It was indeed a severe test of Billy Barry’s nerve that was put upon him in this trying moment. To let go of the controllers of the a?roplane would mean the finish; to neglect for an instant his comrade, whom he believed to be bleeding to death, was agony. Almost blindly he set the planes for a nearly vertical descent from a dizzy height of three thousand feet which the machine had attained before[43] Billy had fully realized that he was holding across his knees the inert body of his beloved chum. Like a plummet the aircraft dropped eastward. With rare presence of mind Billy shifted for a rise when close to the ground, and managed to land without wrecking the machine. A scant ten feet, though, to the right, and the a?roplane would have crashed into a cow-shed and all would have been over. An old woman, digging potatoes nearby, was so frightened when this winged bolt came down from the sky that she gave a squawk and fell backward into the big basket behind her.
When Billy had tenderly lifted out and laid Henri upon the turf, he ran to the well in front of the neat farmhouse, filled his leather cap with water, and hastened back to bathe the deathly pale face and throbbing temples of his wounded chum. With the cooling application Henri opened his eyes and smiled at the wild-eyed lad working with all his soul to win him back to life.
“I am not done for yet, old scout,” he faintly murmured.
Billy gulped down a sob.
“You’re coming around all right, Buddy, cried Billy, holding a wet and loving hand upon Henri’s forehead.
“The pain is in my right shoulder,” advised[44] Henri; “I have just begun to feel it. Guess that is where the bullet went in.”
“Let me see it.” Billy assumed a severe professional manner. The attempt, however, to remove the jacket sleeve from the injured arm brought forth such a cry of pain from Henri that Billy drew back in alarm.
“Ask the woman for a pair of shears,” suggested Henri, “and cut away the sleeve.”
“Hi, there!” called Billy to the old woman, who had risen from the basket seat, but still all of a tremble.
“Get her here,” urged Henri. “I can make her understand.”
Billy, bowing and beckoning, induced the woman to approach.
Henri, politely:
“Madame, j’ai ete blesse. Est-ce que nous restons ici?” (Madam, I have been wounded. Can we rest here?)
“Je n’ecoute pas bien. J’appelerai, Marie.” (I do not hear good. I will call Marie.)
With that the old woman hobbled away, and quickly reappeared with “Marie,” a kindly-eyed, fine type of a girl, of quite superior manner.
Henri questioned: “Vous parlez le Fran?ais?” (You speak French?)
[45]
“Oui, monsieur; j’ai demeure en le sud-est.” (Yes, monsieur; I have lived in the southeast.)
The girl quickly added, with a smiling display of a fine row of teeth: “And I speak the English, too. I have nursed the sick in London.”
“Glory be!” Billy using his favorite expression. &ldqu............