"More likely it"s part of the practice," remarked Tom, carelessly.
"Look at those shrapnel puffs over there," cried Bart, pointing toward the sky.
High up in the air, following one another in quick succession, were light, bluish streaks, that after reaching an enormous height, suddenly burst in a cloud of white.
"They"re certainly firing at something," remarked Billy, "but for the life of me I don"t see what it is."
"I do," cried Bart. "Look! just at the edge of that fleecy cloud.
It"s so white you can hardly tell it from the cloud itself."
They strained their eyes in the direction where Bart was pointing.
High up in the air, miles, it seemed, was a long, silver streak, shaped like an immense cigar. At that height it seemed almost to hang in the atmosphere, so gliding and imperceptible was its motion. And yet the boys knew that it was really shooting along with the speed of an express train.
"A Zeppelin!" they shouted, in chorus.
"A super-Zeppelin, or I miss my guess," observed Frank. "Look at the size of it."
"Oh, if the guns could only reach it!" exclaimed Bob.
"No such luck," groaned Billy, "it"s too far up. See! the shrapnel puffs are half a mile below it."
"It"s on its way back to the German lines," remarked Frank, "and I guess there"s nothing to stop its getting there."
"Been on a baby killing trip to Paris, I suppose," said Tom, bitterly.
"More likely London, judging from the direction," estimated Billy.
They watched the monster as it sailed swiftly on, until it was lost to sight.
"I"d have given a year of my life to have seen that thing brought down," said Bart. "Can"t you see the crew of it gloating over the women and children they"ve killed, and boasting about it when they get back to their lines?"
"Well, you know the Indians used to scalp women and children just as eagerly as they did men," remarked Billy, "and those Boches can give the Indians cards and spades and beat them out."
They were about to go back to the grove, with one last regretful look at the sky, when an exclamation from Frank brought them to a sudden halt.
"There"s another one," he cried, pointing to the distant horizon. Even as he spoke a second Zeppelin came plainly into view, following in the wake of the first, but with greatly diminished speed.
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Bart, "there must be a fleet of them!"
"That one hasn"t got off scot free, either," said Frank, his keen eye noting the apparent distress of the giant airship, as it moved uncertainly and unevenly, like a ship laboring in a storm. "By Jove, fellows, I believe it"s coming down! Quick! get under the cover of these trees!"
Lower and lower, like a bird with a broken wing, the Zeppelin came toward the earth, while the boys watched it in breathless excitement.
Whether the Zeppelin could go no further, and sank despite itself, or whether its commander, looking at that broad plateau, and seeing no sign of life upon it, had decided to make a landing, quickly repair his injured machinery, and then rise again to seek refuge behind his own lines, the boys could not tell. But whatever the reason, not many minutes had pa.s.sed before it became apparent that the airship was coming down, inevitably, right in front of them.
The word had been pa.s.sed quickly all through the woods, and the whole company was on the alert.
"Ready for action, men," commanded the lieutenant.
With rifles in hand, and all their senses keenly on the alert, the soldiers waited for the coming of their prey.
With a perceptible jar the airship struck the ground, and at the same instant her crew swarmed out and dropped over the sides.
"Charge!" shouted the American lieutenant, and out from the woods the army boys went with a rush.
The astounded Germans were taken so utterly by surprise that they stood for a moment as though paralyzed. Then their commander barked out a sharp order, and two of the men leaped on board and made for the engines.
Crack! went the lieutenant"s revolver, and as the bullet whistled past the ears of the foremost man both Germans came to a stop.
"Forward, men, and surround them, but don"t shoot unless you have to,"
was the next order, and an instant later the German crew were ringed about with rifles whose ominous muzzles threatened to mow them down at the first false move.
The German officer had started to draw a pistol, but seeing the uselessness of this, he shoved it back into its holster and shrugged his shoulders. He was trapped. The game was up. He raised his hands in signal of surrender.
Another command from the lieutenant, and the crew were disarmed. A certain number of the men were detailed to guard them, and others were placed in charge of the airship.
The boys were wild with delight at the rich prize that had fallen so unexpectedly into their hands.
"We"ve had two great days, boys!" exclaimed Frank, "if we never have any others. The day we saw the submarine potted, and the day we nabbed the Zeppelin."
"Glory, hallelujah!" crowed Bart. "And to think we"ve got it in such good shape. The Allies have been crazy for a long time to find out just what new wrinkles the Germans have got in the way of machinery and other features in their latest Zeppelins. Maybe the engineers won"t come running when they learn of this!"
"And maybe there won"t be joy in Paris and London and Washington!"
jubilated Tom.
"And perhaps the Huns won"t gnash their teeth and tear their hair!"
chuckled Billy. "Oh, boy, we sure had luck when they sent us out here this morning."
"That German officer is a hard loser," remarked Frank. "See that scowl on his face. A thundercloud has nothing on him. He"s sore through and through."
The boys would have liked nothing better than to have had a chance to explore the Zeppelin and see the many interesting and novel features embodied in it, but their hopes in this direction were doomed to be disappointed. The lieutenant was inflexible in his resolve to have absolutely nothing on the captured airship disturbed until the government experts arrived to inspect it, and sorely against their wills the boys were forced to content themselves with an exterior view of the wonderful fabric.
The German officer, being utterly without means of escape, had not been put under the custody to which his crew had been subjected. He stood stiffly by the side of the American lieutenant, awaiting the disposition that the latter might choose to make of him.
The American officer sought to question him, but found his prisoner, although able to speak English, inclined to reply only in monosyllables. The courteous persistence of the American, however, had its effect, and the German became more communicative, but he balked at telling where he had been, or what his raid had accomplished. After answering a number of questions of lesser importance, the German himself became the questioner.
"To what enemy have I surrendered?" he queried.
"To a regiment of the United States Army," replied the lieutenant.
A bewildered look came into the prisoner"s eyes.
"You mean British Army," he suggested, by way of correction.
"I said United States," said the lieutenant, briefly.
The puzzled look deepened.