CHAPTER XV
THE MOONLIGHT FLIGHT
The time for talking had passed. With the motor working noisily, and thetwin propellers churning the air, they could hardly have heard thedischarge of one of the 'Big Berthas', as the Allies were wont to callthe monster Krupp guns, and so called them because a woman whose maidenname had been Bertha Krupp, owned a big interest in the works where theywere manufactured.
All was dark around and below them. Above the stars shone, and gave asmall amount of cold, cheery light. Tom had made a study of the heavens,and was able to steer by means of the stars. The aviator is often asmuch dependent on compass and heavenly bodies to shape his course as thesailor hundreds of miles away from land.
Tom was in no especial hurry. He had carefully thought out his plans,and meant to pass over Verdun at just a certain time. Then would comethe two lines of hostile trenches, and the ordeal of searchlights andshrapnel. Once that was done with, they had really little further tofear.
The minutes slipped away. Under ordinary conditions they were accustomedto making that thirty miles in just about half that number of minutes,thanks to the ability of the speedy Nieuports to cover distance. Itwould be twice that now before they would find themselves at the front.
Already they could see various signs to tell them they were drawingnear. Rockets used as signals of various kinds ascended at intervals,and burst. Others of the star variety, and which discharged glowingwhite electric balls that lighted the earth below, could also be seen.One side or the other apparently had some reason for desiring toscrutinize a special sector of terrain in No-Man's-Land, the disputedregion lying between the hostile trenches.
Jack used his eyes to advantage. These things had not yet grown stalewith him, for he still found himself filled with awe and wonder whengazing down from a lofty height at the world shrouded in darkness below.
There within a comparatively short distance, that might not be overtwenty miles, a round million of soldiers were gathered, armed withnumberless engines of destruction of the most ponderous natureimaginable. It was enough to give any one a genuine thrill, and Jackfelt such a sensation creeping over him.
The crucial time had now come. They were passing over the line of theFrench trenches. Jack knew this from various signs, and also that inanother minute they might expect to be spotted by some of the enemysearchlights. These would be unmasked, and trained on the heavens in theeffort to locate the cause of that well known clattering noise above.
This speedily came about. First one long shaft of dazzling light rushedback and forth; then others joined in the hunt, until presently theyfocussed on the progressing two-seater pushing north.
Then began the bombardment. Numerous anti-aircraft guns were pokingtheir noses upward in anticipation of just such a call. Their crewscommenced to shower the shrapnel around and below the bird of passage,whose mission, whatever it might prove to be, could mean only evil tothe Teuton cause.
All this racket was lost upon the two so far above the earth. They heardnothing of the bleat of the firing guns. Even the bursting of shrapnelwent unheeded, save at a time when a shell exploded close by, and wasfaintly heard.
Tom was wisely taking but little chance. He maintained an altitude thatprevented most of the shrapnel from coming anywhere near the plane.
They crossed the enemy front, and sped on. The bombardment diminished infury as they left the first and second line trenches behind them. It wascontinued to some extent from an elevation further back, but as Tom knewof this formation, and had crept up still higher, no accident happenedto them.
At last the air service boys were fully launched on their night voyagethrough the upper currents. Tom waited until he considered that it wasreally safe to change their course. He did not want to betray hismovements in case some daring Boche pilot started up in a swift Fokkermachine to pursue them.
Once he shut off the engines and volplaned down a thousand feet or more.This was done because it was intensely cold up where they were; and thereasons that had kept them at such a high altitude existed no longer.Then again Tom wished to listen to discover if there was anotheraircraft near them; and this could be done only when his motor wassilent.
"No pursuit, Jack!" he managed to call to his chum before they once morestraightened out, and again allowed the motor to send forth its loudhum.
Jack had no chance to make any sort of reply. It did not matter, for he,too, had eagerly listened, and had failed to catch any telltale sound.
Immediately Tom shaped a new course. No longer were they heading towardthe north by east, but directly east. There some forty miles, more orless, away, lay the city of Metz, the object of their mission.
After moving along in this fashion for a short time Tom drove hismachine more slowly. He was watching for the rising of the old moonahead, where the horizon was already lighted with her near approach.
How strange she looked peering above the edge of the world as thoughcurious to see all that was going on in this troubled hemisphere. Jackthought he had never witnessed a more peculiar spectacle. But at leastthis fragment of a moon would be likely to afford them the necessaryillumination required when they attempted to land in a field thatneither of them had ever seen before, and only knew through informationimparted by means of their chart, and its accompanying notes.
Some other pilot had doubtless been over this same route on previousoccasions; yes, and even landed in that identical field. He had made thechart; and the accompanying memoranda consisted of his personalexperiences.
Already the moon had dispelled some of the cheerless gloom round aboutthem. It was still cold up in that upper strata of rarefied air; buttheir fur-lined garments kept them from suffering. Besides this, theywere young and vigorous, and their blood was warm, and they were excitedwith their mission and able to ignore any physical discomfort that mightcome to them.
Jack continued to stare ahead as time passed. He was looking for somesign of the city towards which they were flying. Tom, on his part, oftentook note of his compass, then flashed a glance up at the stars, andfinally sought to discover some landmark far down below that was markedupon the chart.
He had the utmost confidence in his own judgment, and believed he wouldbring up at the identical place which was their goal.
Tom now volplaned again, wishing to draw nearer to the earth. It waswhile thus dropping, with engine muffled, that his ears caught a soundcalculated to give him an uneasy feeling.
This was undoubtedly the whirr of a propeller beating the air in furiousfashion. It also came from behind. Jack, too, had caught the sound, andwas thrilled with sudden apprehension of impending trouble.
They were undoubtedly being pursued, and by a much faster plane thantheir own. This would mean that presently they would be overtaken andfired upon. It was not in the nature of Tom Raymond to allow such athing to occur and be kept from doing his share of the fighting.
When Tom swung around to face the rear, and actually started to runtoward the oncoming foe, Jack knew what was expected of him. He must manthe gun, and prove how well he had learned his lesson when at school atPau and at Casso.
No longer could they expect to be guided by sounds. Their own motorthundered so loudly that every other sound was deadened. They mustdepend on eyesight alone to tell them when they were nearing theoncoming Fokker craft. Perhaps the first indication they would have ofits presence would be the flash of its quick-firing gun, spatteringbullets around them like hail.
So Jack strained his vision to the limit. He was eager to discover theenemy before they themselves were seen. Much might depend on who firedfirst, in a duel of this kind.
Suddenly the gun began to bark after its own peculiar way. Jack believedhe had glimpsed something moving, and was sending forth a storm of leadin the hope of a lucky hit that would crumple the other machine up andput an end to that peril.
Tom held the course. He knew that every second was carrying the rivalairplanes nearer together--knew that possibly they were so headed thatif
they continued to rush forward they might smash in a frightfulcollision that would send both down thousands of feet to the earth.
It was a time for careful calculations and prompt action. Tom grippedthe controls and was ready either to swerve or to dip as occasiondemanded. Meanwhile, Jack was doing his best to riddle the advancingBoche machine and its pilot.
There was no longer any difficulty in seeing just where the Fokker was,for a constant flashing as her gun rattled betrayed its positionexactly. The flying lead was now whistling all about the two air serviceboys but they did not know how close they sailed to death.
Then Tom swung smartly to the right. He dared not keep on longer in hiscourse lest he collide with the German craft. Just about the sameinstant he realized that the Fokker was diving. There was somethingqueer about that manoeuvre. Tom had never known a French or an Americannor yet a British airman to adopt such a clumsy way of plunging so as toavoid punishment.
Circling around he started back on a little lower level, looking for theenemy. In making his latest volplane Tom had listened intently, hopingto ascertain whether the motor of the enemy craft still throbbedsomewhere close by; but he heard not a sound to tell the story.
Just then, suspicious of the truth, he glanced down, and was just intime to see a little flash of flame arise from the distant surface ofthe earth. Then the awful truth broke upon both boys. They realized thatthe German pilot had lost control of his machine, which had turned overand over in its drop, finally crashing to the ground, and beinginstantly enveloped in flames!