With Haig on the Somme Part 15

It was a clear night, and the visible difference in the blackness of the ground here and there told Dennis that they were traversing above mountainous country, while the little bright specks shining like glow-worms marked the existence of enemy towns and villages, whose inhabitants fancied themselves secure from the daring French airmen.

With the exception of the historic raid upon Karlsruhe they had seldom journeyed so far afield.

For a moment the engines ceased working, and Laval shouted to his companion: "We must be close to the place now. There should be a hill covered with pine trees in front of us, and the hangar lies within a league beyond it on a flat plain."

"Then yonder it is!" cried Dennis. "There is no end of a strong light showing ahead. That ragged edge that looms against it must be your tree tops."

"Good!" replied the pilot. "Get your bombs ready. When I shut off again we shall he as nearly above the spot as one can judge."

He restarted the engines. In the distance a curious yellow glow outlined the hill, and as they sailed clear of the pines the glow resolved itself into a considerable illumination, for which the pilot steered.

Rows of electric lamps formed a huge parallelogram, in the centre of which was a long black object, undoubtedly the airship hangar.

"By Jupiter!" yelled Dennis; "we're in luck to-night! The Zeppelin's coming out!"

He forgot that his words were completely drowned, and he received a sudden shock when the brilliant beam of a searchlight flashed up from the ground, and, after a circling swoop, found them and held them in its fierce eye. Every stay and rivet was as clearly visible to him as though it had been noonday, and it was a trying moment.

As another light challenged them, and asked "Who are you?" he remembered Laval's previous instructions, and showing his signal lamp, replied in the Morse code, "Blumberger, returning from reconnaissance beyond Mulhausen."

Blumberger was lying dead under the mackintosh in the cornfield near Bar-le-Duc, and Dennis was wearing his outer garments; but the message had been understood, and was followed by the command: "L30 coming out now. Be careful until all is clear; then report, Blumberger!"

"Yes, we will be very careful!" muttered Claude Laval, who had read off the message at the same time; and flying slowly at scarcely more than five hundred feet above the ground he steered towards the hangar.

Out of the giant shed the great grey nose of the Zeppelin came gliding into view, shining like some silver thing in the light of the electric lamps, the army of men who guided its movements looking like so many busy ants as the searchlights switched off the Aviatik and focused on the airship, evidently for their own guidance.

Suddenly the Aviatik dipped, and Laval made a gesture with his helmeted head. There was no Rolland releasing apparatus fitted to the machine, and the Frenchman's ten bombs were ranged on either side of the observer.

He knew the moment had come, and with a rapid movement Dennis flung them over into s.p.a.ce! As the sixth left his hand he felt the machine begin to mount steeply as Laval opened the throttle and put the engines to their fullest power, and the remaining four death-dealing missiles were dropped out at random.

Peering down over the edge, three tremendous explosions reached their ears, followed by another and another; and then everything was drowned in the mightiest explosion of them all, as Zeppelin and hangar burst into a sheet of flame.

Wider and wider it spread, and higher it rose, a great red and yellow roar of lapping tongues, sometimes hidden by dense black smoke, only to flare out brighter than before.

And still the raider climbed at a perilous angle, and at such a speed that Dennis gave up all attempts to use his gla.s.ses.

As he clung with one hand to a gun bracket, looking giddily down, something screamed past the aeroplane, missing the wings by only a few feet, and a shrapnel sh.e.l.l burst overhead.

"I thought 'Archibald' would have something to say to us," muttered Dennis, as Laval banked away to the right, still rising. "Hallo! Now they've got us!" And three brilliant beams shot into the night sky, one of them focusing the Aviatik and the two others instantly joining it, to show the anti-aircraft gunners their target.

Laval dived--a breathless, daring swoop down--as two sh.e.l.ls burst above their heads; but, quick as he was, a shower of bullets rained through one of the wings. Dennis could see the holes when the searchlights got them again, and the side of the fuselage was pitted with dents.

Right and left, above and below, in front and behind them, the whole sky was suddenly alive with sh.e.l.l bursts; and into the observer's brain came the recollection that he had an interview with General Joffre at eight o'clock that morning! He found himself actually smiling at the thought, and wishing that he could speak to the man in front of him--the helmeted man with rounded shoulders bent over his wheel, who pressed levers and bent the control pillar this way and that, as he sent the biplane zigzagging through the heavens with a suddenness that b.u.mped Dennis about, and threatened more than once to fling him out into eternity.

He did not feel the cold, although it was intense; and he had the presence of mind to pa.s.s a strap round his waist and fasten himself in.

And then he crouched there, marvelling at their luck and the iron nerve of his companion, who, so far, was responsible for their escape.

He knew that they were already a long way from the blazing airship which they had destroyed, and a feeling of exultation took possession of the lad. They were going to win through--they would do it yet; it was written that they were to get free, and he closed his eyes, giddy with the whirl of mingled emotions that filled him.

They had eluded the searchlights for a moment, but another screaming sh.e.l.l overtook them, and as it burst he opened his eyes, and saw Claude Laval sink forward and huddle up on top of his wheel.

"By Jingo, they've got him!" gasped Dennis, sickening with fear for the first time; but recovering himself on the instant, he flung off the strap and reached forward in an attempt to get to the wounded Frenchman without any very distinct idea of what he could do if he succeeded.

But Laval, as though he had read his thoughts, straightened himself and gave a jerk with his head, at the same time sending the machine earthward in a nose dive at an appalling angle.

Dennis clung to the front of the circular c.o.c.kpit which was the observer's post, and again his eyes closed as the downward rush took his breath away.

"Poor little mater!" And there was a world of agony in the boy's thought, interrupted by finding himself precipitated backwards in a heap, as the _nacelle_ lifted and the dive was checked.

Only for a moment, however, for down they shot again, the downward course being a harrowing succession of switchback curves, which ended in a curious silent glide on even keel, a terrific jolting and a dead stop.

"Are you there?" said an odd, far-away voice, as Dennis slowly gathered himself up with a sigh of heartfelt relief.

"Yes, I'm here. You don't mean to say we're actually on the ground and safe!" he cried hoa.r.s.ely.

"Hush! Do not speak too loud!" groaned Laval. "We are as safe as we can be on German soil, but I am afraid my right shoulder is broken; and worse still, the engines stopped of their own accord before we made that last dive."

Dennis, as soon as he had recovered from the species of partial paralysis which had taken possession of his limbs, climbed forward to his companion, who rested his head against his shoulder for a moment, and groaned faintly through his clenched teeth.

"That was magnificent, Laval!" whispered Dennis. "Where is the flask of cognac? Here, drink this!"

"Thanks, my dear friend," murmured the wounded Frenchman. "Do not worry about me. It is a question of what is wrong with the Aviatik. There is just one hope for us. Look at the petrol tank. Oh, you can use a light, for, remember we are Germans now if anyone comes along."

Torch in hand, Dennis examined the petrol tank carefully, and his voice shook with renewed hope.

"The tank is untouched," he reported. "But there is only an inch of spirit left at the bottom of it. That's the trouble. There is something like a house yonder among the trees. What do you say?"

"There is only one thing to be said, my dear Blumberger," replied Laval, with a faint smile. "We must commandeer petrol without delay. I find my arm is not broken after all, but I am bleeding like a pig. It is running into my boot. Help me out, and we will see what the good people over there can do for us."

"Have you any idea where we are?" queried Dennis, as he a.s.sisted his wounded companion to the ground with some difficulty.

"Somewhere in the Black Forest," replied Laval. "And unfortunately not much more than ten miles, scarcely that, from the Zeppelin shed. They will search for us, never fear; they are searching now! Moreover, it will be daylight directly, and it is necessary that we hurry ourselves if you want to keep your appointment."

CHAPTER XII

In the Hands of the Enemy

Some distance away, and seemingly on slightly higher ground, a light was shining, and a second light moved with a curious jerky motion and then disappeared.

The raiders knew that their safety depended on playing a tremendous game of bluff, and that before the news of their adventure spread.

Already a faint grey veil was creeping over the darkness, and at the end of several minutes they found themselves approaching a beech wood which clothed the base of a high hill, and saw that the stationary light came from a curious castellated building at the edge of the wood, where a rustic bridge spanned a swift stream. There was no one about, and the iron-bound door was open.

"Somebody's hunting-lodge," muttered Laval. "They have gone up the hill to see what the explosion meant. That was a lantern we saw moving among the trees."