Concluding that his only hope of escape lay in patient waiting, the lad turned reluctantly from his position and prepared to accompany Fritz as he had been directed. He felt that he was giving up the only certain means of getting away from the regiment he now thoroughly hated.

"Gee!" he exclaimed petulantly, stepping forward a pace. "It seems as if the whole bloomin' German army was determined that I should get mixed up in the war! First it's von Liebknecht and now it's you and Otto keeping after me, and I never did a thing to any of you!"

"No?" queried Fritz. "But you do not say what you would like to do or what you would do if you had the opportunity."

"All right; you win the argument!" said Jimmie in a hopeless tone.

"Then we go now to care for the horses and prepare for the trip to Verdun," decided Fritz, with a twist of the keen blade he held.

Entertaining visions of what might happen if Fritz became too careless in his attentions with the saber, Jimmie cast a last look over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching airship. He again took a hesitating step toward the German, as if to accompany him.

Fritz, believing that Jimmie was preparing to follow without further parley, began replacing his saber in its scabbard. For an instant his attention was concentrated on the task in hand.

That instant was enough for the alert boy. With a sudden leap forward he threw his weight into a low tackle and clasped his arms about the other's legs. Both came heavily to earth.

Jimmie, having the advantage, was first to rise. As he jumped to his feet he again turned to look for the oncoming plane.

The hum of the motors was plainly discernable. He thought he could even hear a sharp command given by one of the boys in charge.

Almost overhead he saw the great wings outspread and knew that he had been sighted and that his comrades were trying to afford him the opportunity of escape he so much desired.

One glance revealed the strange lad clinging to a perilous seat on the truss rod. With one hand the newcomer was balancing himself, while with the other he was shaking out into plain view the noose trailing at the end of a line hanging from the under side of the plane.

His actions clearly indicated that he wanted Jimmie to prepare to grasp the loop and be drawn up to the airship as they rose above the camp of Germans. Jimmie needed no second invitation.

Without paying the slightest heed to the efforts of Fritz to right himself from the undignified position into which Jimmie's onslaught had placed him, the lad dashed forward to a point from which he thought he could most advantageously grasp the trailing loop.

Nearer and nearer came the dangling line. The boy, under the extreme excitement of the moment, began to imagine the feel of the rope in his hands, and reviewed the motions he would have to make in order to seize the line and be drawn up to his comrades.

He gave a brief thought of thankfulness to the gymnasium training Ned Nestor had so consistently urged upon the members of his patrol, and flexed his biceps in antic.i.p.ation of the strain they were to receive.

Ned seemed to be handling the Eagle with consummate skill. He had brought the machine to an alt.i.tude that was nicely calculated to afford Jimmie just the opportunity needed without trailing the line upon the ground, yet not having it out of the lad's reach.

So absorbed were all the lads that they had not observed the activity about the German camp caused by the approach of the aeroplane. They failed to see several marksmen running toward their position with rifles ready for instant use and with determination upon their faces.

For the moment the lads seemed to forget that they were approaching a camp of men who suspected them of being Russian spies and who would hesitate at nothing to prevent their carrying out their designs.

Nearer and nearer swept the Eagle with her strange purpose. At length Jimmie's hand was outstretched to grasp the loop of line Dave had so cunningly fashioned. He started on a run in the same direction the airship was going, for the purpose of lessening the shock of being picked up from a standstill by the airship that was still moving at a good speed. He felt the rope within his hand, and then he heard a shot.

Instantly realizing that their maneuver had been discovered, the lad knew that the soldiers would endeavor by every means within their power to frustrate the designs of himself and comrades. Yet he was determined to make the attempt at escape, desperate though it was.

He felt himself lifted from his feet, and knew that his grasp on the rope was all that was keeping him from being dashed to earth again.

Another rifle shot rang out, and the boy knew that the Germans were preparing to concentrate their fire upon himself and comrades.

This time he heard the crash of a bullet as it ripped its way through one of the wings of the Eagle.

In another instant the lad saw by a quick glance earthward that the Eagle was not rising rapidly enough to get away from the cl.u.s.ter of tents toward which it was heading. He knew that Ned was doing all possible to so manipulate the wings of the monster craft that the tents would be cleared, and hoped ardently that he might be able to do so.

As the Eagle began a sloping ascent that promised to accomplish the purpose of its pilot another rifle in the hands of a German soldier spoke its sharp command and another bullet sped toward the little party.

A clang of lead upon the metal under part of the fuselage told Jimmie, hanging in midair, that the last marksman had been more successful than his companions, and he hoped that no damage was done.

His surprise was indeed great to feel a great trembling and shaking of the rope he grasped. He glanced upward to determine the cause.

His astonishment at observing Dave slipping down the rope was so great that he nearly loosed his own grip.

Lower and lower came the other boy until he reached the knot of the loop he had tied for Jimmie's benefit. There he hung a moment. Jimmie looked toward the earth again and saw that they were nearly over the tents. Mentally deciding that they would clear the tops, the lad again glanced aloft to observe the strange boy.

It seemed that coincidentally with another shot the Eagle suddenly jumped miles high into the sky. Then he found himself b.u.mping about with the strange lad in a world of canvas with several other people.

By a strange freak of fortune the last shot had severed the rope by which the two boys clung to the airship and had precipitated them straight onto the tent. There they floundered for a time.

"Ha!" Jimmie heard as he opened his eyes. "Another recruit!"

CHAPTER XII

TEMPTATIONS

"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Harry excitedly, grasping a portion of the framework of the Eagle to a.s.sist in keeping his balance as the great plane shot skyward. "What's coming off here, anyhow?"

"What's the matter, Ned?" gasped Jack with equal astonishment.

Ned was too busy, however, just at that moment to give a suitable reply to the queries. The antics of the Eagle were occupying all his attention, and he made extreme efforts to prevent the craft and its freight from being dashed to an ignominious end in the midst of the camp of Germans who had succeeded in making a prisoner of Jimmie.

Instinctively the lad knew that something had happened to the boys beneath the machine, although at the moment he was unable to see just what calamity had befallen them.

With a great leap the Eagle soared away from the camp amidst the humming of bullets from the rifles of the angry Uhlans, who fired rapidly but without proper aim. Accustomed as they were to shooting at targets on a level with themselves, they found it an entirely different proposition to properly aim their weapons when their quarry was at some distance above the earth.

Several of the missiles, however, struck the fuselage and wings of the Eagle, causing considerable alarm. The boys were devoutly thankful that none of the leaden messengers struck a vital part.

"Whew!" breathed Harry as the Eagle drew away from the scene. "We didn't have much margin that time, I declare!"

"I guess that next time we go through a German camp we'll just hang an anchor out overboard and hook up everything we can as we pa.s.s,"

suggested Jack, peering back at the camp they had just left.

"Better get Dave out of his perilous position as soon as we can," put in Harry, remembering their new-found friend who had done such valiant service. "He'll be tired by this time, with all this rough riding and bouncing about we have been giving him."

"Yes," added Jack with interest, "you certainly started upward with the little old Eagle going on two wheels. You're some driver, Ned."

"Let's make ready to help him out," persisted Harry.

"No use," objected Ned, shaking his head disconsolately, "he isn't there. I'm sure he dropped off back there at camp."

"What!" cried Harry in amazement. "Why do you think that?"