Realizing that he was still in the land of the living, and as far as he could tell unharmed, Pudge raised his head and twisted his fat neck around.
He saw the Taube machine speeding on ahead; the van was apparently unharmed by the last shot, for it too continued along its way with a merry chug-chug-chug that sounded as sweet as any music he had ever heard in the ear of Pudge Perkins.
"What happened, Frank?" he asked eagerly.
"A number of things," he was told; "first we dodged him, and coaxed a throw. Then in his haste he made a bad shot and wasted another of his precious bombs, for it only tore a wound in the pasture land back there a bit."
"That makes four times he's whacked away at us, don't you know, Frank!" exclaimed Pudge, as though he considered each separate escape little short of a miracle.
"It's the last time in the bargain," announced Billy, "because there comes a troop of mounted soldiers around the bend over yonder, and you'll hear the crack of guns if you listen a bit. There! what did I tell you? See how they start right away to try and get the Germans in the Taube. The Britishers know that make of aëroplane as far as they can see it. A Taube and a German are one and the same thing with them."
"Whee! I warrant you the lead is singing around their ears like a swarm of angry wasps right now," ventured Pudge, now condescending to actually sit up again, for it began to appear that their peril was a thing of the past.
"Well, I don't really know that I want to see those daring fellows come down in a rush," admitted Frank, whose sportsmanlike spirit could find much to admire in a foeman, as well as in a friend.
"They're ascending in spirals now," remarked Billy, "and edging away at the same time. Guess they've had all they wanted of the game, and for the time we're safe from interference. Go it you terriers, or English bulldogs, rather; keep them up so high that they'll see the folly of trying to hit so small an object as our van here."
Acting on Frank's suggestion the chauffeur had come to a dead halt with his machine. If they kept on and lost the support of the soldiers on the road the crafty birdmen might again chase after them, to renew the unequal contest by hovering above and bombarding them with those dangerous missiles until one finally struck.