CHAPTER XI
THE FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE
"Suppose so?" questioned Fritz as Jimmie made his announcement that theGermans were shooting at the persons in the aeroplane.
"Well, suppose so!" repeated Jimmie indignantly. "Why do you say'Suppose so'? Where do you get that idea?"
A shrug of the shoulders was the only answer.
"I say," continued Jimmie with still less patience, "what's the bigidea--'suppose so'? Do you want them to shoot those boys?"
"I care not," was the answer. "The ones in the aeroplane are trying toescape are they not? Why, then, should they not come back?"
"Well, why shouldn't they get away?" questioned Jimmie.
"Perhaps they have information for your friends, the Russians!"
"Oh, you give me a fine large pain!" stormed the now thoroughly arousedlad. "Every time you see a shadow, you jump on it for a spy. Is yourold information so precious that nobody must know it? What makes youso suspicious of everybody and everything?"
"It is not right that the enemy should have knowledge of the movementsof the Imperial army," replied Fritz. "That is all."
"And that's quite enough to make me feel that I'd like to be a spy oncejust for pure spite!" declared Jimmie. "You and your spy business makeme tired! We Boy Scouts don't care a rap about your old information!"
"Perhaps," was the smiling response. But Jimmie saw in the smile andthe single word a doubt of his statement. He was furious.
He realized, however, that he could gain nothing by a loss of temper.It was with a great effort that he controlled his temper and forcedhimself to watch the flight of the aeroplane. Deep in his heart theboy was hoping ardently for the success of those in the machine, for hewas now fully convinced that it was Ned and his comrades who hadattempted the flight. He watched every movement with great interest.
When he saw the figure of his friend hanging to the truss rod beneaththe Eagle, Jimmie's heart almost stopped beating, so great was hisanxiety for the other's safety. As the sound of the rifle shotsreached his ears the lad turned away his head, for he did not in theleast doubt that the marksmen had been successful.
When he again looked toward the speeding plane he danced with joy, forhe saw the figure still clinging to its perilous position and knew thatby great good fortune the chum he loved so dearly was unharmed.
Both Jimmie and Fritz gazed eagerly toward the soaring plane, andobserved with great interest the movements incident to Jack's rescue.
"Ha!" ejaculated Fritz, drawing a deep breath, as the two saw that Jackhad regained the deck of the Eagle. "He's a plucky boy!"
"You bet he's a plucky boy!" replied Jimmie, condescending toadminister a friendly slap upon the Uhlan's shoulder. "They don't make'em any more so! And he's a Boy Scout, too!" he added.
"But there is still another boy under the machine," observed Fritz.
"Oh, he'll get out all right!" was Jimmie's confident answer. "You'llhave to go some with your whole army to beat four Boy Scouts!"
"Maybe," admitted Fritz with another smile. "But I see that yourfriends are heading this way. Perhaps they intend paying you a littlevisit before we start to Verdun," he added.
"They sure are headed this way," the lad said. "And the fellowunderneath is riding that way on purpose. I wonder why?"
"Who can tell why a boy does anything?" was Fritz's comment.
"I can tell you why Boy Scouts do a great many things," declared Jimmievehemently. "They do the things that are right and square because itis best and because they are living up to the rules of conduct thatthey are taught. That's why they do those things!"
"And do the Boy Scout rules teach them to be spies?"
"Now you're talking through your hat again!" was the lad's answer."Can't you ever get it out of your head that we are not interested inyour war? We don't want to mix up in your private scraps."
Fritz wagged his head sagely and smiled in a manner that spoke moreeloquently than words of his disbelief in Jimmie's protestations.
"All right," continued the boy, "you don't have to believe it if youdon't want to, but if you live long enough we'll show you!"
"You say 'We,'" responded the soldier. "It would appear that youexpect your friends to join you presently for some enterprise."
"Well, it looks as if they expect to come pretty close to this place,whether I expect them to or not," observed Jimmie, turning his eyestoward the approaching plane and shading his eyes with a hand.
"We shall return to the stables," decided Fritz. "Come."
A movement of the Uhlan attracted Jimmie's attention. The lad saw aglint of steel and wheeled to observe the erstwhile peaceable manturned into an entirely different sort of individual, with his shortsaber held in his hand in a threatening manner.
For a moment the boy contemplated flight. An instant's reflection,however, showed him the folly of such an attempt. He knew that,although he was fleet of foot and believed that he could easily outrunthe other, he would be no match for a bullet if one should be sentafter him. Besides, he saw that his friends could not possibly reachhim with the plane if he should leave the elevated position on which hestood.
Concluding that his only hope of escape lay in patient waiting, the ladturned reluctantly from his position and prepared to accompany Fritz ashe had been directed. He felt that he was giving up the only certainmeans of getting away from the regiment he now thoroughly hated.
"Gee!" he exclaimed petulantly, stepping forward a pace. "It seems asif the whole bloomin' German army was determined that I should getmixed up in the war! First it's von Liebknecht and now it's you andOtto keeping after me, and I never did a thing to any of you!"
"No?" queried Fritz. "But you do not say what you would like to do orwhat you would do if you had the opportunity."
"All right; you win the argument!" said Jimmie in a hopeless tone.
"Then we go now to care for the horses and prepare for the trip toVerdun," decided Fritz, with a twist of the keen blade he held.
Entertaining visions of what might happen if Fritz became too carelessin his attentions with the saber, Jimmie cast a last look over hisshoulder at the rapidly approaching airship. He again took ahesitating step toward the German, as if to accompany him.
Fritz, believing that Jimmie was preparing to follow without furtherparley, began replacing his saber in its scabbard. For an instant hisattention was concentrated on the task in hand.
That instant was enough for the alert boy. With a sudden leap forwardhe threw his weight into a low tackle and clasped his arms about theother's legs. Both came heavily to earth.
Jimmie, having the advantage, was first to rise. As he jumped to hisfeet he again turned to look for the oncoming plane.
The hum of the motors was plainly discernable. He thought he couldeven hear a sharp command given by one of the boys in charge.
Almost overhead he saw the great wings outspread and knew that he hadbeen sighted and that his comrades were trying to afford him theopportunity of escape he so much desired.
One glance revealed the strange lad clinging to a perilous seat on thetruss rod. With one hand the newcomer was balancing himself, whilewith the other he was shaking out into plain view the noose trailing atthe end of a line hanging from the under side of the plane.
His actions clearly indicated that he wanted Jimmie to prepare to graspthe loop and be drawn up to the airship as they rose above the camp ofGermans. Jimmie needed no second invitation.
Without paying the slightest heed to the efforts of Fritz to righthimself from the undignified position into which Jimmie's onslaught hadplaced him, the lad dashed forward to a point from which he thought hecould most advantageously grasp the trailing loop.
Nearer and nearer came the dangling line. The boy, under the extremeexcitement of the moment, began to imagine the feel of the rope in hishands, and reviewed the motions he would have to make in order to seizethe line and be drawn up to his comrades.
H
e gave a brief thought of thankfulness to the gymnasium training NedNestor had so consistently urged upon the members of his patrol, andflexed his biceps in anticipation of the strain they were to receive.
Ned seemed to be handling the Eagle with consummate skill. He hadbrought the machine to an altitude that was nicely calculated to affordJimmie just the opportunity needed without trailing the line upon theground, yet not having it out of the lad's reach.
So absorbed were all the lads that they had not observed the activityabout the German camp caused by the approach of the aeroplane. Theyfailed to see several marksmen running toward their position withrifles ready for instant use and with determination upon their faces.
For the moment the lads seemed to forget that they were approaching acamp of men who suspected them of being Russian spies and who wouldhesitate at nothing to prevent their carrying out their designs.
Nearer and nearer swept the Eagle with her strange purpose. At lengthJimmie's hand was outstretched to grasp the loop of line Dave had socunningly fashioned. He started on a run in the same direction theairship was going, for the purpose of lessening the shock of beingpicked up from a standstill by the airship that was still moving at agood speed. He felt the rope within his hand, and then he heard a shot.
Instantly realizing that their maneuver had been discovered, the ladknew that the soldiers would endeavor by every means within their powerto frustrate the designs of himself and comrades. Yet he wasdetermined to make the attempt at escape, desperate though it was.
He felt himself lifted from his feet, and knew that his grasp on therope was all that was keeping him from being dashed to earth again.
Another rifle shot rang out, and the boy knew that the Germans werepreparing to concentrate their fire upon himself and comrades.
This time he heard the crash of a bullet as it ripped its way throughone of the wings of the Eagle.
In another instant the lad saw by a quick glance earthward that theEagle was not rising rapidly enough to get away from the cluster oftents toward which it was heading. He knew that Ned was doing allpossible to so manipulate the wings of the monster craft that the tentswould be cleared, and hoped ardently that he might be able to do so.
As the Eagle began a sloping ascent that promised to accomplish thepurpose of its pilot another rifle in the hands of a German soldierspoke its sharp command and another bullet sped toward the little party.
A clang of lead upon the metal under part of the fuselage told Jimmie,hanging in midair, that the last marksman had been more successful thanhis companions, and he hoped that no damage was done.
His surprise was indeed great to feel a great trembling and shaking ofthe rope he grasped. He glanced upward to determine the cause.
His astonishment at observing Dave slipping down the rope was so greatthat he nearly loosed his own grip.
Lower and lower came the other boy until he reached the knot of theloop he had tied for Jimmie's benefit. There he hung a moment. Jimmielooked toward the earth again and saw that they were nearly over thetents. Mentally deciding that they would clear the tops, the lad againglanced aloft to observe the strange boy.
It seemed that coincidentally with another shot the Eagle suddenlyjumped miles high into the sky. Then he found himself bumping aboutwith the strange lad in a world of canvas with several other people.
By a strange freak of fortune the last shot had severed the rope bywhich the two boys clung to the airship and had precipitated themstraight onto the tent. There they floundered for a time.
"Ha!" Jimmie heard as he opened his eyes. "Another recruit!"