Page:Ruth of the U.S.A. (IA ruthofusa00balm).pdf/341



ERRY'S feet thrust on the rudder bar, swinging his machine to meet them, while hot rills ran through his limbs, warming him against the chill of the night flight above the clouds. He had thought of the frontier as a hundred and fifty miles away—two hours' flight at best in this slow, heavy training "bus"—but here his friends were bringing it to him. His excitement prevented him from realizing instantly that to his friends he must appear an enemy—a black-crossed Hun-bird flying to fight them.

A covey of German pursuit planes, flushed up from some airdrome near the raided city, swooped upward in front of Gerry, climbing for the advantage of altitude before starting their attack upon the raiders. Gerry could see them clearly—triplane Fokkers mostly, of the swiftest, best-climbing, and best-armed type. Some of them saw him, but saw, too, that his machine was German. Probably the pilots wondered what that old "bus" was doing there, but no one investigated, while Gerry flew on.

The clouds had quite cleared below, but the city of Mannheim, speckled with lights a few minutes before, lay dark except where the great crimson bursts of the allied torpedoes erupted; where flames fanned from roofs of burning buildings; where the scintillant points of search-