"Located the trouble, have you, Tom?" queried the other.
"Yes. It"s right where I expected to find it. A bullet has made a dent that interferes with the free action of the part. Besides, I think that spark plug has become fouled with oil, and will have to be changed to get the best results."
"How lucky you brought another with you! Lots of fellows wouldn"t have bothered about such a little thing."
"I had my suspicions about that when we started," explained the other, "even though the mechanician a.s.sured me it was perfectly clean. I know different now, and will certainly give him a piece of my mind when we get back."
"Then you expect to get home safely, do you?" asked Jack, in a relieved tone, that proved how anxious he had been growing since troubles had so consecutively alighted on them.
"Surely," chuckled the other, with his usual confidence in voice and manner, "a thing like this isn"t going to stop our plans. Here in this retired spot n.o.body"s apt to bother us while we make our repairs. You can hold this torch, Jack, and shove the light squarely on the work."
Tom worked for some time. He tapped as gently as possible when knocking out the dent made by the bullet, and he gradually removed the cause of the trouble. He was just finishing with the spark-plug when the confidence of the air service boys received a sudden jolt.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE LONE HOUSE BY THE ROADSIDE
"Listen, Tom!" hissed Jack.
The other had just sighed with relief on completing the work of replacing the spark-plug that had become fouled with oil.
"I, too, heard it plainly, Jack!" he breathed.
"Was it someone screaming or sobbing?" asked the other breathlessly.
"Sounded like it to me."
"And either a woman or a girl, at that!" hazarded his chum in bewilderment.
"It might have been a boy," suggested Tom. "There it is again."
Both of them listened. Peculiar sensations crept over them as they stood and thus strained their ears to catch any further sounds. Sobbing at any time is enough to arouse the feelings of a sensitive nature; but heard in the dead of night, and under the conditions that surrounded the two young aviators, made it all the more thrilling.
Jack in particular was touched to the heart.
"Say, that"s a queer thing, Tom!" he muttered. "Why should anybody be crying or screaming like that away off here, and at this time of night?"
"Oh, there are many who are weeping in these dark days," said Tom gravely. "The men in myriads of families will never come home again.
Perhaps a mother, or it may be a sister, has just had word that son, father, or brother has been shot down in battle."
Jack shuddered. Why should his thoughts instantly fly to the Boche pilot whom they had met and fought and conquered while on the way to Metz on their present perilous mission? It had been a fair fight, and a case of their lives or his. Nevertheless Jack shuddered as he remembered how the other had gone down after that last exchange of gunfire.
"Tom, notice that it comes from almost the identical direction where I told you I heard the crowing of a rooster a while ago," he hastened to say, more to rid his mind of those ghastly thoughts than anything else.
What a strange fatality if this should be the home of the unfortunate Teuton pilot of that Fokker machine, and the one who mourned was his mother or a young sister, or perhaps his wife!
"That means there"s a house not far away, possibly an estate of some kind," mused Tom, as though turning over some sudden project in his mind.
Jack guessed what his chum was thinking about.
"Tom," he said softly, when for the third time they caught the heart-rending, half stifled sobs coming on the still night air.
"What do you want now, Jack?"
"I was just wondering whether you"d agree to something," continued the other, in a persuasive tone. "We"re not in any _great_ hurry, are we?"
"Well, no, perhaps not, Jack; though I"d like to deliver the paper into the hands of our commander as soon as possible. It is probably of the utmost importance, you know."
"I can"t help thinking how I"d feel, Tom, if my mother or sister were in some great trouble, and fellows who might be in a position to hold out a helping hand considered their own personal safety first."
When Jack said this his voice was husky. Apparently the incident appealed strongly to his emotions. Jack had always been unusually thoughtful in regard to women of whatever age or degree, and would go far out of his way to do one a favor; so it was not strange that he should feel as he did at this time.
Tom was in a mood to be easily persuaded. The plaintive sobs, telling of woe that clutched some one"s heart-strings, stirred a responsive chord within him. He, too, remembered those at home. Jack had put a clincher on his argument when he asked what their opinion of a man would be who turned aside and went his own way after hearing a woman or a child crying bitterly.
"All right, then, Jack; perhaps we can spare the time to take a turn around here, and see if we can be of any help," he announced, greatly to the satisfaction of his chum.
"Perhaps some one has been hurt and needs a.s.sistance," suggested Jack.
"It isn"t going to delay us much, and may be of great help to them. Come on--let"s be on the move."
Tom was not quite so precipitate as his companion. Caution had a part in his make-up.
"Don"t try to rush things, Jack," he said. "I must take a last look over my work here, you know."
"But you said everything was completed, Tom!" persisted the other.
"So it is, but I ought to make doubly sure before we leave the plane,"
Tom added, as he took the electric hand-torch from his companion and began systematically to look over the engine at which he had been working, carefully examining every detail.
Jack said nothing further. He understood what his chum meant when he declared it important that they should know absolutely the motor was in prime condition for immediate service. Something might occur to necessitate a hurried departure from the vicinity; a detachment of the enemy forces might appear, or other perils hover over their heads that might be laughed at only if they could take to the air without detention.
Tom was not long in doing as he desired. Meanwhile Jack could hear an occasional sob from the same quarter as before, and the sounds continued to exercise a peculiar influence over him which he could not have explained had he been asked.
"I"m ready now, Jack!".
"Glad to hear it," muttered the other, half under his breath; not that he meant to infer Tom had been unduly long, but because his feelings were wrought up to a high pitch that caused him to quiver all over.
Tom evidently guessed this, judging from his next remark.
"Cool down, Jack," he said, laying a hand on his companion"s arm. "This will never do, you know. Getting excited is the worst thing an air pilot can do. It"ll prove fatal to all your hopes, unless you manage to control your feelings better."
"I guess you"re right, Tom."
"I don"t think there"s any chance the plane will be discovered here in the open field, even if there is a road so close by," mused the pilot, after they had gone perhaps as far as twenty-five yards.