Page:Air Service Boys Flying for France.djvu/79

74 Two seconds later the two searchers were alongside the other. Jack crouched on the deck. He was holding one hand to his head as though it ached; the other continued to move over his person after the manner of a person counting his ribs to make sure they were all there and intact.

Tom slipped an arm about his chum.

"What happened, and are you badly hurt, Jack?" he breathed, full of sympathy, while the girl, saying nothing, started to pat Jack on die head, as if mutely to express her feelings, though she seemed hardly to realize what she was doing.

"That's just what I'm trying to find out, muttered Jack, and then gave a sudden quiver as he continued: "Gee! that's a sore place on the back of my head! As sure as anything, the scoundrel did whack me there, just as I thought! I warrant there'll be a lump as big as a hen's egg and I won't be able to get that cap of mine on during the rest of the voyage! Awful luck!"

Tom hardly knew whether to feel alarmed by the seriousness of the occasion or to chuckle at his chum's sad lament The idea of bothering about the fit of a cap when there were such momentous things at stake!

"I'll fix that lump business all right as soon