The Boy Volunteers with the French Airmen Part 21

The men mused for a while, and shook their heads. "You know," Felix said, "everything around here is controlled by the Germans, and petrol is one of the things that is kept strictly under guard."

"Do you know the place where they store it?" inquired the lieutenant.

"Yes, but it would be dangerous to attempt to get any of it," said Raoul.

"I have a plan," said Felix, "but we cannot do anything before night. I know every step of the way to the station, and will take you there this evening."

"Good!" said the lieutenant. "In the meantime, give me a diagram of the station, and the roads leading to it. That will help me to become familiar with the surroundings."

For the next hour the lieutenant was busily engaged in learning all about the country, and where the stores and ammunition were kept.

"I think we might as well have some of that petrol," said the lieutenant with a smile, as he looked at the boys, who nodded their approval, as they were keen to partic.i.p.ate in the plans which the lieutenant had formed.

That night, after ten o'clock, they appeared at their place of concealment, for it was thought wise to keep away from the house in the event any of the prying neighbors should happen in. Together they cautiously found their way to the railway and walked along the track until the first switch was reached. While waiting there so that Felix could point out the different objects, Ralph drew the lever, and set it so the first train would take the switch.

The lieutenant saw it and nodded approvingly. Ahead a few hundred feet was a low building, which was reached by the track which led from the switch.

"The guards are stationed at that shed across the track, and sometimes they come over," said Felix.

"But is the building open?" asked the lieutenant.

"There are no doors; only open arches. The tanks can be loaded and unloaded from the tracks," was the answer.

They were carrying three vessels, such as are usually employed for transporting petrol in small quant.i.ties, and nearing the shed the lieutenant said: "Remain here and await my orders. I will go ahead and investigate."

With two of the receptacles in his hands he crouched as low as possible, and made his way along the track, but before reaching the structure he left the track, and approached the shed from the south side. He was gone for more than fifteen minutes, and when he returned with the receptacles filled he immediately seized the other, returning with it also filled in a few minutes.

"Now, take these to the cross road, and out of sight. I will be there in fifteen minutes," and saying this he quietly left them.

The boys and Felix carried the cans to the designated place with the greatest care, for the fluid was precious to them. No sooner had they hidden the receptacles when something like a flash of lightning illuminated everything about them, and this was followed by an explosion.

Felix gasped as he gazed in the direction of the sheds, for he divined the cause. The boys, too, were startled.

"I wonder if the lieutenant did that?" asked Ralph.

"I have no doubt of it," replied Felix.

"Do you really think he did it? I wonder if he is hurt?" said Alfred, his voice in a tremor.

They waited for more than a half hour. What if the lieutenant had been caught in the catastrophe? They could see the soldiers at the station rushing hither and thither, and the people were going toward the station from all directions.

"Mighty good thing we hid in this place," said Felix.

Felix and the boys were now in consternation, and as they had about decided to go up to their former place of concealment, the headlight of a train approached from the south. It slowed down a little as it neared the station.

"The switch!" was Ralph's exclamation. As he said that the train reached the switch, and turned to the track leading to the fiercely burning shed. Half of the train ran through a sea of fire before it could be checked. It was a terrifying sight, and Ralph shook with fear at the sight. Fortunately, it was a freight train, or the toll of death would have been awful.

"This begins to look bad for us. I am afraid the lieutenant has been captured. This place is getting to be too dangerous, and we must leave at once," said Felix, as he seized one of the cans.

"I will go down and see what the trouble is," said Alfred, but Felix shook his head. Nevertheless, although Ralph also remonstrated, and insisted on accompanying him, Alfred had his way. One would be safer than two, he thought, and without further words he crawled along the fence, avoiding contact with those who were in the near vicinity.

A few minutes after Alfred left, the lieutenant returned, and was shocked to learn of Alfred's journey.

"Take these cans up to the house, and I will go back and try to find him," he told them.

Alfred, meanwhile, had reached the track near the switch, and not far from the rear end of the burning train. As he was about to cross the track his foot struck an object, and he fell across the track. He was surprised to see several men appear and gaze at him, and it must be admitted that he was decidedly nervous over the situation. However, he did not venture to say anything, but quickly started at the fire, for he now stood with others, in the full glare of the flames. As no one paid any attention to him, it occurred to him that he had as much right there as the villagers.

All about him he heard criticisms of the calamity, and some one suggested that the fire and explosion was caused by a French airship, and, in fact, this seemed to be the general opinion.

Alfred wandered about listlessly, now feeling a.s.sured that the people knew nothing of the lieutenant, for he was certain that the news of the capture of a Frenchman would cause great excitement. Waiting the first opportunity, he slipped over the fence, and crawled along in the shadow of some brush for several hundred feet, when, to his consternation, a tall man arose in his path.

He turned, and was about to leap the fence, when he heard a familiar voice: "Alfred."

He immediately recognized the lieutenant, and it is questionable which of the two felt happier at the meeting. They quickly ascended the hill, where they met a gloomy pair in Ralph and Felix, and the lieutenant told his story. He had allowed the petrol to run from one of the tanks after he took away the last receptacle, and when he returned he tapped three of the other tanks, expecting to wait five or ten minutes before firing it.

While thus waiting two of the guards approached, and he hid behind a box car on the opposite siding. He feared that his plans had miscarried, for he felt sure the guards would discover the petrol. They did not, however, go into the sheds, but remained outside, engaged in conversation for more than ten minutes. When they left he lost no time in again crossing the track.

He reasoned that the whole of the interior of the first set of sheds must have been flooded by that time, and the problem now was to ignite it, and get away safely, so he struck a match and lighted a small saturated cloth, which was thrown into the nearest opening. It caught instantly, and as the entire shed was now filled with the vapor, the explosion followed before he could get across the track. It was so great in violence that he was hoisted from his feet, so it seemed to him, and completely stunned. How long he remained in that condition of half stupor he did not know, but he soon heard a babel of voices, and saw everything about him as bright as day. Then, to his surprise, a train came up the switch, and rushed through the fire. It was this which probably saved him from being detected.

"You may be sure," he said, "that as soon as my senses returned I knew what had happened, and that train started my sluggish brain into activity. I ran away from the train, and so did several others. No one cared to follow me, thinking, of course, that I belonged to the crew.

That explains my long absence."

"Now, how are we to get the petrol over to the machine?" asked Ralph.

"We must ask Felix about it," said the lieutenant. "Probably you can help us out in that direction?"

"I have a light wagon," said Felix, "but we must not venture out with it until after midnight; in the meantime I will go down to the village and get all the news."

He returned in an hour. "It is reported that an airship did the damage,"

said Felix.

Shortly after two o'clock in the morning the light wagon was on hand, and Raoul accompanied them. After loading the wagon with the cans they started on the trip through the forest. Felix and Raoul both remained with the lieutenant and the boys until the tanks were repaired, and the sun had appeared. The machine was then turned around, and headed for the opening in the forest through which they had entered. Felix and Raoul, in the meantime, diligently cut away the underbrush and bushes in the path of the machine so it would be able to make a fair start.

The boys now mounted the machine after shaking hands with the two men, and the lieutenant, reaching into his pocket, drew out a hundred franc note, which he tendered to them. They refused to take it. The lieutenant then threw it on the ground, saying: "This belongs to Belgium, and you had better take it."

"Good bye, and G.o.d bless you," shouted Felix, as the motor began to hum.

The machine gliding down the incline quickly gathered speed, and it was soon in the air.

After reaching an alt.i.tude of a thousand meters, the lieutenant said: "It would be interesting to pay the village a visit after our pleasant experience there."

Ralph, accordingly, turned the rudder, and the machine swung to the right. It required only a few minutes to reach the scene, and there, notwithstanding the distance, they could see the blackened and still smoking ruins in the two immense s.p.a.ces adjoining the station.

Now, for the first time, they appreciated the fact that a worthy task had been accomplished, for this station was one of the most important oil supply points along that whole line.

The soldiers were rushing wildly about the station grounds, and the officials there were no doubt now a.s.sured, after seeing the machine, that the depot had actually been destroyed by a bomb from that airplane.

The machine was now directed toward Longwy, and after giving that city a wide berth, flew directly south, with Verdun as the objective. The grounds below and to the west of that city were reached before ten o'clock, to the astonishment of the men quartered there, for it had been reported the night before that the lieutenant and the boys had been captured or killed in the fight at Longwy.