CHAPTER X
AN EAGLE'S TALONS
"What's that?" gasped Ned as the cry from beneath the airship reachedhis ears. "That's too close to come from the ground!"
"It must be Jack!" was Dave's startled exclamation. "He's not in theaeroplane and I can't imagine where he may be!"
"Didn't he get aboard when we started?" queried Ned.
"I thought he did," Harry responded instantly. "I was busy stowingthings out of our way, though, and wasn't paying much attention."
"I missed him just a moment ago," stated Dave excitedly. "Where can hehave gone? Do you suppose he is captured by the Germans?"
"I hope not," Ned replied. "Maybe he missed getting aboard and is withthose fellows down there who are doing the shooting."
"Give me the glasses from that pocket beside you, Dave," requestedHarry. "Perhaps I can see the party well enough to distinguish him."
At the instant Harry leaned over the edge of the car for the purpose ofgetting a better view of the field they had so recently occupiedanother shot rang out from below. Mingled with the report were shoutsand exclamations from several of the soldiers.
As will be remembered distinctly by those of our readers who have hadthe pleasure of riding in aircraft, sounds from the earth aredistinctly heard at a great altitude. In fact, sounds may bedistinguished clearly at a much greater distance in a vertical than ina horizontal direction. It was owing to this fact that the shouts fromthe group below came so clearly to the lads in the Eagle.
"I don't hear Jack's voice amongst the clamor," declare Harry.
"I wonder where he can be?" puzzled Dave, earnestly scanning the vacantspace below. "They cannot have hidden him!"
"Suppose we call out and see if we can get a signal from him,"suggested Harry. "He would try to answer us, I'm sure."
"Go ahead," Ned agreed. "I'll try a little volplaning and see if wecan't get closer to that crowd without getting hit by a bullet."
"Better be careful, Ned," cautioned Dave. "Those fellows are inearnest, I think, and wouldn't stop at anything."
"I'll be careful," was Ned's confident answer. "When you're ready,just yell your heads off for Jack and then watch and listen."
"I'm going to halloo out now," stated Harry, drawing a deep breath.
"Let her go!" urged Ned, manipulating the levers in such a way as topractically check the headway of the slowly moving machine.
"Oh, Ja-a-a-ck!" called Harry at the top of his voice, making a trumpetof his hands. "Oh, Ja-a-a-ack!" he called again.
All three boys were startled to hear the voice of their chum proceedingfrom a point seemingly directly beneath them.
"Here I am," came Jack's cheery tones, although the boys thought theycould detect a slight trace of weariness.
"Where?" cried Ned, greatly surprised at the sudden reply.
"Under the Eagle," replied Jack. "I'm hanging onto a truss rod and canstay here for quite a while if you want to leave the place."
"We surely want to leave the place," answered Ned, reaching again forthe levers. "Can you hang on for a few minutes more?"
"I'm all right for a long time," answered Jack bravely, "but I'd justas soon you'd hit up the speed a little."
Ned's guiding touch upon the levers sent the Eagle forward at a rate ofspeed that quickly carried the entire party to a distance well out ofrifle range from the party below. He was heading for a hill at nogreat distance from their present location.
"I'll land there," he said, indicating by a nod of his head theeminence toward which they were running. "We ought to be able to helpJack out of his position in a very few minutes."
Harry turned the glasses toward the spot Ned had pointed out.
"Look out, Ned!" he cried almost instantly. "I can see a lot ofhelmets there that look as if they were German head dresses."
"Can you see the soldiers under the helmets?" asked Dave.
"Not a soldier!" declared Harry. "But," he added, "that doesn't saythey're not there. Those uniforms they are wearing blend so closelywith the natural colors of the landscape that one can't very well tellwhether a German is near or not until he feels the cloth."
"Or the bullet," put in Dave with a grimace toward the hill.
"We're getting nearer all the while," Ned said. "Keep your eyes open,and if there are soldiers there we'll go somewhere else."
For a moment Harry intently studied the spot they were fastapproaching. With the glasses in position he scanned every foot ofground carefully, not omitting the slightest detail.
"I'm sure I see them now," he stated positively as he lowered theglasses. "We're in a nice mess with Jack hanging under this shipsimply by one of the truss rods. We've got to rescue him!"
"What can we do?" asked Dave, at a loss to solve the difficulty.
"I'll tell you what we'll do!" cried Harry. "I'm the lightest of theparty, so I'll go down and get him! I can do it!"
"Harry, are you crazy?" questioned Ned chidingly. "It's impossible!"
"No, it's not!" stoutly maintained the boy. "He's there, and we'vesimply got to get him. We can't land anywhere hereabouts, and by thetime we can land he'll be exhausted and will have dropped."
"How will you do it?" asked Dave. "Let me help."
"I guess you'll have to do most of the work," replied Harry, reachinginto one of the lockers, from which he drew a coil of light line.
"Not if you go under the fuselage to get Jack," objected Dave.
"Yes, sir!" continued Harry. "When I get down there you'll have to doall the work of engineering the deal. You'll have to do a whole lot ofpulling and hauling, and you'll have to run out on one side to balancethe machine. Mustn't have the ship list too much!"
"Oh, I see!" was Dave's response. "And," he continued, "I won't beable to see where you are, because you'll be on the opposite side frommy own position. How shall we manage?"
"Well, here's my plan," Harry went on rapidly, as he began overhaulingthe coil of line. "When I get out on one side I'll go along theframework, of course. You'll be on the opposite side to balance. Thenwhen you see that the machine is tipping your way you are to get nearerthe center of gravity so as to stabilize the affair."
"I understand," Dave replied, eagerly entering into the spirit of thework. "And when I feel the machine tip away from me I'll go outfarther along the framework so as to again equalize the flight."
"Exactly. Now, it will be a hard job for us to get this line passedunder the framework so that we can get a purchase and pull it to Jack.I can't reach that far, and Jack probably is hanging on with his hands,feet and eyelids, so he can't let go with one hand even."
"I'll tell you how we can fix that," Dave suggested.
"How?" inquired Harry, ready at all times to consider any suggestionsand act upon them if they seemed better than the ones he had made.
"Let's take a loop of the line and fasten it around my body under myarms. You can be inside the machine paying out slack as I need it. Ican take a similar loop and by crawling under the machine I can reachJack all right and pass the loop about his body. Then you can haul inslack bit by bit as he crawls along the truss rod to the side of thefuselage. In that way there will be practically no danger, for theloop of line about our bodies will prevent our falling if we shouldslip."
"Much obliged!" was Harry's acknowledgment of the suggestion. "But,"he went on, "I think it would be better for me to do the work."
"Excuse me for insisting," Dave said in a modest manner, "but I amquite sure that I am better fitted than you. My work in the Northwesthas always required considerable work with my arms, and besides that Iam pretty well developed about the arms and shoulders. I don't want todiscredit your ability, but I'm sure, don't you know, that I amstronger than you and could do the work better. You'll let me try,won't you? Really, you know, you ought to let me help!"
"It's not to your discredit at all, Harry," put in Ned, "that Dave haslarger muscles than you and is perhaps stronger. This is a job
thatrequires all the muscle possible, so I think we'd better let him tryit. We must get Jack out of that place as quickly as possible."
"All right," agreed Harry reluctantly, for he very much disliked topermit anyone but himself to even attempt the rescue of his chum.
Dave lost no time in tying a bowline in a bight at the two ends of thelength of line. One of these he passed over his own body. The otherhe took in his teeth. In another moment he was over the side of thecar, while Harry did his best to balance the Eagle as he had plannedfor Dave to do, at the same time paying out line as it was needed.
Presently the lad felt the machine tipping slightly in his directionand knew that Dave had succeeded in reaching the level of the bottom ofthe car and was crawling along the truss rod underneath.
For a short space of time the two boys in the ear anxiously waited.Harry's patience at length was exhausted, and he called out:
"Have you found Jack, Dave? Is he there all right?"
"Yes, he's here and he's all right, but rather tired."
"Can I help any?" was Harry's next question.
"Not a bit just now. Jack is getting ready to make the climb. Standby the line that I am going to jerk. Haul in slowly."
Bit by bit the line came aboard with its human freight in the loop atthe end. Harry was exceedingly careful to haul in very slowly, inorder that he might not trip his chum and cause a disaster. In a fewmoments that seemed endless ages to Ned and Harry their comrade's headshowed and the Eagle again took a tilt to starboard.
Harry quickly and carefully crawled to a position where he wouldbalance the unusual side strain. He relaxed his vigilance not onewhit, however, and hauled in carefully and slowly on the line.
"Well, that's over with!" sighed Jack as he tumbled over the side ofthe car to a position of safety. "I'm glad it's ended, too!"
"How did it happen?" queried Harry with keen interest.
"Never mind the details just yet," panted Jack, stretching his shakingarms and working his fingers to restore the circulation that had beensomewhat impeded because of the tense muscles. "Let's get Dave up heresafely first. That's one plucky Scout!" the boy added.
"Right you are!" declared Harry. "I'd almost forgotten him!"
"All right, Dave," called Ned, giving the levers a touch to bring theEagle clear of some treetops on a rise of ground. "Coming up?"
"In just a minute," replied Dave from his position. "I'm restingeasily, and I think I see the camp where your comrade is located. Doyou suppose we might pick him up as we fly over the place?"
"That would be a risky and nervy thing to do!" declared Ned.
"Nothing so risky about it that I can see," protested Dave. "I'm allright here, and if you'll pass that line down I'll try to manage todrop the loop where he can get it if we find the right spot."
"I believe Jimmie could do it?" cried Harry enthusiastically.
"All right," assented Ned, "we can't any more than fail!"
Although the feat that the boys proposed attempting would call forconsiderable skill, and was certainly not lacking in danger to allparties, they were not daunted. They had determined to rescue theirfriend at whatever cost and knew that ordinary means would proveuseless.
"Can you see Jimmie anywhere about that camp?" asked Ned, again handingthe glasses to Harry. "Take a good look," he advised.
"I believe I can see him!" announced Harry, peering through thebinoculars. "He's walking out toward the edge of the hill toward thesame spot from which he signalled to us. Some one's with him!"
"Then we'll try it?" determinedly Ned continued.
For a few moments the boys rode in absolute silence with only the whineof the motors breaking the stillness. The Eagle was working perfectlywith not a single hitch about the delicate mechanism.
As they approached the two Uhlans Ned slackened the speed of themotors. Dave dangled the extra loop in a tempting manner.
A rifle shot was heard. The Eagle rose suddenly relieved of weight.