Homer Randall

“ The Army Boys marched on with light hearts and swinging steps in the front rank of their regiment. It was a perfect day, with just enough snap in the crisp air to bring the blood to their cheeks and make marching a delight. There was no more fighting to be done, no batteries to storm, no machine gun nests to be rooted out, no more danger of maiming and death. ”

“ The Thirty-seventh had come back to Camport from the Mexican border, the men hard as nails, sound as nuts, brown as berries, eager and ardent for the tremendous task before them, and as the regiment swung through the streets, headed by the band, keeping step to the strain of martial airs, the little city went wild with enthusiasm.
"There's no use, Frank," said Bart, as with the other young fellows of the place they thronged the windows to see the regiment go by. "I'm going to join."
"Same here," said Frank. "I can feel Uncle Sam's hand on my shoulder this minute." ”

“ While some of the prisoners were weeping, others wringing their hands, and others standing in an attitude of completest dejection, he was apparently as self-possessed and unalarmed as though he had been standing in front of the barracks at Ehrenbreitstein.
"Same old Tom!" whispered Frank to Bart. "The Germans never cowed him yet."
"He's faced death too many times to fear it now," answered Bart, with a catching of his breath. "They knew, too, what they were about when they tied his hands."
"You bet they know what those hands can do," added Billy. ”

“ Bart was there panting and flushed with nothing worse than a scalp wound where a rifle butt had glanced from his head. Wilson himself was unhurt. Billy also had come through unscathed, but Tom was nowhere to be seen.
An awful fear, a fear that they had never felt in the fighting itself, clutched the hearts of his comrades. Good old Tom, bound to them by a thousand ties of friendship and comradeship—had he met his fate in this desolate stretch of No Man's Land?
Frantically they searched among the bodies for one that wore a suit similar to their own. Frank found it first. ”

“ CHAPTER V NICK RABIG TURNS UP
"Guess who's here," said Billy a few mornings later, as he came up to Bart and Frank. "Give you three guesses."
"That's generous," remarked Frank. "Well, I'll bite. Who is it? The Kaiser?"
"Come off."
"The Crown Prince?"
"Quit your kidding."
"I know," said Bart. "Hindenburg."
"Blathering boobs, both of you," pronounced Billy. "But with your limited intellects one ought to be patient. I'll give you one more chance. Think of the fellow you like the least in all the world."
"Nick Rabig!" the others exclaimed in one breath.
"Right," grinned Billy. ”

“ Above everything else he was an American through and through. He was proud of his country, of its traditions, of its history, of its glorious flag. For that flag he had risked his life again and again. He loved it with a consuming passion. Old Glory! The tears came to his eyes as he thought of it. The flag that had always stood for human freedom and human rights, the flag that had never covered an ignoble cause, the flag that had never been sullied by stain, had never been smirched by defeat, had never been dragged in the dust. ”

“ All over the wire entanglements that lay across his path of escape long sparks were leaping and hissing with a subdued crackling sound like the snapping of a wood fire. The Germans had electricified their wires in the hope of entrapping any scouting party of Americans who might chance to penetrate them!
Now indeed Frank found himself in a terrible predicament. He knew that in the maze of wires he could hardly hope to find the place where he had entered, and he was sure that with the heavy current in the wires it would be certain death to touch them with his clippers. ”

“ So it happened that one evening as Frank, Bart, and Billy were strolling toward the canteen, they were both surprised and delighted to espy the long, athletic figure of their friend. Dick was no less glad to see them, and everybody for some distance around was apprised of the fact that old comrades had met once more.
"But where's Tom?" inquired Dick, after the first burst of enthusiasm was over. "I'm so used to seeing you fellows as a quartette that your sweet voices don't sound exactly correct as a trio." ”

“ That crowded hour of stark fighting had cracked the boasted invincible line of Hindenburg and sent the foe flying in confusion toward their third and most formidable line. Thousands of prisoners and scores of guns were among the spoils of victory.
And the most gratifying feature of the drive was the insignificant loss to the Allied forces. The resistance at first had been only slight, and even in the second phase of the battle it had been so quickly overcome that few of the attacking troops had fallen. Seldom had so great an advance been made at so small a price. ”

“ His eyes looked venom at the girl, who laughed at him triumphantly. His rage was increased by his consciousness of the pitiable figure he presented. His smart uniform was dripping, his hair was matted over his face and even his ferocious mustache had lost its Kaiser-like curl. Even one of his own men ventured to snicker at him, and the look the officer turned on him was not good to see.
The corporal began to question him, but the lieutenant looked at him in disdain.
"A German officer does not answer the questions of a corporal," he sneered.
"Just as you like," retorted Wilson coolly. ”

“ They have gone forth to battle in the spirit of their ancestral Huns. Wreckers of cathedrals, destroyers of libraries, despoilers of cemeteries, slayers of old men and women and children, barbarians by instinct, pirates and incendiaries by practice, terrorists by training, slaves by habit and bullies by profession—maiming, poisoning, burning, suffocating, deporting, enslaving, murderers of the very souls of a people so far as it is in their power—the rest of the world can live on terms of peace and good will with them only after they have drained to the dregs the bitter cup of military defeat! ”

“ The first trench had been won, and it was almost a bloodless victory, only a few of the American troops having fallen in the sudden rush.
But sterner work lay ahead, for the second and third German lines were still intact, bristling with men and supported heavily by their guns.
"This was easy," grinned Billy.
"Like taking a dead mouse from a blind kitten," chuckled Tom, as he wiped the grime and perspiration from his face.
"Don't fool yourselves," warned Frank, as a shell came whining over their heads. "This was only a skirmish. The real fight is coming, and coming mighty quick!" ”

“ Some ghosts are putting up a job on us."
"There was nothing ghostly about that bullet that knocked the flashlight out of my hand or those other bullets that came singing over our heads while we were hugging the ground," said Frank grimly. "If I don't get to the bottom of this, you can call me a Chinaman."
"It gets my goat to think of those Heinies chuckling to themselves because they put one over on us," gritted Billy between his teeth.
"They laugh best who laugh last," growled Bart. "They'll laugh on the other side of their mouth when we lay hands on them." ”

“ He recognized Tom, and he knew that his treachery stood discovered. He knew that with the evidence against him he was doomed to stand before a firing squad if he should be taken into the American lines.
Tom looked at him as one might look at a leper.
"You low-down traitor!" he said bitterly. "You vile scoundrel! I've caught you at last and caught you dead to rights. You're the most contemptible thing that breathes. You're a disgrace to your uniform. You ought to be wearing a wooden overcoat and you will when Uncle Sam lays his hands on you. I ought to kill you myself this minute." ”

“ For the rest of that day they took the ease and comfort that they had so richly earned. The camp rules were relaxed and it was a general holiday. They were conscious of an immense weariness of body, as the reaction came from the strain under which they had so constantly labored, but their mental exhilaration was so great that they were supremely happy. It was a curious experience to be able to walk erect in perfect security, without having to crouch behind a tree or a trench or throw themselves to the ground at the approach of a shell. ”

“ There was a grinding, tearing, screeching sound, as wire entanglements were uprooted. These had been strengthened in every way that German cunning could invent, but they bent like straws beneath the onslaught of the gray monsters. A cyclone could not have done the work more thoroughly.
There was no need now for further secrecy, and with a wild yell the Allied troops swarmed through the gaps, sending a deadly volley before them, supplemented by thousands of grenades.
At the same instant, the Allied artillery opened up and laid a heavy barrage fire over the heads of the onrushing troops. ”

“ There was absolutely nothing to be seen except the line of sand bags that they knew marked the positions of the enemy. Nothing broke the monotonous expanse of shell-torn earth.
They had an uncanny feeling as though they were the only living creatures left in the world.
"It looks as though all the Germans had gone back to Berlin," remarked Frank in an undertone.
"Does it?" said the corporal grimly. "Give me your hat."
He took the hat that Frank extended and lifted it above the parapet on the point of a bayonet. ”

“ At the same instant, the rest of the Army Boys followed their leader, their rifles sweeping the room.
The effect of the sudden entrance of the Army Boys was electric.
With a roar of rage and chagrin, the conspirators made as though they would rush on the intruders. But the wicked looking muzzles of the army rifles and the look of determination in the faces of the boys who held them produced a change.
Slowly the hands went up until all were raised above their heads.
"Hold them there now," commanded Frank. "The first one who moves is a dead man." ”

“ At any instant some one of the many passing to and fro might stumble into the hole and the game would be up. Or a flare from a star-shell might reveal him crouching beside his prisoner. His prisoner! What irony there was in the word under those circumstances.
Yet not all irony, for at the moment the thought passed through his mind, another thought told him how he might exercise the power that the fortune of war had given him over the German and by so doing effect his escape.
It was certain that in his American uniform he could not get through the Germans who surrounded him. ”