"Then he's going to get what's coming to him!" gritted Jimmie, unlocking a compartment and drawing forth a magazine rifle.
It was true. The monoplane was again darting toward the Grey Eagle, as if vindictively determined to bring harm to the lads.
As it approached a shot rang out. Jimmie quickly threw his rifle to his shoulder and replied with shot after shot.
A sharp lurch of the other machine told the boys that one of Jimmie's missiles had found lodgment in a vital place. Plunging down in a forward movement the machine appeared to drop straight to earth.
"The Rat is there!" cried Harry, with the glasses in hand. "He's taking the levers away from the wounded pilot! He can't right the machine!"
CHAPTER XVII. The Rat Repulsed.
Straight toward the earth, like a hawk darting for its prey, fell the monoplane, carrying the wounded pilot and The Rat.
In fancy the boys pictured the terrible scene soon to be witnessed at the spot where the craft should fall with its human freight. Jimmie, horrified to think that his act should have caused the loss of two men's lives, turned to replace the rifle, anxious to get the weapon with which the attack had been repulsed out of his grasp.