"Right you are!" declared Harry. "I'd almost forgotten him!"

"All right, Dave," called Ned, giving the levers a touch to bring the Eagle clear of some treetops on a rise of ground. "Coming up?"

"In just a minute," replied Dave from his position. "I'm resting easily, and I think I see the camp where your comrade is located. Do you suppose we might pick him up as we fly over the place?"

"That would be a risky and nervy thing to do!" declared Ned.

"Nothing so risky about it that I can see," protested Dave. "I'm all right here, and if you'll pa.s.s that line down I'll try to manage to drop the loop where he can get it if we find the right spot."

"I believe Jimmie could do it?" cried Harry enthusiastically.

"All right," a.s.sented Ned, "we can't any more than fail!"

Although the feat that the boys proposed attempting would call for considerable skill, and was certainly not lacking in danger to all parties, they were not daunted. They had determined to rescue their friend at whatever cost and knew that ordinary means would prove useless.

"Can you see Jimmie anywhere about that camp?" asked Ned, again handing the gla.s.ses to Harry. "Take a good look," he advised.

"I believe I can see him!" announced Harry, peering through the binoculars. "He's walking out toward the edge of the hill toward the same spot from which he signalled to us. Some one's with him!"

"Then we'll try it?" determinedly Ned continued.

For a few moments the boys rode in absolute silence with only the whine of the motors breaking the stillness. The Eagle was working perfectly with not a single hitch about the delicate mechanism.

As they approached the two Uhlans Ned slackened the speed of the motors. Dave dangled the extra loop in a tempting manner.

A rifle shot was heard. The Eagle rose suddenly relieved of weight.

CHAPTER XI

THE FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

"Suppose so?" questioned Fritz as Jimmie made his announcement that the Germans were shooting at the persons in the aeroplane.

"Well, suppose so!" repeated Jimmie indignantly. "Why do you say 'Suppose so'? Where do you get that idea?"

A shrug of the shoulders was the only answer.

"I say," continued Jimmie with still less patience, "what's the big idea--'suppose so'? Do you want them to shoot those boys?"

"I care not," was the answer. "The ones in the aeroplane are trying to escape are they not? Why, then, should they not come back?"

"Well, why shouldn't they get away?" questioned Jimmie.

"Perhaps they have information for your friends, the Russians!"

"Oh, you give me a fine large pain!" stormed the now thoroughly aroused lad. "Every time you see a shadow, you jump on it for a spy. Is your old information so precious that n.o.body must know it? What makes you so suspicious of everybody and everything?"

"It is not right that the enemy should have knowledge of the movements of the Imperial army," replied Fritz. "That is all."

"And that's quite enough to make me feel that I'd like to be a spy once just for pure spite!" declared Jimmie. "You and your spy business make me tired! We Boy Scouts don't care a rap about your old information!"

"Perhaps," was the smiling response. But Jimmie saw in the smile and the single word a doubt of his statement. He was furious.

He realized, however, that he could gain nothing by a loss of temper.

It was with a great effort that he controlled his temper and forced himself to watch the flight of the aeroplane. Deep in his heart the boy was hoping ardently for the success of those in the machine, for he was now fully convinced that it was Ned and his comrades who had attempted the flight. He watched every movement with great interest.

When he saw the figure of his friend hanging to the truss rod beneath the Eagle, Jimmie's heart almost stopped beating, so great was his anxiety for the other's safety. As the sound of the rifle shots reached his ears the lad turned away his head, for he did not in the least doubt that the marksmen had been successful.

When he again looked toward the speeding plane he danced with joy, for he saw the figure still clinging to its perilous position and knew that by great good fortune the chum he loved so dearly was unharmed.

Both Jimmie and Fritz gazed eagerly toward the soaring plane, and observed with great interest the movements incident to Jack's rescue.

"Ha!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Fritz, drawing a deep breath, as the two saw that Jack had regained the deck of the Eagle. "He's a plucky boy!"

"You bet he's a plucky boy!" replied Jimmie, condescending to administer a friendly slap upon the Uhlan's shoulder. "They don't make 'em any more so! And he's a Boy Scout, too!" he added.

"But there is still another boy under the machine," observed Fritz.

"Oh, he'll get out all right!" was Jimmie's confident answer. "You'll have to go some with your whole army to beat four Boy Scouts!"

"Maybe," admitted Fritz with another smile. "But I see that your friends are heading this way. Perhaps they intend paying you a little visit before we start to Verdun," he added.

"They sure are headed this way," the lad said. "And the fellow underneath is riding that way on purpose. I wonder why?"

"Who can tell why a boy does anything?" was Fritz's comment.

"I can tell you why Boy Scouts do a great many things," declared Jimmie vehemently. "They do the things that are right and square because it is best and because they are living up to the rules of conduct that they are taught. That's why they do those things!"

"And do the Boy Scout rules teach them to be spies?"

"Now you're talking through your hat again!" was the lad's answer.

"Can't you ever get it out of your head that we are not interested in your war? We don't want to mix up in your private sc.r.a.ps."

Fritz wagged his head sagely and smiled in a manner that spoke more eloquently than words of his disbelief in Jimmie's protestations.

"All right," continued the boy, "you don't have to believe it if you don't want to, but if you live long enough we'll show you!"

"You say 'We,'" responded the soldier. "It would appear that you expect your friends to join you presently for some enterprise."

"Well, it looks as if they expect to come pretty close to this place, whether I expect them to or not," observed Jimmie, turning his eyes toward the approaching plane and shading his eyes with a hand.

"We shall return to the stables," decided Fritz. "Come."

A movement of the Uhlan attracted Jimmie's attention. The lad saw a glint of steel and wheeled to observe the erstwhile peaceable man turned into an entirely different sort of individual, with his short saber held in his hand in a threatening manner.

For a moment the boy contemplated flight. An instant's reflection, however, showed him the folly of such an attempt. He knew that, although he was fleet of foot and believed that he could easily outrun the other, he would be no match for a bullet if one should be sent after him. Besides, he saw that his friends could not possibly reach him with the plane if he should leave the elevated position on which he stood.