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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Air Service Boys in the Big Battle
+by Charles Amory Beach
+
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+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 ***
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