"Good night!" was David's ejaculation as the boys saw Jimmie at the hilltop being captured by the German. "That ends it, I suppose!"
"No," protested Ned, "it just begins the work. Up to now we have been only playing, but here's where the real work starts."
"What do you mean—'real work'?" was Jack's anxious inquiry.
"Why," replied Ned, "they've got Jimmie enlisted in that Uhlan regiment, and you can plainly see how closely they are watching him. If we get him away from those fellows it means real work for all."
"Aw! Go on!" put in Harry. "I move we go back to the cellar and get a bunch of those Russian rifles with sufficient ammunition, fill the tanks of the Eagle with some of this gasoline, get aboard a lot of canned goods and swoop down on the German camp like a hawk after some chickens. We can let down a trapeze for Jimmie to grab onto."
"Sounds easy, doesn't it?" remarked David with a short laugh.
"Easy?" questioned Harry. "You don't seem to know Jimmie very well or you would mean just what you say. He can do it all right!"
"But, I say," replied David, "wouldn't those German soldiers be on the alert when we approached? Wouldn't they jolly well shoot us full of holes, and wouldn't they make it rather difficult that way?"
"Now, see here, Dave," argued Harry, "if you could have seen Jimmie when he rescued Havens, the aviator, in British Columbia by dropping from our aeroplane to that of Havens by means of a single rope, you wouldn't think the trick so very impossible."
"Of course," admitted David, "I have no doubt your friend is a wonder, although I have never met him. It is not so much his ability I question as it is the possibility of our getting to him without being detected by the Germans. My word, that is a big task."
"Evidently there are a number of things you don't know," returned Harry, it must be said in a somewhat boastful manner. "We'll have to introduce you to Mr. Ned Nestor, the champion aviator of the Wolf Patrol of New York City. And," the boy added, "that means, of course, the United States. He is some aviator, I tell you!"
"Why didn't you make it the world while you were at it?" asked Jack quizzically, regarding Harry with an amused smile.
"Well, I guess I wouldn't have been far wrong at that," contended Harry with a glance of pride in Ned's direction. "As the Irishman would say, Ned has 'a way wid him,' and you know it as well as I do."
"I'll not be the last one to admit that Ned certainly can coax an aeroplane into doing stunts that seem marvelous, but I agree with Dave here that unless our chum has some way of striking the Germans blind and deaf we have a mighty slim chance of picking Jimmie up."
Harry's glance of contempt at his comrade was withering in the extreme. So great was his faith in Ned's ability that he would not have hesitated at anything, no matter what the conditions.
"I move," Harry went on, "that we cut out this argument, rob the Russian cache back there in the cellar, and make ourselves scarce around here while the 'beating' still remains in good condition."
"I second the motion," added Ned, "so far as the matter of getting out of Peremysl is concerned. We can take up the other matter later on."
"Those in favor say 'Aye'," said Jack, turning upon his heel and starting back toward the base of supplies the boys had discovered under the pilotage of young Gilmore, the Vancouver Moose.
"The 'Ayes' have it!" announced Harry, preparing to follow his chum. "What do you need most, Ned, and what will you have first?"
"Well, I guess we need something to eat, and a little more gasoline wouldn't go so bad," stated Ned, picking up one of the empty vessels in which gasoline had been brought to the Eagle.
"Sure enough!" cried Jack. "I clean forgot the gasoline business. Watch me give an imitation of a Boy Scout carrying water for the elephant, only in this case the elephant happens to be an 'Eagle'."
In spite of the seriousness of the situation in which the boys found themselves, David could not repress a laugh of merriment and appreciation of the light-hearted manner in which Harry and Jack met the difficulties and dangers surrounding the little party.
"I say, lads," he began, as the four boys took their way carefully from the site on which the Eagle rested toward the underground cavern they had recently quitted, "there's plenty for us in that storeroom, and all we need to do is help ourselves. If only we are not interrupted by some of the Germans patrolling the town, we will be all right."
"Let me get my hands on one perfectly good shooting iron, with some cartridges," stated Jack, "and it will go pretty hard with any German who endeavors to stop us before we get good and going!"
"Now, Jack," protested Ned, "that 'shooting iron' business will have to be postponed, I'm afraid, until such time as we are more nearly out of the woods than we are just now. It wouldn't be quite the thing."
"Oh, of course," said Jack in a tone intended to appear sulky, but with a covert wink at Harry, "somebody is always taking the joy out of life. Why can't I just shoot up a few Dutchmen, I'd like to know?"
"Because they might not think it polite," answered Ned seriously. "Besides," he added, "it wouldn't be strictly in accordance with Boy Scout principles, as you yourself will admit."
"Well," observed David with a sigh, "when I consider some of the things that have happened during the last few days and weeks, I am almost ready to admit that I'd like to resign temporarily."
"Why?" asked Ned. "Have the Germans been doing things to you?"
"Well," stated David, "isn't their capture and treatment of Jimmie sufficient to make us want to do things to them?"
"Yes, it is," admitted Ned, "but at the same time we must remember that 'two wrongs never make a right,' and, according to my recollection, number ten of the Boy Scout laws states that a scout is brave and has the courage to face danger in spite of fear, and defeat does not down him."
"Yes," put in Jack, "and number three, which we all know so well, states that a scout must do one good turn to somebody every day."
"Am I to understand that you would not consider shooting a German a good turn?" asked Harry, who was slightly in the lead.
"A good turn to whom?" asked Ned, following closely upon Jack's heels. "Would shooting be a good turn to the 'shootee'?"
"Well, I don't know about that," answered Jack. "I can easily understand how some fellows might consider it a disadvantage."
"My word," put in David, as the little party prepared to descend into the subterranean cavern which they termed their base of supplies, "these poor fellows here are not able to know whether it's a disadvantage or not. Just look at that poor chap lying there."
As he spoke David pointed toward the form of a Russian soldier lying in a huddled heap upon the stone floor amidst a tangle of debris.
Jack shuddered as he gazed upon the spectacle for an instant.
"I guess I won't want to shoot any Germans," he said. "And I guess that might include other folks besides Germans, too."
"Let's hurry on, boys," urged Ned. "This awful war business will get on my nerves directly. Let's get our supplies and make our getaway."
Luckily for the little party, the German occupants of the defeated city were busily engaged in occupations that required all their attention. Hence the work of provisioning the Eagle was accomplished without untoward incident. In a very short time the boys had succeeded in placing aboard the air craft sufficient fuel and provisions from the abandoned stores to satisfy the demand of even Jack and Harry, who well remembered the hunger with which they had been assailed at the time of their entrance into the stricken war zone.
"Is everything all ready now?" asked Jack, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Have we got everything we need, Ned?"
"Yes, I think we have everything," Ned replied, glancing quickly but carefully over the mechanism of the giant plane.
"Just one minute, then," urged Jack. "While you're warming up the engine I'll slip back and pick up one of those rifles I saw, for use in case of emergency. Something, you know, might happen."
Ned laughed as Jack darted away. Turning to the others, he said:
"If we're not careful Jack will soon be as bloodthirsty as Jimmie himself. But," he went on, "it might come in handy at that."
Preferring not to use the self-starter, for the sake of quiet, Ned turned an electric switch which controlled a circuit leading to a contrivance designed by Harry for just such an emergency. This delicate piece of mechanism was located at the carburetor, and was called by Harry the "starting stove." Its office was to warm the gasoline to such an extent that it would make vaporization much more rapid than would ordinarily be the case. This would enable the aviator to start his engine without the usual difficulty due to cold fuel.
Scarcely had the electric current warmed the carburetor sufficiently before Jack returned, carrying a rifle, together with a quantity of cartridges. These he bundled into the fuselage.
"All right, boys, get aboard and we will 'get out of town,' as that Montana freight conductor used to say," urged Ned.
David climbed to a seat beside the steering levers, which were in Ned's grasp. Harry found a place beside a quantity of canned goods.
"Beat it, Ned!" cried Jack from his position on the ground. "We're just in time. Here come the German soldiers after us!"
It was even as the boy said. A detachment of soldiers, evidently policing the town, had discovered the activity of the boys in the vicinity of the giant aeroplane and were coming forward to investigate.
Ned stepped on the starting pedal energetically. Current from the storage batteries flowed through the motor, saturating it almost instantly. Ned's foot was pressed upon the cut-out lever, and the resultant roar from the engines precluded absolutely the possibility of further conversation. Like a thing of life the Eagle leaped forward. Ned gave all his attention to the problem of steering.
In an ever-widening circle the Eagle rose above the open space upon which it had rested. Ned lifted his foot from the cut-out lever, throwing the exhaust from the engine through the specially designed muffler, which was perhaps Harry's greatest pride.
The contrast between the clamor of a moment before and the comparative quiet of the present instant was startling.
In astonishment at the results achieved, David glanced in wonderment and amazement at the fabric which was bearing the boys aloft. Fully able to appreciate superior mechanism, the boy was lost in his examination of the delicate and yet effective machinery.
His glance of approval rested upon Ned and Harry in turn. He looked about to give a friendly nod to Jack. Greatly to his surprise, Jack was not to be seen anywhere in the fuselage. Startled greatly, he turned toward Ned and laid a hand upon the boy's arm.
"Where's Jack?" he cried. "I don't see him anywhere!"
Ned almost precipitated the entire party in a sudden plunge earthward as he turned in response to David's query. For a moment only the boy lost control of the great machine. But that moment was enough to cause the aeroplane to dip swiftly toward the ground.
Before Ned could regain control much of the altitude was lost. In another instant he had again directed the course of their craft toward the open air high above the ruined city. But the lost distance was sufficient to bring the party within range of the rifles of the German soldiers who had been running toward their location.
A sharp report echoed from below. A whizzing, tearing sound assailed the ears of the lads within the fuselage of the Eagle.
"Pretty close that time," commented Harry with a slight tremble in his voice. "Shall I reply to them, Ned?" he asked.
"Not yet," replied Ned, shaking his head negatively.
Another report from below was heard, followed instantly by the clang of a bullet against metal. A shriek rose from below.
In wide-eyed amazement Jimmie stared for a moment at von Liebknecht, not knowing what answer to make to the sudden question. He disliked very much telling the officer the truth concerning the packet he had been to so much trouble to rescue, yet felt that nothing else but the exact truth would serve in the present instance.
For a full minute he glanced about from one to another of the group in the tent. The glances that met his in return were anything but friendly. Some were indifferent, while others scowled fiercely as their resentment against the lad mounted. Evidently all firmly believed that the boy was what he had been accused of being—a spy.
At length resolved to adhere to the truth at whatever cost, Jimmie raised his head to direct his gaze straight into the Captain's eyes.
"That packet," he began in a low tone, "is my own private property. I don't know just what it contains, but it is not contraband."
A faint smile lighted von Liebknecht's usually immobile countenance.
"How, then," he asked, endeavoring to make his voice convey the spirit of friendship he tried to feel for the lad, "can you say that it is not contraband or infer that the packet does not contain information that would be of value to our enemy if you do not know its contents?"
"Because I received it from a man who was dying and who wanted badly to make restitution for some things he had done that were wrong. He had no interest in the dispute between your country and your enemies except to make whatever money he might from the matter."
"You speak in riddles. Please explain more fully."
"Well," Jimmie continued, "there was a man in the United States who brought over a ship load of ammunition. He stole a lot of money intended for the relief of the suffering people of Poland. He kidnapped and shanghaied me and generally proved himself a bad sort. When he got over to Riga he was forced to enlist in the Russian Cossack regiment, the same as I was, and when the Russian Cossacks attacked the German troop train he was wounded badly. I tried to assist him, and did what I could. When he found he was dying he asked me to take this packet, which I understand contains the keys to a safe deposit box in New York City, and when I get back there he wanted me to see what I could do toward setting right some of his wrongdoings."
"A very fine tale, indeed," was the comment of von Liebknecht, "but you will scarcely expect us to believe that in the face of all the circumstances. We don't mean to imply that you, necessarily, know different, but the man's story as you have told it is improbable."
"I am telling the exact truth as I understand it!" declared Jimmie earnestly. "If he was lying to me, I do not know it. I believe he told the truth, for he understood that he could not live much longer."
"Nevertheless, we will be obliged to examine the contents of the packet," stated von Liebknecht positively. "Is it not so?" he asked, turning to the group of officers for confirmation of his decision.
Vigorous nods from the ones addressed indicated their approval.
Unwilling to submit to the proposed action, Jimmie took a step backward. His action was misinterpreted by the soldier who had captured the boy. With a quick motion the man again seized the red-headed lad in the same manner as previously, and deftly slid his hand to the pocket where the packet reposed. Before Jimmie could offer any resistance the object sought was brought forth and tossed upon the table.
"Please make a note of the fact," stated von Liebknecht, addressing an orderly seated nearby with a memorandum book, "that the packet is to be opened with the full consent of Herr McGraw."
Jimmie gasped. He began to understand that the records of his presence in the German regiment of Uhlans would be made to show favorably for the officer in command in case anything serious happened. And that something very serious would shortly happen to him the boy did not for a single moment doubt. He felt vaguely uneasy.
With a knife tendered by one of his associates von Liebknecht deftly ripped the stitches that held the wrapping of the tiny packet.
In another moment the oiled silk covering had been removed and an inner wrapping opened. Jimmie leaned forward to gaze upon the contents with as much interest as was displayed by the others.
Presently, when the wrappings had been removed, he saw a key and a folded paper. The key was of the peculiar construction adopted generally by safe deposit vaults for the use of their patrons. The paper had been prepared evidently for use in case of just the emergency that had overtaken the man who had given it to Jimmie. It was covered with memoranda and figures in very fine waiting.
Von Liebknecht scowled as he pored over the document. The memorandum had been made in a fragmentary way, and evidently referred to other documents that would be found in the safe deposit box.
The Captain puzzled over the document for a time, then passed it to the officer nearest him. He then gave his attention to the key.
"What do you make of if?" he asked Jimmie presently, tapping in a nervous manner upon the table with the key. "What does it mean?"
"Just what I told you, I think," Jimmie replied.
"It appears different to me," the Captain objected. "I am of the opinion that it has to do with information concerning the dispute in progress between my country and the enemies. I am sorry, but I shall have to retain the packet for forwarding to headquarters. You will receive it again if it is found to be what you claim. Otherwise—"
He left the sentence unfinished, and Jimmie waited for a time, expecting him to complete the statement.
"Well, otherwise?" asked the boy half breathlessly.
"Otherwise, we shall see," stated von Liebknecht with a smile.
"And in the meantime?" went on the lad anxiously.
"In the meantime we are preparing to leave for the western theater of war, where we are needed far more than here. You will accompany us with the best grace possible under the circumstances."
"But my comrades?" asked Jimmie, with a slight tremble in his voice. "Will it not be possible to let all four of us return to America?"
"I am sorry," returned the Captain, "but what you ask is impossible."
"Well, then," persisted the lad, "can't we at least let them know where I am and where I am going, so that they won't worry?"
"They are, no doubt, well acquainted with you and your abilities," went on von Liebknecht. "If your capacity for taking care of yourself is equal to your ability to make a disturbance, they should experience no uneasiness on your behalf. Besides," he added, "it is impossible to communicate with them just now. We do not know where they are."
In spite of the seriousness of his own situation, Jimmie breathed a sigh of relief, for he felt that the information given him was correct, and he interpreted the Captain's statement to mean that the three boys had succeeded in making their escape from the soldiers.
He was, nevertheless, greatly perturbed over the prospect of leaving the immediate vicinity, for he felt that his chances of escape were greatly lessened. He knew that the boys would endeavor to assist him, but, owing to the interrupted code message, he could only guess at how this would be accomplished.
The map, still spread upon the table, gave him a hint. He remembered the fact that von Liebknecht's finger had pointed at Cracow. A firm resolve formed within the boy's breast. He determined that, if his suspicion proved correct and the regiment paused at Cracow, he would make an attempt to escape there. He also decided that if it were at all possible he would advise his chums of the fact.
While Jimmie was turning over these points in his mind a buzz of whispered conversation was going on between the officers around the table. At length a decision was reached, and von Liebknecht again turned his attention to his newest recruit.
"You may go in company with this man," he said. "He and Otto Freundlich will be given charge of you, and will be required to turn you over to the proper officer upon demand. They will have orders to insist upon your presence at all times, and in order to make sure that you do not attempt to escape they will be given orders to shoot if necessary. I would advise you for your own good not to try to leave the regiment at any time."
"If we are leaving this place and my chums are not here," Jimmie replied, feeling that further argument would accomplish no alteration of the Captain's decision, "I cannot see why I should attempt to escape. You are entirely wrong in supposing that I am trying to get information to the Russians concerning your army."
"Perhaps you are right," assented von Liebknecht, not unkindly. "That is a point that we shall ascertain in our own way. For the present every circumstance is unfavorable for you, and we must be careful. You understand, do you not?" he asked with a slight smile.
"I see how you understand it," the boy said. "Of course, if you choose to look at the facts as you do, I cannot help it. I don't want to get shot, so I think I'll not try to make a getaway."
"Good!" declared the Captain, apparently greatly relieved. "That makes it easier for us. Now, I shall ask you to assist in getting your equipment ready for the journey. Everybody will be required to work hard if we leave at the time desired."
"Very good, sir," stated the boy, saluting in the approved Boy Scout fashion. "I'll help all I can."
So saying, he turned on his heel and signified to the soldier detailed as his guard that he was ready to leave the place.
"So we are to be comrades for a while at least?" inquired Jimmie pleasantly as the pair left the tent. "We might as well get acquainted before we go farther. My named is Jimmie McGraw. What is yours?"
"Mine iss Frederich von Strassheim," answered the other, apparently feeling no resentment against Jimmie for his kicks and blows delivered during the process of capture. "We shall be well acquainted."
"That's interesting," declared Jimmie. "I thought that the word 'von' was used only for officers and persons of nobility, though."
"The designation 'von,'" answered the other, proudly drawing himself erect, "is used only by those entitled to it by royal decree. My ancestors distinguished themselves and were of the house of Hohenzollern. That is why I am allowed to use it."
"Oh, so that is it?" mused Jimmie. "All right, von Strassheim, I think that I'll call you Fritz, though, if you don't object."
"Goot; call me Fritz, then!" laughed the soldier. "Great friends we shall be as I can perceive. And may I call you Jimmie?"
"Call me Jimmie, Red-head, The Wolf, Freckles—oh, anything," stated Jimmie with a laugh, in response to the other's good nature, "but," he went on, "for pity's sake don't call me late for eats."
"Mess call iss not yet," responded the other, again resuming his accustomed gravity. "We shall have plenty of time to pack our kits."
"Then let's be about it," suggested the lad. "Where shall we go to make a start, and what shall we do first, and how shall we do it?"
"One at a time—one at a time," protested Fritz. "First we shall go past the place where I found you signalling. Then we shall proceed to the stables and look after our horses."
"And then?" inquired Jimmie interestedly, feeling that any information he might get from Fritz would be useful later on.
"We shall in full marching order break camp," was the reply. "To the train of cars we will ride, and there put our horses and baggage aboard. Then we start for the west. But here is the exact spot where you were standing when I interrupted your conversation."
"Yes, this is the place," acknowledged Jimmie. "And right over there is the aeroplane of my friends. Oh, look!" the boy cried. "See, they're starting out with it! Great frozen hot boxes! Those other fellows are shooting! Good night!"
"What's that?" gasped Ned as the cry from beneath the airship reached his ears. "That's too close to come from the ground!"
"It must be Jack!" was Dave's startled exclamation. "He's not in the aeroplane and I can't imagine where he may be!"
"Didn't he get aboard when we started?" queried Ned.
"I thought he did," Harry responded instantly. "I was busy stowing things out of our way, though, and wasn't paying much attention."
"I missed him just a moment ago," stated Dave excitedly. "Where can he have gone? Do you suppose he is captured by the Germans?"
"I hope not," Ned replied. "Maybe he missed getting aboard and is with those fellows down there who are doing the shooting."
"Give me the glasses from that pocket beside you, Dave," requested Harry. "Perhaps I can see the party well enough to distinguish him."
At the instant Harry leaned over the edge of the car for the purpose of getting a better view of the field they had so recently occupied another shot rang out from below. Mingled with the report were shouts and exclamations from several of the soldiers.
As will be remembered distinctly by those of our readers who have had the pleasure of riding in aircraft, sounds from the earth are distinctly heard at a great altitude. In fact, sounds may be distinguished clearly at a much greater distance in a vertical than in a horizontal direction. It was owing to this fact that the shouts from the group below came so clearly to the lads in the Eagle.
"I don't hear Jack's voice amongst the clamor," declare Harry.
"I wonder where he can be?" puzzled Dave, earnestly scanning the vacant space below. "They cannot have hidden him!"
"Suppose we call out and see if we can get a signal from him," suggested Harry. "He would try to answer us, I'm sure."
"Go ahead," Ned agreed. "I'll try a little volplaning and see if we can't get closer to that crowd without getting hit by a bullet."
"Better be careful, Ned," cautioned Dave. "Those fellows are in earnest, I think, and wouldn't stop at anything."
"I'll be careful," was Ned's confident answer. "When you're ready, just yell your heads off for Jack and then watch and listen."
"I'm going to halloo out now," stated Harry, drawing a deep breath.
"Let her go!" urged Ned, manipulating the levers in such a way as to practically check the headway of the slowly moving machine.
"Oh, Ja-a-a-ck!" called Harry at the top of his voice, making a trumpet of his hands. "Oh, Ja-a-a-ack!" he called again.
All three boys were startled to hear the voice of their chum proceeding from a point seemingly directly beneath them.
"Here I am," came Jack's cheery tones, although the boys thought they could detect a slight trace of weariness.
"Where?" cried Ned, greatly surprised at the sudden reply.
"Under the Eagle," replied Jack. "I'm hanging onto a truss rod and can stay here for quite a while if you want to leave the place."
"We surely want to leave the place," answered Ned, reaching again for the levers. "Can you hang on for a few minutes more?"
"I'm all right for a long time," answered Jack bravely, "but I'd just as soon you'd hit up the speed a little."
Ned's guiding touch upon the levers sent the Eagle forward at a rate of speed that quickly carried the entire party to a distance well out of rifle range from the party below. He was heading for a hill at no great distance from their present location.
"I'll land there," he said, indicating by a nod of his head the eminence toward which they were running. "We ought to be able to help Jack out of his position in a very few minutes."
Harry turned the glasses toward the spot Ned had pointed out.
"Look out, Ned!" he cried almost instantly. "I can see a lot of helmets there that look as if they were German head dresses."
"Can you see the soldiers under the helmets?" asked Dave.
"Not a soldier!" declared Harry. "But," he added, "that doesn't say they're not there. Those uniforms they are wearing blend so closely with the natural colors of the landscape that one can't very well tell whether a German is near or not until he feels the cloth."
"Or the bullet," put in Dave with a grimace toward the hill.
"We're getting nearer all the while," Ned said. "Keep your eyes open, and if there are soldiers there we'll go somewhere else."
For a moment Harry intently studied the spot they were fast approaching. With the glasses in position he scanned every foot of ground carefully, not omitting the slightest detail.
"I'm sure I see them now," he stated positively as he lowered the glasses. "We're in a nice mess with Jack hanging under this ship simply by one of the truss rods. We've got to rescue him!"
"What can we do?" asked Dave, at a loss to solve the difficulty.
"I'll tell you what we'll do!" cried Harry. "I'm the lightest of the party, so I'll go down and get him! I can do it!"
"Harry, are you crazy?" questioned Ned chidingly. "It's impossible!"
"No, it's not!" stoutly maintained the boy. "He's there, and we've simply got to get him. We can't land anywhere hereabouts, and by the time we can land he'll be exhausted and will have dropped."
"How will you do it?" asked Dave. "Let me help."
"I guess you'll have to do most of the work," replied Harry, reaching into one of the lockers, from which he drew a coil of light line.
"Not if you go under the fuselage to get Jack," objected Dave.
"Yes, sir!" continued Harry. "When I get down there you'll have to do all the work of engineering the deal. You'll have to do a whole lot of pulling and hauling, and you'll have to run out on one side to balance the machine. Mustn't have the ship list too much!"
"Oh, I see!" was Dave's response. "And," he continued, "I won't be able to see where you are, because you'll be on the opposite side from my own position. How shall we manage?"
"Well, here's my plan," Harry went on rapidly, as he began overhauling the coil of line. "When I get out on one side I'll go along the framework, of course. You'll be on the opposite side to balance. Then when you see that the machine is tipping your way you are to get nearer the center of gravity so as to stabilize the affair."
"I understand," Dave replied, eagerly entering into the spirit of the work. "And when I feel the machine tip away from me I'll go out farther along the framework so as to again equalize the flight."
"Exactly. Now, it will be a hard job for us to get this line passed under the framework so that we can get a purchase and pull it to Jack. I can't reach that far, and Jack probably is hanging on with his hands, feet and eyelids, so he can't let go with one hand even."
"I'll tell you how we can fix that," Dave suggested.
"How?" inquired Harry, ready at all times to consider any suggestions and act upon them if they seemed better than the ones he had made.
"Let's take a loop of the line and fasten it around my body under my arms. You can be inside the machine paying out slack as I need it. I can take a similar loop and by crawling under the machine I can reach Jack all right and pass the loop about his body. Then you can haul in slack bit by bit as he crawls along the truss rod to the side of the fuselage. In that way there will be practically no danger, for the loop of line about our bodies will prevent our falling if we should slip."
"Much obliged!" was Harry's acknowledgment of the suggestion. "But," he went on, "I think it would be better for me to do the work."
"Excuse me for insisting," Dave said in a modest manner, "but I am quite sure that I am better fitted than you. My work in the Northwest has always required considerable work with my arms, and besides that I am pretty well developed about the arms and shoulders. I don't want to discredit your ability, but I'm sure, don't you know, that I am stronger than you and could do the work better. You'll let me try, won't you? Really, you know, you ought to let me help!"
"It's not to your discredit at all, Harry," put in Ned, "that Dave has larger muscles than you and is perhaps stronger. This is a job that requires all the muscle possible, so I think we'd better let him try it. We must get Jack out of that place as quickly as possible."
"All right," agreed Harry reluctantly, for he very much disliked to permit anyone but himself to even attempt the rescue of his chum.
Dave lost no time in tying a bowline in a bight at the two ends of the length of line. One of these he passed over his own body. The other he took in his teeth. In another moment he was over the side of the car, while Harry did his best to balance the Eagle as he had planned for Dave to do, at the same time paying out line as it was needed.
Presently the lad felt the machine tipping slightly in his direction and knew that Dave had succeeded in reaching the level of the bottom of the car and was crawling along the truss rod underneath.
For a short space of time the two boys in the ear anxiously waited. Harry's patience at length was exhausted, and he called out:
"Have you found Jack, Dave? Is he there all right?"
"Yes, he's here and he's all right, but rather tired."
"Can I help any?" was Harry's next question.
"Not a bit just now. Jack is getting ready to make the climb. Stand by the line that I am going to jerk. Haul in slowly."
Bit by bit the line came aboard with its human freight in the loop at the end. Harry was exceedingly careful to haul in very slowly, in order that he might not trip his chum and cause a disaster. In a few moments that seemed endless ages to Ned and Harry their comrade's head showed and the Eagle again took a tilt to starboard.
Harry quickly and carefully crawled to a position where he would balance the unusual side strain. He relaxed his vigilance not one whit, however, and hauled in carefully and slowly on the line.
"Well, that's over with!" sighed Jack as he tumbled over the side of the car to a position of safety. "I'm glad it's ended, too!"
"How did it happen?" queried Harry with keen interest.
"Never mind the details just yet," panted Jack, stretching his shaking arms and working his fingers to restore the circulation that had been somewhat impeded because of the tense muscles. "Let's get Dave up here safely first. That's one plucky Scout!" the boy added.
"Right you are!" declared Harry. "I'd almost forgotten him!"
"All right, Dave," called Ned, giving the levers a touch to bring the Eagle clear of some treetops on a rise of ground. "Coming up?"
"In just a minute," replied Dave from his position. "I'm resting easily, and I think I see the camp where your comrade is located. Do you suppose we might pick him up as we fly over the place?"
"That would be a risky and nervy thing to do!" declared Ned.
"Nothing so risky about it that I can see," protested Dave. "I'm all right here, and if you'll pass that line down I'll try to manage to drop the loop where he can get it if we find the right spot."
"I believe Jimmie could do it?" cried Harry enthusiastically.
"All right," assented Ned, "we can't any more than fail!"
Although the feat that the boys proposed attempting would call for considerable skill, and was certainly not lacking in danger to all parties, they were not daunted. They had determined to rescue their friend at whatever cost and knew that ordinary means would prove useless.
"Can you see Jimmie anywhere about that camp?" asked Ned, again handing the glasses to Harry. "Take a good look," he advised.
"I believe I can see him!" announced Harry, peering through the binoculars. "He's walking out toward the edge of the hill toward the same spot from which he signalled to us. Some one's with him!"
"Then we'll try it?" determinedly Ned continued.
For a few moments the boys rode in absolute silence with only the whine of the motors breaking the stillness. The Eagle was working perfectly with not a single hitch about the delicate mechanism.
As they approached the two Uhlans Ned slackened the speed of the motors. Dave dangled the extra loop in a tempting manner.
A rifle shot was heard. The Eagle rose suddenly relieved of weight.
"Suppose so?" questioned Fritz as Jimmie made his announcement that the Germans were shooting at the persons in the aeroplane.
"Well, suppose so!" repeated Jimmie indignantly. "Why do you say 'Suppose so'? Where do you get that idea?"
A shrug of the shoulders was the only answer.
"I say," continued Jimmie with still less patience, "what's the big idea—'suppose so'? Do you want them to shoot those boys?"
"I care not," was the answer. "The ones in the aeroplane are trying to escape are they not? Why, then, should they not come back?"
"Well, why shouldn't they get away?" questioned Jimmie.
"Perhaps they have information for your friends, the Russians!"
"Oh, you give me a fine large pain!" stormed the now thoroughly aroused lad. "Every time you see a shadow, you jump on it for a spy. Is your old information so precious that nobody must know it? What makes you so suspicious of everybody and everything?"
"It is not right that the enemy should have knowledge of the movements of the Imperial army," replied Fritz. "That is all."
"And that's quite enough to make me feel that I'd like to be a spy once just for pure spite!" declared Jimmie. "You and your spy business make me tired! We Boy Scouts don't care a rap about your old information!"
"Perhaps," was the smiling response. But Jimmie saw in the smile and the single word a doubt of his statement. He was furious.
He realized, however, that he could gain nothing by a loss of temper. It was with a great effort that he controlled his temper and forced himself to watch the flight of the aeroplane. Deep in his heart the boy was hoping ardently for the success of those in the machine, for he was now fully convinced that it was Ned and his comrades who had attempted the flight. He watched every movement with great interest.
When he saw the figure of his friend hanging to the truss rod beneath the Eagle, Jimmie's heart almost stopped beating, so great was his anxiety for the other's safety. As the sound of the rifle shots reached his ears the lad turned away his head, for he did not in the least doubt that the marksmen had been successful.
When he again looked toward the speeding plane he danced with joy, for he saw the figure still clinging to its perilous position and knew that by great good fortune the chum he loved so dearly was unharmed.
Both Jimmie and Fritz gazed eagerly toward the soaring plane, and observed with great interest the movements incident to Jack's rescue.
"Ha!" ejaculated Fritz, drawing a deep breath, as the two saw that Jack had regained the deck of the Eagle. "He's a plucky boy!"
"You bet he's a plucky boy!" replied Jimmie, condescending to administer a friendly slap upon the Uhlan's shoulder. "They don't make 'em any more so! And he's a Boy Scout, too!" he added.
"But there is still another boy under the machine," observed Fritz.
"Oh, he'll get out all right!" was Jimmie's confident answer. "You'll have to go some with your whole army to beat four Boy Scouts!"
"Maybe," admitted Fritz with another smile. "But I see that your friends are heading this way. Perhaps they intend paying you a little visit before we start to Verdun," he added.
"They sure are headed this way," the lad said. "And the fellow underneath is riding that way on purpose. I wonder why?"
"Who can tell why a boy does anything?" was Fritz's comment.
"I can tell you why Boy Scouts do a great many things," declared Jimmie vehemently. "They do the things that are right and square because it is best and because they are living up to the rules of conduct that they are taught. That's why they do those things!"
"And do the Boy Scout rules teach them to be spies?"
"Now you're talking through your hat again!" was the lad's answer. "Can't you ever get it out of your head that we are not interested in your war? We don't want to mix up in your private scraps."
Fritz wagged his head sagely and smiled in a manner that spoke more eloquently than words of his disbelief in Jimmie's protestations.
"All right," continued the boy, "you don't have to believe it if you don't want to, but if you live long enough we'll show you!"
"You say 'We,'" responded the soldier. "It would appear that you expect your friends to join you presently for some enterprise."
"Well, it looks as if they expect to come pretty close to this place, whether I expect them to or not," observed Jimmie, turning his eyes toward the approaching plane and shading his eyes with a hand.
"We shall return to the stables," decided Fritz. "Come."
A movement of the Uhlan attracted Jimmie's attention. The lad saw a glint of steel and wheeled to observe the erstwhile peaceable man turned into an entirely different sort of individual, with his short saber held in his hand in a threatening manner.
For a moment the boy contemplated flight. An instant's reflection, however, showed him the folly of such an attempt. He knew that, although he was fleet of foot and believed that he could easily outrun the other, he would be no match for a bullet if one should be sent after him. Besides, he saw that his friends could not possibly reach him with the plane if he should leave the elevated position on which he stood.
Concluding that his only hope of escape lay in patient waiting, the lad turned reluctantly from his position and prepared to accompany Fritz as he had been directed. He felt that he was giving up the only certain means of getting away from the regiment he now thoroughly hated.
"Gee!" he exclaimed petulantly, stepping forward a pace. "It seems as if the whole bloomin' German army was determined that I should get mixed up in the war! First it's von Liebknecht and now it's you and Otto keeping after me, and I never did a thing to any of you!"
"No?" queried Fritz. "But you do not say what you would like to do or what you would do if you had the opportunity."
"All right; you win the argument!" said Jimmie in a hopeless tone.
"Then we go now to care for the horses and prepare for the trip to Verdun," decided Fritz, with a twist of the keen blade he held.
Entertaining visions of what might happen if Fritz became too careless in his attentions with the saber, Jimmie cast a last look over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching airship. He again took a hesitating step toward the German, as if to accompany him.
Fritz, believing that Jimmie was preparing to follow without further parley, began replacing his saber in its scabbard. For an instant his attention was concentrated on the task in hand.
That instant was enough for the alert boy. With a sudden leap forward he threw his weight into a low tackle and clasped his arms about the other's legs. Both came heavily to earth.
Jimmie, having the advantage, was first to rise. As he jumped to his feet he again turned to look for the oncoming plane.
The hum of the motors was plainly discernable. He thought he could even hear a sharp command given by one of the boys in charge.
Almost overhead he saw the great wings outspread and knew that he had been sighted and that his comrades were trying to afford him the opportunity of escape he so much desired.
One glance revealed the strange lad clinging to a perilous seat on the truss rod. With one hand the newcomer was balancing himself, while with the other he was shaking out into plain view the noose trailing at the end of a line hanging from the under side of the plane.
His actions clearly indicated that he wanted Jimmie to prepare to grasp the loop and be drawn up to the airship as they rose above the camp of Germans. Jimmie needed no second invitation.
Without paying the slightest heed to the efforts of Fritz to right himself from the undignified position into which Jimmie's onslaught had placed him, the lad dashed forward to a point from which he thought he could most advantageously grasp the trailing loop.
Nearer and nearer came the dangling line. The boy, under the extreme excitement of the moment, began to imagine the feel of the rope in his hands, and reviewed the motions he would have to make in order to seize the line and be drawn up to his comrades.
He gave a brief thought of thankfulness to the gymnasium training Ned Nestor had so consistently urged upon the members of his patrol, and flexed his biceps in anticipation of the strain they were to receive.
Ned seemed to be handling the Eagle with consummate skill. He had brought the machine to an altitude that was nicely calculated to afford Jimmie just the opportunity needed without trailing the line upon the ground, yet not having it out of the lad's reach.
So absorbed were all the lads that they had not observed the activity about the German camp caused by the approach of the aeroplane. They failed to see several marksmen running toward their position with rifles ready for instant use and with determination upon their faces.
For the moment the lads seemed to forget that they were approaching a camp of men who suspected them of being Russian spies and who would hesitate at nothing to prevent their carrying out their designs.
Nearer and nearer swept the Eagle with her strange purpose. At length Jimmie's hand was outstretched to grasp the loop of line Dave had so cunningly fashioned. He started on a run in the same direction the airship was going, for the purpose of lessening the shock of being picked up from a standstill by the airship that was still moving at a good speed. He felt the rope within his hand, and then he heard a shot.
Instantly realizing that their maneuver had been discovered, the lad knew that the soldiers would endeavor by every means within their power to frustrate the designs of himself and comrades. Yet he was determined to make the attempt at escape, desperate though it was.
He felt himself lifted from his feet, and knew that his grasp on the rope was all that was keeping him from being dashed to earth again.
Another rifle shot rang out, and the boy knew that the Germans were preparing to concentrate their fire upon himself and comrades.
This time he heard the crash of a bullet as it ripped its way through one of the wings of the Eagle.
In another instant the lad saw by a quick glance earthward that the Eagle was not rising rapidly enough to get away from the cluster of tents toward which it was heading. He knew that Ned was doing all possible to so manipulate the wings of the monster craft that the tents would be cleared, and hoped ardently that he might be able to do so.
As the Eagle began a sloping ascent that promised to accomplish the purpose of its pilot another rifle in the hands of a German soldier spoke its sharp command and another bullet sped toward the little party.
A clang of lead upon the metal under part of the fuselage told Jimmie, hanging in midair, that the last marksman had been more successful than his companions, and he hoped that no damage was done.
His surprise was indeed great to feel a great trembling and shaking of the rope he grasped. He glanced upward to determine the cause.
His astonishment at observing Dave slipping down the rope was so great that he nearly loosed his own grip.
Lower and lower came the other boy until he reached the knot of the loop he had tied for Jimmie's benefit. There he hung a moment. Jimmie looked toward the earth again and saw that they were nearly over the tents. Mentally deciding that they would clear the tops, the lad again glanced aloft to observe the strange boy.
It seemed that coincidentally with another shot the Eagle suddenly jumped miles high into the sky. Then he found himself bumping about with the strange lad in a world of canvas with several other people.
By a strange freak of fortune the last shot had severed the rope by which the two boys clung to the airship and had precipitated them straight onto the tent. There they floundered for a time.
"Ha!" Jimmie heard as he opened his eyes. "Another recruit!"