"I have a light wagon," said Felix, "but we must not venture out with it until after midnight; in the meantime I will go down to the village and get all the news."
He returned in an hour. "It is reported that an airship did the damage," said Felix.
Shortly after two o'clock in the morning the light wagon was on hand, and Raoul accompanied them. After loading the wagon with the cans they started on the trip through the forest. Felix and Raoul both remained with the lieutenant and the boys until the tanks were repaired, and the sun had appeared. The machine was then turned around, and headed for the opening in the forest through which they had entered. Felix and Raoul, in the meantime, diligently cut away the underbrush and bushes in the path of the machine so it would be able to make a fair start.
The boys now mounted the machine after shaking hands with the two men, and the lieutenant, reaching into his pocket, drew out a hundred franc note, which he tendered to them. They refused to take it. The lieutenant then threw it on the ground, saying: "This belongs to Belgium, and you had better take it."
"Good bye, and God bless you," shouted Felix, as the motor began to hum. The machine gliding down the incline quickly gathered speed, and it was soon in the air.
After reaching an altitude of a thousand meters, the lieutenant said: "It would be interesting to pay the village a visit after our pleasant experience there."
Ralph, accordingly, turned the rudder, and the machine swung to the right. It required only a few minutes to reach the scene, and there, notwithstanding the distance, they could see the blackened and still smoking ruins in the two immense spaces adjoining the station.
Now, for the first time, they appreciated the fact that a worthy task had been accomplished, for this station was one of the most important oil supply points along that whole line.
The soldiers were rushing wildly about the station grounds, and the officials there were no doubt now assured, after seeing the machine, that the depot had actually been destroyed by a bomb from that airplane.
The machine was now directed toward Longwy, and after giving that city a wide berth, flew directly south, with Verdun as the objective. The grounds below and to the west of that city were reached before ten o'clock, to the astonishment of the men quartered there, for it had been reported the night before that the lieutenant and the boys had been captured or killed in the fight at Longwy.