Page:Air Service Boys Flying for Victory.djvu/171

Rh that or else take big risks of being captured just back of the Boche lines. Of the two, our chances are better here than there."

"Well, I bow to your judgment, Tom. You know best. But we'd better drop to a much lower level right away, hadn't we?"

"That goes without saying," replied the pilot, setting about taking a dip, at which he was very expert, "As it is now we can't see much of where we are; and the rest of the gang seem to have cleared out entirely. You can hear the stir of their passage getting fainter and fainter all the while."

"Well have to go pretty far down if we hope to glimpse anything of the character of the country in this poor light," Jack continued, "and, of course, it'll be necessary for you to pick out a clear place for a landing."

"Unless we can we stand to have a smash that'll just ruin everything," Tom cheerfully assured him.

They had begun to fall rapidly. Tom managed it so that this maneuver was carried out in the best possible way calculated to conserve their very limited stock of petrol.

Gradually they began to get a clearer view of the ground, which until then had only appeared in vague outlines to their eyes. Jack soon announced a discovery.