"Very well, sir," replied Frank. "When shall we start, sir?" "You may as well start immediately. It is hardly possible, judging by the tone of that message, that you will find anything by daylight, but at least you can be on the ground by night." "Very well, sir," said Jack, and waited to see if there were any further instructions. Captain Raleigh dismissed the two lads with a wave of his hand. "That is all," he said. "Report the moment you are able to do so." The two lads saluted and returned to their own cabin. "You see," said Frank, "we didn't have to wait very long to find something to do." "I see we didn't," agreed Frank. "Now, the first thing to do is shed these uniforms." "What for?" "So that we shall not be taken for British should we fall among the enemy. We'll put on plain khaki suits." "Well, whatever you say," said Frank. This was the work of but a few moments; and half an hour later the two lads soared into the air in one of the _Queen Mary's_ large hydroplanes. "This is something like it, if you ask me," said Frank, as he bent over the wheel. "Pretty fine," Jack agreed, raising his voice to make himself heard above the whir of the propellers and the noise of the engine. "I wouldn't mind flying all the time." "Where do we want to come down, Jack?" asked Frank. "Let's see. The message said the enemy was flying about fifty miles south. They probably won't be out before dark, so I should say it might be well to go a little beyond that point." "All right. But we may miss them in the darkness tonight." "By Jove! That's so! Funny I didn't think of that. Let me think a moment." "No use of thinking," said Frank, "I have a scheme that will work all right." "What is it?" "Why, we'll stop right in the path taken by the enemy planes and then drop down upon the water." "So the Germans can see us as they fly by, eh?" "They won't see us in the dark," said Frank. "We'll be a pretty small spot down on the water. They will be looking for nothing so small." "I guess you are right, after all," Jack agreed. "At least it's worth trying. We'll be sure to hear them flying above; and if we went beyond the lane of travel, or didn't go far enough, we might not even see them." "Exactly," said Frank. "Well, there is no hurry, so I may as well slow down a bit." He did so and they went along more leisurely. "Can't see what the Germans would be flying about here for," said Jack, "and I have been trying to figure it out ever since I read that message." "So have I," declared Frank, "If they were Zeppelins I could understand it; they would be going and returning from raids on the British coast; but surely they would not venture that distance with aeroplanes." "I wouldn't think so. Still, you never can tell about those fellows. They do a lot of strange things."