Charles Amory Beach

“ Like a hawk plunging after its prey it sped through space, the two occupants held in their places by safety belts.
As they thus rushed downward the earth seemed as if rising to meet them. Just at the right second Tom Raymond, by a skillful flirt of his hand, brought the Yankee fighting aircraft back to an even keel, with a beautiful gliding movement.
Immediately the steady throb of the reliable motor took up its refrain, while the buzz of the spinning propellers announced that the plane was once more being shot through space by artificial means. ”

“ When coming in on a hot day from hard work in the trenches, or after creeping through tangled undergrowth where not a breath of breeze stirred, with their nerves strained every second of the time, nothing could revive the flagging energies more quickly than a lemonade mixed by the dextrous fingers of a clever girl in khaki, a sunny smile on her face, and a love for everything connected with America in her warm heart.
Those huts erected by the Red Triangle corps, what oceans of comfort they brought to the boys over there! ”

“ But the firing was only haphazard work, because the searchlight that began now to play upon the airplanes could reveal only one bomber at a time. Thus the shrapnel burst much above their level, so deceptive was the glare.
Then came a sudden, terrific crash, sounding almost as if the battery of Heaven's heaviest artillery had broken loose in one frightful thunderclap. At the same time a blinding flash from below showed Jack flying timbers and scattering stones. ”

“ And so in due time Tom made as neat a landing in his own field as any veteran could have done, amid the cheers of scores and scores of pilots, mechanicians and French soldiers, who came running like mad when they saw who was dropping from the skies.
Although utterly exhausted and almost frozen after their bitter experience, Tom and Jack could not retreat until they had shaken hands with dozens of the noisy throng that surrounded them. After that they were at least no longer cold, for their fingers had been squeezed, and hearty slaps laid on their backs by the excited aviators. ”

“ There was more excitement than during the bombardment of the big gun. People were rushing here and there in search of safe places, and taxicabs, with their lamps like fireflies in the darkness, were skidding hither and yon, their horns calling for a clear way. ”

“ BACK OF THE TRENCHES
"Tom, what do you suppose that strange man who looked like a French peasant, yet wasn't one, could have been up to late yesterday afternoon?"
"You mean the fellow discovered near the hangars at the aviation camp, Jack?"
"Yes. He seemed to go out of sight like a wreath of smoke does. Why, if the ground had opened and swallowed him up, once the hue and cry was raised, he couldn't have vanished quicker. I wonder if what they say about him can be true?"
"That he was a German spy? Anything is possible in war times." ”

“ The star shells were very brilliant and made No Man's Land almost as bright as when bathed in sunshine, a condition that had not prevailed of late. There was no guarantee that the Germans would not, in their suspicious hate, turn their rifles or machine guns on what they supposed were dead bodies. In that case-well, Tom, Jack and the others did not like to think about it.
But the brilliance of the star shells died away, and once more there was darkness. The lieutenant cautiously raised his head and in a whisper commanded:
“Forward! Is every one all right?” ”

“ If ever Tom had reason to exert himself to the utmost in order to make a safe landing, it was then. He came up in the face of what little breeze was stirring, just as a bird invariably alights against the wind, and not with it.
Jack held his breath. Nearer and still nearer they dropped. Now he felt the rubber-tired wheels under the plane strike the ground lightly. ”

“ The Fokker was descending in erratic spirals, evidently out of control. Man or machine, perhaps both, had come within the deadly line of fire, and the fight was over.
Turning, Tom watched the enemy plane go down. He had a queer, choking sensation in his throat. Every novice probably feels that when he watches his first rival heading earthward, with a mile or more to fall before he strikes. Still, Tom grimly held his feelings in check. A successful air pilot, especially when he manages a fighting craft, can not let sentiment get the better of his combative spirit. ”

“ Looking down Jack could see where the searchlights that sent such broadening streamers aloft were stationed. He could also make out a dim pile that must be the German fortress, strengthened particularly to hold up the Americans, even as that at Verdun had held up the Huns.
Let the "Archies" bark below and the shrapnel burst all around them as it pleased, no one in all that vast armada of the air was paying the slightest attention to such things. They all, in their carelessness of danger, seemed to themselves impervious to the storm of flying missiles. ”

“ Then Jack and his companion came down again, making a safe landing. Tom was on hand to greet his chum as the latter rather unsteadily alighted; for being up in a rocking plane for hours is apt to make any one feel a bit “groggy.”
“Well, how did you like it?” was Tom’s first question.
There was hardly any need of it, for with the removal of the muffler and the goggles that adorned the close-fitting aviator’s hood, worn when making an ascent near the clouds, it could be seen that Jack’s face was radiant, while his eyes fairly sparkled with enthusiasm. ”

“ Tom, what do you say about it?"
"A queer situation has arisen, according to my calculation," the pilot told them. "Fact is, without being able to see a solitary thing anywhere about us, above or below, it's often impossible to know when we're sailing on a level keel, or flying upside down!"
"That's a fact," admitted Lieutenant Beverly. "When you haven't the slightest thing to guide you, stars, sun, or earth, how can you tell which is up or which is down? We go forward because of the compass; but part of the time I do believe, just as you say, Tom, we've been flying upside-down!" ”

“ Still no Jack! He grew more and more concerned, and began to picture all sorts of grievous things as having happened to his chum.
Several times he thought he heard the well known voice near by, but on each occasion discovered that he had deceived himself. Tom felt he could stand it no longer, and had even commenced to set forth when, to his delight, he discovered Jack coming.
"But what's he doing with that mite of a French child?" Tom asked himself, staring in wonder and perplexity. "A cunning little girl she seems to be; but a battlefield isn't just the place for such an innocent. ”

“ Gleason had been freed from the plotting of the spy, Potzfeldt, she had lived a happy life—that is as happy as one could amid the scenes of war and its attendant horrors. She and Bessie were throwing themselves heart and soul into the immortal work of the Red Cross, and now Nellie bad joined them.
“It's the only way I can stop thinking about poor Harry,” she said with a sigh. “Oh, if I could only hear some good news about him, that I might send it to the folks at home. Do you think it will ever come—the good news, I mean?” she asked wistfully of Tom.
“All we can do is to hope,” he said. ”

“ The moment a big gun was sighted, the signal was to be given and the French long-range cannon would open fire, while the bombing machines would also do their part.
"All ready! Go!" called the major, and there was a rattle and a roar that drowned his last word. The men of the air were off.
Led by Tom and Jack, the others followed. Up and up they arose, the smaller planes flying high as a protection to the more cumbersome machines of the bi-motored type. And soon the squadron, the largest that had yet ascended from Camp Lincoln, was hovering over the German lines. ”

“ It is the most beautiful—the most wonderful—city in the world. And to think—to think that those barbarians would sack her! Ah, it is terrible!" and with a sad nodding of his head, following the shaking of an avenging fist toward the German lines, he waved Tom and Jack an adieu.
The two Air Service boys lost little time in making their preparations to leave for the French capital. They had to get certain passes and papers, and they wished to say good-bye to some of their comrades in arms. For, more than any other branch of the service, is aviation uncertain as to life or death. ”

“ Dozens of men had fallen solely through their desire to save the gallant air pilot. Twice did Teutons venture forth with the evident intention of making him a prisoner, only to recoil before the blast of deadly machine-gun fire that blazed forth in their faces.
Finally the Germans, as if furious at their losses, turned their machine-guns on the wreckage of the French plane, and fairly riddled both machine and pilot with balls.
Of course Tom easily picked out the big observation Caudron in which, as he knew, Jack was doing duty just then. ”

“ Indeed, shrapnel does not account for as many hostile planes as might be imagined; since each looks like a fly when ten thousand feet high, and the surrounding space is so vast.
So Tom swung past the advance French lines, just as they were making another forward movement. He could glimpse long lines of poilus streaming over the shell-hole pitted terrain like ants in army array. Tom would have been pleased to hover above them for a while, and watch how those furious fighters rushed the Boches out of their second line trenches, as though nothing could stay their push. ”

“ Above them the battle still raged, though of course Jack could not decide which side might be getting the better of it. His interest focused chiefly on the bombing machines, which he found were now far away, moving along in erratic courses as their pilots strove to get in exact position for a successful blowing up of the bridge.
Jack could count only three of them. Unless the fourth had wandered far afield it looked as though disaster had overtaken its crew. No matter, even such a catastrophe must not deter those remaining from seeking by every means in their power to reach their objective. ”

“ But won't there be a hopping mad crowd around here when they find out that their gas tanks are both empty? By then I hope we'll be merrily on our way to camp, able to snap our fingers at the raging Boche, and with a little passenger aboard our plane. Back to the graves for us it is, Tom. Time for all spooks to climb into their holes again and disappear."
"Keep quiet, can't you, Jack!" whispered Tom. "You'll queer the whole business yet if you don't watch out. Come on, and don't leave a trail of gasoline to help them follow us." ”

“ Tom closed the door after them. Then again he struck a match, eager to survey their surroundings before attacking the problem that now presented itself.
Some old-time furniture could be seen, but in a dilapidated condition, as though vandal hands had used an ax on the rare wood, regardless of its value. Dust lay everywhere, dust that may have come from the frequent explosion of grenades used in the process of demolition.
The match went out, leaving Jack still staring about him. It seemed like a strange dream to him, anything but a reality. But there was Tom shuffling across to the window. ”

“ All the members of the famous escadrille were very fond of the boys, and each seemed to deem it a privilege to coach them in the thousand and one problems that daily confront a war aviator.
Jack sometimes was seen to muse, as though his thoughts had taken a backward flight. Tom imagined he might be thinking of those at home, and once even exhibited more or less sympathy for his chum, when, to his surprise, and also amusement, Jack unblushingly admitted that the one he was thinking of chanced to be pretty little Bessie Gleason. ”

“ Tom realized suddenly that he had been struck, for he felt a sudden acute twinge. He neither knew nor cared how serious the injury might be, so long as it did not incapacitate him from serving his machine. And, best of all, thus far no missile from that popping mitrailleuse of the German had done serious damage to the vitals of his plane.
Let the bullets cut holes all they pleased through the linen of the wings; there would be no splitting, as happens in the case of cotton or other fabrics; and such tiny apertures do not count for much in retarding the upholding power of a plane. ”

“ So Tom proceeded to picture the scene, having plenty of material from which to draw, for he had read the details of more than one submarine sinking.
"It must be a terrible sensation to any passenger, no matter how brave he may think himself," he went on to say, "when he feels the shock as a torpedo explodes against the hull of the steamer and knows that in a short time she is doomed to be swallowed by the sea. And you told me once yourself, Jack, that this scheming cousin of yours couldn't swim a stroke." ”

“ Such a battle in the clouds is on a plane that almost beggars description. Nothing resembling it has ever been known before in all the annals of history until the present world war broke out, and the airplane was perfected as it stands to-day.
This attack was even more tumultuous than the first had been. The planes tried dodging, and several tricks were brought to bear on either side; for it seems that every pilot has his pet theories as to how best to catch an opponent napping. Everything is fair, once the battle royal has started and German wit is matched against American, or French. ”