"We"re not back home, yet," Freddy said grimly. "Let"s talk some more about what we should do."
It was as though Lady Luck or the Good Fairy had been waiting for that exact moment. From up in the sky to the east came the throbbing drone of a German plane. The two boys swiveled around at once, shielded their eyes with their hands and peered upward. The plane was down fairly low and coming straight toward them. A moment of panic seized hold of Dave and he unconsciously grabbed hold of Freddy and pulled them both down under the bushes.
"Gosh!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Maybe they"ve got planes out looking for us. Don"t move a muscle and they won"t see us. Gee, it"s a biplane, but it"s got the swastika marking on the tail. I thought all the German ships were monoplane design."
Freddy didn"t answer for a moment. He sat crouched low under the protecting bush branches and squinting his eyes up at the plane.
"That"s a German plane, right enough," he said presently. "I recognize it, now. It"s an Arado AR-95. It"s a two seater, and was built as a torpedo plane. They use it off airplane carriers, but it"s a pretty old type. Look, Dave! The pilot has cut his engine. He"s gliding down. I say, let"s get out of here! The observer in back has probably spotted us!"
"Now, wait!" Dave hissed and shot out a hand to stop Freddy from leaping to his feet and dashing back into the woods. "If they have spotted us we"d not get far before we"d be caught. Besides, I don"t think they"ve seen us. Look! He"s going into a gliding turn. Freddy! I"ll bet you a million dollars he"s going to land in that smooth field over there. Yes, sir, that"s what he"s going to do!"
"You"re right, Dave!" Freddy breathed. "And some of the Germans in that farm house are running out to meet them. But I don"t like this, Dave.
They may be landing to tell them where we are."
"Nope," Dave said doggedly. "They wouldn"t land. They"d either drop a message, or use their radio If they have one. They"d stay up to see which way we headed. Nope. That"s some kind of a headquarters over there, Freddy. I bet the plane is bringing them a message."
"I hope you"re right," Freddy said in an uncertain voice, as his clear blue eyes clouded with doubt. "There! He"s down on the ground, now, and braking to a stop."
"That sure is a sweet looking ship!" Dave breathed softly. "An Arado AR-95, huh? Oh, sure, now I remember seeing pictures of that design. It has a B.M.W. radial engine. (_Bavarian Motor Works_). The Germans used it a lot in training their pilots. It"s not so fast as the other war planes, and it"s a cinch to fly, they say. _Freddy!_"
Dave almost shouted the name, and his fingers still gripping the English youth"s arm bit deep into the flesh.
"Ouch, my arm!" Freddy protested, "What"s the matter, Dave? What"s up?"
Dave didn"t reply. He watched the German plane come to a stop. The pilot and observer jumped down onto the ground and walked toward the group of Germans advancing from the farm house. They met and appeared to talk for a moment or two. Then all of them turned and went back to the farm house. When they pa.s.sed inside Dave took a quick look over at the Arado with its prop ticking over, then swung around to face Freddy.
"Maybe that solves our problem, Freddy!" he said in a strained whisper.
"That plane!"
"The plane?" Freddy echoed with a frown. "What about it? Good grief, you surely don"t mean...."
"Why not?" Dave countered. "I made my first solo on a better ship than that. I"ll bet you anything you like I can handle it. What do you say, Freddy?"
The English youth gulped and looked most undecided. Dave took the moment of silence to press home his point.
"It"s the best bet we could possibly have!" he argued. "Gee, in that ship we could be behind the Allied defenses in no time. I say let"s try it, anyway. Gee whiz, Freddy, we might be stuck here for months. There"s no telling what we might run into. What do you say? Are you game to try it with me?"
The English youth was already smiling and nodding his head.
"Right you are, Dave, I"m game," he said quietly. "Anything"s better than just sitting here. And between us we ought to make a go of it.
Right-o, Dave, if you like."
"That"s the stuff!" Dave said and slapped him on the back. "They"re all inside the farm house now, and if we keep back of that field wall, there, we can get right up close without being seen. When I give you the sign, run like the d.i.c.kens for the ship. Gee! We"ve got to make it, Freddy. _We"ve just got to!_"
The two boys looked at each other, nodded, and then started crawling out from under the bushes on all fours.
CHAPTER TEN
_Trapped In War Skies!_
Hugging the ground at the extreme end of the field wall, Dave and Freddy stared at the German plane not thirty yards away. The idling propeller filled the air with a purring sound that struck right to their hearts and sent the blood surging through their veins in wild excitement. The feeling of fatigue and body weariness had completely fled them, now. The thrill of the dangerous adventure ahead filled them with a renewed sense of strength, and fired them with grim determination.
Dave slowly rose up onto one knee like a track star on his mark at the starting line. He cast a quick glance back over his shoulder at Freddy, and nodded.
"Now!" he whispered sharply, and went streaking around the end of the field wall.
He reached the plane a dozen steps ahead of the English boy, and practically leaped into the pilot"s c.o.c.kpit forward. No sooner was he seated and snapping the safety belt buckle than Freddy was scrambling into the observer"s c.o.c.kpit.
"I"m in!" he heard the English youth sing out.
Shooting out a foot Dave kicked off the wheel brake release. Then he grabbed hold of the "Dep" wheel control stick with his right hand and reached for the throttle with his left and gingerly eased it forward.
The B.M.W. engine instantly started to roar up in a song of power. Dave opened the throttle more and pushed the Dep stick forward to get the tail up as the Arado started forward.
"Hurry up, Dave!" came Freddy"s wild yell above the roar of the engine.
"They"ve seen us! They"re running out of the house. They"re shooting at us with rifles, Dave!"
Freddy could have saved his breath on the last. The sharp bark of rifle fire came plainly to Dave"s ears as he hunched forward over the controls. And almost in the same instant he heard the blood chilling whine of nickel-jacketed lead messengers of death streaking past not very high above his head. Impulsively he ducked lower in the pit, and shoved the throttle wide open. The plane was already bouncing over the ground on its wheels, with the tail up, and then added gas fed to the engine caused the ship practically to leap forward like a high strung race horse quitting the barrier.
The sudden burst of speed flung Dave back in the seat, and for one horrible instant his hands were almost torn from the Dep wheel, and his feet yanked free of the rudder pedals. He caught himself in the nick of time, however, swerved the plane clear of a sudden dip in the surface of the field, and then gently hauled the Dep wheel back toward his stomach.
For a long moment the wheels of the plane seemed to cling to the ground.
Then they lifted clear and the Arado went nosing up toward the golden washed blue sky. Clamped air burst from Dave"s lungs like an exploding sh.e.l.l. He coughed, and shook sweat from his face, and held the ship at the correct angle of climb. The engine in the nose sang such a sweet song of power that for a moment or so it was in tune with the song of wild joy in Dave"s heart. The Arado, as he had rightly guessed, was a cinch to handle. It was light as a feather and responded instantly to a touch on the control wheel, or on the rudder pedals.
As the plane climbed upward he twisted around in the seat and looked at Freddy. The English youth was staring down back at the field they had just left. Dave followed his look and saw the twenty or thirty figures garbed in German military uniforms on the field. At least half of them were firing furiously with rifles. The others were shaking their fists, and making angry gestures for the plane to return and land. Dave grinned and shook his head.
"You can just bet we won"t come back!" he shouted into the roar of the engine. "We"re not _that_ crazy!"
Freddy heard him and turned front. The English youth"s eyes danced with excitement. He grinned at Dave, and then suddenly seemed to remember the little scene last night after Dave had removed the screws from the window frame. He clasped both hands above his head and shook them vigorously. His lips moved, and Dave just barely heard the words.
"Well done!"
Dave returned the grin and then twisted around front. The dash instruments, of course, were all marked in German, but he knew enough of that language to read them. The altimeter needle was quivering close to the six thousand foot mark. He decided that was high enough and leveled off the climb onto even keel. Then he took a moment or so to glance down at the ground below to try and get his bearings. The first thing he saw was a small village off to his left. One look at it and his heart leaped over in his chest. He saw the hill and the single main street along which trucks and armored cars and motorized units of artillery were pa.s.sing in a steady, endless stream. The town of Estalle? It seemed to be almost directly under him. The truth made him shiver and lick his lower lip.
If that was Estalle and he was positive it was, he and Freddy couldn"t have traveled more than eight or nine miles toward the north during their wild flight last night. Maybe twice that number of miles going around in circles, but certainly not more than ten miles in the direction they wanted to go.
A rap on his shoulder turned him around in the seat. Freddy was pointing at the village of Estalle and pursing his lips in a silent whistle. Dave got the idea and nodded, and wiped make believe sweat from his forehead with his free hand. Then he turned front and glanced at the sun in an effort to decide which direction was due west. Of course there was a compa.s.s on the instrument panel but something was obviously wrong with it. The needle was spinning around the balanced card dial.
That fact didn"t worry him in the slightest, though. He remembered a tip a First World War flying ace had once given him about finding your direction in Europe when you were lost and your compa.s.s was out of whack. It was very simple, too. In the morning, if you could see the sun, all you had to do was keep the sun on your tail and you would be sure to be flying west. And so Dave applied the rudder until the sun was mostly on his tail, and gave his attention to the spread of ground ahead.
What he saw made him suck air sharply into his lungs. Rather, it was a case of what he didn"t see. The entire western horizon seemed to be one huge cloud of dirty grey smoke streaked here and there with tongues of livid red and orange and yellow flame. It was as though the whole of Belgium was on fire. Closer to him was a long even-banked river that cut down across the countryside from the northwest to the southeast. He was staring hard at it thinking it was a very peculiar looking river when he suddenly felt Freddy hitting him on the shoulder again.
"That"s the famous Prince Albert Ca.n.a.l!" the English youth shouted above the roar of the engine. "It"s very strongly fortified. A sort of Belgian Maginot Line. The Germans can"t possibly have crossed it, yet. If we can just get by there, Brussels is not very far off. We could land there."
"Germans not crossing it?" Dave yelled and pointed. "Look down there to the left. They"re swarming across it like bees. Gee, there must be a million pontoon bridges thrown across that ca.n.a.l. And, gosh, look at all those Stuka dive bombers!"