CHAPTER XXVIII
FLIGHT
Both lads fled through the night knowing that their lives depended uponit. For safety's sake it was absolutely necessary that they put as greata distance as possible between them and the barn.
According to Hal's calculations, the spot where the aeroplane was hiddenwas far enough away so that the machine would not be disabled by theforce of the explosion; and it was for this point that the lads made atfull speed.
They reached there safely; and still there had been no explosion.
"How much time did you allow, Hal?" asked Chester.
"Ten minutes, as nearly as I could judge," was the reply.
"Then we still have a few minutes, I guess. Had we better wait here untilafter the blast, or shall we run out the machine and get up in the air."
"We'd better stay here," returned Hal, positively, "I don't know how muchammunition there is in that barn. It's going to kick up a terrible fuss.My advice is that we lay flat on the ground, hold our ears and bury ourfaces. Immediately after the blast we'll run the machine out and get upas swiftly as possible."
"I can imagine the effect of the explosion," said Chester.
"Well, I can't," returned Hal; "nor can you. How many men it may kill,how many it may maim and what damage it will do cannot be estimated. Butone thing sure, immediately afterwards every sleepy German soldier withinfifty miles will be on the alert. The Germans will know it was not anaccident. They will attribute the explosion to a bomb dropped from theair. We may have trouble reaching our lines."
"I wish you hadn't done it, Hal," mumbled Stubbs, whom the lads hadfound hiding beside the aeroplane. "It will dig a hole a mile deep inthe ground. Rocks, guns and everything will come down like hail. We maybe killed."
"Quiet, Stubbs!" ordered Hal. "Flat on the ground with you now. Hold yourears and bury your faces until I tell you to get up."
He suited the action to the word. Chester and Stubbs followed hisexample.
For long moments, it seemed to them, they waited for the sound of theblast that would shake the country. Each was anxious, for there was notelling what the result of the explosion might be. Stubbs squirmeduneasily as he burrowed in the ground, while Chester and Hal were by nomeans easy in their minds.
So long did they wait that it seemed to Chester something must have gonewrong. Perhaps the fuse had gone out. Perhaps another German guard haddiscovered it in time and pinched out the fire. There were manypossibilities, and the lad considered them all as he lay prostrate onthe ground.
He was about to raise his head and ask Hal a question, when, suddenly,the blast came.
There was, at first, a long grumbling roar, which, it seemed, would neverend. Gradually the roar increased until it reached such proportions as tobe beyond all description; it was a roar the like of which neither of thethree figures who lay there had ever heard before--probably never wouldhear again.
Louder and louder it grew and then ended in a final blast that was louderthan many thousand times the loudest peal of thunder--louder than thesimultaneous firing of thousands of guns.
Then it became suddenly quiet--so quiet that Hal, Chester and Stubbs, whohad now leaped to their feet, felt a queer sensation hovering all aboutthem; so quiet that it was, for the moment, impossible to hear.
Then something descended not five yards from where the three stood with aterrible roar. Instinctively, all fell to the ground again, crowdingthemselves into the smallest possible space.
For the rain of debris had begun. And for several minutes it continued.Pieces of guns, of rocks and of all objects imaginable fell upon allsides of the three; but, fortunately, none struck them. Then the rain ofdebris ceased.
In the great German camp all was hideous confusion. Thousands of liveshad been snuffed out by the force of the titanic blast; thousands ofothers had perished in the rain of steel and iron and rock that followed.It was the greatest catastrophe that had befallen the Germans for many along day. The effect of the explosion was appalling.
Hal's first thought after the rain of steel and iron had ceased was forthe aeroplane. If it had been smashed they were, indeed, in a serioussituation. If it had gone through the storm safely they werecomparatively safe.
Together the three friends rushed toward the machine. Quickly they rolledit out into the open. Hal examined the engine and steering apparatuscarefully.
"All right, Hal?" asked Chester, anxiously.
Hal shook his head.
"Something wrong with the engine."
"Can you fix it?"
"I haven't been able to determine just what's wrong yet."
Hal worked rapidly; and at last he gave an exclamation of satisfaction.
"Find it?" asked Chester.
"Yes; I'll have it fixed in a quarter of an hour."
"If we're not away from here in five minutes we're likely to be dead,"said Stubbs, plaintively.
"Don't croak, Stubbs," said Chester. "We've done a good day's work andyou should be proud to have a hand in it."
"Should I?" said Stubbs. "Well, all right, if you say so; but I would bea whole lot more proud if I could get back and tell somebody about it."
"A man deserves no particular credit for doing his duty," saidChester, quietly.
"Maybe not," agreed Stubbs. "But I haven't done mine yet."
"Why--"
"My duty," said Stubbs, "is to get back to some place where I can send anaccount of this feat to the New York _Gazette_. Believe me, it will besome scoop."
"Scoop?"
"Yes. I mean no other paper will have the facts as I have them."
"All right, Stubbs," said Chester. "I hope you get your scoop."
"I'm going to get it," said Stubbs, excitedly, "if I have to walk overthe body of the Kaiser himself to do it."
"That's the way to talk," said Chester. "Confidence is the greatest assetin the world."
"It's not confidence," said Stubbs. "I've just got to do it. Why, if myboss knew I had something like this in my hands and I didn't get it tohim I'd lose my job."
Chester made no reply to this; instead, he bent over Hal who was stilltinkering with the engine of the aeroplane.
"How are you making it?" he asked.
"I don't seem to be able to fix it," returned Hal. "Say! you two fellowswalk away a bit and keep an eye open for possible enemies. We don't wantto be caught off our guard here."
Chester and Stubbs did as Hal directed, though the latter mumbled tohimself as he took his position some distance away.
"That's the trouble with these contraptions," he said. "Always out ofwhack. If a man had a good horse now--"
He broke off and continued to mumble something unintelligible to himself.
"I've found it," cried Hal now, from the aeroplane. "I was working on thewrong part. I'll have it fixed in a jiffy."
Chester made no reply, but Stubbs brightened up wonderfully.
"That's the talk!" he cried. "Fix her up, Hal, and get a move on."
Hal smiled to himself as he tinkered with the engine.
Hal was deep in his work when his attention was attracted by a sudden cryof alarm from Stubbs.
"Germans!" cried the little man, and without stopping to look again, hedashed toward Hal.
At almost the same moment Chester saw a force of the enemy advancingtoward him. He, too, uttered a cry of alarm and dashed toward the placewhere Hal still bent over the aeroplane.
Stubbs danced up and down and chanted excitedly:
"Hurry up, Hal! Hurry up! Here they come!"
"Shut up, Stubbs!" exclaimed Hal, straining all his energies to fix thebreak in the plane. "I'll have it in a minute."
"A minute will be too late!" cried Stubbs.
"Be still, Stubbs!" said Chester, quietly. "Give Hal a chance. There isstill time to run if it's necessary."
And at that moment Hal sprang to his feet.
"Fixed!" he cried joyfully. "Climb in here, quickly!"
The others needed no urging and soon all were in the
ir places. It was nowthat Hal thanked his stars that the plane was one of the few that couldrise from the ground.
Slowly the large army plane gathered headway as he moved along theground. Hal increased the speed slowly in spite of the close proximity,for he realized that too great haste might spell disaster, and he wishedto test the engine carefully before soaring into the air.
"Up, Hal!" cried Stubbs. "Here they come!"
Hal paid no heed to this frantic exclamation. Instead, for a moment, hereduced the speed of the craft as something seemed not to be workingexactly right. Calmly he bent over the engine and tinkered with it amoment later. Then he sat straight and exclaimed:
"All right now!"
Stubbs gave a great sigh of relief.
Hal increased the speed of the machine until it fairly flew over theground. And then his hand touched the elevating lever.
Immediately the plane soared in the air like a big bird.
And from the ground came exclamations of surprise; for it was not untilthat moment that the Germans who had been advancing toward the friendshad discovered their presence; although they had been espied by Chesterand Stubbs some moments before.
A volley of rifle bullets was fired at the rapidly rising machine.
One flew by Stubbs' ear and he dropped to the bottom of the car with ahowl of fright.
A moment later, however, the machine was beyond reach of the rifles ofthe German troops, and Hal laid the craft out on a straightaway course,heading directly west.
"Nothing can stop us now but enemy aeroplanes," he said quietly.
He increased his speed. The big army plane flew toward the distant Frenchlines with a speed greater than that of the fastest express train.