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

by E. J. Craine

  CHAPTER IX

  VARIOUS THEORIES

  Two things were at once apparent to Tom and Jack as they hurried out oftheir _pension_. One was that the people of Paris were not seekingshelter after the warnings as quickly as they had done at first, and theother was that there was evident curiosity on all sides to see just whatdamage would be done, and from which direction it would come. With analmost reckless disregard for their safety, if not for their lives, theParisians fairly flocked out of doors to see the results of the Huns'bombardment. It was in vain that the police and military urged them toseek safety in cellars or the places provided.

  This time only one shell fell near enough to Tom and Jack to make theexplosion heard, and that was so faint as to indicate that it was somedistance off. What damage had been done could only be guessed at.

  "But we'll find out where it is, and go take a look," said Jack.

  "Maybe it'll hit right around here if we stay," suggested his chum.

  "Well, I'm not taking that chance," Jack went on. "Let's find out whereit landed this time."

  This they could do through their acquaintance with the militaryauthority of the district where they were then staying. A telephonicreport was at once received, giving the quarter where the shell hadlanded. It had fallen in one of the public squares, and though a bighole had been torn in the ground and pavement, and several personskilled and wounded, no material damage had been done. As for anymilitary effect of the shell, it was nil.

  The firing was done in the early evening hours, and Tom and Jack learnedthat, almost to the second, the shots were fifteen minutes apart.

  There was one theory that an underground passage had been made in somemanner to within a comparatively few miles of Paris, and from that pointan immense mortar sent up the shells in a long trajectory.

  Another theory was that traitors had let the Germans through the Frenchlines at a certain place, so they could get near enough to Paris tobombard it.

  And of course the gigantic airship theory had its adherents.

  But, for a time at least, no one would admit the possibility of a gunwith range sufficient to shoot into Paris from the nearest German lines.The range, sixty-odd miles, seemed too great for practical belief,however nicely it might work out in theory.

  "And you must remember that the gun, if gun it is, couldn't be in thevery first German line," said Tom, who had studied ordnance. "It must beat least ten miles back, to allow for sufficient protection from theFrench guns. That would make it shoot about seventy-two miles, and Idon't believe any gun on earth could do it!"

  "Neither do I," added Jack. "We've got to dope out something else. Butthis isn't finding your father, Tom."

  "I know it, and I don't mind admitting I'm clean discouraged about him,Jack. If he's alive why doesn't he send me some word? He must know whereI am, and, even if he doesn't know I'm in Paris, they would forward anymessage he might send to our aeroplane headquarters."

  "That's right. But what are you going to do about it?"

  "I hardly know. He may still be in Paris, but it's such a big city thatit's hard to find him. Then, too, I'm thinking of something else."

  "What's that, Tom?"

  "Well, dad may not want us to know where he is."

  "Why in the world would he want such a thing as that?"

  "Well, he might be followed, or bothered by spies. Perhaps he has comeover to do some special work for the French or English army people.Maybe a spy was after him just before the big German gun wrecked his RueLafayette house. He may have considered this a good chance to play dead,and that's why he doesn't send some word to me."

  "That's a good theory. But it isn't very comforting."

  "No, but there isn't much comfort in war times. We've got to make thebest of it."

  "I guess you're right, Tom. Now do you want to go look at the latestwork of the Hun?"

  "Might as well. The bombardment seems over for the night."

  "I wonder why it is they don't fire after dark."

  "Probably afraid of giving the location of their cannon away by theflashes. They'd be seen at night; but during the day, if they usedsmokeless powder, or a smoke screen in case they can't get smokelesspowder for such a big gun, it would be hard to locate the place wherethe shots come from. So we're comparatively safe after dark, it seems."

  Later this was not to prove to be the case, but it was when Tom spoke.

  The boys went to the section of the city in which the last shells hadfallen. While comparatively little damage had been done, a number ofpersons had been killed and injured, children among them. Some fragmentsof the shells were picked up, but not enough to make certain anyparticular theory in regard to the gun.

  "But if it's a gun, where could it be placed?" queried Tom of anofficer. "The Germans haven't broken through, have they?"

  The French officer shook his head.

  "No. And please God they will never get through," he said. "But there isa gun somewhere, I am sure of that."

  "Do you mean to say within ten or fifteen miles of Paris?" Jack wantedto know.

  "I can not be sure. It is true there may have been traitors. We havethem to contend with as well as spies. But our line is intact, and at nopoint along it, near enough to it to fire into Paris from an ordinarygun, can the Germans be found."

  "Then it must be an extraordinary gun," suggested Jack.

  "It may well be--perhaps it is. Yet, as I said, there may have beentraitors. There may be a gun concealed somewhere closer to Paris than wedream. But we shall find it, messieurs! Who knows? Perhaps you may bethe very ones yourselves to locate it, for we are depending on yousoldiers of the air."

  And it was not long before this talk came back to Tom and Jack withimpressive recollection.

  And meanwhile the bombardment of Paris went on, usually during the lateafternoon or early morning hours--never at night, as yet.

  Yet with all the frightfulness of which the unscrupulous Huns werecapable, it was impossible to dampen for long the spirits of the French.Soon they grew almost to disregard the falling shells from the hiddenGerman gun. Of course there were buildings destroyed, and lives werelost, while many were frightfully maimed. But if Germany depended onthis, as she seemed to, to strike terror to the hearts of the braveFrenchmen the while a great offensive was going on along the westernfront, it failed. For the people of Paris did not allow themselves to bedisheartened, any more than the people of London did when the Zeppelinsraided them.

  Indeed one Paris paper even managed to extract some humor out of thegrim situation. For one day, following the bombardment, a journalappeared with "scare" headlines, telling about eleven "lives" beinglost. But when one read the account it was discovered that the liveswere those of chickens.

  And this actually happened. A shell fell on the outlying section andblew up a henhouse, killing nearly a dozen fowls and blowing a big holein the ground.

  There were other occasions, too, when the seemingly superhumanbombardment was not worth the proverbial candle. For the shells fell insections where no damage was done, and where no lives paid the toll.Once a shell went through a house, passing close to an aged woman, butnot hurting her, to explode harmlessly in a field near by.

  And it was with such accounts as these that the Paris papers kept up thespirits of the inhabitants. Meanwhile the Germans kept firing away atquarter-hour intervals, when the gun was in action.

  "I wonder if there is any chance of us getting in at the game?"questioned Jack of Tom one night.

  "I shouldn't be surprised. As that officer said, they'll have to dependon the aircraft to locate the gun, I'm thinking."

  "And you think we have a chance?"

  "I don't see why not," replied Tom. "We've been off duty long enough.I'd like to get back behind the propeller again, and with a drum or twoof bullets to use in case we sight a Hun plane. Let's go and send wordto our captain that we've had enough of leave, and want to go outagain."

  "All right. But what about your father?"

  "Well
, I don't know what to say," answered Tom. "I'm about convincedthat he wasn't killed, or even hurt, in any of the bombardments ofParis. But where he is I don't know. I guess, as a matter of duty toFrance, I'll have to let my private affairs go and--"

  At that instant there sounded an explosion the character of which thetwo boys well knew by this time.

  "The big gun again!" cried Jack.

  "Yes, and they're firing after dark!" added Tom. "This may be just thechance the airmen have been waiting for--to locate the piece by theflashes. Come on out and see what's doing!"

  Together they rushed from their room.