"No, it isn"t that," replied Frank. "I got satisfaction for that then and there, and I don"t hold grudges. It"s something altogether outside of personal matters. Have you heard any details about how Nick made his escape?"
"Only a bit here and there," answered Fred. "I suppose it will all come out later on. But it seems that he has a lot of information about the German plans and he"s now at headquarters being questioned by the officers."
Frank turned the conversation into other channels, because although he had the gravest reasons for believing Rabig to be a traitor, he did not want to do the fellow an injustice or voice his suspicions until he was able to confirm them by absolute proof.
Fred pa.s.sed on after a few minutes and the boys looked at each other.
"Did you hear what Fred said about Nick"s "important information"?"
asked Frank.
"Important misinformation," growled Bart.
"Bunk," declared Billy.
"Of course, Nick has an advantage in understanding German," said Frank cautiously, "and a loyal fellow in his situation might have picked up something that would be of advantage to our people, though it isn"t likely, for the Germans guard their secrets pretty well."
"What"s the use of talking?" burst out Bart. "We fellows are all onto Rabig. We know at this minute that he"d like nothing better than to see the United States licked by Germany. Don"t we know that he let that German prisoner escape? Don"t you know that he was talking in the woods at night with that German spy that you shot? I tell you straight, Frank, that if Rabig escaped it was because the Germans let him escape. If he has information, it is because the Germans filled him up with just the kind of information they wanted our officers to believe."
"I think Bart"s right," remarked Billy. "It"ll be the best day this regiment ever saw when Rabig"s stood up before a firing squad."
"In my heart I believe the same," a.s.sented Frank. "But the tantalizing thing is that we haven"t a bit of legal proof. Rabig had that cut on his hand to explain the escape of the prisoner. He seemed to be sleeping in his bunk that night I got back from the woods. So far he has an alibi for everything. We can"t prove that he let himself be captured. We can"t prove that the Germans let him escape. As for the information he claims to have, our suspicions are based only on what we know of the man"s character."
"That legal stuff doesn"t make a hit with me," growled Bart. "Some day I"ll break loose and take it out of him myself. My fingers itch every time I see him. I"d hoped I"d never have to see him again."
"You"re doomed to be disappointed, then," grinned Billy, "for here he comes now."
They looked in the direction he indicated and saw Rabig coming along the company street.
His step was swaggering and he looked immensely satisfied with himself.
Bart"s fist clenched.
"Nothing doing, Bart," Frank counseled in a low tone. "Hold your horses. I know just how you feel. I had to lick him once and maybe you"ll have your turn. But not now. I want to find out whether he knows anything about Tom."
"All right," said Bart, "but it comes hard."
Nick saw them standing there, and for a fraction of a second seemed to be of two minds about keeping on. He hated them all cordially and he had no doubt of the feeling with which they regarded him. But his hesitation was only momentary, and he came on with just a little additional swagger in his gait.
He would have pa.s.sed without stopping but Frank spoke to him pleasantly enough.
"h.e.l.lo, Nick!" he said. "See you"ve got back."
"That"s plain enough to see," responded Nick surlily.
"Papa"s little sunshine," murmured Billy under his breath.
"Huns seem to have fed you pretty well," remarked Frank.
Rabig only grunted and looked at Frank suspiciously.
"Did you see anything of Tom Bradford over there?" asked Frank.
A look of surprise came into Rabig"s little eyes.
"No," he answered. "Was he captured?"
"We"re afraid so," answered Frank.
"I didn"t see him," declared Rabig. "Perhaps he"s killed," he added, almost smacking his lips with satisfaction.
They longed to kick him, but restrained themselves, and Rabig pa.s.sed on.
"Isn"t he a sweet specimen?" asked Bart in disgust, as he looked at Rabig"s receding figure.
"Did you see how his eyes lighted up when he heard that Tom was gone?"
put in Billy. "The only thing that would give him more satisfaction would be to have the same thing happen to Frank."
"I guess he hates us all alike," said Frank. "Down in his heart he knows that we believe him to be a traitor. His only comfort is that we haven"t been able to catch him with the goods. But that will come in time. A little more rope and he can be depended on to hang himself.
But that can wait. What I"m more interested in is that he didn"t have any news of Tom."
"Perhaps he was lying," suggested Bart. "He may have seen Tom over there, but wouldn"t give us the satisfaction of telling us."
"No, I don"t think it was that," commented Billy. "I was watching him closely while Frank was talking to him, and I could see that he was really surprised as well as pleased to learn that Tom was gone."
"But even if he didn"t see him, that doesn"t prove that Tom isn"t there," suggested Bart. "He may have been captured by some other division. Besides, to tell the truth, I don"t believe that Rabig was in a prison camp at all. Did you notice how fat and well fed he looked? I"ll bet that he"s been living high on the best the Huns could give him."
"He didn"t look like most escaped prisoners for a fact," a.s.sented Frank. "We"ll let his failure to see Tom go for what it"s worth. But there"s one thing that"s been growing in my mind right along. We"re sure that Tom isn"t dead, for the burial parties cleared up the field and didn"t find him. We know too that he isn"t on the hospital list.
I got a squint at that no later than yesterday, and Tom"s name isn"t there. That seems to cut out everything except capture by the Huns, doesn"t it?"
"What else is there?" asked Bart gloomily.
"Just one thing," replied Frank, "and that is that Tom has got away from the Huns but hasn"t yet got back to us. I know what that boy is.
He isn"t the kind to settle down and tell himself that he"s a prisoner and that"s all there is to it. There isn"t a bone in his head, and he"s been busy every minute thinking up some plan to get away. You know what the boches are doing now. They"re getting so short of men that they"re using prisoners right behind the lines in cutting brush and hauling guns and that sort of thing. Of course it"s dead against all the rules of war, but a little thing like that doesn"t bother the Germans. Now if that"s going on there are lots of chances to escape that the prisoners wouldn"t have if they were all huddled together in a prison camp under the rifles of their guards. Get me? Picture Tom out in the thick woods going meekly ahead doing as he is told without making a break for freedom. Not on your life! Some way or other he"ll slip off, and some fine day you"ll see the old scout come walking in and asking us if breakfast"s ready."
"It sounds good," said Bart unconvinced, "but I"m afraid it"s a dream."
"All guess work," chimed in Billy. "We don"t know anything."
"No," admitted Frank, "but we know Tom."
CHAPTER VI
THE COMING DRIVE
"That big German drive seems to have slipped a cog somewhere," Bart remarked to his comrades, a few days later, as they were resting after a hard morning"s work at organizing the position that their division was holding.