initial commit of ebook 6458HEADmain

11 files changed, 24708 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/6458-0.txt b/6458-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52dd9e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6458-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5799 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys in the Big Battle
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Release Date: September, 2004  [EBook #6458]
+Posting Date: March 23, 2009
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sean Pobuda
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE
+
+Or SILENCING THE BIG GUNS
+
+
+By Charles Amory Beach
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. BAD NEWS FROM THE AIR
+
+
+“Well, Tom, how's your head now?”
+
+“How's my head? What do you mean? There's nothing the matter with
+my head,” and the speaker, who wore the uniform of a French aviator,
+glanced up in surprise from the cot on which he was reclining in his
+tent near the airdromes that stretched around a great level field, not
+far from Paris.
+
+“Oh, isn't there?” questioned Jack Parmly, with a smile. “Then I
+beg your pardon for asking, my cabbage! I beg your pardon, Sergeant
+Raymond!”
+
+Tom Raymond, whose, chum had addressed him by the military title, looked
+curiously at his companion, and smiled at the appellation of the term
+cabbage. It was one of the many little tricks picked up by association
+with their French flying comrades, of speaking to a friend by some odd,
+endearing term. It might be cucumber or rose, cabbage or cart wheel--the
+words mattered not, it was the meaning back of them.
+
+“Say, is anything the matter?” went on Tom, as his chum, attired
+like himself', but wearing an old blouse covered with oil and grease,
+continued to smile. “What gave you the notion that my head hurt?”
+
+“I didn't say it hurt. I only asked how it was. The swelling hasn't
+begun to subside in mine yet, and I was wondering if it had in yours.”
+
+“Swelling? Subside? What in the world--”
+
+Jack Parmly brought to a sudden termination the rapid torrent of words
+from the mouth of his churn by silently pointing to a small medal
+fastened to the uniform jacket of his friend. It was the coveted croix
+de guerre.
+
+“Oh, that!” exclaimed Tom.
+
+“Nothing else, my pickled beet!” answered Jack. “Doesn't it make your
+head swell up as if it would burst every time you look at it? Now don't
+say it doesn't, for that's the way it affects me, and I'm sure you're
+not very different. And every time I read the citation that goes with
+the medal--well, I'm just aching for a chance to show it to the folks
+back home, aren't you, Sergeant?”
+
+Tom Raymond started a bit at the second use of the title.
+
+“I see you aren't any more used to it than I am!” exclaimed Jack. “Well,
+it'll be a little time before we stop looking around to see if it isn't
+some one behind us they're talking to. So I thought I'd practice it
+a bit on you. And you can do the same for me. I should think, out of
+common politeness, you'd get up, salute and call me the same.”
+
+“Oh! Now I see what you're driving at,” voiced Tom, as he glanced up
+from a momentary look at his medal to the face of his comrade-in-arms,
+or perhaps in flying would be more appropriate. “The wind's in that
+quarter, is it?”
+
+“No wind at all to speak of,” broke in Jack. “If you'd like to go for a
+fly, and see if we can bag a Boche or two, I'm with you.”
+
+“Against orders, Jack. I'd like to, but we were ordered here for rest
+and observation work; and you know, as well as I do, that obeying orders
+is just as important as sending a member of the Hun Flying Circus down
+where he can't do any more of his grandstand stunts. But I'm hoping the
+time will come when we can climb up back of our machine guns again, and
+do our bit to show that the little old U. S. A. is still on the map.”
+
+“I guess that time'll soon come, Tom, old man. I heard rumors that a
+lot of us were to be sent up nearer the front shortly, and if they don't
+include you and me, there'll be something doing in this camp!”
+
+“That's what I say. So you thought I'd have a swelled head, did you,
+because they gave us the croix de guerre?”
+
+“I confess I had a faint suspicion that way,” admitted Jack. “Both of us
+being advanced to sergeants was a big step, too.”
+
+“It was,” agreed Tom. “I almost wish they hadn't done it, for there are
+lots of others in the escadrille that deserve it fully as much, and some
+more, than we do.”
+
+“That's right. But you can't make these delightful Frenchmen see
+anything the way you want 'em to. Once they get a notion in their heads
+that you've done something for la belle Frame, they're your friends
+for life, kissing you on both cheeks and pinning medals on you wherever
+they'll stick.”
+
+“Well, they mean all right, Jack,” said Tom. “And there aren't any
+braver or more lovable people on the face of the earth than these same
+French. They've done more and suffered more for their country than we
+dream of. And it's only natural that they should say 'much obliged,' in
+their own particular way, to any one they think is helping to free them
+from the Germans.”
+
+“I suppose you're right. But advancing us to sergeants would have been
+enough, without pinning the decorations on us and mentioning us in the
+order of the day, as well as giving us as fine a citation as ever was
+signed by a commanding general. However, it's all in the day's work,
+though when we flew over the German super cannons, and did our bit in
+helping demolish them so they couldn't shell Paris any more, we didn't
+think--or, at least, I didn't--that we'd be sitting here talking about
+it.”
+
+“Me either,” agreed Tom. “But, to get down to brass tacks, what have you
+been doing to get into such a mess? You look like a chauffeur of the
+old days they tell of when they had to climb under the car to see if it
+needed oiling--”
+
+“That's just about what I have been doing,” admitted Jack. “When I heard
+the rumor that our escadrille might get orders to move at any hour, I
+decided that it was up to me to look MY machine over. It didn't make
+that nose dive just the way I wanted it to the last time I was up, and
+I'm not taking any chances. So I've been crawling in and around and
+under it--”
+
+“While I've been lying here I taking it easy!” broke in Tom. “I don't
+call that fair of you, Jack,” and he seemed genuinely hurt.
+
+“Go easy now, my pickled onion!” laughed his chum. “I wasn't going to
+leave you out in the cold. I just came to tell you that you'd better
+stop looking like a moving picture of an airman, and put on some old
+duds to look over your own craft. And here you go and--”
+
+“All right, old ham sandwich!” laughed Tom.
+
+ “I'll forgive you.  I'm going to do the same as you, and tinker
+with my machine. If, as you say, we're likely to be on the job again
+soon, I don't want too take any chances either. Where's that mechanician
+of mine? There was something wrong with my joy stick, he said, the last
+time I came down out of the clouds to take an enforced rest, and I might
+as well start with that, if there's any repairing to be done--”
+
+Tom flung off his uniform jacket, with the two silver wings, denoting
+that he was a full-fledged airman, and sent an orderly to summon his
+chief mechanician, for each aviator had several helpers to run messages
+for him, as well as to see that his machine is in perfect trim.
+
+Experts are needed to see to it that the machine and the aviator are in
+perfect trim, leaving for the airman himself the trying and difficult
+task, sometimes, of flying upside down, while he is making observations
+of the enemy with one eye, and fighting off a Boche with the
+other--ready to kill or be killed.
+
+Sergeants Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, chums and fellow airmen flying
+for France, started toward the aerodromes where their machines were kept
+when not in use. They were both attired now for hard and not very clean
+work, though the more laborious part would be done by mechanics at their
+orders. Still the lads themselves would leave nothing to chance. Indeed
+no airman does, for in very, truth his He and the success of an army
+may, at times, depend on the strength or weakness of a seemingly
+insignificant bit of wire or the continuity of a small gasoline pipe.
+
+“Well, it'll seem good to get up in the air again,” remarked Jack. “A
+little rest is all right, but too much is more than enough.”
+
+“Right O, my sliced liberty bond!” laughed Tom. “And now--”
+
+Their talk was interrupted by a cheer that broke out in front of a
+recreation house, in reality a YMCA hut, or le Foyer du Soldat as it
+was called. It was where the airmen went when not on duty to read the
+papers, write letters and buy chocolate.
+
+“What's up now?” asked Jack, as he and his chum looked toward the
+cheering squad of aviators and their assistants.
+
+“Give it up. Let's go over and find out.”
+
+They broke into a run as the cheering continued, and then they saw hats
+being thrown into the air and men capering about with every evidence of
+joy.
+
+“We must have won a big battle!” cried Jack.
+
+“Seems so,” agreed Tom. “Hi there! what is it?” he asked in French of a
+fellow aviator.
+
+“What is it? You ask me what? Ah, joy of my life! It is you who ought to
+know first! It is you who should give thanks! Ah!”
+
+“Yes, that's all right, old man,” returned Jack in English. “We'll give
+thanks right as soon as we know what it is; but we aren't mind readers,
+you know, and there are so many things to guess at that there's no use
+in wasting the time. Tell us, like a good chap!” he begged in French,
+for he saw the puzzled look on the face of the aviator Tom had
+addressed.
+
+“It is the best news ever!” was the answer. “The first of your brave
+countrymen have arrived to help us drive the Boche from France! The
+first American Expeditionary Force, to serve under your brave General
+Pershing, has reached the shores of France safely, in spite of the
+U-boats, and are even now marching to show themselves in Paris! Ah, is
+it any wonder that we rejoice? How is it you say in your own delightful
+country? Two cheers and a lion! Ah!”
+
+“Tiger, my dear boy! Tiger!” laughed Jack. “And, while you're about it,
+you might as well make it three cheers and done with it. Not that it
+makes any great amount of difference in this case, but it's just the
+custom, my stuffed olive!”
+
+And then he and Tom were fairly carried off their feet by the rush of
+enthusiastic Frenchmen to congratulate them on the good news, and to
+share it with them.
+
+“Is it really true?” asked Tom. “Has any substantial part of Uncle Sam's
+boys really got here at last?”
+
+He was told that such was the case. The news had just been received
+at the headquarters of the flying squad to which Tom and Jack were
+attached. About ten thousand American soldiers were even then on French
+soil. Their coming had long been waited for, and the arrangements sailed
+in secret, and the news was known in American cities scarcely any sooner
+than it was in France, so careful had the military authorities been
+not to give the lurking German submarines a chance to torpedo the
+transports.
+
+“Is not that glorious news, my friend?” asked the Frenchman who had
+given it to Tom and Jack.
+
+“The best ever!” was the enthusiastic reply. And then Jack, turning
+to his chum, said in a low voice, as the Frenchman hurried back to the
+cheering throng: “You know what this means for us, of course?”
+
+“Rather guess I do!” was the response. “It means we've got to apply for
+a transfer and fight under Pershing!”
+
+“Exactly. Now how are we going to do it?”
+
+“Oh, I fancy it will be all right. Merely a question of detail and
+procedure. They can't object to our wanting to fight among our own
+countrymen, now that enough of them are over here to make a showing. I
+suppose this is the first of the big army that's coming.”
+
+“I imagine so,” agreed Jack. “Hurray! this is something like. There's
+going to be hard fighting. I realize that. But this is the beginning of
+the end, as I see it.”
+
+“That's what! Now, instead of tinkering over our machines, let's see the
+commandant and---”
+
+Jack motioned to his chum to cease talking. Then he pointed up to the
+sky. There was a little speck against the blue, a speck that became
+larger as the two Americans watched.
+
+“One of our fliers coming bark,” remarked Tom in a low voice.
+
+“I hope he brings more good news,” returned Jack.
+
+The approaching airman came rapidly nearer, and then the throngs that
+had gathered about the headquarters building to discuss the news of the
+arrival of the first American forces turned to watch the return of the
+flier.
+
+“It's Du Boise,” remarked Tom, naming an intrepid French fighter. He was
+one of the “aces,” and had more than a score of Boche machines to
+his credit. “He must have been out 'on his own,' looking for a stray
+German.”
+
+“Yes, he and Leroy went out together,” assented Jack. “But I don't see
+Harry's machine,” and anxiously he scanned the heavens.
+
+Harry Leroy was, like Tom and Jack, an American aviator who had lately
+joined the force in which the two friends had rendered such valiant
+service. Tom and Jack had known him on the other side--had, in fact,
+first met and become friendly with him at a flying school in Virginia.
+Leroy had suffered a slight accident which had put him out of the flying
+service for a year, but he had persisted, had finally been accepted, and
+was welcomed to France by his chums who had preceded him.
+
+“I hope nothing has happened to Harry,” murmured Tom; “but I don't see
+him, and it's queer Du Boise would come back without him.”
+
+“Maybe he had to--for gasoline or something,” suggested Jack.
+
+“I hope it isn't any worse than that,” went on Tom. But his voice did
+not carry conviction.
+
+The French aviator landed, and as he climbed out of his machine, helped
+by orderlies and others who rushed up, he was seen to stagger.
+
+“Are you hurt?” asked Tom, hurrying up.
+
+“A mere scratch-nothing, thank you,” was the answer.
+
+“Where's Harry Leroy?” Jack asked. “Did you have to leave him?”
+
+“Ah, monsieur, I bring you bad news from the air,” was the answer. “We
+were attacked by seven Boche machines. We each got one, and then--well,
+they got me--but what matters that? It is a mere nothing.”
+
+“What of Harry?” persisted Tom.
+
+“Ah, it is of him I would speak. He is--he fell inside the enemy lines;
+and I had to come back for help. My petrol gave out, and I--“'
+
+And then, pressing his hands over his breast, the brave airman staggered
+and fell, as a stream of blood issued from beneath his jacket.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. A GIRL'S APPEAL
+
+
+At once half a score of hands reached out to render aid to the stricken
+airman, whose blood was staining the ground where he had fallen.
+
+Tom, seeing that his fellow aviator was more desperately wounded than
+the brave man had admitted, at once summoned stretcher-bearers, and he
+was carried to the hospital. Then all anxiously awaited the report of
+the surgeons, who quickly prepared to render aid to the fighter of the
+air.
+
+“How is he?” asked Jack, as he and Tom, lingering near the hospital, saw
+one of the doctors emerge.
+
+“He is doing very nicely,” was the answer, given in French, for the two
+boys of the air spoke this language now with ease, if not always with
+absolute correctness.
+
+“Then he isn't badly hurt?” asked Jack.
+
+“No. The wound in his chest was only a flesh one, but it bled
+considerably. Two bullets from an aircraft machine gun struck ribs, and
+glanced off from them, but tore the flesh badly. The bleeding was held
+in check by the pressure DU Boise exerted on the wounds underneath
+his jacket, but at last he grew faint from loss of blood, and then the
+stream welled out. With rest and care he will be all right in a few
+days.”
+
+“How soon could we talk with him?” asked Tom.
+
+“Talk with him?” asked the surgeon. “Is that necessary? He is doing very
+well, and--”
+
+“Tom means ask him some questions,” explained Jack. “You see, he started
+to tell us about our chum, Harry Leroy, who was out scouting with him.
+Harry was shot down, so Du Boise said, but he didn't get a chance to
+give any particulars, and we thought--”
+
+“It will be a day or so before he will be able to talk to you,” the
+surgeon said. “He is very weak, and must not be disturbed.”
+
+“Well, may we talk with him just as soon as possible?” eagerly asked
+Jack. “We want to find out where it was that Harry went down in his
+machine--out of control very likely--and if we get a chance--”
+
+“We'd like to take it out on those that shot him down!” interrupted
+Torn. “Du Boise must have noticed the machines that fought him and
+Harry, and if we could get any idea of the Boches who were in them--”
+
+“I see,” and the surgeon bowed and smiled approval of their idea. “You
+want revenge. I hope you get it. As soon as we think he is able to
+talk,” and he nodded in the direction of the hospital, “we will let you
+see him. Good luck to you, and confusion to the Huns!”
+
+“Gee, but this is tough luck!” murmured Tom, as he and his chum turned
+away. “Just as we were getting ready to go back into the game, too! Had
+it all fixed up for Harry to fly with us in a sort of a triangle scheme
+to down the Boches, and they have to go and plump him off the map. Well,
+it is tough!”
+
+“Yes, sort of takes the fun out of the good news we heard a while ago,”
+ agreed Jack. “I mean about Pershing's boys getting over here to France.
+I hope Harry's only wounded, instead of killed. But if the Huns have him
+a prisoner--good-night!”
+
+“There's only one consolation,” added Tom. “Their airmen are the best of
+the lot Of course that isn't saying much, but they behave a little more
+like human beings than the rest of the Boche gang; and if Harry has
+fallen a prisoner to them he'll get a bit of decent treatment, anyhow.”
+
+“That's so. We'll hope for that. And now let's go on with what we
+started when we saw Du Boise coming back--let's see what chance we have
+of being transferred to an All American escadrille.”
+
+The boys started across the field again toward the headquarters, and,
+nearing it, they saw, in a small motor car, a girl sitting beside the
+military driver. She was a pretty girl, and it needed only one glance to
+show that she was an American.
+
+“Hello!” exclaimed Tom, with a low whistle. “Look who's here!”
+
+“Do you know her?” asked Jack.
+
+“No. Wish I did, though.”
+
+Jack glanced quickly and curiously at his chum.
+
+“Oh, you needn't think you're the only chap that has a drag with the
+girls,” went on Tom. “Just because Bessie Gleason--”
+
+“Cut it out!” exclaimed Jack. “Look, she acts as though she wanted to
+speak to us.”
+
+The military chauffeur had alighted from the machine and was talking
+to one of the French aviation officers. Meanwhile the girl, left to
+herself, was looking about the big aviation field, with a look of
+wonder, mixed with alarm and nervousness. She caught sight of Tom and
+Jack, and a smile came to her face, making her, as Tom said afterward,
+the prettiest picture he had seen in a long while.
+
+“You're Americans, aren't you?” began the girl, turning frankly to them.
+“I know you are! And, oh, I'm in such trouble!”
+
+Tom stepped ahead of Jack, who was taking off his cap and bowing.
+
+“Let me have a show for my white alley,” Tom murmured to his chum.
+“You've got one girl.”
+
+“You win,” murmured Jack.
+
+“Yes, we're from the United States,” said Tom. “But it's queer to see
+a girl here--from America or anywhere else. How'd you get through the
+lines, and what can we do for you?”
+
+“I am looking for my brother,” was the answer. “I understood he was
+stationed here, and I managed to get passes to come to see him, but it
+wasn't easy work. I met this officer in his motor car, and he brought
+me along the last stage of the journey. Can you tell me where my brother
+is? His name is Harry Leroy.”
+
+Torn said afterward that he felt as though he had gone into a spinning
+nose dive with a Boche aviator on his tail, while Jack admitted that he
+felt somewhat as he did the time his gasoline pipe was severed by a Hun
+bullet when he was high in the air and several miles behind the enemy's
+lines.
+
+“Your--your brother!” Tom managed to mutter.
+
+“Yes, Harry Leroy. He's from the United States, too. Perhaps you know
+him, as I notice you are both aviators. He told me if I ever got to
+France to come to see him, and he mentioned the names of two young
+men--I have them here somewhere--”
+
+She began to search in the depths of a little leather valise she
+carried, and, at that moment, the military chauffeur who had brought her
+to the aviation field turned to her, and spoke rapidly in French.
+
+She understood the language, as did Tom and Jack, and at the first words
+her face went white. For the chauffeur informed her that her brother,
+Harry Leroy, whom she had come so far to see, was, even then, lying dead
+or wounded within the German lines.
+
+“Oh!” the girl murmured, her fare becoming whiter and more white.
+“Oh--Harry!”
+
+Then she would have fallen from the seat, only Tom leaped forward and
+caught her in his arms.
+
+And while efforts were being made to restore the girl to consciousness,
+may I not take this opportunity of telling my new readers something of
+the previous books of this series, so that they may read this one more
+intelligently?
+
+Torn Raymond and Jack Parmly, as related in the initial volume, “Air
+Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette
+Escadrille,” were Virginians. Soon after the great world conflict
+started, they burned with a desire to fight on the side of freedom, and
+it was as aviators that they desired to help.
+
+Accordingly they went to an aviation school in Virginia, under the
+auspices of the Government, and there learned the rudiments of flying.
+Tom's father had invented an aeroplane stabilizer, but, as told in the
+story, the plans and other papers had been stolen by a German spy.
+
+Tom and his chum resolved to get possession of the documents, and they
+kept up the search after they reached France and were made members
+of the Lafayette Escadrille. It was in France that they met Adolph
+Tuessing, the German spy.
+
+The second volume, entitled “Air Service Boys Over the Enemy's Lines;
+or The German Spy's Secret,” takes the two young men through further
+adventures. They had become acquainted on the steamer with a girl named
+Bessie Gleason and her mother. Carl Potzfeldt, a German sailing under
+false colors, claimed to be a friend of Bessie and her mother, but Jack,
+who was more than casually interested in the girl, was suspicious of
+this man. And his suspicions proved correct, for Potzfeldt had planned a
+daring trick.
+
+After some strenuous happenings, in which the Air Service Boys assisted,
+Bessie and her mother were rescued from the clutches of Potzfeldt,
+and went to Paris, Mrs. Gleason engaging in Red Cross work, and Bessie
+helping her as best she could.
+
+ Immediately preceding this present volume is the third, called “Air
+Service Boys Over the Rhine; or Fighting Above the Clouds.”
+
+By this time the United States had entered the great war on the side of
+humanity and democracy.
+
+Then the world was startled by the news that a great German cannon was
+firing on Paris seventy miles away, and consternation reigned for a
+time. Tom and Jack had a hand in silencing the great gun, for it was
+they who discovered where it was hidden. Also in the third volume is
+related how Tom's father, who had disappeared, was found again.
+
+The boys passed through many startling experiences with their usual
+bravery, so that, when the present story opens, they were taking a
+much needed and well-earned rest. Mr. Raymond, having accomplished his
+mission, had returned to the United States.
+
+Then, as we have seen, came the news of the arrival of the first of
+Pershing's forces, and with it came the sad message that Harry Leroy,
+the chum of Torn and Jack, had fallen behind the German lines. And
+whether he was alive now, though wounded, or was another victim of the
+Hun machine guns, could not be told.
+
+“Harry's sister couldn't have come at a worse time,” remarked Tom, as he
+rejoined Jack, having carried the unconscious girl to the same hospital
+where Du Boise lay wounded.
+
+“I should say not!” agreed Jack. “Do you really suppose she's Harry's
+sister?”
+
+“I don't see Any reason to doubt it. She said so, didn't she?”
+
+“Oh, yes, of course. I was just wondering. Say, it's going to be tough
+when she wakes up and realizes what's happened.”
+
+“You bet it is! This has been a tough day all around, and if it wasn't
+for the good news that our boys are in France I'd feel pretty rocky. But
+now we've got all the more incentive to get busy!” exclaimed Tom.
+
+“What do you mean?”
+
+“I mean get our machines in fighting trim. I'm going out and get a few
+Germans to make up for what they did to Harry.”
+
+“You're right! I'm with you! But what about what's her name--I mean
+Harry's sister?”
+
+“I didn't hear her name. Some of the Red Cross nurses are looking after
+her. They promised to let me know when she came to. We can offer to help
+her, I suppose, being, as you might say, neighbors.”
+
+“Sure!” agreed Jack. “I'm with you. But let's go and--”
+
+However they did not go at once, wherever it was that Jack was going to
+propose, for, at that moment, one of the Red Cross nurses attached to
+the aviation hospital came to the door and beckoned to the boys.
+
+“Miss Leroy is conscious now,” was the message. “She wants to see you
+two,” and the nurse smiled at them.
+
+Tom and Jack found Miss Leroy, looking pale, but prettier than ever,
+sitting up in a chair. She leaned forward eagerly as they entered, and,
+holding out her hands, exclaimed:
+
+“They tell me you are my brother's chums! Oh, can you not get me some
+news of him? Can you not let him know that I have come so far to see
+him? I am anxious! Oh, where is he?” and she looked from Tom to Jack,
+and then to Tom again.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. ANXIOUS WAITING
+
+
+Nellie Leroy--for such the boys learned was her name--broke the silence,
+that was growing tense, by asking:
+
+“Is there any hope? Tell me, do you think there is a chance that my
+brother may be alive?”
+
+“Yes, there is, certainly!” exclaimed Tom quickly, before Jack had an
+opportunity to give, possibly, a less hopeful answer.
+
+“And if he is alive, is there a chance that he may be rescued--that I
+may go to him?” she went on.
+
+“Hardly that,” said Tom, slowly. “It's a wonder you ever got as near to
+the front as this. But as for getting past the German lines--”
+
+“Then what can I do?” asked Nellie Leroy, eagerly. “Oh, tell me
+something that I can do. I'm used to hard work,” she went on. “I've been
+a Red Cross nurse for some time, and I helped in one big explosion of a
+munitions plant in New Jersey before I came over. That's one reason they
+let me come--because I proved that I could do things!” and she did
+look very efficient, in spite of her paleness, in spite of her, seeming
+frailness. There was an indefinable air about her which showed that
+she would carry through whatever she undertook. “I never fainted
+before--never.”
+
+“It's like this,” said Tom, and Jack seemed content, now, to let his
+chum play the chief role. “When one of us goes down in his machine back
+of the enemy's lines, those left over here never really know what has
+happened for a few days.”
+
+“And how do they know then?' she asked.
+
+“The German airmen are more decent than some of the other Hun forces
+we're fighting,” explained Torn. “Generally after they capture one of
+our escadrille members, dead or alive, they fly over our lines a few
+days later and drop a cap, or a glove, or something that belongs to the
+prisoner. Sometimes they attach a note, written by one of their airmen
+or from the prisoner, giving news of his condition.”
+
+“And you think they may do this in my brother's case?” asked Nellie.
+
+“They are very likely to,” assented Tom, and Jack, to whom the girl
+looked for confirmation, nodded, his agreement.
+
+“How long shall we have to wait?” Harry's sister asked.
+
+“There is no telling,” said Tom “Sometimes it's a week before their
+airmen get a chance to fly over our lines. It all depends.”
+
+“On what?”
+
+“On how the battle goes,” answered Tom. “If there is much fighting, and
+many engagements in the air, the Boches don't get a chance to fly over
+and drop tokens of our men they may have shot down. We do the same for
+them, so it's six of one and a half dozen of the other. Often for a week
+we don't get a chance to let them know about prisoners we have, because
+the fighting is so severe.”
+
+“Will it be that way now?” the girl went on.
+
+“Hard to say--we don't have the ordering of battles,” replied Jack. “But
+it's been rather quiet for a few days, and it's likely to continue so.
+If it does one of their men may fly over to-morrow, or the next day, and
+drop something your brother wore--or even a note from him.”
+
+“Oh, I hope they do the last!” she murmured. “If I could have a note
+from him I'd be the happiest girl alive I I'd know, then, that he was
+all right.”
+
+“He may be,” said Tom, trying to be hopeful. “You see Du Boise, who was
+with Harry when the fight took place, is himself wounded, so he can't
+tell us much about it.”
+
+“Yes, they told me that my brother's companion reached here badly
+hurt. He is so brave! I wish they would let me help take care of him. I
+understand a great deal about wounds, and I'm not at all afraid of the
+sight of blood. It was silly of me to faint just now, but--I--I couldn't
+help it. I'd been counting so much on seeing Harry, and when they told
+me he was gone--”
+
+She covered her face with her hands, and endeavored to repress her
+emotion.
+
+“You're not Harry's little sister, are you?” asked Jack, hoping to
+change the current of talk into other and happier channels.
+
+“No; that's Mabel--Mab he calls her. She's younger than I. Did he often
+speak of her?”
+
+“Oh, yes; and you too!” exclaimed Tom, so warmly that Nellie blushed,
+and the damask tint in her hitherto pale cheeks was most becoming.
+
+“We've seen your picture, and Mab's too,” went on Tom. “Harry keeps them
+just over his cot in the barracks. But I didn't recognize you when I saw
+you a little while ago in the machine. Though I might have, if so many
+things hadn't happened all at once, and made me sort of hazy,” Tom
+explained.
+
+“Then are you and my brother good friends?” asked Nellie.
+
+“The best ever!” exclaimed Tom, and Jack warmly assented. “Not so many
+Americans are in this branch of the escadrille as are in others,” Torn
+went on; “so Harry and Jack and I are a sort of little trio all by
+ourselves. He hardly ever goes up without us, but we are on a rest
+billet; and to-day he went up with Du Boise.”
+
+“If he had only come back!” sighed Nellie. “But there! I mustn't
+complain. Harry wouldn't let me if he were here. We both have to do our
+duty. Now I'm going to see what I can do to help, and not be silly and
+do any more fainting. I hope you'll pardon me,” and she smiled at the
+two boys.
+
+“Of course!” exclaimed Tom, with great emphasis, and again Miss Leroy
+blushed.
+
+“Then, is to wait the only thing we can do?” she asked.
+
+“That's all,” assented Tom. “We may get a message from the clouds any
+day.”
+
+“And, oh! I shall pray that it may be favorable!” murmured the girl.
+“Perhaps I may question this Mr. Du Boise, and learn from him just what
+happened?” she interrogated.
+
+“Yes, we want to talk to him ourselves, as soon as he's able to sit up,”
+ said Jack. “We want to get a shot at the Boche who downed Harry.”
+
+“So you are as fond of Harry as all that! I am glad!” exclaimed his
+sister. “Have you known him long?”
+
+“We knew him slightly before we went to the flying school in
+Virginia with him,” said Tom. “But down there, when we started in at
+'grass-cutting,' and worked our way up, we grew to know him better. Then
+Jack and I got our chance to come over. But Harry had a smash, and he
+had to wait a year.”
+
+“Yes, I know. It almost broke his heart,” said Miss Leroy. “I was away
+at school at the time, which accounts for my not knowing more of you
+boys, since Harry always wrote me, or told me, about his chums. Then,
+when I came back after my graduation, I found that he had sailed for
+France.”
+
+“And maybe we weren't glad to see him!” exclaimed Tom. “It was like
+getting letters from home.”
+
+“Yes, I recall, now, his mentioning that he had met over here some
+students from the Virginia school,” said Miss Leroy. “Well, after Harry
+sailed I was wild to go, but father and mother would not hear of it at
+first. Then, when the war grew worse, and I showed them that I could do
+hard work for the Red Cross, they consented. So I sailed, but I never
+expected to get like this.”
+
+“Oh, well, everything may come out all right,” said Tom, as cheerfully
+as he could. But, in very truth, he was not very hopeful in his heart.
+
+For once an aviator succumbs to the hail of bullets from the German
+machine guns in an aircraft, and his own creature of steel and wings
+goes hurtling down, there is only a scant chance that the disabled
+airman will land alive.
+
+Of course some have done it, and, even with their machines out of
+control and on fire, they have lived through the awful experience. But
+the chances were and are against them.
+
+Harry Leroy had been seen to go down, apparently with his machine out of
+control, after a fusillade of Boche bullets. This much Du Boise had said
+before his collapse. As to what the fallen aviator's real fate was, time
+alone could disclose.
+
+“I can only wait!” sighed Nellie, as the boys took their leave. “The
+days will be anxious ones--days of waiting. I shall help here all I
+can. You'll let me know the moment there is any news--good or bad--won't
+you?” she begged; and her eyes filled with tears.
+
+“We'll bring you the news at once--night or day!” exclaimed Tom,
+vigorously.
+
+As he and Jack walked out of the hospital, the latter remarked:
+
+“You seem to be a favorite there, all right, Tom, my boy. If we weren't
+such good chums I might be a bit jealous.”
+
+“If you feel that way I'll drop Bessie Gleason a note!” suggested Tom,
+quickly.
+
+“Don't!” begged Jack. “I'll be good!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. TRANSFERRED
+
+
+One glance at the bulletin board, erected just outside their quarters at
+the aerodrome, told Tom and Jack what they were detailed for that day.
+It was the day following the arrival of Nellie Leroy at that particular
+place in France, only to find that her brother was missing--either dead,
+or alive and a prisoner behind the German lines.
+
+“Sergeant Thomas Raymond will report to headquarters at eight o'clock,
+to do patrol work.”
+
+“Sergeant Jack Parmly will report to headquarters at eight o'clock for
+reconnaissance with a photographer, who will be detailed.”
+
+Thus read the bulletin board, and Tom and Jack, looking at it, nodded to
+one another, while Tom remarked:
+
+“Got our work cut out for us all right.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Jack. “Only I wish I could change places with you. I don't
+like those big, heavy machines.”
+
+But orders are orders, nowhere more so than in the aviation squad, and
+soon the two lads, after a hearty if hasty breakfast, were ready for the
+day's work. They each realized that when the sun set they might either
+be dead, wounded or prisoners. It was a life full of eventualities.
+
+A little later the two young airmen, in common with their comrades, were
+ready. Some were to do patrol work, like Tom--that is fly over and
+along the German lines in small swift, fighting planes, to attack a Hun
+machine, if any showed, and to give notice of any attack, either from
+the air or on the ground. The latter attacks the airmen would observe in
+progress and report to the commanders of infantry or batteries who could
+take steps to meet the attack, or even frustrate it.
+
+Tom was assigned to a speedy Spad machine, one of great power and
+lightness into which he climbed. He was to fly alone, and on his
+machine was a machine gun of the Vickers type, which had to be aimed by
+directing, or pointing, the aeroplane itself at the enemy.
+
+After Tom had given a hasty but careful look at his craft, and had
+assured himself of the accuracy of the report of his mechanician that
+it had oil and petrol, his starter took his place in front of the
+propeller.
+
+“Well, Jack,” called Tom to his chum, across the field, where Jack was
+making his preparations for taking up a photographer in a big two-seated
+machine, “I wish you luck.”
+
+“Same to you, old man. If you see anything of Harry, and he's alive,
+tell him we'll bring him back home as soon as we get a chance.”
+
+“Do you think there is any chance?” asked Tom eagerly. “I wouldn't want
+anything better than to get Harry away from those Boches--and make his
+sister happy.”
+
+“Well, there's a chance, but it's a slim one, I'm afraid,” remarked
+Jack. “We'll talk about it after we get back. Maybe there'll be a
+message from the Huns about him before the day is over.”
+
+“I hope so,” murmured Tom. “If those Huns only act as decently toward us
+as we do toward them, we'll have some news soon.”
+
+For it is true, in a number of instances that the German aviators do
+drop within the allied lines news of any British, French or American
+birdman who is captured or killed inside the German lines.
+
+“All ready?” asked Tom of his helper.
+
+“Switch off, gas on,” was the answer.
+
+Tom made sure that the electrical switch was disconnected. If it was
+left on, in “contact” as it is called, and the mechanician turned the
+propeller blades, there might have been a sudden starting of the engine
+that would have instantly kill the man. But with the switch off there
+could be no ignition in the cylinders.
+
+Slowly the man turned the big blades until each cylinder was sucked full
+of the explosive mixture of gasoline and air.
+
+“Contact!” he cried, and Tom threw over the switch.
+
+Then, stepping once more up to the propeller, the man gave it a pull,
+and quickly released it, jumping back out of harm's way.
+
+With a throbbing roar the engine awoke to life and the propeller spun
+around, a blur of indistinctness. The motor was working sweetly. Toni
+throttled down, assured himself that everything was working well, and
+then, with a wave of his hand toward Jack, began to taxi across the
+field, to head up into the wind. All aeroplanes are started this
+way--directly into the wind, to rise against it and not with it. On and
+on he went and then he began to climb into the air. With him climbed
+other birdmen who were to do patrol and contact work with him, the
+latter being the term used when the airship keeps in contact through
+signaling with infantry or artillery forces on the ground, directing
+their efforts against the enemy.
+
+Having seen Tom on his way, Jack turned to his own machine. As his chum
+had been, Jack was dressed warmly in fur garments, even to his helmet,
+which was fur lined. He had on two pairs of gloves and his eyes were
+protected with heavy goggles. For it is very cold in the upper regions,
+and the swift speed of the machine sends the wind cutting into one's
+face so that it is impossible to see from the eyes unless they are
+protected.
+
+Jack's machine was a two-seater, of a heavy and comparatively safe
+type--that is it was safe as long as it was not shot down by a Hun.
+Jack was to occupy the front seat and act as pilot, while Harris, the
+photographer he was to take up, sat behind him, with camera, map, pencil
+and paper ready at hand for the making of observations.
+
+On either side of the photographer's seat were six loaded drums of
+ammunition for the Lewis gun, for use against the ruthless Hun machines.
+Jack had a fixed Vicker machine weapon for his use.
+
+“Hope I get a chance to use 'em,” said Harris with a grin, as he climbed
+into his seat, patted the loaded drums, and nodded to Jack that he was
+ready.
+
+The same procedure was gone through as in the case of Tom. The man spun
+the propeller, and they were ready to set off. Accompanying them were
+two other reconnaissance planes, and four experienced fighting pilots,
+two of them “aces,” that is men who, alone, had each brought down five
+or more Hun planes. The big planes, used for obtaining news, pictures,
+and maps of the enemy's territory, are always accompanied by fighting
+planes, which look out for the attacking Germans, while the other,
+and less speedy, craft carry the men who are to bring back vital
+information.
+
+“Let her go!” exclaimed Harris to Jack, and the latter nodded to the
+mechanician, who, after the order of “contact,” spun the blades again
+and they were really off, together with the others.
+
+Up and up went Jack, sending his machine aloft in big circles as the
+others were doing. Before him on a support was clamped a map, similar to
+the one supported in front of Harris, and by consulting this Jack knew,
+from the instructions he had received before going up, just what part of
+the enemy's territory he was to cover. He was under the direction of
+the photographer and map-maker, for the two duties were combined in this
+instance.
+
+Up and up they went. There was no talking, for though this is possible
+in an aeroplane when the engine is shut off, such was not now the case.
+But Jack knew his business.
+
+His indicator soon showed them to be up about fourteen thousand feet,
+and below them an artillery duel was in progress. It was a wonderful,
+but terrible sight. Immediately under them, and rather too near
+for comfort, shrapnel was bursting all around. The “Archies,” or
+anti-aircraft guns of the Germans, were trying to reach the French
+planes, and, in addition to the bullets, “woolly bears” and “flaming
+onions” were sent up toward them. These are two types of bursting
+shells, the first so named because when it explodes it does so with a
+cloud of black smoke and a flaming center. I have never been able to
+learn how the “onions” got their name, unless it is from the stench let
+loose by the exploding gases.
+
+Though they were fired at viciously, neither Jack nor his companion was
+hit, and they continued on their way, keeping at a good height, as did
+their associates, until they were well over the front German lines.
+
+Jack noticed that some of the other planes were dropping lower, to give
+their observers a chance to do their work, and, in response to a shove
+in his back from the powerful field glasses carried by Harris, Jack sent
+his machine down to about the nine-thousand-foot level. By a glance at
+the map he could see that they were now over the territory concerning
+which a report was wanted.
+
+They were now under a heavy fire from the German anti-aircraft guns, but
+Jack was too old a hand to let this needlessly worry him. He sent his
+machine slipping from side to side, holding it on a level keel now and
+then, to enable Harris to get the photographs he wanted. In addition,
+the observer was also making a hasty, rough, but serviceable map of what
+he saw.
+
+Jack glanced down, and noted a German supply train puffing its way along
+toward some depot, and he headed toward this to give Harris a chance to
+note whether there were any supplies of ammunition, or anything else,
+that might profitably be bombed later. He also saw several columns of
+German infantry on the march, but as they were not out to make an attack
+now, they had to watch the Huns moving up to the front line trenches,
+there later, doubtless, to give battle.
+
+Back and forth over the German lines flew Jack, Harris meanwhile doing
+important observation work. As Jack went lower he came under a fiercer
+fire of the batteries, until, it became so hot, from the shrapnel
+bursts, that he fain would have turned and made for home. But orders
+were orders, and Harris had not yet indicated that he had enough.
+
+Twisting and turning, to make as poor a mark as possible for the enemy
+guns, Jack sent his machine here and there. The other pilots were doing
+the same. Machine guns were now opening up on them, and once the burst
+of fire came so close that Jack began to “zoom.” That is he sent his
+craft up and down sharply, like the curves and bumps in a roller-coaster
+railway track.
+
+By this time the leading plane gave the signal for the return, and,
+thankful enough that they had not been hit, Jack swung about. But the
+danger was not over. They had yet to pass across the enemy's front line
+trenches, and when Harris signaled Jack to go down low in crossing the
+lad wondered what the order was for. It was merely that the observer
+wanted to see what was going on there so he could report.
+
+They went down to within a mile of the earth, and several times the
+plane was struck by pieces of shrapnel or bullets from machine guns.
+Twice flying bits of metal came uncomfortably close to Jack, but he was
+kept too busy with the management of his machine to more than notice
+them. Harris was working hard at the camera and the maps.
+
+Then, suddenly, came the danger signal from the leading plane, and only
+just in time. Out from the German hangars came several battle machines.
+Harris dropped his pencil and got ready the automatic gun, but it was
+not needed, for, after approaching as though about to attack, the Huns
+suddenly veered off. Later the reason for this became known. A squadron
+of French planes had arisen as swiftly to give battle, and however brave
+the Hun may be when he outnumbers the enemy, he had yet to be known to
+take on a combat against odds.
+
+So Jack and his observer safely reached the aerodrome again, bringing
+back much valuable information.
+
+“Is Tom here yet?” was Jack's first inquiry after he had divested
+himself of his togs and men had rushed to the developing room the camera
+with its precious plates.
+
+“Not yet,” some of his chums told him. “They're having a fight upstairs
+I guess.”
+
+Jack nodded and looked anxiously in the direction in which Tom was last
+seen.
+
+It was an hour before the scouting airplanes came back, and one was so
+badly shot up and its pilot so wounded that it only just managed to get
+over the French lines before almost crashing to earth.
+
+“Are you all right, Tom?” cried Jack, as he rushed up to his chum, when
+he saw the latter getting out of his craft, rather stiff from the cold.
+
+“Yes. They went at me hard--two of 'em but I think I accounted for one,
+unless he went into a spinning nose dive just to fool me.”
+
+“Oh, they'll do that if they get the chance.”
+
+“I know,” assented Tom. “Hello!” he exclaimed as he noticed a splintered
+strut near his head. “That came rather close.”
+
+And indeed it had. For a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel, has plowed a
+furrow in the bit of supporting wood, not two inches away from Tom's
+head, though in the excitement of the fight he had not noticed it.
+
+There had been a fight in the upper air and one of the French machines
+had not come home.
+
+“Another man to await news of,” said the flight lieutenant sadly, when
+the report reached him. “That's two in two days.”
+
+“No news of Leroy yet?” asked Tom and Jack, as they went out of
+headquarters after reporting.
+
+“None, I am sorry to say. It is barely possible that he landed in
+some lonely spot and is still hiding out--if he is not killed. But I
+understand you two young men had something to request of me. I can give
+you some attention now,” went on the commander of their squadron.
+
+“We want to be transferred!” exclaimed Tom. “Now, that Pershing's men
+are here--”
+
+“I understand,” was the answer. “You want to fight with your countrymen.
+Well, I would do the same. I will see if I can get you transferred,
+though I shall much regret losing you.”
+
+He was as good as his word, and a week later, following some strenuous
+fights in the air, Tom and Jack received notice that they could report
+to the first United States air squadron, which was then being formed on
+that part of the front where the first of Pershing's men were brigaded
+with, the French and British armies.
+
+Du Boise, who had brought word back of the fate that had befallen Harry
+Leroy, sent for Tom and Jack when it became known that they were to
+leave.
+
+“Shall I ever see you again?” he asked wistfully.
+
+“To be sure,” was Tom's hearty answer. “We aren't going far away, and
+we'll fly over to see you the first chance we get. Besides, we're going
+to depend on you to give us some information regarding Leroy. If the
+Huns drop any message at all they'll do it at this aerodrome.”
+
+“Yes, I believe you're right,” assented Du Boise, trying not to show the
+pain that racked him. “But it's so long, now, I begin to believe he
+must be dead, and either the Huns don't know it or they aren't going
+to bother to send us word. But I'll let you know as soon as I hear
+anything.”
+
+“Is his sister here yet?” asked Jack, for Tom and he had been too busy
+the last two days, getting ready to shift their quarters, to call on
+Nellie Leroy.
+
+“She has gone back to Paris,” answered Du Boise. “There was no place for
+her here. I can give you her address. I promised to let her know in case
+I got word about her brother.”
+
+“I wish you would give me the address!” exclaimed Tom eagerly, and his
+chum smiled at his show of interest.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE RESOLVE
+
+
+“Well, to-morrow, if all goes well, we'll be with Pershing's boys,”
+ remarked Jack, as he and Tom were sitting in their quarters after
+breakfast, the last day but one they were to spend in the Lafayette
+Escadrille with which they had so long been associated.
+
+“That's so. We'll soon be on the firing line with Uncle Sam,” agreed
+Tom. “Of course we've been with him, in a way, ever since we've been
+fighting, for it's all in the same cause. But there'll be a little more
+satisfaction in being 'on our own,' as the English say.”
+
+“You're right. What's on for to-day?” asked Jack.
+
+“Haven't the least idea. But here comes a messenger now.”
+
+As Tom spoke he glanced from a window and saw an orderly coming toward
+their quarters. The man seemed in a hurry.
+
+“Something's up!” decided Jack. “Maybe they've got word from poor
+Harry.”
+
+ “I'm beginning to give him up,” said Tom.  “If they were going to
+let us have any news of him they'd have done it long ago--the beasts!”
+ and he fairly snarled out the words.
+
+“Still I'm not giving up,” returned Jack. “I can't explain why, but I
+have a feeling that, some day, we'll see Harry Leroy again.”
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+“I wish I could be as hopeful as you,” he said. “Maybe we'll see him
+again--or his grave. But I want to say, right now, that if ever I have
+a chance at the Hun who shot him down, that Hun Will get no mercy from
+me!”
+
+“Same here!” echoed Jack. “But here comes the orderly.”
+
+The man entered and handed Jack a slip of paper. It was from the
+commander of their squadron, and said, in effect, that though Tom and
+Jack were no longer under his orders, having been duly transferred to
+another sector, yet he would be obliged if they would call on him, at
+his quarters.
+
+“Maybe he has news!” exclaimed Jack, eagerly.
+
+Again Tom shook his head.
+
+“He'd have said so if that was the case,” he remarked as he and his chum
+prepared to report at headquarters, telling the messenger they would
+soon follow him.
+
+“Ah, young gentlemen, I am glad to see, you!” exclaimed the commander,
+and it was as friends that he greeted Tom and Jack and not as military
+subordinates. “Do you want to do me one last favor?”
+
+“A thousand if we can!” exclaimed Jack, for he and Tom had caught
+something of the French enthusiasm of manner, from having associated
+with the brave airmen so long.
+
+“Good! Then I shall feel free to ask. Know then, that I am a little
+short-handed in experienced airmen. The Huns have taken heavy toll of
+us these last few days,” he went on sorrowfully, and Torn and Jack knew
+this to be so, for two aces, as well as some pilots of lesser magnitude,
+had been shot down. But ample revenge had been taken.
+
+“By all rights you are entitled to a holiday before you join your
+new command, under the great Pershing,” went on the flight commander.
+“However, as I need the services of two brave men to do patrol duty,
+I appeal to you. There is a machine gun nest, somewhere in the Boche
+lines, that has been doing terrible execution. If you could find
+the battery, and signal its location, we might destroy it with our
+artillery, and so save many brave lives for France,” he went on. “I do
+not like to ask you--”
+
+“Tell 'em to get out the machines!” interrupted Jack. “We were just
+wishing we could do something to make up for the loss of Harry Leroy,
+and this may give it to us. You haven't heard anything of him, have
+you?” he asked.
+
+The commander shook his head.
+
+“I fear we shall never hear from him,” he said. “Though only yesterday
+we received back some of the effects of one of our men who was shot down
+behind their lines. I can not understand in Leroy's case.”
+
+“Well, we'll make 'em pay a price all right!” declared Tom. “And now
+what about this machine gun nest?”
+
+The commander gave them such information as he had. It was not unusual,
+such work as Tom and Jack were about to undertake. As the officer
+had said, they were practically exempt now that they were about to be
+transferred. But they had volunteered, as he probably knew they would.
+
+Two speedy Spad machines were run out for the use of Tom and Jack, each
+one to have his own, for the work they were to do was dangerous and they
+would have need of speed.
+
+They looked over the machine guns to see that they were in shape for
+quick work, and as the one on the machine Tom selected had congealed
+oil on the mechanism, having lately returned from a high flight, another
+weapon was quickly attached. Nothing receives more care and attention
+at an aerodrome than the motor of the plane and the mechanism of the
+machine gun. The latter are constructed so as to be easily and quickly
+mounted and dismounted, and at the close of each day's flight the guns
+are carefully inspected and cleaned ready for the morrow.
+
+“Locate the machine gun battery if you can,” was the parting request to
+Tom and Jack as they prepared to ascend. “Send back word of the location
+as nearly as you can to our batteries, and the men there will see to the
+rest.”
+
+“We will!” cried the Americans.
+
+Locating a machine gun nest is not as easy as picking out a hostile
+battery of heavier guns, for the former, being smaller, are more easily
+concealed.
+
+But Tom and Jack would, of course, do their best to help out their
+friends, the French. Over toward the German lines they flew, and began
+to scan with eager eyes the ground below them. They could not fly at a
+very great height, as they needed to be low down in order to see, and in
+this position they were a mark for the anti-aircraft guns of the Huns.
+
+They had no sooner got over the enemy trenches, and were peering about
+for the possible location of the machine gun emplacement, when they
+were greeted with bursts of fire. But by skillfully dodging they escaped
+being hit themselves, though their machines were struck. The two chums
+were separated by about a mile, for they wanted to cover as much ground
+as possible.
+
+At last, to his great delight, Tom saw a burst of smoke from a building
+that had been so demolished by shell fire that it seemed nothing could
+now inhabit it. But the truth was soon apparent. The machine gun nest
+was in the cellar, and from there, well hidden, had been doing terrible
+execution on the allied forces. Pausing only to make sure of his
+surmise, Tom began to tap out on his wireless key the location of the
+hidden machine gun nest.
+
+Most of the aeroplanes carry a wireless outfit. An aerial trails after
+them, and the electric impulses, dripping off this, so to speak, reach
+the battery headquarters. Owing to the noise caused by the motor of the
+airship, no message can be sent to the airman in return, and he has to
+depend on signs made on the ground, arrows or circles in white by day
+and lighted signals at night, to make sure that his messages are being
+received and understood.
+
+The Allies, of course, possess maps of every sector of the enemy's
+front, so that by reference to these maps the aircraft observer can send
+back word as to almost the precise location of the battery which it is
+desired to destroy.
+
+Quickly tapping out word where the battery was located, Tom awaited
+developments, circling around the spot in his machine. He was fired at
+from guns on the ground below, but, to his delight, no hostile planes
+rose to give him combat. A glance across the expanse, however, showed
+that Jack was engaging two.
+
+“He's keeping them from me!” thought Tom, and his heart was heavy, for
+he realized that Jack might be killed. However, it was the fortune of
+war. As long as the Hun planes were fighting Jack they would not molest
+him, and he might have time to send word to the French battery that
+would result in the destruction of the Hun machine nest.
+
+There came a burst of fire from the Allied lines he had left, and Tom
+saw a shell land to the left and far beyond the Hun battery hidden in
+the old ruins. He at once sent back a correcting signal.
+
+The more a gun is elevated up to a certain point, the farther it shoots.
+Forty-three degrees is about the maximum elevation. Again, if a gun is
+elevated too high it shoots over instead of directly at the target aimed
+at. It is then necessary to lower the elevation. Tom has seen that the
+guns of the French battery, which were seeking to destroy the machine
+gun nest were shooting beyond the mark. Accordingly they were told to
+depress their muzzles.
+
+This was done, but still the shells fell to the left, and an additional
+correction was necessary. It is comparatively easy to make corrections
+in elevation or depression that will rectify errors in shooting short
+of or beyond a mark. It is not so easy to make the same corrections in
+what, for the sake of simplicity, may be called right or left errors,
+that is horizontal firing. To make these corrections it becomes needful
+to inscribe imaginary circles about the target, in this case the machine
+gun nest.
+
+These circles are named from the letters of the alphabet. For instance,
+a circle drawn three hundred yards around a Hun battery as a center
+might be designated A. The next circle, two hundred yards less in size,
+would be B and so on, down to perhaps five yards, and that is getting
+very close.
+
+The circles are further divided, as a piece of pie is cut, into twelve
+sectors, and numbered from 1 to 12. The last sector is due north, while
+6 would be due south, 3 east, and 9 west, with the other figures for
+northeast, southwest, and so on.
+
+If a shot falls in the fifty-yard circle, indicated by the letter D,
+but to the southwest of the mark, it is necessary to indicate that by
+sending the message “D-7,” which would mean that, speaking according to
+the points of the compass, the missile had fallen within fifty yards of
+the mark, but to the south-southwest of it, and correction must be made
+accordingly.
+
+Tom watched the falling shells. They came nearer and nearer to the
+hidden battery and at last he saw one fall plump where it was needed.
+There was a great puff of smoke, and when it had blown away there was
+only a hole in the ground where the ruins had been hiding the machine
+guns.
+
+Tom's work was done, and he flew off to the aid of Jack, who had
+overcome one Hun, sending his plane crashing to earth. But the other,
+an expert fighter, was pressing him hard until Ton opened up on him with
+his machine gun. Then the German, having no stomach for odds, turned
+tail and flew toward his own lines.
+
+“Good for you, Tom!” yelled Jack, though he knew his chum could not hear
+him because of the noise of the motor.
+
+Together the two lads, who had engaged in their last battle strictly
+with the French, made for their aerodrome, reaching it safely, though,
+as it was learned when Jack dismounted, he had received a slight bullet
+wound in one side from a missile sent by one of the attacking planes.
+But the hurt was only a flesh wound; though, had it gone an inch to one
+side, it would have ended Jack's fighting days.
+
+Hearty and enthusiastic were the congratulations that greeted the
+exploit of Torn in finding the German machine gun nest that had been
+such a menace, nor were the thanks to Jack any less warm, for without
+his help Tom could never have maintained his position, and sent back
+corrections to the battery which brought about the desired result.
+
+“It is a glorious end to your stay with us,” said the commander, with
+shining eyes, as he congratulated them.
+
+There was a little impromptu banquet in the quarters that night, and Tom
+and Jack were bidden God-speed to their new quarters.
+
+“There's only one thing I want to say!” said Jack quietly, as he rose in
+response to a demand that he talk.
+
+“Let us hear it, my slice of bacon!” called a jolly ace.
+
+“It's this,” went on Jack. “That I hereby resolve that if we--I mean Tom
+and I--can't rescue our comrade, Harry Leroy, from the Huns--provided
+he's alive--that we'll take a toll of five Germans for him--or as many,
+up to that number, as we can shoot down before they get us. Five German
+fliers is the price of Harry Leroy, who was worth a hundred of them!”
+
+“Bravo! Hurrah! So he was! Death to the Huns!” were the cries.
+
+Torn Raymond sprang to his feet
+
+“What Jack says I say!” he cried. “But I double the toll. If Harry Leroy
+is dead he leaves a sister. You all saw her here! Well, I'll get five
+Huns for her, and that makes ten between Jack and me!”
+
+“Success to you!” cried several.
+
+With this resolve to spur them on, Tom and Jack bade their bravo
+comrades farewell and started for Paris, whence they were to journey to
+the headquarters of General Pershing and his men.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. IN PARIS
+
+
+Attired in their natty uniforms of the La Fayette Escadrille, which they
+had not discarded, with the double wings showing that they were fully
+qualified pilots and aviators, Jack Parmly and Tom Raymond attracted
+no little attention as, several hours after leaving their places on the
+battle front, they arrived in Paris. They were to have a few days rest
+before joining the newly formed American aviation section which, as yet,
+was hardly ready for active work.
+
+“Well, they're here!” suddenly cried Tom, as he and Jack made their way
+out of the station to seek a modest hotel where they might stay until
+time for them to report.
+
+“Who? Where? I don't see 'em!” exclaimed Jack, as he crowded to the side
+of his chum, murmurs from a group of French persons testifying to the
+esteem in which the American lads were held.
+
+“There!” went on Tom, pointing. “See some of our doughboys! And maybe
+the crowds aren't glad to have 'em here! It's great, I tell you, great!”
+
+As he spoke he pointed to several khaki-clad infantrymen, some of the
+first of the ten thousand Americans lads that were sent over to “take
+the germ out of Germany.” The Americans were rather at a loss, but they
+seemed masters of themselves, and laughed and talked with glee as they
+gazed on the unfamiliar scenes. They, too, were enjoying a holiday
+before being sent on to be billeted with the French or British troops.
+
+“Come on, let's talk to 'em!” cried Tom, enthusiastically. “It's as good
+as a letter from home to see 'em!”
+
+“I thought you meant you saw--er--Bessie and her mother,” returned Jack,
+and there was a little disappointment in his voice.
+
+“Oh, we'll see them soon enough, if they're still in Paris,” said Tom,
+gazing curiously at his chum. “But they don't know we are coming here.”
+
+“Yes, they do,” said Jack, quietly.
+
+“They do? Then you must have written.”
+
+“Of course. Don't you want to see them before we get shipped off to a
+new sector?”
+
+“Why, yes. Just now, though, I'm anxious to hear some good, old United
+States talk. Come on, let's speak to 'em. There's one bunch that seems
+to be in trouble.”
+
+But the trouble was only because some of Pershing's boys--as they were
+generally called wanted to make some purchases at a candy shop and did
+not know enough of the language to make their meaning clear. It was a
+good-natured misunderstanding, and both the French shop-keeper and his
+helper and the doughboys were laughing over it.
+
+“Hello, boys! Glad to see you! Can we help you out?” asked Tom, as he
+and Jack joined the group.
+
+The infantrymen whirled about.
+
+“Well, for the love of the Mason an' Dixon line! is there somebody heah
+who can speak our talk?” cried one lad, his accent unmistakably marking
+him as Southern.
+
+“Guess we can help you out,” said Jack. “We're from God's country, too,”
+ and in an instant the were surrounded and being shaken hands with on all
+sides, while a perfect barrage of questions was fired at them.
+
+Then, when the little misunderstanding at the candy shop had been
+straightened out, Tom and Jack told something of who they were,
+mentioning the fact that they were soon to fight directly under the
+stars and stripes, information which drew whoops of delight from the
+enthusiastic infantrymen.
+
+“But say, friend,” called out one of the new American soldiers, “can you
+sling enough of this lingo to lead us to a place where we can get ham
+and eggs? I mean a real eating place, not just a coffee stand. I've
+been opening my mouth, champing my jaws and rubbing my stomach all day,
+trying to tell these folks that I'm hungry and want a square meal, and
+half the time they think I need a doctor. Lead me to a hash foundry.”
+
+“All right, come on with us!” laughed Tom. “We're going to eat, too. I
+guess we can fix you up.”
+
+The two aviators had been in Paris before and they knew their way about,
+as well as being able to speak the language fairly well. Soon, with
+their new friends from overseas, they were seated in a quiet restaurant,
+where substantial food could be had in spite of war prices. And then it
+was give and take, question and answer, until a group of Parisians that
+had gathered about turned away shaking their heads at their inability to
+understand the strange talk. But they were well aware of the spirit of
+it all, and more than one silently blessed the Americans as among the
+saviors of France.
+
+The wonderful city seemed filled with soldiers of all the Allied
+nations, and most conspicuous, because of recent events, were the
+khaki-clad boys who were soon to fight under Pershing. Having seen that
+the little contingent they had taken under their protection got what
+they wanted, Tom and Jack, bidding them farewell, but promising to see
+them again soon, went to their hotel.
+
+And, their baggage arriving, Jack proceeded to get ready for a bath and
+a general furbishing. He seemed very particular.
+
+“Going out?” asked Tom.
+
+“Why--er--yes. Thought I'd go to call on Bessie Gleason. This is her
+night off duty--hers and her mother's.”
+
+“How do you know?”
+
+“Well--er--she said so. Want to come?”
+
+“Nixy. Two's company and you know what three is.”
+
+“Oh, come on! Mrs. Gleason will be glad to see you.”
+
+“Well, I suppose I might,” assented Tom, who, truth to tell, did not
+relish spending the evening alone.
+
+Bessie and her mother had, of late, been assigned as Red Cross workers
+to a hospital in the environs of Paris, and ant times they could come
+into the city for a rest. They maintained a modest apartment not far
+from the hotel where Tom and Jack had put up, and soon the two lads
+found themselves at the place where their friends lived.
+
+“Oh, I'm so glad you both came!” exclaimed Bessie as she greeted them.
+“We have company and--”
+
+“Company!” exclaimed Jack, drawing back.
+
+“Yes, the dearest, most delightful girl you ever--”
+
+“Girl!” exclaimed Tom.
+
+“Yes. But come on in and meet her. I'm sure you'll both fall in love
+with her.”
+
+Jack was on the point of saying something, but thought better of it,
+and a moment later, to the great surprise of himself and Torn, they were
+facing Nellie Leroy.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE AMERICAN FRONT
+
+
+Tom and Jack bowed. In fact, so great was their surprise at first that
+this was all they could do. Then they stared first at Bessie and then at
+the other girl--the sister of Harry, their chum, who was somewhere, dead
+or alive, behind the German lines.
+
+“Well, aren't you glad to see her?” demanded Bessie. “I thought I'd
+surprise you.”
+
+“You have,” said Jack. “Very much!”
+
+“Glad to see her--why--of course. But--but--how--”
+
+Tom found himself stuttering and stammering, so he stopped, and stared
+so hard at Nellie Leroy that she smiled, though rather sadly, for it
+was plain to be seen her grief over the possible death of her brother
+weighed down on her. And then she went on:
+
+“Well, I'm real--I'm not a dream, Mr. Raymond.”
+
+“So I see--I mean I'm glad to see it--I mean--oh, I don't know what I do
+mean!” he finished desperately. “Did you know she was going to be here?
+Was that the reason you asked me to come?” he inquired of Jack.
+
+“Hadn't the least notion in the world,” answered Jack. “I'm as much
+surprised as you are.”
+
+“Well, we'll take pity on you and tell you all about it,” said Bessie.
+“Mother, here are the boys,” she called; and Mrs. Gleason, who had
+suffered so much since having been saved from the Lusitania and
+afterward rescued by air craft from the lonely castle, came out of her
+room to greet the boys.
+
+They were as glad to see her as she was to meet them again, and for a
+time there was an interchange of talk. Then Mrs. Gleason withdrew to
+leave the young people to themselves.
+
+“Well, go on, tell us all about it!” begged Tom, who could not take his
+eyes off Nellie Leroy. “How did she get here?” and he indicated Harry's
+sister.
+
+“He talks of me as though I were some specimen!” laughed the girl. “But
+go on--tell him, Bessie.”
+
+“Well, it isn't much of a story,” said Bessie Gleason. “Nellie started
+to do Red Cross work, as mother and I are doing, and she was assigned to
+the hospital where we were.”
+
+“This was after I heard the terrible news about poor Harry at your
+escadrille,” Nellie broke in, to say to Tom and Jack. “I--I suppose you
+haven't had any--word?” she faltered.
+
+“Not yet,” Jack answered. “But we may get it any day now--or they may,
+back there,” and he nodded to indicate the air headquarters he and Tom
+had left. “You know we're going to be under Pershing soon,” he added.
+
+“So you wrote me,” said Bessie. “I'm glad, though it's all in the same
+good cause. Well, as I was saying, Nellie came to our hospital-I call it
+ours though I have such a small part in it,” she interjected. “She was
+introduced to us as an American, and of course we made friends at once.”
+
+“No one could help making friends with Bessie and her mother!” exclaimed
+Nellie.
+
+“Don't flatter us too much,” warned Bessie. “Now please don't interrupt
+any more. As I say, Nellie came to us to do her share in helping care
+for the wounded, and, as mother and I found she had settled on no
+regular place in Paris, we asked her to share our rooms. Then we got to
+talking, and of course I found she had met you two boys in her search
+for her brother. After that we were better friends than ever.”
+
+“Glad to know it,” said Tom. “There's nothing like having friends.
+I hadn't any notion that I'd meet any when I started out with him
+tonight,” and he motioned to Jack.
+
+“Well, I like that!” cried Bessie in feigned indignation. “I like to
+know how you class my mother and me?” and she looked at Tom.
+
+“Oh,--er--well, of course--you and your mother, and Jack. But he and
+you--”
+
+“Better swim out before you get into deep water,” advised Jack quickly,
+and he nudged Tom with his foot.
+
+Then the boys had to tell about their final experiences before leaving
+the Lafayette Escadrille with which many trying, as well as many happy,
+hours were associated, and the girls told of their adventures, which
+were not altogether tame.
+
+Since Mrs. Gleason had been freed from the plotting of the spy,
+Potzfeldt, she had lived a happy life--that is as happy as one could
+amid the scenes of war and its attendant horrors. She and Bessie were
+throwing themselves heart and soul into the immortal work of the Red
+Cross, and now Nellie bad joined them.
+
+“It's the only way I can stop thinking about poor Harry,” she said with
+a sigh. “Oh, if I could only hear some good news about him, that I might
+send it to the folks at home. Do you think it will ever come--the good
+news, I mean?” she asked wistfully of Tom.
+
+“All we can do is to hope,” he said. He knew better than to buoy up
+false hopes, for he had seen too much of the terrible side of war. In
+his heart he knew that there was but little chance for Harry Leroy,
+after the latter's aeroplane had been shot down behind the German lines.
+Yet there was that one, slender hope to which all of us cling when it
+seems that everything else is lost.
+
+“He may be a prisoner, and, in that case, there is a chance,” said Tom,
+while Jack and Bessie were conversing on the other side of the room.
+
+“You mean a chance to escape?”
+
+“Hardly that, though it has been done. A few aviators have got away from
+German prison camps. But it's only one chance in many thousand. No, what
+I meant was that--well, it's too small and slim a chance to talk about,
+I'm afraid.”
+
+“Oh, no!” she hastened to assure him. “Do tell me! No chance is too
+small. What do you mean?”
+
+“Well, sometimes rescues have been made,” went on Tom. “They are even
+more rare than escapes, but they have been done. I was thinking that
+perhaps after Jack and I get in with Pershing's boys we might be in some
+big raid on the Hun lines, and then, if we could get any information as
+to your brother's whereabouts, we might plan to rescue him.”
+
+“Oh, do you think you could?”
+
+“I certainly can and will try!” exclaimed Tom, earnestly.
+
+“Oh, will you? Oh, I can't thank you enough!” and she clasped his hand
+in both hers and Tom blushed deeply.
+
+“Please don't count too much on it,” Tom warned Nellie. “It's a
+desperate chance at best, but it's the only one I can see that we can
+take. First of all, though, we've got to get some word as to where Harry
+is.”
+
+“How can you do that?”
+
+“Some of the Hun airmen are almost human, that is compared to the
+other Boche fighters. They may drop a cap of Harry's or a glove, or
+something,” and Tom told of the practice in such cases.
+
+“Oh, if they only will!” sighed Nellie. “But it is almost too much to
+hope.”
+
+And so they talked until late in the evening, when the time came for
+Nellie, Bessie and her mother to report back for their Red Cross work.
+The boys returned to their hotel, promising to write often and to see
+their friends at the next opportunity.
+
+“I won't forget!” said Tom, on parting from Nellie.
+
+“Forget what?” asked Jack, as they were going down the street together.
+
+“I'm going to do my best to rescue her brother,” said Tom, in a low
+voice.
+
+“Good! I'm with you!” declared Jack.
+
+The stay of the two boys in Paris was all too short, but they were
+anxious to get back to their work. They wanted to be fighting under
+their own flag. Not that they had not been doing all they could for
+liberty, but it was different, being with their own countrymen. And so,
+when their leaves of absence were up, they took the train that was to
+drop them at the place assigned, where the newly arrived Americans were
+beginning their training.
+
+“The American front!” cried Tom, as he and Jack reached the headquarters
+of General Pershing and his associate officers. “The American front at
+last!”
+
+“And it's the happiest day of my life that I can fight on it!” cried
+Jack.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A BATTLE IN THE AIR
+
+
+Strictly speaking there was at that time no American front. That did
+not come until later, for the American soldiers, as was proper, were
+brigaded with the French and British, to enable our troops, who were
+unused to European war conditions, to become acquainted with the needful
+measures to meet and overcome the brutality of the Huns.
+
+But even with this brigading of the United States' troops with the
+seasoned veterans, which, in plain language, meant a mingling of the
+two forces, there was much that was strictly American among the new
+arrivals.
+
+Not only were the khaki-clad soldiers real Americans to the backbone,
+but their equipment and the supplies that had come over with them in the
+transports were such as might be seen at any army camp in this country,
+as distinguished from a French or a British camp.
+
+“Well, the boys are here all right,” remarked Jack, as he and Tom made
+their way toward the headquarters at which they were to report.
+
+“Yes, and it makes me feel good to see them!” said Tom. “This is the
+beginning of the end of Kaiserism, if I'm any judge.”
+
+“Oh, it isn't going to be so easy as all that,” returned Jack. “We'll
+see some hard fighting. Germany isn't licked yet by any means; but
+those, are the boys that can bring the thing to a finish,” and he
+pointed to a company of the lean, stem, brown figures that were swinging
+along with characteristic stride.
+
+The place at which Tom and Jack had been ordered to report was an
+interior city of France, not far from the port at which the first
+transport from America had arrived. A first glance at the scenes on
+every hand would have given a person not familiar with war a belief
+that hopeless confusion existed. Wagons, carts, mule teams and motor
+trucks-“lorries,” the English call them--were dashing to and fro. Men
+were marching, countermarching, unloading some vehicles, loading others.
+Soldiers were being marched into the interior to be billeted, others
+were being directed to their respective French or English units.
+Officers were shouting commands, and privates were carrying them out to
+the best of their ability.
+
+But though it all seemed chaos, out of it order was coming. There was a
+system, though a civilian would not have understood it.
+
+“Well, let's find out where we're at,” suggested Torn, to his chum.
+
+“Right O, my pickled grapefruit!” agreed Jack with a laugh. “Let's get
+into the game.”
+
+They were about to ask their direction from a non-commissioned officer
+who was directing a squad of men in the unloading of a truck which
+seemed filled with canned goods, when some one said:
+
+“There goes Black Jack now!”
+
+The two air service boys looked, and saw, passing along not far away,
+a tall man, faultlessly attired, who looked “every inch a soldier,” and
+whose square jaw was indicative of his fighting qualities, if the rest
+of his face had not been.
+
+“Is that General Pershing?” asked Tom, in a low voice of the
+non-commissioned officer.
+
+“That's who he is, buddy,” was the smiling answer. “The best man in the
+world for the job, too. Come on there now, you with the red hair. This
+isn't a croquet game. Lay into those cases, and get 'em off some time
+before New Year's. We want to have our Christmas dinner in Berlin,
+remember!”
+
+“So that's Pershing,” commented Jack, as he looked at the American
+commander, who, with his staff officers, was on a trip of inspection.
+“Well, he suits me all right!”
+
+“The next thing for us to do is to find out if we suit him,” remarked
+Tom. “Wonder if he knows we're here?”
+
+“I don't even believe he knows we're alive!” exclaimed Jack, for the
+moment taking Tom's joke quite seriously.
+
+As General Pershing passed on, receiving and returning many salutes, Tom
+and Jack made their inquiries, learned where they were to report, and
+went on their way, longing for the time when they could get into action
+with the American troops.
+
+“Oh, so you're the two aviators from the Lafayette Escadrille,”
+ commented the commanding officer, or the C.O., of the newly formed
+American squadron, as Tom and Jack, drawing themselves up as straight
+as they could, saluted when he looked over their papers and their log
+books. These last are the personal records of aviators in which they
+note the details of each flight made. They are official documents, but
+when a birdman is honorably discharged he may take his log book with
+him.
+
+“We were told to report to you, sir,” said Tom.
+
+“Yes. And I'm glad to see you. We're going to establish a purely
+American air force, but as yet it is in its infancy. I need some
+experienced fliers, and I'm glad you're going to be with us. Of course
+I have a number who have made good records over there,” and he nodded to
+indicate the United States, “But they haven't been under fire yet, and I
+understand you have.”
+
+“Some,” admitted Jack, modestly enough.
+
+“Good! Well, I'm to have some more of our own boys, who are to be
+transferred from the French forces, and some from the Royal Flying
+Corps, so with that as a start I guess we can build up an air service
+that will make Fritz step lively. But we've got to go slow. One thing
+I'm sorry for is that we haven't, as yet, any American planes. We'll
+have to depend on the French and English for them, as we have to, at
+first, for our artillery and shells.”
+
+“We can fly French or British planes,” remarked Tom.
+
+And, as my old readers know, the air service boys had had experience
+with a number of different models.
+
+“We can fly a Gotha if we have to,” said Jack. “One came down back of
+our lines last month, and we patched it up and flew it for practice.”
+
+“I hope you can get some more of that practice,” said the commanding
+officer with a smile.
+
+“But, now that you're here, I'll swear you in and see what the orders
+are regarding you. I'm afraid there won't be much fighting for you at
+first--that is strictly as Americans. I understand our air front, if
+I may use that term, will have to grow out of a nucleus of French and
+English fighters.”
+
+“That's all right, as long as we get the right start,” commented Tom.
+
+It was necessary to swear the boys into the service of the United
+States, even though they were natives of it; since, on entering the
+Lafayette Escadrille, they had been obliged to swear allegiance
+to France. But this was a matter of routine where the Allies were
+concerned, and soon Tom and Jack were back again where they longed to
+be--enrolled among the distinctive fighters of their own country.
+
+They were assigned to barracks, and found themselves among some other
+airmen, many of whom were student fliers from the various aviation camps
+of the United States. Few of these youths had had much practice, though
+some had been to the Canadian schools. And none of them had, as yet,
+fought an enemy in the air.
+
+To aid and instruct them, however, were such fighters as Tom and Jack,
+and some even more experienced from the French, Italian and British
+camps, who had been detailed to help out the United States in the
+emergency.
+
+The next few weeks was an instruction and reconstruction period, with
+Tom and Jack often filling the roles of teachers. They found their
+pupils apt, eager and willing, however, and among them they discovered
+some excellent material. As the commanding officer of the new American
+air forces had said, the planes used were all of English or French make.
+It was too early in the war for America to have sent any over equipped
+with the Liberty motor, though production was under way.
+
+After this period had passed, Tom and Jack, with a squadron of other
+birdmen were sent to a certain section of the front held largely by
+American troops, supported by veteran French and British regiments.
+
+It was the first wholly American aircraft camp established since the
+beginning of the World War, and it was not even yet as wholly American
+as it was destined to be later, for the aviators were, as regards
+veterans, largely French and English. Torn and Jack were, in point of
+service, the ranking American fliers for a time.
+
+There had been several sharp engagements across No Man's Land between
+the mingled French, British and French forces and the Huns, and honors
+were on the side of the former. There had been one or two combats in the
+air, in which Tom and Jack had taken part, when one day word came from
+an observation balloon on the American side that a flock of German
+aircraft was on the way from a camp located a few miles within the Boche
+lines.
+
+There was a harried consultation of the officers, and then orders were
+given for a half score of the Allied machines to get ready. Two veteran
+French aces were to be in command, with Tom and Jack as helpers, and
+some of the American aviators were to go into the battle of the air for
+the first time.
+
+“The Huns are evidently going to try to bomb some of our ammunition
+dumps behind our lines,”' said one officer, speaking to Tom. “It's up to
+you boys to drive 'em back.”
+
+“We'll try, sir,” was the answer. “We owe the Huns something we haven't
+been able to pay off as yet.”
+
+Tom referred to the loss of Harry Leroy. So far no word had been
+received from him, either directly or through the German aviators, as to
+whether he was dead or a prisoner. Letters had passed between Bessie and
+Nellie and Jack and Tom, and the sister of the missing youth begged for
+news.
+
+But there was none to give her.
+
+“Unless we get some to-day,” observed Tom as he and his chum hurried
+toward the hangars where their machines were being made ready for them.
+
+“Get news to-day? What makes you think we shall?” asked Jack.
+
+“Well, we might bring down a Fritzie or two who'd know something about
+poor Harry,” was the answer. “You never can tell.”
+
+“No, that's so,” agreed Jack. “Well, here's hoping we'll have luck.”
+
+By this time there was great excitement in the American aviation
+headquarters. Word of the oncoming Hun planes had spread, and not a
+flier of Pershing's forces but was eager to get into his plane and go
+aloft to give battle. But only the best were selected, and if there were
+heart-burnings of disappointment it could not be helped.
+
+Two classes of planes were to be used, the single seaters for the aces,
+who fought alone, and the double craft, each one of which carried a
+pilot and an observer. In the latter cases the observers were the new
+men, who had yet to receive their baptism of fire above the clouds.
+
+Tom and Jack were each detailed to take up one of the new men, and the
+air service boys were glad to find that, assigned to each of them,
+was the very man he would have picked had he had his choice. They were
+eager, intrepid lads, anxious to do their share in the great adventure.
+
+Quickly the machines were made ready, and quickly the fighters climbed
+into them. The roar of the motors was heard all over the aerodrome, and
+soon the machines began to mount. Up and up they climbed, and none too
+soon, for on reaching elevations averaging ten thousand feet, there was
+seen, over the German lines, a flock of the Hun planes led by two or
+three machines painted a bright red. These were some of the machines
+that had belonged to the celebrated “flying circus,” organized by a
+daring Hun aviator and ace who was killed after he had inflicted great
+damage and loss on the Allied service. He and his men had their machines
+painted red, perhaps on the theory that they would thus inspire terror.
+These were some of the former members of the “circus,” it was evident.
+
+“It's going to be a real fight!” cried Tom, as he headed his machine
+toward one of the red craft. Whether the green man Tom was taking up
+relished this or not, knowing, as he must, the reputation of these red
+aviators, Tom did not stop to consider.
+
+Then, as the two hostile air fleets approached, there began a battle
+of the clouds--a conflict destined to end fatally for more than one
+aviator.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE FALLING GLOVE
+
+
+Numerically the Hun planes, were superior to the American fleet of
+airships that quickly rose to oppose them. That probably accounted
+for fact that the Germans did not turn tail and scurry back beyond the
+protection of their own anti-aircraft guns and batteries. For it was
+seldom, if ever, they went into a fight when the odds were against them.
+
+On came the Fokkers and Gothas, the black iron crosses painted on the
+wings of the machines standing out in bold relief in the clear air. The
+sun glinted on the red craft which were in the lead, and besides Tom,
+who headed for one of these, a French ace darted down from a height to
+engage the red planes.
+
+“See if you can plug him when I put you near enough!” cried Tom to his
+observer, who had the reputation of being a good shot with the Lewis
+gun. Practice with the machine weapons in aeroplanes had been going
+on, for some time among the new American aviators. “Let him have a good
+dose!” cried Tom. “If you miss him, then I'll try!”
+
+Of course Tom had to shut off the engine when he said this, as no voice
+could have been heard above the roaring of the powerful motor. But when
+he had given his companion these instructions and had ascertained, by
+a glance over his shoulder, that the lad understood for he nodded his
+head, Tom again turned on the gasoline, and the propeller, that had been
+revolving by momentum and because of the pressure of air against it,
+took up its speed again.
+
+Straight for the red machine rushed Tom, and a quick glance told him
+that his companion was ready with the gun. The weapon to be worked by
+the latter was mounted so that it could be aimed independently of the
+aeroplane. Tom also had a gun in front of him, but it was fixed and
+could be aimed only by pointing the whole craft. Once this was done Tom
+could operate the weapon with one hand, steering with the other, and, at
+times, with his feet and knees.
+
+There came several sharp pops near Tom's head, and he knew these were
+machine bullets from the Hun aviator's gun, breaking through the tightly
+stretched linen fabric of the wings of his own plane.
+
+“Let him have it before he plugs us!” cried Tom to his companion, though
+of course the latter could not hear a word. An instant later Tom heard
+the Lewis gun behind him firing, and he saw several tracer bullets
+strike the Hun machine. But they were not near the aviator himself, and
+did no material damage.
+
+“Guess he's too nervous to shoot straight,” reasoned Tom. “I'll have to
+try my own gun,” he decided.
+
+Tom noticed that the Hun was climbing up, trying to get into a position
+above the American plane, which is always an advantage. And the air
+service boy knew he must not let this happen. Quickly he shifted the
+rudder and began to climb himself. But he was at a disadvantage as his
+machine carried double, while the red plane had only one man in it, an
+ace beyond a doubt.
+
+“I've got to get him now or never!” thought Tom. Once more he shifted
+his direction, and then, as he had his gun aimed just where he wanted
+it, he pressed the lever and a burst of bullets shot out and fairly
+riddled the red plane. It seemed to stop for an instant in the air, and
+then, quivering, turned and went down in a nose dive, spinning around.
+
+“No fake about that!” mused Tom, as he leaned over and looked down from
+the height. “He's done for!”
+
+And so, the Hun was, for he crashed to the ground behind the American
+lines. The incident did not affect Tom Raymond greatly. It was not his
+first killing. But when he, glanced back toward his companion, he saw
+that the other was shrinking back as if in horror.
+
+“He'll get over that soon enough. All he has to do is to think of what
+the Huns have done--crucifying men and babies--to make his heart hard,”
+ thought Tom.
+
+Whether his companion did this or not, did not disclose itself, but the
+fact remains that when Tom flew off to engage another Hun machine the
+lad back of him rose to the occasion and shot so well that Fritz veered
+off and flew back over his own lines, wounded and with his craft barely
+able to fly.
+
+Not all the American machines fared as well as this, however. Jack was
+in poor luck. The first burst of bullets from the German he engaged
+punctured his gasoline tank, and he was obliged to coast back to his own
+aerodrome to get another machine, if possible. He was also hit once in
+the leg, the wound being painful though not dangerous. He received first
+aid treatment and wanted to get back into the fight, but this was not
+allowed, and he had to watch the battle from the ground.
+
+The fight was fast and stubborn, and in the end the American forces won,
+for at a signal from the remaining red plane, which seemed to bear a
+charmed existence, as it did not appear to be hit, the others remaining
+of the Hun forces, turned tail and scooted back to safety.
+
+But they had left a toll of five machines sent crashing to earth, four
+of them each containing two men. The leading French ace was killed, a
+severe loss to the Allied forces, and three of the American machines
+were damaged and their operators severely wounded, though with a chance
+of recovery. By American machines is meant those assigned for use to
+Pershing's forces, though the craft used up to that time were of French
+or English make. The real American machines came into use a little
+later.
+
+“Well, I think we can call it one to our credit,” said Tom, as he
+rejoined Jack after the battle.
+
+“Yes. But you had all the luck!” complained his chum. “It went against
+me, and the lad I took up. It--”
+
+“Never mind; it'll be your turn next,” replied Tom, consolingly.
+
+And so the new American aviators received their baptism of fire, and, to
+their credit, longed for more.
+
+More credit was really due the American forces than would be indicated
+by the mere citation of the losses inflicted on the German side in this
+first air battle. For many of the American fighters were “green,” while
+not one of the Huns, as was learned later, but what had several Allied
+machines to his score. And so there was rejoicing in General Pershing's
+camp, even though it was mingled with sorrow at the losses inflicted.
+
+Busy days followed, Tom and Jack were in the air much of the time. And
+when they were not flying they were delivering talks to new students,
+who were constantly arriving. They found time once to run into Paris on
+their day of leave, to see Bessie and Nellie, and they went on a little
+picnic together, which was as jolly as such an affair could be in the
+midst of the terrible war. Nellie had received no word of her missing
+brother, and Jack and Tom had no encouragement for her.
+
+Then came more hard work at camp, and another battle of the air in
+which the American forces more than equaled matters, for they fairly
+demolished a German plane squadron, sending ten of the machines crashing
+to earth and the others back over the Hun lines, more or less damaged.
+That was a great day. And, as a sort of reward for their work, Tom and
+Jack were given three days' leave. At first they thought to spend them
+in Paris, but, learning that neither Bessie nor her mother nor Nellie
+could leave their Red Cross work to join them, the two lads made other
+arrangements.
+
+“Let's go back and see the fellows in the Lafayette Escadrille,”
+ suggested Tom.
+
+“All right,” agreed Jack.
+
+And thither they went.
+
+That they were welcomed need not be said. It was comparatively quiet on
+this sector just then, though there had, a few days before, been a great
+battle with victory perching on the Allied banners. The air conflicts,
+too, had been desperate, and many a brave man of the French, English
+or American fliers had met his death. But toll had been taken of the
+Boches--ample toll, too.
+
+The first inquiry Tom and Jack had made on their arrival at their former
+aerodrome had been for news of Harry Leroy, but none had been received.
+
+It was when Tom and Jack were about to conclude their visit to their
+former comrades of the air that an incident occurred which made a great
+change in their lives. One sunny afternoon there suddenly appeared, a
+mere speck in the blue, a single aeroplane.
+
+“Some one of your men must have gone a long way over Heinie's lines,”
+ remarked Jack to one of the French officers.
+
+“He is not one of our men. Either they were all back long ago or they
+will not come back until after the war--if ever. That is a Hun machine.”
+
+“What is he doing--challenging to single combat?” asked Tom, as the lone
+plane came on steadily.
+
+“No,” answered the officer, after a look through his glasses. “I think
+he brings some messages. We sent some to the Germans yesterday, and I
+think this is a return courtesy. We will wait and see.”
+
+Nearer and nearer came the German plane. Soon it was circling around the
+French camp. Hundreds came out to watch, for now the object of the lone
+aviator was apparent. He contemplated no raid. It was to drop news of
+captured, or dead, Allied airmen.
+
+Then, as Tom, and the others watched, a little package was seen to
+fall from the hovering aeroplane. It landed on the roof of one of the
+hangars, bounced off and was picked up by an orderly, who presented it
+to the commanding officer.
+
+Quickly and eagerly it was opened. It contained some personal belongings
+of Allied airmen who had been missing for the past week. Some of them,
+the message from the German lines said, had been killed by their falls
+after being shot down, and it was stated that they had been decently
+buried. Others were wounded and in hospitals.
+
+“No word from Harry,” said Tom, sadly, as the last of the relics from
+the dead and the living were gone over.
+
+“Well, I guess we may as well give him up,” added Jack. “But we can
+avenge him. That's all we have left, now.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Tom. “If we only--?”
+
+A cry from some of those watching the German plane interrupted him. The
+two air service boys looked up. Another small object was falling. It
+landed with a thud, almost at the feet of Tom and Jack, and the latter
+picked it up.
+
+It was an aviator's glove; and as Jack held it up a note dropped
+out. Quickly it was read, and the import of it was given to all in a
+simultaneous shout of joy from Tom and Jack.
+
+“It's word from Harry Leroy! Word from Harry at last!”
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. STUNTS
+
+
+Truly enough, word had come from the missing aviator, or, if not
+directly from him, at least from his captors. The German airmen, falling
+in with the chivalry which had been initiated by the French and English,
+and later followed by the Americans, had seen fit to inform the comrades
+of the captured man of his whereabouts.
+
+“Where is he? What happened to him?” asked several, as all crowded
+around Tom and Jack to hear the news.
+
+Jack, reading the note, told them. The missive was written in very good
+English, though in a German hand. It stated that Harry Leroy had been
+shot down in his plane while over the German lines, and had fallen in a
+lonely spot, wounded.
+
+The wound was not serious, it was stated, and the prisoner was doing
+as well as could be expected, but he would remain in the hands of his
+captors until the end of the war. The reason his whereabouts was not
+mentioned before was that the Germans did not know they had one of the
+Allied aviators in their midst.
+
+Leroy had not only fallen in a lonely spot, but he was made unconscious
+by his fall and injuries, and when he recovered he was lying near his
+almost demolished plane.
+
+He managed to get out his log book and other confidential papers, and
+set fire to them and the plane with the gasoline that still remained in
+the tank. He destroyed them so they might not fall into the hands of the
+Germans, a fate he knew would be his own shortly.
+
+But Harry Leroy was not doomed to instant capture. The blaze caused by
+his burning aeroplane attracted the attention of a peasant, who had not
+been deported when the enemy overran his country, for the young aviator
+had fallen in a spot well back of the front lines. This French peasant
+took Harry to his little farm and hid him in the barn. There the man,
+his wife, and his granddaughters, looked after the injured aviator,
+feeding him and binding up his hurts. It was a great risk they took,
+and Harry Leroy knew it as well as they. But for nearly two weeks he
+remained hidden, and this probably saved his life, for he got better
+treatment at the farmhouse than he would, as an enemy, have received in
+a German hospital.
+
+But such good luck could not last. Suspicion that Americans were hidden
+in the Frenchman's barn began to spread through the country, and rather
+than bring discovery on his friends, Leroy left the barn one night.
+
+He had a desperate hope that he might reach his own lines, as he was now
+pretty well recovered from his 'Injuries, but it was not to be. He was
+captured by a German patrol. But by his quick action Harry Leroy had
+removed suspicion from the farmer, which was exactly what he wished to
+do.
+
+The Germans, rejoicing over their capture, took the young aviator to the
+nearest prison camp, and there he was put in custody, together with some
+unfortunate French and English. The tide of war had turned against Harry
+Leroy.
+
+So it came about that, some time after he had been posted as missing and
+when it was surely thought that he was dead, Harry Leroy was found to be
+among the living, though a prisoner.
+
+“This will be great news for his sister!” exclaimed Jack, as the note
+dropped by the German airman was read over and over again.
+
+“Yes, she'll be delighted,” agreed Tom. “We must hurry back and tell
+her.”
+
+“And that isn't all,” went on Jack. “We must try to figure out a way to
+rescue Harry.”
+
+“You can't do that,” declared a French ace, one with whom the air
+service boys had often flown.
+
+“Why not?” asked Tom.
+
+“It's out of the question,” was the answer. “There has never been a
+rescue yet from behind the German lines. Or, if there has been, it's
+like a blue moon.”
+
+“Well, we can try,” declared Jack, and Tom nodded his head in agreement.
+
+“Don't count too much on it,” added another of their friends. “Harry may
+not even be where this note says he is.”
+
+“Do you mean that the Germans would say what isn't so?” asked Tom.
+
+“Of course! Naturally!” was the answer. “But even if they did not in
+this case, even if they have truly said where Leroy is, he may be moved
+at any time--sent to some other prison, or made to work in the mines or
+at perhaps something far worse.”
+
+Tom and Jack realized that this might be so, and they felt that there
+was no easy task ahead of them in trying to rescue their chum from the
+hands of the Germans. But they were not youths who gave up easily.
+
+“May we keep this note?” asked Tom, as he and Jack got ready to depart.
+Having fallen on the camp of the escadrille with which they were
+formerly quartered, it was, strictly speaking, the property of the
+airmen there. But having been told how much the sister of the prisoner
+would appreciate it, the commanding officer gave permission for Tom and
+Jack to take the glove and note with them.
+
+“Let us know if you rescue him, Comrades!” called the Frenchmen to the
+two lads, as they started back for their own camp.
+
+“We will,” was the answer.
+
+Nellie Leroy's joy in the news that her brother was alive was tempered
+by the fact that he was a German prisoner.
+
+“But we're going to get him!” declared Tom even though he realized, as
+he said it, that it with almost a forlorn hope.
+
+“You are so good,” murmured the girl.
+
+Jack and Tom spent a few happy hours in Paris, with Nellie and
+Bessie--the last of their leave--and then, bidding the girls and Mrs.
+Gleason farewell, they reported back to the American aerodrome, where
+the young airmen were cordially welcomed.
+
+There they found much to do, and events followed one another so rapidly
+at this stage of the World War that Tom and Jack, after their return,
+had little time for anything but flying and teaching others what they
+knew of air work. They had no opportunity to do anything toward the
+rescue of Harry Leroy; and, indeed, they were at a loss how to proceed.
+They were just hoping that something would transpire to give them a
+starting point.
+
+“We'll have to leave it to luck for a while,” said Torn.
+
+“Or fate,” added Jack.
+
+“Well, fate plays no small part in an airman's life,” returned Tom.
+“While we are no more superstitions than any other soldiers, yet there
+are few airmen who do not carry some sort of mascot or good-luck piece.
+You know that, Jack.”
+
+And even the casual reader of the exploits of the aviators must have
+been impressed with the fact that often the merest incident--or accident
+is responsible for life or death.
+
+Death often passes within hair's breadth of the intrepid fliers, and
+some of them do not know it until after they have made a landing and
+have seen the bullet holes in their machine--holes that indicate how
+close the missiles have passed to them.
+
+So, in a way, both Tom and Jack believed in luck, and they both believed
+that this same luck might point out to them a way of rescuing Harry
+Leroy.
+
+Meanwhile they were kept busy. After the big battle in the air matters
+were quiet for a time on their sector of the front. The arrival of new
+fliers from America made it necessary to instruct them, and to this Tom,
+Jack and other veterans were detailed.
+
+Then began a series of what Jack called “stunts.” In order to inspire
+the new pupils with confidence, the older flying men--not always older
+in years--would go aloft in their single planes and do all sorts of
+trick flying. Some of the pupils--the more daring, of course--wished to
+imitate these, but of course they were not allowed.
+
+The pupils were first allowed merely to go with an experienced man.
+This, of course, they had done at the flying schools in the United
+States, and had flown alone. But they had to start all over again when
+on French soil, for here they were exposed, any time, to an attack from
+a Hun plane.
+
+After they had, it was thought, got sufficient experience to undertake
+these trick features by themselves, they were allowed to make trial
+flights, but not over the enemy lines.
+
+Tom and Jack gave the best that was in them to these enthusiastic
+pupils, and there was much good material.
+
+“What are you going to do to-day, Jack?” asked Tom one morning, as they
+went out after breakfast to get into their “busses,” as they dubbed
+their machines.
+
+“Oh, got orders to do some spiral and somersault stunts for the benefit
+of some huns.” (“Hun,” used in this connection, not referring to the
+Germans. “Hun” is the slang term for student aviators, tacked on them by
+more experienced fliers.)
+
+“Same here. Good little bunch of huns in camp now.”
+
+Tom nodded in agreement, and the two were soon preparing to climb aloft.
+
+With a watching group of eager young men on the ground below, in company
+with an instructor who would point out the way certain feats were done,
+Torn and Jack began climbing. Presently they were fairly tumbling about
+like pigeons, seeming to fall, but quickly straightening out on a level
+keel and coming to the ground almost as lightly as feathers.
+
+“A good landing is essential if one would become a good airman,” stated
+the instructor. “In fact I may say it is the hardest half of the game.
+For it is comparatively easy to leave the earth. It is the coming back
+that is difficult, like the Irishman who said it wasn't the fall that
+hurts, it was the stopping.”
+
+“Give 'em a bit of zooming now,” the instructor said to Tom and Jack.
+“The boys may have to use that any time they're up and a Boche comes at
+them.”
+
+“Zooming,” he went on to the pupils, “is rising and falling in a series
+of abrupt curves like those in a roller-coaster railway. It is a very
+useful stunt to be master of, for it enables one to rise quickly when
+confronting a field barrier, or to get out of range of a Hun machine
+gun.”
+
+Tom undertook this feature of the instruction, as Jack signaled that his
+aeroplane was out of gasoline, and soon the former was rolling across
+the aviation field, seemingly straight toward a row of tall trees.
+
+“He'll hit 'em sure!” cried one student.
+
+“Watch him,” ordered the instructor.
+
+With a quick pull on the lever that controlled the rudder, Tom sent
+himself aloft, but not before a curious thing happened.
+
+On the ground where it had been dropped was a tunic, or airman's
+fur-lined jacket. As Tom's machine “zoomed,” the tail skid caught this
+jacket and took it aloft.
+
+Tom did not seem to be aware of this, though he must have felt that his
+machine was a bit sluggish in the climbs. However, he went through with
+his performance, doing some beautiful “zooming,” and then, as he was
+flying high and getting ready to do a spiral nose dive, the tunic
+detached itself from his skid and fell.
+
+Just at this moment Jack came out from the hangar and, looking aloft and
+noting Tom's machine, saw the falling jacket. His heart turned sick
+and faint, for, unaware of what had happened, he thought his chum had
+tumbled out while at a great height. For the tunic, turning over and
+over as it sailed earthward, did resemble a falling body.
+
+“Oh, Tom! Tom! How did it happen?” murmured Jack.
+
+The others, laughing, told him that it was nothing serious, but Jack
+looked a bit worried until the empty jacket fell on the grass and, a
+little later, Tom himself came down smiling from aloft, all unaware of
+the excitement he had caused.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. OVER THE LINES
+
+
+“Well, I guess we stay downstairs, to-day,” remarked Tom to Jack,
+the day following their exhibition flights for the benefit of the air
+students.
+
+“Yes, it doesn't look very promising,” returned his chum.
+
+Jack looked aloft where the sky--or what took its place--was represented
+by a gray mist that seemed ready to drip water at any moment. It was
+a day of “low visibility,” and one when air work was almost totally
+suspended. This applied to the enemy as well as to the Yankees. For even
+though it is feasible to go up in an aeroplane in fog, or even rain or
+snow, it is not always safe to come down again in like conditions.
+
+There is nothing worse than rain, snow or fog for clouding an aviator's
+goggles, making it impossible for him to see more than a plane's length
+ahead, if, indeed, he can see that far. Then, too, little, if anything,
+can be accomplished by going aloft in a storm or fog. No observations
+of any account can be made, and the aviator, once he gets aloft, is as
+likely to come down behind the German lines as he is to descend safely
+within his own.
+
+That being the case, Tom and Jack, in common with their comrades of the
+air, had a vacation period. Some of them obtained leave and went to the
+nearest town, while some put in their time going over their guns and
+glasses and equipment and machines.
+
+Jack and Tom elected to do the latter. There was one very fast and
+powerful Spad which they often used together, taking turns at piloting
+it and acting as observer. They thought they might have a chance soon to
+go over the German lines in this, their favorite craft, so they decided
+to put in their spare time seeing that it was in perfect shape, and that
+the two machine guns were ready for action when needed.
+
+“'Would you rather do this than fly, Jack?” asked Tom, as they went
+over, in detail, each part of the powerful Spad.
+
+“I should say not! But, after all, one is just as important as the
+other. I hope we get a good day to-morrow. I'd like to do something
+toward seeing if we can't get Harry out of the Boche's clutches,” and he
+nodded in the direction of the German lines.
+
+“'Tisn't going to be easy doing that,” remarked Tom. “I'd ask nothing
+better than to have a hand in getting him away, but I haven't yet been
+able to figure out a shadow of a plan. Have you?”
+
+“The only thing, I can think of is to organize a big raid on the section
+where he's held--I mean somewhere near the German prison--and if we
+bombed the place enough, and created enough excitement, some of us might
+land and get Harry and any others that might be with him.”
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+“That'd be a pretty risky way of doing it,” he said.
+
+“Can you think of a better?” Jack demanded quickly.
+
+“Not off hand,” came the reply. “We've got to stew over it a bit. One
+thing's sure--we've got to get Harry out, or his sister never will feel
+like going back home and facing the folks.”
+
+“That's right!” agreed Jack. “We've got a double motive for this. But
+I'm afraid it's going to be too hard.”
+
+“That's what we thought when we rescued Mrs. Gleason from the old castle
+where Potzfeldt had her caged,” retorted Tom. “But you made out all
+right.”
+
+“Yes; thanks to your help.”
+
+“Well, we'll both work together again,” declared Tom. “And now let's
+try this Lewis gun. The last time we were up it jammed on me, and yet it
+worked all right on the ground.” So they tested the guns, looked to the
+motor, and in general made ready for a flight when the weather should
+clear.
+
+This happened two days later, when the fog and mist were blown away and
+the blue sky could be seen. In the interim the artillery and infantry
+on both sides had not been idle, and there had been some desperate
+engagements, with the brigaded American troops making a new name for
+themselves.
+
+“I guess there'll be something doing to-day,” remarked Tom, as he and
+Jack tumbled out of bed at the usual early hour. “Clear as a bell,” he
+announced, after a glance from the window. “Shouldn't wonder but what we
+went over their lines to-day.”
+
+“And I suppose, by the same token, they'll be coming over ours,” and
+Jack nodded to indicate the Germans.
+
+“Let 'em come!” exclaimed Tom. “It takes two sides to make a fight, and
+that's what we're here for.”
+
+Hardly had the two air service boys finished their breakfast, than an
+orderly came to tell them the commanding officer wanted them to report
+to him. They hurried across the aviation ground, toward the headquarters
+building, noting on the way that there were signs of unusual activity
+among the newer members of the American air forces, as well as among the
+French and British veterans.
+
+“Must be going to make a raid,” observed Jack.
+
+“Something like that--yes,” assented Tom.
+
+“Hope we're in on it, and the commanding officer doesn't have us take
+some huns up to show 'em what makes the wheels go around,” went on Jack.
+“Of course that's part of the game, but we've done our share.”
+
+However, they need have felt no fear, for when they stood before the
+commanding officer, saluting, they quickly learned that they were to go
+on a special mission that day--in fact as soon as they could get ready.
+
+“I want you two to see if you can discover a battery of small guns that
+have been playing havoc with our men,” he said, as he looked up from a
+table covered with maps. “They're located somewhere along this front,
+but they're so well camouflaged that no one has yet been able to
+discover them.
+
+“I want you boys to see if you can turn the trick. The guns have killed
+a lot of our men, as well as the French and English. We've tried to rush
+the emplacement, but we can't get a line on where it is for it's well
+hidden. I asked permission of the British commanding general to send up
+two American scouts, and he mentioned you boys. Get your orders from the
+major, and good luck to you.”
+
+“Do you want us to go together or separately?” asked Tom.
+
+“Together--in a double plane. I might say that we are going to try a
+raid on a big scale over the enemy's lines, and you two will thus have a
+better chance to carry out your observations unmolested. The Hun planes
+will have their hands full attending to our fighters, and they may not
+attack a single plane off by itself. We'll try to draw them away from
+you.
+
+“At the same time I might point out that there is nothing sure in this,
+and that you may have to fight also,” concluded the commanding officer,
+as he waved a dismissal.
+
+“Oh, were ready for anything,” announced Tom. And as he and Jack got
+outside he clapped his chum on the back, crying: “That's the stuff! Good
+old C.O. to send us! That's what we've been looking for! Maybe we'll
+have time to drop down and shoot some of the Huns that are guarding
+Harry.”
+
+“No chance of that--forget it now,” urged Jack. “We'll clean up this
+location trick first, and then think of a plan to get Harry away. It
+sounds hard to say it, but it's all we can do. Orders are orders.”
+
+They were glad they had made ready the speedy Spad plane, for it was
+in this that they would try to locate the hidden battery, and, having
+received detailed instructions from the major in command, the two lads
+climbed into their air plane and started off.
+
+The day was clear and bright, just the sort for aeroplane activity; and
+it was evident there would be plenty of it, since, even as they began
+climbing, Tom and Jack saw planes from their own aerodrome skirting
+ahead of and behind them, while, in the distance and over German-held
+territory, were Fokkers and Gothas with the iron cross conspicuously
+painted on each.
+
+Tom and Jack had been given a map of the front, their own and the German
+lines being shown, and the probable location of the hidden Hun battery
+marked. This they now studied as they started over the front, Jack being
+in front, while Tom sat behind him, to work the swivel Lewis gun.
+
+Their Spad machine was one that could be controlled from either seat, so
+that if one rider was disabled the other could take charge. There
+were two guns, one fixed and the other movable, and a good supply of
+ammunition.
+
+“Well, I guess there'll be some fighting to-day,” observed Tom, as Jack
+shut off the motor for a moment, to see if it would respond readily when
+the throttle was opened again. “They're closing in from both sides.”
+
+And indeed the Allied planes were sailing forth to meet a squadron of
+the enemy. But none of the Hun craft seemed to pay any attention to Tom
+and Jack. Steadily they flew on until an exclamation from Jack caused
+Tom to look down. He noted that they were over the German lines, and
+headed for the probable location of the battery that had been such a
+thorn in the side of the Allies.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. A PERFECT SHOT
+
+
+The plane in which Tom and Jack had gone aloft to make observations
+which, it was hoped, would result in the discovery of the hidden
+battery, was a special machine. While very powerful and swift and
+equipped for air-fighting, it was also one that had been used by one of
+the French photographers and his pilot. The photographer, was a daring
+man, and had, not long before, gone to his death in fighting three
+Hun planes. But he had peculiar ideas regarding his car, and under his
+orders it had been fitted with a glass floor in the two cockpits, or
+what corresponded to them.
+
+Thus he and his pilot could look down and observe the nature of the
+enemy country over which they were traveling without having to lean
+over, not always a safe act where anti-aircraft guns below are shooting
+up shrapnel.
+
+So as Torn and Jack flew on and on, over the enemy's first and
+succeeding line trenches, they looked down through the glass windows in
+the plane to make their observations. There was a camera attached to
+the plane, and though they could each make use of it, but they were not
+skilled in this work.
+
+It was impossible for them to talk to one another now, as Jack had the
+motor going almost full speed, and the noise it made was deafening, or
+it would have been except for the warm, fur hoods that covered the ears
+of the fliers. They were warmly dressed for they did not know how high
+they might ascend, and it is always cold up above, no matter how hot it
+is on the earth.
+
+Up and up they climbed, and then they flew on and over the enemy lines,
+keeping close lookout for anything unusual below that would indicate
+the presence of the battery. Behind them, and off to one side, a fierce
+aerial battle was going on.
+
+Tom and Jack were eager to get into this and do their share. But they
+had orders to make their observations, and they dared not 'refuse. They
+could tell by looking back every now and then that the affair was going
+well for the Allies, including some of the American airmen, even if the
+Huns outnumbered them.
+
+Back and forth over the German lines swept the glass-bottomed Spad, and
+at a certain point Tom, who was looking down, uttered an exclamation. Of
+course Jack could not hear, but he could feel the punch in the back his
+chum administered a moment later.
+
+Jack turned his head, and saw his chum eagerly pointing downward. A
+moment later he motioned over his left shoulder, pointing backward, as
+though they had just passed over something which would warrant a second
+inspection.
+
+Jack swung the machine about in a big circle, banking sharply, and then,
+as he passed over the ground covered a little while before, he, too,
+looked down, and with sharper glance than he had used at first.
+
+What he saw was the ruins of a small French chateau. It had been under
+heavy fire from the Allied guns, for it had sheltered a German machine
+gun nest, and some accurate shooting on the part of the American gunners
+had demolished it a day or so before.
+
+But what attracted the attention of Tom and Jack was that whereas the
+chateau before the bombardment had stood on a little hill without a
+tree near it, now there was a miniature forest surrounding it. It was
+as though trees and bushes had sprung up in the night. As soon as he
+had seen this, Jack turned to Tom, nodded comprehendingly, and at once
+started back over the American lines. They had no easy time reaching
+them, for by this time the fleet of Hun planes had been defeated by the
+Allies, and had turned tail to run for safety--that is what were left of
+them, several having been shot down, and at no small cost to the French,
+English and American forces.
+
+But the defeat of their airmen seemed to anger the Germans, and they
+opened up with their antiaircraft batteries on the machine in which Tom
+and Jack were flying homeward. “Woolly bears” and “flaming onions,” as
+well as shrapnel, was used against them, and they were in considerable
+danger. Jack had to “zoom” several times to get out of reach of the
+shells.
+
+They finally reached their aerodrome, however, and as soon as they had
+landed and their plane was taken in charge by the mechanics the two lads
+hurried to the commanding officer.
+
+“Well?” he asked sharply, as they saluted. “Did you discover anything?”
+
+“I think so, sir,” returned Tom, for Jack had told his chum to do
+the talking, since the discovery was his. “You remember, sir, the old
+chateau we put out of business the other day?”
+
+“Yes, I recall it. What about it?”
+
+“This: It seems suddenly to have grown a wooded park around it, and
+the trees and bushes don't seem to be as fresh as natural ones ought to
+look.”
+
+“You mean they camouflaged the ruins, and have put another battery in
+the old, chateau?”
+
+“I think so, sir. It wouldn't do any harm to drop a few shells there.
+If it's still a ruin the worst will be that we've wasted a little
+ammunition and may start the German guns up. And if it is what we think
+it is, we may blow up the battery.”
+
+The commander thought for a moment.
+
+“I'll try it!” he suddenly said. “It's worth all it will cost.”
+
+He called an orderly and issued his instructions. Tom and Jack had not
+yet been dismissed, and now the commanding officer turned to them and
+said:
+
+“Since you boys were sharp enough to discover this, I'll let you have a
+front seat at the show which will start soon. Go up and do contact work.
+Let the gunners know when they make a hit.”
+
+The air service boys could not have wished for anything better.
+
+“Once more for our bus!” exclaimed Jack delightedly, when they were
+outside.
+
+Their Spad had been refilled with gasoline, or “petrol,” as it is called
+on the other side, and oil had been put in, while the machine guns had
+been looked to.
+
+“You seem to have spotted it all right, Tom,” went on Jack, just as
+they were about to start, for word came that the American batteries were
+ready.
+
+“Yes, I was looking down through the glass, and when I saw the old
+chateau it struck me that it had suddenly grown a beard. I remembered
+it before, as being on a bare hill. I thought it was funny, and that I
+might be mistaken. But when you agreed with me I knew I was right.”
+
+“Oh, the Huns have brought up trees and bushes to disguise the place all
+right,” declared, Jack. “The only question is whether or not the battery
+is hidden there.”
+
+But there was not long a question about that. Their machine was equipped
+with wireless to signal back the result of the shots, and Jack and
+Tom were soon in position. From the maps used when they had previously
+shelled the place to drive out the German gunners, the American
+artillery forces knew just about where to plant the shells.
+
+There was a burst of fire from the designated battery. Up aloft Jack and
+Tom watched the shell fall. It was a trifle over, and a correction was
+signaled back.
+
+A moment later the second shell--a big one sailed over the German first
+lines, and fell directly on the chateau partly hidden in the woods.
+
+There was a burst of smoke, and with it mingled clouds of dust and
+flying particles. Faintly to Tom and Jack, above the noise of their
+motor, came the sound of a terrific explosion.
+
+There had been a direct hit on the old ruins, as was proved by the fact
+that not only was the German battery put out of commission, but a great
+quantity of ammunition hidden in the trees and bushes was blown up, and
+with it a considerable number of Germans.
+
+And that it was a place well garrisoned was evident to the air service
+boys as they saw a few Huns, who were not killed by the shell and
+resultant explosion of the ammunition dump, running away from the place
+of destruction.
+
+“That was it all right,” said Jack, as he and Tom landed back of their
+own lines.
+
+“Yes, and it couldn't have been hit better. I hope that was the battery
+they wanted put out of business.”
+
+And it was, for no more shells came from that vicinity of the Hun
+positions for a long time. The aeroplane observations had given the very
+information needed, and Tom and Jack were congratulated, not only by
+their comrades, but by the commanding officer himself, which counted for
+a great deal.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A DARING SCHEME
+
+
+Tom sat up on his bunk and looked across at Jack, who was just showing
+signs of returning consciousness--that is, he was getting awake. It was
+the morning after the successful discovery of the hidden German battery,
+and since this exploit the two lads had not been required to go on duty.
+
+“What's the matter?” asked Jack, opening his eyes and looking at his
+chum. “Has the mail come in? Any letters?”
+
+“No. I was just thinking,” remarked Tom, and though his eyes were fixed
+on Jack it was clear that his thoughts were somewhere else.
+
+“Thinking, Tom? That's bad business. Have you seen the doctor?”
+
+“Oh, shut off your gas!” ordered Tom. “You're side slipping. First you
+know you'll come down in a tail spin and I'll have to be looking for a
+new partner.”
+
+“It's as serious as all that, is it?” asked Jack, as he began to dress.
+“Well, in that case I withdraw my observation. Go ahead. How's the
+visibility?”
+
+“Low. We won't have to go up to-day, unless it clears.”
+
+“Um. And I was counting on getting a few Huns right after breakfast.
+Well, what's your think about, if you really were indulging in that
+expensive pastime?”
+
+“I was,” said Tom, and he got up and also proceeded to put on his
+clothes. “I was thinking about Harry.”
+
+“Oh!” and Jack's voice was decidedly different. It had lost all its
+flippant tone. “Say, he certainly is in tough luck. I wish we could do
+something for him--and his sister. Doubtless you were thinking of her,
+too,” and a little smile curled his lips.
+
+“Yes, I was thinking of Nellie,” conceded Tom, and he was so bold and
+frank about it that Jack choked back the joke that he was about to make.
+“I was thinking that we haven't done very much to redeem our promise.”
+
+“But how can we?” asked Jack. “We haven't had a chance to do anything to
+rescue Harry. Of course I want to do that as much as you do, but how is
+it to be done? Can you answer me that?”
+
+“We can't do it by just talking,” said Tom. “That's what I've been
+thinking about. A scheme came to me in the night, and I've been waiting
+to tell you about it.”
+
+“Shoot then, my pickled blunderbuss,” returned Jack. “I'm with you to
+the last drop of petrol.”
+
+“Well, I don't know that it's so much,” said Tom. “It's only that we
+ought to get word to Harry, somehow, that we're thinking of him and
+trying to plan some way of rescuing him. We ought to tell him his sister
+is here, too, and, at the same time we might drop him something to smoke
+and a cake or two of chocolate.”
+
+Jack looked at his chum in amazement. Then he burst out with:
+
+“Say, while you're at it why don't you send him a piano, and an
+automobile, too, so he can ride home when he wants to? What do you
+mean--getting word to him? Don't you know that the beastly Huns will
+hold up the mail as they please, and anything else we might send. They
+don't even let the Red Cross packages go through until they get good and
+ready. Talk about your barbarians!”
+
+“Oh, I wasn't thinking of the mail,” replied Tom.
+
+“No? What then?”
+
+“Why, we know where he is held a prisoner--at least we have the name of
+the prison camp, and he may be there unless he's been transferred. Of
+course that's possible, but it's worth taking a chance on.”
+
+“A chance on what?” asked Jack, “You haven't explained yet. What do you
+plan to do?”
+
+“Fly over the place where Harry is held a prisoner and drop down a
+package and some letters to him,” said Tom. “Now wait until you hear
+it all before you say it can't be done!” he went on quickly, for Jack
+seemed about to interrupt.
+
+“If Harry is held where he was first made a prisoner, it's a big place,
+and there are thousands of our captives there, as well as French and
+British. Well, where there are so many they have to have a big stockade
+to pen 'em in, worse luck. And dropping a bomb on a big place is easier
+than dropping one on a small object.”
+
+“Say! Suffering snuffle-boxes!” cried Jack. “You don't mean to drop a
+bomb in Harry's prison, camp, do you? Do you think he might possibly
+escape in the confusion?”
+
+“Nothing like that,” said Tom. “I mean drop a package containing some
+smokes, some chocolate and a letter telling him we haven't forgotten
+him and that we're going to try to rescue him, and for him to be on the
+lookout. That could be done.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“By us flying over the place in our speedy Spad. We needn't make a very
+big package, though the more of something to eat we can give him the
+better, for those Boches starve our men. Let's get a week off--the
+commanding officer will let us go. We can go to our old escadrille and
+make arrangements to start from there. The boys will help us all they
+can.”
+
+“Oh, there's no doubt about that,” assented Jack. “They all liked Harry
+as much as we did. But I can't see that your scheme will succeed. It's a
+risky one.”
+
+“All the more reason why it ought to succeed,” declared Tom. “It's the
+fellows who take chances who get by. Now let's see if we can get a few
+hours off to go to Paris.”
+
+“Go to Paris? What for?”
+
+“To see Nellie Leroy and have her write her brother a letter. It will be
+better to have one come direct from her than for us merely to give him
+news of her in one of our notes.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Jack, “I guess it would. And I begin to see which way the
+wind blows. You wish to see Nellie.”
+
+“Oh, you make me tired!” exclaimed Tom. “All you can think of is girls!
+I tell you I'm doing this for Harry!”
+
+“And I believe you, old top, and what's more, I'm with you from the word
+go. It's a crazy scheme and a desperate one, but for that very reason it
+may succeed. The only thing is that we may not get permission to carry
+it out.”
+
+“Oh, I don't intend that anyone shall know what our game is,” returned
+Tom. “Of course the authorities would squash it in a minute. No, we'll
+have to keep dark about that. All we need is permission to do a little
+flying 'on our own,' for a while.”
+
+“Suppose they won't let us do that?”
+
+“Oh, I think they will, after what we did yesterday,” said Tom. “Come
+on, let's get ready to go to Paris.”
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. WILL THEY SUCCEED?
+
+
+The scheme evolved, or, perhaps, dreamed of by Tom Raymond in his
+anxiety to get some word to the captive Harry Leroy worked well at the
+start. When he and Jack asked permission to have half a day off to make
+the trip to Paris it was readily granted. Perhaps it was because of
+their exploit of the day before, when their sharp eyes had discovered
+the camouflaged German battery and brought about its destruction, or
+maybe it was because the day was a misty one,+ when no flying could be
+done.
+
+At any rate, soon after breakfast saw the two boys on their way to the
+wonderful city--wonderful in spite of war and the German “super cannon,”
+ which had itself been destroyed.
+
+Tom and Jack knew that unless their plans were changed, the two girls
+and Mrs. Gleason would be at home in Paris, for they had a holiday once
+in every seven, and it was their custom to come to their lodging for
+a rest from the merciful, though none the less exceedingly trying, Red
+Cross work.
+
+Nor had the boys guessed in vain, for when they presented themselves
+at the Gleason lodging, where Nellie Leroy was also staying, they were
+greeted with exclamations of delight.
+
+“We were just thinking of you,” said Bessie, as she shook hands with
+Jack.
+
+“And so we were of you,” Jack replied, gallantly.
+
+“I thought of it first,” said Tom. “He'll have to give me credit for
+that.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Jack, “I will. He's got a great scheme,” he added, as Mrs.
+Gleason came in to greet the boys. “Tell 'em, Tom.”
+
+“Is it anything about--oh, have you any news for me about Harry?” asked
+Nellie eagerly.
+
+“Not exactly news from him, but we're going to send some news to him!”
+ exclaimed Tom. “I want you to write him a letter-a real, nice, sisterly
+letter.”
+
+“What good will that do?” asked Nellie. “I've sent him a lot, but I
+can't be sure that he gets them. I don't even know that he is alive.”
+
+“Oh, I think he is,” said Tom, hopefully. “If the German airmen were
+decent enough to let us know he was a prisoner of theirs, they would
+tell us if--if--well, if anything had happened to him.”
+
+“I think,” he went on, “that you, can count on his being alive, though
+he isn't having the best time in the world--none of the Hun prisoners
+do. That's why I thought it would cheer him up to let him know we
+are thinking of him, and if we can send him some smokes, and some
+chocolate.”
+
+“Oh, he is so fond of chocolate!” exclaimed Nellie. “He used to love the
+fudge I made. I wonder if I could send him any of that?”
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+“It would be better,” he said, “to send only hard chocolate--the kind
+that can stand hard knocks. Fudge is too soft. It would get all mussed
+up with what Jack and I have planned to do to it.”
+
+“What is that?” asked Bessie Gleason. “You haven't told us yet. How are
+you going to get anything to Harry through those horrid German lines?”
+
+“We're not going through the German lines we're going above 'em; in an
+aeroplane. And when we get over the prison camp where Harry is held,
+we're going to drop down a package to him, with the letters, the
+chocolate and other things inside.”
+
+“Oh, that's perfectly wonderful!” exclaimed Bessie. “But will the
+Germans let you do it?”
+
+“Well,” remarked Jack, “they'll probably try to stop us, but we don't
+mind a little thing like that. We're used to it. Of course, as I tell
+Torn, it's a long chance, but it's worth taking. Of course it isn't easy
+to drop any object from a moving aeroplane and have it land at a certain
+spot. We may miss the mark.”
+
+“For that reason I'm going to take several packages,” put in Tom. “If
+one doesn't land another may.”
+
+“But if you do succeed in dropping a package for Harry in the midst of
+the German stockade, won't the guards see it and confiscate it?”
+ asked Mrs. Gleason. “You know they'll be as brutal as they dare to the
+prisoners--though of course,”' she added quickly, as she saw a look of
+pain on Nellie's face, “Harry may be in a half-way decent camp. But,
+even then, won't the Germans keep the package themselves?”
+
+“I've thought of that,” replied Tom. “We've got to take that chance
+also. But I figure that, in the confusion, Harry, or some of his fellow
+prisoners, may pick up the package, or packages, unobserved. Of course
+there's only a slim chance that Harry himself will pick up the bundle.
+But it will be addressed to him, and if any of the French, British, or
+American prisoners get it, they'll see that it goes to Harry all right.”
+
+“Oh, of course,” murmured Mrs. Gleason. “But what was that you said
+about the 'confusion?'”
+
+“That's something different,” said Tom. “I'm counting on dropping a few
+bombs on the German works outside the camp, to--er--well, to sort of
+take their attention off the packages we'll try to drop inside the
+stockade. Of course while we're doing this we may be and probably shall
+be, under fire ourselves. But we've got to take that chance. It's a
+mad scheme, Jack says, and I realize that it is. But we've got to do
+something.”
+
+“Yes,” said Nellie in a low voice, “we must do something. This suspense
+is terrible. Oh, if I only could get word to Harry!”
+
+“You write the letter and I'll take it!” declared Tom.
+
+“And I'll help!” exclaimed Jack.
+
+And then the letters--several of them, for each one wrote a few lines
+and made triplicates of it, since three packages were to be dropped. The
+letters, to begin again, were written and the bundles were made up.
+They contained cigarettes, cakes of hard chocolate, soap and a few other
+little comforts and luxuries that it was certain Harry would be glad to
+get.
+
+The rest of the plan would have to be left to Tom and Jack to work out,
+and, having talked it over with their friends, they found it was time
+for them to start to their station, since their leave was up at eleven
+o'clock that night.
+
+Getting permission for a week's absence was not as easy as securing
+permission to go to Paris. But Tom and Jack waited until after a sharp
+engagement, during which they distinguished themselves by bravery in.
+the air, assisting in bringing down some Hun planes, and then their
+petition was favorably acted on.
+
+Behold them next, as a Frenchman might say, on their way to their former
+squadron, where they were welcomed with open arms. They had to take the
+commanding officer into their confidence, but he offered no objection
+to their scheme. They must go alone, however, and without his official
+knowledge or sanction, since it was not strictly a military matter.
+
+And so Tom and Jack were furnished with the best and speediest machine
+in their former camp, and one bright day, following a hard air battle
+in which the Huns were worsted, they set out to drop the letters and
+packages over the prison camp where Harry Leroy was held.
+
+“Well, how do you feel about it?” asked Jack, as he and his chum stepped
+into their trim machine.
+
+“Not at all afraid, if that's what you mean.”
+
+“No. And you know I didn't. I mean do you think we'll pull it off?”
+
+“I have a sneaking suspicion that we shall.”
+
+“And so have I. It's a desperate chance, but it may succeed. Only if it
+does, and we get Harry's hopes raised for a rescue, how are we going to
+pull that off?”
+
+“That's another story,” remarked Tom. “Another story.”
+
+They mounted into the clear, bright air, and proceeded toward the German
+lines. Would they reach their objective, or would they be shot down, to
+be either killed or made prisoners themselves? Those were questions they
+could not answer. But they hoped for the best.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. BADLY HIT
+
+
+Before undertaking their kindly though dangerous mission, Tom and Jack
+had carefully studied it from all angles. At first Jack had been frankly
+skeptical, and he said as much to his chum.
+
+“You'll never get over the place where Harry is held a prisoner,”
+ declared Jack. “And, if you do, and start to dropping packages, they'll
+never land within a mile of the place you intend, and Harry'll have the
+joy of seeing some fat German eat his chocolate cake.”
+
+“Well, maybe,” Tom had agreed, “But I'm going to try.”
+
+To this end they had secured the best map possible of the ground in and
+around the prison camp. Its location they knew from the dropped glove of
+the aviator, which contained a note telling about Leroy.
+
+It was not uncommon for Germany to disclose to her enemies the names
+of prisons where certain of the Allies were confined, and this was also
+done by England and France. The prison camps were located far enough
+behind the defense lines to make it impossible for them to be reached
+in the course of ordinary fighting.
+
+Then, too, the airmen of Germany seemed a step above her other fighters
+in that they were more chivalrous. So Tom and Jack felt reasonably
+certain as to Leroy's whereabouts. Of course it was possible that he had
+been moved since the note was written, but on this point they would have
+to take a chance.
+
+To this end they had provided themselves not only with the best maps
+obtainable showing the character of the ground and the nature of the
+defenses around the prison, where Harry and other Allied men were held,
+but inquiries had also been made by those in authority, at the request
+of Tom and Jack, of German prisoners, and from them had come information
+of value about the place.
+
+Of course the two air service boys had no hope of inflicting much damage
+on batteries or works outside the prison. By the dropping of some bombs
+they carried they hoped to distract attention from themselves long
+enough to drop the packages to Leroy. The bombs were a sort of feint.
+
+And now they were on their way, winging a path over their own lines, and
+soon they would be above those of the Hun.
+
+Some of the former comrades of Tom and Jack, having been apprised of
+what the lads were to attempt, had, without waiting for official orders,
+decided to do what they could to help. This took the form of a daring
+challenge to the German airmen to come out and give battle.
+
+After their thorough drubbing of the day before, however, the Boche
+aviators did not seem much inclined to venture forth for another cloud
+fight. But the French and some English fliers who were acting with them,
+laid a sort of trap, which, in a way, aided the two Americans.
+
+A half dozen swift Spads took the air soon after Tom and Jack ascended,
+but instead of flying over the German lines they went in the opposite
+direction, making their way to the west. They got out of sight, and then
+mounted to a great height.
+
+Shortly after this some heavy, double-seated planes set out for the
+German territory as though to make observations or take photographs.
+It was the belief of the French airmen that the Huns would swarm out to
+attack these planes, or else to give battle to the machine in which Tom
+and Jack rode. And, in such an event, the swift Spads would swoop down
+out of a great height and engage in the conflict.
+
+And that is exactly what occurred. Torn and Jack had flown only a little
+way over the trenches of the enemy when they saw some Hun planes coming
+up to meet them. It was in the minds of both lads that they were in for
+a fight, but before they had a chance to sight their guns, some French
+planes of the slow type appeared in their rear.
+
+To these the Huns at once turned their attention, and then the Spads
+swooped down, and there was a sharp engagement in the air, which
+ultimately resulted in victory for the Allied forces, though two of the
+French fliers were wounded.
+
+But the feint had its effect, and attention was drawn away from Tom and
+Jack, who flew on toward the prison camp.
+
+Had their mission been solely to carry words of cheer with some material
+comforts to Harry Leroy, it is doubtful if Tom and Jack would have
+received permission to make the trip. But it was known they were both
+daring aviators and good observers, and it was this latter ability on
+their part which counted in their favor. For it was thought they might
+bring back information concerning matters well back of the German front
+lines, information which would be of service to the Allies.
+
+And in furtherance of this scheme Jack and Tom made maps of the country
+over which they were flying. They had been provided with materials for
+this before leaving.
+
+On and on they flew, changing their height occasionally, and, when they
+were fired at, which was the case not infrequently, they “zoomed” to
+escape the flying shrapnel.
+
+But on the whole, they fared very well, and in a comparatively short
+time they found themselves over the country where, on the maps, was
+marked the location of Harry Leroy's prison camp.
+
+“There it is!” suddenly exclaimed Tom, but of course Jack could not hear
+him. However, a punch in Jack's back served the same purpose, and he
+took his eyes from his instruments long enough to look down. Then a
+confirmatory glance at the map made him agree with Tom. The air service
+boys were directly over the prison camp.
+
+This, like so many other dreary places set up by the Germans, consisted
+of a number of shacks, in barrack fashion, with a central parade, or
+exercise ground. About it all was a barbed wire stockade and, though the
+character of these wires did not show, there were also some carrying a
+deadly electric current.
+
+This was to discourage escapes on the part of prisoners, and it
+succeeded only too well.
+
+But the camp was in plain sight, and in the central space could be seen
+a number of ant-like figures which the boys knew were prisoners.
+
+Whether one of them was Leroy or not, they were unable to say.
+
+But they had reached their objective, and now it was time to act. High
+time, indeed, for below them batteries began sending up shells which
+burst uncomfortably close to them. They were of all varieties, from
+plain shrapnel to “flaming onions” and “woolly bears,” the latter a most
+unpleasant object to meet in mid-air.
+
+For the Germans were taking no chances. They knew the vulnerable
+points of their prison camp lay above, and they had provided a ring of
+anti-aircraft guns to take care of any Allied, machines that might fly
+over the place. Whether any such daring scheme had been tried before or
+not, Tom and Jack could not say.
+
+Of course it was out of the question that any great damage could be done
+in the vicinity of the camp without endangering the inmates, so it was
+not thought, in all likelihood, that any very heavy air raids would have
+to be repelled. But in any case, the Huns were ready for whatever might
+happen.
+
+“Better drop the bombs, hadn't we?” cried Jack to Tom, as he slowed down
+the motor a moment to enable his voice to be heard.
+
+“I guess so--yes. Drop 'em and then shoot over the camp again and let
+the packages fall. It's getting pretty hot here.”
+
+And indeed it was. Guns were shooting at the two daring air service boys
+from all sides of the camp.
+
+In the camp itself great excitement prevailed, for the prisoners knew,
+now, that it was some of their friends flying above them.
+
+There was another danger, too. Not many miles away from the prison camp
+was a German aerodrome, and scenes of activity could now be noticed
+there. The Huns were getting ready to send up a machine--perhaps more
+than one--to attack Tom and Jack.
+
+It was, then, high time they acted, and as Jack again started the
+engine, he guided the machine over a spot where the anti-aircraft guns
+were most active.
+
+“There's a battery there I may put out of business,” he argued.
+
+Flying fast, Jack was soon over the spot, or, rather, not so much over
+it, as in range of it. For when an aeroplane drops a bomb on a given
+objective, it does not do so when directly above, but just before it
+reaches it. The momentum of the plane, going at great speed, carries
+any object dropped from it forward. It is as when a mail pouch is thrown
+from a swiftly moving express train or a bundle of newspapers is tossed
+off. In both instances the man in the train tosses the pouch or his
+bundle before his car gets to the station platform, and the momentum
+does the rest.
+
+It was that way with the bomb Jack released by a touch of his foot on
+the lever in the cockpit of the machine. Down it darted, and, wheeling
+sharply after he had let it go, the lad saw a great puff of smoke
+hovering directly over the spot where, but a moment before, Hun gums had
+been belching at him.
+
+“Good! A sure hit!” cried Tom, but he alone heard his own words. Jack's
+ears were filled with the throb of the motor. He had two more bombs,
+and these were quickly dropped at different points on German territory
+outside the camp.
+
+At the time, aside from the evidences they saw, Jack and Tom were
+not aware of the damage they inflicted, but later they learned it was
+considerable and effective. However, they guessed that they had created
+enough of a diversion to try now to deliver the packages containing the
+letters and other comforts.
+
+Jack swung the machine at a sharp angle over the prison camp, and as
+he cleared the barbed wire fence Tom, who had been given charge of the
+packets, let one go. It fell just outside the barrier, caused by some
+freak of the wind perhaps, and the lad could not keep back a sigh of
+dismay. One of the three precious packages had fallen short of the mark,
+and would doubtless be picked up by some German guard.
+
+But Tom had the satisfaction of seeing the two other bundles fall
+fairly within the prison fence, and there was a rush on the part of the
+unfortunate men to pick them up.
+
+“I only hope Harry's there,” mused Tom. “That's tough luck to wish a
+man, I know,” he reflected, “but I mean I hope he gets the letters and
+things.”
+
+However, he and Jack had done all that lay in their power to make this
+possible, and it was now time to get back to their own lines if they
+could. The place was getting too dangerous for them.
+
+Swinging about in a big circle, and noting that groups of prisoners were
+now gathered about the place where the packets had fallen, Jack sent
+the machine toward that part of France where they had spent so many
+strenuous days.
+
+“They're going to make it lively for us!” cried Jack, as he noted two
+swift German planes mounting into the air. “It's going to be a fight.”
+
+But he and Tom were ready for this. Their Lewis and Vickers guns were in
+position, and they only awaited the approach of the nearest Hun plane to
+unlimber them. They mounted steadily upward to get beyond the range of
+the anti-aircraft batteries and were soon in comparative safety, since
+the Huns, at this particular sector at least, were notoriously bad
+marksmen.
+
+With the German planes, that would be a different story, and Tom and
+Jack soon found this out to their cost.
+
+For one of the Boche machines came on speedily, and much more quickly
+than the boys had believed possible was within range. The German machine
+guns--for it was a double plane--began spitting fire and bullets at
+them. They replied, but did not seem to inflict much damage.
+
+Suddenly Tom saw Jack give a jump, as though in an agony of pain, and
+then the young pilot crumpled up in his seat.
+
+“Badly hit!” exclaimed Tom with a pang at his own heart. “Poor Jack is
+out of it!”
+
+The machine, out of control for a moment, started to go into a nose
+dive, but Tom let go the lever of his machine gun, and took charge of
+the craft, since it was one capable of dual manipulation. Tom now had
+to become the pilot and gunner, too, and he had yet a long way to go to
+reach his own lines, while Jack was huddled, before him, either dead or
+badly wounded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. JUST IN TIME
+
+
+It was with mingled feelings of alarm and sorrow that Tom Raymond sent
+the speedy Spad aeroplane on its homeward way toward the French lines.
+He was worried, not chiefly about his own safety, but on account of
+Jack; and his sorrow was in the thought that perhaps he had taken his
+last flight with his beloved chum and comrade in arms. He could not see
+where Jack had been hit, but this was because the other lad lay in such
+a huddled position in the cockpit. Jack had slumped from his seat, the
+safety straps alone holding him in position, though he would not have
+fallen out when the machine was upright as it was at present.
+
+“One of those machine gun bullets must have got him,” mused Tom, as he
+started the craft on an upward climb, for it had darted downward when
+Jack's nerveless hands and feet ceased their control. For part of the
+steering in an aeroplane is done by the feet of the pilot, leaving his
+hands free, at times, to fire the machine gun or draw maps.
+
+Tom had a double object in starting to rise. One was to get into a
+better position to make the homeward flight, and another was to have
+a better chance not only to ward off the attack of the Hun planes, of
+which there were now three in the air, but also to return their fire.
+It is the machine that is higher up that stands the best chance in an
+aerial duel, for not only can one maneuver to better advantage, but the
+machine can be aimed more easily with reference to the fixed gun.
+
+In Tom's case he did not have access to this weapon, which was fixed
+on the rim of the cockpit where Jack could, and where he had been
+controlling, it. With Jack out of the fight, through one or more German
+bullets, it was up to Tom to return the fire of the Huns from his swivel
+mounted Lewis gun. He was going to have difficulty in doing this and
+also guiding the craft, but he had had harder problems than this to meet
+since becoming an aviator in the great war, and now he quickly conquered
+his worrying over Jack, and began to look to himself.
+
+He gave one more fleeting glance at the crumpled-up figure of his
+chum, seeking for a sign of life, but he saw none. Then he swung about,
+turning in toward the nearest Hun airman, and not away from him, and
+opened up with the machine gun, using both hands on that for a moment,
+while he steered with his knees.
+
+It was not easy work, and Tom hardly expected to make a direct hit,
+but he must have come uncomfortably close to the Boche, for the latter
+swerved off, and for an instant his plane seemed beyond control. Whether
+this was due to a wound received by the aviator, or to a trick on his
+part was not disclosed to Tom. But the machine darted downward and
+seemed to be content to veer off for a while.
+
+The third plane Tom soon saw was not going to trouble him, as it had not
+speed equal to his own, so that he really had left only one antagonist
+with whom to deal. And this plane, containing two men, with whom he had
+not yet come to close quarters, was racing toward him at great speed.
+
+“I guess there's only one thing to do,” mused Tom, “and that's to run
+for it. I won't stand any show at all with two of them shooting at me,
+while I have to manage the machine and the gun too. If I can beat 'em to
+our lines I'd better do it and run the chance of some of our boys coming
+out to take care of 'em. I'd better get Jack to a doctor as soon as I
+can.”
+
+And abandoning the gun to give all his attention to the motor, Tom
+opened it full and sped on his way. The other machine's occupants saw
+his plan and tried to stop it with a burst of bullets, but the range was
+a little too far for effective work.
+
+“Now for a race!” thought Tom, and that is what it turned out to be.
+Seeing that he was going to try to get away, the Hun plane, which was
+almost as speedy as the one Tom and Jack had started out in, took after
+them. The other German craft was left far in the rear, and the one Tom
+had shot at appeared to be in such difficulties that it was practically
+out of the fight.
+
+Thus the odds, once so greatly against our heroes, were now greatly
+reduced, though not yet equal, since Jack was completely out of the
+game--for how long Tom could only guess, and he seemed to feel cold
+fingers clutching at his heart when he thought of this.
+
+But Tom soon discovered, by a backward glance over his shoulder now and
+then, that his machine, barring accidents, would distance the other, and
+this was what his aim now was. So on and on he sped, watching the German
+occupied French territory unrolling itself below him, coming nearer and
+nearer each minute to his own lines and safety.
+
+Behind them, he and Jack--for the latter had done his share before being
+wounded--had left consternation in the German ranks. The bombs had done
+considerable damage--as was learned later--and the dropping of packages
+within the prison camp was fraught with potential danger to an extent at
+which the Boches could only guess.
+
+On and on sped Tom, sparing time, now and then, to look back at his
+pursuers, who were, it could not be doubted, doing their best to get
+within effective range. And, every now and again, Tom would glance at
+the motionless form of his churn.
+
+But poor Jack never stirred, and Tom was fearing more and more that his
+chum had made his last flight. As for the Hun aviators, after using up
+a drum or so of bullets uselessly, they ceased firing and urged their
+machine on to the uttermost.
+
+But Tom had the start of them, and he was also on a higher level, so
+that the Germans must climb at an oblique angle to reach him.
+
+And, thanks to this, Tom saw that, if nothing else happened, he would
+soon be in comparative safety with the unconscious form of Jack. The
+anti-aircraft batteries were firing in vain, as he was beyond their
+range, and, far away, he could see the lines of the French armies,
+behind which he soon hoped to be.
+
+And then the unexpected happened, or, rather, it had taken place some
+time since, but it was only then brought to Tom's attention. His engine
+began missing, and when he sought for a cause he speedily found it.
+Nearly all the gasoline had leaked out of the main tank. As he knew
+that there had been plenty for the return flight, there was but one
+explanation of this. A Hun bullet had pierced the petrol reservoir,
+letting the precious fluid leak away.
+
+“Now if the auxiliary tank has any in it, I'm fairly all right,” thought
+Tom. “If it hasn't, I'm all in.”
+
+His worst fears were confirmed, for the auxiliary tank had suffered a
+like fate with the main one. Both were pierced. There were only a few
+drops left, besides those even then being vaporized in the carburetor.
+
+With despair in his heart, Tom looked back. If the Hun plane chose to
+rush him now all would be over with him and Jack. He had only enough
+fuel for another thousand meters or so, and then he must volplane.
+
+He saw a burst of flame and smoke from the enemy plane, and realized
+that he was being shot at again. But the distance was still too far for
+effective aim.
+
+And then, to his joy, Tom saw the pursuer turn and start back toward the
+German territory. The firing had been a last, desperate attempt to end
+his career, and it had failed. Either the Huns were almost out of petrol
+themselves, or they did not relish getting too close to the French
+lines.
+
+“And now, if I can volplane down the rest of the way, I'll be in a fair
+position to save myself,” mused Tom, as he made a calculation of the
+distance he had yet to go. It was far, but he was at a good height and
+believed he could do it.
+
+Suddenly his engine stopped, as though with a sigh of regret that it
+could no longer serve him, and Tom knew that volplaning alone would save
+him now. He was still over the enemy country, and had his plight been
+guessed at by the Germans, undoubtedly they would have sent a machine up
+to attack him. But they were in ignorance.
+
+There was nothing to do but drift along. Gravity alone urged the craft
+on. As he swept over the German trenches Tom was greeted with a burst of
+shrapnel, and he was now low enough to be vulnerable to this. But luck
+was with him, and though the plane was hit several times he thought he
+was unharmed. But in this he was wrong. He received a glancing wound
+in one leg, but in the excitement he did not notice it, and it was not
+until he had landed that he saw the blood, and knew what had happened.
+
+On and on, and down and down he volplaned until he was so near his own
+lines, and so low down, that he could hear the burst of cheers from his
+former comrades.
+
+Then he aimed his craft for a level, grassy place to make a landing,
+and as he came to a gradual stop, and was surrounded by a score of eager
+aviators, he cried out, as soon as he could speak, “I'm all right! But
+look after Jack! He's hurt!”
+
+A surgeon bent hastily over the huddled form, and with the aid of some
+men lifted it from the cockpit. Jack's legs were covered with blood, and
+when the medical man saw whence it came, then and there he set hastily
+to work to stop the bleeding from a large artery.
+
+“You got back only just in time, my friend,” he said to Tom, as Jack was
+carried to a hospital. “Two minutes more and he would have been bled to
+death.”
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. A CRASH
+
+
+Not until a day or so later, when Jack was able to sit up in bed and
+greet Tom with rather a pale face, did the latter learn all that had
+happened. And it was a very close call that Jack had had.
+
+As Tom had guessed, it was some of the bullets from the Hun machine gun
+that had stricken down his chum. One had struck him a glancing blow on
+the head, rendering Jack unconscious and sending him down, a crumpled-up
+heap in the cockpit of his machine. Another bullet, coming through
+the machine later, had found lodgment in Jack's leg, cutting part way
+through the wall of one of the larger arteries.
+
+It was certain that this bullet, the one in the leg, came after Jack
+was hit on the head, for that first wound was the only one he remembered
+receiving.
+
+“It was just as though I saw not only stars' but moons, suns, comets,
+rainbows and northern lights all at once,” he explained to his chum.
+
+The bullet in the leg had cut only part way through the wall of an
+artery. At first the tissues held the blood back from spurting out in
+a stream that would soon have carried life with it. But either some
+unconscious motion on Jack's part, or a jarring of the plane, broke the
+half-severed wall, and, just before Tom landed, his chum began to bleed
+dangerously. Then it was the surgeon had made his remark, and acted in
+time to save Jack's life.
+
+“Well, I guess we made good all right,” remarked Jack, as his chum
+visited him in the hospital.
+
+“I reckon so,” was the answer, “though the Huns haven't sent us any love
+letters to say so. But we surely did drop the packages in the prison
+camp, though whether Harry got them or not is another story. But we did
+our part.”
+
+“That's right,” agreed Jack. “Now the next thing is to get busy and
+bring Harry out of there if we can.”
+
+“The next thing for you to do is to keep quiet until that wound in your
+leg heals,” said the doctor, with a smile. “If you don't, you won't do
+any more flying, to say nothing of making any rescues. Be content with
+what you did. The whole camp is talking of your exploit. It was noble!”
+
+“Shucks!” exclaimed Tom, in English, for they had been speaking French
+for the benefit of the surgeon, who was of that nationality.
+
+“Ah, and what may that mean?” he asked.
+
+“I mean it wasn't anything,” translated Tom. “Anybody could have done
+what we did.”
+
+But of this the surgeon had his doubts.
+
+In spite of the dangerous character of his wound, Jack made a quick
+recovery. He was in excellent condition, and the wound was a clean one,
+so, as soon as the walls of the artery had healed, he was able to be
+about, though he was weak from loss of blood. However, that was soon
+made good, and he and Tom, bidding farewell to their late comrades,
+returned to the American lines. They had been obliged to get an
+extension of leave--at least Jack had--though Tom could report back on
+time, and he spent the interim between that and Jack's return to duty,
+serving as instructor to the “huns” of his own camp. They were eager to
+learn, and anxious to do things for themselves.
+
+Before long Jack returned, though he was not assigned to duty, and
+he and Tom visited Paris and told Nellie, Bessie and Mrs. Gleason the
+result of their mission.
+
+“You didn't see Harry, of course?” asked Nellie, negatively, though
+really hoping that the answer would be in the affirmative.
+
+“Oh, no, we couldn't make out any individual prisoner,” said Tom. “There
+was a bunch of 'em--I mean a whole lot--there.”
+
+“Poor fellows!” said Mrs. Gleason kindly, “Let us hope that they will
+soon be released.”
+
+“Tom and I have been trying to hit on some plan to rescue Harry,” put in
+Jack. “And we'd help any others to get away that we could. But is isn't
+going to be easy.”
+
+“Oh, I don't see how you can do it!” exclaimed Nellie. “Of course I
+would give anything in the world to have Harry back with me, but I must
+not ask you to run into needless danger on his account. That would be
+too much. Your lives are needed here to beat back the Huns. Harry may
+live to see the day of victory, and then all will be well.”
+
+“I don't believe in waiting, if anything can be done before that.” Tom
+spoke grimly. “But, as Jack says, it isn't going to be easy,” he went
+on. “However, we haven't given up. The only thing is to hit on some plan
+that's feasible.”
+
+They talked of this, but could arrive at nothing. They were not even
+sure--which made it all the harder to bear--that Harry had received the
+packages dropped in the prison camp at such risk. The only thing that
+could be done was to wait and see if he wrote to his sister or his
+former chums. Letters occasionally did come from German prisoners, but
+they were rare, and could be depended on neither as to time of delivery
+nor as to authenticity of contents.
+
+So it was a case of waiting and hoping.
+
+Jack was not yet permitted to fly, so Tom had to go alone. But he served
+as an instructor, leaving the more dangerous work of patrol, fighting,
+and reconnaissance to others until he was fit to stand the strain of
+flying and of fighting once more.
+
+“Sergeant Raymond, you will take up Martin to-day,” said the flight
+lieutenant to Tom one morning. “Let him manage the plane himself unless
+you see that he is going to get into trouble. And give him a good
+flight.”
+
+“Yes, sir,” answered Tom, as he turned away, after saluting.
+
+He found his pupil, a young American from the Middle West, who was not
+as old as he and Jack, awaiting him impatiently.
+
+“I'm to get my second wing soon, and I want to show that I can manage a
+plane all by myself, even if you're in it,” said the lad, whose name was
+Dick Martin. “They say I can make a solo flight to-morrow if I do well
+to-day.”
+
+“Well, go to it!” exclaimed Tom with a laugh. “I'm willing.”
+
+Soon they were in a double-seater of fairly safe construction--that is,
+it was not freakish nor speedy, and was what was usually used in this
+instructive work.
+
+“I'm going to fly over the town,” declared Martin, naming the French
+city nearest the camp. “Well, mind you keep the required distance up,”
+ cautioned Tom, for there was, a regulation making it necessary for
+the aviators to fly at a certain minimum height above a town in flying
+across it, so that if they developed engine trouble, they could coast
+safely down and land outside the town itself.
+
+“I'll do that,” promised Martin.
+
+But either he forgot this, or he was unable to keep at the required
+height, for he began scaling down when about over the center of
+the place. Tom saw what was happening, and reached over to take the
+controls. But something happened. There was a jam of one of the levers,
+and to his consternation Tom saw the machine going down and heading
+straight for a large greenhouse on the outskirts of the town.
+
+“There's going to be one beautiful crash!” Tom thought, as he worked in
+vain to send the craft up. But it was beyond control.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. GETTING A ZEPPELIN
+
+
+Dick Martin became frantic when he saw what was about to happen. He
+fairly tore at the various levers and controls, and even increased the
+speed of the motor, but this last only had the effect of sending the
+machine at a faster rate toward the big expanse of glass, which was the
+greenhouse roof.
+
+“Shut it off! Shut off the motor!” cried Tom, but his words could not
+be heard, so he punched Martin in the back, and when that frightened lad
+looked around his teacher made him understand by signs, what was wanted.
+
+With the motor off there was a chance to speak, and Torn cried:
+
+“Head her up! Try to make her rise and we may clear. I can't do a thing
+with the levers back here!”
+
+Martin tried, but his efforts had little effect. For one instant the
+machine rose as though to clear the fragile glass. Then it dived down
+again, straight for the greenhouse roof.
+
+“Guess it's all up with this machine!” thought Tom quickly. He was not
+afraid of being killed. The distance to fall was not enough for that,
+and though he and his fellow aviator might be cut by broken glass, still
+the body of the aeroplane would protect them pretty well from even
+this contingency. But there was sure to be considerable damage to the
+property of a French civilian, and the machine, which was one of the
+best, was pretty certain to be badly broken.
+
+And then there came a terrific crash. The aeroplane settled down by the
+stern, and rose by the bow, so to speak. Then the process was reversed,
+and Tom felt himself being catapulted out of his seat. Only his safety
+strap held him in place. The same thing happened to Dick Martin.
+
+Then there was an ominous calm, and the aeroplane slowly settled down
+to an even keel, held up on the glass-stripped frames of the greenhouse,
+one of the very few in that vicinity, which was considerably in the rear
+of the battle line.
+
+Slowly Tom unbuckled his safety strap and climbed out, making his way to
+the ground by means of stepping on an elevated bed of flowers inside the
+now almost roofless house.
+
+Martin followed him, and as they stood looking at the wreckage they had
+made, or, rather, that had been made through no direct fault of their
+own, the proprietor of the place came out, wearing a long dirt-smudged
+apron.
+
+He raised his hands in horror at the sight that met his gaze, and then
+broke into such a torrent of French that Tom, with all the experience he
+had had of excitable Frenchmen, was unable to comprehend half of it.
+
+The gist was, however, to the effect that a most monstrous and
+unlooked-for calamity had befallen, and the inhabitants of all the
+earth, outside of Germany and her allies, were called on to witness
+that never hid there been such a smash of good glass. In which Torn was
+rather inclined to agree.
+
+“Well, you did something this time all right, Buddie,” Tom remarked to
+Dick Martin.
+
+“Did I--did I do that?” he asked, as though he had been walking in his
+sleep, and was just now awake.
+
+“Well, you and the old bus together,” said Tom. “And we got off lucky at
+that. Didn't I tell you to keep high, if you were going to fly over one
+of the towns?”
+
+“Yes, you did, but I forgot. Anyhow I'd have cleared the place if the
+controls hadn't gone back on us.”
+
+ “I suppose so, but that excuse won't go with the C.O.  It's a bad
+smash.”
+
+By this time quite a crowd had gathered, and Tom was trying to pacify
+the excitable greenhouse owner by promising full reparation in the shape
+of money damages.
+
+How to get the machine down off the roof, where it rested in a mass of
+broken glass and frames, was a problem. Tom tried to organize a wrecking
+party, but the French populace which gathered, much as it admired the
+Americans, was afraid of being cut with the broken glass, or else they
+imagined that the machine might suddenly soar aloft, taking some of them
+with it.
+
+In the end Tom had to leave the plane where it was and hire a motor to
+take him and Martin back to the aerodrome. They were only slightly cut
+by flying glass, nothing to speak of considering the danger in which
+they had been.
+
+The result of the disobedience of orders was that the army officials
+had rather a large bill for damages to settle with the French greenhouse
+proprietor, and Tom and Dick Martin were deprived of their leave
+privileges for a week for disobeying the order to keep at a certain
+height in flying over a town or city.
+
+Had they done that, when the controls jammed, they would have been able
+to glide down into a vacant field, it was demonstrated. The machine was
+badly damaged, though it was not beyond repair.
+
+“And that's the last time I'm ever going to be soft with a Hun, you can
+make up your mind to that,” declared Tom to Jack. “If I'd sat on him
+hard when I saw he was getting too low over the village, it wouldn't
+have happened. But I didn't want him to think I knew it all, and I
+thought I'd take a chance and let him pull his own chestnuts out of the
+fire. But never again!”
+
+“'Tisn't safe,” agreed Jack. He was rapidly improving, so much so that
+he was able to fly the next week, and he and Tom went up together, and
+did some valuable scouting work for the American army.
+
+At times they found opportunity to take short trips to Paris, where they
+saw Nellie and Bessie, and were entertained by Mrs. Gleason. Nellie
+was eager for some word from her brother, but none came. Whether the
+packages dropped by Tom and Jack reached the prisoner was known only to
+the Germans, and they did not tell.
+
+But the daring plan undertaken by the two air service boys was soon
+known a long way up and down the Allied battle line, and more than one
+aviator tried to duplicate it, so that friends or comrades who were
+held by the Huns might receive some comforts, and know they were not
+forgotten. Some of the Allied birdmen paid the penalty of death for
+their daring, but others reported that they had dropped packages within
+the prison camps, though whether those for whom they were intended
+received them or not, was not certain.
+
+“But we aren't going to let it stop there, are we?” asked Tom of
+Jack one day, when they were discussing the feat which had been so
+successful.
+
+“Let it stop where? What do you mean?”
+
+“I mean are we going to do something to get Harry away from the Boche
+nest?”
+
+“I'm with you in anything like that!” exclaimed Jack. “But what can we
+do? How are we going to rescue him?”
+
+“That's what we've got to think out,” declared Tom. “Something has to be
+done.”
+
+But there was no immediate chance to proceed to that desired end because
+of something vital that happened just about then. This was nothing more
+nor less than secret news that filtered into the Allied lines, to the
+effect that a big Zeppelin raid over Paris was planned.
+
+It was not the first of these raids, nor, in all likelihood, would it
+be the last. But this one was novel in that it was said the great German
+airships would sail toward the capital over the American lines, or,
+rather, the lines where the Americans were brigaded with the French
+and English. Doubtless it was to “teach the Americans a lesson,” as the
+German High Command might have put it.
+
+At any rate all leaves of absence for the airmen were canceled, and they
+were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to repel the “Zeps,” as
+they were called, preventing them from getting across the lines to
+Paris.
+
+“And we'll bring down one or two for samples, if we can!” boasted Jack.
+
+“What makes it so sure that they are coming?” asked Tom.
+
+It developed there was nothing sure about it. But the information had
+come from the Allied air secret service, and doubtless had its inception
+when some French or British airman saw scenes of activity near one of
+the Zeppelin headquarters in the German-occupied territory. There were
+certain fairly positive signs.
+
+And, surely enough, a few nights later, the agreed-upon alarm was
+sounded.
+
+“The Zeps are coming!”
+
+Tom and Jack, with others who were detailed to repel the raid, rushed
+from their cats, hastily donned their fur garments, and ran to their
+aeroplanes, which were a “tuned up” and waiting.
+
+“There they are!” cried Torn, as he got into his single-seated plane, an
+example followed on his part by Jack. “Look!”
+
+Jack gazed aloft. There was a riot of fire from the anti-aircraft
+guns of the French and British, but they were firing in vain, for the
+Zeppelins flew high, knowing the danger from the ground batteries.
+
+Sharp, stabbing shafts of light from the powerful electric lanterns shot
+aloft, and now and then one of them would rest for an instant on a great
+silvery cigar-shape--the gas bag of the big German airships that were
+beating their way toward Paris, there to deal death and destruction.
+
+“Come on!” cried Tom, as his mechanician started the motor. “I'm going
+to get a Zep!”
+
+“I'm with you!” yelled Jack, and they soared aloft side by side.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. ON PATROL
+
+
+Aloft with Tom and Jack were several other fighters, for it was not only
+considered a great honor to bring down a Zeppelin, but it would save
+many lives if one or more of the big gas machines could be prevented
+from dropping bombs on Paris or its environs.
+
+The machines which were used were all of the single type, though
+of different makes and speeds. Each one was equipped with electric
+launching tubes. These were a somewhat new device for use against
+captive Hun balloons and Zeppelins and were installed in many of the
+fighting scout craft of the Americans and Allies.
+
+Between the knees of Toni and Jack, as well as each of the other pilots,
+was a small metal tube. This went completely through the floor of the
+cockpit, so that, had it been large enough to give good vision, one
+could view through it the ground beneath.
+
+In a little rack at the right of each scout were several small bombs of
+various kinds. Some were intended to set on fire whatever they came in
+contact with, being of phosphorus. Others were explosive bombs, pure and
+simple, while some were flares, intended to light up the scene at night
+and make getting a target easier.
+
+Included in the rack of death and destruction was a simple stick; not
+unlike a walking cane, and this seemed so comparatively harmless that an
+uninitiated observer would almost invariably ask its use.
+
+At the lower end of the launching tube, through which the bombs were
+dropped, was a “trip,” or sort of catch, that caught on a trigger
+fastened to each bomb. The trip pulled the trigger, so to speak, and set
+in operation the firing device.
+
+In the early days, though doubtless the defect was afterwards corrected,
+the bombs sometimes stuck in the launching tube, and as they were likely
+to go off in this position at any moment, it was the custom of the
+pilots to push them on their way with the cane if the missiles jammed.
+Hence it was an essential part of each flying machine's armament.
+
+Higher and higher mounted the fighting scouts, with Tom and Jack among
+their number. It was necessary to mount very high in order to get
+above the Zeppelins, as in this position alone was it possible for the
+aeroplanes to fight them to any advantage. The Zeppelins carried many
+machine guns of long range, and for the pigmy planes to attack them on
+the same level, meant destruction to the smaller craft.
+
+There were several German machines in the raid toward Paris, but Tom
+and Jack caught sight of only two. The others were either at too great a
+height to be observed, or else were farther off, lost in the haze.
+
+But the two silver shapes, resembling nothing so much as huge, expensive
+cigars, wrapped in tinfoil, were flying on their way, now and then
+dropping bombs, which exploded with dull, muffled reports--an earnest of
+what they would do when they got over Paris. They were traveling fast,
+under the impulse of their own powerful motors and propellers, and also
+aided by a stiff breeze.
+
+Of course conversation was out of the question among Tom, Jack and the
+other aviators, but they knew the general plan of the fight. They were
+to get above the Zeppelins--as many of them as could--and drop bombs
+on the gas envelope. They were also to attack with machine guns if
+possible, aiming at the rudder controls and machinery. It was the great
+desire of the Allied commanders to have a Zeppelin brought down as
+nearly intact as possible.
+
+Up and up climbed the speedy scout machines, and it was seen that some
+of them would never get in a position to do any damage. The German craft
+were traveling too speedily. But Tom and Jack managed to get to a height
+of about twenty thousand feet, which was above the Zeppelins, though by
+this time the Germans were in advance of them, for they had climbed at
+rather a steep angle. However, they knew their speed was many times that
+of the German machine on a straight course.
+
+On and on they went. Then came a mist which hid the enemy from sight.
+The aviators railed at their luck, and Tom and Jack dropped down a bit,
+hoping to get through the mist. It lay below them like a great, gray
+blanket.
+
+Suddenly they fairly plumped through it, and saw, not far away, the two
+big silver shapes, shining in the searchlights which were now giving
+good illumination. It was a moonlight night, which seemed a favorite for
+a German bombing expedition.
+
+Far below them, and beneath the Zepplins, Tom and Jack could see the
+lights of other aeroplanes, which were flying low to observe lanterns on
+the ground, set in the shape of arrows, to indicate in which direction
+the German craft were traveling. Later, if necessary, these observing
+machines could climb aloft and signal to those higher up.
+
+Nearer and nearer Jack and Tom came to one of the Zeppelins. And now, in
+the semi-darkness, they became aware that they were being fired at by
+a long-range gun on the German craft. The bullets sung about them, but
+though their machines were hit several times, as they learned later,
+they escaped injury.
+
+Now the battle of the air was on in grim and deadly earnest. Several
+scout planes flew at the big Zeppelin like hornets attacking a bear.
+They fired their machine guns, and the Germans replied in kind, but with
+more terrible effect, for two of the Allied planes were shot down. It
+was a sad loss, but it was the fortune of war, or, rather, misfortune,
+for the Zeppelin was not engaged in a fair fight, but seeking to bomb an
+unfortified city.
+
+Now Tom and Jack, though somewhat separated, were close above the
+Zeppelin, and in a position where they could not be fired at. They began
+to drop incendiary bombs through the tubes between their knees.
+
+These bombs were fitted with sharp hooks, so that if they touched
+the gas bag they would cling fast, and burn until they had ignited the
+envelope and the vapor inside. And as they circled about, dropping bomb
+after bomb, the two air service boys saw this happen. Some at least of
+their bombs reached their target.
+
+The great craft, now on fire in several places, was twisting and turning
+like some wounded snake, endeavoring to escape. Tom glanced toward
+the other Zeppelin and saw that this was fairly well surrounded by
+aeroplanes, but was not, as yet, on fire.
+
+The bees had fatally stung one great German bear, and, a little later,
+it crashed to the ground where it was nearly all consumed, and of its
+crew of thirty men, not one was left alive.
+
+The other plane, though greatly damaged by machine gun fire, was not set
+ablaze, but was forced to turn and sail for the German lines again. So
+that two were prevented from bombing Paris.
+
+Well satisfied with what they had accomplished, Torn, Jack and the
+others who had set the Zeppelin on fire, descended. Later they learned,
+by word from Paris, that on of the German machines was shot down over
+that city and some of its crew captured. So that though the Huns did
+considerable damage with their bombs, they paid dearly for that unlawful
+expedition.
+
+This was the beginning of a series of fierce aerial battles between
+the German forces and the Allied airmen, though for a long dine no more
+Zeppelins were seen. Sometimes fortune favored the side on which Tom and
+Jack fought, and again they were forced to retire, leaving some of their
+friends in the hands of the enemy.
+
+Once Tom and Tack, keeping close together doing scout work, were cut off
+from their companions. They had ventured too far over the Hun lines,
+and were in danger of being shot down. But a squadron of airmen from
+Pershing's forces made a sortie and drove the Germans to cover, rescuing
+the two air service boys from an evil fate.
+
+Then followed some weeks of rainy and misty weather, during which there
+was very little air work on either side. But the fight on land went on,
+with attacks and repulses, the Allies continually advancing their lines,
+though ever so little. Slowly but surely they were forcing the Germans
+back.
+
+Now and then there were night raids, and once Tom and Jack, who had not
+flown for a week because of rain, were just back of the lines when a
+captured German patrol was brought in, covered with mud and blood. There
+had been lively fighting.
+
+“I wish we were in on that!” exclaimed Tom. “I'm getting tired of
+sitting around.”'
+
+“So am I!” agreed Jack. “Let's ask if we can't go out on patrol some
+night. It will be better than waiting for it to stop raining.”
+
+To their delight their request was granted, as it had been in a number
+of other cases of airmen. Temporarily they were allowed to go with the
+infantry until the weather cleared.
+
+The two air service boys were in the dugout one night, having served
+their turns at listening post work and general scouting, when an officer
+came in with a slip of paper. He began reading off some names, and when
+he had finished, having mentioned Tom and Jack, he said:
+
+“Prepare for patrol duty at once.”
+
+“Good!” whispered Tom to his chum: “Now there'll be something doing.”
+
+He little guessed what it was to be.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. CAPTURED
+
+
+Silently, in the darkness of their trenches, the party of which Tom and
+Jack were to be members, prepared to go over the top and penetrate
+the German front line of defense, in the hope of taking prisoners that
+information might be had of them. It was a risky undertaking, but one
+frequently accomplished by the Allies, and it often led to big results.
+
+There were about a score in the patrol, and, to their delight, though
+they rather regretted it later, Tom and Jack were given positions well
+in front, two files removed, in fact, from the lieutenant commanding.
+
+“Now I suppose you all understand what you're to do,” said the
+lieutenant as he gathered his little party about him in one of the
+larger dugouts, where a flickering candle gave light. “You'll all
+provide yourselves with wire cutters, hand grenades and pistols. Rifles
+will be in the way. Take your gas masks, of course. No telling when
+Fritz may send over some of those shells. Blacken your faces, as usual.
+A star shell makes a beautiful light on a white countenance, so don't be
+afraid of smudging yourselves. And when we start just try to imagine you
+are Indians, and make no noise. One object is to come in contact with
+some German post, try to hear what's going on from their talk, and make
+some captures if we can. Do you all understand German?”
+
+It developed that they did--at least no one would confess he did not for
+fear of being turned back. But, as it developed, they all had some, if
+slight, acquaintance with the language.
+
+A little period of anxious waiting followed--a sort of zero hour
+effect--until finally the word was received from some source, unknown to
+Tom and Jack, to proceed. The night was black, and there was a mist over
+everything which did not augur for clear weather on the morrow.
+
+“Forward!” whispered the lieutenant, for they were so near the German
+lines that incautious talking was prohibited. Out of their trenches they
+went, Tom and Jack well in front, and close to the leader.
+
+As carefully as might be, though, at that, making noise which the
+members of the patrol thought surely must be heard clear to Berlin, they
+made their way over the shell-torn and uncertain ground in the darkness.
+They went down between their own lines of barbed wire to where an
+opening had been made opposite what was considered a quiet spot in the
+Hun defenses, and then they started across “No Man's Land.”
+
+It was not without mingled feelings that Tom and Jack advanced,
+and, doubtless, their feelings were common to all. There was great
+uncertainty as to the outcome. Death or glory might await them. They
+might all be killed by a single German shell, or they might run into
+a German working party, out to repair the wire cut during the day's
+firing. In the latter case there would be a fight--an even chance,
+perhaps. They might capture or be captured.
+
+On and on they went, treading close together and in single file, making
+little noise. Straight across the desolate stretch of land that lay
+between the two lines of trenches they went, and, when half way, there
+came from the German side a sudden burst of star shells. These are a
+sort of war fireworks that make a brilliant illumination, and the enemy
+was in the habit of sending them up every night at intervals, to reveal
+to his gunners any party of the enemy approaching.
+
+“Down! Down!” hissed the lieutenant. But he need not have uttered
+the command. All had been told what to do, and fell on their faces
+literally--their smoke-blackened faces. In this position they resembled,
+as nearly as might be, some of the dead bodies scattered about, and that
+was their intention.
+
+ Still each one had a nervous fear.  The star shells were very
+brilliant and made No Man's Land almost as bright as when bathed in
+sunshine, a condition that had not prevailed of late. There was no
+guarantee that the Germans would not, in their suspicious hate, turn
+their rifles or machine guns on what they supposed were dead bodies. In
+that case-well, Tom, Jack and the others did not like to think about it.
+
+But the brilliance of the star shells died away, and once more there
+was darkness. The lieutenant cautiously raised his head and in a whisper
+commanded:
+
+“Forward! Is every one all right?”
+
+“My mouth's full of mud and water--otherwise I'm all right,” said some
+one.
+
+“Silence!” commanded the officer.
+
+Once more he led them forward. They reached the first German wire, and
+instantly the cutters were at work. Though the men tried to make no
+noise, it was an impossibility. The wire would send forth metallic
+janglings and tangs as it was cut. But an opening was made, and the
+patrol party filed through. And then, almost immediately, something
+happened.
+
+There was another burst of star shells, but before the Americans had an
+opportunity to throw themselves on their faces, they saw that they were
+confronted by a large body of Germans who had come forward as silently
+as themselves, and, doubtless, on the same sort of errand.
+
+“At 'em, boys! At 'em!” cried the lieutenant. “The Stars and Stripes! At
+'em!”
+
+Instantly pandemonium broke loose. In the glaring light of the star
+shells the two forces rushed forward. There was a burst of pistol fire,
+and then the fight went on in the darkness.
+
+“Where are you, Tom?”' yelled Jack, as he flung a grenade full at a big,
+burly German who was rushing at him with uplifted gun.
+
+“Here!” was the answer, and in the darkness Jack felt his chum collide
+with him so forcefully that both almost went down in a heap. “I jumped
+to get away from a Hun bayonet,” pantingly explained Tom.
+
+Jack's grenade exploded, blowing dirt and small stones in the faces of
+the chums. There were shouts and cries, in English, French and German.
+The American lieutenant tried to rally his men around him, but, as was
+afterward learned, they were attacked by a much larger party of Huns
+than their patrol.
+
+“We must stick together!” cried Jack to Tom. “If we separate we're lost!
+Where are the others?”
+
+“Sam Zalbert was with me a second ago,” answered Tom, naming a lad with
+whom he and Jack had become quite friendly. “But I saw him fall. I don't
+know whether he slipped or was hurt. Look out!” he suddenly shouted.
+
+He saw two Germans rushing at him and Jack, with leveled revolvers.
+There was no time to get another grenade from their pockets, and Tom did
+the next best thing. He made a tackle, football fashion, at the legs of
+the Germans, which he could see very plainly in the light of many star
+shells that were now being sent up.
+
+Almost at the same instant Jack, seeing his chum's intention, followed
+his example, and the two Huns went down in a heap, falling over the
+heads of their antagonists with many a German imprecation. Their weapons
+flew from their hands.
+
+“Come on! This is getting too hot for us!” cried Jack, as he scrambled
+to his feet, followed by Tom. “There'll be a barrage here in a minute.”
+
+This seemed about to happen, for machine guns were spitting fire and
+death all along that section of the German front, and the American and
+French forces were replying. A general engagement might be precipitated
+at any moment.
+
+The American lieutenant tried to rally his men, but it was a hopeless
+task. The Germans had overpowered them. Tom and Jack started to run back
+toward their own lines, having made sure, however, of putting beyond the
+power to fight any more the two Germans who had attacked them.
+
+“Come on!” cried Tom. “We've got to have reinforcements to tackle this
+bunch!”
+
+“I guess so!” agreed Jack.
+
+They turned, not to retreat, but to better their positions, when they
+both ran full into a body of men that seemed to spring up from the very
+ground in the sudden darkness that followed an unusually bright burst of
+star shells.
+
+“What is it? Who are they? What's the matter?” cried Tom.
+
+“Give it up!” answered Jack. “Who are you?” he asked.
+
+Instantly a guttural German voice cried:
+
+“Ah! The American swine! We have them!”
+
+In another moment Tom and Jack felt themselves surrounded by an
+overpowering number.
+
+Hands plucked at them toughly from all sides, and their pistols and few
+remaining grenades were taken from them.
+
+“Turn back with the prisoners!” cried a voice in German.
+
+The two air service boys found themselves being fairly-lifted from their
+feet by the rush of their captors. Where they were going they could not
+see, but they knew what had happened.
+
+They had been captured by the Germans!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. THE CLEW
+
+
+For one wild instant Tom and Jack, as they admitted to one another
+afterward, felt an insane desire to attempt to break away from their
+captors, to rush at them, to attack if need be with their bare hands,
+and so invite death in its quickest form. They even hoped that they
+might escape this way rather than live to be taken behind the German
+lines.
+
+It was not only the disgrace of being captured--which really was no
+disgrace considering the overwhelming numbers that attacked them--t it
+was the fear of what they might have to suffer as prisoners.
+
+Tom and Jack, as well as the others, might well regard with horror the
+fate that lay before them. But to escape by even a desperate struggle
+was out of the question. They were surrounded by a ring of Germans,
+several files deep, and each was heavily armed. Then, too, their captors
+were fairly rushing them along over the uneven ground as though fearful
+of pursuit. The air service boys had no chance, nor did any of their
+comrades of the patrol who might be left alive. How many these were, Tom
+and Jack had no means of knowing. They did not see any of their comrades
+near them. There were only the Huns who were bubbling over with coarse
+joy in the delight of having captured two “American pigs,” as they
+brutally boasted.
+
+Stumbling and half falling, Tom and Jack were dragged along. Now and
+then they could see, by means of the star shells, groups of men, some
+near and some farther off. There was firing all along the Hun and Allied
+lines, and as the boys were dragged along the big guns began to thunder.
+What had started as an ordinary night raid might end in a general
+engagement before it was finished.
+
+There seemed to be fierce lighting going on between the several detached
+groups, and the air service boys did not doubt that some word of the
+dispersing and virtual defeat of the party they were with had reached
+their lines, resulting in the sending out of relief parties.
+
+“This sure is tough luck!” murmured Jack to Tom, as they stumbled along
+in the midst of their captors.
+
+“You said it! If our boys would only rush this bunch and get us away.”
+
+“Silence, pigs!” cried a German officer, and with his sword he struck
+at Tom, slightly injuring the lad and causing a hot wave of fierce
+resentment.
+
+“You wouldn't dare do that if I had my hands free, you dirty dog!”
+ rasped out Tom in fairly good German, and he tugged to free his arms
+from the hold of a Hun soldier on either side.
+
+The officer who had struck Tom seemed about to reply, for he surged
+through the ranks of his men over toward the captive, but a command from
+some one, evidently higher in authority halted him, and he marched on,
+muttering.
+
+There was sharp fighting between the Hun sentries and small parties,
+and similar bodies from the American and Allied sides going on along
+the lines now, and both armies were sending up rockets and other
+illuminating devices.
+
+The two Virginia lads felt themselves being hurried forward--or back,
+whichever way you choose to look at it--and whither they were being
+taken they did not know. The taunts of their captors had ceased, though
+the men were talking together in low voices, and suddenly, at something
+one of them said, Tom nudged Jack, beside whom he was walking.
+
+“Did you hear that?” he asked in so low a voice that it was not heard by
+the Hun next him. Or if it was heard, no attention was paid to it, for
+Torn spoke in English. The tramp of the heavy boots of the Huns and the
+rattle of their arms and accoutrements made noise enough, perhaps, to
+cover the sound of his voice.
+
+“Did I hear what?” asked Jack.
+
+“What that chap said. It was something about one of the German prison
+camps having been burned by the prisoners, a lot of whom got away. The
+rest were transferred to a place not far from here. Listen!”
+
+And the Americans listened to the extent of their ability.
+
+Then it was they blessed their lucky stars that they understood enough
+of German to know what was being said, for it was then and there that
+they got a clew to the whereabouts of Harry Leroy, from whom they had
+heard not a word since the dropping of his glove by the German aviator.
+They did not even know whether or not their packages had reached their
+chum.
+
+The talk of the Germans who had captured Tom and Jack was, indeed,
+concerning the burning of one of the prison camps. As the boys learned
+later, the prisoners, unable to stand the terrible treatment, had risen
+and set fire to the place. Many of them perished in the blaze and by the
+fire of German rifles. The others were transferred to a camp nearer the
+battle line as a punishment, it being argued, perhaps, that they might
+be killed by the fire of the guns of their own side.
+
+“And there are some airmen, too, in the new prison camp,” said one of
+the Germans. “Our infantrymen claimed them as their meat, though our
+airmen brought them down. But there was no room for them in the prison
+camp with the other captured aviators, so The Butcher has them in his
+charge.”
+
+Tom and Jack learned later that “The Butcher” was the title bestowed,
+even by his own men, on a certain brutal German colonel who had charge
+of this prison camp.
+
+Then there came to Tom and Jack in the darkness a curious piece of
+information, dropped by casual talk of the Huns. One of them said to
+another:
+
+“One of the transferred airmen tried to bribe me to-day.”
+
+“To bribe you? How and for what?”
+
+“He is an accursed American pig, and when he heard we were opposite some
+of them, he wanted me to throw a note from him over into the American
+lines. He said I would be well paid, and he offered me a piece of gold
+he had hidden in the sole of his shoe.”
+
+“Did you take it?”
+
+“The gold? Of course I did! But I tore up the note he gave me to toss
+into the American lines. First I looked at it, though. It was signed
+with a French name, though the prisoner claimed to be from the United
+States. It was the name Leroy which means, I have been told, the king.
+Ha! I have his gold, and the note is scattered over No Man's Land! But
+I will tell him I sent it into the trenches of his friends. He may have
+more notes and gold!” and the brute chuckled.
+
+Tom and Jack, looked at one another in the darkness. Could it be
+possible that it was their friend Harry Leroy who was so near to them,
+since he had been transferred from a camp far behind the lines?
+
+It seemed so. There were not many American airmen captured, and there
+could hardly be two of this same rather odd name.
+
+“It must be Harry,” murmured Tom.
+
+“I think so,” agreed Jack.
+
+“Silence, American pigs!” commanded man officer.
+
+He raised his sword to strike the lad. But just then occurred an
+interruption so tremendous that all thought of punishing prisoners who
+dared to speak was forgotten.
+
+A big shell rose screaming and moaning from the Allied lines and landed
+not far from the party of Germans which was leading along Tom and Jack.
+It burst with a tremendous noise well inside the Hug defenses, and this
+was followed by a terrific explosion. As the boys learned later the
+shell had landed in the midst of a concealed battery--a stroke of luck,
+and not due to any good aiming on the part of the American gunner--and
+the supply of ammunition had gone up.
+
+There was great commotion behind the German lines, and two or three of
+Tom's and Jack's captors were thrown down by the concussion. The air
+service boys themselves were stunned.
+
+And then there suddenly sounded a ringing American cheer, while a voice,
+coming from a group of soldiers that confronted the German patrol,
+cried:
+
+“Halt! Who's there? Are there any of Uncle Sam's boys?”
+
+“Yes! Yes!” eagerly cried Tom and Jack. “Come on! We're captured by the
+Germans!”
+
+There was another cheer, followed by a roar of rage, and then came a
+rush of feet. Gleaming bayonets glistened in the light of star shells
+and many guns, and the members of the German patrol, finding themselves
+surrounded, threw down their arms and cried:
+
+“Kamerad!”
+
+The fortunes of war had unexpectedly turned, and Tom and Jack had been
+rescued and saved by a party of Pershing's gallant boys.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. NELLIE'S RESOLVE
+
+
+“What happened?”
+
+“How'd they get you?”
+
+“Are you hurt?”
+
+These were a few of the questions put to Tom and Jack as they were
+surrounded by the rescuing party of their friends, led, it afterward
+developed, by the very lieutenant with whom the two air service boys had
+started in the patrol across No Man's Land.
+
+The German captors had either all surrendered or been killed, and the
+tables were most effectively switched around. At first Tom and Jack were
+too surprised and overwhelmingly grateful to answer.
+
+But they soon understood what had happened. And then they told the story
+of their fight against odds until captured. They said nothing just then
+of the unexpected information that had come to them about Harry Leroy's
+presence in a German camp so comparatively near their own lines. But
+they resolved, at the first opportunity, to make use of the information.
+
+The shooting of the big guns gradually ceased when it was made manifest
+that neither side was ready for a general engagement. The pop-pop of the
+machine weapons, too, died away and the star shells ceased rising.
+
+“Come on you Fritzies--what's left of you,” cried the lieutenant, when
+he had made sure that there were no others of his party whom he could
+rescue.
+
+Then with Tom and Jack the center of a happy, tumultuous throng of their
+own comrades, the trip back to the American lines was begun. It was
+without incident save that on the way a wounded British soldier was
+found lying in a shell hole and carried in, ultimately to recover.
+
+Tom and Jack told what had happened to them, how they had been
+surrounded and led away; and then, came the story of the lieutenant who
+had led the patrol party which had turned defeat into victory with the
+aid of reinforcements which were sent to him.
+
+He had seen his hopes blasted when rushed by the big crowd of the Hun
+patrol, and, though slightly wounded, he realized that absolute defeat
+would come to him and his men unless he could get help. He sent a runner
+back with word to send relief, and then, surrounding himself with what
+few men remained alive and uncaptured, the fight went on.
+
+It was bitter and sanguinary, and at last, with only two men left beside
+him, the lieutenant heard the rush of the relief guard. He was placed
+in charge, as he knew the lay of the land, and the party hurried to and
+fro, wiping up little knots of Germans here and there, until the main
+body encountered the squad having in charge the two air service boys.
+
+“You began to think it was all up with you, didn't you?” asked the
+lieutenant, when they were all once more safely in the dugout.
+
+“We certainly did!” admitted Tom.
+
+“We had visions of watery soup and wheatless bread for the rest of the
+war,” observed Jack.
+
+He and Tom were slightly wounded--mere scratches they dubbed the
+hurts--but they were sent to the rear to be looked over and bandaged, as
+were some of the others who were more severely hurt. There were some who
+could not be sent back--who were left in No Man's Land silent figures
+who would never take part in a battle again. They had paid their price
+toward making the world a better place to live in, and their names were
+on the Honor Roll.
+
+“Well, what do you think about it?” asked Tom of Jack.
+
+“I don't know what to think. It seems hardly possible that Harry can be
+so near to us, and yet we can't do a thing to help him.”
+
+“I'm not so sure about that,” returned Tom. “That's what I want to talk
+about.”
+
+It was a week after the patrol raid, and clear weather had succeeded the
+rain and mist, so that it was possible for the aeroplanes to operate.
+And their services were much needed.
+
+There were preparations going on back of the German lines of which
+General Pershing and the Allied commanders needed to be informed. And
+only the “eyes” of the armies could see them and report--the eyes being
+the aeroplanes.
+
+So it came about that, having been relieved of their temporary transfer
+to the infantry, Tom and Jack were once more with their comrades of the
+air.
+
+“Well, let's think it over, and talk about it when we come down,”
+ suggested Jack. “We've got to go upstairs for our usual tour of duty
+now.”
+
+This would last three hours. They were to do scout work--report any
+unusual activity back of the German lines, or give warning of the
+approach of any hostile aeroplanes. After their tour of duty was ended
+they would have the rest of the day to themselves, provided there was
+no general attack. Of course if, while they were up, they were attacked,
+they must fight.
+
+Each lad had a plane to himself, since the young “huns” had all pretty
+well passed their novitiate, and were now in the regular flying squad.
+Later some other new aviators would report for instruction on the battle
+front.
+
+Up and up climbed Tom and Jack, and eagerly they scanned the German
+lines for any signs of activity. But though there were some Hun planes
+in the air, they did not approach to give battle. Possibly some other
+plans were afoot. Afterward Tom and Jack admitted to one another that
+there was a great temptation to fly over the German trenches to try to
+get a sight of the prison that had been spoken of--the camp where Harry
+Leroy might be held.
+
+But to do this would be in direct violation of their orders, and they
+dared not take any risks. For to do so might involve not only themselves
+in danger, but others as well. And that view of the matter determined
+them. They would have to await their opportunity for rescuing their
+chum--if it could be accomplished.
+
+Their tour of duty aloft that day was without incident. This is not an
+usual condition at times along the long battle front. Men can not go on
+fighting without stop, and there come lulls in even the fiercest battle.
+Flesh and blood can stand only a certain amount of torture, and then
+even the soul rebels.
+
+So Tom and Jack drifted peacefully down to their aerodrome, noting that
+it was being newly camouflaged, for the recent rain had played havoc
+with some of the concealments.
+
+As far as possible both the Germans and the Allies tried to conceal the
+location of their flying camps. The aeroplanes and balloons needed large
+buildings to house them, and such structures made excellent and, of
+course, fair war-marks for bombing parties in aeroplanes hovering aloft.
+So it was the custom to put up trees and bushes or to stretch canvas
+over the aerodromes and paint it to resemble woods and fields in an
+effort to conceal, or camouflage, the depots where the airships were
+stationed. But this work was done by a special detail of men, and with
+it Tom and Jack had nothing to do.
+
+They turned their machines over to the mechanics, who would go carefully
+over them and have the craft in readiness for the next flight. Then,
+being free for several hours, the two young airmen could do as they
+pleased, within certain limits.
+
+“Well, did anything occur to you?” asked Jack, as he and Tom, having
+divested themselves of their heavy fur-lined garments, went to the mess
+hall, which was in an old stable, from which the horses had long since
+been removed.
+
+“You mean a plan to rescue Harry?”
+
+“That's it.”
+
+“No, I'm sorry to say I can't think of a thing,” Tom answered. “I
+thought I would, but I didn't. Have you anything to say?”
+
+“Yes. Let's go to Paris.”
+
+“You mean to see--er--?”
+
+“Yes!” interrupted Jack with a smile. “This is their day off, and we
+might as well have a little enjoyment when we can. From the easy time we
+had to-day we'll have some hard fighting to-morrow. This was too good to
+last. Heinie is up to some mischief, I think.”
+
+“Same here.”
+
+So, having received permission, they went to Paris, and soon found their
+way to the lodgings of Mrs. Gleason, where the air service boys were
+welcomed by Bessie and Nellie.
+
+Of course the first question had to do with the captive Harry, and to
+the delight of Nellie Tom was able to say:
+
+“We have news of him, anyhow.”
+
+“News? You mean he is all right?”
+
+“Well, as all right as he ever can be while the Boches have him, I
+suppose,” was the answer.
+
+“But the news didn't come direct from him. He's in another camp. I'll
+tell you about it.”
+
+Tom and Jack, by turns, related what had happened on the night patrol,
+and explained how they had overheard talk of Harry.
+
+“Then he is nearer than he has been?” asked Nellie.
+
+“Yes,” admitted Tom.
+
+“Won't it be easier to rescue him then?” Bessie queried.
+
+“Well, that doesn't follow,” said Jack. “Of course if we could rescue
+him, we'd have a shorter distance to bring him, to get him inside our
+lines. But it's just as difficult getting beyond the German lines now as
+it was before. Tom and I thought we'd come and talk it over, and see if
+you girls have anything to suggest. We'll do the rescue work if we only
+get a chance, and can find some plan. Have you any?”
+
+He asked that question, though he hardly expected an answer. And both he
+and Tom, as well as Bessie and her mother, were greatly surprised when
+Nellie exclaimed:
+
+“Yes, I have!”
+
+“You have?” cried Tom. “What is it? Tell us, quick!”
+
+“I am going to save my brother by offering myself as a prisoner in his
+place,” said Nellie with quiet resolve. “That's how I'll save him! I'll
+exchange myself for him!”
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. THE BIG BATTLE
+
+
+Nellie Leroy rose from, the chair where she had been sitting, and stood
+before the little party of her friends, gathered in the little Paris
+apartment where Bessie Gleason and her mother made their home when they
+were not actively engaged in Red Cross work. The sister of the captive
+airman had a quiet but very determined air about her.
+
+“That is what I am going to do,” she said, as no one at first answered
+what had been a dramatic outbreak. “Perhaps you will tell me best how to
+go about it,” and she turned to Tom and Jack. “You know something of the
+German lines, and where I can best go to give myself up.”
+
+“Why--why, you can't go at all!” burst out Tom.
+
+“I can't go?”
+
+“No, of course not. You mean all right, Nellie,” went on the young man,
+“but it simply can't be done. To give yourself up to the Germans would
+mean for yourself not only--Oh, it couldn't be done!” as he thought of
+the cruelty of the Huns, not only to the soldiers of the Allied armies
+but to helpless women and children. “You couldn't give yourself up to
+those brutes!' he cried.
+
+“To save my brother I could,” said Nellie simply. “I would do anything
+for him!”
+
+“I know you would,” murmured Bessie.
+
+“But it would just be throwing yourself away!” exclaimed Jack, coming
+to the help of his chum, who was gazing helplessly at him in this
+new crisis. “Tell her, Mrs. Gleason,” he went on, “that it is utterly
+impossible, even if the army authorities would let her. Even if she
+should give herself up to the Germans, they wouldn't keep any agreement
+they made to exchange her brother. They'd simply keep both of them.”
+
+“Yes, I think they would,” said Mrs. Gleason. “It is out of the
+question, my dear,” and gently she laid her hand on the girl's shoulder.
+“That is very fine and noble of you, but it would be wrong, for it
+would not save your brother, and you would certainly be made a prisoner
+yourself. And of the horrors of the German prison--at least some where
+the infantrymen have been kept, I dare not tell you. I imagine it must
+be better where the airmen are captured,” she went on, for she feared
+that if she painted too black a picture of what Harry might suffer his
+sister would not be held back by anything, and might sacrifice herself
+uselessly.
+
+“But what am I do?” asked Nellie, helplessly. “I want Harry so much! We
+all want him! Oh, isn't there something? Can't you save him?” and she
+held out her hands appealingly to Torn and Jack.
+
+There was a moment of silence, and then Tom burst out with:
+
+“Well, I may as well speak now as later, and I'll tell you what I've
+made up my mind to do. Yes, it's a new plan I've worked out,” he went
+on, as Jack looked at him curiously. “I haven't told even you, old man,
+as it wasn't quite ready yet. But it's a scheme that may succeed, now
+that we know definitely where Harry is, from what the German patrol
+said. He isn't so far away as when we dropped the packages in the prison
+camp, though we don't yet know that he was there at the time we did our
+stunt. However, if this new plan succeeds we may have a chance to find
+out.”
+
+“How?” asked Nellie, eagerly.
+
+“By talking to Harry himself.”
+
+“How are you going to do that?” demanded Bessie.
+
+“What kind of game have you been cooking up behind my back?” asked Jack.
+
+“As desperate as the other, I guess you'll call it,” answered Tom. “But
+something has to be done.”
+
+“Yes, something has to be done,” agreed Jack. “Now what is it?”
+
+Tom arose and went to the door. He opened it, looked carefully up and
+down the hall, evidently to make sure no one was listening, and then
+came back to join the circle of his friends.
+
+“I'm going to speak of something that very few know, as yet,” he said,
+“and I don't want to take any chances of its getting out. There may
+be German spies in Paris, though I guess by this time they're few and
+scattering.
+
+“I'm not going to tell you how I know,” he said, “but I do know that
+soon there is to take place a big battle--that is, it will be big
+for the American forces that are to have part in it. There has been a
+conference among the Allied commanders, and it has been decided that
+it's time to teach the Germans a lesson. They've been despising the
+American troops, as they despised General French's 'contemptible little
+army,' and General Pershing is going to show Fritz that we have a
+soldier or two that can fight.”
+
+“You mean there's to be a big offensive?” asked Jack.
+
+“No, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a general engagement like that.
+It's to be kept within the limits, of the sector where the United States
+troops are at present,” said Tom. “That is where you and I are located,
+Jack, and that, as you know, is almost opposite the prison where Harry
+and the others are confined.”
+
+“I begin to see what you are driving at!” cried Nellie, her eyes
+shining. “But are you sure of this?”
+
+“Yes,” went on Jack, “how did you bear of this when it's supposed to be
+such a secret?”
+
+“It came to me by accident,” said Torn, “and I wouldn't speak of it to
+any one but you. Soon, however, it will be more or less public on our
+side, as it will have to be when we start to get ready. But it's to
+be kept a secret from Fritz as long as possible. It's to be a surprise
+attack, and if it doesn't develop into a big battle it won't be the
+fault of Uncle Sam's boys.”
+
+“Will the air service have any part in it?” asked Jack eagerly, as if
+fearing he might be left out.
+
+“I don't see how they can get along without us,” said Tom. “Not that
+we're the whole works, but it is well established now that an army can't
+fight without the use of aeroplanes, to tell not only what the other
+side is doing, but also how our own guns are shooting. Oh, we'll be in
+it all right!”
+
+“When?” asked Jack.
+
+“That I can't say,” replied his chum. “But now to get down to the thing
+that concerns us, or rather, Harry. I have a scheme--and you can call it
+wild if you like--that when the battle is going on, you and I, Jack, and
+some other airmen if we can induce them to do it, and I think we can,
+may be able to drop bombs near the prison camp. We'll have to judge our
+distances pretty carefully, or we'll do more harm than good. Then, if
+all goes well, and we can blow down some of the camp walls or fences,
+and if the battle favors our side, we can make a descent on enemy
+territory and rescue Harry and any others that are with him. What do you
+think of that plan?”
+
+“It's wonderful!” exclaimed Nellie, glaring at Tom with a strange, new
+light in her eyes.
+
+“It's very daring,” said Bessie, more calmly.
+
+“It's crazy!” burst out Jack
+
+“I thought you'd say that,” commented Tom calmly, “and I'd have been
+disappointed if you hadn't. And just because it is crazy it may succeed.
+But it's the only thing I can think of. Daring will get you further in
+this war then anything else. You've got to take big chances anyhow, and
+the bigger the better, I say.”
+
+“I'm with you there all right,” agreed Jack. “But to land in hostile
+territory--it hasn't been done ten times since the war began, and have
+the aviator live to get away with it!”
+
+“I know it,” said Tom, quietly. “But this may be the eleventh successful
+time. Now that's my plan for rescuing Harry Leroy. If any of you have a
+better one let's hear it.”
+
+No one answered, and finally Nellie spoke.
+
+“No,” she said, with a shake of her head, “it's very fine and noble
+of you boys, but I can't allow it. If you wouldn't let me give myself
+up--exchange myself for Harry, I can't let you give your lives for him
+this way. It wouldn't be fair. It would be depriving the Allies of two
+valuable fighters, to possibly get back one, and the possibility is so
+slim that--well, it's suicidal!” she exclaimed.
+
+“Not so much so as you think,” said Tom. “I've got it all figured out
+as far as possible. And as for landing in hostile territory, if all goes
+well, and the big battle progresses as Pershing and his aides think it
+will, maybe we won't have to land in hostile territory at all. We may
+drive the Germans back, and then the prison will be within our lines.”
+
+“That's so!” cried Jack. “I didn't think of feat. Tom, old man, maybe
+your scheme isn't as crazy as I thought! Anyhow, I'm in it with you. The
+only thing is--will this big battle take place?”
+
+“'It will unless the Germans decide to surrender between now and the day
+set,” Tom answered grimly, “and I hardly believe they'll do that. It's a
+going to be some fight!”
+
+“Glad of it!” cried Jack. “Now we've got something to live for!” As
+if he and Tom did not risk their lives every day to make life in the
+civilized world something worth living for.
+
+“Well, we must be getting back!” exclaimed Tom, as he looked at his
+watch. “All leaves will be stopped in a few days--just before we start
+preparations for the big battle. If we can we'll see you once more
+before then.”
+
+“And afterward?” inquired Nellie, softly and pleadingly.
+
+“Yes, and afterward, too!” exclaimed Tom. “And we'll bring Harry back
+with us. Now good-bye!”
+
+It was a more solemn farewell than the friends had taken in some time,
+for all felt the impending events, and Tom and Jack talked but little
+during the return trip from Paris to their headquarters.
+
+What Tom had said about the big battle was strictly true. It had been
+decided in high quarters that it was time the newly arrived American
+soldiers showed what they could do. That they could fight fiercely and
+well was not a question, it was only a matter of getting them
+familiar with the different conditions to be met with on the European
+battlefields, against a ruthless foe.
+
+Tom and Jack had a chance for one more hasty, flying visit to Paris, and
+then all leave was withdrawn, and there began in and about the American
+camp such a period of tense and intensive work as bore out what Tom had
+said. The big battle was impending.
+
+Great stores were accumulated of rations and munitions. Great guns were
+brought up into position and skillfully camouflaged. Machine guns in
+great numbers were prepared and a number of aeroplanes were brought from
+other sectors and made ready for the flying fight.
+
+“How are your plans coming on?” asked Jack of Tom, at the close of a day
+when it seemed that every one's nerves were on edge from the strain of
+preparing.
+
+“All right,” was the answer. “I've spoken to a number of the boys, and
+they're with me. You know we're pretty much 'on our own,' when we're
+flying, and I think that we can drop the bombs and make a descent long
+enough to pick up Harry and other refugees if we break open the prison.”
+
+“But suppose we land, stall the engines and the Germans surround us?”
+
+“That mustn't happen,” said Tom. “We won't stall the engines for one
+thing. We'll just have to drop down, and taxi around as well as we can
+until we pick up Harry, or until he sees us. The machines will carry
+three as well as two, and even if we have, by some mischance to go up
+in singles, they'll carry double. But I figured on your being with me.
+Harry knows enough of the game to be on the lookout when he hears the
+bombs drop and sees the planes hovering over him, and he'll tip off the
+others to be ready for a rescue.
+
+“Of course I don't say we can get 'em all, and maybe something will
+happen that we can't get Harry away. But I think we'll teach Fritz a
+lesson, and I think we can break up the prison camp so some of the poor
+fellows can get away. As I said, it's a desperate chance, but one we've
+got to take.”
+
+“And I'm with you!” exclaimed Jack. “And now when does the big battle
+take place?”
+
+He was answered a moment later, for an orderly arrived with instructions
+to the air service boys to report at their hangars at once.
+
+There they were told something of the impending attack--the first public
+mention of it, though more than one had guessed something unusual was in
+the air from the tenseness of the last few days.
+
+The attack was to start at dawn the next morning, preceded by an intense
+artillery fire. It was to be the fiercest rain of shells since the
+Americans had come to the front lines. Then the infantry, supported by
+tanks and aeroplanes, would follow, going over in waves which it was
+hoped would overwhelm the Germans.
+
+That night was a tense one. Suppose the enemy had guessed, or a spy had
+given word of the impending battle? Then success would be jeopardized.
+But the night passed with only the usual exchange of shots and the
+sending up of star shells over No Man's Land.
+
+And so, as the hour of dawn approached, the tense and nervous feeling
+grew. Tom and Jack, with their comrades in their hangars, were dressed
+in their fur garments and ready. Their machines had received the last
+touches from the hands of the mechanics, and each one was well equipped
+with bombs and machine gun ammunition. Tom and Jack were to be allowed
+to go up together in a big double bombing plane.
+
+The night passed. The hour approached. Anxious eyes watched the hands of
+watches slowly revolve.
+
+Then suddenly, as if the very earth had been blasted away from beneath
+them, the batteries of big guns belched forth fire, smoke and shell.
+
+The great battle was on!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. SILENCING THE GERMAN GUNS
+
+
+Engagements in the World War were on such a vast scale that it was
+difficult for a single observer to give a word picture of them. All he
+could see, stationed behind the lines, was a vast cataclysm of smoke
+and fire, and his ears were deafened by so vast a sound that it was
+comparable to nothing on this earth ever heard before.
+
+An observer in the air was little better off, save for that portion
+directly beneath him, and even that he could not see very much of, on
+account of the smoke and dust. If he looked to the left or the right, or
+backward or forward, he was at the disadvantage of distance.
+
+To him, then, great columns of infantry appeared only as crawling worms,
+and batteries of artillery merely patches of woods whence belched fire
+and smoke. That he must keep high in the air when over the enemy's lines
+went without saying, for he would be fired at if he came too low. So
+then, even an airman's vision was limited when it came to describing a
+great battle.
+
+Of course he always did what he was assigned to do. He kept in contact,
+or in communication, with his own certain batteries, or his infantry
+division, directing the shots of the former and the advance of the
+latter. So, really, he had little time to observe anything save the
+effect of the firing of his own side on a certain limited objective.
+
+As for the soldiers in battle, they are, of course, unable to observe
+anything except that which goes on immediately in their neighborhood.
+The artilleryman fires his gun under the direction of some observer,
+often far away, who telephones to him to lower or elevate his piece, or
+deflect it to the tight or left. The infantryman advances as the barrage
+lifts, and rushes forward according to orders, firing or using his
+bayonet as the case may be, digging in when halted, and waiting for
+another rush forward. The machine gunner and his squad aim to put as
+many of the advancing, retreating, or standing enemy out of the fighting
+as possible, and to save themselves.
+
+The truck men hasten up with loads of ammunition, fortunate if they are
+not sent to their death in the drive. The stretcher bearers look for the
+wounded and hasten back with them.
+
+So, all in all, no single person can observe more than a very small part
+of the great battle. It is really like looking through a microscope
+at some organism, while the whole great body lies beyond the field of
+vision.
+
+Only the general staff-the officers in their headquarters far behind
+the lines, who receive reports as to how this division or corps is
+retreating or advancing--can have any real conception of the big battle,
+and these persons may see it only at a distance.
+
+So the usual process of things in general is reversed, and the person
+farthest removed from the fighting may really see, or rather know, most
+about it.
+
+And so with a storm of shot and shell, manmade thunders and lightnings,
+and bolts of death from the earth below and the air above, the great
+battle opened and advanced.
+
+It progressed just as other battles had progressed. There was a terrific
+artillery preparation, which took the Germans evidently by surprise,
+for the response was long in coming, and then it was not in proportion.
+After the great cannon had done their best to level the big guns on the
+German side, a barrage, or curtain of fire was started, and behind this,
+which was in reality a falling hail of bullets, the Americans and their
+supporting French and British comrades advanced. The curtain of steel
+was to kill or push back the Germans, and to make it safe for the
+Americans to go forward. By elevating the small guns the curtain fell
+farther and farther into the enemy's territory, thus making it possible
+for the Allies to go on farther and farther across No Man's Land.
+
+The infantry rushed forward, fighting and dying nobly in a noble cause.
+Position after position was consolidated as the Germans fell back before
+the rain of shot and shell. It is always this way in an offensive, small
+or large. The first rush of the attacking side, be it German, French,
+British, or American, carries everything before it. It is the counter
+attack that tells. If the attackers are strong enough to hold what they
+gain, well and good. If not--the attack is a failure.
+
+But this one--the first great attack of the Americans--was not destined
+to fail, though once it trembled in the balance.
+
+Tom and Jack, with their companions, had flown aloft, and, taking the
+stations assigned to them, did their part in the battle. As the light
+grew with the break of day, they could see the effect of the American
+big guns. It was devastating. And yet some German batteries lived
+through it. Several times Tom and Jack, by means of their wireless,
+sent back corrections so that the American pieces might be aimed more
+effectively. Below them was a maelstrom--an indescribable chaos of death
+and destruction. They only had glimpses of it--glimpses of a seemingly
+inextricable mixture of men and guns.
+
+And through it all, though they did not for a moment neglect their duty,
+bearing in mind their instructions to keep in contact with the batteries
+they served, Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly were eagerly seeking for a
+sight of the prison where Harry Leroy might be held. At one time after
+they had dropped bombs on some German positions, thereby demolishing
+them, Tom, who was acting as pilot, signaled to his chum that he was
+going far over the enemy's lines to try to locate the prison.
+
+Jack nodded an acquiescence. It was not entirely against orders what
+they were about to do. They might obtain valuable information, and it
+would take only a short time, so speedy was their machine. Then too,
+they had used up all their bombs, and must return for more. Before doing
+this they wished to make an observation.
+
+Luck was with them. They managed to pass over a comparatively quiet
+sector of the lines where the German resistance had been wiped out, and
+where, even as they looked down, Americans were digging in and guns were
+being brought up to support them.
+
+And not many kilometers inside the German positions from this point,
+they sailed over a prison camp. They, knew it in an instant, and felt
+sure it must be the one spoken of by the German who had taken Leroy's
+gold and then betrayed him.
+
+“That's the place!” cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear him.
+“Now to bomb it and set Harry free!”
+
+But they must return for more ammunition, and this they set about doing.
+They wished they might drop some word to the prisoners confined there,
+stating that help might soon be on its way to them, but they had no
+chance to send this cheering word.
+
+Back they rushed to their own lines, and no sooner had they landed than
+an orderly rushed up to them and instructed them to report immediately
+to their commanding officer.
+
+“Boys, you're just in time!” he cried, all dignity or formality having
+been set aside in the excitement of the great battle.
+
+“What is it?” asked Tom.
+
+“We want you to silence some big German guns--a nasty battery of them
+that's playing havoc with our boys. The artillery hasn't been able to
+locate 'em--probably they're too well camouflaged. And we can't advance
+against 'em. Will you go up and try to put them out of business?”
+
+Of course there could be but one answer to this. Tom and Jack hurried
+off to see to the loading of their machine with bombs--an extra large
+number of very powerful ones being taken.
+
+Once more they were off on their dangerous mission, for it was
+dangerous, since many American planes were brought down by German fire
+that day, and by attacks from other Hun machines.
+
+But Tom and Jack never faltered. Up and up they went, the probable
+location of the guns having been made known to them on the map they
+carried. Up and onward they went. For a time they must forego the chance
+of rescuing their friend.
+
+Straight for the indicated place they went, and just as they reached
+it there came a burst of fire and smoke. It appeared to roll out from
+a little ravine well wooded on both sides, and that accounted for the
+failure of the Americans to locate it. Chance had played into the hands
+of the air service boys.
+
+There was no need of word between Tom and Jack. The former headed the
+plane for the place whence the German guns had fired upon the Americans,
+killing and wounding many.
+
+Over it, for an instant, hovered the aeroplane. Then Jack touched the
+bomb releasing device. Down dropped the powerful explosive.
+
+There was a great upward blast of air which rocked the machine in which
+sat the two aviators. There was a burst of smoke and flame beneath them,
+tongues of fire seeming to reach up as though to pull them down.
+
+Then came a terrific explosion which almost deafened the boys, even
+though their ears were covered with the fur caps, and though their own
+engine made a pandemonium of sound.
+
+The air was filled with flying debris--debris of the German guns and
+men. The bombs dropped by Tom and Jack had accomplished their mission.
+The harassing battery was destroyed. The German guns were silenced.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. THE RESCUE
+
+
+Tom and Jack circled around slowly over the place where the German
+battery had been. It was now no more--it could work no more havoc to the
+American ranks. It did not need the wireless news to this effect, which
+the aviators sent back, to apprise the Allies of what had happened. They
+had seen the harassing guns blown up.
+
+Now out swarmed the Americans, charging with savage yells over the place
+that had been such a hindrance to their advance. Tom and Jack had done
+their work well.
+
+There was no need for the one to tell the other what was in his mind.
+There were still two of the powerful bombs left, and there was but one
+thought on this matter. They must be used to blow up, if possible,
+the camp near the German prison. Doing that would create havoc and
+consternation enough, the air service boys thought, to drive the captors
+away, and enable Leroy and his fellow prisoners to be saved.
+
+Jack punched Tom in the back and motioned for him to shut off the motor
+a moment so that talking would be possible. Tom did this, and Jack
+cried:
+
+“Shall we take a chance?”
+
+“Yes!” Tom answered in return.
+
+Strictly speaking, having accomplished the mission they were sent out
+on, they should have returned to their base for orders. But the airmen
+were given more liberty of action and decision than any other branch of
+the Allied service.
+
+“Go to it!” cried Jack, and once more Tom started the motor and headed
+the craft for the Hun prison.
+
+Again the air service boys were hovering over the prison camp. They
+could now see that there was much more activity around it than there had
+been before the big battery was destroyed. The fight was coming closer,
+and the Germans evidently knew it. Whether they were trying to arrange
+to take their captives farther back, or merely seeking to escape
+themselves from a trap, was not then evident.
+
+And, having reached a position where they could see below them what
+looked to be a concentration of German guns, perhaps to fire on any
+force that might advance against the prison. Jack let fall one of his
+two remaining bombs.
+
+It swerved to one side, and though it exploded with great force, and
+created havoc and consternation among the Huns, it did not fall where it
+was intended. The second battery was still intact.
+
+“My last shot!” grimly mused Jack, as he looked at the other bomb.
+
+Tom maneuvered the aeroplane until he had it about where he thought
+Jack would want it. The latter pressed the releasing lever and the bomb
+descended. It was the most powerful of the lot, and when it struck and
+exploded it not only demolished the defensive battery, making a hole in
+the place where it had stood, but it tore down part of the prison fence,
+and made such destruction generally that the Germans were stunned.
+
+Instantly, seeing that all had been accomplished that was possible, and
+noting that hovering around him were other Allied airmen who had agreed
+to help in the rescue, Tom sent his craft down. There was a burst of
+shrapnel around him and Jack, but though the latter was grazed by a
+bullet, neither was seriously hurt. A Hun plane darted down out of
+the sky to attack the bold Americans, but quickly it was engaged by a
+supporting Allied craft. However, the Hun was a good fighter, and won
+the battle against this antagonist. But when two other Allied planes
+closed in, that was the last of the enemy. He was sent crashing down to
+satisfy the vengeance in toll for the life of the birdman he had taken.
+
+Now Tom and Jack could see that their plan had worked better than they
+had dared to hope. The boldness of the attack from the air, coupled with
+the advance of the American army, started a panic in the German ranks.
+They began a retreat and the regiments near the prison camp were
+included in the rout.
+
+By this time either some of the prisoners saw that there was a break in
+the cordon around them, or they realized that a great battle was putting
+their guards to flight, for some of them made a rush toward a side where
+there were no Germans, and succeeded in breaking out--no hard task since
+part of the fence was shattered by the explosion.
+
+“Now's our chance,” cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear
+this. “Harry may be among that bunch, and we want to get him and any
+others we can save.”
+
+He started the aeroplane on its downward path, while Jack, guessing the
+object, got the machine gun ready for action, since there might be a
+squad of Germans ready to give battle on the ground.
+
+Several other planes of the Allies, seeing what was going on, swooped to
+the aid of the two Americans, for there were no other of the Hun craft
+within sight now. All had been sent crashing down, or had drawn off.
+
+On either side of the immediate sector which included the prison camp,
+the battle was still raging fiercely, mostly with success on the side of
+the Americans, though in places they suffered a temporary setback.
+
+In the vicinity of the prison itself wild scenes were now being enacted.
+The prisoners were beginning to rise in force, for they saw freedom
+looming before them. There were fights between them and the guards,
+and terrible happenings took place, for the guards were armed and the
+prisoners were not. But as fast as some of the Germans fell they were
+stripped of their guns and ammunition, and the weapons turned by the
+prisoners against their former captors.
+
+All this while Tom and Jack were descending in their plane. As yet they
+were uncertain whether they were to be able to rescue Leroy or not. They
+could not distinguish him at that height, though from the enthusiastic
+manner in which several of the newly liberated ones waved at the
+on-coming aeroplanes, it would seem that they were of that arm of the
+service, and appreciated what was about to happen.
+
+Nearer and nearer to the ground flew Tom and Jack. And then, to their
+horror, they saw that several Germans had set up two machine guns to
+rake the prison yard, which was still filled with excited captives. The
+Germans were determined that as few as possible of their late captives
+should find freedom.
+
+Tom acted on the instant, by sending the plane in a different direction,
+to enable Jack to use his machine gun. And Jack understood this, for,
+with a shout of defiance, he turned his weapon on the closely packed
+Germans around their machine guns.
+
+For a moment they stood and some even tried to swerve the guns about to
+shatter the dropping aeroplane. But Jack's fire was too fierce. He wiped
+out the nest, and this danger was averted.
+
+A moment later Tom had the machine to earth, and it ran along the uneven
+and shell-torn ground, coming to a rest not far from what had been the
+outer fence of the prison camp. A group of Allied captives, newly freed,
+rushed forward. Tom and Jack, removing their goggles, looked eagerly for
+a sight of Harry Leroy. They did not see him, but they saw that which
+rejoiced them, and this was more aeroplanes coming to their aid, and
+also a column of infantry on the march across a distant valley. The
+stars and stripes were in the van, and at this the rescuers and the
+prisoners set up a cheer. It meant that the Germans were beaten at that
+point.
+
+“Where's Harry Leroy? Is he among the prisoners?” cried Jack to several
+of the liberated ones who crowded around the machine. There would be no
+question now of trying to save some one, a rush by mounting to the air
+with him. The advance of the Americans and the Allies was sufficiently
+strong to hold the prison position wrested from the Germans.
+
+“Was Harry Leroy among you?” asked Tom, of the joy-crazed prisoners.
+Many were Americans, but there were French, Italian, Russian, Belgian
+and British among the motley throng.
+
+Before any one could answer him there was a hoarse shout, and from some
+place where they had been hiding a squad of German soldiers rushed
+at the group of recent prisoners about Tom and Jack. Their guns had
+bayonets fixed, and it was the evident purpose of the Huns to make
+one last rush on the prisoners near the aeroplane to kill as many as
+possible.
+
+The Germans were a sufficiently strong force, and none of these
+prisoners was armed. They began to scatter and run for shelter, and Torn
+and Jack became aware that matters were not to be as easy as they had
+expected.
+
+But fortunately the fixed machine gun on the aeroplane, which was near
+the pilot's seat, pointed straight at the oncoming Huns. With a cry Tom
+sprang to the cockpit and quickly had the weapon spitting bullets at the
+foe. Then Jack saw his chance, and, climbing up to his seat, he swung
+his gun about so that it, too, raked the Germans.
+
+They came on with the desperation and courage of despair, but the steady
+firing was at last too much for them. They broke and ran--what were left
+of them alive--in what was a veritable rout, and this ended the last
+danger for that immediate time and place.
+
+Other aeroplanes dropped down to help consolidate the victory, and the
+explosion of some American shells at a point beyond the prison camp
+told its own story. The artillery had moved up to keep pace with the
+advancing infantry. The big battle had been won by Pershing's men, and
+the air service boys had not only done their share, but they had been
+instrumental in delivering a number of prisoners.
+
+As the last of the Germans fled and Tom and Jack leaned back, well nigh
+exhausted by the strain of the fighting, a voice cried:
+
+“Good work, old scouts! I knew you'd come for me sooner or later. At
+least I hoped you would!”
+
+They turned to see Harry Leroy walking slowly toward them.
+
+Harry Leroy it was, but wounds, illness, and imprisonment had worked a
+terrible change in him. He was but the ghost of his former sturdy self.
+Still it was their chum and the brother of Nellie Leroy, and Tom
+and Jack knew they had kept the promise made to the sister. They had
+effected the rescue which the offensive made possible.
+
+“Hurray!” cried Tom. “It's really you then, old scout!”
+
+“What's left of me--yes. Oh, but it's good to see the flag again!” and
+he pointed to the colors on the aeroplane and on the advancing banners
+of the infantry. “And it's good to see you again! I'd about given up,
+and so had most of us, when we heard the shooting and knew something was
+going on. But how did it happen? How did you get here, and how did you
+know I was here?”
+
+“Go easy!” advised Tom with a grin. “One question at a time. Can you
+ride in our bus? If you can we'll take you back with us. The others will
+be taken care of soon, I fancy, for our boys will soon be in permanent
+occupation here. Will you come back with us?”
+
+“Will I? Say, I'll come if I have to hitch on behind, like a can to a
+dog's tail!” cried Leroy, and, weak and ill-nourished as he was, it was
+evident that the sight of his former comrades had already done him much
+good.
+
+So now that the position was well won by the Americans and the Allies,
+Tom and Jack turned their machine about, wheeled it to a good taking
+off place, and with Harry Leroy as a passenger, though it made the place
+rather crowded, they flew back over the recent battleground, and to
+their own aerodrome, where Harry and some other prisoners, brought
+through the air by other birdmen, were well taken care of.
+
+The great battle was not yet over, for there was fighting up and down
+the line, and in distant sectors. But it was going well for Pershing's
+forces.
+
+“And now,” remarked Harry, when he had had food and had washed and had
+begun to smoke, “tell me all about it.” He was in the quarters assigned
+to Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, being their guest.
+
+“Well, there isn't an awful lot to tell,” Tom said, modestly enough. “We
+heard you were in trouble, and came after you; that's all. How did you
+like your German boarding house?”
+
+“It was fierce! Terrible! I can't tell you what it means to be free.
+But I'd like to send word to my folks that I'm all right. I suppose they
+have heard I was a prisoner.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Tom. “In fact, you can talk to one of the family soon.
+That is, as soon as you can go to Paris.”
+
+“Talk to a member of the family? Go to Paris? What do you mean?” Harry
+fairly shouted the words.
+
+“Your sister Nellie is staying with friends of ours,” said Tom. “We'll
+take you to her.”
+
+“Nellie here? Great Scott! She said she was coming to the front, but I
+didn't believe her! Say, she is some sister!”
+
+“You said it!” exclaimed Tom, with as great fervor as Harry used.
+
+“Didn't you get the bundles we dropped?” asked Jack. “The notes and the
+packages of chocolate?”
+
+“Not a one,” 'replied Harry. “I was looking for some word, but none
+came, after one of the airmen told me he had dropped my glove. But I
+knew how it was--you didn't get a chance to send any word.”
+
+“Oh, but we did!” cried Tom, and then he told of the dropping of the
+packages.
+
+But, as Leroy related, he had been transferred from that camp a few days
+before.
+
+Two of the packets fell among the prisoners, who, after trying in vain
+to send them to Harry, partook of the good things to eat, which they
+much needed themselves. They were given to the ill prisoners, and the
+notes were carefully hidden away. Some time after the war Harry received
+them, and treasured them greatly as souvenirs.
+
+“But we didn't make any mistake this time,” said Tom. “We have you now.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Harry with a smile, “you have me now, and mighty glad I am
+of it.”
+
+A few days later, when Harry was better able to travel, he went to see
+Nellie in Paris, a message having been sent soon after the big battle,
+to tell her that he was rescued and as well as could be expected.
+
+“But if it hadn't been for Tom and Jack I don't believe I'd be there
+now,” said Harry to his sister, as he sat in the homelike apartment of
+the Gleasons.
+
+“I know you wouldn't,” said Nellie. “They said they'd rescue you and
+they did. We shall never be able to thank them enough--but we can try!”
+
+She looked at Tom, and he--well, I shall firmly but kindly have to
+insist that what followed is neither your affair nor mine.
+
+And now, though you know it as well as I do, my story has come to an
+end. At least the present chronicle of the doings of the air service
+boys has nothing further to offer. Their further adventures will be
+related in another volume to be entitled: “Air Service Boys Flying for
+Victory.”
+
+But it was not the end of the fighting, and Tom and Jack did not cease
+their efforts. Harry Leroy, too, was eager to get back into the contest
+again, and he did, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered.
+
+He told some of his experiences while a prisoner among the Germans, and
+some things he did not tell. They were better left untold.
+
+However, I should like to close my story with a more pleasant scene than
+that, and so I invite your attention, one beautiful Sunday morning to
+Paris, when the sun was shining and war seemed very far away, though it
+was not. Two couples are going down a street which is gay with flower
+stands. There are two young men and two girls, the young men wear
+the aviation uniforms of the Americans. They walk along, chatting and
+laughing, and, as an aeroplane passes high overhead, its motors droning
+out a song of progress, they all look up.
+
+“That's what we'll be doing to-morrow,” observed Tom Raymond.
+
+“Yes,” agreed Jack Parmly.
+
+“Oh, hush!” laughed one of the girls. “Can't you stay on earth one day?”
+
+And there on earth, in such pleasant company, we will leave the Air
+Service Boys.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 6458-0.txt or 6458-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/5/6458/
+
+Produced by Sean Pobuda
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation”
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/6458-0.zip b/6458-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7654e34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6458-0.zip
diff --git a/6458-h.zip b/6458-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa2aeb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6458-h.zip
diff --git a/6458-h/6458-h.htm b/6458-h/6458-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57a9044
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6458-h/6458-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,7058 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by Charles Amory Beach
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys in the Big Battle
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Release Date: March 23, 2009 [EBook #6458]
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sean Pobuda, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      Or SILENCING THE BIG GUNS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Charles Amory Beach
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;BAD NEWS FROM
+        THE AIR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        GIRL'S APPEAL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;ANXIOUS
+        WAITING <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;TRANSFERRED
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        RESOLVE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;IN
+        PARIS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        AMERICAN FRONT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        BATTLE IN THE AIR <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        FALLING GLOVE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;STUNTS
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;OVER THE
+        LINES <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        PERFECT SHOT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        DARING SCHEME <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;WILL
+        THEY SUCCEED? <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;BADLY
+        HIT <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;JUST
+        IN TIME <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+        CRASH <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;GETTING
+        A ZEPPELIN <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;ON
+        PATROL <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;CAPTURED
+        <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        CLEW <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;NELLIE'S
+        RESOLVE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        BIG BATTLE <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;SILENCING
+        THE GERMAN GUNS <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV. </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;THE
+        RESCUE <br /><br />
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. BAD NEWS FROM THE AIR
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Tom, how's your head now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How's my head? What do you mean? There's nothing the matter with my
+      head,&rdquo; and the speaker, who wore the uniform of a French aviator, glanced
+      up in surprise from the cot on which he was reclining in his tent near the
+      airdromes that stretched around a great level field, not far from Paris.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, isn't there?&rdquo; questioned Jack Parmly, with a smile. &ldquo;Then I beg your
+      pardon for asking, my cabbage! I beg your pardon, Sergeant Raymond!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Raymond, whose, chum had addressed him by the military title, looked
+      curiously at his companion, and smiled at the appellation of the term
+      cabbage. It was one of the many little tricks picked up by association
+      with their French flying comrades, of speaking to a friend by some odd,
+      endearing term. It might be cucumber or rose, cabbage or cart wheel&mdash;the
+      words mattered not, it was the meaning back of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, is anything the matter?&rdquo; went on Tom, as his chum, attired like
+      himself', but wearing an old blouse covered with oil and grease, continued
+      to smile. &ldquo;What gave you the notion that my head hurt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't say it hurt. I only asked how it was. The swelling hasn't begun
+      to subside in mine yet, and I was wondering if it had in yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swelling? Subside? What in the world&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack Parmly brought to a sudden termination the rapid torrent of words
+      from the mouth of his churn by silently pointing to a small medal fastened
+      to the uniform jacket of his friend. It was the coveted croix de guerre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing else, my pickled beet!&rdquo; answered Jack. &ldquo;Doesn't it make your head
+      swell up as if it would burst every time you look at it? Now don't say it
+      doesn't, for that's the way it affects me, and I'm sure you're not very
+      different. And every time I read the citation that goes with the medal&mdash;well,
+      I'm just aching for a chance to show it to the folks back home, aren't
+      you, Sergeant?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom Raymond started a bit at the second use of the title.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see you aren't any more used to it than I am!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack. &ldquo;Well,
+      it'll be a little time before we stop looking around to see if it isn't
+      some one behind us they're talking to. So I thought I'd practice it a bit
+      on you. And you can do the same for me. I should think, out of common
+      politeness, you'd get up, salute and call me the same.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! Now I see what you're driving at,&rdquo; voiced Tom, as he glanced up from
+      a momentary look at his medal to the face of his comrade-in-arms, or
+      perhaps in flying would be more appropriate. &ldquo;The wind's in that quarter,
+      is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No wind at all to speak of,&rdquo; broke in Jack. &ldquo;If you'd like to go for a
+      fly, and see if we can bag a Boche or two, I'm with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Against orders, Jack. I'd like to, but we were ordered here for rest and
+      observation work; and you know, as well as I do, that obeying orders is
+      just as important as sending a member of the Hun Flying Circus down where
+      he can't do any more of his grandstand stunts. But I'm hoping the time
+      will come when we can climb up back of our machine guns again, and do our
+      bit to show that the little old U. S. A. is still on the map.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess that time'll soon come, Tom, old man. I heard rumors that a lot
+      of us were to be sent up nearer the front shortly, and if they don't
+      include you and me, there'll be something doing in this camp!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what I say. So you thought I'd have a swelled head, did you,
+      because they gave us the croix de guerre?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I confess I had a faint suspicion that way,&rdquo; admitted Jack. &ldquo;Both of us
+      being advanced to sergeants was a big step, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was,&rdquo; agreed Tom. &ldquo;I almost wish they hadn't done it, for there are
+      lots of others in the escadrille that deserve it fully as much, and some
+      more, than we do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right. But you can't make these delightful Frenchmen see anything
+      the way you want 'em to. Once they get a notion in their heads that you've
+      done something for la belle Frame, they're your friends for life, kissing
+      you on both cheeks and pinning medals on you wherever they'll stick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, they mean all right, Jack,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;And there aren't any braver
+      or more lovable people on the face of the earth than these same French.
+      They've done more and suffered more for their country than we dream of.
+      And it's only natural that they should say 'much obliged,' in their own
+      particular way, to any one they think is helping to free them from the
+      Germans.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose you're right. But advancing us to sergeants would have been
+      enough, without pinning the decorations on us and mentioning us in the
+      order of the day, as well as giving us as fine a citation as ever was
+      signed by a commanding general. However, it's all in the day's work,
+      though when we flew over the German super cannons, and did our bit in
+      helping demolish them so they couldn't shell Paris any more, we didn't
+      think&mdash;or, at least, I didn't&mdash;that we'd be sitting here talking
+      about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me either,&rdquo; agreed Tom. &ldquo;But, to get down to brass tacks, what have you
+      been doing to get into such a mess? You look like a chauffeur of the old
+      days they tell of when they had to climb under the car to see if it needed
+      oiling&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's just about what I have been doing,&rdquo; admitted Jack. &ldquo;When I heard
+      the rumor that our escadrille might get orders to move at any hour, I
+      decided that it was up to me to look MY machine over. It didn't make that
+      nose dive just the way I wanted it to the last time I was up, and I'm not
+      taking any chances. So I've been crawling in and around and under it&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;While I've been lying here I taking it easy!&rdquo; broke in Tom. &ldquo;I don't call
+      that fair of you, Jack,&rdquo; and he seemed genuinely hurt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go easy now, my pickled onion!&rdquo; laughed his chum. &ldquo;I wasn't going to
+      leave you out in the cold. I just came to tell you that you'd better stop
+      looking like a moving picture of an airman, and put on some old duds to
+      look over your own craft. And here you go and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right, old ham sandwich!&rdquo; laughed Tom.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+ &ldquo;I'll forgive you.  I'm going to do the same as you, and tinker
+with my machine. If, as you say, we're likely to be on the job again
+soon, I don't want too take any chances either. Where's that mechanician
+of mine? There was something wrong with my joy stick, he said, the last
+time I came down out of the clouds to take an enforced rest, and I might
+as well start with that, if there's any repairing to be done&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Tom flung off his uniform jacket, with the two silver wings, denoting that
+      he was a full-fledged airman, and sent an orderly to summon his chief
+      mechanician, for each aviator had several helpers to run messages for him,
+      as well as to see that his machine is in perfect trim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Experts are needed to see to it that the machine and the aviator are in
+      perfect trim, leaving for the airman himself the trying and difficult
+      task, sometimes, of flying upside down, while he is making observations of
+      the enemy with one eye, and fighting off a Boche with the other&mdash;ready
+      to kill or be killed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sergeants Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, chums and fellow airmen flying for
+      France, started toward the aerodromes where their machines were kept when
+      not in use. They were both attired now for hard and not very clean work,
+      though the more laborious part would be done by mechanics at their orders.
+      Still the lads themselves would leave nothing to chance. Indeed no airman
+      does, for in very, truth his He and the success of an army may, at times,
+      depend on the strength or weakness of a seemingly insignificant bit of
+      wire or the continuity of a small gasoline pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it'll seem good to get up in the air again,&rdquo; remarked Jack. &ldquo;A
+      little rest is all right, but too much is more than enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right O, my sliced liberty bond!&rdquo; laughed Tom. &ldquo;And now&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their talk was interrupted by a cheer that broke out in front of a
+      recreation house, in reality a YMCA hut, or le Foyer du Soldat as it was
+      called. It was where the airmen went when not on duty to read the papers,
+      write letters and buy chocolate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's up now?&rdquo; asked Jack, as he and his chum looked toward the cheering
+      squad of aviators and their assistants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give it up. Let's go over and find out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They broke into a run as the cheering continued, and then they saw hats
+      being thrown into the air and men capering about with every evidence of
+      joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must have won a big battle!&rdquo; cried Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems so,&rdquo; agreed Tom. &ldquo;Hi there! what is it?&rdquo; he asked in French of a
+      fellow aviator.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it? You ask me what? Ah, joy of my life! It is you who ought to
+      know first! It is you who should give thanks! Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that's all right, old man,&rdquo; returned Jack in English. &ldquo;We'll give
+      thanks right as soon as we know what it is; but we aren't mind readers,
+      you know, and there are so many things to guess at that there's no use in
+      wasting the time. Tell us, like a good chap!&rdquo; he begged in French, for he
+      saw the puzzled look on the face of the aviator Tom had addressed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the best news ever!&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;The first of your brave
+      countrymen have arrived to help us drive the Boche from France! The first
+      American Expeditionary Force, to serve under your brave General Pershing,
+      has reached the shores of France safely, in spite of the U-boats, and are
+      even now marching to show themselves in Paris! Ah, is it any wonder that
+      we rejoice? How is it you say in your own delightful country? Two cheers
+      and a lion! Ah!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tiger, my dear boy! Tiger!&rdquo; laughed Jack. &ldquo;And, while you're about it,
+      you might as well make it three cheers and done with it. Not that it makes
+      any great amount of difference in this case, but it's just the custom, my
+      stuffed olive!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And then he and Tom were fairly carried off their feet by the rush of
+      enthusiastic Frenchmen to congratulate them on the good news, and to share
+      it with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it really true?&rdquo; asked Tom. &ldquo;Has any substantial part of Uncle Sam's
+      boys really got here at last?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was told that such was the case. The news had just been received at the
+      headquarters of the flying squad to which Tom and Jack were attached.
+      About ten thousand American soldiers were even then on French soil. Their
+      coming had long been waited for, and the arrangements sailed in secret,
+      and the news was known in American cities scarcely any sooner than it was
+      in France, so careful had the military authorities been not to give the
+      lurking German submarines a chance to torpedo the transports.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is not that glorious news, my friend?&rdquo; asked the Frenchman who had given
+      it to Tom and Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The best ever!&rdquo; was the enthusiastic reply. And then Jack, turning to his
+      chum, said in a low voice, as the Frenchman hurried back to the cheering
+      throng: &ldquo;You know what this means for us, of course?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather guess I do!&rdquo; was the response. &ldquo;It means we've got to apply for a
+      transfer and fight under Pershing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly. Now how are we going to do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I fancy it will be all right. Merely a question of detail and
+      procedure. They can't object to our wanting to fight among our own
+      countrymen, now that enough of them are over here to make a showing. I
+      suppose this is the first of the big army that's coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I imagine so,&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Hurray! this is something like. There's
+      going to be hard fighting. I realize that. But this is the beginning of
+      the end, as I see it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what! Now, instead of tinkering over our machines, let's see the
+      commandant and&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack motioned to his chum to cease talking. Then he pointed up to the sky.
+      There was a little speck against the blue, a speck that became larger as
+      the two Americans watched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of our fliers coming bark,&rdquo; remarked Tom in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope he brings more good news,&rdquo; returned Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The approaching airman came rapidly nearer, and then the throngs that had
+      gathered about the headquarters building to discuss the news of the
+      arrival of the first American forces turned to watch the return of the
+      flier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's Du Boise,&rdquo; remarked Tom, naming an intrepid French fighter. He was
+      one of the &ldquo;aces,&rdquo; and had more than a score of Boche machines to his
+      credit. &ldquo;He must have been out 'on his own,' looking for a stray German.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he and Leroy went out together,&rdquo; assented Jack. &ldquo;But I don't see
+      Harry's machine,&rdquo; and anxiously he scanned the heavens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harry Leroy was, like Tom and Jack, an American aviator who had lately
+      joined the force in which the two friends had rendered such valiant
+      service. Tom and Jack had known him on the other side&mdash;had, in fact,
+      first met and become friendly with him at a flying school in Virginia.
+      Leroy had suffered a slight accident which had put him out of the flying
+      service for a year, but he had persisted, had finally been accepted, and
+      was welcomed to France by his chums who had preceded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope nothing has happened to Harry,&rdquo; murmured Tom; &ldquo;but I don't see
+      him, and it's queer Du Boise would come back without him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe he had to&mdash;for gasoline or something,&rdquo; suggested Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope it isn't any worse than that,&rdquo; went on Tom. But his voice did not
+      carry conviction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The French aviator landed, and as he climbed out of his machine, helped by
+      orderlies and others who rushed up, he was seen to stagger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you hurt?&rdquo; asked Tom, hurrying up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A mere scratch-nothing, thank you,&rdquo; was the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's Harry Leroy?&rdquo; Jack asked. &ldquo;Did you have to leave him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, monsieur, I bring you bad news from the air,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;We
+      were attacked by seven Boche machines. We each got one, and then&mdash;well,
+      they got me&mdash;but what matters that? It is a mere nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What of Harry?&rdquo; persisted Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, it is of him I would speak. He is&mdash;he fell inside the enemy
+      lines; and I had to come back for help. My petrol gave out, and I&mdash;&ldquo;'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, pressing his hands over his breast, the brave airman staggered
+      and fell, as a stream of blood issued from beneath his jacket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. A GIRL'S APPEAL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      At once half a score of hands reached out to render aid to the stricken
+      airman, whose blood was staining the ground where he had fallen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom, seeing that his fellow aviator was more desperately wounded than the
+      brave man had admitted, at once summoned stretcher-bearers, and he was
+      carried to the hospital. Then all anxiously awaited the report of the
+      surgeons, who quickly prepared to render aid to the fighter of the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is he?&rdquo; asked Jack, as he and Tom, lingering near the hospital, saw
+      one of the doctors emerge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is doing very nicely,&rdquo; was the answer, given in French, for the two
+      boys of the air spoke this language now with ease, if not always with
+      absolute correctness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he isn't badly hurt?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. The wound in his chest was only a flesh one, but it bled
+      considerably. Two bullets from an aircraft machine gun struck ribs, and
+      glanced off from them, but tore the flesh badly. The bleeding was held in
+      check by the pressure DU Boise exerted on the wounds underneath his
+      jacket, but at last he grew faint from loss of blood, and then the stream
+      welled out. With rest and care he will be all right in a few days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How soon could we talk with him?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk with him?&rdquo; asked the surgeon. &ldquo;Is that necessary? He is doing very
+      well, and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tom means ask him some questions,&rdquo; explained Jack. &ldquo;You see, he started
+      to tell us about our chum, Harry Leroy, who was out scouting with him.
+      Harry was shot down, so Du Boise said, but he didn't get a chance to give
+      any particulars, and we thought&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be a day or so before he will be able to talk to you,&rdquo; the
+      surgeon said. &ldquo;He is very weak, and must not be disturbed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, may we talk with him just as soon as possible?&rdquo; eagerly asked Jack.
+      &ldquo;We want to find out where it was that Harry went down in his machine&mdash;out
+      of control very likely&mdash;and if we get a chance&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'd like to take it out on those that shot him down!&rdquo; interrupted Torn.
+      &ldquo;Du Boise must have noticed the machines that fought him and Harry, and if
+      we could get any idea of the Boches who were in them&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; and the surgeon bowed and smiled approval of their idea. &ldquo;You
+      want revenge. I hope you get it. As soon as we think he is able to talk,&rdquo;
+       and he nodded in the direction of the hospital, &ldquo;we will let you see him.
+      Good luck to you, and confusion to the Huns!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gee, but this is tough luck!&rdquo; murmured Tom, as he and his chum turned
+      away. &ldquo;Just as we were getting ready to go back into the game, too! Had it
+      all fixed up for Harry to fly with us in a sort of a triangle scheme to
+      down the Boches, and they have to go and plump him off the map. Well, it
+      is tough!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sort of takes the fun out of the good news we heard a while ago,&rdquo;
+       agreed Jack. &ldquo;I mean about Pershing's boys getting over here to France. I
+      hope Harry's only wounded, instead of killed. But if the Huns have him a
+      prisoner&mdash;good-night!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's only one consolation,&rdquo; added Tom. &ldquo;Their airmen are the best of
+      the lot Of course that isn't saying much, but they behave a little more
+      like human beings than the rest of the Boche gang; and if Harry has fallen
+      a prisoner to them he'll get a bit of decent treatment, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so. We'll hope for that. And now let's go on with what we started
+      when we saw Du Boise coming back&mdash;let's see what chance we have of
+      being transferred to an All American escadrille.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys started across the field again toward the headquarters, and,
+      nearing it, they saw, in a small motor car, a girl sitting beside the
+      military driver. She was a pretty girl, and it needed only one glance to
+      show that she was an American.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hello!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, with a low whistle. &ldquo;Look who's here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know her?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. Wish I did, though.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack glanced quickly and curiously at his chum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you needn't think you're the only chap that has a drag with the
+      girls,&rdquo; went on Tom. &ldquo;Just because Bessie Gleason&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cut it out!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack. &ldquo;Look, she acts as though she wanted to
+      speak to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The military chauffeur had alighted from the machine and was talking to
+      one of the French aviation officers. Meanwhile the girl, left to herself,
+      was looking about the big aviation field, with a look of wonder, mixed
+      with alarm and nervousness. She caught sight of Tom and Jack, and a smile
+      came to her face, making her, as Tom said afterward, the prettiest picture
+      he had seen in a long while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're Americans, aren't you?&rdquo; began the girl, turning frankly to them.
+      &ldquo;I know you are! And, oh, I'm in such trouble!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom stepped ahead of Jack, who was taking off his cap and bowing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me have a show for my white alley,&rdquo; Tom murmured to his chum. &ldquo;You've
+      got one girl.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You win,&rdquo; murmured Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we're from the United States,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;But it's queer to see a
+      girl here&mdash;from America or anywhere else. How'd you get through the
+      lines, and what can we do for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am looking for my brother,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;I understood he was
+      stationed here, and I managed to get passes to come to see him, but it
+      wasn't easy work. I met this officer in his motor car, and he brought me
+      along the last stage of the journey. Can you tell me where my brother is?
+      His name is Harry Leroy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Torn said afterward that he felt as though he had gone into a spinning
+      nose dive with a Boche aviator on his tail, while Jack admitted that he
+      felt somewhat as he did the time his gasoline pipe was severed by a Hun
+      bullet when he was high in the air and several miles behind the enemy's
+      lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your&mdash;your brother!&rdquo; Tom managed to mutter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Harry Leroy. He's from the United States, too. Perhaps you know him,
+      as I notice you are both aviators. He told me if I ever got to France to
+      come to see him, and he mentioned the names of two young men&mdash;I have
+      them here somewhere&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She began to search in the depths of a little leather valise she carried,
+      and, at that moment, the military chauffeur who had brought her to the
+      aviation field turned to her, and spoke rapidly in French.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She understood the language, as did Tom and Jack, and at the first words
+      her face went white. For the chauffeur informed her that her brother,
+      Harry Leroy, whom she had come so far to see, was, even then, lying dead
+      or wounded within the German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; the girl murmured, her fare becoming whiter and more white. &ldquo;Oh&mdash;Harry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she would have fallen from the seat, only Tom leaped forward and
+      caught her in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And while efforts were being made to restore the girl to consciousness,
+      may I not take this opportunity of telling my new readers something of the
+      previous books of this series, so that they may read this one more
+      intelligently?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Torn Raymond and Jack Parmly, as related in the initial volume, &ldquo;Air
+      Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette
+      Escadrille,&rdquo; were Virginians. Soon after the great world conflict started,
+      they burned with a desire to fight on the side of freedom, and it was as
+      aviators that they desired to help.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly they went to an aviation school in Virginia, under the
+      auspices of the Government, and there learned the rudiments of flying.
+      Tom's father had invented an aeroplane stabilizer, but, as told in the
+      story, the plans and other papers had been stolen by a German spy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and his chum resolved to get possession of the documents, and they
+      kept up the search after they reached France and were made members of the
+      Lafayette Escadrille. It was in France that they met Adolph Tuessing, the
+      German spy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second volume, entitled &ldquo;Air Service Boys Over the Enemy's Lines; or
+      The German Spy's Secret,&rdquo; takes the two young men through further
+      adventures. They had become acquainted on the steamer with a girl named
+      Bessie Gleason and her mother. Carl Potzfeldt, a German sailing under
+      false colors, claimed to be a friend of Bessie and her mother, but Jack,
+      who was more than casually interested in the girl, was suspicious of this
+      man. And his suspicions proved correct, for Potzfeldt had planned a daring
+      trick.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+After some strenuous happenings, in which the Air Service Boys assisted,
+Bessie and her mother were rescued from the clutches of Potzfeldt,
+and went to Paris, Mrs. Gleason engaging in Red Cross work, and Bessie
+helping her as best she could.
+
+ Immediately preceding this present volume is the third, called &ldquo;Air
+Service Boys Over the Rhine; or Fighting Above the Clouds.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      By this time the United States had entered the great war on the side of
+      humanity and democracy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the world was startled by the news that a great German cannon was
+      firing on Paris seventy miles away, and consternation reigned for a time.
+      Tom and Jack had a hand in silencing the great gun, for it was they who
+      discovered where it was hidden. Also in the third volume is related how
+      Tom's father, who had disappeared, was found again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys passed through many startling experiences with their usual
+      bravery, so that, when the present story opens, they were taking a much
+      needed and well-earned rest. Mr. Raymond, having accomplished his mission,
+      had returned to the United States.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as we have seen, came the news of the arrival of the first of
+      Pershing's forces, and with it came the sad message that Harry Leroy, the
+      chum of Torn and Jack, had fallen behind the German lines. And whether he
+      was alive now, though wounded, or was another victim of the Hun machine
+      guns, could not be told.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Harry's sister couldn't have come at a worse time,&rdquo; remarked Tom, as he
+      rejoined Jack, having carried the unconscious girl to the same hospital
+      where Du Boise lay wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should say not!&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Do you really suppose she's Harry's
+      sister?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't see Any reason to doubt it. She said so, didn't she?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, of course. I was just wondering. Say, it's going to be tough
+      when she wakes up and realizes what's happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You bet it is! This has been a tough day all around, and if it wasn't for
+      the good news that our boys are in France I'd feel pretty rocky. But now
+      we've got all the more incentive to get busy!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean get our machines in fighting trim. I'm going out and get a few
+      Germans to make up for what they did to Harry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right! I'm with you! But what about what's her name&mdash;I mean
+      Harry's sister?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't hear her name. Some of the Red Cross nurses are looking after
+      her. They promised to let me know when she came to. We can offer to help
+      her, I suppose, being, as you might say, neighbors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sure!&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;I'm with you. But let's go and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      However they did not go at once, wherever it was that Jack was going to
+      propose, for, at that moment, one of the Red Cross nurses attached to the
+      aviation hospital came to the door and beckoned to the boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Leroy is conscious now,&rdquo; was the message. &ldquo;She wants to see you
+      two,&rdquo; and the nurse smiled at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack found Miss Leroy, looking pale, but prettier than ever,
+      sitting up in a chair. She leaned forward eagerly as they entered, and,
+      holding out her hands, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They tell me you are my brother's chums! Oh, can you not get me some news
+      of him? Can you not let him know that I have come so far to see him? I am
+      anxious! Oh, where is he?&rdquo; and she looked from Tom to Jack, and then to
+      Tom again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. ANXIOUS WAITING
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Nellie Leroy&mdash;for such the boys learned was her name&mdash;broke the
+      silence, that was growing tense, by asking:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there any hope? Tell me, do you think there is a chance that my
+      brother may be alive?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there is, certainly!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom quickly, before Jack had an
+      opportunity to give, possibly, a less hopeful answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if he is alive, is there a chance that he may be rescued&mdash;that I
+      may go to him?&rdquo; she went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hardly that,&rdquo; said Tom, slowly. &ldquo;It's a wonder you ever got as near to
+      the front as this. But as for getting past the German lines&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then what can I do?&rdquo; asked Nellie Leroy, eagerly. &ldquo;Oh, tell me something
+      that I can do. I'm used to hard work,&rdquo; she went on. &ldquo;I've been a Red Cross
+      nurse for some time, and I helped in one big explosion of a munitions
+      plant in New Jersey before I came over. That's one reason they let me come&mdash;because
+      I proved that I could do things!&rdquo; and she did look very efficient, in
+      spite of her paleness, in spite of her, seeming frailness. There was an
+      indefinable air about her which showed that she would carry through
+      whatever she undertook. &ldquo;I never fainted before&mdash;never.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's like this,&rdquo; said Tom, and Jack seemed content, now, to let his chum
+      play the chief role. &ldquo;When one of us goes down in his machine back of the
+      enemy's lines, those left over here never really know what has happened
+      for a few days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how do they know then?' she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The German airmen are more decent than some of the other Hun forces we're
+      fighting,&rdquo; explained Torn. &ldquo;Generally after they capture one of our
+      escadrille members, dead or alive, they fly over our lines a few days
+      later and drop a cap, or a glove, or something that belongs to the
+      prisoner. Sometimes they attach a note, written by one of their airmen or
+      from the prisoner, giving news of his condition.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you think they may do this in my brother's case?&rdquo; asked Nellie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are very likely to,&rdquo; assented Tom, and Jack, to whom the girl looked
+      for confirmation, nodded, his agreement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long shall we have to wait?&rdquo; Harry's sister asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no telling,&rdquo; said Tom &ldquo;Sometimes it's a week before their airmen
+      get a chance to fly over our lines. It all depends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On how the battle goes,&rdquo; answered Tom. &ldquo;If there is much fighting, and
+      many engagements in the air, the Boches don't get a chance to fly over and
+      drop tokens of our men they may have shot down. We do the same for them,
+      so it's six of one and a half dozen of the other. Often for a week we
+      don't get a chance to let them know about prisoners we have, because the
+      fighting is so severe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will it be that way now?&rdquo; the girl went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hard to say&mdash;we don't have the ordering of battles,&rdquo; replied Jack.
+      &ldquo;But it's been rather quiet for a few days, and it's likely to continue
+      so. If it does one of their men may fly over to-morrow, or the next day,
+      and drop something your brother wore&mdash;or even a note from him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I hope they do the last!&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;If I could have a note from
+      him I'd be the happiest girl alive I I'd know, then, that he was all
+      right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may be,&rdquo; said Tom, trying to be hopeful. &ldquo;You see Du Boise, who was
+      with Harry when the fight took place, is himself wounded, so he can't tell
+      us much about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, they told me that my brother's companion reached here badly hurt. He
+      is so brave! I wish they would let me help take care of him. I understand
+      a great deal about wounds, and I'm not at all afraid of the sight of
+      blood. It was silly of me to faint just now, but&mdash;I&mdash;I couldn't
+      help it. I'd been counting so much on seeing Harry, and when they told me
+      he was gone&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She covered her face with her hands, and endeavored to repress her
+      emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not Harry's little sister, are you?&rdquo; asked Jack, hoping to change
+      the current of talk into other and happier channels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; that's Mabel&mdash;Mab he calls her. She's younger than I. Did he
+      often speak of her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes; and you too!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, so warmly that Nellie blushed, and
+      the damask tint in her hitherto pale cheeks was most becoming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've seen your picture, and Mab's too,&rdquo; went on Tom. &ldquo;Harry keeps them
+      just over his cot in the barracks. But I didn't recognize you when I saw
+      you a little while ago in the machine. Though I might have, if so many
+      things hadn't happened all at once, and made me sort of hazy,&rdquo; Tom
+      explained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then are you and my brother good friends?&rdquo; asked Nellie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The best ever!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, and Jack warmly assented. &ldquo;Not so many
+      Americans are in this branch of the escadrille as are in others,&rdquo; Torn
+      went on; &ldquo;so Harry and Jack and I are a sort of little trio all by
+      ourselves. He hardly ever goes up without us, but we are on a rest billet;
+      and to-day he went up with Du Boise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he had only come back!&rdquo; sighed Nellie. &ldquo;But there! I mustn't complain.
+      Harry wouldn't let me if he were here. We both have to do our duty. Now
+      I'm going to see what I can do to help, and not be silly and do any more
+      fainting. I hope you'll pardon me,&rdquo; and she smiled at the two boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, with great emphasis, and again Miss Leroy
+      blushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, is to wait the only thing we can do?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all,&rdquo; assented Tom. &ldquo;We may get a message from the clouds any
+      day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And, oh! I shall pray that it may be favorable!&rdquo; murmured the girl.
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I may question this Mr. Du Boise, and learn from him just what
+      happened?&rdquo; she interrogated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we want to talk to him ourselves, as soon as he's able to sit up,&rdquo;
+       said Jack. &ldquo;We want to get a shot at the Boche who downed Harry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you are as fond of Harry as all that! I am glad!&rdquo; exclaimed his
+      sister. &ldquo;Have you known him long?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We knew him slightly before we went to the flying school in Virginia with
+      him,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;But down there, when we started in at 'grass-cutting,'
+      and worked our way up, we grew to know him better. Then Jack and I got our
+      chance to come over. But Harry had a smash, and he had to wait a year.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I know. It almost broke his heart,&rdquo; said Miss Leroy. &ldquo;I was away at
+      school at the time, which accounts for my not knowing more of you boys,
+      since Harry always wrote me, or told me, about his chums. Then, when I
+      came back after my graduation, I found that he had sailed for France.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And maybe we weren't glad to see him!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;It was like
+      getting letters from home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I recall, now, his mentioning that he had met over here some
+      students from the Virginia school,&rdquo; said Miss Leroy. &ldquo;Well, after Harry
+      sailed I was wild to go, but father and mother would not hear of it at
+      first. Then, when the war grew worse, and I showed them that I could do
+      hard work for the Red Cross, they consented. So I sailed, but I never
+      expected to get like this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, well, everything may come out all right,&rdquo; said Tom, as cheerfully as
+      he could. But, in very truth, he was not very hopeful in his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For once an aviator succumbs to the hail of bullets from the German
+      machine guns in an aircraft, and his own creature of steel and wings goes
+      hurtling down, there is only a scant chance that the disabled airman will
+      land alive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course some have done it, and, even with their machines out of control
+      and on fire, they have lived through the awful experience. But the chances
+      were and are against them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harry Leroy had been seen to go down, apparently with his machine out of
+      control, after a fusillade of Boche bullets. This much Du Boise had said
+      before his collapse. As to what the fallen aviator's real fate was, time
+      alone could disclose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can only wait!&rdquo; sighed Nellie, as the boys took their leave. &ldquo;The days
+      will be anxious ones&mdash;days of waiting. I shall help here all I can.
+      You'll let me know the moment there is any news&mdash;good or bad&mdash;won't
+      you?&rdquo; she begged; and her eyes filled with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll bring you the news at once&mdash;night or day!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom,
+      vigorously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he and Jack walked out of the hospital, the latter remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to be a favorite there, all right, Tom, my boy. If we weren't
+      such good chums I might be a bit jealous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you feel that way I'll drop Bessie Gleason a note!&rdquo; suggested Tom,
+      quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't!&rdquo; begged Jack. &ldquo;I'll be good!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. TRANSFERRED
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      One glance at the bulletin board, erected just outside their quarters at
+      the aerodrome, told Tom and Jack what they were detailed for that day. It
+      was the day following the arrival of Nellie Leroy at that particular place
+      in France, only to find that her brother was missing&mdash;either dead, or
+      alive and a prisoner behind the German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Thomas Raymond will report to headquarters at eight o'clock, to
+      do patrol work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Jack Parmly will report to headquarters at eight o'clock for
+      reconnaissance with a photographer, who will be detailed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus read the bulletin board, and Tom and Jack, looking at it, nodded to
+      one another, while Tom remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Got our work cut out for us all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Only I wish I could change places with you. I don't
+      like those big, heavy machines.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But orders are orders, nowhere more so than in the aviation squad, and
+      soon the two lads, after a hearty if hasty breakfast, were ready for the
+      day's work. They each realized that when the sun set they might either be
+      dead, wounded or prisoners. It was a life full of eventualities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little later the two young airmen, in common with their comrades, were
+      ready. Some were to do patrol work, like Tom&mdash;that is fly over and
+      along the German lines in small swift, fighting planes, to attack a Hun
+      machine, if any showed, and to give notice of any attack, either from the
+      air or on the ground. The latter attacks the airmen would observe in
+      progress and report to the commanders of infantry or batteries who could
+      take steps to meet the attack, or even frustrate it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom was assigned to a speedy Spad machine, one of great power and
+      lightness into which he climbed. He was to fly alone, and on his machine
+      was a machine gun of the Vickers type, which had to be aimed by directing,
+      or pointing, the aeroplane itself at the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After Tom had given a hasty but careful look at his craft, and had assured
+      himself of the accuracy of the report of his mechanician that it had oil
+      and petrol, his starter took his place in front of the propeller.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Jack,&rdquo; called Tom to his chum, across the field, where Jack was
+      making his preparations for taking up a photographer in a big two-seated
+      machine, &ldquo;I wish you luck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Same to you, old man. If you see anything of Harry, and he's alive, tell
+      him we'll bring him back home as soon as we get a chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think there is any chance?&rdquo; asked Tom eagerly. &ldquo;I wouldn't want
+      anything better than to get Harry away from those Boches&mdash;and make
+      his sister happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, there's a chance, but it's a slim one, I'm afraid,&rdquo; remarked Jack.
+      &ldquo;We'll talk about it after we get back. Maybe there'll be a message from
+      the Huns about him before the day is over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; murmured Tom. &ldquo;If those Huns only act as decently toward us
+      as we do toward them, we'll have some news soon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For it is true, in a number of instances that the German aviators do drop
+      within the allied lines news of any British, French or American birdman
+      who is captured or killed inside the German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All ready?&rdquo; asked Tom of his helper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Switch off, gas on,&rdquo; was the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom made sure that the electrical switch was disconnected. If it was left
+      on, in &ldquo;contact&rdquo; as it is called, and the mechanician turned the propeller
+      blades, there might have been a sudden starting of the engine that would
+      have instantly kill the man. But with the switch off there could be no
+      ignition in the cylinders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly the man turned the big blades until each cylinder was sucked full
+      of the explosive mixture of gasoline and air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Contact!&rdquo; he cried, and Tom threw over the switch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, stepping once more up to the propeller, the man gave it a pull, and
+      quickly released it, jumping back out of harm's way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a throbbing roar the engine awoke to life and the propeller spun
+      around, a blur of indistinctness. The motor was working sweetly. Toni
+      throttled down, assured himself that everything was working well, and
+      then, with a wave of his hand toward Jack, began to taxi across the field,
+      to head up into the wind. All aeroplanes are started this way&mdash;directly
+      into the wind, to rise against it and not with it. On and on he went and
+      then he began to climb into the air. With him climbed other birdmen who
+      were to do patrol and contact work with him, the latter being the term
+      used when the airship keeps in contact through signaling with infantry or
+      artillery forces on the ground, directing their efforts against the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having seen Tom on his way, Jack turned to his own machine. As his chum
+      had been, Jack was dressed warmly in fur garments, even to his helmet,
+      which was fur lined. He had on two pairs of gloves and his eyes were
+      protected with heavy goggles. For it is very cold in the upper regions,
+      and the swift speed of the machine sends the wind cutting into one's face
+      so that it is impossible to see from the eyes unless they are protected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack's machine was a two-seater, of a heavy and comparatively safe type&mdash;that
+      is it was safe as long as it was not shot down by a Hun. Jack was to
+      occupy the front seat and act as pilot, while Harris, the photographer he
+      was to take up, sat behind him, with camera, map, pencil and paper ready
+      at hand for the making of observations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On either side of the photographer's seat were six loaded drums of
+      ammunition for the Lewis gun, for use against the ruthless Hun machines.
+      Jack had a fixed Vicker machine weapon for his use.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hope I get a chance to use 'em,&rdquo; said Harris with a grin, as he climbed
+      into his seat, patted the loaded drums, and nodded to Jack that he was
+      ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The same procedure was gone through as in the case of Tom. The man spun
+      the propeller, and they were ready to set off. Accompanying them were two
+      other reconnaissance planes, and four experienced fighting pilots, two of
+      them &ldquo;aces,&rdquo; that is men who, alone, had each brought down five or more
+      Hun planes. The big planes, used for obtaining news, pictures, and maps of
+      the enemy's territory, are always accompanied by fighting planes, which
+      look out for the attacking Germans, while the other, and less speedy,
+      craft carry the men who are to bring back vital information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let her go!&rdquo; exclaimed Harris to Jack, and the latter nodded to the
+      mechanician, who, after the order of &ldquo;contact,&rdquo; spun the blades again and
+      they were really off, together with the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up and up went Jack, sending his machine aloft in big circles as the
+      others were doing. Before him on a support was clamped a map, similar to
+      the one supported in front of Harris, and by consulting this Jack knew,
+      from the instructions he had received before going up, just what part of
+      the enemy's territory he was to cover. He was under the direction of the
+      photographer and map-maker, for the two duties were combined in this
+      instance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up and up they went. There was no talking, for though this is possible in
+      an aeroplane when the engine is shut off, such was not now the case. But
+      Jack knew his business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His indicator soon showed them to be up about fourteen thousand feet, and
+      below them an artillery duel was in progress. It was a wonderful, but
+      terrible sight. Immediately under them, and rather too near for comfort,
+      shrapnel was bursting all around. The &ldquo;Archies,&rdquo; or anti-aircraft guns of
+      the Germans, were trying to reach the French planes, and, in addition to
+      the bullets, &ldquo;woolly bears&rdquo; and &ldquo;flaming onions&rdquo; were sent up toward them.
+      These are two types of bursting shells, the first so named because when it
+      explodes it does so with a cloud of black smoke and a flaming center. I
+      have never been able to learn how the &ldquo;onions&rdquo; got their name, unless it
+      is from the stench let loose by the exploding gases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though they were fired at viciously, neither Jack nor his companion was
+      hit, and they continued on their way, keeping at a good height, as did
+      their associates, until they were well over the front German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack noticed that some of the other planes were dropping lower, to give
+      their observers a chance to do their work, and, in response to a shove in
+      his back from the powerful field glasses carried by Harris, Jack sent his
+      machine down to about the nine-thousand-foot level. By a glance at the map
+      he could see that they were now over the territory concerning which a
+      report was wanted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were now under a heavy fire from the German anti-aircraft guns, but
+      Jack was too old a hand to let this needlessly worry him. He sent his
+      machine slipping from side to side, holding it on a level keel now and
+      then, to enable Harris to get the photographs he wanted. In addition, the
+      observer was also making a hasty, rough, but serviceable map of what he
+      saw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack glanced down, and noted a German supply train puffing its way along
+      toward some depot, and he headed toward this to give Harris a chance to
+      note whether there were any supplies of ammunition, or anything else, that
+      might profitably be bombed later. He also saw several columns of German
+      infantry on the march, but as they were not out to make an attack now,
+      they had to watch the Huns moving up to the front line trenches, there
+      later, doubtless, to give battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Back and forth over the German lines flew Jack, Harris meanwhile doing
+      important observation work. As Jack went lower he came under a fiercer
+      fire of the batteries, until, it became so hot, from the shrapnel bursts,
+      that he fain would have turned and made for home. But orders were orders,
+      and Harris had not yet indicated that he had enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Twisting and turning, to make as poor a mark as possible for the enemy
+      guns, Jack sent his machine here and there. The other pilots were doing
+      the same. Machine guns were now opening up on them, and once the burst of
+      fire came so close that Jack began to &ldquo;zoom.&rdquo; That is he sent his craft up
+      and down sharply, like the curves and bumps in a roller-coaster railway
+      track.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time the leading plane gave the signal for the return, and,
+      thankful enough that they had not been hit, Jack swung about. But the
+      danger was not over. They had yet to pass across the enemy's front line
+      trenches, and when Harris signaled Jack to go down low in crossing the lad
+      wondered what the order was for. It was merely that the observer wanted to
+      see what was going on there so he could report.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They went down to within a mile of the earth, and several times the plane
+      was struck by pieces of shrapnel or bullets from machine guns. Twice
+      flying bits of metal came uncomfortably close to Jack, but he was kept too
+      busy with the management of his machine to more than notice them. Harris
+      was working hard at the camera and the maps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, suddenly, came the danger signal from the leading plane, and only
+      just in time. Out from the German hangars came several battle machines.
+      Harris dropped his pencil and got ready the automatic gun, but it was not
+      needed, for, after approaching as though about to attack, the Huns
+      suddenly veered off. Later the reason for this became known. A squadron of
+      French planes had arisen as swiftly to give battle, and however brave the
+      Hun may be when he outnumbers the enemy, he had yet to be known to take on
+      a combat against odds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Jack and his observer safely reached the aerodrome again, bringing back
+      much valuable information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Tom here yet?&rdquo; was Jack's first inquiry after he had divested himself
+      of his togs and men had rushed to the developing room the camera with its
+      precious plates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; some of his chums told him. &ldquo;They're having a fight upstairs I
+      guess.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack nodded and looked anxiously in the direction in which Tom was last
+      seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an hour before the scouting airplanes came back, and one was so
+      badly shot up and its pilot so wounded that it only just managed to get
+      over the French lines before almost crashing to earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you all right, Tom?&rdquo; cried Jack, as he rushed up to his chum, when he
+      saw the latter getting out of his craft, rather stiff from the cold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. They went at me hard&mdash;two of 'em but I think I accounted for
+      one, unless he went into a spinning nose dive just to fool me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, they'll do that if they get the chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; assented Tom. &ldquo;Hello!&rdquo; he exclaimed as he noticed a splintered
+      strut near his head. &ldquo;That came rather close.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And indeed it had. For a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel, has plowed a
+      furrow in the bit of supporting wood, not two inches away from Tom's head,
+      though in the excitement of the fight he had not noticed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been a fight in the upper air and one of the French machines had
+      not come home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another man to await news of,&rdquo; said the flight lieutenant sadly, when the
+      report reached him. &ldquo;That's two in two days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No news of Leroy yet?&rdquo; asked Tom and Jack, as they went out of
+      headquarters after reporting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, I am sorry to say. It is barely possible that he landed in some
+      lonely spot and is still hiding out&mdash;if he is not killed. But I
+      understand you two young men had something to request of me. I can give
+      you some attention now,&rdquo; went on the commander of their squadron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We want to be transferred!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;Now, that Pershing's men are
+      here&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;You want to fight with your countrymen.
+      Well, I would do the same. I will see if I can get you transferred, though
+      I shall much regret losing you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was as good as his word, and a week later, following some strenuous
+      fights in the air, Tom and Jack received notice that they could report to
+      the first United States air squadron, which was then being formed on that
+      part of the front where the first of Pershing's men were brigaded with,
+      the French and British armies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Du Boise, who had brought word back of the fate that had befallen Harry
+      Leroy, sent for Tom and Jack when it became known that they were to leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I ever see you again?&rdquo; he asked wistfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be sure,&rdquo; was Tom's hearty answer. &ldquo;We aren't going far away, and
+      we'll fly over to see you the first chance we get. Besides, we're going to
+      depend on you to give us some information regarding Leroy. If the Huns
+      drop any message at all they'll do it at this aerodrome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I believe you're right,&rdquo; assented Du Boise, trying not to show the
+      pain that racked him. &ldquo;But it's so long, now, I begin to believe he must
+      be dead, and either the Huns don't know it or they aren't going to bother
+      to send us word. But I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is his sister here yet?&rdquo; asked Jack, for Tom and he had been too busy the
+      last two days, getting ready to shift their quarters, to call on Nellie
+      Leroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has gone back to Paris,&rdquo; answered Du Boise. &ldquo;There was no place for
+      her here. I can give you her address. I promised to let her know in case I
+      got word about her brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you would give me the address!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom eagerly, and his
+      chum smiled at his show of interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. THE RESOLVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, to-morrow, if all goes well, we'll be with Pershing's boys,&rdquo;
+       remarked Jack, as he and Tom were sitting in their quarters after
+      breakfast, the last day but one they were to spend in the Lafayette
+      Escadrille with which they had so long been associated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so. We'll soon be on the firing line with Uncle Sam,&rdquo; agreed Tom.
+      &ldquo;Of course we've been with him, in a way, ever since we've been fighting,
+      for it's all in the same cause. But there'll be a little more satisfaction
+      in being 'on our own,' as the English say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're right. What's on for to-day?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Haven't the least idea. But here comes a messenger now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As Tom spoke he glanced from a window and saw an orderly coming toward
+      their quarters. The man seemed in a hurry.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+&ldquo;Something's up!&rdquo; decided Jack. &ldquo;Maybe they've got word from poor
+Harry.&rdquo;
+
+ &ldquo;I'm beginning to give him up,&rdquo; said Tom.  &ldquo;If they were going to
+let us have any news of him they'd have done it long ago&mdash;the beasts!&rdquo;
+ and he fairly snarled out the words.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still I'm not giving up,&rdquo; returned Jack. &ldquo;I can't explain why, but I have
+      a feeling that, some day, we'll see Harry Leroy again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish I could be as hopeful as you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Maybe we'll see him again&mdash;or
+      his grave. But I want to say, right now, that if ever I have a chance at
+      the Hun who shot him down, that Hun Will get no mercy from me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Same here!&rdquo; echoed Jack. &ldquo;But here comes the orderly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man entered and handed Jack a slip of paper. It was from the commander
+      of their squadron, and said, in effect, that though Tom and Jack were no
+      longer under his orders, having been duly transferred to another sector,
+      yet he would be obliged if they would call on him, at his quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe he has news!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Tom shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'd have said so if that was the case,&rdquo; he remarked as he and his chum
+      prepared to report at headquarters, telling the messenger they would soon
+      follow him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, young gentlemen, I am glad to see, you!&rdquo; exclaimed the commander, and
+      it was as friends that he greeted Tom and Jack and not as military
+      subordinates. &ldquo;Do you want to do me one last favor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A thousand if we can!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, for he and Tom had caught
+      something of the French enthusiasm of manner, from having associated with
+      the brave airmen so long.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good! Then I shall feel free to ask. Know then, that I am a little
+      short-handed in experienced airmen. The Huns have taken heavy toll of us
+      these last few days,&rdquo; he went on sorrowfully, and Torn and Jack knew this
+      to be so, for two aces, as well as some pilots of lesser magnitude, had
+      been shot down. But ample revenge had been taken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By all rights you are entitled to a holiday before you join your new
+      command, under the great Pershing,&rdquo; went on the flight commander.
+      &ldquo;However, as I need the services of two brave men to do patrol duty, I
+      appeal to you. There is a machine gun nest, somewhere in the Boche lines,
+      that has been doing terrible execution. If you could find the battery, and
+      signal its location, we might destroy it with our artillery, and so save
+      many brave lives for France,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I do not like to ask you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell 'em to get out the machines!&rdquo; interrupted Jack. &ldquo;We were just
+      wishing we could do something to make up for the loss of Harry Leroy, and
+      this may give it to us. You haven't heard anything of him, have you?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The commander shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear we shall never hear from him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Though only yesterday we
+      received back some of the effects of one of our men who was shot down
+      behind their lines. I can not understand in Leroy's case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we'll make 'em pay a price all right!&rdquo; declared Tom. &ldquo;And now what
+      about this machine gun nest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The commander gave them such information as he had. It was not unusual,
+      such work as Tom and Jack were about to undertake. As the officer had
+      said, they were practically exempt now that they were about to be
+      transferred. But they had volunteered, as he probably knew they would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two speedy Spad machines were run out for the use of Tom and Jack, each
+      one to have his own, for the work they were to do was dangerous and they
+      would have need of speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked over the machine guns to see that they were in shape for quick
+      work, and as the one on the machine Tom selected had congealed oil on the
+      mechanism, having lately returned from a high flight, another weapon was
+      quickly attached. Nothing receives more care and attention at an aerodrome
+      than the motor of the plane and the mechanism of the machine gun. The
+      latter are constructed so as to be easily and quickly mounted and
+      dismounted, and at the close of each day's flight the guns are carefully
+      inspected and cleaned ready for the morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Locate the machine gun battery if you can,&rdquo; was the parting request to
+      Tom and Jack as they prepared to ascend. &ldquo;Send back word of the location
+      as nearly as you can to our batteries, and the men there will see to the
+      rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will!&rdquo; cried the Americans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Locating a machine gun nest is not as easy as picking out a hostile
+      battery of heavier guns, for the former, being smaller, are more easily
+      concealed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tom and Jack would, of course, do their best to help out their
+      friends, the French. Over toward the German lines they flew, and began to
+      scan with eager eyes the ground below them. They could not fly at a very
+      great height, as they needed to be low down in order to see, and in this
+      position they were a mark for the anti-aircraft guns of the Huns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had no sooner got over the enemy trenches, and were peering about for
+      the possible location of the machine gun emplacement, when they were
+      greeted with bursts of fire. But by skillfully dodging they escaped being
+      hit themselves, though their machines were struck. The two chums were
+      separated by about a mile, for they wanted to cover as much ground as
+      possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last, to his great delight, Tom saw a burst of smoke from a building
+      that had been so demolished by shell fire that it seemed nothing could now
+      inhabit it. But the truth was soon apparent. The machine gun nest was in
+      the cellar, and from there, well hidden, had been doing terrible execution
+      on the allied forces. Pausing only to make sure of his surmise, Tom began
+      to tap out on his wireless key the location of the hidden machine gun
+      nest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Most of the aeroplanes carry a wireless outfit. An aerial trails after
+      them, and the electric impulses, dripping off this, so to speak, reach the
+      battery headquarters. Owing to the noise caused by the motor of the
+      airship, no message can be sent to the airman in return, and he has to
+      depend on signs made on the ground, arrows or circles in white by day and
+      lighted signals at night, to make sure that his messages are being
+      received and understood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Allies, of course, possess maps of every sector of the enemy's front,
+      so that by reference to these maps the aircraft observer can send back
+      word as to almost the precise location of the battery which it is desired
+      to destroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quickly tapping out word where the battery was located, Tom awaited
+      developments, circling around the spot in his machine. He was fired at
+      from guns on the ground below, but, to his delight, no hostile planes rose
+      to give him combat. A glance across the expanse, however, showed that Jack
+      was engaging two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's keeping them from me!&rdquo; thought Tom, and his heart was heavy, for he
+      realized that Jack might be killed. However, it was the fortune of war. As
+      long as the Hun planes were fighting Jack they would not molest him, and
+      he might have time to send word to the French battery that would result in
+      the destruction of the Hun machine nest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There came a burst of fire from the Allied lines he had left, and Tom saw
+      a shell land to the left and far beyond the Hun battery hidden in the old
+      ruins. He at once sent back a correcting signal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The more a gun is elevated up to a certain point, the farther it shoots.
+      Forty-three degrees is about the maximum elevation. Again, if a gun is
+      elevated too high it shoots over instead of directly at the target aimed
+      at. It is then necessary to lower the elevation. Tom has seen that the
+      guns of the French battery, which were seeking to destroy the machine gun
+      nest were shooting beyond the mark. Accordingly they were told to depress
+      their muzzles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was done, but still the shells fell to the left, and an additional
+      correction was necessary. It is comparatively easy to make corrections in
+      elevation or depression that will rectify errors in shooting short of or
+      beyond a mark. It is not so easy to make the same corrections in what, for
+      the sake of simplicity, may be called right or left errors, that is
+      horizontal firing. To make these corrections it becomes needful to
+      inscribe imaginary circles about the target, in this case the machine gun
+      nest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These circles are named from the letters of the alphabet. For instance, a
+      circle drawn three hundred yards around a Hun battery as a center might be
+      designated A. The next circle, two hundred yards less in size, would be B
+      and so on, down to perhaps five yards, and that is getting very close.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The circles are further divided, as a piece of pie is cut, into twelve
+      sectors, and numbered from 1 to 12. The last sector is due north, while 6
+      would be due south, 3 east, and 9 west, with the other figures for
+      northeast, southwest, and so on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If a shot falls in the fifty-yard circle, indicated by the letter D, but
+      to the southwest of the mark, it is necessary to indicate that by sending
+      the message &ldquo;D-7,&rdquo; which would mean that, speaking according to the points
+      of the compass, the missile had fallen within fifty yards of the mark, but
+      to the south-southwest of it, and correction must be made accordingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom watched the falling shells. They came nearer and nearer to the hidden
+      battery and at last he saw one fall plump where it was needed. There was a
+      great puff of smoke, and when it had blown away there was only a hole in
+      the ground where the ruins had been hiding the machine guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom's work was done, and he flew off to the aid of Jack, who had overcome
+      one Hun, sending his plane crashing to earth. But the other, an expert
+      fighter, was pressing him hard until Ton opened up on him with his machine
+      gun. Then the German, having no stomach for odds, turned tail and flew
+      toward his own lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good for you, Tom!&rdquo; yelled Jack, though he knew his chum could not hear
+      him because of the noise of the motor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Together the two lads, who had engaged in their last battle strictly with
+      the French, made for their aerodrome, reaching it safely, though, as it
+      was learned when Jack dismounted, he had received a slight bullet wound in
+      one side from a missile sent by one of the attacking planes. But the hurt
+      was only a flesh wound; though, had it gone an inch to one side, it would
+      have ended Jack's fighting days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hearty and enthusiastic were the congratulations that greeted the exploit
+      of Torn in finding the German machine gun nest that had been such a
+      menace, nor were the thanks to Jack any less warm, for without his help
+      Tom could never have maintained his position, and sent back corrections to
+      the battery which brought about the desired result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a glorious end to your stay with us,&rdquo; said the commander, with
+      shining eyes, as he congratulated them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a little impromptu banquet in the quarters that night, and Tom
+      and Jack were bidden God-speed to their new quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's only one thing I want to say!&rdquo; said Jack quietly, as he rose in
+      response to a demand that he talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us hear it, my slice of bacon!&rdquo; called a jolly ace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's this,&rdquo; went on Jack. &ldquo;That I hereby resolve that if we&mdash;I mean
+      Tom and I&mdash;can't rescue our comrade, Harry Leroy, from the Huns&mdash;provided
+      he's alive&mdash;that we'll take a toll of five Germans for him&mdash;or
+      as many, up to that number, as we can shoot down before they get us. Five
+      German fliers is the price of Harry Leroy, who was worth a hundred of
+      them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bravo! Hurrah! So he was! Death to the Huns!&rdquo; were the cries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Torn Raymond sprang to his feet
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What Jack says I say!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;But I double the toll. If Harry Leroy
+      is dead he leaves a sister. You all saw her here! Well, I'll get five Huns
+      for her, and that makes ten between Jack and me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Success to you!&rdquo; cried several.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With this resolve to spur them on, Tom and Jack bade their bravo comrades
+      farewell and started for Paris, whence they were to journey to the
+      headquarters of General Pershing and his men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. IN PARIS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Attired in their natty uniforms of the La Fayette Escadrille, which they
+      had not discarded, with the double wings showing that they were fully
+      qualified pilots and aviators, Jack Parmly and Tom Raymond attracted no
+      little attention as, several hours after leaving their places on the
+      battle front, they arrived in Paris. They were to have a few days rest
+      before joining the newly formed American aviation section which, as yet,
+      was hardly ready for active work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, they're here!&rdquo; suddenly cried Tom, as he and Jack made their way
+      out of the station to seek a modest hotel where they might stay until time
+      for them to report.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who? Where? I don't see 'em!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, as he crowded to the side
+      of his chum, murmurs from a group of French persons testifying to the
+      esteem in which the American lads were held.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There!&rdquo; went on Tom, pointing. &ldquo;See some of our doughboys! And maybe the
+      crowds aren't glad to have 'em here! It's great, I tell you, great!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke he pointed to several khaki-clad infantrymen, some of the
+      first of the ten thousand Americans lads that were sent over to &ldquo;take the
+      germ out of Germany.&rdquo; The Americans were rather at a loss, but they seemed
+      masters of themselves, and laughed and talked with glee as they gazed on
+      the unfamiliar scenes. They, too, were enjoying a holiday before being
+      sent on to be billeted with the French or British troops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on, let's talk to 'em!&rdquo; cried Tom, enthusiastically. &ldquo;It's as good
+      as a letter from home to see 'em!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought you meant you saw&mdash;er&mdash;Bessie and her mother,&rdquo;
+       returned Jack, and there was a little disappointment in his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, we'll see them soon enough, if they're still in Paris,&rdquo; said Tom,
+      gazing curiously at his chum. &ldquo;But they don't know we are coming here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, they do,&rdquo; said Jack, quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They do? Then you must have written.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course. Don't you want to see them before we get shipped off to a new
+      sector?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, yes. Just now, though, I'm anxious to hear some good, old United
+      States talk. Come on, let's speak to 'em. There's one bunch that seems to
+      be in trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the trouble was only because some of Pershing's boys&mdash;as they
+      were generally called wanted to make some purchases at a candy shop and
+      did not know enough of the language to make their meaning clear. It was a
+      good-natured misunderstanding, and both the French shop-keeper and his
+      helper and the doughboys were laughing over it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hello, boys! Glad to see you! Can we help you out?&rdquo; asked Tom, as he and
+      Jack joined the group.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The infantrymen whirled about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, for the love of the Mason an' Dixon line! is there somebody heah
+      who can speak our talk?&rdquo; cried one lad, his accent unmistakably marking
+      him as Southern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guess we can help you out,&rdquo; said Jack. &ldquo;We're from God's country, too,&rdquo;
+       and in an instant the were surrounded and being shaken hands with on all
+      sides, while a perfect barrage of questions was fired at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, when the little misunderstanding at the candy shop had been
+      straightened out, Tom and Jack told something of who they were, mentioning
+      the fact that they were soon to fight directly under the stars and
+      stripes, information which drew whoops of delight from the enthusiastic
+      infantrymen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But say, friend,&rdquo; called out one of the new American soldiers, &ldquo;can you
+      sling enough of this lingo to lead us to a place where we can get ham and
+      eggs? I mean a real eating place, not just a coffee stand. I've been
+      opening my mouth, champing my jaws and rubbing my stomach all day, trying
+      to tell these folks that I'm hungry and want a square meal, and half the
+      time they think I need a doctor. Lead me to a hash foundry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right, come on with us!&rdquo; laughed Tom. &ldquo;We're going to eat, too. I
+      guess we can fix you up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two aviators had been in Paris before and they knew their way about,
+      as well as being able to speak the language fairly well. Soon, with their
+      new friends from overseas, they were seated in a quiet restaurant, where
+      substantial food could be had in spite of war prices. And then it was give
+      and take, question and answer, until a group of Parisians that had
+      gathered about turned away shaking their heads at their inability to
+      understand the strange talk. But they were well aware of the spirit of it
+      all, and more than one silently blessed the Americans as among the saviors
+      of France.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wonderful city seemed filled with soldiers of all the Allied nations,
+      and most conspicuous, because of recent events, were the khaki-clad boys
+      who were soon to fight under Pershing. Having seen that the little
+      contingent they had taken under their protection got what they wanted, Tom
+      and Jack, bidding them farewell, but promising to see them again soon,
+      went to their hotel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, their baggage arriving, Jack proceeded to get ready for a bath and a
+      general furbishing. He seemed very particular.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Going out?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why&mdash;er&mdash;yes. Thought I'd go to call on Bessie Gleason. This is
+      her night off duty&mdash;hers and her mother's.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;er&mdash;she said so. Want to come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nixy. Two's company and you know what three is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, come on! Mrs. Gleason will be glad to see you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I suppose I might,&rdquo; assented Tom, who, truth to tell, did not
+      relish spending the evening alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bessie and her mother had, of late, been assigned as Red Cross workers to
+      a hospital in the environs of Paris, and ant times they could come into
+      the city for a rest. They maintained a modest apartment not far from the
+      hotel where Tom and Jack had put up, and soon the two lads found
+      themselves at the place where their friends lived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I'm so glad you both came!&rdquo; exclaimed Bessie as she greeted them. &ldquo;We
+      have company and&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Company!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, drawing back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the dearest, most delightful girl you ever&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Girl!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. But come on in and meet her. I'm sure you'll both fall in love with
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack was on the point of saying something, but thought better of it, and a
+      moment later, to the great surprise of himself and Torn, they were facing
+      Nellie Leroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. THE AMERICAN FRONT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack bowed. In fact, so great was their surprise at first that
+      this was all they could do. Then they stared first at Bessie and then at
+      the other girl&mdash;the sister of Harry, their chum, who was somewhere,
+      dead or alive, behind the German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, aren't you glad to see her?&rdquo; demanded Bessie. &ldquo;I thought I'd
+      surprise you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have,&rdquo; said Jack. &ldquo;Very much!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad to see her&mdash;why&mdash;of course. But&mdash;but&mdash;how&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom found himself stuttering and stammering, so he stopped, and stared so
+      hard at Nellie Leroy that she smiled, though rather sadly, for it was
+      plain to be seen her grief over the possible death of her brother weighed
+      down on her. And then she went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I'm real&mdash;I'm not a dream, Mr. Raymond.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So I see&mdash;I mean I'm glad to see it&mdash;I mean&mdash;oh, I don't
+      know what I do mean!&rdquo; he finished desperately. &ldquo;Did you know she was going
+      to be here? Was that the reason you asked me to come?&rdquo; he inquired of
+      Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hadn't the least notion in the world,&rdquo; answered Jack. &ldquo;I'm as much
+      surprised as you are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we'll take pity on you and tell you all about it,&rdquo; said Bessie.
+      &ldquo;Mother, here are the boys,&rdquo; she called; and Mrs. Gleason, who had
+      suffered so much since having been saved from the Lusitania and afterward
+      rescued by air craft from the lonely castle, came out of her room to greet
+      the boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were as glad to see her as she was to meet them again, and for a time
+      there was an interchange of talk. Then Mrs. Gleason withdrew to leave the
+      young people to themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, go on, tell us all about it!&rdquo; begged Tom, who could not take his
+      eyes off Nellie Leroy. &ldquo;How did she get here?&rdquo; and he indicated Harry's
+      sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He talks of me as though I were some specimen!&rdquo; laughed the girl. &ldquo;But go
+      on&mdash;tell him, Bessie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it isn't much of a story,&rdquo; said Bessie Gleason. &ldquo;Nellie started to
+      do Red Cross work, as mother and I are doing, and she was assigned to the
+      hospital where we were.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This was after I heard the terrible news about poor Harry at your
+      escadrille,&rdquo; Nellie broke in, to say to Tom and Jack. &ldquo;I&mdash;I suppose
+      you haven't had any&mdash;word?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; Jack answered. &ldquo;But we may get it any day now&mdash;or they
+      may, back there,&rdquo; and he nodded to indicate the air headquarters he and
+      Tom had left. &ldquo;You know we're going to be under Pershing soon,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you wrote me,&rdquo; said Bessie. &ldquo;I'm glad, though it's all in the same
+      good cause. Well, as I was saying, Nellie came to our hospital-I call it
+      ours though I have such a small part in it,&rdquo; she interjected. &ldquo;She was
+      introduced to us as an American, and of course we made friends at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one could help making friends with Bessie and her mother!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Nellie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't flatter us too much,&rdquo; warned Bessie. &ldquo;Now please don't interrupt
+      any more. As I say, Nellie came to us to do her share in helping care for
+      the wounded, and, as mother and I found she had settled on no regular
+      place in Paris, we asked her to share our rooms. Then we got to talking,
+      and of course I found she had met you two boys in her search for her
+      brother. After that we were better friends than ever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad to know it,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;There's nothing like having friends. I
+      hadn't any notion that I'd meet any when I started out with him tonight,&rdquo;
+       and he motioned to Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I like that!&rdquo; cried Bessie in feigned indignation. &ldquo;I like to know
+      how you class my mother and me?&rdquo; and she looked at Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&mdash;er&mdash;well, of course&mdash;you and your mother, and Jack.
+      But he and you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better swim out before you get into deep water,&rdquo; advised Jack quickly,
+      and he nudged Tom with his foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the boys had to tell about their final experiences before leaving the
+      Lafayette Escadrille with which many trying, as well as many happy, hours
+      were associated, and the girls told of their adventures, which were not
+      altogether tame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Since Mrs. Gleason had been freed from the plotting of the spy, Potzfeldt,
+      she had lived a happy life&mdash;that is as happy as one could amid the
+      scenes of war and its attendant horrors. She and Bessie were throwing
+      themselves heart and soul into the immortal work of the Red Cross, and now
+      Nellie bad joined them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the only way I can stop thinking about poor Harry,&rdquo; she said with a
+      sigh. &ldquo;Oh, if I could only hear some good news about him, that I might
+      send it to the folks at home. Do you think it will ever come&mdash;the
+      good news, I mean?&rdquo; she asked wistfully of Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All we can do is to hope,&rdquo; he said. He knew better than to buoy up false
+      hopes, for he had seen too much of the terrible side of war. In his heart
+      he knew that there was but little chance for Harry Leroy, after the
+      latter's aeroplane had been shot down behind the German lines. Yet there
+      was that one, slender hope to which all of us cling when it seems that
+      everything else is lost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may be a prisoner, and, in that case, there is a chance,&rdquo; said Tom,
+      while Jack and Bessie were conversing on the other side of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean a chance to escape?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hardly that, though it has been done. A few aviators have got away from
+      German prison camps. But it's only one chance in many thousand. No, what I
+      meant was that&mdash;well, it's too small and slim a chance to talk about,
+      I'm afraid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no!&rdquo; she hastened to assure him. &ldquo;Do tell me! No chance is too small.
+      What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sometimes rescues have been made,&rdquo; went on Tom. &ldquo;They are even more
+      rare than escapes, but they have been done. I was thinking that perhaps
+      after Jack and I get in with Pershing's boys we might be in some big raid
+      on the Hun lines, and then, if we could get any information as to your
+      brother's whereabouts, we might plan to rescue him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, do you think you could?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I certainly can and will try!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, earnestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, will you? Oh, I can't thank you enough!&rdquo; and she clasped his hand in
+      both hers and Tom blushed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please don't count too much on it,&rdquo; Tom warned Nellie. &ldquo;It's a desperate
+      chance at best, but it's the only one I can see that we can take. First of
+      all, though, we've got to get some word as to where Harry is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you do that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some of the Hun airmen are almost human, that is compared to the other
+      Boche fighters. They may drop a cap of Harry's or a glove, or something,&rdquo;
+       and Tom told of the practice in such cases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, if they only will!&rdquo; sighed Nellie. &ldquo;But it is almost too much to
+      hope.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And so they talked until late in the evening, when the time came for
+      Nellie, Bessie and her mother to report back for their Red Cross work. The
+      boys returned to their hotel, promising to write often and to see their
+      friends at the next opportunity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't forget!&rdquo; said Tom, on parting from Nellie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forget what?&rdquo; asked Jack, as they were going down the street together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm going to do my best to rescue her brother,&rdquo; said Tom, in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good! I'm with you!&rdquo; declared Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stay of the two boys in Paris was all too short, but they were anxious
+      to get back to their work. They wanted to be fighting under their own
+      flag. Not that they had not been doing all they could for liberty, but it
+      was different, being with their own countrymen. And so, when their leaves
+      of absence were up, they took the train that was to drop them at the place
+      assigned, where the newly arrived Americans were beginning their training.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The American front!&rdquo; cried Tom, as he and Jack reached the headquarters
+      of General Pershing and his associate officers. &ldquo;The American front at
+      last!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it's the happiest day of my life that I can fight on it!&rdquo; cried Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. A BATTLE IN THE AIR
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Strictly speaking there was at that time no American front. That did not
+      come until later, for the American soldiers, as was proper, were brigaded
+      with the French and British, to enable our troops, who were unused to
+      European war conditions, to become acquainted with the needful measures to
+      meet and overcome the brutality of the Huns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But even with this brigading of the United States' troops with the
+      seasoned veterans, which, in plain language, meant a mingling of the two
+      forces, there was much that was strictly American among the new arrivals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not only were the khaki-clad soldiers real Americans to the backbone, but
+      their equipment and the supplies that had come over with them in the
+      transports were such as might be seen at any army camp in this country, as
+      distinguished from a French or a British camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, the boys are here all right,&rdquo; remarked Jack, as he and Tom made
+      their way toward the headquarters at which they were to report.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and it makes me feel good to see them!&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;This is the
+      beginning of the end of Kaiserism, if I'm any judge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it isn't going to be so easy as all that,&rdquo; returned Jack. &ldquo;We'll see
+      some hard fighting. Germany isn't licked yet by any means; but those, are
+      the boys that can bring the thing to a finish,&rdquo; and he pointed to a
+      company of the lean, stem, brown figures that were swinging along with
+      characteristic stride.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The place at which Tom and Jack had been ordered to report was an interior
+      city of France, not far from the port at which the first transport from
+      America had arrived. A first glance at the scenes on every hand would have
+      given a person not familiar with war a belief that hopeless confusion
+      existed. Wagons, carts, mule teams and motor trucks-&ldquo;lorries,&rdquo; the English
+      call them&mdash;were dashing to and fro. Men were marching,
+      countermarching, unloading some vehicles, loading others. Soldiers were
+      being marched into the interior to be billeted, others were being directed
+      to their respective French or English units. Officers were shouting
+      commands, and privates were carrying them out to the best of their
+      ability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But though it all seemed chaos, out of it order was coming. There was a
+      system, though a civilian would not have understood it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, let's find out where we're at,&rdquo; suggested Torn, to his chum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right O, my pickled grapefruit!&rdquo; agreed Jack with a laugh. &ldquo;Let's get
+      into the game.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were about to ask their direction from a non-commissioned officer who
+      was directing a squad of men in the unloading of a truck which seemed
+      filled with canned goods, when some one said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There goes Black Jack now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two air service boys looked, and saw, passing along not far away, a
+      tall man, faultlessly attired, who looked &ldquo;every inch a soldier,&rdquo; and
+      whose square jaw was indicative of his fighting qualities, if the rest of
+      his face had not been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that General Pershing?&rdquo; asked Tom, in a low voice of the
+      non-commissioned officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's who he is, buddy,&rdquo; was the smiling answer. &ldquo;The best man in the
+      world for the job, too. Come on there now, you with the red hair. This
+      isn't a croquet game. Lay into those cases, and get 'em off some time
+      before New Year's. We want to have our Christmas dinner in Berlin,
+      remember!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that's Pershing,&rdquo; commented Jack, as he looked at the American
+      commander, who, with his staff officers, was on a trip of inspection.
+      &ldquo;Well, he suits me all right!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The next thing for us to do is to find out if we suit him,&rdquo; remarked Tom.
+      &ldquo;Wonder if he knows we're here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't even believe he knows we're alive!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, for the
+      moment taking Tom's joke quite seriously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As General Pershing passed on, receiving and returning many salutes, Tom
+      and Jack made their inquiries, learned where they were to report, and went
+      on their way, longing for the time when they could get into action with
+      the American troops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, so you're the two aviators from the Lafayette Escadrille,&rdquo; commented
+      the commanding officer, or the C.O., of the newly formed American
+      squadron, as Tom and Jack, drawing themselves up as straight as they
+      could, saluted when he looked over their papers and their log books. These
+      last are the personal records of aviators in which they note the details
+      of each flight made. They are official documents, but when a birdman is
+      honorably discharged he may take his log book with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were told to report to you, sir,&rdquo; said Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. And I'm glad to see you. We're going to establish a purely American
+      air force, but as yet it is in its infancy. I need some experienced
+      fliers, and I'm glad you're going to be with us. Of course I have a number
+      who have made good records over there,&rdquo; and he nodded to indicate the
+      United States, &ldquo;But they haven't been under fire yet, and I understand you
+      have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some,&rdquo; admitted Jack, modestly enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good! Well, I'm to have some more of our own boys, who are to be
+      transferred from the French forces, and some from the Royal Flying Corps,
+      so with that as a start I guess we can build up an air service that will
+      make Fritz step lively. But we've got to go slow. One thing I'm sorry for
+      is that we haven't, as yet, any American planes. We'll have to depend on
+      the French and English for them, as we have to, at first, for our
+      artillery and shells.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can fly French or British planes,&rdquo; remarked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, as my old readers know, the air service boys had had experience with
+      a number of different models.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can fly a Gotha if we have to,&rdquo; said Jack. &ldquo;One came down back of our
+      lines last month, and we patched it up and flew it for practice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope you can get some more of that practice,&rdquo; said the commanding
+      officer with a smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, now that you're here, I'll swear you in and see what the orders are
+      regarding you. I'm afraid there won't be much fighting for you at first&mdash;that
+      is strictly as Americans. I understand our air front, if I may use that
+      term, will have to grow out of a nucleus of French and English fighters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right, as long as we get the right start,&rdquo; commented Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was necessary to swear the boys into the service of the United States,
+      even though they were natives of it; since, on entering the Lafayette
+      Escadrille, they had been obliged to swear allegiance to France. But this
+      was a matter of routine where the Allies were concerned, and soon Tom and
+      Jack were back again where they longed to be&mdash;enrolled among the
+      distinctive fighters of their own country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were assigned to barracks, and found themselves among some other
+      airmen, many of whom were student fliers from the various aviation camps
+      of the United States. Few of these youths had had much practice, though
+      some had been to the Canadian schools. And none of them had, as yet,
+      fought an enemy in the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To aid and instruct them, however, were such fighters as Tom and Jack, and
+      some even more experienced from the French, Italian and British camps, who
+      had been detailed to help out the United States in the emergency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next few weeks was an instruction and reconstruction period, with Tom
+      and Jack often filling the roles of teachers. They found their pupils apt,
+      eager and willing, however, and among them they discovered some excellent
+      material. As the commanding officer of the new American air forces had
+      said, the planes used were all of English or French make. It was too early
+      in the war for America to have sent any over equipped with the Liberty
+      motor, though production was under way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this period had passed, Tom and Jack, with a squadron of other
+      birdmen were sent to a certain section of the front held largely by
+      American troops, supported by veteran French and British regiments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the first wholly American aircraft camp established since the
+      beginning of the World War, and it was not even yet as wholly American as
+      it was destined to be later, for the aviators were, as regards veterans,
+      largely French and English. Torn and Jack were, in point of service, the
+      ranking American fliers for a time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been several sharp engagements across No Man's Land between the
+      mingled French, British and French forces and the Huns, and honors were on
+      the side of the former. There had been one or two combats in the air, in
+      which Tom and Jack had taken part, when one day word came from an
+      observation balloon on the American side that a flock of German aircraft
+      was on the way from a camp located a few miles within the Boche lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a harried consultation of the officers, and then orders were
+      given for a half score of the Allied machines to get ready. Two veteran
+      French aces were to be in command, with Tom and Jack as helpers, and some
+      of the American aviators were to go into the battle of the air for the
+      first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Huns are evidently going to try to bomb some of our ammunition dumps
+      behind our lines,&rdquo;' said one officer, speaking to Tom. &ldquo;It's up to you
+      boys to drive 'em back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll try, sir,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;We owe the Huns something we haven't
+      been able to pay off as yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom referred to the loss of Harry Leroy. So far no word had been received
+      from him, either directly or through the German aviators, as to whether he
+      was dead or a prisoner. Letters had passed between Bessie and Nellie and
+      Jack and Tom, and the sister of the missing youth begged for news.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there was none to give her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless we get some to-day,&rdquo; observed Tom as he and his chum hurried
+      toward the hangars where their machines were being made ready for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get news to-day? What makes you think we shall?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we might bring down a Fritzie or two who'd know something about
+      poor Harry,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;You never can tell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, that's so,&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Well, here's hoping we'll have luck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time there was great excitement in the American aviation
+      headquarters. Word of the oncoming Hun planes had spread, and not a flier
+      of Pershing's forces but was eager to get into his plane and go aloft to
+      give battle. But only the best were selected, and if there were
+      heart-burnings of disappointment it could not be helped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two classes of planes were to be used, the single seaters for the aces,
+      who fought alone, and the double craft, each one of which carried a pilot
+      and an observer. In the latter cases the observers were the new men, who
+      had yet to receive their baptism of fire above the clouds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack were each detailed to take up one of the new men, and the air
+      service boys were glad to find that, assigned to each of them, was the
+      very man he would have picked had he had his choice. They were eager,
+      intrepid lads, anxious to do their share in the great adventure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quickly the machines were made ready, and quickly the fighters climbed
+      into them. The roar of the motors was heard all over the aerodrome, and
+      soon the machines began to mount. Up and up they climbed, and none too
+      soon, for on reaching elevations averaging ten thousand feet, there was
+      seen, over the German lines, a flock of the Hun planes led by two or three
+      machines painted a bright red. These were some of the machines that had
+      belonged to the celebrated &ldquo;flying circus,&rdquo; organized by a daring Hun
+      aviator and ace who was killed after he had inflicted great damage and
+      loss on the Allied service. He and his men had their machines painted red,
+      perhaps on the theory that they would thus inspire terror. These were some
+      of the former members of the &ldquo;circus,&rdquo; it was evident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's going to be a real fight!&rdquo; cried Tom, as he headed his machine
+      toward one of the red craft. Whether the green man Tom was taking up
+      relished this or not, knowing, as he must, the reputation of these red
+      aviators, Tom did not stop to consider.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as the two hostile air fleets approached, there began a battle of
+      the clouds&mdash;a conflict destined to end fatally for more than one
+      aviator.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. THE FALLING GLOVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Numerically the Hun planes, were superior to the American fleet of
+      airships that quickly rose to oppose them. That probably accounted for
+      fact that the Germans did not turn tail and scurry back beyond the
+      protection of their own anti-aircraft guns and batteries. For it was
+      seldom, if ever, they went into a fight when the odds were against them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On came the Fokkers and Gothas, the black iron crosses painted on the
+      wings of the machines standing out in bold relief in the clear air. The
+      sun glinted on the red craft which were in the lead, and besides Tom, who
+      headed for one of these, a French ace darted down from a height to engage
+      the red planes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See if you can plug him when I put you near enough!&rdquo; cried Tom to his
+      observer, who had the reputation of being a good shot with the Lewis gun.
+      Practice with the machine weapons in aeroplanes had been going on, for
+      some time among the new American aviators. &ldquo;Let him have a good dose!&rdquo;
+       cried Tom. &ldquo;If you miss him, then I'll try!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course Tom had to shut off the engine when he said this, as no voice
+      could have been heard above the roaring of the powerful motor. But when he
+      had given his companion these instructions and had ascertained, by a
+      glance over his shoulder, that the lad understood for he nodded his head,
+      Tom again turned on the gasoline, and the propeller, that had been
+      revolving by momentum and because of the pressure of air against it, took
+      up its speed again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Straight for the red machine rushed Tom, and a quick glance told him that
+      his companion was ready with the gun. The weapon to be worked by the
+      latter was mounted so that it could be aimed independently of the
+      aeroplane. Tom also had a gun in front of him, but it was fixed and could
+      be aimed only by pointing the whole craft. Once this was done Tom could
+      operate the weapon with one hand, steering with the other, and, at times,
+      with his feet and knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There came several sharp pops near Tom's head, and he knew these were
+      machine bullets from the Hun aviator's gun, breaking through the tightly
+      stretched linen fabric of the wings of his own plane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let him have it before he plugs us!&rdquo; cried Tom to his companion, though
+      of course the latter could not hear a word. An instant later Tom heard the
+      Lewis gun behind him firing, and he saw several tracer bullets strike the
+      Hun machine. But they were not near the aviator himself, and did no
+      material damage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guess he's too nervous to shoot straight,&rdquo; reasoned Tom. &ldquo;I'll have to
+      try my own gun,&rdquo; he decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom noticed that the Hun was climbing up, trying to get into a position
+      above the American plane, which is always an advantage. And the air
+      service boy knew he must not let this happen. Quickly he shifted the
+      rudder and began to climb himself. But he was at a disadvantage as his
+      machine carried double, while the red plane had only one man in it, an ace
+      beyond a doubt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got to get him now or never!&rdquo; thought Tom. Once more he shifted his
+      direction, and then, as he had his gun aimed just where he wanted it, he
+      pressed the lever and a burst of bullets shot out and fairly riddled the
+      red plane. It seemed to stop for an instant in the air, and then,
+      quivering, turned and went down in a nose dive, spinning around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No fake about that!&rdquo; mused Tom, as he leaned over and looked down from
+      the height. &ldquo;He's done for!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And so, the Hun was, for he crashed to the ground behind the American
+      lines. The incident did not affect Tom Raymond greatly. It was not his
+      first killing. But when he, glanced back toward his companion, he saw that
+      the other was shrinking back as if in horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll get over that soon enough. All he has to do is to think of what the
+      Huns have done&mdash;crucifying men and babies&mdash;to make his heart
+      hard,&rdquo; thought Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whether his companion did this or not, did not disclose itself, but the
+      fact remains that when Tom flew off to engage another Hun machine the lad
+      back of him rose to the occasion and shot so well that Fritz veered off
+      and flew back over his own lines, wounded and with his craft barely able
+      to fly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not all the American machines fared as well as this, however. Jack was in
+      poor luck. The first burst of bullets from the German he engaged punctured
+      his gasoline tank, and he was obliged to coast back to his own aerodrome
+      to get another machine, if possible. He was also hit once in the leg, the
+      wound being painful though not dangerous. He received first aid treatment
+      and wanted to get back into the fight, but this was not allowed, and he
+      had to watch the battle from the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fight was fast and stubborn, and in the end the American forces won,
+      for at a signal from the remaining red plane, which seemed to bear a
+      charmed existence, as it did not appear to be hit, the others remaining of
+      the Hun forces, turned tail and scooted back to safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they had left a toll of five machines sent crashing to earth, four of
+      them each containing two men. The leading French ace was killed, a severe
+      loss to the Allied forces, and three of the American machines were damaged
+      and their operators severely wounded, though with a chance of recovery. By
+      American machines is meant those assigned for use to Pershing's forces,
+      though the craft used up to that time were of French or English make. The
+      real American machines came into use a little later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I think we can call it one to our credit,&rdquo; said Tom, as he rejoined
+      Jack after the battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. But you had all the luck!&rdquo; complained his chum. &ldquo;It went against me,
+      and the lad I took up. It&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind; it'll be your turn next,&rdquo; replied Tom, consolingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so the new American aviators received their baptism of fire, and, to
+      their credit, longed for more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      More credit was really due the American forces than would be indicated by
+      the mere citation of the losses inflicted on the German side in this first
+      air battle. For many of the American fighters were &ldquo;green,&rdquo; while not one
+      of the Huns, as was learned later, but what had several Allied machines to
+      his score. And so there was rejoicing in General Pershing's camp, even
+      though it was mingled with sorrow at the losses inflicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Busy days followed, Tom and Jack were in the air much of the time. And
+      when they were not flying they were delivering talks to new students, who
+      were constantly arriving. They found time once to run into Paris on their
+      day of leave, to see Bessie and Nellie, and they went on a little picnic
+      together, which was as jolly as such an affair could be in the midst of
+      the terrible war. Nellie had received no word of her missing brother, and
+      Jack and Tom had no encouragement for her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came more hard work at camp, and another battle of the air in which
+      the American forces more than equaled matters, for they fairly demolished
+      a German plane squadron, sending ten of the machines crashing to earth and
+      the others back over the Hun lines, more or less damaged. That was a great
+      day. And, as a sort of reward for their work, Tom and Jack were given
+      three days' leave. At first they thought to spend them in Paris, but,
+      learning that neither Bessie nor her mother nor Nellie could leave their
+      Red Cross work to join them, the two lads made other arrangements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let's go back and see the fellows in the Lafayette Escadrille,&rdquo; suggested
+      Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; agreed Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And thither they went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That they were welcomed need not be said. It was comparatively quiet on
+      this sector just then, though there had, a few days before, been a great
+      battle with victory perching on the Allied banners. The air conflicts,
+      too, had been desperate, and many a brave man of the French, English or
+      American fliers had met his death. But toll had been taken of the Boches&mdash;ample
+      toll, too.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first inquiry Tom and Jack had made on their arrival at their former
+      aerodrome had been for news of Harry Leroy, but none had been received.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was when Tom and Jack were about to conclude their visit to their
+      former comrades of the air that an incident occurred which made a great
+      change in their lives. One sunny afternoon there suddenly appeared, a mere
+      speck in the blue, a single aeroplane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some one of your men must have gone a long way over Heinie's lines,&rdquo;
+       remarked Jack to one of the French officers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is not one of our men. Either they were all back long ago or they will
+      not come back until after the war&mdash;if ever. That is a Hun machine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is he doing&mdash;challenging to single combat?&rdquo; asked Tom, as the
+      lone plane came on steadily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered the officer, after a look through his glasses. &ldquo;I think he
+      brings some messages. We sent some to the Germans yesterday, and I think
+      this is a return courtesy. We will wait and see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearer and nearer came the German plane. Soon it was circling around the
+      French camp. Hundreds came out to watch, for now the object of the lone
+      aviator was apparent. He contemplated no raid. It was to drop news of
+      captured, or dead, Allied airmen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as Tom, and the others watched, a little package was seen to fall
+      from the hovering aeroplane. It landed on the roof of one of the hangars,
+      bounced off and was picked up by an orderly, who presented it to the
+      commanding officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quickly and eagerly it was opened. It contained some personal belongings
+      of Allied airmen who had been missing for the past week. Some of them, the
+      message from the German lines said, had been killed by their falls after
+      being shot down, and it was stated that they had been decently buried.
+      Others were wounded and in hospitals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No word from Harry,&rdquo; said Tom, sadly, as the last of the relics from the
+      dead and the living were gone over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I guess we may as well give him up,&rdquo; added Jack. &ldquo;But we can avenge
+      him. That's all we have left, now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Tom. &ldquo;If we only&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A cry from some of those watching the German plane interrupted him. The
+      two air service boys looked up. Another small object was falling. It
+      landed with a thud, almost at the feet of Tom and Jack, and the latter
+      picked it up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an aviator's glove; and as Jack held it up a note dropped out.
+      Quickly it was read, and the import of it was given to all in a
+      simultaneous shout of joy from Tom and Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's word from Harry Leroy! Word from Harry at last!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. STUNTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Truly enough, word had come from the missing aviator, or, if not directly
+      from him, at least from his captors. The German airmen, falling in with
+      the chivalry which had been initiated by the French and English, and later
+      followed by the Americans, had seen fit to inform the comrades of the
+      captured man of his whereabouts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he? What happened to him?&rdquo; asked several, as all crowded around
+      Tom and Jack to hear the news.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack, reading the note, told them. The missive was written in very good
+      English, though in a German hand. It stated that Harry Leroy had been shot
+      down in his plane while over the German lines, and had fallen in a lonely
+      spot, wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wound was not serious, it was stated, and the prisoner was doing as
+      well as could be expected, but he would remain in the hands of his captors
+      until the end of the war. The reason his whereabouts was not mentioned
+      before was that the Germans did not know they had one of the Allied
+      aviators in their midst.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leroy had not only fallen in a lonely spot, but he was made unconscious by
+      his fall and injuries, and when he recovered he was lying near his almost
+      demolished plane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He managed to get out his log book and other confidential papers, and set
+      fire to them and the plane with the gasoline that still remained in the
+      tank. He destroyed them so they might not fall into the hands of the
+      Germans, a fate he knew would be his own shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Harry Leroy was not doomed to instant capture. The blaze caused by his
+      burning aeroplane attracted the attention of a peasant, who had not been
+      deported when the enemy overran his country, for the young aviator had
+      fallen in a spot well back of the front lines. This French peasant took
+      Harry to his little farm and hid him in the barn. There the man, his wife,
+      and his granddaughters, looked after the injured aviator, feeding him and
+      binding up his hurts. It was a great risk they took, and Harry Leroy knew
+      it as well as they. But for nearly two weeks he remained hidden, and this
+      probably saved his life, for he got better treatment at the farmhouse than
+      he would, as an enemy, have received in a German hospital.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But such good luck could not last. Suspicion that Americans were hidden in
+      the Frenchman's barn began to spread through the country, and rather than
+      bring discovery on his friends, Leroy left the barn one night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had a desperate hope that he might reach his own lines, as he was now
+      pretty well recovered from his 'Injuries, but it was not to be. He was
+      captured by a German patrol. But by his quick action Harry Leroy had
+      removed suspicion from the farmer, which was exactly what he wished to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Germans, rejoicing over their capture, took the young aviator to the
+      nearest prison camp, and there he was put in custody, together with some
+      unfortunate French and English. The tide of war had turned against Harry
+      Leroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it came about that, some time after he had been posted as missing and
+      when it was surely thought that he was dead, Harry Leroy was found to be
+      among the living, though a prisoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This will be great news for his sister!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, as the note
+      dropped by the German airman was read over and over again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, she'll be delighted,&rdquo; agreed Tom. &ldquo;We must hurry back and tell her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that isn't all,&rdquo; went on Jack. &ldquo;We must try to figure out a way to
+      rescue Harry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can't do that,&rdquo; declared a French ace, one with whom the air service
+      boys had often flown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's out of the question,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;There has never been a rescue
+      yet from behind the German lines. Or, if there has been, it's like a blue
+      moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we can try,&rdquo; declared Jack, and Tom nodded his head in agreement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't count too much on it,&rdquo; added another of their friends. &ldquo;Harry may
+      not even be where this note says he is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that the Germans would say what isn't so?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course! Naturally!&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;But even if they did not in this
+      case, even if they have truly said where Leroy is, he may be moved at any
+      time&mdash;sent to some other prison, or made to work in the mines or at
+      perhaps something far worse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack realized that this might be so, and they felt that there was
+      no easy task ahead of them in trying to rescue their chum from the hands
+      of the Germans. But they were not youths who gave up easily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May we keep this note?&rdquo; asked Tom, as he and Jack got ready to depart.
+      Having fallen on the camp of the escadrille with which they were formerly
+      quartered, it was, strictly speaking, the property of the airmen there.
+      But having been told how much the sister of the prisoner would appreciate
+      it, the commanding officer gave permission for Tom and Jack to take the
+      glove and note with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us know if you rescue him, Comrades!&rdquo; called the Frenchmen to the two
+      lads, as they started back for their own camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will,&rdquo; was the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nellie Leroy's joy in the news that her brother was alive was tempered by
+      the fact that he was a German prisoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we're going to get him!&rdquo; declared Tom even though he realized, as he
+      said it, that it with almost a forlorn hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are so good,&rdquo; murmured the girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack and Tom spent a few happy hours in Paris, with Nellie and Bessie&mdash;the
+      last of their leave&mdash;and then, bidding the girls and Mrs. Gleason
+      farewell, they reported back to the American aerodrome, where the young
+      airmen were cordially welcomed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There they found much to do, and events followed one another so rapidly at
+      this stage of the World War that Tom and Jack, after their return, had
+      little time for anything but flying and teaching others what they knew of
+      air work. They had no opportunity to do anything toward the rescue of
+      Harry Leroy; and, indeed, they were at a loss how to proceed. They were
+      just hoping that something would transpire to give them a starting point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have to leave it to luck for a while,&rdquo; said Torn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or fate,&rdquo; added Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, fate plays no small part in an airman's life,&rdquo; returned Tom. &ldquo;While
+      we are no more superstitions than any other soldiers, yet there are few
+      airmen who do not carry some sort of mascot or good-luck piece. You know
+      that, Jack.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And even the casual reader of the exploits of the aviators must have been
+      impressed with the fact that often the merest incident&mdash;or accident
+      is responsible for life or death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Death often passes within hair's breadth of the intrepid fliers, and some
+      of them do not know it until after they have made a landing and have seen
+      the bullet holes in their machine&mdash;holes that indicate how close the
+      missiles have passed to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, in a way, both Tom and Jack believed in luck, and they both believed
+      that this same luck might point out to them a way of rescuing Harry Leroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile they were kept busy. After the big battle in the air matters
+      were quiet for a time on their sector of the front. The arrival of new
+      fliers from America made it necessary to instruct them, and to this Tom,
+      Jack and other veterans were detailed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then began a series of what Jack called &ldquo;stunts.&rdquo; In order to inspire the
+      new pupils with confidence, the older flying men&mdash;not always older in
+      years&mdash;would go aloft in their single planes and do all sorts of
+      trick flying. Some of the pupils&mdash;the more daring, of course&mdash;wished
+      to imitate these, but of course they were not allowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pupils were first allowed merely to go with an experienced man. This,
+      of course, they had done at the flying schools in the United States, and
+      had flown alone. But they had to start all over again when on French soil,
+      for here they were exposed, any time, to an attack from a Hun plane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After they had, it was thought, got sufficient experience to undertake
+      these trick features by themselves, they were allowed to make trial
+      flights, but not over the enemy lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack gave the best that was in them to these enthusiastic pupils,
+      and there was much good material.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you going to do to-day, Jack?&rdquo; asked Tom one morning, as they
+      went out after breakfast to get into their &ldquo;busses,&rdquo; as they dubbed their
+      machines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, got orders to do some spiral and somersault stunts for the benefit of
+      some huns.&rdquo; (&ldquo;Hun,&rdquo; used in this connection, not referring to the Germans.
+      &ldquo;Hun&rdquo; is the slang term for student aviators, tacked on them by more
+      experienced fliers.)
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Same here. Good little bunch of huns in camp now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom nodded in agreement, and the two were soon preparing to climb aloft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a watching group of eager young men on the ground below, in company
+      with an instructor who would point out the way certain feats were done,
+      Torn and Jack began climbing. Presently they were fairly tumbling about
+      like pigeons, seeming to fall, but quickly straightening out on a level
+      keel and coming to the ground almost as lightly as feathers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A good landing is essential if one would become a good airman,&rdquo; stated
+      the instructor. &ldquo;In fact I may say it is the hardest half of the game. For
+      it is comparatively easy to leave the earth. It is the coming back that is
+      difficult, like the Irishman who said it wasn't the fall that hurts, it
+      was the stopping.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give 'em a bit of zooming now,&rdquo; the instructor said to Tom and Jack. &ldquo;The
+      boys may have to use that any time they're up and a Boche comes at them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Zooming,&rdquo; he went on to the pupils, &ldquo;is rising and falling in a series of
+      abrupt curves like those in a roller-coaster railway. It is a very useful
+      stunt to be master of, for it enables one to rise quickly when confronting
+      a field barrier, or to get out of range of a Hun machine gun.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom undertook this feature of the instruction, as Jack signaled that his
+      aeroplane was out of gasoline, and soon the former was rolling across the
+      aviation field, seemingly straight toward a row of tall trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll hit 'em sure!&rdquo; cried one student.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Watch him,&rdquo; ordered the instructor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a quick pull on the lever that controlled the rudder, Tom sent
+      himself aloft, but not before a curious thing happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the ground where it had been dropped was a tunic, or airman's fur-lined
+      jacket. As Tom's machine &ldquo;zoomed,&rdquo; the tail skid caught this jacket and
+      took it aloft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom did not seem to be aware of this, though he must have felt that his
+      machine was a bit sluggish in the climbs. However, he went through with
+      his performance, doing some beautiful &ldquo;zooming,&rdquo; and then, as he was
+      flying high and getting ready to do a spiral nose dive, the tunic detached
+      itself from his skid and fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just at this moment Jack came out from the hangar and, looking aloft and
+      noting Tom's machine, saw the falling jacket. His heart turned sick and
+      faint, for, unaware of what had happened, he thought his chum had tumbled
+      out while at a great height. For the tunic, turning over and over as it
+      sailed earthward, did resemble a falling body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Tom! Tom! How did it happen?&rdquo; murmured Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The others, laughing, told him that it was nothing serious, but Jack
+      looked a bit worried until the empty jacket fell on the grass and, a
+      little later, Tom himself came down smiling from aloft, all unaware of the
+      excitement he had caused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. OVER THE LINES
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I guess we stay downstairs, to-day,&rdquo; remarked Tom to Jack, the day
+      following their exhibition flights for the benefit of the air students.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it doesn't look very promising,&rdquo; returned his chum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack looked aloft where the sky&mdash;or what took its place&mdash;was
+      represented by a gray mist that seemed ready to drip water at any moment.
+      It was a day of &ldquo;low visibility,&rdquo; and one when air work was almost totally
+      suspended. This applied to the enemy as well as to the Yankees. For even
+      though it is feasible to go up in an aeroplane in fog, or even rain or
+      snow, it is not always safe to come down again in like conditions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is nothing worse than rain, snow or fog for clouding an aviator's
+      goggles, making it impossible for him to see more than a plane's length
+      ahead, if, indeed, he can see that far. Then, too, little, if anything,
+      can be accomplished by going aloft in a storm or fog. No observations of
+      any account can be made, and the aviator, once he gets aloft, is as likely
+      to come down behind the German lines as he is to descend safely within his
+      own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That being the case, Tom and Jack, in common with their comrades of the
+      air, had a vacation period. Some of them obtained leave and went to the
+      nearest town, while some put in their time going over their guns and
+      glasses and equipment and machines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack and Tom elected to do the latter. There was one very fast and
+      powerful Spad which they often used together, taking turns at piloting it
+      and acting as observer. They thought they might have a chance soon to go
+      over the German lines in this, their favorite craft, so they decided to
+      put in their spare time seeing that it was in perfect shape, and that the
+      two machine guns were ready for action when needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Would you rather do this than fly, Jack?&rdquo; asked Tom, as they went over,
+      in detail, each part of the powerful Spad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should say not! But, after all, one is just as important as the other.
+      I hope we get a good day to-morrow. I'd like to do something toward seeing
+      if we can't get Harry out of the Boche's clutches,&rdquo; and he nodded in the
+      direction of the German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tisn't going to be easy doing that,&rdquo; remarked Tom. &ldquo;I'd ask nothing
+      better than to have a hand in getting him away, but I haven't yet been
+      able to figure out a shadow of a plan. Have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The only thing, I can think of is to organize a big raid on the section
+      where he's held&mdash;I mean somewhere near the German prison&mdash;and if
+      we bombed the place enough, and created enough excitement, some of us
+      might land and get Harry and any others that might be with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That'd be a pretty risky way of doing it,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you think of a better?&rdquo; Jack demanded quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not off hand,&rdquo; came the reply. &ldquo;We've got to stew over it a bit. One
+      thing's sure&mdash;we've got to get Harry out, or his sister never will
+      feel like going back home and facing the folks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right!&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;We've got a double motive for this. But I'm
+      afraid it's going to be too hard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what we thought when we rescued Mrs. Gleason from the old castle
+      where Potzfeldt had her caged,&rdquo; retorted Tom. &ldquo;But you made out all
+      right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; thanks to your help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we'll both work together again,&rdquo; declared Tom. &ldquo;And now let's try
+      this Lewis gun. The last time we were up it jammed on me, and yet it
+      worked all right on the ground.&rdquo; So they tested the guns, looked to the
+      motor, and in general made ready for a flight when the weather should
+      clear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This happened two days later, when the fog and mist were blown away and
+      the blue sky could be seen. In the interim the artillery and infantry on
+      both sides had not been idle, and there had been some desperate
+      engagements, with the brigaded American troops making a new name for
+      themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess there'll be something doing to-day,&rdquo; remarked Tom, as he and Jack
+      tumbled out of bed at the usual early hour. &ldquo;Clear as a bell,&rdquo; he
+      announced, after a glance from the window. &ldquo;Shouldn't wonder but what we
+      went over their lines to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I suppose, by the same token, they'll be coming over ours,&rdquo; and Jack
+      nodded to indicate the Germans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let 'em come!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;It takes two sides to make a fight, and
+      that's what we're here for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hardly had the two air service boys finished their breakfast, than an
+      orderly came to tell them the commanding officer wanted them to report to
+      him. They hurried across the aviation ground, toward the headquarters
+      building, noting on the way that there were signs of unusual activity
+      among the newer members of the American air forces, as well as among the
+      French and British veterans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must be going to make a raid,&rdquo; observed Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something like that&mdash;yes,&rdquo; assented Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hope we're in on it, and the commanding officer doesn't have us take some
+      huns up to show 'em what makes the wheels go around,&rdquo; went on Jack. &ldquo;Of
+      course that's part of the game, but we've done our share.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      However, they need have felt no fear, for when they stood before the
+      commanding officer, saluting, they quickly learned that they were to go on
+      a special mission that day&mdash;in fact as soon as they could get ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want you two to see if you can discover a battery of small guns that
+      have been playing havoc with our men,&rdquo; he said, as he looked up from a
+      table covered with maps. &ldquo;They're located somewhere along this front, but
+      they're so well camouflaged that no one has yet been able to discover
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want you boys to see if you can turn the trick. The guns have killed a
+      lot of our men, as well as the French and English. We've tried to rush the
+      emplacement, but we can't get a line on where it is for it's well hidden.
+      I asked permission of the British commanding general to send up two
+      American scouts, and he mentioned you boys. Get your orders from the
+      major, and good luck to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you want us to go together or separately?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Together&mdash;in a double plane. I might say that we are going to try a
+      raid on a big scale over the enemy's lines, and you two will thus have a
+      better chance to carry out your observations unmolested. The Hun planes
+      will have their hands full attending to our fighters, and they may not
+      attack a single plane off by itself. We'll try to draw them away from you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At the same time I might point out that there is nothing sure in this,
+      and that you may have to fight also,&rdquo; concluded the commanding officer, as
+      he waved a dismissal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, were ready for anything,&rdquo; announced Tom. And as he and Jack got
+      outside he clapped his chum on the back, crying: &ldquo;That's the stuff! Good
+      old C.O. to send us! That's what we've been looking for! Maybe we'll have
+      time to drop down and shoot some of the Huns that are guarding Harry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No chance of that&mdash;forget it now,&rdquo; urged Jack. &ldquo;We'll clean up this
+      location trick first, and then think of a plan to get Harry away. It
+      sounds hard to say it, but it's all we can do. Orders are orders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were glad they had made ready the speedy Spad plane, for it was in
+      this that they would try to locate the hidden battery, and, having
+      received detailed instructions from the major in command, the two lads
+      climbed into their air plane and started off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day was clear and bright, just the sort for aeroplane activity; and it
+      was evident there would be plenty of it, since, even as they began
+      climbing, Tom and Jack saw planes from their own aerodrome skirting ahead
+      of and behind them, while, in the distance and over German-held territory,
+      were Fokkers and Gothas with the iron cross conspicuously painted on each.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack had been given a map of the front, their own and the German
+      lines being shown, and the probable location of the hidden Hun battery
+      marked. This they now studied as they started over the front, Jack being
+      in front, while Tom sat behind him, to work the swivel Lewis gun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their Spad machine was one that could be controlled from either seat, so
+      that if one rider was disabled the other could take charge. There were two
+      guns, one fixed and the other movable, and a good supply of ammunition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I guess there'll be some fighting to-day,&rdquo; observed Tom, as Jack
+      shut off the motor for a moment, to see if it would respond readily when
+      the throttle was opened again. &ldquo;They're closing in from both sides.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And indeed the Allied planes were sailing forth to meet a squadron of the
+      enemy. But none of the Hun craft seemed to pay any attention to Tom and
+      Jack. Steadily they flew on until an exclamation from Jack caused Tom to
+      look down. He noted that they were over the German lines, and headed for
+      the probable location of the battery that had been such a thorn in the
+      side of the Allies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. A PERFECT SHOT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The plane in which Tom and Jack had gone aloft to make observations which,
+      it was hoped, would result in the discovery of the hidden battery, was a
+      special machine. While very powerful and swift and equipped for
+      air-fighting, it was also one that had been used by one of the French
+      photographers and his pilot. The photographer, was a daring man, and had,
+      not long before, gone to his death in fighting three Hun planes. But he
+      had peculiar ideas regarding his car, and under his orders it had been
+      fitted with a glass floor in the two cockpits, or what corresponded to
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus he and his pilot could look down and observe the nature of the enemy
+      country over which they were traveling without having to lean over, not
+      always a safe act where anti-aircraft guns below are shooting up shrapnel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So as Torn and Jack flew on and on, over the enemy's first and succeeding
+      line trenches, they looked down through the glass windows in the plane to
+      make their observations. There was a camera attached to the plane, and
+      though they could each make use of it, but they were not skilled in this
+      work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was impossible for them to talk to one another now, as Jack had the
+      motor going almost full speed, and the noise it made was deafening, or it
+      would have been except for the warm, fur hoods that covered the ears of
+      the fliers. They were warmly dressed for they did not know how high they
+      might ascend, and it is always cold up above, no matter how hot it is on
+      the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up and up they climbed, and then they flew on and over the enemy lines,
+      keeping close lookout for anything unusual below that would indicate the
+      presence of the battery. Behind them, and off to one side, a fierce aerial
+      battle was going on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack were eager to get into this and do their share. But they had
+      orders to make their observations, and they dared not 'refuse. They could
+      tell by looking back every now and then that the affair was going well for
+      the Allies, including some of the American airmen, even if the Huns
+      outnumbered them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Back and forth over the German lines swept the glass-bottomed Spad, and at
+      a certain point Tom, who was looking down, uttered an exclamation. Of
+      course Jack could not hear, but he could feel the punch in the back his
+      chum administered a moment later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack turned his head, and saw his chum eagerly pointing downward. A moment
+      later he motioned over his left shoulder, pointing backward, as though
+      they had just passed over something which would warrant a second
+      inspection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack swung the machine about in a big circle, banking sharply, and then,
+      as he passed over the ground covered a little while before, he, too,
+      looked down, and with sharper glance than he had used at first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What he saw was the ruins of a small French chateau. It had been under
+      heavy fire from the Allied guns, for it had sheltered a German machine gun
+      nest, and some accurate shooting on the part of the American gunners had
+      demolished it a day or so before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But what attracted the attention of Tom and Jack was that whereas the
+      chateau before the bombardment had stood on a little hill without a tree
+      near it, now there was a miniature forest surrounding it. It was as though
+      trees and bushes had sprung up in the night. As soon as he had seen this,
+      Jack turned to Tom, nodded comprehendingly, and at once started back over
+      the American lines. They had no easy time reaching them, for by this time
+      the fleet of Hun planes had been defeated by the Allies, and had turned
+      tail to run for safety&mdash;that is what were left of them, several
+      having been shot down, and at no small cost to the French, English and
+      American forces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the defeat of their airmen seemed to anger the Germans, and they
+      opened up with their antiaircraft batteries on the machine in which Tom
+      and Jack were flying homeward. &ldquo;Woolly bears&rdquo; and &ldquo;flaming onions,&rdquo; as
+      well as shrapnel, was used against them, and they were in considerable
+      danger. Jack had to &ldquo;zoom&rdquo; several times to get out of reach of the
+      shells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They finally reached their aerodrome, however, and as soon as they had
+      landed and their plane was taken in charge by the mechanics the two lads
+      hurried to the commanding officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he asked sharply, as they saluted. &ldquo;Did you discover anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, sir,&rdquo; returned Tom, for Jack had told his chum to do the
+      talking, since the discovery was his. &ldquo;You remember, sir, the old chateau
+      we put out of business the other day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I recall it. What about it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This: It seems suddenly to have grown a wooded park around it, and the
+      trees and bushes don't seem to be as fresh as natural ones ought to look.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean they camouflaged the ruins, and have put another battery in the
+      old, chateau?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, sir. It wouldn't do any harm to drop a few shells there. If
+      it's still a ruin the worst will be that we've wasted a little ammunition
+      and may start the German guns up. And if it is what we think it is, we may
+      blow up the battery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The commander thought for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll try it!&rdquo; he suddenly said. &ldquo;It's worth all it will cost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He called an orderly and issued his instructions. Tom and Jack had not yet
+      been dismissed, and now the commanding officer turned to them and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since you boys were sharp enough to discover this, I'll let you have a
+      front seat at the show which will start soon. Go up and do contact work.
+      Let the gunners know when they make a hit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The air service boys could not have wished for anything better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Once more for our bus!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack delightedly, when they were
+      outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their Spad had been refilled with gasoline, or &ldquo;petrol,&rdquo; as it is called
+      on the other side, and oil had been put in, while the machine guns had
+      been looked to.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to have spotted it all right, Tom,&rdquo; went on Jack, just as they
+      were about to start, for word came that the American batteries were ready.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I was looking down through the glass, and when I saw the old chateau
+      it struck me that it had suddenly grown a beard. I remembered it before,
+      as being on a bare hill. I thought it was funny, and that I might be
+      mistaken. But when you agreed with me I knew I was right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, the Huns have brought up trees and bushes to disguise the place all
+      right,&rdquo; declared, Jack. &ldquo;The only question is whether or not the battery
+      is hidden there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But there was not long a question about that. Their machine was equipped
+      with wireless to signal back the result of the shots, and Jack and Tom
+      were soon in position. From the maps used when they had previously shelled
+      the place to drive out the German gunners, the American artillery forces
+      knew just about where to plant the shells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a burst of fire from the designated battery. Up aloft Jack and
+      Tom watched the shell fall. It was a trifle over, and a correction was
+      signaled back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment later the second shell&mdash;a big one sailed over the German
+      first lines, and fell directly on the chateau partly hidden in the woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a burst of smoke, and with it mingled clouds of dust and flying
+      particles. Faintly to Tom and Jack, above the noise of their motor, came
+      the sound of a terrific explosion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been a direct hit on the old ruins, as was proved by the fact
+      that not only was the German battery put out of commission, but a great
+      quantity of ammunition hidden in the trees and bushes was blown up, and
+      with it a considerable number of Germans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And that it was a place well garrisoned was evident to the air service
+      boys as they saw a few Huns, who were not killed by the shell and
+      resultant explosion of the ammunition dump, running away from the place of
+      destruction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was it all right,&rdquo; said Jack, as he and Tom landed back of their own
+      lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and it couldn't have been hit better. I hope that was the battery
+      they wanted put out of business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And it was, for no more shells came from that vicinity of the Hun
+      positions for a long time. The aeroplane observations had given the very
+      information needed, and Tom and Jack were congratulated, not only by their
+      comrades, but by the commanding officer himself, which counted for a great
+      deal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. A DARING SCHEME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Tom sat up on his bunk and looked across at Jack, who was just showing
+      signs of returning consciousness&mdash;that is, he was getting awake. It
+      was the morning after the successful discovery of the hidden German
+      battery, and since this exploit the two lads had not been required to go
+      on duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's the matter?&rdquo; asked Jack, opening his eyes and looking at his chum.
+      &ldquo;Has the mail come in? Any letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. I was just thinking,&rdquo; remarked Tom, and though his eyes were fixed on
+      Jack it was clear that his thoughts were somewhere else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thinking, Tom? That's bad business. Have you seen the doctor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, shut off your gas!&rdquo; ordered Tom. &ldquo;You're side slipping. First you
+      know you'll come down in a tail spin and I'll have to be looking for a new
+      partner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's as serious as all that, is it?&rdquo; asked Jack, as he began to dress.
+      &ldquo;Well, in that case I withdraw my observation. Go ahead. How's the
+      visibility?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Low. We won't have to go up to-day, unless it clears.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Um. And I was counting on getting a few Huns right after breakfast. Well,
+      what's your think about, if you really were indulging in that expensive
+      pastime?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was,&rdquo; said Tom, and he got up and also proceeded to put on his clothes.
+      &ldquo;I was thinking about Harry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; and Jack's voice was decidedly different. It had lost all its
+      flippant tone. &ldquo;Say, he certainly is in tough luck. I wish we could do
+      something for him&mdash;and his sister. Doubtless you were thinking of
+      her, too,&rdquo; and a little smile curled his lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I was thinking of Nellie,&rdquo; conceded Tom, and he was so bold and
+      frank about it that Jack choked back the joke that he was about to make.
+      &ldquo;I was thinking that we haven't done very much to redeem our promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how can we?&rdquo; asked Jack. &ldquo;We haven't had a chance to do anything to
+      rescue Harry. Of course I want to do that as much as you do, but how is it
+      to be done? Can you answer me that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can't do it by just talking,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;That's what I've been
+      thinking about. A scheme came to me in the night, and I've been waiting to
+      tell you about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shoot then, my pickled blunderbuss,&rdquo; returned Jack. &ldquo;I'm with you to the
+      last drop of petrol.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't know that it's so much,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;It's only that we ought
+      to get word to Harry, somehow, that we're thinking of him and trying to
+      plan some way of rescuing him. We ought to tell him his sister is here,
+      too, and, at the same time we might drop him something to smoke and a cake
+      or two of chocolate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack looked at his chum in amazement. Then he burst out with:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, while you're at it why don't you send him a piano, and an
+      automobile, too, so he can ride home when he wants to? What do you mean&mdash;getting
+      word to him? Don't you know that the beastly Huns will hold up the mail as
+      they please, and anything else we might send. They don't even let the Red
+      Cross packages go through until they get good and ready. Talk about your
+      barbarians!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I wasn't thinking of the mail,&rdquo; replied Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No? What then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, we know where he is held a prisoner&mdash;at least we have the name
+      of the prison camp, and he may be there unless he's been transferred. Of
+      course that's possible, but it's worth taking a chance on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A chance on what?&rdquo; asked Jack, &ldquo;You haven't explained yet. What do you
+      plan to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fly over the place where Harry is held a prisoner and drop down a package
+      and some letters to him,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;Now wait until you hear it all before
+      you say it can't be done!&rdquo; he went on quickly, for Jack seemed about to
+      interrupt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Harry is held where he was first made a prisoner, it's a big place,
+      and there are thousands of our captives there, as well as French and
+      British. Well, where there are so many they have to have a big stockade to
+      pen 'em in, worse luck. And dropping a bomb on a big place is easier than
+      dropping one on a small object.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say! Suffering snuffle-boxes!&rdquo; cried Jack. &ldquo;You don't mean to drop a bomb
+      in Harry's prison, camp, do you? Do you think he might possibly escape in
+      the confusion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing like that,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;I mean drop a package containing some
+      smokes, some chocolate and a letter telling him we haven't forgotten him
+      and that we're going to try to rescue him, and for him to be on the
+      lookout. That could be done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By us flying over the place in our speedy Spad. We needn't make a very
+      big package, though the more of something to eat we can give him the
+      better, for those Boches starve our men. Let's get a week off&mdash;the
+      commanding officer will let us go. We can go to our old escadrille and
+      make arrangements to start from there. The boys will help us all they
+      can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, there's no doubt about that,&rdquo; assented Jack. &ldquo;They all liked Harry as
+      much as we did. But I can't see that your scheme will succeed. It's a
+      risky one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the more reason why it ought to succeed,&rdquo; declared Tom. &ldquo;It's the
+      fellows who take chances who get by. Now let's see if we can get a few
+      hours off to go to Paris.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go to Paris? What for?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To see Nellie Leroy and have her write her brother a letter. It will be
+      better to have one come direct from her than for us merely to give him
+      news of her in one of our notes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Jack, &ldquo;I guess it would. And I begin to see which way the
+      wind blows. You wish to see Nellie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you make me tired!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;All you can think of is girls! I
+      tell you I'm doing this for Harry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I believe you, old top, and what's more, I'm with you from the word
+      go. It's a crazy scheme and a desperate one, but for that very reason it
+      may succeed. The only thing is that we may not get permission to carry it
+      out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I don't intend that anyone shall know what our game is,&rdquo; returned
+      Tom. &ldquo;Of course the authorities would squash it in a minute. No, we'll
+      have to keep dark about that. All we need is permission to do a little
+      flying 'on our own,' for a while.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suppose they won't let us do that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I think they will, after what we did yesterday,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;Come on,
+      let's get ready to go to Paris.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. WILL THEY SUCCEED?
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The scheme evolved, or, perhaps, dreamed of by Tom Raymond in his anxiety
+      to get some word to the captive Harry Leroy worked well at the start. When
+      he and Jack asked permission to have half a day off to make the trip to
+      Paris it was readily granted. Perhaps it was because of their exploit of
+      the day before, when their sharp eyes had discovered the camouflaged
+      German battery and brought about its destruction, or maybe it was because
+      the day was a misty one,+ when no flying could be done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At any rate, soon after breakfast saw the two boys on their way to the
+      wonderful city&mdash;wonderful in spite of war and the German &ldquo;super
+      cannon,&rdquo; which had itself been destroyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack knew that unless their plans were changed, the two girls and
+      Mrs. Gleason would be at home in Paris, for they had a holiday once in
+      every seven, and it was their custom to come to their lodging for a rest
+      from the merciful, though none the less exceedingly trying, Red Cross
+      work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nor had the boys guessed in vain, for when they presented themselves at
+      the Gleason lodging, where Nellie Leroy was also staying, they were
+      greeted with exclamations of delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were just thinking of you,&rdquo; said Bessie, as she shook hands with Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so we were of you,&rdquo; Jack replied, gallantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought of it first,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;He'll have to give me credit for
+      that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Jack, &ldquo;I will. He's got a great scheme,&rdquo; he added, as Mrs.
+      Gleason came in to greet the boys. &ldquo;Tell 'em, Tom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it anything about&mdash;oh, have you any news for me about Harry?&rdquo;
+       asked Nellie eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not exactly news from him, but we're going to send some news to him!&rdquo;
+       exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;I want you to write him a letter-a real, nice, sisterly
+      letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What good will that do?&rdquo; asked Nellie. &ldquo;I've sent him a lot, but I can't
+      be sure that he gets them. I don't even know that he is alive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I think he is,&rdquo; said Tom, hopefully. &ldquo;If the German airmen were
+      decent enough to let us know he was a prisoner of theirs, they would tell
+      us if&mdash;if&mdash;well, if anything had happened to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;that you, can count on his being alive, though he
+      isn't having the best time in the world&mdash;none of the Hun prisoners
+      do. That's why I thought it would cheer him up to let him know we are
+      thinking of him, and if we can send him some smokes, and some chocolate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he is so fond of chocolate!&rdquo; exclaimed Nellie. &ldquo;He used to love the
+      fudge I made. I wonder if I could send him any of that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be better,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to send only hard chocolate&mdash;the kind
+      that can stand hard knocks. Fudge is too soft. It would get all mussed up
+      with what Jack and I have planned to do to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo; asked Bessie Gleason. &ldquo;You haven't told us yet. How are
+      you going to get anything to Harry through those horrid German lines?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're not going through the German lines we're going above 'em; in an
+      aeroplane. And when we get over the prison camp where Harry is held, we're
+      going to drop down a package to him, with the letters, the chocolate and
+      other things inside.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that's perfectly wonderful!&rdquo; exclaimed Bessie. &ldquo;But will the Germans
+      let you do it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; remarked Jack, &ldquo;they'll probably try to stop us, but we don't mind
+      a little thing like that. We're used to it. Of course, as I tell Torn,
+      it's a long chance, but it's worth taking. Of course it isn't easy to drop
+      any object from a moving aeroplane and have it land at a certain spot. We
+      may miss the mark.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For that reason I'm going to take several packages,&rdquo; put in Tom. &ldquo;If one
+      doesn't land another may.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if you do succeed in dropping a package for Harry in the midst of the
+      German stockade, won't the guards see it and confiscate it?&rdquo; asked Mrs.
+      Gleason. &ldquo;You know they'll be as brutal as they dare to the prisoners&mdash;though
+      of course,&rdquo;' she added quickly, as she saw a look of pain on Nellie's
+      face, &ldquo;Harry may be in a half-way decent camp. But, even then, won't the
+      Germans keep the package themselves?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've thought of that,&rdquo; replied Tom. &ldquo;We've got to take that chance also.
+      But I figure that, in the confusion, Harry, or some of his fellow
+      prisoners, may pick up the package, or packages, unobserved. Of course
+      there's only a slim chance that Harry himself will pick up the bundle. But
+      it will be addressed to him, and if any of the French, British, or
+      American prisoners get it, they'll see that it goes to Harry all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, of course,&rdquo; murmured Mrs. Gleason. &ldquo;But what was that you said about
+      the 'confusion?'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's something different,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;I'm counting on dropping a few
+      bombs on the German works outside the camp, to&mdash;er&mdash;well, to
+      sort of take their attention off the packages we'll try to drop inside the
+      stockade. Of course while we're doing this we may be and probably shall
+      be, under fire ourselves. But we've got to take that chance. It's a mad
+      scheme, Jack says, and I realize that it is. But we've got to do
+      something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Nellie in a low voice, &ldquo;we must do something. This suspense is
+      terrible. Oh, if I only could get word to Harry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You write the letter and I'll take it!&rdquo; declared Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I'll help!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then the letters&mdash;several of them, for each one wrote a few lines
+      and made triplicates of it, since three packages were to be dropped. The
+      letters, to begin again, were written and the bundles were made up. They
+      contained cigarettes, cakes of hard chocolate, soap and a few other little
+      comforts and luxuries that it was certain Harry would be glad to get.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rest of the plan would have to be left to Tom and Jack to work out,
+      and, having talked it over with their friends, they found it was time for
+      them to start to their station, since their leave was up at eleven o'clock
+      that night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Getting permission for a week's absence was not as easy as securing
+      permission to go to Paris. But Tom and Jack waited until after a sharp
+      engagement, during which they distinguished themselves by bravery in. the
+      air, assisting in bringing down some Hun planes, and then their petition
+      was favorably acted on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behold them next, as a Frenchman might say, on their way to their former
+      squadron, where they were welcomed with open arms. They had to take the
+      commanding officer into their confidence, but he offered no objection to
+      their scheme. They must go alone, however, and without his official
+      knowledge or sanction, since it was not strictly a military matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so Tom and Jack were furnished with the best and speediest machine in
+      their former camp, and one bright day, following a hard air battle in
+      which the Huns were worsted, they set out to drop the letters and packages
+      over the prison camp where Harry Leroy was held.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, how do you feel about it?&rdquo; asked Jack, as he and his chum stepped
+      into their trim machine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all afraid, if that's what you mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. And you know I didn't. I mean do you think we'll pull it off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a sneaking suspicion that we shall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so have I. It's a desperate chance, but it may succeed. Only if it
+      does, and we get Harry's hopes raised for a rescue, how are we going to
+      pull that off?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's another story,&rdquo; remarked Tom. &ldquo;Another story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They mounted into the clear, bright air, and proceeded toward the German
+      lines. Would they reach their objective, or would they be shot down, to be
+      either killed or made prisoners themselves? Those were questions they
+      could not answer. But they hoped for the best.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. BADLY HIT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Before undertaking their kindly though dangerous mission, Tom and Jack had
+      carefully studied it from all angles. At first Jack had been frankly
+      skeptical, and he said as much to his chum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll never get over the place where Harry is held a prisoner,&rdquo; declared
+      Jack. &ldquo;And, if you do, and start to dropping packages, they'll never land
+      within a mile of the place you intend, and Harry'll have the joy of seeing
+      some fat German eat his chocolate cake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, maybe,&rdquo; Tom had agreed, &ldquo;But I'm going to try.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To this end they had secured the best map possible of the ground in and
+      around the prison camp. Its location they knew from the dropped glove of
+      the aviator, which contained a note telling about Leroy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not uncommon for Germany to disclose to her enemies the names of
+      prisons where certain of the Allies were confined, and this was also done
+      by England and France. The prison camps were located far enough behind the
+      defense lines to make it impossible for them to be reached in the course
+      of ordinary fighting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, too, the airmen of Germany seemed a step above her other fighters in
+      that they were more chivalrous. So Tom and Jack felt reasonably certain as
+      to Leroy's whereabouts. Of course it was possible that he had been moved
+      since the note was written, but on this point they would have to take a
+      chance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this end they had provided themselves not only with the best maps
+      obtainable showing the character of the ground and the nature of the
+      defenses around the prison, where Harry and other Allied men were held,
+      but inquiries had also been made by those in authority, at the request of
+      Tom and Jack, of German prisoners, and from them had come information of
+      value about the place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course the two air service boys had no hope of inflicting much damage
+      on batteries or works outside the prison. By the dropping of some bombs
+      they carried they hoped to distract attention from themselves long enough
+      to drop the packages to Leroy. The bombs were a sort of feint.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now they were on their way, winging a path over their own lines, and
+      soon they would be above those of the Hun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the former comrades of Tom and Jack, having been apprised of what
+      the lads were to attempt, had, without waiting for official orders,
+      decided to do what they could to help. This took the form of a daring
+      challenge to the German airmen to come out and give battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After their thorough drubbing of the day before, however, the Boche
+      aviators did not seem much inclined to venture forth for another cloud
+      fight. But the French and some English fliers who were acting with them,
+      laid a sort of trap, which, in a way, aided the two Americans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A half dozen swift Spads took the air soon after Tom and Jack ascended,
+      but instead of flying over the German lines they went in the opposite
+      direction, making their way to the west. They got out of sight, and then
+      mounted to a great height.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shortly after this some heavy, double-seated planes set out for the German
+      territory as though to make observations or take photographs. It was the
+      belief of the French airmen that the Huns would swarm out to attack these
+      planes, or else to give battle to the machine in which Tom and Jack rode.
+      And, in such an event, the swift Spads would swoop down out of a great
+      height and engage in the conflict.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And that is exactly what occurred. Torn and Jack had flown only a little
+      way over the trenches of the enemy when they saw some Hun planes coming up
+      to meet them. It was in the minds of both lads that they were in for a
+      fight, but before they had a chance to sight their guns, some French
+      planes of the slow type appeared in their rear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To these the Huns at once turned their attention, and then the Spads
+      swooped down, and there was a sharp engagement in the air, which
+      ultimately resulted in victory for the Allied forces, though two of the
+      French fliers were wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the feint had its effect, and attention was drawn away from Tom and
+      Jack, who flew on toward the prison camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had their mission been solely to carry words of cheer with some material
+      comforts to Harry Leroy, it is doubtful if Tom and Jack would have
+      received permission to make the trip. But it was known they were both
+      daring aviators and good observers, and it was this latter ability on
+      their part which counted in their favor. For it was thought they might
+      bring back information concerning matters well back of the German front
+      lines, information which would be of service to the Allies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And in furtherance of this scheme Jack and Tom made maps of the country
+      over which they were flying. They had been provided with materials for
+      this before leaving.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On and on they flew, changing their height occasionally, and, when they
+      were fired at, which was the case not infrequently, they &ldquo;zoomed&rdquo; to
+      escape the flying shrapnel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But on the whole, they fared very well, and in a comparatively short time
+      they found themselves over the country where, on the maps, was marked the
+      location of Harry Leroy's prison camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There it is!&rdquo; suddenly exclaimed Tom, but of course Jack could not hear
+      him. However, a punch in Jack's back served the same purpose, and he took
+      his eyes from his instruments long enough to look down. Then a
+      confirmatory glance at the map made him agree with Tom. The air service
+      boys were directly over the prison camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This, like so many other dreary places set up by the Germans, consisted of
+      a number of shacks, in barrack fashion, with a central parade, or exercise
+      ground. About it all was a barbed wire stockade and, though the character
+      of these wires did not show, there were also some carrying a deadly
+      electric current.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was to discourage escapes on the part of prisoners, and it succeeded
+      only too well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the camp was in plain sight, and in the central space could be seen a
+      number of ant-like figures which the boys knew were prisoners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whether one of them was Leroy or not, they were unable to say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they had reached their objective, and now it was time to act. High
+      time, indeed, for below them batteries began sending up shells which burst
+      uncomfortably close to them. They were of all varieties, from plain
+      shrapnel to &ldquo;flaming onions&rdquo; and &ldquo;woolly bears,&rdquo; the latter a most
+      unpleasant object to meet in mid-air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the Germans were taking no chances. They knew the vulnerable points of
+      their prison camp lay above, and they had provided a ring of anti-aircraft
+      guns to take care of any Allied, machines that might fly over the place.
+      Whether any such daring scheme had been tried before or not, Tom and Jack
+      could not say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course it was out of the question that any great damage could be done
+      in the vicinity of the camp without endangering the inmates, so it was not
+      thought, in all likelihood, that any very heavy air raids would have to be
+      repelled. But in any case, the Huns were ready for whatever might happen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better drop the bombs, hadn't we?&rdquo; cried Jack to Tom, as he slowed down
+      the motor a moment to enable his voice to be heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess so&mdash;yes. Drop 'em and then shoot over the camp again and let
+      the packages fall. It's getting pretty hot here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And indeed it was. Guns were shooting at the two daring air service boys
+      from all sides of the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the camp itself great excitement prevailed, for the prisoners knew,
+      now, that it was some of their friends flying above them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was another danger, too. Not many miles away from the prison camp
+      was a German aerodrome, and scenes of activity could now be noticed there.
+      The Huns were getting ready to send up a machine&mdash;perhaps more than
+      one&mdash;to attack Tom and Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was, then, high time they acted, and as Jack again started the engine,
+      he guided the machine over a spot where the anti-aircraft guns were most
+      active.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's a battery there I may put out of business,&rdquo; he argued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Flying fast, Jack was soon over the spot, or, rather, not so much over it,
+      as in range of it. For when an aeroplane drops a bomb on a given
+      objective, it does not do so when directly above, but just before it
+      reaches it. The momentum of the plane, going at great speed, carries any
+      object dropped from it forward. It is as when a mail pouch is thrown from
+      a swiftly moving express train or a bundle of newspapers is tossed off. In
+      both instances the man in the train tosses the pouch or his bundle before
+      his car gets to the station platform, and the momentum does the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was that way with the bomb Jack released by a touch of his foot on the
+      lever in the cockpit of the machine. Down it darted, and, wheeling sharply
+      after he had let it go, the lad saw a great puff of smoke hovering
+      directly over the spot where, but a moment before, Hun gums had been
+      belching at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good! A sure hit!&rdquo; cried Tom, but he alone heard his own words. Jack's
+      ears were filled with the throb of the motor. He had two more bombs, and
+      these were quickly dropped at different points on German territory outside
+      the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time, aside from the evidences they saw, Jack and Tom were not
+      aware of the damage they inflicted, but later they learned it was
+      considerable and effective. However, they guessed that they had created
+      enough of a diversion to try now to deliver the packages containing the
+      letters and other comforts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack swung the machine at a sharp angle over the prison camp, and as he
+      cleared the barbed wire fence Tom, who had been given charge of the
+      packets, let one go. It fell just outside the barrier, caused by some
+      freak of the wind perhaps, and the lad could not keep back a sigh of
+      dismay. One of the three precious packages had fallen short of the mark,
+      and would doubtless be picked up by some German guard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tom had the satisfaction of seeing the two other bundles fall fairly
+      within the prison fence, and there was a rush on the part of the
+      unfortunate men to pick them up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I only hope Harry's there,&rdquo; mused Tom. &ldquo;That's tough luck to wish a man,
+      I know,&rdquo; he reflected, &ldquo;but I mean I hope he gets the letters and things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      However, he and Jack had done all that lay in their power to make this
+      possible, and it was now time to get back to their own lines if they
+      could. The place was getting too dangerous for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Swinging about in a big circle, and noting that groups of prisoners were
+      now gathered about the place where the packets had fallen, Jack sent the
+      machine toward that part of France where they had spent so many strenuous
+      days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're going to make it lively for us!&rdquo; cried Jack, as he noted two
+      swift German planes mounting into the air. &ldquo;It's going to be a fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But he and Tom were ready for this. Their Lewis and Vickers guns were in
+      position, and they only awaited the approach of the nearest Hun plane to
+      unlimber them. They mounted steadily upward to get beyond the range of the
+      anti-aircraft batteries and were soon in comparative safety, since the
+      Huns, at this particular sector at least, were notoriously bad marksmen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the German planes, that would be a different story, and Tom and Jack
+      soon found this out to their cost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For one of the Boche machines came on speedily, and much more quickly than
+      the boys had believed possible was within range. The German machine guns&mdash;for
+      it was a double plane&mdash;began spitting fire and bullets at them. They
+      replied, but did not seem to inflict much damage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Tom saw Jack give a jump, as though in an agony of pain, and then
+      the young pilot crumpled up in his seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Badly hit!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom with a pang at his own heart. &ldquo;Poor Jack is out
+      of it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The machine, out of control for a moment, started to go into a nose dive,
+      but Tom let go the lever of his machine gun, and took charge of the craft,
+      since it was one capable of dual manipulation. Tom now had to become the
+      pilot and gunner, too, and he had yet a long way to go to reach his own
+      lines, while Jack was huddled, before him, either dead or badly wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. JUST IN TIME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was with mingled feelings of alarm and sorrow that Tom Raymond sent the
+      speedy Spad aeroplane on its homeward way toward the French lines. He was
+      worried, not chiefly about his own safety, but on account of Jack; and his
+      sorrow was in the thought that perhaps he had taken his last flight with
+      his beloved chum and comrade in arms. He could not see where Jack had been
+      hit, but this was because the other lad lay in such a huddled position in
+      the cockpit. Jack had slumped from his seat, the safety straps alone
+      holding him in position, though he would not have fallen out when the
+      machine was upright as it was at present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of those machine gun bullets must have got him,&rdquo; mused Tom, as he
+      started the craft on an upward climb, for it had darted downward when
+      Jack's nerveless hands and feet ceased their control. For part of the
+      steering in an aeroplane is done by the feet of the pilot, leaving his
+      hands free, at times, to fire the machine gun or draw maps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom had a double object in starting to rise. One was to get into a better
+      position to make the homeward flight, and another was to have a better
+      chance not only to ward off the attack of the Hun planes, of which there
+      were now three in the air, but also to return their fire. It is the
+      machine that is higher up that stands the best chance in an aerial duel,
+      for not only can one maneuver to better advantage, but the machine can be
+      aimed more easily with reference to the fixed gun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Tom's case he did not have access to this weapon, which was fixed on
+      the rim of the cockpit where Jack could, and where he had been
+      controlling, it. With Jack out of the fight, through one or more German
+      bullets, it was up to Tom to return the fire of the Huns from his swivel
+      mounted Lewis gun. He was going to have difficulty in doing this and also
+      guiding the craft, but he had had harder problems than this to meet since
+      becoming an aviator in the great war, and now he quickly conquered his
+      worrying over Jack, and began to look to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave one more fleeting glance at the crumpled-up figure of his chum,
+      seeking for a sign of life, but he saw none. Then he swung about, turning
+      in toward the nearest Hun airman, and not away from him, and opened up
+      with the machine gun, using both hands on that for a moment, while he
+      steered with his knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not easy work, and Tom hardly expected to make a direct hit, but he
+      must have come uncomfortably close to the Boche, for the latter swerved
+      off, and for an instant his plane seemed beyond control. Whether this was
+      due to a wound received by the aviator, or to a trick on his part was not
+      disclosed to Tom. But the machine darted downward and seemed to be content
+      to veer off for a while.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The third plane Tom soon saw was not going to trouble him, as it had not
+      speed equal to his own, so that he really had left only one antagonist
+      with whom to deal. And this plane, containing two men, with whom he had
+      not yet come to close quarters, was racing toward him at great speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess there's only one thing to do,&rdquo; mused Tom, &ldquo;and that's to run for
+      it. I won't stand any show at all with two of them shooting at me, while I
+      have to manage the machine and the gun too. If I can beat 'em to our lines
+      I'd better do it and run the chance of some of our boys coming out to take
+      care of 'em. I'd better get Jack to a doctor as soon as I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And abandoning the gun to give all his attention to the motor, Tom opened
+      it full and sped on his way. The other machine's occupants saw his plan
+      and tried to stop it with a burst of bullets, but the range was a little
+      too far for effective work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now for a race!&rdquo; thought Tom, and that is what it turned out to be.
+      Seeing that he was going to try to get away, the Hun plane, which was
+      almost as speedy as the one Tom and Jack had started out in, took after
+      them. The other German craft was left far in the rear, and the one Tom had
+      shot at appeared to be in such difficulties that it was practically out of
+      the fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus the odds, once so greatly against our heroes, were now greatly
+      reduced, though not yet equal, since Jack was completely out of the game&mdash;for
+      how long Tom could only guess, and he seemed to feel cold fingers
+      clutching at his heart when he thought of this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tom soon discovered, by a backward glance over his shoulder now and
+      then, that his machine, barring accidents, would distance the other, and
+      this was what his aim now was. So on and on he sped, watching the German
+      occupied French territory unrolling itself below him, coming nearer and
+      nearer each minute to his own lines and safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behind them, he and Jack&mdash;for the latter had done his share before
+      being wounded&mdash;had left consternation in the German ranks. The bombs
+      had done considerable damage&mdash;as was learned later&mdash;and the
+      dropping of packages within the prison camp was fraught with potential
+      danger to an extent at which the Boches could only guess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On and on sped Tom, sparing time, now and then, to look back at his
+      pursuers, who were, it could not be doubted, doing their best to get
+      within effective range. And, every now and again, Tom would glance at the
+      motionless form of his churn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But poor Jack never stirred, and Tom was fearing more and more that his
+      chum had made his last flight. As for the Hun aviators, after using up a
+      drum or so of bullets uselessly, they ceased firing and urged their
+      machine on to the uttermost.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tom had the start of them, and he was also on a higher level, so that
+      the Germans must climb at an oblique angle to reach him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, thanks to this, Tom saw that, if nothing else happened, he would soon
+      be in comparative safety with the unconscious form of Jack. The
+      anti-aircraft batteries were firing in vain, as he was beyond their range,
+      and, far away, he could see the lines of the French armies, behind which
+      he soon hoped to be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then the unexpected happened, or, rather, it had taken place some time
+      since, but it was only then brought to Tom's attention. His engine began
+      missing, and when he sought for a cause he speedily found it. Nearly all
+      the gasoline had leaked out of the main tank. As he knew that there had
+      been plenty for the return flight, there was but one explanation of this.
+      A Hun bullet had pierced the petrol reservoir, letting the precious fluid
+      leak away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now if the auxiliary tank has any in it, I'm fairly all right,&rdquo; thought
+      Tom. &ldquo;If it hasn't, I'm all in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His worst fears were confirmed, for the auxiliary tank had suffered a like
+      fate with the main one. Both were pierced. There were only a few drops
+      left, besides those even then being vaporized in the carburetor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With despair in his heart, Tom looked back. If the Hun plane chose to rush
+      him now all would be over with him and Jack. He had only enough fuel for
+      another thousand meters or so, and then he must volplane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw a burst of flame and smoke from the enemy plane, and realized that
+      he was being shot at again. But the distance was still too far for
+      effective aim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, to his joy, Tom saw the pursuer turn and start back toward the
+      German territory. The firing had been a last, desperate attempt to end his
+      career, and it had failed. Either the Huns were almost out of petrol
+      themselves, or they did not relish getting too close to the French lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now, if I can volplane down the rest of the way, I'll be in a fair
+      position to save myself,&rdquo; mused Tom, as he made a calculation of the
+      distance he had yet to go. It was far, but he was at a good height and
+      believed he could do it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly his engine stopped, as though with a sigh of regret that it could
+      no longer serve him, and Tom knew that volplaning alone would save him
+      now. He was still over the enemy country, and had his plight been guessed
+      at by the Germans, undoubtedly they would have sent a machine up to attack
+      him. But they were in ignorance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was nothing to do but drift along. Gravity alone urged the craft on.
+      As he swept over the German trenches Tom was greeted with a burst of
+      shrapnel, and he was now low enough to be vulnerable to this. But luck was
+      with him, and though the plane was hit several times he thought he was
+      unharmed. But in this he was wrong. He received a glancing wound in one
+      leg, but in the excitement he did not notice it, and it was not until he
+      had landed that he saw the blood, and knew what had happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On and on, and down and down he volplaned until he was so near his own
+      lines, and so low down, that he could hear the burst of cheers from his
+      former comrades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he aimed his craft for a level, grassy place to make a landing, and
+      as he came to a gradual stop, and was surrounded by a score of eager
+      aviators, he cried out, as soon as he could speak, &ldquo;I'm all right! But
+      look after Jack! He's hurt!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A surgeon bent hastily over the huddled form, and with the aid of some men
+      lifted it from the cockpit. Jack's legs were covered with blood, and when
+      the medical man saw whence it came, then and there he set hastily to work
+      to stop the bleeding from a large artery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You got back only just in time, my friend,&rdquo; he said to Tom, as Jack was
+      carried to a hospital. &ldquo;Two minutes more and he would have been bled to
+      death.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. A CRASH
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Not until a day or so later, when Jack was able to sit up in bed and greet
+      Tom with rather a pale face, did the latter learn all that had happened.
+      And it was a very close call that Jack had had.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Tom had guessed, it was some of the bullets from the Hun machine gun
+      that had stricken down his chum. One had struck him a glancing blow on the
+      head, rendering Jack unconscious and sending him down, a crumpled-up heap
+      in the cockpit of his machine. Another bullet, coming through the machine
+      later, had found lodgment in Jack's leg, cutting part way through the wall
+      of one of the larger arteries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was certain that this bullet, the one in the leg, came after Jack was
+      hit on the head, for that first wound was the only one he remembered
+      receiving.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was just as though I saw not only stars' but moons, suns, comets,
+      rainbows and northern lights all at once,&rdquo; he explained to his chum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bullet in the leg had cut only part way through the wall of an artery.
+      At first the tissues held the blood back from spurting out in a stream
+      that would soon have carried life with it. But either some unconscious
+      motion on Jack's part, or a jarring of the plane, broke the half-severed
+      wall, and, just before Tom landed, his chum began to bleed dangerously.
+      Then it was the surgeon had made his remark, and acted in time to save
+      Jack's life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I guess we made good all right,&rdquo; remarked Jack, as his chum visited
+      him in the hospital.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon so,&rdquo; was the answer, &ldquo;though the Huns haven't sent us any love
+      letters to say so. But we surely did drop the packages in the prison camp,
+      though whether Harry got them or not is another story. But we did our
+      part.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right,&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Now the next thing is to get busy and bring
+      Harry out of there if we can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The next thing for you to do is to keep quiet until that wound in your
+      leg heals,&rdquo; said the doctor, with a smile. &ldquo;If you don't, you won't do any
+      more flying, to say nothing of making any rescues. Be content with what
+      you did. The whole camp is talking of your exploit. It was noble!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shucks!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, in English, for they had been speaking French for
+      the benefit of the surgeon, who was of that nationality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, and what may that mean?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean it wasn't anything,&rdquo; translated Tom. &ldquo;Anybody could have done what
+      we did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But of this the surgeon had his doubts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of the dangerous character of his wound, Jack made a quick
+      recovery. He was in excellent condition, and the wound was a clean one,
+      so, as soon as the walls of the artery had healed, he was able to be
+      about, though he was weak from loss of blood. However, that was soon made
+      good, and he and Tom, bidding farewell to their late comrades, returned to
+      the American lines. They had been obliged to get an extension of leave&mdash;at
+      least Jack had&mdash;though Tom could report back on time, and he spent
+      the interim between that and Jack's return to duty, serving as instructor
+      to the &ldquo;huns&rdquo; of his own camp. They were eager to learn, and anxious to do
+      things for themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before long Jack returned, though he was not assigned to duty, and he and
+      Tom visited Paris and told Nellie, Bessie and Mrs. Gleason the result of
+      their mission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You didn't see Harry, of course?&rdquo; asked Nellie, negatively, though really
+      hoping that the answer would be in the affirmative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, we couldn't make out any individual prisoner,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;There
+      was a bunch of 'em&mdash;I mean a whole lot&mdash;there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor fellows!&rdquo; said Mrs. Gleason kindly, &ldquo;Let us hope that they will soon
+      be released.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tom and I have been trying to hit on some plan to rescue Harry,&rdquo; put in
+      Jack. &ldquo;And we'd help any others to get away that we could. But is isn't
+      going to be easy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I don't see how you can do it!&rdquo; exclaimed Nellie. &ldquo;Of course I would
+      give anything in the world to have Harry back with me, but I must not ask
+      you to run into needless danger on his account. That would be too much.
+      Your lives are needed here to beat back the Huns. Harry may live to see
+      the day of victory, and then all will be well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe in waiting, if anything can be done before that.&rdquo; Tom
+      spoke grimly. &ldquo;But, as Jack says, it isn't going to be easy,&rdquo; he went on.
+      &ldquo;However, we haven't given up. The only thing is to hit on some plan
+      that's feasible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They talked of this, but could arrive at nothing. They were not even sure&mdash;which
+      made it all the harder to bear&mdash;that Harry had received the packages
+      dropped in the prison camp at such risk. The only thing that could be done
+      was to wait and see if he wrote to his sister or his former chums. Letters
+      occasionally did come from German prisoners, but they were rare, and could
+      be depended on neither as to time of delivery nor as to authenticity of
+      contents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it was a case of waiting and hoping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack was not yet permitted to fly, so Tom had to go alone. But he served
+      as an instructor, leaving the more dangerous work of patrol, fighting, and
+      reconnaissance to others until he was fit to stand the strain of flying
+      and of fighting once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sergeant Raymond, you will take up Martin to-day,&rdquo; said the flight
+      lieutenant to Tom one morning. &ldquo;Let him manage the plane himself unless
+      you see that he is going to get into trouble. And give him a good flight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; answered Tom, as he turned away, after saluting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found his pupil, a young American from the Middle West, who was not as
+      old as he and Jack, awaiting him impatiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm to get my second wing soon, and I want to show that I can manage a
+      plane all by myself, even if you're in it,&rdquo; said the lad, whose name was
+      Dick Martin. &ldquo;They say I can make a solo flight to-morrow if I do well
+      to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, go to it!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom with a laugh. &ldquo;I'm willing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon they were in a double-seater of fairly safe construction&mdash;that
+      is, it was not freakish nor speedy, and was what was usually used in this
+      instructive work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm going to fly over the town,&rdquo; declared Martin, naming the French city
+      nearest the camp. &ldquo;Well, mind you keep the required distance up,&rdquo;
+       cautioned Tom, for there was, a regulation making it necessary for the
+      aviators to fly at a certain minimum height above a town in flying across
+      it, so that if they developed engine trouble, they could coast safely down
+      and land outside the town itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll do that,&rdquo; promised Martin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But either he forgot this, or he was unable to keep at the required
+      height, for he began scaling down when about over the center of the place.
+      Tom saw what was happening, and reached over to take the controls. But
+      something happened. There was a jam of one of the levers, and to his
+      consternation Tom saw the machine going down and heading straight for a
+      large greenhouse on the outskirts of the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's going to be one beautiful crash!&rdquo; Tom thought, as he worked in
+      vain to send the craft up. But it was beyond control.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. GETTING A ZEPPELIN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Dick Martin became frantic when he saw what was about to happen. He fairly
+      tore at the various levers and controls, and even increased the speed of
+      the motor, but this last only had the effect of sending the machine at a
+      faster rate toward the big expanse of glass, which was the greenhouse
+      roof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shut it off! Shut off the motor!&rdquo; cried Tom, but his words could not be
+      heard, so he punched Martin in the back, and when that frightened lad
+      looked around his teacher made him understand by signs, what was wanted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the motor off there was a chance to speak, and Torn cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Head her up! Try to make her rise and we may clear. I can't do a thing
+      with the levers back here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Martin tried, but his efforts had little effect. For one instant the
+      machine rose as though to clear the fragile glass. Then it dived down
+      again, straight for the greenhouse roof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guess it's all up with this machine!&rdquo; thought Tom quickly. He was not
+      afraid of being killed. The distance to fall was not enough for that, and
+      though he and his fellow aviator might be cut by broken glass, still the
+      body of the aeroplane would protect them pretty well from even this
+      contingency. But there was sure to be considerable damage to the property
+      of a French civilian, and the machine, which was one of the best, was
+      pretty certain to be badly broken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then there came a terrific crash. The aeroplane settled down by the
+      stern, and rose by the bow, so to speak. Then the process was reversed,
+      and Tom felt himself being catapulted out of his seat. Only his safety
+      strap held him in place. The same thing happened to Dick Martin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there was an ominous calm, and the aeroplane slowly settled down to
+      an even keel, held up on the glass-stripped frames of the greenhouse, one
+      of the very few in that vicinity, which was considerably in the rear of
+      the battle line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly Tom unbuckled his safety strap and climbed out, making his way to
+      the ground by means of stepping on an elevated bed of flowers inside the
+      now almost roofless house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Martin followed him, and as they stood looking at the wreckage they had
+      made, or, rather, that had been made through no direct fault of their own,
+      the proprietor of the place came out, wearing a long dirt-smudged apron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his hands in horror at the sight that met his gaze, and then
+      broke into such a torrent of French that Tom, with all the experience he
+      had had of excitable Frenchmen, was unable to comprehend half of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gist was, however, to the effect that a most monstrous and
+      unlooked-for calamity had befallen, and the inhabitants of all the earth,
+      outside of Germany and her allies, were called on to witness that never
+      hid there been such a smash of good glass. In which Torn was rather
+      inclined to agree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you did something this time all right, Buddie,&rdquo; Tom remarked to
+      Dick Martin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I&mdash;did I do that?&rdquo; he asked, as though he had been walking in
+      his sleep, and was just now awake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you and the old bus together,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;And we got off lucky at
+      that. Didn't I tell you to keep high, if you were going to fly over one of
+      the towns?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+&ldquo;Yes, you did, but I forgot. Anyhow I'd have cleared the place if the
+controls hadn't gone back on us.&rdquo;
+
+ &ldquo;I suppose so, but that excuse won't go with the C.O.  It's a bad
+smash.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      By this time quite a crowd had gathered, and Tom was trying to pacify the
+      excitable greenhouse owner by promising full reparation in the shape of
+      money damages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How to get the machine down off the roof, where it rested in a mass of
+      broken glass and frames, was a problem. Tom tried to organize a wrecking
+      party, but the French populace which gathered, much as it admired the
+      Americans, was afraid of being cut with the broken glass, or else they
+      imagined that the machine might suddenly soar aloft, taking some of them
+      with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the end Tom had to leave the plane where it was and hire a motor to
+      take him and Martin back to the aerodrome. They were only slightly cut by
+      flying glass, nothing to speak of considering the danger in which they had
+      been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The result of the disobedience of orders was that the army officials had
+      rather a large bill for damages to settle with the French greenhouse
+      proprietor, and Tom and Dick Martin were deprived of their leave
+      privileges for a week for disobeying the order to keep at a certain height
+      in flying over a town or city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had they done that, when the controls jammed, they would have been able to
+      glide down into a vacant field, it was demonstrated. The machine was badly
+      damaged, though it was not beyond repair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that's the last time I'm ever going to be soft with a Hun, you can
+      make up your mind to that,&rdquo; declared Tom to Jack. &ldquo;If I'd sat on him hard
+      when I saw he was getting too low over the village, it wouldn't have
+      happened. But I didn't want him to think I knew it all, and I thought I'd
+      take a chance and let him pull his own chestnuts out of the fire. But
+      never again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tisn't safe,&rdquo; agreed Jack. He was rapidly improving, so much so that he
+      was able to fly the next week, and he and Tom went up together, and did
+      some valuable scouting work for the American army.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At times they found opportunity to take short trips to Paris, where they
+      saw Nellie and Bessie, and were entertained by Mrs. Gleason. Nellie was
+      eager for some word from her brother, but none came. Whether the packages
+      dropped by Tom and Jack reached the prisoner was known only to the
+      Germans, and they did not tell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the daring plan undertaken by the two air service boys was soon known
+      a long way up and down the Allied battle line, and more than one aviator
+      tried to duplicate it, so that friends or comrades who were held by the
+      Huns might receive some comforts, and know they were not forgotten. Some
+      of the Allied birdmen paid the penalty of death for their daring, but
+      others reported that they had dropped packages within the prison camps,
+      though whether those for whom they were intended received them or not, was
+      not certain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we aren't going to let it stop there, are we?&rdquo; asked Tom of Jack one
+      day, when they were discussing the feat which had been so successful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let it stop where? What do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean are we going to do something to get Harry away from the Boche
+      nest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm with you in anything like that!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack. &ldquo;But what can we do?
+      How are we going to rescue him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what we've got to think out,&rdquo; declared Tom. &ldquo;Something has to be
+      done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But there was no immediate chance to proceed to that desired end because
+      of something vital that happened just about then. This was nothing more
+      nor less than secret news that filtered into the Allied lines, to the
+      effect that a big Zeppelin raid over Paris was planned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not the first of these raids, nor, in all likelihood, would it be
+      the last. But this one was novel in that it was said the great German
+      airships would sail toward the capital over the American lines, or,
+      rather, the lines where the Americans were brigaded with the French and
+      English. Doubtless it was to &ldquo;teach the Americans a lesson,&rdquo; as the German
+      High Command might have put it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At any rate all leaves of absence for the airmen were canceled, and they
+      were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to repel the &ldquo;Zeps,&rdquo; as they
+      were called, preventing them from getting across the lines to Paris.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And we'll bring down one or two for samples, if we can!&rdquo; boasted Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What makes it so sure that they are coming?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It developed there was nothing sure about it. But the information had come
+      from the Allied air secret service, and doubtless had its inception when
+      some French or British airman saw scenes of activity near one of the
+      Zeppelin headquarters in the German-occupied territory. There were certain
+      fairly positive signs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, surely enough, a few nights later, the agreed-upon alarm was sounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Zeps are coming!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack, with others who were detailed to repel the raid, rushed from
+      their cats, hastily donned their fur garments, and ran to their
+      aeroplanes, which were a &ldquo;tuned up&rdquo; and waiting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There they are!&rdquo; cried Torn, as he got into his single-seated plane, an
+      example followed on his part by Jack. &ldquo;Look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack gazed aloft. There was a riot of fire from the anti-aircraft guns of
+      the French and British, but they were firing in vain, for the Zeppelins
+      flew high, knowing the danger from the ground batteries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sharp, stabbing shafts of light from the powerful electric lanterns shot
+      aloft, and now and then one of them would rest for an instant on a great
+      silvery cigar-shape&mdash;the gas bag of the big German airships that were
+      beating their way toward Paris, there to deal death and destruction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on!&rdquo; cried Tom, as his mechanician started the motor. &ldquo;I'm going to
+      get a Zep!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm with you!&rdquo; yelled Jack, and they soared aloft side by side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. ON PATROL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Aloft with Tom and Jack were several other fighters, for it was not only
+      considered a great honor to bring down a Zeppelin, but it would save many
+      lives if one or more of the big gas machines could be prevented from
+      dropping bombs on Paris or its environs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The machines which were used were all of the single type, though of
+      different makes and speeds. Each one was equipped with electric launching
+      tubes. These were a somewhat new device for use against captive Hun
+      balloons and Zeppelins and were installed in many of the fighting scout
+      craft of the Americans and Allies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Between the knees of Toni and Jack, as well as each of the other pilots,
+      was a small metal tube. This went completely through the floor of the
+      cockpit, so that, had it been large enough to give good vision, one could
+      view through it the ground beneath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a little rack at the right of each scout were several small bombs of
+      various kinds. Some were intended to set on fire whatever they came in
+      contact with, being of phosphorus. Others were explosive bombs, pure and
+      simple, while some were flares, intended to light up the scene at night
+      and make getting a target easier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Included in the rack of death and destruction was a simple stick; not
+      unlike a walking cane, and this seemed so comparatively harmless that an
+      uninitiated observer would almost invariably ask its use.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the lower end of the launching tube, through which the bombs were
+      dropped, was a &ldquo;trip,&rdquo; or sort of catch, that caught on a trigger fastened
+      to each bomb. The trip pulled the trigger, so to speak, and set in
+      operation the firing device.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the early days, though doubtless the defect was afterwards corrected,
+      the bombs sometimes stuck in the launching tube, and as they were likely
+      to go off in this position at any moment, it was the custom of the pilots
+      to push them on their way with the cane if the missiles jammed. Hence it
+      was an essential part of each flying machine's armament.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Higher and higher mounted the fighting scouts, with Tom and Jack among
+      their number. It was necessary to mount very high in order to get above
+      the Zeppelins, as in this position alone was it possible for the
+      aeroplanes to fight them to any advantage. The Zeppelins carried many
+      machine guns of long range, and for the pigmy planes to attack them on the
+      same level, meant destruction to the smaller craft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were several German machines in the raid toward Paris, but Tom and
+      Jack caught sight of only two. The others were either at too great a
+      height to be observed, or else were farther off, lost in the haze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the two silver shapes, resembling nothing so much as huge, expensive
+      cigars, wrapped in tinfoil, were flying on their way, now and then
+      dropping bombs, which exploded with dull, muffled reports&mdash;an earnest
+      of what they would do when they got over Paris. They were traveling fast,
+      under the impulse of their own powerful motors and propellers, and also
+      aided by a stiff breeze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course conversation was out of the question among Tom, Jack and the
+      other aviators, but they knew the general plan of the fight. They were to
+      get above the Zeppelins&mdash;as many of them as could&mdash;and drop
+      bombs on the gas envelope. They were also to attack with machine guns if
+      possible, aiming at the rudder controls and machinery. It was the great
+      desire of the Allied commanders to have a Zeppelin brought down as nearly
+      intact as possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up and up climbed the speedy scout machines, and it was seen that some of
+      them would never get in a position to do any damage. The German craft were
+      traveling too speedily. But Tom and Jack managed to get to a height of
+      about twenty thousand feet, which was above the Zeppelins, though by this
+      time the Germans were in advance of them, for they had climbed at rather a
+      steep angle. However, they knew their speed was many times that of the
+      German machine on a straight course.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On and on they went. Then came a mist which hid the enemy from sight. The
+      aviators railed at their luck, and Tom and Jack dropped down a bit, hoping
+      to get through the mist. It lay below them like a great, gray blanket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly they fairly plumped through it, and saw, not far away, the two
+      big silver shapes, shining in the searchlights which were now giving good
+      illumination. It was a moonlight night, which seemed a favorite for a
+      German bombing expedition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Far below them, and beneath the Zepplins, Tom and Jack could see the
+      lights of other aeroplanes, which were flying low to observe lanterns on
+      the ground, set in the shape of arrows, to indicate in which direction the
+      German craft were traveling. Later, if necessary, these observing machines
+      could climb aloft and signal to those higher up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearer and nearer Jack and Tom came to one of the Zeppelins. And now, in
+      the semi-darkness, they became aware that they were being fired at by a
+      long-range gun on the German craft. The bullets sung about them, but
+      though their machines were hit several times, as they learned later, they
+      escaped injury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the battle of the air was on in grim and deadly earnest. Several scout
+      planes flew at the big Zeppelin like hornets attacking a bear. They fired
+      their machine guns, and the Germans replied in kind, but with more
+      terrible effect, for two of the Allied planes were shot down. It was a sad
+      loss, but it was the fortune of war, or, rather, misfortune, for the
+      Zeppelin was not engaged in a fair fight, but seeking to bomb an
+      unfortified city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Tom and Jack, though somewhat separated, were close above the
+      Zeppelin, and in a position where they could not be fired at. They began
+      to drop incendiary bombs through the tubes between their knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These bombs were fitted with sharp hooks, so that if they touched the gas
+      bag they would cling fast, and burn until they had ignited the envelope
+      and the vapor inside. And as they circled about, dropping bomb after bomb,
+      the two air service boys saw this happen. Some at least of their bombs
+      reached their target.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great craft, now on fire in several places, was twisting and turning
+      like some wounded snake, endeavoring to escape. Tom glanced toward the
+      other Zeppelin and saw that this was fairly well surrounded by aeroplanes,
+      but was not, as yet, on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bees had fatally stung one great German bear, and, a little later, it
+      crashed to the ground where it was nearly all consumed, and of its crew of
+      thirty men, not one was left alive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other plane, though greatly damaged by machine gun fire, was not set
+      ablaze, but was forced to turn and sail for the German lines again. So
+      that two were prevented from bombing Paris.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well satisfied with what they had accomplished, Torn, Jack and the others
+      who had set the Zeppelin on fire, descended. Later they learned, by word
+      from Paris, that on of the German machines was shot down over that city
+      and some of its crew captured. So that though the Huns did considerable
+      damage with their bombs, they paid dearly for that unlawful expedition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the beginning of a series of fierce aerial battles between the
+      German forces and the Allied airmen, though for a long dine no more
+      Zeppelins were seen. Sometimes fortune favored the side on which Tom and
+      Jack fought, and again they were forced to retire, leaving some of their
+      friends in the hands of the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once Tom and Tack, keeping close together doing scout work, were cut off
+      from their companions. They had ventured too far over the Hun lines, and
+      were in danger of being shot down. But a squadron of airmen from
+      Pershing's forces made a sortie and drove the Germans to cover, rescuing
+      the two air service boys from an evil fate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then followed some weeks of rainy and misty weather, during which there
+      was very little air work on either side. But the fight on land went on,
+      with attacks and repulses, the Allies continually advancing their lines,
+      though ever so little. Slowly but surely they were forcing the Germans
+      back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now and then there were night raids, and once Tom and Jack, who had not
+      flown for a week because of rain, were just back of the lines when a
+      captured German patrol was brought in, covered with mud and blood. There
+      had been lively fighting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish we were in on that!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;I'm getting tired of sitting
+      around.&rdquo;'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So am I!&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Let's ask if we can't go out on patrol some
+      night. It will be better than waiting for it to stop raining.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To their delight their request was granted, as it had been in a number of
+      other cases of airmen. Temporarily they were allowed to go with the
+      infantry until the weather cleared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two air service boys were in the dugout one night, having served their
+      turns at listening post work and general scouting, when an officer came in
+      with a slip of paper. He began reading off some names, and when he had
+      finished, having mentioned Tom and Jack, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prepare for patrol duty at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good!&rdquo; whispered Tom to his chum: &ldquo;Now there'll be something doing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He little guessed what it was to be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. CAPTURED
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Silently, in the darkness of their trenches, the party of which Tom and
+      Jack were to be members, prepared to go over the top and penetrate the
+      German front line of defense, in the hope of taking prisoners that
+      information might be had of them. It was a risky undertaking, but one
+      frequently accomplished by the Allies, and it often led to big results.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were about a score in the patrol, and, to their delight, though they
+      rather regretted it later, Tom and Jack were given positions well in
+      front, two files removed, in fact, from the lieutenant commanding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I suppose you all understand what you're to do,&rdquo; said the lieutenant
+      as he gathered his little party about him in one of the larger dugouts,
+      where a flickering candle gave light. &ldquo;You'll all provide yourselves with
+      wire cutters, hand grenades and pistols. Rifles will be in the way. Take
+      your gas masks, of course. No telling when Fritz may send over some of
+      those shells. Blacken your faces, as usual. A star shell makes a beautiful
+      light on a white countenance, so don't be afraid of smudging yourselves.
+      And when we start just try to imagine you are Indians, and make no noise.
+      One object is to come in contact with some German post, try to hear what's
+      going on from their talk, and make some captures if we can. Do you all
+      understand German?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It developed that they did&mdash;at least no one would confess he did not
+      for fear of being turned back. But, as it developed, they all had some, if
+      slight, acquaintance with the language.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little period of anxious waiting followed&mdash;a sort of zero hour
+      effect&mdash;until finally the word was received from some source, unknown
+      to Tom and Jack, to proceed. The night was black, and there was a mist
+      over everything which did not augur for clear weather on the morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forward!&rdquo; whispered the lieutenant, for they were so near the German
+      lines that incautious talking was prohibited. Out of their trenches they
+      went, Tom and Jack well in front, and close to the leader.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As carefully as might be, though, at that, making noise which the members
+      of the patrol thought surely must be heard clear to Berlin, they made
+      their way over the shell-torn and uncertain ground in the darkness. They
+      went down between their own lines of barbed wire to where an opening had
+      been made opposite what was considered a quiet spot in the Hun defenses,
+      and then they started across &ldquo;No Man's Land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not without mingled feelings that Tom and Jack advanced, and,
+      doubtless, their feelings were common to all. There was great uncertainty
+      as to the outcome. Death or glory might await them. They might all be
+      killed by a single German shell, or they might run into a German working
+      party, out to repair the wire cut during the day's firing. In the latter
+      case there would be a fight&mdash;an even chance, perhaps. They might
+      capture or be captured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On and on they went, treading close together and in single file, making
+      little noise. Straight across the desolate stretch of land that lay
+      between the two lines of trenches they went, and, when half way, there
+      came from the German side a sudden burst of star shells. These are a sort
+      of war fireworks that make a brilliant illumination, and the enemy was in
+      the habit of sending them up every night at intervals, to reveal to his
+      gunners any party of the enemy approaching.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+&ldquo;Down! Down!&rdquo; hissed the lieutenant. But he need not have uttered
+the command. All had been told what to do, and fell on their faces
+literally&mdash;their smoke-blackened faces. In this position they resembled,
+as nearly as might be, some of the dead bodies scattered about, and that
+was their intention.
+
+ Still each one had a nervous fear.  The star shells were very
+brilliant and made No Man's Land almost as bright as when bathed in
+sunshine, a condition that had not prevailed of late. There was no
+guarantee that the Germans would not, in their suspicious hate, turn
+their rifles or machine guns on what they supposed were dead bodies. In
+that case-well, Tom, Jack and the others did not like to think about it.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      But the brilliance of the star shells died away, and once more there was
+      darkness. The lieutenant cautiously raised his head and in a whisper
+      commanded:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forward! Is every one all right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My mouth's full of mud and water&mdash;otherwise I'm all right,&rdquo; said
+      some one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; commanded the officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more he led them forward. They reached the first German wire, and
+      instantly the cutters were at work. Though the men tried to make no noise,
+      it was an impossibility. The wire would send forth metallic janglings and
+      tangs as it was cut. But an opening was made, and the patrol party filed
+      through. And then, almost immediately, something happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was another burst of star shells, but before the Americans had an
+      opportunity to throw themselves on their faces, they saw that they were
+      confronted by a large body of Germans who had come forward as silently as
+      themselves, and, doubtless, on the same sort of errand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At 'em, boys! At 'em!&rdquo; cried the lieutenant. &ldquo;The Stars and Stripes! At
+      'em!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly pandemonium broke loose. In the glaring light of the star shells
+      the two forces rushed forward. There was a burst of pistol fire, and then
+      the fight went on in the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you, Tom?&rdquo;' yelled Jack, as he flung a grenade full at a big,
+      burly German who was rushing at him with uplifted gun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here!&rdquo; was the answer, and in the darkness Jack felt his chum collide
+      with him so forcefully that both almost went down in a heap. &ldquo;I jumped to
+      get away from a Hun bayonet,&rdquo; pantingly explained Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack's grenade exploded, blowing dirt and small stones in the faces of the
+      chums. There were shouts and cries, in English, French and German. The
+      American lieutenant tried to rally his men around him, but, as was
+      afterward learned, they were attacked by a much larger party of Huns than
+      their patrol.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must stick together!&rdquo; cried Jack to Tom. &ldquo;If we separate we're lost!
+      Where are the others?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sam Zalbert was with me a second ago,&rdquo; answered Tom, naming a lad with
+      whom he and Jack had become quite friendly. &ldquo;But I saw him fall. I don't
+      know whether he slipped or was hurt. Look out!&rdquo; he suddenly shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw two Germans rushing at him and Jack, with leveled revolvers. There
+      was no time to get another grenade from their pockets, and Tom did the
+      next best thing. He made a tackle, football fashion, at the legs of the
+      Germans, which he could see very plainly in the light of many star shells
+      that were now being sent up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Almost at the same instant Jack, seeing his chum's intention, followed his
+      example, and the two Huns went down in a heap, falling over the heads of
+      their antagonists with many a German imprecation. Their weapons flew from
+      their hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on! This is getting too hot for us!&rdquo; cried Jack, as he scrambled to
+      his feet, followed by Tom. &ldquo;There'll be a barrage here in a minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This seemed about to happen, for machine guns were spitting fire and death
+      all along that section of the German front, and the American and French
+      forces were replying. A general engagement might be precipitated at any
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The American lieutenant tried to rally his men, but it was a hopeless
+      task. The Germans had overpowered them. Tom and Jack started to run back
+      toward their own lines, having made sure, however, of putting beyond the
+      power to fight any more the two Germans who had attacked them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on!&rdquo; cried Tom. &ldquo;We've got to have reinforcements to tackle this
+      bunch!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess so!&rdquo; agreed Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned, not to retreat, but to better their positions, when they both
+      ran full into a body of men that seemed to spring up from the very ground
+      in the sudden darkness that followed an unusually bright burst of star
+      shells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it? Who are they? What's the matter?&rdquo; cried Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give it up!&rdquo; answered Jack. &ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly a guttural German voice cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! The American swine! We have them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In another moment Tom and Jack felt themselves surrounded by an
+      overpowering number.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hands plucked at them toughly from all sides, and their pistols and few
+      remaining grenades were taken from them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Turn back with the prisoners!&rdquo; cried a voice in German.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two air service boys found themselves being fairly-lifted from their
+      feet by the rush of their captors. Where they were going they could not
+      see, but they knew what had happened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had been captured by the Germans!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. THE CLEW
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For one wild instant Tom and Jack, as they admitted to one another
+      afterward, felt an insane desire to attempt to break away from their
+      captors, to rush at them, to attack if need be with their bare hands, and
+      so invite death in its quickest form. They even hoped that they might
+      escape this way rather than live to be taken behind the German lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not only the disgrace of being captured&mdash;which really was no
+      disgrace considering the overwhelming numbers that attacked them&mdash;t
+      it was the fear of what they might have to suffer as prisoners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack, as well as the others, might well regard with horror the
+      fate that lay before them. But to escape by even a desperate struggle was
+      out of the question. They were surrounded by a ring of Germans, several
+      files deep, and each was heavily armed. Then, too, their captors were
+      fairly rushing them along over the uneven ground as though fearful of
+      pursuit. The air service boys had no chance, nor did any of their comrades
+      of the patrol who might be left alive. How many these were, Tom and Jack
+      had no means of knowing. They did not see any of their comrades near them.
+      There were only the Huns who were bubbling over with coarse joy in the
+      delight of having captured two &ldquo;American pigs,&rdquo; as they brutally boasted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stumbling and half falling, Tom and Jack were dragged along. Now and then
+      they could see, by means of the star shells, groups of men, some near and
+      some farther off. There was firing all along the Hun and Allied lines, and
+      as the boys were dragged along the big guns began to thunder. What had
+      started as an ordinary night raid might end in a general engagement before
+      it was finished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There seemed to be fierce lighting going on between the several detached
+      groups, and the air service boys did not doubt that some word of the
+      dispersing and virtual defeat of the party they were with had reached
+      their lines, resulting in the sending out of relief parties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This sure is tough luck!&rdquo; murmured Jack to Tom, as they stumbled along in
+      the midst of their captors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You said it! If our boys would only rush this bunch and get us away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence, pigs!&rdquo; cried a German officer, and with his sword he struck at
+      Tom, slightly injuring the lad and causing a hot wave of fierce
+      resentment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wouldn't dare do that if I had my hands free, you dirty dog!&rdquo; rasped
+      out Tom in fairly good German, and he tugged to free his arms from the
+      hold of a Hun soldier on either side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer who had struck Tom seemed about to reply, for he surged
+      through the ranks of his men over toward the captive, but a command from
+      some one, evidently higher in authority halted him, and he marched on,
+      muttering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was sharp fighting between the Hun sentries and small parties, and
+      similar bodies from the American and Allied sides going on along the lines
+      now, and both armies were sending up rockets and other illuminating
+      devices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two Virginia lads felt themselves being hurried forward&mdash;or back,
+      whichever way you choose to look at it&mdash;and whither they were being
+      taken they did not know. The taunts of their captors had ceased, though
+      the men were talking together in low voices, and suddenly, at something
+      one of them said, Tom nudged Jack, beside whom he was walking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you hear that?&rdquo; he asked in so low a voice that it was not heard by
+      the Hun next him. Or if it was heard, no attention was paid to it, for
+      Torn spoke in English. The tramp of the heavy boots of the Huns and the
+      rattle of their arms and accoutrements made noise enough, perhaps, to
+      cover the sound of his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I hear what?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What that chap said. It was something about one of the German prison
+      camps having been burned by the prisoners, a lot of whom got away. The
+      rest were transferred to a place not far from here. Listen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And the Americans listened to the extent of their ability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it was they blessed their lucky stars that they understood enough of
+      German to know what was being said, for it was then and there that they
+      got a clew to the whereabouts of Harry Leroy, from whom they had heard not
+      a word since the dropping of his glove by the German aviator. They did not
+      even know whether or not their packages had reached their chum.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The talk of the Germans who had captured Tom and Jack was, indeed,
+      concerning the burning of one of the prison camps. As the boys learned
+      later, the prisoners, unable to stand the terrible treatment, had risen
+      and set fire to the place. Many of them perished in the blaze and by the
+      fire of German rifles. The others were transferred to a camp nearer the
+      battle line as a punishment, it being argued, perhaps, that they might be
+      killed by the fire of the guns of their own side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And there are some airmen, too, in the new prison camp,&rdquo; said one of the
+      Germans. &ldquo;Our infantrymen claimed them as their meat, though our airmen
+      brought them down. But there was no room for them in the prison camp with
+      the other captured aviators, so The Butcher has them in his charge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack learned later that &ldquo;The Butcher&rdquo; was the title bestowed, even
+      by his own men, on a certain brutal German colonel who had charge of this
+      prison camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there came to Tom and Jack in the darkness a curious piece of
+      information, dropped by casual talk of the Huns. One of them said to
+      another:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of the transferred airmen tried to bribe me to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To bribe you? How and for what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is an accursed American pig, and when he heard we were opposite some
+      of them, he wanted me to throw a note from him over into the American
+      lines. He said I would be well paid, and he offered me a piece of gold he
+      had hidden in the sole of his shoe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you take it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The gold? Of course I did! But I tore up the note he gave me to toss into
+      the American lines. First I looked at it, though. It was signed with a
+      French name, though the prisoner claimed to be from the United States. It
+      was the name Leroy which means, I have been told, the king. Ha! I have his
+      gold, and the note is scattered over No Man's Land! But I will tell him I
+      sent it into the trenches of his friends. He may have more notes and
+      gold!&rdquo; and the brute chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack, looked at one another in the darkness. Could it be possible
+      that it was their friend Harry Leroy who was so near to them, since he had
+      been transferred from a camp far behind the lines?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed so. There were not many American airmen captured, and there
+      could hardly be two of this same rather odd name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be Harry,&rdquo; murmured Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so,&rdquo; agreed Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence, American pigs!&rdquo; commanded man officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his sword to strike the lad. But just then occurred an
+      interruption so tremendous that all thought of punishing prisoners who
+      dared to speak was forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A big shell rose screaming and moaning from the Allied lines and landed
+      not far from the party of Germans which was leading along Tom and Jack. It
+      burst with a tremendous noise well inside the Hug defenses, and this was
+      followed by a terrific explosion. As the boys learned later the shell had
+      landed in the midst of a concealed battery&mdash;a stroke of luck, and not
+      due to any good aiming on the part of the American gunner&mdash;and the
+      supply of ammunition had gone up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was great commotion behind the German lines, and two or three of
+      Tom's and Jack's captors were thrown down by the concussion. The air
+      service boys themselves were stunned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then there suddenly sounded a ringing American cheer, while a voice,
+      coming from a group of soldiers that confronted the German patrol, cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Halt! Who's there? Are there any of Uncle Sam's boys?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes! Yes!&rdquo; eagerly cried Tom and Jack. &ldquo;Come on! We're captured by the
+      Germans!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was another cheer, followed by a roar of rage, and then came a rush
+      of feet. Gleaming bayonets glistened in the light of star shells and many
+      guns, and the members of the German patrol, finding themselves surrounded,
+      threw down their arms and cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kamerad!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The fortunes of war had unexpectedly turned, and Tom and Jack had been
+      rescued and saved by a party of Pershing's gallant boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. NELLIE'S RESOLVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How'd they get you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you hurt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      These were a few of the questions put to Tom and Jack as they were
+      surrounded by the rescuing party of their friends, led, it afterward
+      developed, by the very lieutenant with whom the two air service boys had
+      started in the patrol across No Man's Land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The German captors had either all surrendered or been killed, and the
+      tables were most effectively switched around. At first Tom and Jack were
+      too surprised and overwhelmingly grateful to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But they soon understood what had happened. And then they told the story
+      of their fight against odds until captured. They said nothing just then of
+      the unexpected information that had come to them about Harry Leroy's
+      presence in a German camp so comparatively near their own lines. But they
+      resolved, at the first opportunity, to make use of the information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shooting of the big guns gradually ceased when it was made manifest
+      that neither side was ready for a general engagement. The pop-pop of the
+      machine weapons, too, died away and the star shells ceased rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on you Fritzies&mdash;what's left of you,&rdquo; cried the lieutenant,
+      when he had made sure that there were no others of his party whom he could
+      rescue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then with Tom and Jack the center of a happy, tumultuous throng of their
+      own comrades, the trip back to the American lines was begun. It was
+      without incident save that on the way a wounded British soldier was found
+      lying in a shell hole and carried in, ultimately to recover.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack told what had happened to them, how they had been surrounded
+      and led away; and then, came the story of the lieutenant who had led the
+      patrol party which had turned defeat into victory with the aid of
+      reinforcements which were sent to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had seen his hopes blasted when rushed by the big crowd of the Hun
+      patrol, and, though slightly wounded, he realized that absolute defeat
+      would come to him and his men unless he could get help. He sent a runner
+      back with word to send relief, and then, surrounding himself with what few
+      men remained alive and uncaptured, the fight went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was bitter and sanguinary, and at last, with only two men left beside
+      him, the lieutenant heard the rush of the relief guard. He was placed in
+      charge, as he knew the lay of the land, and the party hurried to and fro,
+      wiping up little knots of Germans here and there, until the main body
+      encountered the squad having in charge the two air service boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You began to think it was all up with you, didn't you?&rdquo; asked the
+      lieutenant, when they were all once more safely in the dugout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We certainly did!&rdquo; admitted Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We had visions of watery soup and wheatless bread for the rest of the
+      war,&rdquo; observed Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He and Tom were slightly wounded&mdash;mere scratches they dubbed the
+      hurts&mdash;but they were sent to the rear to be looked over and bandaged,
+      as were some of the others who were more severely hurt. There were some
+      who could not be sent back&mdash;who were left in No Man's Land silent
+      figures who would never take part in a battle again. They had paid their
+      price toward making the world a better place to live in, and their names
+      were on the Honor Roll.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what do you think about it?&rdquo; asked Tom of Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know what to think. It seems hardly possible that Harry can be so
+      near to us, and yet we can't do a thing to help him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not so sure about that,&rdquo; returned Tom. &ldquo;That's what I want to talk
+      about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a week after the patrol raid, and clear weather had succeeded the
+      rain and mist, so that it was possible for the aeroplanes to operate. And
+      their services were much needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were preparations going on back of the German lines of which General
+      Pershing and the Allied commanders needed to be informed. And only the
+      &ldquo;eyes&rdquo; of the armies could see them and report&mdash;the eyes being the
+      aeroplanes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it came about that, having been relieved of their temporary transfer to
+      the infantry, Tom and Jack were once more with their comrades of the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, let's think it over, and talk about it when we come down,&rdquo;
+       suggested Jack. &ldquo;We've got to go upstairs for our usual tour of duty now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This would last three hours. They were to do scout work&mdash;report any
+      unusual activity back of the German lines, or give warning of the approach
+      of any hostile aeroplanes. After their tour of duty was ended they would
+      have the rest of the day to themselves, provided there was no general
+      attack. Of course if, while they were up, they were attacked, they must
+      fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each lad had a plane to himself, since the young &ldquo;huns&rdquo; had all pretty
+      well passed their novitiate, and were now in the regular flying squad.
+      Later some other new aviators would report for instruction on the battle
+      front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up and up climbed Tom and Jack, and eagerly they scanned the German lines
+      for any signs of activity. But though there were some Hun planes in the
+      air, they did not approach to give battle. Possibly some other plans were
+      afoot. Afterward Tom and Jack admitted to one another that there was a
+      great temptation to fly over the German trenches to try to get a sight of
+      the prison that had been spoken of&mdash;the camp where Harry Leroy might
+      be held.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to do this would be in direct violation of their orders, and they
+      dared not take any risks. For to do so might involve not only themselves
+      in danger, but others as well. And that view of the matter determined
+      them. They would have to await their opportunity for rescuing their chum&mdash;if
+      it could be accomplished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their tour of duty aloft that day was without incident. This is not an
+      usual condition at times along the long battle front. Men can not go on
+      fighting without stop, and there come lulls in even the fiercest battle.
+      Flesh and blood can stand only a certain amount of torture, and then even
+      the soul rebels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Tom and Jack drifted peacefully down to their aerodrome, noting that it
+      was being newly camouflaged, for the recent rain had played havoc with
+      some of the concealments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As far as possible both the Germans and the Allies tried to conceal the
+      location of their flying camps. The aeroplanes and balloons needed large
+      buildings to house them, and such structures made excellent and, of
+      course, fair war-marks for bombing parties in aeroplanes hovering aloft.
+      So it was the custom to put up trees and bushes or to stretch canvas over
+      the aerodromes and paint it to resemble woods and fields in an effort to
+      conceal, or camouflage, the depots where the airships were stationed. But
+      this work was done by a special detail of men, and with it Tom and Jack
+      had nothing to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned their machines over to the mechanics, who would go carefully
+      over them and have the craft in readiness for the next flight. Then, being
+      free for several hours, the two young airmen could do as they pleased,
+      within certain limits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, did anything occur to you?&rdquo; asked Jack, as he and Tom, having
+      divested themselves of their heavy fur-lined garments, went to the mess
+      hall, which was in an old stable, from which the horses had long since
+      been removed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean a plan to rescue Harry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I'm sorry to say I can't think of a thing,&rdquo; Tom answered. &ldquo;I thought
+      I would, but I didn't. Have you anything to say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. Let's go to Paris.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean to see&mdash;er&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; interrupted Jack with a smile. &ldquo;This is their day off, and we might
+      as well have a little enjoyment when we can. From the easy time we had
+      to-day we'll have some hard fighting to-morrow. This was too good to last.
+      Heinie is up to some mischief, I think.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Same here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, having received permission, they went to Paris, and soon found their
+      way to the lodgings of Mrs. Gleason, where the air service boys were
+      welcomed by Bessie and Nellie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course the first question had to do with the captive Harry, and to the
+      delight of Nellie Tom was able to say:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have news of him, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;News? You mean he is all right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, as all right as he ever can be while the Boches have him, I
+      suppose,&rdquo; was the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the news didn't come direct from him. He's in another camp. I'll tell
+      you about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack, by turns, related what had happened on the night patrol, and
+      explained how they had overheard talk of Harry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he is nearer than he has been?&rdquo; asked Nellie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; admitted Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't it be easier to rescue him then?&rdquo; Bessie queried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that doesn't follow,&rdquo; said Jack. &ldquo;Of course if we could rescue him,
+      we'd have a shorter distance to bring him, to get him inside our lines.
+      But it's just as difficult getting beyond the German lines now as it was
+      before. Tom and I thought we'd come and talk it over, and see if you girls
+      have anything to suggest. We'll do the rescue work if we only get a
+      chance, and can find some plan. Have you any?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He asked that question, though he hardly expected an answer. And both he
+      and Tom, as well as Bessie and her mother, were greatly surprised when
+      Nellie exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have?&rdquo; cried Tom. &ldquo;What is it? Tell us, quick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to save my brother by offering myself as a prisoner in his
+      place,&rdquo; said Nellie with quiet resolve. &ldquo;That's how I'll save him! I'll
+      exchange myself for him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII. THE BIG BATTLE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Nellie Leroy rose from, the chair where she had been sitting, and stood
+      before the little party of her friends, gathered in the little Paris
+      apartment where Bessie Gleason and her mother made their home when they
+      were not actively engaged in Red Cross work. The sister of the captive
+      airman had a quiet but very determined air about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is what I am going to do,&rdquo; she said, as no one at first answered
+      what had been a dramatic outbreak. &ldquo;Perhaps you will tell me best how to
+      go about it,&rdquo; and she turned to Tom and Jack. &ldquo;You know something of the
+      German lines, and where I can best go to give myself up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why&mdash;why, you can't go at all!&rdquo; burst out Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, of course not. You mean all right, Nellie,&rdquo; went on the young man,
+      &ldquo;but it simply can't be done. To give yourself up to the Germans would
+      mean for yourself not only&mdash;Oh, it couldn't be done!&rdquo; as he thought
+      of the cruelty of the Huns, not only to the soldiers of the Allied armies
+      but to helpless women and children. &ldquo;You couldn't give yourself up to
+      those brutes!' he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To save my brother I could,&rdquo; said Nellie simply. &ldquo;I would do anything for
+      him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you would,&rdquo; murmured Bessie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it would just be throwing yourself away!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack, coming to
+      the help of his chum, who was gazing helplessly at him in this new crisis.
+      &ldquo;Tell her, Mrs. Gleason,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;that it is utterly impossible, even
+      if the army authorities would let her. Even if she should give herself up
+      to the Germans, they wouldn't keep any agreement they made to exchange her
+      brother. They'd simply keep both of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I think they would,&rdquo; said Mrs. Gleason. &ldquo;It is out of the question,
+      my dear,&rdquo; and gently she laid her hand on the girl's shoulder. &ldquo;That is
+      very fine and noble of you, but it would be wrong, for it would not save
+      your brother, and you would certainly be made a prisoner yourself. And of
+      the horrors of the German prison&mdash;at least some where the infantrymen
+      have been kept, I dare not tell you. I imagine it must be better where the
+      airmen are captured,&rdquo; she went on, for she feared that if she painted too
+      black a picture of what Harry might suffer his sister would not be held
+      back by anything, and might sacrifice herself uselessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what am I do?&rdquo; asked Nellie, helplessly. &ldquo;I want Harry so much! We
+      all want him! Oh, isn't there something? Can't you save him?&rdquo; and she held
+      out her hands appealingly to Torn and Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment of silence, and then Tom burst out with:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I may as well speak now as later, and I'll tell you what I've made
+      up my mind to do. Yes, it's a new plan I've worked out,&rdquo; he went on, as
+      Jack looked at him curiously. &ldquo;I haven't told even you, old man, as it
+      wasn't quite ready yet. But it's a scheme that may succeed, now that we
+      know definitely where Harry is, from what the German patrol said. He isn't
+      so far away as when we dropped the packages in the prison camp, though we
+      don't yet know that he was there at the time we did our stunt. However, if
+      this new plan succeeds we may have a chance to find out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo; asked Nellie, eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By talking to Harry himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you going to do that?&rdquo; demanded Bessie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What kind of game have you been cooking up behind my back?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As desperate as the other, I guess you'll call it,&rdquo; answered Tom. &ldquo;But
+      something has to be done.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, something has to be done,&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;Now what is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom arose and went to the door. He opened it, looked carefully up and down
+      the hall, evidently to make sure no one was listening, and then came back
+      to join the circle of his friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm going to speak of something that very few know, as yet,&rdquo; he said,
+      &ldquo;and I don't want to take any chances of its getting out. There may be
+      German spies in Paris, though I guess by this time they're few and
+      scattering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not going to tell you how I know,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I do know that soon
+      there is to take place a big battle&mdash;that is, it will be big for the
+      American forces that are to have part in it. There has been a conference
+      among the Allied commanders, and it has been decided that it's time to
+      teach the Germans a lesson. They've been despising the American troops, as
+      they despised General French's 'contemptible little army,' and General
+      Pershing is going to show Fritz that we have a soldier or two that can
+      fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean there's to be a big offensive?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a general engagement like that.
+      It's to be kept within the limits, of the sector where the United States
+      troops are at present,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;That is where you and I are located,
+      Jack, and that, as you know, is almost opposite the prison where Harry and
+      the others are confined.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I begin to see what you are driving at!&rdquo; cried Nellie, her eyes shining.
+      &ldquo;But are you sure of this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; went on Jack, &ldquo;how did you bear of this when it's supposed to be
+      such a secret?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It came to me by accident,&rdquo; said Torn, &ldquo;and I wouldn't speak of it to any
+      one but you. Soon, however, it will be more or less public on our side, as
+      it will have to be when we start to get ready. But it's to be kept a
+      secret from Fritz as long as possible. It's to be a surprise attack, and
+      if it doesn't develop into a big battle it won't be the fault of Uncle
+      Sam's boys.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will the air service have any part in it?&rdquo; asked Jack eagerly, as if
+      fearing he might be left out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't see how they can get along without us,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;Not that we're
+      the whole works, but it is well established now that an army can't fight
+      without the use of aeroplanes, to tell not only what the other side is
+      doing, but also how our own guns are shooting. Oh, we'll be in it all
+      right!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When?&rdquo; asked Jack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That I can't say,&rdquo; replied his chum. &ldquo;But now to get down to the thing
+      that concerns us, or rather, Harry. I have a scheme&mdash;and you can call
+      it wild if you like&mdash;that when the battle is going on, you and I,
+      Jack, and some other airmen if we can induce them to do it, and I think we
+      can, may be able to drop bombs near the prison camp. We'll have to judge
+      our distances pretty carefully, or we'll do more harm than good. Then, if
+      all goes well, and we can blow down some of the camp walls or fences, and
+      if the battle favors our side, we can make a descent on enemy territory
+      and rescue Harry and any others that are with him. What do you think of
+      that plan?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's wonderful!&rdquo; exclaimed Nellie, glaring at Tom with a strange, new
+      light in her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's very daring,&rdquo; said Bessie, more calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's crazy!&rdquo; burst out Jack
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought you'd say that,&rdquo; commented Tom calmly, &ldquo;and I'd have been
+      disappointed if you hadn't. And just because it is crazy it may succeed.
+      But it's the only thing I can think of. Daring will get you further in
+      this war then anything else. You've got to take big chances anyhow, and
+      the bigger the better, I say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm with you there all right,&rdquo; agreed Jack. &ldquo;But to land in hostile
+      territory&mdash;it hasn't been done ten times since the war began, and
+      have the aviator live to get away with it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it,&rdquo; said Tom, quietly. &ldquo;But this may be the eleventh successful
+      time. Now that's my plan for rescuing Harry Leroy. If any of you have a
+      better one let's hear it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No one answered, and finally Nellie spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said, with a shake of her head, &ldquo;it's very fine and noble of you
+      boys, but I can't allow it. If you wouldn't let me give myself up&mdash;exchange
+      myself for Harry, I can't let you give your lives for him this way. It
+      wouldn't be fair. It would be depriving the Allies of two valuable
+      fighters, to possibly get back one, and the possibility is so slim that&mdash;well,
+      it's suicidal!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so much so as you think,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;I've got it all figured out as
+      far as possible. And as for landing in hostile territory, if all goes
+      well, and the big battle progresses as Pershing and his aides think it
+      will, maybe we won't have to land in hostile territory at all. We may
+      drive the Germans back, and then the prison will be within our lines.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's so!&rdquo; cried Jack. &ldquo;I didn't think of feat. Tom, old man, maybe your
+      scheme isn't as crazy as I thought! Anyhow, I'm in it with you. The only
+      thing is&mdash;will this big battle take place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'It will unless the Germans decide to surrender between now and the day
+      set,&rdquo; Tom answered grimly, &ldquo;and I hardly believe they'll do that. It's a
+      going to be some fight!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad of it!&rdquo; cried Jack. &ldquo;Now we've got something to live for!&rdquo; As if he
+      and Tom did not risk their lives every day to make life in the civilized
+      world something worth living for.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we must be getting back!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, as he looked at his watch.
+      &ldquo;All leaves will be stopped in a few days&mdash;just before we start
+      preparations for the big battle. If we can we'll see you once more before
+      then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And afterward?&rdquo; inquired Nellie, softly and pleadingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and afterward, too!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom. &ldquo;And we'll bring Harry back with
+      us. Now good-bye!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a more solemn farewell than the friends had taken in some time, for
+      all felt the impending events, and Tom and Jack talked but little during
+      the return trip from Paris to their headquarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What Tom had said about the big battle was strictly true. It had been
+      decided in high quarters that it was time the newly arrived American
+      soldiers showed what they could do. That they could fight fiercely and
+      well was not a question, it was only a matter of getting them familiar
+      with the different conditions to be met with on the European battlefields,
+      against a ruthless foe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack had a chance for one more hasty, flying visit to Paris, and
+      then all leave was withdrawn, and there began in and about the American
+      camp such a period of tense and intensive work as bore out what Tom had
+      said. The big battle was impending.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great stores were accumulated of rations and munitions. Great guns were
+      brought up into position and skillfully camouflaged. Machine guns in great
+      numbers were prepared and a number of aeroplanes were brought from other
+      sectors and made ready for the flying fight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are your plans coming on?&rdquo; asked Jack of Tom, at the close of a day
+      when it seemed that every one's nerves were on edge from the strain of
+      preparing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;I've spoken to a number of the boys, and
+      they're with me. You know we're pretty much 'on our own,' when we're
+      flying, and I think that we can drop the bombs and make a descent long
+      enough to pick up Harry and other refugees if we break open the prison.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But suppose we land, stall the engines and the Germans surround us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That mustn't happen,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;We won't stall the engines for one
+      thing. We'll just have to drop down, and taxi around as well as we can
+      until we pick up Harry, or until he sees us. The machines will carry three
+      as well as two, and even if we have, by some mischance to go up in
+      singles, they'll carry double. But I figured on your being with me. Harry
+      knows enough of the game to be on the lookout when he hears the bombs drop
+      and sees the planes hovering over him, and he'll tip off the others to be
+      ready for a rescue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I don't say we can get 'em all, and maybe something will happen
+      that we can't get Harry away. But I think we'll teach Fritz a lesson, and
+      I think we can break up the prison camp so some of the poor fellows can
+      get away. As I said, it's a desperate chance, but one we've got to take.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I'm with you!&rdquo; exclaimed Jack. &ldquo;And now when does the big battle take
+      place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was answered a moment later, for an orderly arrived with instructions
+      to the air service boys to report at their hangars at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There they were told something of the impending attack&mdash;the first
+      public mention of it, though more than one had guessed something unusual
+      was in the air from the tenseness of the last few days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attack was to start at dawn the next morning, preceded by an intense
+      artillery fire. It was to be the fiercest rain of shells since the
+      Americans had come to the front lines. Then the infantry, supported by
+      tanks and aeroplanes, would follow, going over in waves which it was hoped
+      would overwhelm the Germans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night was a tense one. Suppose the enemy had guessed, or a spy had
+      given word of the impending battle? Then success would be jeopardized. But
+      the night passed with only the usual exchange of shots and the sending up
+      of star shells over No Man's Land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so, as the hour of dawn approached, the tense and nervous feeling
+      grew. Tom and Jack, with their comrades in their hangars, were dressed in
+      their fur garments and ready. Their machines had received the last touches
+      from the hands of the mechanics, and each one was well equipped with bombs
+      and machine gun ammunition. Tom and Jack were to be allowed to go up
+      together in a big double bombing plane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night passed. The hour approached. Anxious eyes watched the hands of
+      watches slowly revolve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then suddenly, as if the very earth had been blasted away from beneath
+      them, the batteries of big guns belched forth fire, smoke and shell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great battle was on!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV. SILENCING THE GERMAN GUNS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Engagements in the World War were on such a vast scale that it was
+      difficult for a single observer to give a word picture of them. All he
+      could see, stationed behind the lines, was a vast cataclysm of smoke and
+      fire, and his ears were deafened by so vast a sound that it was comparable
+      to nothing on this earth ever heard before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An observer in the air was little better off, save for that portion
+      directly beneath him, and even that he could not see very much of, on
+      account of the smoke and dust. If he looked to the left or the right, or
+      backward or forward, he was at the disadvantage of distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To him, then, great columns of infantry appeared only as crawling worms,
+      and batteries of artillery merely patches of woods whence belched fire and
+      smoke. That he must keep high in the air when over the enemy's lines went
+      without saying, for he would be fired at if he came too low. So then, even
+      an airman's vision was limited when it came to describing a great battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course he always did what he was assigned to do. He kept in contact, or
+      in communication, with his own certain batteries, or his infantry
+      division, directing the shots of the former and the advance of the latter.
+      So, really, he had little time to observe anything save the effect of the
+      firing of his own side on a certain limited objective.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for the soldiers in battle, they are, of course, unable to observe
+      anything except that which goes on immediately in their neighborhood. The
+      artilleryman fires his gun under the direction of some observer, often far
+      away, who telephones to him to lower or elevate his piece, or deflect it
+      to the tight or left. The infantryman advances as the barrage lifts, and
+      rushes forward according to orders, firing or using his bayonet as the
+      case may be, digging in when halted, and waiting for another rush forward.
+      The machine gunner and his squad aim to put as many of the advancing,
+      retreating, or standing enemy out of the fighting as possible, and to save
+      themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The truck men hasten up with loads of ammunition, fortunate if they are
+      not sent to their death in the drive. The stretcher bearers look for the
+      wounded and hasten back with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, all in all, no single person can observe more than a very small part
+      of the great battle. It is really like looking through a microscope at
+      some organism, while the whole great body lies beyond the field of vision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Only the general staff-the officers in their headquarters far behind the
+      lines, who receive reports as to how this division or corps is retreating
+      or advancing&mdash;can have any real conception of the big battle, and
+      these persons may see it only at a distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So the usual process of things in general is reversed, and the person
+      farthest removed from the fighting may really see, or rather know, most
+      about it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And so with a storm of shot and shell, manmade thunders and lightnings,
+      and bolts of death from the earth below and the air above, the great
+      battle opened and advanced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It progressed just as other battles had progressed. There was a terrific
+      artillery preparation, which took the Germans evidently by surprise, for
+      the response was long in coming, and then it was not in proportion. After
+      the great cannon had done their best to level the big guns on the German
+      side, a barrage, or curtain of fire was started, and behind this, which
+      was in reality a falling hail of bullets, the Americans and their
+      supporting French and British comrades advanced. The curtain of steel was
+      to kill or push back the Germans, and to make it safe for the Americans to
+      go forward. By elevating the small guns the curtain fell farther and
+      farther into the enemy's territory, thus making it possible for the Allies
+      to go on farther and farther across No Man's Land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The infantry rushed forward, fighting and dying nobly in a noble cause.
+      Position after position was consolidated as the Germans fell back before
+      the rain of shot and shell. It is always this way in an offensive, small
+      or large. The first rush of the attacking side, be it German, French,
+      British, or American, carries everything before it. It is the counter
+      attack that tells. If the attackers are strong enough to hold what they
+      gain, well and good. If not&mdash;the attack is a failure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But this one&mdash;the first great attack of the Americans&mdash;was not
+      destined to fail, though once it trembled in the balance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack, with their companions, had flown aloft, and, taking the
+      stations assigned to them, did their part in the battle. As the light grew
+      with the break of day, they could see the effect of the American big guns.
+      It was devastating. And yet some German batteries lived through it.
+      Several times Tom and Jack, by means of their wireless, sent back
+      corrections so that the American pieces might be aimed more effectively.
+      Below them was a maelstrom&mdash;an indescribable chaos of death and
+      destruction. They only had glimpses of it&mdash;glimpses of a seemingly
+      inextricable mixture of men and guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And through it all, though they did not for a moment neglect their duty,
+      bearing in mind their instructions to keep in contact with the batteries
+      they served, Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly were eagerly seeking for a sight
+      of the prison where Harry Leroy might be held. At one time after they had
+      dropped bombs on some German positions, thereby demolishing them, Tom, who
+      was acting as pilot, signaled to his chum that he was going far over the
+      enemy's lines to try to locate the prison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack nodded an acquiescence. It was not entirely against orders what they
+      were about to do. They might obtain valuable information, and it would
+      take only a short time, so speedy was their machine. Then too, they had
+      used up all their bombs, and must return for more. Before doing this they
+      wished to make an observation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Luck was with them. They managed to pass over a comparatively quiet sector
+      of the lines where the German resistance had been wiped out, and where,
+      even as they looked down, Americans were digging in and guns were being
+      brought up to support them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And not many kilometers inside the German positions from this point, they
+      sailed over a prison camp. They, knew it in an instant, and felt sure it
+      must be the one spoken of by the German who had taken Leroy's gold and
+      then betrayed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the place!&rdquo; cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear him.
+      &ldquo;Now to bomb it and set Harry free!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But they must return for more ammunition, and this they set about doing.
+      They wished they might drop some word to the prisoners confined there,
+      stating that help might soon be on its way to them, but they had no chance
+      to send this cheering word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Back they rushed to their own lines, and no sooner had they landed than an
+      orderly rushed up to them and instructed them to report immediately to
+      their commanding officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Boys, you're just in time!&rdquo; he cried, all dignity or formality having
+      been set aside in the excitement of the great battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; asked Tom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We want you to silence some big German guns&mdash;a nasty battery of them
+      that's playing havoc with our boys. The artillery hasn't been able to
+      locate 'em&mdash;probably they're too well camouflaged. And we can't
+      advance against 'em. Will you go up and try to put them out of business?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course there could be but one answer to this. Tom and Jack hurried off
+      to see to the loading of their machine with bombs&mdash;an extra large
+      number of very powerful ones being taken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more they were off on their dangerous mission, for it was dangerous,
+      since many American planes were brought down by German fire that day, and
+      by attacks from other Hun machines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tom and Jack never faltered. Up and up they went, the probable
+      location of the guns having been made known to them on the map they
+      carried. Up and onward they went. For a time they must forego the chance
+      of rescuing their friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Straight for the indicated place they went, and just as they reached it
+      there came a burst of fire and smoke. It appeared to roll out from a
+      little ravine well wooded on both sides, and that accounted for the
+      failure of the Americans to locate it. Chance had played into the hands of
+      the air service boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no need of word between Tom and Jack. The former headed the
+      plane for the place whence the German guns had fired upon the Americans,
+      killing and wounding many.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Over it, for an instant, hovered the aeroplane. Then Jack touched the bomb
+      releasing device. Down dropped the powerful explosive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a great upward blast of air which rocked the machine in which
+      sat the two aviators. There was a burst of smoke and flame beneath them,
+      tongues of fire seeming to reach up as though to pull them down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came a terrific explosion which almost deafened the boys, even though
+      their ears were covered with the fur caps, and though their own engine
+      made a pandemonium of sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The air was filled with flying debris&mdash;debris of the German guns and
+      men. The bombs dropped by Tom and Jack had accomplished their mission. The
+      harassing battery was destroyed. The German guns were silenced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV. THE RESCUE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Tom and Jack circled around slowly over the place where the German battery
+      had been. It was now no more&mdash;it could work no more havoc to the
+      American ranks. It did not need the wireless news to this effect, which
+      the aviators sent back, to apprise the Allies of what had happened. They
+      had seen the harassing guns blown up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now out swarmed the Americans, charging with savage yells over the place
+      that had been such a hindrance to their advance. Tom and Jack had done
+      their work well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no need for the one to tell the other what was in his mind.
+      There were still two of the powerful bombs left, and there was but one
+      thought on this matter. They must be used to blow up, if possible, the
+      camp near the German prison. Doing that would create havoc and
+      consternation enough, the air service boys thought, to drive the captors
+      away, and enable Leroy and his fellow prisoners to be saved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack punched Tom in the back and motioned for him to shut off the motor a
+      moment so that talking would be possible. Tom did this, and Jack cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we take a chance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; Tom answered in return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strictly speaking, having accomplished the mission they were sent out on,
+      they should have returned to their base for orders. But the airmen were
+      given more liberty of action and decision than any other branch of the
+      Allied service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go to it!&rdquo; cried Jack, and once more Tom started the motor and headed the
+      craft for the Hun prison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again the air service boys were hovering over the prison camp. They could
+      now see that there was much more activity around it than there had been
+      before the big battery was destroyed. The fight was coming closer, and the
+      Germans evidently knew it. Whether they were trying to arrange to take
+      their captives farther back, or merely seeking to escape themselves from a
+      trap, was not then evident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, having reached a position where they could see below them what looked
+      to be a concentration of German guns, perhaps to fire on any force that
+      might advance against the prison. Jack let fall one of his two remaining
+      bombs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It swerved to one side, and though it exploded with great force, and
+      created havoc and consternation among the Huns, it did not fall where it
+      was intended. The second battery was still intact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My last shot!&rdquo; grimly mused Jack, as he looked at the other bomb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom maneuvered the aeroplane until he had it about where he thought Jack
+      would want it. The latter pressed the releasing lever and the bomb
+      descended. It was the most powerful of the lot, and when it struck and
+      exploded it not only demolished the defensive battery, making a hole in
+      the place where it had stood, but it tore down part of the prison fence,
+      and made such destruction generally that the Germans were stunned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly, seeing that all had been accomplished that was possible, and
+      noting that hovering around him were other Allied airmen who had agreed to
+      help in the rescue, Tom sent his craft down. There was a burst of shrapnel
+      around him and Jack, but though the latter was grazed by a bullet, neither
+      was seriously hurt. A Hun plane darted down out of the sky to attack the
+      bold Americans, but quickly it was engaged by a supporting Allied craft.
+      However, the Hun was a good fighter, and won the battle against this
+      antagonist. But when two other Allied planes closed in, that was the last
+      of the enemy. He was sent crashing down to satisfy the vengeance in toll
+      for the life of the birdman he had taken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now Tom and Jack could see that their plan had worked better than they had
+      dared to hope. The boldness of the attack from the air, coupled with the
+      advance of the American army, started a panic in the German ranks. They
+      began a retreat and the regiments near the prison camp were included in
+      the rout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time either some of the prisoners saw that there was a break in
+      the cordon around them, or they realized that a great battle was putting
+      their guards to flight, for some of them made a rush toward a side where
+      there were no Germans, and succeeded in breaking out&mdash;no hard task
+      since part of the fence was shattered by the explosion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now's our chance,&rdquo; cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear this.
+      &ldquo;Harry may be among that bunch, and we want to get him and any others we
+      can save.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He started the aeroplane on its downward path, while Jack, guessing the
+      object, got the machine gun ready for action, since there might be a squad
+      of Germans ready to give battle on the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several other planes of the Allies, seeing what was going on, swooped to
+      the aid of the two Americans, for there were no other of the Hun craft
+      within sight now. All had been sent crashing down, or had drawn off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On either side of the immediate sector which included the prison camp, the
+      battle was still raging fiercely, mostly with success on the side of the
+      Americans, though in places they suffered a temporary setback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the vicinity of the prison itself wild scenes were now being enacted.
+      The prisoners were beginning to rise in force, for they saw freedom
+      looming before them. There were fights between them and the guards, and
+      terrible happenings took place, for the guards were armed and the
+      prisoners were not. But as fast as some of the Germans fell they were
+      stripped of their guns and ammunition, and the weapons turned by the
+      prisoners against their former captors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this while Tom and Jack were descending in their plane. As yet they
+      were uncertain whether they were to be able to rescue Leroy or not. They
+      could not distinguish him at that height, though from the enthusiastic
+      manner in which several of the newly liberated ones waved at the on-coming
+      aeroplanes, it would seem that they were of that arm of the service, and
+      appreciated what was about to happen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearer and nearer to the ground flew Tom and Jack. And then, to their
+      horror, they saw that several Germans had set up two machine guns to rake
+      the prison yard, which was still filled with excited captives. The Germans
+      were determined that as few as possible of their late captives should find
+      freedom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tom acted on the instant, by sending the plane in a different direction,
+      to enable Jack to use his machine gun. And Jack understood this, for, with
+      a shout of defiance, he turned his weapon on the closely packed Germans
+      around their machine guns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a moment they stood and some even tried to swerve the guns about to
+      shatter the dropping aeroplane. But Jack's fire was too fierce. He wiped
+      out the nest, and this danger was averted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment later Tom had the machine to earth, and it ran along the uneven
+      and shell-torn ground, coming to a rest not far from what had been the
+      outer fence of the prison camp. A group of Allied captives, newly freed,
+      rushed forward. Tom and Jack, removing their goggles, looked eagerly for a
+      sight of Harry Leroy. They did not see him, but they saw that which
+      rejoiced them, and this was more aeroplanes coming to their aid, and also
+      a column of infantry on the march across a distant valley. The stars and
+      stripes were in the van, and at this the rescuers and the prisoners set up
+      a cheer. It meant that the Germans were beaten at that point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's Harry Leroy? Is he among the prisoners?&rdquo; cried Jack to several of
+      the liberated ones who crowded around the machine. There would be no
+      question now of trying to save some one, a rush by mounting to the air
+      with him. The advance of the Americans and the Allies was sufficiently
+      strong to hold the prison position wrested from the Germans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was Harry Leroy among you?&rdquo; asked Tom, of the joy-crazed prisoners. Many
+      were Americans, but there were French, Italian, Russian, Belgian and
+      British among the motley throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before any one could answer him there was a hoarse shout, and from some
+      place where they had been hiding a squad of German soldiers rushed at the
+      group of recent prisoners about Tom and Jack. Their guns had bayonets
+      fixed, and it was the evident purpose of the Huns to make one last rush on
+      the prisoners near the aeroplane to kill as many as possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Germans were a sufficiently strong force, and none of these prisoners
+      was armed. They began to scatter and run for shelter, and Torn and Jack
+      became aware that matters were not to be as easy as they had expected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But fortunately the fixed machine gun on the aeroplane, which was near the
+      pilot's seat, pointed straight at the oncoming Huns. With a cry Tom sprang
+      to the cockpit and quickly had the weapon spitting bullets at the foe.
+      Then Jack saw his chance, and, climbing up to his seat, he swung his gun
+      about so that it, too, raked the Germans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They came on with the desperation and courage of despair, but the steady
+      firing was at last too much for them. They broke and ran&mdash;what were
+      left of them alive&mdash;in what was a veritable rout, and this ended the
+      last danger for that immediate time and place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other aeroplanes dropped down to help consolidate the victory, and the
+      explosion of some American shells at a point beyond the prison camp told
+      its own story. The artillery had moved up to keep pace with the advancing
+      infantry. The big battle had been won by Pershing's men, and the air
+      service boys had not only done their share, but they had been instrumental
+      in delivering a number of prisoners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the last of the Germans fled and Tom and Jack leaned back, well nigh
+      exhausted by the strain of the fighting, a voice cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good work, old scouts! I knew you'd come for me sooner or later. At least
+      I hoped you would!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned to see Harry Leroy walking slowly toward them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Harry Leroy it was, but wounds, illness, and imprisonment had worked a
+      terrible change in him. He was but the ghost of his former sturdy self.
+      Still it was their chum and the brother of Nellie Leroy, and Tom and Jack
+      knew they had kept the promise made to the sister. They had effected the
+      rescue which the offensive made possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hurray!&rdquo; cried Tom. &ldquo;It's really you then, old scout!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's left of me&mdash;yes. Oh, but it's good to see the flag again!&rdquo;
+       and he pointed to the colors on the aeroplane and on the advancing banners
+      of the infantry. &ldquo;And it's good to see you again! I'd about given up, and
+      so had most of us, when we heard the shooting and knew something was going
+      on. But how did it happen? How did you get here, and how did you know I
+      was here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go easy!&rdquo; advised Tom with a grin. &ldquo;One question at a time. Can you ride
+      in our bus? If you can we'll take you back with us. The others will be
+      taken care of soon, I fancy, for our boys will soon be in permanent
+      occupation here. Will you come back with us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will I? Say, I'll come if I have to hitch on behind, like a can to a
+      dog's tail!&rdquo; cried Leroy, and, weak and ill-nourished as he was, it was
+      evident that the sight of his former comrades had already done him much
+      good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So now that the position was well won by the Americans and the Allies, Tom
+      and Jack turned their machine about, wheeled it to a good taking off
+      place, and with Harry Leroy as a passenger, though it made the place
+      rather crowded, they flew back over the recent battleground, and to their
+      own aerodrome, where Harry and some other prisoners, brought through the
+      air by other birdmen, were well taken care of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great battle was not yet over, for there was fighting up and down the
+      line, and in distant sectors. But it was going well for Pershing's forces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now,&rdquo; remarked Harry, when he had had food and had washed and had
+      begun to smoke, &ldquo;tell me all about it.&rdquo; He was in the quarters assigned to
+      Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, being their guest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, there isn't an awful lot to tell,&rdquo; Tom said, modestly enough. &ldquo;We
+      heard you were in trouble, and came after you; that's all. How did you
+      like your German boarding house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was fierce! Terrible! I can't tell you what it means to be free. But
+      I'd like to send word to my folks that I'm all right. I suppose they have
+      heard I was a prisoner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Tom. &ldquo;In fact, you can talk to one of the family soon.
+      That is, as soon as you can go to Paris.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk to a member of the family? Go to Paris? What do you mean?&rdquo; Harry
+      fairly shouted the words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your sister Nellie is staying with friends of ours,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;We'll
+      take you to her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nellie here? Great Scott! She said she was coming to the front, but I
+      didn't believe her! Say, she is some sister!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You said it!&rdquo; exclaimed Tom, with as great fervor as Harry used.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Didn't you get the bundles we dropped?&rdquo; asked Jack. &ldquo;The notes and the
+      packages of chocolate?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a one,&rdquo; 'replied Harry. &ldquo;I was looking for some word, but none came,
+      after one of the airmen told me he had dropped my glove. But I knew how it
+      was&mdash;you didn't get a chance to send any word.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but we did!&rdquo; cried Tom, and then he told of the dropping of the
+      packages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, as Leroy related, he had been transferred from that camp a few days
+      before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two of the packets fell among the prisoners, who, after trying in vain to
+      send them to Harry, partook of the good things to eat, which they much
+      needed themselves. They were given to the ill prisoners, and the notes
+      were carefully hidden away. Some time after the war Harry received them,
+      and treasured them greatly as souvenirs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we didn't make any mistake this time,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;We have you now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Harry with a smile, &ldquo;you have me now, and mighty glad I am
+      of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A few days later, when Harry was better able to travel, he went to see
+      Nellie in Paris, a message having been sent soon after the big battle, to
+      tell her that he was rescued and as well as could be expected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if it hadn't been for Tom and Jack I don't believe I'd be there now,&rdquo;
+       said Harry to his sister, as he sat in the homelike apartment of the
+      Gleasons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you wouldn't,&rdquo; said Nellie. &ldquo;They said they'd rescue you and they
+      did. We shall never be able to thank them enough&mdash;but we can try!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at Tom, and he&mdash;well, I shall firmly but kindly have to
+      insist that what followed is neither your affair nor mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now, though you know it as well as I do, my story has come to an end.
+      At least the present chronicle of the doings of the air service boys has
+      nothing further to offer. Their further adventures will be related in
+      another volume to be entitled: &ldquo;Air Service Boys Flying for Victory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not the end of the fighting, and Tom and Jack did not cease
+      their efforts. Harry Leroy, too, was eager to get back into the contest
+      again, and he did, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He told some of his experiences while a prisoner among the Germans, and
+      some things he did not tell. They were better left untold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, I should like to close my story with a more pleasant scene than
+      that, and so I invite your attention, one beautiful Sunday morning to
+      Paris, when the sun was shining and war seemed very far away, though it
+      was not. Two couples are going down a street which is gay with flower
+      stands. There are two young men and two girls, the young men wear the
+      aviation uniforms of the Americans. They walk along, chatting and
+      laughing, and, as an aeroplane passes high overhead, its motors droning
+      out a song of progress, they all look up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what we'll be doing to-morrow,&rdquo; observed Tom Raymond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; agreed Jack Parmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, hush!&rdquo; laughed one of the girls. &ldquo;Can't you stay on earth one day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And there on earth, in such pleasant company, we will leave the Air
+      Service Boys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE END <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 6458-h.htm or 6458-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/5/6458/
+
+Produced by Sean Pobuda, and David Widger
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/6458.txt b/6458.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4d9387
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6458.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5798 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by 
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys in the Big Battle
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Release Date: September, 2004  [EBook #6458]
+Posting Date: March 23, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sean Pobuda
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE
+
+Or SILENCING THE BIG GUNS
+
+
+By Charles Amory Beach
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. BAD NEWS FROM THE AIR
+
+
+"Well, Tom, how's your head now?"
+
+"How's my head? What do you mean? There's nothing the matter with
+my head," and the speaker, who wore the uniform of a French aviator,
+glanced up in surprise from the cot on which he was reclining in his
+tent near the airdromes that stretched around a great level field, not
+far from Paris.
+
+"Oh, isn't there?" questioned Jack Parmly, with a smile. "Then I
+beg your pardon for asking, my cabbage! I beg your pardon, Sergeant
+Raymond!"
+
+Tom Raymond, whose, chum had addressed him by the military title, looked
+curiously at his companion, and smiled at the appellation of the term
+cabbage. It was one of the many little tricks picked up by association
+with their French flying comrades, of speaking to a friend by some odd,
+endearing term. It might be cucumber or rose, cabbage or cart wheel--the
+words mattered not, it was the meaning back of them.
+
+"Say, is anything the matter?" went on Tom, as his chum, attired
+like himself', but wearing an old blouse covered with oil and grease,
+continued to smile. "What gave you the notion that my head hurt?"
+
+"I didn't say it hurt. I only asked how it was. The swelling hasn't
+begun to subside in mine yet, and I was wondering if it had in yours."
+
+"Swelling? Subside? What in the world--"
+
+Jack Parmly brought to a sudden termination the rapid torrent of words
+from the mouth of his churn by silently pointing to a small medal
+fastened to the uniform jacket of his friend. It was the coveted croix
+de guerre.
+
+"Oh, that!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Nothing else, my pickled beet!" answered Jack. "Doesn't it make your
+head swell up as if it would burst every time you look at it? Now don't
+say it doesn't, for that's the way it affects me, and I'm sure you're
+not very different. And every time I read the citation that goes with
+the medal--well, I'm just aching for a chance to show it to the folks
+back home, aren't you, Sergeant?"
+
+Tom Raymond started a bit at the second use of the title.
+
+"I see you aren't any more used to it than I am!" exclaimed Jack. "Well,
+it'll be a little time before we stop looking around to see if it isn't
+some one behind us they're talking to. So I thought I'd practice it
+a bit on you. And you can do the same for me. I should think, out of
+common politeness, you'd get up, salute and call me the same."
+
+"Oh! Now I see what you're driving at," voiced Tom, as he glanced up
+from a momentary look at his medal to the face of his comrade-in-arms,
+or perhaps in flying would be more appropriate. "The wind's in that
+quarter, is it?"
+
+"No wind at all to speak of," broke in Jack. "If you'd like to go for a
+fly, and see if we can bag a Boche or two, I'm with you."
+
+"Against orders, Jack. I'd like to, but we were ordered here for rest
+and observation work; and you know, as well as I do, that obeying orders
+is just as important as sending a member of the Hun Flying Circus down
+where he can't do any more of his grandstand stunts. But I'm hoping the
+time will come when we can climb up back of our machine guns again, and
+do our bit to show that the little old U. S. A. is still on the map."
+
+"I guess that time'll soon come, Tom, old man. I heard rumors that a
+lot of us were to be sent up nearer the front shortly, and if they don't
+include you and me, there'll be something doing in this camp!"
+
+"That's what I say. So you thought I'd have a swelled head, did you,
+because they gave us the croix de guerre?"
+
+"I confess I had a faint suspicion that way," admitted Jack. "Both of us
+being advanced to sergeants was a big step, too."
+
+"It was," agreed Tom. "I almost wish they hadn't done it, for there are
+lots of others in the escadrille that deserve it fully as much, and some
+more, than we do."
+
+"That's right. But you can't make these delightful Frenchmen see
+anything the way you want 'em to. Once they get a notion in their heads
+that you've done something for la belle Frame, they're your friends
+for life, kissing you on both cheeks and pinning medals on you wherever
+they'll stick."
+
+"Well, they mean all right, Jack," said Tom. "And there aren't any
+braver or more lovable people on the face of the earth than these same
+French. They've done more and suffered more for their country than we
+dream of. And it's only natural that they should say 'much obliged,' in
+their own particular way, to any one they think is helping to free them
+from the Germans."
+
+"I suppose you're right. But advancing us to sergeants would have been
+enough, without pinning the decorations on us and mentioning us in the
+order of the day, as well as giving us as fine a citation as ever was
+signed by a commanding general. However, it's all in the day's work,
+though when we flew over the German super cannons, and did our bit in
+helping demolish them so they couldn't shell Paris any more, we didn't
+think--or, at least, I didn't--that we'd be sitting here talking about
+it."
+
+"Me either," agreed Tom. "But, to get down to brass tacks, what have you
+been doing to get into such a mess? You look like a chauffeur of the
+old days they tell of when they had to climb under the car to see if it
+needed oiling--"
+
+"That's just about what I have been doing," admitted Jack. "When I heard
+the rumor that our escadrille might get orders to move at any hour, I
+decided that it was up to me to look MY machine over. It didn't make
+that nose dive just the way I wanted it to the last time I was up, and
+I'm not taking any chances. So I've been crawling in and around and
+under it--"
+
+"While I've been lying here I taking it easy!" broke in Tom. "I don't
+call that fair of you, Jack," and he seemed genuinely hurt.
+
+"Go easy now, my pickled onion!" laughed his chum. "I wasn't going to
+leave you out in the cold. I just came to tell you that you'd better
+stop looking like a moving picture of an airman, and put on some old
+duds to look over your own craft. And here you go and--"
+
+"All right, old ham sandwich!" laughed Tom.
+
+ "I'll forgive you.  I'm going to do the same as you, and tinker
+with my machine. If, as you say, we're likely to be on the job again
+soon, I don't want too take any chances either. Where's that mechanician
+of mine? There was something wrong with my joy stick, he said, the last
+time I came down out of the clouds to take an enforced rest, and I might
+as well start with that, if there's any repairing to be done--"
+
+Tom flung off his uniform jacket, with the two silver wings, denoting
+that he was a full-fledged airman, and sent an orderly to summon his
+chief mechanician, for each aviator had several helpers to run messages
+for him, as well as to see that his machine is in perfect trim.
+
+Experts are needed to see to it that the machine and the aviator are in
+perfect trim, leaving for the airman himself the trying and difficult
+task, sometimes, of flying upside down, while he is making observations
+of the enemy with one eye, and fighting off a Boche with the
+other--ready to kill or be killed.
+
+Sergeants Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, chums and fellow airmen flying
+for France, started toward the aerodromes where their machines were kept
+when not in use. They were both attired now for hard and not very clean
+work, though the more laborious part would be done by mechanics at their
+orders. Still the lads themselves would leave nothing to chance. Indeed
+no airman does, for in very, truth his He and the success of an army
+may, at times, depend on the strength or weakness of a seemingly
+insignificant bit of wire or the continuity of a small gasoline pipe.
+
+"Well, it'll seem good to get up in the air again," remarked Jack. "A
+little rest is all right, but too much is more than enough."
+
+"Right O, my sliced liberty bond!" laughed Tom. "And now--"
+
+Their talk was interrupted by a cheer that broke out in front of a
+recreation house, in reality a YMCA hut, or le Foyer du Soldat as it
+was called. It was where the airmen went when not on duty to read the
+papers, write letters and buy chocolate.
+
+"What's up now?" asked Jack, as he and his chum looked toward the
+cheering squad of aviators and their assistants.
+
+"Give it up. Let's go over and find out."
+
+They broke into a run as the cheering continued, and then they saw hats
+being thrown into the air and men capering about with every evidence of
+joy.
+
+"We must have won a big battle!" cried Jack.
+
+"Seems so," agreed Tom. "Hi there! what is it?" he asked in French of a
+fellow aviator.
+
+"What is it? You ask me what? Ah, joy of my life! It is you who ought to
+know first! It is you who should give thanks! Ah!"
+
+"Yes, that's all right, old man," returned Jack in English. "We'll give
+thanks right as soon as we know what it is; but we aren't mind readers,
+you know, and there are so many things to guess at that there's no use
+in wasting the time. Tell us, like a good chap!" he begged in French,
+for he saw the puzzled look on the face of the aviator Tom had
+addressed.
+
+"It is the best news ever!" was the answer. "The first of your brave
+countrymen have arrived to help us drive the Boche from France! The
+first American Expeditionary Force, to serve under your brave General
+Pershing, has reached the shores of France safely, in spite of the
+U-boats, and are even now marching to show themselves in Paris! Ah, is
+it any wonder that we rejoice? How is it you say in your own delightful
+country? Two cheers and a lion! Ah!"
+
+"Tiger, my dear boy! Tiger!" laughed Jack. "And, while you're about it,
+you might as well make it three cheers and done with it. Not that it
+makes any great amount of difference in this case, but it's just the
+custom, my stuffed olive!"
+
+And then he and Tom were fairly carried off their feet by the rush of
+enthusiastic Frenchmen to congratulate them on the good news, and to
+share it with them.
+
+"Is it really true?" asked Tom. "Has any substantial part of Uncle Sam's
+boys really got here at last?"
+
+He was told that such was the case. The news had just been received
+at the headquarters of the flying squad to which Tom and Jack were
+attached. About ten thousand American soldiers were even then on French
+soil. Their coming had long been waited for, and the arrangements sailed
+in secret, and the news was known in American cities scarcely any sooner
+than it was in France, so careful had the military authorities been
+not to give the lurking German submarines a chance to torpedo the
+transports.
+
+"Is not that glorious news, my friend?" asked the Frenchman who had
+given it to Tom and Jack.
+
+"The best ever!" was the enthusiastic reply. And then Jack, turning
+to his chum, said in a low voice, as the Frenchman hurried back to the
+cheering throng: "You know what this means for us, of course?"
+
+"Rather guess I do!" was the response. "It means we've got to apply for
+a transfer and fight under Pershing!"
+
+"Exactly. Now how are we going to do it?"
+
+"Oh, I fancy it will be all right. Merely a question of detail and
+procedure. They can't object to our wanting to fight among our own
+countrymen, now that enough of them are over here to make a showing. I
+suppose this is the first of the big army that's coming."
+
+"I imagine so," agreed Jack. "Hurray! this is something like. There's
+going to be hard fighting. I realize that. But this is the beginning of
+the end, as I see it."
+
+"That's what! Now, instead of tinkering over our machines, let's see the
+commandant and---"
+
+Jack motioned to his chum to cease talking. Then he pointed up to the
+sky. There was a little speck against the blue, a speck that became
+larger as the two Americans watched.
+
+"One of our fliers coming bark," remarked Tom in a low voice.
+
+"I hope he brings more good news," returned Jack.
+
+The approaching airman came rapidly nearer, and then the throngs that
+had gathered about the headquarters building to discuss the news of the
+arrival of the first American forces turned to watch the return of the
+flier.
+
+"It's Du Boise," remarked Tom, naming an intrepid French fighter. He was
+one of the "aces," and had more than a score of Boche machines to
+his credit. "He must have been out 'on his own,' looking for a stray
+German."
+
+"Yes, he and Leroy went out together," assented Jack. "But I don't see
+Harry's machine," and anxiously he scanned the heavens.
+
+Harry Leroy was, like Tom and Jack, an American aviator who had lately
+joined the force in which the two friends had rendered such valiant
+service. Tom and Jack had known him on the other side--had, in fact,
+first met and become friendly with him at a flying school in Virginia.
+Leroy had suffered a slight accident which had put him out of the flying
+service for a year, but he had persisted, had finally been accepted, and
+was welcomed to France by his chums who had preceded him.
+
+"I hope nothing has happened to Harry," murmured Tom; "but I don't see
+him, and it's queer Du Boise would come back without him."
+
+"Maybe he had to--for gasoline or something," suggested Jack.
+
+"I hope it isn't any worse than that," went on Tom. But his voice did
+not carry conviction.
+
+The French aviator landed, and as he climbed out of his machine, helped
+by orderlies and others who rushed up, he was seen to stagger.
+
+"Are you hurt?" asked Tom, hurrying up.
+
+"A mere scratch-nothing, thank you," was the answer.
+
+"Where's Harry Leroy?" Jack asked. "Did you have to leave him?"
+
+"Ah, monsieur, I bring you bad news from the air," was the answer. "We
+were attacked by seven Boche machines. We each got one, and then--well,
+they got me--but what matters that? It is a mere nothing."
+
+"What of Harry?" persisted Tom.
+
+"Ah, it is of him I would speak. He is--he fell inside the enemy lines;
+and I had to come back for help. My petrol gave out, and I--"'
+
+And then, pressing his hands over his breast, the brave airman staggered
+and fell, as a stream of blood issued from beneath his jacket.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. A GIRL'S APPEAL
+
+
+At once half a score of hands reached out to render aid to the stricken
+airman, whose blood was staining the ground where he had fallen.
+
+Tom, seeing that his fellow aviator was more desperately wounded than
+the brave man had admitted, at once summoned stretcher-bearers, and he
+was carried to the hospital. Then all anxiously awaited the report of
+the surgeons, who quickly prepared to render aid to the fighter of the
+air.
+
+"How is he?" asked Jack, as he and Tom, lingering near the hospital, saw
+one of the doctors emerge.
+
+"He is doing very nicely," was the answer, given in French, for the two
+boys of the air spoke this language now with ease, if not always with
+absolute correctness.
+
+"Then he isn't badly hurt?" asked Jack.
+
+"No. The wound in his chest was only a flesh one, but it bled
+considerably. Two bullets from an aircraft machine gun struck ribs, and
+glanced off from them, but tore the flesh badly. The bleeding was held
+in check by the pressure DU Boise exerted on the wounds underneath
+his jacket, but at last he grew faint from loss of blood, and then the
+stream welled out. With rest and care he will be all right in a few
+days."
+
+"How soon could we talk with him?" asked Tom.
+
+"Talk with him?" asked the surgeon. "Is that necessary? He is doing very
+well, and--"
+
+"Tom means ask him some questions," explained Jack. "You see, he started
+to tell us about our chum, Harry Leroy, who was out scouting with him.
+Harry was shot down, so Du Boise said, but he didn't get a chance to
+give any particulars, and we thought--"
+
+"It will be a day or so before he will be able to talk to you," the
+surgeon said. "He is very weak, and must not be disturbed."
+
+"Well, may we talk with him just as soon as possible?" eagerly asked
+Jack. "We want to find out where it was that Harry went down in his
+machine--out of control very likely--and if we get a chance--"
+
+"We'd like to take it out on those that shot him down!" interrupted
+Torn. "Du Boise must have noticed the machines that fought him and
+Harry, and if we could get any idea of the Boches who were in them--"
+
+"I see," and the surgeon bowed and smiled approval of their idea. "You
+want revenge. I hope you get it. As soon as we think he is able to
+talk," and he nodded in the direction of the hospital, "we will let you
+see him. Good luck to you, and confusion to the Huns!"
+
+"Gee, but this is tough luck!" murmured Tom, as he and his chum turned
+away. "Just as we were getting ready to go back into the game, too! Had
+it all fixed up for Harry to fly with us in a sort of a triangle scheme
+to down the Boches, and they have to go and plump him off the map. Well,
+it is tough!"
+
+"Yes, sort of takes the fun out of the good news we heard a while ago,"
+agreed Jack. "I mean about Pershing's boys getting over here to France.
+I hope Harry's only wounded, instead of killed. But if the Huns have him
+a prisoner--good-night!"
+
+"There's only one consolation," added Tom. "Their airmen are the best of
+the lot Of course that isn't saying much, but they behave a little more
+like human beings than the rest of the Boche gang; and if Harry has
+fallen a prisoner to them he'll get a bit of decent treatment, anyhow."
+
+"That's so. We'll hope for that. And now let's go on with what we
+started when we saw Du Boise coming back--let's see what chance we have
+of being transferred to an All American escadrille."
+
+The boys started across the field again toward the headquarters, and,
+nearing it, they saw, in a small motor car, a girl sitting beside the
+military driver. She was a pretty girl, and it needed only one glance to
+show that she was an American.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Tom, with a low whistle. "Look who's here!"
+
+"Do you know her?" asked Jack.
+
+"No. Wish I did, though."
+
+Jack glanced quickly and curiously at his chum.
+
+"Oh, you needn't think you're the only chap that has a drag with the
+girls," went on Tom. "Just because Bessie Gleason--"
+
+"Cut it out!" exclaimed Jack. "Look, she acts as though she wanted to
+speak to us."
+
+The military chauffeur had alighted from the machine and was talking
+to one of the French aviation officers. Meanwhile the girl, left to
+herself, was looking about the big aviation field, with a look of
+wonder, mixed with alarm and nervousness. She caught sight of Tom and
+Jack, and a smile came to her face, making her, as Tom said afterward,
+the prettiest picture he had seen in a long while.
+
+"You're Americans, aren't you?" began the girl, turning frankly to them.
+"I know you are! And, oh, I'm in such trouble!"
+
+Tom stepped ahead of Jack, who was taking off his cap and bowing.
+
+"Let me have a show for my white alley," Tom murmured to his chum.
+"You've got one girl."
+
+"You win," murmured Jack.
+
+"Yes, we're from the United States," said Tom. "But it's queer to see
+a girl here--from America or anywhere else. How'd you get through the
+lines, and what can we do for you?"
+
+"I am looking for my brother," was the answer. "I understood he was
+stationed here, and I managed to get passes to come to see him, but it
+wasn't easy work. I met this officer in his motor car, and he brought
+me along the last stage of the journey. Can you tell me where my brother
+is? His name is Harry Leroy."
+
+Torn said afterward that he felt as though he had gone into a spinning
+nose dive with a Boche aviator on his tail, while Jack admitted that he
+felt somewhat as he did the time his gasoline pipe was severed by a Hun
+bullet when he was high in the air and several miles behind the enemy's
+lines.
+
+"Your--your brother!" Tom managed to mutter.
+
+"Yes, Harry Leroy. He's from the United States, too. Perhaps you know
+him, as I notice you are both aviators. He told me if I ever got to
+France to come to see him, and he mentioned the names of two young
+men--I have them here somewhere--"
+
+She began to search in the depths of a little leather valise she
+carried, and, at that moment, the military chauffeur who had brought her
+to the aviation field turned to her, and spoke rapidly in French.
+
+She understood the language, as did Tom and Jack, and at the first words
+her face went white. For the chauffeur informed her that her brother,
+Harry Leroy, whom she had come so far to see, was, even then, lying dead
+or wounded within the German lines.
+
+"Oh!" the girl murmured, her fare becoming whiter and more white.
+"Oh--Harry!"
+
+Then she would have fallen from the seat, only Tom leaped forward and
+caught her in his arms.
+
+And while efforts were being made to restore the girl to consciousness,
+may I not take this opportunity of telling my new readers something of
+the previous books of this series, so that they may read this one more
+intelligently?
+
+Torn Raymond and Jack Parmly, as related in the initial volume, "Air
+Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette
+Escadrille," were Virginians. Soon after the great world conflict
+started, they burned with a desire to fight on the side of freedom, and
+it was as aviators that they desired to help.
+
+Accordingly they went to an aviation school in Virginia, under the
+auspices of the Government, and there learned the rudiments of flying.
+Tom's father had invented an aeroplane stabilizer, but, as told in the
+story, the plans and other papers had been stolen by a German spy.
+
+Tom and his chum resolved to get possession of the documents, and they
+kept up the search after they reached France and were made members
+of the Lafayette Escadrille. It was in France that they met Adolph
+Tuessing, the German spy.
+
+The second volume, entitled "Air Service Boys Over the Enemy's Lines;
+or The German Spy's Secret," takes the two young men through further
+adventures. They had become acquainted on the steamer with a girl named
+Bessie Gleason and her mother. Carl Potzfeldt, a German sailing under
+false colors, claimed to be a friend of Bessie and her mother, but Jack,
+who was more than casually interested in the girl, was suspicious of
+this man. And his suspicions proved correct, for Potzfeldt had planned a
+daring trick.
+
+After some strenuous happenings, in which the Air Service Boys assisted,
+Bessie and her mother were rescued from the clutches of Potzfeldt,
+and went to Paris, Mrs. Gleason engaging in Red Cross work, and Bessie
+helping her as best she could.
+
+ Immediately preceding this present volume is the third, called "Air
+Service Boys Over the Rhine; or Fighting Above the Clouds."
+
+By this time the United States had entered the great war on the side of
+humanity and democracy.
+
+Then the world was startled by the news that a great German cannon was
+firing on Paris seventy miles away, and consternation reigned for a
+time. Tom and Jack had a hand in silencing the great gun, for it was
+they who discovered where it was hidden. Also in the third volume is
+related how Tom's father, who had disappeared, was found again.
+
+The boys passed through many startling experiences with their usual
+bravery, so that, when the present story opens, they were taking a
+much needed and well-earned rest. Mr. Raymond, having accomplished his
+mission, had returned to the United States.
+
+Then, as we have seen, came the news of the arrival of the first of
+Pershing's forces, and with it came the sad message that Harry Leroy,
+the chum of Torn and Jack, had fallen behind the German lines. And
+whether he was alive now, though wounded, or was another victim of the
+Hun machine guns, could not be told.
+
+"Harry's sister couldn't have come at a worse time," remarked Tom, as he
+rejoined Jack, having carried the unconscious girl to the same hospital
+where Du Boise lay wounded.
+
+"I should say not!" agreed Jack. "Do you really suppose she's Harry's
+sister?"
+
+"I don't see Any reason to doubt it. She said so, didn't she?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course. I was just wondering. Say, it's going to be tough
+when she wakes up and realizes what's happened."
+
+"You bet it is! This has been a tough day all around, and if it wasn't
+for the good news that our boys are in France I'd feel pretty rocky. But
+now we've got all the more incentive to get busy!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean get our machines in fighting trim. I'm going out and get a few
+Germans to make up for what they did to Harry."
+
+"You're right! I'm with you! But what about what's her name--I mean
+Harry's sister?"
+
+"I didn't hear her name. Some of the Red Cross nurses are looking after
+her. They promised to let me know when she came to. We can offer to help
+her, I suppose, being, as you might say, neighbors."
+
+"Sure!" agreed Jack. "I'm with you. But let's go and--"
+
+However they did not go at once, wherever it was that Jack was going to
+propose, for, at that moment, one of the Red Cross nurses attached to
+the aviation hospital came to the door and beckoned to the boys.
+
+"Miss Leroy is conscious now," was the message. "She wants to see you
+two," and the nurse smiled at them.
+
+Tom and Jack found Miss Leroy, looking pale, but prettier than ever,
+sitting up in a chair. She leaned forward eagerly as they entered, and,
+holding out her hands, exclaimed:
+
+"They tell me you are my brother's chums! Oh, can you not get me some
+news of him? Can you not let him know that I have come so far to see
+him? I am anxious! Oh, where is he?" and she looked from Tom to Jack,
+and then to Tom again.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. ANXIOUS WAITING
+
+
+Nellie Leroy--for such the boys learned was her name--broke the silence,
+that was growing tense, by asking:
+
+"Is there any hope? Tell me, do you think there is a chance that my
+brother may be alive?"
+
+"Yes, there is, certainly!" exclaimed Tom quickly, before Jack had an
+opportunity to give, possibly, a less hopeful answer.
+
+"And if he is alive, is there a chance that he may be rescued--that I
+may go to him?" she went on.
+
+"Hardly that," said Tom, slowly. "It's a wonder you ever got as near to
+the front as this. But as for getting past the German lines--"
+
+"Then what can I do?" asked Nellie Leroy, eagerly. "Oh, tell me
+something that I can do. I'm used to hard work," she went on. "I've been
+a Red Cross nurse for some time, and I helped in one big explosion of a
+munitions plant in New Jersey before I came over. That's one reason they
+let me come--because I proved that I could do things!" and she did
+look very efficient, in spite of her paleness, in spite of her, seeming
+frailness. There was an indefinable air about her which showed that
+she would carry through whatever she undertook. "I never fainted
+before--never."
+
+"It's like this," said Tom, and Jack seemed content, now, to let his
+chum play the chief role. "When one of us goes down in his machine back
+of the enemy's lines, those left over here never really know what has
+happened for a few days."
+
+"And how do they know then?' she asked.
+
+"The German airmen are more decent than some of the other Hun forces
+we're fighting," explained Torn. "Generally after they capture one of
+our escadrille members, dead or alive, they fly over our lines a few
+days later and drop a cap, or a glove, or something that belongs to the
+prisoner. Sometimes they attach a note, written by one of their airmen
+or from the prisoner, giving news of his condition."
+
+"And you think they may do this in my brother's case?" asked Nellie.
+
+"They are very likely to," assented Tom, and Jack, to whom the girl
+looked for confirmation, nodded, his agreement.
+
+"How long shall we have to wait?" Harry's sister asked.
+
+"There is no telling," said Tom "Sometimes it's a week before their
+airmen get a chance to fly over our lines. It all depends."
+
+"On what?"
+
+"On how the battle goes," answered Tom. "If there is much fighting, and
+many engagements in the air, the Boches don't get a chance to fly over
+and drop tokens of our men they may have shot down. We do the same for
+them, so it's six of one and a half dozen of the other. Often for a week
+we don't get a chance to let them know about prisoners we have, because
+the fighting is so severe."
+
+"Will it be that way now?" the girl went on.
+
+"Hard to say--we don't have the ordering of battles," replied Jack. "But
+it's been rather quiet for a few days, and it's likely to continue so.
+If it does one of their men may fly over to-morrow, or the next day, and
+drop something your brother wore--or even a note from him."
+
+"Oh, I hope they do the last!" she murmured. "If I could have a note
+from him I'd be the happiest girl alive I I'd know, then, that he was
+all right."
+
+"He may be," said Tom, trying to be hopeful. "You see Du Boise, who was
+with Harry when the fight took place, is himself wounded, so he can't
+tell us much about it."
+
+"Yes, they told me that my brother's companion reached here badly
+hurt. He is so brave! I wish they would let me help take care of him. I
+understand a great deal about wounds, and I'm not at all afraid of the
+sight of blood. It was silly of me to faint just now, but--I--I couldn't
+help it. I'd been counting so much on seeing Harry, and when they told
+me he was gone--"
+
+She covered her face with her hands, and endeavored to repress her
+emotion.
+
+"You're not Harry's little sister, are you?" asked Jack, hoping to
+change the current of talk into other and happier channels.
+
+"No; that's Mabel--Mab he calls her. She's younger than I. Did he often
+speak of her?"
+
+"Oh, yes; and you too!" exclaimed Tom, so warmly that Nellie blushed,
+and the damask tint in her hitherto pale cheeks was most becoming.
+
+"We've seen your picture, and Mab's too," went on Tom. "Harry keeps them
+just over his cot in the barracks. But I didn't recognize you when I saw
+you a little while ago in the machine. Though I might have, if so many
+things hadn't happened all at once, and made me sort of hazy," Tom
+explained.
+
+"Then are you and my brother good friends?" asked Nellie.
+
+"The best ever!" exclaimed Tom, and Jack warmly assented. "Not so many
+Americans are in this branch of the escadrille as are in others," Torn
+went on; "so Harry and Jack and I are a sort of little trio all by
+ourselves. He hardly ever goes up without us, but we are on a rest
+billet; and to-day he went up with Du Boise."
+
+"If he had only come back!" sighed Nellie. "But there! I mustn't
+complain. Harry wouldn't let me if he were here. We both have to do our
+duty. Now I'm going to see what I can do to help, and not be silly and
+do any more fainting. I hope you'll pardon me," and she smiled at the
+two boys.
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed Tom, with great emphasis, and again Miss Leroy
+blushed.
+
+"Then, is to wait the only thing we can do?" she asked.
+
+"That's all," assented Tom. "We may get a message from the clouds any
+day."
+
+"And, oh! I shall pray that it may be favorable!" murmured the girl.
+"Perhaps I may question this Mr. Du Boise, and learn from him just what
+happened?" she interrogated.
+
+"Yes, we want to talk to him ourselves, as soon as he's able to sit up,"
+said Jack. "We want to get a shot at the Boche who downed Harry."
+
+"So you are as fond of Harry as all that! I am glad!" exclaimed his
+sister. "Have you known him long?"
+
+"We knew him slightly before we went to the flying school in
+Virginia with him," said Tom. "But down there, when we started in at
+'grass-cutting,' and worked our way up, we grew to know him better. Then
+Jack and I got our chance to come over. But Harry had a smash, and he
+had to wait a year."
+
+"Yes, I know. It almost broke his heart," said Miss Leroy. "I was away
+at school at the time, which accounts for my not knowing more of you
+boys, since Harry always wrote me, or told me, about his chums. Then,
+when I came back after my graduation, I found that he had sailed for
+France."
+
+"And maybe we weren't glad to see him!" exclaimed Tom. "It was like
+getting letters from home."
+
+"Yes, I recall, now, his mentioning that he had met over here some
+students from the Virginia school," said Miss Leroy. "Well, after Harry
+sailed I was wild to go, but father and mother would not hear of it at
+first. Then, when the war grew worse, and I showed them that I could do
+hard work for the Red Cross, they consented. So I sailed, but I never
+expected to get like this."
+
+"Oh, well, everything may come out all right," said Tom, as cheerfully
+as he could. But, in very truth, he was not very hopeful in his heart.
+
+For once an aviator succumbs to the hail of bullets from the German
+machine guns in an aircraft, and his own creature of steel and wings
+goes hurtling down, there is only a scant chance that the disabled
+airman will land alive.
+
+Of course some have done it, and, even with their machines out of
+control and on fire, they have lived through the awful experience. But
+the chances were and are against them.
+
+Harry Leroy had been seen to go down, apparently with his machine out of
+control, after a fusillade of Boche bullets. This much Du Boise had said
+before his collapse. As to what the fallen aviator's real fate was, time
+alone could disclose.
+
+"I can only wait!" sighed Nellie, as the boys took their leave. "The
+days will be anxious ones--days of waiting. I shall help here all I
+can. You'll let me know the moment there is any news--good or bad--won't
+you?" she begged; and her eyes filled with tears.
+
+"We'll bring you the news at once--night or day!" exclaimed Tom,
+vigorously.
+
+As he and Jack walked out of the hospital, the latter remarked:
+
+"You seem to be a favorite there, all right, Tom, my boy. If we weren't
+such good chums I might be a bit jealous."
+
+"If you feel that way I'll drop Bessie Gleason a note!" suggested Tom,
+quickly.
+
+"Don't!" begged Jack. "I'll be good!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. TRANSFERRED
+
+
+One glance at the bulletin board, erected just outside their quarters at
+the aerodrome, told Tom and Jack what they were detailed for that day.
+It was the day following the arrival of Nellie Leroy at that particular
+place in France, only to find that her brother was missing--either dead,
+or alive and a prisoner behind the German lines.
+
+"Sergeant Thomas Raymond will report to headquarters at eight o'clock,
+to do patrol work."
+
+"Sergeant Jack Parmly will report to headquarters at eight o'clock for
+reconnaissance with a photographer, who will be detailed."
+
+Thus read the bulletin board, and Tom and Jack, looking at it, nodded to
+one another, while Tom remarked:
+
+"Got our work cut out for us all right."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack. "Only I wish I could change places with you. I don't
+like those big, heavy machines."
+
+But orders are orders, nowhere more so than in the aviation squad, and
+soon the two lads, after a hearty if hasty breakfast, were ready for the
+day's work. They each realized that when the sun set they might either
+be dead, wounded or prisoners. It was a life full of eventualities.
+
+A little later the two young airmen, in common with their comrades, were
+ready. Some were to do patrol work, like Tom--that is fly over and
+along the German lines in small swift, fighting planes, to attack a Hun
+machine, if any showed, and to give notice of any attack, either from
+the air or on the ground. The latter attacks the airmen would observe in
+progress and report to the commanders of infantry or batteries who could
+take steps to meet the attack, or even frustrate it.
+
+Tom was assigned to a speedy Spad machine, one of great power and
+lightness into which he climbed. He was to fly alone, and on his
+machine was a machine gun of the Vickers type, which had to be aimed by
+directing, or pointing, the aeroplane itself at the enemy.
+
+After Tom had given a hasty but careful look at his craft, and had
+assured himself of the accuracy of the report of his mechanician that
+it had oil and petrol, his starter took his place in front of the
+propeller.
+
+"Well, Jack," called Tom to his chum, across the field, where Jack was
+making his preparations for taking up a photographer in a big two-seated
+machine, "I wish you luck."
+
+"Same to you, old man. If you see anything of Harry, and he's alive,
+tell him we'll bring him back home as soon as we get a chance."
+
+"Do you think there is any chance?" asked Tom eagerly. "I wouldn't want
+anything better than to get Harry away from those Boches--and make his
+sister happy."
+
+"Well, there's a chance, but it's a slim one, I'm afraid," remarked
+Jack. "We'll talk about it after we get back. Maybe there'll be a
+message from the Huns about him before the day is over."
+
+"I hope so," murmured Tom. "If those Huns only act as decently toward us
+as we do toward them, we'll have some news soon."
+
+For it is true, in a number of instances that the German aviators do
+drop within the allied lines news of any British, French or American
+birdman who is captured or killed inside the German lines.
+
+"All ready?" asked Tom of his helper.
+
+"Switch off, gas on," was the answer.
+
+Tom made sure that the electrical switch was disconnected. If it was
+left on, in "contact" as it is called, and the mechanician turned the
+propeller blades, there might have been a sudden starting of the engine
+that would have instantly kill the man. But with the switch off there
+could be no ignition in the cylinders.
+
+Slowly the man turned the big blades until each cylinder was sucked full
+of the explosive mixture of gasoline and air.
+
+"Contact!" he cried, and Tom threw over the switch.
+
+Then, stepping once more up to the propeller, the man gave it a pull,
+and quickly released it, jumping back out of harm's way.
+
+With a throbbing roar the engine awoke to life and the propeller spun
+around, a blur of indistinctness. The motor was working sweetly. Toni
+throttled down, assured himself that everything was working well, and
+then, with a wave of his hand toward Jack, began to taxi across the
+field, to head up into the wind. All aeroplanes are started this
+way--directly into the wind, to rise against it and not with it. On and
+on he went and then he began to climb into the air. With him climbed
+other birdmen who were to do patrol and contact work with him, the
+latter being the term used when the airship keeps in contact through
+signaling with infantry or artillery forces on the ground, directing
+their efforts against the enemy.
+
+Having seen Tom on his way, Jack turned to his own machine. As his chum
+had been, Jack was dressed warmly in fur garments, even to his helmet,
+which was fur lined. He had on two pairs of gloves and his eyes were
+protected with heavy goggles. For it is very cold in the upper regions,
+and the swift speed of the machine sends the wind cutting into one's
+face so that it is impossible to see from the eyes unless they are
+protected.
+
+Jack's machine was a two-seater, of a heavy and comparatively safe
+type--that is it was safe as long as it was not shot down by a Hun.
+Jack was to occupy the front seat and act as pilot, while Harris, the
+photographer he was to take up, sat behind him, with camera, map, pencil
+and paper ready at hand for the making of observations.
+
+On either side of the photographer's seat were six loaded drums of
+ammunition for the Lewis gun, for use against the ruthless Hun machines.
+Jack had a fixed Vicker machine weapon for his use.
+
+"Hope I get a chance to use 'em," said Harris with a grin, as he climbed
+into his seat, patted the loaded drums, and nodded to Jack that he was
+ready.
+
+The same procedure was gone through as in the case of Tom. The man spun
+the propeller, and they were ready to set off. Accompanying them were
+two other reconnaissance planes, and four experienced fighting pilots,
+two of them "aces," that is men who, alone, had each brought down five
+or more Hun planes. The big planes, used for obtaining news, pictures,
+and maps of the enemy's territory, are always accompanied by fighting
+planes, which look out for the attacking Germans, while the other,
+and less speedy, craft carry the men who are to bring back vital
+information.
+
+"Let her go!" exclaimed Harris to Jack, and the latter nodded to the
+mechanician, who, after the order of "contact," spun the blades again
+and they were really off, together with the others.
+
+Up and up went Jack, sending his machine aloft in big circles as the
+others were doing. Before him on a support was clamped a map, similar to
+the one supported in front of Harris, and by consulting this Jack knew,
+from the instructions he had received before going up, just what part of
+the enemy's territory he was to cover. He was under the direction of
+the photographer and map-maker, for the two duties were combined in this
+instance.
+
+Up and up they went. There was no talking, for though this is possible
+in an aeroplane when the engine is shut off, such was not now the case.
+But Jack knew his business.
+
+His indicator soon showed them to be up about fourteen thousand feet,
+and below them an artillery duel was in progress. It was a wonderful,
+but terrible sight. Immediately under them, and rather too near
+for comfort, shrapnel was bursting all around. The "Archies," or
+anti-aircraft guns of the Germans, were trying to reach the French
+planes, and, in addition to the bullets, "woolly bears" and "flaming
+onions" were sent up toward them. These are two types of bursting
+shells, the first so named because when it explodes it does so with a
+cloud of black smoke and a flaming center. I have never been able to
+learn how the "onions" got their name, unless it is from the stench let
+loose by the exploding gases.
+
+Though they were fired at viciously, neither Jack nor his companion was
+hit, and they continued on their way, keeping at a good height, as did
+their associates, until they were well over the front German lines.
+
+Jack noticed that some of the other planes were dropping lower, to give
+their observers a chance to do their work, and, in response to a shove
+in his back from the powerful field glasses carried by Harris, Jack sent
+his machine down to about the nine-thousand-foot level. By a glance at
+the map he could see that they were now over the territory concerning
+which a report was wanted.
+
+They were now under a heavy fire from the German anti-aircraft guns, but
+Jack was too old a hand to let this needlessly worry him. He sent his
+machine slipping from side to side, holding it on a level keel now and
+then, to enable Harris to get the photographs he wanted. In addition,
+the observer was also making a hasty, rough, but serviceable map of what
+he saw.
+
+Jack glanced down, and noted a German supply train puffing its way along
+toward some depot, and he headed toward this to give Harris a chance to
+note whether there were any supplies of ammunition, or anything else,
+that might profitably be bombed later. He also saw several columns of
+German infantry on the march, but as they were not out to make an attack
+now, they had to watch the Huns moving up to the front line trenches,
+there later, doubtless, to give battle.
+
+Back and forth over the German lines flew Jack, Harris meanwhile doing
+important observation work. As Jack went lower he came under a fiercer
+fire of the batteries, until, it became so hot, from the shrapnel
+bursts, that he fain would have turned and made for home. But orders
+were orders, and Harris had not yet indicated that he had enough.
+
+Twisting and turning, to make as poor a mark as possible for the enemy
+guns, Jack sent his machine here and there. The other pilots were doing
+the same. Machine guns were now opening up on them, and once the burst
+of fire came so close that Jack began to "zoom." That is he sent his
+craft up and down sharply, like the curves and bumps in a roller-coaster
+railway track.
+
+By this time the leading plane gave the signal for the return, and,
+thankful enough that they had not been hit, Jack swung about. But the
+danger was not over. They had yet to pass across the enemy's front line
+trenches, and when Harris signaled Jack to go down low in crossing the
+lad wondered what the order was for. It was merely that the observer
+wanted to see what was going on there so he could report.
+
+They went down to within a mile of the earth, and several times the
+plane was struck by pieces of shrapnel or bullets from machine guns.
+Twice flying bits of metal came uncomfortably close to Jack, but he was
+kept too busy with the management of his machine to more than notice
+them. Harris was working hard at the camera and the maps.
+
+Then, suddenly, came the danger signal from the leading plane, and only
+just in time. Out from the German hangars came several battle machines.
+Harris dropped his pencil and got ready the automatic gun, but it was
+not needed, for, after approaching as though about to attack, the Huns
+suddenly veered off. Later the reason for this became known. A squadron
+of French planes had arisen as swiftly to give battle, and however brave
+the Hun may be when he outnumbers the enemy, he had yet to be known to
+take on a combat against odds.
+
+So Jack and his observer safely reached the aerodrome again, bringing
+back much valuable information.
+
+"Is Tom here yet?" was Jack's first inquiry after he had divested
+himself of his togs and men had rushed to the developing room the camera
+with its precious plates.
+
+"Not yet," some of his chums told him. "They're having a fight upstairs
+I guess."
+
+Jack nodded and looked anxiously in the direction in which Tom was last
+seen.
+
+It was an hour before the scouting airplanes came back, and one was so
+badly shot up and its pilot so wounded that it only just managed to get
+over the French lines before almost crashing to earth.
+
+"Are you all right, Tom?" cried Jack, as he rushed up to his chum, when
+he saw the latter getting out of his craft, rather stiff from the cold.
+
+"Yes. They went at me hard--two of 'em but I think I accounted for one,
+unless he went into a spinning nose dive just to fool me."
+
+"Oh, they'll do that if they get the chance."
+
+"I know," assented Tom. "Hello!" he exclaimed as he noticed a splintered
+strut near his head. "That came rather close."
+
+And indeed it had. For a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel, has plowed a
+furrow in the bit of supporting wood, not two inches away from Tom's
+head, though in the excitement of the fight he had not noticed it.
+
+There had been a fight in the upper air and one of the French machines
+had not come home.
+
+"Another man to await news of," said the flight lieutenant sadly, when
+the report reached him. "That's two in two days."
+
+"No news of Leroy yet?" asked Tom and Jack, as they went out of
+headquarters after reporting.
+
+"None, I am sorry to say. It is barely possible that he landed in
+some lonely spot and is still hiding out--if he is not killed. But I
+understand you two young men had something to request of me. I can give
+you some attention now," went on the commander of their squadron.
+
+"We want to be transferred!" exclaimed Tom. "Now, that Pershing's men
+are here--"
+
+"I understand," was the answer. "You want to fight with your countrymen.
+Well, I would do the same. I will see if I can get you transferred,
+though I shall much regret losing you."
+
+He was as good as his word, and a week later, following some strenuous
+fights in the air, Tom and Jack received notice that they could report
+to the first United States air squadron, which was then being formed on
+that part of the front where the first of Pershing's men were brigaded
+with, the French and British armies.
+
+Du Boise, who had brought word back of the fate that had befallen Harry
+Leroy, sent for Tom and Jack when it became known that they were to
+leave.
+
+"Shall I ever see you again?" he asked wistfully.
+
+"To be sure," was Tom's hearty answer. "We aren't going far away, and
+we'll fly over to see you the first chance we get. Besides, we're going
+to depend on you to give us some information regarding Leroy. If the
+Huns drop any message at all they'll do it at this aerodrome."
+
+"Yes, I believe you're right," assented Du Boise, trying not to show the
+pain that racked him. "But it's so long, now, I begin to believe he
+must be dead, and either the Huns don't know it or they aren't going
+to bother to send us word. But I'll let you know as soon as I hear
+anything."
+
+"Is his sister here yet?" asked Jack, for Tom and he had been too busy
+the last two days, getting ready to shift their quarters, to call on
+Nellie Leroy.
+
+"She has gone back to Paris," answered Du Boise. "There was no place for
+her here. I can give you her address. I promised to let her know in case
+I got word about her brother."
+
+"I wish you would give me the address!" exclaimed Tom eagerly, and his
+chum smiled at his show of interest.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE RESOLVE
+
+
+"Well, to-morrow, if all goes well, we'll be with Pershing's boys,"
+remarked Jack, as he and Tom were sitting in their quarters after
+breakfast, the last day but one they were to spend in the Lafayette
+Escadrille with which they had so long been associated.
+
+"That's so. We'll soon be on the firing line with Uncle Sam," agreed
+Tom. "Of course we've been with him, in a way, ever since we've been
+fighting, for it's all in the same cause. But there'll be a little more
+satisfaction in being 'on our own,' as the English say."
+
+"You're right. What's on for to-day?" asked Jack.
+
+"Haven't the least idea. But here comes a messenger now."
+
+As Tom spoke he glanced from a window and saw an orderly coming toward
+their quarters. The man seemed in a hurry.
+
+"Something's up!" decided Jack. "Maybe they've got word from poor
+Harry."
+
+ "I'm beginning to give him up," said Tom.  "If they were going to
+let us have any news of him they'd have done it long ago--the beasts!"
+and he fairly snarled out the words.
+
+"Still I'm not giving up," returned Jack. "I can't explain why, but I
+have a feeling that, some day, we'll see Harry Leroy again."
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"I wish I could be as hopeful as you," he said. "Maybe we'll see him
+again--or his grave. But I want to say, right now, that if ever I have
+a chance at the Hun who shot him down, that Hun Will get no mercy from
+me!"
+
+"Same here!" echoed Jack. "But here comes the orderly."
+
+The man entered and handed Jack a slip of paper. It was from the
+commander of their squadron, and said, in effect, that though Tom and
+Jack were no longer under his orders, having been duly transferred to
+another sector, yet he would be obliged if they would call on him, at
+his quarters.
+
+"Maybe he has news!" exclaimed Jack, eagerly.
+
+Again Tom shook his head.
+
+"He'd have said so if that was the case," he remarked as he and his chum
+prepared to report at headquarters, telling the messenger they would
+soon follow him.
+
+"Ah, young gentlemen, I am glad to see, you!" exclaimed the commander,
+and it was as friends that he greeted Tom and Jack and not as military
+subordinates. "Do you want to do me one last favor?"
+
+"A thousand if we can!" exclaimed Jack, for he and Tom had caught
+something of the French enthusiasm of manner, from having associated
+with the brave airmen so long.
+
+"Good! Then I shall feel free to ask. Know then, that I am a little
+short-handed in experienced airmen. The Huns have taken heavy toll of
+us these last few days," he went on sorrowfully, and Torn and Jack knew
+this to be so, for two aces, as well as some pilots of lesser magnitude,
+had been shot down. But ample revenge had been taken.
+
+"By all rights you are entitled to a holiday before you join your
+new command, under the great Pershing," went on the flight commander.
+"However, as I need the services of two brave men to do patrol duty,
+I appeal to you. There is a machine gun nest, somewhere in the Boche
+lines, that has been doing terrible execution. If you could find
+the battery, and signal its location, we might destroy it with our
+artillery, and so save many brave lives for France," he went on. "I do
+not like to ask you--"
+
+"Tell 'em to get out the machines!" interrupted Jack. "We were just
+wishing we could do something to make up for the loss of Harry Leroy,
+and this may give it to us. You haven't heard anything of him, have
+you?" he asked.
+
+The commander shook his head.
+
+"I fear we shall never hear from him," he said. "Though only yesterday
+we received back some of the effects of one of our men who was shot down
+behind their lines. I can not understand in Leroy's case."
+
+"Well, we'll make 'em pay a price all right!" declared Tom. "And now
+what about this machine gun nest?"
+
+The commander gave them such information as he had. It was not unusual,
+such work as Tom and Jack were about to undertake. As the officer
+had said, they were practically exempt now that they were about to be
+transferred. But they had volunteered, as he probably knew they would.
+
+Two speedy Spad machines were run out for the use of Tom and Jack, each
+one to have his own, for the work they were to do was dangerous and they
+would have need of speed.
+
+They looked over the machine guns to see that they were in shape for
+quick work, and as the one on the machine Tom selected had congealed
+oil on the mechanism, having lately returned from a high flight, another
+weapon was quickly attached. Nothing receives more care and attention
+at an aerodrome than the motor of the plane and the mechanism of the
+machine gun. The latter are constructed so as to be easily and quickly
+mounted and dismounted, and at the close of each day's flight the guns
+are carefully inspected and cleaned ready for the morrow.
+
+"Locate the machine gun battery if you can," was the parting request to
+Tom and Jack as they prepared to ascend. "Send back word of the location
+as nearly as you can to our batteries, and the men there will see to the
+rest."
+
+"We will!" cried the Americans.
+
+Locating a machine gun nest is not as easy as picking out a hostile
+battery of heavier guns, for the former, being smaller, are more easily
+concealed.
+
+But Tom and Jack would, of course, do their best to help out their
+friends, the French. Over toward the German lines they flew, and began
+to scan with eager eyes the ground below them. They could not fly at a
+very great height, as they needed to be low down in order to see, and in
+this position they were a mark for the anti-aircraft guns of the Huns.
+
+They had no sooner got over the enemy trenches, and were peering about
+for the possible location of the machine gun emplacement, when they
+were greeted with bursts of fire. But by skillfully dodging they escaped
+being hit themselves, though their machines were struck. The two chums
+were separated by about a mile, for they wanted to cover as much ground
+as possible.
+
+At last, to his great delight, Tom saw a burst of smoke from a building
+that had been so demolished by shell fire that it seemed nothing could
+now inhabit it. But the truth was soon apparent. The machine gun nest
+was in the cellar, and from there, well hidden, had been doing terrible
+execution on the allied forces. Pausing only to make sure of his
+surmise, Tom began to tap out on his wireless key the location of the
+hidden machine gun nest.
+
+Most of the aeroplanes carry a wireless outfit. An aerial trails after
+them, and the electric impulses, dripping off this, so to speak, reach
+the battery headquarters. Owing to the noise caused by the motor of the
+airship, no message can be sent to the airman in return, and he has to
+depend on signs made on the ground, arrows or circles in white by day
+and lighted signals at night, to make sure that his messages are being
+received and understood.
+
+The Allies, of course, possess maps of every sector of the enemy's
+front, so that by reference to these maps the aircraft observer can send
+back word as to almost the precise location of the battery which it is
+desired to destroy.
+
+Quickly tapping out word where the battery was located, Tom awaited
+developments, circling around the spot in his machine. He was fired at
+from guns on the ground below, but, to his delight, no hostile planes
+rose to give him combat. A glance across the expanse, however, showed
+that Jack was engaging two.
+
+"He's keeping them from me!" thought Tom, and his heart was heavy, for
+he realized that Jack might be killed. However, it was the fortune of
+war. As long as the Hun planes were fighting Jack they would not molest
+him, and he might have time to send word to the French battery that
+would result in the destruction of the Hun machine nest.
+
+There came a burst of fire from the Allied lines he had left, and Tom
+saw a shell land to the left and far beyond the Hun battery hidden in
+the old ruins. He at once sent back a correcting signal.
+
+The more a gun is elevated up to a certain point, the farther it shoots.
+Forty-three degrees is about the maximum elevation. Again, if a gun is
+elevated too high it shoots over instead of directly at the target aimed
+at. It is then necessary to lower the elevation. Tom has seen that the
+guns of the French battery, which were seeking to destroy the machine
+gun nest were shooting beyond the mark. Accordingly they were told to
+depress their muzzles.
+
+This was done, but still the shells fell to the left, and an additional
+correction was necessary. It is comparatively easy to make corrections
+in elevation or depression that will rectify errors in shooting short
+of or beyond a mark. It is not so easy to make the same corrections in
+what, for the sake of simplicity, may be called right or left errors,
+that is horizontal firing. To make these corrections it becomes needful
+to inscribe imaginary circles about the target, in this case the machine
+gun nest.
+
+These circles are named from the letters of the alphabet. For instance,
+a circle drawn three hundred yards around a Hun battery as a center
+might be designated A. The next circle, two hundred yards less in size,
+would be B and so on, down to perhaps five yards, and that is getting
+very close.
+
+The circles are further divided, as a piece of pie is cut, into twelve
+sectors, and numbered from 1 to 12. The last sector is due north, while
+6 would be due south, 3 east, and 9 west, with the other figures for
+northeast, southwest, and so on.
+
+If a shot falls in the fifty-yard circle, indicated by the letter D,
+but to the southwest of the mark, it is necessary to indicate that by
+sending the message "D-7," which would mean that, speaking according to
+the points of the compass, the missile had fallen within fifty yards of
+the mark, but to the south-southwest of it, and correction must be made
+accordingly.
+
+Tom watched the falling shells. They came nearer and nearer to the
+hidden battery and at last he saw one fall plump where it was needed.
+There was a great puff of smoke, and when it had blown away there was
+only a hole in the ground where the ruins had been hiding the machine
+guns.
+
+Tom's work was done, and he flew off to the aid of Jack, who had
+overcome one Hun, sending his plane crashing to earth. But the other,
+an expert fighter, was pressing him hard until Ton opened up on him with
+his machine gun. Then the German, having no stomach for odds, turned
+tail and flew toward his own lines.
+
+"Good for you, Tom!" yelled Jack, though he knew his chum could not hear
+him because of the noise of the motor.
+
+Together the two lads, who had engaged in their last battle strictly
+with the French, made for their aerodrome, reaching it safely, though,
+as it was learned when Jack dismounted, he had received a slight bullet
+wound in one side from a missile sent by one of the attacking planes.
+But the hurt was only a flesh wound; though, had it gone an inch to one
+side, it would have ended Jack's fighting days.
+
+Hearty and enthusiastic were the congratulations that greeted the
+exploit of Torn in finding the German machine gun nest that had been
+such a menace, nor were the thanks to Jack any less warm, for without
+his help Tom could never have maintained his position, and sent back
+corrections to the battery which brought about the desired result.
+
+"It is a glorious end to your stay with us," said the commander, with
+shining eyes, as he congratulated them.
+
+There was a little impromptu banquet in the quarters that night, and Tom
+and Jack were bidden God-speed to their new quarters.
+
+"There's only one thing I want to say!" said Jack quietly, as he rose in
+response to a demand that he talk.
+
+"Let us hear it, my slice of bacon!" called a jolly ace.
+
+"It's this," went on Jack. "That I hereby resolve that if we--I mean Tom
+and I--can't rescue our comrade, Harry Leroy, from the Huns--provided
+he's alive--that we'll take a toll of five Germans for him--or as many,
+up to that number, as we can shoot down before they get us. Five German
+fliers is the price of Harry Leroy, who was worth a hundred of them!"
+
+"Bravo! Hurrah! So he was! Death to the Huns!" were the cries.
+
+Torn Raymond sprang to his feet
+
+"What Jack says I say!" he cried. "But I double the toll. If Harry Leroy
+is dead he leaves a sister. You all saw her here! Well, I'll get five
+Huns for her, and that makes ten between Jack and me!"
+
+"Success to you!" cried several.
+
+With this resolve to spur them on, Tom and Jack bade their bravo
+comrades farewell and started for Paris, whence they were to journey to
+the headquarters of General Pershing and his men.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. IN PARIS
+
+
+Attired in their natty uniforms of the La Fayette Escadrille, which they
+had not discarded, with the double wings showing that they were fully
+qualified pilots and aviators, Jack Parmly and Tom Raymond attracted
+no little attention as, several hours after leaving their places on the
+battle front, they arrived in Paris. They were to have a few days rest
+before joining the newly formed American aviation section which, as yet,
+was hardly ready for active work.
+
+"Well, they're here!" suddenly cried Tom, as he and Jack made their way
+out of the station to seek a modest hotel where they might stay until
+time for them to report.
+
+"Who? Where? I don't see 'em!" exclaimed Jack, as he crowded to the side
+of his chum, murmurs from a group of French persons testifying to the
+esteem in which the American lads were held.
+
+"There!" went on Tom, pointing. "See some of our doughboys! And maybe
+the crowds aren't glad to have 'em here! It's great, I tell you, great!"
+
+As he spoke he pointed to several khaki-clad infantrymen, some of the
+first of the ten thousand Americans lads that were sent over to "take
+the germ out of Germany." The Americans were rather at a loss, but they
+seemed masters of themselves, and laughed and talked with glee as they
+gazed on the unfamiliar scenes. They, too, were enjoying a holiday
+before being sent on to be billeted with the French or British troops.
+
+"Come on, let's talk to 'em!" cried Tom, enthusiastically. "It's as good
+as a letter from home to see 'em!"
+
+"I thought you meant you saw--er--Bessie and her mother," returned Jack,
+and there was a little disappointment in his voice.
+
+"Oh, we'll see them soon enough, if they're still in Paris," said Tom,
+gazing curiously at his chum. "But they don't know we are coming here."
+
+"Yes, they do," said Jack, quietly.
+
+"They do? Then you must have written."
+
+"Of course. Don't you want to see them before we get shipped off to a
+new sector?"
+
+"Why, yes. Just now, though, I'm anxious to hear some good, old United
+States talk. Come on, let's speak to 'em. There's one bunch that seems
+to be in trouble."
+
+But the trouble was only because some of Pershing's boys--as they were
+generally called wanted to make some purchases at a candy shop and did
+not know enough of the language to make their meaning clear. It was a
+good-natured misunderstanding, and both the French shop-keeper and his
+helper and the doughboys were laughing over it.
+
+"Hello, boys! Glad to see you! Can we help you out?" asked Tom, as he
+and Jack joined the group.
+
+The infantrymen whirled about.
+
+"Well, for the love of the Mason an' Dixon line! is there somebody heah
+who can speak our talk?" cried one lad, his accent unmistakably marking
+him as Southern.
+
+"Guess we can help you out," said Jack. "We're from God's country, too,"
+and in an instant the were surrounded and being shaken hands with on all
+sides, while a perfect barrage of questions was fired at them.
+
+Then, when the little misunderstanding at the candy shop had been
+straightened out, Tom and Jack told something of who they were,
+mentioning the fact that they were soon to fight directly under the
+stars and stripes, information which drew whoops of delight from the
+enthusiastic infantrymen.
+
+"But say, friend," called out one of the new American soldiers, "can you
+sling enough of this lingo to lead us to a place where we can get ham
+and eggs? I mean a real eating place, not just a coffee stand. I've
+been opening my mouth, champing my jaws and rubbing my stomach all day,
+trying to tell these folks that I'm hungry and want a square meal, and
+half the time they think I need a doctor. Lead me to a hash foundry."
+
+"All right, come on with us!" laughed Tom. "We're going to eat, too. I
+guess we can fix you up."
+
+The two aviators had been in Paris before and they knew their way about,
+as well as being able to speak the language fairly well. Soon, with
+their new friends from overseas, they were seated in a quiet restaurant,
+where substantial food could be had in spite of war prices. And then it
+was give and take, question and answer, until a group of Parisians that
+had gathered about turned away shaking their heads at their inability to
+understand the strange talk. But they were well aware of the spirit of
+it all, and more than one silently blessed the Americans as among the
+saviors of France.
+
+The wonderful city seemed filled with soldiers of all the Allied
+nations, and most conspicuous, because of recent events, were the
+khaki-clad boys who were soon to fight under Pershing. Having seen that
+the little contingent they had taken under their protection got what
+they wanted, Tom and Jack, bidding them farewell, but promising to see
+them again soon, went to their hotel.
+
+And, their baggage arriving, Jack proceeded to get ready for a bath and
+a general furbishing. He seemed very particular.
+
+"Going out?" asked Tom.
+
+"Why--er--yes. Thought I'd go to call on Bessie Gleason. This is her
+night off duty--hers and her mother's."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Well--er--she said so. Want to come?"
+
+"Nixy. Two's company and you know what three is."
+
+"Oh, come on! Mrs. Gleason will be glad to see you."
+
+"Well, I suppose I might," assented Tom, who, truth to tell, did not
+relish spending the evening alone.
+
+Bessie and her mother had, of late, been assigned as Red Cross workers
+to a hospital in the environs of Paris, and ant times they could come
+into the city for a rest. They maintained a modest apartment not far
+from the hotel where Tom and Jack had put up, and soon the two lads
+found themselves at the place where their friends lived.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad you both came!" exclaimed Bessie as she greeted them.
+"We have company and--"
+
+"Company!" exclaimed Jack, drawing back.
+
+"Yes, the dearest, most delightful girl you ever--"
+
+"Girl!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Yes. But come on in and meet her. I'm sure you'll both fall in love
+with her."
+
+Jack was on the point of saying something, but thought better of it,
+and a moment later, to the great surprise of himself and Torn, they were
+facing Nellie Leroy.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE AMERICAN FRONT
+
+
+Tom and Jack bowed. In fact, so great was their surprise at first that
+this was all they could do. Then they stared first at Bessie and then at
+the other girl--the sister of Harry, their chum, who was somewhere, dead
+or alive, behind the German lines.
+
+"Well, aren't you glad to see her?" demanded Bessie. "I thought I'd
+surprise you."
+
+"You have," said Jack. "Very much!"
+
+"Glad to see her--why--of course. But--but--how--"
+
+Tom found himself stuttering and stammering, so he stopped, and stared
+so hard at Nellie Leroy that she smiled, though rather sadly, for it
+was plain to be seen her grief over the possible death of her brother
+weighed down on her. And then she went on:
+
+"Well, I'm real--I'm not a dream, Mr. Raymond."
+
+"So I see--I mean I'm glad to see it--I mean--oh, I don't know what I do
+mean!" he finished desperately. "Did you know she was going to be here?
+Was that the reason you asked me to come?" he inquired of Jack.
+
+"Hadn't the least notion in the world," answered Jack. "I'm as much
+surprised as you are."
+
+"Well, we'll take pity on you and tell you all about it," said Bessie.
+"Mother, here are the boys," she called; and Mrs. Gleason, who had
+suffered so much since having been saved from the Lusitania and
+afterward rescued by air craft from the lonely castle, came out of her
+room to greet the boys.
+
+They were as glad to see her as she was to meet them again, and for a
+time there was an interchange of talk. Then Mrs. Gleason withdrew to
+leave the young people to themselves.
+
+"Well, go on, tell us all about it!" begged Tom, who could not take his
+eyes off Nellie Leroy. "How did she get here?" and he indicated Harry's
+sister.
+
+"He talks of me as though I were some specimen!" laughed the girl. "But
+go on--tell him, Bessie."
+
+"Well, it isn't much of a story," said Bessie Gleason. "Nellie started
+to do Red Cross work, as mother and I are doing, and she was assigned to
+the hospital where we were."
+
+"This was after I heard the terrible news about poor Harry at your
+escadrille," Nellie broke in, to say to Tom and Jack. "I--I suppose you
+haven't had any--word?" she faltered.
+
+"Not yet," Jack answered. "But we may get it any day now--or they may,
+back there," and he nodded to indicate the air headquarters he and Tom
+had left. "You know we're going to be under Pershing soon," he added.
+
+"So you wrote me," said Bessie. "I'm glad, though it's all in the same
+good cause. Well, as I was saying, Nellie came to our hospital-I call it
+ours though I have such a small part in it," she interjected. "She was
+introduced to us as an American, and of course we made friends at once."
+
+"No one could help making friends with Bessie and her mother!" exclaimed
+Nellie.
+
+"Don't flatter us too much," warned Bessie. "Now please don't interrupt
+any more. As I say, Nellie came to us to do her share in helping care
+for the wounded, and, as mother and I found she had settled on no
+regular place in Paris, we asked her to share our rooms. Then we got to
+talking, and of course I found she had met you two boys in her search
+for her brother. After that we were better friends than ever."
+
+"Glad to know it," said Tom. "There's nothing like having friends.
+I hadn't any notion that I'd meet any when I started out with him
+tonight," and he motioned to Jack.
+
+"Well, I like that!" cried Bessie in feigned indignation. "I like to
+know how you class my mother and me?" and she looked at Tom.
+
+"Oh,--er--well, of course--you and your mother, and Jack. But he and
+you--"
+
+"Better swim out before you get into deep water," advised Jack quickly,
+and he nudged Tom with his foot.
+
+Then the boys had to tell about their final experiences before leaving
+the Lafayette Escadrille with which many trying, as well as many happy,
+hours were associated, and the girls told of their adventures, which
+were not altogether tame.
+
+Since Mrs. Gleason had been freed from the plotting of the spy,
+Potzfeldt, she had lived a happy life--that is as happy as one could
+amid the scenes of war and its attendant horrors. She and Bessie were
+throwing themselves heart and soul into the immortal work of the Red
+Cross, and now Nellie bad joined them.
+
+"It's the only way I can stop thinking about poor Harry," she said with
+a sigh. "Oh, if I could only hear some good news about him, that I might
+send it to the folks at home. Do you think it will ever come--the good
+news, I mean?" she asked wistfully of Tom.
+
+"All we can do is to hope," he said. He knew better than to buoy up
+false hopes, for he had seen too much of the terrible side of war. In
+his heart he knew that there was but little chance for Harry Leroy,
+after the latter's aeroplane had been shot down behind the German lines.
+Yet there was that one, slender hope to which all of us cling when it
+seems that everything else is lost.
+
+"He may be a prisoner, and, in that case, there is a chance," said Tom,
+while Jack and Bessie were conversing on the other side of the room.
+
+"You mean a chance to escape?"
+
+"Hardly that, though it has been done. A few aviators have got away from
+German prison camps. But it's only one chance in many thousand. No, what
+I meant was that--well, it's too small and slim a chance to talk about,
+I'm afraid."
+
+"Oh, no!" she hastened to assure him. "Do tell me! No chance is too
+small. What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, sometimes rescues have been made," went on Tom. "They are even
+more rare than escapes, but they have been done. I was thinking that
+perhaps after Jack and I get in with Pershing's boys we might be in some
+big raid on the Hun lines, and then, if we could get any information as
+to your brother's whereabouts, we might plan to rescue him."
+
+"Oh, do you think you could?"
+
+"I certainly can and will try!" exclaimed Tom, earnestly.
+
+"Oh, will you? Oh, I can't thank you enough!" and she clasped his hand
+in both hers and Tom blushed deeply.
+
+"Please don't count too much on it," Tom warned Nellie. "It's a
+desperate chance at best, but it's the only one I can see that we can
+take. First of all, though, we've got to get some word as to where Harry
+is."
+
+"How can you do that?"
+
+"Some of the Hun airmen are almost human, that is compared to the
+other Boche fighters. They may drop a cap of Harry's or a glove, or
+something," and Tom told of the practice in such cases.
+
+"Oh, if they only will!" sighed Nellie. "But it is almost too much to
+hope."
+
+And so they talked until late in the evening, when the time came for
+Nellie, Bessie and her mother to report back for their Red Cross work.
+The boys returned to their hotel, promising to write often and to see
+their friends at the next opportunity.
+
+"I won't forget!" said Tom, on parting from Nellie.
+
+"Forget what?" asked Jack, as they were going down the street together.
+
+"I'm going to do my best to rescue her brother," said Tom, in a low
+voice.
+
+"Good! I'm with you!" declared Jack.
+
+The stay of the two boys in Paris was all too short, but they were
+anxious to get back to their work. They wanted to be fighting under
+their own flag. Not that they had not been doing all they could for
+liberty, but it was different, being with their own countrymen. And so,
+when their leaves of absence were up, they took the train that was to
+drop them at the place assigned, where the newly arrived Americans were
+beginning their training.
+
+"The American front!" cried Tom, as he and Jack reached the headquarters
+of General Pershing and his associate officers. "The American front at
+last!"
+
+"And it's the happiest day of my life that I can fight on it!" cried
+Jack.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A BATTLE IN THE AIR
+
+
+Strictly speaking there was at that time no American front. That did
+not come until later, for the American soldiers, as was proper, were
+brigaded with the French and British, to enable our troops, who were
+unused to European war conditions, to become acquainted with the needful
+measures to meet and overcome the brutality of the Huns.
+
+But even with this brigading of the United States' troops with the
+seasoned veterans, which, in plain language, meant a mingling of the
+two forces, there was much that was strictly American among the new
+arrivals.
+
+Not only were the khaki-clad soldiers real Americans to the backbone,
+but their equipment and the supplies that had come over with them in the
+transports were such as might be seen at any army camp in this country,
+as distinguished from a French or a British camp.
+
+"Well, the boys are here all right," remarked Jack, as he and Tom made
+their way toward the headquarters at which they were to report.
+
+"Yes, and it makes me feel good to see them!" said Tom. "This is the
+beginning of the end of Kaiserism, if I'm any judge."
+
+"Oh, it isn't going to be so easy as all that," returned Jack. "We'll
+see some hard fighting. Germany isn't licked yet by any means; but
+those, are the boys that can bring the thing to a finish," and he
+pointed to a company of the lean, stem, brown figures that were swinging
+along with characteristic stride.
+
+The place at which Tom and Jack had been ordered to report was an
+interior city of France, not far from the port at which the first
+transport from America had arrived. A first glance at the scenes on
+every hand would have given a person not familiar with war a belief
+that hopeless confusion existed. Wagons, carts, mule teams and motor
+trucks-"lorries," the English call them--were dashing to and fro. Men
+were marching, countermarching, unloading some vehicles, loading others.
+Soldiers were being marched into the interior to be billeted, others
+were being directed to their respective French or English units.
+Officers were shouting commands, and privates were carrying them out to
+the best of their ability.
+
+But though it all seemed chaos, out of it order was coming. There was a
+system, though a civilian would not have understood it.
+
+"Well, let's find out where we're at," suggested Torn, to his chum.
+
+"Right O, my pickled grapefruit!" agreed Jack with a laugh. "Let's get
+into the game."
+
+They were about to ask their direction from a non-commissioned officer
+who was directing a squad of men in the unloading of a truck which
+seemed filled with canned goods, when some one said:
+
+"There goes Black Jack now!"
+
+The two air service boys looked, and saw, passing along not far away,
+a tall man, faultlessly attired, who looked "every inch a soldier," and
+whose square jaw was indicative of his fighting qualities, if the rest
+of his face had not been.
+
+"Is that General Pershing?" asked Tom, in a low voice of the
+non-commissioned officer.
+
+"That's who he is, buddy," was the smiling answer. "The best man in the
+world for the job, too. Come on there now, you with the red hair. This
+isn't a croquet game. Lay into those cases, and get 'em off some time
+before New Year's. We want to have our Christmas dinner in Berlin,
+remember!"
+
+"So that's Pershing," commented Jack, as he looked at the American
+commander, who, with his staff officers, was on a trip of inspection.
+"Well, he suits me all right!"
+
+"The next thing for us to do is to find out if we suit him," remarked
+Tom. "Wonder if he knows we're here?"
+
+"I don't even believe he knows we're alive!" exclaimed Jack, for the
+moment taking Tom's joke quite seriously.
+
+As General Pershing passed on, receiving and returning many salutes, Tom
+and Jack made their inquiries, learned where they were to report, and
+went on their way, longing for the time when they could get into action
+with the American troops.
+
+"Oh, so you're the two aviators from the Lafayette Escadrille,"
+commented the commanding officer, or the C.O., of the newly formed
+American squadron, as Tom and Jack, drawing themselves up as straight
+as they could, saluted when he looked over their papers and their log
+books. These last are the personal records of aviators in which they
+note the details of each flight made. They are official documents, but
+when a birdman is honorably discharged he may take his log book with
+him.
+
+"We were told to report to you, sir," said Tom.
+
+"Yes. And I'm glad to see you. We're going to establish a purely
+American air force, but as yet it is in its infancy. I need some
+experienced fliers, and I'm glad you're going to be with us. Of course
+I have a number who have made good records over there," and he nodded to
+indicate the United States, "But they haven't been under fire yet, and I
+understand you have."
+
+"Some," admitted Jack, modestly enough.
+
+"Good! Well, I'm to have some more of our own boys, who are to be
+transferred from the French forces, and some from the Royal Flying
+Corps, so with that as a start I guess we can build up an air service
+that will make Fritz step lively. But we've got to go slow. One thing
+I'm sorry for is that we haven't, as yet, any American planes. We'll
+have to depend on the French and English for them, as we have to, at
+first, for our artillery and shells."
+
+"We can fly French or British planes," remarked Tom.
+
+And, as my old readers know, the air service boys had had experience
+with a number of different models.
+
+"We can fly a Gotha if we have to," said Jack. "One came down back of
+our lines last month, and we patched it up and flew it for practice."
+
+"I hope you can get some more of that practice," said the commanding
+officer with a smile.
+
+"But, now that you're here, I'll swear you in and see what the orders
+are regarding you. I'm afraid there won't be much fighting for you at
+first--that is strictly as Americans. I understand our air front, if
+I may use that term, will have to grow out of a nucleus of French and
+English fighters."
+
+"That's all right, as long as we get the right start," commented Tom.
+
+It was necessary to swear the boys into the service of the United
+States, even though they were natives of it; since, on entering the
+Lafayette Escadrille, they had been obliged to swear allegiance
+to France. But this was a matter of routine where the Allies were
+concerned, and soon Tom and Jack were back again where they longed to
+be--enrolled among the distinctive fighters of their own country.
+
+They were assigned to barracks, and found themselves among some other
+airmen, many of whom were student fliers from the various aviation camps
+of the United States. Few of these youths had had much practice, though
+some had been to the Canadian schools. And none of them had, as yet,
+fought an enemy in the air.
+
+To aid and instruct them, however, were such fighters as Tom and Jack,
+and some even more experienced from the French, Italian and British
+camps, who had been detailed to help out the United States in the
+emergency.
+
+The next few weeks was an instruction and reconstruction period, with
+Tom and Jack often filling the roles of teachers. They found their
+pupils apt, eager and willing, however, and among them they discovered
+some excellent material. As the commanding officer of the new American
+air forces had said, the planes used were all of English or French make.
+It was too early in the war for America to have sent any over equipped
+with the Liberty motor, though production was under way.
+
+After this period had passed, Tom and Jack, with a squadron of other
+birdmen were sent to a certain section of the front held largely by
+American troops, supported by veteran French and British regiments.
+
+It was the first wholly American aircraft camp established since the
+beginning of the World War, and it was not even yet as wholly American
+as it was destined to be later, for the aviators were, as regards
+veterans, largely French and English. Torn and Jack were, in point of
+service, the ranking American fliers for a time.
+
+There had been several sharp engagements across No Man's Land between
+the mingled French, British and French forces and the Huns, and honors
+were on the side of the former. There had been one or two combats in the
+air, in which Tom and Jack had taken part, when one day word came from
+an observation balloon on the American side that a flock of German
+aircraft was on the way from a camp located a few miles within the Boche
+lines.
+
+There was a harried consultation of the officers, and then orders were
+given for a half score of the Allied machines to get ready. Two veteran
+French aces were to be in command, with Tom and Jack as helpers, and
+some of the American aviators were to go into the battle of the air for
+the first time.
+
+"The Huns are evidently going to try to bomb some of our ammunition
+dumps behind our lines,"' said one officer, speaking to Tom. "It's up to
+you boys to drive 'em back."
+
+"We'll try, sir," was the answer. "We owe the Huns something we haven't
+been able to pay off as yet."
+
+Tom referred to the loss of Harry Leroy. So far no word had been
+received from him, either directly or through the German aviators, as to
+whether he was dead or a prisoner. Letters had passed between Bessie and
+Nellie and Jack and Tom, and the sister of the missing youth begged for
+news.
+
+But there was none to give her.
+
+"Unless we get some to-day," observed Tom as he and his chum hurried
+toward the hangars where their machines were being made ready for them.
+
+"Get news to-day? What makes you think we shall?" asked Jack.
+
+"Well, we might bring down a Fritzie or two who'd know something about
+poor Harry," was the answer. "You never can tell."
+
+"No, that's so," agreed Jack. "Well, here's hoping we'll have luck."
+
+By this time there was great excitement in the American aviation
+headquarters. Word of the oncoming Hun planes had spread, and not a
+flier of Pershing's forces but was eager to get into his plane and go
+aloft to give battle. But only the best were selected, and if there were
+heart-burnings of disappointment it could not be helped.
+
+Two classes of planes were to be used, the single seaters for the aces,
+who fought alone, and the double craft, each one of which carried a
+pilot and an observer. In the latter cases the observers were the new
+men, who had yet to receive their baptism of fire above the clouds.
+
+Tom and Jack were each detailed to take up one of the new men, and the
+air service boys were glad to find that, assigned to each of them,
+was the very man he would have picked had he had his choice. They were
+eager, intrepid lads, anxious to do their share in the great adventure.
+
+Quickly the machines were made ready, and quickly the fighters climbed
+into them. The roar of the motors was heard all over the aerodrome, and
+soon the machines began to mount. Up and up they climbed, and none too
+soon, for on reaching elevations averaging ten thousand feet, there was
+seen, over the German lines, a flock of the Hun planes led by two or
+three machines painted a bright red. These were some of the machines
+that had belonged to the celebrated "flying circus," organized by a
+daring Hun aviator and ace who was killed after he had inflicted great
+damage and loss on the Allied service. He and his men had their machines
+painted red, perhaps on the theory that they would thus inspire terror.
+These were some of the former members of the "circus," it was evident.
+
+"It's going to be a real fight!" cried Tom, as he headed his machine
+toward one of the red craft. Whether the green man Tom was taking up
+relished this or not, knowing, as he must, the reputation of these red
+aviators, Tom did not stop to consider.
+
+Then, as the two hostile air fleets approached, there began a battle
+of the clouds--a conflict destined to end fatally for more than one
+aviator.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE FALLING GLOVE
+
+
+Numerically the Hun planes, were superior to the American fleet of
+airships that quickly rose to oppose them. That probably accounted
+for fact that the Germans did not turn tail and scurry back beyond the
+protection of their own anti-aircraft guns and batteries. For it was
+seldom, if ever, they went into a fight when the odds were against them.
+
+On came the Fokkers and Gothas, the black iron crosses painted on the
+wings of the machines standing out in bold relief in the clear air. The
+sun glinted on the red craft which were in the lead, and besides Tom,
+who headed for one of these, a French ace darted down from a height to
+engage the red planes.
+
+"See if you can plug him when I put you near enough!" cried Tom to his
+observer, who had the reputation of being a good shot with the Lewis
+gun. Practice with the machine weapons in aeroplanes had been going
+on, for some time among the new American aviators. "Let him have a good
+dose!" cried Tom. "If you miss him, then I'll try!"
+
+Of course Tom had to shut off the engine when he said this, as no voice
+could have been heard above the roaring of the powerful motor. But when
+he had given his companion these instructions and had ascertained, by
+a glance over his shoulder, that the lad understood for he nodded his
+head, Tom again turned on the gasoline, and the propeller, that had been
+revolving by momentum and because of the pressure of air against it,
+took up its speed again.
+
+Straight for the red machine rushed Tom, and a quick glance told him
+that his companion was ready with the gun. The weapon to be worked by
+the latter was mounted so that it could be aimed independently of the
+aeroplane. Tom also had a gun in front of him, but it was fixed and
+could be aimed only by pointing the whole craft. Once this was done Tom
+could operate the weapon with one hand, steering with the other, and, at
+times, with his feet and knees.
+
+There came several sharp pops near Tom's head, and he knew these were
+machine bullets from the Hun aviator's gun, breaking through the tightly
+stretched linen fabric of the wings of his own plane.
+
+"Let him have it before he plugs us!" cried Tom to his companion, though
+of course the latter could not hear a word. An instant later Tom heard
+the Lewis gun behind him firing, and he saw several tracer bullets
+strike the Hun machine. But they were not near the aviator himself, and
+did no material damage.
+
+"Guess he's too nervous to shoot straight," reasoned Tom. "I'll have to
+try my own gun," he decided.
+
+Tom noticed that the Hun was climbing up, trying to get into a position
+above the American plane, which is always an advantage. And the air
+service boy knew he must not let this happen. Quickly he shifted the
+rudder and began to climb himself. But he was at a disadvantage as his
+machine carried double, while the red plane had only one man in it, an
+ace beyond a doubt.
+
+"I've got to get him now or never!" thought Tom. Once more he shifted
+his direction, and then, as he had his gun aimed just where he wanted
+it, he pressed the lever and a burst of bullets shot out and fairly
+riddled the red plane. It seemed to stop for an instant in the air, and
+then, quivering, turned and went down in a nose dive, spinning around.
+
+"No fake about that!" mused Tom, as he leaned over and looked down from
+the height. "He's done for!"
+
+And so, the Hun was, for he crashed to the ground behind the American
+lines. The incident did not affect Tom Raymond greatly. It was not his
+first killing. But when he, glanced back toward his companion, he saw
+that the other was shrinking back as if in horror.
+
+"He'll get over that soon enough. All he has to do is to think of what
+the Huns have done--crucifying men and babies--to make his heart hard,"
+thought Tom.
+
+Whether his companion did this or not, did not disclose itself, but the
+fact remains that when Tom flew off to engage another Hun machine the
+lad back of him rose to the occasion and shot so well that Fritz veered
+off and flew back over his own lines, wounded and with his craft barely
+able to fly.
+
+Not all the American machines fared as well as this, however. Jack was
+in poor luck. The first burst of bullets from the German he engaged
+punctured his gasoline tank, and he was obliged to coast back to his own
+aerodrome to get another machine, if possible. He was also hit once in
+the leg, the wound being painful though not dangerous. He received first
+aid treatment and wanted to get back into the fight, but this was not
+allowed, and he had to watch the battle from the ground.
+
+The fight was fast and stubborn, and in the end the American forces won,
+for at a signal from the remaining red plane, which seemed to bear a
+charmed existence, as it did not appear to be hit, the others remaining
+of the Hun forces, turned tail and scooted back to safety.
+
+But they had left a toll of five machines sent crashing to earth, four
+of them each containing two men. The leading French ace was killed, a
+severe loss to the Allied forces, and three of the American machines
+were damaged and their operators severely wounded, though with a chance
+of recovery. By American machines is meant those assigned for use to
+Pershing's forces, though the craft used up to that time were of French
+or English make. The real American machines came into use a little
+later.
+
+"Well, I think we can call it one to our credit," said Tom, as he
+rejoined Jack after the battle.
+
+"Yes. But you had all the luck!" complained his chum. "It went against
+me, and the lad I took up. It--"
+
+"Never mind; it'll be your turn next," replied Tom, consolingly.
+
+And so the new American aviators received their baptism of fire, and, to
+their credit, longed for more.
+
+More credit was really due the American forces than would be indicated
+by the mere citation of the losses inflicted on the German side in this
+first air battle. For many of the American fighters were "green," while
+not one of the Huns, as was learned later, but what had several Allied
+machines to his score. And so there was rejoicing in General Pershing's
+camp, even though it was mingled with sorrow at the losses inflicted.
+
+Busy days followed, Tom and Jack were in the air much of the time. And
+when they were not flying they were delivering talks to new students,
+who were constantly arriving. They found time once to run into Paris on
+their day of leave, to see Bessie and Nellie, and they went on a little
+picnic together, which was as jolly as such an affair could be in the
+midst of the terrible war. Nellie had received no word of her missing
+brother, and Jack and Tom had no encouragement for her.
+
+Then came more hard work at camp, and another battle of the air in
+which the American forces more than equaled matters, for they fairly
+demolished a German plane squadron, sending ten of the machines crashing
+to earth and the others back over the Hun lines, more or less damaged.
+That was a great day. And, as a sort of reward for their work, Tom and
+Jack were given three days' leave. At first they thought to spend them
+in Paris, but, learning that neither Bessie nor her mother nor Nellie
+could leave their Red Cross work to join them, the two lads made other
+arrangements.
+
+"Let's go back and see the fellows in the Lafayette Escadrille,"
+suggested Tom.
+
+"All right," agreed Jack.
+
+And thither they went.
+
+That they were welcomed need not be said. It was comparatively quiet on
+this sector just then, though there had, a few days before, been a great
+battle with victory perching on the Allied banners. The air conflicts,
+too, had been desperate, and many a brave man of the French, English
+or American fliers had met his death. But toll had been taken of the
+Boches--ample toll, too.
+
+The first inquiry Tom and Jack had made on their arrival at their former
+aerodrome had been for news of Harry Leroy, but none had been received.
+
+It was when Tom and Jack were about to conclude their visit to their
+former comrades of the air that an incident occurred which made a great
+change in their lives. One sunny afternoon there suddenly appeared, a
+mere speck in the blue, a single aeroplane.
+
+"Some one of your men must have gone a long way over Heinie's lines,"
+remarked Jack to one of the French officers.
+
+"He is not one of our men. Either they were all back long ago or they
+will not come back until after the war--if ever. That is a Hun machine."
+
+"What is he doing--challenging to single combat?" asked Tom, as the lone
+plane came on steadily.
+
+"No," answered the officer, after a look through his glasses. "I think
+he brings some messages. We sent some to the Germans yesterday, and I
+think this is a return courtesy. We will wait and see."
+
+Nearer and nearer came the German plane. Soon it was circling around the
+French camp. Hundreds came out to watch, for now the object of the lone
+aviator was apparent. He contemplated no raid. It was to drop news of
+captured, or dead, Allied airmen.
+
+Then, as Tom, and the others watched, a little package was seen to
+fall from the hovering aeroplane. It landed on the roof of one of the
+hangars, bounced off and was picked up by an orderly, who presented it
+to the commanding officer.
+
+Quickly and eagerly it was opened. It contained some personal belongings
+of Allied airmen who had been missing for the past week. Some of them,
+the message from the German lines said, had been killed by their falls
+after being shot down, and it was stated that they had been decently
+buried. Others were wounded and in hospitals.
+
+"No word from Harry," said Tom, sadly, as the last of the relics from
+the dead and the living were gone over.
+
+"Well, I guess we may as well give him up," added Jack. "But we can
+avenge him. That's all we have left, now."
+
+"Yes," agreed Tom. "If we only--?"
+
+A cry from some of those watching the German plane interrupted him. The
+two air service boys looked up. Another small object was falling. It
+landed with a thud, almost at the feet of Tom and Jack, and the latter
+picked it up.
+
+It was an aviator's glove; and as Jack held it up a note dropped
+out. Quickly it was read, and the import of it was given to all in a
+simultaneous shout of joy from Tom and Jack.
+
+"It's word from Harry Leroy! Word from Harry at last!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. STUNTS
+
+
+Truly enough, word had come from the missing aviator, or, if not
+directly from him, at least from his captors. The German airmen, falling
+in with the chivalry which had been initiated by the French and English,
+and later followed by the Americans, had seen fit to inform the comrades
+of the captured man of his whereabouts.
+
+"Where is he? What happened to him?" asked several, as all crowded
+around Tom and Jack to hear the news.
+
+Jack, reading the note, told them. The missive was written in very good
+English, though in a German hand. It stated that Harry Leroy had been
+shot down in his plane while over the German lines, and had fallen in a
+lonely spot, wounded.
+
+The wound was not serious, it was stated, and the prisoner was doing
+as well as could be expected, but he would remain in the hands of his
+captors until the end of the war. The reason his whereabouts was not
+mentioned before was that the Germans did not know they had one of the
+Allied aviators in their midst.
+
+Leroy had not only fallen in a lonely spot, but he was made unconscious
+by his fall and injuries, and when he recovered he was lying near his
+almost demolished plane.
+
+He managed to get out his log book and other confidential papers, and
+set fire to them and the plane with the gasoline that still remained in
+the tank. He destroyed them so they might not fall into the hands of the
+Germans, a fate he knew would be his own shortly.
+
+But Harry Leroy was not doomed to instant capture. The blaze caused by
+his burning aeroplane attracted the attention of a peasant, who had not
+been deported when the enemy overran his country, for the young aviator
+had fallen in a spot well back of the front lines. This French peasant
+took Harry to his little farm and hid him in the barn. There the man,
+his wife, and his granddaughters, looked after the injured aviator,
+feeding him and binding up his hurts. It was a great risk they took,
+and Harry Leroy knew it as well as they. But for nearly two weeks he
+remained hidden, and this probably saved his life, for he got better
+treatment at the farmhouse than he would, as an enemy, have received in
+a German hospital.
+
+But such good luck could not last. Suspicion that Americans were hidden
+in the Frenchman's barn began to spread through the country, and rather
+than bring discovery on his friends, Leroy left the barn one night.
+
+He had a desperate hope that he might reach his own lines, as he was now
+pretty well recovered from his 'Injuries, but it was not to be. He was
+captured by a German patrol. But by his quick action Harry Leroy had
+removed suspicion from the farmer, which was exactly what he wished to
+do.
+
+The Germans, rejoicing over their capture, took the young aviator to the
+nearest prison camp, and there he was put in custody, together with some
+unfortunate French and English. The tide of war had turned against Harry
+Leroy.
+
+So it came about that, some time after he had been posted as missing and
+when it was surely thought that he was dead, Harry Leroy was found to be
+among the living, though a prisoner.
+
+"This will be great news for his sister!" exclaimed Jack, as the note
+dropped by the German airman was read over and over again.
+
+"Yes, she'll be delighted," agreed Tom. "We must hurry back and tell
+her."
+
+"And that isn't all," went on Jack. "We must try to figure out a way to
+rescue Harry."
+
+"You can't do that," declared a French ace, one with whom the air
+service boys had often flown.
+
+"Why not?" asked Tom.
+
+"It's out of the question," was the answer. "There has never been a
+rescue yet from behind the German lines. Or, if there has been, it's
+like a blue moon."
+
+"Well, we can try," declared Jack, and Tom nodded his head in agreement.
+
+"Don't count too much on it," added another of their friends. "Harry may
+not even be where this note says he is."
+
+"Do you mean that the Germans would say what isn't so?" asked Tom.
+
+"Of course! Naturally!" was the answer. "But even if they did not in
+this case, even if they have truly said where Leroy is, he may be moved
+at any time--sent to some other prison, or made to work in the mines or
+at perhaps something far worse."
+
+Tom and Jack realized that this might be so, and they felt that there
+was no easy task ahead of them in trying to rescue their chum from the
+hands of the Germans. But they were not youths who gave up easily.
+
+"May we keep this note?" asked Tom, as he and Jack got ready to depart.
+Having fallen on the camp of the escadrille with which they were
+formerly quartered, it was, strictly speaking, the property of the
+airmen there. But having been told how much the sister of the prisoner
+would appreciate it, the commanding officer gave permission for Tom and
+Jack to take the glove and note with them.
+
+"Let us know if you rescue him, Comrades!" called the Frenchmen to the
+two lads, as they started back for their own camp.
+
+"We will," was the answer.
+
+Nellie Leroy's joy in the news that her brother was alive was tempered
+by the fact that he was a German prisoner.
+
+"But we're going to get him!" declared Tom even though he realized, as
+he said it, that it with almost a forlorn hope.
+
+"You are so good," murmured the girl.
+
+Jack and Tom spent a few happy hours in Paris, with Nellie and
+Bessie--the last of their leave--and then, bidding the girls and Mrs.
+Gleason farewell, they reported back to the American aerodrome, where
+the young airmen were cordially welcomed.
+
+There they found much to do, and events followed one another so rapidly
+at this stage of the World War that Tom and Jack, after their return,
+had little time for anything but flying and teaching others what they
+knew of air work. They had no opportunity to do anything toward the
+rescue of Harry Leroy; and, indeed, they were at a loss how to proceed.
+They were just hoping that something would transpire to give them a
+starting point.
+
+"We'll have to leave it to luck for a while," said Torn.
+
+"Or fate," added Jack.
+
+"Well, fate plays no small part in an airman's life," returned Tom.
+"While we are no more superstitions than any other soldiers, yet there
+are few airmen who do not carry some sort of mascot or good-luck piece.
+You know that, Jack."
+
+And even the casual reader of the exploits of the aviators must have
+been impressed with the fact that often the merest incident--or accident
+is responsible for life or death.
+
+Death often passes within hair's breadth of the intrepid fliers, and
+some of them do not know it until after they have made a landing and
+have seen the bullet holes in their machine--holes that indicate how
+close the missiles have passed to them.
+
+So, in a way, both Tom and Jack believed in luck, and they both believed
+that this same luck might point out to them a way of rescuing Harry
+Leroy.
+
+Meanwhile they were kept busy. After the big battle in the air matters
+were quiet for a time on their sector of the front. The arrival of new
+fliers from America made it necessary to instruct them, and to this Tom,
+Jack and other veterans were detailed.
+
+Then began a series of what Jack called "stunts." In order to inspire
+the new pupils with confidence, the older flying men--not always older
+in years--would go aloft in their single planes and do all sorts of
+trick flying. Some of the pupils--the more daring, of course--wished to
+imitate these, but of course they were not allowed.
+
+The pupils were first allowed merely to go with an experienced man.
+This, of course, they had done at the flying schools in the United
+States, and had flown alone. But they had to start all over again when
+on French soil, for here they were exposed, any time, to an attack from
+a Hun plane.
+
+After they had, it was thought, got sufficient experience to undertake
+these trick features by themselves, they were allowed to make trial
+flights, but not over the enemy lines.
+
+Tom and Jack gave the best that was in them to these enthusiastic
+pupils, and there was much good material.
+
+"What are you going to do to-day, Jack?" asked Tom one morning, as they
+went out after breakfast to get into their "busses," as they dubbed
+their machines.
+
+"Oh, got orders to do some spiral and somersault stunts for the benefit
+of some huns." ("Hun," used in this connection, not referring to the
+Germans. "Hun" is the slang term for student aviators, tacked on them by
+more experienced fliers.)
+
+"Same here. Good little bunch of huns in camp now."
+
+Tom nodded in agreement, and the two were soon preparing to climb aloft.
+
+With a watching group of eager young men on the ground below, in company
+with an instructor who would point out the way certain feats were done,
+Torn and Jack began climbing. Presently they were fairly tumbling about
+like pigeons, seeming to fall, but quickly straightening out on a level
+keel and coming to the ground almost as lightly as feathers.
+
+"A good landing is essential if one would become a good airman," stated
+the instructor. "In fact I may say it is the hardest half of the game.
+For it is comparatively easy to leave the earth. It is the coming back
+that is difficult, like the Irishman who said it wasn't the fall that
+hurts, it was the stopping."
+
+"Give 'em a bit of zooming now," the instructor said to Tom and Jack.
+"The boys may have to use that any time they're up and a Boche comes at
+them."
+
+"Zooming," he went on to the pupils, "is rising and falling in a series
+of abrupt curves like those in a roller-coaster railway. It is a very
+useful stunt to be master of, for it enables one to rise quickly when
+confronting a field barrier, or to get out of range of a Hun machine
+gun."
+
+Tom undertook this feature of the instruction, as Jack signaled that his
+aeroplane was out of gasoline, and soon the former was rolling across
+the aviation field, seemingly straight toward a row of tall trees.
+
+"He'll hit 'em sure!" cried one student.
+
+"Watch him," ordered the instructor.
+
+With a quick pull on the lever that controlled the rudder, Tom sent
+himself aloft, but not before a curious thing happened.
+
+On the ground where it had been dropped was a tunic, or airman's
+fur-lined jacket. As Tom's machine "zoomed," the tail skid caught this
+jacket and took it aloft.
+
+Tom did not seem to be aware of this, though he must have felt that his
+machine was a bit sluggish in the climbs. However, he went through with
+his performance, doing some beautiful "zooming," and then, as he was
+flying high and getting ready to do a spiral nose dive, the tunic
+detached itself from his skid and fell.
+
+Just at this moment Jack came out from the hangar and, looking aloft and
+noting Tom's machine, saw the falling jacket. His heart turned sick
+and faint, for, unaware of what had happened, he thought his chum had
+tumbled out while at a great height. For the tunic, turning over and
+over as it sailed earthward, did resemble a falling body.
+
+"Oh, Tom! Tom! How did it happen?" murmured Jack.
+
+The others, laughing, told him that it was nothing serious, but Jack
+looked a bit worried until the empty jacket fell on the grass and, a
+little later, Tom himself came down smiling from aloft, all unaware of
+the excitement he had caused.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. OVER THE LINES
+
+
+"Well, I guess we stay downstairs, to-day," remarked Tom to Jack,
+the day following their exhibition flights for the benefit of the air
+students.
+
+"Yes, it doesn't look very promising," returned his chum.
+
+Jack looked aloft where the sky--or what took its place--was represented
+by a gray mist that seemed ready to drip water at any moment. It was
+a day of "low visibility," and one when air work was almost totally
+suspended. This applied to the enemy as well as to the Yankees. For even
+though it is feasible to go up in an aeroplane in fog, or even rain or
+snow, it is not always safe to come down again in like conditions.
+
+There is nothing worse than rain, snow or fog for clouding an aviator's
+goggles, making it impossible for him to see more than a plane's length
+ahead, if, indeed, he can see that far. Then, too, little, if anything,
+can be accomplished by going aloft in a storm or fog. No observations
+of any account can be made, and the aviator, once he gets aloft, is as
+likely to come down behind the German lines as he is to descend safely
+within his own.
+
+That being the case, Tom and Jack, in common with their comrades of the
+air, had a vacation period. Some of them obtained leave and went to the
+nearest town, while some put in their time going over their guns and
+glasses and equipment and machines.
+
+Jack and Tom elected to do the latter. There was one very fast and
+powerful Spad which they often used together, taking turns at piloting
+it and acting as observer. They thought they might have a chance soon to
+go over the German lines in this, their favorite craft, so they decided
+to put in their spare time seeing that it was in perfect shape, and that
+the two machine guns were ready for action when needed.
+
+"'Would you rather do this than fly, Jack?" asked Tom, as they went
+over, in detail, each part of the powerful Spad.
+
+"I should say not! But, after all, one is just as important as the
+other. I hope we get a good day to-morrow. I'd like to do something
+toward seeing if we can't get Harry out of the Boche's clutches," and he
+nodded in the direction of the German lines.
+
+"'Tisn't going to be easy doing that," remarked Tom. "I'd ask nothing
+better than to have a hand in getting him away, but I haven't yet been
+able to figure out a shadow of a plan. Have you?"
+
+"The only thing, I can think of is to organize a big raid on the section
+where he's held--I mean somewhere near the German prison--and if we
+bombed the place enough, and created enough excitement, some of us might
+land and get Harry and any others that might be with him."
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"That'd be a pretty risky way of doing it," he said.
+
+"Can you think of a better?" Jack demanded quickly.
+
+"Not off hand," came the reply. "We've got to stew over it a bit. One
+thing's sure--we've got to get Harry out, or his sister never will feel
+like going back home and facing the folks."
+
+"That's right!" agreed Jack. "We've got a double motive for this. But
+I'm afraid it's going to be too hard."
+
+"That's what we thought when we rescued Mrs. Gleason from the old castle
+where Potzfeldt had her caged," retorted Tom. "But you made out all
+right."
+
+"Yes; thanks to your help."
+
+"Well, we'll both work together again," declared Tom. "And now let's
+try this Lewis gun. The last time we were up it jammed on me, and yet it
+worked all right on the ground." So they tested the guns, looked to the
+motor, and in general made ready for a flight when the weather should
+clear.
+
+This happened two days later, when the fog and mist were blown away and
+the blue sky could be seen. In the interim the artillery and infantry
+on both sides had not been idle, and there had been some desperate
+engagements, with the brigaded American troops making a new name for
+themselves.
+
+"I guess there'll be something doing to-day," remarked Tom, as he and
+Jack tumbled out of bed at the usual early hour. "Clear as a bell," he
+announced, after a glance from the window. "Shouldn't wonder but what we
+went over their lines to-day."
+
+"And I suppose, by the same token, they'll be coming over ours," and
+Jack nodded to indicate the Germans.
+
+"Let 'em come!" exclaimed Tom. "It takes two sides to make a fight, and
+that's what we're here for."
+
+Hardly had the two air service boys finished their breakfast, than an
+orderly came to tell them the commanding officer wanted them to report
+to him. They hurried across the aviation ground, toward the headquarters
+building, noting on the way that there were signs of unusual activity
+among the newer members of the American air forces, as well as among the
+French and British veterans.
+
+"Must be going to make a raid," observed Jack.
+
+"Something like that--yes," assented Tom.
+
+"Hope we're in on it, and the commanding officer doesn't have us take
+some huns up to show 'em what makes the wheels go around," went on Jack.
+"Of course that's part of the game, but we've done our share."
+
+However, they need have felt no fear, for when they stood before the
+commanding officer, saluting, they quickly learned that they were to go
+on a special mission that day--in fact as soon as they could get ready.
+
+"I want you two to see if you can discover a battery of small guns that
+have been playing havoc with our men," he said, as he looked up from a
+table covered with maps. "They're located somewhere along this front,
+but they're so well camouflaged that no one has yet been able to
+discover them.
+
+"I want you boys to see if you can turn the trick. The guns have killed
+a lot of our men, as well as the French and English. We've tried to rush
+the emplacement, but we can't get a line on where it is for it's well
+hidden. I asked permission of the British commanding general to send up
+two American scouts, and he mentioned you boys. Get your orders from the
+major, and good luck to you."
+
+"Do you want us to go together or separately?" asked Tom.
+
+"Together--in a double plane. I might say that we are going to try a
+raid on a big scale over the enemy's lines, and you two will thus have a
+better chance to carry out your observations unmolested. The Hun planes
+will have their hands full attending to our fighters, and they may not
+attack a single plane off by itself. We'll try to draw them away from
+you.
+
+"At the same time I might point out that there is nothing sure in this,
+and that you may have to fight also," concluded the commanding officer,
+as he waved a dismissal.
+
+"Oh, were ready for anything," announced Tom. And as he and Jack got
+outside he clapped his chum on the back, crying: "That's the stuff! Good
+old C.O. to send us! That's what we've been looking for! Maybe we'll
+have time to drop down and shoot some of the Huns that are guarding
+Harry."
+
+"No chance of that--forget it now," urged Jack. "We'll clean up this
+location trick first, and then think of a plan to get Harry away. It
+sounds hard to say it, but it's all we can do. Orders are orders."
+
+They were glad they had made ready the speedy Spad plane, for it was
+in this that they would try to locate the hidden battery, and, having
+received detailed instructions from the major in command, the two lads
+climbed into their air plane and started off.
+
+The day was clear and bright, just the sort for aeroplane activity; and
+it was evident there would be plenty of it, since, even as they began
+climbing, Tom and Jack saw planes from their own aerodrome skirting
+ahead of and behind them, while, in the distance and over German-held
+territory, were Fokkers and Gothas with the iron cross conspicuously
+painted on each.
+
+Tom and Jack had been given a map of the front, their own and the German
+lines being shown, and the probable location of the hidden Hun battery
+marked. This they now studied as they started over the front, Jack being
+in front, while Tom sat behind him, to work the swivel Lewis gun.
+
+Their Spad machine was one that could be controlled from either seat, so
+that if one rider was disabled the other could take charge. There
+were two guns, one fixed and the other movable, and a good supply of
+ammunition.
+
+"Well, I guess there'll be some fighting to-day," observed Tom, as Jack
+shut off the motor for a moment, to see if it would respond readily when
+the throttle was opened again. "They're closing in from both sides."
+
+And indeed the Allied planes were sailing forth to meet a squadron of
+the enemy. But none of the Hun craft seemed to pay any attention to Tom
+and Jack. Steadily they flew on until an exclamation from Jack caused
+Tom to look down. He noted that they were over the German lines, and
+headed for the probable location of the battery that had been such a
+thorn in the side of the Allies.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. A PERFECT SHOT
+
+
+The plane in which Tom and Jack had gone aloft to make observations
+which, it was hoped, would result in the discovery of the hidden
+battery, was a special machine. While very powerful and swift and
+equipped for air-fighting, it was also one that had been used by one of
+the French photographers and his pilot. The photographer, was a daring
+man, and had, not long before, gone to his death in fighting three
+Hun planes. But he had peculiar ideas regarding his car, and under his
+orders it had been fitted with a glass floor in the two cockpits, or
+what corresponded to them.
+
+Thus he and his pilot could look down and observe the nature of the
+enemy country over which they were traveling without having to lean
+over, not always a safe act where anti-aircraft guns below are shooting
+up shrapnel.
+
+So as Torn and Jack flew on and on, over the enemy's first and
+succeeding line trenches, they looked down through the glass windows in
+the plane to make their observations. There was a camera attached to
+the plane, and though they could each make use of it, but they were not
+skilled in this work.
+
+It was impossible for them to talk to one another now, as Jack had the
+motor going almost full speed, and the noise it made was deafening, or
+it would have been except for the warm, fur hoods that covered the ears
+of the fliers. They were warmly dressed for they did not know how high
+they might ascend, and it is always cold up above, no matter how hot it
+is on the earth.
+
+Up and up they climbed, and then they flew on and over the enemy lines,
+keeping close lookout for anything unusual below that would indicate
+the presence of the battery. Behind them, and off to one side, a fierce
+aerial battle was going on.
+
+Tom and Jack were eager to get into this and do their share. But they
+had orders to make their observations, and they dared not 'refuse. They
+could tell by looking back every now and then that the affair was going
+well for the Allies, including some of the American airmen, even if the
+Huns outnumbered them.
+
+Back and forth over the German lines swept the glass-bottomed Spad, and
+at a certain point Tom, who was looking down, uttered an exclamation. Of
+course Jack could not hear, but he could feel the punch in the back his
+chum administered a moment later.
+
+Jack turned his head, and saw his chum eagerly pointing downward. A
+moment later he motioned over his left shoulder, pointing backward, as
+though they had just passed over something which would warrant a second
+inspection.
+
+Jack swung the machine about in a big circle, banking sharply, and then,
+as he passed over the ground covered a little while before, he, too,
+looked down, and with sharper glance than he had used at first.
+
+What he saw was the ruins of a small French chateau. It had been under
+heavy fire from the Allied guns, for it had sheltered a German machine
+gun nest, and some accurate shooting on the part of the American gunners
+had demolished it a day or so before.
+
+But what attracted the attention of Tom and Jack was that whereas the
+chateau before the bombardment had stood on a little hill without a
+tree near it, now there was a miniature forest surrounding it. It was
+as though trees and bushes had sprung up in the night. As soon as he
+had seen this, Jack turned to Tom, nodded comprehendingly, and at once
+started back over the American lines. They had no easy time reaching
+them, for by this time the fleet of Hun planes had been defeated by the
+Allies, and had turned tail to run for safety--that is what were left of
+them, several having been shot down, and at no small cost to the French,
+English and American forces.
+
+But the defeat of their airmen seemed to anger the Germans, and they
+opened up with their antiaircraft batteries on the machine in which Tom
+and Jack were flying homeward. "Woolly bears" and "flaming onions," as
+well as shrapnel, was used against them, and they were in considerable
+danger. Jack had to "zoom" several times to get out of reach of the
+shells.
+
+They finally reached their aerodrome, however, and as soon as they had
+landed and their plane was taken in charge by the mechanics the two lads
+hurried to the commanding officer.
+
+"Well?" he asked sharply, as they saluted. "Did you discover anything?"
+
+"I think so, sir," returned Tom, for Jack had told his chum to do
+the talking, since the discovery was his. "You remember, sir, the old
+chateau we put out of business the other day?"
+
+"Yes, I recall it. What about it?"
+
+"This: It seems suddenly to have grown a wooded park around it, and
+the trees and bushes don't seem to be as fresh as natural ones ought to
+look."
+
+"You mean they camouflaged the ruins, and have put another battery in
+the old, chateau?"
+
+"I think so, sir. It wouldn't do any harm to drop a few shells there.
+If it's still a ruin the worst will be that we've wasted a little
+ammunition and may start the German guns up. And if it is what we think
+it is, we may blow up the battery."
+
+The commander thought for a moment.
+
+"I'll try it!" he suddenly said. "It's worth all it will cost."
+
+He called an orderly and issued his instructions. Tom and Jack had not
+yet been dismissed, and now the commanding officer turned to them and
+said:
+
+"Since you boys were sharp enough to discover this, I'll let you have a
+front seat at the show which will start soon. Go up and do contact work.
+Let the gunners know when they make a hit."
+
+The air service boys could not have wished for anything better.
+
+"Once more for our bus!" exclaimed Jack delightedly, when they were
+outside.
+
+Their Spad had been refilled with gasoline, or "petrol," as it is called
+on the other side, and oil had been put in, while the machine guns had
+been looked to.
+
+"You seem to have spotted it all right, Tom," went on Jack, just as
+they were about to start, for word came that the American batteries were
+ready.
+
+"Yes, I was looking down through the glass, and when I saw the old
+chateau it struck me that it had suddenly grown a beard. I remembered
+it before, as being on a bare hill. I thought it was funny, and that I
+might be mistaken. But when you agreed with me I knew I was right."
+
+"Oh, the Huns have brought up trees and bushes to disguise the place all
+right," declared, Jack. "The only question is whether or not the battery
+is hidden there."
+
+But there was not long a question about that. Their machine was equipped
+with wireless to signal back the result of the shots, and Jack and
+Tom were soon in position. From the maps used when they had previously
+shelled the place to drive out the German gunners, the American
+artillery forces knew just about where to plant the shells.
+
+There was a burst of fire from the designated battery. Up aloft Jack and
+Tom watched the shell fall. It was a trifle over, and a correction was
+signaled back.
+
+A moment later the second shell--a big one sailed over the German first
+lines, and fell directly on the chateau partly hidden in the woods.
+
+There was a burst of smoke, and with it mingled clouds of dust and
+flying particles. Faintly to Tom and Jack, above the noise of their
+motor, came the sound of a terrific explosion.
+
+There had been a direct hit on the old ruins, as was proved by the fact
+that not only was the German battery put out of commission, but a great
+quantity of ammunition hidden in the trees and bushes was blown up, and
+with it a considerable number of Germans.
+
+And that it was a place well garrisoned was evident to the air service
+boys as they saw a few Huns, who were not killed by the shell and
+resultant explosion of the ammunition dump, running away from the place
+of destruction.
+
+"That was it all right," said Jack, as he and Tom landed back of their
+own lines.
+
+"Yes, and it couldn't have been hit better. I hope that was the battery
+they wanted put out of business."
+
+And it was, for no more shells came from that vicinity of the Hun
+positions for a long time. The aeroplane observations had given the very
+information needed, and Tom and Jack were congratulated, not only by
+their comrades, but by the commanding officer himself, which counted for
+a great deal.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. A DARING SCHEME
+
+
+Tom sat up on his bunk and looked across at Jack, who was just showing
+signs of returning consciousness--that is, he was getting awake. It was
+the morning after the successful discovery of the hidden German battery,
+and since this exploit the two lads had not been required to go on duty.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Jack, opening his eyes and looking at his
+chum. "Has the mail come in? Any letters?"
+
+"No. I was just thinking," remarked Tom, and though his eyes were fixed
+on Jack it was clear that his thoughts were somewhere else.
+
+"Thinking, Tom? That's bad business. Have you seen the doctor?"
+
+"Oh, shut off your gas!" ordered Tom. "You're side slipping. First you
+know you'll come down in a tail spin and I'll have to be looking for a
+new partner."
+
+"It's as serious as all that, is it?" asked Jack, as he began to dress.
+"Well, in that case I withdraw my observation. Go ahead. How's the
+visibility?"
+
+"Low. We won't have to go up to-day, unless it clears."
+
+"Um. And I was counting on getting a few Huns right after breakfast.
+Well, what's your think about, if you really were indulging in that
+expensive pastime?"
+
+"I was," said Tom, and he got up and also proceeded to put on his
+clothes. "I was thinking about Harry."
+
+"Oh!" and Jack's voice was decidedly different. It had lost all its
+flippant tone. "Say, he certainly is in tough luck. I wish we could do
+something for him--and his sister. Doubtless you were thinking of her,
+too," and a little smile curled his lips.
+
+"Yes, I was thinking of Nellie," conceded Tom, and he was so bold and
+frank about it that Jack choked back the joke that he was about to make.
+"I was thinking that we haven't done very much to redeem our promise."
+
+"But how can we?" asked Jack. "We haven't had a chance to do anything to
+rescue Harry. Of course I want to do that as much as you do, but how is
+it to be done? Can you answer me that?"
+
+"We can't do it by just talking," said Tom. "That's what I've been
+thinking about. A scheme came to me in the night, and I've been waiting
+to tell you about it."
+
+"Shoot then, my pickled blunderbuss," returned Jack. "I'm with you to
+the last drop of petrol."
+
+"Well, I don't know that it's so much," said Tom. "It's only that we
+ought to get word to Harry, somehow, that we're thinking of him and
+trying to plan some way of rescuing him. We ought to tell him his sister
+is here, too, and, at the same time we might drop him something to smoke
+and a cake or two of chocolate."
+
+Jack looked at his chum in amazement. Then he burst out with:
+
+"Say, while you're at it why don't you send him a piano, and an
+automobile, too, so he can ride home when he wants to? What do you
+mean--getting word to him? Don't you know that the beastly Huns will
+hold up the mail as they please, and anything else we might send. They
+don't even let the Red Cross packages go through until they get good and
+ready. Talk about your barbarians!"
+
+"Oh, I wasn't thinking of the mail," replied Tom.
+
+"No? What then?"
+
+"Why, we know where he is held a prisoner--at least we have the name of
+the prison camp, and he may be there unless he's been transferred. Of
+course that's possible, but it's worth taking a chance on."
+
+"A chance on what?" asked Jack, "You haven't explained yet. What do you
+plan to do?"
+
+"Fly over the place where Harry is held a prisoner and drop down a
+package and some letters to him," said Tom. "Now wait until you hear
+it all before you say it can't be done!" he went on quickly, for Jack
+seemed about to interrupt.
+
+"If Harry is held where he was first made a prisoner, it's a big place,
+and there are thousands of our captives there, as well as French and
+British. Well, where there are so many they have to have a big stockade
+to pen 'em in, worse luck. And dropping a bomb on a big place is easier
+than dropping one on a small object."
+
+"Say! Suffering snuffle-boxes!" cried Jack. "You don't mean to drop a
+bomb in Harry's prison, camp, do you? Do you think he might possibly
+escape in the confusion?"
+
+"Nothing like that," said Tom. "I mean drop a package containing some
+smokes, some chocolate and a letter telling him we haven't forgotten
+him and that we're going to try to rescue him, and for him to be on the
+lookout. That could be done."
+
+"How?"
+
+"By us flying over the place in our speedy Spad. We needn't make a very
+big package, though the more of something to eat we can give him the
+better, for those Boches starve our men. Let's get a week off--the
+commanding officer will let us go. We can go to our old escadrille and
+make arrangements to start from there. The boys will help us all they
+can."
+
+"Oh, there's no doubt about that," assented Jack. "They all liked Harry
+as much as we did. But I can't see that your scheme will succeed. It's a
+risky one."
+
+"All the more reason why it ought to succeed," declared Tom. "It's the
+fellows who take chances who get by. Now let's see if we can get a few
+hours off to go to Paris."
+
+"Go to Paris? What for?"
+
+"To see Nellie Leroy and have her write her brother a letter. It will be
+better to have one come direct from her than for us merely to give him
+news of her in one of our notes."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack, "I guess it would. And I begin to see which way the
+wind blows. You wish to see Nellie."
+
+"Oh, you make me tired!" exclaimed Tom. "All you can think of is girls!
+I tell you I'm doing this for Harry!"
+
+"And I believe you, old top, and what's more, I'm with you from the word
+go. It's a crazy scheme and a desperate one, but for that very reason it
+may succeed. The only thing is that we may not get permission to carry
+it out."
+
+"Oh, I don't intend that anyone shall know what our game is," returned
+Tom. "Of course the authorities would squash it in a minute. No, we'll
+have to keep dark about that. All we need is permission to do a little
+flying 'on our own,' for a while."
+
+"Suppose they won't let us do that?"
+
+"Oh, I think they will, after what we did yesterday," said Tom. "Come
+on, let's get ready to go to Paris."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. WILL THEY SUCCEED?
+
+
+The scheme evolved, or, perhaps, dreamed of by Tom Raymond in his
+anxiety to get some word to the captive Harry Leroy worked well at the
+start. When he and Jack asked permission to have half a day off to make
+the trip to Paris it was readily granted. Perhaps it was because of
+their exploit of the day before, when their sharp eyes had discovered
+the camouflaged German battery and brought about its destruction, or
+maybe it was because the day was a misty one,+ when no flying could be
+done.
+
+At any rate, soon after breakfast saw the two boys on their way to the
+wonderful city--wonderful in spite of war and the German "super cannon,"
+which had itself been destroyed.
+
+Tom and Jack knew that unless their plans were changed, the two girls
+and Mrs. Gleason would be at home in Paris, for they had a holiday once
+in every seven, and it was their custom to come to their lodging for
+a rest from the merciful, though none the less exceedingly trying, Red
+Cross work.
+
+Nor had the boys guessed in vain, for when they presented themselves
+at the Gleason lodging, where Nellie Leroy was also staying, they were
+greeted with exclamations of delight.
+
+"We were just thinking of you," said Bessie, as she shook hands with
+Jack.
+
+"And so we were of you," Jack replied, gallantly.
+
+"I thought of it first," said Tom. "He'll have to give me credit for
+that."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack, "I will. He's got a great scheme," he added, as Mrs.
+Gleason came in to greet the boys. "Tell 'em, Tom."
+
+"Is it anything about--oh, have you any news for me about Harry?" asked
+Nellie eagerly.
+
+"Not exactly news from him, but we're going to send some news to him!"
+exclaimed Tom. "I want you to write him a letter-a real, nice, sisterly
+letter."
+
+"What good will that do?" asked Nellie. "I've sent him a lot, but I
+can't be sure that he gets them. I don't even know that he is alive."
+
+"Oh, I think he is," said Tom, hopefully. "If the German airmen were
+decent enough to let us know he was a prisoner of theirs, they would
+tell us if--if--well, if anything had happened to him."
+
+"I think," he went on, "that you, can count on his being alive, though
+he isn't having the best time in the world--none of the Hun prisoners
+do. That's why I thought it would cheer him up to let him know we
+are thinking of him, and if we can send him some smokes, and some
+chocolate."
+
+"Oh, he is so fond of chocolate!" exclaimed Nellie. "He used to love the
+fudge I made. I wonder if I could send him any of that?"
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"It would be better," he said, "to send only hard chocolate--the kind
+that can stand hard knocks. Fudge is too soft. It would get all mussed
+up with what Jack and I have planned to do to it."
+
+"What is that?" asked Bessie Gleason. "You haven't told us yet. How are
+you going to get anything to Harry through those horrid German lines?"
+
+"We're not going through the German lines we're going above 'em; in an
+aeroplane. And when we get over the prison camp where Harry is held,
+we're going to drop down a package to him, with the letters, the
+chocolate and other things inside."
+
+"Oh, that's perfectly wonderful!" exclaimed Bessie. "But will the
+Germans let you do it?"
+
+"Well," remarked Jack, "they'll probably try to stop us, but we don't
+mind a little thing like that. We're used to it. Of course, as I tell
+Torn, it's a long chance, but it's worth taking. Of course it isn't easy
+to drop any object from a moving aeroplane and have it land at a certain
+spot. We may miss the mark."
+
+"For that reason I'm going to take several packages," put in Tom. "If
+one doesn't land another may."
+
+"But if you do succeed in dropping a package for Harry in the midst of
+the German stockade, won't the guards see it and confiscate it?"
+asked Mrs. Gleason. "You know they'll be as brutal as they dare to the
+prisoners--though of course,"' she added quickly, as she saw a look of
+pain on Nellie's face, "Harry may be in a half-way decent camp. But,
+even then, won't the Germans keep the package themselves?"
+
+"I've thought of that," replied Tom. "We've got to take that chance
+also. But I figure that, in the confusion, Harry, or some of his fellow
+prisoners, may pick up the package, or packages, unobserved. Of course
+there's only a slim chance that Harry himself will pick up the bundle.
+But it will be addressed to him, and if any of the French, British, or
+American prisoners get it, they'll see that it goes to Harry all right."
+
+"Oh, of course," murmured Mrs. Gleason. "But what was that you said
+about the 'confusion?'"
+
+"That's something different," said Tom. "I'm counting on dropping a few
+bombs on the German works outside the camp, to--er--well, to sort of
+take their attention off the packages we'll try to drop inside the
+stockade. Of course while we're doing this we may be and probably shall
+be, under fire ourselves. But we've got to take that chance. It's a
+mad scheme, Jack says, and I realize that it is. But we've got to do
+something."
+
+"Yes," said Nellie in a low voice, "we must do something. This suspense
+is terrible. Oh, if I only could get word to Harry!"
+
+"You write the letter and I'll take it!" declared Tom.
+
+"And I'll help!" exclaimed Jack.
+
+And then the letters--several of them, for each one wrote a few lines
+and made triplicates of it, since three packages were to be dropped. The
+letters, to begin again, were written and the bundles were made up.
+They contained cigarettes, cakes of hard chocolate, soap and a few other
+little comforts and luxuries that it was certain Harry would be glad to
+get.
+
+The rest of the plan would have to be left to Tom and Jack to work out,
+and, having talked it over with their friends, they found it was time
+for them to start to their station, since their leave was up at eleven
+o'clock that night.
+
+Getting permission for a week's absence was not as easy as securing
+permission to go to Paris. But Tom and Jack waited until after a sharp
+engagement, during which they distinguished themselves by bravery in.
+the air, assisting in bringing down some Hun planes, and then their
+petition was favorably acted on.
+
+Behold them next, as a Frenchman might say, on their way to their former
+squadron, where they were welcomed with open arms. They had to take the
+commanding officer into their confidence, but he offered no objection
+to their scheme. They must go alone, however, and without his official
+knowledge or sanction, since it was not strictly a military matter.
+
+And so Tom and Jack were furnished with the best and speediest machine
+in their former camp, and one bright day, following a hard air battle
+in which the Huns were worsted, they set out to drop the letters and
+packages over the prison camp where Harry Leroy was held.
+
+"Well, how do you feel about it?" asked Jack, as he and his chum stepped
+into their trim machine.
+
+"Not at all afraid, if that's what you mean."
+
+"No. And you know I didn't. I mean do you think we'll pull it off?"
+
+"I have a sneaking suspicion that we shall."
+
+"And so have I. It's a desperate chance, but it may succeed. Only if it
+does, and we get Harry's hopes raised for a rescue, how are we going to
+pull that off?"
+
+"That's another story," remarked Tom. "Another story."
+
+They mounted into the clear, bright air, and proceeded toward the German
+lines. Would they reach their objective, or would they be shot down, to
+be either killed or made prisoners themselves? Those were questions they
+could not answer. But they hoped for the best.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. BADLY HIT
+
+
+Before undertaking their kindly though dangerous mission, Tom and Jack
+had carefully studied it from all angles. At first Jack had been frankly
+skeptical, and he said as much to his chum.
+
+"You'll never get over the place where Harry is held a prisoner,"
+declared Jack. "And, if you do, and start to dropping packages, they'll
+never land within a mile of the place you intend, and Harry'll have the
+joy of seeing some fat German eat his chocolate cake."
+
+"Well, maybe," Tom had agreed, "But I'm going to try."
+
+To this end they had secured the best map possible of the ground in and
+around the prison camp. Its location they knew from the dropped glove of
+the aviator, which contained a note telling about Leroy.
+
+It was not uncommon for Germany to disclose to her enemies the names
+of prisons where certain of the Allies were confined, and this was also
+done by England and France. The prison camps were located far enough
+behind the defense lines to make it impossible for them to be reached
+in the course of ordinary fighting.
+
+Then, too, the airmen of Germany seemed a step above her other fighters
+in that they were more chivalrous. So Tom and Jack felt reasonably
+certain as to Leroy's whereabouts. Of course it was possible that he had
+been moved since the note was written, but on this point they would have
+to take a chance.
+
+To this end they had provided themselves not only with the best maps
+obtainable showing the character of the ground and the nature of the
+defenses around the prison, where Harry and other Allied men were held,
+but inquiries had also been made by those in authority, at the request
+of Tom and Jack, of German prisoners, and from them had come information
+of value about the place.
+
+Of course the two air service boys had no hope of inflicting much damage
+on batteries or works outside the prison. By the dropping of some bombs
+they carried they hoped to distract attention from themselves long
+enough to drop the packages to Leroy. The bombs were a sort of feint.
+
+And now they were on their way, winging a path over their own lines, and
+soon they would be above those of the Hun.
+
+Some of the former comrades of Tom and Jack, having been apprised of
+what the lads were to attempt, had, without waiting for official orders,
+decided to do what they could to help. This took the form of a daring
+challenge to the German airmen to come out and give battle.
+
+After their thorough drubbing of the day before, however, the Boche
+aviators did not seem much inclined to venture forth for another cloud
+fight. But the French and some English fliers who were acting with them,
+laid a sort of trap, which, in a way, aided the two Americans.
+
+A half dozen swift Spads took the air soon after Tom and Jack ascended,
+but instead of flying over the German lines they went in the opposite
+direction, making their way to the west. They got out of sight, and then
+mounted to a great height.
+
+Shortly after this some heavy, double-seated planes set out for the
+German territory as though to make observations or take photographs.
+It was the belief of the French airmen that the Huns would swarm out to
+attack these planes, or else to give battle to the machine in which Tom
+and Jack rode. And, in such an event, the swift Spads would swoop down
+out of a great height and engage in the conflict.
+
+And that is exactly what occurred. Torn and Jack had flown only a little
+way over the trenches of the enemy when they saw some Hun planes coming
+up to meet them. It was in the minds of both lads that they were in for
+a fight, but before they had a chance to sight their guns, some French
+planes of the slow type appeared in their rear.
+
+To these the Huns at once turned their attention, and then the Spads
+swooped down, and there was a sharp engagement in the air, which
+ultimately resulted in victory for the Allied forces, though two of the
+French fliers were wounded.
+
+But the feint had its effect, and attention was drawn away from Tom and
+Jack, who flew on toward the prison camp.
+
+Had their mission been solely to carry words of cheer with some material
+comforts to Harry Leroy, it is doubtful if Tom and Jack would have
+received permission to make the trip. But it was known they were both
+daring aviators and good observers, and it was this latter ability on
+their part which counted in their favor. For it was thought they might
+bring back information concerning matters well back of the German front
+lines, information which would be of service to the Allies.
+
+And in furtherance of this scheme Jack and Tom made maps of the country
+over which they were flying. They had been provided with materials for
+this before leaving.
+
+On and on they flew, changing their height occasionally, and, when they
+were fired at, which was the case not infrequently, they "zoomed" to
+escape the flying shrapnel.
+
+But on the whole, they fared very well, and in a comparatively short
+time they found themselves over the country where, on the maps, was
+marked the location of Harry Leroy's prison camp.
+
+"There it is!" suddenly exclaimed Tom, but of course Jack could not hear
+him. However, a punch in Jack's back served the same purpose, and he
+took his eyes from his instruments long enough to look down. Then a
+confirmatory glance at the map made him agree with Tom. The air service
+boys were directly over the prison camp.
+
+This, like so many other dreary places set up by the Germans, consisted
+of a number of shacks, in barrack fashion, with a central parade, or
+exercise ground. About it all was a barbed wire stockade and, though the
+character of these wires did not show, there were also some carrying a
+deadly electric current.
+
+This was to discourage escapes on the part of prisoners, and it
+succeeded only too well.
+
+But the camp was in plain sight, and in the central space could be seen
+a number of ant-like figures which the boys knew were prisoners.
+
+Whether one of them was Leroy or not, they were unable to say.
+
+But they had reached their objective, and now it was time to act. High
+time, indeed, for below them batteries began sending up shells which
+burst uncomfortably close to them. They were of all varieties, from
+plain shrapnel to "flaming onions" and "woolly bears," the latter a most
+unpleasant object to meet in mid-air.
+
+For the Germans were taking no chances. They knew the vulnerable
+points of their prison camp lay above, and they had provided a ring of
+anti-aircraft guns to take care of any Allied, machines that might fly
+over the place. Whether any such daring scheme had been tried before or
+not, Tom and Jack could not say.
+
+Of course it was out of the question that any great damage could be done
+in the vicinity of the camp without endangering the inmates, so it was
+not thought, in all likelihood, that any very heavy air raids would have
+to be repelled. But in any case, the Huns were ready for whatever might
+happen.
+
+"Better drop the bombs, hadn't we?" cried Jack to Tom, as he slowed down
+the motor a moment to enable his voice to be heard.
+
+"I guess so--yes. Drop 'em and then shoot over the camp again and let
+the packages fall. It's getting pretty hot here."
+
+And indeed it was. Guns were shooting at the two daring air service boys
+from all sides of the camp.
+
+In the camp itself great excitement prevailed, for the prisoners knew,
+now, that it was some of their friends flying above them.
+
+There was another danger, too. Not many miles away from the prison camp
+was a German aerodrome, and scenes of activity could now be noticed
+there. The Huns were getting ready to send up a machine--perhaps more
+than one--to attack Tom and Jack.
+
+It was, then, high time they acted, and as Jack again started the
+engine, he guided the machine over a spot where the anti-aircraft guns
+were most active.
+
+"There's a battery there I may put out of business," he argued.
+
+Flying fast, Jack was soon over the spot, or, rather, not so much over
+it, as in range of it. For when an aeroplane drops a bomb on a given
+objective, it does not do so when directly above, but just before it
+reaches it. The momentum of the plane, going at great speed, carries
+any object dropped from it forward. It is as when a mail pouch is thrown
+from a swiftly moving express train or a bundle of newspapers is tossed
+off. In both instances the man in the train tosses the pouch or his
+bundle before his car gets to the station platform, and the momentum
+does the rest.
+
+It was that way with the bomb Jack released by a touch of his foot on
+the lever in the cockpit of the machine. Down it darted, and, wheeling
+sharply after he had let it go, the lad saw a great puff of smoke
+hovering directly over the spot where, but a moment before, Hun gums had
+been belching at him.
+
+"Good! A sure hit!" cried Tom, but he alone heard his own words. Jack's
+ears were filled with the throb of the motor. He had two more bombs,
+and these were quickly dropped at different points on German territory
+outside the camp.
+
+At the time, aside from the evidences they saw, Jack and Tom were
+not aware of the damage they inflicted, but later they learned it was
+considerable and effective. However, they guessed that they had created
+enough of a diversion to try now to deliver the packages containing the
+letters and other comforts.
+
+Jack swung the machine at a sharp angle over the prison camp, and as
+he cleared the barbed wire fence Tom, who had been given charge of the
+packets, let one go. It fell just outside the barrier, caused by some
+freak of the wind perhaps, and the lad could not keep back a sigh of
+dismay. One of the three precious packages had fallen short of the mark,
+and would doubtless be picked up by some German guard.
+
+But Tom had the satisfaction of seeing the two other bundles fall
+fairly within the prison fence, and there was a rush on the part of the
+unfortunate men to pick them up.
+
+"I only hope Harry's there," mused Tom. "That's tough luck to wish a
+man, I know," he reflected, "but I mean I hope he gets the letters and
+things."
+
+However, he and Jack had done all that lay in their power to make this
+possible, and it was now time to get back to their own lines if they
+could. The place was getting too dangerous for them.
+
+Swinging about in a big circle, and noting that groups of prisoners were
+now gathered about the place where the packets had fallen, Jack sent
+the machine toward that part of France where they had spent so many
+strenuous days.
+
+"They're going to make it lively for us!" cried Jack, as he noted two
+swift German planes mounting into the air. "It's going to be a fight."
+
+But he and Tom were ready for this. Their Lewis and Vickers guns were in
+position, and they only awaited the approach of the nearest Hun plane to
+unlimber them. They mounted steadily upward to get beyond the range of
+the anti-aircraft batteries and were soon in comparative safety, since
+the Huns, at this particular sector at least, were notoriously bad
+marksmen.
+
+With the German planes, that would be a different story, and Tom and
+Jack soon found this out to their cost.
+
+For one of the Boche machines came on speedily, and much more quickly
+than the boys had believed possible was within range. The German machine
+guns--for it was a double plane--began spitting fire and bullets at
+them. They replied, but did not seem to inflict much damage.
+
+Suddenly Tom saw Jack give a jump, as though in an agony of pain, and
+then the young pilot crumpled up in his seat.
+
+"Badly hit!" exclaimed Tom with a pang at his own heart. "Poor Jack is
+out of it!"
+
+The machine, out of control for a moment, started to go into a nose
+dive, but Tom let go the lever of his machine gun, and took charge of
+the craft, since it was one capable of dual manipulation. Tom now had
+to become the pilot and gunner, too, and he had yet a long way to go to
+reach his own lines, while Jack was huddled, before him, either dead or
+badly wounded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. JUST IN TIME
+
+
+It was with mingled feelings of alarm and sorrow that Tom Raymond sent
+the speedy Spad aeroplane on its homeward way toward the French lines.
+He was worried, not chiefly about his own safety, but on account of
+Jack; and his sorrow was in the thought that perhaps he had taken his
+last flight with his beloved chum and comrade in arms. He could not see
+where Jack had been hit, but this was because the other lad lay in such
+a huddled position in the cockpit. Jack had slumped from his seat, the
+safety straps alone holding him in position, though he would not have
+fallen out when the machine was upright as it was at present.
+
+"One of those machine gun bullets must have got him," mused Tom, as he
+started the craft on an upward climb, for it had darted downward when
+Jack's nerveless hands and feet ceased their control. For part of the
+steering in an aeroplane is done by the feet of the pilot, leaving his
+hands free, at times, to fire the machine gun or draw maps.
+
+Tom had a double object in starting to rise. One was to get into a
+better position to make the homeward flight, and another was to have
+a better chance not only to ward off the attack of the Hun planes, of
+which there were now three in the air, but also to return their fire.
+It is the machine that is higher up that stands the best chance in an
+aerial duel, for not only can one maneuver to better advantage, but the
+machine can be aimed more easily with reference to the fixed gun.
+
+In Tom's case he did not have access to this weapon, which was fixed
+on the rim of the cockpit where Jack could, and where he had been
+controlling, it. With Jack out of the fight, through one or more German
+bullets, it was up to Tom to return the fire of the Huns from his swivel
+mounted Lewis gun. He was going to have difficulty in doing this and
+also guiding the craft, but he had had harder problems than this to meet
+since becoming an aviator in the great war, and now he quickly conquered
+his worrying over Jack, and began to look to himself.
+
+He gave one more fleeting glance at the crumpled-up figure of his
+chum, seeking for a sign of life, but he saw none. Then he swung about,
+turning in toward the nearest Hun airman, and not away from him, and
+opened up with the machine gun, using both hands on that for a moment,
+while he steered with his knees.
+
+It was not easy work, and Tom hardly expected to make a direct hit,
+but he must have come uncomfortably close to the Boche, for the latter
+swerved off, and for an instant his plane seemed beyond control. Whether
+this was due to a wound received by the aviator, or to a trick on his
+part was not disclosed to Tom. But the machine darted downward and
+seemed to be content to veer off for a while.
+
+The third plane Tom soon saw was not going to trouble him, as it had not
+speed equal to his own, so that he really had left only one antagonist
+with whom to deal. And this plane, containing two men, with whom he had
+not yet come to close quarters, was racing toward him at great speed.
+
+"I guess there's only one thing to do," mused Tom, "and that's to run
+for it. I won't stand any show at all with two of them shooting at me,
+while I have to manage the machine and the gun too. If I can beat 'em to
+our lines I'd better do it and run the chance of some of our boys coming
+out to take care of 'em. I'd better get Jack to a doctor as soon as I
+can."
+
+And abandoning the gun to give all his attention to the motor, Tom
+opened it full and sped on his way. The other machine's occupants saw
+his plan and tried to stop it with a burst of bullets, but the range was
+a little too far for effective work.
+
+"Now for a race!" thought Tom, and that is what it turned out to be.
+Seeing that he was going to try to get away, the Hun plane, which was
+almost as speedy as the one Tom and Jack had started out in, took after
+them. The other German craft was left far in the rear, and the one Tom
+had shot at appeared to be in such difficulties that it was practically
+out of the fight.
+
+Thus the odds, once so greatly against our heroes, were now greatly
+reduced, though not yet equal, since Jack was completely out of the
+game--for how long Tom could only guess, and he seemed to feel cold
+fingers clutching at his heart when he thought of this.
+
+But Tom soon discovered, by a backward glance over his shoulder now and
+then, that his machine, barring accidents, would distance the other, and
+this was what his aim now was. So on and on he sped, watching the German
+occupied French territory unrolling itself below him, coming nearer and
+nearer each minute to his own lines and safety.
+
+Behind them, he and Jack--for the latter had done his share before being
+wounded--had left consternation in the German ranks. The bombs had done
+considerable damage--as was learned later--and the dropping of packages
+within the prison camp was fraught with potential danger to an extent at
+which the Boches could only guess.
+
+On and on sped Tom, sparing time, now and then, to look back at his
+pursuers, who were, it could not be doubted, doing their best to get
+within effective range. And, every now and again, Tom would glance at
+the motionless form of his churn.
+
+But poor Jack never stirred, and Tom was fearing more and more that his
+chum had made his last flight. As for the Hun aviators, after using up
+a drum or so of bullets uselessly, they ceased firing and urged their
+machine on to the uttermost.
+
+But Tom had the start of them, and he was also on a higher level, so
+that the Germans must climb at an oblique angle to reach him.
+
+And, thanks to this, Tom saw that, if nothing else happened, he would
+soon be in comparative safety with the unconscious form of Jack. The
+anti-aircraft batteries were firing in vain, as he was beyond their
+range, and, far away, he could see the lines of the French armies,
+behind which he soon hoped to be.
+
+And then the unexpected happened, or, rather, it had taken place some
+time since, but it was only then brought to Tom's attention. His engine
+began missing, and when he sought for a cause he speedily found it.
+Nearly all the gasoline had leaked out of the main tank. As he knew
+that there had been plenty for the return flight, there was but one
+explanation of this. A Hun bullet had pierced the petrol reservoir,
+letting the precious fluid leak away.
+
+"Now if the auxiliary tank has any in it, I'm fairly all right," thought
+Tom. "If it hasn't, I'm all in."
+
+His worst fears were confirmed, for the auxiliary tank had suffered a
+like fate with the main one. Both were pierced. There were only a few
+drops left, besides those even then being vaporized in the carburetor.
+
+With despair in his heart, Tom looked back. If the Hun plane chose to
+rush him now all would be over with him and Jack. He had only enough
+fuel for another thousand meters or so, and then he must volplane.
+
+He saw a burst of flame and smoke from the enemy plane, and realized
+that he was being shot at again. But the distance was still too far for
+effective aim.
+
+And then, to his joy, Tom saw the pursuer turn and start back toward the
+German territory. The firing had been a last, desperate attempt to end
+his career, and it had failed. Either the Huns were almost out of petrol
+themselves, or they did not relish getting too close to the French
+lines.
+
+"And now, if I can volplane down the rest of the way, I'll be in a fair
+position to save myself," mused Tom, as he made a calculation of the
+distance he had yet to go. It was far, but he was at a good height and
+believed he could do it.
+
+Suddenly his engine stopped, as though with a sigh of regret that it
+could no longer serve him, and Tom knew that volplaning alone would save
+him now. He was still over the enemy country, and had his plight been
+guessed at by the Germans, undoubtedly they would have sent a machine up
+to attack him. But they were in ignorance.
+
+There was nothing to do but drift along. Gravity alone urged the craft
+on. As he swept over the German trenches Tom was greeted with a burst of
+shrapnel, and he was now low enough to be vulnerable to this. But luck
+was with him, and though the plane was hit several times he thought he
+was unharmed. But in this he was wrong. He received a glancing wound
+in one leg, but in the excitement he did not notice it, and it was not
+until he had landed that he saw the blood, and knew what had happened.
+
+On and on, and down and down he volplaned until he was so near his own
+lines, and so low down, that he could hear the burst of cheers from his
+former comrades.
+
+Then he aimed his craft for a level, grassy place to make a landing,
+and as he came to a gradual stop, and was surrounded by a score of eager
+aviators, he cried out, as soon as he could speak, "I'm all right! But
+look after Jack! He's hurt!"
+
+A surgeon bent hastily over the huddled form, and with the aid of some
+men lifted it from the cockpit. Jack's legs were covered with blood, and
+when the medical man saw whence it came, then and there he set hastily
+to work to stop the bleeding from a large artery.
+
+"You got back only just in time, my friend," he said to Tom, as Jack was
+carried to a hospital. "Two minutes more and he would have been bled to
+death."
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. A CRASH
+
+
+Not until a day or so later, when Jack was able to sit up in bed and
+greet Tom with rather a pale face, did the latter learn all that had
+happened. And it was a very close call that Jack had had.
+
+As Tom had guessed, it was some of the bullets from the Hun machine gun
+that had stricken down his chum. One had struck him a glancing blow on
+the head, rendering Jack unconscious and sending him down, a crumpled-up
+heap in the cockpit of his machine. Another bullet, coming through
+the machine later, had found lodgment in Jack's leg, cutting part way
+through the wall of one of the larger arteries.
+
+It was certain that this bullet, the one in the leg, came after Jack
+was hit on the head, for that first wound was the only one he remembered
+receiving.
+
+"It was just as though I saw not only stars' but moons, suns, comets,
+rainbows and northern lights all at once," he explained to his chum.
+
+The bullet in the leg had cut only part way through the wall of an
+artery. At first the tissues held the blood back from spurting out in
+a stream that would soon have carried life with it. But either some
+unconscious motion on Jack's part, or a jarring of the plane, broke the
+half-severed wall, and, just before Tom landed, his chum began to bleed
+dangerously. Then it was the surgeon had made his remark, and acted in
+time to save Jack's life.
+
+"Well, I guess we made good all right," remarked Jack, as his chum
+visited him in the hospital.
+
+"I reckon so," was the answer, "though the Huns haven't sent us any love
+letters to say so. But we surely did drop the packages in the prison
+camp, though whether Harry got them or not is another story. But we did
+our part."
+
+"That's right," agreed Jack. "Now the next thing is to get busy and
+bring Harry out of there if we can."
+
+"The next thing for you to do is to keep quiet until that wound in your
+leg heals," said the doctor, with a smile. "If you don't, you won't do
+any more flying, to say nothing of making any rescues. Be content with
+what you did. The whole camp is talking of your exploit. It was noble!"
+
+"Shucks!" exclaimed Tom, in English, for they had been speaking French
+for the benefit of the surgeon, who was of that nationality.
+
+"Ah, and what may that mean?" he asked.
+
+"I mean it wasn't anything," translated Tom. "Anybody could have done
+what we did."
+
+But of this the surgeon had his doubts.
+
+In spite of the dangerous character of his wound, Jack made a quick
+recovery. He was in excellent condition, and the wound was a clean one,
+so, as soon as the walls of the artery had healed, he was able to be
+about, though he was weak from loss of blood. However, that was soon
+made good, and he and Tom, bidding farewell to their late comrades,
+returned to the American lines. They had been obliged to get an
+extension of leave--at least Jack had--though Tom could report back on
+time, and he spent the interim between that and Jack's return to duty,
+serving as instructor to the "huns" of his own camp. They were eager to
+learn, and anxious to do things for themselves.
+
+Before long Jack returned, though he was not assigned to duty, and
+he and Tom visited Paris and told Nellie, Bessie and Mrs. Gleason the
+result of their mission.
+
+"You didn't see Harry, of course?" asked Nellie, negatively, though
+really hoping that the answer would be in the affirmative.
+
+"Oh, no, we couldn't make out any individual prisoner," said Tom. "There
+was a bunch of 'em--I mean a whole lot--there."
+
+"Poor fellows!" said Mrs. Gleason kindly, "Let us hope that they will
+soon be released."
+
+"Tom and I have been trying to hit on some plan to rescue Harry," put in
+Jack. "And we'd help any others to get away that we could. But is isn't
+going to be easy."
+
+"Oh, I don't see how you can do it!" exclaimed Nellie. "Of course I
+would give anything in the world to have Harry back with me, but I must
+not ask you to run into needless danger on his account. That would be
+too much. Your lives are needed here to beat back the Huns. Harry may
+live to see the day of victory, and then all will be well."
+
+"I don't believe in waiting, if anything can be done before that." Tom
+spoke grimly. "But, as Jack says, it isn't going to be easy," he went
+on. "However, we haven't given up. The only thing is to hit on some plan
+that's feasible."
+
+They talked of this, but could arrive at nothing. They were not even
+sure--which made it all the harder to bear--that Harry had received the
+packages dropped in the prison camp at such risk. The only thing that
+could be done was to wait and see if he wrote to his sister or his
+former chums. Letters occasionally did come from German prisoners, but
+they were rare, and could be depended on neither as to time of delivery
+nor as to authenticity of contents.
+
+So it was a case of waiting and hoping.
+
+Jack was not yet permitted to fly, so Tom had to go alone. But he served
+as an instructor, leaving the more dangerous work of patrol, fighting,
+and reconnaissance to others until he was fit to stand the strain of
+flying and of fighting once more.
+
+"Sergeant Raymond, you will take up Martin to-day," said the flight
+lieutenant to Tom one morning. "Let him manage the plane himself unless
+you see that he is going to get into trouble. And give him a good
+flight."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Tom, as he turned away, after saluting.
+
+He found his pupil, a young American from the Middle West, who was not
+as old as he and Jack, awaiting him impatiently.
+
+"I'm to get my second wing soon, and I want to show that I can manage a
+plane all by myself, even if you're in it," said the lad, whose name was
+Dick Martin. "They say I can make a solo flight to-morrow if I do well
+to-day."
+
+"Well, go to it!" exclaimed Tom with a laugh. "I'm willing."
+
+Soon they were in a double-seater of fairly safe construction--that is,
+it was not freakish nor speedy, and was what was usually used in this
+instructive work.
+
+"I'm going to fly over the town," declared Martin, naming the French
+city nearest the camp. "Well, mind you keep the required distance up,"
+cautioned Tom, for there was, a regulation making it necessary for
+the aviators to fly at a certain minimum height above a town in flying
+across it, so that if they developed engine trouble, they could coast
+safely down and land outside the town itself.
+
+"I'll do that," promised Martin.
+
+But either he forgot this, or he was unable to keep at the required
+height, for he began scaling down when about over the center of
+the place. Tom saw what was happening, and reached over to take the
+controls. But something happened. There was a jam of one of the levers,
+and to his consternation Tom saw the machine going down and heading
+straight for a large greenhouse on the outskirts of the town.
+
+"There's going to be one beautiful crash!" Tom thought, as he worked in
+vain to send the craft up. But it was beyond control.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. GETTING A ZEPPELIN
+
+
+Dick Martin became frantic when he saw what was about to happen. He
+fairly tore at the various levers and controls, and even increased the
+speed of the motor, but this last only had the effect of sending the
+machine at a faster rate toward the big expanse of glass, which was the
+greenhouse roof.
+
+"Shut it off! Shut off the motor!" cried Tom, but his words could not
+be heard, so he punched Martin in the back, and when that frightened lad
+looked around his teacher made him understand by signs, what was wanted.
+
+With the motor off there was a chance to speak, and Torn cried:
+
+"Head her up! Try to make her rise and we may clear. I can't do a thing
+with the levers back here!"
+
+Martin tried, but his efforts had little effect. For one instant the
+machine rose as though to clear the fragile glass. Then it dived down
+again, straight for the greenhouse roof.
+
+"Guess it's all up with this machine!" thought Tom quickly. He was not
+afraid of being killed. The distance to fall was not enough for that,
+and though he and his fellow aviator might be cut by broken glass, still
+the body of the aeroplane would protect them pretty well from even
+this contingency. But there was sure to be considerable damage to the
+property of a French civilian, and the machine, which was one of the
+best, was pretty certain to be badly broken.
+
+And then there came a terrific crash. The aeroplane settled down by the
+stern, and rose by the bow, so to speak. Then the process was reversed,
+and Tom felt himself being catapulted out of his seat. Only his safety
+strap held him in place. The same thing happened to Dick Martin.
+
+Then there was an ominous calm, and the aeroplane slowly settled down
+to an even keel, held up on the glass-stripped frames of the greenhouse,
+one of the very few in that vicinity, which was considerably in the rear
+of the battle line.
+
+Slowly Tom unbuckled his safety strap and climbed out, making his way to
+the ground by means of stepping on an elevated bed of flowers inside the
+now almost roofless house.
+
+Martin followed him, and as they stood looking at the wreckage they had
+made, or, rather, that had been made through no direct fault of their
+own, the proprietor of the place came out, wearing a long dirt-smudged
+apron.
+
+He raised his hands in horror at the sight that met his gaze, and then
+broke into such a torrent of French that Tom, with all the experience he
+had had of excitable Frenchmen, was unable to comprehend half of it.
+
+The gist was, however, to the effect that a most monstrous and
+unlooked-for calamity had befallen, and the inhabitants of all the
+earth, outside of Germany and her allies, were called on to witness
+that never hid there been such a smash of good glass. In which Torn was
+rather inclined to agree.
+
+"Well, you did something this time all right, Buddie," Tom remarked to
+Dick Martin.
+
+"Did I--did I do that?" he asked, as though he had been walking in his
+sleep, and was just now awake.
+
+"Well, you and the old bus together," said Tom. "And we got off lucky at
+that. Didn't I tell you to keep high, if you were going to fly over one
+of the towns?"
+
+"Yes, you did, but I forgot. Anyhow I'd have cleared the place if the
+controls hadn't gone back on us."
+
+ "I suppose so, but that excuse won't go with the C.O.  It's a bad
+smash."
+
+By this time quite a crowd had gathered, and Tom was trying to pacify
+the excitable greenhouse owner by promising full reparation in the shape
+of money damages.
+
+How to get the machine down off the roof, where it rested in a mass of
+broken glass and frames, was a problem. Tom tried to organize a wrecking
+party, but the French populace which gathered, much as it admired the
+Americans, was afraid of being cut with the broken glass, or else they
+imagined that the machine might suddenly soar aloft, taking some of them
+with it.
+
+In the end Tom had to leave the plane where it was and hire a motor to
+take him and Martin back to the aerodrome. They were only slightly cut
+by flying glass, nothing to speak of considering the danger in which
+they had been.
+
+The result of the disobedience of orders was that the army officials
+had rather a large bill for damages to settle with the French greenhouse
+proprietor, and Tom and Dick Martin were deprived of their leave
+privileges for a week for disobeying the order to keep at a certain
+height in flying over a town or city.
+
+Had they done that, when the controls jammed, they would have been able
+to glide down into a vacant field, it was demonstrated. The machine was
+badly damaged, though it was not beyond repair.
+
+"And that's the last time I'm ever going to be soft with a Hun, you can
+make up your mind to that," declared Tom to Jack. "If I'd sat on him
+hard when I saw he was getting too low over the village, it wouldn't
+have happened. But I didn't want him to think I knew it all, and I
+thought I'd take a chance and let him pull his own chestnuts out of the
+fire. But never again!"
+
+"'Tisn't safe," agreed Jack. He was rapidly improving, so much so that
+he was able to fly the next week, and he and Tom went up together, and
+did some valuable scouting work for the American army.
+
+At times they found opportunity to take short trips to Paris, where they
+saw Nellie and Bessie, and were entertained by Mrs. Gleason. Nellie
+was eager for some word from her brother, but none came. Whether the
+packages dropped by Tom and Jack reached the prisoner was known only to
+the Germans, and they did not tell.
+
+But the daring plan undertaken by the two air service boys was soon
+known a long way up and down the Allied battle line, and more than one
+aviator tried to duplicate it, so that friends or comrades who were
+held by the Huns might receive some comforts, and know they were not
+forgotten. Some of the Allied birdmen paid the penalty of death for
+their daring, but others reported that they had dropped packages within
+the prison camps, though whether those for whom they were intended
+received them or not, was not certain.
+
+"But we aren't going to let it stop there, are we?" asked Tom of
+Jack one day, when they were discussing the feat which had been so
+successful.
+
+"Let it stop where? What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean are we going to do something to get Harry away from the Boche
+nest?"
+
+"I'm with you in anything like that!" exclaimed Jack. "But what can we
+do? How are we going to rescue him?"
+
+"That's what we've got to think out," declared Tom. "Something has to be
+done."
+
+But there was no immediate chance to proceed to that desired end because
+of something vital that happened just about then. This was nothing more
+nor less than secret news that filtered into the Allied lines, to the
+effect that a big Zeppelin raid over Paris was planned.
+
+It was not the first of these raids, nor, in all likelihood, would it
+be the last. But this one was novel in that it was said the great German
+airships would sail toward the capital over the American lines, or,
+rather, the lines where the Americans were brigaded with the French
+and English. Doubtless it was to "teach the Americans a lesson," as the
+German High Command might have put it.
+
+At any rate all leaves of absence for the airmen were canceled, and they
+were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to repel the "Zeps," as
+they were called, preventing them from getting across the lines to
+Paris.
+
+"And we'll bring down one or two for samples, if we can!" boasted Jack.
+
+"What makes it so sure that they are coming?" asked Tom.
+
+It developed there was nothing sure about it. But the information had
+come from the Allied air secret service, and doubtless had its inception
+when some French or British airman saw scenes of activity near one of
+the Zeppelin headquarters in the German-occupied territory. There were
+certain fairly positive signs.
+
+And, surely enough, a few nights later, the agreed-upon alarm was
+sounded.
+
+"The Zeps are coming!"
+
+Tom and Jack, with others who were detailed to repel the raid, rushed
+from their cats, hastily donned their fur garments, and ran to their
+aeroplanes, which were a "tuned up" and waiting.
+
+"There they are!" cried Torn, as he got into his single-seated plane, an
+example followed on his part by Jack. "Look!"
+
+Jack gazed aloft. There was a riot of fire from the anti-aircraft
+guns of the French and British, but they were firing in vain, for the
+Zeppelins flew high, knowing the danger from the ground batteries.
+
+Sharp, stabbing shafts of light from the powerful electric lanterns shot
+aloft, and now and then one of them would rest for an instant on a great
+silvery cigar-shape--the gas bag of the big German airships that were
+beating their way toward Paris, there to deal death and destruction.
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom, as his mechanician started the motor. "I'm going
+to get a Zep!"
+
+"I'm with you!" yelled Jack, and they soared aloft side by side.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. ON PATROL
+
+
+Aloft with Tom and Jack were several other fighters, for it was not only
+considered a great honor to bring down a Zeppelin, but it would save
+many lives if one or more of the big gas machines could be prevented
+from dropping bombs on Paris or its environs.
+
+The machines which were used were all of the single type, though
+of different makes and speeds. Each one was equipped with electric
+launching tubes. These were a somewhat new device for use against
+captive Hun balloons and Zeppelins and were installed in many of the
+fighting scout craft of the Americans and Allies.
+
+Between the knees of Toni and Jack, as well as each of the other pilots,
+was a small metal tube. This went completely through the floor of the
+cockpit, so that, had it been large enough to give good vision, one
+could view through it the ground beneath.
+
+In a little rack at the right of each scout were several small bombs of
+various kinds. Some were intended to set on fire whatever they came in
+contact with, being of phosphorus. Others were explosive bombs, pure and
+simple, while some were flares, intended to light up the scene at night
+and make getting a target easier.
+
+Included in the rack of death and destruction was a simple stick; not
+unlike a walking cane, and this seemed so comparatively harmless that an
+uninitiated observer would almost invariably ask its use.
+
+At the lower end of the launching tube, through which the bombs were
+dropped, was a "trip," or sort of catch, that caught on a trigger
+fastened to each bomb. The trip pulled the trigger, so to speak, and set
+in operation the firing device.
+
+In the early days, though doubtless the defect was afterwards corrected,
+the bombs sometimes stuck in the launching tube, and as they were likely
+to go off in this position at any moment, it was the custom of the
+pilots to push them on their way with the cane if the missiles jammed.
+Hence it was an essential part of each flying machine's armament.
+
+Higher and higher mounted the fighting scouts, with Tom and Jack among
+their number. It was necessary to mount very high in order to get
+above the Zeppelins, as in this position alone was it possible for the
+aeroplanes to fight them to any advantage. The Zeppelins carried many
+machine guns of long range, and for the pigmy planes to attack them on
+the same level, meant destruction to the smaller craft.
+
+There were several German machines in the raid toward Paris, but Tom
+and Jack caught sight of only two. The others were either at too great a
+height to be observed, or else were farther off, lost in the haze.
+
+But the two silver shapes, resembling nothing so much as huge, expensive
+cigars, wrapped in tinfoil, were flying on their way, now and then
+dropping bombs, which exploded with dull, muffled reports--an earnest of
+what they would do when they got over Paris. They were traveling fast,
+under the impulse of their own powerful motors and propellers, and also
+aided by a stiff breeze.
+
+Of course conversation was out of the question among Tom, Jack and the
+other aviators, but they knew the general plan of the fight. They were
+to get above the Zeppelins--as many of them as could--and drop bombs
+on the gas envelope. They were also to attack with machine guns if
+possible, aiming at the rudder controls and machinery. It was the great
+desire of the Allied commanders to have a Zeppelin brought down as
+nearly intact as possible.
+
+Up and up climbed the speedy scout machines, and it was seen that some
+of them would never get in a position to do any damage. The German craft
+were traveling too speedily. But Tom and Jack managed to get to a height
+of about twenty thousand feet, which was above the Zeppelins, though by
+this time the Germans were in advance of them, for they had climbed at
+rather a steep angle. However, they knew their speed was many times that
+of the German machine on a straight course.
+
+On and on they went. Then came a mist which hid the enemy from sight.
+The aviators railed at their luck, and Tom and Jack dropped down a bit,
+hoping to get through the mist. It lay below them like a great, gray
+blanket.
+
+Suddenly they fairly plumped through it, and saw, not far away, the two
+big silver shapes, shining in the searchlights which were now giving
+good illumination. It was a moonlight night, which seemed a favorite for
+a German bombing expedition.
+
+Far below them, and beneath the Zepplins, Tom and Jack could see the
+lights of other aeroplanes, which were flying low to observe lanterns on
+the ground, set in the shape of arrows, to indicate in which direction
+the German craft were traveling. Later, if necessary, these observing
+machines could climb aloft and signal to those higher up.
+
+Nearer and nearer Jack and Tom came to one of the Zeppelins. And now, in
+the semi-darkness, they became aware that they were being fired at by
+a long-range gun on the German craft. The bullets sung about them, but
+though their machines were hit several times, as they learned later,
+they escaped injury.
+
+Now the battle of the air was on in grim and deadly earnest. Several
+scout planes flew at the big Zeppelin like hornets attacking a bear.
+They fired their machine guns, and the Germans replied in kind, but with
+more terrible effect, for two of the Allied planes were shot down. It
+was a sad loss, but it was the fortune of war, or, rather, misfortune,
+for the Zeppelin was not engaged in a fair fight, but seeking to bomb an
+unfortified city.
+
+Now Tom and Jack, though somewhat separated, were close above the
+Zeppelin, and in a position where they could not be fired at. They began
+to drop incendiary bombs through the tubes between their knees.
+
+These bombs were fitted with sharp hooks, so that if they touched
+the gas bag they would cling fast, and burn until they had ignited the
+envelope and the vapor inside. And as they circled about, dropping bomb
+after bomb, the two air service boys saw this happen. Some at least of
+their bombs reached their target.
+
+The great craft, now on fire in several places, was twisting and turning
+like some wounded snake, endeavoring to escape. Tom glanced toward
+the other Zeppelin and saw that this was fairly well surrounded by
+aeroplanes, but was not, as yet, on fire.
+
+The bees had fatally stung one great German bear, and, a little later,
+it crashed to the ground where it was nearly all consumed, and of its
+crew of thirty men, not one was left alive.
+
+The other plane, though greatly damaged by machine gun fire, was not set
+ablaze, but was forced to turn and sail for the German lines again. So
+that two were prevented from bombing Paris.
+
+Well satisfied with what they had accomplished, Torn, Jack and the
+others who had set the Zeppelin on fire, descended. Later they learned,
+by word from Paris, that on of the German machines was shot down over
+that city and some of its crew captured. So that though the Huns did
+considerable damage with their bombs, they paid dearly for that unlawful
+expedition.
+
+This was the beginning of a series of fierce aerial battles between
+the German forces and the Allied airmen, though for a long dine no more
+Zeppelins were seen. Sometimes fortune favored the side on which Tom and
+Jack fought, and again they were forced to retire, leaving some of their
+friends in the hands of the enemy.
+
+Once Tom and Tack, keeping close together doing scout work, were cut off
+from their companions. They had ventured too far over the Hun lines,
+and were in danger of being shot down. But a squadron of airmen from
+Pershing's forces made a sortie and drove the Germans to cover, rescuing
+the two air service boys from an evil fate.
+
+Then followed some weeks of rainy and misty weather, during which there
+was very little air work on either side. But the fight on land went on,
+with attacks and repulses, the Allies continually advancing their lines,
+though ever so little. Slowly but surely they were forcing the Germans
+back.
+
+Now and then there were night raids, and once Tom and Jack, who had not
+flown for a week because of rain, were just back of the lines when a
+captured German patrol was brought in, covered with mud and blood. There
+had been lively fighting.
+
+"I wish we were in on that!" exclaimed Tom. "I'm getting tired of
+sitting around."'
+
+"So am I!" agreed Jack. "Let's ask if we can't go out on patrol some
+night. It will be better than waiting for it to stop raining."
+
+To their delight their request was granted, as it had been in a number
+of other cases of airmen. Temporarily they were allowed to go with the
+infantry until the weather cleared.
+
+The two air service boys were in the dugout one night, having served
+their turns at listening post work and general scouting, when an officer
+came in with a slip of paper. He began reading off some names, and when
+he had finished, having mentioned Tom and Jack, he said:
+
+"Prepare for patrol duty at once."
+
+"Good!" whispered Tom to his chum: "Now there'll be something doing."
+
+He little guessed what it was to be.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. CAPTURED
+
+
+Silently, in the darkness of their trenches, the party of which Tom and
+Jack were to be members, prepared to go over the top and penetrate
+the German front line of defense, in the hope of taking prisoners that
+information might be had of them. It was a risky undertaking, but one
+frequently accomplished by the Allies, and it often led to big results.
+
+There were about a score in the patrol, and, to their delight, though
+they rather regretted it later, Tom and Jack were given positions well
+in front, two files removed, in fact, from the lieutenant commanding.
+
+"Now I suppose you all understand what you're to do," said the
+lieutenant as he gathered his little party about him in one of the
+larger dugouts, where a flickering candle gave light. "You'll all
+provide yourselves with wire cutters, hand grenades and pistols. Rifles
+will be in the way. Take your gas masks, of course. No telling when
+Fritz may send over some of those shells. Blacken your faces, as usual.
+A star shell makes a beautiful light on a white countenance, so don't be
+afraid of smudging yourselves. And when we start just try to imagine you
+are Indians, and make no noise. One object is to come in contact with
+some German post, try to hear what's going on from their talk, and make
+some captures if we can. Do you all understand German?"
+
+It developed that they did--at least no one would confess he did not for
+fear of being turned back. But, as it developed, they all had some, if
+slight, acquaintance with the language.
+
+A little period of anxious waiting followed--a sort of zero hour
+effect--until finally the word was received from some source, unknown to
+Tom and Jack, to proceed. The night was black, and there was a mist over
+everything which did not augur for clear weather on the morrow.
+
+"Forward!" whispered the lieutenant, for they were so near the German
+lines that incautious talking was prohibited. Out of their trenches they
+went, Tom and Jack well in front, and close to the leader.
+
+As carefully as might be, though, at that, making noise which the
+members of the patrol thought surely must be heard clear to Berlin, they
+made their way over the shell-torn and uncertain ground in the darkness.
+They went down between their own lines of barbed wire to where an
+opening had been made opposite what was considered a quiet spot in the
+Hun defenses, and then they started across "No Man's Land."
+
+It was not without mingled feelings that Tom and Jack advanced,
+and, doubtless, their feelings were common to all. There was great
+uncertainty as to the outcome. Death or glory might await them. They
+might all be killed by a single German shell, or they might run into
+a German working party, out to repair the wire cut during the day's
+firing. In the latter case there would be a fight--an even chance,
+perhaps. They might capture or be captured.
+
+On and on they went, treading close together and in single file, making
+little noise. Straight across the desolate stretch of land that lay
+between the two lines of trenches they went, and, when half way, there
+came from the German side a sudden burst of star shells. These are a
+sort of war fireworks that make a brilliant illumination, and the enemy
+was in the habit of sending them up every night at intervals, to reveal
+to his gunners any party of the enemy approaching.
+
+"Down! Down!" hissed the lieutenant. But he need not have uttered
+the command. All had been told what to do, and fell on their faces
+literally--their smoke-blackened faces. In this position they resembled,
+as nearly as might be, some of the dead bodies scattered about, and that
+was their intention.
+
+ Still each one had a nervous fear.  The star shells were very
+brilliant and made No Man's Land almost as bright as when bathed in
+sunshine, a condition that had not prevailed of late. There was no
+guarantee that the Germans would not, in their suspicious hate, turn
+their rifles or machine guns on what they supposed were dead bodies. In
+that case-well, Tom, Jack and the others did not like to think about it.
+
+But the brilliance of the star shells died away, and once more there
+was darkness. The lieutenant cautiously raised his head and in a whisper
+commanded:
+
+"Forward! Is every one all right?"
+
+"My mouth's full of mud and water--otherwise I'm all right," said some
+one.
+
+"Silence!" commanded the officer.
+
+Once more he led them forward. They reached the first German wire, and
+instantly the cutters were at work. Though the men tried to make no
+noise, it was an impossibility. The wire would send forth metallic
+janglings and tangs as it was cut. But an opening was made, and the
+patrol party filed through. And then, almost immediately, something
+happened.
+
+There was another burst of star shells, but before the Americans had an
+opportunity to throw themselves on their faces, they saw that they were
+confronted by a large body of Germans who had come forward as silently
+as themselves, and, doubtless, on the same sort of errand.
+
+"At 'em, boys! At 'em!" cried the lieutenant. "The Stars and Stripes! At
+'em!"
+
+Instantly pandemonium broke loose. In the glaring light of the star
+shells the two forces rushed forward. There was a burst of pistol fire,
+and then the fight went on in the darkness.
+
+"Where are you, Tom?"' yelled Jack, as he flung a grenade full at a big,
+burly German who was rushing at him with uplifted gun.
+
+"Here!" was the answer, and in the darkness Jack felt his chum collide
+with him so forcefully that both almost went down in a heap. "I jumped
+to get away from a Hun bayonet," pantingly explained Tom.
+
+Jack's grenade exploded, blowing dirt and small stones in the faces of
+the chums. There were shouts and cries, in English, French and German.
+The American lieutenant tried to rally his men around him, but, as was
+afterward learned, they were attacked by a much larger party of Huns
+than their patrol.
+
+"We must stick together!" cried Jack to Tom. "If we separate we're lost!
+Where are the others?"
+
+"Sam Zalbert was with me a second ago," answered Tom, naming a lad with
+whom he and Jack had become quite friendly. "But I saw him fall. I don't
+know whether he slipped or was hurt. Look out!" he suddenly shouted.
+
+He saw two Germans rushing at him and Jack, with leveled revolvers.
+There was no time to get another grenade from their pockets, and Tom did
+the next best thing. He made a tackle, football fashion, at the legs of
+the Germans, which he could see very plainly in the light of many star
+shells that were now being sent up.
+
+Almost at the same instant Jack, seeing his chum's intention, followed
+his example, and the two Huns went down in a heap, falling over the
+heads of their antagonists with many a German imprecation. Their weapons
+flew from their hands.
+
+"Come on! This is getting too hot for us!" cried Jack, as he scrambled
+to his feet, followed by Tom. "There'll be a barrage here in a minute."
+
+This seemed about to happen, for machine guns were spitting fire and
+death all along that section of the German front, and the American and
+French forces were replying. A general engagement might be precipitated
+at any moment.
+
+The American lieutenant tried to rally his men, but it was a hopeless
+task. The Germans had overpowered them. Tom and Jack started to run back
+toward their own lines, having made sure, however, of putting beyond the
+power to fight any more the two Germans who had attacked them.
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom. "We've got to have reinforcements to tackle this
+bunch!"
+
+"I guess so!" agreed Jack.
+
+They turned, not to retreat, but to better their positions, when they
+both ran full into a body of men that seemed to spring up from the very
+ground in the sudden darkness that followed an unusually bright burst of
+star shells.
+
+"What is it? Who are they? What's the matter?" cried Tom.
+
+"Give it up!" answered Jack. "Who are you?" he asked.
+
+Instantly a guttural German voice cried:
+
+"Ah! The American swine! We have them!"
+
+In another moment Tom and Jack felt themselves surrounded by an
+overpowering number.
+
+Hands plucked at them toughly from all sides, and their pistols and few
+remaining grenades were taken from them.
+
+"Turn back with the prisoners!" cried a voice in German.
+
+The two air service boys found themselves being fairly-lifted from their
+feet by the rush of their captors. Where they were going they could not
+see, but they knew what had happened.
+
+They had been captured by the Germans!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. THE CLEW
+
+
+For one wild instant Tom and Jack, as they admitted to one another
+afterward, felt an insane desire to attempt to break away from their
+captors, to rush at them, to attack if need be with their bare hands,
+and so invite death in its quickest form. They even hoped that they
+might escape this way rather than live to be taken behind the German
+lines.
+
+It was not only the disgrace of being captured--which really was no
+disgrace considering the overwhelming numbers that attacked them--t it
+was the fear of what they might have to suffer as prisoners.
+
+Tom and Jack, as well as the others, might well regard with horror the
+fate that lay before them. But to escape by even a desperate struggle
+was out of the question. They were surrounded by a ring of Germans,
+several files deep, and each was heavily armed. Then, too, their captors
+were fairly rushing them along over the uneven ground as though fearful
+of pursuit. The air service boys had no chance, nor did any of their
+comrades of the patrol who might be left alive. How many these were, Tom
+and Jack had no means of knowing. They did not see any of their comrades
+near them. There were only the Huns who were bubbling over with coarse
+joy in the delight of having captured two "American pigs," as they
+brutally boasted.
+
+Stumbling and half falling, Tom and Jack were dragged along. Now and
+then they could see, by means of the star shells, groups of men, some
+near and some farther off. There was firing all along the Hun and Allied
+lines, and as the boys were dragged along the big guns began to thunder.
+What had started as an ordinary night raid might end in a general
+engagement before it was finished.
+
+There seemed to be fierce lighting going on between the several detached
+groups, and the air service boys did not doubt that some word of the
+dispersing and virtual defeat of the party they were with had reached
+their lines, resulting in the sending out of relief parties.
+
+"This sure is tough luck!" murmured Jack to Tom, as they stumbled along
+in the midst of their captors.
+
+"You said it! If our boys would only rush this bunch and get us away."
+
+"Silence, pigs!" cried a German officer, and with his sword he struck
+at Tom, slightly injuring the lad and causing a hot wave of fierce
+resentment.
+
+"You wouldn't dare do that if I had my hands free, you dirty dog!"
+rasped out Tom in fairly good German, and he tugged to free his arms
+from the hold of a Hun soldier on either side.
+
+The officer who had struck Tom seemed about to reply, for he surged
+through the ranks of his men over toward the captive, but a command from
+some one, evidently higher in authority halted him, and he marched on,
+muttering.
+
+There was sharp fighting between the Hun sentries and small parties,
+and similar bodies from the American and Allied sides going on along
+the lines now, and both armies were sending up rockets and other
+illuminating devices.
+
+The two Virginia lads felt themselves being hurried forward--or back,
+whichever way you choose to look at it--and whither they were being
+taken they did not know. The taunts of their captors had ceased, though
+the men were talking together in low voices, and suddenly, at something
+one of them said, Tom nudged Jack, beside whom he was walking.
+
+"Did you hear that?" he asked in so low a voice that it was not heard by
+the Hun next him. Or if it was heard, no attention was paid to it, for
+Torn spoke in English. The tramp of the heavy boots of the Huns and the
+rattle of their arms and accoutrements made noise enough, perhaps, to
+cover the sound of his voice.
+
+"Did I hear what?" asked Jack.
+
+"What that chap said. It was something about one of the German prison
+camps having been burned by the prisoners, a lot of whom got away. The
+rest were transferred to a place not far from here. Listen!"
+
+And the Americans listened to the extent of their ability.
+
+Then it was they blessed their lucky stars that they understood enough
+of German to know what was being said, for it was then and there that
+they got a clew to the whereabouts of Harry Leroy, from whom they had
+heard not a word since the dropping of his glove by the German aviator.
+They did not even know whether or not their packages had reached their
+chum.
+
+The talk of the Germans who had captured Tom and Jack was, indeed,
+concerning the burning of one of the prison camps. As the boys learned
+later, the prisoners, unable to stand the terrible treatment, had risen
+and set fire to the place. Many of them perished in the blaze and by the
+fire of German rifles. The others were transferred to a camp nearer the
+battle line as a punishment, it being argued, perhaps, that they might
+be killed by the fire of the guns of their own side.
+
+"And there are some airmen, too, in the new prison camp," said one of
+the Germans. "Our infantrymen claimed them as their meat, though our
+airmen brought them down. But there was no room for them in the prison
+camp with the other captured aviators, so The Butcher has them in his
+charge."
+
+Tom and Jack learned later that "The Butcher" was the title bestowed,
+even by his own men, on a certain brutal German colonel who had charge
+of this prison camp.
+
+Then there came to Tom and Jack in the darkness a curious piece of
+information, dropped by casual talk of the Huns. One of them said to
+another:
+
+"One of the transferred airmen tried to bribe me to-day."
+
+"To bribe you? How and for what?"
+
+"He is an accursed American pig, and when he heard we were opposite some
+of them, he wanted me to throw a note from him over into the American
+lines. He said I would be well paid, and he offered me a piece of gold
+he had hidden in the sole of his shoe."
+
+"Did you take it?"
+
+"The gold? Of course I did! But I tore up the note he gave me to toss
+into the American lines. First I looked at it, though. It was signed
+with a French name, though the prisoner claimed to be from the United
+States. It was the name Leroy which means, I have been told, the king.
+Ha! I have his gold, and the note is scattered over No Man's Land! But
+I will tell him I sent it into the trenches of his friends. He may have
+more notes and gold!" and the brute chuckled.
+
+Tom and Jack, looked at one another in the darkness. Could it be
+possible that it was their friend Harry Leroy who was so near to them,
+since he had been transferred from a camp far behind the lines?
+
+It seemed so. There were not many American airmen captured, and there
+could hardly be two of this same rather odd name.
+
+"It must be Harry," murmured Tom.
+
+"I think so," agreed Jack.
+
+"Silence, American pigs!" commanded man officer.
+
+He raised his sword to strike the lad. But just then occurred an
+interruption so tremendous that all thought of punishing prisoners who
+dared to speak was forgotten.
+
+A big shell rose screaming and moaning from the Allied lines and landed
+not far from the party of Germans which was leading along Tom and Jack.
+It burst with a tremendous noise well inside the Hug defenses, and this
+was followed by a terrific explosion. As the boys learned later the
+shell had landed in the midst of a concealed battery--a stroke of luck,
+and not due to any good aiming on the part of the American gunner--and
+the supply of ammunition had gone up.
+
+There was great commotion behind the German lines, and two or three of
+Tom's and Jack's captors were thrown down by the concussion. The air
+service boys themselves were stunned.
+
+And then there suddenly sounded a ringing American cheer, while a voice,
+coming from a group of soldiers that confronted the German patrol,
+cried:
+
+"Halt! Who's there? Are there any of Uncle Sam's boys?"
+
+"Yes! Yes!" eagerly cried Tom and Jack. "Come on! We're captured by the
+Germans!"
+
+There was another cheer, followed by a roar of rage, and then came a
+rush of feet. Gleaming bayonets glistened in the light of star shells
+and many guns, and the members of the German patrol, finding themselves
+surrounded, threw down their arms and cried:
+
+"Kamerad!"
+
+The fortunes of war had unexpectedly turned, and Tom and Jack had been
+rescued and saved by a party of Pershing's gallant boys.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. NELLIE'S RESOLVE
+
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"How'd they get you?"
+
+"Are you hurt?"
+
+These were a few of the questions put to Tom and Jack as they were
+surrounded by the rescuing party of their friends, led, it afterward
+developed, by the very lieutenant with whom the two air service boys had
+started in the patrol across No Man's Land.
+
+The German captors had either all surrendered or been killed, and the
+tables were most effectively switched around. At first Tom and Jack were
+too surprised and overwhelmingly grateful to answer.
+
+But they soon understood what had happened. And then they told the story
+of their fight against odds until captured. They said nothing just then
+of the unexpected information that had come to them about Harry Leroy's
+presence in a German camp so comparatively near their own lines. But
+they resolved, at the first opportunity, to make use of the information.
+
+The shooting of the big guns gradually ceased when it was made manifest
+that neither side was ready for a general engagement. The pop-pop of the
+machine weapons, too, died away and the star shells ceased rising.
+
+"Come on you Fritzies--what's left of you," cried the lieutenant, when
+he had made sure that there were no others of his party whom he could
+rescue.
+
+Then with Tom and Jack the center of a happy, tumultuous throng of their
+own comrades, the trip back to the American lines was begun. It was
+without incident save that on the way a wounded British soldier was
+found lying in a shell hole and carried in, ultimately to recover.
+
+Tom and Jack told what had happened to them, how they had been
+surrounded and led away; and then, came the story of the lieutenant who
+had led the patrol party which had turned defeat into victory with the
+aid of reinforcements which were sent to him.
+
+He had seen his hopes blasted when rushed by the big crowd of the Hun
+patrol, and, though slightly wounded, he realized that absolute defeat
+would come to him and his men unless he could get help. He sent a runner
+back with word to send relief, and then, surrounding himself with what
+few men remained alive and uncaptured, the fight went on.
+
+It was bitter and sanguinary, and at last, with only two men left beside
+him, the lieutenant heard the rush of the relief guard. He was placed
+in charge, as he knew the lay of the land, and the party hurried to and
+fro, wiping up little knots of Germans here and there, until the main
+body encountered the squad having in charge the two air service boys.
+
+"You began to think it was all up with you, didn't you?" asked the
+lieutenant, when they were all once more safely in the dugout.
+
+"We certainly did!" admitted Tom.
+
+"We had visions of watery soup and wheatless bread for the rest of the
+war," observed Jack.
+
+He and Tom were slightly wounded--mere scratches they dubbed the
+hurts--but they were sent to the rear to be looked over and bandaged, as
+were some of the others who were more severely hurt. There were some who
+could not be sent back--who were left in No Man's Land silent figures
+who would never take part in a battle again. They had paid their price
+toward making the world a better place to live in, and their names were
+on the Honor Roll.
+
+"Well, what do you think about it?" asked Tom of Jack.
+
+"I don't know what to think. It seems hardly possible that Harry can be
+so near to us, and yet we can't do a thing to help him."
+
+"I'm not so sure about that," returned Tom. "That's what I want to talk
+about."
+
+It was a week after the patrol raid, and clear weather had succeeded the
+rain and mist, so that it was possible for the aeroplanes to operate.
+And their services were much needed.
+
+There were preparations going on back of the German lines of which
+General Pershing and the Allied commanders needed to be informed. And
+only the "eyes" of the armies could see them and report--the eyes being
+the aeroplanes.
+
+So it came about that, having been relieved of their temporary transfer
+to the infantry, Tom and Jack were once more with their comrades of the
+air.
+
+"Well, let's think it over, and talk about it when we come down,"
+suggested Jack. "We've got to go upstairs for our usual tour of duty
+now."
+
+This would last three hours. They were to do scout work--report any
+unusual activity back of the German lines, or give warning of the
+approach of any hostile aeroplanes. After their tour of duty was ended
+they would have the rest of the day to themselves, provided there was
+no general attack. Of course if, while they were up, they were attacked,
+they must fight.
+
+Each lad had a plane to himself, since the young "huns" had all pretty
+well passed their novitiate, and were now in the regular flying squad.
+Later some other new aviators would report for instruction on the battle
+front.
+
+Up and up climbed Tom and Jack, and eagerly they scanned the German
+lines for any signs of activity. But though there were some Hun planes
+in the air, they did not approach to give battle. Possibly some other
+plans were afoot. Afterward Tom and Jack admitted to one another that
+there was a great temptation to fly over the German trenches to try to
+get a sight of the prison that had been spoken of--the camp where Harry
+Leroy might be held.
+
+But to do this would be in direct violation of their orders, and they
+dared not take any risks. For to do so might involve not only themselves
+in danger, but others as well. And that view of the matter determined
+them. They would have to await their opportunity for rescuing their
+chum--if it could be accomplished.
+
+Their tour of duty aloft that day was without incident. This is not an
+usual condition at times along the long battle front. Men can not go on
+fighting without stop, and there come lulls in even the fiercest battle.
+Flesh and blood can stand only a certain amount of torture, and then
+even the soul rebels.
+
+So Tom and Jack drifted peacefully down to their aerodrome, noting that
+it was being newly camouflaged, for the recent rain had played havoc
+with some of the concealments.
+
+As far as possible both the Germans and the Allies tried to conceal the
+location of their flying camps. The aeroplanes and balloons needed large
+buildings to house them, and such structures made excellent and, of
+course, fair war-marks for bombing parties in aeroplanes hovering aloft.
+So it was the custom to put up trees and bushes or to stretch canvas
+over the aerodromes and paint it to resemble woods and fields in an
+effort to conceal, or camouflage, the depots where the airships were
+stationed. But this work was done by a special detail of men, and with
+it Tom and Jack had nothing to do.
+
+They turned their machines over to the mechanics, who would go carefully
+over them and have the craft in readiness for the next flight. Then,
+being free for several hours, the two young airmen could do as they
+pleased, within certain limits.
+
+"Well, did anything occur to you?" asked Jack, as he and Tom, having
+divested themselves of their heavy fur-lined garments, went to the mess
+hall, which was in an old stable, from which the horses had long since
+been removed.
+
+"You mean a plan to rescue Harry?"
+
+"That's it."
+
+"No, I'm sorry to say I can't think of a thing," Tom answered. "I
+thought I would, but I didn't. Have you anything to say?"
+
+"Yes. Let's go to Paris."
+
+"You mean to see--er--?"
+
+"Yes!" interrupted Jack with a smile. "This is their day off, and we
+might as well have a little enjoyment when we can. From the easy time we
+had to-day we'll have some hard fighting to-morrow. This was too good to
+last. Heinie is up to some mischief, I think."
+
+"Same here."
+
+So, having received permission, they went to Paris, and soon found their
+way to the lodgings of Mrs. Gleason, where the air service boys were
+welcomed by Bessie and Nellie.
+
+Of course the first question had to do with the captive Harry, and to
+the delight of Nellie Tom was able to say:
+
+"We have news of him, anyhow."
+
+"News? You mean he is all right?"
+
+"Well, as all right as he ever can be while the Boches have him, I
+suppose," was the answer.
+
+"But the news didn't come direct from him. He's in another camp. I'll
+tell you about it."
+
+Tom and Jack, by turns, related what had happened on the night patrol,
+and explained how they had overheard talk of Harry.
+
+"Then he is nearer than he has been?" asked Nellie.
+
+"Yes," admitted Tom.
+
+"Won't it be easier to rescue him then?" Bessie queried.
+
+"Well, that doesn't follow," said Jack. "Of course if we could rescue
+him, we'd have a shorter distance to bring him, to get him inside our
+lines. But it's just as difficult getting beyond the German lines now as
+it was before. Tom and I thought we'd come and talk it over, and see if
+you girls have anything to suggest. We'll do the rescue work if we only
+get a chance, and can find some plan. Have you any?"
+
+He asked that question, though he hardly expected an answer. And both he
+and Tom, as well as Bessie and her mother, were greatly surprised when
+Nellie exclaimed:
+
+"Yes, I have!"
+
+"You have?" cried Tom. "What is it? Tell us, quick!"
+
+"I am going to save my brother by offering myself as a prisoner in his
+place," said Nellie with quiet resolve. "That's how I'll save him! I'll
+exchange myself for him!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. THE BIG BATTLE
+
+
+Nellie Leroy rose from, the chair where she had been sitting, and stood
+before the little party of her friends, gathered in the little Paris
+apartment where Bessie Gleason and her mother made their home when they
+were not actively engaged in Red Cross work. The sister of the captive
+airman had a quiet but very determined air about her.
+
+"That is what I am going to do," she said, as no one at first answered
+what had been a dramatic outbreak. "Perhaps you will tell me best how to
+go about it," and she turned to Tom and Jack. "You know something of the
+German lines, and where I can best go to give myself up."
+
+"Why--why, you can't go at all!" burst out Tom.
+
+"I can't go?"
+
+"No, of course not. You mean all right, Nellie," went on the young man,
+"but it simply can't be done. To give yourself up to the Germans would
+mean for yourself not only--Oh, it couldn't be done!" as he thought of
+the cruelty of the Huns, not only to the soldiers of the Allied armies
+but to helpless women and children. "You couldn't give yourself up to
+those brutes!' he cried.
+
+"To save my brother I could," said Nellie simply. "I would do anything
+for him!"
+
+"I know you would," murmured Bessie.
+
+"But it would just be throwing yourself away!" exclaimed Jack, coming
+to the help of his chum, who was gazing helplessly at him in this
+new crisis. "Tell her, Mrs. Gleason," he went on, "that it is utterly
+impossible, even if the army authorities would let her. Even if she
+should give herself up to the Germans, they wouldn't keep any agreement
+they made to exchange her brother. They'd simply keep both of them."
+
+"Yes, I think they would," said Mrs. Gleason. "It is out of the
+question, my dear," and gently she laid her hand on the girl's shoulder.
+"That is very fine and noble of you, but it would be wrong, for it
+would not save your brother, and you would certainly be made a prisoner
+yourself. And of the horrors of the German prison--at least some where
+the infantrymen have been kept, I dare not tell you. I imagine it must
+be better where the airmen are captured," she went on, for she feared
+that if she painted too black a picture of what Harry might suffer his
+sister would not be held back by anything, and might sacrifice herself
+uselessly.
+
+"But what am I do?" asked Nellie, helplessly. "I want Harry so much! We
+all want him! Oh, isn't there something? Can't you save him?" and she
+held out her hands appealingly to Torn and Jack.
+
+There was a moment of silence, and then Tom burst out with:
+
+"Well, I may as well speak now as later, and I'll tell you what I've
+made up my mind to do. Yes, it's a new plan I've worked out," he went
+on, as Jack looked at him curiously. "I haven't told even you, old man,
+as it wasn't quite ready yet. But it's a scheme that may succeed, now
+that we know definitely where Harry is, from what the German patrol
+said. He isn't so far away as when we dropped the packages in the prison
+camp, though we don't yet know that he was there at the time we did our
+stunt. However, if this new plan succeeds we may have a chance to find
+out."
+
+"How?" asked Nellie, eagerly.
+
+"By talking to Harry himself."
+
+"How are you going to do that?" demanded Bessie.
+
+"What kind of game have you been cooking up behind my back?" asked Jack.
+
+"As desperate as the other, I guess you'll call it," answered Tom. "But
+something has to be done."
+
+"Yes, something has to be done," agreed Jack. "Now what is it?"
+
+Tom arose and went to the door. He opened it, looked carefully up and
+down the hall, evidently to make sure no one was listening, and then
+came back to join the circle of his friends.
+
+"I'm going to speak of something that very few know, as yet," he said,
+"and I don't want to take any chances of its getting out. There may
+be German spies in Paris, though I guess by this time they're few and
+scattering.
+
+"I'm not going to tell you how I know," he said, "but I do know that
+soon there is to take place a big battle--that is, it will be big
+for the American forces that are to have part in it. There has been a
+conference among the Allied commanders, and it has been decided that
+it's time to teach the Germans a lesson. They've been despising the
+American troops, as they despised General French's 'contemptible little
+army,' and General Pershing is going to show Fritz that we have a
+soldier or two that can fight."
+
+"You mean there's to be a big offensive?" asked Jack.
+
+"No, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a general engagement like that.
+It's to be kept within the limits, of the sector where the United States
+troops are at present," said Tom. "That is where you and I are located,
+Jack, and that, as you know, is almost opposite the prison where Harry
+and the others are confined."
+
+"I begin to see what you are driving at!" cried Nellie, her eyes
+shining. "But are you sure of this?"
+
+"Yes," went on Jack, "how did you bear of this when it's supposed to be
+such a secret?"
+
+"It came to me by accident," said Torn, "and I wouldn't speak of it to
+any one but you. Soon, however, it will be more or less public on our
+side, as it will have to be when we start to get ready. But it's to
+be kept a secret from Fritz as long as possible. It's to be a surprise
+attack, and if it doesn't develop into a big battle it won't be the
+fault of Uncle Sam's boys."
+
+"Will the air service have any part in it?" asked Jack eagerly, as if
+fearing he might be left out.
+
+"I don't see how they can get along without us," said Tom. "Not that
+we're the whole works, but it is well established now that an army can't
+fight without the use of aeroplanes, to tell not only what the other
+side is doing, but also how our own guns are shooting. Oh, we'll be in
+it all right!"
+
+"When?" asked Jack.
+
+"That I can't say," replied his chum. "But now to get down to the thing
+that concerns us, or rather, Harry. I have a scheme--and you can call it
+wild if you like--that when the battle is going on, you and I, Jack, and
+some other airmen if we can induce them to do it, and I think we can,
+may be able to drop bombs near the prison camp. We'll have to judge our
+distances pretty carefully, or we'll do more harm than good. Then, if
+all goes well, and we can blow down some of the camp walls or fences,
+and if the battle favors our side, we can make a descent on enemy
+territory and rescue Harry and any others that are with him. What do you
+think of that plan?"
+
+"It's wonderful!" exclaimed Nellie, glaring at Tom with a strange, new
+light in her eyes.
+
+"It's very daring," said Bessie, more calmly.
+
+"It's crazy!" burst out Jack
+
+"I thought you'd say that," commented Tom calmly, "and I'd have been
+disappointed if you hadn't. And just because it is crazy it may succeed.
+But it's the only thing I can think of. Daring will get you further in
+this war then anything else. You've got to take big chances anyhow, and
+the bigger the better, I say."
+
+"I'm with you there all right," agreed Jack. "But to land in hostile
+territory--it hasn't been done ten times since the war began, and have
+the aviator live to get away with it!"
+
+"I know it," said Tom, quietly. "But this may be the eleventh successful
+time. Now that's my plan for rescuing Harry Leroy. If any of you have a
+better one let's hear it."
+
+No one answered, and finally Nellie spoke.
+
+"No," she said, with a shake of her head, "it's very fine and noble
+of you boys, but I can't allow it. If you wouldn't let me give myself
+up--exchange myself for Harry, I can't let you give your lives for him
+this way. It wouldn't be fair. It would be depriving the Allies of two
+valuable fighters, to possibly get back one, and the possibility is so
+slim that--well, it's suicidal!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Not so much so as you think," said Tom. "I've got it all figured out
+as far as possible. And as for landing in hostile territory, if all goes
+well, and the big battle progresses as Pershing and his aides think it
+will, maybe we won't have to land in hostile territory at all. We may
+drive the Germans back, and then the prison will be within our lines."
+
+"That's so!" cried Jack. "I didn't think of feat. Tom, old man, maybe
+your scheme isn't as crazy as I thought! Anyhow, I'm in it with you. The
+only thing is--will this big battle take place?"
+
+"'It will unless the Germans decide to surrender between now and the day
+set," Tom answered grimly, "and I hardly believe they'll do that. It's a
+going to be some fight!"
+
+"Glad of it!" cried Jack. "Now we've got something to live for!" As
+if he and Tom did not risk their lives every day to make life in the
+civilized world something worth living for.
+
+"Well, we must be getting back!" exclaimed Tom, as he looked at his
+watch. "All leaves will be stopped in a few days--just before we start
+preparations for the big battle. If we can we'll see you once more
+before then."
+
+"And afterward?" inquired Nellie, softly and pleadingly.
+
+"Yes, and afterward, too!" exclaimed Tom. "And we'll bring Harry back
+with us. Now good-bye!"
+
+It was a more solemn farewell than the friends had taken in some time,
+for all felt the impending events, and Tom and Jack talked but little
+during the return trip from Paris to their headquarters.
+
+What Tom had said about the big battle was strictly true. It had been
+decided in high quarters that it was time the newly arrived American
+soldiers showed what they could do. That they could fight fiercely and
+well was not a question, it was only a matter of getting them
+familiar with the different conditions to be met with on the European
+battlefields, against a ruthless foe.
+
+Tom and Jack had a chance for one more hasty, flying visit to Paris, and
+then all leave was withdrawn, and there began in and about the American
+camp such a period of tense and intensive work as bore out what Tom had
+said. The big battle was impending.
+
+Great stores were accumulated of rations and munitions. Great guns were
+brought up into position and skillfully camouflaged. Machine guns in
+great numbers were prepared and a number of aeroplanes were brought from
+other sectors and made ready for the flying fight.
+
+"How are your plans coming on?" asked Jack of Tom, at the close of a day
+when it seemed that every one's nerves were on edge from the strain of
+preparing.
+
+"All right," was the answer. "I've spoken to a number of the boys, and
+they're with me. You know we're pretty much 'on our own,' when we're
+flying, and I think that we can drop the bombs and make a descent long
+enough to pick up Harry and other refugees if we break open the prison."
+
+"But suppose we land, stall the engines and the Germans surround us?"
+
+"That mustn't happen," said Tom. "We won't stall the engines for one
+thing. We'll just have to drop down, and taxi around as well as we can
+until we pick up Harry, or until he sees us. The machines will carry
+three as well as two, and even if we have, by some mischance to go up
+in singles, they'll carry double. But I figured on your being with me.
+Harry knows enough of the game to be on the lookout when he hears the
+bombs drop and sees the planes hovering over him, and he'll tip off the
+others to be ready for a rescue.
+
+"Of course I don't say we can get 'em all, and maybe something will
+happen that we can't get Harry away. But I think we'll teach Fritz a
+lesson, and I think we can break up the prison camp so some of the poor
+fellows can get away. As I said, it's a desperate chance, but one we've
+got to take."
+
+"And I'm with you!" exclaimed Jack. "And now when does the big battle
+take place?"
+
+He was answered a moment later, for an orderly arrived with instructions
+to the air service boys to report at their hangars at once.
+
+There they were told something of the impending attack--the first public
+mention of it, though more than one had guessed something unusual was in
+the air from the tenseness of the last few days.
+
+The attack was to start at dawn the next morning, preceded by an intense
+artillery fire. It was to be the fiercest rain of shells since the
+Americans had come to the front lines. Then the infantry, supported by
+tanks and aeroplanes, would follow, going over in waves which it was
+hoped would overwhelm the Germans.
+
+That night was a tense one. Suppose the enemy had guessed, or a spy had
+given word of the impending battle? Then success would be jeopardized.
+But the night passed with only the usual exchange of shots and the
+sending up of star shells over No Man's Land.
+
+And so, as the hour of dawn approached, the tense and nervous feeling
+grew. Tom and Jack, with their comrades in their hangars, were dressed
+in their fur garments and ready. Their machines had received the last
+touches from the hands of the mechanics, and each one was well equipped
+with bombs and machine gun ammunition. Tom and Jack were to be allowed
+to go up together in a big double bombing plane.
+
+The night passed. The hour approached. Anxious eyes watched the hands of
+watches slowly revolve.
+
+Then suddenly, as if the very earth had been blasted away from beneath
+them, the batteries of big guns belched forth fire, smoke and shell.
+
+The great battle was on!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. SILENCING THE GERMAN GUNS
+
+
+Engagements in the World War were on such a vast scale that it was
+difficult for a single observer to give a word picture of them. All he
+could see, stationed behind the lines, was a vast cataclysm of smoke
+and fire, and his ears were deafened by so vast a sound that it was
+comparable to nothing on this earth ever heard before.
+
+An observer in the air was little better off, save for that portion
+directly beneath him, and even that he could not see very much of, on
+account of the smoke and dust. If he looked to the left or the right, or
+backward or forward, he was at the disadvantage of distance.
+
+To him, then, great columns of infantry appeared only as crawling worms,
+and batteries of artillery merely patches of woods whence belched fire
+and smoke. That he must keep high in the air when over the enemy's lines
+went without saying, for he would be fired at if he came too low. So
+then, even an airman's vision was limited when it came to describing a
+great battle.
+
+Of course he always did what he was assigned to do. He kept in contact,
+or in communication, with his own certain batteries, or his infantry
+division, directing the shots of the former and the advance of the
+latter. So, really, he had little time to observe anything save the
+effect of the firing of his own side on a certain limited objective.
+
+As for the soldiers in battle, they are, of course, unable to observe
+anything except that which goes on immediately in their neighborhood.
+The artilleryman fires his gun under the direction of some observer,
+often far away, who telephones to him to lower or elevate his piece, or
+deflect it to the tight or left. The infantryman advances as the barrage
+lifts, and rushes forward according to orders, firing or using his
+bayonet as the case may be, digging in when halted, and waiting for
+another rush forward. The machine gunner and his squad aim to put as
+many of the advancing, retreating, or standing enemy out of the fighting
+as possible, and to save themselves.
+
+The truck men hasten up with loads of ammunition, fortunate if they are
+not sent to their death in the drive. The stretcher bearers look for the
+wounded and hasten back with them.
+
+So, all in all, no single person can observe more than a very small part
+of the great battle. It is really like looking through a microscope
+at some organism, while the whole great body lies beyond the field of
+vision.
+
+Only the general staff-the officers in their headquarters far behind
+the lines, who receive reports as to how this division or corps is
+retreating or advancing--can have any real conception of the big battle,
+and these persons may see it only at a distance.
+
+So the usual process of things in general is reversed, and the person
+farthest removed from the fighting may really see, or rather know, most
+about it.
+
+And so with a storm of shot and shell, manmade thunders and lightnings,
+and bolts of death from the earth below and the air above, the great
+battle opened and advanced.
+
+It progressed just as other battles had progressed. There was a terrific
+artillery preparation, which took the Germans evidently by surprise,
+for the response was long in coming, and then it was not in proportion.
+After the great cannon had done their best to level the big guns on the
+German side, a barrage, or curtain of fire was started, and behind this,
+which was in reality a falling hail of bullets, the Americans and their
+supporting French and British comrades advanced. The curtain of steel
+was to kill or push back the Germans, and to make it safe for the
+Americans to go forward. By elevating the small guns the curtain fell
+farther and farther into the enemy's territory, thus making it possible
+for the Allies to go on farther and farther across No Man's Land.
+
+The infantry rushed forward, fighting and dying nobly in a noble cause.
+Position after position was consolidated as the Germans fell back before
+the rain of shot and shell. It is always this way in an offensive, small
+or large. The first rush of the attacking side, be it German, French,
+British, or American, carries everything before it. It is the counter
+attack that tells. If the attackers are strong enough to hold what they
+gain, well and good. If not--the attack is a failure.
+
+But this one--the first great attack of the Americans--was not destined
+to fail, though once it trembled in the balance.
+
+Tom and Jack, with their companions, had flown aloft, and, taking the
+stations assigned to them, did their part in the battle. As the light
+grew with the break of day, they could see the effect of the American
+big guns. It was devastating. And yet some German batteries lived
+through it. Several times Tom and Jack, by means of their wireless,
+sent back corrections so that the American pieces might be aimed more
+effectively. Below them was a maelstrom--an indescribable chaos of death
+and destruction. They only had glimpses of it--glimpses of a seemingly
+inextricable mixture of men and guns.
+
+And through it all, though they did not for a moment neglect their duty,
+bearing in mind their instructions to keep in contact with the batteries
+they served, Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly were eagerly seeking for a
+sight of the prison where Harry Leroy might be held. At one time after
+they had dropped bombs on some German positions, thereby demolishing
+them, Tom, who was acting as pilot, signaled to his chum that he was
+going far over the enemy's lines to try to locate the prison.
+
+Jack nodded an acquiescence. It was not entirely against orders what
+they were about to do. They might obtain valuable information, and it
+would take only a short time, so speedy was their machine. Then too,
+they had used up all their bombs, and must return for more. Before doing
+this they wished to make an observation.
+
+Luck was with them. They managed to pass over a comparatively quiet
+sector of the lines where the German resistance had been wiped out, and
+where, even as they looked down, Americans were digging in and guns were
+being brought up to support them.
+
+And not many kilometers inside the German positions from this point,
+they sailed over a prison camp. They, knew it in an instant, and felt
+sure it must be the one spoken of by the German who had taken Leroy's
+gold and then betrayed him.
+
+"That's the place!" cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear him.
+"Now to bomb it and set Harry free!"
+
+But they must return for more ammunition, and this they set about doing.
+They wished they might drop some word to the prisoners confined there,
+stating that help might soon be on its way to them, but they had no
+chance to send this cheering word.
+
+Back they rushed to their own lines, and no sooner had they landed than
+an orderly rushed up to them and instructed them to report immediately
+to their commanding officer.
+
+"Boys, you're just in time!" he cried, all dignity or formality having
+been set aside in the excitement of the great battle.
+
+"What is it?" asked Tom.
+
+"We want you to silence some big German guns--a nasty battery of them
+that's playing havoc with our boys. The artillery hasn't been able to
+locate 'em--probably they're too well camouflaged. And we can't advance
+against 'em. Will you go up and try to put them out of business?"
+
+Of course there could be but one answer to this. Tom and Jack hurried
+off to see to the loading of their machine with bombs--an extra large
+number of very powerful ones being taken.
+
+Once more they were off on their dangerous mission, for it was
+dangerous, since many American planes were brought down by German fire
+that day, and by attacks from other Hun machines.
+
+But Tom and Jack never faltered. Up and up they went, the probable
+location of the guns having been made known to them on the map they
+carried. Up and onward they went. For a time they must forego the chance
+of rescuing their friend.
+
+Straight for the indicated place they went, and just as they reached
+it there came a burst of fire and smoke. It appeared to roll out from
+a little ravine well wooded on both sides, and that accounted for the
+failure of the Americans to locate it. Chance had played into the hands
+of the air service boys.
+
+There was no need of word between Tom and Jack. The former headed the
+plane for the place whence the German guns had fired upon the Americans,
+killing and wounding many.
+
+Over it, for an instant, hovered the aeroplane. Then Jack touched the
+bomb releasing device. Down dropped the powerful explosive.
+
+There was a great upward blast of air which rocked the machine in which
+sat the two aviators. There was a burst of smoke and flame beneath them,
+tongues of fire seeming to reach up as though to pull them down.
+
+Then came a terrific explosion which almost deafened the boys, even
+though their ears were covered with the fur caps, and though their own
+engine made a pandemonium of sound.
+
+The air was filled with flying debris--debris of the German guns and
+men. The bombs dropped by Tom and Jack had accomplished their mission.
+The harassing battery was destroyed. The German guns were silenced.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. THE RESCUE
+
+
+Tom and Jack circled around slowly over the place where the German
+battery had been. It was now no more--it could work no more havoc to the
+American ranks. It did not need the wireless news to this effect, which
+the aviators sent back, to apprise the Allies of what had happened. They
+had seen the harassing guns blown up.
+
+Now out swarmed the Americans, charging with savage yells over the place
+that had been such a hindrance to their advance. Tom and Jack had done
+their work well.
+
+There was no need for the one to tell the other what was in his mind.
+There were still two of the powerful bombs left, and there was but one
+thought on this matter. They must be used to blow up, if possible,
+the camp near the German prison. Doing that would create havoc and
+consternation enough, the air service boys thought, to drive the captors
+away, and enable Leroy and his fellow prisoners to be saved.
+
+Jack punched Tom in the back and motioned for him to shut off the motor
+a moment so that talking would be possible. Tom did this, and Jack
+cried:
+
+"Shall we take a chance?"
+
+"Yes!" Tom answered in return.
+
+Strictly speaking, having accomplished the mission they were sent out
+on, they should have returned to their base for orders. But the airmen
+were given more liberty of action and decision than any other branch of
+the Allied service.
+
+"Go to it!" cried Jack, and once more Tom started the motor and headed
+the craft for the Hun prison.
+
+Again the air service boys were hovering over the prison camp. They
+could now see that there was much more activity around it than there had
+been before the big battery was destroyed. The fight was coming closer,
+and the Germans evidently knew it. Whether they were trying to arrange
+to take their captives farther back, or merely seeking to escape
+themselves from a trap, was not then evident.
+
+And, having reached a position where they could see below them what
+looked to be a concentration of German guns, perhaps to fire on any
+force that might advance against the prison. Jack let fall one of his
+two remaining bombs.
+
+It swerved to one side, and though it exploded with great force, and
+created havoc and consternation among the Huns, it did not fall where it
+was intended. The second battery was still intact.
+
+"My last shot!" grimly mused Jack, as he looked at the other bomb.
+
+Tom maneuvered the aeroplane until he had it about where he thought
+Jack would want it. The latter pressed the releasing lever and the bomb
+descended. It was the most powerful of the lot, and when it struck and
+exploded it not only demolished the defensive battery, making a hole in
+the place where it had stood, but it tore down part of the prison fence,
+and made such destruction generally that the Germans were stunned.
+
+Instantly, seeing that all had been accomplished that was possible, and
+noting that hovering around him were other Allied airmen who had agreed
+to help in the rescue, Tom sent his craft down. There was a burst of
+shrapnel around him and Jack, but though the latter was grazed by a
+bullet, neither was seriously hurt. A Hun plane darted down out of
+the sky to attack the bold Americans, but quickly it was engaged by a
+supporting Allied craft. However, the Hun was a good fighter, and won
+the battle against this antagonist. But when two other Allied planes
+closed in, that was the last of the enemy. He was sent crashing down to
+satisfy the vengeance in toll for the life of the birdman he had taken.
+
+Now Tom and Jack could see that their plan had worked better than they
+had dared to hope. The boldness of the attack from the air, coupled with
+the advance of the American army, started a panic in the German ranks.
+They began a retreat and the regiments near the prison camp were
+included in the rout.
+
+By this time either some of the prisoners saw that there was a break in
+the cordon around them, or they realized that a great battle was putting
+their guards to flight, for some of them made a rush toward a side where
+there were no Germans, and succeeded in breaking out--no hard task since
+part of the fence was shattered by the explosion.
+
+"Now's our chance," cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear
+this. "Harry may be among that bunch, and we want to get him and any
+others we can save."
+
+He started the aeroplane on its downward path, while Jack, guessing the
+object, got the machine gun ready for action, since there might be a
+squad of Germans ready to give battle on the ground.
+
+Several other planes of the Allies, seeing what was going on, swooped to
+the aid of the two Americans, for there were no other of the Hun craft
+within sight now. All had been sent crashing down, or had drawn off.
+
+On either side of the immediate sector which included the prison camp,
+the battle was still raging fiercely, mostly with success on the side of
+the Americans, though in places they suffered a temporary setback.
+
+In the vicinity of the prison itself wild scenes were now being enacted.
+The prisoners were beginning to rise in force, for they saw freedom
+looming before them. There were fights between them and the guards,
+and terrible happenings took place, for the guards were armed and the
+prisoners were not. But as fast as some of the Germans fell they were
+stripped of their guns and ammunition, and the weapons turned by the
+prisoners against their former captors.
+
+All this while Tom and Jack were descending in their plane. As yet they
+were uncertain whether they were to be able to rescue Leroy or not. They
+could not distinguish him at that height, though from the enthusiastic
+manner in which several of the newly liberated ones waved at the
+on-coming aeroplanes, it would seem that they were of that arm of the
+service, and appreciated what was about to happen.
+
+Nearer and nearer to the ground flew Tom and Jack. And then, to their
+horror, they saw that several Germans had set up two machine guns to
+rake the prison yard, which was still filled with excited captives. The
+Germans were determined that as few as possible of their late captives
+should find freedom.
+
+Tom acted on the instant, by sending the plane in a different direction,
+to enable Jack to use his machine gun. And Jack understood this, for,
+with a shout of defiance, he turned his weapon on the closely packed
+Germans around their machine guns.
+
+For a moment they stood and some even tried to swerve the guns about to
+shatter the dropping aeroplane. But Jack's fire was too fierce. He wiped
+out the nest, and this danger was averted.
+
+A moment later Tom had the machine to earth, and it ran along the uneven
+and shell-torn ground, coming to a rest not far from what had been the
+outer fence of the prison camp. A group of Allied captives, newly freed,
+rushed forward. Tom and Jack, removing their goggles, looked eagerly for
+a sight of Harry Leroy. They did not see him, but they saw that which
+rejoiced them, and this was more aeroplanes coming to their aid, and
+also a column of infantry on the march across a distant valley. The
+stars and stripes were in the van, and at this the rescuers and the
+prisoners set up a cheer. It meant that the Germans were beaten at that
+point.
+
+"Where's Harry Leroy? Is he among the prisoners?" cried Jack to several
+of the liberated ones who crowded around the machine. There would be no
+question now of trying to save some one, a rush by mounting to the air
+with him. The advance of the Americans and the Allies was sufficiently
+strong to hold the prison position wrested from the Germans.
+
+"Was Harry Leroy among you?" asked Tom, of the joy-crazed prisoners.
+Many were Americans, but there were French, Italian, Russian, Belgian
+and British among the motley throng.
+
+Before any one could answer him there was a hoarse shout, and from some
+place where they had been hiding a squad of German soldiers rushed
+at the group of recent prisoners about Tom and Jack. Their guns had
+bayonets fixed, and it was the evident purpose of the Huns to make
+one last rush on the prisoners near the aeroplane to kill as many as
+possible.
+
+The Germans were a sufficiently strong force, and none of these
+prisoners was armed. They began to scatter and run for shelter, and Torn
+and Jack became aware that matters were not to be as easy as they had
+expected.
+
+But fortunately the fixed machine gun on the aeroplane, which was near
+the pilot's seat, pointed straight at the oncoming Huns. With a cry Tom
+sprang to the cockpit and quickly had the weapon spitting bullets at the
+foe. Then Jack saw his chance, and, climbing up to his seat, he swung
+his gun about so that it, too, raked the Germans.
+
+They came on with the desperation and courage of despair, but the steady
+firing was at last too much for them. They broke and ran--what were left
+of them alive--in what was a veritable rout, and this ended the last
+danger for that immediate time and place.
+
+Other aeroplanes dropped down to help consolidate the victory, and the
+explosion of some American shells at a point beyond the prison camp
+told its own story. The artillery had moved up to keep pace with the
+advancing infantry. The big battle had been won by Pershing's men, and
+the air service boys had not only done their share, but they had been
+instrumental in delivering a number of prisoners.
+
+As the last of the Germans fled and Tom and Jack leaned back, well nigh
+exhausted by the strain of the fighting, a voice cried:
+
+"Good work, old scouts! I knew you'd come for me sooner or later. At
+least I hoped you would!"
+
+They turned to see Harry Leroy walking slowly toward them.
+
+Harry Leroy it was, but wounds, illness, and imprisonment had worked a
+terrible change in him. He was but the ghost of his former sturdy self.
+Still it was their chum and the brother of Nellie Leroy, and Tom
+and Jack knew they had kept the promise made to the sister. They had
+effected the rescue which the offensive made possible.
+
+"Hurray!" cried Tom. "It's really you then, old scout!"
+
+"What's left of me--yes. Oh, but it's good to see the flag again!" and
+he pointed to the colors on the aeroplane and on the advancing banners
+of the infantry. "And it's good to see you again! I'd about given up,
+and so had most of us, when we heard the shooting and knew something was
+going on. But how did it happen? How did you get here, and how did you
+know I was here?"
+
+"Go easy!" advised Tom with a grin. "One question at a time. Can you
+ride in our bus? If you can we'll take you back with us. The others will
+be taken care of soon, I fancy, for our boys will soon be in permanent
+occupation here. Will you come back with us?"
+
+"Will I? Say, I'll come if I have to hitch on behind, like a can to a
+dog's tail!" cried Leroy, and, weak and ill-nourished as he was, it was
+evident that the sight of his former comrades had already done him much
+good.
+
+So now that the position was well won by the Americans and the Allies,
+Tom and Jack turned their machine about, wheeled it to a good taking
+off place, and with Harry Leroy as a passenger, though it made the place
+rather crowded, they flew back over the recent battleground, and to
+their own aerodrome, where Harry and some other prisoners, brought
+through the air by other birdmen, were well taken care of.
+
+The great battle was not yet over, for there was fighting up and down
+the line, and in distant sectors. But it was going well for Pershing's
+forces.
+
+"And now," remarked Harry, when he had had food and had washed and had
+begun to smoke, "tell me all about it." He was in the quarters assigned
+to Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, being their guest.
+
+"Well, there isn't an awful lot to tell," Tom said, modestly enough. "We
+heard you were in trouble, and came after you; that's all. How did you
+like your German boarding house?"
+
+"It was fierce! Terrible! I can't tell you what it means to be free.
+But I'd like to send word to my folks that I'm all right. I suppose they
+have heard I was a prisoner."
+
+"Yes," answered Tom. "In fact, you can talk to one of the family soon.
+That is, as soon as you can go to Paris."
+
+"Talk to a member of the family? Go to Paris? What do you mean?" Harry
+fairly shouted the words.
+
+"Your sister Nellie is staying with friends of ours," said Tom. "We'll
+take you to her."
+
+"Nellie here? Great Scott! She said she was coming to the front, but I
+didn't believe her! Say, she is some sister!"
+
+"You said it!" exclaimed Tom, with as great fervor as Harry used.
+
+"Didn't you get the bundles we dropped?" asked Jack. "The notes and the
+packages of chocolate?"
+
+"Not a one," 'replied Harry. "I was looking for some word, but none
+came, after one of the airmen told me he had dropped my glove. But I
+knew how it was--you didn't get a chance to send any word."
+
+"Oh, but we did!" cried Tom, and then he told of the dropping of the
+packages.
+
+But, as Leroy related, he had been transferred from that camp a few days
+before.
+
+Two of the packets fell among the prisoners, who, after trying in vain
+to send them to Harry, partook of the good things to eat, which they
+much needed themselves. They were given to the ill prisoners, and the
+notes were carefully hidden away. Some time after the war Harry received
+them, and treasured them greatly as souvenirs.
+
+"But we didn't make any mistake this time," said Tom. "We have you now."
+
+"Yes," agreed Harry with a smile, "you have me now, and mighty glad I am
+of it."
+
+A few days later, when Harry was better able to travel, he went to see
+Nellie in Paris, a message having been sent soon after the big battle,
+to tell her that he was rescued and as well as could be expected.
+
+"But if it hadn't been for Tom and Jack I don't believe I'd be there
+now," said Harry to his sister, as he sat in the homelike apartment of
+the Gleasons.
+
+"I know you wouldn't," said Nellie. "They said they'd rescue you and
+they did. We shall never be able to thank them enough--but we can try!"
+
+She looked at Tom, and he--well, I shall firmly but kindly have to
+insist that what followed is neither your affair nor mine.
+
+And now, though you know it as well as I do, my story has come to an
+end. At least the present chronicle of the doings of the air service
+boys has nothing further to offer. Their further adventures will be
+related in another volume to be entitled: "Air Service Boys Flying for
+Victory."
+
+But it was not the end of the fighting, and Tom and Jack did not cease
+their efforts. Harry Leroy, too, was eager to get back into the contest
+again, and he did, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered.
+
+He told some of his experiences while a prisoner among the Germans, and
+some things he did not tell. They were better left untold.
+
+However, I should like to close my story with a more pleasant scene than
+that, and so I invite your attention, one beautiful Sunday morning to
+Paris, when the sun was shining and war seemed very far away, though it
+was not. Two couples are going down a street which is gay with flower
+stands. There are two young men and two girls, the young men wear
+the aviation uniforms of the Americans. They walk along, chatting and
+laughing, and, as an aeroplane passes high overhead, its motors droning
+out a song of progress, they all look up.
+
+"That's what we'll be doing to-morrow," observed Tom Raymond.
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack Parmly.
+
+"Oh, hush!" laughed one of the girls. "Can't you stay on earth one day?"
+
+And there on earth, in such pleasant company, we will leave the Air
+Service Boys.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, by 
+Charles Amory Beach
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 6458.txt or 6458.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/5/6458/
+
+Produced by Sean Pobuda
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/6458.zip b/6458.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..17f053c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/6458.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d8bb3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #6458 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6458)
diff --git a/old/asbbb10.txt b/old/asbbb10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..980853a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/asbbb10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6037 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle
+by Charles Amory Beach
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Air Service Boys in the Big Battle
+
+Author: Charles Amory Beach
+
+Release Date: September, 2004  [EBook #6458]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 15, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Scanned by Sean Pobuda (jpobuda@adelphia.net)
+One of a series.
+
+
+
+AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE
+
+Or SILENCING THE BIG GUNS
+
+
+By Charles Amory Beach
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BAD NEWS FROM THE AIR
+
+
+"Well, Tom, how's your head now?"
+
+"How's my head?  What do you mean?  There's nothing the matter with
+my head," and the speaker, who wore the uniform of a French aviator,
+glanced up in surprise from the cot on which he was reclining in his
+tent near the airdromes that stretched around a great level field,
+not far from Paris.
+
+"Oh, isn't there?" questioned Jack Parmly, with a smile.  "Then I
+beg your pardon for asking, my cabbage!  I beg your pardon, Sergeant
+Raymond!"
+
+Tom Raymond, whose, chum had addressed him by the military title,
+looked curiously at his companion, and smiled at the appellation of
+the term cabbage.  It was one of the many little tricks picked up by
+association with their French flying comrades, of speaking to a
+friend by some odd, endearing term.  It might be cucumber or rose,
+cabbage or cart wheel--the words mattered not, it was the meaning
+back of them.
+
+"Say, is anything the matter?" went on Tom, as his chum, attired
+like himself', but wearing an old blouse covered with oil and
+grease, continued to smile.  "What gave you the notion that my head
+hurt?"
+
+"I didn't say it hurt.  I only asked how it was.  The swelling
+hasn't begun to subside in mine yet, and I was wondering if it had
+in yours."
+
+"Swelling?  Subside?  What in the world--"
+
+Jack Parmly brought to a sudden termination the rapid torrent of
+words from the mouth of his churn by silently pointing to a small
+medal fastened to the uniform jacket of his friend.  It was the
+coveted croix de guerre.
+
+"Oh, that!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Nothing else, my pickled beet!" answered Jack.  "Doesn't it make
+your head swell up as if it would burst every time you look at it?
+Now don't say it doesn't, for that's the way it affects me, and I'm
+sure you're not very different.  And every time I read the citation
+that goes with the medal--well, I'm just aching for a chance to show
+it to the folks back home, aren't you, Sergeant?"
+
+Tom Raymond started a bit at the second use of the title.
+
+"I see you aren't any more used to it than I am!" exclaimed Jack.
+"Well, it'll be a little time before we stop looking around to see
+if it isn't some one behind us they're talking to.  So I thought I'd
+practice it a bit on you.  And you can do the same for me.  I should
+think, out of common politeness, you'd get up, salute and call me
+the same."
+
+"Oh!  Now I see what you're driving at," voiced Tom, as he glanced
+up from a momentary look at his medal to the face of his
+comrade-in-arms, or perhaps in flying would be more appropriate.
+"The wind's in that quarter, is it?"
+
+"No wind at all to speak of," broke in Jack.  "If you'd like to go
+for a fly, and see if we can bag a Boche or two, I'm with you."
+
+"Against orders, Jack.  I'd like to, but we were ordered here for
+rest and observation work; and you know, as well as I do, that
+obeying orders is just as important as sending a member of the Hun
+Flying Circus down where he can't do any more of his grandstand
+stunts.  But I'm hoping the time will come when we can climb up back
+of our machine guns again, and do our bit to show that the little
+old U. S. A. is still on the map."
+
+"I guess that time'll soon come, Tom, old man.  I heard rumors that
+a lot of us were to be sent up nearer the front shortly, and if they
+don't include you and me, there'll be something doing in this camp!"
+
+"That's what I say.  So you thought I'd have a swelled head, did
+you, because they gave us the croix de guerre?"
+
+"I confess I had a faint suspicion that way," admitted Jack.  "Both
+of us being advanced to sergeants was a big step, too."
+
+"It was," agreed Tom.  "I almost wish they hadn't done it, for there
+are lots of others in the escadrille that deserve it fully as much,
+and some more, than we do."
+
+"That's right.  But you can't make these delightful Frenchmen see
+anything the way you want 'em to.  Once they get a notion in their
+heads that you've done something for la belle Frame, they're your
+friends for life, kissing you on both cheeks and pinning medals on
+you wherever they'll stick."
+
+"Well, they mean all right, Jack," said Tom.  "And there aren't any
+braver or more lovable people on the face of the earth than these
+same French.  They've done more and suffered more for their country
+than we dream of.  And it's only natural that they should say 'much
+obliged,' in their own particular way, to any one they think is
+helping to free them from the Germans."
+
+"I suppose you're right.  But advancing us to sergeants would have
+been enough, without pinning the decorations on us and mentioning us
+in the order of the day, as well as giving us as fine a citation as
+ever was signed by a commanding general.  However, it's all in the
+day's work, though when we flew over the German super cannons, and
+did our bit in helping demolish them so they couldn't shell Paris
+any more, we didn't think--or, at least, I didn't--that we'd be
+sitting here talking about it."
+
+"Me either," agreed Tom.  "But, to get down to brass tacks, what
+have you been doing to get into such a mess?  You look like a
+chauffeur of the old days they tell of when they had to climb under
+the car to see if it needed oiling--"
+
+"That's just about what I have been doing," admitted Jack.  "When I
+heard the rumor that our escadrille might get orders to move at any
+hour, I decided that it was up to me to look MY machine over.  It
+didn't make that nose dive just the way I wanted it to the last time
+I was up, and I'm not taking any chances.  So I've been crawling in
+and around and under it--"
+
+"While I've been lying here I taking it easy!" broke in Tom.  "I
+don't call that fair of you, Jack," and he seemed genuinely hurt.
+
+"Go easy now, my pickled onion!" laughed his chum.  "I wasn't going
+to leave you out in the cold.  I just came to tell you that you'd
+better stop looking like a moving picture of an airman, and put on
+some old duds to look over your own craft.  And here you go and--"
+
+"All right, old ham sandwich!" laughed Tom.
+
+ "I'll forgive you.  I'm going to do the same as you, and tinker
+with my machine.  If, as you say, we're likely to be on the job
+again soon, I don't want too take any chances either.  Where's that
+mechanician of mine?  There was something wrong with my joy stick,
+he said, the last time I came down out of the clouds to take an
+enforced rest, and I might as well start with that, if there's any
+repairing to be done--"
+
+Tom flung off his uniform jacket, with the two silver wings,
+denoting that he was a full-fledged airman, and sent an orderly to
+summon his chief mechanician, for each aviator had several helpers
+to run messages for him, as well as to see that his machine is in
+perfect trim.
+
+Experts are needed to see to it that the machine and the aviator are
+in perfect trim, leaving for the airman himself the trying and
+difficult task, sometimes, of flying upside down, while he is making
+observations of the enemy with one eye, and fighting off a Boche
+with the other--ready to kill or be killed.
+
+Sergeants Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, chums and fellow airmen
+flying for France, started toward the aerodromes where their
+machines were kept when not in use.  They were both attired now for
+hard and not very clean work, though the more laborious part would
+be done by mechanics at their orders.  Still the lads themselves
+would leave nothing to chance.  Indeed no airman does, for in very,
+truth his He and the success of an army may, at times, depend on the
+strength or weakness of a seemingly insignificant bit of wire or the
+continuity of a small gasoline pipe.
+
+"Well, it'll seem good to get up in the air again," remarked Jack.
+"A little rest is all right, but too much is more than enough."
+
+"Right 0, my sliced liberty bond!" laughed Tom.  "And now--"
+
+Their talk was interrupted by a cheer that broke out in front of a
+recreation house, in reality a YMCA hut, or le Foyer du Soldat as it
+was called.  It was where the airmen went when not on duty to read
+the papers, write letters and buy chocolate.
+
+"What's up now?" asked Jack, as he and his chum looked toward the
+cheering squad of aviators and their assistants.
+
+"Give it up.  Let's go over and find out."
+
+They broke into a run as the cheering continued, and then they saw
+hats being thrown into the air and men capering about with every
+evidence of joy.
+
+"We must have won a big battle!" cried Jack.
+
+"Seems so," agreed Tom.  "Hi there! what is it?" he asked in French
+of a fellow aviator.
+
+"What is it?  You ask me what?  Ah, joy of my life!  It is you who
+ought to know first!  It is you who should give thanks!  Ah!"
+
+"Yes, that's all right, old man," returned Jack in English.  "We'll
+give thanks right as soon as we know what it is; but we aren't
+mind readers, you know, and there are so many things to guess at
+that there's no use in wasting the time.  Tell us, like a good
+chap!" he begged in French, for he saw the puzzled look on the face
+of the aviator Tom had addressed.
+
+"It is the best news ever!" was the answer.  "The first of your
+brave countrymen have arrived to help us drive the Boche from
+France!  The first American Expeditionary Force, to serve under your
+brave General Pershing, has reached the shores of France safely, in
+spite of the U-boats, and are even now marching to show themselves
+in Paris!  Ah, is it any wonder that we rejoice?  How is it you say
+in your own delightful country?  Two cheers and a lion!  Ah!"
+
+"Tiger, my dear boy!  Tiger!" laughed Jack.  "And, while you're
+about it, you might as well make it three cheers and done with it.
+Not that it makes any great amount of difference in this case, but
+it's just the custom, my stuffed olive!"
+
+And then he and Tom were fairly carried off their feet by the rush
+of enthusiastic Frenchmen to congratulate them on the good news, and
+to share it with them.
+
+"Is it really true?" asked Tom.  "Has any substantial part of Uncle
+Sam's boys really got here at last?"
+
+He was told that such was the case.  The news had just been received
+at the headquarters of the flying squad to which Tom and Jack were
+attached.  About ten thousand American soldiers were even then on
+French soil.  Their coming had long been waited for, and the
+arrangements sailed in secret, and the news was known in American
+cities scarcely any sooner than it was in France, so careful had the
+military authorities been not to give the lurking German submarines
+a chance to torpedo the transports.
+
+"Is not that glorious news, my friend?" asked the Frenchman who had
+given it to Tom and Jack.
+
+"The best ever!" was the enthusiastic reply.  And then Jack, turning
+to his chum, said in a low voice, as the Frenchman hurried back to
+the cheering throng: "You know what this means for us, of course?"
+
+"Rather guess I do!" was the response.  "It means we've got to apply
+for a transfer and fight under Pershing!"
+
+"Exactly.  Now how are we going to do it?"
+
+"Oh, I fancy it will be all right.  Merely a question of detail and
+procedure.  They can't object to our wanting to fight among our own
+countrymen, now that enough of them are over here to make a showing.
+I suppose this is the first of the big army that's coming."
+
+"I imagine so," agreed Jack.  "Hurray! this is something like.
+There's going to be hard fighting. I realize that.  But this is the
+beginning of the end, as I see it."
+
+"That's what!  Now, instead of tinkering over our machines, let's
+see the commandant and---"
+
+Jack motioned to his chum to cease talking.  Then he pointed up to
+the sky.  There was a little speck against the blue, a speck that
+became larger as the two Americans watched.
+
+"One of our fliers coming bark," remarked Tom in a low voice.
+
+"I hope he brings more good news," returned Jack.
+
+The approaching airman came rapidly nearer, and then the throngs
+that had gathered about the headquarters building to discuss the
+news of the arrival of the first American forces turned to watch the
+return of the flier.
+
+"It's Du Boise," remarked Tom, naming an intrepid French fighter.
+He was one of the "aces," and had more than a score of Boche
+machines to his credit.  "He must have been out 'on his own,'
+looking for a stray German."
+
+"Yes, he and Leroy went out together," assented Jack.  "But I don't
+see Harry's machine," and anxiously he scanned the heavens.
+
+Harry Leroy was, like Tom and Jack, an American aviator who had
+lately joined the force in which the two friends had rendered such
+valiant service.  Tom and Jack had known him on the other side--had,
+in fact, first met and become friendly with him at a flying school
+in Virginia.  Leroy had suffered a slight accident which had put him
+out of the flying service for a year, but he had persisted, had
+finally been accepted, and was welcomed to France by his chums who
+had preceded him.
+
+"I hope nothing has happened to Harry," murmured Tom; "but I don't
+see him, and it's queer Du Boise would come back without him."
+
+"Maybe he had to--for gasoline or something," suggested Jack.
+
+"I hope it isn't any worse than that," went on Tom.  But his voice
+did not carry conviction.
+
+The French aviator landed, and as he climbed out of his machine,
+helped by orderlies and others who rushed up, he was seen to
+stagger.
+
+"Are you hurt?" asked Tom, hurrying up.
+
+"A mere scratch-nothing, thank you," was the answer.
+
+"Where's Harry Leroy?" Jack asked.  "Did you have to leave him?"
+
+"Ah, monsieur, I bring you bad news from the air," was the answer.
+"We were attacked by seven Boche machines.  We each got one, and
+then--well, they got me--but what matters that?  It is a mere
+nothing."
+
+"What of Harry?" persisted Tom.
+
+"Ah, it is of him I would speak.  He is--he fell inside the enemy
+lines; and I had to come back for help.  My petrol gave out, and
+I--"'
+
+And then, pressing his hands over his breast, the brave airman
+staggered and fell, as a stream of blood issued from beneath his
+jacket.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A GIRI'S APPEAL
+
+
+At once half a score of hands reached out to render aid to the
+stricken airman, whose blood was staining the ground where he had
+fallen.
+
+Tom, seeing that his fellow aviator was more desperately wounded
+than the brave man had admitted, at once summoned stretcher-bearers,
+and he was carried to the hospital.  Then all anxiously awaited the
+report of the surgeons, who quickly prepared to render aid to the
+fighter of the air.
+
+"How is he?" asked Jack, as he and Tom, lingering near the hospital,
+saw one of the doctors emerge.
+
+"He is doing very nicely," was the answer, given in French, for the
+two boys of the air spoke this language now with ease, if not always
+with absolute correctness.
+
+"Then he isn't badly hurt?" asked Jack.
+
+"No.  The wound in his chest was only a flesh one, but it bled
+considerably.  Two bullets from an aircraft machine gun struck ribs,
+and glanced off from them, but tore the flesh badly.  The bleeding
+was held in check by the pressure DU Boise exerted on the wounds
+underneath his jacket, but at last he grew faint from loss of blood,
+and then the stream welled out.  With rest and care he will be all
+right in a few days."
+
+"How soon could we talk with him?" asked Tom.
+
+"Talk with him?" asked the surgeon.  "Is that necessary?  He is
+doing very well, and--"
+
+"Tom means ask him some questions," explained Jack.  "You see, he
+started to tell us about our chum, Harry Leroy, who was out scouting
+with him.  Harry was shot down, so Du Boise said, but he didn't get
+a chance to give any particulars, and we thought--"
+
+"It will be a day or so before he will be able to talk to you," the
+surgeon said.  "He is very weak, and must not be disturbed."
+
+"Well, may we talk with him just as soon as possible?" eagerly asked
+Jack.  "We want to find out where it was that Harry went down in his
+machine--out of control very likely--and if we get a chance--"
+
+"We'd like to take it out on those that shot him down!" interrupted
+Torn.  "Du Boise must have noticed the machines that fought him and
+Harry, and if we could get any idea of the Boches who were in them--
+"
+
+"I see," and the surgeon bowed and smiled approval of their idea.
+"You want revenge.  I hope you get it.  As soon as we think he is
+able to talk," and he nodded in the direction of the hospital, "we
+will let you see him.  Good luck to you, and confusion to the Huns!"
+
+"Gee, but this is tough luck I" murmured Tom, as he and his chum
+turned away.  "Just as we were getting ready to go back into the
+game, too!  Had it all fixed up for Harry to fly with us in a sort
+of a triangle scheme to down the Boches, and they have to go and
+plump him off the map.  Well, it is tough!"
+
+"Yes, sort of takes the fun out of the good news we heard a while
+ago," agreed Jack.  "I mean about Pershing's boys getting over here
+to France.  I hope Harry's only wounded, instead of killed.  But if
+the Huns have him a prisoner--good-night!"
+
+"There's only one consolation," added Tom.  "Their airmen are the
+best of the lot  Of course that isn't saying much, but they behave a
+little more like human beings than the rest of the Boche gang; and
+if Harry has fallen a prisoner to them he'll get a bit of decent
+treatment, anyhow."
+
+"That's so.  We'll hope for that.  And now let's go on with what we
+started when we saw Du Boise coming back--let's see what chance we
+have of being transferred to an All American escadrille."
+
+The boys started across the field again toward the headquarters,
+and, nearing it, they saw, in a small motor car, a girl sitting
+beside the military driver.  She was a pretty girl, and it needed
+only one glance to show that she was an American.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Tom, with a low whistle.  "Look who's here!"
+
+"Do you know her?" asked Jack.
+
+"No.  Wish I did, though."
+
+Jack glanced quickly and curiously at his chum.
+
+"Oh, you needn't think you're the only chap that has a drag with the
+girls," went on Tom.  "Just because Bessie Gleason--"
+
+"Cut it out!" exclaimed Jack.  "Look, she acts as though she wanted
+to speak to us."
+
+The military chauffeur had alighted from the machine and was talking
+to one of the French aviation officers.  Meanwhile the girl, left to
+herself, was looking about the big aviation field, with a look of
+wonder, mixed with alarm and nervousness.  She caught sight of Tom
+and Jack, and a smile came to her face, making her, as Tom said
+afterward, the prettiest picture he had seen in a long while.
+
+"You're Americans, aren't you?" began the girl, turning frankly to
+them.  "I know you are!  And, oh, I'm in such trouble!"
+
+Tom stepped ahead of Jack, who was taking off his cap and bowing.
+
+"Let me have a show for my white alley," Tom murmured to his chum.
+"You've got one girl."
+
+"You win," murmured Jack.
+
+"Yes, we're from the United States," said Tom.  "But it's queer to
+see a girl here--from America or anywhere else.  How'd you get
+through the lines, and what can we do for you?"
+
+"I am looking for my brother," was the answer.  "I understood he was
+stationed here, and I managed to get passes to come to see him, but
+it wasn't easy work.  I met this officer in his motor car, and he
+brought me along the last stage of the journey.  Can you tell me
+where my brother is?  His name is Harry Leroy."
+
+Torn said afterward that he felt as though he had gone into a
+spinning nose dive with a Boche aviator on his tail, while Jack
+admitted that he felt somewhat as he did the time his gasoline pipe
+was severed by a Hun bullet when he was high in the air and several
+miles behind the enemy's lines,
+
+"Your--your brother!" Tom managed to mutter.
+
+"Yes, Harry Leroy.  He's from the United States, too.  Perhaps you
+know him, as I notice you are both aviators.  He told me if I ever
+got to France to come to see him, and he mentioned the names of two
+young men--I have them here somewhere--"
+
+She began to search in the depths of a little leather valise she
+carried, and, at that moment, the military chauffeur who had brought
+her to the aviation field turned to her, and spoke rapidly in
+French.
+
+She understood the language, as did Tom and Jack, and at the first
+words her face went white.  For the chauffeur informed her that her
+brother, Harry Leroy, whom she had come so far to see, was, even
+then, lying dead or wounded within the German lines.
+
+"Oh!" the girl murmured, her fare becoming whiter and more white.
+"Oh--Harry!"
+
+Then she would have fallen from the seat, only Tom leaped forward
+and caught her in his arms.
+
+And while efforts were being made to restore the girl to
+consciousness, may I not take this opportunity of telling my new
+readers something of the previous books of this series, so that they
+may read this one more intelligently?
+
+Torn Raymond and Jack Parmly, as related in the initial volume, "Air
+Service Boys Flying for France; or The Young Heroes of the Lafayette
+Escadrille," were Virginians.  Soon after the great world conflict
+started, they burned with a desire to fight on the side of freedom,
+and it was as aviators that they desired to help.
+
+Accordingly they went to an aviation school in Virginia, under the
+auspices of the Government, and there learned the rudiments of
+flying.  Tom's father had invented an aeroplane stabilizer, but, as
+told in the story, the plans and other papers had been stolen by a
+German spy.
+
+Tom and his chum resolved to get possession of the documents, and
+they kept up the search after they reached France and were made
+members of the Lafayette Escadrille.  It was in France that they met
+Adolph Tuessing, the German spy.
+
+The second volume, entitled "Air Service Boys Over the Enemy's
+Lines; or The German Spy's Secret," takes the two young men through
+further adventures.  They had become acquainted on the steamer with
+a girl named Bessie Gleason and her mother.  Carl Potzfeldt, a
+German sailing under false colors, claimed to be a friend of Bessie
+and her mother, but Jack, who was more than casually interested in
+the girl, was suspicious of this man.  And his suspicions proved
+correct, for Potzfeldt had planned a daring trick.
+
+After some strenuous happenings, in which the Air Service Boys
+assisted, Bessie and her mother were rescued from the clutches of
+Potzfeldt, and went to Paris, Mrs. Gleason engaging in Red Cross
+work, and Bessie helping her as best she could.
+
+ Immediately preceding this present volume is the third, called "Air
+Service Boys Over the Rhine; or Fighting Above the Clouds."
+
+By this time the United States had entered the great war on the side
+of humanity and democracy.
+
+Then the world was startled by the news that a great German cannon
+was firing on Paris seventy miles away, and consternation reigned
+for a time.  Tom and Jack had a hand in silencing the great gun, for
+it was they who discovered where it was hidden.  Also in the third
+volume is related how Tom's father, who had disappeared, was found
+again.
+
+The boys passed through many startling experiences with their usual
+bravery, so that, when the present story opens, they were taking a
+much needed and well-earned rest.  Mr. Raymond, having accomplished
+his mission, had returned to the United States.
+
+Then, as we have seen, came the news of the arrival of the first of
+Pershing's forces, and with it came the sad message that Harry
+Leroy, the chum of Torn and Jack, had fallen behind the German
+lines.  And whether he was alive now, though wounded, or was another
+victim of the Hun machine guns, could not be told.
+
+"Harry's sister couldn't have come at a worse time," remarked Tom,
+as he rejoined Jack, having carried the unconscious girl to the same
+hospital where Du Boise lay wounded.
+
+"I should say not!" agreed Jack.  "Do you really suppose she's
+Harry's sister?"
+
+"I don't see Any reason to doubt it.  She said so, didn't she?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course.  I was just wondering.  Say, it's going to be
+tough when she wakes up and realizes what's happened."
+
+"You bet it is!  This has been a tough day all around, and if it
+wasn't for the good news that our boys are in France I'd feel pretty
+rocky.  But now we've got all the more incentive to get busy!"
+exclaimed Tom.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean get our machines in fighting trim.  I'm going out and get a
+few Germans to make up for what they did to Harry."
+
+"You're right!  I'm with you!  But what about what's her name--I
+mean Harry's sister?"
+
+"I didn't hear her name.  Some of the Red Cross nurses are looking
+after her.  They promised to let me know when she came to.  We can
+offer to help her, I suppose, being, as you might say, neighbors."
+
+"Sure!" agreed Jack.  "I'm with you.  But let's go and--"
+
+However they did not go at once, wherever it was that Jack was going
+to propose, for, at that moment, one of the Red Cross nurses
+attached to the aviation hospital carne to the door and beckoned to
+the boys.
+
+"Miss Leroy is conscious now," was the message.  "She wants to see
+you two," and the nurse smiled at them.
+
+Tom and Jack found Miss Leroy, looking pale, but prettier than ever,
+sitting up in a chair.  She leaned forward eagerly as they entered,
+and, holding out her hands, exclaimed:
+
+"They tell me you are my brother's chums!  Oh, can you not get me
+some news of him?  Can you not let him know that I have come so far
+to see him?  I am anxious!  Oh, where is he?" and she looked from
+Tom to Jack, and then to Tom again.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ANXIOUS WAITING
+
+
+Nellie Leroy--for such the boys learned was her name--broke the
+silence, that was growing tense, by asking:
+
+"Is there any hope?  Tell me, do you think there is a chance that my
+brother may be alive?"
+
+"Yes, there is, certainly!" exclaimed Tom quickly, before Jack had
+an opportunity to give, possibly, a less hopeful answer.
+
+"And if he is alive, is there a chance that he may be rescued--that
+I may go to him?" she went on.
+
+"Hardly that," said Tom, slowly.  "It's a wonder you ever got as
+near to the front as this.  But as for getting past the German
+lines--"
+
+"Then what can I do?" asked Nellie Leroy, eagerly.  "Oh, tell me
+something that I can do.  I'm used to hard work," she went on.
+"I've been a Red Cross nurse for some time, and I helped in one big
+explosion of a munitions plant in New Jersey before I came over.
+That's one reason they let me come--because I proved that I could do
+things I" and she did look very efficient, in spite of her paleness,
+in spite of her, seeming frailness.  There was an indefinable air
+about her which showed that she would carry through whatever she
+undertook.  "I never fainted before--never."
+
+"It's like this," said Tom, and Jack seemed content, now, to let his
+chum play the chief role.  "When one of us goes down in his machine
+back of the enemy's lines, those left over here never really know
+what has happened for a few days."
+
+"And how do they know then?' she asked.
+
+"The German airmen are more decent than some of the other Hun forces
+we're fighting," explained Torn.  "Generally after they capture one
+of our escadrille members, dead or alive, they fly over our lines a
+few days later and drop a cap, or a glove, or something that belongs
+to the prisoner.  Sometimes they attach a note, written by one of
+their airmen or from the prisoner, giving news of his condition."
+
+"And you think they may do this in my brother's case?" asked Nellie.
+
+"They are very likely to," assented Tom, and Jack, to whom the girl
+looked for confirmation, nodded, his agreement.
+
+"How long shall we have to wait?" Harry's sister asked.
+
+"There is no telling," said Tom "Sometimes it's a week before their
+airmen get a chance to fly over our lines.  It all depends."
+
+"On what?"
+
+"On how the battle goes," answered Tom.  "If there is much fighting,
+and many engagements in the air, the Boches don't get a chance to
+fly over and drop tokens of our men they may have shot down.  We do
+the same for them, so it's six of one and a half dozen of the other.
+Often for a week we don't get a chance to let them know about
+prisoners we have, because the fighting is so severe."
+
+"Will it be that way now?" the girl went on.
+
+"Hard to say--we don't have the ordering of battles," replied Jack.
+"But it's been rather quiet for a few days, and it's likely to
+continue so.  If it does one of their men may fly over to-morrow, or
+the next day, and drop something your brother wore--or even a note
+from him."
+
+"Oh, I hope they do the last!" she murmured.  "If I could have a
+note from him I'd be the happiest girl alive I I'd know, then, that
+he was all right."
+
+"He may be," said Tom, trying to be hopeful.  "You see Du Boise, who
+was with Harry when the fight took place, is himself wounded, so he
+can't tell us much about it."
+
+"Yes, they told me that my brother's companion reached here badly
+hurt.  He is so brave!  I wish they would let me help take care of
+him.  I understand a great deal about wounds, and I'm not at all
+afraid of the sight of blood.  It was silly of me to faint just now,
+but--I--I couldn't help it.  I'd been counting so much on seeing
+Harry, and when they told me he was gone--"
+
+She covered her face with her hands, and endeavored to repress her
+emotion.
+
+"You're not Harry's little sister, are you?" asked Jack, hoping to
+change the current of talk into other and happier channels.
+
+"No; that's Mabel--Mab he calls her.  She's younger than I.  Did he
+often speak of her?"
+
+"Oh, yes; and you too!" exclaimed Tom, so warmly that Nellie
+blushed, and the damask tint in her hitherto pale cheeks was most
+becoming.
+
+"We've seen your picture, and Mab's too," went on Tom.  "Harry keeps
+them just over his cot in the barracks.  But I didn't recognize you
+when I saw you a little while ago in the machine.  Though I might
+have, if so many things hadn't happened all at once, and made me
+sort of hazy," Tom explained.
+
+"Then are you and my brother good friends?" asked Nellie.
+
+"The best ever!" exclaimed Tom, and Jack warmly assented.  "Not so
+many Americans are in this branch of the escadrille as are in
+others," Torn went on; "so Harry and Jack and I are a sort of little
+trio all by ourselves.  He hardly ever goes up without us, but we
+are on a rest billet; and to-day he went up with Du Boise."
+
+"If he had only come back!" sighed Nellie.  "But there!  I mustn't
+complain.  Harry wouldn't let me if he were here.  We both have to
+do our duty.  Now I'm going to see what I can do to help, and not be
+silly and do any more fainting.  I hope you'll pardon me," and she
+smiled at the two boys.
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed Tom, with great emphasis, and again Miss
+Leroy blushed.
+
+"Then, is to wait the only thing we can do?" she asked.
+
+"That's all," assented Tom.  "We may get a message from the clouds
+any day."
+
+"And, oh! I shall pray that it may be favorable!" murmured the girl.
+"Perhaps I may question this Mr. Du Boise, and learn from him just
+what happened?" she interrogated.
+
+"Yes, we want to talk to him ourselves, as soon as he's able to sit
+up," said Jack.  "We want to get a shot at the Boche who downed
+Harry."
+
+"So you are as fond of Harry as all that!  I am glad!" exclaimed his
+sister.  "Have you known him long?"
+
+"We knew him slightly before we went to the flying school in
+Virginia with him," said Tom.  "But down there, when we started in
+at 'grass-cutting,' and worked our way up, we grew to know him
+better.  Then Jack and I got our chance to come over.  But Harry had
+a smash, and he had to wait a year."
+
+"Yes, I know.  It almost broke his heart," said Miss Leroy.  "I was
+away at school at the time, which accounts for my not knowing more
+of you boys, since Harry always wrote me, or told me, about his
+chums.  Then, when I came back after my graduation, I found that he
+had sailed for France."
+
+"And maybe we weren't glad to see him!" exclaimed Tom.  "It was like
+getting letters from home."
+
+"Yes, I recall, now, his mentioning that he had met over here some
+students from the Virginia school," said Miss Leroy.  "Well, after
+Harry sailed I was wild to go, but father and mother would not hear
+of it at first.  Then, when the war grew worse, and I showed them
+that I could do hard work for the Red Cross, they consented.  So I
+sailed, but I never expected to get like this."
+
+"Oh, well, everything may come out all right," said Tom, as
+cheerfully as he could.  But, in very truth, he was not very hopeful
+in his heart.
+
+For once an aviator succumbs to the hail of bullets from the German
+machine guns in an aircraft, and his own creature of steel and wings
+goes hurtling down, there is only a scant chance that the disabled
+airman will land alive.
+
+Of course some have done it, and, even with their machines out of
+control and on fire, they have lived through the awful experience.
+But the chances were and are against them.
+
+Harry Leroy had been seen to go down, apparently with his machine
+out of control, after a fusillade of Boche bullets.  This much Du
+Boise had said before his collapse. As to what the fallen aviator's
+real fate was, time alone could disclose.
+
+"I can only wait!" sighed Nellie, as the boys took their leave.
+"The days will be anxious ones--days of waiting.  I shall help here
+all I can.  You'll let me know the moment there is any news--good or
+bad--won't you?" she begged; and her eyes filled with tears.
+
+"We'll bring you the news at once--night or day!" exclaimed Tom,
+vigorously.
+
+As he and Jack walked out of the hospital, the latter remarked:
+
+"You seem to be a favorite there, all right, Tom, my boy.  If we
+weren't such good chums I might be a bit jealous."
+
+"If you feel that way I'll drop Bessie Gleason a note!" suggested
+Tom, quickly.
+
+"Don't!" begged Jack.  "I'll be good!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+TRANSFERRED
+
+
+One glance at the bulletin board, erected just outside their
+quarters at the aerodrome, told Tom and Jack what they were detailed
+for that day.  It was the day following the arrival of Nellie Leroy
+at that particular place in France, only to find that her brother
+was missing--either dead, or alive and a prisoner behind the German
+lines.
+
+"Sergeant Thomas Raymond will report to headquarters at eight
+o'clock, to do patrol work."
+
+"Sergeant Jack Parmly will report to headquarters at eight o'clock
+for reconnaissance with a photographer, who will be detailed."
+
+Thus read the bulletin board, and Tom and Jack, looking at it,
+nodded to one another, while Tom remarked:
+
+"Got our work cut out for us all right."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack.  "Only I wish I could change places with you.  I
+don't like those big, heavy machines."
+
+But orders are orders, nowhere more so than in the aviation squad,
+and soon the two lads, after a hearty if hasty breakfast, were ready
+for the day's work.  They each realized that when the sun set they
+might either be dead, wounded or prisoners.  It was a life full of
+eventualities.
+
+A little later the two young airmen, in common with their comrades,
+were ready.  Some were to do patrol work, like Tom--that is fly over
+and along the German lines in small swift, fighting planes, to
+attack a Hun machine, if any showed, and to give notice of any
+attack, either from the air or on the ground.  The latter attacks
+the airmen would observe in progress and report to the commanders of
+infantry or batteries who could take steps to meet the attack, or
+even frustrate it.
+
+Tom was assigned to a speedy Spad machine, one of great power and
+lightness into which he climbed.  He was to fly alone, and on his
+machine was a machine gun of the Vickers type, which had to be aimed
+by directing, or pointing, the aeroplane itself at the enemy.
+
+After Tom had given a hasty but careful look at his craft, and had
+assured himself of the accuracy of the report of his mechanician
+that it had oil and petrol, his starter took his place in front of
+the propeller.
+
+"Well, Jack," called Tom to his chum, across the field, where Jack
+was making his preparations for taking up a photographer in a big
+two-seated machine, "I wish you luck."
+
+"Same to you, old man.  If you see anything of Harry, and he's
+alive, tell him we'll bring him back home as soon as we get a
+chance."
+
+"Do you think there is any chance?" asked Tom eagerly.  "I wouldn't
+want anything better than to get Harry away from those Boches--and
+make his sister happy."
+
+"Well, there's a chance, but it's a slim one, I'm afraid," remarked
+Jack.  "We'll talk about it after we get back.  Maybe there'll be a
+message from the Huns about him before the day is over."
+
+"I hope so," murmured Tom.  "If those Huns only act as decently
+toward us as we do toward them, we'll have some news soon."
+
+For it is true, in a number of instances that the German aviators do
+drop within the allied lines news of any British, French or American
+birdman who is captured or killed inside the German lines.
+
+"All ready?" asked Tom of his helper.
+
+"Switch off, gas on," was the answer.
+
+Tom made sure that the electrical switch was disconnected.  If it
+was left on, in "contact" as it is called, and the mechanician
+turned the propeller blades, there might have been a sudden starting
+of the engine that would have instantly kill the man.  But with the
+switch off there could be no ignition in the cylinders.
+
+Slowly the man turned the big blades until each cylinder was sucked
+full of the explosive mixture of gasoline and air.
+
+"Contact!" he cried, and Tom threw over the switch.
+
+Then, stepping once more up to the propeller, the man gave it a
+pull, and quickly released it, jumping back out of harm's way.
+
+With a throbbing roar the engine awoke to life and the propeller
+spun around, a blur of indistinctness.  The motor was working
+sweetly.  Toni throttled down, assured himself that everything was
+working well, and then, with a wave of his hand toward Jack, began
+to taxi across the field, to head up into the wind.  All aeroplanes
+are started this way--directly into the wind, to rise against it and
+not with it.  On and on he went and then he began to climb into the
+air.  With him climbed other birdmen who were to do patrol and
+contact work with him, the latter being the term used when the
+airship keeps in contact through signaling with infantry or artillery
+forces on the ground, directing their efforts against the enemy.
+
+Having seen Tom on his way, Jack turned to his own machine.  As his
+chum had been, Jack was dressed warmly in fur garments, even to his
+helmet, which was fur lined.  He had on two pairs of gloves and his
+eyes were protected with heavy goggles.  For it is very cold in the
+upper regions, and the swift speed of the machine sends the wind
+cutting into one's face so that it is impossible to see from the
+eyes unless they are protected.
+
+Jack's machine was a two-seater, of a heavy and comparatively safe
+type--that is it was safe as long as it was not shot down by a Hun.
+Jack was to occupy the front seat and act as pilot, while Harris,
+the photographer he was to take up, sat behind him, with camera,
+map, pencil and paper ready at hand for the making of observations.
+
+On either side of the photographer's seat were six loaded drums of
+ammunition for the Lewis gun, for use against the ruthless Hun
+machines.  Jack had a fixed Vicker machine weapon for his use.
+
+"Hope I get a chance to use 'em," said Harris with a grin, as he
+climbed into his seat, patted the loaded drums, and nodded to Jack
+that he was ready.
+
+The same procedure was gone through as in the case of Tom.  The man
+spun the propeller, and they were ready to set off.  Accompanying
+them were two other reconnaissance planes, and four experienced
+fighting pilots, two of them "aces," that is men who, alone, had
+each brought down five or more Hun planes.  The big planes, used for
+obtaining news, pictures, and maps of the enemy's territory, are
+always accompanied by fighting planes, which look out for the
+attacking Germans, while the other, and less speedy, craft carry the
+men who are to bring back vital information.
+
+"Let her go!" exclaimed Harris to Jack, and the latter nodded to the
+mechanician, who, after the order of "contact," spun the blades
+again and they were really off, together with the others.
+
+Up and up went Jack, sending his machine aloft in big circles as the
+others were doing.  Before him on a support was clamped a map,
+similar to the one supported in front of Harris, and by consulting
+this Jack knew, from the instructions he had received before going
+up, just what part of the enemy's territory he was to cover.  He was
+under the direction of the photographer and map-maker, for the two
+duties were combined in this instance.
+
+Up and up they went.  There was no talking, for though this is
+possible in an aeroplane when the engine is shut off, such was not
+now the case.  But Jack knew his business.
+
+His indicator soon showed them to be up about fourteen thousand
+feet, and below them an artillery duel was in progress.  It was a
+wonderful, but terrible sight.  Immediately under them, and rather
+too near for comfort, shrapnel was bursting all around.  The
+"Archies," or anti-aircraft guns of the Germans, were trying to
+reach the French planes, and, in addition to the bullets, "woolly
+bears" and "flaming onions" were sent up toward them.  These are two
+types of bursting shells, the first so named because when it
+explodes it does so with a cloud of black smoke and a flaming
+center.  I have never been able to learn how the "onions" got their
+name, unless it is from the stench let loose by the exploding gases.
+
+Though they were fired at viciously, neither Jack nor his companion
+was hit, and they continued on their way, keeping at a good height,
+as did their associates, until they were well over the front German
+lines.
+
+Jack noticed that some of the other planes were dropping lower, to
+give their observers a chance to do their work, and, in response to
+a shove in his back from the powerful field glasses carried by
+Harris, Jack sent his machine down to about the nine-thousand-foot
+level.  By a glance at the map he could see that they were now over
+the territory concerning which a report was wanted.
+
+They were now under a heavy fire from the German anti-aircraft guns,
+but Jack was too old a hand to let this needlessly worry him.  He
+sent his machine slipping from side to side, holding it on a level
+keel now and then, to enable Harris to get the photographs he
+wanted.  In addition, the observer was also making a hasty, rough,
+but serviceable map of what he saw.
+
+Jack glanced down, and noted a German supply train puffing its way
+along toward some depot, and he headed toward this to give Harris a
+chance to note whether there were any supplies of ammunition, or
+anything else, that might profitably be bombed later.  He also saw
+several columns of German infantry on the march, but as they were
+not out to make an attack now, they had to watch the Huns moving up
+to the front line trenches, there later, doubtless, to give battle.
+
+Back and forth over the German lines flew Jack, Harris meanwhile
+doing important observation work.  As Jack went lower he came under
+a fiercer fire of the batteries, until, it became so hot, from the
+shrapnel bursts, that he fain would have turned and made for home.
+But orders were orders, and Harris had not yet indicated that he had
+enough.
+
+Twisting and turning, to make as poor a mark as possible for the
+enemy guns, Jack sent his machine here and there.  The other pilots
+were doing the same.  Machine guns were now opening up on them, and
+once the burst of fire came so close that Jack began to "zoom."
+That is he sent his craft up and down sharply, like the curves and
+bumps in a roller-coaster railway track.
+
+By this time the leading plane gave the signal for the return, and,
+thankful enough that they had not been hit, Jack swung about.  But
+the danger was not over.  They had yet to pass across the enemy's
+front line trenches, and when Harris signaled Jack to go down low in
+crossing the lad wondered what the order was for.  It was merely
+that the observer wanted to see what was going on there so he could
+report.
+
+They went down to within a mile of the earth, and several times the
+plane was struck by pieces of shrapnel or bullets from machine guns.
+Twice flying bits of metal came uncomfortably close to Jack, but he
+was kept too busy with the management of his machine to more than
+notice them.  Harris was working hard at the camera and the maps.
+
+Then, suddenly, came the danger signal from the leading plane, and
+only just in time.  Out from the German hangars came several battle
+machines.  Harris dropped his pencil and got ready the automatic
+gun, but it was not needed, for, after approaching as though about
+to attack, the Huns suddenly veered off.  Later the reason for this
+became known.  A squadron of French planes had arisen as swiftly to
+give battle, and however brave the Hun may be when he outnumbers the
+enemy, he had yet to be known to take on a combat against odds.
+
+So Jack and his observer safely reached the aerodrome again,
+bringing back much valuable information.
+
+"Is Tom here yet?" was Jack's first inquiry after he had divested
+himself of his togs and men had rushed to the developing room the
+camera with its precious plates.
+
+"Not yet," some of his chums told him.  "They're having a fight
+upstairs I guess."
+
+Jack nodded and looked anxiously in the direction in which Tom was
+last seen.
+
+It was an hour before the scouting airplanes came back, and one was
+so badly shot up and its pilot so wounded that it only just managed
+to get over the French lines before almost crashing to earth.
+
+"Are you all right, Tom?" cried Jack, as he rushed up to his chum,
+when he saw the latter getting out of his craft, rather stiff from
+the cold.
+
+"Yes.  They went at me hard--two of 'em but I think I accounted for
+one, unless he went into a spinning nose dive just to fool me."
+
+"Oh, they'll do that if they get the chance."
+
+"I know," assented Tom.  "Hello!" he exclaimed as he noticed a
+splintered strut near his head.  "That came rather close."
+
+And indeed it had.  For a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel, has plowed
+a furrow in the bit of supporting wood, not two inches away from
+Tom's head, though in the excitement of the fight he had not noticed
+it.
+
+There had been a fight in the upper air and one of the French
+machines had not come home.
+
+"Another man to await news of," said the flight lieutenant sadly,
+when the report reached him.  "That's two in two days."
+
+"No news of Leroy yet?" asked Tom and Jack, as they went out of
+headquarters after reporting.
+
+"None, I am sorry to say.  It is barely possible that he landed in
+some lonely spot and is still hiding out--if he is not killed.  But
+I understand you two young men had something to request of me.  I
+can give you some attention now," went on the commander of their
+squadron.
+
+"We want to be transferred!" exclaimed Tom.  "Now, that Pershing's
+men are here--"
+
+"I understand," was the answer.  "You want to fight with your
+countrymen.  Well, I would do the same.  I will see if I can get you
+transferred, though I shall much regret losing you."
+
+He was as good as his word, and a week later, following some
+strenuous fights in the air, Tom and Jack received notice that they
+could report to the first United States air squadron, which was then
+being formed on that part of the front where the first of Pershing's
+men were brigaded with, the French and British armies.
+
+Du Boise, who had brought word back of the fate that had befallen
+Harry Leroy, sent for Tom and Jack when it became known that they
+were to leave.
+
+"Shall I ever see you again?" he asked wistfully.
+
+"To be sure," was Tom's hearty answer.  "We aren't going far away,
+and we'll fly over to see you the first chance we get.  Besides,
+we're going to depend on you to give us some information regarding
+Leroy.  If the Huns drop any message at all they'll do it at this
+aerodrome."
+
+"Yes, I believe you're right," assented Du Boise, trying not to show
+the pain that racked him.  "But it's so long, now, I begin to
+believe he must be dead, and either the Huns don't know it or they
+aren't going to bother to send us word.  But I'll let you know as
+soon as I hear anything."
+
+"Is his sister here yet?" asked Jack, for Tom and he had been too
+busy the last two days, getting ready to shift their quarters, to
+call on Nellie Leroy.
+
+"She has gone back to Paris," answered Du Boise.  "There was no
+place for her here.  I can give you her address.  I promised to let
+her know in case I got word about her brother."
+
+"I wish you would give me the address!" exclaimed Tom eagerly, and
+his chum smiled at his show of interest.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE RESOLVE
+
+
+"Well, to-morrow, if all goes well, we'll be with Pershing's boys,"
+remarked Jack, as he and Tom were sitting in their quarters after
+breakfast, the last day but one they were to spend in the Lafayette
+Escadrille with which they had so long been associated.
+
+"That's so.  We'll soon be on the firing line with Uncle Sam,"
+agreed Tom.  "Of course we've been with him, in a way, ever since
+we've been fighting, for it's all in the same cause.  But there'll
+be a little more satisfaction in being 'on our own,' as the English
+say."
+
+"You're right.  What's on for to-day?" asked Jack.
+
+"Haven't the least idea.  But here comes a messenger now."
+
+As Tom spoke he glanced from a window and saw an orderly coming
+toward their quarters.  The man seemed in a hurry.
+
+"Something's up!" decided Jack.  "Maybe they've got word from poor
+Harry."
+
+ "I'm beginning to give him up," said Tom.  "If they were going to
+let us have any news of him they'd have done it long ago--the
+beasts!" and he fairly snarled out the words.
+
+"Still I'm not giving up," returned Jack.  "I can't explain why, but
+I have a feeling that, some day, we'll see Harry Leroy again."
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"I wish I could be as hopeful as you," he said.  "Maybe we'll see
+him again--or his grave.  But I want to say, right now, that if ever
+I have a chance at the Hun who shot him down, that Hun Will get no
+mercy from me!"
+
+"Same here!" echoed Jack.  "But here comes the orderly."
+
+The man entered and handed Jack a slip of paper.  It was from the
+commander of their squadron, and said, in effect, that though Tom
+and Jack were no longer under his orders, having been duly
+transferred to another sector, yet he would be obliged if they would
+call on him, at his quarters.
+
+"Maybe he has news!" exclaimed Jack, eagerly.
+
+Again Tom shook his head.
+
+"He'd have said so if that was the case," he remarked as he and his
+chum prepared to report at headquarters, telling the messenger they
+would soon follow him.
+
+"Ah, young gentlemen, I am glad to see, you!" exclaimed the
+commander, and it was as friends that he greeted Tom and Jack and
+not as military subordinates.  "Do you want to do me one last
+favor?"
+
+"A thousand if we can!" exclaimed Jack, for he and Tom had caught
+something of the French enthusiasm of manner, from having associated
+with the brave airmen so long.
+
+"Good!  Then I shall feel free to ask.  Know then, that I am a
+little short-handed in experienced airmen.  The Huns have taken
+heavy toll of us these last few days," he went on sorrowfully, and
+Torn and Jack knew this to be so, for two aces, as well as some
+pilots of lesser magnitude, had been shot down.  But ample revenge
+had been taken.
+
+"By all rights you are entitled to a holiday before you join your
+new command, under the great Pershing," went on the flight
+commander.  "However, as I need the services of two brave men to do
+patrol duty, I appeal to you.  There is a machine gun nest,
+somewhere in the Boche lines, that has been doing terrible
+execution.  If you could find the battery, and signal its location,
+we might destroy it with our artillery, and so save many brave lives
+for France," he went on.  "I do not like to ask you--"
+
+"Tell 'em to get out the machines!" interrupted Jack.  "We were just
+wishing we could do something to make up for the loss of Harry
+Leroy, and this may give it to us.  You haven't heard anything of
+him, have you?" he asked.
+
+The commander shook his head.
+
+"I fear we shall never hear from him," he said.  "Though only
+yesterday we received back some of the effects of one of our men who
+was shot down behind their lines.  I can not understand in Leroy's
+case."
+
+"Well, we'll make 'em pay a price all right!" declared Tom.  "And
+now what about this machine gun nest?"
+
+The commander gave them such information as he had.  It was not
+unusual, such work as Tom and Jack were about to undertake.  As the
+officer had said, they were practically exempt now that they were
+about to be transferred.  But they had volunteered, as he probably
+knew they would.
+
+Two speedy Spad machines were run out for the use of Tom and Jack,
+each one to have his own, for the work they were to do was dangerous
+and they would have need of speed.
+
+They looked over the machine guns to see that they were in shape for
+quick work, and as the one on the machine Tom selected had congealed
+oil on the mechanism, having lately returned from a high flight,
+another weapon was quickly attached.  Nothing receives more care and
+attention at an aerodrome than the motor of the plane and the
+mechanism of the machine gun.  The latter are constructed so as to
+be easily and quickly mounted and dismounted, and at the close of
+each day's flight the guns are carefully inspected and cleaned ready
+for the morrow.
+
+"Locate the machine gun battery if you can," was the parting request
+to Tom and Jack as they prepared to ascend.  "Send back word of the
+location as nearly as you can to our batteries, and the men there
+will see to the rest."
+
+"We will!" cried the Americans.
+
+Locating a machine gun nest is not as easy as picking out a hostile
+battery of heavier guns, for the former, being smaller, are more
+easily concealed.
+
+But Tom and Jack would, of course, do their best to help out their
+friends, the French.  Over toward the German lines they flew, and
+began to scan with eager eyes the ground below them.  They could not
+fly at a very great height, as they needed to be low down in order
+to see, and in this position they were a mark for the anti-aircraft
+guns of the Huns.
+
+They had no sooner got over the enemy trenches, and were peering
+about for the possible location of the machine gun emplacement, when
+they were greeted with bursts of fire.  But by skillfully dodging
+they escaped being hit themselves, though their machines were
+struck.  The two chums were separated by about a mile, for they
+wanted to cover as much ground as possible.
+
+At last, to his great delight, Tom saw a burst of smoke from a
+building that had been so demolished by shell fire that it seemed
+nothing could now inhabit it.  But the truth was soon apparent.  The
+machine gun nest was in the cellar, and from there, well hidden, had
+been doing terrible execution on the allied forces.  Pausing only to
+make sure of his surmise, Tom began to tap out on his wireless key
+the location of the hidden machine gun nest.
+
+Most of the aeroplanes carry a wireless outfit.  An aerial trails
+after them, and the electric impulses, dripping off this, so to
+speak, reach the battery headquarters.  Owing to the noise caused by
+the motor of the airship, no message can be sent to the airman in
+return, and he has to depend on signs made on the ground, arrows or
+circles in white by day and lighted signals at night, to make sure
+that his messages are being received and understood.
+
+The Allies, of course, possess maps of every sector of the enemy's
+front, so that by reference to these maps the aircraft observer can
+send back word as to almost the precise location of the battery
+which it is desired to destroy.
+
+Quickly tapping out word where the battery was located, Tom awaited
+developments, circling around the spot in his machine.  He was fired
+at from guns on the ground below, but, to his delight, no hostile
+planes rose to give him combat.  A glance across the expanse,
+however, showed that Jack was engaging two.
+
+"He's keeping them from me!" thought Tom, and his heart was heavy,
+for he realized that Jack might be killed.  However, it was the
+fortune of war.  As long as the Hun planes were fighting Jack they
+would not molest him, and he might have time to send word to the
+French battery that would result in the destruction of the Hun
+machine nest.
+
+There came a burst of fire from the Allied lines he had left, and
+Tom saw a shell land to the left and far beyond the Hun battery
+hidden in the old ruins.  He at once sent back a correcting signal.
+
+The more a gun is elevated up to a certain point, the farther it
+shoots.  Forty-three degrees is about the maximum elevation.  Again,
+if a gun is elevated too high it shoots over instead of directly at
+the target aimed at.  It is then necessary to lower the elevation.
+Tom has seen that the guns of the French battery, which were seeking
+to destroy the machine gun nest were shooting beyond the mark.
+Accordingly they were told to depress their muzzles.
+
+This was done, but still the shells fell to the left, and an
+additional correction was necessary.  It is comparatively easy to
+make corrections in elevation or depression that will rectify errors
+in shooting short of or beyond a mark.  It is not so easy to make
+the same corrections in what, for the sake of simplicity, may be
+called right or left errors, that is horizontal firing.  To make
+these corrections it becomes needful to inscribe imaginary circles
+about the target, in this case the machine gun nest.
+
+These circles are named from the letters of the alphabet.  For
+instance, a circle drawn three hundred yards around a Hun battery as
+a center might be designated A.  The next circle, two hundred yards
+less in size, would be B and so on, down to perhaps five yards, and
+that is getting very close.
+
+The circles are further divided, as a piece of pie is cut, into
+twelve sectors, and numbered from 1 to 12.  The last sector is due
+north, while 6 would be due south, 3 east, and 9 west, with the
+other figures for northeast, southwest, and so on.
+
+If a shot falls in the fifty-yard circle, indicated by the letter D,
+but to the southwest of the mark, it is necessary to indicate that
+by sending the message "D-7," which would mean that, speaking
+according to the points of the compass, the missile had fallen
+within fifty yards of the mark, but to the south-southwest of it,
+and correction must be made accordingly.
+
+Tom watched the falling shells.  They came nearer and nearer to the
+hidden battery and at last he saw one fall plump where it was
+needed.  There was a great puff of smoke, and when it had blown away
+there was only a hole in the ground where the ruins had been hiding
+the machine guns.
+
+Tom's work was done, and he flew off to the aid of Jack, who had
+overcome one Hun, sending his plane crashing to earth.  But the
+other, an expert fighter, was pressing him hard until Ton opened up
+on him with his machine gun.  Then the German, having no stomach for
+odds, turned tail and flew toward his own lines.
+
+"Good for you, Tom!" yelled Jack, though he knew his chum could not
+hear him because of the noise of the motor.
+
+Together the two lads, who had engaged in their last battle strictly
+with the French, made for their aerodrome, reaching it safely,
+though, as it was learned when Jack dismounted, he had received a
+slight bullet wound in one side from a missile sent by one of the
+attacking planes.  But the hurt was only a flesh wound; though, had
+it gone an inch to one side, it would have ended Jack's fighting
+days.
+
+Hearty and enthusiastic were the congratulations that greeted the
+exploit of Torn in finding the German machine gun nest that had been
+such a menace, nor were the thanks to Jack any less warm, for
+without his help Tom could never have maintained his position, and
+sent back corrections to the battery which brought about the desired
+result.
+
+"It is a glorious end to your stay with us," said the commander,
+with shining eyes, as he congratulated them.
+
+There was a little impromptu banquet in the quarters that night, and
+Tom and Jack were bidden God-speed to their new quarters.
+
+"There's only one thing I want to say!" said Jack quietly, as he
+rose in response to a demand that he talk.
+
+"Let us hear it, my slice of bacon!" called a jolly ace.
+
+"It's this," went on Jack.  "That I hereby resolve that if we--I
+mean Tom and I--can't rescue our comrade, Harry Leroy, from the
+Huns--provided he's alive--that we'll take a toll of five Germans
+for him--or as many, up to that number, as we can shoot down before
+they get us.  Five German fliers is the price of Harry Leroy, who
+was worth a hundred of them!"
+
+"Bravo!  Hurrah!  So he was!  Death to the Huns!" were the cries.
+
+Torn Raymond sprang to his feet
+
+"What Jack says I say!" he cried.  "But I double the toll.  If Harry
+Leroy is dead he leaves a sister.  You all saw her here!  Well, I'll
+get five Huns for her, and that makes ten between Jack and me!"
+
+"Success to you!" cried several.
+
+With this resolve to spur them on, Tom and Jack bade their bravo
+comrades farewell and started for Paris, whence they were to journey
+to the headquarters of General Pershing and his men.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN PARIS
+
+
+Attired in their natty uniforms of the La Fayette Escadrille, which
+they had not discarded, with the double wings showing that they were
+fully qualified pilots and aviators, Jack Parmly and Tom Raymond
+attracted no little attention as, several hours after leaving their
+places on the battle front, they arrived in Paris.  They were to
+have a few days rest before joining the newly formed American
+aviation section which, as yet, was hardly ready for active work.
+
+"Well, they're here!" suddenly cried Tom, as he and Jack made their
+way out of the station to seek a modest hotel where they might stay
+until time for them to report.
+
+"Who?  Where?  I don't see 'em!" exclaimed Jack, as he crowded to
+the side of his chum, murmurs from a group of French persons
+testifying to the esteem in which the American lads were held.
+
+"There!" went on Tom, pointing.  "See some of our doughboys!  And
+maybe the crowds aren't glad to have 'em here!  It's great, I tell
+you, great!"
+
+As he spoke he pointed to several khaki-clad infantrymen, some of
+the first of the ten thousand Americans lads that were sent over to
+"take the germ out of Germany."  The Americans were rather at a
+loss, but they seemed masters of themselves, and laughed and talked
+with glee as they gazed on the unfamiliar scenes.  They, too, were
+enjoying a holiday before being sent on to be billeted with the
+French or British troops.
+
+"Come on, let's talk to 'em!" cried Tom, enthusiastically.  "It's as
+good as a letter from home to see 'em!"
+
+"I thought you meant you saw--er--Bessie and her mother," returned
+Jack, and there was a little disappointment in his voice.
+
+"Oh, we'll see them soon enough, if they're still in Paris," said
+Tom, gazing curiously at his chum.  "But they don't know we are
+coming here."
+
+"Yes, they do," said Jack, quietly.
+
+"They do?  Then you must have written."
+
+"Of course.  Don't you want to see them before we get shipped off to
+a new sector?"
+
+"Why, yes.  Just now, though, I'm anxious to hear some good, old
+United States talk.  Come on, let's speak to 'em.  There's one bunch
+that seems to be in trouble."
+
+But the trouble was only because some of Pershing's boys--as they
+were generally called wanted to make some purchases at a candy shop
+and did not know enough of the language to make their meaning clear.
+It was a good-natured misunderstanding, and both the French
+shop-keeper and his helper and the doughboys were laughing over it.
+
+"Hello, boys!  Glad to see you!  Can we help you out?" asked Tom, as
+he and Jack joined the group.
+
+The infantrymen whirled about.
+
+"Well, for the love of the Mason an' Dixon line! is there somebody
+heah who can speak our talk?" cried one lad, his accent unmistakably
+marking him as Southern.
+
+"Guess we can help you out," said Jack.  "We're from God's country,
+too," and in an instant the were surrounded and being shaken hands
+with on all sides, while a perfect barrage of questions was fired at
+them.
+
+Then, when the little misunderstanding at the candy shop had been
+straightened out, Tom and Jack told something of who they were,
+mentioning the fact that they were soon to fight directly under the
+stars and stripes, information which drew whoops of delight from the
+enthusiastic infantrymen.
+
+"But say, friend," called out one of the new American soldiers, "can
+you sling enough of this lingo to lead us to a place where we can
+get ham and eggs?  I mean a real eating place, not just a coffee
+stand.  I've been opening my mouth, champing my jaws and rubbing my
+stomach all day, trying to tell these folks that I'm hungry and want
+a square meal, and half the time they think I need a doctor.  Lead
+me to a hash foundry."
+
+"All right, come on with us!" laughed Tom.  "We're going to eat,
+too.  I guess we can fix you up."
+
+The two aviators had been in Paris before and they knew their way
+about, as well as being able to speak the language fairly well.
+Soon, with their new friends from overseas, they were seated in a
+quiet restaurant, where substantial food could be had in spite of
+war prices.  And then it was give and take, question and answer,
+until a group of Parisians that had gathered about turned away
+shaking their heads at their inability to understand the strange
+talk.  But they were well aware of the spirit of it all, and more
+than one silently blessed the Americans as among the saviors of
+France.
+
+The wonderful city seemed filled with soldiers of all the Allied
+nations, and most conspicuous, because of recent events, were the
+khaki-clad boys who were soon to fight under Pershing.  Having seen
+that the little contingent they had taken under their protection got
+what they wanted, Tom and Jack, bidding them farewell, but promising
+to see them again soon, went to their hotel.
+
+And, their baggage arriving, Jack proceeded to get ready for a bath
+and a general furbishing.  He seemed very particular.
+
+"Going out?" asked Tom.
+
+"Why--er--yes.  Thought I'd go to call on Bessie Gleason.  This is
+her night off duty--hers and her mother's."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Well--er--she said so.  Want to come?"
+
+"Nixy.  Two's company and you know what three is."
+
+"Oh, come on!  Mrs. Gleason will be glad to see you."
+
+"Well, I suppose I might," assented Tom, who, truth to tell, did not
+relish spending the evening alone.
+
+Bessie and her mother had, of late, been assigned as Red Cross
+workers to a hospital in the environs of Paris, and ant times they
+could come into the city for a rest.  They maintained a modest
+apartment not far from the hotel where Tom and Jack had put up, and
+soon the two lads found themselves at the place where their friends
+lived.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad you both came!" exclaimed Bessie as she greeted
+them.  "We have company and--"
+
+"Company!" exclaimed Jack, drawing back.
+
+"Yes, the dearest, most delightful girl you ever--"
+
+"Girl!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Yes.  But come on in and meet her.  I'm sure you'll both fall in
+love with her."
+
+Jack was on the point of saying something, but thought better of it,
+and a moment later, to the great surprise of himself and Torn, they
+were facing Nellie Leroy.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE AMERICAN FRONT
+
+
+Tom and Jack bowed.  In fact, so great was their surprise at first
+that this was all they could do.  Then they stared first at Bessie
+and then at the other girl--the sister of Harry, their chum, who was
+somewhere, dead or alive, behind the German lines.
+
+"Well, aren't you glad to see her?" demanded Bessie.  "I thought I'd
+surprise you."
+
+"You have," said Jack.  "Very much!"
+
+"Glad to see her--why--of course.  But--but--how--"
+
+Tom found himself stuttering and stammering, so he stopped, and
+stared so hard at Nellie Leroy that she smiled, though rather sadly,
+for it was plain to be seen her grief over the possible death of her
+brother weighed down on her.  And then she went on:
+
+"Well, I'm real--I'm not a dream, Mr. Raymond."
+
+"So I see--I mean I'm glad to see it--I mean--oh, I don't know what
+I do mean!" he finished desperately.  "Did you know she was going to
+be here?  Was that the reason you asked me to come?" he inquired of
+Jack.
+
+"Hadn't the least notion in the world," answered Jack.  "I'm as much
+surprised as you are."
+
+"Well, we'll take pity on you and tell you all about it," said
+Bessie.  "Mother, here are the boys," she called; and Mrs. Gleason,
+who had suffered so much since having been saved from the Lusitania
+and afterward rescued by air craft from the lonely castle, came out
+of her room to greet the boys.
+
+They were as glad to see her as she was to meet them again, and for
+a time there was an interchange of talk.  Then Mrs. Gleason withdrew
+to leave the young people to themselves.
+
+"Well, go on, tell us all about it!" begged Tom, who could not take
+his eyes off Nellie Leroy.  "How did she get here?" and he indicated
+Harry's sister.
+
+"He talks of me as though I were some specimen!" laughed the girl.
+"But go on--tell him, Bessie."
+
+"Well, it isn't much of a story," said Bessie Gleason.  "Nellie
+started to do Red Cross work, as mother and I are doing, and she was
+assigned to the hospital where we were."
+
+"This was after I heard the terrible news about poor Harry at your
+escadrille," Nellie broke in, to say to Tom and Jack.  "I--I suppose
+you haven't had any--word?" she faltered.
+
+"Not yet," Jack answered.  "But we may get it any day now--or they
+may, back there," and he nodded to indicate the air headquarters he
+and Tom had left.  "You know we're going to be under Pershing soon,"
+he added.
+
+"So you wrote me," said Bessie.  "I'm glad, though it's all in the
+same good cause.  Well, as I was saying, Nellie came to our
+hospital-I call it ours though I have such a small part in it," she
+interjected.  "She was introduced to us as an American, and of
+course we made friends at once."
+
+"No one could help making friends with Bessie and her mother!"
+exclaimed Nellie.
+
+"Don't flatter us too much," warned Bessie.  "Now please don't
+interrupt any more.  As I say, Nellie came to us to do her share in
+helping care for the wounded, and, as mother and I found she had
+settled on no regular place in Paris, we asked her to share our
+rooms.  Then we got to talking, and of course I found she had met
+you two boys in her search for her brother.  After that we were
+better friends than ever."
+
+"Glad to know it," said Tom.  "There's nothing like having friends.
+I hadn't any notion that I'd meet any when I started out with him
+tonight," and he motioned to Jack.
+
+"Well, I like that!" cried Bessie in feigned indignation.  "I like
+to know how you class my mother and me?" and she looked at Tom.
+
+"Oh,--er--well, of course--you and your mother, and Jack.  But he
+and you--"
+
+"Better swim out before you get into deep water," advised Jack
+quickly, and he nudged Tom with his foot.
+
+Then the boys had to tell about their final experiences before
+leaving the Lafayette Escadrille with which many trying, as well as
+many happy, hours were associated, and the girls told of their
+adventures, which were not altogether tame.
+
+Since Mrs. Gleason had been freed from the plotting of the spy,
+Potzfeldt, she had lived a happy life--that is as happy as one could
+amid the scenes of war and its attendant horrors.  She and Bessie
+were throwing themselves heart and soul into the immortal work of
+the Red Cross, and now Nellie bad joined them.
+
+"It's the only way I can stop thinking about poor Harry," she said
+with a sigh.  "Oh, if I could only hear some good news about him,
+that I might send it to the folks at home.  Do you think it will
+ever come--the good news, I mean?" she asked wistfully of Tom.
+
+"All we can do is to hope," he said.  He knew better than to buoy up
+false hopes, for he had seen too much of the terrible side of war.
+In his heart he knew that there was but little chance for Harry
+Leroy, after the latter's aeroplane had been shot down behind the
+German lines.  Yet there was that one, slender hope to which all of
+us cling when it seems that everything else is lost.
+
+"He may be a prisoner, and, in that case, there is a chance," said
+Tom, while Jack and Bessie were conversing on the other side of the
+room.
+
+"You mean a chance to escape?"
+
+"Hardly that, though it has been done.  A few aviators have got away
+from German prison camps.  But it's only one chance in many
+thousand.  No, what I meant was that--well, it's too small and slim
+a chance to talk about, I'm afraid."
+
+"Oh, no!" she hastened to assure him.  "Do tell me!  No chance is
+too small.  What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, sometimes rescues have been made," went on Tom.  "They are
+even more rare than escapes, but they have been done.  I was
+thinking that perhaps after Jack and I get in with Pershing's boys
+we might be in some big raid on the Hun lines, and then, if we could
+get any information as to your brother's whereabouts, we might plan
+to rescue him."
+
+"Oh, do you think you could?"
+
+"I certainly can and will try!" exclaimed Tom, earnestly.
+
+"Oh, will you?  Oh, I can't thank you enough!" and she clasped his
+hand in both hers and Tom blushed deeply.
+
+"Please don't count too much on it," Tom warned Nellie.  "It's a
+desperate chance at best, but it's the only one I can see that we
+can take.  First of all, though, we've got to get some word as to
+where Harry is."
+
+"How can you do that?"
+
+"Some of the Hun airmen are almost human, that is compared to the
+other Boche fighters.  They may drop a cap of Harry's or a glove, or
+something," and Tom told of the practice in such cases.
+
+"Oh, if they only will!" sighed Nellie.  "But it is almost too much
+to hope."
+
+And so they talked until late in the evening, when the time came for
+Nellie, Bessie and her mother to report back for their Red Cross
+work.  The boys returned to their hotel, promising to write often
+and to see their friends at the next opportunity.
+
+"I won't forget!" said Tom, on parting from Nellie.
+
+"Forget what?" asked Jack, as they were going down the street
+together.
+
+"I'm going to do my best to rescue her brother," said Tom, in a low
+voice.
+
+"Good!  I'm with you!" declared Jack.
+
+The stay of the two boys in Paris was all too short, but they were
+anxious to get back to their work.  They wanted to be fighting under
+their own flag.  Not that they had not been doing all they could for
+liberty, but it was different, being with their own countrymen.  And
+so, when their leaves of absence were up, they took the train that
+was to drop them at the place assigned, where the newly arrived
+Americans were beginning their training.
+
+"The American front!" cried Tom, as he and Jack reached the
+headquarters of General Pershing and his associate officers.  "The
+American front at last!"
+
+"And it's the happiest day of my life that I can fight on it!" cried
+Jack.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A BATTLE IN THE AIR
+
+
+Strictly speaking there was at that time no American front.  That
+did not come until later, for the American soldiers, as was proper,
+were brigaded with the French and British, to enable our troops, who
+were unused to European war conditions, to become acquainted with
+the needful measures to meet and overcome the brutality of the Huns.
+
+But even with this brigading of the United States' troops with the
+seasoned veterans, which, in plain language, meant a mingling of the
+two forces, there was much that was strictly American among the new
+arrivals.
+
+Not only were the khaki-clad soldiers real Americans to the
+backbone, but their equipment and the supplies that had come over
+with them in the transports were such as might be seen at any army
+camp in this country, as distinguished from a French or a British
+camp.
+
+"Well, the boys are here all right," remarked Jack, as he and Tom
+made their way toward the headquarters at which they were to report.
+
+"Yes, and it makes me feel good to see them!" said Tom.  "This is
+the beginning of the end of Kaiserism, if I'm any judge."
+
+"Oh, it isn't going to be so easy as all that," returned Jack.
+"We'll see some hard fighting.  Germany isn't licked yet by any
+means; but those, are the boys that can bring the thing to a
+finish," and he pointed to a company of the lean, stem, brown
+figures that were swinging along with characteristic stride.
+
+The place at which Tom and Jack had been ordered to report was an
+interior city of France, not far from the port at which the first
+transport from America had arrived.  A first glance at the scenes on
+every hand would have given a person not familiar with war a belief
+that hopeless confusion existed.  Wagons, carts, mule teams and
+motor trucks-"lorries," the English call them--were dashing to and
+fro.  Men were marching, countermarching, unloading some vehicles,
+loading others.  Soldiers were being marched into the interior to be
+billeted, others were being directed to their respective French or
+English units.  Officers were shouting commands, and privates were
+carrying them out to the best of their ability.
+
+But though it all seemed chaos, out of it order was coming.  There
+was a system, though a civilian would not have understood it.
+
+"Well, let's find out where we're at," suggested Torn, to his chum.
+
+"Right 0, my pickled grapefruit!" agreed Jack with a laugh.  "Let's
+get into the game."
+
+They were about to ask their direction from a non-commissioned
+officer who was directing a squad of men in the unloading of a truck
+which seemed filled with canned goods, when some one said:
+
+"There goes Black Jack now!"
+
+The two air service boys looked, and saw, passing along not far
+away, a tall man, faultlessly attired, who looked "every inch a
+soldier," and whose square jaw was indicative of his fighting
+qualities, if the rest of his face had not been.
+
+"Is that General Pershing?" asked Tom, in a low voice of the
+non-commissioned officer.
+
+"That's who he is, buddy," was the smiling answer.  "The best man in
+the world for the job, too.  Come on there now, you with the red
+hair.  This isn't a croquet game.  Lay into those cases, and get 'em
+off some time before New Year's.  We want to have our Christmas
+dinner in Berlin, remember!"
+
+"So that's Pershing," commented Jack, as he looked at the American
+commander, who, with his staff officers, was on a trip of
+inspection.  "Well, he suits me all right!"
+
+"The next thing for us to do is to find out if we suit him,"
+remarked Tom.  "Wonder if he knows we're here?"
+
+"I don't even believe he knows we're alive!" exclaimed Jack, for the
+moment taking Tom's joke quite seriously.
+
+As General Pershing passed on, receiving and returning many salutes,
+Tom and Jack made their inquiries, learned where they were to
+report, and went on their way, longing for the time when they could
+get into action with the American troops.
+
+"Oh, so you're the two aviators from the Lafayette Escadrille,"
+commented the commanding officer, or the C. 0., of the newly formed
+American squadron, as Tom and Jack, drawing themselves up as
+straight as they could, saluted when he looked over their papers and
+their log books.  These last are the personal records of aviators in
+which they note the details of each flight made.  They are official
+documents, but when a birdman is honorably discharged he may take
+his log book with him.
+
+"We were told to report to you, sir," said Tom.
+
+"Yes.  And I'm glad to see you.  We're going to establish a purely
+American air force, but as yet it is in its infancy.  I need some
+experienced fliers, and I'm glad you're going to be with us.  Of
+course I have a number who have made good records over there," and
+he nodded to indicate the United States, "But they haven't been
+under fire yet, and I understand you have."
+
+"Some," admitted Jack, modestly enough.
+
+"Good!  Well, I'm to have some more of our own boys, who are to be
+transferred from the French forces, and some from the Royal Flying
+Corps, so with that as a start I guess we can build up an air
+service that will make Fritz step lively.  But we've got to go slow.
+One thing I'm sorry for is that we haven't, as yet, any American
+planes.  We'll have to depend on the French and English for them, as
+we have to, at first, for our artillery and shells."
+
+"We can fly French or British planes," remarked Tom.
+
+And, as my old readers know, the air service boys had had experience
+with a number of different models.
+
+"We can fly a Gotha if we have to," said Jack.  "One came down back
+of our lines last month, and we patched it up and flew it for
+practice."
+
+"I hope you can get some more of that practice," said the commanding
+officer with a smile.
+
+"But, now that you're here, I'll swear you in and see what the
+orders are regarding you.  I'm afraid there won't be much fighting
+for you at first--that is strictly as Americans.  I understand our
+air front, if I may use that term, will have to grow out of a
+nucleus of French and English fighters."
+
+"That's all right, as long as we get the right start," commented
+Tom.
+
+It was necessary to swear the boys into the service of the United
+States, even though they were natives of it; since, on entering the
+Lafayette Escadrille, they had been obliged to swear allegiance to
+France.  But this was a matter of routine where the Allies were
+concerned, and soon Tom and Jack were back again where they longed
+to be--enrolled among the distinctive fighters of their own country.
+
+They were assigned to barracks, and found themselves among some
+other airmen, many of whom were student fliers from the various
+aviation camps of the United States.  Few of these youths had had
+much practice, though some had been to the Canadian schools.  And
+none of them had, as yet, fought an enemy in the air.
+
+To aid and instruct them, however, were such fighters as Tom and
+Jack, and some even more experienced from the French, Italian and
+British camps, who had been detailed to help out the United States
+in the emergency.
+
+The next few weeks was an instruction and reconstruction period,
+with Tom and Jack often filling the roles of teachers.  They found
+their pupils apt, eager and willing, however, and among them they
+discovered some excellent material.  As the commanding officer of
+the new American air forces had said, the planes used were all of
+English or French make.  It was too early in the war for America to
+have sent any over equipped with the Liberty motor, though
+production was under way.
+
+After this period had passed, Tom and Jack, with a squadron of other
+birdmen were sent to a certain section of the front held largely by
+American troops, supported by veteran French and British regiments.
+
+It was the first wholly American aircraft camp established since the
+beginning of the World War, and it was not even yet as wholly
+American as it was destined to be later, for the aviators were, as
+regards veterans, largely French and English.  Torn and Jack were,
+in point of service, the ranking American fliers for a time.
+
+There had been several sharp engagements across No Man's Land
+between the mingled French, British and French forces and the Huns,
+and honors were on the side of the former.  There had been one or
+two combats in the air, in which Tom and Jack had taken part, when
+one day word came from an observation balloon on the American side
+that a flock of German aircraft was on the way from a camp located a
+few miles within the Boche lines.
+
+There was a harried consultation of the officers, and then orders
+were given for a half score of the Allied machines to get ready.
+Two veteran French aces were to be in command, with Tom and Jack as
+helpers, and some of the American aviators were to go into the
+battle of the air for the first time.
+
+"The Huns are evidently going to try to bomb some of our ammunition
+dumps behind our lines,"' said one officer, speaking to Tom.  "It's
+up to you boys to drive 'em back."
+
+"We'll try, sir," was the answer.  "We owe the Huns something we
+haven't been able to pay off as yet."
+
+Tom referred to the loss of Harry Leroy.  So far no word had been
+received from him, either directly or through the German aviators,
+as to whether he was dead or a prisoner.  Letters had passed between
+Bessie and Nellie and Jack and Tom, and the sister of the missing
+youth begged for news.
+
+But there was none to give her.
+
+"Unless we get some to-day," observed Tom as he and his chum hurried
+toward the hangars where their machines were being made ready for
+them.
+
+"Get news to-day?  What makes you think we shall?" asked Jack.
+
+"Well, we might bring down a Fritzie or two who'd know something
+about poor Harry," was the answer.  "You never can tell."
+
+"No, that's so," agreed Jack.  "Well, here's hoping we'll have
+luck."
+
+By this time there was great excitement in the American aviation
+headquarters.  Word of the oncoming Hun planes had spread, and not a
+flier of Pershing's forces but was eager to get into his plane and
+go aloft to give battle.  But only the best were selected, and if
+there were heart-burnings of disappointment it could not be helped.
+
+Two classes of planes were to be used, the single seaters for the
+aces, who fought alone, and the double craft, each one of which
+carried a pilot and an observer.  In the latter cases the observers
+were the new men, who had yet to receive their baptism of fire above
+the clouds.
+
+Tom and Jack were each detailed to take up one of the new men, and
+the air service boys were glad to find that, assigned to each of
+them, was the very man he would have picked had he had his choice.
+They were eager, intrepid lads, anxious to do their share in the
+great adventure.
+
+Quickly the machines were made ready, and quickly the fighters
+climbed into them.  The roar of the motors was heard all over the
+aerodrome, and soon the machines began to mount.  Up and up they
+climbed, and none too soon, for on reaching elevations averaging ten
+thousand feet, there was seen, over the German lines, a flock of the
+Hun planes led by two or three machines painted a bright red.  These
+were some of the machines that had belonged to the celebrated
+"flying circus," organized by a daring Hun aviator and ace who was
+killed after he had inflicted great damage and loss on the Allied
+service.  He and his men had their machines painted red, perhaps on
+the theory that they would thus inspire terror.  These were some of
+the former members of the circus," it was evident.
+
+"It's going to be a real fight!" cried Tom, as he headed his machine
+toward one of the red craft.  Whether the green man Tom was taking
+up relished this or not, knowing, as he must, the reputation of
+these red aviators, Tom did not stop to consider.
+
+Then, as the two hostile air fleets approached, there began a battle
+of the clouds--a conflict destined to end fatally for more than one
+aviator.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE FALLING GLOVE
+
+
+Numerically the Hun planes, were superior to the American fleet of
+airships that quickly rose to oppose them.  That probably accounted
+for fact that the Germans did not turn tail and scurry back beyond
+the protection of their own anti-aircraft guns and batteries.  For
+it was seldom, if ever, they went into a fight when the odds were
+against them.
+
+On came the Fokkers and Gothas, the black iron crosses painted on
+the wings of the machines standing out in bold relief in the clear
+air.  The sun glinted on the red craft which were in the lead, and
+besides Tom, who headed for one of these, a French ace darted down
+from a height to engage the red planes.
+
+"See if you can plug him when I put you near enough!" cried Tom to
+his observer, who had the reputation of being a good shot with the
+Lewis gun.  Practice with the machine weapons in aeroplanes had been
+going on, for some time among the new American aviators.  "Let him
+have a good dose!" cried Tom.  "If you miss him, then I'll try!"
+
+Of course Tom had to shut off the engine when he said this, as no
+voice could have been heard above the roaring of the powerful motor.
+But when he had given his companion these instructions and had
+ascertained, by a glance over his shoulder, that the lad understood
+for he nodded his head, Tom again turned on the gasoline, and the
+propeller, that had been revolving by momentum and because of the
+pressure of air against it, took up its speed again.
+
+Straight for the red machine rushed Tom, and a quick glance told him
+that his companion was ready with the gun.  The weapon to be worked
+by the latter was mounted so that it could be aimed independently of
+the aeroplane.  Tom also had a gun in front of him, but it was fixed
+and could be aimed only by pointing the whole craft.  Once this was
+done Tom could operate the weapon with one hand, steering with the
+other, and, at times, with his feet and knees.
+
+There came several sharp pops near Tom's head, and he knew these
+were machine bullets from the Hun aviator's gun, breaking through
+the tightly stretched linen fabric of the wings of his own plane.
+
+"Let him have it before he plugs us!" cried Tom to his companion,
+though of course the latter could not hear a word.  An instant later
+Tom heard the Lewis gun behind him firing, and he saw several tracer
+bullets strike the Hun machine.  But they were not near the aviator
+himself, and did no material damage.
+
+"Guess he's too nervous to shoot straight," reasoned Tom.  "I'll have
+to try my own gun," he decided.
+
+Tom noticed that the Hun was climbing up, trying to get into a
+position above the American plane, which is always an advantage.
+And the air service boy knew he must not let this happen.  Quickly
+he shifted the rudder and began to climb himself.  But he was at a
+disadvantage as his machine carried double, while the red plane had
+only one man in it, an ace beyond a doubt.
+
+"I've got to get him now or never!" thought Tom.  Once more he
+shifted his direction, and then, as he had his gun aimed just where
+he wanted it, he pressed the lever and a burst of bullets shot out
+and fairly riddled the red plane.  It seemed to stop for an instant
+in the air, and then, quivering, turned and went down in a nose
+dive, spinning around.
+
+"No fake about that!" mused Tom, as he leaned over and looked down
+from the height. "He's done for I"
+
+And so, the Hun was, for he crashed to the ground behind the
+American lines.  The incident did not affect Tom Raymond greatly.
+It was not his first killing.  But when he, glanced back toward his
+companion, he saw that the other was shrinking back as if in horror.
+
+"He'll get over that soon enough.  All he has to do is to think of
+what the Huns have done--crucifying men and babies--to make his
+heart hard," thought Tom.
+
+Whether his companion did this or not, did not disclose itself, but
+the fact remains that when Tom flew off to engage another Hun
+machine the lad back of him rose to the occasion and shot so well
+that Fritz veered off and flew back over his own lines, wounded and
+with his craft barely able to fly.
+
+Not all the American machines fared as well as this, however.  Jack
+was in poor luck.  The first burst of bullets from the German he
+engaged punctured his gasoline tank, and he was obliged to coast
+back to his own aerodrome to get another machine, if possible.  He
+was also hit once in the leg, the wound being painful though not
+dangerous.  He received first aid treatment and wanted to get back
+into the fight, but this was not allowed, and he had to watch the
+battle from the ground.
+
+The fight was fast and stubborn, and in the end the American forces
+won, for at a signal from the remaining red plane, which seemed to
+bear a charmed existence, as it did not appear to be hit, the others
+remaining of the Hun forces, turned tail and scooted back to safety.
+
+But they had left a toll of five machines sent crashing to earth,
+four of them each containing two men.  The leading French ace was
+killed, a severe loss to the Allied forces, and three of the
+American machines were damaged and their operators severely wounded,
+though with a chance of recovery.  By American machines is meant
+those assigned for use to Pershing's forces, though the craft used
+up to that time were of French or English make.  The real American
+machines came into use a little later.
+
+"Well, I think we can call it one to our credit," said Tom, as he
+rejoined Jack after the battle.
+
+"Yes.  But you had all the luck!" complained his chum.  "It went
+against me, and the lad I took up.  It--"
+
+"Never mind; it'll be your turn next," replied Tom, consolingly.
+
+And so the new American aviators received their baptism of fire,
+and, to their credit, longed for more.
+
+More credit was really due the American forces than would be
+indicated by the mere citation of the losses inflicted on the German
+side in this first air battle.  For many of the American fighters
+were "green," while not one of the Huns, as was learned later, but
+what had several Allied machines to his score.  And so there was
+rejoicing in General Pershing's camp, even though it was mingled
+with sorrow at the losses inflicted.
+
+Busy days followed, Tom and Jack were in the air much of the time.
+And when they were not flying they were delivering talks to new
+students, who were constantly arriving.  They found time once to run
+into Paris on their day of leave, to see Bessie and Nellie, and they
+went on a little picnic together, which was as jolly as such an
+affair could be in the midst of the terrible war.  Nellie had
+received no word of her missing brother, and Jack and Tom had no
+encouragement for her.
+
+Then came more hard work at camp, and another battle of the air in
+which the American forces more than equaled matters, for they fairly
+demolished a German plane squadron, sending ten of the machines
+crashing to earth and the others back over the Hun lines, more or
+less damaged.  That was a great day.  And, as a sort of reward for
+their work, Tom and Jack were given three days' leave.  At first
+they thought to spend them in Paris, but, learning that neither
+Bessie nor her mother nor Nellie could leave their Red Cross work to
+join them, the two lads made other arrangements.
+
+"Let's go back and see the fellows in the Lafayette Escadrille,"
+suggested Tom.
+
+"All right," agreed Jack.
+
+And thither they went.
+
+That they were welcomed need not be said.  It was comparatively
+quiet on this sector just then, though there had, a few days before,
+been a great battle with victory perching on the Allied banners.
+The air conflicts, too, had been desperate, and many a brave man of
+the French, English or American fliers had met his death.  But toll
+had been taken of the Boches--ample toll, too.
+
+The first inquiry Tom and Jack had made on their arrival at their
+former aerodrome had been for news of Harry Leroy, but none had been
+received.
+
+It was when Tom and Jack were about to conclude their visit to their
+former comrades of the air that an incident occurred which made a
+great change in their lives.  One sunny afternoon there suddenly
+appeared, a mere speck in the blue, a single aeroplane.
+
+"Some one of your men must have gone a long way over Heinie's
+lines," remarked Jack to one of the French officers.
+
+"He is not one of our men.  Either they were all back long ago or
+they will not come back until after the war--if ever.  That is a Hun
+machine."
+
+"What is he doing--challenging to single combat?" asked Tom, as the
+lone plane came on steadily.
+
+"No," answered the officer, after a look through his glasses.  "I
+think he brings some messages.  We sent some to the Germans
+yesterday, and I think this is a return courtesy.  We will wait and
+see."
+
+Nearer and nearer came the German plane.  Soon it was circling
+around the French camp.  Hundreds came out to watch, for now the
+object of the lone aviator was apparent.  He contemplated no raid.
+It was to drop news of captured, or dead, Allied airmen.
+
+Then, as Tom, and the others watched, a little package was seen to
+fall from the hovering aeroplane.  It landed on the roof of one of
+the hangars, bounced off and was picked up by an orderly, who
+presented it to the commanding officer.
+
+Quickly and eagerly it was opened.  It contained some personal
+belongings of Allied airmen who had been missing for the past week.
+Some of them, the message from the German lines said, had been
+killed by their falls after being shot down, and it was stated that
+they had been decently buried.  Others were wounded and in
+hospitals.
+
+"No word from Harry," said Tom, sadly, as the last of the relics
+from the dead and the living were gone over.
+
+"Well, I guess we may as well give him up," added Jack.  "But we can
+avenge him.  That's all we have left, now."
+
+"Yes," agreed Tom.  "If we only--?"
+
+A cry from some of those watching the German plane interrupted him.
+The two air service boys looked up.  Another small object was
+falling.  It landed with a thud, almost at the feet of Tom and Jack,
+and the latter picked it up.
+
+It was an aviator's glove; and as Jack held it up a note dropped
+out.  Quickly it was read, and the import of it was given to all in
+a simultaneous shout of joy from Tom and Jack.
+
+"It's word from Harry Leroy!  Word from Harry at last!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+STUNTS
+
+
+Truly enough, word had come from the missing aviator, or, if not
+directly from him, at least from his captors.  The German airmen,
+falling in with the chivalry which had been initiated by the French
+and English, and later followed by the Americans, had seen fit to
+inform the comrades of the captured man of his whereabouts.
+
+"Where is he?  What happened to him?" asked several, as all crowded
+around Tom and Jack to hear the news.
+
+Jack, reading the note, told them.  The missive was written in very
+good English, though in a German hand.  It stated that Harry Leroy
+had been shot down in his plane while over the German lines, and had
+fallen in a lonely spot, wounded.
+
+The wound was not serious, it was stated, and the prisoner was doing
+as well as could be expected, but he would remain in the hands of
+his captors until the end of the war.  The reason his whereabouts
+was not mentioned before was that the Germans did not know they had
+one of the Allied aviators in their midst.
+
+Leroy had not only fallen in a lonely spot, but he was made
+unconscious by his fall and injuries, and when he recovered he was
+lying near his almost demolished plane.
+
+He managed to get out his log book and other confidential papers,
+and set fire to them and the plane with the gasoline that still
+remained in the tank.  He destroyed them so they might not fall into
+the hands of the Germans, a fate he knew would be his own shortly.
+
+But Harry Leroy was not doomed to instant capture.  The blaze caused
+by his burning aeroplane attracted the attention of a peasant, who
+had not been deported when the enemy overran his country, for the
+young aviator had fallen in a spot well back of the front lines.
+This French peasant took Harry to his little farm and hid him in the
+barn.  There the man, his wife, and his granddaughters, looked after
+the injured aviator, feeding him and binding up his hurts.  It was a
+great risk they took, and Harry Leroy knew it as well as they.  But
+for nearly two weeks he remained hidden, and this probably saved his
+life, for he got better treatment at the farmhouse than he would, as
+an enemy, have received in a German hospital.
+
+But such good luck could not last.  Suspicion that Americans were
+hidden in the Frenchman's barn began to spread through the country,
+and rather than bring discovery on his friends, Leroy left the barn
+one night.
+
+He had a desperate hope that he might reach his own lines, as he was
+now pretty well recovered from his 'Injuries, but it was not to be.
+He was captured by a German patrol.  But by his quick action Harry
+Leroy had removed suspicion from the farmer, which was exactly what
+he wished to do.
+
+The Germans, rejoicing over their capture, took the young aviator to
+the nearest prison camp, and there he was put in custody, together
+with some unfortunate French and English.  The tide of war had
+turned against Harry Leroy.
+
+So it came about that, some time after he had been posted as missing
+and when it was surely thought that he was dead, Harry Leroy was
+found to be among the living, though a prisoner.
+
+"This will be great news for his sister!" exclaimed Jack, as the
+note dropped by the German airman was read over and over again.
+
+"Yes, she'll be delighted," agreed Tom.  "We must hurry back and
+tell her."
+
+"And that isn't all," went on Jack.  "We must try to figure out a
+way to rescue Harry."
+
+"You can't do that," declared a French ace, one with whom the air
+service boys had often flown.
+
+"Why not?" asked Tom.
+
+"It's out of the question," was the answer.  "There has never been a
+rescue yet from behind the German lines.  Or, if there has been,
+it's like a blue moon."
+
+"Well, we can try," declared Jack, and Tom nodded his head in
+agreement.
+
+"Don't count too much on it," added another of their friends.
+"Harry may not even be where this note says he is."
+
+"Do you mean that the Germans would say what isn't so?" asked Tom.
+
+"Of course!  Naturally!" was the answer.  "But even if they did not
+in this case, even if they have truly said where Leroy is, he may be
+moved at any time--sent to some other prison, or made to work in the
+mines or at perhaps something far worse."
+
+Tom and Jack realized that this might be so, and they felt that
+there was no easy task ahead of them in trying to rescue their chum
+from the hands of the Germans.  But they were not youths who gave up
+easily.
+
+"May we keep this note?" asked Tom, as he and Jack got ready to
+depart.  Having fallen on the camp of the escadrille with which they
+were formerly quartered, it was, strictly speaking, the property of
+the airmen there.  But having been told how much the sister of the
+prisoner would appreciate it, the commanding officer gave permission
+for Tom and Jack to take the glove and note with them.
+
+"Let us know if you rescue him, Comrades!" called the Frenchmen to
+the two lads, as they started back for their own camp.
+
+"We will," was the answer.
+
+Nellie Leroy's joy in the news that her brother was alive was
+tempered by the fact that he was a German prisoner.
+
+"But we're going to get him!" declared Tom even though he realized,
+as he said it, that it with almost a forlorn hope.
+
+"You are so good," murmured the girl.
+
+Jack and Tom spent a few happy hours in Paris, with Nellie and
+Bessie--the last of their leave--and then, bidding the girls and
+Mrs. Gleason farewell, they reported back to the American aerodrome,
+where the young airmen were cordially welcomed.
+
+There they found much to do, and events followed one another so
+rapidly at this stage of the World War that Tom and Jack, after
+their return, had little time for anything but flying and teaching
+others what they knew of air work.  They had no opportunity to do
+anything toward the rescue of Harry Leroy; and, indeed, they were at
+a loss how to proceed.  They were just hoping that something would
+transpire to give them a starting point.
+
+"We'll have to leave it to luck for a while," said Torn.
+
+"Or fate," added Jack.
+
+"Well, fate plays no small part in an airman's life," returned Tom.
+"While we are no more superstitions than any other soldiers, yet
+there are few airmen who do not carry some sort of mascot or
+good-luck piece.  You know that, Jack."
+
+And even the casual reader of the exploits of the aviators must have
+been impressed with the fact that often the merest incident--or
+accident is responsible for life or death.
+
+Death often passes within hair's breadth of the intrepid fliers, and
+some of them do not know it until after they have made a landing and
+have seen the bullet holes in their machine--holes that indicate how
+close the missiles have passed to them.
+
+So, in a way, both Tom and Jack believed in luck, and they both
+believed that this same luck might point out to them a way of
+rescuing Harry Leroy.
+
+Meanwhile they were kept busy.  After the big battle in the air
+matters were quiet for a time on their sector of the front.  The
+arrival of new fliers from America made it necessary to instruct
+them, and to this Tom, Jack and other veterans were detailed.
+
+Then began a series of what Jack called "stunts."  In order to
+inspire the new pupils with confidence, the older flying men--not
+always older in years--would go aloft in their single planes and do
+all sorts of trick flying.  Some of the pupils--the more daring, of
+course--wished to imitate these, but of course they were not
+allowed.
+
+The pupils were first allowed merely to go with an experienced man.
+This, of course, they had done at the flying schools in the United
+States, and had flown alone.  But they had to start all over again
+when on French soil, for here they were exposed, any time, to an
+attack from a Hun plane.
+
+After they had, it was thought, got sufficient experience to
+undertake these trick features by themselves, they were allowed to
+make trial flights, but not over the enemy lines.
+
+Tom and Jack gave the best that was in them to these enthusiastic
+pupils, and there was much good material.
+
+"What are you going to do to-day, Jack?" asked Tom one morning, as
+they went out after breakfast to get into their "busses," as they
+dubbed their machines.
+
+"Oh, got orders to do some spiral and somersault stunts for the
+benefit of some huns."  ("Hun," used in this connection, not
+referring to the Germans. "Hun" is the slang term for student
+aviators, tacked on them by more experienced fliers.)
+
+"Same here.  Good little bunch of huns in camp now."
+
+Tom nodded in agreement, and the two were soon preparing to climb
+aloft.
+
+With a watching group of eager young men on the ground below, in
+company with an instructor who would point out the way certain feats
+were done, Torn and Jack began climbing.  Presently they were fairly
+tumbling about like pigeons, seeming to fall, but quickly
+straightening out on a level keel and coming to the ground almost as
+lightly as feathers.
+
+"A good landing is essential if one would become a good airman,"
+stated the instructor.   "In fact I may say it is the hardest half
+of the game.  For it is comparatively easy to leave the earth.  It
+is the coining back that is difficult, like the Irishman who said it
+wasn't the fall that hurts, it was the stopping."
+
+"Give 'em a bit of zooming now," the instructor said to Tom and
+Jack.  "The boys may have to use that any time they're up and a
+Boche comes at them."
+
+"Zooming," he went on to the pupils, "is rising and falling in a
+series of abrupt curves like those in a roller-coaster railway.  It
+is a very useful stunt to be master of, for it enables one to rise
+quickly when confronting a field barrier, or to get out of range of
+a Hun machine gun."
+
+Tom undertook this feature of the instruction, as Jack signaled that
+his aeroplane was out of gasoline, and soon the former was rolling
+across the aviation field, seemingly straight toward a row of tall
+trees.
+
+"He'll hit 'em sure!" cried one student.
+
+"Watch him," ordered the instructor.
+
+With a quick pull on the lever that controlled the rudder, Tom sent
+himself aloft, but not before a curious thing happened.
+
+On the ground where it had been dropped was a tunic, or airman's
+fur-lined jacket.  As Tom's machine "zoomed," the tail skid caught
+this jacket and took it aloft.
+
+Tom did not seem to be aware of this, though he must have felt that
+his machine was a bit sluggish in the climbs.  However, he went
+through with his performance, doing some beautiful "zooming," and
+then, as he was flying high and getting ready to do a spiral nose
+dive, the tunic detached itself from his skid and fell.
+
+Just at this moment Jack came out from the hangar and, looking aloft
+and noting Tom's machine, saw the falling jacket.  His heart turned
+sick and faint, for, unaware of what had happened, he thought his
+chum had tumbled out while at a great height.  For the tunic,
+turning over and over as it sailed earthward, did resemble a falling
+body.
+
+"Oh, Tom!  Tom!  How did it happen?" murmured Jack.
+
+The others, laughing, told him that it was nothing serious, but Jack
+looked a bit worried until the empty jacket fell on the grass and, a
+little later, Tom himself came down smiling from aloft, all unaware
+of the excitement he had caused.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+OVER THE LINES
+
+
+"Well, I guess we stay downstairs, to-day," remarked Tom to Jack,
+the day following their exhibition flights for the benefit of the
+air students.
+
+"Yes, it doesn't look very promising," returned his chum.
+
+Jack looked aloft where the sky--or what took its place--was
+represented by a gray mist that seemed ready to drip water at any
+moment.  It was a day of "low visibility," and one when air work was
+almost totally suspended.  This applied to the enemy as well as to
+the Yankees.  For even though it is feasible to go up in an
+aeroplane in fog, or even rain or snow, it is not always safe to
+come down again in like conditions.
+
+There is nothing worse than rain, snow or fog for clouding an
+aviator's goggles, making it impossible for him to see more than a
+plane's length ahead, if, indeed, he can see that far.  Then, too,
+little, if anything, can be accomplished by going aloft in a storm
+or fog.  No observations of any account can be made, and the
+aviator, once he gets aloft, is as likely to come down behind the
+German lines as he is to descend safely within his own.
+
+That being the case, Tom and Jack, in common with their comrades of
+the air, had a vacation period.  Some of them obtained leave and
+went to the nearest town, while some put in their time going over
+their guns and glasses and equipment and machines.
+
+Jack and Tom elected to do the latter.  There was one very fast and
+powerful Spad which they often used together, taking turns at
+piloting it and acting as observer.  They thought they might have a
+chance soon to go over the German lines in this, their favorite
+craft, so they decided to put in their spare time seeing that it was
+in perfect shape, and that the two machine guns were ready for
+action when needed.
+
+"'Would you rather do this than fly, Jack?" asked Tom, as they went
+over, in detail, each part of the powerful Spad.
+
+"I should say not!  But, after all, one is just as important as the
+other.  I hope we get a good day to-morrow.  I'd like to do
+something toward seeing if we can't get Harry out of the Boche's
+clutches," and he nodded in the direction of the German lines.
+
+"'Tisn't going to be easy doing that," remarked Tom.  "I'd ask
+nothing better than to have a hand in getting him away, but I
+haven't yet been able to figure out a shadow of a plan.  Have you?"
+
+"The only thing, I can think of is to organize a big raid on the
+section where he's held--I mean somewhere near the German prison--and
+if we bombed the place enough, and created enough excitement, some of us
+might land and get Harry and any others that might be with him."
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"That'd be a pretty risky way of doing it," he said.
+
+"Can you think of a better?" Jack demanded quickly.
+
+"Not off hand," came the reply.  "We've got to stew over it a bit.
+One thing's sure--we've got to get Harry out, or his sister never
+will feel like going back home and facing the folks."
+
+"That's right!" agreed Jack.  "We've got a double motive for this.
+But I'm afraid it's going to be too hard."
+
+"That's what we thought when we rescued Mrs. Gleason from the old
+castle where Potzfeldt had her caged," retorted Tom.  "But you made
+out all right."
+
+"Yes; thanks to your help."
+
+"Well, we'll both work together again," declared Tom.  "And now
+let's try this Lewis gun.  The last time we were up it jammed on me,
+and yet it worked all right on the ground."  So they tested the
+guns, looked to the motor, and in general made ready for a flight
+when the weather should clear.
+
+This happened two days later, when the fog and mist were blown away
+and the blue sky could be seen.  In the interim the artillery and
+infantry on both sides had not been idle, and there had been some
+desperate engagements, with the brigaded American troops making a
+new name for themselves.
+
+"I guess there'll be something doing to-day," remarked Tom, as he
+and Jack tumbled out of bed at the usual early hour.  "Clear as a
+bell," he announced, after a glance from the window.  "Shouldn't
+wonder but what we went over their lines to-day."
+
+"And I suppose, by the same token, they'll be coining over ours,"
+and Jack nodded to indicate the Germans.
+
+"Let 'em come!" exclaimed Tom.  "It takes two sides to make a fight,
+and that's what we're here for."
+
+Hardly had the two air service boys finished their breakfast, than
+an orderly came to tell them the commanding officer wanted them to
+report to him.  They hurried across the aviation ground, toward the
+headquarters building, noting on the way that there were signs of
+unusual activity among the newer members of the American air forces,
+as well as among the French and British veterans.
+
+"Must be going to make a raid," observed Jack.
+
+"Something like that--yes," assented Tom.
+
+"Hope we're in on it, and the commanding officer doesn't have us
+take some huns up to show 'em what makes the wheels go around," went
+on Jack.  "Of course that's part of the game, but we've done our
+share."
+
+However, they need have felt no fear, for when they stood before the
+commanding officer, saluting, they quickly learned that they were to
+go on a special mission that day--in fact as soon as they could get
+ready.
+
+"I want you two to see if you can discover a battery of small guns
+that have been playing havoc with our men," he said, as he looked up
+from a table covered with maps.  "They're located somewhere along
+this front, but they're so well camouflaged that no one has yet been
+able to discover them.
+
+"I want you boys to see if you can turn the trick.  The guns have
+killed a lot of our men, as well as the French and English.  We've
+tried to rush the emplacement, but we can't get a line on where it
+is for it's well hidden.  I asked permission of the British
+commanding general to send up two American scouts, and he mentioned
+you boys.  Get your orders from the major, and good luck to you."
+
+"Do you want us to go together or separately?" asked Tom.
+
+"Together--in a double plane.  I might say that we are going to try
+a raid on a big scale over the enemy's lines, and you two will thus
+have a better chance to carry out your observations unmolested.  The
+Hun planes will have their hands full attending to our fighters, and
+they may not attack a single plane off by itself.  We'll try to draw
+them away from you.
+
+"At the same time I might point out that there is nothing sure in
+this, and that you may have to fight also," concluded the commanding
+officer, as he waved a dismissal.
+
+"Oh, were ready for anything," announced Tom.  And as he and Jack
+got outside he clapped his chum on the back, crying: "That's the
+stuff!  Good old C.O. to send us!  That's what we've been looking
+for!  Maybe we'll have time to drop down and shoot some of the Huns
+that are guarding Harry."
+
+"No chance of that--forget it now," urged Jack.  "We'll clean up
+this location trick first, and then think of a plan to get Harry
+away.  It sounds hard to say it, but it's all we can do.  Orders are
+orders."
+
+They were glad they had made ready the speedy Spad plane, for it was
+in this that they would try to locate the hidden battery, and,
+having received detailed instructions from the major in command, the
+two lads climbed into their air plane and started off.
+
+The day was clear and bright, just the sort for aeroplane activity;
+and it was evident there would be plenty of it, since, even as they
+began climbing, Tom and Jack saw planes from their own aerodrome
+skirting ahead of and behind them, while, in the distance and over
+German-held territory, were Fokkers and Gothas with the iron cross
+conspicuously painted on each.
+
+Tom and Jack had been given a map of the front, their own and the
+German lines being shown, and the probable location of the hidden
+Hun battery marked.  This they now studied as they started over the
+front, Jack being in front, while Tom sat behind him, to work the
+swivel Lewis gun.
+
+Their Spad machine was one that could be controlled from either
+seat, so that if one rider was disabled the other could take charge.
+There were two guns, one fixed and the other movable, and a good
+supply of ammunition.
+
+"Well, I guess there'll be some fighting to-day," observed Tom, as
+Jack shut off the motor for a moment, to see if it would respond
+readily when the throttle was opened again.  "They're closing in
+from both sides."
+
+And indeed the Allied planes were sailing forth to meet a squadron
+of the enemy.  But none of the Hun craft seemed to pay any attention
+to Tom and Jack.  Steadily they flew on until an exclamation from
+Jack caused Tom to look down.  He noted that they were over the
+German lines, and headed for the probable location of the battery
+that had been such a thorn in the side of the Allies.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A PERFECT SHOT
+
+
+The plane in which Tom and Jack had gone aloft to make observations
+which, it was hoped, would result in the discovery of the hidden
+battery, was a special machine.  While very powerful and swift and
+equipped for air-fighting, it was also one that had been used by one
+of the French photographers and his pilot.  The photographer, was a
+daring man, and had, not long before, gone to his death in fighting
+three Hun planes.  But he had peculiar ideas regarding his car, and
+under his orders it had been fitted with a glass floor in the two
+cockpits, or what corresponded to them.
+
+Thus he and his pilot could look down and observe the nature of the
+enemy country over which they were traveling without having to lean
+over, not always a safe act where anti-aircraft guns below are
+shooting up shrapnel.
+
+So as Torn and Jack flew on and on, over the enemy's first and
+succeeding line trenches, they looked down through the glass windows
+in the plane to make their observations.  There was a camera
+attached to the plane, and though they could each make use of it,
+but they were not skilled in this work.
+
+It was impossible for them to talk to one another now, as Jack had
+the motor going almost full speed, and the noise it made was
+deafening, or it would have been except for the warm, fur hoods that
+covered the ears of the fliers.  They were warmly dressed for they
+did not know how high they might ascend, and it is always cold up
+above, no matter how hot it is on the earth.
+
+Up and up they climbed, and then they flew on and over the enemy
+lines, keeping close lookout for anything unusual below that would
+indicate the presence of the battery.  Behind them, and off to one
+side, a fierce aerial battle was going on.
+
+Tom and Jack were eager to get into this and do their share.  But
+they had orders to make their observations, and they dared not
+'refuse.  They could tell by looking back every now and then that
+the affair was going well for the Allies, including some of the
+American airmen, even if the Huns outnumbered them.
+
+Back and forth over the German lines swept the glass-bottomed Spad,
+and at a certain point Tom, who was looking down, uttered an
+exclamation.  Of course Jack could not hear, but he could feel the
+punch in the back his chum administered a moment later.
+
+Jack turned his head, and saw his chum eagerly pointing downward.  A
+moment later he motioned over his left shoulder, pointing backward,
+as though they had just passed over something which would warrant a
+second inspection.
+
+Jack swung the machine about in a big circle, banking sharply, and
+then, as he passed over the ground covered a little while before,
+he, too, looked down, and with sharper glance than he had used at
+first.
+
+What he saw was the ruins of a small French chateau.  It had been
+under heavy fire from the Allied guns, for it had sheltered a German
+machine gun nest, and some accurate shooting on the part of the
+American gunners had demolished it a day or so before.
+
+But what attracted the attention of Tom and Jack was that whereas
+the chateau before the bombardment had stood on a little hill
+without a tree near it, now there was a miniature forest surrounding
+it.  It was as though trees and bushes had sprung up in the night.
+As soon as he had seen this, Jack turned to Tom, nodded
+comprehendingly, and at once started back over the American lines.
+They had no easy time reaching them, for by this time the fleet of
+Hun planes had been defeated by the Allies, and had turned tail to
+run for safety--that is what were left of them, several having been
+shot down, and at no small cost to the French, English and American
+forces.
+
+But the defeat of their airmen seemed to anger the Germans, and they
+opened up with their antiaircraft batteries on the machine in which
+Tom and Jack were flying homeward.  "Woolly bears" and "flaming
+onions," as well as shrapnel, was used against them, and they were
+in considerable danger.  Jack had to "zoom" several times to get out
+of reach of the shells.
+
+They finally reached their aerodrome, however, and as soon as they
+had landed and their plane was taken in charge by the mechanics the
+two lads hurried to the commanding officer.
+
+"Well?" he asked sharply, as they saluted.  "Did you discover
+anything?"
+
+"I think so, sir," returned Tom, for Jack had told his chum to do
+the talking, since the discovery was his.  "You remember, sir, the
+old chateau we put out of business the other day?"
+
+"Yes, I recall it.  What about it?"
+
+"This: It seems suddenly to have grown a wooded park around it, and
+the trees and bushes don't seem to be as fresh as natural ones ought
+to look."
+
+"You mean they camouflaged the ruins, and have put another battery
+in the old, chateau?"
+
+"I think so, sir.  It wouldn't do any harm to drop a few shells
+there.  If it's still a ruin the worst will be that we've wasted a
+little ammunition and may start the German guns up.  And if it is
+what we think it is, we may blow up the battery."
+
+The commander thought for a moment.
+
+"I'll try it!" he suddenly said.  "It's worth all it will cost."
+
+He called an orderly and issued his instructions.  Tom and Jack had
+not yet been dismissed, and now the commanding officer turned to
+them and said:
+
+"Since you boys were sharp enough to discover this, I'll let you
+have a front seat at the show which will start soon.  Go up and do
+contact work.  Let the gunners know when they make a hit."
+
+The air service boys could not have wished for anything better.
+
+"Once more for our bus!" exclaimed Jack delightedly, when they were
+outside.
+
+Their Spad had been refilled with gasoline, or "petrol," as it is
+called on the other side, and oil had been put in, while the machine
+guns had been looked to.
+
+"You seem to have spotted it all right, Tom," went on Jack, just as
+they were about to start, for word came that the American batteries
+were ready.
+
+"Yes, I was looking down through the glass, and when I saw the old
+chateau it struck me that it had suddenly grown a beard.  I
+remembered it before, as being on a bare hill.   I thought it was
+funny, and that I might be mistaken.  But when you agreed with me I
+knew I was right."
+
+"Oh, the Huns have brought up trees and bushes to disguise the place
+all right," declared, Jack.  "The only question is whether or not
+the battery is hidden there."
+
+But there was not long a question about that.  Their machine was
+equipped with wireless to signal back the result of the shots, and
+Jack and Tom were soon in position.  From the maps used when they
+had previously shelled the place to drive out the German gunners,
+the American artillery forces knew just about where to plant the
+shells.
+
+There was a burst of fire from the designated battery.  Up aloft
+Jack and Tom watched the shell fall.  It was a trifle over, and a
+correction was signaled back.
+
+A moment later the second shell--a big one sailed over the German
+first lines, and fell directly on the chateau partly hidden in the
+woods.
+
+There was a burst of smoke, and with it mingled clouds of dust and
+flying particles.  Faintly to Tom and Jack, above the noise of their
+motor, came the sound of a terrific explosion.
+
+There had been a direct hit on the old ruins, as was proved by the
+fact that not only was the German battery put out of commission, but
+a great quantity of ammunition hidden in the trees and bushes was
+blown up, and with it a considerable number of Germans.
+
+And that it was a place well garrisoned was evident to the air
+service boys as they saw a few Huns, who were not killed by the
+shell and resultant explosion of the ammunition dump, running away
+from the place of destruction.
+
+"That was it all right," said Jack, as he and Tom landed back of
+their own lines.
+
+"Yes, and it couldn't have been hit better.  I hope that was the
+battery they wanted put out of business."
+
+And it was, for no more shells came from that vicinity of the Hun
+positions for a long time.  The aeroplane observations had given the
+very information needed, and Tom and Jack were congratulated, not
+only by their comrades, but by the commanding officer himself, which
+counted for a great deal.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A DARING SCHEME
+
+
+Tom sat up on his bunk and looked across at Jack, who was just
+showing signs of returning consciousness--that is, he was getting
+awake.  It was the morning after the successful discovery of the
+hidden German battery, and since this exploit the two lads had not
+been required to go on duty.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Jack, opening his eyes and looking at his
+chum.  "Has the mail come in?  Any letters?"
+
+"No.  I was just thinking," remarked Tom, and though his eyes were
+fixed on Jack it was clear that his thoughts were somewhere else.
+
+"Thinking, Tom?  That's bad business.  Have you seen the doctor?"
+
+"Oh, shut off your gas!" ordered Tom.  "You're side slipping.  First
+you know you'll come down in a tail spin and I'll have to be looking
+for a new partner."
+
+"It's as serious as all that, is it?" asked Jack, as he began to
+dress.  "Well, in that case I withdraw my observation.  Go ahead.
+How's the visibility?"
+
+"Low.  We won't have to go up to-day, unless it clears."
+
+"Um.  And I was counting on getting a few Huns right after
+breakfast.  Well, what's your think about, if you really were
+indulging in that expensive pastime?"
+
+"I was," said Tom, and he got up and also proceeded to put on his
+clothes.  "I was thinking about Harry."
+
+"Oh!" and Jack's voice was decidedly different.  It had lost all its
+flippant tone.  "Say, he certainly is in tough luck.  I wish we
+could do something for him--and his sister.  Doubtless you were
+thinking of her, too," and a little smile curled his lips.
+
+"Yes, I was thinking of Nellie," conceded Tom, and he was so bold
+and frank about it that Jack choked back the joke that he was about
+to make.  "I was thinking that we haven't done very much to redeem
+our promise."
+
+"But how can we?" asked Jack.  "We haven't had a chance to do
+anything to rescue Harry.  Of course I want to do that as much as
+you do, but how is it to be done?  Can you answer me that?"
+
+"We can't do it by just talking," said Tom.  "That's what I've been
+thinking about.  A scheme came to me in the night, and I've been
+waiting to tell you about it."
+
+"Shoot then, my pickled blunderbuss," returned Jack.  "I'm with you
+to the last drop of petrol."
+
+"Well, I don't know that it's so much," said Tom.  "It's only that
+we ought to get word to Harry, somehow, that we're thinking of him
+and trying to plan some way of rescuing him.  We ought to tell him
+his sister is here, too, and, at the same time we might drop him
+something to smoke and a cake or two of chocolate."
+
+Jack looked at his chum in amazement.  Then he burst out with:
+
+"Say, while you're at it why don't you send him a piano, and an
+automobile, too, so he can ride home when he wants to?  What do you
+mean--getting word to him?  Don't you know that the beastly Huns
+will hold up the mail as they please, and anything else we might
+send.  They don't even let the Red Cross packages go through until
+they get good and ready.  Talk about your barbarians!"
+
+"Oh, I wasn't thinking of the mail," replied Tom.
+
+"No?  What then?"
+
+"Why, we know where he is held a prisoner--at least we have the name
+of the prison camp, and he may be there unless he's been
+transferred.  Of course that's possible, but it's worth taking a
+chance on."
+
+"A chance on what?" asked Jack, "You haven't explained yet.  What do
+you plan to do?"
+
+"Fly over the place where Harry is held a prisoner and drop down a
+package and some letters to him," said Tom.  "Now wait until you
+hear it all before you say it can't be done!" he went on quickly,
+for Jack seemed about to interrupt.
+
+"If Harry is held where he was first made a prisoner, it's a big
+place, and there are thousands of our captives there, as well as
+French and British.  Well, where there are so many they have to have
+a big stockade to pen 'em in, worse luck.  And dropping a bomb on a
+big place is easier than dropping one on a small object."
+
+"Say!  Suffering snuffle-boxes!" cried Jack.  "You don't mean to
+drop a bomb in Harry's prison, camp, do you?  Do you think he might
+possibly escape in the confusion?"
+
+"Nothing like that," said Tom.  "I mean drop a package containing
+some smokes, some chocolate and a letter telling him we haven't
+forgotten him and that we're going to try to rescue him, and for him
+to be on the lookout.  That could be done."
+
+"How?"
+
+"By us flying over the place in our speedy Spad.  We needn't make a
+very big package, though the more of something to eat we can give
+him the better, for those Boches starve our men.  Let's get a week
+off--the commanding officer will let us go.  We can go to our old
+escadrille and make arrangements to start from there.  The boys will
+help us all they can."
+
+"Oh, there's no doubt about that," assented Jack.  "They all liked
+Harry as much as we did.  But I can't see that your scheme will
+succeed.  It's a risky one."
+
+"All the more reason why it ought to succeed," declared Tom.  "It's
+the fellows who take chances who get by.  Now let's see if we can
+get a few hours off to go to Paris."
+
+"Go to Paris?  What for?"
+
+"To see Nellie Leroy and have her write her brother a letter.  It
+will be better to have one come direct from her than for us merely
+to give him news of her in one of our notes."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack, "I guess it would.  And I begin to see which way
+the wind blows.  You wish to see Nellie."
+
+"Oh, you make me tired!" exclaimed Tom.  "All you can think of is
+girls!  I tell you I'm doing this for Harry!"
+
+"And I believe you, old top, and what's more, I'm with you from the
+word go.  It's a crazy scheme and a desperate one, but for that very
+reason it may succeed.  The only thing is that we may not get
+permission to carry it out."
+
+"Oh, I don't intend that anyone shall know what our game is,"
+returned Tom.  "Of course the authorities would squash it in a
+minute.  No, we'll have to keep dark about that.  All we need is
+permission to do a little flying 'on our own,' for a while."
+
+"Suppose they won't let us do that?"
+
+"Oh, I think they will, after what we did yesterday," said Tom.
+"Come on, let's get ready to go to Paris."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WILL THEY SUCCEED?
+
+
+The scheme evolved, or, perhaps, dreamed of by Tom Raymond in his
+anxiety to get some word to the captive Harry Leroy worked well at
+the start.  When he and Jack asked permission to have half a day off
+to make the trip to Paris it was readily granted.  Perhaps it was
+because of their exploit of the day before, when their sharp eyes
+had discovered the camouflaged German battery and brought about its
+destruction, or maybe it was because the day was a misty one,+ when
+no flying could be done.
+
+At any rate, soon after breakfast saw the two boys on their way to
+the wonderful city--wonderful in spite of war and the German
+"super cannon," which had itself been destroyed.
+
+Tom and Jack knew that unless their plans were changed, the two
+girls and Mrs. Gleason would be at home in Paris, for they had a
+holiday once in every seven, and it was their custom to come to
+their lodging for a rest from the merciful, though none the less
+exceedingly trying, Red Cross work.
+
+Nor had the boys guessed in vain, for when they presented themselves
+at the Gleason lodging, where Nellie Leroy was also staying, they
+were greeted with exclamations of delight.
+
+"We were just thinking of you," said Bessie, as she shook hands with
+Jack.
+
+"And so we were of you," Jack replied, gallantly.
+
+"I thought of it first," said Tom. "He'll have to give me credit for
+that."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack, "I will.  He's got a great scheme," he added, as
+Mrs. Gleason came in to greet the boys.  "Tell 'em, Tom."
+
+"Is it anything about--oh, have you any news for me about Harry?"
+asked Nellie eagerly.
+
+"Not exactly news from him, but we're going to send some news to
+him!" exclaimed Tom.  "I want you to write him a letter-a real,
+nice, sisterly letter."
+
+"What good will that do?" asked Nellie.  "I've sent him a lot, but I
+can't be sure that he gets them.  I don't even know that he is
+alive."
+
+"Oh, I think he is," said Tom, hopefully.  "If the German airmen
+were decent enough to let us know he was a prisoner of theirs, they
+would tell us if--if--well, if anything had happened to him."
+
+"I think," he went on, "that you, can count on his being alive,
+though he isn't having the best time in the world--none of the Hun
+prisoners do.  That's why I thought it would cheer him up to let him
+know we are thinking of him, and if we can send him some smokes, and
+some chocolate."
+
+"Oh, he is so fond of chocolate!" exclaimed Nellie.  "He used to
+love the fudge I made.  I wonder if I could send him any of that?"
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"It would be better," he said, "to send only hard chocolate--the
+kind that can stand hard knocks.  Fudge is too soft.  It would get
+all mussed up with what Jack and I have planned to do to it."
+
+"What is that?" asked Bessie Gleason.  "You haven't told us yet.
+How are you going to get anything to Harry through those horrid
+German lines?"
+
+"We're not going through the German lines we're going above 'em; in
+an aeroplane.  And when we get over the prison camp where Harry is
+held, we're going to drop down a package to him, with the, letters,
+the chocolate and other things inside."
+
+"Oh, that's perfectly wonderful!" exclaimed Bessie.  "But will the
+Germans let you do it?"
+
+"Well," remarked Jack, "they'll probably try to stop us, but we
+don't mind a little thing like that.  We're used to it.  Of course,
+as I tell Torn, it's a long chance, but it's worth taking.  Of
+course it isn't easy to drop any object from a moving aeroplane and
+have it land at a certain spot.  We may miss the mark."
+
+"For that reason I'm going to take several packages," put in Tom.
+"If one doesn't land another may."
+
+"But if you do succeed in dropping a package for Harry in the midst
+of the German stockade, won't the guards see it and confiscate it?"
+asked Mrs. Gleason.  "You know they'll be as brutal as they dare to
+the prisoners--though of course,"' she added quickly, as she saw a
+look of pain on Nellie's face, "Harry may be in a half-way decent
+camp.  But, even then, won't the Germans keep the package
+themselves?"
+
+"I've thought of that," replied Tom.  "We've got to take that chance
+also.  But I figure that, in the confusion, Harry, or some of his
+fellow prisoners, may pick up the package, or packages, unobserved.
+Of course there's only a slim chance that Harry himself will pick up
+the bundle.  But it will be addressed to him, and if any of the
+French, British, or American prisoners get it, they'll see that it
+goes to Harry all right."
+
+"Oh, of course," murmured Mrs. Gleason.  "But what was that you said
+about the 'confusion?'"
+
+"That's something different," said Tom.  "I'm counting on dropping a
+few bombs on the German works outside the camp, to--er--well, to
+sort of take their attention off the packages we'll try to drop
+inside the stockade.  Of course while we're doing this we may be and
+probably shall be, under fire ourselves.  But we've got to take that
+chance.  It's a mad scheme, Jack says, and I realize that it is. But
+we've got to do something."
+
+"Yes," said Nellie in a low voice, "we must do something.  This
+suspense is terrible.  Oh, if I only could get word to Harry!"
+
+"You write the letter and I'll take it!" declared Tom.
+
+"And I'll help!" exclaimed Jack.
+
+And then the letters--several of them, for each one wrote a few
+lines and made triplicates of it, since three packages were to be
+dropped.  The letters, to begin again, were written and the bundles
+were made up.  They contained cigarettes, cakes of hard chocolate,
+soap and a few other little comforts and luxuries that it was
+certain Harry would be glad to get.
+
+The rest of the plan would have to be left to Tom and Jack to work
+out, and, having talked it over with their friends, they found it
+was time for them to start to their station, since their leave was
+up at eleven o'clock that night.
+
+Getting permission for a week's absence was not as easy as securing
+permission to go to Paris.  But Tom and Jack waited until after a
+sharp engagement, during which they distinguished themselves by
+bravery in. the air, assisting in bringing down some Hun planes, and
+then their petition was favorably acted on.
+
+Behold them next, as a Frenchman might say, on their way to their
+former squadron, where they were welcomed with open arms.  They had
+to take the commanding officer into their confidence, but he offered
+no objection to their scheme.  They must go alone, however, and
+without his official knowledge or sanction, since it was not
+strictly a military matter.
+
+And so Tom and Jack were furnished with the best and speediest
+machine in their former camp, and one bright day, following a hard
+air battle in which the Huns were worsted, they set out to drop the
+letters and packages over the prison camp where Harry Leroy was
+held.
+
+"Well, how do you feel about it?" asked Jack, as he and his chum
+stepped into their trim machine.
+
+"Not at all afraid, if that's what you mean."
+
+"No.  And you know I didn't.  I mean do you think we'll pull it
+off?"
+
+"I have a sneaking suspicion that we shall."
+
+"And so have I.  It's a desperate chance, but it may succeed.  Only
+if it does, and we get Harry's hopes raised for a rescue, how are we
+going to pull that off?"
+
+"That's another story," remarked Tom.  "Another story."
+
+They mounted into the clear, bright air, and proceeded toward the
+German lines.  Would they reach their objective, or would they be
+shot down, to be either killed or made prisoners themselves?  Those
+were questions they could not answer.  But they hoped for the best.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+BADLY HIT
+
+
+Before undertaking their kindly though dangerous mission, Tom and
+Jack had carefully studied it from all angles.  At first Jack had
+been frankly skeptical, and he said as much to his chum.
+
+"You'll never get over the place where Harry is held a prisoner,"
+declared Jack.  "And, if you do, and start to dropping packages,
+they'll never land within a mile of the place you intend, and
+Harry'll have the joy of seeing some fat German eat his chocolate
+cake."
+
+"Well, maybe," Tom had agreed, "But I'm going to try."
+
+To this end they had secured the best map possible of the ground in
+and around the prison camp.  Its location they knew from the dropped
+glove of the aviator, which contained a note telling about Leroy.
+
+It was not uncommon for Germany to disclose to her enemies the names
+of prisons where certain of the Allies were confined, and this was
+also done by England and France.  The prison camps were located far
+enough behind the defense lines to make it impossible for them to,
+be reached in the course of ordinary fighting.
+
+Then, too, the airmen of Germany seemed a step above her other
+fighters in that they were more chivalrous.  So Tom and Jack felt
+reasonably certain as to Leroy's whereabouts.  Of course it was
+possible that he had been moved since the note was written, but on
+this point they would have to take a chance.
+
+To this end they had provided themselves not only with the best maps
+obtainable showing the character of the ground and the nature of the
+defenses around the prison, where Harry and other Allied men were
+held, but inquiries had also been made by those in authority, at the
+request of Tom and Jack, of German prisoners, and from them had come
+information of value about the place.
+
+Of course the two air service boys had no hope of inflicting much
+damage on batteries or works outside the prison.  By the dropping of
+some bombs they carried they hoped to distract attention from
+themselves long enough to drop the packages to Leroy.  The bombs
+were a sort of feint.
+
+And now they were on their way, winging a path over their own lines,
+and soon they would be above those of the Hun.
+
+Some of the former comrades of Tom and Jack, having been apprised of
+what the lads were to attempt, had, without waiting for official
+orders, decided to do what they could to help.  This took the form
+of a daring challenge to the German airmen to come out and give
+battle.
+
+After their thorough drubbing of the day before, however, the Boche
+aviators did not seem much inclined to venture forth for another
+cloud fight.  But the French and some English fliers who were acting
+with them, laid a sort of trap, which, in a way, aided the two
+Americans.
+
+A half dozen swift Spads took the air soon after Tom and Jack
+ascended, but instead of flying over the German lines they went in
+the opposite direction, making their way to the west.  They got out
+of sight, and then mounted to a great height.
+
+Shortly after this some heavy, double-seated planes set out for the
+German territory as though to make observations or take photographs.
+It was the belief of the French airmen that the Huns would swarm out
+to attack these planes, or else to give battle to the machine in
+which Tom and Jack rode.  And, in such an event, the swift Spads
+would swoop down out of a great height and engage in the conflict.
+
+And that is exactly what occurred.  Torn and Jack had flown only a
+little way over the trenches of the enemy when they saw some Hun
+planes coming up to meet them.  It was in the minds of both lads
+that they were in for a fight, but before they had a chance to sight
+their guns, some French planes of the slow type appeared in their
+rear.
+
+To these the Huns at once turned their attention, and then the Spads
+swooped down, and there was a sharp engagement in the air, which
+ultimately resulted in victory for the Allied forces, though two of
+the French fliers were wounded.
+
+But the feint had its effect, and attention was drawn away from Tom
+and Jack, who flew on toward the prison camp.
+
+Had their mission been solely to carry words of cheer with some
+material comforts to Harry Leroy, it is doubtful if Tom and Jack
+would have received permission to make the trip.  But it was known
+they were both daring aviators and good observers, and it was this
+latter ability on their part which counted in their favor.  For it
+was thought they might bring back information concerning matters
+well back of the German front lines, information which would be of
+service to the Allies.
+
+And in furtherance of this scheme Jack and Tom made maps of the
+country over which they were flying.  They had been provided with
+materials for this before leaving.
+
+On and on they flew, changing their height occasionally, and, when
+they were fired at, which was the case not infrequently, they
+"zoomed" to escape the flying shrapnel.
+
+But on the whole, they fared very well, and in a comparatively short
+time they found themselves over the country where, on the maps, was
+marked the location of Harry Leroy's prison camp.
+
+"There it is!" suddenly exclaimed Tom, but of course Jack could not
+hear him.  However, a punch in Jack's back served the same purpose,
+and he took his eyes from his instruments long enough to look down.
+Then a confirmatory glance at the map made him agree with Tom.  The
+air service boys were directly over the prison camp.
+
+This, like so many other dreary places set up by the Germans,
+consisted of a number of shacks, in barrack fashion, with a central
+parade, or exercise ground.  About it all was a barbed wire stockade
+and, though the character of these wires did not show, there were
+also some carrying a deadly electric current.
+
+This was to discourage escapes on the part of prisoners, and it
+succeeded only too well.
+
+But the camp was in plain sight, and in the central space could be
+seen a number of ant-like figures which the boys knew were
+prisoners.
+
+Whether one of them was Leroy or not, they were unable to say.
+
+But they had reached their objective, and now it was time to act.
+High time, indeed, for below them batteries began sending up shells
+which burst uncomfortably close to them.  They were of all
+varieties, from plain shrapnel to "flaming onions" and "woolly
+bears," the latter a most unpleasant object to meet in mid-air.
+
+For the Germans were taking no chances.  They knew the vulnerable
+points of their prison camp lay above, and they had provided a ring
+of anti-aircraft guns to take care of any Allied, machines that
+might fly over the place.  Whether any such daring scheme had been
+tried before or not, Tom and Jack could not say.
+
+Of course it was out of the question that any great damage could be
+done in the vicinity of the camp without endangering the inmates, so
+it was not thought, in all likelihood, that any very heavy air raids
+would have to be repelled.  But in any case, the Huns were ready for
+whatever might happen.
+
+"Better drop the bombs, hadn't we?" cried Jack to Tom, as he slowed
+down the motor a moment to enable his voice to be heard.
+
+"I guess so--yes.  Drop 'em and then shoot over the camp again and
+let the packages fall.  It's getting pretty hot here."
+
+And indeed it was.  Guns were shooting at the two daring air service
+boys from all sides of the camp.
+
+In the camp itself great excitement prevailed, for the prisoners
+knew, now, that it was some of their friends flying above them.
+
+There was another danger, too.  Not many miles away from the prison
+camp was a German aerodrome, and scenes of activity could now be
+noticed there.  The Huns were getting ready to send up a
+machine--perhaps more than one--to attack Tom and Jack.
+
+It was, then, high time they acted, and as Jack again started the
+engine, he guided the machine over a spot where the anti-aircraft
+guns were most active.
+
+"There's a battery there I may put out of business," he argued.
+
+Flying fast, Jack was soon over the spot, or, rather, not so much
+over it, as in range of it.  For when an aeroplane drops a bomb on a
+given objective, it does not do so when directly above, but just
+before it reaches it.  The momentum of the plane, going at great
+speed, carries any object dropped from it forward.  It is as when a
+mail pouch is thrown from a swiftly moving express train or a bundle
+of newspapers is tossed off.  In both instances the man in the train
+tosses the pouch or his bundle before his car gets to the station
+platform, and the momentum does the rest.
+
+It was that way with the bomb Jack released by a touch of his foot
+on the lever in the cockpit of the machine.  Down it darted, and,
+wheeling sharply after he had let it go, the lad saw a great puff of
+smoke hovering directly over the spot where, but a moment before,
+Hun gums had been belching at him.
+
+"Good!  A sure hit!" cried Tom, but he alone heard his own words.
+Jack's ears were filled with the throb of the motor.  He had two
+more bombs, and these were quickly dropped at different points on
+German territory outside the camp.
+
+At the time, aside from the evidences they saw, Jack and Tom were
+not aware of the damage they inflicted, but later they learned it
+was considerable and effective.  However, they guessed that they had
+created enough of a diversion to try now to deliver the packages
+containing the letters and other comforts.
+
+Jack swung the machine at a sharp angle over the prison camp, and as
+he cleared the barbed wire fence Tom, who had been given charge of
+the packets, let one go.  It fell just outside the barrier, caused
+by some freak of the wind perhaps, and the lad could not keep back a
+sigh of dismay.  One of the three precious packages had fallen short
+of the mark, and would doubtless be picked up by some German guard.
+
+But Tom had the satisfaction of seeing the two other bundles fall
+fairly within the prison fence, and there was a rush on the part of
+the unfortunate men to pick them up.
+
+"I only hope Harry's there," mused Tom.  "That's tough luck to wish
+a man, I know," he reflected, "but I mean I hope he gets the letters
+and things."
+
+However, he and Jack had done all that lay in their power to make
+this possible, and it was now time to get back to their own lines if
+they could.  The place was getting too dangerous for them.
+
+Swinging about in a big circle, and noting that groups of prisoners
+were now gathered about the place where the packets had fallen, Jack
+sent the machine toward that part of France where they had spent so
+many strenuous days.
+
+"They're going to make it lively for us!" cried Jack, as he noted
+two swift German planes mounting into the air. "It's going to be a
+fight."
+
+But he and Tom were ready for this.  Their Lewis and Vickers guns
+were in position, and they only awaited the approach of the nearest
+Hun plane to unlimber them.  They mounted steadily upward to get
+beyond the range of the anti-aircraft batteries and were soon in
+comparative safety, since the Huns, at this particular sector at
+least, were notoriously bad marksmen.
+
+With the German planes, that would be a different story, and Tom and
+Jack soon found this out to their cost.
+
+For one of the Boche machines came on speedily, and much more
+quickly than the boys had believed possible was within range.  The
+German machine guns--for it was a double plane--began spitting fire
+and bullets at them.  They replied, but did not seem to inflict much
+damage.
+
+Suddenly Tom saw Jack give a jump, as though in an agony of pain,
+and then the young pilot crumpled up in his seat.
+
+"Badly hit!" exclaimed Tom with a pang at his own heart.  "Poor Jack
+is out of it!"
+
+The machine, out of control for a moment, started to go into a nose
+dive, but Tom let go the lever of his machine gun, and took charge
+of the craft, since it was one capable of dual manipulation.  Tom
+now had to become the pilot and gunner, too, and he had yet a long
+way to go to reach his own lines, while Jack was huddled, before
+him, either dead or badly wounded.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+JUST IN TIME
+
+
+It was with mingled feelings of alarm and sorrow that Tom Raymond
+sent the speedy Spad aeroplane on its homeward way toward the French
+lines.  He was worried, not chiefly about his own safety, but on
+account of Jack; and his sorrow was in the thought that perhaps he
+had taken his last flight with his beloved chum and comrade in arms.
+He could not see where Jack had been hit, but this was because the
+other lad lay in such a huddled position in the cockpit.  Jack had
+slumped from his seat, the safety straps alone holding him in
+position, though he would not have fallen out when the machine was
+upright as it was at present.
+
+"One of those machine gun bullets must have got him," mused Tom, as
+he started the craft on an upward climb, for it had darted downward
+when Jack's nerveless hands and feet ceased their control.  For part
+of the steering in an aeroplane is done by the feet of the pilot,
+leaving his hands free, at times, to fire the machine gun or draw
+maps.
+
+Tom had a double object in starting to rise.  One was to get into a
+better position to make the homeward flight, and another was to have
+a better chance not only to ward off the attack of the Hun planes,
+of which there were now three in the air, but also to return their
+fire.  It is the machine that is higher up that stands the best
+chance in an aerial duel, for not only can one maneuver to better
+advantage, but the machine can be aimed more easily with reference
+to the fixed gun.
+
+In Tom's case he did not have access to this weapon, which was fixed
+on the rim of the cockpit where Jack could, and where he had been
+controlling, it.  With Jack out of the fight, through one or more
+German bullets, it was up to Tom to return the fire of the Huns from
+his swivel mounted Lewis gun.  He was going to have difficulty in
+doing this and also guiding the craft, but he had had harder
+problems than this to meet since becoming an aviator in the great
+war, and now he quickly conquered his worrying over Jack, and began
+to look to himself.
+
+He gave one more fleeting glance at the crumpled-up figure of his
+chum, seeking for a sign of life, but he saw none.  Then he swung
+about, turning in toward the nearest Hun airman, and not away from
+him, and opened up with the machine gun, using both hands on that
+for a moment, while he steered with his knees.
+
+It was not easy work, and Tom hardly expected to make a direct hit,
+but he must have come uncomfortably close to the Boche, for the
+latter swerved off, and for an instant his plane seemed beyond
+control.  Whether this was due to a wound received by the aviator,
+or to a trick on his part was not disclosed to Tom.  But the machine
+darted downward and seemed to be content to veer off for a while.
+
+The third plane Tom soon saw was not going to trouble him, as it had
+not speed equal to his own, so that he really had left only one
+antagonist with whom to deal.  And this plane, containing two men,
+with whom he had not yet come to close quarters, was racing toward
+him at great speed.
+
+"I guess there's only one thing to do," mused Tom, "and that's to
+run for it.  I won't stand any show at all with two of them shooting
+at me, while I have to manage the machine and the gun too.  If I can
+beat 'em to our lines I'd better do it and run the chance of some of
+our boys coming out to take care of 'em.  I'd better get Jack to a
+doctor as soon as I can."
+
+And abandoning the gun to give all his attention to the motor, Tom
+opened it full and sped on his way.  The other machine's occupants
+saw his plan and tried to stop it with a burst of bullets, but the
+range was a little too far for effective work.
+
+"Now for a race!" thought Tom, and that is what it turned out to be.
+Seeing that he was going to try to get away, the Hun plane, which
+was almost as speedy as the one Tom and Jack had started out in,
+took after them.  The other German craft was left far in the rear,
+and the one Tom had shot at appeared to be in such difficulties that
+it was practically out of the fight.
+
+Thus the odds, once so greatly against our heroes, were now greatly
+reduced, though not yet equal, since Jack was completely out of the
+game--for how long Tom could only guess, and he seemed to feel cold
+fingers clutching at his heart when he thought of this.
+
+But Tom soon discovered, by a backward glance over his shoulder now
+and then, that his machine, barring accidents, would distance the
+other, and this was what his aim now was.  So on and on he sped,
+watching the German occupied French territory unrolling itself below
+him, coming nearer and nearer each minute to his own lines and
+safety.
+
+Behind them, he and Jack--for the latter had done his share before
+being wounded--had left consternation in the German ranks.  The
+bombs had done considerable damage--as was learned later--and the
+dropping of packages within the prison camp was fraught with
+potential danger to an extent at which the Boches could only guess.
+
+On and on sped Tom, sparing time, now and then, to look back at his
+pursuers, who were, it could not be doubted, doing their best to get
+within effective range.  And, every now and again, Tom would glance
+at the motionless form of his churn.
+
+But poor Jack never stirred, and Tom was fearing more and more that
+his chum had made his last flight.  As for the Hun aviators, after
+using up a drum or so of bullets uselessly, they ceased firing and
+urged their machine on to the uttermost.
+
+But Tom had the start of them, and he was also on a higher level, so
+that the Germans must climb at an oblique angle to reach him.
+
+And, thanks to this, Tom saw that, if nothing else happened, he
+would soon be in comparative safety with the unconscious form of
+Jack.  The anti-aircraft batteries were firing in vain, as he was
+beyond their range, and, far away, he could see the lines of the
+French armies, behind which he soon hoped to be.
+
+And then the unexpected happened, or, rather, it had taken place
+some time since, but it was only then brought to Tom's attention.
+His engine began missing, and when he sought for a cause he speedily
+found it.  Nearly all the gasoline had leaked out of the main tank.
+As he knew that there had been plenty for the return flight, there
+was but one explanation of this.  A Hun bullet had pierced the
+petrol reservoir, letting the precious fluid leak away.
+
+"Now if the auxiliary tank has any in it, I'm fairly all right,"
+thought Tom.  "If it hasn't, I'm all in."
+
+His worst fears were confirmed, for the auxiliary tank had suffered
+a like fate with the main one.  Both were pierced.  There were only
+a few drops left, besides those even then being vaporized in the
+carburetor.
+
+With despair in his heart, Tom looked back.  If the Hun plane chose
+to rush him now all would be over with him and Jack.  He had only
+enough fuel for another thousand meters or so, and then he must
+volplane.
+
+He saw a burst of flame and smoke from the enemy plane, and realized
+that he was being shot at again.  But the distance was still too far
+for effective aim.
+
+And then, to his joy, Tom saw the pursuer turn and start back toward
+the German territory.  The firing had been a last, desperate attempt
+to end his career, and it had failed.  Either the Huns were almost
+out of petrol themselves, or they did not relish getting too close
+to the French lines.
+
+"And now, if I can volplane down the rest of the way, I'll be in a
+fair position to save myself," mused Tom, as he made a calculation
+of the distance he had yet to go.  It was far, but he was at a good
+height and believed he could do it.
+
+Suddenly his engine stopped, as though with a sigh of regret that it
+could no longer serve him, and Tom knew that volplaning alone would
+save him now.  He was still over the enemy country, and had his
+plight been guessed at by the Germans, undoubtedly they would have
+sent a machine up to attack him.  But they were in ignorance.
+
+There was nothing to do but drift along.  Gravity alone urged the
+craft on.  As he swept over the German trenches Tom was greeted with
+a burst of shrapnel, and he was now low enough to be vulnerable to
+this.  But luck was with him, and though the plane was hit several
+times he thought he was unharmed.  But in this he was wrong.  He
+received a glancing wound in one leg, but in the excitement he did
+not notice it, and it was not until he had landed that he saw the
+blood, and knew what had happened.
+
+On and on, and down and down he volplaned until he was so near his
+own lines, and so low down, that he could hear the burst of cheers
+from his former comrades.
+
+Then he aimed his craft for a level, grassy place to make a landing,
+and as he came to a gradual stop, and was surrounded by a score of
+eager aviators, he cried out, as soon as he could speak, "I'm all
+right!  But look after Jack!  He's hurt!"
+
+A surgeon bent hastily over the huddled form, and with the aid of
+some men lifted it from the cockpit.  Jack's legs were covered with
+blood, and when the medical man saw whence it came, then and there
+he set hastily to work to stop the bleeding from a large artery.
+
+"You got back only just in time, my friend," he said to Tom, as Jack
+was carried to a hospital.  "Two minutes more and he would have been
+bled to death."
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A CRASH
+
+
+Not until a day or so later, when Jack was able to sit up in bed and
+greet Tom with rather a pale face, did the latter learn all that had
+happened.  And it was a very close call that Jack had had.
+
+As Tom had guessed, it was some of the bullets from the Hun machine
+gun that had stricken down his chum.  One had struck him a glancing
+blow on the head, rendering Jack unconscious and sending him down, a
+crumpled-up heap in the cockpit of his machine.  Another bullet,
+coming through the machine later, had found lodgment in Jack's leg,
+cutting part way through the wall of one of the larger arteries.
+
+It was certain that this bullet, the one in the leg, came after Jack
+was hit on the head, for that first wound was the only one he
+remembered receiving.
+
+"It was just as though I saw not only stars' but moons, suns,
+comets, rainbows and northern lights all at once," he explained to
+his chum.
+
+The bullet in the leg had cut only part way through the wall of an
+artery.  At first the tissues held the blood back from spurting out
+in a stream that would soon have carried life with it.  But either
+some unconscious motion on Jack's part, or a jarring of the plane,
+broke the half-severed wall, and, just before Tom landed, his chum
+began to bleed dangerously.  Then it was the surgeon had made his
+remark, and acted in time to save Jack's life.
+
+"Well, I guess we made good all right," remarked Jack, as his chum
+visited him in the hospital.
+
+"I reckon so," was the answer, "though the Huns haven't sent us any
+love letters to say so.  But we surely did drop the packages in the
+prison camp, though whether Harry got them or not is another story.
+But we did our part."
+
+"That's right," agreed Jack.  "Now the next thing is to get busy and
+bring Harry out of there if we can."
+
+"The next thing for you to do is to keep quiet until that wound in
+your leg heals," said the doctor, with a smile.  "If you don't, you
+won't do any more flying, to say nothing of making any rescues.  Be
+content with what you did.  The whole camp is talking of your
+exploit.  It was noble!"
+
+"Shucks!" exclaimed Tom, in English, for they had been speaking
+French for the benefit of the surgeon, who was of that nationality.
+
+"Ah, and what may that mean?" he asked.
+
+"I mean it wasn't anything," translated Tom.  "Anybody could have
+done what we did."
+
+But of this the surgeon had his doubts.
+
+In spite of the dangerous character of his wound, Jack made a quick
+recovery.  He was in excellent condition, and the wound was a clean
+one, so, as soon as the walls of the artery had healed, he was able
+to be about, though he was weak from loss of blood.  However, that
+was soon made good, and he and Tom, bidding farewell to their late
+comrades, returned to the American lines.  They had been obliged to
+get an extension of leave--at least Jack had--though Tom could
+report back on time, and he spent the interim between that and
+Jack's return to duty, serving as instructor to the "huns" of his
+own camp.  They were eager to learn, and anxious to do things for
+themselves.
+
+Before long Jack returned, though he was not assigned to duty, and
+he and Tom visited Paris and told Nellie, Bessie and Mrs. Gleason
+the result of their mission.
+
+"You didn't see Harry, of course?" asked Nellie, negatively, though
+really hoping that the answer would be in the affirmative.
+
+"Oh, no, we couldn't make out any individual prisoner," said Tom.
+"There was a bunch of 'em--I mean a whole lot--there."
+
+"Poor fellows!" said Mrs. Gleason kindly, "Let us hope that they
+will soon be released."
+
+"Tom and I have been trying to hit on some plan to rescue Harry,"
+put in Jack.  "And we'd help any others to get away that we could.
+But is isn't going to be easy."
+
+"Oh, I don't see how you can do it!" exclaimed Nellie.  "Of course I
+would give anything in the world to have Harry back with me, but I
+must not ask you to run into needless danger on his account.  That
+would be too much.  Your lives are needed here to beat back the
+Huns.  Harry may live to see the day of victory, and then all will
+be well."
+
+"I don't believe in waiting, if anything can be done before that."
+Tom spoke grimly.  "But, as Jack says, it isn't going to be easy,"
+he went on.  "However, we haven't given up.  The only thing is to
+hit on some plan that's feasible."
+
+They talked of this, but could arrive at nothing.  They were not
+even sure--which made it all the harder to bear--that Harry had
+received the packages dropped in the prison camp at such risk.  The
+only thing that could be done was to wait and see if he wrote to his
+sister or his former chums.  Letters occasionally did come from
+German prisoners, but they were rare, and could be depended on
+neither as to time of delivery nor as to authenticity of contents.
+
+So it was a case of waiting and hoping.
+
+Jack was not yet permitted to fly, so Tom had to go alone.  But he
+served as an instructor, leaving the more dangerous work of patrol,
+fighting, and reconnaissance to others until he was fit to stand the
+strain of flying and of fighting once more.
+
+"Sergeant Raymond, you will take up Martin to-day," said the flight
+lieutenant to Tom one morning.  "Let him manage the plane himself
+unless you see that he is going to get into trouble.  And give him a
+good flight."
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Tom, as he turned away, after saluting.
+
+He found his pupil, a young American from the Middle West, who was
+not as old as he and Jack, awaiting him impatiently.
+
+"I'm to get my second wing soon, and I want to show that I can
+manage a plane all by myself, even if you're in it," said the lad,
+whose name was Dick Martin.  "They say I can make a solo flight
+to-morrow if I do well to-day."
+
+"Well, go to it!" exclaimed Tom with a laugh.  "I'm willing."
+
+Soon they were in a double-seater of fairly safe construction--that
+is, it was not freakish nor speedy, and was what was usually used in
+this instructive work.
+
+"I'm going to fly over the town," declared Martin, naming the French
+city nearest the camp.  "Well, mind you keep the required distance
+up," cautioned Tom, for there was, a regulation making it necessary
+for the aviators to fly at a certain minimum height above a town in
+flying across it, so that if they developed engine trouble, they
+could coast safely down and land outside the town itself.
+
+"I'll do that," promised Martin.
+
+But either he forgot this, or he was unable to keep at the required
+height, for he began scaling down when about over the center of the
+place.  Tom saw what was happening, and reached over to take the
+controls.  But something happened.  There was a jam of one of the
+levers, and to his consternation Tom saw the machine going down and
+heading straight for a large greenhouse on the outskirts of the
+town.
+
+"There's going to be one beautiful crash!" Tom thought, as he worked
+in vain to send the craft up.  But it was beyond control.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+GETTING A ZEPPELIN
+
+
+Dick Martin became frantic when he saw what was about to happen.  He
+fairly tore at the various levers and controls, and even increased
+the speed of the motor, but this last only had the effect of sending
+the machine at a faster rate toward the big expanse of glass, which
+was the greenhouse roof.
+
+"Shut it off!  Shut off the motor!" cried Tom, but his words could
+not be heard, so he punched Martin in the back, and when that
+frightened lad looked around his teacher made him understand by
+signs, what was wanted.
+
+With the motor off there was a chance to speak, and Torn cried:
+
+"Head her up!  Try to make her rise and we may clear.  I can't do a
+thing with the levers back here!"
+
+Martin tried, but his efforts had little effect.  For one instant
+the machine rose as though to clear the fragile glass.  Then it
+dived down again, straight for the greenhouse roof.
+
+"Guess it's all up with this machine!" thought Tom quickly.  He was
+not afraid of being killed.  The distance to fall was not enough for
+that, and though he and his fellow aviator might be cut by broken
+glass, still the body of the aeroplane would protect them pretty
+well from even this contingency.  But there was sure to be
+considerable damage to the property of a French civilian, and the
+machine, which was one of the best, was pretty certain to be badly
+broken.
+
+And then there came a terrific crash.  The aeroplane settled down by
+the stern, and rose by the bow, so to speak.  Then the process was
+reversed, and Tom felt himself being catapulted out of his seat.
+Only his safety strap held him in place.  The same thing happened to
+Dick Martin.
+
+Then there was an ominous calm, and the aeroplane slowly settled
+down to an even keel, held up on the glass-stripped frames of the
+greenhouse, one of the very few in that vicinity, which was
+considerably in the rear of the battle line.
+
+Slowly Tom unbuckled his safety strap and climbed out, making his
+way to the ground by means of stepping on an elevated bed of flowers
+inside the now almost roofless house.
+
+Martin followed him, and as they stood looking at the wreckage they
+had made, or, rather, that had been made through no direct fault of
+their own, the proprietor of the place came out, wearing a long
+dirt-smudged apron.
+
+He raised his hands in horror at the sight that met his gaze, and
+then broke into such a torrent of French that Tom, with all the
+experience he had had of excitable Frenchmen, was unable to
+comprehend half of it.
+
+The gist was, however, to the effect that a most monstrous and
+unlooked-for calamity had befallen, and the inhabitants of all the
+earth, outside of Germany and her allies, were called on to witness
+that never hid there been such a smash of good glass.  In which Torn
+was rather inclined to agree.
+
+"Well, you did something this time all right, Buddie," Tom remarked
+to Dick Martin.
+
+"Did I--did I do that?" he asked, as though he had been walking in
+his sleep, and was just now awake.
+
+"Well, you and the old bus together," said Tom.  "And we got off
+lucky at that.  Didn't I tell you to keep high, if you were going to
+fly over one of the towns?"
+
+"Yes, you did, but I forgot.  Anyhow I'd have cleared the place if
+the controls hadn't gone back on us."
+
+ "I suppose so, but that excuse won't go with the C.O.  It's a bad
+smash."
+
+By this time quite a crowd had gathered, and Tom was trying to
+pacify the excitable greenhouse owner by promising full reparation
+in the shape of money damages.
+
+How to get the machine down off the roof, where it rested in a mass
+of broken glass and frames, was a problem.  Tom tried to organize a
+wrecking party, but the French populace which gathered, much as it
+admired the Americans, was afraid of being cut with the broken
+glass, or else they imagined that the machine might suddenly soar
+aloft, taking some of them with it.
+
+In the end Tom had to leave the plane where it was and hire a motor
+to take him and Martin back to the aerodrome.  They were only
+slightly cut by flying glass, nothing to speak of considering the
+danger in which they had been.
+
+The result of the disobedience of orders was that the army officials
+had rather a large bill for damages to settle with the French
+greenhouse proprietor, and Tom and Dick Martin were deprived of
+their leave privileges for a week for disobeying the order to keep
+at a certain height in flying over a town or city.
+
+Had they done that, when the controls jammed, they would have been
+able to glide down into a vacant field, it was demonstrated.  The
+machine was badly damaged, though it was not beyond repair.
+
+"And that's the last time I'm ever going to be soft with a Hun, you
+can make up your mind to that," declared Tom to Jack.  "If I'd sat
+on him hard when I saw he was getting too low over the village, it
+wouldn't have happened.  But I didn't want him to think I knew it
+all, and I thought I'd take a chance and let him pull his own
+chestnuts out of the fire.  But never again!"
+
+"'Tisn't safe," agreed Jack.  He was rapidly improving, so much so
+that he was able to fly the next week, and he and Tom went up
+together, and did some valuable scouting work for the American army.
+
+At times they found opportunity to take short trips to Paris, where
+they saw Nellie and Bessie, and were entertained by Mrs. Gleason.
+Nellie was eager for some word from her brother, but none came.
+Whether the packages dropped by Tom and Jack reached the prisoner
+was known only to the Germans, and they did not tell.
+
+But the daring plan undertaken by the two air service boys was soon
+known a long way up and down the Allied battle line, and more than
+one aviator tried to duplicate it, so that friends or comrades who
+were held by the Huns might receive some comforts, and know they
+were not forgotten.  Some of the Allied birdmen paid the penalty of
+death for their daring, but others reported that they had dropped
+packages within the prison camps, though whether those for whom they
+were intended received them or not, was not certain.
+
+"But we aren't going to let it stop there, are we?" asked Tom of
+Jack one day, when they were discussing the feat which had been so
+successful.
+
+"Let it stop where?  What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean are we going to do something to get Harry away from the
+Boche nest?"
+
+"I'm with you in anything like that!" exclaimed Jack.  "But what can
+we do?  How are we going to rescue him?"
+
+"That's what we've got to think out," declared Tom.  "Something has
+to be done."
+
+But there was no immediate chance to proceed to that desired end
+because of something vital that happened just about then.  This was
+nothing more nor less than secret news that filtered into the Allied
+lines, to the effect that a big Zeppelin raid over Paris was
+planned.
+
+It was not the first of these raids, nor, in all likelihood, would
+it be the last.  But this one was novel in that it was said the
+great German airships would sail toward the capital over the
+American lines, or, rather, the lines where the Americans were
+brigaded with the French and English.  Doubtless it was to "teach
+the Americans a lesson," as the German High Command might have put
+it.
+
+At any rate all leaves of absence for the airmen were canceled, and
+they were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to repel the
+"Zeps," as they were called, preventing them from getting across the
+lines to Paris.
+
+"And we'll bring down one or two for samples, if we can!" boasted
+Jack.
+
+"What makes it so sure that they are coming?" asked Tom.
+
+It developed there was nothing sure about it.  But the information
+had come from the Allied air secret service, and doubtless had its
+inception when some French or British airman saw scenes of activity
+near one of the Zeppelin headquarters in the German-occupied
+territory.  There were certain fairly positive signs.
+
+And, surely enough, a few nights later, the agreed-upon alarm was
+sounded.
+
+"The Zeps are coming!"
+
+Tom and Jack, with others who were detailed to repel the raid,
+rushed from their cats, hastily donned their fur garments, and ran
+to their aeroplanes, which were a "tuned up" and waiting.
+
+"There they are!" cried Torn, as he got into his single-seated
+plane, an example followed on his part by Jack.  "Look!"
+
+Jack gazed aloft.  There was a riot of fire from the anti-aircraft
+guns of the French and British, but they were firing in vain, for
+the Zeppelins flew high, knowing the danger from the ground
+batteries.
+
+Sharp, stabbing shafts of light from the powerful electric lanterns
+shot aloft, and now and then one of them would rest for an instant
+on a great silvery cigar-shape--the gas bag of the big German
+airships that were beating their way toward Paris, there to deal
+death and destruction.
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom, as his mechanician started the motor.  "I'm
+going to get a Zep!"
+
+"I'm with you!" yelled Jack, and they soared aloft side by side.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+ON PATROL
+
+
+Aloft with Tom and Jack were several other fighters, for it was not
+only considered a great honor to bring down a Zeppelin, but it would
+save many lives if one or more of the big gas machines could be
+prevented from dropping bombs on Paris or its environs.
+
+The machines which were used were all of the single type, though of
+different makes and speeds.  Each one was equipped with electric
+launching tubes.  These were a somewhat new device for use against
+captive Hun balloons and Zeppelins and were installed in many of the
+fighting scout craft of the Americans and Allies.
+
+Between the knees of Toni and Jack, as well as each of the other
+pilots, was a small metal tube.  This went completely through the
+floor of the cockpit, so that, had it been large enough to give good
+vision, one could view through it the ground beneath.
+
+In a little rack at the right of each scout were several small bombs
+of various kinds.  Some were intended to set on fire whatever they
+came in contact with, being of phosphorus.  Others were explosive
+bombs, pure and simple, while some were flares, intended to light up
+the scene at night and make getting a target easier.
+
+Included in the rack of death and destruction was a simple stick;
+not unlike a walking cane, and this seemed so comparatively harmless
+that an uninitiated observer would almost invariably ask its use.
+
+At the lower end of the launching tube, through which the bombs were
+dropped, was a "trip," or sort of catch, that caught on a trigger
+fastened to each bomb.  The trip pulled the trigger, so to speak,
+and set in operation the firing device.
+
+In the early days, though doubtless the defect was afterwards
+corrected, the bombs sometimes stuck in the launching tube, and as
+they were likely to go off in this position at any moment, it was
+the custom of the pilots to push them on their way with the cane if
+the missiles jammed.  Hence it was an essential part of each flying
+machine's armament.
+
+Higher and higher mounted the fighting scouts, with Tom and Jack
+among their number.  It was necessary to mount very high in order to
+get above the Zeppelins, as in this position alone was it possible
+for the aeroplanes to fight them to any advantage.  The Zeppelins
+carried many machine guns of long range, and for the pigmy planes to
+attack them on the same level, meant destruction to the smaller
+craft.
+
+There were several German machines in the raid toward Paris, but Tom
+and Jack caught sight of only two.  The others were either at too
+great a height to be observed, or else were farther off, lost in the
+haze.
+
+But the two silver shapes, resembling nothing so much as huge,
+expensive cigars, wrapped in tinfoil, were flying on their way, now
+and then dropping bombs, which exploded with dull, muffled reports -- an
+earnest of what they would do when they got over Paris.  They were
+traveling fast, under the impulse of their own powerful motors and
+propellers, and also aided by a stiff breeze.
+
+Of course conversation was out of the question among Tom, Jack and
+the other aviators, but they knew the general plan of the fight.
+They were to get above the Zeppelins--as many of them as could--and
+drop bombs on the gas envelope.  They were also to attack with
+machine guns if possible, aiming at the rudder controls and
+machinery.  It was the great desire of the Allied commanders to have
+a Zeppelin brought down as nearly intact as possible.
+
+Up and up climbed the speedy scout machines, and it was seen that
+some of them would never get in a position to do any damage.  The
+German craft were traveling too speedily.  But Tom and Jack managed
+to get to a height of about twenty thousand feet, which was above
+the Zeppelins, though by this time the Germans were in advance of
+them, for they had climbed at rather a steep angle.  However, they
+knew their speed was many times that of the German machine on a
+straight course.
+
+On and on they went.  Then came a mist which hid the enemy from
+sight.  The aviators railed at their luck, and Tom and Jack dropped
+down a bit, hoping to get through the mist.  It lay below them like
+a great, gray blanket.
+
+Suddenly they fairly plumped through it, and saw, not far away, the
+two big silver shapes, shining in the searchlights which were now
+giving good illumination.  It was a moonlight night, which seemed a
+favorite for a German bombing expedition.
+
+Far below them, and beneath the Zepplins, Tom and Jack could see the
+lights of other aeroplanes, which were flying low to observe
+lanterns on the ground, set in the shape of arrows, to indicate in
+which direction the German craft were traveling.  Later, if
+necessary, these observing machines could climb aloft and signal to
+those higher up.
+
+Nearer and nearer Jack and Tom came to one of the Zeppelins.  And
+now, in the semi-darkness, they became aware that they were being
+fired at by a long-range gun on the German craft.  The bullets sung
+about them, but though their machines were hit several times, as
+they learned later, they escaped injury.
+
+Now the battle of the air was on in grim and deadly earnest.
+Several scout planes flew at the big Zeppelin like hornets attacking
+a bear.  They fired their machine guns, and the Germans replied in
+kind, but with more terrible effect, for two of the Allied planes
+were shot down.  It was a sad loss, but it was the fortune of war,
+or, rather, misfortune, for the Zeppelin was not engaged in a fair
+fight, but seeking to bomb an unfortified city.
+
+Now Tom and Jack, though somewhat separated, were close above the
+Zeppelin, and in a position where they could not be fired at.  They
+began to drop incendiary bombs through the tubes between their
+knees.
+
+These bombs were fitted with sharp hooks, so that if they touched
+the gas bag they would cling fast, and bum until they bad ignited
+the envelope and the vapor inside.  And as they circled about,
+dropping bomb after bomb, the two air service boys saw this happen.
+Some at least of their bombs reached their target.
+
+The great craft, now on fire in several places, was twisting and
+turning like some wounded snake, endeavoring to escape.  Tom glanced
+toward the other Zeppelin and saw that this was fairly well
+surrounded by aeroplanes, but was not, as yet, on fire.
+
+The bees had fatally stung one great German bear, and, a little
+later, it crashed to the ground where it was nearly all consumed,
+and of its crew of thirty men, not one was left alive.
+
+The other plane, though greatly damaged by machine gun fire, was not
+set ablaze, but was forced to turn and sail for the German lines
+again.  So that two were prevented from bombing Paris.
+
+Well satisfied with what they had accomplished, Torn, Jack and the
+others who had set the Zeppelin on fire, descended.  Later they
+learned, by word from Paris, that on of the German machines was shot
+down over that city and some of its crew captured.  So that though
+the Huns did considerable damage with their bombs, they paid dearly
+for that unlawful expedition.
+
+This was the beginning of a series of fierce aerial battles between
+the German forces and the Allied airmen, though for a long dine no
+more Zeppelins were seen.  Sometimes fortune favored the side on
+which Tom and Jack fought, and again they were forced to retire,
+leaving some of their friends in the hands of the enemy.
+
+Once Tom and Tack, keeping close together doing scout work, were cut
+off from their companions.  They had ventured too far over the Hun
+lines, and were in danger of being shot down.  But a squadron of
+airmen from Pershing's forces made a sortie and drove the Germans to
+cover, rescuing the two air service boys from an evil fate.
+
+Then followed some weeks of rainy and misty weather, during which
+there was very little air work on either side.  But the fight on
+land went on, with attacks and repulses, the Allies continually
+advancing their lines, though ever so little.  Slowly but surely
+they were forcing the Germans back.
+
+Now and then there were night raids, and once Tom and Jack, who had
+not flown for a week because of rain, were just back of the lines
+when a captured German patrol was brought in, covered with mud and
+blood.  There had been lively fighting.
+
+"I wish we were in on that!" exclaimed Tom.  "I'm getting tired of
+sitting around."'
+
+"So am I!" agreed Jack.  "Let's ask if we can't go out on patrol
+some night.  It will be better than waiting for it to stop raining."
+
+To their delight their request was granted, as it had been in a
+number of other cases of airmen.  Temporarily they were allowed to
+go with the infantry until the weather cleared.
+
+The two air service boys were in the dugout one night, having served
+their turns at listening post work and general scouting, when an
+officer came in with a slip of paper.  He began reading off some
+names, and when he had finished, having mentioned Tom and Jack, he
+said:
+
+"Prepare for patrol duty at once."
+
+"Good!" whispered Tom to his chum: "Now there'll be something
+doing."
+
+He little guessed what it was to be.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+CAPTURED
+
+
+Silently, in the darkness of their trenches, the party of which Tom
+and Jack were to be members, prepared to go over the top and
+penetrate the German front line of defense, in the hope of taking
+prisoners that information might be had of them.  It was a risky
+undertaking, but one frequently accomplished by the Allies, and it
+often led to big results.
+
+There were about a score in the patrol, and, to their delight,
+though they rather regretted it later, Tom and Jack were given
+positions well in front, two files removed, in fact, from the
+lieutenant commanding.
+
+"Now I suppose you all understand what you're to do," said the
+lieutenant as he gathered his little party about him in one of the
+larger dugouts, where a flickering candle gave light.  "You'll all
+provide yourselves with wire cutters, hand grenades and pistols.
+Rifles will be in the way.  Take your gas masks, of course.  No
+telling when Fritz may send over some of those shells.  Blacken your
+faces, as usual.  A star shell makes a beautiful light on a white
+countenance, so don't be afraid of smudging yourselves.  And when we
+start just try to imagine you are Indians, and make no noise.  One
+object is to come in contact with some German post, try to hear
+what's going on from their talk, and make some captures if we can.
+Do you all understand German?"
+
+It developed that they did--at least no one would confess he did not
+for fear of being turned back.  But, as it developed, they all had
+some, if slight, acquaintance with the language.
+
+A little period of anxious waiting followed--a sort of zero hour
+effect--until finally the word was received from some source,
+unknown to Tom and Jack, to proceed.  The night was black, and there
+was a mist over everything which did not augur for clear weather on
+the morrow.
+
+"Forward!" whispered the lieutenant, for they were so near the
+German lines that incautious talking was prohibited.  Out of their
+trenches they went, Tom and Jack well in front, and close to the
+leader.
+
+As carefully as might be, though, at that, making noise which the
+members of the patrol thought surely must be heard clear to Berlin,
+they made their way over the shell-torn and uncertain ground in the
+darkness.  They went down between their own lines of barbed wire to
+where an opening had been made opposite what was considered a quiet
+spot in the Hun defenses, and then they started across "No Man's
+Land."
+
+It was not without mingled feelings that Tom and Jack advanced, and,
+doubtless, their feelings were common to all.  There was great
+uncertainty as to the outcome.  Death or glory might await them.
+They might all be killed by a single German shell, or they might run
+into a German working party, out to repair the wire cut during the
+day's firing.  In the latter case there would be a fight--an even
+chance, perhaps.  They might capture or be captured.
+
+On and on they went, treading close together and in single file,
+making little noise.  Straight across the desolate stretch of land
+that lay between the two lines of trenches they went, and, when half
+way, there came from the German side a sudden burst of star shells.
+These are a sort of war fireworks that make a brilliant
+illumination, and the enemy was in the habit of sending them up
+every night at intervals, to reveal to his gunners any party of the
+enemy approaching.
+
+"Down!  Down!" hissed the lieutenant.  But he need not have uttered
+the command.  All had been told what to do, and fell on their faces
+literally--their smoke-blackened faces.  In this position they
+resembled, as nearly as might be, some of the dead bodies scattered
+about, and that was their intention.
+
+ Still each one had a nervous fear.  The star shells were very
+brilliant and made No Man's Land almost as bright as when bathed in
+sunshine, a condition that had not prevailed of late.  There was no
+guarantee that the Germans would not, in their suspicious hate, turn
+their rifles or machine guns on what they supposed were dead bodies.
+In that case-well, Tom, Jack and the others did not like to think
+about it.
+
+But the brilliance of the star shells died away, and once more there
+was darkness.  The lieutenant cautiously raised his head and in a
+whisper commanded:
+
+"Forward!  Is every one all right?"
+
+"My mouth's full of mud and water--otherwise I'm all right," said
+some one.
+
+"Silence!" commanded the officer.
+
+Once more he led them forward.  They reached the first German wire,
+and instantly the cutters were at work.  Though the men tried to
+make no noise, it was an impossibility.  The wire would send forth
+metallic janglings and tangs as it was cut.  But an opening was
+made, and the patrol party filed through.  And then, almost
+immediately, something happened.
+
+There was another burst of star shells, but before the Americans had
+an opportunity to throw themselves on their faces, they saw that
+they were confronted by a large body of Germans who had come forward
+as silently as themselves, and, doubtless, on the same sort of
+errand.
+
+"At 'em, boys!  At 'em!" cried the lieutenant.  "The Stars and
+Stripes!  At 'em!"
+
+Instantly pandemonium broke loose.  In the glaring light of the star
+shells the two forces rushed forward.  There was a burst of pistol
+fire, and then the fight went on in the darkness.
+
+"Where are you, Tom?"' yelled Jack, as he flung a grenade full at a
+big, burly German who was rushing at him with uplifted gun.
+
+"Here!" was the answer, and in the darkness Jack felt his chum
+collide with him so forcefully that both almost went down in a heap.
+"I jumped to get away from a Hun bayonet," pantingly explained Tom.
+
+Jack's grenade exploded, blowing dirt and small stones in the faces
+of the chums.  There were shouts and cries, in English, French and
+German.  The American lieutenant tried to rally his men around him,
+but, as was afterward learned, they were attacked by a much larger
+party of Huns than their patrol.
+
+"We must stick together!" cried Jack to Tom.  "If we separate we're
+lost!  Where are the others?"
+
+"Sam Zalbert was with me a second ago," answered Tom, naming a lad
+with whom he and Jack had become quite friendly.  "But I saw him
+fall.  I don't know whether he slipped or was hurt.  Look out!" he
+suddenly shouted.
+
+He saw two Germans rushing at him and Jack, with leveled revolvers.
+There was no time to get another grenade from their pockets, and Tom
+did the next best thing.  He made a tackle, football fashion, at the
+legs of the Germans, which he could see very plainly in the light of
+many star shells that were now being sent up.
+
+Almost at the same instant Jack, seeing his chum's intention,
+followed his example, and the two Huns went down in a heap, falling
+over the heads of their antagonists with many a German imprecation.
+Their weapons flew from their hands.
+
+"Come on!  This is getting too hot for us!" cried Jack, as he
+scrambled to his feet, followed by Tom.  "There'll be a barrage here
+in a minute."
+
+This seemed about to happen, for machine guns were spitting fire and
+death all along that section of the German front, and the American
+and French forces were replying.  A general engagement might be
+precipitated at any moment.
+
+The American lieutenant tried to rally his men, but it was a
+hopeless task.  The Germans had overpowered them.  Tom and Jack
+started to run back toward their own lines, having made sure,
+however, of putting beyond the power to fight any more the two
+Germans who had attacked them.
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom.  "We've got to have reinforcements to tackle
+this bunch!"
+
+"I guess so!" agreed Jack.
+
+They turned, not to retreat, but to better their positions, when
+they both ran full into a body of men that seemed to spring up from
+the very ground in the sudden darkness that followed an unusually
+bright burst of star shells.
+
+"What is it?  Who are they?  What's the matter?" cried Tom.
+
+"Give it up!" answered Jack.  "Who are you?" he asked.
+
+Instantly a guttural German voice cried:
+
+"Ah!  The American swine!  We have them!"
+
+In another moment Tom and Jack felt themselves surrounded by an
+overpowering number.
+
+Hands plucked at them toughly from all sides, and their pistols and
+few remaining grenades were taken from them.
+
+"Turn back with the prisoners!" cried a voice in German.
+
+The two air service boys found themselves being fairly-lifted from
+their feet by the rush of their captors.  Where they were going they
+could not see, but they knew what had happened.
+
+They had been captured by the Germans!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE CLEW
+
+
+For one wild instant Tom and Jack, as they admitted to one another
+afterward, felt an insane desire to attempt to break away from their
+captors, to rush at them, to attack if need be with their bare
+hands, and so invite death in its quickest form.  They even hoped
+that they might escape this way rather than live to be taken behind
+the German lines.
+
+It was not only the disgrace of being captured--which really was no
+disgrace considering the overwhelming numbers that attacked them--t
+it was the fear of what they might have to suffer as prisoners.
+
+Tom and Jack, as well as the others, might well regard with horror
+the fate that lay before them.  But to escape by even a desperate
+struggle was out of the question.  They were surrounded by a ring of
+Germans, several files deep, and each was heavily armed.  Then, too,
+their captors were fairly rushing them along over the uneven ground
+as though fearful of pursuit.  The air service boys had no chance,
+nor did any of their comrades of the patrol who might be left alive.
+How many these were, Tom and Jack had no means of knowing.  They did
+not see any of their comrades near them.  There were only the Huns
+who were bubbling over with coarse joy in the delight of having
+captured two "American pigs," as they brutally boasted.
+
+Stumbling and half falling, Tom and Jack were dragged along.  Now
+and then they could see, by means of the star shells, groups of men,
+some near and some farther off.  There was firing all along the Hun
+and Allied lines, and as the boys were dragged along the big guns
+began to thunder.  What had started as an ordinary night raid might
+end in a general engagement before it was finished.
+
+There seemed to be fierce lighting going on between the several
+detached groups, and the air service boys did not doubt that some
+word of the dispersing and virtual defeat of the party they were
+with had reached their lines, resulting in the sending out of relief
+parties.
+
+"This sure is tough luck!" murmured Jack to Tom, as they stumbled
+along in the midst of their captors.
+
+"You said it!  If our boys would only rush this bunch and get us
+away."
+
+"Silence, pigs!" cried a German officer, and with his sword he
+struck at Tom, slightly injuring the lad and causing a hot wave of
+fierce resentment.
+
+"You wouldn't dare do that if I had my hands free, you dirty dog!"
+rasped out Tom in fairly good German, and he tugged to free his arms
+from the hold of a Hun soldier on either side.
+
+The officer who had struck Tom seemed about to reply, for he surged
+through the ranks of his men over toward the captive, but a command
+from some one, evidently higher in authority halted him, and he
+marched on, muttering.
+
+There was sharp fighting between the Hun sentries and small parties,
+and similar bodies from the American and Allied sides going on along
+the lines now, and both armies were sending up rockets and other
+illuminating devices.
+
+The two Virginia lads felt themselves being hurried forward--or
+back, whichever way you choose to look at it--and whither they were
+being taken they did not know. The taunts of their captors had
+ceased, though the men were talking together in low voices, and
+suddenly, at something one of them said, Tom nudged Jack, beside
+whom he was walking.
+
+"Did you hear that?" he asked in so low a voice that it was not
+heard by the Hun next him.  Or if it was heard, no attention was
+paid to it, for Torn spoke in English.  The tramp of the heavy boots
+of the Huns and the rattle of their arms and accoutrements made
+noise enough, perhaps, to cover the sound of his voice.
+
+"Did I hear what?" asked Jack.
+
+"What that chap said.  It was something about one of the German
+prison camps having been burned by the prisoners, a lot of whom got
+away.  The rest were transferred to a place not far from here.
+Listen!"
+
+And the Americans listened to the extent of their ability.
+
+Then it was they blessed their lucky stars that they understood
+enough of German to know what was being said, for it was then and
+there that they got a clew to the whereabouts of Harry Leroy, from
+whom they had heard not a word since the dropping of his glove by
+the German aviator.  They did not even know whether or not their
+packages had reached their chum.
+
+The talk of the Germans who had captured Tom and Jack was, indeed,
+concerning the burning of one of the prison camps.  As the boys
+learned later, the prisoners, unable to stand the terrible
+treatment, had risen and set fire to the place.  Many of them
+perished in the blaze and by the fire of German rifles.  The others
+were transferred to a camp nearer the battle line as a punishment,
+it being argued, perhaps, that they might be killed by the fire of
+the guns of their own side.
+
+"And there are some airmen, too, in the new prison camp," said one
+of the Germans.  "Our infantrymen claimed them as their meat, though
+our airmen brought them down.  But there was no room for them in the
+prison camp with the other captured aviators, so The Butcher has
+them in his charge."
+
+Tom and Jack learned later that "The Butcher" was the title
+bestowed, even by his own men, on a certain brutal German colonel
+who had charge of this prison camp.
+
+Then there came to Tom and Jack in the darkness a curious piece of
+information, dropped by casual talk of the Huns.  One of them said
+to another:
+
+"One of the transferred airmen tried to bribe me to-day."
+
+"To bribe you?  How and for what?"
+
+"He is an accursed American pig, and when he heard we were opposite
+some of them, he wanted me to throw a note from him over into the
+American lines.  He said I would be well paid, and he offered me a
+piece of gold he had hidden in the sole of his shoe."
+
+"Did you take it?"
+
+"The gold?  Of course I did!  But I tore up the note he gave me to
+toss into the American lines.  First I looked at it, though.  It was
+signed with a French name, though the prisoner claimed to be from
+the United States.  It was the name Leroy which means, I have been
+told, the king.  Ha!  I have his gold, and the note is scattered
+over No Man's Land!  But I will tell him I sent it into the trenches
+of his friends.  He may have more notes and gold!" and the brute
+chuckled.
+
+Tom and Jack, looked at one another in the darkness.  Could it be
+possible that it was their friend Harry Leroy who was so near to
+them, since he had been transferred from a camp far behind the
+lines?
+
+It seemed so.  There were not many American airmen captured, and
+there could hardly be two of this same rather odd name.
+
+"It must be Harry," murmured Tom.
+
+"I think so," agreed Jack.
+
+"Silence, American pigs!" commanded man officer.
+
+He raised his sword to strike the lad.  But just then occurred an
+interruption so tremendous that all thought of punishing prisoners
+who dared to speak was forgotten.
+
+A big shell rose screaming and moaning from the Allied lines and
+landed not far from the party of Germans which was leading along Tom
+and Jack.  It burst with a tremendous noise well inside the Hug
+defenses, and this was followed by a terrific explosion.  As the
+boys learned later the shell had landed in the midst of a concealed
+battery--a stroke of luck, and not due to any good aiming on the
+part of the American gunner--and the supply of ammunition had gone
+up.
+
+There was great commotion behind the German lines, and two or three
+of Tom's and Jack's captors were thrown down by the concussion.  The
+air service boys themselves were stunned.
+
+And then there suddenly sounded a ringing American cheer, while a
+voice, coming from a group of soldiers that confronted the German
+patrol, cried:
+
+"Halt!  Who's there?  Are there any of Uncle Sam's boys?"
+
+"Yes!  Yes!" eagerly cried Tom and Jack.  "Come on!  We're captured
+by the Germans!"
+
+There was another cheer, followed by a roar of rage, and then came a
+rush of feet.  Gleaming bayonets glistened in the light of star
+shells and many guns, and the members of the German patrol, finding
+themselves surrounded, threw down their arms and cried:
+
+"Kamerad!"
+
+The fortunes of war had unexpectedly turned, and Tom and Jack had
+been rescued and saved by a party of Pershing's gallant boys.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+NELLIE'S RESOLVE
+
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"How'd they get you?"
+
+"Are you hurt?"
+
+These were a few of the questions put to Tom and Jack as they were
+surrounded by the rescuing party of their friends, led, it afterward
+developed, by the very lieutenant with whom the two air service boys
+had started in the patrol across No Man's Land.
+
+The German captors had either all surrendered or been killed, and
+the tables were most effectively switched around.  At first Tom and
+Jack were too surprised and overwhelmingly grateful to answer.
+
+But they soon understood what had happened.  And then they told the
+story of their fight against odds until captured.  They said nothing
+just then of the unexpected information that had come to them about
+Harry Leroy's presence in a German camp so comparatively near their
+own lines.  But they resolved, at the first opportunity, to make use
+of the information.
+
+The shooting of the big guns gradually ceased when it was made
+manifest that neither side was ready for a general engagement.  The
+pop-pop of the machine weapons, too, died away and the star shells
+ceased rising.
+
+"Come on you Fritzies--what's left of you," cried the lieutenant,
+when he had made sure that there were no others of his party whom he
+could rescue.
+
+Then with Tom and Jack the center of a happy, tumultuous throng of
+their own comrades, the trip back to the American lines was begun.
+It was without incident save that on the way a wounded British
+soldier was found lying in a shell hole and carried in, ultimately
+to recover.
+
+Tom and Jack told what had happened to them, how they had been
+surrounded and led away; and then, came the story of the lieutenant
+who had led the patrol party which had turned defeat into victory
+with the aid of reinforcements which were sent to him.
+
+He had seen his hopes blasted when rushed by the big crowd of the
+Hun patrol, and, though slightly wounded, he realized that absolute
+defeat would come to him and his men unless he could get help.  He
+sent a runner back with word to send relief, and then, surrounding
+himself with what few men remained alive and uncaptured, the fight
+went on.
+
+It was bitter and sanguinary, and at last, with only two men left
+beside him, the lieutenant heard the rush of the relief guard.  He
+was placed in charge, as he knew the lay of the land, and the party
+hurried to and fro, wiping up little knots of Germans here and
+there, until the main body encountered the squad having in charge
+the two air service boys.
+
+"You began to think it was all up with you, didn't you?" asked the
+lieutenant, when they were all once more safely in the dugout.
+
+"We certainly did!" admitted Tom.
+
+"We had visions of watery soup and wheatless bread for the rest of
+the war," observed Jack.
+
+He and Tom were slightly wounded--mere scratches they dubbed the
+hurts--but they were sent to the rear to be looked over and
+bandaged, as were some of the others who were more severely hurt.
+There were some who could not be sent back--who were left in No
+Man's Land silent figures who would never take part in a battle
+again.  They had paid their price toward making the world a better
+place to live in, and their names were on the Honor Roll.
+
+"Well, what do you think about it?" asked Tom of Jack.
+
+"I don't know what to think.  It seems hardly possible that Harry
+can be so near to us, and yet we can't do a thing to help him."
+
+"I'm not so sure about that," returned Tom.  "That's what I want to
+talk about."
+
+It was a week after the patrol raid, and clear weather had succeeded
+the rain and mist, so that it was possible for the aeroplanes to
+operate.  And their services were much needed.
+
+There were preparations going on back of the German lines of which
+General Pershing and the Allied commanders needed to be informed.
+And only the "eyes" of the armies could see them and report--the
+eyes being the aeroplanes.
+
+So it came about that, having been relieved of their temporary
+transfer to the infantry, Tom and Jack were once more with their
+comrades of the air.
+
+"Well, let's think it over, and talk about it when we come down,"
+suggested Jack.  "We've got to go upstairs for our usual tour of
+duty now."
+
+This would last three hours.  They were to do scout work--report any
+unusual activity back of the German lines, or give warning of the
+approach of any hostile aeroplanes.  After their tour of duty was
+ended they would have the rest of the day to themselves, provided
+there was no general attack.  Of course if, while they were up, they
+were attacked, they must fight.
+
+Each lad had a plane to himself, since the young "huns" had all
+pretty well passed their novitiate, and were now in the regular
+flying squad.  Later some other new aviators would report for
+instruction on the battle front.
+
+Up and up climbed Tom and Jack, and eagerly they scanned the German
+lines for any signs of activity.  But though there were some Hun
+planes in the air, they did not approach to give battle.  Possibly
+some other plans were afoot.  Afterward Tom and Jack admitted to one
+another that there was a great temptation to fly over the German
+trenches to try to get a sight of the prison that had been spoken
+of--the camp where Harry Leroy might be held.
+
+But to do this would be in direct violation of their orders, and
+they dared not take any risks.  For to do so might involve not only
+themselves in danger, but others as well.  And that view of the
+matter determined them.  They would have to await their opportunity
+for rescuing their chum--if it could be accomplished.
+
+Their tour of duty aloft that day was without incident.  This is not
+an usual condition at times along the long battle front.  Men can
+not go on fighting without stop, and there come lulls in even the
+fiercest battle.  Flesh and blood can stand only a certain amount of
+torture, and then even the soul rebels.
+
+So Tom and Jack drifted peacefully down to their aerodrome, noting
+that it was being newly camouflaged, for the recent rain had played
+havoc with some of the concealments.
+
+As far as possible both the Germans and the Allies tried to conceal
+the location of their flying camps.  The aeroplanes and balloons
+needed large buildings to house them, and such structures made
+excellent and, of course, fair war-marks for bombing parties in
+aeroplanes hovering aloft.  So it was the custom to put up trees and
+bushes or to stretch canvas over the aerodromes and paint it to
+resemble woods and fields in an effort to conceal, or camouflage,
+the depots where the airships were stationed.  But this work was
+done by a special detail of men, and with it Tom and Jack had
+nothing to do.
+
+They turned their machines over to the mechanics, who would go
+carefully over them and have the craft in readiness for the next
+flight.  Then, being free for several hours, the two young airmen
+could do as they pleased, within certain limits.
+
+"Well, did anything occur to you?" asked Jack, as he and Tom, having
+divested themselves of their heavy fur-lined garments, went to the
+mess hall, which was in an old stable, from which the horses had
+long since been removed.
+
+"You mean a plan to rescue Harry?"
+
+"That's it."
+
+"No, I'm sorry to say I can't think of a thing," Tom answered.  "I
+thought I would, but I didn't.  Have you anything to say?"
+
+"Yes.  Let's go to Paris."
+
+"You mean to see--er--?"
+
+"Yes!" interrupted Jack with a smile.  "This is their day off, and
+we might as well have a little enjoyment when we can.  From the easy
+time we had to-day we'll have some hard fighting to-morrow.  This
+was too good to last.  Heinie is up to some mischief, I think."
+
+"Same here."
+
+So, having received permission, they went to Paris, and soon found
+their way to the lodgings of Mrs. Gleason, where the air service
+boys were welcomed by Bessie and Nellie.
+
+Of course the first question had to do with the captive Harry, and
+to the delight of Nellie Tom was able to say:
+
+"We have news of him, anyhow."
+
+"News?  You mean he is all right?"
+
+"Well, as all right as he ever can be while the Boches have him, I
+suppose," was the answer.
+
+"But the news didn't come direct from him.  He's in another camp.
+I'll tell you about it."
+
+Tom and Jack, by turns, related what had happened on the night
+patrol, and explained how they had overheard talk of Harry.
+
+"Then he is nearer than he has been?" asked Nellie.
+
+"Yes," admitted Tom.
+
+"Won't it be easier to rescue him then?" Bessie queried.
+
+"Well, that doesn't follow," said Jack.  "Of course if we could
+rescue him, we'd have a shorter distance to bring him, to get him
+inside our lines.  But it's just as difficult getting beyond the
+German lines now as it was before.  Tom and I thought we'd come and
+talk it over, and see if you girls have anything to suggest.  We'll
+do the rescue work if we only get a chance, and can find some plan.
+Have you any?"
+
+He asked that question, though he hardly expected an answer.  And
+both he and Tom, as well as Bessie and her mother, were greatly
+surprised when Nellie exclaimed:
+
+"Yes, I have!"
+
+"You have?" cried Tom.  "What is it?  Tell us, quick!"
+
+"I am going to save my brother by offering myself as a prisoner in
+his place," said Nellie with quiet resolve.  "That's how I'll save
+him!  I'll exchange myself for him!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE BIG BATTLE
+
+
+Nellie Leroy rose from, the chair where she had been sitting, and
+stood before the little party of her friends, gathered in the little
+Paris apartment where Bessie Gleason and her mother made their home
+when they were not actively engaged in Red Cross work.  The sister
+of the captive airman had a quiet but very determined air about her.
+
+"That is what I am going to do," she said, as no one at first
+answered what had been a dramatic outbreak.  "Perhaps you will tell
+me best how to go about it," and she turned to Tom and Jack.  "You
+know something of the German lines, and where I can best go to give
+myself up."
+
+"Why--why, you can't go at all!" burst out Tom.
+
+"I can't go?"
+
+"No, of course not.  You mean all right, Nellie," went on the young
+man, "but it simply can't be done.  To give yourself up to the
+Germans would mean for yourself not only--Oh, it couldn't be done!"
+as he thought of the cruelty of the Huns, not only to the soldiers
+of the Allied armies but to helpless women and children.  "You
+couldn't give yourself up to those brutes!' he cried.
+
+"To save my brother I could," said Nellie simply.  "I would do
+anything for him!"
+
+"I know you would," murmured Bessie.
+
+"But it would just be throwing yourself away!" exclaimed Jack,
+coming to the help of his chum, who was gazing helplessly at him in
+this new crisis.  "Tell her, Mrs. Gleason," he went on, "that it is
+utterly impossible, even if the army authorities would let her.
+Even if she should give herself up to the Germans, they wouldn't
+keep any agreement they made to exchange her brother.  They'd simply
+keep both of them."
+
+"Yes, I think they would," said Mrs. Gleason.  "It is out of the
+question, my dear," and gently she laid her hand on the girl's
+shoulder.  "That is very fine and noble of you, but it would be
+wrong, for it would not save your brother, and you would certainly
+be made a prisoner yourself.  And of the horrors of the German
+prison--at least some where the infantrymen have been kept, I dare
+not tell you.  I imagine it must be better where the airmen are
+captured," she went on, for she feared that if she painted too black
+a picture of what Harry might suffer his sister would not be held
+back by anything, and might sacrifice herself uselessly.
+
+"But what am I do?" asked Nellie, helplessly.  "I want Harry so
+much!  We all want him!  Oh, isn't there something?  Can't you save
+him?" and she held out her hands appealingly to Torn and Jack.
+
+There was a moment of silence, and then Tom burst out with:
+
+"Well, I may as well speak now as later, and I'll tell you what I've
+made up my mind to do.  Yes, it's a new plan I've worked out," he
+went on, as Jack looked at him curiously.  "I haven't told even you,
+old man, as it wasn't quite ready yet.  But it's a scheme that may
+succeed, now that we know definitely where Harry is, from what the
+German patrol said.  He isn't so far away as when we dropped the
+packages in the prison camp, though we don't yet know that he was
+there at the time we did our stunt.  However, if this new plan
+succeeds we may have a chance to find out."
+
+"How?" asked Nellie, eagerly.
+
+"By talking to Harry himself."
+
+"How are you going to do that?" demanded Bessie.
+
+"What kind of game have you been cooking up behind my back?" asked
+Jack.
+
+"As desperate as the other, I guess you'll call it," answered Tom.
+"But something has to be done."
+
+"Yes, something has to be done," agreed Jack.  "Now what is it?"
+
+Tom arose and went to the door.  He opened it, looked carefully up
+and down the hall, evidently to make sure no one was listening, and
+then came back to join the circle of his friends.
+
+"I'm going to speak of something that very few know, as yet," he
+said, "and I don't want to take any chances of its getting out.
+There may be German spies in Paris, though I guess by this time
+they're few and scattering.
+
+"I'm not going to tell you how I know," he said, "but I do know that
+soon there is to take place a big battle--that is, it will be big
+for the American forces that are to have part in it.  There has been
+a conference among the Allied commanders, and it has been decided
+that it's time to teach the Germans a lesson.  They've been
+despising the American troops, as they despised General French's
+'contemptible little army,' and General Pershing is going to show
+Fritz that we have a soldier or two that can fight."
+
+"You mean there's to be a big offensive?" asked Jack.
+
+"No, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a general engagement like
+that.  It's to be kept within the limits, of the sector where the
+United States troops are at present," said Tom.  "That is where you
+and I are located, Jack, and that, as you know, is almost opposite
+the prison where Harry and the others are confined."
+
+"I begin to see what you are driving at!" cried Nellie, her eyes
+shining.  "But are you sure of this?"
+
+"Yes," went on Jack, "how did you bear of this when it's supposed to
+be such a secret?"
+
+"It came to me by accident," said Torn, "and I wouldn't speak of it
+to any one but you.  Soon, however, it will be more or less public
+on our side, as it will have to be when we start to get ready.  But
+it's to be kept a secret from Fritz as long as possible.  It's to be
+a surprise attack, and if it doesn't develop into a big battle it
+won't be the fault of Uncle Sam's boys."
+
+"Will the air service have any part in it?" asked Jack eagerly, as
+if fearing he might be left out.
+
+"I don't see how they can get along without us," said Tom.  "Not
+that we're the whole works, but it is well established now that an
+army can't fight without the use of aeroplanes, to tell not only
+what the other side is doing, but also how our own guns are
+shooting.  Oh, we'll be in it all right!"
+
+"When?" asked Jack.
+
+"That I can't say," replied his chum.  "But now to get down to the
+thing that concerns us, or rather, Harry.  I have a scheme--and you
+can call it wild if you like--that when the battle is going on, you
+and I, Jack, and some other airmen if we can induce them to do it,
+and I think we can, may be able to drop bombs near the prison camp.
+We'll have to judge our distances pretty carefully, or we'll do more
+harm than good.  Then, if all goes well, and we can blow down some
+of the camp walls or fences, and if the battle favors our side, we
+can make a descent on enemy territory and rescue Harry and any
+others that are with him.  What do you think of that plan?"
+
+"It's wonderful!" exclaimed Nellie, glaring at Tom with a strange,
+new light in her eyes.
+
+"It's very daring," said Bessie, more calmly.
+
+"It's crazy!" burst out Jack
+
+"I thought you'd say that," commented Tom calmly, "and I'd have been
+disappointed if you hadn't.  And just because it is crazy it may
+succeed.  But it's the only thing I can think of.  Daring will get
+you further in this war then anything else.  You've got to take big
+chances anyhow, and the bigger the better, I say."
+
+"I'm with you there all right," agreed Jack.  "But to land in
+hostile territory--it hasn't been done ten times since the war
+began, and have the aviator live to get away with it!"
+
+"I know it," said Tom, quietly.  "But this may be the eleventh
+successful time.  Now that's my plan for rescuing Harry Leroy.  If
+any of you have a better one let's hear it."
+
+No one answered, and finally Nellie spoke.
+
+"No," she said, with a shake of her head, "it's very fine and noble
+of you boys, but I can't allow it.  If you wouldn't let me give
+myself up--exchange myself for Harry, I can't let you give your
+lives for him this way.  It wouldn't be fair.  It would be depriving
+the Allies of two valuable fighters, to possibly get back one, and
+the possibility is so slim that--well, it's suicidal!" she
+exclaimed.
+
+"Not so much so as you think," said Tom.  "I've got it all figured
+out as far as possible.  And as for landing in hostile territory, if
+all goes well, and the big battle progresses as Pershing and his
+aides think it will, maybe we won't have to land in hostile
+territory at all.  We may drive the Germans back, and then the
+prison will be within our lines."
+
+"That's so!" cried Jack.  "I didn't think of feat.  Tom, old man,
+maybe your scheme isn't as crazy as I thought!  Anyhow, I'm in it
+with you.  The only thing is--will this big battle take place?"
+
+"'It will unless the Germans decide to surrender between now and the
+day set," Tom answered grimly, "and I hardly believe they'll do
+that.  It's a going to be some fight!"
+
+"Glad of it!" cried Jack.  "Now we've got something to live for!"
+As if he and Tom did not risk their lives every day to make life in
+the civilized world something worth living for.
+
+"Well, we must be getting back!" exclaimed Tom, as he looked at his
+watch.  "All leaves will be stopped in a few days--just before we
+start preparations for the big battle.  If we can we'll see you once
+more before then."
+
+"And afterward?" inquired Nellie, softly and pleadingly.
+
+"Yes, and afterward, too!" exclaimed Tom.  "And we'll bring Harry
+back with us.  Now good-bye!"
+
+It was a more solemn farewell than the friends had taken in some
+time, for all felt the impending events, and Tom and Jack talked but
+little during the return trip from Paris to their headquarters.
+
+What Tom had said about the big battle was strictly true.  It had
+been decided in high quarters that it was time the newly arrived
+American soldiers showed what they could do.  That they could fight
+fiercely and well was not a question, it was only a matter of
+getting them familiar with the different conditions to be met with
+on the European battlefields, against a ruthless foe.
+
+Tom and Jack had a chance for one more hasty, flying visit to Paris,
+and then all leave was withdrawn, and there began in and about the
+American camp such a period of tense and intensive work as bore out
+what Tom had said.  The big battle was impending.
+
+Great stores were accumulated of rations and munitions.  Great guns
+were brought up into position and skillfully camouflaged.  Machine
+guns in great numbers were prepared and a number of aeroplanes were
+brought from other sectors and made ready for the flying fight.
+
+"How are your plans coming on?" asked Jack of Tom, at the close of a
+day when it seemed that every one's nerves were on edge from the
+strain of preparing.
+
+"All right," was the answer.  "I've spoken to a number of the boys,
+and they're with me.  You know we're pretty much 'on our own,' when
+we're flying, and I think that we can drop the bombs and make a
+descent long enough to pick up Harry and other refugees if we break
+open the prison."
+
+"But suppose we land, stall the engines and the Germans surround
+us?"
+
+"That mustn't happen," said Tom.  "We won't stall the engines for
+one thing.  We'll just have to drop down, and taxi around as well as
+we can until we pick up Harry, or until he sees us.  The machines
+will carry three as well as two, and even if we have, by some
+mischance to go up in singles, they'll carry double.  But I figured
+on your being with me.  Harry knows enough of the game to be on the
+lookout when he hears the bombs drop and sees the planes hovering
+over him, and he'll tip off the others to be ready for a rescue.
+
+"Of course I don't say we can get 'em all, and maybe something will
+happen that we can't get Harry away.  But I think we'll teach Fritz
+a lesson, and I think we can break up the prison camp so some of the
+poor fellows can get away.  As I said, it's a desperate chance, but
+one we've got to take."
+
+"And I'm with you!" exclaimed Jack.  "And now when does the big
+battle take place?"
+
+He was answered a moment later, for an orderly arrived with
+instructions to the air service boys to report at their hangars at
+once.
+
+There they were told something of the impending attack--the first
+public mention of it, though more than one had guessed something
+unusual was in the air from the tenseness of the last few days.
+
+The attack was to start at dawn the next morning, preceded by an
+intense artillery fire.  It was to be the fiercest rain of shells
+since the Americans had come to the front lines.  Then the infantry,
+supported by tanks and aeroplanes, would follow, going over in waves
+which it was hoped would overwhelm the Germans.
+
+That night was a tense one.  Suppose the enemy had guessed, or a spy
+had given word of the impending battle?  Then success would be
+jeopardized.  But the night passed with only the usual exchange of
+shots and the sending up of star shells over No Man's Land.
+
+And so, as the hour of dawn approached, the tense and nervous
+feeling grew.  Tom and Jack, with their comrades in their hangars,
+were dressed in their fur garments and ready.  Their machines had
+received the last touches from the hands of the mechanics, and each
+one was well equipped with bombs and machine gun ammunition.  Tom
+and Jack were to be allowed to go up together in a big double
+bombing plane.
+
+The night passed.  The hour approached.  Anxious eyes watched the
+hands of watches slowly revolve.
+
+Then suddenly, as if the very earth had been blasted away from
+beneath them, the batteries of big guns belched forth fire, smoke
+and shell.
+
+The great battle was on!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+SILENCING THE GERMAN GUNS
+
+
+Engagements in the World War were on such a vast scale that it was
+difficult for a single observer to give a word picture of them.  All
+he could see, stationed behind the lines, was a vast cataclysm of
+smoke and fire, and his ears were deafened by so vast a sound that
+it was comparable to nothing on this earth ever heard before.
+
+An observer in the air was little better off, save for that portion
+directly beneath him, and even that he could not see very much of,
+on account of the smoke and dust.  If he looked to the left or the
+right, or backward or forward, he was at the disadvantage of
+distance.
+
+To him, then, great columns of infantry appeared only as crawling
+worms, and batteries of artillery merely patches of woods whence
+belched fire and smoke.  That he must keep high in the air when over
+the enemy's lines went without saying, for he would be fired at if
+he came too low.  So then, even an airman's vision was limited when
+it came to describing a great battle.
+
+Of course he always did what he was assigned to do.  He kept in
+contact, or in communication, with his own certain batteries, or his
+infantry division, directing the shots of the former and the advance
+of the latter.  So, really, he had little time to observe anything
+save the effect of the firing of his own side on a certain limited
+objective.
+
+As for the soldiers in battle, they are, of course, unable to
+observe anything except that which goes on immediately in their
+neighborhood.  The artilleryman fires his gun under the direction of
+some observer, often far away, who telephones to him to lower or
+elevate his piece, or deflect it to the tight or left.  The
+infantryman advances as the barrage lifts, and rushes forward
+according to orders, firing or using his bayonet as the case may be,
+digging in when halted, and waiting for another rush forward.  The
+machine gunner and his squad aim to put as many of the advancing,
+retreating, or standing enemy out of the fighting as possible, and
+to save themselves.
+
+The truck men hasten up with loads of ammunition, fortunate if they
+are not sent to their death in the drive.  The stretcher bearers
+look for the wounded and hasten back with them.
+
+So, all in all, no single person can observe more than a very small
+part of the great battle.  It is really like looking through a
+microscope at some organism, while the whole great body lies beyond
+the field of vision.
+
+Only the general staff-the officers in their headquarters far behind
+the lines, who receive reports as to how this division or corps is
+retreating or advancing--can have any real conception of the big
+battle, and these persons may see it only at a distance.
+
+So the usual process of things in general is reversed, and the
+person farthest removed from the fighting may really see, or rather
+know, most about it.
+
+And so with a storm of shot and shell, manmade thunders and
+lightnings, and bolts of death from the earth below and the air
+above, the great battle opened and advanced.
+
+It progressed just as other battles had progressed.  There was a
+terrific artillery preparation, which took the Germans evidently by
+surprise, for the response was long in coming, and then it was not
+in proportion.  After the great cannon had done their best to level
+the big guns on the German side, a barrage, or curtain of fire was
+started, and behind this, which was in reality a falling hail of
+bullets, the Americans and their supporting French and British
+comrades advanced.  The curtain of steel was to kill or push back
+the Germans, and to make it safe for the Americans to go forward.
+By elevating the small guns the curtain fell farther and farther
+into the enemy's territory, thus making it possible for the Allies
+to go on farther and farther across No Man's Land.
+
+The infantry rushed forward, fighting and dying nobly in a noble
+cause.  Position after position was consolidated as the Germans fell
+back before the rain of shot and shell.  It is always this way in an
+offensive, small or large.  The first rush of the attacking side, be
+it German, French, British, or American, carries everything before
+it.  It is the counter attack that tells.  If the attackers are
+strong enough to hold what they gain, well and good.  If not--the
+attack is a failure.
+
+But this one--the first great attack of the Americans--was not
+destined to fail, though once it trembled in the balance.
+
+Tom and Jack, with their companions, had flown aloft, and, taking
+the stations assigned to them, did their part in the battle.  As the
+light grew with the break of day, they could see the effect of the
+American big guns.  It was devastating.  And yet some German
+batteries lived through it.  Several times Tom and Jack, by means of
+their wireless, sent back corrections so that the American pieces
+might be aimed more effectively.  Below them was a maelstrom--an
+indescribable chaos of death and destruction.  They only had
+glimpses of it--glimpses of a seemingly inextricable mixture of men
+and guns.
+
+And through it all, though they did not for a moment neglect their
+duty, bearing in mind their instructions to keep in contact with the
+batteries they served, Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly were eagerly
+seeking for a sight of the prison where Harry Leroy might be held.
+At one time after they had dropped bombs on some German positions,
+thereby demolishing them, Tom, who was acting as pilot, signaled to
+his chum that he was going far over the enemy's lines to try to
+locate the prison.
+
+Jack nodded an acquiescence.  It was not entirely against orders
+what they were about to do.  They might obtain valuable information,
+and it would take only a short time, so speedy was their machine.
+Then too, they had used up all their bombs, and must return for
+more.  Before doing this they wished to make an observation.
+
+Luck was with them.  They managed to pass over a comparatively quiet
+sector of the lines where the German resistance had been wiped out,
+and where, even as they looked down, Americans were digging in and
+guns were being brought up to support them.
+
+And not many kilometers inside the German positions from this point,
+they sailed over a prison camp.  They, knew it in an instant, and
+felt sure it must be the one spoken of by the German who had taken
+Leroy's gold and then betrayed him.
+
+"That's the place!" cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear
+him.  "Now to bomb it and set Harry free!"
+
+But they must return for more ammunition, and this they set about
+doing.  They wished they might drop some word to the prisoners
+confined there, stating that help might soon be on its way to them,
+but they had no chance to send this cheering word.
+
+Back they rushed to their own lines, and no sooner had they landed
+than an orderly rushed up to them and instructed them to report
+immediately to their commanding officer.
+
+"Boys, you're just in time!" he cried, all dignity or formality
+having been set aside in the excitement of the great battle.
+
+"What is it?" asked Tom.
+
+"We want you to silence some big German guns--a nasty battery of
+them that's playing havoc with our boys.  The artillery hasn't been
+able to locate 'em--probably they're too well camouflaged.  And we
+can't advance against 'em.  Will you go up and try to put them out
+of business?"
+
+Of course there could be but one answer to this.  Tom and Jack
+hurried off to see to the loading of their machine with bombs--an
+extra large number of very powerful ones being taken.
+
+Once more they were off on their dangerous mission, for it was
+dangerous, since many American planes were brought down by German
+fire that day, and by attacks from other Hun machines.
+
+But Tom and Jack never faltered.  Up and up they went, the probable
+location of the guns having been made known to them on the map they
+carried.  Up and onward they went.  For a time they must forego the
+chance of rescuing their friend.
+
+Straight for the indicated place they went, and just as they reached
+it there came a burst of fire and smoke.  It appeared to roll out
+from a little ravine well wooded on both sides, and that accounted
+for the failure of the Americans to locate it.  Chance had played
+into the hands of the air service boys.
+
+There was no need of word between Tom and Jack.  The former headed
+the plane for the place whence the German guns had fired upon the
+Americans, killing and wounding many.
+
+Over it, for an instant, hovered the aeroplane.  Then Jack touched
+the bomb releasing device.  Down dropped the powerful explosive.
+
+There was a great upward blast of air which rocked the machine in
+which sat the two aviators.   There was a burst of smoke and flame
+beneath them, tongues of fire seeming to reach up as though to pull
+them down.
+
+Then came a terrific explosion which almost deafened the boys, even
+though their ears were covered with the fur caps, and though their
+own engine made a pandemonium of sound.
+
+The air was filled with flying debris--debris of the German guns and
+men.  The bombs dropped by Tom and Jack had accomplished their
+mission.  The harassing battery was destroyed.  The German guns were
+silenced.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE RESCUE
+
+
+Tom and Jack circled around slowly over the place where the German
+battery had been.  It was now no more--it could work no more havoc
+to the American ranks.  It did not need the wireless news to this
+effect, which the aviators sent back, to apprise the Allies of what
+had happened.  They had seen the harassing guns blown up.
+
+Now out swarmed the Americans, charging with savage yells over the
+place that had been such a hindrance to their advance.  Tom and
+Jack had done their work well.
+
+There was no need for the one to tell the other what was in his
+mind.  There were still two of the powerful bombs left, and there
+was but one thought on this matter. They must be used to blow up, if
+possible, the camp near the German prison.  Doing that would create
+havoc and consternation enough, the air service boys thought, to
+drive the captors away, and enable Leroy and his fellow prisoners to
+be saved.
+
+Jack punched Tom in the back and motioned for him to shut off the
+motor a moment so that talking would be possible.  Tom did this, and
+Jack cried:
+
+"Shall we take a chance?"
+
+"Yes!" Tom answered in return.
+
+Strictly speaking, having accomplished the mission they were sent
+out on, they should have returned to their base for orders.  But the
+airmen were given more liberty of action and decision than any other
+branch of the Allied service.
+
+"Go to it!" cried Jack, and once more Tom started the motor and
+headed the craft for the Hun prison.
+
+Again the air service boys were hovering over the prison camp.  They
+could now see that there was much more activity around it than there
+had been before the big battery was destroyed.  The fight was coming
+closer, and the Germans evidently knew it.  Whether they were trying
+to arrange to take their captives farther back, or merely seeking to
+escape themselves from a trap, was not then evident.
+
+And, having reached a position where they could see below them what
+looked to be a concentration of German guns, perhaps to fire on any
+force that might advance against the prison.  Jack let fall one of
+his two remaining bombs.
+
+It swerved to one side, and though it exploded with great force, and
+created havoc and consternation among the Huns, it did not fall
+where it was intended.  The second battery was still intact.
+
+"My last shot!" grimly mused Jack, as he looked at the other bomb.
+
+Tom maneuvered the aeroplane until he had it about where he thought
+Jack would want it.  The latter pressed the releasing lever and the
+bomb descended.  It was the most powerful of the lot, and when it
+struck and exploded it not only demolished the defensive battery,
+making a hole in the place where it had stood, but it tore down part
+of the prison fence, and made such destruction generally that the
+Germans were stunned.
+
+Instantly, seeing that all had been accomplished that was possible,
+and noting that hovering around him were other Allied airmen who had
+agreed to help in the rescue, Tom sent his craft down.  There was a
+burst of shrapnel around him and Jack, but though the latter was
+grazed by a bullet, neither was seriously hurt.  A Hun plane darted
+down out of the sky to attack the bold Americans, but quickly it was
+engaged by a supporting Allied craft.  However, the Hun was a good
+fighter, and won the battle against this antagonist.  But when two
+other Allied planes closed in, that was the last of the enemy.  He
+was sent crashing down to satisfy the vengeance in toll for the life
+of the birdman ho had taken.
+
+Now Tom and Jack could see that their plan had worked better than
+they had dared to hope.  The boldness of the attack from the air,
+coupled with the advance of the American army, started a panic in
+the German ranks.  They began a retreat and the regiments near the
+prison camp were included in the rout.
+
+By this time either some of the prisoners saw that there was a break
+in the cordon around them, or they realized that a great battle was
+putting their guards to flight, for some of them made a rush toward
+a side where there were no Germans, and succeeded in breaking out--
+no hard task since part of the fence was shattered by the explosion.
+
+"Now's our chance," cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear
+this.  "Harry may be among that bunch, and we want to get him and
+any others we can save."
+
+He started the aeroplane on its downward path, while Jack, guessing
+the object, got the machine gun ready for action, since there might
+be a squad of Germans ready to give battle on the ground.
+
+Several other planes of the Allies, seeing what was going on,
+swooped to the aid of the two Americans, for there were no other of
+the Hun craft within sight now.  All had been sent crashing down, or
+had drawn off.
+
+On either side of the immediate sector which included the prison
+camp, the battle was still raging fiercely, mostly with success on
+the side of the Americans, though in places they suffered a
+temporary setback.
+
+In the vicinity of the prison itself wild scenes were now being
+enacted.  The prisoners were beginning to rise in force, for they
+saw freedom looming before them.  There were fights between them and
+the guards, and terrible happenings took place, for the guards were
+armed and the prisoners were not.  But as fast as some of the
+Germans fell they were stripped of their guns and ammunition, and
+the weapons turned by the prisoners against their former captors.
+
+All this while Tom and Jack were descending in their plane.  As yet
+they were uncertain whether they were to be able to rescue Leroy or
+not.  They could not distinguish him at that height, though from the
+enthusiastic manner in which several of the newly liberated ones
+waved at the on-coming aeroplanes, it would seem that they were of
+that arm of the service, and appreciated what was about to happen.
+
+Nearer and nearer to the ground flew Tom and Jack.  And then, to
+their horror, they saw that several Germans had set up two machine
+guns to rake the prison yard, which was still filled with excited
+captives.  The Germans were determined that as few as possible of
+their late captives should find freedom.
+
+Tom acted on the instant, by sending the plane in a different
+direction, to enable Jack to use his machine gun.  And Jack
+understood this, for, with a shout of defiance, he turned his weapon
+on the closely packed Germans around their machine guns.
+
+For a moment they stood and some even tried to swerve the guns about
+to shatter the dropping aeroplane.  But Jack's fire was too fierce.
+He wiped out the nest, and this danger was averted.
+
+A moment later Tom had the machine to earth, and it ran along the
+uneven and shell-torn ground, coming to a rest not far from what had
+been the outer fence of the prison camp.  A group of Allied
+captives, newly freed, rushed forward.  Tom and Jack, removing their
+goggles, looked eagerly for a sight of Harry Leroy.  They did not
+see him, but they saw that which rejoiced them, and this was more
+aeroplanes coming to their aid, and also a column of infantry on the
+march across a distant valley.  The stars and stripes were in the
+van, and at this the rescuers and the prisoners set up a cheer.  It
+meant that the Germans were beaten at that point.
+
+"Where's Harry Leroy?  Is he among the prisoners ?" cried Jack to
+several of the liberated ones who crowded around the machine.  There
+would be no question now of trying to save some one, a rush by
+mounting to the air with him.  The advance of the Americans and the
+Allies was sufficiently strong to hold the prison position wrested
+from the Germans.
+
+"Was Harry Leroy among you?" asked Tom, of the joy-crazed prisoners.
+Many were Americans, but there were French, Italian, Russian,
+Belgian and British among the motley throng.
+
+Before any one could answer him there was a hoarse shout, and from
+some place where they had been hiding a squad of German soldiers
+rushed at the group of recent prisoners about Tom and Jack.  Their
+guns had bayonets fixed, and it was the evident purpose of the Huns
+to make one last rush on the prisoners near the aeroplane to kill as
+many as possible.
+
+The Germans were a sufficiently strong force, and none of these
+prisoners was armed.  They began to scatter and run for shelter, and
+Torn and Jack became aware that matters were not to be as easy as
+they had expected.
+
+But fortunately the fixed machine gun on the aeroplane, which was
+near the pilot's seat, pointed straight at the oncoming Huns.  With
+a cry Tom sprang to the cockpit and quickly had the weapon spitting
+bullets at the foe.  Then Jack saw his chance, and, climbing up to
+his seat, he swung his gun about so that it, too, raked the Germans.
+
+They came on with the desperation and courage of despair, but the
+steady firing was at last too much for them.  They broke and
+ran--what were left of them alive--in what was a veritable rout, and
+this ended the last danger for that immediate time and place.
+
+Other aeroplanes dropped down to help consolidate the victory, and
+the explosion of some American shells at a point beyond the prison
+camp told its own story.  The artillery had moved up to keep pace
+with the advancing infantry.  The big battle had been won by
+Pershing's men, and the air service boys had not only done their
+share, but they had been instrumental in delivering a number of
+prisoners.
+
+As the last of the Germans fled and Tom and Jack leaned back, well
+nigh exhausted by the strain of the fighting, a voice cried:
+
+"Good work, old scouts!  I knew you'd come for me sooner or later.
+At least I hoped you would!"
+
+They turned to see Harry Leroy walking slowly toward them.
+
+Harry Leroy it was, but wounds, illness, and imprisonment had worked
+a terrible change in him.  He was but the ghost of his former sturdy
+self.  Still it was their chum and the brother of Nellie Leroy, and
+Tom and Jack knew they had kept the promise made to the sister.
+They had effected the rescue which the offensive made possible.
+
+"Hurray!" cried Tom.  "It's really you then, old scout!"
+
+"What's left of me--yes.  Oh, but it's good to see the flag again!"
+and he pointed to the colors on the aeroplane and on the advancing
+banners of the infantry.  "And it's good to see you again!  I'd
+about given up, and so had most of us, when we heard the shooting
+and knew something was going on.  But how did it happen?  How did
+you get here, and how did you know I was here?"
+
+"Go easy!" advised Tom with a grin.  "One question at a time.  Can
+you ride in our bus?  If you can we'll take you back with us.  The
+others will be taken care of soon, I fancy, for our boys will soon
+be in permanent occupation here.  Will you come back with us?"
+
+"Will I?  Say, I'll come if I have to hitch on behind, like a can to
+a dog's tail!" cried Leroy, and, weak and ill-nourished as he was,
+it was evident that the sight of his former comrades had already
+done him much good.
+
+So now that the position was well won by the Americans and the
+Allies, Tom and Jack turned their machine about, wheeled it to a
+good taking off place, and with Harry Leroy as a passenger, though
+it made the place rather crowded, they flew back over the recent
+battleground, and to their own aerodrome, where Harry and some other
+prisoners, brought through the air by other birdmen, were well taken
+care of.
+
+The great battle was not yet over, for there was fighting up and
+down the line, and in distant sectors.  But it was going well for
+Pershing's forces.
+
+"And now," remarked Harry, when he had had food and had washed and
+had begun to smoke, "tell me all about it."  He was in the quarters
+assigned to Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly, being their guest.
+
+"Well, there isn't an awful lot to tell," Tom said, modestly enough.
+"We heard you were in trouble, and came after you; that's all.  How
+did you like your German boarding house?"
+
+"It was fierce!  Terrible!  I can't tell you what it means to be
+free.  But I'd like to send word to my folks that I'm all right.  I
+suppose they have heard I was a prisoner."
+
+"Yes," answered Tom.  "In fact, you can talk to one of the family
+soon.  That is, as soon as you can go to Paris."
+
+"Talk to a member of the family?  Go to Paris?  What do you mean?"
+Harry fairly shouted the words.
+
+"Your sister Nellie is staying with friends of ours," said Tom.
+"We'll take you to her."
+
+"Nellie here?  Great Scott!  She said she was coming to the front,
+but I didn't believe her!  Say, she is some sister!"
+
+"You said it!" exclaimed Tom, with as great fervor as Harry used.
+
+"Didn't you get the bundles we dropped?" asked Jack.  "The notes and
+the packages of chocolate?"
+
+"Not a one," 'replied Harry.  "I was looking for some word, but none
+came, after one of the airmen told me he had dropped my glove.  But
+I knew how it was--you didn't get a chance to send any word."
+
+"Oh, but we did!" cried Tom, and then he told of the dropping of the
+packages.
+
+But, as Leroy related, he had been transferred from that camp a few
+days before.
+
+Two of the packets fell among the prisoners, who, after trying in
+vain to send them to Harry, partook of the good things to eat, which
+they much needed themselves.  They were given to the ill prisoners,
+and the notes were carefully hidden away.  Some time after the war
+Harry received them, and treasured them greatly as souvenirs.
+
+"But we didn't make any mistake this time," said Tom.  "We have you
+now."
+
+"Yes," agreed Harry with a smile, "you have me now, and mighty glad
+I am of it."
+
+A few days later, when Harry was better able to travel, he went to
+see Nellie in Paris, a message having been sent soon after the big
+battle, to tell her that he was rescued and as well as could be
+expected.
+
+"But if it hadn't been for Tom and Jack I don't believe I'd be there
+now," said Harry to his sister, as he sat in the homelike apartment
+of the Gleasons.
+
+"I know you wouldn't," said Nellie.  "They said they'd rescue you
+and they did.  We shall never be able to thank them enough--but we
+can try!"
+
+She looked at Tom, and he--well, I shall firmly but kindly have to
+insist that what followed is neither your affair nor mine.
+
+And now, though you know it as well as I do, my story has come to an
+end.  At least the present chronicle of the doings of the air
+service boys has nothing further to offer.  Their further adventures
+will be related in another volume to be entitled: "Air Service Boys
+Flying for Victory."
+
+But it was not the end of the fighting, and Tom and Jack did not
+cease their efforts.  Harry Leroy, too, was eager to get back into
+the contest again, and he did, as soon as he had sufficiently
+recovered.
+
+He told some of his experiences while a prisoner among the Germans,
+and some things he did not tell.  They were better left untold.
+
+However, I should like to close my story with a more pleasant scene
+than that, and so I invite your attention, one beautiful Sunday
+morning to Paris, when the sun was shining and war seemed very far
+away, though it was not.  Two couples are going down a street which
+is gay with flower stands.  There are two young men and two girls,
+the young men wear the aviation uniforms of the Americans.  They
+walk along, chatting and laughing, and, as an aeroplane passes high
+overhead, its motors droning out a song of progress, they all look
+up.
+
+"That's what we'll be doing to-morrow," observed Tom Raymond.
+
+"Yes," agreed Jack Parmly.
+
+"Oh, hush!" laughed one of the girls.  "Can't you stay on earth one
+day?"
+
+And there on earth, in such pleasant company, we will leave the Air
+Service Boys.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, AIR SERVICE BOYS IN THE BIG BATTLE ***
+
+This file should be named asbbb10.txt or asbbb10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, asbbb11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, asbbb10a.txt
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04
+
+Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/old/asbbb10.zip b/old/asbbb10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..776103a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/asbbb10.zip