THE LONE HOUSE BY THE ROADSIDE
"Listen, Tom!" hissed Jack.
The other had just sighed with relief on completing the work of
replacing the spark-plug that had become fouled with oil.
"I, too, heard it plainly, Jack!" he breathed.
"Was it someone screaming or sobbing?" asked the other breathlessly.
"Sounded like it to me."
"And either a woman or a girl, at that!" hazarded his chum in
bewilderment.
"It might have been a boy," suggested Tom. "There it is again."
Both of them listened. Peculiar sensations crept over them as they stood
and thus strained their ears to catch any further sounds. Sobbing at any
time is enough to arouse the feelings of a sensitive nature; but heard
in the dead of night, and under the conditions that surrounded the two
young aviators, made it all the more thrilling.
Jack in particular was touched to the heart.
"Say, that's a queer thing, Tom!" he muttered. "Why should anybody be
crying or screaming like that away off here, and at this time of night?"
"Oh, there are many who are weeping in these dark days," said Tom
gravely. "The men in myriads of families will never come home again.
Perhaps a mother, or it may be a sister, has just had word that son,
father, or brother has been shot down in battle."
Jack shuddered. Why should his thoughts instantly fly to the Boche pilot
whom they had met and fought and conquered while on the way to Metz on
their present perilous mission? It had been a fair fight, and a case of
their lives or his. Nevertheless Jack shuddered as he remembered how the
other had gone down after that last exchange of gunfire.
"Tom, notice that it comes from almost the identical direction where I
told you I heard the crowing of a rooster a while ago," he hastened to
say, more to rid his mind of those ghastly thoughts than anything else.
What a strange fatality if this should be the home of the unfortunate
Teuton pilot of that Fokker machine, and the one who mourned was his
mother or a young sister, or perhaps his wife!
"That means there's a house not far away, possibly an estate of some
kind," mused Tom, as though turning over some sudden project in his
mind.
Jack guessed what his chum was thinking about.
"Tom," he said softly, when for the third time they caught the
heart-rending, half stifled sobs coming on the still night air.
"What do you want now, Jack?"
"I was just wondering whether you'd agree to something," continued the
other, in a persuasive tone. "We're not in any _great_ hurry, are
we?"
"Well, no, perhaps not, Jack; though I'd like to deliver the paper into
the hands of our commander as soon as possible. It is probably of the
utmost importance, you know."
"I can't help thinking how I'd feel, Tom, if my mother or sister were in
some great trouble, and fellows who might be in a position to hold out a
helping hand considered their own personal safety first."
When Jack said this his voice was husky. Apparently the incident
appealed strongly to his emotions. Jack had always been unusually
thoughtful in regard to women of whatever age or degree, and would go
far out of his way to do one a favor; so it was not strange that he
should feel as he did at this time.
Tom was in a mood to be easily persuaded. The plaintive sobs, telling of
woe that clutched some one's heart-strings, stirred a responsive chord
within him. He, too, remembered those at home. Jack had put a clincher
on his argument when he asked what their opinion of a man would be who
turned aside and went his own way after hearing a woman or a child
crying bitterly.
"All right, then, Jack; perhaps we can spare the time to take a turn
around here, and see if we can be of any help," he announced, greatly to
the satisfaction of his chum.
"Perhaps some one has been hurt and needs assistance," suggested Jack.
"It isn't going to delay us much, and may be of great help to them. Come
on--let's be on the move."
Tom was not quite so precipitate as his companion. Caution had a part in
his make-up.
"Don't try to rush things, Jack," he said. "I must take a last look over
my work here, you know."
"But you said everything was completed, Tom!" persisted the other.
"So it is, but I ought to make doubly sure before we leave the plane,"
Tom added, as he took the electric hand-torch from his companion and
began systematically to look over the engine at which he had been
working, carefully examining every detail.
Jack said nothing further. He understood what his chum meant when he
declared it important that they should know absolutely the motor was in
prime condition for immediate service. Something might occur to
necessitate a hurried departure from the vicinity; a detachment of the
enemy forces might appear, or other perils hover over their heads that
might be laughed at only if they could take to the air without
detention.
Tom was not long in doing as he desired. Meanwhile Jack could hear an
occasional sob from the same quarter as before, and the sounds continued
to exercise a peculiar influence over him which he could not have
explained had he been asked.
"I'm ready now, Jack!".
"Glad to hear it," muttered the other, half under his breath; not that
he meant to infer Tom had been unduly long, but because his feelings
were wrought up to a high pitch that caused him to quiver all over.
Tom evidently guessed this, judging from his next remark.
"Cool down, Jack," he said, laying a hand on his companion's arm. "This
will never do, you know. Getting excited is the worst thing an air pilot
can do. It'll prove fatal to all your hopes, unless you manage to
control your feelings better."
"I guess you're right, Tom."
"I don't think there's any chance the plane will be discovered here in
the open field, even if there is a road so close by," mused the pilot,
after they had gone perhaps as far as twenty-five yards.
"Not in a thousand years," asserted Jack confidently, turning to look
back as he spoke. "Why, even now I can't discover a sign of the wings,
or anything else in the misty moonlight, it's so deceptive. Only that
lone tree standing close to where we dropped tells me the location of
our plane."
"Yes, I marked that, too," asserted Tom quietly. "I thought we ought to
have some sort of landmark to guide us if we should be in a hurry coming
back. And the tree, standing up fairly high, can be seen ten times
better than anything close to the earth."
"Here's the road, Tom."
"So it is, and an important one in the bargain, judging from its
condition," remarked the other, softly.
"It runs the length of the valley, of course," added Jack. "I shouldn't
be surprised if it went all the way from Metz to the Verdun front. If
that's the case it must have considerable travel, even if nothing has
chanced to come along since we landed."
"I can see signs to tell that we are close to some sort of country
estate, or it may only be a Lorraine farm."
"I can glimpse lights through the trees, and chances are they come from
windows in the house beyond."
"I see them too," affirmed Tom.
"But say, isn't it pretty late for a farmhouse to be lighted up like
that?"
"Depend on it, there's some good reason for all that illumination," Jack
was told. "And perhaps we'd better drop this talking so much, now we're
getting close to the place. No telling what we'll find there. For all we
know this may be some one's headquarters, though pretty far back of the
line for that sort of thing. But I think it'll turn out to be something
more than ordinary."
It did.
Jack began to weave all manner of fantastic explanations to account for
the illumination of the house alongside the road to Metz.
He felt he would not be very much astonished to discover a line of
military cars standing at the gate, and find that an important council
of war was being conducted within the building.
Then he remembered the crying and sobbing. Somehow, that did not seem to
fit in with his other imaginings. The touch of Tom's hand on his arm
made Jack give a violent start.
"Here's a high fence, you notice," Tom whispered. "Seeing that makes me
believe it's going to turn out to be a country estate, and not just a
farm. We ought to find a gate somewhere further along."
"That crying has stopped, Tom."
"For the time being, yes," admitted the other. "Perhaps she's only gone
away from the open window. I was in hopes it would keep on, so we could
be guided straight."
Two minutes later, after walking alongside the high fence for some
distance, they discovered the entrance to the place. Tom flashed his
light on the ground.
"Been considerable going in and coming out of vehicles, generally
automobiles," he announced.
"And private cars are almost taboo in all Germany these dark days, they
tell us," mentioned Jack sagely. "That makes it look as if some sort of
military business might be transacted in this isolated place. Gee! I
tell you it's getting my curiosity whetted to a fine point, all this
mystery. But we're going in, of course, Tom?"
"Some way or other, Jack. If the entrance is closed and locked we can
climb over the fence, all right. But no need of worrying about that,
because I already see the gates are ajar. Come on."
So they slipped into the enclosed grounds, actuated by an impulse,
wholly unconscious of what might be awaiting them. They had been drawn
into the adventure simply on account of a praiseworthy desire to be of
service to some unknown one who seemed to be in trouble. And neither of
the boys even vaguely suspected as yet what strange happenings would
confront them before many minutes passed by.