| The “Ocean Flyer” Surrounded by Zeppelins | [Frontispiece] |
| A Narrow Escape | [Page 60] |
| The Rescue of Bob Russell | [Page 118] |
| The Mysterious Man in the Cloak | [Page 220] |
The Airship Boys in the
Great War
CHAPTER I
WHAT THE NEWSPAPER TOLD
“Great Guns!” exclaimed Alan Hope, bending down over the newspaper which he had spread out upon the table in front of him.
Ned Napier, who was deep in a pile of blue prints on his desk, glanced over at his chum.
“Great guns exactly describes it, if you’re reading those accounts of the war in Europe,” said he with a grin, “or maybe you’d better say the great-est guns, because that’s what they are using over there just now. But then, we shouldn’t worry as long as they aren’t shooting up the good old Stars and Stripes.”
“That’s just it, Ned; we should worry,” answered Alan, his face puckered into unaccustomed wrinkles, and his eyes still swiftly scanning the pages of the newspaper before him. “We ought to worry about this piece of news, because it concerns a mighty good friend of ours.”
“Who! How’s that? Where is it?” cried Ned, swinging around in his swivel chair so as to face the other boy. Seeing that Alan was still staring as if bewildered at the paper, he arose and hurried over to the table. Leaning down over Alan’s shoulder, he at first could only see flaring headlines of three and four-inch black-faced type.
As Ned’s eye roved down the outspread sheet, however, it finally was caught by a smaller sub-head, sandwiched in between reports on the latest scandal on the Subway Investigation and alleged atrocities in Belgium. He gave a gasp of mingled astonishment and consternation as he read the following: