CHAPTER XIX
ON PATROL
Aloft with Tom and Jack were several other fighters, for it was not
only considered a great honor to bring down a Zeppelin, but it would
save many lives if one or more of the big gas machines could be
prevented from dropping bombs on Paris or its environs.
The machines which were used were all of the single type, though of
different makes and speeds. Each one was equipped with electric
launching tubes. These were a somewhat new device for use against
captive Hun balloons and Zeppelins and were installed in many of the
fighting scout craft of the Americans and Allies.
Between the knees of Toni and Jack, as well as each of the other
pilots, was a small metal tube. This went completely through the
floor of the cockpit, so that, had it been large enough to give good
vision, one could view through it the ground beneath.
In a little rack at the right of each scout were several small bombs
of various kinds. Some were intended to set on fire whatever they
came in contact with, being of phosphorus. Others were explosive
bombs, pure and simple, while some were flares, intended to light up
the scene at night and make getting a target easier.
Included in the rack of death and destruction was a simple stick;
not unlike a walking cane, and this seemed so comparatively harmless
that an uninitiated observer would almost invariably ask its use.
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