At the time they left the hangar the British soldiers were marching away, their place being taken by French officers, who were perhaps secret service men, or detectives. It looked as though every possible precaution were being taken to safeguard the wonderful seaplane of which so much was expected.
As they had planned, the three boys got away on the following day, and reached London in safety. No sign was seen of any hostile undersea vessel during the short trip across to English shores.
In London they found that they would have several days on their hands before they could sail from Liverpool, so they concluded to spend the interval watching the sights in the great British metropolis in war times, so different from the old life known to all travelers.
It was on the second morning after arriving there that Billy, who had gone down to get a paper, while his chums were finishing dressing, came bursting into their room again with his face white, and a printed sheet held in his trembling hand.
"What ails you?" demanded Pudge, in a shivery way. "I hope now Germany hasn't declared war on the poor old United States over night?"
"Frank, they got her after all!" gasped Billy.
"Do you mean the _Sea Eagle_?" cried the other in dismay.
"Yes," continued the excited Billy, "here's an account of how in the middle of the night a sudden shock was felt in Dunkirk. People thought it must be those Taubes back again bombarding the town, and lots of them hurried down into their cyclone cellars. But it was found that an aëroplane hangar just outside the place had been blown to pieces with a bomb that had either been placed underneath or dropped from some airship."
"Blown to pieces, and they tell that it is feared several French guards lost their lives in the bargain. They don't say much about it, except that the hangar contained a new seaplane the Government had just purchased from an American firm owning the patents, and that as it was utterly destroyed, the loss would be complete."
"Whew!" cried Pudge. "Say, I'm glad it was out of our hands when this happened."
"For a good many reasons, too," added Frank. "We might have gone up with the hangar and the _Sea Eagle_ if we'd been there."
"No, sir, I don't believe it would have happened as long as Frank Chester was on deck," said Billy stoutly. "But, Frank, they'll have to fight this war through now without the help of fifty _Sea Eagles_, won't they?"