BLAKE OF THE R.F.C.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17348, 20 December 1919, Page 7 (Supplement)

BLAKE OF THE R.F.C.

BY LT.-COLONEL H. CTJRTIES. Author of ".When England Slept," etc,

AN AIRMAN'S LOVE STORY.

(COPYRIGHT.) CHAPTER ' (Continued.) There came that curious sensation of the ground, covered with running figures, coming up to meet them; the propeller gave some feeble beats, and the next sensation Vera had was the slight bump of the machine touching ground. It ran along a short distance, and Arthur put on the brake. A mounted Turkish officer rode up with a levelled revolver, • and speaking in French called upon them to surrender. She saw Arthur take up his revolve* from his feet and hand it to the Turk, telling him, at the same time that the observer was unarmed. Then they were surrounded by a crowd of curious Turks. Vera and Arthur seemed objects of the greatest curiosity to them, but their attitude was not at all unfriendly. The Turkish officer showed great politeness, speaking in French, of which both- Arthur and Vera had a general knowledge. Arthur was thankful that Vera wore male clothing but how long could the deception be kept up? He feared every moment that her voice would betray her, ' and for that reason he told her in English no,t to speak if she could help^it. " You must not be triste, monsieur,'' remarked the Turkish officer genially; '" it is the fortune of war. You must be hungry after your flight. I have already ordered dejeuner for too. When my car comes, I will take you to my headquarters.'' Blake then had the mortification of seeing his machine taken over by a squad of Turkish soldiers. Shortly after the car arrived, struggling through the sand of the bit of desert on which they had descended. In, a few minutes they had turned their heads away from their aeroplane, which seemed the last link between them and their I countrymen. I Lady Vers, bore up well. She was deadly pale, but showed no nervousness. As they got into the car, ah» said to Blake, " Whatever happens, you have done your very best, and I shall never blame you. The fault was entirely mine in asking you to take me up and against your will "to come this way." Arthur shook his head, but said nothing; his thoughts were too deep for words. '" You will see something of our fliers," the Turk announced presently as they found a rough road. "In the ordinary way I should blindfold you. but I don't think it is necessary now." He evidently considered that it would be a long time before they could freely communicate w!th their friends again. The car bumped over the rough military road which was really worse than the desert it-self. They came after half-an-hour's run to the encampment. Arthur had not the slightest idea where they were. The Turkish ssoldiers came running out chattering and gesticulating; most were dressed in blue uniform and red fezzes, which seemed strange to the prisoners after the khaki they had been used to. However, they were both too heavyhearted to take much interest in what was around them. They dismounted, and the Turkish officer led them towards a square tent which stood apart. '"Come," he said,, "the dejeuner «j waiting for you. Then afterwards the formalities will be gone through." " I suppose you will examine us !" Blake asked. > " No," he answered,- with a gesticulation of both hands; " not I, but the Herr Hauptman von Schenk, oar German commarfdant, will examine you. CHAPTER VII. BLAKE RISKS ALL. Blake and Lady Vera received the news that their examination as prisoners of war in the Turkish camp was to be conducted j by a German officer with anything but pleasure. " Will the examination take place at once?" asked Blake as the courteous Turkish officer ushered them into the tent in in which their dejeuner was prepared!' " No, monsieur," he replied, '' the Herr Hauptmann is away flying at present, and may not be back.till the evening." This at any rate gave them a little respite. So the German was a flier ! Blake hoped that that certain camaraderie which existed among fliers of all armies would not be wanting in him. They had very little appetite for the dejeuner which was offered them. A thin slab of beef with some preserved haricot beans, and a couple of bunches of grapes, "of the country," those small black productions against the eating of which our doctors so heartily warn our officers and men. There was no wine, only water and gritty coffee. Well," remarked Blake as their, Turkish host left them, and a sentry appeared at the door, " we must make the best of it. Lady Vera." She smiled back at him., although it must have cost an effort. " That I intend to do," -she answered. "I am not in the least afraid. You need not worry about me at all. lam reproaching myself every moment that I was the means of bringing you here. I am not going to add to your troubles, so you must simply regard me as your comrade in misfortune." She'neli] out her little white hand, and Arthur took it in his own and pressed it; they quite understood one another. Their j lunch concluded, they rose and took a view i of their surroundings as far as the door of i the tent permitted. They were on the i edge of a big flying ground ; the hangars I were about a hundred yards off, and some men, obvious Germans from their uniform, were overhauling some of the machines. Blake gave a deep sigh as j he looked at them. He knew those j Taubes. and had many a bout with them; ' from'the distance he studied their points which he knew by heart. He envied the men who were going to fly in them. He was occupied some minutes in the contemplation of the German machines, and then he looked round. Lady Vera had fallen asleep, exhausted in one of the chairs. "It is the best thing that could have happened," he muttered; " she will forget her misery for a time at least. God help her. What will become of her when they discover her sex!" He sat and looked at her. She fortunately still wore her flying cap, which to a great extent concealed her face and hair, but he dreaded when she would have to take it off. Even now as he noted the rise and fall of her bosom, he feared discovery. He drew her leather jacket round her, and sat and watched. So the afternoon wore on, and it began to get dusk. Only once had the Turkish officer visited them ; seeing Vera asleep, he had nodded good-naturedly and gone out again. Just as the sun was sinking a big plane appeared and descended into the areodrome. Blake saw that whoever it was that was piloting her, he was a skilful man. A man about his own size descended from the machine, and he heard him swearing in German at the mechanics; he even raised his hand to one man and struck him. " If this is the Herr Hauptmann von Schenck." muttered Blake to himself, "our future does not seem promising." The airman went off, and disappeared among the tents ; meanwhile the mechanics were evidently preparing another machine for a flight, and doing it hastily; it appeared to Blake it was wanted urgently. .Shortly after the Turkish officer appeared again. You had better wake your comrade." he said ; " the Herr Hauptmann von Schenck ha? returned, and is dining before he flies again. He is coming here 'nastily to examine you both before he starts, when he has finished his dinner."

So then, their fate was soon to be decided. He went o>ej to Vera and gently woke her. She , opened her eyes and looked around in the dim light, evidently not realising where she was. "Are you there, Marie?" She asked dreamily. Then she sat up and realised where she was. Brave as she was Blake heard her give a half-stifled sob., . ■ - ■ • He went to her and laid his hand upon hers. _^ ' " Don't he afraid, Lady Vera," he said, "I am,here with you." _ " Oh ! I am not afraid," she answered. 'I was half asleep. How long have I been sleeping?" " Some hours, it has done you a lot of good and rested you. I think an officer is coming to examine us," he continued; " it is the usual thing in theso cases." He spoke to her reassuringly, but he had the greatest misgiving for her safety. She did not seem to see the danger herself, and he was thankful for it. Very soon there came a heavy tramp without, and. the sound of two men talking in German, they stopped at the door of the tent, and. one went back again 3 -Blake saw that the other was the man who had descended from the aeroplane; the other was a much smaller man, and it was he who went away, Then the tall man entered the tent, a cloud of smoke from the big cigar he was smoking preceeding him. He wore a red Turkish fez and a long blue cloak. "Ah! you damned English," he remarked in their native tongue, which he spoke volubly, with many admixtures of German oaths. "We have caugjttt you ! I am glad of that, we have not too many of you English fliers, we do not often get you alive." ""* He stood there in the dim light gloating over them, puffing at his cigar, a tall figure, as tall as Blake, but with a coarse big face. It appeared to Blake that he had been taking a liberal amount of alcohol with his meal; the German drew up a chair to the table, took out a notebook and a stylo, and turned savagely to the two prisoners standing before him. "I haf not much time to waste on you. I am just going to fly to bomb your friends," he announced, " so you vill be quick in your replies," he turned to Arthur. j "Your name." "Arthur Blake." " Your military rank." "Captain, Royal Flying Corps." He grunted, made the entry, and turned to Vera; she had agreed with Blake to give her name as Vincent Staunton. The German entered her name, but did not stop to ask her rank, he seized her hand and looked at the stars on her cuff. " Ah ! you are 'unter Lieutenant," he grunted, retaining her hand and looking at it curiously, " you haf small hands for a flying officer" he remarked suspiciously. He made the entries in his book, and looked up sharply. " Now, clothes off, all clothes off quickly." Neither of them moved. "What is this?" he asked, savagely; " you disobey me. I vill haf your clothes stripped off you both by my men if you are not gwickly." Blake made a motion to unbutton the neck of his jacket, but Vera did nothing. The German took an electric torch from nis pocket and turned it on to Vera. " I vil haf a look at you," he said. "I haf my suspicions of you." He moved over to Vera, and before Blake could interfere pulled off her cap; her hail* fell about her neck. " Mein Gott!" he cried; " a woman! An Englishwoman!" Before he could make another move Blake struck him a blow with all his force under the ear. He gave a low gurgle and sank to the ground in a heap. *'Now,_ Lady Vera," said Blake earnestly, " for your life and honour do as I tell you." At the same moment lie took from the German his belt with revolver and cartridge-pouch, and a short sharp knife which he wore there ; he buckled the belt round his own waist. He took from the prostrate man his red Turkish fez, and his ample blue coat, and put them on himself. He helped himself to his electric , torch. Lady Vera laid her hand upon his arm, her face as white as death. " I will do exactly as you tell me.*' she gasped. Sh e had scarcely spoken when ' there came the noise of footsteps approaching. Blake moved to the door of the tent. The sentry who was some paces off was talking to another soldier; he straightened himself as the footsteps approached and sloped arms. It was evidently an officer who was coming. Blake caught a glimpse of him. It was the short companion I>f von Schenck. Arthur drew back into the tent. " Go to the end of the lent," he said to Vera in a low voice, 'and turn your back." She did as he told her immediately, and he went to the door again, holding his revolver in his right hand by the barrel, and stood just within the entrance. The footsteps came nearer and the man entered. "Kamarad he began. Before he could utter another word Blake struck him a heavy blow with the butt of the revolver full on the temple. He staggered, clutched at the air. and rolled on the ground almost to - Vera'e feet. In a moment Blake had snatched the red fez from his head, and, turning him over, relieved him of the heavy blue cloak he wore. The two Germans were evidentlv going to fly together. The fez and the cloak he told Vera to put on, which she I did, ( while he took th e revolver from the man's belt also. Then he turned to Vera, who was putting up her hair. [ ( " I have a plan to save you," he said; "follow me and don't speak." He twisted up his moustaches in the German fashion Schenck adopted, and did not look unlike him. Then he drew Vera to the door and they walked boldly out; the sentry saluted ; he took Blake and Vera for the German and his friend. Some distance away mechanics were busy with lanterns around an aeroplane; they were evidently waiting for Schenck. Adopting the swaggering stride of the German airman, Blake approached the aeroplane, 0 a perfectly new machine, evidently one of their newest type. He took a bold course; he mounted straight into the plane and took the pilot's seat. He motioned to Vera to take the observer's. This sh„ did at once. Before the mechanics had time to think he gave a nod accompanied by a guttural German oath : "So!" he added. It was sufficient. The mechanics gave him the necessary help; he set the propeller going, and in a moment they were in the air again. He lost no time ;, he climbed for dear life, but he saw with his practised eye that the machine was heavily weighted with bombs* These he decided to get rid of in the approved fashion. He waited until they were a sufficient height up, and, then warning Vera by shouting and pointing to the bombs, he released one just over the hangars. They heard the whistle of its fall and then it burst below with terrific force: it must have blown the hangars and thos<» in them to atoms. "That's one of those beautifully-delayed action products of th e Germans unless I am much mistaken." said Blake to himself. They burst about six feet from the ground and clear the board. I hone they hkelit down there." Fortified with the result, he dropped two more with similar satisfactory results. But they were not by any means to get off without attention from below In a few moments a searchlight flickered out from a point about a mile from the place they had left and tried to pick them up this, after a great deal of searching, it finally succeeded in doing, and thev received attention from, an anti-aircraft gun Arthur touched Vera on the shoulder and, trying to attract her attention, he waved his hand derisively in the direction of the citadel of Cairo. "I don't care a button for their guns." he cried at the top of his voice. " There is the citadel I he anti-aircraft gunners made verv bad practice and the searchlight was always logins them, as Blake, experienced in such situations, was continually dodging them Still many shells came too near to bo pleasant, and more than once the shrapnel was whistling through their planes But they kept on at top speed for Cairo, (To be continued on Saturday next.)