The Khaki Boys at the Front; or, Shoulder to Shoulder in the Trenches

by Gordon Bates

  CHAPTER XII

  GETTING USED TO IT

  After a third "Minnie" had sped across No Man's Land and into thefront-line trench, an advanced American battery opened up on the Bochesand returned the compliment with a hot fire that soon put a temporarycheck on Fritzie's activities so far as the sending over of moreMinnies went. German machine guns, however, continued to direct theirfire upon the gaps in the trenches made by their mortars.

  Four men had been killed and several wounded, as a result of the lasttwo mortar shells.

  Immediately the damage had been wrought to the trench parapet, willinghands set to work to rebuild the broken places to their originalheight. During the operation three more men lost their lives, shot downby the bullets from the Boche machine guns.

  After this brief exchange of hostilities quiet again settled down,broken only by the occasional letting loose of a Boche shrapnel shelldirected at some point behind the lines.

  Their digging detail finished, Jimmy and Bob again repaired to thedugout and slept until noon. Both awoke at dinner time greatlyrefreshed by their brief sleep. A palatable stew and more hot coffeeput them in excellent trim for whatever duty might fall to them lateron.

  Dinner over, they promptly made a fresh effort to find their bunkies.Roger, Schnitzel, and Ignace, who were fairly near together somedistance down the line, had also started out on a hunt for Bob andJimmy. Both search parties met about halfway respectively from theirown stations. Bob and Jimmy had the good fortune to bump into theirbunkies just as the latter were entering a dugout.

  "Come on in and let's talk," urged Roger. "Goodness knows we may neverhave another chance."

  "Did either of those last two mortars get any of your men?" was Bob'sfirst question of Roger, as the five sought a corner of the dugout andsat down on the floor in a compact circle.

  "No; but Schnitz lost two good boys and Iggy one. My men were in thedugout asleep when it happened."

  "It was horrible." Schnitzel's dark face wore an expression of deepestgloom. "Ryan and Harvey, corking fellows, both had their heads blownalmost off their shoulders. I'm all broken up over Ryan. He was one ofthe straightest guys I ever met. Gritty, too. He was dying to get awhack at the Boches. Now he's gone West, and never had a chance to killoff even one of the dirty brutes. He was an only son, too. His folksjust worshipped him. I'm going to write to his mother. I promised longago that I would if it came to the scratch. He gave me her address."

  Schnitzel spoke with intense bitterness. Ryan had been the best man inhis squad.

  "Tough luck!"

  Jimmy voiced his most emphatic expression of sympathy.

  "When come him that one shail, so have I the dugout jus' leave," burstforth Ignace. "Then hear I som' the loud thoonder an' fall down intrench. So think I mebbe I daid for minute."

  "Ha, ha!" jeered Bob. "How could you be dead and keep on thinking, youfunny old top?"

  "Mebbe I daid, you no laugh," responded Ignace with a tranquillity thatshowed he was quite used to Bob's raillery.

  "You're right I wouldn't." Bob's merry face quickly sobered. "It'sbecause you're not 'daid' that I'm laughing. It's a poor subject tojosh about, though. Let's forget it."

  "I'll never forget that fellow I dug out of the mud," declared Jimmytensely. "He was the one croaked by the first 'Minnie.' I was in ourdugout with Bob when it hit the trench. All the fellows in there rushedout to see. Lieutenant Jaynes shoved 'em back in a hurry, except adetail to dig and one to repair the parapet. I was detailed to dig andI went at it, too. Hauled the fellow from under all by myself. His facewas all smashed in. Don't know yet who he was, except that he wasn'tone of my men. One of the greenies, like us, I guess."

  "It's a pretty savage business, but I'll bet our guns clicked someBoche casualties, too," asserted Roger.

  "I thought we'd all get the order to 'stand to' after that thirdshell, but not yet. I suppose the Huns thought they'd send over a few'Minnies' to scare us. Wonder when they'll make a real stab at us?"

  "When they get good and ready," shrugged Schnitzel. "Maybe not whilewe're here. We may be the ones to start the ball rolling. One reasonit's been so quiet, I guess, is because the Fritzies haven't anyammunition to waste. I've been told that the Allies are sending overtwenty shells to their one these days."

  "Some improvement." Jimmy expressed his deep satisfaction at thisrumor. "When the war began it was twenty to one in favor of BillKaiser. Now the shoe seems to be on the other foot."

  "I hope I live to see the day when it'll be fifty to nothing in favorof the Allies," was Roger's heartfelt declaration.

  "It'll come, even if we don't live to see it," assured Schnitzelprophetically.

  "So think I," nodded Ignace. "Byme by, thes' Boche have no the nothin'.Then get kill pretty quick. I would him myself that ver' bad BillKaiser kill."

  "Why don't you ask for the detail?" was Bob's mischievous suggestion."I'll lend you Gaston to help do the dirty work."

  "Now again you mak' the fon to me," giggled Ignace. "I say only I wouldit to do. So is it."

  "'So is it,'" repeated Bob. "I can just see our Iggins and dear Gastonhot-footing it to Bill's royal shebang to put him out of his misery.Gaston would be some fine little ally. You could turn him loose on theimperial guard while you went in the back door of the palace and did upWilliam."

  Bob's nonsense brought a smile even to Schnitzel's somber face. No onecould be serious for long with Bob on the premises. His light-heartedability to see the funny side of things when in the midst of shadow wasalways eminently cheering to his bunkies.

  "I wish I had Gaston with me," Bob continued regretfully. "I'll bethe'd win a whole string of honor tin cans going Over the Top. He'dprobably eat 'em afterward, though, unless Bobby was around to seethat he didn't overload his heroic stomach. Just as soon as I get backto a rest billet, I'm going to take Gaston to the K. O. and offer hisservices. I'll bet they'll be gratefully accepted."

  "Unless Gaston takes it into his head to charge on the K. O.,"laughingly supplemented Roger.

  "Oh, I'll speak to Gaston about that beforehand," airily assured Bob."I'll put him wise to the difference between a K. O. and a bunch ofinsignificant non-coms."

  "Don't forget to class yourself with that bunch," reminded Jimmy.

  The five Brothers continued to talk in this light strain, well contentto get away briefly from the grim shadow of war. Already they wereunconsciously leaning toward the desire to keep strictly to the surfaceof things.

  In the front-line trenches men soon realize that it is futile to worryover what may happen. They learn to live from hour to hour and make themost of whatever cheer lies at hand.

  They gleefully plan for the future, refusing to reflect that awell-directed shell or bullet may send them speeding West immediatelyafterward. If it were not for this cheery ignoring of grim Deathhovering ever near, arrant Fear would soon step in and claim toll onthem. Dread of Death courts Fear indeed.

  Toward supper time the Khaki Boys witnessed from the trench a spiritedbout in the air between Boche and Allied aircraft. From somewhere backof the enemy trenches, half a dozen German aeroplanes suddenly roseagainst the evening sky and began a flight toward the American sector.

  When hardly halfway over No Man's Land they were met by a fleet ofFrench planes which had promptly risen to drive them back. Though theywere some distance up the line from the portion of the front linetrench occupied by the 509th Infantry men, the Sammies had a fairlygood view of the fight. They could hear the constant pop-pop of theaircraft machine guns as the contestants swooped, dived and circledabout one another.

  Jimmy Blaise centered his attention particularly upon one of the Frenchplanes. It had been the first to rally to the scene and was giving goodaccount of itself.

  Its aviator appeared to bear a charmed life. Shells from the GermanArchies, which had immediately gone into action, failed to reach him.He spiraled and sank, sank and spiraled with an elusive dexterity thatwas dizzying to watch. At times his plane would lurch wildly, dro
ppinga little, as though shell-pierced and about to fall. Instantly it wouldright itself and soar upward, cleverly maneuvering so as always toattain a position in the air where its gunner could pour a mercilesslyeffective fire upon the Boche planes.

  One of them went down to destruction as a result of the wonderman'smarvelous exhibition of skill and daring. A plane of the French fleetalso met disaster. Seeing one of their number down, the Frenchiesrallied to the onslaught with a zeal that soon put another Boche planeout of business. By this time Allied Archies were sending their shellsagainst the invaders with a demoralizing aim that crippled a thirdenemy plane and sent the three remaining Boche flyers soaring out ofdanger and back to their own lines.

  In the trenches the Sammies were cheering with wild enthusiasm as theywatched the spirited conflict in the air. Here was a spectacle besidewhich even baseball paled into insignificance as a purely "sports"proposition. They were only sorry that it lasted so short a time.

  "Great work," yelled one of the seasoned men who stood beside Jimmy."That one guy was a sure-enough peach of a birdman."

  "You bet," agreed Jimmy fervently.

  The clever work of the daring aviator had brought to his mind the"Flying Terror of France." He imagined that only a man like Voissardwould be capable of giving such a wonderful exhibition of flying as hehad just witnessed. Where was Cousin Emile now, he wondered, and wouldhe ever see Voissard again? Perhaps he would not live long enoughto learn the important information concerning the "tiger man" whichVoissard had mentioned in his letter to Jimmy.

  Until now Jimmy had not once thought of the "tiger man" since the marchto the front had begun. The events of that memorial hike had driventhe past quite out of his mind. Standing there in the trench his grayeyes grew retrospective as his mind harked back to the time he and hisbunkies had boarded the _Columbia_. He had not realized until then howreally remarkable had been his adventures since he left the UnitedStates. Living them from day to day they had not seemed so very unusual.

  The greatest adventure of all yet lay ahead of him. He had still toknow what it meant to be actually under fire and take part in a real,bang-up fight. His natural impatience of delay made him wish that itwould come soon. Perhaps this latest attempt of the Boches to sendobservation planes over the American trenches meant that the enemy wasgetting impatient, too. He hoped so.

  He had come to the trenches to fight and he felt it would be a bitterdisappointment should his first tour in the trenches end without atleast one opportunity to fire a shot for Uncle Sam.