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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18954-h.zip b/18954-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2aefa5 --- /dev/null +++ b/18954-h.zip diff --git a/18954-h/18954-h.htm b/18954-h/18954-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6499ce9 --- /dev/null +++ b/18954-h/18954-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5946 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tom Slade, by Percy K. Fitzhugh + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; + position: absolute; right: 2%; border:1px solid white; + padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; + color: #444; background-color: #EEE;} + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + hr.full {width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.major {width:75%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.minor {width:30%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .everychild {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:80%; margin-left: 8em;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; + font-size: 90% } + a {text-decoration: none;} + .footnotes {border-top: solid 1px; } + .footnote {text-indent: 0.5em; font-size: 0.9em; text-align: justify; } + .label {font-size: 80%; vertical-align: 0.2em; } + .fnanchor {vertical-align: 0.3em; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none; padding-left: 0.1em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Tom Slade with the Boys Over There, by Percy K. Fitzhugh + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tom Slade with the Boys Over There + +Author: Percy K. Fitzhugh + +Illustrator: R. Emmett Owen + +Release Date: July 31, 2006 [EBook #18954] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-001" id="illus-001"></a> +<img src='images/illus-009.jpg' alt='"I AM--AMERICAN. MY NAME--IS TOM SLADE." Frontispiece (Page 9)' title='' width = '300' height = '466'/><br /> +<span class='caption'>"I AM—AMERICAN. MY NAME—IS TOM SLADE." <i>Frontispiece</i> (<i>Page 9</i>)</span> +</div> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width='450' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='' border='1'> + <col style='width:100%;' /> + <tr> + <td align='center'> + <span style='font-size: 260%;'><br />TOM SLADE</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 200%;'>WITH THE BOYS</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 200%;'>OVER THERE</span><br /><br /><br /> + + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>BY</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 140%;'>PERCY K. FITZHUGH</span><br /><br /><br /> + + <span style='font-size: 80%;' class='smcap'>Author of</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT</span><br /><br /><br /> + + <span style='font-size: 80%;' class='smcap'>Illustrated By</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>R. EMMETT OWEN</span><br /><br /><br /> + + <span style='font-size: 80%;' class='smcap'>Published With the Approval of</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA</span><br /><br /><br /> + + <span style='font-size: 100%;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</span><br /> + <span style='font-size: 80%;'>PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK</span><br /><br /><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p style='text-align:center; font-size:80%'>Made in the United States of America</p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<p class='center'>Copyright, 1918, by<br />GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<p class='center'>To<br />F. A. O.</p> + +<p style='margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%'>The real Tom Slade, whose extraordinary adventures +on land and sea put these storied exploits in the shade, this book is dedicated with envious admiration.</p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<col style="width:80%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr><td align="right">I </td><td align="left">THE HOME IN ALSACE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II </td><td align="left">AN APPARITION</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III </td><td align="left">TOM'S STORY</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV </td><td align="left">THE OLD WINE VAT</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V </td><td align="left">THE VOICE FROM THE DISTANCE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI </td><td align="left">PRISONERS AGAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII </td><td align="left">WHERE THERE'S A WILL——</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII </td><td align="left">THE HOME FIRE NO LONGER BURNS</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX </td><td align="left">FLIGHT</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X </td><td align="left">THE SOLDIER'S PAPERS</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI </td><td align="left">THE SCOUT THROUGH ALSACE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII </td><td align="left">THE DANCE WITH DEATH</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII </td><td align="left">THE PRIZE SAUSAGE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIV </td><td align="left">A RISKY DECISION</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV </td><td align="left">HE WHO HAS EYES TO SEE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVI </td><td align="left">THE WEAVER OF MERNON</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVII </td><td align="left">THE CLOUDS GATHER</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVIII </td><td align="left">IN THE RHINE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIX </td><td align="left">TOM LOSES HIS FIRST CONFLICT WITH THE ENEMY</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XX </td><td align="left">A NEW DANGER</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXI </td><td align="left">COMPANY</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXII </td><td align="left">BREAKFAST WITHOUT FOOD CARDS</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">141</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXIII </td><td align="left">THE CATSKILL VOLCANO IN ERUPTION</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXIV </td><td align="left">MILITARY ETIQUETTE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXV </td><td align="left">TOM IN WONDERLAND</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXVI </td><td align="left">MAGIC</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXVII </td><td align="left">NONNENMATTWEIHER</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">174</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXVIII </td><td align="left">AN INVESTMENT</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXIX </td><td align="left">CAMOUFLAGE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXX </td><td align="left">THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXXI </td><td align="left">THE END OF THE TRAIL</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">196</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h1>TOM SLADE<br />WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE</h1> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h3>THE HOME IN ALSACE</h3> +</div> + +<p>In the southwestern corner of the domains of Kaiser Bill, in a fair +district to which he has no more right than a highwayman has to his +victim's wallet, there is a quaint old house built of gray stone and +covered with a clinging vine.</p> + +<p>In the good old days when Alsace was a part of France the old house +stood there and was the scene of joy and plenty. In these evil days when +Alsace belongs to Kaiser Bill, it stands there, its dim arbor and +pretty, flower-laden trellises in strange contrast to the lumbering army +wagons and ugly, threatening artillery which pass along the quiet road.</p> + +<p>And if the prayers of its rightful owners are answered, it will still +stand there in the happy days to come when fair Alsace shall be a part +of France<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> again and Kaiser Bill and all his clanking claptrap are gone +from it forever.</p> + +<p>The village in which this pleasant homestead stands is close up under +the boundary of Rhenish Bavaria, or Germany proper (or improper), and in +the happy days when Alsace was a part of France it had been known as +Leteur, after the French family which for generations had lived in the +old gray house.</p> + +<p>But long before Kaiser Bill knocked down Rheims Cathedral and +black-jacked Belgium and sank the Lusitania, he changed the name of this +old French village to Dundgardt, showing that even then he believed in +Frightfulness; for that is what it amounted to when he changed Leteur to +Dundgardt.</p> + +<p>But he could not very well change the old family name, even if he could +change the names of towns and villages in his stolen province, and old +Pierre Leteur and his wife and daughter lived in the old house under the +Prussian menace, and managed the vineyard and talked French on the sly.</p> + +<p>On a certain fair evening old Pierre and his wife and daughter sat in +the arbor and chatted in the language which they loved. The old man had +lost an arm in the fighting when his beloved Alsace was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> lost to France +and he had come back here still young but crippled and broken-hearted, +to live under the Germans because this was the home of his people. He +had found the old house and the vineyard devastated.</p> + +<p>After a while he married an Alsatian girl very much younger than +himself, and their son and daughter had grown up, German subjects it is +true, but hating their German masters and loving the old French Alsace +of which their father so often told them.</p> + +<p>While Florette was still a mere child she committed the heinous crime of +singing the <i>Marseillaise</i>. The watchful Prussian authorities learned of +this and a couple of Prussian soldiers came after her, for she must +answer to the Kaiser for this terrible act of sedition.</p> + +<p>Her brother Armand, then a boy of sixteen, had shouted "<i>Vive la +France!</i>" in the very faces of the grim soldiers and had struck one of +them with all his young strength.</p> + +<p>In that blow spoke gallant, indomitable France!</p> + +<p>For this act Armand might have been shot, but, being young and agile and +the German soldiers being fat and clumsy, he effected a flank move and +disappeared before they could lay hands on him and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> it was many a long +day before ever his parents heard from him again.</p> + +<p>At last there came a letter from far-off America, telling of his flight +across the mountains into France and of his working his passage to the +United States. How this letter got through the Prussian censorship +against all French Alsatians, it would be hard to say. But it was the +first and last word from him that had ever reached the blighted home.</p> + +<p>After a while the storm cloud of the great war burst and then the +prospect of hearing from Armand became more hopeless as the British navy +threw its mighty arm across the ocean highway. And old Pierre, because +he was a French veteran, was watched more suspiciously than ever.</p> + +<p>Florette was nearly twenty now, and Armand must be twenty-three or four, +and they were talking of him on this quiet, balmy night, as they sat +together in the arbor. They spoke in low tones, for to talk in French +was dangerous, they were already under the cloud of suspicion, and the +very trees in the neighborhood of a Frenchman's home seemed to have +ears....</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2><h3>AN APPARITION</h3> +</div> + +<p>"But how could we hear from him now, Florette, any better than before?" +the old man asked.</p> + +<p>"America is our friend now," the girl answered, "and so good things must +happen."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, great things will happen, dear Florette," her father laughed, +"and our beloved Alsace will be restored and you shall sing the +<i>Marseillaise</i> again. <i>Vive l'Amerique!</i> She has come to us at last!"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h," warned Madame Leteur, looking about; "because America has +joined us is no reason we should not be careful. See how our neighbor Le +Farge fared for speaking in the village but yesterday. It is glorious +news, but we must be careful."</p> + +<p>"What did neighbor Le Farge say, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h. The news of it is not allowed. He said that some one told him +that when the American General Pershing came to France, he stood by the +grave of Lafayette and said, 'Lafayette, we are here.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, Lafayette, yes!" said the old man, his voice shaking with pride.</p> + +<p>"But we must not even know there is a great army of Americans here. We +must know nothing. We must be blind and deaf," said Madame Leteur, +looking about her apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"America will bring us many good things, my sweet Florette," said her +father more cautiously, "and she will bring triumph to our gallant +France. But we must have patience. How can she send us letters from +Armand, my dear? How can she send letters to Germany, her enemy?"</p> + +<p>"Then we shall never hear of him till the war is over?" the girl sighed. +"Oh, it is my fault he went away! It was my heedless song and I cannot +forgive myself."</p> + +<p>"The <i>Marseillaise</i> is not a heedless song, Florette," said old Pierre, +"and when our brave boy struck the Prussian beast——"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h," whispered Madame Leteur quickly.</p> + +<p>"There is no one," said the old man, peering cautiously into the bushes; +"when he struck the Prussian beast, it was only what his father's son +must do. Come, cheer up! Think of those noble words of America's +general, 'Lafayette, we are here.' If we have not letters from our son, +still America<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> has come to us. Is not this enough? She will strike the +Prussian beast——"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h!"</p> + +<p>"There is no one, I tell you. She will strike the Prussian beast with +her mighty arm harder than our poor noble boy could do with his young +hand. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>The girl looked wistfully into the dusk. "I thought we would hear from +him when we had the great news from America."</p> + +<p>"That is because you are a silly child, my sweet Florette, and think +that America is a magician. We must be patient. We do not even know all +that her great president said. We are fed with lies——"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h!"</p> + +<p>"And how can we hear from Armand, my dear, when the Prussians do not +even let us know what America's president said? All will be well in good +time."</p> + +<p>"He is dead," said the girl, uncomforted. "I have had a dream that he is +dead. And it is I that killed him."</p> + +<p>"This is a silly child," said old Pierre.</p> + +<p>"America is full of Prussians—spies," said the girl, "and they have his +name on a list. They have killed him. They are murderers!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span></p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h," warned her mother again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they are murderers," said old Pierre, "but this is a silly child +to talk so. We have borne much silently. Can we not be a little patient +now?"</p> + +<p>"I <i>hate</i> them!" sobbed the girl, abandoning all caution. "They drove +him away and we will see him no more,—my brother—Armand!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, my daughter," her mother pleaded. "Listen! I heard a footstep. +They are spying and have heard."</p> + +<p>For a moment neither spoke and there was no sound but the girl's quick +breaths as she tried to control herself. Then there was a slight +rustling in the shrubbery and they waited in breathless suspense.</p> + +<p>"I knew it," whispered Madame; "we are always watched. Now it has come."</p> + +<p>Still they waited, fearfully. Another sound, and old Pierre rose, pushed +his rustic chair from him and stood with a fine, soldierly air, waiting. +His wife was trembling pitiably and Florette, her eyes wide with grief +and terror, watched the dark bushes like a frightened animal.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the leaves parted and they saw a strange disheveled figure. For +a moment it paused, uncertain, then looked stealthily about and emerged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> +into the open. The stranger was hatless and barefoot and his whole +appearance was that of exhaustion and fright. When he spoke it was in a +strange language and spasmodically as if he had been running hard.</p> + +<p>"Leteur?" he asked, looking from one to the other; "the name—Leteur? I +can't speak French," he added, somewhat bewildered and clutching an +upright of the arbor.</p> + +<p>"What do you wish here?" old Pierre demanded in French, never relaxing +his military air.</p> + +<p>The stranger leaned wearily against the arbor, panting, and even in the +dusk they could see that he was young and very ragged, and with the +whiteness of fear and apprehension in his face and his staring eyes.</p> + +<p>"You German? French?" he panted.</p> + +<p>"We are French," said Florette, rising. "I can speak ze Anglaise a +leetle."</p> + +<p>"You are not German?" the visitor repeated as if relieved.</p> + +<p>"Only we are Zherman subjects, yess. Our name ees Leteur."</p> + +<p>"I am—American. My name—is Tom Slade. I escaped from the prison across +there. My—my pal escaped with me——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span></p> + +<p>The girl looked pityingly at him and shook her head while her parents +listened curiously. "We are sorry," she said, "so sorry; but you were +not wise to escape. We cannot shelter you. We are suspect already."</p> + +<p>"I have brought you news of Armand," said Tom. "I can't—can't talk. We +ran——Here, take this. He—he gave it to me—on the ship."</p> + +<p>He handed Florette a little iron button, which she took with a trembling +hand, watching him as he clutched the arbor post.</p> + +<p>"From Armand? You know heem?" she asked, amazed. "You are American?"</p> + +<p>"He's American, too," said Tom, "and he's with General Pershing in +France. We're goin' to join him if you'll help us."</p> + +<p>For a moment the girl stared straight at him, then turning to her father +she poured out such a volley of French as would have staggered the grim +authorities of poor Alsace. What she said the fugitive could not +imagine, but presently old Pierre stepped forward and, throwing his one +arm about the neck of the young American, kissed him several times with +great fervor.</p> + +<p>Tom Slade was not used to being kissed by anybody and he was greatly +abashed. However, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> might have been worse. What would he ever have +done if the girl who spoke English in such a hesitating, pretty way had +taken it into <i>her</i> head to kiss him?</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2><h3>TOM'S STORY</h3> +</div> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid," said Tom; "we didn't leave any tracks; we came +across the fields—all the way from the crossroads down there. We +crawled along the fence. There ain't any tracks. I looked out for that."</p> + +<p>Pausing in suspense, yet encouraged by their expectant silence, he spoke +to some one behind him in the bushes and there emerged a young fellow +quite as ragged as himself.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said Tom confidently, and apparently in great relief. +"It's them."</p> + +<p>"You must come inside ze house," whispered Florette fearfully. "It is +not safe to talk here."</p> + +<p>"There isn't any one following us," said Tom's companion reassuringly. +"If we can just get some old clothes and some grub we'll be all right."</p> + +<p>"Zere is much danger," said the girl, unconvinced. "We are always +watched. But you are friends to Armand. We must help you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span></p> + +<p>She led the way into the house and into a simply furnished room lighted +by a single lamp and as she cautiously shut the heavy wooden blinds and +lowered the light, the two fugitives looked eagerly at the first signs +of home life which they had seen in many a long day.</p> + +<p>It was in vain that the two Americans declined the wine which old Pierre +insisted upon their drinking.</p> + +<p>"You will drink zhust a leetle—yess?" said the girl prettily. "It is +make in our own veenyard."</p> + +<p>So the boys sipped a little of the wine and found it grateful to their +weary bodies and overwrought nerves.</p> + +<p>"Now you can tell us—of Armand," she said eagerly.</p> + +<p>Often during Tom's simple story she stole to the window and, opening the +blind slightly, looked fearfully along the dark, quiet road. The very +atmosphere of the room seemed charged with nervous apprehension and +every sound of the breeze without startled the tense nerves of the +little party.</p> + +<p>Old Pierre and his wife, though quite unable to understand, listened +keenly to every word uttered by the strangers, interrupting their +daughter continually to make her translate this or that sentence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></p> + +<p>"There ain't so much need to worry," said Tom, with a kind of dogged +self-confidence that relieved Florette not a little. "I wouldn't of +headed for here if I hadn't known I could do it without leaving any +trace, 'cause I wouldn't want to get you into trouble."</p> + +<p>Florette looked intently at the square, dull face before her with its +big mouth and its suggestion of a frown. His shock of hair, always +rebellious, was now in utter disorder. He was barefoot and his clothes +were in that condition which only the neglect and squalor of a German +prison camp can produce. But in his gaunt face there shone a look of +determination and a something which seemed to encourage the girl to +believe in him.</p> + +<p>"Are zey all like you—ze Americans?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Some of 'em are taller than me," he answered literally, "but I got a +good chest expansion. This feller's name is Archer. He belongs on a farm +in New York."</p> + +<p>She glanced at Archer and saw a round, red, merry face, still wearing +that happy-go-lucky look which there is no mistaking. His skin was +camouflaged by a generous coat of tan and those two strategic hills, his +cheeks, had not been reduced by the assaults of hunger. There was, +moreover, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> look of mischief in his eyes, bespeaking a jaunty +acceptance of whatever peril and adventure might befall and when he +spoke he rolled his R's and screwed up his mouth accordingly.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you've heard of the Catskills," said Tom. "That's where <i>he</i> +lives."</p> + +<p>"My dad's got a big apple orrcharrd therre," added Archer.</p> + +<p>Florette Leteur had not heard of the Catskills, but she had heard a good +deal about the Americans lately and she looked from one to the other of +this hapless pair, who seemed almost to have dropped from the clouds.</p> + +<p>"You have been not wise to escape," she said sympathetically. "Ze +Prussians, zey are sure to catch you.—Tell me more of my bruzzer."</p> + +<p>"The Prussians ain't so smarrt," said Archer. "They're good at some +things, but when it comes to tracking and trailing and all that, they're +no good. You neverr hearrd of any famous Gerrman scouts. They're clumsy. +They couldn't stalk a mud turrtle."</p> + +<p>"You are not afraid of zem?"</p> + +<p>"Surre, we ain't. Didn't we just put one overr on 'em?"</p> + +<p>"We looped our trail," explained Tom to the puzzled girl. "If they're +after us at all they probably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> went north on a blind trail. We monkeyed +the trees all the way through this woods near here."</p> + +<p>"He means we didn't touch the ground," explained Archer.</p> + +<p>"We made seven footprints getting across the road to the fence and then +we washed 'em away by chucking sticks. And, anyway, we crossed the road +backwards so they'd think we were going the other way. There ain't much +danger—not tonight, anyway."</p> + +<p>Again the girl looked from one to the other and then explained to her +father as best she could.</p> + +<p>"You are wonderful," she said simply. "We shall win ze war now."</p> + +<p>"I was working as a mess boy on a transport," said Tom; "we brought over +about five thousand soldiers. That's how I got acquainted with +Frenchy—I mean Armand——"</p> + +<p>"Yes!" she cried, and at the mention of Armand old Pierre could scarcely +keep his seat.</p> + +<p>"He came with some soldiers from Illinois. That's out west. He was +good-natured and all the soldiers jollied him. But he always said he +didn't mind that because they were all going to fight together to get +Alsace back. Jollying means making fun of somebody—kind of," Tom +added.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, zat iss what he say?" Florette cried. "Zat iss my +brother—Armand—yess!"</p> + +<p>She explained to her parents and then advanced upon Tom, who retreated +to his second line of defence behind a chair to save himself from the +awful peril of a grateful caress.</p> + +<p>"He told me all about how your father fought in the Franco-Prussian +War," Tom went on, "and he gave me this button and he said it was made +from a cannon they used and——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yess, I know!" Florette exclaimed delightedly.</p> + +<p>"He said if I should ever happen to be in Alsace all I'd have to do +would be to show it to any French people and they'd help me. He said it +was a kind of—a kind of a vow all the French people had—that the +Germans didn't know anything about. And 'specially families that had men +in the Franco-Prussian War. He told me how he escaped, too, and got to +America, and about how he hit the German soldier that came to arrest you +for singing the <i>Marseillaise</i>."</p> + +<p>The girl's face colored with anger, and yet with pride.</p> + +<p>"Mostly what we came here for," Tom added in his expressionless way, +"was to get some food and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> get rested before we start again. We're going +through Switzerland to join the Americans—and if you'll wait a little +while you can sing the <i>Marseillaise</i> all you want."</p> + +<p>Something in his look and manner as he sat there, uncouth and forlorn, +sent a thrill through her.</p> + +<p>"Zey are all like you?" she repeated. "Ze Americans?"</p> + +<p>"Your brother and I got to be pretty good friends," said Tom simply; "he +talked just like you. When we got to a French port—I ain't allowed to +tell you the name of it—but when we got there he went away on the train +with all the other soldiers, and he waved his hand to me and said he was +going to win Alsace back. I liked him and I liked the way he talked. He +got excited, like——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yess—my bruzzer!"</p> + +<p>"So now he's with General Pershing. It seemed funny not to see him after +that. I thought about him a lot. When he talked it made me feel more +patriotic and proud, like."</p> + +<p>"Yess, yess," she urged, the tears standing in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes you sort of get to like a feller and you don't know why. He +would always get so excited, sort of, when he talked about France or +Uncle Sam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> that he'd throw his cigarette away. He wasted a lot of 'em. +He said everybody's got two countries, his own and France."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yess," she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Even if I didn't care anything about the war," Tom went on in his dull +way, "I'd want to see France get Alsace back just on account of him."</p> + +<p>Florette sat gazing at him, her eyes brimming.</p> + +<p>"And you come to Zhermany, how?"</p> + +<p>"After we started back the ship I worked on got torpedoed and I was +picked up by a submarine. I never saw the inside of one before. So +that's how I got to Germany. They took me there and put me in the prison +camp at Slopsgotten—that ain't the way to say it, but——"</p> + +<p>"You've got to sneeze it," interrupted Archer.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," she urged eagerly, "and zen——"</p> + +<p>"And then when I found out that it was just across the border from +Alsace I happened to think about having that button, and I thought if I +could escape maybe the French people would help me if I showed it to 'em +like Frenchy said."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yess, <i>zey will</i>! But we must be careful," said Florette.</p> + +<p>"It was funny how I met Archer there," said Tom. "We used to know each +other in New York. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> had even more adventures than I did getting +there."</p> + +<p>"And you escaped?"</p> + +<p>"Yop."</p> + +<p>"We put one over on 'em," said Archer. "It was his idea (indicating +Tom). They let us have some chemical stuff to fix the pump engine with +and we melted the barbed wire with it and made a place to crawl out +through. I got a piece of the barbed wirre for a sooveneerr. Maybe you'd +like to have it," Archer added, fumbling in his pockets.</p> + +<p>Florette, smiling and crying all at once, still sat looking wonderingly +from one to the other of this adventurous, ragged pair.</p> + +<p>"Those Germans ain't so smart," said Archer.</p> + +<p>The girl only shook her head and explained to her parents. Then she +turned to Tom.</p> + +<p>"My father wants to know if zey are all like you in America. Yess?"</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i> used to be a Boy Scout," said Archer. "Did you everr hearr of +them?"</p> + +<p>But Florette only shook her head again and stared. Ever since the war +began she had lived under the shadow of the big prison camp. Many of her +friends and townspeople, Alsatians loyal still to France, were held +there among the growing horde<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> of foreigners. Never had she heard of any +one escaping. If two American boys could melt the wires and walk out, +what would happen next?</p> + +<p>And one of them had blithely announced that these mighty invincible +Prussians "couldn't even trail a mud turtle." She wondered what they +meant by "looping our trail."</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2><h3>THE OLD WINE VAT</h3> +</div> + +<p>"We thought maybe you'd let us stay here tonight and tomorrow," said Tom +after the scanty meal which the depleted larder yielded, "and tomorrow +night we'll start out south; 'cause we don't want to be traveling in the +daytime. Maybe you could give us some clothes so it'll change our looks. +It's less than a hundred miles to Basel——"</p> + +<p>"My pappa say you could nevaire cross ze frontier. Zere are +wires—electric——"</p> + +<p>"Electric wirres are ourr middle name," said Archer. "We eat 'em."</p> + +<p>"We ain't scared of anything except the daylight," said Tom. "Archy can +talk some German and I got Frenchy's—Armand's—button to show to French +people. When we once get into Switzerland we'll be all right."</p> + +<p>He waited while the girl engaged in an animated talk with her parents. +Then old Pierre patted the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> two boys affectionately on the shoulder +while Florette explained.</p> + +<p>"It iss not for our sake only, it iss for yours. You cannot stay in ziss +house. It iss not safe. You aire wonderful, zee how you escape, and to +bring us news of our Armand! We must help you. But if zey get you zen we +do not help you. Iss it so? Here every day ze Prussians come. You see? +Zey do not follow you—you are what you say—too clevaire? But still zey +come."</p> + +<p>Tom listened, his heart in his throat at the thought of being turned out +of this home where he had hoped for shelter.</p> + +<p>"We are already suspect," Florette explained. "My pappa, he fought for +France—long ago. But so zey hate him. My name zey get—how old——All +zeze zings zey write down—everyzing. Zey come for me soon. I sang ze +<i>Marseillaise</i>—you know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom, "but that was years ago."</p> + +<p>"But we are suspect. Zey have write it all down. Nossing zey forget. Zey +take me to work—out of Alsace. Maybe to ze great Krupps. I haf' to work +in ze fields in Prussia maybe. You see? Ven zey come I must go. Tonight, +maybe. Tomorrow. Maybe not yet——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span></p> + +<p>She struggled to master her emotion and continued. "Ziss is—what you +call—blackleest house. You see? So you will hide where I take you. It +iss bad, but we cannot help. I give you food and tomorrow in ze night I +bring you clothes. Zese I must look for—Armand's. You see? Come."</p> + +<p>They rose with her and as she stood there almost overcome with grief and +shame and the strain of long suspense and apprehension, yet thinking +only of their safety, the sadness of her position and her impending fate +went to Tom's heart.</p> + +<p>Old Pierre embraced the boys affectionately with his one arm, seeming to +confirm all his daughter had said.</p> + +<p>"My pappa say it is best you stay not here in ziss house. I will show +you where Armand used to hide so long ago when we play," she smiled +through her tears. "If zey come and find you——"</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Tom. "They couldn't blame it to you."</p> + +<p>"You see? Yess."</p> + +<p>To Archer, who understood a few odds and ends of German old Pierre +managed to explain in that language his sorrow and humiliation at their +poor welcome.</p> + +<p>All five then went into an old-fashioned kitchen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> with walls of naked +masonry and a great chimney, and from a cupboard Florette and her mother +filled a basket with such cold viands as were on hand. This, and a pail +of water the boys carried, and after another affectionate farewell from +Pierre and his wife, they followed the girl cautiously and silently out +into the darkness.</p> + +<p>Tom Slade had already felt the fangs of the German beast and he did not +need any one to tell him that the loathsome thing was without conscience +or honor, but as he watched the slender form of Armand's young sister +hurrying on ahead of them and thought of all she had borne and must yet +bear and of the black fear that must be always in her young heart, his +sympathy for her and for this stricken home was very great.</p> + +<p>He had not fully comprehended her meaning, but he understood that she +and her parents were haunted by an ever-present dread, and that even in +their apprehension it hurt them to skimp their hospitality or suffer any +shadow to be cast on a stranger's welcome.</p> + +<p>Florette led the way along a narrow board path running back from the +house, through an endless maze of vine-covered arbor, which completely +roofed all the grounds adjacent to the house. Tom,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> accustomed only to +the small American grape arbor, was amazed at the extent of this +vineyard.</p> + +<p>"Reminds you of an elevated railroad, don't it," said Archer.</p> + +<p>On the rickety uprights (for the arbor like everything else on the old +place was going to ruin under the alien blight) large baskets hung here +and there. At intervals the structure sagged so that they had to stoop +to pass under it, and here and there it was broken or uncovered and they +caught glimpses of the sky.</p> + +<p>They went over a little hillock and, still beneath the arbor, came upon +a place where the vines had fallen away from the ramshackle trellis and +formed a spreading mass upon the ground.</p> + +<p>"You see?" whispered the girl in her pretty way. "Here Armand he climb. +Here he hide to drop ze grapes down my neck—so. Bad boy! So zen it +break—crash! He tumbled down. Ah—my pappa so angry. We must nevaire +climb on ze trellis. You see? Here I sit and laugh—so much—when he +tumble down!"</p> + +<p>She smiled and for a moment seemed all happiness, but Tom Slade heard a +sigh following close upon the smile. He did not know what to say so he +simply said in his blunt way:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span></p> + +<p>"I guess you had good times together."</p> + +<p>"Now I will zhow you," she said, stooping to pull away the heavy tangle +of vine.</p> + +<p>Tom and Archer helped her and to their surprise there was revealed a +trap-door about six feet in diameter with gigantic rusty hinges.</p> + +<p>"Ziss is ze cave—you see?" she said, stooping to lift the door. Tom +bent but she held him back. "Wait, I will tell you. Zen you can open +it." For a moment pleasant recollections seemed to have the upper hand, +and there was about her a touch of that buoyancy which had made her +brother so attractive to sober Tom.</p> + +<p>"Wait—zhest till I tell you. When I come back from ze school in England +I have read ze story about 'Kidnap.' You know?"</p> + +<p>"It's by Stevenson; I read it," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"You know ze cave vere ze Scotch man live? So ziss is our cave. Now you +lift."</p> + +<p>The door did not stir at first and Florette, laughing softly, raised the +big L band which bent over the top and lay in a rusted padlock eye.</p> + +<p>"Now."</p> + +<p>The boys raised the heavy door, to which many strands of the vine clung, +and Florette placed a stick to hold it up at an angle. Peering within +by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> the light of a match, they saw the interior of what appeared to be a +mammoth hogshead from which emanated a stale, but pungent odor. It was, +perhaps, seven feet in depth and the same in diameter and the bottom was +covered with straw.</p> + +<p>"It is ze vat—ze wine vat," whispered Florette, amused at their +surprise. "Here we keep ze wine zat will cost so much.—But no more.—We +make no wine ziss year," she sighed. "Ziss makes ze fine flavor—ze +earth all around. You see?"</p> + +<p>"It's a dandy place to hide," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"So here you will stay and you will be safe. Tomorrow in ze night I +shall bring you more food and some clothes. I am so sorry——"</p> + +<p>"There ain't anything to be sorry about," said Tom. "There's lots of +room in there—more than there is in a bivouac tent. And it'll be +comfortable on that straw, that's one sure thing. If you knew the kind +of place we slept in up there in the prison you'd say this was all +right. We'll stay here and rest all day tomorrow and after you bring us +the things at night we'll sneak out and hike it along."</p> + +<p>"I will not dare to come in ze daytime," said Florette, "but after it is +dark, zen I will come. You must have ze cover almost shut and I will +pull ze vines over it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll tend to that," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"We'll camouflage it, all right," Archer added.</p> + +<p>For a moment she lingered as if thinking if there were anything more she +might do for their comfort. Then against her protest, Tom accompanied +her part way back and they paused for a moment under the thickly covered +trellis, for she would not let him approach the house.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry we made you so much trouble," he said; "it's only because we +want to get to where we can fight for you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yess, I know," she answered sadly. "My pappa, it break his heart +because he cannot make you ze true welcome. But you do not know. We +are—how you say—persecute—all ze time. Zey own Alsace, but zey do not +love Alsace. It is like—it is like ze stepfather—you see?" she added, +her voice breaking. "So zey have always treat us."</p> + +<p>For a few seconds Tom stood, awkward and uncomfortable; then clumsily he +reached out his hand and took hers.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean they'll take you like they took the people from Belgium, +do you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Ziss is worse zan Belgium," Florette sobbed. "Zere ze people can escape +to England."</p> + +<p>"Where would they send you?" Tom asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe far north into Prussia. Maybe still in Alsace. All ze familees +zey will separate so zey shall meex wiz ze Zhermans." Florette suddenly +grasped his hand. "I am glad I see you. So now I can see all ze +Americans come—hoondreds——</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow in ze night I will bring you ze clothes," she whispered, "and +more food, and zen you will be rested——"</p> + +<p>"I feel sorry for you," Tom blurted out with simple honesty, "and I got +to thank you. Both of us have—that's one sure thing. You're worse off +than we are—and it makes me feel mean, like. But maybe it won't be so +bad. And, gee, I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow night, too."</p> + +<p>"I will bring ze sings, <i>surely</i>," she said earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It isn't—it isn't only for that," he mumbled, "it's because I'll kind +of look forward to seeing you anyway."</p> + +<p>For another moment she lingered and in the stillness of night and the +thickly roofed arbor he could hear her breath coming short and quick, as +she tried to stifle her emotion.</p> + +<p>"Is—is it a sound?" she whispered in sudden terror.</p> + +<p>"No, it's only because you're scared," said Tom.</p> + +<p>He stood looking after her as she hurried away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> under the ramshackle +trellis until her slender figure was lost in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"It'll make me fight harder, anyway," he said to himself; "it'll help me +to get to France 'cause—'cause I <i>got</i> to, and if you <i>got</i> to do a +thing—you can...."</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2><h3>THE VOICE FROM THE DISTANCE</h3> +</div> + +<p>"My idea," said Archer, when Tom returned, "is to break that stick about +in half and prop the doorr just wide enough open so's we can crawl in. +Then we can spread the vines all overr the top just like it was beforre +and overr the opening, too. What d'ye say?"</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said Tom, "and we can leave it a little open +tonight. In the morning we'll drop it and be on the safe side."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we'd betterr drop it tonight and be on the safe side," said +Archer. "S'pose we should fall asleep."</p> + +<p>"We'll take turns sleeping," said Tom decisively. "We can't afford to +take any chances."</p> + +<p>"You can bet I'm going to get a sooveneerr of this place, anyway," said +Archer, tugging at a rusty nail.</p> + +<p>"Never you mind about souvenirs," Tom said; "let's get this door +camouflaged."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span></p> + +<p>"I could swap that nail for a jack-knife back home," said Archer +regretfully. "A nail right fresh from Alsace!"</p> + +<p>But he gave it up and together they pulled the tangled vine this way and +that, until the door and the opening beneath were well covered. Then +they crawled in and while Archer reached up and held the door, Tom broke +the stick so that the opening was reduced to the inch or two necessary +for ventilation. Reaching out, they pulled the vine over this crack +until they felt certain that no vestige of door or opening could be seen +from without, and this done they sat down upon the straw, their backs +against the walls of the vat, enjoying the first real comfort and +freedom from anxiety which they had known since their escape from the +prison camp.</p> + +<p>"I guess we're safe herre forr tonight, anyway," said Archer, "but +believe <i>me</i>, I think we've got some job on our hands getting out of +this country. It's going to be no churrch sociable——"</p> + +<p>"We got this far," said Tom, "and by tomorrow night we ought to have a +good plan doped out. We got nothing to do all day tomorrow but think +about it."</p> + +<p>"Gee, I feel sorry for these people," said Archer; "they'rre surre up +against it. Makes me feel as if I'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> like to have one good whack at +Kaiser Bill——"</p> + +<p>"Well, don't talk so loud and we'll get a whack at him, all right."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to get his old double-jointed moustache for a sooveneerr."</p> + +<p>"There you go again," said Tom.</p> + +<p>Now that the excitement was over, they realized how tired they were and +indeed the strain upon their nerves, added to their bodily fatigue, had +brought them almost to the point of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"I'm all in," said Archer wearily.</p> + +<p>"All right, go to sleep," said Tom, "and after a while if you don't wake +up I'll wake you. One of us has got to stay awake and listen. We can't +afford to take any chances."</p> + +<p>Archibald Archer needed no urging and in a minute he was sprawled upon +the straw, dead to the world. The daylight was glinting cheerily through +the interstices of tangled vine over the opening when he awoke with the +heedless yawns which he might have given in his own beloved Catskills.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a noise," said Tom quickly, by way of caution. "We're in the +wine vat in Leteur's vineyard in Alsace, remember." It took Archer a +moment to realize where they were. They ate an early breakfast, finding +the simple odds and ends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> grateful enough, and then Tom took his turn at +a nap.</p> + +<p>Throughout most of that day they sat with their knees drawn up, leaning +against the inside of the great vat, talking in hushed tones of their +plans. There was nothing else they could do in the half darkness and the +slow hours dragged themselves away monotonously. They had lowered the +door, but still left it open upon the merest crack and out of this one +or the other would peek at intervals, listening, heart in throat, for +the dreaded sound of footfalls. But no one came.</p> + +<p>"I thought I hearrd a kind of rustling once," Archer said fearfully.</p> + +<p>"There's a couple of cows 'way over in a field," said Tom; "they might +have made some sound."</p> + +<p>After what seemed to them an age, the leaves over the opening seemed +bathed in a strange new light and glistened here and there.</p> + +<p>"That crack faces the west," said Tom. "The sun's beginning to go down."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" asked Archer.</p> + +<p>"I always knew that up at Temple Camp. I don't know <i>how</i> I know. The +morning sun is different from the afternoon sun, that's all. I think +it'll set now in about two hours."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wonder when she'll come," Archer said.</p> + +<p>"Not till it's good and dark, that's sure. She's got to be careful. +Maybe this place can be seen from the road, for all we know. Remember, +we didn't see it in the daylight."</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h," said Archer. "Listen."</p> + +<p>From far, far away there was borne upon the still air a dull, spent, +booming sound at intervals.</p> + +<p>"It's the fighting," whispered Tom.</p> + +<p>"Wherre do you suppose it is?" Archer asked, sobered by this audible +reminder of their nearness to the seat of war.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Tom said. "I'm kind of mixed up. That feller in the +prison had a map. Let's see. I think Nancy's the nearest place to here. +Toul is near that. That's where our fellers are—around there. Listen!"</p> + +<p>Again the rumbling, faint but distinctly audible, almost as if it came +from another world.</p> + +<p>"The trenches run right through there—near Nancy," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Maybe it's <i>ourr</i> boys, hey?" Archer asked excitedly.</p> + +<p>Tom did not answer immediately. He was thrilled at this thought of his +own country speaking so that he, poor fugitive that he was, could hear +it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> in this dark, lonesome dungeon in a hostile land, across all those +miles.</p> + +<p>"Maybe," he said, his voice catching the least bit. "They're in the Toul +sector. A feller in prison told me. You don't feel so lonesome, kind of, +when you hear that——"</p> + +<p>"Gee, I hope we can get to them," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"What you <i>got</i> to do, you can do," Tom answered. "I wonder——"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h. D'you hearr that?" Archer whispered, clutching Tom's shoulder. +"It was much nearerr—right close——"</p> + +<p>They held their breaths as the reverberation of a sharp report died +away.</p> + +<p>"What was it?" Archer asked tensely.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Tom whispered, instinctively removing the short stick +and closing the trap door tight. "Don't move—hush!"</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2><h3>PRISONERS AGAIN</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Do you hear footsteps?" Archer breathed.</p> + +<p>Tom listened, keen and alert. "No," he said at last. "There's no one +coming."</p> + +<p>"What do you s'pose it was?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Sit down and don't get excited."</p> + +<p>But Tom was trembling himself, and it was not until five or ten minutes +had passed without sound or happening that he was able to get a grip on +himself.</p> + +<p>"Push up the door a little and listen," suggested Archer.</p> + +<p>Tom cautiously pressed upward, but the door did not budge. "It's stuck," +he whispered.</p> + +<p>Archer rose and together they pressed, but save for a little looseness +the door did not move.</p> + +<p>"It's caught outside, I guess," said Tom. "Maybe the iron hasp fell into +the padlock when I put it down, huh?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span></p> + +<p>That, indeed, seemed to be the case, for upon pressure the door gave a +little at the corners, but not midway along the side where the fastening +was. Archer turned cold at the thought of their predicament, and for a +moment even Tom's rather dull imagination pictured the ghastly fate made +possible by imprisonment in this black hole.</p> + +<p>"There's no use getting excited," he said. "We get some air through the +cracks and after dark she'll be here, like she said. It's beginning to +get dark now, I guess."</p> + +<p>But he could not sit quietly and wait through the awful suspense, and he +pressed up against the boards at intervals all the way along the four +sides of the door. On the side where the hinges were it yielded not at +all. On the opposite side it held fast in the center, showing that by a +perverse freak of chance it had locked itself. Elsewhere it strained a +little on pressure, but not enough to afford any hope of breaking it.</p> + +<p>"If it was only lowerr," Archer said, "so we could brace our shoulderrs +against it, we might forrce it."</p> + +<p>"And make a lot of noise," said Tom. "There's no use getting rattled; +we'll just have to wait till she comes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, but it gives you the willies thinkin' about what would happen——"</p> + +<p>"Well, don't let's think of it, then," Tom interrupted. "We should +worry." And suiting his action to the word, he seated himself, drew up +his knees, and clasped his hands over them. "We'll just have to wait, +that's all."</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose that sound was?" Archer asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know; some kind of a gun. It ain't the first gun that's been +shot off in Europe lately."</p> + +<p>For half an hour or so they sat, trying to make talk, and each pretended +to himself and to the other that he was not worrying. But Tom, who had a +scout's ear, started and his heart beat faster at every trifling stir +outside. Then, as they realized that darkness must have fallen, they +became more alert for sounds and a little apprehensive. They knew +Florette would come quietly, but Tom believed he could detect her +approach.</p> + +<p>After a while, they abandoned all their pretence of nonchalant +confidence and did not talk at all. Of course, they knew Florette would +come in her own good time, but the stifling atmosphere of that musty +hole and the thought of what <i>might</i> happen—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span>—</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a slight noise outside and then, to their great +relief, the unmistakable sound of footfalls on the planks above them, +softened by the thick carpet of matted vine.</p> + +<p>"Sh-h, don't speak!" Tom whispered, his heart beating rapidly. "Wait +till she unfastens it or says something."</p> + +<p>For a few seconds—a minute—they waited in breathless suspense. Then +came a slight rustle as from some disturbance of the vine, then +footfalls, again, modulated and stealthy they seemed, on the door just +above them. A speck of dirt, or an infinitesimal pebble, maybe, fell +upon Archer's head from the slight jarring of some crack in the rough +door. Then silence.</p> + +<p>Breathlessly they waited, Archer nervously clutching Tom's arm.</p> + +<p>"Don't speak," Tom warned in the faintest whisper.</p> + +<p>Still they waited. But no other sound broke upon the deathlike solitude +and darkness....</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2><h3>WHERE THERE'S A WILL——</h3> +</div> + +<p>"They're hunting for us," whispered Tom hoarsely. "It's good it was +shut."</p> + +<p>"I'd ratherr have them catch us," shivered Archer, "than die in herre."</p> + +<p>"We haven't died yet," said Tom, "and they haven't caught us either. +Don't lose your nerves. She'll come as soon as she can."</p> + +<p>For a few minutes they did not speak nor stir, only listened eagerly for +any further sound.</p> + +<p>"What do you s'pose that shot was?" Archer whispered, after a few +minutes more of keen suspense.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. A signal, maybe. They're searching this place for us, I +guess. Don't talk."</p> + +<p>Archer took comfort from Tom's calmness, and for half an hour more they +waited, silent and apprehensive. But nothing more happened, the solemn +stillness of the countryside reigned without,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> and as the time passed +their fear of pursuit and capture gave way to cold terror at the thought +of being locked in this black, stifling vault to die.</p> + +<p>What had happened? What did that shot mean, and where was it? Why did +Florette not come? Who had walked across the plank roof of that musty +prison? The fact that they could only guess at the time increased their +dread and made their dreadful predicament the harder to bear. Moreover, +the air was stale and insufficient and their heads began to ache +cruelly.</p> + +<p>"We can't stand it in here much longer," Tom confessed, after what +seemed a long period of waiting. "Pretty soon one of us will be all in +and then it'll be harder for the other. We've got to get out, no matter +what."</p> + +<p>"Therre may be a Gerrman soldierr within ten feet of us now," Archer +said. "They'rre probably around in this vineyarrd <i>somewherre</i>, anyway. +If we tried to forrce it open they'd hearr us."</p> + +<p>"We couldn't force it, anyway," Tom said.</p> + +<p>"My head's pounding like a hammerr," said Archer after a few minutes +more of silence.</p> + +<p>"Hold some of that damp straw to it.—How many matches did she give +you?"</p> + +<p>"'Bout a dozen or so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wish I had a knife.—Have you got that piece of wire yet?"</p> + +<p>"Surre I have," said Archer, hauling from his pocket about five inches +of barbed wire—the treasured memento of his escape from the Hun prison +camp. "You laughed at me for always gettin' sooveneerrs; now you see—— +What you want it for?"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h. How many barbs has it?" asked Tom in a cautious whisper.</p> + +<p>"Three."</p> + +<p>"Let's have it; give me a couple o' matches, too."</p> + +<p>Holding a lighted match under the place where he thought the iron +padlock band must be, he scrutinized the under side of the door for any +sign of it.</p> + +<p>"I thought maybe the ends of the screws would show through," he said.</p> + +<p>"What's the idea?" Archer asked. "Gee, but my head's poundin'."</p> + +<p>"If that hasp just fell over the padlock eye," Tom whispered, "and +didn't fit in like it ought to, maybe if I could bore a hole right under +it I could push it up. Don't get scared," he added impassively. "There's +another way, too; but it's a lot of work and it would make a noise. We'd +just have to settle down and take turns and dig through with the wire +barbs. I wish we had more matches. Don't get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> rattled, now. I know we're +in a dickens of a hole——"</p> + +<p>"You said something," observed Archer.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean it for a joke," said Tom soberly.</p> + +<p>"This has got the trenches beat a mile," Archer said, somewhat +encouraged by Tom's calmness and resourcefulness.</p> + +<p>Striking another match, Tom examined more carefully the area of planking +just in the middle of the side where he knew the hasp must be. He +determined the exact center as nearly as he could. While doing this he +dug his fingernails under a large splinter in the old planking and +pulled it loose. Archer could not see what he was doing, and something +deterred him from bothering his companion with questions.</p> + +<p>For a while Tom breathed heavily on the splintered fragment. Then he +tore one end of it until it was in shreds.</p> + +<p>"Let's have another match."</p> + +<p>Igniting the shredded end, he blew it deftly until the solid wood was +aflame, and by the light of it he could see that Archer was ghastly pale +and almost on the point of collapse. Their dank, unwholesome refuge +seemed the more dreadful for the light.</p> + +<p>"You got to just think about our getting out,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> Tom said, in his usual +dull manner. "We won't suffocate near so soon if we don't think about +it, and don't get rattled. We <i>got</i> to get out and so we <i>will</i> get out. +Let's have that wire."</p> + +<p>All Archer's buoyancy was gone, but he tried to take heart from his +comrade's stolid, frowning face and quiet demeanor.</p> + +<p>"We can set fire to the whole business if we have to," said Tom, "so +don't get rattled. We ain't going to die. Here, hold this."</p> + +<p>Archer held the stick, blowing upon it, while Tom heated an end of the +wire, holding the other end in some of the damp straw. As soon as it +became red hot he poked it into the place he had selected above him. It +took a long time and many heatings to burn a hole an eighth of an inch +deep in the thick planking, and their task was not made the pleasanter +by the thought that after all it was like taking a shot in the dark. It +seemed like an hour, the piece of splintered wood was burned almost +away, and what little temper there was in the malleable wire was quite +gone from it, when Tom triumphantly pushed it through the hole.</p> + +<p>"Strike anything?" Archer asked, in suspense.</p> + +<p>"No," said Tom, disappointed. He bent the wire and, as best he could, +poked it around outside. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> think I can feel it, though. Missed it by +about an inch. There's no use getting discouraged. We'll just have to +bore another one."</p> + +<p>Long afterward, Archibald Archer often recalled the patience and +doggedness which Tom displayed that night.</p> + +<p>"As long's the first hole has helped us to find something out, it's +worth while, anyway," he said philosophically.</p> + +<p>Resolutely he went to work again, like the traditional spider climbing +the wall, heating the almost limp wire and by little burnings of a +sixteenth of an inch or so at a time he succeeded in making another hole +through the heavy planking. But this time the wire encountered a +metallic obstruction. Sure enough, Tom could feel the troublesome hasp, +but alas, the wire was now too limber to push it up.</p> + +<p>"I can just joggle it a little," he said, "but it's too heavy for this +wire."</p> + +<p>However, by dint of doubling and twisting the wire, he succeeded after +many attempts and innumerable straightenings of the wire, in joggling +the stubborn hasp free from the padlock eye on which it had barely +caught.</p> + +<p>"There it goes!" he said with a note of triumph in his usually impassive +voice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span></p> + +<p>Instantly Archer's hands were against the door ready to push it up.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," whispered Tom; "don't fly off the handle. How do we +know who's wandering round? Sh-h! Think I want to run plunk into the +Prussian soldier that walked over our heads? Take your time."</p> + +<p>In his excitement Archer had forgotten that ominous tread above their +prison, and he drew back while Tom raised the door to the merest crack +and peered cautiously out. The fresh air afforded them infinite relief.</p> + +<p>The night was still and clear, the sky thick with stars. Far away a +range of black heights was outlined against the sky, and over there the +moon was rising. It seemed to be stealthily creeping up out of that +battle-scourged plain in France for a glimpse of Alsace. It was from +beyond those mountains that had come the portentous rumblings which they +had heard.</p> + +<p>"The blue Alsatian mountains," murmured Tom. "I wish we were across +them."</p> + +<p>"We'll have to go down and around if we everr get therre," Archer said.</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h!" warned Tom, putting his head out and peering about while +Archer held the lid up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span></p> + +<p>The moonlight, glinting down through the interstices of the trellised +vine, made animated shadows in the quiet vineyard, conjuring the wooden +supports and knotty masses of vine stalk into lurking human forms. Here +some grim figure waited in silence behind an upright, only to dissolve +with the changing light. There an ominous helmet seemed to stir amid the +thick growth.</p> + +<p>The two fugitives, elated at their deliverance, but tremblingly +apprehensive, stood hesitating at so radical a move as complete +emergence from their hiding place.</p> + +<p>"We can't crawl out of herre in daylight, that's surre," whispered +Archer. "D'you think maybe she'll come even now—if we waited?"</p> + +<p>"It must be long after midnight," Tom answered. "You wait here and hold +the door up while I crawl out. Don't move and don't speak. What's that +shining over there? See?"</p> + +<p>"Nothin' but an old waterring can."</p> + +<p>"All right—sh-h-h!"</p> + +<p>Cautiously, silently, Tom crept out, peering anxiously in every +direction. Stealthily he raised himself. Then suddenly he made a low +sound and with a rapidity which startled Archer, dropped to his hands +and knees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's the matterr?" Archer whispered. "Come inside—quick!"</p> + +<p>But Tom was engrossed with something on the ground.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Archer whispered anxiously. "His footprints?"</p> + +<p>"Yop," said Tom, less cautiously. "Come on out. He's standing over there +in the field now. Come on out, don't be scared."</p> + +<p>Archer did not know what to make of it, but he crept out and looked over +to the adjacent field where Tom pointed. A kindly, patient cow, one of +those they had seen before, was grazing quietly, partaking of a late +lunch in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Here's her footprint," said Tom simply. "She gave us a good scare, +anyway."</p> + +<p>"Well—I'll—be——" Archer began.</p> + +<p>"Sh-h!" warned Tom. "We don't know yet why Frenchy's sister don't come. +But there weren't any soldiers here—that's one sure thing. We had a lot +of worry for nothin'. Come on."</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2><h3>THE HOME FIRE NO LONGER BURNS</h3> +</div> + +<p>"That's the first time I was everr scarred by a cow," said Archer, his +buoyant spirit fully revived, "but when I hearrd those footsteps overr +my head, <i>go-od night</i>! It's good you happened to think about looking +for footprints, hey?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't <i>happen</i> to," said Tom. "I always do. Same as you never forget +to get a souvenir," he added soberly.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to get a sooveneerr from that cow, hey? <i>You</i> needn't talk; if +it hadn't been for that wire, where'd we be now? Sooveneerrs arre all +right. But I admit you've got to have ideas to go with 'em."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Keep the change," said Archer jubilantly. "Believe me, I don't carre +what becomes of me as long as I'm above ground—on terra cotta——"</p> + +<p>"We've got to get away from here before daylight, so come on," +interrupted Tom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are we going up to the house?"</p> + +<p>"What else can we do?"</p> + +<p>The explanation of those appalling footfalls by no means explained the +failure of Florette to keep her promise, and the fugitives started along +the path which led to the house.</p> + +<p>They walked very cautiously, Tom scrutinizing the earth-covered planking +for any sign of recent passing. The door of the stone kitchen stood +open, which surprised them, and they stole quietly inside. A lamp stood +upon the table, but there was no sign of human presence.</p> + +<p>Tom led the way on tiptoe through the passage where they had passed +before, and into the main room where another lamp revealed a ghastly +sight. The heavy shutters were closed and barred, just as Florette had +closed them when she had brought the boys into the room. Upon the floor +lay old Pierre, quite dead, with a cruel wound, as from some blunt +instrument, upon his forehead. His whitish gray hair, which had made him +look so noble and benignant, was stained with his own blood. Blood lay +in a pool about his fine old head, and the old coat which he wore had +been torn from him, showing the stump of the arm which he had so long +ago given to his beloved France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p> + +<p>Near him lay sprawled upon the floor a soldier in a gray uniform, also +dead. A little bullet wound in his temple told the tale. Beside him was +a black helmet with heavy brass chin gear. Archer picked it up with +trembling hands. Across its front was a motto:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Mitt Gott—und Vaterland</i>."</p></div> + +<p>The middle of it was obscured by the flaring German coat-of-arms. A +pistol lay midway between the two bodies and part of an old engraved +motto was still visible on that. Tom could make out the name Napoleon.</p> + +<p>"What d'you s'pose happened?" whispered Archer, aghast.</p> + +<p>Tom shook his head. "Come on," said he. "Let's look for the others."</p> + +<p>Taking the lamp, he led the way silently through the other rooms. On a +couch in one of these was laid a soldier's uniform and a loose paper +upon the floor showed that it had but lately been unwrapped. There was +no sign of Florette or her mother, and Tom felt somewhat relieved at +this, for he had feared to find them dead also.</p> + +<p>"What d'you think it means?" Archer asked again, as they returned to the +room of death.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span></p> + +<p>"I suppose they came for her just like she said," Tom answered in a low +tone. "Her father must have shot the soldier, and probably whoever +killed the old man took her and her mother away."</p> + +<p>He looked down at the white, staring face of old Pierre and thought of +how the old soldier had risen from his seat and had stood waiting with +his fine military air at the moment of his own arrival at the shadowed +and stricken home. He remembered how the old man had waited eagerly for +his daughter to translate his and Archer's talk and of his humiliation +at the shabby hospitality he must offer them. He took the helmet, a +grim-looking thing, from the table where Archer had laid it, and read +again, "Mitt Gott——"</p> + +<p>It seemed to Tom that this was all wrong—that God must surely be on the +side of old Pierre, no matter what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I think?" he said simply. "I think it was just the way +I said—and like she said. They came to get her and maybe they didn't +treat her just right, and her father hit one of them. Or maybe he shot +him first off. Anyway, I think that soldier suit must be the one Frenchy +had to wear, 'cause he told me that the boys in Alsace had to drill even +before they got out of school. I guess she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> was going to bring it to us +so one of us could wear it.... We got to feel sorry for her, that's one +sure thing."</p> + +<p>It was Tom's simple, blunt way of expressing the sympathy which surged +up in his heart.</p> + +<p>"I liked her; she treated us fine," said Archer.</p> + +<p>For a few seconds Tom did not answer; then he said in his old stolid +way, "I don't know where they took her or what they'll make her do, but +anybody could see she didn't have any muscle. Whenever I think of her +I'll fight harder, that's one sure thing."</p> + +<p>For a few moments he could hardly command himself as he contemplated +this tragic end of the broken home. Florette, whom he had seen but +yesterday, had been taken away—away from her home, probably from her +beloved Alsace, to enforced labor for the Teuton tyrant. He recalled her +slender form as she hurried through the darkness ahead of them, her +gentle apology for their poor reception, her wistful memories of her +brother as she showed them their hiding-place, her touching grief and +apprehension as she stood talking with him under the trellis....</p> + +<p>And now she was gone and awful thoughts of her peril and suffering +welled up in Tom's mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span></p> + +<p>He looked at the stark figure and white, staring face of old Pierre and +thought of the impetuous embrace the old man had given him. He thought +of his friend, Frenchy. And the mother—where was she? Good people, kind +people; trying in the menacing shadow of the detestable Teuton beast to +keep their flickering home fire burning. And this was the end of it.</p> + +<p>Most of all, he thought of Florette and her wistful, fearful look +haunted him. "<i>Maybe for ze great Krupps</i>"—the phrase lingered in his +mind and he stood there appalled at the realization of this awful, +unexplained thing which had happened.</p> + +<p>Then Tom Slade did something which his scout training had taught him to +do, while Archer, tremulous and unstrung, stood awkwardly by, watching. +He knelt down over the lifeless form of the old man and straightened the +prostrate figure so that it lay becomingly and decently upon the hard +floor. He bent the one arm and laid it across the breast in the usual +posture of dignity and peace. He took the threadbare covering from the +old melodeon and placed it over the face. So that the last service for +old Pierre Leteur was performed by an American boy; and at least the +ashes of the home fire were left in order by a scout from far across the +seas.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's part of first aid," explained Tom quietly, as he rose; "I learned +how at Temple Camp."</p> + +<p>Archer said nothing.</p> + +<p>"When a scout from Maryland died up there, I saw how they did it."</p> + +<p>"You got to thank the scouts for a lot," said Archer; "forr trackin' an' +trailin'——"</p> + +<p>"'Tain't on account of them," said Tom, his voice breaking a little, +"it's on account of her——"</p> + +<p>And he kneeled again to arrange the corner of the cloth more neatly over +the wrinkled, wounded face....</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2><h3>FLIGHT</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Anyway, we've got to get away from here quick," said Tom, pulling +himself together; "never mind about clothes or anything. One thing sure, +they'll be back here soon. See if he has a watch," he added, indicating +the dead soldier.</p> + +<p>"No, but he's got a little compass around his neck; shall I take it?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, we got a right to capture anything from the enemy."</p> + +<p>"He's got some papers, too."</p> + +<p>"All right, take 'em. Come on out through the kitchen way—hurry up. +Don't make any noise. You look for some food—I'll be with you right +away."</p> + +<p>Tom crept cautiously out to the road and, kneeling, placed his ear to +the ground. There was no sound, and he hurried back to the stone kitchen +where Archer was stuffing his pockets with such dry edibles as he could +gather.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right, come on," he whispered hurriedly. "What have you got?"</p> + +<p>"Some hard bread and a couple of salt fish——"</p> + +<p>"Give me one of those," Tom interrupted: "and hand me that tablecloth. +Come on. Got some matches?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and a candle, too."</p> + +<p>"Good. Don't strike a light. You go ahead, along the plank walk."</p> + +<p>Leaving the scene of the tragedy, they hurried along the board walk +under the trellis, Tom dragging the tablecloth so that it swept both of +the narrow planks and obliterated any suggestion of footprints. When +they had gone about fifty yards he stooped and flung the salt fish from +him so that it barely skimmed the earth and rested at some distance from +the path.</p> + +<p>"If they should have any dogs with 'em, that'll take 'em off the trail," +he said.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I didn't get you a souveneerr too," said Archer, as they +hurried along.</p> + +<p>This was the first intimation Tom had that Archer regarded the little +compass merely as a souvenir.</p> + +<p>"You can give me those papers you took," he said, half in joke.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's only an envelope," Archer said. "Have you got your button all +right?"</p> + +<p>"Sure."</p> + +<p>When they reached the wine vat, Tom threw the old tablecloth into it, +and pulled the vine more carefully so as to conceal the door. They were +tempted to rest here, but realized that if they spent the balance of the +night in their former refuge it would mean another long day in the dank +hole.</p> + +<p>The vineyard ended a few yards from the wine vat and beyond was an area +of open lowlands across which the boys could see a range of low wooded +hills.</p> + +<p>"We've got about four hours till daylight," said Tom; "let's make for +those woods."</p> + +<p>"That's east," said Archer. "<i>We</i> want to go south."</p> + +<p>"We want to see where we're going before we go anywhere," Tom answered. +"If we can get into the woods on those hills, we can climb a tree +tomorrow and see where we're at. What I want is a bird's-eye squint to +start off with, 'cause we can't ask questions of anybody."</p> + +<p>"No, and believe me, we don't want to run into any cities," said Archer. +"We got through one night anyway, hey?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span></p> + +<p>Notwithstanding that they were without shelter, and facing the +innumerable perils of a hostile country about which they knew nothing, +they still found action preferable to inaction and their spirits rose as +they journeyed on with the star-studded sky overhead.</p> + +<p>They found the meadows low and marshy, which gratified Tom who was +always fearful of leaving footprints. The hills beyond were low and +thickly wooded, the face of the nearest being broken by slides and +forming almost a precipice surmounted by a jumble of rocks and +underbrush. The country seemed wild and isolated enough.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it's the beginning of the Alps, maybe," Tom panted as they +scrambled up.</p> + +<p>"There's nobody up here, that's surre," Archer answered.</p> + +<p>"We'll just lie low till daylight and see if we can get a squint at the +country. Then tomorrow night we'll hike it south. If we go straight +south we've <i>got</i> to come to Switzerland."</p> + +<p>"It's lucky we've got the compass," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Maybe this is a ridge we're on," Tom said. "If it is, we're in luck. We +may be able to go thirty or forty miles along it. One thing sure, it'll +be more hilly the farther south we get 'cause we'll be getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> into the +beginning of the Alps. There ought to be water up here."</p> + +<p>"I wish there were some apples," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"You're always thinking about apples and souvenirs. Let's crawl in under +here."</p> + +<p>They had scrambled to the top of the precipitous ascent and found +themselves upon the broken edge of the forest amid a black chaos of +piled up rock and underbrush. Evidently, the land here was giving way, +little by little, for here and there they could see a tree canting +tipsily over the edge, its network of half-exposed roots making a last +gallant stand against the erosive process and helping to hold the weight +of the great boulders which ere long would crash down into the marshy +lowlands.</p> + +<p>They crept into a sort of leafy cave formed by a fallen tree and +stretched their weary bodies and relaxed their tense nerves after what +had seemed a nightmare.</p> + +<p>"As long as we're going to join the army," said Tom, "we might as well +make a rule now. We won't both sleep at the same time till we're out of +Germany. We got to live up to that rule no matter how tired we get."</p> + +<p>"I'm game," said Archer. "You go to sleep now and when I get good and +sleepy I'll wake you up."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span></p> + +<p>"In about two hours," said Tom. "Then you can sleep till it's light. +Then we'll see if it's safe to stay here. Keep looking in that +direction—the way we came. And if you see any lights, wake me up."</p> + +<p>Archer did not obey these directions at all, for he sat with his hands +clasped over his knees, gazing down across the dark marshland below. Two +hours, three hours, four hours, he sat there and scarcely stirred. And +as the time dragged on and there were no lights and no sounds he took +fresh courage and hope. He was beginning to realize the value of the +stolid determination, the resourcefulness, the keen eye and stealthy +foot and clear brain of the comrade who lay sleeping at his side. He had +wanted to tell Tom Slade what he thought of him and how he trusted him, +but he did not know how. So he just sat there, hour in and hour out, and +let the weary pathfinder of Temple Camp sleep until he awoke of his own +accord.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Archer then, blinking. "Nothing happened."</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2><h3>THE SOLDIER'S PAPERS</h3> +</div> + +<p>All that day they stayed in their leafy refuge. They could look down +across the marshy meadows they had crossed to the trellised vineyard of +the Leteurs, looking orderly and symmetrical in the distance like a +two-storied field, and beyond that the massive gables of the gray, +forsaken house.</p> + +<p>They could see the whole neighboring country in panorama. Other houses +were discernible at infrequent intervals along the road which wound +southward through the lowland between the hills where the boys were and +the Vosges Mountains (the "Blue Alsatian Mountains") to the west. +Through the long, daylight hours Tom studied the country carefully. Now, +as never before (for he knew how much depended on it), he watched for +every scrap of knowledge which might afford any inference or deduction +to help them in their flight.</p> + +<p>"You can see how it is," he told Archer, as they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> watched the little +compass needle, waiting for it to settle. "This is a ridge and it runs +north and south. I kind of think it's the west side of the valley of a +river, like Daggett's Hills are to Perch River up your way."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to be therre now," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather be in France," Tom answered.</p> + +<p>"Of course it'll fizzle out in places and we'll come to villages, but +there's enough woods ahead of us for us to go twenty miles tonight. +That's the way it seems to me, anyway."</p> + +<p>Once Tom ventured out on hands and knees into the woods in quest of +water, and returned with the good news that he had had a refreshing +drink from a brook to which he directed Archer.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what this is?" he said, emptying an armful of weeds on the +ground. "It's chicory. If I dared to build a fire I could make you a +good imitation of coffee with that. But we can eat the roots, anyway. +Now I remember it used to be in the geography in school about so much +chicory growing in the Alps——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Ebeneezerr!" shouted Archer, much to Tom's alarm. "I'm glad you +said that 'cause it reminds me about the mussels."</p> + +<p>"The <i>what</i>?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span></p> + +<p>"'The mountain streams abound with the pearrl-bearing mussels which are +a staple article of diet with the Alpine natives,'" quoted Archer in +declamatory style. "I had to write that two hundred and fifty times f'rr +whittlin' a hole in the desk——"</p> + +<p>"I s'pose you were after a souvenir," said Tom dryly.</p> + +<p>"Firrst I wrote it once 'n' then I put two hundred and forty-nine ditto +marrks. <i>Ebenezerr!</i> Wasn't the teacherr mad! I had to write it two +hundred and fifty times f'rr vandalism and two hundred and fifty morre +f'rr insolence."</p> + +<p>"Served you right," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess you weren't such an angel in school either!" said Archer. +"I'll never forget about those pearrl-bearing mussels as long as I +live—you can bet!"</p> + +<p>Tom separated the chicory roots from the stalks and Archer went to wash +them in the stream. In a little while he returned with a triumphant +smile all over his round, freckled face and half a dozen mussels in his +cupped hands.</p> + +<p>"<i>Now</i> what have you got to say, huh? It's good I whittled that desk and +was insolent—you can bet!"</p> + +<p>Tom's practical mind did not quite appreciate this line of reasoning, +but he was glad enough to see the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> mussels, the very look of which was +cool and refreshing.</p> + +<p>"I always said I had no use for geographies except to put mustaches and +things on the North Pole explorers and high hats on Columbus and Henry +Hudson, but, believe <i>me</i>, I'm glad I remembered about those +pearrl-bearing mussels—hey, Slady? I hope the Alpine natives don't take +it into their heads to come up herre afterr any of 'em just now. I just +rooted around in the mud and got 'em. Look at my hand, will you?"</p> + +<p>They made a sumptuous repast of wet, crisp chicory roots and +"pearrl-bearing mussels" as Archer insisted upon calling them, although +they found no pearls. The meal was refreshing and not half bad. There +was a pleasant air of stealth and cosiness about the whole thing, lying +there in their leafy refuge in the edge of the woods with the Alsatian +country stretched below them. Perhaps it was the mussels out of the +geography (to quote Archer's own phrase) as well as the sense of +security which came as the uneventful hours passed, but as the twilight +gathered they enjoyed a feeling of safety, and their hope ran high. They +had found, as the scout usually finds, that Nature was their friend, +never withholding her bounty from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> him who seeks and uses his +resourcefulness and brains.</p> + +<p>All through the long afternoon they could distinguish heavy army wagons +with dark spots on their canvas sides (the flaring, arrogant German +crest which allied soldiers had grown to despise) moving northward along +the distant road. They looked almost like toy wagons. Sometimes, when +the breeze favored, they could hear the rattle of wheels and +occasionally a human voice was faintly audible. And all the while from +those towering heights beyond came the spent, muffled booming.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know just what's going on over there," Tom said as he gazed +at the blue heights. "Maybe those wagons down there on the road have +something to do with it. If there's a big battle going on they may be +bringing back wounded and prisoners.—Some of our own fellers might be +in 'em."</p> + +<p>They tried to determine about where, along that far-flung line, the +sounds arose, but they could only guess at it.</p> + +<p>"All I know is what I hearrd 'em say in the prison camp," said Archer; +"that our fellers are just the otherr side of the mountains."</p> + +<p>"That would be Nancy," said Tom thoughtfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span></p> + +<p>"That Loquet feller that got capturred in a raid," Archer said, "told me +the Americans were all around therre, just the otherr side of the +mountains—in a lot of differrent villages: When they get through +training they send 'em ahead to the trenches. Some of 'em have been in +raids already, he said."</p> + +<p>"You have to run like everything in a raid," said Tom. "I'd like to be +in one, wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Depends on which way I was running.—Let's have a look at these paperrs +before it gets too darrk, hey?" he added, hauling from his pocket the +papers which he had taken from the dead Boche. "I neverr thought about +'em till just now?"</p> + +<p>"I thought about it," said Tom, who indeed seldom forgot anything, "but +I didn't say anything about it 'cause it kind of makes me think about +what happened—I mean how they took her away," he added, in his dull +way.</p> + +<p>For a minute they sat silently gazing down at the vineyard which was now +touched with the first crimson rays of sunset.</p> + +<p>"You can just see the chimney," Tom said; "see, just left of that big +tree.—I hope I don't see Frenchy any more now 'cause I wouldn't like to +have to tell him——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span></p> + +<p>"We don't know what happened," said Archer. "Maybe therre werren't any +otherr soldierrs; she may have escaped—and her motherr, too."</p> + +<p>"It's more likely there <i>were</i> others, though," said Tom. "I keep +thinking all the time how scared she was and it kind of——"</p> + +<p>"Let's look at the papers," said Archer.</p> + +<p>The German soldier must have been a typical Boche, for he carried with +him the customary baggage of written and statistical matter with which +these warriors sally forth to battle.</p> + +<p>"He must o' been a walking correspondence school," said Archer, +unfolding the contents of the parchment envelope. "Herre's a list—all +in German. Herre's some poetry—or I s'pose it's poetry, 'cause it's +printed all in and out."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it's a hymn of hate," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Herre's a map, and herre's a letter. All in Gerrman—even the map. +Anyway, I can't understand it."</p> + +<p>"Looks like a scout astronomy chart," said Tom. "It's all dots like the +big dipper."</p> + +<p>"Do you s'pose it means they're going to conquer the sky and all the +starrs and everything?" Archer asked. "Here's a letter, it's dated about +two weeks ago—I can make out the numbers all right."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span></p> + +<p>The letter was in German, of course, and Archer, who during his long +incarceration in the prison camp had picked up a few scraps of the +language, fell to trying to decipher it. The only reward he had for his +pains was a familiar word which he was able to distinguish here and +there and which greatly increased their desire to know the full purport +of the letter.</p> + +<p>"Herre's President Wilson's name.—See!" said Archer excitedly. "And +herre's <i>America</i>——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and there it is again," said Tom. "That must be <i>Yankees</i>, see? +Something or other Yankees. It's about a mile long."</p> + +<p>"Jim-min-nitty!" said Archer, staring at the word (presumably a +disparaging adjective) which preceded the word <i>Yankees</i>. "It's got +one—two—three—wait a minute—it's got thirty-seven letters to it. +<i>Go-o-od night</i>!"</p> + +<p>"And that must be Arracourt," said Tom. "I heard about that place—it +ain't so far from Nancy. Gee, I wish we could read that letter!"</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know what kind of a Yankee a b-l-o-e——"</p> + +<p>But Archer gave it up in despair.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2><h3>THE SCOUT THROUGH ALSACE</h3> +</div> + +<p>As soon as it was dark they started southward, following the ridge. +Their way took them up hill and down dale, through rugged uplands where +they had to travel five miles to advance three, picking their way over +the trackless, rocky heights which formed the first foothills of the +mighty Alps.</p> + +<p>"S'pose we should meet some one?" Archer suggested, as he followed Tom's +lead over the rocky ledges.</p> + +<p>"Not up here," said Tom. "You can see lights way off south and maybe +we'll have to pass through some villages tomorrow night, but not +tonight. We'll only do about twelve miles tonight if it keeps up like +this."</p> + +<p>"S'pose somebody should see us—when we'rre going through a village? +We'll tell him we'rre herre to back the Kaiser, hey?"</p> + +<p>"S'pose he's a Frenchman that belongs in Alsace," Tom queried.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then we'll add on <i>out o' France</i>. We'll say—look out for that +rock!—We'll just say we'rre herre to back the Kaiser, and if he looks +sourr we'll say; <i>out o' France. Back the Kaiser out o' France</i>. We win +either way, see? A fellerr in prison told me General Perrshing wants a +lot of men with glass eyes—to peel onions. Look out you don't trip on +that root! Herre's anotherr. If you'rre under sixteen what part of the +arrmy do they put you in? The infantry, of course. Herre's——"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," laughed Tom. "Look where you're stepping."</p> + +<p>"What I'm worrying about now," said Archer, his spirits mounting as they +made their way southward, "is how we're going to cross the frontierr +when we get to it. They've got a big tangled fence of barrbed wirre all +along, even across the mountains, to where the battleline cuts in. And +it's got a good juicy electric current running through it all the time. +If you just touch it—good night!"</p> + +<p>"I got an idea," said Tom simply.</p> + +<p>"If I could get a piece of that electrified wirre for a souveneerr," +mused Archer, "I'd——"</p> + +<p>"You'll have a broken head for a souvenir in a minute," said Tom, "if +you don't watch where you're going."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span></p> + +<p>"Gee, you've got eyes in your feet," said Archer admiringly.</p> + +<p>"Whenever you see a fallen tree," said Tom, "look out for holes. It +means the earth is thin and weak all around and couldn't hold the +roots."</p> + +<p>"It ought to drink buttermilk, hey?" said Archer flippantly, "if it's +thin and pale."</p> + +<p>"I said thin and weak," said Tom. "Do you ever get tired talking?"</p> + +<p>"Sure—same as a phonograph record does."</p> + +<p>So they plodded on, encircling areas of towering rock or surmounting +them when they were not too high, and always working southward. Tom, who +was not unaccustomed to woods and mountains, thought he had never before +traversed such a chaotic wilderness. He would have given a good deal for +a watch and for some means of knowing how much actual distance they were +covering. It was slow, tiresome work.</p> + +<p>Every little while he would check their course by the little compass, to +see which he often had to light one of their few precious matches.</p> + +<p>"One thing surre, we won't meet anybody up herre," said Archer, as he +scrambled along. "See those little lights over to the east?"</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," said Tom, "that's twenty miles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> away. We're all right up +here. There were some lights further down too and one over that way but +I can't see them now. I guess it's after midnight. Sh-h-h. Listen!"</p> + +<p>They stood stark still, Archer gripping Tom's arm.</p> + +<p>"It's water trickling," said Tom dully.</p> + +<p>"Gee, you had the life scared out of me!" breathed Archer.</p> + +<p>A little farther on they came to an abrupt, rocky declivity which +crossed their course and in the bottom of which was a swift running +stream.</p> + +<p>"It's running east," said Tom, listening intently. "I can tell by the +ripples."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you can!" said Archer contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Sure I can," Tom answered. He held his hand first to his right ear, +then to his left. "The long, washy sound comes first when you close your +left ear, so I know the water's flowing that way. It's easy," he added.</p> + +<p>They kept along the precipitous brink, searching for a place to descend +and at last scrambled down and into the shallow stream.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you so?" said Tom, laying a twig in the water and +watching it as best he could in the dim light. "What's on the east of +Alsace, anyway?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span></p> + +<p>"Another parrt of Gerrmany—Baden," Archer answered.</p> + +<p>"I was wondering where this stream goes," Tom said; "let's walk along in +it a little way and go up at a different place. They can't track you in +the water."</p> + +<p>"I bet <i>you</i> could," said Archer admiringly.</p> + +<p>"Let's have a drink and give me a couple of those chicory roots, and +I'll show you something," Tom said.</p> + +<p>From each chicory root he cut a plug such as one cuts to test the flavor +of a watermelon. Then he soaked the roots in the stream. "The inside's +softer than the outside," he said, "and it holds the water." After a few +moments he replaced the plugs. "Even tomorrow," he added, "they'll be +fresh and cool and they'll quench your thirst. Carrots are best but we +haven't got any carrots."</p> + +<p>About fifty yards down stream they turned out of it and scrambled up a +less abrupt hillside and into an area of more or less orderly forest.</p> + +<p>"Maybe it's the Black Forest," said Archer; "anyway it's black enough. +Look around and you'll probably see some toys—jumping-jacks and things. +'Most all the toys like that arre made in the Black Forest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not here," said Tom; "we won't find anybody in here."</p> + +<p>They were indeed entering the less densely wooded region which formed +the extreme northern reaches of that mountainous wilderness famed in +song and story as the Black Forest. Even here, where it fizzled out on +the eastern edge of Alsace, the world-renowned fragrance of its dark and +stately fir trees was wafted to them out of the wild and solemn recesses +they were approaching.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had a map," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"We ought to be thankful we've got the compass. If this <i>is</i> the Black +Forest, you can bet I'm going to get a sooveneer. Gee, isn't it dark! It +smells good though, believe <i>me</i>."</p> + +<p>They passed on now over land comparatively level, the soft, fragrant +needles yielding under their feet, the tall cone-like trees diffusing +their resiny, pungent odor. It seemed as if the war must be millions of +miles away. The silence was deathlike and the occasional crunching of a +cone under their feet startled them as they groped their way in the +heavy darkness.</p> + +<p>"That looks like an oak ahead," said Archer. "You can see the branches +sticking out——"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h," said Tom, grasping his arm suddenly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> and speaking in a tense +whisper. "Look—right under it—don't move——"</p> + +<p>Archer looked intently and under the low spreading branches he saw a +human form with something shiny upon its head. As the two boys paused, +awestruck and shaking, it moved ever so slightly.</p> + +<p>The fugitives stood rooted to the ground, breathing in quick, short +gasps, their hearts pounding in their breasts.</p> + +<p>"He didn't see us," whispered Tom, in the faintest whisper. "Wait till +there's a breeze and get behind a tree."</p> + +<p>When presently the breeze rustled in the tress the two moved cautiously +behind two trees.</p> + +<p>And the silent figure moved also....</p> + + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-002" id="illus-002"></a> +<img src='images/illus-078.jpg' alt='"SH-H-H." SAID TOM IN A TENSE WHISPER. "LOOK--DON'T MOVE." Page 78' title='' width = '300' height = '470'/><br /> +<span class='caption'>"SH-H-H." SAID TOM IN A TENSE WHISPER. "LOOK—DON'T MOVE. Page 78"</span> +</div> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2><h3>THE DANCE WITH DEATH</h3> +</div> + +<p>The boys were thoroughly frightened, but they stood absolutely +motionless and silent and Tom, at least, retained his presence of mind. +They were not close enough together to communicate with each other, nor +could they more than distinguish each other's forms pressed against the +dark tree trunks.</p> + +<p>But the figure, being comparatively in the open, was discernible and +Tom, by concentrating his eyes upon it, satisfied himself beyond a doubt +that it was a human form—that of a German soldier, he felt sure.</p> + +<p>Thanks to his stealth and dexterity, they were apparently undiscovered. +He tried to distinguish the bright spot on the cap or helmet, but it was +not visible now, and he thought the man must have turned about.</p> + +<p>In his alarm it seemed to him that his breathing must be audible miles +away. His heart seemed in his throat and likely to choke him with every +fresh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> breath. But he did not stir. Then another little breeze stirred +the trees, sounding clear and solemn in the stillness and Tom moved ever +so slightly in unison with it, hoping by changing his angle of vision to +catch a better glimpse. He could see the bright spot now, the grim +figure standing directly facing him in ghostly silence.</p> + +<p>No one moved. And there was no sound save the half audible rustle of +some tiny creature of the night as it hurried over the cushiony ground.</p> + +<p>What did it mean? Who was it, standing there? Some grim Prussian +sentinel? Had they, in this remote wilderness, stumbled upon some +obscure pass which the all-seeing eye of German militarism had not +forgotten? Was there, after all, any hope of escape from these demons of +efficiency?</p> + +<p>Archer, his chest literally aching from his throbbing breaths, crowded +close behind his tree trunk in terror, startled by every fresh stir of +the fragrant breeze. It seemed to him, as he looked, that the figure +danced a trifle, but doubtless that was only his tense nerves and +blinking eyes playing havoc with his imagination.</p> + +<p>There was another rustling in the trees, caused by the freshening night +breeze which Tom thought smelt of rain. And again the silent figure +veered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> around with a kind of mechanical precision, the very perfection +of clock-work German discipline, as if to give each point of the compass +its allotted moment of attention.</p> + +<p>Tom strained his eyes, trying to discover whether that lonely sentinel +were standing in a path or where two paths crossed or where some favored +view might be had of something far off in the country below. But he +could make out nothing.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he noticed something large and black among the trees. Its +outline was barely discernible against the less solid blackness of the +night, and it was obscured by the dark tree branches. But as he looked +he thought he could see that it terminated in a little dome, like the +police telephone booths on the street corners away home in Bridgeboro. A +tiny guardhouse, possibly, or shelter for the solitary sentinel. +Perhaps, he thought, this was, after all, a strategic spot which they +had unconsciously stumbled into; a secret path to the frontier, maybe.</p> + +<p>He remembered now the talk he had heard in the prison camp, of Germany's +building roads through obscure places in the direction of the Swiss +border for the violation of Swiss neutrality if that should be thought +necessary. These roads were shrouded in mystery, but he had heard about +them and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> thought occurred to him that perhaps these poor Alsatian +people—women and children—were being taken to work on these avenues of +betrayal and dishonor.</p> + +<p>But try as he would, he could discern no suggestion of path, nor any +other sign of landmark which might explain the presence of this remote +station in the desolate uplands of Alsace. He believed that if they had +taken five steps more they would have been discovered and challenged. +How to withdraw out of the very jaws of this peril was now the question. +He feared that Archer might make an incautious move and end all hope of +escape.</p> + +<p>Tom watched the solitary figure through the heavy darkness. And he +marvelled, as he had marvelled before, at the machine-like perfection of +these minions of the Iron Hand. Even in the face of their awful danger +and amid the solemnity of the black night, the odd thought came to him +that this stiff form turning about like a faithful and tireless +weathercock to peer into the darkness roundabout, might be indeed a huge +carved toy fresh from the quaint handworkers of the Black Forest.</p> + +<p>As he gazed he was sure that this lonely watcher danced a step or two. +No laughter or sign of merriment accompanied the grim jig, but he was +sure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> that the solitary German tripped, ever so lightly, with a kind of +stiff grace. Then the freshening breeze blew Tom's rebellious hair down +over his eyes, and as he brushed it aside he saw the German indeed +dancing—there was no doubt of it.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a cold shudder ran through him and he stepped out from his +concealment as he realized that this uncanny figure was not standing but +<i>hanging</i> just clear of the ground.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2><h3>THE PRIZE SAUSAGE</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Come on out, Archy," said Tom with a recklessness which struck terror +to poor Archer's very soul. "He won't hurt you—he's dead."</p> + +<p>"D-e-a-d!" ejaculated Archer.</p> + +<p>"Sure—he's hanging there."</p> + +<p>"And all the time I wanted to sneeze," said Archer, laughing in his +reaction from fear. "Ebe-nee-zerr, but I had a good scarre!"</p> + +<p>Going over to the tree, they saw the ghastly truth. A man wearing a +garment something like a Russian blouse, but of the field-gray military +shade of the Germans (as well as the boys could make out by the aid of a +lighted match) was hanging by his garment which had caught in a low +spreading branch of the tree. His feet were just clear of the ground and +as the breeze blew he swayed this way and that, the gathering strain +upon his garment behind the neck throwing his limp head forward and +giving his shoulders a hunched appearance, quite in the manner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> of the +clog dancer. The German emblem was blazoned upon his blouse and +superimposed in shining metal upon the front of his fatigue cap. Even as +they paused before him he seemed to bow perfunctorily as if bidding them +a ghastly welcome.</p> + +<p>Tom's scout instinct impelled him instantly to fall upon the ground in +search of enlightening footprints, but there were none and this puzzled +him greatly. He felt sure that the man had not been strangled, but had +been killed by impact with some heavier branch higher up in the tree; +but he must have made footprints before he climbed the tree, and——</p> + +<p>Suddenly he jumped to his feet, remembering what he had thought to be a +guardhouse. It lay a hundred or more feet beyond the dangling body and +as they neared it it lost its sentinel-station aspect altogether.</p> + +<p>"Well—what—do you—know about that?" said Archer.</p> + +<p>"It's an observation balloon, I'll bet," said Tom. "A Boche sausage! +Look for another man before you do anything else—there's always two. If +he's around anywhere we might get into trouble yet."</p> + +<p>It was a wise thought and characteristic of Tom, but the other man was +quite beyond human aid. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> lay, mangled out of all semblance to a human +being, amid the tangled wreckage of the car.</p> + +<p>The fat cigar-shaped envelope of the balloon stood almost upright, and +though it looked not the least like a police telephone station now, it +was easy to see how, from a distance in the dim light, it might have +suggested a little round domed building.</p> + +<p>"How do you s'pose it happened?" Archer asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Tom. "It's an observation balloon, that's sure. +Maybe it was on its way back from the lines to somewhere or other. Hurry +up, let's see what there is; it'll be daylight in two or three hours and +we don't want to be hanging around here. They might send a rescue party +or something like that, if they know about it."</p> + +<p>"Morre likely they don't," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I guess it only happened tonight," said Tom, "or more gas would have +leaked out. Let's hunt for the eats and things."</p> + +<p>The wreckage of the car proved a veritable treasure-house. There was a +flashlight and a telescopic field glass, both of which Tom snatched up +with an eagerness which could not have been greater if they had been +made of solid gold. In the smashed locker were two good-sized tins of +biscuit, a bottle of wine and several small tins of meat. Tom emptied +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> the wine and filled the bottle with water out of the five-gallon +tank, from which they also refreshed their parched throats. The food +they "commandeered" to the full capacity of their ragged pockets.</p> + +<p>"And look at this," said Archer, hauling out a blouse such as the +hanging German wore; "what d'ye say if I wearr it, hey? And the cap, +too? I'll look like an observation ballooner, or whatever you call 'em."</p> + +<p>"Good idea," said Tom, "and look!"</p> + +<p>"A souveneerr?" cried Archer.</p> + +<p>"The best <i>you</i> ever saw," Tom answered, rooting in the engine tool +chest by the aid of the flashlight and hauling out a pair of rubber +gloves.</p> + +<p>"What good are those?" said Archer, somewhat scornfully.</p> + +<p>"<i>What good!</i> They're a passport into Switzerland."</p> + +<p>"Do you have to wear rubber gloves in Switzerland?" Archer asked +innocently, as he ravenously munched a biscuit.</p> + +<p>"No, but you have to wear 'em when you're handling electrified wire," +said Tom in his stolid way.</p> + +<p>"G-o-o-d <i>night</i>! We fell in soft, didn't we!"</p> + +<p>Indeed, for a couple of hapless, ragged wanderers, subsisting wholly by +their wits, they had "fallen in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> soft." It seemed that the very things +needed by two fugitives in a hostile country were the very things needed +in an observation balloon. One unpleasant task Tom had to perform, and +that was to remove the blouse from the hanging German and don it +himself, which he did, not without some shuddering hesitation.</p> + +<p>"It's the only thing," he said, "that would make anybody think +somebody's been here, and that's just what we've got to look out for. +The other things won't be missed, but if anybody should come here and +see him hanging there without his coat they'd wonder where it was."</p> + +<p>However, this was a remote danger, since probably no one knew of the +disaster.</p> + +<p>Tom's chief difficulty was in restricting that indefatigable souvenir +hunter, Archer, from loading himself down with every conceivable kind of +useless but interesting paraphernalia.</p> + +<p>"You're just like a tenderfoot when he starts out camping," said Tom. +"He takes fancy cushions and a lot of stuff; he'd take a brass bed and a +rolltop desk and a couple of pianos if you'd let him," he added, with +rather more humor than he usually showed. "All we're going to take is +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> biscuits and two cans of meat and the flashlight and the field +glass and the bottle, and, let's see——"</p> + +<p>"I don't have to leave this dandy ivory cigar-holderr, do I?" Archer +interrupted. "We could use it for——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you do, and we're going to leave that cartridge belt, too, so +chuck it," ordered Tom. "If anybody <i>should</i> come up here we don't want +'em to think somebody else was here before 'em. All we're going to take +is just what I said—some of the eats, and the flashlight and the field +glass and the bottle and the rubber gloves and the pliers and—that's +all."</p> + +<p>"Not even this dial-faced thing?" pleaded Archer.</p> + +<p>"That's a gas gauge or something," said Tom. "Come on now, let's get +away from here."</p> + +<p>Archer pointed the flashlight and cast a lingering farewell gaze upon a +large megaphone. For a brief moment he had wild thoughts of trying to +persuade Tom that this would prove a blessing as a hat, shedding the +pelting Alsatian rains like a church steeple. But he did not quite +dare.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2><h3>A RISKY DECISION</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Did you notice that Victrola?" Archer asked fondly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was busted; did you want that, too?"</p> + +<p>"We might have used the arm for a chimney if we were building a fire," +Archer ventured.</p> + +<p>"We'd look nice crawling through these mountains with a Victrola in our +arms. The Fritzies always have a lot of that kind of junk with 'em. They +had one on the submarine that picked me up that time."</p> + +<p>They were both now clad in the semi-military blouses worn by the German +"sausage men" and felt that to a casual observer at least they were +disguised. It gave them a feeling of security even in these unfrequented +highlands. And their little store of food refreshed their spirits and +gave them new hope.</p> + +<p>What cheered Tom most of all was his precious possession, the rubber +gloves, a detail of equipment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> which every gas-engine mechanic is pretty +sure to have, though, he regarded the discovery as a rare find. He was +thankful to have found them, for the terrific deadly current which he +knew rushed through the formidable wire entanglement along the frontier +had haunted him and baffled his wits. It was characteristic of Tom to +think and plan far ahead.</p> + +<p>All the next day they journeyed through the hills, making a long detour +to avoid a hamlet, and meeting no one. And at night, under the +close-knit shelter of a great pine tree, they rested their weary bodies +and ate the last of their meat and biscuits.</p> + +<p>When Tom roused Archer in the morning it was to show him a surprising +view. From their wooded height they could look down across a vast tract +of open country which extended eastward as far as they could see, +running north and south between steep banks. Converging toward it out of +the hills they had followed, they could see a bird's-eye panorama of the +broadening streams, the trickling beginnings of which they had forded +and drunk from, and their eyes followed the majestic water southward +until it wound away among the frowning heights which they had all but +entered.</p> + +<p>"It's the Rhine," said Archer, "and that's the real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> Black Forest where +it goes. Those mountains are in Baden; now I know."</p> + +<p>"Didn't I say there must be a big river over that way?" said Tom. "I +knew from the way that ridge went. It's a big one, huh?"</p> + +<p>"You said it! Maybe that twig you threw in to see which way it went is +floating down the Rhine now. They'll use it in the Black Forest to make +a toy out of, maybe."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose you'd like to have it for a souvenir."</p> + +<p>"If we could make a raft we could sail right down, hey?" queried Archer +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>Tom shook his head. "It must pass through big cities," he said, "and +we're safe in the mountains. Anyway, it flows the other way," he added.</p> + +<p>It was not difficult now for them to piece out a fairly accurate map of +the locality about them. They were indeed near the eastern edge of +Alsace where the Rhine, flowing in a northeasterly direction, separates +the "lost province" from the Duchy of Baden. To the south, on the Baden +side, the mighty hills rolled away in crowding confusion as far as they +could see, and these they knew held that dim, romantic wilderness, the +Black Forest, the outskirts of which they had entered.</p> + +<p>Directly below the hill on which they rested was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> a tiny hamlet nestling +in the shadow of the steep ascent, and when Tom climbed a tree for a +better view he could see to the southwest close by the river a surging +metropolis with countless chimneys sending their black smoke up into the +gray early morning sky.</p> + +<p>"I bet it's Berrlin," shouted Archer. "Gee, we'll be the firrst to get +therre, hey? It might be Berrlin, hey?" he added with less buoyancy, +seeing Tom's dry smile.</p> + +<p>"It might be New York or Philadelphia," said Tom, "only it ain't. I +guess it must be Strassbourg. I heard that was the biggest place in +Alsace."</p> + +<p>They looked at it through their field glass and decided that it was +about twenty miles distant. More to the purpose was the little hamlet +scarce half a mile below them, for their provisions were gone and as Tom +scanned the country with the glass he could see no streams to the +southward converging toward the river. He feared to have to go another +twenty-four hours, perhaps, without food and water.</p> + +<p>"We got to decide another thing before we go any farther, too," he said. +"If we're going to hike into those mountains we've got to cross the +river and we'll be outside of Alsace. We won't meet any French people +and Frenchy's button won't do us any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> good over there. But if we stay on +this side we've got to go through open country. I don't know which is +better."</p> + +<p>They were indeed at a point where they must choose between the doubtful +hospitality of Alsace and the safe enveloping welcome of the mountain +fastnesses. Like the true scout he was, Tom inclined to the latter.</p> + +<p>"Do you notice," he said, looking down through the glass, "that house +that looks as if it was whitewashed? It's far away from the others."</p> + +<p>Archer took the glass and looking down saw a little white house with a +heavy roof of thatch. A tipsy, ramshackle fence surrounded it and in the +enclosure several sheep were grazing. The whole poor farm, if such it +was, was at the end of a long rustic overgrown lane and quite a distance +from the cluster of houses which constituted the hamlet. By scrambling +down the rugged hillside one could reach this house without entering the +hamlet at all.</p> + +<p>"If I dared, I'd make the break," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Suppose they should be Gerrmans living therre?" Archer suggested. "I +wouldn't risk it. Can't you see therre's a German flag on a flagpole?"</p> + +<p>"That's just it," said Tom. "If I knew they were French people I could +show them Frenchy's button.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> If I was sure this uniform, or whatever you +call it, was all right, I'd take a chance."</p> + +<p>"It's all right at a distance, anyway," Archer encouraged; "as long as +nobody can see yourr face or speak to you."</p> + +<p>It was a pretty risky business and both realized it. After three days of +successful flight to run into the very jaws of recapture by an +ill-considered move was not at all to Tom's liking, yet he felt sure +that it would be equally risky to penetrate into that dark wilderness +which stretched away toward the Swiss border without first ascertaining +something of its extent and character, and what the prospect was of +getting through it unseen. Moreover, they were hungry.</p> + +<p>Yet it was twilight and the distant river had become a dark ribbon and +the outlines of the poor houses below them blurred and indistinct in the +gathering darkness before Tom could bring himself to re-enter the haunts +of men.</p> + +<p>"You stay here," he said, "and I'll go down and pike around. There's one +thing, that house is very old and people don't move around here like +they do in America. So if I see anything that makes me think the house +is French then probably the people are French too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span></p> + +<p>It was a sensible thought, more dependable indeed than Tom imagined, for +in poor Alsace and Lorraine, of all places, people who loved their homes +enough to remain in them under foreign despotism would probably continue +living in them generation after generation. There is no moving day in +Europe.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2><h3>HE WHO HAS EYES TO SEE</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was quite dark when Tom scrambled down and, with his heart beating +rapidly, stole cautiously across the hubbly ground toward the +dilapidated brush fence which enclosed the place. The disturbing thought +occurred to him that where there were sheep there was likely to be a +dog, but he would not turn back.</p> + +<p>He realized that he was gambling with those hard-won days of freedom, +that any minute he might be discovered and seized. But the courage which +his training as a scout had given him did not forsake him, and he +crossed the fence and stealthily approached the house, which was hardly +more than a whitewashed cabin with two small windows, one door and a +disheveled roof, entirely too big for it as it seemed to Tom. The odd +conceit occurred to him that it ought to be brushed and combed like a +shocky head of hair. Within there was a dim light, and protecting each +window was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> rough board shutter, hinged at the top and held open at an +angle by a stick.</p> + +<p>He crept cautiously up and examined these shutters with minutest care. +He even felt of one of them and found it to be old and rotten. Then he +felt to see if his precious button was safe in his pocket.</p> + +<p>Evidently the dilapidated shutter suggested something to him, for he +glanced about as if looking for something else, and seemed encouraged. +Now he stole a quick look this way or that to anticipate the approach of +any one, and then looked carefully about again.</p> + +<p>At last his eyes lit upon the flagpole which was projected diagonally +from the house, with the flag, which he knew must be the German flag, +depending from it. The distant sight of this flag had quite discouraged +Archer's hopes, but Tom knew that the compulsory display of the Teuton +colors was no indication of the sentiment of the people.</p> + +<p>He was more interested in the rough, home-made flagpole which he +ventured to bend a little so as to bring its end within reach. This he +examined with a care entirely disproportionate to the importance of the +crude, whittled handiwork. He pushed the drooping flag aside rather +impatiently as it fell over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> his face, and felt of the end of the pole +and scrutinized it as best he could in the darkness.</p> + +<p>It was roughly carved and intended to be ornamental, swelling into a +kind of curved ridge surmounted by a dull, dome-like point. He felt it +all over, then cautiously bending the pole down within reach of his +mouth, he bit into the wood and deposited the two or three loose +splinters in his pocket.</p> + +<p>Then he hurried back up the hill to rejoin Archer.</p> + +<p>"Let me have the flashlight," he said with rather more excitement than +he often showed. And he would say no more till he had examined the +little splinter of wood in its glare.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," he said; "we're safe in going there. See this? It's a +splinter from the flagpole——"</p> + +<p>"A souveneerr!" Archer interrupted.</p> + +<p>"There you go again," said Tom. "Who's talking about souvenirs? See how +white and fresh the wood is—look. That's off the end of the pole where +it's carved into kind of a fancy topknot. And it was whittled inside of +a year."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> could whittle it inside of an hour," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I mean it was whittled not longer than a year ago, 'cause even the +weather hasn't got into it yet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> And it's whittled like a +fleur-de-lis—kind of," Tom added triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you bring the whole of it?"</p> + +<p>"When they were building the shacks at Temple Camp," said Tom, "there +was a carpenter who was a Frenchman. I was good friends with him and he +told me a lot of stuff. He always had some wine in his dinner pail. He +showed me how French carpenters nail shingles. Instead of keeping the +nails in their mouths like other carpenters do, they keep them up their +sleeves and they can drop them down into their hands one by one as fast +as they need them. They hit 'em four times instead of two—do you know +why?"</p> + +<p>"To drive 'em in," suggested Archer.</p> + +<p>"'Cause in France they don't have cedar shingles, like we do; they have +shingles made out of hard wood. And they get so used to hitting the nail +four raps that they can't stop it—that's what he said."</p> + +<p>"Here's another one," said Archer. "You can't drive a nail with a +sponge—no matter how you soak it."</p> + +<p>"He told me some other things, too," said Tom, ignoring Archer's +flippancy. "He used to talk to me while he was eating his lunch. The way +he got started telling me about the different way they do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> things in +Europe was when he put the shutters on the big shack. He put the hinges +at the top 'cause that's always the way they do in France. He said in +Italy they put 'em on the left side. In America they put them on the +right side—except when they have two.</p> + +<p>"So when I saw the shutters on that old house I happened to notice that +the hinges were at the top and that made me think it was probably a +Frenchman's home."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it isn't now even if it was when the shutterrs werre made," said +Archer skeptically.</p> + +<p>"Then I happened to remember something else that man told me. Maybe you +think the fleur-de-lis is only a fancy kind of an emblem, but it ain't. +He told me the old monks that used to carve things—no matter what they +carved you could always find a cross, or something like a cross in it. +'Cause they <i>think</i> that way, see? The same as sailors always tattoo +fishes and ships and things on their arms. He said some places in the +Black Forest the toymakers are French peasants and you can always tell +if a fancy thing is carved by them on account of the shape of the +fleur-de-lis. It ain't that they do it on purpose," he added; "it's +because it's in their heads, like. They don't always make regular +fleur-de-lis,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> but they make that kind of curves. He told me a lot about +Napoleon, too," he added irrelevantly.</p> + +<p>"So when I happened to think about that, I looked around to see if I +could find anything to prove it, kind of. It don't make any difference +if the German flag <i>is</i> on that pole; they've <i>got</i> to do that. When I +saw the topknot was carved kind of like a fleur-de-lis I knew French +people must have made it. And it was only carved lately, too," he added +simply, "'cause the wood is fresh."</p> + +<p>"Gee whillicums, but you're a peach, Slady!" said Archer ecstatically. +"Shall we take a chance?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I don't know for sure," Tom added, "but we've got to go by +signs—just like Indian signs along a trail. If you pick up an old flint +arrowhead you know you're on an Indian trail."</p> + +<p>"Christopherr <i>Columbus!</i> But I'd like to find one of those arrowheads +now!" said Archer.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2><h3>THE WEAVER OF MERNON</h3> +</div> + +<p>But for all these fine deductions, you are not to suppose that Tom and +Archer approached the little house without trepidation. The nearer they +came to it the less dependable seemed Tom's theory.</p> + +<p>"It might be all right in a story book," Archer said, backsliding into +dismal apprehensions. But before he had a chance to lose his courage Tom +had knocked softly on the door. They could hear a scuffling sound inside +and then the door was opened cautiously by a little stooping old man +with a pale, deeply wrinkled face, and long, straight white hair. From +his ragged peasant's attire he must have been very poor and the +primitive furnishings in the dimly lighted room, of which they caught a +glimpse, confirmed this impression. But he had a pair of keen blue eyes +which scrutinized the travellers rather tremulously, evidently supposing +them to be German soldiers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span></p> + +<p>"What have I done?" he asked fearfully in German.</p> + +<p>Tom wasted no time trying to understand him, but bringing forth his iron +button he held it out silently.</p> + +<p>The effect was electrical; the old man clutched the button eagerly and +poured forth a torrent of French as he dragged the boys one after the +other into his poor abode and shut the door.</p> + +<p>"We're Americans," said Tom. "We can't understand."</p> + +<p>"It iss all ze same," said the man. "I will talk in ze American. How you +came with ziss button—yess? Who have sent you?"</p> + +<p>To Tom's surprise he spoke English better than either Florette or her +brother, and the boys were infinitely grateful and relieved to hear +their own language spoken in this remote place.</p> + +<p>"We are Americans," said Tom. "We escaped from the prison camp across +the Alsace border, and we're on our way to the frontier. I knew you were +French on account of the fleur-de-lis on the end of your flagpole——"</p> + +<p>"And ze button—yess?" the old man urged, interrupting him.</p> + +<p>Tom told him the whole story of Frenchy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> the Leteurs, and of how he +had come by his little talisman.</p> + +<p>"I have fought in zat regiment," the old man said, "many years before +you are born. I have seen Alsace lost—yess. If you were Germans I would +<i>die</i> before I would give you food. But I make you true welcome. I have +been many years in America. Ah, I have surprise you."</p> + +<p>"What is this place?" Archer ventured to ask.</p> + +<p>"Ziss is Mernon—out of fifty-two men they take forty-one to ze +trenches. My two sons, who are weavers too, they must go. Now they take +the women and the young girls."</p> + +<p>Further conversation developed the fact that the old man had worked in a +silk mill in America for many years and had returned to Alsace and this +humble place of his birth only after both of his sons, who like himself +were weavers, had been forced into the German service. "If I do not come +back and claim my home, it is gone," he said. So he had returned and was +working the old hand loom with his aged fingers, here in the place of +his birth.</p> + +<p>He was greatly interested in the boys' story and gave them freely of his +poor store of food which they ate with a relish. Apparently he was not +under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> the cloud of suspicion or perhaps his age and humble condition +and the obscurity and remoteness of his dwelling gave him a certain +immunity. In any event, he carried his loathing of the Germans with a +fine independence.</p> + +<p>"In America," he said, "ze people do not know about ziss—ziss beast. +Here we <i>know</i>. Here in little Mernon our women must work to make ze +road down to ze river. Why is zere needed a road to ze river? Why is +zere needed ze new road above Basel? To bring back so many +prisoners—wounded? Bah! Ziss is what zey <i>say</i>. Lies! I have been a +soldier. Eighty-two years I am old. And much I have travelled. So can I +see. What you say in Amerique—make two and two together—yess? Zere +will be tramping of soldiers over zese roads to invade little +Switzerland. Am I right? If it is necessaire—yess! <i>Necessaire!</i> +Faugh!"</p> + +<p>This was the first open statement the boys had heard as to the new +roads, all of which converged suspiciously in the direction of the Swiss +frontier. They were for bringing home German wounded; they were to +facilitate internal communication; they were for this, that and the +other useful and innocent purpose, but they all ran toward the Swiss +border or to some highway which ran thither.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ziss is ze last card they have to play—to stab little Switzerland in +ze back and break through," the old man said. "In ze south runs a road +from ze trench line across to ze Rhine. Near zere I have an old +comrade—Blondel. Togezzer we fight side by side, like brothers. When ze +boat comes, many times he comes to see me. Ze last time he come he tell +me how ze new road goes past his house—all women and young girls +working. It comes from ziss other road zat goes from ze trenches over to +ze Rhine. South it goes—you see?" he added shrewdly. "So now if you are +so clevaire to see a fleur-de-lis where none is intentioned, so zen you +can tell, maybe, why will zey build a road zat goes south?"</p> + +<p>Tom, fascinated by the old man's sagacity and vehemence, only shook his +head.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are not so clevaire to suspect! Ziss is Amerique! Nevaire will +she suspect."</p> + +<p>Tom did not altogether like this reference to Uncle Sam's gullibility, +but he contented himself with believing that it was meant as a thing of +the past.</p> + +<p>"They can't flim-flam us now," Archer ventured.</p> + +<p>"Flam-flim—no," the old man said, with great fervor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe that's where they took my friend's sister and his mother," Tom +said.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you vere zey take them," the old man interrupted. "You know +Alsace—no? So! See! I tell you." He approached, poking Tom's chest with +his bony finger and screwing up his blue eyes until he seemed a very +demon of shrewdness. They wondered if he were altogether sane.</p> + +<p>"Nuzzing can zey hide from Melotte," he went on. "Far south, near Basel, +zere lives my comrade—Blondel. To him must you show your button—yess. +In Norne he lives."</p> + +<p>"We'll write that down," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Nuzzing you write down," the old man said sharply, clutching Tom's arm. +"In your brain where you are so clevaire—zere you write it. So! You are +not so clevaire as Melotte. Now I will show you how you shall find +Mam'selle," he went on with a sly wink.</p> + +<p>Emptying some wool out of a paper bag, he pressed the wrinkles from the +bag with his trembling old hand and bending over the rough table close +to the lantern, he drew a map somewhat similar to, though less complete +than, the one given here.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span></p> + + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 543px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-003" id="illus-003"></a> +<img src='images/illus-map.jpg' alt='SHOWING THE ROUTE TAKEN BY TOM AND ARCHER.' title='' width = '543' height = '690'/><br /> +<span class='caption'>SHOWING THE ROUTE TAKEN BY TOM AND ARCHER.</span> +</div> + +<p>There is nothing like a map to show one "where he is at," to quote +Archer's phrase, and the boys followed with great interest as Melotte +penciled the course of the Rhine and the places which he wished to +emphasize in the southern part of Alsace.</p> + +<p>"Here at Norne lives my comrade, Blondel," he said. "Two years we work +togezzer at Pas<i>sake</i>—you know? In ze great silk mills."</p> + +<p>"Passaic," said Tom; "that's near Bridgeboro, where I live."</p> + +<p>"Pas<i>sake</i>, yess. So now you are so clevaire to know who shall leeve in +a house, I will tell you how you shall know ze house of my comrade, +Blondel. <i>By ze blue flag with one black spot!</i> Yess? You know what ziss +shall be? <i>Billet!</i>" He gave Archer a dig in the ribs as if this +represented the high water mark of sagacity.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know," said Archer; "it means Gerrman officerrs are billeted +therre. Go-o-od <i>night</i>! Not for us!"</p> + +<p>The old man did not seem quite to understand, but he turned again to his +map. "Here now is ze new road," he said, drawing it with his shaky old +hand. "From ze Rhine road it runs—south—so. Now you are so +clevaire—Yankee clevaire, ha, ha, ha!" he laughed with a kind of +irritating hilarity; "why should zey make ziss road? From ze north—from +Leteur—all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> around—zey bring our women to make ziss road. Ziss is +where Mam'selle is—so! Close by it lives my comrade, Blondel. Ziss is +noble army to command, ugh!" He gritted his teeth. "<i>All are women!</i>"</p> + +<p>Tom looked at the map, as old Melotte poised his skinny finger above it +and peered eagerly up into his face from the depths of his scraggly +white hair. It was little enough Tom knew about military affairs and he +thought that this lonesome old weaver was in his dotage. But surely this +new road could be for but one purpose, and that was the quick transfer +of troops from the Alsatian front to the Swiss border. And the sudden +conscription of women and girls for the making of the road seemed +plausible enough. Could it be that this furnished a clew to the +whereabouts of Florette Leteur? And if it did, what hope was there of +reaching her, or of rescuing her?</p> + +<p>He listened only abstractedly to the old man's rambling talk of +Germany's intention to violate Swiss neutrality if that became necessary +to her purpose. His eyes were half closed as he looked at the rough +sketch and he saw there considerably more than old Melotte had drawn.</p> + +<p>He saw Frenchy's sister Florette, slender and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> frail, wielding some +heavy implement, doing her enforced bit in this work of shameless +betrayal. He could see her eyes, sorrow-laden and filled with fear. He +could see her as she had stood talking with him that night in the arbor. +He could see her, orphaned and homeless, slaving under the menacing +shadow of a German officer who sprawled and lorded it in the poor home +of this Blondel close by the new road. <i>Here he climb to drop ze grapes +down my neck. Bad boy!</i> Strange, how that particular phrase of hers +singled itself out and stuck in his memory.</p> + +<p>"So now you are so <i>clevaire</i>," he half heard old Melotte saying to +Archer.</p> + +<p>And Tom Slade said nothing, only thought, and thought, and thought....</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2><h3>THE CLOUDS GATHER</h3> +</div> + +<p>"We never thought about asking him to translate that letterr," said +Archer.</p> + +<p>"I'm not thinking about that letter," Tom answered. "All I'm thinking +about now is what he said about that new road. I'm not even thinking +about their going through Switzerland, either," he added with great +candor. "I'm thinking about Frenchy's sister. If they've got her working +there I'm going to rescue her. I made up my mind to that."</p> + +<p>"<i>Some job!</i>" commented Archer.</p> + +<p>"It don't make any difference how much of a job it is," said Tom, with +that set look about his mouth that Archer was coming to know and +respect.</p> + +<p>They were clambering up the hillside again, for not all old Melotte's +hospitable urging could induce Tom to remain in the hut until daylight.</p> + +<p>He would have liked to take along the rough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> sketch which the old man +had made, but this Melotte had strenuously opposed, saying that no maps +should be carried by strangers in Germany. So Tom had to content himself +with the old man's rather rambling directions.</p> + +<p>Several things remained indelibly impressed on his mind. Old Melotte had +told him that upon the western bank of the Rhine about fifteen miles +above the Swiss border was an old gray castle with three turrets, and +that directly opposite this and not far from the Alsatian bank was the +little village of Norne.</p> + +<p>"The way I make it out," said Archer, "is that this Blondel, whoeverr he +is, has got some Gerrman officerr wished on him and that geezerr has +charrge of the women worrking on the new road. I'd like to know how you +expect to get within a mile of those people in the daytime."</p> + +<p>"We got plenty of time to think it out," Tom answered doggedly, "'cause +we'll be in the woods a couple of days and nights and that's where +thoughts come to you."</p> + +<p>"We'd be big fools, afterr gettin' all the way down to the frontierr to +cross the riverr and go huntin' forr a road in broad daylight," said +Archer; "we'd only get caught."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, we'll get caught then," retorted Tom.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, I think the old fellow's half crazy," Archer persisted. "He's +got roads on the brain. He jumps all around from Norrne to Passaic +and——"</p> + +<p>"He gave us something to eat," said Tom curtly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I didn't say he didn't, did I?" Archer snapped. "If we'd had any +sense, we'd have stayed therre all night like he wanted us to. Therre +wouldn't have been any dangerr in that old shack, a hundred miles from +nowherre."</p> + +<p>"We're safest in the hills," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"It's going to rain, too," Archer grumbled.</p> + +<p>Tom made no answer and they scrambled in silence up the uninviting +hillside, till old Melotte's shack could be seen far below with the dim +light in its windows.</p> + +<p>"You'rre so particularr about not bein' caught," Archer began again, +"it's a wonder you wouldn't think morre about that when we get down +close to the borrderr. If I've got to be caught at all I'd ratherr be +caught now."</p> + +<p>They had regained the height above the little hamlet and to the south +they could see the clustering lights of Strassbourg and here and there a +moving light upon the river.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span></p> + +<p>"We've got to cross that, too, I s'pose," Archer said sulkily.</p> + +<p>Tom did not answer. The plain fact was that they were both thoroughly +tired out, with that dog-tiredness which comes suddenly as a reaction +after days of nerve-racking apprehension and hard physical effort. For +the first two days their nervous excitement had kept them up. But now +they were fagged and the tempting invitation to remain at the hovel had +been too strong for Archer. Moreover, this new scheme of Tom's to divert +their course in a hazardous quest for Florette Leteur was not at all to +his liking. But mostly he was tired and everything looks worse when one +is tired.</p> + +<p>"We're not going to keep on hiking it tonight, are we?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"You said yourself that the old man was kind of—a little off, like," +Tom answered patiently. "He's got the bug that he's very shrewd and that +he can always get the best of the Germans. Do you think I'd take a +chance staying there? We took a chance as it was."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you'rre going to take a biggerr one if you go chasing all over +Gerrmany after that girrl. You won't find herr. That was a lot of +rattlebrain talk anyway—we're <i>so clevaire</i>!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's no use making fun of him," said Tom; "he helped us."</p> + +<p>"We'll get caught, that'll be the end of it," said Archer sullenly. Tom +did not answer.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be the boss of everything, anyway."</p> + +<p>They scrambled diagonally down the eastern slope of the high ground, +heading always toward the river and after an hour's travelling came out +upon its shore.</p> + +<p>"Here's where we'll have to cross if we're going to cross at all," said +Tom. "What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> haven't got anything to say," said Archer; "<i>you're</i> doin' all the +saying."</p> + +<p>"If we go any farther south," Tom went on patiently, "we'll be too near +Strassbourg and we're likely to meet boats. Listen."</p> + +<p>From across the river came the spent whistle of a locomotive accompanied +by the rattling of a hurrying train, the steady sound, thin and clear in +the still night, mingling with its own echoes. A few lights, widely +separated, were visible across the water and one, high up, reassured Tom +that the mountains, the foothills of which they had followed, continued +at no great distance from the opposite shore.</p> + +<p>There were welcoming fastnesses over there, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> knew, and a dim, wide +belt of forest extending southward. There, safe from the haunts of men, +or at least with timely warning of any hamlets nestling in those sombre +depths, he and his comrade might press southward toward that promised +land, the Swiss border.</p> + +<p>Yet, strangely enough (for one side of a river is pretty much like the +other) Tom felt a certain regret at the thought of leaving Alsace. +Perhaps his memory of the Leteurs had something to do with this. Perhaps +he had just the boyish feeling that it would change their luck. And he +knew that over there he would be truly in the enemy's country, with the +magic of his little talisman vanished in air.</p> + +<p>Yet right here he must decide between open roads and stealthy +hospitality and that silent, embracing hospitality which the lonesome +heights would offer. And he decided in favor of the lonesome heights. +Perhaps after all it was not the enemy's country, though the names of +Baden and Schwarzwald certainly had a hostile sound.</p> + +<p>But the rugged mountains and dim woods are never enemies of the scout, +and perhaps Tom Slade of Temple Camp felt that even the Schwarzwald, +which is the Black Forest, would forget its allegiance to whisper its +secrets in his ear.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2><h3>IN THE RHINE</h3> +</div> + +<p>"What do you say?" said Tom. "It's up to both of us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't mind me," Archer answered sarcastically. "<i>I</i> don't count. I +know one thing—<i>I'm</i> going to head straight for the Swiss borderr. If +crossing the river herre's the quickest way to do it, then that's what +I'm going to do, you can bet!"</p> + +<p>For a moment Tom did not speak, then looking straight at Archer, he +said,—</p> + +<p>"You don't forget how she helped us, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not saying anything about that," said Archer. "My duty's to Uncle +Sam. You've got the <i>crazy</i> notion now that you want to rescue a girrl, +just like fellerrs do in story books. If you'rre going to be thinking +about herr all the time I might as well go by myself. I could get along +all right, if it comes to that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I couldn't," said Tom, with a note of earnestness in his voice. +"Anyway, there's no use<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> of our scrapping about it 'cause I don't +suppose we'll find her. As long as we're going south through the +mountains we might as well see if we can pick out Norne with the glass. +Maybe we could even see that feller Blondel's house. The old man said +the west slopes of the mountains were steep and that they run close to +the river down there, so we ought to be able to pick out Norne with the +glass. There isn't any harm in that, is there?" he added conciliatingly, +"as long as we've got the glass?"</p> + +<p>Archer maintained a sullen silence.</p> + +<p>"I know we've got to think about Uncle Sam, and I know you're +patriotic," said Tom generously, "and we can't afford to be taking big +chances. But if you had known her brother, you'd feel the way I +do—that's one sure thing."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't run the risk of getting pinched and sent back to prison just +on account of a girrl," said Archer scornfully. "<i>That's one sure +thing</i>," he added, sulkily mimicking Tom's phrase.</p> + +<p>"That ain't the way it is," said Tom, flushing a little. "I ain't—if +that's what you mean. Anyway, I admit we got to be careful, and I +promise you if we can't spy out the house and the road with the glass I +won't cross the river again till we get to the border."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span></p> + +<p>"First thing you know somebody'll come along if we keep on standing +here," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Here, you take one of these rubber gloves," said Tom. "Shut the glass +and see if it'll go inside. I'll put the flashlight and the compass in +the other one. It's going to rain, too. Here, let me do it," he added +rather tactlessly, as he closed the little telescope and forced its +smaller end down into the longest of the big glove fingers. "Twist the +top of it and turn the edges over, see?" he added, doing it himself, +"and it's watertight. I can make a watertight stopple for a bottle with +a long strip of paper, but you got to know how to wind it," he added, +with clumsy disregard of his companion's mood. Tom was a hopeless +bungler in some ways.</p> + +<p>"Oh, surre, <i>you</i> can do anything," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Maybe it would be best if you held it in your teeth," said Tom +thoughtfully; "unless you can swim with it in your hand."</p> + +<p>The compass and the flashlight, which indeed were more susceptible of +damage from the water than the precious glass, were encased in the other +rubber glove, and the two fugitives waded out into the black, silent +river.</p> + +<p>Scarcely had their feet left the bottom when the first drop of rain fell +upon Tom's head, and a chill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> gust of wind caught him and bore him a +yard or two out of his course. He spluttered and looked about for +Archer, but could see nothing in the darkness. He did not want to call +for he knew how far voices carry across the water, and though the spot +was isolated he would take no chances.</p> + +<p>It rained hard and the wind, rising to a gale, lashed the black water +into whitecaps. Tom strove vainly to make headway against the storm, but +felt himself carried, willy-nilly, he knew not where. He tried to +distinguish the light beyond the Baden shore, which he had selected for +a beacon, but he could not find it. At last he called to Archer.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to turn back," he said; "come on—are you all right?"</p> + +<p>If Archer answered his voice was drowned by the wind and rain. For a few +moments Tom struggled against the elements, hoping to regain the +Alsatian shore. His one guiding instinct in all the hubbub was the +conviction that the wind smelled like an east wind and that it ought to +carry him back to the nearer shore. He would have given a good deal for +a glimpse of his precious little compass now.</p> + +<p>"Where are you?" he called again. "The light's gone. Let the wind carry +you back—it's east."</p> + +<p>He could hear no answer save the mocking wind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> and the breaking of the +water. This latter sound made him think the shore was not far distant. +But when, after a few moments, he did not feel the bottom, his heart +sank. He had been lost in the woods and as a tenderfoot he had known the +feeling of panic despair. And he had been in the ocean and seen his ship +go down with a torpedo's jagged rent in her side. But he had never been +lost in the water in the sense of losing all his bearings in the +darkness. For a minute it quite unnerved him and his stout heart sank +within him.</p> + +<p>Then out of the tumult came a thin, spent voice, barely audible and +seeming a part of the troubled voices of the night.</p> + +<p>"——lost——," it said; "——going down——"</p> + +<p>Tom listened eagerly, his heart still, his blood cold within him.</p> + +<p>"Keep calling," he answered, "so I'll know where you are. I'll get to +you all right—keep your nerve."</p> + +<p>He listened keenly, ready to challenge the force of the storm with all +his young skill and strength, and thinking of naught else now. But no +guiding voice answered.</p> + +<p>Could he have heard aright? Surely, there was no mistaking. It was a +human voice that had spoken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> and whatever else it had said that one, +tragic word had been clearly audible:</p> + +<p>"——down——"</p> + +<p>Archer had gone down.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2><h3>TOM LOSES HIS FIRST CONFLICT WITH THE ENEMY</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Down!"</p> + +<p>For the first time in Tom Slade's life a sensation of utter despair +gripped him and it was not until several seconds had elapsed, while he +was tossed at the mercy of the storm, that he was able to get a grip on +himself. He struck out frantically and for just a brief minute was +guilty of a failing which he had never yielded to—the perilous weakness +of being rattled and hitting hard at nothing. In swimming, above all +things, this is futile and dangerous, and presently Tom regained his +mental poise and struck out calmly, swimming in the direction in which +the wind bore him, for there was nothing else to do. Not that his effort +helped him much, but he knew the good rule that one should never be +passive in a crisis, for inaction is as depressing to the spirit as +frantic exertion is to the body. And he knew that by swimming he could +keep his "morale"—a word which he had heard a good deal lately.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span></p> + +<p>His heart was sick within him and a kind of cold desperation seized him. +Archer, whom he had known away back home in America, whom he had found +by chance in the German prison camp, who had trudged over the hills and +through the woods with him, was lost. He would never see him again. +Archer, who was always after souvenirs....</p> + +<p>These were not thoughts exactly, but they flitted through Tom's +consciousness as he struggled to keep his head clear of the tempestuous +waters. And even in his own desperate plight he recalled that their last +words had been words of discord, for he knew now (generous as he was) +that <i>he</i> was to blame for this dreadful end of all their fine +hopes—that Archer had been right—they should have stayed at Melotte's +hovel. Amid the swirl of the waters, as he swam he knew not where, he +remembered how Archer had said he ought to think of his duty to Uncle +Sam and not imperil his chance to help by going after Florette Leteur.</p> + +<p>He was sick, utterly sick, and nearer to hopelessness than he had ever +been in his life; but he struck out in a kind of mechanical resignation, +believing that the wind and the trend of the water must bring him to one +shore or the other before he was exhausted. There was no light anywhere, +no clew or beacon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> of any sort in that wild blackness, and since he +therefore had no reason to oppose his strength to the force of the storm +he swam steadily in the direction in which it carried him. It made no +difference. Nothing mattered now....</p> + +<p>After a while the noise of the lashing changed to that lapping sound +which only contact with the land can give, and soon Tom could +distinguish a solid mass outlined in the hollow blackness of the night. +He had no guess whether it was the Baden or the Alsatian shore that he +was approaching nor how far north or south he had been carried. Nor did +he much care.</p> + +<p>His foot touched something hard which brought him to the realization +that he must lessen the force of his advance or perhaps have his life +dashed out upon a rocky shore; and presently he was staggering forward, +brushing his hair away from his eyes, wondering where he was, and +scarcely sensible of anything—his head throbbing, his whole body on the +verge of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"It's my fault—anyway—I got to admit it——" he thought, "and—it +serves—me—right."</p> + +<p>One firm resolution came to him. Now that Providence had seen fit to +cast him ashore, if he was to be permitted to continue his flight alone, +he would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> go straight for his goal, the Swiss border, and not be led +astray (that is what he called it, <i>led astray</i>) by any other +enterprise. His duty as a soldier, and he thought of himself as a +soldier now, was clear. His business was to help Uncle Sam win the war +and he must leave it to Uncle Sam to put an end to the stealing of young +girls and to restore them to their homes. He saw himself now, as Archer +had depicted him, in the silly role of a "story book hero" and he felt +ashamed. He knew that General Pershing would not have sent him rescuing +girls, and that the best way he could help France, and even the Leteurs, +was to hurry up and get into the trenches where he belonged. Yes, Archer +was right. And with a pang of remorse Tom remembered how Archer had said +it, "rescuing a girrl!" He would never hear Archer talk like that any +more....</p> + +<p>He had more than once been close enough to death to learn to keep his +nerve in the presence of it, but the loss of his companion quite +unnerved him. It had not occurred to him that anything <i>could</i> happen to +Archer, who claimed himself that he always landed right side up because +he was lucky. Tom could not realize that he was gone.</p> + +<p>Still, comrades were lost to each other every day in that far-flung +trench line and in that bloody sea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> of northern France friends were +parted and many went down.</p> + +<p>"<i>Down</i>——"</p> + +<p>How that awful word had sounded—long drawn out and faint in the storm +and darkness!</p> + +<p>He stumbled over a rocky space and ran plunk into something solid. As he +looked up he could distinguish the top of it; uneven and ragged it +seemed against the blackness of the night. Whatever it was, it seemed to +be slender and rather high, and the odd thought came to him that he was +on the deck of some mammoth submarine, looking up at the huge conning +tower. Perhaps it was because he <i>had</i> once been rescued by a submarine, +or perhaps just because his wits were uncertain and his nerves unstrung, +but it was fully a minute before he realized that he was on solid +earth—or rock. It afforded him a measure of relief.</p> + +<p>What that grim black thing could be that frowned upon him he did not +know, and he staggered around it, feeling it with his hands. It was of +masonry and presently he came to what was evidently a door, which opened +as he leaned against it. Its silent hospitality was not agreeable to +him; the very thought of a possible German habitation roused him out of +his fatigue and despair, and with a sudden quick instinct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> he drew +stealthily back until presently he felt the water lapping his feet +again.</p> + +<p>Here, at a comparatively safe distance, he paused for breath after what +he felt to be a worse peril than the storm, and felt for the one trusty +friend he had left—the little compass. The precious rubber glove +containing this and the flashlight was safe in his pocket, and he held +both under his coat and tried to throw the light upon the compass and +get his bearings. But the glove must have leaked, for the battery was +dead. The little compass, which was to prove so useful in days to come, +was probably still loyal after its immersion, but he could not +distinguish the dial clearly.</p> + +<p>He knew he must go southeast, where the dim woods seemed now to beckon +him like a living mother. Never had the thought of the mountains and the +lonely forest been so grateful to this scout before. If only he had +strength to get there....</p> + +<p>"What you <i>got</i> to do—you do," he panted slowly under his breath, +frowning at the compass and trying in the darkness to see which way that +faithful little needle turned. Once, twice, he looked fearfully up +toward that grim building.</p> + +<p>Then he decided, as best he might, which direction was southeast and +dragged his aching legs that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> way until presently he was stumbling in +the water again.</p> + +<p>Surely, he thought, the river ran almost north and south, and southeast +<i>must</i> lead on into the mountains. But perhaps he had not read the +compass aright or perhaps he was on the edge of a deep bay, which would +mean water extending still westward. Or perhaps he was on the Alsatian +shore.</p> + +<p>For a moment he stood bewildered. Then he tried to read the compass +again and started forward in the direction which he thought to be west. +If he were on the Alsatian shore, this should take him away from that +black, heartless Teuton ruin.</p> + +<p>But it only took him into a chaos of broken, shiny rock where he +stumbled and fell, cutting his knee and making his head throb cruelly.</p> + +<p>And then Tom Slade, seeing that fate was against him, and having used +all the resource and young strength that he had, to get to the boys +"over there," gave up and lay among the jagged rocks, holding his head +with one bruised hand and thinking hopelessly of this end of all his +efforts.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2><h3>A NEW DANGER</h3> +</div> + +<p>He did not know how long he lay there, but after a while he crept along +over the slimy rocks and because it was not easy to stand alone he +limped to that grim, threatening structure, and leaned against it, +trying to collect his faculties.</p> + +<p>"If he was—only here now," he breathed, half aloud, "I'd let him—I'd +be willing not to be boss—like he said. That's the—trouble—with +me—I'm always wanting to—be——Oh, my head——"</p> + +<p>He knew now, what it was a pretty hard thing for one of his indomitable +temperament to realize, that things were out of his hands, that he could +go no farther. North or south or east or west, he could go no farther. +Capture or firing squad or starvation and death from exhaustion, he +could go no farther. His name would not be sent home on the casualty +lists, any more than Archer's would, but they had <i>tried</i>, and done +their bit as well as they could.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span></p> + +<p>There was one faint hope left; perhaps this house was not occupied, or +if it was on the Alsatian side of that terrible river (a true Hun river, +if there ever was one) it might be occupied by a Frenchman. Scarcely +knowing what he was doing, Tom pushed the door open and staggered +inside. Dazed and suffering as he was, he was conscious of the rain +pelting on the roof above him and sounding more audibly than outside +where the boisterous river drowned the sound of the downpour.</p> + +<p>Something big and soft which caught in his feet was directly before him +and he stumbled and fell upon it. And there he lay, pressing his +throbbing forehead, which seemed bursting with fresh pain from the force +of his fall.</p> + +<p>He had a reckless impulse to end all doubt by calling aloud in utter +abandonment. But this impulse passed, perhaps because he did not have +the strength or spirit to call.</p> + +<p>Soon, from mere exhaustion, he fell into a fitful, feverish slumber +accompanied by a nightmare in which the lashing of the wind and rain +outside were conjured into the clangor and hoof beats of cavalry and he +was hopelessly enmeshed in a barbed-wire entanglement.</p> + +<p>With the first light of dawn he saw that he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> lying upon a mass of +fishnet and that his feet and arms were entangled in its meshes.</p> + +<p>He was in a small, circular apartment with walls of masonry and a broken +spiral stairway leading up to a landing beside a narrow window. Rain +streamed down from this window and trickled in black rivulets all over +the walls. A very narrow doorway opened out of this circular room, from +which the door was broken away, leaving two massive wrought-iron hinges +sticking out conspicuously into the open space. As Tom's eyes fell upon +these he thought wistfully of how eagerly Archer would have appropriated +one of them as a "souveneerr." Poor, happy-go-lucky Archer!</p> + +<p>"I thought he was a good swimmer," Tom thought, "because he lived so +near Black Lake.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> It was all my fault. He probably just didn't like to +say he wasn't——"</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The lake on the shore of which Temple Camp was situated.</p> +</div> + +<p>He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ease the pain in his head and +collect his scattered senses. Evidently, he was alone in this dank +place, for there was no sign of occupancy nor any sound but the light +patter of rain without, for the storm had spent its fury and subsided +into a steady drizzle.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> +He dragged himself to his feet, and though his knee was stiff he was +glad to discover that he was not incapable of walking. He believed he +was not feverish now and that his headache was caused by shock and +bruising rather than by illness. Perhaps, he thought, he was not so +badly off after all. Except for Archer....</p> + +<p>Limping to the doorway he peered cautiously out. The sky was dull and +hazy and a steady, drizzling rain fell. There is something about a +drear, rainy day which "gets" one, if he has but a makeshift shelter; +and this bleak, gray morning carried poor Tom's mind back with a rush to +rainy days at his beloved Temple Camp when scouts were wont to gather in +tent and cabin for yarns.</p> + +<p>He now saw that he was on a little rocky islet in the middle of the +river and that the structure which had sheltered him was a small tower, +very much like a lighthouse except that it was not surmounted by a +light, having instead that rough turret coping familiar in medieval +architecture. Far off, through the haze, he could distinguish, close to +the shore, a gray castle with turrets, which from his compass he knew to +be on the Baden side. He thought he could make out a road close to the +shore, and other houses, and he wished that he had the spy-glass so that +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> might study this locality which he hoped to pass through.</p> + +<p>Of course, he no longer cherished any hope of finding Florette Leteur; +Archer's chiding words still lingered in his mind, and, moreover, +without the glass he could do nothing for he certainly would never have +thought of entering Norne without first "piking" it from a safe vantage +point.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to do now but nurse his swollen knee and rest, in the +hope that by night he would be able to swim to the Baden shore and get +into the hills. Never before had he so longed for the forest.</p> + +<p>"If it wasn't for—for him being lost," he told himself, as he limped +back into the tower, "I wouldn't be so bad off. There's nobody lives +here, that's sure. Maybe fishermen come here, but nobody'll come today, +I'll bet."</p> + +<p>After all, luck had not been unqualifiedly against him, he thought. Here +he was in an isolated spot in the wide river. What was the purpose of +this little tower on its pile of rocks he could not imagine, but it was +fast going to ruin and save for the rotting fishing seine there was no +sign of human occupancy.</p> + +<p>If only Archer were there it would not be half bad. But the thought of +his companion's loss sickened him and robbed the lonely spot of such +aspect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> of security as it might otherwise have had for him. Still, he +must go on, he must reach the boys in France, and fight for Archer too, +now—Archer, whom his own blundering had consigned to death in these +treacherous waters....</p> + +<p>He looked out again through the doorway at the dull sky, and the rain +falling steadily upon the sullen water. It was a day to chill one's +spirit and sap one's courage. The whole world looked gray and cheerless. +Again, as on the night before, he heard the rattle of a train in the +distance. High up through the drenched murky air, a bird sped across the +river, and somehow its disappearance among the hills left Tom with a +sinking feeling of utter desolation. In Temple Camp, on a day like this, +they would be in Roy Blakeley's tent, telling stories....</p> + +<p>"Anyway, it's better to be alone than in some German's house," he tried +to cheer himself. "We—I—kept away from 'em so far, anyway——"</p> + +<p>He stopped, holding his breath, with every muscle tense, and his heart +sank within him. For out of that inner doorway came a sound—a sound +unmistakably human—tragically human, it seemed now, shattering his +returning courage and leaving him hopeless.</p> + +<p>It was the sound of some one coughing!</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2><h3>COMPANY</h3> +</div> + +<p>Ordinarily Tom Slade would have stopped to think and would have kept his +nerve and acted cautiously; but he had not sufficiently recovered his +poise to meet this emergency wisely. He knew he could not swim away, +that capture was now inevitable, and instead of pausing to collect +himself he gave way to an impulse which he had never yielded to before, +an impulse born of his shaken nerves and stricken hope and the sort of +recklessness which comes from despair. What did it matter? Fate was +against him....</p> + +<p>With a kind of defiant abandonment he limped to the little stone doorway +and stood there like an apparition, clutching the sides with trembling +hands. But whatever reckless words of surrender he meant to offer froze +upon his lips, and he swayed in the opening, staring like a madman.</p> + +<p>For reclining upon a rough bunk, with knees<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> drawn up, was Archibald +Archer, busily engaged in whittling a stick, his freckled nose wrinkling +up in a kind of grotesque accompaniment to each movement of his hand +against the hard wood.</p> + +<p>"I—I thought——" Tom began.</p> + +<p>"Well,—I'll—be——" countered Archer.</p> + +<p>For a moment they stared at each other in blank amaze. Then a smile +crept over Tom's face, a smile quite as unusual with him as his sudden +spirit of surrender had been; a smile of childish happiness. He almost +broke out laughing from the reaction.</p> + +<p>"Are you carvin' a souvenir?" he said foolishly.</p> + +<p>"No, I ain't carrvin' no souveneerr," Archer answered. "Therre's fish +among those rocks and I'm goin' to spearr 'em."</p> + +<p>"You ain't carvin' a <i>what</i>!" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"I ain't carrvin' a souveneerr," Archer said with the familiar Catskill +Mountain roll to his R's.</p> + +<p>"I just wanted to hear you say it," said Tom, limping over to him and +for the first time in his life yielding to the weakness of showing +sentiment.</p> + +<p>"All night long," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bunk, "I was +thinkin' how you said it—and it sounds kind of good——"</p> + +<p>"How'd you make out in the riverr?" Archer asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span></p> + +<p>"You can't even say <i>river</i>," said Tom, laughing foolishly in his great +relief.</p> + +<p>"It was some storrm, all right! But I got the matches safe anyway, and +they'll strike, 'cause I tried one."</p> + +<p>"You ought to have made a whisk stick<a name="FNanchor_A_2" id="FNanchor_A_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_2" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> to try it," said Tom, then +caught himself up suddenly. "But I ain't going to tell you what you +ought to do any more. I'm goin' to stop bossin'."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_2" id="Footnote_A_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_2"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> A stick the end of which is separated into fine shavings +which readily catch the smallest flame, a familiar device used by +scouts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span></p></div> + +<p>"I got yourr spy-glass forr you," said Archer. "I had to dive f'rr't. +Didn't you hearr me call to you it was lost and I was goin' down +f'rr't?"</p> + +<p>"——lost——down——"</p> + +<p>The tragic words flitted again through Tom's mind, and he reached out +and took Archer's hand hesitatingly as if ashamed of the feeling it +implied.</p> + +<p>"What'd you do that for? You were a fool," he said.</p> + +<p>"What you <i>got</i> to do, you do," said Archer; "that's what you'rre always +sayin'. Didn't you say you wanted it so's you could see that fellerr +Blondel's house from the mountains? Therre it is," he said, nodding +toward an old ring-net that stood near, "and it's some souveneerr too, +'cause it's been at the bottom of the old Rhine."</p> + +<p>Tom looked at the spy-glass which Archer had thrown into the net and the +net seemed all hazy and tangled for his eyes were brimming. He would not +spare himself now.</p> + +<p>"I see I'm the fool," he stammered; "I thought I shouldn't have started +across because maybe you couldn't swim so good and didn't want to admit +it."</p> + +<p>"Me? I dived in Black Lake before you werre borrn," said Archer. This +was not quite true, since he was two years younger than Tom, but Tom +only smiled at him through glistening eyes.</p> + +<p>"I see now I was crazy to think about finding her—anyway——"</p> + +<p>"You haven't forrgot how she treated us, have you?" Archer retorted, +quoting Tom's own words. "It came to me all of a sudden, when I dropped +the glove, and that's when I called to you. And all of a sudden I +thought how you walked back toward the house with herr that night +and—and—do you think I don't understand—you darrned big chump?"</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2><h3>BREAKFAST WITHOUT FOOD CARDS</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Do you know what I think?" said Archer. "If Alsace used to belong to +France, then the Rhine must have been the boundary between France and +Gerrmany and we'rre right on that old frontierr now—hey? I'm a smarrt +lad, huh? They used to have watch towers and things 'cause I got kept in +school once forr sayin' a poem wrong about a fellerr that was in a watch +towerr on the Rhine. I bet this towerr had something to do with that old +frontierr and I bet it was connected with that castle overr on shorre, +too. Therre was a picture of a fellerr in a kind of an arrmorr looking +off the top of a towerr just like this—I remember 'cause I marrked him +up with a pencil so's he'd have a swallerr-tailed coat and a sunbonnet."</p> + +<p>Archer's education was certainly helping him greatly.</p> + +<p>"If we could once get overr therre into that Black Forest," he +continued, scanning the Baden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> shore and the heights beyond with the +rescued glass, "we'd be on easy street 'cause I remember gettin' licked +forr sayin', 'the abrupt west slopes of this romantic region are +something or otherr with wild vineyards that grow in furious +thing-um-bobs——'"</p> + +<p>"<i>What?</i>" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"<i>Anyway</i>, there's lots of grapes there," Archer concluded.</p> + +<p>"If that's the way you said it I don't blame 'em for lickin' you," said +sober Tom. "I think by tonight I'll be able to swim it. There seems to +be some houses over there—that's one thing I don't like."</p> + +<p>The Baden side, as well as they could make out through the haze, was +pretty thickly populated for a mile or two, but the lonesome mountains +arose beyond and once there, they would be safe, they felt sure.</p> + +<p>They spent the day in the dilapidated frontier tower, as Archer called +it, and he was probably not far from right in his guess about it. +Certainly it had not been used for many years except apparently by +fishermen occasionally, and the rotten condition of the seines showed +that even such visitors had long since ceased to use it. Perhaps indeed +it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> a sort of outpost watch tower belonging to the gray castle which +they saw through the mist.</p> + +<p>"Maybe it belonged to a Gerrman baron," suggested Tom.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, it's a <i>barren</i> island," said Archer; "are you hungry?"</p> + +<p>Tom sat in the doorway, favoring his hurt knee, and watched Archer move +cautiously about among the sharp, slippery rocks, where he succeeded in +cornering and spearing several bewildered fish which the troubled waters +of the night had marooned in these small recesses.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid, you'll be seen from the shore," Tom said, but without that +note of assurance and authority which he had been accustomed to use.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," said Archer, "it's too thick and hazy. Just wait till I +spearr one morre. Therre's a beaut, now——"</p> + +<p>They wasted half a dozen damp matches before they could get flame enough +to ignite the whisk stick which Tom held ready, but when they succeeded +they "commandeered" the broken door as a "warr measurre," to quote +Archer, and kindled a fire just inside the doorway where they believed +that the smoke, mingling with the mist, would not be seen through the +gray, murky atmosphere.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span></p> + +<p>It is a great mistake to be prejudiced against a fish just because it is +German. Tom and Archer were quite free from that narrow bias. And if it +should ever be your lot to be marooned in a ramshackle old watch tower +on the Rhine on a dull, rainy day, remember that the same storm which +has marooned you will have marooned some fishes among the crevices of +rock—only you must be careful to turn them often and not let them burn. +The broken rail of an old spiral stairway, if there happens to be one +handy, can be twisted into a rough gridiron, and if you happen to think +of it (as Tom did) you can use the battery case of your flashlight for a +drinking-cup.</p> + +<p>"If we couldn't have managed to get a light with these damp matches," he +said, as they partook of their sumptuous breakfast, "we'd have just had +to wait till the sun came out and we could a' got one with the lens in +the spy-glass."</p> + +<p>Once a scout, always a scout!</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2><h3>THE CATSKILL VOLCANO IN ERUPTION</h3> +</div> + +<p>All day long the dull, drizzling rain continued, and as the hours passed +their hope revived and their courage strengthened.</p> + +<p>"Therre's one thing I'm glad of," said Archer, "and that's that I +thought about putting that Gerrman soldierr's paperrs in the glove. I've +got a hunch I'd like to know what that letterr says."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you did," said Tom. "I got to admit <i>I</i> didn't think of it."</p> + +<p>By evening Tom's knee was much better though still sore, and his head +pained not at all. They had but one thought now—to swim to shore and +get into the mountains where they believed they could continue their +course southward. Swimming to the nearest point on the east, or Baden +bank, would, they could see by the glass, bring them into a fairly +thickly populated district and how to get past this and into the +protecting highlands troubled them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> They had thus far avoided +civilization and towns, where they knew the ever-watchful eye of +Prussian authority was to be feared. They knew well enough that their +wet garments constituted no disguise; but they could, at least, get to +shore and see how the land lay.</p> + +<p>They were greatly elated at their success so far, and at their +providential reunion. Whatever difficulties they had encountered they +had surmounted, and whatever difficulties lay ahead they would meet and +overcome, they felt sure.</p> + +<p>As the day wore away, the rain ceased, but the sky remained dull and +murky. Their plan was to wait for the darkness and they were talking +over their good luck and what they thought the rosy outlook when Tom, +looking toward the Alsatian shore with the glass, saw a small boat which +was scarcely distinguishable in the hazy twilight.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it's coming this way," he said confidently, handing the +glass to Archer. But at the same time he was conscious of a sinking +sensation.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is," said Archer; "it's coming right for us."</p> + +<p>"Maybe they're just rowing across," said Tom.</p> + +<p>Archer watched the boat intently. "It's coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> herre all right," he +said; "we'rre pinched. Let's get inside, anyway."</p> + +<p>Tom smiled with a kind of sickly resignation. "Let's see," he said; +"yes, you're right, they've got uniforms, too. It's all up. We might +have had sense enough to know. I bet they traced us all the way through +Alsace. There's no use trying to beat that crowd," he added in cynical +despair.</p> + +<p>Hope dashed when it is just reviving brings the most hopeless of all +despair, and with Tom, whose nerves had been so shaken, their imminent +capture seemed now like a kind of mockery.</p> + +<p>"When I found you were all right," he said to Archer in his dull way, +"and we were all alone here, I might have known it was too good to be +true. I wouldn't bother now. I just got bad luck.—When I tried for the +pathfinders' badge and tracked somebody that stole something," he added +with his stolid disregard for detail, "I found it was my own father, and +I didn't claim the badge. That's the kind of luck <i>I</i> got. So I wouldn't +try any more. 'Cause if you got bad luck you can't help it. I dropped my +knife and the blade stuck in the ground—up at Temple Camp—and that's +bad luck. Let 'em come——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span></p> + + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 400px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-004" id="illus-004"></a> +<img src='images/illus-153.jpg' alt='"IT'S FIFTY-FIFTY,--TWO AGAINST TWO," SAID ARCHER. Page 153' title='' width = '300' height = '473'/><br /> +<span class='caption'>"IT'S FIFTY-FIFTY,—TWO AGAINST TWO," SAID ARCHER. Page 153</span> +</div> + +<p>This side of Tom Slade was new to Archer, and he stared curiously at the +lowering face of his companion.</p> + +<p>"That's what you call losing your morale," he said; "if you lose +that—go-od <i>night</i>! Suppose General Joffre said that when the Huns +werre hitting it forr Paris! S'pose <i>I</i> said that when my foot stuck in +the mud on the bottom of this plaguey riverr!"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Well, you know it now," retorted Archer, "and I don't give up till they +land me back in prison, and I don't give up then, eitherr. And I ain't +lettin' any jack-knives get <i>my</i> goat—so you can chalk that up in yerr +little old noddle!"</p> + +<p>"I guess that's the trouble," Tom began; "my head aches——"</p> + +<p>"Can you swim now?" Archer demanded.</p> + +<p>"You go," said Tom; "my knee's too stiff."</p> + +<p>"If you everr say a thing like that to me again," said Archer, his eyes +snapping and his freckled face flushing scarlet, "I'll——"</p> + +<p>"I didn't think we'd start till midnight," Tom said, "and I thought my +knee'd be well enough by that time."</p> + +<p>The little boat, as they could see from the doorway, bobbed nearer and +nearer and Archer could see that it contained two men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p> + +<p>"They've got on uniforms," Archer said, "but I can't see what they arre. +Let's keep inside."</p> + +<p>"They know we're here," said Tom; "they'd only shoot us if we started +away."</p> + +<p>Closer and closer came the little boat until one of its occupants jumped +out, hauling it into one of the little rocky caverns of the islet. Then +both came striding up to the doorway.</p> + +<p>As soon as they caught sight of the boys they paused aghast and seemed +to be much more discomfited than either Tom or Archer. Evidently they +had not come for the fugitives and the thought occurred to Archer that +they might be fugitives themselves.</p> + +<p>"Vell, vat you do here, huh?" one asked.</p> + +<p>Archer was managing this affair and he managed it in his own sweet way.</p> + +<p>"We're herre because we're herre," he said, in a perfect riot of rolling +R's.</p> + +<p>"You German—no?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank goodness! We'rre not," Archer said recklessly. "Are we +pinched?"</p> + +<p>"How you come here?" the German demanded in that tone of arrogant +severity which seems to imply, "I give you and the whole of the rest of +the world two seconds to answer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span></p> + +<p>Tom, whose spirits revived at this rather puzzling turn of affairs, +watched the two soldiers keenly and noticed that neither had sword or +firearms. And he realized with chagrin that in those few moments of +"lost morale," he had been strangely unworthy of himself and of his +scout training. And feeling so he let Archer do the talking.</p> + +<p>"We're Americans."</p> + +<p>"Americans, ach! From prison you escape, huh?" the younger soldier +snapped. "You haff a peekneek here, huh?" And turning to his companion +he poured a kind of guttural volley at him, which his comrade answered +with a brisk return of heavy verbal fire. Archer, listening intently and +using his very rudimentary knowledge of German, gathered that whoever +and whatever these two were, they were themselves in the perilous +business of escaping.</p> + +<p>"They'rre in the same box as we are," he said to Tom. "Don't worry."</p> + +<p>It did not occur to the boys then, though they often thought of it +afterward, when their acquaintance with the strange race of Huns had +been improved, that these two soldiers manifested not the slightest +interest in the experiences which the boys had gone through. Almost +immediately and without condescending to any discourse with them, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> +two men fell to discussing how they might <i>use</i> them, just as their +masters had used Belgium and would use Switzerland and Holland if it +fell in with their purpose.</p> + +<p>After the generous interest that Frenchy and his people had shown and +the lively curiosity about his adventures which British Tommies in the +prison camp had displayed, Tom was unable to understand this arrogant +disregard. Even a greasy, shifty-eyed Serbian in the prison had asked +him about America and "how it felt" to be torpedoed.</p> + +<p>It was not just that the two soldiers regarded the boys as enemies, +either. They simply were not German and therefore nothing that they did +or said counted or was worth talking about.</p> + +<p>At last the one who seemed to be the spokesman said, "Ve make a treaty, +huh?"</p> + +<p>It was more of an announcement than a question, and Archer looked at Tom +and laughed.</p> + +<p>"A treaty!" said he. "Good <i>night</i>! Do you mean a scrap o' paperr?"</p> + +<p>"Ve let you off," said the German in a tone of severe condescension. "Ve +gif you good clothes—here," he added, seeming unable to get away from +his manner of command. "Ve go feeshing. Ve say nutting—ve let you go. +You escape—ach, vat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> iss dis?" he added deprecatingly. "Ve say +nutting."</p> + +<p>"And we don't say anything eitherr, is that it?" said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Eef you talk you can't escape, what? Vy shall you talk, huh?"</p> + +<p>Tom looked at Archer, who screwed up his freckled nose and gazed +shrewdly at the Germans with a sagacious and highly satisfied look in +his mischievous eye.</p> + +<p>"That's the treaty, is it?" he said. "And that's just the kind of—shut +up!" he interpolated, glancing sideways at Tom. "I'll do the +talking—that's just the kind of stuff you'rre trying to put overr on +President Wilson, too—tryin' to make the otherr fellerr think he's +licked and then making believe you'rre willing to be generous. You got +the nerrve (the R's fairly rolled and rumbled as he gathered +momentum)—you got the nerrve to come herre with out any guns or sworrds +and things and think you can scarre us. Do you know—shut up!" he shot +at Tom by way of precaution. "Do you know wherre I think yourr sworrds +and things arre? I think the English Tommies have got 'em. I know all +about you fellerrs deserrting—I hearrd about it in prison. You'rre +deserrting every day. Some of you arre even surrenderrin' to get a good +squarre meal. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> do you know what an English Tommy told me—you +consarrned blufferr, you——"</p> + +<p>He was in full swing now, his freckled nose all screwed up and rolling +out his R's like artillery. Even sober Tom couldn't help smiling at the +good old upstate adjective, <i>consarrned</i>.</p> + +<p>"He told me a Hun is no good when he loses his gun or his sworrd. You +don't think I'm a-scarred of <i>you</i>, do you? It's fifty-fifty—two +against two, you pair of bloomin' kidnapperrs, and you won't tell 'cause +you can't afford to! Same reason as we won't. But you can't put one +overr on me any morre'n you can on President Wilson and if you'rre forr +making treaties you got to get down off your high horrse—see? You ain't +got a superiorrity of numbers now! You got nothing but fourr fists, same +as we got. Forr two cents, I'd wash yourr face on those rocks! Treaties! +I come from Corrnville Centre, I do, and——"</p> + +<p>Tom laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"You shut up!" said Archer. "You want to make a treaty, huh? All right, +that'll be two Huns less forr the Allies to feed. We'll swap with you, +all right, and I wish you luck. I don't know wherre you'rre going or +what you'rre going to do and I don't carre a rotten apple. Only you +ain't going to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> dictate terrms to <i>me</i>. You'll take these crazy old rags +and you'rre welcome to 'em, and we'll take yourr uniforms if that's what +you want. Treaty! <i>We'll</i> make a treaty with you! And we'll take the +boat too, and if that don't satisfy you then that's the end of the +what-d'-you-call it! You keep still!" he added, turning to Tom.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2><h3>MILITARY ETIQUETTE</h3> +</div> + +<p>"What did you mean by the <i>what-d'-you call it?</i>" Tom asked, as they +rowed through the darkness for the Baden shore.</p> + +<p>"Arrmis-stice," said Archer, wrestling with the word.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"That's the way to handle 'em," Archer said with undisguised +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"I never saw you like that before," said Tom. "I had to laugh when you +said <i>consarn</i>."</p> + +<p>"That's the Huns all overr," said Archer, his vehemence not yet +altogether abated. "They'll try to do the bossing even afterr they'rre +licked. Treaties! They've got theirr firrst taste of a <i>Yankee</i> treaty, +hey? Didn't even have a sworrd and wanted me to think they werre doin' +us a favorr! President Wilson knows how to handle that bunch, all right, +all right!—Don't row if you'rre tirred."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span></p> + +<p>"It don't hurt my leg to row, only I see now I couldn't swim it."</p> + +<p>"Think I didn't know that?" said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I got to admit you did fine," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"You got to get 'em down on theirr knees beforre you make a treaty with +'em," boasted Archer. "You can see yourself they'rre no good when they +haven't got any commanderr—or any arrms. When Uncle Sam makes a treaty +with that gang, crab-apples, but I hope he gets the boat, too."</p> + +<p>"I know what you mean," said Tom soberly. "I have to laugh at the way +you talk when you get mad. It reminds me of the country and Temple +Camp."</p> + +<p>"That's one thing I learned from knockin' around in Europe since this +warr starrted," said Archer. "The botches, or whatever you call 'em, are +no darrned good when you get 'em alone. The officers may be all right, +but the soldierrs are thick. If I couldn't 'a' knocked the bluff out o' +that lord-high critturr, I'd 'a' rubbed his pie face in the mud!"</p> + +<p>Tom laughed at his homely expletives and Archer broke out laughing too, +at his own expense. But for all that, Tom was destined to recall, and +that very soon, what Archer had said about the Huns. And he was shortly +to use this knowledge in one of the most hazardous experiences of his +life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span></p> + +<p>They were now, thanks to their treaty, both dry clad in the field-gray +uniforms of the German rank and file; and though they felt somewhat +strange in these habiliments they enjoyed a feeling of security, +especially in view of the populated district they must pass through.</p> + +<p>Of the purposes and fate of their late "enemies" they had no inkling and +they did not greatly concern themselves about this pair of fugitives who +had crossed their path. They knew, from the gossip in "Slops" prison, +that Germany was full of deserters who were continually being rounded up +because, as Archer blithely put it, they were "punk scouts and had no +resourrce—or whatever you call it." Tom did not altogether relish the +implication that a deserter might be a good scout or <i>vice versa</i>, but +he agreed with Archer that the pair they had encountered would probably +not "get away with it."</p> + +<p>"If they had a couple o' generrals to map it out forr 'em, maybe they +would," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I think I'm above you in rank," said Tom, glancing at an arrow sewn on +his sleeve.</p> + +<p>"I'm hanged if I know what that means," Archer answered. "Therre's a +couple morre of 'em on your collarr. Maybe you'rre a generral, hey? I'm +just a plain, everyday botch."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span></p> + +<p>"Boche," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Same thing."</p> + +<p>They landed at an embankment where a railroad skirted the shore and it +occurred to Tom now that the guiding light which had forsaken him the +night before was a railroad signal which had been turned the other way +after the passage of the train he had heard. At his suggestion, Archer +bored a hole in the boat and together they gave it a smart push out into +the river.</p> + +<p>"Davy Jones forr you, you bloomin' tattle<i>tile</i>, as the Tommies would +say," Archer observed in reminiscence of his vast and varied +acquaintanceship. "Come on now, we've got to join our regiment and blow +up a few hospitals. How do you like being a botch, anyway?"</p> + +<p>"I'd rather be one now than a year from now," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Thou neverr spakst a truerr worrd.</p> + +<p style='margin-left: 5%'> +"Oh, Fritzie Hun, he had a gun,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And other things that's worrse;</span><br /> +He didn't like the foe to strike,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So he shot a Red Cross nurrse,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Archer rattled on.</p> + +<p>"Can't you say <i>nurse</i>?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Surre I can—nurrrrse."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span></p> + +<p>Tom laughed.</p> + +<p>They tramped up through the main street of a village, for the populated +area was too extensive to afford hope of a reasonably short detour. The +few people whom they passed in the darkness paid no particular heed to +them. They might have been a couple of khaki-clad boys in America for +all the curiosity they excited.</p> + +<p>At the railroad station an army officer glared at them when they saluted +and seemed on the point of accosting them, which gave them a momentary +scare.</p> + +<p>"We'd better be careful," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Gee, I thought we had to salute," Archer answered.</p> + +<p>They followed the railroad tracks through an open sparsely populated +region as far as the small town of Ottersweier. The few persons who were +abroad paid no particular attention to them, and as long as no one spoke +to them they felt safe, for the street was in almost total darkness. +Once a formidable-looking German policeman scrutinized them, or so they +thought, and a group of soldiers who were sitting in the dark entrance +of a little beer garden looked at them curiously before saluting. Most +of these men were crippled, and indeed as they passed along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> it seemed +to the fugitives that nearly every man they passed either had his arm in +a sling or was using crutches.</p> + +<p>"Do you think maybe they had a hunch we werren't Gerrman soldierrs at +all?" Archer queried.</p> + +<p>"No," said Tom. "I think they just didn't want to salute us till they +were sure we were soldiers like themselves. I think a soldier hasn't got +a right even to salute an officer here unless the officer takes some +notice of him. Maybe the officer's got to glance at him first, or +something."</p> + +<p>"G-o-od <i>night</i>!" said Archer. "Reminds you of America, don't it—<i>not +'arf</i>, as the Tommies say. Wouldn't it seem funny not daring to speak to +an officerr therre? Many's the chat I've had with French generals and +English ones, too. Didn't I give old Marshal What's-his-name an elastic +band to put around his paperrs?"</p> + +<p>In all probability he had, for he was an aggressive and brazen youngster +without much respect for dignity and authority, and Tom was glad when +they reached the hills, for he had been apprehensive lest his comrade +might essay a familiar pleasantry with some grim official or launch +himself into the perilous pastime of swapping souvenirs with a German +soldier.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span></p> + +<p>But they were both to remember this business about saluting which, if +Tom was right, was eloquent of the German military system, showing how +high was the officer and how low the soldier who might not even pay his +arrogant superior the tribute of a salute without permission.</p> + +<p>This knowledge was to serve Tom in good stead before many days should +pass.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2><h3>TOM IN WONDERLAND</h3> +</div> + +<p>All through that night, with their compass as a guide, they climbed the +hills, keeping in a southerly direction, but verging slightly eastward. +In the morning they found themselves on the edge of a high, deeply +wooded plateau, which they knew extended with more or less uniformity to +the Swiss frontier.</p> + +<p>Looking ahead of them, in a southerly direction, they could see dim, +solemn aisles of sombre fir trees and the ground was like a brown velvet +carpet, yielding gently under their feet. The air was laden with a +pungent odor, accentuated by the recent storm, and the damp, resiny +fragrance was like a bracing tonic to the fugitives, bidding them +welcome to these silent, unfrequented depths.</p> + +<p>They were now, indeed, within the precincts of the renowned Schwarzwald, +whose wilderness toyland sends forth out of its sequestered hamlets (or +did) wooden lions, tigers and rhinoceroses for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> whole world, and +monkeys on sticks and jumping-jacks and little wooden villages, like the +little wooden villages where they are made.</p> + +<p>The west slopes of this romantic region were abrupt, almost like the +Palisades of the Hudson, running close to the river in some places, and +in other places descending several miles back from the shore, so that a +panoramic view of southern Alsace was always obtainable from the sharp +edge of this forest workshop of Santa Claus. In the east the plateau +slopes away and peters out in the lowlands, so that, as one might say, +the Black Forest forms a kind of huge natural springboard to afford one +a good running jump across the Rhine into Alsace.</p> + +<p>Archer's battered and misused geography had not lied about the +commissary department of this storied wilderness, for the wild grapes +(of which the famous Rhenish wine is made) did indeed grow in "furious +what-d'you-call-'ems" or luxurious profusion if you prefer, upon the +precipitous western slopes.</p> + +<p>All that day they tramped southward, meeting not a soul, and feeling +almost as if they were in a church. It seemed altogether grotesque that +Germany, grim, fighting, war-crazy Germany, should own such a peaceful +region as this.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span></p> + +<p>In the course of the day, they helped the prohibition movement, as +Archer said, by eating grapes in such quantities as seriously to reduce +the output of Rhenish wine. "But, oh, Ebeneezerr!" he added. "What +wouldn't I give for a good russet apple and a dipper of sweet cider."</p> + +<p>"You're always thinking about apples and souvenirs," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"You can bet I'm going to get a souveneerr in herre, all right!" Archer +announced. "Therre ought to be lots of good ones herre, hey?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe they grow in furious what-d'you-call-'ems?" suggested sober Tom.</p> + +<p>"If it keeps as level as this, we ought to be able to waltz into the +barrbed wirre by tomorrow night. This is the only thing about Gerrmany +that's on the level, hey?"</p> + +<p>Toward evening they had the lesser of the two surprises which were in +store for them in the Black Forest. They were hiking along when suddenly +Tom paused and listened intently.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Archer asked.</p> + +<p>"A bird," said Tom, "but I never heard a bird make a noise like that +before."</p> + +<p>"He's chirrping in Gerrman," suggested Archer.</p> + +<p>The more Tom listened, the more puzzled he became,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> for he had the +scout's familiarity with bird voices and this was a new one to him.</p> + +<p>"Therre's a house," Archer said.</p> + +<p>And sure enough there, nestling among the firs some distance ahead, was +the quaintest little house the boys had ever seen. It was almost like a +toy house with a picturesque roof ten sizes too big for it, and a funny +little man in a smock sitting in the doorway. Hanging outside was a +large cuckoo clock and it was the wooden cuckoo which Tom had heard.</p> + +<p>Shavings littered the ground about this tiny, wilderness manufactory, +and upon a rough board, like a scout messboard, were a number of little +handmade windmills revolving furiously. Wooden soldiers and +stolid-looking horses with conventional tails, all fresh from the deft +and cunning hands which wielded the harmless jack-knife, were piled +helter-skelter in a big basket waiting, waiting, waiting, for the end of +the war, to go forth in peace and goodwill to the ends of the earth and +nestle snugly in the bottom of Christmas stockings.</p> + +<p>This quaint old man could speak scarcely any English, but when the boys +made out that he was Swiss, and apparently kindly disposed, they +sprawled on the ground and rested, succeeding by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> dint of motions and a +few words of German in establishing a kind of intercourse with him. He +was apparently as far removed from the war as if he had lived in the +Fiji Islands, and the fugitives felt quite as safe at his rustic abode +as if they had been on the planet Mars. His nationality, too, gave them +the cheering assurance that they were approaching the frontier.</p> + +<p>"Vagons—noh," he said; "no mohr." Then he pointed to his brimming +basket and said more which they could not understand.</p> + +<p>Like most persons who live in the forest, he seemed neither surprised at +their coming nor curious. They gathered that in former days wagons had +wound through these forest ways gathering the handiwork of the people, +but that they came no more. To Tom it seemed a pathetic thing that +Kaiser Bill should reach out his bloody hand and blight the peaceful +occupation of this quaint little old man of the forest. Perhaps he would +die, far away there in his tree-embowered cottage, before the wagons +ever came again, and the overflowing basket would rot away and the +windmills blow themselves to pieces....</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2><h3>MAGIC</h3> +</div> + +<p>Leaving the home of the Swiss toymaker, who had shared his simple fare +with them, they started southward through the deep wilderness.</p> + +<p>Tom's idea was to keep well within the forest, but within access to its +western edge, so that they might scan the country across the river at +intervals. They were so refreshed and encouraged as they tramped through +the deep, unpeopled wilderness which they knew must bring them to the +border, and so eager to bring their long journey to an end, that they +kept on for a while in the darkness until, to their great surprise, they +came upon a sheet of water the bank of which extended as far east and +west as they could see. Tom fancied he could just distinguish the dark +trees outlined on the opposite shore.</p> + +<p>"Let's follow the shore a ways and see if we can get round it," he said.</p> + +<p>But a tramp along the edge, first east, then west, brought no general +turn in the shore-line and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> began to wonder if the Schwarzwald +could be bisected by some majestic river.</p> + +<p>"I don't think a river so high up would be so wide," Tom said. "If I was +sure about that being the other shore over there, we could swim across."</p> + +<p>"It would be betterr to get around if we could," said Archer, "because +if we'rre goin' wherre people arre we don't want our uniforms all +soaked."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to try to find <i>her</i>, if that's what you mean," said Tom; +"not unless you say so too, anyway."</p> + +<p>"What d'you s'pose I dived forr that glass forr?" Archer retorted. +"We're goin' to find that girrl—or perish in the attempt—like old +What's-his-name. You've got the right idea, Slady."</p> + +<p>"It ain't an idea," said Tom soberly, "and if you think it's—kind +of—that I—that I—like her——"</p> + +<p>"Surre it ain't, it's 'cause you hate herr," said Archer readily.</p> + +<p>"You make me tired," said Tom, flushing.</p> + +<p>Since they had to sleep somewhere, they decided to bivouac on the shore +of this water and take their bearings in the morning. As the night was +warm, they took off their coats and hanging them to a spreading branch +above them they sprawled upon the cushiony ground, abandoning for once +their rule<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> of continuous watch, and were soon fast asleep. You do not +need any sleeping powders in the Black Forest, for the soft magic of its +resiny air will lull you to repose.</p> + +<p>When they awakened in the morning they squirmed with complicated +gymnastic yawns, and lay gazing in lazy half slumber into the branches +above them. Suddenly Archer jumped to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Wherre arre ourr coats?" he cried.</p> + +<p>Tom sat up, rubbed his eyes and gazed about. There were no coats to be +seen.</p> + +<p>"What d'you know about that?" said Archer. "Maybe they blew away," he +added, looking about.</p> + +<p>"There hasn't been any wind," said Tom. "Look at that handkerchief." +Near him lay a handkerchief which Archer remembered spreading on the +ground beside him the night before.</p> + +<p>"Well—I'll—be—jiggered," he exclaimed, looking about again in dismay. +"Somebody's been herre," he added conclusively.</p> + +<p>Tom fell to scrutinizing the ground for footprints, but there was no +sign of any and he too gazed about him in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"They didn't walk away, that's sure," he said, "and they didn't blow +away either. There wasn't even a breeze."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span></p> + +<p>A thorough search of the immediate locality confirmed their feeling of +certainty that the coats had not blown away. Indeed, they could not have +blown far even if there had been any wind, for the closeness of the +trees to one another would have prevented this. Tom gazed about, then +looked at his companion, utterly dumfounded.</p> + +<p>"Maybe they blew into the waterr," Archer suggested. But Tom only shook +his head and pointed to the light handkerchief upon the ground. A mere +breath would have carried that away.</p> + +<p>They could only stand and stare at each other. Some one had evidently +taken their coats away in the night.</p> + +<p>"It's Gerrman efficiency, that's what it is," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't they take us, too?" Tom asked.</p> + +<p>"They'll be along forr us pretty soon," Archer reassured him. "They'rre +superrmen—that's what they arre.—Maybe it's some kind of strategy, +hey? They can do spooky things, those Huns. They've got magic uniforms."</p> + +<p>"I don't see any reason for it," said sober Tom, still looking about, +unable to conquer his amazement.</p> + +<p>"That's just it," said Archer. "They do things therre ain't any reason +forr just to practice theirr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> efficiency. Pretty soon you'll see all the +allied soldierrs'll be losing their coats. Go-o-o-o-d <i>night</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I can't find any footprints, that's sure," said Tom, rather +chagrined. "I usually can."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it was some sort of an airship," Archer suggested.</p> + +<p>Whatever the explanation of this extraordinary thing, the coats were +gone. There were no footprints, and there had been no wind. And the +mysterious affair left the boys aghast.</p> + +<p>"One thing sure—we'd better get away from here quick," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"You said it! Ebeneezerr, but this place has got the Catskills and old +Rip Van Winkle beat! Come on—quick!"</p> + +<p>Tom was not sure that one side of the water was any safer than the other +in this emergency, and he was almost too nonplussed to do anything, but +surely they were in danger, he felt, and would better be upon their way +without the loss of a minute. What troubled him not a little also was +that the precious spy-glass and the compass were with the missing coats.</p> + +<p>They could see now that the water was a long, narrow lake the ends of +which were just discernible from the midway position along the shore +where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> they stood, and the opposite shore was perhaps a mile distant.</p> + +<p>"Are you game to swim it?" Archer asked.</p> + +<p>They felt that this would be easier than the long tramp around and that +they would have the advantage while swimming of an extended view and +would avoid any danger which might lurk behind the trees.</p> + +<p>They had almost reached the opposite shore when Archer sputtered and +called out to Tom: "Look, look!"</p> + +<p>Tom looked and saw, hanging from a branch on the shore they were +nearing, the two missing field gray uniform coats.</p> + +<p>This was too much. Speechless with amazement they clambered ashore and +walked half fearfully up to their fugitive garments. There was no doubt +about it, there were the two coats dangling from a low hanging branch, +perfectly dry and in the pockets the spy-glass and the trusty compass. +The two boys stared blankly at each other.</p> + +<p>"Well—what—do—you—know—about—that?" said Archer.</p> + +<p>"They didn't steal anything, anyway," said Tom, half under his breath.</p> + +<p>Archer stared at the coats, then peered cautiously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> about among the +trees. Then he faced Tom again, who returned his stare in mute +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You don't s'pose we could have swum across in ourr sleep, do you?" said +Archer.</p> + +<p>Tom shook his head thoughtfully. Could it be that those Huns, those +fiends of the air and the ocean depths, those demons who could shoot a +gun for seventy miles and rear their yellow heads suddenly up out of the +green waters close to the American shore—could it be that they were +indeed genii—ghouls of evil, who played fast and loose with poor +wanderers in the forest until the moment came for crushing them utterly?</p> + +<p>Or could it be that this black wilderness, perched upon its mountain +chain, was indeed the magic toyland of all creation, the home of Santa +Claus and——</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Archer, "let's not stand herre. B'lieve <i>me</i>, I want to +get as far away from this place as we can!"</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2><h3>NONNENMATTWEIHER</h3> +</div> + +<p>But the worst was yet to come. They hurried now, for whatever the cause +of this extraordinary incident, they wished to get away from it, and +having crossed the lake they paused not to dry their garments but +continued southward following the almost obliterated wagon tracks which +ran from the shore.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how the wagons got across?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Wings," said Archer solemnly, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>In a little while they came to the toymaker's cottage, with the +mechanical cuckoo and the windmills and the basket of soldiers and +animals and the old Swiss toymaker himself, sitting like a big toy, in +the doorway.</p> + +<p>"Well—I'll—be——" began Archer.</p> + +<p>Tom simply gaped, too perplexed to speak. He had believed that he was +something of a woodsman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> and he certainly believed that he would not go +north supposing that he was going south! Could there be another Swiss +toymaker, and another cottage and another squawking cuckoo, exactly like +the others? Were they all alike, the lonesome denizens of this spooky +place, like the wooden inhabitants of a Noah's ark?</p> + +<p>"This Hun forest has got Aladdin's cave beat twenty ways," said Archer. +"Either we'rre crazy or this place is."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the bright thought occurred to Tom to look at his compass. +Unless the magnetic pole had changed its position, and the whole earth +gone askew, they were tramping northward, as he saw to his unutterable +amazement.</p> + +<p>"Did we swim across the lake or didn't we?" he demanded of Archer, +roused out of his wonted stolidness.</p> + +<p>"Surre, we did!"</p> + +<p>"Then I give it up," said Tom resignedly. "The compass says north—we're +going north. This is the very same toymaker."</p> + +<p>"Go-o-od <i>night</i>!" said Archer, with even more than his usual vehemence. +"Maybe the Gerrmans have conquerred the Norrth Pole and taken all the +steel to make mountains, just like they knocked international<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> law all +endways, hey? That's why the compass don't point right. G-o-o-o-o-od +<i>night</i>!"</p> + +<p>This ingenious theory, involving a rather large piece of strategy even +for "supermen," did not appeal to Tom's sober mind.</p> + +<p>"That's what it is," said Archer. "You've got to admit that if they +could send Zeps and submarines and things to the North Pole and cop all +the steel, the British navy, and ourrs too, would be floppin' around the +ocean like a chicken with its head cut off.—It's a good idea!"</p> + +<p>Tom went up to the old toymaker, who greeted them with a smile, seeming +no more surprised to see them than he had been the day before.</p> + +<p>"North—<i>north</i>?" asked Tom, pointing.</p> + +<p>"Nort—yah," said the old man, pointing too.</p> + +<p>"Water," said Tom; "swim—<i>swim</i> across" (he pointed southward and made +the motions of swimming). The old man nodded as if he understood.</p> + +<p>"Ach—vauder, yach,—Nonnenmattweiher."</p> + +<p>"What?" said Tom.</p> + +<p>"<i>What</i>?" said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Nonnenmattweiher," said the old man. "Yah."</p> + +<p>"He wants to know what's the matter with you," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Water," Tom repeated, almost in desperation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span></p> + +<p>"Swim (he went through the motions): Swim across water to south—start +south, go north." He made no attempt to convey the incident of the +vanishing coats.</p> + +<p>"Water—yah,—Nonnenmattweiher," the man repeated.</p> + +<p>At last, by dint of repeating words and swinging their arms and going +through a variety of extraordinary motions, the boys succeeded in +conveying to the little man that something was wrong in the neighborhood +of the lake, and he appeared willing enough to go back with them, +trotting along beside Tom in his funny belted blouse, for all the world +like a mechanical toy. Tom had his misgivings as to whether they would +really reach the lake no matter which way they went, but they did reach +it, and standing under the tree where they had recovered their vanished +coats they tried to explain to the old man what had happened—that they +had crossed from the north to the south bank and continued southward, +only to find that they were going north!</p> + +<p>Suddenly a new light illumined the little man's countenance and he +chuckled audibly. Then he pointed across the lake, chattering and +chuckling the while, and went through a series of strange motions, +spreading his legs farther and farther apart, pointing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> to the ground +between them, and concluded this exhibition with a sweeping motion of +his hands as if bidding some invisible presence of that enchanted place +God-speed across the water.</p> + +<p>"Och—goo," he said, and shook his head and laughed.</p> + +<p>"I know what he means," said Tom at last, with undisguised chagrin, "and +I'm a punk scout. I didn't notice anything at all. Come on. We've got to +swim across again—that's south, all right."</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Archer.</p> + +<p>"I'll show you when we get there—come on."</p> + +<p>The little Swiss toymaker stood watching them and laughing with a +spasmodic laugh which he might have caught from his own wooden cuckoo. +When they reached the other shore Tom fell at once to examining a very +perceptible rift in the earth a few feet from the shore.</p> + +<p>"Do you see?" he said, "we floated over on this piece of land. The tree +where we hung our coats was on the <i>real</i> shore, and——"</p> + +<p>"Go-od night, and it missed the boat," concluded Archer.</p> + +<p>"This tree here is something like it," said Tom, "and that's where I +made my mistake. I ought to have noticed the trees and I ought to have +noticed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> the crack. Gee, if my scout patrol ever heard of that! +'Specially Roy Blakeley," he added, shaking his head dubiously.</p> + +<p>It was indeed something of a "bull" in scouting, though perhaps a more +experienced forester than Tom would have become as confused as he in the +same circumstances. Perhaps if he had been as companionable with his +school geography as Archer had been with his he might have known about +the famous Lake Nonnenmattweiher in the silent depths of the Schwarzwald +and of its world-famed floating island, which makes its nocturnal +cruises from shore to shore, a silent, restless voyager on that black +pine-embowered lake.</p> + +<p>As the boys looked back across the water they could see the little Swiss +toymaker still standing upon the shore, and looking at him through the +rescued glass (of which they were soon to make better use), Tom could +see that his odd little figure was shaking with merriment—as if he were +wound up.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2><h3>AN INVESTMENT</h3> +</div> + +<p>Often, in the grim, bloody days to come, they thought of the little +Swiss toymaker up there among his windmills and Noah's arks, and of his +laugh at their expense. A merry little gnome he was, the very spirit of +the Black Forest.</p> + +<p>Their last sight of him marked almost the end of their wanderings. For +another day's tramping through the solemn depths brought them to a +little community, a tiny forest village, made up of just such cottages +and people, and they made a detour to avoid it, only to run plunk into +another miniature industrial centre which they also "side-stepped," +though indeed the iron fist seemed not to be very tightly closed upon +these primitive knights of the jack-knife and chisel; and they saw no +dreaded sign of authority.</p> + +<p>Still they did not wish to be reckless and when they sought food and +shelter it was at a sequestered cottage several miles from the nearest +habitation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> Here Tom showed his button but the old man (they saw no +young men) seemed not to know what it meant, although he gave them food, +apparently believing them to be German soldiers.</p> + +<p>Tom believed that they must have journeyed fifty or sixty miles +southward, verging away from the river so as to keep within the depths +of the forest, and he realized that the time had come for them to +consider just what course they were going to pursue.</p> + +<p>"If we're going to try to find her," he said rather hesitatingly, "we +ought to hit it west so's we can take a pike across the river. But if we +keep straight south we'll strike the river after it bends, if that old +weaver knew what he was talking about, and when we cross it we'll be in +Switzerland. We'll do whatever you say. Going straight south would be +easier and safer," he added, with his usual blunt honesty; "and if we +cross back into Alsace we'll have to go past houses and people and we'll +be taking chances.—I admit it's like things in a book—I mean rescuing +girls," he said, with his characteristic awkward frankness, "and maybe +some people would say it was crazy, kind of——" What he meant was +<i>romantic</i>, but he didn't exactly know how to say that. "As long as +we've been lucky so far maybe we ought to get across the frontier and +over to France as quick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> as we can. I s'pose that's where we +belong—most of all——"</p> + +<p>"Is that what you think?" said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I ain't sayin' what I think, but——"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I'll say what <i>I</i> think," retorted Archer. "You're always +telling about thoughts you've had. I don't claim I'm as good as you arre +at having thoughts, but if therre's a soldierr wounded they send two or +three soldierrs to carry the stretcherr, don't they? Maybe those +soldierrs ought to be fighting, but saving a person comes firrst. You've +hearrd about giving all you have to the Red Cross. All <i>we</i> got is the +<i>chance</i> to get away. We've got morre chance than we had when we +starrted, 'cause you'rre a good scout——"</p> + +<p>"I don't claim——"</p> + +<p>"Shut up," said Archer; "so it's like saving up ourr chances and adding +to 'em, till now we're 'most in Switzerland and we got a good big chance +saved up. I'll tell you what I'm going to do with mine—I'm going to +give it to the Red Cross—<i>kind of</i>—as you'd say. If that girrl is +worrkin' on that road and I can find herr, I'm goin' to. If I get +pinched, all right. So it ain't a question of what <i>we'rre</i> goin' to do; +it's a question of: Are <i>you</i> with me? You're always tellin' when yourr +thoughts come to you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> Well, I got that one just before I dived for the +glass. So that's the way I'm going to invest <i>my</i> chance, 'cause I +haven't got anything else to give.... I heard in prison about the +Liberty Bond buttons they give you to wearr back home. I'd like to have +one of those blamed things to wearr for a souveneerr."</p> + +<p>Tom Slade had stood silent throughout this harangue, and now he laughed +a little awkwardly. "It's better than investing money," he said, "and +what I'm laughing at—kind of," he added with infinite relief and +satisfaction showing through the emotion he was trying to repress; "what +I'm laughing at is how you're always thinking about souvenirs."</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>So it was decided that their little joint store, their savings, as one +might say—their standing capital of <i>chance</i> which they had improved +and added to—should be invested in the hazardous business of rescuing a +daughter of France from her German captors. It was <i>giving</i> with a +vengeance.</p> + +<p>It is a pity that there was no button to signalize this kind of a +contribution.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2><h3>CAMOUFLAGE</h3> +</div> + +<p>They turned westward now in a direction which Tom thought would bring +them about opposite the Alsatian town of Norne. A day's journey took +them out of the forest proper into a rocky region of sparse vegetation +from which they could see the river winding ribbonlike in the distance. +Beyond it in the flat Alsatian country lay a considerable city which, +from what old Melotte had told them, they believed to be Mulhausen.</p> + +<p>"Norne is a little to the south of that and closer to the river," said +Tom.</p> + +<p>They picked their way along the edge of the palisades, concealing +themselves among the rocks, and as they thus worked to the southward the +precipitous heights and the river converged until they were almost +directly above the water. At last, looking down, they saw upon the +narrow strip of shore directly below them the old castle of which +Melotte had told them. There was no other in sight. From<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> their dizzy +perch among the concealing rocks they could see almost the whole width +of southern Alsace in panorama, as one sees New York from the Palisades +of the Hudson, and in the distance the dim outlines of the Vosges +mountains, beyond which lay France.</p> + +<p>Not far from the river on the Alsatian side and (as old Melotte had +said) directly opposite the castle, was a small town which Tom studied +carefully with the glass.</p> + +<p>"That's it," he said, relieved, for both of them had harbored a +lingering fear that these places existed only in the childish mind of +the blue-eyed old weaver. "Melotte was right," he added. "Wait a +minute—I'll let you look. You can see the new road and people working +on it and—wait a minute—I can see a little flag on one house."</p> + +<p>There was no doubt about it. There was the town of Norne, and just west +of it a road with tiny figures distributed along it.</p> + +<p>Archer was all a-quiver as he took the glass. "I can see the house," he +said; "it's right near the road, it's got a flag on it. When the light +strikes it you can see the black spot. Oh, look, look!"</p> + +<p>"I can't look when you've got the glass," said Tom in his dull way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can see the battleline!" cried Archer.</p> + +<p>Tom took the glass with unusual excitement. Far across the Alsatian +country, north and south, ran a dim, gray line, seeming to have no more +substance than a rainbow or the dust in a sun-ray. Far to the north it +bent westward and he knew its course lay through the mountains. But +short of those blue heights it seemed to peter out in a sort of gray +mist. And that was all that could be seen of that seething, bloody line +where the destinies of mankind were being contended for.</p> + +<p>It was easy for the boys to imagine that the specks they could see were +soldiers, American soldiers perhaps, and that low-hung clouds were the +smoke of thundering artillery....</p> + +<p>"I wonder if we'll ever get over there," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"Over there," Tom repeated abstractedly.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>Their program now must be one of stealth, not boldness, and they did not +wish to be seen scrambling down the heights in broad daylight; so they +waited for the night, regaling themselves out of the "furious profusion" +of grapes of which there seemed enough to make an ocean of Rhenish wine.</p> + +<p>It was dark when they reached the river bank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> and explored the shore for +some means of getting across. At last they discovered a float with +several boats attached to it and a ramshackle structure hard by within +which was a light and the familiar sound of a baby crying.</p> + +<p>"We've got to make up our minds not to be scared," said Tom, "and we +mustn't <i>look</i> as if we were scared. You can't make believe you're not +scared if you are. Let's try to make ourselves think we're really German +soldiers and then other people will think so. We've got to act just like +'em."</p> + +<p>"If you mean we've got to murrderr that baby," said Archer; "no sirree! +Not for mine!"</p> + +<p>"That <i>ain't</i> what I mean," said Tom. "You know Jeb Rushmore at Temple +Camp? He came from Arizona. He says you can always tell a fake cowboy no +matter how he may be dressed up because he don't <i>feel</i> like the West. +It ain't just the uniforms that do it; it's the way we <i>act</i>."</p> + +<p>"I get you," said Archer.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't do the things they do any more than I have to," Tom said; +"and I don't know exactly how they feel——"</p> + +<p>"They don't feel at all," interrupted Archer.</p> + +<p>"But if we act as if we didn't care and ain't afraid, we stand a +chance."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span></p> + +<p>"We've got to act as if we owned the earrth," Archer agreed.</p> + +<p>"Except if we should meet an officer," Tom concluded.</p> + +<p>In his crude way Tom had stumbled upon a great truth, which is the one +chief consideration in the matter of successful disguise. <i>You must feel +your part if you would act it</i>. As he had said, they did not know how +German soldiers felt (no civilized mortal knows that!), but he knew that +the Germans were plentiful hereabouts and no novelty, and that their +only hope of simulating two of them lay in banishing all timidity and +putting on a bold front.</p> + +<p>"One thing, we've got to keep our mouths shut," he said. "Most people +won't bother us but we've got to look out for officers. I'm going to +tear my shirt and make a sling for my arm and you've got to limp—and +keep your mind on it. When you're faking, you limp with your +brain—remember."</p> + +<p>The first test of their policy was successful beyond their fondest +dreams, though their parts were not altogether agreeable to them. They +marched down to the float, unfastened one of the boats with a good deal +of accompanying noise and started out into the river, just as Kaiser +Bill had started across Belgium. A woman with a baby in her arms +appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span> in the doorway and stared at them—then banged the door shut.</p> + +<p>They were greatly elated at their success and considered the taking of +the boat as a war measure, as probably the poor German woman did too.</p> + +<p>Once upon the other side they walked boldly into the considerable town +of Norne and over the first paved streets which they had seen in many a +day. They did not get out of the way of people at all; they let the +people scurry out of <i>their</i> way and were very bold and high and mighty +and unmannerly, and truly German in all the nice little particulars +which make the German such an unspeakable beast.</p> + +<p>Tom forgot all about the good old scout rule to do a good turn every day +and camouflaged his manners by doing a bad turn every minute—or as +nearly that as possible. It was good camouflage, and got them safely +through the streets of Norne, where they must do considerable hunting to +find the home of old Melotte's friend Blondel. They finally located it +on the outskirts of the town and recognized it by the billet flag which +Melotte had described to them.</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2><h3>THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was the success of their policy of boldness, together with something +which Madame Blondel told him, which prompted Tom to undertake the +impudent and daring enterprise which was later to make him famous on the +western front.</p> + +<p>Blondel himself, notwithstanding his sixty-five years, had been pressed +into military service, but Madame Blondel remained in the little house +on the edge of the town in calm disregard of the German officers who had +turned her little home into a headquarters while the new road was being +made. For this, of course, was being done under the grim eye of the +Military.</p> + +<p>The havoc wrought by these little despots, minions of the great despot, +in the simple abode of the poor old French couple, was eloquent of the +whole Prussian system.</p> + +<p>The officer whose heroic duty it was to oversee the women and girls +slaving with pick and shovel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> had turned the little abode out of +windows, to make it comfortable for himself and his guests, treating the +furniture and all the little household gods with the same disdainful +brutality that his masters had shown for Louvain Cathedral. The German +instinct is always the same, whether it be on a small or a large +scale—whether kicking furniture or blowing up hospitals.</p> + +<p>Amid the ruins of her tidy little home, Madame Blondel lingered in +undaunted proprietorship—the very spirit of gallant, indomitable +France!</p> + +<p>Perhaps, too, the bold entrance into these tyrant-ridden premises of the +two American boys under the forbidding flag of Teuton authority, had +something in it of the spirit of America. At least so Madame Blondel +seemed to regard it; and when Tom showed her his little button she threw +her arms around him, extending the area of her assault to Archer as +well.</p> + +<p>"<i>Vive l'Amerique!</i>" she cried, with a fine look of defiance in her +snapping eyes.</p> + +<p>She took the boys upstairs to a room—the only one, apparently, which +she could call her own—and here they told her their story.</p> + +<p>It appeared that for many years she had lived in America, where her +husband had worked in a silk mill and she had kept a little road-house, +tempting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> American autoists with French cooking and wine of Burgundy. +She spoke English very well, save for a few charming little slips and +notwithstanding that she was short and stout and wore spectacles, she +was overflowing with the spirit of her beloved country, and with a +weakness for adventure and romance which took Tom and Archer by storm. A +true Frenchwoman indeed, defying with a noble heroism Time and +Circumstance and vulgar trespasses under her very roof.</p> + +<p>"So you will rescue Mam'selle," she said clasping her hands and pressing +them to her breast with an inspiring look in her eyes. "So! This is +America—how you say—in a nutshell. Yess?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me you're France in a nutshell," said Tom awkwardly, "and +downstairs it's Germany in a nutshell."</p> + +<p>"Ah-h-h!" She gave a fine shrug of disgust; "<i>he</i> have gone to Berlin. +Tomorrow night late, his comrade will come—tomorrow night. So you are +safe. And you are ze true knight—so! You will r-rescue Mam'selle," and +she placed her two hands on Tom's shoulders, looking at him with +delight, and ended by embracing him.</p> + +<p>She seemed more interested in his rescuing "Mam'selle" than in anything +else and that apparently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> because it was a bold adventure in gallantry. +A true Frenchwoman indeed.</p> + +<p>"She'd make a bully scoutmaster," Tom whispered to Archer.</p> + +<p>"They might as well try to capturre the moon as put France out of +business," said Archer.</p> + +<p>Yes, big or little, man or woman, one or a million, in devastated home +or devastated country, she is always the same, gallant, spirited, +defiant. <i>Vive la France!</i></p> + +<p>While Madame Blondel plied them with food she told them the story of the +new road—another shameless item in the wake of German criminality and +dishonor.</p> + +<p>"They will wait to see if Amerique can send her troops. They will trust +zese submarines—so long. No more! All the while they make zis +road—ozzer roads. Zere will be ze tramping of zese <i>beasts</i> over zese +roads to little Switzerland yet!" she said, falling into the French +manner in her anger. "So zey will stab her in ze back! Ug-g-g-gh!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think that Florette and her mother are both there?" Tom asked.</p> + +<p>"Ah," she said slyly; "you wish not that her mother should be there? So +you will be ze true knight! Ah, you are a bad boy!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span></p> + +<p>To Tom's embarrassment she embraced him again, by way of showing that +she was not altogether averse to bad boys.</p> + +<p>"That ain't the way it is at all," he said flashing awkwardly. "I want +to save 'em both. That's the only thing I'm thinking about."</p> + +<p>"Ah," she laughed slyly, to Archer's delight. "You are a bad boy! Iss he +not a bad boy? Yess?" She turned upon Archer. "Sixty years old I am, but +still would I have so much happiness to be ze boy. See! Blondel and I, +we run away to our marriage so many years ago. No one can catch us. So! +Ziss is ze way—yess? Am I right?" She pointed her finger at poor Tom. +"Ah, you are ze true knight! Even yet, maybe, you will fight ze +duel—so! Listen! I will tell you how you will trrick ze Prussians."</p> + +<p>This was getting down to business and much to Tom's relief though Archer +had enjoyed the little scene hugely.</p> + +<p>"See," she said more soberly. "I will tell you. Every young mam'selle +must work—all are there. From north and south have they brought them. +All! But not our older women. Like soldiers they must obey. Here to this +very house come those that rebel—arrest! Some are sent back with—what +you say?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> Reprimand. Some to prison. I cannot speak. My own +countrywomen! Ug-gh! Zese wretches!"</p> + +<p>"So now I shall see if you are true Americans." She looked straight at +Tom, and even her homely spectacles did not detract from the fire that +burned in her eyes. Here was a woman, who if she had but been a man, +could have done anything. "I shall give you ze paper—all print. Ze +warrant. You see?" She paused, throwing her head back with such a fine +air of defiance that even her wrinkled face and homely domestic garb +could not dim its glory. "<i>You shall arrest Mam'selle!</i> Here you shall +bring her. See—listen! You know what our great Napoleon say? 'Across ze +Alps lies Italee.' So shall you arrest Mam'selle!" She put her arm on +Tom's shoulder and looked into his eyes with a kind of inspiring frenzy. +"Close, so very close," she whispered significantly, "<i>across ze Rhine +lies Switzerland</i>!"</p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2><h3>THE END OF THE TRAIL</h3> +</div> + +<p>Not in all the far-flung battleline was there a more pitiable sight than +the bright sun beheld as he poured his stifling rays down upon the +winding line of upturned earth which lay in fresh piles across the +country of southern Alsace.</p> + +<p>Almost to the Swiss border it ran, but no one could get across the Swiss +border here without running into Prussian bayonets. To the east, where +the Rhine flowed and where the mountains were, some reckless soul might +manage it in a night's journeying, if he would brave the lonesome +fastnesses; though even there the meshes of forbidding wire, charged +with a death-giving voltage, stretched across the path. It was not an +inviting route.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span></p> + + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 400px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-005" id="illus-005"></a> +<img src='images/illus-198.jpg' alt='"DON'T LOOK SURPRISED," TOM SAID IN AN UNDERTONE. Page 198' title='' width = '300' height = '465'/><br /> +<span class='caption'>"DON'T LOOK SURPRISED," TOM SAID IN AN UNDERTONE. Page 198</span> +</div> + +<p>You may believe it or not, as you please, but along this new road score +upon score of young women and mere girls toiled and slaved with pickaxe +and shovel. And some fell and were lifted up again, with threats and +imprecations, and toiled on. There were some who came from Belgium, +whose hands had been cut off, and these were harnessed and drew stones. +They lived, if you call it living, in tents and wooden barracks along +the line of work, and in these they spent their few hours of respite in +fearful, restless slumber.</p> + +<p>Over them, like a black and threatening cloud, was the clenched, +blood-wet iron fist. Now and then one broke down in hysterics and was +"arrested" and taken before the commander who sprawled and drank wine in +a peasant cottage nearby. For the road must be made and German +militarism tolerates no nonsense....</p> + +<p>Across the fields toward this road passed a young fellow in the uniform +of a petty officer. He carried in his hand a paper and a pair of +handcuffs. He was repeating to himself a phrase in the German language +in which he had just been carefully drilled. "<i>Wo ist sie?</i>"</p> + +<p>It was all the German that he knew.</p> + +<p>Approaching the road, he passed along among the workers, who glanced up +at him covertly and plied their implements a little harder for his +presence. Coming upon a soldier who was marching back and forth on +guard, the officer showed him the paper and said, "<i>Wo ist sie?</i>" The +guard pointed farther<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span> down the line at another soldier, whom the +officer approached and addressed with his one, newly-learned question. +The second soldier scanned the workers under his charge, then made as if +to take the paper and the handcuffs, but the officer held them from him +with true German arrogance, intimating that all he wished was to have +the worker identified and he would do the rest. He did not deign to +speak to the soldier.</p> + +<p>When the subject of his quest had been pointed out to him he strode over +to her, with a motion of his hand bidding the soldier remain at his +post. The girls, who were working ankle-deep in the thick earth, fell +back as this grim embodiment of authority passed and stole fearful +glances at him as he laid his hand upon the shoulder of one of their +number who was throwing stones out of the roadway. She was a slender +girl, almost too delicate for housework, one would have said, and her +face bore an expression of utter listlessness—the listlessness that +comes from long fatigue and lost hope. Her eyes had the startled, +terror-stricken look of a frightened animal as she looked up into the +face of the young officer.</p> + +<p>"Don't speak and don't look surprised," he said in an undertone, as he +snapped the handcuffs on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> her wrists. "I'm Tom Slade—don't you +remember? You have to come with me and we'll take you across the Swiss +border tonight. It's all planned. Don't talk and don't be scared. Answer +low—Is your mother here?"</p> + +<p>A heavy stone that she was holding fell and he could feel her shoulder +trembling under his hand. She looked at him in doubtful recognition, for +the face was grim and cold and there was a look of hard steel in the +eyes. Then she glanced in terror at one of the soldiers who was marching +back and forth, rifle in hand.</p> + +<p>"He won't interfere—he won't even dare to salute me. If he comes near +I'll knock him down. Is your mother here?"</p> + +<p>"She iss wiz ze friends in Leteur. Her zey do not take."</p> + +<p>Her voice was low and full of a terror which she seemed unable to +overcome and as she looked fearfully about Tom was reminded of the night +when they had talked together alone in the arbor.</p> + +<p>"They didn't catch me yet and they won't," he said. "They're not scouts. +Come on."</p> + +<p>She followed him out of the upturned earth and down the line, where he +strode like a lord of creation. Never so much as a glance did he deign +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> give a soldier. A few of the young women who dared to look up +watched the two as they cut across a field and, whispering, some said +her lot would be worse than she suspected—that her arrest was only a +ruse.... They came nearer to the truth in that than they knew.</p> + +<p>Others spoke enviously, saying that, whatever befell her, at least she +would have a little rest. The more bold among them continued to steal +covert glances as the two went across the field, and fell to work again +with a better submission, noticing the overbearing demeanor of the +brutal young officer who had arrested their companion.</p> + +<p>"You are come again," she finally said timidly; "like ze good genii." It +was difficult for her to speak, but Tom was willing for her to cry and +seem agitated, for they were coming to houses now, where crippled +soldiers sat about and children scurried, frightened, out of their path +and called their mothers who came out to stare.</p> + +<p>"My father—I may not yet talk——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you can talk now. I know all about it."</p> + +<p>"Everything you know—you are wonderful. He told us how ze zheneral, he +say, '<i>Lafayette, we are here!</i>' And now you are here——"</p> + +<p>"I told you you could sing the <i>Marseillaise</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> again," he said simply. +"When we get over there, you can."</p> + +<p>"You have come before zem, even," she said, her voice breaking with +emotion. "I cannot speak, you see, but some day ze Americans, zey will +be here, and you are here ze first——"</p> + +<p>"Don't try to talk," he said huskily. "Over in America we have girl +scouts—kind of. They call 'em Camp Fire Girls. Some people make fun of +'em, but they can climb and they don't scream when they get in a boat, +and they ain't afraid of the woods, and they don't care if it rains, and +they ain't a-scared of noises, and all like that. You got to be one of +them tonight. You got to be just like a feller—kind of. Even if you're +tired you got to stick it out—just like France is doing."</p> + +<p>"I am ze daughter of France," she said proudly, catching his meaning, +"and you have come like America. Before, in Leteur, I was afraid. No +more am I afraid. I will be ziss fiery camp girl—so!"</p> + +<p>"Not fiery camp girl," said Tom dully; "Camp Fire Girl."</p> + +<p>"So! I will be zat!"</p> + +<p>"And tomorrow we'll be in Switzerland. And soon as we get across I'm +going to make you sing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> the <i>Marseillaise</i>, so's when I get to +Frenchy—Armand—I can tell him you sang it and nobody stopped you. You +remember the other feller that was with me. He says we're going to take +you to Armand as a souvenir. That's what he's always talking +about—souvenirs."</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>It did not occupy much space in the American newspapers for there were +more important things to relate. The English were circling around some +ridge or other; the French were straightening out a salient, and the +Germans had failed to surprise the Americans near Arracourt. The +American airmen got the credit for that.</p> + +<p>So there was only a brief account. "Two American Ship's Boys Reach +France," heading said, and then followed this summary narrative as sent +out by the Associated Press:</p> + +<p>"Two American boys are reported to have reached General Pershing's +forces in France, having escaped from a German prison camp and passed +the Swiss frontier at an unfrequented spot after picking their way +through the wilder section of the Black Forest in Baden. They subsisted +chiefly on roots and grapes. Both are said to have been in the U.S. +Transport Service. A despatch from Basel says<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> that the Red Cross +authorities are caring for a French Alsatian girl whom the fugitives +rescued from German servitude by impersonating German military +authorities. The details of their exploit are not given in the +despatches.</p> + +<p>"The American Y. M. C. A. at Nancy has no knowledge of such a girl being +brought across the border and doubts the truth of this story, saying +that such a rescue would be quite impossible. Another account says that +the two boys upon reaching the American troops, notified a brother of +the girl who was training with the expeditionary forces and that this +brother was given a furlough to visit Molin, just below the Swiss +frontier, where the girl was being cared for. This soldier's name is +given as Armand Leteur. He is reported to have found his sister in a +state of utter collapse from the treatment she had received while +toiling on the roads in Alsace. One report has it that her wrist had +been branded by a hot iron. The two youngsters are said to have chosen +an unfrequented spot where the frontier crosses the mountains and to +have manipulated the electrified barbed wire with a pair of rubber +gloves which they had found in the wreck of a fallen German airship. The +correspondent of the London <i>Times</i> says that one of these gloves has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> +been sent to President Wilson by its proud possessor as a souvenir.</p> + +<p>"Washington, Oct. 12.—Administration officials here have no knowledge +of any rubber glove being received by President Wilson but say that the +arrival of two boys, fugitives from Germany, has been officially +reported by the military authorities in France and that they brought +with them a letter taken from a dead German soldier which contained +references to the impending German assault near Arracourt, thus enabling +our men to anticipate and confound the Hun plans. Both of the boys, +whose names are given as Archibald Slade and Thomas Archer, are now in +training behind the American lines. A <i>Thomas</i> Slade is reported to have +been in the steward's department of the Transport <i>Montauk</i> which was +struck by a submarine last spring.</p> + +<p>"Reuter's Agency confirms the story of the rescue of the girl and of her +reunion with her brother."</p> + +<p style='text-align:center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 3em;'>THE END</p> + +<hr class='full' /> + +<h2>The Tom Slade Books</h2> +<h3>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</h3> +<h4>Author of the ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS</h4> +<p class='center'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>The Tom Slade books have the official endorsement and recommendation of +THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA. In vivid story form they tell of Boy Scout +ways, and how they help a fellow grow into a manhood of which America +may be proud.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade, Boy Scout</b></p> + +<p>Tom Slade lived in Barrel Alley. The story of his thrilling Scout +experiences, how he was gradually changed from the street gangster into +a First Class Scout, is told in almost as moving and stirring a way as +the same narrative related in motion pictures.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade at Temple Camp</b></p> + +<p>The boys are at a summer camp in the Adirondack woods, and Tom enters +heart and soul into the work of making possible to other boys the +opportunities in woodcraft and adventure of which he himself has already +had a taste.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade on the River</b></p> + +<p>A carrier pigeon falls into the camp of the Bridgeboro Troop of Boy +Scouts. Attached to the bird's leg is a message which starts Tom and his +friends on a search that culminates in a rescue and a surprising +discovery. The boys have great sport on the river, cruising in the +"Honor Scout."</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade With the Colors <span style="font-size: smaller">A WAR-TIME BOY SCOUT STORY</span></b></p> + +<p>When Uncle Sam "pitches in" to help the Allies in the Great War, Tom's +Boy Scout training makes it possible for him to show his patriotism in a +way which is of real service to his country. Tom has many experiences +that any loyal American boy would enjoy going through—or reading about, +as the next best thing.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade on a Transport</b></p> + +<p>While working as a mess boy on one of Uncle Sam's big ships, Tom's +cleverness enables him to be of service in locating a disloyal member of +the crew. On his homeward voyage the ship is torpedoed and Tom is taken +aboard a submarine and thence to Germany. He finally escapes and +resolves to reach the American forces in France.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade With the Boys Over There</b></p> + +<p>We follow Tom and his friend, Archer, on their flight from Germany, +through many thrilling adventures, until they reach and join the +American Army in France.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade, Motorcycle Dispatch Bearer</b></p> + +<p>Tom is now a dispatch rider behind the lines and has some thrilling +experiences in delivering important messages to troop commanders in +France.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade With the Flying Corps</b></p> + +<p>At last Tom realizes his dream to scout and fight for Uncle Sam in the +air, and has such experiences as only the world war could make possible.</p> + + +<p><b>Tom Slade at Black Lake</b></p> + +<p>Tom has returned home and visits Temple Camp before the season opens. He +builds three cabins and has many adventures.</p> + + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Grosset</span> & <span class="smcap">Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2>The Roy Blakeley Books</h2> +<h3>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</h3> +<h4>Author of the TOM SLADE BOOKS</h4> +<p class='center'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p><b>Roy Blakeley</b></p> + +<p>In one of the books which Roy Blakeley and his patrol collect from a +kindly old gentleman, in a book-drive for the soldiers, Pee-wee Harris +discovers what he believes to be a sinister looking memorandum, and he +becomes convinced that the old gentleman is a genuine spy. But the laugh +is on Pee-wee, as usual, for the donor of the book turns out to be an +author, and the suspicious memorandum is only a literary mark. The +author, however, is so pleased with the boys' patriotism and amused at +Pee-wee's zeal, that he loans them his houseboat, in which they make the +trip up the Hudson to their beloved Temple Camp, which every boy who has +read the TOM SLADE BOOKS will be glad to see once more.</p> + + +<p><b>Roy Blakeley's Adventures in Camp</b></p> + +<p>Roy Blakeley and his patrol are found in this book once more happily +established in camp. A rivalry between the Silver Foxes and the other +patrols springs up in the quest for Spruce and Black Walnut for which +the government is in need. Roy and his friends incur the wrath of a land +owner, but the doughty Pee-wee saves the situation and the wealthy +landowner as well, when he guides him out of the deep forest where he +has lost himself. The boys wake up one morning to find Black Lake +flooded far over its banks, and the solving of this mystery furnishes +some exciting reading.</p> + + +<p><b>Roy Blakeley, Pathfinder</b></p> + +<p>Roy and his rusty comrades having come to Temple Camp by water, resolve +that they will make the journey home by foot. On the way they capture a +leopard escaped from a circus, which exciting adventure brings about an +amusing acquaintance with the strange people who belong to the traveling +show. The boys are instrumental in solving a deep mystery, and finding +among the show people one who has long been missing and for whom search +has been made the country over.</p> + + +<p><b>Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels</b></p> + +<p>This is the story of the wild and roaming career of a ramshackle old +railroad car which has been given ROY and his companions for a troop +meeting place. The boys who have spent a hard day cleaning and repairing +the car, fall asleep in it. In the darkness of the night, and by a +singular error of the railroad people, the car is "taken up" by a +freight train and instead of being left at a designated point several +miles below, is carried westward, so that when the boys awake in the +morning they find themselves in a country altogether strange and new. +The story tells of the many and exciting adventures in this car as it +journeys from place to place.</p> + + +<p><b>Roy Blakeley's Silver Fox Patrol</b></p> + +<p>In the car which Roy Blakeley and his friends have for a meeting place +is discovered an old faded letter, dating from the Klondike gold days, +and it appears to intimate the location of certain bags of gold, buried +by a train robber who had held up a train bringing passengers home from +the Canadian Northwest. The quest for this treasure is made in an +automobile and the strange adventures on this trip constitute the story.</p> + + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Grosset</span> & <span class="smcap">Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2><a name="THE_EVERY_CHILD_SHOULD_KNOW_SERIES" id="THE_EVERY_CHILD_SHOULD_KNOW_SERIES"></a>THE EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW SERIES</h2> +<p class='center'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list.</p> +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p>BIRDS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Neltje Blanchan. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>EARTH AND SKY EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Julia Ellen Rogers. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>ESSAYS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>FAIRY TALES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>FAMOUS STORIES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>FOLK TALES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>HEROES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>HEROINES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Coedited by Hamilton W. Mabie and Kate Stephens</span></p> + +<p>HYMNS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Dolores Bacon</span></p> + +<p>LEGENDS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>MYTHS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie</span></p> + +<p>OPERAS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Dolores Bacon. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>PICTURES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Dolores Bacon. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>POEMS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Mary E. Burt</span></p> + +<p>PROSE EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Mary E. Burt</span></p> + +<p>SONGS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>Edited by Dolores Bacon</span></p> + +<p>TREES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Julia Ellen Rogers. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>WATER WONDERS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Jean M. Thompson. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>WILD ANIMALS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Julia Ellen Rogers. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p>WILD FLOWERS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW<br /> +<span class='everychild'>By Frederic William Stack. Illustrated</span></p> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2>EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY</h2> +<h3>BOY SCOUT EDITION</h3> +<h4>SIMILAR TO THIS VOLUME</h4> + +<p>The Boy Scouts of America in making up this Library, selected only such +books as had been proven by a nation-wide canvass to be most universally +in demand among the boys themselves. Originally published in more +expensive editions only, they are now, under the direction of the +Scout's National Council, re-issued at a lower price so that all boys +may have the advantage of reading and owning them. It is the only series +of books published under the control of this great organization, whose +sole object is the welfare and happiness of the boy himself. For the +first time in history a <i>guaranteed</i> library is available, and at a +price so low as to be within the reach of all.</p> + +<p><b>Along the Mohawk Trail</b> Percy K. Fitzhugh</p> + +<p><b>Animal Heroes</b> Ernest Thompson Seton</p> + +<p><b>Baby Elton, Quarter-Back</b> Leslie W. Quirk</p> + +<p><b>Bartley, Freshman Pitcher</b> William Heyliger</p> + +<p><b>Be Prepared, The Boy Scouts in Florida</b> A. W. Dimock</p> + +<p><b>Ben-Hur</b> Lew Wallace</p> + +<p><b>Boat-Building and Boating</b> Dan. Beard</p> + +<p><b>The Boy Scouts of Black Eagle Patrol</b> Leslie W. Quirk</p> + +<p><b>The Boy Scouts of Bob's Hill</b> Charles Pierce Burton</p> + +<p><b>The Boys' Book of New Inventions</b> Harry E. Maule</p> + +<p><b>Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts</b> Frank R. Stockton</p> + +<p><b>The Call of the Wild</b> Jack London</p> + +<p><b>Cattle Ranch to College</b> Russell Doubleday</p> + +<p><b>College Years</b> Ralph D. Paine</p> + +<p><b>Crooked Trails</b> Frederic Remington</p> + +<p><b>The Cruise of the Cachalot</b> Frank T. Bullen</p> + +<p><b>The Cruise of the Dazzler</b> Jack London</p> + +<p><b>Danny Fists</b> Walter Camp</p> + +<p><b>For the Honor of the School</b> Ralph Henry Barbour</p> + +<p><b>A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee"</b> From the Diary of Number Five of the After +Port Gun</p> + +<p><b>The Half-Back</b> Ralph Henry Barbour</p> + +<p><b>Handbook for Boys, Revised Edition</b> Boy Scouts of America</p> + +<p><b>Handicraft for Outdoor Boys</b> Dan. Beard</p> + +<p><b>The Horsemen of the Plains</b> Joseph A. Altsheler</p> + +<p><b>Jeb Hutton; The Story of a Georgia Boy</b> James B. Connolly</p> + +<p><b>The Jester of St. Timothy's</b> Arthur Stanwood Pier</p> + +<p><b>Jim Davis</b> John Masefield</p> + +<p><b>Kidnapped</b> Robert Louis Stevenson</p> + +<p><b>Last of the Chiefs</b> Joseph A. Altsheler</p> + +<p><b>Last of the Plainsmen</b> Zane Grey</p> + +<p><b>The Last of the Mohicans</b> James Fenimore Cooper</p> + +<p><b>A Midshipman in the Pacific</b> Cyrus Townsend Brady</p> + +<p><b>Pitching in a Pinch</b> Christy Mathewson</p> + +<p><b>Ranche on the Oxhide</b> Henry Inman</p> + +<p><b>Redney McGaw; A Circus Story for Boys</b> Arthur E. McFarlane</p> + +<p><b>The School Days of Elliott Gray, Jr.</b> Colton Maynard</p> + +<p><b>Scouting with Daniel Boone</b> Everett T. Tomlinson</p> + +<p><b>Three Years Behind the Guns</b> Lieu Tisdale</p> + +<p><b>Tommy Remington's Battle</b> Burton E. Stevenson</p> + +<p><b>Tecumseh's Young Braves</b> Everett T. Tomlinson</p> + +<p><b>Tom Strong, Washington's Scout</b> Alfred Bishop Mason</p> + +<p><b>To the Land of the Caribou</b> Paul Greene Tomlinson</p> + +<p><b>Treasure Island</b> Robert Louis Stevenson</p> + +<p><b>20,000 Leagues Under the Sea</b> Jules Verne</p> + +<p><b>Ungava Bob; A Tale of the Fur Trappers</b> Dillon Wallace</p> + +<p><b>Wells Brothers; The Young Cattle Kings</b> Andy Adams</p> + +<p><b>Williams of West Point</b> Hugh S. Johnson</p> + +<p><b>The Wireless Man; His work and adventures</b> Francis A. Collins</p> + +<p><b>The Wolf Hunters</b> George Bird Grinnell</p> + +<p><b>The Wrecking Master</b> Ralph D. Paine</p> + +<p><b>Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors</b> James Barnes</p> + +<p class='center'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2>THE CHILDREN'S CRIMSON SERIES</h2> + +<p class='center'>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list</p> + +<h4>The Editors; and What the Children's Crimson Series Offers Your Child</h4> + +<p>In the first place, "The Children's Crimson Series" is designed to +please and interest every child, by reason of the sheer fascination of +the stories and poems contained therein.</p> + +<p>To accomplish such an end, a vast amount of patient labor, a rare +judgment, a life-long study of children, and a genuine love for all that +is best in literature, are essential factors of success.</p> + +<p>Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Riggs) and Nora Archibald Smith possess these +qualities and this experience. Their efforts, as pioneers of +kindergarten work, the love and admiration in which their works are held +by all young people, prove them to be in full sympathy with this unique +piece of work.</p> + +<p>Let all parents, who wish their little ones to have their minds and +tastes developed along the right paths, remember that once a child is +interested and amused, the rest is comparatively easy. Stories and poems +so admirably selected, cannot then but sow the seeds of a real literary +culture, which must be encouraged in childhood if it is ever to exercise +a real influence in life.</p> + +<hr class='minor' /> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith</span></p> + +<p>THE FAIRY RING: <i>Fairy Tales for Children</i> 4 <i>to</i> 8</p> + +<p>MAGIC CASEMENTS: <i>Fairy Tales for Children</i> 6 <i>to</i> 12</p> + +<p>TALES OF LAUGHTER: <i>Fairy Tales for Growing Boys and Girls</i></p> + +<p>TALES OF WONDER: <i>Fairy Tales that Make One Wonder</i></p> + +<p>PINAFORE PALACE: <i>Rhymes and Jingles for Tiny Tots</i></p> + +<p>THE POSY RING: <i>Verses and Poems that Children Love and Learn</i></p> + +<p>GOLDEN NUMBERS: <i>Verses and Poems for Children and Grown-ups</i></p> + +<p>THE TALKING BEASTS: <i>Birds and Beasts in Fable</i><br /> +<span class="everychild">Edited by Asa Don Dickinson</span></p> + +<p>CHRISTMAS STORIES: "<i>Read Us a Story About Christmas</i>"<br /> +<span class="everychild">Edited by Mary E. Burt and W. T. Chapin</span></p> + +<p>STORIES AND POEMS FROM KIPLING: "<i>How the Camel Got His Hump," and other +Stories</i>.</p> + +<p class='center'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2>THE TOM SWIFT SERIES By VICTOR APPLETON</h2> + +<h4>UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS.</h4> + +<p>These spirited tales, convey in a realistic way, the wonderful advances +in land and sea locomotion. Stories like these are impressed upon the +memory and their reading is productive only of good.</p> + +<p> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS<br /> +<br /> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE<br /> +</p> +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></p> + +<hr class='full' /> + +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> +<ol> +<li>Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards.</li> +<li>Rolling r's are indicated by repeating the letter, for example from page 140 in the line:<br /> +"We're herre because we're herre," he said, in a perfect riot of rolling R's. +</li> +</ol> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Slade with the Boys Over There, by +Percy K. 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Fitzhugh + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tom Slade with the Boys Over There + +Author: Percy K. Fitzhugh + +Illustrator: R. Emmett Owen + +Release Date: July 31, 2006 [EBook #18954] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "I AM--AMERICAN. MY NAME--IS TOM SLADE." Frontispiece +(Page 9)] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +TOM SLADE +WITH THE BOYS +OVER THERE + +BY +PERCY K. FITZHUGH + +Author of +TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT +TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP +TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER +TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT + +Illustrated by +R. EMMETT OWEN + +Published With the Approval of +THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA + +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS: NEW YORK + +Made in the United States of America + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Copyright, 1918, by +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +To + +F. A. O. + +The real Tom Slade, whose extraordinary adventures on land and sea put +these storied exploits in the shade, this book is dedicated with envious +admiration. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + I THE HOME IN ALSACE 1 + II AN APPARITION 5 + III TOM'S STORY 12 + IV THE OLD WINE VAT 22 + V THE VOICE FROM THE DISTANCE 32 + VI PRISONERS AGAIN 38 + VII WHERE THERE'S A WILL---- 42 + VIII THE HOME FIRE NO LONGER BURNS 51 + IX FLIGHT 58 + X THE SOLDIER'S PAPERS 64 + XI THE SCOUT THROUGH ALSACE 72 + XII THE DANCE WITH DEATH 79 + XIII THE PRIZE SAUSAGE 84 + XIV A RISKY DECISION 90 + XV HE WHO HAS EYES TO SEE 97 + XVI THE WEAVER OF MERNON 103 + XVII THE CLOUDS GATHER 112 + XVIII IN THE RHINE 118 + XIX TOM LOSES HIS FIRST CONFLICT WITH THE ENEMY 124 + XX A NEW DANGER 131 + XXI COMPANY 137 + XXII BREAKFAST WITHOUT FOOD CARDS 141 + XXIII THE CATSKILL VOLCANO IN ERUPTION 145 + XXIV MILITARY ETIQUETTE 155 + XXV TOM IN WONDERLAND 162 + XXVI MAGIC 167 + XXVII NONNENMATTWEIHER 174 +XXVIII AN INVESTMENT 180 + XXIX CAMOUFLAGE 184 + XXX THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE 190 + XXXI THE END OF THE TRAIL 196 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + +TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE + +CHAPTER I + +THE HOME IN ALSACE + + +In the southwestern corner of the domains of Kaiser Bill, in a fair +district to which he has no more right than a highwayman has to his +victim's wallet, there is a quaint old house built of gray stone and +covered with a clinging vine. + +In the good old days when Alsace was a part of France the old house +stood there and was the scene of joy and plenty. In these evil days when +Alsace belongs to Kaiser Bill, it stands there, its dim arbor and +pretty, flower-laden trellises in strange contrast to the lumbering army +wagons and ugly, threatening artillery which pass along the quiet road. + +And if the prayers of its rightful owners are answered, it will still +stand there in the happy days to come when fair Alsace shall be a part +of France again and Kaiser Bill and all his clanking claptrap are gone +from it forever. + +The village in which this pleasant homestead stands is close up under +the boundary of Rhenish Bavaria, or Germany proper (or improper), and in +the happy days when Alsace was a part of France it had been known as +Leteur, after the French family which for generations had lived in the +old gray house. + +But long before Kaiser Bill knocked down Rheims Cathedral and +black-jacked Belgium and sank the Lusitania, he changed the name of this +old French village to Dundgardt, showing that even then he believed in +Frightfulness; for that is what it amounted to when he changed Leteur to +Dundgardt. + +But he could not very well change the old family name, even if he could +change the names of towns and villages in his stolen province, and old +Pierre Leteur and his wife and daughter lived in the old house under the +Prussian menace, and managed the vineyard and talked French on the sly. + +On a certain fair evening old Pierre and his wife and daughter sat in +the arbor and chatted in the language which they loved. The old man had +lost an arm in the fighting when his beloved Alsace was lost to France +and he had come back here still young but crippled and broken-hearted, +to live under the Germans because this was the home of his people. He +had found the old house and the vineyard devastated. + +After a while he married an Alsatian girl very much younger than +himself, and their son and daughter had grown up, German subjects it is +true, but hating their German masters and loving the old French Alsace +of which their father so often told them. + +While Florette was still a mere child she committed the heinous crime of +singing the _Marseillaise_. The watchful Prussian authorities learned of +this and a couple of Prussian soldiers came after her, for she must +answer to the Kaiser for this terrible act of sedition. + +Her brother Armand, then a boy of sixteen, had shouted "_Vive la +France!_" in the very faces of the grim soldiers and had struck one of +them with all his young strength. + +In that blow spoke gallant, indomitable France! + +For this act Armand might have been shot, but, being young and agile and +the German soldiers being fat and clumsy, he effected a flank move and +disappeared before they could lay hands on him and it was many a long +day before ever his parents heard from him again. + +At last there came a letter from far-off America, telling of his flight +across the mountains into France and of his working his passage to the +United States. How this letter got through the Prussian censorship +against all French Alsatians, it would be hard to say. But it was the +first and last word from him that had ever reached the blighted home. + +After a while the storm cloud of the great war burst and then the +prospect of hearing from Armand became more hopeless as the British navy +threw its mighty arm across the ocean highway. And old Pierre, because +he was a French veteran, was watched more suspiciously than ever. + +Florette was nearly twenty now, and Armand must be twenty-three or four, +and they were talking of him on this quiet, balmy night, as they sat +together in the arbor. They spoke in low tones, for to talk in French +was dangerous, they were already under the cloud of suspicion, and the +very trees in the neighborhood of a Frenchman's home seemed to have +ears.... + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN APPARITION + + +"But how could we hear from him now, Florette, any better than before?" +the old man asked. + +"America is our friend now," the girl answered, "and so good things must +happen." + +"Indeed, great things will happen, dear Florette," her father laughed, +"and our beloved Alsace will be restored and you shall sing the +_Marseillaise_ again. _Vive l'Amerique!_ She has come to us at last!" + +"Sh-h-h," warned Madame Leteur, looking about; "because America has +joined us is no reason we should not be careful. See how our neighbor Le +Farge fared for speaking in the village but yesterday. It is glorious +news, but we must be careful." + +"What did neighbor Le Farge say, mamma?" + +"Sh-h-h. The news of it is not allowed. He said that some one told him +that when the American General Pershing came to France, he stood by the +grave of Lafayette and said, 'Lafayette, we are here.'" + +"Ah, Lafayette, yes!" said the old man, his voice shaking with pride. + +"But we must not even know there is a great army of Americans here. We +must know nothing. We must be blind and deaf," said Madame Leteur, +looking about her apprehensively. + +"America will bring us many good things, my sweet Florette," said her +father more cautiously, "and she will bring triumph to our gallant +France. But we must have patience. How can she send us letters from +Armand, my dear? How can she send letters to Germany, her enemy?" + +"Then we shall never hear of him till the war is over?" the girl sighed. +"Oh, it is my fault he went away! It was my heedless song and I cannot +forgive myself." + +"The _Marseillaise_ is not a heedless song, Florette," said old Pierre, +"and when our brave boy struck the Prussian beast----" + +"Sh-h-h," whispered Madame Leteur quickly. + +"There is no one," said the old man, peering cautiously into the bushes; +"when he struck the Prussian beast, it was only what his father's son +must do. Come, cheer up! Think of those noble words of America's +general, 'Lafayette, we are here.' If we have not letters from our son, +still America has come to us. Is not this enough? She will strike the +Prussian beast----" + +"Sh-h-h!" + +"There is no one, I tell you. She will strike the Prussian beast with +her mighty arm harder than our poor noble boy could do with his young +hand. Is it not so?" + +The girl looked wistfully into the dusk. "I thought we would hear from +him when we had the great news from America." + +"That is because you are a silly child, my sweet Florette, and think +that America is a magician. We must be patient. We do not even know all +that her great president said. We are fed with lies----" + +"Sh-h-h!" + +"And how can we hear from Armand, my dear, when the Prussians do not +even let us know what America's president said? All will be well in good +time." + +"He is dead," said the girl, uncomforted. "I have had a dream that he is +dead. And it is I that killed him." + +"This is a silly child," said old Pierre. + +"America is full of Prussians--spies," said the girl, "and they have his +name on a list. They have killed him. They are murderers!" + +"Sh-h-h," warned her mother again. + +"Yes, they are murderers," said old Pierre, "but this is a silly child +to talk so. We have borne much silently. Can we not be a little patient +now?" + +"I _hate_ them!" sobbed the girl, abandoning all caution. "They drove +him away and we will see him no more,--my brother--Armand!" + +"Hush, my daughter," her mother pleaded. "Listen! I heard a footstep. +They are spying and have heard." + +For a moment neither spoke and there was no sound but the girl's quick +breaths as she tried to control herself. Then there was a slight +rustling in the shrubbery and they waited in breathless suspense. + +"I knew it," whispered Madame; "we are always watched. Now it has come." + +Still they waited, fearfully. Another sound, and old Pierre rose, pushed +his rustic chair from him and stood with a fine, soldierly air, waiting. +His wife was trembling pitiably and Florette, her eyes wide with grief +and terror, watched the dark bushes like a frightened animal. + +Suddenly the leaves parted and they saw a strange disheveled figure. For +a moment it paused, uncertain, then looked stealthily about and emerged +into the open. The stranger was hatless and barefoot and his whole +appearance was that of exhaustion and fright. When he spoke it was in a +strange language and spasmodically as if he had been running hard. + +"Leteur?" he asked, looking from one to the other; "the name--Leteur? I +can't speak French," he added, somewhat bewildered and clutching an +upright of the arbor. + +"What do you wish here?" old Pierre demanded in French, never relaxing +his military air. + +The stranger leaned wearily against the arbor, panting, and even in the +dusk they could see that he was young and very ragged, and with the +whiteness of fear and apprehension in his face and his staring eyes. + +"You German? French?" he panted. + +"We are French," said Florette, rising. "I can speak ze Anglaise a +leetle." + +"You are not German?" the visitor repeated as if relieved. + +"Only we are Zherman subjects, yess. Our name ees Leteur." + +"I am--American. My name--is Tom Slade. I escaped from the prison across +there. My--my pal escaped with me----" + +The girl looked pityingly at him and shook her head while her parents +listened curiously. "We are sorry," she said, "so sorry; but you were +not wise to escape. We cannot shelter you. We are suspect already." + +"I have brought you news of Armand," said Tom. "I can't--can't talk. We +ran----Here, take this. He--he gave it to me--on the ship." + +He handed Florette a little iron button, which she took with a trembling +hand, watching him as he clutched the arbor post. + +"From Armand? You know heem?" she asked, amazed. "You are American?" + +"He's American, too," said Tom, "and he's with General Pershing in +France. We're goin' to join him if you'll help us." + +For a moment the girl stared straight at him, then turning to her father +she poured out such a volley of French as would have staggered the grim +authorities of poor Alsace. What she said the fugitive could not +imagine, but presently old Pierre stepped forward and, throwing his one +arm about the neck of the young American, kissed him several times with +great fervor. + +Tom Slade was not used to being kissed by anybody and he was greatly +abashed. However, it might have been worse. What would he ever have +done if the girl who spoke English in such a hesitating, pretty way had +taken it into _her_ head to kiss him? + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TOM'S STORY + + +"You needn't be afraid," said Tom; "we didn't leave any tracks; we came +across the fields--all the way from the crossroads down there. We +crawled along the fence. There ain't any tracks. I looked out for that." + +Pausing in suspense, yet encouraged by their expectant silence, he spoke +to some one behind him in the bushes and there emerged a young fellow +quite as ragged as himself. + +"It's all right," said Tom confidently, and apparently in great relief. +"It's them." + +"You must come inside ze house," whispered Florette fearfully. "It is +not safe to talk here." + +"There isn't any one following us," said Tom's companion reassuringly. +"If we can just get some old clothes and some grub we'll be all right." + +"Zere is much danger," said the girl, unconvinced. "We are always +watched. But you are friends to Armand. We must help you." + +She led the way into the house and into a simply furnished room lighted +by a single lamp and as she cautiously shut the heavy wooden blinds and +lowered the light, the two fugitives looked eagerly at the first signs +of home life which they had seen in many a long day. + +It was in vain that the two Americans declined the wine which old Pierre +insisted upon their drinking. + +"You will drink zhust a leetle--yess?" said the girl prettily. "It is +make in our own veenyard." + +So the boys sipped a little of the wine and found it grateful to their +weary bodies and overwrought nerves. + +"Now you can tell us--of Armand," she said eagerly. + +Often during Tom's simple story she stole to the window and, opening the +blind slightly, looked fearfully along the dark, quiet road. The very +atmosphere of the room seemed charged with nervous apprehension and +every sound of the breeze without startled the tense nerves of the +little party. + +Old Pierre and his wife, though quite unable to understand, listened +keenly to every word uttered by the strangers, interrupting their +daughter continually to make her translate this or that sentence. + +"There ain't so much need to worry," said Tom, with a kind of dogged +self-confidence that relieved Florette not a little. "I wouldn't of +headed for here if I hadn't known I could do it without leaving any +trace, 'cause I wouldn't want to get you into trouble." + +Florette looked intently at the square, dull face before her with its +big mouth and its suggestion of a frown. His shock of hair, always +rebellious, was now in utter disorder. He was barefoot and his clothes +were in that condition which only the neglect and squalor of a German +prison camp can produce. But in his gaunt face there shone a look of +determination and a something which seemed to encourage the girl to +believe in him. + +"Are zey all like you--ze Americans?" she asked. + +"Some of 'em are taller than me," he answered literally, "but I got a +good chest expansion. This feller's name is Archer. He belongs on a farm +in New York." + +She glanced at Archer and saw a round, red, merry face, still wearing +that happy-go-lucky look which there is no mistaking. His skin was +camouflaged by a generous coat of tan and those two strategic hills, his +cheeks, had not been reduced by the assaults of hunger. There was, +moreover, a look of mischief in his eyes, bespeaking a jaunty +acceptance of whatever peril and adventure might befall and when he +spoke he rolled his R's and screwed up his mouth accordingly. + +"Maybe you've heard of the Catskills," said Tom. "That's where _he_ +lives." + +"My dad's got a big apple orrcharrd therre," added Archer. + +Florette Leteur had not heard of the Catskills, but she had heard a good +deal about the Americans lately and she looked from one to the other of +this hapless pair, who seemed almost to have dropped from the clouds. + +"You have been not wise to escape," she said sympathetically. "Ze +Prussians, zey are sure to catch you.--Tell me more of my bruzzer." + +"The Prussians ain't so smarrt," said Archer. "They're good at some +things, but when it comes to tracking and trailing and all that, they're +no good. You neverr hearrd of any famous Gerrman scouts. They're clumsy. +They couldn't stalk a mud turrtle." + +"You are not afraid of zem?" + +"Surre, we ain't. Didn't we just put one overr on 'em?" + +"We looped our trail," explained Tom to the puzzled girl. "If they're +after us at all they probably went north on a blind trail. We monkeyed +the trees all the way through this woods near here." + +"He means we didn't touch the ground," explained Archer. + +"We made seven footprints getting across the road to the fence and then +we washed 'em away by chucking sticks. And, anyway, we crossed the road +backwards so they'd think we were going the other way. There ain't much +danger--not tonight, anyway." + +Again the girl looked from one to the other and then explained to her +father as best she could. + +"You are wonderful," she said simply. "We shall win ze war now." + +"I was working as a mess boy on a transport," said Tom; "we brought over +about five thousand soldiers. That's how I got acquainted with +Frenchy--I mean Armand----" + +"Yes!" she cried, and at the mention of Armand old Pierre could scarcely +keep his seat. + +"He came with some soldiers from Illinois. That's out west. He was +good-natured and all the soldiers jollied him. But he always said he +didn't mind that because they were all going to fight together to get +Alsace back. Jollying means making fun of somebody--kind of," Tom +added. + +"Oh, zat iss what he say?" Florette cried. "Zat iss my +brother--Armand--yess!" + +She explained to her parents and then advanced upon Tom, who retreated +to his second line of defence behind a chair to save himself from the +awful peril of a grateful caress. + +"He told me all about how your father fought in the Franco-Prussian +War," Tom went on, "and he gave me this button and he said it was made +from a cannon they used and----" + +"Ah, yess, I know!" Florette exclaimed delightedly. + +"He said if I should ever happen to be in Alsace all I'd have to do +would be to show it to any French people and they'd help me. He said it +was a kind of--a kind of a vow all the French people had--that the +Germans didn't know anything about. And 'specially families that had men +in the Franco-Prussian War. He told me how he escaped, too, and got to +America, and about how he hit the German soldier that came to arrest you +for singing the _Marseillaise_." + +The girl's face colored with anger, and yet with pride. + +"Mostly what we came here for," Tom added in his expressionless way, +"was to get some food and get rested before we start again. We're going +through Switzerland to join the Americans--and if you'll wait a little +while you can sing the _Marseillaise_ all you want." + +Something in his look and manner as he sat there, uncouth and forlorn, +sent a thrill through her. + +"Zey are all like you?" she repeated. "Ze Americans?" + +"Your brother and I got to be pretty good friends," said Tom simply; "he +talked just like you. When we got to a French port--I ain't allowed to +tell you the name of it--but when we got there he went away on the train +with all the other soldiers, and he waved his hand to me and said he was +going to win Alsace back. I liked him and I liked the way he talked. He +got excited, like----" + +"Ah, yess--my bruzzer!" + +"So now he's with General Pershing. It seemed funny not to see him after +that. I thought about him a lot. When he talked it made me feel more +patriotic and proud, like." + +"Yess, yess," she urged, the tears standing in her eyes. + +"Sometimes you sort of get to like a feller and you don't know why. He +would always get so excited, sort of, when he talked about France or +Uncle Sam that he'd throw his cigarette away. He wasted a lot of 'em. +He said everybody's got two countries, his own and France." + +"Ah, yess," she exclaimed. + +"Even if I didn't care anything about the war," Tom went on in his dull +way, "I'd want to see France get Alsace back just on account of him." + +Florette sat gazing at him, her eyes brimming. + +"And you come to Zhermany, how?" + +"After we started back the ship I worked on got torpedoed and I was +picked up by a submarine. I never saw the inside of one before. So +that's how I got to Germany. They took me there and put me in the prison +camp at Slopsgotten--that ain't the way to say it, but----" + +"You've got to sneeze it," interrupted Archer. + +"Yes, I know," she urged eagerly, "and zen----" + +"And then when I found out that it was just across the border from +Alsace I happened to think about having that button, and I thought if I +could escape maybe the French people would help me if I showed it to 'em +like Frenchy said." + +"Oh, yess, _zey will_! But we must be careful," said Florette. + +"It was funny how I met Archer there," said Tom. "We used to know each +other in New York. He had even more adventures than I did getting +there." + +"And you escaped?" + +"Yop." + +"We put one over on 'em," said Archer. "It was his idea (indicating +Tom). They let us have some chemical stuff to fix the pump engine with +and we melted the barbed wire with it and made a place to crawl out +through. I got a piece of the barbed wirre for a sooveneerr. Maybe you'd +like to have it," Archer added, fumbling in his pockets. + +Florette, smiling and crying all at once, still sat looking wonderingly +from one to the other of this adventurous, ragged pair. + +"Those Germans ain't so smart," said Archer. + +The girl only shook her head and explained to her parents. Then she +turned to Tom. + +"My father wants to know if zey are all like you in America. Yess?" + +"_He_ used to be a Boy Scout," said Archer. "Did you everr hearr of +them?" + +But Florette only shook her head again and stared. Ever since the war +began she had lived under the shadow of the big prison camp. Many of her +friends and townspeople, Alsatians loyal still to France, were held +there among the growing horde of foreigners. Never had she heard of any +one escaping. If two American boys could melt the wires and walk out, +what would happen next? + +And one of them had blithely announced that these mighty invincible +Prussians "couldn't even trail a mud turtle." She wondered what they +meant by "looping our trail." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE OLD WINE VAT + + +"We thought maybe you'd let us stay here tonight and tomorrow," said Tom +after the scanty meal which the depleted larder yielded, "and tomorrow +night we'll start out south; 'cause we don't want to be traveling in the +daytime. Maybe you could give us some clothes so it'll change our looks. +It's less than a hundred miles to Basel----" + +"My pappa say you could nevaire cross ze frontier. Zere are +wires--electric----" + +"Electric wirres are ourr middle name," said Archer. "We eat 'em." + +"We ain't scared of anything except the daylight," said Tom. "Archy can +talk some German and I got Frenchy's--Armand's--button to show to French +people. When we once get into Switzerland we'll be all right." + +He waited while the girl engaged in an animated talk with her parents. +Then old Pierre patted the two boys affectionately on the shoulder +while Florette explained. + +"It iss not for our sake only, it iss for yours. You cannot stay in ziss +house. It iss not safe. You aire wonderful, zee how you escape, and to +bring us news of our Armand! We must help you. But if zey get you zen we +do not help you. Iss it so? Here every day ze Prussians come. You see? +Zey do not follow you--you are what you say--too clevaire? But still zey +come." + +Tom listened, his heart in his throat at the thought of being turned out +of this home where he had hoped for shelter. + +"We are already suspect," Florette explained. "My pappa, he fought for +France--long ago. But so zey hate him. My name zey get--how old----All +zeze zings zey write down--everyzing. Zey come for me soon. I sang ze +_Marseillaise_--you know?" + +"Yes," said Tom, "but that was years ago." + +"But we are suspect. Zey have write it all down. Nossing zey forget. Zey +take me to work--out of Alsace. Maybe to ze great Krupps. I haf' to work +in ze fields in Prussia maybe. You see? Ven zey come I must go. Tonight, +maybe. Tomorrow. Maybe not yet----" + +She struggled to master her emotion and continued. "Ziss is--what you +call--blackleest house. You see? So you will hide where I take you. It +iss bad, but we cannot help. I give you food and tomorrow in ze night I +bring you clothes. Zese I must look for--Armand's. You see? Come." + +They rose with her and as she stood there almost overcome with grief and +shame and the strain of long suspense and apprehension, yet thinking +only of their safety, the sadness of her position and her impending fate +went to Tom's heart. + +Old Pierre embraced the boys affectionately with his one arm, seeming to +confirm all his daughter had said. + +"My pappa say it is best you stay not here in ziss house. I will show +you where Armand used to hide so long ago when we play," she smiled +through her tears. "If zey come and find you----" + +"I understand," said Tom. "They couldn't blame it to you." + +"You see? Yess." + +To Archer, who understood a few odds and ends of German old Pierre +managed to explain in that language his sorrow and humiliation at their +poor welcome. + +All five then went into an old-fashioned kitchen with walls of naked +masonry and a great chimney, and from a cupboard Florette and her mother +filled a basket with such cold viands as were on hand. This, and a pail +of water the boys carried, and after another affectionate farewell from +Pierre and his wife, they followed the girl cautiously and silently out +into the darkness. + +Tom Slade had already felt the fangs of the German beast and he did not +need any one to tell him that the loathsome thing was without conscience +or honor, but as he watched the slender form of Armand's young sister +hurrying on ahead of them and thought of all she had borne and must yet +bear and of the black fear that must be always in her young heart, his +sympathy for her and for this stricken home was very great. + +He had not fully comprehended her meaning, but he understood that she +and her parents were haunted by an ever-present dread, and that even in +their apprehension it hurt them to skimp their hospitality or suffer any +shadow to be cast on a stranger's welcome. + +Florette led the way along a narrow board path running back from the +house, through an endless maze of vine-covered arbor, which completely +roofed all the grounds adjacent to the house. Tom, accustomed only to +the small American grape arbor, was amazed at the extent of this +vineyard. + +"Reminds you of an elevated railroad, don't it," said Archer. + +On the rickety uprights (for the arbor like everything else on the old +place was going to ruin under the alien blight) large baskets hung here +and there. At intervals the structure sagged so that they had to stoop +to pass under it, and here and there it was broken or uncovered and they +caught glimpses of the sky. + +They went over a little hillock and, still beneath the arbor, came upon +a place where the vines had fallen away from the ramshackle trellis and +formed a spreading mass upon the ground. + +"You see?" whispered the girl in her pretty way. "Here Armand he climb. +Here he hide to drop ze grapes down my neck--so. Bad boy! So zen it +break--crash! He tumbled down. Ah--my pappa so angry. We must nevaire +climb on ze trellis. You see? Here I sit and laugh--so much--when he +tumble down!" + +She smiled and for a moment seemed all happiness, but Tom Slade heard a +sigh following close upon the smile. He did not know what to say so he +simply said in his blunt way: + +"I guess you had good times together." + +"Now I will zhow you," she said, stooping to pull away the heavy tangle +of vine. + +Tom and Archer helped her and to their surprise there was revealed a +trap-door about six feet in diameter with gigantic rusty hinges. + +"Ziss is ze cave--you see?" she said, stooping to lift the door. Tom +bent but she held him back. "Wait, I will tell you. Zen you can open +it." For a moment pleasant recollections seemed to have the upper hand, +and there was about her a touch of that buoyancy which had made her +brother so attractive to sober Tom. + +"Wait--zhest till I tell you. When I come back from ze school in England +I have read ze story about 'Kidnap.' You know?" + +"It's by Stevenson; I read it," said Archer. + +"You know ze cave vere ze Scotch man live? So ziss is our cave. Now you +lift." + +The door did not stir at first and Florette, laughing softly, raised the +big L band which bent over the top and lay in a rusted padlock eye. + +"Now." + +The boys raised the heavy door, to which many strands of the vine clung, +and Florette placed a stick to hold it up at an angle. Peering within +by the light of a match, they saw the interior of what appeared to be a +mammoth hogshead from which emanated a stale, but pungent odor. It was, +perhaps, seven feet in depth and the same in diameter and the bottom was +covered with straw. + +"It is ze vat--ze wine vat," whispered Florette, amused at their +surprise. "Here we keep ze wine zat will cost so much.--But no more.--We +make no wine ziss year," she sighed. "Ziss makes ze fine flavor--ze +earth all around. You see?" + +"It's a dandy place to hide," said Archer. + +"So here you will stay and you will be safe. Tomorrow in ze night I +shall bring you more food and some clothes. I am so sorry----" + +"There ain't anything to be sorry about," said Tom. "There's lots of +room in there--more than there is in a bivouac tent. And it'll be +comfortable on that straw, that's one sure thing. If you knew the kind +of place we slept in up there in the prison you'd say this was all +right. We'll stay here and rest all day tomorrow and after you bring us +the things at night we'll sneak out and hike it along." + +"I will not dare to come in ze daytime," said Florette, "but after it is +dark, zen I will come. You must have ze cover almost shut and I will +pull ze vines over it." + +"We'll tend to that," said Tom. + +"We'll camouflage it, all right," Archer added. + +For a moment she lingered as if thinking if there were anything more she +might do for their comfort. Then against her protest, Tom accompanied +her part way back and they paused for a moment under the thickly covered +trellis, for she would not let him approach the house. + +"I'm sorry we made you so much trouble," he said; "it's only because we +want to get to where we can fight for you." + +"Oh, yess, I know," she answered sadly. "My pappa, it break his heart +because he cannot make you ze true welcome. But you do not know. We +are--how you say--persecute--all ze time. Zey own Alsace, but zey do not +love Alsace. It is like--it is like ze stepfather--you see?" she added, +her voice breaking. "So zey have always treat us." + +For a few seconds Tom stood, awkward and uncomfortable; then clumsily he +reached out his hand and took hers. + +"You don't mean they'll take you like they took the people from Belgium, +do you?" he asked. + +"Ziss is worse zan Belgium," Florette sobbed. "Zere ze people can escape +to England." + +"Where would they send you?" Tom asked. + +"Maybe far north into Prussia. Maybe still in Alsace. All ze familees +zey will separate so zey shall meex wiz ze Zhermans." Florette suddenly +grasped his hand. "I am glad I see you. So now I can see all ze +Americans come--hoondreds---- + +"Tomorrow in ze night I will bring you ze clothes," she whispered, "and +more food, and zen you will be rested----" + +"I feel sorry for you," Tom blurted out with simple honesty, "and I got +to thank you. Both of us have--that's one sure thing. You're worse off +than we are--and it makes me feel mean, like. But maybe it won't be so +bad. And, gee, I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow night, too." + +"I will bring ze sings, _surely_," she said earnestly. + +"It isn't--it isn't only for that," he mumbled, "it's because I'll kind +of look forward to seeing you anyway." + +For another moment she lingered and in the stillness of night and the +thickly roofed arbor he could hear her breath coming short and quick, as +she tried to stifle her emotion. + +"Is--is it a sound?" she whispered in sudden terror. + +"No, it's only because you're scared," said Tom. + +He stood looking after her as she hurried away under the ramshackle +trellis until her slender figure was lost in the darkness. + +"It'll make me fight harder, anyway," he said to himself; "it'll help me +to get to France 'cause--'cause I _got_ to, and if you _got_ to do a +thing--you can...." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE VOICE FROM THE DISTANCE + + +"My idea," said Archer, when Tom returned, "is to break that stick about +in half and prop the doorr just wide enough open so's we can crawl in. +Then we can spread the vines all overr the top just like it was beforre +and overr the opening, too. What d'ye say?" + +"That's all right," said Tom, "and we can leave it a little open +tonight. In the morning we'll drop it and be on the safe side." + +"Maybe we'd betterr drop it tonight and be on the safe side," said +Archer. "S'pose we should fall asleep." + +"We'll take turns sleeping," said Tom decisively. "We can't afford to +take any chances." + +"You can bet I'm going to get a sooveneerr of this place, anyway," said +Archer, tugging at a rusty nail. + +"Never you mind about souvenirs," Tom said; "let's get this door +camouflaged." + +"I could swap that nail for a jack-knife back home," said Archer +regretfully. "A nail right fresh from Alsace!" + +But he gave it up and together they pulled the tangled vine this way and +that, until the door and the opening beneath were well covered. Then +they crawled in and while Archer reached up and held the door, Tom broke +the stick so that the opening was reduced to the inch or two necessary +for ventilation. Reaching out, they pulled the vine over this crack +until they felt certain that no vestige of door or opening could be seen +from without, and this done they sat down upon the straw, their backs +against the walls of the vat, enjoying the first real comfort and +freedom from anxiety which they had known since their escape from the +prison camp. + +"I guess we're safe herre forr tonight, anyway," said Archer, "but +believe _me_, I think we've got some job on our hands getting out of +this country. It's going to be no churrch sociable----" + +"We got this far," said Tom, "and by tomorrow night we ought to have a +good plan doped out. We got nothing to do all day tomorrow but think +about it." + +"Gee, I feel sorry for these people," said Archer; "they'rre surre up +against it. Makes me feel as if I'd like to have one good whack at +Kaiser Bill----" + +"Well, don't talk so loud and we'll get a whack at him, all right." + +"I'd like to get his old double-jointed moustache for a sooveneerr." + +"There you go again," said Tom. + +Now that the excitement was over, they realized how tired they were and +indeed the strain upon their nerves, added to their bodily fatigue, had +brought them almost to the point of exhaustion. + +"I'm all in," said Archer wearily. + +"All right, go to sleep," said Tom, "and after a while if you don't wake +up I'll wake you. One of us has got to stay awake and listen. We can't +afford to take any chances." + +Archibald Archer needed no urging and in a minute he was sprawled upon +the straw, dead to the world. The daylight was glinting cheerily through +the interstices of tangled vine over the opening when he awoke with the +heedless yawns which he might have given in his own beloved Catskills. + +"Don't make a noise," said Tom quickly, by way of caution. "We're in the +wine vat in Leteur's vineyard in Alsace, remember." It took Archer a +moment to realize where they were. They ate an early breakfast, finding +the simple odds and ends grateful enough, and then Tom took his turn at +a nap. + +Throughout most of that day they sat with their knees drawn up, leaning +against the inside of the great vat, talking in hushed tones of their +plans. There was nothing else they could do in the half darkness and the +slow hours dragged themselves away monotonously. They had lowered the +door, but still left it open upon the merest crack and out of this one +or the other would peek at intervals, listening, heart in throat, for +the dreaded sound of footfalls. But no one came. + +"I thought I hearrd a kind of rustling once," Archer said fearfully. + +"There's a couple of cows 'way over in a field," said Tom; "they might +have made some sound." + +After what seemed to them an age, the leaves over the opening seemed +bathed in a strange new light and glistened here and there. + +"That crack faces the west," said Tom. "The sun's beginning to go down." + +"How do you know?" asked Archer. + +"I always knew that up at Temple Camp. I don't know _how_ I know. The +morning sun is different from the afternoon sun, that's all. I think +it'll set now in about two hours." + +"I wonder when she'll come," Archer said. + +"Not till it's good and dark, that's sure. She's got to be careful. +Maybe this place can be seen from the road, for all we know. Remember, +we didn't see it in the daylight." + +"Sh-h-h," said Archer. "Listen." + +From far, far away there was borne upon the still air a dull, spent, +booming sound at intervals. + +"It's the fighting," whispered Tom. + +"Wherre do you suppose it is?" Archer asked, sobered by this audible +reminder of their nearness to the seat of war. + +"I don't know," Tom said. "I'm kind of mixed up. That feller in the +prison had a map. Let's see. I think Nancy's the nearest place to here. +Toul is near that. That's where our fellers are--around there. Listen!" + +Again the rumbling, faint but distinctly audible, almost as if it came +from another world. + +"The trenches run right through there--near Nancy," said Tom. + +"Maybe it's _ourr_ boys, hey?" Archer asked excitedly. + +Tom did not answer immediately. He was thrilled at this thought of his +own country speaking so that he, poor fugitive that he was, could hear +it in this dark, lonesome dungeon in a hostile land, across all those +miles. + +"Maybe," he said, his voice catching the least bit. "They're in the Toul +sector. A feller in prison told me. You don't feel so lonesome, kind of, +when you hear that----" + +"Gee, I hope we can get to them," said Archer. + +"What you _got_ to do, you can do," Tom answered. "I wonder----" + +"Sh-h. D'you hearr that?" Archer whispered, clutching Tom's shoulder. +"It was much nearerr--right close----" + +They held their breaths as the reverberation of a sharp report died +away. + +"What was it?" Archer asked tensely. + +"I don't know," Tom whispered, instinctively removing the short stick +and closing the trap door tight. "Don't move--hush!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PRISONERS AGAIN + + +"Do you hear footsteps?" Archer breathed. + +Tom listened, keen and alert. "No," he said at last. "There's no one +coming." + +"What do you s'pose it was?" + +"I don't know. Sit down and don't get excited." + +But Tom was trembling himself, and it was not until five or ten minutes +had passed without sound or happening that he was able to get a grip on +himself. + +"Push up the door a little and listen," suggested Archer. + +Tom cautiously pressed upward, but the door did not budge. "It's stuck," +he whispered. + +Archer rose and together they pressed, but save for a little looseness +the door did not move. + +"It's caught outside, I guess," said Tom. "Maybe the iron hasp fell into +the padlock when I put it down, huh?" + +That, indeed, seemed to be the case, for upon pressure the door gave a +little at the corners, but not midway along the side where the fastening +was. Archer turned cold at the thought of their predicament, and for a +moment even Tom's rather dull imagination pictured the ghastly fate made +possible by imprisonment in this black hole. + +"There's no use getting excited," he said. "We get some air through the +cracks and after dark she'll be here, like she said. It's beginning to +get dark now, I guess." + +But he could not sit quietly and wait through the awful suspense, and he +pressed up against the boards at intervals all the way along the four +sides of the door. On the side where the hinges were it yielded not at +all. On the opposite side it held fast in the center, showing that by a +perverse freak of chance it had locked itself. Elsewhere it strained a +little on pressure, but not enough to afford any hope of breaking it. + +"If it was only lowerr," Archer said, "so we could brace our shoulderrs +against it, we might forrce it." + +"And make a lot of noise," said Tom. "There's no use getting rattled; +we'll just have to wait till she comes." + +"Yes, but it gives you the willies thinkin' about what would happen----" + +"Well, don't let's think of it, then," Tom interrupted. "We should +worry." And suiting his action to the word, he seated himself, drew up +his knees, and clasped his hands over them. "We'll just have to wait, +that's all." + +"What do you suppose that sound was?" Archer asked. + +"I don't know; some kind of a gun. It ain't the first gun that's been +shot off in Europe lately." + +For half an hour or so they sat, trying to make talk, and each pretended +to himself and to the other that he was not worrying. But Tom, who had a +scout's ear, started and his heart beat faster at every trifling stir +outside. Then, as they realized that darkness must have fallen, they +became more alert for sounds and a little apprehensive. They knew +Florette would come quietly, but Tom believed he could detect her +approach. + +After a while, they abandoned all their pretence of nonchalant +confidence and did not talk at all. Of course, they knew Florette would +come in her own good time, but the stifling atmosphere of that musty +hole and the thought of what _might_ happen---- + +Suddenly there was a slight noise outside and then, to their great +relief, the unmistakable sound of footfalls on the planks above them, +softened by the thick carpet of matted vine. + +"Sh-h, don't speak!" Tom whispered, his heart beating rapidly. "Wait +till she unfastens it or says something." + +For a few seconds--a minute--they waited in breathless suspense. Then +came a slight rustle as from some disturbance of the vine, then +footfalls, again, modulated and stealthy they seemed, on the door just +above them. A speck of dirt, or an infinitesimal pebble, maybe, fell +upon Archer's head from the slight jarring of some crack in the rough +door. Then silence. + +Breathlessly they waited, Archer nervously clutching Tom's arm. + +"Don't speak," Tom warned in the faintest whisper. + +Still they waited. But no other sound broke upon the deathlike solitude +and darkness.... + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WHERE THERE'S A WILL---- + + +"They're hunting for us," whispered Tom hoarsely. "It's good it was +shut." + +"I'd ratherr have them catch us," shivered Archer, "than die in herre." + +"We haven't died yet," said Tom, "and they haven't caught us either. +Don't lose your nerves. She'll come as soon as she can." + +For a few minutes they did not speak nor stir, only listened eagerly for +any further sound. + +"What do you s'pose that shot was?" Archer whispered, after a few +minutes more of keen suspense. + +"I don't know. A signal, maybe. They're searching this place for us, I +guess. Don't talk." + +Archer took comfort from Tom's calmness, and for half an hour more they +waited, silent and apprehensive. But nothing more happened, the solemn +stillness of the countryside reigned without, and as the time passed +their fear of pursuit and capture gave way to cold terror at the thought +of being locked in this black, stifling vault to die. + +What had happened? What did that shot mean, and where was it? Why did +Florette not come? Who had walked across the plank roof of that musty +prison? The fact that they could only guess at the time increased their +dread and made their dreadful predicament the harder to bear. Moreover, +the air was stale and insufficient and their heads began to ache +cruelly. + +"We can't stand it in here much longer," Tom confessed, after what +seemed a long period of waiting. "Pretty soon one of us will be all in +and then it'll be harder for the other. We've got to get out, no matter +what." + +"Therre may be a Gerrman soldierr within ten feet of us now," Archer +said. "They'rre probably around in this vineyarrd _somewherre_, anyway. +If we tried to forrce it open they'd hearr us." + +"We couldn't force it, anyway," Tom said. + +"My head's pounding like a hammerr," said Archer after a few minutes +more of silence. + +"Hold some of that damp straw to it.--How many matches did she give +you?" + +"'Bout a dozen or so." + +"Wish I had a knife.--Have you got that piece of wire yet?" + +"Surre I have," said Archer, hauling from his pocket about five inches +of barbed wire--the treasured memento of his escape from the Hun prison +camp. "You laughed at me for always gettin' sooveneerrs; now you see---- +What you want it for?" + +"Sh-h. How many barbs has it?" asked Tom in a cautious whisper. + +"Three." + +"Let's have it; give me a couple o' matches, too." + +Holding a lighted match under the place where he thought the iron +padlock band must be, he scrutinized the under side of the door for any +sign of it. + +"I thought maybe the ends of the screws would show through," he said. + +"What's the idea?" Archer asked. "Gee, but my head's poundin'." + +"If that hasp just fell over the padlock eye," Tom whispered, "and +didn't fit in like it ought to, maybe if I could bore a hole right under +it I could push it up. Don't get scared," he added impassively. "There's +another way, too; but it's a lot of work and it would make a noise. We'd +just have to settle down and take turns and dig through with the wire +barbs. I wish we had more matches. Don't get rattled, now. I know we're +in a dickens of a hole----" + +"You said something," observed Archer. + +"I didn't mean it for a joke," said Tom soberly. + +"This has got the trenches beat a mile," Archer said, somewhat +encouraged by Tom's calmness and resourcefulness. + +Striking another match, Tom examined more carefully the area of planking +just in the middle of the side where he knew the hasp must be. He +determined the exact center as nearly as he could. While doing this he +dug his fingernails under a large splinter in the old planking and +pulled it loose. Archer could not see what he was doing, and something +deterred him from bothering his companion with questions. + +For a while Tom breathed heavily on the splintered fragment. Then he +tore one end of it until it was in shreds. + +"Let's have another match." + +Igniting the shredded end, he blew it deftly until the solid wood was +aflame, and by the light of it he could see that Archer was ghastly pale +and almost on the point of collapse. Their dank, unwholesome refuge +seemed the more dreadful for the light. + +"You got to just think about our getting out," Tom said, in his usual +dull manner. "We won't suffocate near so soon if we don't think about +it, and don't get rattled. We _got_ to get out and so we _will_ get out. +Let's have that wire." + +All Archer's buoyancy was gone, but he tried to take heart from his +comrade's stolid, frowning face and quiet demeanor. + +"We can set fire to the whole business if we have to," said Tom, "so +don't get rattled. We ain't going to die. Here, hold this." + +Archer held the stick, blowing upon it, while Tom heated an end of the +wire, holding the other end in some of the damp straw. As soon as it +became red hot he poked it into the place he had selected above him. It +took a long time and many heatings to burn a hole an eighth of an inch +deep in the thick planking, and their task was not made the pleasanter +by the thought that after all it was like taking a shot in the dark. It +seemed like an hour, the piece of splintered wood was burned almost +away, and what little temper there was in the malleable wire was quite +gone from it, when Tom triumphantly pushed it through the hole. + +"Strike anything?" Archer asked, in suspense. + +"No," said Tom, disappointed. He bent the wire and, as best he could, +poked it around outside. "I think I can feel it, though. Missed it by +about an inch. There's no use getting discouraged. We'll just have to +bore another one." + +Long afterward, Archibald Archer often recalled the patience and +doggedness which Tom displayed that night. + +"As long's the first hole has helped us to find something out, it's +worth while, anyway," he said philosophically. + +Resolutely he went to work again, like the traditional spider climbing +the wall, heating the almost limp wire and by little burnings of a +sixteenth of an inch or so at a time he succeeded in making another hole +through the heavy planking. But this time the wire encountered a +metallic obstruction. Sure enough, Tom could feel the troublesome hasp, +but alas, the wire was now too limber to push it up. + +"I can just joggle it a little," he said, "but it's too heavy for this +wire." + +However, by dint of doubling and twisting the wire, he succeeded after +many attempts and innumerable straightenings of the wire, in joggling +the stubborn hasp free from the padlock eye on which it had barely +caught. + +"There it goes!" he said with a note of triumph in his usually impassive +voice. + +Instantly Archer's hands were against the door ready to push it up. + +"Wait a minute," whispered Tom; "don't fly off the handle. How do we +know who's wandering round? Sh-h! Think I want to run plunk into the +Prussian soldier that walked over our heads? Take your time." + +In his excitement Archer had forgotten that ominous tread above their +prison, and he drew back while Tom raised the door to the merest crack +and peered cautiously out. The fresh air afforded them infinite relief. + +The night was still and clear, the sky thick with stars. Far away a +range of black heights was outlined against the sky, and over there the +moon was rising. It seemed to be stealthily creeping up out of that +battle-scourged plain in France for a glimpse of Alsace. It was from +beyond those mountains that had come the portentous rumblings which they +had heard. + +"The blue Alsatian mountains," murmured Tom. "I wish we were across +them." + +"We'll have to go down and around if we everr get therre," Archer said. + +"Sh-h-h!" warned Tom, putting his head out and peering about while +Archer held the lid up. + +The moonlight, glinting down through the interstices of the trellised +vine, made animated shadows in the quiet vineyard, conjuring the wooden +supports and knotty masses of vine stalk into lurking human forms. Here +some grim figure waited in silence behind an upright, only to dissolve +with the changing light. There an ominous helmet seemed to stir amid the +thick growth. + +The two fugitives, elated at their deliverance, but tremblingly +apprehensive, stood hesitating at so radical a move as complete +emergence from their hiding place. + +"We can't crawl out of herre in daylight, that's surre," whispered +Archer. "D'you think maybe she'll come even now--if we waited?" + +"It must be long after midnight," Tom answered. "You wait here and hold +the door up while I crawl out. Don't move and don't speak. What's that +shining over there? See?" + +"Nothin' but an old waterring can." + +"All right--sh-h-h!" + +Cautiously, silently, Tom crept out, peering anxiously in every +direction. Stealthily he raised himself. Then suddenly he made a low +sound and with a rapidity which startled Archer, dropped to his hands +and knees. + +"What's the matterr?" Archer whispered. "Come inside--quick!" + +But Tom was engrossed with something on the ground. + +"What is it?" Archer whispered anxiously. "His footprints?" + +"Yop," said Tom, less cautiously. "Come on out. He's standing over there +in the field now. Come on out, don't be scared." + +Archer did not know what to make of it, but he crept out and looked over +to the adjacent field where Tom pointed. A kindly, patient cow, one of +those they had seen before, was grazing quietly, partaking of a late +lunch in the moonlight. + +"Here's her footprint," said Tom simply. "She gave us a good scare, +anyway." + +"Well--I'll--be----" Archer began. + +"Sh-h!" warned Tom. "We don't know yet why Frenchy's sister don't come. +But there weren't any soldiers here--that's one sure thing. We had a lot +of worry for nothin'. Come on." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HOME FIRE NO LONGER BURNS + + +"That's the first time I was everr scarred by a cow," said Archer, his +buoyant spirit fully revived, "but when I hearrd those footsteps overr +my head, _go-od night_! It's good you happened to think about looking +for footprints, hey?" + +"I didn't _happen_ to," said Tom. "I always do. Same as you never forget +to get a souvenir," he added soberly. + +"I'd like to get a sooveneerr from that cow, hey? _You_ needn't talk; if +it hadn't been for that wire, where'd we be now? Sooveneerrs arre all +right. But I admit you've got to have ideas to go with 'em." + +"Thanks," said Tom. + +"Keep the change," said Archer jubilantly. "Believe me, I don't carre +what becomes of me as long as I'm above ground--on terra cotta----" + +"We've got to get away from here before daylight, so come on," +interrupted Tom. + +"Are we going up to the house?" + +"What else can we do?" + +The explanation of those appalling footfalls by no means explained the +failure of Florette to keep her promise, and the fugitives started along +the path which led to the house. + +They walked very cautiously, Tom scrutinizing the earth-covered planking +for any sign of recent passing. The door of the stone kitchen stood +open, which surprised them, and they stole quietly inside. A lamp stood +upon the table, but there was no sign of human presence. + +Tom led the way on tiptoe through the passage where they had passed +before, and into the main room where another lamp revealed a ghastly +sight. The heavy shutters were closed and barred, just as Florette had +closed them when she had brought the boys into the room. Upon the floor +lay old Pierre, quite dead, with a cruel wound, as from some blunt +instrument, upon his forehead. His whitish gray hair, which had made him +look so noble and benignant, was stained with his own blood. Blood lay +in a pool about his fine old head, and the old coat which he wore had +been torn from him, showing the stump of the arm which he had so long +ago given to his beloved France. + +Near him lay sprawled upon the floor a soldier in a gray uniform, also +dead. A little bullet wound in his temple told the tale. Beside him was +a black helmet with heavy brass chin gear. Archer picked it up with +trembling hands. Across its front was a motto: + + "_Mitt Gott--und Vaterland_." + +The middle of it was obscured by the flaring German coat-of-arms. A +pistol lay midway between the two bodies and part of an old engraved +motto was still visible on that. Tom could make out the name Napoleon. + +"What d'you s'pose happened?" whispered Archer, aghast. + +Tom shook his head. "Come on," said he. "Let's look for the others." + +Taking the lamp, he led the way silently through the other rooms. On a +couch in one of these was laid a soldier's uniform and a loose paper +upon the floor showed that it had but lately been unwrapped. There was +no sign of Florette or her mother, and Tom felt somewhat relieved at +this, for he had feared to find them dead also. + +"What d'you think it means?" Archer asked again, as they returned to the +room of death. + +"I suppose they came for her just like she said," Tom answered in a low +tone. "Her father must have shot the soldier, and probably whoever +killed the old man took her and her mother away." + +He looked down at the white, staring face of old Pierre and thought of +how the old soldier had risen from his seat and had stood waiting with +his fine military air at the moment of his own arrival at the shadowed +and stricken home. He remembered how the old man had waited eagerly for +his daughter to translate his and Archer's talk and of his humiliation +at the shabby hospitality he must offer them. He took the helmet, a +grim-looking thing, from the table where Archer had laid it, and read +again, "Mitt Gott----" + +It seemed to Tom that this was all wrong--that God must surely be on the +side of old Pierre, no matter what had happened. + +"Do you know what I think?" he said simply. "I think it was just the way +I said--and like she said. They came to get her and maybe they didn't +treat her just right, and her father hit one of them. Or maybe he shot +him first off. Anyway, I think that soldier suit must be the one Frenchy +had to wear, 'cause he told me that the boys in Alsace had to drill even +before they got out of school. I guess she was going to bring it to us +so one of us could wear it.... We got to feel sorry for her, that's one +sure thing." + +It was Tom's simple, blunt way of expressing the sympathy which surged +up in his heart. + +"I liked her; she treated us fine," said Archer. + +For a few seconds Tom did not answer; then he said in his old stolid +way, "I don't know where they took her or what they'll make her do, but +anybody could see she didn't have any muscle. Whenever I think of her +I'll fight harder, that's one sure thing." + +For a few moments he could hardly command himself as he contemplated +this tragic end of the broken home. Florette, whom he had seen but +yesterday, had been taken away--away from her home, probably from her +beloved Alsace, to enforced labor for the Teuton tyrant. He recalled her +slender form as she hurried through the darkness ahead of them, her +gentle apology for their poor reception, her wistful memories of her +brother as she showed them their hiding-place, her touching grief and +apprehension as she stood talking with him under the trellis.... + +And now she was gone and awful thoughts of her peril and suffering +welled up in Tom's mind. + +He looked at the stark figure and white, staring face of old Pierre and +thought of the impetuous embrace the old man had given him. He thought +of his friend, Frenchy. And the mother--where was she? Good people, kind +people; trying in the menacing shadow of the detestable Teuton beast to +keep their flickering home fire burning. And this was the end of it. + +Most of all, he thought of Florette and her wistful, fearful look +haunted him. "_Maybe for ze great Krupps_"--the phrase lingered in his +mind and he stood there appalled at the realization of this awful, +unexplained thing which had happened. + +Then Tom Slade did something which his scout training had taught him to +do, while Archer, tremulous and unstrung, stood awkwardly by, watching. +He knelt down over the lifeless form of the old man and straightened the +prostrate figure so that it lay becomingly and decently upon the hard +floor. He bent the one arm and laid it across the breast in the usual +posture of dignity and peace. He took the threadbare covering from the +old melodeon and placed it over the face. So that the last service for +old Pierre Leteur was performed by an American boy; and at least the +ashes of the home fire were left in order by a scout from far across the +seas. + +"It's part of first aid," explained Tom quietly, as he rose; "I learned +how at Temple Camp." + +Archer said nothing. + +"When a scout from Maryland died up there, I saw how they did it." + +"You got to thank the scouts for a lot," said Archer; "forr trackin' an' +trailin'----" + +"'Tain't on account of them," said Tom, his voice breaking a little, +"it's on account of her----" + +And he kneeled again to arrange the corner of the cloth more neatly over +the wrinkled, wounded face.... + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FLIGHT + + +"Anyway, we've got to get away from here quick," said Tom, pulling +himself together; "never mind about clothes or anything. One thing sure, +they'll be back here soon. See if he has a watch," he added, indicating +the dead soldier. + +"No, but he's got a little compass around his neck; shall I take it?" + +"Sure, we got a right to capture anything from the enemy." + +"He's got some papers, too." + +"All right, take 'em. Come on out through the kitchen way--hurry up. +Don't make any noise. You look for some food--I'll be with you right +away." + +Tom crept cautiously out to the road and, kneeling, placed his ear to +the ground. There was no sound, and he hurried back to the stone kitchen +where Archer was stuffing his pockets with such dry edibles as he could +gather. + +"All right, come on," he whispered hurriedly. "What have you got?" + +"Some hard bread and a couple of salt fish----" + +"Give me one of those," Tom interrupted: "and hand me that tablecloth. +Come on. Got some matches?" + +"Yes, and a candle, too." + +"Good. Don't strike a light. You go ahead, along the plank walk." + +Leaving the scene of the tragedy, they hurried along the board walk +under the trellis, Tom dragging the tablecloth so that it swept both of +the narrow planks and obliterated any suggestion of footprints. When +they had gone about fifty yards he stooped and flung the salt fish from +him so that it barely skimmed the earth and rested at some distance from +the path. + +"If they should have any dogs with 'em, that'll take 'em off the trail," +he said. + +"I'm sorry I didn't get you a souveneerr too," said Archer, as they +hurried along. + +This was the first intimation Tom had that Archer regarded the little +compass merely as a souvenir. + +"You can give me those papers you took," he said, half in joke. + +"It's only an envelope," Archer said. "Have you got your button all +right?" + +"Sure." + +When they reached the wine vat, Tom threw the old tablecloth into it, +and pulled the vine more carefully so as to conceal the door. They were +tempted to rest here, but realized that if they spent the balance of the +night in their former refuge it would mean another long day in the dank +hole. + +The vineyard ended a few yards from the wine vat and beyond was an area +of open lowlands across which the boys could see a range of low wooded +hills. + +"We've got about four hours till daylight," said Tom; "let's make for +those woods." + +"That's east," said Archer. "_We_ want to go south." + +"We want to see where we're going before we go anywhere," Tom answered. +"If we can get into the woods on those hills, we can climb a tree +tomorrow and see where we're at. What I want is a bird's-eye squint to +start off with, 'cause we can't ask questions of anybody." + +"No, and believe me, we don't want to run into any cities," said Archer. +"We got through one night anyway, hey?" + +Notwithstanding that they were without shelter, and facing the +innumerable perils of a hostile country about which they knew nothing, +they still found action preferable to inaction and their spirits rose as +they journeyed on with the star-studded sky overhead. + +They found the meadows low and marshy, which gratified Tom who was +always fearful of leaving footprints. The hills beyond were low and +thickly wooded, the face of the nearest being broken by slides and +forming almost a precipice surmounted by a jumble of rocks and +underbrush. The country seemed wild and isolated enough. + +"I suppose it's the beginning of the Alps, maybe," Tom panted as they +scrambled up. + +"There's nobody up here, that's surre," Archer answered. + +"We'll just lie low till daylight and see if we can get a squint at the +country. Then tomorrow night we'll hike it south. If we go straight +south we've _got_ to come to Switzerland." + +"It's lucky we've got the compass," said Archer. + +"Maybe this is a ridge we're on," Tom said. "If it is, we're in luck. We +may be able to go thirty or forty miles along it. One thing sure, it'll +be more hilly the farther south we get 'cause we'll be getting into the +beginning of the Alps. There ought to be water up here." + +"I wish there were some apples," said Archer. + +"You're always thinking about apples and souvenirs. Let's crawl in under +here." + +They had scrambled to the top of the precipitous ascent and found +themselves upon the broken edge of the forest amid a black chaos of +piled up rock and underbrush. Evidently, the land here was giving way, +little by little, for here and there they could see a tree canting +tipsily over the edge, its network of half-exposed roots making a last +gallant stand against the erosive process and helping to hold the weight +of the great boulders which ere long would crash down into the marshy +lowlands. + +They crept into a sort of leafy cave formed by a fallen tree and +stretched their weary bodies and relaxed their tense nerves after what +had seemed a nightmare. + +"As long as we're going to join the army," said Tom, "we might as well +make a rule now. We won't both sleep at the same time till we're out of +Germany. We got to live up to that rule no matter how tired we get." + +"I'm game," said Archer. "You go to sleep now and when I get good and +sleepy I'll wake you up." + +"In about two hours," said Tom. "Then you can sleep till it's light. +Then we'll see if it's safe to stay here. Keep looking in that +direction--the way we came. And if you see any lights, wake me up." + +Archer did not obey these directions at all, for he sat with his hands +clasped over his knees, gazing down across the dark marshland below. Two +hours, three hours, four hours, he sat there and scarcely stirred. And +as the time dragged on and there were no lights and no sounds he took +fresh courage and hope. He was beginning to realize the value of the +stolid determination, the resourcefulness, the keen eye and stealthy +foot and clear brain of the comrade who lay sleeping at his side. He had +wanted to tell Tom Slade what he thought of him and how he trusted him, +but he did not know how. So he just sat there, hour in and hour out, and +let the weary pathfinder of Temple Camp sleep until he awoke of his own +accord. + +"All right," said Archer then, blinking. "Nothing happened." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SOLDIER'S PAPERS + + +All that day they stayed in their leafy refuge. They could look down +across the marshy meadows they had crossed to the trellised vineyard of +the Leteurs, looking orderly and symmetrical in the distance like a +two-storied field, and beyond that the massive gables of the gray, +forsaken house. + +They could see the whole neighboring country in panorama. Other houses +were discernible at infrequent intervals along the road which wound +southward through the lowland between the hills where the boys were and +the Vosges Mountains (the "Blue Alsatian Mountains") to the west. +Through the long, daylight hours Tom studied the country carefully. Now, +as never before (for he knew how much depended on it), he watched for +every scrap of knowledge which might afford any inference or deduction +to help them in their flight. + +"You can see how it is," he told Archer, as they watched the little +compass needle, waiting for it to settle. "This is a ridge and it runs +north and south. I kind of think it's the west side of the valley of a +river, like Daggett's Hills are to Perch River up your way." + +"I'd like to be therre now," said Archer. + +"I'd rather be in France," Tom answered. + +"Of course it'll fizzle out in places and we'll come to villages, but +there's enough woods ahead of us for us to go twenty miles tonight. +That's the way it seems to me, anyway." + +Once Tom ventured out on hands and knees into the woods in quest of +water, and returned with the good news that he had had a refreshing +drink from a brook to which he directed Archer. + +"Do you know what this is?" he said, emptying an armful of weeds on the +ground. "It's chicory. If I dared to build a fire I could make you a +good imitation of coffee with that. But we can eat the roots, anyway. +Now I remember it used to be in the geography in school about so much +chicory growing in the Alps----" + +"Oh, Ebeneezerr!" shouted Archer, much to Tom's alarm. "I'm glad you +said that 'cause it reminds me about the mussels." + +"The _what_?" + +"'The mountain streams abound with the pearrl-bearing mussels which are +a staple article of diet with the Alpine natives,'" quoted Archer in +declamatory style. "I had to write that two hundred and fifty times f'rr +whittlin' a hole in the desk----" + +"I s'pose you were after a souvenir," said Tom dryly. + +"Firrst I wrote it once 'n' then I put two hundred and forty-nine ditto +marrks. _Ebenezerr!_ Wasn't the teacherr mad! I had to write it two +hundred and fifty times f'rr vandalism and two hundred and fifty morre +f'rr insolence." + +"Served you right," said Tom. + +"Oh, I guess you weren't such an angel in school either!" said Archer. +"I'll never forget about those pearrl-bearing mussels as long as I +live--you can bet!" + +Tom separated the chicory roots from the stalks and Archer went to wash +them in the stream. In a little while he returned with a triumphant +smile all over his round, freckled face and half a dozen mussels in his +cupped hands. + +"_Now_ what have you got to say, huh? It's good I whittled that desk and +was insolent--you can bet!" + +Tom's practical mind did not quite appreciate this line of reasoning, +but he was glad enough to see the mussels, the very look of which was +cool and refreshing. + +"I always said I had no use for geographies except to put mustaches and +things on the North Pole explorers and high hats on Columbus and Henry +Hudson, but, believe _me_, I'm glad I remembered about those +pearrl-bearing mussels--hey, Slady? I hope the Alpine natives don't take +it into their heads to come up herre afterr any of 'em just now. I just +rooted around in the mud and got 'em. Look at my hand, will you?" + +They made a sumptuous repast of wet, crisp chicory roots and +"pearrl-bearing mussels" as Archer insisted upon calling them, although +they found no pearls. The meal was refreshing and not half bad. There +was a pleasant air of stealth and cosiness about the whole thing, lying +there in their leafy refuge in the edge of the woods with the Alsatian +country stretched below them. Perhaps it was the mussels out of the +geography (to quote Archer's own phrase) as well as the sense of +security which came as the uneventful hours passed, but as the twilight +gathered they enjoyed a feeling of safety, and their hope ran high. They +had found, as the scout usually finds, that Nature was their friend, +never withholding her bounty from him who seeks and uses his +resourcefulness and brains. + +All through the long afternoon they could distinguish heavy army wagons +with dark spots on their canvas sides (the flaring, arrogant German +crest which allied soldiers had grown to despise) moving northward along +the distant road. They looked almost like toy wagons. Sometimes, when +the breeze favored, they could hear the rattle of wheels and +occasionally a human voice was faintly audible. And all the while from +those towering heights beyond came the spent, muffled booming. + +"I'd like to know just what's going on over there," Tom said as he gazed +at the blue heights. "Maybe those wagons down there on the road have +something to do with it. If there's a big battle going on they may be +bringing back wounded and prisoners.--Some of our own fellers might be +in 'em." + +They tried to determine about where, along that far-flung line, the +sounds arose, but they could only guess at it. + +"All I know is what I hearrd 'em say in the prison camp," said Archer; +"that our fellers are just the otherr side of the mountains." + +"That would be Nancy," said Tom thoughtfully. + +"That Loquet feller that got capturred in a raid," Archer said, "told me +the Americans were all around therre, just the otherr side of the +mountains--in a lot of differrent villages: When they get through +training they send 'em ahead to the trenches. Some of 'em have been in +raids already, he said." + +"You have to run like everything in a raid," said Tom. "I'd like to be +in one, wouldn't you?" + +"Depends on which way I was running.--Let's have a look at these paperrs +before it gets too darrk, hey?" he added, hauling from his pocket the +papers which he had taken from the dead Boche. "I neverr thought about +'em till just now?" + +"I thought about it," said Tom, who indeed seldom forgot anything, "but +I didn't say anything about it 'cause it kind of makes me think about +what happened--I mean how they took her away," he added, in his dull +way. + +For a minute they sat silently gazing down at the vineyard which was now +touched with the first crimson rays of sunset. + +"You can just see the chimney," Tom said; "see, just left of that big +tree.--I hope I don't see Frenchy any more now 'cause I wouldn't like to +have to tell him----" + +"We don't know what happened," said Archer. "Maybe therre werren't any +otherr soldierrs; she may have escaped--and her motherr, too." + +"It's more likely there _were_ others, though," said Tom. "I keep +thinking all the time how scared she was and it kind of----" + +"Let's look at the papers," said Archer. + +The German soldier must have been a typical Boche, for he carried with +him the customary baggage of written and statistical matter with which +these warriors sally forth to battle. + +"He must o' been a walking correspondence school," said Archer, +unfolding the contents of the parchment envelope. "Herre's a list--all +in German. Herre's some poetry--or I s'pose it's poetry, 'cause it's +printed all in and out." + +"Maybe it's a hymn of hate," said Tom. + +"Herre's a map, and herre's a letter. All in Gerrman--even the map. +Anyway, I can't understand it." + +"Looks like a scout astronomy chart," said Tom. "It's all dots like the +big dipper." + +"Do you s'pose it means they're going to conquer the sky and all the +starrs and everything?" Archer asked. "Here's a letter, it's dated about +two weeks ago--I can make out the numbers all right." + +The letter was in German, of course, and Archer, who during his long +incarceration in the prison camp had picked up a few scraps of the +language, fell to trying to decipher it. The only reward he had for his +pains was a familiar word which he was able to distinguish here and +there and which greatly increased their desire to know the full purport +of the letter. + +"Herre's President Wilson's name.--See!" said Archer excitedly. "And +herre's _America_----" + +"Yes, and there it is again," said Tom. "That must be _Yankees_, see? +Something or other Yankees. It's about a mile long." + +"Jim-min-nitty!" said Archer, staring at the word (presumably a +disparaging adjective) which preceded the word _Yankees_. "It's got +one--two--three--wait a minute--it's got thirty-seven letters to it. +_Go-o-od night_!" + +"And that must be Arracourt," said Tom. "I heard about that place--it +ain't so far from Nancy. Gee, I wish we could read that letter!" + +"I'd like to know what kind of a Yankee a b-l-o-e----" + +But Archer gave it up in despair. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SCOUT THROUGH ALSACE + + +As soon as it was dark they started southward, following the ridge. +Their way took them up hill and down dale, through rugged uplands where +they had to travel five miles to advance three, picking their way over +the trackless, rocky heights which formed the first foothills of the +mighty Alps. + +"S'pose we should meet some one?" Archer suggested, as he followed Tom's +lead over the rocky ledges. + +"Not up here," said Tom. "You can see lights way off south and maybe +we'll have to pass through some villages tomorrow night, but not +tonight. We'll only do about twelve miles tonight if it keeps up like +this." + +"S'pose somebody should see us--when we'rre going through a village? +We'll tell him we'rre herre to back the Kaiser, hey?" + +"S'pose he's a Frenchman that belongs in Alsace," Tom queried. + +"Then we'll add on _out o' France_. We'll say--look out for that +rock!--We'll just say we'rre herre to back the Kaiser, and if he looks +sourr we'll say; _out o' France. Back the Kaiser out o' France_. We win +either way, see? A fellerr in prison told me General Perrshing wants a +lot of men with glass eyes--to peel onions. Look out you don't trip on +that root! Herre's anotherr. If you'rre under sixteen what part of the +arrmy do they put you in? The infantry, of course. Herre's----" + +"Never mind," laughed Tom. "Look where you're stepping." + +"What I'm worrying about now," said Archer, his spirits mounting as they +made their way southward, "is how we're going to cross the frontierr +when we get to it. They've got a big tangled fence of barrbed wirre all +along, even across the mountains, to where the battleline cuts in. And +it's got a good juicy electric current running through it all the time. +If you just touch it--good night!" + +"I got an idea," said Tom simply. + +"If I could get a piece of that electrified wirre for a souveneerr," +mused Archer, "I'd----" + +"You'll have a broken head for a souvenir in a minute," said Tom, "if +you don't watch where you're going." + +"Gee, you've got eyes in your feet," said Archer admiringly. + +"Whenever you see a fallen tree," said Tom, "look out for holes. It +means the earth is thin and weak all around and couldn't hold the +roots." + +"It ought to drink buttermilk, hey?" said Archer flippantly, "if it's +thin and pale." + +"I said thin and weak," said Tom. "Do you ever get tired talking?" + +"Sure--same as a phonograph record does." + +So they plodded on, encircling areas of towering rock or surmounting +them when they were not too high, and always working southward. Tom, who +was not unaccustomed to woods and mountains, thought he had never before +traversed such a chaotic wilderness. He would have given a good deal for +a watch and for some means of knowing how much actual distance they were +covering. It was slow, tiresome work. + +Every little while he would check their course by the little compass, to +see which he often had to light one of their few precious matches. + +"One thing surre, we won't meet anybody up herre," said Archer, as he +scrambled along. "See those little lights over to the east?" + +"Don't worry," said Tom, "that's twenty miles away. We're all right up +here. There were some lights further down too and one over that way but +I can't see them now. I guess it's after midnight. Sh-h-h. Listen!" + +They stood stark still, Archer gripping Tom's arm. + +"It's water trickling," said Tom dully. + +"Gee, you had the life scared out of me!" breathed Archer. + +A little farther on they came to an abrupt, rocky declivity which +crossed their course and in the bottom of which was a swift running +stream. + +"It's running east," said Tom, listening intently. "I can tell by the +ripples." + +"Yes, you can!" said Archer contemptuously. + +"Sure I can," Tom answered. He held his hand first to his right ear, +then to his left. "The long, washy sound comes first when you close your +left ear, so I know the water's flowing that way. It's easy," he added. + +They kept along the precipitous brink, searching for a place to descend +and at last scrambled down and into the shallow stream. + +"Didn't I tell you so?" said Tom, laying a twig in the water and +watching it as best he could in the dim light. "What's on the east of +Alsace, anyway?" + +"Another parrt of Gerrmany--Baden," Archer answered. + +"I was wondering where this stream goes," Tom said; "let's walk along in +it a little way and go up at a different place. They can't track you in +the water." + +"I bet _you_ could," said Archer admiringly. + +"Let's have a drink and give me a couple of those chicory roots, and +I'll show you something," Tom said. + +From each chicory root he cut a plug such as one cuts to test the flavor +of a watermelon. Then he soaked the roots in the stream. "The inside's +softer than the outside," he said, "and it holds the water." After a few +moments he replaced the plugs. "Even tomorrow," he added, "they'll be +fresh and cool and they'll quench your thirst. Carrots are best but we +haven't got any carrots." + +About fifty yards down stream they turned out of it and scrambled up a +less abrupt hillside and into an area of more or less orderly forest. + +"Maybe it's the Black Forest," said Archer; "anyway it's black enough. +Look around and you'll probably see some toys--jumping-jacks and things. +'Most all the toys like that arre made in the Black Forest." + +"Not here," said Tom; "we won't find anybody in here." + +They were indeed entering the less densely wooded region which formed +the extreme northern reaches of that mountainous wilderness famed in +song and story as the Black Forest. Even here, where it fizzled out on +the eastern edge of Alsace, the world-renowned fragrance of its dark and +stately fir trees was wafted to them out of the wild and solemn recesses +they were approaching. + +"I wish I had a map," said Tom. + +"We ought to be thankful we've got the compass. If this _is_ the Black +Forest, you can bet I'm going to get a sooveneer. Gee, isn't it dark! It +smells good though, believe _me_." + +They passed on now over land comparatively level, the soft, fragrant +needles yielding under their feet, the tall cone-like trees diffusing +their resiny, pungent odor. It seemed as if the war must be millions of +miles away. The silence was deathlike and the occasional crunching of a +cone under their feet startled them as they groped their way in the +heavy darkness. + +"That looks like an oak ahead," said Archer. "You can see the branches +sticking out----" + +"Sh-h-h," said Tom, grasping his arm suddenly and speaking in a tense +whisper. "Look--right under it--don't move----" + +Archer looked intently and under the low spreading branches he saw a +human form with something shiny upon its head. As the two boys paused, +awestruck and shaking, it moved ever so slightly. + +The fugitives stood rooted to the ground, breathing in quick, short +gasps, their hearts pounding in their breasts. + +"He didn't see us," whispered Tom, in the faintest whisper. "Wait till +there's a breeze and get behind a tree." + +When presently the breeze rustled in the tress the two moved cautiously +behind two trees. + +And the silent figure moved also.... + +[Illustration: "SH-H-H." SAID TOM IN A TENSE WHISPER. "LOOK--DON'T +MOVE." Page 78] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DANCE WITH DEATH + + +The boys were thoroughly frightened, but they stood absolutely +motionless and silent and Tom, at least, retained his presence of mind. +They were not close enough together to communicate with each other, nor +could they more than distinguish each other's forms pressed against the +dark tree trunks. + +But the figure, being comparatively in the open, was discernible and +Tom, by concentrating his eyes upon it, satisfied himself beyond a doubt +that it was a human form--that of a German soldier, he felt sure. + +Thanks to his stealth and dexterity, they were apparently undiscovered. +He tried to distinguish the bright spot on the cap or helmet, but it was +not visible now, and he thought the man must have turned about. + +In his alarm it seemed to him that his breathing must be audible miles +away. His heart seemed in his throat and likely to choke him with every +fresh breath. But he did not stir. Then another little breeze stirred +the trees, sounding clear and solemn in the stillness and Tom moved ever +so slightly in unison with it, hoping by changing his angle of vision to +catch a better glimpse. He could see the bright spot now, the grim +figure standing directly facing him in ghostly silence. + +No one moved. And there was no sound save the half audible rustle of +some tiny creature of the night as it hurried over the cushiony ground. + +What did it mean? Who was it, standing there? Some grim Prussian +sentinel? Had they, in this remote wilderness, stumbled upon some +obscure pass which the all-seeing eye of German militarism had not +forgotten? Was there, after all, any hope of escape from these demons of +efficiency? + +Archer, his chest literally aching from his throbbing breaths, crowded +close behind his tree trunk in terror, startled by every fresh stir of +the fragrant breeze. It seemed to him, as he looked, that the figure +danced a trifle, but doubtless that was only his tense nerves and +blinking eyes playing havoc with his imagination. + +There was another rustling in the trees, caused by the freshening night +breeze which Tom thought smelt of rain. And again the silent figure +veered around with a kind of mechanical precision, the very perfection +of clock-work German discipline, as if to give each point of the compass +its allotted moment of attention. + +Tom strained his eyes, trying to discover whether that lonely sentinel +were standing in a path or where two paths crossed or where some favored +view might be had of something far off in the country below. But he +could make out nothing. + +Suddenly he noticed something large and black among the trees. Its +outline was barely discernible against the less solid blackness of the +night, and it was obscured by the dark tree branches. But as he looked +he thought he could see that it terminated in a little dome, like the +police telephone booths on the street corners away home in Bridgeboro. A +tiny guardhouse, possibly, or shelter for the solitary sentinel. +Perhaps, he thought, this was, after all, a strategic spot which they +had unconsciously stumbled into; a secret path to the frontier, maybe. + +He remembered now the talk he had heard in the prison camp, of Germany's +building roads through obscure places in the direction of the Swiss +border for the violation of Swiss neutrality if that should be thought +necessary. These roads were shrouded in mystery, but he had heard about +them and the thought occurred to him that perhaps these poor Alsatian +people--women and children--were being taken to work on these avenues of +betrayal and dishonor. + +But try as he would, he could discern no suggestion of path, nor any +other sign of landmark which might explain the presence of this remote +station in the desolate uplands of Alsace. He believed that if they had +taken five steps more they would have been discovered and challenged. +How to withdraw out of the very jaws of this peril was now the question. +He feared that Archer might make an incautious move and end all hope of +escape. + +Tom watched the solitary figure through the heavy darkness. And he +marvelled, as he had marvelled before, at the machine-like perfection of +these minions of the Iron Hand. Even in the face of their awful danger +and amid the solemnity of the black night, the odd thought came to him +that this stiff form turning about like a faithful and tireless +weathercock to peer into the darkness roundabout, might be indeed a huge +carved toy fresh from the quaint handworkers of the Black Forest. + +As he gazed he was sure that this lonely watcher danced a step or two. +No laughter or sign of merriment accompanied the grim jig, but he was +sure that the solitary German tripped, ever so lightly, with a kind of +stiff grace. Then the freshening breeze blew Tom's rebellious hair down +over his eyes, and as he brushed it aside he saw the German indeed +dancing--there was no doubt of it. + +Suddenly a cold shudder ran through him and he stepped out from his +concealment as he realized that this uncanny figure was not standing but +_hanging_ just clear of the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PRIZE SAUSAGE + + +"Come on out, Archy," said Tom with a recklessness which struck terror +to poor Archer's very soul. "He won't hurt you--he's dead." + +"D-e-a-d!" ejaculated Archer. + +"Sure--he's hanging there." + +"And all the time I wanted to sneeze," said Archer, laughing in his +reaction from fear. "Ebe-nee-zerr, but I had a good scarre!" + +Going over to the tree, they saw the ghastly truth. A man wearing a +garment something like a Russian blouse, but of the field-gray military +shade of the Germans (as well as the boys could make out by the aid of a +lighted match) was hanging by his garment which had caught in a low +spreading branch of the tree. His feet were just clear of the ground and +as the breeze blew he swayed this way and that, the gathering strain +upon his garment behind the neck throwing his limp head forward and +giving his shoulders a hunched appearance, quite in the manner of the +clog dancer. The German emblem was blazoned upon his blouse and +superimposed in shining metal upon the front of his fatigue cap. Even as +they paused before him he seemed to bow perfunctorily as if bidding them +a ghastly welcome. + +Tom's scout instinct impelled him instantly to fall upon the ground in +search of enlightening footprints, but there were none and this puzzled +him greatly. He felt sure that the man had not been strangled, but had +been killed by impact with some heavier branch higher up in the tree; +but he must have made footprints before he climbed the tree, and---- + +Suddenly he jumped to his feet, remembering what he had thought to be a +guardhouse. It lay a hundred or more feet beyond the dangling body and +as they neared it it lost its sentinel-station aspect altogether. + +"Well--what--do you--know about that?" said Archer. + +"It's an observation balloon, I'll bet," said Tom. "A Boche sausage! +Look for another man before you do anything else--there's always two. If +he's around anywhere we might get into trouble yet." + +It was a wise thought and characteristic of Tom, but the other man was +quite beyond human aid. He lay, mangled out of all semblance to a human +being, amid the tangled wreckage of the car. + +The fat cigar-shaped envelope of the balloon stood almost upright, and +though it looked not the least like a police telephone station now, it +was easy to see how, from a distance in the dim light, it might have +suggested a little round domed building. + +"How do you s'pose it happened?" Archer asked. + +"I don't know," said Tom. "It's an observation balloon, that's sure. +Maybe it was on its way back from the lines to somewhere or other. Hurry +up, let's see what there is; it'll be daylight in two or three hours and +we don't want to be hanging around here. They might send a rescue party +or something like that, if they know about it." + +"Morre likely they don't," said Archer. + +"I guess it only happened tonight," said Tom, "or more gas would have +leaked out. Let's hunt for the eats and things." + +The wreckage of the car proved a veritable treasure-house. There was a +flashlight and a telescopic field glass, both of which Tom snatched up +with an eagerness which could not have been greater if they had been +made of solid gold. In the smashed locker were two good-sized tins of +biscuit, a bottle of wine and several small tins of meat. Tom emptied +out the wine and filled the bottle with water out of the five-gallon +tank, from which they also refreshed their parched throats. The food +they "commandeered" to the full capacity of their ragged pockets. + +"And look at this," said Archer, hauling out a blouse such as the +hanging German wore; "what d'ye say if I wearr it, hey? And the cap, +too? I'll look like an observation ballooner, or whatever you call 'em." + +"Good idea," said Tom, "and look!" + +"A souveneerr?" cried Archer. + +"The best _you_ ever saw," Tom answered, rooting in the engine tool +chest by the aid of the flashlight and hauling out a pair of rubber +gloves. + +"What good are those?" said Archer, somewhat scornfully. + +"_What good!_ They're a passport into Switzerland." + +"Do you have to wear rubber gloves in Switzerland?" Archer asked +innocently, as he ravenously munched a biscuit. + +"No, but you have to wear 'em when you're handling electrified wire," +said Tom in his stolid way. + +"G-o-o-d _night_! We fell in soft, didn't we!" + +Indeed, for a couple of hapless, ragged wanderers, subsisting wholly by +their wits, they had "fallen in soft." It seemed that the very things +needed by two fugitives in a hostile country were the very things needed +in an observation balloon. One unpleasant task Tom had to perform, and +that was to remove the blouse from the hanging German and don it +himself, which he did, not without some shuddering hesitation. + +"It's the only thing," he said, "that would make anybody think +somebody's been here, and that's just what we've got to look out for. +The other things won't be missed, but if anybody should come here and +see him hanging there without his coat they'd wonder where it was." + +However, this was a remote danger, since probably no one knew of the +disaster. + +Tom's chief difficulty was in restricting that indefatigable souvenir +hunter, Archer, from loading himself down with every conceivable kind of +useless but interesting paraphernalia. + +"You're just like a tenderfoot when he starts out camping," said Tom. +"He takes fancy cushions and a lot of stuff; he'd take a brass bed and a +rolltop desk and a couple of pianos if you'd let him," he added, with +rather more humor than he usually showed. "All we're going to take is +the biscuits and two cans of meat and the flashlight and the field +glass and the bottle, and, let's see----" + +"I don't have to leave this dandy ivory cigar-holderr, do I?" Archer +interrupted. "We could use it for----" + +"Yes, you do, and we're going to leave that cartridge belt, too, so +chuck it," ordered Tom. "If anybody _should_ come up here we don't want +'em to think somebody else was here before 'em. All we're going to take +is just what I said--some of the eats, and the flashlight and the field +glass and the bottle and the rubber gloves and the pliers and--that's +all." + +"Not even this dial-faced thing?" pleaded Archer. + +"That's a gas gauge or something," said Tom. "Come on now, let's get +away from here." + +Archer pointed the flashlight and cast a lingering farewell gaze upon a +large megaphone. For a brief moment he had wild thoughts of trying to +persuade Tom that this would prove a blessing as a hat, shedding the +pelting Alsatian rains like a church steeple. But he did not quite +dare. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A RISKY DECISION + + +"Did you notice that Victrola?" Archer asked fondly. + +"Yes, it was busted; did you want that, too?" + +"We might have used the arm for a chimney if we were building a fire," +Archer ventured. + +"We'd look nice crawling through these mountains with a Victrola in our +arms. The Fritzies always have a lot of that kind of junk with 'em. They +had one on the submarine that picked me up that time." + +They were both now clad in the semi-military blouses worn by the German +"sausage men" and felt that to a casual observer at least they were +disguised. It gave them a feeling of security even in these unfrequented +highlands. And their little store of food refreshed their spirits and +gave them new hope. + +What cheered Tom most of all was his precious possession, the rubber +gloves, a detail of equipment which every gas-engine mechanic is pretty +sure to have, though, he regarded the discovery as a rare find. He was +thankful to have found them, for the terrific deadly current which he +knew rushed through the formidable wire entanglement along the frontier +had haunted him and baffled his wits. It was characteristic of Tom to +think and plan far ahead. + +All the next day they journeyed through the hills, making a long detour +to avoid a hamlet, and meeting no one. And at night, under the +close-knit shelter of a great pine tree, they rested their weary bodies +and ate the last of their meat and biscuits. + +When Tom roused Archer in the morning it was to show him a surprising +view. From their wooded height they could look down across a vast tract +of open country which extended eastward as far as they could see, +running north and south between steep banks. Converging toward it out of +the hills they had followed, they could see a bird's-eye panorama of the +broadening streams, the trickling beginnings of which they had forded +and drunk from, and their eyes followed the majestic water southward +until it wound away among the frowning heights which they had all but +entered. + +"It's the Rhine," said Archer, "and that's the real Black Forest where +it goes. Those mountains are in Baden; now I know." + +"Didn't I say there must be a big river over that way?" said Tom. "I +knew from the way that ridge went. It's a big one, huh?" + +"You said it! Maybe that twig you threw in to see which way it went is +floating down the Rhine now. They'll use it in the Black Forest to make +a toy out of, maybe." + +"I s'pose you'd like to have it for a souvenir." + +"If we could make a raft we could sail right down, hey?" queried Archer +doubtfully. + +Tom shook his head. "It must pass through big cities," he said, "and +we're safe in the mountains. Anyway, it flows the other way," he added. + +It was not difficult now for them to piece out a fairly accurate map of +the locality about them. They were indeed near the eastern edge of +Alsace where the Rhine, flowing in a northeasterly direction, separates +the "lost province" from the Duchy of Baden. To the south, on the Baden +side, the mighty hills rolled away in crowding confusion as far as they +could see, and these they knew held that dim, romantic wilderness, the +Black Forest, the outskirts of which they had entered. + +Directly below the hill on which they rested was a tiny hamlet nestling +in the shadow of the steep ascent, and when Tom climbed a tree for a +better view he could see to the southwest close by the river a surging +metropolis with countless chimneys sending their black smoke up into the +gray early morning sky. + +"I bet it's Berrlin," shouted Archer. "Gee, we'll be the firrst to get +therre, hey? It might be Berrlin, hey?" he added with less buoyancy, +seeing Tom's dry smile. + +"It might be New York or Philadelphia," said Tom, "only it ain't. I +guess it must be Strassbourg. I heard that was the biggest place in +Alsace." + +They looked at it through their field glass and decided that it was +about twenty miles distant. More to the purpose was the little hamlet +scarce half a mile below them, for their provisions were gone and as Tom +scanned the country with the glass he could see no streams to the +southward converging toward the river. He feared to have to go another +twenty-four hours, perhaps, without food and water. + +"We got to decide another thing before we go any farther, too," he said. +"If we're going to hike into those mountains we've got to cross the +river and we'll be outside of Alsace. We won't meet any French people +and Frenchy's button won't do us any good over there. But if we stay on +this side we've got to go through open country. I don't know which is +better." + +They were indeed at a point where they must choose between the doubtful +hospitality of Alsace and the safe enveloping welcome of the mountain +fastnesses. Like the true scout he was, Tom inclined to the latter. + +"Do you notice," he said, looking down through the glass, "that house +that looks as if it was whitewashed? It's far away from the others." + +Archer took the glass and looking down saw a little white house with a +heavy roof of thatch. A tipsy, ramshackle fence surrounded it and in the +enclosure several sheep were grazing. The whole poor farm, if such it +was, was at the end of a long rustic overgrown lane and quite a distance +from the cluster of houses which constituted the hamlet. By scrambling +down the rugged hillside one could reach this house without entering the +hamlet at all. + +"If I dared, I'd make the break," said Tom. + +"Suppose they should be Gerrmans living therre?" Archer suggested. "I +wouldn't risk it. Can't you see therre's a German flag on a flagpole?" + +"That's just it," said Tom. "If I knew they were French people I could +show them Frenchy's button. If I was sure this uniform, or whatever you +call it, was all right, I'd take a chance." + +"It's all right at a distance, anyway," Archer encouraged; "as long as +nobody can see yourr face or speak to you." + +It was a pretty risky business and both realized it. After three days of +successful flight to run into the very jaws of recapture by an +ill-considered move was not at all to Tom's liking, yet he felt sure +that it would be equally risky to penetrate into that dark wilderness +which stretched away toward the Swiss border without first ascertaining +something of its extent and character, and what the prospect was of +getting through it unseen. Moreover, they were hungry. + +Yet it was twilight and the distant river had become a dark ribbon and +the outlines of the poor houses below them blurred and indistinct in the +gathering darkness before Tom could bring himself to re-enter the haunts +of men. + +"You stay here," he said, "and I'll go down and pike around. There's one +thing, that house is very old and people don't move around here like +they do in America. So if I see anything that makes me think the house +is French then probably the people are French too." + +It was a sensible thought, more dependable indeed than Tom imagined, for +in poor Alsace and Lorraine, of all places, people who loved their homes +enough to remain in them under foreign despotism would probably continue +living in them generation after generation. There is no moving day in +Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HE WHO HAS EYES TO SEE + + +It was quite dark when Tom scrambled down and, with his heart beating +rapidly, stole cautiously across the hubbly ground toward the +dilapidated brush fence which enclosed the place. The disturbing thought +occurred to him that where there were sheep there was likely to be a +dog, but he would not turn back. + +He realized that he was gambling with those hard-won days of freedom, +that any minute he might be discovered and seized. But the courage which +his training as a scout had given him did not forsake him, and he +crossed the fence and stealthily approached the house, which was hardly +more than a whitewashed cabin with two small windows, one door and a +disheveled roof, entirely too big for it as it seemed to Tom. The odd +conceit occurred to him that it ought to be brushed and combed like a +shocky head of hair. Within there was a dim light, and protecting each +window was a rough board shutter, hinged at the top and held open at an +angle by a stick. + +He crept cautiously up and examined these shutters with minutest care. +He even felt of one of them and found it to be old and rotten. Then he +felt to see if his precious button was safe in his pocket. + +Evidently the dilapidated shutter suggested something to him, for he +glanced about as if looking for something else, and seemed encouraged. +Now he stole a quick look this way or that to anticipate the approach of +any one, and then looked carefully about again. + +At last his eyes lit upon the flagpole which was projected diagonally +from the house, with the flag, which he knew must be the German flag, +depending from it. The distant sight of this flag had quite discouraged +Archer's hopes, but Tom knew that the compulsory display of the Teuton +colors was no indication of the sentiment of the people. + +He was more interested in the rough, home-made flagpole which he +ventured to bend a little so as to bring its end within reach. This he +examined with a care entirely disproportionate to the importance of the +crude, whittled handiwork. He pushed the drooping flag aside rather +impatiently as it fell over his face, and felt of the end of the pole +and scrutinized it as best he could in the darkness. + +It was roughly carved and intended to be ornamental, swelling into a +kind of curved ridge surmounted by a dull, dome-like point. He felt it +all over, then cautiously bending the pole down within reach of his +mouth, he bit into the wood and deposited the two or three loose +splinters in his pocket. + +Then he hurried back up the hill to rejoin Archer. + +"Let me have the flashlight," he said with rather more excitement than +he often showed. And he would say no more till he had examined the +little splinter of wood in its glare. + +"It's all right," he said; "we're safe in going there. See this? It's a +splinter from the flagpole----" + +"A souveneerr!" Archer interrupted. + +"There you go again," said Tom. "Who's talking about souvenirs? See how +white and fresh the wood is--look. That's off the end of the pole where +it's carved into kind of a fancy topknot. And it was whittled inside of +a year." + +"_I_ could whittle it inside of an hour," said Archer. + +"I mean it was whittled not longer than a year ago, 'cause even the +weather hasn't got into it yet. And it's whittled like a +fleur-de-lis--kind of," Tom added triumphantly. + +"Why didn't you bring the whole of it?" + +"When they were building the shacks at Temple Camp," said Tom, "there +was a carpenter who was a Frenchman. I was good friends with him and he +told me a lot of stuff. He always had some wine in his dinner pail. He +showed me how French carpenters nail shingles. Instead of keeping the +nails in their mouths like other carpenters do, they keep them up their +sleeves and they can drop them down into their hands one by one as fast +as they need them. They hit 'em four times instead of two--do you know +why?" + +"To drive 'em in," suggested Archer. + +"'Cause in France they don't have cedar shingles, like we do; they have +shingles made out of hard wood. And they get so used to hitting the nail +four raps that they can't stop it--that's what he said." + +"Here's another one," said Archer. "You can't drive a nail with a +sponge--no matter how you soak it." + +"He told me some other things, too," said Tom, ignoring Archer's +flippancy. "He used to talk to me while he was eating his lunch. The way +he got started telling me about the different way they do things in +Europe was when he put the shutters on the big shack. He put the hinges +at the top 'cause that's always the way they do in France. He said in +Italy they put 'em on the left side. In America they put them on the +right side--except when they have two. + +"So when I saw the shutters on that old house I happened to notice that +the hinges were at the top and that made me think it was probably a +Frenchman's home." + +"Maybe it isn't now even if it was when the shutterrs werre made," said +Archer skeptically. + +"Then I happened to remember something else that man told me. Maybe you +think the fleur-de-lis is only a fancy kind of an emblem, but it ain't. +He told me the old monks that used to carve things--no matter what they +carved you could always find a cross, or something like a cross in it. +'Cause they _think_ that way, see? The same as sailors always tattoo +fishes and ships and things on their arms. He said some places in the +Black Forest the toymakers are French peasants and you can always tell +if a fancy thing is carved by them on account of the shape of the +fleur-de-lis. It ain't that they do it on purpose," he added; "it's +because it's in their heads, like. They don't always make regular +fleur-de-lis, but they make that kind of curves. He told me a lot about +Napoleon, too," he added irrelevantly. + +"So when I happened to think about that, I looked around to see if I +could find anything to prove it, kind of. It don't make any difference +if the German flag _is_ on that pole; they've _got_ to do that. When I +saw the topknot was carved kind of like a fleur-de-lis I knew French +people must have made it. And it was only carved lately, too," he added +simply, "'cause the wood is fresh." + +"Gee whillicums, but you're a peach, Slady!" said Archer ecstatically. +"Shall we take a chance?" + +"Of course I don't know for sure," Tom added, "but we've got to go by +signs--just like Indian signs along a trail. If you pick up an old flint +arrowhead you know you're on an Indian trail." + +"Christopherr _Columbus!_ But I'd like to find one of those arrowheads +now!" said Archer. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE WEAVER OF MERNON + + +But for all these fine deductions, you are not to suppose that Tom and +Archer approached the little house without trepidation. The nearer they +came to it the less dependable seemed Tom's theory. + +"It might be all right in a story book," Archer said, backsliding into +dismal apprehensions. But before he had a chance to lose his courage Tom +had knocked softly on the door. They could hear a scuffling sound inside +and then the door was opened cautiously by a little stooping old man +with a pale, deeply wrinkled face, and long, straight white hair. From +his ragged peasant's attire he must have been very poor and the +primitive furnishings in the dimly lighted room, of which they caught a +glimpse, confirmed this impression. But he had a pair of keen blue eyes +which scrutinized the travellers rather tremulously, evidently supposing +them to be German soldiers. + +"What have I done?" he asked fearfully in German. + +Tom wasted no time trying to understand him, but bringing forth his iron +button he held it out silently. + +The effect was electrical; the old man clutched the button eagerly and +poured forth a torrent of French as he dragged the boys one after the +other into his poor abode and shut the door. + +"We're Americans," said Tom. "We can't understand." + +"It iss all ze same," said the man. "I will talk in ze American. How you +came with ziss button--yess? Who have sent you?" + +To Tom's surprise he spoke English better than either Florette or her +brother, and the boys were infinitely grateful and relieved to hear +their own language spoken in this remote place. + +"We are Americans," said Tom. "We escaped from the prison camp across +the Alsace border, and we're on our way to the frontier. I knew you were +French on account of the fleur-de-lis on the end of your flagpole----" + +"And ze button--yess?" the old man urged, interrupting him. + +Tom told him the whole story of Frenchy and the Leteurs, and of how he +had come by his little talisman. + +"I have fought in zat regiment," the old man said, "many years before +you are born. I have seen Alsace lost--yess. If you were Germans I would +_die_ before I would give you food. But I make you true welcome. I have +been many years in America. Ah, I have surprise you." + +"What is this place?" Archer ventured to ask. + +"Ziss is Mernon--out of fifty-two men they take forty-one to ze +trenches. My two sons, who are weavers too, they must go. Now they take +the women and the young girls." + +Further conversation developed the fact that the old man had worked in a +silk mill in America for many years and had returned to Alsace and this +humble place of his birth only after both of his sons, who like himself +were weavers, had been forced into the German service. "If I do not come +back and claim my home, it is gone," he said. So he had returned and was +working the old hand loom with his aged fingers, here in the place of +his birth. + +He was greatly interested in the boys' story and gave them freely of his +poor store of food which they ate with a relish. Apparently he was not +under the cloud of suspicion or perhaps his age and humble condition +and the obscurity and remoteness of his dwelling gave him a certain +immunity. In any event, he carried his loathing of the Germans with a +fine independence. + +"In America," he said, "ze people do not know about ziss--ziss beast. +Here we _know_. Here in little Mernon our women must work to make ze +road down to ze river. Why is zere needed a road to ze river? Why is +zere needed ze new road above Basel? To bring back so many +prisoners--wounded? Bah! Ziss is what zey _say_. Lies! I have been a +soldier. Eighty-two years I am old. And much I have travelled. So can I +see. What you say in Amerique--make two and two together--yess? Zere +will be tramping of soldiers over zese roads to invade little +Switzerland. Am I right? If it is necessaire--yess! _Necessaire!_ +Faugh!" + +This was the first open statement the boys had heard as to the new +roads, all of which converged suspiciously in the direction of the Swiss +frontier. They were for bringing home German wounded; they were to +facilitate internal communication; they were for this, that and the +other useful and innocent purpose, but they all ran toward the Swiss +border or to some highway which ran thither. + +"Ziss is ze last card they have to play--to stab little Switzerland in +ze back and break through," the old man said. "In ze south runs a road +from ze trench line across to ze Rhine. Near zere I have an old +comrade--Blondel. Togezzer we fight side by side, like brothers. When ze +boat comes, many times he comes to see me. Ze last time he come he tell +me how ze new road goes past his house--all women and young girls +working. It comes from ziss other road zat goes from ze trenches over to +ze Rhine. South it goes--you see?" he added shrewdly. "So now if you are +so clevaire to see a fleur-de-lis where none is intentioned, so zen you +can tell, maybe, why will zey build a road zat goes south?" + +Tom, fascinated by the old man's sagacity and vehemence, only shook his +head. + +"Ah, you are not so clevaire to suspect! Ziss is Amerique! Nevaire will +she suspect." + +Tom did not altogether like this reference to Uncle Sam's gullibility, +but he contented himself with believing that it was meant as a thing of +the past. + +"They can't flim-flam us now," Archer ventured. + +"Flam-flim--no," the old man said, with great fervor. + +"Maybe that's where they took my friend's sister and his mother," Tom +said. + +"I will tell you vere zey take them," the old man interrupted. "You know +Alsace--no? So! See! I tell you." He approached, poking Tom's chest with +his bony finger and screwing up his blue eyes until he seemed a very +demon of shrewdness. They wondered if he were altogether sane. + +"Nuzzing can zey hide from Melotte," he went on. "Far south, near Basel, +zere lives my comrade--Blondel. To him must you show your button--yess. +In Norne he lives." + +"We'll write that down," said Tom. + +"Nuzzing you write down," the old man said sharply, clutching Tom's arm. +"In your brain where you are so clevaire--zere you write it. So! You are +not so clevaire as Melotte. Now I will show you how you shall find +Mam'selle," he went on with a sly wink. + +Emptying some wool out of a paper bag, he pressed the wrinkles from the +bag with his trembling old hand and bending over the rough table close +to the lantern, he drew a map somewhat similar to, though less complete +than, the one given here. + +[Illustration: SHOWING THE ROUTE TAKEN BY TOM AND ARCHER.] + +There is nothing like a map to show one "where he is at," to quote +Archer's phrase, and the boys followed with great interest as Melotte +penciled the course of the Rhine and the places which he wished to +emphasize in the southern part of Alsace. + +"Here at Norne lives my comrade, Blondel," he said. "Two years we work +togezzer at Pas_sake_--you know? In ze great silk mills." + +"Passaic," said Tom; "that's near Bridgeboro, where I live." + +"Pas_sake_, yess. So now you are so clevaire to know who shall leeve in +a house, I will tell you how you shall know ze house of my comrade, +Blondel. _By ze blue flag with one black spot!_ Yess? You know what ziss +shall be? _Billet!_" He gave Archer a dig in the ribs as if this +represented the high water mark of sagacity. + +"Oh, I know," said Archer; "it means Gerrman officerrs are billeted +therre. Go-o-od _night_! Not for us!" + +The old man did not seem quite to understand, but he turned again to his +map. "Here now is ze new road," he said, drawing it with his shaky old +hand. "From ze Rhine road it runs--south--so. Now you are so +clevaire--Yankee clevaire, ha, ha, ha!" he laughed with a kind of +irritating hilarity; "why should zey make ziss road? From ze north--from +Leteur--all around--zey bring our women to make ziss road. Ziss is +where Mam'selle is--so! Close by it lives my comrade, Blondel. Ziss is +noble army to command, ugh!" He gritted his teeth. "_All are women!_" + +Tom looked at the map, as old Melotte poised his skinny finger above it +and peered eagerly up into his face from the depths of his scraggly +white hair. It was little enough Tom knew about military affairs and he +thought that this lonesome old weaver was in his dotage. But surely this +new road could be for but one purpose, and that was the quick transfer +of troops from the Alsatian front to the Swiss border. And the sudden +conscription of women and girls for the making of the road seemed +plausible enough. Could it be that this furnished a clew to the +whereabouts of Florette Leteur? And if it did, what hope was there of +reaching her, or of rescuing her? + +He listened only abstractedly to the old man's rambling talk of +Germany's intention to violate Swiss neutrality if that became necessary +to her purpose. His eyes were half closed as he looked at the rough +sketch and he saw there considerably more than old Melotte had drawn. + +He saw Frenchy's sister Florette, slender and frail, wielding some +heavy implement, doing her enforced bit in this work of shameless +betrayal. He could see her eyes, sorrow-laden and filled with fear. He +could see her as she had stood talking with him that night in the arbor. +He could see her, orphaned and homeless, slaving under the menacing +shadow of a German officer who sprawled and lorded it in the poor home +of this Blondel close by the new road. _Here he climb to drop ze grapes +down my neck. Bad boy!_ Strange, how that particular phrase of hers +singled itself out and stuck in his memory. + +"So now you are so _clevaire_," he half heard old Melotte saying to +Archer. + +And Tom Slade said nothing, only thought, and thought, and thought.... + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE CLOUDS GATHER + + +"We never thought about asking him to translate that letterr," said +Archer. + +"I'm not thinking about that letter," Tom answered. "All I'm thinking +about now is what he said about that new road. I'm not even thinking +about their going through Switzerland, either," he added with great +candor. "I'm thinking about Frenchy's sister. If they've got her working +there I'm going to rescue her. I made up my mind to that." + +"_Some job!_" commented Archer. + +"It don't make any difference how much of a job it is," said Tom, with +that set look about his mouth that Archer was coming to know and +respect. + +They were clambering up the hillside again, for not all old Melotte's +hospitable urging could induce Tom to remain in the hut until daylight. + +He would have liked to take along the rough sketch which the old man +had made, but this Melotte had strenuously opposed, saying that no maps +should be carried by strangers in Germany. So Tom had to content himself +with the old man's rather rambling directions. + +Several things remained indelibly impressed on his mind. Old Melotte had +told him that upon the western bank of the Rhine about fifteen miles +above the Swiss border was an old gray castle with three turrets, and +that directly opposite this and not far from the Alsatian bank was the +little village of Norne. + +"The way I make it out," said Archer, "is that this Blondel, whoeverr he +is, has got some Gerrman officerr wished on him and that geezerr has +charrge of the women worrking on the new road. I'd like to know how you +expect to get within a mile of those people in the daytime." + +"We got plenty of time to think it out," Tom answered doggedly, "'cause +we'll be in the woods a couple of days and nights and that's where +thoughts come to you." + +"We'd be big fools, afterr gettin' all the way down to the frontierr to +cross the riverr and go huntin' forr a road in broad daylight," said +Archer; "we'd only get caught." + +"Well, we'll get caught then," retorted Tom. + +"Anyway, I think the old fellow's half crazy," Archer persisted. "He's +got roads on the brain. He jumps all around from Norrne to Passaic +and----" + +"He gave us something to eat," said Tom curtly. + +"Well, I didn't say he didn't, did I?" Archer snapped. "If we'd had any +sense, we'd have stayed therre all night like he wanted us to. Therre +wouldn't have been any dangerr in that old shack, a hundred miles from +nowherre." + +"We're safest in the hills," said Tom. + +"It's going to rain, too," Archer grumbled. + +Tom made no answer and they scrambled in silence up the uninviting +hillside, till old Melotte's shack could be seen far below with the dim +light in its windows. + +"You'rre so particularr about not bein' caught," Archer began again, +"it's a wonder you wouldn't think morre about that when we get down +close to the borrderr. If I've got to be caught at all I'd ratherr be +caught now." + +They had regained the height above the little hamlet and to the south +they could see the clustering lights of Strassbourg and here and there a +moving light upon the river. + +"We've got to cross that, too, I s'pose," Archer said sulkily. + +Tom did not answer. The plain fact was that they were both thoroughly +tired out, with that dog-tiredness which comes suddenly as a reaction +after days of nerve-racking apprehension and hard physical effort. For +the first two days their nervous excitement had kept them up. But now +they were fagged and the tempting invitation to remain at the hovel had +been too strong for Archer. Moreover, this new scheme of Tom's to divert +their course in a hazardous quest for Florette Leteur was not at all to +his liking. But mostly he was tired and everything looks worse when one +is tired. + +"We're not going to keep on hiking it tonight, are we?" he demanded. + +"You said yourself that the old man was kind of--a little off, like," +Tom answered patiently. "He's got the bug that he's very shrewd and that +he can always get the best of the Germans. Do you think I'd take a +chance staying there? We took a chance as it was." + +"Yes, and you'rre going to take a biggerr one if you go chasing all over +Gerrmany after that girrl. You won't find herr. That was a lot of +rattlebrain talk anyway--we're _so clevaire_!" + +"There's no use making fun of him," said Tom; "he helped us." + +"We'll get caught, that'll be the end of it," said Archer sullenly. Tom +did not answer. + +"You seem to be the boss of everything, anyway." + +They scrambled diagonally down the eastern slope of the high ground, +heading always toward the river and after an hour's travelling came out +upon its shore. + +"Here's where we'll have to cross if we're going to cross at all," said +Tom. "What do you say?" + +"_I_ haven't got anything to say," said Archer; "_you're_ doin' all the +saying." + +"If we go any farther south," Tom went on patiently, "we'll be too near +Strassbourg and we're likely to meet boats. Listen." + +From across the river came the spent whistle of a locomotive accompanied +by the rattling of a hurrying train, the steady sound, thin and clear in +the still night, mingling with its own echoes. A few lights, widely +separated, were visible across the water and one, high up, reassured Tom +that the mountains, the foothills of which they had followed, continued +at no great distance from the opposite shore. + +There were welcoming fastnesses over there, he knew, and a dim, wide +belt of forest extending southward. There, safe from the haunts of men, +or at least with timely warning of any hamlets nestling in those sombre +depths, he and his comrade might press southward toward that promised +land, the Swiss border. + +Yet, strangely enough (for one side of a river is pretty much like the +other) Tom felt a certain regret at the thought of leaving Alsace. +Perhaps his memory of the Leteurs had something to do with this. Perhaps +he had just the boyish feeling that it would change their luck. And he +knew that over there he would be truly in the enemy's country, with the +magic of his little talisman vanished in air. + +Yet right here he must decide between open roads and stealthy +hospitality and that silent, embracing hospitality which the lonesome +heights would offer. And he decided in favor of the lonesome heights. +Perhaps after all it was not the enemy's country, though the names of +Baden and Schwarzwald certainly had a hostile sound. + +But the rugged mountains and dim woods are never enemies of the scout, +and perhaps Tom Slade of Temple Camp felt that even the Schwarzwald, +which is the Black Forest, would forget its allegiance to whisper its +secrets in his ear. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE RHINE + + +"What do you say?" said Tom. "It's up to both of us." + +"Oh, don't mind me," Archer answered sarcastically. "_I_ don't count. I +know one thing--_I'm_ going to head straight for the Swiss borderr. If +crossing the river herre's the quickest way to do it, then that's what +I'm going to do, you can bet!" + +For a moment Tom did not speak, then looking straight at Archer, he +said,-- + +"You don't forget how she helped us, do you?" + +"I'm not saying anything about that," said Archer. "My duty's to Uncle +Sam. You've got the _crazy_ notion now that you want to rescue a girrl, +just like fellerrs do in story books. If you'rre going to be thinking +about herr all the time I might as well go by myself. I could get along +all right, if it comes to that." + +"Well, I couldn't," said Tom, with a note of earnestness in his voice. +"Anyway, there's no use of our scrapping about it 'cause I don't +suppose we'll find her. As long as we're going south through the +mountains we might as well see if we can pick out Norne with the glass. +Maybe we could even see that feller Blondel's house. The old man said +the west slopes of the mountains were steep and that they run close to +the river down there, so we ought to be able to pick out Norne with the +glass. There isn't any harm in that, is there?" he added conciliatingly, +"as long as we've got the glass?" + +Archer maintained a sullen silence. + +"I know we've got to think about Uncle Sam, and I know you're +patriotic," said Tom generously, "and we can't afford to be taking big +chances. But if you had known her brother, you'd feel the way I +do--that's one sure thing." + +"I wouldn't run the risk of getting pinched and sent back to prison just +on account of a girrl," said Archer scornfully. "_That's one sure +thing_," he added, sulkily mimicking Tom's phrase. + +"That ain't the way it is," said Tom, flushing a little. "I ain't--if +that's what you mean. Anyway, I admit we got to be careful, and I +promise you if we can't spy out the house and the road with the glass I +won't cross the river again till we get to the border." + +"First thing you know somebody'll come along if we keep on standing +here," said Archer. + +"Here, you take one of these rubber gloves," said Tom. "Shut the glass +and see if it'll go inside. I'll put the flashlight and the compass in +the other one. It's going to rain, too. Here, let me do it," he added +rather tactlessly, as he closed the little telescope and forced its +smaller end down into the longest of the big glove fingers. "Twist the +top of it and turn the edges over, see?" he added, doing it himself, +"and it's watertight. I can make a watertight stopple for a bottle with +a long strip of paper, but you got to know how to wind it," he added, +with clumsy disregard of his companion's mood. Tom was a hopeless +bungler in some ways. + +"Oh, surre, _you_ can do anything," said Archer. + +"Maybe it would be best if you held it in your teeth," said Tom +thoughtfully; "unless you can swim with it in your hand." + +The compass and the flashlight, which indeed were more susceptible of +damage from the water than the precious glass, were encased in the other +rubber glove, and the two fugitives waded out into the black, silent +river. + +Scarcely had their feet left the bottom when the first drop of rain fell +upon Tom's head, and a chill gust of wind caught him and bore him a +yard or two out of his course. He spluttered and looked about for +Archer, but could see nothing in the darkness. He did not want to call +for he knew how far voices carry across the water, and though the spot +was isolated he would take no chances. + +It rained hard and the wind, rising to a gale, lashed the black water +into whitecaps. Tom strove vainly to make headway against the storm, but +felt himself carried, willy-nilly, he knew not where. He tried to +distinguish the light beyond the Baden shore, which he had selected for +a beacon, but he could not find it. At last he called to Archer. + +"I'm going to turn back," he said; "come on--are you all right?" + +If Archer answered his voice was drowned by the wind and rain. For a few +moments Tom struggled against the elements, hoping to regain the +Alsatian shore. His one guiding instinct in all the hubbub was the +conviction that the wind smelled like an east wind and that it ought to +carry him back to the nearer shore. He would have given a good deal for +a glimpse of his precious little compass now. + +"Where are you?" he called again. "The light's gone. Let the wind carry +you back--it's east." + +He could hear no answer save the mocking wind and the breaking of the +water. This latter sound made him think the shore was not far distant. +But when, after a few moments, he did not feel the bottom, his heart +sank. He had been lost in the woods and as a tenderfoot he had known the +feeling of panic despair. And he had been in the ocean and seen his ship +go down with a torpedo's jagged rent in her side. But he had never been +lost in the water in the sense of losing all his bearings in the +darkness. For a minute it quite unnerved him and his stout heart sank +within him. + +Then out of the tumult came a thin, spent voice, barely audible and +seeming a part of the troubled voices of the night. + +"----lost----," it said; "----going down----" + +Tom listened eagerly, his heart still, his blood cold within him. + +"Keep calling," he answered, "so I'll know where you are. I'll get to +you all right--keep your nerve." + +He listened keenly, ready to challenge the force of the storm with all +his young skill and strength, and thinking of naught else now. But no +guiding voice answered. + +Could he have heard aright? Surely, there was no mistaking. It was a +human voice that had spoken and whatever else it had said that one, +tragic word had been clearly audible: + +"----down----" + +Archer had gone down. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TOM LOSES HIS FIRST CONFLICT WITH THE ENEMY + + +"Down!" + +For the first time in Tom Slade's life a sensation of utter despair +gripped him and it was not until several seconds had elapsed, while he +was tossed at the mercy of the storm, that he was able to get a grip on +himself. He struck out frantically and for just a brief minute was +guilty of a failing which he had never yielded to--the perilous weakness +of being rattled and hitting hard at nothing. In swimming, above all +things, this is futile and dangerous, and presently Tom regained his +mental poise and struck out calmly, swimming in the direction in which +the wind bore him, for there was nothing else to do. Not that his effort +helped him much, but he knew the good rule that one should never be +passive in a crisis, for inaction is as depressing to the spirit as +frantic exertion is to the body. And he knew that by swimming he could +keep his "morale"--a word which he had heard a good deal lately. + +His heart was sick within him and a kind of cold desperation seized him. +Archer, whom he had known away back home in America, whom he had found +by chance in the German prison camp, who had trudged over the hills and +through the woods with him, was lost. He would never see him again. +Archer, who was always after souvenirs.... + +These were not thoughts exactly, but they flitted through Tom's +consciousness as he struggled to keep his head clear of the tempestuous +waters. And even in his own desperate plight he recalled that their last +words had been words of discord, for he knew now (generous as he was) +that _he_ was to blame for this dreadful end of all their fine +hopes--that Archer had been right--they should have stayed at Melotte's +hovel. Amid the swirl of the waters, as he swam he knew not where, he +remembered how Archer had said he ought to think of his duty to Uncle +Sam and not imperil his chance to help by going after Florette Leteur. + +He was sick, utterly sick, and nearer to hopelessness than he had ever +been in his life; but he struck out in a kind of mechanical resignation, +believing that the wind and the trend of the water must bring him to one +shore or the other before he was exhausted. There was no light anywhere, +no clew or beacon of any sort in that wild blackness, and since he +therefore had no reason to oppose his strength to the force of the storm +he swam steadily in the direction in which it carried him. It made no +difference. Nothing mattered now.... + +After a while the noise of the lashing changed to that lapping sound +which only contact with the land can give, and soon Tom could +distinguish a solid mass outlined in the hollow blackness of the night. +He had no guess whether it was the Baden or the Alsatian shore that he +was approaching nor how far north or south he had been carried. Nor did +he much care. + +His foot touched something hard which brought him to the realization +that he must lessen the force of his advance or perhaps have his life +dashed out upon a rocky shore; and presently he was staggering forward, +brushing his hair away from his eyes, wondering where he was, and +scarcely sensible of anything--his head throbbing, his whole body on the +verge of exhaustion. + +"It's my fault--anyway--I got to admit it----" he thought, "and--it +serves--me--right." + +One firm resolution came to him. Now that Providence had seen fit to +cast him ashore, if he was to be permitted to continue his flight alone, +he would go straight for his goal, the Swiss border, and not be led +astray (that is what he called it, _led astray_) by any other +enterprise. His duty as a soldier, and he thought of himself as a +soldier now, was clear. His business was to help Uncle Sam win the war +and he must leave it to Uncle Sam to put an end to the stealing of young +girls and to restore them to their homes. He saw himself now, as Archer +had depicted him, in the silly role of a "story book hero" and he felt +ashamed. He knew that General Pershing would not have sent him rescuing +girls, and that the best way he could help France, and even the Leteurs, +was to hurry up and get into the trenches where he belonged. Yes, Archer +was right. And with a pang of remorse Tom remembered how Archer had said +it, "rescuing a girrl!" He would never hear Archer talk like that any +more.... + +He had more than once been close enough to death to learn to keep his +nerve in the presence of it, but the loss of his companion quite +unnerved him. It had not occurred to him that anything _could_ happen to +Archer, who claimed himself that he always landed right side up because +he was lucky. Tom could not realize that he was gone. + +Still, comrades were lost to each other every day in that far-flung +trench line and in that bloody sea of northern France friends were +parted and many went down. + +"_Down_----" + +How that awful word had sounded--long drawn out and faint in the storm +and darkness! + +He stumbled over a rocky space and ran plunk into something solid. As he +looked up he could distinguish the top of it; uneven and ragged it +seemed against the blackness of the night. Whatever it was, it seemed to +be slender and rather high, and the odd thought came to him that he was +on the deck of some mammoth submarine, looking up at the huge conning +tower. Perhaps it was because he _had_ once been rescued by a submarine, +or perhaps just because his wits were uncertain and his nerves unstrung, +but it was fully a minute before he realized that he was on solid +earth--or rock. It afforded him a measure of relief. + +What that grim black thing could be that frowned upon him he did not +know, and he staggered around it, feeling it with his hands. It was of +masonry and presently he came to what was evidently a door, which opened +as he leaned against it. Its silent hospitality was not agreeable to +him; the very thought of a possible German habitation roused him out of +his fatigue and despair, and with a sudden quick instinct he drew +stealthily back until presently he felt the water lapping his feet +again. + +Here, at a comparatively safe distance, he paused for breath after what +he felt to be a worse peril than the storm, and felt for the one trusty +friend he had left--the little compass. The precious rubber glove +containing this and the flashlight was safe in his pocket, and he held +both under his coat and tried to throw the light upon the compass and +get his bearings. But the glove must have leaked, for the battery was +dead. The little compass, which was to prove so useful in days to come, +was probably still loyal after its immersion, but he could not +distinguish the dial clearly. + +He knew he must go southeast, where the dim woods seemed now to beckon +him like a living mother. Never had the thought of the mountains and the +lonely forest been so grateful to this scout before. If only he had +strength to get there.... + +"What you _got_ to do--you do," he panted slowly under his breath, +frowning at the compass and trying in the darkness to see which way that +faithful little needle turned. Once, twice, he looked fearfully up +toward that grim building. + +Then he decided, as best he might, which direction was southeast and +dragged his aching legs that way until presently he was stumbling in +the water again. + +Surely, he thought, the river ran almost north and south, and southeast +_must_ lead on into the mountains. But perhaps he had not read the +compass aright or perhaps he was on the edge of a deep bay, which would +mean water extending still westward. Or perhaps he was on the Alsatian +shore. + +For a moment he stood bewildered. Then he tried to read the compass +again and started forward in the direction which he thought to be west. +If he were on the Alsatian shore, this should take him away from that +black, heartless Teuton ruin. + +But it only took him into a chaos of broken, shiny rock where he +stumbled and fell, cutting his knee and making his head throb cruelly. + +And then Tom Slade, seeing that fate was against him, and having used +all the resource and young strength that he had, to get to the boys +"over there," gave up and lay among the jagged rocks, holding his head +with one bruised hand and thinking hopelessly of this end of all his +efforts. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A NEW DANGER + + +He did not know how long he lay there, but after a while he crept along +over the slimy rocks and because it was not easy to stand alone he +limped to that grim, threatening structure, and leaned against it, +trying to collect his faculties. + +"If he was--only here now," he breathed, half aloud, "I'd let him--I'd +be willing not to be boss--like he said. That's the--trouble--with +me--I'm always wanting to--be----Oh, my head----" + +He knew now, what it was a pretty hard thing for one of his indomitable +temperament to realize, that things were out of his hands, that he could +go no farther. North or south or east or west, he could go no farther. +Capture or firing squad or starvation and death from exhaustion, he +could go no farther. His name would not be sent home on the casualty +lists, any more than Archer's would, but they had _tried_, and done +their bit as well as they could. + +There was one faint hope left; perhaps this house was not occupied, or +if it was on the Alsatian side of that terrible river (a true Hun river, +if there ever was one) it might be occupied by a Frenchman. Scarcely +knowing what he was doing, Tom pushed the door open and staggered +inside. Dazed and suffering as he was, he was conscious of the rain +pelting on the roof above him and sounding more audibly than outside +where the boisterous river drowned the sound of the downpour. + +Something big and soft which caught in his feet was directly before him +and he stumbled and fell upon it. And there he lay, pressing his +throbbing forehead, which seemed bursting with fresh pain from the force +of his fall. + +He had a reckless impulse to end all doubt by calling aloud in utter +abandonment. But this impulse passed, perhaps because he did not have +the strength or spirit to call. + +Soon, from mere exhaustion, he fell into a fitful, feverish slumber +accompanied by a nightmare in which the lashing of the wind and rain +outside were conjured into the clangor and hoof beats of cavalry and he +was hopelessly enmeshed in a barbed-wire entanglement. + +With the first light of dawn he saw that he was lying upon a mass of +fishnet and that his feet and arms were entangled in its meshes. + +He was in a small, circular apartment with walls of masonry and a broken +spiral stairway leading up to a landing beside a narrow window. Rain +streamed down from this window and trickled in black rivulets all over +the walls. A very narrow doorway opened out of this circular room, from +which the door was broken away, leaving two massive wrought-iron hinges +sticking out conspicuously into the open space. As Tom's eyes fell upon +these he thought wistfully of how eagerly Archer would have appropriated +one of them as a "souveneerr." Poor, happy-go-lucky Archer! + +"I thought he was a good swimmer," Tom thought, "because he lived so +near Black Lake.[A] It was all my fault. He probably just didn't like to +say he wasn't----" + +[Footnote A: The lake on the shore of which Temple Camp was situated.] + +He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ease the pain in his head and +collect his scattered senses. Evidently, he was alone in this dank +place, for there was no sign of occupancy nor any sound but the light +patter of rain without, for the storm had spent its fury and subsided +into a steady drizzle. + +He dragged himself to his feet, and though his knee was stiff he was +glad to discover that he was not incapable of walking. He believed he +was not feverish now and that his headache was caused by shock and +bruising rather than by illness. Perhaps, he thought, he was not so +badly off after all. Except for Archer.... + +Limping to the doorway he peered cautiously out. The sky was dull and +hazy and a steady, drizzling rain fell. There is something about a +drear, rainy day which "gets" one, if he has but a makeshift shelter; +and this bleak, gray morning carried poor Tom's mind back with a rush to +rainy days at his beloved Temple Camp when scouts were wont to gather in +tent and cabin for yarns. + +He now saw that he was on a little rocky islet in the middle of the +river and that the structure which had sheltered him was a small tower, +very much like a lighthouse except that it was not surmounted by a +light, having instead that rough turret coping familiar in medieval +architecture. Far off, through the haze, he could distinguish, close to +the shore, a gray castle with turrets, which from his compass he knew to +be on the Baden side. He thought he could make out a road close to the +shore, and other houses, and he wished that he had the spy-glass so that +he might study this locality which he hoped to pass through. + +Of course, he no longer cherished any hope of finding Florette Leteur; +Archer's chiding words still lingered in his mind, and, moreover, +without the glass he could do nothing for he certainly would never have +thought of entering Norne without first "piking" it from a safe vantage +point. + +There was nothing to do now but nurse his swollen knee and rest, in the +hope that by night he would be able to swim to the Baden shore and get +into the hills. Never before had he so longed for the forest. + +"If it wasn't for--for him being lost," he told himself, as he limped +back into the tower, "I wouldn't be so bad off. There's nobody lives +here, that's sure. Maybe fishermen come here, but nobody'll come today, +I'll bet." + +After all, luck had not been unqualifiedly against him, he thought. Here +he was in an isolated spot in the wide river. What was the purpose of +this little tower on its pile of rocks he could not imagine, but it was +fast going to ruin and save for the rotting fishing seine there was no +sign of human occupancy. + +If only Archer were there it would not be half bad. But the thought of +his companion's loss sickened him and robbed the lonely spot of such +aspect of security as it might otherwise have had for him. Still, he +must go on, he must reach the boys in France, and fight for Archer too, +now--Archer, whom his own blundering had consigned to death in these +treacherous waters.... + +He looked out again through the doorway at the dull sky, and the rain +falling steadily upon the sullen water. It was a day to chill one's +spirit and sap one's courage. The whole world looked gray and cheerless. +Again, as on the night before, he heard the rattle of a train in the +distance. High up through the drenched murky air, a bird sped across the +river, and somehow its disappearance among the hills left Tom with a +sinking feeling of utter desolation. In Temple Camp, on a day like this, +they would be in Roy Blakeley's tent, telling stories.... + +"Anyway, it's better to be alone than in some German's house," he tried +to cheer himself. "We--I--kept away from 'em so far, anyway----" + +He stopped, holding his breath, with every muscle tense, and his heart +sank within him. For out of that inner doorway came a sound--a sound +unmistakably human--tragically human, it seemed now, shattering his +returning courage and leaving him hopeless. + +It was the sound of some one coughing! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +COMPANY + + +Ordinarily Tom Slade would have stopped to think and would have kept his +nerve and acted cautiously; but he had not sufficiently recovered his +poise to meet this emergency wisely. He knew he could not swim away, +that capture was now inevitable, and instead of pausing to collect +himself he gave way to an impulse which he had never yielded to before, +an impulse born of his shaken nerves and stricken hope and the sort of +recklessness which comes from despair. What did it matter? Fate was +against him.... + +With a kind of defiant abandonment he limped to the little stone doorway +and stood there like an apparition, clutching the sides with trembling +hands. But whatever reckless words of surrender he meant to offer froze +upon his lips, and he swayed in the opening, staring like a madman. + +For reclining upon a rough bunk, with knees drawn up, was Archibald +Archer, busily engaged in whittling a stick, his freckled nose wrinkling +up in a kind of grotesque accompaniment to each movement of his hand +against the hard wood. + +"I--I thought----" Tom began. + +"Well,--I'll--be----" countered Archer. + +For a moment they stared at each other in blank amaze. Then a smile +crept over Tom's face, a smile quite as unusual with him as his sudden +spirit of surrender had been; a smile of childish happiness. He almost +broke out laughing from the reaction. + +"Are you carvin' a souvenir?" he said foolishly. + +"No, I ain't carrvin' no souveneerr," Archer answered. "Therre's fish +among those rocks and I'm goin' to spearr 'em." + +"You ain't carvin' a _what_!" said Tom. + +"I ain't carrvin' a souveneerr," Archer said with the familiar Catskill +Mountain roll to his R's. + +"I just wanted to hear you say it," said Tom, limping over to him and +for the first time in his life yielding to the weakness of showing +sentiment. + +"All night long," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bunk, "I was +thinkin' how you said it--and it sounds kind of good----" + +"How'd you make out in the riverr?" Archer asked. + +"You can't even say _river_," said Tom, laughing foolishly in his great +relief. + +"It was some storrm, all right! But I got the matches safe anyway, and +they'll strike, 'cause I tried one." + +"You ought to have made a whisk stick[A] to try it," said Tom, then +caught himself up suddenly. "But I ain't going to tell you what you +ought to do any more. I'm goin' to stop bossin'." + +[Footnote A: A stick the end of which is separated into fine shavings +which readily catch the smallest flame, a familiar device used by +scouts.] + +"I got yourr spy-glass forr you," said Archer. "I had to dive f'rr't. +Didn't you hearr me call to you it was lost and I was goin' down +f'rr't?" + +"----lost----down----" + +The tragic words flitted again through Tom's mind, and he reached out +and took Archer's hand hesitatingly as if ashamed of the feeling it +implied. + +"What'd you do that for? You were a fool," he said. + +"What you _got_ to do, you do," said Archer; "that's what you'rre always +sayin'. Didn't you say you wanted it so's you could see that fellerr +Blondel's house from the mountains? Therre it is," he said, nodding +toward an old ring-net that stood near, "and it's some souveneerr too, +'cause it's been at the bottom of the old Rhine." + +Tom looked at the spy-glass which Archer had thrown into the net and the +net seemed all hazy and tangled for his eyes were brimming. He would not +spare himself now. + +"I see I'm the fool," he stammered; "I thought I shouldn't have started +across because maybe you couldn't swim so good and didn't want to admit +it." + +"Me? I dived in Black Lake before you werre borrn," said Archer. This +was not quite true, since he was two years younger than Tom, but Tom +only smiled at him through glistening eyes. + +"I see now I was crazy to think about finding her--anyway----" + +"You haven't forrgot how she treated us, have you?" Archer retorted, +quoting Tom's own words. "It came to me all of a sudden, when I dropped +the glove, and that's when I called to you. And all of a sudden I +thought how you walked back toward the house with herr that night +and--and--do you think I don't understand--you darrned big chump?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BREAKFAST WITHOUT FOOD CARDS + + +"Do you know what I think?" said Archer. "If Alsace used to belong to +France, then the Rhine must have been the boundary between France and +Gerrmany and we'rre right on that old frontierr now--hey? I'm a smarrt +lad, huh? They used to have watch towers and things 'cause I got kept in +school once forr sayin' a poem wrong about a fellerr that was in a watch +towerr on the Rhine. I bet this towerr had something to do with that old +frontierr and I bet it was connected with that castle overr on shorre, +too. Therre was a picture of a fellerr in a kind of an arrmorr looking +off the top of a towerr just like this--I remember 'cause I marrked him +up with a pencil so's he'd have a swallerr-tailed coat and a sunbonnet." + +Archer's education was certainly helping him greatly. + +"If we could once get overr therre into that Black Forest," he +continued, scanning the Baden shore and the heights beyond with the +rescued glass, "we'd be on easy street 'cause I remember gettin' licked +forr sayin', 'the abrupt west slopes of this romantic region are +something or otherr with wild vineyards that grow in furious +thing-um-bobs----'" + +"_What?_" said Tom. + +"_Anyway_, there's lots of grapes there," Archer concluded. + +"If that's the way you said it I don't blame 'em for lickin' you," said +sober Tom. "I think by tonight I'll be able to swim it. There seems to +be some houses over there--that's one thing I don't like." + +The Baden side, as well as they could make out through the haze, was +pretty thickly populated for a mile or two, but the lonesome mountains +arose beyond and once there, they would be safe, they felt sure. + +They spent the day in the dilapidated frontier tower, as Archer called +it, and he was probably not far from right in his guess about it. +Certainly it had not been used for many years except apparently by +fishermen occasionally, and the rotten condition of the seines showed +that even such visitors had long since ceased to use it. Perhaps indeed +it was a sort of outpost watch tower belonging to the gray castle which +they saw through the mist. + +"Maybe it belonged to a Gerrman baron," suggested Tom. + +"Anyway, it's a _barren_ island," said Archer; "are you hungry?" + +Tom sat in the doorway, favoring his hurt knee, and watched Archer move +cautiously about among the sharp, slippery rocks, where he succeeded in +cornering and spearing several bewildered fish which the troubled waters +of the night had marooned in these small recesses. + +"I'm afraid, you'll be seen from the shore," Tom said, but without that +note of assurance and authority which he had been accustomed to use. + +"Don't worry," said Archer, "it's too thick and hazy. Just wait till I +spearr one morre. Therre's a beaut, now----" + +They wasted half a dozen damp matches before they could get flame enough +to ignite the whisk stick which Tom held ready, but when they succeeded +they "commandeered" the broken door as a "warr measurre," to quote +Archer, and kindled a fire just inside the doorway where they believed +that the smoke, mingling with the mist, would not be seen through the +gray, murky atmosphere. + +It is a great mistake to be prejudiced against a fish just because it is +German. Tom and Archer were quite free from that narrow bias. And if it +should ever be your lot to be marooned in a ramshackle old watch tower +on the Rhine on a dull, rainy day, remember that the same storm which +has marooned you will have marooned some fishes among the crevices of +rock--only you must be careful to turn them often and not let them burn. +The broken rail of an old spiral stairway, if there happens to be one +handy, can be twisted into a rough gridiron, and if you happen to think +of it (as Tom did) you can use the battery case of your flashlight for a +drinking-cup. + +"If we couldn't have managed to get a light with these damp matches," he +said, as they partook of their sumptuous breakfast, "we'd have just had +to wait till the sun came out and we could a' got one with the lens in +the spy-glass." + +Once a scout, always a scout! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE CATSKILL VOLCANO IN ERUPTION + + +All day long the dull, drizzling rain continued, and as the hours passed +their hope revived and their courage strengthened. + +"Therre's one thing I'm glad of," said Archer, "and that's that I +thought about putting that Gerrman soldierr's paperrs in the glove. I've +got a hunch I'd like to know what that letterr says." + +"I'm glad you did," said Tom. "I got to admit _I_ didn't think of it." + +By evening Tom's knee was much better though still sore, and his head +pained not at all. They had but one thought now--to swim to shore and +get into the mountains where they believed they could continue their +course southward. Swimming to the nearest point on the east, or Baden +bank, would, they could see by the glass, bring them into a fairly +thickly populated district and how to get past this and into the +protecting highlands troubled them. They had thus far avoided +civilization and towns, where they knew the ever-watchful eye of +Prussian authority was to be feared. They knew well enough that their +wet garments constituted no disguise; but they could, at least, get to +shore and see how the land lay. + +They were greatly elated at their success so far, and at their +providential reunion. Whatever difficulties they had encountered they +had surmounted, and whatever difficulties lay ahead they would meet and +overcome, they felt sure. + +As the day wore away, the rain ceased, but the sky remained dull and +murky. Their plan was to wait for the darkness and they were talking +over their good luck and what they thought the rosy outlook when Tom, +looking toward the Alsatian shore with the glass, saw a small boat which +was scarcely distinguishable in the hazy twilight. + +"I don't believe it's coming this way," he said confidently, handing the +glass to Archer. But at the same time he was conscious of a sinking +sensation. + +"Yes, it is," said Archer; "it's coming right for us." + +"Maybe they're just rowing across," said Tom. + +Archer watched the boat intently. "It's coming herre all right," he +said; "we'rre pinched. Let's get inside, anyway." + +Tom smiled with a kind of sickly resignation. "Let's see," he said; +"yes, you're right, they've got uniforms, too. It's all up. We might +have had sense enough to know. I bet they traced us all the way through +Alsace. There's no use trying to beat that crowd," he added in cynical +despair. + +Hope dashed when it is just reviving brings the most hopeless of all +despair, and with Tom, whose nerves had been so shaken, their imminent +capture seemed now like a kind of mockery. + +"When I found you were all right," he said to Archer in his dull way, +"and we were all alone here, I might have known it was too good to be +true. I wouldn't bother now. I just got bad luck.--When I tried for the +pathfinders' badge and tracked somebody that stole something," he added +with his stolid disregard for detail, "I found it was my own father, and +I didn't claim the badge. That's the kind of luck _I_ got. So I wouldn't +try any more. 'Cause if you got bad luck you can't help it. I dropped my +knife and the blade stuck in the ground--up at Temple Camp--and that's +bad luck. Let 'em come----" + +[Illustration: "IT'S FIFTY-FIFTY,--TWO AGAINST TWO," SAID ARCHER. Page +153] + +This side of Tom Slade was new to Archer, and he stared curiously at the +lowering face of his companion. + +"That's what you call losing your morale," he said; "if you lose +that--go-od _night_! Suppose General Joffre said that when the Huns +werre hitting it forr Paris! S'pose _I_ said that when my foot stuck in +the mud on the bottom of this plaguey riverr!" + +"I didn't know that," said Tom. + +"Well, you know it now," retorted Archer, "and I don't give up till they +land me back in prison, and I don't give up then, eitherr. And I ain't +lettin' any jack-knives get _my_ goat--so you can chalk that up in yerr +little old noddle!" + +"I guess that's the trouble," Tom began; "my head aches----" + +"Can you swim now?" Archer demanded. + +"You go," said Tom; "my knee's too stiff." + +"If you everr say a thing like that to me again," said Archer, his eyes +snapping and his freckled face flushing scarlet, "I'll----" + +"I didn't think we'd start till midnight," Tom said, "and I thought my +knee'd be well enough by that time." + +The little boat, as they could see from the doorway, bobbed nearer and +nearer and Archer could see that it contained two men. + +"They've got on uniforms," Archer said, "but I can't see what they arre. +Let's keep inside." + +"They know we're here," said Tom; "they'd only shoot us if we started +away." + +Closer and closer came the little boat until one of its occupants jumped +out, hauling it into one of the little rocky caverns of the islet. Then +both came striding up to the doorway. + +As soon as they caught sight of the boys they paused aghast and seemed +to be much more discomfited than either Tom or Archer. Evidently they +had not come for the fugitives and the thought occurred to Archer that +they might be fugitives themselves. + +"Vell, vat you do here, huh?" one asked. + +Archer was managing this affair and he managed it in his own sweet way. + +"We're herre because we're herre," he said, in a perfect riot of rolling +R's. + +"You German--no?" + +"No, thank goodness! We'rre not," Archer said recklessly. "Are we +pinched?" + +"How you come here?" the German demanded in that tone of arrogant +severity which seems to imply, "I give you and the whole of the rest of +the world two seconds to answer." + +Tom, whose spirits revived at this rather puzzling turn of affairs, +watched the two soldiers keenly and noticed that neither had sword or +firearms. And he realized with chagrin that in those few moments of +"lost morale," he had been strangely unworthy of himself and of his +scout training. And feeling so he let Archer do the talking. + +"We're Americans." + +"Americans, ach! From prison you escape, huh?" the younger soldier +snapped. "You haff a peekneek here, huh?" And turning to his companion +he poured a kind of guttural volley at him, which his comrade answered +with a brisk return of heavy verbal fire. Archer, listening intently and +using his very rudimentary knowledge of German, gathered that whoever +and whatever these two were, they were themselves in the perilous +business of escaping. + +"They'rre in the same box as we are," he said to Tom. "Don't worry." + +It did not occur to the boys then, though they often thought of it +afterward, when their acquaintance with the strange race of Huns had +been improved, that these two soldiers manifested not the slightest +interest in the experiences which the boys had gone through. Almost +immediately and without condescending to any discourse with them, the +two men fell to discussing how they might _use_ them, just as their +masters had used Belgium and would use Switzerland and Holland if it +fell in with their purpose. + +After the generous interest that Frenchy and his people had shown and +the lively curiosity about his adventures which British Tommies in the +prison camp had displayed, Tom was unable to understand this arrogant +disregard. Even a greasy, shifty-eyed Serbian in the prison had asked +him about America and "how it felt" to be torpedoed. + +It was not just that the two soldiers regarded the boys as enemies, +either. They simply were not German and therefore nothing that they did +or said counted or was worth talking about. + +At last the one who seemed to be the spokesman said, "Ve make a treaty, +huh?" + +It was more of an announcement than a question, and Archer looked at Tom +and laughed. + +"A treaty!" said he. "Good _night_! Do you mean a scrap o' paperr?" + +"Ve let you off," said the German in a tone of severe condescension. "Ve +gif you good clothes--here," he added, seeming unable to get away from +his manner of command. "Ve go feeshing. Ve say nutting--ve let you go. +You escape--ach, vat iss dis?" he added deprecatingly. "Ve say +nutting." + +"And we don't say anything eitherr, is that it?" said Archer. + +"Eef you talk you can't escape, what? Vy shall you talk, huh?" + +Tom looked at Archer, who screwed up his freckled nose and gazed +shrewdly at the Germans with a sagacious and highly satisfied look in +his mischievous eye. + +"That's the treaty, is it?" he said. "And that's just the kind of--shut +up!" he interpolated, glancing sideways at Tom. "I'll do the +talking--that's just the kind of stuff you'rre trying to put overr on +President Wilson, too--tryin' to make the otherr fellerr think he's +licked and then making believe you'rre willing to be generous. You got +the nerrve (the R's fairly rolled and rumbled as he gathered +momentum)--you got the nerrve to come herre with out any guns or sworrds +and things and think you can scarre us. Do you know--shut up!" he shot +at Tom by way of precaution. "Do you know wherre I think yourr sworrds +and things arre? I think the English Tommies have got 'em. I know all +about you fellerrs deserrting--I hearrd about it in prison. You'rre +deserrting every day. Some of you arre even surrenderrin' to get a good +squarre meal. And do you know what an English Tommy told me--you +consarrned blufferr, you----" + +He was in full swing now, his freckled nose all screwed up and rolling +out his R's like artillery. Even sober Tom couldn't help smiling at the +good old upstate adjective, _consarrned_. + +"He told me a Hun is no good when he loses his gun or his sworrd. You +don't think I'm a-scarred of _you_, do you? It's fifty-fifty--two +against two, you pair of bloomin' kidnapperrs, and you won't tell 'cause +you can't afford to! Same reason as we won't. But you can't put one +overr on me any morre'n you can on President Wilson and if you'rre forr +making treaties you got to get down off your high horrse--see? You ain't +got a superiorrity of numbers now! You got nothing but fourr fists, same +as we got. Forr two cents, I'd wash yourr face on those rocks! Treaties! +I come from Corrnville Centre, I do, and----" + +Tom laughed outright. + +"You shut up!" said Archer. "You want to make a treaty, huh? All right, +that'll be two Huns less forr the Allies to feed. We'll swap with you, +all right, and I wish you luck. I don't know wherre you'rre going or +what you'rre going to do and I don't carre a rotten apple. Only you +ain't going to dictate terrms to _me_. You'll take these crazy old rags +and you'rre welcome to 'em, and we'll take yourr uniforms if that's what +you want. Treaty! _We'll_ make a treaty with you! And we'll take the +boat too, and if that don't satisfy you then that's the end of the +what-d'-you-call it! You keep still!" he added, turning to Tom. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MILITARY ETIQUETTE + + +"What did you mean by the _what-d'-you call it?_" Tom asked, as they +rowed through the darkness for the Baden shore. + +"Arrmis-stice," said Archer, wrestling with the word. + +"Oh," said Tom. + +"That's the way to handle 'em," Archer said with undisguised +satisfaction. + +"I never saw you like that before," said Tom. "I had to laugh when you +said _consarn_." + +"That's the Huns all overr," said Archer, his vehemence not yet +altogether abated. "They'll try to do the bossing even afterr they'rre +licked. Treaties! They've got theirr firrst taste of a _Yankee_ treaty, +hey? Didn't even have a sworrd and wanted me to think they werre doin' +us a favorr! President Wilson knows how to handle that bunch, all right, +all right!--Don't row if you'rre tirred." + +"It don't hurt my leg to row, only I see now I couldn't swim it." + +"Think I didn't know that?" said Archer. + +"I got to admit you did fine," said Tom. + +"You got to get 'em down on theirr knees beforre you make a treaty with +'em," boasted Archer. "You can see yourself they'rre no good when they +haven't got any commanderr--or any arrms. When Uncle Sam makes a treaty +with that gang, crab-apples, but I hope he gets the boat, too." + +"I know what you mean," said Tom soberly. "I have to laugh at the way +you talk when you get mad. It reminds me of the country and Temple +Camp." + +"That's one thing I learned from knockin' around in Europe since this +warr starrted," said Archer. "The botches, or whatever you call 'em, are +no darrned good when you get 'em alone. The officers may be all right, +but the soldierrs are thick. If I couldn't 'a' knocked the bluff out o' +that lord-high critturr, I'd 'a' rubbed his pie face in the mud!" + +Tom laughed at his homely expletives and Archer broke out laughing too, +at his own expense. But for all that, Tom was destined to recall, and +that very soon, what Archer had said about the Huns. And he was shortly +to use this knowledge in one of the most hazardous experiences of his +life. + +They were now, thanks to their treaty, both dry clad in the field-gray +uniforms of the German rank and file; and though they felt somewhat +strange in these habiliments they enjoyed a feeling of security, +especially in view of the populated district they must pass through. + +Of the purposes and fate of their late "enemies" they had no inkling and +they did not greatly concern themselves about this pair of fugitives who +had crossed their path. They knew, from the gossip in "Slops" prison, +that Germany was full of deserters who were continually being rounded up +because, as Archer blithely put it, they were "punk scouts and had no +resourrce--or whatever you call it." Tom did not altogether relish the +implication that a deserter might be a good scout or _vice versa_, but +he agreed with Archer that the pair they had encountered would probably +not "get away with it." + +"If they had a couple o' generrals to map it out forr 'em, maybe they +would," said Archer. + +"I think I'm above you in rank," said Tom, glancing at an arrow sewn on +his sleeve. + +"I'm hanged if I know what that means," Archer answered. "Therre's a +couple morre of 'em on your collarr. Maybe you'rre a generral, hey? I'm +just a plain, everyday botch." + +"Boche," said Tom. + +"Same thing." + +They landed at an embankment where a railroad skirted the shore and it +occurred to Tom now that the guiding light which had forsaken him the +night before was a railroad signal which had been turned the other way +after the passage of the train he had heard. At his suggestion, Archer +bored a hole in the boat and together they gave it a smart push out into +the river. + +"Davy Jones forr you, you bloomin' tattle_tile_, as the Tommies would +say," Archer observed in reminiscence of his vast and varied +acquaintanceship. "Come on now, we've got to join our regiment and blow +up a few hospitals. How do you like being a botch, anyway?" + +"I'd rather be one now than a year from now," said Tom. + +"Thou neverr spakst a truerr worrd. + + "Oh, Fritzie Hun, he had a gun, + And other things that's worrse; + He didn't like the foe to strike, + So he shot a Red Cross nurrse," + +Archer rattled on. + +"Can't you say _nurse_?" said Tom. + +"Surre I can--nurrrrse." + +Tom laughed. + +They tramped up through the main street of a village, for the populated +area was too extensive to afford hope of a reasonably short detour. The +few people whom they passed in the darkness paid no particular heed to +them. They might have been a couple of khaki-clad boys in America for +all the curiosity they excited. + +At the railroad station an army officer glared at them when they saluted +and seemed on the point of accosting them, which gave them a momentary +scare. + +"We'd better be careful," said Tom. + +"Gee, I thought we had to salute," Archer answered. + +They followed the railroad tracks through an open sparsely populated +region as far as the small town of Ottersweier. The few persons who were +abroad paid no particular attention to them, and as long as no one spoke +to them they felt safe, for the street was in almost total darkness. +Once a formidable-looking German policeman scrutinized them, or so they +thought, and a group of soldiers who were sitting in the dark entrance +of a little beer garden looked at them curiously before saluting. Most +of these men were crippled, and indeed as they passed along it seemed +to the fugitives that nearly every man they passed either had his arm in +a sling or was using crutches. + +"Do you think maybe they had a hunch we werren't Gerrman soldierrs at +all?" Archer queried. + +"No," said Tom. "I think they just didn't want to salute us till they +were sure we were soldiers like themselves. I think a soldier hasn't got +a right even to salute an officer here unless the officer takes some +notice of him. Maybe the officer's got to glance at him first, or +something." + +"G-o-od _night_!" said Archer. "Reminds you of America, don't it--_not +'arf_, as the Tommies say. Wouldn't it seem funny not daring to speak to +an officerr therre? Many's the chat I've had with French generals and +English ones, too. Didn't I give old Marshal What's-his-name an elastic +band to put around his paperrs?" + +In all probability he had, for he was an aggressive and brazen youngster +without much respect for dignity and authority, and Tom was glad when +they reached the hills, for he had been apprehensive lest his comrade +might essay a familiar pleasantry with some grim official or launch +himself into the perilous pastime of swapping souvenirs with a German +soldier. + +But they were both to remember this business about saluting which, if +Tom was right, was eloquent of the German military system, showing how +high was the officer and how low the soldier who might not even pay his +arrogant superior the tribute of a salute without permission. + +This knowledge was to serve Tom in good stead before many days should +pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +TOM IN WONDERLAND + + +All through that night, with their compass as a guide, they climbed the +hills, keeping in a southerly direction, but verging slightly eastward. +In the morning they found themselves on the edge of a high, deeply +wooded plateau, which they knew extended with more or less uniformity to +the Swiss frontier. + +Looking ahead of them, in a southerly direction, they could see dim, +solemn aisles of sombre fir trees and the ground was like a brown velvet +carpet, yielding gently under their feet. The air was laden with a +pungent odor, accentuated by the recent storm, and the damp, resiny +fragrance was like a bracing tonic to the fugitives, bidding them +welcome to these silent, unfrequented depths. + +They were now, indeed, within the precincts of the renowned Schwarzwald, +whose wilderness toyland sends forth out of its sequestered hamlets (or +did) wooden lions, tigers and rhinoceroses for the whole world, and +monkeys on sticks and jumping-jacks and little wooden villages, like the +little wooden villages where they are made. + +The west slopes of this romantic region were abrupt, almost like the +Palisades of the Hudson, running close to the river in some places, and +in other places descending several miles back from the shore, so that a +panoramic view of southern Alsace was always obtainable from the sharp +edge of this forest workshop of Santa Claus. In the east the plateau +slopes away and peters out in the lowlands, so that, as one might say, +the Black Forest forms a kind of huge natural springboard to afford one +a good running jump across the Rhine into Alsace. + +Archer's battered and misused geography had not lied about the +commissary department of this storied wilderness, for the wild grapes +(of which the famous Rhenish wine is made) did indeed grow in "furious +what-d'you-call-'ems" or luxurious profusion if you prefer, upon the +precipitous western slopes. + +All that day they tramped southward, meeting not a soul, and feeling +almost as if they were in a church. It seemed altogether grotesque that +Germany, grim, fighting, war-crazy Germany, should own such a peaceful +region as this. + +In the course of the day, they helped the prohibition movement, as +Archer said, by eating grapes in such quantities as seriously to reduce +the output of Rhenish wine. "But, oh, Ebeneezerr!" he added. "What +wouldn't I give for a good russet apple and a dipper of sweet cider." + +"You're always thinking about apples and souvenirs," said Tom. + +"You can bet I'm going to get a souveneerr in herre, all right!" Archer +announced. "Therre ought to be lots of good ones herre, hey?" + +"Maybe they grow in furious what-d'you-call-'ems?" suggested sober Tom. + +"If it keeps as level as this, we ought to be able to waltz into the +barrbed wirre by tomorrow night. This is the only thing about Gerrmany +that's on the level, hey?" + +Toward evening they had the lesser of the two surprises which were in +store for them in the Black Forest. They were hiking along when suddenly +Tom paused and listened intently. + +"What is it?" Archer asked. + +"A bird," said Tom, "but I never heard a bird make a noise like that +before." + +"He's chirrping in Gerrman," suggested Archer. + +The more Tom listened, the more puzzled he became, for he had the +scout's familiarity with bird voices and this was a new one to him. + +"Therre's a house," Archer said. + +And sure enough there, nestling among the firs some distance ahead, was +the quaintest little house the boys had ever seen. It was almost like a +toy house with a picturesque roof ten sizes too big for it, and a funny +little man in a smock sitting in the doorway. Hanging outside was a +large cuckoo clock and it was the wooden cuckoo which Tom had heard. + +Shavings littered the ground about this tiny, wilderness manufactory, +and upon a rough board, like a scout messboard, were a number of little +handmade windmills revolving furiously. Wooden soldiers and +stolid-looking horses with conventional tails, all fresh from the deft +and cunning hands which wielded the harmless jack-knife, were piled +helter-skelter in a big basket waiting, waiting, waiting, for the end of +the war, to go forth in peace and goodwill to the ends of the earth and +nestle snugly in the bottom of Christmas stockings. + +This quaint old man could speak scarcely any English, but when the boys +made out that he was Swiss, and apparently kindly disposed, they +sprawled on the ground and rested, succeeding by dint of motions and a +few words of German in establishing a kind of intercourse with him. He +was apparently as far removed from the war as if he had lived in the +Fiji Islands, and the fugitives felt quite as safe at his rustic abode +as if they had been on the planet Mars. His nationality, too, gave them +the cheering assurance that they were approaching the frontier. + +"Vagons--noh," he said; "no mohr." Then he pointed to his brimming +basket and said more which they could not understand. + +Like most persons who live in the forest, he seemed neither surprised at +their coming nor curious. They gathered that in former days wagons had +wound through these forest ways gathering the handiwork of the people, +but that they came no more. To Tom it seemed a pathetic thing that +Kaiser Bill should reach out his bloody hand and blight the peaceful +occupation of this quaint little old man of the forest. Perhaps he would +die, far away there in his tree-embowered cottage, before the wagons +ever came again, and the overflowing basket would rot away and the +windmills blow themselves to pieces.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MAGIC + + +Leaving the home of the Swiss toymaker, who had shared his simple fare +with them, they started southward through the deep wilderness. + +Tom's idea was to keep well within the forest, but within access to its +western edge, so that they might scan the country across the river at +intervals. They were so refreshed and encouraged as they tramped through +the deep, unpeopled wilderness which they knew must bring them to the +border, and so eager to bring their long journey to an end, that they +kept on for a while in the darkness until, to their great surprise, they +came upon a sheet of water the bank of which extended as far east and +west as they could see. Tom fancied he could just distinguish the dark +trees outlined on the opposite shore. + +"Let's follow the shore a ways and see if we can get round it," he said. + +But a tramp along the edge, first east, then west, brought no general +turn in the shore-line and they began to wonder if the Schwarzwald +could be bisected by some majestic river. + +"I don't think a river so high up would be so wide," Tom said. "If I was +sure about that being the other shore over there, we could swim across." + +"It would be betterr to get around if we could," said Archer, "because +if we'rre goin' wherre people arre we don't want our uniforms all +soaked." + +"I'm not going to try to find _her_, if that's what you mean," said Tom; +"not unless you say so too, anyway." + +"What d'you s'pose I dived forr that glass forr?" Archer retorted. +"We're goin' to find that girrl--or perish in the attempt--like old +What's-his-name. You've got the right idea, Slady." + +"It ain't an idea," said Tom soberly, "and if you think it's--kind +of--that I--that I--like her----" + +"Surre it ain't, it's 'cause you hate herr," said Archer readily. + +"You make me tired," said Tom, flushing. + +Since they had to sleep somewhere, they decided to bivouac on the shore +of this water and take their bearings in the morning. As the night was +warm, they took off their coats and hanging them to a spreading branch +above them they sprawled upon the cushiony ground, abandoning for once +their rule of continuous watch, and were soon fast asleep. You do not +need any sleeping powders in the Black Forest, for the soft magic of its +resiny air will lull you to repose. + +When they awakened in the morning they squirmed with complicated +gymnastic yawns, and lay gazing in lazy half slumber into the branches +above them. Suddenly Archer jumped to his feet. + +"Wherre arre ourr coats?" he cried. + +Tom sat up, rubbed his eyes and gazed about. There were no coats to be +seen. + +"What d'you know about that?" said Archer. "Maybe they blew away," he +added, looking about. + +"There hasn't been any wind," said Tom. "Look at that handkerchief." +Near him lay a handkerchief which Archer remembered spreading on the +ground beside him the night before. + +"Well--I'll--be--jiggered," he exclaimed, looking about again in dismay. +"Somebody's been herre," he added conclusively. + +Tom fell to scrutinizing the ground for footprints, but there was no +sign of any and he too gazed about him in bewilderment. + +"They didn't walk away, that's sure," he said, "and they didn't blow +away either. There wasn't even a breeze." + +A thorough search of the immediate locality confirmed their feeling of +certainty that the coats had not blown away. Indeed, they could not have +blown far even if there had been any wind, for the closeness of the +trees to one another would have prevented this. Tom gazed about, then +looked at his companion, utterly dumfounded. + +"Maybe they blew into the waterr," Archer suggested. But Tom only shook +his head and pointed to the light handkerchief upon the ground. A mere +breath would have carried that away. + +They could only stand and stare at each other. Some one had evidently +taken their coats away in the night. + +"It's Gerrman efficiency, that's what it is," said Archer. + +"Why didn't they take us, too?" Tom asked. + +"They'll be along forr us pretty soon," Archer reassured him. "They'rre +superrmen--that's what they arre.--Maybe it's some kind of strategy, +hey? They can do spooky things, those Huns. They've got magic uniforms." + +"I don't see any reason for it," said sober Tom, still looking about, +unable to conquer his amazement. + +"That's just it," said Archer. "They do things therre ain't any reason +forr just to practice theirr efficiency. Pretty soon you'll see all the +allied soldierrs'll be losing their coats. Go-o-o-o-d _night_!" + +"Well, I can't find any footprints, that's sure," said Tom, rather +chagrined. "I usually can." + +"Maybe it was some sort of an airship," Archer suggested. + +Whatever the explanation of this extraordinary thing, the coats were +gone. There were no footprints, and there had been no wind. And the +mysterious affair left the boys aghast. + +"One thing sure--we'd better get away from here quick," said Tom. + +"You said it! Ebeneezerr, but this place has got the Catskills and old +Rip Van Winkle beat! Come on--quick!" + +Tom was not sure that one side of the water was any safer than the other +in this emergency, and he was almost too nonplussed to do anything, but +surely they were in danger, he felt, and would better be upon their way +without the loss of a minute. What troubled him not a little also was +that the precious spy-glass and the compass were with the missing coats. + +They could see now that the water was a long, narrow lake the ends of +which were just discernible from the midway position along the shore +where they stood, and the opposite shore was perhaps a mile distant. + +"Are you game to swim it?" Archer asked. + +They felt that this would be easier than the long tramp around and that +they would have the advantage while swimming of an extended view and +would avoid any danger which might lurk behind the trees. + +They had almost reached the opposite shore when Archer sputtered and +called out to Tom: "Look, look!" + +Tom looked and saw, hanging from a branch on the shore they were +nearing, the two missing field gray uniform coats. + +This was too much. Speechless with amazement they clambered ashore and +walked half fearfully up to their fugitive garments. There was no doubt +about it, there were the two coats dangling from a low hanging branch, +perfectly dry and in the pockets the spy-glass and the trusty compass. +The two boys stared blankly at each other. + +"Well--what--do--you--know--about--that?" said Archer. + +"They didn't steal anything, anyway," said Tom, half under his breath. + +Archer stared at the coats, then peered cautiously about among the +trees. Then he faced Tom again, who returned his stare in mute +astonishment. + +"You don't s'pose we could have swum across in ourr sleep, do you?" said +Archer. + +Tom shook his head thoughtfully. Could it be that those Huns, those +fiends of the air and the ocean depths, those demons who could shoot a +gun for seventy miles and rear their yellow heads suddenly up out of the +green waters close to the American shore--could it be that they were +indeed genii--ghouls of evil, who played fast and loose with poor +wanderers in the forest until the moment came for crushing them utterly? + +Or could it be that this black wilderness, perched upon its mountain +chain, was indeed the magic toyland of all creation, the home of Santa +Claus and---- + +"Come on," said Archer, "let's not stand herre. B'lieve _me_, I want to +get as far away from this place as we can!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +NONNENMATTWEIHER + + +But the worst was yet to come. They hurried now, for whatever the cause +of this extraordinary incident, they wished to get away from it, and +having crossed the lake they paused not to dry their garments but +continued southward following the almost obliterated wagon tracks which +ran from the shore. + +"I wonder how the wagons got across?" said Tom. + +"Wings," said Archer solemnly, shaking his head. + +In a little while they came to the toymaker's cottage, with the +mechanical cuckoo and the windmills and the basket of soldiers and +animals and the old Swiss toymaker himself, sitting like a big toy, in +the doorway. + +"Well--I'll--be----" began Archer. + +Tom simply gaped, too perplexed to speak. He had believed that he was +something of a woodsman, and he certainly believed that he would not go +north supposing that he was going south! Could there be another Swiss +toymaker, and another cottage and another squawking cuckoo, exactly like +the others? Were they all alike, the lonesome denizens of this spooky +place, like the wooden inhabitants of a Noah's ark? + +"This Hun forest has got Aladdin's cave beat twenty ways," said Archer. +"Either we'rre crazy or this place is." + +Suddenly the bright thought occurred to Tom to look at his compass. +Unless the magnetic pole had changed its position, and the whole earth +gone askew, they were tramping northward, as he saw to his unutterable +amazement. + +"Did we swim across the lake or didn't we?" he demanded of Archer, +roused out of his wonted stolidness. + +"Surre, we did!" + +"Then I give it up," said Tom resignedly. "The compass says north--we're +going north. This is the very same toymaker." + +"Go-o-od _night_!" said Archer, with even more than his usual vehemence. +"Maybe the Gerrmans have conquerred the Norrth Pole and taken all the +steel to make mountains, just like they knocked international law all +endways, hey? That's why the compass don't point right. G-o-o-o-o-od +_night_!" + +This ingenious theory, involving a rather large piece of strategy even +for "supermen," did not appeal to Tom's sober mind. + +"That's what it is," said Archer. "You've got to admit that if they +could send Zeps and submarines and things to the North Pole and cop all +the steel, the British navy, and ourrs too, would be floppin' around the +ocean like a chicken with its head cut off.--It's a good idea!" + +Tom went up to the old toymaker, who greeted them with a smile, seeming +no more surprised to see them than he had been the day before. + +"North--_north_?" asked Tom, pointing. + +"Nort--yah," said the old man, pointing too. + +"Water," said Tom; "swim--_swim_ across" (he pointed southward and made +the motions of swimming). The old man nodded as if he understood. + +"Ach--vauder, yach,--Nonnenmattweiher." + +"What?" said Tom. + +"_What_?" said Archer. + +"Nonnenmattweiher," said the old man. "Yah." + +"He wants to know what's the matter with you," said Archer. + +"Water," Tom repeated, almost in desperation. + +"Swim (he went through the motions): Swim across water to south--start +south, go north." He made no attempt to convey the incident of the +vanishing coats. + +"Water--yah,--Nonnenmattweiher," the man repeated. + +At last, by dint of repeating words and swinging their arms and going +through a variety of extraordinary motions, the boys succeeded in +conveying to the little man that something was wrong in the neighborhood +of the lake, and he appeared willing enough to go back with them, +trotting along beside Tom in his funny belted blouse, for all the world +like a mechanical toy. Tom had his misgivings as to whether they would +really reach the lake no matter which way they went, but they did reach +it, and standing under the tree where they had recovered their vanished +coats they tried to explain to the old man what had happened--that they +had crossed from the north to the south bank and continued southward, +only to find that they were going north! + +Suddenly a new light illumined the little man's countenance and he +chuckled audibly. Then he pointed across the lake, chattering and +chuckling the while, and went through a series of strange motions, +spreading his legs farther and farther apart, pointing to the ground +between them, and concluded this exhibition with a sweeping motion of +his hands as if bidding some invisible presence of that enchanted place +God-speed across the water. + +"Och--goo," he said, and shook his head and laughed. + +"I know what he means," said Tom at last, with undisguised chagrin, "and +I'm a punk scout. I didn't notice anything at all. Come on. We've got to +swim across again--that's south, all right." + +"What is it?" asked Archer. + +"I'll show you when we get there--come on." + +The little Swiss toymaker stood watching them and laughing with a +spasmodic laugh which he might have caught from his own wooden cuckoo. +When they reached the other shore Tom fell at once to examining a very +perceptible rift in the earth a few feet from the shore. + +"Do you see?" he said, "we floated over on this piece of land. The tree +where we hung our coats was on the _real_ shore, and----" + +"Go-od night, and it missed the boat," concluded Archer. + +"This tree here is something like it," said Tom, "and that's where I +made my mistake. I ought to have noticed the trees and I ought to have +noticed the crack. Gee, if my scout patrol ever heard of that! +'Specially Roy Blakeley," he added, shaking his head dubiously. + +It was indeed something of a "bull" in scouting, though perhaps a more +experienced forester than Tom would have become as confused as he in the +same circumstances. Perhaps if he had been as companionable with his +school geography as Archer had been with his he might have known about +the famous Lake Nonnenmattweiher in the silent depths of the Schwarzwald +and of its world-famed floating island, which makes its nocturnal +cruises from shore to shore, a silent, restless voyager on that black +pine-embowered lake. + +As the boys looked back across the water they could see the little Swiss +toymaker still standing upon the shore, and looking at him through the +rescued glass (of which they were soon to make better use), Tom could +see that his odd little figure was shaking with merriment--as if he were +wound up. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +AN INVESTMENT + + +Often, in the grim, bloody days to come, they thought of the little +Swiss toymaker up there among his windmills and Noah's arks, and of his +laugh at their expense. A merry little gnome he was, the very spirit of +the Black Forest. + +Their last sight of him marked almost the end of their wanderings. For +another day's tramping through the solemn depths brought them to a +little community, a tiny forest village, made up of just such cottages +and people, and they made a detour to avoid it, only to run plunk into +another miniature industrial centre which they also "side-stepped," +though indeed the iron fist seemed not to be very tightly closed upon +these primitive knights of the jack-knife and chisel; and they saw no +dreaded sign of authority. + +Still they did not wish to be reckless and when they sought food and +shelter it was at a sequestered cottage several miles from the nearest +habitation. Here Tom showed his button but the old man (they saw no +young men) seemed not to know what it meant, although he gave them food, +apparently believing them to be German soldiers. + +Tom believed that they must have journeyed fifty or sixty miles +southward, verging away from the river so as to keep within the depths +of the forest, and he realized that the time had come for them to +consider just what course they were going to pursue. + +"If we're going to try to find her," he said rather hesitatingly, "we +ought to hit it west so's we can take a pike across the river. But if we +keep straight south we'll strike the river after it bends, if that old +weaver knew what he was talking about, and when we cross it we'll be in +Switzerland. We'll do whatever you say. Going straight south would be +easier and safer," he added, with his usual blunt honesty; "and if we +cross back into Alsace we'll have to go past houses and people and we'll +be taking chances.--I admit it's like things in a book--I mean rescuing +girls," he said, with his characteristic awkward frankness, "and maybe +some people would say it was crazy, kind of----" What he meant was +_romantic_, but he didn't exactly know how to say that. "As long as +we've been lucky so far maybe we ought to get across the frontier and +over to France as quick as we can. I s'pose that's where we +belong--most of all----" + +"Is that what you think?" said Archer. + +"I ain't sayin' what I think, but----" + +"Well, then, I'll say what _I_ think," retorted Archer. "You're always +telling about thoughts you've had. I don't claim I'm as good as you arre +at having thoughts, but if therre's a soldierr wounded they send two or +three soldierrs to carry the stretcherr, don't they? Maybe those +soldierrs ought to be fighting, but saving a person comes firrst. You've +hearrd about giving all you have to the Red Cross. All _we_ got is the +_chance_ to get away. We've got morre chance than we had when we +starrted, 'cause you'rre a good scout----" + +"I don't claim----" + +"Shut up," said Archer; "so it's like saving up ourr chances and adding +to 'em, till now we're 'most in Switzerland and we got a good big chance +saved up. I'll tell you what I'm going to do with mine--I'm going to +give it to the Red Cross--_kind of_--as you'd say. If that girrl is +worrkin' on that road and I can find herr, I'm goin' to. If I get +pinched, all right. So it ain't a question of what _we'rre_ goin' to do; +it's a question of: Are _you_ with me? You're always tellin' when yourr +thoughts come to you. Well, I got that one just before I dived for the +glass. So that's the way I'm going to invest _my_ chance, 'cause I +haven't got anything else to give.... I heard in prison about the +Liberty Bond buttons they give you to wearr back home. I'd like to have +one of those blamed things to wearr for a souveneerr." + +Tom Slade had stood silent throughout this harangue, and now he laughed +a little awkwardly. "It's better than investing money," he said, "and +what I'm laughing at--kind of," he added with infinite relief and +satisfaction showing through the emotion he was trying to repress; "what +I'm laughing at is how you're always thinking about souvenirs." + + * * * * * + +So it was decided that their little joint store, their savings, as one +might say--their standing capital of _chance_ which they had improved +and added to--should be invested in the hazardous business of rescuing a +daughter of France from her German captors. It was _giving_ with a +vengeance. + +It is a pity that there was no button to signalize this kind of a +contribution. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +CAMOUFLAGE + + +They turned westward now in a direction which Tom thought would bring +them about opposite the Alsatian town of Norne. A day's journey took +them out of the forest proper into a rocky region of sparse vegetation +from which they could see the river winding ribbonlike in the distance. +Beyond it in the flat Alsatian country lay a considerable city which, +from what old Melotte had told them, they believed to be Mulhausen. + +"Norne is a little to the south of that and closer to the river," said +Tom. + +They picked their way along the edge of the palisades, concealing +themselves among the rocks, and as they thus worked to the southward the +precipitous heights and the river converged until they were almost +directly above the water. At last, looking down, they saw upon the +narrow strip of shore directly below them the old castle of which +Melotte had told them. There was no other in sight. From their dizzy +perch among the concealing rocks they could see almost the whole width +of southern Alsace in panorama, as one sees New York from the Palisades +of the Hudson, and in the distance the dim outlines of the Vosges +mountains, beyond which lay France. + +Not far from the river on the Alsatian side and (as old Melotte had +said) directly opposite the castle, was a small town which Tom studied +carefully with the glass. + +"That's it," he said, relieved, for both of them had harbored a +lingering fear that these places existed only in the childish mind of +the blue-eyed old weaver. "Melotte was right," he added. "Wait a +minute--I'll let you look. You can see the new road and people working +on it and--wait a minute--I can see a little flag on one house." + +There was no doubt about it. There was the town of Norne, and just west +of it a road with tiny figures distributed along it. + +Archer was all a-quiver as he took the glass. "I can see the house," he +said; "it's right near the road, it's got a flag on it. When the light +strikes it you can see the black spot. Oh, look, look!" + +"I can't look when you've got the glass," said Tom in his dull way. + +"I can see the battleline!" cried Archer. + +Tom took the glass with unusual excitement. Far across the Alsatian +country, north and south, ran a dim, gray line, seeming to have no more +substance than a rainbow or the dust in a sun-ray. Far to the north it +bent westward and he knew its course lay through the mountains. But +short of those blue heights it seemed to peter out in a sort of gray +mist. And that was all that could be seen of that seething, bloody line +where the destinies of mankind were being contended for. + +It was easy for the boys to imagine that the specks they could see were +soldiers, American soldiers perhaps, and that low-hung clouds were the +smoke of thundering artillery.... + +"I wonder if we'll ever get over there," said Archer. + +"Over there," Tom repeated abstractedly. + + * * * * * + +Their program now must be one of stealth, not boldness, and they did not +wish to be seen scrambling down the heights in broad daylight; so they +waited for the night, regaling themselves out of the "furious profusion" +of grapes of which there seemed enough to make an ocean of Rhenish wine. + +It was dark when they reached the river bank and explored the shore for +some means of getting across. At last they discovered a float with +several boats attached to it and a ramshackle structure hard by within +which was a light and the familiar sound of a baby crying. + +"We've got to make up our minds not to be scared," said Tom, "and we +mustn't _look_ as if we were scared. You can't make believe you're not +scared if you are. Let's try to make ourselves think we're really German +soldiers and then other people will think so. We've got to act just like +'em." + +"If you mean we've got to murrderr that baby," said Archer; "no sirree! +Not for mine!" + +"That _ain't_ what I mean," said Tom. "You know Jeb Rushmore at Temple +Camp? He came from Arizona. He says you can always tell a fake cowboy no +matter how he may be dressed up because he don't _feel_ like the West. +It ain't just the uniforms that do it; it's the way we _act_." + +"I get you," said Archer. + +"I wouldn't do the things they do any more than I have to," Tom said; +"and I don't know exactly how they feel----" + +"They don't feel at all," interrupted Archer. + +"But if we act as if we didn't care and ain't afraid, we stand a +chance." + +"We've got to act as if we owned the earrth," Archer agreed. + +"Except if we should meet an officer," Tom concluded. + +In his crude way Tom had stumbled upon a great truth, which is the one +chief consideration in the matter of successful disguise. _You must feel +your part if you would act it_. As he had said, they did not know how +German soldiers felt (no civilized mortal knows that!), but he knew that +the Germans were plentiful hereabouts and no novelty, and that their +only hope of simulating two of them lay in banishing all timidity and +putting on a bold front. + +"One thing, we've got to keep our mouths shut," he said. "Most people +won't bother us but we've got to look out for officers. I'm going to +tear my shirt and make a sling for my arm and you've got to limp--and +keep your mind on it. When you're faking, you limp with your +brain--remember." + +The first test of their policy was successful beyond their fondest +dreams, though their parts were not altogether agreeable to them. They +marched down to the float, unfastened one of the boats with a good deal +of accompanying noise and started out into the river, just as Kaiser +Bill had started across Belgium. A woman with a baby in her arms +appeared in the doorway and stared at them--then banged the door shut. + +They were greatly elated at their success and considered the taking of +the boat as a war measure, as probably the poor German woman did too. + +Once upon the other side they walked boldly into the considerable town +of Norne and over the first paved streets which they had seen in many a +day. They did not get out of the way of people at all; they let the +people scurry out of _their_ way and were very bold and high and mighty +and unmannerly, and truly German in all the nice little particulars +which make the German such an unspeakable beast. + +Tom forgot all about the good old scout rule to do a good turn every day +and camouflaged his manners by doing a bad turn every minute--or as +nearly that as possible. It was good camouflage, and got them safely +through the streets of Norne, where they must do considerable hunting to +find the home of old Melotte's friend Blondel. They finally located it +on the outskirts of the town and recognized it by the billet flag which +Melotte had described to them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE + + +It was the success of their policy of boldness, together with something +which Madame Blondel told him, which prompted Tom to undertake the +impudent and daring enterprise which was later to make him famous on the +western front. + +Blondel himself, notwithstanding his sixty-five years, had been pressed +into military service, but Madame Blondel remained in the little house +on the edge of the town in calm disregard of the German officers who had +turned her little home into a headquarters while the new road was being +made. For this, of course, was being done under the grim eye of the +Military. + +The havoc wrought by these little despots, minions of the great despot, +in the simple abode of the poor old French couple, was eloquent of the +whole Prussian system. + +The officer whose heroic duty it was to oversee the women and girls +slaving with pick and shovel had turned the little abode out of +windows, to make it comfortable for himself and his guests, treating the +furniture and all the little household gods with the same disdainful +brutality that his masters had shown for Louvain Cathedral. The German +instinct is always the same, whether it be on a small or a large +scale--whether kicking furniture or blowing up hospitals. + +Amid the ruins of her tidy little home, Madame Blondel lingered in +undaunted proprietorship--the very spirit of gallant, indomitable +France! + +Perhaps, too, the bold entrance into these tyrant-ridden premises of the +two American boys under the forbidding flag of Teuton authority, had +something in it of the spirit of America. At least so Madame Blondel +seemed to regard it; and when Tom showed her his little button she threw +her arms around him, extending the area of her assault to Archer as +well. + +"_Vive l'Amerique!_" she cried, with a fine look of defiance in her +snapping eyes. + +She took the boys upstairs to a room--the only one, apparently, which +she could call her own--and here they told her their story. + +It appeared that for many years she had lived in America, where her +husband had worked in a silk mill and she had kept a little road-house, +tempting American autoists with French cooking and wine of Burgundy. +She spoke English very well, save for a few charming little slips and +notwithstanding that she was short and stout and wore spectacles, she +was overflowing with the spirit of her beloved country, and with a +weakness for adventure and romance which took Tom and Archer by storm. A +true Frenchwoman indeed, defying with a noble heroism Time and +Circumstance and vulgar trespasses under her very roof. + +"So you will rescue Mam'selle," she said clasping her hands and pressing +them to her breast with an inspiring look in her eyes. "So! This is +America--how you say--in a nutshell. Yess?" + +"It seems to me you're France in a nutshell," said Tom awkwardly, "and +downstairs it's Germany in a nutshell." + +"Ah-h-h!" She gave a fine shrug of disgust; "_he_ have gone to Berlin. +Tomorrow night late, his comrade will come--tomorrow night. So you are +safe. And you are ze true knight--so! You will r-rescue Mam'selle," and +she placed her two hands on Tom's shoulders, looking at him with +delight, and ended by embracing him. + +She seemed more interested in his rescuing "Mam'selle" than in anything +else and that apparently because it was a bold adventure in gallantry. +A true Frenchwoman indeed. + +"She'd make a bully scoutmaster," Tom whispered to Archer. + +"They might as well try to capturre the moon as put France out of +business," said Archer. + +Yes, big or little, man or woman, one or a million, in devastated home +or devastated country, she is always the same, gallant, spirited, +defiant. _Vive la France!_ + +While Madame Blondel plied them with food she told them the story of the +new road--another shameless item in the wake of German criminality and +dishonor. + +"They will wait to see if Amerique can send her troops. They will trust +zese submarines--so long. No more! All the while they make zis +road--ozzer roads. Zere will be ze tramping of zese _beasts_ over zese +roads to little Switzerland yet!" she said, falling into the French +manner in her anger. "So zey will stab her in ze back! Ug-g-g-gh!" + +"Do you think that Florette and her mother are both there?" Tom asked. + +"Ah," she said slyly; "you wish not that her mother should be there? So +you will be ze true knight! Ah, you are a bad boy!" + +To Tom's embarrassment she embraced him again, by way of showing that +she was not altogether averse to bad boys. + +"That ain't the way it is at all," he said flashing awkwardly. "I want +to save 'em both. That's the only thing I'm thinking about." + +"Ah," she laughed slyly, to Archer's delight. "You are a bad boy! Iss he +not a bad boy? Yess?" She turned upon Archer. "Sixty years old I am, but +still would I have so much happiness to be ze boy. See! Blondel and I, +we run away to our marriage so many years ago. No one can catch us. So! +Ziss is ze way--yess? Am I right?" She pointed her finger at poor Tom. +"Ah, you are ze true knight! Even yet, maybe, you will fight ze +duel--so! Listen! I will tell you how you will trrick ze Prussians." + +This was getting down to business and much to Tom's relief though Archer +had enjoyed the little scene hugely. + +"See," she said more soberly. "I will tell you. Every young mam'selle +must work--all are there. From north and south have they brought them. +All! But not our older women. Like soldiers they must obey. Here to this +very house come those that rebel--arrest! Some are sent back with--what +you say? Reprimand. Some to prison. I cannot speak. My own +countrywomen! Ug-gh! Zese wretches!" + +"So now I shall see if you are true Americans." She looked straight at +Tom, and even her homely spectacles did not detract from the fire that +burned in her eyes. Here was a woman, who if she had but been a man, +could have done anything. "I shall give you ze paper--all print. Ze +warrant. You see?" She paused, throwing her head back with such a fine +air of defiance that even her wrinkled face and homely domestic garb +could not dim its glory. "_You shall arrest Mam'selle!_ Here you shall +bring her. See--listen! You know what our great Napoleon say? 'Across ze +Alps lies Italee.' So shall you arrest Mam'selle!" She put her arm on +Tom's shoulder and looked into his eyes with a kind of inspiring frenzy. +"Close, so very close," she whispered significantly, "_across ze Rhine +lies Switzerland_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE END OF THE TRAIL + + +Not in all the far-flung battleline was there a more pitiable sight than +the bright sun beheld as he poured his stifling rays down upon the +winding line of upturned earth which lay in fresh piles across the +country of southern Alsace. + +Almost to the Swiss border it ran, but no one could get across the Swiss +border here without running into Prussian bayonets. To the east, where +the Rhine flowed and where the mountains were, some reckless soul might +manage it in a night's journeying, if he would brave the lonesome +fastnesses; though even there the meshes of forbidding wire, charged +with a death-giving voltage, stretched across the path. It was not an +inviting route. + +[Illustration: "DON'T LOOK SURPRISED," TOM SAID IN AN UNDERTONE. Page +198] + +You may believe it or not, as you please, but along this new road score +upon score of young women and mere girls toiled and slaved with pickaxe +and shovel. And some fell and were lifted up again, with threats and +imprecations, and toiled on. There were some who came from Belgium, +whose hands had been cut off, and these were harnessed and drew stones. +They lived, if you call it living, in tents and wooden barracks along +the line of work, and in these they spent their few hours of respite in +fearful, restless slumber. + +Over them, like a black and threatening cloud, was the clenched, +blood-wet iron fist. Now and then one broke down in hysterics and was +"arrested" and taken before the commander who sprawled and drank wine in +a peasant cottage nearby. For the road must be made and German +militarism tolerates no nonsense.... + +Across the fields toward this road passed a young fellow in the uniform +of a petty officer. He carried in his hand a paper and a pair of +handcuffs. He was repeating to himself a phrase in the German language +in which he had just been carefully drilled. "Wo ist sie?" + +It was all the German that he knew. + +Approaching the road, he passed along among the workers, who glanced up +at him covertly and plied their implements a little harder for his +presence. Coming upon a soldier who was marching back and forth on +guard, the officer showed him the paper and said, "_Wo ist sie?_" The +guard pointed farther down the line at another soldier, whom the +officer approached and addressed with his one, newly-learned question. +The second soldier scanned the workers under his charge, then made as if +to take the paper and the handcuffs, but the officer held them from him +with true German arrogance, intimating that all he wished was to have +the worker identified and he would do the rest. He did not deign to +speak to the soldier. + +When the subject of his quest had been pointed out to him he strode over +to her, with a motion of his hand bidding the soldier remain at his +post. The girls, who were working ankle-deep in the thick earth, fell +back as this grim embodiment of authority passed and stole fearful +glances at him as he laid his hand upon the shoulder of one of their +number who was throwing stones out of the roadway. She was a slender +girl, almost too delicate for housework, one would have said, and her +face bore an expression of utter listlessness--the listlessness that +comes from long fatigue and lost hope. Her eyes had the startled, +terror-stricken look of a frightened animal as she looked up into the +face of the young officer. + +"Don't speak and don't look surprised," he said in an undertone, as he +snapped the handcuffs on her wrists. "I'm Tom Slade--don't you +remember? You have to come with me and we'll take you across the Swiss +border tonight. It's all planned. Don't talk and don't be scared. Answer +low--Is your mother here?" + +A heavy stone that she was holding fell and he could feel her shoulder +trembling under his hand. She looked at him in doubtful recognition, for +the face was grim and cold and there was a look of hard steel in the +eyes. Then she glanced in terror at one of the soldiers who was marching +back and forth, rifle in hand. + +"He won't interfere--he won't even dare to salute me. If he comes near +I'll knock him down. Is your mother here?" + +"She iss wiz ze friends in Leteur. Her zey do not take." + +Her voice was low and full of a terror which she seemed unable to +overcome and as she looked fearfully about Tom was reminded of the night +when they had talked together alone in the arbor. + +"They didn't catch me yet and they won't," he said. "They're not scouts. +Come on." + +She followed him out of the upturned earth and down the line, where he +strode like a lord of creation. Never so much as a glance did he deign +to give a soldier. A few of the young women who dared to look up +watched the two as they cut across a field and, whispering, some said +her lot would be worse than she suspected--that her arrest was only a +ruse.... They came nearer to the truth in that than they knew. + +Others spoke enviously, saying that, whatever befell her, at least she +would have a little rest. The more bold among them continued to steal +covert glances as the two went across the field, and fell to work again +with a better submission, noticing the overbearing demeanor of the +brutal young officer who had arrested their companion. + +"You are come again," she finally said timidly; "like ze good genii." It +was difficult for her to speak, but Tom was willing for her to cry and +seem agitated, for they were coming to houses now, where crippled +soldiers sat about and children scurried, frightened, out of their path +and called their mothers who came out to stare. + +"My father--I may not yet talk----" + +"Yes, you can talk now. I know all about it." + +"Everything you know--you are wonderful. He told us how ze zheneral, he +say, '_Lafayette, we are here!_' And now you are here----" + +"I told you you could sing the _Marseillaise_ again," he said simply. +"When we get over there, you can." + +"You have come before zem, even," she said, her voice breaking with +emotion. "I cannot speak, you see, but some day ze Americans, zey will +be here, and you are here ze first----" + +"Don't try to talk," he said huskily. "Over in America we have girl +scouts--kind of. They call 'em Camp Fire Girls. Some people make fun of +'em, but they can climb and they don't scream when they get in a boat, +and they ain't afraid of the woods, and they don't care if it rains, and +they ain't a-scared of noises, and all like that. You got to be one of +them tonight. You got to be just like a feller--kind of. Even if you're +tired you got to stick it out--just like France is doing." + +"I am ze daughter of France," she said proudly, catching his meaning, +"and you have come like America. Before, in Leteur, I was afraid. No +more am I afraid. I will be ziss fiery camp girl--so!" + +"Not fiery camp girl," said Tom dully; "Camp Fire Girl." + +"So! I will be zat!" + +"And tomorrow we'll be in Switzerland. And soon as we get across I'm +going to make you sing the _Marseillaise_, so's when I get to +Frenchy--Armand--I can tell him you sang it and nobody stopped you. You +remember the other feller that was with me. He says we're going to take +you to Armand as a souvenir. That's what he's always talking +about--souvenirs." + + * * * * * + +It did not occupy much space in the American newspapers for there were +more important things to relate. The English were circling around some +ridge or other; the French were straightening out a salient, and the +Germans had failed to surprise the Americans near Arracourt. The +American airmen got the credit for that. + +So there was only a brief account. "Two American Ship's Boys Reach +France," heading said, and then followed this summary narrative as sent +out by the Associated Press: + +"Two American boys are reported to have reached General Pershing's +forces in France, having escaped from a German prison camp and passed +the Swiss frontier at an unfrequented spot after picking their way +through the wilder section of the Black Forest in Baden. They subsisted +chiefly on roots and grapes. Both are said to have been in the U.S. +Transport Service. A despatch from Basel says that the Red Cross +authorities are caring for a French Alsatian girl whom the fugitives +rescued from German servitude by impersonating German military +authorities. The details of their exploit are not given in the +despatches. + +"The American Y. M. C. A. at Nancy has no knowledge of such a girl being +brought across the border and doubts the truth of this story, saying +that such a rescue would be quite impossible. Another account says that +the two boys upon reaching the American troops, notified a brother of +the girl who was training with the expeditionary forces and that this +brother was given a furlough to visit Molin, just below the Swiss +frontier, where the girl was being cared for. This soldier's name is +given as Armand Leteur. He is reported to have found his sister in a +state of utter collapse from the treatment she had received while +toiling on the roads in Alsace. One report has it that her wrist had +been branded by a hot iron. The two youngsters are said to have chosen +an unfrequented spot where the frontier crosses the mountains and to +have manipulated the electrified barbed wire with a pair of rubber +gloves which they had found in the wreck of a fallen German airship. The +correspondent of the London _Times_ says that one of these gloves has +been sent to President Wilson by its proud possessor as a souvenir. + +"Washington, Oct. 12.--Administration officials here have no knowledge +of any rubber glove being received by President Wilson but say that the +arrival of two boys, fugitives from Germany, has been officially +reported by the military authorities in France and that they brought +with them a letter taken from a dead German soldier which contained +references to the impending German assault near Arracourt, thus enabling +our men to anticipate and confound the Hun plans. Both of the boys, +whose names are given as Archibald Slade and Thomas Archer, are now in +training behind the American lines. A _Thomas_ Slade is reported to have +been in the steward's department of the Transport _Montauk_ which was +struck by a submarine last spring. + +"Reuter's Agency confirms the story of the rescue of the girl and of her +reunion with her brother." + +THE END + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE TOM SLADE BOOKS +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH +Author of the ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. + +The Tom Slade books have the official endorsement and recommendation of +THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA. In vivid story form they tell of Boy Scout +ways, and how they help a fellow grow into a manhood of which America +may be proud. + +TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT + +Tom Slade lived in Barrel Alley. The story of his thrilling Scout +experiences, how he was gradually changed from the street gangster into +a First Class Scout, is told in almost as moving and stirring a way as +the same narrative related in motion pictures. + +TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP + +The boys are at a summer camp in the Adirondack woods, and Tom enters +heart and soul into the work of making possible to other boys the +opportunities in woodcraft and adventure of which he himself has already +had a taste. + +TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER + +A carrier pigeon falls into the camp of the Bridgeboro Troop of Boy +Scouts. Attached to the bird's leg is a message which starts Tom and his +friends on a search that culminates in a rescue and a surprising +discovery. The boys have great sport on the river, cruising in the +"Honor Scout." + +TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS _A WAR-TIME BOY SCOUT STORY_ + +When Uncle Sam "pitches in" to help the Allies in the Great War, Tom's +Boy Scout training makes it possible for him to show his patriotism in a +way which is of real service to his country. Tom has many experiences +that any loyal American boy would enjoy going through--or reading about, +as the next best thing. + +TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT + +While working as a mess boy on one of Uncle Sam's big ships, Tom's +cleverness enables him to be of service in locating a disloyal member of +the crew. On his homeward voyage the ship is torpedoed and Tom is taken +aboard a submarine and thence to Germany. He finally escapes and +resolves to reach the American forces in France. + +TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE + +We follow Tom and his friend, Archer, on their flight from Germany, +through many thrilling adventures, until they reach and join the +American Army in France. + +TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER + +Tom is now a dispatch rider behind the lines and has some thrilling +experiences in delivering important messages to troop commanders in +France. + +TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS + +At last Tom realizes his dream to scout and fight for Uncle Sam in the +air, and has such experiences as only the world war could make possible. + +TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE + +Tom has returned home and visits Temple Camp before the season opens. He +builds three cabins and has many adventures. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH +Author of the TOM SLADE BOOKS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + +ROY BLAKELEY + +In one of the books which Roy Blakeley and his patrol collect from a +kindly old gentleman, in a book-drive for the soldiers, Pee-wee Harris +discovers what he believes to be a sinister looking memorandum, and he +becomes convinced that the old gentleman is a genuine spy. But the laugh +is on Pee-wee, as usual, for the donor of the book turns out to be an +author, and the suspicious memorandum is only a literary mark. The +author, however, is so pleased with the boys' patriotism and amused at +Pee-wee's zeal, that he loans them his houseboat, in which they make the +trip up the Hudson to their beloved Temple Camp, which every boy who has +read the TOM SLADE BOOKS will be glad to see once more. + +ROY BLAKELEY'S ADVENTURES IN CAMP + +Roy Blakeley and his patrol are found in this book once more happily +established in camp. A rivalry between the Silver Foxes and the other +patrols springs up in the quest for Spruce and Black Walnut for which +the government is in need. Roy and his friends incur the wrath of a land +owner, but the doughty Pee-wee saves the situation and the wealthy +landowner as well, when he guides him out of the deep forest where he +has lost himself. The boys wake up one morning to find Black Lake +flooded far over its banks, and the solving of this mystery furnishes +some exciting reading. + +ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER + +Roy and his rusty comrades having come to Temple Camp by water, resolve +that they will make the journey home by foot. On the way they capture a +leopard escaped from a circus, which exciting adventure brings about an +amusing acquaintance with the strange people who belong to the traveling +show. The boys are instrumental in solving a deep mystery, and finding +among the show people one who has long been missing and for whom search +has been made the country over. + +ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS + +This is the story of the wild and roaming career of a ramshackle old +railroad car which has been given ROY and his companions for a troop +meeting place. The boys who have spent a hard day cleaning and repairing +the car, fall asleep in it. In the darkness of the night, and by a +singular error of the railroad people, the car is "taken up" by a +freight train and instead of being left at a designated point several +miles below, is carried westward, so that when the boys awake in the +morning they find themselves in a country altogether strange and new. +The story tells of the many and exciting adventures in this car as it +journeys from place to place. + +ROY BLAKELEY'S SILVER FOX PATROL + +In the car which Roy Blakeley and his friends have for a meeting place +is discovered an old faded letter, dating from the Klondike gold days, +and it appears to intimate the location of certain bags of gold, buried +by a train robber who had held up a train bringing passengers home from +the Canadian Northwest. The quest for this treasure is made in an +automobile and the strange adventures on this trip constitute the story. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW SERIES + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + +BIRDS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Neltje Blanchan. Illustrated + +EARTH AND SKY EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Julia Ellen Rogers. Illustrated + +ESSAYS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +FAIRY TALES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +FAMOUS STORIES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +FOLK TALES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +HEROES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +HEROINES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Coedited by Hamilton W. Mabie and Kate +Stephens + +HYMNS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Dolores Bacon + +LEGENDS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +MYTHS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Hamilton W. Mabie + +OPERAS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Dolores Bacon. Illustrated + +PICTURES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Dolores Bacon. Illustrated + +POEMS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Mary E. Burt + +PROSE EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Mary E. Burt + +SONGS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW Edited by Dolores Bacon + +TREES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Julia Ellen Rogers. Illustrated + +WATER WONDERS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Jean M. Thompson. Illustrated + +WILD ANIMALS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Julia Ellen Rogers. Illustrated + +WILD FLOWERS EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW By Frederic William Stack. +Illustrated + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY +BOY SCOUT EDITION +SIMILAR TO THIS VOLUME + +The Boy Scouts of America in making up this Library, selected only such +books as had been proven by a nation-wide canvass to be most universally +in demand among the boys themselves. Originally published in more +expensive editions only, they are now, under the direction of the +Scout's National Council, re-issued at a lower price so that all boys +may have the advantage of reading and owning them. It is the only series +of books published under the control of this great organization, whose +sole object is the welfare and happiness of the boy himself. For the +first time in history a _guaranteed_ library is available, and at a +price so low as to be within the reach of all. + +ALONG THE MOHAWK TRAIL Percy K. Fitzhugh + +ANIMAL HEROES ERNEST Thompson Seton + +BABY ELTON, QUARTER-BACK Leslie W. Quirk + +BARTLEY, FRESHMAN PITCHER William Heyliger + +BE PREPARED, THE BOY SCOUTS IN FLORIDA A. W. Dimock + +BEN-HUR Lew Wallace + +BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING Dan. Beard + +THE BOY SCOUTS OF BLACK EAGLE PATROL Leslie W. Quirk + +THE BOY SCOUTS OF BOB'S HILL Charles Pierce Burton + +THE BOYS' BOOK OF NEW INVENTIONS Harry E. Maule + +BUCCANEERS AND PIRATES OF OUR COASTS Frank R. Stockton + +THE CALL OF THE WILD Jack London + +CATTLE RANCH TO COLLEGE Russell Doubleday + +COLLEGE YEARS Ralph D. Paine + +CROOKED TRAILS Frederic Remington + +THE CRUISE OF THE CACHALOT Frank T. Bullen + +THE CRUISE OF THE DAZZLER Jack London + +DANNY FISTS Walter Camp + +FOR THE HONOR OF THE SCHOOL Ralph Henry Barbour + +A GUNNER ABOARD THE "YANKEE" From the Diary of Number Five of the After +Port Gun + +THE HALF-BACK Ralph Henry Barbour + +HANDBOOK FOR BOYS, Revised Edition Boy Scouts of America + +HANDICRAFT FOR OUTDOOR BOYS Dan. Beard + +THE HORSEMEN OF THE PLAINS Joseph A. Altsheler + +JEB HUTTON; THE STORY OF A GEORGIA BOY James B. Connolly + +THE JESTER OF ST. TIMOTHY'S Arthur Stanwood Pier + +JIM DAVIS John Masefield + +KIDNAPPED Robert Louis Stevenson + +LAST OF THE CHIEFS Joseph A. Altsheler + +LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN Zane Grey + +THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS James Fenimore Cooper + +A MIDSHIPMAN IN THE PACIFIC Cyrus Townsend Brady + +PITCHING IN A PINCH Christy Mathewson + +RANCHE ON THE OXHIDE Henry Inman + +REDNEY MCGAW; A CIRCUS STORY FOR BOYS Arthur E. McFarlane + +THE SCHOOL DAYS OF ELLIOTT GRAY, Jr. Colton Maynard + +SCOUTING WITH DANIEL BOONE Everett T. Tomlinson + +THREE YEARS BEHIND THE GUNS Lieu Tisdale + +TOMMY REMINGTON'S BATTLE Burton E. Stevenson + +TECUMSEH'S YOUNG BRAVES Everett T. Tomlinson + +TOM STRONG, WASHINGTON'S SCOUT Alfred Bishop Mason + +TO THE LAND OF THE CARIBOU Paul Greene Tomlinson + +TREASURE ISLAND Robert Louis Stevenson + +20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA Jules Verne + +UNGAVA BOB; A TALE OF THE FUR TRAPPERS Dillon Wallace + +WELLS BROTHERS; THE YOUNG CATTLE KINGS Andy Adams + +WILLIAMS OF WEST POINT Hugh S. Johnson + +THE WIRELESS MAN; HIS WORK AND ADVENTURES Francis A. Collins + +THE WOLF HUNTERS George Bird Grinnell + +THE WRECKING MASTER Ralph D. Paine + +YANKEE SHIPS AND YANKEE SAILORS James Barnes + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE CHILDREN'S CRIMSON SERIES + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +The Editors; and What the Children's Crimson Series Offers Your Child + +In the first place, "The Children's Crimson Series" is designed to +please and interest every child, by reason of the sheer fascination of +the stories and poems contained therein. + +To accomplish such an end, a vast amount of patient labor, a rare +judgment, a life-long study of children, and a genuine love for all that +is best in literature, are essential factors of success. + +Kate Douglas Wiggin (Mrs. Riggs) and Nora Archibald Smith possess these +qualities and this experience. Their efforts, as pioneers of +kindergarten work, the love and admiration in which their works are held +by all young people, prove them to be in full sympathy with this unique +piece of work. + +Let all parents, who wish their little ones to have their minds and +tastes developed along the right paths, remember that once a child is +interested and amused, the rest is comparatively easy. Stories and poems +so admirably selected, cannot then but sow the seeds of a real literary +culture, which must be encouraged in childhood if it is ever to exercise +a real influence in life. + +Edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith + +THE FAIRY RING: Fairy Tales for Children 4 to 8 + +MAGIC CASEMENTS: Fairy Tales for Children 6 to 12 + +TALES OF LAUGHTER: Fairy Tales for Growing Boys and Girls + +TALES OF WONDER: Fairy Tales that Make One Wonder + +PINAFORE PALACE: Rhymes and Jingles for Tiny Tots + +THE POSY RING: Verses and Poems that Children Love and Learn + +GOLDEN NUMBERS: Verses and Poems for Children and Grown-ups + +THE TALKING BEASTS: Birds and Beasts in Fable Edited by Asa Don +Dickinson + +CHRISTMAS STORIES: "Read Us a Story About Christmas" Edited by Mary E. +Burt and W. T. Chapin + +STORIES AND POEMS FROM KIPLING: "How the Camel Got His Hump," and other +Stories. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE TOM SWIFT SERIES By VICTOR APPLETON + +UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. INDIVIDUAL COLORED WRAPPERS. + +These spirited tales, convey in a realistic way, the wonderful advances +in land and sea locomotion. Stories like these are impressed upon the +memory and their reading is productive only of good. + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE + +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS + +TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE + +TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER + +TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL + +TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH + +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS + +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Transcriber's Notes + +1. Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards. +2. Rolling r's are indicated by repeating the letter, for example from + page 140 in the line: "We're herre because we're herre," he said, + in a perfect riot of rolling R's. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Slade with the Boys Over There, by +Percy K. 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