UNCLE SAM'S FLYING SQUADRON
"_How---oo---ooo_!"
Ralph gave the long-drawn cry of the timber wolf as he hurried in the
direction of Bud's shouts. Hugh speedily joined him, coming from
some side quarter, and the pair were soon closing in on the other scout.
They found Bud clinging to a shattered sapling and staring down into
a gaping aperture that looked big enough for the excavation of a church
cellar. All around were evidences of a most tremendous explosion or
upheaval, some trees being actually shattered and others leaning over
as though ready to fall.
"Talk to me about your meteors," burst out the wondering Bud as he
saw the others coming along, "I hope to goodness one of them never
drops down on our roof at home. Just looky here what it did to the
poor old earth! That sky traveler's as big as the parsonage, I
should think."
Hugh turned to Ralph.
"No doubt about what happened now, is there?" he asked.
"Well, I should say not," came the answer, as Ralph stared down
into the hole.
"Must be some new sort of explosive they're experimenting with,"
added the patrol leader seriously; "and to look at that gap you'd
believe it beats dynamite all hollow. Drop a bomb made of that stuff
on a fort, and goodby to the whole business."
"W---what's that?" exclaimed the wondering Bud. "Do you mean to
tell me that it wasn't a meteor that made all that racket the last
two nights?"
"So far as I know," Hugh told him, "when a meteor drops down, it
buries itself in the earth and gradually cools off, for it's been
made almost red-hot by passing so swiftly through space. But it
doesn't, as a rule, burst and tear a horrible slash in the ground
like this."
"Then what made it, Hugh?" asked the other, evidently puzzled.
"A dropped bomb!"
"A bomb, you say? Oh, Hugh, that was why the old aeroplane kept
circling all around, wasn't it? They were picking out some place
to make a big hole! Whee! No wonder then they came up here to
this lonely place to try things out. A farmer'd be apt to kick
like a steer if he waked up some fine morning and found holes like
this in his garden or field. It's good we didn't happen to be
standing here when they dropped the bomb, as you call it."
"I had an idea of something like this last night," Hugh said; "but
thought best not to mention it until I could see my way clearer.
But now the last doubt has gone, and I know the truth."
"But Hugh, who could it be trying out this awful explosive, and
wanting to do it where no curious eyes could watch the operation?"
"I don't know that, Bud, but we can guess. It must be either some
company in the market with explosives, or else the Government itself
trying to see how the Flying Squadron, as they call their aerial arm
of the service, could work in time of actual war."
"Say, if they could drop bombs like that just, where they wanted,"
remarked Bud admiringly, "I'd pity the enemy, whether Japanese
or German or anything else. Just think of a great big bat circling
around in the darkness of night, sending down a searchlight, maybe,
to pick out the right spot, and then, bang! Good-by to your old fort
or battleship! It would be all over before you could wink twice.
And let me tell you, fellows, we've got the bully boys in the army
to do this same stunt, if anybody on earth can!"
"Thank you for the compliment, my boy!"
A quiet voice said this, and the three scouts looked up hastily to
discover that a man clad in a faded suit of khaki was standing close
by, watching them with an expression of amusement on his clear-cut
face.
There was something about his make-up that instantly convinced Hugh
of his connection with the aviation corps of the Government service.
This, then, would seem to prove that it was the army engaged in
making these secret experiments with the new explosive, perhaps from
a war aeroplane that may have been given over into the charge of the
Flying Corps for trial.
Hugh immediately advanced toward the officer and gave the regular
salute, as every scout is taught to do when he meets one who is above
him in rank. To his delight, the other acknowledged the salute
immediately.
"We are Boy Scouts belonging to a town some miles away from here,"
Hugh started to explain.
"And what are you doing here?" inquired the officer pleasantly.
"We came up to watch one of my chums experiment with a device he
believes he has discovered," replied Hugh. "For the last two nights
we have been puzzled to understand what that terrible roar and flash
meant. At first, we thought a meteor had fallen; but when it came
again last night and we saw the aeroplane swinging around up there
in the sky, I began to believe there was some connection between
them. And now that we've found this hole in the ground, I know
it shows where your bomb struck, Lieutenant."
"Yes, that is what happened," remarked the officer. "I came here
this morning to take notes, so that I could make a full report of
our practice. We have not thought it necessary to make use of our
searchlight so far when dropping a bomb; but now that we know
others besides ourselves are up here, we must be more careful.
Perhaps I would hesitate to say all this to most people whom I
happened to meet by accident, but I know what Boy Scouts are and how
devoted they have always proved to patriotic motives. I'm positively
certain that nothing could tempt one of you lads to betray any
confidence I placed in you."
"Thank you, sir," said Hugh, flushing with keen pleasure at hearing
such words of praise from an army officer. "And perhaps you may
not know that there are others up here who seem to be deeply
interested in all that you are doing."
"What is that, my boy?" exclaimed the other, showing sudden interest.
"Why, by chance my friend here, Ralph Kenyon, who has trapped all
through this section in years gone by, saw two men talking and acting
in a strange way. They've been spying on us, too, while we've
occupied the old shack close by. They even crept in while we were
off yesterday, to steal some plans of an aeroplane improvement which
this other scout, Bud Morgan, had carelessly left there."
"Two men, you say," the officer commented, knitting his brows with
sudden suspicion and uneasiness. "Could you tell whether they seemed
to look like natives or foreigners, son and he wheeled so as to face
Ralph as he asked this.
"I had an idea that one looked like a Japanese and the other a
German," the boy answered promptly.
At this, the army man rubbed his chin and seemed to consider.
"I've taken you into my confidence so far already, boys," he observed
presently, "that I suppose I might as well go right along and tell
you everything. We are up here, representing the Flying Squadron
of the army, to experiment with a new war aeroplane much more
powerful than anything before devised; also to ascertain whether
there is any truth in the wild claims put forth by the inventor of
the latest explosive, that his discovery must make war so horrible
that nations would be compelled to keep the peace after this. And,
judging from what that one small bomb did here, I fancy he was not
mistaken in his estimate. We could destroy the largest battleship
afloat as easy as to snap our fingers. Of course there are secret
agents of numerous Great Powers constantly floating around in
Washington, trying to learn what Uncle Sam has up his sleeve in the
way of new inventions calculated to destroy the enemy in time of war.
And we have feared all along that one or more of these spies may
have gotten on our track. I'm very much gratified with what you
have told me, for now we know what to expect, and can avoid taking
any unnecessary risk."
"Would these foreign spies dare attempt to ruin your war aeroplane,
or try to blow you all up with some of your own explosive?" asked
Ralph.
"I wouldn't put it past them," replied the other. "They are playing
a desperate game, you understand, and have their orders from the home
Governments to keep us from forging ahead too fast. But I haven't
introduced myself as yet. I am Lieutenant Fosdick, and I have had
some little experience in army aviation."
"I wonder if you can be the same Lieutenant Fosdick I've heard so
much about from our Scout Master, a retired army officer named
Lieutenant Denmead?" Hugh ventured to say eagerly.
"Well, this _is_ a pleasure to be sure!" remarked the other smilingly.
"To be sure I know Denmead. I saw a great deal of him several years
ago. And so he is spending his spare time in teaching the young
idea how to shoot, but with the arms of peace rather than those of
bloody war? He was always crazy over boys, and must be a cracking
good Scout Master, because he knows so much of Western life among
the Indians. He was with Miles in the Sioux War long ago, as you
may know. But what was this you said about one of your mates
inventing something in connection with the management of aeroplanes?
That would seem to be right in my line, and if he has no serious
objections, I'd like to hear about it."
At that, Bud turned fiery red, but with pleasure more than
embarrassment. It was a crowning triumph in his career to find
himself an object of interest in the eyes of so famous an aviator
as Lieutenant Fosdick, of whom he remembered reading quite
frequently as the most fearless air pilot in the Flying Squadron of
Uncle Sam.
Encouraged by the winning smile on the bronzed face of the army
officer, Bud only too gladly started to explain what his hopes were.
"I'd like to see this wonderful little model of yours in action,
son," the experienced air pilot remarked afterwards. "Suppose all
of you come over to our headquarters, which happen to be not more
than half a mile away from here. We have a fine open spot where we
can ascend and alight with ease, day or night. You will be welcome,
I assure you. We have a dozen men there besides those connected
with the war aviation corps, simply to guard against any spies giving
us trouble. If you can go now, I'd be pleased to wait for you, so
as to pass you through the lines."
"How long will it take you to get your little machine dismantled,
so we can handle it, Bud?" asked Hugh.
"Oh! I can do it in a jiffy, because, you see, it's fixed for taking
apart," the inventor of the party hastened to declare.
So Lieutenant Fosdick accompanied them to the shack. While Bud
busied himself with his model, Ralph and Hugh chatted with the army
officer. He asked more questions concerning Bud and the idea he had
been trying out.
"It would seem as though your friend might have a touch of genius
about him somewhere," the aviator said with a smile, "though I'm
afraid that he's too late with that wonderful stability device,
because it is very similar to one the Wright Brothers got out some
time ago. That's the way it often happens, and many a man has
studied some clever thing out only to find that he has been
anticipated by some earlier inventor. But say nothing about this
for the present. Your friend surely deserves to have a little
glory out of the game before the blow falls. And I shall be curious
to see how he manages with this model of his, for it looks good to me."
Evidently Bud had found favor with the army man. Even though doomed
to disappointment with regard to his wonderful invention, the boy
might derive satisfaction in knowing that his work had not been
entirely in vain.
When half an hour had passed, Bud declared everything in readiness
for the change of base; and soon the boys were accompanying the
skilled aviator through the woods headed for the camp of the Flying
Squadron.