said the French _pilote aviateur_, pointing
to an isolated cottage as they passed it. "It would be cruel to tell him
that I have already found a fresh comrade. The good news shall keep
until we return. And now, _cher ami_, we have no time to lose, as we
have only something like four hours of darkness before us, and we must
be well on the way back when daylight breaks."

"How far is it to the Zeppelin den?" inquired Dennis, as they turned
aside through a cornfield.

"About two hundred kilometres," replied the pilot. "A trifle more than a
hundred of your English miles. _Voila_, there she lies--a brand-new
Aviatik, and that is my machine over there."

"How did you succeed in bringing the German down without injury?" asked
Dennis, as they reached the biplane, which loomed large and weird in the
twilight.

"More by good fortune than anything else," said Lieutenant Laval
modestly. "You see, first of all I killed his observer with a lucky
shot from my mitrailleuse and wounded the pilot himself. It was death or
capture for him--it proved to be both. My machine--a Voisin--was one of
the best, and, finding it impossible to escape, the Hun certainly made a
very fine descent. He must have died at the moment the 'plane came to
ground. And that reminds me--our success will depend on our masquerading
as Germans, and we must use their clothing; they are both here."

There was a tinge of gravity in his voice as he led the way to some
bushes a few yards off, where, stretched out side by side, lay two dead
men with a mackintosh spread over them.

"They were brave, although they were Boches," said Laval. "And you will
see that one of them is wearing an Iron Cross; I have not disturbed it."

In a few minutes they had removed the leather jackets lined with
sheepskin from the two aviators.

"Henceforward we had better speak entirely in German, you and I; it will
be good practice in case we require to use it," said Laval. And when
they had equipped themselves they climbed up, and the Frenchman
explained the compressed-air starting-gear and the various methods of
control to Dennis.

"You must know these things," he said, with a smile, "so that you can
take charge if anything happens to me; but these are first-rate
machines, and with their dual ignition and the two separate carburettors
they tell me there is very little engine trouble with them. However, my
friend, we are about to see what we are about to see."

He glanced at his wa