“Oh! a German shell must have burst!” shrilled the excited Billy.
“But we are too far away from the fighting line for that,” said Frank.
A passing shadow made him look hastily upward. As he did so a cry of wonder and dismay burst from his lips, which of course caused everyone to follow his example, even to the chauffeur of the war van.
“An aëroplane!” shouted Pudge.
“Yes, and a German Taube at that, don’t you see?” cried Billy.
“That must have been a bomb thrown at us, and there over on the right is where it made a gap in the field,” said Frank.
The chauffeur looked somewhat alarmed. He even increased the speed of the big van, though it was too cumbersome a vehicle to move at all swiftly, its main hold being vast power and carrying ability.
The aëroplane was at some distance above them, and moving in a circle like a great hawk which it so much resembled.
“Frank, he’s turning to come up behind us again, don’t you see?” exclaimed Pudge, gripping the arm of the one to whom this remark was addressed.
“Sure thing,” added Billy, trying to look calm, though he was trembling all over with the nervous strain and the excitement of the thing; “he’s meaning to try again and see if this time he can’t make a better crack at us, I suspect.”