Panky pulled at his sleeve. When Rod turned his head he found the
other pointing excitedly upwards, and upon casting his own eyes in that
quarter Rod instantly knew what his chum meant.

"Two French aeroplanes going up, sure enough!" he exclaimed.

"Mebbe they mean to try and drop bombs on the battery, so's to destroy
it!" suggested Josh, whose attention had also been drawn to the new
feature in the lively drama taking place before them.

Rod nodded his head to signify that the idea struck him as worth while.
Even had he attempted to speak just then his effort would have been
pretty much wasted, for the din had become something terrible. A
thousand French soldiers were cheering, even while being held in check
by their officers; they made Rod think of hounds restrained by the
leash, and loudly bewailing their inability to jump forward. He could
easily imagine with what frantic zeal those men would leap ahead and
into the waters of the Marne when the time came.

Up higher and higher soared the twin aeroplanes, climbing in eccentric
spirals.

Evidently the daring birdmen intended to attain a certain height where
they might feel reasonably safe from the shrapnel sent after them from
antiaircraft guns manned by the Germans; when they would try their luck
in dropping the bombs they undoubtedly carried with them, in hopes of
making a lucky shot.

"It's going to come soon, I guess!" ventured Josh, when a brief lull in
all the firing allowed him a chance to get in a few words.

"Yep," added Hanky Panky, who was getting a stiff neck with looking up
so long; "right now you can see that they're sailing around like they
might be looking for a good place to hover. But they'd better take care,
because that shrapnel is bursting just below them, and some time a shell
might hit home."

A loud whoop from Josh instantly followed these words.

"There, one let go a bomb, as sure as you live!" he shouted; "look and
see where it hits!"

Quickly following came a report, and the boys could see the earth fly in
showers.

"Not by a jugful!" whooped Hanky Panky, also carried away with the
excitement of the moment; "they'll have to aim better than that if they
expect to knock the German battery out of business."

The second airman tried his hand, and while possibly he managed to do a
little better than the first the result was also disappointing.
Evidently they were at too great a height to be able to strike a small
mark like the hidd