"We're leaving them behind at last, boys!" he managed to shout as he sheltered his head from the stinging blast of air singing through the rigging of the Eagle. "They're getting smaller in the glasses!"
"Slow down, Jack," advised Harry. "Let's watch them a bit and see what they're going to do. Maybe it's only a trick."
"No, it isn't a trick," said Ned as the Eagle's speed decreased. "That plane is going to land, I believe. I think I can see a light on the ground a little to the northward of their position."
"Suppose we swing round in a big circle and see if we can discover what they are going to do," suggested Jack, reaching for the rudder levers. "If they're going to land and get assistance we ought to know it before it's too late. If they're giving up it'll be all right."
"Stand by to come about, then," agreed Ned. "It won't do any harm, and if we cut in the muffler we should be able to ride above them without being discovered. The upper sky is very dark yet."
Accordingly Jack shifted the rudders and brought the Eagle sharply about, heading directly eastward again. As the plane proceeded to retrace the course so recently followed the lad brought the machine to a higher level and cut in the muffler, entirely deadening the clamor of the motors. He had been running with the exhaust partly open in order to obtain every bit of the engine's efficiency in the flight.
When the boys had reached an altitude that seemed sufficient Jack again described a circle in the air that brought them almost directly over the position to which the pursuing plane had descended.
"Ha!" cried Ned, turning the glasses downward. "I can see a train standing at a station. The grounds are lighted by shaded electric lights, I believe, and there seem to be soldiers moving about beside the train. I saw a shower of sparks just then that looked as if they came from a switch engine. I'll bet that's a railroad terminal and the train is one moving troops westward from Peremysl to Verdun!"
"Hope you are right and that the train has got Jimmie and Dave on it," put in Jack eagerly. "Maybe we can get a chance to rescue them yet. What do you say to trying?"
"The chances would be very poor just now, I'm thinking," replied Harry doubtfully. "With all those soldiers there we wouldn't have much of a chance, especially as we are not able to communicate with the boys, even granting that they are on that train."