When the lieutenant1 delivered himself thusly the boys were sure and positive that he had all the details of the fight, and wonder only was left as to how serious a breach2 of discipline the officer would consider a battering3 match on the parade ground.
What was their surprise, then, when the lieutenant went on to say, aiming the stem of his meerschaum at a group of officers—high officers apparently4—which at the moment made a ground circle of slim, polished boots about a Zeppelin taking in its flying cargo5 of gas:
“Colonel Muller, over there, has just been telling me the story of a couple of boys he met in America who beat anything of the age in the matter of expert flying. I mentioned that the crew of one of our seaplanes had picked up a pair of kids who, they claimed, were navigating6 alone in an airship big enough to keep the best of them guessing. The colonel has expressed a wish to look you over. He’s great for aviation.”
[216]
“Gee! I believe that this Muller was with Colonel McCready when we made that record flight in Texas. You remember, the tall one, with the monocle, and hair and mustache the color of a ten-dollar gold piece.”
The lieutenant had walked down the canvas row to ascertain7 the further wishes of the colonel, giving Billy this chance to search the memories of his chum and himself.
“Come to think of it,” replied Henri, “I do recall seeing a man like that, but it is no sure shot that it is the same one.”
“We’ll soon know, anyhow.”
Facing Colonel Muller, the boys, in their ill-fitting gray tunics9 and rawhide10 boots, hardly hoped for recognition. They knew their man in an instant.
The colonel had a long memory, too, for he immediately exclaimed:
It was a matter of pride and satisfaction to the boys that the big soldier could place them, even in the disguise of an aviation camp outfit13.
Turning to the lieutenant, the colonel inquired: “Have you put these youngsters through the paces yet?”
[217]
“No, colonel,” replied the lieutenant, “they have been working in the oil-can brigade chiefly, but from the way they handle the parts I suspected they were out of the apprentice14 class.”
“Why, they are builders as well as demonstrators,” explained the colonel. “Teach them anything about aircraft? I guess not.”
By this time all of the officers were sizing up the objects of the colonel’s unusual comment.
The helpers, with open mouths, had gathered at a respectful distance, but near enough to hear what was going on, and marveled that the great colonel should condescend15 to familiar terms with boys whom they claimed as of their class and number. Max, the malignant16, was in the front row, and none the happier for the new honors conferred upon the fellow-workers whose very presence galled17 him.
“Trim them up a bit,” said the colonel to the lieutenant, pointing to the slop-chest clothing in which the boys were attired18, “and send them over to headquarters this evening.”
“You’ve made a ten strike,” observed the lieutenant, as he sent the boys to a military clothier in the town with a written rush order.
“We could register from Annapolis now and get across with it,” laughed Billy, as they awaited the pleasure of an orderly at headquarters. The boys had been “trimmed up a bit,” and neatly19 garbed20 in gray looked as fine as middies on parade.
[218]
“Ah, here you are; come in,” invited the colonel. “Gentlemen,” turning to others in the room, “here are the young airmen about whom I was talking. This aviation business, I confess, is a hobby with me. Why, just think of boys this age not only able to completely assemble one of these wonderful machines, but to drive them, under ordinary circumstances, so expertly that safety aloft is about as equally assured as in a railway journey.
“Behold one of the natural enemies of your craft,” continued the colonel, directing the boys’ attention to a smart-looking young soldier, a lean, keen fellow, with captain’s straps21, lounging on a sofa nearby. “He’s a fellow who turns balloon cannon22 loose on about every plane that hasn’t a black cross on its yellow stomach. That’s one of the reasons why a military aviator12 would have as much chance of getting life insurance at Lloyd’s as would a snowball of holding together in the furnace room of a cruiser.”
“We’ve seen some of the steel noses turned up at us,” volunteered Billy.
“Don’t believe they were exactly of my kind,” interposed the gunman on the lounge. “These are new ones, just out, and they reach further than any other make. We can haul them around at the tail of an automobile23 at the speed of about sixty miles an hour. Come along when we pull out of here[219] and I’ll show you what a spin of a wheel will do in aiming the little daisy on the steel truck.”
“Don’t let him ever catch you asleep on your perch,” joked the colonel, “or there will be a bird funeral in the aviation family.”
When the lieutenant passed the word among the helpers to hustle24 the a?roplane shipment, it was noticeable that Billy and Henri served no longer in the pulling and hauling end of the job. They were held at the elbow of the directing force, and vested with the power to give orders in the hangar instead of taking them. This change of class met with no rebellion among the apprentices25, for they reckoned that the newcomers must be of extraordinary ability to be so quickly advanced, and, further, it was soon recognized that even the lieutenant had no aircraft knowledge superior to his young assistants.
“I believe,” acknowledged this officer, “that I have you beaten in only one branch of the profession, the Zeppelin branch, I mean, and that, I suppose, is only due to the fact that this invention is exclusively German.”
“That’s mighty26 kind of you to say this,” returned Henri, “but Billy and I feel that you can yet set us straight on a good many points in these foreign planes, and we would be glad to have a chance to dig into Zeppelin instruction.”
“I don’t know about that last,” was the uncertain answer of the lieutenant.
[220]
“What’s the matter with Max, I wonder,” observed Henri, as the last crate27 of the shipment was rolled down to the docks; “he must be raising a pair of wings on his shoulders.”
“If you had seen the side glance he gave me to-day, you would leave the wings out of your calculations.”
Billy felt that Max quiet was more to be feared than Max boisterous28.
“Sorry to see Colonel Muller leave, I tell you.”
“So was I, Henri; but he said that only a bullet would prevent our meeting again.”
The colonel had also told Billy that Henri and himself had only entered the side door of Germany, and there was a big chance of their seeing more of the country.
Among the several satisfactory results of their reunion with the colonel, one bobbed up that very afternoon, when Lieutenant Hume stated that a new lot of machines were to be set up and jockeyed, and, as nearly all of the aviators had gone with the last shipment, the boys could take a turn in the air every day, if they so desired.
“If they desired!” Did thirsty ducks need a second invitation to visit a pond?
As there were no double-deckers, or biplanes, in the fresh invoice29, Billy and Henri were to work separately in the war monoplanes, those with the[221] birdlike wings and curved tail rudder piece, the smaller birds that whirred and whined30.
Two of these machines had been carefully groomed31 and set in order for an early morning flight, and the boys retired32 with all the assurance in the world that they could give the helpers such a practical illustration of scientific planing that there would remain no doubt in the minds of these groundlings as to the merit and right of the newcomers’ promotion33.
Silence reigned34 in the house of canvas, and no hostiles to guard against, sentinels were not stationed, and only occasional inspection35 required during the night.
It was midnight. Stealthy hands parted the flaps of the entrance to the big tent, and a stocky figure, but light-footed, darted36 across the floor of hardened clay to the stalls where the monoplanes were set for motion.
An electric light tube flashed into a box of tools, and the intruder was speedily operating with a chisel37 at the propeller38 end of the monoplane, in which was placed the repair kit39, numbered 16—charged in the hangar record to one Billy Barry.
The furtive40 visitor, apparently satisfied that he had accomplished41 his purpose, replaced the chisel and closed the tool box. He took the further precaution of picking up every chip or shaving that had dropped during the use of the chisel edge.[222] Then, with a final sweep of the electric tube, the stocky shape flitted through the canvas door into outer darkness.
Would that there was some warning word in dreamland to sound in the ear of sleeping Billy Barry. An assassin hand had set a death trap with cunning intent to conceal42 the peril43 therein until a moment too late to baffle the devilish design!
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1
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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2
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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3
battering
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| n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 ) | |
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4
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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5
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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6
navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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7
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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8
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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9
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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10
rawhide
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| n.生牛皮 | |
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11
aviators
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| 飞机驾驶员，飞行员( aviator的名词复数 ) | |
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12
aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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13
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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14
apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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15
condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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16
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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17
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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18
attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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20
garbed
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| v.（尤指某类人穿的特定）服装，衣服，制服( garb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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22
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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23
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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24
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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25
apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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26
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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27
crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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28
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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29
invoice
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| vt.开发票；n.发票，装货清单 | |
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30
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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31
groomed
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| v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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32
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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33
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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34
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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35
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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36
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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37
chisel
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| n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿 | |
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38
propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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39
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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40
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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41
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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42
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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43
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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