Having dealt destruction in one part of the city it was now making directly toward the hotel!
The boy watched it with a horrible fascination that held him speechless.
The death-dealing craft was destined to pass directly above the building that sheltered them and how many others. Craning his neck, Jack watched its flight above the sleeping city. Dark as death itself and, with no indication of its presence but the drone of its engines, the sky monster moved majestically toward him. It was then that Jack suddenly found his tongue as the death in the air approached till it was almost above his staring eyes.
“Bill,” he yelled, “Bill, wake up!”
He shook his chum’s shoulder violently.
“Whazzermarrer?” inquired Bill sleepily.
“Get up for your life. Fling on any old clothes. Let’s get out of here quick.”
“What’s up?” demanded Bill, wide awake now, and hastily pulling on some clothes, for he knew Jack would not have aroused him needlessly.
“It’s a Zeppelin, a giant German airship. She’s blown up a piece some blocks away and now she’s headed over here.”
At almost the same instant, a roar of artillery burst forth. The defenses of Antwerp had awakened and were concentrating their fire on the death-dealing monster of the sky. But as the first reports ripped the silence of the night, there came another and a mightier report. The hotel rocked to its foundations. A shower of plaster and debris crashed into the boys’ room, half burying them.