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diff --git a/old/63462-0.txt b/old/63462-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a16712c..0000000 --- a/old/63462-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5352 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Over There with the Marines at Chateau -Thierry, by Capt. George H. Ralphson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Over There with the Marines at Chateau Thierry - -Author: Capt. George H. Ralphson - -Release Date: October 14, 2020 [EBook #63462] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVER THERE WITH THE MARINES *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, David Garcia, Larry B. -Harrison, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - OVER THERE SERIES - - - THE MARINES AT CHATEAU THIERRY - THE CANADIANS AT VIMY RIDGE - THE DOUGHBOYS AT ST. MIHIEL - PERSHING’S HEROES AT CANTIGNY - THE ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI - THE YANKS IN THE ARGONNE FOREST - -[Illustration: - - THE GERMANS GAVE WAY UNDER THE TERRIBLE FIRE OF THE TANKS. - - [The Marines at Chateau Thierry] -] - - - - - OVER THERE - WITH - THE MARINES - AT - CHATEAU THIERRY - - - _By_ - CAPT. GEORGE H. RALPHSON - Author of - OVER THERE WITH THE DOUGHBOYS AT ST. MIHIEL, OVER THERE WITH THE - CANADIANS AT VIMY RIDGE, OVER THERE WITH PERSHING’S HEROES AT CANTIGNY - -[Illustration] - - M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY - CHICAGO NEW YORK - - - - - Copyright, 1919 - M. A. DONOHUE & CO. - CHICAGO - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I PHIL AND TIM 7 - II FOUR KILOS ON HOBNAILS 11 - III DIGGING IN 17 - IV GAS MASKS 22 - V A MACHINE-GUN BARRAGE 27 - VI THE BOCHES CHARGE 32 - VII TIMBER FIGHTING 37 - VIII AID FROM THE AIR 44 - IX “KILL, KILL, KILL” 48 - X A NOVEL DISARMAMENT 52 - XI PHIL A PRISONER 57 - XII A BARBED WIRE PRISON 62 - XIII MR. BOACONSTRICTOR 69 - XIV A NEW PRISON 75 - XV A LIGHT WITHOUT MATCHES 81 - XVI PLANS FOR ESCAPE 87 - XVII TUNNELING 92 - XVIII THE PRISONERS TAKE A PRISONER 96 - XIX OVERHEARD IN A SANDPIT 102 - XX ESCAPE 107 - XXI THE PLOT 112 - XXII GOOD-BY 118 - XXIII THE FIGHT IN THE CELLAR 122 - XXIV ANOTHER CAPTURE 127 - XXV A CHAPTER OF WIND 131 - XXVI TURNING THE TABLES 135 - XXVII FOOD FOR PROHIBITION 141 - XXVIII THE PRISONERS FLEE 145 - XXIX IN HIDING 150 - XXX AN AUDACIOUS SCHEME 155 - XXXI PHIL’S STRATEGY 159 - XXXII MR. BOA AGAIN 164 - XXXIII TANKS AND “WATER CURE” 170 - XXXIV FROM TANK TO LIMOUSINE 178 - XXXV IN A TIGHT PLACE 183 - XXXVI SUGGESTIVE FLATTERY 188 - XXXVII A USELESS ARGUMENT 193 - XXXVIII WHAT THE LIGHTNING REVEALED 199 - XXXIX “THE CASTLE OF THE HUMAN SNAKE” 204 - XL A ROOM OF TORTURE 209 - XLI THE “SUBTERRENE” 215 - XLII RESCUED 220 - - - - - Over There with the Marines - - at - - Chateau Thierry - - - - - CHAPTER I - PHIL AND TIM - - -Top Sergeant Phil Speed did not know exactly where he was when the long -train of trucks bearing hundreds of khaki-clad American Marines stopped -at a small town within easy gun-roar of the battle front in France. They -were making little demonstration now. For weeks they had been cheering -and been cheered until their throats became sore and well -again—calloused, as it were. So spontaneous and so nearly universal had -been the enthusiastic reception extended to them everywhere that it -seemed as if every person who didn’t yell his head off must be -pro-kaiser. - -With the noise of battle becoming more and made distinct through the -rumble, roar, and rattle of trucks and ordnance racing toward the scene -of conflict into which they themselves were about to plunge, the hearts -of these messengers of liberty were not so gay as they had been for -weeks, aye, months, before. Everywhere, among all sorts and conditions -of men, even among fighting patriots, there are bound to be a few -“smart” ones who forget the proprieties sometimes as their bright ideas -go skyrocketing. And this sort of gay wight was not lacking even among -the pick of America’s young manhood; but for once the gayest of them -were serious and sober minded. - -The person who would joke in the face of death, or with a messenger of -eternity lurking in the vicinity must be a philosopher “to get away with -it.” Phil had no idea of putting the thing in such language, but if -somebody had stepped up close to him and whispered the conceit in his -ear, he probably would have responded, “That fits the situation -exactly.” Still a considerable period of time elapsed before he was able -to dispel all doubt as to the occasion of such unwonted sobriety. - -“I wonder if we’re not all cowards, and if that isn’t the reason we’ve -all stopped our noise,” he mused. “I hope we don’t turn tail and run -lickety-cut when we see a big bunch o’ boches swinging over the top at -us.” - -As if in reply to his musing, Timothy Turner, a training-camp chum, who -stood at his elbow in the midst of the throng of soldiers waiting for -orders to move along, spoke thus rather grimly: - -“We’re quite a solemn bunch, aren’t we, Phil? I guess what we need is -the explosion of a few bombs in our midst to get us good and mad.” - -“Maybe,” Phil replied, regarding his friend meditatively. “Well, it -won’t be very long before we’ll have a chance to find out. Do you think -an explosion a few feet away from you would make you mad, Tim?” - -“Yes, I do,” the latter replied unhesitatingly. “I believe it would make -me want to telescope with the next shell that came whistling along.” - -Tim was a kind of bullet-headed Yank, “built on the ground,” his -school-boy friends used to say. Really he looked as if he might be -accepted as a personification of that irresistible force which would -create “the most powerful standstill” if it struck an immovable object. -But in spite of his bullet-headness, Tim was anything but dull. Both -officers and fellow soldiers regarded him hopefully as one of the -prospective star fighters of the regiment because of his mental keenness -as well as his physical prowess. - -Phil was built along different lines. He was strong and athletic, but he -would hardly have been expected to be able to push over a stone wall. -Whether or not he was more intelligent than Tim may be a matter for -debate. It may be admitted, perhaps, that he was not so shrewd, but if -they had both lived in the middle ages, Phil undoubtedly would have -listened with interest to the first declaration that the world was -round, while Tim would just as surely have repelled it with derision. -But in business Phil might have fallen a comparatively easy victim to -the wiles of a trickster, where as the cleverest “con man” would have -had to get up very early in the morning to catch Tim napping. - -So here we have a double-barreled standard for measuring intelligence -among men and among boys. Shall we call Phil more intelligent than Tim, -or vice versa? Let us dismiss the debatable question without answer, -while we admit that they were both intelligent, but different; and in -spite of their difference—some would say “in consequence of their -difference”—they were very good friends. - - - - - CHAPTER II - FOUR KILOS ON HOBNAILS - - -“Battalion!” called out the major. - -“Company!” the captain followed, as it were, with the next breath. - -“Attention!” continued the battalion commander. - -The line was quickly formed, two deep, officers in position, the major -in attitude of review. - -“At ease!” was the next order which indicated “something coming.” - -“Men,” he said with an incisiveness of tone indicating that his words -would be brief, “word has just reached me that the officers of the enemy -division that you are soon to meet welcome you with expressions of -contempt. They say you are soft and will melt before the Hun armies like -wax over white heat. Will you show them you can go through fire hot -enough to melt steel?” - -The yell that greeted this question set at rest all doubt that may have -inspired the “wonder” which came to Phil’s mind a few minutes before as -to their courage. And nobody yelled louder or more fiercely than Phil -did. After it was over he heaved a sigh of relief. - -“That’s what we needed,” he muttered. - -“What did we need?” asked Tim, who heard the remark. - -Phil had no opportunity to reply. The major was giving orders again. - -“Attention!” - -“Squads, right!” the superior officer added, and immediately there was a -swinging half-about along the line, and a column of American Marines, -four abreast, was marching up the street that led away from the -detrucking point. - -Then followed a hike of four kilometers (two and a half miles) along the -Paris-Metz road. After journeying on hobnailed soles this distance, the -order was given to fix bayonets. - -Phil and Tim were good enough soldiers by this time to accept everything -as it came and not to look for too much that was not in evidence. They -had had try-out experience at Verdun and, along with other rapidly -seasoning warriors of their regiment, had given a good account of -themselves. And yet, in spite of all this curiosity-crushing experience, -they could not help looking just a little expectantly for a camouflaged -line of “bloomin’ boches” upon whom to use their one-tined pitchforks -when the order was given to “fix bayonets.” - -“Does it mean charge?” both of them longed to ask somebody, and after -this question they realized must follow another equally important: - -Where was the mysterious enemy? - -It proved, however, to be only a precautionary move to guard against -surprise while advancing through a wheatfield. There might be a score or -two of machine-gun nests in that field, Phil reasoned. But then, he -wondered how that could very well be, as it must mean that the gunners -had made their way undiscovered through the front line, which was a mile -farther on. However, the surmise proved to be in error, for nothing of -livelier nature than a flock of hens and turkeys was encountered. -Presently a halt was ordered at a group of deserted farm buildings, -where quarters were established pending the development of further -plans. - -Meanwhile there were other battalions following, and the country round -about was rapidly becoming a concentration camp of reserves, who were -sent forward in sections to take positions in the front line as rapidly -as way was prepared for them, the French moving out to take positions in -other sections. Phil and Tim were pleased when it became apparent that -they would not be ordered ahead before the next day, for they were weary -from exertion and loss of sleep and longed as much as anything else to -be in vigorous, fresh condition when it came their time to meet the -merciless, unscrupulous foe in battle. - -There was nothing radically new in this experience to any of the Marines -billeted at this place less than two kilometers from the front line, -which was being pressed hard, by the enemy. All of them had seen a very -real kind of practice service along with the French at Verdun, and so -there was little to arouse their wonder in the sights and sounds of -rumbling camions, tanks and artillery as they were rushed hither and -thither, the shouts of officers and drivers, aeroplanes soaring -overhead, and the whistle of an occasional shell fired with apparent -random purpose and exploding far beyond the range of serious mischief. -These sights and sounds were fast merging into the obscurity and quiet -of darkness and inaction as Phil and Tim lay down under a large apple -tree, resolved to get as much rest as possible before the next daybreak. - -“I’ve been wanting to ask you a question ever since we detrucked from -those lorries four kilos up the road,” said Tim after the two boys had -lodged themselves in the privacy of a “ten-foot sector” of the orchard. -As he spoke, he picked up a full-grown apple from the ground and sunk -his teeth into it. - -“This apple isn’t very ripe,” he observed, indicating by his digression -that the question on his mind was not as vital as the importance of -appeasing his appetite or of winning the war. “But the juice is sweet -and pungent and I’m going to make a cider press of my jaws and squeeze -the beverage down my throat.” - -“If you haven’t forgotten your question, you may put it to me,” Phil -returned more to the point. - -“I was wondering what you meant when you remarked, ‘That’s what we -needed,’ after the major made his little speech to us and we yelled our -throats hoarse to prove we weren’t soft,” said Tim. “Were you afraid we -really were soft?” - -“No, not exactly,” Phil replied. “But I just had a kind o’ longing for -proof that we weren’t.” - -“But we’d proved ourselves at Verdun, hadn’t we?” Tim reasoned. - -“Yes and no,” answered Phil. “At Verdun we fought all right, but we had -a lot o’ French vets right at our elbows to ginger our nerve. Here, I -understand, they’re going to give us a front all our own, ten or fifteen -miles. I was talking to Corporal Ross about it. He’s been doing -messenger service at the major’s headquarters and picked up a good deal -of information. He says we’re bound for a place called Belleau Wood. The -French call it Bois de Belleau. The Huns, you know, have been pressing -the French pretty hard all the way from Rheims to Soissons, and we’ve -been sent to relieve the French at this point so that they can stop the -enemy at other points. But I’ve got a suspicion that a lot more American -boys will be thrown in about here and we’re going to have a chance to -make ourselves famous in the next few days.” - -“It’s up to us to make good,” declared Tim with characteristic -bullet-headed doggedness. “The Marines have been criticised a good deal -lately. Some say we ought to be eliminated from the service.” - -“We’ve got to make good,” Phil echoed emphatically. “The reputation of -the Marines is at stake.” - - - - - CHAPTER III - DIGGING IN - - -Sergeant Phil was a year older than Corporal Tim. The latter, unbeknown -to anybody except himself and his parents, had entered the Marine -Service in not the most regular manner, but it was real patriotism that -had caused him to misrepresent his age, which was the only bar to his -eligibility. A wait of eight months longer would have put him “over the -top” in this respect but he decided not to wait. He looked 18 years old, -and boldly declared this to be his age, and, as some of his slangy boy -friends would have said, he got away with it. When his Philadelphia -father learned of his enlistment, the bullet-headed youngster was -already on his way for probation at the Paris Island, South Carolina, -recruit depot. - -Then Mr. Turner thought twice and decided not to interfere. He was -thoroughly patriotic and concluded that if his son had put over anything -on anybody it was on the kaiser. - -Phil was a more regular sort of fellow in such matters. He would never -have misrepresented his age in order to gain admittance into Uncle Sam’s -fighting force. If he had not been able to pass all the tests on merit, -he would have sought to aid the government in some other branch of -service. This is not intended, by contrast, as a serious reflection on -Tim. The latter was different. He saw no particular harm in adding a -year on his age if thereby he might help to shorten the reign of the -Prussian despot. - -Tim kept his secret religiously, fearing lest he be sent home or -assigned to disgrace service if it should come to the knowledge of his -superior officers. - -Phil and Tim were disappointed in their expectation that they would move -early in the morning following their arrival at the deserted farm to a -position in the front line. But they were not disappointed in their -anticipation of thrilling activities before the close of the day. Until -late in the afternoon the entire battalion was busy perfecting -arrangements for relieving the Frenchies in this sector. - -The excitement of the day came at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The -firing at the front was heavy, but not of intensity such as they had -witnessed at Verdun. But it seemed to grow hotter and nearer, so that -the only conclusion the Americans could draw was that the boches were -driving the French back through the woods. - -Suddenly the company to which Phil and Tim belonged was thrown into -confusion by the bursting of a shell on the roof of the barn in which -they had sought shelter. This would have been a poor place for them if -they had been under constant fire from the enemy. But it had served well -enough against injury from shrapnel, and still better from flying debris -heaved in all directions by the explosion of bombs dropped from hostile -aeroplanes. That the wrecking of the roof of the barn was effected by -the bursting of a cannon shell was evidenced by the shriek that -immediately preceded the explosion. - -None of those in the barn was killed or injured so severely that he had -to be taken to the rear for surgical treatment, but the lieutenant was -severely cut on his right arm. Phil sprang to his assistance and helped -him to bandage the limb; then they rushed out after the rest of the -company. The wounded officer now gave order for all to take to the woods -and dig in. - -The Marines thus deprived of a shelter rushed back into the roofless -building, grabbed up a supply of entrenching tools and then made a dash -for the woods. Most of them had snatched up their guns before making -their hurried exit. About halfway between the barn and the woods another -shell burst in their midst, killing five and severely wounding a score -of others. Almost as if by magic a corps of stretcher-bearers were on -the scene. The uninjured scarcely hesitated, and almost in less time -than is required to tell it the order to “dig in” was being obeyed with -the skill and speed of long practiced teamwork. - -The digging-in process was a simple though strenuous task. All of the -members of the company not seriously injured by the bursting of the -shell were presently spading in the earth for dear life a short distance -within the timber. They worked as if according to a systematic, -prearranged schedule. If they had been going through a drill -performance, under instruction from manual and teacher, their work could -hardly have been more nearly true to military form. - -Each of these Marines quickly scratched off a rectangular plot about -three by five feet and then began to dig. Phil and Tim, who always -endeavored to keep as near together as possible in all emergencies where -they might be able to aid each other, “dug in” a few feet apart. After -they had cut roots and scooped the dirt out to a depth of three or four -feet, they dashed about here and there in the immediate vicinity and -gathered dead limbs and brushwood with which each built a shelter at one -end of his funk hole, or “stub trench.” These shelters were rendered -more stable and impervious to rain by heaping on them mounds of loose -earth that had been shoveled out of the trenches. - -But the disastrous explosion of the two shells seemed to have served as -a false alarm as to what ought to be expected for some time thereafter. -The fact of the matter is, “nothing happened.” Three days they remained -“dug in” and not another shell or bomb struck within two hundred yards -of any point of the sheltered “stub trenches” of the recently bombarded -regiment. - -On the evening of the third day they received an order to make a quick -march to a shell-shattered village on the front line. - -“Now we’re going to see some real fighting,” Tim prophesied to his -friend, as they prepared to obey the order. - -He was not mistaken. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - GAS MASKS - - -Phil and Tim had made good use of their time while in training at Paris -Island, so that when they were ordered on board a transport to steam for -“somewhere in France,” they could boast of being “Jacks of all trades -and masters of all” in the hyperbolic parlance of Sea Soldier -excellence. They could do pretty nearly everything from the fitting of -gun gear to the operation of a wireless outfit or a portable -searchlight. Moreover, they were both well qualified to handle machine -guns, and Phil was drawing an extra $3 a month as a rifle sharpshooter. - -The company to which Phil and Tim belonged was stationed just outside -the village. They reached this position at about 2 p. m. and had little -more than completed their digging-in operations, when the word was -passed along that they would “go over the top” at 4:30. - -But this announcement was presently countered from headquarters, coupled -with a “man-to-man message” that scouting aeroplanes and observation -balloons had communicated to headquarters the information that the -boches were evidently planning to “come over” at the Yanks. A hurried -conference among the officers of the Marines decided then that it would -be better strategy to let the enemy come on and get their fill and then -counter their decimated forces with a good strong bayonet and -hand-grenade drive. - -Phil and Tim were near enough to each other to carry on a conversation -in ordinary tones, and when the word reached them that they must wait -for the enemy to attack them they expressed their disappointment -vigorously. - -“I hate this waiting business,” Phil declared. “We’ll never reach Berlin -at this rate.” - -“So do I,” responded Tim. “I wonder what those minions of the kaiser -think they’re going to do. To my mind it’s a sign of weakness on their -part, making a drive this time o’ the day.” - -“Why?” Phil inquired. “I don’t see why it should be a sign of weakness -on their part any more than our plan to go over the top at 4:30 is a -sign of weakness.” - -“Maybe not from their point of view. But we know what we’ve got behind -us—millions of men and billions of money. We know, too, that we’ve got -vastly more of these than the boches have. So you see, I have something -more than suspicion to base my theory on that they like to make an -attack late in the day so that if they fail they will have the darkness -to cover their retreat. I bet that when our record is summed up you’ll -find that we made most of our dashes against the enemy’s lines at 4 or 5 -o’clock in the morning.” - -“I hope I’m spared to contemplate such a record,” said Phil soberly. - -“You don’t doubt it, do you?” Tim asked, for he was surprised and -disappointed to hear his friend speak so diffidently. - -“I was just wondering,” Phil replied meditatively. - -“See here, Phil,” Tim said, shaking his hand toward his soldier comrade; -“you’re making a big mistake. You’re meditating. Do you realize that a -soldier should never meditate? He should never even think twice. He’s -got to do his best thinking the first time.” - -“What’s that got to do with my wondering whether I’m going to come out -o’ this alive?” Phil inquired. - -“It’s got this to do with it: It’s as bad as writing poetry in a trench. -I think you’ll agree with me that anybody that does that is a nut. Now, -I don’t believe I’m going to have my head blown off. Notice that I don’t -say, ‘I don’t let myself think I’m going to be killed.’ I’m _dead sure_ -I’m not going to be killed. Get me?—_dead sure_; not sure dead.” - -“Sure thing I get you,” Phil answered enthusiastically; “that’s a peach -of an idea. It’s too bad all the other soldiers of the Allies haven’t -got the same idea.” - -“How do you know they haven’t?” Tim demanded quickly. - -“I don’t know it,” Phil admitted with a smile, for he saw what was -coming next. - -“A fellow must get this pretty much by himself to make the best kind of -soldier,” Tim said, speaking with the convincing manner of a veteran. -“I’ve heard young fellows talk about going into battle with the -expectation of being killed, but that’s before the bullets begin to fly -and the shells begin to burst. The real soldier is never desperate. The -minute you get desperate, that minute you are rattled. The soldier who -goes into battle expecting to be killed, goes into battle desperate and -is soon rattled. Don’t go into battle expecting to be killed; go into -battle expecting to kill, kill, kill, and keep on killing.” - -“Hooray!” said Phil jocularly. “That’s what I call war philosophy. Get -me? War Phil-osophy for a fighting Phil of Philadelphia.” - -“Philosophy nothing,” Tim snapped back. “You make me ashamed of your -name with your jesting pun. I thought you understood me better than -that, Phil. Wartime is no time for philosophy. That’s what got a lot of -pacifists into trouble and some of them in prison. They weren’t -philosophers enough to realize that you can’t stop to philosophize when -somebody is punching you in the nose.” - -“Gas masks!” yelled Phil suddenly, and similar cries came from others -along the timber-sheltered line. - -But the warning was not needed by Tim. - -Even as he uttered the last word of his soldier’s common-sense lecture, -he caught a faint whiff of mustard. Instinctively he held his breath, -and eight seconds later he was inhaling the pure, safe lung-fuel, -“canned oxygen,” contained in the reservoir of his mask. - - - - - CHAPTER V - A MACHINE-GUN BARRAGE - - -That settled it in Phil’s mind. There would be no “over the top” from -the enemy lines that night. Probably, after all, he was mistaken in -assuming that the boches, conscious of their own insufficiency of -reserves, would hesitate to make a morning attack. They were planning to -harass the Yanks all night with gas and a hurricane of shells, and in -the morning make a charge that would sweep everything before it. - -With the putting on of the masks, the conversation between Phil and Tim -stopped. It really seemed that the former’s soliloquy following this -operation was better reasoning than his earlier conjectures had been. -The cannonade that followed the “gas wave” was terrific and it seemed -that such a barrage must mean something in the nature of a sequence, but -they would hardly charge right into the gas they had shelled into the -Yank’s lines. - -But again Phil was privileged to change his mind, and that very -suddenly. The bombardment continued until after dark and many shells -exploded perilously near the Pershing forces—a few did fatal damage -right in the midst of the waiting Americans at the edge of the woods. - -At about 9:30 o’clock this bombardment ceased as suddenly as it had -begun. Neither Phil nor Tim had taken part in or witnessed a night -attack, except in the nature of a cannonading, since their first -experience on the Verdun front, and they were greatly astonished at what -came next. - -But they were not without warning, for the signal service was on the qui -vive constantly, as were also the advance sentries, and about two -minutes before there was any sign of the approach of the enemy, word -went along the line to be on the lookout for an attack. - -“So my first surmise was right, after all,” Phil mused. “They’re going -to attack under cover of the darkness so that they may retreat more -successfully if their attack fails.” - -Another surprise was coming not only to Phil and Tim, but to many other -“dug-in” Marines along the American front. It had to do with the -character of the attack. - -Suddenly the American lines were swept with a sharp, snappy, vicious -machine-gun fire. The boches had crept up under cover of the darkness -and succeeded in planting a score or more of machine guns at various -places in the timber a hundred yards ahead and started pumping a -murderous storm of bullets at the doughboys. - -But fortunately it was murderous in sight and sound chiefly, for very -few of the Yanks were hit. In the first place, it was almost a random -attack, for the muzzles of the guns were elevated a degree or more too -high to rake the edges of the funk holes in which the Americans were -crouching. Moreover, the intervening trees intercepted many of the -bullets, as was evident from the tattoo thuds that could be heard even -amid the noisy spitting of the machine guns. - -Just what the enemy hoped to accomplish by this method of attack it was -difficult at first to determine, although the Yanks were destined to -discover very shortly that it was a clever sort of camouflage. - -But the cunning boches were destined to discover something, too, and to -Phil was due the credit for this rather startling enlightenment of the -enemy. - -“Tim,” he called out to his friend, “I believe that is nothing but a -machine-gun barrage intended to throw us off our guard. They’re planning -a surprise attack.” - -A “machine-gun barrage” was a new one to Tim, but he listened -respectfully for further explanation. - -“We can expect them to come over any minute,” Phil continued rapidly. -“I’ve got an idea of how they’re going to do it. By the way, I’m going -to make a dive over to Lieutenant Stone and tell him what I’ve got in -mind. He’s only a few jumps away. He’ll probably reprimand me, if he -doesn’t report me to headquarters, but the suspicion I’ve got seems to -me so important that I’ll risk any punishment this side of the firing -squad.” - -The thunder of the cannonade and the sharper rattle of the machine guns -were so intense that Phil found it necessary to scream his message to -his next-trench neighbor to insure being heard. - -“Well, if it’s so very important, don’t stop to tell me about it, but -hurry up and get it where it will do most good,” Tim yelled back. “They -won’t take me by surprise.” - -A moment later Phil was dashing over the underbrush and among the trees -in momentary danger of butting his head against a very solid and -substantial interference or of sprawling violently on the ground. But he -had surveyed the vicinity carefully before the shadows of evening -thickened in the woods and knew pretty accurately where the lieutenant -had dug in. He had to move just as carefully also as if he were stealing -along an enemy line of trenches, for some of the American soldiers were -likely to discover him and shoot him as a spy. - -He succeeded in making his way within a few feet of the lieutenant’s -trench and, crouching low, began to signal to him by calling his name in -graduated rising tones. Presently the officer replied and Phil informed -him who he was. - -In a few words the sergeant communicated his self-imposed message to his -superior officer. - -“That is probably the best suggestion that has come from any source on -this front since the American Marines were stationed here,” remarked -Lieutenant Stone. “Now, you get back to your post as fast as ever you -can, or I’ll order you sent back behind the lines under guard.” - -Phil darted back gleefully along the rear of the American line and -toward his empty funk hole, which he reached with very good caution as -well as expedition. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE BOCHE CHARGE - - -Before Phil got back to his funk hole, the intelligence he had -communicated to Lieutenant Stone had been transmitted over the trench -telephone to every camouflaged station, and rapidly thereafter by -runners to every man in the line. The message thus delivered was this: - -“Look out for an attack while the machine guns are going full blast. -They may elevate the muzzles of their machine guns and send their men -over the top when it seems impossible for them to leave their trenches -without being mowed down with their own fire.” - -Phil’s prediction was fulfilled. Indeed, the preliminary, which -constituted, in effect, a signal for the charge, was exceedingly obvious -to all the Marines in the front line after they had been advised as to -what to expect. It is quite possible that many of them would not have -observed the elevation of the streams of machine-gun fire to an angle of -forty-five degrees if they had not received Phil’s warning; and most of -those who might have observed this seemingly reckless waste of “powder -and pills” undoubtedly would have been puzzled, if not confused, by so -strange a phenomenon. - -As it was, the Yanks were able to time the attack with remarkable -accuracy and met the boches with volleys from their rifles so nearly -simultaneous that those of the enemy who were not taken off their feet -by the deadly hail of steel-jacketed bullets must almost have been taken -off their feet with astonishment. At any rate, the attack failed -utterly, not a few of the Marines leaping out of their “trenchettes” and -engaging the panic-stricken boches with bayonets or clubbed guns. - -It was impossible to get any idea of the number slain in the fight, for -although the sky was clear and the stars shone brightly, the moon had -not risen and the woods was almost as dark as a pocket. The Americans -kept a sharp lookout for the appearance of shadowy forms a few feet away -from their intrenchments, and as soon as they saw them creeping -cautiously forward they blazed away with good execution. - -The Marines were bothered with no more “over the top” from the boches -that night, although there was a heavy bombardment from their larger -guns located beyond the opposite edge of the woods. When this began, Tim -called out to his friend: - -“That means they’ve gone back a respectful distance. We’re surely safe -from another attack as long as that keeps up. By the way, they’re pretty -bum marksmen, aren’t they? Those shells are dropping far behind us.” - -“Yes; but we have other lines back there, and they’ll get a taste of -what is probably meant for us,” Phil replied. “Say, there’s a wounded -fellow lying only a few feet away from me. Somebody else shot him. I was -just drawing a bead on him when some good friend tipped him over for me. -It wasn’t you, was it, Tim?” - -“Yep, I’m the fellow,” Tim answered modestly. “I’d disposed of the -baboon that was coming in my direction and saw the one that was makin’ -for your hole in the ground, and I said, says I, to myself: ‘Phil’s well -able to take care o’ himself, but I don’t think he’ll be offended if I -relieve his soul of the burden of slayin’ a man.’ So I pulled my -trigger, and over went the villainous gink.” - -“Good work,” Phil commended. “I won’t criticise you for failing to kill -him, for you did far better than I did as it was. You’ve put at least -two serfs of the kaiser out of business, and I didn’t even fire my gun -at one.” - -“What’ll we do with ’im?” asked Tim. “Pull ’im back behind the lines to -wait till the Red Cross comes along?” - -“No, we won’t pull him,” Phil returned more compassionately. “We’ll pick -him up and carry ’im.” - -“He doesn’t deserve any such gentle handling,” Tim objected stubbornly. - -“It isn’t a question of what he deserves, but the kind of record we -Americans want to leave behind us,” Phil replied earnestly. “You know -how horrified we were by the sinking of the Lusitania and the atrocities -in Belgium and northern France. Because of those atrocities we called -the whole group of central allies Huns. Do we want to deserve the same -title of reproach? Besides, the boches aren’t more than half -responsible. They were brought up that way. A man can get in the habit -of thinking anything that’s popular if he drifts with the current.” - -“Now, you’re doing the very thing I warned you against,” Tim protested -vigorously. “I told you that wartime was no time for any philosophy -business.” - -“And I agreed with you,” Phil responded. “You win. Come on and we’ll get -that fallen foe and hustle ’im back behind the lines. We’ll take him any -way you say.” - -The two boys leaped out of their shallow “trenchettes” and picked up the -boche and carried him almost gently ten or fifteen feet to the rear. -Just then two relief men dashed up, laid the wounded man on a stretcher -and hustled him away. - -“Bloodthirsty Tim listened to reason that time,” Phil told himself. - -“I drove some common sense into Phil’s head,” Timothy mused. “I hope he -keeps it and he’ll make a better soldier.” - - - - - CHAPTER VII - TIMBER FIGHTING - - -Early the next morning a squadron of aeroplanes flew over the American -lines dropping bombs and doing considerable damage. But it was not long -before they were met by a score of Allied planes, which poured into them -such a fusillade of machine-gun bullets that two of them dived to the -ground with a crash and the others were driven back behind their own -lines. - -The cannonading from the German big guns during the night did little -damage to the Americans, for most of the shells dropped far to the rear. -Moreover, the Yankee field artillery replied with much better -marksmanship than that of the boches, as was reported in the morning by -scout aviators and balloon observers. But it was not necessary to wait -for these reports to get an idea of the devastation effected by the -Americans’ cannonading. The timber that had shielded the enemy forces, -whose attack had been camouflaged by a spitting of machine guns “at the -stars,” was now a scene of arboreal ruin. The boys decided that they had -never seen quite so abundant an assortment of splintered kindling wood -in their lives. - -In the course of the day the American lines were advanced to the farther -edge of the belt of timber in which the battle of the night had been -fought. It seemed that this belt had been entirely cleared of the enemy. -Beyond the waste of splintered and contorted forestry was a narrow open -stretch of lowland, and beyond this was another woods undoubtedly -peopled with outpost of sharpshooters and machine-gun nests. The Yanks -did not have to wait long for a verification of this suspicion. Scarcely -had they taken up their positions near the edge of the area of green -kindling wood when there came a vicious spitting of machine guns and -sharpshooters’ rifles. - -It was exceedingly difficult to bring up the artillery through the -shell-and-shrapnel-torn timber for the purpose of raking the opposite -woods in a similar manner. There was considerable work for the engineers -before this could be done. Meanwhile, however, the commander of the -Marines decided not to wait in idleness. Machine-gun corps were -stationed behind uprooted trees and splintered stumps and huge boulders -and in yawning shell holes and deep gullies and were presently spitting -away into the opposite timber wherever a nest could be located. - -At last several cannon were brought up and a storm of shell and shrapnel -was poured into the woods beyond the clearing. This proved to be -effective to a considerable extent, for many of the machine guns of the -enemy were silenced, as were also a battery or two located behind the -enemy’s front line. - -But certain nests of sharpshooters and machine guns proved to be -exceedingly difficult to dislodge and orders were given to take those -positions at as little cost as possible, _but take them_. Accordingly a -body of Marines were selected for this duty, including the company to -which Phil and Tim belonged. - -It was a dangerous task, for it meant a charge across an open stretch -into another timber in which an uncertain number of the enemy were -concealed waiting to receive them with all the advantage of position and -concealment on their side. They did not make the fatal error of massed -attack that so often characterized the death plunges of the boches. -Rather, they scattered out and dashed forward with more or less -individual independence and bravery almost unknown among the usually -kamerad-encouraged enemy. - -“I’m going to try Tim’s method of generating self-confidence,” Phil told -himself as he dashed with his fellow Marines across the open. “Here it -is: I’m going to come out of this without a scratch and I’m going to -kill, kill, kill.” - -He saw several Marines in front and on each side of him fall victims of -the accurate shooting of the concealed enemy, but this did not feaze him -in the least. He _knew_ he was going to dash through successfully and he -_knew_ he was going to find a hidden machine-gun nest and whip it single -handed if necessary. - -And he was not mistaken. He reached the opposite timber without -receiving a scratch. Then followed a more careful procedure to hunt out -the pests that were doing everything in their power to make things -uncomfortable for the Marines. The latter were armed with rifles and -hand grenades, and the timber was soon ringing with evidence of their -discoveries. - -Phil had charge of a squad that worked as a unit in the scouring of the -woods, and Tim was a member of this squad. Alternately they were in -hiding in thickets of saplings and bushes or racing ahead to make a -swift surprise attack on a machine-gun nest located by the sound of -firing or the creeping cunning of a camouflaged spy. This handful of -Marines cleaned out two nests without the loss of a man, and then, it -appearing that there were no others within the sweep of their advance, -they separated in parties of two or three each to hunt for snipers after -agreeing on a place of meeting and a call by which Phil might summon -them together again whenever he desired. - -Phil and Tim, perhaps by force of habit, continued together without -other company. The Marines were now driving a considerable rear guard of -the enemy ahead of them, principally snipers and machine gunners, who -were trailing behind the main body of the defeated boches to facilitate -the latter’s retreat. Realizing that the remnant of this rear guard was -moving more rapidly in its haste to get out of the way of the terrible -American butt-or-muzzle riflemen and hand-grenade throwers, Phil and Tim -put as much speed to their advance as the character of the terrain would -permit, hoping to overtake some of the fugitive snipers. - -A few minutes after the squad had spread out to cover a larger -territory, the two friends arrived at the meadow-like opening into a -wooded ravine which appeared to grow deeper and deeper in the direction -taken by the fleeing boches. With little hesitation they dashed into the -ravine, becoming more cautious, however, as they entered the -timber-shaded lowland with its tangle of ferns and shrubbery. - -It was really a dangerous undertaking, but these boys were in a -dangerous business. The ravine was lined with many ideal places for -concealment of snipers and the route taken by the venturesome pair along -the bottom was an ideal place to get sniped. But Phil and Tim felt that -the place ought to be explored, and as a call to summon the other boys -of the squad would serve only to alarm any hidden bodies in the -vicinity, they decided to take the burden of the investigation on their -own shoulders. - -They advanced a hundred yards into the ravine without seeing another -living creature, except a few squirrels and hundreds of birds which -chattered and chirped away as if the carnage of a world war was the -farthest possible from their thoughts. - -The boom of cannon was confined now to distant portions of the -indeterminate battle line, and the discharge of smaller firearms also -had ceased in the immediate vicinity. It seemed to the two boys that -they and the squirrels and the birds had the ravine all to themselves, -but they were destined presently to be disillusioned. - -Suddenly—of course, for all explosions are sudden,—Phil was startled by -the discharge of two rifles from behind a thicket twenty feet ahead. -“Ping!” sung a bullet past his left ear. Tim was not startled. He did -not know what hit him. Over he went, and Phil sprang behind a tree, as a -true American, to meet the enemy Indian fashion. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - AID FROM THE AIR - - -A bullet through his own body would not have given Phil as intense a -pain as the one that struck Tim and apparently ended his career. But he -was too good a soldier to let even so distressing an incident delay him -in the duty of speedy self preservation. - -And yet, swift though he was in springing behind a tree and bringing his -rifle into position for firing, there were others just as speedy as he. -Six men in gray uniforms, but decidedly un-uniform as to size and grace -of physique, were standing out in full view with guns leveled at him. - -Instinctively Phil’s hand moved an inch or two toward his hand-grenade -sack. But it stopped almost with the impulse. He had used the last of -his grenades half an hour before in the squad’s last fight that resulted -in the extermination of one of the most obstinate of all the machine-gun -nests in the woods. How he wished he had been more mindful of his supply -while hurling those missiles at the enemy. Two of them, he recalled -distinctly, had gone wide of their marks and represented a sheer waste -of powder and shell. Oh, if he had only one of those grenades! With it -he could produce such execution in that group of snipers that he could -easily capture or finish with his rifle those not slain by the explosion -of the hand missile. He was sure he could hurl a grenade accurately and -at the same time keep his head and body fairly well protected from the -enemy’s rifles behind the hole of the tree. - -But there was no use now of mourning over spilled milk or exploded -shells, and an attempt to engage in battle, alone, with six -Hohenzollernites, all of whom had the drop on him, could mean nothing -more hopeful than death. - -One of the snipers called out an order in German, but Phil did not -understand it, although he had studied the language one year at school. -Then all six men advanced toward him with their guns ready to fire the -instant the Marine showed a disposition to fight. - -The boy was on the verge of offering to surrender when a new -interruption of proceedings produced one of those spectacular thrills -that relieve the carnage of battle of some of its dreadfulness. Almost -without warning, save for a heavy, momentary rushing sound in the -atmosphere, there was an explosion and upheaval of earth midway between -the boches and the American Marines. - -Phil did not see what occurred. For the moment he could see nothing but -confusion. His first thought was that the explosion was caused by a -shell from either American or boche artillery. But this could hardly be. -He had heard no shrill scream that always heralds the approach of such -missiles. Sound travels more rapidly than even a cannon projectile, and -soldiers often comment with grim amusement on their acquired skill at -“dodging” shells whose approach is announced by their own shrieks -piercing the air ahead of them. - -Suddenly Phil recalled that, in the midst of the excitement attending -his and Tim’s excursion into the ravine, he had heard faintly a familiar -noise in the upper atmosphere—caused by the powerful gyrations of an -aeroplane. As the echoes of the explosion of the shell died away, he -heard the super-sonorous buzz of the “great mechanical bee” again and -looked upward. - -It was a French aeroplane, from which the bomb had fallen. Apparently -the flyer had seen the unequal combat going on below and dropped an -explosive in the hope of incapacitating the opponents of the boy in -khaki to do him any harm. The overhead foliage was not heavy at this -point and it was not inconceivable that the aviator might have seen even -more of the activities of the six snipers than Phil and Tim had seen. - -None of the advancing enemy was killed, although it seemed well-nigh -miraculous that all of them were not at least fatally injured. However, -Phil saw two of them picking themselves up after the cloud of flying -earth, stones, and sticks had fallen back to earth. Blood was trickling -from the face of each of these and all of the others were nursing severe -cuts or bruises. - -Phil saw his opportunity. Every one of the boches had dropped his gun in -order the better to pet his smarting wounds. The boy, protected by the -hole of the large tree which he was endeavoring to keep between himself -and the enemy’s bullets, had not been touched by even the smallest of -the flying stones, sticks, bits of earth or pieces of shell. Springing -out from behind the tree he ran toward the panic-stricken sextette, with -rifle ready to be brought to his shoulder at a moment’s warning. - -“Halt!” he cried; “Halt, or I’ll shoot!” - - - - - CHAPTER IX - KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL! - - -Whether or not the boches could understand this much, or this little, -English was a matter of no importance. They evidently knew what the -Marine in khaki meant, and they obeyed, several of them yelling -“Kamerad!” in tones of panic. - -Phil had not forgotten all his school German vocabulary. The next order -that left his lips slipped out with very good Prussian accent: - -“Kom her! Hande ueber Kopf.” - -The now timid Teutons advanced with hands over their heads toward their -youthful captor, in strict obedience to the order. - -Phil was relieved that his prisoners did not laugh at his German. They -came forward with all due respect for the order given—or was it for the -bullets in the boy’s gun? He did not know. Under ordinary civil -circumstances he would have hesitated to engage in conversation with a -German in the latter’s native tongue for fear lest he show his ignorance -of the idioms of the language. “Hande ueber Kopf” was a literal -translation of “hands over (your) head.” It might be very good German, -and then again it might be very poor. - -Relieved at the failure of his prisoners to give him the laugh, he -decided to continue to give orders in their language whenever he could -recall words that seemed to carry the intended meaning. But he found it -difficult sometimes to keep from laughing at himself, for he knew -unmistakably that some of the German he was using was at least unique. -Still his prisoners regarded him with profound respect—or, again, was it -the bullets in his gun? - -Phil was puzzled what to do with his prisoners, whose condition of -captivity was, after all, rather uncertain. He dared not take his eyes -off them for a moment. Possibly some or all of them carried small -firearms, which they would bring into action at a moment’s opportunity. -The boy dared not attempt to search them, nor dared he attempt to march -them back through the woods toward the American rear line. They were -almost certain, if they carried such weapons, to find an opportunity, by -springing behind large trees, to whip out their pistols and turn the -tables on him. - -There were evidently only three courses open for Phil to pursue. One was -to stand where he was and compel his prisoners to remain in their -present positions, with hands over their heads until help came. Another -was to shoot the six men down in their tracks as rapidly as he was able -to discharge his repeater accurately. The other was to turn and flee -with all his well practiced fleetness of foot. - -The last he could not consider for an instant. The second was contrary -to American principles opposed to unnecessary frightfulness in war. The -first was impracticable in view of the fact that the sun was setting and -darkness would soon cover the ravine. - -It occurred to the young sergeant that he might also compel his -doubtfully secured captives to divest themselves of their uniforms in -order to make certain that they had no concealed firearms, but such a -course would not guarantee his ability to prevent them from escaping in -the woods after dark. It might, however, be the means eventually of -saving his life if the men should escape from him, and Phil decided to -adopt it as a precautionary measure. - -But at the same time he cast about him in a vague hope that help of some -kind might be at hand. He glanced quickly up to see if perchance the -French flyer was not about to offer him further assistance, but that -very thoughtful air-fighter was now engaged in a skirmish with an enemy -plane, which was taking them farther and farther away from the -precarious scene in the ravine. Then the young officer bethought him of -his fallen companion, and with almost hysterical hopefulness he cast a -quick glance toward the spot where the corporal had dropped without a -groan. As he did so, it seemed that he must behold his friend rising on -his hands and knees in a determination to lend his much needed -assistance. - -Phil shuddered as he saw the bullet-headed boy lying as still as any -corpse on a battlefield. - -“Poor Tim,” he muttered. “He was sure he wouldn’t be killed. Well, so am -I,” the doubtful captor of six doubtful prisoners added. “I’m not going -to be killed—I _know_ it. I’m going to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, -kill, as Tim said I should do. There, I said ‘kill’ six times. That -means that these six prisoners have to die as rapidly as this repeater -can repeat. Fortunately, I’m a sharpshooter and can do the job before -the last one of them can much more than shudder and look pale. Well, -here goes, converting my army rifle into a machine-gun.” - - - - - CHAPTER X - A NOVEL DISARMAMENT - - -“No, I can’t do it. I’m no Hun.” - -That sentiment, which flashed revulsively through Phil’s brain, probably -saved the lives of those six boches, but it also must be held -responsible for certain subsequent misfortunes and hardships that -rendered Sergeant Speed’s army experiences worthy of a many-chaptered -record. Meanwhile there was nothing in the boy’s manner or actions that -indicated what was going on in his mind. None of them knew how narrowly -they escaped execution at the hands of a “firing squad of one.” - -Phil’s next order to his captives was such a mongrel admixture of -English, poor French and worse German that he has asked that it be not -recorded against him. But it was thoroughly understood, being in several -short sentences intended to carry something of an explanation of his -purpose, and was obeyed. - -One of the men with hands over their heads was directed to step forward -and remove his “roch und beinkleider.” This he did expeditiously, having -a great respect for the khaki boy’s gun, and presently appeared in the -very amusing combination of—beginning at the feet, surveying upward—a -pair of coarse heavy shoes, a suit of union underwear and a steel -helmet. - -It had occurred to Phil several times since the dropping of the bomb -from the aeroplane that he could best serve his own interests in the -present predicament by sending forth the call agreed upon for -reassembling the members of his squad, except for one grave possibility. -The sounding of such a call might be taken by his six prisoners as -indicating panic on his part and serve as a signal for a desperate move -by them. He decided, therefore, to make certain that they were stripped -of all firearms, before issuing any such summons. - -So he continued the de-uniforming program already begun, and soon six -much humiliated boches stood before him in “union-suit uniforms,” the -“complexion” of which indicated that the laundry business was not -thriving among the minions of the war lords of central Europe. - -Then Phil ordered his prisoners to move a considerable distance away -from the litter of uniforms strewn over the ground. When he was -satisfied as to their position and arrangement, he issued a few more -orders with his ingenious, but hardly idiomatic adaptation of first-year -school German, which were obeyed with, as much respect as if delivered -by a Heidelberg graduate with military authority. - -The prisoners, who no longer were required to keep their hands over -their heads, were standing near the apparently lifeless form of Corporal -Tim; and Phil now, with the aid of expressive motions of his hands and -nodding of his head, communicated to them that he desired an examination -made of his friend to determine if he were yet alive. The officer in -charge, a fellow of surprisingly large girth for a soldier, and another -boche of ungainly physique complied with apparent alacrity, and after a -seemingly diligent inspection straightened up with looks of sadness on -their faces that would have been comical indeed if it had not been for -the seriousness of the situation. With voluble expressions of condolence -and deprecating shrugs of their shoulders, they gave the young American -soldier to understand that they regretted profoundly that his companion -lying on the ground was dead. - -“You’re a pretty pair of liars,” Phil said to them with a “happy scowl.” -He made no effort, however, to express himself in German, for his -utterance was intended more as an outburst of feeling than a -communication. “That boy is alive, or I don’t know anything about the -early stiffening of a corpse. When you lifted that body up it hung as -limp and limber as a wet rag.” - -Whether any of the six captives understood what Sergeant Phil said could -not be determined from the expression, or lack of expression, on their -faces. However, that question mattered little to Phil now. He must do -something quickly to secure his prisoners against escape and also to -effect freedom for himself, in order that he might render much needed -first aid to his unconscious friend. - -In his early school days, Phil had been the envy of all his boy friends -because of one achievement that every boy longs to attain. He could -pucker his tongue against his teeth and expel a gust of breath through -the straitened avenue thus formed in such manner as to vie in shrillness -a miniature fire alarm siren. He was not much good at whistling a tune, -but he surely could wake the echoes with a piercing air blast through -his teeth, and this he proceeded now to do. - -It was his agreed signal to the other members of his squad to assemble -and it surely startled the six boches, as was evident from the fact that -their faces no longer were expressionless. There was no doubt in the -boy’s mind now that their minds had been secretly busy over something -that they did not wish communicated to him and that his shrill signal -was not in the least pleasing to them. - -However, although Phil never had all the facts and circumstances before -him to aid him in determining the truth, he is of the opinion now that -his call was the one thing needed by his prisoners to bring about the -very result for which they longed most deeply. But the startled look on -their faces indicated that they did not know it. - -Phil waited a minute for an answer from other members of his squad, but -received none. Then he was about to repeat the call, when something -occurred that rendered another shrill whistle through his teeth -virtually impossible. - -Suddenly a heavy weight landed on him from behind. A pair of powerful -arms were thrown about his neck, and he was borne to the ground by the -impetus of the onset. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - PHIL A PRISONER - - -Although this overpowering attack from behind was doubtless almost as -much a surprise to Phil’s six prisoners as it was to the boy himself, it -did not take them long to recover and seize advantage of the situation. -Like a football team they rushed forward to tackle their recent captor, -but their assistance was scarcely needed, for the fellow who had leaped -on Phil’s back was a powerful 200-pounder, and the shock that resulted -when earth and the boy came together half stunned the latter. - -But it was not enough to deprive him entirely of his senses, and as he -was being jerked to his feet, he had the hazy gratification of hearing -an answering whistle to his own “siren shriek.” The boches evidently -were alarmed by the same sound, for they put greater energy and speed in -their actions in order to get out of the ravine as soon as possible. - -First they raced about and gathered up their guns, which lay strewn -around the crater-like hole made by the explosion of the bomb dropped -from the aeroplane. Then they gathered up their uniforms, but did not -stop to put them on, and darted into the thick of the timber in the -direction of the retreating boche lines, two of them half carrying, half -dragging their boy prisoner between them. - -But Phil was not the kind of lad who would attempt to hinder the -progress of his captors by hanging back and pretending to be unable to -keep pace with them. He preferred to conduct himself as thoroughly -able-bodied as soon as he had recovered from the shock that attended his -capture. In a few minutes he won just a slight manifestation of -good-will from the two who had hold of his arms by “going them one -better” and actually leading them slightly in the race through the -timber. - -In a short time the dusk was so heavy in the woods that it was difficult -for them to make progress at more than a slow walk. Efforts to push -ahead rapidly were sure to result in trouble with tripping underbrush, -scratching branches, and bruising boles of trees. - -Phil realized that it was next to vain to hope that they would be -overtaken by the comrade Marines of his squad; for although answering -calls from them had reached his ears, indicating that they had almost -arrived at the scene of his capture, there was small likelihood, indeed, -that they would be able to hit the trail of the fleeing boches and -overtake them and rescue him. He was tempted several times to repeat his -whistle and yell out information as to his predicament, but vicious -threats from the officer of big girth in charge of the squad now in -“underclothing uniform,” accompanied by a significant pressing of a -rifle muzzle now and then against his head, advised him convincingly -against any such proceeding. - -Sergeant Speed’s one hope of rescue was that they might run into a body -of Americans who had advanced farther into the timber in their search -for retreating snipers and machine gunners. But this hope was only -remotely reasonable, for the instruction from the commanding officer had -been that the entire raiding force return by nightfall. Undoubtedly he -and Corporal Tim, and perhaps the other members of the squad as well, -were being reckoned among the missing. It was hardly probable that the -latter had yet given up their efforts to rejoin him after hearing and -answering his siren whistle. Possibly they had discovered Tim lying on -the ground and even now were doing their best to revive him or were -bearing him back toward the American lines. - -Phil and his captors had by this time advanced some distance into this -wooded battle ground, most of which had until recently been occupied by -the enemy. But the heavy shell fire and attacks by the air fleet of the -allies had driven the main boche division back a considerable distance, -and after the Marines had routed out the nests of machine guns and -sharpshooters that were concealed in the woods and rendered perilous any -further attempt on the part of the enemy to hold these positions, the -captured timber terrain was a desolate waste indeed. - -No doubt there would be no attempt on the part of the Marines to move -much farther toward the enemy’s lines that night. In the morning -probably the commanding officer would order another advance unless the -enemy anticipated him with a counter attack. - -The effects of the shelling of the woods by the American artillery was -evident to some extent almost to the very front of the boche new -positions. In spite of the darkness, Phil could see with the aid of the -stars that peeped down through the foliage, torn, twisted and splintered -branches and tree trunks, while every now and then they stumbled into or -narrowly avoided a jagged shell-hole in the ground. - -But at last they reached the objective of the young non-com’s captors, -which was a position of safety behind their own lines, and Phil found -himself confronted with the prospect of remaining a prisoner in the -hands of the enemy for the duration of the rest of the war. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - A BARBED WIRE PRISON - - -A short distance out in No Man’s Land from the German lines, Phil’s -captors stopped long enough to put on their outer clothing and thus -cover the comical evidence of their humiliation by the young American -who subsequently became their prisoner only through a surprise rear -attack. Doubtless they had not stopped sooner for this purpose because -they feared the possible consequences of any delay, with a swarm of -Yankee “devil dogs” scouring the timber for boches. - -Phil was rushed to the rear where he was placed under guard with a dozen -other American prisoners who had been brought in from various quarters. -Half an hour later, it appearing that no more prisoners would be brought -in that night, they were hustled back several miles over a rough road to -a physically wrecked village, deserted by its civilian population, and -there corralled in a barbed wire inclosure already occupied by more than -200 captured Americans and Frenchmen. There each prisoner was stripped -of his helmet and every other superfluous article of use or treasure. - -It was a wretched place, from all dim appearances in the darkness. There -was not a glimmer of light within the barbed wire prison, and only a few -outside. The patrol of guards that paced about outside the inclosure -were ghostly looking shadows against the various background of empty -darkness or debris of shell-shattered buildings. The other prisoners did -not pay much attention as the newly captured Marines were driven into -the place like so many cattle. This apparent indifference doubtless was -due to the darkness of the night and the weariness of all the prisoners. - -The young Marine sergeant at once sought a resting place for the night. -He knew better than to expect any courtesies in the way of food, water, -or couch for the night from men of the brutal type that characterized -most of the boches with whom he had come into contact thus far. - -Phil was tired and fell asleep “as soon as his head touched his pillow,” -which consisted of his arm curled up under his head. Later when this -became uncomfortable for the “pillow,” he rolled over in his sleep, and -his only headrest was the uncushioned earth. - -The boy awoke at sunup and looked around him with a kind of eager -curiosity, rendered possible by his refreshed condition following a very -good night’s rest. A soldier does not need a hair mattress to insure -slumber in comfort. Sometimes he would be thankful for a dry six feet of -earth on which to rest his weary form. Phil congratulated himself as he -lay down to sleep on his first night as a prisoner of war not only that -he had a dry resting place in the open air, but that the weather was -warm. - -About two-thirds of the prisoners in this inclosure were French, as -nearly as Phil was able to estimate after the dawn of day rendered it -possible for him to get a clear view of his surroundings. The invading -army had selected what appeared to have been a small village park and -fenced it in with barbed wire stapled to the rows of trees that marked -the marginal border line. The young Marine “non-com” soon picked out the -“colony” of Americans in the place and discovered among them two young -fellows, Dan Fentress and Emmet Harding, whose acquaintance he had made -at the last billeting place before the Yanks were given the Belleau and -Bouresches sector. The three were soon engaged in an animated -conversation on the events of the last few days. All expressed -themselves as deeply disappointed because it appeared probable that they -had struck their last blow for world freedom and must in all probability -labor as slaves for the mailed-fisted kaiserites until their more -fortunate fellow crusaders drove home the last blow which would make the -entire Hohenzollern host throw up their hands and yell “Kamerad!” - -“What makes me sorest in my hardest-to-hurt spot,” said Dan, grinding -his teeth with impotent rage, “is the fact that I can’t go back home and -say that I know I killed a Hun. Not that I wanted to brag about it. I -might not even tell anybody about it if I had shot holes through a dozen -slayers of women and children. But I’d just like to be able to say I’d -made a record to be proud of and—and—then—keep the secret to myself if I -liked modesty as well as I’d like real American roast beef in a Hun -prison camp.” - -“Maybe you’re just playing modest now,” suggested Emmet Harding with a -shrewd smile. “Maybe you’ve actually wiped out a score of Huns and are -just practicing, to feel how it seems to deny you’re a hero.” - -“No, I don’t believe he’s doing any such thing,” interposed Phil almost -eagerly. “At least I hope he isn’t, for I want company right now. I’m in -the same boat he says he’s in. I don’t know that I’ve even smashed a -cootie on a Hun’s hide, although I had a chance to shoot down half a -dozen apostles of frightfulness like so many ten-pins, but didn’t do it; -and that, very probably, is the reason I’m here now.” - -“What!” exclaimed Dan in tones of contemptuous astonishment. “What sort -of animal are you—a pacifist? You’d better keep that story under your -hat when you get back home.” - -“I don’t know whether I’ll be able to,” Phil returned with a forlorn -smile. “You see, there’s no person I’d rather tell a joke on than -myself, and this is surely a joke on me. At first it looked like a joke -on the Huns—” - -“Whoever heard of turning the biggest and most bloody war this world has -ever known into humor?” Dan interrupted almost angrily. - -“I respect your impatience under the circumstances,” Phil returned -quietly. “But hear me through before you judge me too harshly. I’m the -sort of fellow that wouldn’t be guilty of a Lusitania sinking or of a -violation of a Belgian treaty. Neither would I shoot enemy soldiers -after they’ve thrown up their hands.” - -“Did those six Huns throw up their hands?” - -“Yes.” - -“And you had a gun pointed at them?” - -“Yes.” - -“And did they yell ‘Kamerad?’” - -“Yes.” - -“I thought so. You’re a fool. But where’s the humor in that situation?” - -“The first joke, I suppose, came when I ordered them to strip off their -uniforms one after another and had them standing before me in brogans, -underwear and steel helmets.” - -“A comical sight, indeed,” declared Phil’s critic sarcastically. “But -what did you do that for?” - -“To be sure they had no firearms on their person,” interposed Emmet. - -“Well, what did you mean to do after that?” inquired Dan as Phil nodded -assent to Emmet’s interpretation. - -“March them back to our lines.” - -“And why didn’t you?” - -“You’re admitting by your line of questions now that there may have been -a little intelligence in my method,” Phil observed as a prelude to his -answer. - -“Intelligent enough if you had succeeded,” retorted Dan grimly. - -“I get your argument and am inclined to agree with you in a way,” the -severely grilled Marine returned. “Well, I’m going to tell you why I -didn’t take my prisoners back to our lines in triumph. A 200-pound boche -sneaked up from behind and jumped on my back and—” - -“That’s enough; you got what was coming to you,” declared Dan with a -finality of opinion that admitted of no further discussion. “If you care -for my judgment in the matter, I’ll say it’s up to you to use your wits -as you never used ’em before and whip the kaiser internally in order to -retrieve your honor. Get me? You’re on the inside now and you must do -something to help win the war from this side of the boche lines. But -here’s the call to breakfast and some guards coming this way. Methinks -they’re curious to know what’s the nature of this warm discussion of -ours. Everybody shut up and look hungry—for something a dog can hardly -eat.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - MR. BOACONSTRICTOR - - -“Something we can hardly swallow” proved to be a true characterization -of the meat-and-vegetable stew that was served to the prisoners in tin -bowls, which looked as if they had seen service in the Franco-Prussian -war. The meat was in small bits, which were few in number and so tough -or gristly as to be hardly edible. The vegetables were principally -potatoes and onions. This combination would have been fairly well -calculated to sustain life if it had been well seasoned and if it had -not tasted and smelled as if it had been warmed several times over a low -fire insufficient to bring it to the boiling point. A piece of stale -brown bread was served to each prisoner with this stew. - -In order to prevent any of the prisoners from getting double portions of -this mess, the men were lined up next to the barbed wire fence, along -which several boys and men, the latter too old for military service, -passed, carrying kettles of stew and buckets of sliced bread and handing -out dippersful and slices through the fence to the hungry Americans and -Frenchmen. - -Meanwhile two guards, also of the superannuated post-military class -entered the inclosure and advanced to the spot where the animated -discussion was going on among the three comrade Marines. The latter, as -has been observed, noticed their approach and so camouflaged their -further words and actions that the evident suspicion of the guards was -effectually dispelled. - -There was a good deal of comment among the prisoners concerning the -quality of food served to them and other conveniences—or -inconveniences—with which they were provided. The general opinion among -them was that the enemy was approaching dangerously near the limit of -their resources, which might mean an ending of the war in the not far -distant future. Indeed, Phil was sure that he could detect signs of -spitefulness in the manner and actions of both commissioned officers and -non-coms toward the prisoners, and he was equally certain that the -reason for this spitefulness was an undisguisable consciousness of their -shortage of resources and equipment. - -“This war isn’t going to last very much longer,” Phil remarked to his -two friends as he forced down the last spoonful of stew. He was -ravenously hungry, having had nothing to eat since early the preceding -day, and in spite of the fact that the food served was most unpalatable, -he deemed it wise not to waste any of the scanty portion served to him. - -“That’s what lots of soldiers are saying principally because of stories -of experiences similar to ours that find their way across No Man’s -Land,” said Dan. “But there’s one thing that gets me in this connection -more than anything else, and that is that the more defeat you cram down -these boches’ throats, the more arrogant and overbearing they become. -Just look at that human boaconstrictor strutting around as if utterly -unconscious of the fact that he ought to be going to sleep.” - -“I don’t get you,” said Emmet with an expression of challenging -curiosity. “If we were campaigning with the British among the pyramids -of Egypt, it might be appropriate for you to talk like a Sphinx.” - -“I get him,” announced Phil. “He means that boche officer has such an -ungainly girth that he looks like a boa that has swallowed a pig and -ought to be taking an after-dinner nap. But I have something to add to -Dan’s observation. That fellow is one of the six kaiserites whom I -forced to strip to their underclothes and who turned the tables on me -and recaptured their pants et cetera, and brought me here as an honored -guest.” - -“Better keep out of his sight then,” Emmet advised. “If he sets eyes on -you, he’s likely not to rest until he gets his revenge. And you know -what revenge means in wartime. He’ll probably find some way of blowin’ -you to atoms to feed the molecules.” - -“You do him too great a chemical honor by presenting the matter in such -light,” Phil objected, screwing up one side of his face to indicate his -skepticism. “He looks to me like an ordinary butcher, and I don’t think -he’d attempt to do anything more than make mincemeat of me.” - -“Have it your own way,” Emmet returned with a shrug. “But look out for -him at any event. He seems to be recognized as having a good deal of -authority around here.” - -“He’s only a second lieutenant,” was Phil’s reminder. - -“That doesn’t make any difference,” Emmet insisted. “This fellow’s in -right with the higher-ups. It may be easier, you know, to use an officer -of low rank for all sorts of jobs than one of higher rank. He can work -more quietly—won’t attract so much attention sometimes.” - -Phil decided to take his companion’s advice, and keep as much in the -background as possible in order that “Mr. Boaconstrictor” might not fall -into revengeful temptation at the sight of him. And before long he was -congratulating himself on this decision. Half an hour after the early -“feed,” as he was pleased to designate the morning stew and bread, the -order was given for everybody in the inclosure to get ready to move. -This was succeeded by another order ten minutes later for all to file -out through the gate and follow two soldiers who would lead the way. - -Mechanically Phil glanced toward the two soldiers referred to by the -prison guard who made the announcement. Dan and Emmet, who were still -near him, did likewise. - -“It seems impossible for you to shake your friend, Boche Boa,” observed -Emmet. “He’s going to be one of the leaders of the grand march to some -munitions factory, where, undoubtedly, we will be set at work making big -shells to shoot at the Allies.” - -“Let’s hang back and fall in at the rear end of the line of march,” Dan -suggested. “He may have forgotten all about his experience with Phil, -and the sight of the fellow who dragged his dignity in the dust may make -him show his fangs.” - -This seemed to be good advice, and was followed as nearly as possible, -although they were forced into the line several paces ahead of the rear -end by the guards who herded the prisoners out of the inclosure without -regard for the wish or convenience of anybody. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - A NEW PRISON - - -There were few incidents of special interest during the first day of the -march of these 250 prisoners toward the German border. Of course to -persons unaccustomed to the sights and scenes in the blasted war zone, -everything along the route must have been interesting. But to these men -of several months’ experience, a landscape of unmarred beauty and order -must have been a novelty worthy of observation. - -Every town, village or hamlet that they passed through was partly or -completely wrecked by shell explosions or fire. Most of the French -inhabitants had fled, although here and there were a few who had been -caught in the advancing wave of the invading army. Much of the open -country was disfigured with shell holes and trenches, and many of the -farm houses had been converted, wantonly it appeared, into heaps of -charred woodwork, black masonry and ashes. - -An hour before the dusk of evening they arrived at a small town that was -in better condition of physical preservation than any of the others they -had passed through. Apparently it was used as a sort of way-station in -the line of communications between the fighting front and the Rhine -frontier. - -There was no barbed wire inclosure for keeping the prisoners over night -in this place, and so they were housed in buildings that showed no -serious effects of recent bombardment. Phil and his two friends managed -to keep close together during the march and were much gratified with the -result of their efforts when they found themselves lodged in the same -building for the night. They were given their unvarying -breakfast-dinner-supper stew and stale bread shortly before dusk and -then, together with a dozen others, were locked in a small house that -undoubtedly, before the last big drive of the enemy, had been occupied -by a French family of not more than three or four. - -The house was bare. Every article of furniture had been removed. Not -even a lamp with which to dispel the gloom of the place was to be found. - -“There isn’t a bit of ventilation in this house,” declared one of the -prisoners, whose name, it soon developed, was Arthur Evans. - -“And we don’t dare try to open a window for fear one of the guards may -try his marksmanship at us,” said another who had been addressed in -Phil’s hearing as Jerry Carey. - -“It’s almost as big a menace as being gassed,” muttered another Marine, -who answered to the name of Burns. - -“I don’t suppose we fifteen men would exactly die in these tightly -closed rooms in one night,” said Phil meditatively; “but I’m afraid we’d -almost have to be carried out by morning. We’d better get our wits -together and contrive some kind of vent that will make possible a -current of air up through the chimney.” - -“I’m in favor of smashing one of the windows with a shoe,” Burns -announced. “We can all drop down flat on the floor and escape a volley -from the guards if they fire in here.” - -“Let’s try something else,” Phil proposed. “Here’s a trapdoor. Maybe it -opens into a basement or cellar. Let’s see if we can’t get some air -through that.” - -There was no ring or handle of any kind with which to lift the door. So -Phil hunted around until he found a small stick with which he was able -to get a slight purchase and lifted the door until he was able to get -hold of it with his fingers. A moment later the entire group of -prisoners were gazing down into a dark hole in which the only visible -object was the upper part of a rude flight of steps. - -“There’s no air in that place,” declared one of the Marines, sniffing in -disgust at the scent of mold and must of the atmosphere in the cellar. - -“I wish I had a light and I’d go down and explore it,” said Phil. “Who -knows what we might find in it?” - -“Some rotten apples and potatoes and a lot of mice and vermin, more’n -likely,” prophesied Dan Fentress pessimistically. - -“Oh, I agree with you there, and I agree also that it is hardly probable -that I’d find anything worth while,” Phil replied. “Still, just to be -doing something, I’d like to explore that hole in the ground. Remember, -fellows, this is pretty nearly on the other side of the world from where -we live. Consequently, everything we see and hear around, about, within -and among these our approximate antipodes ought to interest us.” - -“Nobody could say you nay after such poetic persuasion as that,” avowed -one of the imprisoned Marines who thus far had been conspicuous -principally because of his silence. - -“I left a hard-headed friend unconscious back in Belleau Woods yesterday -who had no use for poets in war,” Phil returned quickly. “He regarded -them as worse than enemy spies, and I don’t know but that I agree with -him. So, you see, you haven’t complimented me very much.” - -“There seems to be a little light down there,” said Evans, who had been -peering into the cellarway while the others were engaged in what he -regarded as profitless palaver. “There must be a window in the cellar -wall, and as it isn’t dark yet, probably a wee bit of daylight is -filtering through.” - -“I’m going down and feel about with my hands,” Phil announced, placing -one foot on the top step. “If there’s any light at all down there, I’ll -get the benefit of it after my eyes have got accustomed to conditions. -So here’s hoping that I’ll find something of more value than rotten -apples.” - -“I hope you’ll find a keg o’ cider,” said Evans, smacking his lips. - -Phil had descended no more than half a dozen steps when he stopped with -a low exclamation of interest. - -“What’s up?” asked Emmet Harding. - -“There’s a shelf here right beside the stairway and several things on -it. I’ll hand them up to you, and you see what they are.” - -The first article that Phil laid, his hands on was a short housewife’s -paring knife. As he had been deprived of his own jackknife when searched -behind the boche lines, he decided to appropriate this valuable kitchen -tool to his own use and put it into a pocket of his coat. The next was a -small wooden box, which the finder passed up to one of the fellows who -reached down to receive it. - -“Candles!” announced the latter eagerly, for there was no lid on it and -the contents were plainly visible in the twilight. - -“You don’t say!” exclaimed Phil, returning to the top of the stairway -eagerly. - -“You bet I do,” answered the other, holding up one of the sticks of -molded wax. “There must be a dozen here.” - -“What good will they do unless somebody has a match?” inquired Evans -skeptically. “I bet there isn’t a match in this crowd.” - -A hurried search by everybody present confirmed this bit of pessimism. - -“Never mind,” said Phil quietly; “I’m going to light one of those -candles without a match.” - - - - - CHAPTER XV - A LIGHT WITHOUT MATCHES - - -Phil’s proposition to light without a match one of the candles -discovered in the cellarway of the probable former residence of a family -of French refugees interested every one of his imprisoned companions. -None of them was incredulous. All were sufficiently experienced in human -resourcefulness to give attention to even a seemingly impossible scheme -when it came from an intelligent young man under circumstances of urgent -necessity. Indeed, one of them, suspecting at once the nature of -Sergeant Speed’s plan, inquired quickly: - -“How are you going to do it—rub sticks?” - -“You’ve hit it about right,” answered Phil. “But it’s getting dark, and -we’ve got to hustle if we’re going to be able to do anything. Any of you -fellows got a knife?” - -There was not a pocketknife among them. All had been thoroughly searched -after being brought back behind the enemy lines. - -“Well, never mind,” said Phil. “I found a strong paring knife in the -cellarway and it seems to be pretty sharp. Now, here is what I want: -Several of you fellows hunt about over the floor and woodwork and see if -you can find a loose board. If you can get hold of a loose end of a -board rip it up.” - -“You don’t need to rip up any boards,” called out one of the fellows -from an adjoining room. “Here’s half a dozen short pieces—probably meant -as kindling for the fireplace.” - -“Good!” exclaimed the volunteer fire-maker. “Bring them here near the -window.” - -The comrade did as requested. A few moments later Phil had selected one -of the short boards and split it on his knee. - -“I’m going to make a bow out of this,” he announced, as he began to -whittle. “Some of you fellows take these shavings and shred them against -something. I’ll need some punk to catch the sparks in.” - -“There’s a brick fireplace in the next room,” said Dan. “Some of the -bricks are loose and we can pull out a couple and shred the whittlings -between them.” - -“Good again,” pronounced the leader of the enterprise. “Now one of you -can help a whole lot by tying two or three shoestrings together for a -string of the bow I am preparing. Make the knots as small as you can.” - -“That isn’t necessary,” a young fellow named Barber interposed. “I have -a stout cord five or six feet long that will suit your purpose fine. I -picked it up in camp a few days ago and put it in my pocket, thinking it -might come handy sometime.” - -Phil received the string offered to him by the last speaker, and then -offered this suggestion by way of general advice on an important -subject: - -“We ought to be careful not to pitch our voices too loud. Of course -there’s nothing in what has been said that could do us any particular -harm if it had been overheard by one of the guards. Still, there’s no -telling when we’ll discover something or concoct a scheme that it would -be advisable to keep to ourselves. We’d better tone our voices down so -that we have to lean forward to hear each other; then we’ll be on the -safe side.” - -Several of the prisoners expressed their approval of this suggestion, -and the succeeding conversations were in lower tones. - -The work progressed rapidly, considering the insufficiency of light in -the house. In a remarkably short time Phil and his assistants had -produced a rude bow two and a half feet long, a fireboard with a small -cone-shaped drill-socket, or pit, in one side, and a V-shaped trough -leading from the pit to the edge of the board; a “thunder-bird,” or -small block of wood with a cone-shaped socket in the center; a drill, or -a rounded piece of wood about fifteen inches long and sharpened at both -ends; and a handful of shredded shavings. - -“There!” exclaimed Phil in subdued tone, as he surveyed the completed -task in the dusk now so heavy that he was sure the work could not have -progressed successfully many minutes longer. “I’m glad that’s done. By -the way, it’s fortunate that there are curtain shades still on the -windows. Let’s pull them down and then light one of the candles. We can -shade the light with our bodies so that there won’t be much danger of -its being seen outside. Be careful not to let the guards see you pulling -the shades down. It’s so dark now that they won’t notice what we’ve done -after they’re down.” - -The shades were drawn down cautiously, and fourteen Marine prisoners of -war gathered around Phil to watch the hoped-for success of making fire -in the Old World after the manner developed and perfected by the -aborigines of the New. - -But they did little actual watching before the first spark appeared. -Immediately after the drawing of the shades there was scarcely a glimmer -of light in the room, and Phil had to depend on his sense of feeling to -enable him to operate his fire-making contrivance. - -“Now, all of you crowd around in as close a circle as you can without -hindering my movements,” he directed as he fitted the sharpened ends of -the drill into the pit of the fireboard, which he had laid on the floor, -and the pit of the “thunder-bird,” which he held in his left hand. Then -he began a sawing motion with the bow, the string of which was looped -around the drill. - -A moment later all were listening eagerly to the merry hum of the drill -as it whirled around in its perpendicular position, the revolving motion -being produced by the drawing back and forth of the bow string looped -about it. - -“Keep close together,” Phil warned. “Don’t let any light get through. -It’s coming. Smell the burning of the wood?” - -Suddenly there was a tiny glow at the base of the drill. - -“Quick with the punk,” said Phil eagerly. - -Nobody could see the move, but nevertheless Dan dropped a pinch of the -dry shredded wood on the tiny brilliance. - -The bright spot grew larger, the drill whirled more rapidly, a few more -pinches of punk were applied, and the glow burst into a flame. - -“Now, the candle,” Phil directed, but even as he spoke the wick of one -of the illuminants was being applied to the burning punk. - -Phil seized the lighted candle and started for the open trap-doorway. - -“I’m going downstairs and see what I can find,” he announced, holding -his coat lapel over the flame. “All of you stand close together and help -keep any rays of this candle from getting to any of the windows.” - -“How about the basement windows?” asked one of the men. “How’re you -going to keep the light from shining through them?” - -“I’ll have to run a little risk on that account,” Phil replied; “but -I’ll shield the light all I can with my coat and when I get down there -I’ll set it in a corner where it can’t be seen through the window or -windows, if possible.” - -The boy descended slowly, and the others, or such of them as could -obtain a view at once through the opening in the floor, gazed eagerly -after him. They were unable to see much, however, for he covered the -light with the lapel of his coat so carefully that the entire -illumination fell directly in front of him. - -Phil’s first trip into the cellar was a short one. In less than five -minutes he returned to the head of the stairs without the light and -offered this startling announcement in low but clear tones: - -“Fellows, I’ve made a great discovery. If you’re game, there’s a good -chance for us to escape.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - PLANS FOR ESCAPE - - -Everybody was eager to hear of Phil’s discovery, and a chorus of -low-toned demands for an explanation followed his announcement. - -“It isn’t a very romantic discovery,” the explorer of the cellar -replied. “In fact, it’s very ordinary and points toward some hard work -for us.” - -“We’re used to that,” returned one of the prisoners quickly. “Out with -it. Don’t keep us guessing.” - -“There’s a regular outfit of excavating tools down there,” the boy -sergeant explained. “They were concealed behind some boxes, and I -suppose that’s the reason the boche invaders never found them. There’s a -spade, shovel, pick and hoe there—all in good condition.” - -“Do you mean to suggest that we dig our way out of this place?” asked -Phil’s last inquisitor. - -“Sure—why not?” was the reply. - -“We’d have to tunnel out—clear to the other side of their outposts.” - -“And that’s just what I propose to do,” said Phil deliberately. - -There being no light in the room, nobody could see anybody else’s -expression of countenance, but the chilly silence that followed this -announcement indicated something of what was going on in the minds of -those who heard it. One of the latter whispered into another’s ear: - -“He’s gone clean daft—insane. We’d better amuse him.” - -But Phil’s sharp ear caught enough of these words to enable him to -understand their purport. He realized, too, that it was a very natural -conclusion, although he had not intended to provoke it. Any such -self-amusement as this would have been exceedingly out of place. Still, -he was tempted just a little to see if someone of his prison-associates -would perceive the feasibility of his plan. None of them did, however, -until he supplemented his last assertion, as follows: - -“It isn’t so crazy an idea after all, when you consider that we have -only about fifteen feet to dig.” - -“By crackey, that’s so!” exclaimed Dan Fentress excitedly. Then -moderating his tone of voice in mindfulness of their recent agreement on -the subject, he added: “Didn’t you fellows notice that there’s an old -stonequarry or something of the kind just south o’ this house? We can -dig right into that and slip down and away. It’s hardly likely we’ll -find anybody watching from that quarter.” - -“That’s a brilliant idea, and we’re a lot o’ mutts for not getting it -sooner,” Evans declared. “Let’s get busy at once.” - -“There’s just one window in the basement wall, and that’s on the south -side,” Phil continued. “We’ll have to blind that up some way before we -do much work. Probably there’s nobody watching on that side, but we -don’t want to run any risk.” - -“We’ll take off our coats and jam ’em up in the window if the frame is -deep enough,” Emmet Harding proposed. “Is it?” he inquired, addressing -Phil. - -“Yes, it’s six or eight inches deep,” the latter replied. “I propped the -candle up with several brickbats on the floor a few feet from the -window. Nobody’d be likely to see a light from that side unless he were -inspecting very closely for one.” - -“Let’s go down and begin work at once,” Evans proposed. “The sooner we -get away the better our chances of escape will be.” - -“We’ll need about eight or ten coats to blind the window with,” said -Phil. “Here’s mine. Some of you pass over yours and I’ll go down and -take care of that matter.” - -A minute later the prison tunnel engineer had as big a load of coats on -his arm as he wished to carry while descending into the cellar, and he -was about to return below when Dan startled him a little by saying: - -“We haven’t got the ventilation yet that we started out to get. And this -place is growing stuffy already. How about it? We can’t work very long -in such atmosphere as this, and the worst of it will settle into the -cellar, where we’ll have to do all our hard work.” - -“That’s so,” said Phil. “We can’t open that cellar window any easier -probably than one of the windows up here, and if we could, we wouldn’t -dare use it for ventilating while working down there with a light. Let’s -go around and try the windows up here and see if we can’t get one of -them open without making any noise.” - -“Let’s try to open one on the north side,” Emmet suggested. “If the -guards hear us, we’ll explain that we’ve got to have some fresh air. -Then, too, they’ll probably watch that end of the house more closely and -maybe neglect the south end if they know one of the north windows is -open.” - -This plan was adopted and Emmet was delegated to try the north windows. -The general suspense was greatly relieved when he turned and whispered -that he had raised the lower sash of the first window he tried and -propped it up with a short piece of board. He had not made a sound -audible to his companions while doing this. - -“Now, nobody must talk above a whisper, and that as little as possible, -while the window is open,” he cautioned. - -Phil took this as a cue for him to descend into the cellar and blind the -foundation window with his load of coats. In a few minutes, after -accomplishing this, he returned and selected two aids, with whom he went -below again to begin work on the proposed escape tunnel into the -excavation to the south. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - TUNNELING - - -“We’ll have to conserve our candles,” was Phil’s first remark after he -and his two assistants, Dan Fentress and Donald Winslow, reached the -foot of the stairway. “I haven’t any candlestick yet, but we can make -one with some stiff clay as soon as we get to digging.” - -“What kind of masonwork do we have to cut through?” asked Dan, stepping -over to the south wall and proceeding to find an answer to the question -for himself. - -“It’s brick and cement,” Phil replied, anticipating the questioner’s -move to answer himself. “Ordinarily it would be difficult to break even -with a crowbar and a sledge hammer; but observe that large frost-crack -running down from one corner of the window. Several of the bricks there -are almost loose. We can start a hole in the wall by picking out those -bricks. Then the work of enlarging the opening ought to be comparatively -easy with the aid of this pick.” - -As he spoke Phil took up the tool referred to, which he had stood up -against the wall, together with the spade, shovel and hoe discovered by -him on his first inspection of the cellar. It was by no means a delicate -looking pick, and all three of the Marines who examined it agreed that -it ought to withstand an extremely heavy leverage in the work before -them. - -“I figure that the man who lived here worked in that quarry, and that is -the explanation of these tools,” Phil continued after his companions had -examined the articles in question and satisfied themselves as to their -serviceability. - -“They are not exactly stonequarry tools, or at least they constitute a -decidedly incomplete kit,” Dan remarked critically. “This isn’t much -more than an ordinary garden outfit.” - -“Well, anyway, they’re here for us to use,” Winslow put in; “so let’s -get busy, for this candle is nearly half gone already, and we’re liable -to run out of light if we don’t hustle. Here goes for a starter.” - -He seized the pick and was about to transform his manifestation of -energy into action, when Phil stayed him with this caution: - -“Be careful, Winslow; no hard blows. Remember, there are guards within a -few rods of this house, and any noises, even though they are muffled by -cellar walls and masses of earth, are pretty certain to be -investigated.” - -“Very wisely said,” returned the young Marine with the pick. “I’m -altogether too impulsive for a general. That’s the reason I’m a private -and always will be. What shall I do, sergeant, begin a toothpick -operation on the wall?” - -“Yes, something o’ the sort,” Phil replied, smiling. “Jab the pick into -that crack there and see if you can’t pry some of those bricks loose.” - -Winslow did as directed, and was astonished on discovering with what -ease half a dozen of the bricks came out. - -“Fine!” exclaimed Phil gleefully. “Now, try some of that solid wall.” - -Winslow did as directed. He was a powerful fellow—Phil had selected him -as an aid for this reason. The pick stood the test and the wall fell -away in bits. In less than an hour—estimated—a section of the wall three -feet wide and nearly six feet high had been broken away, and the first -candle was still burning. - -“Everything’s going great,” said the young engineer of the enterprise. -“The candles are going to last longer than I thought.” - -“Shan’t we light two of them?” Dan suggested. “We can work faster, -maybe.” - -“No, not yet,” Sergeant Speed replied quickly. “We’ll have two or three -of them going after we get the tunnel started a few feet.” - -“Stick ’em on our hats?” inquired Winslow. - -“No, we haven’t any way that I know of to fasten them to our hats. We’ll -cut niches in the wall and set the candles in there. By the way, I’m -going upstairs and get a couple more fellows down here to help.” - -“We’ll have to have some fresh air before long,” said Dan. “First thing -we know we’ll be asphyxiated—carbon-dioxidized, as it were. That fresh -air upstairs won’t come down here unless forced down with a fan, or we -manage to effect some kind of open-air vent through these walls.” - -“I’ve been thinking of that,” said Phil; “and I have a scheme that I -think will work first rate. After we get ahead with the tunnel a few -feet, we’ll cut a hole straight up to the surface next to the -foundation. We’ll keep the lights away from that hole, and stop our -talking, too.” - -Phil now left his two companions hard at work and ascended the stairway -to report progress to his waiting companions and select two or three -more assistants to help speed up the work in the cellar. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - THE PRISONERS TAKE A PRISONER - - -The work of digging the tunnel progressed rapidly. At first Phil feared -that the job would prove exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, of -performance in the seven or eight hours they had before them for labor -before the next daybreak. He based this fear on the proximity of the -supposed stonequarry just south of the house. - -The earth was not even solidly packed at every place where they struck -with spade, shovel and pick. In fact, much of it was so loose that to -use the pick would have been a waste of time. Generally the spade served -the purpose best in the tunnel, the one who wielded that tool pitching -the diggings back as far as he could, while others threw or dragged them -still farther back against the opposite wall with the shovel and hoe. - -Before long it became evident to all the workers why the earth was so -easy to spade. There was considerable sand mixed with the clay and the -loam constituting the earth’s crust at this point. They concluded, -therefore, that the stonequarry must be of the sand variety, and that -the rocky substratum in this section of the country was covered with a -sandy admixture of supersoil. - -But they struck so much of this loosening element that it presently -began to appear as a menace rather than an advantage. If a vein of sand -should be struck overhead or in the upper part of the excavation, a -cave-in might result in the suffocation of the tunneler before he could -be rescued. Phil then suggested that thereafter the continuation of the -tunnel be elevated a foot or two in order to lessen the possibility of -such disaster. However, they were careful also not to cut too close to -the surface of the ground for fear lest a guard, passing that way, might -step through and be precipitated into the passage. - -But that is the very thing that happened, and it came near bringing the -enterprise of the energetic Marines to an unhappy conclusion. -Nevertheless, perhaps, it was fortunate that things turned out as they -did, for the guard who stepped through into the subterranean avenue was -so overwhelmed by the mass of sand and earth which closed in upon him, -that his wits, his voice and his power of self-help deserted him. - -Phil was taking his turn with the spade in the tunnel when this thing -occurred. Fortunately, he had stepped back several feet in order to -bring the candle forward to a new niche he had just cut in the wall and -was not covered by the avalanche of earth. As it was, he started back -several feet, fearing that the whole roof of the tunnel was about to -fall in, but was presently reassured by an appearance of the cause of -the sudden interruption of his work. - -A pair of coarse-broganned feet protruded from the heap of earth in the -wrecked passageway and apprised him of the fact that someone—certainly -not an American Marine—had been caught in a very effective trap, which -had been intended for anything but a trap. Moreover, it was likely to -prove a death trap in short order unless steps were taken to release the -victim with all possible speed. - -Phil took hold of the protruding brogans and pulled, but with no -favorable result. He pulled again—the buried form moved slightly, and -more earth slid down into the trench. The boy now realized that the -situation was desperate—for the victim was no doubt a boche soldier; but -the young Marine felt it a human duty to rescue him, nevertheless. - -Just then he felt the presence of someone behind him, and as he turned -to see who it was, Dan Fentress took hold of one of the protruding legs -and whispered: - -“Here, we’ll pull together. It’ll be tough on him, but not so tough as -leaving him there until we can shovel ’im out. He has some chance this -way.” - -It was close quarters for two to work in side by side, but one strong -pull together was effectual. A badly scared boche, hatless and with his -face considerably the worse for rough dragging through a mass of earth -and sharp stones, emerged, puffing with exhaustion and certainly not in -condition to exclaim, “Thank you for saving my life!” - -“Here’s his gun,” said Dan, reaching forward and pulling forth a Mauser -from the loose earth that had almost buried it. - -“And here’s his pistol,” said Phil, drawing a murderous looking weapon -from the fellow’s holster. “He must be a general handy man for all kinds -of service.” - -The prisoners’ prisoner, who was rapidly recovering from the effects of -his mishap and violent handling, sat up presently and looked about him -with astonishment. Evidently he did not know what to make of the -situation. - -“See here, my good enemy friend,” Dan warned, pointing the Mauser at his -head; “no noise out o’ you, or I’ll send you to the place where Kultur -gets all the reward comin’ to it. We’re Marines, not submarines; and we -hit _above_ water.” - -“Every word of that is lost on him,” said Phil, noting the blank -expression on the boche’s countenance. “He’s not a very intelligent -fellow—the better for us right now. He’s one of those old fellows -they’ve dragged into the army to perform duties of secondary importance. -We’d better get him back in the cellar and let some o’ the other boys -take care of ’im.” - -The unfortunate guard proved to be able to get on his feet and walk back -to where the other Marines were waiting anxiously for an explanation of -the disturbances that had reached their ears. Phil told the story in a -few words and then said: - -“You fellows stay here and take care of this prisoner, and I’ll go out -and reconnoiter. I want to see the lay o’ the land. Maybe we’ve done all -the digging necessary. With this guard out of the way, the coast may be -clear to the south. We want to know where we’re going before we start.” - -“Let me go along,” Dan requested. “I’ve got a notion that two spies -working together can do better than one.” - -“Come on, then,” Phil responded. “Is that satisfactory to you fellows?” - -The speaker by this time was acknowledged by all as their leader. Half a -dozen were now in the basement giving their assistance in shifts in the -preparations for escape. They nodded assent to this latest suggestion. - -A minute later Phil and Dan had crawled up over the pile of earth at the -end of the tunnel and were creeping over the ground toward the supposed -stonequarry. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - OVERHEARD IN A SANDPIT - - -Carefully the boys peered in every direction for signs of the presence -of guards in the vicinity, but apparently the boche whom they had -captured had been the only one stationed south of the house. They -reached the edge of the large excavation without an alarm to themselves -or the enemy, and then began an examination of the descent for an avenue -of departure for themselves and their waiting companions in the house. - -The night was clear, but there was no moon; and it was difficult, with -the aid of only the stars, to get a satisfactory view any considerable -distance ahead of them. However, it is well known that one can accustom -his eyes to ordinary darkness of night to such an extent that he is able -to discern distant objects with a clearness that at first would seem -impossible. - -And so it was that after lying several minutes at the edge of what at -first seemed to be a steep bluff, they found that they could make out -the edge of a deep pit directly to the south and a hill-like descent -that curved along to the left gradually to the southward. Bushes grew -here and there along this winding hill-path, so that it was evident that -they must make their inspection rod by rod, if not yard by yard, in -order to determine of what value it was to them. - -“Let’s go down there and see what it looks like,” Phil whispered in his -companion’s ear. - -Dan nodded his willingness, and soon they were creeping along the course -indicated. After they had left a considerable screen of bushes behind, -they stood erect and looked carefully about them; then continued their -descent. They stopped, however, several times on the way, looking about -and listening intently for evidence of the presence of enemy soldiers. -In one of these precautionary halts, Phil said to his companion scout: - -“I don’t believe this is a stonequarry at all. It’s a big sandpit, -according to my notion. And this is a path used by the workmen who live -up on the higher ground. I bet it leads right down to the entrance of -the pit.” - -“I believe you’re right,” Dan returned. “There’s so all-fired much sand -around here, it can’t be otherwise. How far do you think we’d better go? -Everything looks clear in this direction.” - -“Let’s go down to the foot of this hill and see how things look there -before we go back,” Phil proposed in reply. - -They continued to the bottom of the hill and found themselves at the -wide entrance of a huge sandpit with bushes growing in abundance along -the border nearest their approach. Here they stood close to a clump of -bushes, listening and peering cautiously in all directions for warning -sounds or signs indicating the presence of enemy soldiers in the -vicinity. - -The warning came almost immediately. The sound of voices in conversation -only a few feet from them caused the boys to stand as still almost as -the ground on which they stood. They held their breath, as it were, and -listened eagerly to catch the words being exchanged by two men on the -opposite side of the thicket. - -Apparently the conference was very secret, for the principals had sought -a dark and out-of-the-way place to “put their heads together,” and the -eagerness of their tones indicated the degree of importance they placed -on the purpose of the interview. But it was in German, and although both -of the listeners had studied that language at school, they were unable -to form a clear idea as to the main purpose of the conversation. - -It did not take Phil long, however, to identify one of the men. His -high-pitched voice and tripping utterance, little short of a stutter, -could hardly have been duplicated by another. Without a doubt he was the -oddly proportioned commissioned officer who had been in charge of the -squad of boches that Phil had captured at Belleau Woods and who later, -with the assistance of another, had turned the tables on him. - -“It’s my boaconstrictor evil genius,” Phil mused, although not very -apprehensively. “How I wish I could make out what they are talking -about.” - -He did, however, catch a few words that intensified his curiosity, -although they carried to his mind little or no enlightenment. -Considerable was said about an aeroplane and “the Americans” and bombs. -Phil and Dan both strained their ears and their imagination to put these -and other single-word ideas together and uncover the meaning of the -interview, but in vain. Both had studied “literary German” at school, -but their knowledge of conversational Prussian was exceedingly limited. - -Ten or fifteen minutes after Phil and Dan arrived at the mouth of the -sandpit, the conversation ended and the two men departed, starting up -the path by which the escaped prisoners had descended. The latter waited -a minute or two for them to get a good start, and were about to follow -them and, if possible, prevent them from giving the alarm if they -discovered the wrecked tunnel leading from their prison, when a new -surprise of startling nature added another thrill to the adventures of -the night. - -“Phil!” - -This utterance of Sergeant Speed’s given name was scarcely above a -whisper, but distinct. The latter shivered as if a ghost had touched him -on the shoulder. Then concluding with a desperate denial of his “sense -of sound location,” that it must have been his companion that spoke to -him, he turned to Dan to ask him what he wanted. But the latter was -looking about curiously to learn the source of the familiar address. - -A moment later both of them beheld a third human form standing a few -feet away and instinctively assumed an attitude of defense, prepared to -change it into one of attack, when the supposed stranger spoke thus in -low tones: - -“Don’t be alarmed, Phil. I am Tim Turner whom you left for dead in -Belleau Woods.” - - - - - CHAPTER XX - ESCAPE - - -“Well, of all the most wonderful things that ever happened this is out -of the ordinary!” - -One of the characteristics that made Phil a good soldier was the fact -that it was almost impossible to astound him. A fellow Marine commented -on this fact once, and he replied: - -“Sure. If a Hun plane should drop a bomb on the end of my nose in the -middle of the night, I shouldn’t be the least bit surprised.” - -His first impulse when Tim Turner presented himself to him and Dan -Fentress in the middle of the night at the entrance of the French -sandpit was to say something ridiculous. So he popped an anticlimax, -which amounted to serving notice on himself and his two friends that -this was no place for astonishment. The situation was therefore cleared -up for the benefit of all three with two sentences: - -“I came to just as you and your captors were leaving and followed to -help you, but was captured, put to work on the soup truck, and escaped -tonight,” said Tim. - -“We tunneled out of our prison, came here to see if the coast was clear, -and are going back now to get a bunch of prisoners who are waiting for -our report,” said Phil. - -“Go on, and I’ll wait till you get back this way,” Tim proposed. - -“All right,” Phil assented. “We must hustle along to see if those two -boches stumble into our tunnel. It caved in before we finished it.” - -That ended the conversation, and the two prisoner-scouts hastened up the -hill after the two enemy soldiers, whose mysterious conference, held -under appearances of the most careful secrecy, caused Phil and Dan to -wonder more and more as they puzzled over the few words they had been -able to understand. Halfway up the incline they caught sight of the -worthy pair, walking leisurely and almost arm-in-arm, totally -unsuspicious, it appeared, of the proximity of any unfriendly humans at -large. - -Near the top of the hill they turned to the right and soon were moving -along a highway that led into the heart of the town. The two scouts were -greatly relieved by this, as it virtually precluded any possibility of -their discovering the escape tunnel leading from the cellar of the -prison and overlooking the sandpit. The shorter route for them would -have been across the unfenced yard into which the tunnel had been cut. - -A minute later Phil and Dan were back again in the basement and -reporting the success of their scouting expedition. The prisoner of the -prisoners had been bound and gagged and lay like a mummy in one corner, -scowling weirdly in the dim candle light. After inspecting his bonds and -gag to make certain that he was not likely to work loose or raise an -alarm with his voice, Phil announced that all was ready for a departure. -This announcement was communicated to the prisoners upstairs and -presently all were assembled in the cellar and ready to file out through -the tunnel. - -Phil desired very much to talk over plans with the other escaping -prisoners, but the presence of the captured boche advised him that it -was not well to run the risk of his being able to understand English. So -they filed out with only a “follow the leader” understanding. - -Phil and Dan led the way down the hill to the point where Corporal Tim -waited for their reappearance. Then they selected a sequestered nook, -partly shielded with a growth of high bushes near the mouth of the -sandpit and there held a conference. - -“It seems to me that this is a case of every man for himself,” Evans -remarked after several of the boys, with less constitutional initiative, -had put, or seconded, the question, “What shall we do next?” - -“Yes,” Phil agreed; “I don’t believe there’s any argument to be made -against that. If we keep together, we’re bound to attract attention. If -we travel singly, or in twos, we can hide better in the daytime. We’ll -be hampered, too, with these uniforms. If we separate, traveling by -night and hiding in the daytime, perhaps some of us may be able to -exchange them in some of these French villages for something less -convicting. We may find some old work clothes that the boches overlooked -or rejected with contempt, or we may find some French inhabitants caught -in the big drive of the enemy, who will bend an effort to help us -camouflage our American looks.” - -“Before we separate, I want to make an announcement.” - -Everybody turned questioningly toward the speaker. - -“Who are you?” asked one of the escaped prisoners who stood near the boy -that volunteered this interposition and looked curiously into his face. -Evidently the inquisitor had spotted him as a stranger. - -“He’s all right,” said Phil, coming to the support of his friend. “Boys, -this is Tim Turner who was with us at Belleau Woods. After I was -captured, he followed in the dusk, hoping to be able to come to my -relief. But he also was taken prisoner and escaped today. Dan Fentress -and I found him down here, or, rather, he found us, and he’s been -waiting for our return with you boys. What is it, Tim? What announcement -do you want to make?” - -“This,” the bullet-headed corporal answered. “I don’t believe you and -Dan caught the significance of what those two Huns were talking about -down here, did you?” - -“No, we’ll have to confess that we didn’t,” Phil replied. “We flunked -bad in our German test.” - -“Well, I got it,” Tim continued impressively. “I never studied German at -school, but I worked for a German farmer two years and got so I could -carry on a conversation with him and his family without any trouble. -Those two Huns were planning one of the most fiendish plots you ever -heard of—dastardly, just about as bad as sinking the Lusitania or -torturing Belgian women and children. They were planning to kill most, -or all, of the prisoners in this place and make it appear that an -American did the deed.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - THE PLOT - - -“I understood almost every word they uttered and the plot is as clear as -day,” Tim declared excitedly. “It’s simply dastardly and as treacherous -as the violation of the Belgian treaty. Incidentally I learned something -more, too, that will interest you considerably. - -“One of those boche plotters is connected way high up, a distant -relative of the kaiser himself, as I got it. He’s the fellow with the -big girth—one of the bunch that captured you and brought you back behind -their lines. It was plain that the other fellow held him in a good deal -of awe, if he was only a second lieutenant. - -“This other fellow is an aviator, I wasn’t long finding out. There’s an -aviation field a short distance from here, and the ‘taube chauffeur’ -flies from that field. The kaiser’s umpty-umpth nephew cooked the scheme -up in his own cranium and called the flyer to the conference in the -sandpit. He called the aviator Hertz, and Hertz addressed him mostly as -Count, once or twice Count Topoff, and once referred to him as ‘a -general in disguise.’ - -“Well, the plot they cooked up was this—or rather it seemed to be cooked -up in the brain of ‘the count’ and was dished out to Hertz to swallow -willy-nilly: The bunch of prisoners are to continue their march toward -the Rhine tomorrow—or today. Is it past midnight yet? And Hertz is to -come along in his aeroplane loaded with bombs. The officers are to -announce that it’s an American plane on a bombing expedition and are to -keep the prisoners bunched together with threats to shoot them if they -try to get away. - -“‘He’s arter us,’ the guards will tell the prisoners; ‘and the only way -we can save our lives from his bombs and machine-gun is to keep our guns -trained on you, and we’ll have to stand off at a distance to keep you -from rushing us. Now, if you behave yourselves and obey orders, you’ll -save not only your own lives but ours, too. But if you make trouble for -us, we’ll kill as many of you as we can before he gets us, and he’ll -have to treat each of us as a separate target, for we’re all scattered -out around you.’ - -“Well, along will come the supposed American plane from the west and -it’s figured that the prisoners will drink in the boches’ warning and -huddle together like a lot o’ barnyard fowl in a cold rain. Hertz will -then proceed to drop a dozen or more bombs on them, while the guards -stand off at a distance and watch the fun.” - -“But what’s the purpose in such a program as that?” someone inquired. -“Why shouldn’t they go ahead and commit their wholesale murder in cold -blood and admit they’re responsible for the whole business? They haven’t -anything to be afraid of.” - -“They’ve two reasons for doing it the way they planned,” Tim replied. -“Those reasons were expressed very clearly in the course of their -conversation. First, some o’ the boche leaders are pretty sore because -of the reputation they’ve got for committing frightful cruelties, and a -kind of chicken-hearted warning has gone out from some high source to -put on the soft pedal. Still, it seems to be in the make-up of some of -those scoundrels to do the most fiendish things they can think of. If -they can satisfy their lust for curdled blood and throw the blame on -somebody else, they can also flatter their vanity for putting the thing -over with very smooth cunning. Then again, it would key up the morale of -the boche soldiers to a high pitch if the story could be circulated that -the Americans were such dummies that they are likely to commit such -blunders as this fake affair will seem to be. You see, Hertz is going to -fly in a captured French machine and will be dressed in the uniform of -an American prisoner.” - -“Can you beat that for sheer rascality?” Evans exclaimed. “Do you know, -fellows, I don’t feel like trying to escape and leaving all those other -boys to die like rats in a trap when a word from us passed among them -might at least give them a chance to make some of those fiends pay the -penalty of their dastardly plot when it’s put into effect. There are -only about a score of guards in charge of this bunch of prisoners and I -believe they could be overpowered if a concerted rush were made at the -right time.” - -“I confess that I feel the same way,” said Sergeant Phil vengefully. -“But really, boys, it isn’t necessary for all of us to go back. One of -us would be enough. He could pretend to be in sympathy with the boche -cause and tell them he refused to go with the rest. That probably would -get him considerable favor with them and enable him to do some effective -work.” - -“Who’s going to be the one to go back?” asked Evans, thereby propounding -a question not at all easy to answer. Undoubtedly all of the sixteen -escaped prisoners were not equally well fitted to handle the matter with -like promise of success. Phil realized this, and, without intending to -arrogate superior qualities to himself, replied: - -“I will, unless someone else can show good reason why he could do the -job better than I can.” - -“I’m conceited enough to believe that I can do it just as well,” said -Evans. “Unless you can show good reason why you can do it better than I -can, I demand that you match coins with me to determine who shall go.” - -“Where are the coins?” - -“Hold on,” interposed Dan Fentress. “You two aren’t going to have a -monopoly on this business. I want to come in on it.” - -“All right,” said Evans; “you ought to be able to outwit a score of -pie-faced boches with those squint eyes o’ yours. But I think we’d -better close the nominations now, hadn’t we?” - -“Not till I get in on it, if you’ll admit an outsider,” Tim protested -eagerly. “I don’t exactly belong to your bunch, for the boches sort o’ -took me over as chief cook an’ bottle washer, but I don’t object to -being traitor to my new alliance if you don’t.” - -“We’ll let you in on it, nobody objecting,” Evans ruled. “But unless -somebody speaks up quick, the nominations are closed. One, two, -three—they’re closed. Now, how shall we vote? Anybody got a coin to -flip?” - -Nobody had. - -“Let’s settle it among us four candidates,” Phil proposed. “Nobody shall -vote for himself. Everybody decide whom he will vote for and as soon as -you’re all ready I’ll say ‘one, two,’ and instead of ‘three’ I’ll call -out my vote. You do likewise.” - -This was agreed upon. Presently all announced that they were ready and -Phil began, “One, two—” - -“Evans.” - -“Fentress.” - -“Speed.” - -“Speed.” - -Phil was elected. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - GOOD-BY - - -The ceremony of good-bys was short following Phil’s election to return -as a messenger of warning to the other prisoners concerning the fiendish -plot for their destruction. Pew words of advice were exchanged as to -what each escaping prisoner should do. It was a case of everybody for -himself with no sure promise of success for anybody. Nobody knew any -more than anybody else concerning the country through which they must -pass or how they might hope to conceal themselves in the daytime, or how -obtain food for their already hungry stomachs. Everybody must work his -wits to the limit. - -This, in fact, seemed to be the general understanding, for each of the -escaping prisoners apparently took it for granted that the -responsibility for his own success or failure in this most important -venture rested entirely on himself. No questions were asked. Everybody -seemed to desire to strike out for himself as soon as possible. A few -went in pairs, but most of them set out alone. - -Tim said good-by to Phil last. The bullet-headed corporal, who had -proved himself a boy of no mean intelligence by the manner in which he -had got evidence of the wholesale-murder plot of “Count Topoff” and -Aviator Hertz and reported it to his friends, was evidently much -disappointed because he had not been elected to return to the prison -camp of his comrade Marines and Frenchmen and warn them against the -menace that would soon be upon them. - -“I’m sorry I’m not going with you,” he said to his friend. “I envy you -very much, old man, for while the rest of us are running away, you are -going back to fight. That’s what it means, Phil, a very hard fight, and -a lot of credit to you for preventing a wholesale and cowardly -slaughter.” - -“You evidently expect us to come out victorious,” Phil observed. - -“Of course. Why not?” Tim returned with something of a challenge in his -tone of voice. “Don’t you?” - -“No, Tim, I can’t say that I do. Frankly, I am disposed to say good-by -to you right now for the last time.” - -“You’re not enough of an optimist for a venture of this kind,” Tim -declared regretfully. “Don’t you expect to be able to communicate the -warning to the other fellows? If you don’t, you’d better let me take -your place, for I’m dead sure I can do it.” - -“I admire your self-confidence,” Phil replied deliberatively; “and if I -didn’t feel that I could perform the duty commissioned to me as well as -you could, I’d do as you suggest. Moreover, you’d be at a disadvantage -because you’d have to return to the job you left or the boches ’u’d -discover the transfer and want to know the meaning of it.” - -“I wouldn’t care for that,” Tim said quickly. “All I’d care for would be -to get my story started among the boys and let them take care o’ the -rest.” - -“But I’m planning to be right on the job and do some o’ the fighting,” -Phil announced eagerly. “You see, I have the pistol I took from the -boche that fell into our tunnel. I can do some good work with that right -at the beginning.” - -“You don’t talk as if you expected to be licked,” Tim interrupted. - -“Oh, I’m not going into the fight like a coward,” Phil answered -reassuringly. “Up to the time when we actually mix, I suppose I shall -expect to lose everything under my hat, but when I once get into the -fight, I can easily imagine myself believing that I was going to lick -the whole boche army single-handed. I’m sure I can feel that way if I -can only fill my stomach with something substantial in the way of food. -Well, good-by, Tim. I must be moving along now, and so must you. I -haven’t much idea what time it is, but I should judge from the feeling -of my empty stomach that it’s almost breakfast time. I want to get back -into some place, if I can, where I won’t be suspected of having anything -to do with the night’s escapade.” - -“Good-by,” said Tim, squeezing his friend’s hand. “Good-by and good -luck. All things considered, I believe now that it’s fortunate you were -picked for this job. At first I had an idea I was the only one who could -do it right. But I have come around to the view that you’re going to -make good in a way that I might not be able to. Hope to meet you on the -other side of No Man’s Land in a few days.” - -Phil started up the hill again while his friend stole away in the -opposite direction, taken generally by the other escaping Marines. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - THE FIGHT IN THE CELLAR - - -Phil returned at once to the prison from which he and his companions had -just escaped. He had one purpose in this move. The excitement of their -departure had caused him to forget one very important thing that he had -planned to do before leaving the place. That was to transfer the guard’s -pistol cartridges to his own person. While engaged in his good-by -conversation with Tim, he placed his hand on the pocket containing the -weapon he had taken from the captured guard, and this reminded him of -his neglect to take possession of the available supply of ammunition. - -The candles had been snuffed out just before the prisoners stole away -through the tunnel and down the path by the sandpit. Phil was not -exactly certain whether he was pleased or displeased with this fact. If -the bound and gagged boche guard still lay in the south-east corner of -the cellar where he had been left, the returning Marine would have no -trouble finding him; but if he had rolled away in his efforts to -liberate himself, undoubtedly a light would be a very desirable aid in -locating him. - -Phil crept back through the tunnel cautiously; not that he anticipated -trouble from any source just now, but his every act under present -circumstances must of necessity be stealthy and careful. And so, in -spite of his caution, he was totally unprepared for what took place as -he reentered the cellar. - -He scarcely realized what happened, too, for the blow that fell on him -half stunned him. It was a vicious blow, and if it had not glanced from -the side of his head, it must surely have knocked him out. As it was, -the spade, or shovel, which was the weapon in the hands of his -assailant, bounded from his head to his shoulder and thence with a dull -metallic clang on the clayey floor. - -Phil staggered, but struggled desperately to keep from falling, and then -made a dive for the dark form whose outlines he could faintly -distinguish by the starlight that came in through the window from which -several of the prisoners had removed their coats before departing. But -the fellow undoubtedly expected this move and, having, under the -circumstances, better control of his wits, got a better hold on the -returning Marine and quickly threw him on his back. - -The latter, meanwhile was rapidly recovering from the effects of the -blow on his head, and realizing that his enemy would fasten his fingers -on the throat of his victim as soon as possible, pressed his chin hard -against his chest, threw his left arm over his face for protection and -passed his right hand down to his right hip pocket. - -He was thankful now that it was dark for there was no possibility of the -boche’s seeing what he was doing. Meanwhile, Phil affected to be trying -to throw off his assailant, while in fact he was merely elevating his -right hip in order that he might draw the pistol that he had taken from -the captured guard less than an hour before. - -The ruse was successful. In a few moments the muzzle of the weapon was -pressed against the side of the boche, who was struggling hard to get -his fingers around Phil’s throat. The boy sergeant set his teeth as he -had never set them before and pulled the trigger. - -The explosion was well muffled by the burying of the muzzle in the -clothing of the desperately vicious fellow, who probably was bent on -having a full revenge for the treatment he had received at the hands of -the Yank prisoners. Doubtless none of the other guards in the vicinity -could hear the sound of the discharge of the weapon, in spite of the -vent afforded by the tunnel. Phil felt not the least uneasiness on this -score after hearing the dull thud against the body of the man on top of -him. - -The latter collapsed with scarcely a groan. Phil rolled him off and got -up, returning the firearm to his pocket and saying to himself: - -“Awful sorry for you, boche, but I couldn’t help it. Maybe you weren’t -so much to blame after the kind of training you fellows ’ave had. I -wonder what Tim would say about me now—would he think I’m a mollycoddle? -Really I’m beginning to believe that he was right when he predicted that -I’d be successful in my mission. I feel at this moment as if I could -lick the whole boche army all alone. - -“But I mustn’t stop to philosophize or Tim ’u’d call me a worse fool -than ever. First I must have that belt o’ yours. It probably holds -pistol cartridges for me and gun cartridges for Tim. Yes, there it is -and off it comes—and—around me it goes. Now, what next? I wonder if I -ought to take it. Yes, I believe I will. He’s a bigger fellow than I am -and his uniform’ll go over mine very snugly. That’ll camouflage me for -immediate purposes, and when I don’t want it any longer I can skin it -off. So here goes.” - -Twenty minutes later Phil was creeping out of the cellar again -“super-clad” with the guard’s uniform which he had removed from the -apparently lifeless form and transferred over his own khaki. - -“I wonder how he ever freed himself of those bonds,” the boy muttered as -he moved crouchingly toward the bushes at the head of the descending -pathway. “I suppose we didn’t tie his wrists as securely as we thought -we did and he worked loose. Anyway, I don’t believe he’ll ‘work loose’ -again. But I’m sorry for him and hope he’s only wounded enough to keep -him helpless till he can’t do us any more harm. Say, wouldn’t it be -glorious if everybody shot in this war were only wounded and would get -well again after it’s all over? But war ’u’d be only a game o’ ten pins -then, wouldn’t it? - -“Gee! I’m a bum soldier. If I confessed such a sentiment as that to Tim, -he’d shoot me on the spot for a Prussian propagandist.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - ANOTHER CAPTURE - - -“Now, what next?” - -Phil stopped a minute or two and considered. First, he must find out -where some of the other prisoners had been housed or corralled. Then he -must devise means of access into their presence without being challenged -by the guards. - -He decided finally that any course that he might adopt must be preceded -by a little preliminary scouting at random. So he started out with this -in view, advancing toward a large building which he had observed -casually the evening before but had been unable to determine whether it -was a church or a village hall. Perhaps some of his comrades were housed -in there. - -The prisoners had been lodged for the night in several sections after -being fed in as many divisions from a like number of soup and -stale-bread services, and Phil had not seen where any of them, aside -from those in his own party, were put. Right now, however, he found -himself wondering why the church-or-village-hall edifice hadn’t been -selected as a way-prison for all the captured French and Americans, if -indeed it had not been chosen for that purpose. - -He decided to inspect this place first of all. It was next door to the -house in which he had spent an eventful half-night as a prisoner of war, -but there was no window in that house on the side next to the large -building, so that he had been unable to observe what might have taken -place near the latter structure during his imprisonment. The rear yard -of the premises bordered on a bush-and-sapling wildwood tangle that -extended over the hill bordering the big sandpit, and Phil advanced -cautiously through this thicket to the edge about sixty feet from the -rear end of the building. - -There he halted and stood for several minutes surveying the faint -outlines of everything perceptible. At first the scene appeared to be a -sort of silhouetted picture of desertion. Not a sound reached his ears -save the slight rustling of leaves in the breeze, the faint boom of -cannon in the distance, and the rumbling of supply trucks on the nearest -army thoroughfare, and nothing out of the ordinary in the dim objects in -his immediate vicinity at first attracted his special attention. - -But presently a dark form, which at first his passing notice had -interested him about as much as a log of wood might have done, moved -slightly. Phil started, scarcely willing to believe his eyes. If it was -a guard, he was lying down. But possibly it was a dog sleeping. The boy -was scarcely willing to believe this, however, although he had no good -reason for his skepticism. Nevertheless, it was sustained presently in a -substantial manner when the living thing sat up and looked about him a -few moments. There could be no doubt now that it was a man. - -Phil strained his eyes eagerly for further manifestation as to the -character of the fellow not more than twenty feet away from him. -Presently his sitting form seemed to waver and he lay down again so -suddenly that the watcher’s irresistible first impression was that he -fell. - -“That’s funny,” thought the boy. “What’s the matter with him?—asleep at -his post? If I had a couple of fellows with me, I think I’d tap him on -the head and take his gun away from him. Why didn’t we think of -something o’ the kind? I really believe that half a dozen unarmed men -could turn the tables in this camp tonight by using their wits a little. -These boches are as careless as can be. They seem to think that because -they’re behind their own lines they’re perfectly safe and their -prisoners wouldn’t dare start anything rough.” - -Just then Phil was thrilled at the sight of two dimly outlined human -forms stealing out of the thicket fifteen or twenty feet to his right -and advancing cautiously toward the reclining figure. Then suddenly they -pounced upon him, one of them evidently seizing him by the throat, for, -although he struggled desperately he was unable to make an outcry. - -“My goodness!” was the unvocalized exclamation of the watcher. “Who are -they? Are some of the other prisoners out and attempting the very thing -that just occurred to me? I’ll have to find out and take a hand in -this.” - -Presently it appeared that the victim of the surprise attack had been -choked into unconsciousness, for his captors picked him up and carried -him back into the thicket and laid him down not more than six feet from -the spot where Phil stood. The latter dared not move, for fear lest he -be discovered, for he was not certain yet whether he was in the presence -of friends or enemies. All doubt on this score was removed the next -instant, however, when he heard one of the captors address the other in -tones scarcely above a whisper: - -“There, Tim, our first strike was a bloomin’ good success. If we can -keep this up half a dozen more times, we can go back home as chesty as a -hunchback and get away with it.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - A CHAPTER OF WIND - - -If he had not been afraid of creating noises that would reach the ears -of other enemy guards in the vicinity, Phil undoubtedly would have -rushed toward his two friends, who had appeared so unexpectedly on the -scene, and have welcomed them as if separated from him for years, -instead of an hour, more or less. Tim’s companion was none other than -Arthur Evans, one of the most interesting and capable of all the young -sergeant’s comrades captured by the boches. - -As it was, Phil merely advanced a pace or two and said in cautious -tones: - -“Hello, Tim, Evans. This is Phil Speed. What are you fellows up to?” - -The two Marines thus addressed turned quickly, first to resist, then to -welcome, the intruder. - -“We’re attacking the enemy in the rear while our friends at Belleau -Woods meet him in front,” replied Evans. “By the way, how have you -succeeded thus far?” - -“I don’t think I ought to answer that question,” Phil replied with mock -severity. “Evidently you haven’t enough confidence in me to let me carry -out my mission. You are decidedly weak in your judgment, to say the -least. Suppose you had made a blunder and spoiled all my plans.” - -“But we didn’t,” Evans returned; “and, as matters stand, I have a sort -of conceit that we’ve helped matters along. Isn’t it so?” - -“Yes, I guess it is.” - -“Well, what’re you kicking about?” - -“I’m kicking right at this instant because we’re doing entirely too much -talking to no purpose and running great risk of being overheard by -dangerous ears. What are you trying to do?” - -“Evans and I bumped into each other after you and I separated,” said -Tim, taking on himself the task of explaining. “He’s the one that lost -confidence in you—not I. Or rather, he was very much concerned, being -afraid you would walk right into a death trap. So he persuaded me to -come back and watch around and see if we could be of some assistance if -you got into trouble. - -“Well, we got back, which was only a short distance, and what do you -think we discovered? You could never guess, unless you have found it out -for yourself. I won’t keep you guessing for this is no place for -trifling. We discovered that every last one of the guards around this -place is drunk.” - -Phil’s little gasp of astonishment was enough to settle any doubt his -friends may have had as to his previous information on the subject of -the bibulous laxity of the guards. - -“I suppose they must ’ave found a French wine cellar or something o’ the -kind,” Tim continued. “You saw this fellow rouse up and topple over just -before we jumped on him, I presume. Well, he was as drunk as a lord, and -we gave him a choking that will keep him asleep until a Chicago police -pulmotor arrives to pump oxygen into his lungs.” - -“Why Chicago and not Philadelphia?” inquired Phil who hailed originally -from the latter metropolis. - -“Because Chicago is the ‘Windy City,’ and we shut off this fellow’s -wind, which was not an act of brotherly love,—Philadelphia,—if you -please.” - -“Very good,” returned Phil quietly. “But we’ve expended enough wind over -this subject already and had better get busy. I had some lively -experience also since I left you, but my story will hold for future -telling. What shall we do now?—go around and tap the other guards on the -head or shut off their wind?” - -“No, I don’t think we’ll have to do much more than disarm them and keep -them quiet until we liberate the prisoners,” Evans answered. “We have -two guns now—took one from this fellow. I don’t think we’ll have much -trouble with them.” - -Evans held forward the weapon referred to as he spoke. - -“I have a pistol, too, that belonged to the guard who fell into our -tunnel,” Phil remarked by way of reminder. - -“That’s so,” said Evans. “I forgot about that. We’re well armed. Come -on, and we’ll have our game all bagged before the Crown Prince can say -papa twice.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - TURNING THE TABLES - - -Evans and Turner, who were making a circumambulating inspection of the -prison quarters while Phil engaged in desperate combat with a boche -soldier in a dark pocket of the earth, led the way to another sentry -post on the east side of the large building and there found a second -guard decidedly under the influence of liquor. He was seated on a low -concrete fence that marked the dividing line between yard and the -cul-de-sac, or little used stub of a street, that ran up to the edge of -the thicket which covered the hill adjoining the big sandpit. - -The guard was no longer a guard. His gun was lying on the ground and his -head hung almost between his knees. He was snoring. - -“No need o’ disturbing him,” said Evans, as he picked up the rifle and -handed it to Phil. “He’s dreamin’ about the iron cross the kaiser’s -about to bestow on him for faithful service.” - -They passed on to the next post, but there found a more lively minion of -the Prussian War Lord. He was evidently “under the influence,” but not -so much so that he was unable to spring to his feet in alarm as he heard -footsteps near him. The next instant he was looking into the muzzles of -three rifles and three very determined faces which must have resembled, -in his startled imagination, the weapons and merciless countenances of a -trio of highwaymen. - -“You keep him right where he is,” said Evans, addressing Tim, while the -latter took charge of the fellow’s gun and cartridge belt. - -Tim did as directed and his companions continued their rounds. They -found one more guard dead drunk and still another in a condition similar -to that of Tim’s prisoner. They took possession of their guns and then -returned with another staggering prisoner to the place where the young -corporal stood guard over Semi-Drunk Number 1. The two captives were -also relieved of their cartridge belts. - -“Now where are the rest of the guards?” Phil inquired. - -“They’re lodged snugly in that hotel down on the corner a block over -there,” replied Tim, indicating the direction with his hand. “And -they’ve got some comfortable quarters, too, believe me. That hotel was -hardly scratched when the bodies drove through this place. Everything -was left, apparently, in the best of order by the fleeing French, and -our prison guards are living like kings there. They’ve found a big store -of wine in the basement and tapped several casks.” - -“What’s their condition now?” asked Phil. - -“About the same as these fellows out here. Tim and I looked in through a -window and saw them.” - -“Where are their guns?” - -“Standing up in a corner right near the door,” said Tim. “We can open -the door, seize the weapons and have ’em at our mercy.” - -“How about the other prisoners?” - -“They’re all in this building, according to my notion,” said Evans. “My -guess is that they planned to put us all in there, but it got too full, -and, our bunch being the overflow, they put us in the first place -available.” - -“Let’s go and get several of those fellows to help us,” Phil proposed. -“We may not need them, but it isn’t going to do any harm to play safe. -You boys wait here while I go and announce what we’ve done and bring -some ‘moral reinforcements.’” - -“Go ahead,” Evans assented. “Bring ’em all, if you want to. The more -that come, the greater will be the moral effect, even if they haven’t -any guns. But tell ’em to be mighty quiet.” - -Phil hastened to the entrance of the building, which opened onto a small -pillared portico at the head of half a dozen steps. There was a stout -bar across the door holding it firmly in place, and this he lifted away -and found that there was no further obstacle to his entering. - -It was so dark inside that he could not, at first, see his hand before -him. So he closed the door and called out: - -“Hello.” - -A few moments’ silence followed this greeting; then an echoing response -came from a point several feet away: - -“Hello.” - -“We’ve made prisoners of all the guards around this building and the -others are all dead drunk waiting for us to walk in and take their -guns,” Phil announced. “There’s a plot on foot to wipe us all out -tomorrow by dropping bombs on us from an aeroplane. Some of us overheard -the plot. Three of us have handled the job thus far, but we want to play -safe. So if a dozen of you fellows will come along we’ll soon make it -impossible for those villains to carry out their dastardly plot.” - -As this speech was delivered in English, it was not understood by the -French prisoners, and only Americans responded to the call. But before -they filed out through the entrance, Phil addressed to the other -Americans a request that they remain quietly in the building until -notified that the coast was clear, and delegated to several of his -compatriots who could speak French the task of explaining the situation -to their companion poilus in prison. - -Outside, three men were left in charge of the two boche prisoners who -had not yielded quite all their senses to intoxication. Then the rest of -the party proceeded to the inn where the “bunch of off-duty convivials” -seemed to have transferred their interest in the outcome of the war into -several casks of “concentrated thirst.” They were lying in all attitudes -and aspects of alcoholic abandon. Evidently the last man who had taken a -drink was so lost to everything but his last swallow that, after filling -the tin cup which all appeared to have used for tipping the fiery liquid -into their stomachs, left the cock open and the rest of the liquid in -the cask ran out over the floor. - -After the soldiers’ guns had been secured and passed around among the -men, Evans, who was possessed of a rather ghastly sense of humor, -remarked: - -“Fellows, I’ve got a scheme for putting these beastly boches into a -state of mind and body that will render them harmless so far as we are -concerned for a day of two. They’ve drunk all they can pour into -themselves; I propose to finish the job by waking them up and filling -them full to the guards.” - -“But we won’t have time for that,” Phil objected. “We ought to be -getting away from here as quickly as possible. It’ll be daylight before -very long.” - -“We’ll settle that question in a jiffy,” said Evans, lifting a -wristwatch of one of the drunken soldiers toward the candle light -nearest him. Two of half a dozen candles, which had lighted the latter -portion of the thirst orgies, were still burning when the escaping Yanks -entered the place. - -“It’s only two-fifteen,” Evans continued. “We’ve got time enough at -least to make sure that these besotted fools have done a good job of -this thing. I insist that we make of this affair the best argument for -prohibition in the world. You know prohibition is about the biggest war -issue at home today. Why, do you know, when they get wind of this story -at home, there’ll be a constant demand for us as Chautauqua speakers -until the demon Rum has been put where we’re going to put the kaiser.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - FOOD FOR PROHIBITION - - -Such an argument as this could hardly be controverted and Evans had his -way. This mischievous Marine of vengeful imagination opened another cask -of wine, which stood ready to be tapped, and “treated” those who had -less than their capacity to the “amount they had cheated themselves out -of.” - -The boches who had “stood” guard outside were all carried or conducted -in and given the “third degree test.” At this Evans proved himself a -master. If there was any “wake” in them, he discovered it. He behaved -like a sailor on a lark in a nest of cornered and cowed pirates, and -most of the other fellows caught the spirit and took a hand in the -sport. By the time the job was finished most of the cask just tapped had -been poured down the throats of six or eight rousable “soaks” and they -rolled over actually “running over at the brim.” - -“Now come on, fellows,” said Evans enthusiastically. “We’ve done our -deed well. We’re off now for home, after a little more fighting, and the -Chautauqua platform. But I want the testimony of every one of you that -not one of us drunk a drop. Am I right?” - -“Right,” was the chorused response. - -There was no need of further delay. The boys had taken possession of -twenty Mauser rifles, a dozen pistols, and a good supply of cartridges -for all these weapons. If they had felt it would be of any advantage to -them to do so, they would have stripped the drunken guards of their -uniforms and passed them around among themselves. But these, it was -decided, were hardly likely to be of service to them, inasmuch as they -could not pass for Prussian soldiers unless they separated from the -other Americans and French who were unable to obtain uniforms. Phil was -the first one to advance this idea, at the same time doffing the suit -that he had stripped from the guard with whom he fought a deadly combat -and expressing the opinion that the entire body of escaping prisoners -ought to “stick together for common protection.” - -“We have guns and pistols now for more than thirty of us, and a good -supply of ammunition,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair for those of us who -are armed to leave those who are unarmed.” - -“You wouldn’t have us fight the whole German army in the rear, would -you?” one of the Marines inquired. - -“We sha’n’t have to,” Phil replied. “In the first place, they’ll never -suspect that so many of us are armed. The main command of the German -forces will have a hard time getting a clear statement of our escape -from these drunken guards. They’re not going to admit that they were -drunk and they’ll dodge as long as possible every question that will -tend to show they were under the influence of liquor. Meanwhile we’ll -keep away from the main traveled highways over which the enemy truck -lines run between the armies and the supply stations. Evidently they -haven’t been able to repair the French railroads as fast as they -advanced. In a few days they probably will have them in running order -and that will make conditions better for us, for the better rail service -they have, the less they’ll have to use the highways, and the freer the -roads’ll be for us. To tell you the truth, everything is remarkably in -our favor, and all we have to do is keep out of sight in the daytime -and—and—work out our own salvation at night.” - -“And forage for something to eat,” Tim added, slapping his middle -significantly. - -“Oh, yes, that reminds me,” Phil said quickly. “While one of us goes and -invites our comrades in yonder prison to join us, the rest of us will -load ourselves with provender from the truck where Tim cooked stew for -us yesterday.” - -“That’s just what I was goin’ to suggest,” the bullet-headed corporal -put in. - -“All right,” Sergeant Speed continued, in a well satisfied tone of -voice. “You go ahead and engineer that business and I’ll bring out the -other prisoners.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - THE PRISONERS FLEE - - -The mess truck had been driven into the court of the hotel, and the -escaping prisoners soon relieved it of its burden of food, principally -hard-baked or canned. This was distributed as equally as possible among -them all, and then the departure from the town was begun. - -They were only a short distance from a main highway over which the -noises of heavy and rapid traffic could be heard constantly. So their -chief caution was to avoid attracting attention to their unusual -proceedings from the soldiers and truckmen moving along this route. - -It was quickly decided by the leaders of the escaping prisoners that -they had better make their departure by way of the path that led down -the hill near the sandpit, as it was well shielded for a quarter of a -mile or more with small trees and bushes from the top of the hill down -into a sort of ravine through which ran a small stream of water. -Moreover, all admitted without debate that it was far more important for -them to find a good place of concealment than to travel any considerable -distance toward the lines of battle before daylight. - -Phil, Evans, Tim, and one or two others who had exhibited leadership -qualifications walked ahead of the column of Americans and Frenchmen and -held an almost incessant discussion of plans as they proceeded. The more -important of their conclusions were passed back among their comrades in -the rear to keep them informed and reassured that the leaders were -conducting the escape intelligently. One line of suggestions offered by -Phil and accepted by all with hopeful enthusiasm was as follows: - -“We ought to work our way as close as we can to the rear line of the -boches with safety, moving forward at night and hiding in the daytime, -and wait for the time when the big drive of the Allies pushes the enemy -back. After they have been pushed back beyond our hiding place, we can -come out and rejoin our comrades and take a hand in the fight. I figure -that it’ll be principally open fighting with lots of rifle and -machine-gun action. The boches won’t be strongly intrenched, and if the -Allies come back at ’em as strong as I believe they will, their heavy -guns won’t have much to do; and if we find good hiding places, we ought -to be comparatively safe. There’ll be a lot o’ bombs dropped from the -air, but our chances of keeping out of their way will be much better -than our chances would be in the midst of a heavy bombardment from big -guns. - -“The enemy’s advance over these grounds has been very rapid and no doubt -they have done little cleaning up after them. If we go along carefully, -we ought to pick up enough guns and ammunition to arm every last one of -us, and if we get in close quarters some time we’ll be able to give a -good account of ourselves. There’s little danger of our meeting a very -large body of the enemy miles behind their lines if we keep clear of -their routes of communication.” - -“What’s your idea of a good hiding place for us?” asked Tim. - -“A deserted village like the one we’ve just left,” Phil replied. -“Second-best place perhaps would be a group of farm houses.” - -“How about food if the Allied drive holds off several weeks?” was Tim’s -next question. - -“That’s a matter we’ve got to look out for without delay. It’ll probably -be hard picking, but if everybody keeps his eyes open. All the gardens -and fields no doubt have been pretty thoroughly devastated, and yet -there’s always bound to be some pickin’s left here and there. We may -find a few chickens, if we watch carefully, but we’ll have to knock ’em -over with clubs—no shooting, you know.” - -These suggestions rendered Phil more popular than ever among the -escaping American and French prisoners, so that by the time all had -discussed them fully he was tacitly voted leader of the fugitive -expedition. From that time on all looked to him for advice whenever any -problem of common interest came up for solution. - -The route taken was considerably of a “cross-country” character. They -avoided highways that appeared to have been much frequented, for fear -lest at any moment they run into an enemy patrol or expedition of some -sort that would demand an explanation of their wanderings. So across -fields and meadows and lowlands overgrown with weeds and bushes they -went, until finally Phil called a halt near a group of farmhouses and -said: - -“It must be almost daybreak. Here are two or three houses and barns that -ought to conceal us very well until the sun goes down again. Let’s -investigate, and if there’s nobody on the premises we’ll file in and -take charge.” - -Several scouts were sent ahead to ascertain, if possible, whether the -buildings were deserted. In a short time they reported that they were -unable to find evidence of anybody in possession, and the little army of -prisoners-at-large behind the enemy lines filed in and took refuge for a -day’s hiding. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - IN HIDING - - -The first day of freedom for the escaped prisoners of war in the land of -their captivity was spent midway between two lines of communication that -ran from the boche armies back to their bases of supply. One of these -routes lay about a mile to the north and the other about a mile to the -south of the group of farm houses in which the fugitive Americans and -French were concealed. At points in both of these routes they could see -numerous motor vehicles rushing in both directions, probably bearing -wounded and reserves as well as supplies. A little nearer to the north -also could be seen crews of men at work repairing a railroad bed and -tracks that undoubtedly had been blown up by the French in their -retreat. - -It was agreed that the men should move about very little in their -quarters during the day. Lookouts were stationed at certain windows and -doors of the farm buildings, although these positions were camouflaged -as much as possible with articles of furniture, farm implements, straw, -et cetera, to prevent any chance betrayal of the hiding place of the -escaped prisoners. - -These lookouts also inspected as best they could the harvest -possibilities of the agricultural vicinity, and it was estimated that -even in the dark a considerable supply of vegetables and nearly ripened -apples could be gathered. In a bin in one of the barns was discovered -several bushels of year-old barley. - -In the course of the day, between sleeps, Phil, Tim and Evans, from the -loftiest viewpoint attainable in the cupola of one of the barns, made a -studied survey of the country to the west. They found that they had -approached to within a mile and a half of a small village directly in -their course of advance, and that perhaps not more than two miles beyond -this were the (probable) ruins of another French town. Phil had not been -in France long before he observed that the municipalities, large and -small, are situated much more closely together than are the cities and -towns of even the most thickly populated portions of America. - -Phil and Tim also had opportunity during this day to recount in detail -their experiences to each other since their separation in Belleau Woods. -Phil also questioned his friend regarding the wound that had rendered -him unconscious for fifteen or twenty minutes on the scene of the novel -battle in the ravine. In reply, Tim pulled off his overseas cap and -disclosed a small crudely-made plaster-bandage, that was held in place -by the cap. - -“It wasn’t a bad wound,” he explained; “but it might easily have -fractured my skull. The bullet hit the side of my head a good hard rap, -but glanced and cut a furrow in my scalp. - -“I came to just as that funny looking bunch o’ boches were leading you -off through the timber. The sight o’ that put a thrill of life into me -and I staggered to my feet and started after you. The boches had left my -gun lying on the ground, thinking, I suppose, that I was dead and would -be unable to use it. - -“I was just waiting until I could get control of myself before I opened -fire on those pesky Huns. If I’d not felt quite so shaky on my pins I’d -’a’ blazed away as soon as I waked up, for I figured the firing would -attract friends our way. But I guess that fellow that jumped onto your -back was the smartest one in their crowd, for he must ’a’ figured we -were likely to have comrades in the neighborhood and been on the lookout -for ’em. Anyway, before long he played the same game on me that he -played on you, sneaking around and jumpin’ on me from behind. - -“Well, they took me along with you only a short distance behind, and you -never knew I was trailing along. I walked back behind with a couple of -boches and jollied them along the best I could. I guess I succeeded -pretty well, judging from results. - -“It seems that this squad were part of a regular crew that made trips -with prisoners back behind the lines and took part in the fighting while -waiting for a bunch of prisoners large enough for a trip. At least, -that’s what I gathered from their conversation. You know I learned to -talk German pretty well while living with a German family in -Pennsylvania, and I made good use of it with these fellows. Camouflaging -my boasts with all the modesty I could put into words, I told ’em all -about my accomplishments. I guess I hit ’em about right when I told ’em -I could cook as well as any Pennsylvania-Dutch grandmother, and they set -me to work on a mess truck right away. That’s why you didn’t see me -during the trip, Phil. But I picked you out in the line.” - -“I don’t admire your cooking very much,” his friend commented with a -smile. “Is that what you call Pennsylvania-Dutch cooking?” - -Tim grinned ruefully. - -“’Tisn’t my fault,” he said. “Those parsimonious Prussians stood over me -and told me how much oil I could burn to warm a barrel o’ stew. And if -the first match didn’t light the burner, you folks ’u’d have to eat your -meal cold, they said. Oh, they’ve got everything down to an efficiency -and conservation basis for winning the war, they have.” - -“How did you get away from them?” Phil asked. - -“Just walked away,” Tim replied in a matter-of-fact manner. “It was -really funny. I guess they were all interested in that wine cellar that -one o’ them discovered, but I didn’t know it at the time. Anyway, they -seemed to lose all interest in me, and several times I found myself all -alone. I was so astonished that I didn’t have sense to cut stick until I -concluded that I was an everlasting fool if I didn’t, and I don’t -believe they know I’m gone yet.” - -“They’ll know about the time they’ve sobered up,” Phil returned with a -prophetic grin. “And by the time the whole truth of developments dawns -on them, there’ll be something doing, believe me.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - AN AUDACIOUS SCHEME - - -As soon as the dusk of evening was sufficient to obscure objects of any -considerable size at a distance of a hundred yards, several scouting and -foraging parties were sent out with instructions to report back in about -two hours. The foraging parties were directed to gather in whatever -vegetables and fruit they were able to discover in the darkness, and the -scouts were instructed to travel due west for several miles and -determine if the way were clear for a general advance toward the battle -area. - -In the course of the day, Phil, Evans, Tim and several other leading -spirits had held half a dozen conferences and discussed plans for the -following night. It was during these conferences that the scouting and -foraging plans had been outlined. A bird-call code was also agreed upon -and practiced in the course of the day for the purpose of enabling the -scouts and foragers to locate one another or their hide-out in case any -of them should lose his way. - -The latter precaution proved to be of considerable service, as did also -a check-up system adopted to determine when all who were sent out on -their several missions had reported back. By about ten o’clock -(estimated), therefore, the checking proved all to have returned with a -gratifying supply of raw food, including apples, vegetables, half a -dozen chickens and a young pig. The fowl had been captured alive, and it -was decided to carry these to their next stopping place, but the pig, -which one of the men had slain with a heavy club without the provocation -of a squeal, had to be left behind. - -The scouts brought back information to the effect that there was a clear -field between them and the next town, and that a careful inspection -failed to disclose a sign of an occupant in the place. So far as they -were able to determine, the village was abandoned by both inhabitants -and invaders. - -Accordingly a silent, ghost-like march was made to this place. On the -way they passed a score or more of bodies of dead soldiers and a like -number of guns were found lying near them. Most of these were boches, as -was later discovered by examination of their rifles and cartridge belts -by the Americans and French who took possession of them. - -“The advance over this ground was so rapid that they didn’t have time -even to pick up the arms of their own dead,” Tim observed to Phil. - -“So much the better for us,” the latter replied. “And I’ve a suspicion -that it will work to the benefit of the Allies in more ways than one. -This is a drive of desperation, or I miss my guess, and the boches are -going to find themselves in a trap. They can’t possibly have enough -reserves to maintain such an advance as this. I bet you’ll find in the -end that Marshal Foch is just leading them on.” - -“I wish he’d have General Pershing throw in some of his troops at this -point,” said Tim eagerly. “They’d drive these fellows back, and we could -jump in and have some real fun as the Gray Coats came running past us.” - -“I can hardly hope that things will turn out just the way our dreams -picture them,” said Phil dubiously. “But it surely would be great if we -could put over such a stunt as that. Anyway, when we pick our last -hiding place we’ll pick it with that in view.” - -“We don’t want to advance too close to the enemy’s lines,” Tim argued; -“because they may take a notion to back up a little and establish some -kind of headquarters right where we are stationed.” - -“Yes, that’s another thing we want to keep in mind. And we must also try -to pick buildings that are not likely to interest them for any purpose.” - -These suggestions were communicated to the other escaped prisoners and -were received with such favor that they were observed carefully in the -selection of quarters not only for the following day, but for all the -succeeding days that they remained in hiding behind the enemy’s lines. -And these succeeding days were more than they at first reckoned on. They -had no way of knowing that the Marines had saved the day at Chateau -Thierry as well as at Belleau Wood, but there was not an American in -this company of escaped prisoners who did not firmly believe that the -advance of the enemy was cut short the instant the Yanks got into the -front line. - -And so as they advanced day by day, or night by night, nearer to the -enemy’s lines, sometimes a mile, sometimes two or three miles, sometimes -half a mile, they expected at any moment to discover evidence of a rapid -boche retreat. However, more than five weeks elapsed before the -hoped-for evidence of Allied victory appeared; after which events moved -so rapidly that Phil felt like comparing his existence to life on the -tail of a comet flying through space. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - PHIL’S STRATEGY - - -Again we find Phil and Tim within easy gun-roar of the battle line. But -this time they are on the “other side of No Man’s Land.” And the roar is -becoming louder and louder. Early one morning it burst forth with great -volume. The hiding refugees had not realized they were so near the -fighting front until this noisy evidence of proximity burst upon them. - -There had been comparative quiet for several weeks. The boches had made -their grand effort to break through the French line in the vicinity of -Chateau Thierry. At this place it had seemed as if they were about to -effect their purpose until two divisions of American Marines were -brought up to relieve the French. Then the enemy was forced to a -standstill, beyond which he was unable thereafter to advance a foot. - -Of all this the fugitives knew nothing, and their knowledge of -succeeding developments was quite as limited, save for the indications -of sound or silence from the battle area. When finally the unmistakable -evidence of another big battle reached their ears, they were quartered -in several buildings in the business section of a town a few miles from -the boche rear lines. They had selected these buildings with a view to -their special serviceability because of facilities for concealment, -intercommunication and defense or escape in case of attack. - -There was no need of a crier to announce the long awaited event when -finally it came. Everybody was on the alert almost in an instant. All -day the roar of battle continued without abatement, but the hidden -fugitives had no way to determine how it was going. At dusk several -scouts were sent on ahead to reconnoiter, but they were unable to obtain -any information of definite character except that, it appeared, the -enemy had launched a new drive against the Allies in the “great bend.” - -The battle continued with unabating fury the next day and the next and -the next. Finally two French soldiers, who said they were well -acquainted with the vicinity and who spoke German fluently, donned enemy -uniforms that they had taken from the bodies of slain boches, and set -out under cover of the darkness to learn what was the situation. - -“The battle of Chateau Thierry is being fought and it is being won by -American Marines,” they reported on their return after several hours’ -absence. - -“Marines!” was the exclamation uttered by every American that received -this message. They had not known that two divisions of fellow Sea -Soldiers had stopped the enemy advance on Paris at this point more than -a month before and, backed up with reinforcements, were now given the -task of driving back the enemy in a sector where other veteran allied -troops had failed. - -For several days more they continued in hiding and fared pretty well -meanwhile, all things considered. They managed to gather food enough, -such as it was, to keep soul and body together without any “internal -quarrel,” and they also gathered in a good supply of arms from the -strewn battlefields of the vicinity; so that, emboldened by numbers and -reports of successes of their friends on the other side of No Man’s -Land, they felt like attacking a whole boche army in the rear. - -Then at last came the announcement from scouts that the enemy was being -driven back, slowly, it is true, but surely, and after this information -reached them, it was not long before visual evidence of the retreat -loomed before them over the western horizon. - -This was followed by a tense waiting of several hours; then the boche -soldiers began to pour into the ruined town. - -“They’ll make a stand here, no doubt,” Phil remarked to several of his -comrades; “and that means we’ll have to begin to get busy before very -long. The Allies no doubt will train their heavy guns on this place, and -we’ll get our share of the shelling. What we want to do is to spring a -surprise on the enemy that will create consternation among them and make -them think an attacking army has dropped out of the clouds on top of -them.” - -It was ticklish business, this waiting for the psychological moment -which might be wiped out of future possibility almost any instant by the -dropping of a few bombs that would heap masses of debris on top of them -and convert their refuge into a tomb. Then suddenly Phil hit on a scheme -that probably proved their salvation. - -The two French scouts who had brought back information regarding the -success of the Americans at Chateau Thierry were sent out again after -they had volunteered for this second service planned by Sergeant Speed. -How they accomplished their mission is subject almost for another book, -for theirs was clever work, indeed. But they were aided materially by -the confusion of the boches resulting from their recent defeat and the -necessity for quick preparations for a new defense. - -These two Frenchmen, Rene La Ferre and Pierre Balsot, made their way in -Prussian uniforms through the newly forming enemy front and offered -themselves as prisoners to a squad of Yanks who had just raided a -machine-gun nest and were about to return to their own lines. They were -hurried to headquarters, where they told their story. Their description -of the location of the hiding place of the fugitive was so accurate that -the American artillery was able to blow up the rest of the town without -materially damaging the refuge of the 240 United States Marines and -Frenchmen. - -Still there remained a considerable force of the enemy machine gunners, -riflemen and bomb throwers behind breastworks afforded by the ruins, and -it was decided to dislodge these with a move planned by Phil and his -comrades and communicated to the American command through the two French -messengers. - -After the village had been thoroughly wrecked by the artillery, the -bombardment ceased and a charge on the town was made by hundreds of -Marines, who ran forward in extended order to minimize the deadly -effects of the sweeping machine-gun fire of the enemy. This was a signal -for the escaped prisoners to dash forth from their places of -concealment. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - MR. BOA AGAIN - - -It was one of the most rapid motion-picture affairs ever staged in real -or cinematic life. What film enthusiast would not have given every other -opportunity he might hope for in after years for this one? - -The Yanks and the poilus poured out of those buildings like an army—at -least so it must have seemed to their astonished foes. All of them were -armed with rifles, most of which had been picked up on the battlefield, -and were well drilled and officered, for Phil had looked after this -important factor while they were in hiding. - -Far more rapidly than the narrative can be told, they charged in squads, -routing out stronghold after stronghold, gun nest after gun nest. The -boches did not know what to make of it, and their panic grew like a -prairie fire. They had no way to tell how many they had to face or from -what source they had sprung. The situation was almost ghostly in its -aspect of mystery. Consternation presently seized the entire enemy force -in this section and the helter-skelter race that followed in a mad -effort to escape from something like a phantom foe sprung suddenly out -of the ground was laughable in spite of the carnage with which it was -associated. - -Near the end of the fight Phil found himself face to face with a -ponderous antagonist whom he was not slow to recognize. He cornered the -fellow in a street from which exit was blocked, or greatly impeded, by -heaps of debris. Mr. Boche then turned, at bay, with clubbed gun, missed -his swing, the weapon flew out of his hands and Phil had the late -commander of the “underwear squad” of Belleau Wood at his mercy. It was -“Mr. Boaconstrictor” of the large girth, “Count Topoff,” the so-called -“general in disguise,” who wore the insignia of a Prussian second -lieutenant. - -“You’d better surrender,” Phil advised with a grim grin. “My bayonet -maybe wouldn’t reach clear through you, and your royal family would be -forever disgraced.” - -Undoubtedly Phil would have succeeded in making a prisoner of his -antagonist if one of those fortunes, or misfortunes, of war that always -are beyond the control of even the most heroic had not intervened. A -pillar-like remnant of a brick wall about fifteen feet away, probably -shaken by some flying missile of the fight, toppled over, and a shower -of masonry struck Phil on the head. - -If it had not been for the helmet he had picked up several days before -and preserved for such an occasion as this, he probably would have been -seriously, if not fatally, injured. But in spite of the protection, the -shock was sufficient to knock him over. Still he was not utterly -incapacitated for further action, and he staggered to his feet, gripping -his gun and attempting to recover his battling equilibrium. - -But he was dazed, and his every effort was a wavering struggle. He saw -his recent antagonist bearing down upon him and tried his best to steel -himself for the meeting, but although armed and his assailant unarmed, -his chances were hopeless. He was like a drunken man attempting to stab -a piece of cheese with a table-fork. - -“Mr. Boa,” the titled boche, brushed the bayonet aside like a reed in -his path and gripped the boy’s left arm with his powerful right hand. In -spite of his odd proportions, the fellow evidently had his share of -physical strength. Phil tried to twist himself loose, but his efforts -were of no avail. He must recover from the effects of the shock of the -fallen masonry before he could hope to resist an assailant of half his -ordinary strength. - -“Count Topoff” held the boy with one hand, and with the other wrenched -away his gun. This was rendered the more easy of performance by a -feeling of nausea that seized Phil and took away most of his remaining -strength. - -“Methinks that we have met before this time.” - -If Phil had not been in his present condition of physical weakness, -undoubtedly he would have observed with interest this evidence of a -knowledge of English on the part of his captor. But it did occur to him -with a sort of hazy giddiness that undoubtedly the fellow had understood -his comment on the insufficient length of a bayonet to reach through the -diameter of his girth. He was in just the condition of mind on the -moment to face death with a sense of sickly humor. - -“I suppose he’ll be taking a short cut measurement of my girth with a -bayonet pretty soon if I don’t come to pretty quick,” was one of the -ideas that whirled through the boy’s mind like a buzz-saw. “But he’s -disposed to play with me a little, I take it from the kind of English he -uses. Or is it because he got his knowledge of English by the study of -stilted poetry at Heidelberg?” - -“You played a nice trick on me and some of my comrades at Belleau Wood, -didn’t you?” the boche of odd proportions continued. “Now what do you -think I ought to do with you?” - -“You ought to be very careful what you do,” Phil replied with a fair -degree of energy, for the nausea was leaving him, although a severe -headache was setting in. “Remember that you are surrounded now by my -friends and if you take advantage of your temporary power over me, -they’ll see to it that I’m fully avenged.” - -“Oh, that isn’t bothering me,” returned “Count Topoff” with a wave of -disgust. “What I’m thinking about is this: I can kill you very easily -right now with your own bayonet. But suppose I spare your life—will you -help me to escape?” - -“How can I help you escape?” Phil inquired wonderingly. “I wouldn’t have -charge of you as a prisoner. I don’t want to promise to help you, and -then fall down on my promise.” - -“Oh, I’ll figure out a way, never fear,” was the “count’s” answer. “All -I want is your promise—but, hello, maybe I won’t need your help if I can -hail this passing ship. Come on, I’m going to kidnap you on a tank.” - -Before this speech was finished, Phil had observed the source of his -captor’s new interest. It was indeed a tank, a very large one, of a -design known to be peculiar to boche construction. It came crunching, -rattle-blasting, “caterpillaring” along right toward them. - -Topoff led his prisoner directly in front of the huge engine of war and -stood there waving one hand as if signaling it to stop. Phil hardly -expected the hail to receive any response, even though it came from a -“kamerad” who was easily recognized by his uniform, but it did. The tank -stopped within a few feet of them, a side door was thrown open and a man -called out something in German to Phil’s captor. - -The prisoner did not understand what was said, but it was evident that -the man in the tank recognized Topoff. Presently the latter said to his -prisoner: - -“Go in there, quick, or I’ll run this bayonet through you. Hurry up now; -I won’t stand any fooling. My opportunity to escape and take you along -has arrived. Get in quick.” - -Phil obeyed and the ponderous boche followed into the ponderous machine. -A moment or two later the tank was in motion again. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - TANKS AND “WATER CURE” - - -Phil had never before seen the inside of a tank, and in spite of the -uncomfortable situation in which he now found himself, his first impulse -was to look about him and see what sort of affair a “land battleship” -might be. - -But he was not given much opportunity for an undisturbed inspection of -the interior of the huge war engine at this time. Almost immediately -after the metal door was closed, events began to take place with much -greater volume and intensity than at any time during the machine guns -and infantry battle amid the ruins of the town. Apparently, this tank -had just arrived on the scene of the fight and, finding the battle going -hopelessly against the boches, turned and fled. But the reason for the -flight did not spring from any menace of infantry or machine guns. The -big war engine might have cleaned up a whole army of such comparative -pygmies and toys. It was the advance of half a dozen British tanks into -the fight that caused the crew of the “land battleship” to see the -unwisdom of tarrying on the field of the already lost battle and to turn -about and seek safety in flight. - -Phil was unable to see much outside. All the portholes were occupied by -members of the crew who manned the guns or handled the driving and -steering apparatus. Now and then he was able to get a narrow peek -through one of these ports, but with little satisfaction. The evidence -of the new turn of events since his capture came to his ears from -without and to his eyes within the car. - -The firing of what seemed to be a battery of heavy guns apprised him of -the approach of a “fleet” of British tanks. The din of the firing of the -guns of the huge war engine in which he was imprisoned and of the -attacking tanks was terrific. It seemed as if some of the shells that -struck the armor plate of the fleeing machine must surely pierce it -through and explode inside the car. - -Up and down over the heaps of debris went the big “land ship,” and after -it came the pursuing “caterpillar batteries.” Phil watched the contest -with every sense of perception on the alert. The inside of the boche -tank was illuminated principally with electric bulbs, for little light -came in through the portholes. Five men, a driver, a mechanician, and -three gunners, constituted the crew. The driver sat on a low cushioned -seat in the forward part of the car. About him, and within easy reach, -were the controlling apparatus, directing lever, clutch and brake -pedals, gear lever and steering clutch. Behind him was the starting -crank, and behind this were the radiator, ventilator, fuel tank and -motor. - -Every member of the crew was desperately busy with his own duties in -connection with the operation of the war engine and its battery. The -driver looked straight ahead as if he hoped to pull the tank along at -greater speed by fastening his gaze on a distant object; the gunners sat -in their hammock-like seats that swung easily back and forth and from -side to side to suit the will of the occupants as they loaded and fired; -and the mechanician was busy most of the time with an oil can, the -nozzle of which he poked into more holes and cups than a layman would -have imagined to exist in a machine several times the size of this one. - -Phil had no technical knowledge of artillery, but he saw at once that -the battery of this tank was heavy and of very destructive character. -The three pieces sent forth their murderous messages almost as rapidly, -it seemed, as the fire of a machine-gun. One of the gunners sat up in a -revolving turret, while the other two were in swinging “half-turrets” at -both sides. - -“Count Topoff” forced his prisoner into a sitting position on what -appeared to be a closed tool-chest near the starting crank and then sat -down beside him. There they waited and watched and listened, both strung -to the highest tension of eagerness, apprehension, expectancy. - -Phil, of course, longed for victory to crown the efforts of the pursuing -tanks, and yet he had to admit to himself that probably his own safety -depended upon the escape of his captors. Their defeat could be effected -only by crippling the caterpillar tread, or “chain-feet,” or by -exploding shells in the machinery. The former was difficult to do -because of the peculiar construction of the treads with many slanting -surface-sections, and about the only kind of shell that could be thrown -into the machinery was an explosive bullet about two inches in diameter, -specially made to pierce armor plate. - -Phil had no sure way of determining how near the British tanks -approached to the fleeing boche engine, but he inferred from the sound -of their guns that it would require a long and continued peppering away -to put the big enemy tank out of business. He suspected, too, that this -land-dreadnaught carried at least one anti-tank rifle capable of firing -high power explosives through the armor of the attacking “fleet.” He -gathered this suspicion from the one grim and gleeful remark that “the -count” screamed into his ear “between shots”: - -“We’ve knocked two of them out already, and we’ll fix all the rest the -same way if they don’t keep a slanting front to that gimlet-twist up -there.” - -Phil was unable to figure out how Topoff could determine the number of -British tanks that had been put out of commission, if indeed any had -suffered such disaster, but he now observed for the first time the -smaller gun alongside the heavy shell-piece in the revolving turret. He -also watched the gunner in the turret more closely and before long he -understood clearly that the fellow was constantly on the alert for an -opening for an effective shot with the smaller piece. - -The battle continued thus for half an hour, but the British tanks seemed -to be unable to stop the big boche battler. At last the firing ceased. - -“What’s happened?” Phil ventured to inquire of the boche of big -circumference. - -“It’s all over and we’ve won, as we always will do,” was the latter’s -answer. “It was a stern chase for your British friends and we’ve sunk -half their fleet and peppered the sails of the rest of them so full of -holes that they won’t hold a cupful of wind.” - -“I’ll admit you’ve got a good pair of sea legs and ran a good race for a -tank, but I’d like to know how you can tell what your gunners did -without being able to see much farther than the end of your nose,” Phil -returned skeptically. - -“Ah,” said the other with an air of deep mystery; “that remark -demonstrates one of the great failings of you Americans. You can’t -understand the superior intelligence of the race you are foolishly -trying to whip. But you are going to wake up before long.” - -“What is going to wake us up?” Phil inquired curiously. His curiosity, -however, was directed more at the personal puzzle in “the count” than -the information “the count” might be able to communicate. - -“Water,” replied the “war prophet.” - -Phil looked at his captor a little more keenly, wondering if, after all, -this supposed relative of the kaiser were not a little off in his -“turret.” - -“Maybe he thinks he has an anti-tank gun in his head and has just fired -an explosive bullet into me,” the boy mused. “My! what a wise squint he -has in his eyes.” - -“How is water going to wake us up?” Phil asked after a few moments’ -silent contemplation of the strange fellow on the box beside him. - -“How?” repeated the latter, looking his prisoner hard in the face. -“Don’t you know what’ll wake a sleeping man up quicker than anything -else?” - -“No,” replied Phil calmly, but with a well-mimicked open-mouthed -ingenuousness. “What will wake a sleeping man up quicker than anything -else?” - -“Throw a pail of water on him,” said Topoff. - -“Well?” Phil queried with sustained simple-mindedness. - -“Well!” roared “the count” with voluminous contempt; “I believe you’re -just fool enough to think that’s the way we’re going to wake you up.” - -“Isn’t it?” Phil asked, provokingly. - -“No!” the boche officer bellowed, and the boy began to fear he had -carried the matter too far. Perhaps even now an attack of insane -violence could not be averted. - -“No,” repeated “the count,” his face becoming flushed with, crimson -hate; “we’re going to push you all, Americans, English, French, -Belgians, into the Atlantic Ocean; then you’ll wake up.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV - FROM TANK TO LIMOUSINE - - -The big tank was still laboring along with the retreating boche army, -although no more shells were being hurled at her. The defeat and rout -effected by the dash and daring of the “devil-hound” Marines had been -complete and this powerful “dreadnaught,” although uninjured by the -score or more of shells that struck her, evidently was unfitted to fight -a finish fight with the “fleet of land cruisers” of the enemy, in the -opinion of her crew. - -The engine made a good deal of noise as the huge war machine -“caterpillared” along, and Phil and “the count” had to lift their voices -to high pitch in order to be understood during their conversation. -Although the battle had resulted in disaster for the kaiser’s army, -still the “titled Topoff” appeared to gloat with satisfaction over such -phases of the engagement as could be shown to have an element of glory -for the boches. He seemed to have no eye, ear, taste, or smell of -appreciation for anything that suggested defeat for his soldier -comrades. - -“He’s awfully conceited, but not such a fool as I thought he was,” Phil -mused during a lapse of the conversation. “That was a fairly clever joke -he put over on me about the water cure, but I don’t believe he saw the -joke himself. He seems to take himself seriously even when he says -something funny.” - -Fifteen or twenty minutes after the finish of the battle, the tank came -to a standstill, and the door in the right side was opened. Topoff then -ordered his prisoner to get out and followed close at his heels. Outside -the tank, “the count” seized the boy’s arm with one hand and led him -along—whither, Phil was curious to know. - -The defeated army had retreated to a new line and dropped into a series -of trenches undoubtedly occupied by them, or the French, during an -earlier stage of the big boche offensive. The most feverish activity -marked the scene, which extended north and south as far as eye could see -and east and west for a depth of about half a mile. The country -consisted of a succession of rolling hills, but Phil was able to command -a good view of proceedings from the eminence on which he stood. The -trenches had suffered considerably from shell explosions and rainy -weather since their last condition of serviceability, and consequently -there was much to do now to get them back into the most comfortable -shape possible. - -All this Phil gleaned with little more than a sweep of the eye, for he -was not left in leisurely contemplation of the scene more than a minute -or two. He was suddenly aroused from his spell of enchantment by a new -order from “Mr. Boaconstrictor.” - -“Come on,” said the latter; “no time to waste.” - -Phil accompanied his captor to the foot of the hill behind the front -line trench, and there “the count” held a short consultation with a -superior officer. They conversed in German, and the prisoner was unable -to understand much that they said. However, he did glean this from -several disgruntled remarks: that very few prisoners had been taken in -the recent engagement, due, no doubt, to the boches’ heavy defeat, and -there seemed to be no others in the vicinity to corral with Phil. - -“Am I the only prisoner in the hands of these badly defeated boches in -this sector?” the boy mused. “I feel very much honored, also -considerably ashamed of myself. Well, it’s some consolation to realize -that I wouldn’t be here if a side of a house hadn’t fallen on top o’ -me.” - -A peculiar circumstance in this interview struck Phil so forcibly that -the impression remained with him almost constantly as long as the -mystery surrounding “Count Boaconstrictor Topoff” was unexplained. This -was the manifest attention and deference shown the oddly shaped -lieutenant by the superior officer, whose insignia indicated that he -bore the rank of major. - -“I can’t understand it,” Phil mused with a puzzled confusion. “From the -way everybody bows and scrapes before him, one might think he’s the -kaiser himself. The officers all seem to know him at sight, and if it -weren’t contrary to military form, I believe they’d bend before him in -the middle like jackknives. He must be something more than a count. -Maybe I ought to feel honored at being his prisoner.” - -The interview developed remarkable characteristics more and more as it -progressed. “The count” became more and more demonstrative and finally -was giving unmistakable orders to the major, who apparently acquiesced -to everything the second lieutenant said. Finally the subservient -superior officer scribbled a few words on a bit of paper and delivered -it to an orderly with instruction as to what to do with it. - -The orderly jumped onto a motorcycle and dashed away on his errand. Phil -did not watch him after his departure, as he would have done if he had -suspected that the note had any bearing on what was to be done with him -as a prisoner of war. He was considerably surprised when, a few minutes -later, the messenger returned, followed by an automobile driven by a -soldier in uniform. It was a large closed limousine, hardly the kind one -would expect to see on a battlefield. - -“Pile in,” ordered Topoff, taking hold of his prisoner’s arm and half -dragging him toward the machine. - -Phil obeyed the order literally. He was so astonished he could do -nothing with any degree of grace. He “piled into” the automobile and -stumbled and fell onto the rear seat. “Mr. Boa” also squeezed into the -car and sat down beside the boy, taking up so much room that he pushed -the Yank against the upholstered side hard enough to render breathing -difficult. Then he gave an order through a speaking tube to the driver, -and they were whirled away to the rear of the Prussian lines. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV - IN A TIGHT PLACE - - -“Well, if this doesn’t beat any adventure ever had outside the Arabian -Nights, I’ll eat a Zeppelin alive,” Phil mused with all the pep of an -ejaculation. “If somebody doesn’t clear up the mystery of this amorphous -monster of a man pretty soon, I’ll bu’st.” - -It surely was a confusing situation, with a puzzling personality to add -to the bewilderment. Phil would gladly have dismissed the subject from -his mind if such thing had been possible, but he soon found this out of -the question, so he attempted to quiet his nerves by venturing a -conversation with his captor. He decided to make this attempt by an -appeal to the unmistakable vanity of “the count.” - -“May I ask you how it happens that you speak the American language so -well?” he inquired. - -Topoff turned quickly toward the boy and fired back at him in his usual -high-pitched tone of voice: - -“May I ask you why you call it the American language instead of the -English?” - -“I suppose I may as well tell you the truth,” Phil answered, somewhat -crestfallen. “I thought I’d be more likely to get an answer out of you -if I steered clear of that word English. I understand you people hate -the English worse than anything else in the world.” - -“Right you are, boy, right you are,” was the vehement reply of the big -boche. “I hate them worse than poison, as does every other true subject -of the kaiser. That was good diplomacy on your part, but it didn’t work -on me, did it? Did you see how quickly I called you for it?” - -“Yes, I did, and I’m not going to try anything on you again. But may I -repeat my question? You speak the best of English, and your accent is -perfect. How did you do it?” - -“That isn’t the only mystery about me that is puzzling you, is it?” -returned Topoff sharply. - -“No, it isn’t,” Phil admitted frankly. “You’re by far the most -mysterious man I ever met. I could sit here and fire questions at you -all day, seeking an explanation of this and that.” - -“Your first question is very simple,” answered the boche officer, -swelling with pride and almost crushing the boy against the side of the -car. “I studied in both England and America, also in France. I speak -French just as well as English.” - -“I must admit that you studied well,” Phil observed genuinely enough, -yet with the view of winning the fellow’s favor by an appeal to his -vanity. - -“I didn’t do much studying at all,” Topoff flashed back. “Learning -always came easy to me.” - -He “swelled” his prisoner still harder against the well padded -upholstering, so that the latter was scarcely able to restrain an outcry -of pain. After the puff of pride had relaxed, the boy said to himself: - -“This is the most monumental exhibition of conceit I ever saw in my -life. But I must keep him going, in spite of the habit he has of -swelling up like a gas bag every time I tickle his vanity. Maybe I can -get used to these tight quarters. I wonder how long this journey is -going to last.” - -By this time they had passed the rear line trenches and were speeding -past a company of artillerymen who were busy emplacing and camouflaging -their field pieces in a bushy hollow. The automobile was tearing along -at high speed, and in a short time they had left behind the fighting -belt of trenches and ordnance and were traversing a broad territory of -supply stations and relief and reinforcement camps. - -Phil now found himself almost forced to resort to methods that he did -not like, and, yet, the situation was in a considerable degree amusing. -In order to bring about a condition that might prove favorable to -himself, he saw that he must continue to play on his captor’s vanity. -But it was a problem how to do this successfully. This ungainly and -vainglorious anomaly of military officialdom was certainly a queer -offshoot of humanity, but not a fool in all respects, according to a -conclusion reached by Phil in more simple language. - -“I don’t believe he’d fall for flat flattery,” the boy mused; “but I -believe I can get him going if I work it right. It makes me feel kind o’ -small to engage in such business, but that’s one of the penalties of -war, and we all have to be victims of some sort. There’s one thing I’d -like to find out above everything else, and that is how he manages to -violate every principle of military authority and get away with it. If I -could get an answer to that question, perhaps I could find out what he’s -going to do with me and perhaps prevail on him to go slow on any rough -stuff he may have in mind. It’s just possible he’s bent on revenge for -the indignity I heaped on him at Belleau Wood. Well, here goes for a try -anyway at some—some—suggestive flattery; yes, that’s a good name for -it—suggestive flattery—to make him swell out so big, horizontally, that -I’ll be pushed—right—through—yes, right through—happy thought!—the side -of this limousine and escape. Oh!” - -Phil did not, of course, utter this “exclamation” aloud, but he gave a -sudden start that aroused the curiosity of “the count” quite as -thoroughly as if he had expressed aloud the eagerness in his mind with -the interjection that he succeeded in holding behind his lips. - -“It’s the very idea I’ve been waiting for ever since I fell into this -fellow’s hands,” Phil told himself, returning the curious look of his -captor with another of naive innocence. “If this doesn’t work, I may as -well jump into the first river we come to.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI - SUGGESTIVE FLATTERY - - -“Do you know,” said Phil, with a manner of meditative musing, “you -remind me of something that has caused a good deal of comment all over -America on a number of occasions?” - -The prisoner stopped to observe the effect of his question, but not with -the expectation of receiving an answer. The query was of a rhetorical -character hardly calling for more of a return than a manifestation of -interest. However, the effect on “Count Topoff’s” vanity moved him to -answer in as matter-of-fact a manner as if he were being quizzed on a -problem in arithmetic. - -“No, indeed,” he said. “Is that so? How is it that I remind you of such -a thing?” - -“Now, I’ve got to appeal to his intelligence as well as to his vanity,” -the flattery plotter mused. “I mustn’t fall down on this. I must handle -it so that he can’t help reading glory for himself between every two -words.” - -He hesitated several moments, really for the purpose of phrasing his -ideas, although he attempted to resume an impressive attitude of -meditation. Then he said: - -“Every now and then in America, we hear of a son of some -multi-millionaire starting at the bottom of some business in order to -learn it from the ground up. He sometimes dons overalls and enters the -shops of a foundry or other mechanical plant. He puts himself on a level -with the man who earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, in order that -when he reaches the top—maybe president of the company—there may be no -element of the business that he won’t understand.” - -Phil paused for time to consider how next to proceed. He figured also -that his captor might interpose a remark of some sort that would aid him -in the development of his vanity trap. But the looked-for remark proved -to be more confusing than helpful. - -“Boy,” said “the count,” with seeming irrelevance and casting a sharp -glance at his prisoner; “have you any idea whose car you’re riding in?” - -“No,” Phil replied quickly; “unless it’s yours.” - -“It belongs to the emperor of Germany,” was the rather startling -announcement. - -The boy was silent for some moments. He was in doubt at first whether to -believe “the count’s” statement or to regard it as a bit of frivolous -fiction. Then he decided it was best to appear, at least, to accept it -as worthy of his credence. - -“Is that so?” he said with affected eagerness of interest. “I’ll have -something big to tell my friends when I get back home—that I rode in the -kaiser’s car.” - -“That is, if you ever get back home,” interposed “the count.” - -“To be sure,” Phil agreed quickly. “The fortunes of war are very -uncertain.” - -“Yes, in most wars; but in this war the fortunes and misfortunes are -absolutely fixed and have been fixed ever since it started,” said -Topoff, with unpleasant insinuation in his tone of voice. “I suppose you -know how this war is going to result.” - -“No, I can’t say that I do. Can you tell me how it’s going to result?” - -“Certainly. It’s going to result in complete victory for the central -allies. You ought to have been able to answer that question.” - -“I suppose so,” Phil returned slowly. “But the question that now -interests me most is, what is going to become of me in the meantime?” - -“What do you think ought to become of you?” - -“It isn’t a question of oughtness. I imagine it’s a question of your own -disposition. I seem to be your personal prisoner.” - -“We’ve been rambling a good deal in our conversation,” said Topoff. -“Let’s go back and pick up the broken threads and tie them together. -Now, did you understand why I told you who owned this car?” - -“No,” Phil replied. - -“The reason is very simple. You had been comparing me with the sons of -wealthy men who enter shops to learn, from the ground up, the business -they propose to follow. Well, you weren’t very far off in your -comparison. I’ve been doing the same thing in military life. That’s why -you’ve seen me fighting shoulder to shoulder with privates in the front -ranks, although I can give orders to captains, colonels, majors and -generals. If I can command the use of one of the emperor’s automobiles, -it’s reasonable to believe that I belong pretty high up, isn’t it?” - -“Yes, it is,” the Marine sergeant answered. “I would assume that you -must be related to the kaiser. Is it a fact that you are a cousin of his -and that you are known as Count Topoff?” - -“Where did you ever learn that?” “the count” demanded, gazing sharply at -his youthful prisoner. - -Phil shuddered apprehensively at the almost threatening manner of his -captor. Was he, indeed, in possession of a secret regarding “Mr. -Boaconstrictor’s” identity which was supposed to be known to only a -favored and responsible few? - -“You’d better explain how you got that information,” declared “the -count” with menacing coldness; “and you’ll have to make your explanation -very clear and straightforward if you escape a firing squad. It looks -very much to me as if you are a spy.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII - A USELESS ARGUMENT - - -“I’ve got to go the limit now in flattering this man’s vanity,” was the -conclusion that flashed through Phil’s mind as he listened to his -captor’s coldly worded spy-suspicion. “And I’ve got to work fast, too.” - -Then he addressed the occupant of more than two-thirds of the seat as -follows: - -“Let me subject myself to a test under your detective microscope, if you -please. I must tell my story rapidly, so that you cannot accuse me of -taking time to think it up. If I tell the truth so that you can’t -puncture it with any reasonable doubt, will you assume that I am not a -spy until there is some evidence tending to prove that I am one?” - -“Of course,” replied Topoff with high-pitched, cutting tone peculiar to -him. Every time it rasped into Phil’s ear it gave him “apprehensive -creeps,” but the situation was desperate now, and the boy decided to -disregard it. - -“You have recognized me, I take it, as the American soldier who engaged -in a rather spectacular contest with a squad under your command in -Belleau Wood a few weeks ago,” Phil continued. - -Topoff nodded with another affirmative squeak. - -“Did you know that I was in that bunch of prisoners that you started to -take back to your nearest railroad communication?—I presume that was -where you were taking us?” - -“You bet I knew it,” “the count” answered with a nod of significance, -which indicated that the author of the “novel disarmament” of the boches -in the wooded ravine had not been forgotten. - -“Well, I was one of the fellows that engineered our escape,” Phil -continued. “But I didn’t get the information myself about your identity. -One of the other fellows who understood German overheard your -conversation with Hertz down in the sandpit and told us all about it. -Naturally we didn’t want to be blown to atoms with bombs dropped from -Hertz’s aeroplane; so we decided to seek more healthful quarters. That’s -all there is to it. Now, have I proved to your satisfaction that I’m not -a spy?” - -“No, you haven’t proved anything,” Topoff answered with a sneering look -at his prisoner, “until you explain how you managed to hide a company of -soldiers right in our midst ready to spring out and attack us in a -manner that nobody in the wide world would ever think possible. If it -hadn’t been for your little handful of men, we’d ’ave held the American -army and would now be driving them back. Can you guess now what I’m -going to do with you?” - -“No,” Phil replied eagerly, but not without some apprehension. - -“I’m going to put you through a ‘sweating’ process that will make the -worst ‘sweating’ given a suspected criminal in the Tower of London look -like a royal reception to the crown prince,” announced “Count Topoff” -with some more of his villainous sharpness of voice. “You’re going to -have an experience that will make you remember your uninvited visit to -Europe away beyond the River Jordan or the River Styx, wherever you go -after you give up the ghost.” - -“But we were invited here,” Phil answered, with a chill of apprehension -that his vanity plot was doomed to failure. - -“You invited yourselves here,” piped the big fellow, with an angry -swelling of his form decidedly uncomfortable to the boy beside him. “Any -other statement from you is a lie.” - -Phil ached to give the blustering boche a sharp answer about submarines -and the torture of women and children, but he wisely restrained the -impulse. - -“I think I can answer right now any questions you may put to me to -settle your suspicion about my being a spy,” he said resolutely. “You’d -better put the question to me now before I have time to think up a -story. If I hesitate, you’ll know you’ve caught me; if I tell a clear, -well-connected and rapid story, you ought to give me credit of telling -the truth.” - -“No,” insisted “the count,” whose constitutional brutality seemed to be -showing itself more and more on the surface; “you had an opportunity to -go on with your story without waiting for any more questions. You’ve -been hesitating and talking about other things for several minutes in -order to take time to think up an answer to the last question I put to -you. When I told you you’d have to explain how you managed to hide a -company of soldiers right inside our lines and near the battle front -ready to spring out and throw our forces into confusion, why didn’t you -answer right away?” - -“Because you stopped me by putting another question,” Phil replied -without hesitation. “You asked me if I could guess what you were going -to do with me.” - -“And you took that as an excuse to delay answering the other question. -You think you’re very sharp, don’t you?” - -“I can answer that question in a very reasonable way,” Phil insisted. -“It’s the only explanation any living man could give. You can’t, with -all your experience, conceive of another intelligent explanation. The -so-called company that I was with consisted of only the soldiers who -escaped from the guard under your command a few weeks ago. We hid in the -daytime and traveled at night, creeping nearer and nearer to the front. -At last we got as near as we thought safe and hid ourselves in dark -buildings and basements and waited for the American drive at Chateau -Thierry. When it came and your soldiers were pushed back to the point -where we were hidden, we jumped out and made our attack.” - -“Too thin, too thin, my boy,” declared Topoff with a sneer. “I thought -you’d cook up some such story.” - -“Keep up your ‘sweating’ process,” Phil insisted. “Don’t give me any -time to think up anything more. Fire your questions at me like a -machine-gun. Surely with your keenness of mind you can catch me if I’ve -been lying.” - -“No, no, nothing more now,” returned Topoff with a doggedness of manner -and a glitter of hate in his eyes. “I haven’t begun to ‘sweat’ you yet. -You see, I didn’t bring any ‘sweating’ machinery along.” - -His eyes fairly bulged with bestial cruelty as he made this announcement -with an implied promise of torture that caused a succession of shudders -to shake the boy’s frame in spite of his efforts to resist and control -the panic attack that he felt coming. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII - WHAT THE LIGHTNING REVEALED - - -“Sweating machinery! What is it?” - -This question rang in Phil’s brain during all the rest of the drive. -Under the play of his stimulated imagination it became a nightmare -transferred into an atmosphere of reality. There was no point in the -progress of the continuous tragic dread where he could say to himself, -even as one might say in his sleep: “Oh, this is only a dream.” - -Who was this more-than-ever mysterious man? What was the explanation of -his anomalous position and his tyrannical manner? - -That he was a man of power and authority could no longer be doubted. -Phil had at first been inclined to regard this blustering trip-voiced -misfit of a soldier as an unaccountable joke, but he was fully convinced -now that his judgment was decidedly in error in this respect. - -On, on they went in a general north-easterly direction. They passed over -a crudely repaired bridge that spanned the River Aisne, though Phil did -not know at the time what stream it was. They dashed along deep rutted -thoroughfares, which engineering crews were trying vainly to keep in -smooth-surfaced repair; they passed miles of truck caravans and marching -soldiers, also numerous supply stations, around which were usually -camped large bodies of soldiers held in reserve to be placed here and -there on the battle front as needed. Before long, however, the long -lines of moving camions ceased to appear, and the boy concluded that -this was an indication that the captured French railroads had been put -back into operation up to this point. - -Most of the towns that they passed through were in states of partial or -total ruin. The greater portion of the inhabitants of the entire country -apparently had moved ahead of the boche advance as refugees, or had been -transported into the enemy’s country to labor there, while men, women -and children of bocheland fought or prepared supplies for the fighters. - -Much of this, however, Phil saw in the dusk of evening, for they had not -traveled more than two or three hours when the sun began to sink below -the western horizon. On, on, they went, through the gathering gloom, -then through the thickening darkness. Although they passed a number of -military stations where food might have been obtained for the asking, -they did not stop for supper. On, on, on, into the night they continued -their course, how late the prisoner could only conjecture from his own -weariness and hunger. - -But at last the journey came to an end, as all journeys do. It had -produced a good many surprises for Phil, nor was the least of these the -one that met him at the finish. - -Hardly an area of any considerable size in the course of the drive had -the prisoner observed that did not bear some evidence of battle -devastation. This condition was evident even in the latter part of the -journey, which was in the darkness of the early half of the night. They -passed close to the ruins of many houses and other buildings, and found -it necessary to drive slower after sunset in order to avoid “turning -turtle” in the numerous shell holes of the road, which had been repaired -with great haste and imperfection in those parts of the invaded country -where the railroads remained in operation. - -Moreover, an hour or two before they reached the end of their journey, -the sky became heavily clouded and much rain fell. This made it -necessary to drive with even greater care, so that the rate at which -they covered the ground during this dark and rainy period was little -more than a creep, as compared with the speed maintained in the hours of -daylight. - -Phil was able to see but little of his surroundings for a time, except -directly in front of the machine, as they neared their place of -destination. The storm had abated somewhat, but the sky had not cleared, -and the darkness was just as intense as ever. Then suddenly the storm -burst anew with a heavier downpour than at any time since the rain began -to fall, and the lightning, which had flashed with indifferent -illumination, blazed forth with great brilliance and frequency. - -By the aid of this light, Phil saw that they were entering a drive that -ran through a woods of considerable size. Phil was interested as well as -awed by this new development. The surroundings were not at all cheerful, -especially in view of the circumstances, but the situation was decidedly -impressive nevertheless. - -“If I were back in my fairy-story days, I’d imagine that I’m being -carried captive into an ogre’s den,” the boy half-muttered to himself -after they had ridden several minutes along the drive. “Hello!” he -almost exclaimed a minute later. “Here’s the ogre’s castle, all right.” - -There was good cause for this play of grewsome imagination. It was -revealed by a specially brilliant flash of lightning that lighted the -surroundings like day. Before them in a comparatively small clearing was -a magnificent structure of mediaeval mass, lines and turrets. To a -tourist it would have been greeted with rapturous recollections of a -romantic past; to Phil it was a picture of apprehension of horror. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX - “THE CASTLE OF THE HUMAN SNAKE” - - -The driver had driven the car under a large and heavily pillared shelter -at one side of the chateau, and he now honked his horn, evidently as a -signal to someone inside. Presently a burly Prussian servant came out, -carrying a powerful hand searchlight, with which he supplemented the -front lights of the automobile. The rain continued to come down in -torrents and the lightning to flash and the thunder to clap heavily. -However, the travelers were well protected under the shelter, so that -there was no need to hurry inside. - -Phil would have broken loose and made a dash into the uncomfortable -storm and the pitch-dark forest if there had been any opportunity for -him to do so. But, evidently, “the count” anticipated that he might -attempt such a move and kept a firm hold on one arm of his prisoner. The -servant also, well schooled in his duties, took hold of the other arm of -the boy, who was thus led through a massive entrance into the building. - -It was a dingy looking place into which Phil was conducted. Undoubtedly -this appearance was a result of two principal conditions, for, with -quite as little doubt, this chateau had been kept in excellent condition -before the war. First, the light was poor, being supplied principally -with oil lamps and candles. The electric flash-light, in the hands of -the servant, when switched on, caused the other lights to fade into -insignificance. Second, the number of servants available for the -maintenance of so large an establishment must have been small indeed. - -But an unmistakable atmosphere of luxury, in spite of its mustiness, -almost blew into Phil’s face as he entered. A breath of rich tapestries -and soft velvety rugs met in sharp contrast the gust of wet-woods wind -that forced itself in past the midnight arrivals. But for this contrast, -perhaps the neglected richness of the interior would not have impressed -itself so noticeably on the prisoner’s olfactory sense. - -The room into which Phil was first inducted was a large reception hall, -which opened upon two other apartments, one to the left and one straight -ahead, through wide high-arched doorways, partly closed with heavy -portieres. The boy was led straight forward through the latter doorway -and into a large room whose rich decorations and furniture were only -vaguely discernible by the light of two or three candles on a deep -mantel over a great fireplace. - -Here Topoff gave instructions in German to the servant and left the -latter alone to proceed with the prisoner. Phil next found himself being -conducted through a long hall and then down a flight of stairs to a -basement floor. There he was thrust into a dark room and the door was -closed and locked. - -It was a most unceremonious proceeding, but Phil decided that he could -hardly expect anything else under the circumstances. He forgot for the -moment that he was wretchedly hungry, in his eagerness and anxiety to -learn the character of his quarters. He began his examination of the -place by getting down on his hands and knees. Then he realized for the -first time that he was on a floor of cold, hard clay, like that of a -deep cellar. - -Suddenly his investigation was aided by a brilliant flash of lightning, -which afforded him a good view of the floor of his prison. There was -nothing of particular interest in it except a board platform at the -farther side of the room, probably built there as a dry elevation for -vegetables harvested from lands of the estate. No such articles of raw -food, however, were on it now. - -“That’ll be a much better place for me to sleep on than this -pneumonia-and-rheumatism floor,” Phil muttered. “I think I’ll go over -there and try to sleep. I wonder if I can.” - -He had good reason to doubt his ability to forget his physical and -mental distress in slumber, and the effort he made was therefore the -more courageous. As he lay down on his back, another flash of lightning -illuminated the room, so that he had now a fairly complete picture in -his mind as to the size and character of his prison. - -It was circular, like a huge cistern, and deep. A curved wall of masonry -arose on all sides. Midway between floor and ceiling and far above his -reach were two long, narrow, deep windows. The diameter of the -cylindrical room was twenty-five or thirty feet. - -“A regular donjon, or dungeon, of a mediaeval castle,” Phil said to -himself. He almost uttered the words aloud, just to satisfy his -curiosity as to how his voice would sound, but a dread of the awe-thrill -that would probably follow controlled the impulse. - -“I’m going to do my best to go to sleep,” he resolved. “Goodness -knows, I need it bad enough, and maybe this place won’t seem so -dreadful in the morning. I wonder if they’ll give me anything to eat -then, or if starvation is a concomitant of that villain’s sweating -machinery. Concomitant is a good word under the circumstances, I -guess. It ought to go well with a donjon of a castle keep. Just to -think! the position ’u’d be reversed and I’d have that monster of big -circumference in limbo behind the Marine lines at Chateau Thierry if -that tall slim piece of a wall hadn’t toppled over on top o’ me. But -instead of his being under guard at Chateau Thierry, I’m in a cellar -tomb in Chateau—Chateau—what’ll I call it? Oh, yes, I’ll call it -Chateau Boaconstrictor, or the Castle of the Human Snake.” - -His dread of what the near future might have in store for him being thus -mollified somewhat by his damp-dungeon serpentine wit, Phil dozed -several minutes over the grewsome idea and then fell hungrily asleep. - - - - - CHAPTER XL - A ROOM OF TORTURE - - -Phil was awakened in the morning by the creaking of his prison door, and -opened his eyes to behold the jailer of his midnight imprisonment -advancing toward him. He observed now, as he had not noticed when he -first saw him, that this fellow wore a military uniform. - -With a few words in German and expressive movements of his hands, the -jailer indicated to the boy an order to come with him, and the prisoner -obeyed. Up the stairs they went and into a very strange room occupied by -that very strange man, “Count Topoff.” Strewn about in the apartment -were a dozen or more remarkable contrivances, a few of which indicated -the probable general character of all of them. One was plainly a pillory -with holes for the head and the hands, but within the hand holes -projected many sharp metal points, while on the stand for the -undoubtedly barefooted pilloried victim were a hundred or more sharp -metal points projecting upwards. There were also hanging on the wall -numerous straps and belts, some of them crossed and riveted here and -there until they bore the appearance of elaborate body-brace or harness, -while from various ends hung numerous sharp-toothed jaw-clasps. -Overhead, suspended on a pulley by a long rope, was what appeared to be -a head harness. The other end of the rope was caught around a cleat over -against the wall. - -Phil shuddered at the sight. Here was cruelty apparatus of the most -fiendish ingenuity. And there could be no doubt that it was intended to -be used and that “Count Topoff” was the very fellow to use it with -frigid glee. - -The prisoner was aroused from his secretly shrinking contemplation of -the prospect before him by the voice of “the count,” who addressed him -in English, thus: - -“You see, most foolish American, what is in store for you unless you -give me a true explanation of what took place this side of Chateau -Thierry. Now, I’ll give you one more chance before the course of -persuasion begins. By telling me the truth, you can escape all that you -see before you.” - -His voice was more repulsive than it had been at any time before in -Phil’s hearing. The high-pitched, tripping near-stutter, if the speaker -had spoken from a position of concealment, might have caused any hearer -to suspect that the utterances popped forth from the lips of a bully of -imp-land. - -“But,” Phil protested, hopelessly, it is true, “I have already told you -the truth. You surely don’t want me to fabricate a yarn just to escape -your cruelty.” - -“No,” thundered the big fellow. “I want the truth. If you lie, I’ll know -it at once and something worse will follow. Orderly, knee-splints, -toe-thumb.” - -The direction was given in English, but it evidently was understood. The -orderly picked up two pieces of pine board, about three inches wide, an -inch thick and a little more than two feet long. These he proceeded to -strap to Phil’s legs, behind, so that the prisoner was unable to bend -his knees. Then he tied a string to each of the boy’s thumbs and with -the persuasive power of a strong pull drew those digits down against the -victim’s great toes and tied these two extremities together. - -“There,” rattled the boche military ogre, as he viewed the plight of his -prisoner with evident enjoyment; “when you decide you’re ready to tell -the truth, send for me.” - -“I don’t know what to tell you besides what I’ve already told,” replied -Phil desperately, for the pain of his cramped position was already -testing his endurance. - -“Think, think hard!” advised “the count” as he left the room. - -The orderly also departed, and the victim was left alone in his misery. -The latter twisted and squirmed into every possible position to relieve -his distress. The strain on his legs, back, thumbs and toes was so -uniformly painful that he only increased his misery when he added -tension at one point or portion to relieve the others. - -Anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour after Topoff and the orderly -left, another man in coarse tattered civilian garments appeared, bearing -a tray of steaming food. As he set it down before the prisoner, he -startled the latter with the following speech, scarcely above a whisper: - -“This is not intended for you to eat, only to look at. If you try to eat -it, you’ll find it full of the hottest of red pepper. By the way, I’m an -English spy and want to give you a little advice. Think up some kind of -plausible story and tell it to ‘the count’ in the place of the one he -refuses to believe. Grit your teeth, stick through your torment, for -help is on the way, I hope. As soon as you think up a story that you -think will stand a test of reason, yell to the orderly and tell him that -you’re ready to give in.” - -“He can’t understand me, can he?” Phil returned. - -“Oh, yes, he can understand a good deal, although he pretends to be -contemptuously ignorant of the hated English tongue. Good-by, now, I -must go, but I’ll keep my eyes open and will do everything that I can -for you.” - -The spy glided swiftly out of the room, leaving the tray of food setting -on the floor. - -Encouraged by the fact of the nearness of a friend and the assurance -that there was reasonable hope of rescue, Phil cudgeled his brain hard -for an inspiration to think up a plausible story to tell his tormentor. -The strain of pain and necessity helped him wonderfully, and in a short -time he was yelling at the top of his voice to the orderly. The latter -strolled in in leisurely manner after the boy yelled two or three -minutes. - -“Tell ‘the count’ I’m ready to tell the truth,” Phil announced in -pleading tones, which were genuine enough, in spite of the fiction plot -behind them. - -Without a word the orderly went out of the room and soon returned -accompanied by “Count Topoff.” - -“Ready to tell me the truth?” snapped the latter, addressing the -suffering prisoner. - -“Yes, yes,” cried Phil, designedly making no effort to conceal his -distress. - -Topoff gave the orderly directions in German, and the latter proceeded -to cut the strings that bound the boy’s thumbs and great toes together. - - - - - CHAPTER XLI - THE “SUBTERRENE” - - -The first impression that struck Phil forcibly as “Count Topoff” entered -the room was the fact that he had been drinking. This reminded him of -the drink-fest that had incapacitated “the count” and his command of -guards, in a French inn a few weeks previously, to prevent the prisoners -in their charge from turning the tables on them. - -“It’s probably lucky for me that he was too much under the influence to -remember the trick we played on them when we saw to it that every -‘drunk’ among them was super-drunk,” the boy mused after the strain of -his torture had been relieved by the cutting of his thumb-toe bonds. - -Topoff wasted no time in the carrying out of the portion of his program -now due. Although plainly flushed with the liquor he had drunk recently, -there was nothing maudlin in his manner, and he had full command of his -usual wits. - -“Well, go ahead with your yarn,” he ordered, sitting down in an armchair -ancient enough in appearance to have belonged to the days of -Charlemagne. “But hold on. Do you realize what is going to happen to you -if you lie? You’re going into that pillory, with your bare feet on those -sharp steel points. Now go ahead, but you’d better not talk at all if -you’re thinking of telling me another string of lies.” - -Phil’s resolution was almost shattered at this prospect, and he was on -the verge of confessing the untruth of his purpose, when it occurred to -him that torture on the puncturing pillory could hardly be worse than -the agony he suffered in the unendurable attitude from which he had just -been released. - -“If I have to die or torture, I don’t see that there’s much choice -between these two ways,” he concluded. “So here goes, hoping I’ll be -able to pull the wool over his eyes.” - -“The truth is this,” he continued aloud with a camouflage of -desperation, “and may my native land never know of my traitorous act. -There’s really no need of my begging you to have mercy on me after -you’ve learned the truth from me, for I shall be so ashamed of my -cowardice that I shan’t be satisfied until I find a place where I can -hide my face from every other man on earth.” - -As he spoke Phil covertly watched the countenance of Topoff and was -gratified with the evidence of growing and expectant interest that he -saw there. - -“You people,” he continued, looking his captor straight in the eye, -“perfected the submarine and used it as a most destructive war engine. -America has just completed her invention of the subterrene, and will -soon be able with it to undermine any battle front you may be able to -establish.” - -“What is the subterrene?” demanded “the count,” leaning forward eagerly. - -“The word, I think, will explain itself to a man of your learning,” -replied the boy, recalling his flattery weapon. “It’s a machine that -bores a hole seven or eight feet in diameter right through the earth at -the rate of about a mile a day. It was through the first tunnel of the -first machine delivered at the battle front that I led a company of -soldiers into the basement of one of those buildings behind your lines -near Chateau Thierry.” - -“And who invented that machine?” inquired the now excited and somewhat -bewildered Topoff. - -“Thomas A. Edison,” Phil answered, uttering that magic name with a -swelling of hero worship and national pride. - -The count meditated a few moments. It was evident that he was deeply -impressed with his prisoner’s story. - -“How many of those machines has the American army?” he asked. - -“Of course, I can’t say as to that,” Phil replied slowly. “But there’s -only one at the part of the front with which I’m familiar. However, I -understand they’re being made as rapidly as possible to be rushed all -along the American, English, and French fronts.” - -Again Topoff lapsed into meditation. This time he was silent longer than -before. Then suddenly he looked up sharply at his “fabulizing informant” -and said: - -“Here is an important question that needs more than any other to be -answered: What becomes of the excavated earth as the tunnel advances?” - -This was surely a “stunner of a question” and tested Phil’s ingenuity to -the limit. When it first “hit” him it made the boy’s head swim, but he -clenched his fists and gritted his teeth with desperation and thought as -he had never thought before. An answer came, such as it was, and Phil -communicated it with all the aplomb that he could command. - -“I’m not very familiar with the mechanical working of the contrivance,” -he said, “although I’ve seen it operate. The question you ask, of -course, involves the problem of the great principle of the invention. -The way I get it is this: It seems that Mr. Edison, in working out his -scheme, applied a new scientific discovery of his, electro-chemical, -they call it. By means of this new process they seem to be able to -convert the excavated earth into gas and a small amount of powdered -refuse. The gas is piped back through flexible tubes, and the refuse is -carted out in a low, narrow auto-truck.” - -Phil had good cause, as he proceeded with this explanation, to -congratulate himself on the training he had received in a Philadelphia -technical school. But he never knew with what degree of credence the -latter part of his ingenious fabrication was received. He had scarcely -finished the statement last recorded, when sound of the hurried tramping -of many feet reached his ears. It reached the ears also of “Count -Topoff,” who sprang to his feet in bewildered alarm. Then the forms of -half a dozen armed men rushed into the room. - -“Marines!” gasped Phil in amazement. “How in the world did they get -here?” - - - - - CHAPTER XLII - RESCUED - - -“Count Topoff” undoubtedly did not appreciate the situation, or he would -not have acted so rashly. He drew a pistol and fired point blank at the -soldier in the lead. This was a signal for the Americans to answer in a -business-like manner, which they did without ceremony, and “Mr. -Boaconstrictor” dropped dead with several bullets in his body. Two of -the Marines were wounded by the one shot fired by the mysterious -“relative of the kaiser,” but not seriously. - -This was the extent of the battle. The soldiers had taken possession of -the chateau without other resistance. The British spy had prepared the -way for the raid, having managed to get information to the allies of -conditions at the century-old castle. He did this by means of Morse-code -signaling to a fleet of American aviators just returning from an air -raid over enemy territory, and it was answered with assurance that they -would return prepared to raid the place. - -There were only six prisoners in the chateau, but three of them were -French and American spies with information of great importance. There -were also only half a dozen boche guards in the place, including the -orderly who had acted as Topoff’s personal servant. All but the latter -were men of advanced age, too old for military service, and, as the -fleet of aeroplanes that had arrived with a score of soldiers, could not -carry the released prisoners and the captured boches very well, the -latter were given their freedom as the raiders flew away, back behind -the American lines. - -On the way Phil rode in a large machine with the British spy, whose -resourcefulness may have saved him from further untold torture and, it -may be, death, for Phil subsequently grew extremely doubtful of his -ability to make his “subterrene yarn stick.” - -The spy’s name was Roscoe Chance. He proved to be an excellent type for -impersonating almost any Caucasian nationality, and as he had studied -German at college and spoke the language fluently he had been chosen as -specially gifted to handle the secret service work that was consummated -by the air raid which resulted in the rescue of Phil from the most -fiendish torture. - -Before they started on their return to the American lines, Chance gave -Phil the following brief account of the history of the mysterious “Count -Topoff”: - -“He was a Prussian spy in France for twenty years, owning the chateau in -which he lived. He pretended to be a great friend of the French cause, -had even become a citizen of France to camouflage the real nature of his -business. But an English spy in Berlin heard a rumor that Topoff was a -relative of the kaiser and reported this to his government. I was -therefore sent here to find out what I could. - -“But it seems he was on guard against the very thing I was after, and I -was unable to detect a suspicious look or act until after the last big -drive of the enemy. Meanwhile I had managed to convey to him the idea on -a number of occasions that my sympathies were on the other side of the -Rhine, so that I was in a position to take up the role of a boche when -he revealed his true colors. - -“I made quite a hit with him, and found that he was in constant secret -communication with Berlin. His second lieutenancy was a mere camouflage, -for he was high up in secret service rank. I got considerable -corroboration of the report that he was a relative of the kaiser, but no -direct confirmation.” - -“There’s just one peculiarity about him that I’d like to understand,” -said Phil. “Why did he run so much risk of being killed by mixing in -infantry battles right at the front?” - -“There’s only one reason I can give for that,” Chance replied, “and I -think it’s the true one. He was a clever, shrewd rascal, but also a -brazen daredevil. There’s no doubt he had lots of courage, and it’s a -wonder he wasn’t killed long ago. In spite of his misshapen physique he -was powerful and quite active. He seemed to have almost a mania for -proving that his big girth was no obstacle to his putting up just as -good a fight as a slender athlete could put up.” - -The squadron of aeroplanes made the return trip without encountering an -enemy plane. No doubt there were boche air-fighters within sighting -distance, but it is also probably true that they could not muster -sufficient available force to meet the Yanks, so they remained in -hiding. Two days later Phil met Tim, who had been transferred -temporarily from trench duty to Headquarters messenger service, and they -had a half hour’s conversation over their recent experiences. He met -also Dan Fentress and Emmet Harding, two of the twelve Marines who made -their escape from the boche prison in advance of the remaining 240. They -had managed to get back with the American army in a manner similar to -the scheme worked by the larger body of prisoners. The other ten, Phil -learned months afterward, were recaptured by the enemy and finally were -returned, after the armistice, as released prisoners of war. - -And, oh, yes, by the way, before the signing of the armistice, which -meant virtually the end of the war, Phil was wearing the bar of a -lieutenant, and Corporal Tim became a sergeant. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Over There with the Marines at Chateau -Thierry, by Capt. George H. 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