Chapter XXV. Foiled

"Is it really Tank A, Tom?" cried Ned, through the tube, as soon as he became aware of his companion's intention. "Are you sure?"

"That's the girl, and just where you spotted her with the glasses--in that clump of bushes. But they've daubed her with green and brown paint--camouflaged her, so to speak-- until she looks like part of the landscape. What made you suspicious of that particular place?"

"The green was such a bright one in contrast to the rest of the foliage around it.',

"That's what struck me," Tom answered, as he continued to drive the Hawk earthward. "They thought they were doing a smart trick--imitating the tactics of the Allies with their tanks--but they must be color blind."

Ned took another observation through the glasses. He could see the tank more easily now. There she was, fairly well hidden in a clump of bushes and small trees on the banks of a river, about a hundred miles away from Shopton. It was in a wild and desolate country, and only with the airship could the trail have thus been followed.

Ned saw that the tank had been daubed with green, yellow, and brown paint, in fantastic blotches, to make the big machine blend with the foliage; and, to a certain extent, this had been accomplished.

But, as Ned had remarked, the green used was of too vivid a hue. No natural tree put forth leaves like that, and the glass had further revealed the error.

"Look, Tom!" suddenly cried Ned. "She's moving!"

"You're right!" answered the young inventor. "They've seen us and are trying to get away."

"But they can't beat your airship, Tom."

"I know that. But their game--Oh, Ned, they're going to wreck her!" cried Tom, and there was anguish in his voice.

As the two looked down from their seats In the Hawk they saw the tank, in its fantastic dress of splotchy paint, leave her lair amid the bushes and trees, and head toward the river. Like some ponderous prehistoric monster about to take a drink, she careened her way toward the stream, which, at this point, ran between high banks.

"What's the game?" cried Ned.

"They're going to send her to smash!" cried Tom. "She's pretty tough, Tom, but she'll never stand a tumble down into the river without breaking a lot of machinery inside her."

"But if they demolish the tank they'll kill themselves, won't they? And Koku and your men, too, who must be prisoners in her!"

"They won't risk their own worthless hides, you may be sure of that!" exclaimed Tom.

"There they go, but they must have left Koku and the others to their fate!"

"Oh, if they could only get loose and take control now, Tom, they'd save your tank for you!" shouted Ned.