CHAPTER XVII. A MAN IN THE TREE TOP.
"To-day ought to tell the story whether we're going to get through ornot," Giraffe was saying, after they had been making more or lessprogress.
"Put it a little stronger, Giraffe," ventured Thad. "Say to-day andto-morrow will go pretty far toward settling it; because with such aknock-down machine we're apt to meet up with all sorts of delays."
Bumpus shook his head and sighed.
"I know I'll be glad when the agony is over," he remarked pensively; andthere was not one of his companions but who felt he was thinking of hiswaiting mother rather than himself.
For a little while their progress was indeed very fair, and as Giraffecounted the number of miles they were putting behind him he kept smilingmore broadly than ever.
"Bully for the busy little worker!" he exclaimed finally. "I surebelieve it's taken on new life, and is renewing its youth. And yet theysay they can't come back."
Hardly had he spoken the last word when the engine gave a loud groanthat sounded almost human, and quit working.
"There, that's what you get for shouting before you're out of thewoods!" said Bumpus, in sheer disgust.
Giraffe looked blank.
"Say, do you really believe motors can understand the English language?"he demanded of the fat scout. "This one has been brought up on eitherGerman or French, and how would it know I was boasting? Anyway next timeI say a thing like that you'll see me knocking on wood right away."
Thad was already out and had the hood lifted so that he could look thedisheartened engine over, and find just what the trouble might be.
"Mebbe it's that silly old gas tank again?" suggested Bumpus.
Allan made a hurried examination.
"Nothing wrong here," he announced; "no drip, and plenty of stuffinside. Looks as if the engine could only stand just so much, and thenhad a fainting fit. And no matter where we bring up in the end, mark mywords, fellows, we've got to work our passage."
"Find out what bust, Thad?" asked Giraffe, as he jumped from the car.
"I don't seem to get it yet, and as there's no telling what may comealong the road while we're loafing here, suppose we all get busy andpush the car to one side, where it isn't apt to block the passage."
Thad's advice was immediately carried out, and when this had been donehe applied himself industriously to the task of first ascertaining whathad happened to the wretched engine, and then to repair the defect, ifit were possible.
Giraffe, always nervous and hard to keep quiet, meanwhile walked overtoward a mound that lay close by.
"Just to take a little observation, and see if there's any sign of thoseairmen we saw yesterday," he told the others.
"I heard something that sounded like firing early this morning," saidThad, "and it may be there has been more warm work going on. The breezecame from the wrong quarter to help me out, and so I couldn't be sure."
They saw Giraffe make his way up the little rise and reach the top,where he began to cup his hands about his eyes so as to see the better.Possibly three minutes passed when those at the car heard sharp barkingas of a fox, and which of course was the call of the Silver Fox Patrol.
"He's waving to us to come up there!" exclaimed Bumpus, scrambling outof the car, for he had felt so very comfortable that so far he had notthought fit to make any change.
"Yes, and he means the whole bunch of us in the bargain, if signalsstand for anything, Thad," added Allan.
"All right, let's go," the patrol leader replied, as he started towardthe knoll, still gripping the monkey-wrench with which he had beenworking at the time.
With Bumpus puffing at their heels the two boys soon arrived at the baseof the mound, and started up. It was a severe task for the fat scout,but Bumpus could do considerable, once he made up his mind, and he waswith them when they reached the spot where the excited Giraffe stood.
"What ails you, Giraffe?" asked Allan.
For answer the elongated scout leveled his arm, and pointed in a certaindirection.
"See that tall, bushy tree, Thad?" he exclaimed; "well, turn your eyesup toward the top of the same and you'll see what gave me a body blow."
"I see it!" called out Bumpus, "and say, it looks like a man fastened upthere! Oh! as sure as anything it moved then! It must be alive,fellows!"
"It is a man," said Thad, decisively.
"But what on earth could he be doing away up there?" asked Allan, stillstraining his eyes to look.
Giraffe had a remarkable vision. He could often discern things that werenext to invisible to his chums.
"He's caught fast there, I tell you," he remarked, eagerly, "and it's agood thing for him he is, because if he fell to the ground he'd bekilled."
"How queer!" cried Bumpus, his eyes almost starting out of their socketswith the intensity of the interest he took in the affair; "whoever couldhave hung the poor fellow away up there in that tree top?"
Giraffe snorted in disdain.
"Nobody hung him there, silly!" he exclaimed. "He fell there, that'sall!"
"Fell there!" repeated Bumpus, incredulously. "Oh! now you're trying tokid me, Giraffe. I don't take any stock in those big yarns about Marsbeing inhabited, and all that stuff. Speak plainer, can't you?"
"If you look close, Thad," Giraffe said, ignoring Bumpus completely now,"you'll see something lying on the ground near the tree."
"Yes, you're right, Giraffe, I see it," replied the other; "and it looksas if it might be some sort of wreck, too."
"Just what she is!" cried Giraffe exultantly; "the wreck of anaeroplane. That man in the tree must have been one of the flying squad,German or Belgian, we don't know which yet. He met with an accidentwhile up aloft. Mebbe some of that shrapnel injured his machine, and hewas making for the earth to land far away from the battle field when hestruck that tree, and there he's stuck ever since."
"Oh! how hard it must have been for him, hanging up there all night, andp'raps badly hurt at that!" cried the tender-hearted Bumpus. "Thad, youwouldn't think of going on and leaving him there, I hope?"
"Well, I should say not, Bumpus," Giraffe told him. "We'd deserve to bekicked out of the organization if ever we did that. How could we lookback without turning fiery red every time we remembered such a cowardlyact? Leave it to us, and we'll get him down out of that, eh, Thad?"
"Our duty compels us to do everything we can to alleviate distress," thepatrol leader said, soberly. "And it doesn't matter the least bit to uswhether that poor chap is a German, Belgian or Frenchman. He's in aterrible position, and may lose his life unless we do something for him.So let's head that way on the run!"
"What about the car, Thad?" asked Allan.
"Hang the car," replied the other, impulsively. "It's stalled right now,and the engine partly dismantled, so there's no danger of its runningaway."
"I hope not," Bumpus was heard to mutter, dubiously, "but cars aremighty funny contraptions any way you put it, and nobody ever knows whatthey're meaning to do. When you think they're sleeping as sweet asanything they may kick you all of a sudden just like a mule."
Bumpus did not say anything more. He needed all the breath he couldgather in so as to keep within reasonable distance of his three chums,who were making pretty fast time toward the tall tree.
As they drew closer to the spot all doubt concerning the nature of theheap on the ground was dissipated. It was undoubtedly a wreckedaeroplane, and Thad, who had taken pains to look these things up, toldthe others it was without question a Taube model, small but swift.
"That means the man up yonder will turn out to be a German aviator,doesn't it, Thad?" asked Allan, who was at his side, with Giraffeleading.
"No question about that," was the reply, "because the Germans are theonly ones who are using the Taube model exclusively. They seem to thinkit about fills the bill for safety and speed."
They had seen the man who was held fast among the branches of the treealmost at the apex, in fact, wave
his hand to them several times. Thistold the boys he was still alive, even though possibly sufferingtortures. It also informed them that he had been watching their coming,and while restraining from shouting out, meant to implore theirassistance.
"How are we going to get him down?" asked Giraffe, as they reached thefoot of the tree, which looked as though it could be easily scaled,since the lower limbs came close to the ground.
"Three of us must climb up," said Thad. "We can help each other, and itstrikes me we ought to be able to make it."
"One thing in our favor," remarked Allan, who was famous for seeingthings, "the aviator is a rather small man. That's going to be lots ofhelp."
"What can I do, Thad?" asked Bumpus, willing to attempt anything going,though his bulk would hardly allow him to be useful up aloft; in fact hewas apt to bother the others rather than prove of assistance.
"Stay down here, and take the man when we lower him from the limbs,"Thad told him.
It was not much, Bumpus thought, but then he could at least say that hehad had a hand in the rescue of the unfortunate aeroplane pilot.
Giraffe climbed quickly, and reached the vicinity of the strandedaviator first. He was even talking in German with him when the other twoarrived. They could see just how the garments of the man had becomecaught in the branches, so that he was held there as in a vise, utterlyunable to help himself.
"He says he's been here all night," said Giraffe, eagerly, his faceaglow with pride over the fact that once more his high school German wasproving valuable. "He was swinging up pretty high, taking notes of thedisposition of the Belgian forces, when he found himself a target forheavy firing. He thinks his machine must have been hit as well ashimself, for it started to act queer. So he made off like the wind toget as far away from the firing line as he could, always falling, and inthe end he struck this tree just before dark."
"He's been wounded in the left arm," said Thad, "for you can see how ithangs helpless, and there's dried blood on his sleeve too, caking ithard. He might have bled to death here if that arm didn't happen to beabove him, which has helped to stop the flow. I'm afraid it'll start inagain while we're getting him down, but that can't be helped."
"We'll fix that soon enough, Thad," said Giraffe, eagerly, "once we gethim on the ground. Scouts ought to know their business enough to fix upany ordinary hurt like that. But have you arranged your plan, Thad? Tellus what to do, and you'll see us get busy."
The patrol leader had taken a hasty survey of the situation. He sawthere was only one way in which they could get the aviator free from theclinging branches, and swing him in to the body of the tree.
Accordingly he began to give his orders clearly.
"You reach him on that side, Giraffe, and I'll take hold here. When weswing him in, Allan, you catch hold, and keep him steady. Then we'll cutthese twigs, and free his leather coat. But be careful, both of you, fora slip would mean broken bones, if not something worse. Now, ready,Giraffe? Then when I say three, start swinging!"