On he sped at top speed, not daring to look around again. He could feel that the wire was dragging and he wondered where its supporters could be; but he opened his cut-out to get every last bit of power and sped on with the acc.u.mulating train of wire becoming a dead weight behind him.
Now, far ahead, he could see gray-coated figures scrambling frantically out of the first line trench, and he thought that the Americans must have carried the attack successfully that far, in any event. Again came that whizzing sound close to him, and still again a sharp metallic ring as another bullet struck his machine. For a moment he feared least a tire had been punctured, but when neither collapsed he took fresh courage and sped on.
The drag on the wire was lessening the speed of his machine now and jerking dangerously at intervals. But he thought of what one of those soldiers had said banteringly to another--_Stick around at the other end of it and listen to what you hear_, and he was resolved that if limited horse power and unlimited will power could get this wire to those brave boys who were surging and battling in the trenches ahead of him, could drag it to them wherever they went, for the glorious message they intended to send back across it, it should be done.
There was not another soul visible on that road now nor in the sh.e.l.l-torn area of No Man"s Land through which it ran. But the lone rider forged ahead, zig-zagging his course to escape the bullets of that unseen sharpshooter and because it seemed to free the dragging, catching wire, affording him little spurts of un.o.bstructed speed.
Then suddenly the wire caught fast, and his machine stopped and strained like a restive horse, the power wheel racing furiously. Hurriedly he looked behind him where the sinuous wire lay along the road, far back--as far as he could see, across the trampled entanglements and trenches. Where were the others who were to help carry it over? Killed?
Alone in the open area of No Man"s Land, Tom Slade paused for an instant to think. What should he do?
Suddenly there appeared out of a sh.e.l.l hole not twenty feet ahead of him a helmeted figure. It rose up grimly, uncannily, like a dragon out of the sea, and levelled a rifle straight at him. So that was the lair of the sharpshooter!
Tom was not afraid. He knew that he had been facing death and he was not afraid of what he had been facing. He knew that the sharpshooter had him at last. Neither he nor the wire were going to bear any message back.
"Anyway, I"m glad I wrote that letter," he muttered.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TOM WAS SURPRISED TO FIND HIMSELF UNINJURED, WHILE THE BOCHE COLLAPSED INTO HIS Sh.e.l.l HOLE.]
CHAPTER SEVEN
A SHOT
Then, clear and crisp against the sound of the great guns far off, there was the sharp crack of a rifle and Tom was surprised to find himself still standing by his machine uninjured, while the Boche collapsed back into his sh.e.l.l hole like a jack-in-the-box.
He did not pause to think now. Leaving his machine, he rushed pell-mell back to the barbed wire entanglement where the line was caught, disengaged it and ran forward again to his wheel. Sh.e.l.ls were bursting all about him, but as he mounted he could see two figures emerge, one after the other, from the American trench where it crossed the road, and take up the burden of wire. He could feel the relief as he mounted and rode forward and it lightened his heart as well as his load. What had happened to delay the carriers he did not know. Perhaps those who followed him now were new ones and his former companions lay dead or wounded within their own lines. What he thought of most of all was his extraordinary escape from the Boche sharpshooter and he wondered who and where his deliverer could be.
He avoided looking into the sh.e.l.l hole as he pa.s.sed it and soon he reached the enemy entanglements which the tanks had flattened. Even the flat meshes had been cleared from the road and here several regulars waited to help him. They were covered with dirt and looked as if they had seen action.
"Bully for you, kid!" one of them said, slapping Tom on the shoulder.
"You"re all right, Towhead!"
"Lift the machine," said Tom; "they always put broken gla.s.s in the roads. I thought maybe they"d punctured my tire out there."
"They came near puncturing _you_, all right! What"s your name?"
"Thatchy is mostly what I get called. My motorcycle is named _Uncle Sam_. Did you win yet?"
For answer they laughed and slapped him on the shoulder and repeated, "You"re all right, kid!"
"Looks as if Snipy must have had his eye on you, huh?" one of them observed.
"Who"s Snipy?" Tom asked.
"Oh, that"s mostly what _he_ gets called," said someone, mimicking Tom"s own phrase. "His rifle"s named _Tommy_. He"s probably up in a tree somewheres out there."
"He"s a good shot," said Tom simply. "I"d like to see him."
"n.o.body ever sees him--they _feel_ him," said another.
"He must have been somewhere," said Tom.
"Oh, he was _somewhere_ all right," several laughed.
A couple of the Signal Corps men jumped out of the trench near by and greeted Tom heartily, praising him as the others had done, all of which he took with his usual stolidness. Already, though of course he did not know it, he was becoming somewhat of a character.
"You"ve got Paul Revere and Phil Sheridan beat a mile," one of the boys said.
"I don"t know much about Sheridan," said Tom, "but I always liked Paul Revere."
He did not seem to understand why they laughed and clapped him on the shoulder and said, "You"ll do, kiddo."
But it was necessary to keep moving, for the other carriers were coming along. The little group pa.s.sed up the road, Tom pushing his wheel and answering their questions briefly and soberly as he always did. Planks had been laid across the German trenches where they intersected the road and as they pa.s.sed over them Tom looked down upon many a gruesome sight which evidenced the surprise by the Americans and their undoubted victory. Not a live German was to be seen, nor a dead American either, but here and there a fallen gray-coat lay sprawled in the crooked topsy-turvy ditch. He could see the Red Cross stretcher-bearers pa.s.sing in and out of the communication trenches and already a number of boys in grimy khaki were engaged in repairing the trenches where the tanks had caved them in. In the second line trench lay several wounded Americans and Tom was surprised to see one of these propped up smoking a cigarette while the surgeons bandaged his head until it looked like a great white ball. Out of the huge bandage a white face grinned up as the little group pa.s.sed across on the planks and seeing the men to be wire carriers, the wounded soldier called, "Tell "em we"re here."
"Ever hear of Paul Revere?" one of the Signal men called back cheerily.
And he rumpled Tom"s hair to indicate whom he meant.
Thus it was that Thatchy acquired the new nickname by which he was to be known far and wide in the country back of the lines and in the billet villages where he was to sit, his trusty motorcycle close at hand, waiting for messages and standing no end of jollying. Some of the more resourceful wits in khaki even parodied the famous poem for his benefit, but he didn"t care. He would have matched _Uncle Sam_ against Paul Revere"s gallant steed any day, and they could jolly him and "kid" him as their mood prompted, but woe be to the person who touched his faithful machine save in his watchful presence. Even General Pershing would not have been permitted to do that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IN THE WOODS
Beyond the enemy second line trench the road led straight into Cantigny and Tom could see the houses in the distance. Continuous firing was to be heard there and he supposed that the Germans, routed from their trenches, were making a stand in the village and in the high ground beyond it.
"They"ll be able to "phone back, won"t they?" he asked anxiously.
"They sure will," one of the men answered.
"It ain"t that I don"t want to ride back," Tom explained, "but a feller"s waiting on the other end of this wire, "cause I heard somebody tell him to, and I wouldn"t want him to be disappointed."
"He won"t be disappointed."
The road, as well as the open country east and west of it, was strewn with German dead and wounded, among whom Tom saw one or two figures in khaki. The Red Cross was busy here, many stretchers being borne up toward the village where dressing stations were already being established. Then suddenly Tom beheld a sight which sent a thrill through him. Far along the road, in the first glare of the rising sun, flew the Stars and Stripes above a little cottage within the confines of the village.
"Headquarters," one of his companions said, laconically.
"Does it mean we"ve won?" Tom asked.
"Not exactly yet," the other answered, "but as long as the flag"s up they probably won"t bother to take it down," and he looked at Tom in a queer way. "There"s cleaning up to do yet, kid," he added.