"Pretty close squeak," smiled Frank happily. "But a bit of luck, and these two legs of mine carried me through, and I"m worth a dozen dead men yet. But I"m hungry as a wolf, and if you fellows don"t feed me up you"ll have me dead on your hands."
"Trust us," laughed Bart. "You can have the whole shooting match. The whole mess will go hungry if necessary to fill you up. Come along now and tell us the story."
It was a happy crowd that bore Frank back in triumph to his old quarters. There the rest of the boys flocked about him in welcome and jubilee.
"Not a word, fellows," protested Frank laughingly, "until I get these rags off of me. It"s the first time I ever wore a German uniform and I hope it will be the last. I feel as if I needed to be fumigated before I"m fit to talk to decent fellows again."
It was a long time before the hubbub quieted down, and he had to tell his story again and again before the other soldiers left him alone with his own particular chums.
"Where"s Tom?" asked Frank. "Our bunch doesn"t seem complete without him. On special duty somewhere, I suppose?"
Bart and Billy looked at each other with misery in their eyes.
"What"s the matter?" asked Frank in quick alarm, as he intercepted the glance. "Great Scott!" he added, springing to his feet. "You don"t mean to say that anything"s happened to him?"
Bart shook his head soberly.
"We don"t know," he answered. "The last any of the boys saw of him he was hacking right and left in a crowd of the boches. But he didn"t come back with the rest of us."
"You don"t mean to say he"s dead?" cried Frank. "You"re not stalling to let me down easy?"
"Not that," protested Billy quickly. "Honor bright, Frank. The burial parties haven"t come across him at last reports, and he hasn"t been picked up as wounded. That"s all we know. The chances are that he"s been taken prisoner."
"Prisoner!" repeated Frank in blank despair. "Tom a prisoner of the Huns! Heaven help him!"
CHAPTER IV
CAPTURED OR DEAD?
There was very little sleep for the three Army Boys that night, in spite of the exhausting labors of the day. They rolled and tossed restlessly in their bunks, tortured by conjectures as to the fate of their missing comrade.
Good old Tom! He had been so close to all of them, loyal to his heart"s core, brave as a lion, ready to stand by them to his last breath. He had been beside them in many a tight sc.r.a.pe and had always held up his end. It seemed as though part of themselves had been torn from them.
Still, while there was life there was hope, and they drew some comfort from the fact that he had not yet been found among the dead. If he were a prisoner he might escape. They had all been in a German prison camp before and had gotten away. Perhaps Tom might have the same luck again.
They fell asleep at last, but the thought clung to them and a.s.sumed all sorts of fantastic att.i.tudes in their dreams so that they awoke tired and depressed.
But there was little time on that morning to indulge in private griefs.
The fight was on, and shortly after dawn the battle was resumed.
All the forenoon it raged with great ferocity. But American grit and steadfastness never wavered and the enemy was forced to retire with heavy loss. Not only had they failed to drive the Americans from their positions, but they had been driven back and forced to surrender a large portion of their own, including the place where Frank had crouched in the sh.e.l.l hole the night before.
Shortly after noon there came a lull while the Americans reorganized the captured positions. Infantry actions ceased, though the big guns, like belligerent mastiffs, still kept up their growling at each other.
"Hot work," remarked Frank, as, after their work was done, the three friends found themselves together in the shade of a great tree.
"A corking sc.r.a.p," agreed Bart, as he sprawled at his ease with his hands under his head.
"The Heinies certainly put up a stiff fight," observed Billy, as he tied up his little finger from which blood was trickling.
"They felt so sure that they were going to make mincemeat out of us that it was hard to wake out of their dream," chuckled Frank. "I wonder if they"re still kidding themselves in Berlin that the Yankees can"t fight."
"In Berlin perhaps but not here," returned Bart. "They"ve had too much evidence to the contrary."
"I wonder if this is really the beginning of the big drive that the Huns have been boasting about?" hazarded Billy.
"I hardly think so," replied Frank. "There"s no doubt that that"s coming before long, but the fighting yesterday and today was probably to pinch us out of the salient we"re holding. That would straighten out their line and then they"d be all ready for the big push. When that comes there will be some doings."
"The longer they wait the harder the job will be," said Billy. "They say that our boys are coming over so fast that they"re fairly blocking the roads."
"They can"t come too many or too fast," replied Bart. "And they"ll sure be some busy bees after they get here."
"Well, we"re not worrying," observed Billy. "We"re getting along pretty well, thank you. By the way, Frank," he went on with a grin, "are you feeling any different on this ground today than you felt last night?"
"Bet your life," laughed Frank. "It"s just about here that I was calling a Heinie a jacka.s.s. And at that same minute I was thinking that my life wasn"t worth a plugged nickel."
"Wonder how the fellow made out that you left in the sh.e.l.l hole,"
chuckled Billy.
"Oh, he was all right," replied Frank. "I shouldn"t wonder if he was rather chilly during the night, but no doubt they hauled him out in the morning."
"He got off lucky, though," put in Bart. "It"s the sentry who got the hot end of the poker. I wonder what he thought when he heard that watchword."
"He didn"t have much time to think," guessed Billy, "and to tell the truth, I don"t think he"s done much thinking since. That revolver must have hit him a fearful crack."
"It"s safe to say that it gave him a headache anyway," remarked Bart drily.
"Speaking of the revolver," said Frank, rising to his feet, "I"m going to take a look for it. It was just over near that tree that I plugged the sentry and it"s probably there yet."
He searched industriously among the welter of debris and after a few minutes arose with a shout.
"Here"s it is," he said, as he held up his recovered treasure, which had his initials scratched upon the b.u.t.t. "Same old trusty and as good as ever. It"s saved my life many a time through the muzzle, but last night was the first time it saved it through the b.u.t.t."
He fondled the weapon lovingly for a moment, carefully cleaned and reloaded it, and thrust it in his belt.
Just then a French colonel pa.s.sed by, accompanied by two orderlies.
The French had been holding a section of the line at the right of the Americans and their uniform was a familiar sight, so that the boys only gave the group a pa.s.sing glance. But Frank"s eyes lighted with pleasure when the colonel detached himself from the others and came over with extended hand.
Frank wrung the hand heartily.
"Why, Colonel Pavet!" he exclaimed. "This is a great pleasure! I didn"t know that you were in this locality."
"My regiment is only two miles from here," replied the colonel, his face beaming. "I need not say how glad I always am to see the brave young soldier who saved my life."
"What I did any one else would have done," responded Frank lightly.