ediate service. Something might occur to
necessitate a hurried departure from the vicinity; a detachment of the
enemy forces might appear, or other perils hover over their heads that
might be laughed at only if they could take to the air without
detention.

Tom was not long in doing as he desired. Meanwhile Jack could hear an
occasional sob from the same quarter as before, and the sounds continued
to exercise a peculiar influence over him which he could not have
explained had he been asked.

"I'm ready now, Jack!".

"Glad to hear it," muttered the other, half under his breath; not that
he meant to infer Tom had been unduly long, but because his feelings
were wrought up to a high pitch that caused him to quiver all over.

Tom evidently guessed this, judging from his next remark.

"Cool down, Jack," he said, laying a hand on his companion's arm. "This
will never do, you know. Getting excited is the worst thing an air pilot
can do. It'll prove fatal to all your hopes, unless you manage to
control your feelings better."

"I guess you're right, Tom."

"I don't think there's any chance the plane will be discovered here in
the open field, even if there is a road so close by," mused the pilot,
after they had gone perhaps as far as twenty-five yards.

"Not in a thousand years," asserted Jack confidently, turning to look
back as he spoke. "Why, even now I can't discover a sign of the wings,
or anything else in the misty moonlight, it's so deceptive. Only that
lone tree standing close to where we dropped tells me the location of
our plane."

"Yes, I marked that, too," asserted Tom quietly. "I thought we ought to
have some sort of landmark to guide us if we should be in a hurry coming
back. And the tree, standing up fairly high, can be seen ten times
better than anything close to the earth."

"Here's the road, Tom."

"So it is, and an important one in the bargain, judging from its
condition," remarked the other, softly.

"It runs the length of the valley, of course," added Jack. "I shouldn't
be surprised if it went all the way from Metz to the Verdun front. If
that's the case it must have considerable travel, even if nothing has
chanced to come along since we landed."

"I can see signs to tell that we are close to some sort of country
estate, or it may only be a Lorraine farm."

"I can glimpse lights through the trees, and chances are they come from
windows in the house beyond."

"I see them too," affirmed Tom.