hile the gun crews
increased their fire at the hostile planes.

Suddenly there was a terrific explosion just in the rear of the
hospital. It shook the ground and brought forth screams of agonized
apprehension on the part of men suffering from shell shock. But either
the bomb was misdirected or the Huns were more merciful than they had
been on other similar occasions, for the bomb, dropped from one of the
aircraft, only tore a big hole in an adjacent field.

"Too close for comfort, though," declared Ned.

"Our boys are gettin' after 'em!" exclaimed Bob, as he and his chums
hurried back into the endangered building to assist in taking out more
of the helpless ones.

This was true in two senses, for the fire of the anti-aircraft
batteries was increasing, and now several Allied airmen were mounting
aloft in their swift machines to give battle to the attacking Huns.

It was high time, too, for now bombs were dropping on all sides of the
hospital, and there was no telling when the entire building might go
down in ruins. Whether the German airmen were deliberately trying to
hit the place where wounded men were being saved from death, or
whether they aimed their infernal machines at objects near it, could
not be said with certainty.

Fiercer and more rapid became the firing from the anti-aircraft
batteries established near the hospital for this very purpose, and
more Allied planes took the air, seeking to drive off the invaders.

By this time most of the wounded had been carried out and put under
trees, in the open, wherever it was considered safest for them.

Though from the ruthless manner in which the Huns waged war no place
was immune from their bombs--even in the neighborhood of a hospital.

"Look! Look!" suddenly cried Ned. "They got one!"

"That's right!" echoed Jerry. "They've brought one down!"

Tumbling over and over, in a fashion no airman, however reckless,
would dare to imitate as a ruse, was one of the German planes. It had
been hit either by a shell from a battery, or the bullets from one of
the machine guns on an Allied plane had found a mark.

Then, as the invading machine continued to fall, out of control, it
burst into flames, and a small dark object was seen to detach itself
from the mass and fall to one side.

"There goes the pilot!" said Bob grimly. "He's done for."

And so he was, and so was his machine. It was a horrible death, but
none the less horrible than he had planned for others--an