Air Service Boys Over The Rhine; Or, Fighting Above The Clouds

by E. J. Craine

  CHAPTER VI

  THE RUE LAFAYETTE RUINS

  Tom Raymond and Jack Parmly alighted from the taxicab more quickly thanthey had gotten in. The chauffeur was anxiously scanning the sky.Excited men, women and children were rushing about, and yet it was notsuch excitement as might be caused by the first shelling of thebeautiful city. It was more, as Tom said afterward, as though thepopulace had been taken by surprise by a new method in the same kind ofwarfare, for an occasional German Zeppelin or a bombing aircraft had,before this, dropped explosives. To these the French had become as muchaccustomed as one ever can to such terrible means of attack.

  But this was different. There was no sign of a Hun aircraft, and, as thechauffeur had said, no police warning had been sounded.

  "What is it?" asked Jack.

  "It is a bombardment, that is all I know," replied the taxicab driver.He spoke in French, a language which the two boys used fairly well,though, as has been said, their accent left much to be desired.

  "You had best seek shelter until it is over," went on the man. "I shalldo so myself." He seemed to pause suggestively, and Jack handed him somemoney.

  "_Merci_," he murmured, and an instant later was careening down thestreet at full speed.

  "He isn't losing any time," said Jack.

  "No. And perhaps we hadn't better, either. Where'd that shell fall?"asked Tom.

  "I don't know, but it must have been somewhere about here, judging bythe noise. Look, the crowd's over that way," and he pointed to the left.

  It was true. Careless of the danger of remaining in the open, men, andwomen, too, as well as some children, were rushing toward the placewhere, undoubtedly, the shell from the German gun had fallen.

  "Might as well take it in," suggested Jack. "I don't want to crawl downinto a cellar or a subway quite yet, even if there's one around here; doyou?"

  "No," answered Tom, "I don't. Go on, I'm with you."

  They followed the throng, but could not resist the impulse to gazeupward now and then for a possible sight of another shell, which, theyhalf hoped, they might observe in time to run for shelter. But of coursethat would have been out of the question. However, quiet succeeded thedin of the explosion, which had been close to the spot where the taxicabhad stopped and the boys had alighted.

  Following the crowd, Tom and Jack came to a side street, and one lookdown it showed the havoc wrought by the German engine of death. Theshell, of what kind or calibre could not be even guessed, had fallen ontop of an establishment where a number of women and girls were employed.And many of these had been killed or wounded. There were heart-rendingscenes, which it is not good to dwell upon. But, even in the terror andhorror, French efficiency was at the fore.

  Ambulances were summoned, a guard was thrown about the building, and thework of aiding the injured and tenderly carrying out the dead was begun.A vast and excited throng increased in size about the building that hadbeen hit and there was much excitement for a time.

  Tom and Jack managed to get to a place where they could get a view ofthe havoc wrought to the structure itself, and the first thing thatimpressed them was mentioned by Jack, who said:

  "They didn't use a very big shell, or there wouldn't have been suchcomparatively slight material damage done."

  "The force was mostly expended inside the building," suggested Tom.

  "Even so, if it had been a big shell, the kind they fired at Verdun andLiege, there'd be a crater here big enough to put a church in. As it is,only the two top stories are wrecked."

  "That's right," agreed Tom. "I wonder what sort of explosive they areusing? Must have been one from a bombing aeroplane."

  "No, monsieur," interrupted a _gendarme_ who was standing near. "Pardon,for speaking," he went on, with a salute, "but there was no airshipobserved over Paris at all. The shell came out of the clear sky."

  "But it couldn't have," insisted Jack, in reply to this policeman. "Ifthe Germans are firing on Paris they must have some place from which toshoot their gun. Either on the ground or from an airship."

  "It was not an airship," insisted the _gendarme_. "Excuse me forinsisting this to one who is in the air service," and he pointed withpride to the uniform the boys wore, "but I have seen several air raids,and I know! There was no airship seen, or I would have blown the alarm,"and he motioned to his whistle which he carried for that purpose.

  "It could have come from an immense airship, so high up as to be beyondobservation," suggested Jack. "That's possible. Probably the Germansdidn't want to be bombarded themselves by aircraft guns here, and theyflew high."

  The police officer shook his head. He was not convinced.

  "But, man, how else could it be?" asked Tom, in some heat. "The Hunshave to rest their gun somewhere, and you--Say, Jack!" he suddenlyexclaimed, his face paling slightly, "you don't suppose they have brokenthrough, do you?"

  "Through our lines about Paris? Never!" cried the police officer. "Theyshall not pass! Our brave soldiers have said it, and they will maintainit. They shall not pass!"

  "And yet," mused Tom, as he looked at the rescue work going on, "whatother explanation is there? It's a bombardment of Paris all right, byGerman shells. If they don't come from an aeroplane, high up, they mustcome--"

  His words were drowned by another great concussion, but farther off. Theground trembled, but there was no sign of flying debris.

  "Another!" cried the _gendarme_. "There goes the gun again!"

  "I didn't hear any gun," observed Jack. "What we heard was the explosionof the shell. Look up, Tom, and see if there's a Hun plane in sight. Ifthere is, pity we haven't our machines right now."

  The boys carried, slung over their shoulders, powerful binoculars, andwith these they swept the sky. Others about them were doing the same. Bythis time the most seriously injured had been carried to the hospitals,and the dead had been removed, while those only slightly hurt, as wellas those in the factory not at all injured, were telling theirexperiences. The second explosion seemed to create great terror.

  "There isn't a sign of a hostile plane," said Tom, as he swept the skywith his glasses.

  "I can't see any either," observed Jack. "And yet--"

  There sounded the unmistakable roar of an aircraft's propeller.

  "There she is!" cried some one.

  But it was one of the first of a series of French planes that hadhastily ascended to search the heavens for a sight of the supposedGerman craft that had dropped the bombs.

  "What a chance we're missing!" murmured Jack.

  "Yes," agreed Tom. "But they're going to have some flight before theylocate that Hun. There isn't so much as a speck in the sky except theFrench craft."

  "Let's go and see where that other explosion was," suggested Jack, whenthey had observed several of the French planes scurrying to and fro overthe city, climbing higher and higher in search of the enemy.

  "I'm with you," announced Tom. "I wonder what dad thinks of this?"

  "It'll be something new for him," said Jack. "He'll have a good chanceto see how his stabilizer works, if they're using it on these planeshere. And maybe he can invent a better one."

  "Perhaps," returned Tom. "But, Jack, do you know I'm worried about onething."

  "I have more than that on my mind, Tom. There are mighty serious timesall about us, and it's terrible to think of those poor women and girlsbeing killed like rats in a trap. I'd just like to be in my plane, andwith a full gun, and then have a go at the Hun who did this."

  "So would I," agreed Tom, as they made their way out of the crowd and inthe direction in which many of the populace were hurrying to go to thescene of the second explosion. "But, Jack, do you know I shouldn't besurprised to learn that the shell was not from an airship at all."

  "Where would it be from then?"

  "The Germans may have massed such a lot of troops at some point oppositethe French lines, that they have broken through and have brought upsome of their heavy guns."

  Jack shook his head.

  "I don't belie
ve they could do it," he said. "You know the nearestGerman line is about seventy miles from Paris. If they had started tobreak through, and had any success at all, the news would have reachedhere before this. And reinforcements would be on the way. No, it can'tbe. There must be some other explanation."

  "But what is it?" asked Tom. "They've got to get nearer than seventymiles to bombard Paris. You know that."

  "I don't think I really _know_ anything about this war," said Jacksimply. "So many strange, things have happened, so many old theorieshave been discarded, and so many new things have been done that we don'tknow where we are."

  "Well that's true. And yet how could the Germans get near enough tobombard Paris without some word of it coming in?"

  "I don't know. But the fact remains. Now let's get to where the secondshell fell. Maybe we can see a fragment of it and--"

  Once again the words were interrupted by an explosion. This time it wascloser and the shock was greater.

  "That's the third!" cried Jack.

  "Yes," added Tom, looking at his watch, "and it's just half an hoursince the first one fell. That indicates they're firing every fifteenminutes. Jack, there's something weird about this."

  "You're right. That last one came rather close, too. I wonder where itfell?"

  A man, passing them, running in a direction away from the sound of thelast explosion, heard Jack's question. He paused long enough to say;"That shell fell in Rue Lafayette. Several buildings are in ruins. Manyhave been killed! It is terrible!"

  "Rue Lafayette!" gasped Jack. "That--"

  "That's where my father is supposed to be staying!" exclaimed Tom."Come! We must see what happened!"