"Oh, it"s safe enough now, as far as that goes," said the other.
"But when actual fighting is going on, then it"s a different matter altogether."
"Were you ever attacked while you were up?" asked Billy.
"I surely was," replied the observer. "I was up over No Man"s Land one day, right on the edge of the clouds, when suddenly a Boche airplane came darting out of the clouds and opened on me with his machine gun before I knew what had happened. Just by luck, I didn"t get hit, but the bullets tore big holes in the balloon and it started to drop fast. I had time to jump clear with my parachute though, and landed without a scratch not a hundred feet from the wreckage of my balloon."
"You were pretty lucky, at that," observed Billy.
"You bet I was!" a.s.sented the other. "Another time I had to jump for it, too; only this time the balloon caught fire from some incendiary bullets fired at it. After I jumped the parachute was mighty slow in acting, and I dropped two thirds of the way before it finally took hold. I gave myself up for lost that time, and, as it was, I landed so hard that my left leg was broken, but even at that I wasn"t doing much kicking."
"No, you wouldn"t, with a leg broken," observed Billy slyly.
"That"s one on me," conceded the observer, with a laugh. "At the time, though, I couldn"t see much humor in it. Take it altogether, I guess a balloon will give a man his fair share of thrills."
"Gosh! I"d like to try it once," said Frank, longingly.
"If you"d really like to try it so much, I don"t know but what I can arrange it for you," said the observer slowly. "The trouble is, though, that I can take only two of you, because I have only two extra parachutes."
"We"re not apt to need them, are we?" asked Frank.
"Oh, of course, the chances are that we won"t, seeing that we won"t be attacked now by a hostile machine, as we would likely have been a few months ago," responded the other. "Just the same, it"s always possible for accidents to happen, and so I"ll have to limit it to two pa.s.sengers, although I"d like to take you all up."
"You and Bart go, Frank," said Billy. "Tom and I will come around some other time, and then maybe we"ll get a chance."
"Well, if you and Tom don"t mind, I guess we will," said Frank, and with the words he and Bart stepped into the car of the balloon, followed by the observer.
"I"m afraid you"ll find it rather tame," said the latter. "It"s not nearly as exciting as you might think when looking at it from the ground."
By this time the balloon was fully inflated, and the observer gave the sign to the man in charge of the windla.s.s to let the big gas bag rise. The windla.s.s man released the brake on the big drum, and the balloon shot upward with a speed that took the breath away from the two pa.s.sengers. Up they shot until they had attained an alt.i.tude of about five hundred feet, after which the windla.s.s man checked their further progress.
The boys exclaimed aloud over the wonderful sight that met their eyes. Mile upon mile the smiling Rhine countryside stretched away on every side. The picturesque Rhine, bordered by its ruined castles, was visible for many miles.
"Isn"t that a wonderful sight?" demanded Bart. "Why, from up here it seems as though we should almost be able to see Berlin."
"From the way things look now," observed their newly found friend grimly, "we"ll all see Berlin pretty soon, and we won"t have to go up in balloons to see it, either."
"Right you are!" acquiesced Bart. "And I"d be one happy little soldier if I knew that we were going to start to-morrow."
While the foregoing dialogue had been going on Frank had been taking in the view, but now he turned to the observer.
"Seems to me it looks pretty black over in the west," he remarked.
"I think we"re going to have a storm."
The observer glanced quickly in the direction indicated, and then jumped for his telephone.
"Pull her down, Dan!" he called. "Pull her down quick! There"s a big storm coming our way, and coming mighty fast, too."
The boys could feel the tug of the cable as it tightened in response to the starting of the windla.s.s, but before the balloon had descended a hundred feet the storm was upon them. A mighty blast roared about the frail balloon, jerking it here and there in such a violent manner that the boys were nearly thrown out. The captive balloon tore madly at its moorings, and seemed like some wild thing struggling to be free.
"We"re in for it now," yelled Dunton, the observer. "She won"t stand much more of this, and if she breaks away, it"s the parachutes for us."
Even as he spoke a specially vicious blast tore madly at the balloon, and the occupants heard a ripping, tearing sound. A second later the big "sausage" leaped upward, and the boys did not need to be told that it had broken free from its moorings.
"Get hold of the parachutes!" yelled Dunton, "but don"t jump yet.
This wind is too strong, but if it dies down a little we"ll have to risk it."
They were traveling at a terrific rate before the wind, and mounting steadily higher. Instead of abating, the wind seemed momentarily to increase in violence, and the balloon made increasingly heavier weather of it. It was only a matter of time when the wind would rip it to pieces, and this catastrophe was not long in coming. There was a sound of ripping cloth, and the next moment the balloon began to drop rapidly. This left its pa.s.sengers no alternative but to take to their parachutes, as to remain longer with the balloon spelled sure death, and they had a bare chance for life if they jumped.
Grasping the hand-holds of the big white parachutes, the three youths climbed to the edge of the basket, poised for a second, and then leaped off into s.p.a.ce.
For seconds the Army Boys experienced a terrible series of sensations as they dropped with the speed of light toward the uprushing earth. The wind roared and whistled in their ears, and they both thought the parachutes would never open in time to prevent their being dashed to atoms on the ground. But when they were less than two hundred feet from the ground, each felt a sudden checking of the plummet-like drop and knew that the parachutes had at last taken hold. Slower and more slowly they went, as the parachutes gathered the air in their silken folds.
But still the boys were not safe, for the strong wind tore at the parachutes and threatened at any moment to tear them loose. But at last Frank landed, with considerable of a shock, to be sure, but free of serious injury. His first thought was of his companions, and especially of Bart.
By great good fortune, Frank had landed clear of a river, although within a hundred feet of the bank. Looking in that direction, he was horrified to see Bart in the water, struggling amid the envelope and ropes of the parachute. He was so badly entangled that it was almost impossible for him to swim, and already his efforts were growing weaker.
Leaping to his feet, Frank rushed toward the stream, calling words of encouragement to his friend as he went.
"Hold up, Bart!" he yelled, "I"ll be with you in a minute."
Reaching the river bank, he paused only long enough to kick off his shoes, and then plunged in to the rescue of his friend. With powerful strokes he plowed through the water, and was soon alongside Bart, who by this time was in sore straits. Frank drew his knife, and with a few swift strokes cut away the wreckage of the parachute in which Bart was entangled.
"Thanks, old man," gasped the latter. "You came just in the nick of time, this time. Two minutes more, and I"d have been done for."
"Thank Heaven I did get here in time," said Frank fervently. "Just rest your hand on my shoulder, Bart, and I"ll tow you to sh.o.r.e.
It"s lucky this river isn"t as wide as the old Hudson, isn"t it?"
Fortunately Frank was a powerful swimmer, and it did not take him long to reach the bank. He and Bart crawled up to dry land, and threw themselves panting on the ground to recover from their late misadventures. But a moment later, Frank was on his feet once more.
"I forgot all about Dunton, the observer!" he exclaimed. "He may have landed in the river, too, or he may be injured and in need of help. Do you feel fit enough to help me look for him, Bart?"
"Oh, I"m as good as ever now," said Bart, with an attempt at a grin. "Guess I must have been born to be hung, because I don"t seem to be able to get myself killed by any other method."
The boys set out on their quest, and were soon delighted to see the observer himself limping toward them. The latter caught sight of them at the same time, and waved his hand to them.
"Gosh, but I"m glad to see you!" he exclaimed, when they came within speaking distance. "I was afraid you"d both gone under, and if you had I"d never have forgiven myself for taking you up with me."
"We were just starting out to look for you," said Frank. "Where did you land?"
"In a good soft place," said the other. "The branches of a big tree. My ankle caught in a branch and got wrenched a little, but otherwise I"m O.K."
"I landed in the river, and Frank had to fish me out," said Bart.
"But now that we"re all safe, I"m beginning to wonder just where we are. The storm seems to be over, and I guess it"s up to us to get back to camp as soon as possible, or they"ll have us down as A.W.O.L."
"I"m not sure just where we are," responded Dunton, "but I hope we haven"t landed among the Huns. They"d like nothing better than a chance to put us out of the way."
"Well, all we"ve got to do to get back is follow the river down,"
said Frank. "Let"s go."