Sherman Crockett

“ Jack told him, “but some way has been found by the Kaiser’s men to break through. Once that happens, you know, the whole line of defense crumples up like an egg shell.”
“Perhaps they’re using gas shells,” suggested Amos, for they had heard some talk along those lines from soldiers they had met returning wounded from the front.
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” said Jack, “you know that as chemists the Germans lead the world. They firmly believe they are fighting for their existence as a nation. Are you all ready, Amos?” ”

“ Jack told him, with a shake of his head. “It would be next door to a miracle, of course, and yet such things have happened before and may again. Honestly, I don’t believe the boy’s such a terrible coward as he lets himself think.”
“He passed through more or less fighting, they said.”
“Yes, and something has happened to give him a scare,” declared Jack, who had a sagacious way of looking at all such things. “If he could get a firm grip on himself once more there’s still a chance that he might win honors enough to wipe out the disgrace he’s made his folks feel. ”

“ But here we are.”
“Gee! the nurse is a rosy-cheeked English girl, all right,” muttered Amos. “If I had the bad luck to get hurt I guess the sight of her wholesome face would help me a heap to recover. See how she smiles and beckons to us, would you, Jack? She must think we look like we could help them out of the hole.”
Amos thrust out his chest just a trifle more as he said this. Really there is nothing that can awaken a boy’s conceit as much as confidence expressed in his ability by another, whether this takes the shape of words or looks. ”

“ As they overtook and passed other fugitives from the threatened village, Amos found himself still pitying the poor souls once again cast out upon the cold world.
“I wish we could help them,” he said to his chum, “but of course that’s out of the question. We’re like the ‘babes in the woods’ ourselves. But by now we must be about the end of the string. The road looks clear ahead.”
“And I was just thinking,” added Jack, “we hadn’t left the village any too soon for our health.” ”

“ Jack had already guessed as much. He knew it first from the vigorous way the six riders were urging their tired mounts on. Then again he could see how they leaned forward in their saddles, and turned anxious looks over their shoulders.
Sure enough there burst into view a second detachment of riders, whose animals seemed in better condition for hard service than those of the fleeing Germans.
These men were garbed in the khaki of British soldiers. They carried guns which they evidently knew well how to make good use of even when riding at headlong speed. ”

“ Amos was eager to hear from his chum. He placed such an exaggerated value upon Jack’s opinions that in this emergency he wanted to learn what the other thought about it, what their course should be, and all other things along similar lines.
“Do you still think that he must be a spy, Jack?” he asked, to get a start made.
“I can’t see anything else so far,” replied the other. “Their fear of being interrupted seemed to say as much. Then the several words spoken in plain German make that stronger. It must be the man is afraid to go out again, which was why they’ve hidden him down in the cellar.” ”

“ Jack on his part had known more or less of such events during his ranch life, for things happen in the “wild and woolly West” where men live closer to Nature than in the East. Nevertheless, he too felt the thrill of keen expectancy as he kept his eager eyes glued upon the actors in the strange moving panorama.
“There’s another German been hit, Jack; he’s wobbling in the saddle as if trying his best to hold on. Perhaps he wants to pick out a soft spot to fall on. There he goes!”
As Amos uttered these last words a second saddle was seen to be empty, the stricken man hurling himself to one side. ”

“ Oh! shucks! there that smoke has to settle down again and shut off our view when it was getting so thrilling.”
“To think that the same kind of fierce fighting is going on along miles of territory. Do you think there’s a chance the Germans may break through at this point, Jack?”
“They may in small detachments while all the confusion is on, but not in great force,” Jack replied. “All these things have been anticipated and prepared for. A battle is like a game of chess, with every move having a meaning of its own. ”

“ Jack had already decided this for himself. Away up among the fleecy clouds of the early morning they could see what looked like a bulky cigar-shaped object that was speeding along its course. It was too high for any anti-air craft gun to hope to reach it. Possibly Allied birdmen would presently be sent aloft to try and engage the enemy, or failing that chase him off.
All at once there arose a shout that was taken up by a thousand excited voices. The entire crowd started to sway and break. Men dashed for any sort of shelter that came most convenient. ”

“ When the smoke pall chose to lift again after quite an interval, Amos gave a cry of mingled surprise and chagrin.
“Why, Jack, see, they’re gone!”
“You mean the Highlanders who were behind that stone wall, don’t you, Amos?”
“Yes, not a man of them is left. And, Jack, I don’t seem to see any stretched out on the ground. Do you think they had to retreat so soon?”
“Hardly that,” the other assured him. “Those Scots are the most stubborn fellows going. They don’t like to give up anything they’ve once had possession of. ”

“ So Jack introduced Amos and himself. He went right at the root of the matter, telling how Frank Turner had left home under a cloud, and then how some years later his complete innocence had been established so strangely.
Having in this fashion interested the general, who was human even though a stern soldier, perhaps a martinet in his way as well, Jack explained how they had been given a letter of introduction to Lord Kitchener, and that the father of his chum had once been a warm friend of the great soldier in the Soudan. ”

“ Before another half hour goes by I’m likely to know the best—or the worst!”
“You’ll be wringing Frank’s hand and telling him how proud you are to learn that the boldest of all the Allied aviators, known under the name of Frank Bradford, is your own dear brother—make up your mind to that!” said Jack, sturdily, [303] for he saw that his chum was trembling with suspense.
When one has dreamed and thought of a certain object for days and weeks, and it comes time when he may know the truth, small wonder that he shivers with alternate hope and dread. Amos was only human. ”

“ Now, I’ve got a notion that Taube pilot must have been doing some scouting, and was trying to make his own lines when he was cut off by these aeroplanes of the Allies. Look how they block his efforts to get past, will you? He rises and falls, but every time one of the other machines is in the way.”
“There, did you see that puff of smoke from the German craft?” cried Amos. “Yes, and both of the others are shooting, too. Why, Jack, just to think of it; we’re watching a regular battle in the air between rival monoplanes! Doesn’t it make your blood tingle to see them manœuvre?” ”

“ Jack explained. “Two lights mean a certain fact, and three would carry a different message.”
“It’s a bold man who would risk his life to do [86] such a thing,” commented Amos, “for if caught at it he must expect to meet the usual fate of a spy—a file of men, his arms bound, his eyes bandaged, a rattle of guns, and that would wind up his career.”
“Still, thousands are taking that chance every day, in France, England and over in Russia,” said Jack. “The spy system of the German army excels by far anything ever dreamed of by other nations.” ”

“ We have a hundred million people, and could do them all sorts of harm.”
“Could we?” asked Jack, shrewdly. “In what way, I want to know? As there isn’t any vessel today carrying food or anything else from America to Germany they wouldn’t feel it there. We wouldn’t send an army over, nor yet our battleships to take chances of being torpedoed. We might send forty or eighty torpedo boats and destroyers, but that is all. Can’t you see that if our country were at war it would shut off the great supply of arms and ammunition that is flowing across to Great Britain and Russia and France? ”

“ And yet, Brussels, Antwerp and a whole lot of other cities fell without one-quarter of the fighting that’s been taking place around here. How do you make it out, Jack?”
“The only thing I can see,” replied the other, “is that it must be a railroad center, and from Ypres there’s a good road to Dunkirk and Calais. You know how set the Kaiser has been right along on getting his big guns stationed on the French coast, where the Channel is only twenty miles across. He’ll never be happy until he can watch one of those monsters hurling shells that fall on England’s shore.” ”

“ Soldiers, rumbling artillery trains, galloping horses, and all the brave trappings of new levies going to the front to become food for the cannon they were accustomed to see day after day. Then would come the ambulances and motor vans laden with the groaning victims who were being taken to field hospitals in the rear of the fighting line. But when two sturdy lads, one of them wearing a little American flag in his buttonhole, walked into their village, the natives became interested at once. ”

“ Amos was thinking mostly of the delightful odor of cooking as he came down the ladder-like stairs that led from the loft to the lower floor of the cottage. With Jack it was somewhat different, for his first thought was to look keenly at François and his wife, who had faced about on hearing the trap raised. ”

“ It remained to be seen how they would get on with the general. Having the utmost faith in the talisman they carried, neither Jack nor Amos felt much fear. In this crisis of the country’s history none but sensible men would be in command of the King’s forces in the field; and they could depend on just treatment, which was all they asked.
There was evidently no desire in those days of hovering Zeppelins and hostile aeroplanes capable of dropping dangerous bombs, to make Headquarters in any way conspicuous. No flags decorated the humble building to which the American boys were now taken. ”

“ We’re neutrals; but I hate a traitor so much I feel like setting my heel on one as I would on a viper. If these silly old people have gone and sold themselves for German gold, they ought to be punished for it. That’s what I think, Jack; now tell me if you’re of the same mind,” and Amos stopped whispering to give his chum a chance to speak. ”

“ FROM THE CUPOLA LOOKOUT.
“I should say it was lucky!” assented Amos, with an intake of breath; “did you see how it shattered that tree top when it burst? Looks like a bolt of lightning had struck it. What would have happened to both of us if the time limit of explosion had been just a second less?” ”

“ But when he looks on that signature K. of K. there’s little he can refuse us.”
“Yes,” added Amos, grinning happily, “that was a master stroke on your part, asking dad to give us a letter to his old friend and comrade, General Kitchener, after you learned how close they had once been in South Africa or Egypt long ago. When I see their eyebrows go up, and that look come on their faces, it makes me think of a talisman such as they used of old. I can imagine Ali Baba saying the magical words ‘open sesame’ before the rock wall that always swung open to the signal. ”

“ It is none of our business which army wins in a square stand-up fight; but it does concern us when treachery is employed to stab in the back. You deny that you mean anything that is wicked and wrong. Then convince us of your innocence, and we will be only too glad to go back again to our bed and sleep.”
The man exchanged pitiful looks with his wife. They conferred together in whispers and Amos knew they were speaking in French, as most Belgians in the lower tier of towns did, while those toward Holland and Germany were as a rule accustomed to talking in German when not in Flemish. ”

“ They say it won’t be a flood next time but fire that is going to destroy everything. For one, Jack, I’m beginning to get enough of this.”
“We’ll stay only a little while longer, Amos. Fact is, we’ll never run across such a splendid chance as this to watch a big battle. It is Teuton against Anglo-Saxon now, the first time they’ve been up against each other for centuries really. And this war will tell which is going to be the world leaders.”
“If the Kaiser wins we’ll all have to brush up on our German, and that’s what I don’t like much,” Amos complained. ”

“ In those days and nights that tried men’s souls numberless occasions arose [109] wherein humble individuals, often weak women, proved their right to the claim of heroism, though history would never blazon their deeds upon its pages.
Impulsively Amos seized the honest hand of the aged burgomaster and squeezed it. He always considered that he was being honored in having the privilege of calling him a friend.
“Look, there’s that boy Jacques again, with his Belgian flag!” called out Jack, pointing to a small figure that was parading up and down just outside the window. ”

“ Jack felt sure he detected some sort of movement under the floor. He believed the wretched Jean must have his ear pressed against the boards, and was not losing a single word of all that they said. So when he spoke again the ranch boy kept his voice at a pitch sufficiently high to be heard.
“We are sorry for you, François,” he said. “It must be a terrible thing for a father and mother in Belgium to know that their only son is a coward, and that he has allowed his fears to force him to shirk his plain duty to his king. ”