Fighting in France Part 25

OVER THE TRENCHES

A few moments later Jacques was in the driver's seat and Leon and Earl had taken their places on board. Every boy was dressed in a heavy coat and an aviator's hood, with protection for the ears and face; warm gloves were on their hands, for it promised to be biting cold in the high air that day.

The top rim of the sun was just appearing over the edge of the trees as Jacques pressed the b.u.t.ton which set the self-starter whirring. The engine roared and the pilot listened intently for any sound of defect to come to his well-trained ear. An aviator must know by the sound just what is wrong with his motor; there is no chance to search for the cause of the trouble when you are a mile or two above ground.

Apparently Jacques was satisfied for he throttled the motor down until it merely purred. "All ready?" he demanded.

"Got your dispatches, have you?" asked Leon.

"Yes," said Jacques, feeling of his breast pocket.

"I guess we're off then," cried Leon eagerly. "Let 'er go."

The monoplane began to move forward slowly. The little knot of men gathered around called good-bys as the great mechanical bird ran out across the field. Faster and faster it went; finally Jacques pulled a lever and gracefully and easily it rose from the ground. Up, up, up it soared, swiftly and steadily.

"Say," almost shouted Earl, "this is wonderful. I've never been in an aeroplane before, you know."

"Well you keep your eye out for other machines and for people shooting at us from below," advised Leon. "That's your job and mine."

"It's such a wonderful sensation flying like this," cried Earl. "Just look down below us there. The roads look like white ribbons and the trees like bouquets. Don't the houses seem small?"

Earl was enchanted. Leon and Jacques too, although they were experienced hands at this game, once more felt the thrill of soaring swiftly through s.p.a.ce. Jacques particularly was pleased to be in the driver's seat of an aeroplane again; his face plainly showed his keen enjoyment.

Higher and higher they mounted; below them the earth seemed miles away and the buildings and fields appeared to be of toy size. It was cold, however, bitterly cold, and all three of the boys were profoundly thankful for their warm wraps.

"You know it feels as if we were standing still," exclaimed Earl.

"I know it," agreed his brother. "The higher you go the more it seems that way too."

"Yes, sir," cried Earl, "if I didn't know better I should say that we were absolutely stationary and that it was the earth below that moved."

"Isn't the machine steady?"

"Feels as steady as a rock. You know I haven't felt the least bit nervous since we started."

"Why should you?" demanded Leon. "We're a good deal safer here than we are in the trenches."

"I suppose that's true," mused Earl. "You wouldn't think so, though, would you?"

"I don't know. The way the machines are perfected nowadays there is practically no danger from accident and with a good aviator you are as safe as any one can be in war. Of course plenty of machines are destroyed and the pilots and observers killed, but I believe the proportion is smaller than in any other branch of the service."

"Say," called Jacques from the pilot's seat.

"What is it?" demanded Leon.

"I've got a question to ask you. There are two ways of reaching Flambeau and I want your advice as to which to take. One way we can go around back of the firing line and be practically safe all the way."

"Go that way then," exclaimed Leon quickly.

"But," objected Jacques, "that course is much longer."

"Major Villier and General Petain both said that the dispatches should be delivered as soon as possible, didn't they?"

"'At the earliest possible moment,' was the way they expressed it,"

said Jacques.

"Then," said Leon, "we ought to take the shortest route."

"It crosses the battle line twice," said Jacques. "You know the trenches make a big loop below here and we will have to cut straight across that loop."

"Never mind," exclaimed Leon. "If they said to deliver the dispatches at the earliest possible moment it's for us to take the shortest possible course in order to do that."

"I think so too," agreed Earl. "We'll have to run our chances, that's all."

"There are the trenches below us now," cried Leon suddenly. "See them up ahead there?"

"Sure enough," exclaimed Earl. "Don't they look funny from here? They look just like a series of deep scars running in all directions."

"You can't see the first line trenches yet," said Leon. "You can easily tell them for they'll run exactly parallel to one another and the s.p.a.ce in between them will be the only place where you see no trenches. Behind both the French and German first lines there are any number of other trenches running in all directions and all connected.

But in between the two front ones there is nothing; 'no-man's land'

they call it."

"'Dead-man's land' would be better I should think."

"See them firing," exclaimed Leon suddenly.

"At us?" queried Earl.

"No. You can see those puffs of smoke down below there though; those are bursting sh.e.l.ls."

"There are the first line trenches too," said Earl abruptly. "You can tell them easily, can't you, just as you said."

"How high are we, Jacques?" inquired Leon.

The young aviator consulted his indicator. "Two thousand meters," he replied.

"Let's see," said Leon, trying to figure it out in his head, "there are a little over three feet in a meter and that would make two thousand meters about six thousand feet or over. There are five thousand two hundred and forty feet in a mile; that makes us a little over a mile high."

"Can they hit us at this distance?" asked Earl.

"They can, but I hope they don't," said Leon grimly.

"Funny we haven't seen any other machines," remarked Earl.

"Well we're right over the front trenches now and I guess plenty of people see us and are looking at us right this minute."

As he spoke a puff of white smoke suddenly appeared ahead of them but some distance below.

"They're firing at us," exclaimed Jacques.