A SURPRISE FOR JACK
THE two Air Service boys followed the enemy down with a risky nose-dive,
determined to make sure that he did not get away; and so were able to
see him strike amidst the upper branches of the trees with a horrible
crash. They themselves had a close call, and only for Tom's clever
handling of his machine might have shared the fate of their victim.
Marking the spot as best they could in the darkness of the night, the
boys again started upward, in the hope that there might still be other
work for them to do.
"Too late!" called out Jack. "The Boche has had a stomachful and is
beating it for home like all get-out. He's lost two planes and pilots,
which is a heap more'n he counted on giving up for the fun of bombing
our hangars. Shall we call it off and go in, Tom?"
Indeed, there was nothing else for them to do. The enemy had been forced
to run before he could have dropped more than half of his stock of
destructive bombs.
Back to the hut went the three boys. Harry was limping, a fact Tom
noticed for the first time.
"Look here, did you run up against a Boche bullet while you were chasing
around up there, Harry?" he asked solicitously.
"Not quite so bad as that, I'm glad to tell you," came the reply, as
Harry stooped to rub the calf of his left leg gently. "But something
struck me a nasty blow. Don't know exactly what it was, but I warrant
I'll have a nice black-and-blue mark to show for it. Felt mighty queer,
too, just as if you'd gone and slapped me with a lathe, flat-side out."
"I reckon," spoke up Jack, "it was a bullet striking the part of your
machine that you've got sheathed in steel. You must have been resting
your leg against it just where the Boche bullet struck."
"Now, strange to say, I hadn't thought of that explanation before, Jack.
But I wouldn't be surprised if you'd guessed the answer. But it stung
like everything for a while, and feels sore still."
"But for all that you've cause for being satisfied, Harry," Tom told
him.
"Considering what would have happened to me if I didn't have that
sheathing outside the frame of my plane, I guess I ought to be grateful.
Do you know only to-day I was figuring whether it paid for the extra
weight, and had nearly made up my mind to have it ripped off. Nothing
doing about that from this time on. Saved me a bad leg I tell you,
boys."
Arriving at the Y. M. C. A. shelter the boys halted at the door. It was
so cozy in there the boys could always find some good excuse for bending
their footsteps in that direction; and also loitering after they had
finished the business that took them to the hut. So no one was
surprised, or disappointed, to hear Jack call out:
"I think I upset my glass of lemonade in my hurry to clear out; and as
the thirst seems worse now than ever I reckon I'll have to indulge in
another of the same kind, if Miss Sallie has the fixings. Will you join
me, fellows?"
"Not me, for one, Jack," said Harry. "I got all of mine down without
spilling a drop. I'm not so keen as you about lemonade. But I'll go
along, because these rest places are the only homelike signs we run
across on the front these days."
Jack thereupon gave Tom a sly nudge in the ribs.
"I was right, it seems," he managed to whisper aside. "Keep your eye on
that blue-eyed Miss Sallie, and watch for any tell-tale signs in Harry's
face when he's chatting with her. But she's a mighty nice girl, all the
same, and I don't blame him. Comes of a fine family, too, I'm told."
Sallie, however, was only "conspicuous by her absence," as Jack put it.
In fact she had retired to seek rest, for another day's arduous work
came with the morning.
Tom, as did Jack, ordered another glass of lemonade, but drank only a
small portion.
"Somehow or other I seem to have lost my taste for the stuff," he
explained, when this fact was drawn to his attention by Jack; "or else
this girl hasn't learned the wrinkle of mixing a drink as well as Miss
Sallie has. But there's something bothering me, and I was just going to
ask Harry if he didn't want to take a run over to the field hospital
with me."
"What's that?" exclaimed the one mentioned. "You don't think any of
those Boche bombs could have fallen there, do you, Tom?"
Jack looked worried at these words.
"Well, it's to be hoped not," replied Tom. "But somehow lately the
fiends have taken a savage delight in bombing British hospitals and also
sinking their hospital ships when crossing the Channel, in spite of
their being marked and running with all lights on. As I said before, I'm
worried some. Will you go with me, Harry?"
"But we couldn't undertake the trip without special permission, don't
you know?" objected the other; though his manner told how gladly he
would accompany Tom if given half a chance.
"Oh, I've got my permit, which is good until one A. M. to-night,"
explained Tom. "And as you're still limping some I can manage that
you're allowed to keep me company; only you must make sure to let the
hospital surgeon take a look at that leg of yours while we're there, and
have it bound up. I must save my face, understand?"
Harry gave Tom an eloquent look.
"You are certainly the limit, Tom," he avowed. "But I've always heard
that a poor excuse was better than none at all. So, as you've got me
anxious about my sister, why, yes, I'll be glad to go along with you."
"How about you, Jack?" Tom queried, turning on the remaining member of
the trio.
"Thanking you all the same I believe I'll stay here for a while longer,
as two ought to be enough to see the job through. The raid was not in
that direction, so the hospital is safe. Jeanne will be asleep so we
can't see her, or else I would go. No, I'll stay here, and when I get
good and tired I'll drop over to quarters, and hit the hay for a sound
sleep."
"I reckon we can trust you. Especially," added Tom, with an eye on
Harry's face, "since Miss Sallie has disappeared for the night."
When he saw Harry turn red Tom felt satisfied that he and Jack had
indeed guessed the other's secret, though he said nothing to indicate
the fact.
Jack saw the two depart, and wandered here and there, chatting with some
of the boys, who evidently meant to hang around until the last minute
before closing time came.
He found himself yawning several times, and admitted that he would be
foolish to spend any more time in trying to keep awake, when even a
half-way decent bunk awaited his occupancy.
He had reached the door in the act of departing when he became aware of
the fact that there was an unusual bustle without. On looking to see
what it meant Jack found that a Red Cross ambulance had drawn up
alongside the dugout entrance. Some persons were issuing forth from the
interior of the motor vehicle.
Jack knew that these long distance ambulances, after taking a load of
badly injured fighting men all the way it might be to Paris, on the
return journey would often be loaded down with fresh surgical supplies.
Yes, and on several occasions he had even known them to bring new
nurses to the fighting front, to take the place of those who had been
injured or fallen sick.
As everything of that sort had a special interest for Jack, he watched
several trim figures emerge from the motor transport vehicle. All of a
sudden he gave a start, straightened himself up, looked eagerly again,
rubbing his eyes at the same time, and then with an exclamation hurried
forward.
A girl in khaki garments that told of the Y. M. C. A. worker had just
alighted. She was followed by an older woman, who seemed to be the last
of the quartette and who was evidently in charge of the detachment, for
Jack saw that the others deferred to her judgment.
In half a dozen strides he was over at the spot.
"Bessie!"
The girl with the rosy cheeks and bright eyes turned quickly on hearing
him call this name softly. A smile flashed over her face, and
instinctively her hand was extended cordially:
"Oh, Jack, how glad I am to see you!" she exclaimed.
Jack then greeted the older woman. After a few words Mrs. Gleason said:
"I hardly know what to do, as we ought to be at the field hospital, and
here the driver has dropped us, naturally from our costumes, before the
Y. M. C. A. hut. But of course you can advise me."
"Certainly I can," Jack hastened to say. "I'll see that he takes you on
as soon as he unloads some things I notice he has for the people here.
Yes, and for fear that you get lost I'll try to go along with you, for
there's the officer who can give me permission to leave quarters."
"Where are Tom and Harry?" asked Bessie, for she noticed that the nurses
who had also come in the ambulance were listening with smiles to this
conversation, and it embarrassed her.
"Over at the hospital. We'll possibly meet them there," replied Jack.
"But I'll tell you all about it while on the way, Bessie."