
+loaded to its capacity, would be sent like mad
+along the road to the aviation field.</p>
+
+<p>It was one of the most amazing sights
+imaginable, to see those pilots, many of whom
+were world famous, thus garbed. It looked as
+though some asylum of freaks had opened its
+doors and allowed the inmates to escape to the
+highways and byways.</p>
+
+<p>Only one thought possessed them all, which
+was to get to the hangars in the shortest possible
+time. When they arrived each anticipated
+seeking his particular plane. If that chanced to
+be out of commission, then commandeering
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96'></a>96</span>
+any other, it mattered little whose, so long as
+they were able to go up, and give battle to
+the audacious Teuton pilots who had raided
+their camp at Bar-le-Duc.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got to save our machines!" cried
+Tom. "Come on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Right you are!" responded Jack.</p>
+
+<p>Tom and Jack were with the rest who found
+some way to crowd aboard one of the waiting
+cars that were seized upon to carry the pilots
+to the field. As they went booming furiously
+along the road they could still hear those
+frightful explosions ahead, each one accompanied
+by a flash as of lightning. The reports
+were almost deafening.</p>
+
+<p>Eager eyes were turned aloft. The moon
+shone, but it was difficult to make out so small
+an object as an airplane at a height of a mile
+or more without the use of searchlights, and
+even these were not very efficient on such a
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Still, some of the pilots believed they could
+see several enemy planes swooping over at a
+lower level, possibly, they thought, on the
+lookout for the procession of cars bearing the
+aroused Allied aviators to the hangars.</p>
+
+<p>Bang!</p>
+
+<p>A bomb fell not fifty feet away from the car
+in which the two chums were seated. One of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span>
+their companions received a trifling wound from
+the effect of the explosion of the TNT contents
+of the bomb, said to be the most powerful
+known for such uses, and handled by the
+engineers of all the armies, under different
+names.</p>
+
+<p>If the design of the Boche who swooped down
+for the purpose of waylaying the cars carrying
+the French and American airmen was to rob
+the Allies of the services of a dozen eminent
+pilots all at once, it failed in execution.</p>
+
+<p>At last the aviators arrived on the scene.
+It was lively enough, with bombs still bursting
+here and there. Already considerable damage
+had been done to some of the hangars.</p>
+
+<p>The Allied pilots were "mad all the way
+through" at having been caught napping by
+the foe. They paid no attention to the danger
+that still hung over their heads, with the
+enemy's supply of explosives as yet unexhausted.
+While the dreadful detonations continued,
+sometimes exceedingly close by, the various
+pilots seized upon such mechanicians as they
+could.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the planes rolled along the field
+and began to climb upward by way of the
+usual spiral staircase route, to give battle to
+the enemy, regardless of any superiority in
+numbers.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span>Jack was dismayed to discover that his plane
+was badly wrecked by one of the explosions.
+Indeed, it was afterwards found that he had
+to have a new machine, since the repairs
+necessary to put the old one into service again
+were too complicated to be done at the front.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was more fortunate. His hangar had
+also suffered to some extent, but so far as
+could be seen in a hasty examination his plane
+was not injured in the least.</p>
+
+<p>He too went up, burnt-corked face and all.
+There were clowns abroad that night who could
+give Tom many points in the game, so far as
+comical looks went, and still easily win the
+stakes. But all else was forgotten under the
+spur of the moment, save that each man was
+eager to get in touch with the Boche pilots
+who had almost spoiled their one great evening.</p>
+
+<p>But no longer were those crashing detonations
+coming. This told the story only too well.
+The Germans had either exhausted their supply
+of bombs, or else they deemed discretion the
+better part of valor. They had evidently taken
+their departure before the first Allied pilot got
+up to the elevation they had been using in
+their bombardment.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could be seen of them, though had
+the Allied pilots been able to use their ears,
+which was impossible when their own motors
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span>
+were making such loud noises, they might have
+heard, in the distance and to the east, the telltale
+music of Teuton propellers beating the air in
+a rush for home ports.</p>
+
+<p>A pursuit was organized, and several planes
+followed the retreating invaders over the entire
+distance to the front; but it was of no avail.
+The enemy planes had had too good a start, and
+were being pushed for all they were worth to
+get beyond the danger zone.</p>
+
+<p>There had been several accidents at the
+Bar-le-Duc field, but none of them fatal. This
+was not at all surprising, considering the haste
+shown by the pilots to mount and engage the
+foemen.</p>
+
+<p>Too, several of the planes besides Jack's had
+been damaged, a circumstance which brought
+about disaster before the aviator was able to
+leave the ground.</p>
+
+<p>As the fliers came back one after another,
+filled with indignation and disappointed hopes,
+Jack stalked about, with his black face, yet
+laughed to see what comical pictures most of
+his fellow aviators made.</p>
+
+<p>By degrees most of them began to realize
+that the joke was on them, and joined in greeting
+with noisy shouts each fresh arrival from above.
+The damage had not been so very serious after
+all, since most of the Teuton bombs had either
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span>
+failed to explode when aimed true, or else only
+dug enormous craters in the ground where
+it did not matter, sometimes even a quarter
+of a mile away from the hangars. Jack's machine,
+it was found, was the only one badly
+damaged.</p>
+
+<p>From that time there was one subject on
+which American and French pilots were agreed.
+They must certainly repay their enemy rivals
+for this visitation. The honors could not
+continue to be all on one side.</p>
+
+<p>So from that hour every Allied pilot who
+went far back of the German lines used his
+glasses diligently, in the endeavor to locate the
+secret aviation field of the Boche. This would
+naturally be camouflaged in the customary
+fashion, at which the Teutons had become
+almost as proficient as the French; but trust
+an airman to spy out the lodging place of his
+kind.</p>
+
+<p>Step by step they learned which direction the
+enemy planes took in coming to the front, and
+retiring when through for the day. Thus in
+good time the hiding place was found. Great
+was the delight of the whole Lafayette Escadrille
+when this confidential news was passed about.
+And, later on, a party of Allied aviators paid
+a night visit to the German camp, and dropped
+several tons of high explosives from bombing
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span>
+planes, that were heavily guarded by the fighting
+Nieuports.</p>
+
+<p>They had reason to believe from what they
+themselves saw, as well as through a secret
+report received from a French spy, that their
+aim had been remarkably fine; and that many
+times the amount of damage the Germans had
+done at Bar-le-Duc had been carried out on
+the reprisal sally.</p>
+
+<p>After that it seemed as though the slate had
+been wiped clean. Their honor had been fully
+purged of the stain that had rested on it ever
+since that dreadful night when they were caught
+off their guard.</p>
+
+<p>It turned out that the enemy had meant to
+start an action on the following day, and it
+had been hoped that the squadron of airmen
+might so cripple the French service that the advantage
+would be all on the side of the assailants.</p>
+
+<p>Something happened, however, to balk the
+plans of the Crown Prince. Perhaps he had a
+reprimand from his august father and emperor
+for so recklessly sacrificing such vast numbers of
+his men in a fruitless assault against the stonewall
+defensive of the French army. It may
+also have been something else that called the
+attack off, but at any rate it failed of accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span>The stagnation along the front continued;
+but all this while General Petain was making
+quiet though effective preparations, in order
+some day to strike a staggering blow, such as
+the French had before given, which would take
+the enemy by surprise, and push him still
+further back.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was fretting because thus far he had
+seen so little of real action. Since his Nieuport
+had been sent away, and another had as yet
+failed to arrive for his use, he often bewailed
+his ill-luck. He even assured his chum the
+"green mould would be growing all over his
+person if something didn't soon come to pass
+to break the terrible monotony."</p>
+
+<p>But every lane, however long, must have its
+turning; and Jack's hour struck at last.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103'></a>103</span><a id='link_13'></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /><span class='h2fs'>MORE WORK IN PROSPECT</span></h2>
+
+<p>"Tom, sit down here on this bench, won't
+you? I want to have a little talk with you
+about some things that have bothered me a
+whole lot lately," said Jack, some days after
+the exciting experiences narrated in the two
+preceding chapters.</p>
+
+<p>"I can give a pretty good guess what they
+are, Jack, since I see you staring hard at the
+slip of paper found attached to the toy balloon
+which drifted over our lines from somewhere
+back of the German front."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I own up I do sit and look at that
+paper, Tom. If it could only talk I'd know
+who penned that warning, and my curiosity'd
+be satisfied for one thing. But try as hard as
+I may, I can't be certain whether it was Mrs.
+Neumann, or somebody else. But I wanted
+to speak to you about Bessie just now."</p>
+
+<p>"What about her, Jack?" asked Tom,
+knowing how much his chum was concerned
+over the unknown fate of the pretty young
+girl they had met on the Atlantic liner, and
+who was apparently anything but happy in the
+charge of her legally appointed guardian, Carl
+Potzfeldt.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span>"There are several things she told me, half
+unwillingly, I admit, that I guess I haven't said
+anything about to you, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she confided her secrets to you, eh?"
+half chuckled Tom; though he saw his chum
+was in anything but a humorous frame of mind.
+"I remember you told me she felt very bitter
+toward all Germans because she had lost her
+mother when the <i>Lusitania</i> went down."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But this had to do with her guardian,"
+Jack continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see! Mr. Potzfeldt, Jack? You haven't
+felt favorably disposed toward that gentleman
+at any time since first meeting him."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither have you, Tom, to tell the truth!"
+declared the other quickly. "In fact, as I
+remember it, both of us were pretty much
+inclined to believe he was a paid spy of the
+German Government, working on some line
+of dark business over in America. Well, he
+had to clear out in a hurry, Bessie told
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Did the authorities get track of his scheming
+work, and was he in danger of being arrested
+for plotting against Uncle Sam's interests as
+a neutral?" Tom asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It may have been that; but Bessie wasn't
+sure about it. In fact, she seemed inclined to
+believe her guardian had some secret, which was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span>
+in danger of being exposed. An old friend of
+her mother's was interesting himself in the
+matter. Given time, he might have made it
+uncomfortable for Carl Potzfeldt; and so the
+gentleman cleared out between two days."</p>
+
+<p>"Taking Bessie with him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. They made as if to go to Chicago,
+but instead hurried to New York. When he
+came aboard at the last call he kept to his
+cabin for a time, until we were well away from
+land. There has been considerable of mystery
+about his actions. Bessie is afraid of him, too.
+She even hinted that she believed he might
+have obtained control of her fortune and
+herself through fraud, and that this was in
+danger of being found out at the time he cut
+stick and ran."</p>
+
+<p>"All this is interesting, Jack; but just when
+and how we're ever going to learn the truth
+about it I'm unable even to guess. It would
+be like hunting for a needle in a haystack to
+try to find Potzfeldt. He and his pretty little
+ward may be hundreds of miles away from
+here."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you're right, Tom," mused the
+other sadly, as he stared afar off toward the
+north. "I'd be glad of a chance to do something
+for that poor girl. She is to be greatly pitied,
+if she's wholly in the power of a man who
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span>
+wouldn't hesitate to do <i>anything</i>, if he saw a
+chance for gain ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, all you can do, Jack, is to live on and
+hope a lucky chance will bob up for you. But
+there's our captain beckoning to me. Perhaps
+another battle is on the carpet for to-morrow,
+and I'll be given a look-in again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if the lightning would only strike me
+too!" sighed Jack, enviously. "Please beg him
+to figure out something I can do, Tom. If
+it's only occupying a place aboard an observation
+plane or taking photographs of the Germans
+regrouping far back of the lines, I'd gladly
+welcome it. Anything but sitting here, when
+all the other pilots are at work."</p>
+
+<p>Tom hurried to join the commander of the
+Lafayette Escadrille. He had taken a great
+fancy to the gallant man, and believed this
+feeling was in a measure returned. Jack
+continued to sit and mope. He really felt
+slighted to be left out when so much thrilling
+work was being done.</p>
+
+<p>He had put away the well-thumbed scrap
+of paper with its mysterious lines of warning,
+for the time being Bessie and all her troubles
+passing from his mind. Jack was now full of
+his own affairs. He found himself growing a
+bit discontented because thus far he had been
+allowed to do so little for the cause, when his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span>
+heart was full to overflowing with a desire to
+assist.</p>
+
+<p>There were aviators going and coming all
+the time, and surely many of them did not
+excel him appreciably in talents. Why did not
+those in charge find something for an ambitious
+pilot to do? He was striving daily to master
+the weak spots in his education; and had not
+the captain himself assured him he was doing
+bravely? He turned to cast an occasional look
+toward the spot where Tom and the commander
+of the air squadron still talked earnestly. Yes,
+something was certainly "on tap," as Jack expressed
+it, for he saw the other carefully examining
+a bit of paper his companion had evidently
+placed in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Jack began to be interested. Perhaps after
+all it might turn out to be something quite
+different from what Tom had anticipated. Had
+the captain simply wished to notify the other to
+be ready to answer a call on the following morning,
+surely he need not have taken all this
+time; nor would he have given Tom that paper,
+undoubtedly carrying explicit instructions.</p>
+
+<p>How the minutes dragged! Jack thought
+it an eternity before he saw Tom and the
+captain separate. He was glad to notice that
+his chum once more headed in the direction of
+the spot where they had been seated on a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span>
+bench back of the long row of frame buildings
+used for permanent hangars at the Bar-le-Duc
+aviation field.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Tom had evidently been told something
+that pleased him very much. His smile admitted
+the fact, and Jack knew by now just how to
+read the face of his comrade so as to get a
+good idea of what was passing in his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Looks like good news, Tom," he cried out,
+for motors were rattling and throbbing,
+mechanicians and helpers, as well as pilots,
+calling to one another, and all manner of sounds
+combining to make a great racket.</p>
+
+<p>Tom shrugged his shoulders in a non-committal
+way, which might mean a whole lot, and
+again might express a small fraction of
+disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I've been given a job, if that's what
+you mean," he admitted, as he dropped down
+once more on the bench alongside Jack, and
+threw one leg over the other.</p>
+
+<p>"More fighting to-morrow, possibly?" queried
+Jack, anxiously. But he found his curiosity
+further whetted when Tom shook his head in
+the negative.</p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily this time, it seems," he went
+on to say; "though of course you never can
+tell what you'll strike when once you pass fifty
+miles, more or less, behind the enemy front."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span>Jack pursed his lips up as if about to whistle,
+but he made no sound. It was only a visible
+indication of surprise on his part&#8211;surprise, and
+an eager desire to know just what his chum
+was so slow in telling him.</p>
+
+<p>"Another bombing raid, then, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never a bomb going along this time," came
+the puzzling answer. "Nor is there going to
+be a big bunch of planes starting out. I'm to
+be the only pilot in the game this time,
+Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"You're knocking me silly with that, Tom,"
+protested the other young aviator. "I can see
+the twinkle in your eyes, as if you were holding
+something back, so as to tantalize me. Are
+you free to tell me what this business of
+yours it is the captain has just handed over
+to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, surely, Jack. He told me I could take
+<i>one</i> fellow into my confidence, and no more.
+So I mean to tell you all about it."</p>
+
+<p>Tom turned and cast a careful look around.
+They were not very close to any of the hangars,
+it happened; and none of the many helpers
+and attendants could possibly overhear what
+was said, with all that clatter constantly going
+on.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess it's perfectly safe for me to talk
+here, Jack, and not give the thing away. You
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span>
+know it does seem that the German spies are
+able to penetrate nearly everywhere, and pick
+up all sorts of valuable information, to send
+across the line in any one of a dozen different
+ways."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But go on, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems there is need of some one to go
+to-night to a particular place far back of the
+German lines&#8211;in fact, close to the fortified city
+of Metz itself. In a certain place, inside a hollow
+post, will be found a paper marked in cipher,
+and containing much valuable information which
+has been collected by one of the ablest of the
+French spies. He is really a native of Alsace-Lorraine,
+and well thought of by the Germans.
+As it is utterly out of the question for him
+to report in person, he has adopted this way
+of getting his news to General Petain. And
+as there is a scarcity of pilots capable of doing
+this work our captain has selected me to
+undertake it for the cause."</p>
+
+<p>"But Tom, I should have thought he would
+have picked out some one more familiar with
+the ground back there. How can you find
+your way to that particular place, if you've
+never been there before?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been given directions that are bound
+to take me right," Tom assured his worried
+chum. "There was a man they used for this
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span>
+purpose, and several times he's brought back
+the papers; but on his last trip he had the
+misfortune to run into a bunch of cruising
+Fokkers, and they brought him down. He fell
+fortunately inside the French lines, so his papers
+were saved; but Francois will never handle the
+controls of a plane again. He was killed."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is danger in the game!"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly there is. But in these times who
+could dream of passing so far back of the
+German front without expecting to be in
+constant peril? The papers will be put in a
+little box previously prepared. Should disaster
+overtake us, it will be flung overboard, and
+before it reaches the ground everything will
+have been consumed by the fire that follows."</p>
+
+<p>Jack's eyes began to glitter.</p>
+
+<p>"Just so, Tom! But I notice that you used
+the plural pronoun when you spoke. Then you
+do not go on this mission alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, that's right. I have been given permission
+to pick out my one companion, for there
+will be two of us aboard the plane to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Jack tried to keep calm, but it was indeed
+difficult, and his voice faltered more or less
+as he hurriedly went on to say:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you already made your selection?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," the other assured him in his tantalizing
+way. "I wanted to know whether the captain
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span>
+approved of my choice; which I am glad to
+say turned out to be the case."</p>
+
+<p>Jack gulped something down, and then blurted
+out:</p>
+
+<p>"Did you mention my name at all, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yours was the only one I had in mind; and
+Jack, rest easy, you're going along with me
+to-night to glimpse the lights of Metz!"</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span><a id='link_14'></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /><span class='h2fs'>OFF ON A DARING MISSION</span></h2>
+
+<p>The two air service boys fell to talking
+earnestly concerning what they should take
+with them, and how to study a map which
+their captain had promised to put in Tom's
+hands immediately.</p>
+
+<p>This was not of the ordinary kind, but so
+definitely marked for just such an emergency
+that even a novice could probably find his way
+to Metz, granting that he possessed the necessary
+qualifications of an air pilot.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a messenger came with a package
+for Tom. This proved to be the chart from
+the commander of the air squadron. Tom was
+to make as good a copy as was in his power,
+for the original was too valuable to risk losing.</p>
+
+<p>Jack understood that there were several reasons
+for having Tom do this. In the first place
+his work on the chart would familiarize the
+young aviator with its every detail, and fix
+things firmly in his mind. Then again, if they
+were lost, and never returned, the priceless
+chart for night voyaging over the enemy's lines
+would be at least safe.</p>
+
+<p>Daring men had gone forth on similar desperate
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span>
+errands before then, and had never been
+heard from again. It is the fortune of war.
+Those who indulge in enterprises that border
+on the sensational must always expect to sup
+with deadly peril.</p>
+
+<p>When the evening meal was announced the
+two chums were already deep in the work. Of
+course not a whisper of their intended mission
+was breathed at the table. No one dreamed
+of their contemplated trip. The customary
+chatter and good-natured badinage flowed
+during the whole supper-time. While some
+of the American aviators had received wounds
+in recent engagements there had been no chair
+vacant for some little time now; and hence no
+gloom rested on the escadrille. From the table
+the boys again went to their room.</p>
+
+<p>"How far is Metz from Verdun?" asked Jack,
+as they labored to complete their preparations
+for departure.</p>
+
+<p>"Not over forty miles, I should say, as the
+crow flies, Jack. I've never been over the route,
+but it can be measured on this copy of the map."</p>
+
+<p>"And that's the direct line we expect to cover,
+of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll head due east."</p>
+
+<p>"And as it'll be densely dark when we start
+I guess we needn't mount to ten thousand feet
+to pass over the enemy lines, eh, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span>"There'll really be little need," came the reply,
+showing that the pilot had already figured all
+this out. "At the same time we ought to keep
+far enough out of range to avoid being struck
+by stray shrapnel."</p>
+
+<p>"Will they bombard us, do you think?"
+demanded Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's to be expected," said Tom
+indifferently. "You see the men who man the
+anti-aircraft guns are constantly on the alert.
+They're bound to hear the whirr of our propeller
+as we pass over, no matter how high we soar.
+The searchlight will spot us out, and then
+they'll do their best to make things uncomfortable
+for the pair of us. But the chances
+are ten thousand to one against our being
+hit."</p>
+
+<p>"You said our course would be due east,
+didn't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll change that assertion a bit, Jack; we
+start east after we're well across the front, and
+away from the dazzling searchlight business.
+In the beginning we'll point the nose of our
+big machine toward the north."</p>
+
+<p>"So as to deceive the watchers, of course,"
+remarked Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what the game is."</p>
+
+<p>Jack's eyes sparkled. He was always proud
+of his chum's clever reasoning powers, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span>
+believed Tom could hold his own with any one
+with regard to mapping out a promising plan.</p>
+
+<p>Their preparations completed, the two air
+service boys lay down to secure a little rest.
+As they were not to start until some time after
+midnight, Tom believed they should secure
+a few hours of sleep. The moon was a late
+one, and would not rise, even with a midnight
+start, until they were well back of the enemy
+lines.</p>
+
+<p>An alarm-clock aroused them at the appointed
+time. Tom immediately shoved the noisy thing
+under his blankets before it could wake up the
+entire house, and set people wondering what
+was happening that any one should want to
+be aroused at such an unseemly hour.</p>
+
+<p>It was terribly black outside. Jack pressed
+his nose against the window and took a look,
+even while hurriedly finishing his dressing.
+Tom had taken the precaution to put a fresh
+battery in his little hand electric torch, which
+he believed would prove to be worth its weight
+in gold.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at their destination, the boys quickly
+found their two-seater aircraft awaiting their
+coming. Quite a crowd stood around, and made
+guesses concerning the possible reason for the
+captain's order that this plane should be made
+ready for a journey, with enough supplies of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span>
+gasolene and oil aboard to cover any ordinary
+emergency.</p>
+
+<p>Tom took no chances. He believed the
+attendants had faithfully carried out all directions,
+but to make doubly sure he looked over
+things himself. It was his life and Jack's that
+were at stake, and not those of the attendants;
+so he persisted in testing this and that thing
+until he felt certain everything was as it should
+be.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it time we started, Tom?" asked his
+companion, when this procedure had resulted
+satisfactorily.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll wait just ten minutes more," he was
+told. "I've figured everything down to a
+fraction, and expect to proceed by clock-work.
+We want to be well over the line before the
+moon peeps up. After that we can loaf a bit,
+and let the old lady get a little way above
+the horizon. That's so we may have the benefit
+of her light when we want to land."</p>
+
+<p>The minutes passed slowly. Meanwhile the
+crowd increased, every man who chanced to
+be abroad at that hour of the night gathering
+to see the two Americans start on their
+mysterious errand. All sorts of guesses were
+indulged in, many of them of the wildest
+character. Jack hearing some of this talk, which
+he half understood, was convulsed in silent
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span>
+laughter over the remarkable ideas that seemed
+to possess the minds of those French mechanicians
+and hostlers.</p>
+
+<p>Finally Tom stood up.</p>
+
+<p>"It's time!" he said simply, and Jack understood
+without any further explanation. He at
+once proceeded to climb into his seat and
+complete his simple preparations for the work
+in hand, being already fully dressed in his
+fur-lined garments, and with his warm hood
+and goggles in place.</p>
+
+<p>A minute afterwards Tom called out the word
+that started the propellers whirling. The motor
+took up the refrain, and hummed merrily, as
+though glad to be busy again. Then they were
+pushed along for a start, gathering momentum
+so quickly that the mechanicians dropped back
+to watch the dark object vanish almost wholly
+from their sight along the level field.</p>
+
+<p>Both boys noticed the great difference
+between this two-seater and their own active
+little Nieuports. How clumsy this machine was,
+and how slow to answer to the call of the pilot!
+Yet it would be far better for their purpose
+than two of the small aircraft, since it allowed
+them to be together.</p>
+
+<p>The few lights of the aviation field near
+Bar-le-Duc had faded almost entirely out of
+sight by the time Tom turned to the north
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119'></a>119</span>
+and headed for Verdun. True, he might have
+pointed the nose of the airplane directly east,
+and saved considerable distance, but there were
+good reasons for not doing this.</p>
+
+<p>To cross the German lines further south
+would surely convince the Teutons that the
+aviators were heading for the vicinity of Metz,
+which was just what Tom did not wish to have
+happen. Then again, his chart covered only
+the direct line between Verdun and the fortified
+city of Lorraine that forty-odd years back had
+been French territory, before the Germans
+seized it as spoils after the war that made
+France a republic for the third time.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120'></a>120</span><a id='link_15'></a>CHAPTER XV<br /><span class='h2fs'>THE MOONLIGHT FLIGHT</span></h2>
+
+<p>The time for talking had passed. With the
+motor working noisily, and the twin propellers
+churning the air, they could hardly have heard
+the discharge of one of the 'Big Berthas', as
+the Allies were wont to call the monster Krupp
+guns, and so called them because a woman
+whose maiden name had been Bertha Krupp,
+owned a big interest in the works where they
+were manufactured.</p>
+
+<p>All was dark around and below them. Above
+the stars shone, and gave a small amount of
+cold, cheery light. Tom had made a study of
+the heavens, and was able to steer by means of
+the stars. The aviator is often as much dependent
+on compass and heavenly bodies to
+shape his course as the sailor hundreds of miles
+away from land.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was in no especial hurry. He had
+carefully thought out his plans, and meant to
+pass over Verdun at just a certain time. Then
+would come the two lines of hostile trenches,
+and the ordeal of searchlights and shrapnel.
+Once that was done with, they had really little
+further to fear.</p>
+
+<p>The minutes slipped away. Under ordinary
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span>
+conditions they were accustomed to making
+that thirty miles in just about half that number
+of minutes, thanks to the ability of the speedy
+Nieuports to cover distance. It would be twice
+that now before they would find themselves at
+the front.</p>
+
+<p>Already they could see various signs to tell
+them they were drawing near. Rockets used
+as signals of various kinds ascended at intervals,
+and burst. Others of the star variety, and which
+discharged glowing white electric balls that
+lighted the earth below, could also be seen. One
+side or the other apparently had some reason
+for desiring to scrutinize a special sector of
+terrain in No-Man's-Land, the disputed region
+lying between the hostile trenches.</p>
+
+<p>Jack used his eyes to advantage. These
+things had not yet grown stale with him, for he
+still found himself filled with awe and wonder
+when gazing down from a lofty height at the
+world shrouded in darkness below.</p>
+
+<p>There within a comparatively short distance,
+that might not be over twenty miles, a round
+million of soldiers were gathered, armed with
+numberless engines of destruction of the most
+ponderous nature imaginable. It was enough
+to give any one a genuine thrill, and Jack felt
+such a sensation creeping over him.</p>
+
+<p>The crucial time had now come. They were
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span>
+passing over the line of the French trenches.
+Jack knew this from various signs, and also
+that in another minute they might expect to
+be spotted by some of the enemy searchlights.
+These would be unmasked, and trained on the
+heavens in the effort to locate the cause of
+that well known clattering noise above.</p>
+
+<p>This speedily came about. First one long
+shaft of dazzling light rushed back and forth;
+then others joined in the hunt, until presently
+they focussed on the progressing two-seater
+pushing north.</p>
+
+<p>Then began the bombardment. Numerous
+anti-aircraft guns were poking their noses upward
+in anticipation of just such a call. Their
+crews commenced to shower the shrapnel
+around and below the bird of passage, whose
+mission, whatever it might prove to be, could
+mean only evil to the Teuton cause.</p>
+
+<p>All this racket was lost upon the two so far
+above the earth. They heard nothing of the
+bleat of the firing guns. Even the bursting of
+shrapnel went unheeded, save at a time when a
+shell exploded close by, and was faintly heard.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was wisely taking but little chance. He
+maintained an altitude that prevented most of
+the shrapnel from coming anywhere near the
+plane.</p>
+
+<p>They crossed the enemy front, and sped on.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span>
+The bombardment diminished in fury as they
+left the first and second line trenches behind
+them. It was continued to some extent from
+an elevation further back, but as Tom knew of
+this formation, and had crept up still higher,
+no accident happened to them.</p>
+
+<p>At last the air service boys were fully
+launched on their night voyage through the
+upper currents. Tom waited until he considered
+that it was really safe to change their course.
+He did not want to betray his movements in
+case some daring Boche pilot started up in a
+swift Fokker machine to pursue them.</p>
+
+<p>Once he shut off the engines and volplaned
+down a thousand feet or more. This was done
+because it was intensely cold up where they
+were; and the reasons that had kept them at
+such a high altitude existed no longer. Then
+again Tom wished to listen to discover if there
+was another aircraft near them; and this could
+be done only when his motor was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"No pursuit, Jack!" he managed to call to
+his chum before they once more straightened
+out, and again allowed the motor to send forth
+its loud hum.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had no chance to make any sort of reply.
+It did not matter, for he, too, had eagerly
+listened, and had failed to catch any telltale
+sound.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span>Immediately Tom shaped a new course. No
+longer were they heading toward the north by
+east, but directly east. There some forty miles,
+more or less, away, lay the city of Metz, the
+object of their mission.</p>
+
+<p>After moving along in this fashion for a short
+time Tom drove his machine more slowly. He
+was watching for the rising of the old moon
+ahead, where the horizon was already lighted
+with her near approach.</p>
+
+<p>How strange she looked peering above the
+edge of the world as though curious to see all
+that was going on in this troubled hemisphere.
+Jack thought he had never witnessed a more
+peculiar spectacle. But at least this fragment of
+a moon would be likely to afford them the
+necessary illumination required when they
+attempted to land in a field that neither of
+them had ever seen before, and only knew
+through information imparted by means of their
+chart, and its accompanying notes.</p>
+
+<p>Some other pilot had doubtless been over this
+same route on previous occasions; yes, and even
+landed in that identical field. He had made the
+chart; and the accompanying memoranda consisted
+of his personal experiences.</p>
+
+<p>Already the moon had dispelled some of the
+cheerless gloom round about them. It was
+still cold up in that upper strata of rarefied air;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span>
+but their fur-lined garments kept them from
+suffering. Besides this, they were young and vigorous,
+and their blood was warm, and they
+were excited with their mission and able to ignore
+any physical discomfort that might come
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>Jack continued to stare ahead as time passed.
+He was looking for some sign of the city
+towards which they were flying. Tom, on his
+part, often took note of his compass, then
+flashed a glance up at the stars, and finally
+sought to discover some landmark far down
+below that was marked upon the chart.</p>
+
+<p>He had the utmost confidence in his own
+judgment, and believed he would bring up at
+the identical place which was their goal.</p>
+
+<p>Tom now volplaned again, wishing to draw
+nearer to the earth. It was while thus dropping,
+with engine muffled, that his ears caught a
+sound calculated to give him an uneasy feeling.</p>
+
+<p>This was undoubtedly the whirr of a propeller
+beating the air in furious fashion. It also came
+from behind. Jack, too, had caught the sound,
+and was thrilled with sudden apprehension of
+impending trouble.</p>
+
+<p>They were undoubtedly being pursued, and
+by a much faster plane than their own. This
+would mean that presently they would be overtaken
+and fired upon. It was not in the nature
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126'></a>126</span>
+of Tom Raymond to allow such a thing to
+occur and be kept from doing his share of the
+fighting.</p>
+
+<p>When Tom swung around to face the rear,
+and actually started to run toward the oncoming
+foe, Jack knew what was expected of him. He
+must man the gun, and prove how well he had
+learned his lesson when at school at Pau and at
+Casso.</p>
+
+<p>No longer could they expect to be guided by
+sounds. Their own motor thundered so loudly
+that every other sound was deadened. They
+must depend on eyesight alone to tell them
+when they were nearing the oncoming Fokker
+craft. Perhaps the first indication they would
+have of its presence would be the flash of its
+quick-firing gun, spattering bullets around them
+like hail.</p>
+
+<p>So Jack strained his vision to the limit. He
+was eager to discover the enemy before they
+themselves were seen. Much might depend on
+who fired first, in a duel of this kind.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the gun began to bark after its own
+peculiar way. Jack believed he had glimpsed
+something moving, and was sending forth a
+storm of lead in the hope of a lucky hit that
+would crumple the other machine up and put
+an end to that peril.</p>
+
+<p>Tom held the course. He knew that every
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127'></a>127</span>
+second was carrying the rival airplanes nearer
+together&#8211;knew that possibly they were so
+headed that if they continued to rush forward
+they might smash in a frightful collision that
+would send both down thousands of feet to the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>It was a time for careful calculations and
+prompt action. Tom gripped the controls and
+was ready either to swerve or to dip as occasion
+demanded. Meanwhile, Jack was doing his best
+to riddle the advancing Boche machine and its
+pilot.</p>
+
+<p>There was no longer any difficulty in seeing
+just where the Fokker was, for a constant flashing
+as her gun rattled betrayed its position
+exactly. The flying lead was now whistling all
+about the two air service boys but they did not
+know how close they sailed to death.</p>
+
+<p>Then Tom swung smartly to the right. He
+dared not keep on longer in his course lest he
+collide with the German craft. Just about the
+same instant he realized that the Fokker was
+diving. There was something queer about that
+manoeuvre. Tom had never known a French
+or an American nor yet a British airman to
+adopt such a clumsy way of plunging so as to
+avoid punishment.</p>
+
+<p>Circling around he started back on a little
+lower level, looking for the enemy. In making
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128'></a>128</span>
+his latest volplane Tom had listened intently,
+hoping to ascertain whether the motor of the
+enemy craft still throbbed somewhere close by;
+but he heard not a sound to tell the story.</p>
+
+<p>Just then, suspicious of the truth, he glanced
+down, and was just in time to see a little flash
+of flame arise from the distant surface of the
+earth. Then the awful truth broke upon both
+boys. They realized that the German pilot had
+lost control of his machine, which had turned
+over and over in its drop, finally crashing to
+the ground, and being instantly enveloped in
+flames!</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span><a id='link_16'></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /><span class='h2fs'>LANDING CLOSE TO METZ</span></h2>
+
+<p>Tom had his hands full in trying to get back
+to his course again. Naturally, in the excitement
+attending the duel in midair he could not
+pay attention to where he was going. It was
+easy enough to shape his line of flight by the
+aid of the stars and his compass, but he had
+also to catch certain landmarks below, that
+would serve to guide him.</p>
+
+<p>Fortune favored him in that he quickly
+sighted the lights of a town; and this gave
+him the bearings he sought. His mind freed
+from further anxiety concerning this matter, he
+pushed on once more.</p>
+
+<p>When presently he became aware of the
+presence of more lights Jack gave Tom the
+signal agreed on between them to mark such a
+circumstance. Then the pilot again commenced
+to drop to lower levels by a series of easy
+volplanes.</p>
+
+<p>Like a huge bird the airplane swept along, now
+close to earth. Had one of the peasants who
+lived in that region chanced to be aroused by
+the rattle of the propeller and thrust his head
+out of his cottage door, he must have gazed in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130'></a>130</span>
+awe to see the vast shadowy form come between
+him and the starry heavens, with the light of
+the moon silvering its extended wings.</p>
+
+<p>One trip failed to show them just what they
+wanted, and so Tom, knowing that the field
+must be somewhere in that immediate neighborhood,
+immediately swung around and started
+in again.</p>
+
+<p>The second search failed to bring success.
+Jack began to experience a sensation akin to
+dismay. Was their work doomed to meet with
+no result and would they find themselves compelled
+to start back to Verdun without having
+accomplished the important errand on which
+they had been dispatched?</p>
+
+<p>It was not Tom Raymond's way to feel discouraged
+because things did not always go as
+he wished from the start. He believed in the
+old motto, "If at first you don't succeed, try,
+try again." And he would circle around that
+vicinity for a full hour if only in the end he
+might find that for which he searched.</p>
+
+<p>Three times however, was the limit. Then
+Tom felt certain he had "struck pay dirt"; and
+that the opening lying below was the identical
+field to which he had been directed.</p>
+
+<p>After that it resolved itself into a simple
+landing by moonlight. There were no ready
+mechanicians waiting to lend a hand; and everything
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span>
+must be done by the pilot and his
+assistant. But then, all war aviators must be
+able to make ordinary repairs if necessary, and
+do other duties that usually they allow the
+mechanics to perform.</p>
+
+<p>Tom brought the heavy machine to the earth
+softly. It was fine work he did, considering
+the fact that it was unfamiliar ground he was
+striking and the moonlight was far from strong.</p>
+
+<p>They jolted along a short distance, and then
+came to a full stop. Jack was the first to spring
+out. His first thought was of the strangeness
+of being on German soil, far back of the fighting
+lines, and within a few miles of Metz, a city of
+prime importance.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had they landed when the air service
+boys found themselves listening to sounds that
+seemed significant. Plainly came reports of
+firearms and of loud shouting, as of excited
+men.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think that row means, Tom?"
+asked Jack, as they stood listening with
+quickened hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"It's hard to say," the other replied. "They
+may be having a riot of some kind over in the
+city. But I'm afraid it is more apt to have
+something to do with our presence here."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean they've seen our dropping
+down and that there may be soldiers on the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132'></a>132</span>
+way here to see what we're up to?" asked
+Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"That may turn out to be the truth of it. But
+we mustn't lose any more time. What we want
+now is that paper. Jack, remember that we
+arranged it so you'd stay with the plane, while
+I hurried off to get it."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Tom; only I wish you'd let me go
+along. Then if anything happened we'd be
+together, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"It's better for you to stay here. I'll be gone
+only a few minutes if everything turns out
+O.K."</p>
+
+<p>Tom turned and ran across the field. Jack
+stared after him until he lost track of the runner
+in the misty moonlight. Then he occupied himself
+in listening to that clamor and wondering
+whether it was really getting closer, or if his
+fears only made him think so.</p>
+
+<p>There was certainly a big noise. Men
+continued to shout, and guns were being
+discharged, but not so frequently as before.
+Perhaps this latter was done by nervous
+guardians of the Lorraine city, who on first
+hearing the racket took it for granted that it
+meant an airplane attack, and were therefore
+starting in to bombard the skies, discovering
+hostile fliers in every lurking fleecy cloud.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Jack was positive now that those who
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133'></a>133</span>
+shouted to one another must be coming out of
+the city, and heading for the big field where
+Tom had dropped down.</p>
+
+<p>"Like as not," Jack told himself, "some
+wisebody has discovered that airplanes have
+been using this ground for alighting. When
+they had word that an enemy machine was
+heading this way they just naturally concluded
+it might drop down here. I guess our little
+fight up aloft was heard and understood by
+some one on guard. I hope Tom will soon get
+back here, that's what!"</p>
+
+<p>Tom had been gone several minutes, and
+Jack tried to pierce the misty light beyond in
+the endeavor to discover some sign of his returning.
+His uneasiness increased, and with
+reason, for the noise was drawing perilously
+near.</p>
+
+<p>Jack tried to figure out what his plan of
+campaign should be in case a motley mob
+of citizens and soldiers suddenly appeared in
+view, carrying lanterns, and perhaps blazing
+torches.</p>
+
+<p>True, he had his automatic pistol with him,
+but what would that puny weapon avail when
+pitted against a score or two of enemies; many
+of them armed soldiers of the Kaiser, who would
+ruthlessly fill him with lead at the first show of
+resistance on his part?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134'></a>134</span>Would it be better policy for him to slip
+away and conceal himself in case they did
+arrive before Tom returned?</p>
+
+<p>But had not Tom explicitly told him to stay
+on guard over the airplane until he came back?
+Jack drew in a fresh breath. He threw back his
+shoulders aggressively and his mind was made
+up. He would stick it out, no matter at what
+cost. If the Boches wanted that plane they
+would have to fight for it, that was all.</p>
+
+<p>He had his pistol out now, and was fondling
+it as a child would a pet toy. So far Jack had
+fired the weapon only at targets, but he had the
+reputation of being a good shot. He believed
+he could make every bullet it contained tell.</p>
+
+<p>Then what about the mitrailleuse aboard the
+plane? Was it not possible to train it on the
+advancing host, and give them such a hot reception
+that they would break and race madly
+for shelter?</p>
+
+<p>He knew the gun was fixed to shoot straight
+ahead. This was the custom with all those who
+went up in airplanes. To attempt to fire any
+other way would imperil the stability of the
+plane, and in many cases bring about sudden
+disaster.</p>
+
+<p>Jack fumbled for the fastenings of the airplane
+mitrailleuse, it being his intention to
+swing the gun free, so that he could turn its
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135'></a>135</span>
+muzzle in any quarter desired. But it had been
+too well secured in place for such a quick
+delivery, and presently he gave the idea up as
+a bad one.</p>
+
+<p>No Tom yet! Things certainly were taking
+on a dark hue, and it looked as though
+desperate trouble might be in store for the two
+chums. Jack almost believed he could see
+dancing lights coming along what might be a
+road. He looked again, and no longer had any
+doubt on that score.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a fellow can die only once, and after
+all what does it matter whether he meets his
+end by falling ten thousand feet from the clouds
+or in trying to hold off an angry mob of Teuton
+soldiers and citizens of Metz who are in
+sympathy with the methods of the Kaiser?"
+Jack's reflections served to give him courage.</p>
+
+<p>There was the leading one of the mob, starting
+across the dimly lighted field! Jack set his
+jaws hard, and determined that he would wait
+until the other had come close up. Ammunition
+was much too precious to be wasted without
+results following.</p>
+
+<p>He was soon glad he had made such a
+sensible resolution, for as the runner drew
+closer something familiar about his figure and
+methods of leaping told Jack it was none other
+than Tom.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span>"Get aboard in a hurry, after you've given
+the propellers a swing!" cried Tom, almost
+breathless himself after such a sharp run. "I've
+got what I wanted."</p>
+
+<p>He was already in his place with his hand on
+the control.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me when, Tom!" sang out Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Cut loose!" ordered the pilot.</p>
+
+<p>The propellers spun, and the motors commenced
+their furious throbbing. Jack swung
+aboard, and at once the plane started to roll
+along the field, even as men appeared, bursting
+into view on one side, and shouting harshly as
+they realized how close they had come to
+catching those they sought.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span><a id='link_17'></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /><span class='h2fs'>MORE TROUBLE FOR THE CHUMS</span></h2>
+
+<p>It had been a close call for the two air
+service boys. Had they been delayed just a
+minute or two longer escape might have been
+impossible. And to have been caught with the
+spy's paper of information in their possession
+might have proved a very serious matter.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the mob, that had come from Metz
+itself, were German soldiers. They carried guns
+with which they opened a hot fire on the
+departing plane.</p>
+
+<p>Again the lucky star of Tom and Jack seemed
+to be in the ascendant, for they did not receive
+even a scratch. Later they found reason to
+believe that a number of the leaden missiles had
+come very close to their persons; for the marks
+upon the body of the plane itself, as well as the
+tiny holes in the stout linen covering of the
+wings, told where bullets had passed. Possibly,
+though, these had come from the rapid-fire gun
+handled by the Boche airman.</p>
+
+<p>The plane had left the ground and started to
+mount when this shooting occurred, so that the
+marksmen had at least had a fair target at
+which to fire. But as the departing airplane was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span>
+speeding away from them the rapidly increasing
+distance may have disconcerted the Germans.
+At any rate they failed to bag their game.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were now mounting upwards again,
+filled with joy over their recent escape. Jack
+felt sure that Tom had the precious paper; for
+he well knew the other would never have
+returned so quickly had not success rewarded
+his search.</p>
+
+<p>They were soon heading directly for their
+distant base. Tom could now give his aerial
+steed the rein, and get all the speed possible
+out of the cumbersome two-seater. There was
+no longer any necessity for "loafing on the job,"
+to allow a tardy moon to come in sight, as had
+been the case before. Home, and at top speed,
+was the slogan now.</p>
+
+<p>But, alas! it was not long before Tom realized
+that something was wrong with the plane. He
+found it increasingly difficult to manage the
+engine, and the machine began to give erratic
+jumps that alarmed Jack.</p>
+
+<p>Had it been possible to make himself heard
+above the clatter of the motor and the propeller,
+Jack would have been much inclined to shout
+out, and ask his more experienced comrade
+what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>Still he could give a shrewd guess. One of
+the bullets fired by the Teuton soldiers must
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span>
+have struck some part of the motor, and done
+enough damage to make its workings exceedingly
+erratic. If such were the case, would it
+be wise for them to try to push on at this high
+altitude, where a sudden collapse would mean
+death for both of the occupants of the disabled
+plane?</p>
+
+<p>Tom soon shut the motor off, and tilted the
+machine for a volplane down several thousand
+feet to a new level.</p>
+
+<p>Jack held his breath. This was partly
+because the wind rushed at him in a vicious
+fashion while they were plunging downward,
+and also on account of a new fear that clutched
+his heart.</p>
+
+<p>How about the wings of the airplane standing
+the strain when Tom suddenly brought
+that volplane to a stop and tried to sail on an
+even keel again? Would they hold out? Or
+had some defect occurred in them which could
+also be charged to the spattering bullets fired
+by the Metz mob?</p>
+
+<p>Then Jack breathed easier again.</p>
+
+<p>The thing had been accomplished, and they
+were once more speeding onward, as Tom
+touched the controls that started the motor
+working. All then was well, as far as they had
+gone. Apparently they could by successive
+stages descend close to the treetops, and skim
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140'></a>140</span>
+along until some favorable open space showed,
+into which a skillful pilot would find it possible
+to drop lightly and land.</p>
+
+<p>A second volplane further added to Jack's
+peace of mind. They were now halfway down,
+and all seemed well. The earth loomed up
+below, although as yet it took on only a vague,
+misty effect, due to the weak moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>Jack busied himself in trying to make things
+out, as for the third time the nose of the heavy
+observation Caudron was suddenly pointed
+downward, and they took the next "header."</p>
+
+<p>This time Tom dropped a greater distance.
+When once more the loud hum of motor and
+propellers was heard they had almost reached
+the treetops. Jack gave one gulp, in fear lest
+his pilot could not make things work as he intended,
+and that they must crash to the earth
+while descending at such frightful speed.</p>
+
+<p>Now everything was all right. They could
+not be more than a thousand feet above the
+floor of the valley they were following in their
+homeward route. If anything happened surely
+Tom would find some way of making a landing,
+even if a clumsy one that would put their
+machine out of the running and leave them
+stranded on enemy soil.</p>
+
+<p>They continued to move along slowly, both
+looking eagerly to discover signs that would
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141'></a>141</span>
+invite a possible landing. It looked as though
+they were in the country; at least they did not
+discover any signs of lights to indicate the
+presence of houses near by.</p>
+
+<p>Soon a landing proved feasible, as they came
+to just the kind of open plot the air service boys
+yearned to discover. To make absolutely certain
+before committing himself, Tom circled the
+ground twice, and even dropped lower and
+lower while so doing, all the while straining his
+vision to the utmost.</p>
+
+<p>Then the thing was done.</p>
+
+<p>That was far from a pleasant landing. It
+shook them up considerably; but Jack was of
+the opinion that no damage resulted to the airplane,
+which after all was just then the main
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>Both of them leaped to the ground, after
+which Tom secured his electric hand-torch
+which he had found useful so many times while
+on the outward trip and he wished to consult
+the compass or the register of the barograph.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess there's some sort of a house near
+by," said Jack, "because a rooster crowed over
+yonder. Yes, I can see what looks like the line
+of a road, too. I suppose it runs the entire
+length of this valley."</p>
+
+<p>While Jack was saying this softly the pilot
+had started to take an inventory of the motor.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span>
+His now practiced eye ran along this and that
+part, each of which was so essential to the
+smooth running of the engine. Tom too had
+already formed a pretty clear idea as to where
+he was likely to find the damage, and hence was
+able in a short time to give a satisfied grunt.</p>
+
+<p>"Located the trouble, have you, Tom?"
+queried the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It's right where I expected to find it.
+A bullet has made a dent that interferes with
+the free action of the part. Besides, I think
+that spark plug has become fouled with oil, and
+will have to be changed to get the best results."</p>
+
+<p>"How lucky you brought another with you!
+Lots of fellows wouldn't have bothered about
+such a little thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I had my suspicions about that when we
+started," explained the other, "even though the
+mechanician assured me it was perfectly clean.
+I know different now, and will certainly give
+him a piece of my mind when we get back."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you expect to get home safely, do
+you?" asked Jack, in a relieved tone, that
+proved how anxious he had been growing since
+troubles had so consecutively alighted on them.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," chuckled the other, with his usual
+confidence in voice and manner, "a thing like
+this isn't going to stop our plans. Here in this
+retired spot nobody's apt to bother us while we
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143'></a>143</span>
+make our repairs. You can hold this torch,
+Jack, and shove the light squarely on the work."</p>
+
+<p>Tom worked for some time. He tapped as
+gently as possible when knocking out the dent
+made by the bullet, and he gradually removed
+the cause of the trouble. He was just finishing
+with the spark-plug when the confidence of the
+air service boys received a sudden jolt.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span><a id='link_18'></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /><span class='h2fs'>THE LONE HOUSE BY THE ROADSIDE</span></h2>
+
+<p>"Listen, Tom!" hissed Jack.</p>
+
+<p>The other had just sighed with relief on
+completing the work of replacing the spark-plug
+that had become fouled with oil.</p>
+
+<p>"I, too, heard it plainly, Jack!" he breathed.</p>
+
+<p>"Was it someone screaming or sobbing?"
+asked the other breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Sounded like it to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And either a woman or a girl, at that!"
+hazarded his chum in bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>"It might have been a boy," suggested Tom.
+"There it is again."</p>
+
+<p>Both of them listened. Peculiar sensations
+crept over them as they stood and thus strained
+their ears to catch any further sounds. Sobbing
+at any time is enough to arouse the feelings of
+a sensitive nature; but heard in the dead of
+night, and under the conditions that surrounded
+the two young aviators, made it all the more
+thrilling.</p>
+
+<p>Jack in particular was touched to the heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, that's a queer thing, Tom!" he muttered.
+"Why should anybody be crying or
+screaming like that away off here, and at this
+time of night?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span>"Oh, there are many who are weeping in
+these dark days," said Tom gravely. "The men
+in myriads of families will never come home
+again. Perhaps a mother, or it may be a sister,
+has just had word that son, father, or brother
+has been shot down in battle."</p>
+
+<p>Jack shuddered. Why should his thoughts
+instantly fly to the Boche pilot whom they had
+met and fought and conquered while on the
+way to Metz on their present perilous mission?
+It had been a fair fight, and a case of their lives
+or his. Nevertheless Jack shuddered as he
+remembered how the other had gone down after
+that last exchange of gunfire.</p>
+
+<p>"Tom, notice that it comes from almost the
+identical direction where I told you I heard the
+crowing of a rooster a while ago," he hastened
+to say, more to rid his mind of those ghastly
+thoughts than anything else.</p>
+
+<p>What a strange fatality if this should be the
+home of the unfortunate Teuton pilot of that
+Fokker machine, and the one who mourned was
+his mother or a young sister, or perhaps his
+wife!</p>
+
+<p>"That means there's a house not far away,
+possibly an estate of some kind," mused Tom,
+as though turning over some sudden project in
+his mind.</p>
+
+<p>Jack guessed what his chum was thinking
+about.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span>"Tom," he said softly, when for the third
+time they caught the heart-rending, half stifled
+sobs coming on the still night air.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want now, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was just wondering whether you'd agree
+to something," continued the other, in a
+persuasive tone. "We're not in any <i>great</i> hurry,
+are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, perhaps not, Jack; though I'd like
+to deliver the paper into the hands of our
+commander as soon as possible. It is probably of
+the utmost importance, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help thinking how I'd feel, Tom, if
+my mother or sister were in some great trouble,
+and fellows who might be in a position to hold
+out a helping hand considered their own
+personal safety first."</p>
+
+<p>When Jack said this his voice was husky.
+Apparently the incident appealed strongly to his
+emotions. Jack had always been unusually
+thoughtful in regard to women of whatever age
+or degree, and would go far out of his way to
+do one a favor; so it was not strange that he
+should feel as he did at this time.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was in a mood to be easily persuaded.
+The plaintive sobs, telling of woe that clutched
+some one's heart-strings, stirred a responsive
+chord within him. He, too, remembered those
+at home. Jack had put a clincher on his argument
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span>
+when he asked what their opinion of a man
+would be who turned aside and went his own
+way after hearing a woman or a child crying
+bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, then, Jack; perhaps we can spare
+the time to take a turn around here, and see if
+we can be of any help," he announced, greatly
+to the satisfaction of his chum.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps some one has been hurt and needs
+assistance," suggested Jack. "It isn't going to
+delay us much, and may be of great help to
+them. Come on&#8211;let's be on the move."</p>
+
+<p>Tom was not quite so precipitate as his companion.
+Caution had a part in his make-up.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't try to rush things, Jack," he said. "I
+must take a last look over my work here, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"But you said everything was completed,
+Tom!" persisted the other.</p>
+
+<p>"So it is, but I ought to make doubly sure
+before we leave the plane," Tom added, as he
+took the electric hand-torch from his companion
+and began systematically to look over the
+engine at which he had been working, carefully
+examining every detail.</p>
+
+<p>Jack said nothing further. He understood
+what his chum meant when he declared it important
+that they should know absolutely the
+motor was in prime condition for immediate
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148'></a>148</span>
+service. Something might occur to necessitate
+a hurried departure from the vicinity; a detachment
+of the enemy forces might appear, or other
+perils hover over their heads that might be
+laughed at only if they could take to the air
+without detention.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was not long in doing as he desired.
+Meanwhile Jack could hear an occasional sob
+from the same quarter as before, and the sounds
+continued to exercise a peculiar influence over
+him which he could not have explained had he
+been asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm ready now, Jack!".</p>
+
+<p>"Glad to hear it," muttered the other, half
+under his breath; not that he meant to infer
+Tom had been unduly long, but because his
+feelings were wrought up to a high pitch that
+caused him to quiver all over.</p>
+
+<p>Tom evidently guessed this, judging from his
+next remark.</p>
+
+<p>"Cool down, Jack," he said, laying a hand on
+his companion's arm. "This will never do, you
+know. Getting excited is the worst thing an
+air pilot can do. It'll prove fatal to all your
+hopes, unless you manage to control your feelings
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you're right, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think there's any chance the plane
+will be discovered here in the open field, even if
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149'></a>149</span>
+there is a road so close by," mused the pilot,
+after they had gone perhaps as far as twenty-five
+yards.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in a thousand years," asserted Jack confidently,
+turning to look back as he spoke.
+"Why, even now I can't discover a sign of the
+wings, or anything else in the misty moonlight,
+it's so deceptive. Only that lone tree standing
+close to where we dropped tells me the location
+of our plane."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I marked that, too," asserted Tom
+quietly. "I thought we ought to have some
+sort of landmark to guide us if we should be
+in a hurry coming back. And the tree, standing
+up fairly high, can be seen ten times better
+than anything close to the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the road, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"So it is, and an important one in the bargain,
+judging from its condition," remarked the
+other, softly.</p>
+
+<p>"It runs the length of the valley, of course,"
+added Jack. "I shouldn't be surprised if it went
+all the way from Metz to the Verdun front.
+If that's the case it must have considerable
+travel, even if nothing has chanced to come
+along since we landed."</p>
+
+<p>"I can see signs to tell that we are close to
+some sort of country estate, or it may only be
+a Lorraine farm."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150'></a>150</span>"I can glimpse lights through the trees, and
+chances are they come from windows in the
+house beyond."</p>
+
+<p>"I see them too," affirmed Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"But say, isn't it pretty late for a farmhouse
+to be lighted up like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Depend on it, there's some good reason for
+all that illumination," Jack was told. "And
+perhaps we'd better drop this talking so much,
+now we're getting close to the place. No telling
+what we'll find there. For all we know
+this may be some one's headquarters, though
+pretty far back of the line for that sort of thing.
+But I think it'll turn out to be something more
+than ordinary."</p>
+
+<p>It did.</p>
+
+<p>Jack began to weave all manner of fantastic
+explanations to account for the illumination of
+the house alongside the road to Metz.</p>
+
+<p>He felt he would not be very much astonished
+to discover a line of military cars standing
+at the gate, and find that an important council
+of war was being conducted within the building.</p>
+
+<p>Then he remembered the crying and sobbing.
+Somehow, that did not seem to fit in with his
+other imaginings. The touch of Tom's hand
+on his arm made Jack give a violent start.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a high fence, you notice," Tom
+whispered. "Seeing that makes me believe it's
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151'></a>151</span>
+going to turn out to be a country estate, and
+not just a farm. We ought to find a gate somewhere
+further along."</p>
+
+<p>"That crying has stopped, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"For the time being, yes," admitted the other.
+"Perhaps she's only gone away from the open
+window. I was in hopes it would keep on, so
+we could be guided straight."</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes later, after walking alongside
+the high fence for some distance, they discovered
+the entrance to the place. Tom flashed
+his light on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Been considerable going in and coming
+out of vehicles, generally automobiles," he
+announced.</p>
+
+<p>"And private cars are almost taboo in all
+Germany these dark days, they tell us," mentioned
+Jack sagely. "That makes it look as if
+some sort of military business might be transacted
+in this isolated place. Gee! I tell you it's
+getting my curiosity whetted to a fine point,
+all this mystery. But we're going in, of course,
+Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Some way or other, Jack. If the entrance
+is closed and locked we can climb over the
+fence, all right. But no need of worrying about
+that, because I already see the gates are ajar.
+Come on."</p>
+
+<p>So they slipped into the enclosed grounds,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152'></a>152</span>
+actuated by an impulse, wholly unconscious of
+what might be awaiting them. They had been
+drawn into the adventure simply on account
+of a praiseworthy desire to be of service to
+some unknown one who seemed to be in
+trouble. And neither of the boys even vaguely
+suspected as yet what strange happenings would
+confront them before many minutes passed by.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153'></a>153</span><a id='link_19'></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /><span class='h2fs'>A NEST OF SPIES</span></h2>
+
+<p>Neither of the air service boys had any
+doubts now with regard to the character of
+the grounds they were invading at dead of
+night. It must be a private estate. Once it
+may have been kept up through a lavish expenditure
+of money, but of late years things
+had evidently been allowed to grow more or
+less wild.</p>
+
+<p>Tom was following what appeared to be the
+drive. It was not difficult to do so, because
+of the moonlight that sifted down through the
+bare branches of the neighboring ornamental
+trees, now destitute of foliage.</p>
+
+<p>The house was presently discovered. Just as
+Tom anticipated, it was a rather large building,
+that might even be called a mansion, or
+château. It lay half buried amidst a prodigious
+growth of trees and bushes.</p>
+
+<p>Jack fancied there was a sort of haunted air
+about the place, something uncanny, as he told
+himself. And then those sobs or screams could
+not be forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go around first, and see what lies in
+the rear," whispered Tom.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154'></a>154</span>He had an object in view when he said this.
+Having noted carefully their route in coming
+from the open field where they had left their
+big plane, Tom knew that the window from
+whence the sobbing had come must be either
+at the back of the house, or on the eastern side.</p>
+
+<p>He was heading in that quarter now, and
+looking for signs of a light in some upper
+window. This he discovered speedily, and
+pointed it out to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoever was crying, Jack, must be up
+there," he said, close to the other's ear so as
+to insure safety.</p>
+
+<p>"But how can we find out?" queried Jack.
+"If you say the word I'm willing to climb up,
+and learn what's wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. We must take a turn around, and
+pick up more knowledge of this place, as well
+as the people who live in the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why not creep up and look in at that
+lower window?" suggested Jack, pointing as he
+spoke. "I've seen a shadow passing back and
+forth, as if some person were walking up and
+down like a caged tiger. It's a man, too, Tom,
+because I could easily make out his figure, a
+tall man to boot."</p>
+
+<p>Tom led the way, with Jack at his heels.
+They managed to crawl through the bushes
+that cluttered the ground close to the wall of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155'></a>155</span>
+the stone building, and were at length in a
+position to raise themselves from their knees
+and peep under the drawn shade.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was the first to look. Almost instantly
+he drew back with a low ejaculation of wonder.
+Tom, spurred on by this fact, also raised his
+head until his eyes were on a level with the
+small strip of open space just below the shade.
+He too had a thrill at what he saw.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel as if I must be dreaming!" whispered
+Jack huskily. "Tell me, is that man in there
+really Carl Potzfeldt, the good-for-nothing
+guardian of little Bessie Gleason?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's no other than our old acquaintance of
+the Atlantic liner," admitted Tom, though he
+himself had some difficulty in believing the
+startling fact.</p>
+
+<p>This man, whom they felt sure was a German
+spy, had last been seen descending the gangway
+from the steamer at an English port, with
+Bessie Gleason, his pretty little ward, held by
+the hand, as though he feared she might try to
+run away from him.</p>
+
+<p>Many times had Jack tried to picture the
+conditions under which he might run across
+Carl Potzfeldt again; but no matter what line
+of flight his imagination took he certainly had
+never dreamed of such a thing as this. Here
+in the heart of Lorraine, many miles back of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156'></a>156</span>
+the German front, on a moonlight night, and
+in a lonely country house, he once more beheld
+the object of his former detestation.</p>
+
+<p>He clutched his chum by the arm almost
+fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that settles it, Tom!" he muttered
+savagely.</p>
+
+<p>"Settles what?" whispered the other, for the
+window was closed, and there did not seem to
+be any chance of their low-voiced exchange of
+opinions being overheard.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't leave here until I've seen <i>her</i>. For
+if he's at this place it stands to reason Bessie
+must be here also. Tom, that was Bessie we
+heard sobbing, I just know it now."</p>
+
+<p>Tom had already jumped to the same conclusion.
+Nevertheless he did not mean to let
+it interfere with his customary caution. Nothing
+was to be gained through reckless and hurried
+action. They must go slowly and carefully.
+This house by the roadside on the way to Metz
+he concluded might be a nest of spies, perhaps
+the headquarters of a vast network of plotters.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark! There's a car coming along the road
+and stopping at the gates here!" he told his
+chum, as he drew Jack down beside him. "We
+must be more careful how we look in lighted
+windows. If any one chanced to be abroad in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157'></a>157</span>
+the grounds we'd be seen, and perhaps fired
+on."</p>
+
+<p>They crept from the vicinity of the window.
+Tom led the way toward the front of the house,
+as if he had an object in view. The car was
+now coming in along the crooked drive. They
+could see its one light, for economy in the use
+of all means for illumination was a cardinal
+feature of the German military orders in those
+days of scarcity.</p>
+
+<p>The car stopped in front of the house, and a
+man jumped out. Tom saw that he wore a
+uniform of some sort, and judged that he might
+be a captain, at least. There was a second
+figure on the front seat, also in the dark-green
+garb of a soldier, but a private possibly.</p>
+
+<p>The two young Americans crouched amidst
+the dense bushes and listened. So many thrilling
+things were happening in rapid succession
+that their pulses beat with unwonted speed.</p>
+
+<p>Before this the sound of the approaching car
+must have reached the ears of the man they had
+seen pacing the floor in the spacious room that
+looked like a library. There were many books
+in cases and on shelves, while pictures and
+boars' heads decorated the walls.</p>
+
+<p>Potzfeldt opened the door just as the officer
+alighted, and there was an exchange of stiff
+military salutations. Tom discovered that his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158'></a>158</span>
+guess was a true one, for the man of the house
+addressed the other as "Captain."</p>
+
+<p>It was too bad that they spoke in German
+as they stood by the open door. Jack for once
+bitterly regretted the fact that he had never
+taken up the study of that language when at
+school, as he might have done easily enough.
+It would have paid him handsomely just then,
+he believed.</p>
+
+<p>The two men talked rapidly. Apparently the
+officer was asking questions, and demanding
+something, for in another minute Carl Potzfeldt
+took an object out of a bill book and
+handed it to the other. As near as the watchers
+could make out this object was a slip of paper,
+very small, but handled as though it might be
+exceedingly precious.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had a sudden recollection of a correspondingly
+minute slip of paper which he and
+Tom had found hidden in that little receptacle
+attached to the leg of the homing pigeon the
+latter had shot.</p>
+
+<p>More talk followed between the two men.
+Presently the man turned and hastened inside
+again. He had left the door standing open,
+however, with the German officer waiting as if
+for something he had come after besides the
+scrap of paper.</p>
+
+<p>Jack knew now that the man in uniform was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159'></a>159</span>
+from the headquarters of the Crown Prince.
+That accounted for the numerous marks of car tires
+which Tom had discovered on the drive.
+This lonely house by the roadside on the way
+to Metz was a nest of spies. Perhaps Carl
+Potzfeldt might be the chief, through whom
+negotiations were conducted and lesser agents
+sent forth.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had got no further in his deduction
+when he saw the tall man returning. He
+carried a bundle that was wrapped in a cloth,
+and depended from his hand by means of a
+heavy cord, or some sort of handle.</p>
+
+<p>This he set down on the landing, while he
+passed further words with the captain; and now
+it was Potzfeldt who asked the questions, as
+though he wished to learn how things were
+going at the front.</p>
+
+<p>Between queries and guttural replies the hidden
+air service boys heard a series of sounds
+that gave them sudden light. Jack's hand
+pressed on Tom's arm, as though in this manner
+he wished to call the attention of the other to
+the noise.</p>
+
+<p>Many times both of them had listened to
+similar sounds while watching some pigeon on
+the barn roof dare a rival to combat, or when
+wooing his mate. And as they could easily
+trace this to the covered package which Carl
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160'></a>160</span>
+Potzfeldt had just brought out of the house,
+the meaning was obvious.</p>
+
+<p>Of course there were pigeons in that cage,
+homing pigeons at that, like the one Tom had
+shot! Doubtless had that one escaped its tragic
+fate the message it carried would have been
+delivered to the owner of this lonely house, in
+turn to be handed over to one of the messengers
+from German headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>And now the German captain, stooping over,
+took possession of the cage containing at least
+two of the trained birds. They would be carried
+to some point from which, on another
+night, a daring Boche airman would attempt to
+take them far back of the French front, to hand
+over to the agent who was in communication
+with the master spy, Carl Potzfeldt.</p>
+
+<p>It was all very simple. Nevertheless it was
+also amazing to realize how by what might be
+called a freak of fate the air service boys had
+been enabled to discover these facts. But for
+the accident to the motor they would not have
+dreamed of making a landing short of the aviation
+field at Bar-le-Duc. Then, had they not
+caught that woeful sound of loud sobbing, the
+idea of looking around would never have occurred
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>The officer was now starting back to his car,
+which would carry him post-haste to German
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161'></a>161</span>
+headquarters, where the fresh message in a
+cipher code from beyond the French lines might
+be translated, and the valuable information it
+possibly contained be taken advantage of.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the military chauffeur started to
+swing around a curve that would allow them to
+leave the grounds by the same gates through
+which they had entered. The car's course
+could be followed by the strong ray its one
+light threw ahead; and the boys were able to
+tell when it reached the road again.</p>
+
+<p>As they expected it returned the same way it
+had come, probably heading for the headquarters
+of the Crown Prince.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162'></a>162</span><a id='link_20'></a>CHAPTER XX<br /><span class='h2fs'>JACK CLIMBS A WALL</span></h2>
+
+<p>"What luck we're in to be here, Tom!"
+murmured Jack.</p>
+
+<p>Carl Potzfeldt had again entered the house
+and closed the door; and the air service boys
+could no longer hear the car speeding along
+the road. Jack was quivering all over with
+excitement. The events that had just come to
+their attention filled him with a sensation of
+wonder approaching awe.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly is strange how we've stumbled
+on this nest of spies," admitted Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"And the paper he gave the captain&#8211;it
+must have been a message in cipher that an
+incoming pigeon brought from back of our
+lines, eh, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess it was, Jack. We could see it was
+only a small scrap of paper, thin paper at that;
+but both of them handled it as if it were pretty
+valuable."</p>
+
+<p>Jack was chuckling, such a queer proceeding
+that Tom could not help noticing it, and
+commenting on it.</p>
+
+<p>"What's struck you as funny now?" he asked,
+puzzled to account for this sudden freak on the
+part of his companion.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163'></a>163</span>"I was wondering," explained Jack, "whether
+that mightn't be the doctored message we believed
+our commander meant to send through
+some time or other with one of the pigeons we
+got that day we went hunting."</p>
+
+<p>"That's possible," Tom agreed, also amused
+at the thought. "But then, whether it is or not,
+it means nothing to us, you understand. We
+are here, and must decide on our movements.
+If that was a bogus message, and will coax the
+Germans to make an attack at a certain place
+where a trap has been laid, that's their lookout."</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhere about here must be the pigeon
+loft where those homing birds have been bred,"
+suggested Jack, following up a train of thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it may be on the flat roof of the
+château, or in the barn at the rear," Tom
+admitted. "One thing is certain, they know
+only this place as home; and wherever they're
+set free their first instinct is to strike a bee-line
+for here. Some people are so foolish as to fancy
+homers can be sent anywhere; but that's silly.
+It's only home that they're able to head straight
+toward, even if hundreds of miles away."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh Tom! how about Bessie?" inquired Jack
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>His chum considered, while he rubbed his
+chin with thumb and finger in a thoughtful way
+he had when a little puzzled.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164'></a>164</span>"It might be done in a pinch," he finally
+muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"What, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's such a little mite that her weight
+wouldn't amount to much, if only she had the
+nerve to do it, Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that you'd be willing to carry
+Bessie off with us? To help her escape from
+her guardian? I'm sure he must be treating her
+badly, or else she wouldn't be sobbing her poor
+little heart out, as we heard her."</p>
+
+<p>"That would have to depend a whole lot on
+Bessie."</p>
+
+<p>"As far as that goes I know she's a gritty
+little person," Jack instantly remarked. "Many
+times she said to me she wished she were a boy
+so that she might also learn to fly and fight for
+France against the detested Kaiser. Why, she
+even told me she had gone up with an aviator
+who exhibited down at a Florida resort, one
+having a hydro-airplane in which he took
+people up. And Bessie declared she didn't have
+the least fear."</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds good to me, Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"Then let's get busy, and try to let her
+know we're here," continued Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"First of all, we'll get under the open window
+where she must have been standing at the time
+we heard her crying. I think I saw a movement
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165'></a>165</span>
+up there while the two men were
+conversing on the porch. Perhaps Bessie was
+listening to what they said."</p>
+
+<p>Tom's words gave his chum a new thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it would certainly be just like Bessie
+to do it! She seemed to be full of clever ideas."</p>
+
+<p>Tom, being mystified by such words, he
+naturally sought further information.</p>
+
+<p>"What would she do?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Send me that mysterious message by the
+little hot-air balloon," Jack announced with a
+vein of pride in his voice, feeling delighted
+over having solved the puzzle that had baffled
+him for so long.</p>
+
+<p>"It hardly seems probable," Tom answered
+softly. "At the same time it isn't altogether
+impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"How far are we from the French front, do
+you think, Tom?" pursued his comrade, determined
+to sift the whole thing out.</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty miles or so, I should imagine."</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't very far. Once I caught just
+such a little balloon in a tree in our yard that
+had a tag on it, telling that it had been set
+free in a village that lay <i>seventy</i> miles off. The
+wind had carried it along furiously, so that
+it covered all that distance before losing
+buoyancy, and coming down in the heavy night
+air."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166'></a>166</span>"Yes, I know of other circumstances where
+such balloons have traveled long distances
+before falling. Then again, Jack, this valley
+extends pretty much all the way to the Verdun
+front, and the current of air would carry a
+balloon along directly toward our home patch."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Bessie sent it, believe me!" asserted
+Jack again, more confidently than ever. "And
+she'll tell us so too, when she gets the chance."</p>
+
+<p>Thus whispering the air service boys arrived
+at that side of the house where the lighted
+window on the second floor seemed to indicate
+that the object of their present concern could
+be found.</p>
+
+<p>Tom examined the building as well as the
+limited amount of light allowed. He could
+easily see that any agile young fellow, himself
+or Jack for instance, might scale the wall,
+making use of some projections, and a cement
+flower trellis as well, in carrying out the
+project.</p>
+
+<p>"We might throw pebbles up, and bring her
+to the window," he suggested, though pretty
+confident at the time Jack would find fault with
+such an arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>"That wouldn't help her get down here to
+us, Tom," protested the other. "And that's
+what we're planning, you remember; for you
+said she could accompany us if she felt equal
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167'></a>167</span>
+to it. I must go up myself and help Bessie
+get down. There's nothing else to do, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>It looked very much as though Jack was
+right. Tom admitted this to himself; at the
+same time he wished there were some other
+way by means of which the same end could
+be gained, or that he could undertake the thing,
+instead of his comrade.</p>
+
+<p>But to this Jack would never agree. Bessie
+was his own particular friend; and they had
+been most "chummy" while aboard the Atlantic
+liner crossing the submarine infested ocean.
+Then again that warning had been addressed
+to him, and not to both, showing that the
+writer had only been concerned about the
+danger he, Jack, was running, should his plane
+be tampered with by some emissary of Carl
+Potzfeldt.</p>
+
+<p>"All right then; you go, Jack! But be careful
+about your footing. If you fell it'd be a
+bad thing in many ways, for even if you escaped
+a broken neck or a fractured leg you'd
+arouse the house, and all sorts of trouble would
+drop down on us in a hurry."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry about me, Tom. I'll show you
+I'm as nimble as any monkey. Besides, that
+isn't much of a climb. Why, I could nearly do
+it with one arm tied fast."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to it!" Tom told him, settling back to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168'></a>168</span>
+watch the performance and give whispered advice
+if it seemed necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Jack waited no longer. He was wild to find
+himself once more face to face with the pretty
+young girl in whom he had taken such an
+interest. Her recent sobs and cries still haunted
+his heart, and he felt certain she must be in
+great sorrow over something.</p>
+
+<p>He commenced climbing. While his boast
+about being equal to any monkey that ever
+lived among the treetops may have been a bit
+of an exaggeration, all the same Jack was a
+very good athlete, and especially with regard
+to feats on the parallel bars or the ladders in
+a gymnasium.</p>
+
+<p>He made his way nimbly upward, with Tom's
+eyes following every movement. It seemed an
+easy task for the climber. Just what he would
+discover when he had gained the open window
+was another question.</p>
+
+<p>The light still remained, for which both boys
+felt glad. It afforded Jack a goal which he
+was striving to gain; and it told Tom further
+down that the inmate of the upper room was
+awake and still moving about, though her sobs
+had ceased.</p>
+
+<p>Once Tom fancied he heard something
+stirring back of the house. He hoped it might
+not prove to be a servant attached to the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169'></a>169</span>
+Potzfeldt place or an attendant who had charge
+of the pigeon loft.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was almost up now. He had only to
+cover another yard of space when he could
+look into the room of the lighted window.
+That was where fresh peril must lie, because his
+figure would be outlined in silhouette, and any
+one moving about the grounds might discover
+that uninvited guests had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>Tom wished he had told his chum to insist
+that the light be immediately extinguished, if,
+as they believed, it proved to be Bessie who
+occupied that room. He hoped his chum would
+think of it without being told.</p>
+
+<p>There! At last Jack had arrived, and without
+accident! Now he was cautiously thrusting his
+head up a little, to peer within.</p>
+
+<p>Tom held his breath. So much depended on
+what would follow Jack's betrayal of his
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell her to put out the light, first of all,
+Jack!" Tom gently called out, using both hands
+as a megaphone to carry the sounds.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed that he must have been heard,
+and his directions understood, for immediately
+there was another movement above, after which
+the illumination ceased, as though Bessie had
+blown out the lamp.</p>
+
+<p>Tom breathed easier, though he still continued
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170'></a>170</span>
+to look, and wonder how his chum was
+going to get the girl safely down from her
+elevated apartment. Jack was not so fertile in
+expedients as his chum, and many times
+depended on Tom to suggest ways and means.</p>
+
+<p>While Tom was still waiting, and hoping for
+the best, he heard his comrade whisper down
+to him as he hung suspended, clutching the sill
+of the open window.</p>
+
+<p>"After all, you'll have to come up too, Tom,"
+he was saying feverishly. "There are complications
+that'll need your judgment, knots to
+untangle that are beyond me."</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171'></a>171</span><a id='link_21'></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /><span class='h2fs'>IN THE OLD LORRAINE CHÂTEAU</span></h2>
+
+<p>What Jack said in his cautious fashion
+puzzled Tom. For the life of him he could
+not understand what had arisen, calling for any
+unusual display of generalship. Surely Jack
+should have been equal to the task of getting
+Bessie down from the window, even if he had
+to make use of knotted bed-clothes in lieu of
+a rope.</p>
+
+<p>Still he had asked Tom to come up, and there
+was nothing to do but grant his request.
+"Complications," Jack said, had arisen. That
+was a suggestive word, and to Tom's mind
+seemed to hint at further mystery.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly he proceeded to imitate the
+example of his comrade. Jack had shown the
+way, and all his chum had to do was to follow.
+As Tom was also an all-around athlete,
+accustomed to much climbing from small boyhood,
+after nuts and birds' nests and all such
+things as take lads into tall trees, he found
+but little trouble in making the ascent.</p>
+
+<p>When he drew himself alongside Jack, the
+other gave a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172'></a>172</span>"Whee! I'm glad you've come, I tell you,
+Tom," he said. "It was getting too big a job
+for me to tackle."</p>
+
+<p>"What's happened, Jack?" asked the late
+arrival on the stone ledge under the window
+of the upper room.</p>
+
+<p>"First, here's Bessie, Tom," Jack went on.
+"She wants to shake hands with you. Since
+we parted, when the steamer was docked, the
+poor girl has been having all sorts of trouble;
+and she's glad as can be to see us both again;
+aren't you, Bessie?"</p>
+
+<p>Tom, feeling a small, trembling hand groping
+for his, immediately grasped it, and gave a
+squeeze that must have carried conviction to
+the heart of the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm shivering like everything!" she
+murmured, adding quickly: "But not with fear.
+It's because my prayers have been answered,
+and help has come at last, when everything
+looked so awfully dark&#8211;and I'm so very, very
+hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"Hungry!" repeated Tom, starting, it seemed
+such a very strange word for the girl to use,
+even though they were in Germany, where all
+food he knew must be getting exceedingly
+scarce.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, what do you think, that rotten bounder
+of a spy is half starving the poor girl! He
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173'></a>173</span>
+ought to be tarred and feathered, that's what!"
+growled the indignant Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so loud," warned Tom. "Some one
+may hear you, Jack. But tell me what you've
+learned."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, first of all, Tom, it was Bessie who
+wrote that warning message I had, and attached
+it to that little balloon, hoping the favorable
+breeze would carry it over the front to the
+French lines. So that mystery is explained.
+Then, Tom, there are <i>two</i> we've got to take
+out of this place, instead of just one, as we
+thought."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't get you!" Tom ejaculated. "What
+do you mean by two?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a story in itself, I guess," whispered
+Jack. "I don't wholly understand it myself.
+But it seems that Bessie's mother didn't drown
+after all when the <i>Lusitania</i> went down, as
+Potzfeldt reported she did."</p>
+
+<p>"You surprise me, Jack! How could that
+be?" demanded the other youth, thrilled by the
+startling information.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that slick rascal managed it somehow,"
+came the soft if indignant reply. "We'll learn
+more about it later on. He was picked up
+by a fishing boat. The lady was temporarily
+out of her mind, so he gave it out later that
+she had gone down. How he ever got her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174'></a>174</span>
+over here in Germany beats me. But he
+managed to do it it seems. And she's been
+kept a prisoner in this old château of his ever
+since!"</p>
+
+<p>"But what was his object?" asked the
+amazed Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"It had a heap to do with finances," Jack
+told him. "While he held a paper that gave
+him charge over her daughter over in America,
+and a part of the big Gleason fortune also,
+there were valuable papers he had been unable
+to get his greedy hands on. She absolutely
+refused to tell him where they were hidden.
+As a last resort what did the wretch do but
+go all the way back to America."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to fetch his ward across with
+him, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, just to use Bessie as a lever to compel
+her mother to give up those valuable papers.
+I always said, you remember, Tom, that man
+was hugging some secret to his heart. And so
+he was."</p>
+
+<p>"He's been treating Bessie badly then, half
+starving her, I think you said?" continued Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"Just what he has, poor girl," growled his
+chum, savagely. "It's an awful thing to be
+hungry! I don't see how any one can stand
+it. But he hasn't broken the spirit of either
+of them yet, though Bessie's getting so weak
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175'></a>175</span>
+she finds herself crying every now and then,
+just as we heard her. And it was that which
+brought us over to find out what it meant.
+But Tom, tell her we mean to stand by, and
+see that both her mother and herself are taken
+to a place of safety."</p>
+
+<p>This Tom readily did, though as yet he could
+hardly understand just how their promise could
+be fulfilled. One they might manage to take
+aloft with them, by crowding, but the Caudron
+was not capable of seating four; nor would it
+be safe to carry a couple of inexperienced
+passengers along with themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"But we're losing valuable time," he observed.
+"The sooner we get in touch with Mrs. Gleason
+the better. There's a whole lot to be done
+before we can say we're on the safe side of
+the fence."</p>
+
+<p>"Then first of all we'd better climb inside the
+room, hadn't we?" suggested Jack.</p>
+
+<p>In answer Tom proceeded to get one leg
+over the sill, and then pass his entire body
+across. Jack quickly followed. In the semi-darkness,
+for the moon gave a dim light, they
+clustered there, and continued to map out
+their immediate plans in whispers that could
+not have been heard a dozen feet distant.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that Bessie knew where her
+mother was confined, though both doors were
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176'></a>176</span>
+fastened on the outside to prevent their having
+communication. But the girl had found a way.
+Night after night she was accustomed to
+slipping from her window, when everything was
+quiet below and the lights all out, making her
+way along that narrow coping, or ledge, and
+tapping softly at the window of her mother's
+room.</p>
+
+<p>They would remain together until toward
+morning, when the girl made it a practice to
+return by the same perilous route.</p>
+
+<p>On this particular night it had seemed as
+though the lights below would never go out.
+Carl Potzfeldt, the master spy, expecting
+important news and a messenger from the
+headquarters of the Crown Prince, had been
+waiting up until long after midnight in order
+to fullfil the important duties entrusted to him.</p>
+
+<p>Jack suggested that he creep along that
+coping and inform the lady of the golden chance
+for escape that had arrived. But as she would
+hardly be able to return by the same way, it
+seemed as though some other scheme must
+be considered.</p>
+
+<p>Bessie herself had a brilliant thought bordering
+on an inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, and I will tell you," she said at
+this juncture. "All the time I have been here
+my one thought has been of escape. I dreamed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177'></a>177</span>
+nothing else save getting my poor mother away
+from the clutches of that coward who had
+hypnotized her in the past, and made her believe
+he was a good man as well as her cousin from
+Alsace-Lorraine. And I know of a way it can
+be done."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us your plan, please," begged Jack;
+though he would be sorry to learn that the
+honor of releasing Bessie's imprisoned mother
+was not to fall to his share in the undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>"There is another window. It opens upon
+a hallway; and I can get through it, because
+I've tried it more than once. But the proper
+time hadn't come, for how were we to flee from
+this awful country? Wait for me here, both
+of you. I shall be able to open her barred
+door, and then my own. And it is better that
+I carry her the good news than some one who
+would be a stranger to my mother, however
+much I have told her about you."</p>
+
+<p>Tom saw that her plan was the best, after
+all. He himself had been a little afraid that
+if Jack came tapping at the window of Mrs.
+Gleason's room she might take the alarm,
+thinking it but another twist to the odious
+schemes of Potzfeldt, and perhaps shrieking
+out in terror, which would cause an alarm, and
+ruin everything.</p>
+
+<p>Bessie climbed nimbly out of the window,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178'></a>178</span>
+showing how accustomed she was to such
+athletic exercises. Jack held on to her to the
+last, and his whispers were all of an entreating
+character, as he begged her to be very careful,
+and not slip in her excitement.</p>
+
+<p>Now she was gone, and the two air service
+boys, left by themselves in that room of the old
+Lorraine château, counted the seconds and the
+minutes until they should hear a gentle signal
+at the door, to signify that Bessie and her
+mother were there, about to enter.</p>
+
+<p>Jack walked softly up and down, like a
+velvet-footed tiger in its cage. He was so
+worked up by the excitement of the occasion
+that Tom did not have the heart to ask him
+to stop his movements, though he certainly
+would have done so had not the other been
+keeping on his tiptoes all the while.</p>
+
+<p>What a remarkable turn their venture into the
+country back of the enemy's lines had taken!
+And what astounding discoveries they had made
+in the bargain!</p>
+
+<p>Jack was getting more and more impatient.
+Several times did he pause at the door, to lay
+his ear close to the heavy panel, and listen.
+He wondered what could be keeping Bessie.
+Surely she had had ample time to open the
+door of her mother's room and explain everything
+to the lady. In his excitement he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179'></a>179</span>
+pictured all sorts of fresh trouble as having
+befallen the girl. What if by accident she had
+run across the master German spy in the
+corridor? But then, in such a case, Bessie
+surely would have screamed in order to warn
+her two friends that they were in danger of
+being discovered, should Potzfeldt and some
+of his assistants burst into the room.</p>
+
+<p>Of course Jack had magnified things wonderfully.
+Less than half the time had elapsed than
+he thought had passed when there came a soft
+scratching on the door to notify them Bessie
+was there. They next heard a slight creaking
+sound, and then the soft closing of the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Bessie, is it you?" asked the eager Jack,
+softly.</p>
+
+<p>A reply in the affirmative followed.</p>
+
+<p>"And here is mother with me," added the
+girl, a note of joy in her voice, even though
+she spoke in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>So they came together. In the semi-darkness
+the boys could not see what Bessie's mother
+looked like. They did note, however, that she
+was small of stature; and this fact pleased Tom
+very much indeed. For already he had figured
+out just how the rescue must be carried out,
+since there seemed to be no other way.</p>
+
+<p>His plans would entail some sacrifice on
+Jack's part, and also more or less exposure to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180'></a>180</span>
+peril; but then Tom knew his chum too well
+to imagine he would hesitate even a moment
+when called upon to take this additional burden
+on his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Both of them squeezed the trembling hand
+of the woman, and as best they were able
+assured her that they meant to carry both
+Bessie and herself to a place of safety, provided
+they were courageous enough to trust themselves
+to the care of two air pilots.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181'></a>181</span><a id='link_22'></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /><span class='h2fs'>FACING MORE DIFFICULTIES</span></h2>
+
+<p>"As for me," spoke up Bessie, immediately,
+just as Jack felt positive she would, "I'd like
+nothing better. I've been up once in a hydro-airplane,
+and would have gone many times if
+mother had allowed me."</p>
+
+<p>The lady did not seem to anticipate having
+a very delightful time of it, for Tom felt her
+shudder; but she was courageous, and evidently
+ready to attempt any hazard in order to gain
+her freedom.</p>
+
+<p>"If only there is some way to fasten me
+securely," she told them, "I am willing to do
+anything you say, my brave boys. So make
+your plans without regard to my feelings in
+the matter."</p>
+
+<p>Jack about this time evidently began to scent
+something with regard to Tom's intuitions; at
+least his word implied a growing skepticism
+concerning their ability to find room for two
+passengers aboard a plane intended only for
+a pilot and an observer, or a gunner.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course one could squeeze in alongside
+me, Tom," he mentioned hesitatingly; "but do
+you think it's wise to have anybody with you?
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182'></a>182</span>
+Mightn't it interfere with the working of the
+controls, and add to the danger?"</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly would, Jack; and that's why I'm
+forced to call on you to make a sacrifice."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on and say what's on your mind, then,"
+demanded Jack. "No matter what it's going
+to be, you'll find me ready and willing for
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to wait for the second trip,"
+Tom announced.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, just as you say, Tom. When will
+that be, later on to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it's possible to get back, yes," said the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>"But if you can't make it, then to-morrow
+night, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>Jack was not overcome with fear, even though
+the prospect did appear anything but cheerful.
+Bessie listened to this low talk, and gave
+evidence of growing anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"But why should this be necessary?" she put
+in at that juncture. "I can stay behind just
+as well as not. Then perhaps another night
+later on you could come again, and take me
+with you to the French lines, and safety."</p>
+
+<p>Jack sniffed in disdain.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess not, Bessie!" he told her,
+almost sternly. "I'd just like to see myself
+sailing away, and leaving you here to stand
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183'></a>183</span>
+the racket. No, both of you are going to
+accompany Tom. I can find a hiding place
+somewhere around; and besides, no one will
+suspect that an American flier is hanging out
+here. There's only one thing I hate like
+everything to think of."</p>
+
+<p>"And I can guess what that is," Tom said,
+quickly. "You dread to contemplate a long
+eatless day before you. That's the worst
+punishment anyone could hand out to you,
+Jack."</p>
+
+<p>"As far as that goes," interrupted Bessie;
+"I can tell Jack where the pantry window lies.
+As the catch is broken you can easily climb in
+through it later on to-night, and lay in a supply
+of food. There is always something there.
+Before that bad man shut me up he tried
+to starve me, and I stole food myself. Then
+he guessed what was happening, for he fastened
+my door, and only allowed me to walk in the
+grounds in company with a woman he has
+for a housekeeper."</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon Bessie gave Jack minute directions
+how to find the window leading into the storeroom.
+Thus armed the young aviator felt that
+he ought to be able to stand it, in case his
+comrade found it impracticable to return on
+the same night.</p>
+
+<p>"Since all that is fixed," remarked Tom, "it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184'></a>184</span>
+strikes me we had better get out of this place
+quickly. Can you lead us down by way of
+the stairs, Bessie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; for I know every foot of the way,"
+she told him without hesitation. "You see, I
+expected that some time we would have to slip
+away by stealth; and so I made myself familiar
+with everything, even to the fastenings of the
+great front door, with its chain and catch."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we're in great luck," Jack observed,
+while Tom on his part went on to ask further.</p>
+
+<p>"All seems dark outside now, Bessie; would
+that indicate your jailer has gone to his bed?
+And do you happen to know where his apartment
+is? That might mean a whole lot to us,
+you understand."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe he ever does really go to
+bed," she replied. "Once I heard him complain
+that there were so many times during the night
+that messengers came from headquarters with
+demands, or after information expected from
+over the lines, that he had to secure his sleep
+while fully dressed, and by throwing himself
+down on a Turkish lounge he has in his room."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, so long as his sleep is sound it's little
+we care how or when he gets it," announced
+Jack, flippantly. "And when you give the word,
+Tom, we'll all be ready to follow Bessie down
+the stairs."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185'></a>185</span>Tom was even opening his mouth to say
+there was really nothing to detain them, if
+Bessie and her mother had secured what trifles
+they wished to take away, but after all he did
+not speak the words that were on his lips.</p>
+
+<p>Through the open window they suddenly
+heard the sound of heavy, guttural voices. They
+seemed to come from the road near the entrance
+gates.</p>
+
+<p>Tom stepped over to the window and looked
+out. What he saw gave him an unpleasant
+feeling. There were lights already on the
+crooked driveway, and a number of men seemed
+to be advancing in a group.</p>
+
+<p>Jack at his elbow was also staring, and
+grinding his teeth with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the luck, I say!" he gritted. "That
+fresh bunch of Boche officers is bound to knock
+our plans silly. They'll stir things up again,
+and we can't get away. Then perhaps some
+one will discover the doors of the two rooms
+are unfastened, and that'll start a hornet's nest
+about our ears."</p>
+
+<p>"Get down, and keep hidden, Jack," urged
+his companion. "They have lights with them,
+and might see us as they come along. There's
+a general, at least, in the lot, that big stout
+man in the center, and I imagine those other
+officers belong to his staff."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186'></a>186</span>"But what are they walking for?" whispered
+Jack, incredulously. "German officers in the
+High Command don't often tramp along the
+roads like that, do they?"</p>
+
+<p>"They may have broken down in their car;
+and learning they were close to this house have
+come on here to wait till repairs are made.
+Lots of them know Potzfeldt, I suppose, and
+one of these men may have been here before
+on business. The worst of it all is we'll have
+to give up our scheme of going down by way
+of the stairs."</p>
+
+<p>They crouched down and watched as best
+they could, while the half-dozen men in the
+gray-green uniforms of German officers, and
+with many decorations on the breast of the
+martial-looking commander, approached the
+château's front door.</p>
+
+<p>Already lights had sprung up on the lower
+floor. Undoubtedly Potzfeldt had heard his
+unexpected guests coming, and was bestirring
+himself to welcome them, though inwardly
+raving over having his rest so frequently
+disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>He met them at the door, and there ensued
+more or less talking, all of it in the choicest
+of German. Again Jack felt sorry that his
+education was so incomplete that he could only
+guess at what most of it meant.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187'></a>187</span>Still, Tom could pick up a little of what was
+said. There was certainly mention made of an
+unfortunate accident to a car, that would
+necessitate a delay of some hours for repairs,
+possibly until morning. The general did not
+altogether fancy sitting in the car for hours in
+the cool night air. Especially was this the case
+after he had learned that there was a house
+half a mile or so further on where food and
+drink could be obtained in plenty, if only they
+chose to walk that far.</p>
+
+<p>All of the newcomers had by now stalked
+inside the house, and the coast seemed to be
+clear, so far as those above could see. But
+down below there was much hurrying to and
+fro, which would indicate that Potzfeldt must
+have aroused his retainers, and they were
+running up and down from wine-cellar to
+dining-room, bearing acceptable refreshments
+for the unbidden guests.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, I wonder if that old stout chap could
+be Hindenburg himself?" Jack whispered in
+his chum's ear. "I noticed that Mr. Potzfeldt
+seemed mighty obsequious, as if he felt highly
+honored at having such a noble visitor, and
+nothing could be too good to set before him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd hit
+the nail on the head when you said that, Jack,"
+the other told him. "He was a big, burly man,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188'></a>188</span>
+with a mighty important air about him; and
+he wore a mustache such as we've always seen
+in pictures of Hindenburg. But no matter, it
+doesn't concern us at all, if we can find a way
+to get down from here."</p>
+
+<p>"Only," said Jack, whimsically, "I do hope
+if they've got their German appetites along,
+they don't clean out that pantry before I get
+my look-in, that's all. Twenty-four hours
+without a single bite would be the limit for me.
+I don't think I'd survive the ordeal. Now
+what, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>Tom was looking out again.</p>
+
+<p>"That's lucky," Jack heard him mutter.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is. But tell me what you're
+referring to, Tom."</p>
+
+<p>"Some clouds have come along. One is right
+now covering the face of the moon, you notice.
+Well, if we are forced to lower Bessie and her
+mother from the window by means of a rope
+made from knotted bed-sheets, we stand a
+chance to avoid being discovered at work by
+any one who might happen to be abroad just
+then."</p>
+
+<p>Jack chuckled as though pleased.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, that's the game, Tom! I knew you'd
+be equal to getting up some sort of clever
+scheme. And I'll start in right away making
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189'></a>189</span>
+that rope. We want to be certain it's strong
+enough to bear their weight, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help you at the job," Tom told him, for
+he too wished to be positive about the twisted
+parts of the sheets, before trusting the girl and
+her mother to their care.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately they found that Carl Potzfeldt
+had some of the airs of a millionaire about him.
+The sheets were of stout linen, instead of the
+customary cotton to which the American boys
+were accustomed. When these were cut first
+with a sharp pocket-knife, and then torn into
+long strips about a foot or so in width, they
+could be twisted and knotted until the result
+was a novel rope of at least twenty feet in
+length.</p>
+
+<p>Neither Bessie nor her mother said a single
+word. They seemed more than willing to be
+thus lowered to the ground. Such a novel
+experience might not be delightful, but it
+amounted to very little when compared with
+what they had suffered at the hands of their
+rude and cruel captor.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the odd rope was ready for use.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me be the first to go down," Bessie
+then said to Tom, in an authoritative voice.</p>
+
+<p>As he had been about to propose the same
+thing he made not the least objection, but
+proceeded to secure one end of the strange
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190'></a>190</span>
+rope around her body just below the arms,
+Bessie herself assisting in the operation.</p>
+
+<p>Before attempting the task, Tom stood at
+the window listening for some little time. He
+wished to make sure that none of the German
+officers had remained outside. Tom also meant
+to satisfy himself that there was no lurking
+form among the bushes on that side of the
+château, since the light streaming from the
+lower windows dissipated some of the advantages
+gained by the temporary clouding of the
+moon.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191'></a>191</span><a id='link_23'></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /><span class='h2fs'>LEFT BEHIND IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY</span></h2>
+
+<p>Tom appeared finally to be satisfied, for he
+turned around to Bessie.</p>
+
+<p>"Now if you're ready we'll lower you safely,"
+he told her.</p>
+
+<p>The girl showed considerable nimbleness in
+climbing over the window-sill. Jack insisted in
+having a hand in dropping her slowly down.
+It was not far, and in a few breaths the girl
+had reached the solid, ground. She understood
+what was expected of her, and immediately
+cast off the rude rope, so it might be drawn
+up and made to serve once more.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gleason showed just as much bravery
+as her daughter, and was also lowered without
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"You go down next, Tom," whispered Jack.
+"Then I'll draw it up, and can join you easily
+enough without the help of the rope. A white
+thing like this dangling here would be sure to
+attract attention, if any one came around the
+corner of the house, and might cost us dearly
+in the end."</p>
+
+<p>Tom understood. He preferred being the
+last to stay, but since Jack had taken that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192'></a>192</span>
+upon himself, and was moreover adept at scaling
+walls, it was folly to dispute his right.</p>
+
+<p>So down Tom went. He had hardly landed
+when the sheet-rope was swiftly drawn up, and
+vanished within the room. After that Jack was
+seen making his way down over the same route
+he had taken while ascending.</p>
+
+<p>Soon they were all together again, and their
+queer exit from the room seemed not to have
+been discovered, for which they felt very
+thankful indeed.</p>
+
+<p>Tom led the way into the friendly bushes
+close by. It was his intention to skirt the
+carriage-drive, as it might contain elements of
+danger for them. Once they had passed out
+on the main road to Metz, it would not take
+them long to reach the field where the big
+Caudron airplane lay like an exhausted and
+enormous bat, awaiting their coming to spring
+into activity.</p>
+
+<p>In passing along they were enabled to catch
+a glimpse of the interior of the dining-room
+where Carl Potzfeldt was entertaining his
+distinguished visitor to the best of his ability
+in those times when scarcity ruled.</p>
+
+<p>Tom managed to get a better look at the
+general. He was more than ever convinced
+that the big man with the strong features and
+all these decorations on his uniform, was in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193'></a>193</span>
+fact Hindenburg, the head of the whole German
+army, whose opinion carried even more weight
+with the people just then than that of Kaiser
+Wilhelm.</p>
+
+<p>It would be something worth while to be
+able to say they had been within a dozen feet
+of the famous commander, the Iron Man of
+Germany. Tom vaguely wished he had some
+means of capturing the general then and there,
+and carrying him over the lines to the French
+headquarters. That would indeed be a feat
+well worth praise from General Petain; but
+of course it was utterly impossible.</p>
+
+<p>They gained the gate, and there Tom insisted
+on looking carefully around so as to make
+doubly certain that no sentinel had been left
+on duty while General Hindenburg remained
+within the house.</p>
+
+<p>When this fact was made clear he led the
+way forth. The little party of four almost ran
+along the road, so eager were they to place
+as much ground as possible between themselves
+and the seat of danger.</p>
+
+<p>There was always a chance that the flight
+of Bessie and her mother might be discovered
+by some one connected with the household, and
+communicated to Potzfeldt. He, of course,
+would exhaust every means in trying to overtake
+the fugitives.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194'></a>194</span>But Tom chuckled while telling himself that
+they must needs have extraordinary and fleet
+steeds who could successfully pursue those who
+had trusted their safety to his care and that of
+the big Caudron airplane.</p>
+
+<p>Jack hardly knew where the field lay, having
+become "rattled," as he called it, from the
+adventures at the château. So after all it was
+fortunate that Tom had taken his bearings as
+well as he had. He knew just when to leave
+the road, and start across the open space. Then
+the lone tree began to loom up, for the moon
+had once more thrust her face from behind the
+enveloping cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, Bessie," said Jack reassuringly.
+"Our plane lies close to the foot of that tree
+ahead there. If all goes well you'll be on your
+way before many minutes have passed."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to you, Jack," murmured the girl
+admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Shucks! that isn't a circumstance to what
+I'd be willing to do for you and your mother!"
+Jack boldly told her.</p>
+
+<p>"But all the same it is very brave of you,
+Jack, and I can never forget your kindness to
+us," she insisted. "I hope and pray that nothing
+terrible will happen to you while we're gone,
+and that I'll soon see you again."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so too, Bessie," he chuckled, as if
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195'></a>195</span>
+amused. "As to anything happening to me, I
+guess I know how to hide all right. The worst
+that can knock me is getting a little mite
+hungry, you know. If that big German general
+and his staff leave a bite in the pantry I'm
+going after it, believe me! Then I'll find a
+hole, and crawl in, somewhere close by here,
+so I can watch for Tom's return."</p>
+
+<p>Apparently Jack had mapped his whole
+programme out; and it seemed that an adequate
+supply of provisions occupied the most prominent
+place in them.</p>
+
+<p>They were now at the spot where the Caudron
+had been left. Tom's mind was eased of the
+secret fears he had entertained when he saw
+the machine was still where they had left it.
+So far as he could tell no one had been near
+to meddle with it.</p>
+
+<p>First of all Bessie and her mother must be
+fastened securely to the seat where Jack had
+sat on the trip to Metz. Tom, like a wise
+general, had provided himself with plenty of
+the strips of linen from the torn sheets. This
+he utilized in tying the passengers, so that there
+would not be the slightest chance of their
+falling out.</p>
+
+<p>Even if Mrs. Gleason should faint through
+terror on finding herself a mile up in the air,
+she could not fall out of the machine. But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196'></a>196</span>
+Tom entertained high hopes that both of his
+passengers were going to display extraordinary
+courage, and give him no cause at all for
+anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>Jack tried to assist in the operation, but
+his hands were trembling so with the excitement
+that Tom pushed him away.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave the job to me, Jack," he told the
+other. "Too many cooks spoil the broth, you
+know. I'll make everything secure, depend on
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I know you will, Tom," the other
+hastened to assure him. "Perhaps it is better
+only one handled the business. And Bessie&#8211;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Jack," said the girl, slipping a hand
+out toward him, which Jack took in his, and
+pressed reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bother your head for a single minute
+about me, mind. I'll be all right, and perhaps
+able to join you again this very night. It's
+a great lark for me, and I wouldn't miss it
+for a heap. But oh, if only we could kidnap
+that big commander, and carry him over to
+have an interview with General Petain, how
+proud I'd be!"</p>
+
+<p>Tom smiled on realizing that the same idea
+had occurred to Jack that had flashed through
+his own mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, take my automatic, Jack," Tom said.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197'></a>197</span>
+"You may find occasion to use it before I come
+back."</p>
+
+<p>The other complied, and apparently he felt
+more confidence, once he knew he had in his
+possession the means for defending himself
+should any ordinary danger threaten. Tom
+was loath to depart, once he had everything
+arranged. The truth of the matter was he
+hated to leave his chum in the enemy country;
+it seemed as though he were deserting him.</p>
+
+<p>So he "fiddled" around, testing this wire guy,
+and using his electric hand torch to give him
+light, so he could once more run his eye over
+the motor on which he had been working.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Tom, it's no use hanging around
+here a minute longer," Jack had finally to tell
+him. "Get aboard and I'll spin your wheel
+for you and give you a boost for a start. Then
+I'll drop out of sight, because some of them
+may run this way when they hear the clatter
+and guess the cause."</p>
+
+<p>Tom climbed to his seat and settled himself
+according to his customary thorough manner.
+He tried the controls, and was not satisfied
+until he had tested everything within reach.</p>
+
+<p>"Say when, Tom!" Jack remarked, having
+finally left Bessie's side and gone to the
+propellers of the big plane.</p>
+
+<p>Tom drew in a long breath. He knew he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198'></a>198</span>
+had a risky venture ahead, taking those two
+inexperienced passengers over the hostile lines,
+possibly amidst showers of exploding shrapnel
+shells. But it was not this that weighed so
+heavily on his spirits. He felt almost like a
+criminal at leaving Jack behind.</p>
+
+<p>"All right; let her go!" he announced grimly.</p>
+
+<p>There came a sudden whirring sound. Then
+the loud hum of the motors chimed in, and
+the big Caudron machine started off.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Tom! Good-bye, Bessie!" Jack
+was heard saying, although the noise of the
+plane almost drowned his voice.</p>
+
+<p>Faster they went now, as the machine gained
+momentum. Tom paid strict attention to his
+business of pilot. At just the proper time he
+must elevate the forward rudder which would
+cause the plane to leave the ground and start
+upward at a sharp angle.</p>
+
+<p>Jack stood gazing after the object that was
+quickly growing more and more indistinct in
+the dim moonlight, gazing with a strange
+heaviness in the region of his heart. He had
+to shut his teeth firmly together to conquer
+the momentary weakness that threatened to
+overpower him. But his resolution remained
+master of the field.</p>
+
+<p>"If only he gets them safely across," Jack
+muttered to himself, when he could no longer
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199'></a>199</span>
+see the airplane, though its noisy working came
+plainly to his ears, "it'll be all right. But
+they've heard the racket over at the house,
+too, I guess, because men are shouting, and
+I can see lights flashing this way and that."</p>
+
+<p>When he discovered that men with lanterns
+were actually looking around as if to learn
+where the departing airplane could have been
+resting, and what it all meant, Jack concluded
+it was time to conceal himself.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200'></a>200</span><a id='link_24'></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /><span class='h2fs'>TROUBLOUS TIMES FOR JACK</span></h2>
+
+<p>The men bearing the lanterns came closer,
+Jack saw, as he himself scurried amidst the
+bushes seeking a hiding-place.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess that Potzfeldt must know that planes
+can drop down on his big open field," the
+youth muttered to himself. Then as a new idea
+flashed through his brain he continued: "Whee!
+I warrant you now that ours wasn't the first
+airplane to land there. Sometimes maybe the
+spy he wants to send back of the French lines
+gets aboard right here, with his little cage of
+homers."</p>
+
+<p>Presently loud exclamations told that the
+men had discovered the marks of the arriving
+and departing Caudron machine. Jack could
+hear them exchanging remarks about it, in
+German of course. Then he saw one of the
+trio start back toward the house. He was
+half running, as though much excited. Jack
+jumped to a conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Say," he said to himself, in a whisper, as
+though even the sound of his own voice might
+be company for him, "now that must have been
+Carl Potzfeldt himself. What's he making for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201'></a>201</span>
+the house with a hop, skip and jump for?
+Perhaps one of his sharp-eyed men has told
+him there are marks of small shoes around; and
+old Carl got a sudden suspicion something
+tremendous has happened."</p>
+
+<p>The master-spy came back again. He was
+now accompanied by two others, and Jack saw
+by their uniforms that they were members of
+the general's staff.</p>
+
+<p>All were talking earnestly, Potzfeldt, Jack
+imagined, telling them some story concerning
+Bessie and her mother, in which he figured
+as a noble man, trying to save Mrs. Gleason
+from the wiles of some American fortune
+hunter, into whose hands he now feared she
+and her daughter had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>"My! but he's wild!" chuckled the hidden
+observer. "He realizes that the two American
+boys have been too much for his scheming
+after all. Guess he must have had a suspicion
+all along we'd break up his game. That'd
+account for his plotting with the other spy to
+have our planes meddled with, so we'd meet
+with some terrible accident that would remove
+us from his path."</p>
+
+<p>Jack was really enjoying himself. It did him
+good to hear Potzfeldt raging around, and
+spluttering as though his rage half choked him.</p>
+
+<p>What Bessie had said concerning the cruel
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202'></a>202</span>
+treatment she had received at the hands of her
+mother's relative had fired Jack's blood. He
+detested a man who in order to accumulate
+money could treat a helpless woman and girl
+as Potzfeldt had those who were in his power.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd just like," he was telling himself as he
+listened, "to be one of three fellows who had
+that villain in their power, with a nice big
+kettle of hot tar handy, ditto three feather
+pillows. Oh, wouldn't we make him a queer
+bird, though! The extinct dodo'd have nothing
+on him, believe me! But it's fine to hear him
+raging around like that. I only wish Bessie
+could listen."</p>
+
+<p>After a time Potzfeldt and his men went
+away. They knew they could do nothing, as
+the big enemy plane had long since departed,
+and must by then be many miles on the return
+journey to the French lines.</p>
+
+<p>An hour went by and all seemed quiet in
+the region of the big house by the side of
+the road. Jack had not forgotten the promise
+made to himself. It might mean additional
+danger, to be sure; but when he thought of
+a long day ahead, in all probability, with an
+empty stomach constantly reproaching him, he
+felt equal to the task.</p>
+
+<p>He had no trouble in finding the entrance
+to the grounds. Everything seemed quiet, as
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203'></a>203</span>
+though the general and his staff were endeavoring
+to get a little sleep before resuming their
+journey to the fighting front.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was soon under the window that had
+been described to him by Bessie. It gave light
+to the pantry during the daytime. Also he
+had been assured, the catch that secured it
+was broken, so that if he were bold enough
+he could easily gain entrance and take his pick
+of what the housekeeper had stored there.</p>
+
+<p>Such a nimble chap as Jack had no difficulty
+whatever in making an entrance. Finding
+himself within the big closet, he listened, and,
+hearing no sound, struck a match.</p>
+
+<p>By the light thus afforded he could see what
+lay within his reach. Trust one with an empty
+stomach for knowing what he wants under such
+conditions. Jack immediately commenced to
+gather together a supply of food of various
+kinds, such as could be eaten without need for
+a fire.</p>
+
+<p>Quantity rather than quality seemed to rule
+his actions. At any rate, when he gathered
+his spoils together he had quite enough to last
+an ordinary man several days.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he told himself, when lifting the
+bundle he had made. "I may be marooned
+around here a long time, and never get another
+chance at this supply station. I believe in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204'></a>204</span>
+striking while the iron's hot. Now to get it
+outside without raising a crowd."</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed a lucky thing that there was
+no watch-dog at the Potzfeldt place. Undoubtedly
+this was because of the many
+visitors coming and going at all times, who
+might be bothered by a savage beast.</p>
+
+<p>Jack managed to get back safely to the nest
+where he had hidden at the time of the
+excitement, when Potzfeldt and his men were
+in the field. He gave a sigh of relief after
+it was all over.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the young aviator settled down to try
+to get some sleep, as some time still remained
+before dawn would break. He meant to be
+early astir. There was danger in the air, as
+he might be discovered unless he arranged for
+a better hiding place than the covert of bushes
+where he now lay.</p>
+
+<p>Whether his sleep was worth while, or
+rendered uneasy by dreams, Jack never told.
+He was awake though, when the sun peeped
+above the horizon, and began to bestir himself.
+Presently people would be moving about. Some
+of the men might even come out to the open
+field again, to look at the telltale marks. And
+if they chanced to suspect that one of the crew
+of the Caudron had been left behind, a hasty
+search was apt to reveal his presence.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205'></a>205</span>Accordingly Jack commenced to retire deeper
+into the wood, and managed by great care to
+cover his tracks fairly well in so doing. Finally
+he found a place that seemed to him about
+as good as anything he might expect to run
+across; and so he crawled into the bushes again.</p>
+
+<p>Then he had a most pleasing task to start
+upon, which was nothing more nor less than
+that of appeasing his appetite, never more
+voracious, he fancied, than just then. Without
+a twinge of conscience regarding the fact that
+it was stolen food he disposed of, Jack
+commenced his morning meal.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm only enjoying some of the good stuff
+that scoundrel deprived Bessie of," he told himself,
+with a grin of contentment, after he had
+eaten until he could not take another bite.
+"Besides, everything is fair in war-times. When
+you're raiding through the enemy's country it's
+supposed you'll live on the spoils around you.
+Well, I'm going to live, and Carl Potzfeldt is
+my enemy, all right. He's proved that in a
+dozen different ways."</p>
+
+<p>That idea set him to thinking about Bessie
+again, how she had taken such a queer way to
+try to warn him, after overhearing her guardian
+plotting with one of his men the injury to one
+or both of the young Americans.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I wonder," Jack mused, as he lay in
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206'></a>206</span>
+perfect peace with the world, for he had eaten
+his fill, "how he knew we had joined the Lafayette
+Escadrille. But then those German spies
+learn a lot of things, and he may have been
+keeping tabs on Tom and me right along. Deep
+down in his heart he suspected we'd bother him,
+and so he wanted to get us before we had a
+chance to strike. Well, the shoe is on the other
+foot, it seems."</p>
+
+<p>The morning advanced. Fortunately it
+proved to be a fair day for so early in April.
+Had a storm arisen Jack might have found it
+hard to find shelter. As it was, all he had to
+do was to lie under the bushes and doze from
+time to time.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever he got to thinking of Tom a queer
+feeling came over him. It made him uneasy,
+though he could not explain why that should
+be so; and from time to time he took himself
+to task for being worried.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course Tom got back safe and sound,"
+he would muse. "He's too clever a pilot to
+make a bad job of such a business. And yet,
+if he doesn't come to-night I'll be terribly
+anxious. Oh, forget all that! will you, Jack
+Parmly? Think of something pleasant now.
+For instance, that it's nearly high noon, and
+most folks lunch then."</p>
+
+<p>He had just calmed down again, when he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207'></a>207</span>
+had a sudden chill. Men were working in a
+field about three hundred yards away, for he
+could hear them calling to one another in
+German.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there came a series of snappy barks.
+Jack looking around was horrified to discover
+a small dog. It was a dachschund, long of body,
+and with crooked, bandy legs. It was standing
+before the hidden boy and evidently bent on
+telling everybody by his barks that some
+suspicious person was hiding in the bushes.</p>
+
+<p>It was a crisis that made Jack's blood run
+cold!</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208'></a>208</span><a id='link_25'></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /><span class='h2fs'>BACK TO SAFETY&#8211;CONCLUSION</span></h2>
+
+<p>Jack hardly knew what to do. He made
+threatening gestures at the dog, but they, of
+course, only added to the trouble, for the animal
+renewed his barking more briskly than ever.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jack had an inspiration, such as sometimes
+comes when all seems lost. If the dog
+continued his barking, sooner or later one of
+the men working in the field not far off would
+have his curiosity aroused, and come to
+ascertain what sort of wild animal the dog had
+treed.</p>
+
+<p>Jack unfastened his package of food. Since
+stern tactics had no effect he meant to try to
+make friends with the dachschund. Dogs are
+always more or less hungry, he argued; and
+this must be especially true at that time in every
+part of Germany, Alsace-Lorraine not excepted,
+since the pinch of two-and-a-half years of war
+had made terrible inroads on all kinds of food.</p>
+
+<p>Jack commenced to eat. The dog kept on
+barking, though not quite so savagely now.
+The smell of the food had reached him, and he
+would occasionally give a little imploring whine
+between his barks.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209'></a>209</span>So Jack spoke to him in a soft, wheedling
+tone. Then he held up a scrap of meat, and
+caught the eager attention of the little beast;
+after which he tossed it to him. It vanished
+like a flash. The dog even wagged his tail, as
+if to let the man know his animosity was
+quickly giving way to interest. Surely any one
+who had all that food along with him could not
+be a suspicious personage.</p>
+
+<p>The next scrap fell a little short, and the dog
+advanced to get it. So by degrees Jack tempted
+him, until in the end he was patting the squatty
+animal on the back, and still feeding him. They
+were now the best of friends. Kindness had
+accomplished what all the threatening gestures,
+supplemented with many sticks hurled at the
+beast, could never have brought about.</p>
+
+<p>Jack believed he had saved himself from
+discovery. He could easily understand what
+hardships must have awaited him had he ever
+fallen into the hands of Carl Potzfeldt.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon went by very tediously. The
+dog came and went, staying for short periods
+with Jack. The vast store of food was a magnet
+that held the little beast fast. It had doubtless
+been a long time since he had had his full.</p>
+
+<p>By degrees the day waned, and evening came
+along.</p>
+
+<p>Jack never saw the sun set with less regret
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210'></a>210</span>
+than he did on that occasion. Still he knew
+that long hours must pass before the moon
+would peep in view above the eastern horizon.</p>
+
+<p>As he sat, he allowed his thoughts to roam
+backward. Once more in imagination he could
+see his friends who were on the other side of
+the ocean. Then for a change he would take
+another "snack," as he called it, for lack of
+anything else to occupy his attention.</p>
+
+<p>Several times also he dozed, but always
+arousing with a start at some sound, under the
+impression that it might be Tom who had
+come, and, not finding him, gone away again.</p>
+
+<p>Finally he began to believe it must surely be
+past midnight; and the late moon would
+presently be making an appearance. On looking
+closely toward the east he became aware
+that the heavens were betraying such a fact,
+for a distinct silvery glow was beginning to
+appear, low down.</p>
+
+<p>Then came a streak of light. It was the
+moon. Slowly she mounted higher, as if more
+or less ashamed of the dilapidated appearance
+of her usually smiling face.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had earlier in the night changed his
+place of lodging. He again occupied his former
+quarters close to the spot where he and Tom
+had landed when they wished to overhaul the
+motor that was acting so badly.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211'></a>211</span>The minutes dragged.</p>
+
+<p>Then once more Jack bent his head, and put
+a hand up to his ear to listen. He laughed to
+himself with glee.</p>
+
+<p>"That's Tom coming!" he muttered joyously.
+"I knew Tom wouldn't fail me. All the same I'll
+be mighty glad when I'm aboard the plane and
+on the air route to Bar-le-Duc and my own cot."</p>
+
+<p>Louder grew the sounds. There could not be
+the slightest doubt about it now, Jack decided.
+A plane was coming at top speed, and keeping
+not a great distance above the treetops of the
+little valley in which the house of Carl Potzfeldt
+and the road to Metz lay.</p>
+
+<p>Louder grew the insistent drumming. Jack
+wondered whether some of those at the château
+might not also hear the racket, and, guessing
+what it would mean, hasten out to the field
+in time to give Tom and himself a volley of
+shots.</p>
+
+<p>Now the plane was coming, like a great
+condor of the Andes about to alight on a
+mountain peak. Jack gauged full well where
+it would land. He ran with all his might to be
+close to the spot. The less time wasted in
+getting him aboard the better for their safety,
+he believed, remembering what cause Carl
+Potzfeldt now had for being suspicious when a
+plane visited his meadow.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212'></a>212</span>Then the big Caudron ran along the ground
+and came to a full stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Tom, I'm here, and mighty glad to
+see you!" cried the lad who had counted the
+minutes until his brain seemed to reel with the
+strain.</p>
+
+<p>"Get aboard in a hurry, Jack. We've no time
+to waste here."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that even better than you do,"
+returned the other.</p>
+
+<p>There was indeed need of haste. The air
+service boys could hear voices from where the
+château was located. Someone had heard the
+humming of the oncoming airplane. It was
+Potzfeldt himself, and now he and two of his
+men came hurrying out on the field, all armed
+with pistols.</p>
+
+<p>Jack only waited to give the propellers a
+whirl, and then, as the motor took up its work,
+he made a leap for his seat. Oh, how good it
+seemed to be once more in that airplane!</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! Stop!" roared a guttural voice in
+German. "Stop, or we fire!"</p>
+
+<p>Now the airplane was moving along the
+ground, bumping and rocking considerably.
+But Tom knew how to manage, and presently
+the plane commenced to soar slowly upward.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213'></a>213</span>Loud and angry voices announced the fact
+that Carl Potzfeldt had arrived close enough to
+get a view of the rising plane in the misty light
+of the moon.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! I command you! Stop!" roared the
+German. And then came the crack! crack!
+crack! of firearms.</p>
+
+<p>The air service boys, because of the noise of
+the motor, did not hear the discharge of the
+pistols, but suddenly Jack heard the spatter of
+a bullet as it struck the machine close beside
+him. Then he ducked and made a motion to
+Tom to let his chum know that they were under
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>But the machine was gaining headway
+rapidly, and presently they were so high that
+those below could no longer reach them. Up
+and up they went until they were thousands of
+feet above the valley that had been the scene of
+this remarkable adventure.</p>
+
+<p>Tom headed back along the course he had
+just come. It was now easy to pick up one
+landmark after another, and in due course of
+time they passed over the lines once more. Of
+course, the sound of the plane's propellers was
+heard by the Germans, and some shrapnel was
+sent after them; but as Tom was careful to
+keep high in the air, this did not reach them,
+and soon they were out of the danger belt.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214'></a>214</span>Fifteen minutes later they made a landing,
+this time on the well remembered aviation field
+of Bar-le-Duc. Here there were attendants on
+hand ready to care for the machines.</p>
+
+<p>"Glad to see you got back," said one of the
+attendants, grinning. He knew that Tom had
+gone off on the second trip to bring Jack.</p>
+
+<p>The two air service boys found a car to take
+them to the villa. The long ride through the
+night air had made both of them very sleepy,
+and yet neither felt just then like retiring.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a lucky thing, Tom," said Jack, between
+yawns, "that I had this fur-lined pilot's coat
+along with me. Only for that I'd have been
+mighty cold out there in the open last night,
+with no chance for a fire."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's all past now, Jack. Tell me what
+happened to you during my absence."</p>
+
+<p>Jack, was nothing loath, and as quickly as
+possible gave his chum the particulars of how
+he had gone into hiding and almost been
+betrayed by the dog.</p>
+
+<p>Tom had already told Jack about what had
+become of Mrs. Gleason and Bessie. They had
+been taken to a house some miles back of the
+lines, and were to be made comfortable there
+for the night.</p>
+
+<p>"And early in the morning they are to start
+for Paris," Tom said with satisfaction. "I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215'></a>215</span>
+managed through our captain to get them
+passage aboard a train that is to take some
+wounded back to the base hospitals. Mrs.
+Gleason says she means to stay in Paris and
+help all she can as a Red Cross nurse, for she
+has had some experience in nursing."</p>
+
+<p>"That's fine!" was Jack's comment. And
+then for the time being he became somewhat
+silent.</p>
+
+<p>Tom could easily understand that his chum
+was cherishing a hope that some time or other
+when they were taking a vacation from their
+arduous duties while flying for France, the pair
+of them might visit the French metropolis, and
+if so they would certainly try to see Bessie and
+her mother again.</p>
+
+<p>"And I've got more news to tell," remarked
+Tom, when the pair were about to turn in for
+their much-needed sleep. "You'll remember
+about that message we found in the capsule on
+the leg of the homing pigeon. Well, one of the
+other pigeons we found was used to send a false
+message to the Germans, telling them that a
+certain part of the French line was very weak.
+A short while later the Germans made a furious
+attack on that part of the line, and, believe me,
+they caught it for fair&#8211;the plucky French
+soldiers, aided by the artillery, literally wiped
+up the ground with them."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216'></a>216</span>"That's great news!" cried Jack. "Then it
+paid to bring down that pigeon, didn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It sure did, Jack!"</p>
+
+<p>Two days later came a most important
+announcement, especially to the American
+airmen.</p>
+
+<p>"Things are coming our way at last," the
+valiant commander announced, as they crowded
+about him. "The papers this morning say that
+Uncle Sam has at last got his back up. Any
+day may now bring the glorious news from
+across the Atlantic, telling that the United
+States has taken the steps that will put her in
+this World War against the Central Powers.
+Then it will be all over but the shouting."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right!" cried Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"You just leave it to Uncle Sam to do it!"
+added Tom.</p>
+
+<p>Many more adventures were in store for the
+young aviators, and what some of them were
+will be related in the next volume of this series,
+to be entitled "Air Service Boys Over the Rhine;
+Or, Fighting Above the Clouds."</p>
+
+<p>And here for the present let us leave the air
+service boys and say good-bye.</p>
+
+<p class='center mt20'>THE END</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<p class='c fs12'>THE DICK HAMILTON SERIES</p>
+<p class='c'>BY HOWARD R. GARIS</p>
+<p class='c mb20'>A NEW LINE OF CLEVER TALES FOR BOYS</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>DICK HAMILTON'S FORTUNE<br />
+or The Stirring: Doings of a Millionaire's Son</p>
+
+<p>Dick, the son of a millionaire, has a fortune left to him by his
+mother. But before he can touch the bulk of this money it is stipulated
+in his mother's will that he must do certain things, in order
+to prove that he is worthy of possessing such a fortune. The
+doings of Dick and his chums make the liveliest kind of reading.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>DICK HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS<br />
+or The Handicap of a Millionaire's Son</p>
+
+<p>The hero, a very rich young man, is sent to a military academy
+to make his way without the use of money. A fine picture of life
+at an up-to-date military academy is given, with target shooting,
+broad-sword exercise, trick riding, sham battles, and all.
+Dick proves himself a hero in the best sense of the word.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>DICK HAMILTON'S STEAM YACHT<br />
+or A Young Millionaire and the Kidnappers</p>
+
+<p>A series of adventures while yachting in which our hero's
+wealth plays a part. Dick is marooned on an island, recovers his
+yacht and foils the kidnappers. The wrong young man is spirited
+away, Dick gives chase and there is a surprising rescue at sea.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>DICK HAMILTON'S AIRSHIP<br />
+or A Young Millionaire in the Clouds</p>
+
+<p>This new book is just brimming over with hair-raising adventures
+of Dick Hamilton in his new airship.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>DICK HAMILTON'S TOURING CAR<br />
+or A Young Millionaire's Race for Fortune</p>
+
+<p>A series of thrilling adventures. Dick and his friends see the
+country in a huge touring car. Their exciting trip across the
+country, how they saved a young man's fortune and other exciting
+incidents are very cleverly told.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>DICK HAMILTON'S FOOTBALL TEAM<br />
+or A Young Millionaire on the Gridiron</p>
+
+<p>A thrilling story of how Dick made a real football team for
+his school&#8211;the team that was laughed at by other military schools
+until Dick took charge.</p>
+
+<hr class='pb' />
+
+<p class='c fs12'>THE BOY-SCOUTS BANNER SERIES</p>
+<p class='c'>By GEORGE A. WARREN</p>
+<p class='c mb20'>Author of the "Revolutionary Series"</p>
+
+<p>The Boy Scouts movement has swept over our country
+like wildfire, and is endorsed by our greatest men and leading
+educators. No author is better qualified to write such a
+series as this than Professor Warren, who has watched the
+movement closely since its inception in England some years
+ago.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS<br />
+or The Struggle for Leadership</p>
+
+<p>This initial volume tells how the news of the scout movement
+reached the boys and how they determined to act on it.
+They organized the Fox Patrol, and some rivals organized another
+patrol. More patrols were formed in neighboring towns
+and a prize was put up for the patrol scoring the most points
+in a many-sided contest.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS ON A TOUR<br />
+or The Mystery of Rattlesnake Mountain</p>
+
+<p>This story begins with a mystery that is most unusual.
+There is a good deal of fun and adventure, camping, fishing,
+and swimming, and the young heroes more than once prove
+their worth.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS AFLOAT<br />
+or The Secret of Cedar Island</p>
+
+<p>Here is another tale of life in the open, of jolly times on
+river and lake and around the camp fire, told by one who has
+camped out for many years.</p>
+
+<p class='bt'>THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS SNOWBOUND<br />
+or A Tour on Skates and Iceboats</p>
+
+<p>The boys take a trip into the mountains, where they are
+caught in a big snowstorm and are snowbound. A series of
+stirring adventures which will hold the interest of every
+reader.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by 
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER ENEMY LINES ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines
+       The German Spy's Secret
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Illustrator: Robert Gaston Herbert
+
+Release Date: February 17, 2010 [EBook #31312]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER ENEMY LINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE DUEL IN MIDAIR.]
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+OR
+
+THE GERMAN SPY'S SECRET
+
+BY
+
+CHARLES AMORY BEACH
+
+Author of "Air Service Boys Flying for France"
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+
+ROBERT GASTON HERBERT
+
+THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.
+
+CLEVELAND, O. NEW YORK, N.Y.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1919, BY
+
+GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+by
+
+THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO.
+
+CLEVELAND, O.
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY LINES
+
+CONTENTS
+ Chapter                                              Page
+       I.  Back of the Trenches                          1
+      II.  The Winged Messenger                         10
+     III.  A Spy Baffled                                19
+      IV.  Praise From the General                      27
+       V.  The Strange Warning                          35
+      VI.  Looking Backward                             45
+     VII.  The Great Day Arrives                        53
+    VIII.  Over the Enemy's Lines                       61
+      IX.  Winning His Spurs                            70
+       X.  After the Battle                             78
+      XI.  A Show on the Front                          85
+     XII.  Clowns on the Wing                           94
+    XIII.  More Work in Prospect                       103
+     XIV.  Off on a Daring Mission                     113
+      XV.  The Moonlight Flight                        120
+     XVI.  Landing Close To Metz                       129
+    XVII.  More Trouble for the Chums                  137
+   XVIII.  The Lone House by the Roadside              144
+     XIX.  A Nest of Spies                             153
+      XX.  Jack Climbs a Wall                          162
+     XXI.  In the Old Lorraine Chateau                 171
+    XXII.  Facing More Difficulties                    181
+   XXIII.  Left Behind in the Enemy's Country          191
+    XXIV.  Troublous Times for Jack                    200
+     XXV.  Back to Safety--Conclusion                  208
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BACK OF THE TRENCHES
+
+
+"Tom, what do you suppose that strange man who looked like a French
+peasant, yet wasn't one, could have been up to late yesterday
+afternoon?"
+
+"You mean the fellow discovered near the hangars at the aviation camp,
+Jack?"
+
+"Yes. He seemed to go out of sight like a wreath of smoke does. Why, if
+the ground had opened and swallowed him up, once the hue and cry was
+raised, he couldn't have vanished quicker. I wonder if what they say
+about him can be true?"
+
+"That he was a German spy? Anything is possible in war times."
+
+"I guess you're right there. German secret sympathizers, and spies in
+the bargain, seemed to bob up all over the United States before we
+crossed the ocean to do our fighting for France as aviators."
+
+"They certainly were busy bees, Jack, blowing up munition-works, trying
+to destroy big railroad bridges so as to cripple traffic with the Allies
+over here; burning grain elevators in which France and Great Britain had
+big supplies of wheat stored; and even putting bombs aboard ocean liners
+that were timed to explode days later, when the boat would be a thousand
+miles from land."
+
+"Over in France here they make short work of spies, I've heard, Tom!"
+
+"Yes, it's a drumhead court martial and trial. Then, if the man or woman
+is found guilty, the spy goes out with a firing squad to the most
+convenient stone wall. They never return, Jack."
+
+"Whee! that sounds like war times, doesn't it? And to think the two of
+us are right on the firing line, in the midst of all the scrapping. But,
+Tom, tell me, why should a tricky German spy want to hang out around the
+aviation field? He could hardly expect to pick up any news there that
+would be worth taking across the lines to the headquarters of the Crown
+Prince before Verdun."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that, Jack. Perhaps he might learn of some
+contemplated bombing expedition, like that one we went on not so long
+ago." And Tom Raymond smiled slightly.
+
+"They are a mighty clever bunch, those spies," admitted Jack Parmly.
+
+"Why, Jack, half of the successes of the Kaiser's armies on all fronts,
+Russia, France and Rumania, can be laid at the door of his secret
+agents. They seem to be everywhere, trying to foment internal troubles,
+strikes, and discontent, so that when the Germans strike hard they meet
+a divided enemy in front."
+
+"Well, I certainly wish we had caught that fellow."
+
+"You were in the crowd, you told me, that scoured the whole neighborhood
+in search of him."
+
+"That's right, I was. But say, he proved too foxy for us all. Anyway, we
+failed to find the rascal. Then night came on, when we had to give our
+man-hunt over. And to think that I even glimpsed the fellow's face in
+the bargain before the alarm went out!"
+
+"Then you'd know him again perhaps, Jack, if ever you met him?"
+
+"I think so. Though I suppose these spies have ways of changing their
+looks at times. But, to change the subject, Tom, it strikes me neither
+of us is groaning under the weight of game so far on our little side
+hunt." And Jack Parmly grinned.
+
+"Oh, I didn't really expect to run across anything, though that French
+peasant assured us there were still some rabbits in the burrows over
+here, three miles back of our sleeping quarters. That's why, with a day
+off-duty, I took a notion to borrow an old Belgian-made double-barrel
+shotgun he owned, and walk out here."
+
+"More to stretch our legs and get the kinks out, than anything else, eh,
+Tom?"
+
+"That's it, Jack. Don't you remember that while we were training at the
+aviation school at Pau we used often to walk from the town, eight miles
+distant, until we sighted that famous little old red barn at Pau, where
+the Wright Brothers conducted some of their experiments in flying
+heavier-than-air machines. That was some little hike."
+
+"Then too, Tom, I guess we wanted to get together by ourselves for a
+change, so we could talk about our folks at home in little old
+Bridgeton, U. S. A.," went on Jack Parmly with a sigh. "All the fellows
+of the Lafayette Escadrille are mighty kind and sociable, but there are
+times when a fellow gets homesick. Just remember that we have been over
+here many months now. It seems years to me, Tom."
+
+"Say, I hope you are not homesick enough to want to go back, old
+fellow?"
+
+"Not me, Tom. I made up my mind to stick it out until we whip the
+Kaiser. But already I can see it'll never be an accomplished fact until
+Uncle Sam throws his sword into the scales. And any day now something
+may drop."
+
+"Yes, matters are at an acute stage in Washington, that's sure. All
+France, bled nearly white in two-and-a-half years of war, is praying
+that the day may come soon."
+
+After that the two athletic looking young Americans, dressed in the
+uniform of the French aviation corps, fell silent for a brief time.
+They, however, continued to trudge over the devastated fields, looking
+this way and that for any sign of a stray rabbit that had escaped the
+general slaughter.
+
+It was just previous to the world-stirring session of Congress, when the
+President made his thrilling speech that sounded almost from end to end
+of the world, and put America in line for the cause of democracy.
+Anxious days those were across the ocean, anxious not only in France,
+Italy and Great Britain, in Serbia, Rumania, Greece and Russia, but in
+the Central Empires, also.
+
+For well did those in Teutonic authority know, in spite of their vain
+boasting, that once great America decided, the thing was bound to be
+done, sooner or later. Never in the course of her history has our
+republic been on a losing side. Her wars have invariably brought
+eventual victory to her arms, because she has never once fought for an
+unjust cause.
+
+These two vigorous young fellows were fair samples of those enterprising
+Americans who found it impossible to sit idly by. They could not await
+the slow course of events that was bound to carry our country into the
+world war on the side of the Allies, in spite of all the powerful
+counter currents among the pro-German citizens at home.
+
+Dozens of the brightest of flying men from the States had gone over and
+offered their services to France, the country they loved. In time there
+came to be so many, that from the ordinary French Flying Corps there was
+formed a unit entirely made up of Americans.
+
+This, in honor of the one great Frenchman whom Americans most honor at
+home, was called the Lafayette Escadrille. Some of its members had
+become famous at their profession. Names like those of Lufbery, Thaw,
+McConnell, Chapman, Prince, Rockwell, Hill, Rumsey, Johnson, Balsley and
+others became household words among readers of the great dailies in the
+States.
+
+Tom Raymond was the son of a man who had gained fame as an inventor.
+When the war broke out he started work on numerous inventions, some of
+which were calculated to become terrible agents for the destruction of
+human life. Then Mr. Raymond's mood changed, and he set to work to
+conceive a wonderful stabilizer for airplane use that would save myriads
+of lives, and if adopted by Uncle Sam was likely to help win the war for
+the Allies.
+
+Just when this invention was finished a drawing of one of the parts was
+stolen by a German spy. Later on, after Tom and his chum, Jack Parmly
+had decided to become war aviators, having already had considerable
+aviation experience, they went to the flying school conducted by the
+Government in Virginia.
+
+From there in course of time they crossed the Atlantic and entered the
+famous French school at Pau. Then, having mastered the science of flying
+sufficiently to be sent to the front, they had joined the Lafayette
+Escadrille, as related in a previous volume entitled "Air Service Boys
+Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette Escadrille."
+
+Tom in particular seemed to have a great career ahead of him, unless
+some unfortunate accident, or possibly a Teuton pilot, cut it short, as
+had happened in the cases of Rockwell, Prince, McConnell and Chapman.
+Every one knew he possessed genius of a high order, and that it would
+not be long before Tom Raymond might anticipate gaining the proud title
+of "_ace_," which would indicate that he had defeated five enemies
+at different times, and put them entirely out of the running.
+
+Tom was already a corporal in the French service, and expected before a
+great while to be given the privilege of wearing the chevrons of a
+sergeant. Jack had not progressed so rapidly but was doing well.
+
+And now to return to the young aviators during their walk.
+
+"I reckon we've gone far enough, Jack," Tom remarked presently. "Our
+friend Jean may have been telling the truth when he said there were
+still a few bunnies left alive in this war-racked section of country,
+but I can see they've got the good sense to stick to their burrows
+during the daytime. We won't be burdened with our bag of game on the
+return trip."
+
+"Yes, that's always the trouble, when you go out after rabbits and
+haven't any hound along to get them up and bring them within gunshot,"
+grumbled Jack.
+
+"But we've had a good walk," returned his companion; "and for a time we
+managed to get away from that terrible explosion of shells, and big-gun
+firing. We ought to be thankful for our little time off, Jack."
+
+"Oh! I'm not really complaining," remarked the other young aviator, with
+a whimsical expression on his good-natured face. "But don't you know I
+hate to go back without having fired even one shot." He stopped short
+and pointed upward. "Hold on, Tom; there's some kind of bird going to
+pass over right now! Crow or anything, please bring it down! I'll
+promise to eat it, no matter what it is."
+
+Laughingly Tom threw the gun up to his shoulder, and the next instant
+the report sounded. It seemed almost contemptible, after listening to
+the roar of those monster shells exploding for so long.
+
+The bird fell fluttering in a heap. Tom evidently was a fair marksman,
+for it had been moving swiftly over their heads at the time he fired.
+Jack ran forward and picked the game up. As he did so he gave utterance
+to exclamations that naturally excited the curiosity of his chum. So
+Tom, after reloading his gun with a fresh shell, waited for Jack to
+rejoin him, which the other did, his face full of mystery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE WINGED MESSENGER
+
+
+"What do you call this, Tom? A queer sort of crow, I'd say. Looks more
+to me like the blue-rock pigeons Sam Becker used to raise at home," and
+so saying Jack held up the still quivering bunch of feathers.
+
+Tom took one quick look, and then a startled expression flitted across
+his face.
+
+"Just what it is, Jack!" he hastened to say. "A homing pigeon in the
+bargain! You can tell that from the bill and the ring around the eyes."
+
+Jack in turn became aroused.
+
+"A homing pigeon, is it?" he ejaculated. "Why, birds like that are used
+for carrying messages across the lines! Some of our airplane pilots have
+told me that sometimes they take a French spy far back of the German
+front. When he had made an important discovery he would write a message
+in cipher, enclose it in a tiny waterproof capsule attached to a ring
+about the pigeon's leg, and set the bird free. Inside of half an hour it
+would be safe back in its loft, and the message on the way to French
+headquarters."
+
+He lifted one limp leg, and then the other.
+
+"Look here, it's got a message, as sure as anything!" Jack exclaimed.
+
+Tom leaned forward and took the bird in his hand, dropping the gun
+meanwhile. He carefully took off the gelatine capsule, and from it
+extracted a delicate piece of tough paper, which he spread open. There
+were a series of strange marks on the paper, of which neither of the air
+service boys could make anything.
+
+"Looks like hieroglyphics, such as you'd expect to find on an Egyptian
+tomb or in the burial places under the pyramids," complained Jack, after
+he had stared at the lines in disgust for a brief period of time.
+
+"It's a cipher of some kind," explained Tom, seriously. "With the key
+all this would resolve itself into some sort of communication, I
+suppose, connected with valuable information concerning the French
+armies here at Verdun."
+
+"Then it was made by a spy!"
+
+"No question about that part of it," came the ready reply.
+
+"This carrier pigeon with this message, was on its way across to some
+point in the rear of the enemy line when you fired, and brought the poor
+little thing down in a quivering heap, I'm sure that's it," continued
+the other.
+
+"Yes. And so after all it's turned out to be a lucky thing you chanced
+to see the bird coming along, Jack, and begged me to knock it down so we
+could show some sort of game when we got back to camp."
+
+"What ought we do with this message?" asked Jack, accustomed to
+depending on his more energetic chum in many cases; though when left to
+his own resources he could think for himself, as had frequently been
+proved.
+
+"I shall see that it gets to French headquarters, with an account of the
+singular way we ran across it," Tom told him.
+
+"Do you think it would be possible for any one there to translate this
+cipher of the German secret code?"
+
+"Why not?" Tom demanded. "They are clever people, these wideawake
+French, and I shouldn't be at all surprised if they turned this incident
+to some good use."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Oh, it could be done in many ways. Suppose they found the key to the
+code. Don't you see how a fictitious message could be sent on in some
+way, if they could bag another pigeon from the same coop? They might
+even coax the Germans to deliver a furious attack at a supposed weak
+place in the line, which would of course be heavily guarded."
+
+"That would be something worth while!" exclaimed the other with glowing
+eyes. "Lead them into a trap, where they would be mowed down like ripe
+grain, terrible as that sounds!"
+
+"Yes, that's the idea I had in mind. But it would depend on several
+things. First of all would come the successful solving of this cipher
+code."
+
+"Yes, and then the finding of another homing pigeon," added Jack. "I
+wonder if the fellow who released that bird could have a lot more of the
+same kind hidden away somewhere around back here."
+
+"I was just going to suggest that we take a turn toward the south, and
+look around a bit before going back to camp. Do you feel equal to it,
+Jack?"
+
+"What, me! Tom? Why, I'm as fresh as a daisy! This business has made me
+forget there's such a thing as getting tired walking."
+
+"Let's see, we stood here when I fired," continued Tom reflectively,
+"and you walked straight to where the bird dropped. That would make the
+direction due northwest by southeast. How about that, Jack?"
+
+The other took a survey, and then pointed with his hand.
+
+"When I saw the bird coming first of all, Tom," he finally remarked, "it
+was just showing up over that clump of trees killed by gunfire. And it
+was heading as straight as can be for us."
+
+"Yes," Tom went on to say, "because a homing pigeon on being released
+will rise to a certain height and take its bearings. Then it starts in a
+bee-line for its loft, whether that is five miles away or hundreds of
+miles. Some peculiar instinct tells it in which way home lies. It seldom
+if ever goes astray. Sometimes birds have made a thousand miles, and
+shown up at their home coop days after being set free."
+
+"Well, then, the man who threw it into the air, after fastening this
+cipher message to it, must be over to the southeast of us," affirmed
+Jack.
+
+"The bird was released within five minutes or so of the time I fired,"
+Tom told his chum. "It's even possible the spy may have heard the report
+of my gun."
+
+"Tom, why not try to capture that spy?" asked Jack, eagerly, ready for
+any sort of excitement.
+
+The young aviators started off, walking briskly. They kept their eyes
+alertly open as they proceeded. At the same time, on Tom's suggestion,
+they continued to act as though still looking for game, even
+investigating at a burrow that certainly was used by rabbits, as the
+tracks plainly indicated.
+
+Tom never deviated from a direct line due southeast. He knew that their
+best chance of making a valuable discovery lay in finding the place
+where the carrier pigeon had been released, to fly across the lines to
+its home loft. This might be many miles to the rear of the fighting
+front, even on Lorraine territory, in the neighborhood of the fortified
+city of Metz itself.
+
+The two passed over a mile without making any sort of discovery, Jack,
+who did not possess quite as determined a nature as his comrade, was
+already commencing to make certain sounds akin to complainings, as
+though he felt keenly disgruntled because of their lack of success.
+
+"Guess we'll have to give it up, Tom," he finally remarked.
+
+"Wait," said Tom. "Before doing that let's investigate that old
+shattered farmhouse over yonder."
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Jack, plucking up some fresh interest, "have you
+located one of those remains of a building, then? I was coming to
+believe there wasn't so much as a broken wall left standing for a space
+of five square miles, so complete has been the destruction. But I see
+what you mean, Tom."
+
+They walked ahead again, and approached the ruined farmhouse. It had
+been riddled through and through by shot and shell. Three-fourths of the
+original building lay in piles, the stones heaped up as they had fallen.
+
+"Queer, isn't it, that the kitchen part escaped the smashing fire, and
+still stands," observed Jack. "I warrant you this is the only part of a
+building left around here. Tom, would our spy be likely to take up his
+headquarters in such a place as this, do you think?"
+
+"I don't know," came the answer. "We can soon find out."
+
+"He might feel desperate enough to open fire on us," suggested Jack,
+though he did not shrink or hold back when Tom advanced; for Jack Parmly
+did not have a drop of cowardly blood in his veins.
+
+Tom turned and waved his hand as though beckoning to others who might be
+coming after them. He even called out in his best French, as if there
+were a dozen back of him, that there was a possibility of securing at
+least a drink of cold water at the old-fashioned well with a sweep that
+stood near the kitchen of the ruined farmhouse.
+
+"Good idea, Tom!" commented the other, chuckling with amusement. "If he
+gets the notion in his head that we are legion he won't be so apt to
+blaze away at us, knowing it would mean a short shrift for him. He may
+prefer to play the poor French peasant part, and try to pull the wool
+over our eyes."
+
+Presently they arrived at the door. It was hanging from one hinge, and
+the entire place presented a vivid picture of the utter desolation cruel
+war always brings in its train.
+
+Tom's first act before entering was to look down at the ground just
+before the door. Some intuition told him that if the place had been
+recently occupied they would possibly find some evidences of the fact in
+the earth.
+
+"See there, Jack!" he suddenly exclaimed, as he pointed down close to
+his feet. "Fresh tracks, and made by a man's shoes in the bargain!"
+
+"Some one has been in here for a fact, Tom, and I wouldn't be afraid to
+wager he saw us coming and cleared out in a hurry. He could have skirted
+those bushes, and got clear easy enough. Do you think it could have been
+the same chap who freed that pigeon?"
+
+"No doubt about it," and Tom, stooping, picked up some small object.
+"See, here's a feather that was sticking to that dead weed. It's from a
+bird of the same color as the pigeon, perhaps from the very one I've got
+in my pocket."
+
+"That settles it," snapped the pleased Jack. "I must say you're a clever
+hand at finding these things out. I'd have never dreamed of looking down
+at my feet, but blundered right into the shack to see if----Oh! What do
+you think of the luck we're in this day, Tom? See what stands there on
+that poor old three-legged table!"
+
+Jack's excitement was natural, as Tom readily understood when he looked;
+for there was a small basket or cage made from oziers or willow wands;
+and inside this they could see two blue gray homing pigeons, mates to
+the one Tom had shot only a short time before!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A SPY BAFFLED
+
+
+Both young aviators stared at the wicker cage containing the two
+pigeons. The birds had been still up to then, but now commenced to make
+cooing sounds, as though pleased at having human company. Apparently
+they were inclined to be sociable, as Jack afterwards put it.
+
+"So he discovered us coming along," Jack went on to say, "and skipped
+out in such a hurry he didn't have time to carry away the cage with
+him."
+
+"He must have climbed out of this window in the side of the wall,"
+observed Tom. "We could have seen him if he had used the door. Yes,
+there are footprints underneath the window. He ran down behind those
+bushes and reached the stone wall that leads to the broken country and
+what is left of the woods."
+
+"The chances are he had all that mapped out beforehand," suggested Jack.
+"Surely a spy has always to keep a door open for retreat."
+
+"Yes. Why not? They take their lives in their hands every time they
+enter the hostile lines, and you can't blame a man for wanting to live a
+little longer, especially if he believes he can serve his country."
+
+"Perhaps he hasn't got such a good start but that we could overtake him
+if we went after him now," suggested Jack.
+
+"We might take a turn that way," his chum agreed. "But not too far
+afield. We didn't start out to search for spies, and we've only got a
+single gun between us. Even my automatic was left behind, because I
+didn't expect to have any use for it, and get tired carrying the thing,
+with its belt."
+
+"But these pigeons here, Tom?"
+
+"We can leave them until we get back. That's one reason why I don't want
+to get out of sight of the place. He might make a round, and carry the
+birds away while we were engaged in a hunt half a mile off. And it may
+be of much more importance that those live birds arrive in the French
+camp than that we should bag the spy."
+
+"I get you, Tom; so let's commence our little man-hunt right away."
+
+The two friends set off. Tom tried to follow the course he believed the
+spy must have taken on quitting the old farmhouse ruins. That his
+reckoning was clear he proved several times by pointing out to his
+companion plain evidences that some other person had passed along the
+way before them.
+
+Here the marks of shoes could be detected in the soft earth. A little
+further on, and at a point where the man must have crawled in order to
+keep from being seen, they found tracks where his toes had dragged
+along, as well as the indentation of his knees in the soil.
+
+Presently they arrived at the terminus of the stone wall, about the only
+thing remaining intact connected with the French farm. There was not a
+single tree showing signs of life in that patch of sombre forest; where
+shell-fire had failed to do the work of destruction a malicious hand had
+girdled the trunk with a keen-edged tool, and thus encompassed the doom
+of the trees.
+
+Tom came to a pause.
+
+"I reckon we've come far enough," he said, taking a look over toward the
+fragment of a house on the slight elevation, which could just be seen
+from their present position.
+
+"I'd have liked to catch up with that duck and march him back to camp,
+along with his feathered messengers," Jack grumbled disappointedly.
+"Somehow I hate and despise a spy above all created things."
+
+The youths set their faces once more in the direction of the ruins,
+where they soon arrived. Jack half feared that in spite of them the cage
+and its feathered inmates had been spirited away. He hastened inside
+ahead of his companion and then called out cheerily:
+
+"It's all right, Tom, and nobody at home. Here's the wicker cage and the
+pigeons, just as we left them!"
+
+"As the afternoon is passing, and we have a long distance to go, we'd
+better be making a start," Tom remarked, when he reached the open door.
+
+"Let me carry the pigeon cage, Tom, as you have the gun," suggested
+Jack, after slipping his hand through the ring at the top. "Say, perhaps
+the boys won't give us a laugh, to see what queer game we've brought
+back from our hunt!"
+
+They left the ruins of the once peaceful farmhouse behind them, and
+commenced retracing their steps. Tom was too old a hand at hunting to
+get lost. He had kept his bearings through the whole tramp, no matter
+how many turns they took in examining some promising ground where rabbit
+burrows might be found. On this account then he would have no difficulty
+whatever in leading his comrade straight back to the villa in which the
+entire Lafayette Escadrille of American fliers was quartered.
+
+They were passing along about half a mile from the wrecked farmhouse
+kitchen, and not far from the spot where Tom made his successful shot,
+when without warning the report of a gun came to their ears. Jack
+involuntarily ducked his head.
+
+"Say, did you hear that whining sound just over us, Tom? That was caused
+by a bullet skipping past!"
+
+Tom for answer dragged his chum down behind a fringe of dead bushes that
+chanced to lie close by.
+
+"It was a bullet, all right, Jack," he replied, not without a tremor in
+his voice, for this thing of being made a target by some murderous
+unseen person was a new and novel experience.
+
+"Do you suppose it was fired by the man who owns these pigeons?" further
+questioned Jack, though showing no intention of loosening his grip on
+the wicker cage.
+
+"It could hardly be any one else. He has dogged us this far, or else
+just happened to catch sight of us. That shot was fired from a distance,
+and if we take a notion to run he couldn't possibly hit us. But we might
+as well make use of this fringe of bushes to creep some way off. Then
+we'll get on our feet and put out for home at full speed."
+
+This they proceeded to do without further delay. When it was no longer
+possible to utilize the bushes for cover, they sprang to their feet and
+ran. Jack fully anticipated hearing other shots--yes, and perhaps having
+more leaden missiles singing their vicious songs about his head. But he
+was agreeably disappointed in his expectations, for not a report came.
+
+Evidently the spy had gone away, thinking discretion the better part of
+valor. He may have noticed that they were in uniform, and armed in the
+bargain.
+
+Later on the air service boys moderated their mad pace, and as there
+seemed to be no further signs of danger they finally fell into a walk.
+Still neither of them lagged, but kept up a brisk pace, Jack casting
+numerous apprehensive glances over his shoulder, haunted by a lingering
+suspicion that the spy might yet give them trouble.
+
+They came through safely at last. The villa in which the American fliers
+were quartered was reached, and seemed to be deserted at that hour in
+the afternoon. Everybody must be busy at the front, the boys concluded,
+for the din was more distracting than usual.
+
+"We picked out a bad day for getting off, I'm afraid, Tom," Jack sighed.
+"They told us there was nothing big in prospect; but since we started
+out on our hunt I guess the Huns have put up something of size. And the
+boys will be in the thick of it all too! We might have had a share if
+we'd been on duty to-day."
+
+"Brace up, Jack," chided his chum. "For all you know, what we've done
+may turn out to be ten times more important than all the work of the
+entire escadrille to-day. These captured birds and that cipher message,
+represent possibilities beyond anything you or I can know. Leave all
+that to the general."
+
+"When do you mean to see him, Tom?"
+
+"As soon as I can arrange it. And you're coming with me when I get the
+summons to his headquarters, depend on that, Jack. Your part in this
+affair is just as important as mine."
+
+Tom put the cage with its cooing inmates in their room. Then he started
+out to try to get into communication with the commanding general. He had
+met him once by mere chance, but he hardly believed General Petain would
+remember him in the least.
+
+The action was about over for the day. The Crown Prince had once again
+thrown a heavy storming party forward in the endeavor to make a breach
+in the French lines, through which he could pour the veteran reserves he
+had in waiting. But, as had often happened before, he counted without
+his host; and when the sun went down all he had to show for his stroke
+was a greatly increased casualty list.
+
+The French could not be moved.
+
+Tom understood how to go about it, and in the end managed to get an
+obliging French captain whom he knew very well, to carry a message to
+the commander-in-chief to the effect that he had news of great
+importance to communicate. Just as Tom expected would be the case, this
+brought back a speedy answer.
+
+"You are both to come with me, young Messieurs," said the captain, his
+eyes sparkling with interest, for Tom had told him enough to excite his
+curiosity, and he knew the Americans would not aimlessly take up the
+precious time of the general. "Our valiant commander is tired after a
+strenuous day; but never is he too weary to attend to duty; and he
+already finds himself interested in everything you brave young airmen
+attempt. So please accompany me to headquarters."
+
+Shortly afterwards the boys found themselves face to face with General
+Petain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PRAISE FROM THE GENERAL
+
+
+General Petain received the pair with his accustomed kindness. He loved
+youth, and his eyes sparkled with pleasure as he gave each of them a
+hand.
+
+"My time is limited, I regret to say, my gallant Americans, or I should
+gladly ask you all manner of questions concerning your own country. We
+are all anxious to know when the great republic across the sea will
+decide to cast her decisive influence into the scales to bring us the
+victory we await with much patience. Tell me now what this strange thing
+is you have come across to-day."
+
+Tom waited for no second bidding. He realized how tired the general must
+be after a strenuous day in keeping his finger on the pulse of the whole
+front, where the fierce German attacks had been hurled without success.
+
+Accordingly he started at once his tale of how they had been given a day
+off for rest, and, having a love for hunting in their veins, had
+borrowed an old shotgun and started forth. Without wasting any time in
+useless descriptions he quickly reached the point where the pigeon was
+shot.
+
+Jack, having nothing to say just then, contented himself with watching
+the various shades of expression that flitted across the face of the
+commander. At mention of the pigeon his eyes sparkled, and he leaned
+forward with an air of expectancy, as though anticipating what would
+come next.
+
+Then, as Tom produced the message written on the thin but tough paper
+and handed it to the general the French officer eagerly scanned it. Jack
+also noticed that he did not appear disappointed because he could not
+immediately read the baffling communication. Of course it would be
+written in some secret code; that was to be expected.
+
+"It is fortunate," remarked the French officer, "that I have on my staff
+one who is considered an expert at solving any and every species of
+cipher code. He will speedily figure it all out for me, and then we
+shall see what news this spy was transmitting to his commander. Please
+continue your story, which is very interesting, and in which your part
+does you both credit."
+
+Tom, thus encouraged, went on. He told of their further search for the
+mysterious man who had set the homing pigeon free after attaching the
+secret message to it.
+
+When he presently told of coming on the ruined farmhouse, and
+discovering the ozier cage containing two additional pigeons, just where
+the spy had left them in his hurried flight, the general fairly beamed.
+
+"It is splendid news you have brought me--you aviators from our sister
+republic across the sea," he remarked exultantly, as though already in
+his fertile mind he could see great possibilities looming up whereby
+those pigeons might be made to serve a purpose.
+
+The story was soon finished. Tom, of course, thought it necessary to
+tell of having been fired on while on their way back to the aviation
+post, though no harm had resulted. He did this not for the purpose of
+impressing the general with the idea that they had run any great
+personal risk, but because it might have some influence on the plans the
+officer probably had in mind.
+
+After all had been told the commander again shook hands with both of the
+air service boys. This indicated, as Tom well knew, that he had given
+them all the time he could spare and that a dozen important things were
+awaiting his attention, so he saluted and turned to depart.
+
+"This may prove to be a most important thing you have discovered," the
+general halted the aviators to say warmly. "The cipher will be solved,
+and then, if the facts warrant it, we may have another written that can
+be sent forward by one of your birds. You will give them over into the
+charge of an officer whom I shall dispatch back with you to your
+quarters. That will be convenient, I suppose?"
+
+Tom hastened to assure him that they had expected just such a thing, and
+had hoped that the two captured pigeons might prove the means of leading
+the Crown Prince's forces into some sort of trap.
+
+The general's black eyes snapped on hearing Tom say this.
+
+"Ah! I see that you too have thought it out!" he exclaimed
+enthusiastically. "Some day perhaps you may have command of an army, and
+exercise that talent with glorious success. France thanks you."
+
+Both boys were deeply moved by their brief interview with the busy
+commander-in-chief of the French forces. They did not feel any
+humiliation at being addressed as "my children," knowing that it was a
+term of endearment used freely by officers high in command when
+addressing, those in the ranks. In fact, the French army is very much
+like a big family, the men loving those they serve under.
+
+"Well, that job's over," remarked Jack, heaving a sigh of relief when
+they were on their way to their quarters, accompanied by a jaunty
+captain who, Tom believed, must be a member of the general's staff.
+
+"I'm glad to have had such a fine opportunity for meeting General
+Petain," Tom returned, for the captain at the time was walking a little
+in the rear, conversing with a courier who had come running after him,
+as if on important business.
+
+"He was fine, wasn't he, Tom?"
+
+"Next to Joffre I understand General Petain is the most beloved
+commander the army has ever had," replied the other. "I'll always feel
+proud that he shook hands so heartily with both of us."
+
+The air service boys were soon in the automobile that had carried them
+to the general's headquarters back of the French lines. Here the captain
+joined them, having finished his hasty consultation with the courier. On
+the ride to the aviation camp he chatted pleasantly with the young
+Americans. He, it appeared, had spent several years attached to the
+French Embassy at Washington.
+
+He asked particularly concerning the feeling of the common people in
+America, and what influence the powerful cliques of naturalized but
+pro-German citizens were apt to have on the Government.
+
+Tom was able to assure him that slowly but surely the people of free
+America were becoming aroused to the deadly menace of German
+imperialism, and that presently--it might come at any day, according to
+the latest advices--Congress would assemble to hear a ringing appeal
+from the President, urging them to declare war upon the Kaiser, war to
+the finish.
+
+Apparently what the boys said had much in it to comfort the French
+captain. He knew only too well how eagerly his wearied nation was
+listening to hear just such a message of hope. He knew, also, just what
+it would mean for the brave defenders of France.
+
+In due time the three arrived at the villa, Several of the American
+pilots saw the trio leave the car, wondered much what was in the wind
+that Tom and Jack should return with a member of General Petain's
+personal staff. Their curiosity was considerably heightened when later
+they saw the captain come out of the villa carrying a small ozier cage
+containing two blue-rock carrier pigeons, and effusively shake hands
+with both Tom and Jack, calling out to them as the car moved off:
+
+"In the name of France and General Petain I thank you for what you have
+done this day, my brave Americans!"
+
+As the chums were about to pass into the building there was a hail.
+
+"Wait a minute, Jack!" called one of their fellow pilots, hurrying up
+with some object in his hand at which the two boys stared with rising
+curiosity. "I've got something here for you!"
+
+"For me?" cried the youth addressed. "I'm ever so much obliged, but it
+strikes me I've got beyond the point of playing with a toy balloon;
+though honestly now, when I was a kid I used to be pretty fond of
+sailing one of 'em at the end of a long string, until it would get away,
+and leave me staring up while it climbed toward the clouds."
+
+"Oh, this one is about past doing any climbing, I should say," replied
+the pilot, laughing at Jack's description of his childish woes. "In
+fact, it's been out during the night, and the heavy air forced it to
+come down. Listen, and I'll tell you a strange story that will make you
+believe in fairy tales."
+
+"Go on then, please," urged Jack. "You've got me all worked up already.
+So there's a history attached to this little balloon, is there?"
+
+"There was _something_ attached to it, something that may mean much
+or little to you fellows," came the reply. "This thing was found by a
+French dispatch bearer on his way across country. Out of curiosity he
+stepped aside to look at the bobbing red object he had noticed among
+some bushes in an open field. When he found that it had a paper fastened
+to it, which on the outside had an address, he concluded to bring the
+whole business along with him. He came here half an hour back inquiring
+for Jack Parmly, and on finding you were away at the time left the
+balloon and the paper in my charge. Take it, and see what the message
+is, Jack!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE STRANGE WARNING
+
+
+"Open it, Jack, and see what the message is," urged Tom, as his chum
+stood with the scrap of damp paper held between his fingers, having
+allowed the sagging little toy balloon to fall at his feet.
+
+Jack was thinking just at that moment of the other message his companion
+and he had found attached to the homing pigeon. But of course they could
+not possibly have any sort of connection!
+
+He opened the small bit of paper. It had some writing in lead pencil.
+Once it had doubtless been plain enough, but the dampness must have
+caused it to become faint. Still, Jack could make it out without much
+difficulty. This was what he read aloud, so that Tom and the other pilot
+could hear:
+
+    "_Look carefully to your planes; examine every part. There is
+    treachery in the air!_"
+
+"That's all, fellows," said Jack, much puzzled, as he turned the paper
+over and over, looking for some signature.
+
+"No name attached, Jack?" asked his chum.
+
+"Nothing whatever to tell who wrote that warning. Here, take a look at
+it, Tom. Your eyes may be sharper than mine and see something I've
+missed."
+
+But Tom and the other pilot both failed to throw any light on the matter
+after examining the paper thoroughly. They exchanged stares. Then Jack
+laughed, a little queerly.
+
+"This is certainly a mystery," he went on to say, trying to take the
+thing as a joke. "Some kind friend sends me a solemn warning, and then
+neglects to sign his name. Do you think any of the fellows of the
+escadrille could be up to a prank?"
+
+Tom shook his head. The other pilot also exhibited positive signs of
+doubt in connection with such a thing.
+
+"The boys often have their little jokes, and we are a merry bunch much
+of the time, just to change off from the nervous strain we're living
+under," the man observed. "But I'm sure not one of them would dream of
+doing a thing like this. It would be a mean trick."
+
+"Then both of you are inclined to believe this warning was meant in all
+seriousness, are you?" continued Jack, no longer grinning as before.
+
+"Yes, I do," Tom instantly announced. "It seems a bit childish, sending
+it in such a queer fashion; but then perhaps it was the only way open to
+the person. There was one chance in ten that it would be found; but you
+know sometimes we can't choose our way of doing things, but must
+accommodate ourselves to circumstances. This toy balloon being handy
+suggested a possible way of getting the warning to you, Jack."
+
+"But why me any more than you, Tom, or any other fellow in the
+escadrille?" continued Jack, sorely bewildered.
+
+"That's something we can only guess at," he was told. "Evidently this
+person had your name, and knew you were working here with the Lafayette
+boys. Try to think of some one you may have done something for to make
+him feel grateful to you. Could it have been that boyish-looking German
+prisoner we talked with the other day, and for whom you bound up a badly
+damaged arm, Jack?"
+
+"Oh! that boy!" exclaimed the other, and then shook his head. "No, it's
+impossible. You see the poor chap could hardly talk halfway decent
+English, and I'm sure he never could write my name like this. Besides,
+Tom," Jack went on triumphantly, "I never bothered to mention to him
+that I had a name. To him I was simply an American flying for France."
+
+"Anybody else you can think of?" persisted Tom, for it seemed to him
+that it meant considerable to try to discover who had sent the message
+by such a strange channel.
+
+Jack pondered. Then all at once he looked up with a light in his eyes.
+
+"You've thought of something!" exclaimed the other pilot eagerly.
+
+"Well, it might be possible, although I hardly believe she'd be the one
+to go to such trouble. Still, she had children, she told me, at her home
+in Lorraine, back of Metz; and this is a child's toy, this little
+hot-air balloon."
+
+"Do you mean that woman you assisted a week or so ago? Mrs. Neumann?"
+asked Tom, quickly.
+
+"Yes, it was only a little thing I was able to do for her, but she
+seemed grateful, and said she hoped some day to be in a position to
+repay the favor. Then later on I learned she had secured permission to
+cross over to the German lines, in order to get to her family. She is a
+widow with six children, you know, a native of Lorraine, and caught by
+accident in one of the sudden furious rushes of the French, so that she
+had been carried back with them when they retreated. At the time she had
+been serving as a Red Cross nurse among the Germans. It was on that
+account the French allowed her to return to her family. They are very
+courteous, these French."
+
+Tom was listening. He nodded his head as though it seemed promising at
+least.
+
+"Let's figure it out," he mused. "Which way was the wind coming from
+last night, do either of you happen to know?"
+
+"Almost from the north," the other aviator instantly responded. "I
+chanced to notice that fact, for other reasons. But then it was almost
+still, so the little balloon could not have drifted many miles before
+the heavy atmosphere dragged it down until finally it landed in the
+field."
+
+"Well, that settles one thing," asserted Tom. "It came from back of the
+German lines, don't you see?"
+
+"Yes, that seems probable," admitted Jack.
+
+"Your unknown friend was there at the time," continued Tom, in his
+lawyer-like way, following up the trail he had started; "and hence
+apparently in a position to know that some sort of plot was being
+engineered against one Jack Parmly. Don't ask me why _you_ should
+be selected for any rank treachery, because I don't know."
+
+"And this person, this unknown friend of mine," Jack added, "wishing to
+warn me so that I might not meet a bad end to-day, sent out this message
+in the hope that it might fall back of our lines and be picked up. Tom,
+it makes me have a queer feeling. I almost think I must be asleep and
+dreaming."
+
+"No, it's real enough. We may never know who the writer of this note is;
+but we can heed the warning just the same, and go over to examine our
+planes minutely. Whoever it was, spelled your name correctly. I've
+studied the writing, but it seems to be assumed, and clumsy. There was a
+reason for that too, as well as the writer failing to sign a name."
+
+"What sort of reason?" queried Jack.
+
+"Fear that in some way the message, and the balloon, might fall into
+German hands and lead to unpleasant results," Tom continued. "We know
+about how those Huns would serve any one who tried to spoil their plans.
+They believe in frightfulness every time, and it might mean death to the
+writer. This she evidently knew full well."
+
+"Just why do you say 'she' when you speak of the writer?"
+
+"Oh, I have an idea that Mrs. Neumann may be the mysterious friend who
+is taking such desperate chances to send you a warning. Anyway,
+something about it seems to say it isn't a man's handwriting. Besides,
+neither of you may have noticed it, but there's a faint odor, as of
+perfume, adheres to that bit of paper, though the dampness has taken it
+almost all out."
+
+Jack looked astonished at such shrewd reasoning.
+
+"Well, you are certainly a wonder at seeing through things, Tom," he
+hastened to say. "And so of course that settles it in my mind. Mrs.
+Neumann sent this message to me; though how she could have learned that
+there was anything treacherous going on beats my powers of reasoning."
+
+"But don't you think it would pay to learn if there's any truth about it
+all?" asked the other pilot, whose curiosity had been stirred up by such
+a strange happening.
+
+"Yes, let's all go over to the hangars and have the planes out for a
+regular inspection," said Tom. "If mischief has been done the chances
+are it would be in a part not usually examined by the mechanician before
+a flight. Then again the damage, if there is any, might be so covered up
+by the shrewd schemer that it would not be noticeable."
+
+There were always cars going to and fro, for pilots came and went from
+time to time; so the trio quickly found themselves being whirled along
+over the road so often traveled in their daily work.
+
+"How about that fellow they chased late yesterday afternoon, who was
+loitering about the hangars and acting in a suspicious way?" asked the
+friendly pilot, as they rode along. "More than a few of the fellows say
+he must have been a spy, and up to some mischief, because he slipped off
+so slickly."
+
+"I had him in mind all the while," said Tom. "And if any mischief has
+been done, of course we can lay it at his door; though just how he
+managed to work we'll perhaps never know."
+
+"I caught sight of him, too," Jack remarked; "and I only wish now I'd
+had a good look at the chap who owned those pigeons to-day, so as to
+tell if they were one and the same, which I believe to be a fact."
+
+Just then Tom gave his chum a kick with the toe of his shoe. This
+suddenly reminded Jack that he was treading on forbidden ground, since
+they had resolved not to say anything to a third person concerning the
+adventure of that afternoon.
+
+The other member of the escadrille was looking interested. He understood
+that Tom and Jack must have met with some singular adventure; but since
+they did not see fit to take him into their confidence he was too polite
+to ask questions, feeling there must be a good reason for their silence.
+
+Presently they arrived at the hangars. It was now almost sunset. The
+fliers were coming down one by one, their labor for the day having been
+accomplished. It had been a pretty arduous day, too, and two members of
+the escadrille had new honors coming to them, since they had dropped
+enemy planes in full view of tens of thousands of cheering spectators,
+after thrilling combats high in the air.
+
+One had also passed through an experience that few aviators can look
+back to. He had started to drop rapidly when, at almost ten thousand
+feet altitude, his motor was struck by a missile from a rival pilot's
+gun. When halfway down, either through a freak of fortune or some
+wonderfully clever manipulation on the part of the pilot, the machine
+righted, and he was enabled to volplane to safety, though considerably
+bruised and cut up through hasty landing.
+
+Jack quickly had his little Nieuport out of the hangar, and the three
+airmen began a minute inspection. For a short time nothing developed
+that had a suspicious appearance. Jack, in fact, was beginning to
+believe the warning might after all be in the nature of a fake, or else
+the spy had not found a favorable chance to do his foul work before
+being frightened off.
+
+But presently Tom gave utterance to an exclamation.
+
+"Found anything, Tom?" asked Jack eagerly.
+
+"Yes. Come around here, both of you!"
+
+When the others joined Tom he pointed to where an important wire stay
+had been dextrously filed so that it must snap under a severe wrench or
+strain, such as commonly comes when a pilot is far afield, and wishes to
+execute a necessary whirl.
+
+Jack shivered as he took in the meaning of that partly severed stay. If
+it gave way while he was far above the earth it must spell his certain
+doom!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LOOKING BACKWARD
+
+
+"Just see the fiendish cleverness of the fellow who filed that stay!"
+Tom cried, as they all stared. "He filled the indentation his sharp file
+made with a bit of wax or chewing-gum of the same general color. Why, no
+one would ever have noticed the least thing wrong when making the
+ordinary examination."
+
+"Then how did you manage to find it, Tom?" asked Jack, breathing hard,
+as he pictured to himself the narrow escape he had had.
+
+"I suspected something of the kind might be done; so I ran my thumb-nail
+down each wire stay," came the answer. "And it turned out just as I
+thought."
+
+"There may be still more places filed in the same way," suggested the
+other pilot, looking as black as a thunder-cloud; because such an act
+was in his mind the rankest sort of treachery, worthy of only the most
+degraded man.
+
+"We will find them if there are," replied Tom, resolutely. "And when
+this thing is known I imagine there'll be a general overhauling of all
+the machines on the aviation field. One thing is certain, Jack. You were
+playing in great luck when you suggested that we ask for a day off and
+then picked out this particular one."
+
+Jack shrugged his shoulders as he replied:
+
+"That's right, Tom."
+
+Nothing could be done just then, with night coming on. Tom talked with
+several of the attendants at the hangars, and left it to them to go to
+work with the coming of morning. He even showed them how cunningly the
+work had been carried out; so they might be on their guard against such
+a trick from that time forward.
+
+Then the three returned to the villa. Others of the members of the
+escadrille were in the car with the trio, so the talk was general,
+experiences of the day's happenings being narrated, all told in a
+careless fashion, as if those young aviators considered all such risks
+as part of the ordinary routine of business.
+
+Later on the news concerning Jack's singular warning, and what came of
+it went the rounds. He was asked to show the brief note many times; but
+in answer to the questions that came pouring in upon him, Jack could not
+say more than he had already said with regard to his suspicions
+concerning the probable writer of the message.
+
+That night Tom and Jack preferred the quiet of their own apartment to
+the general sitting-room, where the tired pilots gathered to smoke,
+talk, play games, sing, and give their opinions on every topic
+imaginable, including scraps of news received in late letters from home
+towns across the sea.
+
+"Do you know, Tom," Jack said unexpectedly; "I'd give something to know
+where Bessie Gleason is just at this time. It's strange how often I
+think about that young girl. It's just as if something that people call
+intuition told me she might be in serious trouble through that
+hard-looking guardian of hers, Carl Potzfeldt."
+
+Tom smiled.
+
+Bessie Gleason was a very pretty and winsome girl of about twelve years
+of age, with whom Jack in particular had been quite "chummy" on the
+voyage across the Atlantic, and through the submarine zone, as related
+in "Air Service Boys Flying for France." The last he had seen of her was
+when she waved her hand to him when leaving the steamer at its English
+port. Her stern guardian had contracted a violent dislike for Jack, so
+that the two had latterly been compelled to meet only in secret for
+little confidential chats.
+
+"Oh, you've taken to imagining all sorts of terrible things in
+connection with pretty Bessie and her cruel guardian. He claimed to be a
+Swiss, or a native of Alsace-Lorraine, which was it, Jack?"
+
+"Uh-huh," murmured Jack Parmly, his thoughts just then far away from Tom
+and his question, though fixed on Carl Potzfeldt and his young ward.
+
+Bessie Gleason was a little American girl, a child of moods, fairylike
+in appearance and of a maturity of manner that invariably attracted
+those with whom she came in contact.
+
+Her mother had been lost at sea, and by Mrs. Gleason's will the girl and
+her property were left in Potzfeldt's care. Mr. Potzfeldt was taking her
+to Europe, and on the steamship she and Jack Parmly had been friends,
+and as Potzfeldt's actions were suspicious and, moreover, the girl did
+not seem happy with him Jack had been troubled about her.
+
+"I'm afraid you think too much about Bessie and her troubles, Jack; and
+get yourself worked up about things that may never happen to her," Tom
+went on after a pause.
+
+"I knew you'd say that, Tom," the other told him reproachfully. "But I'm
+not blaming you for it. However, there are several things Bessie told me
+that I haven't mentioned to you before; and they help to make me feel
+anxious about her happiness. She's a queer girl, you know, and intensely
+patriotic."
+
+"Yes I noticed that, even if you did monopolize most of her time,"
+chuckled Tom.
+
+"How she does hate the Germans, though! And that's what will get her
+into trouble I'm afraid, if she and her guardian have managed to get
+through the lines in any way, and back to his home town, wherever that
+may be."
+
+"Why should she feel so bitter toward the Kaiser and his people, Jack?"
+
+"I'll tell you. Her mother was drowned. She was aboard the
+_Lusitania_, and was never seen after the sinking. Mr. Potzfeldt
+was there too, it seems, but couldn't save Mrs. Gleason, he claims,
+though he tried in every way to do so. She was a distant relative of
+his, you remember."
+
+"Then if Bessie knows about her mother's death," Tom went on to say, "I
+don't wonder she feels that way toward everything German. I'd hate the
+entire race if my mother had been murdered, as those women and children
+were, when that torpedo was launched against the great passenger steamer
+without any warning."
+
+"She told me she felt heart-broken because she was far too young to do
+anything to assist in the drive against the central empires. You see,
+Bessie has great hopes of some day growing tall enough to become a war
+nurse. She is deeply interested in the Red Cross; and Tom, would you
+believe it, the midget practices regular United States Army standing
+exercises in the hope of hastening her growth."
+
+"I honor the little girl for her ambition," Tom said. "But I'm inclined
+to think this war will be long past before she has grown to a suitable
+size to enlist among the nurses of the Paris hospitals. And if that Carl
+Potzfeldt entertains the sentiments we suspected him of, and is secretly
+in sympathy with the Huns, although passing for a neutral, her task will
+be rendered doubly hard."
+
+"That's what makes me feel bad every time I get to thinking of Bessie.
+If only we could chance to run across them again I'd like to engineer
+some scheme by which she could be taken away from her guardian. For
+instance, if only it could be proved that Potzfeldt was in the pay of
+the German Government, don't you see he could be stood up against a
+wall, and fixed; and then some one would be found able and willing to
+take care of the girl."
+
+Tom laughed again.
+
+"How nicely you make your arrangements, Jack! Very pleasant outlook for
+poor Mr. Potzfeldt, I should say. Why, you hustle him off this earth
+just as if he didn't matter thirty cents."
+
+"It isn't because I'm heartless," expostulated the other hurriedly. "But
+I'm sure that dark-faced man is a bad egg. We suspected him of being
+hand-in-glove with Adolph Tuessig, the man who stole your father's
+invention, and who we knew was a hired German spy over in America. And
+from little hints Bessie dropped once in a while I am certain he doesn't
+treat her well."
+
+"Still, we can't do the least thing about it, Jack. If fortune should
+ever bring us in contact with that pair again, why then we could perhaps
+think up some sort of scheme to help Bessie. Now, I've got something
+important to tell you."
+
+"Something the captain must have said when he was chatting with you in
+the mess-room immediately after supper, I guess. At the time I thought
+he might be asking you about our adventures of to-day, but then I
+noticed that he was doing pretty much all the talking. What is on the
+carpet for us now?"
+
+"We're going to be given our chance at last, Jack!"
+
+"Do you mean to fly with the fighting escadrille, and meet German pilots
+in a life and death battle up among the clouds?" asked Jack, in a voice
+that had a tinge of awe about it; for he had often dreamed of such
+honors coming to him; but the realization still seemed afar off.
+
+"That is what we are promised," his chum assured him. "Of course our
+education is not yet complete; but we have shown such progress that, as
+there is need of additional pilots able to meet the Fokker planes while
+a raid is in progress, we are to be given a showing."
+
+"I'll not sleep much to-night for thinking of it," declared Jack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE GREAT DAY ARRIVES
+
+
+By the time the pilots of the American escadrille began to assemble on
+the field where the airplane hangars were clustered, (these being more
+or less camouflaged by means of paint cleverly applied to represent the
+earth), the news concerning the air service boys' narrow escape had
+become generally known.
+
+Great was the indignation expressed by all. Up to this time there had
+appeared to be considerable honor exhibited among-the flying men on both
+sides. In fact many curious little courtesies had been exchanged that
+seemed to put the aviation service on a plane of its own.
+
+One thing was certain. After that there would be no taking things for
+granted. Each pilot meant to satisfy himself as best he could that his
+plane was in perfect order before risking his life in the upper
+currents.
+
+Jack was besieged for a full account of the matter. He, being an
+obliging person, gladly told everything he knew. Naturally the mystery
+attached to the discovery of the message of warning tied to the poor
+little partly collapsed child's balloon aroused considerable curiosity
+and speculation among the aviators.
+
+The way some of them pumped Jack made him laugh; but he assured them he
+was just about as "deep in the mud as they were in the mire."
+
+"I've told you all about the woman named Mrs. Neumann," he repeated for
+the tenth time. "And she's the only one I can think of who would be apt
+to care a cent whether Jack Parmly happened to be alive or dead. If
+anybody can give a better guess I'd like to hear it."
+
+They did considerable "guessing," but after all it became the consensus
+of opinion that the grateful Mrs. Neumann was responsible. And so
+finally they let it go at that; for the day had begun, and there was an
+abundance of work to be accomplished before the sun set again.
+
+"But this is certain," said one of the leading flyers of the escadrille,
+seriously; "if the Boches mean to stop playing fair it's bound to
+demoralize the service. Up to now there's been an unwritten set of rules
+to the game, which both sides have lived up to. I shall hate to see them
+discarded, and brutal methods put in their place."
+
+Others were of the opinion that there might have been something personal
+connected with the attempt to kill Jack, through that shabby trick. The
+German spy might have had a private grievance against the youth, they
+said, which he meant to pay off in his own dastardly way.
+
+No matter which turned out to be the truth, it was not pleasant for Jack
+to believe he had become an object of hatred to some mysterious prowler,
+and that possibly other secret attempts on his life might be made from
+time to time.
+
+That day passed, and another followed. There did not seem to be much
+stirring on either side of the line; but such a lull frequently proved
+the precursor of some gigantic battle, for which the armies were
+preparing.
+
+Of course, when the wind and weather permitted, there was always plenty
+of excitement among the airplane escadrilles. All manner of little
+expeditions were organized and carried out.
+
+Now it was an attempt to get above that string of "sausage" balloons
+used for observation purposes only, so that a few well-dropped bombs
+might play havoc among them.
+
+As these were always defended by a force of fighting planes hovering
+above, all primed to give battle on the slightest provocation, the
+result of these forays was that a number of hotly-contested fights were
+"pulled off" high in air.
+
+One pilot brought down another enemy, and increased his score a peg,
+always a matter of pride with a pilot of a fighting plane. And another
+of the escadrille had the honor of getting above those observation
+balloons before a couple of them could be hastily pulled down.
+
+Two of his companions engaged the defending Teuton pilots, and fended
+them off purposely, in order to permit the raid. The selected man
+swooped down like a hawk, passed the Gotha guard, and managed to shoot
+his bomb downward with unerring aim. One of the balloons was seen to
+burst into flames, and the second must have met with a like fate, since
+it was perilously near at the time, though the dense smoke obscured
+everything.
+
+All these things and more did Tom and Jack witness through their glasses
+as those two days passed. Tom especially was waiting to have his wish
+realized with as much calmness as he could summon.
+
+"I think it will come to-night, Jack," he told his chum, on the second
+afternoon, as they prepared to return to their lodgings.
+
+"Then you believe there's some big move on tap, and that to-morrow a
+battle will be commenced? And all for the possession of some old ruined
+fort, perhaps, that is now only a mass of crumpled masonry and debris!"
+
+"You mustn't forget, Jack, it is the famous name that counts with these
+romantic Frenchmen. Douaumont and Vaux mean everything to them, even if
+there is nothing but a great mound of stone, mortar and earth to tell
+where each fort once stood."
+
+"Yes, I suppose you're right, Tom; and then again I was forgetting that
+the retaking of a prominent position which the Germans had captured
+means a heartening of the whole army. I've heard them talking of
+Mort-Homme, and Hill Three Hundred and Four, as if those were the most
+precious bits of territory in all France."
+
+"These are sometimes strategic points, you know, keys to a further
+advance. But there comes the captain now, and he's got his eye on us, as
+sure as you live!" ejaculated Tom, giving a little start, and turning a
+shade paler than usual, owing to the excess of his emotions, and the
+anticipation of hearing pleasant news.
+
+The leader of the Lafayette Escadrille smiled as he drew near. He waited
+until he could speak without being overheard, for it was not always wise
+to shout aloud when dealing with matters in which the High Command had a
+deep interest, such as a pending advance movement.
+
+"It is to-morrow, Raymond," he said quietly, yet with a twinkle in his
+eye.
+
+He had taken a great liking to these daring lads who had already made
+such strides toward the goal of becoming "aces" in time, granting that
+they lived through the risky period of their apprenticeship.
+
+"Both?" gasped Jack eagerly.
+
+The head pilot shook his head in the negative.
+
+"Sorry to disappoint you, Parmly, but you'll have to wait a bit longer,"
+he announced, whereat the other's face fell again, though he gulped, and
+tried to appear content. "There are several things you must correct
+before you can expect to take such chances. We are short a fighting
+pilot for to-morrow, and I thought it was time we gave Raymond his
+initiation."
+
+Then as he walked alongside the chums he entered into a minute
+description of the duties that would devolve upon Tom in his first time
+up to serve as a guardian to the heavier planes acting as "fire-control"
+and scouts, or "eyes of the army."
+
+"Of course you are only to butt in if we are outnumbered," the leader
+explained in conclusion. "The experienced and able fliers must take care
+of such of the enemy as venture to attack our big machines. Some of
+these Boches will be their best men, with records of a dozen or two
+machines to their credit. It would be little short of suicide to send a
+novice up against them, you understand."
+
+Tom was ambitious, and would of course be delighted to prove his metal
+when opposed by a famous ous "ace;" whose name and reputation had long
+made him a terror to the French and British airmen. Nevertheless he
+recognized the wisdom of what the captain was telling him, and promised
+to restrain his eagerness until given the prearranged signal that his
+chance had come.
+
+It made Tom feel proud to know he had won the good opinion of such a
+brave man as the captain, as well as the friendship of those other
+gallant souls composing the American squadron of aviators fighting for
+France.
+
+"Still," he said to Jack later on, when they were together in their room
+getting into their ordinary street clothes, "it made me feel a bit cheap
+when he spoke of my being pitted against just an _ordinary_ pilot,
+some fresh hand as anxious as we are to achieve a reputation. At the
+same time that's what we must seem to these veterans of scores of air
+combats, all of whom have met with the most thrilling adventures again
+and again."
+
+Jack managed to hide his bitter disappointment. He realized that he
+would never be in the same class as his more brilliant chum. Tom fitted
+for becoming an expert in the line had chosen for his calling. On the
+other hand Jack began to believe that he was a little too slow-witted
+ever to make a shining success as a fighting aviator, where skill must
+be backed by astonishing quickness of mind and body, as well as
+_something else_ within the heart that is an inherited birthright.
+
+"Anyhow," he consoled himself by saying, not aloud, but softly, "I can
+be the pilot of a bombing machine, and perhaps in time they'll give me
+charge of a plane used as fire-control during the battle. That is as far
+up the pole as I ought to aspire to climb. These chaps in the Lafayette
+are one and all picked men, the very cream of the entire service."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+OVER THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+"I say, Tom, it looks like a poor day for flying I'm afraid," Jack
+called out in the chill of the early dawn the next morning, he having
+been the first to get out of bed and step over to the window of their
+sleeping room.
+
+It was of course in the villa placed at the disposal of the escadrille,
+many miles back of the first line of trenches.
+
+Tom, however, did not bother his head about the weather to any
+appreciable extent.
+
+"It's likely to turn out a fair day for work," he told his chum, in his
+cheery way, as he followed Jack to the window. "You know that's happened
+lots of times. So far we've been lucky enough not to get caught in a
+storm while aloft. Yes, I can already see that there isn't going to be a
+stiff breeze; and what would a sprinkle of rain amount to?"
+
+"I suppose the thing has to be pulled off, no matter what the weather
+is," mused Jack, as he proceeded to dress, since breakfast had been
+ordered at an unusually early hour that morning.
+
+"Well, the High Command has made all arrangements for a big time. You
+know what that means, when tens of thousands of poilus have to be
+transferred during the darkness of night, so that the enemy pilots can't
+glimpse the movement and give warning? So, unless the skies fall, we are
+bound to get busy this morning."
+
+The air service boys were soon at the hangars, where an animated scene
+was taking place. Any one could see that something unusual was about to
+take place, because of the numbers of men rushing this way and that,
+while motors were popping and machine-guns being tried out so as to be
+certain they were in prime condition for service. Scores of
+mechanicians, chauffeurs, observers, as well as other helpers, went
+about their work of getting "ready for business."
+
+The air fighters were dressed in their fur-lined union suits, with fur
+overcoats, gloves, and caps; for they would soon be soaring to great
+heights, where the atmosphere was almost Arctic in its intensity.
+
+They were examining their automatic pistols, seeing that their airplane
+compasses, speed indicators, special airplane clocks, mounted on wire
+springs, and altitude barometers were in their proper places and in
+working order. Their very lives might depend on a little thing, and no
+one could afford to neglect even trifles.
+
+Every few minutes one of the planes would roll over the surface of the
+level ground in front of the long line of hangars. Then, when sufficient
+momentum had been attained, it would commence to climb swiftly upward.
+Soon the machine would get into spirals like a winding staircase, and
+mount toward an altitude of perhaps four thousand feet, there to await
+the coming of companion craft before heading toward the battleground,
+far distant.
+
+Jack squeezed the hand of his chum, and gave him one last look. There
+was no need of words to tell the deep feelings that gripped his loyal
+heart; indeed, Jack was utterly unable to utter a single sentence.
+
+Then Tom was off.
+
+He made the ascent with his customary brilliancy, which had won him the
+admiration of the entire escadrille. The air seemed to be filled with
+various types of planes. Some were already moving off toward the front,
+from which came the roar of battle, showing that already the action had
+begun by an intense bombardment of a portion of the German trenches
+which the French longed to retake.
+
+Tom spent some little time "knocking around" while awaiting the coming
+of those members of the Lafayette Escadrille who were the last to leave
+the ground.
+
+What is twenty or even thirty miles to a pilot in a speedy Neiuport
+capable of going two miles a minute when pressed? They could be over the
+lines in a very brief time after leaving the aviation camp.
+
+Tom looked at the scene below him, which was spread out like a gigantic
+map. He never wearied of observing it when simply "loafing" up in the
+air, as at present. The sun was fairly above the eastern horizon, though
+clouds drifted along in scattered masses, and it was as yet impossible
+to tell what the day might bring forth.
+
+Then the last of the squadron arrived, and the signal was given to start
+for the front. Away they went with a whirr and a roar, seven strong.
+They overtook a number of clumsy two-seaters on the way, observation
+planes, bombing machines, or it might be those included in the
+"fire-control" units going to relieve some of their kind already doing
+their appointed bit in the battle.
+
+Tom looked far beyond. He could see great oceans of smoke arising that
+told of innumerable high explosives bursting, and enormous guns being
+discharged. Both sides seemed hard at work, though the French were
+certainly sending ten shells to one that came from the forces of the
+Crown Prince. This told plainly enough which army expected to do the
+attacking that day.
+
+And yet while all this wonderful panorama of war was spread beneath
+them, the seven pilots moving onward in wild-geese formation, with the
+captain at the head of the V, they heard nothing of the tumult raging.
+In their muffled ears sounded only the loud whirr of the propellers, and
+the deafening explosions of the engines. It was almost as noisy as a
+boiler shop in full blast.
+
+The fire-control planes were already sending back their signals, the
+observer aboard intently following the course of each monster shell to
+note exactly where it landed, and then communicating with the gunners,
+so they might correct their faults and make each missile count.
+
+German pilots were in the air also, sometimes in swarms. Theirs was the
+task to attack these heavier machines and try to cripple or destroy
+them.
+
+Of course each one of these machines of the French "relage," or
+fire-control, was armed with a quick-firing gun; and there was an
+observer aboard, as well as a deft pilot. They carried such a large
+assortment of material, consisting among other things of a complete
+wireless outfit, that they had to be built with unusually large wings.
+
+This makes them slow to answer to the call of the pilot; and when
+attacked by the more nimble Fokkers they have a hard time to keep from
+being shot down. That is why a number of the Nieuports with well known
+"aces" in charge, must always be hovering over the fire controls, ready
+to fly to their assistance in case they are attacked.
+
+"Things are surely beginning to happen," murmured Tom. "The Boches seem
+to be in an unusually fierce and aggressive humor on this particular
+morning."
+
+The youth was right in this. The Germans had been thrown out of numerous
+hard-won positions lately, and this gave them cause for feeling bitterly
+toward the French.
+
+By the time the American unit reached the field of battle, several
+furious combats had already taken place with disastrous results. Two of
+the enemy machines had been sent down, one of them in flames, after the
+pilot had fallen at his post, fairly riddled by the gunfire of the
+Frenchman. A birdman had also paid the great debt on the side of
+Petain's men. As the score was two against one there seemed no cause for
+depression.
+
+The Americans would not be kept out of the fight for long. No sooner
+were three adventurous Teuton pilots seen climbing up to attack the big
+fire control machine when Tom's companions dropped down from the
+"ceiling" to engage them.
+
+Tom watched everything as though photographing the thrilling happenings
+on his brain forever. He had a greater interest in these things than at
+any previous period of his life, for was he not also hovering over that
+observation Caudron, upon which the movements of the advancing French
+troops depended? At any minute might he not receive the signal from the
+captain to attack some fresh Boche, who had climbed high above the
+battle lines to join the general scrimmage, or else "get" the big French
+machine while its defenders had their hands full with his comrades?
+
+Had Tom been able to use his binoculars just then, which was out of the
+question of course, and look back to where the monster French guns were
+firing, he might have noticed various white sheets spread out in
+fantastic patterns on the ground, the picture varying every little
+while.
+
+These were used to "talk" with the observer who was sending those
+messages from the fire-control plane, telling the gunners just how many
+metres their fire was short, long, to the right, or to the left of their
+intended objective.
+
+Then again information was being sent by another observer to the
+advancing infantry, warning them of perils that lay in their way, which
+might have cost them great and grievous losses if they remained unknown
+until the German trap was sprung.
+
+The morning was advancing. Tom had seen his comrades chase off several
+flocks of enemy aircraft that endeavored to interrupt the deadly work of
+the observers. As yet his anticipated chance had not come. He was
+beginning to feel impatient. Could it be that he must stay there almost
+up among the clouds, and only be a "looker-on?"
+
+How eagerly did his heart throb with renewed hope each time he
+discovered signs of another attempt on the part of the enemy pilots to
+engineer a raid that might check this observation work. They knew what
+it was doing to advance the cause of the battling French; and that, as
+often proved to be the case, the airplanes were again the "vigilant eyes
+of the army."
+
+It was well along in the morning when Tom Raymond's time came. The
+fighting below had been going on for some time, and from fugitive
+glimpses Tom snatched every now and then as he looked down, he had
+reason to believe things were moving successfully for the assailants. At
+least the French troops occupied a long line of trenches where the
+Boches had been in possession at the close of the previous day.
+
+Yes, there was another burst of ambitious fliers rising to take a
+chance. The fact that already seven of their men had been dropped,
+several with their planes ablaze, did not deter them; for those German
+airmen had often proved their courage and were known as stubborn
+fighters.
+
+Soon another battle below the clouds was in progress. Besides Tom, there
+were now only three of the Americans in the air, the remainder having
+been driven down, some in trouble of some kind, others to replenish
+their supplies. And there were _four_ enemy planes, Tom noticed,
+even as he watched the machine of the captain and received the signal to
+attack the latest arrival in the enemy squadron.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WINNING HIS SPURS
+
+
+"At last!"
+
+Those were the expressive words that broke from Tom Raymond's lips when
+he saw the commander give him the long-anticipated signal. Tom had
+already discovered his intended antagonist. A fourth plane was coming up
+quickly. It had held back to await the chance that would be offered when
+the three defenders of the fire-control machine were hotly engaged with
+the trio of skillful Boche pilots.
+
+The game was very apparent. It was likewise exceedingly old. The French
+commander was too experienced an aviator to be so easily caught. That
+was why he had signaled to Tom to take care of the fourth and last
+German airman, and guard the important observation plane.
+
+Tom started down with a rush, just as a hungry hawk might swoop upon a
+pigeon it had marked for its intended prey.
+
+"I've got to make good!" the young aviator told himself. "I've got to
+make good!"
+
+The German pilot saw him coming. He had more than half expected to be
+interfered with in his designs; but it would please him first of all to
+riddle this ambitious young airman, and his Nieuport, and then to
+accomplish his main purpose.
+
+Now the two were so close that Tom could plainly see the black Maltese
+crosses on the wings of the Teuton plane as it tilted in climbing.
+Already had the other opened fire on him, for as his motor was silent
+during his first long dive Tom could catch the tut-tut-tut of the
+rapidly exploding mitrailleuse.
+
+Somehow this did not unnerve him in the least, as he had feared it
+might. Even when he realized that the missiles were cutting holes
+through the wings a few feet away he did not grow uneasy. The spirit of
+battle had gripped Tom. He was now attaining what had seemed to be the
+height of his ambition. He was trying out his mettle against one of the
+enemy pilots, a man with considerable more experience than himself, and
+therefore well fitted to spur him on to do his level best.
+
+He could see the pilot crouched in his place, and working his gun with
+one hand while he managed some controls of his fleeting machine with the
+other, for there was only one man aboard, though German machines usually
+hold two. Long practice had made him an adept at this sort of thing, it
+seemed.
+
+But then Tom had been taught the same clever trick down at the French
+school of aviation at Pau, and over on the lake at Casso. He was now
+about to show whether he had learned his lesson to advantage. It was
+French ways pitted against those of the German school.
+
+Tom tried to aim directly at the foeman as he rushed toward him. Then he
+pressed the release hard, and instantly the rapid-fire gun commenced its
+staccato barking, as it spit out the bullets.
+
+Crack! crack! crack! crack!
+
+Thus the two rivals, rushing at each other like opposing birds of
+enormous size, passed and dived, as though ducking to avoid the hot
+fire. Tom looked back, hoping to discover the enemy winged and dropping
+out of the fight. Nothing of the kind occurred; but on the contrary his
+antagonist was sailing on, apparently untouched, at least in any vital
+point.
+
+That meant it must all be tried over again. The second round in the air
+duel was about to open. It was impossible to predict what the outcome
+might be, but at any rate Tom felt renewed courage and confidence.
+
+If he had passed through one siege unscathed he believed he could show
+considerable improvement the next time. Already had he learned how he
+might avoid several little errors of judgment, not much in themselves
+possibly; but which tended to interfere with his doing the one thing
+necessary--firing point blank into the muffled face of the German pilot.
+
+Once more were they rushing headlong toward each other. Tom was steadier
+now, and more alert. He had his plan of campaign mapped out clearly in
+his mind. He had moreover noticed a weak point about the other's method
+of attack, of which he intended to take advantage.
+
+The other three Americans were just as hotly engaged not far away; but
+it was a case of every man for himself. Tom counted on receiving no
+assistance. Indeed, while that feeling of confidence pulsed through his
+veins he would have scorned to call for help, or even to allow it, if he
+could prevent such a thing.
+
+Again the guns opened fire as the two foes advanced with savage fury.
+Such a battle in the clouds is on a plane that almost beggars
+description. Nothing resembling it has ever been known before in all the
+annals of history until the present world war broke out, and the
+airplane was perfected as it stands to-day.
+
+This attack was even more tumultuous than the first had been. The planes
+tried dodging, and several tricks were brought to bear on either side;
+for it seems that every pilot has his pet theories as to how best to
+catch an opponent napping. Everything is fair, once the battle royal has
+started and German wit is matched against American, or French.
+
+Again did they pass each other for a sudden dip. Each feared to be
+caught in a condition that would not permit of defense. They looked for
+all the world like a couple of agile boxers engaged in a contest, in
+which foot-work counted almost as much as that of the fists.
+
+Around and around they flew, coming back to the attack a third, and even
+a fourth time. Tom was beginning to grow impatient. Try as he could, he
+did not seem able to bring the other down, though he was almost sure he
+had poked his rapid-fire gun straight for the German's face, and when
+only a comparatively short distance away.
+
+"I've got to get him!" he muttered. "Or else he'll get me!"
+
+He wondered whether there could be anything in what he had heard one old
+aviator say, to the effect that he firmly believed some of those Germans
+must be wearing armor or suits of mail, since he had poured streams of
+missiles straight at them, and without the least appreciable effect.
+
+The German was getting a bit reckless. No doubt he had anticipated an
+easy victory over the other, whom he must have guessed was something of
+a beginner at this sort of aerial combat. Tom's agility in avoiding
+punishment annoyed him; likewise the way the bullets splashed around him
+had a disconcerting effect on his mind.
+
+This was the fifth dash, and it seemed as though the time had come when
+one or the other should win the contest. They were growing more and more
+desperate now; the fire of the battle had gone to their heads, and each
+must have made up his mind to finish the fight then and there, judging
+from the way they headed straight toward one another. At any rate Tom
+had determined that he must win, and win without delay.
+
+Bang!
+
+Tom realized suddenly that he had been struck, for he felt a sudden
+acute twinge. He neither knew nor cared how serious the injury might be,
+so long as it did not incapacitate him from serving his machine. And,
+best of all, thus far no missile from that popping mitrailleuse of the
+German had done serious damage to the vitals of his plane.
+
+Let the bullets cut holes all they pleased through the linen of the
+wings; there would be no splitting, as happens in the case of cotton or
+other fabrics; and such tiny apertures do not count for much in
+retarding the upholding power of a plane.
+
+Another dash, and this time Tom felt absolutely certain he had made a
+hit. It seemed to him he must have fairly riddled the other pilot, so
+close was he when he poured all that torrent of lead aboard his craft.
+
+They rushed past one another, but Tom took the earliest possible
+opportunity to redress, and look back at his foe. A thrill ran through
+his entire being as he discovered that the other was in trouble. The
+Fokker was descending in erratic spirals, evidently out of control. Man
+or machine, perhaps both, had come within the deadly line of fire, and
+the fight was over.
+
+Turning, Tom watched the enemy plane go down. He had a queer, choking
+sensation in his throat. Every novice probably feels that when he
+watches his first rival heading earthward, with a mile or more to fall
+before he strikes. Still, Tom grimly held his feelings in check. A
+successful air pilot, especially when he manages a fighting craft, can
+not let sentiment get the better of his combative spirit. It is a fair
+test of skill and endurance, and as a rule the better man wins the game.
+And war must always be an exhibition of cruelty in that human lives are
+the stake played for.
+
+Nevertheless Tom was secretly glad to discover that the plane was being
+fairly well guided to earth, showing that the German pilot, though he
+had lost his fight, could not have been killed outright, or even
+mortally wounded.
+
+Tom now found a chance to look around, and note what was going on. It
+was just then that one of the leading American aviators drove at his
+antagonist in a series of zigzag spins that must have bewildered the
+German, he never having run up against such tactics before.
+
+The consequence was the enemy met defeat. Tom knew what was going to
+happen as soon as he saw the chief star of the Lafayette Escadrille
+start his favorite attack. And ten seconds afterwards a second Teuton
+plane was whirling around aimlessly and falling. It turned in its flight
+so that its white belly showed plainly just as a fish will in its death
+throes.
+
+But the pilot was game to the finish, and managed in some wonderful
+fashion to swing his damaged craft around again, so that when it landed
+with a crash it fell bottom-down, and the motor did not come on top of
+him.
+
+Later on Tom learned that the man was badly injured, and made a
+prisoner. Eventually he pulled through, though it was reported he would
+never be fit for flying again, even if he gained his freedom.
+
+The other two Germans had retreated, deeming the Americans too strong
+for them. And Tom hoped it would be some time before others could muster
+up sufficient courage to go aloft, to pit their machines with those of
+the members of the Lafayette Escadrille.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+AFTER THE BATTLE
+
+
+During all this turmoil the fire-control plane pilot had kept his
+machine at work. While the fighting guard engaged the German, the
+observer aboard the larger craft continued to send his signals to the
+batteries far in the rear of the French advanced lines; and through the
+successful working of the undertaking a number of heavy Teuton guns had
+already been silenced.
+
+Tom now found time to look down, using his glasses for the purpose,
+since the air in their immediate vicinity was clear of enemy planes. He
+could see something of the battle, though so much smoke lay above the
+battleground that it was only when this lifted temporarily that an
+occasional fugitive glimpse could be obtained of the earth.
+
+The French were undoubtedly pushing the Germans well out of their
+advance trenches. They had already gone forward far enough to redeem a
+fairly wide stretch of territory that had been taken from them at the
+time the forces of the Crown Prince made their forward drive, at the
+cost of more than a hundred thousand men.
+
+Tom now felt another twinge in his shoulder. On looking into the matter
+he discovered, as he suspected, that he had been wounded. Blood was
+showing on his thick fur-lined coat.
+
+Just then a plane approached him. Tom recognized the mark on the side,
+and knew the muffled figure seated in the machine was the commander of
+the escadrille. He was coming to ascertain whether the novice had drawn
+out of his first combat entirely unscathed.
+
+He had, in truth, cast many an anxious, fleeting look toward the pair
+while Tom was "doing his bit" for France; for after discovering that the
+German was an experienced pilot, and a man to be feared, the captain
+would gladly have flown to the relief of Tom only that he had his hands
+full with the Teuton he had attacked.
+
+He made motions as he approached at reduced speed. Tom could not hear a
+sound save the loud beat of his own motor, but he knew what the other
+was asking.
+
+So he touched his left shoulder with his finger, and held that up to
+show that it was reddened. Then the Captain made a quick motion that was
+meant for a command. Tom was to go down. There was no necessity for his
+remaining aloft longer, now that another had arrived to relieve him from
+the post of duty. He ought to call it a day's work, and have his
+shoulder attended to.
+
+Regretfully Tom obeyed. His fighting spirit was aroused, and he would
+gladly have accepted a second challenge to combat, had the opportunity
+come. He nodded his head to show he understood, and then started back
+toward the French lines.
+
+All this time shrapnel had been bursting here, there and everywhere
+underneath them; but no one paid much attention to the shower. Indeed,
+shrapnel does not account for as many hostile planes as might be
+imagined; since each looks like a fly when ten thousand feet high, and
+the surrounding space is so vast.
+
+So Tom swung past the advance French lines, just as they were making
+another forward movement. He could glimpse long lines of poilus
+streaming over the shell-hole pitted terrain like ants in army array.
+Tom would have been pleased to hover above them for a while, and watch
+how those furious fighters rushed the Boches out of their second line
+trenches, as though nothing could stay their push.
+
+Beyond the French barrage fire was falling like a curtain. Tom could
+tell this from the constant line of explosions that took place. The
+Germans in the second trenches would have no chance of going back
+through that deadly hailstorm of shells; they must either die at their
+posts, or surrender, he saw.
+
+So fifteen minutes later Tom dropped to the field, ran his plane up
+close to the hangar, and then as a figure dashed wildly toward him,
+started to climb wearily from his seat.
+
+Of course it was Jack. He was wild with delight, and was swinging his
+cap above his head with all the animation of a schoolboy.
+
+"Oh! to think that I saw it all, Tom!" was what he cried, as he seized
+the hand of his chum, and squeezed it fiercely, almost crying in his
+excitement.
+
+"You did!" exclaimed the other. "How did that happen, when I had the
+glasses aloft with me?"
+
+"Oh, I borrowed a pair from an obliging French officer. When he
+understood that you were my chum, and that it was your first trial at
+combat in the air, he gladly accommodated me. They are willing to do
+almost anything for us Americans. My heart was up in my throat every
+time you rushed at that terrible Boche pilot!"
+
+"But how could you pick me out at that distance?" demanded Tom
+incredulously, for it seemed almost unbelievable.
+
+"I guessed that our captain would have you hold back when he and the
+other two started to meet the rising Germans," said Jack. "You see, I
+was wise enough to believe he would want you to butt in only in case a
+fourth Boche came along. And when that happened I knew your chance had
+come."
+
+"It was pretty exciting while it lasted," remarked Tom grimly.
+
+They were soon on the road to the villa, going in one of the cars used
+to take the pilots when going to and returning from work. There was a
+surgeon at hand, and an examination of Tom's hurt was made. It proved to
+be a small matter, though it had bled quite freely.
+
+"You must take a few days' rest, young M'sieu," the army surgeon told
+the young aviator after he had dressed the wound. "It was a narrow
+escape, I assure you. Three inches further down, and I would not like to
+have answered for your life. But evidently France had further need of
+your excellent services. I salute you, M'sieu Raymond, you have this day
+done your duty well, and won your spurs."
+
+The air service boys could not remain quietly at the villa while all
+that furor was going on. They wished to be at the hangars, to greet
+those who returned, and give the pilots who were sallying forth a last
+word of encouragement.
+
+It was a long day, and full of thrilling happenings. Other battles in
+the air occurred along the extended front, and not all of them wound up
+in victories for the Allied forces. Some distinguished Teuton "aces"
+were flying on that occasion who would not be denied their toll. But the
+Lafayette Escadrille lost none of its members, Tom and Jack were glad to
+learn.
+
+Night finally set its pall over the field where all day long the hostile
+armies had fought and bled. The French were grimly holding their seized
+terrain, and hurling the Germans back again and again. The serried ranks
+had pushed forward up to within an hour of sunset; then, apparently
+realizing that it was a hopeless task, the Teuton High Command had given
+the order to withdraw.
+
+On the following day the battle was not resumed. The French had their
+hands full in strengthening and fortifying their new positions, while
+the Germans must have been so severely punished and "shot to pieces"
+that they needed time to effect the reorganization of their various
+battalions and regiments.
+
+So several days passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, at
+least in connection with the two chums. Tom's slight wound was healing
+fast, and he was told by the army surgeon that it would be quite safe
+for him to go up again at any time now, a fact that pleased the young
+aviator immensely.
+
+"I'm going to make a record for myself," he told his chum.
+
+"You're the fellow to do it," answered Jack. "Wish I was in your shoes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A SHOW ON THE FRONT
+
+
+While the fighting on the Verdun front was furious at times, with
+prolonged spasms when the Germans seemed determined to recover the
+territory they had lost to the French, there were also periods of almost
+total calm.
+
+During these quiet periods the members of the American escadrille were
+sometimes hard pushed for ways in which to pass the time away, and amuse
+themselves. Inaction fretted most of them, since they were endowed with
+that restless spirit which seems to be the inherent trait of most
+Americans.
+
+Many were the expedients tried by means of which some amusement might be
+extracted from life. Their daily business was so exciting that these
+slumps left the aviators nervous and unhappy. It was like the sailor
+who, bowling along under full pressure of canvas for weeks, in the old
+days of the sailing vessel, suddenly found himself in the "doldrums,"
+and becalmed for what might be an indefinite period--it was apt to wear
+upon a nervous system that demanded work.
+
+Of course the pilots were merry while at meals and during their loafing
+periods; but every time one of their number returned from the front and
+reported the inaction as still continuing, many deep sighs of discontent
+would arise.
+
+Then a clever thought occurred to some one of the men. Perhaps it was
+suggested by a happy-go-lucky Irish aviator who was connected with the
+British air forces, and wore the marks of distinguished service on his
+arm and cap.
+
+Sergeant Barney McGee had received a month's furlough in order to
+recover from injuries which he had sustained. Instead of going back to
+Ireland to spend his enforced vacation, as one might naturally expect
+him to do, McGee put in the time visiting other parts of the long front
+between Ypres and Verdun.
+
+After all, there was nothing so very singular about that. Give an old
+railroad engineer a week off, and presently you will discover him
+spending the time loafing around the roundhouse, chatting with the other
+engineers, and investigating things. His whole life being wrapped up in
+his work his idea of a vacation consists of being free to watch his
+fellows of the same craft work.
+
+Sergeant McGee was an exceedingly droll chap. He spent a couple of weeks
+with a French cousin who was also an aviator, and in time came to know
+the jolly members of the Lafayette Escadrille. He grew to be exceedingly
+fond of them all, and was in the mess-room nearly every night.
+
+His idea was that they should get up a show to pass these dull evenings
+away. If the enemy allowed them sufficient time they could even give a
+public performance, and give the proceeds to the Red Cross.
+
+It took like wildfire with the Americans, casting about at the time for
+some way to kill dull care, and make the hours pass more quickly until
+called to action again.
+
+A survey developed the fact that there were a number in and out of the
+Lafayette Escadrille who possessed a talent of some kind or other. This
+one had a violin which he loved to play; and, while not a finished
+artist, he was able to make real and lovely music by means of his clever
+bow. Another, it turned out, had a good tenor voice, and knew many of
+the most popular songs of the day. A third showed a talent for mimicking
+well known people, particularly Americans of national fame. Several
+agreed to black up, and give a humorous little minstrel skit that they
+declared would set the house in a roar.
+
+It was Barney McGee himself who most astonished the Americans, however.
+At the first rehearsal he appeared before their astonished eyes dressed
+to imitate a well known and popular moving picture star and he carried
+out the part in a fashion that caused the wildest excitement. From that
+moment the success of the show was assured.
+
+They made feverish preparations, for no one could tell just when the
+period of inaction would come to an end, and every available member of
+the several fraternizing escadrilles be ordered to rush to the front
+again, to take his life in his hands, and risk it hourly for the great
+cause.
+
+Tom and Jack both had parts in the entertainment. Jack made a good
+"bones" for the minstrels, and he coaxed his chum to don a burnt-cork
+face for that one evening, and show what he could do as a comedian of
+parts.
+
+They found a building in Bar-le-Duc that could be used, and which would
+hold a respectable sized audience. Little preparation was needed save to
+build a stage and get seating arrangements. Where chairs were not
+available benches had to take their place. Lights were also provided,
+and what few accessories they needed, such as curtains and stage
+scenery, were improvised after a fashion.
+
+In the spirit of fun that prevailed "any old thing went," as Jack
+expressed it. The makeshifts that came to light when the performers
+appeared dressed for their various parts were many and startling. They
+had borrowed or begged anything that promised to answer the purpose from
+a long-tailed French coat to a lady's highly colored shawl. Wigs had
+been sent for, and Paris had responded with an assortment that left
+nothing to be desired.
+
+The members of the two French air squadrons whose headquarters were near
+by, had entered into the affair with great zest. They blessed the little
+Irish pilot for his suggestion. And Sergeant Barney McGee was on the
+jump all day long, displaying all the sterling traits that distinguish
+able generals and leaders of men.
+
+The time approached when the entertainment was to come off. The
+performers were sure of a full house, provided no war orders were issued
+that would interfere with the arrangements.
+
+"Since Fritz has kept quiet for so many dreary days now," one pilot was
+heard to say on the morning of the entertainment, "let us hope we'll
+have just one more peaceful evening to reap the reward of all this
+training. It would break the heart of Sergeant Barney if the order came
+for every one to buckle down to hard work just when his big show is
+about to come off."
+
+The weather man proved friendly, for he gave them a splendid day, with
+the promise of a moonlight night. Besides, the cold had pretty well
+vanished, and it was really becoming more seasonable, with the sun
+warming the earth, and the mud drying up to a considerable extent.
+
+When the show opened that night it was to a house jammed to the doors.
+Even the windows were utilized for seating room; and crowds stood
+without, unable to gain admittance.
+
+"Some crowd, eh?" remarked Jack, as he watched the airmen, soldiers and
+others pouring in.
+
+"I should say so!" cried Tom. "I hope we make good."
+
+It was certainly a unique performance, considering the fact that it was
+given in a camp close to the battle lines; and that at any hour every
+one of those who were dressed so fancifully and conducted themselves as
+actors born to the stage, might be called on to mount to the clouds, and
+perform their dangerous work of fighting for France, perhaps even giving
+up their lives.
+
+Loud applause greeted every individual act. The violin music drew tears
+from eyes unused to weeping, because the strains of "Way Down Upon the
+Suwannee River," "Home, Sweet Home," and other loved airs tenderly and
+beautifully played, as they were, carried the Americans back again to
+those near and dear, those whom they might never again see on this
+earth.
+
+The songs were rapturously applauded, and the singers forced to give
+encore after encore. One youth who played the part of a little maid from
+school, and sang in a sweet soprano voice, caused the greatest
+enthusiasm of the evening; but then everything seemed to make a decided
+hit.
+
+Tom and Jack, as members of the minstrel troupe, did their parts well,
+though neither professed to be a star of the first magnitude. They
+certainly enjoyed seeing and hearing the others go through with their
+appointed tasks. As for Sergeant Barney McGee, he drew the house down
+every time he appeared on the stage in his quaint dress, and with the
+famous walk that is the trade-mark of the character whom he represented.
+
+Two-thirds of the entire show was soon carried out. Indeed, the rest was
+to be more or less a repetition of preceding acts, though the pleased
+audience seemed eager to sit for another hour, and applaud each turn
+vigorously and uproariously.
+
+However, it was not fated that the evening should pass entirely without
+some interruption. Afterwards the actors, and those who had enjoyed the
+performance from in front, agreed that they had been exceedingly lucky
+as it was, and that "half a loaf was much better than no bread at all."
+
+Those whose turns were finished remained, of course, as part of the
+audience. Some of the black-faced artists lingered in the so-called
+"wings" to watch what was going on, desirous of getting all the fun
+possible out of the evening.
+
+It was not a case of "eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die;"
+but "have all the happy times you can, fellows, while the going is good,
+for to-morrow we fight."
+
+Sergeant Barney McGee was on again, and the audience was convulsed with
+laughter over his ludicrous antics. He appeared to be a born actor and
+mimic; and had they not known otherwise Tom and Jack could have declared
+that the comedian who was under contract with an American film company,
+and doubtless in California making pictures at that moment, had been
+suddenly transported to the French fighting front to entertain the
+soldiers.
+
+Suddenly the laughter came to a stop. The building in which the show was
+being held shook as though a violent thunderclap had rocked the earth.
+This loud detonation that broke upon their hearing, however, was only
+too familiar to all those army aviators. They understood its dread
+meaning.
+
+The enemy had taken this opportunity to send over a squadron of raiding
+Fokkers to bomb the hangars of the French and American fliers at
+Bar-le-Duc!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CLOWNS ON THE WING
+
+
+Boom!
+
+What followed that first heavy detonation was very much like a riot. The
+audience became frantic under the belief that it meant an attack on the
+town, and that the missiles would presently drop upon the roofs, working
+destruction to everything around.
+
+It was the actors, however, who were the most exercised. One and all
+they understood what it meant to them. Their planes were in danger of
+being demolished! In some way the Teutons must have learned about the
+entertainment, and realized that almost every Allied pilot would want to
+attend it. They rightly guessed that for once the guard about the
+aviation field and numerous hangars where the dozens upon dozens of
+planes of every description were housed when not in use, would be
+unusually light. They had also taken advantage of the bright moonlight
+to make a bold sally over the French lines and reach this distant point
+undiscovered.
+
+Boom! boom! boom!
+
+Other crashing sounds announced that the enemy machines were busily at
+work. Each pilot pictured the entire camp under bombardment, with the
+utmost disaster overtaking the airplanes upon which General Petain was
+depending so much to serve as the "eyes" of his brave army.
+
+There was a general and maddened rush. Every one wanted to get to the
+camp in the briefest possible space of time. There was no chance for the
+actors to change their clothes. They were glad enough of an opportunity
+to snatch up a heavy fur-lined coat, either their own or some other
+person's. With this to hide their ludicrous attire, and also give some
+needed warmth once they went aloft, they hastened to find a waiting car,
+which, when loaded to its capacity, would be sent like mad along the
+road to the aviation field.
+
+It was one of the most amazing sights imaginable, to see those pilots,
+many of whom were world famous, thus garbed. It looked as though some
+asylum of freaks had opened its doors and allowed the inmates to escape
+to the highways and byways.
+
+Only one thought possessed them all, which was to get to the hangars in
+the shortest possible time. When they arrived each anticipated seeking
+his particular plane. If that chanced to be out of commission, then
+commandeering any other, it mattered little whose, so long as they were
+able to go up, and give battle to the audacious Teuton pilots who had
+raided their camp at Bar-le-Duc.
+
+"We've got to save our machines!" cried Tom. "Come on!"
+
+"Right you are!" responded Jack.
+
+Tom and Jack were with the rest who found some way to crowd aboard one
+of the waiting cars that were seized upon to carry the pilots to the
+field. As they went booming furiously along the road they could still
+hear those frightful explosions ahead, each one accompanied by a flash
+as of lightning. The reports were almost deafening.
+
+Eager eyes were turned aloft. The moon shone, but it was difficult to
+make out so small an object as an airplane at a height of a mile or more
+without the use of searchlights, and even these were not very efficient
+on such a night.
+
+Still, some of the pilots believed they could see several enemy planes
+swooping over at a lower level, possibly, they thought, on the lookout
+for the procession of cars bearing the aroused Allied aviators to the
+hangars.
+
+Bang!
+
+A bomb fell not fifty feet away from the car in which the two chums were
+seated. One of their companions received a trifling wound from the
+effect of the explosion of the TNT contents of the bomb, said to be the
+most powerful known for such uses, and handled by the engineers of all
+the armies, under different names.
+
+If the design of the Boche who swooped down for the purpose of waylaying
+the cars carrying the French and American airmen was to rob the Allies
+of the services of a dozen eminent pilots all at once, it failed in
+execution.
+
+At last the aviators arrived on the scene. It was lively enough, with
+bombs still bursting here and there. Already considerable damage had
+been done to some of the hangars.
+
+The Allied pilots were "mad all the way through" at having been caught
+napping by the foe. They paid no attention to the danger that still hung
+over their heads, with the enemy's supply of explosives as yet
+unexhausted. While the dreadful detonations continued, sometimes
+exceedingly close by, the various pilots seized upon such mechanicians
+as they could.
+
+One by one the planes rolled along the field and began to climb upward
+by way of the usual spiral staircase route, to give battle to the enemy,
+regardless of any superiority in numbers.
+
+Jack was dismayed to discover that his plane was badly wrecked by one of
+the explosions. Indeed, it was afterwards found that he had to have a
+new machine, since the repairs necessary to put the old one into service
+again were too complicated to be done at the front.
+
+Tom was more fortunate. His hangar had also suffered to some extent, but
+so far as could be seen in a hasty examination his plane was not injured
+in the least.
+
+He too went up, burnt-corked face and all. There were clowns abroad that
+night who could give Tom many points in the game, so far as comical
+looks went, and still easily win the stakes. But all else was forgotten
+under the spur of the moment, save that each man was eager to get in
+touch with the Boche pilots who had almost spoiled their one great
+evening.
+
+But no longer were those crashing detonations coming. This told the
+story only too well. The Germans had either exhausted their supply of
+bombs, or else they deemed discretion the better part of valor. They had
+evidently taken their departure before the first Allied pilot got up to
+the elevation they had been using in their bombardment.
+
+Nothing could be seen of them, though had the Allied pilots been able to
+use their ears, which was impossible when their own motors were making
+such loud noises, they might have heard, in the distance and to the
+east, the telltale music of Teuton propellers beating the air in a rush
+for home ports.
+
+A pursuit was organized, and several planes followed the retreating
+invaders over the entire distance to the front; but it was of no avail.
+The enemy planes had had too good a start, and were being pushed for all
+they were worth to get beyond the danger zone.
+
+There had been several accidents at the Bar-le-Duc field, but none of
+them fatal. This was not at all surprising, considering the haste shown
+by the pilots to mount and engage the foemen.
+
+Too, several of the planes besides Jack's had been damaged, a
+circumstance which brought about disaster before the aviator was able to
+leave the ground.
+
+As the fliers came back one after another, filled with indignation and
+disappointed hopes, Jack stalked about, with his black face, yet laughed
+to see what comical pictures most of his fellow aviators made.
+
+By degrees most of them began to realize that the joke was on them, and
+joined in greeting with noisy shouts each fresh arrival from above. The
+damage had not been so very serious after all, since most of the Teuton
+bombs had either failed to explode when aimed true, or else only dug
+enormous craters in the ground where it did not matter, sometimes even a
+quarter of a mile away from the hangars. Jack's machine, it was found,
+was the only one badly damaged.
+
+From that time there was one subject on which American and French pilots
+were agreed. They must certainly repay their enemy rivals for this
+visitation. The honors could not continue to be all on one side.
+
+So from that hour every Allied pilot who went far back of the German
+lines used his glasses diligently, in the endeavor to locate the secret
+aviation field of the Boche. This would naturally be camouflaged in the
+customary fashion, at which the Teutons had become almost as proficient
+as the French; but trust an airman to spy out the lodging place of his
+kind.
+
+Step by step they learned which direction the enemy planes took in
+coming to the front, and retiring when through for the day. Thus in good
+time the hiding place was found. Great was the delight of the whole
+Lafayette Escadrille when this confidential news was passed about. And,
+later on, a party of Allied aviators paid a night visit to the German
+camp, and dropped several tons of high explosives from bombing planes,
+that were heavily guarded by the fighting Nieuports.
+
+They had reason to believe from what they themselves saw, as well as
+through a secret report received from a French spy, that their aim had
+been remarkably fine; and that many times the amount of damage the
+Germans had done at Bar-le-Duc had been carried out on the reprisal
+sally.
+
+After that it seemed as though the slate had been wiped clean. Their
+honor had been fully purged of the stain that had rested on it ever
+since that dreadful night when they were caught off their guard.
+
+It turned out that the enemy had meant to start an action on the
+following day, and it had been hoped that the squadron of airmen might
+so cripple the French service that the advantage would be all on the
+side of the assailants.
+
+Something happened, however, to balk the plans of the Crown Prince.
+Perhaps he had a reprimand from his august father and emperor for so
+recklessly sacrificing such vast numbers of his men in a fruitless
+assault against the stonewall defensive of the French army. It may also
+have been something else that called the attack off, but at any rate it
+failed of accomplishment.
+
+The stagnation along the front continued; but all this while General
+Petain was making quiet though effective preparations, in order some day
+to strike a staggering blow, such as the French had before given, which
+would take the enemy by surprise, and push him still further back.
+
+Jack was fretting because thus far he had seen so little of real action.
+Since his Nieuport had been sent away, and another had as yet failed to
+arrive for his use, he often bewailed his ill-luck. He even assured his
+chum the "green mould would be growing all over his person if something
+didn't soon come to pass to break the terrible monotony."
+
+But every lane, however long, must have its turning; and Jack's hour
+struck at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MORE WORK IN PROSPECT
+
+
+"Tom, sit down here on this bench, won't you? I want to have a little
+talk with you about some things that have bothered me a whole lot
+lately," said Jack, some days after the exciting experiences narrated in
+the two preceding chapters.
+
+"I can give a pretty good guess what they are, Jack, since I see you
+staring hard at the slip of paper found attached to the toy balloon
+which drifted over our lines from somewhere back of the German front."
+
+"Yes; I own up I do sit and look at that paper, Tom. If it could only
+talk I'd know who penned that warning, and my curiosity'd be satisfied
+for one thing. But try as hard as I may, I can't be certain whether it
+was Mrs. Neumann, or somebody else. But I wanted to speak to you about
+Bessie just now."
+
+"What about her, Jack?" asked Tom, knowing how much his chum was
+concerned over the unknown fate of the pretty young girl they had met on
+the Atlantic liner, and who was apparently anything but happy in the
+charge of her legally appointed guardian, Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+"There are several things she told me, half unwillingly, I admit, that I
+guess I haven't said anything about to you, Tom."
+
+"Then she confided her secrets to you, eh?" half chuckled Tom; though he
+saw his chum was in anything but a humorous frame of mind. "I remember
+you told me she felt very bitter toward all Germans because she had lost
+her mother when the _Lusitania_ went down."
+
+"Yes. But this had to do with her guardian," Jack continued.
+
+"Oh, I see! Mr. Potzfeldt, Jack? You haven't felt favorably disposed
+toward that gentleman at any time since first meeting him."
+
+"Neither have you, Tom, to tell the truth!" declared the other quickly.
+"In fact, as I remember it, both of us were pretty much inclined to
+believe he was a paid spy of the German Government, working on some line
+of dark business over in America. Well, he had to clear out in a hurry,
+Bessie told me."
+
+"Did the authorities get track of his scheming work, and was he in
+danger of being arrested for plotting against Uncle Sam's interests as a
+neutral?" Tom asked.
+
+"It may have been that; but Bessie wasn't sure about it. In fact, she
+seemed inclined to believe her guardian had some secret, which was in
+danger of being exposed. An old friend of her mother's was interesting
+himself in the matter. Given time, he might have made it uncomfortable
+for Carl Potzfeldt; and so the gentleman cleared out between two days."
+
+"Taking Bessie with him!"
+
+"Yes. They made as if to go to Chicago, but instead hurried to New York.
+When he came aboard at the last call he kept to his cabin for a time,
+until we were well away from land. There has been considerable of
+mystery about his actions. Bessie is afraid of him, too. She even hinted
+that she believed he might have obtained control of her fortune and
+herself through fraud, and that this was in danger of being found out at
+the time he cut stick and ran."
+
+"All this is interesting, Jack; but just when and how we're ever going
+to learn the truth about it I'm unable even to guess. It would be like
+hunting for a needle in a haystack to try to find Potzfeldt. He and his
+pretty little ward may be hundreds of miles away from here."
+
+"Perhaps you're right, Tom," mused the other sadly, as he stared afar
+off toward the north. "I'd be glad of a chance to do something for that
+poor girl. She is to be greatly pitied, if she's wholly in the power of
+a man who wouldn't hesitate to do _anything_, if he saw a chance
+for gain ahead."
+
+"Well, all you can do, Jack, is to live on and hope a lucky chance will
+bob up for you. But there's our captain beckoning to me. Perhaps another
+battle is on the carpet for to-morrow, and I'll be given a look-in
+again."
+
+"Oh, if the lightning would only strike me too!" sighed Jack, enviously.
+"Please beg him to figure out something I can do, Tom. If it's only
+occupying a place aboard an observation plane or taking photographs of
+the Germans regrouping far back of the lines, I'd gladly welcome it.
+Anything but sitting here, when all the other pilots are at work."
+
+Tom hurried to join the commander of the Lafayette Escadrille. He had
+taken a great fancy to the gallant man, and believed this feeling was in
+a measure returned. Jack continued to sit and mope. He really felt
+slighted to be left out when so much thrilling work was being done.
+
+He had put away the well-thumbed scrap of paper with its mysterious
+lines of warning, for the time being Bessie and all her troubles passing
+from his mind. Jack was now full of his own affairs. He found himself
+growing a bit discontented because thus far he had been allowed to do so
+little for the cause, when his heart was full to overflowing with a
+desire to assist.
+
+There were aviators going and coming all the time, and surely many of
+them did not excel him appreciably in talents. Why did not those in
+charge find something for an ambitious pilot to do? He was striving
+daily to master the weak spots in his education; and had not the captain
+himself assured him he was doing bravely? He turned to cast an
+occasional look toward the spot where Tom and the commander of the air
+squadron still talked earnestly. Yes, something was certainly "on tap,"
+as Jack expressed it, for he saw the other carefully examining a bit of
+paper his companion had evidently placed in his hand.
+
+Jack began to be interested. Perhaps after all it might turn out to be
+something quite different from what Tom had anticipated. Had the captain
+simply wished to notify the other to be ready to answer a call on the
+following morning, surely he need not have taken all this time; nor
+would he have given Tom that paper, undoubtedly carrying explicit
+instructions.
+
+How the minutes dragged! Jack thought it an eternity before he saw Tom
+and the captain separate. He was glad to notice that his chum once more
+headed in the direction of the spot where they had been seated on a
+bench back of the long row of frame buildings used for permanent hangars
+at the Bar-le-Duc aviation field.
+
+Yes, Tom had evidently been told something that pleased him very much.
+His smile admitted the fact, and Jack knew by now just how to read the
+face of his comrade so as to get a good idea of what was passing in his
+mind.
+
+"Looks like good news, Tom," he cried out, for motors were rattling and
+throbbing, mechanicians and helpers, as well as pilots, calling to one
+another, and all manner of sounds combining to make a great racket.
+
+Tom shrugged his shoulders in a non-committal way, which might mean a
+whole lot, and again might express a small fraction of disappointment.
+
+"Yes, I've been given a job, if that's what you mean," he admitted, as
+he dropped down once more on the bench alongside Jack, and threw one leg
+over the other.
+
+"More fighting to-morrow, possibly?" queried Jack, anxiously. But he
+found his curiosity further whetted when Tom shook his head in the
+negative.
+
+"Not necessarily this time, it seems," he went on to say; "though of
+course you never can tell what you'll strike when once you pass fifty
+miles, more or less, behind the enemy front."
+
+Jack pursed his lips up as if about to whistle, but he made no sound. It
+was only a visible indication of surprise on his part--surprise, and an
+eager desire to know just what his chum was so slow in telling him.
+
+"Another bombing raid, then, is it?"
+
+"Never a bomb going along this time," came the puzzling answer. "Nor is
+there going to be a big bunch of planes starting out. I'm to be the only
+pilot in the game this time, Jack."
+
+"You're knocking me silly with that, Tom," protested the other young
+aviator. "I can see the twinkle in your eyes, as if you were holding
+something back, so as to tantalize me. Are you free to tell me what this
+business of yours it is the captain has just handed over to you?"
+
+"Oh, surely, Jack. He told me I could take _one_ fellow into my
+confidence, and no more. So I mean to tell you all about it."
+
+Tom turned and cast a careful look around. They were not very close to
+any of the hangars, it happened; and none of the many helpers and
+attendants could possibly overhear what was said, with all that clatter
+constantly going on.
+
+"I guess it's perfectly safe for me to talk here, Jack, and not give the
+thing away. You know it does seem that the German spies are able to
+penetrate nearly everywhere, and pick up all sorts of valuable
+information, to send across the line in any one of a dozen different
+ways."
+
+"Yes. But go on, Tom."
+
+"It seems there is need of some one to go to-night to a particular place
+far back of the German lines--in fact, close to the fortified city of
+Metz itself. In a certain place, inside a hollow post, will be found a
+paper marked in cipher, and containing much valuable information which
+has been collected by one of the ablest of the French spies. He is
+really a native of Alsace-Lorraine, and well thought of by the Germans.
+As it is utterly out of the question for him to report in person, he has
+adopted this way of getting his news to General Petain. And as there is
+a scarcity of pilots capable of doing this work our captain has selected
+me to undertake it for the cause."
+
+"But Tom, I should have thought he would have picked out some one more
+familiar with the ground back there. How can you find your way to that
+particular place, if you've never been there before?"
+
+"I've been given directions that are bound to take me right," Tom
+assured his worried chum. "There was a man they used for this purpose,
+and several times he's brought back the papers; but on his last trip he
+had the misfortune to run into a bunch of cruising Fokkers, and they
+brought him down. He fell fortunately inside the French lines, so his
+papers were saved; but Francois will never handle the controls of a
+plane again. He was killed."
+
+"Then there is danger in the game!"
+
+"Certainly there is. But in these times who could dream of passing so
+far back of the German front without expecting to be in constant peril?
+The papers will be put in a little box previously prepared. Should
+disaster overtake us, it will be flung overboard, and before it reaches
+the ground everything will have been consumed by the fire that follows."
+
+Jack's eyes began to glitter.
+
+"Just so, Tom! But I notice that you used the plural pronoun when you
+spoke. Then you do not go on this mission alone?"
+
+"No, that's right. I have been given permission to pick out my one
+companion, for there will be two of us aboard the plane to-night."
+
+Jack tried to keep calm, but it was indeed difficult, and his voice
+faltered more or less as he hurriedly went on to say:
+
+"Have you already made your selection?"
+
+"Yes," the other assured him in his tantalizing way. "I wanted to know
+whether the captain approved of my choice; which I am glad to say turned
+out to be the case."
+
+Jack gulped something down, and then blurted out:
+
+"Did you mention my name at all, Tom?"
+
+"Yours was the only one I had in mind; and Jack, rest easy, you're going
+along with me to-night to glimpse the lights of Metz!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+OFF ON A DARING MISSION
+
+
+The two air service boys fell to talking earnestly concerning what they
+should take with them, and how to study a map which their captain had
+promised to put in Tom's hands immediately.
+
+This was not of the ordinary kind, but so definitely marked for just
+such an emergency that even a novice could probably find his way to
+Metz, granting that he possessed the necessary qualifications of an air
+pilot.
+
+Presently a messenger came with a package for Tom. This proved to be the
+chart from the commander of the air squadron. Tom was to make as good a
+copy as was in his power, for the original was too valuable to risk
+losing.
+
+Jack understood that there were several reasons for having Tom do this.
+In the first place his work on the chart would familiarize the young
+aviator with its every detail, and fix things firmly in his mind. Then
+again, if they were lost, and never returned, the priceless chart for
+night voyaging over the enemy's lines would be at least safe.
+
+Daring men had gone forth on similar desperate errands before then, and
+had never been heard from again. It is the fortune of war. Those who
+indulge in enterprises that border on the sensational must always expect
+to sup with deadly peril.
+
+When the evening meal was announced the two chums were already deep in
+the work. Of course not a whisper of their intended mission was breathed
+at the table. No one dreamed of their contemplated trip. The customary
+chatter and good-natured badinage flowed during the whole supper-time.
+While some of the American aviators had received wounds in recent
+engagements there had been no chair vacant for some little time now; and
+hence no gloom rested on the escadrille. From the table the boys again
+went to their room.
+
+"How far is Metz from Verdun?" asked Jack, as they labored to complete
+their preparations for departure.
+
+"Not over forty miles, I should say, as the crow flies, Jack. I've never
+been over the route, but it can be measured on this copy of the map."
+
+"And that's the direct line we expect to cover, of course?"
+
+"We'll head due east."
+
+"And as it'll be densely dark when we start I guess we needn't mount to
+ten thousand feet to pass over the enemy lines, eh, Tom?"
+
+"There'll really be little need," came the reply, showing that the pilot
+had already figured all this out. "At the same time we ought to keep far
+enough out of range to avoid being struck by stray shrapnel."
+
+"Will they bombard us, do you think?" demanded Jack.
+
+"Oh, that's to be expected," said Tom indifferently. "You see the men
+who man the anti-aircraft guns are constantly on the alert. They're
+bound to hear the whirr of our propeller as we pass over, no matter how
+high we soar. The searchlight will spot us out, and then they'll do
+their best to make things uncomfortable for the pair of us. But the
+chances are ten thousand to one against our being hit."
+
+"You said our course would be due east, didn't you?"
+
+"I'll change that assertion a bit, Jack; we start east after we're well
+across the front, and away from the dazzling searchlight business. In
+the beginning we'll point the nose of our big machine toward the north."
+
+"So as to deceive the watchers, of course," remarked Jack.
+
+"That's what the game is."
+
+Jack's eyes sparkled. He was always proud of his chum's clever reasoning
+powers, and believed Tom could hold his own with any one with regard to
+mapping out a promising plan.
+
+Their preparations completed, the two air service boys lay down to
+secure a little rest. As they were not to start until some time after
+midnight, Tom believed they should secure a few hours of sleep. The moon
+was a late one, and would not rise, even with a midnight start, until
+they were well back of the enemy lines.
+
+An alarm-clock aroused them at the appointed time. Tom immediately
+shoved the noisy thing under his blankets before it could wake up the
+entire house, and set people wondering what was happening that any one
+should want to be aroused at such an unseemly hour.
+
+It was terribly black outside. Jack pressed his nose against the window
+and took a look, even while hurriedly finishing his dressing. Tom had
+taken the precaution to put a fresh battery in his little hand electric
+torch, which he believed would prove to be worth its weight in gold.
+
+Arriving at their destination, the boys quickly found their two-seater
+aircraft awaiting their coming. Quite a crowd stood around, and made
+guesses concerning the possible reason for the captain's order that this
+plane should be made ready for a journey, with enough supplies of
+gasolene and oil aboard to cover any ordinary emergency.
+
+Tom took no chances. He believed the attendants had faithfully carried
+out all directions, but to make doubly sure he looked over things
+himself. It was his life and Jack's that were at stake, and not those of
+the attendants; so he persisted in testing this and that thing until he
+felt certain everything was as it should be.
+
+"Is it time we started, Tom?" asked his companion, when this procedure
+had resulted satisfactorily.
+
+"We'll wait just ten minutes more," he was told. "I've figured
+everything down to a fraction, and expect to proceed by clock-work. We
+want to be well over the line before the moon peeps up. After that we
+can loaf a bit, and let the old lady get a little way above the horizon.
+That's so we may have the benefit of her light when we want to land."
+
+The minutes passed slowly. Meanwhile the crowd increased, every man who
+chanced to be abroad at that hour of the night gathering to see the two
+Americans start on their mysterious errand. All sorts of guesses were
+indulged in, many of them of the wildest character. Jack hearing some of
+this talk, which he half understood, was convulsed in silent laughter
+over the remarkable ideas that seemed to possess the minds of those
+French mechanicians and hostlers.
+
+Finally Tom stood up.
+
+"It's time!" he said simply, and Jack understood without any further
+explanation. He at once proceeded to climb into his seat and complete
+his simple preparations for the work in hand, being already fully
+dressed in his fur-lined garments, and with his warm hood and goggles in
+place.
+
+A minute afterwards Tom called out the word that started the propellers
+whirling. The motor took up the refrain, and hummed merrily, as though
+glad to be busy again. Then they were pushed along for a start,
+gathering momentum so quickly that the mechanicians dropped back to
+watch the dark object vanish almost wholly from their sight along the
+level field.
+
+Both boys noticed the great difference between this two-seater and their
+own active little Nieuports. How clumsy this machine was, and how slow
+to answer to the call of the pilot! Yet it would be far better for their
+purpose than two of the small aircraft, since it allowed them to be
+together.
+
+The few lights of the aviation field near Bar-le-Duc had faded almost
+entirely out of sight by the time Tom turned to the north and headed for
+Verdun. True, he might have pointed the nose of the airplane directly
+east, and saved considerable distance, but there were good reasons for
+not doing this.
+
+To cross the German lines further south would surely convince the
+Teutons that the aviators were heading for the vicinity of Metz, which
+was just what Tom did not wish to have happen. Then again, his chart
+covered only the direct line between Verdun and the fortified city of
+Lorraine that forty-odd years back had been French territory, before the
+Germans seized it as spoils after the war that made France a republic
+for the third time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE MOONLIGHT FLIGHT
+
+
+The time for talking had passed. With the motor working noisily, and the
+twin propellers churning the air, they could hardly have heard the
+discharge of one of the 'Big Berthas', as the Allies were wont to call
+the monster Krupp guns, and so called them because a woman whose maiden
+name had been Bertha Krupp, owned a big interest in the works where they
+were manufactured.
+
+All was dark around and below them. Above the stars shone, and gave a
+small amount of cold, cheery light. Tom had made a study of the heavens,
+and was able to steer by means of the stars. The aviator is often as
+much dependent on compass and heavenly bodies to shape his course as the
+sailor hundreds of miles away from land.
+
+Tom was in no especial hurry. He had carefully thought out his plans,
+and meant to pass over Verdun at just a certain time. Then would come
+the two lines of hostile trenches, and the ordeal of searchlights and
+shrapnel. Once that was done with, they had really little further to
+fear.
+
+The minutes slipped away. Under ordinary conditions they were accustomed
+to making that thirty miles in just about half that number of minutes,
+thanks to the ability of the speedy Nieuports to cover distance. It
+would be twice that now before they would find themselves at the front.
+
+Already they could see various signs to tell them they were drawing
+near. Rockets used as signals of various kinds ascended at intervals,
+and burst. Others of the star variety, and which discharged glowing
+white electric balls that lighted the earth below, could also be seen.
+One side or the other apparently had some reason for desiring to
+scrutinize a special sector of terrain in No-Man's-Land, the disputed
+region lying between the hostile trenches.
+
+Jack used his eyes to advantage. These things had not yet grown stale
+with him, for he still found himself filled with awe and wonder when
+gazing down from a lofty height at the world shrouded in darkness below.
+
+There within a comparatively short distance, that might not be over
+twenty miles, a round million of soldiers were gathered, armed with
+numberless engines of destruction of the most ponderous nature
+imaginable. It was enough to give any one a genuine thrill, and Jack
+felt such a sensation creeping over him.
+
+The crucial time had now come. They were passing over the line of the
+French trenches. Jack knew this from various signs, and also that in
+another minute they might expect to be spotted by some of the enemy
+searchlights. These would be unmasked, and trained on the heavens in the
+effort to locate the cause of that well known clattering noise above.
+
+This speedily came about. First one long shaft of dazzling light rushed
+back and forth; then others joined in the hunt, until presently they
+focussed on the progressing two-seater pushing north.
+
+Then began the bombardment. Numerous anti-aircraft guns were poking
+their noses upward in anticipation of just such a call. Their crews
+commenced to shower the shrapnel around and below the bird of passage,
+whose mission, whatever it might prove to be, could mean only evil to
+the Teuton cause.
+
+All this racket was lost upon the two so far above the earth. They heard
+nothing of the bleat of the firing guns. Even the bursting of shrapnel
+went unheeded, save at a time when a shell exploded close by, and was
+faintly heard.
+
+Tom was wisely taking but little chance. He maintained an altitude that
+prevented most of the shrapnel from coming anywhere near the plane.
+
+They crossed the enemy front, and sped on. The bombardment diminished in
+fury as they left the first and second line trenches behind them. It was
+continued to some extent from an elevation further back, but as Tom knew
+of this formation, and had crept up still higher, no accident happened
+to them.
+
+At last the air service boys were fully launched on their night voyage
+through the upper currents. Tom waited until he considered that it was
+really safe to change their course. He did not want to betray his
+movements in case some daring Boche pilot started up in a swift Fokker
+machine to pursue them.
+
+Once he shut off the engines and volplaned down a thousand feet or more.
+This was done because it was intensely cold up where they were; and the
+reasons that had kept them at such a high altitude existed no longer.
+Then again Tom wished to listen to discover if there was another
+aircraft near them; and this could be done only when his motor was
+silent.
+
+"No pursuit, Jack!" he managed to call to his chum before they once more
+straightened out, and again allowed the motor to send forth its loud
+hum.
+
+Jack had no chance to make any sort of reply. It did not matter, for he,
+too, had eagerly listened, and had failed to catch any telltale sound.
+
+Immediately Tom shaped a new course. No longer were they heading toward
+the north by east, but directly east. There some forty miles, more or
+less, away, lay the city of Metz, the object of their mission.
+
+After moving along in this fashion for a short time Tom drove his
+machine more slowly. He was watching for the rising of the old moon
+ahead, where the horizon was already lighted with her near approach.
+
+How strange she looked peering above the edge of the world as though
+curious to see all that was going on in this troubled hemisphere. Jack
+thought he had never witnessed a more peculiar spectacle. But at least
+this fragment of a moon would be likely to afford them the necessary
+illumination required when they attempted to land in a field that
+neither of them had ever seen before, and only knew through information
+imparted by means of their chart, and its accompanying notes.
+
+Some other pilot had doubtless been over this same route on previous
+occasions; yes, and even landed in that identical field. He had made the
+chart; and the accompanying memoranda consisted of his personal
+experiences.
+
+Already the moon had dispelled some of the cheerless gloom round about
+them. It was still cold up in that upper strata of rarefied air; but
+their fur-lined garments kept them from suffering. Besides this, they
+were young and vigorous, and their blood was warm, and they were excited
+with their mission and able to ignore any physical discomfort that might
+come to them.
+
+Jack continued to stare ahead as time passed. He was looking for some
+sign of the city towards which they were flying. Tom, on his part, often
+took note of his compass, then flashed a glance up at the stars, and
+finally sought to discover some landmark far down below that was marked
+upon the chart.
+
+He had the utmost confidence in his own judgment, and believed he would
+bring up at the identical place which was their goal.
+
+Tom now volplaned again, wishing to draw nearer to the earth. It was
+while thus dropping, with engine muffled, that his ears caught a sound
+calculated to give him an uneasy feeling.
+
+This was undoubtedly the whirr of a propeller beating the air in furious
+fashion. It also came from behind. Jack, too, had caught the sound, and
+was thrilled with sudden apprehension of impending trouble.
+
+They were undoubtedly being pursued, and by a much faster plane than
+their own. This would mean that presently they would be overtaken and
+fired upon. It was not in the nature of Tom Raymond to allow such a
+thing to occur and be kept from doing his share of the fighting.
+
+When Tom swung around to face the rear, and actually started to run
+toward the oncoming foe, Jack knew what was expected of him. He must man
+the gun, and prove how well he had learned his lesson when at school at
+Pau and at Casso.
+
+No longer could they expect to be guided by sounds. Their own motor
+thundered so loudly that every other sound was deadened. They must
+depend on eyesight alone to tell them when they were nearing the
+oncoming Fokker craft. Perhaps the first indication they would have of
+its presence would be the flash of its quick-firing gun, spattering
+bullets around them like hail.
+
+So Jack strained his vision to the limit. He was eager to discover the
+enemy before they themselves were seen. Much might depend on who fired
+first, in a duel of this kind.
+
+Suddenly the gun began to bark after its own peculiar way. Jack believed
+he had glimpsed something moving, and was sending forth a storm of lead
+in the hope of a lucky hit that would crumple the other machine up and
+put an end to that peril.
+
+Tom held the course. He knew that every second was carrying the rival
+airplanes nearer together--knew that possibly they were so headed that
+if they continued to rush forward they might smash in a frightful
+collision that would send both down thousands of feet to the earth.
+
+It was a time for careful calculations and prompt action. Tom gripped
+the controls and was ready either to swerve or to dip as occasion
+demanded. Meanwhile, Jack was doing his best to riddle the advancing
+Boche machine and its pilot.
+
+There was no longer any difficulty in seeing just where the Fokker was,
+for a constant flashing as her gun rattled betrayed its position
+exactly. The flying lead was now whistling all about the two air service
+boys but they did not know how close they sailed to death.
+
+Then Tom swung smartly to the right. He dared not keep on longer in his
+course lest he collide with the German craft. Just about the same
+instant he realized that the Fokker was diving. There was something
+queer about that manoeuvre. Tom had never known a French or an American
+nor yet a British airman to adopt such a clumsy way of plunging so as to
+avoid punishment.
+
+Circling around he started back on a little lower level, looking for the
+enemy. In making his latest volplane Tom had listened intently, hoping
+to ascertain whether the motor of the enemy craft still throbbed
+somewhere close by; but he heard not a sound to tell the story.
+
+Just then, suspicious of the truth, he glanced down, and was just in
+time to see a little flash of flame arise from the distant surface of
+the earth. Then the awful truth broke upon both boys. They realized that
+the German pilot had lost control of his machine, which had turned over
+and over in its drop, finally crashing to the ground, and being
+instantly enveloped in flames!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+LANDING CLOSE TO METZ
+
+
+Tom had his hands full in trying to get back to his course again.
+Naturally, in the excitement attending the duel in midair he could not
+pay attention to where he was going. It was easy enough to shape his
+line of flight by the aid of the stars and his compass, but he had also
+to catch certain landmarks below, that would serve to guide him.
+
+Fortune favored him in that he quickly sighted the lights of a town; and
+this gave him the bearings he sought. His mind freed from further
+anxiety concerning this matter, he pushed on once more.
+
+When presently he became aware of the presence of more lights Jack gave
+Tom the signal agreed on between them to mark such a circumstance. Then
+the pilot again commenced to drop to lower levels by a series of easy
+volplanes.
+
+Like a huge bird the airplane swept along, now close to earth. Had one
+of the peasants who lived in that region chanced to be aroused by the
+rattle of the propeller and thrust his head out of his cottage door, he
+must have gazed in awe to see the vast shadowy form come between him and
+the starry heavens, with the light of the moon silvering its extended
+wings.
+
+One trip failed to show them just what they wanted, and so Tom, knowing
+that the field must be somewhere in that immediate neighborhood,
+immediately swung around and started in again.
+
+The second search failed to bring success. Jack began to experience a
+sensation akin to dismay. Was their work doomed to meet with no result
+and would they find themselves compelled to start back to Verdun without
+having accomplished the important errand on which they had been
+dispatched?
+
+It was not Tom Raymond's way to feel discouraged because things did not
+always go as he wished from the start. He believed in the old motto, "If
+at first you don't succeed, try, try again." And he would circle around
+that vicinity for a full hour if only in the end he might find that for
+which he searched.
+
+Three times however, was the limit. Then Tom felt certain he had "struck
+pay dirt"; and that the opening lying below was the identical field to
+which he had been directed.
+
+After that it resolved itself into a simple landing by moonlight. There
+were no ready mechanicians waiting to lend a hand; and everything must
+be done by the pilot and his assistant. But then, all war aviators must
+be able to make ordinary repairs if necessary, and do other duties that
+usually they allow the mechanics to perform.
+
+Tom brought the heavy machine to the earth softly. It was fine work he
+did, considering the fact that it was unfamiliar ground he was striking
+and the moonlight was far from strong.
+
+They jolted along a short distance, and then came to a full stop. Jack
+was the first to spring out. His first thought was of the strangeness of
+being on German soil, far back of the fighting lines, and within a few
+miles of Metz, a city of prime importance.
+
+Hardly had they landed when the air service boys found themselves
+listening to sounds that seemed significant. Plainly came reports of
+firearms and of loud shouting, as of excited men.
+
+"What do you think that row means, Tom?" asked Jack, as they stood
+listening with quickened hearts.
+
+"It's hard to say," the other replied. "They may be having a riot of
+some kind over in the city. But I'm afraid it is more apt to have
+something to do with our presence here."
+
+"Do you mean they've seen our dropping down and that there may be
+soldiers on the way here to see what we're up to?" asked Jack.
+
+"That may turn out to be the truth of it. But we mustn't lose any more
+time. What we want now is that paper. Jack, remember that we arranged it
+so you'd stay with the plane, while I hurried off to get it."
+
+"All right, Tom; only I wish you'd let me go along. Then if anything
+happened we'd be together, anyhow."
+
+"It's better for you to stay here. I'll be gone only a few minutes if
+everything turns out O.K."
+
+Tom turned and ran across the field. Jack stared after him until he lost
+track of the runner in the misty moonlight. Then he occupied himself in
+listening to that clamor and wondering whether it was really getting
+closer, or if his fears only made him think so.
+
+There was certainly a big noise. Men continued to shout, and guns were
+being discharged, but not so frequently as before. Perhaps this latter
+was done by nervous guardians of the Lorraine city, who on first hearing
+the racket took it for granted that it meant an airplane attack, and
+were therefore starting in to bombard the skies, discovering hostile
+fliers in every lurking fleecy cloud.
+
+Yes, Jack was positive now that those who shouted to one another must be
+coming out of the city, and heading for the big field where Tom had
+dropped down.
+
+"Like as not," Jack told himself, "some wisebody has discovered that
+airplanes have been using this ground for alighting. When they had word
+that an enemy machine was heading this way they just naturally concluded
+it might drop down here. I guess our little fight up aloft was heard and
+understood by some one on guard. I hope Tom will soon get back here,
+that's what!"
+
+Tom had been gone several minutes, and Jack tried to pierce the misty
+light beyond in the endeavor to discover some sign of his returning. His
+uneasiness increased, and with reason, for the noise was drawing
+perilously near.
+
+Jack tried to figure out what his plan of campaign should be in case a
+motley mob of citizens and soldiers suddenly appeared in view, carrying
+lanterns, and perhaps blazing torches.
+
+True, he had his automatic pistol with him, but what would that puny
+weapon avail when pitted against a score or two of enemies; many of them
+armed soldiers of the Kaiser, who would ruthlessly fill him with lead at
+the first show of resistance on his part?
+
+Would it be better policy for him to slip away and conceal himself in
+case they did arrive before Tom returned?
+
+But had not Tom explicitly told him to stay on guard over the airplane
+until he came back? Jack drew in a fresh breath. He threw back his
+shoulders aggressively and his mind was made up. He would stick it out,
+no matter at what cost. If the Boches wanted that plane they would have
+to fight for it, that was all.
+
+He had his pistol out now, and was fondling it as a child would a pet
+toy. So far Jack had fired the weapon only at targets, but he had the
+reputation of being a good shot. He believed he could make every bullet
+it contained tell.
+
+Then what about the mitrailleuse aboard the plane? Was it not possible
+to train it on the advancing host, and give them such a hot reception
+that they would break and race madly for shelter?
+
+He knew the gun was fixed to shoot straight ahead. This was the custom
+with all those who went up in airplanes. To attempt to fire any other
+way would imperil the stability of the plane, and in many cases bring
+about sudden disaster.
+
+Jack fumbled for the fastenings of the airplane mitrailleuse, it being
+his intention to swing the gun free, so that he could turn its muzzle in
+any quarter desired. But it had been too well secured in place for such
+a quick delivery, and presently he gave the idea up as a bad one.
+
+No Tom yet! Things certainly were taking on a dark hue, and it looked as
+though desperate trouble might be in store for the two chums. Jack
+almost believed he could see dancing lights coming along what might be a
+road. He looked again, and no longer had any doubt on that score.
+
+"Well, a fellow can die only once, and after all what does it matter
+whether he meets his end by falling ten thousand feet from the clouds or
+in trying to hold off an angry mob of Teuton soldiers and citizens of
+Metz who are in sympathy with the methods of the Kaiser?" Jack's
+reflections served to give him courage.
+
+There was the leading one of the mob, starting across the dimly lighted
+field! Jack set his jaws hard, and determined that he would wait until
+the other had come close up. Ammunition was much too precious to be
+wasted without results following.
+
+He was soon glad he had made such a sensible resolution, for as the
+runner drew closer something familiar about his figure and methods of
+leaping told Jack it was none other than Tom.
+
+"Get aboard in a hurry, after you've given the propellers a swing!"
+cried Tom, almost breathless himself after such a sharp run. "I've got
+what I wanted."
+
+He was already in his place with his hand on the control.
+
+"Tell me when, Tom!" sang out Jack.
+
+"Cut loose!" ordered the pilot.
+
+The propellers spun, and the motors commenced their furious throbbing.
+Jack swung aboard, and at once the plane started to roll along the
+field, even as men appeared, bursting into view on one side, and
+shouting harshly as they realized how close they had come to catching
+those they sought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MORE TROUBLE FOR THE CHUMS
+
+
+It had been a close call for the two air service boys. Had they been
+delayed just a minute or two longer escape might have been impossible.
+And to have been caught with the spy's paper of information in their
+possession might have proved a very serious matter.
+
+Some of the mob, that had come from Metz itself, were German soldiers.
+They carried guns with which they opened a hot fire on the departing
+plane.
+
+Again the lucky star of Tom and Jack seemed to be in the ascendant, for
+they did not receive even a scratch. Later they found reason to believe
+that a number of the leaden missiles had come very close to their
+persons; for the marks upon the body of the plane itself, as well as the
+tiny holes in the stout linen covering of the wings, told where bullets
+had passed. Possibly, though, these had come from the rapid-fire gun
+handled by the Boche airman.
+
+The plane had left the ground and started to mount when this shooting
+occurred, so that the marksmen had at least had a fair target at which
+to fire. But as the departing airplane was speeding away from them the
+rapidly increasing distance may have disconcerted the Germans. At any
+rate they failed to bag their game.
+
+The boys were now mounting upwards again, filled with joy over their
+recent escape. Jack felt sure that Tom had the precious paper; for he
+well knew the other would never have returned so quickly had not success
+rewarded his search.
+
+They were soon heading directly for their distant base. Tom could now
+give his aerial steed the rein, and get all the speed possible out of
+the cumbersome two-seater. There was no longer any necessity for
+"loafing on the job," to allow a tardy moon to come in sight, as had
+been the case before. Home, and at top speed, was the slogan now.
+
+But, alas! it was not long before Tom realized that something was wrong
+with the plane. He found it increasingly difficult to manage the engine,
+and the machine began to give erratic jumps that alarmed Jack.
+
+Had it been possible to make himself heard above the clatter of the
+motor and the propeller, Jack would have been much inclined to shout
+out, and ask his more experienced comrade what had happened.
+
+Still he could give a shrewd guess. One of the bullets fired by the
+Teuton soldiers must have struck some part of the motor, and done enough
+damage to make its workings exceedingly erratic. If such were the case,
+would it be wise for them to try to push on at this high altitude, where
+a sudden collapse would mean death for both of the occupants of the
+disabled plane?
+
+Tom soon shut the motor off, and tilted the machine for a volplane down
+several thousand feet to a new level.
+
+Jack held his breath. This was partly because the wind rushed at him in
+a vicious fashion while they were plunging downward, and also on account
+of a new fear that clutched his heart.
+
+How about the wings of the airplane standing the strain when Tom
+suddenly brought that volplane to a stop and tried to sail on an even
+keel again? Would they hold out? Or had some defect occurred in them
+which could also be charged to the spattering bullets fired by the Metz
+mob?
+
+Then Jack breathed easier again.
+
+The thing had been accomplished, and they were once more speeding
+onward, as Tom touched the controls that started the motor working. All
+then was well, as far as they had gone. Apparently they could by
+successive stages descend close to the treetops, and skim along until
+some favorable open space showed, into which a skillful pilot would find
+it possible to drop lightly and land.
+
+A second volplane further added to Jack's peace of mind. They were now
+halfway down, and all seemed well. The earth loomed up below, although
+as yet it took on only a vague, misty effect, due to the weak moonlight.
+
+Jack busied himself in trying to make things out, as for the third time
+the nose of the heavy observation Caudron was suddenly pointed downward,
+and they took the next "header."
+
+This time Tom dropped a greater distance. When once more the loud hum of
+motor and propellers was heard they had almost reached the treetops.
+Jack gave one gulp, in fear lest his pilot could not make things work as
+he intended, and that they must crash to the earth while descending at
+such frightful speed.
+
+Now everything was all right. They could not be more than a thousand
+feet above the floor of the valley they were following in their homeward
+route. If anything happened surely Tom would find some way of making a
+landing, even if a clumsy one that would put their machine out of the
+running and leave them stranded on enemy soil.
+
+They continued to move along slowly, both looking eagerly to discover
+signs that would invite a possible landing. It looked as though they
+were in the country; at least they did not discover any signs of lights
+to indicate the presence of houses near by.
+
+Soon a landing proved feasible, as they came to just the kind of open
+plot the air service boys yearned to discover. To make absolutely
+certain before committing himself, Tom circled the ground twice, and
+even dropped lower and lower while so doing, all the while straining his
+vision to the utmost.
+
+Then the thing was done.
+
+That was far from a pleasant landing. It shook them up considerably; but
+Jack was of the opinion that no damage resulted to the airplane, which
+after all was just then the main consideration.
+
+Both of them leaped to the ground, after which Tom secured his electric
+hand-torch which he had found useful so many times while on the outward
+trip and he wished to consult the compass or the register of the
+barograph.
+
+"I guess there's some sort of a house near by," said Jack, "because a
+rooster crowed over yonder. Yes, I can see what looks like the line of a
+road, too. I suppose it runs the entire length of this valley."
+
+While Jack was saying this softly the pilot had started to take an
+inventory of the motor. His now practiced eye ran along this and that
+part, each of which was so essential to the smooth running of the
+engine. Tom too had already formed a pretty clear idea as to where he
+was likely to find the damage, and hence was able in a short time to
+give a satisfied grunt.
+
+"Located the trouble, have you, Tom?" queried the other.
+
+"Yes. It's right where I expected to find it. A bullet has made a dent
+that interferes with the free action of the part. Besides, I think that
+spark plug has become fouled with oil, and will have to be changed to
+get the best results."
+
+"How lucky you brought another with you! Lots of fellows wouldn't have
+bothered about such a little thing."
+
+"I had my suspicions about that when we started," explained the other,
+"even though the mechanician assured me it was perfectly clean. I know
+different now, and will certainly give him a piece of my mind when we
+get back."
+
+"Then you expect to get home safely, do you?" asked Jack, in a relieved
+tone, that proved how anxious he had been growing since troubles had so
+consecutively alighted on them.
+
+"Surely," chuckled the other, with his usual confidence in voice and
+manner, "a thing like this isn't going to stop our plans. Here in this
+retired spot nobody's apt to bother us while we make our repairs. You
+can hold this torch, Jack, and shove the light squarely on the work."
+
+Tom worked for some time. He tapped as gently as possible when knocking
+out the dent made by the bullet, and he gradually removed the cause of
+the trouble. He was just finishing with the spark-plug when the
+confidence of the air service boys received a sudden jolt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LONE HOUSE BY THE ROADSIDE
+
+
+"Listen, Tom!" hissed Jack.
+
+The other had just sighed with relief on completing the work of
+replacing the spark-plug that had become fouled with oil.
+
+"I, too, heard it plainly, Jack!" he breathed.
+
+"Was it someone screaming or sobbing?" asked the other breathlessly.
+
+"Sounded like it to me."
+
+"And either a woman or a girl, at that!" hazarded his chum in
+bewilderment.
+
+"It might have been a boy," suggested Tom. "There it is again."
+
+Both of them listened. Peculiar sensations crept over them as they stood
+and thus strained their ears to catch any further sounds. Sobbing at any
+time is enough to arouse the feelings of a sensitive nature; but heard
+in the dead of night, and under the conditions that surrounded the two
+young aviators, made it all the more thrilling.
+
+Jack in particular was touched to the heart.
+
+"Say, that's a queer thing, Tom!" he muttered. "Why should anybody be
+crying or screaming like that away off here, and at this time of night?"
+
+"Oh, there are many who are weeping in these dark days," said Tom
+gravely. "The men in myriads of families will never come home again.
+Perhaps a mother, or it may be a sister, has just had word that son,
+father, or brother has been shot down in battle."
+
+Jack shuddered. Why should his thoughts instantly fly to the Boche pilot
+whom they had met and fought and conquered while on the way to Metz on
+their present perilous mission? It had been a fair fight, and a case of
+their lives or his. Nevertheless Jack shuddered as he remembered how the
+other had gone down after that last exchange of gunfire.
+
+"Tom, notice that it comes from almost the identical direction where I
+told you I heard the crowing of a rooster a while ago," he hastened to
+say, more to rid his mind of those ghastly thoughts than anything else.
+
+What a strange fatality if this should be the home of the unfortunate
+Teuton pilot of that Fokker machine, and the one who mourned was his
+mother or a young sister, or perhaps his wife!
+
+"That means there's a house not far away, possibly an estate of some
+kind," mused Tom, as though turning over some sudden project in his
+mind.
+
+Jack guessed what his chum was thinking about.
+
+"Tom," he said softly, when for the third time they caught the
+heart-rending, half stifled sobs coming on the still night air.
+
+"What do you want now, Jack?"
+
+"I was just wondering whether you'd agree to something," continued the
+other, in a persuasive tone. "We're not in any _great_ hurry, are
+we?"
+
+"Well, no, perhaps not, Jack; though I'd like to deliver the paper into
+the hands of our commander as soon as possible. It is probably of the
+utmost importance, you know."
+
+"I can't help thinking how I'd feel, Tom, if my mother or sister were in
+some great trouble, and fellows who might be in a position to hold out a
+helping hand considered their own personal safety first."
+
+When Jack said this his voice was husky. Apparently the incident
+appealed strongly to his emotions. Jack had always been unusually
+thoughtful in regard to women of whatever age or degree, and would go
+far out of his way to do one a favor; so it was not strange that he
+should feel as he did at this time.
+
+Tom was in a mood to be easily persuaded. The plaintive sobs, telling of
+woe that clutched some one's heart-strings, stirred a responsive chord
+within him. He, too, remembered those at home. Jack had put a clincher
+on his argument when he asked what their opinion of a man would be who
+turned aside and went his own way after hearing a woman or a child
+crying bitterly.
+
+"All right, then, Jack; perhaps we can spare the time to take a turn
+around here, and see if we can be of any help," he announced, greatly to
+the satisfaction of his chum.
+
+"Perhaps some one has been hurt and needs assistance," suggested Jack.
+"It isn't going to delay us much, and may be of great help to them. Come
+on--let's be on the move."
+
+Tom was not quite so precipitate as his companion. Caution had a part in
+his make-up.
+
+"Don't try to rush things, Jack," he said. "I must take a last look over
+my work here, you know."
+
+"But you said everything was completed, Tom!" persisted the other.
+
+"So it is, but I ought to make doubly sure before we leave the plane,"
+Tom added, as he took the electric hand-torch from his companion and
+began systematically to look over the engine at which he had been
+working, carefully examining every detail.
+
+Jack said nothing further. He understood what his chum meant when he
+declared it important that they should know absolutely the motor was in
+prime condition for immediate service. Something might occur to
+necessitate a hurried departure from the vicinity; a detachment of the
+enemy forces might appear, or other perils hover over their heads that
+might be laughed at only if they could take to the air without
+detention.
+
+Tom was not long in doing as he desired. Meanwhile Jack could hear an
+occasional sob from the same quarter as before, and the sounds continued
+to exercise a peculiar influence over him which he could not have
+explained had he been asked.
+
+"I'm ready now, Jack!".
+
+"Glad to hear it," muttered the other, half under his breath; not that
+he meant to infer Tom had been unduly long, but because his feelings
+were wrought up to a high pitch that caused him to quiver all over.
+
+Tom evidently guessed this, judging from his next remark.
+
+"Cool down, Jack," he said, laying a hand on his companion's arm. "This
+will never do, you know. Getting excited is the worst thing an air pilot
+can do. It'll prove fatal to all your hopes, unless you manage to
+control your feelings better."
+
+"I guess you're right, Tom."
+
+"I don't think there's any chance the plane will be discovered here in
+the open field, even if there is a road so close by," mused the pilot,
+after they had gone perhaps as far as twenty-five yards.
+
+"Not in a thousand years," asserted Jack confidently, turning to look
+back as he spoke. "Why, even now I can't discover a sign of the wings,
+or anything else in the misty moonlight, it's so deceptive. Only that
+lone tree standing close to where we dropped tells me the location of
+our plane."
+
+"Yes, I marked that, too," asserted Tom quietly. "I thought we ought to
+have some sort of landmark to guide us if we should be in a hurry coming
+back. And the tree, standing up fairly high, can be seen ten times
+better than anything close to the earth."
+
+"Here's the road, Tom."
+
+"So it is, and an important one in the bargain, judging from its
+condition," remarked the other, softly.
+
+"It runs the length of the valley, of course," added Jack. "I shouldn't
+be surprised if it went all the way from Metz to the Verdun front. If
+that's the case it must have considerable travel, even if nothing has
+chanced to come along since we landed."
+
+"I can see signs to tell that we are close to some sort of country
+estate, or it may only be a Lorraine farm."
+
+"I can glimpse lights through the trees, and chances are they come from
+windows in the house beyond."
+
+"I see them too," affirmed Tom.
+
+"But say, isn't it pretty late for a farmhouse to be lighted up like
+that?"
+
+"Depend on it, there's some good reason for all that illumination," Jack
+was told. "And perhaps we'd better drop this talking so much, now we're
+getting close to the place. No telling what we'll find there. For all we
+know this may be some one's headquarters, though pretty far back of the
+line for that sort of thing. But I think it'll turn out to be something
+more than ordinary."
+
+It did.
+
+Jack began to weave all manner of fantastic explanations to account for
+the illumination of the house alongside the road to Metz.
+
+He felt he would not be very much astonished to discover a line of
+military cars standing at the gate, and find that an important council
+of war was being conducted within the building.
+
+Then he remembered the crying and sobbing. Somehow, that did not seem to
+fit in with his other imaginings. The touch of Tom's hand on his arm
+made Jack give a violent start.
+
+"Here's a high fence, you notice," Tom whispered. "Seeing that makes me
+believe it's going to turn out to be a country estate, and not just a
+farm. We ought to find a gate somewhere further along."
+
+"That crying has stopped, Tom."
+
+"For the time being, yes," admitted the other. "Perhaps she's only gone
+away from the open window. I was in hopes it would keep on, so we could
+be guided straight."
+
+Two minutes later, after walking alongside the high fence for some
+distance, they discovered the entrance to the place. Tom flashed his
+light on the ground.
+
+"Been considerable going in and coming out of vehicles, generally
+automobiles," he announced.
+
+"And private cars are almost taboo in all Germany these dark days, they
+tell us," mentioned Jack sagely. "That makes it look as if some sort of
+military business might be transacted in this isolated place. Gee! I
+tell you it's getting my curiosity whetted to a fine point, all this
+mystery. But we're going in, of course, Tom?"
+
+"Some way or other, Jack. If the entrance is closed and locked we can
+climb over the fence, all right. But no need of worrying about that,
+because I already see the gates are ajar. Come on."
+
+So they slipped into the enclosed grounds, actuated by an impulse,
+wholly unconscious of what might be awaiting them. They had been drawn
+into the adventure simply on account of a praiseworthy desire to be of
+service to some unknown one who seemed to be in trouble. And neither of
+the boys even vaguely suspected as yet what strange happenings would
+confront them before many minutes passed by.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+A NEST OF SPIES
+
+
+Neither of the air service boys had any doubts now with regard to the
+character of the grounds they were invading at dead of night. It must be
+a private estate. Once it may have been kept up through a lavish
+expenditure of money, but of late years things had evidently been
+allowed to grow more or less wild.
+
+Tom was following what appeared to be the drive. It was not difficult to
+do so, because of the moonlight that sifted down through the bare
+branches of the neighboring ornamental trees, now destitute of foliage.
+
+The house was presently discovered. Just as Tom anticipated, it was a
+rather large building, that might even be called a mansion, or chateau.
+It lay half buried amidst a prodigious growth of trees and bushes.
+
+Jack fancied there was a sort of haunted air about the place, something
+uncanny, as he told himself. And then those sobs or screams could not be
+forgotten.
+
+"Let's go around first, and see what lies in the rear," whispered Tom.
+
+He had an object in view when he said this. Having noted carefully their
+route in coming from the open field where they had left their big plane,
+Tom knew that the window from whence the sobbing had come must be either
+at the back of the house, or on the eastern side.
+
+He was heading in that quarter now, and looking for signs of a light in
+some upper window. This he discovered speedily, and pointed it out to
+his companion.
+
+"Whoever was crying, Jack, must be up there," he said, close to the
+other's ear so as to insure safety.
+
+"But how can we find out?" queried Jack. "If you say the word I'm
+willing to climb up, and learn what's wrong."
+
+"Not yet. We must take a turn around, and pick up more knowledge of this
+place, as well as the people who live in the house."
+
+"Then why not creep up and look in at that lower window?" suggested
+Jack, pointing as he spoke. "I've seen a shadow passing back and forth,
+as if some person were walking up and down like a caged tiger. It's a
+man, too, Tom, because I could easily make out his figure, a tall man to
+boot."
+
+Tom led the way, with Jack at his heels. They managed to crawl through
+the bushes that cluttered the ground close to the wall of the stone
+building, and were at length in a position to raise themselves from
+their knees and peep under the drawn shade.
+
+Jack was the first to look. Almost instantly he drew back with a low
+ejaculation of wonder. Tom, spurred on by this fact, also raised his
+head until his eyes were on a level with the small strip of open space
+just below the shade. He too had a thrill at what he saw.
+
+"I feel as if I must be dreaming!" whispered Jack huskily. "Tell me, is
+that man in there really Carl Potzfeldt, the good-for-nothing guardian
+of little Bessie Gleason?"
+
+"It's no other than our old acquaintance of the Atlantic liner,"
+admitted Tom, though he himself had some difficulty in believing the
+startling fact.
+
+This man, whom they felt sure was a German spy, had last been seen
+descending the gangway from the steamer at an English port, with Bessie
+Gleason, his pretty little ward, held by the hand, as though he feared
+she might try to run away from him.
+
+Many times had Jack tried to picture the conditions under which he might
+run across Carl Potzfeldt again; but no matter what line of flight his
+imagination took he certainly had never dreamed of such a thing as this.
+Here in the heart of Lorraine, many miles back of the German front, on a
+moonlight night, and in a lonely country house, he once more beheld the
+object of his former detestation.
+
+He clutched his chum by the arm almost fiercely.
+
+"Well, that settles it, Tom!" he muttered savagely.
+
+"Settles what?" whispered the other, for the window was closed, and
+there did not seem to be any chance of their low-voiced exchange of
+opinions being overheard.
+
+"I don't leave here until I've seen _her_. For if he's at this
+place it stands to reason Bessie must be here also. Tom, that was Bessie
+we heard sobbing, I just know it now."
+
+Tom had already jumped to the same conclusion. Nevertheless he did not
+mean to let it interfere with his customary caution. Nothing was to be
+gained through reckless and hurried action. They must go slowly and
+carefully. This house by the roadside on the way to Metz he concluded
+might be a nest of spies, perhaps the headquarters of a vast network of
+plotters.
+
+"Hark! There's a car coming along the road and stopping at the gates
+here!" he told his chum, as he drew Jack down beside him. "We must be
+more careful how we look in lighted windows. If any one chanced to be
+abroad in the grounds we'd be seen, and perhaps fired on."
+
+They crept from the vicinity of the window. Tom led the way toward the
+front of the house, as if he had an object in view. The car was now
+coming in along the crooked drive. They could see its one light, for
+economy in the use of all means for illumination was a cardinal feature
+of the German military orders in those days of scarcity.
+
+The car stopped in front of the house, and a man jumped out. Tom saw
+that he wore a uniform of some sort, and judged that he might be a
+captain, at least. There was a second figure on the front seat, also in
+the dark-green garb of a soldier, but a private possibly.
+
+The two young Americans crouched amidst the dense bushes and listened.
+So many thrilling things were happening in rapid succession that their
+pulses beat with unwonted speed.
+
+Before this the sound of the approaching car must have reached the ears
+of the man they had seen pacing the floor in the spacious room that
+looked like a library. There were many books in cases and on shelves,
+while pictures and boars' heads decorated the walls.
+
+Potzfeldt opened the door just as the officer alighted, and there was an
+exchange of stiff military salutations. Tom discovered that his guess
+was a true one, for the man of the house addressed the other as
+"Captain."
+
+It was too bad that they spoke in German as they stood by the open door.
+Jack for once bitterly regretted the fact that he had never taken up the
+study of that language when at school, as he might have done easily
+enough. It would have paid him handsomely just then, he believed.
+
+The two men talked rapidly. Apparently the officer was asking questions,
+and demanding something, for in another minute Carl Potzfeldt took an
+object out of a bill book and handed it to the other. As near as the
+watchers could make out this object was a slip of paper, very small, but
+handled as though it might be exceedingly precious.
+
+Jack had a sudden recollection of a correspondingly minute slip of paper
+which he and Tom had found hidden in that little receptacle attached to
+the leg of the homing pigeon the latter had shot.
+
+More talk followed between the two men. Presently the man turned and
+hastened inside again. He had left the door standing open, however, with
+the German officer waiting as if for something he had come after besides
+the scrap of paper.
+
+Jack knew now that the man in uniform was from the headquarters of the
+Crown Prince. That accounted for the numerous marks of car tires which
+Tom had discovered on the drive. This lonely house by the roadside on
+the way to Metz was a nest of spies. Perhaps Carl Potzfeldt might be the
+chief, through whom negotiations were conducted and lesser agents sent
+forth.
+
+Jack had got no further in his deduction when he saw the tall man
+returning. He carried a bundle that was wrapped in a cloth, and depended
+from his hand by means of a heavy cord, or some sort of handle.
+
+This he set down on the landing, while he passed further words with the
+captain; and now it was Potzfeldt who asked the questions, as though he
+wished to learn how things were going at the front.
+
+Between queries and guttural replies the hidden air service boys heard a
+series of sounds that gave them sudden light. Jack's hand pressed on
+Tom's arm, as though in this manner he wished to call the attention of
+the other to the noise.
+
+Many times both of them had listened to similar sounds while watching
+some pigeon on the barn roof dare a rival to combat, or when wooing his
+mate. And as they could easily trace this to the covered package which
+Carl Potzfeldt had just brought out of the house, the meaning was
+obvious.
+
+Of course there were pigeons in that cage, homing pigeons at that, like
+the one Tom had shot! Doubtless had that one escaped its tragic fate the
+message it carried would have been delivered to the owner of this lonely
+house, in turn to be handed over to one of the messengers from German
+headquarters.
+
+And now the German captain, stooping over, took possession of the cage
+containing at least two of the trained birds. They would be carried to
+some point from which, on another night, a daring Boche airman would
+attempt to take them far back of the French front, to hand over to the
+agent who was in communication with the master spy, Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+It was all very simple. Nevertheless it was also amazing to realize how
+by what might be called a freak of fate the air service boys had been
+enabled to discover these facts. But for the accident to the motor they
+would not have dreamed of making a landing short of the aviation field
+at Bar-le-Duc. Then, had they not caught that woeful sound of loud
+sobbing, the idea of looking around would never have occurred to them.
+
+The officer was now starting back to his car, which would carry him
+post-haste to German headquarters, where the fresh message in a cipher
+code from beyond the French lines might be translated, and the valuable
+information it possibly contained be taken advantage of.
+
+Presently the military chauffeur started to swing around a curve that
+would allow them to leave the grounds by the same gates through which
+they had entered. The car's course could be followed by the strong ray
+its one light threw ahead; and the boys were able to tell when it
+reached the road again.
+
+As they expected it returned the same way it had come, probably heading
+for the headquarters of the Crown Prince.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+JACK CLIMBS A WALL
+
+
+"What luck we're in to be here, Tom!" murmured Jack.
+
+Carl Potzfeldt had again entered the house and closed the door; and the
+air service boys could no longer hear the car speeding along the road.
+Jack was quivering all over with excitement. The events that had just
+come to their attention filled him with a sensation of wonder
+approaching awe.
+
+"It certainly is strange how we've stumbled on this nest of spies,"
+admitted Tom.
+
+"And the paper he gave the captain--it must have been a message in
+cipher that an incoming pigeon brought from back of our lines, eh, Tom?"
+
+"I guess it was, Jack. We could see it was only a small scrap of paper,
+thin paper at that; but both of them handled it as if it were pretty
+valuable."
+
+Jack was chuckling, such a queer proceeding that Tom could not help
+noticing it, and commenting on it.
+
+"What's struck you as funny now?" he asked, puzzled to account for this
+sudden freak on the part of his companion.
+
+"I was wondering," explained Jack, "whether that mightn't be the
+doctored message we believed our commander meant to send through some
+time or other with one of the pigeons we got that day we went hunting."
+
+"That's possible," Tom agreed, also amused at the thought. "But then,
+whether it is or not, it means nothing to us, you understand. We are
+here, and must decide on our movements. If that was a bogus message, and
+will coax the Germans to make an attack at a certain place where a trap
+has been laid, that's their lookout."
+
+"Somewhere about here must be the pigeon loft where those homing birds
+have been bred," suggested Jack, following up a train of thought.
+
+"Yes, it may be on the flat roof of the chateau, or in the barn at the
+rear," Tom admitted. "One thing is certain, they know only this place as
+home; and wherever they're set free their first instinct is to strike a
+bee-line for here. Some people are so foolish as to fancy homers can be
+sent anywhere; but that's silly. It's only home that they're able to
+head straight toward, even if hundreds of miles away."
+
+"Oh Tom! how about Bessie?" inquired Jack eagerly.
+
+His chum considered, while he rubbed his chin with thumb and finger in a
+thoughtful way he had when a little puzzled.
+
+"It might be done in a pinch," he finally muttered.
+
+"What, Tom?"
+
+"She's such a little mite that her weight wouldn't amount to much, if
+only she had the nerve to do it, Jack."
+
+"Do you mean that you'd be willing to carry Bessie off with us? To help
+her escape from her guardian? I'm sure he must be treating her badly, or
+else she wouldn't be sobbing her poor little heart out, as we heard
+her."
+
+"That would have to depend a whole lot on Bessie."
+
+"As far as that goes I know she's a gritty little person," Jack
+instantly remarked. "Many times she said to me she wished she were a boy
+so that she might also learn to fly and fight for France against the
+detested Kaiser. Why, she even told me she had gone up with an aviator
+who exhibited down at a Florida resort, one having a hydro-airplane in
+which he took people up. And Bessie declared she didn't have the least
+fear."
+
+"That sounds good to me, Jack."
+
+"Then let's get busy, and try to let her know we're here," continued
+Jack.
+
+"First of all, we'll get under the open window where she must have been
+standing at the time we heard her crying. I think I saw a movement up
+there while the two men were conversing on the porch. Perhaps Bessie was
+listening to what they said."
+
+Tom's words gave his chum a new thought.
+
+"Oh, it would certainly be just like Bessie to do it! She seemed to be
+full of clever ideas."
+
+Tom, being mystified by such words, he naturally sought further
+information.
+
+"What would she do?" he demanded.
+
+"Send me that mysterious message by the little hot-air balloon," Jack
+announced with a vein of pride in his voice, feeling delighted over
+having solved the puzzle that had baffled him for so long.
+
+"It hardly seems probable," Tom answered softly. "At the same time it
+isn't altogether impossible."
+
+"How far are we from the French front, do you think, Tom?" pursued his
+comrade, determined to sift the whole thing out.
+
+"Twenty miles or so, I should imagine."
+
+"That isn't very far. Once I caught just such a little balloon in a tree
+in our yard that had a tag on it, telling that it had been set free in a
+village that lay _seventy_ miles off. The wind had carried it along
+furiously, so that it covered all that distance before losing buoyancy,
+and coming down in the heavy night air."
+
+"Yes, I know of other circumstances where such balloons have traveled
+long distances before falling. Then again, Jack, this valley extends
+pretty much all the way to the Verdun front, and the current of air
+would carry a balloon along directly toward our home patch."
+
+"Oh, Bessie sent it, believe me!" asserted Jack again, more confidently
+than ever. "And she'll tell us so too, when she gets the chance."
+
+Thus whispering the air service boys arrived at that side of the house
+where the lighted window on the second floor seemed to indicate that the
+object of their present concern could be found.
+
+Tom examined the building as well as the limited amount of light
+allowed. He could easily see that any agile young fellow, himself or
+Jack for instance, might scale the wall, making use of some projections,
+and a cement flower trellis as well, in carrying out the project.
+
+"We might throw pebbles up, and bring her to the window," he suggested,
+though pretty confident at the time Jack would find fault with such an
+arrangement.
+
+"That wouldn't help her get down here to us, Tom," protested the other.
+"And that's what we're planning, you remember; for you said she could
+accompany us if she felt equal to it. I must go up myself and help
+Bessie get down. There's nothing else to do, Tom."
+
+It looked very much as though Jack was right. Tom admitted this to
+himself; at the same time he wished there were some other way by means
+of which the same end could be gained, or that he could undertake the
+thing, instead of his comrade.
+
+But to this Jack would never agree. Bessie was his own particular
+friend; and they had been most "chummy" while aboard the Atlantic liner
+crossing the submarine infested ocean. Then again that warning had been
+addressed to him, and not to both, showing that the writer had only been
+concerned about the danger he, Jack, was running, should his plane be
+tampered with by some emissary of Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+"All right then; you go, Jack! But be careful about your footing. If you
+fell it'd be a bad thing in many ways, for even if you escaped a broken
+neck or a fractured leg you'd arouse the house, and all sorts of trouble
+would drop down on us in a hurry."
+
+"Don't worry about me, Tom. I'll show you I'm as nimble as any monkey.
+Besides, that isn't much of a climb. Why, I could nearly do it with one
+arm tied fast."
+
+"Go to it!" Tom told him, settling back to watch the performance and
+give whispered advice if it seemed necessary.
+
+Jack waited no longer. He was wild to find himself once more face to
+face with the pretty young girl in whom he had taken such an interest.
+Her recent sobs and cries still haunted his heart, and he felt certain
+she must be in great sorrow over something.
+
+He commenced climbing. While his boast about being equal to any monkey
+that ever lived among the treetops may have been a bit of an
+exaggeration, all the same Jack was a very good athlete, and especially
+with regard to feats on the parallel bars or the ladders in a gymnasium.
+
+He made his way nimbly upward, with Tom's eyes following every movement.
+It seemed an easy task for the climber. Just what he would discover when
+he had gained the open window was another question.
+
+The light still remained, for which both boys felt glad. It afforded
+Jack a goal which he was striving to gain; and it told Tom further down
+that the inmate of the upper room was awake and still moving about,
+though her sobs had ceased.
+
+Once Tom fancied he heard something stirring back of the house. He hoped
+it might not prove to be a servant attached to the Potzfeldt place or an
+attendant who had charge of the pigeon loft.
+
+Jack was almost up now. He had only to cover another yard of space when
+he could look into the room of the lighted window. That was where fresh
+peril must lie, because his figure would be outlined in silhouette, and
+any one moving about the grounds might discover that uninvited guests
+had arrived.
+
+Tom wished he had told his chum to insist that the light be immediately
+extinguished, if, as they believed, it proved to be Bessie who occupied
+that room. He hoped his chum would think of it without being told.
+
+There! At last Jack had arrived, and without accident! Now he was
+cautiously thrusting his head up a little, to peer within.
+
+Tom held his breath. So much depended on what would follow Jack's
+betrayal of his presence.
+
+"Tell her to put out the light, first of all, Jack!" Tom gently called
+out, using both hands as a megaphone to carry the sounds.
+
+It seemed that he must have been heard, and his directions understood,
+for immediately there was another movement above, after which the
+illumination ceased, as though Bessie had blown out the lamp.
+
+Tom breathed easier, though he still continued to look, and wonder how
+his chum was going to get the girl safely down from her elevated
+apartment. Jack was not so fertile in expedients as his chum, and many
+times depended on Tom to suggest ways and means.
+
+While Tom was still waiting, and hoping for the best, he heard his
+comrade whisper down to him as he hung suspended, clutching the sill of
+the open window.
+
+"After all, you'll have to come up too, Tom," he was saying feverishly.
+"There are complications that'll need your judgment, knots to untangle
+that are beyond me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN THE OLD LORRAINE CHATEAU
+
+
+What Jack said in his cautious fashion puzzled Tom. For the life of him
+he could not understand what had arisen, calling for any unusual display
+of generalship. Surely Jack should have been equal to the task of
+getting Bessie down from the window, even if he had to make use of
+knotted bed-clothes in lieu of a rope.
+
+Still he had asked Tom to come up, and there was nothing to do but grant
+his request. "Complications," Jack said, had arisen. That was a
+suggestive word, and to Tom's mind seemed to hint at further mystery.
+
+Accordingly he proceeded to imitate the example of his comrade. Jack had
+shown the way, and all his chum had to do was to follow. As Tom was also
+an all-around athlete, accustomed to much climbing from small boyhood,
+after nuts and birds' nests and all such things as take lads into tall
+trees, he found but little trouble in making the ascent.
+
+When he drew himself alongside Jack, the other gave a sigh of relief.
+
+"Whee! I'm glad you've come, I tell you, Tom," he said. "It was getting
+too big a job for me to tackle."
+
+"What's happened, Jack?" asked the late arrival on the stone ledge under
+the window of the upper room.
+
+"First, here's Bessie, Tom," Jack went on. "She wants to shake hands
+with you. Since we parted, when the steamer was docked, the poor girl
+has been having all sorts of trouble; and she's glad as can be to see us
+both again; aren't you, Bessie?"
+
+Tom, feeling a small, trembling hand groping for his, immediately
+grasped it, and gave a squeeze that must have carried conviction to the
+heart of the girl.
+
+"Oh, I'm shivering like everything!" she murmured, adding quickly: "But
+not with fear. It's because my prayers have been answered, and help has
+come at last, when everything looked so awfully dark--and I'm so very,
+very hungry."
+
+"Hungry!" repeated Tom, starting, it seemed such a very strange word for
+the girl to use, even though they were in Germany, where all food he
+knew must be getting exceedingly scarce.
+
+"Yes, what do you think, that rotten bounder of a spy is half starving
+the poor girl! He ought to be tarred and feathered, that's what!"
+growled the indignant Jack.
+
+"Not so loud," warned Tom. "Some one may hear you, Jack. But tell me
+what you've learned."
+
+"Why, first of all, Tom, it was Bessie who wrote that warning message I
+had, and attached it to that little balloon, hoping the favorable breeze
+would carry it over the front to the French lines. So that mystery is
+explained. Then, Tom, there are _two_ we've got to take out of this
+place, instead of just one, as we thought."
+
+"I don't get you!" Tom ejaculated. "What do you mean by two?"
+
+"It's a story in itself, I guess," whispered Jack. "I don't wholly
+understand it myself. But it seems that Bessie's mother didn't drown
+after all when the _Lusitania_ went down, as Potzfeldt reported she
+did."
+
+"You surprise me, Jack! How could that be?" demanded the other youth,
+thrilled by the startling information.
+
+"Oh, that slick rascal managed it somehow," came the soft if indignant
+reply. "We'll learn more about it later on. He was picked up by a
+fishing boat. The lady was temporarily out of her mind, so he gave it
+out later that she had gone down. How he ever got her over here in
+Germany beats me. But he managed to do it it seems. And she's been kept
+a prisoner in this old chateau of his ever since!"
+
+"But what was his object?" asked the amazed Tom.
+
+"It had a heap to do with finances," Jack told him. "While he held a
+paper that gave him charge over her daughter over in America, and a part
+of the big Gleason fortune also, there were valuable papers he had been
+unable to get his greedy hands on. She absolutely refused to tell him
+where they were hidden. As a last resort what did the wretch do but go
+all the way back to America."
+
+"You mean to fetch his ward across with him, Jack?"
+
+"Yes, just to use Bessie as a lever to compel her mother to give up
+those valuable papers. I always said, you remember, Tom, that man was
+hugging some secret to his heart. And so he was."
+
+"He's been treating Bessie badly then, half starving her, I think you
+said?" continued Tom.
+
+"Just what he has, poor girl," growled his chum, savagely. "It's an
+awful thing to be hungry! I don't see how any one can stand it. But he
+hasn't broken the spirit of either of them yet, though Bessie's getting
+so weak she finds herself crying every now and then, just as we heard
+her. And it was that which brought us over to find out what it meant.
+But Tom, tell her we mean to stand by, and see that both her mother and
+herself are taken to a place of safety."
+
+This Tom readily did, though as yet he could hardly understand just how
+their promise could be fulfilled. One they might manage to take aloft
+with them, by crowding, but the Caudron was not capable of seating four;
+nor would it be safe to carry a couple of inexperienced passengers along
+with themselves.
+
+"But we're losing valuable time," he observed. "The sooner we get in
+touch with Mrs. Gleason the better. There's a whole lot to be done
+before we can say we're on the safe side of the fence."
+
+"Then first of all we'd better climb inside the room, hadn't we?"
+suggested Jack.
+
+In answer Tom proceeded to get one leg over the sill, and then pass his
+entire body across. Jack quickly followed. In the semi-darkness, for the
+moon gave a dim light, they clustered there, and continued to map out
+their immediate plans in whispers that could not have been heard a dozen
+feet distant.
+
+It appeared that Bessie knew where her mother was confined, though both
+doors were fastened on the outside to prevent their having
+communication. But the girl had found a way. Night after night she was
+accustomed to slipping from her window, when everything was quiet below
+and the lights all out, making her way along that narrow coping, or
+ledge, and tapping softly at the window of her mother's room.
+
+They would remain together until toward morning, when the girl made it a
+practice to return by the same perilous route.
+
+On this particular night it had seemed as though the lights below would
+never go out. Carl Potzfeldt, the master spy, expecting important news
+and a messenger from the headquarters of the Crown Prince, had been
+waiting up until long after midnight in order to fullfil the important
+duties entrusted to him.
+
+Jack suggested that he creep along that coping and inform the lady of
+the golden chance for escape that had arrived. But as she would hardly
+be able to return by the same way, it seemed as though some other scheme
+must be considered.
+
+Bessie herself had a brilliant thought bordering on an inspiration.
+
+"Listen, and I will tell you," she said at this juncture. "All the time
+I have been here my one thought has been of escape. I dreamed nothing
+else save getting my poor mother away from the clutches of that coward
+who had hypnotized her in the past, and made her believe he was a good
+man as well as her cousin from Alsace-Lorraine. And I know of a way it
+can be done."
+
+"Tell us your plan, please," begged Jack; though he would be sorry to
+learn that the honor of releasing Bessie's imprisoned mother was not to
+fall to his share in the undertaking.
+
+"There is another window. It opens upon a hallway; and I can get through
+it, because I've tried it more than once. But the proper time hadn't
+come, for how were we to flee from this awful country? Wait for me here,
+both of you. I shall be able to open her barred door, and then my own.
+And it is better that I carry her the good news than some one who would
+be a stranger to my mother, however much I have told her about you."
+
+Tom saw that her plan was the best, after all. He himself had been a
+little afraid that if Jack came tapping at the window of Mrs. Gleason's
+room she might take the alarm, thinking it but another twist to the
+odious schemes of Potzfeldt, and perhaps shrieking out in terror, which
+would cause an alarm, and ruin everything.
+
+Bessie climbed nimbly out of the window, showing how accustomed she was
+to such athletic exercises. Jack held on to her to the last, and his
+whispers were all of an entreating character, as he begged her to be
+very careful, and not slip in her excitement.
+
+Now she was gone, and the two air service boys, left by themselves in
+that room of the old Lorraine chateau, counted the seconds and the
+minutes until they should hear a gentle signal at the door, to signify
+that Bessie and her mother were there, about to enter.
+
+Jack walked softly up and down, like a velvet-footed tiger in its cage.
+He was so worked up by the excitement of the occasion that Tom did not
+have the heart to ask him to stop his movements, though he certainly
+would have done so had not the other been keeping on his tiptoes all the
+while.
+
+What a remarkable turn their venture into the country back of the
+enemy's lines had taken! And what astounding discoveries they had made
+in the bargain!
+
+Jack was getting more and more impatient. Several times did he pause at
+the door, to lay his ear close to the heavy panel, and listen. He
+wondered what could be keeping Bessie. Surely she had had ample time to
+open the door of her mother's room and explain everything to the lady.
+In his excitement he pictured all sorts of fresh trouble as having
+befallen the girl. What if by accident she had run across the master
+German spy in the corridor? But then, in such a case, Bessie surely
+would have screamed in order to warn her two friends that they were in
+danger of being discovered, should Potzfeldt and some of his assistants
+burst into the room.
+
+Of course Jack had magnified things wonderfully. Less than half the time
+had elapsed than he thought had passed when there came a soft scratching
+on the door to notify them Bessie was there. They next heard a slight
+creaking sound, and then the soft closing of the door.
+
+"Bessie, is it you?" asked the eager Jack, softly.
+
+A reply in the affirmative followed.
+
+"And here is mother with me," added the girl, a note of joy in her
+voice, even though she spoke in a whisper.
+
+So they came together. In the semi-darkness the boys could not see what
+Bessie's mother looked like. They did note, however, that she was small
+of stature; and this fact pleased Tom very much indeed. For already he
+had figured out just how the rescue must be carried out, since there
+seemed to be no other way.
+
+His plans would entail some sacrifice on Jack's part, and also more or
+less exposure to peril; but then Tom knew his chum too well to imagine
+he would hesitate even a moment when called upon to take this additional
+burden on his shoulders.
+
+Both of them squeezed the trembling hand of the woman, and as best they
+were able assured her that they meant to carry both Bessie and herself
+to a place of safety, provided they were courageous enough to trust
+themselves to the care of two air pilots.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+FACING MORE DIFFICULTIES
+
+
+"As for me," spoke up Bessie, immediately, just as Jack felt positive
+she would, "I'd like nothing better. I've been up once in a
+hydro-airplane, and would have gone many times if mother had allowed
+me."
+
+The lady did not seem to anticipate having a very delightful time of it,
+for Tom felt her shudder; but she was courageous, and evidently ready to
+attempt any hazard in order to gain her freedom.
+
+"If only there is some way to fasten me securely," she told them, "I am
+willing to do anything you say, my brave boys. So make your plans
+without regard to my feelings in the matter."
+
+Jack about this time evidently began to scent something with regard to
+Tom's intuitions; at least his word implied a growing skepticism
+concerning their ability to find room for two passengers aboard a plane
+intended only for a pilot and an observer, or a gunner.
+
+"Of course one could squeeze in alongside me, Tom," he mentioned
+hesitatingly; "but do you think it's wise to have anybody with you?
+Mightn't it interfere with the working of the controls, and add to the
+danger?"
+
+"It certainly would, Jack; and that's why I'm forced to call on you to
+make a sacrifice."
+
+"Go on and say what's on your mind, then," demanded Jack. "No matter
+what it's going to be, you'll find me ready and willing for anything."
+
+"You'll have to wait for the second trip," Tom announced.
+
+"All right, just as you say, Tom. When will that be, later on to-night?"
+
+"If it's possible to get back, yes," said the other.
+
+"But if you can't make it, then to-morrow night, Tom?"
+
+Jack was not overcome with fear, even though the prospect did appear
+anything but cheerful. Bessie listened to this low talk, and gave
+evidence of growing anxiety.
+
+"But why should this be necessary?" she put in at that juncture. "I can
+stay behind just as well as not. Then perhaps another night later on you
+could come again, and take me with you to the French lines, and safety."
+
+Jack sniffed in disdain.
+
+"Well, I guess not, Bessie!" he told her, almost sternly. "I'd just like
+to see myself sailing away, and leaving you here to stand the racket.
+No, both of you are going to accompany Tom. I can find a hiding place
+somewhere around; and besides, no one will suspect that an American
+flier is hanging out here. There's only one thing I hate like everything
+to think of."
+
+"And I can guess what that is," Tom said, quickly. "You dread to
+contemplate a long eatless day before you. That's the worst punishment
+anyone could hand out to you, Jack."
+
+"As far as that goes," interrupted Bessie; "I can tell Jack where the
+pantry window lies. As the catch is broken you can easily climb in
+through it later on to-night, and lay in a supply of food. There is
+always something there. Before that bad man shut me up he tried to
+starve me, and I stole food myself. Then he guessed what was happening,
+for he fastened my door, and only allowed me to walk in the grounds in
+company with a woman he has for a housekeeper."
+
+Thereupon Bessie gave Jack minute directions how to find the window
+leading into the storeroom. Thus armed the young aviator felt that he
+ought to be able to stand it, in case his comrade found it impracticable
+to return on the same night.
+
+"Since all that is fixed," remarked Tom, "it strikes me we had better
+get out of this place quickly. Can you lead us down by way of the
+stairs, Bessie?"
+
+"Oh, yes; for I know every foot of the way," she told him without
+hesitation. "You see, I expected that some time we would have to slip
+away by stealth; and so I made myself familiar with everything, even to
+the fastenings of the great front door, with its chain and catch."
+
+"Then we're in great luck," Jack observed, while Tom on his part went on
+to ask further.
+
+"All seems dark outside now, Bessie; would that indicate your jailer has
+gone to his bed? And do you happen to know where his apartment is? That
+might mean a whole lot to us, you understand."
+
+"I don't believe he ever does really go to bed," she replied. "Once I
+heard him complain that there were so many times during the night that
+messengers came from headquarters with demands, or after information
+expected from over the lines, that he had to secure his sleep while
+fully dressed, and by throwing himself down on a Turkish lounge he has
+in his room."
+
+"Well, so long as his sleep is sound it's little we care how or when he
+gets it," announced Jack, flippantly. "And when you give the word, Tom,
+we'll all be ready to follow Bessie down the stairs."
+
+Tom was even opening his mouth to say there was really nothing to detain
+them, if Bessie and her mother had secured what trifles they wished to
+take away, but after all he did not speak the words that were on his
+lips.
+
+Through the open window they suddenly heard the sound of heavy, guttural
+voices. They seemed to come from the road near the entrance gates.
+
+Tom stepped over to the window and looked out. What he saw gave him an
+unpleasant feeling. There were lights already on the crooked driveway,
+and a number of men seemed to be advancing in a group.
+
+Jack at his elbow was also staring, and grinding his teeth with anger.
+
+"Hang the luck, I say!" he gritted. "That fresh bunch of Boche officers
+is bound to knock our plans silly. They'll stir things up again, and we
+can't get away. Then perhaps some one will discover the doors of the two
+rooms are unfastened, and that'll start a hornet's nest about our ears."
+
+"Get down, and keep hidden, Jack," urged his companion. "They have
+lights with them, and might see us as they come along. There's a
+general, at least, in the lot, that big stout man in the center, and I
+imagine those other officers belong to his staff."
+
+"But what are they walking for?" whispered Jack, incredulously. "German
+officers in the High Command don't often tramp along the roads like
+that, do they?"
+
+"They may have broken down in their car; and learning they were close to
+this house have come on here to wait till repairs are made. Lots of them
+know Potzfeldt, I suppose, and one of these men may have been here
+before on business. The worst of it all is we'll have to give up our
+scheme of going down by way of the stairs."
+
+They crouched down and watched as best they could, while the half-dozen
+men in the gray-green uniforms of German officers, and with many
+decorations on the breast of the martial-looking commander, approached
+the chateau's front door.
+
+Already lights had sprung up on the lower floor. Undoubtedly Potzfeldt
+had heard his unexpected guests coming, and was bestirring himself to
+welcome them, though inwardly raving over having his rest so frequently
+disturbed.
+
+He met them at the door, and there ensued more or less talking, all of
+it in the choicest of German. Again Jack felt sorry that his education
+was so incomplete that he could only guess at what most of it meant.
+
+Still, Tom could pick up a little of what was said. There was certainly
+mention made of an unfortunate accident to a car, that would necessitate
+a delay of some hours for repairs, possibly until morning. The general
+did not altogether fancy sitting in the car for hours in the cool night
+air. Especially was this the case after he had learned that there was a
+house half a mile or so further on where food and drink could be
+obtained in plenty, if only they chose to walk that far.
+
+All of the newcomers had by now stalked inside the house, and the coast
+seemed to be clear, so far as those above could see. But down below
+there was much hurrying to and fro, which would indicate that Potzfeldt
+must have aroused his retainers, and they were running up and down from
+wine-cellar to dining-room, bearing acceptable refreshments for the
+unbidden guests.
+
+"Say, I wonder if that old stout chap could be Hindenburg himself?" Jack
+whispered in his chum's ear. "I noticed that Mr. Potzfeldt seemed mighty
+obsequious, as if he felt highly honored at having such a noble visitor,
+and nothing could be too good to set before him."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd hit the nail on the head when
+you said that, Jack," the other told him. "He was a big, burly man, with
+a mighty important air about him; and he wore a mustache such as we've
+always seen in pictures of Hindenburg. But no matter, it doesn't concern
+us at all, if we can find a way to get down from here."
+
+"Only," said Jack, whimsically, "I do hope if they've got their German
+appetites along, they don't clean out that pantry before I get my
+look-in, that's all. Twenty-four hours without a single bite would be
+the limit for me. I don't think I'd survive the ordeal. Now what, Tom?"
+
+Tom was looking out again.
+
+"That's lucky," Jack heard him mutter.
+
+"Of course it is. But tell me what you're referring to, Tom."
+
+"Some clouds have come along. One is right now covering the face of the
+moon, you notice. Well, if we are forced to lower Bessie and her mother
+from the window by means of a rope made from knotted bed-sheets, we
+stand a chance to avoid being discovered at work by any one who might
+happen to be abroad just then."
+
+Jack chuckled as though pleased.
+
+"Sure, that's the game, Tom! I knew you'd be equal to getting up some
+sort of clever scheme. And I'll start in right away making that rope. We
+want to be certain it's strong enough to bear their weight, that's all."
+
+"I'll help you at the job," Tom told him, for he too wished to be
+positive about the twisted parts of the sheets, before trusting the girl
+and her mother to their care.
+
+Fortunately they found that Carl Potzfeldt had some of the airs of a
+millionaire about him. The sheets were of stout linen, instead of the
+customary cotton to which the American boys were accustomed. When these
+were cut first with a sharp pocket-knife, and then torn into long strips
+about a foot or so in width, they could be twisted and knotted until the
+result was a novel rope of at least twenty feet in length.
+
+Neither Bessie nor her mother said a single word. They seemed more than
+willing to be thus lowered to the ground. Such a novel experience might
+not be delightful, but it amounted to very little when compared with
+what they had suffered at the hands of their rude and cruel captor.
+
+Soon the odd rope was ready for use.
+
+"Let me be the first to go down," Bessie then said to Tom, in an
+authoritative voice.
+
+As he had been about to propose the same thing he made not the least
+objection, but proceeded to secure one end of the strange rope around
+her body just below the arms, Bessie herself assisting in the operation.
+
+Before attempting the task, Tom stood at the window listening for some
+little time. He wished to make sure that none of the German officers had
+remained outside. Tom also meant to satisfy himself that there was no
+lurking form among the bushes on that side of the chateau, since the
+light streaming from the lower windows dissipated some of the advantages
+gained by the temporary clouding of the moon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+LEFT BEHIND IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY
+
+
+Tom appeared finally to be satisfied, for he turned around to Bessie.
+
+"Now if you're ready we'll lower you safely," he told her.
+
+The girl showed considerable nimbleness in climbing over the
+window-sill. Jack insisted in having a hand in dropping her slowly down.
+It was not far, and in a few breaths the girl had reached the solid,
+ground. She understood what was expected of her, and immediately cast
+off the rude rope, so it might be drawn up and made to serve once more.
+
+Mrs. Gleason showed just as much bravery as her daughter, and was also
+lowered without trouble.
+
+"You go down next, Tom," whispered Jack. "Then I'll draw it up, and can
+join you easily enough without the help of the rope. A white thing like
+this dangling here would be sure to attract attention, if any one came
+around the corner of the house, and might cost us dearly in the end."
+
+Tom understood. He preferred being the last to stay, but since Jack had
+taken that upon himself, and was moreover adept at scaling walls, it was
+folly to dispute his right.
+
+So down Tom went. He had hardly landed when the sheet-rope was swiftly
+drawn up, and vanished within the room. After that Jack was seen making
+his way down over the same route he had taken while ascending.
+
+Soon they were all together again, and their queer exit from the room
+seemed not to have been discovered, for which they felt very thankful
+indeed.
+
+Tom led the way into the friendly bushes close by. It was his intention
+to skirt the carriage-drive, as it might contain elements of danger for
+them. Once they had passed out on the main road to Metz, it would not
+take them long to reach the field where the big Caudron airplane lay
+like an exhausted and enormous bat, awaiting their coming to spring into
+activity.
+
+In passing along they were enabled to catch a glimpse of the interior of
+the dining-room where Carl Potzfeldt was entertaining his distinguished
+visitor to the best of his ability in those times when scarcity ruled.
+
+Tom managed to get a better look at the general. He was more than ever
+convinced that the big man with the strong features and all these
+decorations on his uniform, was in fact Hindenburg, the head of the
+whole German army, whose opinion carried even more weight with the
+people just then than that of Kaiser Wilhelm.
+
+It would be something worth while to be able to say they had been within
+a dozen feet of the famous commander, the Iron Man of Germany. Tom
+vaguely wished he had some means of capturing the general then and
+there, and carrying him over the lines to the French headquarters. That
+would indeed be a feat well worth praise from General Petain; but of
+course it was utterly impossible.
+
+They gained the gate, and there Tom insisted on looking carefully around
+so as to make doubly certain that no sentinel had been left on duty
+while General Hindenburg remained within the house.
+
+When this fact was made clear he led the way forth. The little party of
+four almost ran along the road, so eager were they to place as much
+ground as possible between themselves and the seat of danger.
+
+There was always a chance that the flight of Bessie and her mother might
+be discovered by some one connected with the household, and communicated
+to Potzfeldt. He, of course, would exhaust every means in trying to
+overtake the fugitives.
+
+But Tom chuckled while telling himself that they must needs have
+extraordinary and fleet steeds who could successfully pursue those who
+had trusted their safety to his care and that of the big Caudron
+airplane.
+
+Jack hardly knew where the field lay, having become "rattled," as he
+called it, from the adventures at the chateau. So after all it was
+fortunate that Tom had taken his bearings as well as he had. He knew
+just when to leave the road, and start across the open space. Then the
+lone tree began to loom up, for the moon had once more thrust her face
+from behind the enveloping cloud.
+
+"It's all right, Bessie," said Jack reassuringly. "Our plane lies close
+to the foot of that tree ahead there. If all goes well you'll be on your
+way before many minutes have passed."
+
+"Thanks to you, Jack," murmured the girl admiringly.
+
+"Shucks! that isn't a circumstance to what I'd be willing to do for you
+and your mother!" Jack boldly told her.
+
+"But all the same it is very brave of you, Jack, and I can never forget
+your kindness to us," she insisted. "I hope and pray that nothing
+terrible will happen to you while we're gone, and that I'll soon see you
+again."
+
+"I hope so too, Bessie," he chuckled, as if amused. "As to anything
+happening to me, I guess I know how to hide all right. The worst that
+can knock me is getting a little mite hungry, you know. If that big
+German general and his staff leave a bite in the pantry I'm going after
+it, believe me! Then I'll find a hole, and crawl in, somewhere close by
+here, so I can watch for Tom's return."
+
+Apparently Jack had mapped his whole programme out; and it seemed that
+an adequate supply of provisions occupied the most prominent place in
+them.
+
+They were now at the spot where the Caudron had been left. Tom's mind
+was eased of the secret fears he had entertained when he saw the machine
+was still where they had left it. So far as he could tell no one had
+been near to meddle with it.
+
+First of all Bessie and her mother must be fastened securely to the seat
+where Jack had sat on the trip to Metz. Tom, like a wise general, had
+provided himself with plenty of the strips of linen from the torn
+sheets. This he utilized in tying the passengers, so that there would
+not be the slightest chance of their falling out.
+
+Even if Mrs. Gleason should faint through terror on finding herself a
+mile up in the air, she could not fall out of the machine. But Tom
+entertained high hopes that both of his passengers were going to display
+extraordinary courage, and give him no cause at all for anxiety.
+
+Jack tried to assist in the operation, but his hands were trembling so
+with the excitement that Tom pushed him away.
+
+"Leave the job to me, Jack," he told the other. "Too many cooks spoil
+the broth, you know. I'll make everything secure, depend on it."
+
+"Of course I know you will, Tom," the other hastened to assure him.
+"Perhaps it is better only one handled the business. And Bessie--"
+
+"Yes, Jack," said the girl, slipping a hand out toward him, which Jack
+took in his, and pressed reassuringly.
+
+"Don't bother your head for a single minute about me, mind. I'll be all
+right, and perhaps able to join you again this very night. It's a great
+lark for me, and I wouldn't miss it for a heap. But oh, if only we could
+kidnap that big commander, and carry him over to have an interview with
+General Petain, how proud I'd be!"
+
+Tom smiled on realizing that the same idea had occurred to Jack that had
+flashed through his own mind.
+
+"Here, take my automatic, Jack," Tom said. "You may find occasion to use
+it before I come back."
+
+The other complied, and apparently he felt more confidence, once he knew
+he had in his possession the means for defending himself should any
+ordinary danger threaten. Tom was loath to depart, once he had
+everything arranged. The truth of the matter was he hated to leave his
+chum in the enemy country; it seemed as though he were deserting him.
+
+So he "fiddled" around, testing this wire guy, and using his electric
+hand torch to give him light, so he could once more run his eye over the
+motor on which he had been working.
+
+"Come, Tom, it's no use hanging around here a minute longer," Jack had
+finally to tell him. "Get aboard and I'll spin your wheel for you and
+give you a boost for a start. Then I'll drop out of sight, because some
+of them may run this way when they hear the clatter and guess the
+cause."
+
+Tom climbed to his seat and settled himself according to his customary
+thorough manner. He tried the controls, and was not satisfied until he
+had tested everything within reach.
+
+"Say when, Tom!" Jack remarked, having finally left Bessie's side and
+gone to the propellers of the big plane.
+
+Tom drew in a long breath. He knew he had a risky venture ahead, taking
+those two inexperienced passengers over the hostile lines, possibly
+amidst showers of exploding shrapnel shells. But it was not this that
+weighed so heavily on his spirits. He felt almost like a criminal at
+leaving Jack behind.
+
+"All right; let her go!" he announced grimly.
+
+There came a sudden whirring sound. Then the loud hum of the motors
+chimed in, and the big Caudron machine started off.
+
+"Good-bye, Tom! Good-bye, Bessie!" Jack was heard saying, although the
+noise of the plane almost drowned his voice.
+
+Faster they went now, as the machine gained momentum. Tom paid strict
+attention to his business of pilot. At just the proper time he must
+elevate the forward rudder which would cause the plane to leave the
+ground and start upward at a sharp angle.
+
+Jack stood gazing after the object that was quickly growing more and
+more indistinct in the dim moonlight, gazing with a strange heaviness in
+the region of his heart. He had to shut his teeth firmly together to
+conquer the momentary weakness that threatened to overpower him. But his
+resolution remained master of the field.
+
+"If only he gets them safely across," Jack muttered to himself, when he
+could no longer see the airplane, though its noisy working came plainly
+to his ears, "it'll be all right. But they've heard the racket over at
+the house, too, I guess, because men are shouting, and I can see lights
+flashing this way and that."
+
+When he discovered that men with lanterns were actually looking around
+as if to learn where the departing airplane could have been resting, and
+what it all meant, Jack concluded it was time to conceal himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+TROUBLOUS TIMES FOR JACK
+
+
+The men bearing the lanterns came closer, Jack saw, as he himself
+scurried amidst the bushes seeking a hiding-place.
+
+"Guess that Potzfeldt must know that planes can drop down on his big
+open field," the youth muttered to himself. Then as a new idea flashed
+through his brain he continued: "Whee! I warrant you now that ours
+wasn't the first airplane to land there. Sometimes maybe the spy he
+wants to send back of the French lines gets aboard right here, with his
+little cage of homers."
+
+Presently loud exclamations told that the men had discovered the marks
+of the arriving and departing Caudron machine. Jack could hear them
+exchanging remarks about it, in German of course. Then he saw one of the
+trio start back toward the house. He was half running, as though much
+excited. Jack jumped to a conclusion.
+
+"Say," he said to himself, in a whisper, as though even the sound of his
+own voice might be company for him, "now that must have been Carl
+Potzfeldt himself. What's he making for the house with a hop, skip and
+jump for? Perhaps one of his sharp-eyed men has told him there are marks
+of small shoes around; and old Carl got a sudden suspicion something
+tremendous has happened."
+
+The master-spy came back again. He was now accompanied by two others,
+and Jack saw by their uniforms that they were members of the general's
+staff.
+
+All were talking earnestly, Potzfeldt, Jack imagined, telling them some
+story concerning Bessie and her mother, in which he figured as a noble
+man, trying to save Mrs. Gleason from the wiles of some American fortune
+hunter, into whose hands he now feared she and her daughter had fallen.
+
+"My! but he's wild!" chuckled the hidden observer. "He realizes that the
+two American boys have been too much for his scheming after all. Guess
+he must have had a suspicion all along we'd break up his game. That'd
+account for his plotting with the other spy to have our planes meddled
+with, so we'd meet with some terrible accident that would remove us from
+his path."
+
+Jack was really enjoying himself. It did him good to hear Potzfeldt
+raging around, and spluttering as though his rage half choked him.
+
+What Bessie had said concerning the cruel treatment she had received at
+the hands of her mother's relative had fired Jack's blood. He detested a
+man who in order to accumulate money could treat a helpless woman and
+girl as Potzfeldt had those who were in his power.
+
+"I'd just like," he was telling himself as he listened, "to be one of
+three fellows who had that villain in their power, with a nice big
+kettle of hot tar handy, ditto three feather pillows. Oh, wouldn't we
+make him a queer bird, though! The extinct dodo'd have nothing on him,
+believe me! But it's fine to hear him raging around like that. I only
+wish Bessie could listen."
+
+After a time Potzfeldt and his men went away. They knew they could do
+nothing, as the big enemy plane had long since departed, and must by
+then be many miles on the return journey to the French lines.
+
+An hour went by and all seemed quiet in the region of the big house by
+the side of the road. Jack had not forgotten the promise made to
+himself. It might mean additional danger, to be sure; but when he
+thought of a long day ahead, in all probability, with an empty stomach
+constantly reproaching him, he felt equal to the task.
+
+He had no trouble in finding the entrance to the grounds. Everything
+seemed quiet, as though the general and his staff were endeavoring to
+get a little sleep before resuming their journey to the fighting front.
+
+Jack was soon under the window that had been described to him by Bessie.
+It gave light to the pantry during the daytime. Also he had been
+assured, the catch that secured it was broken, so that if he were bold
+enough he could easily gain entrance and take his pick of what the
+housekeeper had stored there.
+
+Such a nimble chap as Jack had no difficulty whatever in making an
+entrance. Finding himself within the big closet, he listened, and,
+hearing no sound, struck a match.
+
+By the light thus afforded he could see what lay within his reach. Trust
+one with an empty stomach for knowing what he wants under such
+conditions. Jack immediately commenced to gather together a supply of
+food of various kinds, such as could be eaten without need for a fire.
+
+Quantity rather than quality seemed to rule his actions. At any rate,
+when he gathered his spoils together he had quite enough to last an
+ordinary man several days.
+
+"Well," he told himself, when lifting the bundle he had made. "I may be
+marooned around here a long time, and never get another chance at this
+supply station. I believe in striking while the iron's hot. Now to get
+it outside without raising a crowd."
+
+It was indeed a lucky thing that there was no watch-dog at the Potzfeldt
+place. Undoubtedly this was because of the many visitors coming and
+going at all times, who might be bothered by a savage beast.
+
+Jack managed to get back safely to the nest where he had hidden at the
+time of the excitement, when Potzfeldt and his men were in the field. He
+gave a sigh of relief after it was all over.
+
+Soon the young aviator settled down to try to get some sleep, as some
+time still remained before dawn would break. He meant to be early astir.
+There was danger in the air, as he might be discovered unless he
+arranged for a better hiding place than the covert of bushes where he
+now lay.
+
+Whether his sleep was worth while, or rendered uneasy by dreams, Jack
+never told. He was awake though, when the sun peeped above the horizon,
+and began to bestir himself. Presently people would be moving about.
+Some of the men might even come out to the open field again, to look at
+the telltale marks. And if they chanced to suspect that one of the crew
+of the Caudron had been left behind, a hasty search was apt to reveal
+his presence.
+
+Accordingly Jack commenced to retire deeper into the wood, and managed
+by great care to cover his tracks fairly well in so doing. Finally he
+found a place that seemed to him about as good as anything he might
+expect to run across; and so he crawled into the bushes again.
+
+Then he had a most pleasing task to start upon, which was nothing more
+nor less than that of appeasing his appetite, never more voracious, he
+fancied, than just then. Without a twinge of conscience regarding the
+fact that it was stolen food he disposed of, Jack commenced his morning
+meal.
+
+"I'm only enjoying some of the good stuff that scoundrel deprived Bessie
+of," he told himself, with a grin of contentment, after he had eaten
+until he could not take another bite. "Besides, everything is fair in
+war-times. When you're raiding through the enemy's country it's supposed
+you'll live on the spoils around you. Well, I'm going to live, and Carl
+Potzfeldt is my enemy, all right. He's proved that in a dozen different
+ways."
+
+That idea set him to thinking about Bessie again, how she had taken such
+a queer way to try to warn him, after overhearing her guardian plotting
+with one of his men the injury to one or both of the young Americans.
+
+"Now I wonder," Jack mused, as he lay in perfect peace with the world,
+for he had eaten his fill, "how he knew we had joined the Lafayette
+Escadrille. But then those German spies learn a lot of things, and he
+may have been keeping tabs on Tom and me right along. Deep down in his
+heart he suspected we'd bother him, and so he wanted to get us before we
+had a chance to strike. Well, the shoe is on the other foot, it seems."
+
+The morning advanced. Fortunately it proved to be a fair day for so
+early in April. Had a storm arisen Jack might have found it hard to find
+shelter. As it was, all he had to do was to lie under the bushes and
+doze from time to time.
+
+Whenever he got to thinking of Tom a queer feeling came over him. It
+made him uneasy, though he could not explain why that should be so; and
+from time to time he took himself to task for being worried.
+
+"Of course Tom got back safe and sound," he would muse. "He's too clever
+a pilot to make a bad job of such a business. And yet, if he doesn't
+come to-night I'll be terribly anxious. Oh, forget all that! will you,
+Jack Parmly? Think of something pleasant now. For instance, that it's
+nearly high noon, and most folks lunch then."
+
+He had just calmed down again, when he had a sudden chill. Men were
+working in a field about three hundred yards away, for he could hear
+them calling to one another in German.
+
+Suddenly there came a series of snappy barks. Jack looking around was
+horrified to discover a small dog. It was a dachschund, long of body,
+and with crooked, bandy legs. It was standing before the hidden boy and
+evidently bent on telling everybody by his barks that some suspicious
+person was hiding in the bushes.
+
+It was a crisis that made Jack's blood run cold!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+BACK TO SAFETY--CONCLUSION
+
+
+Jack hardly knew what to do. He made threatening gestures at the dog,
+but they, of course, only added to the trouble, for the animal renewed
+his barking more briskly than ever.
+
+Then Jack had an inspiration, such as sometimes comes when all seems
+lost. If the dog continued his barking, sooner or later one of the men
+working in the field not far off would have his curiosity aroused, and
+come to ascertain what sort of wild animal the dog had treed.
+
+Jack unfastened his package of food. Since stern tactics had no effect
+he meant to try to make friends with the dachschund. Dogs are always
+more or less hungry, he argued; and this must be especially true at that
+time in every part of Germany, Alsace-Lorraine not excepted, since the
+pinch of two-and-a-half years of war had made terrible inroads on all
+kinds of food.
+
+Jack commenced to eat. The dog kept on barking, though not quite so
+savagely now. The smell of the food had reached him, and he would
+occasionally give a little imploring whine between his barks.
+
+So Jack spoke to him in a soft, wheedling tone. Then he held up a scrap
+of meat, and caught the eager attention of the little beast; after which
+he tossed it to him. It vanished like a flash. The dog even wagged his
+tail, as if to let the man know his animosity was quickly giving way to
+interest. Surely any one who had all that food along with him could not
+be a suspicious personage.
+
+The next scrap fell a little short, and the dog advanced to get it. So
+by degrees Jack tempted him, until in the end he was patting the squatty
+animal on the back, and still feeding him. They were now the best of
+friends. Kindness had accomplished what all the threatening gestures,
+supplemented with many sticks hurled at the beast, could never have
+brought about.
+
+Jack believed he had saved himself from discovery. He could easily
+understand what hardships must have awaited him had he ever fallen into
+the hands of Carl Potzfeldt.
+
+The afternoon went by very tediously. The dog came and went, staying for
+short periods with Jack. The vast store of food was a magnet that held
+the little beast fast. It had doubtless been a long time since he had
+had his full.
+
+By degrees the day waned, and evening came along.
+
+Jack never saw the sun set with less regret than he did on that
+occasion. Still he knew that long hours must pass before the moon would
+peep in view above the eastern horizon.
+
+As he sat, he allowed his thoughts to roam backward. Once more in
+imagination he could see his friends who were on the other side of the
+ocean. Then for a change he would take another "snack," as he called it,
+for lack of anything else to occupy his attention.
+
+Several times also he dozed, but always arousing with a start at some
+sound, under the impression that it might be Tom who had come, and, not
+finding him, gone away again.
+
+Finally he began to believe it must surely be past midnight; and the
+late moon would presently be making an appearance. On looking closely
+toward the east he became aware that the heavens were betraying such a
+fact, for a distinct silvery glow was beginning to appear, low down.
+
+Then came a streak of light. It was the moon. Slowly she mounted higher,
+as if more or less ashamed of the dilapidated appearance of her usually
+smiling face.
+
+Jack had earlier in the night changed his place of lodging. He again
+occupied his former quarters close to the spot where he and Tom had
+landed when they wished to overhaul the motor that was acting so badly.
+
+The minutes dragged.
+
+Then once more Jack bent his head, and put a hand up to his ear to
+listen. He laughed to himself with glee.
+
+"That's Tom coming!" he muttered joyously. "I knew Tom wouldn't fail me.
+All the same I'll be mighty glad when I'm aboard the plane and on the
+air route to Bar-le-Duc and my own cot."
+
+Louder grew the sounds. There could not be the slightest doubt about it
+now, Jack decided. A plane was coming at top speed, and keeping not a
+great distance above the treetops of the little valley in which the
+house of Carl Potzfeldt and the road to Metz lay.
+
+Louder grew the insistent drumming. Jack wondered whether some of those
+at the chateau might not also hear the racket, and, guessing what it
+would mean, hasten out to the field in time to give Tom and himself a
+volley of shots.
+
+Now the plane was coming, like a great condor of the Andes about to
+alight on a mountain peak. Jack gauged full well where it would land. He
+ran with all his might to be close to the spot. The less time wasted in
+getting him aboard the better for their safety, he believed, remembering
+what cause Carl Potzfeldt now had for being suspicious when a plane
+visited his meadow.
+
+Then the big Caudron ran along the ground and came to a full stop.
+
+"Jack!"
+
+"Yes, Tom, I'm here, and mighty glad to see you!" cried the lad who had
+counted the minutes until his brain seemed to reel with the strain.
+
+"Get aboard in a hurry, Jack. We've no time to waste here."
+
+"I know that even better than you do," returned the other.
+
+There was indeed need of haste. The air service boys could hear voices
+from where the chateau was located. Someone had heard the humming of the
+oncoming airplane. It was Potzfeldt himself, and now he and two of his
+men came hurrying out on the field, all armed with pistols.
+
+Jack only waited to give the propellers a whirl, and then, as the motor
+took up its work, he made a leap for his seat. Oh, how good it seemed to
+be once more in that airplane!
+
+"Stop! Stop!" roared a guttural voice in German. "Stop, or we fire!"
+
+Now the airplane was moving along the ground, bumping and rocking
+considerably. But Tom knew how to manage, and presently the plane
+commenced to soar slowly upward.
+
+Loud and angry voices announced the fact that Carl Potzfeldt had arrived
+close enough to get a view of the rising plane in the misty light of the
+moon.
+
+"Stop! I command you! Stop!" roared the German. And then came the crack!
+crack! crack! of firearms.
+
+The air service boys, because of the noise of the motor, did not hear
+the discharge of the pistols, but suddenly Jack heard the spatter of a
+bullet as it struck the machine close beside him. Then he ducked and
+made a motion to Tom to let his chum know that they were under fire.
+
+But the machine was gaining headway rapidly, and presently they were so
+high that those below could no longer reach them. Up and up they went
+until they were thousands of feet above the valley that had been the
+scene of this remarkable adventure.
+
+Tom headed back along the course he had just come. It was now easy to
+pick up one landmark after another, and in due course of time they
+passed over the lines once more. Of course, the sound of the plane's
+propellers was heard by the Germans, and some shrapnel was sent after
+them; but as Tom was careful to keep high in the air, this did not reach
+them, and soon they were out of the danger belt.
+
+Fifteen minutes later they made a landing, this time on the well
+remembered aviation field of Bar-le-Duc. Here there were attendants on
+hand ready to care for the machines.
+
+"Glad to see you got back," said one of the attendants, grinning. He
+knew that Tom had gone off on the second trip to bring Jack.
+
+The two air service boys found a car to take them to the villa. The long
+ride through the night air had made both of them very sleepy, and yet
+neither felt just then like retiring.
+
+"It's a lucky thing, Tom," said Jack, between yawns, "that I had this
+fur-lined pilot's coat along with me. Only for that I'd have been mighty
+cold out there in the open last night, with no chance for a fire."
+
+"Well, it's all past now, Jack. Tell me what happened to you during my
+absence."
+
+Jack, was nothing loath, and as quickly as possible gave his chum the
+particulars of how he had gone into hiding and almost been betrayed by
+the dog.
+
+Tom had already told Jack about what had become of Mrs. Gleason and
+Bessie. They had been taken to a house some miles back of the lines, and
+were to be made comfortable there for the night.
+
+"And early in the morning they are to start for Paris," Tom said with
+satisfaction. "I managed through our captain to get them passage aboard
+a train that is to take some wounded back to the base hospitals. Mrs.
+Gleason says she means to stay in Paris and help all she can as a Red
+Cross nurse, for she has had some experience in nursing."
+
+"That's fine!" was Jack's comment. And then for the time being he became
+somewhat silent.
+
+Tom could easily understand that his chum was cherishing a hope that
+some time or other when they were taking a vacation from their arduous
+duties while flying for France, the pair of them might visit the French
+metropolis, and if so they would certainly try to see Bessie and her
+mother again.
+
+"And I've got more news to tell," remarked Tom, when the pair were about
+to turn in for their much-needed sleep. "You'll remember about that
+message we found in the capsule on the leg of the homing pigeon. Well,
+one of the other pigeons we found was used to send a false message to
+the Germans, telling them that a certain part of the French line was
+very weak. A short while later the Germans made a furious attack on that
+part of the line, and, believe me, they caught it for fair--the plucky
+French soldiers, aided by the artillery, literally wiped up the ground
+with them."
+
+"That's great news!" cried Jack. "Then it paid to bring down that
+pigeon, didn't it?"
+
+"It sure did, Jack!"
+
+Two days later came a most important announcement, especially to the
+American airmen.
+
+"Things are coming our way at last," the valiant commander announced, as
+they crowded about him. "The papers this morning say that Uncle Sam has
+at last got his back up. Any day may now bring the glorious news from
+across the Atlantic, telling that the United States has taken the steps
+that will put her in this World War against the Central Powers. Then it
+will be all over but the shouting."
+
+"That's right!" cried Jack.
+
+"You just leave it to Uncle Sam to do it!" added Tom.
+
+Many more adventures were in store for the young aviators, and what some
+of them were will be related in the next volume of this series, to be
+entitled "Air Service Boys Over the Rhine; Or, Fighting Above the
+Clouds."
+
+And here for the present let us leave the air service boys and say
+good-bye.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE DICK HAMILTON SERIES
+
+BY HOWARD R. GARIS
+
+A NEW LINE OF CLEVER TALES FOR BOYS
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S FORTUNE
+  or The Stirring: Doings of a Millionaire's Son
+
+Dick, the son of a millionaire, has a fortune left to him by his
+mother. But before he can touch the bulk of this money it is stipulated
+in his mother's will that he must do certain things, in order to prove
+that he is worthy of possessing such a fortune. The doings of Dick and
+his chums make the liveliest kind of reading.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S CADET DAYS
+  or The Handicap of a Millionaire's Son
+
+The hero, a very rich young man, is sent to a military academy to make
+his way without the use of money. A fine picture of life at an
+up-to-date military academy is given, with target shooting, broad-sword
+exercise, trick riding, sham battles, and all. Dick proves himself a
+hero in the best sense of the word.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S STEAM YACHT
+  or A Young Millionaire and the Kidnappers
+
+A series of adventures while yachting in which our hero's wealth plays
+a part. Dick is marooned on an island, recovers his yacht and foils the
+kidnappers. The wrong young man is spirited away, Dick gives chase and
+there is a surprising rescue at sea.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S AIRSHIP
+  or A Young Millionaire in the Clouds
+
+This new book is just brimming over with hair-raising adventures of
+Dick Hamilton in his new airship.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S TOURING CAR
+  or A Young Millionaire's Race for Fortune
+
+A series of thrilling adventures. Dick and his friends see the country
+in a huge touring car. Their exciting trip across the country, how they
+saved a young man's fortune and other exciting incidents are very
+cleverly told.
+
+DICK HAMILTON'S FOOTBALL TEAM
+  or A Young Millionaire on the Gridiron
+
+A thrilling story of how Dick made a real football team for his
+school--the team that was laughed at by other military schools until
+Dick took charge.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY-SCOUTS BANNER SERIES
+
+By GEORGE A. WARREN
+
+Author of the "Revolutionary Series"
+
+The Boy Scouts movement has swept over our country like wildfire, and
+is endorsed by our greatest men and leading educators. No author is
+better qualified to write such a series as this than Professor Warren,
+who has watched the movement closely since its inception in England
+some years ago.
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS
+  or The Struggle for Leadership
+
+This initial volume tells how the news of the scout movement reached
+the boys and how they determined to act on it. They organized the Fox
+Patrol, and some rivals organized another patrol. More patrols were
+formed in neighboring towns and a prize was put up for the patrol
+scoring the most points in a many-sided contest.
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS ON A TOUR
+  or The Mystery of Rattlesnake Mountain
+
+This story begins with a mystery that is most unusual. There is a good
+deal of fun and adventure, camping, fishing, and swimming, and the
+young heroes more than once prove their worth.
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS AFLOAT
+  or The Secret of Cedar Island
+
+Here is another tale of life in the open, of jolly times on river and
+lake and around the camp fire, told by one who has camped out for many
+years.
+
+
+THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS SNOWBOUND
+  or A Tour on Skates and Iceboats
+
+The boys take a trip into the mountains, where they are caught in a big
+snowstorm and are snowbound. A series of stirring adventures which will
+hold the interest of every reader.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines, by
+Charles Amory Beach
+
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