guy, and using his electric
hand torch to give him light, so he could once more run his eye over the
motor on which he had been working.

"Come, Tom, it's no use hanging around here a minute longer," Jack had
finally to tell him. "Get aboard and I'll spin your wheel for you and
give you a boost for a start. Then I'll drop out of sight, because some
of them may run this way when they hear the clatter and guess the
cause."

Tom climbed to his seat and settled himself according to his customary
thorough manner. He tried the controls, and was not satisfied until he
had tested everything within reach.

"Say when, Tom!" Jack remarked, having finally left Bessie's side and
gone to the propellers of the big plane.

Tom drew in a long breath. He knew he had a risky venture ahead, taking
those two inexperienced passengers over the hostile lines, possibly
amidst showers of exploding shrapnel shells. But it was not this that
weighed so heavily on his spirits. He felt almost like a criminal at
leaving Jack behind.

"All right; let her go!" he announced grimly.

There came a sudden whirring sound. Then the loud hum of the motors
chimed in, and the big Caudron machine started off.

"Good-bye, Tom! Good-bye, Bessie!" Jack was heard saying, although the
noise of the plane almost drowned his voice.

Faster they went now, as the machine gained momentum. Tom paid strict
attention to his business of pilot. At just the proper time he must
elevate the forward rudder which would cause the plane to leave the
ground and start upward at a sharp angle.

Jack stood gazing after the object that was quickly growing more and
more indistinct in the dim moonlight, gazing with a strange heaviness in
the region of his heart. He had to shut his teeth firmly together to
conquer the momentary weakness that threatened to overpower him. But his
resolution remained master of the field.

"If only he gets them safely across," Jack muttered to himself, when he
could no longer see the airplane, though its noisy working came plainly
to his ears, "it'll be all right. But they've heard the racket over at
the house, too, I guess, because men are shouting, and I can see lights
flashing this way and that."

When he discovered that men with lanterns were actually looking around
as if to learn where the departing airplane could have been resting, and
what it all meant, Jack concluded it was time to conceal himself.

CHAPTER XXIV

TROUBLOUS TIMES FOR