"Well, Erastus told me that he had had a most unusual run on his outfit this evening, and so I just took a bite in a hurry. You know, if I feel like it I can stop in at the Red Triangle hut on the way to the field hospital and buy some chocolate. Then if I run across any Salvation Army girls it"s possible they"ll have a few of their doughnuts left over.
That would be a great treat to Jeanne."
"I reckon either of them would," remarked Tom thoughtfully. "If her folks have been back of the Boche lines all these four years they must have lived on short rations. Here, Jack, I insist on standing for half of all the expense. Take this silver and call on me for any amount as you may need it. I won"t listen to a refusal, understand."
Jack had been about to decline absolutely, but on second thought he accepted the loose change.
"Fact is, Jeanne will need some things most likely, for you can see how miserable her shoes are, while her clothes look mighty seedy. Now, Nellie, we both happen to know, is a clever hand at such things, and she"ll be only too glad to take charge of Jeanne"s wardrobe. So I"ll accept your offer. Anyway, we"ve always shared alike in everything, as equal partners should."
"Yes, even to that licking I once got when you were caught under Amos Grimes" peach tree hunting for the ball I knocked over the fence. He vowed you were after his fruit, and started to give you a taste of the switch he carried."
"Yes," broke in Jack, chuckling. "And you, meaning to explain, came over the fence, only to get a taste of the same switch. I always did believe he divided the honors equally between us, and that you got some of the stripes he"d intended for me. Come, Jeanne, we"ll be going now."
"But how about your leaving the camp here without orders, Jack? I was going to ask for this leave when my a.s.signment to duty came; so I did not ask."
"Oh, I met Captain Desmond on the way to the chuck-wagon and explained things to him, so he gave me permission to be gone up to midnight."
"And you"ll use it up to the last minute, I warrant," laughed Tom, actually kissing, in the renewed courage Jack"s return gave him, the red lips of the little French girl, who already seemed to look upon these two tall young Americans as friends raised up by a special Providence to help her. He then hurried away.
Jack took Jeanne"s hand in his and they walked along. Much comment was caused on his being thus seen by many of the other airmen in the camp adjoining the field of the khaki-colored hangars. Jack took it all in his customary happy-go-lucky way and sent back as good as he received.
When they came to the dugout that was serving as a temporary refuge for the Red Triangle workers, the hut of refreshment such as the Y. M. C. A.
girls and men were in the habit of putting up, often close back of the firing line, Jack took his little charge in with him.
Jeanne"s pretty face and bewitching ways immediately won the hearts of the girls in khaki who were doing war work. They cl.u.s.tered about the pair, and asked many questions; but as Jack was in somewhat of a hurry he could answer them only in a general way.
"She"s lost her mother, and her twin sister was carried away by a Boche general who is some relation, though he hates the family. My chum and I mean to provide for little Jeanne. I"m taking her now to a girl friend who is a Red Cross nurse in the field hospital."
He hurriedly made his purchases, and they went on, Jeanne eagerly devouring part of a cake of chocolate, though she also persisted in clinging to Jack"s hand. Somehow it made the boy feel much older when he felt that confiding little hand in his. It seemed as though new responsibilities had been suddenly thrust upon him.
The approach of night had put an end to most of the clamor that made day seem so hideous. Only occasionally did a Big Bertha in the far distance growl menacingly, to be followed by the crash of a mighty sh.e.l.l somewhere within a mile or two of the spot where Jack and his charge walked along through the forest.
He was stopped and challenged frequently, but having the countersign, had no difficulty in pa.s.sing the sentries. Many campfires twinkled under the trees, near and far, where tired doughboys were resting and doubtless exchanging stories of the day"s exciting achievements; or talking of home--what Broadway looked like, or Fourth Street, or Ca.n.a.l Street; what the result of the world series of baseball games, a pet subject of dispute among these brawny followers of the national sport.
"Getting tired, are you, Jeanne?" asked Jack presently, noticing that the child dragged her little feet at times, despite all efforts to show a brave front.
Without waiting for an answer Jack scooped her up in his arms, and persisted in carrying her the rest of the way. Before they reached the field hospital poor little tired Jeanne was fast asleep, snuggled in those protecting arms, and as Jack looked down on her baby face, seen in the first lights he came to, he renewed his vow to stand by the orphan through thick and thin.
But here was the long low shed hastily put together, and fashioned so that it could be taken down and moved farther along to the new front every few days. Through the opening he glimpsed figures in white, bearing the symbolic Red Cross on headpiece and left arm, moving about among the white cots, attending to the wounded soldiers.
It was not long before Jack discovered the particular nurse for whom he was looking. Nellie Leroy may have seemed young for such duties, but what she lacked in age she more than made up for by her wonderful skill.
Indeed the head surgeon many times declared that the girl was a born nurse; and when there was a particularly interesting case to be attended he made it a point to see that the patient was placed in Nellie"s ward.
So Jack and his burden appeared before Nellie. She of course looked very much surprised to see him, but the smile on her pretty face told Jack his coming was most welcome to Harry"s sister. Nellie thought a great deal of Tom Raymond but she liked Jack also.
"Put the child on this empty cot, and then tell me all about her," said Nellie. "Who is she and how do you come to be bringing her here? I hope it isn"t because the poor baby has been injured; though those Boches seem to be equal to anything that is cruel and terrible."
"I"ll be only too glad to explain everything, Nellie," Jack said, after he had done as she told him, and watched, perhaps half enviously, while the tender-hearted nurse bent over and kissed sleeping Jeanne on her forehead. "Can you spare a little time just now? The story isn"t going to be very long; although I"m in no hurry to get back."
"It happens that we"re through much sooner than usual tonight," she a.s.sured him. "And besides, I"ll ask Mollie King to look after my patients, as hers were mostly taken south in the last detachment of ambulances bound for the base hospitals. Here, sit down on this bench, Jack, and I"ll be back in a minute. But first, how is Tom?"
On the young nurse"s return Jack told his story in detail. Nellie listened with deep interest. She would have been better satisfied if modest Jack had only been more enlightening with regard to his thrilling engagement with the Hun fliers; but then she knew his failings did not lie in the field of boasting, and so she had to picture those incidents for herself.
Jack was more inclined to go into details when Jeanne came into the story.
"Here"s the paper that was in the gold locket, Nellie," he told her.
"Read it for yourself. You can get the meaning of the French a heap better than I ever could. It"ll make the tears come in your eyes though, when you picture that poor woman dying there, one child carried off by that villain of a relative, and the other about to be cast adrift on a world at war."
"How dreadful it all is, Jack!" said the nurse, after she had finished reading the crumpled bit of paper that held such a tragic story. "Now tell me why you have brought little Jeanne to me?"
"Because, Nellie," said Jack, "Tom and I knew we could depend on your warm heart to manage somehow or other. She"s got to have shoes and clothes, and then be placed in the charge of some decent person until Tom and I can come and claim her, after we chase these Boches back over the Rhine, and the war is over. Bessie and her mother have left Paris for a while and are in Nice, too far away for me to send Jeanne to them.
We--Tom and I--did not know another girl or woman to turn to, so I have come to you."
Nellie bent her head in deep thought, while Jack waited anxiously.
Presently she looked up and smiled into his eager face.
"I"ll manage it all right, Jack, leave it to me," she told him. "I may have to keep her with me for a day or two, though a field hospital is a dreadful place for a child to stay in. When I"ve found a way to get her the necessities she must have I"ll make sure she is placed with some good people who for a consideration will care for her."
"Fine, Nellie! But then it"s no more than I expected from you!" Jack told her, in a low tone. "There"s another thing I want to explain. Tom and I have money enough, you know, and we"ve made up a purse to carry our ward along for some time. Take these French notes, and make any arrangement you see fit with the person in whose care you leave her.
There"s plenty more cash where this came from."
"But Jack, I"d like to share with you two generous boys in this kind deed of yours," protested Nellie. "I have means, too, and wouldn"t miss anything we might plan to contribute between us."
"Ah, you"ll be doing the hardest part as it is, Nellie," he told her, and then on second thought, realizing that such an arrangement might afford him and Tom many an excuse for seeing Nellie as well as Jeanne, he added: "But I"ll talk it over with Tom, and if he"s willing we might let you come into the partnership arrangement. Isn"t she a little darling, though? I"m speaking of Jeanne now."
After that they found much to talk about, and it was quite late when Jack finally got up to go. Jeanne was still sound asleep.
"I"ll get her into bed presently, when I"ve looked after several of my more seriously wounded patients," Nellie a.s.sured him. "And when you come again perhaps I"ll have made a start on her wardrobe; though I imagine it"s going to be a serious job to collect anything here. But some of the nurses will be only too glad to help. When shall I see you again, Jack?"
"Oh! Me? Why, I"ll try to get around to-morrow night, if they"ll give me permission. Tom, too, I hope. Of course there"ll be heaps we must talk over. This thing of being guardian to a real flesh-and-blood child is a serious business. So I"ll say good-night. Kiss little Jeanne for me, and I"ll try not to forget one of your messages to Tom. Now, good-bye."
CHAPTER VI
CLEANING OUT MACHINE-GUN NESTS
"A BUSY day ahead of us, Jack!" Tom remarked the next morning, after they had breakfasted and were getting themselves ready for going up.
Early though the hour was it seemed as though the whole inferno of terrible noises had broken out much louder than on the preceding day.
From every quarter men could be heard shouting; while detachments of infantry were hurrying off with orders to reach certain points before nightfall, no matter what obstacles they had to surmount.
The big guns were "talking," and there began to be heard the chatter of deadly machine-guns; the deep-toned explosion of sh.e.l.ls, and the peculiar sound of the German minnewurfer, used with such effect in the former trench battles that the Boche still clung to it through all the retreat.
Then there were close around them planes starting off with a rush, pilots and observers gaily waving their hands to comrades still detained, but just as eager to go as though it were a picnic to which they were thus invited instead of a possible repast with the Grim Reaper.
"What makes you think it"s bound to be any different from yesterday, Tom?" demanded the one spoken to, as he adjusted a strap, and took a last critical survey of the more important wire stays of his machine upon which so much depended.