<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br/> <span class="cheaderfont">THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST</span></h2>
<p>For an instant the heart of each boy stood
still. Then things began to happen. Ned shot
straight from his hip, the revolver bullet tearing
its way straight through his coat pocket and
wounding the nearest soldier.</p>
<p>Buck grappled closely with the soldier closest
to him, beat down the threatening gun muzzle,
felt the discharge scorch his leg in passing, and
rolled over and over on the ground, arms interlocked
in deadly combat.</p>
<p>Alan sprang behind the nearest tree and
opened fire on the assailants, with a revolver in
each hand spitting lead as fast he could pull the
trigger.</p>
<p>Muskets belched flame and smoke in a half-circle
around them, but Ned was safely behind
a sheltering tree-trunk before the deadly leaden
hail could reach him. Another soldier fell,
howling with pain, and a third clapped one hand
to his shoulder where a well-sped bullet from
Alan’s revolver had lodged. The Germans took<span class="pagenum">[96]</span>
shelter behind adjacent trees, as the boys had
done, and only Buck and his opponent still rolled
out, exposed to fire. Yet neither the boys or the
Germans dared shoot at the struggling men for
fear of wounding one of their own party.</p>
<p>Ned cast a longing, regretful eye at the <em>Ocean
Flyer</em> where it stood not fifty yards away. He
blamed himself for their folly in ever leaving its
protecting walls. Besides, he knew that their
revolvers were nearly empty and that they had
no spare cartridges in their pockets.</p>
<p>He shouted to Alan in English, which the
Germans could not of course understand, to
work his way back towards the airship.</p>
<p>Dodging from tree to tree, the two boys gradually
came within about twenty yards of the
<em>Flyer</em>. In the meantime, the Germans had
divined their intentions and had followed them
closely, keeping up a hot fire all the time. The
intervening distance between the airship and
the boys would have to be covered by a dash
across the exposed open ground, where the Germans
could hardly fail to get them.</p>
<p>“Don’t risk it, Ned,” cried Alan.</p>
<p>“One of us absolutely must,” answered the
other boy desperately. “We are all lost if we
don’t.”</p>
<p><span class="pagenum">[97]</span></p>
<p>Then before Alan could protest further, the
courageous lad darted from cover and was
bounding across the dangerous open space
towards the <em>Flyer</em>.</p>
<p>Twenty German bullets went hissing after him
and the entire crowd pursued with hoarse shouts
of rage. Alan bowled over one of them as he
ran, and then himself rushed after Ned. None
of the soldiers took time to pause, aim and
shoot. They were too anxious to catch the
fleeing boys.</p>
<p>Up the swaying rope ladder leading to the
open portway clambered Ned, with Alan crowding
close on his heels. The former threw
himself inside, but the Germans were too close
for Alan to risk it. He felt hot breath on
the back of his neck, heard the man behind
him panting heavily, and, with one foot on the
first rung of the ladder, wheeled with clubbed
revolver to defend himself. His arm swung
back to dash it into the man’s face, when—</p>
<p>“<em>Buck!</em>” cried he.</p>
<p>It was the reporter, who had finally succeeded
in mastering his assailant and had followed his
two chums in their desperate race for the safety
of the <em>Flyer</em>.</p>
<p>There was no time for further conversation,<span class="pagenum">[98]</span>
however, for the yelling Germans were now fairly
on top of them. Alan’s revolvers snapped harmlessly.
They were empty. Buck fired his
remaining four bullets right into their faces
and then struck out with his fists. It looked as
if it were all up with the brave boys until suddenly
Ned appeared on the airship runway
overhead. In his hand he held raised a black,
round, metal object about the size of a football.</p>
<p>“Stand back!” he shouted in a terrible tone.
“Every one of you Germans stand back or I
swear I will blow you all to pieces with this
lyddite grenade!”</p>
<p>The deadly explosive hung there almost above
their heads and every man of them knew what
it was.</p>
<p>Involuntarily they fell back, and in that minute
while they hesitated, Alan and Buck bounded up
the companion-ladder into safety in the hold of
the airship. As the metal door clanged shut
and locked automatically behind them, they
heard the enraged Germans hammering upon it
with the butts of their muskets.</p>
<p>“To your engines, Buck!” shouted Ned from
above. “Quick! Alan, help me in the pilot
house here!”</p>
<p>The starting lever was jammed down into<span class="pagenum">[99]</span>
place. The hum of the great turbines became
a roar. The huge propellers swished mightily
round and round. The <em>Ocean Flyer</em> began to
slip over the grass, with the frantic Germans
giving ground reluctantly. Then the huge bulk
gradually lifted itself from the earth and
skimmed like a swallow heavenwards over the
now dusky tree-tops. German bullets rattled
like hail over the metal sides of the vessel.</p>
<p>Alan smiled grimly at Ned.</p>
<p>“They don’t realize that magnalium alloy is
as good as armor plate,” he said. “Unless a
stray bullet happens to snap some mechanical
part of the tail propellers, they’re welcome to
shoot as much as they want to now.”</p>
<p>Ned nodded as he shaped the <em>Flyer’s</em> course
towards the north where the frontier and Muhlbruck
lay.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum">[100]</span></p>
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