it again," said Earl gazing skyward.

"I guess he won't," said Jacques. "He seems to be flying away."

"Yes," exclaimed Leon. "I suppose he's gone to tell where we are and
to send somebody after us."

"If I only had some wire," said Jacques examining the broken support.

"Well I'm going over to see if we can't find something in that house,"
said Earl firmly. "It's funny there doesn't seem to be anybody around."

"The house must be empty," said Leon. "That bomb and the fire would
certainly have brought any one out if the place was occupied."

At that moment, however, the door of the house opened and two men in
priest's robes appeared. They glanced once in the direction of the
damaged monoplane and then rushed towards the burning barn.

"They can't do much to stop that fire now," remarked Leon grimly. "By
the way the barn burns it must be full of hay."

"I'll go speak to them," exclaimed Earl. "They may be able to give us
some wire."

"I'd better go, I guess," said Jacques. "As my French is better than
yours I can probably talk to them easier than you can."

"That's true," agreed Earl readily. "Why don't we all go?"

"You two stay here and guard this monoplane," exclaimed Jacques. "They
may arrive here after us at any minute." He set off at a run across
the field.

"If that aviator who threw the bomb has landed yet," remarked Leon, "he
has undoubtedly telephoned to the post nearest this place and soldiers
are probably on their way here already."

"They've got to go through a lot of woods to reach this spot," said
Earl. "Perhaps they won't be able to find it."

"Don't you worry about that; they'll come straight here without the
least bit of trouble."

"The minute any Germans appear it seems to me the thing for us to do is
to take to the woods. We might be able to escape that way."

"Our chance of escape depends on whether Jacques can get any wire or
not," said Leon. "I wish he could hurry."

"He'll do his best," remarked Earl. "You may be sure of that."

"What's he doing over there anyway?"

"Talking with the priests as far as I can see," said Earl. "I guess
they decided there was no use in trying to save their barn."

"I should say not. It's too bad though and as a matter of fact we are
the ones who are really to blame for it."

"How so?"

"Well, if we hadn't landed in this clearing that German flier would not
have dropped any bombs down here."

"That's true," agreed Earl. "Wh