Chapter 24

A STERN CHASE

"Gee! I'm mighty glad Otto and Fritz came along just as they did to bring us these spark plugs and rifles!" Jimmie announced as the Eagle soared over the surrounding woods.

"It was rather kind of them," answered Jack. "It looks like we might need them, too, if those are German planes up there."

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to rise as high as we can, Ned?" asked Harry. "If we get well up, we'll be able to see where we are and can have some idea where we are going."

"Up we go," agreed Ned at the levers, as he tilted the planes for an ascent. "I'm sure we need to get some idea of our location."

"They see us!" cried Harry, who had been using the binoculars. "I think they're both heading toward us now! They're coming fast, too!"

"Let them come!" declared Dave. "If the Eagle lives up to the reputation Jimmie has given her, we'll be able to outdistance them."

"Maybe we would on a straight-away run," agreed Harry, "but we are one to their two, and they probably have guns aboard."

"What's the chances of landing and meeting them on a more equal footing?" inquired Jack. "Is that at all possible?"

"It's possible to land," replied Ned, "but I don't think we'd have as good a chance as we have up here. Look down there and see."

"Where are all the soldiers?" asked Harry, presently. "I can't see a single soldier anywhere. But," he added, "the guns are fired."

"They are all in bomb-proof trenches or else back of the hilltops," said Ned. "I believe that those aeroplanes are scouting around to give word to the gunners whether their aim has been correct or not."

"Well, if this is war," observed Dave, "I'm going to be glad to get back home once more. This doesn't look civilized to me."

"We are headed toward home," replied Jack in an effort to cheer his friend. "We'll be out of this in a little while, and then--good-by war and fights and Kaiser and all for one good, long time!"

"We're a long ways from Tipperary yet, boys. Don't crow too soon," advised Harry, as he trained the glasses on the approaching planes.

"What can you see, Harry?" asked Ned, giving his attention to the levers. "Are they still heading toward us?"

"That's just what they're doing!" declared Harry. "They're coming fast, too. Can't we coax a little more speed out of this old tub?"

"You speak as if this were a ship in the water," responded Ned. "I want you to understand that this is an aeroplane and that it is performing a most remarkable feat in carrying five boys and two grown men, besides a quantity of luggage and supplies."

"I guess our ideas were all right, eh, Ned?" said Jack, as he ran an admiring eye over the rigging of the craft. "It's some boat!"

"It certainly is some boat!" declared Ned. "And I wish--"

"What Ned wished was never known, for at that instant a sharp report was heard and a bullet sang its way through the rigging of the Eagle with a vicious twang that made the boys wince.

"Wow!" was Jack's ejaculation. "That's too close for comfort!"

"May I reply to them?" asked Dave, picking up one of the German rifles that had been brought aboard. "I think I can get the range."

"I'd rather not shoot too close to them," Ned answered, manipulating the levers and valves in an effort to obtain more speed. "Perhaps we can run away from both. In that case we won't have to shoot any one."

"I think I'll take a crack at their propeller," announced Dave. "Maybe I can send a bullet through that, and if I can it will stop them."

As he spoke Dave took a quick sight, resting the rifle across the rim of the fuselage. A sharp detonation echoed above the hum of the motors. Dave peered eagerly toward the plane at which he had aimed.

"I got 'em, I got 'em!" he announced, slapping his thigh in glee.

"Who did you get?" asked Ned, without turning his head.

"I am sure I winged their propeller!" declared Dave, gleefully. "I aimed right at the circle in which the blades travel, and I'm sure I saw splinters from the wooden blades. They're slowing up, too!"

"Sure enough!" cried Harry, peering through the glasses. "You're some shot, Dave. I'll place all my bets on you hereafter!"

"But the other fellow is hot after us!" was Jack's announcement.

"Where are they? And what are they doing?" asked Ned.

"They're coming up fast from the left," said Jack. "I think they're trying to get over us so as to drop a bomb or so."

"I wish we didn't have these two prisoners with us!" Ned said, as he urged the Eagle to her best paces. "It takes a lot of power to keep up at this altitude when we're carrying so much weight."

"We'll make out all right," responded Jack, encouragingly. "We can take them along with us and when get across the French lines we'll just dump them down as prisoners of war and let them be exchanged."

"That would be a pretty good scheme," commented Harry. "The only thing I can see to interfere with it is that fellow on our left."

"He won't be able to do much when Dave gets in his work with the rifle again," cried Jimmie, admiringly. "Dave's the boy!"

"That was a lucky shot, though," protested Dave. "Don't expect every one to do as much execution as that one did."

"We'll have to take a chance, that's all!" urged Jimmie. "We won't let a little thing like that keep us from trying to make a landing."

"Perhaps not," went on Harry, "but at the same time it is a possibility and must be considered. Besides," he added, "we're not free from that fellow over here on our left yet. He's rising."

"Is he going over us?" asked Ned, anxiously. "I can't get much more speed out of this craft the way we're loaded."

"Yes," replied Harry, training his glasses aloft. "He is trying to pass above us. Perhaps he'll drop a bomb on us."

"That's exactly what he's trying to do!" declared Jack. "What can we do to prevent him? Dave, how about another shot?"

"I'll try," answered the boy, "but I'm not sure. There's considerable vibration here, you know, and I haven't a rest."

Presently he saw that unless he fired soon the other would be out of reach, and taking a chance discharged the rifle. As he had anticipated, the bullet went wild and resulted in no damage. Before he could reload and again take aim the other had passed to a point where the upper planes of the Eagle shut off his view.

"Now they'll be able to bombard us to their own pleasure!" declared Jimmie. "Gee, I wish I could climb up above this top plane and take a little crack at them myself! Can't I get up there?"

"None of that, Jimmie!" ordered Ned. "We have already all the danger we can handle without trying such a stunt as that!"

"All right, then, but it would be well to alter our course a bit."

"Here goes!" announced Ned, throwing his weight against one of the levers controlling the horizontal rudders. "Stand by for a jerk!"

Scarcely had the Eagle swerved sharply from her course before the lads heard a rushing, whistling sound. Far below on the ground a missle fell. A dull boom came up. A cloud of smoke rising from the spot indicated that the missle had been a bomb remarkably well aimed. They realized that only by a narrow margin had it missed them.

"Plenty close enough," gritted Jimmie between his teeth. "Rise, if you can, Ned, and give us a chance at them with our guns."

From his seat Ned glanced quickly downward and observed the cloud of smoke about the spot where the bomb had landed.

"Give them another one, Dave," he cried, righting the Eagle and altering the rudders so as to drive the machine higher.

Without waiting for further instructions, Dave seized his rifle again and began firing as rapidly as he could load.

"We're getting over the French trenches now!" cried Harry in a moment. "I can see the puffs of smoke from their guns, and the bursting shells mean that the Germans are getting the range."

"Then we haven't far to go before we are going to be able to land."

"If we can hold this fellow off a while longer we'll be all right."

"Can you see any place, Harry, that looks like a landing place?" asked Ned, anxiously. "We better look for a good spot pretty soon."

Harry turned the glasses to look forward. He swept the horizon with eagerness. Presently he fixed his gaze upon one spot.

"I see another plane coming out to give battle to us and this chap!"

"Look out!" shrieked Jimmie. "See what Fritz is doing!"

The next instant he had thrown himself forward and over the edge.