CHAPTER XIV
DESPERATE MEASURES
Never did three young men face a more terrible or more horribly gruesomesituation. Here they were, locked in a natural dungeon behind a wall ofdirt and rock probably four or five feet thick. Not only that, but thecave already contained the bodies of six men whose fixed and glassy eyesstared at them as though in mockery and warning, and the already foulair was becoming more stifling every moment.
In a dull way they realized that they probably could not survive morethan two or three maddening hours in that death chamber.
"It may not be so bad as it seems," said Lieutenant Mackinson in a voicethat seemed unnatural in that vault. "Perhaps it was only a slightcave-in."
He flashed his light about the hole. It was difficult to tell where theopening had been.
"Joe and Frank Hoskins!" cried Jerry, a new terror in his voice. "Iheard Joe shriek!"
Slim, catching his meaning, snatched a rifle from beside one of thebodies, and with the butt of it began pounding frantically upon the sideof the cave where the entrance had been.
There was no answering knock.
"Joe," shouted Jerry in a frenzied tone. "Joe! Can you hear me?"
No answer came, either from Joe or Frank.
"Pinned under tons of that stuff," gasped Slim, the words trembling uponhis lips and a tear trickling down his cheek.
"I do not think so," the lieutenant assured them. "Both Joe and Frankwere upon the outside when we entered."
"But they would try to get us out," said Jerry. "If they were out therethey would give us some sort of signal that they were trying to helpus."
"We might not be able to hear them," answered the lieutenant, evenagainst his own judgment. "But look at it this way. Even though theynever were inside here, they had a fair idea of what the place was like.They knew from that that we needed help, and needed it quickly. If onewent alone, and anything happened to him on the way, the other mightwait here indefinitely, not knowing whether he had got assistance ornot. By going together they took the safest course."
And Lieutenant Mackinson's reasoning was correct. That was exactly theway Joe and Frank had figured it out, and, the latter forgetting allabout his own wound, they had started as fast as they could for theAmerican front.
"Keep cool, conserve your energy, and I feel certain everything will beall right," the lieutenant told the two friends with whom, in such ashort time, he already had gone through so many harrowing experiences.
At that very same moment, a quarter of a mile away, Joe brought hiscompanion to a halt, took out his flashlight, and, facing the Americanline, began making and breaking the connection in a way to give a numberof short, even flashes.
Presently a light appeared, was extinguished and appeared again, at theedge of the American-French lines.
Joe had resorted to another sort of wireless--the "blinker"--and, notknowing the call signal for the station he was nearest, had given theprescribed call in such a case, a series of short flashes, or dots. Thestation had acknowledged, and he began sending his message out of thelittle battery in his hand:
"Americans. Three of party caught in cave-in. Need help."
And the answer was flashed back in the same code:
"Approach. Keep light on. Countersign."
Following these instructions, with Joe in the lead with the flashlightheld out in front of him, they dashed on to the trenches. They gaspedout the countersign, and were escorted by a sentry to the quarters ofthe officer of that particular section.
In a few words they told him what had happened.
Without an instant's delay the latter, a colonel of artillery, reachedfor his telephone.
"Ask Captain Hallowell to come here immediately," he said, and severedthe connection.
He seemed already to have decided upon some sort of a plan, and hisdecisive manner gave the two lads a feeling of confidence in him. Hereached into a drawer of his desk and drew out a large map. He ran hisfingers across it and then came to a stop at a little black dot whichappeared just in the angle of two converging red lines.
"Is that it?" he asked, turning to Jerry and Frank.
They examined the map carefully for a moment and then told him that itwas.
Just then Captain Hallowell entered. His boots were spattered with mud,his face was grimy, and his eyes were bloodshot, indicating that he hadbeen for many hours without sleep.
"Captain," said the colonel bluntly, "these young men are of the SignalCorps, as you you can see. They were detailed to-night to establish anoutpost wire communication to Hill No. 8. You know it?"
"Very well, sir," the captain replied, his interest increasing.
"Well," continued the colonel, "they got there all right. But the otherthree in the party had hardly entered that hole when the entrance cavedin."
"Great Scott!" ejaculated the captain. "I know that cavern. They can'tlast there long."
"Exactly," affirmed the colonel. "What is your suggestion?"
For a full moment Captain Hallowell was silent. "There is only one way,"he said finally, "and that is a dangerous way. Blast them out."
"Blast them out?" repeated the colonel, but apparently without surprise."How?"
"It would take too long to dig them out," Captain Hallowell answered."And, besides, that could hardly be done without some sort of light, andthat would attract enemy fire. There is but one chance, and that is toblast them out with one of our big guns!"
"Can you do it?" the colonel demanded again, in his blunt, insistentway.
"I will do my utmost to save them, sir," Captain Hallowell replied.
"Very well, then," answered his superior officer. "If you feel certainthat is the only way, go ahead. Personally, knowing the place as I do, Isee no other method myself. Have you the range?"
"I did have, sir," said Captain Hallowell, "but in such a delicatematter as this it would be necessary to be absolutely accurate. We havebeen firing practically all day, and the position of the guns changesslightly, of course. I would want to find a new and exact range."
He had noticed Frank's limp arm, and he turned to Joe.
"Take this flashlight," he ordered. "It is more powerful than yours. Getback there as quickly as you can, and follow to the letter thesedirections: Keep between us and that hill until you get to it. Stay onthis side of the hill and crawl around toward the entrance until you getto a point where you can place this light, facing us, two feet above theground and one foot in from the outer surface extremity. Leave it thereuntil you see three quick successive rockets go straight up in the airfrom here. After that I will give you three minutes in which to get backto a place of safety. I'll put that flashlight out of business, and Ithink I can liberate your friends."
"Is your injury a serious one?" the colonel demanded of Frank.
"Very slight, sir. Only a flesh wound," Frank responded eagerly.
"Then take this light," the colonel ordered, "and follow him at adistance of a hundred yards. If anything should happen to your friend,you follow the directions you have just heard."
"Yes, sir," the lads responded in unison, and, with a hasty salute, wereoff.
Three times did Joe drop to the ground, as a shadow seemed to movesomewhere out in the distance before him. But each time he was up andoff again almost upon the instant, thinking of his own safety only asthat of his three friends depended upon it.
And what of those inside?
Even the courageous Lieutenant Mackinson was beginning to show theanxiety he felt, while Jerry and Slim, despite their bravest efforts,gave way to occasional expressions of the horror of the thing.
They had pounded upon the walls until they had been overcome withdespair, and then they had set to work digging with the only instrumentsat hand--the bayonets on the German rifles.
But soon they realized that this, too, was as hopeless as the pounding,for it further exhausted the energy which the foul air was rapidlysapping, without making any apparent opening in the thick earthen wallthat surround
ed them.
"Well," said Slim at last, gulping back his nausea, and smiling almostin his old time way, "I'm as anxious as anybody to keep up hope to thelast. But if this is to be our end, I guess we can face it as Americansshould."
"Bravo!" exclaimed Lieutenant Mackinson, "I always knew that each one ofyou fellows had the right sort of stuff in you."
And Jerry, too, slapped him affectionately on the back.
"Slim," he said, smiling over at his chum, and ready for his pun, evenunder such circumstances, "my head is feeling a 'trifle heavy,' but I'mgame to stand up to the last."
Thus they sat down to wait--for just what, they did not know--while atthat very moment, four feet away from them on the other side of thewall, faithful Joe was setting up the flashlight exactly according todirections.
For a few seconds he waited, and then, three times in quick succession,a rocket went into the air from just behind the American lines.
Over there Captain Hallowell himself found the range, submitted it tohis most expert gunner, who verified it, and then they waited for thethree minutes to elapse, during which Joe was to seek a place of safety.
It was in that interval, too, that Fate intervened for those within thecave, for they were sitting with their backs to the very point againstwhich the shell was to be directed.
"We need all our strength," Lieutenant Mackinson was saying. "So long aspossible we want to remain in full possession of our senses. The air ispurer near the floor. I think it would be better to lie down."
And following his suggestion and example, the other two stretchedthemselves out in the middle of the cavern.
Within the American lines, at that point where a regiment of heavyartillery was stationed, Captain Hallowell raised his hand in signal tohis gunner. Out on the parapet of the front trench an anxious colonelwas standing, regardless of all danger, a pair of powerful glasses tohis eyes. His vision was focused upon a little light far out in No Man'sLand.
Two hundred feet away from that light Joe and Frank Hoskins lay proneupon the ground, silent, impatient, fearful, hoping.
With a quick motion the artillery captain swung his outstretched armdownward. There was a roar, a flash, and a great shell tore through theair. Out in No Man's Land there was a second explosion as the shell hit,and the target--a flashlight--was blown to atoms.
Over in the German trenches a sentinel chuckled at the thought ofanother wasted American shell, but out of the hole that that shell hadtorn three pale, haggard, and exhausted youths were crawling to safetyand God's fresh air. And across No Man's Land dashed two pals to greetthem.
American determination and American marksmanship had saved threeAmerican lives. The German sentinel might have his laugh if he liked.
It was hours later before the three who had been imprisoned learned howtheir rescue had been effected; but they got an inkling of it as theycame within four hundred yards of the American-French front.
"What are you doing?" Lieutenant Mackinson had asked, as Joe brought theparty to a stop.
"Just a moment and you will see," Joe had responded.
And, first in wonder and then with a dawning understanding, the otherthree read off his flashed message:
"Signal Corps men, and whole party safe."
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