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Page 73
Whirling around like a vast primeval bird of prey the biplane began to
rise, as if disappointed of a victim, and winding upward was soon above
the trees. Then John heard the rapid crackle of rifles.
"Shooting at our flag again!" he exclaimed.
But the whizz of a bullet that buried itself in the earth near him told
him better.
"It isn't possible that they've seen us!" he exclaimed.
"No," said Weber, "they're merely peppering the woods and vines in the
hope that they'll hit a concealed enemy, if such there should be."
"That being the case," said John, "I'm going to make my body as small as
possible, and push myself into the ground if I can."
He lay very close, but the rifle fire quickly passed to other portions
of the wood, and then died away entirely. John straightened himself out
and saw the biplane becoming smaller, as it flew off in the direction
whence it had come.
"I hope you'll come to no good," he said, shaking his fist at the
disappearing plane. "You've scared me half to death with your shots, and
I hope that both your rudders will get out of gear and stay out of gear!
I hope that the wheel controlling them will be smashed up! I hope that
the top plane will crash into the bottom one! I hope that a French shell
will shoot your tail off! And I hope that you'll tumble to the earth and
lie there, nothing but a heap of rotting wood and rusty old metal!"
"Well done, Mr. Scott!" said Weber. "That was quite a curse, but I think
it will take something more solid to disable the biplane."
"I think so too, but I've relieved my feelings, and after a man has done
so he can work a lot better. What are we to look for now, Weber? We
don't seem to have success in attracting anything but Germans. If Lannes
is coming at all, as you think he will, he'll get a pretty late ticket
of admission to our reserved section of the air."
"You must remember that the sky above us is a pretty large place, and at
any rate we're a drawing power. We're always pulling something out of
the ether."
"And our biggest catch is coming now! Look, Weber, look I If that isn't
one of Herr Zeppelin's railroad trains of the air then I'll eat it when
it gets here!"
"You're right, Mr. Scott. There the monster comes. It can't be anything
but a Zeppelin! They must have one of their big sheds not far east of
us."
"We'll hear its rattling soon. Like the others it will surely see our
flag and make for it. But if they take a notion to shoot up the wood, as
the men on that biplane did, we'd better hunt holes. A Zeppelin can
carry a lot of soldiers."
The Zeppelin was not moving fast. It had none of the quick graceful
movements of the aeroplanes, but came on slowly like some huge monster
of the air, looking about for prey. It turned southeast for a moment or
two, then some one on board saw the flag and coming back it lumbered
toward the tree.
"Ugly things," said John. "Lannes and I blew up one once, and I wish I
had the same chance against that fellow up there. But they're in the
same puzzled state that the other fellows were. Men on both platforms
are examining the flag through glasses, and the flag doesn't give a rap
for them. It's standing out in the wind, now, straight and stiff. It
seems to know that old Noah's ark can't make it out."
The huge Zeppelin drew its length along the grove, coming as close to
the trees as it dared, then passed above, and after some circling
lumbered away to the south.
"Good-bye, old Mr. Curiosity," exclaimed John. "You weren't invited
here, and I don't care whether you ever come again. Besides, you're
nothing but a big bluff, anyway. There's our flag, still standing
straight out in the wind, so you can see every stripe on it, and yet you
haven't, despite your visit, the remotest idea why it was put there!"
Weber smiled.
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