less my heart, it sounds quite like the exhaust of a motor. Now
I wonder what it can be. It's a petrol motor, too!"

"I know what it is!" Jimmie almost cried out loud. "It's an airship!"

"Can it be the boys coming back after us?" questioned Dave doubtingly.

"That doesn't sound like the exhaust from the Eagle," protested Jimmie
with a shake of his head. "She's got a dandy muffler."

Others of the party beside the train were now observing the noise that
the lads had noticed. An officer dashed across the open space on which
the soldiers were exercising. Running up to the group in which the
Kaiser walked, he saluted gravely and reported the circumstance.

Nearer and nearer came the sound. At length it appeared directly
overhead. Looking up, the boys could faintly make out a great gray
form at some distance above the train. For an instant only it
appeared, to vanish the next instant in the darkness. The clamor of
the motors, however, was not diminished.

"He's going to land near here," whispered Jimmie, grasping Dave's arm
in his excitement. "We'll soon see who and what he is."

The boy's prediction was correct. For a short time the aviator circled
about the station, evidently searching for a suitable place in which to
make a landing. In another moment it was seen clearly that he intended
to land as near the station as possible.

Of all the observers none was more interested than the two Boy Scouts
so strangely thrown into the company of this train load of fighting men
and their emperor. Jimmie was the first to discover the pilot's
intentions. Grasping Dave's arm, he dragged the other a short distance
away from the spot, to be clear of the descending plane.

A switch engine was bringing up a coach to attach it to the rear of the
train. The coach was evidently intended for the use of the Kaiser, for
it was stopped exactly opposite the little party surrounding him.

At a signal from the man whom the whole German army worshipped the
engine moved the coach a short distance down the track while the
emperor and his staff gave their attention to the daring aviator.

"Geewhillikins!" exclaimed Jimmie breathlessly. "Those fellows better
look out a little or they'll get run over!"

It truly appeared as if this contingency were about to occur, for the
soldiers made no attempt to clear the tiny parade ground. Instead they
waited for the approach of the speeding plane.

In another moment the machine was u