Boy Aviators with the Air Raiders: A Story of the Great World War

by John Henry Goldfrap

  CHAPTER IX.

  THRILLING NEWS.

  "Mumps and mathematics, but I'm glad to see you boys get back safeagain!"

  Of course that was Pudge, otherwise Ulysses Perkins, expressing hisgratitude at the return of the gallant _Sea Eagle_ and the two bold airnavigators.

  Pudge was close by on the shore when the seaplane ran in to the foot ofthe wooden trestle, upon which the big seaplane was drawn on the wheeledcarriage, built for that purpose, until it was once more safely housedin the hangar.

  "Don't ask a single question, Pudge!" called Billy, "until we've got herup the inclined plane, and snugly sheltered from the public view. Iguess there must be a thousand people outside trying to see what the_Sea Eagle_ looks like. They must have watched us coming on down thecoast, and had a bad case of fright at first, thinking it meant anotherspell of bomb dropping."

  "Yes, lend us a hand, Pudge," added Frank, "and help get the machinesettled evenly on the little carriage. You know we have it so arrangedthat she can be hauled up by means of this cable, and by her own motors.I'll stay aboard to guide things, and you two follow after we're safelyin the hangar, not before."

  Billy knew he meant a rope might possibly break, and it would bedangerous for anyone to be caught upon the trestle by the descendingseaplane. Indeed, Billy had a pretty vivid recollection of the narrowescape of the two spies who had barely jumped aside at the time of theirdownward rush.

  Everything went off without the slightest hitch, and the first act ofPudge, after climbing the ascent in company with Billy, was to hastilylook over the returned air traveler from the spoon-shaped bow to theopposite extremity.

  "Seems to be without a scratch, Frank!" he exclaimed in undeniable glee.

  "Why, did you think we had been in some sort of smash-up?" demandedBilly.

  "Well, no, not quite so bad as that," admitted Pudge; "but I knew someof those German spies must have tried pretty hard to capture the craft,and if that failed I reckoned they'd wanted to do something to put herout of commission. Now, please, sit down here and tell me everything."

  "Ours is a long story, Pudge," said Frank, "as you can judge foryourself when I tell you we've been far up over the fighting lines inBelgium, found ourselves bombarded by shrapnel, and threatened by half adozen Taube flying machines, as well as a Zeppelin!"

  "Gosh! all of that?" gasped Pudge.

  "Yes," added Billy, shaking his forefinger at the stout chum, "andbefore we relate the whole story in detail you've got to tell us whathappened last night that made you fail to come back when we expectedyou."

  "Oh! I wanted to, all right," spluttered Pudge, as though he felt thatsomehow his bravery or his honor might be involved in the explanationdemanded; "but, say, there were three of them, all big husky men, atthat, and they caught me unawares just by that turn of the road. It wasgetting kind of dusk, too, and I never dreamed of trouble till oneclapped a hand over my mouth, and the others held me while they tied abandage around my face. Whee! I was near smothered at first."

  "They were Germans, Pudge?" questioned Billy, interested in the factthat Pudge had also had his share of adventure.

  "I heard them talking in German, which made it look that way," repliedthe other soberly.

  "They didn't hurt you very much, did they?" asked Billy, looking moreclosely at their jolly comrade.

  "More my feelings than anything else," replied Pudge, shrugging his fatshoulders disconsolately. "They just kept me there while they waited tocatch some sort of signal. I listened, too, and heard some shouting, butthat cloth kept me from making out what it meant. Afterward they set mefree, and disappeared. I didn't know what to make of it when I got tothe hangar here and found the _Sea Eagle_ gone."

  "You even felt afraid they had grabbed our seaplane, didn't you?" askedBilly.

  "Well, it gave me a bad scare at first," Pudge admitted, with charmingfrankness.

  "But you got over that later on, eh, Pudge?"

  "I did when I heard you calling me from away out somewhere in the dark,"explained the other. "Were you on the water at that time, Frank, becauseI figured you must be, with that old fog horn sound coming stealing into me out of that bank of gloom?"

  "Yes, that's where we were, Pudge," Frank told him. "Now, since you'veexplained all about your own doings, we'll satisfy your curiosity bytelling you the particulars of the trial trip of our sample seaplane.Billy, you can do the talking, if you feel equal to it, while we start afire here, and warm up with some coffee."

  A fire was soon sending out a fair amount of heat, and the coffee potplaced upon the top of the little sheet-iron stove gave promise of goodcheer to come. The aviator boys had enjoyed this social cup many timeswhile working on the assembling of the various parts of the seaplane, sothat they had all the necessary accompaniments close by to be used afterthe coffee had boiled.

  Meanwhile Billy had been thrilling Pudge with a recital of all he andFrank had gone through since the fat chum left on his errand. Hepictured the dash down the trestle when the determined German secretagents were trying to break in at the doors, so as to seize and run offwith the wonderful machine. From that he went on to the adventure in thefog and darkness of the night while they lay on the water of the harbor,and the searching parties came upon them.

  Then followed the early morning flight, what amazing things they hadseen when passing over the trenches, the fierce bombardment to whichthey were subjected, the maneuvers of the hostile aircraft, the accidentto the motors, and finally their triumphant return to the hangar.

  Pudge drew a long breath when the story reached its conclusion.

  "And to think that I wasn't along with you when all those thingshappened; it's enough to make anyone weep," he said, looking so downcastthat Frank felt it only right he should try and cheer the poor fellowup.

  "Never mind, Pudge," he told him, "you were doing your duty just as muchas any of us. The fact that we made that grand trip over the firinglines doesn't mean we have any more reason to crow than you do. You canalways say that you once had the great luck to be actually takenprisoner by the Germans."

  "Oh! they treated me all right, only that they kept me a prisoner andwouldn't parole me on my honor not to betray them. Then, that cloth theytied around my face must have been something they picked up, for itseemed like an old rag. But thank goodness it's all over with now."

  "Yes," said Billy lightly, "no use ever borrowing trouble about thingsthat are dead and gone. You know they say the mill will never run againwith the water that is past. But there's someone at the door, Frank."

  "I imagine it must be our friend, Major Nixon," said Frank. "He's heardthat we've been away on some sort of trial spin to test things, and hasdropped around to learn how we made out."

  "He's going to be surprised a whole lot when he hears all we've got totell," said Billy, with a chuckle, as he started over to unfasten thedoor, upon the panel of which those knocks had been sounded.

  It proved that Frank was a good prophet, for the visitor was thered-faced British officer connected with the aviation squad at Dunkirk.His manner betrayed the fact that he had come either to fetch someimportant news or else to be told something along those lines.

  Once again did Billy have to start in. Fortunately, he was a pretty fairstory-teller, and enthusiasm with his subject did more or less to helphim. The Major was duly thrilled with the graphic account of all thestirring events that had come to Frank and Billy since the afternoon.

  Being a man of considerable experience in aviation, though no longerallowed to make an ascent, on account of being subject to dizzy spells,the after effects from a severe accident, Major Nixon at least couldenjoy hearing about the exploits of others.

  Billy, too, was blunt, and not at all inclined to make himself and chumout to be any sort of heroes. He told the story in a most matter-of-factway, though reading between the lines the officer was able to picturethings about as they happened.

  "I'm pleased to hear your
grand account of this great seaplane," he toldthem when Billy at last told of their safe return to the waiting hangar."My word, if only we British had fifty like it, I believe we would be incondition to end the war before three months had passed. No Zeppelinwould dare enter into the same class. What magnificent craft they wouldbe for protecting the home coast from such bombardments as happened notso very long ago."

  "Well," said Frank, thinking to strike while the iron was hot, "we'regoing to ask that from now on our hangar be guarded against any sort ofattack. This seaplane, after certain formalities have been compliedwith, really will belong to the French Government; so it's surely up toyou to defend the property of your ally from a raid."

  "Your point is well taken, Frank," the officer told him. "Every hour ofthe day and night I will see to it that a company of armed guards isstationed around your property, with instructions to defend it againstany force of thieves, desperate spies or any other invaders. They willrue the hour they attempt to capture or injure your wonderful seaplane."

  Major Nixon always made it a point to walk around the big air rover, andcarefully note its various strong points as developed through thepatents of its inventor, Dr. Perkins, U. S. A. He was the only one whohad thus far been given the privilege of seeing the odd machine at closequarters; because the boys had the utmost confidence in his honor as asoldier and a gentleman.

  It seemed to Billy that the Major spent an unusually long time lookingthings over on this occasion. Perhaps he wished to verify thestatements, to which he had just listened, concerning the stability ofthe seaplane and its condition for hard service.

  When he joined them again, Billy also noticed that there was a mostpeculiar expression on the other's red face, of which he could makenothing at the time, although it all came to him afterward.

  "Is the seaplane in condition for another trip that might cover severaltimes the distance you did in this trial spin?" he asked.

  Billy thought this to be merely a casual question, such as anyone mightask after hearing the story just finished; but Frank, able to seefurther, believed there might be a meaning behind it.

  "All I would have to do would be to replace the liquid fuel that we haveused, and after oiling the bearings in a few places, I give you my word,Major Nixon, I would be willing to take the chances of going to Parisand back in the _Sea Eagle_ with as many as two or more companions onthe journey."

  Upon hearing that the other smiled as though the answer pleased him.There were numerous attributes connected with Frank Chester calculatedto appeal to a man of his observation; and considering the fact that hewas an Englishman, usually cold and reserved toward outsiders, the Majorhad become warmly attached to the boy aviators and their fortunes.

  "And now, if you'll bend your heads toward me, because sometimes thevery walls have ears, they say," he remarked impressively, "I'll tellyou a great secret."

  Realizing that this was no joke, Frank, Billy and even Pudge leanedforward, after which Major Nixon went on to say in a cautious tonehardly more than a whisper:

  "It was learned that our friends, the enemy, intended sending outanother one of their exasperating raids with half a dozen Taubes. Theywould drop a few bombs on Dunkirk and Calais and call that a great feat.Now more than _thirty seaplanes_, guided by some of the most daring ofBritish aviators, plan a gigantic raid on the German sea bases inBelgium to-night, _and you can accompany them if you will_!"