Part 13 (1/2)

”Oh, Ja-a-a-ck!” called Harry at the top of his voice, making a trumpet of his hands. ”Oh, Ja-a-a-ack!” he called again.

All three boys were startled to hear the voice of their chum proceeding from a point seemingly directly beneath them.

”Here I am,” came Jack's cheery tones, although the boys thought they could detect a slight trace of weariness.

”Where?” cried Ned, greatly surprised at the sudden reply.

”Under the Eagle,” replied Jack. ”I'm hanging onto a truss rod and can stay here for quite a while if you want to leave the place.”

”We surely want to leave the place,” answered Ned, reaching again for the levers. ”Can you hang on for a few minutes more?”

”I'm all right for a long time,” answered Jack bravely, ”but I'd just as soon you'd hit up the speed a little.”

Ned's guiding touch upon the levers sent the Eagle forward at a rate of speed that quickly carried the entire party to a distance well out of rifle range from the party below. He was heading for a hill at no great distance from their present location.

”I'll land there,” he said, indicating by a nod of his head the eminence toward which they were running. ”We ought to be able to help Jack out of his position in a very few minutes.”

Harry turned the gla.s.ses toward the spot Ned had pointed out.

”Look out, Ned!” he cried almost instantly. ”I can see a lot of helmets there that look as if they were German head dresses.”

”Can you see the soldiers under the helmets?” asked Dave.

”Not a soldier!” declared Harry. ”But,” he added, ”that doesn't say they're not there. Those uniforms they are wearing blend so closely with the natural colors of the landscape that one can't very well tell whether a German is near or not until he feels the cloth.”

”Or the bullet,” put in Dave with a grimace toward the hill.

”We're getting nearer all the while,” Ned said. ”Keep your eyes open, and if there are soldiers there we'll go somewhere else.”

For a moment Harry intently studied the spot they were fast approaching. With the gla.s.ses in position he scanned every foot of ground carefully, not omitting the slightest detail.

”I'm sure I see them now,” he stated positively as he lowered the gla.s.ses. ”We're in a nice mess with Jack hanging under this s.h.i.+p simply by one of the truss rods. We've got to rescue him!”

”What can we do?” asked Dave, at a loss to solve the difficulty.

”I'll tell you what we'll do!” cried Harry. ”I'm the lightest of the party, so I'll go down and get him! I can do it!”

”Harry, are you crazy?” questioned Ned chidingly. ”It's impossible!”

”No, it's not!” stoutly maintained the boy. ”He's there, and we've simply got to get him. We can't land anywhere hereabouts, and by the time we can land he'll be exhausted and will have dropped.”

”How will you do it?” asked Dave. ”Let me help.”

”I guess you'll have to do most of the work,” replied Harry, reaching into one of the lockers, from which he drew a coil of light line.

”Not if you go under the fuselage to get Jack,” objected Dave.

”Yes, sir!” continued Harry. ”When I get down there you'll have to do all the work of engineering the deal. You'll have to do a whole lot of pulling and hauling, and you'll have to run out on one side to balance the machine. Mustn't have the s.h.i.+p list too much!”

”Oh, I see!” was Dave's response. ”And,” he continued, ”I won't be able to see where you are, because you'll be on the opposite side from my own position. How shall we manage?”