THE DESPERATE GAME OF TAG.
Riding on that motor truck over some of the very roads in that section
of France where hot battles had only recently been fought, that was
another new experience for the Boy Aviators. In many places the driver
of the van pointed out to them interesting features of the landscape,
relating to M. Le Grande the fierce struggle that had perhaps taken
place where that barbed wire entanglement was seen, and then showing
where innumerable little mounds of earth marked the last resting place
of those brave men who had laid down their lives for their country.
They overtook several vans containing wounded soldiers, who seemed very
cheerful, and were actually singing in chorus, as British Tommies have a
habit of doing. An ambulance squad was also encountered going to the
front for a fresh load, taking nurses and doctors wearing the Red Cross
on their sleeves to where they would find plenty of work.
Pudge took a great interest in the hospital corps.
"They're the real heroes and heroines of this war, as sure as anything,"
he remarked, sagely, as he waved his hand toward the party, and received
an answering signal from one of the buxom looking English lassies.
There were times when for a short distance they had the road apparently
to themselves. Then again it would be crowded with all manner of
vehicles, and marching troops heading toward the front, returning
wounded, and artillery being dragged laboriously along, either with
sturdy horses or powerful traction engines.
The boys were feeling fairly decent, for the sun had a little warmth in
it, and there was even a hint of coming Spring in the breath of the
lowlands.
Without the slightest warning there came a terrible crash that seemed to
make the earth tremble. Pudge came within an ace of tumbling off the
crowded van, and was only saved by Billy clutching hold of him.
"Oh! a German shell must have burst!" shrilled the excited Billy.
"But we are too far away from the fighting line for that," said Frank.
A passing shadow made him look hastily upward. As he did so a cry of
wonder and dismay burst from his lips, which of course caused everyone
to follow his example, even to the chauffeur of the war van.
"An aëroplane!" shouted Pudge.
"Yes, and a German Taube at that, don't you see?" cried Billy.
"That must have been a bomb thrown at us, and there over on the right is
where it made a gap in the field," said Frank.
The chauffeur looked somewhat alarmed. He even increased the speed of
the big van, though it was too cumbersome a vehicle to move at all
swiftly, its main hold being vast power and carrying ability.
The aëroplane was at some distance above them, and moving in a circle
like a great hawk which it so much resembled.
"Frank, he's turning to come up behind us again, don't you see?"
exclaimed Pudge, gripping the arm of the one to whom this remark was
addressed.
"Sure thing," added Billy, trying to look calm, though he was trembling
all over with the nervous strain and the excitement of the thing; "he's
meaning to try again and see if this time he can't make a better crack
at us, I suspect."
"But why pick out this van when there are lots of the same type moving
along the road, going and coming, that's what I'd like to know?" begged
the bewildered Pudge.
"Huh! guess you forget what we're carrying with us, don't you, Pudge?"
demanded Billy, with a sense of importance in his voice and manner.
"The _Sea Eagle_ plane!" burst out the fat chum.
"Haven't the Germans been trying right along to either get possession of
our sample machine, or failing that smash it into splinters, so the
Allies can't profit by the same?" asked Billy.
"Yes, yes, it must be as you say, Billy," admitted Pudge; "but see
there, he's swept around now, and seems to be lowering with that big
circle. Frank, will he get us yet, do you think?"
"Not if we are smarter than he is," replied the other, as with wrinkled
brow he watched the evolutions of the daring flier.
"They learned that we'd met with that accident," Billy went on to say
hurriedly, "and as soon as they could get one of their fliers busy it
was started out to look for the van carrying our seaplane. That chap up
there alongside the pilot has glasses, and spied us out easy enough."
"There, he's heading after us again, Frank!" shrilled Pudge, shivering
as he stared, although it must have been only with a great effort that
the fat boy was able to twist around as he did; "what can we do to upset
his calculations?"
"If one of those terrible bombs ever hits us, good-night!" muttered
Billy, as he too kept tabs of the now approaching Taube.
Frank was saying something to the chauffeur, evidently making certain
arrangements with him so that when he touched the man's arm he would
suddenly shut off power, and bring the van to a full stop.
They could easily see the two who were in the Taube, the pilot paying
attention to his part of the business, while his companion leaned
eagerly forward, intently watching so as to hurl the bomb at the right
second.
Frank judged rightly that the man would make allowances for the speed of
the motor van along the road, when he sent the explosive. That was where
their real chance to outwit the enemy lay.
Keenly he watched this second man, forgetting about the pilot, who
really had little to do with the hurling of the bomb.
"There, he's raising his hand, Frank!" cried Pudge.
"And I can see what he's gripping, too!" added Billy vociferously.
"Keep still!" ordered Frank, who did not wish them to be making any sort
of racket while the crisis was so close at hand, since it might
interfere with what he meant to do, and that was of vital importance to
them all.
Frank could judge for himself about when the man was apt to throw his
deadly missile. Their own speed was only a certain per cent slower than
that of the hostile aëroplane above.
Just when he discerned a movement of the man's whole body and knew he
was in the act of speeding the explosive, Frank gripped the arm of the
waiting chauffeur.
Instantly the expectant driver shut off all power and applied the brake.
It was just as though he had suddenly found himself about to plunge
through the open draw of a bridge into a deep river.
Even as the big clumsy van came to a halt in the road there was a
fearful crash not thirty feet ahead of them, accompanied by a puff of
smoke.
The boys had dropped back as flat as they could at Frank's suggestion,
and fortunately no one seemed to have been injured by the flying
missiles and stones.
Immediately the chauffeur once more started forward, though of course he
had to drive carefully.
"Oh! see the fierce hole it dug in the road-bed!" burst forth Billy, and
they all stared hard at this positive evidence of the dreadful result of
the explosion.
By judicious care the chauffeur managed to get around the obstruction
without having one of his wheels sink into the gap. Of course the first
squad of men passing along that way would fill in the hole; but the boys
were certainly not bothering their heads over that at present.
They could see that the two daring aviators who seemed so bent on
accomplishing the utter annihilation of the wonderful American
invention, were not disheartened so far by their several failures.
"They don't mean to give it up at that, Frank, believe me!" said Billy.
"Oh! they're a stubborn lot, those Germans," admitted Pudge, "and never
know when to stop, once they've set their minds on a thing."
"Third time may be the charm, you know," croaked Billy, hoarse from the
excitement under which he was undoubtedly laboring for all he appeared
so cool. "Don't I wish I had my trusty gun along right now. Mebbe I
wouldn't make those chaps sit up and take notice, and quit their
fooling."
"They're dropping still lower, Frank!" said Pudge.
"I see they are," answered the other, soberly.
"Here's a stick that might look like a gun from up above," said the
artful Billy; "I'm going to lie down and keep waving it like I was
taking aim. It can't do any harm that I see, and may make them keep off
some, hey, Frank?"
"Do as you please, Billy," he was told.
Truth to tell Frank was hard put to it just then to know what their plan
of campaign ought to be. The next time the Germans hurled one of their
bombs the man in the speeding Taube would be apt to discount that sudden
stoppage of the van, and try to drop his explosive so that it might
strike them as their momentum ceased.
"Slow up somewhat," he told the chauffeur. "And this time when I grip
your arm put on every ounce of speed you can give. We'll change our
tactics."
"Bully for you, Frank; a change of base is always a good thing!" said
Billy, already lying down and starting to move his pretended gun around.
Once again the aëroplane was directly behind them. It was evidently a
part of the scheme of their foes to follow after them, trying to keep in
the same general course, so that the man who hurled the bomb would only
have to consider the proper second to let it go.
They had also come down still lower, so that every movement could be
seen distinctly.
Undoubtedly none of those boys would ever forget the grim appearance of
those airmen bending forward to peer down at the fleeting motor truck on
that road in Northern France. There was a peculiar grimness connected
with their looks, togged out as they were in their customary air
cruising clothes, and with goggles shielding their eyes that gave them a
strange look.
Once again did Frank decide properly when the man was in the act of
hurling the bomb. His fingers closed upon the arm of the van driver, who
immediately started the cumbersome vehicle to moving forward as fast as
the engine was capable of sending it.
A third crash made the air quiver, and brought out a shout from the
irrepressible Billy.
"Too slow that time, Hans!" he whooped, as he continued to wave his
make-believe gun; "knocked another hole in the poor old road, that's
what. At that rate they'll have it all torn up between here and
Dunkirk."
"Will they give it up now, do you think, Frank?" wheezed Pudge, who had
made it a point to actually hold his breath on each occasion just as
though that was going to be of any benefit to him.
"Don't flatter yourself that way, Pudge," Billy hastened to say, taking
it upon himself to answer; "they'll never quit as long as there's a
single shot in the locker, believe me. We've just got to keep on dodging
the same the best we know how."
"Next time they may come so low down that they just can't miss,"
complained the fat chum, disconsolately.
"Huh! don't you believe that, because they might have seen me taking aim
with my gun here, and airmen don't like to be peppered at close range.
Chances are they'll swoop down and let fly, but no hovering over us for
them."
Frank was busy trying to figure out what would be the next move on the
part of those grim pursuers, who seemed so determined to accomplish the
utter destruction of the wonderful seaplane that placed in the hands of
the French was bound to be of material advantage to the cause they had
at heart.
In doing this Frank tried to put himself in the place of the other. He
figured out just what sort of a feint he would make in order to draw the
fire of the van driver. Whether the vehicle stopped, or shot forward, he
could then change his pace, and hurl the bomb.
So Frank again gave his instructions to the chauffeur.
"This time I think he'll just pretend to throw, so as to make us show
our hand," was what he said. "Then when he believes he sees our
intentions he'll let it go. So first make out to stop; but when you feel
me grip your arm a _second_ time, speed up for all you're worth.
Understand all that, do you?"
The man said he did. Monsieur Le Grande too, openly declared he believed
Frank had solved the intentions of the man above, basing his opinion on
what he himself would have done under similar conditions.
"There they come!" announced the watchful Billy.
Pudge grunted, and tried to squeeze himself into as small a compass as
possible. He evidently feared that he filled entirely too much space
when deadly missiles were flying around in every direction, and that if
anyone were injured it was bound to fall to him.
Billy and M'sieu watched the approach of the hostile aëroplane. It
chased steadily after them keeping along the road which unfortunately at
this point happened to be very straight, whereas more curves and bends
would have been to the advantage of those who were being bombarded from
the skies.
All this was very thrilling, but none of the three Aëroplane Boys
fancied the strange experience. They realized that should they care to
abandon the van they would not receive any injury; for the Germans were
undoubtedly only trying to destroy the seaplane.
Nevertheless even Pudge would hardly have voted to forsake the _Sea
Eagle_ at this stage of the game. They had a certain affection for the
big air traveler; and besides, their duty to the Company demanded that
they stick to their task, which was to get the plane back into its
hangar safe and sound, if such a thing were at all possible.
As the Taube came rapidly upon them they watched eagerly to see what
would happen. Again the man who did the throwing of the bombs was seen
to partly raise his arm, showing that he had another of those explosives
ready for hurling.
Just at the critical second, as it seemed, Frank gave the chauffeur the
signal to stop short. He already saw that the man above had made a swift
motion with his upraised arm. It was very familiar as a trick to the
American boys; how often had they seen the first baseman of the opposing
team make the same feint when all the while he was holding the ball
concealed, hoping to catch the runner off his base.
When however he saw the bomb-thrower make a duplicate movement he knew
that this time it was coming.
So the second grip on the chauffeur's arm told him to instantly start
forward again at full speed. So sudden was the change made that the van
gave a furious spurt such as would have possibly thrown the boys out
only that they had prepared themselves against it.
For the third time Frank had hoodwinked the Germans in the Taube. This
bomb also fell back of them quite as much as fifty feet. It struck on
one side of the roadbed, but might have done more or less injury to the
machinery of the big van, and compelled a stop that must have spelled
new trouble for the boys, caused to abandon their charge because of the
recklessness of staying further.
"Oh! I hope that exhausts all their ammunition," was the prayer poor
Pudge was heard to utter, when this last stunning report announced that
once more they had escaped by a close shave from a terrible fate.
"Don't hug that fond delusion to your heart, Pudge," Billy told him,
jeeringly; "they'd be more apt to start out with fifty such bombs along
than just three or four. I'm hoping we'll come up on some marching
regiment of British going to the front, or even a field battery that
could make the old Taube climb up half a mile or so in the air. We
wouldn't need to worry then, because they never could hit such a tiny
mark away down here."
Frank was thinking somewhat on similar lines. So long as there was
nothing to prevent the Germans from making those swift swoops down
toward them the peril must continue to hang heavy over their devoted
heads.
He realized that it was always possible for the aviators to come so
close to them that there would not be one chance in ten of a miss being
made. Perhaps after all it might be fear of the gun which Billy was
making out to wave that would save them in the end. Frank had on more
than one occasion in the past known even smaller things than that to
accomplish important feats.
If the danger continued he was inclined to exercise his authority and
compel his chums to dismount so as to fall behind. In that way they
would be out of the danger zone, while he stayed aboard with the
chauffeur to try and baffle the plans of the enemy above.
And now once more the peril hovered over them. How Billy yearned to have
a gun in his hands, and with what joy would he have started using it, in
the hope of at least causing the Germans to climb to safer heights?
Frank had altered his plan of campaign again. He intended to keep them
guessing as long as possible. This time he arranged with the chauffeur
to start the car speeding, and then at the second signal to suddenly
apply the brake and bring it to a standstill.
When the man above saw them starting off wildly he evidently judged that
was meant to be their game, and so he sent the small but terrible bomb
through space.
Frank knew when it left his hand, and at that same second he gripped the
chauffeur, so that the car was instantly brought under control. The bomb
struck ahead of them, alongside the road, and tore another hole in the
ground.
Billy gave a shout as though in that way he might get rid of some of the
pent-up emotion that was well nigh choking him.
"Never touched us!" he called out exultantly. "Better go back home and
take a few more lessons. American boys are too swift for you fellows!"
"Don't crow too soon, Billy," advised Frank, who although naturally
relieved for the moment, knew only too well that this new check would be
apt to urge the determined Taube men to further exertions.
He himself was casting an anxious look along the road ahead, for Frank
knew full well that their best chance for escaping the net that was
being laid for their feet lay in the coming of friends who carried arms
that must make the aviators give the hunt over as wasted time.
As before the birdmen made a circuit. They undoubtedly intended coming
back again to try once more to drop a missile on the elusive van, and
accomplish the mission on which they had been sent out.
Frank hardly knew what system of tactics to employ this time. He had
tried them all, and would have to repeat. The best part of it was that
the man above could not read his mind, and therefore would not be able
to gauge his scheme in time to reap any benefit from it.
Then again it was likely that occasionally one of the bombs might be
badly aimed, and fall over in the adjoining field. Frank was far from
ready to give up. He would keep everlastingly at it, as long as the van
driver could get his machine to obey his will, and there was a solitary
chance for them to escape the destructive effects of those numerous
explosions.
"This time I'll call in your ear what I want you to do," was what Frank
told the pilot at the wheel. "But no matter whether it's stop short, or
rush ahead, do it as quick as a flash. Be ready now, for they're almost
up to the throwing point."
As the birdmen were going the same way as the van it was necessary that
they get almost overhead before undertaking to make a throw. The missile
would then be given a forward movement calculated to cause it to reach a
certain point aimed at.
Frank had practiced this same thing himself many a time, first from a
moving railway train, and latterly from a swiftly driven aëroplane. Thus
he was in a position to know something about it.
Billy continued to make the best use he could of his mock gun. He
labored under the fond delusion that he was thus doing his part in
keeping the fliers at a respectable distance, which amounted to
something after all.
As for Pudge, he could only lie there on his face unable to look up--it
was so terrible to see that man-made bird in the air above them, just
for all the world like a hawk he had watched hovering over the water ere
making a swift descent and plucking a fish out of the lake with its
talons.
While he lay there on his stomach waiting in dread Pudge felt the car
give several erratic movements. He could not at first decide whether it
was stopping or making a sudden dash, but he did hear the crash
announcing the next explosion.
Realizing that he was still in the land of the living, and as far as he
could tell unharmed, Pudge raised his head and twisted his fat neck
around.
He saw the Taube machine speeding on ahead; the van was apparently
unharmed by the last shot, for it too continued along its way with a
merry chug-chug-chug that sounded as sweet as any music he had ever
heard in the ear of Pudge Perkins.
"What happened, Frank?" he asked eagerly.
"A number of things," he was told; "first we dodged him, and coaxed a
throw. Then in his haste he made a bad shot and wasted another of his
precious bombs, for it only tore a wound in the pasture land back there
a bit."
"That makes four times he's whacked away at us, don't you know, Frank!"
exclaimed Pudge, as though he considered each separate escape little
short of a miracle.
"It's the last time in the bargain," announced Billy, "because there
comes a troop of mounted soldiers around the bend over yonder, and
you'll hear the crack of guns if you listen a bit. There! what did I
tell you? See how they start right away to try and get the Germans in
the Taube. The Britishers know that make of aëroplane as far as they can
see it. A Taube and a German are one and the same thing with them."
"Whee! I warrant you the lead is singing around their ears like a swarm
of angry wasps right now," ventured Pudge, now condescending to actually
sit up again, for it began to appear that their peril was a thing of the
past.
"Well, I don't really know that I want to see those daring fellows come
down in a rush," admitted Frank, whose sportsmanlike spirit could find
much to admire in a foeman, as well as in a friend.
"They're ascending in spirals now," remarked Billy, "and edging away at
the same time. Guess they've had all they wanted of the game, and for
the time we're safe from interference. Go it you terriers, or English
bulldogs, rather; keep them up so high that they'll see the folly of
trying to hit so small an object as our van here."
Acting on Frank's suggestion the chauffeur had come to a dead halt with
his machine. If they kept on and lost the support of the soldiers on the
road the crafty birdmen might again chase after them, to renew the
unequal contest by hovering above and bombarding them with those
dangerous missiles until one finally struck.
Presently, having mounted to a height where they need not fear the
bullets from the guns of the British soldiers the airmen once more
circled around and a bomb was dropped.
It exploded not fifty feet away from where the loaded van stood. There
was somewhat of a scattering on the part of the soldiers. No one looked
anything but annoyed because of this happening; but this sprang wholly
from the fact that they could do so little against the aërial enemy.
Just then, however, Billy cried out that "as sure as two and two make
four" he had discovered help in the offing. Some floating objects in the
air increased rapidly in size, and quickly took on the attributes of
other aëroplanes.
"Oh! more Taubes coming!" shrieked Pudge as he glimpsed the several dots
that were heading their way.
M'sieu therefore proceeded to enlighten them as to the last difference
between the machines used almost universally by the Allies and those
which the Germans believed answered their demands best of all.
"They are the Allies!" he told Frank, with ill concealed satisfaction;
and after that even Pudge could sit contentedly and watch how quickly
the Germans started full tilt toward their own lines.
The two fresh arrivals pursued the other craft in hot haste, and there
could be heard faint reports from up aloft as though they were trying to
wing the fugitive Taube. When last seen pursuers and pursued were still
making fast time toward the north.
Of course Frank begged the chauffeur to put on all possible speed so as
to get as near Dunkirk as he could before any further trouble might
arise to endanger the safety of the precious seaplane.
Whether the audacious air-pilots in the Taube really escaped or were
brought down by their swift pursuers the aëroplane boys never knew. They
felt it quite satisfactory to know that apparently their route to the
French town on the water was again free from waylaying trouble. Besides,
Frank was of the opinion that they had left the bad part of their
journey behind them. He was assured of this fact by M'sieu, the French
pilot who had been in their company through the whole of this
adventurous day.