The Khaki Boys Fighting to Win; or, Smashing the German Lines Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  RECOGNITION

  Naturally, after what had happened and bearing in mind the strangesight Roger and Jimmy had witnessed, there was but one thought in theminds of at least four of the Khaki Boys--Iggy was temporarily out ofit. And this thought was that some disaster had overtaken the Americanforces above ground while much was happening to them below ground, inthe dugout and tunnel. Perhaps the Germans had made a counter-attack,retaken the trenches from which they had been driven, and were nowabout to swarm down into the dugout, where the Khaki Boys were, tocapture them.

  "Don't give up!" cried Jimmy fiercely. "Stand 'em off as long as youcan, and then----"

  Once more he was interrupted by a voice coming from the passage leadingfrom the dugout.

  "Lively now!" was the command. "There's a bare chance we may get 'emout this way, but we've got to hurry!"

  "You won't get us out alive!" said Bob fiercely, and he looked aroundthe dugout for some way of escape. There were only two entrances--orexits--whichever one might choose to call them--the one by which theboys had emerged from the tunnel, and the other by which they hoped toleave. But this last was now blocked by an approaching party.

  "Stand together, boys!" said Sergeant Jimmy in a low voice.

  "Shall I douse the glim?" asked Franz.

  He was about to blow out the candle when into the dugout came hurryinga squad of khaki-clad soldiers, and it needed but a glance from theKhaki Boys to show them that they were their own comrades of the 509thInfantry. Lieutenant Morrison was in charge--an officer of whom thefive Brothers were very fond.

  "Here they are!" cried the lieutenant. "How in the world did you boysescape? We saw the place where the big German shell struck, and wedidn't think there'd be more than half of you left alive after thedugout caved in, as it must have done. Yet here you all are."

  "One's missing, sir," said a corporal.

  "There were five and----"

  "Here I iss!" exclaimed Iggy. "Part of me is alife, anyhow!"

  There was a laugh at this--a laugh that told of overstrained nervesbeing mercifully relieved.

  "Is he badly hurt?" asked Lieutenant Morrison, as he looked at thePolish lad, his friendly guard moving away from in front of him.

  "Something fell on one foot when the dugout gave way under pressurefrom the Hun shell," explained Roger. "I hope it isn't bad."

  "Well, we'll get him to a dressing station as soon as possible,"went on the young officer. "There's been a merry ruction up above,as I suppose you boys have guessed. As soon as I got things a bitstraightened out, some one told me about a party being on leave down inthe old German dugout, and I at once organized a rescue squad. How didyou manage to escape?"

  Jimmy and his chums related their experience, and, in turn, Jimmy asked:

  "Have the Huns put one over on us?"

  "They tried to," was the grim answer. "But I think we gave them backa little better than they sent. We've got the upper hand now, but howlong we can keep it is another question. There's going to be a bigfight soon."

  "Good!" cried Franz, his eyes brightening. "The more the fights, andthe bigger they are, the sooner the Boches will quit."

  "Let us hope so!" ejaculated the lieutenant fervently. Then, as hecaught sight of the revolvers in the hands of the four non-commissionedofficers, he asked, with a show of surprise: "What's the game? Did youhave to shoot any Huns to get out of the dugout after it collapsed?"

  "Why, no, sir," answered Jimmy. "The Germans didn't break in--it wasonly the big shell they sent over. But you must have met them if youcame along the tunnel just now."

  "Met who?" Lieutenant Morrison queried.

  Jimmy explained, Roger putting in a word now and then. The officershook his head.

  "We met no one," he remarked. "It's queer, too, for there doesn't seemto be any side passage from this tunnel, though there may be some wedon't know about. We didn't stop to look, as a matter of fact. As soonas I heard there were some of our boys in the smashed dugout I began toplan a rescue. Some one remembered this unused tunnel and dugout, justas you remembered it, Sergeant Blaise, and this was the only way wecould get in to save you. But we met no one on our way."

  "That's queer," declared Jimmy.

  "It is," agreed Lieutenant Morrison. "This matter must be reported toheadquarters. But now let's get out of here. No telling when thisplace may come down about our ears."

  Iggy was feeling a little better, having had the weight off his injuredfoot for a while, and soon they were progressing along the tunneltoward the exit. This tunnel was wider, and on the way along it thefour Khaki Boys, as well as the members of the relief party, looked forside openings or shafts.

  "Here's one!" exclaimed the lieutenant. "Corporal White, you take a manand go along it and see if you can find any trace of the four mentionedby Sergeant Blaise. Be on the alert. Even two of the men being inAmerican uniforms would not guarantee anything. But this is probablyhow they eluded us," he said to Jimmy, nodding to indicate the passage.

  A little later the party emerged from the tunnel that led into thedugout, and they were welcomed by their comrades, many of whom hadthought that Jimmy and his chums had been killed, or at least badlywounded when the big German shell smashed in the top of the shelter.

  Iggy was taken to a dressing station, and later it was learned that hewas not as badly hurt as was at first feared. He would be back in lineagain within a few days, it was said.

  The exploration of the side passage leading off from the tunnelamounted to little. Corporal White said he saw no trace of the fourmen, but he reported that there was a maze of passages leading fromthe one he examined, and it was possible for the four to have hiddenin these, or to have made their escape along one of the dark, windingtubes of earth.

  "Well, this makes the mystery all the more puzzling," said Jimmy, whenhe and his chums talked it over. "I certainly would like to know whothose fellows were--especially the ones in uniform."

  And there was a deeper mystery about it than he even dreamed of.

  But little the worse from their nerve-racking experience in thecollapsed dugout, Jimmy and his chums finished their period of leaveand once more took their places with their comrades, ready to fight ordo anything else required of them. Iggy was given a detail as orderlyto a major, which made his duties light. But he was anxious to get onthe firing line again.

  It was early one morning--quite a zero hour, in fact, though none wasset--when suddenly there began a furious firing from the German lines,removed only a short distance at this particular part of the frontwhere the Khaki Boys were stationed.

  If the German gunners hoped to take the Americans by surprise, and bya sudden and unexpected barrage pave the way for an attack, they musthave been sorely disappointed. For almost at the very instant that theGerman pieces began their grim music there was response from Uncle Sam,and in greater volume.

  But it was not to be altogether an artillery duel. The word was passedup and down the line to get ready to repel an attack in force, andJimmy, Roger, Bob, and Franz tumbled out of their blankets, their eyesheavy with sleep, ready for the fight.

  It was not long in coming, for no sooner did they have their equipmenton, from gas masks at the alert position to their canteens and messkits, than they were ordered over the top.

  "Forward! Forward!" was the cry.

  The American fire, at first a mere reply to the challenge of the Bocheartillery, was soon changed into a protecting barrage for the thousandsof doughboys who scrambled out of their trenches, and in less time thanwould seem possible a fierce battle was raging.

  Jimmy had one glimpse of Bob, Roger, and Franz being directed off tothe right, while his party was ordered to the left. So, for the time,Jimmy lost sight of his chums.

  The battle was fierce and hot. In spite of the American barrage,the Germans broke through at one point, and there was hand-to-handfighting, grim and terrible while it lasted.

  Jimmy Blaise was in the thick of this. He had one vision of a big
burlyGerman charging him, his mouth wide open in a yell, and his bayonetdripping red. Then Jimmy's rifle spoke, and the German was no longerin front of the Khaki Boy, who leaped over his body to keep beside hiscomrades.

  Sergeant Jimmy saw another Hun taking aim at Lieutenant Morrison,who was engaged with a German officer. There was no time to warn thelieutenant, and Jimmy did the next best thing. His bayonet put theHun out of the battle for all time, and the lieutenant, who had justdefeated his opponent, turned with a look that meant much to Jimmy.There was no time for words.

  Guns and shells were crashing on all sides. The Germans had broughtup some machine guns, and these were doing fearful execution amongthe Americans until the nests were located and the crews working theautomatic death-dealers killed.

  Sergeant Blaise led in one of these raids, and he and his comrades hadswept triumphantly over the place, leaving only dead Germans to tellthe tale, when Jimmy suddenly felt a great blow on his head. Instantlyall became black around him, and he fell.

  For one fearful moment the thought flashed through his mind that he waskilled--that this was the end of it all. And then, as he landed with athud on the ground, his senses seemed to come back to him.

  His face was wet, and something seemed to cover his eyes. He put hishand to his face as he lay on the ground, a horrible fear coming to himthat his eyes had been blown out.

  To his great relief he found that his vision came back to him when herubbed his hand over his eyes. And as he looked at his hand he foundthat it was not covered with blood, as he had feared, but with mud. Ashell had exploded in a mud hole directly in front of Jimmy, and haddeluged him with the mucky stuff, completely covering his face and eyes.

  "But I'm hit, though," he mused, as he felt his head, and this timethere was blood on his hand. But it did not seem to be an alarmingamount. In fact, after the first shock, Jimmy felt as though he couldget up and go on fighting. But an officer, leaping over him, sensed thesituation and cried:

  "Lie down where you are! Some one will come for you presently. We'vegot 'em on the run, but they may sweep this place with machine gunsagain. Lie still where you are!"

  Jimmy had sense enough to obey, and presently he became aware of thefact that the firing in his immediate neighborhood was growing less.In a few minutes it seemed to die away altogether, and it was not longafter that before two men came along with a stretcher.

  "Here's a live one!" the leader cried, as he caught sight of Jimmy, whocautiously raised his head.

  "Hurt much?" the second stretcher bearer asked.

  "Don't know," was Jimmy's laconic answer. "Wait until I stand up andsee."

  But as soon as he tried to get on his feet he felt so weak and dizzythat he would have fallen had not one of the men caught him.

  "I guess it's a first-aid station for yours, old man," was the grimcomment. And Jimmy shut his eyes.

  When he opened them again it was to find himself lying on a sort oftable, with a doctor bending over him.

  "How do you feel?" asked the surgeon.

  "Oh, sort of--sort of----" remarked Jimmy weakly.

  "You'll do," was the reply. "Got a nasty knock on the head, but yourskull isn't damaged--just a scalp wound. We'll wash you up a bit andsend you back. Here, orderly, some water and bandages."

  Jimmy closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. The mere touching ofthe wound on his head, to wash and bandage it, was most painful, buthe did not utter a sound. Then he seemed to doze off, and when againfull consciousness came to him it was to open his eyes in a temporaryhospital. He was lying on a cot under a screen of bushes--a camouflagedplace, to prevent, if possible, the Huns from dropping bombs fromairships on this oasis of mercy.

  And it was while lying on the cot, feeling more comfortable now thathis head was bandaged, that Jimmy saw a squad of soldiers from thesignal corps passing along the road. They had been ordered to the frontto establish better communications, now that the German raid had beenrepulsed and the Boches were being forced to retreat.

  As Jimmy looked at two men in the signal squad carrying a black box,which he recognized as one containing part of a wireless outfit, Jimmyfelt a queer sensation.

  "Why, I know those two fellows!" he told himself, as his eyes followedthe marching twain carrying the black box. "I know them, though this isonly the second time I've seen them, as far as I can tell. The othertime was in the dugout. Those are the two army fellows who were talkingto the two civilians. And now to find them in the signal corps! Whatdoes it mean?"