“Too slow that time, Hans!” he whooped, as he continued to wave his make-believe gun; “knocked another hole in the poor old road, that’s what. At that rate they’ll have it all torn up between here and Dunkirk.”
“Will they give it up now, do you think, Frank?” wheezed Pudge, who had made it a point to actually hold his breath on each occasion just as though that was going to be of any benefit to him.
“Don’t flatter yourself that way, Pudge,” Billy hastened to say, taking it upon himself to answer; “they’ll never quit as long as there’s a single shot in the locker, believe me. We’ve just got to keep on dodging the same the best we know how.”
“Next time they may come so low down that they just can’t miss,” complained the fat chum, disconsolately.
“Huh! don’t you believe that, because they might have seen me taking aim with my gun here, and airmen don’t like to be peppered at close range. Chances are they’ll swoop down and let fly, but no hovering over us for them.”
Frank was busy trying to figure out what would be the next move on the part of those grim pursuers, who seemed so determined to accomplish the utter destruction of the wonderful seaplane that placed in the hands of the French was bound to be of material advantage to the cause they had at heart.
In doing this Frank tried to put himself in the place of the other. He figured out just what sort of a feint he would make in order to draw the fire of the van driver. Whether the vehicle stopped, or shot forward, he could then change his pace, and hurl the bomb.
So Frank again gave his instructions to the chauffeur.
“This time I think he’ll just pretend to throw, so as to make us show our hand,” was what he said. “Then when he believes he sees our intentions he’ll let it go. So first make out to stop; but when you feel me grip your arm a second time, speed up for all you’re worth. Understand all that, do you?”
The man said he did. Monsieur Le Grande too, openly declared he believed Frank had solved the intentions of the man above, basing his opinion on what he himself would have done under similar conditions.