Part 38 (1/2)
”No, no! All goes well--very well, except for us here,” Captain O'Neill replied. ”The time is moved forward; that is all.”
He bent again over the map.
”There will not be time now if you are taken far back of the German lines where an aeroplane may come down un.o.bserved. There will not be time,” he repeated to Hal, ”for you to work forward to the position where you must be.”
”What's the matter with coming down near the position where we're wanted?” asked Hal.
”Near their lines?” Captain O'Neill questioned. ”There will be men all about, of course; you will be observed.”
”What's the matter with coming down observed sir?” said Chester.
”Observed,” repeated the captain. ”How do you mean?”
”It is something we have talked of before,” said Hal. ”We have often considered this method of getting a man down inside the German lines, even in a section where discovery is certain. A machine goes up carrying bombs, perhaps; it drops them and attracts anti-aircraft fire. It appears to fall, sir, and comes down in that way.”
Captain O'Neill's brows drew together, puzzled, but he was patient.
”But I do not see the advantage,” he said.
”It falls in flames, sir,” said Hal. ”The pilot ignites it when it begins to drop.”
”Proceed,” Captain O'Neill bade.
”The men found in it are killed,” continued Hal ”'killed by the shrapnel fire--also, of course, they burn with the aeroplane. It is, to all observers, a bombing biplane shot down in flames.”
”And you think such a plan will succeed?” asked the captain.
”I feel sure of it, sir.”
”Well,” said Captain O'Neill, ”you are the two who must take the chances. You have my permission to adopt your own plans.”
CHAPTER XXVIII
OVER THE LINES
”You will carry these with you, of course,” said Captain O'Neill, ”those who will be found in, the plane?”
”Yes, sir,” said Hal. ”They need not be aviators, but merely in uniform.”
”You drop from the machine as she strikes, I suppose?” said the captain. ”She will run after that, of course.”
”Certainly it will leave us unsuspected,” said Chester. ”It will aid our escape. Certainly no one would suspect a man had planned to fall in flames.”
”You have suggested enough,” said the captain. ”Your idea alters much. Meet me in half an hour. Everything will be prepared.”
He named a place and left the hut.
Jean Brosseau bent forward in bed, his eyes burning.
”When Captain O'Neill gives you final instructions he may tell you to employ certain people on the other side. Here!” he motioned for the map again, ”I shall point out to you where they are.”