"They cannot have hidden him!"

"Suppose we call out and see if we can get a signal from him,"
suggested Harry. "He would try to answer us, I'm sure."

"Go ahead," Ned agreed. "I'll try a little volplaning and see if we
can't get closer to that crowd without getting hit by a bullet."

"Better be careful, Ned," cautioned Dave. "Those fellows are in
earnest, I think, and wouldn't stop at anything."

"I'll be careful," was Ned's confident answer. "When you're ready,
just yell your heads off for Jack and then watch and listen."

"I'm going to halloo out now," stated Harry, drawing a deep breath.

"Let her go!" urged Ned, manipulating the levers in such a way as to
practically check the headway of the slowly moving machine.

"Oh, Ja-a-a-ck!" called Harry at the top of his voice, making a trumpet
of his hands. "Oh, Ja-a-a-ack!" he called again.

All three boys were startled to hear the voice of their chum proceeding
from a point seemingly directly beneath them.

"Here I am," came Jack's cheery tones, although the boys thought they
could detect a slight trace of weariness.

"Where?" cried Ned, greatly surprised at the sudden reply.

"Under the Eagle," replied Jack. "I'm hanging onto a truss rod and can
stay here for quite a while if you want to leave the place."

"We surely want to leave the place," answered Ned, reaching again for
the levers. "Can you hang on for a few minutes more?"

"I'm all right for a long time," answered Jack bravely, "but I'd just
as soon you'd hit up the speed a little."

Ned's guiding touch upon the levers sent the Eagle forward at a rate of
speed that quickly carried the entire party to a distance well out of
rifle range from the party below. He was heading for a hill at no
great distance from their present location.

"I'll land there," he said, indicating by a nod of his head the
eminence toward which they were running. "We ought to be able to help
Jack out of his position in a very few minutes."

Harry turned the glasses toward the spot Ned had pointed out.

"Look out, Ned!" he cried almost instantly. "I can see a lot of
helmets there that look as if they were German head dresses."

"Can you see the soldiers under the helmets?" asked Dave.

"Not a soldier!" declared Harry. "But," he added, "that doesn't say
they're not there. Those uniforms they are wearing blend so closely
with the natural colors of the landscape that one can't very well tell
whether a German is ne