They could not account in any way for the mysterious happening that had deprived them of their tried and true friends.
Not for a moment did they imagine that they had been deserted2 by intent. They knew full well that even in the face of great danger Captain Johnson and Josiah Freeman were not the kind of men who would fly away, without sign or signal, and leave a comrade in distress3, let alone these boys for whom either of the men would have spilled his last drop of blood.
[30]
“The coast patrol nabbed them,” was the opinion of Billy.
“They were held up at the point of a bayonet, I’ll bet,” argued Henri, “for there is no sign of a struggle, and we would have heard it if there had been any shooting.”
“However it was,” figured Billy, “they never quit of their own accord; they would never have left us unless they had been hauled away by force. Now it is up to us to skirmish for ourselves, which, anyhow, I expected to do sooner or later. There’s no use staying here, for they will be coming after us next.”
Wearily the boys plodded4 through the slush, backtracking to the foot of the hill where they had left the a?roplane. The fading moon was lost behind a wall of slowly rising mist, and the dawn was breaking in the east when the boys finally stumbled upon the place that held their prize. Wholly exhausted5, they threw themselves full length upon the ground and slept like logs.
The sun was broadly shining when Billy reached out a lazy arm to poke6 his chum, who was snuggled up in the grass and breathing like a porpoise7.
“Get up and hear the birds sing,” yawned Billy.
“I’d a good sight rather hear a kettle or a coffee-pot sing,” yawned Henri.
“Right O,” agreed Billy.
[31]
The boys rolled over alongside of the a?roplane. A twin thought came to them that the late aviator8 surely must have carried something to eat with him.
It proved a glorious truth. There was a knapsack behind the driver’s seat and a canteen swinging under the upper plane.
“A meat pie!” Billy made the first find.
“Crackers and cheese!” Heard from Henri.
How good these rations9 tasted—even the lukewarm water in the canteen was like nectar. With new life the boys took up the problem presented by the next move.
Henri climbed into the a?roplane and very carefully inspected the delicate machinery10, making free use of the oil can. Billy otherwise attended to the tuning11 of the craft, and everything was as right as a trivet in less than a half hour.
“Let me see”—Billy was thumbing a well-worn notebook—“as we fixed12 it on the steamer, Dunkirk was the starting place. But that storm entirely13 changed the route—a longer way round, I guess. No more Ostend for me, though I do wish I knew for sure whether or not they had Captain Johnson and Freeman locked up there. Let’s try for Bruges; that’s only a short distance from here, and we can follow the line of the canal so we won’t get lost.”
“And we can fly high,” suggested Henri, “high enough to keep from getting plugged.”
[32]
“I am not bothering so much about the ‘high’ part of it as I am about where we’ll land,” said Billy. “We may fall into a hornet’s nest.”
“Let’s make it Bruges, for luck,” suggested Henri.
Off they skimmed on the second stage of their journey to the valley of the Meuse, in France.
They had entered the zone where five nations were at each other’s throats.
So swift was their travel that our Aviator Boys very soon looked down upon the famous old belfry of Bruges, the old gabled houses, with bright red tiled roofs, mirrored in the broad canal crossed by many stone bridges. That is what Bruges means, “bridges.” To the young airmen, what the town meant just now was a good dinner, if they did not have to trade their lives or their liberty for a chance to get it.
“Nothing doing here,” lamented15 Henri, who did the looking down while Billy looked ahead. “I see that there are too many gray-coats visiting in West Flanders. And I heard that the Belgians have not been giving ‘days at home’ since the army came. Now I see that it is true.”
“Having fun with yourself?” queried16 Billy, in the sharp tone necessary to make himself heard in a buzzing aircraft.
[33]
Henri ignored the question, snapping: “The book says it’s thirty-five miles from here to Ypres, straight; keep your eyes on the waterways, and you can’t miss it.”
“Another thing the book says,” snapped Billy, in response, “is that that old town is in a district as flat as a floor, and, if nothing else, we are sure of a landing.”
“I wish we were as sure of a dinner.” Henri never lost sight of the dinner question.
The flight was continued in silence. It was a strain to keep up conversation, and the boys quit talking to rest their throats. Besides, there was not a drop of water left in the canteen.
It was late afternoon when the boys saw Ypres beneath them. It was just about the time that the Allies were advancing in the region between Ypres and Roulers, the town where the best Flemish lace comes from. But the Allies had not yet reached Ypres.
Henri glimpsed the remains17 of some ancient fortifications, and urged Billy to make a landing right there.
“A good place to hide in case of emergency,” he advised.
“We ought to be able to get a change of linen19 here, for that’s the big business in this town.” Henri[34] was pretty well posted, for in his cradle he had slept on Ypres linen.
There was no work going on in the fertile fields around the town. The Belgian peasants thereabouts were either under arms or under cover.
“When King Louis set up these old ramparts he probably did not look forward to the day when they would provide a hangar for a flying-machine.” This from Billy, who was pushing the a?roplane to the shelter of a crumbling20 fortalice.
“If we had dropped in on the fourteenth century, as we did to-day,” observed Henri, “I’ll warrant that we would have scared everybody out of Flanders.”
“It doesn’t appear, as it is, that there is a person around here bold enough to approach us.”
Billy seemed surprised that they had not run into trouble at the very start.
“‘Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you,’” quoted Henri. “It goes something like that, I think.”
“Listen!” Billy raised a hand to warn Henri not to move nor speak aloud. The sound that had put Billy on the alert was a long, low whistle. It was repeated, now and again. Curious, and also impressed that the whistler was trying to attract their attention, they began a search among the ruins. Over the top of a huge slab21 of stone suddenly popped a red cap, covering a regular Tom Thumb[35] among Belgians—about four feet from tow head to short boots.
Henri said “Howdy” to him in French, at the same time extending a friendly hand. The youngster, evidently about fifteen, shyly gave Henri two fingers in greeting. He bobbed his head to Billy. Then he removed his red cap and took out of it a soiled and crumpled22 slip of paper. On the slip, apparently23 torn from a notebook, was scribbled24:
“This boy saw you fly in, told us how you looked, and, if it is you, this will let you know that the Germans brought us here for safe-keeping yesterday. Cap.”
“Glory be!” Billy could hardly contain himself, and the little Belgian took his first lesson in tangoing from an American instructor25. “As soon as it is dark we will move on the outer works,” was his joyous26 declaration.
“Say, my young friend,” he added, “do you know where we can get a bite to eat while we’re waiting?” Henri translated, and the little Belgian was off like a shot. About dusk he returned with some bread and bologna, looped up in a fancy colored handkerchief. And there was plenty of water in the Yperlee river.
Along about 11 o’clock that night Leon, the little Belgian, whispered, “Venez” (Come).
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收听单词发音
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1
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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6
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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7
porpoise
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| n.鼠海豚 | |
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8
aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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9
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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10
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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tuning
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| n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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12
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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13
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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17
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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24
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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25
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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