Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/199

194 was turning this way and that in evident dismay.

"I'm afraid we've met with a loss! I only hope it won't turn out to be a calamity!"

"Loss of what?" cried the observer. "Gas tank sprung a leak?"

"Perhaps it has for all I know, with all that shrapnel flying around us. But our compass is gone!"

"Gone!" shouted the astounded Jack.

"Just what it has!" Tom declared. "I don't see how it could have happened, for I had it as secure as ever it could be, right here where I could watch it if the time came for steering by the needle."

"Great guns! Look again! It may have been misplaced. And yet it was there as we started. I tested it to make sure it was correct. But how could we have lost our compass?"

"I can think of only one way. You remember when we found ourselves in that pocket, with shells bursting all around us?"

"Yes, of course. When we had to start up in a hurry to get out of range."

"It must have happened then," went on Tom disconsolately. "We were tossed about like a ship caught in a storm at sea. I called out to you to keep your seat firmly, though I don't