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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
“THE SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGE”
[Or, Over There with the En^ineers]
OVER THERE
WITH
THE ENGINEERS
AT
CAMBRAI
By
C APT. GEORGE H. RALPHSON
Author of
OVER THERE WITH PERSHING’S HEROES AT
CANTIGNY, OVER THERE WITH THE DOUGH-
BOYS AT ST. MIHIEL, OVER THERE WITH
THE MARINES AT CHATEAU THIERRY, OVER
THERE WITH THE YANKS IN THE ARGONNE
FOREST.
M. A. DONOHUE & COMP ANY
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
H A
* OQt
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER
“Byng”
Rev. Benson a Mystery
A Mysterious Conference
New Orders
Espionage
Strange Doings
On the Running Board
The Man with the Wooden I,eg
Through the Keyhole
In the Closet
Spy Against Spy
In the Auto Again
At the Drug Store
The Guard’s Challenge
The Flight of the Spies
Pursuit
Nearing the Front
A Discovery
Punctures in the Mud
Prisoners
Jean Again
Rescued
Kaiser’s End
The Battle of Cambrai
Strange Fighting
Patrol Duty
The “Meow” Plot
A Yankee Trick
I
7
II
14
m
20
IV
27
V
32
VI
41
VII
46
VIII
53
IX
59
X
64
XI
74
79
XII
87
XIII
94
XIV
101
XV
108
XVI
115
XVII
XVIII
122
128
XIX
135
XX
142
XXI
149
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII
154
159
164
171
177
183
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII
XXXIV
XXXV
XXXVI
XXXVII
“Douse the Glim”
The “Bad Man”
The Subterranean Passage
In the Tunnei
“Halt, or I’ll Shoot!”
The Refugee
Walter’s Plan
“Byng!” Again
A Fighting Finis
190
197
204
211
21S
224
230
238
244
Over There with the Engineer?
at Cambrai
CHAPTER I.
“byng!”
YNG!”
B
This spirited explosion came from
Sergeant Walter Beach as the big tree
stump heaved a rheumatic groan and then gave
a sharp snap and fairly sprang out of the
soggy soil.
Walter had aided the tractor crew in
hooking the heavy log-chain around the stump
and then stood aside in the drizzling rain to
watch the great caterpillar engine pull away
with all its mechanical strength. He and the
company of United States army engineers to
which he belonged were clearing a route
through an acreage of shell-shattered timber
land and laying a spur of narrow-gauge track,
7
8
OVER THERE WITH THE
the purpose of which was known only to offi-
cers in charge of the strategy of war.
Everybody on that sector of the British
front in France subconsciously spelled the
exclamation “bing!” with a “y.” Of course,
all the “funny boys” used it as a favorite vocal
explosion, and some who might have dignified
their jocose vagaries as humor were known to
“Byng!” vociferously now and then in honor
of their commanding general. Jocular pon-
toniers and track builders frequently en-
livened dull moments with a fitting fling of
the word, but now and then a facetious sap-
per called down on his head a barrage of jeers
or handy missiles for disgracing the general’s
name with a pun fiasco.
That will do for the present by way of ex-
planatory digression, for the tree stump has
been out of the ground several minutes, the
tractor has “caterpillared” along toward the
next stump and Sergt. Beach and his squad are
leveling off the ground and- clearing away the
debris with shovels, picks and axes.
“Everything is Byng with you, sergeant,”
remarked Private J. Elliot Benson, a delicate-
skinned sapper of rather spineless appearance.
“And you go at things with a bing, too. I
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
9
don’t want to dampen your ardor, but I bad a
good deal of the ‘bing’ taken out of me before
I enlisted with the engineers.”
As be spoke J. Elliot Benson swung bis axe
vigorously, cut through a protruding root and
dragged it forth from the earth.
“You wouldn’t take me for a preacher,
would you?” continued J. Elliot with seeming
irrelevance.
“You might, and you might not be,” was
Walter’s noncommittal reply.
“Well, I was a preacher once, and not so
very long ago. Your ‘Byng’ just reminded me
of it. I had a wife and a baby boy. If I had
the naming of that boy again, can you guess
what I’d name him?”
“Byng, I suppose,” Walter replied.
“It didn’t take much brilliancy to guess
that after our remarks,” J. Elliot continued
with an absent look in his eyes as he leaned
meditatively on his axe. “But you don’t un-
derstand the real motive behind the idea. You
see, I was a very demonstrative preacher and
frequently I slapped the pulpit hard with my
hand to emphasize a point. One Sunday, as I
brought down my hand with full force, the
little fellow, who was sitting in a pew with his
10
OVER THERE WITH THE
mother, yelled out ‘Bing!’ and the congrega-
tion nearly raised the roof.”
Walter laughed at the reminiscence, in spite
of the fact that it seemed rather irrelevant in
this dreary war scene on the western front in
Prance. At the same time he wondered a little
what might be the family sequence of the
episode, in view of the fact that the Rev. J.
Elliot Benson spoke of having had a wife and
child exclusively, it would seem, in the past.
Partly for the purpose of drawing him out on
this point, he said:
“I hope your wife and child are well. Bo
their letters reach you regularly?”
“My wife will never write to me again, I
hope, and I will never write to her,” was the
preacher’s startling reply. “She was pro-
German, and we parted the day the United
States declared war.”
As he disclosed this family skeleton in a
seemingly uncalled-for manner, something like
a dangerous look came into the eyes of the Rev.
J. Elliot. Walter was astonished. He was
getting a new view of this ordinarily mild-
mannered, soft-skinned fellow, whom he at no
time had regarded very seriously.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
ll
It had been raining all the morning, not a
heavy downpour, but a steady, half-mist, half-
water precipitation, while the mercury hov-
ered near enough to the freezing point to bring
the most irritating discomfort to any wet area
of human skin. Nevertheless, all was life and
activity on every hand within view of the half-
hundred railroad builders now at work on the
spur. For weeks there had been little doing.
About all they had had to do prior to the task
before them was to keep the existing tracks
in good repair, eat, sleep, drill, and swap stor-
ies. There was little outdoor attraction that
could tempt them in the present condition of
the weather. Sunny France! Not one of them
failed to repeat that poetic phrase with deep-
toned disgust, particularly when the insidious
army weather grouch went the rounds like an
epidemic.
Walter shuddered at the look in the preach-
er’s eyes. Perhaps the look would not have
shocked him so vigorously if the weather had
not keyed him up to the point of a shiver at
the slightest provocation.
“I’m sorry to hear of your misfortune,”
he said presently. “It must have been—ah-—
terrible.”
OVER THERE WITH THE
12
“Terrible is a mild term for it,” muttered
the Rev. J. Elliot, grinding his teeth.
Walter felt a curiosity for further details
of the affair that had brought domestic woe to
his comrade, but refrained from indicating his
wish, and the preacher did not offer additional
information. Moreover, the labor they were
performing now presented problems that de-
manded close attention and called for discus-
sion as to the best method of rendering the
road-bed at this point firm and substantial.
Two other workmen, observing their difficulty,
which resulted from a peculiar excavation, or
washout, revealed by the pulling forth of the
tree stump, came forward to offer their as-
sistance.
Presently the superintending officer ap-
proached and directed that a lorrie load of
crushed rock be deposited in the washout and
the hollow where the stump had stood. A few
minutes later a lorrie labored up to the spot
with several tons of calcareous road bedding.
“Gee!” exclaimed the preacher; “I’d like
to fire a truck load of that stuff in a giant can-
non right into the midst of a million Germans
all huddled together on the brink of a preci-
pice.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
13
“Byng!” exploded Walter laughingly.
“There’s nothing of the pacifist about you,
is there ?” dryly remarked one of the men, who
stood near as the load of stone was scooped
and pushed out by two laborers, who consti-
tuted the crew of the lorrie.
“Oh, yes, there is,” responded the would-be
crushed-stone gunner. “I’m a regular pass-a-
fist when on the subject of tyrannous Teutons.
I’ll pass a fist at ’em whenever I get a chance.”
The Bev. Benson clenched the fingers and
thumb of his right hand into a rather deli-
cately knotted mauler. A few appreciative
snickers applauded his joke. Walter, how-
ever, did not laugh. He had heard that same
identical quip so often on both sides of the
Atlantic that his sense of fun had blotted it out
of his catalog of humorous novelties.
14
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER II.
REV. BENSON A MYSTERY.
YNG!”
B
It was the preacher who spoke this
time. His exclamation followed the
announcement, passed along the line, that the
commanding officer had ordered that the rail-
road engineers be called off the job of con-
structing the spur and sent hack to their camp.'
It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon when
this order reached the men.
“I wonder what that means,” continued
the Rev. J. Elliot, close on the heels of his
“Byng!”
“So do I, hut I don’t expect to find out
right away,” responded Clark Chambers, as
he swung his axe and shovel over the shoul-
ders of his slicker and prepared to fall into
line for the march back to camp.
The men assembled near the spot where
the last stump had been pulled, loaded their
tools on the lorrie which had dumped several
15
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
tons of crushed rock there, and soon the march
to the engineers’ camp was begun.
Walter could not avoid wondering just a
little what this move could mean. He had un-
derstood that it was the desire of the divisional
commander to complete the spur up beyond
the tankdrome as soon as possible and there
seemed to be no reason for halting the work in
the middle of the afternoon with no greater
obstacle in the way than a cold drizzling rain.
However, he passed the matter oft as none
of his affair. He was only a noncommissioned
officer, with no technical training to qualify
him as a ranking military engineer, and he felt
that it was quite as much his duty as that of a
private to devote his intelligence, exclusively,
it might be, to the obeying of orders.
Not so with the Bev. J. Elliot Benson, how-
ever. He seemed to be remarkably interested
in the question of the meaning of the order to
quit work. At first Walter regarded his in-
quisitive utterances merely as indicating an
indiscretion of mind, which military training,
in time, ought to temper with better judgment.
But by the time the marching column of rub-
ber-coated track layers arrived at the en-
gineers’ camp he was curious to know what
16
OVER THERE WITH THE
was the motive that inspired a number of ques-
tions that he had heard “the preacher” put
with conversational incidence to several mem-
bers of their company, including one lieuten-
ant.
“I declare, I don’t know what to make of
him,” the young sergeant mused reflectively.
“Up to today I don’t belie ve I’d ’a’ paid more
than passing attention to him under any cir-
cumstance. But now, the more I see and hear
of him, the more of a puzzle he becomes. I put
him down at first as a kind of sissy, but while
he has a sort of effeminate appearance, there
seems to be some nerve behind that sissiness.
I’ll be shell-shocked if I don’t cultivate a little
more of his acquaintance just for curiosity’s
sake. He noses around in a very foolish man-
ner, I’d say, and yet I get a deep look in his
eyes once in a while that makes me sort of re-
spect his foolishness.”
Walter and the preacher both belonged to
Company H and were quartered in the same
building in the group of farm houses occupied
by their battalion. However, they bunked in
opposite ends of the building, and for this rea-
son, it may be, were not cast much into each
other’s society, when off duty. Shortly before
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
17
tattoo was sounded that evening, Walter was
aceosted in front of the “mess hall” with a
cheery salutation from the preacher, who fol-
lowed his greeting quickly with this question:
“By the way, sergeant, you don’t happen to
know what we’re going to do tomorrow, do
you?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” the boy offi-
eer replied.
“Any possibility of our going back to work
on the narrow gauge spur, do you think?”
“If you’re merely asking my opinion, Ben-
son, I’d say no,” answered Walter dryly.
“But I might remind you that the colonel
doesn’t often take me into his confidence.”
“Oh, I beg your pardon, sergeant,” went
on the preacher hurriedly. “I meant no in-
vasion, but I just thought you might ’ave
heard something. You see, my limbs got a
little chilled out in the cold damp atmosphere
and I have been subject to rheumatism oc-
casionally under such circumstances.”
“Indeed,” re turned Walter. “I hope you
feel no such effects after today’s experience.
But it was a mild experience for war. If your
bones should get to aching badly tomorrow,
however, perhaps I can get you relieved.”
18
OVER THERE WITH THE
“I hope they won’t ache so badly as to
drive me to ask to be relieved,” said tbe Rev.
J. Elliot with a look at tbe noncom out of tbe
comer of bis eye, wbicb did not escape tbe lat-
ter. “But in case of necessity, in order to
save my personal pride, perhaps it may be well
for us to agree upon a seemingly irrelevant
signal, by wbicb I may notify you of my con-
dition.”
“"What will tbe signal be?” inquired
Walter.
“Byng,” replied tbe preacher, maintain-
ing a gravity of countenance that was really
amusing under tbe circumstances.
Walter could not avoid smiling at this an-
swer as well as at the suggestion it created in
bis mind.
“After the war is over,” he said, “I shall
expect you to announce tbe diseovery of a sure
cure for rheumatism and advertise it for sale
under the patented name of Byng.”
“I surely will,” declared J. Elliot rap-
turously; “if you will help me to make the dis-
co very.”
“That’s easy,” Walter announced quickly.
“What’s tbe cure?” tbe other asked.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
19
“Take a good rest and keep in out of the
cold and the rain.”
“Good!” exelaimed J. Elliot. “Will you
be my quack partner V ’
“That fellow becomes more of a puzzle to
me every time I palaver with him.” Walter
muttered as they parted. “I wonder if it’s
just constitutional queerness in him or if
there’s something more serious hack of it.”
20
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER III.
A MYSTERIOUS CONFERENCE.
EXT morning Walter was surprised
with a message to report at once to the
regimental headquarters. Then as he
prepared to obey the summons, he found him-
self attempting to repel a vague feeling of ap-
prehension. He could not think of anything
exceptionally meritorious to his credit that
might explain this call, and so he naturally
concluded that it must be attributable to some
grave fault or failure of duty. By the time
he presented himself at the building occupied
by the colonel and his staff, he was in a rather
timorous frame of mind. Fortunately, how-
ever, just before being ushered into the pres-
ence of the commanding officer, he concluded
that there was no reason for his having any-
thing but a clear conscience, and he accor-
dingly nerved himself to meet the ordeal con-
fidently, whatever it might be.
Two staff officers and the colonel were
N
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
21
seated at a table as the young soldier entered.
One was a captain and the other a lieutenant,
as indicated by the silver bars on their shoul-
ders. Moreover, "Walter recognized them both
at a glance.
The expressions on the faces of the three
officers puzzled the youthful noneom not a lit-
tie as he took the seat he was directed to take.
The colonel arose and paced back and forth
two or three times with his eyes on the floor,
while the captain and the lieutenant shot a
glance or two at Sergt. Beach and then gazed
vacantly, one into a corner of the room and the
other out through a window.
All this tended to reassure Walter little
indeed, but he set his teeth and looked squarely
at the pacing officer almost as if demanding an
explanation. Suddenly the colonel faced about
directly toward him and said:
“You are Sergt. Beach.”
“Yes, sir,” the latter replied with a steadi-
ness that surprised him.
“You are one of the youngest men in the
eompany.”
“I believe so,” Walter acknowledged.
“If at school you would be ealled a boy.”
“I don’t presume to be anything more in
OVER THERE WITH THE
22
the army,” Walter returned with a diffident
smile.
“We won’t quarrel over that,” continued
the colonel; “so long as you conduct yourself
as a man. By the way, how do you like being
a soldier?”
“Very well.”
“And an engineer?”
“Still better.”
“Why?”
“Because, I imagine, I have more oppor-
tunity to use my head.”
“You are right and you are wrong. No-
body has more opportunity to use his head
than a man in the trenches. He has just as
much head opportunity and just as much head
duty as a general. Get me?”
“Yes, I think so, but-
“Never mind, you needn’t go any far-
ther,” the commanding officer interrupted.
“I’m willing to take it for granted that you
understand me when I make a ‘yes and no’
statement to you. I will also save you from an
exhibition of conceit. Get me?”
“I think so,” Walter replied.
“Explain my meaning quick,” flashed the
colonel.
99
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
23
“You mean that I think I’m fitted for
something better than trench duty,” replied
Walter with a twinkle in his eyes.
“You’ll do,” said the colonel. “I just
wanted to see if you had any subtlety in you.
Now, don’t let that compliment get away with
you, and you surely will do very well.”
Compliment! Sergt. Beach almost gasped
for breath. And here he had been trembling
in his puttees, fearful that he was about to be
accused of some crime sufficient to land him in
the guard house, if not before a court martial.
Compliment! His brain was in a whirl. But
he kept his head.
The colonel was speaking to him again.
“Sergeant,” he said; “how well acquainted
are you with the boys of your company?”
“Oh, I know them all,” he answered. “I
can tell you the first names of more than half
of them.”
“That so?” returned the commanding offi-
eer with a slight raising of the eyebrows. “Sort
of mixer, eh? Well, what do you think of
them as a whole?”
“ They ’re a j olly set. ”
“All of them?”
“Why, yes, as a whole.”
OVER THERE WITH THE
24
“No exceptions?”
“You’re getting away from your stipula-
tion, ‘as a whole’,” Sergeant Beach reminded.
The colonel smiled, as did also the other
officers.
“All right, let’s drop the stipulation,” he
proposed. “Now, is there anybody in your
company whom you don’t like?”
Up to this time Walter had been utterly at
a loss to infer what the commanding officer was
driving at. So blank had his mind been on the
subject that it was not even interesting to him.
Now, however, all his anticipations of impend-
ing doom having vanished, he found the col-
onel’s last question a little more interesting
because it suggested something tangible.
“I don’t know that there is,” he said,
not very positively, however.
The next question stimulated his curiosity
still more.
“Is there any one in your company whom
you would not trust?”
“You mean whom I know to be untrust-
worthy?” Walter asked.
“We’ll try that question—yes.”
“No, there isn’t.”
“Well, let’s get at the matter from a dif-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
25
ferent angle,” continued the colonel. “Is
there any one in your company whom you re-
gard as queer?”
“Yes, one or two.”
“Very queer?”
“What kind of queemess do you mean?”
“I mean the kind of queerness that seems
possibly to involve serious consequence.”
“In other words the kind of person I
would watch if he were in a position where
he might do mischief.”
“Exactly.”
“Yes, but I may be doing him an injustice.
Besides, I don’t see how he could do any mis-
chief in the position he occupies.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” admonished
the regimental commander. “Now, would you
mind telling me the name of this soldier?”
“I hesitate very much to do it,” Walter re-
plied; “for I may wrong him deeply.”
“I appreciate the motive of your hesita-
tion, ’ ’ said the colonel warmly. ‘ ‘ Perhaps this
method of getting at the matter will satisfy
your scruples. Here is a pencil and paper.
You write the name of the soldier in your mind
on the paper, and I will try to tell you who
26
OVER THERE WITH THE
it is. If I succeed you give me the paper. If
I fail, you tear it up.”
The “game” that the officer was playing
was now intensely interesting to Walter. It
assumed something of the aspect of army
clairvoyance, but with a severely strategical
underlying motive. The charm of the pro-
posal won the hoy completely and he consented.
He wrote the name in his mind and folded the
slip of paper on which he had written.
“Now,” continued the colonel; “I’ll change
my plan a little to preserve the aspect of mysti-
cism in this affair. I’d just as leave kill the
kaiser with a magic wand as with a broken
heart. I’ll try to write the same name on
another piece of paper and give it to you. If
you find the same name on my paper, you hand
both of them to me.”
The colonel wrote and gave his paper to
Walter. It bore this name:
“ J. Elliot Benson.”
Walter gave the slip of paper back to the
colonel and with it his own.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
27
CHAPTER IV.
NEW ORDERS.
ERGEANT WALTER BEACH waited
wonderingly for the next development in
the puzzling inquisition conducted by the
colonel. However vigorously he whipped his
imagination into action, he was unable to fig-
ure out any semblance of a logical explanation.
It even occurred to him to suspect that he was
a victim of a practical joke, but he dismissed
the idea as ridiculous because of the great dig-
nity and responsibility resting upon every offi-
cial motive and act of the man who has been
quizzing him so strangely.
“We seem to have been thinking about the
same thing,” the commanding officer remarked
with a smile as he glanced at the name on Wal-
ter’s paper.
“Yes, and we rather damaged the exclu-
siveness of an old saying,” returned the boy
with another smile.
“What is that?” inquired the colonel.
“About great minds,” replied Walter.
S
OVER THERE WITH THE
28
“I don’t get you.”
“Why, I’d change the old saying to run
something like this: ‘Great and little minds
sometimes run in the same channel’.”
The colonel, the captain, and the lieutenant
all laughed.
“He put one over on you there, colonel,”
remarked the captain.
“I suppose I’m the little mind he refers
to,” inferred the commanding officer. “Well,
I’m quite willing to submit to the indignity
provided he proves himself a great mind by
doing what I want him to do.”
Walter did not protest at the colonel’s in-
version of his pointed pleasantry, although his
first impulse was to make such protest. He
contented himself with making this reply:
“I hope I shall be able to perform what-
ever task you may have for me to do, sir. I’ll
do my best with all my mind, whether it be
great or little.”
“Have you any idea what it is?” asked the
colonel.
“Ho, I can’t say I have. I’m very much
puzzled.”
“What’s the best guess you can make at a
solution?”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
29
“Goodness, I don’t know unless you’re on
the trail of some spies.”
Walter really intended this as a hazardous
guess. Indeed the very sound of the uttered
idea startled him with such an echo of im-
probability that he almost gasped a gulp of
eagerness to swallow it back. The next instant
he was even more astonished at the enthusias-
tic welcome with which his “wild guess” was
received.
All three officers looked at one another,
smiled, nodded their heads, and put more em-
phasis in their smiles.
“The boy’s a natural-bom sleuth, colonel,”
remarked the captain eagerly, at the same time
nodding his head as if to signal some kind of
message to his superior officer.
“Well,” said the latter slowly with a keen
look at the young sergeant. ‘ ‘ Suppose I admit
that you have made a true guess, what would
you say if I gave you a commission to trap
one of those spies?”
Walter was too deeply amazed to answer at
once. Then a suggestion of a possible explana-
tion of this interview flashed into his mind, and
he replied:
30
OVER THERE WITH THE
“Do you mean that I am on friendly terms
with this spy and in a better position than any-
body else to do what you want done?”
“YouVe got it exactly,” declared the
colonel.
“But if you know this fellow to be a spy,
why don’t you arrest him at once?” Walter
asked.
“Por two reasons,” explained the colonel.
“First, because we are afraid we haven’t clear
enough evidence to convict him. Second, be-
cause we think some valuable information can
be unearthed by watching him a few days. But
we want the right fellow to do that watching,
and you are believed to be that right fellow.”
“Why?” asked Walter.
“First, perhaps, because you are not likely
to be suspected. Second, because he seems to
have taken a liking to you, and probably will
try to cultivate your friendship if you give
him an opportunity. Third, because you seem
to have a natural gift for putting two and two
together.
“You mean I’ve learned my common sense
addition table?”
“Exactly. And you haven’t the dangerous
tendency to multiply with wild flights of the
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
31
imagination when common sense tells you to
add.”
“Gee!” exclaimed Walter. “I thought I
was multiplying by a million when I ventured
my guess as to what you were driving at.”
“Well, are you ready to take orders!”
asked the colonel, apparently ignoring the
young soldier’s explosive confession.
‘ ‘ Always, ’ ’ replied the latter. ‘ ‘ Who is my
traitorous acquaintance!”
“I must ask you to guess again!” an-
nounced the commanding officer.
“If you were to ask me to write his name
on a slip of paper-
he hesitated.
“Well,” demanded the colonel as if seeing
no reason for the pause.
“I’d tell you to look again at the paper I
just gave to you.”
“You need do no more guessing,” said the
regimental commander. “From now on, con-
sider yourself under orders as a spy ferret.”
“The preacher would surely say ‘Byng’
if he had overheard this conversation,” ob-
served Walter aloud, but principally to him-
self, and with an expression of grim amuse-
ment on his face.
” began Walter. Then
OVER THERE WITH THE
32
CHAPTER V.
ESPIONAGE.
HO is the preacher?” asked the col-
onel, following Sergeant Beach’s ap-
parently irrelevant remark.
“J. Elliot Benson” the hoy answered.
“Didn’t you know he was a gentleman of
the cloth?”
“No, is he? How did you find that out?”
“He told me so.”
“I wonder if he gave that as his occupa-
tion when he enlisted,” said the colonel, turn-
ing to the two officers who had been in con-
sultation with him.
“I think not, colonel,” replied the captain.
“The investigation I made for you indicated
that he had been a school teacher for some
years up to the time of his enlistment.”
“Well, that need not be of any signif!-
cance,” the colonel added reflectively. “He
may hare taught school during the week and
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
33
preached on Sunday. Then turning to Wal-
ter, he continued:
“The situation, in a few words, is this:
Here we are, a regiment of engineers behind
the division that is holding the sector in front
of Cambrai. The divisional commander fre-
quently has occasion to communicate with me
by messenger on important matters, but in
some strange manner the substance of these
communications seems to have reached the
enemy, at least they have been able to fore-
stall several important moves.
“Now your friend, J. Elliot Benson, has
been on liaison duty every time the enemy
seems to have got a tip on our plans. We be-
lieve he has some method of communication
with the enemy, but have been unable to get
the goods on him. What I want you to do is
to cultivate his acquaintance more intimately
and find out, if you can, how he works his
game/'
“How do you know he is the guilty
party?” inquired Walter.
“Your question cannot be answered with-
out divulging secret service secrets which it
would be very unwise to divulge,” replied the
colonel. “And, after all, the information
34
OVER THERE WITH THE
would be of no value to you to aid you in per-
forming the task I want you to perform.
You may be able to finish it with one stroke;
then again it may take considerable time.
Now tonight I’m going to send you to the
general’s headquarters along with Benson,
but he is not to know you are with him. He
will be given a message and an automobile,
and you will be hidden in the auto.”
Walter’s countenance brightened up
sharply. The idea of such an adventure
thrilled him with eagerness.
“Benson has made several of these trips
all alone,” continued the colonel. “I suspect
he has a confederate somewhere behind the
lines, a spy planted here by the German gov-
ernment before the war perhaps. I want you
to find out who that fellow is. If there are
more than one working with him, your task
will be so much the more complicated, and
so much more will be your glory if you suc-
ceed. What do you think about it?”
“I’m all eagerness to go to it,” Walter
replied.
“So far, so good,” commented the colonel.
“Now, I don’t want to curb your eagerness,
but I’d like to ask you a few hard-headed
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
35
questions. You will be armed with pistols,
so that if you get in a pinch you can defend
yourself. But suppose you should be dis-
covered, what would be your first move1?”
“I don’t know,” Walter answered. “But
very probably I would not start shooting.
What I would do would depend on circum-
stances. Up to the point of such a climax
I’d be on the look-out for a line on things that
would tell me what to do. I might even pre-
tend to be a German spy myself, if I thought
I could get away with it, or a deserter.”
“That’s better than I hoped to get out of
you,” remarked the engineer commander.
“But how would you explain your being hid-
den in the automobile?”
“That also would have to depend on cir-
cumstances,” Walter replied. “I might tell
him I suspected him of being a German spy
and wanted to communicate with him but was
afraid to. I’d then explain that I was spy-
ing on him to make sure of my suspicions and
then get the benefit of his underground com-
munieations.”
“Very good,” said the colonel. “T might
almost accuse you of being a mind reader. I
really expected to have to put you through a
OVER THERE WITH THE
36
course of training, but I see you have a fac-
ulty of getting an idea quickly and it won’t
be necessary to do much of that. Now, I am
going to turn you over to Lieutenant Green
who will give you a pass and some instruc-
tions that will aid you in your task.”
With this announcement the colonel in-
dicated that the interview was at an end, and
Lieutenant Green arose as if to leave the
room. Walter took the hint and also arose
and followad the junior commissioned officer.
The latter went outside to a closed auto-
mobile near the entrance of the building.
“This is the machine in which you will
make your hidden journey tonight,” the lieu-
tenant said. “Hop in and we’ll have a spin.
Take a back seat until we get away from here
so that you won’t attract attention.”
Walter did as directed and they drove out
over the open country along a military road
that had been constructed recently by Ameri-
can engineers. After they were well out of
sight of the engineers’ camp and beyond the
ken of any and all bodies of workmen con-
nected with the regiment, Lieutenant Green
stopped the car and directed the young ser-
geant to come forward and take the seat be-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
37
side him. This the boy did, and the lieutenant
eoaehed his pupil as follows:
“The make of this machine is just what
we want for your task tonight. It has a com-
partment in the rear probably intended for
the storing of various kinds of goods needed
on a long journey. That compartment is
large enough for a man to hide in if he curls
up a little. The door, or lid, can be latched
and unlatehed from the inside as well as the
outside, owing to the nature of the lock. Now
we will take a drive out over the country,
pick up a dinner at some farmhouse, and re-
turn about dusk, But before we enter camp
again, you will be locked up in the rear of
the automobile.
“Soon after dark your friend J. Elliot
Benson, will be given directions and this auto-
mobile for his trip tonight. You will be hid-
den in that compartment in the rear, where
you can listen to any conversation that may
take place in or near the machine. Several
breathing holes have been cut in concealed
places in the body of the car so that you not
only can get all the fresh air you need, but
also can hear distinctly what is going on.
Let’s stop now—there’s nobody in sight—and
38
OVER THERE WITH THE
examine the coop and see if you’ll fit in all
right.”
They did as the lieutenant proposed, and
Walter erawled into the compartment after
his companion had lifted the lid. As expected,
he had to curl up considerably in order to get
in, but found it possible to lie there with a
reasonable degree of comfort, all things con-
sidered.
“If I had a blanket that I could fold up
for a pillow, I could rest here a good deal bet-
ter,” he suggested.
“There is one in the car that you may
have,” replied Green, who proceeded to take
the article from the rear seat and fold it into
the desired proportions. Then he handed it
to Walter, who put the folded blanket in posi-
tion to test its serviceability as a head-rest
and found it satisfactory.
Walter then returned to the seat beside
the driver and they continued their spin sev-
eral miles. About an hour before dusk they
stopped at a farmhouse and had supper with
a “parlez-vous” septuagenarian and his wife.
They did not relish the “viands” served to
them very much, but made the best of it.
They would not be back in time for mess, and
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
39
moreover, Walter would not be at liberty to
seek a special dispensation in the mess kit-
ehen on any kind of emergency plea. He was
under orders to conceal himself in the rear
of the automobile before they got into camp
and remain in his spy coop until the develop-
ments of his espionage rendered it advisable
for him to come forth.
Walter and his companion offered, with
the aid of their meagre French vocabulary, to
pay the aged farmer for the black bread and
■unappetizing bone-and-vegetable soup served
to them, but if their cupboard was bare their
hearts were warm and they refused the francs
that the two officers tried to give to them.
They gathered from the nasal-toned protest
of their host that he would be bountifully re-
paid if his guests would drive the terrible
enemy back into his own country.
At about 8 o’clock the automobile arrived
again at the regimental headquarters with
only Lieutenant Green in evidence as occu-
pant. Soon afterward J. Elliot Benson ap-
peared, accompanied by an orderly, and the
machine was turned over to him. The alleged
spy then stepped into the driver’s seat and a
moment later was speeding over a winding
OVER THERE WITH THE
40
military road to the north, while Walter,
cooped up in his narrow hiding plaee, tried to
get as much comfort out of his adventure as
his cramped position and outraged appetite
would permit him to enjoy.
41
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
CHAPTER VI.
STRANGE DOINGS.
HE automobile bowled along several
miles without incident worthy of note.
Hardly a sound of any description
stimulated a thrill of interest in the mind of
the hidden soldier in the rear of the machine.
There was a general quiet on the Cambrai
front, save for intermittent artillery duels
characteristic of all fronts whether quiet or
active. But even these sounds in the dis-
tance of several miles away were drowned by
the noise of the working of the automobile
engine, magnified by the resonance of the
body of the vehicle.
At last the machine stopped and Walter
listened eagerly, expectantly. He had not
long to listen before his attention was re-
warded.
He heard footsteps approaching the auto-
mobile, then an indistinct greeting between
the pedestrian and the driver of the machine.
T
42
OVER THERE WITH THE
“Come on, get in; I’ve got something for
you,” ordered the Rev. J. Elliot Benson with
anything but the gentle tone of voice that
he had affected when telling Walter of his
former ministerial connections.
The hoy in the rear heard the person thus
addressed get into the car and take a seat
beside the driver. It was a four-passenger
machine, constructed a good deal like a fliv-
ver, but looked as if it had been built to order
for some person who had his own ideas of a
combination of pleasure and utility. The in-
closed portion, Walter had observed, was en-
tirely removable, seats and all, so that the rest
could be used as an express vehicle if desired.
Even the cover and partition of the compart-
ment in which the young sergeant was con-
cealed could be taken out.
Walter exerted his sense of hearing to the
utmost to catch every word that passed be-
tween Benson and the new passenger. A vent
had been cut in the partition especially for his
benefit, but he was disappointed on discov-
ering that this listening hole did not enable
him to hear all that was said by the two men
in front. They did not always speak dis-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
43
tinetly, and, moreover, the noise of the engine
tended to drown their voices.
Still, he refused to be discouraged, and
the greater the difficulty, the more he endeav-
ored to concentrate his sense of hearing on the
conversation. He was gratified to note that
they spoke in English and that he could catch
about every second or third word uttered. He
concluded also that one of them had produced
something which was of great interest to both,
and that they were endeavoring to arrive at
a solution of it.
“I wish I could get a look at them,” said
Walter to himself. “I think I could get more
meaning out of their words. I wonder-
The suggestion that came to him was visu-
alized in his mind without the aid of “mental
words.” He did not deliberate on it long,
but proceeded to put the idea into execution.
He lifted the lid of his hiding place care-
fully and arose slowly until his eyes were on
a level with the tiny glass window in the rear
of the inclosure of the car. The view that met
his gaze rewarded his effort s satisfactorily.
The machine was bowling along slowly,
much more so than its speed prior to the
taking-on of the new passenger. Evidently
J9
OVER THERE WITH THE
44
Benson had reduced the rate of speed in order
that he and his companion might examine sat-
isfactorily the object of their interest.
Two brilliant incandescent bulbs were
flooding the forward part of the machine with
light. Walter gazed eagerly for marks and
features of identification of the stranger, but
scarcely a line of the latter’s face was visible.
He was leaning slightly forward in an atti-
tude of eager attention to something he held
in his hands. J. Elliot Benson was dividing
his attention between the object of interest
and driving the car.
Connecting this scene with some of the
words he had heard uttered by the two men,
Sergeant Beach concluded that the colonel’s
messenger had turned the papers intrusted to
his keeping over to his companion for inspec-
tion. What the purpose of this act was,
Walter could only conjecture, but it seemed
certain that the ultimate aim was information
and help for the enemy.
“I must hear more of what they are say-
ing,” he decided. “But how am I to do it?
Why, sure; it’s a mighty good thing I decided
to look. They’ve dropped those Windows in
the side doors. That’s one reason why I
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
45
couldn’t hear them plainly—some of the sound
of their voices went out of those open win-
dows. Now, the automobile is going slow—I
know I can run faster than it is going for a
few hundred yards. I’ll just drop off hack
here and then run up along one side, jump
on the running board, stick my head in and
—oh, if they turn and see me, Ill pretend to
be a hold-up man and shove my gun in their
faces and tell them to cough up. Meanwhile,
I’ll have to get rid of my insignia; so here
goes my hat and my coat, and Ill tousle my
hair—good thing it’s long.”
Walter took off his service hat and his army
coat, stuffed the hat into one of the pockets,
took a careful survey of the locality and tossed
the bundle under a tree they were passing.
“Byng!” he muttered. “If I hadn’t got
thoroughly seasoned to any kind of weather,
I’d soon take my death of cold this way.”
Then he took another look at the two men
on the front seat and observing that they were
still diligently studying the object of their
interest, he slipped over the rear end of the
bed of the automobile, at the same time lower-
ing the lid that covered his recent hiding place,
and dropped to the ground.
46
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER VII.
ON THE RUNNING BOARD.
W
ALTER found it considerably more of
a task than he had reckoned to per-
form the feat that he planned before
dropping from the rear of the preacher-spy’s
automobile. In the first place, he discovered
that the rate of speed at which the machine
was traveling was greater than he had es-
timated. Moreover, the road was wet and
slippery, in places muddy, and the night was
dark, so that as he ran it was necessary for
him to step carefully in order to avoid stum-
bling.
In a few moments he realized that he was
in danger of losing out in his venture, and
this fact made him desperate and caused him
to put the greatest possible speed into his al-
ready swiftly moving feet. The rumbling of
distant big guns was plainly audible now, but
such sounds of battle were no longer new to
him, and he scarcely noticed them. What in-
47
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
terested Mm most right now was the question
of whether the machine had suddenly in-
creased its rate of travel, or he had merely
miscalculated that rate, or his own sprinting
powers, or both.
But happily in a few seconds he was re-
warded with a realization that he was gain-
ing on the auto. This caused Mm to put forth
even greater effort, and presently he was run-
ning along beside it. He glanced up ner-
vously at the two men in front and was
pleased to note that they were so absorbed in
the object of interest before them that it was
probable that only a violent misstep on Ms
part would divert their attention to him.
Then he reached up to the edge of the open
window, took a firm hold of the frame, and
leaped lightly on to the running board.
It was necessary now for him to exert
himself for a moment or two in order to bal-
ance himself in his rather unstable position,
and after he became confident of his ability
to retain his position with slight effort, he
crouched low to make certain that Ms prox-
imity to the two men in the machine would
not attract their attention. At the same time
he felt for his pistol to reassure himself that
48
OVER THERE WITH THE
it was in a position to be drawn quickly if
emergency should demand.
Then he carefully raised his head again
and thrust it into the window. Neither of the
men within arm’s length of him observed his
presence, and it is needless to state that Wal-
ter was overjoyed with the success of his
venture thus far. If they should discover him,
it was hardly probable that he could be blamed
for lack of skill or carefulness.
All of their conversation was clear and
distinct to him now, and the first words he
heard thrilled him with the eagerness of
achievement. It was J. Elliot Benson who
spoke.
“According to this the attack will be made
without a barrage preparation,” said the
preacher spy. “The tanks will go over in
the mist of the morning.”
“That leaves me only a few hours to get
my information over,” remarked the other
with a peculiar accent not distinctively Ger-
man but suggestive of that type.
“Can you make it, do you think?” asked
the driver of the automobile.
“Yes,” was the answer. “They’re always
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
49
on the lookout for something from me. Be-
sides the signal is always unmistakable.”
“How about the wind?”
“It’s all right tonight—rather weak, but
from the right direction. I’ll weight the bal-
loons down a little so they won’t get in upper
currents of air that I know nothing about. I
sent up a couple to test the wind and they flew
almost due east. I’ve got all the information
I need now, so if you’ll stop the machine, I’ll
get out and go about my business ”
Without further conversation, the driver
stepped on the brake and the automobile
stopped with a suddenness that startled the
boy on the running board. In alarm lest he
be discovered, the latter sprang to the ground
and scrambled down a slight embankment be-
side the road and threw himself among some
bushes for concealment.
Fortunately he made no noise loud
enough to arouse the suspicion of the two men
on the front seats. He peered out through
the bushes and saw the stranger alight, and
start back briskly in the direction from which
they had come, while the automobile shot
ahead with much greater speed than the rate
OVER THERE WITH THE
50
at which it had been moving for the last fif-
teen or twenty minutes.
“That’s a pretty note,” the boy growled
under his breath. “Now what am I to do?
I was sent to watch J. Elliot Benson and have
let him escape me. But there was no help for
it. I couldn’t have stayed on that running
board without being caught. I might have
jumped on behind, but I’d been almost sure to
be seen or heard. No, I did the only thing
that I could do. And now the only thing for
me to do is to follow that fellow and see what
he does.”
Suiting action to the word, Walter arose
carefully from his hiding place and started
in pursuit. He had not gone far in this di-
rection, however, before he began to note
peculiarities in the fellow ahead that aroused
further interest in the spy’s character and
personal appearance.
“Why, he’s lame, stumps along as if he
had a wooden leg,” the pursuing youth ob-
served. “Reminds me of a villainous old sea
dog I’ve read about who went stumping along
the road in a mysterious manner. Hope I’m
on the right track after all. I’ve got a feel-
ing that he’s the arch villain in this plot. I
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
51
don’t like to think of a preacher’s being a
big criminal. But maybe J. Elliot isn’t a
preacher, after all, and never has been. As
I see him now, he’s too much of a natural-
born sneak to feel comfortable in a pulpit,
and even a scoundrel likes to feel comfortable,*
wherever he is, I suppose, in the very nature
of things.”
Walter’s “arch villain” was about fifty
yards ahead, and the boy decided that he had
better lessen the distance between them. The
sky was heavily overcast and the night was
dark, so that it was only in open places that
Sergeant Beach was able to distinguish clear-
ly the form and movements of the man he
was following.
“I’m afraid I’ll lose him in some dark
place or turn in the road if I don’t get
nearer,” he reasoned. “There’s no telling
where he’s bound for or when he’ll leave the
road. After all, I believe it was the best thing
that could have happened when Benson ran
away from me. This is the fellow I want to
watch. He’s going to get word to the enemy
some way that an attack is going to be made
along this sector in the morning. The most
important thing for me to do is to find out
52
OVER THERE WITH THE
how he sends his message, and prevent him
from getting word to the enemy if I can.
Then I’ll be in possession of the big secret.
J. Elliot may not do another thing tonight
that would be of interest to me. He’ll prob-
ably deliver his message and then return.”
Walter quickened his steps until he was
about sixty or seventy feet behind the object
of his investigation and then the pursuit
settled down to a question of maintaining that
distance between them until developments
necessitated a change.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
53
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MAN WITH THE WOODEN LEG,
W
ALTER was philosophical enough to
congratulate himself on all the cir-
cumstanees of his espionage task on
that eventful night immediately preceding the
beginning of the great battle of Cambrai in
November, 1917. The weather was unpleas-
ant in general, but when he had examined all
the details of that unpleasantness, he was
prepared to contradict the facts and decide
that the weather was very fine.
There had been considerable rain of late
and the road was rather muddy, in spite of
the stone pavement. He congratulated him-
self on this because there was no danger of
his footfalls being heard as a result of the
striking of the soles of his shoes on a clean,
hard surface. The air was damp and misty,
but this enabled him to travel more closely
after the object of his pursuit with small
danger of diseovery. The very mistiness of
54
OVER THERE WITH THE
the atmosphere, indeed, tended to detract
from the interest of the surroundings, so
that both pursuer and pursued gave little
heed to anything save objects in their path.
The night was almost as quiet as it was
gloomy. In the distance could be heard the
dull boom of cannon, hut that was about all
the evidence that came to Walter then of the
war which was rending the civilized world.
Activity along this portion of the Hindenburg
line was at a comparatively low ebb.
After a closer inspection of the pedestrian
ahead, the young trailer of spies concluded
that his first suspicion regarding the nature
of the fellow’s lameness was correct.
“There’s no mistake about it,” he told
himself. “He’s got a wooden leg, or a cork
leg, or something of the sort. That’s an im-
portant mark of identification. I must get
closer and see whether it’s cork or an ordin-
ary wooden stick.”
He quickened his pace until within half
a dozen yards of the spy. Then he fell back
several yards well satisfied with the result of
this inspection. The lower half of the man’s
right leg was of wood. The trouser leg did
not hang below the knee.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
55
“I believe I could identif y that fellow in
the daytime,” he decided. “I’ve got a pic-
ture of his build, his walk, and the way he car-
ries himself. He’s rather stocky built, has
a good deal of energy, but I shouldn’t be sur-
prised if he’s 50 or 60 years old. He’s prob-
ably put up a stiff fight even with his wooden
leg. Well, there’d be nd need of an encoun-
ter between him and me if he should turn
around and see me. I’d tell him I’d lost my
way and was trying to get back to my regi-
ment.”
For nearly two miles Walter folio wed the
man with the wooden leg, and not once during
all that period did the latter look behind him.
At last he stopped, as nearly as his pursuer
could estimate, at the place where J. Elliot
Benson had stopped his automobile and taken
his spy associate in as a passenger.
There was a small grove on either side of
the road at this point, and the one-legged in-
dividual turned to the left and entered the
wood on that side. The timber was not par-
ticularly dense, and there was little under-
brush; hence Walter found little difficulty in
following the man when he left the highway.
The walk through the woods covered only
56
OVER THERE WITH THE
about fifty yards and brought them to a lone
and apparently deserted house.
It was a gloomy place, and Walter found
it necessary to keep dangerously near to the
man he was following in order to avoid losing
sight of him. But he managed to do this
without being heard or seen by the other and
presently saw him open the door of the cot-
tage and enter. He closed the door after
him.
The boy now crept close to the half-stone,
half-frame building and sought a position
near the only window in the front of the
house, expecting a light to appear soon and
illuminate the interior. But no light ap-
peared, and the longer Walter waited for an
illumination the more he wondered at the
continued darkness and the more puzzled he
grew.
“I wonder if he just tumbled into bed,
boots and all, without the civilized aid of a
light,” the boy mused. “This is a puzzler
and no mistake. It seems ridiculous to think
he’s gone to bed with such pressing matters
on his mind, and yet he can’t do anything
in pitch dark.”
He pressed closer to the window and
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
57
searched tlie darkness within for the dim out-
lines of the form of the man who had just
entered. His efforts to this purpose were in
vain, hut he made a discovery that thrilled
him with a new interest, speedily followed by
a new resolve. He saw a tiny gleam of light
no larger than the end of his smallest finger
ten or twelve feet beyond the window.
“He’s in another room,” Walter con-
eluded. “Maybe there’s a window on the
other side where I can see him.”
He walked carefully, but rapidly, around
to the right, but made a complete circuit of
the building without seeing a light, although
he passed three more Windows.
“The mystery is deeper,” the boy frowned.
“But I think I have an explanation. He’s in
a room without Windows, a closet maybe, and
that light comes out through the keyhole.
I’m going in and investigate further.”
He recalled with satisfaction the fact that
the door did not creak when the spy pushed
it open and entered.
“I hope the boards of the floor don’t make
any more noise than those hinges did,” he
half muttered as he pushed the door open.
With great care, he entered and walked
OVER THERE WITH THE
58
slowly toward the tiny glimmer of light. The
construction of the floor was firm, and lie was
able to cross the room without creating a
sound greater than his own breathing or the
beating of his heart.
Arrived at the opposite partition of the
room, Walter bent down until his eyes were
on a level with the glimmer of light. He was
not mistaken; it was a keyhole. He peeped
in.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
59
CHAPTER IX.
THROUGH THE KEYHOLE.
HE room into which Walter gazed
through the keyhole was a large win-
dowless closet, as he had suspected. It
was bare, save for its one occupant, the para-
phernalia he had brought with him and a lit-
ter of nondescript rubbish in one corner.
The paraphernalia appeared to have been
produced there in a curiously amusing man-
ner. The fellow had unhitched, as it were, his
wooden leg from hip and thigh, and it lay on
the floor entirely disconnected from its posi-
tion of usefulness. A veritable harness and
mechanical knee socket at the larger end in-
dicated the method of fastening it in its place
of service.
But the most interesting feature connected
with this mechanical leg was the contents that
it was being forced to disgorge. Bor it was
a hollow leg, and the inner chamber had been
filled with an assortment of trinkets that
T
60
OVER THERE WITH THE
■would delight the average hoy thrilled with
Santa Claus expectations on Christmas eve.
The spy had lighted two candles, which
stood in rude burnt-clay candlesticks on the
floor. From the inner chamber of his wooden
leg he was now engaged in extracting a num-
ber of articles of the Christmas variety, prin-
cipally toy balloons. The latter were not in-
flated, but the spy proceeded to give them ro-
tund proportions with the aid of a hydrogen-
gas reservoir also produced from the wooden
leg. He attached the mouths of four of the
balloons, one after another, to the escape cock
of the reservoir, turned the thumbscrew and
the rubber bags distended to more than a foot
in diameter. The necks of the balloons he
tied with string to prevent the gas from es-
caping.
Then he produced, also from the wooden-
leg chamber, a roll of paper and a pencil and
began to write, using the floor for a table.
Although he labored diligently, this work re-
quired considerable time, for he seemed to
have to study out his ideas, as if translating
from one language to another or as if apply-
ing the key of a secret code.
After he had finished writing he rolled
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
61
the sheets of paper around as many appar-
ently metal eylinders and fastened each of
them to its cylinder with a fine wire, at the
opposite end of which was what appeared to
be a tiny folded umbrella.
“A parachute,” the spying boy almost
gasped. “I get his whole system, I think.
He’s planning to send those things up across
No Man’s Land, and when they get over the
Hindenburg line he proposes to have those
weights with the messages attached drop, and
the little parachutes will open up. But—no—
I guess I haven’t got the whole explanation.
How would it attract attention in the dark1?
He expects those messages to be found and
read before morning. I’m afraid I can’t
guess the rest of it with only the evidence
that has appeared thus far. By the way, I
wonder why the handles of those umbrellas
are so long. A real parachute doesn’t have
any handle at all.
string hanging down loose for?”
After the assembling of the parts of these
message bearers was completed, the one-legged
man tested them by turning them loose and
allowing them to rise to the ceiling. Evi-
dently, judging from the varying degrees of
And what’s that other
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OVER THERE WITH THE
rapidity with which they ascended, they were
all differently weighted.
“That adds a little to my information and
is very interesting coupled with the rest,”
Walter mused. “But still some of the most
important elements are lacking. I wonder
what he is going to do now. Oh, only putting
his leg back on.”
The boy was much disappointed when this
proved to be the spy’s next move. He had
hoped that the missing link in the complete
operation of the mechanical messenger was
about to be supplied.
Leaving the six balloons, with their elab-
orate hamess-paraphemalia, resting against
the ceiling, the fellow proceeded to strap and
buckle his wooden leg back on his right hip
and thigh. Then he gathered the dangling
ends of the balloons in one hand, drew them
down until he was able to hold them together
at their necks like a huge bulbous bouquet,
and turned toward the candles as if to blow
them out.
“How’s my time to move,” decided Walter
drawing his pistol and putting his left hand
against the door. “I mustn’t let him get
63
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
outside with those balloons or be may send a
message before I can prevent him.”
He pushed the door open suddenly and
pointed bis weapon toward tbe spy ready to
fire.
“Up with your bands, boche,” be com-
manded; “or I’ll shoot and make your bead
leak more gas than a bu’sted balloon.”
OVER THERE WITH THE
64
CHAPTER X.
IN THE CLOSET.
HE spy turned quickly with a wild look
of desperation on his face. Walter ex-
pected him to do something reckless and
held his finger on the trigger of his pistol
ready to fire at an instant’s warning.
But when the fellow gazed into the deter-
mined countenance of the young American
engineer, he wilted. He obeyed. Up went his
hands, at the same time “dropping” the
“bouquet of balloons”—to the ceiling.
■ Up to this time Walter had not had a good
front view of the face of the man with the
wooden leg. In fact, he had been more in-
terested in the leg than in the man. Now,
however, it was to his interest to keep close
watch of his prisoner’s face for indication of
any move he might be disposed to make.
The boy had surmised correctly concern-
ing the spy’s age while following him in the
dark toward the cottage in the grove of trees.
T
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
65
The fellow was probably between fifty and
sixty years of age, judging from the hard
lines in his face and the slight bend of his
form. He wore no beard or moustache, but
looked as if he had not shaved for a week.
“Have you a gun in your pocket?” Wal-
ter demanded. “But before you answer any
of my questions, let me advise you that any
evidence of treachery by word or act on your
part will be followed by a pill from Dr. Pistol
here. You know the family he belongs to,
don’t you? They’re all a very determined
bunch, bark and bite at the same time. Now,
I’m going to ask you several questions, and
let me remind you that this is war, and I’ll be
justified in shooting you at the slightest prov-
ocation.”
This speech seemed to have the desired ef-
feet on the wooden-legged man. He signified
his apparent willingness with a grunt and
look of submission to obey orders quickly.
“Where is your pistol,” his captor de-
manded again.
“Back there in pocket,” replied the fel-
low, hunching his right shoulder.
Holding his pistol ready for instant action,
Walter thrust his left hand into his prisoner’s
66
OVER THERE WITH THE
right-rear trouser pocket and drew forth a
French automatic of recent make.
“Is that all?” asked the young engineer,
stepping back and pocketing the appropriated
weapon.
“Yes,” answered the prisoner shortly.
“No knife?”
“Pocket knife here,” was the reply as the
boche lifted his left leg.
“Take it out and give it to me,” Walter
ordered.
The man put his left hand into the pocket
indicated and drew forth a large, ugly-look-
ing jacknife and gave it to his captor.
“No other weapon?”
“Nothing.”
“All right. Now let’s get down to busi-
ness and have an explanation of this remark-
able proceeding of yours. But first, let me
ask you a question that may start the ball roll-
ing right. I notice that you speak Eng-
lish in preference to French or German. Why
is that? I presume you can speak all three.”
“I do,” replied the spy without endeavor-
ing to answer the rest of his captor’s inquisi-
tion.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
67
The latter, however, insisted on an ex-
planation.
“Why do you and Benson discuss your spy
activities in English V he asked. * ‘ Why don ’t
you converse in German or French1?”
“I don’t care to discuss any question with
you in any language,” answered the spy.
“With the aid of your pistol you have the
upper hand. You can tell me what to do but
not what to say. At the point of your pistol,
I will go or come or stand on my head as you
command, but you are wasting your energy by
asking me questions. You have no way of tell-
ing whether I speak the truth.”
“You seem to have a sense of humor,” said
Walter, with a keenness of perception beyond
his years. “I recognize that you tell the truth
when you warn me that you may lie to me, but
because of your sense of humor I am going to
ask you some questions just for my own amuse-
ment.”
“Fire away.”
“What’s the contents of those messages
you were about to balloon over to th© German
lines?”
“They’re all the same.”
“Very well. What is it?”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“It’s information of the location of your
engineers’ camp for the purpose of bombard-
ment.”
“Lie number one,” snapped back the boy
with the pistol.
“What makes you think that1?” asked the
man with the wooden leg.
“It isn’t what I think; it’s what I know,”
returned Walter.
“Good,” said the spy with a half smile, half
sneer. “What do you know?”
“I know that that message is one of in-
formation regarding an attack to be made by
the British early tomorrow morning.”
The spy started visibly.
“What makes you think that?” he de-
manded.
“It isn’t what I think; it’s what I know,”
Walter said, repeating himself.
“All right; how do you know it?”
“I heard you and Benson discuss the mes-
sage you were about to send.”
“You did!” exclaimed the spy incredu-
lously.
“Sure. I was hidden in his automobile be-
fore you hailed Benson and got in. Then I got
out of my hiding place and stood on the run-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
69
ning board, with my head through the open
window while you and Benson discussed your
affairs and your plans.”
The ispy looked foolish and crestfallen.
“Now,” continued Walter; “I want some
information on your method of sending those
messages. If you lie to me, I can check up on
you and pro ve that you lied. You won’t help
your case, I assure you, by lying. How can
you make certain that your message will not
fly far beyond the German lines and be lost in
some timber, marsh or meadow?”
“Because I time it.”
“How?”
“Oh, with weights.”
“You can’t depend on weights to bring
down the balloons at the right place and time,
can you?”
“Oh, yes, pretty wrell. You see, I have half
a dozen weighted balloons here.”
“What’s this?” asked Walter taking hold
of a tiny string that hung from the handle of
one of the umbrella-parachutes.
“Oh, that’s just something to catch the
balloon with,” replied the spy in an inconse- j
quential matter-of-fact tone. I
‘ ‘ Hm! ’ ’ muttered his inquisitor. ‘ ‘ Strange •
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OVER THERE WITH THE
contrivance for such a purpose, isn *t it ? Shall
I tell you what it feels like1?”
“Pm not interested in your conjectures, in-
asmuch as you seem to doubt my word.”
“You needn’t take offense at that,” said
Walter with a smirk of derision. “A spy is
always a liar in the very nature of things.
Now, this string is a very weak affair, breaks
in two almost like paper. See?”
Walter pulled the string in two near the
end and examined the break closely.
“Pretty weak for a balloon cable, isn’t it?”
he observed with a smile of sarcasm. “Now
I’m going to tell you what it is. It’s a fusee.”
“Quite a detective, aren’t you?” sneered
the spy. “Suppose you light the fusee and see
what happens.”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Give
me a match.”
“I haven’t any.”
“Lie Number 10 or 15, isn’t it? Of course
you have some matches and I’d make you pro-
duce them by turning all your pockets inside-
out if I needed one. I might ask you how you
lighted those candles. Didn’t think of that,
did you? Well, I’ll just pull these balloons
down till the fusees touch the candle flames.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
71
Walter proeeeded to do as he announced
he would do, but at tbe same time caught a
cunning look in the face of the spy, which he
met with this warning:
“Careful, my friend. Don’t start any-
thing. It’s awfully dangerous.”
Walter’s statement regarding the eharae-
ter of the string proved correct. It sputtered
slowly as it touched the flame. He watched it
a few moments.
“It’ll take quite a while for it to reach the
parachute, won’t it?” he said. “Do you mind
telling me what will happen then?”
“It’ll burst the balloon, of course,” was the
other’s short answer.
“Is that afl?”
“What more could you want? The mes-
sage would fall then.”
“But why the parachute?”
“To make it fall slowly.”
“But what good would that do ? Why not
let it faU ker-plunk?”
“Ker—what?”
“Like lead.”
“More chance to be seen if it falls slowly.”
“In the dark?” asked Walter pointedly.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“Or in the daytime,” replied the other
coolly.
“Let’s make a test,” the boy suggested.
“I’ll apply the blaze up near the parachute.
It’ll take half an hour at this rate.”
“Look out!” exclaimed the spy in apparent
alarm.
Walter stayed the execution of his proposed
move and looked keenly at the utterer of this
warning.
‘ ‘ What ’s the matter ?” lie asked. ‘ ‘ Is there
a bomb in it'?”
The spy nodded his head with a look of fear
on his face.
“Well, we’ll be in the same boat then,”
said the young fellow with tantalizing smart-
ness. ‘ ‘ I can stand it if you can. ’ ’
“But I can’t,” declared the other in a
seeming panic of fright.
Walter was pulling the balloon down
nearer the flame, exulting in the terror that ap-
peared to be agitating the mind of his prisoner.
In thus playing with the latter, he made a
serious mistake. Meanwhile, there was one
peculiarity in the man’s fright which the boy
did not observe in those few moments of un-
soldierly playfulness, but which impressed
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
73
itself forcibly on his mind later. While al-
most screaming his warning against the ex-
plosion of the bomb, the spy did not indicate
a genuineness of terror by shrinking against
the partition a few feet behind him. Instead,
in an attitude of appeal he drew slightly
nearer.
“Don’t! Don’t!” he pleaded in tones of
despair.
Then suddenly there was a change in the
spy’s manner. He sprang like a jungle beast
at his captor, struck the latter’s pistol to the
floor and flung the full weight of his body upon
the boy.
74
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XL
SPY AGAINST SPY.
ALTER was borne almost to the floor
by the suddenness and weight of the
onset. Instantly, however, the chagrin
and disgrace of his threatened defeat gave him
an almost superhuman spurt of strength.
He set his teeth in a manner that might
have cracked or crumbled a poorer set of
dentines, and stiffened his backbone when it
was bended like a bow. Walter was a sturdy
youth, and the fact that he was able to bring
into the struggle at this point such evidence of
strength boded ill for the health and triumph
of his opponent.
Even yet, however, he might have been de-
feated, or the fight might have ended in a
draw, so far as physical prowess was con-
ceraed, if it had not been for the spy’s wooden
leg. The moment he found himself able to
withstand his antagonist’s downward drive,
the youth began to play for this weak point.
W
75
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
He stiffened, twisted, squirmed, swayed,
braeed, pushed, and finally got both arms
locked around the spy’s good and real leg.
Then he hove with all his might and main.
But that leg proved to be a powerful limb,
and the two swayed back and forth desperately
before there was any evidence of superiorly
on either side. Finally, however, Walter suc-
ceeded in hoisting the foot of flesh and bone
from its braeed position on the floor and bal-
ancing his opponent on the latter’s wooden
pin.
The rest of the struggle was comparatively
easy—for the young engineer. He tipped the
spy over on his back and came down on top
of him. Then he looked around for his pistol,
not so much with the expectation of seizing it
himself as of preventing the wooden-legged
spy from stealthily getting possession of it and
fatally turning the tables on him.
Both candles had been overturned in the
fight and one of the lights extinguished. The
remaining light was sputtering so fitfully that
it gave forth only a faint illumination, but
Walter caught sight of his pistol two feet to his
left and gave it a kick that sent it out of arm’s
reach.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“I’ve got his gun in my pocket,” was one
of the thoughts that flashed through his mind;
“but won’t use it if I don’t have to. I hate to
fight with a cripple, hut this fellow puts up
almost a good enough scrap to make up for the
loss of a leg. If it weren’t for that, he might
’a got the best of me. But, my! what’ll I do if
that light goes out? I can’t hold him here till
morning very well.”
Hot a word had passed between the
wrestlers thus far. Indeed, every word
uttered would have meant a waste of precious
breath. Hence each had abundant opportunity
to thrash the situation over in his own mind.
Suddenly the question of light in the closet
was answered in a brilliant manner just as the
remaining candle was about to sputter out.
There was a sharp spitting, then an outburst
of the most intense light that blinded Walter
and, presumably, the man he was holding
down. The victorious wrestler was startled al-
most out of his wits by this blinding burst of
illumination. He concluded instinctively that
his opponent’s warning had been a true one,
that a bomb attached to one of the balloons had
burst, although he did not “think to wonder”
why he had nof been killed instantly or why
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
77
a deafening sound had not accompanied the
explosion. His first impulse was to escape
from the building before he was consumed in
it with flames.
Then came another explosion and another.
Showers of sparks and flame filled the little
room. Yet the two enemy occupants were in-
jured only: slightly. W alter felt a few hundred
priekling and smarting sensations in his ex-
posed skin and was just beginning to surmise
the truth, when the one-legged fellow under
him took advantage of his confusion, threw
him off and scrambled out, slamming the door
to complete his disappearance.
The young engineer, however, was not long
in a state of helpless confusion. He heard the
enemy-spy stump across the floor and out of
the house in as lively a manner as ever wooden-
leg stumped, and before the echoes of wood
against wood had died away, he had flung the
door open and was racing after him.
“No, I must have my pistol,” suddenly
flashed through his mind; and he darted back,
snatched up the weapon, and, like a flash, was
out again after the fleeing cripple.
Just as he dashed through the entrance he
was conscious of another burst of flame behind
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OVER THERE WITH THE
Mm, and it seemed as if the very woodwork
must be afire.
“I wonder if the house will burn,” he
mused. “There’s enough rubbish in there to
start a fire. Byng! but that was quite a revela-
tion. That fire—lights—they were nothing but
sky candles, Very lights, or something of the
sort, that would hang in the air while the
parachutes were floating down with those spy
messages. Nothing plainer on earth. Well,
I Ve got their secret and identified two of them,
principal f ellows, no doubt. I’d like to capture
them tonight, but I suppose that’s out of the
question. Goodness! I’d better look out, or
I may get a crack over the head in the dark
that may settle this whole affair in their favor.
I did one fool stunt tonight, and I want to be
mighty careful not to do another. I wonder
what became of him.”
Walter now gave up the idea of recaptur-
ing his recent prisoner and devoted his dili-
gence to guarding against a surprise in the
dark. Slowly, carefully, circumspectly, hold-
ing his pistol ready for instant use in his right
hand, he stole away from the vicinity of the
cottage and sought to return to the Mghway
which had been the scene of the earlier part of
his night’s adventure.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
79
CHAPTER XII.
IN THE AUTO AGAIN.
T
HE cottage is burning!”
For several minutes Walter picked Ms
way toward the Mghway, and just as he
found it and identified the spot where he had
left the road to follow the one-legged spy into
the woods, he observed the illumination from
the blazing building through the trees.
“I don’t suppose it’ll attract any atten-
tion,” he told himself. “Anybody seeing it’ll
think it was started by a shell fired by a long
range gun. Anyway, it means the destruction
of a sort of station for sending spy messages
to the enemy.
“By the way, that reminds me that there’s
to be a big attack on the Hindenburg line in
tMs sector in the morning, according to those
fellows’ information, and the time for it can’t
be very far away. It must be long after mid-
night. I’d strike a match and see if I hadn’t
smashed my wrist-watch in that fight. Not a
tick left in it,” (lifting the timepiece to Ms
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OVER THERE WITH THE
ear, then shaking it and listening again). “I
must be making fast tracks back to camp if
I’m to be anywhere handy during the big drive
toward Cambrai. I wouldn’t miss that for
anything. I hate to walk all the way back to
camp, but I suppose I’ll have to. If only J.
Elliot Benson would happen along now on his
return trip, I’d step out and invite myself as
a passenger. But I suppose there’s no such
luck for me. Hello, what’s that1?”
Walter was ensconced between two large
beech trees that grew close together like in-
separable twins as he stood and calculated the
situation and reckoned the advisabilities of his
next move. He was still on his guard against
an attack in the dark from his recent op-
ponent, and it was while looking about for
warning of such danger that he discerned a
movement in the trees a few yards to his right
near the highway, which called forth the ex-
pression of surprise that he breathed, but did
not utter. The form was plainly that of a man,
who apparently was just as cautious in his
movements as Walter had been.
“I bet it’s my wooden-legged enemy,” was
the young soldier’s mental conclusion, quickly
arrived at. “I’m glad I saw him before he
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
81
saw me. I think I’ll get as close to him as I
can and try to find out what he’s up to. Ap-
parently my Huty is not yet completed.”
Walter stole from tree to tree, slowly and
with great caution until he was only three or
four yards from the man near the roadside.
At this distance from the spy he hugged close
to a large tree, so that it would have been diffi-
cult for any but an owl-eyed person to detect
his presence in his heavily shaded hiding place.
Meanwhile the halting, stumping movements
of the object of his espionage confirmed the
youthful engineer’s suspicion as to his identity.
“He seems to be waiting for something or
somebody,” Walter mused; “and that some-
thing or somebody can hardly be myself. He
appears to expect somebody to come this way
along the road. Now, I wonder if it isn’t his
friend, J. Elliot Benson, that he’s looking for.
I bet it is. Meanwhile, what had I better do ? ”
There seemed to be no answer to this ques-
tion except to remain where he was and await
developments. The boche seemed to have
nothing in view to hold his interest, except the
purpose of his waiting, although it was not
long before he, too, observed the fact that the
building he had recently left was burning and
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OVER THERE WITH THE
turned frequently to watch the flames that
leaped high oyer the treetops. This made it
necessary for Walter to guard carefully
against detection, and he hugged his tree like
a forest parasite, never moving head, hand, or
foot a fraction of an inch when the face of his
recent antagonist was turned toward him.
Thus nearly an hour passed, the flames of
the burning building subsided, indicating that
the woodwork was about consumed, and still
the two, spy and spy-watcher, stood in their
respective original places awaiting develop-
ments in which they both were interested. At
last the very thing that Walter was expecting
took plaee.
An automobile drove up, and the man with
the wooden leg stumped out on the highway
and waved his arms as a signal for it to stop.
The driver did as requested, and soon the
crippled spy was beside the machine and en-
gaged in a rapid conversation with J. Elliot
Benson.
Walter recognized the preacher-spy’s voice
in the first utterance of the man in the automo-
bile. Indeed, the latter spoke first, and as the
conversation proceeded the young soldier in
the grove moved stealthily, but eagerly,
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
83
nearer to the road in order that he might miss
none of the words that passed between them.
He stopped not more than twenty feet from
the automobile, and crouched behind a clump
of bushes that grew between a tree and a post
of a one-time perfectly good wire fence.
“What’s the matter?” inquired Benson as
his spy-associate stumped up beside the ma-
chine, apparently in considerable excitement.
“Matter!” exclaimed the other. “Enough
and a lot more. Our game is spoiled for to-
night.”
“What do you mean?” Benson asked ap-
prehensively and with no effort to modulate
the tone of his voice.
‘ “I mean I was caught in the act tonight
and it’s only rare good luck that I’m not a
prisoner and awaiting the firing squad. In
fact, the safest thing for me to do is to make
my way across No Man’s Land about as rap-
idly as possible.”
“Didn’t you send the messages?” J.
Elliot demanded nervously.
“I did not,” answered the other, throwing
into those three words all the weight of the
©bstacles that had opposed him.
“Can’t you do it yet?”
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“Do it yet?” snapped the one-legged man
almost derisively. “With my whole outfit
gone up in smoke along with the house I pre-
pared it in.”
“You must have had an accident.”
“Accident! Well, I should say I did, but
a very much premeditated accident.”
“Quit talking in puzzles and tell me what
happened,” Benson ordered. “Did you have
a fire? Did a shell hit the house? You said
you were a prisoner. Explain that.”
“No, no shell hit the house, but something
of the nature of a very sharp and powerful
fighting spy landed there mighty sudden. The
first thing I knew, he was standing over me
covering me with a pistol. He knew just what
I was up to, and told me the straight of it,
although I lied to him right and left. I man-
aged to knock his gun out of his hand and
grappled with him and would ’a downed ’im,
too, if it hadn’t ’a been for this wooden leg o’
mine. In the midst of our fight my fireworks
exploded and the house caught fire, and we
both got out o’ there as fast as we could. I
haven’t seen him since.”
“So that’s the blaze I saw, was it?” Ben-
son said at the conclusion of his interlocutor’s
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
85
speech. “I wondered what it could be. But
who was that fellow—any idea?”
“He was a soldier, I could tell that from
his uniform. But I’m pretty sure he wasn’t
French or British. I suspect he was Ameri-
can.”
“How much does he know?”
“As much as he saw.”
“ Does he connect me with it in any way ? ’ ’
“Ho, I don’t think so, at least not that I
know of.”
“Then I guess you’re up against it. You’d
better make your escape as fast as you can.
Your main handicap is that wooden leg. It’ll
give you away anywhere you go now. Every-
body along the line will be looking for a man
with a wooden leg.”
“And that’s where I’ll fool ’em if I can
get back to the store before daybreak,” an-
swered the crippled spy. “ I have a cork leg
there of the very best make that I’ve been
keeping for just such an occasion as this. Also
I have enough change of makeup to make an-
other man of me. Can’t you take me back
home in that car?”
“I’m afraid I’ll be questioned pretty
closely if I delay my return much longer,”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
said Benson. ‘ ‘ I really ought to be back now. ’ ’
“You ought to be able to trump up some
excuse—breakdown, puncture, or something
on the road.”
“All right, I'll risk it. Get in; we mustn’t
stay here any longer.”
Meanwhile, as Walter listened to this con-
versation, his mind was working rapidly on
plans to prevent the spies from getting away
from him.
“I ought to get back into that auto,” he
told himself. “I'm liable to find out some-
thing more if I do. It’s very dark here in the
shadow of all these trees. If that fellow with
the wooden leg gets into the machine, I believe
I can dash around and get in before they get
up speed.”
And that is the very thing that the young
engineer-spy did. As the man with the wooden
leg stepped into the automobile, Walter,
crouehing as low as was consistent with speed
and easy movements, scuttled out from behind
his place of concealment and made a crescent-
moon detour around to the rear of the ma-
chine. There he was able to open the lid of
his former hiding place and crawl in while
the engine was getting up speed.
\
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
87
CHAPTER XIIL
AT THE DRUG STOR®.
HB automobile was now driven at a
much more rapid rate of speed than
Walter had known it to travel at any
other time that night. Evidently Benson
possessed a keen sense of his responsibility as
the colonel’s messenger and knew full well
what was expected of him in the matter of
making time.
Whether the road was rough or even
seemed to be a matter of small moment to the
driver. As a rule it was an ideal smooth stone
surface, but here and there the tires struck a
litter of broken pavement or other unevenness
with uncomfortable effect. The chief sufferer
in this wild riding was Walter, whose head,
elbows and knees, and other angular and ob-
trading portions of his body received about as
many bumps as the comers of a cube in a
Borneo baby’s rattlebox.
Throughout this wild and reckless drive
T
88
OVER THERE WITH THE
the two spies continued to discuss the situa-
tion as it affected both of them, and, although
the noise and rocking of the automobile tended
to drown their voices, yet they in turn lifted
their tones for each other’s benefit, so that
the stowaway in the rear was able to catch
most of what they said. As they had not the
slightest suspicion that any one was near
enough to overhear what they said, they even
exceeded the necessities of the occasion in
order that every word of each might be under-
stood by the other. Moreover, the wooden-
legged spy evidently feared that, in spite of
his proposed camouflage of identity, his un-
disguisable lameness must prove a serious
handicap in his efforts to get within the Ger-
man lines.
“If I could only get some kind of employ-
ment in the army, it might help me to make
my escape,” he said.
“I don’t see how that would be possible,”
replied Benson. “You couldn’t enlist; that
wooden, or cork, leg of yours would bar you
from any kind of service, in my opinion.”
“I could drive an ambulance,” persisted
the other with almost the eagerness of youth.
89
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
“I think I can handle any kind of machine
that’s made.”
“Yes, perhaps you might do that, but
you’d have to have some kind of pull or spe-
cial appeal to get into that kind of service,
and I don’t believe I could supply the neces-
sary drag. If, now, we’d have a bad break-
down and, by some superhuman efforts, you’d
get this machine back into condition for a
speedy return, I might be able to do something
for you; at any rate, I’d take you back to
headquarters with a glowing account of your
service.”
“Can’t we fake up something that’ll pass
muster,” suggested Mr. Wooden Leg.
“We might,” replied the other. “Have
you anything to suggest? I’ll do my part in
anything that sounds good.”
“Sure. The engine stalled you half an hour
on your way back. You had your trouble with
it until I came along and showed you what was
the matter and helped you get it in working
order. You also had a puncture and I mended
it quick enough to earn a croix de guerre.”
“That sounds good as far as it goes, but
you’ll have to go into detail to pro ve yourself
an expert mechanic.”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“I can do that all right. I owned three
automobiles of different makes during the last
two years before the war, and I made quite a
study of engines in general.”
The one-legged spy then, to prove his pro-
ficiency as an expert automobile mechanic,
launched into a disjointed, tandem succession
of diagnoses of hypothetic diseases of gaso-
line engines, from delayed sparks to oily com-
mutator brush and from piston slap to ex-
haust pipe explosions, until J. Elliot Benson
shouted “enough,” and announced his will-
ingness to aid his companion’s plan for escape.
After the settling of this question to the
satisfaction of both parties concerned, there
was silence for several minutes. Then the car
stopped, and the driver and his one-legged
companion got out.
“About how long will it take ?” asked Ben¬
son.
“Twenty minutes or half an hour,” was
the other’s reply. “Come on in.”
Walter listened to their receding footsteps
until a noise like that of a closing door marked
the termination of those sounds. Then he de-
cided that it was time for him to come out of
his hiding place.
m.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
He lifted the lid cautiously and peered out.
The first view apprised him of the fact that
the automobile was in a street of a village or
town, which was dimly lighted under the con-
servation policy of wartime. There being no
living creature in sight, he lifted the lid still
higher and crawled out.
“This is a business street,” the young en-
gineer observed after looking up and down
the highway for the purpose of both precau-
tion and information. “And this must be the
store mentioned by the guy with the wooden
leg. Why, it’s a drug store. He must be a
druggist. Now, I wonder if I can get in there
or in a position where I can see what they do.”
The nearest street light was half a square
away, but it was sufficient to enable Walter to
obtain a fairly good view of his surroundings.
To the left of the drug store was a grocery; to
the right was another building in ruins, prob-
ably the work of a shell explosion. The scout
decided that the latter afforded the best ave-
nue through which to continue his investiga-
tion, and he crept through a broken plate glass
window and started cautiously toward the
rear, feeling his every step like a blind man
crossing a street.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“I mustn’t be too long at this,” be decided.
“I want to get back in that machine before
they set out again.”
His inspection of the premises, however,
proved disappointing. He was unable to find
a window through which he could see the two
spies whom he believed to have entered the
store, nor could he find an unlocked door or
window through which he might enter and
prosecute his search within. Finally he gave
it up as a hopeless task and returned to his
hiding place in the automobile.
A few minutes later the two spies came out
of the store and were about to enter the ma-
chine when Benson exclaimed:
“Hark! What’s that'?”
Walter had heard the sounds which now
caused the two spies to stop and listen. They
had first reached his ears after he gave up his
fruitless search for a position from which to
observe the doings of J. Elliot Benson and the
druggist in the drug store, but as other mat-
ters held his interest more acutely, he did not
pay much attention to them. But now he
listened just as eagerly as the two men while
the latter discussed the subject hurriedly.
“It’s pretty near daybreak, isn’t it?” said
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
93
Benson. “General Byng has launched his big
attack.”
“Yes, and I didn’t get my message over,”
replied the druggist spy. “No doubt, it’s a
complete surprise.”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XIV.
THE GUAKD’S CHALLENGE.
I
F Walter Beach’s mind had not been taxed
with matters of great moment, calling for
the exercise of his every faculty of alert-
ness and intelligence, he must have observed
that day was breaking even as he emerged
from his hiding place in the automobile in
front of the store of the one-legged druggist.
As a matter of fact, day was dawning
rapidly when he returned to his place of con-
cealment. This would have been the more
noticeable if the atmosphere had not been
overladen with mist that threatened at any
moment to be transformed into rain. Indeed,
at times it seemed as if the coolness of the air
congealed this all-pervading dampness into a
drizzle.
Walter was conscious of a good deal of
discomfort as he returned from his fruitless
inspection to his hiding place in the automo-
bile. His clothes were wet, although only in
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
95
a few places to the skin, and he was almost
‘‘chilled to the bone.”
But he had had little time to think of his
discomforts, so that, while they existed, they
were not very real. The one deep reality
which was ever before him was his duty as
it developed and demanded attention.
Curiosity of a sensational nature, however,
played havoc with his sense of duty for sev-
eral minutes after the sounds of battle began
to reach his ears. The conversation between
the two spies also set up a riot of thrills and
exultation in his mind.
“Well,” he sighed; “it seems that I ac-
tually saved the general ’s or the field mar-
shal ’s plan from betrayal. The attack must
have been a surprise. From the sounds of the
firing it’s launched on a wide front. But I
wonder why it sounds so light and far away.
Heavy artillery behind our lines would jar
the atmosphere, even back this far, almost
enough to change this mist into a cloudburst.”
His “wonder” was soon answered by the
druggist-spy in the latter’s conversation with
Benson.
“They’re doing just what that message
you gave me said they were planning to do,”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
lie said. “Those are tank guns. No doubt
those monsters have ridden right over the
German trenches in the fog. They’re like
harpies dashing into your vitals without
warning. There wasn’t any artillery prep-
aration. Do you know how many tanks they
have, Benson?”
“About 400, I understand,” the latter re-
plied.
“And to think,” the other continued dis-
consolately; “I might have prevented this
thing if it hadn’t been for that kid who
dropped out of the sky on me. I wonder who
he was and where he is now.”
“Well, forget him and all the might have
beens,” advised J. Elliot impatiently and with
much more practical sense than Walter had
believed it possible for him to possess. “Come
on, get in. We’ve got two or three miles yet
to drive and a very reasonable report on my
delay to concoct. You’ll have to coach me re-
garding your plan all the way, or tve’ll both
mix things up so badly that wre ’ll be landed in
the guard house. ’ ’
A minute later the automobile was dash-
ing along the highway and the two men were
diligently discussing the crippled spy’s plan
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
97
for explaining Benson ’s long absence and es-
tablishing grounds for conditions of greater
safety for the latter’s companion. Their con-
versation now was in lower tones, and Walter
was able to catch only a small portion of what
they said. But their few words and sentences
were all on the main topic that absorbed their
interest and concern and afforded little in-
formation aside from what the hidden youth
in the rear was able to conjecture on the basis
of what he had heard previously.
The drive was as rapid as had been the last
portion of the journey in the night, when Ben-
son listened to the entreaty of his spy friend
and conveyed him to the latter’s place of busi-
ness. At times it was quite as uncomfortable,
too, but in the main the highway was smooth
and even, so that Walter arrived at the en-
gineers’ camp little the worse for the latter
part of his journey.
He waited long enough to give Benson and
the druggist time to get out of sight and hear-
ing before he ventured to come forth. Then
he lifted the lid of his hiding place cautiously
and peeped out. The coast seemed to be clear
and he opened the cage wide and stepped to
the ground.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“Here, what does this mean?” demanded
a guard on duty near the entrance of the colo-
nel’s headquarters.
Walter knew the guard only by sight and
feared that insistence on the part of the latter
for an explanation might result in a confusion
of his plan for protecting his secret until his
report to the colonel was made.
“Be careful,” he said with a tone and
manner of warning to the guard. “I’m on
secret duty. You’ll spoil everything if you’re
not careful.”
“Who are you?” demanded the guard.
“Sergeant Beach of Company D.”
“Give the countersign.”
The challenge irritated Walter, but there
was no help for it. The guard was only doing
his duty, and the non-commissioned officer
knew it. He was unable to give the counter-
sign and realized that the only thing for him
to do was to remain passive and permit the
guard to take his own course in satisfying
himself as to the reason for the presence of
the young sergeant in so strange a place.
Meanwhile his nervousness did not tend to
subside as he clung to the reluctant hope that
the man with the wooden leg would not ap-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
99
pear on the scene and recognize him as the
soldier who had counter-spied his spy ac-
tivities in a deserted cottage in a lonely
wooded spot several miles away.
“I have a special army pass,” said Walter,
suddenly remembering the credential that had
been given to him at headquarters the day be-
fore.
He produced an envelope containing his
pass and presented it to the guard, who
examined the contents and then returned the
credential to its owner.
“That looks all right, but it doesn’t explain
your presence in the rear of that automobile.
If you can’t explain it satisfactorily, I must
call the corporal of the guard.”
Walter hesitated several moments. What
explanation could he give? It would not do
for him to tell the truth. He was on duty of
the most secret character, and he knew full
well that the only person to whom he should
make his report was the colonel of the regi-
ment. He might, indeed, offer an explanation
privately to either the captain or the lieuten-
ant who had been in the confidence of the regi-
mental commander while the plans for Wal-
ter’s commission were being arranged.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
As the guard announced his intention to
summon higher authority to investigate the
mystery of Sergeant Beach’s concealment in
the automobile of the colonel’s messenger,
Walter glanced toward the entrance of the
regimental headquarters and there saw the
druggist-spy gazing out upon the scene with
a look of deep concern.
“The very thing has happened that I
didn’t want to happen,” he almost groaned.
“I bet anything that fellow saw me crawl out
of that box.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
101
CHAPTER XV.
THE FLIGHT OF THE SPIES.
C
ORPORAL of the guard, post number
8,” sung out the soldier who challenged
Walter as the latter emerged from the
rear of the messenger’s automobile.
“Corporal of the guard, post number 8,”
came the echoing response from post number
7 nearly 200 feet away.
In this manner the call was repeated at
every post along the line until it reached
number 1 at the guard house. From there the
corporal of the guard, accompanied by two
privates, began a rapid hike toward post num-
ber 8.
Arrived there, he asked for the reason of
the call and Sergeant Beach’s challenger be-
gan to explain. Meanwhile, Walter glanced
furtively several times toward the entrance
to the regimental headquarters, but the one-
legged spy had withdrawn and did not appear
again in the doorway.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
After the guard had finished his report,
the corporal turned to Sergeant Beach for his
statement of the affair
‘‘I have no explanation to offer,” the lab
ter announced, “I am under orders, and all
I can say is that if you will communicate with
either Captain Howard of Company D, or
Lieutenant Green of headquarters, you’ll be
informed that I am all right and that my pass
must be accepted in full explanation of any
of my acts.”
“We’ll go right in and see Lieutenant
Green and settle this matter very quickly,”
said the corporal.
“Lieutenant Green is out,” interposed the
guard. “He went away half an hour ago and
hasn’t retumed.”
“Then we’ll go and see Captain Howard,”
said the corporal of the guard. “No doubt
everything is all right, and I’ll try to give you
no more inconvenience than is necessary.”
Walter was well pleased with this arrange-
ment, as an interview with Captain Howard
would doubtless result in an early audience
with the colonel. But the captain was en-
gaged in important duties relative to plans
for following up the surprise attack, whose
ENGINEERS AT C AMBR AI
103
initial success was already a matter of com-
mon knowledge in camp, and nearly half an
hour elapsed before the corporal of the guard
and Sergeant Beach were admitted into his
presence. He quickly reassured the corporal
that Walter’s “mysterious actions” had the
approval of the commanding officer and di-
rected the guard officer to withdraw and leave
Sergeant Beach with him.
The corporal did as directed, and Captain
Howard then turned to Walter and asked:
“Well, are you ready to report to the
colonel?”
“Yes, sir, I am,” the noncommissioned
officer replied.
“He’s awful busy right now. Unless you
have something very important to report, he
probably won’t see you.”
“I have something very important.”
“I’ll get him on the phone and tell him
what you say.”
A minute later the captain was talking
over the telephone with the commander of the
regiment. In a few words, he reported Ser-
geant Beach’s announcement, then listened a
few moments to the colonel’s reply, returned
OVER THERE WITH THE
104
a concluding “all right,” and hung up the re-
ceiver.
“The colonel directs me to take your re-
port and then communicate with him,” he
said.
"Walter accepted this as an invitation to
begin, and he launched at once into a rapid,
to-the-point narrative of his night’s experi-
ences. At the conclusion, Captain Howard in-
quired:
“And you say those two men are at head-
quarters?”
“I left them there,” Walter replied.
“That is, I presume both of them entered.
While I was outside talking with the guard,
I saw one of them standing in the doorway.
He evidently recognized me, and I think he
was badly scared. Then he disappeared, and
I saw nothing more of them.”
“They’re probably over there yet,” said
the captain. “You may go outside now and
wait for further instructions.”
Walter arose and went out into the
orderlies’ room and sat down. He waited
there half an hour and then an orderly ap-
proached him and announced that the captain
wished to see him again. IJshered into the
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
105
presence of that officer, he was surprised with
this announcement:
“Well, those two fellows escaped. Prob-
ably they saw you crawl out of the rear of the
automobile and concluded the best thing for
them to do was to make themselves scarce.”
“How could they do it?” asked "Walter in-
credulously.
“It didn’t need to he very difficult,” the
captain replied. “Benson had a pass and they
probably faked another for the other fellow.
Benson is well known and that fact would act
as a kind of guarantee for his companion.”
“They probably fixed up a pass for him at
the drug store last night, and Benson slipped
him the countersign,” said Walter. “How
did they make their get-away?—in the auto?”
“Yes,” answered the captain. “They’d
been gone half an hour when the colonel
ordered their arrest. Details have been sent
out in different directions to look for them.
Is there anything you overheard them say
that might help us to find them?”
“Yes,” replied Walter. “They’ll try to
get through the lines somewhere.”
“That would he a pretty hard thing to do
in this sector right now,” said the captain.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“There’s a regular furnace of fireworks along
our front and probably it TL continue for sev-
eral days.”
“But not so hot at night,” said Walter.
“They’ll probably hide somewhere during the
day and if they’re not eaptured, try to cross
No Man’s Land tonight.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, they were discussing some such
plan as that for the one-legged fellow in part
of their conversation that I overheard. You
see, that was his purpose in coming here with
Benson—so that he could get into some kind
of special service that would take him near
the front and make it possible for him to get
across before I ran into him and caused his
arrest. It was his one desperate chance. By
the way, I think he has substituted his cork
leg for his wooden leg. It appeared to me that
he had when I saw him in the doorway at head-
quarters. The trouser leg over his artificial
limb hung clear down. When I saw him last
night it was pinned up against his thigh.”
“I think we’d better send you out after
those fellows again,” announced Captain
Howard. “The colonel authorized me to do
as I thought best after talking matters over
with you. Can you drive a car?”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
107
“Yes, sir,” Walter replied.
“Well, you will have a machine and as
much help as you need. How many men do
you want?”
“One good man will be enough,” said
Walter. “It will be more scouting service
than fighting, I hope.”
“You figure on taking them by surprise?”
“Perhaps. I think that’s the best way to
plan it. But, at any rate, I don’t care for
any odds in numbers, even in a skirmish. I’d
try it alone.”
“That isn’t necessary. Have you any-
body in mind whom you’d like to take with
you?”
“Yes—Private Clark Chambers of our
eompany.”
“Very well. You may retire and wait out-
side until I call you again. I’ll summon Pri-
vate Chambers and have an auto brought here
for you. By the way, Company D will go up
toward the front today, and you will endeavor
to keep in touch with it and report to me as
soon as possible. You need not report to head-
quarters any more.”
Walter went outside and awaited the com-
pletion of preparations of his second auto-
mobile scouting trip.
OVER THERE WITH THE
- 108
CHAPTER XVI.
PURSUIT.
WENTY minutes later Sergeant Walter
Beach and Ms friend Private Clark
Chambers, both armed with guns,
pistols, and passes that authorized them to go
anywhere they wished within the British lines,
set out in a light two-passenger open car to
find the two fugitive spies.
The speed with which these preparation
were made was in line with the business-like
manner in which everybody and everytMng
American took part in the European war.
They got their first information as to the di-
rection taken by the fugitives from guards
stationed along the road that ran in front of
the regimental headquarters. One of these
guards said he had watched the machine some
distance from the camp, and from his state-
ment, Walter suspected that “the preacher”
and his spy companion had started out along
the course taken by Benson on the night be-
fore to deliver a message to General Byng.
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109
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
“I’m rather surprised at their taking this
direction,” Walter remarked as he turned the
machine at the first cross-road and put on full
speed for a dash over a long stretch of smooth
white stone-surfaced highway. “And then
again,” he continued; “I’m not so much sur-
prised either. They probably had a reason.”
“Maybe they know the country in this di-
rection better than any other,” Clark sug-
gested.
“That’s what I was thinking about,”
Walter continued. “I’m wondering if they
haven’t some hiding place in mind.”
“I guess I don’t know enough of the affair
to express an opinion on that,” Clark replied.
Thereupon Walter related again, for the
benefit of his companion, the story of his ex-
periences during the last preceding night.
Clark was intensely interested, interrupting
his friend every now and then with questions
to bring out details that would throw light on
obscure phases of the succession of events.
Walter and Clark had not been close
friends before they messed with the American
engineers who followed up the advance of the
British army near Cambrai. True, they had
both been employed in the same railroad office
110
OVER THERE WITH THE
in the States, but that office was a large one
and the number of employees also was large,
and these two boys up to the time of their en-
listment were hardly more than acquaint-
ances.
But being thrown into each other’s com-
panionship brought out interests and sym-
pathies in common which were in no wise in-
terfered with by the promotion of Walter,
first to corporal, and then to sergeant. When
the latter expressed a desire that Clark ac-
company him on this pursuit after the fleeing
spies, he did so chiefly because he felt that
their common likes and interests would enable
them to work well together. And he was not
mistaken, for Clark took up the task with him
in a manner that promised well for the suc-
cess of their expedition.
The passenger section of the car in which
they started out in pursuit of the spies re-
sembled the cockpit of an airplane, and the
body in general had the torpedo appearance of
The machine squatted low on the
ground and looked as if best fitted for dash-
ing right under anything in its way and toss-
ing the obstacle back “over its shoulder.”
“My idea of those fellows’ plan is this,”
said Walter at the conclusion of his narrative.
a racer.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
111
“They probably know of some good hiding
place up near the lines, or if they don’t know
of any such place, they are now on a mad hunt
to find one. No doubt, if they’re successful,
they’ll conceal themselves until dark and then
set out to steal their way through the lines.”
“What’ll they do with their auto mean-
while?” suggested Clark.
“Oh, they’ll find some place to hide that,
too, if they’re not caught first. There’s one
thing about their machine that’s in our favor,
and that is the long body with the box-like
end behind the covered part. Anybody who
has seen that car will remember it almost as
certainly as he’d remember having seen this
one.”
“There’s a village just ahead and a cross-
road this side,” remarked Clark. “There’s
nobody this side. I suppose the only thing for
us to do is to run into the village and make
inquiries there.”
“There’s an old woman with a pack on
her back coming along the cross-road to the
right,” said Walter. “Let’s run up that way
and question her.”
“Now we’ll have a chance to display our
knowledge of French,” Clark remarked some-
what facetiously.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“Or our ignorance more likely,” Walter
corrected. “However, I guess we can make
ourselves understood.”
They turned to the right when they reached
the cross-road and Walter brought the auto to
a stop as the woman was about to pass them.
She was plainly of the peasant class and car-
ried on her head a bundle of firewood that she
had gathered, no doubt, in the timber a mile
further on.
“Bon jour,” said Walter.
“Bon jour, monsieurs,” returned the
woman.
“ Comprenez-vous Anglais?” continued
Walter.
The woman shook her head.
“Je ne comprends pas Anglais,” she an-
swered.
Walter then put a series of labored and
involved questions in exceedingly poor
French, the purport of which was to convey a
description of the automobile with two oc-
cupants which they were seeking to find. At
the end the woman smiled a smile of compre-
hending condescension and with much motion-
ing of one free hand, she said:
“Prenez la deuxieme rue a gauche.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
113
“I get her,” said Clark. “She says take
the second road to the left. She ’s seen the
machine all right.”
They drove on after a rather awkward at-
tempt to thank the woman who carried the
bundle of sticks.
“Is this still the route you took last
night?” Clark inquired after they had made
the turn directed by the woman.
“I can’t tell yet,” Walter replied. “I
didn’t do much inspecting of the highway,
cooped up as I was in that cage of mine. ’ ’
They drove on, making further inquiries
of persons they met, until at last they reached
a section of highway that possessed some
features of familiarity to Walter.
“I believe we’re on the same route that I
passed over last night,” he said. “Of course,
it was dark then, but here and there I catch
a suggestion of something familiar. That
grove of trees we just passed on both sides of
the road looks like the one where the cottage
that burned was located.”
“Don’t you think we’d better take a look
around there and see if we can find anything
of interest?” asked Clark.
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“Yes, I do,” Walter replied as he slowed
up and began to turn the machine around.
They rap back to the timber and Walter
stopped the automobile. Then he gazed as far
among the trees to the left as he was able to
see.
“I’m sure this is the place,” he said. “I Ve
a notion to go over in there and see if that’s
where the ruins of the cottage are.”
“We mustn’t leave the automobile here
without a guard,” said Clark. “Those two
spies might be lurking around waiting for a
chance to seize another machine of different
make from the one they escaped in.”
“I didn’t mean we should both go unless
we took the auto along,” retumed Walter.
“It won’t run among those trees very well,
but I think we can go around with it. Unless
I’m mistaken the cottage was over near the
other edge of the woods. There’s a break in
the stone fence down the road a bit. I think
I’ll run the automobile through that and skirt
the timber around that way.”
Clark approved the suggestion and pres-
ently the machine ran through the break in
the fence and around toward the edge of the
grove farthest from the road.
115
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
CHAPTER XVIL
NEARING THE FRONT.
HEY found the ruins of the cabin that
T
Walter had expected to find, but no
traces of the two spies for whom they
were searching. Nor was there anything in
the vieinity of interest to the two soldiers that
might throw further light on the activities or
whereabouts of the fugitives.
Disappointed at this result of their search,
they drove back to the highway and continued
the pursuit. From now on the trail was kept
with greater difficulty and delay, for they
found fewer persons who had observed the
automobile in which the spies were fleeing.
However, by diligent inquiry, they kept go-
ing, convinced that they were on the right
track and hopeful that persistence would be
rewarded with success before the close of the
day.
“One thing is certain,” Walter observed
not long after they left the ruins of the burned
116
OVER THERE WITH THE
cottage; “and that is that those fellows have
been careful to meet as few people as possible.
Do you notice how they zig-zagged along,
dodging every village and group of farm-
houses?”
“Yes and they’ve been gradually making
their way toward the front,” said Clark.
“Their route is taking us straight east now.”
“Yes, and it won’t take us much farther in
that direction, unless I’m greatly mistaken,”
Walter declared. “There are a good many
truck routes running through here. I figure
that we ought to be looking for the place
where they ditched their machine before
long.”
The noise of the battle was now much more
distinct than it had been when they left the
engineers’ camp. This was due to two causes:
one was the lessening of the distance be-
tween them and the battle front, and the other
was the activity of the artillery, which had
been silent in the early stage of the attack.
“We’re getting close to the artillery now,”
Walter added. “Yes, there’s a nest of it right
over there near that group of houses. It
hasn’t got into action yet, I guess.”
“It looks to me as if they’re getting ready
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
117
to move those guns forward,” said Clark.
“I think you’re right,” Walter concurred.
“And that must mean that the infantry has
made an advance and the artillery is moving
on to keep pace with it.”
“Why, we’re almost in sight of the battle
line,” exclaimed Clark. “Look away off in
the air straight ahead. See the airplanes?”
“I was just noticing them,” Walter re-
plied. “Here comes a boy. I’m going to see
what he knows.”
Half a minute later he stopped the auto-
mobile and proceeded to question a ten-year-
old urchin whom they were about to pass.
First he asked the boy how the battle was go-
ing, and was rewarded with a glowing account
of reports circulated in the vicinity that the
British were sweeping everything before
them and had already driven the foe several
miles back of what the day before had been
the “impregnable Hindenburg line”.
Then Walter asked him if he had seen two
men pass that way in an automobile, describ-
ing the machine so as to bring out its most
noticeable peculiarities, and also giving some-
thing of a description of the appearance of
the two spies. The youth replied that he had
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OVER THERE WITH THE
seen no such automobile, but that he had seen
two men of some such appearance walking
briskly toward the east along this road.
Walter started to ask the boy if one of the
two men limped, but stopped in the middle of
his sentence because he did not know the
Trench for limp or lame. He looked to his
companion for help, but the latter was ham-
pered with a like ignorance. Then Walter
hopped to the ground and gave a demonstra-
tion of one walking with an artificial limb.
This delighted the youngster, who nodded
his head and clapped his hands. Yes, he said,
that was the way one of the men walked.
“How long ago was it you saw them?”
the leader of the pursuit inquired in the best
French he was able to patch together?
The boy replied that it was about an hour
earlier when he saw the two men. The young
soldiers thanked him, and rode on.
“They probably drove their machine into
a wooded ravine or deserted stone quarry
along here somewhere and left it,” said
Walter. “We’ve got them on foot now.”
“Yes, but they’re an hour ahead of us,”
reminded Clark, “and we’re up against all
kinds of delays, making inquiries on the way.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
119
“That needn’t bother us very much un-
less they’re able to find a good hiding place
before dark,” retumed Walter.
They continued their drive a few miles
further, making several stops meanwhile to
communicate with women, children, old men,
or crippled soldiers whom they met. There
was no doubt that they were still on the trail
of the fugitive spies, and the chase grew more
interesting as they neared the scene of fight-
ing.
“They surely won’t dare attempt to dash
through the broad daylight,” remarked Clark
in puzzled tones.
“No, I don’t think so,” Walter answered.
“They’ll look for a hiding place pretty soon,
if they haven’t found one already.”
Just then two motorcycle men in American
uniforms and riding westward, raced past
them.
“Why those fellows are engineers, from
our regiment,” Clark exelaimed. “Are they
messengers?”
“I don’t think so,” said Walter. “I sus-
pect they’re one of the details sent out to catch
Benson and his one-legged friend.”
“And failed,” Clark inferred.
OVER THERE WITH THE
120
“Yes, and gave it up.”
“Then we’re probably the only ones left
in this direction to eontinue the search.”
“Probably.”
Ten minutes later they reacbed a trench
line and stopped to examine it.
“These are undoubtedly the rear line
trencbes that the British occupied early this
morning,” Walter concluded.
“Yes, and the advance bas been so rapid
that all the forces have moved forward,” said
Clark. “We’d better burry along, hadn’t
we?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Walter replied.
“Why not?”
“Por two or three reasons.”
“What are they?”
“Well, first, Benson and bis friend were
undoubtedly looking for a place near the lines
to hide in.”
“Yes.”
“And here is a regular nest of hiding
places.”
“In the deserted trencbes?”
“Yes—and dugouts.”
“That’s true, but they may have thought
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
121
it best to go farther. There are other trenches
—and dugouts—farther on.”
“True, but that’s no reason why we should
hurry. The two motorcycle men did the hur-
rying—and covered the ground.”
“Yes—and didn’t find them.”
“No, but they probably scared them into
hiding. Now that they’ve returned, given up
the search, the two spies may be off their
guard.”
“I get you,” exclaimed Clark. “You mean
that we should leave our machine and con-
tinue on foot.”
“Exactly,” replied Walter. “Our motor-
cycle comrades were probably under orders to
return within a given time and concluded that
they’d have to exceed that time if they con-
tinued the search. Now we’ve got the field
to ourselves and half the day to finish our job.
We’ll do it afoot and as secretly as possible.”
OVER THERE WITH THE
122
CHAPTER. X VHI.
A DISCOVERT.
W
HERE’LL we leave the auto?” asked
Clark. “We ought to leave it in the
care of somebody.”
“We’ll turn back and go to one of those
houses back there,” said Walter. “The
people at that house will keep it for us.”
With these words, he proceeded to turn the
automobile around and then started back
swiftly toward a group of seven or eight farm
houses built close together between a quarter
and a half mile away.
“Maybe Benson and Mr. Cork Leg will
think we’ve given up the chase, too, if they
happen to be watching us right now from their
hiding place,” remarked Private Chambers
lightly.
“Yes, and they’ll crawl way back in their
hiding place as far as they can get if they see
us stop at one of those houses and come back
again on foot,” Walter answered more
shrewdly.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
123
“I don’t believe there’s mucli chance of
that,” said Clark confidently.
“I’m not so sure about it,” returned the
other with a long-headed look. “I shouldn’t
be a bit surprised if they had their eyes glued
on us right now. At any rate, it’s pretty eer-
tain they’re watching like hawks for pursu-
ers wherever they are, and I consider the
chances about fifty-fifty that they’ve got their
long-distance eyes on us right now.”
“Then maybe we’d better go farther back
to find a place to leave our machine,” Clark
suggested.
“We’ll go to the farthest house of that
group,” said Walter. “Some of those on this
side, maybe, will help to shut off a view of our
movements from anybody up this way.”
The run to the farthest house of the group
was quickly made. Walter ran the car
through a gateway in the dingy, moss-covered,
one-time white stone fence and up to the side
entrance of a stone cottage fianked with a
yardful of domestic fowl, pigs, and unkempt,
curious-eyed children, the latter four in num-
ber. To the rear of the house and directly
adjoining it, was a sort of animal-house addi-
tion, also of stone, which looked as if intended
124
OVER THERE WITH THE
to accommodate anything from cricket to a
COW.
A middle-aged woman, who bore the lines
of work and worry on her face came out and
asked in French what the callers wished.
Walter explained in a rather lame fashion
that they desired to leave their motorcar there
a few hours, possibly until next day, while
they went on toward the battle front afoot.
Imagine their surprise and expectant curi-
osity when the woman replied:
“You’ll have to leave it out in the open.
About an hour ago two other men stopped
and asked permission to leave their car here
and I let them put it in the stable there.”
“Whew!” Walter whistled. “What did
those men look like?”
Being still short of the French for “lame”
or “limp”, he got out of the auto and executed
a second demonstration of the gait of a man
with a cork leg, at the same time asking the
woman if one of the men walked that way.
She nodded her head vigorously to indicate
that the young soldier’s mimic sign language
told the story very well.
“May we see their motorcar?” asked
Walter.
125
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
“Bien sur,” replied the woman, who went
to the rear building and swung open the door.
There stood the automobile in which the
two spies had made their getaway.
“Where did they go?” asked Walter.
The woman motioned in the direction
from which the incessant rattle and roar of
battle came.
“How far did they go? Did they follow
the road?”
The woman shook her head slowly, in-
dicating that she did not know. Then she
turned to the largest of the children, a boy of
ll or 12 years, who stood near, and put a
string of questions to him.
The urchin’s face brightened up. Evi-
dently from the woman’s questions and the
manner in which they were received, the boy
had made it his business to find out something
about the affairs of the men who had left the
first motorcar there for safe keeping.
The French lad informed his mother, and
his words were understood fairly well by
Walter and Clark, that he had followed the
two men nearly half a kilometer up the road
to the east and had there seen them enter the
nearest trench and move through it, crouching
OVER THERE WITH THE
126
low, some distance to the south. Finally, he
said, they turned into another trench that ran
east and west and had gone only a few paces
along this route when one of them turned and
discovered that they were being watched.
Then they threw stones at the boy and threat-
ened him with dire punishment if he did not
clear out and mind his own business.
“I get him,” said Walter, addressing his
companion. “Those fellows were seeking to
cover their tracks by zig-zagging their way
through a succession of trenches. Let’s get
this boy to show us where he saw them last
and continue the search from that point.”
“Did you come back home then?” he then
asked, turning to the French boy once more.
“Oui, monsieur,” answered the latter with
a nod and a shrug, indicating that he knew
very well what was best for him in positions
of danger.
Walter now drew forth several French
coins from one of his trousers pockets and
showed them to the sharp-eyed youngster.
The latter’s eyes glistened at the sight of
them.
“Come and show us where you left those
men and I’ll give you some of these,” he said.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
127
The boy signified his willingness to enter
into such contract by starting toward the road
and motioning the two young soldiers to fol-
low him. His mother called out two or three
admonitions of the “be careful” category,
but at the same time, no doubt, keeping
eagerly in mind the coins in Walter’s hand.
To ease any apprehensions she might have,
the young soldier placed one of the coins in
her willing palm, assured her they would take
good care of her son, and then, accompanied
by Private Chambers, hurried on after their
youthful guide.
OVER THERE WITH THE
128
CHAPTER XIX.
PUNCTURES IN THE MUD.
W
HAT is your name?” inquired Walter
after the two soldiers had caught up
with their youthful guide and were
walking along, one on either side of him.
“Jean Cordonnier,” replied the latter.
“Is your father in the army, Jean?” was
Walter’s next question in fairly good, but
rather halting, French.
“My father is dead,” the boy answered
gravely. “He was killed in the battle of the
Marne.”
The interrogator might have expected
some such answer as this and therefore was
not surprised, although not anticipating it.
The sad tone in the ordinarily flippant voice
of the unkempt youngster caused both Walter
and Clark to lapse into silence that lasted a
minute or two. Then Walter continued thus:
“What reason did those men give for
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
129
wanting to leave their motorcar at your
home1?”
“None,” the hoy replied quickly. “You
didn’t give any, either.”
This was true. The two soldiers exchanged
knowing looks at the sharp answer.
“Why did you follow them1?” Walter con-
tinued.
“Because they didn’t give any reason.”
“Ho, ho,” exclaimed the inquisitor
sharply. “Then I suppose you would have
folio wed us if we—ah—weren’t following you
—eh, Jean?”
The youth smirked and blinked.
“You didn’t act funny,” he said. “They
did.”
“What did they do that aroused your sus-
picion?” Walter asked.
“Oh, just looked uneasy and seemed in a
hurry to get away. They didn’t seem to care
much for their car.”
“What did you think about them?”
“I thought they were deserting.”
“Well, they’re worse than deserters,” said
Walter. ‘ ‘ They ’re spies. ’ ’
“SpiesP exclaimed Jean.
His eyes opened like saucers.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“Yes, they’re spies, and you can avenge
your father’s death by helping us to find
them.”
If anything was needed to put the pep of
enthusiasm into the attitude and aetions of
young Jean Cordonnier, this suggestion had
the desired effect. He quickened his pace,
and his companions were pleased to quicken
theirs to keep pace with him.
Arrived at the defenses recently occupied
by the British, the boy left the highway and
hurried along the rear trenches for nearly a
kilometer to the southward. Then he leaped
across the ditch and proceeded along a com-
■munication trench running eastward. He
went only a short distance in this direction,
however, and then stopped and turned to the
two spy hunters and said:
“This is as far as I went. Those men were
right down there when they began to throw
stones at me.”
“Didn’t you (Watch them any farther?”
Walter inquired.
“Only a little. I ran away as fast as I
could, but straight west. After I got far
enough so they couldn’t hit me with their
stones, I turned and looked. They were run-
ning down this trench.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
131
“How far did you see them run?” Walter
inquired.
‘ ‘ Clear to the other end. Then they turned
into the next one, and I didn’t see them any
more.”
“Which direction did they turn?”
“That way,” replied Jean, waving his
hand toward the south.
“Thank you, Jean,” said Walter by way
of indicating that the boy’s service was at
an end.
“Here, take these and buy something for
yourself and your mother and your brothers
and sister. Here’s a franc for each one of
you.”
He poured five francs into the boy’s hand
and then told him to hurry back to his mother.
“We told her we’d take good care of you,”
Walter reminded the youth; “and you must
run right back so she’ll know we told her the
truth.”
The boy nodded his head, but the two
young fellows in khaki had good cause later
to remember the cunning grin with which he
accompanied his nod.
Without paying further attention to the
French urchin, Walter and Clark hurried
along the edge of the communication trench to.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
the next fighting ditch parallel to the first one.
This second trench was about 200 yards from
number 1, and presumably there was still an-
other about the same distance east of number 2.
Suddenly Walter laid his hand on his com-
panion’s arm and said:
“Jump down into the trench quick and I’ll
explain why down there.”
Without waiting for obedience from Clark,
he leaped down himself. Private Chambers
followed the next instant.
“I saw something moving quite a distance
to the east,” Walter explained. “I tell you
what I think it is and why we don’t want them
to see us. I think it’s the British rear line in
possession of the trenches that they drove the
Germans out of. If they see us here some
officer may take it into his head to find out what
we’re doing. That’ll cause a delay, and we
haven’t any more time on our hands than we
can use to an advantage on the run.”
“You think those fellows are hidden some-
where in these trenches?” inquired Clark.
“It looks like a good guess that they are,”
Walter replied. “Come on, and we’ll search
every dugout we can find.”
“There’s a lot of them,” Clark reminded.
“Where’ll we begin?”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
133
“Well, I figure they must have decided to
get as near the fighting front as possible,”
Walter replied. “Let’s go to the front trench
and begin there.”
They started out on a slow trot through
the communication trench to trench number
2. Arrived there, they turned to the right
and continued at as rapid a pace as possible
under the difficulties peculiar to their high
walled and irregular path. The bottom of the
trench was not flooded with water, as might
have been expected as a result of the recent
rainy weather, owing to a fairly efficient sys-
tern of drainage, but it was muddy and pre-
served the impressions of numerous shoes and
rubber boots of the soldiers who had recently
occupied this defense.
Suddenly Walter, who was in the lead,
stopped and turned to his companion with an
expression on his face that indicated he had
something important to communicate.
“Do you see that1?” he said, pointing to
the bottom of the trench.
“What do you mean?” asked Clark; “that
little hole?”
“Yes,” the other replied. “Do you notice,
there are a lot of them along here, one every
two feet or so.”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“What do you make of them?” inquired
Clark.
“Benson’s companion is lame,” Walter
suggested.
“Oh, I get you,” Clark exclaimed.
walked with a cane.”
“He
“It looks that way. I’ve been noticing
those punctures in the mud all the way from
the place where we dropped down in the
trench. I wish we had that kid here again.
I’d find out if Mr. Cork Leg carried a cane.”
“It’s a good tip to follow anyway,” said
Clark.
“I’m dead sure I’m right,” declared
Walter. “See, in the midst of all these foot
prints, there seem to be a few traveling in this
direction. And one of those fellows had a
funny way of planting his heel. That heel
sinks deep in the mud at every step. It’s the
cork leg heel.”
“Y!ou’re some detective, Walter,” Clark
said admiringly. “I belie ve you’ve hit it
right.”
“Come on,” ordered the leader. “We’re
almost onto them.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
135
CHAPTER XX.
PRISONERS.
W
ALTER and Clark hurried on, follow-
ing the course taken by the punetures
in the soft earth caused by the sup-
posed walking stick and heel of an arti-
ficial limb. About 100 yards from the
point where they entered the second north-
and-south trench, they came to another
communication trench which ran directly
eastward. An examination of the ground here
disclosed the fact that the “heel-and-staff”
trail followed the course of this new ramifica-
tion.
They followed this trench until they ar-
rived at what undoubtedly a few hours before
had been the most advanced fighting line of
General Byng’s army at this point. The
punetures in the mud again led them to the
right, and they continued their way in this
direction a few hundred yards until the trail
136
OVER THERE WITH THE
ended at the entrance of a dugout down below
the level of the trench bottom.
The entrance was like a rude cellarway,
with rough timbers supporting and bracing
the top and sides. The interior was dark, ap-
parently, from a cautious inspection at a dis-
tance. Walter brought the advance to a sud-
den end when he saw where the trail was
leading them. Then he pressed his com-
panion back several yards, and they discussed
the situation in whispered tones.
“They’re probably in there,” said Walter
with a motion of one hand toward the dug-
out.
Clark nodded his head.
“How are we going to get them out?” he
asked.
Walter did not answer. He merely looked
puzzled, but it was evident he was thinking
hard.
“They must be armed,” Clark added.
It was now Walter’s turn to nod his head.
“If we try to go in there and capture
them, they’ll shoot us down before we can get
a glimpse of them,” Clark added.
Walter nodded again.
137
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
“I wish we had some hand grenades,” he
said.
“What would yon do—toss ’em in?”
“Yes, unless they obeyed an order to come
out. I’d tell them I’d turn their hiding place
into a volcano if they didn’t come out. Then
if they didn’t come, I’d toss a grenade near
the entrance, with a promise to send the next
one inside. That ’u’d fetch ’em, I guess.”
“We might run over to where the rear line
is now intrenched and get some hand gre-
nades,” Clark suggested.
“I guess that’s what we’ll have to do,”
said Walter slowly; “though if we do, we’ll
probably have to give up the glory of making
the capture ourselves.”
“Why?” asked Clark.
“Because some officer over there will in-
sist on sending a detail of soldiers to come
and raid that dugout.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” said Clark. “But
it’s better to squelch our proud ambition for
the sake of sure success, isn’t it?”
“You’re a wise boy,” declared the leader
of the search gravely. “I’m glad you came
with me. But I think I’ll modify your sug-
gestion a little. One of us had better stay
138
OVER THERE WITH THE
here and watch this place to see that they don’t
get away while the other goes after some hand
grenades.”
“Who’ll go and who’ll stay?” asked Clark.
“It makes no difference to me,” Walter
replied. “If you want to go after the gre-
nades, I’ll stay here and take care that they
don’t get away while you’re gone.”
“All right; you’re giving the orders. I’m
off.”
‘Byng!”
This exclamation rang in Walter’s ears,
as his companion suddenly collapsed with a
groan to the floor of the trench. He did not
need to look long for an explanation. He
turned quickly and found himself covered
with two pistols, one in the hand of the Rev.
J. Elliot Benson and the other in the hand
of the cork-legged spy. A heavy club dropped
by the preacher-spy explained the cause of
the sudden collapse of Private Chambers.
“Up with your hands,” Benson ordered.
There was nothing else for Walter to do,
and he obeyed.
“Now, Kaiser, search him for weapons,”
J. Elliot ordered, turning to his companion.
It was the first time Walter had heard Mr.
139
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
Cork Leg, alias Wooden Leg, addressed by
name. The associations of this cognomen
moved in him a sense of levity, in spite of the
serious condition of his unconscious friend.
Possibly with a vague hope of dissipating the
business-like purpose of his captors, he said,
addressing Benson :
“I appreciate your sense of humor, al-
though it’s rather hideous.”
“Why?” asked Benson.
“Because, I presume, you spelled your
‘Byng!’ with a ‘y’ when you struck my friend
on the head. You did that for my benefit,
didn’t you?”
“Did it benefit you very much?” asked
Benson with a wink. “Well, you know, we
Germans like to lick the world good naturedly.
“Are you really German?” asked Walter.
“No, I am not,” admitted the preacher-
spy. “I’m an American La Fayette come to
the aid of a wronged German people.”
“You’re very badly deluded,” returned
Walter. “Somebody ought to ‘Byng’ you in
the head and wake you up.”
“Here, take this gun,” said Kaiser, hand-
ing the prisoner’s pistol to Benson. “I have
two of my own.”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“The Kaiser is well armed,” Walter ob-
served, still endeavoring to promote an air
of frivolity. “How did he, a spy, get away
with such a name as that?”
“By being well armed—with wit,” an-
swered Benson.
“Here, cut out that nonsense, and get busy
with those fellows,” ordered Kaiser, almost
angrily. “First thing you know, some of
those British soldiers ’ll be happening along
and the ‘Byng’ will be on the other side. This
is no time to be funny. There are some old
clothes somebody has thrown away. Rip some
of that cloth into strips and we’ll bind this
fellow so he can’t do any mischief.”
Apparently the leadership of the two spies
was not always with the preacher. Kaiser
was plainly alarmed at the conceited playful-
ness of his companion, and the latter had not
enough self-assurance in his then frame of
mind to resent the rebuke. He obeyed the or-
der of the one-legged spy and picked up a
pair of discarded khaki trousers and pro-
ceeded to cut them into strips with his pocket-
knife.
Before he began to do this, Walter ob-
served with a slight thrill of interest that Ben-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
141
son laid the pistol just received from Kaiser
up on the tread at the base of the parapet.
He was further interested in the fact that
Kaiser appeared not to notice this act on the
part of the frivolous-minded minister.
“My nonsense and his seem to have had
the effect of dulling his wits,” Walter mused.
“I hope the effect will be permanent.”
The two spies now busied themselves with
binding the hands and feet of their uninjured
prisoner, and then took a like precaution with
reference to the unconscious soldier lying in
the bottom of the trench. Walter was pleased
to note that, while they were thus engaged in
perfecting the helplessness of his friend, the
latter opened his eyes and looked around with
an expression of mingled pain and wonder.
After the task of binding the arms and
legs of the two prisoners was finished, the
spies carried their helpless victims into the
dugout and laid them on the floor.
OVER THERE WITH THE
142
CHAPTER XXI.
JEAN AGAIN.
W
ELL, this is a pretty mess we’ve got
into,” thought Walter as he was being
earried into the dugout. “We’ll prob-
ably be left in here to die of starvation while
those two spies make for the German lines un-
der cover of the darkness. ”
One of their captors produced an electric
flash-light, with which sufficient illumination
was afforded to arrange the imprisonment of
the captives. Then the two men sat down near
the entrance on some empty supply boxes,
which had been left there by the advancing
soldiers, apparently, with nothing before them
but to wait for the setting of the sun.
The flash-light was put out, and the prison-
ers were left in almost total darkness.
Walter attempted to draw Benson again
into conversation by an appeal to the latter’s
“sense of frivolity”, but Kaiser ordered him
to shut up on pain of dire consequences. He
143
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
would also have attempted to converse with
Clark in whispered tones, but their captors
had put them some eight or ten feet apart and
every now and then made an inspection to see
that they were up to no mischief.
Barely enough light came in through the
entrance to enable the two prisoners to see
the dim outlines of each other’s forms in op-
posite sides of the underground room. Clark
was suffering from a severe headache, but-
felt no other serious consequences of the blow
that Benson had swung on his head. He was
certain that there must be a lump of the size
of an egg on the spot where the club de-
scended.
The wait, depending on the purpose and
plans of their captors, proved to be a long
one, measured with the yardstick of patience
and endurance. W alter and his friend became
very hungry, for they had eaten nothing since
they left the camp in the morning and had
neglected to bring any “bully beef” and
bread with them. That the fugitives were in
a similar condition as to the needs and ne-
cessities of the inner man was indicated by a
number of remarks on the subject exchanged
between them.
OVER THERE WITH THE
144
But the latter did little talking during
their wait for the fall of darkness, although
the hours must have dragged heavily for them.
However, all things, except time and eternity,
must come to an end, as did this exceedingly
dull and uncomfortable afternoon for the four
occupants of the dugout hiding place.
It seemed that the room in the earth must
have been totally dark an hour or more when
Kaiser switched on the electric flash-light, and
he and his companion came back to examine
the bonds of their prisoners. The latter were
greatly disappointed at this inspection, for
both of them had decided that, if left un-
guarded for a short time, they could work
themselves free.
Apparently the fugitive spies came to
something of a like conclusion, for they pro-
ceeded to render more secure the bonds, which
had become somewhat loosened, and to add
more for greater security. As they were thus
occupied, Kaiser put this question to his com-
panion:
“Hadn’t we better gag their mouths?
They’ll set up a holler after we get out of
here.”
“No, it isn’t worth the trouble,” replied
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
145
Benson. “They couldn’t scream loud enough
to be beard ten yards from here.”
Tbe preacher’s argument prevailed, for
Kaiser did not insist. Possibly the latter’s
failure to insist was no more a result of con-
viction than a realization that their supply of
available khaki cloth was almost exhausted.
At any rate, without so much as saying good-
by, they presently ascended the “stone-ve-
neered” clay steps and were gone, to return
no more.
The boys lay quietly for several minutes
after the last faint footfalls that reached their
ears were folio wed by silence. At last Clark
turned and whispered to his friend:
“Are they gone?”
The hollowness of his aspirated utterance
was followed by a sepulchral resonance that
caused both of the well-nigh helpless spy
hunters to shudder.
“I guess they are,” Walter replied. “And
they might almost as well have buried us
alive.”
“Not while each of us has a good strong
set of teeth,” Clark replied.
“You mean to gnaw your way out!” asked
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OVER THERE WITH THE
Walter; “or do you think you can cut these
heavy bands of cloth on my wrists?”
“I think I’ll try the latter first, unless you
think you’ve got a better set of teeth than I
have,” said Walter.
“Had we better try our lungs first*?” sug-
gested Clark.
“It ’u’d be a waste of breath,” declared
the other. “Those fellows were right when
they decided we couldn’t be heard ten yards.”
“Well, let’s 4ry our teeth then,” Clark
proposed. “Those fellows probably will es-
cape; at least, they’ll get so far away from
here in the dark that well have no chance of
finding them, so we may as well take our
time.”
“I feel kind of mean, putting this rag
chewing job off onto you,” said Walter as he
shifted about to get his arms in position for
the rodent operation of his friend. “I
imagine both of us would enjoy chewing some-
thing as savory as bully-beef or hard-tack
right now much better.”
“This is war, you know,” Clark reminded
his companion philosophically.
“Yes, and we’re licked—for the time be-
ing. I feel mighty cheap over this affair. I
147
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
almost think I’d rather stay here and let them
find my bones among the casualties of war
than to go back and report such a silly failure
as we have made. If we’d looked a little more
carefully, we’d probably have seen some of
those punctures on the other side of the en-
trance, too.”
“Yes, but we were afraid to pass in front
of the entrance for fear we’d be shot by those
fellows from inside the dugout.”
‘That’s a comfortable excuse, but it doesn’t
get us out of our predicam'ent, ” replied
Walter.
“Listen! What’s that?” suddenly ex-
claimed Clark.
“It’s somebody out there in the trench,”
replied Walter.
“They’re coming back,” said Clark.
“Yes, or somebody else is out there. I
guess I’ll roll over where I was when they*
left.”
Walter was rolling as he spoke. Suddenly
he stopped and listened again. The voice of
somebody calling near the entrance was
clearly audible.
“Messieurs les Americans!”
OVER THERE WITH THE
148
Eagerly they shifted about and strained
their eyes in the darkness.
“Messieurs les Americans!” repeated the
voice clearly, yet with evident caution.
“Ici, Jean, iei,” called out Walter.
It was Jean Cordonnier, their guide of a
few hours before, come to the rescue.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
149
CHAPTER XXII.
RESCUED.
I
N a few moments Jean was in the dugout
and feeling about to locate the two help-
less, or almost helpless, soldiers he had
come to rescue. He seemed to have the skill of
an owl in adjusting his movements to dark
surroundings. In less than a minute he was
progressing very satisfactorily in his efforts
to liberate the shackled limbs of Walter.
He had no pocket-knife of his own, but he
knew how to find one. He searched the
pockets of the recumbent soldier with all the
gusto of a robber going through a victim’s
clothes for money, and when he found the
object of his search no hold-up man could
have displayed greater satisfaction. The
comparison, however, is crudely unjust to
this juvenile hero, for he quickly turned the
article taken from the soldier’s pocket to the
latter’s aid and benefit. He opened the knif e
and cut the khaki bands knotted around the
150
OVER THERE WITH THE
prisoner’s arms and legs. Then lie turned
and performed a like service for Clark.
“Come on outside,” he said, speaking, of
course, in French. “Those two bad men are
gone.”
Walter and Clark folio wed him out of the
dugout, at the same time exercising their stiff-
ened and aching limbs as much as possible.
It was not totally dark outside in the
trench. The sky was heavily overcast and a
light cold rain was falling. The two out-
witted spy-hunters and the French lad could
discern the bulk of one another’s forms with-
out difficulty and by looking closely were able
to recognize dimly the features of one an-
other’s faces.
“Here’s your pistol,” said Jean, thrusting
an article of cold steel into Walter’s hand.
“Where did you get that1?” asked the
other in surprise.
“Over there where that fellow laid it after
it was taken from you, ’ ’ Jean replied. ‘ ‘ Didn’t
you see him lay it there before he began to
cut those trousers in strips 1 ’ ’
“Yes, I did,” Walter replied. “Did you
see him, too?”
“Sure.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
151
“How did you happen to be here then?
Didn’t you go borne wben we told you to?”
“No,” said tbe youngster smartly.
“Aren’t you glad I didn’t?”
Tbe rescued prisoners bad to admit tbat
tbey were, and suggested no further criticism
of Jean’s failure to obey orders.
“Won’t your mother be worried because
you didn’t return?” Clark inquired.
“No, ’cause I did go back home after I
followed you here. I saw what those men did
to you and then ran back home and told
mother. After dark we came here to set you
free.”
“We!” exclaimed W alter. ‘ ‘ Whom do you
mean?”
“Mother and me.”
“You mean that your mother came here?”
“Yes, monsieur.”
“Where is she?”
“Back there a little way. She has a gun,
ready to shoot if those men come back.”
“You don’t say!” Clark exclaimed. “Why
didn’t you go up ahead and tell some of those
soldiers in the old German trenches?”
“Because they’re gone. They left a good
while before dark. I saw them go.”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“Get what that means?” said Walter to
Clark. “The British must have advanced
several miles today.”
“What shall we do now?” asked Private
Chambers. “Hunt for those two spies?”
“It’s hardly worth while in the dark.
They’ve probably put considerable distance
between them and this place by now. I think
we’d better give it up and get with our com-
pany as soon as possible. That means go to-
ward the front until we find them.”
“You wouldn’t do that before morning,
would you ? ” said Clark. “ We ’re hungry and
tired out now and would be good for nothing
tomorrow if we did much tramping tonight.”
“I agree with you on that point,” Walter
replied. “Perhaps we can get these good peo-
pie to take care of us until morning.”
This discussion between Sergeant Beach
and Private Chambers was carried on in Eng-
lish. Walter now put his proposition to the
boy, who quickly assented to it. He con-
ducted them to where his mother was sta-
tioned, nervously, eagerly gripping the rifle
that had been carried by her husband in battle
and longing for an opportunity to avenge the
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
153
death of her departed support and life’s de-
fender.
She was effusive in her expressions of
willingness to appease the hunger of the two
weary and famished soldiers and to give them
sleeping quarters for the night. This question
being settled, the strangely incongruous, but
thoroughly harmonious, company of four
took up their march over a shell-broken,
trench-furrowed and water-soaked expanse
of recent battlefield toward the French worn-
an’s humble stone dwelling.
154
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XXIII.
KAISER’S END.
EXT morning, after a good night’s sleep
on a straw tick, followed by a break-
fast of hash patties and pancakes with
strong, but fairly sweet, syrup, Walter and
Clark bade good-by to their ifriends of an
eventful few hours and departed in their
torpedo-shaped automobile.
The other machine, which also belonged
to their regiment, they left with Mrs. Cordon-
nier. Its gasoline tank was almost dry, and,
moreover, the 'two young soldiers who had
been so kindly treated by the Frenchwoman
and her son felt that they would be glad of
an excuse to make them a present of some-
thing of substantial value. Probably they
would never use the machine for their own
profit or pleasure, but they might sell it and
realize an amount of money that would prove
a godsend to them.
“Keep it here,” Walter advised their
N
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
155
benefactress as they were about to depart. “If
nobody calls for it, its yours. But remember
this, don’t under any conditions give it back
to tbe men who left it here. They stole it
and have absolutely no right to it.”
Jean’s mother nodded with something of
the vigor and determination of a frontiers-
woman whose husband has been killed by
savages and who has taken up the battle of
life alone against any and all unfriendly ele-
ments and hostile men. Jean himself indi-
cated his spirit to aid his widowed parent by
pointing significantly to his father’s gun that
stood in one corner of the room.
“There isn’t much chance of those two
spies returning for that automobile,” re-
marked Walter as he and Clark rode away;
“but I thought I’d warn the woman against
giving it back to them.”
“There isn’t much danger of anybody’s
calling for the machine, in my opinion,” said
Clark. “In a big war like this, nobody con-
nected with a fighting army has time to go
out of his way for anything. That automobile
belongs to Madame Cordonnier from now on,
and to nobody else.”
The ride to the rear lines of the British
156
OVER THERE WITH THE
army was quickly made. The two unsuccess-
ful spy hunters met a few details and supply-
station sentries here and there on the way, but
their passes proved satisfactory and they suf-
f ered no inconvenience or delay. At last they
reached a battalion headquarters, where they
made inquiries concerning the whereabouts of
the detail of engineers that had been sent for-
ward under Captain Howard on the day be-
fore. In less than half an hour they were lo-
cated by telephone, and Walter and Clark set
out again, this time along a clearly defined
route, for the place where their company was
working.
The battle of the second day of the big
Byng drive was at its height, and although the
fighting lines were more than a mile away, the
welkin rang with the echoes of barking rifles,
rattling machine guns, and roaring artillery.
The condition of the highway on which they
traveled served to remind them of the terrible
destructiveness of these high explosives. In
places, the stone pavements had been ripped
and rent and crumbled and crushed and the
debris eommingled with upheavings of earth,
so that frequently it was necessary for Walter,
who drove the car, to pick his way like one
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
157
traveling over a pathless volcanic waste.
One incident worthy of note took place in
the course of this drive. They saw the bodies
of .many slain soldiers on the ground, indicat-
ing that there had been some hard fighting
along the north-and-south highway which took
them within half a mile of the place they
sought to reach, hut they gave little heed to
these corpses save the care that was necessary
to avoid running over one now and then. But
suddenly, after they had covered about a mile
and a half from their starting point at the
brigade headquarters, Walter stopped the ma-
chine and, without making any explanation to
his companion, leaped out.
The next instant he was leaning over the
form of a man lying beside the road. Clark’s
curiosity being aroused by the conduct of his
friend joined him a moment later. The dead
man lay on his left side, with his right arm
thrown over his head and concealing part of
his face. With some difficulty, Walter moved
the stiffened limb to one side so that a good
view of the face of the corpse could be had.
“Why, it’s Kaiser,” exclaimed Clark.
“That’s what I suspected when I stopped
the machine,” Walter replied.
OVER THERE WITH THE
158
“What caused you to suspect it?”
“He’s in citizen’s clothes, and, besides, I
saw from the awkward shape and position of
one leg that there was something decidedly
wrong with it. It looked like what it is—a
cork leg.”
“Good work,” observed Clark. “Maybe
you’ve got wits enough now to tell me what
became of his spy friend.”
“I haven’t much idea,” Walter answered,
“except that he isn’t here. This fellow was
shot and killed almost instantly, perhaps. If
Benson was shot, too, he managed to get
away, or was captured. I figure that he either
got over into the German lines or is now a
prisoner on this side. If anything depended
on a good guess, I’d guess he’s a prisoner.”
“Well, our work is half done, at any rate,
and perhaps all done,” said Clark.
“Yes, but it was done by somebody else,”
replied Walter with the concern of humilia-
tion. “However, we’ve got something to re-
port besides complete failure. Come on.”
They returned to their seats and finished
their journey without further event of special
interest.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
159
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI.
ALTER and Clark rejoined their com-
pany near the village of Gouzeau-
court, where it had been sent with full
equipment to engage in railroad construction
and repair work behind the advancing British
lines. A quarry just east of this village was the
headquarters of the Twenty-ninth Division.
Walter made a report of his and Clark’s
experiences of the preceding night to Captain
Howard. The latter received it in a matter-
of-fact manner, offering neither censure nor
commendation. Walter was certain, however,
that the company commander had no severe
criticism to offer relative to his judgment and
that he had at least proved his ability to de-
termine when he had exhausted his resources
and when it was time to give up the chase and
return to headquarters.
After receiving the report, Captain How-
ard directed the spy chasers to report again
W
OVER THERE WITH THE
160
to their lieutenant for regular duty. They did
as directed and soon were back at work along
the lines for which they had received special
training.
This brought them again in contact with
men of the regiment* who were more or less
familiar with recent events, and they quickly
learned what had taken place in the last thirty
hours. The initial attack had been made over
a front of 32 miles. As a rule, the clearing
away of barbed-wire entanglements for the
advance of infantry was accomplished by the
artillery with missiles specially designed for
this purpose. Some of these missiles {held
folded “spring-backed knife-blades, ’ ’ which
were released after leaving the mouths of the
big guns, ripping through the wire network
like winged scythes [with irresistible mo-
mentum.
But in this case the artillery remained si-
lent. In fact, the attack was unheralded by
sound of any kind. All along the line, in the
gray mist of the morning, hundreds of creep-
ing caterpillar engines, wriggled their way;
quietly over No Man’s Land, ironed numerous
wide paths through the barbed-wire entangle-
ments of the enemy, and pounced like monster
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
161
chimeras on the unsuspecting boches, breath-
ing fire and destruction on every side.
It was a most sensational attack, sweeping
everything before it. The enemy offered little
resistance. When Walter and Clark arrived
at Gouzeaucourt and were reassigned to rail-
road construction and repair work, the in-
tense enthusiasm of the entire force of fight-
ing and working men bespoke a kind of grim,
almost grewsome, delight in the contest of
death. Everybody moved with the strong as-
surance of success, victory. Word came back
behind the lines that the infantry had every-
thing its own way almost all along the line.
Most of the opposition was of a wild, startled,
frightened, panicky character.
For four days this successful advance con-
tinued. The continued assaults met only half-
hearted resistance. The engineers never
worked harder in their lives. It was impos-
sible for them to keep up with the advance.
However, the destruction along the highways
and railroads was comparatively small, owing
to the fact that the artillery played but a
small part in the advance and the enemy had
little opportunity to put behind them a wake
of devastation.
OVER THERE WITH THE
162
The deepest advance beyond the Hinden-
burg line was five miles. Nine thousand pris-
oners were taken and many boche soldiers
were slain. At last, however, reinforcements
enabled the enemy to stiffen their line and the
advance was checked. Four days after the
first assault took place, began the struggle for
Bourlon wood, three and a half miles west of
Cambrai. This wood and the town of Bour-
Ion afforded strong defense possibilities, be-
ing on high ground. The town itself changed
hands three times in two days’ fighting and on
the sixth day after the beginning of the great
battle was held by the enemy.
Next day the Germans, who had been so
well reinforced that it became evident that
no further advance could be made, shelled the
English forces with a terrific artillery fire.
This was continued for three days, and so
skillfully had the guns of the enemy been
emplaced and camouflaged that it was difficult
for the allied airmen to locate them.
Ten days after the original attack of Gen-
eral Byng’s forces, the Germans came back
with a surprise almost as great as that of the
British. It began on the southern portion of
the salient. Like the British initial attack
it was not preceded with an artillery bombard-
163
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
ment, as was usually characteristic of German
attacking preparation. The charge of the
infantry, however, was supported hy intense
artillery firing, so that portions of the enemy
forces were able to penetrate the advanced
lines of General Byng’s army to a depth of
two miles.
For some reason the communication be-
tween these advanced lines and reserves in
the rear were not in good working order, and
before the British realized what had hap-
pened, detachments of the boche forces had
broken through and created confusion, and in
some places consternation, among the ad-
vancing engineers, ambulance drivers and
railroad trains moving toward the supposedly
solid fighting front.
Walter and Clark were working with a
detail of railroad repair men near Gouzeau-
court and were among those surprised by this
sweeping counter-advance of the enemy. It
came like a bolt out of a clear sky. They were
caught right between the lines and it looked
as if they were doomed to either death or cap-
ture. And worst of all, they were unarmed,
without means of making any effective resist-
ance against the slaughtering menace that was
bearing down upon them.
OVER THERE WITH THE
164
CHAPTER XXV.
STRANGE FIGHTING.
ALTER and Clark were members of
a crew engaged in repairing a spur of
track communicating with a group of
warehouses when the alarm was given of the
unexpected approach of the enemy. These
repairs were made necessary by an attack of
half a dozen raiding airplanes, which dropped
a number of bombs here in an effort to wreck
the warehouses and cripple the British food
and munition supplies.
The appearance of the enemy was so un-
expected that many of the engineers working
in this vicinity found themselves caught be-
tween two fires, as it were. When they turned
to flee from the enemy they were confronted
with a line of friendly troops and machine
gunners about to open fire on the advancing
foe, who burst forth from every conceivable
covert,—timber, fence, thicket-covered hillock
or ravine or dwelling houses and other build-
W
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
165
ings grouped together. There could be but
one explanation of this: The Germans had
countered and broken through the salient
created by General Byng’s great drive.
“Down!”—“down!”—“down!” was the
cry all along the irregular line, hastily formed
from reserve and resting stations and all
other available sources, to resist the oncom-
ing enemy.
The signal was quickly, instinctively, un-
derstood by the unarmed engineers, who saw
that they were in the way of the sweep of the
British guns. Down they went, flat on the
ground, into shell holes wherever possible, or
other protected spot.
Walter and Clark dropped into a shell hole
about three feet deep and crouched low. A
few moments later the firing of both rifles and
machine guns became deafening, so great was
its volume and intensity. How the battle was
going, they had no way of telling. They were
unable to distinguish from which side the
heaviest firing came. All they knew was that
the atmosphere cracked, rattled, thundered
with vibrations. Their sense of location of
sound was utterly annulled by the confusion.
Three other members of their crew of
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OVER THERE WITH THE
workers had dropped into the shell hole with
Walter and Clark. All had axes, picks,
shovels, or crowbars, but no firearms. How
they longed for rifles, so that they might thrust
the muzzles over the rim of their pit and pick
off: several of the enemy. They felt like
women and children refugees in their position
of helplessness.
Walter gripped his axe and Clark his
shovel with the grim determination that, if
opportunity availed, they would prove them-
selves real fighting soldiers. If the opposing
forces would only meet at close quarters near
their place of refuge, they would leap forth
and give a good account of themselves.
Although precisely this thing did not oc-
cur, it was not long before the substance of
their wish was gratified. Suddenly several
forms dashed past the shell hole toward the
German line. This could mean only a charge
by the British infantry. Walter raised his
head cautiously and one quick glance told him
that his surmise was true.
“Come on!” he cried to his companions as
be sprang up, gripping his axe in both hands.
“We’ll cut ’em down with our tools.”
Probably no more than the young ser-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
167
geant’s cry of “come on” was heard by those
who occupied the shell hole with him. But it
was unnecessary for them to hear more. Pos-
sibly Walter’s lead in the charge of this hand-
ful of engineers was due only to his natural
quickness of action. Perhaps if he had not
started first, some one else of the five would
have done a few seconds later precisely what
he did. In fact, there seems little doubt that
this charge of tool-armed engineers, includ-
ing scores of others in the immediate vicinity,
was a spontaneous and almost simultaneous
move.
They were not far behind the infantry
when the clash came. Walter and Clark were
almost on the heels of one of the leading
guardsmen as he drove his bayonet almost
through a burly boche. Then just for a mo-
ment the victorious British soldier was de-
layed by a slight difficulty in withdrawing his
bayonet, but this delay was long enough to
have proved fatal to him, perhaps, if the
young engineer .with his axe had not been
close at hand to save him.
Another boche, with clubbed gun, was
rushing upon the guardsman to take ad-
vantage of the latter’s momentary embarrass-
OVER THERE WITH THE
168
ment, when Walter rushed between them with
his axe. The Prussian diverted the swing of
his weapon toward this strangely armed sol-
dier, but the latter parried the blow and
swung his axe in return at the boche.
The German avoided a death stroke from
Walter’s axe, but did not entirely escape
punishment. The sharp blade fell on the fel-
low’s right wrist, severing the hand from
the arm. The wielder of the axe noticed that
as the clubbed rifle of the boche fell to the
ground, his severed hand still gripped the bar-
rel.
Walter would have stooped and picked up
the weapon, but now he was confronted by an-
other opponent A big Prussian with waxed
mustache and goatee was aiming his rifle right
at him only a few feet away. Instinctively the
young soldier with the axe sprang aside, at the
same time throwing his hands up slightly. His
axe, of course, went up with them, and at the
same time the boche fired. Walter felt some-
thing of a tingling sensation somewhere—he
could not determine in what portion of his
anatomy. He wondered if he were shot, but
did not permit the wonder to confuse his ac-
.tions. He dashed forward, intending to close
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
169
with the Prussian before he could fire again.
He was successful in forcing this fellow also
to club his gun, and then he swung hard and
quick, intending to do such execution that he
would be able next instant to turn his atten-
tion to another foe.
But a remarkable thing happened. The
head of Walter’s axe flew off and hurtled
through the air, striking full in the face an-
other enemy soldier a little to the right of the
fellow of the waxed mustache. Walter knew
at once what had occurred. The frail handle
of the axe was struck with the bullet and cut
almost in two near the head when the boche
fired at him, and the next swing of the imple-
ment completed the break and caused the head
to fly off.
The force of the swing was so great that
the young engineer-axeman momentarily lost
his balance. Instantly he realized that he
must do one of two things: he must either drop
the handle of the axe and face his oncoming
assailant without weapon of any kind, or he
must tumble over and probably sprawl upon
the ground. His decision was as quick as the
thought. He let go the handle.
The result was scarcely premeditated.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
The released axe handle flew straight at the
head of the oncoming boche with clubbed gun.
Probably it would not have struck him with
much force and injury, but his deadly purpose
was diverted for a moment as he warded off
the missile with his Mauser. Meanwhile
Walter was able to recover his equilibrium
and, with a slight crouch, made a dash for
the fellow’s legs.
He caught him about the knees with his
arms and upset him in what might have been
regarded as a comical manner under less
grave circumstances. Undoubtedly Baron
Munchausen and Diedrich Knickerbocker
would have insisted that it was funny as it
was.
But neither Walter nor the Prussian saw
or felt anything funny in the situation, if, in-
deed, in the rapid gyration of events, there
may be said to have been a situation at all.
The young “leg diver” fairly lifted the Prus-
sian off his feet, and over and over they rolled,
each fighting wildly for an uppermost finale.
In the mad tumble-turvy, life-and-death
wrestling match, the boche lost his gun and
the contest became one of physical weights,
momentum and centrifugal resistance.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
171
CHAPTER XXVI.
PATROL DUTY.
W
EIAT would have been the final result
of this strange duel between two small
units in the great world war is uncer-
tain had there been no interference to throw
the balance in favor of one of the contestants.
Walter was a wiry young fellow of no mean
powers of endurance, but he could hardly com-
pare in weight with his burly antagonist.
However, he could hear, or rather feel, the
labored puflis of the Prussian, suggestive of
exhaustion, and resolved to employ every trick
and twist at his command to force the other
to exert himself to the utmost and wear him-
self out with the pressure of his own ponder-
ous efforts.
Walter was the “under fellow” just as
the interference took place. That does not
mean that he was overpowered, for there was
still momentum in their revolutions and the
young American was still capable of adding to
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OVER THERE WITH THE
that momentmn. Proof of this was in the
move which followed immediately after the
interference.
“Crack!” went the metal end of a shovel
against the head of the boche. Nobody, in
the noise of battle, heard the “crack,” but it
occurred nevertheless. Walter rolled over on
top of his antagonist and remained in that
position. The Prussian was an antagonist
no longer. He was as still as eternal sleep.
The “victor” looked up to see to whom
credit was due for “his victory.” He saw
Clark Chambers, with clubbed shovel, dashing
on in the thick of the fray in search of more
victims for his implement of peace, now con-
verted into a weapon of war. Then he sprang
to his feet, seized his fallen opponent *s gun
and cartridges and ran on to give what further
aid he was able to give in the drive to push
the enemy back to something like a respectable
alignment with their own forces.
He saw no more of Clark that day. Being
almost a detachment by himself, as was every
other American engineer in that battle, Ser-
geant Beach rushed hither and thither where-
ever he saw an opportunity to be of service.
He was remarkably fortunate in escaping in-
173
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
jury of serious nature although in close con-
flict with a number of the enemy on several
occasions. Without any particular aim in
view, he worked his way up near the outskirts
of Gouzeaucourt, and was in position to take
part in the recapture of that place early in the
afternoon when a force of Irish infantry made
a dash through the woods and into the village.
The fighting in this village was a stubborn
and thrilling event from the start. The charge
of the Irish troops from their covert in the
woods was attended with yells that must have
thrilled the invaders somewhat as the yells of
American Indians thrilled the settlers in
colonial days. Walter caught the spirit of
the occasion and yelled with them. Then fol-
lowed a house-to-house, ruin-to-ruin battle,
which resulted in clearing the village of the
enemy.
That evening the divisional commanding
officer asked for volunteers from among the
engineers for patrol duty during the night,
and Walter was one of several score who of-
fered their services. The beat assigned to him
was out in the newly created No Man’s Land,
and his duty was to keep a lookout for any
indications of activity on the part of the
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enemy, especially anything looking toward a
surprise attack.
The battle had not settled down to trench
fighting at this point, and hence the lines of
the opposing forces were at a more respectful
distance from each other than they would
otherwise have been. Hence, also, there was
a much wider No Man’s Land to be patrolled.
Walter began his watch from an abandoned
quarry half filled with debris and refuse from
the village. He worked in conjunction with a
system of outpost sentries or outguards. Each
patrol guard worked in a roughly prescribed
area, touching at certain specified sentry
posts at regular periods to see that all was
well and advancing every now and then vary-
ing distances toward the enemy’s lines for an
inspection of the neutral zone.
Meanwhile the two opposing armies did
not go to sleep. Incessant firing of artillery,
machine guns and rifles kept the echoes
awake, although confusing them beyond
recognition. Very lights frequently illumin-
ated the “ownerless area,” so that it was
necessary for patrols and sentries to maintain
a system of camouflaged posts or hidden re-
treats for safety’s sake. Walter remained
ENGINEERS AT GAMBRAI
175
near an overhanging bluff of tbe quarry when
not covering Ms beat or making an excursion
ahead to see that no mischief was brewing.
In the course of his patrol duty, Walter
passed frequently near the dilapidated prem-
ises of an old, deserted stone structure that
may once upon a time have been occupied by
the superintendent or owner of the now un-
productive quarry. At present it had more
the appearance of a haunted house than any-
thing else. All that was needed to give it a
shivering, eerie aspect was clear atmosphere
and some mellow moonlight. The roof had
been struck by a shell, which blew through it
a mighty leak for rain and snow, but other-
wise the structure held its original propor-
tions, so far as it was possible for an external
view to disclose.
Walter, however, was not interested in the
haunted aspect of the premises, nor in the ex-
tent of the damage it had suffered from high
explosives. But he was interested in the
facilities it afforded as a hiding place for
enemy scouts, and he kept his eye peeled for
shadowy forms in or near the building when-
ever he passed it.
Nor was his frequent inspection of the
OVER THERE WITH THE
176
house and its gloomy surroundings unre-
warded, although the ultimate “reward” was
hardly what he would have hoped it to be.
What he should have done, perhaps, was to
send back for a squad of men to raid the place
when he observed what appeared to be a hu-
man form close to the western wall of the
building. Instead, he stepped over a broken
and crumbled portion of the intervening stone
fence and advanced cautiously toward the
dimly outlined figure.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
177
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE “MEOW” PLOT.
HE ground over which Walter advanced
cautiously inside the stone fence was
rough and covered with bushes and
shrubs and stunted trees. He was pleased
with this condition, as he felt that it afforded
him facility for concealing his movements
from the person whose aetions he desired to
investigate.
“I can safely take a minute or two to find
out what that fellow is up to,” he mused, as
he stepped from the lane that traversed his
patrol area into the surrounding premises of
the low, long, dark building. “I’ll keep a
lookout, too, while I’m on this job. If I went
back and reported I’d seen something sus-
picious going on here, I might miss the only
opportunity of finding out what it is.”
The dimly outlined form near the build-
ing behaved in a mysterious manner. He
seemed to have no purpose or object in view
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except to hug the wall as closely as possible.
Walter wondered why, if his chief purpose
was concealment, he did not hug the ground
instead of the wall. True, the ground was
soggy and cold as a result of a recent fall of
a snow-rain slush, but no soldier accustomed
to wading, crouching and crawling about in
muddy trenches would shrink from such an
everyday, everywhere condition.
“I wonder if he isn’t a sentinel stationed
there to guard some important operations
against a surprise,” was one of the sugges-
tions that Walter turned over in his mind as
he worked his way forward. “Goodness!
What’s that?”
He almost uttered this query aloud as he
perceived the movement of another object not
more than ten feet to his right. For a minute
or two thereafter his gaze remained fixed on
the spot where he had observed this new
movement.
“I seem to have got into a nest of ’em,”
he half-muttered; “unless,” he added; “that
fellow there is one of our scouts investigating
the same mystery that I’m looking into.
Guess I’ll find out.”
Walter felt that it was important for him
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
179
to learn whether the scout a few feet away
from him was friend or enemy. If enemy, he
must give up his investigation at once and
seek help; if friend, they ought to work to-
gether and incur no risk of running afoul of
each other.
He crept slowly toward the spot to which
his attention had just been attracted. It was
a dark spot heavily shaded with bushes. Over
the tops of the bushes he discerned a round oh-
ject which he believed to be the head of a man.
Another movement presently convinced him
that he was not mistaken.
“He’s watching that fellow over there,
too,” Walter concluded after observing the
head over the bushes a minute or two.
“There’s no doubt, I guess that he’s from our
outpost. Think I’ll give him the counter-
sign.”
A moment or two later, Walter was modu-
lating his whispered message so that it might
be carried to the ears of the scout in the bushes
about as gently as a rustling of leaves is
borne on the wings of a zephyr. The head
turned slightly. Walter repeated his signal.
“Who are you?” asked the protruding
head in like soft tones.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“I’m Sergeant Beach, American engineer,
on patrol duty,” answered the latter. “Who
are you?”
“Private Hood. Come up close; I want to
talk to you, Beach.”
A moment later Walter was near enough
to recognize the familiar contour and expres-
sion in the face of Hood, whom he knew very
well.
“What do you make of that?” asked the
scout in the bushes.
“That fellow near the house? I don’t
know; I was watching him myself.”
“Let’s go up there together and find out,”
Hood proposed. “Maybe we can capture
him.”
“All right,” said Walter.
“But we’ll
have to go around the house. He can see us
approach from this direction.”
There being no need of further discussion,
they began their detour through shaded por-
tions of the area and presently were ap-
proaching the house from the opposite direc-
tion. In the heavier gloom near the building
they stopped to complete their plan.
“Let’s separate here,” Hood suggested.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
181
“You go one way and I’ll go the other and
we’ll come onto him from both sides.”
“No pistols,” Walter warned.
“Not if we can help it,” Hood agreed.
“I’ll silence him with this if I can get a good
whack at him.”
The speaker indicated a short stout club
which hung from his wrist by a strap like a
policeman’s billy.
“And I’ll do the same,” said Walter,
gripping a similar weapon.
“Well, I’ll go this way and you go that,”
Hood proposed as he turned to the right.
“We ought to have a signal when to come
around our corners at him,” said Walter.
“That would alarm him,” Hood objected.
“Not if it’s the right kind. Still, I don’t
know but it ’u’d be best to arouse his sus-
picion a little.”
“What for?”
“So’s to get him to turn one way or the
other. You see, he’s standing there in the
open. If he faces directly away from the
house, he’s likely to get a glimpse of us on
both sides as we come up. I think one of us
had better attract his attention to one side so
OVER THERE WITH THE
182
that the other can slip up behind him and rap
him on the head.”
“That’s a good scheme,” complimented
Hood. “ What ’ll the signal be V’
“A meow like a cat.”
“All right—who’ll be the cat?”
“We won’t quarrel over that,” said Wal-
ter. “Can you strike a heavy blow?”
“Like a steam triphammer.”
“All right. I can meow. Now, I’ll tell
you what I’ll do. I’ll meow several times if
he doesn’t get curious at first. Or if anything
should happen to direct his attention your
way, let him alone and I’ll take care of him.”
“All right. Here goes.”
The two scouts gripped hands and parted.
But the “meows” were never given and
the plotted blow never fell on the “mysterious
boehe.” Walter did not reach his corner and
Hood did not arrive at his. Half way around,
each of these young scouts was served with the
same kind of bludgeon surprise that they
planned to administer to the lone sentinel at
the west end of the house.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
183
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A YANKEE TRICK.
HEN Sergeant Beach and Private
Hood met again they were prisoners
of war. Each had gone through a
period of unconsciousness. When each of
them came to, he realized that he had fallen
into a trap and that there seemed to be no
escape from the consequences.
Walter concluded that he must have been
unconscious some time when he came to. He
was lying on the floor of a large room. Later
he discovered that the building was a chateau
used by the invading army both as offieers’
quarters and as a temporary place for corral-
ling prisoners. There were more than a hun-
dred men in the large double room, which was
dimly lighted with oil burners, and it did not
take him long to discover that most of them
were captured British soldiers. Suddenly he
recognized his recent scout companion, Hood,
sitting on the floor and nursing, ostensibly, a
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OVER THERE WITH THE
184
very bad headache encased in a bandage which
he had contrived for himself out of an old
shirt which had been supplied by a good-
natured guard. A few seconds later he was
squatted down beside his recent patrol asso-
date and opened a conversation by firing this
question at him:
“What in thunder does it all mean, Hood?
Do you know what happened?”
“We’re a pair of fools, that’s what it
means,” the other replied, pressing his hands
against the sides of his head as if to prevent
it from splitting and falling apart.
“Yes,” Walter agreed rather hazily; “a
fellow’s a fool always to get the worst of any-
thing. But wherein are we anything more
than ordinary fools?”
Several other prisoners gathered near to
listen to the conversation.
“There’s quite a number of extraordinary
fools in this bunch,” one of them observed.
“And the joke of it all is that all of us got
broken heads.”
“The boches are doing a lot of laughing
over it,” remarked another, who also had a
bandaged head. “They think it’s the greatest
thing on earth to get a good laugh on the Eng-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
185
lish. I heard several of them just roaring
over the ‘Dumheit of Johnny Bull.
“Yes, and they’re particularly delighted
because they caught several Americans in
their trap,” said still another Englishman of
the bruised-head variety. “They say the
Americans claim to be the smartest people on
earth.”
“I’ve listened to your interesting remarks
without getting a ray of light as to what this
all means,” Walter interposed at this point.
“Won’t one of you put me wise?”
“It simply means that we were trapped
with a dummy,” replied Hood in tone of dis-
gust.
“A dummy!”
“Yes, a dummy.”
“You mean,” ejaculated Walter incredu-
lously; “that that sentinel, or scout, we saw
standing by the building near the quarry was
j ust a make-up ? ”
“Exactly—nothing else,” answered Hood.
“But it moved,” Walter objected.
“So do Punch and Judy—somebody near
to work the show.”
“How do you know this?”
“Oh, you don’t need to have any doubt
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about the matter after you’ve fallen in with
a guard who’s in a twitting mood,” declared
one of the Englishmen in the group. “They’re
all glad enough to tell you all about it and
how brilliant they are.”
“They don’t need to happlaud themselves
so tewwibly much,” remarked a cockney who
had been a mere listener up to this time. “Hi
understan’ hit wasn’t a German hat all who
concocked the scheme. One Teutonic fellah
hadmitted to me that hit was a Yank who
planned the whole hideah.”
“A Yank!” “How could that be'T’ “Who
gave you that chaff, Bollingbroke?” were
some of the exclamations and queries that
came from every side.
“Oh, ’e was a renegade, a traitah, who’d
gone ovah to the enemy—an himbecile victim
of German propahgandah, ” Bollingbroke ex-
plained. “Hi’m told ’e was a preachah in the
United States.”
“A preacher!” Walter exclaimedi.
“What’s his name?”
“Hi don’t know. Hi disremembah. But
hit was something like Johnson or Jensen—
something like that.”
“Was it Benson?”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
187
‘‘Yes, yes; that’s hit—Benson. Kind of
blooded name, don’t you know. ’Ad a real
stylish ’andle to hit. Hi remembah hit all
now—J. Hallison Benson.”
“You mean J. Elliot Benson, don’t you?”
"Walter suggested.
“Yes, yes; that’s hit. Hi was mistaken
in the Hallison. Did you know the fellah?”
“Did I know him? Well I should say I
did. He was with our regiment of engineers
as a spy. I was—but I guess I’d better say
no more about that now. What was this plan
of his that proved so successful?”
“ ’E ’ad ’em rig up a lot of dummies in
more or less conspicuous places as decoys foh
the scouts and sentinels. They worked like
a chawm and a lot of prisonahs wuh taken.”
“Sounds like a Yankee trick, all right,”
said an engineer named Ellis, who had volun-
teered for patrol duty at the time when Walter
offered his services.
“Yankee tricks sometimes trap Yankees,
don’t they, mah friend?” drawled the cockney.
Nobody was disposed to take offense at
this dig, and it was allowed to pass with
Walter’s observation, thus:
“It’s strange what baby-faced dubs can
put over a Yankee trick sometimes. That fel-
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low Benson doesn’t look as if lie could push
a perambulator across a street. But he
seemed to be able somehow to work his way
in.”
“Maybe he was successful in his line be-
cause nobody would suspect him of being able
to do anything.”
“Maybe. But he surely has done enough
here.”
“Here eomes another,” remarked Hood as
the door was opened and a young fellow with
bandaged head was pushed into the room.
Walter looked mechanically toward the
entrance as this announcement was made. He
started and looked more intently; then he
sprang forward and greeted the new arrival
in a manner that attracted general attention:
“Clark Chambers! How did it happen!
Did you fall for a dummy, too?”
Clark shook his head.
“No,” he replied. “I was wounded and
captured after I shoveled that big Teuton you
were doing the cart wheel act with. Shovels
were trump then, weren’t they?”
“Yes, they’ll do for spades for your sake
this time,” Walter replied. “I take it you’ve
been in a hospital, then.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
189
“Yes, a sort of first-aid corral,” Clark re-
plied. “And I heard all about the dummies
there. You’d almost think it’s the talk of
the whole Hindenburg arcny. They’re posi-
tively giddy over it. Say, Walter, I bet you
couldn’t guess in a thousand years who put
that thing across.”
“What’ll you bet?” the other asked.
“Then you’ve heard, have you? I might
’ve suspected it. They’re bragging about it
from mess bench to guard house. Did you
know that the Rev. J. Elliot Benson is here
in this camp?”
“No; is he? I’m not surprised, though.
Have you seen him?”
“Sure. And he’s some high cock o’ the
walk, too, believe me. He seems to ’ave got
through with some valuable information and
the officers all toady to the pie-face like vote-
seeking politicians.”
“Well,” said Walter; “I owe him a
mighty big grudge for out-witting me once and
being the cause of my last foolish downfall.
I wonder if it’s foolish for me to hope to be
able to pay that grudge.”
“It looks so,” Clark replied gloomily.
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190
CHAPTER XXIX.
‘ ‘ DOUSE THE GLIM ! ’ ’
ALTER learned from Clark that the
chateau in which the prisoners had
been huddled together was a mile or
more east of Gouzeaucourt and was formerly
the home of a wealthy Frenchman whose fam-
ily had fled before the invading army.
“Then I was carried back all this distance
unconscious,” the former concluded. “I don’t
remember anything from the time I got that
blow on the head until I found myself in this
room. I suppose they just tossed me into a
truck like a sack of oats and hauled me here.”
“Probably,” agreed Clark.
“What did they do that for? Why didn’t
they let me lie where I was?”
“Oh, they knew you weren’t dead. It was
a part of their game—sport—not to kill any
of the scouts they caught in their trap. I
have an idea one of the purposes of the trick
was to give the men something to have some
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ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
fun over. I guess they needed something to
revive the spirits of the men. And the men
went at it good and strong when they found
they had a bunch of English and Americans
looking like two cents. Really, I shouldn’t
wonder if it put considerable pep into the
Heines.”
“I suppose the officers made a good deal of
the affair,” Walter inferred.
“Yes, they did. That’s what makes me
think the purpose of the trick was to enliven
the spirits of the men.”
“They’ll probably be up to something else
for the same purpose,” Walter suggested.
“Yes, if they have wits enough for that
kind of business. But I don’t believe they
have. Really, it’s no joke to say that it takes
a Yank to work up a good, smart trick.”
“But some of us Yanks aren’t fool-proof
in spite of our reputation for being smart,”
Walter smiled.
“And that’s where the Heines have the
laugh on us,” Clark added.
“I suppose they’ve got the Rev. J. Elliot
at work on another outwitting scheme,” said
Walter. *
“Not a doubt of it, if he’s really an enter-
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OVER THEBE WITH THE
prising fellow,” Clark agreed. “Of course,
his dummy scheme may have been just an ac-
cident idea of his, and he may fall down if
he tries anything else. If he does, he prob-
ably won’t last very long as a brilliant guy.”
The room was so crowded with prisoners
that the officers in charge decided to remove
some of them to another part of the building.
The first intimation Walter received of this
move came at the close of the discussion con-
cerning J. Elliot Benson. Several guards
entered the room and ordered a score or more
of Britons and Americans, including most of
those who had taken part in the discussion, to
go over to the south-east corner of the room.
There one of the guards opened a door and
drove them down a stairway into a musty cel-
lar. Walter, Clark and Hood were among
those sent down into that gloomy place.
And it was more than gloomy down there
after the guards had gone upstairs taking
the lights with them. It was so dark that not
the faintest glimmer of light could be dis-
cerned anywhere; for although there were
some three or four Windows in the walls, those
vents were so well screened with bushes,
which almost surrounded the chateau, that for
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
193
the purpose of admitting illumination on a
starless night, they might as well not have
existed.
“Well, now, wouldn’t that choke yo’
hindignation! ” exclaimed the cockney, Boll-
ingbroke, with droll resentment. “But then,
don’t you know, hit’s characteristic of a race
of people who ah trying to cast the world hinto
perpetual darkness.”
“Some of us must have some matches,”
suggested one of the men. “I don’t believe
any of us was searched very carefully when
we were brought in.”
“I wasn’t, I know,” announced Hood glee-
fully. “Listen, fellows, I’ve got one on those
boches that’s almost as good as their dummy
trick. What do you think I’ve got in my
trouser leg just over the puttee?”
“A machine gun,” replied some superla-
tive wit of the kind that probably never makes
a serious guess.
“Well, you’re not so very far off, Mr.
Joker,” Hood returned. “I have a perfectly
good automatic pistol with the chamber full of
cartridges.”
“How did you do it?” demanded another
in astonishment.
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“Why, when I was captured I just slipped
my gun down inside my trousers and they
never paid any attention to the bulge of the
garment down back of my knee.”
“I have a good strong jackknif e that I
managed to keep in the same way,” said an-
other prisoner.
“Hi ’ave a perfectly good manicure file hin
me wais’co’t pocket,” Bollingbroke an-
nounced. “If we ’ah put hin a prison whose
Windows ah protected with hiron bars, per’aps
Hi can file one of the bars hin two so that we
can all hescape.”
“I have some matches,” Walter an-
nounced. “Can anybody suggest something
for a torch?”
“Here’s a pile of boxes over here,” replied
one of the men, kicking an object which threw
back an unmusical, hollow resonance.
“All right. Clear the way, fellows, and
I’ll come over there with a match. Get ready
to tear off a good big sliver. Or, you with the
jackknif e, get over there and get busy.”
Walter struck a match on the under side
of his coat sleeve, where the cloth was dry and
soon the prisoner with the knife had produced
several pine slivers, which, bunched together
1
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
195
in the form of a fagot, served very well as a
torch. The fagot was lighted, and the pris-
oners surveyed their new prison. It was
about fifteen by twenty feet and utterly bare
as to contents, save for the boxes piled under
the stairway.
“We’d better make up a lot of torches,
some one suggested. “Then we’ll save our
matches.”
“It’s well enough to have a good supply of
torches on hand,” Walter replied; “but we
mustn’t burn too many. They’ll kill the air
here and fill this place with smoke.”
His argument was suddenly reinforced in
a mandatory manner when the door at the
head of the stairs was opened and a heavy
voice called out:
“Zum Teufel, loeschet das licht aus.”*
Douse the glim,’ he says,” cried Clark
Chambers. “Out with the light, or he’ll prob-
ably toss a bomb in our midst. We’d better go
to bed.”
“You be my pillow half the night, and I’ll
be your pillow till morning,” proposed a
jocular American who probably could have
made the wettest and chilliest trench a place
of merriment.
it i
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“You Hamericans come ovah ’ere to make
this wah a joke,” protested Bollingbroke
severely.
“Just wait till a few more millions of us
get over here and we’ll make the kaiser look
like the last rose of a rainless summer,” re-
joined the jocular American.
Inactivity succeeded the putting out of the
light, and the conversation lapsed into
mumbled mutterings of a dry-humorous sort
on every conceivable distortion of the discom-
f orts of a prison bed in the damp musty cellar
of a chateau in a disputed area of the battle
fields of France.
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ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
CHAPTER XXX.
THE “BAD MAN.”
HE prisoners in the cellar of the chateau
were used to all kinds of beds; good,
had, and indifferent—the latter chiefly
—and it was not long before refreshing slum-
ber brought relief to their tired and aching
limbs and bodies. Most of them had had little
to eat since their capture in the battle of the
day before, and the sleep that came over them
was to be thanked also for checking the grow-
ing pangs of hunger.
Walter, Clark and Hood lay down close
together and were still in those relative posi-
tions when they fell asleep. Walter was the
last of these three to lose consciousness, and
the last coherent thought that occupied his
mind was the observation that everybody else
in the basement room seemed to be asleep. A
deep, sonorous, dissonant chorus of snores
supplied a rugged, ragged lullaby for his last
waking moments.
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198
He awoke with a start, and his first impres-
sion was that of a person in the throes of a
sort of Arabian Nights nightmare. Small
wonder was there indeed that he refused for
some moments to admit to himself that he was
awake, in view of the vision that met his
startled, if not terrified, gaze.
The first thing that came to Walter’s mind
as he opened his eyes and gazed upon the
strange apparition in his cellar prison was a
story that he had heard his mother tell years
before. It was the story of a dream she had
had when she herself was a child. She
dreamed that she and her brothers and sisters
were playing on a haystack in the barnyard
and that while they played, the ground
opened, and the Bad Man climbed out of the
fissure on a ladder, seized one of her brothers
and took him away.
The scene that recalled his mother’s Bad
Man story was this: A trapdoor, which none
of the prisoners had suspected to exist, was
elevated eight or ten inches under the stair-
way, and through the aperture thus effected, a
wild-eyed, bearded face appeared.
Walter, in fact, had been dreaming the
same dream that his mother dreamed before
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
199
tlie lifting of the trapdoor awakened him. The
noise of the opening of the ground in his
mother’s dream was represented here by the
knoeking together of the boxes over the trap-
door as the latter was lifted. The “Bad Man’’
in this case had a lantern in one hand, and he
held the light at the opening, long enough to
enable him to get a good view of the occupants
of the room; then he gently lowered the door,
and he and the light were shut off from view.
As the trapdoor settled back to a level with
the floor, there was a general shaking up of
the boxes again, accompanied by considerable
noise. At that instant, Clark Chambers, who
lay next to Walter on the latter’s right, awoke
and muttered:
“What’s that?”
Walter did not answer immediately. The
spell of his dream and the scene he had just
witnessed still gripped him. He was not eer-
lain even yet that he was awake. Then with
a determined effort to break the spell, he
moved a little nearer to his friend on his right
and said scarcely above a whisper:
“Did you see that, Clark?”
“See what?” asked the latter wonderingly.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“How can a fellow see anything in this dark-
ness1?”
“I saw it.”
This latter announcement came from
Hood, who lay to the right of Chambers. He
arose to a sitting posture and leaned over to-
ward Walter as he spoke.
“What did you see?” inquired Walter,
eager for a verification of the scene which he
could not divorce entirely from his dream.
“I saw somebody under that pile of boxes
—and a light,” Hood replied.
“Then it wasn’t a dream, after all,” Wal-
ter sighed. “I wonder what it means.”
“It means that there’s another room un-
der this, or an underground passage leading
from this place,” said Hood.
“No doubt of that,” Walter agreed, “but
it doesn’t explain who that fellow is or what
he was doing.”
“What are you boys talking about?”
Clark demanded in lamazement. “Are you
holding a confab in your sleep?”
“You don’t need to pinch me. I’m wide
awake,” avouched Hood energetically. “I
know very well what I saw.”
“There’s a trapdoor under those boxes,”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
201
Walter explained for Clark’s benefit. “We
saw that trapdoor opened and a man with a
lantern stick his head through the opening.
He looked around a few moments, then drew
back and closed the door. That’s what caused
the movement of the boxes that waked you.”
“You don’t say!” Clark exclaimed. “We
ought to find out what that means.”
“Shall we wake the other fellows and see
what th ey think about it?” questioned Hood.
“No,” Walter objected; “that would only
confuse matters. We’ll work just as quietly
as we can and if our investigation turns up
anything of any value to them, we’ll wake ’em
up and let ’em in on it.”
“What do you propose to do?” asked
Clark.
“Lift that trapdoor and find out what kind
of place is down there,” Walter answered.
“What for?”
“Because,” began Walter; then he hesi-
tated and continued: “Why do you think ex-
plorers for centuries tried to find the North
Pole? None of them could tell of any great
benefit that would result. But I’ve got a sus-
picion that it’s always well to solve any
mystery if it’s interesting enough. Now, this
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is a very interesting mystery. Let’s solve it
if we can. It may do us no good, and then,
again, it may do us a heap of good.”
“That’s a great idea,” Hood declared
philosophically. “Just think! It may un-
cover a mystery that will help us win ‘the
World War.”
“That’s a jolly good spirit to go at the job
in,” said Clark. “Go ahead, Walter. I’m
ready; lead the way.”
“This is almost like diving into the bowels
of the earth after the Old Nick,” Hood re-
marked as the three prisoners moved cautious-
ly toward the pile of boxes, whose location
they knew only from memory under lighter
conditions.
“I was going to say something of that sort
myself for special reasons of my own,” Wal-
ter whispered back with an appreciative
chuckle.
“Suppose he should sail into us with his
pitchfork,” Clark suggested.
“You mean his coal shovel,” Walter cor¬
rected.
“I’ll take care of him all right if he gets
sassy,” Hood announced. “You remember
I’ve got a pistol down in my pant leg.”
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ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
“The Old Fellow is bullet proof, you
know,” Clark reminded.
“Shut up boys,” Walter ordered. “Here
we are. Feel around under these boxes and
see if you can find a handle to the trapdoor.”
The conversational levities ceased and all
three young prisoners of war were soon en-
gaged in a diligent search for the hoped-for
object of their immediate interest.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE SUBTERRANEAN PASSAGE.
T
HE search for a handle of the trapdoor
beneath the pile of boxes under the
stairway in the darkness was a tedious
task, and some time elapsed before success re-
warded their efforts. They had to lift or tilt
some of the boxes up in order to make their
search thorough, and moreover, it was neces-
sary to do this very cautiously in order to
avoid tipping over the whole pile, waking
many of the other prisoners in the room and
possibly bringing down upon themselves an
investigation from the guards outside or in
the room overhead.
At last the handle, an iron ring, was dis-
covered by Clark, who whispered announce-
ment of his discovery to his companion in-
vestigators. Then Walter suggested that two
of them steady the pile of boxes while the
other endeavored to lift the door open.
“I’ll see what the muscles of my arm and
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
205
back are good for if you fellows will bold the
boxes in place,” he proposed.
The others assented and Walter took hold
of the handle. He lifted carefully and stead-
ily from the beginning in order that he might
not overdo the thing if the weight on the door
should prove to be lighter than anticipated.
And it was well that he took this precaution.
The door came open with comparative ease
until he had effeeted an aperture wide enough
for a man to crawl through.
“There,” he whispered, “if you fellows
will hold the door open, I ’ll get down in there
and explore that place.”
“Let’s all three go down,” Clark suggested.
“We can prop the door open with one of these
boxes.”
“All right,” Walter assented. “Prop it
open.”
Clark fumbled about carefully until he had
succeeded in wedging a box under one corner
of the door and then Walter began to let him-
self down carefully into the opening.
Three feet down the soles of his shoes met
solid support and he continued his “feeling
investigation” by backing away with un-
diminished caution. About a foot farther
OVER THERE WITH THE
206
back he discovered the edge of another
descent, and a little more investigation with
his “pedal feelers” indicated what he sus-
pected—that he was at the head of a flight of
steps.
“There’s a stairway here,” he whispered
up to his friends. “Give me several pieces of
wood and I’ll make some torches.”
Clark fished out several small pieces of
pine lumber, also a small box, and passed
them down to the leader of the investigation.
The latter split one of the small thin pieces of
pine into several strips with his hands and
then ignited two of the strips, held together,
for a torch.
Clark and Hood then got down into the
hole with the purpose of following their leader
in this enterprise, while the latter began to
descend the stairway. The light was sufficient
to illuminate the subterranean stairway to the
bottom of the flight, which consisted of only
a few steps. At the bottom they found them-
selves at one end of a shaft of uncertain
length, the walls and ceiling of which were
supported with timbers lodged and braced in
a manner similar to the support system in
mine shafts.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
207
“Wait a minute* fellows,” said Walter
suddenly. “I’m going back and close that
trapdoor. I think it’s the safest thing to do,
if you don’t object. Here, Clark, you hold
the torch while I do it. It’ll be easy enough
to open the door when we decide to go back.”
Neither of his companions objected to this
plan, and while Clark held the torch, Walter
returned to the top landing. There he put one
shoulder against the door, lifted the latter
about an inch, drew in the supporting box, and
then carefully lowered the door until the open-
ing was closed. He was greatly relieved when
this task was completed without throwing over
the pile of boxes with a confusion of clatter-
ing noises. Then he returned to the foot of
the flight of steps.
“I don’t think it’s wise to let the other men
sleeping in the cellar know anything about
what we’re doing,” he said to Chambers and
Hood. “They couldn’t possibly help us any.
They’d only confuse matters by taking part in
this investigation. I’ve an idea that this may
possibly lead to an opportunity for us to
escape, but whether we could take the other
fellows with us is a question.”
“The guards would probably get onto it if
OVER THERE WITH THE
208
any more came with us,” suggested Hood.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” said Walter.
“We’ve got to go carefully if we’re going to
work out anything that will do anybody any
good. If we can help the others to escape, well
and good, but the chances are that only a few
can get away. The absence of a few may not
be noticed. If the guards found all of them
gone, an investigation would result in every-
body’s being recaptured.. I don’t like the idea
of sneaking away from the other fellows, but
what else can we do?”
“We’re not sneaking away from them,”
Hood argued. “I think your plan is the
wisest possible under the circumstances. We
don’t need to pledge ourselves to help the
other boys if an opportunity is offered. Every
one of us will risk a chance of being recap-
tured if we see a good chance to help some of
our comrades in trouble.”
“We may not be able to escape through
this passage,” said Clark. “In fact, I don’t
see how you figure much possibility of escape
here? Ho you think there’s an outlet at the
other end?”
“Probably, but I’m not figuring on getting
back to our lines that way,” Walter replied.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
209
“What’s your plan, then?” Clark in-
quired.
“Just staying here,” Walter replied.
“What for?—How long?” Clark de-
manded incredulously.
“Not very long, I hope,” Walter smiled,
with a challenging look at his friend’s obtuse-
ness. “I thought you were onto the idea from
the beginning.”
“Oh, I get you,” Clark exclaimed. “I
guess the miasma of the cellar smothered my
wits. You expect the British to drive the
boches back past this place in a few hours, and
then we can come out and join them. It’s a
great scheme; but, say, it’s too bad we can’t
let those other prisoners in on the game.”
“You see what it would mean if we did,”
Hood reminded.
“Yes, there’s no doubt about it,” Clark
agreed. “But how about that fellow you boys
saw under the trapdoor? Who do you think
he is?”
“I~Eaven’t much idea,” Walter replied.
“But I don’t think he’s an enemy.”
“You don’t think he’s a German?” Hood
inquired.
“No.”
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“What do you make of him?”
“Nothing certain. He may be a crazy man
that’s hiding down here to keep away from
the bombs and bullets.”
“What do you make of this tunnel?”
asked Clark. “We’d better get down to busi-
ness and go on with our investigation.”
“I agree with you,” said Walter. “Wait
a minute till I light a new torch.”
The new torch was quickly substituted,
and a few moments later the three were mov-
ing along the mysterious underground pas-
sage toward—they knew not where.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
211
CHAPTER XXXIL
IN THE TUNNEL.
E’D better go slowly, boys,” advised
Walter as they proeeeded along the
passageway. “We don’t want to make
any blunder. There’s no need of hurrying.
It must be three or four hours before day-
light, judging from the amount of sleep I still
needed when I woke up.”
“What I’m most concerned about is that
fellow we saw peeping up under the trap-
door,” said Hood. “We can expect almost
anything of him, anything from an act of
friendship to murder in the dark.”
“That’s right,” agreed Clark. “We
haven’t anything on which to base a suspicion
as to who or what he is.”
“The safest thing for us to do is to regard
him as an enemy until we know better,” said
Walter. “We mustn’t give ’im a chance to
betray us until we know he’s o. k.”
“He may be a Frenchman who’s in hiding
W
212
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since the recent invasion of the Germans,”
said Clark.
That’s what I’ve been hoping for,”
Walter replied. “If that’s the true explana-
tion, then I’d like to make his acquaintance as
soon as possible.”
“He’d be a valuable addition to our
forces,” Hood declared eagerly. “He must
know a lot about this place and this locality.”
“Yes, and he probably could tell us some-
thing of more immediate importance; that is,
where to get something to eat.”
“I agree with you as to what’s the most im-
portant thing now,” Hood announced warmly.
“A good big plate of chow right now, I vow,
would fill every furrow of care in my brow.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Walter in jocular
recognition of the hungry speaker’s allitera-
tion.
“Do you mean you’d pour the chow into
the furrows of care to fill them up?” asked
Clark.
“Yes, but not directly,” answered Hood
with a suave determination not to allow young
Chambers’ ridicule to put his figure of speech
to ignominious rout. “I’d pour it into my
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ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
stomach and let it fill the furrows from the
inside out—See?”
“You win,” admitted Clark generously}.
“But, say, we’re wasting precious time with
our banter. We’ve got a serious problem be-
fore us. The first thing we know, we’ll be
walkin’ right into the presence of the
mysterious hermit of this labyrinth.”
“That reminds me that I’d better pull my
pistol out of my pant leg and be ready for any
such emergency,” said Hood. “Wait a min-
ute and I’ll be ready to fight a battle of
Thermopylee all alone.”
They stopped and waited a few moments
while Hood produced his firearm. Meanwhile
Walter, who had brought two or three pieces
of thin pine board with him, split one of them
in several strips with a few wrenches and
jerks, so that he was well supplied with
torches for a considerable journey.
“This passage can’t be more than a hun-
dred or two hundred feet long,” he said. “We
ought to get to the end of it pretty soon, but
it doesn’t pay to depend too certainly on a
guess of this kind. Well, come on ; we’re
ready now to proceed.”
They moved on at a slow pace, gazing
214
OVER THERE WITH THE
V
ahead keenly for th&earliest possible hint that
would throw light on the mystery of the pas-
sage and the man they believed to be hiding in
it. Walter’s guess as to the length of the
tunnel was fairly accurate. They arrived at
the end after a few minutes of slow and care¬
ful progress.
“There’s an opening here, but it’s camou-
flaged with a mass of vines and foliage, or
something of the kind,” said Walter as he
threw the rays of his torch on the spot indi-
cated by him.
“Looks more like a brush heap,” said
Hood after a critical survey. “We’d better
do no more talking than is absolutely neces-
saiy.”
“Yes, and we’d better put this light out,”
added Walter, suiting action to the word and
plunging them into darkness. “If there’s
anybody on the other side of that brush heap
the rays of light may be visible through it to
him.”
“It’s probably a large and well-packed
pile of brush if it’s purpose is to camouflage
the entrance of this place,” said Clark.
“What’ll we do now?”
“There’s only one thing for us to do that
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
215
I ean think of,” Hood replied. “That’s wait,”
“Por what?” asked Clark.
“Daylight, if nothing else happens
sooner.”
“How- about that fellow you saw at the
other end of this tunnel? What’s become of
him?”
“He’s probably gone out here, past the
brush heap,” Walter answered.
“That means he’s an enemy,” said Clark.
“Why?” Hood demanded-
“Because he’s not in hiding if he’s out in
the open.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” retumed
Walter meditatively; “but still I won’t be-
lieve it without more evidence.”
“Why?” asked Clark.
“Because I can’t think of any reason for
one German being in here alone. I still be-
lieve he’s insane, or a Frenchman in hiding.
By the way, this discussion isn’t getting us
anywhere, and we’re only making a noise,
even though it’s whispered, for unfriendly
ears to hear if they’re around. Let’s cut it
out”
“That’s what I suggested a minute or two
ago,” Hood reminded.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
“All right, let’s keep still unless one of
us has something important to say.”
Silence followed for about ten minutes.
The tunnel was so dark that the three soldiers
were unable to see the faintest outlines of one
another. Suddenly, however, Walter made a
discovery that caused him to decide that he
had something of sufficient importance to war-
rant him to whisper to his friends.
“Boys, look there,” he said. “Do you see
that light a short distance back?”
“Where?” asked Hood. “I don’t see it.”
“Ho,” Walter replied. “You can’t see it
unless you stand in a certain position. It’s
just a tiny glimmer.”
“I saw it once or twice,” said Hood,
thought it was only a glistening*stone or some-
thing of the kind.”
“What could make it glisten?” Walter de-
manded. “There’d have to be a light in here
for it to reflect.”
“That’s so,” Hood admitted. “I’m a nut.
What do you make of it?”
“I don’t know,” Walter replied. “I’m
going to investigate. Everybody stop talking
while we’re near it.”
They moved back slowly. The glimmer of
“I
217
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
light disappeared after they left the spot from
which it was visible. Suddenly, however,
Walter, who was in advance, stopped, put out
both hands and held his companions back.
“Here it is,” he whispered. See it?”
Yes, they all saw it. They were in a good
position to see. Through a crevice in the wall
of earth and stone came a blade of light of
piercing brilliance in the darkness, leaving no
question in their minds as to the nature of its
source.
“ There ’s a room or a cave in there,” Wal-
ter declared; “and it’s occupied by some-
body.”
“It’s the fellow you boys saw under the
trapdoor,” said Clark.
“Yes—the Bad Man,” Walter whispered,
half to himself.
OVER THERE WITH THE
218
CHAPTER XXXIII.
“halt, OB i’ll shoot!”
ALTER got down on his hands so as to
bring Ms eyes to a level with the light
and endeavored to peer in at its
source; but, although he was able thereby to
strengthen his belief that the light came from
a room or cave adjoining the passageway, he
obtained little further evidence of value.
“Come on back tMs way,” he said to his
companions as he arose to Ms feet and moved
along the tunnel toward the basement in which
they had been imprisoned.
After putting about twenty feet between
him and the crevice through wMch the wedge
of light cut its way, Walter stopped and
opened a whispered consultation with his
companions,
“Well,” he said; “I couldn’t see much;
but there seems to be a hole in the wall there
that’s plugged up with a good-sized stone.”
“What is it—a door?” asked Clark.
W
219
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
‘‘I can’t make anything else out of it,”
Walter replied; “but if it is, it’s more like a
door to a dog-kennel than a door to a human
habitation—just a hole in the wall.”
“What had we better do about it?” Hood
inquired.
“I don’t think we’d better do anything
yet,” Walter answered slowly. “There isn’t
much chance of our doing ourselves any good
by prying into that mystery, and we might get
ourselves into trouble. Let’s just wait and
watch for developments.”
“Where ’ad we better wait—here or on the
other side of that light?” asked Clark.
“I think we’d better wait here,” said
Walter. “If he comes out, he’s more likely
to go the other way than this. He’s made his
investigation at the chateau end of the tunnel
and retreated, apparently, in alarm. If he’s
a French refugee, there’s only two reasons for
his coming out of his present hiding place that
I can think of.”
“What are ttiey?” asked Clark.
“For food and to see if the British have
driven the boches back away from this place.”
“He wouldn’t have much chance to forage
220
OVER THERE WITH THE
witli the enemy as thick as ants on an anthill
around here,” said Hood.
“Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” Walter
reasoned. “If be knows this locality pretty
well, he may be able to do a good deal after
dark.”
“I wonder if it isn’t pretty nearly daylight
now,” said Clark.
“I haven’t any way of estimating except
by my stomach,” replied Hood, “and judging
by the size of the hunger spot in there, I’d
say that it must be nearer next year than to-
morrow.”
“Oh, Hood, don’t spring anything more
like that, or I’ll surely have to laugh out
loud,” Walter protested. “But, seriously,
daylight can’t be very far off, and that re-
minds me that, after all, we’re not in the best
position right here.”
“Why not?” asked Hood.
“Because we ought to be near the outside
entrance of the tunnel so that we can hear
something of what’s going on. The fighting
will no doubt speed up again about daylight.
We want to know how it’s going, so that we
can join the British when they push the
boches back this far.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
221
“That’s a dandy idea,” said Clark. “Well
have to be right near the opening to hear any-
thing. But what’ll we do if that mysterious
cave man shows up again 1”
“Hold ’im up, if he gets in our way, and
make him explain what he’s up to,” Walter
replied. “If he can’t give a satisfactory ex-
planation, we’ll fix ’im so he can’t do us any
harm.”
“There he is now!” Hood announced sud-
denly, with startling hoarseness of undertone.
The other two saw what he saw almost as
soon as he did. A flood of light poured into
the passage at the place where they had dis-
covered a tiny illumination through a crevice
in the wall.
“He’s opened the door of his cave,” said
Clark.
“He’s coming out,” said Hood.
“ Sh! ” cautioned W alter.
“What’ll we do with ’im?” asked Clark.
“Let ’im go if he doesn’t come this way,”
said Walter. “Then if he goes out, we’ll
watch for him to come hack. Keep still now;
I there he comes.”
The darkening of the hole in the wall was
evidence of the truth of Walter’s announce-
OVER THERE WITH THE
222
ment. Presently they saw a human form
crawl out, and then the light flooded through
the aperture as before. The man stood up
and walked toward the outer entrance of the
tunnel. A few moments later his form was
lost in the gloom.
The watchers dared not utter a whispered
word for fear lest it reach the ears of the cave
man. Walter had a plan in mind, hut dared
not communicate it to his friends. There was
no way to determine whether the fellow was
still in the tunnel or had pushed his way out
past the brush heap at the entrance.
They waited fifteen minutes or more in
silence. At last Walter decided to carry out
his plan, which he whispered softly into his
eompanions’ ears. Then he moved forward
cautiously toward the aperture through which
the light still shone. Arrived there, he got
down on his hands and knees and crawled into
the hole.
Hood and Chambers remained where Wal-
ter had left them, on the alert and ready to
come to his aid if he should get into trouble.
Hood had his automatic pistol in his hand.
Clark stood like a wrestler about to spring for
223
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
a hold. The situation could hardly have been
more tense.
Walter remained in the cave about five
minutes. The apprehensions of his friends
were relieved as they observed the darkening
of the hole again and then saw him crawl out
into the tunnel.
But their relief was short-lived. Sud-
denly, while Walter was on his hands and
knees, his legs still in the hole in the wall, the
following command in French, fell sharply
on their ears:
“Halte, ou je vais tirer.”
» All three of the eseaping prisoners knew
enough French to understand this order. It
translated itself in their minds with thrills
of dread:
“Halt, or Ill shoot!”
224
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE REFUGEE.
T
HE wall through which Walter crawled
was about two feet thick. The room be-
yond was not so well lighted as the flood
of illumination through the hole had caused
him to believe. A lantern with burning wick
stood on the floor near the hole. There was no
other source of illumination in the place. He
picked up the lantern and began a hurried in-
spection.
A glance around corrected an error that
he and his companions had naturally fallen
into regarding the supposedly underground
room. It was not a cave. It was merely a
deep cellar under a building, as clearly evident
from the beams and flooring overhead.
“This makes it more of a mystery than
ever,” Walter told himself. “It makes it
harder to understand the purpose of the tun-
nel.”
He felt that he had little time for an in-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
225
spection of the place. What interested him
most was the subject of food, a supply of
which he hoped to find. And he was not dis-
appointed. On a table he found several dozen
cans of preserved meats and vegetables. On
another table lay a brace of pistols, a sabre
and an army rifle, also several boxes of car-
tridges. He slipped one of the pistols and a
handful of cartridges into his outer coat
pockets, then picked up a can of corned beef
and a can of salmon and returned to the hole
in the wall. Setting the lantern where he had
found it, he got down on his hands and knees
and crawled back into the tunnel.
He was elated with the success of his in-
vasion, and for the moment all apprehension
of adversity left him; hence he was greatly
startled when the order in French rang out
in the tunnel:
“Halte, ou je vais tirer.”
Walter halted. It would have been foolish
for him to do otherwise. At first he decided
to wait for his companions to come to his
rescue, but several moments elapsed and they
made no move. Then he began to reason that
he had better handle the matter himself by
discussing the situation with the Frenchman.
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OVER THERE WITH THE
Apparently the latter did not know what to
do, for he did not approach the intruder, hut
remained several feet away, probably cover-
ing him with his gun or pistol. Speaking in
broken, but fairly understandable French,
Walter said:
“Who are you? Are you a French patriot?
If you are, I am your friend.”
“Aren’t you an enemy of France?” asked
the Frenchman apparently in surprise.
“No, sir, I am not,” Walter replied. “I
am an American, and was with the British
army, but was taken prisoner. I escaped a
short time ago and have been hiding in this
tunnel.”
“What were you doing in there?”
“I was hunting for something to eat. li
saw you come out and thought I would inspect
your hiding place in your absence.”
“Go back in that room and get the lantern
and bring it out here, so that I can see what
you look like,” the Frenchman ordered.
This was quite agreeable to Walter, and he
did as directed. Meanwhile, Hood and Cham-
bers, observing that their companion was mak-
ing good progress in his management of the
situation, moved farther away in order that
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
227
they might not be visible in the light of the
lantern.
“Aren’t you afraid this light will be seen
by some of the soldiers outside1?” Walter in-
quired as he emerged from the basement re-
treat again and stood up to be inspected by the
Frenchman.
“No, there’s no danger of that,” the latter
replied. “The mouth of the tunnel is well
protected with a big pile of brushwood. But
there is some danger of our being overheard.
We’d better lower our voices.”
“Why shouldn’t we go back into that cel-
lar room of yours ?” Walter asked. “ We’d be
perfectly safe there.”
“First I want to look you over and see
if you’re what you say you are,” replied the
Frenchman as he came nearer to Walter, still
holding his pistol ready for emergency use,
however. Then, a few moments later, he
added: “I guess you are all right. Just move
back there a few feet and I’ll crawl through
the hole and you may come in after me. Here,
give me the lantern.”
Walter gave him the lantern and backed
away to a respectful distance. The French-
man, still holding his pistol in one hand and
OVER THERE WITH THE
228
the light in the other, got down and crawled
backward through the hole in the wall. After
he was inside, he called out for Walter to fol-
low him.
The latter did as directed and soon the two
were, in the basement together. Walter then
questioned the other thus:
“I take it that you are a French patriot
and are hiding here from the enemy. Is that
true?”
“I am,” the Frenchman replied.
“Well, I am one of the prisoners you saw
when you lifted that trapdoor at the other end
of the tunnel and looked into that basement
prison,” Walter continued.
“Is that so?” the other exclaimed. “Did
you see me?”
“I did,” Walter replied.
“I couldn’t make certain whether they
were prisoners or not, but concluded they
were. It hardly seemed possible that they
were enemy soldiers. Did you follow me after
I came back?”
“Yes, but not very soon afterwards.”
“How about the others? I suppose they’ll
all be trying to escape this way, too.”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
229
“No,” said Walter reassuringly. “There
were only three of us awake.”
“Did two others come with you?” asked
the Frenchman with a start of surprise.
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
“Out in the tunnel. They are politely
waiting for me to convinee you that I am a
friend. One of them has a pistol that he
smuggled in his clothing when he was taken
prisoner and could have shot you when you
stood out there in the light if he had wanted
to.”
“Go out and bring them in,” the French-
man direeted; “and I’ll tell all of you my
story together. Then we may work out some
plan for our common protection. ”
Walter lost no time in carrying out this
instruction. Again he crawled out through
the hole and soon returned, followed by Hood
and Chambers.
230
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XXXV.
WALTER 7S PLAN.
OYS, this is Monsieur—Excuse me, but
I don’t know your name. I guess I’ll
have to ask you to introduce yourself.
We three are all American engineers, with the
British army before we were taken prisoners.
My name is Beach, and these are comrades of
mine, Clark Chambers and Henry Hood.”
The foregoing was Walter’s speech of in-
troduction, uttered in French, after he had
brought his two friends into the basement re-
treat of the Frenchman, who was becoming
less of a mystery with the gradual unfolding
of his personality. He was about sixty years
old, of medium weight and build and of a
rather nervous and watchful temperament.
“My name is Lionel Perriot, at your serv-
ice,” courtesied the Frenchman. I am the
owner of this chateau and the surrounding
lands. Before the enemy advanced this far
in earlier campaigns, I and my wife and two
B
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
231
daughters left our home and went to Paris.
But as soon as I heard of General Byng’s
big drive, I came hack to see what condition
the place was in. While I was here the enemy
made a counter drive and I was caught in it.”
“But what means this peculiar arrange-
ment of things%’’ inquired Walter. “What
was the purpose of that tunnel when it was
exeavated ?”
“That,” replied M. Perriot, “was intended
as an escape tunnel and a passage to this hid-
ing place. This room, you see, is a cellar un-
der the west wing of the chateau. It was
originally a place for storing vegetables and
fruits from the farm, but I closed up the
entrances, removing all evidences of any such
excavation, leaving only a few camouflaged
openings for ventilation. Then I had a pas-
sage cut from the main cellar to this one and
on out through the side of the hill. The open-
ing at that end I concealed with a great heap
of brushwood, which I gathered from the tim-
ber on my place.”
“When did you do all this ?” Walter asked.
“Soon after the war began. I knew it
would be a long war. We who had our fingers
on the pulse of Europe had been expecting
232
OVER THERE WITH THE
something of the kind, although not at that
time, nor in the way it happened. We ex-
pected our historic enemy to be more clever in
the trumping up of an excuse. But for its
immediate purpose, it was the best kind of a
surprise.”
“What were you doing when you lifted the
trapdoor in the other cellar and looked in on
us?” asked Walter.
“I was investigating for the purpose of
giving the enemy a taste of their own methods,
such as they follow in their submarine war-
fare. I was going to blow that chateau, full
of officers and men, up to the sky. But when
I saw all those British prisoners in the base-
ment, I had to give up the idea.”
“How were you going to blow it up?”
asked Clark. “Where’s your powder?”
“Over there,” answered the Frenchman,
pointing to several barrels and boxes at the
east end of the cellar. “I have enough there
to wipe out a small army. I accumulated it in
the early months of the war, intending to
watch for an opportunity to strike a blow for
my country. By the way, maybe you can help
me do it yet. Are there any other prisoners
upstairs in the chateau?”
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
233
“Yes, a hundred or more,” Walter replied.
M. Perriot shook his head with disappoint-
ment.
“I hoped,” he said, “that the enemy was
using the place exclusively for officers’ head-
quarters.”
“They are almost,” said Hood. “Only
one large double room is used for prisoners,
who are crowded in there like cattle in a cow-
shed. Those in the basement are the overflow.
The rest of the building, I am pretty sure, is
occupied by officers and guards and orderlies.”
The Frenchman looked almost distressed.
“I am very much disappointed,” he said.
“If there were no other prisoners in the place
except those in the basement, we could bring
them all in here and blow up the main build-
ing. Then it would naturally be supposed that
the prisoners had either perished in the ex-
plosion or had got away in the darkness. No-
body would ever think of such a hiding place
as this. But all my planning has been for
naught. I suppose, if I tell myself the real
truth, I wanted to get caught here in the
enemy’s drive so that I might have an oppor-
tunity to blow a lot of them up. That’s what
I was figuring on when I had the tunnel built
234
OVER THERE WITH THE
and stored the explosives in here. If I’d
really made an effort to get away I suppose I
could have.”
“What are you going to do now?” asked
Clark.
“Wait here until the English drive the
enemy hack this far,” M. Perriot replied.
“It’s the only thing I can do, unless
There’s one hope that’s left for me, and I
don’t know but it’s a good one. The enemy
will surely send their prisoners back behind
the lines, and then maybe I’ll have a chance
to carry out the scheme that I planned more
than two years ago.”
“What time is it?” asked Walter, who con-
eluded that the salient points of the questions
under discussion had been exhausted.
M. Perriot produced a watch and informed
the boys that it was half-past four.
“An hour and a half before daybreak,”
Walter observed. “You were outside the tun-
nel just before you saw me crawling through
that hole, weren’t you?”
“Oui, Monsieur Beach,” answered the
Frenchman.
“What did you see out there?”
“Everything was quiet.”
235
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
“Are there any guards or sentries near the
mouth of the tunnel?”
There’s probably a
guard at the entrance at the end of the wing
and some sentries a little farther out.”
“I didn’t see any.
“Is there any basement window on this
side?”
“Yes, one.”
“Now, I’ve got an idea,” Walter an-
nounced eagerly. ‘ ‘ Why couldn ’t we fix things
up to appear that those prisoners in the other
basement escaped through that window and ,
then bring them in here through the tunnel?” '
“How about the air in this place? Could
more than twenty men live in here very long?”
asked Clark. “Suppose the British weren’t
able to drive the Germans back this far for
several days?”
“I think we could stand it,” M. Perriot
replied. “It would be pretty hard on us, per-
haps, but I don’t think we’d suffocate. I paid
a good deal of attention to ventilation when
I planned this retreat.”
“How about food?” asked Walter.
“There’s enough canned food down here
to keep twenty men a week,” the Frenchman
replied.
236
OVER THERE WITH THE
“And water?” added Hood.
“Here is a ten-gallon cask of water that’s
been here for a month, but it’s sealed tight;
and here are two casks of wine,” answered
M. Perriot, indicating the articles mentioned.
“Good!” exclaimed Walter. “Boys, let’s
try it.”
“I’m willing if Monsieur Perriot con-
sents,” Clark announced.
“So am I,” said Hood.
“It doesn’t sound bad,” remarked the
Frenchman meditatively.
“We’ll have to work fast,” said Walter.
“We haven’t much time. Here’s my proposi-
tion: Clark and I will go out and fix up ap-
pearances for an escape through the window,
and you two, Messieurs Perriot and Hood, go
to the other basement and bring those prison-
ers into this place. Of course, be careful to
keep all those boxes on the trapdoor after
they’re all out.”
“How about the window?” asked Hood.
“You’ll have to leave that open.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Walter replied.
“Have you any tools down here, anything of
the nature of a chisel?”—addressing M.
Perriot.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
237
“Here’s a large screwdriver and here’s a
saw,” answered the Frenchman, indicating the
tools mentioned.
“The screwdriver is all right, but the saw
will make too much noise. Here’s something
better,” he added, picking up a sharp instru-
ment that looked like a cobbler’s knif e. “Now,
I guess we’re ready.”
“Hold on,” interrupted M. Perriot. “I’m
afraid you’re going too fast without guarding
your flanks. Suppose you should fail in your
attempts to open the window and meanwhile
we had transferred all those prisoners in here
—the whole business would fall down. The
officers would make an investigation and this
place might be discovered. It won’t take
long to bring those prisoners in here after
you’ve finished your task. I think I’d better
go with you and show you where the window
is, and as soon as I’m certain you are going
to be successful I’ll come back and then we’ll
bring the prisoners here.”
“It’s always well to have an old head
around,” said Walter. “You lead the way,
and we’ll follow.”
M. Perriot, Walter, and Clark erawled
through the hole in the wall, leaving Hood
alone in the Frenchman’s hiding place.
238
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XXXVL
“byng!” again.
PERRIOT knew the -way so well that
he could have led his companions to
the north cellar window of the west
wing of the chateau blindfolded. Hence they
were able to move rapidly, although with due
caution. Outside the tunnel Walter and Clark
found themselves on the side of a wooded hill,
which had a stony surface soil, and hence the
danger of a foot-print trail was slight.
They encountered no sentinel on their way
to the window, and soon Walter was at work
with his screwdriver, which he used as a
chisel. The night was still very dark, for the
sky was cloudy and the timber, which grew
near to the walls of the chateau, added density
to the gloom. Under the direction of their
French guide, Walter located the panes of
glass and began cautiously to pry them loose
from the frame.
Fortunately the glazing material in which
239
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
they had been set was old and broken and
loose, so that be found bis task much easier
than be bad expected. He removed the first
pane without making any noise, and then the
Frenchman whispered to him:
“I think I’ll go back now and get the pris-
oners out. Are you sure you can find the tun-
nel1?”
“Yes,” Walter replied. “I took care to
mark the way.”
The Frenchman left, and Walter continued
bis work, while Clark stood close to the trunk
of a nearby tree and kept watch. After all the
glass bad been removed, Walter cut out the
cross-pieces of the sash. Then be rejoined the
watchful sentinel and whispered that bis task
was finished.
“Come on,” be said. “Here, you take this
screwdriver. It will serve as a weapon if we
run into somebody. ’ ’
Clark took the tool and followed bis friend
back toward the brush heap at the mouth of
the funnel, which tbey found without diffi-
culty. About twenty feet from the camou-
flaged entrance of the tunnel Walter stopped
suddenly and put out bis band to stay the
progress of bis companion.
240
OVER THERE WITH THE
The latter needed no other warning. The
next instant he saw what had caused his
partner scout to halt and take on an attitude
of extreme caution. A dimly outlined form,
undoubtedly that of a man, was near the brush
heap, at the very spot, in fact, where they
must push the brush aside in order to enter
the tunnel.
Nervously, apprehensively, the two boys
watched the man at the mouth of the tunnel.
At first Walter thought he might be M.
Perriot; but second thought decided him that
this was highly improbable. There could be
no reason for the Frenchman’s delaying thus
the carrying out of his part of the night’s pro-
gram.
Both boys decided, without whispered com-
munication, that the best thing for them to do
was to await developments, hoping that the
fellow would discover nothing worthy of his
further attention and depart. They were
momentarily gratified in this hope, for after
a little further poking about in the pile of
tree trimmings, he turned around and walked
slowly away.
Walter and Clark had scarcely become con-
scious of the feeling of gratification that
241
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
seized them as a result of this move, when it
was driven out hy another of the deepest ap-
prehension. The man was walking directly
toward them.
They were unable to decide whether the
fellow had discovered them and was about to
challenge them, and they did not dare move
out of his way for fear lest they reveal their
presence if he had not already seen them.
Walter decided to be prepared. He put his
mouth close to his companion’s ear and
whispered:
“I’m afraid we’ll have to take him. If he
comes too near, I’ll jump for his throat and
you grab his legs.”
They were not kept long guessing. A few
seconds later he would have bumped right into
them, it seemed, when Walter made his un-
avoidable attack, as planned, and Clark fol-
lowed suit by lifting the man off his feet.
Fortunately Walter, who was very mus-
cular, made no miscalculation in his move, and
the astonished victim was unable to make an
outcry. The former wasted no mercy on the
throat in his grasp and must almost have
squeezed the life out of its owner. At last
when there seemed to be no further strength
OVER THERE WITH THE
242
to struggle in the prisoner, Walter whispered
to his companion:
“Into the tunnel with him. We don’t dare
leave him out here.”
And into the tunnel they went with their
seemingly lifeless burden. They drew the
brush close to the mouth of the underground
passage after entering and then picked up the
limp form and earried it toward the entrance
of the cellar retreat.
They found their way lighted now, for the
prisoners of the cellar at the other end of the
tunnel had been released and most of them
were lined up, single file, ready to crawl into
the Frenchman’s hiding place. Several had
already gone in.
Near the opening was Hood, watching the
procession of crawlers. He turned in surprise
at the spectacle presented by his. two prison
friends with their human burden.
“WeVe got a prisoner, had to bring him
in,” said Walter. “He ran into us out there
—probably a scout or sentinel. Nobody else
with him.”
“Everything O. K.l” asked Hood.
“I think so,” Walter replied.
They dragged their prisoner into the re-
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
243
treat after the other escaping British and
American prisoners had erawled in, and then
an examination of the apparently unconscious
man was made. One of the Frenchman’s
lantems was held over him as he lay on the
floor.
Walter started with astonishment as he
gazed on the upturned face. He looked at it
closely. Clark who stood at his elbow, sud-
denly exclaimed with almost a laugh:
“It’s the Rev. J. Elliot Benson!”
The situation and the experiences that had
led up to it tickled Walter’s “funny bone”
also just a little.
“Byng!” he said with a reminiscent ring
in his voice.
244
OVER THERE WITH THE
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A FIGHTING FINIS.
ALTER’S “Byng!” seemed to restore
consciousness to the prisoner. He
opened his eyes at the explosion of
amusement and surprise over him and gazed
up for a few moments as if to take in the
situation.
In those few moments Walter’s opinion of
the preacher-spy went up considerably. He
got a new glimpse of Benson’s characteristics,
or a vision of qualifications which he had not
seen clearly in him before. Then he found
himself wondering if the prisoner was not a
consummate actor and if some of his crust of
inconsequence was not an artificial put-on
with cunning purpose.
“Where did you come from*?” J. Elliot in-
quired with remarkable mildness of manner
considering the astonishment he must have felt.
“That would be a long story to tell,” an-
swered Walter, smiling.
W
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
245
“No doubt,” Benson agreed with more of
his expressionless mildness. “Where am I?”
he added with an effort at greater courteous-
ness.
“You are surrounded by the enemy in the
midst of your friends,” replied Walter
enigmatically.
“Oh,” returned the prisoner with provok-
ing nonchalance.
“I might answer some of your questions a
little more definitely if you would throw some
light on certain matters which I would like to
have cleared up,” Walter continued.
“All right; fire away,” assented the
preacher-spy.
“We may as well make you a little more
comfortable during our conversation. How
is your throat?”
“Pretty sore,” replied Benson putting his
hand to the afflicted portion of his anatomy.
“Can you sit up?”
“I think so.”
He lifted himself to a half-sitting position,
supported by his elbow.
“Here, make way for him to sit up against
the wall,” Walter requested, addressing sev-
eral curious onlookers.
OVER THERE WITH THE
246
The prisoner was soon in a more comforta-
ble position and Walter continued his ques-
tioning.
“What were you doing out there?” he
asked.
“Investigating,” answered Benson shortly.
“Investigating what?”
“I’ll tell you if you’ll answer the second
question I put to you.”
Walter looked up at the Frenchman, whose
look of intelligence indicated that he under-
stood the conversation, which was being car-
ried on in English. M. Perriot nodded his head.
“All right; go on,” Walter agreed.
“I saw a man go behind that brush heap,
and I was trying to find out where he was and
what was his business.”
“'Who told you to do it?”
“It’s your turn to answer my question,”
replied Benson. “Where am I?”
“In the basement of the chateau,” said
Walter.
Perriot pinched the arm of the young
American as a warning that he had told
enough.
“Now, under whose orders were you act-
ing?” was Walter’s next question.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
247
“I had a sort of roving commission,” was
the other’s reply. “It was suspected that
there were spies around here, and I was di-
rected to spot them.”
“Good, Now, may I ask another ques-
tion?”
“Yes, if you’ll answer another from me
first.”
“That’s fair play. Go ahead.'”
“Is this the place where these prisoners
were put by order of the commanding offieers
of the German forees?”
“No,” said Walter.
“Have you transferred yourselves to a
secret hiding place ? ”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you expect to be found?”
“No. Our tracks are well covered. Now,
I’ve answered three questions for you. Let
me ask one or two. How far away from here
are the British forees?”
“Not very far; I don’t know exactly.”
“How long do the boches expect to be able
to hold them back?”
Benson set his teeth fiercely—his first ex-
pression of feeling in the interview.
“Indefinitely,” he grovded.
248
OVER THERE WITH THE
“You don’t belie ve that,” challenged "Wal-
ter.
The challenge was met with a wavering
look.
“They expect to be driven back today,
don’t they?” Walter demanded.
“Not very far,” declared Benson doggedly.
“That’s enough,’ said Walter with a look
of satisfaction around at his comrades. “We’ll
be with our friends today.”
The boys looked as if they wanted to cheer,
but held their feelings in check.
“Oh, just one more question,” Walter con-
tinued.
“I may jiot answer it,” Benson snapped
back.
“Do as you please,” said Walter. “It’s
only a matter of curiosity on my part, not of
of much consequence. Are you really a
preacher?”
“Sure,” he replied defiantly, “and when
this war is over I’ll be back in America
preaching the gospel of Teutonic supremacy.”
“Maybe you will,” replied Walter sarcast-
ically.
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
249
Walter’s prediction uttered to his com-
rades in their hiding place came true early in
the day. The counter drive of General Byng’s
army progressed rapidly. The hidden prison-
ers, constantly on the alert to complete their
escape, were ready when the moment came.
They kept a constant lookout near the mouth
of the tunnel for indications of the arrival of
British. The noise of the battle served to
keep the lookout fairly well informed as to
the progress of the drive. That progress was
being made was unmistakable from early
dawn when the action became hotter and the
artillery bellowed deeper and with greater
volume.
As the British arrived on the scene and
drove the boches away from the chateau
grounds, the prisoners poured forth from the
tunnel, and aided the attacking forces, even
as the unarmed engineers had taken part in
the battle of Gouzeaucourt when the enemy’s
surprise attack reached that village. But it
was not long before they were armed with the
rifles and ammunition of other soldiers left
dead on the field of battle, and they connected
themselves with such units as were available
in the deadly onrush.
250
ENGINEERS AT CAMBRAI
When the day’s fighting was over, it was
found that Walter had come through the en-
gagement without a scratch. Clark had re-
eeived a wound in the left leg that kept him
in a hospital for several weeks, and Hood had
been killed. Walter and Clark were deeply
grieved when they learned of Hood’s death,
for both had found him to be a soldier of
lovable and admirable qualities.
As for the Rev. J. Elliot Benson, he was
turned over to a British officer by M. Perriot,
who took the spy in charge after the escaping
prisoners rushed out of the tunnel and dashed
along with the victorious forces. He received
special attention due one with a record like
his, and has not fulfilled his promise to become
a Teutonic propagandist in America. Walter
and Clark had redeemed themselves, blotting
out the humiliating defeat which terminated
their automobile chase behind the British
lines after two escaping spies. Their exploits
in capturing Benson near the mouth of the
tunnel and aiding materially in the escape of
a score of their captured comrades received
special official notice and resulted in promo-
tion for both of them.
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14.—Boy Scouts in Death Valley; or, The City in the Sky.
15.—Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; or, The Round-up not
Ordered.
16.—Boy Scouts in Southern Waters; or, the Spanish Treasure
Chest.
17.—Boy Scouts in Belgium; or, Under Fire in Flanders.
18.—Boy Scouts in the North Sea; or, the Mystery of U-13.
19.—Boy Scout Verdun Attack.
20.—Boy Scouts with the Cossacks; or, Poland Recaptured.
THE MOTORCYCLE CHUMS SERIES
By Andrew Carey Lincoln
1.—Motorcycle Chums in the Land of the Sky; or, Thrilling
Adventures on the Carolina Border.
2.—Motorcycle Chums in New England; or, The Mount Hol-
yoke Adventure.
3.—Motorcycle Chums on the Sante Fe Trail; or, The Key to
the Treaty Box.
4.—Motorcycle Chums in Yellowstone Park; or, Lending a
Helping Hand.
5.—Motorcycle Chums in the Adirondacks; or, The Search for
the Lost Pacemaker.
6.—Motorcycle Chums Storm Bound; or, The Strange Adven-
tures of a Road Chase.
List Price $1.00 Each
BOYS< COPYRIGHTED BOOKS
The most attractive and highest class list of copyrighted books
for boyB ever printed. In this list will be found the works of W*
Bert Foster, Capt. Ralph Bonehill, Arthur M. Winfield, etc.
Printed from large clear type, illustrated, bound in a superiof
quality of cloth.
THE CLINT WEBB SERIES
By W. Bert Foster
1.—Swept Out to Sea; or, Clint Webb Among the Whalers.
2.—The Frozen Ship; or, Clint Webb Among the Sealers.
3.—From Sea to Sea; or, Clint Webb on the Windjammer*
4.—The Sea Express; or, Clint Webb and the Sea Tramp*
THE YOUNG SPORTSMAN’S SERIES
By Capt. Ralph Bonehill
Rival Cyclists; or, Fun and Adventures on the Wheel.
Young Oarsmen of Lake View; or, The Mystery of Hermit Island#
Leo the Circus Boy; or, Life Under the Great White Canvas.
SEA AND LAND SERIES
Four Boys* Books by Favorite Authors
Oscar the Naval Cadet
Blue Water Revers....
H Royal Smuggler...,.
A Boy Crusoe
Capt. Ralph Bonehill
Victor St. Clare
William Dalton
Allen Erie
ADVENTURE AND JUNGLE SERIES
A large, well printed, attractive edition.
Guy in the Jungle.
Casket of Diamonds
The Boy Railroader
Treasure of South Lake Farm
Wm. Murray Graydea
Oliver Optic
Matthew White, Jr*
W. Bert Foster
YOUNG HUNTERS SERIES
By Capt. Ralph Bonehill
Gun and Sled; or, The Young Hunters of Snow Top Island.
Young Hunters in Porto Rico; or, The Search for a Lost Treasure.
Two Young Crusoes; by C. W. Phillips.
Through Apache Land; or, Ned in the Mountains; by Lieut* R* Ht
BRIGHT AND BOLD SERIES
By Arthur M. Winfield
Poor but Plucky; or, The Mystery of a Flood.
School Day s of Fred Harley; or, Rivals for All Honors.
By Pluck, not Luck; or, Dan Granbury’s Struggle to Rise.
The Missing Tin Box; or, Hal Carson’s Remarkable City Adventure*
COLLEGE LIBRARY FOR BOYS
By Archdeacon Farrar
Julian Home; or, A Tale of College Life.
St. Winifred’s; or, The World of School.
Tayne.
For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of $1.00
M. A. DONOHUE & CO*
Cfetaftge
7GI-&&3 So. Dearborn Street,
FAMOUS BOOKS IN REBOUND EDITIONS
HEIDI
A Child’s Story of Life in the Alps
By Johanna Spyri ,
£33 pa^ea—illustrftted. Printed from new pktes; neatly bmad. it
cloth,
WtfOCCHIO
A T*J« of a Puppet—By C. CoUodl
Printed from new pktes on a good grade of paper; neatly bound
In cloth; illuatrated.
ELSIE DIT7SMORE
By Martha Finley
Beautiful edition of this popular book. Printed from new pktes*
tovers stamped in four colors from original design*
BROWKQBS AND OTHER STORIES
Illustrated by Palmer Coz
320 pages and containing an illustration on nearly every page;
muted from new platee from large, clear type, substantially botma
in cloth*
HELEfPS BABIES
By John Habberton
This amusing and entertaznmg book, printed from new pSatos.
dSotb binding.
HANS BRH££ER; or, The Silver Skates
By Mary Mapes Dodge
44 popular edition of this well-known story of life in Hollf '*'
RAINY DAY DIVERSION
By Carolyn Wells
PLEASANT DAY DIVERSIONS
By Carolyn Wells
Printed on a good grade of paper from new plates, bound in a
superior grade book binders* cloth. These volumes have neve*
before been offered for less than $1.25; for sale now at the special
price of 75 cents each.
Yor sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of $1.00
M. A- DONOHUE & CO.
*533-733 So. Dearborn Street,
Cfckaga
BOYS’ COPYRIGHTED BOOKS
Printed from large, clear type on a superior quality of paper,
embellished with original illustration by eminent artists, and bound
m a superior quality of book binders* cloth, ornamented with illus-
- trated covers, stamped in colors from unique and appropriate dies,
each book wrapped in a glazed paper wrapper printed in colors.
MOTOR BOAT BOYS SERIES
By Louis Arundel
!«—The Motor Club’s Cruise Down the Mississippi; or, The Dash
for Dixie.
2.—The Motor Club on the St. Lawrence River; or, Adventures
Among the Thousand Islands.
3.—The Motor Club on the Great Lakes; or, Exploring the Mystic
Isle of Mackinac.
4.—Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; or, The Struggle for
the Leadership.
5.—Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast; or, Through Storm and
Stress.
6.—Motor Boat Boys’ River Chase.
THE BIRD BOYS SERIES
By John Luther Langworthy
f.—The Bird Boys; or, The Young Sky Pilots* First Air Voyage.
2.—The Bird Boys on the Wing; or, Aeroplane Chums in the Tropics.
3.—The Bird Boys Among the Clouds; or, Young Aviators in a
Wreck.
4.—Bird Boys* Flight; or, A Hydroplane Round-up.
5.—Bird Boys* Aeroplane Wonder; or, Young Aviators on a Cattle
Ranch.
CANOE AND CAMPFIRE SERIES
By St. George Rathbome
1.—Canoe Mates in Canada; or, Three Boys Afloat on the Sas-
katchewan.
2.—Young Fur Takers; or, Traps and Trails in the Wilderness.
3.—The House Boat Boys; or, Drifting Down to the Sunny South.
4.—Chums in Dixie; or, The Strange Cruise in the Motor Boat. .
5.—Camp Mates in Michigan; or, With Pack and Paddle in the Pine
Woods.
6.—Rocky Mountain Boys; or, Camping in the Big Game Country.
For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt ©f $1.00
M. A. DONOHUE & CO.
Chicago
701-733 So. Dearborn Street,
Late Rebound Fiction
In this list are included books that have enjoyed an extensive
sale at $1.50 to $1.60 net, per volume. In material makeup, in-
eluding quality of paper, presswork. binding, and attractive color
jackets, the books are in every way equal to the original edi-
tions, although offered for half and less than half the price for
which they originally sold.
By H. G. WELLS
MR. BRITLING SEES IT THROUGH.
WIFE OF SIR ISAAC HARMAN.
RESEARCH MAGNIFICENT.
BEALBY.
NEW WORLDS FOR OLD.
WHAT IS COMING.
ITALY, FRANCE AND BRITAIN AT WAR
GOD, THE INVINCIBLE KING.
By GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON
Author of “Graustark,” Etc.
FROM THE HOUSETOPS.
GREEN FANCY.
By THOMAS DIXON, Jr.
FALL OF A NATION.
The sequel to “Birth of a Nation.”
By A. H. MAHER
SHEPHERD OF THE NORTH.
By ALICE BROWN
THE PRISONER.
By JEFFERY FARNOL
Author of “The Broad Highway.”
OUR ADMIRABLE BETTY.
THE DEFINITE OBJECT.
For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of
$1.00
M. A. DONOHUE & CO.
Chicago
701-733 So. Dearborn Street,
5E
bESEE fl