n
inflicted, and that it would be only a waste of good material to rain
down any more bombs.

But seven and then eight were falling, as though it had been settled to
make a clean sweep while about it.

Their turn next!

Jack gritted his teeth and awaited Tom's cry, when he would be the last
to burst into the rousing chorus of thunderous reports. The signal came,
and Jack pressed the trigger, releasing the hanging bomb, and starting
it on its downward journey.

If Tom's judgment was good it would at least strike somewhere in the
midst of the debris and add more or less to the wreckage. As to whether
the Boche commander-in-chief had been caught napping and buried in the
ruins, was a matter about which they could only speculate.

Tom himself doubted whether such a happy solution of the affair could be
attained, because he had known of various attempts being made in times
gone by to "get" the Kaiser himself when visiting the western front, but
always without success.

They heard a frightful crash, much louder than any of those preceding
it. The big plane rocked and swayed as though in a gale, and Tom needed
all his skill to keep from being thrown off his balance.

It was no mystery to Jack. He realized that by a strange coincidence his
falling bomb and that of the other rear plane had exploded
simultaneously, making the ground vibrate, and completely destroying
anything that had been left of the French chateau.

Their work in this quarter having been thoroughly accomplished the
raiders now climbed higher, to rejoin the battleplane squadron hovering
above, waiting to act once more as their armed escort.

Looking down in farewell, Jack could see fires burning. The shattered
timbers of the wrecked chateau had been set ablaze. He would always
remember that strange event whenever again watching fires from a lofty
height in the night-time.

The squadron was off again, the second thrilling event connected with
the bombing raid having come off as scheduled without any mishap to the
Yankee air fleet.

Jack had kept quiet up to now, but it had cost him a severe effort.
Talking when a plane is bombing on its way can never be anything of a
pleasure unless it is equipped with an up-to-date wireless telephone for
the use of pilot and observer.

Jack himself had contrived some amateur device of this sort which he
rigged up as soon as he seated himself back of Tom, although up to then
he had failed to make use of it.

The