"All right, let's get away from here as quickly as we can. If we hold a course a little south of west we ought to be able to follow the general line of the railroad and be able to overtake or meet Jimmie and Dave before they reach Verdun and are forced into the fighting."

Accordingly Jack increased the speed of the motors and brought the Eagle to the course suggested. Presently they were flying at good speed.

"Ned, I'm afraid," Harry said after some time. "Let's go lower."

"What's the matter, Harry? Does this alt.i.tude affect you?"

"Not in the least, except that it's cold. But you see that unless we fly lower the first rays of the rising sun will strike us and we can be seen and located by any one on the ground. They will still be in the deep shadow and we will be in the brighter sunlight."

"I guess you're right, Harry," replied Ned, "and your suggestion is a good one. Suppose we do seek a lower level, Jack."

"All right, hang on to your eye teeth and we'll get onto the toboggan,"

replied the lad at the levers. "Going down!"

"It's plain we'll have to run quite low from now on," said Ned, as he laid aside the binoculars. "Daylight is coming on rapidly."

"We'll have to find a spot uninhabited enough for us to hide during the daytime," ventured Harry. "We can't let them see us."

"You're right," acquiesced Ned. "Suppose you take the gla.s.ses and tell me if that dark spot ahead there looks like a good spot to hide in. It appears to be a forest or at least woods of some sort."

"That's what it is," declared Harry, after an extended observation. "I don't altogether like the looks of the place, for there's a road of some sort running near the woods, but it's perhaps better than no place at all. If we can get to earth without being discovered we can hide behind those trees until dark again."

"Keep a sharp lookout, Ned, while Jack tries to land," advised Harry.

"I'll watch from this side and if we see any one who might observe us we can easily be on our way again."

Lower and lower circled the plane under the guidance of Jack, whose experience in handling the great craft well fitted him for the task.

With scarcely a b.u.mp the machine rested in a little grade not far from a brook overshadowed by the arching branches of trees.

"There!" sighed Ned, clambering from the fuselage and springing to earth. "The Eagle is a good little machine, all right, but it seems good to get the ground under foot once more."

"And I'm glad that we came down when we did, for a little longer up there," said Jack, pointing to the graying eastern sky, "and we'd have been fair targets for any old 'Schutzenfest' these chaps wanted."

"Right you are!" declared Harry. "And now what I'd like would be a real old fashioned imitation of three boys eating a hearty breakfast.

Just a plain, common, every-day square meal, I mean."

"This is a pretty place," observed Ned, "all sheltered and obscure. We ought to be able to get a dandy bath there in that brook and then make whatever breakfast we want off the supplies we got from Peremysl."

"My appet.i.te is just about now equal to that of our absent and red-headed friend McGraw," said Harry with a laugh. "I'm hungry."

"A bath first," cried Ned, beginning to disrobe, "then the eats."

Soon the lads had divested themselves of the German uniforms and were enjoying the plunge in the cool, clear water of the brook. Presently they emerged from the stream and again donned the uniforms they had taken from the room that was intended as a prison.

"Now," said Ned, as the three were again dressed, "what shall be the menu of the morning? With this glorious sun peeping over the tops of the hills to the eastward of us we ought to have a fine breakfast. The weather looks mighty fine."

"Yes," agreed Jack, "but it don't sound very fine. I thought I heard a rumble of thunder just now. Did you hear it?"

"No," replied Ned, "I can't say I did. Was it thunder?"

"Sounded like it," declared Jack. "There it goes again!"

"That don't sound like thunder exactly," said Harry. "I wonder what it can be. I thought it was a wagon pa.s.sing a bridge."

Ned's face went rather pale as he faced his comrades.

"Boys," he stated, "I believe that must be the sound of cannon firing we hear. It is coming more regularly now!"

"Then we're pretty close to Verdun," was Harry's rejoinder.

"Yes, that's my idea, too," said Ned. "Let's get breakfast and be prepared for whatever may happen. We don't know what may come along so close to the lines as we are now, and we must not be napping."

"I'll get a bucket of water from the brook," volunteered Jack, "while you and Harry make ready the fire and get out the provisions."

"There's plenty of wood hereabouts, I see," put in Harry, "so I'll gather some wood for a fire and have it burned down to coals in no time."

"I rather think," objected Ned, "that we should not use wood."

"And why not, if you please, Mr. Scout Master?" asked Harry.

"Because wood lying on the ground has more or less dampness in it and is apt to give off a smoke that might be seen by some one."

"Always on the lookout for trouble!" declared Jack, as he took the bucket and started for the brook. "Well, make a fire of any thing."

"Quite the contrary, Jack, as you know," protested Ned, laughingly.

"I'm only trying to avoid trouble as much as possible, and a smoke now in this place would be a direct invitation to some one to investigate."

"Right again," returned Jack, "go to the head of the cla.s.s."

"What shall I use, then, if not wood?" asked Harry.

"Make a gasoline stove like we used to do when we had plenty of fuel,"

answered Ned. "We have sufficient so we can spare a small amount."

"Perhaps you'd better make the stove, Ned," said Harry. "You're better at it than I am. You've had more experience. I'll get the supplies out of the boxes. We'll want coffee, of course."

"Yes," agreed Ned, "bring some coffee, to be sure, and try to find that tin of bacon. I feel just like having a strip of bacon done nice and crisp. It begins to smell good already."

"How'd you like a nice Spanish omelette and French fried potatoes with some hot Parker House rolls and lots of rich yellow b.u.t.ter?"

"Hush, boy, you'll have me so fussed up I can't light the fire,"

protested Ned. "I guess Jimmie's affliction is catching. I'm certainly getting an appet.i.te or the appet.i.te is getting me!"

He proceeded to at once prepare the "stove" by sharpening a stick about the size of a broom handle. When it was completed he thrust the sharp end into the soft earth and then withdrew it, leaving a hole about a foot or more deep. Another hole was made a short distance from the first, but slanted so that the lower ends would meet. The second hole was plugged up with a bit of turf.

"Now, then," said Ned, as he finished the first 'stove', "we want some gas. Can you bring it or shall I get it?"

"Here's the can," answered Harry, "I can fetch it. Make another."

Jack meanwhile had returned with the bucket of water and had filled the coffee pot, into which he put a quant.i.ty of coffee. This was then placed over one of the "stoves," while on the other was placed a bucket containing a quant.i.ty of beans, together with some of the cereal "sausage" found amongst the Russian supplies.