and won
the battle against this antagonist. But when two other Allied planes
closed in, that was the last of the enemy. He was sent crashing down to
satisfy the vengeance in toll for the life of the birdman he had taken.

Now Tom and Jack could see that their plan had worked better than they
had dared to hope. The boldness of the attack from the air, coupled with
the advance of the American army, started a panic in the German ranks.
They began a retreat and the regiments near the prison camp were
included in the rout.

By this time either some of the prisoners saw that there was a break in
the cordon around them, or they realized that a great battle was putting
their guards to flight, for some of them made a rush toward a side where
there were no Germans, and succeeded in breaking out--no hard task since
part of the fence was shattered by the explosion.

"Now's our chance," cried Tom, though of course Jack could not hear
this. "Harry may be among that bunch, and we want to get him and any
others we can save."

He started the aeroplane on its downward path, while Jack, guessing the
object, got the machine gun ready for action, since there might be a
squad of Germans ready to give battle on the ground.

Several other planes of the Allies, seeing what was going on, swooped to
the aid of the two Americans, for there were no other of the Hun craft
within sight now. All had been sent crashing down, or had drawn off.

On either side of the immediate sector which included the prison camp,
the battle was still raging fiercely, mostly with success on the side of
the Americans, though in places they suffered a temporary setback.

In the vicinity of the prison itself wild scenes were now being enacted.
The prisoners were beginning to rise in force, for they saw freedom
looming before them. There were fights between them and the guards,
and terrible happenings took place, for the guards were armed and the
prisoners were not. But as fast as some of the Germans fell they were
stripped of their guns and ammunition, and the weapons turned by the
prisoners against their former captors.

All this while Tom and Jack were descending in their plane. As yet they
were uncertain whether they were to be able to rescue Leroy or not. They
could not distinguish him at that height, though from the enthusiastic
manner in which several of the newly liberated ones waved at the
on-coming aeroplanes, it would seem that they were of that arm of t