“Courage, it is passing by! I can see the sunlight beyond. Courage, my brave boy! You have done magnificently, superbly! I take off my hat to you!”
Yes, they could all see now that the snow was growing lighter, showing the border of the cloud must have been reached. Frank had urged the seaplane on in a headlong rush with the idea of ending the agony sooner, and it was well he had shown such sagacity.
They emerged from the cloud which was soon left far astern. Frank cut down the speed to one-half, for the air was fearfully cold, and all of them seemed to be very nearly frozen.
Once in the bright sunshine again, though there was very little of warmth to it, those who could do so began to slap their arms violently to and fro in the effort to induce circulation. The French air voyager even relieved Frank from his arduous duties as well as possible, so that he could get some life in his stiffened fingers.
M. Le Grande was fairly bubbling over with praise, not only for the splendid way in which Frank had managed his craft, but in regard to the seaplane itself. Never, he told them, had he seen such a supremely satisfactory test made to prove the stability of a flier; and in every particular had the Sea Eagle proven itself worthy of the highest praise.
“Ah! M’sieu!” he went on to say warmly, “with a fleet of such wonderful craft, patterned after this type, we French could soon end the war alone and unaided, by striking terror to the heart of Berlin. I am pleased beyond measure with all I have experienced. The man whose mind conceived this wonder of the air is indeed a wizard.”
“Good for you!” cried Pudge, who naturally was delighted to hear his father spoken of so highly.
Once again they began to take an interest in what they could see far below them. New and varied sights were constantly cropping up as they journeyed on. The character of the country was gradually changing, too, for the dreary stretches of water that marked the inundated lowlands of Belgium near the coast began to merge into dry land. This was high enough to have shed the rains that had been falling during the better part of the winter now drawing to a close.
As before, Pudge and Billy commenced calling each other’s attention to different things that caught their eyes. These were all of an intensely interesting nature and extremely varied.
In numerous instances they were fired at. The faint report of volleys came to their ears as soldiers, in the hope of doing some damage, started shooting, though it must be an extraordinary rifle that could push a leaden missile that far up into the air.