Nellie Leroy rose from, the chair where she had been sitting, and stood
before the little party of her friends, gathered in the little Paris
apartment where Bessie Gleason and her mother made their home when they
were not actively engaged in Red Cross work. The sister of the captive
airman had a quiet but very determined air about her.
“That is what I am going to do,” she said, as no one at first answered
what had been a dramatic outbreak. “Perhaps you will tell me best how to
go about it,” and she turned to Tom and Jack. “You know something of the
German lines, and where I can best go to give myself up.”
“Why--why, you can't go at all!” burst out Tom.
“I can't go?”
“No, of course not. You mean all right, Nellie,” went on the young man,
“but it simply can't be done. To give yourself up to the Germans would
mean for yourself not only--Oh, it couldn't be done!” as he thought of
the cruelty of the Huns, not only to the soldiers of the Allied armies
but to helpless women and children. “You couldn't give yourself up to
those brutes!' he cried.
“To save my brother I could,” said Nellie simply. “I would do anything
for him!”
“I know you would,” murmured Bessie.
“But it would just be throwing yourself away!” exclaimed Jack, coming
to the help of his chum, who was gazing helplessly at him in this
new crisis. “Tell her, Mrs. Gleason,” he went on, “that it is utterly
impossible, even if the army authorities would let her. Even if she
should give herself up to the Germans, they wouldn't keep any agreement
they made to exchange her brother. They'd simply keep both of them.”
“Yes, I think they would,” said Mrs. Gleason. “It is out of the
question, my dear,” and gently she laid her hand on the girl's shoulder.
“That is very fine and noble of you, but it would be wrong, for it
would not save your brother, and you would certainly be made a prisoner
yourself. And of the horrors of the German prison--at least some where
the infantrymen have been kept, I dare not tell you. I imagine it must
be better where the airmen are captured,” she went on, for she feared
that if she painted too black a picture of what Harry might suffer his
sister would not be held back by anything, and might sacrifice herself
uselessly.
“But what am I do?” asked Nellie, helplessly. “I want Harry so much! We
all want him! Oh, isn't there something? Can't you save him?” and she
held out her hands appealingly to Torn and Jack.
There was a moment of silence, and then Tom burst out with:
“Well, I may as well speak now as later, and I'll tell you what I've
made up my mind to do. Yes, it's a new plan I've worked out,” he went
on, as Jack looked at him curiously. “I haven't told even you, old man,
as it wasn't quite ready yet. But it's a scheme that may succeed, now
that we know definitely where Harry is, from what the German patrol
said. He isn't so far away as when we dropped the packages in the prison
camp, though we don't yet know that he was there at the time we did our
stunt. However, if this new plan succeeds we may have a chance to find
out.”
“How?” asked Nellie, eagerly.
“By talking to Harry himself.”
“How are you going to do that?” demanded Bessie.
“What kind of game have you been cooking up behind my back?” asked Jack.
“As desperate as the other, I guess you'll call it,” answered Tom. “But
something has to be done.”
“Yes, something has to be done,” agreed Jack. “Now what is it?”
Tom arose and went to the door. He opened it, looked carefully up and
down the hall, evidently to make sure no one was listening, and then
came back to join the circle of his friends.
“I'm going to speak of something that very few know, as yet,” he said,
“and I don't want to take any chances of its getting out. There may
be German spies in Paris, though I guess by this time they're few and
scattering.
“I'm not going to tell you how I know,” he said, “but I do know that
soon there is to take place a big battle--that is, it will be big
for the American forces that are to have part in it. There has been a
conference among the Allied commanders, and it has been decided that
it's time to teach the Germans a lesson. They've been despising the
American troops, as they despised General French's 'contemptible little
army,' and General Pershing is going to show Fritz that we have a
soldier or two that can fight.”
“You mean there's to be a big offensive?” asked Jack.
“No, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a general engagement like that.
It's to be kept within the limits, of the sector where the United States
troops are at present,” said Tom. “That is where you and I are located,
Jack, and that, as you know, is almost opposite the prison where Harry
and the others are confined.”
“I begin to see what you are driving at!” cried Nellie, her eyes
shining. “But are you sure of this?”
“Yes,” went on Jack, “how did you bear of this when it's supposed to be
such a secret?”
“It came to me by accident,” said Torn, “and I wouldn't speak of it to
any one but you. Soon, however, it will be more or less public on our
side, as it will have to be when we start to get ready. But it's to
be kept a secret from Fritz as long as possible. It's to be a surprise
attack, and if it doesn't develop into a big battle it won't be the
fault of Uncle Sam's boys.”
“Will the air service have any part in it?” asked Jack eagerly, as if
fearing he might be left out.
“I don't see how they can get along without us,” said Tom. “Not that
we're the whole works, but it is well established now that an army can't
fight without the use of aeroplanes, to tell not only what the other
side is doing, but also how our own guns are shooting. Oh, we'll be in
it all right!”
“When?” asked Jack.
“That I can't say,” replied his chum. “But now to get down to the thing
that concerns us, or rather, Harry. I have a scheme--and you can call it
wild if you like--that when the battle is going on, you and I, Jack, and
some other airmen if we can induce them to do it, and I think we can,
may be able to drop bombs near the prison camp. We'll have to judge our
distances pretty carefully, or we'll do more harm than good. Then, if
all goes well, and we can blow down some of the camp walls or fences,
and if the battle favors our side, we can make a descent on enemy
territory and rescue Harry and any others that are with him. What do you
think of that plan?”
“It's wonderful!” exclaimed Nellie, glaring at Tom with a strange, new
light in her eyes.
“It's very daring,” said Bessie, more calmly.
“It's crazy!” burst out Jack
“I thought you'd say that,” commented Tom calmly, “and I'd have been
disappointed if you hadn't. And just because it is crazy it may succeed.
But it's the only thing I can think of. Daring will get you further in
this war then anything else. You've got to take big chances anyhow, and
the bigger the better, I say.”
“I'm with you there all right,” agreed Jack. “But to land in hostile
territory--it hasn't been done ten times since the war began, and have
the aviator live to get away with it!”
“I know it,” said Tom, quietly. “But this may be the eleventh successful
time. Now that's my plan for rescuing Harry Leroy. If any of you have a
better one let's hear it.”
No one answered, and finally Nellie spoke.
“No,” she said, with a shake of her head, “it's very fine and noble
of you boys, but I can't allow it. If you wouldn't let me give myself
up--exchange myself for Harry, I can't let you give your lives for him
this way. It wouldn't be fair. It would be depriving the Allies of two
valuable fighters, to possibly get back one, and the possibility is so
slim that--well, it's suicidal!” she exclaimed.
“Not so much so as you think,” said Tom. “I've got it all figured out
as far as possible. And as for landing in hostile territory, if all goes
well, and the big battle progresses as Pershing and his aides think it
will, maybe we won't have to land in hostile territory at all. We may
drive the Germans back, and then the prison will be within our lines.”
“That's so!” cried Jack. “I didn't think of feat. Tom, old man, maybe
your scheme isn't as crazy as I thought! Anyhow, I'm in it with you. The
only thing is--will this big battle take place?”
“'It will unless the Germans decide to surrender between now and the day
set,” Tom answered grimly, “and I hardly believe they'll do that. It's a
going to be some fight!”
“Glad of it!” cried Jack. “Now we've got something to live for!” As
if he and Tom did not risk their lives every day to make life in the
civilized world something worth living for.
“Well, we must be getting back!” exclaimed Tom, as he looked at his
watch. “All leaves will be stopped in a few days--just before we start
preparations for the big battle. If we can we'll see you once more
before then.”
“And afterward?” inquired Nellie, softly and pleadingly.
“Yes, and afterward, too!” exclaimed Tom. “And we'll bring Harry back
with us. Now good-bye!”
It was a more solemn farewell than the friends had taken in some time,
for all felt the impending events, and Tom and Jack talked but little
during the return trip from Paris to their headquarters.
What Tom had said about the big battle was strictly true. It had been
decided in high quarters that it was time the newly arrived American
soldiers showed what they could do. That they could fight fiercely and
well was not a question, it was only a matter of getting them
familiar with the different conditions to be met with on the European
battlefields, against a ruthless foe.
Tom and Jack had a chance for one more hasty, flying visit to Paris, and
then all leave was withdrawn, and there began in and about the American
camp such a period of tense and intensive work as bore out what Tom had
said. The big battle was impending.
Great stores were accumulated of rations and munitions. Great guns were
brought up into position and skillfully camouflaged. Machine guns in
great numbers were prepared and a number of aeroplanes were brought from
other sectors and made ready for the flying fight.
“How are your plans coming on?” asked Jack of Tom, at the close of a day
when it seemed that every one's nerves were on edge from the strain of
preparing.
“All right,” was the answer. “I've spoken to a number of the boys, and
they're with me. You know we're pretty much 'on our own,' when we're
flying, and I think that we can drop the bombs and make a descent long
enough to pick up Harry and other refugees if we break open the prison.”
“But suppose we land, stall the engines and the Germans surround us?”
“That mustn't happen,” said Tom. “We won't stall the engines for one
thing. We'll just have to drop down, and taxi around as well as we can
until we pick up Harry, or until he sees us. The machines will carry
three as well as two, and even if we have, by some mischance to go up
in singles, they'll carry double. But I figured on your being with me.
Harry knows enough of the game to be on the lookout when he hears the
bombs drop and sees the planes hovering over him, and he'll tip off the
others to be ready for a rescue.
“Of course I don't say we can get 'em all, and maybe something will
happen that we can't get Harry away. But I think we'll teach Fritz a
lesson, and I think we can break up the prison camp so some of the poor
fellows can get away. As I said, it's a desperate chance, but one we've
got to take.”
“And I'm with you!” exclaimed Jack. “And now when does the big battle
take place?”
He was answered a moment later, for an orderly arrived with instructions
to the air service boys to report at their hangars at once.
There they were told something of the impending attack--the first public
mention of it, though more than one had guessed something unusual was in
the air from the tenseness of the last few days.
The attack was to start at dawn the next morning, preceded by an intense
artillery fire. It was to be the fiercest rain of shells since the
Americans had come to the front lines. Then the infantry, supported by
tanks and aeroplanes, would follow, going over in waves which it was
hoped would overwhelm the Germans.
That night was a tense one. Suppose the enemy had guessed, or a spy had
given word of the impending battle? Then success would be jeopardized.
But the night passed with only the usual exchange of shots and the
sending up of star shells over No Man's Land.
And so, as the hour of dawn approached, the tense and nervous feeling
grew. Tom and Jack, with their comrades in their hangars, were dressed
in their fur garments and ready. Their machines had received the last
touches from the hands of the mechanics, and each one was well equipped
with bombs and machine gun ammunition. Tom and Jack were to be allowed
to go up together in a big double bombing plane.
The night passed. The hour approached. Anxious eyes watched the hands of
watches slowly revolve.
Then suddenly, as if the very earth had been blasted away from beneath
them, the batteries of big guns belched forth fire, smoke and shell.
The great battle was on!