CHAPTER XVII
A CAPTURE FROM THE SKIES
Jack went off to see what he could discover, and Harry, left behind withDick, racked his brains for some means of blocking the plan he was sosure the Germans had made. He was furious at Graves, who had discreditedhim with Colonel Throckmorton, as he believed. He minded the personalunpleasantness involved far less than the thought that his usefulnesswas blocked, for he felt that not information he might bring would bereceived now.
As he looked around it seemed incredible that such things as he wastrying to prevent could even be imagined. After the early rain, the dayhad cleared up warm and lovely, and it was now the most perfect ofthings, a beautiful summer day in England. The little road they hadtaken was a sort of blind alley. It had brought them to a meadow, whencethe hay had already been cut. At the far side of this ran a littlebrook, and all about them were trees. Except for the call of birds, andthe ceaseless hum of insects, there was no sound to break the stillness.It was a scene of peaceful beauty that could not be surpassed anywherein the world. And yet, only a few miles away, at the most, were men whowere planning deliberately to bring death and destruction upon helplessenemies--to rain down death from the skies.
By very contrast to the idyllic peace of all about them, the terrors ofwar seemed more dreadful. That men who went to war should be killed andwounded, bad though it was, still seemed legitimate. But his drivinghome of an attack upon a city all unprepared, upon the manynon-combatants who would be bound to suffer, was another and moredreadful thing. Harry could understand that it was war, that it waspermissible to do what these Germans were planned. And yet--
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden change in the quality of thenoisy silence that the insects made. Just before he noticed it, half adozen bees had been humming near him. Now he heard something thatsounded like the humming of a far vaster bee. Suddenly it stopped, and,as it did, he looked up, his eyes as well as Dick's being drawn upwardat the same moment. And they saw, high above them, an aeroplane with duncolored wings. Its engine had stopped and it was descending now in abeautiful series of volplaning curves.
"Out of essense--he's got to come down," said Harry, appraisingly, toDick. "He'll manage it all right, too. He knows his business through andthrough, that chap."
"I wonder where he'll land," speculated Dick.
"He's got to pick an open space, of course," said Harry. "And therearen't so many of them around here. By Jove!"
"Look! He's certainly coming down fast!" exclaimed Dick.
"Yes--and, I say, I think he's heading for this meadow! Come on--startthat motor, Dick!"
"Why? Don't you want him to see us?"
"I don't mind him seeing us--I don't want him to see the car," explainedHarry. "We'll run it around that bend, out of sight from the meadow."
"Why shouldn't he see it?"
"Because if he's out of petrol, he'll want to take all we've got and wemay not want him to have it. We don't know who he is, yet."
The car was moving as Harry explained. As soon as the meadow was out ofsight, Harry stopped the engine and got out of the car.
"He may have seen it as he was coming down--the car, I mean," he said."But I doubt it. He's got other things to watch. That meadow forone--and all his levers and his wheel. Guiding an aeroplane in a coastlike that down the air is no easy job."
"Have you ever been up, Harry?"
"Yes, often. I've never driven one myself, but I believe I could if Ihad to. I've watched other people handle them so often that I know justabout everything that has to be done.
"That's an English monoplane. I've seen them ever so often," said Dick."It's an army machine, I mean. See it's number? It's just coming insight of us now. Wouldn't you like to fly her though?"
"I'd like to know what it's doing around here," said Harry. "And itseems funny to me if an English army aviator has started out withoutenough petrol in his tank to see him through any flight he might bemaking. And wouldn't he have headed for one of his supply stations assoon as he found out he was running short, instead of coming down incountry like this?"
Dick stared at him.
"Do you think it's another spy?" he asked.
"I don't think anything about it yet, Dick. But I'm not going to becaught napping. That's a Bleriot--and the British army flying corps usesBleriots. But anyone with the money can buy one and make it look like anEnglish army plane. Remember that."
There was no mistaking about the monoplane when it was once down. Itspilot was German; he was unmistakably so. He had been flying very highand when he landed he was still stiff from the cold.
"Petrol!" he cried eagerly, as he saw the two boys. "Where can I getpetrol? Quick! Answer me!"
Harry shot a quick glance at Dick.
"Come on," he said, beneath his breath. "We've got to get him and tiehim up."
The aviator, cramped and stiffened as he was by the intense cold thatprevails in the high levels where he had been flying, was no match forthem. As they sprang at him his face took on the most ludicrousappearance of utter surprise. Had he suspected that they would attackhim he might have drawn a pistol. As it was, he was helpless before thetwo boys, both in the pink of condition and determined to capture him.He made a struggle, but in two minutes he was laying roped, tied, andutterly helpless. He was not silent; he breathed the most fearfulthreats as to what would happen to them. But neither boy paid anyattention to him.
"We've got to get him to the car," said Harry. "Can we drag him?"
"Yes. But if we loosen his feet a little, he could walk," suggestedDick. "That would be ever so much easier for him, and for us too. Ishould hate to be dragged. Let's make him walk."
"Right--and a good idea!" said Harry. He loosened the ropes about theaviator's feet, and helped him to stand.
"March!" he said. "Don't try to get away--I've got a leading rope, yousee."
He did have a loose end of rope, left over from a knot, and with this heproceeded to lead the enraged German to the automobile. It looked forall the world as if he were leading a dog, and for a moment Dick doubledup in helpless laughter. The whole episode had it's comic side, but itwas serious, too.
"Now we've got to draw off the gasoline in the tank in this bucket,"said Harry. The German had been bestowed in the tonneau, and made ascomfortable as possible with rugs and cushions. His feet were securelytied again, and there was no chance for him to escape.
"What are you going to do?" asked Dick. "Are you going to try to fly inthat machine?"
"I don't know, yet. But I'm going to have it ready, so that I can if Ineed to," said Harry. "That Bleriot maybe the saving of us yet, Dick.There's no telling what we shall have to do."
Even as he spoke, Harry was making new plans, rendered possible by thisgift from the skies. He was beginning, at last, to see a way tocircumvent the Germans. What he had in mind was risky, certainly, andmight prove perilous in the extreme. But he did not let that aspect ofthe situation worry him. His one concern was to foil the terrible planthat the Germans had made, and he was willing to run any risk that wouldhelp him to do so.
"The Zeppelin is coming here to Bray Park--it's going to land here,"said Harry. "And if it ever gets away from here there will be no way ofstopping it from doing all the damage they have planned, or most of it.Thanks to Graves, we wouldn't be believed if we tell what we know--we'dprobably just be put in the guard house. So we've got to try to stop itourselves."
They had reached the Bleriot by that time. Harry filled the tank, andlooked at the motor. Then he sat in the driver's seat and practiced withthe levers, until he decided that he understood them thoroughly. And, ashe did this, he made his decision.
"I'm going into Bray Park tonight," he said. "This is the only way toget in."
"And I'm going with you," announced Dick.
CHAPTER XVIII
VINDICATION
At first Harry refused absolutely to consent to Dick's accompanying him,but after a long argument he was forced to yield.
"Why should you take all the risks when it isn't your own country,especially?" asked Dick, almost sobbing. "I've got a right to go! And,besides, you may need me."
That was true enough, as Harry realized. Moreover, he had beeninvestigating the Bleriot, and he discovered that it was one of the newsafety type, with a gyroscope device to insure stability. That day wasalmost without wind, and therefore it seemed that if such an excursioncould ever be safe, this was the time. He consented in the end, andlater he was to be thankful that he had.
Once the decision was taken, they waited impatiently for the return ofJack Young. Harry foresaw protests from Jack when he found out what theymeant to do, but for him there as an easy answer--there was room in theaeroplane for only two people, and there was no way of carrying an extrapassenger.
It was early dusk when Jack returned, and he had the forethought tobring a basket of food with him--cold chicken, bread and butter, andmilk, as well as some fruit.
"I didn't find out very much," he said, "except this. Someone fromLondon has been asking about you both. And this much more--at least adozen people have come down to Bray Park today from London."
"Did you see any sign of soldiers from London?"
"No," said Jack.
He was disappointed when he found out what they meant to do, but he tookhis disappointment pluckily when he saw that there was no help for it.Harry explained very quietly to both Jack and Dick what he meant to doand they listened, open mouthed, with wonder.
"You'll have your part to play, Jack," said Harry. "Somehow I can'tbelieve that the letter I wrote to Colonel Throckmorton last night won'thave some effect. You have got to scout around in case anyone comes andtell them all I've told you. You understand thoroughly, do you?"
"Yes," said Jack, quietly. "When are you going to start?"
"There's no use going up much before eleven o'clock," said Harry."Before that we'd be seen, and, besides, if a Zepplin is coming, itwouldn't be until after that. My plan is to scout to the east and try topick her up and watch her descend. I think I know just about whereshe'll land--the only place where there's room enough for her. Andthen-"
He stopped, and the others nodded, grimly.
"I imagine she'll have about a hundred and twenty miles to travel in astraight line--perhaps a little less," said Harry. "She can make that inabout two hours, or less. Big as they are, those airships are painted sothat they're almost invisible from below. So if she comes by night,getting here won't be as hard a job as it seems at first thought."
Then the three of them went over in every detail the plan Harry hadformed. Dick and Jack took their places in the monoplane and rehearsedevery movement they would have to make.
"I can't think of anything else that we can provide for now," saidHarry, at last. "Of course, we can't tell what will come up, and itwould be wonderful if everything came out just as we have planned. Butwe've provided for everything we can think of. You know where you are tobe, Jack?"
"Yes."
"Then you'd better start pretty soon. Good-bye, Jack!" He held out hishand. "We could never have worked this out without you. If we succeedyou'll have a big part in what we've done."
A little later Jack said good-bye in earnest, and then there was nothingto do but wait. About them the voices of the insects and frogs changed,with the darkening night. The stars came out, but the night was a darkone. Harry looked at his watch from time to time and at last he got up.
"Time to start!" he said.
He felt a thrill of nervousness as the monoplane rose into the air.After all, there was a difference between being the pilot and sittingstill in the car. But he managed very well, after a few anxious momentsin the ascent. And once they were clear of the trees and climbingswiftly, in great spirals, there was a glorious sensation of freedom.Dick caught his breath at first, then he got used to the queer motion,and cried aloud in his delight.
Harry headed straight into the east when he felt that he was highenough. And suddenly he gave a cry.
"Look!" he shouted in Dick's ear. "We didn't start a moment too soon.See her--that great big cigar-shaped thing, dropping over there?"
It was the Zepplin--the battleship of the air. She was dipping down,descending gracefully, over Bray Park.
"I was right!" cried Harry. "Now we can go to work at once--we won'thave to land and wait!"
He rose still higher, then flew straight for Bray Park. They were high,but, far below, with lights moving about her, they could see the hugebulk of the airship, as long as a moderate sized ocean liner. Shepresented a perfect target.
"Now!" said Harry.
And at once Dick began dropping projectiles they had found in theaeroplane--sharply pointed shells of steel. Harry had examined these--hefound they were really solid steel shot, cast like modern rifle bullets,and calculated to penetrate, even without explosive action, when droppedfrom a height.
From the first two that Dick dropped there was no result. But with thefalling of the third a hissing sound came from below, and as Dickrapidly dropped three more, the noise increased. And they could see thelights flying--plainly the men were running from the monster. Its bulklessened as the gas escaped from the great bag and then, in a momentmore, there was a terrific explosion that rocked the monoplaneviolently. Had Harry not been ready for it, they might have been broughtdown.
But he had been prepared, and was flying away.
Down below there was now a great glare from the burning wreckage,lighting up the whole scene. And suddenly there was a sharp breaking outof rifle fire. At first he thought the men below had seen them, and werefiring upward. But in a moment he saw the truth. Bray Park had beenattacked from outside!
Even before they reached the ground, in the meadow where Harry and Jackhad emerged from the tunnel, and Harry and Dick saw, to their wonder anddelight, that the ground swarmed with khaki-clad soldiers. In the samemoment Jack ran up to them.
"The soldiers have the place surrounded!" he cried, exultingly. "Theymust have believed your letter after all, Harry! Come on-there's a boathere! Aren't you coming over?"
They were rowing for the other shore before the words were well spoken.And, once over, they were seized at once by two soldiers.
"More of them," said one of the soldiers. "Where's the colonel?"
Without trying to explain, they let themselves be taken to where ColonelThrockmorton stood near the burning wreckage. At the sight of Harry hisface lighted up.
"What do you know about this?" he asked, sternly, pointing to thewrecked airship.
Harry explained in a few words.
"Very good," said the colonel. "You are under arrest--you broke arrestthis morning. I suppose you know that is a serious offense, whether youroriginal arrest was justified or not?"
"I felt I had to do it, sir," said Harry. He had caught the glint of asmile in the colonel's eyes.
"Explain yourself, sir," said the colonel. "Report fully as to yourmovements today. Perhaps I shall recommend you for a metal instead ofcourt marshalling you, after all."
And so the story came out, and Harry learned that the colonel had neverbelieved Graves, but had chosen to let him think he did.
"The boy Graves is a German, and older than he seems," said the colonel."He was here as a spy. He is in custody now, and you have broken up adangerous raid and a still more dangerous system of espionage. If youhadn't come along with your aeroplane, we would never have stopped theraid. I had ordered aviators to be here, but it is plain that somethinghas gone wrong. You have done more than well. I shall see to it thatyour services are properly recognized. And now be off with you, and getsome sleep. You may report to me the day after tomorrow!"
THE END
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