The officer gave a sigh over the dereliction of Dugan. His professional side was affected by the man’s rascality.
“Nothing has been heard of him since he deserted?” asked Rob.
“Not a thing,” rejoined the officer, buckling on his leggings and adjusting his queer-shaped, padded cap, with goggles attached to its front part.
A few seconds later he was in the driver’s seat, and had his hands on the two levers which, by quadrants and chains, controlled the warping of the wings and rudder. The engine controls also led from these levers, while the motor could be stopped altogether by a motion of the foot on a small metal pedal.
Two soldiers ran to the propeller, a six-foot affair, and began swinging it “against the compression” of the motor. After a few rocks of the two-bladed driving apparatus, an explosion burst from the motor, and presently it was roaring away at full blast. A squad of men held it back, however, awaiting the aviator’s signal to “let go.”
At last it came—a backward sweep of one gauntleted hand.
Whir-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!
Like some scared live thing, the winged man-bird shot forward, scuttling over the smooth surface of the bricked terrace. Absolutely enthralled, the boys stood, with eyes as big as saucers and their mouths half open, in blank astonishment. As the contrivance, after a short scud, began to lift, they broke into an involuntary cheer. The next instant a distance of several feet interposed between the flying machine and the ground. With a graceful turn, the officer brought his flier round, and now came roaring through the air directly above the boys’ heads. As he did so, he gave a shout, and before the astonished onlookers could utter a sound, a round, yellow object came hurtling down at them.
“A bomb! Look out!” yelled one of the soldiers, with well-assumed terror, leaping backward.
In his haste to avoid the explosion of the yellow globe, Tubby fairly fell over and went rolling along the smooth ground like a ball. Rob and the others jumped back with blanched cheeks and frightened eyes, in scarcely less haste. Evidently, by accident, the officer had dropped a deadly explosive—or so it seemed.