"Are you a pilot, Dave?" he whispered. "Do you fly?"
"Some," Dave said. "I"ve gone solo, anyway. I hope some day to get accepted for the Army Air Corps. I think flying is the best thing yet.
There"s nothing like it. Hear those planes up there? Boy!"
"They"re German," Freddy said. "Heinkel bombers, I think. Or perhaps they are Dorniers, I can"t tell by the sound. I"m crazy about flying, too. I joined an aero club back in England. I"ve got a few hours solo to my credit. When war broke out I tried to enlist in the Royal Air Force, but they found out about my age and it was no go, worse luck. But, some day I"m going to wear R.A.F. wings. At least, I hope and pray so. I...."
"Silence!" the German officer"s harsh voice grated against their eardrums once more. "You will not speak!"
"A rum chap, isn"t he?" Freddy breathed out the corner of his mouth.
"Sure thinks he"s a big shot," Dave breathed.
And then as the transport continued to rumble and roll eastward Nature took charge of things as far as the boys were concerned. Strong and healthy though they were, they had been through a lot since dawn. It had been more than enough to wear down a full grown man. And soon they fell sound asleep.
The rasping and clanging of gears and the shouting of voices in German eventually dragged Dave out of his sound slumber. It was still dark but he could see the first faint light of a new dawn low down in the east.
The motorized transport had come to a stop in the center of a small village. Dave could see that here, too, sh.e.l.ls and bombs had been at work, but lots of the buildings remained untouched. There were German soldiers in all kinds of uniforms all over the place. A hand was slapped against his shoulder and he looked up to stare into the small bright eyes of the German lieutenant.
"Wake up your friend!" the German snapped, "We are here. Get out, both of you!"
"Where are we?" Dave asked and gently shook Freddy Farmer who was fast asleep on his shoulder. "What town is this, Lieutenant?"
The German smiled slyly. Then annoyance flashed through his eyes. He whipped out a hand and took a steel grip on Freddy"s shoulder and shook viciously.
"Wake up, Englander!" he barked. "You have had enough sleep for the present. Wake up, I say!"
A smart slap across the cheek emphasized the last. The English lad woke up instantly, and he would have lunged out with a clenched fist if Dave had not caught hold of his arm.
"Take it easy, Freddy!" he exclaimed. "This is the end of the line.
Here"s where we get off. How do you feel?"
Freddy shook his head and dug knuckles into his sleep filled eyes. That seemed to do the trick. He was fully awake in an instant.
"Oh yes, I remember, now," he said. "Where are we, though? What"s this place?"
The German threw back his head and laughed.
"I will tell you," he said and waggled a finger in front of their faces.
"This is the Headquarters of the German Army Intelligence in the field.
I am taking you before the _Kommandant_. And now we shall learn all about you two. Yes, you will be very wise to answer truthfully all the questions _Herr Kommandant_ asks."
With a curt nod to show that he meant what he said the German climbed down onto the street, and then motioned for Dave and Freddy to climb down, too.
"That building, there," he said and pointed. "March! And do not be so foolish as to try and run away. I warn you!"
Dave and Freddy simply shrugged and walked across the street to the doorway of a solidly built stone building. A guard standing in front clicked his heels and held his rifle at salute at the approach of the officer.
"My compliments to _Herr Kommandant_," the officer said sharply.
"_Leutnant_ Mueller reporting with two prisoners for questioning."
The guard saluted again, then executed a smart about face and went in through the door. Dave caught a flash glimpse of desks, and chairs, and the part of a wall covered by a huge map, before the door was closed in his face. He looked at Freddy and grinned, and then glanced up into the small eyes of the German officer. Those small eyes seemed to bore right back into his brain.
"You will do well to tell the whole truth!" the German said without hardly moving his lips. "Remember that!"
At that moment the door was reopened and the guard was nodding at the lieutenant.
"_Herr Kommandant_ will see you at once, _Herr Leutnant_," he said.
"Good!" the officer grunted, and pushed Dave and Freddy in the back.
"Inside, at once!"
CHAPTER FIVE
_In the Enemy"s Camp_
The first thing Dave saw as the Lieutenant pushed him through the open doorway was a desk bigger than any other desk he had ever seen. It was a good nine feet long and at least five feet wide. It took up almost one whole side of the room and upon it were piled books, official papers, a couple of portable short-wave radio sets, and at least a dozen telephones. And seated at the desk was a huge red faced, bull necked German in the uniform of a staff colonel.
"My prisoners, _Herr Kommandant_ Stohl," the Lieutenant said. "_Heil Hitler!_"
The big German Colonel lifted his gaze from some papers in front of him, looked at Dave Dawson and Freddy Farmer and started violently. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in amazement. He got control of himself almost instantly and whipped his eyes to the Lieutenant"s face.
"Is this a joke, _Herr Leutnant_?" he demanded in a booming voice that shook the thick walls of the room. "What is the charge against these two peasant urchins? Look, the clothes of that one, there, are in rags!"
The high ranking officer lifted a finger the size of a banana and jabbed it at Dave. The lieutenant flushed and made gurgling sounds in his throat.
"They are not urchins, not peasants, _Herr Kommandant_," he explained hastily. "This one of the brown hair claims he is an American. And this one of the light hair is an Englisher. I caught them trying to sneak past our advance units with an ambulance. They stated that they were lost, and wanted to know the way to Courtrai. When I caught them they were a good forty miles southeast of that city. I did not believe their stories so I escorted them here at once."
"And the ambulance?" the German asked slowly. "There were wounded soldiers in it, perhaps?"
"No, _Herr Kommandant_," the Lieutenant said with a shake of his head.
"There was nothing. It was completely empty. It has never been used.
That, also, added to my suspicions of these two. I shall give it a better examination at your orders, sir."
"Do so at once, now," the senior officer said and made a wave of dismissal with one hand.
"At once, _Herr Kommandant_," the Lieutenant said in a magpie voice.
"_Heil Hitler!_"
The German Colonel waited until he had left, then focussed his eyes on Dave and Freddy, and smiled faintly.
"And now, boys," he said in a kindly voice, "what is all this about? How did you happen to get so far behind our lines?"
"We told the lieutenant the truth, sir," Freddy Farmer spoke up. "I was lost. It was all my fault. I had no idea where I was. You have no right to hold us as prisoners. We have done nothing except get lost, and it was all my fault."
The German"s smile broadened and his shoulders shook.