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diff --git a/59536-0.txt b/59536-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8663aa6 --- /dev/null +++ b/59536-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8222 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59536 *** + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes+ + + 1. Typographical errors have been silently corrected. + + 2. Variations of spelling and hyphenation are as in the original. + + 3. The text version is coded for italics and the like mark-ups i.e., + (a) italics are indicated thus _italic_; + (b) small-caps are indicated thus CAPS; + (c) Images in the book are indicated as [Illustration:] + at the respective place, between paragraphs. + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "IS THE TWENTY-EIGHTH GOING OVER THIS WEEK?"] + + + + + CAPTAIN LUCY + + AND + + LIEUTENANT BOB + + BY + + ALINE HAVARD + + AUTHOR OF + + CAPTAIN LUCY IN FRANCE + + [Illustration] + + _Illustrated by_ + + RALPH P. COLEMAN + + + PHILADELPHIA + + THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + + 1920 + + + + + COPYRIGHT + 1918 BY + THE PENN + PUBLISHING + COMPANY + + [Illustration:Logo] + + Captain Lucy and Lieutenant Bob + + + + + Introduction + + +Some of the girls who read this first story of Lucy Gordon's army life +have spent their lives on army posts as well as she, and perhaps have +even lived on Governor's Island. A good many others, though, have only +visited posts, and have never felt that they knew much about the life +of army girls, except that it was full of sudden changes. But in this +last year the American army has grown very real and absorbing to every +girl in America. Not one of them but has become an army girl in spirit, +with some strong tie to bind her to our posts, to our training camps, +or to our fighters on the Western Front. + +The war is as yet only beginning for Lucy Gordon, and the old, pleasant +times are just ending, but, like every other girl in America, she is +trying hard to find the courage and cheerfulness which have never yet +been wanting in our Service and which are going to help America to win. + +In "Captain Lucy in France" she sees the perilous "Front" for herself, +and has a small part in some great events. + + ALINE HAVARD. + + + + + Contents + + + I. MARIAN ARRIVES 9 + + II. PARADE 23 + + III. THE MYSTERY OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH 39 + + IV. LIEUTENANT BOB 59 + + V. "MY ORDERS HAVE COME" 79 + + VI. GOOD-BYES 92 + + VII. A TOUGH JOB 107 + + VIII. OVER THE TRENCHES 122 + + IX. BEHIND THE ENEMY'S LINES 141 + + X. A GUST OF WIND 164 + + XI. FIRST AID 184 + + XII. LOCKED DOORS 205 + + XIII. "COME IN, COMRADE!" 226 + + XIV. A LETTER FROM LONDON 248 + + XV. ONE CHANCE OUT OF FIFTY 267 + + XVI. THE FLYING MAN 285 + + XVII. OVER THE FRONTIER 302 + + XVIII. CAPTAIN LUCY 322 + + + + + Illustrations + + + PAGE + + "IS THE TWENTY-EIGHTH GOING OVER THIS + WEEK?" _Frontispiece_ + + "MY ORDERS HAVE COME" 86 + + "YOU MAY HELP THE ALLIES TO VICTORY" 135 + + "LETTER, PLEASE", SAID A TIMID VOICE 196 + + "I DID NOT KNOW WHERE I SHOULD LAND" 291 + + + + + Captain Lucy and Lieutenant Bob + + + + + CHAPTER I + + MARIAN ARRIVES + + +"The Major's glasses, if you please, Miss Lucy," said Sergeant Cameron, +pausing in the doorway with a bow. Lucy, who had run down-stairs on +hearing the bell, smiled a good-morning to the tall, soldierly figure +that blocked the sunlit entrance, and went into Major Gordon's study +for the forgotten glasses. + +"I was to tell Mrs. Gordon for the Major," Sergeant Cameron added when +Lucy returned to the door, "that the guests expected to-day will come +over on the twelve o'clock boat. The Major had a telephone message at +his office, from the city." + +"Oh, all right, Sergeant. I'll tell Mother," said Lucy, whereupon the +non-commissioned officer turned smartly on his heel and made off in the +direction of the Headquarters Building. + +It was a beautiful July morning on Governor's Island, and beyond the +tree-dotted lawns between the rows of officers' quarters, the parade +ground was alive with marching men;--companies of Infantry which had +drilled there for hours, a little part of the mammoth war activity that +pervaded the post, the headquarters of the Army's Eastern Department. A +faint breeze blew from across New York Harbor, fluttering the flag on +the ramparts, but the air was very hot. + +Lucy ran up-stairs again to her room and dropped down in front of her +mirror to tie the ribbon at the back of her smoothly brushed hair, +while she called out to the maid who was mounting the stairs after her, +"Oh, Elizabeth, Father just sent word that the Leslies will be here for +lunch,--on the twelve o'clock boat." + +"Yes, Miss Lucy," answered Elizabeth's pleasant, guttural voice. "You +tell your mother, will you?" + +"Oh, yes, I'm going right away." + +Lucy gave a last tug at the ribbon, a doubtful glance at her mop of +fair hair, which with the best of efforts never stayed smooth very +long, and rose to her feet. She was not tall for fourteen years, and +her dresses were still short, but since her last birthday she had begun +to take a little more pains with her appearance, as was shown just now +by her returning to tidy up again after feeding the squirrels. The +face reflected in the glass was a very attractive one, with its frank, +bright hazel eyes and lips ever ready to smile. But Lucy never spent +much time in wondering whether she looked "nice" or not. There was more +than that to do just now on Governor's Island. + +She ran down-stairs two steps at a time and, shooing out an inquiring +squirrel which was coming in by the screen door William had left open, +went out on the piazza. On the steps sat a curly-headed five-year-old +boy, the baby of the Gordon family. + +"Come on, William! Come with me?" asked Lucy, holding out a hand to the +little boy, who jumped off the steps and trotted along beside her. + +"Where you going, Lucy?" he inquired as they followed the brick +walk along the line of quarters called "General's Row," because the +General's house heads it, toward the path crossing over to the other +officers' line or "Colonel's Row." + +"Over to see Mother about something," said Lucy, continuing her way +around the foot of Colonel's Row to where, after five minutes' walk, +the water of the harbor gleamed through the trees and the Officers' +Club showed by the tennis courts at the end of the parade. + +In one of the second floor rooms of the big, yellow brick building the +Red Cross had its headquarters, and here Lucy and William were bound +as they entered the wide archway and followed the stairs leading to +the ballroom and upper floor. A buzz of ladies' voices came from the +doorway, beyond which twenty or thirty officers' wives and daughters +were hard at work over tables piled with gauze and muslin. Mrs. Gordon +looked up from folding a long three-yard roll and smiled a welcome as +Lucy entered with William close behind. + +"Are you looking for me, daughter?" she asked, while Julia Houston, +Lucy's best friend on the post, ran over, scissors in hand, to say: + +"Do stay, Lucy, won't you, and we can work together." + +"I'm afraid I can't this morning, Julia. I came only to tell Mother +about the Leslies." + +"When are they coming? Did Father hear from them?" asked Mrs. Gordon, +pausing in her work. + +"Yes, he sent word we were to expect them on the noon boat, and, oh, +Mother, what do you suppose Marian will be like?" demanded Lucy, giving +her mother's arm a squeeze in her eager curiosity. + +"You'll know before long, dear, and no doubt you'll like her very +much," said Mrs. Gordon, speaking without any great conviction in her +voice, as she went on with her folding. + +"Is your cousin going to stay with you all summer?" asked Julia, who +had taken yards of selvage cuttings from about her shoulders, and was +showing William how to wind them into neat little balls. + +"Yes, Marian is going to stay until her father comes back from +California. Cousin Henry has to look after his lumber camps out there. +The Government wants his wood for ships, so he has to leave in a hurry." + +"Haven't you ever seen her, Lucy? Don't you know what she's like?" +asked Julia curiously, tossing back her dark braids, as she looked up +from William's laborious winding. + +"Oh, yes, I saw her once about three years ago, when we were both +twelve. She has always been delicate, and can't do a great deal, though +Father says she is much better now. But she is awfully pretty," Lucy +added, with a sudden enthusiasm her first words had lacked. "I think +she'll like it here, don't you, Julia?" + +"Of course," said Julia, who was sure any one would like army life. + +"Come, Lucy, we had better go. We won't have more than time to meet the +boat," said Mrs. Gordon, putting away her work. "Will you tie up the +rest of these rolls, Mrs. Andrews?" she asked of the lady beside her, +who agreed with a smile and added with a glance at Lucy: + +"You'd better bring your cousin to parade to-morrow afternoon, Lucy. The +whole regiment is to march." Mrs. Andrews was the wife of the Colonel +of the island's Infantry regiment. + +"Oh, I will, Mrs. Andrews," said Lucy, leaning down to free William +from the yards of strips he had got wound about his arms and hands in +the course of his work. + +"William--why do you always get so tied up with everything? Come, +hurry! Mother's waiting. Good-bye, Julia." + +Once outside the club, Mrs. Gordon said to her daughter, "We have +fifteen minutes, so there's no need to walk fast in this heat. We can +keep under the trees by the edge of the parade as far as the top of the +hill." + +Lucy was hardly listening. Her eyes were bent on the ground but +suddenly she raised them to her mother and asked eagerly, "How do +you honestly think we'll get along with Marian, Mother? I can't help +wondering, because she's been so used to everything she wants. Perhaps +she'll hate it here, and won't stay." + +"Don't borrow trouble, dear," advised Mrs. Gordon, raising her parasol +as they left the shade to cross the wide grassy space from Colonel's to +General's Row. "Cousin Henry is so good himself, I am sure his little +girl must have a great deal that is nice about her, and if she is a +little selfish and trying, remember she has been ill a long time. +Cousin Henry has been a good friend to you children; you know he got +Bob his appointment to West Point, and Father is devoted to him. We are +only too glad to do a little for him now in return." + +They had reached the General's house at the head of the little slope +leading to the dock, and New York Harbor, gleaming in the morning +sunlight, lay below them. + +"There's the boat, just coming in," said Lucy, starting down the hill +as the army ferry _General Hancock_ drew slowly inshore, while a +soldier on the dock let down the chains that held the gangway. + +There were few passengers at this hour, most of the hundreds having +government business coming earlier in the day, and only half a dozen +people from the officers' cabin stepped ashore where Lucy and her +mother and William stood waiting. The last to land was a tall, thin +gentleman in a cool-looking pongee suit, with one arm around the +shoulders of a slender girl about Lucy's size and dressed all in white. + +"There they are, Mother. Hello, Cousin Henry! Hello, Marian!" cried +Lucy, all her doubts forgotten at sight of Mr. Leslie's cheerful smile +and Marian's pretty face. + +Mrs. Gordon made haste to give them a cordial welcome, and as she bent +to kiss Marian she asked hopefully, "You'll like it here with us, +won't you, dear? We're so glad to have you." + +Marian gave a faint little smile as she answered, "Yes, Cousin Sally," +and held out her hand to Lucy, while Mr. Leslie exclaimed with the +friendly heartiness that made everybody like him: + +"Why, Sally, Lucy, William! I never was so glad to see any one in my +life! I wish I could stay here with Marian. This post must be a great +place to see things, these days, and if I'm not mistaken, here's the +Major himself coming to meet us." + +He pointed toward the slope of the hill, down which a tall figure in +summer olive-drab service uniform was swinging at a rapid walk. + +"Why, so it is Father," said Lucy. "He didn't expect to be able to +leave Headquarters in time to come, but he's managed it somehow." + +Major Gordon, acting chief quartermaster of the post, had, since the +declaration of war, had so much work to do that his leisure moments +were exceedingly scarce, and his spare, bronzed face wore a look of +fatigue. But he was well used to long and hard service, and his voice +sounded hearty and cheerful as he greeted his cousin and looked with +kindly questioning into Marian's face, with its pale-rose-leaf cheeks, +wide violet eyes, and somewhat tremulous lips which looked as though +pouting were not altogether a forgotten art to them. + +"Well, little Marian, we're going to make an army girl of you before we +get through--make you hate to leave us," he promised, giving a gentle +pull to one of Marian's curls, which, tied with a ribbon behind her +neck in a lovely mass of gold, Lucy had been admiring in silence while +the others exchanged their greetings. + +Major Gordon led the Way on up the little slope with Mrs. Gordon +and Mr. Leslie, leaving the children to follow, which they did very +quietly, as Marian did not volunteer any remarks, and Lucy did not feel +like beginning to ask questions yet. William, running along beside his +sister, fixed a wide-eyed stare on his new cousin which made Lucy want +to laugh as she began pointing out places of interest on the post, when +they had reached the top of the slope. + +"This is General's Row, Marian, where we live, and across the grass +there is Colonel's Row, that other line of houses. All the officers on +the General's staff live on this side of the island, and beyond the +parade you can see the officers' quarters of the Infantry regiment +stationed here. Those big sheds, way over beyond the houses, have just +been put up for the recruits there is no room for. That big grassy +stretch is the parade. The men have gone in to dinner now, but you'll +see them drilling again this afternoon. They are all working terribly +hard getting the new men into shape before they get orders for +the front." + +Lucy stopped, feeling she had never made such a long speech in her +life, as Marian did not encourage her by asking any questions, but +merely said, after a second's pause, "Yes, I suppose so," with a glance +around her which Lucy felt sure was more one of politeness than real +interest. + +In another minute they had reached the Gordons' house in the line of +square, yellow, pleasant looking officers' quarters, and entered the +screened-in piazza. Mr. Leslie stopped in the doorway to poke his cane +in the direction of an inquiring squirrel which was frisking about his +feet with all the impudent tameness of a privileged pet. + +"Isn't he a cunning little fellow, Marian?" he asked his daughter, who +had come up and slipped her arm through his, with a little more life in +her face as she returned her father's smile. + +"Yes, he is," she nodded, laughing faintly, as the squirrel ran over +her white shoe, leaving dusty little tracks across the toe. + +"Luncheon is ready," announced Mrs. Gordon, coming out of the house. +"We have it at half-past twelve on account of James. He has to get back +so early to the office." + +In spite of the warm day every one came in and sat down to eat very +willingly, though Lucy watched Marian, wondering how their somewhat +simplified war-time fare would please her pampered taste. Evidently +it was not very successful, for Marian hardly touched anything, and +answered Mrs. Gordon's anxious inquiries by saying politely that she +was not very hungry to-day. Mrs. Gordon was not at all satisfied to +see her little guest make her lunch from a few string beans and half +a dozen strawberries when her delicate cheeks and thin, little hands +showed her decided need of nourishment, but she said nothing more for +the present. Mr. Leslie, whose management of his ailing, motherless +little daughter consisted in either coaxing her to obey him or letting +her do what she liked, added a mild suggestion that she drink the glass +of milk Mrs. Gordon provided, but did not gain his point. William drank +the milk afterward, on top of a hearty meal. + +After lunch Major Gordon took Mr. Leslie for a short tour of the post, +which was to end at his office, from which Mr. Leslie would return +to the house. Mrs. Gordon persuaded Marian to come up-stairs and lie +down until her father's return, so as not to be too tired on her first +day at Governor's Island. Marian was willing enough to rest for a +while, as she was in the habit of doing. Lucy closed the door of the +darkened room, from which Marian could hear the sharp commands of the +company captains, once more drilling their men on the parade, and ran +down-stairs, secretly wondering how any one could want to go to sleep +at this hour on a beautiful day, at a new army post she had had no +chance to explore. + +Through the doorway she caught sight of Julia Houston running across +the grass with black braids flying, and went swiftly out to meet her. + +"Did they come?" were Julia's first words, and Lucy plunged into an +account of the new cousins, which, however, grew pretty meagre and +evasive so far as Marian was concerned. + +"Of course I don't really know her yet, though, Julia," she explained +for her lack of enthusiasm. "She's lying down now, but you will see her +later." + +"Oh, poor little thing,--she's still ill, then?" asked warm-hearted +Julia, ready to make allowances. + +"Yes, I don't know just how much," said Lucy doubtfully. + +"Well, listen to me a minute, Lucy." Julia took her friend's arm and +drew her down on the steps of the Gordon house. "What I really came to +ask you about was this." Her voice dropped a little. "Have you heard +your father say anything about the Twenty-Eighth sailing for France +this week, or that those drills they keep at every second of the day +are their last on this side? Of course your father would know, when he +has charge of the supplies,--and I'm sure it's so," ended Julia, her +eyes bright and earnest. + +"Oh, Julia, you know how Father is about secrets,--especially lately. +I wouldn't know one thing if everybody on the post were leaving +to-night," said Lucy, her lips wavering to a smile, though her face was +thoughtful. "How I wish I knew, though," she added, looking off toward +the moving lines of men, dust-brown against the green. "Where did you +hear it, anyway?" + +"I didn't hear it, I just guessed it, because the Infantry officers are +so queer and silent now, when you ask them questions. Mr. Alling was at +our house last night, and he would hardly speak of the latest Infantry +orders, and when they don't know what to expect themselves they talk +and surmise, about it as much as anybody. Besides, they are working so +terribly hard,--in the regiment, I mean, not among the recruits. And +hasn't your father been rushed to death, lately, without giving any +particular reason?" + +Lucy was silent, pondering, her father's tired face before her eyes. "I +don't know, Julia," she said at last. "I wish we did. I'll ask Father +to tell me,--wouldn't any secret be safe with us? But he won't." + +Julia got up, staring over the parade with frowning brows. The +mysterious secrecy of these first sailings of American troops for the +far-off battle front, lest the watchful submarines learn more accurate +news of their coming than they already picked up by unknown means, was +to the eager, loyal children of the post a very thrilling problem of +uncertainty. Twice already had a regiment, newly arrived at the island +for an uncertain stay, slipped away in the darkness or the dawn to +its transports, and each time, thanks to the silent tongues and the +battle-ships waiting to convoy them, they had reached the other side in +safety. And now was the home regiment to follow? + +"I suppose we might just as well stop racking our brains," Julia +said at last, putting aside her perplexed thoughts with her usual +impulsiveness. "Come to the Red Cross to-morrow morning, Lucy? We can +do that much, anyhow." + +"Yes, I'll come," responded Lucy, still thoughtful. Then she added +with sudden earnestness, "But I'm not going to let the Twenty-Eighth +disappear as the others did! If that regiment sails this week, Julia, +I'm going to be there to see it off." + + + + + CHAPTER II + + PARADE + + +The Red Cross rooms were crowded, but Lucy and Julia had managed to +find a corner at Mrs. Houston's table. + +"Twenty-three, twenty-four," counted Lucy, turning over the neat little +piles of gauze squares on the table. "Oh, Julia, how can you do them so +fast? I've worked my head off and only made twenty, and now I have to +go home before I can brace up and beat you." + +Julia laughed, and Mrs. Houston, who sat across from the two girls, +said critically, "I think yours are done the better of the two, +Lucy, so don't be too discouraged. Julia always puts speed ahead of +everything." + +"Well, that's the most important thing in this Red Cross work," said +Julia in self-defense. "All the doctors tell you that plenty of +dressings pretty well done are more useful after a battle than a few of +them made to perfection. I tell you what, Lucy, bring the rest of your +pile of gauze along and come home to lunch with me. I still have this +much left, too, and we can finish it right afterward." + +Julia held up a thin pile of pieces, but Lucy shook her head +regretfully. + +"Can't, Julia. I must go back to Marian. She's a little homesick, I +think. She seemed so after her father left yesterday, though she didn't +say much." + +"Oh, then, can't you play tennis this afternoon, either?" demanded +Julia, feeling that her friend was making unnecessary sacrifices. + +"No, I'll stay with her and see you at parade. I don't mind. Think how +we'd feel, Julia, if we were dropped down into some strange city, where +nobody knew or cared anything about the army." + +Julia laughed, but she said thoughtfully, "We'll have to make her like +it here, Lucy. I know we can. Well, be sure to come out later." + +"Oh, yes," nodded Lucy, putting on her hat over her tumbled hair. +"May I take these home to finish, Mrs. Houston? I'll bring them back +to-morrow. Good-bye." + +Leaning all the morning over a work-table seemed to make Lucy hungrier +than even outdoor exercise, and at luncheon, to which they sat down +promptly when Major Gordon came in, she was too preoccupied to notice +Marian very much. Mrs. Gordon had been helping Marian arrange things +in her room and unpack her clothes, and having had quite a pleasant +little talk with her, and decided that she was not terribly homesick, +was disappointed to see her take hardly any more interest in her food +than she had the day before. + +"Don't you like shepherd's pie?" she asked as Marian refused the dish +passed to her. "Why don't you try a little?" + +Marian silently obeyed by taking a spoonful, which lay quite untasted +on her plate while she munched a little bread and butter. + +"But you aren't eating it, dear," insisted Mrs. Gordon. "Don't you find +it good?" + +"Oh, yes, Cousin Sally," answered Marian politely. "It's very nice +indeed, but I'm not hungry." + +Marian's careful bringing up by a French governess, surrounded with +every advantage of foreign travel and good associations, had given +her an outward semblance of good manners, which had, however, no real +obedience or docility behind them. Mrs. Gordon said nothing more for +the moment, and changed the subject by asking William where he had been +on his walk around the island with Elizabeth, after they had taken +some papers and magazines to the soldiers in the post hospital. But +after luncheon when Lucy and Marian had gone out on the piazza and sat +down at a table to finish the pile of gauze, Mrs. Gordon took out her +sewing and seated herself near them. + +"It isn't very hard, Marian," Lucy began, responding promptly to a +faint suggestion made by Marian before luncheon that she would like to +learn to make dressings, and spreading out a piece of gauze after a +critical glance at her fingers. + +"Take this silver knife,--I brought out two,--to pat it smooth with. +Now fold it over, so, and fold it the other way,--twice. Then smooth it +flat and it's all done. I'll show you again." + +"Marian," said Mrs. Gordon, looking at her little cousin's delicate +profile that looked so pretty as she bent over her work, "I am going +to speak to you right now about the way you sit at our table and eat +nothing. Why, my child, I can't let you spend the summer here and make +no better meals than you have been doing. You need your food as much as +Lucy does,--more, because you have your health to build up." + +Marian had turned her head to listen, and as Mrs. Gordon paused she +said, doubtfully, "Why, I'm not very hungry, Cousin Sally, except once +in a while." + +"That's because your appetite has got used to being coaxed and +encouraged while you were ill. I dare say there are a few things that +you particularly like and are willing to eat. But I mean you must learn +to help it along for yourself by trying to eat what a girl your +age ought to. I'm sure you want to do everything you can to get well +soon, don't you?" + +"Oh, yes, I do," said Marian quickly, while her brows met in an +uncertain frown, as though her ill-health were a tiresome burden which +she would gladly be rid of, but to which she had grown so accustomed +that it now seemed impossible to throw it aside. + +"I know a little exercise would make you hungrier," Mrs. Gordon went +on, "and while riding would be too violent on our army horses, even if +the airplanes didn't frighten them too much to make it safe, I think a +little tennis wouldn't hurt. Oh, Marian, how beautifully you've done +that!" + +Lucy had held out for her mother's inspection a smooth, almost perfect +little square which Marian had just added to the pile. Mrs. Gordon, +always more willing to praise than to find fault, was delighted at her +success in the delicate art of making neat compresses, and said so, +enthusiastically. + +Marian smiled with pleasure, and bent over her work again, her bright +hair falling about her shoulders and her thin, little fingers busy, +while Lucy, glancing up, thought to herself as she patted and poked, +"She _is_ pretty, and if I could just shake her and wake her up, and +get her acting like a regular girl, I'd like her." + +"Lucy," said Mrs. Gordon, looking at her daughter's completed pile, +"I want you to walk over to Headquarters now, and bring back a letter +Father wants to show me." + +"All right, Mother. Will you come, Marian?" asked Lucy, getting up with +a jump from her prolonged quiet. + +"No, I guess not," Marian answered, hesitating for a second over her +refusal, but deciding in favor of what required least effort. + +"I'll take William," said Lucy, going out on the grass, where the +little boy was sitting cross-legged, carefully shelling peanuts for an +impatient squirrel who would much rather have done it for himself. + +"O-oh, Lucy, isn't he a pig!" asked William, catching sight of his +sister as he began ruefully sucking his thumb where the greedy squirrel +had nipped it, and ungratefully darted off over his shoulder with a +flirt of his big tail in William's face. + +"You ought to let him have it whole. He can shell harder things than +we can. Come on, hurry," said Lucy, holding out her hand. "We're going +over to Father's office a minute." + +They cut across the grass, and in five minutes reached the long, yellow +brick building near the head of the slope above the dock, William's +little bare legs twinkling along as fast as he could work them beside +his sister's swift pace, for Lucy always seemed to be making up for +lost time. + +Entering the building, she opened a door off the corridor into a room +where a soldier sat over a desk covered with papers. + +"Good-afternoon, Sergeant Cameron," she said, as the "non-com" sprang +up and stood at attention, except for the friendly smile on his face. +"Is Father in his office?" + +The Sergeant opened the door of the inner room and ushered them +through. "The Major has gone into Colonel Horton's office for a moment, +but he will be back directly. Take a seat, Miss Lucy. No, I can't play +now, little Major." This was added in an undertone to William, whose +resemblance to his father had earned him this title, and who could not +understand why his friend the Sergeant was so severe at work when he +was so very friendly at other times. + +Lucy dropped into the revolving chair in front of her father's desk +and glanced idly at the papers spread out before her. They were long +columns of figures at one side of the sheet, with before them lists +of articles of every description for the food and equipment of Uncle +Sam's soldiers, into the hundreds of thousands of barrels and boxes and +dozens and hundredweights. Half guiltily, Lucy turned away her eyes, +for her quick fancy brought before her on the instant the companies +of marching men in close-ranked files that those supplies were meant +to accompany. Julia's eager questions came back with a rush of swift +conviction. + +"The Twenty-Eighth is going this week, surely," she thought to herself, +and struggled with her conscience whether to look again to see if the +papers gave any definite names or dates, when the door opened and a +young infantry officer came in, with a letter in his hand, and said, +with a quick jolly smile: + +"Hello, Lucy, how are you? Your father sent me to bring you this +letter. He had it with him, and he can't come back right away. At +least, he told me to give it to Sergeant Cameron, but I thought I'd +like to see how you and William were." + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Harding," said Lucy, taking the letter from his +hand, the eager questions which she had been asking herself a moment +before now trembling on her lips. The Lieutenant was a great friend of +the Gordon family, and Lucy felt emboldened to try her luck. + +"Mr. Harding," she burst out, "do you,--you don't think I am a +chatterbox,--I mean that I tell everything I know,--do you?" + +The young officer laughed, though he looked his surprise, and his brown +eyes twinkled as he said, "Why, not quite so bad as that, Lucy. I +never said so, anyway, so why the row with me?" + +"Oh, I know you didn't say so," Lucy assured him hastily. "I'm only +asking you if you don't think I can keep a secret; because I know I +can." Then before Mr. Harding could answer she persisted, "Is the +Twenty-Eighth going over this week? Won't you tell me?" + +Mr. Harding smiled at the flushed and eager face lifted to his, but the +smile was a thoughtful one as he answered, "You must think the Colonel +takes me into his confidence. What put that idea into your head?" + +"Oh,--lots of things," said Lucy impatiently. "You won't tell me, will +you?" + +"Supposing that I knew something to tell, and the orders were +secret--would you expect me to?" + +Lucy's eyes lighted up and she smiled at her friend with a sudden +satisfaction. "No, I wouldn't, and I'm a silly goose to bother you, but +I wanted dreadfully to know, and no news will ever be spread through me +or Julia." + +"Well, I don't see any news to spread," remarked Mr. Harding, opening +the door, "except that I shall have a warm reception from the Major if +I stay palavering with you and William any longer." + +"Thanks for coming," said Lucy as they passed through the outer room, +where Sergeant Cameron stood rigidly at attention, only this time with +no smile on his immovable face, as the young officer passed him to bid +good-bye to the Gordons at the door. + +"It's funny," Lucy thought on the way home, when William had run on +ahead, finding his sister too quiet to be good company. "We want so +much to do a lot to help, and we can do so little. Now I know they are +surely going, for Mr. Harding would have denied it otherwise,--but I +don't know just when." + +An airplane from the aviation field at the far end of the island passed +noisily overhead, and Lucy watched it wistfully, as it flew off toward +Sandy Hook through the clear sky, with that mysterious longing to share +in great adventures that sometimes stirs every normal fourteen-year-old +heart. At last she gave a sigh and came down to earth, having bumped +rather hard into some of the bushes by the General's gate-post, and +made that gentleman smile curiously at her as he came out of his door. + +"I'll go home and see how Marian is," she said, forgetting her puzzled +thoughts and starting to run. "I guess that's all I'm good for." + +Back at the house, Lucy found the piazza deserted and went inside and +out to the kitchen, where the cook, who was Elizabeth's husband, Karl, +told her that Mrs. Gordon had gone to take some jelly to Sergeant +Cameron's wife, who had been ill several days. + +"The little sick girl is up-stairs, I think, Miss Lucy. She not go with +your mother, I know." + +Lucy ran up-stairs and through her own room into Marian's. "Oh, here +you are," she panted, breathless. "I've been wondering where you were. +Aren't you coming out to parade?" + +"Yes, I'm getting dressed now," said Marian, who was tying her curls +with a blue ribbon as she stood before the glass in her petticoat. +"Will you button my dress for me, Lucy? I was waiting for Elizabeth to +come down from her room." + +"Of course I will," said Lucy, taking the fine white frock laid on the +bed and slipping it carefully over Marian's thin little shoulders. "Oh, +Marian, you do look lovely!" she could not help exclaiming when she had +finished the row of tiny buttons. "What a perfectly darling dress that +is." + +"Oh, no," said Marian, laughing at her cousin's burst of enthusiasm, +for she was too used to having numberless pretty clothes, which +her father bought to coax her into an interest in going about, to +think much of them. But Lucy, wandering over to the closet where a +dozen more dresses hung, suddenly became painfully aware of her own +mussed-looking middy blouse and skirt, and of the hair blown about her +face. + +"I'll get dressed myself in a jiffy, Marian," she said, darting into +her own room, where she performed the sometimes neglected function of +dressing for the afternoon with more than usual care. When she came out +ten minutes later and joined Marian down-stairs, her soft fair hair was +smoothly brushed and tied, and she wore a fresh summer dress free from +the ravages made by squirrels' feet. + +"Now, we'll go," she said, leading the way outdoors, as from the +parade behind Colonel's Row the band of the Twenty-Eighth struck up a +lively march. + +Over the broad expanse of green, as Lucy and Marian drew near, twelve +companies were marching in close-ranked lines, for the whole regiment +was on parade, and a crowd of people were gathered about the iron +benches behind the reviewing officer. The women of the Twenty-Eighth, +as well as many of the General Staff officers with their families, +were watching the khaki-colored ranks of well-drilled men as they +swung about in response to the orders heard clearly above the music, +and formed into a long, double line facing the Colonel. As the music +stopped, Lucy's eyes turned from the regiment to the faces of the +people about her, and in their quiet voices and serious eyes she felt +that she read her own and Julia's thoughts, of the few days left for +the Twenty-Eighth to remain in peaceful America. + +Julia had found Lucy and Marian at once, and in a minute the three were +joined by General Matthews' daughter, Anne, who was just home from a +visit and so glad to be back that her jolly, rosy-cheeked face was +aglow with smiles and she gave Marian's little hand a hearty shake of +welcome. Julia had seen but a glimpse of Lucy's cousin the day before, +and now she was prepared to make a thorough acquaintance. + +"I'm so glad you feel better, Marian," she said in a friendly way. +"There's such a lot to see here now, I know you want to be able to do +everything." + +No one could look at Marian's lovely face, framed in its pale gold +curls, and at her delicate, dainty little self without a touch of pity +and liking, and Julia decided in her impulsive mind that if Lucy's +cousin was to remain at the Gordons' all summer, the only thing to do +was to let her share in all their plans and treat her as a friend. + +"Did Lucy tell you what we think, Marian?" she asked when the three +were standing again by themselves, Marian's wide eyes fixed on the +lines of soldiers with a keener interest than she had yet shown. "We +think," Julia lowered her voice, "the Twenty-Eighth is going before +this week is over." + +"Where?" asked Marian quickly, a sudden look of animation in her face, +as she turned at Julia's words. As though in answer to her question the +band burst into life and the regiment began to march. + + "Over there... + Over there..." + +The words sang themselves into the music as the lines swung again into +companies before the Colonel's silent watching figure. + + "For the Yanks are coming... + The Yanks are coming... + And we won't come back + 'Til it's over,--over there!" + +Marian's lips formed the stirring words and her eyes, expressive and +intelligent enough when her interest was aroused, sparkled with swift +understanding. + +"But, Lucy," she asked with a new wonder, "why aren't you sure? Is it a +secret to every one outside of the regiment?" + +"Not quite,--some of the staff officers have to know. But to us it is, +or rather supposed to be, for I'm just as sure of it as though Colonel +Andrews had turned around and told me his orders had come." Lucy spoke +with serious face and lowered voice. + +"Not even the enlisted men know the exact day until within twenty-four +hours of it," added Julia. "The officers only tell them to get ready. +Of course, there's nothing like safety first, but who is there on this +post to be afraid of? Not many enemies, I'm sure." + +"Why, the Gordons have two Germans right in their house," said Marian, +looking at Lucy. + +"Elizabeth and Karl?" asked Lucy, astonished. "Why,--of course they +_are_ Germans by birth, but they've lived years in this country. Karl +has been Father's servant since the Spanish war, Marian, and Elizabeth +thinks we are her own children sometimes, I believe. No matter if they +leave us when we move to a new post they always turn up again and come +back. Oh, I know they're all right." + +"We can't suspect every German we know," agreed Julia. "Look at the +Schneiders, who keep the store on the dock. They were so afraid of +being told to go when war was declared, but General Matthews decided +they might stay. Mrs. Schneider cried on Mother's shoulder when she +heard it, and said she didn't know what would have become of them if +their business had been ruined." + +"We must go home," said Lucy, as the last of the regiment marched away +and the crowd of people began to disperse. "Mother told me not to keep +Marian out long, and the sun is setting as fast as it can. To-morrow +is the first of August. Just think, Julia, how soon Bob graduates! +A whole year earlier than he ought." Lucy bit her lip a second and +turned to meet her friend's bright, understanding eyes. "I can't feel +very glad about it. It's Bob I think of when we watch the Twenty-Eighth +get ready for 'over there.'" + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE MYSTERY OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH + + +Lucy and Julia were sitting on the Gordons' piazza floor filling +comfort kits, while Marian and William sorted out pencils and +shoe-laces and writing paper and safety-pins. All four had stopped +working just now to speak to Mr. Harding, who came out of the house and +sat down by them while he waited for Major Gordon, who had returned +from his office only to start out again. + +"Who are these for?" asked the young officer, looking at the neat +little cloth bags, half-filled with soldiers' luxuries. + +"I don't know exactly, but the Red Cross does," said Lucy, tossing back +her ruffled hair. "I think all we have sent lately are for the New York +troops who join the Rainbow Division." + +"They look pretty nice," commented Mr. Harding. "If I had a sister +nearer than the Philippines I suppose she'd make me one. I might go +across before long myself." + +"Oh, of course you can have one!" cried Lucy delighted. "Let's keep out +that last one, Julia, and make it up separately." + +"How soon do you want it?" asked wily Julia, hoping to hear some news. + +Mr. Harding laughed and glanced at the watch on his wrist. "It's +half-past four now,--I'll give you till six o'clock." + +"Want chocolate in yours?" asked William, looking affectionately at the +shiny brown packages waiting to be distributed among the kits. + +"Don't I though! Sort of like to join the army yourself, wouldn't you?" +inquired Mr. Harding, picking up the little boy and swinging him over +his shoulders until he squealed with excitement. "Look out for your +feet, now. There wouldn't be much left of your cousin if you came down +on top of her," cautioned the young man, setting William down at a safe +distance from Marian's golden head. + +"I wouldn't hurt her,--she's sick," said William with kindly +superiority, catching his breath after his rapid flight through the air. + +"I'm not," said Marian quickly, her blue eyes lighting up, but at sight +of William's funny little air of condescension her lips wavered to a +smile, and for a moment she forgot herself and joined in the others' +laughter. + +"Marian's almost well now, William," said Lucy, to smooth things over, +and Mr. Harding, getting up at sound of a footstep inside the hall, +asked: + +"Can you believe Bob will come home an officer in two weeks, Lucy? I +can't--he seems such a kid." + +"Doesn't he?" said Lucy, pausing thoughtfully in her work, her +brother's tall figure and boyish face before her eyes. "Well, I wish I +were an officer." + +"Lucy," said Mr. Harding, "I think we'll have to make you Captain by +courtesy of the Twenty-Eighth. Would you like that?" + +"Would I!" exclaimed Lucy, her eyes shining. "Oh, you are joking." + +"Never more serious in my life," said Mr. Harding, his eyes +twinkling, as he came to a stiff salute. "Captain Lucy!" And Lucy, a +little breathless and self-conscious, returned it amid the pleased +exclamations of the two girls and William. + +"Here's the Major, so good-bye." Mr. Harding waved his cap with a smile +and turned to join the older officer who came out of the house, papers +in hand. + +"All good little war workers, aren't you?" remarked Major Gordon, +feeling for his glasses. "Come along, Harding," and the two set off +briskly down the walk. + +Lucy, aglow with the realization of the honor which had just been +conferred upon her, scrambled over to pick up the kit reserved for her +friend, when through the window opening on the piazza appeared Karl's +bushy, black head and heated face. + +"Your mother not back yet from town, Miss Lucy?" he inquired. + +"No, she isn't, Karl. What's the matter?" + +"I not disturb the Major," explained Karl volubly, "but without an +order I can nothing from the dispensary get, and Elizabeth feel very +bad." + +"Oh, does her tooth ache again? I'm awfully sorry," cried Lucy, jumping +to her feet. "I'll go and speak to her, Karl." + +Lucy ran indoors and up to the little dormer-windowed rooms on the +third floor. Elizabeth lay on her bed, her aching cheek buried in the +pillow and a heavy down-quilt spread over her, notwithstanding the +day's sultry heat. In spite of her pain she managed a faint smile and a +murmur of welcome as Lucy dropped to her knees beside her. + +"It's too bad, Elizabeth! Just tell me what to get, and I'll go right +over to the dispensary. Perhaps I'd better ask the steward there what +is best for a toothache. He'll know. But first, I'll bring you Mother's +hot-water bottle." + +"Oh, Miss Lucy, it is good so!" sighed poor Elizabeth gratefully, when +the hot bag was pressed against her burning face. "I never have such an +ache,--never." + +"Well, stay right there while I go after something for it," said Lucy +hopefully, and she made for the stairs, down which she ran at headlong +speed. + +"Is Elizabeth very sick, Lucy?" asked William, running anxiously up +when his sister reappeared on the piazza. The kind, affectionate German +woman was a friend to all the Gordon household. + +"No, William, but I'm going over to the dispensary after something for +her. I'll be right back, Julia," she added, turning to the two girls +who were tying up the last of the comfort kits. + +"All right. Don't rush around so fast, Lucy. You'll blow up some day," +remarked Julia, peaceably fastening a tape. "I have to go home anyhow." + +Ten minutes later Lucy returned armed with a little bottle and a +camel's-hair brush, and met her mother in front of the steps. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you are back, Mother. Do come up and see Elizabeth +when you get your things off, won't you?" and Lucy drew her mother into +the house, relieved at the arrival of efficient help and advice. + +Mrs. Gordon managed before long to make Elizabeth as comfortable as an +aching tooth would allow, and sent Lucy down to fill some of the gaps +in the housekeeping arrangements. + +"I'll finish with Mr. Harding's kit in a few minutes," Lucy said to +Marian while she was giving William his supper, "and Mat can take it +over to the Bachelor's Quarters." + +Mat was the Gordons' good-conduct or "parole" man, one of whom is +allotted to the service of each officer, from the military prison on +the post, that they may earn a little money before their term expires. + +"I'm going to put some postal cards in the kit, addressed to me," Lucy +added, speaking a little doubtfully. "Perhaps he'll laugh, but we're +all so anxious to hear news after they go, and it will be easy enough +for him to mail one." + +"I think it's a fine idea," said Marian, leaning her elbows on the +dining-room table while she listened with more animation in her pretty +face than was often seen there. "Wouldn't it be queer to have them come +back to you from nobody knows where?" + +"You could tell by the postmark," remarked William practically, between +spoonfuls of crackers and milk. + +Lucy laughed, but she whispered to Marian, "Let's not talk about it any +more, now," remembering William's gaping ears and her own assurance +to Mr. Harding that her surmises about their departure would go no +further. + +Mrs. Gordon stayed for some time longer with Elizabeth, and when she +did come down she heard Lucy moving about inside her room, and stopped +at the door. + +"Here's a letter I had from Bob, Lucy. I know you wish to read it. I +met the postman on the boat." + +"Oh, thanks, Mother," said Lucy, letting her hair, which she held ready +to tie, fall back over her shoulders as she took the envelope eagerly +from Mrs. Gordon's hand. She snatched out the letter and sank down on +her sofa by the window to read in comfort. + +"Of course you're all coming up for graduation," Bob wrote. "Don't +forget how soon it is,--I can't remember it myself. If you don't hear +from me before then it's only because we have so much to do that no day +is half long enough. In these few months since war was declared they +have been trying to put most of next year's work into our heads, as +well as some of the new things the Allies have learned about fighting. +Besides all that, I have helped edit this year's 'Howitzer.' We've +combined the real class of '17 and our own class into one book, with +their consent,--since we graduate only four months after they do. It's +going to be a corker, too. I had my picture taken last week for it, +and will send you one, if Lucy won't still say my hair looks like a +scrubbing-brush. + +"I'm awfully glad to get your letters, even if I don't write, and I'm +crazy to see you all again. We spend most of the time we have, which +isn't much, wondering what we'll do after graduation, and every one +has his own little idea of what will happen to him,--nothing dull for +any of us, I expect. Only we don't know anything for certain except +the good news that we graduate in two weeks, so we're feeling like the +fellow in the song who says, 'Oh, joy! Oh, boy! Where do we go from +here?' + +"I know this much, anyway, that I'm coming to Governor's Island before +I go anywhere else, and see everybody and take it mighty easy for a +day or two, if I never can again. We are working here, believe me! I +was going to say working like dogs, but the only dog around barracks +lies in the sun all day and catches flies while we're wearing ourselves +to skin and bone. We call him General. Don't take that about the work +seriously, Mother. I never felt better in my life. Tell Lucy there's +plenty of time for another box of fudge to get here before we leave. +Yes, I noticed what she said about her commission in the Twenty-Eighth. +Tell her she can't boss me, though. + +"Write me just when to expect you up, and everybody come,--you and Dad +and Lucy and William, and Marian whether she wants to or not. + +"Good-bye and lots of love from + + "BOB." + + +Lucy read the letter through twice, and then sat thoughtfully +motionless with it in her hand, while from the parade came the sound of +music as some of the companies drilling late marched back to barracks. + +This home-coming of Bob's, so brief and uncertain, to last perhaps +twenty-four hours,--a week at most, her father thought,--how different +it was from the graduation leave she and Bob had planned together. The +one that would have come next summer and given him three long months to +spend at home before he joined his regiment. Lucy loved to make plans, +and she had looked forward to her brother's graduation leave since his +second class furlough a year ago. She had decided that she would be old +enough to go nearly everywhere Bob went, by that time, for she would +be fifteen the same month that Bob would be twenty-one. And now how +far off all those things seemed, and how different from reality. Where +would Bob be, anyway, a year from now, if the war still went on? + +She sat up from among the pillows and folded the letter carefully. Not +to borrow trouble is a motto often needed in a soldier's household, +and none of the Gordons indulged for long in gloomy ponderings. It was +growing dark, too, and Major Gordon was coming up the walk, so dinner +would soon be ready. + +Lucy did not shake off her thoughtfulness, though, all the evening, +even while she discussed the coming trip to West Point cheerfully +enough with the rest of the family, and persuaded Marian that she would +enjoy herself enough to make up for being tired by the unusual effort. +But after she and Marian were in bed she lay long awake, until Taps +sounded sweet and clear from the parade and all the house was quiet. +Then she did fall gradually asleep, and off into long dreams that +lasted until a step outside in the hall made her start suddenly awake. +The footsteps turned toward the upper stairs and Lucy, wide awake now, +jumped up and ran to the door. + +"Is it you, Elizabeth?" she asked softly, peering into the darkness. +"What's the matter? Are you worse?" + +A dim little figure in a flannel wrapper approached her and Elizabeth's +voice whispered, "No, no, Miss Lucy, much better, but I go down for +little hot water. I feel good so, with the warm poultice on my face." + +"Can't I do anything? I'd like to," Lucy offered, but Elizabeth +whispered: + +"No, thank you. It was too bad I wake you up. Go back to bed now." She +gave her a little push inside the door, and Lucy got into bed, feeling +terribly sleepy. But as she turned over the pillow and closed her eyes, +all at once she raised her head and stopped breathing to listen. + +Outside, somewhere--what was happening, anyway? Something more than the +measured tread of the sentry walking slowly along the line. The dim, +vague sound was like hundreds of footsteps, muffled and uneven, but +moving steadily along. + +With fast-beating heart Lucy got up once more, and, raising a screen, +put her head out of the window to listen. Beyond the lighted walk the +shadowy trees stirred a little in the night air, but nothing else took +shape to form the substance of those footsteps that, still swelling in +numbers, sounded faintly but unmistakably on Lucy's ears. + +"They're behind the Headquarters Building--on the road to the dock," +she guessed, wildly trying to collect her thoughts. Then with a sudden +decision she quietly lowered the screen and, running softly across the +room, began to dress herself hurriedly in the darkness. + +Mrs. Gordon's room was at the other end of the hall, and all Lucy's +care had been not to wake Marian, for the door between their two rooms +was wide open. But as she struggled with refractory shoe-strings +she remembered Marian's eager interest of the last few days, and +her questions which, while their ignorance of army matters had made +Lucy and Julia laugh, were still a welcome change from her weary +indifference. + +"I don't care if she is delicate," thought Lucy, defiantly. "I don't +believe it will hurt her one bit, and I can't be so mean as not to tell +her." + +With one shoe on she tiptoed into Marian's room and dropped down on the +bed beside her. "Marian!" she whispered, giving her cousin's slender +little shoulder a vigorous shake that made her start upright in bed +with a frightened gasp. + +"Oh, who is it? Lucy, is it you?" + +"Yes, and the Twenty-Eighth is leaving! Right now,--I hear them +marching by. I'm going down to see them off, and you can come if you +like,--only I don't think you'd better." + +Lucy's caution came rather late to be of much use. Marian was out +of bed in a second, and getting into her clothes with a remarkable +disregard for convenience and comfort. + +"Just tie your hair with a ribbon;--I did," urged Lucy, finishing her +shoes, "and hurry, Marian! What if we should miss them!" + +"I am hurrying," said Marian. + +Lucy felt suddenly enraged at her calmness, and almost wished she had +let her sleep on undisturbed. But very soon Marian joined her fully +dressed, and as the clock below struck three, the two girls tiptoed +down-stairs and out by the unlocked front door. + +An army post at night is unlike any other place in the feeling of +complete security it gives. This feeling leads the officers to leave +their doors and windows always unfastened, and to allow their children +to wander freely about on summer evenings. The post is a little world +carefully administered, where every inhabitant is known and has his +place, and the soldiers are the time-honored friends of the army +children. + +Lucy looked over toward the Houstons' as she and Marian hurried along, +wishing with all her might that Julia were awake. There was no moon, +but the sky was bright with stars and the air clear and warm, though +Marian shivered with nervous excitement, and her arm shook against the +one Lucy had thrust through hers. + +At the head of the slope above the dock the two stopped, panting, with +a murmur of voices and the never-ending sound of moving feet still in +their ears, and stared motionless at the scene revealed dimly below. +The whole regiment was assembled on the dock in the starlight; a +moving mass of men, at work over piles of bags and boxes, or standing +at ease by their rifles, their outlines bulky with the burden of their +field equipment, while alongside the dock three big government tugs +were waiting with steam up. + +For a moment the two girls stood looking down at the men who were going +away in darkness and silence to their duty, with no inspiring music +for them, nor wives and children to wave them good-bye, for the women +of the Twenty-Eighth had obeyed Colonel Andrew's request that the +partings be at home, to let the regiment get off quickly and in greater +safety. But in another minute Lucy pulled Marian after her down the +walk, until they were on the fringe of the great crowd of soldiers. +One or two looked around at them in surprise, but Lucy hardly saw or +heeded them. Her heart was swelling with generous emotion, and her +throat ached intolerably with longing to do something,--anything,--for +the aid and comfort, or at least the encouragement of these men of the +Twenty-Eighth, so soon to share in the Allies' pain and glory. + +But already the gangways were laid and the men filing down them, while +others jumped from the wharf upon the decks. They moved without loud +commands, as they had marched from barracks, and only a few low voices +broke the stillness of the early morning, that sleepy time when even +the harbor is almost clear of shipping, and the big city nearly dark. + +Suddenly Lucy caught sight of a tall figure standing at the bow of the +nearest boat, and without a word she made a rush in its direction, +Marian following blindly. Already curious glances were peering at the +two children out of the dimness, and Lucy's heart beat with fear that +they might be obliged to go before she could bid even this friend +good-bye. She stole up cautiously and laid a timid hand on the young +officer's arm. + +"Mr. Harding," she faltered, "haven't you time to tell us good-bye?" + +"Why, Captain Lucy, what on earth,--well, I might have known you'd +guess it somehow!" exclaimed the young man, startled but laughing +softly as he gave Lucy's hand a hearty clasp. "And Marian got up too? +Well, you're a couple of imps, but all the same I can't help being glad +to see you. And many, many thanks for the comfort kit. I never thought +you'd really get it there in time." + +"I put in some postal cards addressed to me," Lucy whispered. "Won't +you please send back one when you get over there?" + +"Of course I will, Lucy," he promised, glancing round at the boat, +which was now filled to overflowing with men and equipment, and ready +to put off. "I have to go now, but you'll never know how good it +seemed to have some 'family' here at the last minute, and I won't +forget to write." + +He put one arm about Lucy's shoulders and gave her an affectionate hug, +while Lucy, feeling the burden of the war descending heavily upon her, +swallowed hard and trusted to the darkness to hide the tears in her +eyes. "I'll take care of Bob when he comes," he said in her ear. He +gave her a salute, then with a laugh waved his cap for a last good-bye, +and jumped on board at the heels of the battalion. + +When the boats had moved off through the shadows Lucy and Marian stole +quickly home and crept back into the house like timid burglars. + +Once up-stairs, Lucy, suddenly grown anxious and remorseful about +Marian, helped her cousin to undress and get back to bed, devoutly +hoping that no harm would result from her impulsive act. Marian was +very silent, but when Lucy turned at last to leave her she whispered +from the pillow, "Lucy, I'm glad you waked me," and Lucy, stopping to +answer her, felt it a plentiful return for her own kindness to know +that Marian had forgotten everything else just then but the wonderful +scene they had watched together. + +In spite of heavy and conflicting thoughts and fears Lucy soon went +to sleep and only woke in bright sunlight as the clock was striking +seven. She sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes, with a sudden weight on +her conscience and a desire to get rid of it as quickly as possible. + +Her kimono and slippers were within reach, and she put them on and ran +down the hall into her mother's room. + +"Why, good-morning, Lucy; you're an early bird. I was just going to get +up myself," said Mrs. Gordon, propping her head up on her elbow as Lucy +plumped down beside her on the bed and gave her a good-morning kiss. + +"Well, I have something to tell you, and I thought the sooner the +better," explained Lucy. "Perhaps you won't like it much, Mother, but I +hope you won't mind." + +"Why, what in the world is it?" asked Mrs. Gordon, looking puzzled. + +"The Twenty-Eighth sailed last night," said Lucy, talking very fast. +"You know Father wouldn't tell us a word, but we guessed it somehow. +And last night Elizabeth woke me up walking around, and while I was +awake I heard the men marching and I woke Marian, and we went down to +the dock and saw them off." + +"Lucy,--the Twenty-Eighth gone! and you went down in the night?" cried +Mrs. Gordon, astonished. + +"I know, Mother, I ought to have asked you, but I was so awfully afraid +they would get away before you or Father could decide to let me go." + +"But Marian--you took her too?" + +"It didn't hurt her one bit, Mother. She is sound asleep now,--I just +looked at her on my way out. And she wanted so to see them go. We had +talked about it--she and Julia and I. Poor Julia didn't see them after +all, so I thought Marian might. And, Mother, we were the only ones to +guess,--outside of the people in the regiment, I mean,--and we saw Mr. +Harding and told him good-bye." + +"Why, Lucy, I'm so surprised I don't know whether I am angry or not. I +know you didn't mean any harm, but I don't like your stealing out like +that. To think that the Twenty-Eighth has gone so soon! Your father +didn't say a word about it." + +"I'll promise not to go again without telling you, so won't you forgive +me this time?" Lucy pleaded. "And, Mother, Mr. Harding said he would +write us from the other side, and he promised that when Bob goes over +he will take care of him." + +"If he only could," sighed Mrs. Gordon, her thoughts too full for +further reproof of her independent little daughter. "Dick Harding was +here only yesterday,--I'm glad you did see him to tell him good-bye. +He must have wondered how you got there." + +"Hardly anybody saw us. We were there only a little while, and they +were all so busy. I just had to see them go, Mother, and you would have +felt the same way if you had heard them marching in the night." + +"Well, dear, I do know how you felt, and I forgive you, but let's pray +it doesn't do Marian any harm. Now let me get up, for I want to see how +Elizabeth is this morning. There must be many on the post who didn't +sleep much last night!" + +Lucy got off the bed, and standing thoughtfully by the window, looked +over toward the Infantry quarters beyond the parade and watched an +early airplane skimming over them. + +Marian did not come down to breakfast, and at the table nothing was +said about the departure of the regiment, for Major Gordon discouraged +any war talk or discussion of army matters at meal time. But afterward +Mrs. Gordon followed her husband into his study, while Lucy was +speaking to Elizabeth. + +"James, to think I never knew of the Twenty-Eighth leaving," she said +reproachfully. + +Major Gordon stopped lighting his pipe to ask in surprise, "What, have +you heard it already?" + +"Earlier than this. Do you know Lucy and Marian went down to the dock +to see them off? They heard them marching by and guessed who it was." + +"Great Caesar!" exclaimed Major Gordon, who was a stickler for regular +hours and undisturbed sleep for children, and who was more annoyed by +Lucy's escapade than appreciative of her patriotism. "What's got into +that child, anyway?" + +"Oh, she just wanted to see them," said Mrs. Gordon smiling. "I don't +think there was any great harm done. But of course she ought to have +asked me." + +"She took Marian along, you say? Are you sure she's none the worse for +it?" + +"It didn't hurt her a speck, Father," said Lucy, who had stolen in +and up to her father's side. "Please don't be angry, because Mother +has forgiven me and it was such a wonderful thing to see. Marian is +sleeping like a top. I'm going to wake her up in a minute." + +Major Gordon blew some short puffs of smoke from his pipe and shook +his head at Lucy, but he ended by laying a hand on her shoulder and +saying relentingly, "Well, we'll have to let it go this time, because +I must be off, and if your mother and you don't tell me now what time +you will be able to start for West Point next week I'll be too late in +telegraphing the hotel." + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + LIEUTENANT BOB + + +It didn't seem possible to Lucy that Bob's graduation was but a few +days off, and the long four-year course, that had seemed never ending, +shortened to three years and already over. And before she had got used +to thinking about it the day before graduation had come and they were +on their way. + +The island had seemed almost deserted without the men of the +Twenty-Eighth, though some companies of Infantry from Fort Slocum had +already arrived to replace them, together with a new lot of recruits +in such great numbers that the temporary barracks on the new land were +filled to overflowing. But still the regiment was sadly missed, even +among these new activities, by many besides the families belonging to +it, and the war once more was brought nearer home to the people of the +post. + +West Point, in the whirl of graduation week, was brimming with activity +and alive with visitors from every part of the country. Hardly a first +classman but had some member of his family come to see him receive +his diploma, and many had a little crowd made up of parents and +young brothers and sisters, full of eager pride and interest in their +son's and brother's new honors. All over the broad parades and along +the shady paths by the river cadets were walking with their friends +from home, or friends from near at hand, enjoying their day or two +of comparative leisure after the hard laborious grind of their daily +lives. Officers, visiting officials, women and girls in their brightest +summer finery, mingled with the ever-present gray, brass-buttoned coat +and white trousered uniform of the corps, but in the midst of the life +and gayety of a lot of young people gathered together many minds this +year were thoughtful, and many hearts anxious and heavy. + +Bob Gordon, in four months risen from second classman to first classman +and now to second lieutenant, was too enormously interested in all +these changes, with their strange and wonderful possibilities, to feel +serious all the time, especially with his long three years at West +Point over, graduation so suddenly come and his family there to see it +and to hear the hundred things he had not had time to write about. + +"It's great to see you all here," he said twenty times a day. + +It was true that when the hour for graduation exercises came, when +he and his classmates received their diplomas from the hands of the +Secretary of War, who in April had presented theirs to the real class +of 1917 with the same simple ceremony, most of Bob's fellow graduates +paused to think how many of that class had already followed General +Pershing to the battle-field. The Secretary's address, always direct +and brief, this year became suddenly true and real and vivid as he +spoke, summoning the old ideals of the corps, and listening, Bob saw +the heights of patriotism and sacrifice no longer dimly splendid +but close at hand, and that hour near when every ounce of valor and +endurance would be sorely needed which the twenty-year-old lieutenant +could summon to his service. + +Even "Benny Havens'" familiar words were changed to the singers and +quickened into life. + + "May we find a soldier's resting-place, beneath a soldier's blow, + With room enough beside our grave for Benny Havens, oh!" + +But after it was over, Bob's gay smile chased away the shadow from his +parents' eyes in the moment he came to shake hands and be congratulated +before he hurried off to say a hundred good-byes. + +They were all to leave West Point by the noon train on graduation day, +and Lucy could hardly wait with reasonable patience to get Bob safely +home. + +"I'm afraid something or other might change their minds about your +leave," she explained apologetically. "Though I suppose they could do +it just as well after you get home." + +"Just exactly," said Bob laughing. + +Lucy made no secret of her devotion to her brother, and neither did he +of returning it. Lucy was young for her age, and part of the reason +was that Bob had always made a pet of his little sister, but Lucy, on +the other hand, had got him out of scrapes and begged off punishments +for him from the time she was four and could just manage to make her +father understand her pleadings when Bob's ten-year-old naughtiness +had come to grief. Though they were six years apart they had grown +up companionably together, and had hardly known a parting until Bob +became a West Pointer. And now Lucy dreaded and tried not to think of +the parting to come. In her ears as in her mother's, the Secretary of +War's stirring words had struck more heavily than on those of the boys +themselves. Duty--Honor--Country,--this is the shield of West Point, +and it must often be borne by others than those who have grown to +manhood within its walls. + +One thing distracted Lucy from her absorption in Bob and his affairs. +During the two days the Gordons spent at the Military Academy, Marian +walked farther than she had done since coming to Governor's Island. +Mrs. Gordon had tried in vain there to induce her to take a little +daily exercise which could be gradually increased until she became as +strong and active as other children. Marian could not be forced to do +what she did not want to by anything short of real brutality, and she +had steadily refused to make the effort Mrs. Gordon urged, though her +manner of refusal always kept the ghost of politeness even in her most +disobedient moments. But once her interest was aroused, as Lucy had +already found out, her weariness could be resolutely overcome, and Bob, +expecting to see a little invalid, had been agreeably surprised to find +his cousin as keen to see everything he had to show as were any of the +family, as well as very ornamental and charming in her lovely frocks +and with the new-found animation in her face. She did not talk much, +but then she did not often have a chance, with Bob and Lucy always +chattering. William, like herself, was nearly speechless, and had +trotted along beside the others with eyes and ears wide open, thrilled +and happy, and missing nothing around him. + +They were all together on the train as far as New York for the +homeward journey, but there Bob left them for some parting class +festivities. The whole of 1918 had dinner and went to a play together, +and afterward said good-bye again. Then Bob caught the last boat to +Governor's Island, and almost fell asleep while his mother was tucking +him in bed. + +It was after ten next morning when Lucy, tiptoeing past Bob's door, +heard footsteps inside. The door opened and a tall, touzle-headed +figure in a gray bathrobe came out indulging in a prolonged stretch. + +"Hello, Lucy! What time is it? Gee, but I had a great sleep." + +"Oh, it's late, but we wanted you to sleep a lot. Hurry up now, though, +won't you, Bob, and put on your uniform?" urged Lucy, dying with +curiosity to see Bob a lieutenant. "I'll see that your breakfast's all +ready," she added as an inducement to speed. + +"All right,--have plenty of it," suggested Bob, moving off in the +direction of the tub. + +"Oh, Elizabeth, come look who's here!" called Lucy over the bannister +as she heard footsteps on the stairs. + +"Mr. Bob!" cried Elizabeth with beaming face, as she hurried up the +stairs, broom in hand, and almost fell on Bob's neck in her excitement. +"Oh, it was fine to have you home again!" + +"It's pretty nice for me, too," grinned Bob, giving her hand a warm, +friendly shake. "Karl make any more of those fluffy muffins now, +Elizabeth?" + +"So soon I hear how you came last night, I tell him we will have +muffins for breakfast," said Elizabeth, nodding her head with calm +satisfaction at her own forethought. "There's plenty left, so get +dressed, Mr. Bob. William would like to wake you up since seven +o'clock." + +"All right, I won't be a jiffy," promised Bob, disappearing around the +corner. + +An officer's olive-drab service uniform is not very brilliant or +striking, and Bob had seen lots of them all his life, but when +he walked into the dining-room wearing one, not all the ohs and +exclamations from Lucy, Marian, William, Elizabeth and finally his +mother when she came into the room seemed a bit unnecessary or out of +place. Even Karl, at the doorway for a greeting and scanning Bob with +keen, intelligent eyes, gave a quick nod of approval, and Karl's praise +was not to be despised, for he had seen plenty of soldiering in his +youth. If Major Gordon had been there, no doubt he would have been just +as proud of that uniform, though he never missed an opportunity to take +off his own and change into "cits" when he left the post. + +Bob sat down finally and began to eat his breakfast with a naturally +good appetite which had been sharpened by years of early rising and +hard work. It was encouraged, too, by every one around him with such +suggestions as: + +"Here's some raspberry jam, Bob. Put it on the muffins." + +"A little more bacon, I guess, now, Mr. Bob? And a poached egg?" + +"Look here," Bob remarked at last in self-defense, "if I eat like this +for a week I'll have to buy new uniforms, and I can't afford to." + +"Oh, pooh, it wouldn't hurt you to gain a few pounds," scoffed +Lucy, looking at Bob's long legs sprawled under the table in their +close-fitting breeches and shining leather leggings. + +The War Department granted to the graduates of the class of 1918 a +week's leave, but reserved the privilege of curtailing it by further +orders. This reservation took away a good share of Lucy's pleasure in +Bob's company, and kept her from planning anything with real enjoyment. +It made Bob feel, as he described it, like a train on a time-table +marked, "Subject to change without notice." + +Bob lingered over his breakfast, enjoying to the full the right to +get up when he pleased and decide leisurely what he wanted to do. But +presently the whir of an airplane passing over the house made him jump +nimbly up and run outdoors. + +"That's where I'm going this morning," he declared, following the +diminishing speck with eager eyes. "I want to see the aviation school. +It's on the new land beyond the Infantry Quarters, isn't it, Lucy?" + +"Yes, over by the sea-wall. But don't go and get crazy about aviation, +Bob, the way all the young officers do," frowned Lucy, who shared the +popular delusion that aviation is the most dangerous arm of the service +in war. + +Bob had followed his father and chosen Infantry. He had graduated +fairly high and might have had Coast or Field Artillery, but a general +impression that Infantry was most wanted in France had led to a sudden +rush for it by the two classes graduated in 1917. + +"I won't ask to be transferred to-day, anyhow," said Bob, looking down +from the clouds. "But there's not much harm in watching them fly, do +you think, Lucy? Want to come, William?" + +"Yes!" said William, so delighted at the prospect of going around with +his brother that he turned a somersault on the grass while he waited to +start. + +"We'll walk over with you,--shall we, Marian? We're not supposed to go +on the field, but we can go as far as the edge of it and bring William +back." + +Marian looked doubtful and asked, "How far is it?" without much +enthusiasm, but Bob said decisively: + +"Oh, come along, Marian! Nothing could be far on this little island. +You look as though Lucy were starting you on a voyage of discovery. +Come on, don't sit home and mope,--no wonder you don't eat anything." + +Marian laughed and went slowly in for her hat, while William, overcome +with impatience, tugged at his brother's hand and called them all +dreadful slowpokes. + +The aviation field was of course no great distance away, as the whole +of Governor's Island, including the reclaimed land, measures hardly +three miles around. A walk across the wide parade to the Infantry +Quarters on Brick Row brought them within sight of it, and, turning +to the left with quickening footsteps as Bob's interest grew keener, +they came in a moment to the long stretch of level, grassy ground that +borders the sea-wall. + +All the way across the parade, Bob had made Lucy and Marian laugh at +his stories of the cadets' desperate efforts to put variety into their +hard-working lives. Bob had done his best to help his classmates enjoy +life, in lawful as well as unlawful ways, and had written a play to be +acted for the amusement of the camp which had been a wonderful success +even if it had cost him a good many hours of study. The jokes which +he repeated from it were all pure West Point fun, most of them true +occurrences and rather unintelligible to an outsider, but Lucy had been +up there enough to understand them pretty well, and Marian guessed a +good deal, with a sharpness no one gave her credit for. + +But as soon as they neared the aviation field Bob grew silent and had +no eyes for anything but the big shelter sheds at one end, and the +group of men gathered about a machine they had just rolled out of one +of them. He took leave of his companions with quite unflattering haste, +saying, "Well, good-bye, and thanks for coming with me. I'll be back +before lunch." + +He waved his cap and walked on, while Lucy grabbed William's unwilling +hand as he started to follow and explained, "You know you mayn't go +there. You're not an officer. Be good, William, please!" + +"Well, I'm not a girl!" shouted William indignantly, then forgot his +anger at sight of a big biplane that came swooping down upon the field +and ran swiftly on its little wheels to the open mouth of the hangar. + +"Oh, what a beauty!" said Lucy with shining eyes. "I don't wonder Bob +loves them. Come on, Marian, we might as well get Julia and go to the +Red Cross a little while." + +At lunch-time, Bob reappeared, terribly hungry and in fine spirits. + +"I found Captain Evans out there, Father," he said as they sat down to +the table. "He came yesterday to join that new battalion from Fort +Slocum. And Captain Brent is here too, isn't he? I didn't know he'd +gone in for aviation. I remember him at Fort Leavenworth when he used +to play with us kids just after he graduated. He's a fine fellow. Give +me some bread, please, Karl. I sure am hungry." + +After luncheon, when they were all gathered on the piazza for the +few minutes before Major Gordon returned to his office, Marian said +suddenly to Bob, "Karl looks at you as if he wished he had on a uniform +himself." + +"Perhaps he does," said Bob grinning. "Oh, he's as German as the +Kaiser, but what cream-puffs he can make!" Bob had just eaten three of +them. + +"Think they have softened his heart, Bob,--is that the idea?" asked +Major Gordon, lighting his pipe. + +"No,--but they have softened mine toward him. Before I went to West +Point I used to hate his self-satisfied ways, but whenever I ate one +of his cream-puffs I didn't so much blame him." + +"I don't think I ever remember your eating _one_," remarked Lucy +thoughtfully. + +Bob laughed, then said as his father rose, "I'm going to walk to +Headquarters with you, Father. Then I'm going to play a round of golf +with Lucy, though she didn't know it until now, and after that I'm +going over to see Captain Brent a little while. I want to ask him about +a million things." + +Toward four o'clock of that afternoon, when the squad of recruits +drilling on the hot parade began to look longingly toward the +descending sun and listen eagerly for the bugler sounding recall, Bob +walked home at a slow and thoughtful pace. William and Teddy Matthews +were playing on the grass by the piazza and rushed to welcome him back, +but when he left them and entered the house he found it quite deserted. +Lucy and her mother were out giving some of the invitations for a party +in Bob's honor to include Julia and the girls and boys Lucy's age as +well as the older girls and young officers. Marian was taking a nap +up-stairs, honestly tired out. Bob went into the kitchen and found +Elizabeth's little figure bending over the oven. + +"How are you, Elizabeth? Did the dentist hurt much?" he asked, perching +on the kitchen table and carefully removing a handkerchief wrapped +about his thumb. + +"Oh, not so much, Mr. Bob," said Elizabeth, straightening up with a +quick smile. "But what was wrong with your hand?" she inquired, the +smile fading as she caught sight of Bob's bruised and swollen thumb. + +"I squeezed it,--in a door," explained Bob, trying to wiggle it +and stopping short. "Ouch, it's stiff. Suppose you could do anything to +keep me from losing the nail, Elizabeth? What a bother!" + +"Sure could I," said Elizabeth, whose English grew worse when she was +excited, taking the injured hand in hers and examining it closely. +"Stay here until I cold water bring." She ran for a bowl of water, into +which she slipped a piece of ice. "Now,--put your hand in, so. I will +see what I can get up-stairs." + +Bob sat with his thumb in the ice-water, and felt the ache gradually +lessen until Elizabeth came down again with witch-hazel and a strip of +bandage. + +"Now I will wrap you up good. It is a little better, yes? Oh, it will +not be so bad." + +"You're a brick, Elizabeth. What should I have done without you?" said +Bob gratefully, looking at the little German woman's eager, sympathetic +face and feeling her nimble, gentle hands as they wrapped up his sore +thumb in a cool, wet covering. + +Elizabeth laughed, fastening the tail of the bandage about his wrist. +"Oh, Mr. Bob, how you used to get mad at me when I tell you to wash +your hands! You remember?" + +"Don't I, though? Wasn't I a bad little kid! William is a lot better." + +"You were not bad at all," said Elizabeth quickly. "Your mother has +not one bad child got, but boys are always plenty of trouble. I not +forget, though, when I was so long sick at Leavenworth, how you came +and sat with me, and stayed in from your play when I was all alone, +while I told you little stories of old Germany." She looked up at Bob +with eyes full of affection, as though she still saw in the tall young +officer before her the kind little boy she had known. + +"Did I, Elizabeth?" asked Bob, smiling. "Thanks ever so much for fixing +me up," he added as he examined the neat bandage with approving eyes. +"I declare, it feels nearly all right again." + +Bob went back to the dining-room. Then, hearing voices from his +father's study, he went there and found Karl bowing and departing after +a conversation with Major Gordon. + +"Hello, Dad, I didn't know you were here," he said, sitting down near +his father's desk. + +"I came in just a few minutes ago. I was rather anxious to hear about +you. Well, did they let you fly?" + +"You bet they did. Captain Brent was as nice as possible about it. He +took me up as his passenger. We flew all around the island and over the +Statue of Liberty. Dad, it's great!" + +"What happened to your hand?" inquired the Major, without any great +enthusiasm in his face. + +"Oh, just stupid of me. I was so busy watching the plane rolled out +that I got my thumb caught in the shed door. I didn't feel it much +then, but it swelled afterward, and Elizabeth just tied it up for me." + +"Well, don't go up again just now, Bob, will you? And we needn't +mention it to your mother." + +"All right, Dad. But what I really wanted to ask you is this. How do +you feel about Karl living here since we are at war? Of course he's not +a reservist and past the age for military service, but I'm blessed if +he looks like anything but a German to me, even if he has been so long +with us. Don't you think they could use him for something in the spy +line?" + +"No doubt they could," returned Major Gordon, "although I don't think +Karl's brains are of the acute order to make a valuable spy. But I've +thought the situation over for some time, and I feel about the way you +do. In fact, Karl and I were talking things over just before you came +in, and he quite sensibly said he had decided that he and his wife +would be more comfortable for the duration of the war if they went to a +neutral country." + +"There aren't very many he can get to. Does he mean Mexico?" + +"Probably. I didn't question him about it very closely. But wait until +I have to tell your mother and the children that Elizabeth is going, +too. She doesn't know it yet herself, but of course she won't leave +Karl." + +"Where's Bob?" called Lucy's voice from the hall, with the sudden sound +of footsteps. "Oh, here you are!" she answered for herself, entering +the study flushed and warm after their sunny walk about the post. + +"Why, what's happened to your thumb, Bob?" asked Mrs. Gordon from the +doorway, coming forward as she caught sight of Bob's bandaged hand. + +"Nothing much, Mother," Bob reassured her. "I squeezed it in the door +of the aviation shed and it hurt a little, so Elizabeth tied it up." + +"Are you sure it doesn't hurt now?" insisted Lucy, touching it gingerly. + +"Not a bit." + +"I must go out and speak to Karl about our little party," said Mrs. +Gordon, picking up her parasol and turning toward the door. + +"Were you at the aviation field again this afternoon?" asked Lucy, +curiously. "I thought you were at the Bachelor's Quarters with Mr. +Brent." + +"I met him there," explained Bob, "but we went out afterward." + +"And went to the aviation field?" Lucy's eyes were fixed so hard on her +brother's face that he wanted to laugh as she went on with deliberate +certainty, "I know--now. You went to fly. Why wouldn't you tell me?" + +"Sh-h! I would have told you, but Dad thought Mother might worry about +it," said Bob, smiling at Lucy's big, reproachful eyes and the little, +worried frown between her brows. "There wasn't any danger, anyway, was +there, Dad? They go up here every day, and there has been only one +serious accident since the school commenced." + +"Oh, Bob, wasn't it great?" cried Lucy, forgetting her fears in her own +longings to share one of the many flights she had watched. "Were you in +the one that flew over the harbor an hour ago?" + +"I guess so. We were up at about that time. It didn't seem a minute +that we were flying." Bob's face grew bright again at the thrilling +remembrance, and he turned eagerly to his father. "How can any one say, +Dad, that this war hasn't the chances for heroism that other wars had? +When you can be an airman--well, you know what I mean,--you can do +anything." + +Major Gordon tapped his pencil thoughtfully against his palm. "If you +have that particular kind of grit and steady endurance. Otherwise, you +can serve your country much better on the ground." + +"Dad, you're a regular wet-blanket," said Bob with a grin. "I guess I'd +better make a good infantryman first,--is that it?" + +Lucy had slipped her arm through Bob's and stood looking at him in +anxious silence. Two days of leave were over, and it seemed such a +little bit of a while remaining before Bob joined his regiment at Fort +Totten. And that regiment, as everybody knew, was in fine trim and +daily awaiting orders for the other side. Lucy scorned to wish Bob +transferred to any other, but now she vaguely wondered whether a change +to aviation would keep him longer from the battle-front, and what the +difference in his life would be. + +"Come on, Captain Lucy. Let's go find Mother," said Bob, rousing +his sister with a soft tweak of her hair as she rubbed her head +thoughtfully against his sleeve. + +"Oh, I must go and tell Marian about the party. She must be awake," +said Lucy, hearing footsteps on the floor above and feeling that a +glimpse of her cousin's care-free prettiness might cheer her from her +sudden gloom. + +"There's recall," said Major Gordon, taking up his cap as the bugle +sounded. "I want to see Evans when he comes off duty." + +Outside on the grass Elizabeth was helping William pick up his +playthings, ending by doing most of it herself while he climbed onto +her back and wound his arms around her neck. + +Major Gordon looked after them with a regretful sigh as Elizabeth +finished by picking William up, playthings and all, and running with +him into the house. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + "MY ORDERS HAVE COME" + + +"It isn't as though they were strangers, or we'd known them only a +little while," Lucy protested, unconvinced. "They've both been with us +so long, I'm sure they are more American than anything else. In the +three years we've been stationed here they've hardly left Governor's +Island." + +"Well, I think your father and Bob are right, just the same," said +Marian, rubbing her eyes. + +"Perhaps they are," sighed Lucy, fiddling with the pillow-case on +Marian's bed with restless fingers, "but it seems somehow as though +everybody was going at once. The Twenty-Eighth and now Bob, and we +can't even have Elizabeth left. We'll never find any one to like us +all the way she does, and take care of us. I don't so much mind losing +Karl,--he is obstinate and queer, and I don't think he's always very +kind to Elizabeth, though he's served Father so faithfully. But it's +just a shame they have to go now when Mother has so much to bother her +anyway." Lucy's usually cheerful face was heavily clouded. + +She was sitting on the floor by Marian's bed the morning after Bob's +party, her kodak, which she had run up-stairs to get for him, beside +her, while she poured her trouble into Marian's sympathetic if sleepy +ears. Marian had grown fond enough of Lucy to feel an interest in all +she cared about. Indeed, her companionship with her cousin, the first +she had ever had with a girl her own age, was the strongest influence +so far in awakening her from her dull and fretful indifference. + +Lucy had known nothing of her father's decision in regard to Karl and +Elizabeth until this morning. Mrs. Gordon had talked matters over with +her husband the evening before, but Lucy had been too much occupied in +getting out dance records and making sure that every one was coming to +give heed to anything else. With the arrival of the battalion from Fort +Slocum many new officers with their families were on the post. So she +enjoyed Bob's party as much as he did, though no one liked a gay crowd +and a dance better than Bob, even when the crowd was only a little +group of officers' sons and young lieutenants, with a dozen girls from +his own age down to Lucy's, and the dance no more than rugs pushed back +in two rooms, and a phonograph which Mrs. Gordon tended all the evening. + +Marian had danced without a sign of weariness and with a color in her +pale cheeks at the unusual exertion that made Mrs. Gordon resolve +to urge her again to take part in outdoor games with Lucy and the +others. At eleven she had gone up to bed, tired out, but Mrs. Gordon +was satisfied that she had enjoyed herself, and let her sleep the clock +around. + +The clock on her mantel was striking now, and she sat up with a little +less than her usual morning listlessness. + +"I'm going to get up, Lucy. What's the kodak for?" she asked, reaching +for her slippers. + +"Bob wants it," explained Lucy; "he's going to take pictures of the +family to carry with him when he goes. Hurry up and be taken with us. +I'd better go down now, I guess. He must think I'm lost," she added, +rising from the floor with a little of her serenity restored. + +Through the open door as she ran down-stairs Lucy saw Bob seated on +the front steps engaged in conversation with Sergeant Cameron. So she +stopped to put a film in the kodak at her leisure before going out into +the brilliant sunlight. + +Sergeant Cameron was standing at ease with one foot on the lowest step, +his bright blue eyes fixed upon Bob's face as the two exchanged a fire +of interested questions. + +"The Lieutenant expects to see service on the other side very shortly?" +he surmised, when Bob had told him the regiment to which he was +assigned and the week's leave allowed him. + +"Yes, I'm pretty sure to," Bob agreed. + +"And how do you feel about that?" persisted the Sergeant, his eyes +brightening at the words. + +"Oh, I shan't mind it," said Bob briefly, meeting the non-commissioned +officer's glance with the understanding of old and well-tried friends. + +Bob's feeling of respect and warm liking for this faithful veteran, +a true type of the old "non-com" who forms so valuable and efficient +a part of our service, a very tower of strength for his superiors to +rely on, was oddly mixed with a secret boyish satisfaction at hearing +himself called "the Lieutenant," in a respectful tone, by the old +soldier who had taught him to ride bareback on the western plains, and +scolded him unmercifully if he did not come up to service standards of +horsemanship, when he was a long-legged youngster of thirteen at Fort +Leavenworth. + +Sergeant Cameron had not received enough early education to join the +ranks of those younger non-coms who were eagerly working to pass the +examination for a commission which the shortage of officers had caused +the government to offer them after the declaration of war. He was not, +anyway, ambitious in that direction, preferring to fill the place in +which he satisfied himself and others, with a comfortable knowledge +that the service needed him and more men like him. If he had fallen +under Bob Gordon's command, as Bob was sincerely wishing he had, the +young lieutenant's orders would have been carried out by him in the +face of every hazard, with an unshakable faith and allegiance, though +not with any dog-like submission. For he was a man of independent mind, +whose honest thoughts, shining through his eyes, would have told Bob +with every glance what heights of devotion to duty he expected of the +Major's son. + +"Well, good luck to you, Sergeant, and good-bye, if I don't see you +before I go," said Bob at last, getting up and holding out his hand. +"We may meet again, you know, before we expect it." + +Sergeant Cameron took Bob's hand in a quick, hard grasp, and murmured +something no less hearty for being almost inaudible. Then he saluted +stiffly and turned away in a rapid walk toward Headquarters. + +Lucy came out, screwing up the film in the rather refractory camera, +as Bob turned to go indoors. "Here I am, Bob; don't be discouraged. +Marian's coming in a minute, too." + +"All right. Mother! Come and be taken," Bob called through the window, +bringing out Mrs. Gordon and William in obliging haste. + +"Now you and Captain Lucy and Corporal William all stand there on +the grass and look cheerful. Remember I'm going to carry these +pictures nobody knows where," cautioned Bob, in words hardly calculated +to make the faces before him brighten very much, though they tried to +do their best. + +"Here's Marian," said Lucy, turning her head after the camera had +safely clicked. "Take her with me, Bob, will you? I want one for +myself." + +"And I'll send one to Father to show him how fat I've grown," said +Marian, who felt very dutiful lately after making several weak attempts +to eat when she did not feel like it. + +Mrs. Gordon smiled thoughtfully at the two girls as they stood with +arms linked together, Lucy, sun-tanned and bright-eyed, filled with +the energy which so often overdid itself in tumblings and breakings, +and Marian, delicate and fair as a little flower in her fresh blue +muslin dress, with new-brushed curls gleaming in the sun, but both +grown pretty good friends in spite of so many differences. + +"Now, Marian, I wish you would take one of all my children for me," +asked Mrs. Gordon when the film was turned again. "I will stand off +here and tell them how to look." + +"All right; come on, Bob," said Lucy. "You stand here, me next and +William last, so we'll look like a nice little flight of steps." + +"Bob takes up most of the room," commented Marian, peering into the +finder, "but I suppose he ought to." + +"Of course," said Bob seriously, while William nodded such a solemn +agreement that everybody laughed, and Marian lost her range and had to +start over. + +With this the film was used up and the family went indoors and sat down +to lunch, after a telephone message had come informing them that Major +Gordon had been called away to Fort Totten until night. + +"I'll develop these beautiful things after lunch," said Bob as he laid +down the camera. "By that time it won't be quite so hot for tennis." + +"Every time I see a post-card I expect to find my writing on it," +remarked Lucy, glancing toward the mail which Elizabeth had just +brought in after the postman's ring. "Mr. Harding promised to write, +and here it is the second of September, and we know the ships are +safely there." + +"Just one for me and the rest are Bob's," said Mrs. Gordon. "Play +tennis early then, Bob, and get back in time to look over your things +with me," she suggested, opening her letter. "I want to see what you +need before I go to town to-morrow." + +"I can't play tennis," said Bob suddenly, in a voice that sounded +excited, as he held out to his mother the sheet of paper he had taken +from its long envelope. "My orders have come." + +"Bob!" cried Lucy and her mother in a breath, as Lucy sprang from her +place to read over her mother's shoulder the few typewritten lines. + + + WAR DEPARTMENT + ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE + _Washington, D. C., September 1, 1917._ + + So much of the leave of absence granted Second Lieutenant Robert Lee + Gordon, 136th regiment of Infantry, by paragraph 6, special orders No. + 82, as remains unexpired on the 3d instant is cancelled. Lieutenant + Gordon will proceed to Fort Totten and report for duty not later than + twelve o'clock noon of the 3d instant. + By order of the Adjutant General, + H. C. MCNAIR. + +"Oh, Bob," said Lucy from the depths of her bitter disappointment; +"they might have let you have three days!" + +Mrs. Gordon let fall the paper on the table and took Bob's hand in +hers, while Elizabeth's eager, troubled eyes watched her closely. + +"Will you go now,--this second?" asked William, standing puzzled and +anxious by his mother's chair, unnoticed in the general confusion. + +[Illustration: "MY ORDERS HAVE COME"] + +"No, not till to-morrow morning," said Bob, his surprise over and a +hundred questions flitting through his brain. "Come, Mother, never +mind! What's a day or two, anyway? I have to go, so let's be cheerful +about it. Buck up, Captain Lucy! You be a sport." + +"I will," said Lucy, smiling through the tears that trembled on her +lashes. "Look at Marian, Mother. She's worried to death about us." For +at sight of Mrs. Gordon's white face Marian had risen from her place +overcome with sympathy, roused for the moment from herself and vainly +trying to summon words of courage for another instead of asking them +for her own need. + +Mrs. Gordon looked around at them all and smiled, the color coming +slowly back to her pale cheeks. "It was so sudden, Bob,--I couldn't +realize it at first," she said, patting Bob's shoulder as he bent +anxiously over her. "But of course I ought to have known your orders +might come at any moment. Your father told me so. But you get so many +long envelopes marked Official Business that I never thought when I saw +that one. Now we'll have to get to work in earnest. We'll finish our +lunch, children, and go up-stairs and pack." + +"I have all the rest of the day and to-night," said Bob cheeringly, +smiling at Lucy, who was setting a good example by eating her dessert +as calmly as she could with so many feelings struggling for utterance +and her heart racing hard with painful excitement. + +"I want just my steamer trunk and bag," said Bob, falling back on +details as the easiest thing to talk about at the moment. "We'll get +that all done and shan't have anything to bother about to-night. Do you +mind calling up Julia and Mr. Lewis, Marian, and telling them we can't +play with them this afternoon?" + +The sun was sinking when the boat from Fort Totten drew in to the +Governor's Island Wharf and Major Gordon, stepping ashore, walked +rapidly homeward. + +Inside his own door he found Bob coming down-stairs and accosted him +with, "Well, any news for you, Bob?" + +"Yes, Dad, my orders have come," Bob returned, springing down to his +father's side. + +Major Gordon nodded his head, his eyes on his son. "I thought so." He +lowered his voice a little as the two moved off into the study. "I was +sent for to-day to inspect the supplies for your regiment at Totten. +Three transports sail this week under convoy of the cruisers in the +river. What time do you report?" + +"To-morrow noon." + +"Well, son, how do you feel about it?" Major Gordon's voice was not so +calm itself as he put the question, one hand upon Bob's shoulder. + +"I'm sorry on Mother's account,--awfully--but I want to go," said Bob, +gripping his father's arm. + +Up-stairs Elizabeth had been helping Mrs. Gordon in Bob's room, and now +she led William away, reluctant to go, though he was tired out with +running from trunk to closet and tagging close at his big brother's +active heels. + +"We'll sit down in your room here and have a story, shall we?" she +proposed, drawing up a low rocking-chair by William's bed and lifting +the sleepy little boy upon her lap. + +"What shall I tell?" she asked, when William leaned comfortably back +against her, his unwillingness to leave the others forgotten. + +"Tell about the goose princess," murmured William against her arm. + +"But that you have so often heard," protested Elizabeth, but faintly, +knowing she would have to yield. + +As William only grunted in reply she plunged patiently into the little +old story that was William's favorite, and very easy to tell indeed, +for William prompted her at every few words. + +"Now the frog comes hopping in, doesn't he?" he raised his head +presently to ask. + +"Yes," Elizabeth nodded, "and up he came before the little +princess to stand, but she was so frightened she ran back to the +chimney corner." + +"And the stork,--what did he say?" put in William. + +"The stork look very cross, poking out by the chimney his long neck, +and he said, 'Only for good childrens will the frog answer your +questions.' Then the stork flap his large wings against the chimney and +fly up out of sight. And while the little princess look up after him +she see the sky through the chimney-top----" + +"And the house was all gone, wasn't it?" + +"The little house was all gone, and in her old blue dress the princess +was on the hillside sitting, and her geese were making a fine noise +around her." + +"And next day," prompted William, when Elizabeth stopped to take a +breath, then settled back comfortably once more to listen as she went +on. + +William was always quiet and contented in Elizabeth's company. There +was no end to the tales she could tell, all about elves and gnomes +and strange, wise animals, and good and bad children who played among +them. Her stories came from Elizabeth's childhood in a country of +simple-hearted, fanciful people, the kindly soul of old Germany, with +its love of music and children and of tranquil happiness;--that Germany +which is bound up with the Kaiser and his Junkers in their mad and +pitiless thirst for conquest only by the blind obedience that comes +from their simplicity. + +"And where did it all happen, Elizabeth?" William wanted to know when +at last the story had come to a satisfactory end and the frog and the +princess had reached an understanding. + +"Oh, that happen far away from here, William. Over where I come from, +in my old country," Elizabeth explained, untangling William's legs from +her apron. + +"Could I go over there and see it, do you think?" asked the little boy, +smothering a yawn as he put the question. + +Elizabeth gave a heavy sigh which sounded so different from her usual +cheerful self that William looked quickly around into her face and saw +it for a moment set in sad, tired lines. But almost at once she smiled +at him again and said briskly, "Well, maybe you go some time there. But +now we must go quick to bed." + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + GOOD-BYES + + +"I'll develop those pictures and send them to you, Bob," Lucy +promised. "I'll send them to Fort Totten and they'll be forwarded,--if +you shouldn't be there." She evaded just then the subject that was +uppermost in her mind. + +They were on their way to the dock the morning of Bob's departure, and +he had just said good-bye to Karl and Elizabeth, who were in fact still +standing on the piazza steps, Elizabeth waving for the last time as +they turned the corner by the General's house. Major Gordon had ordered +the government boat to Fort Totten with additional supplies, and Bob +was to accompany his father on it, as well as Mrs. Gordon, who, for +the privilege of seeing Bob a few hours longer, had hastily decided to +spend the day with a friend at the fort, and return with her husband in +the evening. + +Bob had only to say good-bye to Lucy, Marian and William, which he +found quite enough at the moment when they reached the dock and the +_General Meigs_ whistled a warning signal. + +"You'll write--I mean often, every day, won't you?" Lucy begged, +looking up at Bob's erect, soldierly figure and at the jolly boyish +face that was so thoughtful just now, with a feeling like desperate +homesickness in her heart. + +"Oh, you bet I will, Captain Lucy. I'll tell you everything. And +perhaps I'll be able to see you all again before we sail," Bob +suggested hopefully, wishing that Lucy were coming on the boat with his +mother, to delay the parting a little longer. + +But Lucy hated good-byes as much as he, and she knew how Bob hated +them, and in past days they had always agreed to get them over as +quickly as possible. So when Mrs. Gordon called from the edge of the +dock, "Hurry, Bob dear! Father says to come," Lucy managed to put on +the brightest kind of smile as Bob took leave of William and Marian. +When he turned to her she said cheerfully, "Good luck, Bob, old boy, +and we'll never stop thinking of you!" Brother and sister exchanged +a bear hug that knocked Lucy's hat off onto the dock and then Bob, +seizing his bag and raincoat, jumped down on the _General Meigs'_ deck +by his mother's side. + +Bob looked back at the three faces watching him as the boat pulled out, +of which William's was by far the most solemn, and waved his cap and +called out a last good-bye. + +Lucy, gazing after him, saw his face blur as her eyes filled up with +sudden tears, but she winked them angrily away and turned to Marian, +when the boat's white wake and stern were all that they could see. +"Let's go home, Marian. I hate seeing people go, don't you?" were the +inadequate words that came to her lips. + +"Yes, I do," said Marian, who looked as though she could understand, +and putting her hand through Lucy's arm she led the way back up the +hill. + +Once in the house again Lucy dropped down on the first resting-place at +hand, which happened to be the piano-stool, and sat with hands clasped +about one knee, staring idly before her. For a moment she could not +take up the round of duties her mother had left her, nor look sensibly +ahead to what came next. It was too strange and hard to realize that +Bob was gone. That his brief leave was cut short and ended, and with +it all the pleasant things she had planned for the time they should be +together. "Bob's gone," she repeated to herself, and could not seem to +go beyond the thought. + +What roused her was Marian's coming suddenly over to take a seat beside +her with a face so set with determination that Lucy looked at her in +astonishment. + +"There's no use sitting here and doing nothing, Lucy," Marian said +decidedly. "It will only make you feel worse. Let's develop those +pictures right away so that Bob will surely get them. I'll help if you +will show me how, and William can watch us." + +Lucy could hardly help laughing, far as she was from feeling jolly, +at Marian's sudden assumption of authority. The change was almost +startling from the self-absorbed passiveness out of which she could so +seldom be roused, unless some one tried to make her do what she did not +like. But in consequence her words had more effect now in distracting +Lucy from her gloomy thoughts. + +"All right, Marian, I will," she smiled, giving a lazy stretch of her +arms above her head. The family had risen early that morning, for the +_General Meigs_ left at eight o'clock. "I have to do some telephoning +for Mother first, but that won't take very long." + +"Lucy! Are you here?" called a voice from the piazza, and Julia Houston +poked her head through a window. "Oh, hello, I'll climb in," she added, +getting over the sill with her usual swiftness of action. + +"I was just wishing you'd come, Julia," said Lucy, rushing to meet her +friend. "Oh! Isn't he sweet! Where did you get him?" For Julia was +clutching with both arms a fat, yellow Newfoundland puppy that wanted +awfully to get on its own feet. + +"Somebody gave Father two of them," explained Julia, dropping her +wriggling burden on to the floor with a sigh of relief. "And Father +says we may keep only one, and for me to give the other away, so I +thought I'd let you have first chance. I know you need cheering up +to-day, and they are the cunningest, funniest little ducks. I have been +playing with them ever since I woke up." + +"I'd simply love to have him," exclaimed Lucy, shouting to be heard +over William's sudden squeals of delight as he came running in and saw +the puppy. + +"Oh, let's have him, let's keep him,--mayn't we, Lucy?" he begged from +the floor, where he and the puppy were already a tangle of legs and +paws, as the puppy delightedly recognized something near his own size +to play with. + +"I don't know until we ask Father," said Lucy, smiling. "But I guess he +won't mind." + +"They're just alike. We'll have to label them to tell them apart," said +Julia. "Father wanted to name them something German, because they're +so yellow, but I certainly won't. I've named ours MacDougal after the +Canadian officer who gave them to us, and I'll call him Mac." + +"Well, we shall simply have to keep this one. He's too sweet," said +Lucy, trying to push her fingers into the puppy's thick furry coat +while he rolled over in every direction. + +"Let's name him something to remind us of our own men over in France," +suggested Marian vaguely, her mind still filled with the recent +departures for the front. + +"Call him American Expeditionary Force," laughed Julia. "He won't come +when he's called, so a long name does just as well." + +"You two think of a nice one," said Lucy, getting up from the floor, +"while I do my telephoning and speak to Elizabeth. Then we're going to +develop some pictures, Julia, and you can help. William will take care +of,--you name him now." + +With the help of Julia's lively company the morning was not very long +in passing. By the time Lucy's tasks were done and the roll of films +had been developed, dried, and printed in the sun on the piazza steps, +her spirits had recovered their usual brightness, and whatever lack of +real cheer lay beneath she managed to keep to herself. + +By luncheon time William had become so attached to the puppy, who was +still unchristened, with a choice of about twenty names of all sorts +offered him, that Julia went home without him, leaving William beaming +with delight. + +"He may have some milk right on the table by my plate, mayn't he, +Lucy?" he suggested, carrying the new pet into the dining-room with +him. + +"No, he may not," said Lucy decidedly. "But he may have it on the floor +while you eat. I'm a sight!" she added, looking frowningly at her dress +as she tucked back a wisp of hair. "I never noticed how awfully I +looked after all that work, but it's too late to change now." + +Lucy was feeling heavy-hearted again, at sight of the empty places at +the table, and did not care much about eating. She had a funny moment +though when Marian, noticing how indifferent she seemed to the good +food before her, said coaxingly, "Go on and eat, Lucy, won't you? +You'll feel much better if you do." + +"It seems like Alice through the looking-glass," Lucy thought to +herself, her lips twitching with amusement. "Everything is turned +around to-day. Suppose you eat something yourself, for a change," she +countered, glancing at Marian's empty plate. + +After lunch she went up-stairs to change her dress, with a look at the +fresh white one Marian had found time to put on when the pictures were +finished. She was soberly brushing her hair with hard slaps of the +brush, before the glass, when Elizabeth passed by the door and stopped +at sight of her. + +"I fasten your dress, Miss Lucy, shall I?" she asked, hesitating in the +doorway. + +"Yes, please do," said Lucy, feeling suddenly very much like hearing +Elizabeth's quiet, pleasant voice. "Sit down and wait until I finish +my hair and then you may help me." + +"So you are not too long, I wait," consented Elizabeth, coming in the +room and commencing to hang up clothes and put away shoes instead of +sitting down as Lucy had suggested. + +"Oh, Elizabeth, I hated so to have Bob go," Lucy could not help saying, +the thoughts she had kept back all day clamoring for utterance. "It was +so hard to have him here only two days,--and, oh, I wish to goodness +you weren't going too!" + +Elizabeth paused in her work, her hand on the closet door, and regarded +Lucy with sad face and wistful eyes. + +"It is not that I wish to go, Miss Lucy," she protested, shaking her +head slowly and twisting nervous fingers in her big apron. "It is very +hard for me to leave you all so dear to me and go to a strange country." + +"Where are you going?" asked Lucy, tying her hair ribbon in a hasty bow +as she crossed the room to Elizabeth's side. + +"I not know," Elizabeth responded uncertainly. "Karl did not tell me. +He only say, we must leave America. They do not want us here." + +"Oh, but we do want you, Elizabeth!" exclaimed Lucy, fixing pleading +eyes on the little German woman's face, as though in despair of making +her understand. "War is a terrible thing! It has to come on all the +people, whether they deserve it or not, but you didn't want it any more +than I did, and it's not your fault." + +"I never think my old country fight with America, Miss Lucy!" cried +Elizabeth, tears standing now in her eyes as she faltered out the +words. "So long our Kaiser keeps peace at home for us! I wonder now how +he have to go to war." + +Lucy did not quite know what to say to this, so she only put a +comforting hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. + +"I hope, though, maybe the war end before Mr. Bob get to the +battle-field," Elizabeth suggested hopefully after a moment's +thoughtful silence, her habitual cheerfulness asserting itself even now +above her melancholy. + +"Perhaps," said Lucy doubtfully, her mind turned once more to her +brother, with a glimpse of the closer meaning the war now held for all +the Gordon family. + +"Well, I must go down, Miss Lucy," sighed Elizabeth, but she smiled at +the same time and wiped away her tears with a corner of her apron. + +"Wait a second. I have something for you," said Lucy, opening the +closet door and fumbling in the pocket of the blouse Elizabeth had +just hung up. "I printed a picture on purpose for you. It's of Bob +and William and me. I thought you'd like it." She drew out the little +snap-shot that Marian had taken the day before and gave it to Elizabeth +with a glance at the little group,--Bob's straight, soldierly figure, +her own beside him, and William peeking around at his brother from the +end of the line. Bob's boots were especially in evidence, but it was a +good likeness of all three. + +"Oh, thank you, dear Miss Lucy," cried Elizabeth, beaming with pleasure +at the gift, and even more at the feeling of still being friends with +the Gordon children which the little talk had given her. "I keep it +always with me, and I often look at it and think of you." + +She tucked the picture in the pocket of her apron and went off +down-stairs, while Lucy, with a sudden return of the lump in her +throat, sat down at her desk to mail a set of the pictures to Bob. + +When Mrs. Gordon came home late that afternoon with her husband, in +great need of being cheered and comforted, for the activity at Fort +Totten spoke plainly of the regiment's departure, Lucy and Marian met +her at the door with welcoming faces. Lucy had overcome her low spirits +at last, with the satisfaction of angrily calling herself unpatriotic +names, and she was firmly entrenched now behind her resolution of +courageous cheerfulness. + +No one had more courage than Mrs. Gordon, and her trouble did not show +itself long, but Lucy's sympathetic heart could guess it, even out +of sight. Mrs. Gordon was used enough to seeing men called away to +hazardous service. She had seen her husband go off to the Spanish War +as a young lieutenant, to China at the time of the Boxer uprising, and +to the Mexican border only a year ago. She knew that Bob must take his +chosen place, but he seemed so young to go. This year, that would have +made him a first classman at West Point, found him still a boy in his +mother's eyes, not grown to the measure of man's trials and hardships. +It had to be, and Bob's mother knew it and submitted, but it was hard. + +Major Gordon was tired with a long day's tedious work, and the family +sat out on the cool piazza, where William ate his supper, while Mrs. +Gordon told the little news she had of Bob's fellow officers and +surroundings. William played on the floor with his new pet, from whom +he refused to be separated, the puppy's big, awkward paws flopping +in every direction and his furry body squirming with excitement when +William pretended to be another dog and jumped at him. Nobody could +help smiling at the jolly little beast, or at William's delight in him, +and Lucy said: + +"The puppy is the happiest person here. I think we need him, Father. +Anyway, if you don't let us have him I think William will go over and +live at the Houstons'." + +"Oh, keep him if you wish to," said Major Gordon, poking a boot at the +puppy, who at once grabbed it in his little teeth and rolled over and +over. "Only don't let him get to chewing up my clothes, William, or out +he goes. What's his name?" + +"You said he was happy, Lucy, let's call him that," suggested William, +grabbing his pet with both hands. + +"Well, we've been trying to give him some grand name all day," said +Lucy, "but I suppose we might as well come down to that and be done +with it." + +"I like it," said William. "Your name's Happy, do you hear?" he told +the puppy, who cheerfully wagged his tail, cocking one alert ear at his +little master, while Mrs. Gordon drew William over to her side. + +The two days following Bob's departure brought other changes in the +Gordon household, for on the third day Karl and Elizabeth took their +leave. The parting between William and Elizabeth was almost a tragedy, +as Lucy remarked, sinking into a piazza chair that afternoon, feeling, +as she announced to Marian, "dead beat." She began sorting the +mail which had just arrived, her hands moving listlessly, her thoughts +filled with the sailing of the One Hundred and Thirty-Sixth, which +had taken place, to the best of Major Gordon's knowledge, early that +morning. Mrs. Gordon came out after showing the kitchen to the newly +arrived cook, their only servant for the time being, and looked over +Lucy's shoulder. Together they seized the post-card Bob had mailed from +Fort Totten the night before, and read the few words scribbled on it: + +"Good-bye, and love from Bob." + +In spite of Major Gordon's announcement of the intended sailing this +short message seemed to mean more to them, somehow, than any official +tidings. Bob never said good-bye until the last moment. + +Lucy looked down among the neglected letters and papers again to hide +her tear-dimmed eyes, but a moment later she held up a second card, +exclaiming: + +"Look here! Something nice has actually happened! It's one of my +post-cards back from Mr. Harding!" + +"Oh, Lucy, let me see!" cried Marian, rushing to her side in unusual +excitement. "I never really thought you'd get one back again." + +"I did," said Lucy confidently, and read aloud the lines written with +indelible pencil: + + "DEAR CAPTAIN LUCY: + + "Here I am, and I haven't forgotten my promise. We'll soon be in the + thick of it; but I can't say any more, only I think of you often. Send + me any news of Bob's coming. + R. H." + +"William was wrong, after all, when he said we could tell where it came +from by the postmark," said Marian, turning the card over with gentle +fingers, "for there isn't any postmark, except New York." + +That evening, when the two girls were getting ready for bed, Lucy said +to Marian, with relief and thankfulness in her voice, "Anyway, there is +no one else left to go just now." But she was not quite right. + +Sergeant Cameron's wife had been ill a long time, and in spite of +every care she died a few days after Bob's departure. The Sergeant +was devoted to her, and soon he found his lonely little house +unbearable, and his quiet round of duties grown suddenly distasteful. +So one morning he summoned up courage to ask Major Gordon to have +him transferred from his staff detail back to the regiment. Very +reluctantly Major Gordon consented, for Sergeant Cameron's loss was a +heavy one with the Quartermaster's Department swamped with work, and he +had few such tried and capable assistants. + +"I can't refuse you, Sergeant," he said at last. "I've put in the +application for you, and I think it will be approved. Our regiment is +still at Plattsburg Barracks, but there is talk of its soon seeing +foreign service." Major Gordon thought of his own staff detail as +he spoke, but whatever hopes or wishes he had in sympathy with the +Sergeant's, he gave no voice to them. + +"I'm very grateful to the Major," said Sergeant Cameron, saluting. "And +I'm sorry to leave--I am indeed, sir." + +So it was that in that short, eventful summer Lucy saw her friends go +one by one, in such sudden changes as even army life had never known +before. And in their places came others who were not always found to be +such strangers either, for an army girl has friends from east to west, +and must learn to bear partings bravely and make the most of those who +are near at hand. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + A TOUGH JOB + + +It was the first week in November, and a chilly wind was blowing across +Governor's Island, shaking down the last leaves from the bare branches +of the trees and tossing those on the ground into swirling heaps. +The sentry walking past the Gordons' house wore an overcoat now, and +Quartermaster's men were putting up storm doors and windows all along +General's Row. + +Lucy and Marian were hurrying home from the Matthews', for it was +almost lunch time. For a month and a half Anne Matthews' governess had +been giving lessons every morning to Anne, Julia, Lucy and Marian, and +she made them work hard enough to be hungry by twelve o'clock. Mrs. +Gordon had half intended sending Lucy to boarding-school this year, +but just now she did not feel like losing her from home, and Lucy's +interest in the plan had also faded. She might have gone over to the +city to school, but her mother would not consent to this for Marian, +and had been very glad on the whole to accept Mrs. Matthews' proposal. +The four girls got along companionably together under Miss Ellis, and +Marian had surprised them all by her quickness in catching up in spite +of her handicap of lost schooling. + +"It's really cold, but it can't be winter yet," said Lucy, thrusting +her bare hands into her sweater pocket and looking reproachfully at the +sun, which did not feel so warm as it used to. + +"There's only a month and a half till Christmas, though," Marian +reminded her. "When we began tying up the soldiers' Christmas packages +last week it seemed awfully like winter, but Julia says maybe we'll +have Indian summer yet." + +"I never could make out when Indian summer comes. It's always coming +soon and then the first thing you know there's a snow-storm," remarked +Lucy, running up the piazza steps as she caught sight of her mother +sitting inside the window. + +Mrs. Gordon was reading a letter in the sitting-room, still wearing +the hat and coat in which she had come from the Red Cross, and Lucy +exclaimed as she entered the room: + +"Oh, Mother, did you--is it from Bob?" + +"Yes, sit down and we'll read it together," said Mrs. Gordon, looking +up for a second from the closely-written sheets. + +Bob's letters, arriving very erratically from France, sometimes two +and three at a time and often weeks apart, were precious things these +days, and Lucy needed no second bidding. Marian, too, pulled off her +blue velvet tam and sank down on the floor by Lucy's side while Mrs. +Gordon recommenced the letter aloud. + + "DEAR MOTHER AND ALL OF YOU: + + "No news from home for a week, because I haven't been where I could + get any, but hope to by to-morrow, when I shall have a chance to stop + at my headquarters. I'll mail this then, too, if somebody doesn't turn + up to take it in the meantime. + + "It's three weeks to-day since I was transferred to the Aviation + Section of the Signal Corps, and I am just about beginning to realize + how little I know, though it seems as if I had never worked so + hard in my life. Behind the lines here--there's no use in my being + more definite, for they wouldn't pass my letter--we beginners are + kept at it, as long as there is daylight to work by, overhauling + the airplanes after every flight, and learning their construction + from end to end. I have been up twice as observer, both times with + Benton--he's a wonder in the air. They are awfully short of observers + here, and I draw pretty well, and know how to take pictures. But that + is as far as I have got yet, and it seems very little when there is + such a monstrous lot of work waiting to be done. + + "We get plenty to eat, Mother, and if we didn't there's a little + village right behind us where they sell you food for almost + nothing,--they'd give it to us if we hadn't the money to pay. I + think these are the kindest, friendliest people in the world. + + They can't do enough to welcome us here, and it's funny how much + friendship can be expressed without knowing each other's language. My + French, as you know, is rather weak, but it's better than the enlisted + men's,--still they seem to get what they want. + + "Well, I must tell you the best piece of news I have. I met Dick + Harding on the road day before yesterday, while I was marching a + detachment from our squadron back to camp after an exercising hike. + He was riding on reconnoitering duty with some other officers, so of + course there wasn't much time. But when he saw me he pulled up and + jumped off his horse, and I halted my men while we shook hands and + grinned at each other and tried to get everything we wanted to say + into about three minutes. I sure was glad to see him. He asked about + you all and what I was doing and tried to arrange a meeting when we + should be off duty, though that's always too uncertain to count on. + + "He looks well, though a little thin. Of course I hadn't seen him + since my furlough. He says his regiment--you know which it is--will + go into the first line trenches this week. It has been declared in + first-class condition and training, and mentioned already in home + despatches. He is awfully proud about it, of course, and wants to show + what they can do. It made me more than ever anxious to get somewhere + in aviation. They need every one of us right now. He had to mount + again almost at once to overtake the others, and I don't know when we + can find each other, for we are ten miles apart even while he's behind + the firing line. + + "Father's regiment is somewhere in this sector, he told me." + + "Oh, Lucy, wasn't it fine for Bob to see him!" Mrs. Gordon stopped + reading to exclaim. + + "Wasn't it?" said Lucy with shining eyes. "I've been hoping so they + would meet. But go on, Mother, won't you?" + + "There isn't much more," said Mrs. Gordon, turning to the last page. + + "Don't worry about whether you are sending me the right things for + Christmas. If I get some of Lucy's fudge I shall be thankful. We + appreciate things so much more over here that it ought to be easier + to choose them than when we were at home. Compared with the French we + have so much just now. I hope the people back home won't forget that + there are few families in this part of France who have any money left + to buy presents for their own soldiers. But anyway, we'll share what + we have with them. Nobody could help doing that. + + "I have to get into my oiling togs now and go over a machine that has + just come in. It's Benton's, and he has been flying over the German + trenches. He came to the door of my place just then to say he was + nearly frozen and was going to take a run to warm up. Our shacks are + getting cold at night, too, but some of the men are out to-day cutting + fire-wood. + + "Good-bye, if I don't find time to write any more to-day. I'm almost + too sleepy at night to put anything like a sentence together. But I + always think of you a lot. + "With much love, + "BOB." + +"He never said whether our fruit cake came or not, Lucy," cried Marian, +disappointed. "But perhaps it's waiting where the rest of his mail is," +she reflected, tossing back her bright hair to look up inquiringly into +Mrs. Gordon's face. + +"Yes, probably it is, dear," Mrs. Gordon agreed, putting Bob's letter +carefully back into its envelope. "I'm glad they have plenty to eat," +she added with a smothered little sigh. "Lucy, call in William and +we'll have lunch. Here comes Father now. He has to hurry off to-day to +inspect supplies for these new recruits." + +The post had seen a good many changes in the two months since Bob's +regiment sailed. Many women of the Twenty-Eighth had packed up and gone +away to their old homes or elsewhere. The new Infantry battalion had +already been succeeded by another, and of the recruits of the early +summer many were already overseas and all were trained men scattered to +various regiments. Those drilling on the post now were not so numerous +since the National Army camps had opened, though several hundred still +remained in training, destined to fill vacancies among the regulars. +In October another regiment had camped overnight on Governor's Island +to slip away to their transports at dawn. But this one had not been so +fortunate as the Twenty-Eighth, and had sent back word of an uneasy +passage made among attacking submarines in the midst of a heavy storm +which almost drove the transports from their convoy. + +Mr. Leslie was straining every nerve to supply his lumber for +ship-building as fast as the government asked for it, and he wrote +feelingly of the great difficulties in the way of transportation, but +also of brave and patriotic efforts in the West to get the utmost +accomplished. He wrote much, too, rather anxiously, about his prolonged +absence, though he had been a good deal cheered by Marian's letters, +which showed an increasing interest in her cousins and in the life of +the post. + +Marion had taken it on herself to help Lucy a little in the tasks that +fell to her share while Margaret was their only servant, and after +luncheon they went out together on the piazza to put it in order after +William's playing circus there with the puppy most of the morning. +William tried to help by picking up his blocks, but did not make much +of a success of it and ended by sitting on the steps and holding Happy +in his arms, while the puppy wriggled with wild curiosity to get down +and find out what a squirrel on the grass was burying with its quick +little paws at the foot of a tree. + +"No, you can't bother him. He has to get his meals buried for the +winter," William scolded, struggling with the fat little beast, which +was almost as strong as he was. + +"Oh, let him go, William," said Lucy. "You know he's afraid of the +squirrels when he gets near them. He just wants to prance around and +bark at them." + +"All right, then," said William, opening his arms and letting Happy go +with a wild rush and scamper down the steps, which finished as usual +in his backing hastily away from the angry, chattering squirrel before +him, to stand furiously barking for a minute, then stopping short to +wag his tail in the most friendly way as though peace had been declared. + +"He's a fake," said Lucy laughing. "He can't expect to scare them after +that." + +Marian went indoors, when they had cleared things up, to take her daily +nap, and Lucy followed her mother up-stairs and into her room. + +"What are you going to do, Mother?" she asked uncertainly. + +"Well, I think I'll mend some of William's clothes first," said Mrs. +Gordon, sitting down beside her work-table. "Why, Lucy?" + +"I just wanted to talk to you a few minutes," Lucy began, her face +grown serious as she sat down and clasped her hands about one knee. +"Mother, I feel like an awful good-for-nothing saying this, but I can't +help it. I just have the blues terribly, and somehow it seems as though +we were all waiting for dreadful things to happen, and nothing seems +worth doing--at least nothing that I can do." + +Lucy's burst of unhappiness did not seem to surprise her mother +very much, though she laid down her work a moment and looked rather +anxiously at her daughter as she answered. + +"I know, Lucy. I'm afraid we all feel a little bit that way just now. +It's a serious, worrying time for almost everybody, and the uncertainty +of what lies before us is the hardest of all to bear. But you know, +dear, if we give up being cheerful and brave we shan't get any work +done and we'll feel worse than ever. Besides that, our letters to Bob +will be anything but a comfort to him. We have got to find courage +just as the women and girls of France and England did. And if you want +useful work to do this winter besides our Red Cross, I will tell you of +some right now." + +"Oh, what, Mother? I'd like to pitch right in and do something with all +my might!" cried Lucy from the depths of her eager, restless soul. + +"You won't think much of it when you hear what it is," said Mrs. Gordon +smiling. "There isn't any glory in it, but I mean it when I say that +it is something worth while. I want you to give up your time and +thoughts to making Marian a healthy, happy girl before her father comes +home." + +"Oh, Mother," said Lucy, disappointed. + +"I know it doesn't sound very inspiring, but take my word for it your +reward will come if you do what lies in your way, and, Lucy, you never +had a better chance to do something worth doing." + +Lucy sat motionless, staring at the floor, like a statue in a blue +serge sailor-suit. Her mother picked up her work again and began sewing +a rip in William's rompers, while Lucy moved a little, unclasped her +hands about her knee and took a turn in staring at the ceiling. Her +face was not exactly gay, though no one could accuse her of sulkiness. +She looked like a person thinking out a sum in arithmetic. At last she +spoke. + +"Well, Mother, I'll try. Are you quite sure about that reward?" she +asked, smiling now as she turned to her mother with a rather mocking +twinkle in her hazel eyes. + +"Quite sure," said Mrs. Gordon, undismayed. "One way or another +it will come." She smiled back at her daughter, well pleased with +Lucy's answer, for she knew it to be as good as a promise, and its +accomplishment would mean something gained not only for Marian but for +Lucy as well. + +"I'm not surprised that you took a minute to think it over," she +continued seriously. "I know it won't be easy." + +"Well, I said I wanted a tough job to tackle," said Lucy, rising from +her chair with a faint sigh. "Don't expect any startling results," she +warned her mother, breaking into another smile as she looked back at +her. "I'll get Marian now and go over to the Red Cross for a while. I +promised Julia." + +Half an hour later, when the three girls were at work over a table of +gauze in the Red Cross rooms, Lucy began wondering to herself, even +while she talked of other things, how she was going to accomplish +what she had undertaken. She glanced at Marian, whose golden head was +industriously bent over her work, wishing rather helplessly for a wand +which, with one quick wave, would transform Marian into a strong, +active girl, with no nerves to bother about. + +Any one spending the day at the Gordon house now would probably have +seen little to find fault with in Marian and much that was attractive. +Nobody gave her more credit than Lucy for the change in her during +the past few months, which had turned Lucy's feeling for her cousin +from pity to warm liking and even admiration. But the improvement had +only begun, and it only persisted as long as Marian was amused or +interested or her sympathy aroused. There were still times of sulky +indifference, of listless weariness, and most of all of obstinate +refusal to help herself or exert her will to exercise or to eat her +meals when she did not happen to feel like it. These were the hurdles +in Lucy's way if she was to make Marian well and happy as every +fourteen-year-old girl ought to be, and the obstacles loomed rather +large just now, even with Marian before her in her brightest mood, and +looking so pretty as she laughed and talked while her fingers worked +that no one would have credited her with a single pout. + +Unconsciously Lucy commenced the best way, for as she listened to +Marian telling Julia the story of Happy's complete destruction of her +best hat, Lucy summed up two great qualities in Marian's favor, and +began to feel a wider understanding and sympathy with her cousin for +thinking of them. Marian was extremely generous. She loved to give +things away, and the loss of any of her own possessions worried her +very little, or if as in this case it was a disappointment, she bore +it good-humoredly. She even gave the puppy a forgiving pat with the +poppies torn from her hat still clenched in his wicked jaws. Here Lucy +skipped to the second point in her catalogue of virtues. Marian was +certainly not vain or even conscious of her beauty. Beyond a careful +regard for her appearance which had been taught her since babyhood, +she gave little thought to herself and laughed in honest amusement if +Lucy grew enthusiastic sometimes when her pretty little cousin put on +something especially becoming. + +Occupied with these thoughts, Lucy did not get so much work done as the +others, besides being rather silent, and provokingly failing to answer +several times when she was spoken to. + +"Lucy Gordon, you've only made fifteen compresses, and you have been +quiet enough to work, goodness knows," said Julia at last, looking at +her friend with accusing eyes. "Of course if you're thinking out how +to end the war or something really important to the country we won't +disturb you, but you might think aloud. I'd like to hear it." + +Lucy laughed. "My ideas would be almost as valuable as our parole +man's. He is always telling Margaret what he thinks of the war. The +other day I was out in the kitchen making fudge for Bob----Oh, dear," +she interrupted herself, "it will be so stale when he gets it if he +only goes for his mail every week or two!" + +"But what were you going to say?" insisted Julia, as Lucy seemed to +have subsided. + +"Oh, only that I listened to Mat talking to Margaret in the pantry. He +said, 'You see, it's this way. Either the Eye-talians will be able to +stay where they are, or they will have to retreat.' I felt like telling +him that maybe Margaret could have thought that out for herself, but +she seemed quite impressed by it." + +"Is she nice? Do you like her?" asked Julia. "I don't see her often the +way I used to Elizabeth." + +"Oh, she's nice," said Lucy. "She's kind of poky, and of course Father +thinks Karl is the only person in the world who makes good coffee, +but Margaret almost suits him. We do miss Elizabeth awfully, though. +William simply can't get used to having her gone. He asked me yesterday +if I thought Elizabeth would like Happy when she came back. He doesn't +seem to get it through his head that she isn't coming back." + +"She might, though, Lucy, when the war is over," suggested Marian. + +"Yes--when," said Lucy without much enthusiasm, thinking of Bob. + +"Have you any idea where they are now?" asked Julia, beginning to pile +up her finished work. + +"No, not a bit. Elizabeth said something to me the day she left about +going to Sweden, but I don't really think she knew. Karl told Father +they might go to Mexico. She sent William a post-card from Boston a few +days after they left here." + +"Let's stop now and go outdoors," proposed Julia, pushing back her +chair. "I'm so tired of sitting still I'm getting fidgety." + +"Let's go out and teach Marian to play golf," said Lucy, taking her +bull by the horns. + +"Yes! Will you come, Marian?" urged Julia. "We'll only play a little +while until it gets dark. I know you'll like it." + +"I'll come along and watch you, anyway," hedged Marian, reaching for +her hat and not looking especially eager for a new effort. + +"But it's no fun watching, and you'd love it so if you only once got +interested," insisted Lucy, as the three got up and found their hats +and sweaters. "I wish Bob had stayed long enough to teach you! He said +he would and maybe you'd have let him. Come on, so we can write and +tell him how much you've done--won't you?" + +They had reached the foot of the stairs to the first floor by the time +Lucy finished her appeal, and as they stepped outdoors Marian demanded +with a sudden, fleeting smile: + +"If I play this once, Lucy, will you let me alone afterward?" + +"I promise," said Lucy promptly, with unshaken confidence in her +favorite game. "It's you who won't let me alone then." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + OVER THE TRENCHES + + +While Lucy's thoughts were so much with Bob across the seas he was +wrapped up heart and soul in the work in which he longed to excel. Not +but that an hour came every day when he thought of home and longed for +those who waited for him, but the hour was a short one, for he needed +all the time he could spare for sleep, to keep his brain alert and +clear as an aviator's must be who does not court disaster. + +Not that Bob was an aviator yet, after eight weeks of training, but +he began to be called upon pretty frequently by Captain Benton to +accompany him in his flights. Bob's duty as observer was to sit in +front of the pilot, with a map fastened on a board laid across his +knees, and keep a close watch of the country over which they flew, +usually as nearly adjacent to the enemy's lines as possible, noting +every change in the German positions which might be of value, such +as new trenches, roads, railways, hidden artillery or machine-gun +emplacements. With powerful field-glasses he scrutinized the earth +below, hastily sketching in on his map any alterations observable, +as well as keeping a sharp lookout for exploding shrapnel aimed too +accurately in their direction. + +Bob was an excellent draughtsman, the second in his class at West +Point, and for the honor of accompanying Benton he practised his +sketching at every random opportunity. Together the two flew repeatedly +over the German lines, sometimes retiring swiftly before pursuing +guns, sometimes getting just the information they wanted and returning +triumphant. Bob was becoming an expert mechanic, and he looked forward +with boundless eagerness to the time when he should be a fearless pilot +like Benton, for he had learned with joy in the past month that the +"grit and steady endurance" his father had spoken of were really his. + +Meanwhile in Benton's two-seated biplane he scouted over numberless +French villages, and grew to have a knowledge of the battle-front +stamped on his mind with the geometrical exactness of a map of the +earth seen from thousands of feet in the air. Benton was known not +only to his friends but to the Germans as well, where his reputation +was firmly established as an enemy worthy of respect. His airplane was +watched for, and its easy, graceful evolutions marked out at once by +anti-aircraft gunners. But Benton was not fond of bravado, and he took +few unnecessary risks. His dangerous flights were made in safety, and +Bob's confidence in the air daily increased. + +All during November he and Benton worked together outside of Bob's +hours of practice and study, and the last of the month found them firm +friends and pretty constant companions. + +It was on November 24th, at about seven in the morning, that an orderly +brought word to Bob, at breakfast in the mess shack, that Captain +Benton wished to see him. Bob swallowed his coffee, went out and found +Benton standing in the field by his airplane, looking carefully over +the wire supports. + +"Sorry to hurry you, Gordon," he said pleasantly as Bob came up, "but +I want to get off at once if you can manage it. They just telephoned +us that the Germans have fortified the village of Petit-Bois, up the +valley there, for their expected retreat, and information is wanted of +their defenses as soon as possible." + +"I'm ready," said Bob. "Five minutes to get my camera plates and +stuff." He was dressed for flying, in fur-lined service coat, and it +only remained to fetch gloves and fur helmet from his shack. + +The morning was dull and cloudy, with a raw coldness in the air. To +Bob one of the delights of an early start was to fly up into the rays +of the morning sun. But to-day when, ten minutes later, they mounted +toward the east, the cold, gray clouds seemed endlessly banked above +them, and Bob picked up the speaking tube to say, doubtfully: + +"Not much photography to-day, Benton. Did you expect it?" + +"No," Benton replied. "We shan't be able to get within range for that +unless they are all asleep." + +At eight thousand feet an airplane is almost safe from rifle or +machine-gun fire. But at this height no photographs of any value can +be taken. To fly at four or five hundred feet over the enemy would be +ideal for observing and photography, but would mean almost certain +death to pilot and observer. So an unsatisfactory middle course of two +to four thousand feet is usually adopted. Benton did not hesitate to +fly low where he could gain valuable information, but he was usually +prudent. + +Bob's map was spread across his knees, and as they neared the German +lines he scrutinized with his glasses the outskirts of the village they +approached. Nothing new seemed to require closer attention here. Benton +circled and flew behind the village, rising a hundred feet higher as +black, white and yellow puffs of smoke appearing from below indicated +enemy guns aimed at the tiny target the biplane offered. Suddenly Bob +stiffened. + +"Ah! Here we have it!" he cried exultantly. "A nice new line of +concrete block-houses, Benton, right behind the village--their second +line of defense. Fly a little lower, can't you?" + +"No," called back the pilot with his usual calmness, "but we'll go a +bit further north, so you can find out the extent of the line. Those +gunners don't seem very clever yet, but they're getting closer." + +Bob sketched for dear life while the machine floated and hovered. Below +in a narrow strip of woodland beyond the village he could distinguish +plainly the tiny bald spots that marked the hastily constructed +fortifications. + +"Good, we're losing them," remarked Benton, glancing down. "The clouds +have hidden us, I think." + +Below them a swirling fog bank sheltered the airplane a moment from the +gunners, but it also began to cut off Bob's view, and Benton had to +dodge and circle for openings in the misty curtain. + +"Why, we're above the village--there are the trenches," said Bob +presently. "Cut back south--it's clearer now. Blessed if we haven't +got the best bit of information this month," he added joyfully. "Can't +get everything in one trip, but this is enough to help if the Boches +retreat this week, and it looks to every one as though they meant to." + +Bob's enthusiastic fingers pressed too hard and the lead of his pencil +snapped. He felt in his pocket for another, thinking oddly of Lucy +as he did so, for she had always come to him when he was at home to +sharpen her pencils. It usually took Lucy several pencils to get +through an arithmetic lesson. He rubbed his bare hand against the +pocket lining, for the air was nipping cold. + +"Huh!" said Benton suddenly. + +Bob could not hear him, but he felt the airplane sharply veer. He +seized the speaking tube and shouted, "What's the matter?" + +For a second he thought Benton had been hit, for shrapnel was again +bursting near them at intervals, and he glanced quickly toward the +steering gear. By means of the dual control the observer, in case of +accident to the pilot, can bring the airplane safely to ground. + +"Don't know," said Benton sharply, "but we're not getting enough gas. +You pick out a landing-place for us in double-quick time, if you don't +want to land in those tree-tops." His cool voice was shaken with +furious disgust--the steady, swift race of the engine had grown jerky +and uneven. + +Bob heard it and understood. With frenzied haste he searched the +landscape with his glasses, growing suddenly cold beneath his clothes +at thought of the dizzy depth below. + +"There's a meadow just to the left," he said at last, "north of +the village--see it? It's the only decent place in sight--but, +Benton--it's behind the German lines." + +"Don't I know it?" said Benton gruffly. "Then here goes." He cut off +the spark, and the airplane began to fall. + +Bob had snatched his map from the board and folded it closely. He drew +now from a box at his feet a pearly white carrier pigeon and, fastening +the map to her leg by a rubber band, stroked her once and tossed +her high in the air. No matter what happened to them his morning's +observations would safely reach the squadron's camp. + +They were barely four hundred feet above the earth now, and the +continued firing of the German guns behind them seemed to indicate that +in the misty atmosphere the enemy had not seen their descent and was +still searching for them in the heights. + +"All right, pretty good place--down we go," said Benton, peering out +ahead. In another moment the machine touched the grass of the meadow +and coasted along it to the shelter of a little grove of firs near the +farther end. + +"Somewhere in France," remarked Benton grimly, taking off his goggles +and staring around him. "Only it begins to look more like somewhere in +Germany." + +"There's nobody in sight," said Bob, stepping out on to the grass. "I +should think we were several miles north of the village." + +"Not more than two," declared Benton, taking off his gloves and turning +up the ear flaps of his helmet preparatory to bending over the engine. +He took another swift glance around, frowning. "They may have seen us +come down and they may not, but we'll have to take it for granted that +they didn't, and do our work with that idea. If the trouble is in the +feed pipe, as I think it is, we ought to make repairs in an hour or +two. It isn't but ten o'clock now." He looked up at the sun, which was +dimly visible through the heavy clouds. "If it will only stay thick +and hazy we'll have a fair chance of escaping notice in case any one +happens along in this field." + +"There's a house behind those trees," said Bob doubtfully, nodding +toward the woods on their right. "It looks like a farmer's cottage. +You can't see it now, but I caught sight of the chimney while we were +making our landing." + +"Well, it can't be helped," said Benton coolly. "Our only chance is to +fix up and get away before they see us." + +He had his tools out and was ready to engross himself in the task +before him. Not for nothing had this famous pilot been brought up on a +Wyoming cattle ranch, where calm thought and quick action had saved +his life more than once in his boy-hood. With a strong probability +of never finishing his repairs he set to work with as matter-of-fact +thoroughness as though he were in his own air-drome. + +"Come on, Gordon--unscrew these unions for me," he ordered, tossing a +tool in Bob's direction. + +Bob was feeling, to say the least of it, rather excited. During his +three months of service abroad he had not yet come face to face with +a German soldier otherwise than disarmed and a prisoner. He had +encountered plenty of shell and rifle fire in his flights over the +enemy trenches, but that was his nearest approach to the battle-field. +Now, as he peered around the meadow, over which the mist still +lingered, he half expected to see a crowd of armed Prussians bursting +at him from among the trees, and his heart beat a most unhero-like +tattoo as he turned to the airplane and began unscrewing with nervous +haste. + +In half an hour Benton had found the trouble and set about remedying it +as best he could, but he growled now over his work, and searched his +box of spare parts dejectedly. "It will just do," he told Bob as they +toiled on with all the speed allowable for a good job. "It ought to get +us back to camp safe enough, but unfortunately we can't fly like the +crow--not by daylight." + +"How do you mean?" asked Bob, straightening his bent back a moment. He +was beginning to feel more hopeful, for the work was nearly done, even +if not altogether satisfactory, and they were still quite unmolested. + +"I mean that we can't start now, as I'd like to, and fly back to camp. +They're on the lookout for us, you may be sure. We'd have to dodge and +cut around their guns, and you see we can't. I wouldn't risk a single +loop with that engine, though for just the straight distance we can +chance it. What I mean is this--we've got to wait for darkness, or near +it, and then cut back directly over the trenches." + +"I see," said Bob, with marked lack of enthusiasm. + +Benton grinned. "Doesn't sound very promising to you, does it? Cheer +up; if only we can hide here until dark we'll get home safe enough. +When this job is done we'll push her further in under the trees. The +place seems to be quite deserted. Probably the cow that was pastured +here has gone into German stomachs long ago." + +Bob nodded agreement, since showing his doubts of their safety would +not help matters. He guessed, too, that Benton knew them as well as he. +In another hour the engine was repaired to the best of their ability, +the airplane pushed under a sheltering fir, and Benton seated on the +ground beside it, lighting his pipe. + +Bob sat down, too, and wiped the oil from his hands with a wisp of +grass. He felt a sudden keen longing for action to put out of his +mind the long hours they must spend in hiding, with the expectation +every moment of being surprised. He was not blessed with Benton's calm +patience. To be in the thick of a fight or engaged on a hazardous piece +of work was something he could tackle bravely, but waiting for the +unknown was getting on his nerves. + +"Benton, I want to take a look around," he said, rising to his feet +after a moment. "I'll keep among the trees right near you." + +"Well, if you must," Benton acquiesced. "Don't go far. I suppose if the +Boches are looking for us they'll find us just the same, hiding or not." + +"I won't be gone half an hour," promised Bob, edging his way among the +tree-trunks, his face turned toward the north end of the meadow. + +The mist still hung about the woodland, and the bark of the trees he +touched was wet and clammy. He walked on for about five hundred yards, +then stopped to listen. Distant firing was the only sound that broke +the silence except for the occasional drip of water from the bare +branches of the oaks or the green boughs of the fir trees. + +He went on a little further, then stopped again, irresolute. There was +nothing to be gained by wandering further, and he might lose his way +if the mist closed in again. He certainly could not risk having to +shout to Benton for guidance. But he thought disgustedly of the feeble +ending to their morning's expedition, with the best to be hoped for a +scared retreat to camp after nightfall. The map was safely there by +now, but Bob would have given almost anything at that moment to be able +to add to the information it contained by some discovery near at hand. +The attack of nerves he had suffered after their landing had cleared +his mind of its weakness, and now his heart was beating normally and +his courage was good. Bob was far from having an envious nature, but +his admiration for Benton's exploits had kindled his own ambition, +and the chance nearness to the German second-line positions made him +fairly ache with longing to do his corps some brilliant service. Yet +rack his brains as he might he could not discover any way toward the +accomplishment of his desire. While he stood wishing, a footstep +sounded close beside him. + +Bob stopped breathing, frozen to the spot. Then he began slowly backing +away, but the unknown's feet had passed from the soft moss to a +crackling stick very near at hand and only a shaggy fir tree separated +him from Bob's view. + +Bob was keyed up at that moment to expect no less than Von Hindenburg +himself, and the relief was almost overwhelming when a little old man +in a blue peasant's blouse stepped into sight, carrying a pail of +water. He nearly dropped it when he came face to face with Bob, and +stopped mouth open and eyes staring. Bob was almost as much overcome +himself at the encounter with even this simple old countryman, and it +was the latter who brought his pail carefully to the ground and first +spoke. + +"_Anglais?_" he asked, his voice quavering with astonishment, and his +eyes wandering all over Bob as though puzzled beyond words at his +presence. + +Bob shook his head, regaining his composure a little, "_Americain._" + +"Ah!" cried the little Frenchman, his face lighting up in answer to the +word, "_Americain_!" Then in a sudden burst of joyful enthusiasm he +cried with a smile that brought out a hundred wrinkles in his thin old +face, "_Soyez le bienvenu!_" + +"_Merci!_" responded Bob, warming to the friendly greeting, and he held +out his hand to the old man, who shook it timidly. Then he burst into a +sudden volley of words, gesticulating wildly with his arms as he spoke +and, so far as Bob could understand, inquiring how on earth he had got +there, since evidently the Germans still held their positions firmly. + +[Illustration: "YOU MAY HELP THE ALLIES TO VICTORY"] + +Bob heartily wished he had taken his West Point French more seriously +as he strained his ears, unused to any such fluency. But he summoned +his wits and managed to understand somehow and to answer at least +intelligibly. + +"I and my fellow-officer were forced to come down behind the German +lines," he explained. "We are hiding until dark, when we can get away." +As he struggled with his French Bob felt uneasy enough at having +revealed himself, though looking at the peasant's honest open face +beaming with friendliness he could not feel that he had exposed himself +and Benton to any imminent danger of betrayal. But while he talked +another thought occurred to him. + +"Have you seen the new forts beyond the village?" he asked. "Will you +tell me how far they go? Perhaps you may help the Allies to victory." + +The old man scratched his cheek thoughtfully and finally shook his +head. "I can tell only what I have guessed, Monsieur, for I do not go +near the fortifications, nor even to the village, often. I feel safer +here," he added, nodding his head toward the cottage that Bob had +noticed buried in the trees. "It is almost a ruin now," he said sadly, +"but the Boches seldom come there." + +"Well, what have you guessed?" urged Bob eagerly. + +"That the forts run far above the town. They have set guards all +through the woods to the north to keep the townfolk from wandering +there. Beyond that," he shrugged his old shoulders dejectedly, "I do +not know." + +Bob's brain began to seethe with a sudden determination. Before he had +stopped to think whether it had wisdom in it--and not having Lucy on +hand to urge caution--he said impulsively: + +"I want to see them if I can. Could you--will you lend me those clothes +you wear while I go quickly into the village and return? I will pay you +well for them." As he spoke he drew from the pocket inside his coat +some pieces of silver. + +The old peasant stared again, then his blue eyes softened. "I will lend +them to you gladly," he said, drawing back from the offering with a +friendly smile. + +"I know," urged Bob, following him, "but I have money and you have +none. Take this for friendship's sake, at least," he said, as nearly as +his French could frame the words. + +The old man hesitated no longer, but took the money with a grateful +look and a sigh of wonder at the few franc pieces in his hand. + +"Many thanks, Monsieur l'Americain," he nodded. "Will you wait here +until I bring the clothes, or will you come with me to my house?" + +Bob thought swiftly of Benton, with whom he must certainly have a word +before he started out on what the older man would be likely to call a +wild goose chase. Again he felt the risk of so implicitly trusting a +simple old fellow who might presumably be frightened into a betrayal, +but his confidence somehow remained unshaken. The man must not be led +into his danger either. He thought hard. + +"I'll meet you near your house, so you need not come back so far. Can +you think of a place?" + +"Yes," said the old man after a moment; "my little shed where I cut +wood is at the edge of the thicket. You have only to walk on a quarter +of a mile from here to come to it." + +"But how about the Boches? Could they not see me?" + +"No--no. There are none near here. They have little reason for coming. +You are safe enough. But," he added, a sudden alarm springing into +his mild eyes, "when you put on these clothes," he touched his faded +blouse, "you are a spy, Monsieur. Have you forgotten that?" + +"No," said Bob calmly, although to tell the truth he disliked to hear +the word. "I'll risk that. No one knows me here. Say in a quarter of an +hour, then, I'll meet you at your wood-shed." He smiled good-bye to +the little figure stooping again over the pail, and turned back through +the trees with a great excitement quickening his pulses, though his +determination had been so calmly taken. + +Benton was still sitting beside his airplane, only now he leaned +forward in an attitude of expectancy when Bob's cautious footstep +sounded in the wood. At sight of him he settled back again, inquiring +with mild mockery, "Well, did you persuade the Germans to confide +anything to you? Wish you'd ask them where that new road is they've +camouflaged out of sight. Tell 'em we've spent a week looking for it." + +"Didn't see any," said Bob, refusing to be teased. "Look here, Benton, +what I did see was a French peasant who was no end friendly, and whose +clothes I borrowed to go on a little tour of inspection in the village." + +"What! In the village--in the fellow's clothes?" exclaimed Benton, +staring. "You must be just plain ass, Gordon." + +Bob laughed. "No, I'm not. Would you think so if I learned what we want +to know about the block-houses before it's dark enough to start? All +this worry and danger would have amounted to something then. I sure +want to find out a little of their scheme." + +Benton frowned at the big tree in front of him. "You know what you'll +get if you are caught--out of uniform?" + +"But I'm not exactly well-known in that village. I'm no familiar figure +like yourself. There haven't been any pictures of me in the papers. +Besides, I won't be gone more than an hour or two. I can't see any +great risk in it, and, Benton, think of what I may learn!" + +"I know it, and I wouldn't thank any man who kept me from doing a smart +bit of work. But look here, even if you are not suspected you might be +detained as being of military age. How would you like to be sent into +Germany as a factory hand?" + +"I can easily pass for seventeen--the class France had not called out +when Petit-Bois was taken. There are lots of those fellows around, and +it isn't likely they'd choose me to kidnap during a single hour." + +"Well, go ahead, Gordon, but not with my approval. It's a nasty +business." + +"I feel sure I'll come out all right," said Bob, a courageous +confidence growing in him as he spoke. "Just wish me luck and I'll bet +we'll meet again before it's time to go." + +"I wish you the best of luck, old man," said Benton, rising to his feet +and shaking Bob warmly by the hand. "I'll wait for you until dark. I +can't stay longer." + +"That's long enough," said Bob, and with a final hand-clasp he retraced +his venturesome steps into the wood. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + BEHIND THE ENEMY'S LINES + + +In the village of Petit-Bois, on the street leading to the church, +lived a grocer named Adler, a German by birth, who had plied his trade +there for almost ten years before the war forced him to leave French +territory. He was not kept away for long, however, for within a few +weeks his countrymen had overrun Belgium and enough of northern France +to include Petit-Bois, so Herr Adler came back and resumed business, +with more Germans than French now for customers. He was a widower and +lived alone until his uncle and aunt had come to Petit-Bois a month ago +to keep him company. The grocery had become prosperous of late, since +the victorious army had trebled the population of the village, and the +grocer was glad of help in the time his uncle could spare from his work +as company cook in an Infantry regiment. He was pleased also at having +for lodger a relative in the army. Adler's aunt sat mostly in her room +over the grocery knitting socks, except when she was called to wait +upon customers in the shop. + +She was seated there now in the early winter afternoon, the needles +moving swiftly in her nimble fingers, though her eyes were not on her +work but turned toward the window through which bare branches showed, +and low, red roofs beneath the sullen, cloudy sky. Elizabeth was paler +and thinner than she had been when the Gordons last saw her, and her +face was serious and sad as she looked off into the distance. It was +not her journeyings since leaving America that had wearied her--the +journey into Mexico, the long sea voyage from Santa Cruz to Copenhagen, +and again the tedious way from Denmark into Germany. It was the weeks +passed in her native land which had done most to sadden her cheerful +spirit. + +The month she had spent in Germany had been strangely hard, and lately +she had stayed more and more at work by herself, absorbed in perplexing +and anxious thoughts. The grief and suffering she saw daily about her, +without power to alleviate it, hurt her kind heart, and the great +war seemed further than ever from her simple understanding. She saw +Karl filling once more a humble place in Germany's mighty army, with +a steadily growing pride in the victorious onslaught of which he had +become a part. She heard the name of Germany and of German conquest on +every tongue, or saw a silent witness of it in the vanquished people +around her, and still her heart did not feel that overpowering thrill +at her country's greatness that in Karl had been so quickly awakened. +Elizabeth went among the Germans of the village and spoke with them +in her native tongue. She worked willingly at warm garments for the +soldiers and helped her nephew at every opportunity, but with a quiet +sadness and reserve that any one who had known the old Elizabeth would +have quickly wondered at. + +The neighbors often asked her about her life in America, usually with +bitter words and marveling at her safe return. + +"How fortunate you were, Frau Müller, to get off so easily! I suppose +our poor countrymen are suffering much at the hands of the Yankees now. +Did you contrive long for your escape?" + +Elizabeth had smiled the first time such questions were put to her, +and had told frankly of the freedom with which she and Karl had left +America. But later she did not go into such details, for she saw that +she was not fully believed and that, moreover, her story lost interest +since it contained no accusations against America. + +She had heard before in Germany words of suspicion and dislike +expressed against England, and she had not been familiar enough with +England or English people to resent or disbelieve them. But she had +spent a good part of the last twenty years in America, and had known +too much happiness and kind companionship there to feel indifferent +when malicious lies were told about its people. She had lived, too, +much of that time, in the army, and knew enough of its officers and +soldiers and their families not to be deceived into believing them +greedy, money-mad or bloodthirsty, according to the imagination of her +informer. + +This sort of stupid abuse made Elizabeth acutely unhappy, and hurt +her confidence in her native land, for which she had long had the +tenderest affection. So rather than engage in arguments with strangers +she remained alone a good part of the time and worked peacefully at her +sewing and knitting, hoping, with as much cheerfulness as she could +summon, for better days to come. + +She was pondering again over these troubling thoughts as she sat by +the window, deeply wishing that she could go back to her native town +in Bavaria and talk to the old pastor she had known in her youth. He +had never outgrown for her the wisdom she had seen in him when he had +married her to Karl, with much kind and shrewd advice for both of them. +She smiled at the thought of it as she bent over the heel of her sock. +Suddenly heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs and the door was opened. +Elizabeth looked up in surprise. + +"Is it you, Karl, home so early?" she asked as her husband came quickly +in and crossed the room to her side. + +He wore the German private's gray uniform as cook to an Infantry +company, and his rather stout figure had trimmed down wonderfully since +he put it on. He looked almost young and soldierly. But his face just +now was red and hot, and his black eyes blazed with excitement. + +"Whom do you think I have seen?" he shouted, pointing a shaking finger +at his wife as though to assure her earnest attention. "I have seen a +spy from the American army across there with the French, and whom do +you think it was? It was Bob Gordon!" + +Elizabeth turned deathly pale. Her knitting slipped unnoticed from her +hands and she stared at Karl speechlessly until he shook her by the +shoulder, crying: + +"Come! Don't be so stupid! I want that picture you have of him. Where +is it? I must show it to my captain, so he will be convinced it is the +right man when we have taken him. He was wandering about the border of +the village, just entering it. He has got across the lines somehow, in +a farmer's old clothes. Pretty smart! But not so smart that I didn't +recognize him--our fine young officer! He won't get back so easily, for +I have sent warnings to all the pickets beyond the wood." + +Karl was fairly quivering with eagerness. He saw glory awaiting him +around the corner--the precious words of praise from his superior, +the possible decoration, which are life itself to the zealous German +soldier, and which he puts before every impulse of humanity or +independence. + +"Hurry!" he urged angrily, astonished at Elizabeth's white-faced +silence. "I want to take him on the road by the fortifications. Think +what it means to us who were half accused of being friendly to America! +Could there be better proof than this of our loyalty?" + +Elizabeth's pale lips could hardly form the words she tried to utter. +Her throat choked her, but desperately she strove against the horror +that seized her and pleaded tremblingly, "Oh, Karl, not a spy--not a +spy!" + +Karl frowned, staring at her with hard eyes, but she faltered, "You +won't give him up, Karl? Not Mr. Bob, our old friend!" + +"What else would I do?" Karl demanded, thrusting out both arms in an +excited gesture. "Would you have me betray the Fatherland?" + +Elizabeth found her tongue at last and rose to face her husband. Her +thin face was flushed and her eyes shining. + +"Karl, it is not only you who love Germany," she said earnestly. "I +would not betray her to our enemies, but, Karl, you know well that +there is nothing here for Mr. Bob to learn. Only the fortifications +are secret, and he will never be allowed near them by the guard. You +know they would shoot him before he reached them, as they shot that +poor, deaf old man the other day. Tell him to go, Karl. Tell him never, +on his word, to spy again, as the price of his safety. No, wait," she +begged, as Karl showed impatient signs of interrupting her. "Do it for +the debt we owe America. Have you forgotten the long, happy years we +spent there? Often I think of my kind mistress and of Mr. Bob when he +was a little child. Do you remember the day long ago when he fell off +his horse, how you picked him up and carried him in the house? You were +pale that day yourself, and when he opened his eyes you said, 'Thank +God.' You were very ill ten years ago, when the Major had you cared for +like his friend and your life was saved. Don't we owe them anything, +Karl, that you are so ready to harm them?" + +Karl's brows had unbent a little as he listened to Elizabeth's plea, +and when he answered it was less arrogantly, though his voice was still +hard and self-assured. + +"Yes, wife, I know. But you reason stupidly. I cannot make you see +beyond your finger-tips. Our service in America was good, and we were +friends with the Major's family. I served him faithfully. But now we +are at war, and Germany's enemies are ours. I am now a soldier and Mr. +Bob is a soldier, too. That is an end to all talk of friendship. Keep +your pity for our own people, and forget all gratitude to those who are +against us. America and the sons of America are less than nothing to +you now." + +Karl's face was set, and his eyes gleamed at thought of the praise and +honor awaiting him with Bob's capture. No persuasion on earth could +have turned him aside from his purpose, and to his excited mind it lost +all trace of selfish ambition and became the loftiest patriotism. + +Elizabeth closed her lips despairingly and looked at him with sad eyes. +But his forbearance was now quite at an end. + +"Give me the picture!" he cried, shaking her thin shoulder. "Must I +treat you roughly to get it? Where is your obedience?" + +Elizabeth made no more protests. She walked with heavy steps to the +old bureau and pulled open a drawer. From the depths of a worn leather +pocketbook she drew out the little photograph and, without one glance +at it, handed it to her husband. + +Karl snatched it eagerly from her hand, and looked at it closely, +holding it to the light. He started to tear off the figures of Lucy and +William, but reflecting that it would be better to show the picture +unmutilated, he thrust it quickly inside his blouse and went out of the +room. + +Elizabeth stood by the bureau motionless for a moment, then +mechanically she straightened the crocheted cover where Karl had +brushed against it. She had crocheted it herself two years ago at +Governor's Island, while Lucy was recovering from the measles, sitting +beside her in the darkened room. She went slowly over to the window, +staring out unseeingly. In her painful bewilderment she prayed for help +and guidance to know what she should do, and as her lips moved she felt +her mind made up beyond any faltering. + +She turned to the wall where a woolen shawl hung, and, hesitating no +longer, took it down and wrapped it about her head and shoulders. Her +face was calm and quiet now with the strength of her resolution. She +descended to the shop and found Herr Adler seated there, casting up his +accounts, for it was Saturday afternoon. + +"Good-day, Aunt," he nodded, raising his blond head at sight of her. +"Will you stay here for a while and attend to the customers while I do +my figuring? My uncle has gone off somewhere in a great hurry." + +"First I must go out and see Frau Bauer," said Elizabeth, smiling +pleasantly at her nephew. "I promised to come before the week is out. +In half an hour I will be back and help you gladly." She replaced a +few potatoes which had fallen from the basket and walked out into the +street. Once outside she quickened her pace a little and turned off in +the direction of the fortified road behind the village. + + * * * * * + +Bob had lingered in the woods a while after putting on the peasant's +clothes, trying to feel at home in them before he showed himself in the +village. But the disguise was complete enough to any one unfamiliar +with his face, and sure to escape notice by its very commonplaceness. + +"If they see that you are a stranger they will take you for a marketer +from the countryside," the old Frenchman had assured him. "They come +from a day's journey off now, because the land is untilled beneath the +shell-fire, north and south of us." + +Bob entered Petit-Bois about noon, skirting the edge of it until he +could get enough idea of its streets to seem passably familiar with +the ones leading to the farther end of the village. His cap was pulled +down over his eyes, and his clumsy shoes no longer impeded his steps +as they had done at first. He bent his shoulders forward too, with a +suggestion of physical unfitness. + +Thrusting his hands into his pockets he walked along at a good rate +on a pretty, tree-bordered street, until he reached the center of +the village with its shops and red-roofed houses, one or two of them +damaged by shell-fire, beyond which the little, spired church showed +against the gray sky. Not many people were on the streets and the few +were mostly German soldiers off duty, wearing an air of self-importance +which contrasted strongly with the hasty and anxious looks of the +French women, children and occasional men who went about such business +as they had. What might have marked Bob out for notice was his fresh +color and the clear eyes shaded beneath his cap, for terror and +privation had taken the healthy bloom from the French country-folk, and +even the children wore a serious, apprehensive look as they hurried by, +wrapped in their scanty shawls against the biting air. + +Bob did not linger, having no desire to remain in a crowd, and +possessed by one idea--to see all he could and get away as soon as +possible. He went on up the street, passed the church, and turning into +a lane found himself presently at the eastern end of the village. Along +its outskirts a road ran at right angles to the principal street, and +as Bob reached it he saw, to his discomfort, a German sentry walking +guard. Beyond the little grove of oaks just back of the road Bob's +fancy pictured with eager certainty one of the concrete block-houses, +or machine-gun emplacements that formed the projected second line of +defense. He stepped out on to the road and immediately received a +threatening gesture of the sentry's bayonet, eloquent enough, though +the man was some distance from him, accompanied by a thumb pointed +vigorously back in the direction of the village. Bob turned unwillingly +into the lane again, frowning at the oak grove before he strolled +slowly away from it. + +"Fine chance I have of seeing anything," he thought, fuming, as he +shuffled along. "I don't make a very dangerous spy." + +He returned to the church, found a second by-way and made for another +part of the forbidden road. This way was not so deserted as the lane +he had left, and as he passed a dozen people he quickened his pace +a little, thinking his idle wandering might look suspicious. He was +the less conspicuous, though, as many of the villagers were wandering +about themselves with little object. Their livelihood gone, their +hearts wrung with grief or anxiety, they seemed to have little purpose +in their actions, and those who met Bob's eyes looked at him with +dull indifference, or at most with a mild curiosity. The German +soldiers left them unmolested, so far as Bob could see. Even the most +brutal, he guessed, had seen enough of abusing an unarmed and helpless +population. Once an officer passed quickly by, having the whole road +to himself by unanimous consent of the other pedestrians. He was a +tall, powerful-looking man, a captain, as Bob saw by a glance at his +shoulder. It went severely against the grain to salute him, but Bob +could not risk being brought into notice by a reprimand and he raised +his hand briskly with the others. The officer did not condescend +to return the salute, but his eyes passed over Bob's shabby figure +indifferently, which was all Bob wanted. + +As he neared the road again he peered across it as well as he could +before coming under the sentry's gaze, and to his delight he saw +plainly a square, white spot rising slightly from the ground in the +moss among the tree-trunks. He hastily calculated the distance between +this lane and the other and decided that the block-houses were at least +a hundred yards apart. His sketches made from the airplane were fairly +accurate, and would be of great service when the looked-for retreat +commenced from the hard-pressed German lines before the village. He +was consumed with a desire to get nearer the road, but the few houses +along the lane had already ended, and it was empty except for himself. +He felt that it would be going too far to show himself again to the +sentry appearing from a second deserted road. To the left he heard the +sound of drums and caught sight of a big farmhouse not far off, which, +to judge from the crowd of soldiers gathering about its yard, had been +turned into a barracks. + +It was, of course, something to have verified his observations of the +morning, and he had a pretty good idea of what protection the houses +of the village would afford an army defending the second line, but Bob +was far from satisfied as he once more neared the church. He glanced +up at the spire, wondering if by hook or by crook, or by any of those +marvelous schemes that seem easy enough when you read about them, he +could get up inside the belfry and use the glasses carefully hidden +under his blouse. While he gazed up, blinking at the mist-covered +sun, a hand laid quickly on his arm made him jump in spite of all his +self-control. He turned, expecting he knew not what, to see a thin, +little woman with a shawl drawn like a hood over her face. + +A house close by them had been partly shattered by shell-fire, and a +gaping hole still showed in the wall. "Come in here," she whispered, +and drew Bob inside the wrecked door out of sight of passers-by. + +"Mr. Bob," said Elizabeth, pushing back her shawl and showing her +haggard, frightened face. "Oh, Mr. Bob, why did you come here? Go +quickly away, I beg you--for your mother's sake!" + +"Elizabeth!" said Bob, staring unbelievingly at the troubled face +before him. Then as the shock of her recognition of him outweighed his +curiosity he asked, bewildered, "Who knows I am here? Have you told any +one?" + +"Karl saw you," said Elizabeth, wringing her hands in her helpless +terror. "He will give you up, Mr. Bob, but I could not stay and nothing +do after he told me. Your mother's eyes came sorrowfully before me, and +I must help you if I can. But, oh, Mr. Bob, if without your uniform +they take you! Get back while yet there is time, if some way you know!" + +"Karl--here? What a chance!" Bob muttered, his brain on fire now with +the impulse of his desperate need. + +"It is not chance, Mr. Bob," said Elizabeth heavily. "His regiment was +here sent when the Americans joined the French across the line. Karl +could choose this or one other regiment, but here he came because my +nephew asked him. You will believe me?" Her face was beseeching in its +tearful earnestness, lest Bob should not take her warning with instant +seriousness. + +"Oh, I believe you, Elizabeth--it isn't that!" Bob assured her, +darting a glance into the street. "Thank you a thousand times," he +stammered, clasping her hands with more fervent gratitude than his +hurried words could speak. "Good-bye!" + +Elizabeth held him back for an instant. "Oh, Mr. Bob, nothing try +against the German army!" she entreated. "They are too strong. Now go, +and God go with you." + +The street was almost empty. Bob reached it unnoticed and crossed +swiftly to the lane from which he had caught a glimpse of the German +barracks a quarter of an hour before. He had observed that it ran +through the length of the village obliquely parallel with the principal +street. At a guess it should come out nearer by half a mile to the +north end of the meadow than the way by which he had entered. He began +walking down it swiftly, but fear urged him on until his feet would no +longer keep the ground. He darted furtive looks around him and saw no +passers-by. The scattered houses were closed, too, against the raw, +misty air. He broke into a gentle run and reached the village outskirts +in ten minutes. Where the lane ended the meadows began, and for a +moment Bob paused, uncertain, looking about him at the brown fields and +the trees with sombre, bare branches against the gloomy sky. The woods +stretched beyond, and to these Bob raised his eyes and saw a splotch +of green among the winter bareness. It was the little wood of firs +among which Benton lay hid. Bob sprang forward and crossing the first +field at a leisurely walk, in case curious eyes were at any of the +windows behind him, he descended a little knoll and then, stretching +his long legs, broke into a run that would have won him trophies on any +athletic field. + +For a mile and a half he ran on, over fields and through thickets, +steering wide from any signs of habitation, until his breath began +to fail and his legs to ache and stumble. But on he went, until the +woods closed in and, close at hand, he saw the little thatched shed +whose safe haven meant more than anything in the world to him just +then--refuge from certain death. + +He darted in the narrow doorway and dropped, gasping, on the earthy +floor. But only for a moment. The next he was tearing off the shabby, +old garments he wore and searching in the dim corner for his precious +discarded uniform. Five minutes later--never did he think he could have +dressed so quickly--he stood up, once more an American officer. + +Discovery he felt to be inevitable, for Karl must have been hot upon +his trail when Elizabeth warned him--and he was barely half a mile from +Benton's hiding-place. The search would be complete, but by getting +further off he would lessen the chance of giving away his comrade +with him, and making him the victim of his own rashness. He went out, +stepping cautiously, and seeing all clear, walked quickly into the +woods toward the German line. He had got no further in his plan than +this--to be taken far off to the right, beyond the grove of firs. But +as he walked wearily on, he tried vainly to think of some way out, some +place of concealment that German sagacity could not fathom. He thought +vaguely, too, of home, and wished that he were back there. The words of +an old song came into his mind: + + "Do they miss me at home, do they miss me, + When the shadows darkly fall?" + +He shook his head, trying hard to think to some purpose. The sound +of the guns was nearer now, and the detonations distracted him as he +tried to locate them. He thought he was within five miles of the German +trenches. He listened intently, trying to find his direction, when +crackle--crash! sounded the breaking twigs and brushwood back of him. +He wheeled around and met the barrel of a German rifle with a stocky +infantryman behind it. + +Bob felt almost calm now that it had actually happened. He nodded to +the soldier and, at a sharp signal, turned his back, raising his arms +above his head. His pistol was jerked from his belt, his pockets +quickly searched, then the soldier gave an order, motioning him to go +on. He led the way, and the two soon emerged from the wood and began +skirting the meadow. Bob had a part to play in the eyes of this silent +and stolid Teuton. He represented America, and she was going to be +represented worthily, whatever despondency and dread might in reality +clutch at the heart of her son. About half a mile down the field an +officer was seated on a rock with a little group of soldiers about him. +Bob guessed that this was the main base of the searching party Karl had +instituted. + +Karl was evidently taking part in the hunt, for he was not in sight, +but as he drew nearer another figure brought Bob's heart into his +mouth. Almost a groan escaped him. Benton was a prisoner like himself, +and lost, with all his matchless skill, to the American flying corps. + +Bob cast one remorseful look at him, which was returned by an undaunted +nod and twinkle from the plucky Westerner, then the officer got up from +the rock and strolled in Bob's direction. As he inspected the insignia +on Bob's uniform he made a slight, stiff bow, which Bob returned. The +German was a lieutenant like himself, a slender, fair man with keen, +blue eyes and set lips. + +"You are my prisoner, Lieutenant," he said in good English. + +Bob made a sign of assent. + +"You admit having come down by accident with Captain Benton this +morning?" + +"Yes," said Bob briefly. + +"You were seen near the village and taken while walking in the woods. +Did you expect to get away if nobody appeared to be in sight?" + +"We hoped to get back across the lines after dark," said Bob, wishing +he could talk to Benton. + +"You will be taken into the town for examination directly. Have you any +request to make?" + +"No, thank you," said Bob. The officer turned away, and Bob was led +by the guard to a place beside the rock, where he sidled along in the +course of a few minutes until he could mumble a word near Benton's ear. +The pilot spoke over his shoulder. + +"Awfully sorry, Gordon, to have got you into this." + +"Why, it's my fault," said Bob. + +"No, it isn't. They saw us come down. They've been trying to locate our +descent all day. They got me about an hour after you left, and before +this search began. Don't know what started that." + +The guard pushed in between the two, shutting off any further +communication, and the little group formed in double lines, the +prisoners in the center, for the march to the village. + +Bob caught sight of Karl now, standing a short way off in excited +conversation with a non-commissioned officer. He felt a sudden, +unreasoning anger at sight of the familiar face and unfamiliar +gray-uniformed figure of the man he had so long regarded as a harmless +and friendly dependent. But recognizing the hard fortunes of war he +turned his eyes resolutely away. + +Karl, indeed, was quite willing to keep out of Bob's vicinity. Not +all his pride and self-importance could make him look forward to such +a meeting with any enjoyment. Just now he was fully taken up by the +argument with his superior. + +"You say when you saw him at the outskirts of the village he was +dressed in peasant's clothes, Müller?" inquired the Feldwebel or +Sergeant, dubiously. "The man is certainly in uniform now. The mist +befogged your eyes. That muddy colored cloth they wear may look +like anything at a distance." The Sergeant was milder than he might +ordinarily have been at Karl's mistake because he belonged to the +company Karl cooked for, and had enjoyed better meals lately than for a +year past. + +Karl hesitated, longing to insist, but not wishing to presume too far. +He had won praise already for revealing the presence of another man +after Benton was taken. + +"We searched the village from end to end at your direction," the +Sergeant continued. "He was not in it, naturally, as he was in these +woods. That'll do, Müller. The squad is ready to move." + +In an hour the two prisoners were in the house requisitioned in the +village by the Regimental Commander. There they were separated. Bob +was asked a few perfunctory questions by several officers in turn, +relating to his rank, his corps, and his intention in making the +morning's flight. He managed to reply with enough vagueness to give no +information, and they stopped short of questions which he must refuse +to answer. Before long they withdrew and left him alone. He stood +forlornly by the window, watching the winter twilight close in and +lights spring up through the village, when the door opened, and, to his +delight, Benton came toward him. + +"I have only a minute," he said quickly. "They told me I could say +good-bye, but to cut it short." + +"Good-bye?" echoed Bob, feeling his heavy heart sink still lower. "They +aren't going to separate us, Benton?" + +"Yes." Benton frowned, all the bitter and helpless disappointment at +his capture distorting for an instant his calm face. "They are going to +send me up to the Divisional Commander. Whether to present me with the +Iron Cross or to show me to a firing squad I haven't yet made out," +he muttered. "But anyway you're to be sent on alone, with some French +prisoners taken yesterday." + +"Oh, Benton, that's tough," sighed Bob, his brave heart quailing for a +moment at thought of the lonely captivity before him. + +Benton brought back a feeble smile at sight of Bob's black depression. +He held out a big hand. "Cheer up! Things might be worse, Bob. Here's +hoping for the best." + +Bob gave the friendly hand a warm clasp, and took a long, parting look +into his comrade's frank, honest face. He thought of the memorable days +of work they had spent so companionably together, but more than all, as +he let go Benton's hand he seemed to sever the last link that bound him +to freedom and America. Then Benton went out, and on his heels came a +soldier, holding open the door for the fair-haired young officer, who +said curtly: + +"Follow me, Lieutenant. You will leave the village in half an hour." + + + + + CHAPTER X + + A GUST OF WIND + + +Winter came down very early this year on Governor's Island, before +the close of November. Autumn did not linger pleasantly as usual, and +Lucy's outdoor project, in which she was so sure she could interest +Marian, had ended almost before it was begun. The two games of golf +they had found time to play, before frost hardened the ground and the +flags were taken in, did not awaken in Marian any great enthusiasm. + +Lucy lamented to Julia one day that they had begun the experiment so +late in the season. + +"I ought to have tried to make her do outdoor things while it was +warmer," she said regretfully. "Then she wouldn't have been willing +to stop doing them. She hates cold weather and she isn't used to it. +Her father has always taken her away somewhere for winter. Of course +bowling is fun, but it isn't out-of-doors." + +Lucy and Julia and Anne Matthews liked to get strenuous exercise in the +bowling-alley at the Officers' Club, which they were allowed to use +at certain hours while the officers were on duty. They were trying +to teach Marian the game, and her few shots had not been bad, but for +the most part she liked better to watch the others play, and was quite +ready to set up the pins every time rather than make the effort needed +to roll the ball. + +"Exercise isn't everything, though, Lucy," Julia objected. "We aren't +trying to make a prize-fighter out of her. She's a lot stronger than +she was, except for getting tired so easily. What I think she needs is +company." + +"That's what I think," agreed Lucy, warmly. "She ought to go with a +crowd of girls who would persuade her into doing as they did. But you +haven't any idea how hard it is to make her go out on these cold days, +or take the trouble to go to see any one. I simply have to drag her +out for the little walks we take, and you know how short they are. +If I took her around the whole post I think we'd have to stop at the +hospital. The other day I brought her in after a 'long walk'--at least +she was pretty tired--and we had walked so slowly I had to run around +and around the house to warm up, after she had gone in." + +"She does poke along," said Julia laughing. "But, Lucy, somehow I can't +help being interested in her, and wanting to get her well." + +"That's just it," said Lucy quickly. "I'm so glad you feel that way +too. No matter how mad and provoked she makes me, I like her and I like +being with her. Now that she talks and feels at home with us I'm never +dull with her. She can tell no end about queer things and places she's +seen, and whatever you talk about she's sure to understand." + +"Anne Matthews likes her, I know," said Julia thoughtfully. "There's +certainly nothing slow about Marian when it comes to learning lessons. +If she waked up as much to other things we'd have a hard time keeping +up with her." + +Lucy was thinking over this conversation on a cold, sunny afternoon +a week before Thanksgiving, when the three girls had gone out on the +sea-wall for their walk, to look at the deep blue water, which had +already begun to form into thin ice along the base of the rocks. Marian +loved the changing waves, with which two voyages across the ocean had +made her very familiar, and the easiest way to coax her out-of-doors +after school on blustery days was to suggest a glimpse at the +white-capped breakers, where the new land lately added to the island +had led the sea-wall far out into the bay. + +Marian was warmly dressed in a soft, fur-trimmed coat, with a blue, +woolly cap pulled down over her ears. Her delicate cheeks were bright +pink and her hair, tossed about by the keen wind, blew in gleaming +curls across her face. She looked filled with health and good spirits +as she laughed and pushed her hair out of the way, her bright, +untroubled eyes roaming over the foamy, blue water. Lucy looked at her +with critical admiration, deciding on another effort to help along her +cousin's growing willingness to take part in other girls' pleasures. + +"I have an idea, Julia and Marian," she began, sure of Julia's support. +"You know your mother, Julia, wants us to get as many girls as we can, +to-morrow afternoon, to come to the Red Cross and finish up those +clothes for the French orphans. What do you say to my inviting them +all to our house afterward, to play games and have ice-cream? Margaret +loves to make it and we wouldn't have cake--just cookies or something. +It might help to get the girls together." + +"It's a fine idea," said Julia, with a vigorous nod. "There are about a +dozen girls, I think, if you ask all on the post from sixteen down to +twelve. What do you think of it, Marian?" + +"All right," agreed Marian, mildly interested. + +"I'll make some oatmeal cookies for you, Lucy," offered Julia. "I love +to make them." + +"Will you? Thanks!" said Lucy, rubbing her red cheek with a wool-gloved +hand. "Suppose we go back now, before Marian gets frozen stiff and +can't be moved." + +"I'm nearly that already," remarked Marian, stamping her feet. "We must +have been out an hour by now, Lucy." + +"Oh, yes, almost. The wind will be behind us going this way, so you +won't mind it," Lucy called back, leading the single file along the +sea-wall. + +Once back from the exposed point of the island the wind died down, and +as the girls left the sea-wall for the grass and neared the Infantry +quarters on Brick Row, skirting the aviation field, Marian raised her +chin from where it was snuggled down into her neck, and straightened +her shoulders a little. + +"Phew! What a cold place!" she breathed. + +"Bob said in the letter we got yesterday," said Lucy, glancing toward +the aviation sheds, "that it was cold there, too, though the weather +had been good otherwise. He said the poor French people were awfully +hard up for clothes. That's what made me wish to see if we can't get +more things done for them." + +"You don't know just where he is, do you, Lucy?" asked Julia. + +"No, though Father thinks he can figure it out pretty well. He's not +far from the base headquarters of our army." + +"He got our fruit-cake at last, anyhow," said Marian with +satisfaction. "I hate not knowing if things get there after you've sent +them." She still shivered a little, though the brisk walk across the +parade had now quite warmed the others. + +"There goes the postman into your house with a big package, Lucy," said +Julia as they crossed the grass from Colonel's to General's Row. + +"Perhaps it's the present your father is going to send you for +Thanksgiving, Marian," suggested Lucy. + +"Maybe it is," agreed Marian, quickening her steps a little as they +neared the house. "O-oh!" she breathed, once safely inside the Gordons' +front door, "isn't it nice to be where it's warm!" + +"Why, it's not so very cold," said Julia, laughing. "You are a regular +pussy-cat, Marian." + +"Except that she doesn't like cream--Mother tries to make her," +remarked Lucy, examining the package the postman had left on the hall +table. "It is for you, Marian. Here you are! Come on up-stairs, Julia, +while we take off our things, and we will see what's inside. Can't we, +Marian?" + +"Of course," said Marian, pulling off her warm cap with one hand and +picking up her box. + +"I wonder where Mother is. I want to ask her about the party." + +"Your mother went out with William, Miss Lucy," answered Margaret, who +was passing through the hall. "She said she wouldn't be gone long." + +"All right, thanks," said Lucy, leading the way up to her room. + +Seated on Lucy's bed Marian let her cousin untie all the knots in the +string fastening her box, and only took a hand herself when it was time +to raise the lid and lift out sheets of crinkly tissue-paper. + +"It's a dress," cried Lucy, much more excited than the present's owner. +"Oh, Marian, it's too lovely!" + +Mr. Leslie, who never found enough to do for his lonely little +daughter, had telegraphed to a New York shop for the prettiest dress +they had, suitable to a fourteen-year-old girl. Marian's measurements +were already on hand, and some clever person in the shop, where Marian +was quite well known, had picked out the frock that met Lucy's admiring +eyes. It was a soft rose taffeta silk, with black velvet ribbon girdle +and wide organdy collar, the skirt puffed out into countless little +ruffles that caught the light with a silvery sheen. + +Even Marian was charmed She lifted it out, smoothing the soft silk with +her hand and wishing her father were near enough for her to thank him. +"It _is_ pretty, isn't it?" she asked, to which Lucy and Julia gave an +enthusiastic assent. + +"Please try it on right now. Won't you?" begged Julia, beginning to +unhook the dress Marian wore, without further delay. + +"Oh--well," Marian agreed, holding up the new beauty and studying its +fastenings. + +"Now, slip this off and in you go," said Julia, twitching off Marian's +school frock with one hand and putting the new dress over her head with +the other. + +The two girls hooked and snapped and patted and poked with eager hands +for a minute, until Marian stood revealed in all the rose-frilled +loveliness, a little untidy about her hair, which was a picturesque +heap since she pulled off her cap, but otherwise all that could be +desired. There was no doubt that the rose dress was tremendously +becoming. + +"Only those tan shoes spoil it," said artistic Julia, frowning at +Marian's feet. + +"Here's Mother!" said Lucy, springing up from the floor as steps +sounded on the stairs. "Come in quick, Mother, and see Marian's +present." + +Mrs. Gordon came, and added her praise to the chorus. "What a perfectly +lovely present, Marian. I do think you have the best father! That dress +fits you perfectly, too. Turn around and let me see the back." + +"Undo it, Cousin Sally, won't you? I'd like to sit down and take a +rest," remarked Marian, tired of being exhibited. "I'll wear it on +Thanksgiving Day." + +"I should think so," sighed Lucy. "That's something to be thankful for." + +Marian cast a glance of more affection than she usually bestowed on her +clothes at the little dress, as Mrs. Gordon laid it carefully back in +the box. + +"Mother, we have something else to talk about," said Lucy, as Mrs. +Gordon took out her hat-pins and folded up her veil. "We want to get +all the girls we can together, to-morrow afternoon, to work for Mrs. +Houston, and afterward have them here to play games and give them +ice-cream and cookies. How about it?" + +"Why, yes, I think so," agreed Mrs. Gordon thoughtfully. "I don't +see why you shouldn't. But the new maid I've engaged won't be here, +so if you invite all the girls near your age you had better go down +to Sergeant Wyatt's some time to-day and ask Rosie to come and help +Margaret. There will be a good many to wait on." + +"I'm going to bring some cookies, Mrs. Gordon," put in Julia. "I can +make awfully good ones. The puppy found some of the last ones I made," +she added regretfully. + +"I know they're good, Julia, and that's very kind of you. You really +needn't." + +"Oh, I'd like to, Mrs. Gordon. I simply must go now," Julia declared, +getting hastily up from her seat on the floor. + +"I'll come down with you," said Lucy, rising too. "I may as well go and +speak to Rosie now," she added, at the foot of the stairs. "Just wait a +second, Julia, till I get my coat." + +Once outside Julia said good-night and started across the green, for +Lucy's way led to the left. + +"Good-bye till to-morrow. I'll telephone every one this evening," Lucy +called after her. + +Lucy found Rosie Wyatt willing enough to come and help. Rosie was a +girl about Lucy's own age, the Sergeant's oldest daughter. She was +always glad to earn a little money to help along her father's big +family, and with Mrs. Gordon's instruction was becoming a very good +little waitress. + +When it came to telephoning the girls, Lucy managed to get fifteen, +including herself and Marian, and she obtained each one's promise to go +to the Red Cross next day to work from lunch time until half-past three. + +The following afternoon saw a string of girls entering the club in twos +and threes, armed with thimble and scissors, until quite a little crowd +was assembled at one end of the Red Cross room. + +"This was a splendid idea of yours, Lucy," said Mrs. Houston, looking +with real satisfaction at the hands held out toward her for their +share of sewing. "These little dresses and wrappers are all stitched +together, girls, just the way they are to go. I am sure you can all +sew well enough to turn up the hems and put on the collars. If any one +can't, she may sew on the buttons." + +"Then I guess I'll have to sew on the buttons," said Marian, looking a +little shamefacedly at the busy workers. "I certainly couldn't put on a +collar that any orphan could wear." + +"All right, Marian," said Mrs. Houston, smiling. "There are lots of +buttons to go on, so you will have plenty to do. Only be sure to sew +them tight enough. There won't be any one over there to put them on +again." + +"I just want to tell you, Mrs. Houston," said Hilda Lee, looking up, +"that Anne Matthews and I were coming here to work this afternoon +anyway, so we aren't such slackers as you may think." + +"Oh, you girls are pretty good about coming, I think," said Mrs. +Houston seriously. "I know it's more fun to stay outdoors after school +than to sit over a table here. Part of Saturday is really the most we +can expect of you in school-time." + +"Especially if you work as hard as Marian and I do," put in Julia, +laughing. Their marks for the month had come out unexpectedly a little +higher than Anne's and Lucy's. + +Marian looked pleased but said nothing. In fact she was having rather +a hard time with the buttons, and Lucy secretly took the work away from +her more than once to straighten out a snarl of cotton. + +"Just think of never having even sewed on a button for yourself," Lucy +thought as she bent again over her own hemming. With the reflection she +understood a little better a certain helplessness about Marian that +cropped out at inconvenient moments, when Lucy in the midst of some +occupation needed a helping hand. It was not that Marian was clumsy or +lacked quickness--she learned anything with amazing readiness--it was +only that she had never done little useful things and had to learn what +most girls know. + +The two hours of work passed pleasantly and quickly, with every one +sewing as hard as she could and talking still harder. When the clock +struck half-past three a pile of finished garments had been stacked +upon the table. + +"Oh, isn't this nice?" said Mrs. Houston, folding the little flannel +dresses with approving hands. "You've done more than I ever thought you +could, girls, and you've certainly earned a rest." + +"We liked doing it," said Mabel Philips, putting down her last piece of +work. "We'll come any time you want us, if we can." + +Every one hurried into her hat and coat and ran down-stairs. Outdoors +a cold wind was blowing from Sandy Hook which flung capes and coats +about in clinging folds, and made the sentry's ears red, as he walked +in front of the club, shifting his gun occasionally from one shoulder +to the other. + +"Gracious!" said Marian, snuggling promptly down into her fur collar. +"I'm glad Lucy can't take me for a walk to-day. This is the sort of +weather she likes to go around the island just where the wind is +strongest." + +"Isn't she cruel?" said Anne Matthews, laughing. She did not add that +Marian's rosier cheeks and growing endurance were a pretty good defense +of Lucy's persevering methods. + +Back at the Gordons', after the wraps were put aside, Lucy said to her +guests: "I thought it would be fun to play games for a while. What do +you think? You aren't any of you too old to like Blind Man's Buff and +Stage-Coach and Winks, are you?" + +The three reverend sixteen-year-olds expressed their perfect +willingness to play anything, and proposed Stage-Coach to begin with. +Every one was eager to move about after sitting still so long and in a +few moments the house was in a joyous uproar, as though having worked +so hard made the girls more able to enjoy themselves. + +Stage-Coach was followed by Winks and Going to Jerusalem--played +with the help of the Victrola, and finally a calm ensued for twenty +questions. Then came Charades, acted in Lucy's and Marian's rooms, +with one room for the actors and one for the audience. These were so +popular that they lasted until Lucy whispered to Marian, who happened +to be on the audience side at the moment: + +"Would you mind going down and telling Margaret and Rosie that we're +ready now? It's nearly five o'clock." + +Marian ran down-stairs to the dining-room and gave Rosie Lucy's +message. Mrs. Gordon had put a pretty, embroidered cloth on the table +and a big fern in the center. Everything was ready on it except for +Margaret to bring things up from the kitchen, and for the candles to be +lighted, for five o'clock meant nearly darkness now. + +"Shall I light the candles?" asked Rosie, looking very trim and nice in +her little white apron. "Did Miss Lucy say they'd be right down?" + +"Yes, they are coming in just a minute," said Marian, drawing up +another chair to the table, and counting to see if there were enough. + +Suddenly a gust of wind from the harbor blew open the big glass door +opening from the dining-room on the back piazza. Marian rushed toward +it in a panic as the table-cloth billowed and fluttered and the +pictures on the wall rocked back and forth. She seized the door and +closed it, and as she struggled with the fastening she heard something +fall behind her and heard Rosie scream. The lighted candle had tipped +over on the table and Rosie, wildly snatching at the fallen candlestick +and at the second one, ready to fall, had set fire to her fluttering +apron. + +The flame sprang quickly to life in the air still quivering from the +gust of wind, and curled dangerously against her muslin dress as +Rosie's trembling hands tried vainly to untie the strings. "Get some +water!" she stammered, white with terror, and remembering only one of +the counsels taught her--to stand still. + +The water-pitcher was across the room from Marian, and one good +drenching would have put out the flame, but Marian stood rooted to +the spot with horror, literally unable to move, her staring eyes +fixed on Rosie's apron, and on the girl's terrified, white face as +she still tugged at the strings behind her waist. But Rosie found her +voice now, and she burst into such screams that Margaret came running +breathless from below, and the whole party, abandoning charades, rushed +down-stairs with headlong speed. One look at Rosie and Margaret seized +the pitcher of water and poured it over her blazing apron and already +kindling skirt; then, laying the child on the floor, she rolled her +tightly in a rug till the last spark was extinguished. By the time +the girls and Mrs. Gordon were on the scene the danger was over, and +except for being pale and trembling, Rosie was unharmed. + +"What on earth happened? Is she hurt?" "Good gracious, did she catch +fire?" "I heard those awful screams, and----" came in a babel of +voices. Some one dressed as a gypsy, to judge by a quantity of shawls +and curtains, shouted excitedly to a sort of Daniel Boone, in Major +Gordon's boots and William's leather cap. The charaders had not waited +to change their clothes. The room was crowded to the doors, for the +sentry had run into the house, gun in hand, at Rosie's shrieks, to be +re-enforced by two soldiers from the Quartermaster's who were doing +carpentry in the basement. + +Mrs. Gordon had little time to devote to Rosie, once assured that she +was safe, for Marian, after that awful second of paralyzed horror, had +sunk down almost fainting on a chair, oblivious to all around her. Lucy +ran for water and patted her forehead with a moistened handkerchief, +while the girls gathered about, alarmed and sympathetic, offering each +one a different suggestion in excited whispers. Marian's failure to +rise to the occasion of Rosie's need was kindly attributed to her being +almost an invalid, and only exclamations of pity followed her, when +at last she was able to be helped to her feet and up-stairs with Mrs. +Gordon's arm about her shoulders. + +Rosie was too shaken to stay, besides being dripping wet, so two of the +guests volunteered to walk home with her, as Sergeant Wyatt's house was +only a short way off. + +"We won't be gone more than ten minutes, Lucy," they assured their +hostess, who began to feel doubtful about her little party ever taking +place. + +Mrs. Gordon came back from Marian's room to urge every one to sit down +at the table. "Marian is all right," she said, "and Margaret is waiting +to bring things in. Sit down, all of you, and I will just see that +Rosie has enough warm clothes on to go home." + +Rosie was standing by the front door with Lucy and several of the girls +still surrounding her, when down the stairs came Marian, looking pretty +pale and holding on to the banister, but carrying under one arm a huge +cardboard box. Lucy looked at her in astonishment and saw that her +face was as quiet and determined as it had been on the day of Bob's +departure. Marian went straight up to Rosie and held out the big box +to her, saying, "Please take this, Rosie. It's a present, because I'm +sorry your dress is spoiled. If I had had any sense it wouldn't have +been." + +In a hushed silence Rosie took hold of the box with uncertain fingers. +But as she fumbled with the lid and, opening it, half revealed the +glories within, she flushed red with pleasure and sinking down on the +floor lifted out the lovely rose-colored dress with a sigh of wondering +delight. She was almost Marian's size, and no normal girl could have +resisted that dress, especially one who had so few pretty things come +her way as the Sergeant's little daughter. + +"Oh, thank you!" she breathed, her eyes raised to Marian as to a fairy +godsister as she put back the dress and struggled, in a fluttering +shower of tissue-paper, to her feet. + +The burst of enthusiasm which greeted this generous act was echoed with +unbounded rejoicing in Lucy's heart. She could hardly wait until Rosie +was gone and the others had started back toward the dining-room to +catch her cousin by the arm and whisper, "Oh, Marian, you're a brick." + +All during the last half hour, since Marian had stood weakly helpless +in the face of Rosie's danger, Lucy had been struggling with her +feelings, vainly trying to excuse her cousin's cowardice and only +succeeding in feeling unsympathetic and disappointed. But all in a +moment now Lucy saw that Marian had been as little satisfied with her +conduct as she herself, and had taken prompt and heroic measures to +redeem it. No one who had seen Marian trying on that taffeta dress +would have doubted that it took a generous effort to give it away +before she had even worn it. She might have given any one of a dozen +dresses as good as new, and far better than Rosie's little muslin, but +she chose the only one she really cared to keep. + +Marian had flushed at Lucy's praise, and her face wore a happy smile as +the guests sat down to a belated feast of hot chocolate, brown bread +sand-wiches, ice-cream and cookies. In a moment tongues were loosed, +and the excitement made more to talk about now that it was safely over. +Marian came in for a good share of comment, both aloud and whispered, +and not one of Lucy's friends but gave her the credit she deserved for +making the best atonement in her power. + +When the girls had eaten all they could and finally taken their leave, +Julia lingered a moment, ostensibly to ask Mrs. Gordon about the +first-aid class which Mrs. Matthews was beginning the next day for Anne +and her friends, but really more than anything to have a friendly word +with Marian and let her know that an honest effort at self-improvement +did not go unnoticed. Marian was quick enough at guessing the feelings +of others. She felt the atmosphere of appreciation about her, and the +faint color returned to her pale cheeks and a cheerful light to her +eyes. She had suffered a few moments of real shame in her room alone +after Mrs. Gordon had left her, and nothing less than this would have +restored her peace of mind. + +That night Lucy sat on the sofa by her window with the moonlight +shining in on her, and thought with a glow of satisfaction of her own +hard work in Marian's behalf and of the returns it had already brought, +small and scattered though they were. Her mother had not felt quite so +pleased as the others at Marian's giving away her father's present, but +she had nevertheless appreciated the sacrifice which lay behind it. +Lucy felt a warm friendship for her cousin now, in spite of her trying +moments, but another small problem loomed up, which must be solved on +the next day. + +"I'll ask Mother to decide it," she thought, for sleep was getting the +best of her reflective mood. + +Lucy raised the window and looked up at the full moon, gleaming clear +and bright in the starry sky. + +"That moon is looking down on Bob somewhere in France. I wonder if he's +watching it too." + +Then the cold air came blowing in and, with a last look at the man in +the moon's cheerful face, she ran to get into bed. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + FIRST AID + + +Next morning Lucy began the day, as she often liked to do, by going +into her mother's room for a talk before breakfast. Mrs. Gordon was +standing in front of the dressing-table and Lucy sat down near her in +her favorite position, her hands clasped about one knee. + +"Well, what is it this morning, daughter?" asked Mrs. Gordon, smiling +at Lucy's thoughtful face, and with an approving glance at her +smoothly brushed hair and the fresh white collar on her serge dress. +"What a pity you cannot stay as tidy as that all day," she added, for +occasionally Lucy appeared after a busy hour with a wild look to her +hair and clothes which disturbed her mother extremely. + +"Yes, isn't it?" said Lucy, smiling back. "I am a little neater lately +though, Mother, you said so yourself. But here's what I want to know. +Our first-aid class begins to-day--you haven't forgotten it? And after +Marian's almost fainting yesterday, even though she did act so bully +afterward, what do you think about her joining? I'm going to be worried +half the time about her." + +Mrs. Gordon turned from the dressing-table to look at Lucy as she +answered, "I want her to join. Never mind whether you feel nervous +about it or not. You know I told you it was not going to be an easy +task to make Marian so well and strong as you are, but you have +succeeded far better than I hoped. I shall be very much disappointed if +Marian doesn't take part in that class. There is everything in it she +needs--companionship, work, competition--and you know how quick she is +to learn. I don't feel at all afraid that it will be too hard for her. +She is able to do a lot if she is interested." + +"Yes," nodded Lucy, "I knew you'd say that, Mother, so I didn't bother +deciding it for myself." + +"She wants to join, doesn't she?" + +"Yes, rather. I can make her like it, once we get started." + +"Of course, it would be easier, Lucy, to let Marian alone, to do things +or not as she happens to like," Mrs. Gordon went on, "but that wouldn't +be doing her any service, or Cousin Henry either. He wasn't satisfied +to see Marian a frail, listless little shadow of a girl. It has made +him thin and anxious himself in the years since her mother died, but I +think he hated forcing her to do anything she did not want to." + +"I think he did, too," said Lucy, looking up with a responsive nod. +"It's a lot of help to talk things over with you, Mother. I do get +muddled sometimes. I don't see what any girl does without a mother to +go to, even if her father is as kind as Cousin Henry." + +"What's this?" asked Major Gordon's voice from the door. "Something +hard about a father? This one would like his breakfast in about two +minutes, if the conversation is over." + +Marian's consent to join the first aid and home nursing class had only +got as far as saying she would try it once, but that was all Lucy +wanted for the present. The class was to meet at the Matthews' the +first time and then at the house of each member in turn every Saturday +morning. Mrs. Matthews had engaged a nurse from the New York Hospital +to give the course, after the repeated begging of Anne and the other +girls for her to follow up the suggestion she had made a month before. +Some of Lucy's guests of the previous day were too young to take the +course, but the class numbered eight members, ranging in age from +fourteen to sixteen. + +When Lucy and Marian reached the Matthews' at nine o'clock, most of +them were already there, seated in the small room to the left of the +hall, with Miss Thomas ready to address them. She was a slim, athletic +looking young woman with curly red hair and a bright twinkle in her +eyes. When her whole class was before her she began to speak without +preamble. + +"Instead of giving you the whole course in first aid and then the home +nursing, I am going to devote half of the morning to each," she said, +laying down a little pile of books on the table before her. + +"I warn you, girls, there is a little studying to be done in connection +with this course, but it isn't very tedious, and I know you are here +to do things in earnest. The first half of the morning while you are +all fresh and feel restless we will have our nursing, and then I think +you will be more ready to sit still for my talk on first aid. So if you +will show me to a bedroom, Miss Matthews, we will begin at once." + +Anne led the way up-stairs to her own room, where Miss Thomas, with an +energetic quickness that won Lucy's instant approval, began pulling the +neatly made bed to pieces. + +"Now, let's see you make that up comfortably for an invalid," she +directed, nodding to Julia. "You, Miss Matthews, prepare a bedside +table, with water, spoon, medicine glass, thermometer, and whatever +will be wanted for the doctor's visit. This is, of course, just +experimenting to see how much you all know of the elements of nursing. +Now, I want a patient. You, please," she decided, pointing after a +swift glance around at Marian, who shrank back quite visibly at the +command. + +"Oh, you mustn't mind anything," Miss Thomas reproached her, with a +pleasant, reassuring smile. "I expect every girl to be ready and eager +to do her part. Sit down on that chair, please, Miss--Leslie, while +this young lady here takes your pulse. You," she nodded in Lucy's +direction, "please bring the thermometer and take her temperature. +We want to find out all we can about her condition before the doctor +comes, and if she has any fever she must wait for his arrival in bed." + +Marian sat down, looking rather doubtful about the whole proceeding, +though Lucy whispered in her ear as she stuck the thermometer under +her tongue, "Don't mind--we'll all have to do it." Playing invalid +was not yet much of a joke to Marian, whose ill-health had been until +lately the most important thing in life, and, for a moment, her +thoughts returned to the old, trying days of her illness as she held +the thermometer in her mouth while Hilda Lee felt her pulse with great +intentness, her eyes glued on the second hand of Miss Thomas' watch and +her lips rapidly moving. + +"Good gracious," she exclaimed suddenly, letting fall Marian's hand +and rising excitedly to her feet, "Miss Thomas, her pulse is a hundred +and ten!" + +"Really?" asked Miss Thomas, smiling quite serenely. "What is her +temperature, Miss Gordon?" + +Lucy was at the window, trying to find the elusive red streak on the +thermometer, and now she declared with an air of relief after Hilda's +announcement, "It's normal. Just at the little arrow." + +"But what's the matter with her pulse, Miss Thomas?" Hilda insisted. +"It should be around eighty, shouldn't it?" + +Marian was looking alarmed herself, and still sat anxiously on her +chair, as though her strength might fail her. Miss Thomas laughed and +went over to her side. + +"It's nothing but a little excitement, because she knew her pulse was +being taken," she explained. "You're quite all right, Miss Leslie, and +you did very well. Now, Miss Houston, suppose we say that you are a +patient who has been ill several weeks. Just slip off your pumps and +lie down on the bed. Let's see if Miss Gordon can raise you comfortably +to give you a drink and help you to turn over. Act very helpless and do +nothing for yourself." + +Julia obeyed and Lucy, putting a strong arm behind her shoulders, +raised her vigorously to a sitting position. + +"Oh, you are a little too energetic," said Miss Thomas. "That would +hurt any sore muscles outrageously. Try again. Raise her firmly but +more slowly." + +This time Lucy lifted Julia as tenderly as a basket of eggs, and +breathed a sigh of relief when it was done, for Julia made herself +as heavy as possible, and looked the most helpless invalid out of a +hospital. + +"You try it now," said Miss Thomas, nodding to Mabel Philips, "and this +time arrange her pillows with your other hand before letting her lie +back." + +Marian was standing by the bedside, her uneasiness about herself +forgotten as she watched Julia, and Miss Thomas reached out a steady +hand and felt her pulse. + +"It's all right now," she nodded to Marian with a smile. "Not more than +eighty-two. You mustn't let it fool you that way. It's possible to +become quite ill if we think we are. When you're in doubt as to how you +feel, decide right away that you are quite well, and more than likely +you will be." + +"What, can you really feel ill because you think you're going to?" +asked Marian incredulously. + +"Some people can, especially those who have had trying illnesses. The +best thing for every one in the world is to obey the laws of health +and then think no more about feelings." + +"Yes, you can often help yourself to get better by just not giving in," +remarked Mabel. + +"Not when you have a toothache. You can't forget that," said Anne +thoughtfully, at which every one laughed. One toothache was the only +sickness Anne had ever suffered from since her whooping-cough days. + +The whole class was listening to Miss Thomas, who spoke so particularly +to Marian, because her keen eyes had seen and understood much of the +little invalid's life history in the short while that she had watched +Marian's pretty, sensitive face, where the delicate color came and went +with such quick changes at the least disturbance. + +"We haven't accomplished very much this morning," she said at last, +turning back to the others, "because I was only trying to see where we +were and how I had better start. We will go through the regular nurse's +program next week. Now, if you will come down-stairs, I will give you a +little talk and assign you lessons in the first-aid manual." + +"Go on, you husky invalid," said Lucy to Julia, giving her former +patient a jog in the back as they filed out of the room. "You nearly +broke my arm." + +"Well, you always say you like hard things to do," responded Julia +laughing, "so I thought I'd give you the chance. I like being the sick +person," she added. "I hope she chooses me again." + +"I know something about bandaging, when we come to that," said Lucy. +"Elizabeth taught me. You sit with me, Julia. Marian is with Anne, so +she is all right." + +Lucy glanced along the row of girls and saw with pleasure that Marian +showed a great deal of interest in the talk which followed. When the +lesson had been given out at the end and the girls rose to go, Marian +took her book from Miss Thomas with a friendly smile such as she seldom +accorded to strangers. The three girls walked home together as far as +the Gordons' and Julia said, as they discussed the morning's work: + +"Isn't she a nice, jolly person? I don't mind doing anything she asks +me to do." + +"Yes, isn't she nice?" agreed Marian. "She'd make you feel better as +soon as she came in the room to nurse you. I think I'll like it as soon +as I get it through my head a little," she added, doubtfully. "I don't +know even as much about it as the rest of you." + +"You must know precious little," said Julia. "I can hardly wait to see +what the lesson is. I bet it's hard, from what she said." They had +neared the Gordons' house and Julia turned to cross the grass. "I'm +too hungry to go any further with you. Good-bye, till this afternoon!" + +At lunch Lucy and Marian gave an interested account of the morning's +doings, and Marian eagerly described the extraordinary conduct of her +pulse and Miss Thomas' words, which she had taken very thoughtfully. +Mrs. Gordon listened with a little of her attention diverted to the +new house-maid who had arrived only the night before and seemed not +very certain where to find the plates and spoons as they were wanted. +But she felt a very real satisfaction that Marian had liked the class +and was anxious to continue it, and she watched her comfortably eating +chicken hash and rice with the feeling that health and the pleasures +belonging to it were nearer to the motherless girl than they had ever +been before. + +"We're going to have a snow-storm before night, children," remarked +Major Gordon, as they rose from the table, "so don't wander far out +on the prairies this afternoon." The Major had spent much of his home +service in the West, and the restricted limits of this island post were +always a subject of mild amusement to him. + +"I have to wander over my Latin lesson before I do anything else," said +Lucy, resignedly. "Let's go up-stairs and get it done, Marian. I keep +my school papers safely out of reach since Happy chewed up my French +composition. Yes, he did, William, so you needn't look offended." + +"But he's only chewed your things once, Lucy. Most of the things he's +eaten were mine," protested William, putting up a defense which made +everybody laugh. + +"All right. I didn't mind much," said Lucy. "I like him just the same." + +When Marian and Lucy had left the room, Major Gordon came back from +the hall, cap in hand, to say to his wife, "Sally, have you noticed a +change in Marian lately--how much livelier she seems?" + +Mrs. Gordon laughed. "Have I noticed it, James! Lucy and I have been +doing our best to bring it about for the past two months. She actually +enjoys going around with other girls now, and the effort has been a +good thing for Lucy, too. You know, Marian has the making of a very +fine and accomplished girl under her drawback of ill-health. Don't you +think she has grown to be a very pleasant little guest?" + +"Not only that, but she looks so much stronger, and she has some color +in her cheeks. I hated to see her as thin and white as she looked in +the summer. I didn't wonder Henry was afraid to leave her. She's gained +at least ten pounds, I'm certain--though she hasn't had many luxuries +here." + +"I don't know," said Mrs. Gordon thoughtfully. "It's luxury to have a +home and friends her own age, after having lived principally in hotels +and on shipboard for so long. I don't think she has known what home is +since her mother died. When she gets back her health--you remember what +a bright, jolly little thing she was years ago, James?--I know Marian +will want to open up that big Long Island house and live there. She is +the only one left to make a home for her father, and with a little more +self-confidence she is quite smart enough to do it." + +"Aren't you rushing things a little?" inquired Major Gordon genially. +"Henry would be a bit surprised at the idea." + +"I hope he will be more surprised when he sees her," said Mrs. Gordon, +smiling. "Don't stay too long at Headquarters," she added, as her +husband moved toward the door. "It's Saturday, you know." + +The Major jerked his head in the direction of the parade, where squads +of recruits were tirelessly drilling in the cold wind. "It's also war +time," he remarked, stopping to tickle Happy's ears as he came racing +up the steps. + +Lucy and Marian had gone up-stairs and plunged into their Latin, so as +to finish with it as soon as possible. It was not a popular study with +either of them, and translation, of which Miss Ellis seemed especially +fond, was Lucy's bugbear. + +"How far have you gone, Marian?" she asked after twenty minutes' +silence. "'The queen will fight?' I don't believe she will, anyway--why +should she? Aren't these the silliest sentences?" + +"She has to fight because we know so few verbs," said Marian, laying +down her pen to stretch, "unless you want to make her dance or sing." + +Lucy sighed and went on to the next line: "'The slaves were wounded +with spears and arrows.' I guess it wasn't a pacifist who wrote this +book." + +"Letter, please," said a timid voice at the door, and the new maid +handed an envelope to Marian, whose "Thank you" sounded so pleased that +Lucy decided the letter was from her father. + +Lucy's eyes left her book again to follow the little maid out of the +room with a friendly interest. She was a Belgian girl, whom Mrs. Gordon +had engaged in New York, where she had just landed from England. She +had spent the last two years in London and learned there to speak +English pretty well, but before leaving her own country she had +undergone danger and privations which still lingered vividly in her +memory. Margaret had already confided to Lucy that she had spent most +of the evening before in listening to Marie's story. "It's enough to +give you bad dreams to hear her, + +[Illustration: "LETTER, PLEASE", SAID A TIMID VOICE] + +"Miss Lucy," she said feelingly. "Sorry as I am for the poor +girl." + +No trace of Marie's memory of the war showed in her face, but a certain +quiet gentleness in her manner made her seem older than her years. She +was a quick, neat-handed little thing who could sweep and dust to Mrs. +Gordon's liking, and had already won William's respect by the number +of games she knew how to play, most of them involving as much running +and skipping as he liked. Lucy was forgetting her Latin to wonder how +it would feel to be driven brutally from her own country, leaving it +invaded and ruined, and if she could have faced it with little Marie's +quiet courage. A sudden joyful exclamation from Marian interrupted her. + +"Lucy, what do you think? Father is going to Montreal, and will come +here right afterward. He leaves for Canada next week, so he will +probably be home before the first of January. A month isn't so awfully +long, is it? And it may be less." Marian was sincerely devoted to her +father, and the joy in her face was pleasant to see. + +"Oh, I'm so glad, Marian," cried Lucy warmly, "but I don't want you to +go away a bit--will you have to?" + +"I don't know. Father says he may have to go back West. I don't want to +leave here, either, Lucy. It's just that I will be so glad to see him +again." She turned back eagerly to the letter. "I must see what else he +says." + +Mr. Leslie had written of the overwhelming rush of work in the lumber +camps and of the necessity for his making a trip to Canada to unite +his interests with those of some owners of Canadian forest land. The +British Commission had brought valuable suggestions to the Government +ship-building scheme, and he wished to make his supplies useful to the +utmost possible extent. + +Marian's father had a world-wide experience in other beside business +ventures. His frank and attractive personality had won him friends +in many countries and, with a keen mind and a large fortune at his +command, he had grown to be a man of wide influence in public life. +Marian knew that her father had friends among the Allied Commissions +and was not surprised at his accompanying the Britishers into Canada. +He was never willing to do his work except most thoroughly, and no +distance was too great for him to travel if his purpose could better be +served by going. + +"I must show this to Cousin Sally," said Marian, when she had finished +the letter. "Just one more sentence and I'll be done." She went back to +her Latin, and in another few moments put down her pen and gathered up +her papers. "How nearly through are you, Lucy? I'll go down and find +Cousin Sally." + +"Just a minute," murmured Lucy, searching for an elusive verb. "Oh, I +see it now. Take your things down with you, Marian. We're going out, +aren't we?" + +"All right," called Marian from her room. "I'll bet it's cold," she +added with sudden foreboding. + +Left alone, Lucy scrambled through the last of her lesson and slammed +the book shut with relief. "No more of that till Monday," she thought, +pushing the book out of sight under a sofa pillow and going to the +closet for her coat and tam-o'-shanter. Remembering her mother's early +morning remarks, she stopped in front of the glass to put on her tam, +and pushed some stray locks of hair up under it instead of pulling it +on her head as she went out of the room. She left the closet door open +and the ink-bottle uncorked, but then she was preoccupied in thinking +of Mr. Leslie's return and hoping he would be delayed for another +month, until Marian's growing activity had brought her still nearer to +health. + +Down-stairs she found her mother rejoicing with Marian over the good +news and reading the letter aloud. + +"Oh, I wish he could get here for Christmas, Cousin Sally," Marian +exclaimed, when Mrs. Gordon had finished. "He is always so nice +about giving things that I've never even asked for." Christmas this +year seemed far more interesting than it had ever been before Marian +had cousins to share it with, and the presents she had accepted +heretofore with listless thanks and little appreciation held great +possibilities for pleasure this year, if the Gordons could enjoy them +too. + +Christmas for Lucy and her mother did not seem very merry, and Marian's +words wakened more sad thoughts than bright ones for the moment in +their hearts. It would be the first Christmas in Lucy's lifetime that +Bob had not been home. Even in his plebe year at West Point he had +worked hard enough to get two days off and had come home in a blinding +snow-storm. It seemed dreadful to Lucy to celebrate gayly without +him, and only her mother's reminder that William ought not to be so +disappointed had made her look forward to Christmas with any real +interest. The part she had most enjoyed was getting a big box sent to +Bob a week ago, with every good thing in it that she could remember he +liked, or that bore any reasonable chance of reaching there in eatable +condition. She had made five pounds of fudge, standing over the stove +until Margaret exclaimed in alarm at her hot, flushed cheeks, and came +to take the spoon out of her hand. But the fudge was good, and so was +everything else that went in the box, and if only Lucy could have taken +it over to France herself and handed it safely to Bob she would have +been satisfied. + +She was on the point of saying now, "I wonder if Bob will get that box +all right," but she checked herself abruptly and said, instead, "Come +on, Marian, if we wait any longer it will be cold and horrid outdoors. +Let's go now." + +"I wouldn't go far; it really looks like snow," remarked Mrs. Gordon, +drawing aside the curtain. + +"We won't, Mother. Perhaps we'll only go as far as Julia's," said Lucy, +winding a muffler about her neck. + +Marian was already wrapped in cloth and fur, and the two girls went +outdoors and crossed the grass toward the Houstons', where the rising +wind whipped at their clothes and almost lifted Marian off her feet, +while she shrieked and clung to Lucy, alternating between fear and +laughter. + +"I guess we won't go out on the sea-wall to-day, said Lucy; "unless you +especially wish to?" she added with a funny look. + +"Br-r-r!" said Marian, shivering at the thought. "Why doesn't every one +live in the South, I wonder? What's the use in having cold ears and a +frozen face, and being nearly blown off your feet? I'm sorry for that +sentry." + +"Why, this isn't really winter yet--it's only cold for November," +said Lucy, encouragingly. "Oh, Governor's Island is a nice, sheltered +spot in mid-winter. It's not so cold as Fort Russell. There it's +nearly always below zero. The only warm post we've ever been was at +Fort McPherson, Georgia, and I was so little then I didn't appreciate +it. Let's go right in. I can't wait while they answer the bell," she +declared on the Houstons' door-step. "Julia won't mind." + +Once the three girls were sitting comfortably in Julia's room nothing +could tempt Marian outdoors again for a walk, and there they stayed +until it grew dark and Lucy reminded her that the only way to get home +was the way they had come. Julia loved cold weather, and was always +amused at Marian's aversion to it. + +"Somehow it makes me feel lively and jolly. I can do twice as much now +as when it's hot," she said to Marian, as she helped her on with her +coat. + +"Well, I hate it, and the most you can expect of me is to go out in +it. You can't expect me to like it, for I just don't and won't," said +Marian decidedly. "Thanks, Julia, I can do the rest myself," she added, +smiling at her own earnestness, for she was learning from Lucy the +great art of laughing at herself. + +"Well, I hope you make the long, perilous journey safely," said +Julia, taking her guests down to the door and looking across the grass +at the lights of the Gordons' house. "I seem to see a light in the +distance, so have courage." + +"Good-night," said Lucy, laughing as she closed the door. + +They were blown most of the way home, so it was not much effort to +walk, as Marian remarked from the depths of her fur collar. The snow +that Major Gordon had predicted was falling in scattered flakes, but +the wind had risen to a gale and blew with piercing cold on their faces. + +It was a hard night for the sentries on duty along the sea-wall on the +windward side of the post, where the blast beat with full force upon +them and the waves lashed the rocks below. Captain Evans came in to the +Gordons' after dinner. He was officer of the guard and had just made +his nine o'clock tour of inspection, the last until one in the morning. +He told of his wind-blown walk about the island, after which he had +ordered the sentries frequently relieved during the night. + +Lucy usually rather liked these wild autumn and winter storms, and had +enjoyed going to sleep with the windows rattling and the wind whistling +around the house, but at bedtime she said soberly to her mother, when +Mrs. Gordon came into her room to say good-night: + +"I hope Bob has a stove or something. I know they probably aren't +having a storm over there, but I hate to get into nice, warm covers and +not be sure he has enough." + +Her words, and the anxious affection prompting them, were the echo of +her mother's inmost thoughts, but Mrs. Gordon could not say anything +just then in answer. She only tucked her daughter carefully in bed, and +kissed her good-night. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + LOCKED DOORS + + +A night and a day spent in a bare freight car, with cold wind blowing +through the cracks, is uncomfortable traveling, but Bob and his +companions would have thought little of that had circumstances been +different. It was the knowledge of where they were going--as much as +they guessed of it--that made the cold and the monotonous jogging along +the rails almost unbearable. + +Bob could have had the adjoining empty car all to himself, in +consideration of his rank, instead of sharing this one with a dozen +French soldiers and non-commissioned officers. But he had not the least +desire for his own company just then, and the friendly faces of the +captured poilus were the only bright spot in the dreary darkness of +his prison. At the other end of the car were four German soldiers and +a sergeant. Only one of these at a time paid any especial attention to +the prisoners, and he merely sat stolidly on guard beside his rifle. +The sliding doors were closed and bolted, and there was no possible +chance of escape. + +All night Bob had lain on the hard, jolting floor trying to sleep, +hoping for dreams of something else beside the bitter reality. Sleep +would not come, so he tried to lie still and think of nothing but +the jogging wheels and the creaking timbers, until a light, gleaming +through the cracks from outside, or a sigh from one of his fellow +prisoners brought him wide awake again with a sharp pang of misery. + +His thoughts would not keep long away from the dismal future, and look +ahead as he might with desperate search, he could see nothing to bring +any comfort. All his hopes and eager ambition to give good service to +America in the coming struggle had in one wretched day been shattered. +He was disarmed, captured and helpless in German hands, and nothing +that he had heard or read in the past three years gave a reassuring +sound to the words, or could make his fate other than a hard one, +without prospect of change or betterment. How long would the war last? +No one could have told him that, and it was the only knowledge that +held any hope of freedom or happiness. + +As the long hours wore by, Bob went over in his restless mind all the +past year and what it had brought him. In the ordinary course of events +he would have been a first classman now, taking part in the routine +of West Point life, and looking forward to Christmas leave. When the +German army had crossed the Belgian border during his plebe summer, +in all the excited discussion of it at West Point he had never dreamed +that the fourth year of the war would find him inside a German prison. + +At last the cold and discomfort of his position dulled his thoughts, +and changed them to a weary longing for warmth and food. At dawn the +slow train jerked itself to a standstill and the guard pushed open one +of the wide doors. A faint light came in from the leaden morning sky, +and showed a town half a mile beyond the tracks, and a small wooden +signal-house or watering station close at hand. The guard brought bread +and water from the house and distributed it among the prisoners, in +rather meagre quantities, but it was eagerly welcomed by the tired, +hungry men. The soldier who gave Bob his portion offered him water from +a tin cup instead of from the pail given to the others. Almost at once +the door was closed again and the train went on. The guard retired +to their end of the car to munch their bread, but one of them said +something to the prisoners in German as he passed, accompanied by a +warning shake of the head. Nobody understood him, and a general inquiry +arose among them as to what he meant, giving a spark of interest for +the moment to the dreary journey. Bob thought he guessed the man's +meaning and, summoning his French, said to the little group near him: + +"I think he means we must keep some of this bread for dinner." + +A dozen faces were turned in his direction, and nearly as many voices +answered, "_Merci, mon officier_," with smiles of acknowledgment. + +Bob's notice and help seemed to be received by these forlorn and +dispirited Frenchmen with the liveliest pleasure, and evidently they +were glad enough of a superior to question, for after a few moments of +whispered conversation, one of them approached Bob and, squatting down +beside him, said respectfully: + +"May I make an inquiry, _mon officier_?" + +Bob nodded, looking into the man's tired face and at the dirty bandage +wound about his throat. + +"Can you tell us where we are going?" asked the soldier doubtfully. "Is +it to Germany?" + +"I don't know which part, but it is certainly Germany," Bob responded. +"After these long hours we must be well inside the German border. I +suppose we shall be taken to the nearest prison camp." + +The soldier gave a nod of agreement, rising to rejoin his comrades with +a murmur of thanks, but Bob held him back. "What is the matter there?" +he asked, pointing to the man's throat. + +"Only a slight wound. It is not very painful," said the Frenchman, +smiling and touching the bandage cautiously as he spoke. + +"Are any of the others wounded?" inquired Bob, getting up from the +floor. + +"Yes, _mon Lieutenant_, several of us have small wounds. That fellow +with the empty sleeve has his arm in a sling, and one other had a +bullet through his leg. They received first dressing at Petit-Bois +after we were taken." + +"We may be on this train all day," said Bob, speaking careful French to +make his meaning clear. "Let me look at the wounds, and perhaps I can +make you more comfortable." + +No one made any objection when this was explained. The man with +the empty sleeve was pale and suffering from the exposure of his +wounded arm to the cold, but he offered himself to Bob's unskilled +ministrations without a murmur. + +Before unwrapping the bandages Bob walked over to where the German +guard sat or leaned against the side of the car. At his approach the +sergeant on duty stood up with visible reluctance. + +"Have you any dressings--bandages--I could use for the wounded +prisoners?" asked Bob, speaking as distinctly as he could. + +The man shook his head uncomprehendingly. Then, as Bob struggled to +recall the little German he had picked up from Karl and Elizabeth, the +sergeant spoke to a soldier who was sitting on the floor near by and +motioned to him. The soldier got up and, approaching Bob, said to him: + +"Speak English. I can understand you, Herr Lieutenant." + +Bob repeated his request. The man shook his head, looking toward the +Frenchmen with little interest in his face. "We have nothing," he said +at last. + +"What time shall we reach our destination?" Bob inquired. "How soon do +we stop?" he altered the question, as the man looked blankly at him. + +"Ach, to-night, I think." + +Bob nodded and went back to his fellow prisoners. He did the best +he could for the wounded men, with the help of a little water, his +handkerchief, and some strips torn from his shirt. The first-aid +packets carried by the French soldiers had been used for their +dressings at Petit-Bois, and Bob's had been retained by his German +captor there, as had everything else in his possession except his +money, which was carefully hidden in his coat lining. + +After an hour's hard work, not unaccompanied by a good deal of pain +on the part of the willing patients, he felt that he had done what he +could toward improving their condition. With the realization of how +little considerate treatment was to be expected by prisoners in German +hands, he thanked his stars that he was at least whole and unwounded, +with strength to face the worst. + +When he had finished his task he sat down again by the car wall and +went off into another dismal revery, broken only by pangs of hunger +which brought to mind with tantalizing vividness the hearty satisfying +food he had enjoyed such a short time before. He thought of Benton, +too, and wondered what had become of him, and whether the Germans' +respect for his prowess would bring him better or worse treatment at +their hands. One thing he was sure of, they would do their utmost to +extract from him some of the priceless information he had gathered +in the past six months. Equally certain it was that they would learn +nothing. + +It was Sunday, Bob suddenly remembered. At home, on Governor's Island, +his people would about now be starting peacefully to St. Cornelius' +Chapel for the morning service. Their thoughts and prayers would be +with him, he knew, but they would think of him as in the squadron's +camp in the midst of friends and allies. He began calculating how long +it would take for news of his disappearance to reach home. Taking into +account the inquiries made along a portion of the French and British +fronts to ascertain if he and Benton had come down anywhere behind +their own lines, he thought it might be several days before word was +ordered cabled to America. As long again, perhaps, before the cable +reached there. He rather hoped for a delay. What good would it do them +to know that he was lost? They would think the worst, though it was +hard to realize just then that there was a worse fate which could have +befallen him. + +"Perhaps I can get word home that I am alive and a prisoner," he +encouraged himself, though with no great confidence in any means of +communication which might come his way. "It will spoil their Christmas, +whichever they hear," he thought, with a sudden boyish longing at the +word for a sight of home, made ready for Christmas, trimmed with holly, +the big fir tree in the dining-room and each one of the family planning +to add something to the day's celebration. The Gordons always managed +to have a good time at Christmas, and their house was usually full of +visitors on Christmas Day. Last year there had been a heavy snow-storm, +and Bob had taken William out on his new sled until William's cheeks +were so red and white Elizabeth thought they were frost-bitten and +would not let him go near the fire when they came in. Cold seemed +jolly and different when there was a warm house to go back to. Bob +shivered at this thought, and shifted his back from a wide chink in the +boards, but Elizabeth's name brought with it a rush of gratitude as he +remembered his hour of deadly peril at Karl's hands. + +At about dusk that evening the train stopped and the guards flung open +the doors. They were in the yard of a large railway station, and on +the tracks beside the car appeared a couple of officials and half a +dozen soldiers with fixed bayonets. A little more bread was distributed +among the prisoners, after which they were ordered to get out and form +in double file, Bob to bring up the rear. Any movement was welcome to +the men's cramped and chilled limbs, and even the weakest got up and +willingly clambered down to the ground. The officials exchanged a few +words with the sergeant in charge of the prisoners, who then gave the +order to march. The escort of soldiers from the station fell in with +the others in a double line about the prisoners and the party marched +briskly out of the yard and through the station, where a scant number +of travelers looked curiously after them, and on into the dimly lighted +streets of the town. + +Bob could not distinguish much through the dusk, except that the place +appeared to be fairly large, with cobbled streets and crowds of people, +all hurrying homeward at this hour, talking rapid German and exclaiming +at sight of the prisoners as they passed, though Bob thought they must +be a fairly familiar sight by this time. American prisoners would be +a novelty, but they could not know him to be one. He looked longingly +at the shop windows in search of something more to eat, but he saw +nothing, and could not have stopped to buy it if he had. + +In a few minutes they turned off into a side street, which soon +became a road leading into the open country. Half an hour's quick +march through the thickening darkness brought into sight a group +of one-storied, barrack-like buildings from which scattered lights +glimmered. The prisoners were led through a wooden gateway, along +passages made by enclosing the space with wire fencing, and finally to +one of the low buildings, where the sentry on guard at that point threw +open a door at a word from the sergeant in command. + +They entered a good-sized room, which was lighted by a lamp, and +looked like a guard or orderly room. There was no furniture in it but +a table and two chairs. From here the French soldiers were marched +off immediately to their quarters, while Bob, after a moment's delay +while the sergeant went out and evidently consulted some one, was once +more led outdoors and along the barrack front to another angle of the +building. The room to which the sergeant now admitted him was small +and bare, so far as Bob could see in the darkness. It was also very +cold, and the wind whistled against the pane of the one window in the +opposite wall. At the right was a mud and brick chimney, as he saw by +the light of a lamp which a soldier now brought in and stood upon a +rough little table near the center of the room. There was a cot bed, +too, he discovered, with a gray blanket thrown over it, and by the +table a three-legged stool. The soldier threw down an armful of wood +he carried and began building a small fire, to Bob's enormous relief. +The sergeant had already gone out, closing the door after him. He +evidently felt no further responsibility, now that his prisoner's safe +arrival was assured, as Bob could well understand, recalling the number +of armed and watchful sentries he had passed in the outskirts of the +prison camp. + +He sat down on the stool and watched the soldier dully, as he laid +the sticks, blew the flame into life with puffs of breath that turned +to vapor in the chilly air, and finally rose from the earthen floor, +leaving the other sticks beside the hearth. He put a swift question to +Bob, glancing doubtfully toward the fire. Bob had not the least idea +what he said, but he nodded and the man went out, locking the door with +a brisk rattle of keys. + +Bob went to the fire and crouched in front of it, warming his cold +hands. Then with a sudden thought he rose and pulled the cot over +in front of the hearth. The two gray blankets looked flimsy enough +and were the only bedding above the canvas strips that made the +mattress. Taking stock of his fuel he carefully banked up the burning +sticks, adding one more to the fire. Then, after a look at the little +nailed-down window, whose chinks, he decided, with the gusty draft down +the chimney would give him air enough to breathe, he put out the lamp, +pulled off his boots, and lay down on his cot before the meagre fire. + +For a second he watched the flame before his eyes closed. He had +thought so much in the last twenty-four hours, in every mood from +revery to ungovernable despair, that it seemed to him he would go crazy +if his mind worked any longer. With a desperate desire for rest in all +his aching and weary limbs, he cast his cares on Heaven, and wrapping +the thin blankets closely about him quickly fell asleep. + +When he awoke it was daylight, and outside and around him sounded heavy +footsteps and now and then voices shouting orders. Bob sat up, feeling +wonderfully refreshed by his sleep, though his mind was clear enough +about the happenings of the night before and he frowned, weighed down +with a black depression. His fire was almost out and the room was +freezing. He got up and rekindled the blaze with what was left of the +wood, then walked around the little room trying to warm himself. By +his wrist-watch it was a quarter to seven, and the sun had not yet +risen. Through the window he could see only wire netting with a pacing +sentry behind it, and beyond that a field and a piece of woodland. He +had not the remotest idea what part of Germany he was in. The north, he +imagined by the increased cold, but he was not familiar enough with the +climate to make a good guess. + +He felt ravenously hungry, and as he walked aimlessly about the little +space he tried to guess by the sounds what was happening around him, +and what chance he had of getting some sort of breakfast before long. +The chimney side of the room, to judge by the noise beyond it, adjoined +a guard room or some occupied part of the barracks, but from the left +side came no sounds except an occasional light footstep, and once the +rasping of a chair or table over the clay floor. Bob wondered who his +quiet neighbors were on this side, his thoughts going also to the +wounded men among his late companions, and hoping that his bungling +work had been supplemented before this by proper dressings. + +Presently he heard steps outside on the gravel and in a moment his +door was unlocked and opened. A German sergeant, with a red face and +bristling eyebrows, came in with a slight bow, which Bob silently +returned. He had been recalling as many German words as he could, in +the last half hour, seeing how much he would need them, and now he +addressed the sergeant with a kind of doubtful determination: + +"I want food, please, and a fire." + +The grammar and accent were remarkable, he knew, but he thought the +words made sense. The sergeant looked keenly at him, seeming to +understand, for he glanced at the hearth, then back at Bob, drew his +lips close together, nodded and went out. + +He left the door unlocked, so Bob opened it and looked out, for the sun +had risen and he thought the cold outer air would be pleasanter than +the chilly dampness of his prison. The sentry beyond the wire netting +looked sharply at him, but continued his walk. On the other side of +the wire fence was a square yard, on which opened another low wooden +building, with smoke rising from its chimney. Bob guessed this to be +the kitchen, for now he heard the tramp of many feet on his left, and +along the inclosed lane in the netting came a long line of prisoners, +carrying tin cups and basins, and marching toward the open space. + +Some of them were talking in a tongue that was absolutely strange to +him. They grew silent as they neared the sentries and then Bob saw by +the blouses of their worn and faded uniforms that they were Russians. +They must number five hundred, he thought, and they were followed by +perhaps two hundred French infantrymen, many with bandaged arms or +hands, and some walking with difficulty, by the aid of a cane or a +comrade's supporting shoulder. + +At about the time the first of them reached the other building, a +soldier neared Bob's door carrying a pail in one hand and a smoking +dish in the other. Bob's mouth watered at sight of it, and he quickly +made way for the man, who deposited the basin of what appeared to be +coffee on the table, the pail of water on the floor, and drew from +under his arm a brown loaf of bread, which he put down beside the +coffee. + +"_Zwei tage_," he remarked, pointing to it with a serious air. + +_Zwei_ Bob knew, but two what? He could not think what _tage_ was. He +remembered the fire though, and said hastily to the soldier, who had +already turned to go, "More wood." + +The man looked uncertain, bowed, and went out. Bob sat down to his +breakfast, drinking the odd-tasting substitute for coffee without +criticism. It was at least hot and comforting, and a big piece wrenched +from one end of the loaf made him feel another man. Suddenly, the +meaning of _tage_ came to him. Of course--days--"two days." That was +what the soldier had said. He had pointed to the bread, which was +evidently supposed to last for that length of time. The thought was +not very cheering unless the rest of his diet was forthcoming. He had +observed a very marked difference in his treatment as an officer from +that accorded to the enlisted men who were prisoners. This distinction, +Bob surmised, was made more for the benefit of the German soldiery, +whose respect for an officer must be maintained at any cost, than for a +more generous reason. But he was evidently to be treated with outward +marks of civility, though his comforts, he foresaw, would be scarce +enough, unless he could open communication with some outside means of +supply. + +He could easily have eaten half the loaf of bread then and there, but +the soldier's words had made an impression, and he got up without +taking another bite. His door was still unlocked and he stood on the +threshold, trying to get some warmth from the rays of the sun, for +his fire had not been replenished. The wire fence, fully ten feet +high and barbed at the top, ran along the front of the barrack at a +distance of about a dozen steps from it, the only break being the +wire lane extending to the open yard in the center. Down this lane a +sentry walked, commanding a fine view of both sides of the yard. A +short distance to the left another sentry's beat began, in front of the +adjoining barrack. + +At about a hundred feet to the right and left of Bob's door the wire +curved suddenly in to the barrack wall, leaving only that length for +a walk, and enclosing about five doors, so far as he could see down +the line. One of these doors opened into the room next his, where he +had heard the subdued sounds of the early morning, and as he stood +there shivering, fastening his coat before trying a walk up the little +inclosure in the biting wind, he became aware that his neighbor was +also standing on his own threshold. + +The French soldiers were just returning from across the yard with their +ration, hurrying back to shelter with the steaming bowls, and Bob could +see that the man was watching them, absorbed and motionless. Before he +caught more than a glimpse of the tall figure he had gone back into his +room. Bob returned likewise for his helmet, thinking unpleasant things +of the soldier who was leaving him to freeze for want of a little wood, +when a footstep caused him to turn expectantly. Instead of the stolid +German orderly, he saw an erect, distinguished looking man in the faded +blue uniform of a French infantry Captain. He stood just outside the +door, and as Bob turned he bowed and extended his hand, a bright smile +lighting up his pale, thin face. + +"I am your neighbor, Monsieur the Lieutenant," he said, in correct if +rather painstaking English. + +Bob stepped out and shook his hand warmly. How eagerly he welcomed the +company of this unfortunate Frenchman was told by his face and the grip +of his fingers before he said, "I'm very glad to see you. Can't you +come in?" + +The Frenchman's eyes looked pleased at the warmth of his welcome by the +American, whose frank young face he was scanning with both liking and +pity, but he cast a look at the sentry before he answered, "I think he +will not object. We can at least wait until he does." + +They entered Bob's room, where Bob drew forward the stool, reserving +for himself the low table, which was solidly built of timber. + +"I am Philippe Bertrand, Captain of French infantry," said his guest, +seating himself and removing his cap from his black hair as he spoke. +"May I ask your name and where you were taken?" + +Bob willingly responded to the friendly inquiry, and for every word he +spoke he had an interested listener. He told the Frenchman where he +came from and the length of his service, finally asking, "Can you give +me any idea of where we are, Captain?" + +Bertrand pronounced a German name which meant nothing to Bob. The added +information that the place was situated in Prussia made things a little +clearer. + +"How long have you been here, Captain?" he asked with an inward shudder. + +"Six months," replied Bertrand, a shadow coming over his thin face. +"Before that I was fighting since 1914 near the northern end of the +British line in Flanders. That is how I learned English." + +"But are you the only officer imprisoned here?" asked Bob. "There seem +to be a great number of other prisoners." + +"There are no other French or British officers here now. They have been +transferred elsewhere. There were Russian officers next to me until +last week, but they have been taken away. There was some rumor of an +armistice signed between Russia and our enemies." He frowned, looking +anxiously at Bob. "You have heard nothing of it?" + +Bob had heard little of an actual armistice signed, but he told all +he knew of the troubled state of things in Russia. Then, in answer to +Bertrand's eager questions, he told all the war news that the last six +months could recall to his mind, ending by an account of America's +great preparations, the story of his own service overseas and his +capture inside the German lines. + +Bertrand listened with rapt attention, for little news had filtered +into the prison, and that little cut to a German pattern. At some of +Bob's words he looked sadly downcast, but at everything relating to +the preparations of America for the combat, he brightened perceptibly. +At last he rose and again held out his hand. + +"Our doors will be locked in a moment," he explained for his sudden +departure. "This is the hour of exercise, though lately I cannot much +avail myself of it." + +"You mean we may walk in that little space in front at this time?" +inquired Bob, disgustedly. "Won't they let us go anywhere else?" + +"Sometimes they will. I myself am not sure, so you must ask," the +Frenchman responded. "I am no longer able to walk far, and the little +promenade before my door does well enough." + +"You mean you are ill?" asked Bob, looking with sinking heart at the +pale face of his companion. + +"I have a sort of fever, I think. It comes and goes, but it is rather +irksome. Thank you very kindly for your talk. It has given me food for +new thoughts." + +Bob held him back a second. "When may I see you again, Captain? I have +such a lot to ask you about. You don't know how much it means having +you here beside me." + +"This evening, perhaps," was the rather doubtful answer. "My guard +sometimes leaves the door unlocked at supper-time since I am alone +here. It is to save himself trouble, I think. It was he who told me of +the arrival of an American officer." + +He bowed again, as he turned to go, with a bright smile that showed two +rows of white, even teeth, and when his eyes lighted up Bob realized +that he was a young man, in spite of the sobering effects of fever and +privation. + +The guard reappeared with a belated armful of wood, as Bob reëntered +his room after his new friend's departure. He carried his keys, too, +with which, after building up the cold hearth, he prepared to lock the +door, but was prevented by a shout from the nearest sentry. Some one +was crossing the yard preceded by a sergeant at rigid attention. The +guard quickly opened the door again, flattening himself against it as +he hastily announced to Bob, "The Herr Major!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + "COME IN, COMRADE!" + + +Bob had not seen any commissioned German officers since his arrival at +the prison camp, but this one he guessed to be the Commandant, by the +dignified importance of his gait, and the effect he produced upon the +guard and sentry. The officer approached Bob's doorway with deliberate +step and clanking sword, looking keenly along the barrack front as +though for anything needing his attention. He was a short, stocky, +middle-aged man, with flaxen hair and a fair skin, his chin slightly +raised as he shifted his bright, intelligent glance from one point to +another. When he reached Bob's door and caught sight of the prisoner, +he gave him a long look, then a quick nod by way of salutation. Bob +returned the nod, standing silently by his table when the officer +entered, followed by the sergeant with much clatter of boots. As Bob +saw his face plainly he found little in it to like. The prim, set lips +and cold, light-gray eyes told of a rigid and ungenerous nature; of the +sort of man who prefers rules to justice. Bob had no time to make any +more reflections before the major seated himself on the stool brought +quickly forward by the sergeant, and, fixing his eyes on the prisoner, +began a long question in rapid German, accompanied by waves of the hand +to emphasize his words. + +Bob silently shook his head and said in English, as soon as there was a +pause in the flow of words, "I cannot speak German, Herr Major." + +The great man frowned angrily, his face growing red with the quick +temper that is aroused by trifles and as easily calmed. He stared at +Bob for a moment, as though trying to discover whether or not he was +speaking the truth, then evidently deciding that he was, he puckered +his brows and began irritably in English. + +"To me at once your name, your rank, your corps and their position +tell. And the event of how you at our hands were taken." He stopped +rather suddenly, his labored English apparently failing him. + +Bob began promptly, and repeated what he had already told the +officers at Petit-Bois. He had managed to satisfy them without giving +any definite information, and he had little trouble now in being +sufficiently vague to make his answers valueless, for his questioner +did not know enough of the American positions to contradict him. +The inquiry was ended sooner than it might have been by the evident +unwillingness felt by the German to struggle on in English. Bob +suspected that half his rapid answers had not been understood. +When a pause finally ensued he took the questioning boldly into his own +hands and said: + +"Herr Major, as a prisoner of war, I should like to make a request." + +"What is it?" snapped the officer in German, roused from his thoughts +and staring with an irritable unfriendliness at the American prisoner. + +"I should like more room for exercise, and sufficient food and fire." +Bob thought he might as well speak his mind at once. He did not see +what harm could come of his demands, which were quite within his +rights, even if they should be unheeded. + +The major seemed little impressed by them. He got up, nodding shortly +in acknowledgment, but the only reply he vouchsafed was the inquiry, in +English, "You some money perhaps have?" + +Bob was surprised but he answered truthfully, "Yes, a little." + +"A canteen there is." The major jerked his head in the direction of the +kitchen building. "There you more food can sometimes buy. We cannot +feed our prisoners as you live in America!" This was said with a flash +of spiteful fury not lost upon Bob, who saw in that moment how little, +beyond the most grudging sustenance, he or his countrymen could expect +at German hands. + +The major went out without any further words, accompanied by a shout +from the sergeant to the sentries to present arms, and a great display +of military stiffness on the part of Bob's guard, who seemed to be +lingering about the premises for the privilege of saluting a second +time. Bob drew a sigh of relief when the major's sword had clanked +itself out of ear-shot along the barracks, devoutly hoping he would +not make long visits in the quarters of the humbler prisoners. He felt +sure they would agree with him that the less seen of the Herr Major the +better. + +He dropped down on the stool, now restored to his own use, and sat +wondering drearily how on earth he could pass the time in any degree of +cheerfulness. He regretted now not having gone outdoors while he had +the chance, and decided that he must adopt indoor exercises at once if +his health was not to suffer from the unnatural confinement. Getting +up an appetite, though, was certainly a thing to be avoided. Bob's +thoughts of the future were dim and purposeless, and he did his best +just now to keep them so. He greatly hoped he would not realize the +depth of his misfortune, and that the half incredulous state of mind +that made him live on from moment to moment, as though his imprisonment +were something strange and passing, might last a little longer. One ray +of comfort he had, and he clung to it when despair seemed very near +him. Solitude was the thing he most dreaded, and Captain Bertrand's +friendly presence had been like a ray of light out of utter darkness. +Bob had always had an affectionate family or cheerful friends around +him. He did not know how to live alone and could hardly have risen +above the utter depression of it. In thinking of the young Frenchman's +brave calmness he found more courage to face things than he had thought +he possessed. + +The guard had locked his door, and Bob particularly wanted to find out +about the canteen the hospitable Commandant had spoken of. He took out +his money from the inside pocket lining of his blouse where it was +hidden, and counted it carefully. He had just forty francs. The ten he +had given to the old peasant would have been welcome now, but he did +not regret them. + +As the morning wore on, and the door remained locked, Bob's active +body demanded movement of some kind. He tried a balancing performance +with the stool, vaulted over the low table, went through the manual +of arms without a gun, and had a fencing bout with an imaginary sword +and opponent. Then, his invention failing him, he dropped down on +his stool again and resumed his principal occupation of the past two +days--wondering. He wondered what time dinner was, and if it would be +more substantial than breakfast. Anyway he had the promise of food at +the canteen to look forward to. He wondered if writing materials could +be bought there, too, and, if so, whether a letter from here would ever +reach the outside world through the Commandant's hands. He remembered +that he had not asked Bertrand in what part of Prussia they were. +The name of some near-by city might be more familiar to him than the +town outside the camp. He could not understand why Bertrand had been +kept there when the other officers were transferred, but he was very +thankful for his own sake that it had been so. + +After a long while the door was unlocked, to the accompanying sounds +of the prisoners forming in ranks outside the barrack, and his guard +appeared with the same steaming basin that had held the acorn coffee +at breakfast. As he put it down on the table and turned to leave, Bob +plunged into German. "I go," he began, pointing emphatically across the +yard, the word canteen not being at his command, "get bread." + +The soldier looked puzzled, curious, and finally a light broke over his +heavy countenance. He nodded and went out, saying something in reply +which Bob did not understand, but in which the word "sergeant" occurred. + +Becoming resigned by now to patient waiting, Bob sat down to find what +he had for dinner. So far as he could make out with the help of the +metal spoon, the bowl held a kind of cabbage soup, with a few shreds +of vegetables lurking near the bottom. It did not look inviting, but +he was much too hungry to be critical, and he emptied the bowl in five +minutes, finding the soup not bad, with another chunk of black bread +to accompany it. The chief trouble was there was not enough of it. +He could have eaten a whole dinner afterward without any trouble. At +thought of the people at home who would so gladly send him money and +supplies if only they could reach him, he resolved to try hard to get +them some news of his whereabouts. + +Soon after he finished eating, the sergeant with the bristling eyebrows +appeared, announcing that he had come to conduct the lieutenant to the +canteen. + +Bob got up with alacrity, put on his helmet and heavy coat, and +followed his guide out into the cold air, along the wire lane past the +watchful sentry, who turned and followed in their wake. Bob was mildly +amused at the idea of his attempting to escape. He had about as much +chance as if he were a wild animal in an iron cage, and would have +received just as cordial a welcome throughout Prussia. Whichever way +he turned his eyes met lines of high wire fencing, or the glistening +bayonets of the sentries patrolling the camp in every direction. + +The canteen was no more than a room just off the kitchen, fitted with +shelves stocked with goods. A corporal in charge was seated behind a +table. He rose at sight of a customer and made the usual slight bow, +after a glance at Bob's shoulder-straps. Bob saw but a scant display +of eatables on the shelves, but after a careful inspection he selected +two cans of herring, a small loaf of black bread to supplement his two +days' ration, and a jar of strange looking yellow marmalade. For these +luxuries he paid three francs and felt that his captors had got the +best of it. + +The bargain concluded, the sergeant led him promptly back across the +yard, where several hundred prisoners had gathered, carrying picks +and shovels, and evidently starting out for an afternoon's work. Bob +almost wished he might join them as he looked keenly around, trying +to see if the companions of his journey from Petit-Bois were there. +Two big Russians, looking about them with mild, patient eyes as they +leaned upon their tools, stood close by the wire netting, and, as Bob +passed by, a Frenchman pushed his head in between their shoulders with +a friendly smile in his direction and a nod of recognition. Bob longed +to stop and ask him how the wounded men were faring, and what sort +of treatment they were receiving, but the inexorable sentry dogged +his steps, and a nod and smile in return was all the communication +possible. + +There were no writing materials on sale at the canteen, so Bob demanded +some of the sergeant. In answer he merely promised to obtain them from +the Commandant, and Bob foresaw another delay. + +After this short diversion he paced his floor restlessly until dark, +which brought with it the guard, carrying another bowl of coffee, and +a welcome armful of wood. The soldier lighted the lamp and went out, +leaving the door open. In a second Bob swallowed the decoction in the +bowl, hurriedly made his way out and approached his neighbor's door. It +was closed, but yielded to his touch, and saying softly, "May I come +in, Captain?" he put his head through the crack. + +The room was dimly lighted and looked much the same as Bob's own. The +cot was pulled like his before the feeble fire, and on it lay the +French officer, who raised his head at sight of Bob to say warmly, +though with little strength in his voice, "Come in, comrade!" + +Bob closed the door behind him, overcome with pity and a dreadful +feeling of helplessness at sight of Bertrand's long, thin figure +shivering beneath the flimsy blankets. "You are ill, Captain? What can +I do?" he stammered. + +Then, realizing that Bertrand was in the clutches of a chill, and in +no state to answer questions, he steadied his nerves and took things +into his own hands with energy. + +"You've eaten nothing," he said, looking at the bowl of coffee which +the guard had placed on the stool beside the cot. "This is hot, at +least." He broke a few crumbs of bread from the loaf on the stool into +the steaming bowl and, raising Bertrand's shivering shoulders, put a +spoonful to his lips. "Take it anyway, it will warm you," he urged, +finally persuading the sick man to swallow a few spoonfuls, after which +he tucked the blankets about him and built up the flickering fire. + +"Wait a minute," he said presently, rising and darting to the door +again. In a moment he was back, bringing one of his own blankets, which +he wrapped around Bertrand's shaking body with anxious thoroughness. + +"Your blanket?" faltered Bertrand, as his fit of shivering slowly +lessened. "You must not give me that! This will pass in a few moments. +It always comes before the fever." + +"I have enough," said Bob, raising a spoonful of coffee again to +Bertrand's lips. "Drink all this now, can't you? I've heated it at the +fire, and it will help keep you warm. I am going to find a doctor for +you, if it's humanly possible." + +"He comes now and then," said Bertrand, raising himself to drink +the hot liquid obediently, though his breath came quick and hard as he +spoke. "It was he who would not have me moved the day the other French +officers were transferred. You had better go now, comrade. The guard +will not leave the door unlocked again if the sergeant discovers it." + +Bob nodded, looking with anxious eyes at Bertrand's face, now losing +its pallor for a flush, as no longer trembling, he lay wearily +motionless. Bob renewed the fire again as well as he could, and +readjusted the blankets, took an unwilling leave, only consoled at +seeing that the chill had passed and that Bertrand seemed inclined to +sleep. + +At his own door he encountered the guard who, by the light of the +lantern he held, looked sullenly at his enterprising American prisoner +and rattled the keys suggestively. Bob gave him no time to voice his +displeasure, but on entering the room said in such German as he could +muster: + +"Where is the doctor? When can he come here?" + +The soldier looked dubious, and muttered that he did not know. + +Bob's anger was swiftly rising at this brutal neglect of poor Bertrand. +He turned savagely on the guard. "Go and find out!" he shouted, in +execrable German, but in a voice that roused the echo of obedience to +authority in the soldier's dull mind. He went out more quickly than +Bob had ever seen him move before. In a moment he was back again, +and the sergeant with him. Bob repeated his demand, but got no more +satisfaction than the assurance that, "The Herr Doctor will certainly +be here to-morrow." + +"If he isn't, you will take me to the Commandant," he declared in a +burst of righteous indignation. "And now," he added, a cold blast from +the door reminding him of his own need, "I want another blanket. I gave +one of mine to Captain Bertrand." + +Not all of this speech was comprehensible to the sergeant, for Bob's +German was very strange indeed, and all the words he did not know were +supplemented by French or English terms. But the blanket request he +did understand and seemed highly doubtful about being able to grant. +"I will try, Herr Lieutenant," was the most he would say, and a moment +later Bob was left alone. + +He went to bed in his overcoat, wrapped in his single blanket, for he +had no hope of receiving a second one that night. The little fire that +blew hither and thither, in the wind that rushed down the chimney, +could not keep him from shivering, but after a while he went to sleep. + +When morning dawned Bob got up to the sound of hundreds of clattering +boots, and throwing off his overcoat, went through some brisk exercises +for half an hour until his chilled blood ran warm again. While he did +it he came to a resolution in behalf of the unfortunate Frenchman lying +sick and solitary next door, and although he had little hope of gaining +any favors from the Commandant or his subordinates, he resolved to make +the effort. Defiance was his only weapon, a poor enough one since he +was helpless in his captors' hands, but it had already achieved more +with his guard than had politeness. Anyway, he felt that his angry +feelings must find expression somehow. + +He struggled to make the fire burn until the soldier entered with his +coffee. No more bread was yet forthcoming, though thanks to his visit +to the canteen, Bob still had a little. He turned to the guard, getting +up from his seat on the cot before the fire. "Where is my blanket?" he +demanded. + +The man muttered something about the matter having been referred to the +Commandant. + +"Rats!" ejaculated Bob, thrusting his hands deep in his trousers +pockets and staring disgustedly at the guard's heavy red face. + +The soldier's little blue eyes lighted up with a vague alarm. He +evidently felt the American to be an unknown quantity, of whom anything +might be expected. Bob had already noticed furtive glances cast at +him, as though sudden violence on his part was not unlikely. He felt +decidedly like realizing the guard's suspicions now. + +"Go get the sergeant," he said at last, speaking more calmly. + +When the man had gone Bob took the opportunity to visit Bertrand, whom +he found asleep with his untasted breakfast beside him, the blankets +tossed about his cot bearing witness to a troubled night. Bob touched +his hand and felt it hot and dry. He went softly out and found the +sergeant awaiting him. + +"Where is the doctor?" was Bob's first inquiry. + +"He will come," the sergeant assured him, with such certainty that Bob +felt there was some reason to believe him. + +He pointed across to the canteen, saying firmly, "I will buy a blanket +now." + +No objection was raised to this, and he decided that it was probably +just what was expected of him. At the canteen he found a small stock of +thin, gray blankets, one of which he bought, reluctantly paying for it +twelve francs out of his remaining thirty-seven. He bought, also, for +seven more francs, a cotton shirt, a razor, and another loaf of bread. + +As they recrossed the yard twenty minutes later, through the midst +of a crowd of Russians, Bob saw an officer coming out of Bertrand's +room. He quickened his steps on the sergeant's informing him that +this was the Herr Doctor who had come as promised. Bob met him in the +narrow space before the barrack and spoke eagerly, after a quick bow of +salutation, which the other gravely returned. + +"Captain Bertrand--do you think he is any better?" + +The military doctor surrendered the leather case he carried to an +orderly who followed him and looked attentively at Bob, seeming more +struck by his atrocious German than by what he had said. He was a +gray-haired, shrewd-looking man, with a quiet, self-contained manner. +In a moment he said in English: + +"I can speak English a little. What would you say?" + +Bob answered, with great relief at the loosening of his tongue, "I wish +to ask you about Captain Bertrand. He seems very ill. Is there nothing +that can be done for him? He has no care at all--I don't understand +it." Bob's indignation got a little the better of him. His face flushed +and his voice hardened. + +The doctor nodded. "He should be transferred to a hospital. But with +present difficulties it may two or three weeks take." + +"Well, have you left him anything? Any quinine? I could give it to him +in whatever doses you prescribe." + +The doctor glanced keenly at the eager young American. His face seemed +to say that Bob spoke without knowing all the facts. "I have left a +little--yes," he assented. "Enough is not to be had." + +Bob struggled with his feelings, uncertain whether the doctor's +calmness was callous indifference or if he were simply doing his best +with inadequate supplies and help. He thought he detected a little +regret and human interest in his voice, in speaking of Bertrand's sad +case, but the German was not disposed to be communicative. He seemed +ready to move away now, but Bob took a sudden resolution. + +"At least, doctor, you can obtain permission for me to sleep in Captain +Bertrand's room and look after him until the fever goes. It is cruel to +leave him alone with no help or companionship. Let me take care of him +until you can arrange for his transfer." + +The doctor thought silently for a moment. "I can see no objection to +that," he said at last. "I will do it, if possible it is." + +He nodded in a not unfriendly way, and walked quickly off, leaving +Bob saying to himself in doubtful irritation, "Will you really do it, +or just say you will do it, like the others?" He had somewhat more +confidence in this man than in the other Germans about him, for he felt +that a doctor's fellow-feeling extends with his profession beyond the +borders of his own country, though he judged only by the French and +British and American doctors he had seen among the enemy's wounded. + +When he reached the door of his room the sergeant was standing by +his table, and at sight of him Bob's spirits gave a sudden bound. On +the table were laid some sheets of paper, envelopes, half a dozen +post-cards, a few stamps and a pencil. The sergeant took note of the +amount on his fingers and after a hasty calculation said, "Two francs, +Herr Lieutenant." + +Bob produced them, desperately eager for the chance to write, however +hopeless such an attempt might be. But first he took advantage of the +remaining free moments to visit Bertrand's room. The Frenchman was +sitting on his cot, looking spent and weary, but at sight of Bob he +smiled and held out his hand. + +"My friend, you must take back your blanket," he said earnestly, as Bob +approached the cot and sat down beside him. "I did not think last night +when you so generously left it." + +Bob reassured him on that score, and hastily told of his interview +with the doctor, and of the hope he felt of being allowed to sleep +in Bertrand's room. This seemed to afford the sick man great comfort. +He silently shook Bob's hand with a grateful look that told more than +words of the lonely misery he had suffered. His fever had gone down, +though his thin face was still flushed and his eyes over-bright. Bob +heated over the fire the coffee left from breakfast and made him drink +it, though he could not be persuaded to eat the hard bread. Bob's own +stores of herring and pumpkin-seed marmalade were alike useless. He +resolved to ransack the canteen again for something palatable, for +Bertrand was rapidly losing strength on his meagre diet. + +Bob did not dare lead him to count on having his company at night until +permission was assured. But he felt, when he left him, that even the +hope had brought a little cheerfulness into the unfortunate officer's +long day, which he must pass lying spent with fever in his lonely +prison. Bob wanted to ask him if his letters had been answered, and +what chance there was of receiving news from home or of sending it +there, but he was afraid of awakening unhappy thoughts, and decided to +postpone his questions until Bertrand's fever should have entirely gone. + +He sat down at his own table, after the doors were locked again, +and slowly took up the indelible pencil lying on the paper before +him, with a sad look coming over his face. Longings for home and +freedom wrenched his heart now as he thought of what to write, and the +hopelessness of trying to say anything, since all must pass under the +eyes of the Commandant, made him lay down his pencil almost in despair. +But to assure his family that he was alive and well was his greatest +wish, and he felt a reasonable hope of having this much sent on. + +At last he chose the post-cards, and writing the brief news that he +was well, a prisoner in Germany, and sent his love to all at home, he +addressed three of them to his mother, his father and to Lucy, hoping +that one of the three might find its way in time to Governor's Island. +Considering the difficult and roundabout means of transportation, +coupled with little willingness on the part of his captors to fulfil +the prisoners' wishes, he saw, as he thought it over again, that the +chances were slim. + +As he wrote Lucy's name her face came before him, as she had looked +when he said good-bye to her three months before. Her eyes were bright +with tears, but she was bravely smiling, and he could hear her voice +again, gay and cheerful, but with a world of tender affection behind it +as she said, "We'll never stop thinking of you!" + +He knew she never had, and the constant thoughts of those who waited +for him were the source of more courage than they knew, now that Bob +in his loneliness had such need of courage. But he felt, just then, he +would give anything on earth for the sight of one familiar face among +the strangers about him, of whom only Bertrand and the French soldier +prisoner had given him the grateful tribute of a friendly glance. Few +wishes were granted in that prison camp, but at this time of strange +happenings Bob's wish was nearer fulfilment than he dreamed. + +Dinner was no more substantial than yesterday's, but Bob helped it out +with a pickled herring. While he was eating it without enthusiasm, +a vision of Karl's cream-puffs, as they had so often come, at Bob's +special request, puffy, round and inviting, to the Gordons' table, made +him smile with a touch of irony. It would be hard work persuading Karl +to make him any now, supposing the two met again. + +In the afternoon, the sergeant brought him the welcome news that he +would be permitted to sleep in Bertrand's room. Eager to make sure of +the privilege, Bob asked to have his cot moved immediately, and two +soldiers carried it into the next room at the sergeant's orders. Bob +stood in his doorway while this was going on, looking curiously at a +little group of what he guessed, from the numerous guards about them, +to be newly-arrived prisoners, though they were too far off to be +distinguished. He asked his guard who they were, without expecting a +satisfactory answer, for the soldier was always non-committal, whether +from natural sullenness or in obedience to orders, Bob could not +decide. But this time his eyes brightened at the question, and after +glancing down toward the further barracks which the men had entered, he +gave Bob a queer look and said, "American prisoners." + +"What!" Bob's self-control was gone for a moment. He stared at the man +in blank amazement. + +The guard nodded, adding with a kind of triumph in his voice, "Eleven +were brought in this morning." + +That was the extent of his information, but Bob pondered it most of the +night, while he kept alive the fire and tended his feverish companion, +whose greatest comfort it seemed was to know Bob's friendly presence +close at hand. + +In the morning he went out the moment the door was unlocked, leaving +his wretched coffee untasted. A light snow had fallen during the night, +and the air was cold and sparkling, with the sun just risen. This was +the hour when all the prisoners crossed the yard for breakfast. He +searched hundreds of faces, French and Russian, before at last a little +knot of downcast United States infantrymen came by, soup basins in +hand. Some of them were wounded. Bob's heart beat hard and his eyes +filled with hot tears of sympathy and comradeship. He could hardly see +their faces, but all at once a hand was thrust through the wire netting +beside him, and a voice trembling with excitement cried, "Bob Gordon!" + +Bob stared through the netting with misty, unbelieving eyes. + +"Lieutenant, I meant to say," stammered Sergeant Cameron, as Bob, too +overcome at the sight of him to answer, clasped his outstretched hand. + +"We won, though," the sergeant said in his ear, in the instant before +his hand was withdrawn to resume the march across the yard, and those +words echoed in Bob's ears above the noisy orders of the German guards +ordering on the men, who, one and all, had paused to watch the meeting +between the two Americans with friendly, understanding eyes. + +The prisoners were from his father's regiment. This was the thought +uppermost in Bob's mind. But they had won the fight! + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + A LETTER FROM LONDON + + +Marie had taken William and Happy over beyond the infantry quarters +to watch the afternoon drill. The sight of those hard-working young +recruits, treading so resolutely the snow-packed ground, seemed to +have a fascination for the Belgian girl. She would watch them for long +moments, with serious, earnest eyes, as though in the strength and +readiness of America's growing army she saw the distant promise of +freedom for her native land. + +The drill was a good one, and the soldiers marched with the trained +precision of seasoned troops. They had done well in the weeks past. +Lucy saw a staff colonel, walking by, give a quick nod of approval in +their direction. The four girls who studied and played together had +come from the Officers' Club, after a hard game of bowls, to join the +little crowd which had gathered to watch the drill with the intentness +that came of knowing how sorely every trained man was needed now. + +Marian was talking eagerly to Anne about the first-aid class. It was +Friday and the next morning's lesson would be the third in the course, +and already the girls felt that they began to know something about +nursing. Marian had lost all fear of Miss Thomas and her demands, and +at the last lesson had willingly been wrapped in bandages of every +sort, to demonstrate the neat work of her teacher's skilful fingers. + +"It's lots more interesting making Red Cross dressings when you know +how they are used," she said to Anne. "The nursing is much the hardest +part for me. I still get awfully mixed sometimes." + +"That's the part I like best," said Lucy, her eyes still following the +marching men, who were executing a difficult turn. "I like taking care +of sick people anyway." + +"Too bad you aren't old enough to be a nurse," remarked Julia. She was +looking apprehensively at her puppy as William came toward them. "Then +maybe you'd have patients more graceful than I am." She laughed at the +recollection of some of Lucy's energetic treatments. + +"I spilled the water down your neck only once," objected Lucy +indignantly; "you know we got along beautifully last time." + +"I know it," admitted Julia. "I can't do it nearly so well as you, +myself. Oh, look at that little beast!" + +Happy came careering up, as William and Marie started for home, and +began a friendly tussle with his brother, who had a quieter disposition +and had stayed obediently at Julia's side. + +"Oh, behave, Happy!" cried Lucy, making an ineffectual grab in his +direction. "You certainly picked out the bad one to give us, Julia, or +else William brings him up badly. Two mittens and a glove of Father's +have gone this week." + +"I'll take him, Lucy," said William, rushing to the rescue, in terror +as usual when the puppies were together, of getting them mixed up +beyond recognition, since they grew too fast to make the wearing of +collars possible. "This one's mine," he declared, seizing his puppy and +carrying him off, a squirming, indignant armful. + +"Poor little Mac always gets the worst of it," said Julia laughing. "He +isn't the fighting kind. Let's let William get ahead a little before we +go, so as to keep the peace." + +"You and Anne come to our house and we'll go over the first-aid lesson +for to-morrow now. It's much easier when we do it together," suggested +Lucy, as they walked back across the parade. + +"All right, we will," said Julia. "Stop with me, Anne, while I get my +book, and then we'll come right over. I bet Marian is in a hurry to +get home out of the cold." + +Marian laughed, but she willingly joined Lucy in running over to +General's Row, when they came within sight of the Gordons' house. + +"Cousin James came home early to-day," she said, as they went up the +steps, for she had spied Major Gordon's tall figure walking quickly +from Headquarters as they crossed the parade. + +"Did he?" asked Lucy, opening the door. "I hope he doesn't have to go +off somewhere to-night." + +Then, as she entered the sitting-room, her heart gave a dreadful throb, +and she stood speechless on the threshold. Her mother was standing by +the window. Her face was ashy pale, and tears were running down her +cheeks, while she listened with motionless intensity to her husband's +words. Major Gordon, still wearing his overcoat, was speaking low and +earnestly. His face was turned from the door, but his head was bent and +one of his hands gripped hard on the chair behind him. + +"Mother! Father! What is it? Is it Bob?" cried Lucy, all her courage +forgotten and a dreadful fear clutching at her heart that made her +voice break and her strength almost fail her. She seized her father's +arm and looked with terrified questioning into his face. + +"Yes, little daughter, it is," said her father gently. His face was +white, too, and he looked tired and worn. + +"Tell me, what is it?" Lucy whispered. + +"We don't know. All they have heard at Washington is that he never +returned from his last scouting expedition. I telegraphed for any more +details they could give me, but the Adjutant General has sent back word +that he knows nothing more. We must hope for the best." + +Lucy drew her hand away, and turning, threw her arms around her +mother's neck, vainly trying to check the sobs that choked her and the +tears that blinded her eyes. She could not speak a word of comfort, but +perhaps her mother felt, as she held her, what she would have said, if +words had not been quite beyond her. + +Marian stole out to meet Julia and Anne before they reached the door. +Her eyes were wet, too, and her heart throbbed with a sympathy that +took her far from herself to a new depth of understanding. + +At last Lucy raised her head, dashing the tears from her hot cheeks. +"Mr. Harding could find out something!" she cried, her voice trembling +with a bitter rebellion against this dreadful uncertainty. "He was so +near to Bob, surely he will send us word of whatever he knows!" + +Major Gordon shook his head with a sad sternness. "Don't blame +him, little daughter. The same dispatches that brought this news +reported Dick wounded and missing, after a German raid on our first +line trenches." + +Lucy could stand there no longer. She ran blindly out and up to her own +room, where she sank down on her little sofa and buried her face among +the pillows. + +In the dark days which followed, Marian was Lucy's greatest comfort. +Lucy would not say all she feared or even all she hoped to her mother, +who had enough to bear without any bursts of unhappiness or groundless +hopefulness on Lucy's part. But Marian listened with quiet and helpful +sympathy in the hours when Lucy's patience and courage utterly gave +way, and sleep refused to come. + +The whole garrison shared the Gordons' trouble, and in the friendly +spirit of comradeship which unites our army, all the people tried to +show their heartfelt sympathy. Mrs. Houston brought her Red Cross work +to Mrs. Gordon's, and the two women sat for long hours together, making +whole boxes of slings and dressings, for work was more bearable than +idleness. Major Gordon found it so, too, for he kept at his duties +until late at night, and seemed to find nothing else worth doing. + +Lucy and Marian went as usual to school, though Lucy could not learn +her lessons and Miss Ellis did not reproach her. She was thankful, +though, to be among other girls for a while, and away from the misery +of her own thoughts. In the fortnight that had gone by since Bob was +reported missing Lucy seemed to have passed through a year of her life, +and, grown strangely quiet and purposeless, she followed Marian's +suggestions without a murmur. She took the change in her cousin with +no more than a vague surprise at her independence. She and her mother +only felt that Marian's cheerful presence was a comfort, and her +affectionate understanding of Lucy's grief promised to make of the two +girls firm and devoted friends for ever after. + +One day at noon Lucy came into the house with Marian to find her mother +and father again together. Only this time her mother's face, lately so +pale and sad, was touched with a gleam of her old brightness. Almost a +smile hovered over her lips, and at sight of it Lucy sprang forward, +crying, "What is it, Mother? Oh, tell me quick!" + +Major Gordon did not look altogether cheerful as he turned to her, but +his face was brave and hopeful. + +"Don't expect too much," he said slowly, but Mrs. Gordon put a hand on +Lucy's shoulders with a smile that brought a flood of joy to her heart. + +"He's alive and unhurt, Lucy," she said, her voice trembling. "Read +this." + +A letter had lain on the table, and now Lucy snatched it from her +mother's hand. With her heart pounding in her throat she dropped down +on the floor, oblivious to all about her. + +The writing was strange, and, stranger still, the letter was postmarked +London. With shaky fingers Lucy drew out two sheets of ruled paper, +covered with a neat, legible writing. She turned quickly to the +signature. It was: + + + JOHN ENRIGHT, + _Corporal Ninth Lancashires_, + By Nurse Everitt. + +Amazed, Lucy found the beginning and read: + + ST. ANTHONY'S HOSPITAL, + LONDON + _December 5th._ + + MRS. JAMES GORDON, + + _Dear Madam_: No doubt you are wondering what I can have to say to + you, as we are strangers to each other, so perhaps the best way for me + to begin is by explaining just how I came to write. + + I may say that I am a Corporal in the Ninth Lancashire regiment of + foot, and, up to my being wounded and sent home from France last + week, I have fought at a point where our lines touch with the + French and Americans. I would tell you the exact spot, but this is not + allowed. There was an advance made here a short time ago, in which we + reënforced them, resulting in the capture of a French village which + the Germans had fortified with no end of care. It appears that some + aviator managed to send back news of their new line by carrier pigeon, + and this information helped us considerably. Anyway, we occupied the + place, and, to make it short, I was stopped with a bullet in my leg + just before the Germans fell back. + + In the house where some women of the village helped the doctors care + for the wounded, I was nursed by a woman who spoke English almost as + well as anybody. She was German, she said, but in spite of that she + was a good sort, and she sat all night with me when I was pretty near + wild with a broken knee. + + Next day but one I was recommended to be sent home, but before I left + the village she asked me to do something for her as soon as I got back + to England. Of course I was glad to pay for some of her kindness, if I + could. She asked me to write to America, to Mrs. James Gordon, whose + name and address she gave me on a paper, and tell her that her son was + alive and not wounded, but a prisoner in Germany. + + Being willing to do a good turn for a friend, and ally, as well as + to pay the German woman for her care of me, I am writing at first + opportunity. That is as much as I can remember that she said, for I + was feeling too badly to think much, except to wonder at her, a + German, asking me this. So hoping you will excuse the liberty, and + with best wishes, I remain, + Yours truly, + + JOHN ENRIGHT, + _Corporal Ninth Lancashires_, + By Nurse Everitt. + +Lucy did not read the last sentences of the kindly Englishman's +letter. Warm tears were pouring down her cheeks, tears of relief +and thankfulness, that, however hard the burden left to bear, they +knew that Bob's life was spared. She repeated Elizabeth's name with +wondering gratitude, for Elizabeth it must have been who had given the +soldier such a charge. For a moment joy was the only feeling in her +heart, and the thought of German imprisonment did not bring the fear +and dread that came afterward. + +There was only quiet rejoicing in the Gordon household, for Bob's fate +seemed yet darkly uncertain, but hope there was plentiful room for, and +with it came returning strength and courage to face the inevitable. + +Mrs. Gordon could not wait to write her gratitude to the British +soldier, who even in the midst of his own suffering had not failed to +do a kindness. To Elizabeth she could only speak her thanks unheard, +for the faithful affection which had given back at last far more than +she owed her mistress for years of happy companionship. The extent of +her debt to Elizabeth, Mrs. Gordon did not know, but for as much as she +did, it was hard indeed not to be able to make an acknowledgment. + +That afternoon when William was sitting on his mother's lap, listening +with wide-eyed astonishment to her story of his brother, Mrs. Gordon +turned a little anxiously at sight of Marian, who had come to her side +to bring back the wonderful letter over which she had in turn been +poring. + +"Marian," she said, "I don't think we've taken very good care of you +lately. I am afraid you must feel we haven't thought much about you." +She searched her little cousin's face with self-reproachful eyes, but +found it, to her relief, well and rosy. + +Marian laughed, and sitting down on the arm of Mrs. Gordon's chair, +gave her an affectionate kiss. "You needn't worry about me, Cousin +Sally. I don't need half the looking after I used to. Anyway, Father +will be along some day soon." + +Mrs. Gordon looked thoughtfully at Marian, as she had not looked at +her in the past two weeks, feeling a touch of pleasure in the midst of +her heavy anxiety. Marian's dress had been carefully let out across +the shoulders, but even now it was none too big for her. The look of +discontent and indecision had left her face. Her once pale cheeks had a +warm color, and her smiling lips had lost their babyish suggestion +of a pout. She had tied back her hair well out of the way before +school, and her manner, though diffident still and far from boisterous, +had caught more than a little of Lucy's alertness and energy. Her +prettiness had changed its pathetic wistfulness for a wide-awake +look far more attractive, and Mrs. Gordon saw plainly now that the +friendship between Marian and Lucy, at which she had sometimes wondered +a little, was very likely to endure. + +Lucy was up-stairs talking to Marie, who was putting William's room in +order. Both Margaret and Marie, in spite of their never having seen +Bob, had shown a warm-hearted sympathy with the Gordons' trouble. But +Marie had a far greater understanding of it, having known what the war +meant by actual experience, and Lucy had found her one day standing +in front of Bob's picture in the sitting-room, with a sad look in +her serious, dark eyes. Marie had helped wonderfully during those +hard days. She had kept William happy and occupied when nobody else +had spirits enough to play with him, and had done a hundred little +things without being told, which took away the burden of them from her +mistress' shoulders. Lucy had lost no time in telling her of the good +news in the soldier's letter, confident that she would sincerely share +in their rejoicing. + +It seemed to Lucy, though, that the thought of a German prison kept +the Belgian girl from feeling much enthusiasm in her relief at Bob's +safety. Perhaps her own misgivings made her fearful, but she questioned +Marie anxiously. + +"He's safe there, Marie, don't you think so? It's dreadfully hard--but +I do hope we'll be able to send him things." + +"Oh, yes, he is safe, Miss Lucy," Marie assured her hastily. She was +a truthful girl, but Lucy's pleading face would not let her speak +otherwise just now. + +"He's away from the battle-field. It seems as if the greatest danger +had been left behind. If we could only find out where he is! I'm sure +he can write us before long." + +"I think so, yes," said Marie hopefully, her troubled conscience +reminding her as she spoke of friends and neighbors from her home whose +fate in Germany no one had ever learned. + +"Lots of prisoners come back, even during the war--wounded ones I +mean," Lucy went on. "I suppose being a prisoner of war isn't really +the worst thing that can happen to you." Somehow, Marie's hopeful words +did not cheer her as they were intended to. + +"Yes, many have come back," Marie responded briefly. Her invention +failed her here, for once she had seen a train filled with French and +Belgian prisoners returned after a year's captivity, as it passed the +Swiss frontier. The sight of those haggard and weary faces had never +left her memory. At last she offered Lucy the only solution that seemed +possible to her. + +"Miss Lucy, if only America get ready quick and go to help fight. That +is how we will have the war over. Nobody will have a free country while +Germany is strong." + +"I know it," Lucy sighed, feeling for the moment weighed down by a +burden beyond her strength. The night of the Twenty-Eighth's departure +came suddenly back to her. "Poor Mr. Harding," she thought, struck with +sharp remorse at the little time she had found to lament her friend's +misfortune. "But he may be safe as well as Bob--oh, how I wish we knew." + +Marie finished her work and turned to Lucy, with a sudden smile +lighting up her quiet face. "You must hope all is right with your +brother. It is no use to fear. Good news may come." + +"I wish it would hurry, then," Lucy murmured, getting up from her seat +on William's bed. "I'm thankful for what we've heard, but if only we +weren't so far away. The Belgians haven't an ocean between them and +Germany. It is only as if their brothers were taken prisoners into +Connecticut--supposing they lived in New York." + +"Yes, but the Germans they have there on top of them," said Marie +quickly. "They would be very glad to have that ocean." + +As never before Lucy realized how much of the war's meaning Marie knew. +She felt that the quiet Belgian girl could tell her more of Bob's +captors than could many about her, but somehow she was not eager to +ask questions. She knew that Marie would have told her all that was +pleasant to hear without asking. + +Her thoughts were interrupted by Marian, who came to the door with her +tam-o'-shanter on, and her coat half buttoned. + +"Aren't you coming out a little while, Lucy? Let's go over to the +Houstons'. I need my exercise," she added, with a mischievous curve to +her lips, as she recalled Lucy's often repeated words of persuasion +during the past months. + +"I'm glad you really think so," said Lucy, smiling. "Because you're +getting to be more than I can manage. You're not the sweet little +delicate thing you were." + +As she went into her own room for her hat and coat, Lucy could not +help echoing her own words with a faint glow of satisfaction. She had +never admitted to her mother, though Mrs. Gordon's keen eyes guessed +it, how very hard she had often found it to stick to her resolution in +Marian's behalf. All during the autumn she had steadfastly cut short +the things she and Julia liked best to do in favor of the things Marian +could be persuaded to take part in. She had spent all her playtime with +her cousin, helping her to feel at home with other girls and to learn +independence, with no other reward for her patience than the knowledge +that the work she had wanted was here for the asking, and as hard and +discouraging as she could wish. The satisfaction of seeing Marian daily +grow stronger, gayer and more companionable had not come until lately, +but it was no less a very real one, and Lucy longed now to tell her +mother how glad she felt to have accepted the unwelcome task. In the +past weeks Marian had begun generously to return her cousin's kindness +and Lucy would never look back at those dark days without a warm +remembrance of Marian's never-failing sympathy. + +"I'm ready," she called, after a moment. Marian answered from +down-stairs, and Lucy following her, the two girls went outdoors and +crossed the snow to the Houstons'. + +Julia's mother had already heard the story of the letter, but both she +and Julia wanted to hear it again. Nothing else was talked of while +Lucy and Marian stayed, and as little else was in Lucy's mind, she was +very willing to talk about it with these old friends. + +"Don't you wish you could thank that dear old Elizabeth?" cried Julia +with shining eyes. "Marian, do you remember saying that she and Karl +were dangerous to have around? Here they've done the Gordons the best +turn in the world." + +"Bob said he thought they'd get back to Germany somehow," said Lucy +thoughtfully. "Elizabeth must have been right near the battle-front to +see that English soldier." + +"Perhaps Karl has gone into the army," suggested Marian. + +"Oh, he's too old to fight," Lucy objected. "He's past fifty. What I +like best to think of," she went on, brightening a little, "is that +Captain Benton, whom Bob liked so much, was with him when they started. +He was taken prisoner, too, most likely, so Bob won't be alone." + +At last the visitors rose to go, for outside a bugler was sounding +supper-call, and it was already dark. + +"I never saw that dress before, Marian," said Julia, looking at the +pretty red challis as she held Marian's heavy coat for her. "Has your +father sent you any more new ones?" she asked teasingly. + +"No," said Marian, biting her lip, though her eyes twinkled. "He +promised to bring me something when he comes, though--I wish he'd +hurry." + +"You're a spoiled child," said Julia, pulling Marian's curls out from +under her coat collar. "You ought to stay here with me and Lucy and get +used to things--like the boy in 'Captains Courageous.'" + +"Learn to be untidy and leave doors open and forget to wash the ink off +your hands, like me," said Lucy, laughing. + +"I could teach you to rush at things, and then wish you hadn't. That's +what I'm best at," said Julia, entering into the joke. + +"All the same, I wish you were going to stay until next summer, and +perhaps you can," said Lucy, tugging at her overshoes. + +"I'll come back, you know, Lucy, any time you ask me," declared Marian, +grown serious. + +"Oh, I'll ask you now--for three hundred and sixty-five days in the +year," said Lucy promptly. "Come on, Marian, I'm roasting in these +things." + +Back at their own house, Lucy heard voices from her father's study and +stopped for a second, puzzled. But Marian, behind her, at the first +sound of that voice was in doubt no longer. With a wild rush she flung +the door wide open and ran into the room. + +"Father! I knew it!" she cried, in a burst of overwhelming delight, +and as Mr. Leslie sprang from his chair she flung her arms about his +neck. + +"Why, Marian, it's really you--safe and sound," he said, joyfully +hugging her, and he pulled the tam from her tumbled hair and looked +long into her smiling happy face. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + ONE CHANCE OUT OF FIFTY + + +Before Mr. Leslie went to bed that night he had heard all the Gordons +could tell him about Bob, and of the fear that lay heavy at their +hearts, even since the coming of Elizabeth's message. No one could +resist the power of Mr. Leslie's generous and overflowing sympathy. +He could not put into words his sorrow and deep concern at Bob's +misfortune, but his face, as responsive to his thoughts as Marian's +own, showed all he felt, and the Gordons spoke to him as they had +spoken to no one else. + +All his happiness in Marian's improvement did not lift the shadow from +his mood that night, even while he talked hopefully, describing the +vast ship-building scheme which might bring the war to an earlier +end than now seemed possible. But here Major Gordon was too well up +in facts and figures to be deceived, and he could not be comforted by +false hopes. + +"A year at the least, Henry. You know it as well as I. Our first draft +is not yet fit for service, and a strong army from this side is needed +to force a decision." + +Mr. Leslie attempted no contradiction, but after a moment's pause, he +said, "Nevertheless, the control of the seas by our merchant fleet will +be a triumph. Think what it would mean to defeat the submarine blockade +of England." + +"You place your hopes on the sea," declared Major Gordon. "Good +transportation is indispensable, and worth straining every nerve to +gain, but it cannot do everything. The war must be won on land; mile by +mile and man by man until the enemy is broken." + +"I think you take the brave part of a soldier in preparing for the +worst," Mr. Leslie persisted. "I still look for some unforeseen event +which will fight for us, as Russia's unfortunate confusion fought for +Germany." + +"Well, I haven't much imagination," remarked Major Gordon soberly. +"I'll be precious glad to see it, though, if it comes." + +Marian was almost asleep by her father's chair, her heavy eyelids +drooping for the past ten minutes in spite of every effort, and Lucy, +though her ears were open to every word, was beginning to blink herself. + +"You children must go to bed," said Mrs. Gordon, rousing herself from +her thoughts. "It always makes you sleepy to be out in the cold. Go +ahead, Lucy." + +Marian demurred a little, but she rose in a moment and bade her father +an affectionate good-night. It was easy to see how glad these two were +to be together again, in spite of all Mr. Leslie's pre-occupation +at the Gordons' trouble. He looked with a smile of the keenest +satisfaction after Marian now, as the two girls went out of the room, +leaving their elders together. + +Nobody was sleepier than Marian when she was really tired, and she +said no more than to murmur a vague content at her father's arrival +while she and Lucy got ready for bed. Lucy was not anxious to talk, +for her thoughts were busy with the conversation she had just heard +between her father and Mr. Leslie, but, ponder it as she would, it +did not contain much hope or encouragement for the near future. +She tried to find comfort in Mr. Leslie's words, but the momentary +cheerfulness she summoned died away before the hard truths of the war's +endless persistence and Bob's imprisonment. Tossed to and fro between +unanswerable questions, as she listened to the murmur of voices below, +at last she fell asleep. + +Before the sun was fairly up next morning, and while she was only half +awake, Lucy heard footsteps at her bedside. She turned over and, to her +surprise, saw Marian, wrapped in a blue kimono, with her curly +bright hair loose about her smiling face. + +"Are you wondering what on earth got me up at this hour?" she asked at +Lucy's look of astonishment. "I couldn't sleep any longer, thinking of +Father's being here. Won't you get up, Lucy, so we can take him for +a walk around the post before school? He always gets up early, and +Margaret will give us some breakfast." + +"Very well," said Lucy, amused. She sat up and stretched her arms above +her head, not very rested after her long, uneasy thoughts of the night +before. "What a lovely day!" she exclaimed, turning toward the window, +through which the rising sun was streaming. "We'll take Cousin Henry +out on the sea-wall and inside the fort." + +The girls dressed quickly, but Mr. Leslie, true to Marian's words, was +down-stairs almost as soon as they were. + +"We're going to take you for a walk," said Lucy, smiling at his +cheerful morning greeting. "But we'll have something to eat first, +shan't we? Because Marian is such a walker now, there's no knowing when +we'll get back." + +Mr. Leslie expressed himself heartily as being willing to go anywhere +and see anything, and the breakfast which Margaret sent up did not long +delay them. + +It was a clear, cold morning, and all three, once outdoors, started +off at a brisk walk, and crossed the parade toward the new land beyond +Brick Row, where already companies were forming for drill. + +Mr. Leslie could not keep his eyes from Marian, even to look at all +the things she pointed out. The vigor of her movements and the lively +interest which she called on him to share were alike incredible to him. +The delicate, fretful little daughter he had left behind, with such +qualms for her safety, had become a lovely, bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked +girl. She laughed at the delight in his face as she said: + +"You're surprised, aren't you, Father, to see me so fat and strong? You +know, I'm surprised myself. It's all Lucy's fault--you must ask her all +the things she made me do." + +Marian turned a bright, friendly glance on her cousin, who answered, +undisturbed, "I didn't treat her very badly, Cousin Henry. Does she +look as if I had?" + +"Oh, Father," Marian interrupted, serious now, "she had the most awful +time with me! I know it, Lucy, so there's no use in your laughing. I +wouldn't go out or do anything she or Cousin Sally wanted. I sat and +moped until they almost gave me up as a bad job. But Lucy just decided +it would be doing her bit, I guess, to make me act like other people, +because she kept on, and the first thing I knew I began to like going +around with other girls myself." + +Marian had never expressed herself like this before, and Lucy, pleased +in her heart at having her hard efforts appreciated, thought with +surprise, as she had already done more than once, that Marian was +keener than any one gave her credit for. + +"Lucy, I suppose you don't wish me to thank you," began Mr. Leslie, +speaking so much more in earnest than Lucy had expected that she +exclaimed hastily: + +"Oh, mercy, no, Cousin Henry! What on earth for? We must turn off +across the grass here, if you want to walk on the sea-wall. If we go +out there first the men will all be at drill when we get back, and then +we can go inside the fort." + +Mr. Leslie watched Lucy's face as she spoke, with a sudden, sharp +contraction of his kind heart. The fresh color in her cheeks, which +he had once envied for Marian, had paled during the last few weeks. +The twinkling, hazel eyes, which he remembered so full of life and +merriment were serious and sad as she raised them to his, and in every +look and gesture he saw and understood the weight of anxiety that +pressed upon her. She was cheerful enough, and most people might have +seen little difference, but Mr. Leslie had observing eyes. "Poor +little girl," he thought pityingly. "Poor old Bob, too,--hard luck." + +"Father, you aren't looking at anything," said Marian reproachfully. +"Here's the aviation field--see it? We get to the sea-wall right here. +It's not quite so cold to-day, do you think so, Lucy?" + +"Not while we're in the sun. We come out here in all sorts of weather, +Cousin Henry, and sometimes Marian feels as though life on Governor's +Island were a sort of Arctic Expedition." + +"Except that she got back from it in fairly good shape," said Mr. +Leslie, throwing back his head to laugh in a jolly way he had. "I can +believe it took a good bit of coaxing to get her out here at first." + +"You bet it did," agreed Marian, shivering reminiscently. "It does +still, when the wind blows. We came out here once when Julia had to +hold her puppy for fear he'd be blown off, and I rebelled and said I +wouldn't stay." + +"Yes, we didn't always have our own way with her," said Lucy. "She has +been bossing me herself a good deal lately, though," she added, with a +grateful remembrance of Marian's thoughtfulness during the past weeks, +as she looked out over the blue waters of the harbor. + +It was quarter to nine by the time they had come in from the sea-wall +and crossed the island, past the companies at drill, to old Fort Jay, +where they entered the sally-port in the ramparts, while Mr. Leslie +inspected the barracks and quadrangle. Marian, who was decidedly more +punctual than Lucy, hurried their steps to get back to the Matthews' in +time for school. + +"Are you going to New York, Father?" she asked. Mr. Leslie's plans +were as yet unsettled, and his stay at the post uncertain. Marian was +anxious to learn what he intended to do as soon as possible. + +"Yes, I must go over some time this morning. I can't tell whether +another trip West this month is necessary until I have seen a fellow +from the shipping board, who has come up from Washington." + +"Well, promise to come back for dinner," begged Marian, as they neared +the Gordons' house. + +"Yes, I promise. But I probably shall be gone all day. Here's your +father, Lucy, wondering where we have flown to." + +Major Gordon was standing on the steps, cap in hand, as they came up, +and he exclaimed in surprise at their early start, glancing at the +watch on his wrist. "I thought you'd taken the girls off to play hooky, +Henry. I was almost starting after you." + +"We're not late," said Lucy, running up the steps. "I'll get our books, +Marian, and come right out. There's Julia crossing from her house now." + +"Good-bye; don't stay long," Marian called back to her father when she +and Lucy started off. + +Lucy liked school better lately than she ever had before, because +it occupied her mind and kept it from straying into what were often +unhappy directions. The hours the four girls spent with Miss Ellis +were very pleasant ones, and the mornings usually ended soon enough +for everybody. Lucy did object to the Latin days, for it took her a +whole hour of the afternoon before to prepare her lesson. To-day Miss +Ellis gave out a whole page of sentences, and Lucy said emphatically to +Julia, as the girls were walking home: + +"You have simply got to come over after lunch and help me with that +Latin. I'll show you about the arm-bandaging for next week, if you +will." + +Julia was willing to do almost anything for her friend these days, and +she answered, glad of the opportunity, "Of course I'll help you. We'll +do it together. I can come over early." + +Languages were Julia's strong point. She could speak French almost as +well as Marian, and when the three girls got together that afternoon +the lesson did not take long. As Marian folded up her paper she said +thoughtfully: + +"I suppose you've always gone to school and had to do your lessons. +It's funny. I thought you worked dreadfully hard when I began studying +here in September. I kept on only because I was ashamed not to be able +to do as much as the rest of you." + +"Why, you've always had a governess, Marian, haven't you?" asked Lucy, +surprised. + +"Oh, yes. But she didn't dare make me work hard. Once she did and I got +sick and scared her and Father almost to death. It was at Lucerne, two +years ago, and the whole rest of the year I just fooled along. If she +tried to begin real lessons I looked doubtful about it and she gave +right in." + +"That was easy," said Julia, laughing. "I wish I'd been brought up that +way. But you seem to know a good deal, in spite of it." + +"That's just from traveling and reading, or what Father has told me." +Marian called this back from her own room, where she had gone to take +off her school dress. "I never really worked at anything unless I +wanted to." + +"You're not so awfully spoiled, considering," said Lucy, leaning back +in her chair and watching Marian lazily, as she came in, slipping over +her head the dress she had brought from her room. + +"Have I seen that one? I don't think so," said Julia, turning to look +with critical interest at the plaid serge that Marian had changed to. +"Clothes may come and clothes may go, but yours go on forever," she +remarked, putting down her pen. "Come here, Marian, and I'll fasten it +for you." + +"I suppose I'd better put on something decent, too, before Cousin Henry +gets back," said Lucy, looking with disfavor at her tan shoes, which +were decidedly in want of a polish. "You seem to dress by clockwork, +Marian. It's always a wrench for me to remember it." + +Marian laughed, rising from the arm of Julia's chair to stand before +Lucy's glass to straighten her collar and arrange the ribbons on her +hair. + +"Still, it's easier for you to look neat, having that sort of hair that +curls right around where it belongs," Lucy went on. "Mine goes in every +direction it shouldn't." She gave a vigorous tug to her hair-ribbon, +and pulled her soft, fair hair down about her shoulders. + +"Well, I can't wait while you fix all that," said Julia, getting up and +collecting her book and papers. "I promised to help Mother at the Red +Cross." + +"I'll go over with you," said Marian quickly; "I'm all dressed and I'd +like to." + +"All right--fine," said Julia, as Marian went into her room for her +coat and hat. + +Lucy went to the stairs with them and called good-bye over the +banisters; then she returned to change her shoes and dress and put up +her hair. None of this took her long, and in fifteen minutes she was +ready and stood undecided by her closet door, wondering whether or not +to go out and join the others. She heard the door open down-stairs +and footsteps below, and had made up her mind to go down and find her +mother, if she had come home, when some one knocked sharply at her door. + +"Come in," she said, thinking it was Marie, but to her surprise Mr. +Leslie's voice said, as he opened the door, "Hello, Lucy! May I come +and see you?" + +"Of course, Cousin Henry! When did you get back?" said Lucy, going to +meet him with a smile of welcome. "Is every one out? I was just coming +down." + +"Your mother is at home. She has some visitors down-stairs. But I want +to talk to you a few minutes, if you've no objections." + +"Not a bit," said Lucy, rather mystified, as she drew forward a chair +for Mr. Leslie and sank down herself on her little sofa. + +Mr. Leslie's checks were still ruddy from the cold air, and he rubbed +his hands together a second before he began, with a quick glance at +Lucy's wondering face: + +"When I tried to tell you the other day how grateful I felt for what +you have done for Marian you changed the subject as soon as possible. +I didn't blame you," he added with a sudden smile. "It isn't much fun +being thanked. You'd rather I'd feel it and keep it to myself." + +"Oh--honestly, I didn't do much," stammered Lucy, blushing and acutely +uncomfortable. She liked to be appreciated as much as any one, but this +was going rather far. + +"You did just this," Mr. Leslie persisted. "You brought back Marian's +health--the one thing in the world I wanted that I hadn't it in my +power to get." The keen, blue eyes were shining as he looked intently +into Lucy's shy and troubled face. "Whatever you say, Lucy, you have +done me a service that I can never forget as long as I live, and +gratitude would be an empty boast if I didn't want to do you a favor +in return. I know there is only one thing in the world you want just +now." Lucy looked at him, startled beyond all embarrassment, as he went +on, "I can't tell whether that thing is within my power to give you--I +won't know for many long days--but I am going to do my best. I have +good friends in Switzerland, at our Embassy at Berne. I am going to +cross this week and see what they can do toward having Bob exchanged." + +Lucy sprang from the sofa to kneel by Mr. Leslie's chair and look into +his face. "Oh, Cousin Henry--do you m-mean it?" she faltered, her +throat painfully choking and her sight dimmed by the tears that filled +and overflowed her eyes. + +"It isn't likely I'd say it if I didn't," responded Mr. Leslie's big +reassuring voice, as he patted his little cousin's shoulder with a +tender hand. "I don't say I shall succeed, Lucy--but I'm going to try." + +"But what will you do, Cousin Henry? What _can_ you do, if the Germans +don't want to let him go?" cried Lucy, the sudden radiance of her +hope dying down at thought of the real obstacles in the way of Bob's +release. She dashed the tears from her eyes to look eagerly into Mr. +Leslie's face for signs of confidence in his undertaking. + +His face, though, was more determined than confident as he answered, +"It isn't exactly a favor we shall ask of Germany. Exchanges are of +mutual benefit, for in Bob's place a German prisoner, whom some one +over there is anxious to see released, will be restored to his friends. +This is done all the time, as you know, but it is subject, of course, +to certain conditions." The principal one of the conditions he had in +mind was that the prisoner to be exchanged must be badly wounded, but +he did not mention this just then. Mr. Leslie was not so foolishly +optimistic as to be blind to the difficulties in his way, but he +considered a reasonable hope as ground enough on which to proceed. + +"The way these exchanges are managed," he went on, "is through the +mediation of our minister in Switzerland with the diplomat who has +charge of our affairs in Berlin. In this way Ambassador Gerard, who +had charge of British affairs in Germany from the outbreak of the war, +obtained the release of many British prisoners, or, when this was +impossible, at least managed to better their condition. The Spanish +Ambassador, who looks after the United States now in Germany, is my +very old friend, whose house we rented in Cadiz, the winter Marian's +mother died. I know he will do his best for me--though what that best +amounts to only time can tell. But it's enough to cheer up a little +on--isn't it, Lucy?" + +"Oh, yes, it is, Cousin Henry!" cried Lucy, with light in her eyes +and a new life in her voice as she stood up by Mr. Leslie's side. "Do +Father and Mother know?" + +"Your father does. He's coming in now," said Mr. Leslie, looking from +the window. "I'll go down and speak to him and to your mother, if those +people have gone." + +"I'm coming, too," exclaimed Lucy, wiping her eyes and tucking back her +hair, after a hasty glance in the mirror. "I know all about it, so I +may hear what you say to them, mayn't I?" + +"I don't see why not," said Mr. Leslie cheerfully, as he led the +way down-stairs to the study, where Major and Mrs. Gordon were looking +over the afternoon mail. + +The talk which followed was a long one, and Lucy's joy was tempered +by a few troubled and remorseful moments. Mrs. Gordon, overcome with +gratitude as Lucy had been, still found thought for Marian, and +hesitated to permit the journey Mr. Leslie meant to undertake in their +behalf. Major Gordon, too, looking anxious and care-worn, made an +attempt to dissuade him. + +"It's one chance out of fifty that you'll succeed, Henry," he said +soberly, "and the risk to yourself amounts to something. It's more than +we can reasonably ask of you." + +"You didn't ask it," responded Mr. Leslie, calmly. "I told Lucy I +intended doing something for her, to repay what she has done for my +little girl, and I mean to stick to it. I saw about my passports +to-day." + +Lucy was sitting on the floor by her mother's side, and at this she +felt the unruly tears rising again to her eyes, as she leaned against +her mother's knee while Mrs. Gordon's arm stole about her shoulders. + +"More than that," Mr. Leslie continued, "I'm doing it for my own +satisfaction. Having friends whose help will give me a reasonable +chance of success I can't rest content without an effort to get +Bob out. Maybe I'll only be able to find out where he is and open +communication with him. That will at least be something. I've known and +loved the boy for twenty years. He certainly deserves this much from +me." + +Lucy's eyes met his, as he spoke these earnest words, with instant +and heartfelt understanding. She knew what Mr. Leslie meant when he +said he could not rest without doing his utmost to win Bob's freedom. +That longing, helpless on her part, to do something--even the least +thing--in Bob's behalf, had been with her many days, and she keenly +understood Mr. Leslie's restless discontent, and guessed at his eager +desire to get nearer by three thousand miles to Bob's prison, and +strike a blow at the battle-front itself toward his release. + +Before any one had time to say more, Marian came in, returning from the +Red Cross. Mr. Leslie rose and went to meet her. + +"I want to talk to you, Marian--just for a minute," he said. "Let's go +up to your room." + +Up-stairs he unfolded his plan, making it sound as hopeful and +promising as he could, nor dwelling on any possible danger to himself, +but if he had looked for a scene at the news of his departure he was +agreeably disappointed. Marian did cry, "Oh, Father, you're not going +over--now!" and tears of disappointment shone in her eyes, but she +sat down and listened quietly to what he said, and did not refuse to +understand. + +She was not by any means indifferent to Bob's misfortune, and her +sympathetic nature made her share of the Gordons' trouble a very real +one. Bob's jolly, friendly presence had won her instant liking, in the +few days she had known him, and the thought of what her father's going +might achieve for him made the parting far easier to bear. As for the +dangers of the voyage, once Mr. Leslie had pooh-poohed the idea and +promised that his absence should be a short one, Marian ceased to fear. +She had the most unbounded confidence in her father's word, and she had +often seen him go great distances in safety, and had accompanied him +half-way around the world herself. + +This was not the only talk that occurred in the three days which +followed. Many were the plans discussed, suggestions offered and +apprehensions felt by the different members of the family. But Mr. +Leslie had nothing but cheerful words, now that his course was +definitely settled, and his happiness in Marian's recovery was +heightened by the hope and comfort he saw he had brought to Lucy's +heart. He stuck to his original plan and sailed from "an American port" +on Christmas Eve. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE FLYING MAN + + +Marian missed her father, and felt keenly the disappointment of losing +him so soon again, but she looked eagerly forward, with the Gordons, to +the success of his mission. Christmas week passed slowly, but on New +Year's Day came the welcome news by cable of his arrival on the other +side. It was a New Year's greeting that meant more than any good wishes +could to those who received it; the knowledge that Mr. Leslie had +safely started on his difficult undertaking. + +Lucy and Marian had been kept busy during the holidays, for Miss Thomas +gave her class three lessons a week during that time, and her pupils +had learned enough now to be really interested. She lost no opportunity +to make them feel the real importance of their work. + +"You don't know how useful you may be before the war is over," she +told the girls one day just after the new year. "Every one who can do +the least thing well is needed now. The smallest help is that much +done, which is not left for some one else to do. Experienced nurses +are scarce already, and will be fewer still. Even to know how to keep +oneself in good health is worth much. Some of you, young as you are, +I feel confident could be of very real help if you were called upon. +There is work to be done among children in our hospitals, for instance, +for which trained nurses cannot always be spared. Some of you are +nearly old enough for such work, if the time comes. Among the younger +ones, Lucy Gordon strikes me as a very promising little nurse." + +She smiled in Lucy's direction, with a pleasant, direct way she had +of giving praise wherever it was due. This was the first time she +had picked out Lucy, who was rather overcome for a moment, though +tremendously pleased nevertheless. She could not resist a triumphant +glance at Julia, which that good-natured young person returned with a +broad grin of comprehension. + +"Good for you, Lucy! We'll be proud of you yet," whispered Anne. +"Perhaps taking care of Marian was good practice for you," she added +slyly, for Lucy's energetic perseverance with Marian had often aroused +her amusement. + +"Yes, she was my first attempt," said Lucy, smiling. "She lived through +it, anyhow. Come on, we're going down now." + +Miss Thomas was distributing gauze and muslin bandaging for the +first-aid demonstration which followed the nursing class. + +Lucy was so encouraged by her teacher's praise that she felt equal to +anything. She wrapped the bandage about Julia's supposedly injured +collar-bone with cheerful ardor, until Julia, cautiously wriggling +her shoulder, remarked, "I wish she'd waited until we got through to +tell you that. I think you've stopped the circulation. Loosen it up a +little." + +Lucy burst out laughing, and undid the bandage to suit her exacting +patient. "It's you who deserve all the credit," she said candidly. "Any +one would have to be a good nurse who had you to fix. Marian lets me +tie her up in knots and just grins and bears it until I let her out." + +"Well, it's easier sometimes than arguing with you," declared Julia, +stretching her arm again with a sigh of relief. "I still think I was +right about that sunstroke." + +At the last lesson Lucy and Julia had had a hot discussion as to +whether the sunstruck person's head should be raised or lowered, which +ended in Lucy's spilling all the ice for her patient's head compress +over Julia's face as she lay on the sofa. Even after that Lucy refused +to give in, and the book, by an annoying confusion of terms, seemed to +give neither side satisfaction. + +Lucy smiled at the remembrance. There had lots of funny things happened +during the course, though such hard and effective work lay behind +them, and Lucy thanked Miss Thomas sincerely in her heart for the hours +of distraction from worry that the lessons had brought. + +It was a lovely clear day, and after luncheon Lucy offered to take +William out on his sled, feeling like having a little strenuous +exercise. William seemed quite willing to help her get it, for he asked: + +"Do you mind pulling Happy, too, Lucy? He gets awfully deep in the snow +if he has to walk." + +"How about me?" Lucy demanded. "All right, I'll see how heavy you are." + +She selected the parade, which had been firmly packed down by the +marching men, and drew William and Happy past Colonel's Row and across +it. Then, as they came to Brick Row, the sparkling water tempting her, +she pulled the sled over the new land toward the sea-wall, a hard tug +of half a mile that made her sink down by William's side as they neared +the water, with hot cheeks and panting breath. + +"Gracious, what a pair of fat lazybones!" she exclaimed, looking at her +passengers with unconcealed scorn. "Why don't you get out and stretch +your legs? That puppy needs some exercise." + +"All right," agreed William, peaceably. "You said you wanted to pull +me. Happy would rather walk, anyway," he added in defense of his pet, +whom he had been holding on the sled with great difficulty all the way +over. + +"It's lovely out here in the sun," said Lucy, calming down. + +An airplane had risen from the aviation field on their left and was +flying at a leisurely rate in their direction. William leaned back on +the sled to watch it as it flew over them and on toward Fort Jay. "I +guess he's cold," he remarked. "That's what makes him go so slowly." + +"Isn't the water pretty, William?" asked Lucy, looking toward the +sea-wall, a hundred yards distant. + +"Yes. He's coming back now," said William, still watching the aviator, +who had circled about Fort Jay and was flying low over the parade at +the edge of the new land, seeming to avoid the parade itself, where a +few companies were marching out to drill. + +Lucy turned from the water to follow the airplane's flight as it +swooped down, barely a hundred feet above the earth, its white wings +gleaming in the sunlight against the bright blue sky. Suddenly she +stiffened. "Why, he's going to land, I do believe, and I think he'll +come down on top of us!" + +She seized the sled rope and pulled William and Happy off nearer to +the sea-wall, while above them the airplane descended in a series of +crooked dives to the ground. She could see the aviator pulling madly +at his steering gear, as with a final glide the machine came to earth +about two hundred yards from the sea-wall. + +"Hoo-h!" breathed William, jumping up and down in his excitement. + +The pilot stepped out with deliberation, and at sight of his slow +walk Lucy recognized him, though his uniform was almost covered by a +big sheepskin coat. It was the French aviator, Captain Jourdin, who, +though discharged from active service for wounds, had taught since the +declaration of war in the American Aviation Schools. He was a familiar +figure on Governor's Island, where he spent a part of the time he +divided among half a dozen places. His ankle was held in an iron brace, +and he limped heavily in walking, but his general activity was not much +impaired in spite of it. As he approached the children now, his keen +dark eyes were fixed on them with a touch of anxiety. + +"I beg a thousand pardons," were his first words as he neared the sled +from which Lucy came forward to meet him. "I frightened you, I fear?" +He looked from Lucy's face to William's for signs of alarm, while Lucy +answered: + +"Oh, no, you didn't--honestly. I got out of the way because I wasn't +sure where you were coming down." She had never seen the famous young +veteran so near before, and she scanned his face with eager interest. + +[Illustration: "I DID NOT KNOW WHERE I SHOULD LAND"] + +"I did not know where I should land myself," he declared, shaking his +head and glancing at the airplane behind him. "It is an old one that +they have repaired to use for practice flights. I took it out to see +if it would do, but--it will not," he ended in a tone of conviction. +"The steering gear was a bit too much for me." He gave a rueful look at +his right hand, which he had wrenched in trying to bring the airplane +safely to earth. It was already swollen about the wrist. + +All Lucy's interest in nursing, fostered by what she had lately +learned, sprang into life at sight of the ugly sprain. She was a little +shy of the French officer, but she put aside her diffidence and spoke +boldly. + +"Please let me tie it up for you! I can keep it from swelling any more, +and it would be half an hour before you could get to the hospital." + +The Frenchman shook his head with a smile, as though about to refuse, +but perhaps the eager look in Lucy's face changed his mind. His smile +broadened, and he held out his injured hand, saying, "Many thanks, +Miss. You are more than kind. May I sit down on the little brother's +sled?" + +William nodded vigorously, not finding words to reply, and the aviator +seated himself, stretching his stiff leg out in front of him. + +Lucy's thoughts had not been a second idle. "Elevate the joint if +possible and apply heat or cold. Cold may be applied in the form of +snow or crushed ice in a cloth." Nothing could be easier to follow than +those directions. She took a clean handkerchief from her coat pocket, +but at sight of it Captain Jourdin dived with his left hand inside his +coat and produced his own. + +"This is a trifle larger," he suggested, handing it to Lucy with a +twinkle in his eyes. + +Lucy was too much in earnest to give more than a nod in return. She +took her own handkerchief and filled it with clean snow, scraped from +below the surface. Then laying the cold compress carefully about the +officer's swollen wrist, she fastened it firmly in place with his +handkerchief. The result had a bulky look, but it gave the aching wrist +a good deal of comfort, for her patient's voice sounded sincere when he +exclaimed: + +"That's good! That was just the right thing for it. You seem to be a +very wise young lady." He smiled at her as he fingered the snow bandage +critically. "Might I ask your name?" he added, as Lucy, feeling shy +again after her bold attempt at assistance, flicked the snow from her +bare hands with her glove. + +"Lucy Gordon," she said, looking up at this; "and my brother's name is +William." + +"So is mine," declared the Frenchman, with a friendly glance in +William's direction, "only I don't say it quite that way. Your father +is an officer on the post?" he inquired. + +"Yes; a major on the staff," explained Lucy; then, feeling expansive in +the presence of a listener who could so well understand her, she added, +"My older brother is an aviator. He went to France in the summer and +now he is a prisoner in Germany." + +"No! A prisoner?" was the quick and sympathetic response, as the dark +eyes lighted up with a look of keen interest. "Ah, that is hard!" he +said softly; "but your brother did his best for his country, and still +his life is spared. We can only hope that soon the war may be won, and +our friends come back to us." + +Lucy nodded, her eyes sad and wistful for a moment as she said, +"He loved flying. He came from West Point only last August, but he +was transferred to the Aviation Corps right away. Look, Captain +Jourdin--they must be coming after you." + +A little group of men had started over from the aviation field, +evidently to find out the cause of the aviator's protracted stop, +and at sight of them Captain Jourdin rose at once to his feet, +signaling with his left arm to reassure them. + +"I shall need a mechanic before that machine rises again," he remarked, +"so I must go forward and explain to Captain Brent." He turned back to +Lucy and held out his unbandaged hand. "You will excuse me," he said, +smiling, "if I do not offer you the other. Good-bye and many thanks, +Miss Lucie. I shall hope to meet that brother of yours, the aviator, +before many long months. My very good wishes for his near and safe +return." He held up his bandaged wrist, adding, "It is you I have to +thank that this is no longer painful." + +"I'm so glad," faltered Lucy, longing, as she shook hands, to ask more +about Bob, and what chance Mr. Leslie might have of success. + +The Frenchman gave a friendly salute to William, who returned it +promptly with his red-mittened paw, and limped slowly off over the snow +to meet the advancing officer. + +"I wonder if he could have told me anything," Lucy asked herself, +wishing she had got up courage to question him further while she had +time. "He's had no end of adventures since the war began. Perhaps he's +been in a German prison, too." + +"Come on, Lucy, let's go. What are you standing there for?" demanded +William, stamping his cold feet and looking impatiently at his sister, +who seemed lost in watching the departing Frenchman. + +"I wonder what he's been through since 1914," Lucy murmured; then, +turning back to William and the sled, she picked up the rope, saying, +"All right, come on. Suppose you walk until you get warm and then I'll +pull you the rest of the way. Happy can do whichever he likes." + +"He'd rather walk until I get on," said William, starting along. "Let's +stop and look at the airplane first. It can't fly, you know." + +All the way home Lucy was preoccupied, thinking of her hurried +first-aid dressing, and of whether she had really helped the sprain, +then forgetting that, to wish again that she had tried to learn +something of Bob's probable whereabouts and chances of liberty. + +"If only I may see him again, I'll ask him," she thought, but not very +hopefully, for the foreign instructors remained principally on the +aviation field, and the officers' children were seldom allowed there. + +Lucy could hardly wait, when she got home, to tell her mother and +Marian all about it, though she stopped in the middle of her story +to look up sprains in her tattered first-aid manual, to see if she +had forgotten anything that could have been carried out on the spot. +Relieved about that she went on talking, and as she described the +French aviator Mrs. Gordon said: + +"That's the man Captain Brent speaks so much of. He can't say enough in +his praise. He was telling your father the other night about some of +his wonderful exploits." + +"Oh, I wish I might hear about them! I'll ask Captain Brent," exclaimed +Lucy, eagerly. + +"That's what I get for staying at home," remarked Marian, who was +sitting beside Mrs. Gordon's sewing-table, absently twisting a curl +about her finger. "Of course you had to have an adventure, Lucy, when I +wasn't there. Interesting things always seem to happen on the coldest +days." + +"It was my fault this time," said Mrs. Gordon. "I didn't want you to +go out again in the cold." She looked at Marian's pretty, regretful +face with a smile that had behind it a clear, searching glance. She had +feared that Mr. Leslie's departure might prove a trying disappointment, +and lead Marian to mope again, but though it was evident that she +missed her father, and that he was constantly in her thoughts, Marian's +health was now too firmly re-established to suffer seriously. Her +father's delight, too, at the change in her, was enough to keep up her +interest in her own improvement. Mrs. Gordon looked with satisfaction +at the worn skirt of Marian's serge dress, where she had knelt on +William's sled, and had crawled over the floor while following Miss +Thomas' directions in regard to escaping from a burning house. Her +dresses never had known such marks before, but had been given away as +good as new at the end of the season. Mrs. Gordon welcomed, in Marian's +case, a few of the tears and worn places with which her own children +furnished her almost too plentifully. + +"I'm going to change it in a minute, Cousin Sally," said Marian, +following Mrs. Gordon's glance to her knees. "But I think I'll go and +write to Father first; though, from what he said about his address," +she added doubtfully, "it's about as definite as writing to Santa +Claus." + +"Not quite so bad as that," said Mrs. Gordon, smiling, "because he'll +get your letters--sooner or later." She was serious again before she +finished speaking, and Lucy, guessing her thoughts, knew that she was +longing for the day when word from Bob should come, and messages from +home could at least reach his prison. + +Unable to offer any encouragement worth hearing, Lucy rose from the +floor with a smothered sigh, saying, "I need to dress, too. Come on, +Marian. That pesky hair of yours looks just as nice as it did at +breakfast." + +In the evening, to Lucy's delight, Captain Brent came to call, anxious +to hear about the progress of Mr. Leslie's journey in Bob's behalf. +Lucy could scarcely wait for a chance to ask him about Captain Jourdin. + +When the opportunity came she demanded, breathlessly, "Was he badly +wounded? Did he do wonderful things first, Captain Brent? Was he ever +taken prisoner?" + +"One at a time, Captain Lucy," said the officer, laughing. "I know why +you're so interested, though. He told me about the excellent treatment +his sprained wrist received as soon as the beastly machine came down. +I asked who tied it up for him, as he evidently couldn't have done it +alone, and he said he had no idea American girls were so accomplished." + +"But what did the doctor say who saw the bandage?" inquired Major +Gordon, amused. + +"I don't know, but it looked pretty good to me. The swelling didn't +get any worse, which was what Jourdin wanted," declared Captain Brent, +leaning down to play with Happy, who was growling at one of his boots. + +"Won't you tell some of the things he's done?" begged Lucy, afraid it +would be bedtime before she heard anything. + +"Why, it would take a week to tell all of them," said Captain Brent, +straightening up again and speaking thoughtfully. "I heard about his +service in France from a British officer who was over on Long Island +last month. Jourdin would never tell anything. He thinks he made a mess +of things--getting out of the fight so early." + +"How long was he in the war?" asked Mrs. Gordon. + +"Two years, just about. The information he brought back from the German +lines was instrumental in winning the Battle of the Somme, according to +this Englishman. There is nothing Jourdin would not undertake to do, if +the object were worth gaining. His last flight before his discharge was +made over enemy territory after he received two bullets in his leg and +another through the shoulder. He wouldn't go back until he learned what +he was told to find out. But the bones of his ankle were injured beyond +repair." + +"Was he ever taken prisoner?" Lucy could not help repeating. + +"No, never--though he had several narrow escapes when he was forced to +go down behind the German lines. His brother, an infantry colonel, is +in a German prison now." + +"Does he hear from him? Can he get letters?" Lucy questioned eagerly. + +"I don't know. I'll ask him if you like. We've never got on that +subject." + +Lucy's knitting had fallen, forgotten, at her feet, and only Happy's +excitement as he grabbed the ball and rolled over on it made her stoop +to rescue the sock, while Marian snatched up the puppy from the tangle +of yarn. Major Gordon had begun talking to Captain Brent, and Lucy felt +she had asked her share of questions, but she longed to find out more +about the Frenchman and obtain Captain Brent's promise to learn from +him whatever he knew about German prisons. Captain Brent would be glad +enough himself, she was sure, to learn something about Bob's fortunes, +and he saw the aviator almost every day. However, just then she had to +be patient, for Mrs. Gordon drew her attention to the clock, and she +and Marian got up and said good-night. + +"I wonder if your father has got to Switzerland yet, Marian, or if he +has talked to any one about Bob," Lucy asked when they were up-stairs, +as she had done nearly every evening since Mr. Leslie's arrival on the +other side. She followed Marian into her room and watched her cousin +with admiring eyes as she brushed out her golden curls and braided them +into two pigtails for the night. + +"I don't know, but we'll hear before very long," was Marian's sensible +answer, which was not very satisfying to Lucy, though she nodded a +faint agreement. + +"I never could bear waiting," she remarked, turning to go back to her +own room. "Neither can Bob. We'd both rather do anything than expect +things that don't happen." + +"Perhaps you won't have to wait much longer. I can't help thinking that +Father will send good news soon," said Marian, with a hopeful look that +cheered Lucy in spite of herself. Marian put on a blue silk kimono +and dived into the closet for her slippers while Lucy still stood +uncertainly in the doorway. + +"The only thing is," she muttered, frowning a little at the thought, +"I know Father won't stay here much longer if we don't hear any news. +Mother told me this morning that he intends asking for foreign service." + +"But can he leave here?" asked Marian, astonished. + +"He has one year more on this staff detail, but he thinks they will let +him go. They are short of Q. M. officers on the other side. He will go +when his detail ends, anyhow--if the war isn't over." + +"But perhaps it will be," suggested Marian, looking like a cheerful +little prophet wrapped in blue silk. + +"Perhaps," said Lucy, smiling faintly at her. "Anyhow, I'd better go to +bed." + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + OVER THE FRONTIER + + +Six weeks of imprisonment had brought few changes to Bob, and those few +were not of a pleasant sort. The only bright spot in the dark monotony +of his life was Sergeant Cameron's companionship, for repeated requests +had finally obtained it for him, in a qualified degree. His captors had +no objection to the sergeant's waiting on the American officer in place +of a German orderly, so after the usual hesitation and delay, Sergeant +Cameron was allowed to visit Bob and attend to his simple wants in +the short periods during which the doors remained unlocked. Bob still +shared Bertrand's room, and most of Sergeant Cameron's ministrations +were by now directed, together with Bob's, to making the unfortunate +officer as comfortable as possible. The two or three weeks which were +to elapse before his transfer to better quarters had lengthened to +five, and still the fever came and went, each time leaving the patient +sufferer thinner, weaker, and less able to fight for his life. As Bob +knelt beside his cot one cold, dark morning, with a bowl of coffee in +his hands, he turned a weary, anxious face to Sergeant Cameron, who +was trying to blow the few sticks on the hearth into a lively blaze. + +"It's no use, Sergeant," he said, sombrely. "I can't make him take +anything. He won't be roused at all. Confound that doctor! He hasn't +been near us in three days." + +"He's off at another camp, sir, so I heard from the guard," said the +sergeant, pausing in his work to look at Captain Bertrand's flushed and +unconscious face as he lay heavily breathing. "I think he'll be along +to-day. He has more to do than he can manage, but he seems a pretty +good sort, for a Boche." + +Bob gave a grunt of angry helplessness. "Then why doesn't he get this +poor fellow moved? Can't he see that he's dying on his hands? I don't +care if their hospitals are jammed with wounded--one Frenchman is worth +a dozen of them!" + +Bob spoke with a bitterness that was new to him, and his frowning brows +did not unknit themselves as he rose from the floor, carefully drawing +the blanket over Bertrand's shoulders. Sergeant Cameron finished +mending the fire in thoughtful silence. The old soldier had suffered +heavy disappointment in being captured and removed from the fighting +line so early in the struggle, during a trifling raid on a bit of +exposed German trench. Since then, too, he had known hard privation +in the prison camp, but at least half of the anxiety and depression +that had paled his ruddy face was for the son of his old Major, whose +every word and gesture showed the strain of indignation, hunger, and +rigid confinement unwillingly borne. He could not do much to alleviate +Bob's misery, but stories of Major Gordon's old regiment, which had +been honored by an early place in the first line trenches, were always +welcome to Bob's ears, and even a little talk would sometimes cheer +him, for he was too young to be gloomy all the time. + +"They say there's been a big British advance, Lieutenant," he began, +rubbing his blackened fingers against each other as he turned from the +hearth. "There's a new lot of prisoners come in early this morning. +They're in the next barrack to me, so I'll have a word with them if +possible at dinner-time." + +"What did you hear? Where was the push made?" Bob asked, his eager +interest smoothing out the wrinkles in his forehead and giving him back +his boyish look. He was standing by the table, stirring a bit of bread +in his bowl of acorn coffee. + +"It was near a place the French call Cam-berray, or something like +that," said the sergeant, diffidently. "The advance was led by General +Byng. I got that much last night through a knot-hole in the wall, from +a Frenchman who's chummy with me and speaks a bit of English." + +"Cambrai, I guess," exclaimed Bob, forgetting his breakfast as he +stared into space with thoughtful eyes. "I wonder how much it means!" + +"Don't know, sir, but I'll find out all I can," promised the sergeant, +relieved to see the look of bitter depression gone for the moment +from Bob's face. "They can't prevent the men talking together a good +bit--we're so crowded up like, in our barrack." + +The last two weeks had brought a crowd of French and British prisoners +to the camp until it was filled to overflowing. But with every new +arrival, rumor stole about that the Germans on the western front had +paid a deadly price for each man captured, and that a far greater +number of soldiers from the German lines were in the hands of the +Allies. + +But this was as much good news as Bob and Sergeant Cameron could summon +to cheer them. No letters had reached them, nor any news that their own +had been sent on. They might have been on a desert island for all the +communication they could obtain with America. The little money Bob had +hoarded was spent at last, and he suffered greatly from the monotonous +and meagre diet. His repeated requests for advances of money from +the Commandant had met with no reply, and he had long since ceased to +expect any. + +Sergeant Cameron at first had put a cheerful interpretation on this +indifference and neglect of the prisoners. "It's plain they are hard +up, Lieutenant," he said hopefully, "for they can't spare us a word or +a thought. They have to keep the war going at all costs." + +"I think they just don't care what becomes of us," returned Bob, in one +of his hopeless moments. He had nerved himself to endure his captivity +bravely, but the everlasting monotony and privation were harder for his +active nature to bear than the fiercest battle. A letter from home, +telling him that they knew where he was and trusted to his pluck and +endurance would have done wonders for him, but none took the trouble +to forward a letter into the heart of Prussia, to a prisoner from the +nation that Germany now hated even beyond her hate for England--because +it had foiled her imagined victory. + +However, no one who is in reasonable health and not suffering keenly +can be miserable all day long. At any rate Bob could not, and the fits +of brooding that worried Sergeant Cameron did not last more than an +hour or two. After breakfast Bob went outside and took a walk along his +wired-in alley in the not very cheerful company of a British colonel +who had recently been captured and couldn't get over the exasperating +annoyance of being taken away just when he was most needed. He occupied +Bob's old room and met his advances with friendliness, but had not +recovered spirits enough to do more than talk about the beastly bad +luck of his having managed to run right against that Boche patrol. Bob +told him the rumors of General Byng's advance and awakened a spark of +real interest in the Britisher, as well as another burst of anger at +his own impotence. + +"To think I might have been there!" exclaimed the captive colonel with +longing eyes, a flush coming over his lean, weather-worn cheek. "We're +out of luck, young fellow, and that's the truth--but I had some of it, +at any rate." + +"Yes," sighed Bob, vague thoughts of some desperate attempt at escape +floating through his mind, to be impatiently dismissed at sight of the +endless sentries patrolling their lengths of wire alleys. "A kangaroo +with a machine gun might get away," he thought idly, "but I certainly +can't." + +The sun had not appeared for the past two days, hiding behind thick, +gray clouds which gave a melancholy tone to the dreary winter +landscape. Bob felt inclined to blame it as being a Prussian sun and +unsympathetic to shivering young Americans whose fire-wood was not +furnished in sufficient quantities. But it peeped out, mistily, an +hour later when Bob went back to Bertrand, hoping for a change in his +comrade's heavy, feverish stupor. The sick man still lay with closed +eyes, breathing fast and hard, but as Bob approached him, his lids +flickered open and his bright eyes fixed themselves upon Bob's face. + +"A little water, comrade," he murmured, the ghost of his old +graciousness of manner lingering in his feeble voice. + +Bob rejoiced at his words, his first sensible utterance in many hours, +and hastened to obey his request. As he bent over the bed, raising +the Frenchman's thin frame with one arm to hold the water to his hot +lips, Bertrand whispered, "You have been a friend, _mon garçon_,--many +thanks, while I have breath to say it!" He panted as he spoke, but his +bright eyes turned to Bob's with a glance of affectionate gratitude, +and their intelligence was for the moment unclouded. "If I must die in +prison--in an enemy's country--it is something, comrade, to have your +friendly face so near at hand. We are true Allies,--France and America." + +He fell back gasping, while Bob, his own eyes blurred with quick tears +of pity and understanding, dipped a handkerchief in the cold water and +laid it over Bertrand's burning forehead. + +"You're not going to die," he said, doggedly, though his voice was +choked as he spoke and his grim face belied his hopeful words. "I'm +going to get that doctor now, if I have to storm the Commandant in his +own den." This he announced with a determination that took no thought +as yet of ways and means. + +He rose from beside the cot, where Bertrand lay exhausted after his +battle for breath to speak with, and strode toward the door. Outside +he could hear the prisoners marching toward the kitchen and the German +guard was unlocking the officers' rooms for dinner. Bob waited for +his own door to open, his purpose unwavering to demand attention for +Bertrand's desperate need, no matter what retribution any violence +might bring upon himself. He did not intend to wait for a word with +Sergeant Cameron, but rapidly pieced together his German to address the +guard as soon as the door opened. But when it did open, Bob's set face +wavered almost to a smile with the quick relief of it. He would not +have to engage just then, anxious and hungry as he was, on the doubtful +struggle with the powers above him, for behind the guard stood the +short, alert figure of the doctor, wrapped in a gray uniform overcoat, +his face reddened by the frosty air. + +Bob felt almost as though the German were a friend as he stepped +eagerly forward, fearful lest he should somehow escape him, saying, +"Doctor, thank Heaven you've come! Captain Bertrand is very ill. Why +haven't you had him taken away?" + +The touch of indignation in his last words was acknowledged by the +German with a slight shrug of the shoulders as he stepped inside the +room and laid his medicine case on the table. "I cannot perform the +impossible," he said shortly, giving a keen glance in Bertrand's +direction. "He is not the only sick man in Germany." + +Bob checked his resentment at this cool retort, and gave all his +attention to helping the doctor make the sick man more comfortable. It +was evident to both of them that there was little to be done, for the +medicine case was not able to furnish the doctor with what he wanted, +and Bertrand, sunk again into feverish slumber, gave no answer to the +questions put to him. At last the German put on his gloves and prepared +to take leave, but before doing so he forestalled Bob's obvious +intention of protesting against Bertrand's remaining any longer in the +prison by saying irritably: + +"Yes, yes! He shall be moved. Soon, too--he has been here far too long +already." He glanced at Bob with a look of angry dissatisfaction, +whether at the young American himself, the sick man, or the German +medical staff's mismanagement, Bob did not know; but after a curt nod +he departed, leaving Bob in a state of painful uncertainty during +the few moments he passed alone with Bertrand before Sergeant Cameron +brought in his meagre noonday meal. + +Just what the doctor meant to do Bob was far from feeling sure, and +Sergeant Cameron had little to say, after his five weeks' experience +with German promises which lacked the merit of ever being performed. + +At five o'clock that afternoon Bob heard the guard at his door, and +rising from a dreary revery by Bertrand's side, he went to meet him. +Sergeant Cameron was due with his supper and Bob was anxious for a word +with him. Their patient was still just lingering on the borderland of +unconsciousness. Sergeant Cameron was not yet there, but behind the +guard came four soldiers, stretcher-bearers, who advanced stolidly into +the little room with their unwieldy burden. + +Bob's heart gave a sudden strange pang. The longed-for relief had +come, but it was not so easy now to see his comrade of the long weeks +just passed go out among strangers, too ill to wish him even a word of +farewell. Almost dazed he stood aside, while the doctor followed in the +stretcher-bearers' wake, and ordered the French officer lifted from the +cot. Then Bob sprang forward and helped with gentle hands that shook a +little as he adjusted the blankets for the last time over his friend's +thin shoulders. He said huskily to the doctor, "You'll do your best for +him, won't you, Herr Doctor?" + +The German gave a nod of assent, but said nothing more. He gave Bob an +odd glance once or twice, and seemed more than ordinarily severe and +constrained, giving the soldiers short, sharp orders which they made +haste to obey. Bob said no more to him, and in another moment Bertrand +had been carried out, and he was left alone. + +He sat down, looking at the empty cot, and mumbled angrily to himself, +in the midst of his black depression, "Don't be an ass. Buck up! What a +slacker you are, anyway--can't you grin and bear it, as other fellows +do?" And all the while he was wondering painfully at his own weakness, +and despising it, yet utterly unable to rise above it, or to take his +imprisonment courageously as only one of the many evil chances of war. +When Sergeant Cameron came in at last he was still struggling with +himself, and not even the sergeant's cheerful words of thankfulness +that poor Bertrand was at last to be placed in competent hands--or so +they hoped--could bring a ray of brightness to Bob's weary brain. He +drank some of his bitter coffee and went to bed--free for the first +time in weeks to sleep the night through without rising to see if +Bertrand slept--but this night he lay awake and wished for even the +sick man's companionship. + +When the first streaks of dawn stole through the little window Bob +sat up and looked curiously at the ashes on the hearth. His fire was +out--that was the curious part of it, because he was not cold, though +the window pane was covered with frost and his breath puffed into vapor. + +"I'm hot--hot as anything," he muttered, rubbing one hand over his +aching forehead. "Funny, for I was cold enough all night." He lay down +again to ponder it. + +When Sergeant Cameron came with his breakfast Bob was still lying on +the cot. The sergeant laid down the bowl of coffee and the armful of +wood he carried to look keenly at the young officer's flushed checks, +as he lay blanketless in the cold room. "Don't feel well, Lieutenant?" +he faltered, trying to speak naturally, but reaching for Bob's hand as +he spoke and starting at the burning dryness of it. + +"Queer," said Bob, trying to emerge from the dim, feverish phantoms +that obscured his thoughts, "but I'll be better after a while." He +spoke more cheerfully than he had done the night before. All present +worries had suddenly faded from his mind. He could not seem to think of +anything but what was very vague and far away. + +The next few days, during which Bob grew steadily worse, were hard +almost beyond endurance to Sergeant Cameron's anxious and devoted +spirit. He stayed tirelessly by Bob's bedside, until the German guards +grew weary of ordering him away and let him be. Never did a sick man +receive more faithful care or more earnest watching, and the doctor, +at his rare visits, looked curiously more than once at the pale, +unshaven, eager face of the old "non-com," as though he wondered at +such persistent faithfulness. + +Bob was not suffering just then. For the first time in many weeks he +was free, and his hot aching body, lying on the narrow cot, did not +much trouble the real self that was back again on the firing line, +hovering over the German trenches in Benton's biplane, or swooping back +to safety from pursuing guns. In quiet moments, when Sergeant Cameron +fell into a doze by his bedside, Bob dreamed he was back in his barrack +room at West Point, planning his graduation leave. Then Lucy's face +would come before him and her voice sound in his ears. His mother's +eyes would smile at him, with their old cheerfulness, and the war +seemed very dreadful, but very dim and far away. + +Once, after a long time during which he had lain still, not even +dreaming, too weary and weak to do more than lie dully half-asleep, +Bob opened his eyes with a sudden clearing of his senses. Voices were +close beside him, and he wanted to hear what they said, but he could +not understand them. Then he realized they were speaking German, and +felt a light-headed sort of joy at his own cleverness in discovering +it. He looked up from the knees of the man who stood beside his cot, +and found his face with a difficult, slow gaze. It was the doctor, and +Bob's troubled eyes fell from his face, for it was stern and frowning. +He met another glance, as a second man bent over him, and this face +arrested his attention by its difference from the doctor's light hair +and fair skin. The stranger had black smooth hair, dark, sparkling +eyes, and an olive complexion. Bob could see his face plainly, for it +was near him as the unknown bent over him from his short height. He +wanted to ask, "Who are you?" but the effort seemed too great to make, +and before he had summoned strength for it, the two had left his side +and their boots were clumping off across the room. + +Half an hour later, in the office of the Commandant, the secretary +of the Spanish Embassy at Berlin urged his case strongly. He had an +ally more powerful than his arguments in the fever itself, which was +bringing a look of worn anxiety to the doctor's face. He had not time +nor medicine enough for the few patients the camps now held, and the +prospect of a wide-spread epidemic was horrible to his harassed and +order-loving soul. The conference was a short one, but the Spanish +Secretary went back to Berlin with a signed recommendation for Bob's +removal in his pocket, and a strong confidence that success awaited his +Ambassador, in his friendly prosecution of Mr. Leslie's demand. + +Of all this neither Sergeant Cameron nor Bob knew anything, but on the +same day Bob's faithful nurse had cause for more tempered rejoicing. +One of the lulls in the fever, during which Captain Bertrand had been +used to go about with languid footsteps, came to Bob's relief. To his +bodily relief, for his mind felt almost as though he would rather have +stayed in the delirium when he awoke again to the dingy darkness of his +prison. But for the time he was much better, and the joy on Sergeant +Cameron's face told plainly what his desperate anxiety had been. Bob's +stammered thanks were quite inadequate, but without words a new bond of +friendship had been forged between the two, which they knew could never +break. + +Bob ate a little bread, soaked in water, and wondered at the weakness +that would hardly let him lift his hand to feed himself. "I'm pretty +worthless, aren't I?" he asked, with a faint smile, then, with a sudden +recollection of his ministrations to poor Bertrand he added, "I wonder +what they've done to Bertrand! How I'd like to know." + +"You haven't had any letters from home, Sergeant? Nothing for me?" was +another repeated question. The sergeant's reluctant denial cast Bob's +spirits down heavily, but in spite of all he convalesced--only, as both +he and Sergeant Cameron knew, he would succumb again as Bertrand had +done unless his youth and health could fight more strongly for him. + +"Funny dreams I had," he said one day to Sergeant Cameron, as he sat +over his meagre breakfast. "I used to think I was at home, then I'd be +fighting again--I never got back to prison, there was some comfort in +that. One time I thought I saw a man here with the doctor--a stranger +with dark hair and eyes. He looked so different from these Germans--not +like a Frenchman either. I wonder what I was dreaming of?" + +"Have a little of the bread, sir," suggested Sergeant Cameron. He was +rather non-committal that morning. A new British prisoner had just +whispered to him of General Byng's forced retreat from a part of his +hard-won gains, and the old soldier was torn with longing to get back +on to the field. "I might have done more if I'd stayed with the Major +on Governor's Island," he thought bitterly, then remembering Bob's need +with a quick rush of generosity he took back his own words. + +But Bob was more fortunate in his illness than he or Sergeant Cameron +could guess. Before long it was made plain to them. A German officer +visited Bob's room and told him with brief phrases in uncertain English +of the negotiations for his exchange. + +It was almost too much joy for one so weak and ill as Bob, and in +the midst of his rejoicing his thoughts turned sadly to his faithful +companion. + +"Oh, Sergeant," he said the night the good news came, "I can't bear to +have all the luck! It isn't fair." + +"Never mind that, my lad," answered the brave old veteran, forgetting +all titles of respect in the earnestness of the moment. "I'll do well +enough here, but you'd not have stayed with me long. Thank God you can +get out in time." + + * * * * * + +Ten days later, on a bright frosty morning, Mr. Leslie stood waiting +at a little railway station on the Swiss frontier. He took little heed +at first of the crowd around him, whose voices, high and low pitched, +stern, anxious, hopeful or merry, as they spoke for busy government +officials, Red Cross workers, or for the mothers, wives or children of +returning prisoners, sounded in his ears. In a babel of French, German, +Flemish and English they were giving voice to their impatient hopes +and lingering fears, until Mr. Leslie's tumultuous thoughts seemed +to become a part of theirs, and he turned to look at the picturesque +waiting groups with an understanding sympathy in his kind eyes. + +His face was rather weary, and his ready smile a little slower than +when he had left America such a short while before. Even in peaceful +Switzerland some of the great war's tragedy had been vividly unrolled +before him. His search for Bob, through the Spanish Embassy at Berlin, +had been a short one, for American prisoners were few and easily +identified, but after that had come hopeless days of waiting in which +he had looked failure in the face. The German government showed no +inclination to set Bob free, and Mr. Leslie would have gone home +unsuccessful if the prisoner he sought had not become a trial and +menace to the prison camp that harbored him. Mr. Leslie blessed the +fever as he waited for the train that was bringing Bob to the frontier. +This realization of his highest hopes brought a warm flood of joy to +his heart as he thought of the message that was even then winging its +way across the sea. + +Suddenly a little commotion rose among the crowd of people. They +cried out and pointed around the bend of track, among the trees. At +Mr. Leslie's side a little girl begged to be raised to her mother's +shoulders, and the woman, as she lifted her, had tears streaming down +her pale young face. The puff of smoke around the bend thickened, the +engine whistled, and slowly the long train came into view. A wild cheer +went up from men's and women's throats along the platform. Mr. Leslie +swallowed hard and winked the mist from his eyes. His heart was beating +faster than was comfortable as he went forward, as near as the watchful +guards allowed, to meet the slowing train. + +Inside, stretchers were made ready for those prisoners--and they were +many--who could not walk from their places; others, who had lain on +their stretchers on stationary racks along the car, were lifted out by +willing and tender hands. But all who by any exertion of courage and +strength could walk out unassisted made shift to do so, and with these +Bob Gordon stood up wearily and tried his legs to make sure they would +hold him. + +"No, I'm all right--I don't need you, _merci_," he told a waiting +attendant, not caring whether he spoke French or English. He was only +afraid that his head would burst with the rush of joy that came at +sight of that little station, with the far-off mountains behind it, +that spot outside of Germany which told him he was free. He saw his +feelings reflected in the worn faces about him--no pain had power to +check it for that moment--and with a sudden return of some of his old +agile strength, Bob walked from the car and stepped down upon the +platform. + +Mr. Leslie saw him before he reached the ground. Through the crowd of +sad and joyful welcomers he made a swift way to his side. He had not +seen the boy for a year or more--not since furlough--he told himself, +desperately forcing back the shock of pity and distress that smote him +at sight of that thin, white young face and slow-moving figure. Was +this Bob, who had never been able to move quickly enough? + +"The boy's had a fever, of course," Mr. Leslie muttered, though his +heart refused to think it a quite satisfactory explanation. + +But just then Bob saw and recognized him, and the old merry smile came +swiftly to his lips. He raised his cap and waved it in a weak hurrah. + +All Mr. Leslie's conflicting emotions vanished in the swift rush of one +thought--whatever he had been through, Bob was free! "Hello! Hello!" he +shouted, hardly knowing what he said. + +"You, Cousin Henry! How on earth----" cried Bob, thrilling between +astonishment and utter happiness as Mr. Leslie, carefully avoiding a +wounded French soldier's toddling little son, reached past the guards +to grasp Bob's outstretched hand. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + CAPTAIN LUCY + + +The soldier at the telegraph office on Governor's Island has a busy +time of it--especially since the outbreak of war. Cablegrams are +nothing uncommon to him--he is prepared for anything. But that did not +prevent his rising from his place in a burst of excitement one cold +morning toward the end of January, with a yellow paper in his hand. + +"What do you think?" he demanded of the man who had just come in to +relieve him. "Listen to this: 'To Major James Gordon: Exchanged; all +well; signed, Leslie.'" + +"What? Bob Gordon?" exclaimed the other, somewhat disrespectfully but +with great heartiness. "Say, isn't that fine? You'd better tell the +Major in double-quick." + +The outgoing operator took his advice and sat down before the +telephone. In a moment he had Major Gordon on the wire. "Cablegram, +sir. Shall I proceed?" + +"Yes--yes--go ahead." Major Gordon's voice was not very steady. +The soldier promptly gave the message, in the cheerful tone of a +good-hearted fellow who knew he was communicating the best of news. He +and his mate had seen Bob on furlough and graduation leave--he seemed +still more a West Point cadet than an officer. They had a very friendly +feeling for him. + +"Thanks!" came Major Gordon's voice as he hung up, and the word sounded +as though he meant it. + +"Must have been in a bad way if the Germans let him go," commented the +relief, sitting down to work. + +"He'll get back to the fight again, though--mark my words," was the +other man's thoughtful prophecy. + +Major Gordon had just come home from a long afternoon's inspection of +Q. M. stores when the telephone rang. He had looked and felt both tired +and sad but in two minutes all was changed. When he turned away after +taking that short message his eyes had regained their old brightness, +his lips parted in a smile as merry as Bob's own, the little stoop to +his shoulders straightened, as with a quick, eager stride he reached +the foot of the stairs and shouted for the whole house to hear, "Sally! +Lucy! Bob's exchanged!" + +In an hour the whole post knew of it, and half the garrison was at the +Gordons' door with joyful greetings. But for a little while Lucy could +not go down to welcome them, and Marian took her place when Julia +and Anne came to rejoice with her over the long awaited message. Lucy +had not cried in many days, and her courage had stood by her until +Marian marveled at her calm cheerfulness, but now she could be brave +no longer. She sank down among the pillows of her little sofa and did +not try to restrain the tears of joy and gratitude that poured down +her cheeks. It seemed too good to be true--beyond belief--and more +than once in that brief half hour Lucy raised her head and looked with +tear-wet eyes from the window at the familiar landmarks of the post, to +reassure herself that she was not in a happy dream. "Bob's safe--he's +out of prison," she said over and over, to hear how the words sounded, +and what finally led her to dry her eyes and leave her refuge on the +sofa was the eager desire to show Marian the gratitude she could not +yet give Mr. Leslie for his generous devotion. + +Next to her longing to hear from Bob by his own hand, Lucy wished to +see her friend Captain Jourdin and tell him of Bob's freedom. She +had seen real sympathy and interest in the Frenchman's bright, dark +eyes, and she thought he might be able to tell her more about Bob's +release than they had guessed from the few words of Mr. Leslie's cable. +Dispatches from Washington, following shortly after, told no more than +the bare fact of the exchange, and it seemed unlikely that they +could learn anything else for several days. + +"It all depends on their reason for letting him go," said Captain Brent +at the Gordons' that night. "They were either very anxious to get an +aviator of their own back again--or else he was released for some other +reason." Captain Brent evaded the probable "other reason," as Mr. +Leslie had done in Lucy's hearing. He guessed, as Major Gordon did, +that Bob was either ill or wounded, but Major Gordon felt confident, +from the "all well" of Mr. Leslie's message, that there was no ground +for heavy anxiety in his behalf. + +"But do you think he'll go back to fight? How I wish we could see him +and find out everything!" cried Lucy, with longing in her eyes. + +"You may be sure he'll go back as soon as possible," declared Captain +Brent. "But I think they might give him a month's leave to come +home--they probably will." + +"Oh, don't you suppose Captain Jourdin would come to see us if you +asked him?" Lucy begged. "You see he's an aviator and so is Bob and I +know he's interested. I want so much to talk to him again. He'd come if +you asked him, wouldn't he, Captain Brent?" + +"Why, perhaps he would, Lucy. You see he's awfully busy, and besides +that he hates going about, because every one wants to make a hero +of him, and he doesn't feel like one. But I think he'll come if your +mother asks me to bring him. I don't know much about how exchanges are +being managed in this war myself. He might tell us something." + +As a result of this talk Captain Jourdin did come to the Gordons' one +evening soon after, and though he could only guess at the circumstances +of Bob's release he told Lucy one bit of welcome news about her brother. + +"The dispatches say that the American Flying Squadron released Von +Arnheim for Lieutenant Gordon. The squadron must think highly of your +son's ability, Madame," he said to Mrs. Gordon, with a light in his +brown eyes, "for they have given up a famous man to secure his freedom. +I met Von Arnheim once--over Rheims. I thought he had me for a while. I +still have a bullet he gave me somewhere in my shoulder-bone." + +"How did you get away?" asked Lucy, breathlessly, forgetting Captain +Brent's caution not to ask the pilot about his exploits. + +"Oh, I flew away," said Captain Jourdin, laughing. "I just turned tail +and, as they say here, 'beat it.'" + +"Do you think Bob will go back to the war?" asked Marian, shyly. + +"Why not, Miss? Of course he will--though perhaps he may need rest for +a time," Captain Jourdin added, with a flicker of meaning in his eyes. +"Perhaps they will give him a furlough at home. In that case we can fly +together here. I shall meet him with much pleasure." + +He rose a moment later to take leave, and Captain Brent, lingering a +few moments after him, said, "Do you know what he's hoping for? He's no +end cheerful lately. Some doctor in New York is doing wonders for his +ankle. He even promises Jourdin that he can get back into the service. +The French surgeons will give him every chance to pass." + +"Well, I should think so!" cried Lucy with enthusiasm. "Wouldn't that +be great? I suppose he'll do all those wonderful feats over again. It +must be fun thinking about the great things you've done, even if you +don't want to talk them over." + +"You bet it must be!" said Captain Brent, smiling. "You'll see Bob +wearing no end of medals and crosses yet. He's got the true aviator's +spirit. I must get back to my quarters and go to bed," he added, as +Lucy gave him a delighted smile at this praise of her brother. "We are +out on parade to-morrow. Every airplane that can wriggle its propeller +is to fly, so I'll have to be on the field early." + +No part of the post's war activity was so absorbing to Marian as the +aviation school. At Captain Brent's words her eyes brightened with +eager interest, as she inquired of him the hours for which the trial +flights were scheduled. + +"We'll go, Lucy," she said, and Lucy laughed agreement. + +"Don't leave any machines around loose, Captain Brent," she cautioned, +"or you'll find Marian curled up in the observer's seat in disguise. If +Bob comes home I know she means to persuade him somehow to take her up." + +Marian was still rather timid about sudden dangers or emergencies, but +the smooth, swift flight of an airplane seemed utterly delightful to +her, and as far back as September, in the midst of her shy reserve, she +had understood Bob's longing for a place in this splendid new arm of +the service. + +She and Lucy were early among the crowd that thronged the borders of +the aviation field on the following afternoon, and as one machine after +the other was rolled out and, gliding down the field on its little +wheels, rose toward the clear sunny sky, Marian watched them with +sparkling eyes. Captain Jourdin was in one of them, and Lucy picked his +machine out at every swerve and loop, by the swift, easy evolutions he +performed, so far above their heads that sometimes airplane and pilot +looked a gyrating speck among the clouds. + +"Marian, I think my neck will break in a minute!" she exclaimed at +last, recalling her thoughts from visions of Bob's future as Captain +Brent had so generously predicted it, while she closed her eyes for a +second against the blue, dazzling heavens, across which the airplanes +swooped and darted. "There's Julia," she said a moment later. "I'm +going over to speak to her." + +Lucy walked back from the field a little to join her friend. Other +inspections were in progress on the parade, where a battalion of +infantry was marching in review. Over the music of the band as it +played one of Harry Lauder's stirring airs that made the soldiers' feet +move faster, Lucy said to Julia: + +"They're fine, aren't they? But don't you still miss the old +Twenty-Eighth? It doesn't seem as though any troops look as they did." + +The music stopped, and Julia answered, looking at the little reviewing +party advancing toward the companies, "I think one reason all the men +here have done so well is because the old regiment gave them such a +splendid example. They were first in the trenches--think what that +means." + +"Bob said Mr. Harding was so proud," said Lucy, softly. "Oh, I wish we +could hear something about him! When I think of the night he said +good-bye so cheerfully at the dock, I can't realize that he may never +come back. I feel ashamed to have been thinking all the time of Bob." + +"Goodness, you needn't," said Julia, giving Lucy's arm a friendly +squeeze. "But after Bob's wonderful good fortune I can't help feeling +more hopeful about other people. It seems as if there were a big chance +for everybody." + +"You and Marian are a nice little pair of optimists," remarked Lucy, +musingly. "Still, I sort of think you're right." + +"Let's get Marian and go home," Julia suggested, digging her cold hands +into her pockets. "The flights are almost over." + +Lucy reëntered the house with red cheeks and out of breath, having run +most of the way home across the snow. + +"Isn't it cold?" said Marian, shivering. "Still, I wouldn't have missed +it for anything." + +Lucy did not answer, for her eyes were fixed on a postal which the +mailman had dropped, as he always did whatever he brought, on the post +at the foot of the stairs. It was addressed to her, but--and this +made Lucy stare at it with bated breath--it was addressed in her own +writing. Incredulous, she pulled off her glove and picked it up. The +writing on the other side was strange--far neater and smaller than +Dick Harding's, but at the bottom was the familiar R. H. + +"Marian!" she burst out, in a rush of bewildered joy, "it's from him! +Mr. Harding! Oh, I can't wait!" + +She dropped down on the lowest step of the stairs and Marian collapsed +into an eager heap beside her, as she bent over the card and read: + + "DEAR CAPTAIN LUCY: Are you surprised, or did the dispatches + saying I'm not 'missing' any longer get ahead of this? I cabled my + family in the Islands to-day, and in my old coat I found this card and + remembered my promise. I am pretty well knocked up still, but nothing + to worry over. I was picked up wounded after the rumpus, by some + women, and taken to a French farmhouse. Nobody knew where I was, until + I got better and told the good people who took care of me to send word + to our lines. Before that happened the country around was heavily + bombarded, and no one dared stir from the house that sheltered me. I + am in a big hospital now, being fed and petted like a pussy-cat. My + nurse says there's no more room to write, so good-bye. Best wishes for + Bob's luck in the Flying Corps. R. H." + +"Oh, Lucy, how wonderful!" cried Marian, her blue eyes shining, and +her cheeks pink with excitement and delight. "To think he should have +remembered you right off, and let you know he was safe!" + +Lucy's heart was beating joyfully and hard, and for a moment she could +scarcely speak, but when she did it was to say with sober earnestness: + +"If I ever get down-hearted again, Marian, just remind me of this. I +never thought I'd see or hear from him again!" + +Pride in her old friend's constancy was not the greatest part of her +happiness just then, but it did have a share in it when Major Gordon +came in a few hours later with official confirmation of Mr. Harding's +safety. + +"News doesn't get from Washington very fast, Cousin James," said +Marian, as the family received Major Gordon's announcement with +cheerful calm. "Lucy has heard already from the front." + +After those endless days which the Gordons would never forget, when +they waited hour after hour and day after day, for the news that never +came, it seemed all at once as though good things were coming, almost +before they were expected. The house was a different place in this last +week, and more than once Lucy saw the old, bright smile linger on her +mother's face. + +"Isn't it lots nicer since Bob made the Germans let him go?" William +asked his sister one day after a moment's thoughtful silence. + +"Rather," was Lucy's short answer, but it seemed as though she said +much more than that. + +At last Bob's letter came, and with the reading of it, some at least +of the darkness that had encircled him was cleared away. He could not +tell all his adventures of the past two months, but through the lines +the quick, sympathetic hearts of those at home guessed, as he had known +they would, of the loneliness and misery that had so nearly overcome +his brave spirit. + +"You never could guess what one letter would have meant to me," he +said, when his cautious reserve, lest they should think him almost +done for, was for the moment forgotten. "If ever I have prisoners to +guard--Boches, or I don't care whom--I'll give them their letters from +home. It doesn't help win the war to keep them back, and it gives the +prisoner a bitter feeling toward his captors that he'll never forget +as long as he lives. + +"But I'm all right now," he wrote cheerfully. "Cousin Henry and I +are in a snug little French village near the coast, where a lot of +convalescent officers and men are put up for a month or so. It's just +perfect to me--the freedom and the feeling of being among friends +again. Having plenty to eat is pretty comfortable, too. Once or twice +I've caught Cousin Henry looking curiously at me, as though he thought +I was never going to stop. I've tried to thank him for getting me out, +and I've written the Spanish Ambassador at Berlin (by way of +Spain), but there's no use trying to tell them all I feel. You have +to be in prison to know how it feels to get out. I only hope that +Sergeant Cameron has got at least one of the packages I've sent him +through Switzerland. Just let's pray our army gets over here quickly +by the million, and the beastly war comes to an end before 1918 is +over. + +"They say I can have leave to go home, but if I keep on getting well +here at this rate, honestly, I don't see how I can ask it. That's for +the doctor to decide anyway, so I won't bother. But when you're on this +side and see all that's waiting to be done! I don't wonder Father feels +the way he does about coming over, but if there is nobody behind us at +home to send on the men and the supplies, where will we be? + +"My captain sent me congratulations on my exchange. They had tried to +negotiate one before, to see if they could find out what had become of +us--especially Benton. But it fell through, and they couldn't discover +anything. It was only the fever that let me out. The German they +exchanged me for is a first rate pilot. I've seen him fly, and it makes +me wild to think of his getting back to work before I can do my bit +again. It's that makes a leave seem impossible, if I can get well here. +If everybody sticks it out and does what he can to help win, before +very long we'll all be home for good. + +"Cousin Henry sails next week, so pretty soon you'll know all he has +to tell about me. I'll never forget how good it looked to see his face +when that train drew up beside the Swiss frontier. At first he +looked worried, but not long, for I got well so fast. He thinks I'm all +right now. + +"It's only the first lap of the race that's over, but I came out of it +with such luck, I'm not afraid to face the next." + +Lucy and Marian had taken the letter up-stairs to read a second time, +and when it was finished Marian looked at her cousin anxiously, for +Lucy had fallen into a revery, and sat with sober, thoughtful eyes, +and close-set lips. Marian thought she knew what the doubt of Bob's +home-coming must mean to her. + +"But, Lucy, he seems so well and happy," she said at last, uncertainly. +"He wants so awfully to get back and fly." + +Lucy raised her eyes and smiled, her chin cupped in her hand. + +"I'm not worrying about him, Marian. It's just that there's a lot to +think about." + +In the long, hard days of Bob's imprisonment Lucy had found the courage +to endure which Bob himself had sought so often. And once found she +meant to cling to it. "Only the first lap of the race," Bob had said, +but to Lucy it seemed as though the race were half won, for never, +never, she told herself, would she again give way to hopeless fears--no +matter what dark days were ahead--since out of the deadly danger of +battle-field and prison camp Bob had once come safely back. + + + The stories in this series are: + + + CAPTAIN LUCY AND LIEUTENANT BOB + CAPTAIN LUCY IN FRANCE + CAPTAIN LUCY'S FLYING ACE (_in press_) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captain Lucy and Lieutenant Bob, by Aline Havard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59536 *** |