Page:Air Service Boys over the Rhine.djvu/144

134 friends wished with all their hearts that they might take a hand in the defense, but it was not to be. For perhaps half an hour the anti-aircraft guns roared out their defiance to the Hun, and then a large flare of gasolene was lighted in a public square.

This was a signal for the aeroplanes to return, for the Zeppelin had left, either because she found the situation too perilous for her, or because she had used up all her bombs.

The lights were turned on again, and the new arrivals watched the aeroplanes returning one by one, being recognized by their lights in the air as they moved about like gigantic illuminated insects.

"Well, that's some excitement," observed Tom, as he and the others finally succeeded in getting cabs, and started for their destination. "I hope no one was killed."

But the bombs of the inhuman Huns had found several marks, and while the harm from a military standpoint was small, a number of persons had been killed. Some damage had been inflicted on the Zeppelin, it was said later, one brave airman saying he got near enough to spray some bullets into one of the cabins where a crowd of officers and men were working the machine.

"We will be with you a little later," said Tom