“Hello, there goes his rudder!” cried Captain Obray, who was looking through his field glasses. “The whole steering apparatus has been shot away! Now I reckon he’s about done for.”
That was indeed the plight of the German airman, for with the rudder gone, he was practically helpless to guide his machine. His motor stopped—whether he turned it off or it stopped of itself they could not tell—and then the scout machine began to turn and twist in a fantastic course down from the sky.
“That’s the end of that flying man,” was Ben’s comment.
“I wonder if he’s doing anything at all to save himself?” said Dave.
“I don’t see what he can do,” returned Roger.
This way and that way rushed the helpless war-plane. As it came down it made several turns, and then headed suddenly toward the forest where the engineers were working.
“It’s coming down pretty close to this spot!” exclaimed Dave.
“Take care of yourselves, men!” cried Captain Obray. “Don’t give that plane a chance to hit you!” He had not forgotten the accident which had happened to Roger, Phil and Dave when a plane had come down in flames, as related in our last volume.
All of the engineers were on the alert. But this caution was unnecessary. Another dart or two through the sky, and then the enemy airplane finally came down at a point in the forest some distance away. As it did this it burst into flames, and soon those on the ground saw a heavy smoke coming up from the spot where it was burning up.
“I wonder if the fellow who was running it escaped?” cried Phil.