Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/219

214 Western Germany with him he could not recognize a thing.

They were heading right, at any rate, and if allowed to proceed a certain distance would surely strike their objective, the line where the rival armies lay in their trenches.

Jack had also managed to stop the tiny leak in their tank before they arose, which would help them greatly in conserving their store of fuel. Neither of them knew how many miles they must fly before reaching a friendly zone. It might be fifty, and it might only be fifteen; but as long as a drop of gasolene remained in their tank they meant to push steadily on.

Fortune was again kind to them, for in time they realized that they were nearing the scene of warfare. The dense clouds of smoke in the distance told them this, in the first place, and later on they occasionally caught the dull concussion of the big guns that rocked the earth every time they were discharged.

Now came the most critical time of all for the two young aviators. If their arrival on the scene of action chanced to be noticed in time, a flock of eager Fokker pilots would rise to intercept them. It would be hard indeed if, after surmounting all the difficulties that had beset their way thus far, they should be shot down when in sight of their goal.