“It was worth all the trouble, Jack,” admitted Amos. They could see far away beyond where the doomed Belgian village undoubtedly lay. Billows of smoke shrouded most objects, but at times the wind swept this aside, and at such moments they could obtain glimpses of the fighting.
In one place they saw solid masses rushing forward with the resistless power of might, to be met with a blast that cut terrible lanes in their closely packed ranks.
Amos fairly held his breath as he stared. It seemed almost as though he might be indulging in a nightmare. Then the powder smoke rolled like a curtain between, and the view was shut off.
Shells were bursting everywhere, and Jack[128] soon located the hamlet which they had so recently quitted.
“They’re at it hammer and tongs around the village, I’m afraid, Amos,” he called out to his companion.
“Have you found out where it’s located, Jack?”
“Yes, if you watch sharp when the smoke fog opens you can glimpse a few of the houses over that way,” and Jack pointed as he said this.
“Yes, I see it now. And how the shells seem to be raining down on that spot. I guess the German gunners have got the range to a fraction. How d’ye think they manage such things, Jack?”
“They have the whole country plotted out to begin with, Amos. And then, you see, they get tips by wireless right along.”
“Wireless?” echoed Amos.
“In a sense, yes. Look up and you’ll see that there are a dozen aeroplanes swooping around like hawks, now fluttering over some particular spot, and dropping a colored signal paper. That[129] is to tell the gunners just how to fire so as to hit what they’re after. Those birdmen have a regular code they use to talk with.”
“But surely all of them are not German Taubes, Jack? I can see some that look different in build.”
“Those belong to the Allies,” Jack declared with conviction.
“But how is it they chase around, often close together, without interfering with each other?”
“I suppose that’s because they’re all too busy now sending information of great value to bother with their own little rivalry. Though it may be they take an occasional crack at each other in passing.”
Amos had conceived a sudden startling thought, and he watched the evolutions of the rising and falling aeroplanes with additional interest. It could easily be noticed, however, that the machines of the Allies monopolized his attention.
“Oh! I wonder if one of them could be my[130] brother Frank,” Jack heard him saying presently.
“It’s one chance in ten he’s working up there right before our eyes,” the Western boy admitted.
After that Amos could hardly tear his eyes from the darting aeroplanes. When he saw little puffs of white smoke breaking close to one of them and knew that this must be shrapnel shells sent from anti-air craft German guns, his heart seemed almost in his throat with sudden anxiety.
“Oh! that would be too cruel!” he exclaimed. “If I came all the way over here to find my brother, only to see him shot down before my very eyes.”
“Don’t think of it,” Jack told him. “Chances are those are British airmen, and Frank may be far away from here.”
“Oh! he’s been struck, and is falling!” exclaimed Amos in sudden terror.
“His machine has been put out of commission, it seems, but the pilot aims to coast down[131] so he can land back of his own lines. And as sure as you live he’s doing it, too.”
They forgot everything else, because of their intense interest in the fate of the pilot of the stricken monoplane. A short time later Amos broke out with half a cheer, such was the excitement he was laboring under.
“Jack, he’s landed, don’t you think?”
“Reckon he has,” agreed the other.
“And safe behind the British lines.”
“You’re right there, Amos, because the place where he struck is some distance this side of the village. That brave fellow is all right, even if his machine was put out of commission.”
“But the others keep at work right along, Jack.”
“They direct the gunfire of both sides, to a considerable extent, and it would be a hard thing to get along without aeroplanes nowadays. This war has shown how useful they can be. But look over yonder. I do believe those are the British reserves we saw, going into action.”
“Oh! you’re right, Jack, for I glimpsed the[132] Highlanders deploying behind that stone wall. And I think that must be the Canadian regiment charging with their bayonets.”
“It surely is, because I heard their yells when a shift came in the wind just then. Oh! shucks! there that smoke has to settle down again and shut off our view when it was getting so thrilling.”
“To think that the same kind of fierce fighting is going on along miles of territory. Do you think there’s a chance the Germans may break through at this point, Jack?”
“They may in small detachments while all the confusion is on, but not in great force,” Jack replied. “All these things have been anticipated and prepared for. A battle is like a ............