Army Boys marching into Germany (2024)

Copyright, 1919, by
GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY

“We’ll hold this position, boys, if we die forit,” exclaimed Frank Sheldon, as he wiped thegrime and sweat from his face with his sleeveand reloaded his rifle.

“We’ll die all right,” muttered Tom Bradford,as his rifle cracked and accounted for anotherGerman, “but we’ll take lots of those fellows withus anyway.”

“There doesn’t seem to be any stopping them,”grunted Billy Waldon. “Looks as if the wholeGerman army’s wading into us.”

“Heinie’s there with the goods all right,” admittedFrank, “but it’s his last kick. He’s aboutdue to pass out now. We’ve got his number.”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” cautioned Tom.“It’s still a long, long way to the Rhine.”

“Stop your chinning, you fellows,” warnedBilly. “Here comes another rush. Stand fast.”

[2]Down over the slightly sloping ground camea great wave that threatened to engulf the littleband of army boys who were holding the position.

A hail of bullets and of hand grenades met theassailants and tore great gaps in their lines. Menby the score threw up their hands and fell, buttheir comrades pressed on over them in a fiercedetermination to wipe out once for all the Americandetachment that had been holding them soobstinately at that point of the long battle line onthe edge of the forest.

“They’re gluttons for punishment,” pantedTom, as he pumped bullets into the oncomingranks until his gun grew hot in his hands.

“It’ll be hand to hand this time,” gritted Frankbetween his teeth. “Bullets won’t stop them.We’ll have to give them the bayonet.”

“That’s what,” growled Bart, as his fingerstightened on his gun stock and his muscles tightened.

“I’m glad of it,” muttered Billy. “I’m tired oflying here and holding them back. I’m aching toget into the middle of that bunch and give them ataste of cold steel.”

“They’re twice as many as we are,” observedFrank, “but that’s just about right. One Americanought to be able to handle two Huns and givethem all that’s coming to them.”

[3]On came the enemy until they were so closethat the boys could see from the marks they borethat they belonged to the Prussian guards, thechoice troops of the German army.

“Tough nuts to crack,” muttered Tom, “butwe’ve cracked them before and we’ll do it again.”

Nearer and nearer that mass of field gray cameuntil the boys could literally see the whites oftheir eyes.

But it was no part of the American plan totake that shock standing still and give the enemyall the benefit of the momentum. A bugle rangout with a call that the boys well knew and thatthrilled them to the marrow. Then down theline came the sharp, quick command:

“Fix bayonet. Ready. Charge!”

The American boys swarmed out of thetrenches and with a shout rushed forward tomeet the foe.

The two forces met with a tremendous shockthat seemed at first as if it would annihilate themboth. The impact was terrific. The Germanshad the advantage of a greater momentum, butthis was offset to some extent by the fact thatthey were more tired by their exertions while theAmericans were comparatively fresh.

There was very little firing done now. Themachine guns on either side had ceased, as theywere as likely to mow down their own men as the[4]enemy by shooting into that dense mass. Riflesand revolvers were used until their charges wereexhausted. Then revolvers were thrown asideor hurled into opponents’ faces, the rifles wereused as a backing for the bayonet or whirledabout the head like a flail, and the fighting becamea conflict between individual men or groupsbattling to the death.

For a few minutes it was a mêlée of hacking,clubbing and stabbing. Men by the dozen wentdown, killed or wounded. Some of the latter,who could still move, crawled or fell into shellholes that offered some slight measure of protection.Often a pair of combatants went down together,locked in a close embrace from whichneither of them rose again.

Frank found himself engaged with two huskyGermans who attacked him at the same moment.He side-stepped one and drove his bayonetthrough the shoulder of the other. He tried towithdraw it, but could not pull it out before theother German was again upon him.

Like lightning he dropped his hold on his gun,his fist shot out and landed flush on his assailant’sjaw. The man went down, and Frank, contentwith having put him out of action, wrenchedhis gun free from his other fallen enemy andhurried to the help of Tom, who was hard beset.

Whirling his gun about his head, he cleared a[5]space about himself and his panting comrade. Amoment’s respite and again they plunged into thethick of the fight.

“Hot stuff, eh?” said Tom, with a twisted grinon his lips that had been cut by a glancing bayonetthrust.

“Hot’s the right word,” gasped Frank.“Where are Bart and Billy?”

“I don’t know,” replied Tom, and then, as agroup of Germans surged in upon them, they saidno more but went at it tooth and nail.

It was not an easy victory, for the Germansfought desperately. But victory at last it provedto be, as the Yankee boys pressed forward withthat same splendid get-there-or-die spirit thatthey had shown ever since the first glorious daysat Belleau Wood and Château Thierry. Soonthe long lines broke up into separate groups anda few minutes later the Germans began to retreat,slowly at first and then more rapidly, untilthe wood in front of the old Thirty-seventh hadbeen cleared, and the American line had been advancedfar beyond where it had been when thefighting had begun.

The Americans had lost a considerable numberof men, but not so many as the enemy, forthe ground was covered with German dead.

Frank had come through unscathed, except fora slight ridge in the scalp that a bullet had barely[6]grazed, but Tom’s cut lip had swelled so that hismouth was twisted in a ludicrous shape and hecould only speak with difficulty. At any othertime Frank would have been inclined to “guy”him over the comical appearance he presented,but now, as always after a hot fight, his firstthought was of Bart and Billy. He looked abouthim anxiously, but could see nothing of them ashis glance darted in and out among the trees.

“Could anything have happened to the oldscouts, do you think?” he asked of Tom.

“They’ll turn up all right,” answered Tom,with more confidence than he really felt.“There’s Billy now,” he exclaimed with great relief,pointing to the right, “and I’m blessed if theold boy isn’t driving a couple of Huns in frontof him.”

It was Billy, sure enough, as jaunty and chipperas ever, walking behind two Germans whoshuffled along sullenly enough. Billy’s face brokeinto a broad grin as his friends hurried towardhim.

“Some class to this child,” he chuckled, as heindicated the prisoners. “Copped them out allby my lonesome. But where’s Bart?” he asked,his tone changing as he noticed the absence of hiscomrade.

“That’s just what we want to know,” repliedFrank with great uneasiness. “He got away from[7]us in the early part of the fighting and we haven’tseen him since.”

Billy signaled to Fred Anderson, who waspassing.

“Take these fellows back to the pen, will you,Fred?” he asked. “I want to help the boys huntup Raymond.”

“Sure thing,” responded Fred good-naturedly,as he relieved Billy of his charges.

“Now,” said Billy, “let’s get a hustle on andhunt among the wounded.”

Each of them felt in his heart an awful fearthat something worse than wounds might havecome to Bart, but by common consent they keptthe word “dead” away from their lips and triedto keep it away from their minds. All of themhad been face to face with death again and againand had been wounded more or less severely, butso far death had spared them and the four hadgrown to feel that they would all pull throughsafely. But Bart was missing. Had a breakcome at last?

Already burial parties were going up and downthe field and the stretcher parties were gatheringup the wounded to convey them to the advanceddressing stations. The three chums attachedthemselves to these and searched franticallyamong both the wounded and the dead.

For some time their search was unavailing,[8]and then suddenly Frank gave a call that broughtthe others instantly to his side.

“I’ve found him!” he cried. “But I don’tknow whether he’s living or dead. Help me toget him out of this pile of bodies.”

In a moment their sinewy hands had extricatedtheir comrade, and Frank knelt down and liftedBart’s head in his arms, while Tom tore opentheir chum’s shirt and put his hand on his heart.

There was a great gash in Bart’s foreheadfrom which the blood had flowed freely. Hisface was as pale as chalk except where it wasstreaked with blood, his eyes were closed and heshowed no sign of life. But just as Frank wasfearing the worst, Tom gave an exclamation ofrelief.

“He’s alive,” he cried. “His heart is beating.”

“Thank God!” exclaimed Frank fervently andwas echoed by Billy. “But I’m afraid he’s prettybadly hurt. We’ve got to get him to the hospitalin a hurry.”

He called out to a couple of litter bearers andthey hurried toward him. With infinite care andtenderness they lifted Bart and put him on thestretcher. They would have taken him to thehospital themselves, but that was the work of thebearers, and duty held the boys to the line thatmight at any moment be assailed by the Germansin a counter-attack.

[9]“Good old Bart!” murmured Frank. “He’salive anyway and while there’s life there’s hope.”

“Bart’s luck will stand by him, all right,”prophesied Billy, reassuringly. “But that was afearful swipe he had across his forehead. Itmust have been made by a bayonet.”

“I don’t think so,” said Tom, who had beenlooking about him. “See that stump? It’s coveredwith blood. Bart stumbled over a body orsomething and struck his head against this stumpand it’s knocked him out.”

Further conjectures were deferred by a sharp,quick summons for the men to get back into line.An aviator had signaled that the Huns wereagain preparing to attack with fresh regimentsthat had been hastily brought up, and the oldThirty-seventh, like the veterans they had become,hurriedly consolidated their positions andawaited the worst that the enemy could bringagainst them.

Just then there was a stir in the lines and astaff officer, in the uniform of a colonel, camegalloping up, attended by an orderly. He dismounted,threw the reins to the orderly and cameup to a group of the Thirty-seventh’s officers.

“Who is in command here?” he askedbriskly.

Major Willis, who had charge of that portionof the line, stepped forward and saluted.

[10]“I am,” he declared.

“Orders from headquarters,” said the newcomer,as he returned the salute. “You are toretire from this position at once and fall back toyour former line of defense. The enemy hasbeen so strongly reinforced that it is inadvisableto remain where you are.”

The major looked his surprise and seemedabout to protest, but instinctively discipline asserteditself and he again saluted and turned togive the necessary orders.

The boys had been standing near enough tohear the conversation, and Frank, happening tocatch sight of Tom’s face, was startled. His facewas pale and his eyes were blazing.

“What is it, Tom?” he asked in a low voiceand put his hand on his comrade’s arm.

But Tom shook off his hand and sprang forward.His voice rang out like a trumpet.

“It’s a lie!” he shouted. “That man is a Germanspy! Seize him! Seize him!”

The effect of Tom’s words was electric.

It was unexampled. It was a flagrant breachof discipline that under ordinary circ*mstanceswould be unforgivable. A non-commissionedofficer sprang forward to thrust him back intothe ranks. But the major, after a lightningglance at Tom and then at the strange officer, intervened.

“Just a minute,” he said. “Bradford, comehere.”

Tom stepped up in front of the major and saluted.

The newcomer here made a protest. His facehad flushed a fiery red when Tom had shoutedhis accusation. Then he became as white aschalk. But he pulled himself together and tookon an air of assurance.

“Upon my word, Major,” he said arrogantly,“the discipline in your command is deplorable.Kindly send this young madman to the guardhouseand obey the order I gave you. You disobeyit on your peril.”

[12]He turned as though to mount his horse, butFrank was too quick for him. Like a flash hetore the reins from the orderly and held them.The strange officer made as though he wouldsnatch them from him.

“Stop!” ordered Major Willis. “Sergeant,”he went on, addressing a non-commissioned officer,“stand ready with a squad of men. Takethat orderly into custody and surround this officer.Now, Bradford,” he went on turning toTom, “what made you say what you did?”

“Because it is true, sir,” replied Tom. “Thatman is an officer in the German army. I sawhim when he was wearing a German uniform inthe German lines and plotting with an Americantraitor.”

There was a stir in the group, and the accusedman gave a start that was not lost on the major,who was watching him intently.

“That is a serious accusation—a terrible accusation,”said the major gravely. “If it is true,it means death to this man. If it is false, itmeans severe punishment for you. Are you sureof your facts?”

“Perfectly sure, sir,” affirmed Tom. “It wasafter I had been captured by the Germans andwas trying to escape. I was hiding up a tree inthe woods. Rabig—you know Rabig, sir, theman we’re holding for court-martial?”—the major[13]nodded—“Rabig came into the woods and satdown under the tree I was hiding in. This man”—pointingto the accused—“met him there andthey talked for a long time together. Moneypassed between them. Then this man went awayand I dropped down on Rabig, overpowered him,took away the pass the German had given him—andgot back to our own lines.”

The alleged German here interposed.

“Is it possible,” he exclaimed, “that you attachany weight to a mere resemblance, admitting thatthis fellow is telling what he believes to be true?There may be a thousand men in either army thatlook like me. Let us have done with this nonsense.”

There seemed some force in this and the majorlooked inquiringly at Tom.

“There’s no mistake, sir,” persisted Tom. “I’dknow his face among a thousand. But there’s onething that will prove I’m right and that even hehimself can’t deny. The man who was talkingto Rabig had the end of the third finger missingfrom his left hand.”

Every eye went to the stranger’s left hand. Itwas encased in a riding glove and there wasnothing to indicate that it was maimed.

“Will you kindly remove your glove?” askedthe major with ominous politeness.

“I refuse,” objected the strange officer hotly.[14]“This is an indignity. I shall report these proceedingsat headquarters.”

“Remove your glove,” demanded the majorsternly, and at the same time the sergeant and hisdetachment crowded about the accused, ready forinstant action.

There was no help for it and the officer obeyed.The first joint of the third finger of the hand wasmissing.

A shout went up, increasing to a roar, as thedetected spy made a sudden dash through theguard surrounding him, reached his horse, andwith surprising agility vaulted upon his back anddug his spurs into his sides.

The horse reared high in the air with suddenfright and pain, and started to run, draggingFrank with him. The latter had been startled bythe unexpected action of the spy, but he held onto the reins with desperation and refused to beshaken off.

The spy drew a pistol from his belt and firedpointblank at Frank, the bullet grazing his ear.But he still hung on, and a moment later a scoreof his comrades had caught up to them anddragged the German from the horse’s back.

He fought desperately, for he knew that hewas fighting for his life, and considerable forcewas necessary to subdue him. He was a sadlybattered object when at last he was half dragged,[15]half carried into the presence of the major andother officers.

The major looked at him, and his eyes had theglint of steel.

“So this is the way you play the game of war,”he said, in tones of biting irony. “Is there anythingto which your country will not stoop?”

The prisoner looked at him sullenly but madeno reply.

“Take him away,” the major directed. “Acourt-martial will attend to his case before sundown.”

The man was marched off, accompanied byhis orderly who had also been secured, and as hepassed Tom he favored him with a glance thatwas full of venom and malignity.

The major turned to Tom.

“You have done well, Bradford,” he said, “andyou deserve the thanks of the regiment. Hadthat man’s trick succeeded it might have led to aserious situation. I will see that your name ismentioned in the order of the day. You can returnto your place.”

Tom saluted and retired, and a murmur of approbationwent up from the men as he passedthem.

Quick orders passed down the line, for nowthat the trick had failed an enemy attack could beexpected at any moment.

[16]“Good stuff, Tom!” exclaimed Frank approvinglyas he clapped his comrade on the shoulder.“You were Johnny-on-the-spot that time forfair.”

“You were the real goods, old boy,” agreedBilly. “My heart was in my mouth for fear youmight have made a mistake. And it’s mightylucky that Frank had those reins, or the fellowmight have got away after all.”

“Not a chance,” replied Frank lightly. “Adozen bullets would have got him anyway. Thegame was up with him the minute he had to takeoff his glove.”

“It was a regular Hun trick,” said Tom disdainfully.

“And he nearly got away with it,” commentedBilly. “He nearly had the major going. Why,he spoke English just as well as I do.”

“That isn’t saying much,” chaffed Frank, anddodged the pass that Billy made at him.

“Well, he didn’t put it over, and a miss is asgood as a mile,” remarked Tom.

“Did you see the look he shot at you as he wentpast?” said Billy. “If looks could kill you’d havedied on the spot.”

“There go the guns,” interrupted Frank, as theenemy artillery opened up in chorus with a roarthat shook the ground, and a storm of shellscame shrieking toward them. “They’re getting[17]ready to charge and the guns are laying down abarrage. We’ll have another hack at them soon.”

They crouched lower and clutched their riflestightly. And while these fearless young Americansare waiting for the onset, it may be well, forthe sake of those who have not read the precedingbooks in this series, to tell who Frank and hiscomrades were and what they had been doing upto the time our story opens.

Frank Sheldon was a stalwart young Americanwho had been born and reared in Camport, aprosperous city of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants.He was a bright, likable fellow, aleader in athletic sports and a general favorite.Above all he was a hundred per cent. American.His father had died some years before our storyopens, and Frank was the only son and supportof his mother to whom he was devotedly attached.She was a French woman whom Mr.Sheldon had married while on a business visit toFrance. She was the heiress to a considerableestate left by her father, but on account of thewar had not been able to go to France to claimthe property, the settlement of which had beenheld up by some legal complications.

Frank had secured a good position with thefirm of Moore and Thomas, and had excellentprospects for the future when the war broke out.His blood was on fire at once and he was eager[18]to enlist, although for a time he was held back becauseof his mother’s dependence on him. Aninsult to the flag, however, which Frank promptlyavenged by knocking down the guilty German,decided him, and he joined the old Thirty-seventh,the local regiment that had already seenservice in other wars. With him enlisted hisspecial chum, Bart Raymond, who was as ardenta patriot as Frank himself. Billy Waldon, anotherclose friend, was already a member. TomBradford wanted to join, but was rejected on accountof his teeth, though afterward he wasaccepted in the draft, and the four friends totheir great delight found themselves together.

The only discordant element was Nick Rabig,born in America but of German parents, who hadbeen with them in the same firm in Camport, andhad made himself thoroughly disliked because ofhis bullying disposition and pro-German sentiments.He and Frank had been more than onceon the point of blows, and finally, after Rabighad been caught in the draft and placed in theThirty-seventh, Frank gave him the thrashingthat he richly deserved.

How the Army Boys went through their periodof training; how they sailed for Europe andnarrowly escaped being torpedoed by a submarine,what exciting adventures they met with intheir first contact with the enemy—these things[19]are told in the first volume of this series, entitled:“Army Boys in France; Or, From TrainingCamp to Trenches.”

Once in the battle zone, thrilling experiencescame thick and fast. The boys were not confinedin their activities to the trenches, for theoperations soon developed into open fighting.They were caught in a swirl of the fighting, pursuedby Uhlan cavalry, compelled to leap from abroken bridge and finally captured by the Germans.From this captivity they were rescued bytheir aviator friend, Dick Lever, and carried backto their lines in his aeroplane. Frank had someencouraging news about his mother’s propertyfrom a Colonel Pavet whose life he had saved onthe battlefield. How rapidly the boys developedinto veteran soldiers is told in the second volumeof the series, entitled: “Army Boys in the FrenchTrenches; Or, Hand to Hand Fights with theEnemy.”

The great German drive was now preparingand the enemy in his first successes drove theAllies back and threatened to seize Paris and theChannel Ports. The old Thirty-seventh wasthrown into the breach with the other Americanforces and did valiant work in holding the Germansback. Tom was captured and had a seriesof stirring adventures before he rejoined his comrades.Nick Rabig, who had been under suspicion,[20]from the start, was unmasked as a traitor.The boys had many hairbreadth escapes in desperatefighting, as will be seen from the thirdvolume of the series, entitled: “Army Boys onthe Firing Line; Or, Holding Back the GermanDrive.”

The great counter-attack of Marshal Foch inJuly, 1918, put an end to the enemy attempt toadvance and sealed the doom of Germany. Afterthat time the Huns were steadily on the retreat,although they still put up some bitter battles.Frank and his comrades were in the front rank ofthe jubilant American army that was helping todrive the enemy back to the Rhine. In the battleof St. Mihiel, the Army Boys did their full shareof the fighting. By an unfortunate chain of circ*mstances,Frank for a time seemed to be mixedup with the robbery of a paymaster’s messenger,but he was triumphantly cleared of the charge andNick Rabig was discovered to be the real culprit.The story of the part the Army Boys played inthe beating of the Huns is narrated in the fourthvolume of the series, entitled, “Army Boys in theBig Drive; Or, Smashing Forward to Victory.”

The artillery fire that was searching out theAmerican positions increased in intensity, and indicatedthat the attack when it did come would bea determined one.

“Fritz is sore,” remarked Tom grimly.

[21]“Yes,” chuckled Billy, “he’s peeved because hislittle game didn’t work. He had it all framedup that he was going to get this position for nothingand now he finds he’ll have to fight for it.”

“It’s going to be a lovely scrap,” said Frank,peering through a chink in the log barricade thatthey had erected in consolidating their position.“I only wish that poor Bart could be here toshare it with us. That boy would rather fightany time than eat.”

“Maybe some of us will be with Bart soonerthan he will be with us,” muttered Tom, who,though he had the heart of a lion, was usuallyseeing the darker side of things.

Just then a shell came screaming through theair and dropped on the ground within ten feet ofthem.

“Duck!” cried Billy, and like a flash they allthrew themselves flat on the ground, turning theirhelmets in the direction of the shell to give theirheads as much protection as possible.

But the explosion they had nerved themselvesto hear did not take place, and after a few secondsthey raised their heads and looked curiouslyin its direction.

The shell lay harmlessly imbedded in the earth.From some defect, it had failed to explode.

The boys scrambled to their feet and lookedrather sheepishly at each other.

[22]“A dud!” exclaimed Tom in profound disgustand yet with a certain measure of relief.

“A false alarm,” remarked Billy as he brushedthe dirt from his uniform.

“It put one over on us that time for fair,” admittedFrank, as he picked up his rifle. “Butit’s a good sign, fellows. It shows the Heiniesare running short of good powder and they haveto use an inferior brand. You can bet that therearen’t very many of our shells that don’t explodewhen they fall into their lines.”

“Here they come,” warned Billy. “Gee, butthose lines are thick! They’re putting all theireggs in one basket this time.”

“The more that come the more to fall,” mutteredFrank, the light of battle coming into hiseyes.

It seemed indeed as though the Germans werestaking all the day’s results on a single throw,for they were in much greater force than beforeand they fell on the American lines like an avalanche.It was a form of fighting in which theywere especially proficient and against weakerfighters they might have prevailed. But the oldThirty-seventh and the regiments to the right andleft of it had met these men before and beatenthem, had beaten them that very day, had seentheir backs, and in their hearts they knew thatthey were their masters.

[23]So that when the attack came it beat upongranite. A withering fire from machine gunstore through their ranks, and then from the riflesof the Americans, many of whom wore marksmen’smedals, leaped a sheet of flame that was thevery blast of death.

The thick enemy lines wavered, broke and retreated.But under the urging and revolvers oftheir officers they formed again and came on onlyonce more to be driven back with tremendouslosses. This time they broke utterly and fled.

The American officers saw their opportunityand gave the order to charge. Over their logshelter with a cheer went the American boys, andpursued the beaten enemy, gathering up prisonersas they went along. The rout was complete, andonly ended when the enemy reached and crosseda canal which was in their rear. They blew upthe bridges after they had crossed and there for atime the American pursuit came to an end.

“Gee, but this has been some day!” pantedFrank happily, after it was all over and the regimentwas resting after its well-earned victory.

“This is the end of a perfect day,” hummedBilly.

“The biggest day the old Thirty-seventh hashad yet,” declared Tom.

“There’s just one thing lacking,” said Frank,“and that is that Bart isn’t with us. I’m going[24]to try to get leave the first thing in the morningand get over to the hospital.”

Just then Corporal Wilson, whom they knewwell, came up to them.

“Been to mess yet?” he asked.

“Sure thing,” grinned Billy, “and what we didto that chow was a sin and a shame.”

The corporal smiled.

“That’s good,” he said. “I’m looking for afew volunteers. And when I say volunteers youfellows know that the work I have in mind isdangerous, so dangerous in fact that I wouldn’tfeel justified in ordering men to do it.”

All three sprang to their feet.

“Bring on your job,” cried Frank.

“Trot it out,” said Billy.

“Count me in,” added Tom.

Warm approval shone in Wilson’s eyes.

“I didn’t think I’d have to look much farther,”he said. “I’ve been on scouting trips with youfellows before and there’s nobody I’d rather haveat my back if it came to a scrap. Go and getyour black scouting suits and blacken your facestoo. It’s going to be a black night but we can’ttake too many precautions. When you’re ready,report to me and I’ll give you your instructions.Of course I’m going with you.”

He passed on and the boys looked at eachother.

[25]“Wonder what the corp has on his mind?” remarkedFrank.

“Something risky you can bet,” said Billy.

“Well, you have to hand it to Wilson,” observedTom. “You notice he said he was goingwith us. He doesn’t ask anyone to go where hewon’t go himself.”

In a few minutes they had donned their scoutsuits and blackened their faces and reported tothe corporal. They found him at his quartersdressed like themselves. By this time it wasfully dark and time to start.

“We’re going to try to cross that canalyonder,” the corporal explained. “Headquarterswants to learn something about the disposition ofthe German forces. If what we find out suitsour officers, they may throw pontoons across andattack. If you ask me how we’re going to getacross tonight, I tell you frankly I don’t know.Perhaps we’ll have to swim. We’ll have to trustto luck and our own wits. Are you ready? Thencome along.”

He led the way and they trailed after him likeso many shadows into the night.

There was no special reason for silence justyet, as the Army Boys followed their leader, forthere were no Germans except wounded andprisoners left on this side of the canal, and theyconversed freely among themselves, although instinctivelyin low tones.

“If Bart were only with us!” said Frank regretfully.“We’ve never yet gone on a trip ofthis kind that that boy hasn’t been along.”

[27]“He’ll be kicking himself for having missedit,” prophesied Billy.

“There promises to be excitement enough inthis to satisfy even Bart,” added Tom.

They soon passed through the last line of sentriesand reached the bank of the canal, or river,being partly natural and partly artificial. It wasquite a wide watercourse and there was a fringeof trees that bordered it back of the towpath andthe boys kept close in the shadow of these. Butthey no longer stood erect, for they feared thatsome light from the camp might form a backgroundagainst which their figures could be seen.Down they went on hands and knees and creptalong with the stealth of so many Indians outon a night foray.

Across the canal they could see a long and irregularglow which came from the dugouts andtrenches where the Germans had establishedthemselves. The line was at some distance fromthe canal itself, but they did not doubt that sentrieswere established along the whole bank onthe lookout for just such a venture as the boyswere engaged in.

“The corp was right in calling for volunteers,”whispered Frank in Billy’s ear.

“Looks to me like the riskiest thing we’ve beenin yet,” returned Billy.

“We’ll have to do some classy swimming to get[28]over without making a splash,” grunted Tom.

For half a mile or more they kept on down thecanal, until they got beyond the zone of light andfelt it safe to rise and emerge from the woods,cross the towpath, and reach the very edge of thebank.

In some places the bank went down straightinto the water, and they could not drop in withoutmaking a noise. In others, however, itshelved somewhat, and these Wilson exploredwith the greatest care.

Suddenly he stopped and beckoned the boys tocome nearer. They gathered about him.

“Look at this,” he whispered, and they sawthat he had his hand on the stern of a small boatthat had been drawn in the shelter of a little archat the side of the canal.

“Just what the doctor ordered,” commentedFrank, as he saw that the boat was big enoughto carry four on a pinch and could faintly see theoutline of a pair of oars lying across the thwarts.

“It beats swimming,” murmured Tom.

“Get into it,” ordered Wilson. “No, don’t dothat,” he said hastily, as Billy was about to takeup one of the oars. “I’m afraid they’ll hear us ifwe use the oars. We’ll just push it across withour hands. It’s slower but it’s safer.”

They slipped into the boat as silently as ghosts,and dipping their hands in the water with the utmost[29]caution began to propel the craft towardsthe further bank.

The boat was a homemade affair, probablybuilt by some peasant, and was heavy and clumsy.Moreover, with the four it was forced low in thewater and moved with difficulty. But there wasplenty of time, for they had the greater part ofthe night before them.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the boat progressed.No shot greeted it, no hail from theshore told that it was discovered. The silencewas almost uncanny.

On they went until at last the further bankloomed up before them. Soon they were nearenough to touch it with their hands. But it wassmooth and steep and they could not reach thetop.

They worked their way along the wall, untilfinally they came to a place where several stoneshad fallen out, so that the holes left by themserved as holds for their hands and feet. At awhispered command from the corporal, Frankworked his way up until his eyes were on a levelwith the top of the bank. There he stood andlooked and listened with every faculty intent.

“Nothing stirring,” he reported, as he let himselfdown again in the boat. “Either the Germanshaven’t strung their lines down this far orthey’re lying mighty low. I think it’s worth taking[30]a chance to land here. There’s a patch ofwoods a hundred yards or so away, and if we canreach that we can take our bearings and decideon what we’ll do next.”

“All right,” said the corporal after a moment’sconsideration. “I’ll chance it on your judgment,Sheldon. We’ll leave the boat here and Bradfordwith it.”

Tom made a move to protest, but discipline asserteditself and he resigned himself without aword, although sorely disappointed at not beingallowed to go on with the others.

“The hoot of an owl will be the signal,” Wilsontold him as they prepared to leave the boat.“When you hear that, give the answer so that wecan find our way to where you are. Have theoars all ready, as we may have to leave in ahurry.”

Tom nodded his understanding and the restleft him, dropping flat on the bank as soon asthey reached the top and worming their way overthe space that intervened between them and thepatch of woods some distance beyond.

The strain on nerves and muscles was tremendousand it was with a sigh of relief thatthey reached the shelter of the woods. Herethey could rise to their feet, although even thisrequired the most extreme care. They were byno means assured that it was a friendly shelter.[31]It might contain machine gun nests or strongforces of the enemy.

Five minutes of the most intense silence andlistening passed before they dared even to whisperto each other. Convinced at last that no onewas close at hand, the boys drew near the corporalfor his final instructions.

“We’re certainly in luck so far,” he breathed.“The only explanation of the failure to have sentrieshere is that they had no idea today that theywere going to be driven back so far as to have tocross the canal. They came over helter-skelterand they’ve been so busy in blowing up bridgesand getting their rattled forces together thatother things have had to wait. But it’s only amatter of time before they’ll have guards sethere, and we want to get back before that happens,if possible. Bring your watch hands closeto mine and let’s compare so as to see that wehave the same time.”

They did as directed, and the illumined facesof their radio watches showed that their time waspractically the same.

“Five after ten,” remarked the corporal. “Thatgives us two hours until midnight. At twelveo’clock sharp, wherever you happen to be, startback for the boat. You’ve each got a compassand you can come pretty close to the place, andthe owl signal will do the rest. Find out whatever[32]you can as to where the enemy has his batterypositions, where he has gathered his greatestforce, and where his wire entanglements areweakest. You’ve got your knives, and if I wereyou I’d depend on those if you find it necessary.Only use your revolver as a last resort, for if youhave to fire the jig is up.

“Now we’re going to spread out like a fan.Sheldon, you go off there to the left. Waldonwill bear a little away from the canal bank towardthe north, and I’ll take the path between you two.I don’t need to tell you that your life depends onyour being careful. You know that as well asI do. Twelve o’clock sharp, mind. Good-byeand good luck.”

Without another word they separated, glidingfrom tree to tree and gradually getting furtherapart, as they followed the general path that hadbeen marked out for them.

Frank had not gone far before he had increasingevidence that he was approaching the mainbody of the enemy’s troops. The light grewbrighter that came from the hastily dug trenchesof the enemy. Groups of men passed to and frowith lanterns, sometimes coming so close to thesheltering woods that he had to flatten himself inthe bushes, scarcely daring to breathe until theyhad passed.

Reaching at last the edge of the forest, he rose[33]to his feet behind a huge tree and peered out. Hecould have shouted with delight, for he saw thathe had happened upon a spot where the enemywas concentrating their heavy artillery. Greatguns were being moved into position, emplacementsfor them were being hastily constructed,and he was able by the lanterns that flitted in andout among them like so many fire-flies to get afairly accurate idea of their number and calibre.Here was information that would be more preciousthan gold to his officers. He could take nonotes, but he went over the whole scene againand again in his mind, so that he should forgetno detail.

So absorbed did he become in noting all that hethought might be of value to his officers thatwhen a stream of light was thrown suddenly inhis direction it struck him with almost the forceof a blow.

He drew back like a flash and flattened himselfa*gainst his side of the tree, making himself assmall as possible.

After a minute or two he ventured to peer out.The light which came from a searchlight whichwas being tested by the enemy was darting about,now here, now there, but evidently without anyspecial purpose in view, and his first fear that ithad betrayed his hiding place subsided. But anotherapprehension took its place at once, for he[34]saw a man in an officer’s uniform coming directlytoward him.

Frank instinctively felt for his revolver, but hedismissed that thought before his hand touchedthe butt. With enemies swarming all about him,a shot at that moment would be little less thansuicide. But his knife was still there, and hishand closed around its handle while his lips tightenedwith resolution.

The officer came on and Frank crouched for aspring in case he should be discovered. But tohis great relief, the officer paused just before hereached the tree, drew a pipe from his pocket andlighted it. Then with a grunt of satisfaction heleaned up against the tree and puffed away, whilehe looked at the animated scene from which hehad withdrawn for a few minutes of rest and relaxation.

The tobacco was vile, more like burning leavesthan anything else, and as the clouds from thepipe enveloped Frank, he had all he could do tokeep from coughing or sneezing. But he keptthe impulse in check and waited with what patiencehe could command for the officer’s nextmove.

The searchlight was flashing in another quarternow, for which Frank was devotedly thankful,but there was still too much light to make itsafe for the young American to attempt to crawl[35]away. He glanced at his watch and saw that itwas nearly midnight. The corporal and hischums would be waiting for him.

With infinite caution he peered around theside of the tree. Would that pipeful never besmoked out?

The officer had shifted his position somewhat,and Frank caught a glimpse of a paper protrudingfrom an outside pocket of his coat. Itlooked like an official document of some kind.The thought came to Frank that it might containsome plans of the enemy for the next day’sfighting.

It was a tremendous risk to attempt to get it,but Frank resolved to take the chance.

Drawing his knife and holding it ready for instantaction, his other hand reached slowlyaround the tree and crept toward the officer’spocket.

Slowly, so slowly that it scarcely seemed tomove, Frank’s hand advanced until the fingersclosed on the paper. Fortunately it protrudedfar enough for Frank to get a good grip on it.

If his hand had trembled, he would have beenbetrayed in an instant. But the experiences hehad been through had steeled Frank’s nerves andhis muscles worked with the precision of a machine.

A fraction of an inch at a time, he drew thepaper out until it was clear of the officer’s pocket.Then he transferred it to his own. He had won.And he was jubilant.

Still, he was in imminent danger. At any momentthe officer might discover his loss, think hehad dropped the paper and begin to look aroundfor it. That would be unlucky for Frank. But,the young soldier thought grimly, as he grippedhis knife tightly, it might be still more unluckyfor the officer.

The pipe was smoked out now. The officer[37]tapped it against the tree to knock the ashes outand seemed of two minds as to whether he shouldrefill it. He finally decided that he had stayedthere long enough, an opinion with which Frankheartily agreed, thrust his pipe in his pocket andstarted to walk away. Frank watched him withhis heart in his mouth. Would he discover hisloss?

The officer had gone about ten feet whenFrank saw him give a sudden start. He utteredan exclamation in German and then felt hurriedlyin all his pockets. Then he turned and began toretrace his steps slowly, his eyes glued to theground.

“Now I’m in for it,” thought Frank, as hismuscles stiffened.

But the officer came no farther than the foot ofthe tree. That to his mind marked the limit ofwhere the paper could possibly be. He droppedon his hands and knees and looked in the grass,but of course to no avail. Then he rose, brushedoff his clothes and muttering harshly to himselfhe strode off in the direction of the camp, searchingevery foot of the way as he went along.There was a bad quarter of an hour in store forhim when he should have to confess the loss ofthe paper to his superior officer.

Frank only waited until the officer was at asafe distance. Then he wound his way on his[38]hands and knees through underbrush until he waswell beyond the zone of light of the camp. Onlythen did he rise to his feet and slipping from onetree to another hurried in the direction where hiscompass told him he would find the boat.

When he reached the line of trees that borderedthe canal, he paused and gave the hoot ofan owl. A moment later, there was an answeringcall that enabled him to locate the boat’s position.He made his way to the bank and lookingover saw the dark outline of the boat.

“Are you there, Tom?” he whispered.

“I’m here all right,” came Tom’s voice in answer.“Tumble in.”

In a jiffy, Frank had let himself down in theboat and grasped his friend’s hand.

“I’m mighty glad you’re back,” whisperedTom, in great relief. “I began to fear the Hunshad got you. Any luck?”

“I got a pretty good line on some things thatour officers want to know,” replied Frank, “andI’ve got a paper in my pocket that may be worthsomething. The fellow that lost it seemed tothink it was important, judging from the franticway he was looking for it. You didn’t thinkthat your old friend would ever turn pickpocket,did you?”

He told his story in whispers, and Tomchuckled as he listened to it.

[39]“Good work, old man,” he murmured.

“But what’s keeping Billy and the corporal?”asked Frank anxiously. “It’s getting on towardone o’clock.”

Just then the owl call came, and a moment laterthe corporal dropped cautiously down into thewaiting boat.

“Anything doing?” was the first question heasked of Tom after greetings had been exchanged.

“Nothing much,” answered Tom. “I heard apatrol going along the road about an hour ago,and later on I heard the stroke of oars. But itwas too dark for me to see anything.”

He had scarcely spoken when a volley of shotsrang out. There were hoarse shouts and thesound of running feet. Then along came Billy,panting and breathless.

“The Huns!” he gasped, as he dropped intothe boat. “They nearly got me and they’re closebehind. We’ll have to make a quick get-away orthey’ll nab us.”

“Quick!” ordered the corporal. “Sheldon, youtake one oar and Bradford the other. Pull forthe other side as fast as you can. Don’t splashany more than you can help, or we’ll be a markfor the Huns’ bullets. Quick now!”

The boys needed no urging, for the sounds toldthem that their foe had almost reached the bank[40]of the canal. They bent to the oars and the boatshot away from the shore. But they had scarcelytaken three strokes before a star shell rose fromthe enemy side of the canal and shed a greenishghastly radiance over the scene. By its light,they saw a dozen or more Germans on the bankthey had just left, and a volley of bullets thatcame singing over their heads and about the boattold them that they offered a good target.

But it was not this group of enemies that gavethem the greatest concern. A more serious perilthreatened them. For in that green flare of thestar shell they saw two boats between them andthe shore they sought. And the guttural shoutsthat had come from these boats at their discoverytold the Americans that the occupants were Germans.

They grasped the situation at once. Thesewere the boats whose oar strokes had been heardby Tom. There were half a dozen men in eachboat and their errand on the American side hadbeen the same as that of the Army Boys amongthe Germans.

It was a time for quick thinking, and the corporalwas equal to the emergency. His party wasoutnumbered three to one by the men in theenemy boats, to say nothing of their comrades onthe farther shore. The first star shell had faded,but others followed in quick succession, so that[41]there was no chance to slip between the enemyboats in the darkness.

“Turn her head upstream,” ordered Wilson,and the boat swung round.

“Now, pull for your lives,” the corporal commanded.“Our only chance is to get far enoughahead of those fellows to cut into the shore.When you fellows are tired, Waldon and I willtake the oars. Pull, now, pull!”

Frank and Tom obeyed, putting every ounceof strength into their strokes, until it seemed asthough the oars must snap. The boat sprangforward like a live thing, while the corporal andBilly, with their bodies concealed as much as possible,sent shot after shot from their revolversat the men in the German boats.

The enemy had grasped the purpose of theturning upstream, and both boats raced on, tryingto keep on a line with the Americans and preventthem turning in to shore. At the same time,the German patrol on the further bank ran alongthe shore with a constant crackling of rifle fire.Bullets whistled about the boat, some of thempenetrating the side. One of them went throughthe corporal’s sleeve, grazing his arm and bringingblood. Another knocked Tom’s oar fromhis hand, but he recovered it in a desperate grabbefore it got out of reach, and the boat kept onwith only a momentary lessening of its speed.

[42]Suddenly Billy gave an exclamation of alarmas a dark wall of what appeared to be solid rockloomed up before them.

“Back water!” he shouted. “The boat will besmashed!”

“Go ahead,” countermanded Wilson after aquick glance. “It’s a tunnel. There’s nothing todo but keep on. It kills our chance of getting tothe shore. But on the other hand it’s dark inthere and we may be able to double on these fellowsand give them the slip. Keep on.”

The boat shot quickly into the blackness of thetunnel through which the canal flowed at thatpoint. The bullets ceased to sing about them.The radiance of the star shells died away. Darknessenfolded them, a darkness so intense thatthey were absolutely hidden from each other.They rowed along for some distance with undiminishedspeed. Then as no sound of oarswas heard in pursuit, the corporal gave the wordto lay on the oars.

“Some race!” panted Frank as he wiped theperspiration from his forehead.

“But we beat them to it!” gasped Tom. “Gee,I never worked so hard in my life!”

“They don’t seem to be following us,” commentedBilly.

The corporal pulled out his flashlight andturned it around them. They were startled to[43]see how the stream had narrowed after enteringthe tunnel. There was barely room for twobarges to pass each other.

The corporal’s face was grave as he made thediscovery.

“No chance of doubling on them in here,” heremarked. “Looks very much as if they’d gotus in a trap. If they follow us up, we’ll have tofight it out. And we haven’t got too much ammunitionleft. I sent most of my bullets at theHuns in the boats.”

“You toppled over two of them,” said Tom.“I saw them drop. But there’s a lot of themleft.”

“There’s a light at the mouth of the tunnel!”exclaimed Billy.

They looked back.

From the point that they had reached the tunnelextended back to its mouth as straight as anarrow, and they could see the two boats that hadbeen in pursuit lying beside each other, whilefrom the light of a lantern in the bow of one theycould see the figures of the men engaged in ananimated debate. They seemed to be divided asto the course to pursue.

“Wonder if they’ll follow us in,” murmuredTom.

“They don’t seem to relish the idea verymuch,” remarked Frank.

[44]“The chances are that they will,” judged thecorporal. “They know that they outnumber us,and they won’t want to let us go back to ourlines with the information we’ve picked up.”

Suddenly the light went out.

“I wonder what that means,” said Billy anxiously.

“I think it means they’re coming,” replied thecorporal. “They put the light out so that theywon’t offer a mark for our revolvers. It looks asthough it might come to a battle in the dark.”

“If it does, I’ll match our eyes against theirs,”remarked Frank confidently.

“We’ll get at the oars again,” said the corporal.“I don’t know how long this tunnel is, but it mustend somewhere. If we can reach the outlet andfind no Germans there, we’ll have a chance to getback to our lines by land. If not, we’ll have togive these fellows a fight, no matter by how manythey outnumber us. I only wish we had moreammunition. A few more shots and we’ll bethrough.”

“We’ve got our knives anyway,” said Tom,“and Heinie hates knife fighting at close quarters.”

“I’ve got a hand grenade,” put in Frank. “Ipicked it up as we were coming away from camp,on the chance that it might come in handy in casewe were discovered.”

[45]“Good work,” said the corporal approvingly.“But now we’d better start. Waldon and I willtake the oars, so as to give you other fellows arest. Make as little noise as you can but workfast.”

They bent to their work, quickened somewhatby the faint sound of oars which told them thatthe enemy was approaching.

With fresh arms at the oars, they hit up arapid gait, which in that unknown passage wasnot without its dangers. The darkness was sointense that they could not see a foot ahead ofthem, and they dared not use the flashlight forfear it would betray their location to their pursuers.

“Let’s hope this tunnel is straight all the waythrough,” muttered Tom. “If there’s a windingin it and we bring up against the sides it may sendus all to kingdom come.”

“Right you are,” returned Frank, “but there’sno help for it. We’ve got to take our chance.”

He had scarcely gotten the words out of hismouth when what Tom had feared came to pass.The boat smashed head on into the rocky wallwhere the tunnel described a curve. There wasa grinding of oars, a splintering of planks and astartled exclamation from the Army Boys.

Luckily Frank and Tom had been sitting in thestern of the boat, and, though they were badly[47]shaken, escaped the full force of the blow. Billyand the corporal were thrown from their seatsinto the bottom of the boat. The bow wassmashed in, and a great jagged hole in the sideopened the way for a flood of water that rushedin. In a moment the boat had sunk to thegunwales. Another moment and she had goneunder the surface and the four occupants foundthemselves floundering in the water.

All were expert swimmers, and the duckingmeant nothing in itself. But the loss of the boatmight well mean the loss of their liberty or theirlives.

They swam to the rocky side nearest them andclambered up on the bank. The path along thecanal was a narrow one and the wall of the tunnelrose up perfectly smooth on the further sideof it, affording no opportunity of concealment.

The corporal gathered them around him. Itwas time for quick thinking for the sound ofoars had grown plainer and the enemy wouldsoon be upon them.

“We’ll have to run for it,” Wilson whispered.“We ought to be able to keep ahead of them untilwe reach the other end of the tunnel. It wouldbe easy enough if we could see where we weregoing, but we’ll have to feel our way and makesure we don’t tumble into the canal. We’ve gotthe chance that they may make the same mistake[48]that we did and smash into the canal wall. Butthen again they may know more about the waythe canal runs and steer clear of it. Come along,now. I’ll lead the way and you fellows keep closebehind me.”

They started off at as rapid a pace as theydared in the pitch blackness and soon had thesatisfaction of noting that the sound of oars hadgrown fainter, thus indicating that they wereoutdistancing their pursuers.

They had kept this up for perhaps ten minuteswhen they caught sight of something thatseemed like a star in the distance. But as theydrew nearer they saw that it was a fire thathad been built on the canal bank, and soon theycould detect the figures of men moving about it.

They stopped short for consultation.

“There’s a patrol of some kind there,” said thecorporal, as he strained his eyes, “and it isn’tlikely that it’s anybody we care to meet. Sheldon,your eyes are the best. See if you can makeout those uniforms.”

“I think they’re Huns,” judged Frank, after amoment’s intense scrutiny. “But we’ll have toget a trifle closer before I can be sure of it.”

They moved a hundred feet closer and thenconjecture gave way to certainty.

“No doubt about it,” pronounced Frank.“They’re Huns, as sure as shooting. And there[49]are twenty of them if there’s one. They’re rightin our path and there’s no getting around them.”

It was grave news, and their pulses quickenedas they recognized their peril.

The corporal pondered a moment before reachinga decision.

“We’re between two fires,” he said. “It wouldbe suicide to go forward with our numbers andour scanty ammunition. With the fellows in theboats we’ve still got a chance. We’ll have todouble on our tracks and try to get past theboats. When we hear them coming close, we’lllie down flat on the path and trust to their passingus without seeing us. The only thing thatwill queer us will be if they happen to flash alight when they’re abreast of us.”

The young soldiers followed him as he turnedand started on the return journey, listening asthey went for tokens of the enemy’s approach.

Soon the sound of oars grew distinct. Thecorporal gave a whispered command and theyflattened themselves on the bank as far awayfrom the edge as possible.

Nearer and nearer came the boat. They listenedin vain for the second craft. It was evidentthat it was either far behind or perhaps hadbeen left at the mouth of the tunnel to trap themwhen they should try to emerge.

Closer, still closer the boat came, and the Army[50]Boys lay like so many statues, holding theirbreath lest the slightest sound should betraythem.

Now they knew that the boat was almostabreast, as they could hear the labored breathingof the men tugging at the oars.

But just then the leader of the Huns turned aflashlight in their direction, revealing the fourfigures. There was a shout, a sharp command inguttural tones, a dropping of oars and a click ofrifles as the men raised them to their shoulders.

But quick as they were, Frank was quicker.

Lithe as a panther, he sprang to his feet andhurled the grenade that he had been holding inhis hand full at the boat.

There was a blinding flash, a terrific explosionand the air was filled with flying bodies anddebris. Frank himself was thrown to the groundby the shock, but scrambled to his feet again,none the worse except for a few bruises.

It was too dark to see the effects of the explosion,but the dead silence that followed toldits own story. There was nothing more to befeared from that special group of enemies.

His own comrades gathered around Frank,themselves too dazed and shaken by the suddennessof the whole affair to understand fully justwhat had happened.

“What did it?” asked Billy.

[51]“That was the grenade I was telling you fellowsabout a few minutes ago,” replied Frank.“I thought of it again just when I dropped tothe ground. I figured that I might have a chanceto smash their boat with it, so I got it out andhad it ready in my hand.”

“Great stuff, Sheldon,” said the corporalwarmly. “It did the work all right. It’s luckywe only had one boat to deal with. But nowwe’ve got to make tracks for the mouth of thetunnel.”

“And we can’t do it any too quick either,” saidTom, as the sound of a commotion rose behindthem. “Those fellows round that fire have heardthat explosion and they’ll be coming on the doublequick to see what’s up.”

There was a growing din behind them thathastened their steps as they hurried along. Once,Billy going too near the edge nearly fell into thecanal, from which he was saved by Tom’s quickgrab of his arm. At intervals the corporal usedhis flashlight on the narrow road ahead of himbut he did not dare to do it very often, for fearthat the light might be seen by Huns who mightbe lying in wait at the tunnel’s mouth.

Soon they were conscious from the increasingfreshness of the air that they were nearing theentrance. They slackened their steps a little, forthe noise in the rear had died down. They did[52]not interpret this as meaning that their adversarieshad given up the chase, but thought itmore likely that they had halted at the scene ofthe explosion to try to fathom its meaning.

“Now,” said the corporal, when they werewithin a few yards of the entrance, “I’m goingto scout ahead and see whether that other boatis hanging about. If it isn’t we’ll have an easytime in swimming to the bank. If it is, we’llhave some fighting before we win out.”

He stole away like an Indian, but almost beforethe boys realized that he had gone he wasback again.

“They’re out there all right,” he reported.“The boat is lying about twenty feet from themouth. I couldn’t see it, but I located it fromsome low talking that was going on. There’snothing to do but make a sudden dash, catchthem unawares and get to the other side beforethey recover. Now here’s how I figure we maydo it,” and he outlined his plan hurriedly whilethe young Army Boys listened intently.

“It sounds good,” said Frank. “And there’sanother reason why we’ve got to do it anyway,”he added, as a sound of hurrying feet behindthem told them that the Hun patrol had againtaken up the pursuit.

They followed the corporal to the tunnel’smouth. For an instant they stood there listening,[53]until they had located the position of theboat.

“Now!” shouted Wilson.

Their revolvers spoke at the same moment andthere were cries from the boat that told that thebullets had found a mark. Then they hurledtheir revolvers into the mass that the light oftheir shots had revealed, dived into the water, andstruck out for the further side.

There was a wild commotion in the boat thathad been so suddenly attacked. The inmates hadbeen taken totally by surprise and the confusionwas indescribable.

Those who had not been wounded and still retainedtheir wits sprang to the oars and tried toturn the boat in the direction of the boys. Othersseized their weapons and sent a scatteringvolley after the fugitives. But the shots werefired at random and went wild, although one ortwo struck the water uncomfortably close.

It was a case of surprise and audacity winningout against odds. All of the Americanscould swim like fish, and as the distance to theshore was not great, it was only a matter of twoor three minutes before they struck the bankand clambered up its sides. A moment more andthey had crossed the path and reached the shelterof the trees on the further side. Only then didthey pause to take breath.

[54]“A close call,” gasped Frank, as he shook thewater from his face and hair.

“Closer than I care for,” remarked the corporal,“but we’ve come off scot free, or at least Ihope we have. Any of you fellows wounded?”

“Never touched me,” grinned Billy.

“Same here,” echoed Frank and Tom jubilantly.

“Good,” said the corporal. “I think our officerswill be satisfied with the night’s work.We’ve got a lot of information, and we’ve accountedfor quite a number of Huns while wewere getting it. Now we’ll go straight to headquarters.”

There was no occasion for secrecy now, as theywere in their own lines, and they made goodtime past the sentinels and to the section wherethe old Thirty-seventh lay. Their officers wereporing over maps in earnest consultation, butCaptain Baker and Major Willis came forwardwhen the party appeared.

The corporal saluted and made his report.Then each of the Army Boys was questioned inturn as to his share in the night’s events. Theinformation they had gained was of markedvalue for the coming day’s operations, but byfar the greatest importance was given to thepaper that Frank had so cleverly extracted fromthe German officer’s pocket. A general laugh[55]went round when they heard the story of howit had been done, but amusem*nt was soon lostin excitement as they scanned the paper.

“Why,” exclaimed Major Willis, “it’s a completeplan of the defenses of the Jager Brigade,the one that’s right opposite our part of the line!The Germans would rather have lost a milliondollars than to have had that paper fall into ourhands.”

“The beauty of it is,” replied Captain Baker,“that they don’t know we’ve got it. If they did,they’d change their plan. But it’s ten to onethey’ll think it’s lying around in their own linessomewhere and they’ll just give the officer areprimand for carelessness and let it go at that.”

“You have done very well, Sheldon,” saidMajor Willis, turning to Frank. “It was anexcellent piece of work. The names of all ofyou will be mentioned in the order of the day andthere may be other rewards in store for you.You made no mistake, Corporal, in picking outyour men,” he continued, turning to Wilson.“You were fortunate in your helpers and theywere worthy of their leader. You may go now.”

They saluted and retired, tired and almost exhaustedwith the strain they had been under, buthappy in the commendation of their officers andthe consciousness that they had played their partwell.

[56]“There’s just one thing lacking,” said Frank,as they were getting ready to turn in, “and thatis that poor Bart wasn’t along.”

“Good old Bart,” said Billy regretfully. “Howhe would have enjoyed that scrapping. He’llfeel cheated when he hears of it.”

“That boy would rather fight than eat,” wasTom’s tribute to their absent friend. “I’d givea lot to know just how he’s getting along withthat broken head of his.”

“We’ll go over to the hospital the first thingin the morning and find out,” said Frank, as herolled himself in his blankets.

But when the morning came, there was nochance to make the intended visit, for the regimentwas shifting its position in preparation foran attack on the enemy lines. Orders were flyingthick and fast, orderlies were riding fromone division to another, and it was evident thata great battle was impending. Artillery wasbeing brought up from the rear, for the armyhad gone ahead so fast on the preceding day thatthey had outdistanced their guns. Tanks, too,were massing in great numbers on the front.

As one of the great monsters was lumberingby where the boys were stationed, somethingwent wrong with the machinery and the driverstepped out to adjust it. An exclamation of delightbroke from the Army Boys, as they recognizedthe bronzed face of their old friend, WillStone.

His pleasure at the meeting was just as great,and his face was beaming as he came over tothem with outstretched hands.

[58]“What good wind blew you up this way?”asked Frank, after the first greetings were over.

“Been ordered up here to help you fellowsclean out the Argonne forest,” answered Stonewith a grin. “Some job, too, if all I hear aboutthe place is true.”

“It’s a big job, sure enough,” admitted Frank.

“Oh, well, we’ve turned the trick whenever wetackled the Huns so far, and I guess we’re notgoing to fall down on this,” said Billy.

“Where’s Bart?” asked Stone, as he glancedabout him. “I hope nothing’s happened to him.”

“Nothing fatal, we hope,” responded Franksoberly. “He hit his head against a stump, in acharge we were making yesterday morning, andcut it badly. They took him off to the hospitaland we were figuring on going over today andseeing how he was getting along. But I’m afraidwe can’t get off if we’re going to attack.”

“Too bad,” said Stone sympathetically, “butI don’t think we need to figure on an attack today.They won’t be able to get things in readinessbefore night. I was tipped off a little whileago that the fight was going to start tomorrowmorning at dawn. So you may be able to seeBart today. If you do, tell him I was askingabout him and that I’m rooting for him to getwell. But I’ll have to tinker up this machine ofmine and be getting along.”

[59]With a cordial wave of the hand he left them,and after adjusting the machinery started off toreach his appointed part of the line.

“He’s a bully good fellow,” remarked Frankadmiringly, as they gazed after him.

“You bet he is,” agreed Tom.

Stone’s prophecy proved to be correct, for latethat afternoon it was announced that the attackwould take place on the following morning. Themen were released from standing in readinessand the Army Boys had no difficulty in gettingpermission to visit their comrade.

But the hopes they had cherished of findingBart better were doomed to disappointment.They were taken by the Red Cross nurse into theward in which he lay, his face flushed with fever,his hands clenching and unclenching, while incoherentmutterings came from his lips. It wrungtheir hearts to see their chum in such a plight.

“What does the doctor say about him?” Frankasked the nurse anxiously.

“He says that the case is very serious,” wasthe reply. “He fears that it may develop intobrain fever. He said this morning that if it werenot for the splendid vitality of the patient, hewouldn’t have a chance. As it is, he hopes hemay pull him through.”

The boys were shocked by this verdict. Theyhad been through so many adventures with Bart,[60]he had been such a loyal and dependable comrade,that it seemed as though he had become apart of themselves. Army life without Bart withthem seemed almost unthinkable.

“Of course,” the nurse hastened to reassurethem, as she saw their clouded faces, “it may notprove as serious as the doctor fears. It will bea day or two before he can predict with somedegree of certainty.”

There was nothing to do but hope, and theboys left the hospital with downcast faces andheavy hearts. They knew that they were carryinga burden that would not be lightened untilBart was once more at their side.

On their way back, they passed a prison penwhere a large number of Germans captured inthe previous day’s fighting were confined. Mostof these were out in the open, but there weresome small structures in the enclosure wherethose who were charged with serious offenseswere imprisoned under guard of sentries whowere pacing up and down before the huts.

“There’s Fred Anderson,” remarked Tom.

“Hello, Fred,” called out Billy.

“How are you, Billy?” responded Fred, comingto a pause as they drew near. “I see youfellows are coming from the hospital. Beenover to see Bart, I suppose. How’s the old scoutgetting along?”

[61]“He’s in a bad fix,” responded Frank sadly.“The doctor doesn’t know whether he’ll pullthrough or not.”

“That’s too bad,” said Fred with genuine regret,for Bart was a general favorite with themembers of the Thirty-seventh. “I hope he’llcome around all right.”

“We all hope that,” responded Billy. “All theboys of the old regiment will be rooting for him.How comes it that you’re on sentry duty, Fred?”

“Just my hard luck,” grumbled Fred. “Whomdo you think I’m guarding in here?”

“Oh, some old Hun, I suppose, with an unpronounceablename,” said Billy carelessly.

“Bad guess,” grinned Fred. “It’s Nick Rabig.”

The name acted like an electric shock on thethree comrades.

“Rabig!” they exclaimed in the same breath.

“That’s what,” said Fred. “Seems to be popularwith you fellows, I don’t think.”

“The yellow dog!” exclaimed Billy.

“The traitor!” growled Frank.

“Why haven’t they settled his case long ago?”gritted Tom. “He ought to have been stood upbefore a firing squad the day after they capturedhim the last time.”

“That’s what he deserved all right,” agreedFred. “He’s the only fellow that ever disgraced[62]the colors of the old Thirty-seventh. The factis, I suppose, that we’ve been so busy chasing theHuns out of France that a court-martial hasn’thad time to attend to his case. But it’s a deadopen and shut case and he’ll get his all right whenthe time comes.”

“It’s a long time coming,” grumbled Tom,who, as our readers will remember, had especialcause to despise the man whom he had caught inthe very act of dealing with the enemy.

“Well, so long, old man,” said Frank, as thefriends prepared to go on their way. “Sorry yougot stuck with guard duty. Hope your time’snearly up.”

“I’ve got half an hour at it yet,” replied Fred,as he consulted his wrist watch and shoulderedhis rifle. “I’ll be back with you then, if a Hunshell doesn’t get me. Their batteries have beentrying to get our range, and they’re getting uncomfortablyclose with their high explosives.We’ll have to move our prisoners farther backif they keep it up much longer.”

“Here comes a shell now,” exclaimed Frank,who had learned by long experience to tell fromthe whining of a shell just about where it wasgoing to land. “Down, fellows, quick!”

They dropped flat on the ground and none toosoon to escape a huge shell that flew over theirheads and exploded just beyond.

[63]But if it had missed them, another had notbeen so fortunate. The shell had struck the hutthat Fred had been guarding and reduced it toatoms. It had missed Fred himself by only amatter of feet, and as he had followed the exampleof his friends and thrown himself to theground he was unharmed.

As the boys rose to their feet and lookedaround them, they saw what had happened andran to the remains of the hut. They looked insideand then turned away. That one glance hadbeen enough to tell them what had become ofRabig. He had gone to his last account, andthere was no further need of any earthly courtto judge his deeds and fix his punishment.

“And it was the very people to whom he soldout that killed him,” mused Frank, as the remainsof the dead traitor were gathered up to betaken away for burial.

There was no sense of exultation in theirhearts, only a feeling that in a singular way justicehad been done to a man who had committedthe unpardonable crime of betraying his country.

They had been to mess that evening, and weretalking over the events of the day, when an orderlycame to say that Frank was wanted atheadquarters.

Wondering somewhat what the summonsmight mean, and pursued by the chaff of his[64]friends, who predicted all sorts of dire things instore for him, Frank obeyed the summons, andwas surprised and pleased to find Colonel Pavetwaiting to see him. The pleasure was felt alsoby the colonel, as was shown by the warmth ofhis greeting.

Each owed a great deal to the other. Frank,as my old readers will remember, had saved thecolonel’s life when the latter was lying woundedon the battlefield and had carried him off tosafety amid a storm of bullets. The colonel, onthe other hand, had been kindness itself in lookingafter the interest of Frank’s mother in propertythat had been left to her in France.

“Ah, Monsieur Sheldon, how glad I am to seeyou again,” said Colonel Pavet.

“No more than I am to see you, sir,” returnedFrank, shaking the hand which the colonel insheer disregard of the difference in rank had extendedto him. “I hope that you are well.”

“Perfectly well, I thank you,” replied thecolonel, “and happy beyond expression at theway things are going. It will not be long nowbefore the arrogant Huns will be driven fromFrance. Oh, what we Frenchmen owe to youbrave Americans! You are like the Crusadersof old. You came to our aid when our backswere against the wall and you gave us fresh courage,new life.”

[65]“Just as your people did for America morethan a hundred years ago,” replied Frank. “Youdon’t owe us anything, Colonel. We’ve simplybeen paying a debt.”

“But paying it with interest a hundred fold,”protested the colonel warmly. “But tell me howthings are going with you, mon cher ami.”

“Oh, the same as usual,” returned Frank.“The Hun bullets haven’t got me yet.”

“But that isn’t because you haven’t been wherethe Hun bullets were,” smiled the colonel. “I’vebeen hearing of what you did on that scoutingexpedition last night. It’s a marvel that youcame through it alive. But fortune favors thebrave.”

“Oh, that was nothing,” said Frank, who alwaysfelt uncomfortable when anyone referredto his exploits.

“Your officers think differently,” laughed thecolonel. “But now to other matters. In thefirst place, I want to tell you how sorry I wasthat I was away when that unfortunate accusationwas laid against you. A word from mewould have shown its falsity at once.”

“I know it would,” answered Frank, “butluckily things took such a turn that I was sooncleared of that charge.”

“The next thing is,” went on the colonel in atone of regret, “that some complications have developed[66]in the matter of your mother’s property.”

Frank felt his heart sink. It was only a littlewhile since he had written her, telling her thateverything was practically settled in her favor,and that all she would have to do after the warended would be to take possession.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied. “I thoughtthat the dying confession of that rascally butlerhad established her claim beyond a doubt.”

“It did as far as the attempt to defraud herwas concerned,” answered the colonel. “This isa technical matter bearing on the title to a partof the estate. It seems that some legal formalitieswere overlooked at the time of its acquisition.My brother Andre explained it to me in hislast letter. But I am only a plain soldier and Icould not quite grasp the details. Now, don’t let itworry you, for Andre thinks that the matter canbe attended to and the title made perfect. Onlyit will take some time and I thought I ought tonotify you just how matters stood.”

“It’s very good of you,” replied Frank, relievedto learn that the fears he had formed whenthe colonel first began to speak of the mattermight be groundless. “Of course I’m sorry thatthere’s any hitch at all, but if it can be remediedit doesn’t matter so much.”

“Right,” agreed Colonel Pavet, “and if Imight be permitted to suggest, I would say[67]nothing to your mother about it at present. Ifit were anything really serious, of course sheought to know. But under the circ*mstances itwould only cost her needless worry. Now Imust be going. Of course you know or haveguessed that there will be a great battle tomorrow.”

“I have heard that we attack at dawn,” repliedFrank.

“Yes,” confirmed the colonel. “To you Americanshas been assigned the task of clearing outthe Argonne Forest. It is one of the most tremendoustasks of the war but I know you willbe equal to it. My own regiment is with Gouraud’sforces on your left. We will probablyeffect a juncture with your forces after you havetaken the forest, and the two armies will have afriendly race to see which gets to Sedan first.The luck of battle may bring us together againbefore long.”

“I hope so,” smiled Frank, “and when we domeet I hope that we can congratulate each otheron the complete defeat of the Huns.”

“We will,” replied the colonel with conviction.“Their lines are bending now and are ready tobreak. One more great effort and the work isdone. The Allied armies will spend Christmason the Rhine.”

“I hope you are as good a prophet as you are[68]a fighter,” laughed Frank. “But I believe in mysoul you’re right.”

“I’m sure of it,” replied the colonel. “Andnow I must go. Remember me to your motherwhen you write.”

They shook hands and separated, the colonelmounting his horse which stood at the door, andFrank with a final wave of the hand returning tohis comrades.

His sleep that night was as sound as thoughthe next day were to be a holiday, instead ofmarking the beginning of one of the most desperatebattles of the war.

The reveille sounded while it was yet dark onthe following morning, and before the first faintstreak of dawn appeared in the eastern sky theold Thirty-seventh was in line waiting for theword to advance.

Before them in the semi-darkness loomed upthe gigantic shapes of the tanks that were to leadthe way and smash the barriers that the foe haderected during the four years that they had heldthe forest.

Thousands of men who were too old for militaryservice had been employed there in buildingconcrete fortifications, bombproof shelters andunderground passages leading from one trenchto another until the whole forest was a perfectlabyrinth from which the Germans would have[69]to be driven foot by foot and trench by trench.There were “pill boxes” by the hundred set upin concealed locations that commanded the entireterritory. Snipers were in the lofty trees andmachine gun nests existed by thousands. Therewere deep pits into which the unwary might fall.Barbed wire entanglements added to the naturaldifficulties of the position. Deep gulches and ravinesmade it impossible for the troops to advancein any kind of regular formations, and inplaces there was only room for them to go insingle file over ground swept by enemy bullets.Their heaviest batteries had been brought fromother portions of the line and concentrated there.

It was the Germans’ last stand. If they failedto hold the Americans, their cause was lost. Backof the forest was the railway line that ran fromLonguyon to Mezieres and Sedan. It was theirchief artery of supplies for all their armies inFrance and Belgium. If the Americans once gotastride of that railway, the Germans would bebottled up with no way of escape except throughthe gateway of Liege.

Orders had gone out from the German HighCommand that the forest must be held at anycost, and their crack divisions of the Jagers andthe Prussian Guards had been brought up withorders to die at their posts rather than retreat orsurrender. They had all the advantage of position.[70]They boasted that the forest could neverbe taken. Even the Americans whom the Hunshad first learned to respect and afterward to fear,could not, it was said, do what was beyond thepower of mortal men. It was simply impossible.Had not the great Napoleon himself declined toattack the enemy who held the forest in his day,saying that it was impregnable?

But the American troops had learned to laughat the word “impossible.” They wouldn’t admitthat it was in their dictionary. They had beentold that their green troops could not hold theGermans at the Marne, but they had held them.They had been told that it was impossible tobreak the Hindenburg line, but they had smashedit to bits. They had been told that the St. Mihielsalient could not be pinched out, but they did intwo days what others had failed to do in fouryears. Now, when they heard that it was impossibleto clear the Argonne Forest, they simplygrinned. It was only a German joke.

“Wonder when the music will begin,” saidFrank, as he crouched beside Tom and Billy,waiting for the thunder of the great guns to signalthe beginning of the attack.

“It won’t be long now,” replied Tom, as hecast his eyes up to the sky where a faint light wasbeginning to diffuse itself.

“I wonder if Stone is with this bunch of tanksin front of us,” remarked Billy.

[71]“I’d know his tank if I saw it, but it’s a littletoo dark yet to make it out,” said Frank, as hiseye ran along the silent row of monsters thatstretched up and down the line. “But one thing’scertain, if he isn’t in the front row at the start,it won’t be long before he gets there.”

Men passed along the line with steaming bucketsof coffee, for the morning was chilly, and theboys swallowed their portions with gusto andpassed the tins back for more.

“Gee, but that tastes good,” said Tom, smackinghis lips. “It warms me to the toes.”

“You’ll get exercise enough to keep you warmbefore many minutes are past,” prophesied Billy.

“It can’t come too soon,” put in Frank, as hisfingers tightened over the stock of his rifle.

Just then the word came down the line:

“Fix bayonets!”

There was a series of clicks as the bayonetsslipped in their sockets.

“In less than five minutes now!” mutteredTom.

Suddenly the great American guns opened upwith a roar that sounded as though the earth hadsplit asunder. There was a deeper bass note thanusual that the Army Boys’ trained ears detectedin an instant.

“Those must be the naval guns we’ve beenhearing so much about,” said Frank to Billy.

“That’s what,” replied Billy, “and they’resome guns, too. I hear that they throw nearly aton of metal a distance of sixteen miles. They’rethe biggest guns that have ever been used in battle,and they spell hard luck for the Heinies.”

“I wonder how we’re going to get across thiscanal,” pondered Tom, as they waited for theword to charge.

“Our engineers will have seen to that,” saidFrank confidently. “Trust those boys to be on[73]the job. Maybe it will be rafts, maybe pontoons.You remember how we got across the Meuse theother time. At the worst we can swim it.”

But as it grew lighter with each succeedingminute, they saw that they would not have toswim. During the night, the engineers had assembleda string of barges which they had laidbeside each other and covered with planking.The work had been done under fire and the losseshad been heavy, but the engineers were of thesame plucky type as those who had dropped theirpicks and shovels and gone into the fight at Cambrai,and those others who had helped Carey tostop the gap on the road to Amiens. They hadstuck to their job until their work was done, andseveral such bridges were now ready for use atdifferent points along the American line.

“Stand ready,” came the command thatthrilled the Army Boys from head to foot.

“Charge!”

With a rousing cheer the line swept forward,and the greatest battle of the war was on.

The American guns laid down a barrage, averitable curtain of fire that went before theirmen and kept lifting as the line advanced so asnot to kill their own men. The Americans wereso eager to get forward that this was an everpresent danger, and many lives had been lost inthe earlier battles of the war from this cause.[74]But now the men were veterans, and while theywere just as full of ardor and eagerness as ever,they had learned not to throw their lives awayby being over rash.

A hail of fire came from the German guns asthe first detachments reached the bridges and beganto cross. Great lanes were torn in the Americanranks, but they closed up at once like thewater in the wake of a ship.

The tanks went first, and though the floatingbridges swayed beneath their weight they weresoon safely on the other side of the canal. Afterthey had reached the bank, they halted for theinfantry to come up and form rank in the shelterof their armored sides. The bullets rattledagainst them until the din was like that of aboiler factory. Two of them were struck bymonster shells that put them out of action, butthe majority of them came through the storm offire without material damage.

In the meantime, the first detachments of infantryhad crossed the bridges, although theirlosses were heavy and the planks of the bridgewere red. Some had been swept into the canaland the water was dotted with bodies, some motionless,while others, who were only wounded,sought to swim to the nearer shore or were rescuedby American boats that put out into thestream.

[75]The old Thirty-seventh had been given thepost of honor in their section of the line and theArmy Boys were in the first rank. A bulletclipped off a lock of Billy’s hair just above theear, and one had pierced the sleeve of Frank’sarm, blistering the skin as it went along asthough it had been seared by a hot iron. But thelads were so full of the spirit of the fight thatthey scarcely noticed these trifles when theybrought up breathless on the further side.

“So far so good,” gasped Frank, as he and hiscomrades halted to draw breath in the shelter ofa great tank.

“Talk about hundred yard dashes!” exclaimedBilly. “I’ll bet we came near beating the recordfor crossing bridges.”

“I don’t know,” grinned Tom, as he took offhis helmet to wipe his forehead. “I think we beatit that time when we scurried over the brokenbridge like jack rabbits with the Uhlan cavalryonly a dozen jumps in the rear. But we’re luckythis time as we were then, and we’ve comethrough with scarcely a scratch.”

“Knock wood,” warned Billy. “This is onlythe curtain raiser. The real play is yet to come.”

In less than an hour, sufficient forces hadcrossed the bridges to justify the officers in orderingan advance against the first line of theenemy trenches that had been established just[76]within the edge of the forest. The trenches wereheavily manned and bristled with field and machineguns, while back of them in the grim andforbidding forest stretched other lines of defensethat the boys knew would cost thousands ofAmerican lives to take. But the job was thereand had to be done. And they vowed in theirhearts that it should be done.

The huge tanks lined up for the attack andgot once more in action. Into the woods theywent, crushing down trees as though they werepipe stems, lurching into and out of shell craters,tearing into the barbed wire entanglements,plucking up the posts to which they were fastenedand opening huge gaps into which camepouring the long lines of shouting, cheering men.Like an avalanche they struck the trenches, andthe Germans poured out to meet them.

The opposing lines swayed back and forth likegladiators in a death grip. Then they broke upinto hundreds of battling groups, a dozen menhere, twenty there, struggling with bayonets andrifle butts, hacking, stabbing and at times throwingtheir empty guns aside and fighting withknives and even with fists. It was the kind ofclose-in fighting in which the Americans excelledand which they always sought when the plan ofbattle made it possible.

Frank, Tom and Billy fought as closely in[77]company as they could, and many a blow hadbeen warded off by one of the three from theothers that would otherwise have found its mark.

For a long time the battle seemed to be fairlyeven, for the Germans fought with the fury ofdesperation and were constantly reinforced fromheavy divisions kept in reserve. Each side attachedespecial importance to this first stage ofthe fight, because of the influence it might haveon the morale of their men. The side that lostin the first phase of the battle would be depressed,while the side that won would be correspondinglyelated and strengthened in spirit for the strugglesthat were yet to come.

But American blood and American fightingqualities were not to be denied. Gradually theGermans were pressed back, but as they retreatedthey kept up a stubborn resistance bymeans of machine gun nests posted in every conceivableplace, at every turn in the forest paths,in clumps of bushes, in forks of trees. Theymade the Americans pay dearly for every footof ground that they gained.

But the Americans had learned by long experiencenot to advance in mass formation againstthese messengers of death. They spread out inunits and in groups, worming their way throughthe bushes, seeking the shelter of every rock andtree and shell hole.

[78]In following up this method of fighting, thethree Army Boys were separated. Frank foundhimself in a shell hole alone. He peered overthe edge and could see nothing of Tom and Billy.He crouched low in the hole, reloading his rifle.Then he took stock of his position.

About three hundred feet ahead of him was amachine gun nest that was spitting bullets in asteady stream. It was sheltered by a barricadeof logs about four feet high. Behind this theGerman machine gunners were snugly ensconcedand seemed to defy capture. They kept slewingtheir gun from side to side of the barricade sothat it commanded the whole front of the position,and their bullets went hissing over the openspace like so many snakes and quite as deadly.

Frank pondered as to what he should do anda wild thought came into his mind. At least itwould have seemed wild at the beginning of hisexperience in the war. But he had taken so manyrisks and gotten away with them that he hadgrown inclined to trust his luck.

He was going to put that particular machinegun out of business. But how could he do itsingle-handed?

They could fire a hundred bullets to his one.

His keen eye studied the ground in front ofhim.

There were perhaps half a dozen shell holes[79]between him and the barricade. But they weretoo far apart for him to slip from one to anotherwithout being seen. And to be seen in that bulletswept place meant certain death.

But he also noted another thing. A heavyGerman field gun from a distance of miles behindthe lines was sending huge shells that werefalling with tolerable regularity in the space betweenhim and the barricade. Every minute ortwo, a shell would explode with a tremendousroar, sending a volume of black smoke and tonsof dirt into the air.

Here was the solution of Frank’s problem.

He measured the distance between him and thenext shell hole, and poised himself for a springwhen the next shell should fall.

It came, and on the instant Frank was out ofhis hole and rushing toward the next behind thescreen of smoke and dirt. He dropped into itand waited for the next shell. Several times thiswas repeated, until at last Frank found himselfin the last shell hole less than fifty feet awayfrom the barricade. This was his limit of possibleshelter. The rest of the way he must be inthe open.

He crouched low in the hole, waiting for afavorable moment. Just at that time bullets werewhistling directly above his head. But he hadnoted that the gunners were sweeping their gun[80]about in a semicircle, so as to command all portionsof the open space, and he knew that in amoment or two the line of fire would be on oneside or the other of the direct line that lay betweenhim and the barricade.

How many men there might be in the machinegun crew he did not know. There would surelybe two, perhaps half a dozen. He did not greatlycare. In that moment of intense exaltation hewould have fought a regiment.

The bullets ceased to sing above his head. Hepeered cautiously above the edge of the hole.The wicked looking muzzle of the machine gunwas pointing considerably to his left.

He leaped from the hole and raced for thebarricade.

There was a startled shout and a frantic effortto slew the gun around. The next instant Franksprang high in the air, struck the topmost logof the barricade with both feet and sent it tumblingdown upon the machine gun crew while hewent down with it.

There was a wild scrambling and confusionin the machine gun nest, as the log came down,followed by Frank.

The latter lost his balance and went down onall fours, but was on his feet again in a second.

The log had struck one of the crew in fallingand knocked him unconscious. But his companionin serving the gun had risen to his feetat the same moment with Frank and had drawnhis revolver to fire. Frank had no time to raisehis rifle, but quick as lightning he swung it fromthe level of his waist against the upraised armof his opponent. There was a sharp crack thattold that the bone was broken, and the man sankto the ground with a groan.

Frank heard a shout just behind him andwheeled about. A helmeted head was emergingfrom a trench that had been dug in the rear ofthe machine gun, and in this a squad of Germanshad been stationed to support the crew.

Frank’s rifle spoke, and the German sank back[82]with a bullet through his shoulder. Two jumpscarried Frank to the head of the trench, wherehe saw seven Huns, who had evidently been rattledby the fall of their leader and were hesitating,not knowing how many enemies might bewaiting for them on the ground above.

Frank covered them with his rifle, whose muzzledarted from one to the other in the line.

“Hands up!” he commanded.

The words were American, but the Germansunderstood what it meant. If they had anydoubt, the rifle would have enlightened them.

Their guns dropped from their hands and theyraised the latter above their heads.

“Kamerad!” they shouted in chorus.

Still keeping them covered, Frank motionedthem to come out one at a time. They did soand formed in line, their hands still upraised.The look of amazement on their faces, when theylooked around for Frank’s comrades and failedto see them, was comical beyond expression. ButFrank was too keyed up at that moment to payany attention to the humorous side of it.

He shot a glance at the machine gun. It hadbeen knocked down by the falling log and themachinery by which it was fed with cartridgeswas unusable.

“March!” Frank commanded, taking his stationin the rear of the line of prisoners.

[83]They obeyed sheepishly enough, and one ortwo of them in the rear of the line were inclinedto be sullen, but a sharp jab of Frank’s bayonetdecided them, and they went off at a jog trot towardthe American lines.

They had covered perhaps two-thirds of theway, when Frank met a squad of his own regimentwho were advancing after clearing out aravine. They raised a shout as they saw Frankcoming along herding his flock, and in a momenthe was surrounded and overwhelmed with eagerquestions.

“Where are the rest of the fellows that helpedyou take this bunch?” asked Corporal Wilson,who was in command of the squad.

“There weren’t any others,” answered Frank.“I just happened to get the draw on this crowdand gathered them in.”

“‘Happened’ is good,” said Wilson dryly.“There’s more to it than that. You’ll have totell us about it later. In the meantime, I’ll havethese fellows sent to the rear.”

The prisoners were sent back, and Frank wentforward with his comrades for further fighting.Under other circ*mstances, he would have likedto rest for a while, for he had been under a terrificstrain and now he was feeling the reaction.But there was stern work yet to be done, andthe resting time could come later.

[84]Tom and Billy had worked their way in hisdirection and now rejoined him. They movedforward and soon reached the scene of Frank’sexploit. The German who had been knockedunconscious had evidently come to his senses andhad disappeared, but the two men whom Frankhad wounded were still there. A stretcher partyworking in that part of the field was signaled,and the men were taken away to the hospital.

“Some classy work!” exclaimed Billy, when athis eager urging Frank had told to him and Tomthe incidents of the fight. “If you don’t get theDistinguished Service Cross for this, there’s nogratitude in the United States army.”

“Billy’s right,” declared Tom, as he clappedFrank on the shoulder. “There isn’t one man ina thousand who would have thought of it ordone it if he had thought of it. Frank, old man,you’re a wonder.”

“Oh, forget it,” said Frank. “I had a chanceand took it. That’s all.”

“That’s all,” mimicked Tom. “You had achance and took it. We’ll let it go at that.”

All that morning the fighting continued, andthe Germans were steadily driven back. By noonthe edge of the forest had been cleared, and theAmericans began to consolidate their lines inpreparation for the next advance.

“Well, we’ve won the first round anyway,”[85]remarked Billy jubilantly, as the Army Boysgathered in a trench that had been hastily constructedand sat down to eat.

“Yes,” admitted Tom, “but there may be agood many rounds to this fight. Heinie’s gotlots of fight in him yet and don’t you forget it.He knows he’s in the last ditch and that if hedoesn’t stand here, it’s all up with him.”

“Quit your croaking,” admonished Billy.“We’ve got the Indian sign on him and he knowsit. This last ditch business doesn’t go with theHuns. They’re all right when they’re winning,but they can’t stand losing. They don’t wanttheir cities devastated in the same way thatthey’ve ruined the cities of France and Belgium.When the time comes they’ll cave in. You justwait and see what kind of a prophet little Billyis.”

“I think you’re both right,” said Frank. “Iagree with Tom that we’re due for one big fightbefore Heinie will admit defeat. But I alsothink with Billy that when that defeat comesthey’ll curl up and quit so quickly it will makeyour head swim. But what’s the use of our chinningabout it and letting our chow get cold? Allwe’ve got to do is to fight. We’ll leave it toPershing and Foch and the other men at thehead of things to settle things with the Germansafter we’ve licked them to a frazzle.”

[86]They attacked their meal with an appetitesharpened by the strenuous work of the morning,and then at the call of the bugle they again tooktheir place in the line to finish the work theyhad so well begun.

From that time on, the work was more likeguerrilla fighting than any battle in which theyhad engaged so far. The woods were so thickand the obstructions so many that it was impossibleto advance in anything like regular formation.Instead of tens of thousands of men beinghurled against other ten thousands in a mass attack,both armies were broken up into countlessgroups of ten, twenty and a hundred men, eachfollowing a general plan of advance but dependingupon circ*mstances and natural conditions asto the way they carried out that plan.

The Germans had the advantage of a greaterfamiliarity with the ground, which they had heldfor years, and also in their tremendously strongsystem of defenses. But the Americans hadagainst these the consciousness that they hadbeaten this enemy in every fight where they hadmet them, and the feeling that they could alwaysbeat them. Then, too, the Americans were moreaccustomed to act on their own responsibility.If their officers were killed or wounded, they figuredout for themselves what was the best thingto do and went ahead and did it. In a certain[87]sense, every private was a general when he had tobe. The Germans, on the other hand, were excellentfighters in the mass. But they needed tohave their shoulders touching those of their comrades,and they had been taught to rely so utterlyupon the directions of their officers that they feltlost and bewildered when they had to make decisionsfor themselves. Of course there wereexceptions, but this fairly expressed the differencebetween the two armies.

Not only that day but for many days thereafterthe fighting kept on. The Americans hadgiven themselves two weeks to clear the forest.Day by day the lines advanced, sometimes slowly,again more quickly, but they always advanced,and every nightfall found them nearer their goalthan they had been the day before.

The Army Boys were in their element. Hereat last was enough fighting to suit even their hotblood. The only thing lacking to their satisfactionwas the absence of Bart.

They had not yet even been able to hear fromhim, as they were kept so busy and the linesshifted so constantly that all communication betweenthem and the hospital was cut off.

“It’s hard luck for the old scout,” remarkedTom one night after the regiment had cleared outan intricate system of dugouts and was restingafter the day’s work.

[88]“He’ll be sore as the mischief if this war endswithout his getting another crack at the Huns,”said Billy.

“He needn’t worry,” put in Frank, “he’s donehis full share if he never fires another shot. AllI want is to see him on his feet again, sound andwell, whether the war ends before that time ornot. In the meantime we three must try to dothe work of four.”

“Yes,” agreed Tom, “every fourth shot wefire, we’ll say to ourselves: ‘There goes one forBart!’”

After one day of particularly grim and stubbornfighting, the Army Boys found themselvesquartered in an unusually large clearing in thedense woods and underbrush that went to composethe Argonne Forest. Since early morningthey had been engaged in clearing out trenchafter trench of Boches, menaced on every side byskillfully concealed machine gun nests, but makingsteady progress, in the face of almost insuperableobstacles. A number of their comradeshad fallen, but not one of our heroes hadsuffered anything worse than the deep scratchesresulting from forcing their way through innumerablebarbed wire entanglements. Theyseemed to bear charmed lives, for always therehad been the whine of machine gun bullets, andthe scream of shrapnel thrown from the heavierguns situated in the rear of the German lines.

Now, thoroughly exhausted, they had willinglyobeyed the order that meant the end of that day’sfighting, and had cast, first their packs, and then[90]themselves, down upon the camping ground thathad been designated as theirs for the night.

By the time “chow” had been eaten, they beganto feel a little better, but had nothing in mind exceptto turn in, when suddenly their attentionwas arrested by the whirring hum of an aeroplaneengine coming rapidly to a position directlyover them. The first thought of every soldier is,“Is it an enemy machine?” but one glance servedto assure them that it was an American plane.

They naturally expected that the machinewould continue on its course, but suddenly Frankexclaimed, “Look at that, fellows! It’s circlingaround as though the pilot intended to land.What in the world would he want to come downhere for?”

“Possibly he’s been having engine trouble,”speculated Tom. And he was not far wrong, forthis was indeed the reason for the aviator’s suddendescent. Spying the opening in the trees, hehad decided to make a landing there, rather thanproceed further and take the chance of beingforced to descend in even a more unfavorablelocation.

The boys watched with interest as the machinedescended lower and lower in graceful spirals,and finally took the ground as the aviator landedskillfully on a smooth patch of turf.

“By Jove!” exclaimed Frank, as the friends[91]started to run toward it, “there’s something aboutthat aviator that looks mighty familiar to me. Iknew it!” a moment later, “it’s good old DickLever, and he’s sure a sight for sore eyes. Howin the name of all that’s good did he ever happento get in this part of the world, I wonder.”

This question was soon answered, for by nowthe boys had reached the machine, and amid joyfulshouts Dick Lever was dragged from thepilot’s seat and laughingly told to “give an accountof himself.”

“Well, that’s not very hard to do,” he said,“provided, of course, that you Indians don’t pullme limb from limb before I get the chance to.It’s fine to be so welcome, but I’m beginning to beafraid I’ll never be able to live through it. Havea heart, can’t you?”

“All right, then, come across with the information,”laughed Frank. “We’re so used to questioningHun prisoners, that we’ve got the habit,and find it hard to be easy with you, I suppose.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell,” said the aviator.“I was just recently detailed to this sector,and since arriving here I have been havinga busy time of it, I can tell you. The Boches onthis sector are right on the job, and don’t seem toscare nearly so easily as they generally do. Ihad a brush with one several hours ago, andchased him well back of the German lines. He[92]landed safely, though, so I turned around to getback, when my engine started missing. It wasn’tso very bad, but I thought it would be better toland and tinker it up before it got worse, so whenI saw this opening through the tops of the trees,I decided to come down and see if I couldn’tmake temporary repairs. But if I had knownyou fellows were down here waiting for me, Ithink I’d have come down even faster than I did.”

“Well,” said Frank, “let’s take a look at yourengine, and see if we can’t locate the trouble.But I won’t really be sorry if we don’t, becausethen you’ll have to stay here all night.”

“Yes, that’s true enough,” replied Dick. “Butjust at present I don’t want to be put out of businessover night if I can help it. Every aviator onthis sector is on the lookout for a certain Bocheplane that has been making a pest of itself aroundhere, and the one that succeeds in bringing himdown is going to be considered a real ace.”

“Why, has he been doing such a lot of damage?”asked Billy.

“Damage!” exclaimed Dick, “I should say hehas been doing damage. And not only that, buthe does it in such a way that none of us so farhas had any chance for a comeback.”

“How’s that?” inquired Tom.

“His favorite stunt is to come over our linesalong about dusk, and drop his load of bombs[93]where he thinks they will do the most good. Thenhe makes a quick turn about and escapes, eithergoing directly back to his lines, or, more often,rising high enough to reach a cloud stratum, andhiding in that. And by the time our fellows getout after him, it’s so dark that there’s no chanceof seeing him. He’s responsible for the death ofany number of our fellows, and nobody knowshow much damage to roads and ammunitiontrains.”

“That’s the Boche’s regular game,” commentedFrank, bitterly, “their ’planes always runthe minute they think a superior force is comingout against them. It would be wonderful if youcould be the one to capture him, Dick.”

“Wonderful! I should say it would,” exclaimedthe young aviator. “But that trickyway he has of cloud hiding, together with hishabit of only attacking right on the edge of darkness,makes it a mighty hard proposition to comeup with him. But I or one of the other fellowswill get him eventually, never fear.”

“If only there were some way to tag him sothat he could be followed easier,” said Frank,slowly.

“Yes, but that’s a pretty big if,” said Billy,“supposing you come down to earth and give ussome practical suggestion about how it’s goingto be done.”

[94]“Well, maybe I will,” replied Frank, to whomhad come the glimmering of an idea, “you fellowsknow that illuminating paint they use for signs,and so forth, so that they can be read in the dark,don’t you?”

“Right you are!” exclaimed Dick, who graspedthe other’s thought in the twinkling of an eye,“if we could douse this Boche’s plane with someof that mixture, a blind man could follow hisprogress after dark. But then,” he concluded,less enthusiastically, “the problem arises as tohow we are going to get the paint on his machine.It reminds me of trying to catch a bird by puttingsalt on his tail.”

“Well, it might be worth trying, anyway,” saidFrank, defending his project. “Why couldn’tyou take a pail of this with you, and then there’sa bare possibility that you might be able to dropsome of it on him. One splash of that stuff onhis machine, and you’d have the easiest job in theworld following him. The darker the night, thebetter.”

“By Jove, it’s worth trying, anyway,” saidDick, caught up on a wave of enthusiasm. “I’ll tryanything once, anyway. But now the questionis, where are we going to get the paint?”

“There’s a supply wagon not over a mile fromhere,” replied Frank, “if you’re game for thehike, I’ll go with you, and we’ll see if we can’t getsome.”

[95]“You’re on!” exclaimed the aviator. “Youtwo fellows stay here to see that no one monkeyswith my machine,” addressing Billy Waldon andTom Bradford.

“All right,” agreed Tom. “But you’d bettershake a foot or some of this bunch will be takingyour machine apart for souvenirs,” and he laughinglyindicated the interested group of doughboyswho had by this time sauntered up.

Frank and Dick set off at a smart pace, as theywere all eagerness to try the novel experiment,and there was no time to lose, if it were to be donethat night, as it was then after five o’clock, andnearing the time at which the German aviatorusually made his raids. They maintained a briskpace, and it was not long before they reached agroup of supply wagons, carrying all sorts ofsupplies and equipment. They had some difficultyin explaining matters to the officer incharge, but at last he was moved by their enthusiasm,and gave them permission to draw a smallpail full of the illuminating paint. This was aspecial mixture of chemicals, and was extensivelyused by our army for signs, indicating arrows,etc., where it was impossible or inconvenient tohave a special light to show up the object at night.

The two friends made short work of the returntrip, and surprised those waiting for them by thepromptitude of their return.

“Gosh!” exclaimed Billy, “I can see the finish[96]of that Boche already, when two speed merchantslike you go romping on his trail. He’s got aboutas much chance as a cootie in a disinfectingtank.”

“We haven’t got much time to spare,” saidDick; “it’s getting dark already, and I’ve stillgot to clean the spark plugs in my machine.”

“We’ll all help you do that,” volunteered Tom,and with wrenches that Dick gave them, theysoon had the offending spark plugs apart, thoroughlycleaned, and restored to their propersphere of usefulness. Then, while some of theonlooking soldiers held the plane, Dick gave thepropeller a whirl, and the motor started with areassuring roar.

“That sounds good,” said Dick, as he climbedinto the pilot’s seat. “Now, hand me up thatpaint, and I’m off on the trail of the Hun.”

Billy handed him the pail, and Dick, after carefullydepositing it at his feet, waved his hand infarewell. The boys had just started a cheer forhim, when they were interrupted by the sound ofa heavy detonation. For a brief space the artilleryof both sides had been silent, and theycould tell from the sound of the explosion that itwas not caused by a gun. Even as they all listened,it came again,—a dull, heavy shock thatcaused the very earth to shake, and this time itseemed nearer.

[97]“That’s our Boche friend!” exclaimed DickLever. “Let her go, boys! Maybe this time I’llhave the luck to get the brute!” and as thesoldiers loosed their holds, the aeroplane sweptforward, and then, at a quick motion on Dick’spart, soared gracefully into the air. Dickslanted swiftly upward into the gathering twilight,and soon became indistinguishable to thestraining eyes of those on the ground. Only thesound of his whirring motor remained to tellthem of the gallant man willingly risking his lifefor his country.

As the sound of his motor grew fainter, thethrob of another engine insensibly mingled withit, but the later comer had the irregular pulsationsthat all the Americans recognized as coming froma German machine.

“I’ll wager anything that’s the Boche!” exclaimedTom, and everybody there agreed withhim. It was now almost fully dark, and althoughthe boys strained their eyes they couldmake out nothing of the duel that was going on amile or two above the earth.

But suddenly a weird and fascinating thinghappened. From out the black vault of the nightsky a rippling, streaming cascade of fire leapeddownward for a space, and then suddenly mushroomedout in a sparkling splash of phosphorescentlight. Smaller stars and streamers spread[98]out in all directions and gradually melted out asthey fell earthward. But there remained a faint,ghostlike, unreal patch of swiftly moving light,that the breathless watchers knew must be theBoche aeroplane.

“It worked!” exclaimed Frank. “That Hunaviator is done for now, because Dick can seehim, and he can’t see Dick.”

Even as he spoke, a stream of red fire spitviciously out from a point slightly above the German,who had now turned and was flying for dearlife back to his own lines. For a space the weirdattack continued, and the German, apparentlygiving up hope of safety in flight, turned andfired desperately toward the stream of deadly firethat marked the position of Dick’s machine gun.

But suddenly, one of the deadly bullets fromthe machine gun got home, for the patch of lightmarking the Hun machine, wavered, swerved,and then dived swiftly earthward.

A great sigh arose from the group of soldiersgazing spellbound on this drama of war. TheGerman aeroplane fell swiftly until it was perhapshalfway to the earth, and then straightenedout for a second, hesitated, and started turningover and over as it neared the uprushing earth.The top of its wings seemed fairly covered withthe greenish luminous paint, that smoked andglowed and gave the ill-fated aeroplane the appearanceof a gigantic pinwheel as it came hurtlingearthward.

For what seemed a long time to the fascinatedwatchers, but was in reality only a brief space oftime, the machine continued its downward course,and then disappeared as it fell below the fringe oftreetops marking the edge of the clearing. Itseemed to have landed quite near, but the Americans,experienced in these matters, knew that itwas probably a matter of two or three miles fromwhere they stood.

“Well!” exclaimed Frank at last, drawing a[100]long breath, “there’s one less murdering Bochefor Uncle Sam to deal with. May their tribe decrease!”

“Amen,” said Tom. “I wonder if Dick hascome off safely?”

The others also felt anxiety on this point, butit was soon dispelled, for they heard the sound ofhis motor as he descended rapidly. Of course, itwas impossible for him to land now, on accountof the darkness, but as he swooped low over thetreetops he fired a few rounds of ammunitionfrom his machine gun, by way of greeting, andthe boys raised a lusty cheer, which, however, itis very doubtful if he heard, owing to the noiseof his motor. Then he straightened out in aline for the aeroplane base in back of the Americanlines, and gradually the hum of his motorfaded out in the distance.

“Maybe we’ll come across the remains of thatGerman machine when we advance tomorrow,”speculated Billy. “But whether we do or not,that ought to be a tip for our airmen. That wasone idea of yours, Frank, that wasn’t quite as badas the majority of your ideas.”

“Well, if I can have an idea that works out likethat one once in a while, I’m entitled to have afew poor ones,” retorted Frank, and retired withthe honors of war.

By this time “taps” was almost due, and the[101]boys set about rigging up their “pup” tents, andgetting ready for the night. In spite of the wearinesscaused by the strenuous and exciting day,they managed to stay awake long enough to discussthe thrilling air battle they had witnessed,but then fell asleep until the notes of “reveille”recalled them to another day of this stern gamecalled war.

The next morning they were up with the firstnotes of the bugle, and by the time dawn hadfairly broken were through breakfast and readyfor what the day might bring forth. Then thebugle blew the “assembly” and the soldiers fellinto orderly ranks, standing at attention whilemuster was read.

Their commanding officer then gave them ashort talk in which he praised their progress onthe preceding day, and expressed his confidencethat they would do as well or better today. Thenthe order was given to advance, and the formationmoved forward at a walk, keeping as good aline as possible over the broken terrain, but inevitablybreaking up into small parties as the difficultiesof the advance became more and morepronounced.

The Germans had apparently retreated to aconsiderable distance, for at first the Americansmet with no opposition except that offered by thetangles of barbed wire and abandoned trenches[102]with which they were continually coming intocontact. Frank, Billy and Tom kept a lookoutin every direction for the destroyed German aeroplane,but their vigilance was doomed to go unrewarded,for they saw not a sign of it.

By noon time the Americans had begun tocome in contact with the enemy again, and wereagain engaged in the grim business of clearingout stubbornly held trenches and machine gunnests. The Germans fought for every foot ofground, but were slowly but surely forced backward,ever giving way to men who were bettersoldiers than they were. Always they had theadvantage of carefully planned and constructedfortifications, and yet always they were beatenout of them. By noon the Americans had registereda satisfactory advance, and the order wasgiven to rest while the wearied soldiers weregiven food and a chance to get a very muchneeded rest.

Soon after our three friends had eased thepacks off their aching shoulders and thrown themselveson the ground, they saw a small party offive men, three of whom were officers, approachtheir commanding officer, and after the usual salutes,enter into conversation with him. Shortlyafterward, the two non-commissioned men weredismissed, and strolled over toward the threefriends. Seeing them coming, these latter hospitably[103]offered tobacco, matches, and chewinggum, and shortly learned that the newcomerswere members of the Tank Corps. One of themhad seen a good deal of service in this comparativelynew branch of the Army, and with a littleskillful urging was led to talk of some of hisexperiences.

“Yes,” he said, in answer to a question fromTom, “some pretty queer things happen out therein no man’s land, and the tanks get their share, Ican tell you. I’ve had experiences myself.”

“I don’t doubt it,” said Frank. “But thesetanks seem to have put a great fear into theBoches, at that.”

“You bet they have!” exclaimed the other,“and it’s too bad that we can’t use them verymuch here. But of course, with all these treesand the thick underbrush, they’re practically outof the question. But that’s what we’re here fornow—looking over the ground, to see if in someplaces they can’t be used to some extent.”

“I’ve often wondered,” said Billy, “why theHuns haven’t used tanks more. They don’t seemto have anything like the success with them thatour men have had.”

“Well, for one thing, they’re not as well made,and when it comes to tank against tank, we almostalways out-manœuvre them,” said Arney, forsuch was the tank man’s name.

[104]“I’ve often wondered what would happen iftwo tanks had a pitched battle,” said Frank, “Isuppose that happens sometimes, doesn’t it?”

“Often enough,” said Arney. “I was in oneonce that stacked up against a Boche tank, so Iam in a position to know, if anyone is.”

“How was that?” queried Tom.

“Well, the way it happened was this,” repliedthe other, “our side had planned an attack onemorning at dawn, but as it happened, the Germanhad also planned one against us at the same time.Of course, neither side knew what the otherwas up to, so it came as a pretty big surprise whenthe Boches opened their bombardment just a fewminutes before ours was due to commence.

“This didn’t stop us, though, and our batteriesopened up full split in reply. My tank was dueto start out at six o’clock, and promptly on schedulewe got away. It was still pitch dark, though,and raining as usual, and as neither side wassending up star shells for fear of exposing theirown operations, we had very little to guide us.We lost our way a couple of times, at the sametime falling behind our schedule, and when wefinally did get on the right track, we trundledalong at top speed. Top speed doesn’t meanvery much to a tank, to look at it from the outside,but when you’re on the inside, with the enginegoing full split, and rocking along over[105]ground that’s been ploughed up about a milliontimes by big shells, you certainly do know you’removing.

“Well, we had travelled maybe half a mile,when suddenly we stopped dead, with a slam thatnearly took my teeth out. At first I thought wemust have hit a big tree, but then I rememberedthat all the trees around that section had beenblasted into kindling wood a good many monthsago, and as about everything else had shared thesame fate, I didn’t know what had happened tous. But in a few seconds we had our searchlightgoing, and then I found out what was the matterpretty quick. There in front of us, butted squareinto us, was a big Boche tank.”

Here the narrator paused to roll a cigarette,while the boys waited impatiently for him to goon. After deliberately making and lighting hiscigarette, he took a few deep puffs, and resumedhis narrative.

“Well, boys, I figured we were up against it forfair in more ways than one. The driver put herinto low gear, and threw in the clutch again andagain, but it was no use. I suppose the otherfellow was doing the same thing, and neither ofus could budge an inch. Then, first thing weknew, a big explosive bullet came crashingthrough our armor, and stretched the driver overhis seat, done for for good. I depressed my gun[106]as far as it would go, and tried to get back at theBoche, but he could get his gun lower than I couldget mine, and my bullets just bounced off hisarmor, because they hit it at such a big angle.

“I went down and told our lieutenant howthings stood, and he took the place of the deaddriver, and threw her into reverse, but the Bocherealized his advantage, and followed us up soclose that I never got a chance to get a direct hiton him. It looked pretty bad for us, and Ithought it was about time to say ‘Good-bye, sweetworld, good-bye.’ But the Lieutenant kept hiswits about him, and suddenly had an idea.

“As we backed down into a big shell crater, hewaited until the nose of the Boche tank came rollingover the edge, and then suddenly shot our machineforward, so that it slid in under the German.That gave me my chance, and maybe youthink I didn’t take advantage of it. I beganpumping steel jacketed bullets in through the floorof that tank so fast they must have thought itwas a machine gun doing it. They saw whatthey were up against, and tried to retire. Butwe followed them close, and never gave them achance to get away.

“Seeing that they couldn’t escape that way,they suddenly reversed and tried to climb over us,but the Lieutenant was some driver, I can tellyou, and reversed about as quickly as they did, so[107]that was no go. Oh, we had them right thattime, and no doubt about it.”

Here Arney took a last lingering puff at theremnants of his cigarette, and regretfully tossedit away.

“Well, how did it end?” questioned Billy,eagerly.

“Oh, we got their gasoline tank, and then itwas all over,” replied Arney, “of course, all thetime the Lieutenant was backing and filling, I waspumping bullets into them for all I was worth.Suddenly there came a terrific explosion, and thewhole inside of that tank was on fire with burninggasoline. That finished those who were leftin it, and then we backed away from under, andas our men had reached their objectives by thattime, we returned to our own lines. We werepretty well torn up by the encounter, but still hada little fight left in us.”

“Gosh!” exclaimed Billy, when Arney had concludedhis narrative, “I think that’s the service I’dlike to get into. You get some excitement there.”

“You are certainly hard to please!” exclaimedTom. “Chances are you’ll get all the excitementyou want this afternoon, when we get in touchwith the Germans again. Making a frontal attachon a machine gun emplacement is all the excitementmy young heart craves.”

“You’re probably easily satisfied,” grinned[108]Billy. “But if your young heart craves thatmethod of diversion, we’ll let you go after thenext one all by your lonesome.”

Arney grinned at this exchange of repartee,and then, shaking hands all around, took his departure.Shortly afterward the bugle sounded,and once more the tedious and costly attack wasresumed.

It was soon apparent that contact with theGermans had been made in earnest, for the resistance,which had been comparatively light in themorning, stiffened perceptibly. Machine gunnests became more and more frequent, and inevery case the machine gunners stood by theirpieces until the last man was killed, or the gun putout of action.

The Americans advanced as they could, someparts of the line of course preceding others, accordingto the resistance offered by the Germans.The portion in which the three friends wereplaced met with particularly stubborn resistance.They had to advance into a crossfire from severalclosely connected machine gun emplacements, butthat was what they were there for, and they advancedto the task with a dogged persistence thatshook the nerves of the Germans.

“This is getting to be pretty hot work,” pantedFrank. “We’ve got to clean up some of thosefellows pretty quick, or they’re going to clean usup.”

[110]“All right, then, up and at ’em!” exclaimedTom, and with a shout the three friends dashedforward, crouching low to avoid the storm of machinegun bullets that whizzed by over their heads.On they dashed, until they reached the parapetsurrounding one machine gun. Without a pause,they leaped over this, and, using their revolverswith deadly effect, quickly despatched the Germanswho formed its crew.

“So far, so good,” gritted Frank, the lust ofbattle in his eyes. “There’s another parapet overthere, fellows, and it’s a cinch there’s one ofthese hornets concealed behind it. Let’s getafter it before the crew discovers us. They’renot firing now, but they’re apt to begin any minute.”

“We’re with you!” shouted Tom and Billy,and the three fearless Americans raced for thisnew obstacle. It seemed strange that the Germansdid not open fire on them, but they thoughtat first this was because the Germans had not yetseen them. They themselves were on a slightlyelevated portion of ground, and over the Germans’parapet could see the men standing about,but making no move to stop them.

The boys did not stop to figure out the reasonfor this, however, but raced toward the position,and with shouts of triumph climbed over thepile of stones and sand bags. They were on[111]the point of falling savagely on the Germans,when suddenly Tom exclaimed:

“There’s no use wasting ammunition on thesefellows. They’re about as dead as they can be,already.”

And it was indeed as Tom said. Caught, probably,by the gas from a bursting poison shell, theyhad died as they stood, and, leaning against thebarricade, most of them had remained in a standingposition, although two or three lay stretchedout on the ground.

“We had our worry for nothing, here,” observedFrank, “although we took the position,and that’s about all anyone can do, after all.”

The boys had outstripped all their companions,so they took a brief breathing spell while theywere waiting for the others to come up. Soonthey could see their comrades approaching, andat the same time a machine gun about a hundredfeet to their right, of whose presence they had notbeen aware up to this time, started in a savagefusillade against the approaching boys in khaki.

“We’ll put a stop to that!” exclaimed Frank,and, as the others caught his meaning, allleaped to the German machine gun, and in afew seconds had it trained on the enemy. TheHun position was only lightly defended on thesides, and the machine gun projectiles boredthrough these, and wrought instant execution[112]among the startled Germans. The fire fromtheir machine gun died out, and the boys knewthat here was one more menace disposed of. TheAmericans, with this handicap removed, rushedforward with cheers, and soon the three friendswere surrounded by their comrades in arms.

The line pushed forward again, the places ofthose falling being taken by others eager to gettheir chance at the hated Boche. Machine gunafter machine gun was taken, and trench aftertrench cleared out, but the defenses were so elaborateand so numerous that progress was at timesheartbreakingly slow. Shells from the Americanbatteries in the rear fell constantly beforethem, helping somewhat to clear the ground, butstill leaving much to be done by the infantry.About the middle of the afternoon a halt wascalled, the Americans crouching in capturedtrenches for a brief period of recuperation.

“Gosh!” exclaimed Billy, “I may be all wrong,fellows, but just the same I have a feeling thatthe Boches don’t want us to capture the ArgonneForest. Don’t know what gives me that feeling,but I’ve got it all the same.”

“You certainly have wonderful powers of observation,”said Frank, dryly. “But come tothink of it, I shouldn’t wonder if you were right.But before we get through with them they’ll wishthey had made us a present of it in the first place,and saved themselves a bad licking.”

[113]“Maybe—” started Tom, but he was cut shortby the command to resume the advance.

The Americans leaped from the trench andwith a lusty cheer pressed onward. But the Germanshad a most unpleasant surprise in store forthem. As they approached one trench, insteadof bullets, streams of searing fire came shootingtoward them.

The Americans knew that this was the dreaded“liquid fire” that they had heard about, but up tonow had never actually experienced. However,they knew that the trench had been captured, andso, shielding their faces as well as they could withtheir arms, they dashed forward, throwing handgrenades as they ran. The liquid fire onlyreached a distance of about a hundred feet, whichmade their task a little easier, cutting down thedistance they had to go in the face of this obstacleto reach the trench.

This liquid fire was one of the most infernal ofthe German inventions. The soldier operating ithad on his back a bag containing the necessarychemicals, connected to a short length of hosewith a narrow nozzle. When the chemicals containedin the bag combined, they formed a highpressure and as the chemical stream left thenozzle it burst into flame. The pressure wassufficient to carry it a considerable distance, andthe acid seared and ate into any object with whichit came into contact. It was one of the most[114]dreaded of modern instruments of war, and ittook the highest form of courage to face it.

But it was just that kind of courage that distinguishedthe American Army, and with shoutsand cries of encouragement the American soldiersleaped forward. Their hand grenades tookinstant effect, for almost at once the number ofstreams turned on them lessened, but there werestill plenty left to make it exciting and hazardouswork.

Crouching almost double, the Americansdashed forward through this shower of death,and at last leaped into the German trenches. Thentheir heavy revolvers came into play, and thetables were quickly turned. In a very few minutesthe remaining Boches threw up their handsand cried for quarter. A number were takenprisoners, but the majority had made their lastaccounting.

“By Jove!” exclaimed Frank, when he had recoveredhis breath. “That’s the first time I everbumped up against that stuff, and I sure hopeit’s the last. I’m willing to take my chanceagainst bullets, but that chemical fire is a littletoo much to suit me.”

“It came near getting me,” said Billy. “Justtake a look at my coat, will you?”

They looked, and uttered exclamations of astonishment.The entire front of Billy’s coat was[115]eaten away, with blackened edges for all theworld as if it had been burned by ordinary fire.

“You’re pretty lucky to have gotten off as easyas that,” said Frank, soberly. “Uncle Sam willgive you a new coat. Some of the poor fellowshave been horribly burned,” and he indicated anumber of stretcher bearers who were slowly carryingtheir burdens to the rear.

“Yes, I guess I can’t kick,” agreed Billy. “Justmake out we won’t have something to tell Bartwhen we see him again. He’ll certainly be soreat having to miss all this.”

“He sure will,” agreed Frank, “he’ll never getover not being with us on this drive.”

“Let’s investigate one of these flame throwingmachines,” proposed Frank. “It looks as thoughwe might be here a little while, and I’m curious tosee what the things look like.”

His companions readily acceded to his proposal,and stripped one of the machines from adead German, and were soon familiar with itsmain features. They did not have time to makea very thorough examination, however, for theword to resume the advance was shortly passeddown the line, and they resumed the drive.

From that time on the going was a little easier,and they made satisfactory progress, inflictinggreat losses on the Germans, and losing only acomparatively small number of men themselves.[116]Toward nightfall, the rain, which had held off allday, began to fall heavily, and this soon put anend to the advance for that day, as they were alreadyfar beyond the point they had expected toreach.

It was a thoroughly weary but neverthelesscheerful and triumphant lot of young Americanswho made camp that night, for they had the consciousnessof obstacles overcome and difficultwork well done that made their bodily wearinessseem a thing of small account.

“Hurrah!” cried Frank, as he came runningup to his comrades in a state of great excitement.

“What’s up?” asked Billy.

“The jig’s up,” returned Frank.

“Whose jig?” asked Tom.

“The Huns’, you boob,” Frank replied exultantly.“They’ve come to the end of their string.They’re down and out—kerflummexed—ausgespielt—andif there’s anything worse than thatthey’re that.”

“Now,” said Billy, “come down to earth andtell us what you mean. Talk to us in plain English,so that our simple minds can take it in.”

“Simple is right,” grinned Frank. “Well, then,here goes. The Huns have applied for an armistice.They’ve thrown up the sponge. They wantto quit and they say so.”

“Bully!” cried Tom. “So they’ve got enoughof it at last. We’ve hammered them into pulp.”

“I knew we’d bring them to their knees,” exclaimed[118]Billy jubilantly. “Their goose wascooked when the Yanks got into the fight. Buthow do you know? Where did you get thenews?”

“I heard the major talking with the captainabout it,” replied Frank. “I was sitting on a logcleaning my gun, and they came along andstopped to chin close to where I was. I got anearful of all that’s been going on for the last twoor three weeks. It seems that the high mucka-mucksin Berlin have been reading the handwritingon the wall, and it’s been giving them theshivers. First Bulgaria caved in, then Turkeyfollowed suit. Both of them have surrenderedand are out of the war. Austria took a lastchance and the Italians have smashed her to bitsand captured five hundred thousand men.”

The boys gasped.

“You’re kidding us,” protested Billy.

“Not a bit of it,” denied Frank. “I’m giving itto you straight. They’ve just gone down oneafter the other like a row of dominoes. Andnow Germany has made up her mind that she’llhave to eat crow, too. The Huns sent a letter toPresident Wilson asking him to take steps towardgiving them an armistice.”

“Armistice,” echoed Tom a little doubtfully.“I don’t exactly like the sound of that. It meansthat we shall stop fighting for a while. Why[119]should we? That would only give Heinie achance to get his breath and start in fresh again.We’ve got him on the run now, and we ought tokeep it up until we send him hotfoot over theRhine.”

“Wait now,” said Frank. “I’m not throughyet. Likely enough Heinie had that in mind.He’s got everything to gain by getting a rest, andwe’ve got everything to lose. But if that wasone of his cute little tricks, he didn’t get awaywith it. The President wrote back asking someawkward questions that put Heinie in a hole.There were two or three other notes, but the upshotof it all was that the Huns were told toapply to Marshal Foch and he would tell themwhere they got off. Of course it wasn’t put inthat way, but that’s the sense of it. They’ve gotto send to the Marshal and beg him to stop lickingthem. In other words, they’ll have to admitdefeat and sue for peace on the best terms theycan get.”

“But will they do it?” asked Billy. “They’vestill got a big army and a big fleet. You’d thinkthey’d stick it out a bit longer in the hope thatthings might take a different turn.”

“Yes,” replied Frank. “The English would.The French would. The Americans would. Butthe baby-killers wouldn’t. They’re like all bullies.The stuff isn’t there. When the pinch comes they[120]curl up. They’re ready to quit right now, and ina few days you’ll hear they’ve done it.”

“It listens good,” said Tom, “and of course inone way it’s fine. But after what I’ve seen of thethings they’ve done to France, it seems as thoughthey were getting off too easy. They ought tohave their own towns and cities devastated, theirorchards cut down, their mills blown up and theircoal mines flooded. Then they’d get a taste ofwhat they’ve been doing to others.”

“That’s right,” agreed Billy. “But don’t thinkthey’re not going to pay for everything they’vedone. They’ll be stripped to the bone and don’tyou forget it.”

“Well, I hope so,” said Tom, but with notmuch assurance. “I’d rather take it from themnow and make sure of it. Nobody knows whatwill happen when those fellows get together andbegin to bargain. They may throw away all theresults of the war for all we can tell. It’s happenedmore than once that the party that’s beenlicked on the field has got off almost scot free, ifnot actually gaining, when the peace treaty cameto be signed.”

“Well, you old croaker,” laughed Frank,“we’ll have to leave all that to the diplomats andtake our chances on their not letting the Huns putanything over on them. In the meantime, allwe’ve got to do is to fight.”

[121]

chanted Billy.

But with all his doubts, Tom went on with thefighting with renewed inspiration at the newsthat victory was near at hand. And his friendswere filled with rejoicing that the Huns werebeing beaten to their knees and were about readyto acknowledge it. Their tremendous exertionsand sacrifices in leaving America and comingacross the sea to fight for liberty and civilizationagainst brutality and barbarism had not been invain. They felt something the way the Crusadersmust have felt when they caught sight of Jerusalem,the goal of their endeavors.

And now the work of the last two weeks beganto tell. The enemy resistance began to growfeebler, though he still hung on desperately andtried by stubborn rear-guard actions to hold thesepersistent Americans back. But the worst partof the forest had been cleared. The whole placehad been a vast fortress. Above the ground everypossible natural and artificial obstruction hadbeen put in their path, and had had to be conqueredone by one. Beneath the ground it hadbeen like the Catacombs of Rome. There weresubterranean passages, bombproof shelters, railways,[122]communicating trenches, cunning traps, athousand devices that the Germans had been fouryears in perfecting. But none of these hadthwarted American ingenuity and Americancourage. And as the enemy saw how fruitlesstheir endeavors were, their confidence meltedaway and began to give place to panic. Nothingcould stop these Americans. What was the useof trying?

So the work grew easier for the Army Boys.They advanced faster and faster. They had gotthrough the worst part of their task and werereaching the higher and clearer ground wheretanks could operate more readily. Armoredtrucks and lorries were loaded with men and weresent forward in the direction of Stenay andSedan. More prisoners were being brought inevery day.

The big naval guns that had been brought overin sections by Plunkett’s men were beginning nowto demonstrate their value. They outranged anythingthe Germans had. They threw projectilesthat weighed fourteen hundred pounds a distanceof from fifteen to twenty miles and they wereconcentrated now on the railway line from Mezieresto Sedan that was the Germans’ last hopeeither for supplies or retreat. The end was comingand coming fast, and the Army Boys werejubilant.

[123]They were pressing forward in this mood oneafternoon when they found themselves held upby an especially stubborn machine gun nest. Itcommanded a position that was the key of theGerman defense in that section and the Germanswere putting forth herculean efforts to hold it.

It was useless to try to take it from in front,for a storm of bullets swept the road along whichnothing could advance and live.

Corporal Wilson was given a squad of men,among whom were Frank, Billy and Tom, andcommanded to silence the position.

They made a wide detour, worming their wayalong on both sides of the nest, and then at agiven signal rushed the position. The startledgun crew turned their gun first one way and thenthe other in an attempt to check their assailants,but although some fell dead or wounded, the survivorsreached their goal, leaped upon the gunnersand bayoneted them at their posts.

“Gee, but that was a hot scrap!” panted Frank,as the last of the enemy went down.

“You bet it was,” agreed Billy, “and we’ve hadto pay for it too. We’ve lost several of our fellows.Poor Milt Barlow was toppled over andFred Anderson got a bullet in his shoulder.”

“This was a regular fort,” commented Tom, ashe looked about him. “Look at that pile of cartridges.There’s thousands of rounds there. As[124]far as bullets were concerned, those fellows couldhave held out all day.”

“The Heinies certainly wanted to hold it,” saidBilly, “and I shouldn’t wonder if they tried toretake it.”

“Here comes a bunch of them now,” saidFrank, as he looked in the direction of the Germanlines. “And they’re opening up with artillerytoo,” he added, as a shell came screamingthrough the air and exploded with a thunderousroar not fifty feet away.

A crackling rifle fire followed the shell, and abullet ploughed through the scalp of the corporal,knocking him senseless.

There was no other officer at hand and Franktook command at once. His quick eye glancingabout caught sight of a disabled and abandonedtank that was near by. It lay in such a positionthat its open door was on the side that faced theenemy.

“Quick!” he ordered. “Put the machine gunin that tank. Hurry now and bring all that ammunitionalong. But first put the corporal behindthat tree where a bullet can’t get him.Hustle’s the word.”

There was need for haste, for a body of theenemy that outnumbered them ten to one was approachingon the double quick. In a trice thewounded corporal was laid behind a tree in a[125]position of comparative safety, the gun was transportedto the tank, together with the ammunition,and the little party was ready for the attack.Frank, Billy and Tom were crowded inside thetank with the gun, while four others lay downbehind it in reserve, ready to take the place ofany of the crew who might be killed or wounded.

Crouching as closely in the tank as he could,Frank slewed the gun around in the direction ofthe enemy and sent a hail of bullets against theadvancing ranks.

Men were seen to stagger and fall, but theirplaces were taken by others and the Germans continuedto come on. But that stream of fire keptup remorselessly, and at last the wave of attackersfaltered, broke and fled.

“They’re running!” cried Billy exultantly.

“A lot of them will never run again,” saidTom grimly, as he continued feeding the gun thatFrank was aiming.

“They’ll be back,” prophesied Frank, for hecould see the enemy in the shelter of the woodstrying to reform. “This place is too importantto give it up without another try. How’s theammunition holding out?”

“Plenty yet,” replied Billy. “There must be athousand rounds. And the best of it is thatthey’re German bullets out of a German gun thatwe’re feeding to Fritz.”

[126]“Shows how honest we are,” chuckled Tom.“We’re giving him all that belongs to him. Andwe’re giving it to him too with compound interest.”

Once more the Germans came on, only to bemowed down like corn before the reaper. Theboys had thrown off all their upper garments nowand were stripped to the waist, for the confinedquarters of the tank and the heat of the firingwere causing the perspiration to run down theirfaces and bodies in streams.

Suddenly Tom gave a cry of alarm.

“The gun’s getting too hot!” he exclaimed.“It blisters you when you touch it. We’ll haveto give it a rest and let it cool off.”

“Rest nothing,” declared Frank, as he saw thatthe Germans were trying to advance. “They’dbe on us before we’d be ready to fire again.Quick, you fellows, get your canteens and pourthe water into the cooler of the gun. That’ll keepit going so that we can use it.”

In a twinkling his comrades obeyed, and everydrop that their canteens contained was emptiedinto the cooler. The result was apparent at once,and the gun continued its deadly work withoutinterruption.

But now the Germans had brought up a field-pieceand placed it in position where it had a goodtarget in the tank, and shells began to fall thick[127]and fast in the vicinity of their temporary fort.It was evidently only a matter of time before oneof them would strike it and put it out of business.

“Getting pretty hot,” muttered Frank, as oneshell fell within twenty feet and a great volumeof smoke and dirt rolled over them.

“Can’t you pick off the gunners, Frank?”asked Billy.

“I’m trying to,” answered Frank, “but the bulletsfall short. Those fellows are too far out ofrange.”

As he spoke, there was a roar that almost splittheir eardrums and a shell exploded within a fewfeet of the tank. It dug a great crater under oneedge of the tank which began to topple ominously.

“Jump!” shouted Frank, and they leaped outjust as the tank lurched over and tumbled intothe hole.

They were just in time, for in another instantthe monster would have carried them with it andprobably caught them beneath its weight. As itwas, Tom’s leg was badly scraped by one of theedges as it passed him.

The Germans sent up a triumphant shout asthey saw the tank go over, and a large detachmentcame rushing out of the woods. But by thetime they had advanced a few yards, Frank andhis squad grabbed their rifles, and, crouching behindwhat shelter they could find, sent a volley ofbullets into the enemy ranks.

It was a critical position for the little group ofAmericans. The enemy at that special point outnumberedthem, and military prudence wouldhave dictated a retreat. But their fighting bloodwas up and their rifles still held several bulletseach. They would at least empty these into theenemy ranks before they fell back. Then, too,there was the corporal, who had as yet given nosign of consciousness. The boys could not thinkof leaving him to be captured by the foe.

Moreover, the position was an important one,as was shown by the frantic eagerness of the Germansto regain it. All things considered, Frankdetermined to hold the ground to the death.

[129]“They’ll have to pay dearly for this place ifthey get it,” he muttered between his clenchedteeth as he disposed his little band to the best advantage.“Don’t waste your bullets, boys. Takeaim and make every one of them tell.”

“Righto,” responded Tom, as cool as a cucumber,as he took careful aim and saw a Germanthrow up his hands and fall. “There’s oneless to bother about.”

The others followed his example, and theirbullets did stern execution, so much so that theGermans had an impression that they were facedby a much larger detachment than was reallythere. They hesitated and sought shelter behindtrees while their officers conferred.

“Heinie thinks he’s bitten off more than he canchew,” chuckled Billy, as the little squad tookadvantage of the respite to reload their rifles.

“I guess the whole German army has had thatimpression for some time,” laughed Tom.

“Don’t kid yourselves,” warned Frank. “Thisis only a breathing spell. This position maycome high, but they have to have it, and you’ll seethem coming on again in a minute.”

The words had scarcely fallen from his lipsbefore the Germans appeared, with all their lossesmade up by the addition of new units, and camerushing toward them with an officer at their head,waving his revolver.

[130]“Something new for Heinie,” muttered Frank,as his eye ran along the stock of his rifle. “Theofficers usually send their men forward whilethey themselves stay in the rear.”

His rifle spoke and the officer plunged forwardto the ground.

“Good shooting,” commended Billy, as a bulletfrom his gun also found its mark.

But this time the Germans were bound on winningthrough, and they came on with determination.The distance between the two forces lessenedto a hundred feet, then to eighty, then tofifty. The Army Boys pumped lead into theenemy ranks as fast as their fingers could pullthe trigger and the German loss was heavy, butstill they kept on.

“Fix bayonets,” commanded Frank, his eyesblazing, as the line got within thirty feet of him.“When I give the word, follow me.”

Another moment passed.

“Forward!” shouted Frank, and the next instanthe sprang forward with leveled bayonet,with his devoted little band close on his heels.

There was a shout and a volley from the Germansand two of Frank’s men fell wounded, butthe rest kept on and in another second they werein the midst of the German ranks and giving themthe bayonet.

Stabbing and hacking, they hewed their wayinto the mass. And just at that moment there[131]was a great cheer behind them and a company ofthe old Thirty-seventh with Captain Baker attheir head came pounding along and threw themselvesinto the fight.

The tables had turned and turned with a vengeance,and now it was the Germans who wereoutnumbered. They were already disconcertedby the savageness of Frank’s attack and the comingof the new foe threw them into a panic. Theyput up a show of resistance, but this soon vanished,and they broke and fled, pursued by theAmericans who did not pause in the work untilthey had rounded up the greater portion of thefleeing enemy as prisoners.

The captain congratulated Frank and his comradeswarmly for their gallant stand, but therewas little time for talk, for much remained to bedone. The prisoners were sent to the rear andthe wounded were gathered up and taken awayto an advanced dressing station. The corporal,they were glad to be told, was not fatallywounded, although he would probably be in thehospital for a couple of weeks.

“That means that he’s probably fired his lastshot at a Hun,” remarked Frank. “By the timehe comes out it will be all over but the shouting.”

“Come out of your dream,” said Tom, whocould never see what he thought was a bubblewithout a desire to stick a pin in it. “We’re along way yet from the Rhine.”

[132]“But we’re getting nearer all the time,” chimedin Billy. “I’ll bet we’ll be sailing on it beforeChristmas.”

“And listening to the Lorelei singing,” grinnedFrank.

“Yes,” laughed Billy, “but it’ll be a differentsong from the one she’s used to. Instead ofDie Wacht am Rhein she’ll be singing the Marseillaiseand the Star Spangled Banner. I’ll betshe’s practicing up on it now so as to be readyfor us.”

“I don’t know what brand of dope you fellowsare using,” protested Tom, “but whatever it is I’dadvise you to change it.”

But his comrades were better prophets thanTom was willing to admit, for that very nightFrank had an interview with Colonel Pavet thatchanged his hopes into a certainty.

The colonel was coming out of headquarterswhen he recognized Frank, who was on sentryduty near by. The colonel came to Frank atonce with his usual cordial greeting.

“I suppose you have heard the news,” he said.

“No,” said Frank. “What is it Colonel?”

“The German delegates are coming to meetMarshal Foch,” smiled the French officer, whoseexultation appeared in his tones.

“Good!” said Frank delightedly. “They oughtto be coming on their knees.”

[133]“Well, it amounts to that,” laughed the Frenchcolonel. “It means nothing less than surrender.They have been the first to cry quits. They askedyour President to intercede with the Allies forthem, and he told them that they would have toapply to Marshal Foch for terms. Ah, mon ami,that was a bitter pill for the Germans to swallow.But they swallowed it. The Marshal replied tothem that they would have to come to his headquartersand he would tell them the terms onwhich he would grant their plea. So the Germanshave appointed a commission to visit theMarshal and they are on their way now. Theywill reach our lines in an hour or two and thenthey will be taken in charge by French officers,blindfolded and conveyed to the Marshal’s presence.”

“And where is that?” asked Frank.

“Ah, that is a military secret,” smiled thecolonel, shaking his finger in mock reproof. “TheGermans would have been very glad if they hadbeen able to find that out during the war. Butthey’ll find it out soon enough now,” he addedwith a laugh.

“I’d give a good deal to see the interview,” saidFrank.

“It would indeed be something to remember,”agreed the colonel. “I would give some years ofmy life if I could have that privilege myself. But[134]I ought not to complain, for I at least will be ableto see the opening scene of the great world play.”

“How is that?” asked Frank with great interest.

“My regiment will be in charge of that part ofthe French line where the German delegates willfirst appear on their visit to the Marshal,” repliedthe colonel. “Their route has been planned outfor them. The pleasant duty will devolve on meof having them blindfolded and then sendingthem on their journey under French escort. Iam on my way back to my regiment now in orderto have everything in readiness.”

“For a moment I could almost wish that I werein your regiment,” laughed Frank.

“And I would only be too delighted if youwere,” returned the colonel. “The regiment holdsno braver man. But wait a moment,” he said,as a thought struck him. “I will see what arrangementsI may be able to make.”

He went inside headquarters again and after afew moments returned.

“I shall need a messenger,” he said, “to bringback certain details to your commander. I hadat first intended to entrust that work to my orderly,but what you said gave me a new idea. Ihave asked your commander to let me take youwith me for that purpose and he has readilyagreed. You will be relieved from guard duty[135]and you can take my orderly’s horse and comealong with me. My regiment is not a great wayfrom yours, as our lines nearly touch, and youcan be back in your quarters by midnight.”

“Thank you a thousand times!” said Frankjoyfully. “You have put me under a great obligation.”

“A mere trifle,” replied the colonel, waving thethanks aside. “I can never forget that I owe mylife to you. You can join me here in a few minutesand we will go on.”

The sergeant of the guard came up shortly andrelieved Frank, who hurried to his dugout tomake some hasty preparations and tell his friendsof his good fortune. They were overjoyed.

“Lucky dog,” remarked Billy, giving him a resoundingthump on the shoulder. “I only wishthat the colonel needed three messengers insteadof one so that we could all go along.”

“If you fell overboard, you wouldn’t get wet,”chaffed Tom. “Give my best regards to theHeinies when you see them and tell them howsorry I am that they’ve got to eat crow.”

“I won’t forget,” laughed Frank, as he shookhands hurriedly and hastened off.

He found the colonel waiting for him. In amoment Frank had mounted the orderly’s horseand he and the colonel rode off together.

“By the way,” remarked the colonel, in the[136]course of the conversation that ensued as theyrode side by side, “I heard from Andre two daysago, and he said that things were not progressingas favorably as he could hope in regard to theDe Latour property. Quite unexpectedly additionalobstacles have come up. I was not goingto bother you about this, for I knew you wouldbe greatly worried. But the war has changedmany things, and things in law are not so easy toadjust as they were. I am still hoping that allwill come out right in the end. He, however,expects that he will be able to have the title perfectedbefore Christmas, which is now less thantwo months off. I know the delay is exasperating,but that is to be expected in all legal affairs.I thank the stars,” he added with a smile, “that Iwas made a soldier instead of a lawyer.”

“I agree with you,” returned Frank, “and yetwe couldn’t very well do without them, and I amvery thankful to your brother as well as yourselffor the kindness you have shown in trying to securemy mother’s rights.”

Frank tried to speak lightly but he was forcedto heave a heavy sigh. There had been so manydelays in the past! Would his mother ever beable to prove her claim to that property and reallytake possession of it?

In a little while they had reached the Frenchlines.

[137]“You see,” smiled the colonel, “that I wasright when I said it would be a race between usto see who would get first to Sedan. We’ve keptpretty well up with you, although your task hasbeen far the harder. Oh, you Americans! I’mglad that you’re our friends instead of our enemiesas I should hate to have to face your soldiersin the field.”

“We’ll never meet except as brothers in arms,”returned Frank. “That’s what Washington andLafayette were, and our nations have been theclosest of friends ever since. The greatest republicof the old world and the greatest of thenew have always stood and will always stand forliberty and civilization.”

They soon reached the colonel’s quarters, andthe latter then confided Frank to the charge of ayoung lieutenant, with instructions that he shouldbe given refreshments and be treated with everycourtesy and attention. The young fellow wasof about the same age as Frank, and was delightedto find that the latter spoke French almostas perfectly as himself. They were soon chattingtogether like old friends.

Throughout the regiment there was an attitudeof solemnity and expectation. The men had beentold of what was coming and it had thrilled themwith a feeling too deep for words. They stood atrest in the darkness, and few words were interchanged.[138]Each was realizing that the end of thefour years of agony was in sight. France andher Allies had won their fight. The brutal,beastly power that had sought to drench the worldin tears and blood and sow it with graves hadbeen brought to its knees. Right had conquered.Men could stand erect instead of crouching asslaves. The would-be oppressor, cowed and cringing,had come to beg for mercy.

Suddenly at a turn of the road a stream oflight flashed out, and there was a stir in the ranks.The light came nearer, and it could be seen thatit came from a large automobile that was rapidlyapproaching. Other cars followed and the landscapewas flooded with light.

But the thing that thrilled Frank to the marrowwas this:

Over every car floated a white flag.

The Hun was beaten at last.

Those white flags meant surrender, defeat.

The bully of Europe was whipped.

Germany’s wild and wicked adventure wasended. She had appealed to force and force hadanswered her.

The pirate flag, the flag of the skull and crossbones,had been hauled down. In its place wasthe white flag that admitted defeat and sued forterms.

The cars drove up to where Colonel Pavet andhis officers were standing. There they came to astop.

One by one, the German peace delegates descendedfrom the car. They were received withcold and ceremonious politeness.

One of the men, the leader of the party, was incivilian dress. The others were in military ornaval uniforms.

The formalities were soon over. They hadreached the French lines and from now on would[140]be in the custody of French officers. One by onethe delegates were blindfolded, so that they mightgain no information of military importance asthey passed through the French lines. Then thedelegates were helped into their seats, the Frenchofficers who were to accompany them gave thesignal, and the cars started off on their long journeyto the forest of Compiegne, where in a railroadcar, drawn up on a siding, there was waitingfor them the grave, stern soldier, whose geniushad struck a deathblow to the German cause justwhen its prospects seemed brightest, and who hadkept hammering at the crumbling lines until theend had come in the blackness of utter and absolutedefeat.

Frank drew a long breath as the last of the lineof cars faded from sight in the darkness. Somany sensations had come crowding in upon himin the last few minutes that his brain was in awhirl. He knew that he had been privileged tosee one of the most momentous happenings in thehistory of the world.

So engrossed was he in his thoughts that it wasalmost as in a dream that he exchanged cordialgreetings with Colonel Pavet and the young lieutenantand started on his ride homeward. Hehad anticipated a hilarious time in narratingto Tom and Billy all he had felt and seen,but he was really glad when he arrived at[141]his quarters that they were sound asleep. Ordinarilyhe would have wakened them without ceremony,but just now he wanted to snuggle down inhis blanket and go over and over again in hismind the events of that night of nights.

His first and controlling thought was that ofhis country. Above everything else he was anAmerican through and through. He was proudof his country, of its traditions, of its history, ofits glorious flag. For that flag he had risked hislife again and again. He loved it with a consumingpassion. Old Glory! The tears came to hiseyes as he thought of it. The flag that had alwaysstood for human freedom and humanrights, the flag that had never covered an ignoblecause, the flag that had never been sullied bystain, had never been smirched by defeat, hadnever been dragged in the dust. Now once moreit was triumphant in the greatest war that hadever been waged on earth. God bless it!

Later his thoughts took a more personal turn.It meant that soon he would be back with thatdear mother of his whose love for him had kepthim clean and straight through all this terribleconflict. He saw the little house in Camport,embowered in roses, saw himself going backthere, saw his mother running to the gate to meethim.

It was a long time before he fell asleep.

[142]In the morning he was his own jolly care-freeself again and it was well that he was, for he wasbesieged with questions by his chums concerningall the details of his experience.

“Well, you haughty diplomat,” was Billy’sgreeting, “have you settled the terms of thearmistice? Have you ordered the Kaiser to beshot? Out with it, now.”

“Hardly that,” laughed Frank. “I was simplya looker-on among a thousand others. But Itell you what, fellows, it was something worthlooking at. It was something I sha’n’t forget aslong as I live.”

“I bet you won’t,” returned Tom. “How didthe Huns look?”

“They didn’t look as though they enjoyed itmuch,” returned Frank. “In fact, they lookedvery much like men who were going to be stoodup before a firing squad. One of them reachedout his hand to Colonel Pavet, but the colonelwas looking over his head just at that momentand somehow failed to see it. He was very politethough. You know the Frenchmen are greatsticklers when it comes to matters of etiquetteand form.”

“How long have the Heinies got to decidewhether they’ll sign the armistice or not?” askedTom.

“The colonel told me that they’d have three[143]days,” answered Frank. “Let’s see, yesterdaywas the seventh of November. Today’s theeighth. They’ll get there some time this morning.That will give them till the eleventh tosign, next Monday morning.”

“Suppose they don’t sign it?” suggested Tomgloomily.

“So much the worse for them then,” answeredFrank. “Instead of losing their boots and shirtsthey’ll lose their hides as well. But they’ll signall right, never fear. The colonel says thatthey’re running around in Berlin like wild men.Ludendorff has resigned and the Kaiser has leftBerlin to go to the army headquarters at Spa forprotection. The Crown Prince is afraid to beseen in the streets. You see the Heinies havebeen fed up on lies so long that now they’relearning they’re licked they’re going crazy. Andnaturally they’re turning on the men who havebeen lying to them. Oh, it’s quite a differentBerlin now from the one that hung out the flagsand rang the bells when they heard that the Lusitaniahad been sunk and a lot of women and babiesdrowned.”

“Well now we’ve got some news,” said Tomwith a sober face, “and it isn’t very good newseither.”

“What is it?” asked Frank in quick alarm ashis thoughts turned instantly to his absent chum.[144]“Don’t tell me that anything has happened toBart.”

“He isn’t dead,” Billy hastened to explain.“But he’s disappeared from the hospital.”

“Disappeared?” replied Frank in dismay.“What do you mean by that?”

“Why,” said Billy, “it seems that he has beenout of his head. You know he was delirious thelast time we saw him. Well, one of the fellowswho was in the hospital with him came back toduty last night and told us that about three daysago when the nurse’s back was turned, Bartslipped out of a door or a window, and when thenurse came back he wasn’t there. Nobody sawhim go and nobody has the least idea what hasbecome of him.”

Frank was unspeakably shocked by the news.Bart had become to him little less than a brotherand the various experiences they had beenthrough together since they had been in the armyhad strengthened and deepened this feeling.

“But what could have happened to him?” heasked desperately. “What will become of him?It’s horrible to think of his wandering around inthis forsaken stretch of country. He may wanderinto the German lines and be shot or takenprisoner.”

“I don’t think that,” said Billy soothingly.“The chances are all against it. He’d have to pass[145]through our lines to do it and it’s dollars todoughnuts that he couldn’t do it without beingseen. At any minute we may hear that he’s beenfound and taken back to the hospital. At anyrate, we know that the wound he got didn’t killhim and while there’s life there’s hope.”

“Yes,” said Tom, who for once felt that it wasup to him to look on the bright side of things inview of his friend’s evident distress, “Bart’sworth a dozen dead men yet. Think how manythings he’s been through and yet turned up asright as a trivet. Keep up your spirits and hopefor the best.”

They spoke with a confidence that they werefar from feeling, for they knew what they refrainedfrom telling Frank that a most carefulsearch had already been made without disclosingthe slightest trace of Bart’s whereabouts.

Frank was badly shaken by the news he hadheard and it was fortunate for him that the workthat yet lay before the army was such as to engrosshis mind and keep him from brooding.

For the Allied commanders were taking nochances. They knew too much of German duplicityto rely on their good faith in any matter.The nation that regarded solemn treaties as“scraps of paper” was not to be trusted in theslightest particular. Only when the mad dog ofEurope should be finally tied and muzzled could[146]the Allies afford to relax their efforts in any degree.

So the word had gone forth that for the nextthree days the fighting should be pushed as sternlyand unrelentingly as ever.

The Germans on their side had an especial reasonto make as good a showing as possible whilethe terms were being debated. If they couldshow that they were further from collapse thanthe Allies had supposed, the latter might be willingto moderate their demands.

So for three days more the fighting continuedwith unabated bitterness. And the Allies werenot to be denied. In every part of the wide-flungbattle line they kept on winning. And in theArgonne and on the Meuse, where the Americanswere winding up their task, those days marked asuccession of victories. The war was ending ina blaze of glory for the forces of civilization.

Monday morning came at last, the 11th of November,1918, when the whole world was listeningfor news. And the news came. It spedacross the ocean cables, it flashed through the airby wireless, it set the bells ringing and thewhistles shrieking in every part of the Alliedworld, it sent the people of Paris and London andRome and New York into the streets in thankfuland rejoicing throngs, it thrilled both hemispheresand all the continents. Only in the capitals[147]of the Central Powers did it sound like theknell of doom.

It came, too, to the battlefronts, came in aclarion note of bugles that woke the men fromsleep.

“What is it?” asked Tom sleepily.

“It’s too early for reveille,” grumbled Billy.

“Wake up, you boobs!” cried Frank joyously.“The armistice is signed! The war is over!”

It would have been hard to analyze the feelingof the Army Boys when the meaning of it alldawned upon them.

Their first feeling was that of satisfaction atwork well done. Uncle Sam had sent them overto finish the job. Well, they had finished it.

Their next sensation was that of delight athaving accomplished the downfall of the Huns.They had saved the world from slavery to themost brutal nation that the modern world hadknown.

Then there was the feeling that at last theycould be free from the daily danger of woundsand death. They had risked this freely andgladly as long as it was necessary. Yet life wassweet and they were young.

“I told you they’d sign,” exclaimed Frank ashe gave Tom a resounding thump on the back.“Now what have you got to say for yourself, youold croaker?”

“I’m the goat,” admitted Tom with a joyousgrin. “Josh all you like. I’m too happy to want[149]to come back at you. But don’t forget,” headded, as a thought struck him, “that they mayback out yet. They’re the greatest crawfishes onearth.”

“Not a chance,” chimed in Billy. “They’redown and out. Gee, wouldn’t you like to be inlittle old Camport this minute? Can’t you seethem all out on the streets and the laughing andthe crying and the shaking hands and all the restof it?”

“Just wait till the old Thirty-seventh goesswinging through the Camport streets,” gloatedTom. “They’ll give us the town. Nothing willbe too good for us.”

“We’ll surely be It with a capital I,” agreeFrank happily. “If only good old Bart could bewith us,” he added, and a shadow came over hisface.

“That’s the one fly in the ointment,” admittedBilly. “But he will be with us and don’t you forgetit. He’s liable to turn up any minute.”

“And now that the fighting is over, we mayhave a chance to look for him ourselves,” put inTom. “It stands to reason he can’t be very farfrom here. But now let’s go to chow. We oughtto have an extra good meal this morning with alot of victory sauce to season it.”

They found the rest of the regiment as wildlyexcited as they were themselves, and there was a[150]perfect Babel of voices as the matter was discussedin all its bearings.

“Look at the fellows’ faces,” chuckled Billy.“They’re like so many full moons.”

“Rather different from what they were whenthe Germans seemed to have the upper hand inthe Spring,” grinned Frank. “If anyone thenhad told us that the Germans would have caved inbefore Christmas, we’d have thought he wascrazy. But here it isn’t Thanksgiving yet andthey’ve cried quits.”

“I suppose there’ll be a little more fighting yetthis morning,” said Tom hopefully. “You knowthe armistice doesn’t go into force until eleveno’clock.”

“Hear the glutton,” chaffed Frank. “He hasn’tgot enough fighting yet. He wants to get anothercrack at the Hun.”

“I suppose there will be a show of fighting untilthe last minute,” said Billy. “But I guess it willbe a matter of form. The artillery will open upbut they’ll fire wild. There’ll be just enough toshow that the army’s on the job.”

Billy was right. The morning wore away in adesultory fashion, with every man looking at hiswrist watch every five minutes until eleven o’clockapproached. Then when the moment came, allthe big guns let go at once in one tremendoussalvo that seemed as though it would split theheavens.

[151]The war was over!

The silence that followed was the most curioussensation that the Army Boys had known. Dayand night, the guns had been growling formonths, sometimes faintly, sometimes strongly,but always growling. Now all along that vastbattle line of five hundred miles there was thatmoment of blessed silence for which those millionsof men had been waiting and fighting. Theend of the long agony had come.

Frank, Billy, and Tom dropped their rifles andlooked at each other. Usually they were talkativeenough, but just now they were too full forwords.

Over the hill in front of them appeared a groupof German soldiers. They advanced a little, thenhung back, then advanced again, and made signsthat indicated that they wanted to talk with theAmericans. But they were waved sternly back.The Americans wanted to have nothing to dowith them.

The strictest rules had been laid down by theAmerican officers that there was to be no fraternizingwith the enemy. While hostilities hadceased, the war was still formally regarded asbeing on until the actual treaty of peace wassigned. It might yet be necessary to take uparms again, and the Americans were going totake no chance of German propaganda getting inits nefarious work.

[152]“A mighty good rule it is too,” commentedFrank, as he saw the discomfited Germans slinkback into their own lines. “If those fellows hadplayed the game fairly and gallantly as we playedit, I’d be the first one to shake hands with themafter the fighting was over and let bygones be bygones.But there isn’t a decent rule of civilizedwarfare that they haven’t violated. I’d as soonshake hands with a rattlesnake.”

“I didn’t know a rattlesnake had hands,” gurgledBilly, and dodged the pass that Frank madeat him.

“Well, now that the fighting is over, what’s thenext thing on the program?” asked Tom.

chanted Billy.

“That’s a question for our officers to settle,”remarked Frank. “Of course we’ll all go backto the good old U. S. A. eventually. At that, itwill be a tremendous job to get over two millionmen back to the States. But I imagine a goodmany of us will have to stay over here and dopolice duty until the peace treaty is signed. Let’sgo down to the headquarters bulletin board andsee just what the armistice terms are. That maygive us a little light on the subject.”

[153]The men had been given liberty now to leavethe ranks, and they found a great crowd gatheredabout a number of bulletin boards where theprinted terms of the armistice had been posted.So great was the throng that they found difficultyin getting near the announcements.

“Here,” said Frank giving Tom a push.“You’ve got gall enough to get in anywhere.Buck the line and come back with the dope.”

Tom obeyed and wormed his way through thecrowd until he got a good view of a board. Hejotted down some of the main points and cameback with his eyes bulging.

“We’re going to the Rhine, fellows!” he exclaimed.“We’re going to the Rhine!”

“How do you know?” asked Frank, as he andBilly made a grab for the piece of paper on whichTom had jotted down his notes.

“Leave that alone,” said Tom, holding it outof reach. “I had the work of getting this stuffand I’m going to have the pleasure of telling youthe news.”

“Get busy then,” adjured Billy impatiently.

“Before I tell you anything else,” said Tom,“listen to this: The Kaiser’s skipped.”

“What?” they exclaimed in chorus.

“Straight goods,” vowed Tom. “He ran awaylike a cur. He didn’t even wait till the armisticewas signed. He struck out like a coyote forHolland yesterday. He had a special train waitingfor him.”

“Yellow all through!” exclaimed Frank in disgust.

“He’s a hero—I don’t think,” remarked Billy.

“They say that the crowd in Holland guyedhim something awful while he was at the Eysden[155]railroad station,” went on Tom. “Told him thatwasn’t the road to Paris and a lot of other littlethings like that.”

“What’s become of the Clown Prince?” grinnedFrank.

“Oh, he’s skipped too, just the same as papa,”laughed Tom. “They don’t know just yet wherehe’s gone to, but he’s also among the missing.”

“They’re a precious pair,” grunted Billy. “Butit won’t do them any good. The Allies will getafter them yet and yank them out of their holes.”

“We’ll hope so,” said Frank. “I’d like to havethem both put in a cage and exhibited in everycity of the world. But let’s lay off his royal nibsand get down to brass tacks. How do you knowwe’re going to the Rhine?”

“I don’t exactly know that we are,” confessedTom. “But I do know that a big army of ourmen are going, and it stands to reason that sincewe’re the nearest to the Rhine, we’ll be in thebunch. At any rate, even if our special regimentisn’t going, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble intaking the place of some of the others who wouldrather go back to the States right away. Are yougame to go if we can make it? I am.”

“Same here,” ejacul*ted Billy.

“I am too,” said Frank a little more slowly.“The only thing is that under other circ*mstancesI’d be anxious to get home on my mother’s account.[156]But I’ve got to stay over here anywayuntil her property affairs are all closed up. SoI’m with the rest of the bunch.”

“Good!” said Tom and Billy in one breath.

“You see it’s this way,” went on Tom, referringto his notes. “The Allies are going to occupyall the German territory on this side of theRhine. Then in certain parts they’re going tocross the Rhine. You see there are three greatcrossings, one at Coblenz, one at Mayence andanother at Cologne. The Allies are going to occupya bridgehead eighteen miles in size on theother side of the Rhine at these crossings.That’ll cage up the Heinies so that they couldn’tget back into France and Belgium even if theywanted to.”

“Won’t they feel sore to have Allied soldierson the sacred soil of Germany!” grinned Billy.

“And have to take off their hats every time theStar Spangled Banner is played,” laughed Frank.“I tell you it will be a bitter pill for those fellowsto swallow.”

“It sure will,” agreed Tom. “But wait till youhear the rest of the armistice terms. They’vesurely made a thorough job of it. They’vetaken away from Heinie everything except hisshirt, and he’ll have to borrow a barrel to gohome in.”

“Is it as bad as that?” chuckled Billy.

[157]“Worse,” replied Tom. “Just listen to thisand judge for yourself. The Germans have gotto give up five thousand heavy and light fieldguns, one thousand seven hundred airplanes, threethousand trench mortars, thousands of machineguns, all their submarines——”

“For the love of Pete!” interrupted Billy.

“All their submarines,” went on Tom, “ten ofthe dreadnoughts, eight battle cruisers, six lightcruisers, fifty destroyers, five thousand locomotives,one hundred and fifty thousand railroadcars, and a lot more things that I didn’t havetime to jot down. But that will give you someidea of what our victory means to us and whatdefeat means to them. It hasn’t turned out avery profitable thing for the fellows that set outto loot the world, has it?”

“Well, it clinches the whole business anyway,”remarked Frank. “It makes it impossible forGermany to resume the war even if she wanted to,and as far as that’s concerned, the armistice isjust as good as an actual treaty of peace.”

“Exactly,” agreed Billy. “I guess we’ve seenour last fighting.”

“And it sure has been some fighting,” observedFrank, as his thoughts went back over allthe events of the last few months. “It’s a miraclethat we’ve lived through it.”

“There have certainly been times when I[158]wouldn’t have given a plugged nickel for ourchances of coming out alive,” agreed Billy,thoughtfully. “Oh, if only Bart was here tocelebrate with us.”

For the rest of that day they took the ease andcomfort that they had so richly earned. Thecamp rules were relaxed and it was a general holiday.They were conscious of an immense wearinessof body, as the reaction came from the strainunder which they had so constantly labored, buttheir mental exhilaration was so great that theywere supremely happy. It was a curious experienceto be able to walk erect in perfect security,without having to crouch behind a tree or atrench or throw themselves to the ground at theapproach of a shell. It was a day of peace andthey enjoyed it beyond measure from the contrastwith the terrible days that had gone before.

But the next morning a stir ran through theregiment. The old Thirty-seventh had beenchosen as one of the units of the Army of Occupation.The news ran like wildfire through everycompany and there was a furbishing of arms anda rattle of harness and all the myriad sounds of aregiment on the move.

“I told you we’d be chosen,” chortled Tom.“When you’re looking for a prophet don’t passme by.”

“You hit the nail on the head all right,” admittedBilly.

[159]“Now we’ll relieve the Heinies from their taskof watching the Rhine,” laughed Frank. “Fromthis time on it will be strictly an American river.”

By noon of that day all preparations were completed.The old Thirty-seventh took its place inthe line, the bands struck up, and with Old Gloryfloating proudly overhead the long column swungoff toward the line of the German border.

The Army Boys marched on with lighthearts and swinging steps in the front rank oftheir regiment. It was a perfect day, with justenough snap in the crisp air to bring the blood totheir cheeks and make marching a delight. Therewas no more fighting to be done, no batteries tostorm, no machine gun nests to be rooted out, nomore danger of maiming and death.

Despite this, however, there was no lack ofmilitary precautions on the part of their officers.Engineers went first to see that bridges were inshape for crossing and to detect and explode hiddenmines before the main body of the troopscame along. There were also chemical expertsto test the water of the wells and see that theywere not defiled or poisoned. Such precautionswould have been unnecessary for some foes, butthe Americans knew with whom they had to deal.

Above the marching columns swayed a numberof observation balloons from which the observerswere able to see miles ahead of the troops[161]and note how fast the enemy withdrew. Lateron, these were joined by a flock of airplanes.

It had been arranged that the Germans shouldwithdraw keeping a certain number of milesahead of the advancing American troops. Forthe sake of avoiding any unfortunate clashes,this distance was enough as a rule to keep the opposingforces out of sight of each other, but attimes, when the American forces mounted a hill,they could see in the distance a long line of Germansoldiers wending their way in the directionof the Rhine.

“Not the kind of home trip that they expectedto make,” grinned Tom. “They thought thatthey’d strut into Germany with our scalps hangingto their belts.”

“Don’t worry,” laughed Frank. “I’ll bet rightnow they’re telling each other that they reallylicked us. They’re the greatest self-kidders inexistence. Their minds are cross-eyed. Theynever see anything straight. You see if whenthose fellows reach Germany the people don’tcome out to meet them as conquering heroes.It’s a great system. You win when you lose.”

“They remind me of the story of the fellowwho boasted that he had kept the other fellowdown by firmly inserting his nose between his adversary’steeth,” chuckled Billy. “But look atthese fellows coming along the road in rags. ByJove, they’re Americans too!”

[162]“They’re prisoners, let loose by the Germans!”exclaimed Frank. “And look at their faces!They’re nothing but skin and bones! That’swhat the Germans have done to them.”

The poor fellows in question were gathered inat once and given food and medical attention.They had harrowing tales to tell of their experiencesin German prison pens, of hunger andbrutality and abuse that made the blood of theirhearers boil.

“And to think of the way we fattened up theprisoners that were in our hands!” exclaimedTom bitterly. “When I look at these poor fellowsit makes me sorry the war is over. I’d liketo get just one more crack at the Huns.”

The men had been turned out without food orsufficient clothing that morning or the day beforeto find their way back to their lines as best theymight. They were met in increasing numbers asthe lines advanced and it was lucky for the Germansthat the army that looked on these sightsdid not have the fixing of the terms of the peacetreaty in their hands.

They camped that night in a little village fromwhich the Germans had withdrawn only a littlewhile before. The inhabitants were all out inthe streets to meet them with tears of joy runningdown their faces as they welcomed their deliverers.For four years they had been under[163]the harsh and pitiless rule of the invaders, andtheir joy now bordered on frenzy. They haddrawn out from their hiding places the Frenchflags that they had treasured through all that fouryears of slavery and now they waved from everywindow.

The band struck up the Star Spangled Bannerand every hat was lifted. Then suddenly, at asignal from the leader, the band swung into theMarseillaise. Then the scene beggared description.How long it had been since these Frenchpeople had heard those glorious strains! Howoften in those weary years they had despaired ofever hearing them again! From grown men tochildren, the whole population was sobbing. Theygrasped the hands of the soldiers and tried to kissthem.

The emotion was contagious, and most of thehusky doughboys felt a strange dampness abouttheir eyes.

“Well,” said Frank, when he could trust himselfto speak, “just this one thing, if nothing else,would pay me for whatever I’ve done or sufferedsince I came to France.”

And this experience was paralleled in everyFrench town through which they passed. Everywhereit was the same story of oppression, of robbery,of slavery, of men deported against all thelaws of war to toil in German fields or factories,[164]of girls torn from the arms of shrieking mothersand carried off, never to be seen or heard ofa*gain, of cruelty just for the sake of cruelty.And now that the Germans had been driven outin ignominy and defeat, these stalwart youngAmericans who had helped so largely to compassthat defeat were looked upon almost in the lightof demi-gods. Nothing was too good for them,although the scanty means of the people werepathetically small. Attentions were showeredupon them. Little school children stood in rowsand shyly held out bouquets of flowers. A hideousnightmare had been lifted from the land.

The plan of the advance called for two daysof marching and then two days of rest. Everythingmoved with military precision and theschedule was strictly maintained. Now and thenthey saw some Germans in uniform, but thesewere members of the medical corps who had beenleft behind, by agreement with the Allies, to takecare of such German wounded as could not bemoved. At other times, a car would drive upwith some group of German officers who foundit necessary to consult with the American officersabout some matter connected with the fulfilmentof the terms of armistice. But in general, thathated field gray uniform was conspicuous by itsabsence.

Soon the Americans had crossed the French[165]border and reached the province of Luxemburg.Here there was a grand review of the troops.The Grand duch*ess of Luxemburg stood on abalcony of the palace in company with GeneralPershing and received the salutes of the soldiersas they marched past. It was a beautiful city,and the Army Boys were not sorry when theylearned that they were to stay there for two daysbefore resuming their march.

“It’ll seem good to get out from a tent andsleep under a roof again,” remarked Frank.

“I’ve rather got fed up with tent life myself,”agreed Billy. “I wonder where they’re going toput us up?”

“I don’t care much,” observed Tom, “providedthat the beds are clean and the grub is good.”

On consulting their billet they found that theyhad been assigned to a house in the suburbs ofthe town. They had little difficulty in findingit, and were pleased to see that the house was asubstantial one, where the food and beds onwhich Tom had laid stress were likely to be good.

“I wonder if they talk English?” said Frank,as they rang the bell.

“It doesn’t matter much whether they do ornot,” replied Tom. “I’m pretty good at the signlanguage when it comes to getting something toeat. You’ll notice that I didn’t go hungry inParis.”

[166]The door was opened by a maid, who usheredthem into a pleasant and tastefully decorated livingroom, while she took the billet to her mistress.

While they were waiting for the latter to appear,two young girls passed the living room door.One was a brunette and the other of a blondetype, but both were undeniably pretty. They evidentlyhad not been apprised of the presence ofstrangers in the house, for when they caught sightof the boys in uniform they seemed slightly startledand hurried up the stairs.

“Peaches!” murmured Tom when they wereout of earshot.

“They’re not hard to look at,” agreed Frankcarelessly.

“And we’re only going to stay here two days,”mourned Billy. “Hardly time enough to get acquainted.I hope they’re able to talk English.”

“Frank’s got a chance in two languages,” saidTom enviously. “He always was a lucky dog.”

Their chaffing was interrupted by the entranceof their hostess. Frank acted as spokesman ofthe party and spoke in French, as he thought hewould be more likely to be understood. But hewas surprised and somewhat disconcerted whenthe lady told him in perfect English that she didnot understand French, and looked appealinglyto Tom and Billy. Frank changed at once into[167]his native tongue, with a laughing explanation,and the conversation soon grew easy and unconstrained.Their new hostess stated that her namewas Edsall and that she was a widow. Her familyconsisted of two daughters, Helen and Alice,and her father, who was infirm and advanced inyears. The family was American but had beenresiding abroad for years. She would be glad tomake their stay as comfortable as possible.

She called the servant and had them shown totheir rooms which they found pleasant and wellfurnished. They spent an unusual amount oftime on brushing up, and it would not have requireda very shrewd guess to determine that thisspecial care was not without reference to the twopretty girls whom they knew they were to meetat table.

When they were summoned to supper, theyfound all the members of the family assembledin the dining room. They were introduced tothe girls and to the old father. The latter had aworried look in his sunken eyes, and kept mutteringto himself at times in a way that made theboys feel that he was not altogether right in hismind, and this made them think of the missingBart.

The supper was good and well served, and theywere soon chatting pleasantly together. Tomwas especially attentive to Alice, the brunette,[168]while Billy devoted himself to her blonde sister,Helen. Frank made himself generally agreeable,chatting with his hostess and occasionally addressinghimself to the old man. The latterwould arouse himself and make some reply whichshowed that he had not fully grasped what Frankhad been saying. Then he would relapse into hismoody muttering, and Frank, for fear of embarrassinghim, finally left him to himself.

Suddenly something that Helen was saying toBilly caught Frank’s attention.

“Yes,” she remarked, “when we were living inCoblenz—”

“Coblenz!” ejacul*ted Billy. “Why that’s inGermany!”

“Certainly,” she replied in some wonderment.“Why, what of it?”

Frank caught a warning look that her motherdirected at Helen.

“Why, nothing,” stammered Billy, a trifle embarrassed.“I didn’t know that you had everbeen in Germany.”

“Didn’t mother tell you?” asked Helen. “Welived in Coblenz for years.”

Here Mrs. Edsall intervened.

“I didn’t mention it,” she said quietly, “becauseit is a matter of no importance. Yes, we did livein Germany for some years before the war brokeout. My father had come over from Americato take charge of a branch importing house atCoblenz. My husband had died, and we camewith my father. When the war started, or ratherwhen we saw that it was about to begin, we leftGermany and came here, where we have livedever since.”

She changed the subject then and the conversationwent on, but it was now constrained and formal.From time to time the boys shot a glanceat each other that was full of interrogation. Andas soon as the meal was finished, they excused[170]themselves and went to Frank’s room where theywere soon in earnest conversation.

“What do you think of it?” asked Tom inmuch perplexity.

“I don’t know what to think,” confessedFrank. “It may be all right and it may be allwrong. But one thing’s certain, and that is thatwe’ve got to be on our guard. Those infernalGermans have spies everywhere and we may be ina nest of them. We want to keep as mum as oystersabout all military affairs.”

“It doesn’t seem as though a nice girl like thatHelen could be a spy,” said Billy regretfully.

“Nor Alice,” put in Tom.

“Maybe they’re not,” admitted Frank. “Infact, I’m pretty sure they’re not, or Helenwouldn’t have made that break about living inCoblenz. It’s the last thing they’d have wantedus to know. But I’m not so sure of the mother.I caught her sending a warning to Helen withher eyes, but it was too late.”

“That may have been simply because she knewthat it might make us suspicious and she wantedto avoid that,” defended Tom. “That would benatural enough for anyone to do. But it doesn’tsay that there is any ground for the suspicion.”

“What do you think of the old man?” askedFrank thoughtfully.

“Oh, he’s just crazy,” said Tom carelessly.“He’s touched in the upper story.”

[171]“That might be just camouflage though, tomake us think that we could talk freely withoutpaying any attention to him,” objected Frank.“He may be as crazy as a fox.”

“I don’t think so,” said Billy. “He’s prettyold and his mind is failing. I heard him half adozen times muttering something about ‘the cellar,the cellar.’ It got on my nerves after a while.”

“Well, don’t let’s trouble trouble till troubletroubles us,” counseled Frank. “There may benothing in it at all. I wouldn’t hang a yellowdog on all the evidence we’ve got. In the meantime,that bed looks inviting and I’m going totumble in early.”

“I’m with you there,” said Tom. “It’s so longsince I’ve slept between sheets that I’m anxiousto see how it feels.”

It was indeed a delightful contrast to their experiencesfor months past, and they slept soundlyuntil they were called to breakfast the next morning.

“What are we going to do with our leave today?”asked Frank, as they were hurriedly dressing.

“Just loaf and invite our souls,” replied Tom,as he put down his military brushes and took alast look in the glass, with the fair Alice in mind.

“Luxemburg’s a tidy little city,” put in Billy,“and there ought to be lots to see. Wouldn’t do,I suppose, to take the girls along.”

[172]“Not on your young life,” said Frank emphatically.“You’d get in the guardhouse so soon itwould make your head swim. What’s the matterwith you fellows, anyway? You’ve both beenprimping up like a couple of dudes. Are you sobadly smitten?”

“Not at all,” denied Tom stoutly, though adeeper flush on his bronzed face might have givenrise to doubt.

“They’re certainly nice girls though,” saidBilly, feebly, “especially Helen.”

“She hasn’t anything on Alice,” remarkedTom.

“Lucky you haven’t picked out the same one,”laughed Frank, “or I’d have my hands full inkeeping the peace. Come along now if you’reready.”

At the breakfast table they received the samepleasant greeting as on the night before, but therewas a certain lack of freedom in the conversationthat all felt. The little element of suspicion thathad been aroused by Helen’s remark still persisted.The boys kept a guard on their lips asregarded all military matters, and as just at thattime there was little to talk about except the war,the remarks made were few and far between andthey felt relieved when the meal was finished.Perhaps Billy and Tom were exceptions, for althoughthey did not say much with their lips, their[173]eyes were eloquent in the glances they stole at thegirls.

It was necessary for the Army Boys to reportat the quarters of the regiment, but after thatformality was through with they had no difficultyin getting leave and started off in high feather toenjoy their unaccustomed freedom.

There was a host of places that well repaidtheir visit, museums, picture galleries, the quaintold world buildings, the great cathedral, andothers equally noteworthy. It was such a reliefto be among scenes of peace after the horrorsand bloodshed of so many months that they enjoyedit doubly. They took their dinner at ahotel, where though the prices were high the foodwas surprisingly good, and toward evening returnedto the home where they had been billeted.

As they neared the house, they saw a man loiteringnear it who seemed to have no special businessin the vicinity, but kept sauntering to and frosmoking a cigar. As he saw them coming, hehesitated a moment as though half inclined toturn and go in the other direction, but seemed tothink better of it, giving them a quick, sharp lookas he passed them.

He was in civilian dress and at first theythought he was a native of the place, but his faceshowed that he was unmistakably an Englishmanor an American, they were not sure which.

[174]“Wonder what that fellow is hanging aroundhere for?” Tom remarked, as they went up thesteps of the house.

“Oh the streets are free—that is to every onebut a German, and that chap isn’t that,” remarkedBilly.

“Perhaps it’s some lovelorn suitor of one of thegirls,” suggested Frank mischievously.

“I don’t like his face,” said Tom sourly.

“He has a villainous look,” added Billy.

“Jealous already, eh?” laughed Frank. “Isurely got your goat that time. He looks allright to me. I’d better get you fellows into thehouse before there’s murder done.”

The Army Boys were getting ready for supper,and Frank noted with some amusem*nt thatunder one pretext or another Tom and Billytook occasion to go frequently to the window andlook out.

“Is he there yet?” he finally asked of Tom.

“Who?” asked Tom innocently.

“That deadly rival of yours,” chaffed Frank.

Tom flushed a little.

“Quit your kidding,” he replied. “Yes, he isthere. I’ve half a mind to go out and ask himwhy’s he hanging around.”

“I guess that would be assuming a little toomuch,” laughed Frank; and as the summons tosupper came just then the matter was dropped.

“I hope you enjoyed your holiday today,” remarkedMrs. Edsall, when they were seated atthe table.

“Very much,” Frank answered. “Luxemburgis a charming city. We only wish we were goingto be in it longer.”

[176]“It is a nice place,” said Mrs. Edsall. “Butwe shall be glad to leave it just the same.”

“Are you going to leave it?” asked Billy insome surprise.

“Yes,” replied his hostess. “We are goingback to Coblenz. My father’s property wasseized there by the Germans when we left, and weare anxious to go back to reclaim it, now that thecity is going to be under American control.”

Tom and Billy did not attempt to disguise theirpleasure at the news, but Frank, although he politelyexpressed himself to the same effect, wasnot without a certain uneasiness. All his doubtsof the night before came back to him.

Was business the real reason why the familywere returning? Or was it because their sympathiesand affections called them back to Germansoil? It was certain that the old man, whateverhe may have been when he left Coblenz fouryears before, was now in no shape to carry onbusiness. Still, of course, the family wouldnaturally want to get back their property, even ifonly to sell it and afterward go to America.

He stole a glance at the old man. The latterhad brightened visibly when Coblenz had beenmentioned, but he soon relapsed into his usualsilence broken only by muttered references to “thecellar.”

Frank made up his mind that he would speak[177]to his chums again about the matter. But aftersupper, the party adjourned to the living room,where the girls played and sang to them, andBilly and Tom were in such high spirits when theboys finally went up to their rooms that Frankconcluded not to dampen their pleasure by bringingthe matter up.

The next morning they took their leave, withmany thanks for the hospitality that had been extendedto them and expressions of hope that theywould see them again in Coblenz. Billy and Tomlaid especial stress on this latter point and Helenand Alice did not seem at all averse to the prospect.

The regiment started off again on its long“hike,” refreshed and rested after its two days’stay in Luxemburg. Their journey soon broughtthem to the Moselle river with its quaint villagesand picturesque castles and they pursued theirway along its banks for many miles. They werenot yet on German soil, though they were rapidlyapproaching it.

In every place they entered, they were receivedas deliverers. The people turned out in force togreet them with acclamations. And they all hadAmerican flags ready to wave in honor of theAmericans. Many were not just sure how theflags ought to be made, and there were often asmany stripes as there were stars. In some places[178]the people had no cloth, as almost every scrap ofit had been carried away by the Germans, butthey used paper instead, and although the resultswere not always artistic and in fact were sometimeslaughable, none of the boys laughed, forthey knew how deep the emotion was thatprompted the demonstrations.

One day when they were taking their noondayrest of two hours, the boys saw Dick Lever comingtoward them. They fell upon him with delight.

“Well, Dick, old man, is it really you?” askedFrank, after they had pounded and mauled himto their hearts’ content.

“Nobody else,” grinned Dick, as he releasedhimself. “What kind of a rough house do youcall this anyway?”

“How does it feel not to bring down your dailyGerman?” laughed Billy.

“It sure is monotonous for a fact,” said Dick,a little regretfully. “I find myself lookingaround every once in a while to see if one of themis bearing down on me. But there’s no such luck.I’ll get rusty after a while from lack of practice.”

“You may have another hack at them, if theyrefuse to sign the peace treaty,” suggested Tom.

“Swell chance,” returned Dick. “We’ve takenall the fight out of those fellows. They haven’ta bit left. Have you heard about the way they[179]surrendered their fleet? Some of the finest battleshipsin the world, and they gave them up likeso many lambs. Think of an American navy givingup that way without one last desperate fight.But Heinie isn’t built that way.”

“How does it seem up there in the air to watchthe American army marching toward the Rhine?”asked Tom.

“Bully,” replied Dick. “I always felt certainI’d see them going in that direction but I didn’tdare to hope it would be so soon. From up thereI can see not only our boys but the Huns as wellgoing back to explain how it happened that theywere making tracks for Berlin instead of towardParis, and I tell you the sight makes me feelmighty good.

“One funny thing I noticed yesterday,” he wenton. “Our whole army had passed on, or Ithought they had, when I saw a man marchingalong about three miles behind them. He wasall alone, but he was marching as stiff andstraight as though his captain was looking at him.Then every once in a while he would stop and gothrough the whole manual of arms. Then upwould go his gun again and he’d march on.

“It struck me as strange and I watched himfor a while. He went through that performancea half dozen times. I got out my glasses for abetter look and saw that he was ragged and[180]looked down at the heel. I had half a mind togo down and see what it all meant, but just thenI got a signal from the flight commander and hadto go forward. But it sure struck me as queer.”

“Some straggler that had been left behind andwas trying to catch up with his regiment, I suppose,”suggested Billy.

“But that doesn’t explain why he went throughthe drill movements,” replied Dick.

Frank had been listening, carelessly at first butwith growing interest. Now he leaned forwardand asked earnestly:

“Did you see the man’s face, Dick?”

“No, I was almost directly above him and hedidn’t look up.”

“Dick,” went on Frank with growing excitement,“do me a favor. Keep a sharp watch forthat man and if you catch sight of him swoopright down and get in touch with him.”

“Sure,” answered Dick curiously, “but why?”

“Because,” replied Frank, and his voice wastense, “it may be Bart!”

The boys sprang excitedly to their feet.

“Bart!” exclaimed Billy huskily.

“What makes you think that?” asked Tom.

“Of course, it’s just a guess,” explainedFrank, “and I may be all wrong. But it seems tome it’s a reasonable guess. From what Dicksays, the man seems to be out of his head. Nosane man would go through all those drill motionsall by himself. And you know that Bartwas always a crank on the manual of arms.There wasn’t a quicker or smarter man at drill inthe whole Thirty-seventh. We know that poorBart was out of his head when he escaped fromthe hospital. What more natural than that histwisted ideas should go back to the very thingthat he used to be most interested in?”

“By Jove, I shouldn’t wonder if you might beright!” cried Billy.

“Then, too, what Dick said about his beingragged would chime in with that,” exclaimedTom. “If he were just an ordinary straggler[182]trying to catch up with the regiment, he’d bedressed all right anyway. You know how strictthe officers are that the men should look smart.But poor Bart only had on his night clothes whenhe got away from the hospital, and he’s probablypicked up pieces of clothing here and there as hehad a chance. Say, fellows, can’t we get theofficers to let us go back and look into the matter?”

“We’ll try,” said Frank, “but I’m afraid they’dthink it was a wild goose chase. But at any rate,Dick is freer than we are and I’m sure he’ll dothe best he can for us. Won’t you, Dick?”

“You bet I will,” replied Dick warmly. “PoorBart was a prince, and there isn’t anything Iwouldn’t do for him or for you. The more Ithink of it, the more I’m inclined to think thatFrank may be right. There isn’t a free minutewhen I won’t be looking for the poor fellow.”

“Even if it shouldn’t be Bart, he ought to betaken care of,” said Frank. “Just wait a minute,Dick, until I see the captain and try to getpermission to go back with a squad and hunt himup.”

He was off like a shot, but returned in a fewminutes disappointed and chagrined. The captainhad listened with sympathy, but the chanceseemed to him too remote to depart from thestrict orders he had received to keep all the regiment[183]together on this momentous march. Hepromised, however, to notify the rear guard tokeep their eyes open, and if they caught sight ofthe straggler, if he were such, to gather him in.And with this promise Frank had to be content.

Dick left them with a repeated promise to doall he could, and the march was resumed with theArmy Boys in a high state of excitement. In theirhearts they knew that it was only a chance andthat they might be doomed to bitter disappointment.But as Frank had said, it was at least areasonable guess, and their hearts swelled withdelight at the mere possibility of having dear oldBart back with them again. Even if his mindwere wandering, they felt sure that with the carehe would receive he would soon be himself again.

The absence of their comrade had been the onebitter drop in their cup of happiness over the beatingof the Hun. Half the delight in the victorywould be gone unless their loved comrade couldshare the triumph with them.

They could talk of little else all the rest ofthat day, and many a glance was directed at thefleet of aeroplanes flying overhead. One ofthese, they knew, was Dick’s, and they were surethat that trusty friend was “on the job.”

All that day they kept passing huge piles ofwar material that had been left behind by theGermans under the terms of armistice. There[184]were guns by the hundred, heavy and light. Mostof them were camouflaged with all the colors ofthe rainbow. This had been unnecessary whilethe Germans were fighting in entrenched positions,but when the rapid advance of the Allieshad forced the Germans to put up their gunshastily in the best positions they could findthey had painted them in order to dazzle and bewilderthe eyes of their enemies.

“All that good paint wasted,” chuckled Billy, ashe looked at the grim monsters, silent now, that alittle while before had been belching out theirmessengers of death.

There were airplanes too, scores of them, someof them the famous “flying tanks,” so called becausethey had a metal armor about them to wardoff enemy bullets. The Army Boys looked atthem with great curiosity and would have liked tostop to examine them at leisure, but had to keepon in the steadily marching ranks.

They could look across into Germany now,where on the other side of the river, the Germanforces were withdrawing. It was a strange sensationto see a German and not snatch up a gun tohurry his movements.

While they were pitching camp that night,Billy suddenly nudged Frank, as a man passedthem in earnest conversation with one of theofficers.

[185]“Look at that fellow,” he murmured.

Frank looked at the man indicated.

“Why it’s the man we saw hanging aroundMrs. Edsall’s house!” he remarked with interest.“I wonder what he’s doing here?”

“Seems to have the run of the camp all right,”observed Tom with a scowl.

“Well, I guess that shows he’s all right,”returned Frank. “You’ve got no cause to kick,Tom, nor Billy either. You know now that heisn’t hanging around the girls.”

“No, but it looks as though he were goingalong with the army to Coblenz,” said Billy uneasily.

“And the girls are going to be there soon, eh?”teased Frank. “Gee, but I’m glad that I’m not inlove.”

“Who said we were?” demanded Tom.

“Oh, nobody,” laughed Frank. “I’ve got apretty good pair of eyes in my head, though.”

No news came from Dick that night, althoughthe boys were looking for him to turn up at anymoment. Either he had seen nothing of theirmissing comrade, or his duties had prevented himfrom joining them.

“Never mind,” Frank consoled his comrades,when they were forced to turn in. “Tomorrow’sa new day. My hunch is growing stronger thatI was right about poor Bart.”

[186]The next day was the one fixed for the Armyto enter Germany. At last they were reaching thegoal that they had aimed at ever since they hadcome to France. The arrogant country that hadsought to enslave Europe was to feel the foot ofthe victor on her own soil, that she had sohaughtily declared to be “sacred.”

They reached the bridge that had been designatedfor the crossing. Then with bands crashingout their martial music and the Stars andStripes floating proudly overhead, the AmericanArmy swung across the bridge and entered asconquerors on German soil.

It was a good-sized city into which the armymarched, and the streets were full of people.There were other thousands who peered from behindwindow curtains at the hated newcomers,these Americans, who, they had been told by theirlying government, could never get to France, andwho, if they did get there, would run at the sightof German uniforms. They had run, but theyhad run after the Germans instead of away fromthem, and that trifling fact had made all the differencein the world.

There was no demonstration of any kind. Thepeople looked on in sullen silence. Only the childrenshowed interest. They were too young tounderstand what the coming of the Americansmeant to their elders, and the flying flags andstirring music appealed to them as a spectacle anddelighted them.

The American authorities took charge of thetown and issued proclamations telling the peoplejust how they were to conduct themselves under[188]the American occupation. The ordinary businessof the town was to go on as usual, and the civilauthorities would not be interfered with as longas good order was maintained. After a certainhour at night, no citizen was to be allowed on thestreets. American officers were to be salutedwhen they passed. Hats were to be lifted whenthe American flag appeared and when the Americannational air was played. The people werewarned that the rules were to be strictly obeyedand that any disorder would be sharply and instantlyrepressed.

“And they’re getting off mighty easy at that,”grumbled Tom. “What we ought to do is togive them a taste of their own medicine. Weought to post up the same regulations here thatthe Germans did in the towns of France and Belgium.”

“We couldn’t do that,” objected Frank. “Theywere brutes and those things came natural tothem. But we’re Americans.”

“Of course, you’re right,” admitted Tom.“Just the same it makes my blood boil at the contrastbetween what they deserve and what they’regetting. Look at these streets and houses, notshowing a mark of war, and then picture thetowns of France and Belgium, where only heapsof rubbish mark the passage of the Hun.”

“Speaking of that,” broke in Billy, “here’s a[189]picture post-card that I picked up in the street alittle while ago. It shows a group of Germansdestroying the machinery in a French mill,smashing delicate and costly machinery to bits.The Germans had stopped working for a fewminutes, so that they could be photographed andthe pictures could be published in Germany.That’s what it is that makes the case of the Hunsso hopeless. If any other nation did such things,it wouldn’t at least brag of it. But the Huns areactually proud of it. The dirtier the deed thegreater the pride.”

“Yes,” replied Frank, “and I heard of a casewhere they sank lower still. After they hadtaken a picture of a mill they had broken up, verysimilar to this, they sent one of the pictures to theformer French owner of the mill, and the picturehad written on it: ‘This is the way your milllooks now.’”

“Oh, well, what’s the use,” growled Billy.“We’ve licked them and licked them good andproper. We’ll have to let it go at that, though Ithink as Tom does, that they ought to get a stifferdose.”

“One thing is certain,” grunted Tom, “and thatis if I’m a member of the provost-marshal’sguard in this town, I’ll make these fellows walkSpanish if they look cross-eyed at me.”

But Tom had no chance for this, for in another[190]day or two the regiment went on, whileother units of the division remained to garrisonthe town.

In the meantime, the boys had seen Dick, butto their disappointment he had no definite newsfor them. Only once more had he caught sightof the lonely figure, but while he was manœuvringhis machine to make a descent the manhad disappeared. He landed and made a search,but without result. Since that time he had kepta sharp lookout, but had seen no further trace ofhim.

“But I’ll keep on looking,” promised Dick.“I’m getting just as much excited about this mysteryas you fellows are yourselves.”

“Here’s hoping,” replied Frank. “But itwrings my heart to think of poor Bart, if it is he,wandering around in that forlorn way. I onlywish that we could get off to look for him.”

They were passing through the country districtsnow and the villages at which they stoppedat night could not accommodate the men in theirhouses. These were occupied by the officers,while the men stayed in their tents.

The weather was getting colder, and the menhad extra blankets served out to them. Thesewere ample to keep them warm, but one morningFrank awoke shivering. Reveille had not yetsounded, and he turned over for another “forty[191]winks” and drew his blankets closer. But hewas still chilly, and on investigation he foundthat one of his blankets had disappeared.

At first he thought that either Tom or Billymust have played a joke on him. He went overto where they lay, but they only had their regularquota, and they protested so vigorouslyagainst being disturbed that he let them alone.Later when he questioned them about the matter,they denied knowing anything about it.

“It must have been one of the fellows fromanother tent,” suggested Billy. “He’s felt coldin the night and has come in and swiped yours.Pretty small potatoes, I call it.”

“I’d like to catch him doing it,” growled Frank.“I’d make it so warm for him that he wouldn’tfeel any need of blankets.”

“He’s got his nerve with him to swipe thingsfrom the best boxer in the regiment,” remarkedTom.

“You’d better bone the quartermaster for anotherblanket,” counseled Billy.

Frank got another blanket in the course of theday and that night he tucked it in around himwith unusual care. It would take some tuggingto get that away from him.

It must have been considerably after midnightwhen he was conscious of something that disturbedhim. But he was very tired, and after a[192]moment he turned over to go to sleep again.Then came a distinct tug at the blanket that hadhim awake in an instant.

It was very dark in the tent, but he could discerndimly the figure of a man standing besidehim.

“Now,” thought Frank grimly to himself, “myfine fellow, here’s where you get the shock ofyour young life.”

He gathered himself for a spring, leaped tohis feet and grappled with the intruder. Thelatter tried to escape, but Frank launched himselfinto him with such impetus that they both wentdown together.

The head of the unknown struck the groundhard and he lay still. Frank was alarmed.

“Quick!” he called, as Tom and Billy, arousedby the fracas, rushed toward him. “Strike amatch, one of you.”

Billy did so, and as the light flashed upon theface of the prostrate man they gave a shout.

“Bart!”

“Bart!” Frank repeated with a groan. “Andperhaps I’ve killed him!”

Tom lighted a candle while Billy rushed forhis canteen. They dashed some of its contentsinto Bart’s pallid face and chafed his hands andwrists.

In a few minutes their vigorous efforts hadresults. Bart moved uneasily, his eyes openedand rested vacantly at first and then intelligentlyupon the faces of his friends.

“Hello, fellows!” he murmured weakly.“What’s up?”

Their joy was beyond measure. Even whilethey were seeking to restore him to consciousnessthey had been tormented by the fear of seeingonly an insane gleam in his eyes when he shouldopen them.

“Bart, old man!” cried Frank, in a voice thatbroke despite all efforts to control it. “You knowus, then?”

“Know you?” repeated Bart wonderingly and[194]trying to raise himself, a movement which theygently checked. “Of course I know you. Areyou kidding me?”

“Listen, Bart,” replied Frank with a warningglance at his companions not to reveal prematurelythe whole story. “You got a knock on thehead in the fighting that put you out of businessfor a while and we’ve been a little scared. Butyou’re all right now.”

“Sure, I’m all right,” answered Bart, “and I’llbe ready tomorrow to take another crack at theHuns. How is the battle going?”

“All to the good,” answered Frank. “Butyou’d better lie still for a while. We’ll put youon my bed and you won’t have even a headachein the morning.”

Bart protested, but they overruled him andtucked him in the blankets, where he promptlywent to sleep. Then Frank went in search of oneof the doctors who came promptly. He listenedwith the greatest interest while the three chumstold their story. Then he made as careful anexamination of Bart as he could without wakinghim.

“He’ll be all right, I think,” was his verdict.“He’s fairly well nourished. I suppose he’sfound plenty of food in the wake of the army.And the life in the open air has built him up afterhis hospital experience. The only trouble has[195]been with his mind, and from what you tell mehe’s come to himself again. Of course he’ll haveto take things easy for the next few days andyou mustn’t tell him now about his hospital escapade.Let him think the injury happened tohim yesterday. We’ll take him along in one ofthe ambulances, and I venture to say that in aweek he’ll be with you again as well as ever.”

“I can’t forgive myself for knocking himdown,” said Frank mournfully.

The doctor laughed.

“Best thing you ever did in your life,” he said.“The blow he got on the head was just what heneeded to shake him into sanity again. Medicalhistory is full of just such cases. You’ve got theproof of it right here. He was undoubtedly insanewhen he came into the tent to take yourblanket. He knew that he was cold and his onlythought was to get something to keep him warm.”

“But why should he happen to strike our tentinstead of somebody else’s?” asked Billy.

“Because he knew it was yours,” answered thedoctor. “In his poor twisted brain he had recognizedyou and knew vaguely that you were hisfriends. Probably he has been dodging aroundsomewhere and kept track of you.”

The boys’ eyes grew moist as the pathos of itall came upon them.

The doctor left them some stimulating medicine,[196]promised to send the ambulance around inthe morning and took his leave.

There was no more sleep for the boys the restof that night. They were strung to too high apitch of excitement and delight. They felt asthough they were treading on air.

Bart was back with them again, dear old Bart,whose absence they had mourned as though hehad been their brother, brave old Bart, with theheart of a lion, who had stood at their sidein a score of desperate fights. For hours they satoutside the tent so that they would not disturbthe sleeper, and talked in low voices of the greatthing that had happened.

Bart woke in the morning refreshed and perfectlyhimself again as far as his mind was concerned.They fed him well and when the ambulancecame around they helped to put him in it,promising to drop round to see him wheneverthey could get leave. The ambulance went alongwith the army, so that the boys had the feelingthat Bart was with them all the time, even thoughnot stepping along in the ranks.

Dick dropped in on them during the day, asdid Will Stone, who was going along in one ofthe tank units of the army of occupation, andtheir delight was almost as great as that of theArmy Boys themselves when they heard the news.Together they went to visit Bart at every opportunity[197]they had, and rejoiced to find that he wasgetting stronger all the time.

The nurse who had him in charge had beentold his story, and, being a person of tact anddiscretion, she had gradually told him the truthbit by bit, “in homeopathic doses,” as Tom put it.The absence of the noise of the big guns wasrather hard to explain, but she did it somehow,and finally Bart came to know the whole truth.It was something of a shock to him, but his delightat the defeat and surrender of the Huns wasso great that it more than counterbalanced hisdistress.

In a few days, the doctor pronounced himstrong enough to take his regular place in theranks, and when he stepped out with them onemorning in a brand new uniform and lookingas stalwart and fit as ever he had, the ArmyBoys felt as though they had nothing on earthleft to ask for. And their delight was shared bythe rest of the regiment, with whom Bart was ageneral favorite, and who overwhelmed him withhandshakes and congratulations. The boysmarked that day as the best that had ever beenon their calendar.

All were in a jubilant mood as they strode alongin the crisp, cool air. It was almost a trial tokeep their measured step. They all felt more likedancing.

[198]“The only kick I have was that I wasn’t in atthe finish,” said Bart. “I’d like to have heardthe last shot fired. And I sure would have likedto have been with you fellows in the tunnel, andin the clearing of that Argonne Forest. You fellowswere certainly going fast in those last daysof the war.”

“You needn’t kick,” grinned Billy. “You’resome speed merchant yourself. You went tosleep in France and woke up in Germany.”

It was a memorable day when the Army Boysat last looked upon the Rhine. Again and againthat word had been on their lips in the course ofthe war. A thousand times they had pledgedthemselves to reach the Rhine. The river wasto them a symbol of Germany itself.

Into the city of Coblenz poured the Americanarmy in columns that seemed endless. Over theRhine they went on two bridges that spanned thegreat river that stretched out like a broad silverribbon as far as their eyes could see. At last theRhine was under American control, and a Germancould not even cross it without permissionfrom an American sentry.

On the other side of the river from Coblenzwas the great fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, one ofthe strongest and most famous in Germany. Itcovered many acres and stood on a rocky promontory,four hundred feet above the level of theriver. It could hold a hundred thousand men ifnecessary. It had cisterns hewed out of the solid[200]rock that could hold water enough to supply agarrison of eight thousand men for ten years.There were mammoth underground passages andmagazines for supplies and ammunition. Fromits rocky height it seemed to be able to defy theworld.

The German flag had floated over the fortressfor a hundred years. Now Old Glory was hoistedin its place and the pulses of the boys thrilled asthe Stars and Stripes spread out proudly in thebreeze.

Part of the army was stationed in Coblenz, butmany thousands were placed in the fortress itself,which was henceforth to serve as American barracks.

Then for the first time since they had landed inFrance the American army really rested. Theirmain work was done and well done. They hadfought the good fight. They had kept the faith.

Not that the army discipline grew lax. Themen were kept in shape for any emergency. Ata day’s notice if necessary they could resumefighting. But there were many hours every daythat they had to themselves and they were as fullof high spirits as so many colts turned out topasture.

On one such day after they had had some goodwrestling and boxing matches Billy’s effervescencefound vent in an offer to sing them a song[201]“so pathetic that it will bring tears to your eyes.”

“Oh, cut out that stuff,” chaffed Bart. “Isn’tthere enough trouble in the world without yoursinging songs to make us weep?”

“Aw, this isn’t going to be the kind of a songyou think it is,” protested Billy. “This songisn’t aimed to make you shed tears of sadness,the one and only idea being to double youup with spontaneous and irresistible laughter.You’ve heard the old saying, haven’t you, ‘tolaugh till you cry’? Of course you have, andthat’s what I have in mind.”

“I never knew you had a gift for singing comicsongs,” said Tom, suspiciously, “and what’smore, I don’t mind going a little further and sayingI didn’t know you could sing any kind of asong at all.”

“That just goes to show how ignorant youare,” retorted Billy, “you just wait till you hearme sing this song, and see if it isn’t every bit asgood as I say it is.”

“What’s the name of this wonderful composition?”asked Tom.

“The name?” said Billy. “Why, I don’t seeany real reason why I shouldn’t tell you. Thename of this song is: ‘I Want a Good Egg, and IWant It Bad.’ The accompaniment will be rendered——”but this was as far as he got, as ashout of laughter went up, and he became the[202]target for whatever miscellaneous objects happenedat that moment to be closest to hand.

“The title to that song is plenty,” observedFrank, when the disturbance had somewhatquieted down; “speaking for myself, I’m notcurious to see if the music is as bad as the egg.”

“That’s just it,” said Billy, aggrievedly, “itisn’t as bad, it’s worse. That’s what makes thesong so funny.”

“The trouble is,” said Tom, “that you’re aboutthe only one in this man’s army who does like it,so I’d advise you to drop it while you’re still aliveand healthy.”

“Oh, all right, then,” said Billy, “if you fellowshaven’t got sense enough to recognize alittle musical gem when it is offered to you, youcan go without. But please remember that you’rethe losers, not me.”

“It’s nice of you to feel sorry for us,” saidFrank, “but just you save up that song to sing toa bunch of Boches. Of course it will be hard evenon the Huns, but they’re used to atrocities by thistime.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Billy in an injuredtone. “I know a German isn’t much good, butwith all their faults they do appreciate goodmusic.”

“Yes, but we weren’t talking about goodmusic,” remarked Bart pointedly.

[203]“I don’t seem to make a hit with this crowd,”said Billy plaintively. “One of you fellows seeif you can do better.”

“I heard a good joke the other day,” volunteeredTom, “and I wouldn’t mind telling it ifsomebody coaxed me a little bit.”

“Consider yourself coaxed,” said Bart. “Goahead and shoot the works.”

“Well,” said Tom, “it seems that in one of therecruiting camps an officer was questioning someof the men with an idea of finding out what theywould do in a certain emergency. As he wentdown the line, he came to a darky.

“‘Now, ’Rastus,’ the officer said, ‘suppose youwere out in an open field on scouting duty, andsuddenly you saw a whole regiment of Germansrunning toward you, bayonets fixed and readyfor business. What would you do?’

“‘Whut would ah do? Why, boss, ah wouldn’tdo a thing. Ah’d just say tuh mah feet: “Feet,do yuh duty,” and, boss, ah’m mighty suah deywould.’”

A burst of laughter greeted the climax ofTom’s story.

“And now,” said Bart, “I propose that wewander over to the canteen and proceed to wrapourselves around some apple pie and a few largeand succulent doughnuts.”

The proposition met with instant acclaim, andwithout further debate the boys streamed off tothe canteen where were sold the delicacies thatmade a special appeal to the soldiers after theregulation “chow.” They found the placecrowded, but there was always room for more,and they squeezed their way in and demanded thatthe man behind the counter “shake a mean foot”and place before them the required “eats.” Thiswas done, and big chunks of pie disappeared inmagical fashion.

“Wow!” exclaimed Billy, with a deep sigh ofsatisfaction. “If I ever get back home again,I’m going to enter myself in a pie-eating contest.I’ll probably become champion of the world, but[205]even if I’m not, it will be an awful lot of funtrying.”

“The rest of us would run you a pretty goodrace,” grinned Tom.

“You think so, eh?” Billy came back at him.“All right, I’ll challenge you all as soon as weget back to the States and may the best manwin.”

“The loser of course to pay the bill,” laughedBart.

“Agreed,” replied Billy, “and now just to keepin training I’ll take another piece of that pie.Shoot it over, waiter, and make it snappy.”

At last even Billy’s voracious appetite was satisfied.

“Come along now, you cormorant,” said Tom.“You know we’ve got that appointment in Coblenzthis afternoon and we haven’t got any toomuch time.”

“Are you fellows going across the river thisafternoon?” asked Frank in some surprise.

“Why, yes,” said Tom, with a slight tinge ofembarrassment. “Don’t you want to comealong?”

Frank looked from Tom to Billy and a lightbroke in upon him.

“Not I,” he laughed. “I’m next to you fellows.Trot along and give my regards to Helenand Alice. I didn’t know the family had reached[206]Coblenz yet. But trust you fellows to find thatout.”

Billy and Tom smiled a little sheepishly.

“They got there yesterday,” Billy explained.

“Bless you, my children, bless you,” said Frankmockingly. “Run along now and don’t keep thegirls waiting. But all the same, fellows,” headded more seriously, “don’t get in too deep untilyou know that they’re loyal to the old U. S. A.”

“I’d stake my life on it,” replied Billy warmly.

“No doubt,” laughed Frank, “but just now, oldman, you may not be a very good judge. Onlybe careful, that’s all.”

Two days later there was a grand review ofthe Army of Occupation. General Pershinghimself had come to Coblenz for that purpose andthe marching and countermarching of that greatarray of troops on a plain outside the city was amagnificent spectacle.

But the great feature of the day to the ArmyBoys was when they and a number of others werecalled out in front of the entire division and decoratedwith the Distinguished Service Cross.Frank got his for “extraordinary heroism,” asthe citation called it, in capturing the machinegun and its crew single-handed. Tom and Billywere honored for their exploit in the tunnel affairwhile Bart was decorated for the occasion whenin company with Frank he had rowed out into[207]the river and blown up the bridge over which theGermans were charging. The General himselfpinned on the medals, and it was a proud groupof Army Boys who trudged back to their quarterswith the honors on their breasts after thereview was ended.

They had done these things without the slightestthought of reward and simply because theyloved their country. But it was good all the sameto feel that Uncle Sam was not ungrateful.

Before they left the field, Frank had anotherpleasure. Colonel Pavet came over to him andcongratulated him on his honors which, he declared,had never been better deserved.

“And at last I have the news that I have beenhoping for for weeks,” he said. “I heard fromAndre this morning that your mother’s propertyhas at last been awarded to her. The last formalityis settled, and if she were here she couldtake possession tomorrow.”

Frank wrung the colonel’s hand and thankedhim with all his heart.

“I shall write my mother tonight,” he said.“I’ll do better than that! I’ll cable. She will berelieved and delighted beyond measure.”

“And tell her when you write,” smiled thecolonel, “that when she is able to come over, Iwould be delighted to have both you and herspend as much time as possible on my estate.”

[208]Frank promised and they parted with warmexpressions of mutual regard. And that samenight a cable message sped across the Atlanticbearing the good news that Frank was too impatientto wait for a letter to tell her.

A week or two later, the American authoritiesat Coblenz found it necessary to institute strictermeasures. It was found that a large amount ofmaterial that should have been left to the Americanarmy by the terms of the armistice had beensold to unscrupulous buyers who had purchasedit for a song and stored it away to be sold at alarge profit later on.

A search was made throughout the city andmany hundreds of thousands of dollars worth ofthe goods were recovered. In looking about fora temporary place to store it, the authorities hadcommandeered a warehouse which was partlyempty. Here they placed the goods and put themunder guard of American soldiers.

One night the Army Boys were sent over torelieve the squad then on duty. As they reachedthe place, Tom and Billy gave an involuntary exclamation.

“What’s the matter?” asked Frank.

“Why,” replied Billy, “this is the warehouseof Mrs. Edsall’s father. Their dwelling house isright next door and connects with this.”

“You ought to know,” grinned Frank.[209]“You’ve been here often enough. But it’s rathera queer coincidence that we should be sent toguard it.”

They entered the cellar where the bulk of thegoods was stored.

“So this is the famous ‘cellar’ that the old manwas always muttering about,” remarked Frank,as he looked curiously about him.

“The identical place,” replied Tom.

It was a long and wide cellar with many balesand barrels stored in it. The only light was froma lantern which had been lighted by the squadthey had just relieved, and which hung from abeam at one end, leaving most of the place indarkness.

“This cellar’s a nice place to tell ghost storiesin,” remarked Bart. “It would make a fellowcreepy to be in here all by his lonesome.”

“I thought I heard a noise down in that end ofthe cellar,” said Tom.

“You’re dreaming,” said Billy. “Come out ofyour trance.”

But just then there was another noise that allof them heard. It sounded like a scratchingnoise, or as though someone were inserting a keyin a lock.

“Quick!” whispered Frank. “Hold your gunsready and get down behind these bales.”

Like a flash they obeyed and waited with batedbreath for what should come next.

The scratching continued. Then slowly a doorswung open at the far end of the cellar and afigure advanced carrying a candle. He walkedwith faltering steps, and as he drew nearer theycould see that it was Mrs. Edsall’s father.

He paused at a part of the wall that was in[211]shadow and seemed to be searching for something.Then with a sigh of satisfaction he foundit. He pressed a spring and a concealed dooropened, revealing a small aperture.

The old man reached in his hand and broughtout a roll of papers. He glanced over them fora moment in the light of the candle. Then heswung the door shut and turned to go.

But just then there was a startling interruption.From behind a barrel in whose shadow hehad been hiding, a man leaped out, and throwinghimself on the old man grasped the papers andtore them from him.

The attack was stunning in its suddenness, butthe man had scarcely straightened up before theArmy Boys had swarmed out of their concealmentand seized the intruder. He put up a sharpfight, but in the grasp of those sinewy arms hewas helpless. In a moment they had overpoweredhim. The old man stood by, shaking asthough with a palsy.

“Now,” said Frank sharply to the intruder,“what does this mean? Tom, bring that lanternhere and let’s have a look at this man.”

Tom did so, and as the light fell on the man’sface he uttered an exclamation of surprise thatwas echoed by Frank and Billy.

“Why,” said Frank, “it’s the man we saw inLuxemburg!”

[212]“I don’t know where you saw me and I don’tcare,” answered the stranger angrily. “I onlywarn you that you’ll get in trouble if you interferewith me in the discharge of my duty. I’ma member of the United States Secret Service.”

“Show your authority,” said Frank, taken alittle aback. “Let go his arms, fellows.”

His arms released, the man threw back his coatand showed the badge of his service.

“I’ve been trailing this man for some time,”he said. “We had a suspicion that he was intreasonable relations with the enemy. And Ithink now I’ve got the goods on him,” he said,as he flourished the bundle of papers.

Here the old man interposed.

“It’s false,” he cried wildly. “No one is moreloyal than I am. Look at those papers. Lookquick or it may be too late. The Germans plottedto blow up the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, if itwere ever captured by the Americans. Those arethe plans. By an oversight of theirs, the papersfell into my hands. I hid them here when I hadto leave Coblenz. I did not dare to take themwith me for fear I would be searched. Thatwas why I wanted to get back to Coblenz, so thatI could give the papers to the American commander.I have been sick, delirious since I returned,and this is the first time I have been ableto leave my bed and get here. Look at the plans.And hurry, hurry!”

[213]There was unmistakable sincerity in his tonesthat startled and impressed even the Secret Serviceagent. They hurriedly examined the plans.Two minutes sufficed. Ehrenbreitstein, where atthat moment thousands of American soldierswere sleeping, might at any moment be blowninto atoms!

Two jumps carried Frank out of the cellar. Afew more took him to a telephone. There was aquick exchange between him and the fortress.Then the whole party bundled themselves into acar which had been hastily commandeered andwere whirled over the bridge and up the hill. Afew minutes more, and squads of soldiers, armedto the teeth, had followed the indications of theplans and located enough explosives in a secretpassage deep under the fortress to shatter it tofragments. The wires by which they could havebeen exploded from a distance were found andsevered, and only then did the commander of thefortress, who had lived ten years in as many minutes,venture to breathe freely. The bold plot ofa desperate band of Germans had been foiled.

But other plots were still to be exposed, andwhat some of those were will be related in thenext volume of this series, to be entitled: “ArmyBoys on German Soil; Or, Our Doughboys Quellingthe Mobs.” In that book we shall meet all ourfriends again and see how bravely they actedunder the most trying of circ*mstances.

[214]“It was a narrow squeak,” remarked Frank, afew days after the German plot had been exposed.

“Just what I was saying to Helen this afternoon,”said Billy.

“And what were you saying to Alice?” askedBart, turning to Tom.

“None of your business,” grinned Tom.

“They’re hopeless cases,” remarked Bart.

“Cupid’s got the best of them,” remarkedFrank.

“That’s more than the Huns could do,”laughed Billy.

“Yes,” agreed Frank. “That’s more than theHuns could do. They tried their best, but theycouldn’t put it over on Uncle Sam’s Army Boys.”

THE END

Joe Strong Series

12mo, cloth, colored jacket and illustrated

Army Boys Series

By HOMER RANDALL

12mo, cloth, illustrated and with colored jacket

Navy Boys Series

By HALSEY DAVIDSON

12mo, cloth, illustrated and with colored jacket

GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY
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