CHAPTER VII
AMONG THE ENEMY
To Frank's ears came a distant whirring. To ears less keen than the lad's the sound, which came from above, might have been some bird of the night flapping its wings as it soared overhead. But to Frank and Jack both it meant something entirely different. It was the sound for which they had been waiting. It was an airship.
Through his night glass Jack scanned the clouds and at last he picked up the object for which he sought. Almost directly overhead at that moment, but flying rapidly westward, was a single aeroplane. So high in the air was the machine that it looked a mere speck and Jack was unable to determine from that distance whether it was British or German.
"See it, Jack?" asked Frank in a low voice.
"Yes," was the reply. "A single craft, perhaps half a mile up."
"No more in sight, eh?"
"Not yet. This one is heading west."
"Guess we had better get up that way, then," said Frank.
Jack assented.
A moment later the hydroplane was skimming swiftly over the water. For perhaps three hundred yards Frank kept the craft on the water; then sent it soaring into the air above.
There was not a word between the two boys until the hydroplane was a quarter of a mile in the air. Then Jack said:
"Make your elevation half a mile and then head west, slowly. The chances are there will be more of them. In the darkness we can let them overtake us and mingle with them in safety."
Frank gave his endorsement to this plan and the machine continued to rise. At the proper elevation, Frank turned the hydroplane's head westward and reduced the speed to less than thirty miles an hour. So slow was its gait, in fact, that it had the appearance of almost standing still.
Jack scanned the eastern horizon with his glass.
"See anything?" asked Frank.
"Thought I did," was the reply, "but whatever I saw has disappeared now. Guess I must have been mistaken."
But Jack had not been mistaken.
Far back, even now, a fleet of perhaps a dozen German air planes were speeding westward. For the most part they were small craft, having a capacity of not more than three men, with the single exception of one machine, which, larger than the rest, carried four men. The air planes were strung out for considerable distance, no two being closer than two hundred yards together.
And in this manner they overtook the hydroplane driven by Frank and
Jack.
Jack, again surveying the horizon with his night glass, gave an exclamation.
"Here they come, Frank," he said. "Let her out a little more."
Frank obeyed without question and the speed of the hydroplane increased from something more than thirty miles an hour to almost sixty. And still the Germans gained.
"This will do," said Jack, leaning close to Frank. "They'll overtake us, but believing we are of their number, there is little likelihood that they will investigate us very closely. We can fall in line without trouble and accompany them wherever they go."
"Suits me," said Frank. "Just keep me posted on their proximity."
Gradually the Germans reduced the distance and at length the first plane was only a few yards behind the craft in which Frank and Jack were risking their lives. The German craft flashed by a moment later without paying any attention to the hydroplane.
"Little more speed, Frank," called Jack.
The hydroplane skimmed through the air faster than before and the next German craft did not overtake it so easily; but at length it passed, as did a third and a fourth.
"Here's a good place for us to fall in line," Jack instructed.
Again Frank increased the speed of the hydroplane and it moved swiftly in the wake of the fourth German craft. After that no enemy air plane passed them.
"Any idea where we are?" asked Frank of his chum.
"We're not far off the Belgian coast, but how far west I can't say," returned Jack. "Don't suppose it makes any particular difference, though."
"I guess not."
Frank became silent and gave his undivided attention to keeping the
German plane ahead of him in sight.
And in this manner they proceeded for perhaps another half hour.
Then the machine ahead of Frank veered sharply to the south. Frank brought the head of his own craft in the same direction and the flight continued.
"Headed for the Belgian or French coast, apparently," said Jack to himself. "Wonder what the idea is?"
Now the craft ahead of that in which the two boys rode reduced its speed abruptly. Frank cut down the gait of his own craft and they continued on their way more slowly.
"Nearing our destination, wherever that is," muttered Jack.
The lad felt of his revolvers to make sure that they were ready in case of an emergency.
"Land ahead," said Frank, suddenly.
Jack gazed straight before him. There, what appeared to be many miles away, though in reality it was but a few, was a dark blur below. Occasionally what appeared to be little stars twinkled there. Jack knew they were the lights of some town.
"Guess that's where we are headed for, all right," he told himself.
Behind the British hydroplane the other German airships came rapidly, keeping some distance apart, however. Jack leaned close to Frank.
"Just do as the ones ahead of you do," he said quietly. "I don't know where we are nor what is likely to happen. Keep your nerve and we'll be all right."
"Don't worry about me," responded Frank. "I'm having the time of my life."
Jack smiled to himself, for he knew that Frank was telling the truth. There was nothing the lad liked better than to be engaged in a dangerous piece of work and more than once his fondness for excitement had almost ended disastrously.
"Frank's all right if he can just keep his head," muttered Jack. "I'm likely to have to hold him in check a bit, though."
They had approached the shore close enough now to perceive that the distant lights betokened a large town.
"Probably Ostend," Jack told himself, "though why they should come this way is too deep for me."
But Jack was wrong, as he learned a short time later.
The town that they now were approaching was the French port of Calais and it was still held by the French despite determined efforts of the Germans at one time or another to extend their lines that far. The capture of Calais by the Germans would have been a severe blow to England, for with the French seaport in their possession, the Germans, with their great guns, would have been able to command the English channel and a considerable portion of the North Sea coast.
When it appeared that the German aircraft would fly directly over the city, the leading machine suddenly swerved to the east. The others followed suit.
The night was very dark, and in spite of the occasional searchlight that was flashed into the air by the French in Calais, the Teuton machines so far had been undiscovered. Now, hanging low over the land, a sudden bombardment broke out from the German air planes.
It was not the sound of bombs that came to the lads' ears; rather the sharp "crack! crack!" of revolver firing. Jack and Frank gazed about them quickly, for they believed, for the moment, that the Germans had encountered a squadron of French airships.
But there was no other machine in sight save the German craft.
"What in the world is the meaning of this?" Frank asked of Jack.
"Don't know," returned the lad, "but I guess I'd better join in."
He drew his revolver and fired several shots in the air.
"Seems to be expected of us," he said. "We don't want to disappoint them."
The German aircraft now headed straight for the city of Calais. Frank sent his machine speeding in the same direction. Then, just as it appeared they would fly directly above the city, the first German craft began to descend. The others did likewise and a moment or so later they all came to earth in the center of what Frank and Jack could see was a small army camp; and as they alighted from their machines, the lads saw that it was an Allied camp and not a German.
"Must be Calais," said Frank to Jack in a whisper. "Have we been mistaken? Are these French and British machines?"
"Well, it looks like it," returned Jack. "We'll keep quiet and let the other fellows do the talking."
A French officer now approached the pilot of the first aircraft.
"We heard the firing aloft a moment ago," he said. "Did you encounter the enemy?"
"We were pursued all the way from the German lines," was the reply.
"Anyone hit?"
"I think not, though I believe we accounted for one or two of the enemy."
"Good. Will you fly again tonight?"
"Yes; but not before midnight."
The French officer withdrew.
At this one of the aviators raised a hand and the others gathered about him, Frank and Jack with them. All wore khaki clothing and their features were concealed by heavy goggles.
"Careful," whispered the aviator. "A false move and we are discovered.
Spread out now and see what you can learn. Gather here at midnight."
He waved a hand and the Germans, for such Jack and Frank now knew them to be, separated. When the two lads were alone a moment later, Jack said:
"Well, this is what I call a piece of nervy business. What shall we do?
Inform the French commander immediately?"
"No. I have a better plan that that. They can hardly work any mischief tonight. What information they learn will avail them naught for we can warn the French commander later. We must find out what they are up to. We'll stick close and follow them back to the German lines, if necessary."
"Good, then! Guess we had better do a little skirmishing about. It will keep suspicion from us should we be watched."
"All right," said Frank. "Come on."