Our Pilots in the Air | Page 4

Watching for the signal of the leader of the squad, at the right time they
headed for the further front.
Over the trenches star-shells from the infantry could be seen. Under
direction they headed over No-Man's-Land, keeping at sufficient
altitude, hugging the darkness, avoiding glints of light, dodging
occasional searchlights, and all practically without a word spoken.
"You've been out here before, Lafe"' said Orris at last. "How much
further are we going?"
"Be there in two minutes. Keep easy! I'm going lower. Get your bombs
ready."
Silently Erwin obeyed. Below lay blackness, relieved at one point by a
few dots of light that marked the ruins of the hamlet on which they
were to let loose the bombs. So far no sign of life in the air or below
appeared.
The three machines in this detachment had scattered in order to
distribute their supply of bombs at a given signal from the leader. In
this night raid an escorting fleet that usually accompanied the daytime
raids was omitted. There was little need.

"Now!" cautioned Blaine to Orris and the latter began to drop his first
sheaf, a rather heavy one as the bombs weighed twenty-five pounds
each. Others were at work also and the village below, already in half
ruins, began to detonate with sharp explosions, lurid flashings and an
uproar of human cries. It was evident that the raiders had struck the
right spot.
For some minutes the work went on, Blaine swooping still lower, until
glimpses of hurried scurryings of the soldiers thus rudely disturbed
were mingled with the larger glares from the continuous explosions.
Orris Erwin, through though smaller and slighter physically, worked
away until the last sheaf was exhausted.
Then, and only then, the scene below was illuminated by the flash and
roar of hostile artillery. A shell exploded with a deafening report so
near their Bleriot that it was evident that the firer had sighted them
during Lafe's last lower swoop.
On the instant Blaine pressed a trigger, elevating the sharp nose of the
machine. As the deflected planes responded to sundry manipulations at
certain levers and they began to climb spirally into the upper air, the
powerful engines, exerting greater strength, shot them rapidly upward
where height and obscurity lessened the danger of further shots.
"Well, Archie came near getting us then, eh?" This from Lafe.
Receiving no answer, he glanced aside. What was his dismay to see
Erwin's slender figure drooping nervelessly, his head sinking, and the
emptied sheaf of bombs sprawling neglected in his lap!
"You're hit, Orry? For God's sake buck up! I've still got to climb or
they'll get us yet."
Clamping his knee round the wheel, he managed with one hand to pull
Orris forward and sideways, so that the boy's curly head, now capless,
lay against his thigh. With one arm half around and upon that senseless
head, holding the slight frame from slipping, he still manipulated the

alert Bleriot, that responded instantly to each human spur with a
mobility that was almost life-like.
The two other machines had vanished in the darkness, doubtless
cleaving the higher air strata in a backward flight to the home
aerodrome, which was now the goal of all. Meantime searchlights were
flashing here, there, yonder through the inky sky. The swift reports of
anti-aircraft guns split the night's silence in a most disconcerting
manner. Erwin groaned and twisted his body.
"Stay still, Orry! We must 'a' been the last to quit, and they're making
things hot back westward."
Here a blinding gleam of light flashed athwart his eyes and , letting go
of Erwin, he darted aside suddenly on a differing course. Erwin's body
crumpled into a heap. A heavier man might have toppled over the edge,
perhaps hanging helplessly at peril of falling out, unless held by the
straps which many old aviators neglect. As it was, the nerveless lad was
held by the high rim of the opening that fenced them both in. For the
moment the boy was safe.
Giving his whole attention to the machine, Blaine zigzagged and
dodged, mounting ever and ever higher. Yet his trend was unavoidably
towards the east, further within the enemy lines.
"For the present I've got to go this way," he thought. "I hope Lex and
Milt got away west before those 'cussed Archies broke loose. We'll
have to stay quiet until this ruction below settles down." Lex and Milt
were the pilots of the two remaining machines of this, the third and last
section of the bombing squadron of that night.
"Orry! Oh, Orry! Wakeup! Aren't you all right yet?"
These and other adjurations Blaine would make from time to time. A
chill came over him more than once as he wondered if Erwin would not
recover. Once only as Lafe moved