And then, all of a sudden, he gave voice to a loud exclamation. Others did the same; for the faint speck in the sky had suddenly begun to behave in the most extraordinary fashion. First it dove, then soared upward again, not in the orderly fashion which one might expect of a machine piloted by a skilled aviator, but in a way which suggested that something was amiss.
And this impression was strengthened a few moments later when the machine began to volplane at terrific speed, at the same time swinging around and around as though on a pivot.
“The vrille![[4]] The vrille!” came from dozens of excited students.
“The vrille!” echoed Don Hale, huskily.
| [4] | “Vrille”—French for “falling leaf.” |
CHAPTER VIII—THE HERO
The boy had heard about the “vrille,” and he knew that it is one of the most difficult evolutions an airman can perform, and that it had sent many to their death.
For a few moments of tense and awe-stricken silence the onlookers kept their gaze fixed with agonized intentness upon the object which, like a wounded bird, was tumbling through space.
A sickening sensation of horror and despair gripped the spectators. The airplane and its pilot seemed doomed to utter annihilation.