CHAPTER XV. BADLY HIT
Before undertaking their kindly though dangerous mission, Tom and Jackhad carefully studied it from all angles. At first Jack had been franklyskeptical, and he said as much to his chum.
"You'll never get over the place where Harry is held a prisoner,"declared Jack. "And, if you do, and start to dropping packages, they'llnever land within a mile of the place you intend, and Harry'll have thejoy of seeing some fat German eat his chocolate cake."
"Well, maybe," Tom had agreed, "But I'm going to try."
To this end they had secured the best map possible of the ground in andaround the prison camp. Its location they knew from the dropped glove ofthe aviator, which contained a note telling about Leroy.
It was not uncommon for Germany to disclose to her enemies the namesof prisons where certain of the Allies were confined, and this was alsodone by England and France. The prison camps were located far enoughbehind the defense lines to make it impossible for them to be reachedin the course of ordinary fighting.
Then, too, the airmen of Germany seemed a step above her other fightersin that they were more chivalrous. So Tom and Jack felt reasonablycertain as to Leroy's whereabouts. Of course it was possible that he hadbeen moved since the note was written, but on this point they would haveto take a chance.
To this end they had provided themselves not only with the best mapsobtainable showing the character of the ground and the nature of thedefenses around the prison, where Harry and other Allied men were held,but inquiries had also been made by those in authority, at the requestof Tom and Jack, of German prisoners, and from them had come informationof value about the place.
Of course the two air service boys had no hope of inflicting much damageon batteries or works outside the prison. By the dropping of some bombsthey carried they hoped to distract attention from themselves longenough to drop the packages to Leroy. The bombs were a sort of feint.
And now they were on their way, winging a path over their own lines, andsoon they would be above those of the Hun.
Some of the former comrades of Tom and Jack, having been apprised ofwhat the lads were to attempt, had, without waiting for official orders,decided to do what they could to help. This took the form of a daringchallenge to the German airmen to come out and give battle.
After their thorough drubbing of the day before, however, the Bocheaviators did not seem much inclined to venture forth for another cloudfight. But the French and some English fliers who were acting with them,laid a sort of trap, which, in a way, aided the two Americans.
A half dozen swift Spads took the air soon after Tom and Jack ascended,but instead of flying over the German lines they went in the oppositedirection, making their way to the west. They got out of sight, and thenmounted to a great height.
Shortly after this some heavy, double-seated planes set out for theGerman territory as though to make observations or take photographs.It was the belief of the French airmen that the Huns would swarm out toattack these planes, or else to give battle to the machine in which Tomand Jack rode. And, in such an event, the swift Spads would swoop downout of a great height and engage in the conflict.
And that is exactly what occurred. Torn and Jack had flown only a littleway over the trenches of the enemy when they saw some Hun planes comingup to meet them. It was in the minds of both lads that they were in fora fight, but before they had a chance to sight their guns, some Frenchplanes of the slow type appeared in their rear.
To these the Huns at once turned their attention, and then the Spadsswooped down, and there was a sharp engagement in the air, whichultimately resulted in victory for the Allied forces, though two of theFrench fliers were wounded.
But the feint had its effect, and attention was drawn away from Tom andJack, who flew on toward the prison camp.
Had their mission been solely to carry words of cheer with some materialcomforts to Harry Leroy, it is doubtful if Tom and Jack would havereceived permission to make the trip. But it was known they were bothdaring aviators and good observers, and it was this latter ability ontheir part which counted in their favor. For it was thought they mightbring back information concerning matters well back of the German frontlines, information which would be of service to the Allies.
And in furtherance of this scheme Jack and Tom made maps of the countryover which they were flying. They had been provided with materials forthis before leaving.
On and on they flew, changing their height occasionally, and, when theywere fired at, which was the case not infrequently, they "zoomed" toescape the flying shrapnel.
But on the whole, they fared very well, and in a comparatively shorttime they found themselves over the country where, on the maps, wasmarked the location of Harry Leroy's prison camp.
"There it is!" suddenly exclaimed Tom, but of course Jack could not hearhim. However, a punch in Jack's back served the same purpose, and hetook his eyes from his instruments long enough to look down. Then aconfirmatory glance at the map made him agree with Tom. The air serviceboys were directly over the prison camp.
This, like so many other dreary places set up by the Germans, consistedof a number of shacks, in barrack fashion, with a central parade, orexercise ground. About it all was a barbed wire stockade and, though thecharacter of these wires did not show, there were also some carrying adeadly electric current.
This was to discourage escapes on the part of prisoners, and itsucceeded only too well.
But the camp was in plain sight, and in the central space could be seena number of ant-like figures which the boys knew were prisoners.
Whether one of them was Leroy or not, they were unable to say.
But they had reached their objective, and now it was time to act. Hightime, indeed, for below them batteries began sending up shells whichburst uncomfortably close to them. They were of all varieties, fromplain shrapnel to "flaming onions" and "woolly bears," the latter a mostunpleasant object to meet in mid-air.
For the Germans were taking no chances. They knew the vulnerablepoints of their prison camp lay above, and they had provided a ring ofanti-aircraft guns to take care of any Allied, machines that might flyover the place. Whether any such daring scheme had been tried before ornot, Tom and Jack could not say.
Of course it was out of the question that any great damage could be donein the vicinity of the camp without endangering the inmates, so it wasnot thought, in all likelihood, that any very heavy air raids would haveto be repelled. But in any case, the Huns were ready for whatever mighthappen.
"Better drop the bombs, hadn't we?" cried Jack to Tom, as he slowed downthe motor a moment to enable his voice to be heard.
"I guess so--yes. Drop 'em and then shoot over the camp again and letthe packages fall. It's getting pretty hot here."
And indeed it was. Guns were shooting at the two daring air service boysfrom all sides of the camp.
In the camp itself great excitement prevailed, for the prisoners knew,now, that it was some of their friends flying above them.
There was another danger, too. Not many miles away from the prison campwas a German aerodrome, and scenes of activity could now be noticedthere. The Huns were getting ready to send up a machine--perhaps morethan one--to attack Tom and Jack.
It was, then, high time they acted, and as Jack again started theengine, he guided the machine over a spot where the anti-aircraft gunswere most active.
"There's a battery there I may put out of business," he argued.
Flying fast, Jack was soon over the spot, or, rather, not so much overit, as in range of it. For when an aeroplane drops a bomb on a givenobjective, it does not do so when directly above, but just before itreaches it. The momentum of the plane, going at great speed, carriesany object dropped from it forward. It is as when a mail pouch is thrownfrom a swiftly moving express train or a bundle of newspapers is tossedoff. In both instances the man in the train tosses the pouch or hisbundle before his car gets to the station platform, and the momentumdoes the rest.
It w
as that way with the bomb Jack released by a touch of his foot onthe lever in the cockpit of the machine. Down it darted, and, wheelingsharply after he had let it go, the lad saw a great puff of smokehovering directly over the spot where, but a moment before, Hun gums hadbeen belching at him.
"Good! A sure hit!" cried Tom, but he alone heard his own words. Jack'sears were filled with the throb of the motor. He had two more bombs,and these were quickly dropped at different points on German territoryoutside the camp.
At the time, aside from the evidences they saw, Jack and Tom werenot aware of the damage they inflicted, but later they learned it wasconsiderable and effective. However, they guessed that they had createdenough of a diversion to try now to deliver the packages containing theletters and other comforts.
Jack swung the machine at a sharp angle over the prison camp, and ashe cleared the barbed wire fence Tom, who had been given charge of thepackets, let one go. It fell just outside the barrier, caused by somefreak of the wind perhaps, and the lad could not keep back a sigh ofdismay. One of the three precious packages had fallen short of the mark,and would doubtless be picked up by some German guard.
But Tom had the satisfaction of seeing the two other bundles fallfairly within the prison fence, and there was a rush on the part of theunfortunate men to pick them up.
"I only hope Harry's there," mused Tom. "That's tough luck to wish aman, I know," he reflected, "but I mean I hope he gets the letters andthings."
However, he and Jack had done all that lay in their power to make thispossible, and it was now time to get back to their own lines if theycould. The place was getting too dangerous for them.
Swinging about in a big circle, and noting that groups of prisoners werenow gathered about the place where the packets had fallen, Jack sentthe machine toward that part of France where they had spent so manystrenuous days.
"They're going to make it lively for us!" cried Jack, as he noted twoswift German planes mounting into the air. "It's going to be a fight."
But he and Tom were ready for this. Their Lewis and Vickers guns were inposition, and they only awaited the approach of the nearest Hun plane tounlimber them. They mounted steadily upward to get beyond the range ofthe anti-aircraft batteries and were soon in comparative safety, sincethe Huns, at this particular sector at least, were notoriously badmarksmen.
With the German planes, that would be a different story, and Tom andJack soon found this out to their cost.
For one of the Boche machines came on speedily, and much more quicklythan the boys had believed possible was within range. The German machineguns--for it was a double plane--began spitting fire and bullets atthem. They replied, but did not seem to inflict much damage.
Suddenly Tom saw Jack give a jump, as though in an agony of pain, andthen the young pilot crumpled up in his seat.
"Badly hit!" exclaimed Tom with a pang at his own heart. "Poor Jack isout of it!"
The machine, out of control for a moment, started to go into a nosedive, but Tom let go the lever of his machine gun, and took charge ofthe craft, since it was one capable of dual manipulation. Tom now hadto become the pilot and gunner, too, and he had yet a long way to go toreach his own lines, while Jack was huddled, before him, either dead orbadly wounded.