CHAPTER XII
PLUCK AND LUCK
No little change came over the Brighton boys as they developed intoseasoned fighting airmen. They looked older, harder, but they werejust as much boys as ever.
The first serious casualty suffered by their little band of six cameto Archie Fox. Archie was doing what he called "daily grind" whenFate overtook him. That "daily grind" was the sort of work thatbid fair to end in disaster one day or another.
Well Archie remembered that day. It had started much the same asother days experienced by Archie's unit. The getting ready of themachine, the brief examination of the controls, first Archie andthen his observer, a young officer named Carleton, taking their seats,the word given, and then all other sound shut out by the dull roarof the engine---it was always like that. Lines of trees, patchworkpatterns made by the fields, and oddly grouped farm buildings sweptalong beneath the soaring plane, growing smaller with uncannyrapidity. The day's work started. That was all it amounted to.In the airdrome they had left behind, the eyes that had followedtheir first moments of flight were turned to other sights nearer athand. The men who had seen the plane well away started for otherjobs, forgetting the departed machine.
Both Archie and Carleton, neither novices at the game, settled themselvessnugly in their seats as the needle crept round the altimeter.Cold awaited them in the higher levels. That they knew. A persistent,penetrating cold, driven by a keen wind right through some great-coats.Leather is the best protection from that sort of wind. The facefeels it the most, however. The cheeks become cold as ice. Far below,the snakelike windings of trenches---trenches of friend and foe---canbe followed from high altitudes. Some parts of the line seem mile-deepsystems of trenches, section on section, transverse here, approach linethere, support line behind, ever joining one with another in wondrousfashion. Shell-torn areas between the trench lines, the yellow earthshowing its wounds plainly from well above, caught the eyes of thefliers.
The bark of a bursting anti-aircraft shell heralded their arrival inthe danger zone. From the earth the tiny white shell clouds have afascination for the onlooker. More so perhaps, than for the manin an aeroplane, not many yards distant from the bursting shrapnel.The ball of fluff that follows the sharp "bang" is small at first,but unrolls itself lazily until it assumes quite a size. That morningthe anti-aircraft gunners seemed unusually accurate. The third shellburst not far below the plane, and two bits of the projectilepunctured the canvas with an odd "zipp." Some shells came so closethat the explosions gave the machine a distinct airshock, though noother shell struck the plane.
Archie swung his plane now this way now that to render the aim of the"Archies" below ineffective, smiling to himself, to think that thenickname given to the anti-aircraft guns was his own given name.
"We are providing amusement for a pretty big audience, below there,"thought Archie. "I suppose that the closer they come to us withthose shells the better sport it is for those who are watching us."
He laughed quietly at the thought. He was as cool as possible thatday. In fact, he was unusually cool, for oftentimes the salvo ofbursting "Archies" all about him would make his nerves tighten abit. That morning he was at his best. He felt a calm confidencein his machine that made flying her a real pleasure. It even addedspice to the flight to know they had to pass so dangerous a localitybefore reaching the area which was their objective. Over that areahis observer was to hover sufficiently long to be able, on returning,to concoct a reliable and intelligible summary of what had come withinhis line of vision.
Carleton was soon busy with his glasses. A group of cars on a sidingnear a station were carefully counted. A line of horse transport ona country road was given considerable attention. Working partiesalong a small waterway were spotted and located on the map. A scoreof motor lorries, advertised by a floating dust cloud, scurriedalong below, to duly come under Carleton's eye and be at once tabulatedby him for future reference. At one railway station a sufficientamount of bustle caused Carleton to watch that locality carefully.
"That is odd," he mused. "New activity there this morning. Maybe theBoches have planned an ammunition dump at that point. That is onefor the bombers."
Thus time passed. Archie was busy dodging his dangerous namesakes,while Carleton focused his entire attention on gathering materialfor his report.
Carleton did not watch the movements below, however, with more carethan Archie watched the sky on all sides for signs of enemy air-craft.The American machine had been so long inside the enemy lines that aGerman fighting plane might be expected at any moment. At last aBoche plane did make its appearance, a mere brown speck, at first,far ahead. Archie's signal to Carleton that trouble was ahead wasconveyed by giving the machine a slight rock as he started to climb.Not much time was allowed for maneuvering. Carleton lost no timein placing a disk on his Lewis gun, and as the German approached,both observers opened up with a salvo. It was all over in a second.Firing point blank, in that fraction of time spent in passing, bothhad missed.
The excitement of that brief encounter, a mere matter of secondsas the two swift planes swept out of each other's range, was hardlypast when the rattle of a machine-gun nearby and the _zipp!_ _zipp!_as the bullets tore their way through the canvas, told of anotherBoche machine at hand. Neither Archie nor Carleton could see it.Carleton unbuckled the strap that held him in his seat, rose, andlooked over the top plane.
There, just above and well out of range, was an enemy fighting plane.The machine had apparently dropped from the clouds above, and withgreat good fortune gained an ideal position. Before Archie couldswing his "bus" around so that Carleton could get his Lewis gun towork on the Boche another salvo came from the enemy machine-gun.
That belt of cartridges found its mark. Both Carleton and Archiewere hit, the former badly. The young officer dropped back into hisseat. Archie saw that the lad had sufficient presence of mind tohastily buckle his belt round his waist again, then, his rightshoulder numb, he dived steeply, bringing his plane up and straighteningit out after a sheer drop of a thousand feet.
The German machine tail-dropped alter the American one, but by astroke of good luck the enemy pilot seemed to have some difficultyin righting. When Archie headed for home the Boche flier was farbelow.
Carleton had become unconscious. Archie's head began to swim. Hisright arm became stiff, and the blood from a wound in the shouldertrickled down his sleeve. He dared not try to stop the bleeding,and decided to trust to luck and make for home as fast as he could.Periodically he became dizzy and faint, and once, when he thoughthe was going to lose consciousness, he was roused by an anti-aircraftshell that burst but a few feet from one of his wing tips. He managedto dodge about and tried a half circle to get out of range of theguns below.
Archie felt cold and hot by turns. Then his arm became painful. Thepain was all that made him keep consciousness, he thought afterward.At last his own lines were passed. He felt a strange weakness, andbegan to lose interest. Carleton's inert body swayed to one side,and called Archie's attention to the fact that he was custodianof another life, as well as his own, if life was still in Carleton'sbody. Archie felt, somehow, that Carleton was not dead. That thoughtkeyed him up to still greater effort. He throttled his engine andstarted downward, the warmer airs welcome as he came lower. At lasthe was in home air. A final decision to buck up and hang on wasnecessary to urge his weak muscles to act. He swayed in his seat.His eyes closed and his grasp on the levers slackened. Again he sawthat senseless form strapped in the observer's seat. Poor Carleton.He had been hard hit. Nothing for it but to land him as gently andas safely as possible. Will power overcame the growing weakness andinertia for one more struggle against the darkness that threatenedhis consciousness, and Archie, striving with every element of hisbeing against falling forward insensible, threw back his elevatorand made a good landing.
As the machine came to rest the mechanics ran up to it and foundboth observer and pilot apparently
lifeless in their seats. Willinghands soon had the two young men out of the machine and in the orderlytent under the eye of the doctor. Carleton was the first to regainconsciousness. He was sorely wounded, a machine-gun bullet havingstruck him in the neck and another in the leg. Archie's wound wasnot so bad, but the hard fight to keep going and bring Carletonand himself back home safely had told on his nervous system. At lasthe opened his eyes, and smiled to hear his C.O., who was standingbeside him, say: "Carleton says you both got it well on the Bocheside of the line, and that you must have done wonders to get awayand get home. We won't forget your pluck, young fellow. Now letthem take you away and patch you up as soon as they can."
It was not often that the chief distributed praise, which made it themore sweet. Archie was sent back to hospital, to spend many wearyweeks there, but to come out well and fit again at last. Carletonwas much longer in the doctor's hands, and months passed before heagain saw the front.