t he was made unconscious
by his fall and injuries, and when he recovered he was lying near his
almost demolished plane.

He managed to get out his log book and other confidential papers, and
set fire to them and the plane with the gasoline that still remained in
the tank. He destroyed them so they might not fall into the hands of the
Germans, a fate he knew would be his own shortly.

But Harry Leroy was not doomed to instant capture. The blaze caused by
his burning aeroplane attracted the attention of a peasant, who had not
been deported when the enemy overran his country, for the young aviator
had fallen in a spot well back of the front lines. This French peasant
took Harry to his little farm and hid him in the barn. There the man,
his wife, and his granddaughters, looked after the injured aviator,
feeding him and binding up his hurts. It was a great risk they took,
and Harry Leroy knew it as well as they. But for nearly two weeks he
remained hidden, and this probably saved his life, for he got better
treatment at the farmhouse than he would, as an enemy, have received in
a German hospital.

But such good luck could not last. Suspicion that Americans were hidden
in the Frenchman's barn began to spread through the country, and rather
than bring discovery on his friends, Leroy left the barn one night.

He had a desperate hope that he might reach his own lines, as he was now
pretty well recovered from his 'Injuries, but it was not to be. He was
captured by a German patrol. But by his quick action Harry Leroy had
removed suspicion from the farmer, which was exactly what he wished to
do.

The Germans, rejoicing over their capture, took the young aviator to the
nearest prison camp, and there he was put in custody, together with some
unfortunate French and English. The tide of war had turned against Harry
Leroy.

So it came about that, some time after he had been posted as missing and
when it was surely thought that he was dead, Harry Leroy was found to be
among the living, though a prisoner.

"This will be great news for his sister!" exclaimed Jack, as the note
dropped by the German airman was read over and over again.

"Yes, she'll be delighted," agreed Tom. "We must hurry back and tell
her."

"And that isn't all," went on Jack. "We must try to figure out a way to
rescue Harry."

"You can't do that," declared a French ace, one with whom the air
service boys had often flown.

"Why not?" asked Tom.

"It's ou