THE FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE
"Suppose so?" questioned Fritz as Jimmie made his announcement that the
Germans were shooting at the persons in the aeroplane.
"Well, suppose so!" repeated Jimmie indignantly. "Why do you say
'Suppose so'? Where do you get that idea?"
A shrug of the shoulders was the only answer.
"I say," continued Jimmie with still less patience, "what's the big
idea--'suppose so'? Do you want them to shoot those boys?"
"I care not," was the answer. "The ones in the aeroplane are trying to
escape are they not? Why, then, should they not come back?"
"Well, why shouldn't they get away?" questioned Jimmie.
"Perhaps they have information for your friends, the Russians!"
"Oh, you give me a fine large pain!" stormed the now thoroughly aroused
lad. "Every time you see a shadow, you jump on it for a spy. Is your
old information so precious that nobody must know it? What makes you
so suspicious of everybody and everything?"
"It is not right that the enemy should have knowledge of the movements
of the Imperial army," replied Fritz. "That is all."
"And that's quite enough to make me feel that I'd like to be a spy once
just for pure spite!" declared Jimmie. "You and your spy business make
me tired! We Boy Scouts don't care a rap about your old information!"
"Perhaps," was the smiling response. But Jimmie saw in the smile and
the single word a doubt of his statement. He was furious.
He realized, however, that he could gain nothing by a loss of temper.
It was with a great effort that he controlled his temper and forced
himself to watch the flight of the aeroplane. Deep in his heart the
boy was hoping ardently for the success of those in the machine, for he
was now fully convinced that it was Ned and his comrades who had
attempted the flight. He watched every movement with great interest.
When he saw the figure of his friend hanging to the truss rod beneath
the Eagle, Jimmie's heart almost stopped beating, so great was his
anxiety for the other's safety. As the sound of the rifle shots
reached his ears the lad turned away his head, for he did not in the
least doubt that the marksmen had been successful.
When he again looked toward the speeding plane he danced with joy, for
he saw the figure still clinging to its perilous position and knew that
by great good fortune the chum he loved so dearly was unharmed.
Both Jimmie and Fritz gazed eagerly toward the soaring plane, and
observed with great interest the movements incident to Jack's rescue.
"Ha!" ejaculated Fritz, drawing a deep breath, as the two saw that Jack
had regained the deck of the Eagle. "He's a plucky boy!"
"You bet he's a plucky boy!" replied Jimmie, condescending to
administer a friendly slap upon the Uhlan's shoulder. "They don't make
'em any more so! And he's a Boy Scout, too!" he added.
"But there is still another boy under the machine," observed Fritz.
"Oh, he'll get out all right!" was Jimmie's confident answer. "You'll
have to go some with your whole army to beat four Boy Scouts!"
"Maybe," admitted Fritz with another smile. "But I see that your
friends are heading this way. Perhaps they intend paying you a little
visit before we start to Verdun," he added.
"They sure are headed this way," the lad said. "And the fellow
underneath is riding that way on purpose. I wonder why?"
"Who can tell why a boy does anything?" was Fritz's comment.
"I can tell you why Boy Scouts do a great many things," declared Jimmie
vehemently. "They do the things that are right and square because it
is best and because they are living up to the rules of conduct that
they are taught. That's why they do those things!"
"And do the Boy Scout rules teach them to be spies?"
"Now you're talking through your hat again!" was the lad's answer.
"Can't you ever get it out of your head that we are not interested in
your war? We don't want to mix up in your private scraps."
Fritz wagged his head sagely and smiled in a manner that spoke more
eloquently than words of his disbelief in Jimmie's protestations.
"All right," continued the boy, "you don't have to believe it if you
don't want to, but if you live long enough we'll show you!"
"You say 'We,'" responded the soldier. "It would appear that you
expect your friends to join you presently for some enterprise."
"Well, it looks as if they expect to come pretty close to this place,
whether I expect them to or not," observed Jimmie, turning his eyes
toward the approaching plane and shading his eyes with a hand.
"We shall return to the stables," decided Fritz. "Come."
A movement of the Uhlan attracted Jimmie's attention. The lad saw a
glint of steel and wheeled to observe the erstwhile peaceable man
turned into an entirely different sort of individual, with his short
saber held in his hand in a threatening manner.
For a moment the boy contemplated flight. An instant's reflection,
however, showed him the folly of such an attempt. He knew that,
although he was fleet of foot and believed that he could easily outrun
the other, he would be no match for a bullet if one should be sent
after him. Besides, he saw that his friends could not possibly reach
him with the plane if he should leave the elevated position on which he
stood.
Concluding that his only hope of escape lay in patient waiting, the lad
turned reluctantly from his position and prepared to accompany Fritz as
he had been directed. He felt that he was giving up the only certain
means of getting away from the regiment he now thoroughly hated.
"Gee!" he exclaimed petulantly, stepping forward a pace. "It seems as
if the whole bloomin' German army was determined that I should get
mixed up in the war! First it's von Liebknecht and now it's you and
Otto keeping after me, and I never did a thing to any of you!"
"No?" queried Fritz. "But you do not say what you would like to do or
what you would do if you had the opportunity."
"All right; you win the argument!" said Jimmie in a hopeless tone.
"Then we go now to care for the horses and prepare for the trip to
Verdun," decided Fritz, with a twist of the keen blade he held.
Entertaining visions of what might happen if Fritz became too careless
in his attentions with the saber, Jimmie cast a last look over his
shoulder at the rapidly approaching airship. He again took a
hesitating step toward the German, as if to accompany him.
Fritz, believing that Jimmie was preparing to follow without further
parley, began replacing his saber in its scabbard. For an instant his
attention was concentrated on the task in hand.
That instant was enough for the alert boy. With a sudden leap forward
he threw his weight into a low tackle and clasped his arms about the
other's legs. Both came heavily to earth.
Jimmie, having the advantage, was first to rise. As he jumped to his
feet he again turned to look for the oncoming plane.
The hum of the motors was plainly discernable. He thought he could
even hear a sharp command given by one of the boys in charge.
Almost overhead he saw the great wings outspread and knew that he had
been sighted and that his comrades were trying to afford him the
opportunity of escape he so much desired.
One glance revealed the strange lad clinging to a perilous seat on the
truss rod. With one hand the newcomer was balancing himself, while
with the other he was shaking out into plain view the noose trailing at
the end of a line hanging from the under side of the plane.
His actions clearly indicated that he wanted Jimmie to prepare to grasp
the loop and be drawn up to the airship as they rose above the camp of
Germans. Jimmie needed no second invitation.
Without paying the slightest heed to the efforts of Fritz to right
himself from the undignified position into which Jimmie's onslaught had
placed him, the lad dashed forward to a point from which he thought he
could most advantageously grasp the trailing loop.
Nearer and nearer came the dangling line. The boy, under the extreme
excitement of the moment, began to imagine the feel of the rope in his
hands, and reviewed the motions he would have to make in order to seize
the line and be drawn up to his comrades.
He gave a brief thought of thankfulness to the gymnasium training Ned
Nestor had so consistently urged upon the members of his patrol, and
flexed his biceps in anticipation of the strain they were to receive.
Ned seemed to be handling the Eagle with consummate skill. He had
brought the machine to an altitude that was nicely calculated to afford
Jimmie just the opportunity needed without trailing the line upon the
ground, yet not having it out of the lad's reach.
So absorbed were all the lads that they had not observed the activity
about the German camp caused by the approach of the aeroplane. They
failed to see several marksmen running toward their position with
rifles ready for instant use and with determination upon their faces.
For the moment the lads seemed to forget that they were approaching a
camp of men who suspected them of being Russian spies and who would
hesitate at nothing to prevent their carrying out their designs.
Nearer and nearer swept the Eagle with her strange purpose. At length
Jimmie's hand was outstretched to grasp the loop of line Dave had so
cunningly fashioned. He started on a run in the same direction the
airship was going, for the purpose of lessening the shock of being
picked up from a standstill by the airship that was still moving at a
good speed. He felt the rope within his hand, and then he heard a shot.
Instantly realizing that their maneuver had been discovered, the lad
knew that the soldiers would endeavor by every means within their power
to frustrate the designs of himself and comrades. Yet he was
determined to make the attempt at escape, desperate though it was.
He felt himself lifted from his feet, and knew that his grasp on the
rope was all that was keeping him from being dashed to earth again.
Another rifle shot rang out, and the boy knew that the Germans were
preparing to concentrate their fire upon himself and comrades.
This time he heard the crash of a bullet as it ripped its way through
one of the wings of the Eagle.
In another instant the lad saw by a quick glance earthward that the
Eagle was not rising rapidly enough to get away from the cluster of
tents toward which it was heading. He knew that Ned was doing all
possible to so manipulate the wings of the monster craft that the tents
would be cleared, and hoped ardently that he might be able to do so.
As the Eagle began a sloping ascent that promised to accomplish the
purpose of its pilot another rifle in the hands of a German soldier
spoke its sharp command and another bullet sped toward the little party.
A clang of lead upon the metal under part of the fuselage told Jimmie,
hanging in midair, that the last marksman had been more successful than
his companions, and he hoped that no damage was done.
His surprise was indeed great to feel a great trembling and shaking of
the rope he grasped. He glanced upward to determine the cause.
His astonishment at observing Dave slipping down the rope was so great
that he nearly loosed his own grip.
Lower and lower came the other boy until he reached the knot of the
loop he had tied for Jimmie's benefit. There he hung a moment. Jimmie
looked toward the earth again and saw that they were nearly over the
tents. Mentally deciding that they would clear the tops, the lad again
glanced aloft to observe the strange boy.
It seemed that coincidentally with another shot the Eagle suddenly
jumped miles high into the sky. Then he found himself bumping about
with the strange lad in a world of canvas with several other people.
By a strange freak of fortune the last shot had severed the rope by
which the two boys clung to the airship and had precipitated them
straight onto the tent. There they floundered for a time.
"Ha!" Jimmie heard as he opened his eyes. "Another recruit!"