said Bart. "You felt sure that Tom would be with us again before this."
"I know," admitted Frank. "My time-table has gone wrong, but I haven"t given up hope. Tom is only human and he can"t work miracles. He may have been so placed that it simply wasn"t possible to make a break.
But one thing you can gamble on, and that is that he hasn"t given up trying. And when a man has that spirit his chance is sure to come."
"I wish I had your optimism," said Bart gloomily.
"Look at those skunks on the other side of the river," interrupted Billy.
He pointed to a group of German soldiers who were making insulting gestures and holding up huge placards with coa.r.s.e inscriptions on them.
"Cheap skates," replied Frank. "You notice they"re not quite so gay when we get to close quarters with them."
"They get my goat," said Billy with irritation. "I"d like to cram those placards down their throats."
"Pretty big mouthful," laughed Frank.
"We"ll get them yet," said Billy vengefully.
"What"s the use of saying "yet,"" suggested Frank. "Why not say "now"?"
They looked at him curiously.
"What do you mean?" queried Bart.
"Got anything up your sleeve?" asked Billy.
"An idea just came to me," replied Frank. "I don"t know whether it"s any good, but perhaps it"s worth chewing over."
"Let"s have it," demanded Billy eagerly.
"Well," said Frank slowly, "I figure that there must be about twenty Germans in that detachment just opposite us. What would be the matter with a few of us going over there some dark night and cleaning up the bunch?"
A delighted shout met the suggestion.
"Bully!" exclaimed Bart.
But though the approval was enthusiastic, practical difficulties soon presented themselves.
"How are we to get across?" asked Bart dubiously.
"We haven"t any boat on this side that"s big enough," said Billy. "In fact, I don"t think we have any at all."
"That"s an easy one," answered Frank. "Do you see that big lobster of a boat on the other side? That looks as though it would carry almost a dozen anyway. We won"t need any more than that to nab the Huns, because we"ll have the advantage of the surprise if our plans go through all right."
"But how are we going to get the boat?" asked Bart.
"Swim over for it," replied Frank. "I"ll attend to that. Give me a dark night and it"s all I ask."
"Let"s see what the corporal has to say about it," suggested Bart.
The corporal listened with interest. It was a plan after his own heart.
"You young roosters are always looking for fight," he grinned. "I"ll put it up to the captain and see what he says."
The a.s.sent of the captain was readily obtained as he knew the value of such exploits in keeping the spirits of the men up to high fighting pitch.
The night following there would be no moon until late, and it was fixed on for carrying out the raid. Frank was to swim across the river and get the boat. On the American side Wilson with eight men would be in waiting. They would embark and try to reach the other side without detection. Quick thinking and Yankee grit could be depended on to do the rest.
The night came, black as pitch. Frank slid into the water as noiselessly as a fish and struck out for the other side.
CHAPTER XI
GALLANT WORK
The water had a chill in it that struck to Frank"s marrow, but the reaction soon came and he proceeded swiftly, making as little noise as possible, and keeping body and head low in the water. He was a powerful swimmer, and the distance was as nothing to him. But the greatest caution had to be exercised lest he be discovered by a sentry whose shot would alarm his comrades and put an end to the projected raid.
But fortune favored him and he soon reached the boat, which seemed to be large enough, with some crowding, to carry the American party. It swung with its stern toward the sh.o.r.e, to which it was held by a rope that was pa.s.sed about a cleat.
Frank clung for a moment to the bow and listened intently. He could hear no breathing nor any other sound that indicated that any one was on board. The Germans had evidently not dreamed of any such exploit as that on which Frank was bent.
But that a watch was kept on the sh.o.r.e was evident, for Frank could hear the measured step of a sentinel some distance away. The steps receded as he listened, and he gathered that the patrol was an extended one. Now was his time, while the sentry was at the further limit of his beat.
Swiftly he climbed on board, slipped the rope from its cleat, and with a push of an oar against the bank sent the boat some distance out into the stream. He did not dare to row for he feared that the oars grating in the rowlocks might betray him. But he made a paddle of one of the oars, dipping it in alternately on opposite sides of the bow, paddle fashion, and before long reached his party, by whom he was received with intense though subdued jubilation.
In whispers Frank explained to Wilson what he had observed and action was agreed on accordingly. The party, ten in all, bestowed themselves as best as they might in their narrow quarters and the boat started on its perilous expedition.
A paddle was employed as before, and the journey was necessarily slow, for the boat sank in the water almost to the gunwales. But they reached the other side at last, and Frank, slipping into the water, waded to the bank, where he fastened the boat securely.
Whether they would ever step into that boat again was known to none of the party that slipped like shadows up the gra.s.sy bank. They were outnumbered two to one, or more, and their success depended mainly on surprise. The slightest slip in their plans would bring the expedition to grief.
They lay flat on the bank and listened. There was no sound except the tread of the sentry"s feet coming nearer. It was unlikely that the absence of the boat had been discovered. Still, it might have been, and the dead silence might portend an ambush by the enemy.
This was a chance, however, that they had to take. But the first thing to do was to dispose of the sentry.
The path along which he seemed to be coming was bordered with a small and uncared-for hedge.
In a hurried whisper Wilson gave his commands.
"You, Sheldon and Raymond, creep ahead and lie on opposite sides of the ledge. When the sentry comes along, close on him at the same time.
Keep him from making a noise if you can. The one thing is to be quick."
Frank and Bart glided along and took up positions opposite each other.
"You grab his gun, Bart, and I"ll make for his throat," whispered Frank.
The sentry came on unsuspectingly. Lithe as panthers the boys leaped upon him, Bart grasping the gun, while Frank"s sinewy hands fastened on his throat.