A faint yet hilarious chuckle came forth. Then:
"Say, Lafe, when I first tumbled down here, I thought I was a goner.
But I wasn't hurt much. My machine is smashed, though."
"What brought you down? Why didn't you go a little further?"
"I would have, but Archie got me just as I thought I was about safe. That ain't all. I guess our downing them sausages was a bit too for Hans. Directly after that they started the hottest barrage fire you've seen in a month of Sundays. Keepin' it up yet, only they've slacked a bit along here. I kept thinkin' how I was going to get out of this when I heard the tramp and scuffle of advancing infantry.
"All at once I knew. They're sour yet over busting up their big underground at Appincourte Bluff; and now comes this raid of ours and away goes that string of a dozen balloons. I guess it was too much."
"Infantry! What infantry? Oh, you mean Fritzy!"
"Who else? Well, Fritz came with such a rush he didn't look for me. There was a lot of him passed. I scrunched down inside this crater the best I knew how and directly I knew I must let our folks know. Then's when I sent up my signals — in code, of course."
\"That's so, Buck. I saw 'em and read 'em."
Buck was grinning to himself.
"You?" Bangs looked his astonishment. "Well, if we warned our folks in time, and I guess I did by the sounds, and then caught hold of you, it was a lucky venture."