"Gracious, if there are any Germans within a mile, they'll hear this racket," thought Jack, with a gulp. "It sounds like a battery of gatling guns."
De Garros took his foot from the brake lever and the machine darted forward. Jack clutched the sides desperately till his knuckles showed white through the skin. Then he gave a shout of alarm.
The machine had suddenly reared up like a startled horse. The jolting and bumping of the "take-off" stopped. The boy realized with a thrill that they were flying.
At that instant from the trees on one side of the clearing burst several Uhlans.
For a second or two the Uhlans stood paralyzed as the machine shot upward. They had heard the staccato rattle of the engine from where they lay camped, not far off in the same woods that had sheltered de Garros and Jack. Thinking it betokened a skirmish, they had hastily run toward the noise just in time to see the wasp-like machine whirr its way skyward.
But the machine was not well above the trees when they recovered from their surprise. Rifles were leveled.
"Look out!" cried Jack, "they are going to fire on us."
"Hold tight now, I show you zee trick," rejoined the flying man quietly.
The aeroplane was now above the wood which on that side was a mere belt of tall trees. Suddenly the machine ceased its upward flight. It rocketed downward like a stone. Above it bullets whistled harmlessly as the Uhlans fired at the place where it had been and was not.
The ground rushed up to meet them as the machine plummeted downward. Jack's head swam dizzily.
"We'll be killed sure!" he thought, but strangely enough, without much emotion, except a dull feeling that the end was at hand. Then just as disaster seemed inevitable, the machine suddenly began to soar again as Jack could have sworn it grazed the tall grass.
Up and up they shot, in a long series of circles, and then de Garros turned and grinned at Jack, showing his white teeth.
"I--I guess. I'll tell you after a while" rejoined Jack, with suspended judgment.
The earth lay far below them now, although it was still light enough to see the fields marked off like the squares on a chess board and the countless fires of the Germans that dotted the landscape almost as far as could be seen. At every one of them were men, who, if any accident befell the machine and it had to descend, would make things very interesting for the air travelers.