CHAPTER VIII
UNCLE SAM'S FLYING SQUADRON
"_How---oo---ooo_!"
Ralph gave the long-drawn cry of the timber wolf as he hurried in thedirection of Bud's shouts. Hugh speedily joined him, coming fromsome side quarter, and the pair were soon closing in on the other scout.
They found Bud clinging to a shattered sapling and staring down intoa gaping aperture that looked big enough for the excavation of a churchcellar. All around were evidences of a most tremendous explosion orupheaval, some trees being actually shattered and others leaning overas though ready to fall.
"Talk to me about your meteors," burst out the wondering Bud as hesaw the others coming along, "I hope to goodness one of them neverdrops down on our roof at home. Just looky here what it did to thepoor old earth! That sky traveler's as big as the parsonage, Ishould think."
Hugh turned to Ralph.
"No doubt about what happened now, is there?" he asked.
"Well, I should say not," came the answer, as Ralph stared downinto the hole.
"Must be some new sort of explosive they're experimenting with,"added the patrol leader seriously; "and to look at that gap you'dbelieve it beats dynamite all hollow. Drop a bomb made of that stuffon a fort, and goodby to the whole business."
"W---what's that?" exclaimed the wondering Bud. "Do you mean totell me that it wasn't a meteor that made all that racket the lasttwo nights?"
"So far as I know," Hugh told him, "when a meteor drops down, itburies itself in the earth and gradually cools off, for it's beenmade almost red-hot by passing so swiftly through space. But itdoesn't, as a rule, burst and tear a horrible slash in the groundlike this."
"Then what made it, Hugh?" asked the other, evidently puzzled.
"A dropped bomb!"
"A bomb, you say? Oh, Hugh, that was why the old aeroplane keptcircling all around, wasn't it? They were picking out some placeto make a big hole! Whee! No wonder then they came up here tothis lonely place to try things out. A farmer'd be apt to kicklike a steer if he waked up some fine morning and found holes likethis in his garden or field. It's good we didn't happen to bestanding here when they dropped the bomb, as you call it."
"I had an idea of something like this last night," Hugh said; "butthought best not to mention it until I could see my way clearer.But now the last doubt has gone, and I know the truth."
"But Hugh, who could it be trying out this awful explosive, andwanting to do it where no curious eyes could watch the operation?"
"I don't know that, Bud, but we can guess. It must be either somecompany in the market with explosives, or else the Government itselftrying to see how the Flying Squadron, as they call their aerial armof the service, could work in time of actual war."
"Say, if they could drop bombs like that just, where they wanted,"remarked Bud admiringly, "I'd pity the enemy, whether Japaneseor German or anything else. Just think of a great big bat circlingaround in the darkness of night, sending down a searchlight, maybe,to pick out the right spot, and then, bang! Good-by to your old fortor battleship! It would be all over before you could wink twice.And let me tell you, fellows, we've got the bully boys in the armyto do this same stunt, if anybody on earth can!"
"Thank you for the compliment, my boy!"
A quiet voice said this, and the three scouts looked up hastily todiscover that a man clad in a faded suit of khaki was standing closeby, watching them with an expression of amusement on his clear-cutface.
There was something about his make-up that instantly convinced Hughof his connection with the aviation corps of the Government service.This, then, would seem to prove that it was the army engaged inmaking these secret experiments with the new explosive, perhaps froma war aeroplane that may have been given over into the charge of theFlying Corps for trial.
Hugh immediately advanced toward the officer and gave the regularsalute, as every scout is taught to do when he meets one who is abovehim in rank. To his delight, the other acknowledged the saluteimmediately.
"We are Boy Scouts belonging to a town some miles away from here,"Hugh started to explain.
"And what are you doing here?" inquired the officer pleasantly.
"We came up to watch one of my chums experiment with a device hebelieves he has discovered," replied Hugh. "For the last two nightswe have been puzzled to understand what that terrible roar and flashmeant. At first, we thought a meteor had fallen; but when it cameagain last night and we saw the aeroplane swinging around up therein the sky, I began to believe there was some connection betweenthem. And now that we've found this hole in the ground, I knowit shows where your bomb struck, Lieutenant."
"Yes, that is what happened," remarked the officer. "I came herethis morning to take notes, so that I could make a full report ofour practice. We have not thought it necessary to make use of oursearchlight so far when dropping a bomb; but now that we knowothers besides ourselves are up here, we must be more careful.Perhaps I would hesitate to say all this to most people whom Ihappened to meet by accident, but I know what Boy Scouts are and howdevoted they have always proved to patriotic motives. I'm positivelycertain that nothing could tempt one of you lads to betray anyconfidence I placed in you."
"Thank you, sir," said Hugh, flushing with keen pleasure at hearingsuch words of praise from an army officer. "And perhaps you maynot know that there are others up here who seem to be deeplyinterested in all that you are doing."
"What is that, my boy?" exclaimed the other, showing sudden interest.
"Why, by chance my friend here, Ralph Kenyon, who has trapped allthrough this section in years gone by, saw two men talking and actingin a strange way. They've been spying on us, too, while we'veoccupied the old shack close by. They even crept in while we wereoff yesterday, to steal some plans of an aeroplane improvement whichthis other scout, Bud Morgan, had carelessly left there."
"Two men, you say," the officer commented, knitting his brows withsudden suspicion and uneasiness. "Could you tell whether they seemedto look like natives or foreigners, son and he wheeled so as to faceRalph as he asked this.
"I had an idea that one looked like a Japanese and the other aGerman," the boy answered promptly.
At this, the army man rubbed his chin and seemed to consider.
"I've taken you into my confidence so far already, boys," he observedpresently, "that I suppose I might as well go right along and tellyou everything. We are up here, representing the Flying Squadronof the army, to experiment with a new war aeroplane much morepowerful than anything before devised; also to ascertain whetherthere is any truth in the wild claims put forth by the inventor ofthe latest explosive, that his discovery must make war so horriblethat nations would be compelled to keep the peace after this. And,judging from what that one small bomb did here, I fancy he was notmistaken in his estimate. We could destroy the largest battleshipafloat as easy as to snap our fingers. Of course there are secretagents of numerous Great Powers constantly floating around inWashington, trying to learn what Uncle Sam has up his sleeve in theway of new inventions calculated to destroy the enemy in time of war.And we have feared all along that one or more of these spies mayhave gotten on our track. I'm very much gratified with what youhave told me, for now we know what to expect, and can avoid takingany unnecessary risk."
"Would these foreign spies dare attempt to ruin your war aeroplane,or try to blow you all up with some of your own explosive?" askedRalph.
"I wouldn't put it past them," replied the other. "They are playinga desperate game, you understand, and have their orders from the homeGovernments to keep us from forging ahead too fast. But I haven'tintroduced myself as yet. I am Lieutenant Fosdick, and I have hadsome little experience in army aviation."
"I wonder if you can be the same Lieutenant Fosdick I've heard somuch about from our Scout Master, a retired army officer namedLieutenant Denmead?" Hugh ventured to say eagerly.
"Well, this _is_ a pleasure to be sure!" remarked the other smilingly."To be sure I know Denme
ad. I saw a great deal of him several yearsago. And so he is spending his spare time in teaching the youngidea how to shoot, but with the arms of peace rather than those ofbloody war? He was always crazy over boys, and must be a crackinggood Scout Master, because he knows so much of Western life amongthe Indians. He was with Miles in the Sioux War long ago, as youmay know. But what was this you said about one of your matesinventing something in connection with the management of aeroplanes?That would seem to be right in my line, and if he has no seriousobjections, I'd like to hear about it."
At that, Bud turned fiery red, but with pleasure more thanembarrassment. It was a crowning triumph in his career to findhimself an object of interest in the eyes of so famous an aviatoras Lieutenant Fosdick, of whom he remembered reading quitefrequently as the most fearless air pilot in the Flying Squadron ofUncle Sam.
Encouraged by the winning smile on the bronzed face of the armyofficer, Bud only too gladly started to explain what his hopes were.
"I'd like to see this wonderful little model of yours in action,son," the experienced air pilot remarked afterwards. "Suppose allof you come over to our headquarters, which happen to be not morethan half a mile away from here. We have a fine open spot where wecan ascend and alight with ease, day or night. You will be welcome,I assure you. We have a dozen men there besides those connectedwith the war aviation corps, simply to guard against any spies givingus trouble. If you can go now, I'd be pleased to wait for you, soas to pass you through the lines."
"How long will it take you to get your little machine dismantled,so we can handle it, Bud?" asked Hugh.
"Oh! I can do it in a jiffy, because, you see, it's fixed for takingapart," the inventor of the party hastened to declare.
So Lieutenant Fosdick accompanied them to the shack. While Budbusied himself with his model, Ralph and Hugh chatted with the armyofficer. He asked more questions concerning Bud and the idea he hadbeen trying out.
"It would seem as though your friend might have a touch of geniusabout him somewhere," the aviator said with a smile, "though I'mafraid that he's too late with that wonderful stability device,because it is very similar to one the Wright Brothers got out sometime ago. That's the way it often happens, and many a man hasstudied some clever thing out only to find that he has beenanticipated by some earlier inventor. But say nothing about thisfor the present. Your friend surely deserves to have a littleglory out of the game before the blow falls. And I shall be curiousto see how he manages with this model of his, for it looks good to me."
Evidently Bud had found favor with the army man. Even though doomedto disappointment with regard to his wonderful invention, the boymight derive satisfaction in knowing that his work had not beenentirely in vain.
When half an hour had passed, Bud declared everything in readinessfor the change of base; and soon the boys were accompanying theskilled aviator through the woods headed for the camp of the FlyingSquadron.