CHAPTER XXII. Thrown From the Clouds.
"That's The Rat!" shrilled Jack. "He's trying to blow up the Grey Eagle! That was he in the monoplane! Hurry! Hurry!"
At once the lad dashed toward the Grey Eagle. Without stopping to reckon the consequences, he darted for the package, seized it, with its still sputtering fuse, and started to carry it away from the aeroplane.
Harry, who had been close behind his chum, reached Jack's side in an instant with drawn knife in hand. It required only a moment's time to cut the fuse close to the bundle. A last spurt of flame showed that the effort had been successful. Both boys realized their narrow escape.
"What shall we do with this stuff, Ned?" asked Jack shakily.
"Put it on the soft ground at the far side of the clearing!" Ned answered. "But I'm worrying about Jimmie. He may get into trouble out there all alone. Can you follow and learn where he has gone?"
"I don't know about that!" Jack hesitated. "It would be hard work and, besides, he will come back all right! He won't stay long!"
"He won't be back right away if The Rat succeeds in giving him the worst of it!" declared Harry anxiously. "I'll go find him!"
"Thank you, Harry," Ned said gratefully. "We can't afford to lose Jimmie, and I'm afraid The Rat is getting desperate!"
Harry started for the spot where his chum had disappeared. He had not proceeded far when the boys heard the roar of the monoplane's engine. In an instant the machine rose in plain view above the trees.
"There he is!" Francois cried. "There's Jimmie on the machine!"
It was true. Jimmie appeared on the chassis of the monoplane, and seemed to be attempting to climb into the body of the craft. The boys saw him lean far out to peer around the curved side of the body. As the machine rose the pilot described an immense circle, evidently trying to get clear of the surrounding trees before attempting to lay a course in any direction. With the added burden of Jimmie's shifting weight he seemed to have trouble in keeping the machine steadied.
Two shots in quick succession were heard. Jimmie and The Rat were exchanging compliments. Neither had scored.
The machine was now swinging back toward the clearing, where the boys stood lost in amazement at the predicament of their chum.
Harry, who was nearest the Grey Eagle, clambered aboard and unshipped the magazine rifle Jimmie had used early the day before. However, he could get no opportunity to shoot without endangering their chum.
"He's coming right over us!" cried Jack in an excited tone.
"Sure! He's circling around, trying to get high enough to clear these big trees!" answered Ned. "But how can we help Jimmie?"
"Take a shot at the pilot, Harry!" advised Jack eagerly.
"Don't shoot, Harry!" cautioned Ned. "You might hit The Wolf!"
Nearer swept the aeroplane and its warring passengers. Jimmie and The Rat continued to exchange shots, but the conditions were unfavorable to accurate marksmanship. Suddenly the machine turned upward.
Horrified, the boys stood in their places, unable to move. Jimmie seemed to lose his grip on the framework. He dropped from the aeroplane.
Expecting to find the lad badly mangled, Ned dashed away in the direction of Jimmie's probable landing place. Jack followed at a rapid pace. Harry raised the rifle and sent shot after shot in the direction of the retreating craft with vindictiveness. The clamor of the motor suddenly ceased. Evidently a bullet had reached a vital part of the machinery. Realizing his danger, the pilot began volplaning down in an extreme effort to make a safe landing clear of the trees.
Harry ran in the direction taken by Ned, intending to lend his aid in rendering what assistance he might to Jimmie. A shell from some distant gun fell a short distance in front of him and burst, sending into the air a shower of dirt. Staggered and stunned, the boy, determined to do his best, blundered ahead. A bullet whizzed past, but he pressed on.
An attacking party, sent forward under protection of the French guns, was evidently trying to rout the battery recently planted by the Germans who had passed the boys at breakfast. Other bullets came singing through the trees. Frantic with fear for the safety of himself and his comrades, but determined to rescue Jimmie if possible, the boy went on.
Directly he was overjoyed to see Ned and Harry returning. His heart sank, however, when he observed that Ned was carrying Jimmie's form. Lying across Ned's shoulder, his left leg thrown forward and encircled by Ned's left arm, the hand of which clutched the boy's left wrist, Jimmie lay limp and helpless. His eyes were closed, and his head rolled from side to side with every movement of Ned's body.
"Is he——?" Harry did not dare to say the dreaded word.
"Don't know yet," gasped Jack, beside the leader and his burden.
"Where did you find him? What is that blood?" asked Francois.
"He's bleeding at the nose," replied Jack, answering the latter question first. "As he fell, he struck the top of a small tree and bent it until it broke. Then he fell onto the roof of a covered trench or pit and caved that in. We pulled him out of a mess of broken poles and dirt. They are charging this position and shooting, so we didn't dare stop out there to examine him. Get some water and open the medicine chest!"
Ned staggered to the edge of the clearing nearest the Grey Eagle and laid the boy's limp form on the turf. Harry had dashed ahead and now ran up with the medicine chest and a bucket of water.
Nearly exhausted with his violent exertions, Ned at once set about measures to revive the boy, if possible. Both the other lads contributed their best efforts to the same end. In a short time they were rewarded by seeing their chum's eyelids twitch. A gasp and shake of the head told them that Jimmie still lived. Harry threw his hat into the air.
"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Can't kill off a Wolf so easy as that!"
"Jimmie," called Ned, "are you hurt? Can you speak?"
To both questions Jimmie only nodded his head.
"Where are you hurt most, Jimmie? Speak to me if you can!"
"All over!" was the scarcely audible reply. "Great——"
"——Frozen Hot Boxes!" Ned supplied the balance of Jimmie's newest pet expression, and smiled as he observed the grin on the lad's face.
In a moment Harry and Jack were manipulating Jimmie's limbs to discover whether he had suffered a fracture. Then they rolled him over and began to feel cautiously of his ribs and spine.
"Just a case of having the wind knocked out of him!" announced Jack gleefully, as the boys rolled their comrade onto his back again.
"I'm going to sign the pledge!" came Jimmie's faint voice. "That was a drop too much!" he added, with a forced grin at his friends.
"Stop it, Jimmie!" commanded Ned. "That was too serious!"
"Did you get him?" inquired the prostrate lad.
With a start the boys remembered The Rat. They had seen the monoplane descending, but in the excitement had forgotten him. Forgotten, too, had been the danger in which they were now placed. With one accord they scrambled to their feet and began to look about.
"I move we get out of here as quickly as possible," voted Jack.
"You're right!" Ned assented eagerly. "Let's carry Jimmie to the machine, and be on our way. He will need a little help, I guess!"
Supported between Harry and Jack, with Ned carrying the rifle, Jimmie was helped back to the Grey Eagle. The boys began preparing for a quick departure from the spot to one of greater safety.
"What shall we do with the dynamite?" anxiously inquired Jack.
"Explode it!" suggested Jimmie. "With all this other noise going on, nobody will notice it. They'll think it's only another shell!"
The package still lay where it had been deposited. Harry picked up the rifle, intending to fire at the dangerous stuff in an effort to explode it and thus remove the danger of its bringing harm to anyone.
His first shot went a trifle high. The next was sent with truer aim, and a terrific roar greeted the boys. Just as the blast reverberated through the clearing several horsemen dashed into view from the highway.
One in the lead shouted an order to his companions, as he pointed toward the group of boys. Instantly the others dashed forward across the clearing. The boys were quickly surrounded by the horsemen, who threatened them with drawn revolvers. Harry slipped the rifle into its resting place.
The leader was shouting questions and orders in German.
Ned shook his head and held up his hand. He took a step forward.
"I cannot understand you," he said. "Can you speak English?"
"Not very well," answered the officer, "but good enough to tell you to surrender. Escape is impossible. You must come with us!"
"What is the charge?" queried Ned. "What have we done?"
The officer laughed loudly. Apparently the joke was a huge one.
"Charge?" he repeated incredulously. "Do you not know that war is in progress, and it is not necessary to have charge or warrant? You are prisoners because we carry our warrants in these," indicating his revolver. "You must either come with us or be shot. Which shall it be?"
"We surrender!" stated Ned hopelessly. "Where do we go?"
"March along with us. We shall ride slowly."
"But our comrade here has just suffered a bad fall!" Ned protested. "He cannot walk far in his present condition!"
"So?" commented the officer, with a quick glance at Jimmie. "Yes, he is evidently weakened, and is but a boy. We must provide assistance for him. You other four lads can walk, however, for a short distance."
An order was spoken in a low tone to two of the cavalrymen, who at once set off at a sharp gallop. The others prepared to surround the lads to prevent escape, while the officer himself offered Jimmie a ride at the rear of his own saddle. The horse was a magnificent bay, and Jimmie's heart bounded with pride at the thought of riding with the officer.
Refusing to answer Ned's further questions, and deigning no explanation in regard to the care of the Grey Eagle, the officer rode silently among his men. Not far from the place the boys noticed the two troopers returning with four led horses saddled and bridled.
"There," offered their captor. "You may mount and ride!"
"Get up on the 'off' side, Ned," suggested Jimmie with a grin. "Then he may think you are related to the Kaiser, like I am!"
"But the hair?" questioned the officer. He could not see the grimace made by the boy at his back, but laughed loudly at his own joke.
Riding at a rapid pace that kept the boys, and especially Francois, bobbing about at a great rate, the little party soon left the whizzing of bullets and sharp scream of shells a goodly distance in the rear. They approached a little valley through which ran a winding stream.
"I see a castle just ahead!" cried Jimmie.
"Yes, there are we going!" replied the officer. "There is headquarters where we take all distinguished prisoners, especially relatives of the Kaiser. And others who have red hair," he added with a chuckle.
Turning in at a great gate, flanked on either side by immense stone posts, the party clattered up the path to the very castle itself. At the entrance they were halted by a sentry, who permitted them to pass through after receiving an answer to his challenge.
The boys gazed with frank curiosity at the scenes about them. It seemed like a page clipped from a story book. There they recognized the many features about which they had read but scarcely believed existed.
Jimmie was helped down from his position, while the other boys dismounted without assistance. For a few moments they found walking very difficult, owing to the strange experience of riding horseback.
"I wish they had couches for travelers!" announced Jimmie. "I feel rather tired somehow! This has been a hard day!"
Ned was at once overtaken with remorse at his forgetfulness of Jimmie's shaken condition. He was quickly busy with arrangements for his chum's comfort. The other lads gathered about, eager to help.
"I say, officer," Ned called out, "this boy needs rest."
"And he shall have it!" a man at Ned's elbow spoke.
The lad was astonished to see one of the men who had breakfasted with them, and who appeared to be the Kaiser's chief aide.