At once half a score of hands reached out to render aid to the stricken
airman, whose blood was staining the ground where he had fallen.
Tom, seeing that his fellow aviator was more desperately wounded than
the brave man had admitted, at once summoned stretcher-bearers, and he
was carried to the hospital. Then all anxiously awaited the report of
the surgeons, who quickly prepared to render aid to the fighter of the
air.
“How is he?” asked Jack, as he and Tom, lingering near the hospital, saw
one of the doctors emerge.
“He is doing very nicely,” was the answer, given in French, for the two
boys of the air spoke this language now with ease, if not always with
absolute correctness.
“Then he isn't badly hurt?” asked Jack.
“No. The wound in his chest was only a flesh one, but it bled
considerably. Two bullets from an aircraft machine gun struck ribs, and
glanced off from them, but tore the flesh badly. The bleeding was held
in check by the pressure DU Boise exerted on the wounds underneath
his jacket, but at last he grew faint from loss of blood, and then the
stream welled out. With rest and care he will be all right in a few
days.”
“How soon could we talk with him?” asked Tom.
“Talk with him?” asked the surgeon. “Is that necessary? He is doing very
well, and--”
“Tom means ask him some questions,” explained Jack. “You see, he started
to tell us about our chum, Harry Leroy, who was out scouting with him.
Harry was shot down, so Du Boise said, but he didn't get a chance to
give any particulars, and we thought--”
“It will be a day or so before he will be able to talk to you,” the
surgeon said. “He is very weak, and must not be disturbed.”
“Well, may we talk with him just as soon as possible?” eagerly asked
Jack. “We want to find out where it was that Harry went down in his
machine--out of control very likely--and if we get a chance--”
“We'd like to take it out on those that shot him down!” interrupted
Torn. “Du Boise must have noticed the machines that fought him and
Harry, and if we could get any idea of the Boches who were in them--”
“I see,” and the surgeon bowed and smiled approval of their idea. “You
want revenge. I hope you get it. As soon as we think he is able to
talk,” and he nodded in the direction of the hospital, “we will let you
see him. Good luck to you, and confusion to the Huns!”
“Gee, but this is tough luck!” murmured Tom, as he and his chum turned
away. “Just as we were getting ready to go back into the game, too! Had
it all fixed up for Harry to fly with us in a sort of a triangle scheme
to down the Boches, and they have to go and plump him off the map. Well,
it is tough!”
“Yes, sort of takes the fun out of the good news we heard a while ago,”
agreed Jack. “I mean about Pershing's boys getting over here to France.
I hope Harry's only wounded, instead of killed. But if the Huns have him
a prisoner--good-night!”
“There's only one consolation,” added Tom. “Their airmen are the best of
the lot Of course that isn't saying much, but they behave a little more
like human beings than the rest of the Boche gang; and if Harry has
fallen a prisoner to them he'll get a bit of decent treatment, anyhow.”
“That's so. We'll hope for that. And now let's go on with what we
started when we saw Du Boise coming back--let's see what chance we have
of being transferred to an All American escadrille.”
The boys started across the field again toward the headquarters, and,
nearing it, they saw, in a small motor car, a girl sitting beside the
military driver. She was a pretty girl, and it needed only one glance to
show that she was an American.
“Hello!” exclaimed Tom, with a low whistle. “Look who's here!”
“Do you know her?” asked Jack.
“No. Wish I did, though.”
Jack glanced quickly and curiously at his chum.
“Oh, you needn't think you're the only chap that has a drag with the
girls,” went on Tom. “Just because Bessie Gleason--”
“Cut it out!” exclaimed Jack. “Look, she acts as though she wanted to
speak to us.”
The military chauffeur had alighted from the machine and was talking
to one of the French aviation officers. Meanwhile the girl, left to
herself, was looking about the big aviation field, with a look of
wonder, mixed with alarm and nervousness. She caught sight of Tom and
Jack, and a smile came to her face, making her, as Tom said afterward,
the prettiest picture he had seen in a long while.
“You're Americans, aren't you?” began the girl, turning frankly to them.
“I know you are! And, oh, I'm in such trouble!”
Tom stepped ahead of Jack, who was taking off his cap and bowing.
“Let me have a show for my white alley,” Tom murmured to his chum.
“You've got one girl.”
“You win,” murmured Jack.
“Yes, we're from the United States,” said Tom. “But it's queer to see
a girl here--from America or anywhere else. How'd you get through the
lines, and what can we do for you?”
“I am looking for my brother,” was the answer. “I understood he was
stationed here, and I managed to get passes to come to see him, but it
wasn't easy work. I met this officer in his motor car, and he brought
me along the last stage of the journey. Can you tell me where my brother
is? His name is Harry Leroy.”
Torn said afterward that he felt as though he had gone into a spinning
nose dive with a Boche aviator on his tail, while Jack admitted that he
felt somewhat as he did the time his gasoline pipe was severed by a Hun
bullet when he was high in the air and several miles behind the enemy's
lines.
“Your--your brother!” Tom managed to mutter.
“Yes, Harry Leroy. He's from the United States, too. Perhaps you know
him, as I notice you are both aviators. He told me if I ever got to
France to come to see him, and he mentioned the names of two young
men--I have them here somewhere--”
She began to search in the depths of a little leather valise she
carried, and, at that moment, the military chauffeur who had brought her
to the aviation field turned to her, and spoke rapidly in French.
She understood the language, as did Tom and Jack, and at the first words
her face went white. For the chauffeur informed her that her brother,
Harry Leroy, whom she had come so far to see, was, even then, lying dead
or wounded within the German lines.
“Oh!” the girl murmured, her fare becoming whiter and more white.
“Oh--Harry!”
Then she would have fallen from the seat, only Tom leaped forward and
caught her in his arms.
And while efforts were being made to restore the girl to consciousness,
may I not take this opportunity of telling my new readers something of
the previous books of this series, so that they may read this one more
intelligently?
Torn Raymond and Jack Parmly, as related in the initial volume, “Air
Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette
Escadrille,” were Virginians. Soon after the great world conflict
started, they burned with a desire to fight on the side of freedom, and
it was as aviators that they desired to help.
Accordingly they went to an aviation school in Virginia, under the
auspices of the Government, and there learned the rudiments of flying.
Tom's father had invented an aeroplane stabilizer, but, as told in the
story, the plans and other papers had been stolen by a German spy.
Tom and his chum resolved to get possession of the documents, and they
kept up the search after they reached France and were made members
of the Lafayette Escadrille. It was in France that they met Adolph
Tuessing, the German spy.
The second volume, entitled “Air Service Boys Over the Enemy's Lines;
or The German Spy's Secret,” takes the two young men through further
adventures. They had become acquainted on the steamer with a girl named
Bessie Gleason and her mother. Carl Potzfeldt, a German sailing under
false colors, claimed to be a friend of Bessie and her mother, but Jack,
who was more than casually interested in the girl, was suspicious of
this man. And his suspicions proved correct, for Potzfeldt had planned a
daring trick.
After some strenuous happenings, in which the Air Service Boys assisted,
Bessie and her mother were rescued from the clutches of Potzfeldt,
and went to Paris, Mrs. Gleason engaging in Red Cross work, and Bessie
helping her as best she could.
Immediately preceding this present volume is the third, called “Air
Service Boys Over the Rhine; or Fighting Above the Clouds.”
By this time the United States had entered the great war on the side of
humanity and democracy.
Then the world was startled by the news that a great German cannon was
firing on Paris seventy miles away, and consternation reigned for a
time. Tom and Jack had a hand in silencing the great gun, for it was
they who discovered where it was hidden. Also in the third volume is
related how Tom's father, who had disappeared, was found again.
The boys passed through many startling experiences with their usual
bravery, so that, when the present story opens, they were taking a
much needed and well-earned rest. Mr. Raymond, having accomplished his
mission, had returned to the United States.
Then, as we have seen, came the news of the arrival of the first of
Pershing's forces, and with it came the sad message that Harry Leroy,
the chum of Torn and Jack, had fallen behind the German lines. And
whether he was alive now, though wounded, or was another victim of the
Hun machine guns, could not be told.
“Harry's sister couldn't have come at a worse time,” remarked Tom, as he
rejoined Jack, having carried the unconscious girl to the same hospital
where Du Boise lay wounded.
“I should say not!” agreed Jack. “Do you really suppose she's Harry's
sister?”
“I don't see Any reason to doubt it. She said so, didn't she?”
“Oh, yes, of course. I was just wondering. Say, it's going to be tough
when she wakes up and realizes what's happened.”
“You bet it is! This has been a tough day all around, and if it wasn't
for the good news that our boys are in France I'd feel pretty rocky. But
now we've got all the more incentive to get busy!” exclaimed Tom.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean get our machines in fighting trim. I'm going out and get a few
Germans to make up for what they did to Harry.”
“You're right! I'm with you! But what about what's her name--I mean
Harry's sister?”
“I didn't hear her name. Some of the Red Cross nurses are looking after
her. They promised to let me know when she came to. We can offer to help
her, I suppose, being, as you might say, neighbors.”
“Sure!” agreed Jack. “I'm with you. But let's go and--”
However they did not go at once, wherever it was that Jack was going to
propose, for, at that moment, one of the Red Cross nurses attached to
the aviation hospital came to the door and beckoned to the boys.
“Miss Leroy is conscious now,” was the message. “She wants to see you
two,” and the nurse smiled at them.
Tom and Jack found Miss Leroy, looking pale, but prettier than ever,
sitting up in a chair. She leaned forward eagerly as they entered, and,
holding out her hands, exclaimed:
“They tell me you are my brother's chums! Oh, can you not get me some
news of him? Can you not let him know that I have come so far to see
him? I am anxious! Oh, where is he?” and she looked from Tom to Jack,
and then to Tom again.