Clarence Young

“ Then several soldiers were seen to rush out as though something had chased them.
“What in the world is up now?” asked Jerry of his chums.
They pressed forward toward the door from which the excited soldiers had emerged, and one of them, seeing that the three chums were about to enter, cried:
“Don’t go in there!”
“Why not?” asked Bob.
“Did the spy try to shoot any one?” Ned wanted to know.
“Don’t go in!” yelled another lad. “There’s a snake in there as big as a barrel, and he’s skipping around as lively as a kitten! Keep out if you don’t want to meet sudden death. Oh, boy! ”

“ And together he and Jerry rushed on, followed by Ned and Bob—a quartette acting as one man.
It was the first really big battle in which the Cresville chums had taken part. They had been out on skirmish work and on night patrol, and they had come in conflict with parties of Germans, but no large bodies. They had even each been wounded slightly, but never before, in all their lives, had they had a part in such a hailstorm of death, such a turmoil of blood, mud, smoke, gas and flying bullets as now. On and over the rough shell-pitted ground they rushed toward the German trenches. ”

“ The man who had broken away from his captors rushed toward the end of the building where Ned, Bob and Jerry had last seen the reptile, which was now out of sight under some bunks.
“Don’t shoot him! Don’t shoot my pet! He is worth thousands of dollars!” cried the reputed spy.
And then, to the surprise and fear of all save the Motor Boys, who had an insight into the truth, the man fairly threw himself forward on the serpent, as a football player falls on the ball. ”

“ At first, as the three chums and their comrades marched along, there was joking and laughing. Then this died away. The seriousness of the situation began to be comprehended. It was not that any one was afraid. The boys were realizing the gravity of the occasion, that was all.
“Hark! what’s that?” asked Bob, as he marched along with Ned, Jerry, as corporal, being file leader. “Is it thunder?”
They stepped lightly so as to listen more intently.
“The guns!” explained a lieutenant hurrying past. “Those are the guns on the firing line you hear. There must be a night attack.” ”

“ But they did not have to drop out of the fighting.
And it was fierce! No other word describes it. They fought, and fought, and fought again, onward, ever onward. For they must not stop. The American army did not know that word.
And then, after nearly two weeks of steady fighting, with only such rest for the exhausted troops as was absolutely necessary, came the final stage. Ned, Bob, and Jerry, staggering from weariness, took their places in line one gray morning.
Suddenly about them thundered great salvos of firing. It shook the very ground. The chums looked at one another in wonder. ”

“ The raiding party asked nothing better than to follow, and for a time pursued the Huns along their own trenches, the bursting star shells above giving light enough to see.
“Are you there—Ned—Bob?” demanded Jerry, as he ran on, following the tortuous line of the trench.
“I’m here!” answered Ned.
“So’m I,” added Bob. “Haven’t a shot left, though.”
“Here, take these,” and Jerry handed over some spare grenades he had in a pouch slung at his back. “Don’t pot any of our men, though. Some are ahead of us.” ”

“ I am an American at heart, and I hope you will believe me when I say that every gun I fired sent its bullets only into the ground. I could not shoot at my former friends. Germany is no longer a friend to me!”
“Nor to any one else,” declared Bob. “Gee! but it’s tough to be so near the solution and then to fail.”
“Don’t give up yet,” advised Ned. “We can tell Professor Snodgrass what we have learned, and maybe he can find a way to get in communication with the young ladies. It’s a pity Professor Petersen didn’t give them half his fortune when he was alive, and save all this bother.” ”

“ There was consternation among the officers and men outside the headquarters building, and Professor Snodgrass, pausing in his search for the elusive insect, gazed up in surprise at the commotion.
“What has happened?” he asked.
“Some one says there’s a bomb in that black box of yours,” explained Jerry.
“If there is, get it out of the way! Douse it in water. Throw it away. Look out!” yelled several.
One or two soldiers started for the black box, and others with ready bayonets for the professor, for there had been a number of spies discovered of late in that sector. ”

“ After a blissful two weeks’ vacation, spent together, Harry Harding and Teddy Burke again take up their work in Martin Brothers’ store. Their “year of promise” brings them many new experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, but more determined than ever to reach the goal they have set for themselves, they pass courageously and hopefully over the rough places, meeting with many surprises and exciting incidents which advance them far on the road to success. ”

“ Up above, and on various parts of the deck, were the lookouts, scanning with strained and eager eyes the expanse of water ahead of them for a sight of the white wake that would indicate a 63 periscope, or, perchance, hoping to see the wet, glistening sides of a “steel fish” itself, as it broke water before sending the deadly torpedo.
“Well, boys, how goes it?” asked a voice behind the three chums, and they recognized Professor Snodgrass. ”

“ They had passed over No Man’s Land through a storm of death which held many back. They had mastered the barrier of the wire, and now were at the first line of the German defense. And so fierce and terrible had been the rush of the Americans the Germans had fallen back, so that, save for lifeless gray bodies, the trenches were unoccupied. ”

“ Always willing to test anything new, the colonel had sent for the professor, inviting him to bring a model of the “new weapon” with him. The officer supposed the “weapon” might be a gun, projectile or powder.
“The idea was a good one in theory,” said Jerry, as he and his chums went back with the professor, who carried the now empty black box.
“And it worked out all right in practice,” declared Ned. “I never saw a quicker retreat.”
“The only thing that spoils it, as the colonel said,” added Bob, “is the inability of a wasp to distinguish between a friend and a foe. ”

“ The day before the three home-town girls were to return to Cresville orders came for the larger part of the soldiers at Camp Dixton to leave for France.
“Hurray!” cried Ned, Bob and Jerry, as they saw the orders posted. “Now we’ll get a whack at the Germans!”
“And I’m going, too!” declared Andy Rush. “I’ll go if I have to leave as a stowaway! I’ve simply got to fight—get me a gun—let me go in an aeroplane—I want action—got to do something—can’t keep still—Hurray for Uncle Sam!”
“Say, you’ll burst a blood vessel if you aren’t careful!” cautioned Ned. “Better go slow, Andy.” ”

“ The drilling sergeant turned to his men again, and once more sent them through the bayonet charge. Then came other drills of various sorts, designed to make the young soldiers sturdy and strong, to fit them for the strenuous times that loomed ahead in France—times to try men’s souls and bodies. But to these times the lads looked forward eagerly, anxious for the days to come when they could go “over there.”
“Whew!” whispered Bob to Jerry and Ned, between whom he stood as they marched across the parade ground. “If this keeps up much longer I’m going to be a wreck!” ”

“ And then, as the last of the insects disappeared, and the headquarters staff came back from various places of refuge, Professor Snodgrass explained.
He had long wanted to do something to help the Allied cause, and thought perhaps it might be along the line of his studies of insects. Then the idea of wasps had come to him. He knew the vicious nature of the insects, and how fearlessly they would attack anything in their way. It was his idea that many thousands of the wasps might be propagated in artificial nests and loosed on the German armies preceding an attack by the Allies. ”

“ And I am anxious to get across as soon as possible to begin.”
“What?” cried Ned. “You don’t mean to say you, too, are going to France, Professor?”
“I hope to,” was the answer. “I have arranged to go, and I have my passport and some letters of introduction.”
“But what are you going for?” asked Bob. “Don’t you know you will be in the midst of terrible fighting? You can’t solve any problems there. It will be a bedlam of noise.” 30
“And the noise is just what I want,” said Mr. Snodgrass. “That is one of my problems—to find out the effect of noise on the organisms of certain insects and reptiles. ”

“ All furloughs have been stopped these last three days. We may go into action any minute. If the professor is in trouble we can’t help him.”
“That seems hard,” murmured Bob.
“It is,” agreed Jerry. “But it’s the fortune of war. We’re here to fight, and we’ve got to do that when the time comes. It may be that the professor has only wandered off among our own soldiers, or those of the French or English, after a butterfly or some other bug.” ”

“ He seemed as cheerful as though no cloud of financial trouble hung over his head and as though the World War were being fought to give him opportunity to test the effect of noise on the crickets. He turned to a table in his room, and began delving in a mass of things. To get at something he wanted to exhibit to the boys, he set in the middle of the floor a small, black box. ”

“ When Ned, Bob, and Jerry, as well as the others, looked at the apparatus, they could understand why an ignorant man, accustomed to obey and do no thinking, took the picture machine for some terrible engine of war. The Motor Boys themselves had not seen it before, as the professor carried it in sections in his luggage, and had only fitted it together and used it that day. ”

“ Here the Allied and German lines were close together, in some places the front-line trenches being less than six hundred feet apart. Between was the famed and terrible No Man’s Land.
“I wonder if Professor Snodgrass will ever get up as far as this,” mused Ned, as they prepared to go back to their quarters and begin the day’s business.
“The firing wouldn’t keep him away, if he thought he could find some bugs,” answered Jerry. “And if he wants to ascertain the effect of noises on crickets all he has to do is to bring the crickets here. We can supply the noise.” ”

“ He was a very careful man, and if he left any money to any one you may be sure it is waiting for them, wherever they are.”
“That’s the point!” exclaimed Bob. “The money may be all right, but we can’t find those for whom it is intended. And if Professor Snodgrass can’t locate the girls, all the fortune goes to a humane society.”
“Ach! So?” exclaimed Nicholas Schmouder. “Well, it is better that than Germany should get it. Please tell your friends that I did never fire my gun at them—always into the ground,” he said wistfully, as the boys turned away from the prisoners’ wire cage. ”

“ As the shells splashed into the sea near the spot where the commotion had been observed, there were smudges of black smoke at several points on either side of the troopship. These were the funnels 64 of the destroyers belching out clouds of vapor that told of their approach under forced draught. And as the other guns on the transport awoke and began firing on the suspected submarine, up came racing the swift craft, the men on board eagerly looking for a target. ”

“ Then something else attracted the attention of Bob, Jerry, and the others. It was the sight of Ned Slade creeping along toward a pile of splintered wood—all that was left of the demolished truck.
“Who’s that? What is he doing?” cried the officer in charge of that part of the trench. “Does he hope to rescue the driver? Can’t he see that the man is safe and is coming in? Who is he?”
“Private Slade, Sir,” replied Jerry.
“But what is he doing? That’s a foolhardy piece of business, trying to reach that truck. It’s under the fire of the German trench, as well as within range of their battery. ”

“ One of those bugs Professor Snodgrass used to show me in the microscope. Ah, I wish I was back at Boxwood Hall with him. He was a nice little man.”
“Yes, he was,” agreed Ned. “And you may see him, if you stay around here.”
“See him? Is the professor in the war, too?”
“Not exactly,” Bob answered. “He is here on a scientific mission. Something about war noises 161 and insects. But he is after something else, too. A friend of his, Professor Petersen––”
“Professor Emil Petersen?” cried Nick Schmouder in such a strange voice that Ned and Bob stared at him. “Did you say Professor Emil Petersen?” ”