“That’s splendid news,” Jack at once remarked. “I’m glad for the sake
of little Jacques that his brave father did not die there in front of
Antwerp as you all believed. If I had time I’d like to hear his story,
because I reckon it’d be well worth listening to. But we have business
of our own to look after, and so must once more take leave of you.”
“Do you think he will get well again?” asked Amos, who under different
conditions, would only too willingly have volunteered to help take care
of the wounded, since his education as a Boy Scout had taught him how
to apply the principles of “first aid to the injured.”
“We have strong hopes,” replied the old burgomaster. “Joy is better
than all the medicine a doctor can bring. Jacques has found his father
again; and besides, his young heart is filled with happiness because he
was given a chance to strike a blow against the enemies of his country.
Yes, he surely must get well now, and live to see a new day dawn for
Belgium.”
They both went over to nod to the boy, and the look of contentment upon
his face told them his severe wounds were at the time forgotten in the
thanksgiving that filled his heart. Both of them would in time to come
often think of Jacques, and hope the good angel that had brought back
his father would continue to guard the boy’s further fortunes.
Once again Jack and Amos found themselves outside, and wandering amidst
the ruins of the village where only recently the fighting had reached
its height. Here was the high-tide mark of that furious German drive;
just as Gettysburg marked the apex of the Lost Cause in the war between
the States in ’63. Jack wondered whether history would repeat itself,
for he believed that if Germany were defeated it would only be through
the force of greater numbers arrayed against her, with pretty much all
the world in arms.
They wandered around seeking some means of learning where they could
secure the information they required. Never would they forget the
sights that greeted them on every side. The ground looked almost as
though it had been ploughed, such were the number of shells that
had fallen on that devoted village during the time it was under
bombardment. To Amos it seemed incredible that any living thing could
have remained there and lived through that holocaust of crashing
shells; and yet those undaunted men in khaki must have found some
sort of concealment, for every time the Teuton force charged, after a
cessation in the firing, they were met by the British, and mowed down
by the Maxims that were hurriedly brought to bear on the solid ranks
coming forward.
Most of the wounded had been removed by now, and were being taken to
the rear in the motor vans, lorries, and Red Cross ambulances. The dead
for the most part lay where they had fallen, though several gangs
of men stumbled among the gruesome piles, and seemed to be engaged
in placing them in shallow graves, after securing the identification
medals which every soldier wore about his neck, so that his fate might
be made known to his sorrowing people at home.
Again and again were the boys stopped, and asked what business they had
there in the midst of such harrowing scenes. On every occasion Jack
showed the order from the commanding general, which was couched in no
uncertain words, and invariably produced the desired effect, for all
opposition was immediately removed.
They had been instructed whom they must ask for in order to learn
whether Frank Bradford was still hard at work serving the Allies as a
daring aviator. No one was likely to possess this information save some
of his comrades, or the chief of the aerial staff, in whose charge all
these operations had been placed.
For two hours did the boys walk after leaving the ruined village.
Sometimes they were misinformed, for changes were being made rapidly
in those stirring times, and Headquarters today might be miles away
from where it had been twelve hours before.
“It’s a long run, trying to find that officer,” remarked Amos, who of
course was racked constantly by his hopes and fears, and wished the
crisis would hurry along, so that he might know what to expect.
“That’s so,” admitted the cheerful Jack, “but all the time we’re
getting warmer and warmer on the trail. Right now I can see where that
last monoplane rose from, and the chances are we’ll find the party
we’re looking for at that spot.”
“It gives me the queerest sort of feeling, Jack, just to believe that
any minute now I may be squeezing Frank’s hand, and looking into his
eyes again. I was always mighty fond of my big brother, you know, and
it nearly broke my heart, small chap that I really was at the time,
when he told me he was going away forever, because our father had
unjustly accused him of doing something which he denied. If only I find
him safe and sound I’ll be the happiest fellow in all Europe.”
“Except one, perhaps, Amos, and that’s little Jacques, whose father
came back to him from the dead.”
“Well, finding Frank and carrying him home with me will be almost
like the same thing, for he’s been as dead to us for many years!”
declared Amos, eagerly watching the aeroplane that was now soaring
swiftly aloft, already a target for hostile fire, as the little white
puffs of smoke told where the shrapnel shells were bursting all around
the daring pilot. “I’m wondering again whether that can be Frank up
yonder, and if he’ll come back safely. It would be a terrible thing if
something happened to him just when I had run him down.”
“Oh! don’t allow yourself to give way to such an idea,” said Jack.
“Look on the bright side of things all the time. Think how we’ve been
carried through our troubles so splendidly. No matter how dark things
seemed they always took a turn for the better in the end, and every
time it proved the best thing that could have happened to us.”
With an effort the boy managed to get a better hold upon himself. This
companionship with Jack was the luckiest thing that could ever have
happened to Amos; for the Western lad always seemed to steady him at
times when his nerves were sorely tried, so as to give him renewed
strength of purpose.
“There goes another ’plane up, Jack!” he exclaimed a minute later.
“That first pilot, now high over the German lines, seems to be holding
his own in spite of all the shrapnel they can send after him. Yes,
you must be right in saying we’re coming to where we will find the
controlling force of the aviation corps. Before another half hour goes
by I’m likely to know the best--or the worst!”
“You’ll be wringing Frank’s hand and telling him how proud you are to
learn that the boldest of all the Allied aviators, known under the
name of Frank Bradford, is your own dear brother--make up your mind to
that!” said Jack, sturdily, for he saw that his chum was trembling
with suspense.
When one has dreamed and thought of a certain object for days and
weeks, and it comes time when he may know the truth, small wonder that
he shivers with alternate hope and dread. Amos was only human. You and
I most likely would feel the same nervousness under similar conditions.
Amos uttered a cry of dismay, as though he had received a sudden shock.
“Oh! Jack, they did get that second pilot, you see!” he exclaimed.
“He’s volplaning down now like everything, and will fall inside the
German lines perhaps!”
“No, he’s heading this way!” declared Jack. “From the fact that they’re
still keeping up their fire I reckon they fear he’ll escape them. The
pilot couldn’t have been badly hurt when his ’plane was struck, because
I can see him sitting up and managing his machine. It was only his
motor that was put out of commission, and if he keeps on as he’s going
now he’ll get safely down.”
“There, he’s disappeared behind that line of trees!” cried Amos, “but
the firing has nearly stopped, so they must think it’s no use wasting
any more ammunition on him. Let’s hurry, Jack! I’m wild to know if that
was my brother. Something just seems to tell me it must have been. Ten
minutes more ought to take us over there where he came down. Just to
think of it, only that short time, and I’ll see him, if I’m lucky!”
Apparently Jack was as intent upon settling the question as Amos
himself could be. He put on more speed, and side by side they broke
into a run, such was their eagerness to cover the intervening ground.
Men in khaki looked after them in bewilderment, not knowing who these
two boys were, or what object they could have in thus braving the
fearful ordeals to be encountered on a battlefield.
Amos was caring little for all this. He had but one object in view,
and that the settling of the question whether his long absent brother
Frank, now one of the Allies’ aviators, was working on that section of
the firing line, and if he was fated to meet him face to face after so
arduous a search.
Whether Amos and his faithful chum Jack were to be rewarded with
immediate success after their eventful hunt for the missing Frank,
or meet with still further disappointment, must, however, be left to
another story, which the reader will find ready for his perusal later
on.
THE END.
* * * * *
BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES
By Captain Wilbur Lawton
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys
Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
The Boy Aviators in Nicaragua Or, Leagued With Insurgents
The launching of this Twentieth Century series marks the inauguration
of a new era in boys’ books--the “wonders of modern science” epoch.
Frank and Harry Chester, the BOY AVIATORS, are the heroes of this
exciting, red-blooded tale of adventure by air and land in the
turbulent Central American republic. The two brothers with their
$10,000 prize aeroplane, the GOLDEN EAGLE, rescue a chum from death in
the clutches of the Nicaraguans, discover a lost treasure valley of the
ancient Toltec race, and in so doing almost lose their own lives in the
Abyss of the White Serpents, and have many other exciting experiences,
including being blown far out to sea in their air-skimmer in a tropical
storm. It would be unfair to divulge the part that wireless plays in
rescuing them from their predicament. In a brand new field of fiction
for boys, the Chester brothers and their aeroplane seem destined
to fill a top-notch place. These books are technically correct,
wholesomely thrilling and geared up to third speed.
Sold by Booksellers Everywhere
HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK
* * * * *
BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES
By CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
ABSOLUTELY MODERN STORIES FOR BOYS
_Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume_
The Boy Aviators on Secret Service Or, Working With Wireless
In this live-wire narrative of peril and adventure, laid in the
Everglades of Florida, the spunky Chester Boys and their interesting
chums, including Ben Stubbs, the maroon, encounter exciting experiences
on Uncle Sam’s service in a novel field. One must read this vivid,
enthralling story of incident, hardship and pluck to get an idea of
the almost limitless possibilities of the two greatest inventions of
modern times--the aeroplane and wireless telegraphy. While gripping and
holding the reader’s breathless attention from the opening words to the
finish, this swift-moving story is at the same time instructive and
uplifting. As those readers who have already made friends with Frank
and Harry Chester and their “bunch” know, there are few difficulties,
no matter how insurmountable they may seem at first blush, that
these up-to-date gritty youths cannot overcome with flying colors. A
clean-cut, real boys’ book of high voltage.
Sold by Booksellers Everywhere
HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK
* * * * *
BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys
Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
The Boy Aviators in Africa Or, An Aerial Ivory Trail
In this absorbing book we meet, on a Continent made famous by the
American explorer Stanley, and ex-President Roosevelt, our old friends,
the Chester Boys and their stalwart chums. In Africa--the Dark
Continent--the author follows in exciting detail his young heroes,
their voyage in the first aeroplane to fly above the mysterious forests
and unexplored ranges of the mystic land. In this book, too, for the
first time, we entertain Luther Barr, the old New York millionaire,
who proved later such an implacable enemy of the boys. The story of
his defeated schemes, of the astonishing things the boys discovered in
the Mountains of the Moon, of the pathetic fate of George Desmond, the
emulator of Stanley, the adventure of the Flying Men and the discovery
of the Arabian Ivory cache,--this is not the place to speak. It would
be spoiling the zest of an exciting tale to reveal the outcome of all
these episodes here. It may be said, however, without “giving away”
any of the thrilling chapters of this narrative, that Captain Wilbur
Lawton, the author, is in it in his best vein, and from his personal
experiences in Africa has been able to supply a striking background for
the adventures of his young heroes. As one newspaper says of this book:
“Here is adventure in good measure, pressed down and running over.”
Sold by Booksellers Everywhere
HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK
* * * * *
BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys
Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
The Boy Aviators’ Treasure Quest Or, The Golden Galleon
Everybody is a boy once more when it comes to the question of hidden
treasure. In this book, Captain Lawton has set forth a hunt for gold
that is concealed neither under the sea nor beneath the earth, but
is well hidden for all that. A garrulous old sailor, who holds the
key to the mystery of the Golden Galleon, plays a large part in the
development of the plot of this fascinating narrative of treasure
hunting in the region of the Gulf Stream and the Sagasso Sea. An
aeroplane fitted with efficient pontoons--enabling her to skim the
water successfully--has long been a dream of aviators. The Chester Boys
seem to have solved the problem. The Sagasso, that strange drifting
ocean within an ocean, holding ships of a dozen nations and a score
of ages in its relentless grip, has been the subject of many books
of adventure and mystery, but in none has the secret of the ever
shifting mass of treacherous currents been penetrated as it has in the
BOY AVIATORS’ TREASURE QUEST. Luther Barr, whom it seemed the boys had
shaken off, is still on their trail, in this absorbing book and with
a dirigible balloon, essays to beat them out in their search for the
Golden Galleon. Every boy, every man--and woman and girl--who has ever
felt the stirring summons of adventure in their souls, had better get
hold of this book. Once obtained, it will be read and re-read till it
falls to rags.
Sold by Booksellers Everywhere
HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK
* * * * *
BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys
Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
The Boy Aviators in Record Flight Or, The Rival Aeroplane
The Chester Boys in new field of endeavor--an attempt to capture a
newspaper prize for a trans-continental flight. By the time these lines
are read, exactly such an offer will have been spread, broadcast by one
of the foremost newspapers of the country. In the Golden Eagle, the
boys, accompanied by a trail-blazing party in an automobile, make the
dash. But they are not alone in their aspirations. Their rivals for the
rich prize at stake try in every way that they can to circumvent the
lads and gain the valuable trophy and monetary award. In this they stop
short at nothing, and it takes all the wits and resources of the Boy
Aviators to defeat their devices. Among the adventures encountered in
their cross-country flight, the boys fall in with a band of rollicking
cowboys--who momentarily threaten serious trouble--are attacked by
Indians, strike the most remarkable town of the desert--the “dry” town
of “Gow Wells,” encounter a sandstorm which blows them into strange
lands far to the south of their course, and meet with several amusing
mishaps beside. A thoroughly readable book. The sort to take out behind
the barn on the sunny side of the haystack, and, with a pocketful of
juicy apples and your heels kicking the air, pass happy hours with
Captain Lawton’s young heroes.
Sold by Booksellers Everywhere
HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK
* * * * *
BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES
BY CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON
Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys
Cloth Bound Price, 50c per volume
The Boy Aviators’ Polar Dash Or, Facing Death in the Antarctic
If you were to hear that two boys, accompanying a South Polar
expedition in charge of the aeronautic department, were to penetrate
the Antarctic regions--hitherto only attained by a few daring
explorers--you would feel interested, wouldn’t you? Well, in Captain
Lawton’s latest book, concerning his Boy Aviators, you can not only
read absorbing adventure in the regions south of the eightieth
parallel, but absorb much useful information as well. Captain Lawton
introduces--besides the original characters of the heroes--a new
creation in the person of Professor Simeon Sandburr, a patient
seeker for polar insects. The professor’s adventures in his quest
are the cause of much merriment, and lead once or twice to serious
predicaments. In a volume so packed with incident and peril from cover
to cover--relieved with laughable mishaps to the professor--it is
difficult to single out any one feature; still, a recent reader of it
wrote the publishers an enthusiastic letter the other day, saying:
“The episodes above the Great Barrier are thrilling, the attack of
the condors in Patagonia made me hold my breath the--but what’s the
use? The Polar Dash, to my mind, is an even more entrancing book than
Captain Lawton’s previous efforts, and that’s saying a good deal. The
aviation features and their technical correctness are by no means the
least attractive features of this up-to-date creditable volume.”
Sold by Booksellers Everywhere
HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK
* * * * *
BORDER BOYS SERIES
Mexican and Canadian Frontier Series
By FREMONT B. DEERING.
Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid
[Illustration]
THE BORDER BOYS ON THE TRAIL.
What it meant to make an enemy of Black Ramon De Barios--that is the
problem that Jack Merrill and his friends, including Coyote Pete, face
in this exciting tale.
THE BORDER BOYS ACROSS THE FRONTIER.
Read of the Haunted Mesa and its mysteries, of the Subterranean River
and its strange uses, of the value of gasolene and steam “in running
the gauntlet,” and you will feel that not even the ancient splendors of
the Old World can furnish a better setting for romantic action than the
Border of the New.
THE BORDER BOYS WITH THE MEXICAN RANGERS.
As every day is making history--faster, it is said, than ever
before--so books that keep pace with the changes are full of rapid
action and accurate facts. This book deals with lively times on the
Mexican border.
THE BORDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS.
The Border Boys have already had much excitement and adventure in their
lives, but all this has served to prepare them for the experiences
related in this volume. They are stronger, braver and more resourceful
than ever, and the exigencies of their life in connection with the
Texas Rangers demand all their trained ability.
Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price.
HURST & COMPANY--Publishers--NEW YORK
* * * * *
DREADNOUGHT BOYS SERIES
Tales of the New Navy
By CAPT. WILBUR LAWTON
Author of “BOY AVIATORS SERIES.”
Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid
[Illustration]
THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS ON BATTLE PRACTICE.
Especially interesting and timely is this book, which introduces the
reader with its heroes, Ned and Herc, to the great ships of modern
warfare and to the intimate life and surprising adventures of Uncle
Sam’s sailors.
THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS ABOARD A DESTROYER.
In this story real dangers threaten and the boys’ patriotism is tested
in a peculiar international tangle. The scene is laid on the South
American coast.
THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS ON A SUBMARINE.
To the inventive genius--trade-school boy or mechanic--this story has
special charm, perhaps, but to every reader its mystery and clever
action are fascinating.
THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS ON AERO SERVICE.
Among the volunteers accepted for Aero Service are Ned and Herc. Their
perilous adventures are not confined to the air, however, although they
make daring and notable flights in the name of the Government; nor are
they always able to fly beyond the reach of their old “enemies,” who
are also airmen.
Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price.
HURST & COMPANY--Publishers--NEW YORK
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes:
Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are
mentioned.
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in
the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have
been corrected.