As Jimmie spoke he glanced back toward Dave, sitting with the others.

"Now, you just sit there, Dave," Jimmie chattered on, "until I tell you to move. Remember," he added, "I'm doing this part of it. All you are to do is to follow instructions. You're better at the la.s.so than you are at pouring coffee!"

"Yes, I guess that's the truth," admitted Dave with a mock sign of resignation at finding his short-comings flaunted before strangers.

It was well that the meal was served in the open, for Jimmie poured until every cup ran over, thereby wasting much of the liquid.

"Have some more, won't you?" he asked, grasping the coffee pot.

"Just a little more," replied Otto. "I never had better."

"Why," cried Jimmie in a surprised tone, "the pot is almost empty. I guess you boys didn't make very much, did you? Here, Dave," he hurried on, "you chase yourself up to the Eagle and get some of that coffee out of the locker on the right-hand side. We'll brew another pot of it. I haven't begun to eat yet."

"See how quickly you can la.s.so a cup or two of the real stuff and hurry back here," commanded Jimmie. "We'll have more in a jiffy."

"Have a little of this stew while you're waiting," urged Ned, extending the pot of stew toward the soldiers. "It's mighty good!"

Ned and Jimmie rattled on in a whirlwind of conversation to keep the attention of the soldiers in their own direction. So absorbed were Otto and Fritz in listening to the chatter that they failed to hear the faint whistle of a rope through the air, and it was not until the noose of Dave's la.s.so settled about their shoulders and they were jerked incontinently backward that they suspected anything wrong.

Otto and Fritz were compelled to surrender to a superior force.

Lengths of small line secured from the Eagle were brought by Dave when he saw that the two were securely held by his companions.

"Let me get at this chap's pockets a moment," said Ned, advancing. "I think he has some spark plugs that would look better in another place.

We can use them to good advantage ourselves."

"Just the thing!" cried Jimmie, gleefully. "How thoughtful of him to bring them back here so we could run the little old Eagle."

Ned lost no time in producing the plugs and fitting them into position.

"Now we 're off!" declared Jimmie. "Let's get the cooking utensils aboard and beat it out of here. We won't want no wireless now!"

"For one, I want to get to some place where I can exchange this uniform for some real clothes!" stated Jack, vehemently.

"And I want a real feed!" protested Jimmie. "I haven't eaten in weeks.

All I could do was to lunch along on this awful grub!"

"All right, boys, I guess you're right," Ned agreed with a laugh.

"We'll load up and be on our way even if it is daylight."

"Won't the Germans see us rise out of here and take a shot at us?"

"What if they do?" scorned Jimmie. "They'll be so busy with all this fighting they won't have time to chase us very far. Hear those cannons going all the time?" he went on. "They're wasting a lot of good powder shooting at the Frenchmen and the allies!"

As the aeroplane rose above the tree tops, two other planes were sighted high overhead.

CHAPTER XXIV

A STERN CHASE

"Gee! I'm mighty glad Otto and Fritz came along just as they did to bring us these spark plugs and rifles!" Jimmie announced as the Eagle soared over the surrounding woods.

"It was rather kind of them," answered Jack. "It looks like we might need them, too, if those are German planes up there."

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to rise as high as we can, Ned?" asked Harry. "If we get well up, we'll be able to see where we are and can have some idea where we are going."

"Up we go," agreed Ned at the levers, as he tilted the planes for an ascent. "I'm sure we need to get some idea of our location."

"They see us!" cried Harry, who had been using the binoculars. "I think they're both heading toward us now! They're coming fast, too!"

"Let them come!" declared Dave. "If the Eagle lives up to the reputation Jimmie has given her, we'll be able to outdistance them."

"Maybe we would on a straight-away run," agreed Harry, "but we are one to their two, and they probably have guns aboard."

"What's the chances of landing and meeting them on a more equal footing?" inquired Jack. "Is that at all possible?"

"It's possible to land," replied Ned, "but I don't think we'd have as good a chance as we have up here. Look down there and see."

"Where are all the soldiers?" asked Harry, presently. "I can't see a single soldier anywhere. But," he added, "the guns are fired."

"They are all in bomb-proof trenches or else back of the hilltops,"

said Ned. "I believe that those aeroplanes are scouting around to give word to the gunners whether their aim has been correct or not."

"Well, if this is war," observed Dave, "I'm going to be glad to get back home once more. This doesn't look civilized to me."

"We are headed toward home," replied Jack in an effort to cheer his friend. "We'll be out of this in a little while, and then--good-by war and fights and Kaiser and all for one good, long time!"

"We're a long ways from Tipperary yet, boys. Don't crow too soon,"

advised Harry, as he trained the gla.s.ses on the approaching planes.

"What can you see, Harry?" asked Ned, giving his attention to the levers. "Are they still heading toward us?"

"That's just what they're doing!" declared Harry. "They're coming fast, too. Can't we coax a little more speed out of this old tub?"

"You speak as if this were a ship in the water," responded Ned. "I want you to understand that this is an aeroplane and that it is performing a most remarkable feat in carrying five boys and two grown men, besides a quant.i.ty of luggage and supplies."

"I guess our ideas were all right, eh, Ned?" said Jack, as he ran an admiring eye over the rigging of the craft. "It's some boat!"

"It certainly is some boat!" declared Ned. "And I wish--"

"What Ned wished was never known, for at that instant a sharp report was heard and a bullet sang its way through the rigging of the Eagle with a vicious tw.a.n.g that made the boys wince.

"Wow!" was Jack's e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n. "That's too close for comfort!"

"May I reply to them?" asked Dave, picking up one of the German rifles that had been brought aboard. "I think I can get the range."