CHAPTER XI
THE PROWLERS
THE officer must have thought there was a great attraction over at thefield hospital for certain members of his air squadron, considering thefrequency of the calls upon him for permission to visit there.
However, he granted the request without hesitation, though Jack thoughtthere was a quizzical gleam in his eyes as he turned and took a goodlook at the younger of the "friends" whom the lad said he wished topilot to her temporary quarters.
Besides, the two Air Service boys happened to be prime favorites of his,and consequently he was in a humor to go far out of his way to grant anyreasonable request either of them might make.
So presently they were seated once more in the ambulance along with thenurses and heading for the spot where the humble sheds and tents stoodwhich constituted the American field hospital in that sector of theArgonne.
"Now tell me all that's happened since I saw you last, Jack," demandedBessie, with a little show of authority that amused, yes, and alsopleased the other; for boys like to be domineered over at times by apretty tyrant.
"Couldn't begin to do it in this little ride, Bessie," he assured her."But I'll take the first chance I can find to spin the whole yarn."
"I'm certain you boys have been carrying on up here with your usualrashness," she told him. "I've had my heart in my throat, so to speak,every day, when the news would filter in from our front, together with apartial list of the lost, for fear I'd see one of your names there. Andwhen some particularly daring feat of a Yankee air pilot was mentioned Icould just picture you or Tom as the hero."
At that Jack laughed, although feeling highly complimented.
"Thank you, Bessie, for being such a fine little champion!" heexclaimed. "But we don't claim to be the equal of a lot of the cleveraces now strafing the Boche along our American sector. Of course we meetwith our little adventures in the course of our daily work; but they'vebeen mere trifles beside some of the fine things others of the boys havedone."
"Well," Bessie told him, "knowing you as I do, Jack, I wouldn't acceptyour judgment in the matter. Your friends are better able to decidethat."
"Here we are already at the hospital," put in Mrs. Gleason. "I couldn'twrite to Nellie just when we were coming, for that depended on when wecould get transportation. But she had told me she could put us uptemporarily until we found quarters with the Y. M. C. A. outfit. Shewill be surprised to see us, and I hope pleased, too."
"I warrant you she will be delighted," asserted Jack confidently.
Great was the surprise of Nellie and Tom when Jack and the Gleasonsburst upon them. Harry was at another part of the temporary makeshiftbuilding talking to an orderly at the time.
Such subdued chattering as followed. Jack, seeing that Bessie and Mrs.Gleason were very tired, did not mean to linger long. Bessie wouldprobably speedily take up her duties at the hut, and consequently hecould see her every evening if he chose.
So the three boys a little later on once more turned their faces in thedirection of the camp. As they walked along they found much to talkabout, although it might have been noticed that Tom and Harry did mostof the exchanging of opinions, Jack seemingly being too much engrossedwith his thoughts, a fact that caused the others to pass many asignificant glance back and forth.
It chanced that some question arose, bringing out quite a warmdiscussion concerning a certain appliance which Harry was trying out onhis battleplane, and of which a friend was the inventor.
"I've tested it twice now, Tom, and no matter what you say I believe itwill do the business," Harry stoutly affirmed.
"That may be," Tom answered him. "Mind I'm not stubborn enough tocondemn a thing I don't quite understand; but I'd want to be shownbefore I owned up beaten in the argument. Somehow, it doesn't seempossible to me that it can work."
"That's what they all told Columbus before he started on his trip intothat unknown western sea," jeered Harry. "Poor old Fulton, too, waslaughed at when he said he could make a boat go through the waterwithout sails or oars. And what of Morse sending telegrams hundreds ofmiles by using a wire and a battery?"
"Oh, I know that's so," retorted Tom, unwilling to back down. "But Irefuse to believe this will work automatically without ever a hitch. Anair pilot's life hangs in the balance, and if it fails to makeconnections it's good-night for him."
"I warrant I can convince you inside of five minutes after you'veexamined the contrivance!"
"All right then, I'll take you up on that."
"When will you go to my hangar with me?" demanded the other, at whichTom laughingly answered:
"Any time you say--right away, if you feel like it. I'm a firm believerin the old saying, 'Never put off till to-morrow what you can doto-day.' Besides, Harry, I admit that you've got my curiosity aroused."
"Call it a bargain, then!" snapped the other, not to be outdone. "Won'ttake twenty minutes in all, and perhaps I can give you something tosleep over."
"Seems to me," Jack remarked, with a yawn, "you fellows are bound tokeep on the go all night long. What with that raid, and our chase afterthe Hun, then the trip to the field hospital for various purposes, andnow back once more to the hangars, just to settle a disputed question,you're keeping things moving pretty well."
"Oh, well," remarked Tom, "you can climb into your little bed, such asit is in these strenuous days, Jack--and dream."
Jack did not reply. Perhaps he considered that it would be wise not toappear to notice these sly thrusts on the part of his chum. Perhaps hedid not care who noticed that he and Bessie were such good friends.
So when they arrived in camp he turned aside to seek his sleeping placeunder a khaki-colored tent, while the other boys continued along thetrail leading to the field of the hangars, which had so recently beenthe objective of the Boche bombing raid.
It took the boys considerably longer to pass from one to the other placethan on the occasion of their last trip; but then the night now wascomparatively quiet, and no hostile squadron hovered overhead to dropterrible engines of destruction from the sky and arouse a furiousbombardment in return, from the batteries of anti-aircraft guns below.
Harry was still feeling ugly toward the enemy who could show suchdisregard for all the accepted rules of civilized warfare. He continuedto vent these feelings as he walked along, unable to get it out of hismind. But this could be understood since he had a sister in an exposedhospital, whose life was in danger from the barbaric acts of the Hunfliers.
"They seem nowadays to take a savage delight in bombing hospitals, andthen finding all sorts of excuses for doing such a thing," he told Tom."I declare, they put me in mind of a cruel wolf more than anythingelse."
"On my part," his companion immediately asserted, "I'd liken them to amad dog, snapping and snarling as he runs along the street, but it showshow desperate they feel their cause to be."
"Guess you're right, Tom. I humbly apologize to the wolf," chuckled theother quickly. "He's had a bad name out West, but on the whole thosecow-punchers must call him a clean fighter alongside some of theseHuns."
"Well, here we are at the field," observed Tom. "Now I'm waiting to beshown, if I'm not from Missouri. And, Harry, understand that I'm open toconviction. If I find that you've got something wonderful here, I'llfrankly acknowledge the fact, and eat humble pie."
"I know you will. That's why I'm so eager to show you what a fine thingmy friend Jason has got up in this little trick. My hangar lies overthis way. Come along and----"
Harry stopped in the middle of the sentence, stopped walking too, andlaid a hand on his companion's arm.
"What did you see?" asked Tom in a whisper; for somehow he sensed thefact that Harry had made some sort of discovery calculated to thrillthem both.
"Stand still, Tom!" hissed the other. "I didn't like the way that chapdodged down over there. Couldn't have been one of the guards, for theystick to their posts. I wonder now if one of those Boche planes droppeda spy close to our field here!"
The idea was
in line with Tom's reasoning. According to his mind theGermans were getting desperate, and ready to attempt the rashest ofenterprises in the hope of checking this daily advance of the Yankeesunder Pershing.
As much of the success of the latter depended on the work of theirflying squads in discovering the hidden machine-gun nests, and betrayingtheir position to the gunners, it stood to reason that the Germans feltan ever growing hatred toward the airmen. Hence that night raid whichhad been so neatly parried. Yes, Tom could easily believe what hiscomrade suggested.
"Show me where you saw the sneak, Harry," he pleaded, as they continuedto crouch in the semi-gloom; for after that recent attack from the skiesalmost every light about the aviation field had been extinguished, andthey felt obliged to depend on the stars to show them where the varioushangars lay.
"Notice that extra high hangar over there," came the soft reply. "That'sBeresford's, you know, where he keeps his monster four-man plane. TheHuns may have got wind of something unusual, and are plotting to destroyhis jumbo aircraft before he smothers them in a fight. There, did yousee that again?"
"It was a man slipping across from one shadow to another, as sure asanything," breathlessly admitted the second watcher.
"No fellow would act that way unless he wanted to keep from being seen,would he?" asked Harry.
"You're right there. Oh! I saw a second one follow him then, Harry!"
"Yes, there's a pair of the creepers. That makes me believe more thanever they were aboard one of those bombing planes, Tom."
"It might be they fell when one of the Hun raiding planes was knockedout," suggested the other, as an idea struck him. "Only one went down inflames, I remember now. Those in the other may have managed to make asafe landing, and bent on hitting us a crack before trying to get backto their lines, they've crept into the camp here."
"Carrying some grenades, I'd like to wager, which they can use inkicking up a big row, under cover of which they'll scoot off," Harrywent on.
"We must put a peg in their plans then," whispered Tom. "It'd be a shameto let them do what their pilots failed in, and blow up a part of ourhangar field here."
"If they do they'll go up with the planes then!" Harry gritted betweenhis set teeth. "Come, let's move on and corner the Huns!"
This suited Tom. Discretion might have caused them to alarm the camp andin this way cause the prowlers to disappear. But ambition, on the otherhand, had fired the hearts of the two boys. They saw an opportunity toget in a telling blow by capturing those two spies. It was a chance togain a little fresh glory, as well as to protect the monster plane ofBeresford.
Accordingly they commenced to move forward, bending low and takingadvantage of every dense shadow that came in their way. Their objectivewas the hangar that afforded shelter during the night to the novel andas yet untried monster plane, of which so much was expected, and rumorsconcerning which might have even sifted into the enemy lines.
Of course both Tom and Harry were keenly on the alert for the firstfresh sign of the prowling enemy, whose designs they had set out tobalk. Very probably the Huns would resist desperately, and there mightbe a fight. Tom felt his heart beat tumultuously, but such a thing asfear did not enter into his calculations.